By Owen Sexton
owen@chronline.com
In this installment of A Look Back in Time, the Friday, Feb. 28, 1936, edition of The Chronicle featured a story about Chehalis police and Lewis County Sheriff’s deputies arresting Harry Black after he broke into the home of Chehalis resident Pauline Wenzel and made off with a single dollar.
Also in the Friday, Feb. 28, 1936, edition of The Chronicle, a photo of a wayward sea lion named “Sergeant Finnegan” made the front page after the animal somehow made its way over 100 miles from the coast and ended up on a farm south of Portland.
And in the Saturday, Feb. 28, 1976, edition of The Chronicle, Chronicle reporter Sam Benowitz shared stories from his recent trip to the Baja Peninsula in a “Chronicle Correspondent” story — where he met Guillermo, a business owner and volunteer police officer in Bahía de los Ángeles, who during his time as law enforcement, had made his only arrests three years prior when he arrested “an American and a Frenchman for bathing nude on the beach.”
A Look Back in Time is compiled using Chronicle archives stored at the Lewis County Historical Museum — located at 599 NW Front St. in Chehalis — along with digital archives on newspapers.com.
Friday, Feb. 28, 1936
• Chehalis police and Lewis County sheriff’s deputies arrested Harry Black after he was “positively identified” as the burglar who broke into the home of Chehalis resident Pauline Wenzel on Thursday, The Chronicle reported. “He will face charges of second degree burglary. Black, it is alleged, was in the room of Miss Elsie Wenzel when she was awakened. His arrest was made through a description given by the girl. He escaped (the Wenzel home) with $1 in cash.”
• The front page of The Chronicle featured the photo of a wayward sea lion named “Sergeant Finnegan,” who had somehow made his way over 100 miles away from the coast, somehow ending up on a farm south of Portland earlier that week. “An amazed farmer near Aurora, Oregon, awoke the other morning to find a new species of Oregon fauna occupying his pasture two miles from the nearest water. The newest convert to the back to the land movement turned out to be Sergeant Finnegan, a sea lion which had worked its way up the Columbia River, up the Willamette (River) and over Willamette Falls to a point 125 miles from the Pacific.”
• Former Tenino Mayor Theodore F. Mentzer, a pioneer who came to Washington state in 1889, died that day at the age of 86, The Chronicle reported. “A Native of Marion, Iowa, he had attended schools at Cedar Rapids, graduated from Cornell College (Iowa), and served in the Iowa state Legislature. Mentzer later practiced law at Mitchell, South Dakota, and was elected successively mayor of that city and a state representative. In 1889 he left Mitchell for Washington state, where he resumed his law practice and entered the timber business. For a number of years he had extensive interests at Tenino, where he was also elected mayor. He was elected to the Washington Legislature from Thurston County. Mentzer was chairman of the Thurston County Republican Central Committee as late as 1934. Survivors include his widow … Elizabeth E. Wallace of Mitchell, and a son, Theodore T. Mentzer, of Portland.”
• Baled grass hay was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $12 a ton.
Thursday, Feb. 28, 1946
• Centralians were ignoring a city ordinance requiring permits for construction and remodeling of homes and businesses according to Centralia Fire Chief Walter Ryckman, who made a report to the Centralia City Commission on Tuesday, The Chronicle reported. “Permits for all types of construction must be obtained prior to building or remodeling, the officer said. They may be secured at city hall. Ryckman, who has been acting in a dual role of fire chief and building inspector, presented his report following dozens of inspection trips throughout the city. In many instances, on construction work, he found no permit had been obtained, and on other jobs permits were taken out for work that was well below the actual cost of the construction. As a result of the fire chief’s report, commissioners moved to take action against further violators of the law by imposing fines.”
• Former Colorado Gov. Ralph Carr was set to speak at an upcoming Centralia Chamber of Commerce meeting, according to Chamber secretary Don Ward, The Chronicle reported. “The subject of Governor Carr’s talk will be ‘River Valley Authorities.’ He is recognized as an outstanding authority on this topic, especially as it pertains to future development of regional river basins. He has been quoted as saying, ‘River authorities are not needed. They offer nothing which has not already been planned. The word authority means just what it says, and inevitably spells the end of free representative government.’ … He will speak on behalf of the organizations which are united in a program of development on a basis that will further free enterprise and protect the local rights of the people from any three-man rule of the Columbia River Basin.”
• A seven-room home “about one mile from city center,” with a “good barn, chix house, brooder house, double garage, machine shed and other outbuildings; elect. pump, lights, telephone, in fact everything that the city has plus 76 acres of good land, about 20 acres cleared and seeded,” was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $10,000.
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 1956
• Members of the Chehalis chapter of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) were due to be awarded a pair of heifers, The Chronicle reported. “At a meeting in recognition of national FFA week, held last week by the Chehalis chapter, (an) announcement was made by the Sears-Roebuck and Company Foundation that two Hereford heifers will be presented to the chapter for its successes in rotating projects. A special pun and guard were presented to the chapter officers by Ray Melhart, Chehalis Chamber of Commerce president. Ed Svinth, chapter advisor, related the history of the FFA and said the Chehalis chapter now has 38 state farmers, plus four pending applications, in addition to two American Farmer members. Bob McCormick and George Hewlett showed a series of slides taken on their recent trip to the national FFA convention in Chicago, and John Sauter gave a speech on ‘greater strawberry production.’ Entertainment for the evening’s program was provided by Gilbert Haskin, Kathy Sauter, Janet Stevenson, Charles McCormick and Fred Teitzel.”
