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Page A-14 — Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, April 9, 2020
THAT’S OLD NEWS
April 9, 1920
ThecaH
for berries
The is
pleased to note an in-
' creasing interest in the
growing of berries in
this most favored sec-
tion for such fruit, and
would add that it will be
no experiment in Mason
County. Some years ago
the effort was made to
have the general plant-
ing of small fruits for a
local canne'ry, but that
was before the “long dry
spell” came to boost pric-
es to then undreamed
figures. Then 3 cents a
pound was a big price
for fresh fruit, now fresh
fruit is worth nearly ten
times as much and can-
neries are new contract-
ing at 15 to 20 cents a
pound. Berries can be
grown as easily now as
then, and while picking
and handling will cost
most, if hired, the mar—
ket is unlimited and at
the grower’s gate. The
demand for fruit juices
to make new drinks
for the thirsty offers
a great field, and one
simply handled by bar-
relling the fresh fruit
I with sugar and shipping
it to market without
loss. Again berries are
a money-making crop
that go well with the
dairy, poultry or garden-
ing, to afford profit as
well as work throughout
the seasons. Then, our
cannery project can be
revived.
Farmers urged
to grow berries
A.E. Ashley made the
trip to Puyallup Wednes-
day after berry plants
for his Cloquallum
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farm, as the start for an
extensive planting. He
had contracted last fall
for 2,000 plants but was
disappointed to find that
the cold snap in Decem—
ber had killed most of
the tips and his contract
could not be filled. How-
ever, he finally located
500 transplants to bring
'home, and will have
from them several tips
ready for next spring.
Mr. Ashley spent the
past year'in the Puyal-
lup Valley and passes
the word around to his
Mason County friends
to get into berries and
make some good money.
April 6, 1939
Oscar the
worm getting
fat on this
lboring' task
You might say a guy
was pretty hard up for a
story to be writing about
a worm, but this isn’t an
ordinary worm, this pet
of L.D. Hack, ex-mayor
of the village. His name
is Oscar, so christened by
Mr. Hack and Oscar lives.
in a chunk of fir board
a foot square and two
inches thick. But Oscar
has an enormous appe-
tite/and is eating himself
out of house and home —
literally and actually and
honestly. You see, Oscar
is the kind of worm that
feeds on wood, whatever
kind of worm that is,
and has been eating up
his habitat, which rests
on the counter in Mr.
Hack’s jewelry and gift
shop in plain sight of
the public, at the rate
of an electric razor box
full of “shavings” a week.
Whenever a curious per-
son wants to see Oscar
Mr. Hack just pokes
around for a minute
with his pencil, shakes
Oscar’s domicile a little
and out he tumbles, all
two inches of him, for
introductions. Just what
to do with Oscar’s “shav-
ings” is quite a problem
in the Hack household at
the moment. Mr. Hack
doesn’t know whether to
save them up for sweep-
ing compound or sell
them to the pulp mill for
Oscar does his job well
and turns out a product
that looks and feels not
unlike the pulp, in cer—
tain stages of its develop—
ment, that is produced at
the Rayonier plant here.
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April 7, 1949
Screen
star‘Smiley
Burnette to
head Belfair
dance show
Smiley Burnette,
America’s number one
western comedian, will
headline the all-star
dance and show at the
Belfair barn dance on'
Tuesday, April 19. Fa-
mous all over the world
as “the frog,” Smiley has
assembled one of the
finest dance bands and
shows to tour the west-
ern part of the United ‘
States. On the bandstand
with Smiley will be Walt
Shrum and the Colorado
Hillbillies, the band that
gave many well-known
western stars their first
opportunity. Not so many
years ago the vocalist
with Walt Shrum’s band
was Tex Williams. In the
fiddle section was Spade
Cooley and Texas Jim
Lewis has a seat in the
rhythm section. Smiley
-will be very much in evi-
dence on the bandstand.
The comic who has been
sidekick to Roy Rogers,
Gene Autry and Charles
Starret is claimed to be
funnier in person than on
the screen. He will sing
all the songs he made
famous in his pictures
and will put the crowd in
gales of laughter with his
hilarious imitations and
stories.
April 4, 1963
Rayonier to
dispose of
its pulp mill
equipment
Plans to dispose of
all equipment and as-
sets of Rayonier’s closed
Shelton pulp mill were
disclosed in New York
this week by George E.
Scofield, general manag-
er of the cellulose prou-
ducer’s manufacturing
operations. Scofield also
announced that M.J.
