Out of the Past: 12/31/2025

100 Years Ago—

Bagley’s Portrait Studio at Kettle Falls is showing some beautiful reproductions of the Kettle Falls of the Columbia and surrounding scenery; they are the personal work of Mr. Bagley, who has copyrights for about 20 pictures of the falls, and sold them for $50 each for calendar use in the east.

Ownership of the Colville Theater today passes from Flint & Girtanner to D.A. and George Morgan, who for 12 years have been in photoplay production at Harrington and Ritzville.

75 Years Ago—    

Colville may have a first-class post office in 1951. C.F. Lee, local postmaster, revealed Wednesday that the gross receipts of the local office passed the first-class requirement. But final say in the change from second to first class will be made by the post office department in Washington, D.C.

The Gifford-Inchelium ferry was closed by the National Park Service this week and commissioners from Ferry and Stevens Counties joined in efforts to have service re-stored. The Park Service ordered the ferry to stop operation Dec. 31, due to slide conditions in the area.

Margaret Frye’s heroic act of saving the lives of four children at Park Rapids, 18 miles east of Colville on Oct. 18, will be broadcast over a national radio hookup on Wednesday, Jan. 10, at 8:30 a.m. The broadcast will be heard in this area over radio station KHQ, The Jack Berch Show, sponsored by the Prudential Life Insurance Company.

50 Years Ago—  

Stevens County Population Grows—Stevens County, 1970: 17,405, 1975: 22,708.  Colville, 1970: 3,742, 1975: 4,291. Chewelah, 1970: 1,365, 1975: 1,691. Kettle Falls, 1970: 893. 1975: 926. Northport, 1970: 423, 1975: 429. Springdale, 1970: 215, 1975: 244. Marcus, 1970: 142, 1975: 169.

The Spokane Concert Orchestra, under the direction of Donald Thulean, will be making their biennial performance in Colville Jan. 24, at the Colville Junior High School auditorium. As an added feature, the Colville Community Choir will perform with the orchestra.

25 Years Ago—

The city of Colville has sent a letter to the Department of Ecology (DOE) outlining an alternative to the new wastewater facility plan. The plan was approved by DOE in April, at which time it was estimated to cost $18 million. As design progressed, more precise estimates revealed costs closer to $22 million – an amount the city told DOE was unaffordable. Members of city staff met with DOE on Dec. 13 to discuss the issue and have since sent the agency a formal proposal for modification to the plan.

10 Years Ago—

As a reminder, Washington State’s minimum wage will stay the same in 2016 at $9.47 per hour.

INCHELIUM—Last week, Washington author Carmen Peone celebrated the nationwide release of her poignant new young adult novel, “Delbert’s Weir.”