1925 — 100 years ago
A man who gave his address at Dee, has discovered that not only is it theoretically impossible to mix moonshine and gasoline, but any experimentation along these lines is costly. He was picked up by local officers last week end after putting his auto through a number of stunts which, officers declare, could only be pulled by a man under the influence of liquor. Taking the view that the man was very drunk while at the wheel of his car, Justice Blagg passed the following sentence, which kindly legislature recently outlined for the guidance of justices of the peace: $100 fine, 60 days in jail, revocation of driver’s license for one year and detention of car for 30 days.
— Hood River News
Fred W. Wilson, circuit judge for Wasco and Hood River counties is quoted in an article entitled “What the Judges say about Divorce” which appears in the May “Good Housekeeping” magazine (1925 edition) as follows: “Instead of all this talk about the divorce evil, more attention should be given to the marriage evil.” Nineteen hundred judges, from all sections of the United States, were asked for their opinion on the question. Judge Wilson’s answer appears on page 121.
— The Dalles Chronicle
1945 — 80 years ago
The trout fishing season opened officially in this area last Saturday, and a large number of anglers were out over the week end trying their luck. Conditions, however, were not as good as expected, for few anglers are reporting their catches, most of them complaining that the wind was too high or the water too roily. However, a good story is being told in the valley, concerning a youngster who, carrying a pole and a string of about 25 fish, some of them undersized, came face to face with a game warden on a stream. Sensing trouble ahead, as the warden counted and inspected the fish, the boy’s brain went into high gear, and when the warden said: “Son, that’s a mighty big string of fish you have,” the boy came back with: “Naw, that ain’t so good, you ought to see the string my brother has. He’s got twice as many!”
— Hood River News
The boiling eddies and churning water in the Columbia River at Five Mile rapids Thursday yielded a life, instead of claiming it in the customary manner. According to J. E. McMullen, lockman at Five Mile, a 17-year-old Indian youth is alive today because a swirling eddy cast him onto the bank, after sucking his body almost to the bottom of the river. The youth, Wesley R. Tkumsur, slipped from his fishing platform and fell into the river about 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning. ... “Everything was black. I thought my lungs were about to burst, when all of a sudden I felt myself being thrust above the surface of the water,” Tkumsur told the guard. “The next thing I knew I was on the bank, so exhausted I couldn’t move.”
— The Dalles Chronicle
Three marines became aces in 20 minutes of aerial combat about 60 miles northwest of Okinawa last night. They were Major George C. Axtell Jr., 24, commanding officer of a marine fighter squadron who shot down five Jap dive bombers and damaged three others; Major Jefferson Davis Dorrah, 24, who sent six bombers crashing into the sea, and Lt. Jeremiah J. O’Keefe, 21, who bagged five bombers. Dorrah is from Hood River, Ore. His wife lives in Riverside, Calif.
— The Dalles Chronicle
The Twin Harbors Lumber company, tent pole factory at Bingen, the nation’s largest single producer of tent poles for military use, was destroyed by fire Monday with loss estimated at $500,000. Consumed with the plant were 12 railroad cars, six of which were loaded and ready for shipment. Approximately 190 persons were employed by the firms, which recently had been placed on the critical war industry list for three week shift operations seven days a week. More than half of all tent poles for army, navy and marine corps were being manufactured at the Bingen mill and orders on hand were reported sufficient to insure continued operation for a year … the Bingen-White Salmon tent pole factory had been awarded the Army-Navy “E” award at impressive ceremonies last February in recognition of its part in the war industry.
— White Salmon Enterprise
1965 — 60 years ago
Sharp improvement in fluoride control at the Harvey Aluminum plant is implied in the latest special report by the Agricultural Experiment Station at Oregon State University. The document, titled “Fluoride Levels in Crops of The Dalles area in 1962 and 1963,” contains calculations and charts some of them provide side-by-side figures comparing the results of tests made on foliage during the two years.
— The Dalles Chronicle
Visitors to Corps of Engineers reservoirs in western Oregon more than doubled during March, according to Colonel William J. Talbott, Portland U.S. Army District Engineer. Over 173,700 people were counted compared to 64,800 in February. Leading all other projects in attendance was Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, 40 miles east of Portland. There 66,100 visitors converged on the project, which was the first am on the main stem of the Columbia. At The Dalles Dam, 48 miles upstream 4,200 visitors were counted. Peak day for nine of the 11 reservoirs was Sunday, March 14. At Bonneville Dam alone, over 7,200 visitors were counted that day. Most of the people who came to the reservoirs were sightseers. However, with the coming of better weather the number of campers, boaters, picknickers and water skiers increased appreciably during this month.
— White Salmon Enterprise
1985 — 40 years ago
Your Rental Center was broken into early last week and a safe was cut open, resulting in a loss of about $2,175 in checks, credit cards and cash. The burglary occurred sometime late Monday or early Tuesday last week and was reported during the day Tuesday by an employee. He reported that the business safe had been taken into the shop area and was opened with a cutting torch. A hole was cut in the bottom of the safe.
— Hood River News
Voters in the White Salmon Valley School District will be asked to approve an operations and maintenance levy election Tuesday. The school levy, to be collected April and October 1986, would total $308,000, an increase over the current levy, which voters approved last year in the amount of $298,000. The 1986 levy would replace the current levy, and even though the total amount would be higher, the actual amount collected per thousand dollars of assessed valuation will be slightly lower than the current tax levy, due to an increase in the total assessed valuation of the district. The 1986 operations and maintenance levy would total approximately $2.14 per $1,000 assessed valuation from the current $2.15 per $1,000. The replacement levy would preserve existing levels of programs and curriculum, upgrade libraries and expand use of computers for instruction, purchase materials for a comprehensive K-12 drug and alcohol program and replace a number of worn-out desks.
— White Salmon Enterprise
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