From the Dayton Chronicle archives

Ten Years Ago

January 6, 2010

Record returns of Coho salmon to the middle and upper Columbia River this year signal the comeback of fish that 20 years ago were virtually extinct in upriver tributaries.

Twenty-Five Years Ago

January 8, 1995

A model horse show is being put on by the Rocking D Riders 4-H club. It will be held at the Dayton Fairgrounds on January 11. The Judge will be Valarie Korsberg and the show will be open to both novice and experienced showers.

Fifty Years Ago

January 1, 1970

January is March of Dimes Month and among strongest boosters for the annual fund campaign are six and one-half year-old Heidi Dunlap and her parents Mr. and Mrs. Duane Dunlap. Heidi is now a perky, normal little girl thanks to major surgery which corrected a congenital heart defect, with the Columbia County chapter of the National Foundation assisting the family with a share of the expenses for this operation.

Seventy-Five Years Ago

January 4, 1945

Ernie Pyle’s Slant on the War: This dispatch was written and first published when Pyle was with the GIs during the landing at Algeria. Our convoy carried an enormous number of troops and a heavy escort.

The ship seemed terribly crowded, and some complained bitterly of the food, but the worst trouble was a lack of hot water. The British standards of sanitation are so different from ours. The troops were warned about smoking or using flashlights on deck at night and against throwing cigarettes or orange peels overboard. It seems a sub commander can spot a convoy, hours after it has passed, by such floating debris.

Army officers and an agent of the FBI are shown here with parts of the Japanese balloon found recently in Montana, its explosives failed to go off. Another mysterious balloon was reported drifting inland from the ocean over Santa Monica, Calif.

Sale of Doll Nets Large Sum. During the holidays, the Columbia Neighbors sold a doll, a Teddy Bear and a doll’s tea set for the benefit of the Red Cross, and the sum of $132.50 was raised. Mrs. Frank Schafer received the doll, “Connie Columbia” with the extensive wardrobe and the accompanying chest, Della Jean Hilgert, the Teddy Bear and Mike Breiner the Tea set.

One Hundred Years Ago

January 3, 1920

Paris: Exchange of ratifications of the Treaty of Versailles will take place January 6 at the Quai d’Orsay. Diplomatic Relations Will Resume the Next Day–League of Nations Council meets two weeks later.

Irrigation Project Proposed. More than seventy-two thousand acres of Prescott and lower Eureka Flat lands are to be brought under the magic influence of irrigation, according to two applications that have been filed with the state hydraulic engineer. By diverting the waters of the Touchet River at Bolles, into a canal 12 feet wide at the bottom, 8 feet deep with a fall of two feet to the mile, concrete lined, will furnish ample water to irrigate the entire Touchet Valley from Bolles as well as 72,000 acres of Lower Eureka Flat lands.

One Hundred Twenty-Five Years Ago

January 5, 1895

On New Year’s Day, Chas. Thronson’s baby was quite sick, a team was hitched to the buggy and dispatched to bring Mrs. R. R. Vannice from her home to the Thronson ranch. When coming down the hill by the fish pond, the king bolt broke, letting the front end of the buggy down. The team ran away, dragging the driver quite a distance, bruising him considerably. Mrs. Vannice was thrown out and having several teeth broken out and was seriously injured.