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Category: Random News from the Newspapers on Microfilm Collection

An Unusual Town Produces an Unusual Egg

An Unusual Town Produces an Unusual Egg

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: This item was found in The Chesaw News, July 5, 1912:   A FREAK EGG  An Egg Within An Egg, Both Perfect, At Baker Ranch.  “Mrs. Stanton Baker is among the many who have turned their attention to poultry raising on a little larger scale than usual this season, having invested in blooded stock from a well known outside breeder of leghorns. While the season is…

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A Rainmaker Meets His Match in Ephrata

A Rainmaker Meets His Match in Ephrata

Hatfield and towers in Hemet, California, 1912 From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: The reel grabbed at random this week contained The Big Bend Empire, the first newspaper established in Waterville, Washington. The issue for May 13, 1920 included this intriguing article:  EPHRATA TO TRY OUT RAINMAKER  “The people around the Grant county seat want rain, and in fact they are willing to try any old scheme to get it, even…

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Ulcer County Gazette

Ulcer County Gazette

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: The microfilm reel grabbed at random this week contained The Puyallup Valley Tribune. The following article was found on the front page of the issue for January 14, 1922:  “122-Year-Old” Newspapers Are Well Preserved “Some people are willing to admit that ‘Barnum was right.’” “Others insist on absolute proof. Many schemes have been formulated to substantiate Mr. Barnum’s observations, but one of the latest is…

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“The darkness was absolute”– The Creepy Cloud of Swamp Lake

“The darkness was absolute”– The Creepy Cloud of Swamp Lake

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: The following article was found at random in the July 31, 1908 issue of The Ephrata Journal. What is it describing? Swamp gas? A fog anomaly? A strange portal into another dimension?  HARRINGTON FOLKS ARE PERPLEXED  LAKE SURROUNDED BY DARKNESS WHILE SUN IS SHINING  Queer Phenomena Vouched for by Leading Citizens of Lincoln County Town But No Explanation is Vouchsafed — Discovered by Accident by…

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Georgetown Voters Unfair to Dr. Fehr

Georgetown Voters Unfair to Dr. Fehr

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: Pennsylvania-born Dr. Albert Henry Fehr appears to have arrived in the then independent city of Georgetown, Washington around 1908, at age 36. He specialized in horses, and even had a patent in 1899 on a toe-weight for equines. In 1906 he was a one-day national news sensation when he blew the whistle on a horse he was ordered to drug in order to fix a…

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A Ruse By Any Other Name

A Ruse By Any Other Name

Arlington Buckingham Wadsworth From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: The Nov. 15, 1902 issue of The Spokane Press has a news account of a well known international con artist being arrested in Australia. The writer reminds the readers this criminal had made Spokane his home at one time:   HE WAS A SOCIETY MAN IN SPOKANE  Now Arrested in Australia—Wanted in Many Places for Similar Offences.  “The following telegraphic dispatch from Chicago will…

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There are No Grog Shops, Low Dance Halls, or Gambling Dens in Utopia: But There Are Cigars!

There are No Grog Shops, Low Dance Halls, or Gambling Dens in Utopia: But There Are Cigars!

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: The community of Burley was one of several utopian experiments that had an opportunity to root and briefly flourish in the frontier of Washington in the late 1800s/early 1900s. The story of Burley isn’t quite as filled with controversy and drama as the other collective communities such as the Puget Sound Co-Operative Colony, Equality, Freeland, and Home. Perhaps that makes the place worth a second…

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War Horses From Okanogan

War Horses From Okanogan

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: In 1906 cowboys in the Ephrata area rounded up a few thousand wild horses and sold them to buyers back East in what was known as “The Last Grand Roundup.” At the time this event was considered a final farewell to the era of the Old West in Eastern Washington. But the day of the horse wasn’t quite over. Amazingly, horses were in so much…

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DungeNessie

DungeNessie

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: Shortly after losing the status of Clallam County seat in an election in 1890, many in the town of New Dungeness picked up and moved across the river forming a community called, interestingly enough, Dungeness. This new hamlet even had an optimistic (although short-lived) newspaper: The Dungeness Beacon. The following item was found at random in the July 29, 1892 issue, reprinted from Port Townsend’s…

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Leave it to Beaver (Washington)

Leave it to Beaver (Washington)

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: The settlement of Beaver, Washington is a little bit north of Forks. According to the USGS: “Originally, Beaver Camp, which had Beaver PO, was a logging camp located to the east of Tyee and moved west as the logging progressed. As Tyee continued to grow and Beaver Camp did not, the Post Office moved 2.4 km (1.5 mi) west to Tyee. In 1957, it was…

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