In this installment of A Look Back in Time, the Friday, Sept. 13, 1935, edition of The Chronicle featured a story about Chehalis anglers Earl Betts and Walter Galusha, who were adamant a 15-inch trout had jumped into their boat on its own despite doubters.
Preliminary plans for a new “athletic plant” at Centralia’s Fort Borst Park including football, baseball and softball fields were unveiled, according to the Tuesday, Sept. 13, 1955, edition of The Chronicle.
And the Monday, Sept. 13, 1965, edition of The Chronicle featured the first part of a 12-part series titled “The Making of a President — 1964,” written by Time Magazine reporter Theodore H. White, which started by examining the Nov. 22, 1963, assasination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.
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, Sept. 13, 1935
• Chehalis anglers Earl Betts and Walter Galusha were adamant a 15-inch trout had jumped into their boat on its own during the second day of a fishing trip on the Cowlitz River near Toledo, The Chronicle reported. The fish apparently weren’t biting that much that morning, and the ones that were were small. “‘I turned to Walt and saw this fish on the boat bottom. ‘You got a walloper,’ I said. ‘I got nothing,’ he said, turned, saw it, and accused me of the catch. I denied it too,’ Betts said. Despite yawning and knowing looks on the part of those who hear their story, Galusha and Betts swear the fish jumped in. In their opinion the only thing crazier than a fish who’ll arc into a boat would be a fisherman who’d jump out.”
• After purchasing the first school bus ten years prior, Centralia High School now had a fleet of eight buses, The Chronicle reported. “If grandpa, who waded to school through nine miles of snow with gunnysacks for leggings, could have foreseen the mode of transportation offered (to) youngsters today, chances are he would have postponed brushing up on his three R’s at least 50 years. The eight buses that bring 338 boys and girls to Centralia High each morning not only make the trip quicker, easier and safer than transportation of even a decade ago, but also serve to bind outlying territories into this community.”
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about the famous business mogul, aerospace engineer and pilot Howard Hughes breaking the old airspeed record and setting a new one of over 350 mph near Santa Ana, California. “Hughes made six attempts to break the world’s record set by Raymond Delmotte of France at 314.319 miles an hour. On the sixth attempt he exhausted his gasoline supply while rocketing down the restricted three-kilometer course. The red monoplane swerved and appeared to ground observers to have crashed. The plane's propeller was bent, fuselage torn and landing gear broken. Joe Nikrent, head timer of the NAA (National Aeronautics Association), said there was no doubt Hughes established a new world’s record. William Enyeart, Washington representative of the association, and H.W. Hickman, assistant timer, said Hughes had been clocked officially above the former speed mark. Hughes yesterday made an unofficial speed mark of 353 miles an hour in his $120,000 plane … Hughes believes his plane, a low-winged metal monoplane with a 14-cylinder, 1,000 horsepower Wasp motor, is capable of 365 miles an hour, and he intends to use it in an attempt to shatter Col. Roscoe Turner’s transcontinental flight record from Los Angeles to New York in 10 hours, two minutes.”
Thursday, Sept. 13, 1945
• Following the end of World War II, the U.S. Army Signal Corps revealed it had been using a downtown Centralia building as a secret repair shop for radar and signal equipment, The Chronicle reported, and it was the only radar repair sight in the entire Pacific Northwest. “Capt. C.E. Reed, in command of the repair operations since last January, said the quarters used for the work would be officially relinquished Sept. 30. The unit had been occupying a large building on North Tower Avenue formerly utilized as an armory … Officially designated as a Ninth Service Command Signal Repair Shop, the Centralia operations covered repair of radar equipment used for coastal defense and aircraft warning throughout Washington and Oregon. The shop was originally established here by the Army Air Force and then in April, 1944, it came under Signal Corps operation. In 1943, when the shop was at peak operation, some 75 men and women, most of them highly trained technicians, were employed, and a number of Twin City people also worked there … Strictest secrecy surrounded the work of the shop, which was constantly patrolled by armed federal guards both day and night … Capt. Reed said employees were accepted only after the complete (background) investigation, and that they were constantly reminded of the secret nature of their work and that they must not disclose the work of the center.”
