Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The Great Apple Way, the ambitious auto highway from Spokane to Coeur d’Alene, was moving closer to completion.

It was finished from the Spokane city limits to the Liberty Lake Junction. The county commissioners took a look at the road and pronounced it a “dandy.”

It was called the Great Apple Way because in 1912 huge portions of the Spokane Valley were planted in apple orchards. In fact, apple blossoms had become a springtime tourist attraction.

The Great Apple Way survives now as Appleway Boulevard along portions of the original route.

From the beauty beat: Lillian Russell, the famous singer-actress, advised women that coffee was an excellent beauty beverage, except when over-boiled. Over-boiled coffee causes “complexions to grow dark and disturbs the nerves and liver.” She recommended coffee be steeped for no more than 10 minutes, below the boiling point.

In her syndicated column, “Lillian Russell’s Beauty Secrets,” she said that a properly made cup of coffee has “a fine effect upon the entire system and one’s whole day.” 

Also on this date:

(From the Associated Press)

1831: Nat Turner led a violent slave rebellion in Virginia resulting in the deaths of at least 55 white people. (He was later executed.)