• A group of buyers from Winlock and Chehalis won an auction for the old Toledo School District grade school building after an initial auction for the building was held where no bids were placed, The Chronicle reported. “A surprised Toledo School Board Monday night saw the district’s old grade school building go for a price of $1,350 in spirited bidding. The buyers were Carl Young, Winlock, and Leland and Joe Uehling and Francis Crisp, Chehalis. They will dismantle the building and use its building material. Superintendent George Murdock said the directors were amazed at the results of the auction. Previously, the board had offered the building with a minimum price of $1,320. No buyers appeared. Then the directors redacted the minimum price to $720, with the second auction effort bringing the $1,350 amount … The school structure, first put into use in 1922, is a frame building measuring 125 by 100 feet and including six classrooms and a gymnasium. The new owners have until Nov. 1 to remove it. School heads added the site was not included in the sale.”
• A partially furnished, five-room home in the “Snively addition” in Chehalis was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $9,850. A three-bedroom home four miles west of Chehalis was listed for rent for $50 a month.
Monday, Feb. 28, 1966
• A new reading improvement program was being implemented in the Onalaska School District with the help of federal funding, The Chronicle reported. “The program is believed to be the first of its kind in Lewis County. A former storage room beneath the stage in the Onalaska High School auditorium was remodeled to create the reading ‘laboratory.’ About $7,000 in federal funds was provided to finance the program under the Title 1 Act. The storage room. On the ground level, contains carrels or individual reading booths. Equipment includes a reading pacer, with a device that accelerates reading as the student improves. Other equipment includes projectors and filmstrips on reading, and books … The program, for students in grades five through twelve, is expected to increase reading efficiency and speed for college-bound students, and to improve the reading of students who are now slow readers, according to Gary Odegaard of Centralia, the teacher. Odegaard visited a number of schools in the state to gather ideas for the program.”
• A groundbreaking ceremony was held in Yelm with local businessmen and industrial leaders on Friday, as construction of a new General Cable Company wire production plant began, The Chronicle reported. “Slinging dirt at the new site a half-mile from the town’s center were E.L. Ketcham, West Coast manufacturing manager for the firm; Al Morganthaller, the new plant manager; Stuart Neel, Puget Sound Power and Lights Industries Division; Yelm Mayor George Brown and Lion’s Club President Rob Olson.”
• A “real quality” three-bedroom home with a “lovely kitchen,” covered patio and a “nice yard” in Chehalis was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $28,500. A furnished two-bedroom apartment in Chehalis was listed for rent for $50 a month.
Saturday, Feb. 28, 1976
• The Chronicle featured a “Chronicle Correspondent” story from reporter Sam Benowitz on his recent trip to the Baja Peninsula. “In February through April, the desert blooms in spectacular reds and yellows for the soggy tourist escaping the extended northern winter. Most tourists travel through Baja in campers and trailers, and stop in reasonably priced trailer parks with toilets, showers and bottled water. Tourists in self-contained vehicles may also be seen parked on dirt side roads enjoying Baja’s two beautiful coastlines. Motel accommodations ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime are also available. Merchants have set up business along Baja’s main road to serve the tourist trade. A gringo can expect to pay prices comparable to rates in the states for food, lodging or gifts, and about 80 cents a gallon for premium gas. The octane in Mexican gas is lower than in the states, and few if any cars can run well on regular gas. Most of the merchants speak some English and accept American money. Many, however, appreciate an attempt to converse in Spanish. Most Baja residents are very poor and live in shacks made of anything that can be scrounged. Some houses are of adobe. Others of stone and many are slapped together with plywood … Some Baja residents have become comparatively wealthy by plying either the fishing or tourist trade. Señora Josephina Zuniga operates a small motel, gas station and restaurant in the country’s dry interior on the road from Valle San Quintín to Mulegé. Until the road was paved five years ago, she catered to four-wheel-drive enthusiasts and supplied bunkbeds and petrol for contestants and observers of the Baja 500 road race. Now, the typical tourist can also enjoy her food and gracious hospitality. She speaks English and is a wealth of information on the area. Looking up at the cloud-filled gray sky, she laughed when an American asked her if it would rain. ‘I have seen seven years pass without rain here,’ she mused. ‘We had a frightening thunderstorm here two weeks ago, and it rained four drops.’ Señora Zuniga has drilled 75 feet to find water and with the recent ‘dry spell,’ neighboring people and cows come to her well to get water. Cows in Baja, except for the lucky few along the coast which graze on irrigated pasture, live a bush-to-bush existence. Most of Baja is open range, and cows frequently farry on or near the road … Guillermo operates a restaurant, gift shop and trailer park in the beautiful port of Bahía de los Ángeles, 500 kilometers down Baja’s east coast. Bare, jagged mountains circle the sandy shore and clear water. The mountains are so stark they look as if they belong on the moon. Large, graceful shore birds fraternize there with the desert’s turkey buzzards … Guillermo is one of the town’s three volunteer policemen. He was appointed because his mother is the mayor. Three years ago Guillermo made his only arrest(s). He apprehended an American and a Frenchman for bathing nude on the beach.”
• A four-bedroom home with a two-car garage, both new and old barns, and newly planted fir trees on 22 acres of land near Mossyrock with a “view of Lake Mayfield” was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $45,000. A two-bedroom apartment in Rochester with a new refrigerator and range was listed for rent for $149 a month.
