Pioneer Portaits

Ten Years Ago

March 24, 2011

During the past several years, all has been relatively quiet on the meth front. But in recent months, it appears that local production and consumption of the drug are back on the rise, according to law enforcement officials in Walla Walla and Columbia counties.

It was like a scene from the Sherwood Forest. Men, women, and children tromped through the woods carrying bows and quivers filled with arrows, but this wasn’t Robin Hood and his band, nor was it Merry Auld England in the 12th century.

[Photo caption] Tell-tale signs of spring include this year’s bumper crop of kids at the Monteillet Fromagerie just west of Dayton. Joan and Pierre-Louis Monteillet reported the birth of 60 goats and 45 sheep this year with another 10 and 25 of each on the way respectively. The farm is among several in the Touchet Valley where the newborns liven up the landscape these early spring days.

Twenty-Five Years Ago

March 16, 1995

School board members in Waitsburg have given the go-ahead to look into whether a pedestrian overpass on Highway 12 can be built near the local schools.

Somebody is thoughtlessly putting the lives of others in jeopardy. That is the message from officials of Waitsburg Ambulance Service, who have noticed a distressing pattern of ambulance tampering over the past three months.

Daffodils are being sold by the Walla Walla chapter of the American Cancer Society, for $5 a bunch, and the money will go to support research and patient services. Orders can be made by calling (509) 527-0796. The flowers are to be delivered March 27.

Fifty Years Ago

March 19, 1970

A change of command took place last Tuesday night as Dr. A. S. Pearson took over the reins of the Commercial Club from Francis Wood. Watching the gavel exchange was the new Vice-President Vernon Smith, and Secretary, Ivan Keve.

Bouquets of red and white gladioli, heather and fern were placed on the white fireplace mantle at Clarkston’s Blossom Hill Villa for the wedding of Miss Diana Lynn Minden and Mark Erwin Jacobson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Jacobson of Prescott. The double ring ceremony was performed the afternoon of Feb. 21 by Judge Arna Shoemaker.

Seventy-Five Years Ago

March 23, 1945

Jim Archer is the local contestant in the F. F. A. oratorical contest, using as his topic, “The Post War Farmer.”

Mrs. Margaret Ward and Mrs. Gladys Keve were honored at a birthday party last Friday evening at the home of Mrs. Art Combs. Guests were Edna Reimers, Gladys Williamson, Mildred Minnick, Miss Klingman, Daisy Wale, Ruth Gray and her twin sister.

One Hundred Years Ago

March 26, 1920

J. B. Duncan of Walla Walla, has purchased the stock and fixtures of B. O. Porter Confectionery and ice cream parlor and has taken possession.

Clyde Brotherton, son of Mrs. C. M. Brotherton, who has been working on the Frank Zuger farm, has a severly cut face and a mighty sore foot as the result of a mix-up with a disk harrow on Thursday of last week.

The City Council has consented to lease the City Park grounds just outside the city limits to a number of farmers and horsemen for a term of ten years at the nominal rental rate of $100 per year.

One Hundred Twenty-Five Years Ago

March 29, 1895

A. W. Strickland will paint your buggies or hacks at prices to suit the times. See him at Will’s drug store.

With the decrease in the price of grain there is an increase in the care of crops. Verily hope springeth forever in the breast of the farmer, or how could he diligently sow and reap year after year and see the golden grain pass from his hands without sharing the profits thereof.

A company composed of Prescott people have incorporated for $7,000 for the purpose of taking out a water ditch to irrigate the barren land below that city. The ditch will be about seven miles long.The incorporators are J. S. Haviland, J. A. Johnson, A. J. Purdy and Henry Ibberson.