100 Years Ago — 1920

Businessmen

visit station

The purpose and work of the Priest River Forest Experiment Station were explained to a party of businessmen Saturday. Chas. W. Beardmore, Roy Rannells, Bob Dow, F. C. Smith, and S. A. Wickware spent the day at the station. R. H. Weidman, director of the Northern Rocky Mountain Forest Experiment Station, explained the work to them.

90 Years Ago — 1930

Infantile golf on the way

Infantile golf, which of late has become the craze throughout the country, has not struck Priest River.

E. J. Peterson, proprietor of the Albeni Falls dance hall, is now having an 18-hole course laid out at the Falls.

80 Years Ago — 1940

Changing times, changing prices

Prices at Mears Dept. Store, Priest River, “Where a dollar does its duty,” looked especially attractive this week. A quart jar of R & W coffee was just 25 cents.

Ladies shoes were 69 cents, and Western Logger axes (handled) cost just $2.95. At the City Market, sugar-cured bacon was selling for 19 cents a pound, while prime steer beef roast was only 16 cents a pound.

70 Years Ago — 1950

Train fatality at Laclede

Funeral services for Sylvester Francis Perry were held Aug. 11 at the Laclede Grange Hall. Burial was in the Seneacquoteen Cemetery.

Perry died at Sacred Heart Hospital after a railroad accident July 30 at the Ellersick crossing near Laclede when his car was struck by a Great Northern train. He was a native of Iowa who came to Bonner County in 1936, and farmed a small acreage at Laclede.

60 Years Ago--1960

Slough takes life

Richard Nathan Stringfield, 35, of Dillon, Colo., drowned late Wednesday afternoon in the Pend Oreille River, about 3 miles east of Priest River. Stringfield, his wife, and Mr. And Mrs. Roy Kyrisio of Englewood, Colo., were camping in the area known as Gaiser’s Slough. Stringfield, a non-swimmer, apparently fell in, and his partner was unable to pull him out.

50 Years Ago — 1970

Lake dam work starts

Equipment is being moved in this week in preparation for next week’s start of construction on the Priest Lake Dam.

To be constructed on Priest River just below Lamb Creek and the Erma Britton cabins, the dam will be 189 feet long and 20 feet in width. Morris-Knudsen Construction Co. Has the contract for building the dam, which will be financed by Washington Water Power Company.

40 Years Ago — 1980

Filtration plant worries Brower

Are Priest River residents willing to spend millions of dollars to accommodate new development? That’s a question that worries the city’s water plant operator, Ted Brower. If several new developments like the Ropp development — a proposed 35-unit complex — are constructed, or a new industry comes in that uses lots of water, Brower said the city’s water filtration plant might not be sufficient to handle demand in peak summer months.

30 Years Ago — 1990

Business Activities

Priest River Chamber of Commerce and Priest River Development Corporation members discussed the formal separation of the two organizations’ board of directors at an Aug. 14 chamber meeting. The two organizations share the same officers and the board meetings for both are held simultaneously. Chamber member Terri Kim said, “We need a board of directors that is 100 percent looking after the best interests of the chamber. Board member Richard Kim said the “split” would be beneficial to the PRDC as well, because it would allow its board members additional time to handle the concerns of the PRDC without have to address chamber issues.

20 Years Ago — 2000

Tested again

A machine used to gauge the contour of a road was rolling again Friday along the stretch of U. S. Highway 2 between Oldtown and Priest River. According to Idaho Transportation Department resident engineer Ken Sorenson, the first Profilograh reading was rejected by state inspectors, forcing a second trip up and back the 6.3-mile portion under construction for most of the summer.

According to Sorenson, the ITD rejected the original Profilograph because the machine’s settings were not calibrated properly.