Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
100 years ago
The Odessa Record
August 31, 1919
News updates: A Houston tourist passed through this week with a specially built automobile. He had purchased a chassis and on it had built an enclosure into which he had built all the features of a modern home, folding bed, electric lights, hot and cold water, a refrigerator and other comforts. He stated that he had spent three years designing it, and that in time to come such traveling homes would be common, as a company had become interested in his patents and would put similar models on the market.
Louis Doering lost one of his big barns by fire this week, together with a large amount of feed, three horses and ten sets of harness. The barn was one of the most modern in the county, equipped with electric lights, handy harness hangers, right over the horses, manure carrier and other conveniences.
G.B. Kemp has gone into partnership with two Spokane men to operate the distributorship for the Willard storage battery.
The new teacher at the J.B. Loeffelbein school, Miss Maddex, arrived from Idaho and will open the school Monday.
Miss Eva Neeley has signed a contract to teach the Fred Schorzman school, which will open Monday.
Lt. J.M. Jacin visited friends this week. He will be remembered as the first leader of the Odessa Concert band.
The local board of education, including W.H. Luher, G.W. Finney and R.M. Kelly as directors, E.R. Finnett, superintendent, and Hy. W. Rieke, clerk, met and drew up a school budget calling for $18,000.
Jackrabbits and Hungarian partridges have become a pest in the area. In Grant county the extension service attempted a poisoning experiment, and reported 100 dead rabbits, from 36 poison placements on a 10 acre field.
D.C. Holmes circulated a subscription paper among the business men of Odessa to secure money to assist T.B. Wolverton to build another pavillion at the site of the one that burned at Pacific lake. In a short time he obtained $75 and Mr. Wolverton has signified his intention of rebuilding.
The Misses Stella and Luverna Johnson have purchased Dr. Mitchell’s Overland roadster and Miss Luverna will use it to drive back and forth to the Joyner school, where she teaches.
Mr. and Mrs. Brady Davis arrived the first of the week from American Falls, planning to relocate here, but will hold his Idaho land as there is an irrigation project scheduled there, and land values should increase.
A.W. Jansen reports that he received the first car of Pennsylvania hard coal that has been shipped to Odessa since the country entered the war.
75 years ago
The Odessa Record
August 31, 1944
Fall festival plans started: Under the sponsorship of the business stimulation committee of the Odessa Commercial club, and with the cooperation of the Lions club and American Legion, plans are being drawn for a two-day fall festival to be held on Friday and Saturday, September 22 and 23.
It is hoped to have one of the best festivals of recent years and entertainment is being planned to occupy the time.
A.H. Luiten, with Glenn E. Jolliffe, E.E. Newland, A.W. Jessett and Frank E. Wraspir were named to have charge of the Friday evening program and entertainment.
Parade committee includes Howard Moore, Don R. King, George Schiewe, J. Quast, William Voise, Julius Winter, W.C. Raugust and E.J. Wachter. This group, with the regular decorations committee of the club, will arrange decorations.
The sports and free entertainment committee includes Dr. R.L. Tanck as chairman, with Ed Salo, Henry Michaelsen, Jr., Henry Braun, E.C. Weber, C.C. Heimbigner and Leory Hook as committeemen.
The carnival and concessions will be in charge of H.H. Strate, A.H. Luiten and Robert Brauer.
The dance committee includes E.G. Gunderson, G.A. Weber, C.C. Heimbigner, and J.W. Scrupps.
Advertising committee includes Roscoe Reiman, George Schiewe and T.C. Anderson. Mr. Reiman also has the duty of contacting the military band which it is hoped will attend.
Stores will close for Labor Day: Labor day, which falls on Monday, will see most of the Odessa business houses closed, due to the fact that it is one of the national holidays.
The city swimming pool will be open on that day and will close for the season that evening.
50 years ago
The Odessa Record
August 28, 1969
Fire burns stack at Jasman farm: A fire last Tuesday afternoon burned a hay stack and straw pile at the Ed Jasman farm. Cause was not determined.
Potential loss of a barn was prevented by using a plastic hose used to move irrigation water around the farmstead, according to Mrs. Jasman, and the arrival of fire trucks and personnel from Odessa, Marlin, Ruff and Moses Lake––plus neighbors.
Local firemen had a busy weekend: Two fires which broke out within a few hours of each other occupied Odessa firemen from 5-11:30 p.m. Saturday.
A grass fire 10 miles east of Odessa burned approximately 1,000 acres of pasture land on Joseph Laney and Yarwood property, according to Cecil Schell, one of the firemen on the scene. The fire, of unknown origin, was reported at 5 p.m.
The second blaze, which totally destroyed a barn at the Marcus Weber farm north of Odessa, broke out before the pasture fire was put out. Equipment was called from the grass fire to the Weber farm. In addition to the barn, some farm equipment was lost. Several nearby sheds were saved. Cause of the blaze has not been determined.
Two Odessa trucks were called to the Kenneth Arlt ranch eight miles north of Wilson Creek Sunday afternoon to assist Wilson Creek, Grant County and Marlin fire fighting units in extinguishing a blaze there.
The fire destroyed a machine shop, sheep shed and scale house. Firemen concentrated on saving a large elevator full of grain only 30 feet from the burning buildings. The elevator did not catch fire.
School bells to ring: Odessa schools are scheduled to resume classes Wednesday, Sept. 3, for the 1969-70 academic year.
Heading the faculty of 27 teachers are David W. Bays, superintendent of schools; Walter Thorp, high school principal; Clifton P. Holm, grade school principal.
