This day in history: A missing pilot and curbside gasoline pumps were making headlines

From 1976: The search was on for Richard E. Larsen, 33, of Spokane, the pilot of a single-engine plane that was overdue on a flight to Eugene.

The plane disappeared somewhere in the vicinity of Santiam Pass in the Cascades. A motorist reported seeing “a small plane flying in a snowstorm along Highway 20” in Oregon.

Larsen was believed to be alone in the plane. He was apparently on the way to Eugene to pick up his wife and children for a return trip to Spokane.

From 1926: The city was enforcing a ban on a common street hazard: curbside gasoline pumps, mounted on city streets and sidewalks.

“In previous years, before motor vehicle traffic attained its present proportions, the use of curb pumps offered no problem and were merely a convenience to the motorist,” said the city’s corporation counsel, James Geraghty.

That was no longer the case. The curb pumps were now considered “unlawful obstructions,” and the city was preparing to order their removal.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1811: First U.S. colonists on the Pacific coast arrive at Cape Disappointment, Washington.

1861: Fort Sumter in South Carolina is attacked by the Confederacy, beginning the American Civil War.

1961: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into space and orbit Earth, aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft.