This Day in Bonners Ferry History
100 Year
Sheriff Harry Sawyer died Tuesday night, at ten o’clock after a long illness resulting from anaemia. The funeral services were held Thursday afternoon at the Union church. As an officer he was careful and methodical, performing his duties without fear. He was a loyal friend and a conscientious public servant and his record is one that is envied by brother officers in all parts of the Northwest. The board of county commissioners will begin the process of selecting a successor.
Edgar Charles, proprietor of the Mission Hill Dairy, has been making tests of the soil of the bottom lands along the Kootenai river for indications of oil and he is convinced that this country has oil deposits but whether they lay in such a manner and in quantities which would pay to drill for is a questions.
The planing mill of the Bonners Ferry Lumber Company was destroyed by fire early Sunday morning. The loss is estimated at $49,000 which is practically covered by insurance. The origin of the fire is unknown. This is the second fire in the Bonners Ferry Lumber Company has had. The first occurred some eight years ago when the sawmill burned. The planing mill was built on a site which had formerly been a slough and which had been filled in with sawdust to a depth of twelve feet and over. It will be some time before the fire can be put out. A ditch will be constructed surrounding the fire and will be kept full of water. Crews will watch the place day and night to see that the fire does not spread. The planing mill will be rebuilt at once.
A couple of hundred tons of rock and dirt dropped from the cliff on the south end of Main street Saturday morning where dirt is being taken to fill the slough south of the county jail. Joe Meddock and Mike Mirabelli were loading a wagon when the slide came and they escaped being buried alive by jumping into the wagon which was shoved some 15 feet by the rocks. The wagons in the pit were badly smashed by the falling rock and Driver Bangs, with his team, had to do some tall scurrying to escape being caught.
50 Year
Don Schied, driver salesman for Darigold Farms, reported the recent theft of about $50 worth of dairy products from his delivery truck. He said the theft occurred during the night as the truck as parked at the Darigold creamery. Schied said the thieves were “nice” about the theft, as they left behind the cases containing the products stolen.
The practice of allowing the best sharpshooter or the most skilled angler to bag enough game or catch enough fish to fill out the bag limits of every unsuccessful member is called “party hunting” and is unlawful.
This may come as a surprise. A research study by a national advertising agency shows that the eight most popular participant sports, in order, are: cycling, boating, volleyball, bowling, camping, fishing, ice skating and softball. Another survey commissioned by the Forest Service showed that only a little more than one percent of the total western states’ population skied (as of three seasons ago).
Two school building proposals will be presented to voters on separate ballots in a special School District 101 election next Tuesday, Oct. 17th. On one of the ballots, voters will be asked to approve a bond issue of $875,000 for construction of a new senior high school. The bond issue would provide for a six-mill levy over a 20-year period. The second ballot will seek approval of a four-mill plant facility levy over a 10-year period for additional elementary school facilities.
15 Year
A five year dispute over Boundary Creek Road ended Wednesday after Boundary County Commissioners and the Idaho Panhandle National Forests reached an out of court settlement. The resolution will save taxpayers dollars, benefit national resources and reopen public access to the national forest.
The value of hunting and fishing is no small potato in Idaho. Hunters and anglers spent $754 million in Idaho last year, supporting 14,000 jobs in the state. The report from the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation and National Shooting Sports Foundation estimated that 416,000 anglers and 197,000 hunters contributed to the state’s economy.
A two-car accident left one person injured last Friday morning on the south end of the Kootenai River Bridge. The female driver of a dark blue Ford Explorer, Michelle Kramer, was traveling southbound on U.S. Highway 95 when a tan Ford pickup driven by John Pries who pulled into traffic intending to go north on Highway 95 from the Main Street entrance in downtown Bonners Ferry, Kramer struck the pickup just behind the driver’s door. The impact knocked the pickup’s camper shell off the vehicle and across the roadway. Kramer was transported to Boundary Community Hospital where she was treated and released.
Panhandle Health District is encouraging residents in the five northern counties to take precautions against being bitten by mosquitoes, following the announcement that West Nile virus has been detected in a dead raven, collected near Newport, Wash.