Looking back: Woman sees train for first time, family survives head-on collision with horse and barking dog alerts family of fire

IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Jan. 9 to Jan. 15 in east Idaho history.

1900-1925

POCATELLO — A woman from Salmon City saw her first train while visiting Pocatello with her husband, the Blackfoot Idaho Republican wrote on Jan. 14, 1910.

“Mrs. Pollarde said she had not been out in 34 years,” the article states. “In fact, (she) had never seen a railroad track nor a train of cars in her life before.”

The article continues, “Her visit (to) Pocatello was a great event in her life, and yet she lives in a good home in a town of 2,000 people.”

1926-1950

RIGBY — A Sugar City family survived a car crash triggered by a horse walking onto the highway.

The Rigby Star reported on Jan. 15, 1931, Mr. Sorlos was driving “a quarter mile below the County Line of the Yellowstone Highway” when the car “collided head-on with a horse which came on the highway from the borrow pit.”

“The horse was killed instantly, and the car badly wrecked,” the local paper explained. “Mrs. G.H. Sorlos sustained a cut on the forehead and lip. Mr. and Mrs. Sorlos, daughter and babe were occupants of the car at the time, she (Mrs. Sorlos) being the only one injured.”

1951-1975

ANNIS — A dog was credited with alerting a teenager about a fire that broke out on their family farm, The Rigby Star said on Jan. 11, 1951.

Marlene Fisher, 19, was home alone when she heard the dog barking and went to the door to “see what the commotion was about.” When she got to the door, she discovered the fire. Fisher ran to the yard where 100 head of sheep were penned and opened the gate to release them. She then turned on the water and called her family and neighbors.

“Neighbors assisted in pulling the burning camp away from nearby sheep and hay,” the article reads. “The sheep camp was the only loss as result of the alarm by the dog, presence of mind of Marlene and the quick assistance of the neighbors.”

Mr. Fisher told The Rigby Star he’d like to thank his neighbors and the mutual fire department from Rexburg and Idaho Falls, which also helped with the blaze.

1976-2000

ABERDEEN — Aberdeen schools temporarily closed after a “high percentage of head lice cases among elementary school pupils” was found.

On Jan. 15, 1976, the Idaho State Journal wrote that public health nurse Renay Tracy of Blackfoot began “going through heads” of Aberdeen students searching for lice about six weeks earlier after she heard a new family in the area was infected with the insects. She said the family moved to Aberdeen from Pocatello.

“It would really be unfair to say this family started our lice problem,” Tracy told the paper. “Head lice have reached epidemic proportions across the United States.”

Tracy described the head lice outbreak as a “community problem.” Only elementary students had been checked, but she said it is “only natural to assume the insects have also infested heads of junior high and high school students, as well as other members of the community.”

Tracy said in order to get back into school the next week, “every student, teacher and helper must prevent evidence of treatment for head lice.” That could include a “container of proper medication or a physician’s note.”

“The problem is that if even one student fails to get treated, he can infect the whole school system again,” she added.