Looking back: Two 12-year-olds save baby from drowning and other historical stories
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EAST IDAHO — Every week, East Idaho News is looking back in time at what life was like during this week in history.
This week is Aug. 30 to Sept. 5.
1900-1925
ST. ANTHONY — The Teton Peak newspaper in St. Anthony reported on Sept. 1, 1904, that Idaho Gov. John T. Morrison issued a Labor Day proclamation.
The proclamation began by saying, “In the presence of history and contemplating the course of events through the centuries, mankind must acknowledge labor as the essential ingredient and ruling element in all human development.”
Morrison goes on to explain that many of the states of the Union had designated a day as a legal holiday to be observed as Labor Day. He added that Idaho hadn’t designated such a day by statute, but that “a precedent for its observance is established and our people are in full sympathy with the patriotic thought.”
Morrison ends the proclamation by saying that he earnestly recommends the celebration by citizens on Sept. 5, 1904.
“Let there be to the extent possible a cessation of the usual occupations and gathering together of those who toil and of those who employ labor to the end that mutual interests may be recognized and honored and a broader sympathy established.”
1926-1950
REXBURG — Two 12-year-old boys saved a fifteen-month-old baby from drowning, according to an article in The Rexburg Standard’s Aug. 31, 1943, issue.
The week prior to the publication, Jerry Clucas and Ronald Lee Cook were swimming in a canal in Rexburg when they noticed a baby floating towards them, the paper explained. The boys grabbed the child from the water and he started to cry, but “seemed to be all right.”
“The baby was taken to a doctor and examination disclosed that he was none the worse for his experience in the water,” The Rexburg Standard added.
The baby had fallen into the water 150 yards above the place where the boys rescued him. On his way downstream, he passed under a low hanging wire fence “with just room for clearance.”
“Everyone is at a loss to explain how he was able to float for such a distance without inhaling some water in his lungs and drowning,” The Rexburg Standard said. “He was on his back when taken from the water and it seemed that he must have fallen in just that way without struggling and floated down to where the boys were swimming.”
When the baby’s father, Seth Wood, heard about what happened, he gave the two boys a five-dollar bill for rescuing his child.
1951-1975
SODA SPRINGS — Idaho Gov. Robert E. Smylie announced that Sept. 1 to 7, 1957, would be “Make It Yourself With Wool Week.”
The Caribou County Sun in Soda Springs reported that Smylie joined the governors of 17 other wool producing states in what was a “nationwide salute to wool.” While talking about the wool contest, he mentioned the growing importance of wool in the Idaho economy and in the agricultural economy of the nation.
Smylie encouraged young women, ages 13 to 22, in Idaho, to participate in the contest. He explained that the efforts made by young women to make their own clothing have a “substantial influence” on the marketing of the state’s wool.
“This program encourages all to learn the advantages of sewing and to gain a knowledge of the benefits and pleasures in the use of wool,” Smylie mentioned.
The contest’s National Finals were set to take place in Arizona in Jan. 1958. Some of the notable awards that were being given away included portable sewing machines, a trip to Europe, scholarships and savings bonds.
1976-2000
LAVA HOT SPRINGS — The Idaho State Journal said on Aug. 30, 1977, that a felony arraignment took place the day prior for a Lava Hot Springs man named Michael Grandenberger. He was accused of growing marijuana plants in his upstairs apartment.
The paper said he was arrested over the weekend after Sixth District Magistrate Dell W. Smith signed a search warrant sought by Lava Hot Springs police officer Ray F. Reifschneider. Lava police officers, along with an Idaho State Police trooper, searched Grandenberger’s apartment and confiscated five plastic bottles that had 19 marijuana plants.
At the time, Grandenberger was in jail on a $5,000 bond and was awaiting the date of a preliminary hearing to be set.
PREVIOUS LOOKING BACKS:
Looking back: Man struck by lightning, teen escapes school before robbing businesses and weddings
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