This day in history: Windy weather leads to separate fatal boat accidents on lakes

From 1975: Gusty winds and choppy waters proved a fatal combination on the region’s lakes.

A 16-year-old Spokane boy drowned in Waitts Lake in Stevens County and an East Wenatchee couple drowned in Evergreen Reservoir in Grant County.

The Waitts Lake accident occurred when a motorboat carrying four people was swamped after it made a sharp turn.

The Grant County accident occurred when a fishing boat carrying five people capsized. Three people were able to hang onto the overturned hull and were rescued by other boaters. The other two tried to swim to safety, but were unable to make it 200 feet to shore.

From 1925: James H. Allen, of St. Louis, had a goofy title – ‘Grand Snark of the Universe in the Order of Hoo Hoo” – but he delivered a serious message about forestry in Spokane.

“Only a remnant of the original Eastern forests remains, and nearly half the virgin timber of the South and West has gone,” he said during an American Forest Week address. “An active, intelligent interest in America’s forest problems, participated in by all citizens, is needed to carry out a definite forestry policy for the United States.”

Now, about that title. The Order of Hoo Hoo was – and still is – a national service organization of the forest products industry with a lighthearted name. Its officers’ titles were derived from the Lewis Carroll nonsense poem, “The Hunting of the Snark.”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1818: The Rush-Bagot Treaty is signed between President James Monroe and Great Britain, demilitarizing the U.S.-Canada border.