Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Deaths continued to mount during the horrendous winter of 1910, when five people were reported drowned by the floods rampaging through the Inland Northwest.

An 11-year-old boy was swept away in a creek in northern Idaho’s Silver Valley, two laborers disappeared while shoring up an Idaho bridge and two men died while trying to cross a bridge near Oakesdale, Wash.

Meanwhile, flood damage worsened in Pullman, Colfax and Garfield, Wash. In Pullman, water rose at the rate of two feet per hour.

“Four houses on East Main Street were washed through town, and helped destroy the three bridges,” reported The Spokesman-Review.

Spokane County was not spared. Latah Creek was running 300 feet wide in places, and it ripped out the bridge over the creek just west of downtown.

These problems were caused by the unrelenting weather system that killed more than 100 people in avalanches in the Cascades and North Idaho.

Also on this date

1836: The Republic of Texas formally declared independence from Mexico. … 1899: Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state was established.