This day in history: Remains of NC student were found near Newport. Soldiers sent to fight fire near Sandpoint

From 1976: The mysterious disappearance of high school distance runner Steve “Buzz” Martin, 15, was solved with the discovery of his remains in the forest 30 miles north of Newport.

The North Central High School student had been attending an outdoor cross-country running camp in the area during August of 1975 when he went out for a run and never returned.

The Pend Oreille County sheriff said “he presumed the cause of death to be panic and heat loss.” He said the boy probably became lost, afraid and extremely cold because he was only wearing track clothes.

His remains were found in dense brush about 300 yards from the nearest trail, where searchers had looked for him after he disappeared. He was about 3 or 4 miles from the campsite.

From 1926: About 50 soldiers from Fort George Wright in Spokane were being rushed to the Sandpoint region to help fight numerous forest fires raging through the Kaniksu National Forest. They were headed to two camps about 10 miles east of Ione, where a fire was threatening the Sullivan Creek ranger station.

This brought the total number of firefighters to around 500.

The fires were now threatening Sandpoint’s water supply. A fire burning at the head of Carr Creek was “less than half a mile from the large overground wooden pipes that carry the water to the town.”

“Should the fire reach the Sand Creek basin, it would destroy the value of this district as a water supply for future years,” warned a fire warden.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1969: Apollo 11 launches, carrying the first men to the moon.