100 years ago in North Idaho: Priest River freezes, causing logjam as frigid December continues

The logs were being floated down from Pack River to the Beardmore Mill in Priest River when the river suddenly froze to a depth of 3 inches.

The logs would not budge, and the mill had to shut down due to a lack of supply.

This was just one repercussion of a serious December freeze in the Northwest. The temperature in Spokane dropped to 5 Fahrenheit. City firefighters responded to a number of fires started when homeowners overloaded their heating stoves or attempted to thaw their frozen water pipes.

Even Seattle was suffering an unusual freeze with a low of 20 degrees. Oyster beds near Olympia were killed by freezing temperatures and unusually low tides.

From the Prohibition beat: The Spokane police “dry squad” raided the Spokane Creme Beer Co. – supposedly making soft drinks – and discovered no soft drinks at all.

The squad seized 15 pints of moonshine whiskey, 2 gallons of grape wine and two barrels of hard cider.

They also found four men, sitting around a big stove, waiting “expectantly” for their hot toddies to warm up.

The proprietors were arrested for liquor violations.

From the radio beat: The age of radio was dawning in Spokane. The Pacific Telegraph Institute’s radio club announced plans to construct a “radio station” at 119 N. Post St.

This was apparently not a radio station as we know it today. It was a transmitter aimed at students and hobbyists. Yet the advent of genuine radio stations was right around the corner.