100 years ago in Spokane: Gonzaga rushing to get ready for big football game

Work was progressing on Gonzaga University’s big new football stadium at approximately DeSmet and Dakota streets.

Workmen were rushing to get it finished before the first home football game against Washington State.

The new stadium would have at least 2,500 seats.

From the state fair beat: The head of the Washington State Fair in Yakima, H.P. Vermilye, was preparing to close the gates for the day, when he saw a suspicious pair of roughly clad men “dodging hastily into a cattle barn.”

Vermilye followed them and was alarmed to see them sneak into another barn.

When he finally caught up with them, he was chagrined to realize it was Washington Gov. Louis P. Hart and State Treasurer C.L. Babcock. They had been to State Good Roads Association banquet in Ellensburg and decided to check out what he called the “state’s prize herd from Steilacoom.”

“Driving 80 miles to pet a couple of calves may seem foolish,” said the governor as he climbed into his auto, “but I wanted to see for myself how they were getting along.”

From the hospital beat: Episcopal Bishop G.B. Cheshire of North Carolina was at St. Luke’s Hospital in Spokane recovering from a “terrifying experience” at Yellowstone National Park.

The bishop was standing on the brink of a geyser when the ground gave way and he fell in to the scalding water. He was able to scramble out quickly, but his feet and legs were severely burned.

He was treated at the park and sent to Spokane to recuperate.