100 years ago in Spokane: Sash company turns production to war work

The White Pine Sash Co. of Spokane announced that it would be devoting itself entirely to war work.

The manager said it was already turning out ammunition boxes and rocket sticks (similar to the sticks used in skyrockets).

The factory employed a force of between 175 and 185 people, “of whom nearly 40 are women.”

From the seafood beat: Spokane’s new municipal seafood market continued to be enormously popular, selling out of fresh salmon within a few hours every day.

An allotment of 2,000 pounds was planned for the next day. There was a limit of five pounds per customer, but the market was planning to get in another huge shipment – 24,000 pounds, or an entire rail car full – in a few days, for those who wanted to can salmon for the winter.

From the medical beat: The Spanish flu was reaching epidemic stage on the East Coast and President Woodrow Wilson authorized the immediate distribution of new guidelines for stemming its spread.

These guidelines included general admonitions to “avoid needless crowding,” “smother your cough and sneezes,” and “open the windows at home at night and at the office when practicable.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1862: President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of Jan. 1, 1863.