Colfax High School - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Colfax, WA)

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Page Eight APPRECIATION 'M' Through this column the Editorial Staff wishes to thank the student body, members of the faculty, the printers and engravers who have so will- ingly aided in the production of this annual. Especially does it thank Mrs. C. E. Scriber and the Museum for contributing historical material for the theme of the annual.

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PALOUSE GAZETTE COLFAX, WASHINGTON, 1893 BUSINESS BLOCKS G0 UP IN FLAMES The residents of Colfax have been residing in barns and sheds, and in the absence of matches have been lighting their pipes from the smolder- ing ruins of what was once three business blocks of our fair city. This fire occurred but one week earlier than the one from which Colfax suf- fered last year. It is estimated that this de- stroying element consumed fifty-eight business houses, ewtciling a loss of S400,000. Many people have been rend- ered homeless, and one of the effects of the fire will be that the new school building which is to be erected will cost but S1800 instead of the S4000 originally intended. PAST HISTORY OF INTEREST. Our school house was the building chosen for the first marriage in Colfax. It was thoroughly cleansed for the auspicious event and the floor was completely covered with sawdust. In this building James A. Perkins and Miss Jennie Ewart became husband and wife. Their marriage was the sec- ond or third in this cou ity as well as the first in Colfax. It was a great event and peop'e even traveled half of the night to witness the ceremony, many coming more than twenty miles in wagons and horseback. Miss Minnie Perkins, their eldest daughter, has the dis- tinction of being the first child born in Colfax, the date being April 18, 1874. JAMES A. PERKINS FATHER OF COLFAX RELATES HAPPENINGS Upon inquiry Mr. Perkins acquainted us with some very interesting facts concerning the history of our village. In the year 1871, James A. Perkins and H. S. Hollings- worth were the only residents in what is now Colfax. They waded through snow 18 inches deep that winter. The following summer, the demand for lumber, principal- ly by the settlers on the Union flat, deemed it necessary to have a mill, and so the Messrs Hollingsworth, Perkins and Cox constructed a sawmill which was the nucleus of the town to be. Up to this time all supplies were hauled from Walla Walla, a distance of 100 miles, and the opening of the first store in a slab shanty near the mill, by Warren Whitcher, was hailed with rejoicing. It will no doubt be appre- ciated by those who have a keen interest in politics to know that the first democrat- ic conventions assembled were held in the sawmill, and the Mr. Perkins's residence respectively. Mr. Perkins also supplied us with the information regard- ing towns surrounding Colfax. Within the boundaries of Whitman County, we find that Pullman was a crossroads settlement known as Four Mile, Rosalia was a stage sta- tion, Palouse City was a log- ging camp, and Farmington toasted a hotel, general store, .blacksmith shop and a livery stable. Our thanks to the hardy Q pioneers of this country. COOK STOVES COVER LANDSCAPE A customer entered H. W. Livingstone's store one day and asked him to order a cook stove. Three other such re- quests were made and as each stove was ordered, Mr. Liv- ingstone put down one mark on his order sheet. When Mr. Livingstone sent in the order to the wholesale house it read as follows: Pfease send me cook stoves- Sometime later the stoves arived at Almota and Mr. Livingstone went down to bring them to Colfax. How- ever, it was not only four stoves that he saw, for the landscape was practically cov- ered with stoves. The co'n- pany had thought that 1111 had stood for one thousand one hundred and eleven in- stead of four. Practically everyone in this county possessed a stove be- fore a year was up. Congratu- lations to you. Mr. Livingstone for being such a good sales- man. , INTERESTING EVENTS. P. M. Baxter Renshaw dem- onstrates what he knows about farming by producing a squash which weighs fifty-one pounds. Pretty good for a squash. Andrew Siltese, head chief of the Coeur d'Alene Indians, contributed five dollars for the new bridge over the Pa- louse, which leads to Colfax. Andrew says he is going to Washington next spring and see the President. Page Seven

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