Coulee Recollections

Ten Years Ago

Ryan Hunt completed Marine Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va., July 3 with two distinguishing awards; one for finishing in the top 10 percent of his class and one for superior physical performance.

The Marconi brothers, Corporal Douglas Jr. and Lance Corporal Urisha (Ookie) are currently serving their country in the United States Marine Corps.

David W. Romero has successfully completed basic training from the Naval Training Command at Great Lakes, Ill.

The buzzing sound of personal watercraft cruising through the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation area will fall silent on Sept. 15. That’s the deadline for the National Park Service to evaluate their environmental impact in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and special regulations for personal watercraft.

Twenty Years Ago

Those who pay attention to the water level in the reservoir behind Grand Coulee Dam noticed a change this year in the long-established springtime drawdown of the reservoir. The drawdown that normally starts each March empties part of the reservoir in anticipation of the spring snow melt. This year something changed. By mid-May, the lake had dropped to only 1264 feet above sea level, its lowest level of the drawdown.

The City of Grand Coulee will hold a special city council meeting to talk with the public about the upcoming water rate increases.

Thirty Years Ago

The first truckload of wheat was brought into the Central Washington Grain Growers on July 15. It came from Ehlers-Jess Farms.

Rebecca Evers, daughter of Arlow R. Evers of Electric City, has achieved Dean’s List standing at the University of Puget Sound.

The Coulee Dam High School class of 1952 held its 30-year reunion last Saturday.

Over 573 attended the eighth annual All Senior picnic at Ephrata’s Oasis Park.

Forty Years Ago

Robert E. Seiler, Grand Coulee, veteran of many years service with the State of Washington Department of Highways was installed as Area I Governor of Toastmasters International District 9.

Roy Hood of Electric City and Steven Vaughn of Nespelem are home from Roanoke, VA, where they went to attend the Convention of the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America.

Fifty Years Ago

Paul A. Tubbs, manager of the Almira Grain Growers Inc., announced the lease by his company of the Coulee Union Grain Company of Coulee City and Grand Coulee last week. Grain storage facilities at Coulee City amount to 120,000 bushels and at Grand Coulee 300,000 bushels.

Sixty Years Ago

Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Garrison of Wenatchee were Sunday visitors at the home of their daughter and family Mr. and Mrs. Roy Jensen.

Raymond L. and Vesta Johnson of Almira have donated 88 acres of land adjacent to the Spring Canyon site, about two miles above Grand Coulee Dam, for inclusion in the Coulee Dam National Recreation area.

Seventy

Years Ago

Frank Banks felled a tree near Kettle Falls to mark the completion of logging operations in the reservoir area upstream from the Grand Coulee Dam. The same week the thermometer had a field day today - temperature of 109 degrees.

Remember the “Greasy Mary”? The stream whirly crane was among the first pieces of machinery at the dam site. It was mounted on a scow.