History for Chron

Sept. 6, 2022 Updated Tue., Sept. 6, 2022 at 3:57 p.m.

Spokane Interstate Fair manager Charles T. Meenach declared that the event was prepared to open despite competition from Expo ’74.

“Expo can help us,” said Meenach, who noted that the fair set an attendance record in 1973. “Exhibition-wise, (the fair) will be the biggest thing we’ve ever had.”

Along with a record 400 cattle, new to the fair this year will be exhibitions by the Spokane Gymnastics Club, who will perform twice on Saturdays and Sundays.

A study of lead levels in the first batch of 175 children from the Silver Valley showed that 173 had lead in their system that “exceeded acceptable levels and therefore were abnormal,” said Dr. James Bax, of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

All of the children were living within a mile of the Bunker Hill smelter. Some 37 of the children had lead levels considered a “medical emergency requiring immediate medical attention.”

But Bunker Hill Co. and Dr. Robert Coldwell said the study’s results were being “blown out of proportion, causing a crisis panic.”

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