85 YEARS AGO
June 15, 1940
Waterlogged with only her pilot house and deckload of lumber above the surface, the Anderson & Middleton steam schooner Claremont this morning was taken in tow off Willapa Harbor for Astoria by the Grays Harbor tug Klihyam. The craft struck the Grays Harbor bar at 10:45 o’clock last night while outward bound with 1,600,000 feet of lumber for California. In answer to the ship’s distress flares the Westport coast guard arrived at the vessel’s side at 1:15 this morning removing 10 men. Thirteen others, including the captain elected to stay aboard.
June 16, 1940
Five-year-old Paul Schiller, the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Schiller, Montesano, spent a rather uncomfortable 20 minutes Saturday trapped in the stump of an old cedar tree. He was rescued by Lawrence Smith Jr. and Ray Pinger of the Montesano Volunteer Fire Department after Del Graham summoned aid. How the youngster got trapped in the stump only he knows for sure.
June 17, 1940
Eight men were snatched from the sinking Tokeland fishing vessel Lucin Saturday outside Willapa Harbor by Ernest “Doc” Nelson of Tokeland, averting a possible sea tragedy. The Lucin, owned by Roy Fufiord, had gone out Saturday to pick up crab pots but finding few crabs went out to where the tug Klihyam of Aberdeen was towing the waterlogged steamer Claremont, which the night before had struck the Grays Harbor bar. The Claremont had jettisoned part of her cargo which was scattered on the water. Fufiord picked up some of the lumber, apparently loading his boat too deep.
The Hub, Hoquiam’s newest cigar store and sports center, will be shown to the public at a grand opening tomorrow night, Art Meyer and Clyde Powell, co-owners announced today. The Hub is located at 718 Simpson Ave. and formerly was Swede’s place.
June 18, 1940
An open-air weightlifting contest between members of the Hoquiam Y.M.C.A. and the Washington Athletic Club of Seattle will be one of the highlights of the mid-summer carnival for Finnish relief at Lake Aberdeen Saturday, starting at 5 o’clock. Joe Seguin, Oregon and Washington 148-pound champ, will lead the Hoquiam team. Others will be Joe Clark, Bob DuGay, Anton Gruby and Eric Holmback.
June 19, 1940
A spectacular fire, fanned by a brisk southwest wind, destroyed two buildings and caused a property loss of $10,000 last night in Raymond. The blaze, believed to have started in the rear of the Johnson Electric shop on First street, roared through the building and swept on to level the adjoining building which Swanson’s grocery store occupied.
Reopening of the remodeled Day’s Malted Milk shop has been set for tomorrow morning, George Day announced today. The shop, located next to the D&R Theatre will carry a quality candy line and has added the Benson & Hedges line of cigarettes.
June 20, 1940
Kaufman Scroggs in Aberdeen is offering a 10 piece living room group for $49.95 — including a velour studio divan, bridge lamp, occasional chair, smoker stand, coffee table, scatter rug, leather hassock, lamp table, table lamp and end table.
June 21, 1940
While officials investigated the possibilities of incendiaries or sabotage, firemen today quenched the last sparks of a devastating blaze which last night completely destroyed the Polson Lumber and Shingle company mill “A,” causing loss estimated at $800,000 and throwing more than 200 men out of work. The possibility of reopening the company’s Bay City mill in South Aberdeen was broached unofficially by one firm executive, but C. Stuart Polson, speaking for the firm, said that suggestion and the possibility of rebuilding mill “A” (Eureka mill) would be considered by the directors at a meeting set for the immediate future.
Under a billowing smoke screen and against a wall of sizzling heat, the Ultican tug Tussler, Captain Eddie Odd, yesterday rescued 12 to 15 men from the fire-threatened Polson mill dock shortly before the main sawmill belched into one huge mass of flames. The tug churned into the wharf and picked up the men, including Stuart Polson and Arthur Zelgen. Polson said the group had been attempting to get a hose line on the river side of the mill, but their efforts proved fruitless. The mill’s pipe lines collapsed when supports burned away and the lines parted. By the time the tug drew up, the men said, the heat was so intense that several suffered burned faces and singed hair and clothing.
60 YEARS AGO
June 15, 1965
An advertisement for Pacific Northwest Bell in today’s newspaper offers colored extension phones and asks the questions: “How far do you have to run to answer the phone?” and “Is the lady home alone at night?” An extension phone, including The Princess style with its light-up dial, is available for just $1.25 a month plus a one-time installation charge.
June 17, 1965
Scott’s Grand Central Market has been selected as the site of a 5 minute shopping spree, one of the local grand prizes in the 1965 $2,000,000 Pepsi-Cola Shopping Spree promotion, it was announced today jointly by Bill Martin of Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co., Aberdeen and Carl Scott of Scott’s Market. During the spree to be held next Tuesday at 9:30 a.m., the winner, Mrs. Matt Kaleb, 309 Scott St, Aberdeen, will be permitted to take as many groceries off the shelf as she can carry to the checkout counter within the allotted time.
June 18, 1965
The first case of polio in Grays Harbor since 1959 and the first in the state since 1963 was confirmed today by the State Health Department. The victim in David Miner, 13, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Miner of Hoquiam, who is under treatment at the Grays Harbor Community Hospital. While the youngster had a series of three polio shots in 1956, Dr. Lauren Lucke, Grays Harbor County Health Officer, explained that the Salk vaccine is only 85 percent effective against polio.
