Old Time Notes from The Beacon

130 Years Ago Jan. 10, 1891

• The business man who never advertises saves a great many expenses. He saves clerk’s salaries and needs but a small stock to supply his customers. This makes insurance and taxes a small expense. Only a small capital is required, and a small building is sufficient for the proprietor and the spiders. The money saved by not advertising will come handy in bearing funeral expenses of a dead business.

• Mendocino can boast of having one of the most efficient and obliging postmasters in the state. Wm. Mullen is the right man in the right place.

• The Coos Bay steamed into port shortly after noon Tuesday. She could not enter Point Arena harbor on account of the heavy sea running, consequently, passengers for that place landed here.

• We are informed that the new mill at Navarro will start up next month. It is among the best on the coast.

• The drummer, traveling in the interest of a San Francisco tailoring firm, and mentioned in our last issue as being under arrest for unsatisfactory dealing with Greenwoodites, was tried before a Justice of the Peace and acquitted. Immediately on his release, he was re-arrested for failing to pay for a team hired from C. J. Buchanan. In this case, the traveling man was not so fortunate, as he was sentenced to forty days in the county jail for his misbehavior.

105 Years Ago Jan. 8, 1916

• Palle Anderson was in town the latter part of last week with a new Ford car which he had purchased in Ukiah.

• A son was born to the wife of Gaspar Valena in this place on January 5th. Dr. Preston reports both mother and child as doing well.

• Miss Gladys McMaster and Miss Blanche Newton left on the Sea Foam Saturday for San Francisco, where both young ladies will enter Normal School.

• Miss Kathryn Boyle left Monday morning to resume her studies at the Normal at San Jose. Her brother, Clifton, left the day before for his last halfterm at the same institution. He will graduate next June.

• Until further notice, Paramount Pictures will be shown at Skating Rink hall every Wednesday evening. Next Wednesday there will be presented “The Rose of the Rancho,” a California picture in five reels. Admission, 10 and 15 cents.

75 Years Ago Dec. 29, 1945

• Sgt. Leslie Hayter has been discharged from the army after 2 ½ years in the South Pacific.

• Miss Connie Murray

arrived home Saturday from Wright Field at Dayton, Ohio, with an honorable discharge from the Women’s Army Corps ( WAC). She was just in time to enjoy the holidays with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Murray, at Fort Bragg.

• We have experienced this week one of the worst storms in many years in point of continuous rainfall. Yesterday the coast section was isolated from the rest of the world — isolated by land, air and sea. At Noyo, the home of Fort Bragg’s fishing fleet, untold damage was done by high and swift water from the Noyo River. At least four fishing boats have gone out to sea, and there is a possibility of two more being lost. Latest reports from Big River are to the effect that it is now receding. From Relmond Smith, we learn that at its height, the road leading along the river from the foot of Big Hill was some three feet under water, which would put the water over the bridge at the mouth of the North Fork about four feet. This is exceptional high water for Big River.

55 Years Ago Jan. 7, 1966

• Funeral services were held Monday morning for William Stuart, retired Point Arena Postmaster, who passed away in a Fort Bragg hospital Friday, Dec. 31, at the age of

80. Mr. Stuart was born in Marysville and had made his home in Point Arena for 33 years. His wife, Jane passed away earlier this year.

• On the morning of Dec. 28, in the midst of the storm, a baby was born in Annapolis, without the aid of a doctor, electric lights or phone. Burl Bigelow, who is principal of the Horicon Elementary School, was rushing his wife Janie to the hospital at five o’clock in the morning amid falling trees and rain. They got ten miles toward Healdsburg and were stopped by a large redwood tree that had fallen across the road. Mr. Bigelow turned around and started back only to find another tree had fallen after he had passed. By the time Burl had chopped enough of it out of the road to get by Healdsburg was out of the question. They rushed back home. A baby girl was born to Mrs. Bigelow at ten minutes after seven in the morning, Mr. Bigelow officiating. Both mother and baby are doing nicely. The father too, is recovering and out of danger, it is thought.

30 Years Ago Jan. 3, 1991

• Richard Falkenrath Jr., the son of Margaret Mary (Maggie) O’Rourke of Mendocino, has received a prestigious 1991 Marshall Scholarship for study in Britain. Falkenrath, a 1987 graduate of Mendocino High School, is a senior at Occidental College in Los Angeles. Before beginning his studies Falkenrath will see a bit more of the world. “After graduation, I’m going to travel in Europe until school starts on October 2,” he concluded.

• Arriving just in time to lighten up the January blahs is a repeat of last year’s wildly successful, hot and sizzling Latin night — “Carnivale De Mendocino.” The musical menu will include: Robert Ayers and his Latin jazz orchestra; two hipswinging groups, “Pura Vida” and “Salsa Candela;” and the African-inspired sounds of Suki, Annie Lee and Friends.

• Martha Furey will present her one-woman show “O’Keeffe — Sunset of an Artist” starting Jan. 3 at the Helen Schoeni Theater.