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W. Bien died in a scuffle at Gladys Bien's Ione resort. Nine people were arrested; a coroner's jury released them all.
“The jury holding that they used no more force or violence than was brought to bear against them by Bien.”
A Tuesday afternoon break at the Panhandle Lumber Co. dam sent a 35-foot head of water through the canyon and delayed the mill for months.
“The dam had a 35-foot head and was more than a quarter of a mile wide.”
A deck hand fell from the steamer Ione near Locke Landing while trying to catch a wind-blown parcel. His crew heard the cry but could not reach him in time.
“No one saw Olson fall into the river, but his cry as he went overboard was heard, and the steward saw him about ten feet astern of the boat.”
Stevens County commissioners officially certify the incorporation of the town of Ione following a successful local election.
“Now, therefore, it is ordered and entered upon the minutes of the board, that the territory proposed to be incorporated... be and the same is declared duly incorporated.”
Tracklayers beat their deadline, a first freight train rolls in, and a new passenger schedule is set for Nov. 8.
““The tracklaying gang of the Idaho Washington Northern reached Ione Sunday, Oct. 31, making good the prediction last fall of President F. A. Blackwell that the road would have a train into Ione by Nov. 1, 1909.””
Painting the steamer Metaline, Frank Spaulding missed a grip rail and plunged into the cold, swift Pend Oreille River—then nearly cramped before a crewman fished him out with a pole.
“Just as he was beginning to cramp a pole was gotten to him and he was pulled into a boat.”
In a Pend Oreille County mill town, the mayor and council ordered the resorts closed, charging three women and preparing John Doe warrants for their clients.
“The marshal has been instructed to swear in sufficient deputies to make any and all arrests.”
A single buyer pays nearly $20,000 for adjoining Ione ranches—then says she plans a dairy farm. Locals suspect the railroad is the real buyer.
“However, most people in that vicinity have an idea that the deals have some connection with the railroad project.”
A Newport businessman buys a quarter-section as railroad talk sends ranch prices climbing around Ione.
“Ranches in the vicinity of Ione are bringing good prices of late, evidently on the supposition that there will be a townsite at Ione, and that it will be the terminus of the Metaline extension of the I. W. N. for some time.”
Deeds filed at Colville show the Idaho & Washington Northern’s investment company assembling the old Stecker ranch and nearby tracts for a brand-new townsite on the Pend Oreille.
“It is understood that this covers all of the land purchased by the Idaho Washington Northern interests for the new townsite of Ione.”
Over a rival’s protest, Stevens County commissioners handed the Ione Water & Light Co. a quarter-century franchise to lay water mains through town—with a clause letting Ione buy the system out if it ever incorporated.
“The authorities of such city or town shall have the right ... to acquire by purchase or condemnation any or all of such pipes, conduits and water systems.”
The Idaho & Washington Northern pushes to within ten miles of Ione, moves its steamboat terminus to Jared's, and the Great Northern's fast mail cuts hours off Newport's eastern post.
“The new passenger schedule to Ione will be made effective Nov. 1, making good the statement of F. A. Blackwell made last fall, in which he said that they would be operating trains into Ione by Nov. 1, 1909.”
Incorporation planners included the boarding houses and shoreline but excluded objecting landowners, partly to avoid making the new town pay for a Big Muddy crossing.
“It was feared that if the land was included within the limits, the bridge would have to be paid for by the town.”
Work has begun in earnest on the big mill, with a dinkey railroad, steam shovel and teams moving earth for the foundation, dam and lumber yards.
“Part of the waste is for the filling of the big dam and a part is the removal of quite a hill and the leveling up of the millsite and lumber yards.”
Ione voted on whether to license saloons weeks after the county unit went dry. The Anti-Saloon League's superintendent said the law forbade it — and produced out-of-state precedents to prove the town had to stay closed until 1911.
“Some doubt has arisen as to the legality of this action.”
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