This day in history: State canceling land leases leads to controversy over 1911 agreement; Safecrackers take old-fashioned transportation on getaway

From 1976: The owners of about 200 cabins and cottages at Heyburn State Park on Lake Coeur d’Alene received some bad news: Their leases were being canceled.

The State Land Board of Idaho had just taken a vote to terminate those leases, “under a threat from the federal government that if the leases don’t end, the land might be reclaimed and held in trust for the Coeur d’Alene Indian tribe.”

This was the latest development in an ongoing controversy over whether the state of Idaho had violated the 1911 agreement in which the land was given to the state. That agreement specified that the land was to be used for public recreation only. The Coeur d’Alene Tribe argued successfully that the leases were illegal.

About half of the leases were held by Idaho residents, and most of the rest were held by Spokane-area residents.

From 1926: A gang of safecrackers blew open the safe at the Kaniksu Mercantile Co. in Priest River – and they apparently employed an increasingly obsolete form of transportation.

“Whether they were the last of the Jesse James gang or some other desperadoes is not known, but whoever they were, they traveled with a horse and buggy,” reported a Priest River correspondent.

They apparently loaded their loot into a buggy parked at the back door, which left tracks in the mud.

Officers reported that the front door had been jimmied open. The knob on the combination lock was knocked off, and “dynamite inserted and the door blown open.”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1964: First Ford Mustang rolls off the assembly line outside Detroit.