Aberdeen School District’s summer classes will open June 21 for nearly 200 students. Classes offered include driver’s training, algebra, arithmetic, English, reading, typing, beginning clarinet, sax and trumpet, elementary band and advanced band.
June 19, 1965
Airman First Class Garold E. Messenger, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry G. Messenger of Cosmopolis, was a member of an Air Force Communications Service (AFCS) team deployed to Australia to provide support for the four-day Gemini two-man space flight. The airman is a graduate of Weatherwax High School.
35 YEARS AGO
June 15, 1990
Instead of a one-day open house to celebrate the company’s centennial in May of 1988, the owner of Washingtonian Print decided to make an investment the whole community could enjoy for years. After all, it has been the community that has kept the Hoquiam print shop alive for 102 years, says Al McLeod, who bought the historic business from the late Joe and Ruth Randich in 1978. The print shop published the Grays Harbor Washingtonian newspaper – affectionately known as “The Washie” — from 1988 to 1957. The 60-foot long mural entitled “Hoquiam Remembers” features famous front pages, including two former “Washie” publishers who were elected to Congress — Albert Johnson and Russell V. Mack. A third congressman from Hoquiam, New Deal Democrat Martin F. Smith, is also featured on the mural.
June 16, 1990
The Lady Washington has begun to look like a tall ship again now that a re-rigging project has moved outdoors and the top masts are going up. These past few months the ship has conjured images of an under-dressed waif left out in the rain. But this week the sails and rigging came out of the shipyard and once again are being draped around the square-rigged vessel. The re-rigging project was necessary because the original material proved to have too much elasticity and wasn’t properly supporting the masts. After the re-rigging is complete a three-day ocean voyage is being offered for the more adventurous. The ship can also be reserved for private groups, cruises and other functions.
With the summer here, the state’s Youth Employment Service in Aberdeen is gearing up for its traditionally heavy season. It has a new location this year, sharing office space in the State Employment Security building, at 2700 Simpson Ave., and officials report business is already brisk. “We filled six job orders this morning,” Doris Koski, a job specialist who oversees the Youth Employment Service for Grays Harbor, said earlier in the week. The agency matches employers looking to hire kids aged 14 to 21 for everything from commercial jobs to domestic chores and yard work. During the past three years, the local office has averaged more than 550 placements annually
June 17, 1990
Two couples with ties to Grays Harbor will venture into war-plagued Central America next month, taking a special vision along with them. Montesano natives Dr. Jim Weyrich and his wife, Pam (Tisler), and Aberdeen natives Dr. Rick Baxter and his wife Janet (Pool) will travel by dugout canoe and foot along the border of primitive Nicaragua and Honduras, providing eyeglasses to refugees of the internal strife. Weyrich, 46, and Baxter, 33, both are optometrists — the former in Toppenish near Yakima and the latter in Olympia. Their wives are trained opticians.
June 18, 1990
Michael Brophy, 35, assistant principal at Centralia High School and self-described “visionary” has been selected as the new principal at Aberdeen High School. Before his year at Centralia, Brophy was vice principal and head football coach at Camas for two years. Before that the 1977 Washington State University graduate taught social studies and PE at Mount Vernon for four years, Mossyrock for four years and Lacrosse for a year.
June 19, 1990
The melancholy journey of Willie Kell; the arrival of the loggers who waded into huge stands of Douglas fir with cross-cut saws, and the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, “the 8th wonder of the world.” The events that have shaped Washington’s history will become more than just words in a textbook for about 30 Willapa Valley High School students. On Monday, the freshman class embarked on a 10-day educational expedition around the state. The trip, a brainchild of Craig McDonald who has taught history at Menlo for 13 years, counts as a semester course in state history. The itinerary is wide-ranging. For example, the kids visited Fort Vancouver, the Pendleton Woolen Mills and the Trojan Nuclear Plant near Longview.
June 20, 1990
Their appearance is as predictable as the coming of spring. As the first vendors pull their RVs and motor homes into the parking strip and set up booths for the summer, the controversy focused on the Sampson John Flea Market at Hogan’s Corner is often equally predictable. But year after year the campers and booths return. Until four years ago, the flea market was located in the paved parking lot across the street, near the Sunshine Food Mart. But when vendors were told they violated county zoning laws by living at a commercially-zoned site, they moved across the street onto Indian trust land.
ITT Rayonier Inc. recently donated $5,000 to the Friends of the 7th Street, to be used to restore the 1928 theater. Rayonier also donated $10,000 to Grays Harbor Fisheries Enhancement Task Force and will be donating $12,500 to the Hoquiam Police Department to be used for a “DARE” van.
June 21, 1990
Driving on the highway to Westport, one can’t help to notice, on the left, a large Victorian-style white house perched gracefully atop one of Ocosta’s rolling hills. The Victorian mansion was built in 1892 by land promoter Robert L. Boyle, who never occupied the home. At the time, Ocosta-by-the-Sea, as the area was then called, had bright prospects for the future. But all that collapsed during the depression of 1893, with Boyle leaving shortly thereafter. Now the mansion and the 125 acres of rolling farm land and green pasture are owned by Carol Grossman Saul who lives there with her two teenage children and faithful dog, Pip.
Compiled from the archives of the daily world by karen barkstrom, editorial assistant at the daily world. You can contact her at karen.barkstrom@thedailyworld.com or call her at 360-537-3925.