• Local dentist Dr. Oscar E. Nelson and former city garbage commissioner George Lange were the top two candidates to emerge from the primary race and advance to the general election for mayor of Centralia, The Chronicle reported. “Robert Brill, third mayoralty candidate, was eliminated by the scant margin of 14 votes.” The unofficial vote tally had Nelson leading with 871 votes with Lange in second with 477 and Brill with the remaining 463. “A fair-sized crowd of interested Centralians was at the city hall to hear the returns as they came in.”
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about the U.S. House of Representatives voting to turn the nation’s clocks back one hour on Sept. 30. “The House acted on a resolution which would — by pushing back the clock one hour the last of this month — replace War time with Standard Time. The Senate still has to vote the same way, and probably will.”
• A “small house” on 43 acres of land on Independence Road near the Chehalis River three miles from Rochester was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $2,500. A “modern” three-bedroom home on three lots of land near the churches and schools in Napavine was listed for $1,350.
Tuesday, Sept. 13, 1955
• Preliminary plans for a new “athletic plant” at Centralia’s Fort Borst Park were unveiled by the project’s engineering committee chairman Ray Slyter, The Chronicle reported. The plans were debuted at a meeting with state parks and recreation commission representative Elmer Anderson, who was looking to provide guidance and assistance with city governments looking to improve and develop their parks. “Slyter’s plans call for a fenced enclosure, 620 by 440 feet, immediately in front of the present grandstand with a turf football field in the center. In the northwest was the main baseball diamond; in the southwest, a practice diamond, and in the southeast, a softball diamond. All the area was to be covered by turf except the baseball infields.” Also included in the plans was a 1,000-person capacity set of bleachers directly behind the main baseball field and other sets of moveable bleachers. “Anderson had high praise for the plan and its potential, and termed Slyter’s drawing of the future plant, ‘basically sound.’”
• The Lewis County Flying Club received the Civil Aeronautics Administration's (CAA) Outstanding Flying Club award during a Chehalis Chamber of Commerce luncheon meeting, The Chronicle reported. Hazel White, secretary-treasurer for the flying club, accepted the award, which was given to the club for placing first in Washington state and 16th nationally in the CAA’s flying and safety contest. “Scoring for the nation-wide contest is based on achievement and safety. Points are given for achievement in flying programs, flights, examinations and tests, and points are deducted for safety violations or citations of unsafe acts, Mrs. White said. The Lewis County Flying Club was organized in May 1951, and has 28 active members at present. Its activities include ground schools, breakfast flights, cross country group flights, picnics and field clean-ups. Purpose of the club is to encourage safe private flying and to provide for its members convenient means and reasonable rates for private flying.”
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about the Boeing Company testing out its new jet-powered transport plane in a demonstration flight with pilots from some of the biggest airlines in Seattle. “America’s first jet transport, the Boeing 707, was given a workout here Monday by representatives of four of the country’s leading airlines. They were Scott Flower, captain and engineering pilot, Pan American World Airways; W.E. Larned, United Air Lines manager of flight operations, Los Angeles; Carl M. Christensen, United Air Lines director of safety; M. Blake Cahill, captain, Northwest Orient Airlines, and M.G. (Dan) Beard, American Airlines assistant vice president for research and development. The group is part of a Society of Automotive Engineers’ committee on cockpit standardization. Beard is chairman.” Boeing would end up building and selling 865 707s along with an additional 154 Boeing 720s — a lighter, short range 707 variant — and the plane is often credited by aviation historians with ushering in the Jet Age, changing air travel forever. The 707 officially entered service with Pan Am in 1958, and was flown by airlines until 1978.
• A “dream” six-bedroom “home in the country” on five and a half acres of land near the Lewis and Clark State Park was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $6,950. A “very nice apartment-size” home on Boistfort Street one block from downtown Chehalis was listed for rent for $75 a month.
