Whitewater News and Opinion for April 11, 2018

4-4-2018. The news is so scary; hope we don’t have war!

Sympathy to the family of Duane Simanton.

Welcome to all the new baby calves and farm animals all over. They are so cute!

Jeanie Green also got grown turkeys, "just to walk around the farm", she says.

In spite of bad weather and icy streets, Ag Day in Malta was a success. Congratulations to all prize winners.

I went to Malta with Pastor Nagy. The Whitewater Lutheran Church has a new furnace installed, so it is warm.

Congratulations to Mickey Hellie on winning $50 at bingo at the Tin Cup!

Sue Olson took Traxton to the movie "Peter Rabbit." Rory Green came to town with Jeannie and attended the movie also.

I had a birthday ice cream social with the Siewings. They rode home with Jean Green, Rory and the turkeys that she bought!

The “Voice of Montana“ program was talking about Malta and other small towns. I had to make a salute to Whitewater. I sound funny on the radio. The “voice“ announcer said he was in Whitewater for a basketball game of the Penguins years ago!

Hope everyone had a nice Easter. Mom used to make hot cross buns and Divinity or seafoam candy special deliveries!

Weather is warmer and the snow is melting. Wonderful.

What follows is an excerpt from my dad‘s book and it reminds me of our winter of 2018. The book is entitled "Pioneers of the Great Northwest."

The winter of 1906–07

The fall of 1906, the snow came early but most of it went off by early November, leaving lots of snow and ice. Then it snowed again and it seemed it would never end. One big storm after another came. By Christmas there were 2 feet on the ground and it was extremely cold. The 27th day of January was 50° below zero! It’s chinooked on February 2 and 3, some snow melted and the weather was good for about 10 days. Then it turned cold snowed again until late March. All the ranchers were out of feed. The stock was poor and many sheep and cattle died. About half of the livestock died that winter of 1906-07.

Whitewater news 1950 or 1952 from the book “Hills beyond Whitewater Creek Bridge,"

by Helen Austin

Whitewater bridge is flooding!

Part 1

The blanket of hard snow and drifts of 6 to 8 feet had laid on the ground forever, as it had been a long, snowy, cold and dreary winter which seem to never end. Then suddenly, a breeze blew in a strong warm wind and the “chinook wind" became the welcome password. Overnight the snow was all gone, and the water in the streets. The ice was breaking in Whitewater Creek.

Sister Janet and a friend went to Malta; Janet drove the car. Mom protested, “I don’t know if you should go, except that you have a dental appointment."

But they never dreamed that the snow could melt so fast and the creek rise so rapidly. By nightfall, the banks of the tiny Whitewater Creek were swollen and the rickety little bridge was covered with rushing, icy and deadly water!

The report came, “the bridge is going to collapse!" So the entire town came to the bridge site to watch. They remarked,"do you think the Water will reach high enough to flood the town? Maybe we should evacuate,” and so on. As the water rose, so did the excitement. Suddenly there was another rush of water as the ice broke and a loud bang! Crash! And the ancient, rickety little bridge we had used for so many years, collapsed! It simply caved in the middle and its logs and boards fell into the water. The water rushed on freely, carrying the logs and boards with it as the crowd stood still, horrified and sad.

Dad was at the ranch working, mom had been worried about Janet. She panicked, almost in tears. “My God." She almost choked, “Janet and her friend are in Malta, and they will return and drive right into the water. We have to stop them!“

Some of the ladies put their arms around Mom to try and console her, but no one thought about comforting me; I was sick inside.

—Continued next week—