Old Time Notes from The Beacon
130 Years Ago March 21, 1891
• One of the handsomest and most convenient 8-passenger stage coaches ever brought to this coast arrived Wednesday from Stockton and has been put on the route between this place and Fort Bragg by Miller Bros.
• J. D. Johnson went down to Greenwood Wednesday to put up another of those favorite cyclone windmills.
• J. E. Packard is having a neat cottage built on his lot near the school house grounds. We have no building boom, but several new houses are being erected about town.
• The Little River public school opened Monday with Prof. B. F. Higgins as principal.
• The steamer Navarro sailed Saturday afternoon for San Francisco with lumber and a large passenger list.
• During the first six days of the present month 989,000 feet of lumber, 600,000 shingles and 29,550 ties were received at San Francisco from this county.
• Born — In Point Arena, March 10, to the wife of J. S. Ware, a daughter. In Fort Bragg, March 12, to the wife of W. G. Dixon, a son. At Fort Bragg, March 13, to the wife of K. H. Golden, a son.
103 Years Ago March 16, 1918
• L. R. Romer, who has a large ranch south of Ukiah, is preparing to get out a large quantity of charcoal this year. Mr. Romer has about 25 men cutting the wood and burning. He expects to have about a thousand tons ready for the market before the first of the new year, which he has contracted to sell at $30 per ton.
• T. L. Blackmun, who recently purchased three lots in the Hills addition, has a portion of the lumber on the ground and is about ready to lay the foundation for his new home.
• The Misses Grace and Julia Bean came up on the Sea Foam Sunday morning. Miss Grace to bid farewell to relatives and friends, having received word from her base hospital unit No. 47 to be ready at a minute’s notice to leave for France. Miss Bean is a graduate nurse from Mt. Zion Hospital, San Francisco and has been superintendent of one of the floors for some time.
75 Years Ago March 16, 1946
• Word was received from James Cruttenden this week that he had just arrived from Europe and is at a camp in New Jersey. Jimmy has been overseas for 40 months and is anxious to get home.
• Pfc. William Filosi is in Japan. He is a telephone operator and he is surrounded by three feet of snow, but he likes the Fort Bragg fog best, he says. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Filosi of Fort Bragg.
• Capt. Murray Cameron, U. S. Army Air Corps, stationed at Hawaii, spent the weekend here with his mother, Mrs. Irene Cameron.
Captain Cameron has spent five years in the service, during which he flew in all principal countries in the world. He traveled by plane from Hawaii to Hamilton Field on his trip here.
• After several years’ service with the Marines, Dave Story returned home to Mendocino this week.
• Alfred Lawrence, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Lawrence, of Fort Bragg, was given a surprise birthday party recently. Young Lawrence was recently discharged from the service, having spent three years with the Army. He was with the 11th Airborne paratroopers in the South Pacific.
51 Years Ago March 13, 1970
• Elk — The 77th Annual St. Patrick’s Dinner-Dance, to be held March 14th, will raise funds to help in the restoration of the historic Catholic Church in Greenwood. In 1886, the Church of the Blessed Sacrament was established in Elk, and an adjoining parish house was constructed in 1895. For 75 years the dinner and dance has been held in Greenwood, but this year, due to the closing of the Elk Union Hall, the affair is being held in the Manchester Grange Hall.
• False Alarm … Mendocino High School was evacuated on Wednesday shortly after 1 p.m., when Mrs. Bertha Mason, secretary, received a telephone call that a bomb had been planted in the school building. A search was conducted by the Mendocino Fire Department and the Mendocino County Sheriff’s office but nothing out of the ordinary was discovered, and students returned to their classrooms.
• H. A. “Hal” Irish announced his candidacy for Judge of Big River Judicial District.
• Don Burleson was welcomed to the writing staff of the Mendocino Beacon contributing his column “Mendo-Scene-O.”
• Abalone season opens March 16. The ten-month season will remain open until Jan. 14, 1971.
• Rainfall to date: 49.86 inches. Last year, 55.97 inches.
30 Years Ago March 14, 1991
• John McGough’s circle of friends continues to grow. The film about John’s life in Mendocino, And Then Came John, has been touring movie theaters in Russia since May of last year. As a result, John and his mother, Lee Foster, are corresponding with families in Russia. The film was introduced in an interview with its creator, Mendocino filmmaker Scott Andrews. Filmed between 1983 and 1988, And Then Came John begins with John McGough’s 26th birthday party. This year, to celebrate his 34th birthday, John and his parents, Lee and Dick Foster, have invited all of their friends in Mendocino and Fort Bragg to a “Celebrate Life and Love” party. The 22-piece Bob Ayers Big Band, featuring Kelly Peterson, will be on hand with their lively, danceable selections.