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Category: Random News from the Newspapers on Microfilm Collection

“A Perpetual Ovation” in Port Townsend for Major Morris

“A Perpetual Ovation” in Port Townsend for Major Morris

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: The very first issue of The Democratic Press (August 31, 1877) covered a visit to Port Townsend by Treasury Agent William Gouverneur Morris. It is safe to say the reporter was not impressed.   A GILT-EDGED FARCE  “Port Townsend has been the recipient, recently, of a visit from Major Morris, Special Agent of the Treasury Department. This individual was sent here ostensibly for the purpose of…

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Fire Before Water at Fort Colvile

Fire Before Water at Fort Colvile

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: First there was Fort Colvile, the Hudson’s Bay Fort in present day Stevens County. Later, at another location a few miles away, there was Fort Colville, the U.S. military fort. As you can see by the spelling, the original Fort Colvile had the “L” kicked out of it. This randomly found article in the July 15, 1910 Chewelah Independent described how Fort Colvile was lost…

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Hikin’ Nell’s Varied and Vivid Experiences

Hikin’ Nell’s Varied and Vivid Experiences

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: From 1909 to 1921, give or take a few years, there was a woman who created a local news stir wherever she went, but somehow evaded the radar of national media. She criss-crossed the United States on foot and went under the name “Hiking” or “Hikin’” Nell. Nearly all the information sources I can find on Nell come from newspapers around the U.S. The following…

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Seattle Public Library, Down But Not Out

Seattle Public Library, Down But Not Out

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: This week’s random article comes from the Jan. 5, 1901 issue of The Ballard News, published at a time when Ballard was an independent incorporated city. But the news itself is actually about Seattle, and the almost total destruction of the Seattle Public Library by fire on the evening where 1900 turned into 1901. According to John Douglas Marshall’s book, Place of Learning, Place of…

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Amor de Cosmos Juggles a Sour Grass Steak in Kalama

Amor de Cosmos Juggles a Sour Grass Steak in Kalama

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: Now here’s a sentence I bet no one has constructed before: This is a tale of a crazed Canadian politician juggling and insulting a steak while in the process angering a future Washington Secretary of State to the point of near fisticuffs. The following article was found at random in the Dec. 16, 1895 issue of The Spokesman-Review. It recalls a visit to Kalama in…

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Coffee-O the Alchemist

Coffee-O the Alchemist

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: The random reel for this week contained the following article from the Dec. 17, 1920 issue of the South Bend Journal:  “COFFEE-O”, ONCE A RESIDENT, RETURNS AGAIN TO SOUTH BEND  Had Troubled Career — Is Sure He Can Make Gold — Fears Government Will Stop Him — Has Improved His Coffee Substitute.  “After over two years absence Albert Cornell, better known as ‘Coffee-O’ after a…

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Strange Freak of a Cat

Strange Freak of a Cat

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: The town of Sidney, Washington once had a newspaper with the unusual title of People’s Broadax. The first issue, dated Oct. 27, 1889,  was published just before statehood, and the final issue appears to be June 6, 1891. The Washington State Library has a complete run on microfilm. It was in the very last issue I found this interesting bit of news we can add…

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A Day of Accidents on the Sternwheeler Toledo

A Day of Accidents on the Sternwheeler Toledo

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: This week I grabbed a reel of microfilm at random and found myself drawn to an article on the very first frame. I was reading the June 3, 1887 issue of Cowlitz’s Advocate, a newspaper from Kalama. The newspaper was less than a year old when the presumed writer of the article below, William D. Close (1845-1914), purchased the paper in May 1887. A Union…

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Too Good to be True– The Hubbard Coil

Too Good to be True– The Hubbard Coil

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: The Hubbard Coil sounded too good to be true. As it turned out there was a little secret component the inventor neglected to share with the press. This week’s random article about the seemingly magical energy-producing device demonstrated by Alfred M. Hubbard was found in The Monroe Monitor, Sept. 17, 1920:  MYSTERIOUS COIL PROVES SUCCESS RUNS AUTOMOBILE ON EVERETT STREETS AND BOAT IN SEATTLE LAKE….

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The Mystery of Buckskin Joe

The Mystery of Buckskin Joe

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: The irony of hermits is that the more they desire to be alone, the more attention they garner. The hermit becomes an object of curiosity. For example, a character by the name of “Buckskin Joe” certainly got my interest when I randomly found the following short article on the front page of The Concrete Herald, Feb. 21, 1914: HERMIT OF UPPER SKAGIT IS FOUND DEAD…

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