High school hours will be from 8:55 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., while grade school hours will run from 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Buses will begin serving their routes the first day of school. E.M. Bartalamay will again supervise bus garage activities for the school district.
The school hot lunch program will also resume the first day of school. Hot lunch is available to all students. Junior and senior high students will pay $7 for a meal ticket, or 40 cents per meal. Hot lunch prices for grades one through three are $4, or 25 cents a meal. The cost for students grades four through six is $5, or 30 cents per meal. A meal ticket entitles the student to 20 meals.
Thorp noted that this year two Nurses Aide classes will be offered to high school students, as compared to one last year. The classes, taught by Mrs. JoAnne Keller, are available through the sponsorship of Big Bend Community College, Moses Lake.
Driver education will again be offered Odessa students, with Donald Nelson as instructor. A fee of $3 is charged each student.
Leland Boyk, high school counselor, will be available before and after regular school hours, and at specified periods during the day, to counsel with any student who has a problem or needs assistance of any sort.
Odessa’s athletic program again includes wrestling, with eight matches scheduled for the wrestling team. Jack Hester will coach.
25 years ago
The Odessa Record
September 1, 1994
Deep-well irrigation not believed to be cause of depletion: By Donald E. Walter
There was both good and bad news in an announcement Tuesday to The Odessa Record from the office of Congressman Tom Foley regarding the status of his request to the U.S. Geological Survey to conduct a feasibility study for rehydrating lakes in the Odessa area.
Earlier this year Foley pledged assistance and advice in finding funding sources for a feasibility study of a project to replenish lakes and streams in Lake Creek Coulee from a point near Creston to Lake Creek’s confluence with Crab Creek west of Odessa.
Aides from Foley’s office toured Pacific Lake, Bob’s Lake, Lakeview Ranch and other dry and near-dry lakes and streams in western Lincoln County last June. They returned to Washington with the suggestion to Foley that the Department of the Interior and the USGS be requested to conduct feasibility studies.
“I have been working with the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Geological Survey to determine the feasibility of rehydrating the lakes in the Odessa area,” Foley stated in a message to The Record Tuesday. “I hope to receive a report from USGS in the next few weeks and work with the area residents and members of the Big Bend Water Resource Committee to look at the potential for restoring the important wildlife and recreational advantages the area used to enjoy.
“This will be a major undertaking and, given current federal budgetary constraints and resource limitations, difficult to complete,” he stated. “Despite these difficulties, however, I will do my best to bring this project to fruition.”
Foley’s government relations specialist, Pat Ormsby, said the USGS had already provided a preliminary report on the basis of information from surveys which the agency has at hand.
“That report has both good news and bad news as far as the replenishment project goes,” said Ormsby.
The good news is that geologists do not believe that the depletion of lakes and streams in Lake Creek is the result of deep-well irrigation. Depletion of surface water by irrigation is a controversial and much-debated issue in the Sinking Creek area of northwestern Lincoln County.
The bad news is the preliminary report is that scientists and geologists believe the dry lakes suffer from a surface water problem and they are not sure how they can be rehydrated in a practical way. If it is a surface water problem, they believe, the lakes and streams would require perpetual replenishment.
The Big Bend Water Resource Committee has sought a means to pursue rejuvenation ever since 1991 after Lloyd Hornbeck obtained signatures of 850 western Lincoln and eastern Grant County residents in support of the project.
The rehydration project envisions pumping water from Lake Roosevelt into Lake Creek. The concept calls for pumping water up Hawk Creek Coulee and across a ridge into the headwaters of Lake Creek.
An alternate proposal, which has gained favor as water rights are increasingly guarded and environmental concerns influence diversion of Columbia River water, is the transfer via pipeline of Spokane waste effluent to the head of Lake Creek. A variation of this proposal is to discharge the Spokane effluent into Long Lake, as is presently done, exchanging it downstream for water pumped from wells beneath Lake Roosevelt. This scheme would likely be carried out in cooperation with the operation of the proposed KVA generating facility near Creston.
“The Lake Creek rehydration proposal is unlike any other program Congressman Foley’s office has ever worked for,” said Ormsby. “It’s something we’re very excited about.”
He said Foley’s office expected to have the final report from the USGS and inputs from the Department of Interior by mid-September or early October.
Meanwhile, members of the Big Bend Water Resource Committee have schedule a strategy meeting for tonight, Thursday, at 8 p.m. in Record Square.
School enrollment jumps by 20: The Odessa School District opened its doors on Wednesday morning to 320 students – up 20 from the close of the school year in June – excited to return to their friends, teachers and classmates. According to school superintendent, Dr. Steve Smedley, this number will change day to day until the week after Labor Day as people return from vacation or move into town and register their children.
Many new students had trouble sleeping, while others found it difficult to get up so early in the morning as the lazy days of summer drew to a close.
There is a larger freshman class, replacing a small graduating senior class, that has increased the size of the high school to 70 students.
This year’s kindergarten class is also large making the K-8 grades at 250 students. The kindergarten class is 27 youngsters as of press time on Wednesday, August 31.
Greeting the students will be new counselor, Blaine Downey, substitute teacher, Ann Herdrick, who is filling in for Terri King while she is on maternity leave for the semester and Wendy Rowley, who will be teaching third grade. Also new to the staff will be Tianii Costlow, a special education para-professional and Patty Walter, a fourth-grade para-professional.
The school has been spruced up with some painting and freshly waxed floors. Teachers have been busy with in-service days preparing for the influx of students. For the first week, students and teachers alike will get back in the groove of being at school.
As community members, everyone must remember that school is on and to drive carefully, watching for the small children scurrying to school.
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