Bonner County History - April 1, 2021

From the archives of the

Bonner County History Museum

611 S. Ella Ave., Sandpoint, Idaho, 83864

208-263-2344

50 Years Ago

Sandpoint News-Bulletin

April 1, 1971 – BIRTHS

March 28 – Mr. and Mrs. Larry Hull, Sandpoint, boy, 8 lb. 3½ oz.; March 29 – Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Reilly, Sandpoint, boy, 6 lb. 14 oz.

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PROUDLY WE SALUTE…

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class James R. Martin, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Martin and husband of the former Miss Carolyn Buck, all of Sandpoint, is serving aboard USS De Haven in Southeast Asia.

Steve Crowell, a Washington State University sophomore from Sandpoint, was initiated into Arnold Air Society Air Force ROTC honorary.

Sp-5 Wiley J. Marks, son of Mr. and Mrs. Blaine Marks, Kootenai, received the Air Medal with “V” device (2nd award) for exceptional duty Aug. 21, 1970, when he and his pilot sustained support of an evacuation helicopter under fire after Marks accurately placed smoke grenades on the Viet Cong positions. Sp-5 Marks is an aerial scout observer with the Air Cavalry Troop, 11th ACR.

Coast Guard Seaman Apprentice Shaun D. Gass, son of Mr. and Mrs. John R. Gass, Sagle, completed eight weeks of recruit training at the U.S.C.G. Training and Supply Center, Alameda, Calif. Gass attended Northrop Institute of Technology in Inglewood, Calif.

First Lieut. Howard A. Wallace is on duty at Binh Thuy AB, Vietnam. His wife Carol is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L.L. White, 525 Lake St., Sandpoint.

100 Years Ago

Pend d’Oreille Review

April 1, 1921 – FIRST CAR THROUGH

The first automobile to make the trip through from the east arrived in Sandpoint, driven by Henry Hanson of Butte. He found the roads from the Idaho line much better than Montana roads. He left Butte at 10 a.m. Tuesday, arriving here at 4 p.m. Friday.

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MATCH FACTORY GOES UP IN SMOKE

The Sandpoint match block factory of Sommers Brothers Match co. of Saginaw, Mich., located just east of the north end of the Humbird lumber mill yards, a mile north of the city, was completely destroyed by fire Tuesday night. The flames were first discovered breaking from the factory roof about 9 o’clock in the evening by a night watchman at the Humbird mill. As the big siren at the Humbird power plant turned loose its sonorous avalanche of blasts, the fire’s glow began to light up the sky and within a few minutes the light of the fire and huge clouds of smoke could be seen for miles. The Humbird mill crews began throwing streams of water on the lumber piles in the Humbird yards where about 20,000,000 feet of manufactured lumber is stored. The flames attracted a crowd of about a thousand, most of whom walked to the scene down the Kootenai road or down the Northern Pacific right-of-way while several score of autos were parked on the road near the factory and a squadron of bicycles was parked at odd spots about the scene. The fire continued all night and the remaining mounds of embers were still glowing Wednesday morning.

For more information, visit the museum online at bonnercountyhistory.org.