Looking Back

100 years ago

Farmers have commenced hauling grain again. They report the roads improving and that about all of the big snow we had is gone, but leaving two-thirds of the ground covered with ice.

The Basket Ball team will go to Kimball Tuesday evening, February 10, for a game with the Kimball team. A number of the friends of the players will accompany them.

Fred Weigman of Albin was in town a couple of days this week getting out a sale bill for his sale which will be held on February 17.

Rev. Woodworth arrived here Saturday and will take charge of the Presbyterian Church work at this place and Bushnell.

75 years ago

Howard Zike, six-year-old son of Mrs. Jessie Zike of Federal and a grandson of Mr. and Mrs. B.K. Land of south of town, was named the best dressed junior cowboy at the stock show in Denver Saturday. He was awarded a spotted pony with a saddle and bridle, which he rode in the parade there Saturday.

A card from Mr. and Mrs. Fred M. Elliot, former local residents who are now living at Santa Cruz, Cal., says that they are both well and busy enjoying the fine California sunshine, but that they cannot get along without the POST, which they were asking to have changed to a new address.

John Prosser, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Prosser of south of town, left last week for Santa Barbara, Cal., where he has enrolled in a radio school.

In an action filed in the district court in Cheyenne Leora Mae Brown, by Mrs. C.C. Gross, her next friend (sic), has commenced annulment proceedings against Eugene R. Brown of Sunbeam, Colo. The annulment is asked on the grounds that plaintiff had not reached the age of legal consent or had her parents’ consent to an alleged marriage.

Carload shipments from Pine Bluffs during 1938, according to J. N. Golden, local Union Pacific agent here, were about one-third heavier than during the preceding year. While livestock shipments form here were only about half that of 1937, sugar beet loadings during the same period were almost double and grain shipments amounted to over 15 times as much as the previous year.

John Poelma has bought the farm known as the Charles Jacobson place.

50 years ago

Rodney Anderson of Pine Bluffs was named the Cheyenne Junior Chamber of Commerce’s outstanding farmer of the year at a dinner in Cheyenne Wednesday night. Anderson, who farms northwest of Pine Bluffs, was awarded the honor from among Cheyenne area farmers. Gordon Malm of Albin was winner of the award last year.

The school at Bushnell was broken into some time late Thursday night and $40.19 in cash was taken, according to Supt. Dale Hohnstein. Hohnstein said the break-in was apparently not the work of vandals, as little damage was discovered, other than broken locks and contents of boxes apparently dumped in search of money.

25 years ago

Michael F. Ormsby, Wyoming state director of FmHA said this week, notices offering to assist state farmers delinquent on their loan payments resulted in 145 farmers responding to the offer. Notices were sent to the FmHA borrowers delinquent 180 days or more, and they outlined numerous positive options designed to restructure debts in order for them to continue their farm operations. 217 notices were sent out, but many went to farmers who had already sold out or were in bankruptcy. On a national level, 71,000 notices were sent out, but only 35,000 delinquent borrowers responded.

Approximately 550 University of Wyoming students were candidates for degrees at the completion of the fall semester. Jan. E. McMann and Karen Lynne Wilhelm, Pine Bluffs, each received their BA degree.

10 years ago

A loud concussion splitting the clear night air last Saturday brought many westside Pine Bluffs residents to their porches searching for the source. The Pine Bluffs Fire Department responded to the Interstate 80 off-ramp near the Pine Bluffs Conoco to find a set of semi-trailer tires burning near the underpass. The small fire was quickly extinguished and the crew examined the set of wheels that remained joined at the rims. The driver of the tractor-trailer rig missing the tires never stopped or reported the incident.

The April Sorensen Memorial Scholarship Fund was created following the sudden and tragic death of April Sorensen, star athlete and honor student from Albin in January of 2000. The scholarship was made available to a female athlete from Albin, Burns and Pine Bluffs who have participated in basketball, volleyball and track all four years of high school and carry an accumulative grade point average of 3.50 or higher. The original scholarship amount was $1,000 in the year 2000. The scholarship will now be made available to any qualifying female senior high school athlete, regardless of school attending and the scholarship aware amount has been raised to $2,500 for the year 2004.