1924– 100 Years Ago
New Band Mill Soon To Start
The last unit of the immense new band mill of the Meadow River Lumber Company has been shipped by the manufacturers. The new mill takes the place of the large mill destroyed by fire a few months ago in Rainelle, and it will consist of three nine-foot Filer and Stowell band mills with a capacity of more than 200,000 feet of West Virginia’s finest hardwoods in ten hours.
The Filth In Moonshine
Cleansing lye, rats, mice, maggots and table scraps are found in the moonshine made in West Virginia, according to disclosures made by E. L. Hawkins, federal prohibition agent. Not only are the contents full of filth, but the whiskey is fermented in piles of manure, chicken coops, hog pens and beneath cow sheds to escape detection and assure the warmth necessary for fermentation.
Successful Young Nimrods
Had a prize been offered for hunting this fall in Webster County, it certainly would have gone to Isaac, Cecil, Hurley, and Arlen Gregory. They left their homes early in November and spent three weeks almost day and night in quest for game. At the end of that time, on tallying up the score, they found to their credit, 155 squirrels, four turkeys, one red fox, and 35 coons. On inquiry as to what they did with their game they replied, “ate it.”
1949 – 75 Years Ago
American Men Too Romantic
Helen Eustis, novelist and magazine writer, who disputes the notion that American husbands are unromantic. In fact, she claims they’re too romantic. Miss Eustis explains that husbands overwork themselves to free their wives from household drudgery. The result, she says, is that the wives become underworked and over fed and the husbands begin to appear unromantic alongside their wives’ soap opera idols. As a solution, the author recommends that husbands and wives become better friends by sharing and enjoying mutual work and recreation.
Buys “Gray Gables”
Carl Bivens, Alderson banker and businessman, has purchased the Gray Gables estate near Crawley, with 25 acres lying along the Midland Trail Highway. Gray Cables was built about 60 years ago by the late Dr. William H. McClung.
Greenbrier Golf Tournament
Some of the highlights of The Greenbrier’s Christmas week program include the five-day Old White Christmas golf tournament, a selective eighteen -hole competition for men and women. The tournament, in memory of the first official golf competition held in the U.S. as far back as 1884, will be played on the Number Three course.
1974– 50 Years Ago
Jane Johnson Wins Top Award
Jane Johnson, WVU Dental Hygiene senior, has become the first student and the first hygienist ever to win the top prize in the America Dental Association’s. (ADA) Annual Preventive Denistry Awards Program. She received her award, a $1,000 check and a plaque, from Carlton H. Williams, President of the ADA. Ms. Johnson, while working during the summer at Greenbrier Center in Lewisburg, discovered a need for preventive dental care for the students. She spent a month designing a special program for them and training.
Board Moves To Extend Easier Credit
The Federal Reserve Board moved quickly Monday to stimulate the economy by extending credit for business expansion. In other developments, General Motors lowered car prices, two sugar companies lowered prices, and Henry Ford suggested the federal government lower income taxes.
Workers Under Court Order
Some striking mine construction workers were under court order today to halt picketing which disrupted the return to work by the nation’s 120,000 miners following settlement of their nearly one-month walkout.
1999– 25 Years Ago
Resort Receives AAA Five-Diamond Award
Ted J. Kleisner, president and managing director of The Greenbrier, has announced that the resort has once again received the AAA Five-Diamond Award. The Greenbrier has received this honor every year since its inception in 1977.
Governor Appoints Local To Board
Governor Cecil H. Underwood made appointments to various state boards and commission. Robert S. Conte of White Sulphur Springs was appointed to the Archives and History Commission. He is a Democrat and represents historians, succeeding Kenneth Beard on the commission.
Angela Merritt Crowned Miss Shanghai 2000
Angela Merritt, daughter of Gil and Barbara Merritt of Alderson, was crowned Miss Shanghai 2000 during the August 28 pageant at Eastern Greenbrier Junior High School in Fairlea. She will reign over Lewisburg’s annual Shanghai Parade on January 1.
DISCLAIMER: The articles in Echoes of the Past are presented in their entire original form, including typos.
