20 years ago, May 11, 1995
Stephanie Mountjoy and Tiffany Langdalen
50 years ago, May 6, 1965
Kindergarten Through
Kindergarten pupils of Mrs. Art Frey ended their school year last Tuesday.
The young students, and needless to say, their parents, are looking forward to the start of grammar school in the fall. Local children who attended the classes were Danny Wagoner, Debbie Acord, Lori Blackhall, Scott Darwood, Les Stokes, Bobby Laws, Wayne Stevie, Beverly Sonnichsen, Bobby Yocum, Paul Fletcher and Randy Bames.
80 years ago, May 3, 1935
Banker Warns Against Power Bill in 1936
Expressing vigorous opposition to the projected referendum and constitutional amendment which would put the state into the business of distributing electric power, E.F. Banker, director of conservation and development, Saturday warned Okanogan county stockmen not to vote for a “$30,000,000 first mortgage against your homes and farms.”
Banker, who for many years has been an Okanogan county cattleman himself, declared that the federal government already has plans mapped out for building trunk power lines to distribute Grand Coulee and Bonneville power. Three million dollars have already been set aside by President Roosevelt for this purpose for Grand Coulee….
The Winthrop man, who declared there have been 19 annual stockmen’s association meetings in Okanogan county of which he has attended 18, painted a glowing picture of the future that lies ahead of Washington and the Pacific Northwest.
“For a quarter of a century Washington has stood still,” he said, “and in the last year its population increased for the first time in that period. Meanwhile California has gone forward by leaps and bounds, until today that state has more people in one county than we have in the entire state of Washington.
“Now it appears that conditions all over the country have conspired to give Washington her opportunity. People are seeking some new fields, to escape from the drought ridden middle west. We have here the largest body of fertile, irrigable land in the West, and we are building at Grand Coulee, the beginning of a project which will put water on that land and make it support thousands of happy, prosperous families. — Okanogan Independent.
100 years ago, May 7, 1915
Loup Loup Road
According to the District Forester, Portland, Oregon, work will begin very soon on the Loup Loup road, which forms the “missing link” in a road running across the divide between the Okanogan and Methow valleys in northern Washington.
For some time it has been necessary for people coming and going between the two valleys to make the trip from Okanogan to Twisp by way of Brewter and Pateros, a distance of 69 miles. To make the trip by way of the National forest and the divide was a distance of 37 miles. There was an old road, but in places it was well nigh impassable, and in others it was little more than a trail. Work was begun last season to develop this road into a usable highway, suitable for automobiles and heavy traffic. The county is looking after the care and improvement of that part of the highway outside of the forest boundary. According to the preliminary survey, the government road will stretch from Dunham’s sawmill on the east edge of the national forest to Ramm’s ranch on the west, a distance of approximately 14 ½ miles. About 5 ½ miles was completed last season.
The three main improvements necessary are at the headwaters of Frazer creek where a mile of new road will be laid to cut out a thirty per cent grade, at the summit of the divide where clay or gravel surfacing will replace half a mile of loose sand, and at the head of Summit creek where three bad grades and washouts will be avoided by two miles of re locating and proper drainage.
