As 2017 comes to an end, it is time to reflect on a few things. November marked my fourth anniversary here at the Forks Forum. Former Forks Forum editor Chris Cook told me a few years back that usually, seven years was about all an editor lasted in one place, so I guess I only have three years left, or ….
Throughout the four years, people have shared things with me: old portraits, old Forks Forums, photos, and as I was leaving the office last Friday, Marjorie Curci stopped by to share some paper-white daffodils that she grows each year. Thank you, Marjorie!
Recently, Clallam Transit bus drive Dave Larrabee brought in some early 1960s-era visitor guides and the top halves of several Community Birthday calendars. So who would want the top half of a 60-year-old calendar? Me! The Community Birthday calendar is still around today and the early editions used to have a photo of the area at the top. One of the photos is fishermen on the Bogachiel. Another is an early photo of downtown Forks around 1916, and another is a photo of Carrie Gray, a member of the Quileute Tribe.
The one with the photo of Carrie Gray also lists area businesses, many of which are gone, and the phone numbers are FR-4. The old visitor guides have photos of an early Vagabond Cafe, Pay N Save Foods and the fairly new Coffee Shop, and a picture of Sackett’s Department Store before the barber shop was added (Sackett’s was next to the big log). Thanks, Dave!
Last week, Cheri Tinker brought in a newspaper she bought some time back on eBay, I think. Anyway, it is a copy of The Quillayute News from Nov. 26, 1903. Author Bill Lindstrom is currently working on a book about the history of newspapers in Clallam County, and according to his research there is only one other copy of this paper known to exist. The front page covers national and state news, the inside is mostly made up of Timber Land Act legal notices and the back page features a Family Doctor column that features a homemade concoction for calloused feet and how to treat a wound. But there is one column of local news on page 3.
A few short “what’s happening” items includes information that John Dengate had come in from the Hoh and filed a timber claim near his ranch. Harve Leasure was driving his herd of cattle in from the Hoh for delivery to Tom Watson. John Iverson had recently turned the Morgenthaler hop house into a dry kiln where the finishing lumber for the first Oddfellows Hall will be seasoned and Mrs. Luther Ford was being treated for a case of typhoid pneumonia.
The big story was the completion of the Congregation Church and a thank you to all who participated with monetary donations; names included Ackerly, Ford, Maybury, Wilson, Maxfield, Cochran, Marsh and others. Some of the contributors of materials were Morgenthaler, Smith and Peterson, and some that contributed labor were Smith, Bowlby, Maybury, Ackerly, Elterich, Ford, Palmer, Wilson, Whitcomb, Iverson, Anderson, Fletcher, South, Huelsdonk, Willis and Sult.
In news from Mora, the wife of W. A. Smith had given birth to a baby girl that was doing well, but the mother was not.
Ben and Fred Hagadorn had been putting cows in the barn and Fred had been caught by a horn and badly injured. At first it was thought he was dead, but it appeared he would make a recovery. The story also shares that his mother, Mrs. Elsner, now plans to have the cows de-horned!
The paper contains no local ads, but you can send for Dr. Thompson’s tablets to invigorate you! And if you need a Sanders Disc Plow there is an ad to send for information. There is also a cough syrup ad that claims to cure consumption (tuberculosis). Thanks, Cheri!
Diane and Jim Edwards recently shared a postcard collection with me and I was able to scan most of them and have been sharing a few in the paper and on Facebook. The postcards span the early 1900s to the 1970s and include locations in Forks, La Push, Neah Bay, Clallam Bay, Elwha, Port Angeles, Sequim and Port Townsend. Thanks to them.
Last week, James Golden dropped off a large hand-tinted photograph that looks to be from the 1920s. Golden said he saved it from somebody’s trash! It has some damage on the edges but looks like it can be restored. When the restoration is complete I will share in the paper; maybe somebody will recognize an ancestor? Thanks, James.
This is a chance to remind people cleaning out attics, etc.: Don’t throw photos away! Take them to the Timber Museum or to me, but just don’t throw them away! Maybe you don’t want them, but somebody else may.
At the beginning of this column, I mentioned former editor Chris Cook. In the paper this week there is a short obituary for Evelyn Cook, Chris’s wife who passed away this month. My condolences to Chris and family.
