Bonner County History - March 12, 2024
Brought to you by the
Bonner County Historical
Society and Museum
611 S. Ella Ave., Sandpoint, Idaho, 83864
208-263-2344
50 Years Ago
Sandpoint News-Bulletin
March 12, 1974 – PENNY STUMPF ENGAGED
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Stumpf, Rte. 1, Sandpoint, announce the engagement and upcoming marriage of their daughter, Penny, to Brian Wood, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jim Wood, Samuels. Miss Stumpf, a Sandpoint High graduate, is employed by Bank of Idaho, Sandpoint. Mr. Wood, who attended SHS, is employed as a truck driver in Sandpoint. A May 11 wedding at St. Agnes Episcopal Church is planned.
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McFARLAND HOME OFFERED FOR MUSEUM
The Bonner County Historical Society has been offered the L.D. McFarland home, Superior and First, for use as a museum. J.R. “Bob” McFarland, son of the L.D. McFarlands, has offered the home intact, and plans are to restore it to its original state. One of the first homes built in Sandpoint, the roomy house would provide a charming and appropriate location for the articles being collected by BCHS. At present, the society stores its collection in the library basement [2nd and Alder] but the space has grown too small for adequate display of the items.
75 Years Ago
Sandpoint News-Bulletin
March 12, 1949 – PAUL ON RAMPAGE
Paul, Lake Pend Oreille’s giant Kamloops, who, like an elephant, never forgets, is on a rampage again. Paul was captured over a year ago by Ed Hall, who built a huge pen of 122 pilings at Kilroy Bay. The big fish quickly escaped and since has upset farmers by gulping cows drinking at the shoreline, terrorized engineers by racing trains up the river from Albeni Falls to Sandpoint, and alarmed the county commissioners each time he squeezed through one of the drawbridges over the lake or river.
Paul again took after his old enemy, Hall, last week, Hall reported on his first visit to town since the recent spell of sub-zero weather. Hall had invited three eastern Washington wheat farmers to go ice fishing near Pend d’Oreille Lodge. Suddenly the ice began to lift and huge floes were thrown all about. Hall saw his friends on a piece of ice about an acre in size that was tossed up toward shore.
Although Hall was on a large floe, Paul spotted him and swam along like an ice-breaker, tossing great chunks of ice in all directions. Hall’s life apparently was saved by the fact that each time the big fish hit the floe he was on, it was split into so many pieces, Paul couldn’t spot the man for the splashes. Hall finally swam ashore near the railroad bridge shaken and exhausted. He walked back to the lodge to find his friends had left for home, where they said they had nothing to worry about but floods, tornadoes, cyclones, dust storms, thunder and lightning.
Hall met last week with the Bonner County Sportsmen Association, which sponsored the planting of Kamloops in Pend Oreille. They discussed whether it would be advisable to plant more of these fish, as there is a danger this region might become unsafe for humans if the unusual growth of the Kamloops continues. (Editor’s Note: Sure as shooting, someone won’t believe this story. We have witnesses who saw Hall walking with his clothes frozen stiff from Paul’s dunking).
For more information, visit the museum online at bonnercountyhistory.org.