MacKinnon, Northwest
purchasing agent for
the company, would co-'
ordinate dismantling of
the plant and the sale of
. its equipment from the
firm’s Seattle office. Op-
erations at Shelton were
discuntinued in 1957
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when world market con-
ditions brought about a
sharp decline in the need
for cellulose manufactur-
ing capacity, particularly
in the product grades in
which the Shelton mill
specialized. Although
the plant was kept in
stand-by readiness for
several years, it became
increasingly apparent
that rapid changes in
pulp-making technology
had ruled out any pos-
sibility of reopening the
mill without major re-
building. Cited were the
high cost of operating
the mill’s very effective
waste disposal system,
transportation and other
cost factors as major
influences in the com-
pany’s decision to liqui-
date rather. than rebuild
the mill. At the same
time, Dr. R. L. Mitchell,
General Manager of
Research for Rayonier,
. indicated the company’s
major research facili-
ties in the Shelton area,
which employ more than
135 men and Women,
would be unaffected.
“Final closure of the mill
will not affect Rayonier’s
million dollar annual
payroll in the Shelton .'
area,” he stressed. “The
Olympic Research Divi-
sion will continue nor-
mal operations.”
April 11, 1974
Harstine club-
seeks help in
curbing wild
dog packs
A letter from the
Harstine Community
Club asking for assis-
tance in controlling wild
dog packs on the island
has been sent to Carl
N. Crouse, director of
the state game depart~
ment. Accompanying
the letter were petitions
signed by 214 island
property owners. The
letter brought attention
to the existence of at
least two wild dog packs
roaming the island, one
containing at least four
dogs and the other six.
These dogs have been
observed harassing and
~ killing deer, especially
on beaches. Concern was
raised for schoolchildren
who must walk to school
bus pickup points and
be in danger of attack
from these dogs. Another
point of discussion was
the fact that if local
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residents took it upon
themselves to destroy
suspicious dogs, there
would be danger of per—
sonal pets being inadver— I
tently killed. The letter
concluded, “We believe it
to be absolutely essential
that the local wildlife
agent be empowered to
destroy these animals
in any way he deems
feasible; that he be given
authority to enlist the
aid of any willing and re-
sponsible men on the is-
land who might be in the
best position to help in
the destruction of these
animals. We implore you
to act as quickly as possi-
ble in this manner before
some tragedy is brought
about by the neglect of
this situation.”
‘ April 8,1999
Historic
Mercantile
Building will
revert to
yesteryear '
look
A slumbering old
building in downtown
Shelton is being jolted
awake by jackhammers
and the winds of change.
Long a looming presence
on the southeast corner
of Railroad Avenue and
Third Street, the two-
story Mercantile Mall is
getting a new life and
new name. Workers this
week removed the large
concrete form that domi-
nated the outside facade
since it was added in a
fit of mid-1950s mod-
ernization. “Our project
calls for this to look like
a 1912 building,” said
owner Jill Barnard,
“And since that date is
when the building was
constructed, that will be
its new name: the 1912
Building.” There’s plenty
of history tied to the
building that oldtimers
and local history buffs
still refer to as Lumber-
men’s Mercantile. Simp-
son Lumber Co. founder
Sol Simpson and a group
of railroad owners es-
tablished it as the home
of the company store.
Inside the building were
a meat store, feed store,
furniture store and more,
including doctors’ of-
fices upstairs. The motto
was “Everything from a
needle to a locomotive.”
The ground floor will re-
main as is, but upstairs
a complete remodel is
underway. The Shelton—
Mason County Chamber
of Commerce will have
its offices there. Several
other new offices will be
created. The building,
which over the years has
been home to.Lumber—
men’s Mercantile, the I
L&M, Miller’s Depart-
ment Store and, most
recently, the Mercantile
Mall, played a significant
role during the great fire
of 1914 that threatened
all of downtown Shelton.
The clay block building
and similarly construct-
ed Shelton Hotel helped
stop the fire that started
in a cafe on Second
Street.
April 4, 2013 r
Legend of. ‘ '
'beast man’
lives on
In his lifetime, more
than 100 years ago, ac-
cused killer John Tornow
was called a “beast-man,”
and the “Wildman of the
Wynoochee.” Newspapers
called him a demented,
hermit-like killer, and
men lined up to take
part in manhunts to find
him. In the end, he was
' accused of murdering
six men —— four deputies
tasked ‘with finding him,
and his twin nephews.
His story has become 10-
cal folklore, said Mike
Fredson, local writer
and historian who wrote
“Beast-Man: A Historical
Account of John Tornow,”
in 2002. “One hundred
years is a long time for a
story to last,” he said. In
the last century, Fred—
son said local historians
began asking what role
Tornow played in the
murders, bringing to
light his position as a
victim of greed,‘prejudice
and mental illness. April
16 is the 100th anniver-
sary of the shootout deep
in the mountains north—
west of Matlock that
killed Tornow. Several
people interested in local '
history, and particularly
the story of Tornow, have
come together to form the
Tornow Memorial Com-
mittee, and they plan to
unveil a memorial and
historical marker on the
site of the shootout April
20. . '
I Compiled” from the
archives of the Shelton-
Mason County Journal.
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