Monday, Sept. 13, 1965
• The Chronicle featured the first chapter of “one of the finest newspaper features of the year,” a 12-part narrative titled “The Making of a President — 1964,” written by Time Magazine reporter Theodore H. White. The first chapter focused on the Nov. 22, 1963 assasination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, and Kennedy’s vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson, dealing with being sworn in as president amid the immediate fallout after the assassination. According to White, Kennedy had chosen Dallas for a stop for multiple reasons including getting support for his Space Race efforts against the Soviet Union and to try to “bridge the gap” of growing unrest in southern states amid the Civil Rights movement. “Though Dallas had a bad reputation, the President had thought it was a reputation made by a few noise-makers; the average American in Dallas, he felt, was about like the average American anywhere else. Thus, he had been delighted by the throng in downtown Dallas — friendly, cheerful, respectful … (Kennedy’s) mind had become part of all Americans’ thinking in the three brief years of his presidency — their link with the future. It was as if, at that moment, the link had been ripped away. Yet it was not in response to his mind that America now reacted; it was to the man. For the man had loved America, and now suddenly, Americans became aware of their answering love. It is with this instantaneous surge of emotion that the politics of 1964 began.”
• A total of 1,278 students showed up to begin the fall semester at Centralia College, which was a new record according to college registrar Vincent Coates, The Chronicle reported. “The new high enrollment easily tops last year’s opening day total of 1,089 … The college official reported classrooms were filled to capacity and many who registered for classes were rejected because some sections were already filled. Parking was also a problem. Student cars rapidly filled all available parking space and many had to park in restricted areas.”
• A four-bedroom home on two acres of irrigated land with a small barn in Centralia was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $21,500. A furnished one-bedroom apartment in Centralia was listed for rent for $50 a month.
Saturday, Sept. 13, 1975
• Chehalis Fire Department firefighters were “desperately interested in the fate” of the department’s old 1937 American LaFrance pump truck, which was scheduled to be sold along with a 1951 model when the department’s new engine arrived, The Chronicle reported. “The firemen are willing to see the ‘51 model depart, but they ‘see red’ when the disposing of the 1937 500-gallon pump truck is brought up.” Despite the truck having been in service for nearly 40 years, the firefighters felt it was still reliable and could be used as a reserve truck or for parades. “Ernie Kuehner, a retired fire chief, said, ‘I was against buying it at the time, but it turned out to be an excellent truck. It is in real good shape and should be kept.’” Efforts were ongoing to try to convince the Chehalis City Commission to retain the truck. “If the city commission decides the truck must go, the firemen are preparing a drive to raise money so they can buy it.” Ultimately, the 1937 American LaFrance pump truck was saved, and is now owned by the International Association of Fire Fighters Chapter 2510 in Chehalis, who maintain the truck and display it in local parades and events. Most recently, the 1937 American LaFrance was displayed at the ChehalisFest Car Show this past July alongside the Chehalis Fire Department's new 2023 Rosenbauer Viper ladder truck. A photo of the two trucks together can be found on The Chronicle’s website at https://tinyurl.com/3nmtj9tb.
• A “tentative settlement” between 600 to 650 International Woodworkers of America Local 3-1 members employed by the Weyerhaeuser Company and Weyerhaeuser officials themselves was in the works, The Chronicle reported. Union members were scheduled to gather at the union hall in Centralia that day to vote on whether to approve the settlement, which included wage increases of 20 to 30 cents an hour depending on job classification. “The union had been requesting a 75-cent per hour wage increase for the mechanics. The mechanics currently earn (between) $5 and $6.91 per hour and had been asking for a pay increase because the machinery they deal with now is more technical than in the past, the union claimed … The strike began Sept. 2 when Weyerhaeuser locations at Chehalis, Pe Ell, Mineral, Curtis, Vail and Doty were picketed. Later, pickets were established at the firm’s Rochester seed plant and the South Bay log dump at Olympia.”
• A three-bedroom “ranch house” on five acres of land with a hay barn and four-horse stable near Grand Mound was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $39,700. A remodeled and furnished one-bedroom apartment in Chehalis was listed for rent for $125 a month.
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To submit historical photos or documents to The Chronicle for possible publication, email Chronicle reporter Owen Sexton at owen@chronline.com or call 360-736-3311 during business hours to schedule a meeting with editorial staff.
