75 years ago

Sept. 17, 1941

Each Monday and Wednesday night 20 Harbor men enter the high school manual training shop, select calipers and other drafting instruments and bend seriously to the task of learning how ships are built.

The men, members of the national defense class in lofting, are being trained to fill positions in the rapidly expanding shipyards of the Pacific coast. Some of them will be employed at Aberdeen’s new shipyard when it is completed.

To check their calculations, the students employ long slim pieces of wood called “battens.” These are held in the proper curves by snub-nosed weights, called “ducks.” An error of a sixteenth of an inch can undo the work of hours.

For most of the men, the training means hard mental work after their regular daytime jobs, but they cheerfully remain until 11 o’clock and later to finish their drawings.

Sept. 18, 1941

Purchase of the Charles Green residence at 611 Terrace Avenue in Aberdeen will provide Grays Harbor Junior College with a student union and men’s dormitory for the new fall term, beginning Tuesday. The 12 rooms of the building will be remodeled to provide a lounge and other facilities for students.

50 years ago

Sept. 17, 1966

“The air is clean. There aren’t too many people. It’s a good place to live.” That in a nutshell is why Brooklynites are Brooklynites.

Another major reason this little community 26 miles southeast of Aberdeen exists is the logging industry. Many of the breadwinners of the area’s approximately 30 families work in the woods, chiefly for the Weyerhaeuser Co.

”Years ago Saginaw had three camps in the woods with headquarters and equipment shops in Brooklyn,” said George Forest.

The primary Brooklyn attraction is the community’s sole tavern where a water trough runs the length of the bar along the floor.

Tavern owner Andy Ivnic and employee Ethel Collins say the trough (about six inches wide) is for spitting and flicking ashes. “It saves us the trouble of buying and cleaning ashtrays.” Mrs. Collins maintains. “We’ve had people come all the way from Seattle to see it.”

Sept. 18, 1966

Sunday, no newspaper published

25 years ago

Sept. 17, 1991

Thanks to quick-acting staff at the Hoquiam Aquatic Center and a Hoquiam bus driver, six-year-old Brian Chapman was rescued from the bottom of the pool Monday night. Lifeguard Angela Connor saw the child go under and Ruth Hall, who is a bus driver for Hoquiam school district, reached down and pulled Brian up and got him to the side of the pool.

“He was looking pretty poorly when we arrived, but he was breathing on his own, crying and choking” said Hoquiam Fire Department Capt. Randy Tuttle. The boy was treated at the emergency room of GH Community Hospital and was back home this morning.

Sept. 18, 1991

• Aberdeen voters opted to go with the flow in the race for mayor, sending two familiar faces to the Nov. 5 general election.

Chuck Gurrad, president of the City Council, leads the field with 47 percent after Tuesday’s primary. He is challenging incumbent O’Dean Williamson who tallies 33 percent of the votes Tuesday.

• As a light flickered on and off in the Montesano gym, the Bulldog volleyballers turned the lights out on Elma.

Cindy Bowman served 15 points as the Bulldogs outsteadied the Eagles, 15-4, 15-13, 15-9.

The victory was the Bulldogs’ fourth in as many starts.

Aside from Megan Prkut’s spiking spree in the final game, the Bulldogs weren’t that spectacular last night. But their defense was much more solid than that of the error-prone Eagles.

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom