This day in history: Residents cautioned over deadly Spokane River currents. North Central High gets new athletic field
From 1976: The Spokane Chronicle warned readers to avoid a deadly serious hazard in their midst: the Spokane River during spring runoff.
A year earlier, the river claimed five lives in rafting and canoeing accidents.
“Few novice river runners fully appreciate the true fury” of the river, said the Chronicle.
“By late summer, the river is a wading pond,” the chief of the Fairchild Air Force Base Survival School said. “But right now, it’s a treacherous river.”
The former president of Spokane River Expeditions said the Bowl and Pitcher area is particularly dangerous.
“That is one of the most hazardous stretches of river rapids I’ve ever seen,” he said.
What was true in 1976 remains true today.
From 1926: The Spokane Chronicle ran a front -page photo of North Central High School’s new athletic field, acquired just the day before.
It didn’t look like an athletic field yet but rather like a jumble of rock piles.
Within two years, it would sport “a gridiron, ball diamond, track and tennis courts.”
The land was purchased “from Dan Munro of the General Construction Company at a cost of $9,000.”
It was bordered by “Washington Street on the east, Augusta on the north, and Howard on the west.”
Today, a North Central baseball field occupies the tract, as well as newer additions to the school.
Also on this day
(From onthisday.com)
1860: The first Pony Express mail, traveling by horse and rider relay, reaches Sacramento, California, after 10 days of travel.