Historical society enjoys meeting presentation, elects new officers

Local residents were joined by individuals from the Connell and Tri-Cities area for the Adams County Historical Society’s annual meeting on Oct. 21.

After a meal catered by Cathy Jo’s Catering, guest speaker Gene Wirth opened the afternoon meeting with a quote.

“Time immemorial, what is it?” he said. “That’s how long ago grandpa’s grandpa remembered the stories of his youth and told ‘em to you.”

His presentation was informal, and he encouraged questions from the audience. Several were astounded to learn that Mount Saint Helens dropped ash in the area about 15,400 years ago, and the layer of ash helps date sediment layers.

Wirth covered numerous topics in his discussion, from the geology of the area starting with the ice age floods, to a discussion about a still and tunnel with barrels of “hooch” near Othello. He noted that bones of a prehistoric camel were found in the Sandhills and research has proved a large cat was also in the area.

“There was a cat. I don’t know if there was enough information in these fossils to determine it was a sabertooth cat,” Wirth said. “We do know they were around here. They were huge. They were one-fourth bigger than the lions today.”

A Columbian Mammoth has also been found at the Franklin and Adams County line, he added. About 70 have been discovered in Benton and Franklin Counties.

Another piece of little known history in Adams County is the Cariboo Trail, which did pass through the county near Deadman Lake and Eagle Lake outside of Othello.

Following the presentation, society president Allan Koch called a short business meeting to order. During the business portion, Dennis Thompson presented the nominating committee report. Nominees who were voted into three-year terms were Karin Clinesmith, Irma Gfeller and Sue Sackmann.

The historical society’s board held a short meeting after the business meeting for reorganization of the board. The first order of business was appointing Jennifer Saunders to a three-year term, filling a vacant at-large position.

The reorganized executive committee of the board includes Koch as president, Janet Camp as vice president, Carol Becker as secretary and Saunders as treasurer.

All meetings of the Adams County Historical Society are open to the public.

The next meeting is slated for Saturday, Nov. 10, beginning at 1 p.m. at the Lind Community Church.

Board meetings rotate between Ritzville and Lind.