From the Dayton Chronicle archives

Ten Years Ago

January 30, 2013

The Watco Company, who operates the Palouse River & Coulee City Railroad, would like a new lease agreement with the Port of Columbia. The current lease agreement states it may be renewed in 20 years. The railroad, which was given to the Port in the 1990s, is part of a 67-mile stretch of rail from Dayton to Wallula.

The Liberty Theater recently received a $2,000 safety grant from the PSE Foundation to improve safety in their lower level dressing rooms and a second fire escape exit.

Twenty-Five Years Ago

January 28, 1998

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that it has been in contact with the Miller Shingle logging company and is pursuing the purchase of the old Rainwater Ranch on the South Touchet. The 8,441.11-acre ranch is significant for elk habitat

During the summer of 1996 a meeting of the Dayton High School Class of 1943 noted the football that was awarded to Dayton as State Football Champions of 1942 was missing. The class had a replica of the championship football made and as a tribute to this exceptional team, commissioned Gene Crall to build a new trophy case for the lobby of the high school gymnasium.

Fifty Years Ago

February 1, 1973

If you are in need of a mule collar, you'll have to purchase it someplace other than Dingle's Dayton Hardware! Yep, Dingle's is cleaned out of mule collars following a recent transaction with a Portland, Oregon, man, who purchased 18-20 collars marked at the original price of $4.50 each. W.B. Dingle accepted a $100 bill for the lot and threw in a few odds and ends of saddlery.

Cease-fire Noted – End of the war in Vietnam was signaled in Dayton Saturday, January 27, at 4 p.m., local time of the official cease-fire agreement, with the sounding of the city fire siren and the ringing of bells in several churches.

Lt. Col. D. Gene Turner was retired from the United States Air Force at McChord AFB to conclude a military career which includes 30½ years of active and reserved time. Turner was retired by the Air Force since he had reached the mark of 28 rated years as a pilot, the maximum, allowed by the USAF.

Mrs. Wayne (Frances) Spoonemore, secretary for the Dayton School District No.2, has been nominated by the Washington Association of Educational Secretaries as the state's candidate for the NAES "Secretary of the Year" award.

Seventy-Five Years Ago

January 29, 1948

Lt. Wm. J. Reilly, San Francisco, winner of the featured race at the National air races held at Cleveland, piloted his P-80 jet craft to an average speed of 578.36 miles an hour, breaking the air speed record.

Elmer Edward Watts, 18, graduate of Dayton High School last June, drowned when a car in which he was passenger, left the Tiller Trail Road south of Roseburg and plunged into the river. Watts was the youngest son of Mrs. Ann Watts and the late Elmer Watts.

One Hundred Years Ago

January 31, 1923

Establishment of the three radio weather stations in the Mackenzie Valley which are to be set up by the Canadian Government during the coming summer, will mark a long step toward the world wide information necessary to make probable long range forecasts.

One Hundred Twenty-Five Years Ago

January 29, 1898

The past month Jacob Weinhard has had a force of men remodeling the front rooms of the Dayton Brewery, transforming it into a cold storage, filling it with ice from North Powder. The ice is 16 inches thick and as clear as a crystal. Under the ice pack is the cellar which will be so cold in summer that meats, vegetables, and fruits can be kept any length of time and beer stored therein.