Spring thaw has community’s mail being delivered by horse
100 Years Ago — 1920
Mail going with horses
Because of the poor condition of the roads due to the spring thaw, the auto stages were taken off their runs last week and the mails have been taken out with horses.
90 Years Ago — 1930
Priest River Bridge work underway
Sam Boudrie, bridge contractor, states that all the steel for the (highway) bridge has arrived, and it will be but a few weeks before the bridge will be completed, provided adverse weather conditions do not hold up the workmen.
80 Years Ago — 1940
Airport hangar permit approved
The village council Monday evening approved Wilbur Shawgo’s application for a permit to erect a 26- by- 40-foot hangar on the Priest River Airport.
70 Years Ago — 1950
Laclede bridge too expensive
Bonner County commissioners were advised last week that the proposed bridge across the Pend Oreille River at Laclede is so expensive to construct that it is impractical.
The cost of the 1,000-foot structure has risen from the original estimate of $201,000 to a minimum of $600,000.
The bridge, to replace the Thama and Laclede ferries, has been the No. 1 project on the county road program for several years, and the county has been accumulating funds for its share of the cost.
60 Years Ago — 1960
Science fair a success
Several hundred projects were on display at the first ever Science Fair at the high school gymnasium. Entries, covering a wide field of subjects, represented the work of individual students, groups of students working together on a single project, or a room project of the elementary grades.
The Science Fair was sponsored by the high school Science Club and instructor James Estes as a preliminary to the county Science Fair March 18.
50 Years Ago — 1970
Delegates selected
Delegates and alternates selected to represent Priest River High School at Syringa Girls State in June are Marcia Elkins and Diane Baker, alternates, and Mara‘d Connnolly, delegates. Boys State delegates are Russ Hoepfer, alternate, and Tim Carpenter, delegate.
40 Years Ago — 1980
Kokanos resigns council seat
Councilman Les Kokanos resigned his seat on the city council meeting Monday night. “I’ve just got too many irons in the fire,” said Kokanos, who was a write-in candidate in the last municipal election.
30 Years Ago — 1990
Slum & Blight grant approved
The city of Priest River received word Friday the state Slum and Blight grant it had applied for was passed, which will provide necessary funding to reconstruct four streets downtown next month.
The city’s pothole-scarred “pioneer roads,” which have borne a dubious reputation for their ability to swallow automobiles in a single pass, throw cars totally out of alignment, and enrage innocent motorists are on the mend.
20 Years Ago — 2000
Judges’ choices announced
Tambi Cork, was the out-of-town judges’ choice for Priest River Junior Miss 2000-2001 before a packed house Saturday night in the junior high auditorium. Jamie Dockins was first alternate, and Jessie Turner second alternate. Theme of this year’s program was “Be Our Guest,” from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.”