Jim Kershner’s This Day in History

From our archives, 100 years ago

People in Spokane were finding a variety of reasons to complain about the snow. 

Most people were complaining there was too much of it and that property owners were not complying with the law requiring them to clear their sidewalks. 

City officials explained the law was only for people in the “fire district” – in other words, downtown – and people in other areas were not required to clear their sidewalks.

Meanwhile, farmers and other people coming into Spokane on horse-drawn sleighs were complaining that when they arrived beneath the railroad overpasses there was no snow to get their sleighs through.

They asked the city to “spread several truckloads of snow” underneath the bridge arches.

From the demographic beat: The 1915 Polk Directory (the era’s version of a phone book) was released and the Smiths were once again the city’s winners.

There were 615 Smiths listed in the book, with Johnsons coming in second with 550 and Joneses “rather a poor third” with 283.

The longest name – and “most peculiar” name – was Bayzarian Hampartzoom.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1960: The U.S. Navy-operated bathyscaphe, Trieste, carried two men to the deepest known point in the Pacific Ocean, reaching a depth of more than 35,000 feet.