This Week in Bonners Ferry History
100 Years Ago
Word was received on Thursday that Pt. Charles Edward Huntington was killed in action on Sept. 6. His mother is Mrs. R.E. Huntington who lives here with her son, R.H. Wall who is a half brother of the deceased.
One of the most interesting war souvenirs is a German helmet which was sent to J. Bert Cowen by his brother who is on active duty in France. The helmet has seen some rough usage and bears the mark of either a bullet or a piece of shrapnel on the front. It is on display at the First State Bank. A great many souvenirs of all kinds have been secured by the American soldiers and the government is allowing them to be sent home quite freely.
A.V. Hemming, proprietor of Rushmeade Ranch on Deep Creek Road has a hay stack which he claims is about the largest ever put up in the Kootenai Valley. It contains about 400 tons of rush hay and is stacked about 20 feet high. The hay being cut now on the bottom lands is as fine as has ever been produced in this district.
Crimes in Russia alarm President Wilson. Horrified by the bloody reign of terror in Russia, the U.S. has called upon all allied and neutral nations to consider what they may do to impress upon the Bolsheviki the aversion with which the civilized world regards their wanton crimes. The action aligns the U.S. with Great Britain and France in declaring the Bolsheviki responsible for the murders and crime which has shocked the world. The reported action of the Bolsheviki in effecting an alliance with Germany for offense and defense is an added cause for the step.
50 Years Ago
Homecoming festivities continue tonight with a noise rally at 6:45, when the four high school classes will roar through Main Street with each attempting to take the top prize for providing the most noise. Students will start their serpentine at the Bank of Idaho parking lot and go through Main Street with their various conglomerations of victory chants, slithering over, under, around, and through anything along the way to the school grounds. Once there, the students will toss a Post Falls Trojan in effigy into a huge bonfire while student leaders take charge of the rally with cheers and more noise. The Homecoming Parade with class floats will be Friday night at 7.
Joe Lloyd LaFountain, 53-year-old Bonners Ferry resident, was fatally injured Monday morning when struck by a falling tree while cutting logs near Troy, Mont. He was employed by Ervin Madson Logging Company, working as a sawyer.
15 Years Ago
Twenty years after gaining notoriety for harboring a cold war spy, a Boundary County woman is back behind bars for taking in another fugitive. Gloria Ann White was arrested Friday and accused of harboring her son, who is wanted on rape and burglary charges in Oregon, Boundary County Sheriff’s Det. Mike Naumann said on Tuesday.
School Trustees unanimously approved a settlement agreement Monday with two Boundary County families challenging Boundary County School District’s 2002 plant facilities levy and its lease purchase with Zion’s Bank. As part of the settlement, the school district will receive $250,000 from Zion’s Bank and has agreed to pay the plaintiffs attorney fees and costs of $60,625.44.
With more than 90 percent of the Myrtle Creek Fire finally contained, the City of Bonners Ferry is starting to begin the healing process. Kerby said the city is now exploring the option of using tanker trucks to transport water from other creeks in the area as an alternative back-up plan in case the city is no longer able to pump water from the Kootenai River.
— Submitted by the Boundary County Museum