Submission deadline for photo book nears; don't miss it

There were some complaints when the last CBH picture book was published. No, these complaints didn't have anything to do with what appeared in the book, but rather the fact some people didn't take the time to submit photos in their possession. Their families were left out.

Don't get caught in this circumstance this time; submit your photos. The deadline is getting close, so don't hesitate, just bring in your photos of pre 1980.

The first CBH picture book was a great success and has become a treasured keepsake for those who own the book. The CBH is now in the process of assembling the second edition, known as Volume Two, which will make the perfect companion for the first book.

The contact is Tera Redwine. She is working to gather the photos and the two of us will place them in the proper order.

This book is expected to be titled "The Columbia Basin; A photographic Perspective; Volume Two." If you missed the chance to get your family photos in the first one, here is your chance. Don't miss the opportunity this time.

We are looking for photos of, everything, such as Girl Scouts, school sports, church groups, construction, towns, etc., etc., etc. If you are not sure if your photo or photos are what we are looking for, let Tera have a look at them.

Contact Tera at the Herald at 765-4561 to have your photos included.

Shiveree

If you don't know what a Shiveree is, tune in next week for an account about a local couple living through one.

Wilson Creek area history

The Rev. David H. Crawford compiled and published a history of families in and surrounding Wilson Creek titled, "Family Memories of Wilson Creek Area." The book was printed in 1978, which was the 75th anniversary of the town. David's son, John Crawford, has given permission for those memories to be a part of this column.

Today we continue the story of the Lane family by Ben Lane:

All was not work, though. Many amusing incidents come to mind. Halloween was a day wherein the mischievous talents came to the fore; onetime a model-T was completely dismantled and reassembled on the roof of the church; the wooden sidewalks were ceremoniously overturned each year, as were the many outhouses.

One old meany rigged up a sling hidden in some leaves and attached it to the sides of the outhouse, which when it was overturned, the boys found themselves in a rather odious situation. The old fire hall had a pull rope for the bell. On long summer evenings, the kids would zip past on their bikes, each giving a tug. By the time the volunteer firemen came the kids were long gone.

There were basketball games in the winter; wiener roasts and senior sneak days; all in all, school was a lot of fun. The Lanes struggled on; Edna, the oldest girl, married and eventually moved to Alaska; Edith taught school until her early death in 1941.

Violet gave up teaching for a career in commercial art and moved to Oregon with her husband; Ben II had a varied career in maritime and aeronautical electronics in every part of the world; Alice, the youngest girl, married a career army man, and died in 1942, a victim as surely as any soldier of the War.

E-mail from Cheryl

Facts from the past gleaned from the Moses Lake Herald, Columbia Basin Herald and The Neppel Record by Cheryl (Driggs) Elkins.

From the CBH on Thursday, Sept. 14, 1950:

11-piece German band collects $94 for city planning fund

Probably the most unique method of raising money for city planning was launched Friday night when an 11-man German band hit the street.

The outfit played at the Chamber of Commerce office, where a kangaroo court was in session fining towns people who failed to dress up for the county fair and rodeo, invaded the stage of the Ritz Theater between shows, then proceeded to barge into the city's six taverns, the Turf Café and the Cascade Dine and Dance.

A total of $93.96 in donations was collected to go toward a fund of $1,000 needed to pay the salary of a draftsman to draw up planning maps under direction of professional planners of the Bureau of Reclamation. Services of the planning experts are available free upon request of a city. Moses Lake city budget has no money available this year for planning. The taverns invaded were the White Elephant, The Air Base Moses Lake Tavern, Mel's and Kelly's.

The band is expected to make other appearances during the next few weeks to help raise the planning kitty. Tentative plans for it to play for various civic organizations are in the making.

The Grant County Historical Society has compiled several volumes of Grant County history. The books are available for purchase at the Historical Society Museum gift shop in Ephrata.

I bought the series in 2009 and secured permission to relay some of the history through this column.

Memories of Grant County, compiled from taped interviews by the Grant County Historical Society.

Today we continue the story of Ephrata by Thelma Billngsley Nicks:

The games we played when the weather was nice was kick-the-can, Andy over also called Annie-Annie over, hide and seek, run-sheep-run, baseball which my brother liked to play, jumping rope, hop-scotch and others. During the World War I, the boys played war and had fox holes dug in every vacant lot they could find. The remains of some were there for years.

My folks used to go camping. My mother was a nature lover, having been raised in the mountains of Idaho. She taught me many things. She knew all the mountain flowers. Several of us would go camping together, Charlie and Tena Duncan and her sisters, John Gibbons, also. They were old sheep men and of an evening sitting around the camp fire would tell tales of their sheep herding days.

Charlie would mix camp bread in the top of a 5-pound floor sack. Take it up, shape it and put it in the fry pan. He would cook it on one side then give it a flip into the air and it would come down in the pan with the other side up.

But they knew how to do things in the mountains. Charlie would set his bread to the side of the fire to finish cooking and to keep it warm. He sure knew how to fry the mountain trout everyone would catch. I even had luck with the fishing out-fit they would fix for me, a tree limb and a bent pin with bait on it, fastened to a string.

When they set up the tents they would gather fir bows and lay them so they made a nice soft bed; sometimes though I can remember a bow poking me. They would lay a rope around the outside of the tents to supposedly keep the snakes away. Sometimes at night we could hear the cougars cry.

Those mountain roads were very narrow. My father always went to the end of the road. One time we had to pass a car on a high place where the road dropped off a long way down. They even had to bend the license plate which was sticking out two inches to pass.