This day in history: For the state of Idaho, they really did come in threes. Spokane priest won fancy auto

From 1976: The Spokane Chronicle noted Idaho had been in the news lately for a string of three calamities.

First was the Teton Dam collapse in eastern Idaho, which killed 11 people and displaced 25,000 people.

Second was Nor’wester ’76 rock festival riot in State line, in which an angry crowd torched the stage and turned the festival grounds into a smoking ruin.

Now came a third calamity in which an early morning fire destroyed portions of the original Sun Valley Lodge at the world famous ski resort. The fire broke out just after midnight, and all of the guests had to be evacuated. Most of them were taken in at other area inns.

No one was injured. The disaster would have been worse except for one significant detail. Many of the people attending a Lions convention at the lodge had already had to return home in the aftermath of the Teton Dam disaster.

From 1926: The Rev. William J. Metz, pastor of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and vicar general of the diocese of Spokane, apparently had an exceptionally loyal flock.

Metz had just been declared the winner of a new Pierce Arrow auto after he took home the grand prize in the Spokane Chronicle’s Circulation Contest.

This was no narrow victory. He led all entrants by millions of votes. His vote total was over 12 million, and second place was just over 7 million.

In this contest, people were encouraged to convince “friends, neighbors and acquaintance anywhere” to subscribe to the Spokane Chronicle. Each new subscription obtained was worth thousands of votes. The top three vote-getters all won new automobiles.

The Chronicle ran a photo of Metz on its front page.