Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives, 75 years ago

Kellogg was set to celebrate. No, not the 25th anniversary of the Big Burn. Rather, the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Bunker Hill Mine.

On Sept. 9, 1885, a Mexican burro and his companion, prospector Noah Kellogg, stumbled onto a galena deposit “so rich it made many men millionaires.” As of 1935, the mine had produced more than $278 million in lead, silver and zinc, and generated more than $50 million in dividends.

In celebration, miners and other folks around the region would be gathering for a three-day picnic. Organizers called it the most elaborate celebration ever attempted in Kellogg, and they were planning for a crowd of up to 15,000, including 2,000 boys from nearby Civilian Conservation Corps camps.

From the tributes beat: A small group of American Indians and other dignitaries gathered in Nespelem, Wash., to pay tribute to Yellow Wolf, called the “last of the warriors of the band that followed Chief Joseph on his immortal retreat.”

The “impressive” Nez Perce burial rite was carried out by the few surviving members of the band who are descendants of the original group who surrendered in Montana in 1877.

Yellow Wolf died Aug. 21, 1935, at 79.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1973: A bank robbery-turned- hostage-taking began in Stockholm, Sweden; the four hostages ended up empathizing with their captors, a psychological condition now referred to as “Stockholm Syndrome.”