Our Town 100+ Years Ago - August, Part II

125+ YEARS AGO - August, Part II: The second half of August had a little more joy with the end of the Spanish-American War and Cuba free from the rule of Spain. Randolf Hearst had perfected "yellow journalism" with accounts of the war stating, "You furnish the pictures, and I will furnish the war." Instead of focusing on factual details of what was happening in Cuba, papers were running sensational headlines and shocking details of the battle. But all was not lost to war headlines. Caleb Bradham invented what would become a very popular carbonated drink and on August 28, 1898, renamed it Pepsi-Cola. August 29th registered the founding of the Goodyear Tire Co.

We have very little information for Whitehall in the second half of August 1898, but the following news items are taken as written from the August 19th and 26th editions of the Jefferson Valley Zephyr.

CALL FOR DEMOCRATIC COUNTY CONVENTION. Notice is hereby given that the county democratic convention will be held at the courthouse in Virginia City, Montana, on Saturday, September 10, 1898, at 11 o'clock AM, for the purpose of electing 11 delegates to attend the state democratic convention to be held at Anaconda, Montana, September 21, 1898. The primaries for the election of delegates to the county convention will be held on Saturday, September 3, 1898, in the following places: Iron Rod, Sperry's house; Silver Star, Dulles's store; Waterloo, A.O.U.W. Hall; Gaylord, Trading Company's store; Mayflower boarding house; South Boulder, Jas. De France; Summit Valley, school house.

FRIDAY, AUG. 26, 1898. For the benefit of those who desire to go out and camp in the brush for health and recreation, it might be well to mention that the Jefferson Valley mosquito of 1898 has passed into history.

TWO BRIDGES GONE. Yesterday afternoon two bridges on the Northern Pacific, between Whitehall and Butte, were burned. They were bridge No. 39, a very long structure over Dry Creek, and bridge No. 60, further west. Both bridges were totally destroyed. It is estimated that it will require a month at least to rebuild the bridges and that traffic will have to go by Garrison during that time. Freight and passenger traffic on this line will be seriously hampered, and direct travel to Butte will be impossible. Several other bridges were on fire at the same time but were saved.

(From the Helena Independent) "I saw one of the most unusual sights of my life while in the vicinity of Whitehall recently," said Harry B. Palmer last evening, having just returned from a trip into southern Montana. "I saw the engine of the train I was traveling on stop while a brakeman ran ahead and let down the bars of a fence. After it had passed through the gate thus made the brakeman put up the bars and the engine went on. I do not believe many have seen a sight exactly like it. It was on the Twin Bridges road."

100 YEARS AGO - August, Part II: Move forward 26 years and politics were still taking up a lot of space in the paper. Local and state-level candidates had ads in the paper. The State Fair was in Helena on September 23-27 boasting a "Better Babies" show, dental clinic, and child health conference. The Montana wheat crop was expected to total 51,000,000 bushels, down a little from 1923 due to water, grasshoppers, and hail. From Flathead County, a headline showed in July 17,170 gophers were no longer living thanks to the contest that rewarded the person who took out the most varmints. The following articles, taken as written from the August 21 and 28, 1924 editions of the Jefferson Valley News, tell what was important here in our Valley in the waning days of summer.

COMMUNITY CORRESPONDENCE. Frank Delmoe is busy gathering some stock from the Toll Gate range this week. Ed Collins motored to Butte Sunday for the Butte yards ball team which played with the Piedmont boys at Piedmont. The score being 12 to 0 in favor of the Butte Team. Mrs. Fred Stratton, of Highland Town, visited with Mrs. Marco Stanich last Saturday. P. Marcus is a busy man on Pipestone Bench this week. He is looking over the pea crop which is now being harvested. Little Ruthie Dawson is staying with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Dillet, while her mother is at the meeting of the Federation of Women's Clubs at Kalispell.

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Tebay, Mr. and Mrs. Will Tebay, and the children and Mrs. Bondes journeyed through Yellowstone Park and reported a fine time sightseeing. They found the bears a little too familiar for real comfort.

WHITEHALL SCHOOLS OPEN SEPTEMBER 8TH. The Whitehall schools, high and grade, will open on Monday, September 8th, and the indications are that the enrollment will exceed any in the history of the local institutions of learning. The following efficient corps of teachers will be in charge: High School – Wm. J. Lowry, Superintendent. M.K. Luther, agriculture, shop work, and track. W.J. Bierrum, social science, and basketball. C.F. Dickopf, English, Latin, and public speaking. Jessica Kramer, home economics. Marjorie Macrae, mathematics and music. Gertrude Seifer, commercial and French. Walter Hill, proctor at the dormitory. Mrs. Walter Hill, matron at dormitory. Grade School - Mrs. Nellie Hoey, Principal, eighth grade. Winifred Fitch, seventh grade and art supervisor. Sylvia Jelinek, fifth and sixth grades. Leona Carney, third and fourth grades. Alice Anderson, second and playground supervisor. Mable Carlson, first grade. Lolite Paul, Homestake school.

POLLYANNA COLYUM. Wisdom has come to a certain Whitehall man with the years. On the occasion of his sixty-first birthday he said: "As we now view matters, from a more mature understanding, we realize that all the good people do not belong to our lodge; that all Christians are not found in any particular church and that graft and dishonesty is about equally divided among the various party organizations.