Traveling back in time: This date in Bonners Ferry history

History for July 7th, 2016

100 Year

What might be termed a lucky auto accident occurred last Friday night when C.W. Megquier’s Overland auto, driven by J.V. Stanley, went into the ditch about two miles east of Naples and was burned up. The accident occurred when the car slewed off the road in a recent fill of loose dirt. The front wheel struck a snag and was badly bent and before the car was stopped it ran onto and straddled a large log by the side of the road. The car did not turn over and a hasty examination seemed to show that no damage had been done except to a front wheel. Mr. Stanley lit a match in the effort to see how badly the car was damaged and to prepare for hauling it off the log. When the match was nearly burned out he threw it in the brush by the side of the car. The same instant the match hit the ground there sprang up a blaze of flame which soon enveloped the car and completely demolished it and its contents. Messrs. Stanley and Spoerry barely escaped being severely burned. It seemed that when the car ran onto the log the gasoline tank had sprung a leak and the gasoline had dripped over the log and onto the ground into the brush by the side of the road. No one realized that there was a leak in the gasoline tank.

Naples – the home of F.E. Dutton was burned to the ground Monday night. The origin of the blaze is not known. Some insurance was carried. The Dutton home was one of the most modern in this district.

50 Year

An examination for the position of postmaster at Moyie Springs, at a salary of $5536 a year, will be open for acceptance of applications until July 26, 1966, the U.S. Civil Service Commission announced today.

Chris Taft, owner of Taft’s variety store and the Bonners Department store announced today that he has purchased the Zimmerman building on Main street, which until just recently was occupied by the City Bakery. The variety store will be moved to the new location as soon as alterations have been completed.

Goat trapping operations of the Idaho Fish and game department were successfully completed recently. Eight goats – four billies and four nannies – were caught on Black mountain and Snow peak and flown by helicopter to Larson’s bar on the north fork of the Clearwater river, where they were transferred to a fixed wing plane for the flight to Grangeville. At Grangeville they were transferred back to a helicopter and taken about 20 miles to Dome hill where they were released.

Seen and Heard….Otis Simon picking up the No. 6 bowling pin on Alley 7 from the left side of Alley 6…..Mrs. Rose Bennett bemoaning the rainy weather because she can’t sprinkle her lawn and flowers now that the new water system is in operation

15 Year

With astounding reaction time, 30-year veteran pilot William Mitchell chose all the right options when he lost power in the Kaman Husky helicopter owned by Precision Helicopters that crashed last week just out side Mullan. At the time of the accident, Mitchell had just hooked onto four or five logs and was preparing to lift them above the tree line when he lost power. He was transported to Shoshone hospital in Kellogg and released a couple hours later with bumps, bruises and a little bit of adrenaline still coursing through his system. Last week’s crash was the first in the 22-year history of Precision Helicopter.

In what likely is the last chapter in the 1992 siege at Ruby Ridge, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge has dismissed the state manslaughter charge against FBI sharpshooter Lon Horiuchi for killing the wife of white separatist Randy Weaver. Lodge granted the petition of Boundary County Prosecutor Brett Benson, who said that so much time has passed that it was unlikely the county could prove the charge against Horiuchi even though a federal appellate court said it could try.

With a preliminary report from HDR Engineering, Paul Cook of the Army Corp of Engineers said the estimated cost of repairing the Boundary County diking district could reach $23 million.

Kayser Insurance of Bonners Ferry, an Allstate Independent agency, won Allstate’s Distinguished Agency and National Conference Awards June 21. These awards are given to those agents who achieve annual goals for developing high-quality business across all insurance products lines.