This Week in Bonners Ferry History
100 Years Ago
Fred Shaw, who was arrested at Troy, Mont., recently on a federal warrant charging him with having made disparaging remarks about the Red Cross Organization was brought here Wednesday by the U.S. Marshall of the District of Montana and was arraigned before U.S. Commissioner C.W. King. Shaw waived a hearing and was bound over to federal court with bond fixed at $2,000. The complaint against Shaw was sworn to by C.H. Gardner, an employee of B.F. Lumber Co.
Vaccinations with a recently discovered serum, which from tests just completed at several Army camps, have been found to be an almost positive preventative against contracting pneumonia. The vaccine will be used to combat the epidemic of Spanish influenza that in the week just ended had made its appearance in every state and in all but a few Army camps, causing many deaths.
Statistics gathered under the direction of Brig. General R.E. Wood, acting quartermaster General of the Army, show that the cost of equipping and maintaining a soldier overseas is $423.47 a year. To equip and maintain a soldier in the U.S. costs $327.78 per year.
The Bonner Tie Co. is the name of a new company which has purchased a sawmill site 4 miles this side of Meadow Creek on the county road. A crew of men is getting the site ready for the erection of a mill which will have a capacity of about 25,000 feet daily. For the present, the mill will be used in cutting out ties. The company has secured enough timber to guarantee continuous running for nearly six years.
50 Years Ago
Recent completion of installation of modern chipping mill as part of a continuing program of modernization and improvement at the Bonners Ferry Lumber Company plant here has further stabilized this areas market for so-called “small logs” according to Fay Florea, Manager. Cost of the “Chip-n-Saw” installation was in excess of $125,000.
Mayor A.J. Baylon reported Wednesday that a letter has been received from the Idaho Highway Board regarding a financial arrangement for city utility relocations that will precede the start of construction of the new Bonners Ferry by-pass. Baylon and the Board’s letter indicated some disapproval with costs estimates submitted several months ago by city officials for the relocation project.
At the recent National American Legion and Auxiliary convention held in New Orleans, the Bonners Ferry Auxiliary Unit received a high honor when it was awarded the National First Place trophy for having the best poppy window display in 1968 for towns of 5,000 population of less.
15 Years Ago
The parents of a teenager who died almost five years ago sued an insurance company for refusing to settle their wrongful death claim. Pamela and Harry filed suit and seek damages in excess of $10,000. Their son, Ty Hartman 19, died Nov. 8, 1998. He was listed as missing for several weeks before Melissa Keane, Eric Dante, and Jon Graf, all teens, agreed to accept an agreement of limited prosecution in exchange for revealing Hartman’s whereabouts.
Don Nystrom was practicing a routine landing maneuver in his gyrocopter a short distance above the runway surface at Boundary County Airport last Friday when his rotor struck the ground resulting in extensive damages to the vehicle. There were no injuries.
— Submitted by the Boundary County Museum