100 years ago in Eastern Washington: The town of Ione had its moment in the sun as filming for ‘The Grub Stake’ kicked off

Ione, “the little lumbering town in northern Washington,” experienced its own Hollywood moment.

Nell Shipman’s production company arrived and soon had “the camera rolling, making village street scenes for the first super-feature, ‘The Grub Stake.’ ”

“The residents of the town and nearby district turned out in a body to meet the moving picture people,” reported a correspondent. “After an hour had been spent taking pictures, with the townsfolk as interested spectators, the company was loaded into sleighs and carried far back over the mountains, where the next few days will be spent in taking scenes for the pictures.”

Today, you can see some of these mountain scenes for yourself by searching for “The Grub Stake” on YouTube.

From the lumber beat: The region’s lumber mills were preparing to start operations for the spring – although a few issues still needed to be resolved.

“Many of the mills have logs embedded in the ice of the rivers and lakes, while others must establish camps in the woods before tuning up their saws,” the Spokane Daily Chronicle wrote.

They were gearing up to employ hundreds (or thousands) of men, but they still had to wait for some warmer weather. One company said it could not start logging “until the snow in the mountain packs down.”

Also on this day

(From the Associated Press)

1969: James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tennessee, to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. (Ray later repudiated that plea, maintaining his innocence until his death.