Coulee Recollections

Ten Years Ago

Wind and dry brush fueled a fire early Friday that burned a home and a barn and many acres of land before firefighters could contain it. Electric City Volunteer Fire Department Chief Bob Boll said the fire started at 3:19 am on Friday near the Banks Lake Golf and Country Club. Firefighters did not leave the area until around 5 p.m. Butch Comer and his wife Brenda lost practically everything.

When a flurry of last-minute registration was done, the area’s first three-on-three basketball tournament grew from a dozen teams on Monday to 43 by court time Saturday morning.

When Virginia Berthron woke up at about 5 a.m., Friday, she noticed the television was not on. The power must have gone off, but then why was it so light in the house so early in the morning? “There was fire out every window I looked out,” she said. Her world was “aglow in orange.”

Twenty Years Ago

The Colville Confederated Tribes offered to buy Coulee Dam’s Community Building last month. The proposal was discussed in a closed session of the Coulee Dam Town Council last Wednesday.

The Town of Coulee Dam took an official stand last Wednesday on the possibility of casino-style gambling inside its corporate limits: The mayor and the town council are “concerned.”

Grand Coulee has asked Coulee Dam to help with an estimated $27,800 for an engineering firm to explore alternatives for a plant designed to meet the needs of both towns and the Bureau of Reclamation’s Grand Coulee Project.

Robby Seyler, son of Wes and Chris Seyler of Coulee Dam, was pictured learning how to ride his bike without training wheels.

Thirty Years Ago

Over 400 runners have signed up for the 6th annual Over the Dam Run scheduled for Aug. 21.

Seven brothers of the Pachosa family gathered for a reunion this past weekend.

Kristen Nelson, Electric City, placed first in the junior girls’ slalom event at the Western Regionals Water Skiing Championships in Berkely, CA.

Forty Years Ago

Five boys from Lake Roosevelt High School attended the sports area wrestling camp near Jewel, Ore., under the direction of Head Coach Jim Smith of the University of Washington. Those attending were Bob Davis, Steve Hood, Fred Goodwin, Ted Goldsmith and Tom Goodwin.

The new owner of the TeePee Drive-In is Jack Wright. He recently purchased the drive-in from Mr. and Mrs. George Banning, who have operated the business for many years.

Bids will be opened on Sept. 7 at the Third Powerplant Construction Office in Grand Coulee for the demolition of one commercial and one government warehouse. The bid specifications call for the removal of the well-known Green Hut Cafe.

Fifty Years Ago

The spring semester honor roll at Washington State University, announced this week included students from this area: Coulee Dam - Karen Kale, Patrick McGill and Marybeth Poch; Govan - Paul Bodeau; Grand Coulee - Loney Carlson Jr., Alan Carr, Donald Kurth and Ray Rice and of Nespelem, Lawrence Kunz.

Sixty Years Ago

Among local students who will enter EWCE next fall are Harvey Henke and Pauline Aabert of Grand Coulee and Donald Bonerts of Elmer City.

Freshman at WSC include Howard Lucas of Coulee Dam, James Hagy of Electric City and Shirley Mangus and Phillip Whitney of Grand Coulee.

Seventy Years Ago

The Coulee Dam Damsels trounced Omak 6-4. They were also scheduled to play Wenatchee and had a return game with Omak toward the end of the month.

Workmen found that the slightest whisper could be magnified and heard as clear as a bell providing they stood at the foot of any one of the 2300 foot sloping penstock tubes. They had a perfect echo cliff at that location in the powerhouse.