25 Years Ago - 1985

Tuesday evening Dr. Duane Lund, superintendent of the Staples schools for the past 25 years submitted his resignation with the statement, “This is the most poorly kept secret in town.” His resignation came as no surprise. Lund plans to remain involved in educ ation through his work with the Blandin Foundation.

Twenty-six cars of a southbound Burlington Northern freight train derailed early Monday morning in Randall, dumping imported cars, lumber and large aluminum ingots onto the main street of Randall. Debris narrowly missed business buildings and homes. There were no injuries.

Candidates for the 1985 FFA Sweetheart title at Staples High School include Darla Mertens, Jill Tyrrell, Jennifer Cline, Cindy Snyder, Tammy Nitschke and Lisa Westling. The Sweetheart will be announced on February 15 at the sweetheart dance.

50 Years Ago - 1960

As of last Tuesday evening a total of 138 business firms and individuals in Staples and the surrounding area have indicated their interest in the Ringer Staples Building project by their purchase of stock in the fund drive which is presently on for the purpose of raising $50,000. Presently the fund is already at $30,000.

Bertha J. Sperley retired Feb. 1 from the faculty of Staples High School. She began teaching for this school district in 1917 until the present time. Her life time career in teaching began in 1905 with the first years in towns near Staples. She retires with 43 years of continuous service to Staples plus 12 years elsewhere bringing her to 55 years of teaching service. She taught fundamentals of mathematics, algebra and geometry. She was recognized for her many years of teaching by the State Fair last summer.

Announced this week for top scholastic honors for the graduating class of 1960 were Pat Ward and Bruce Carlson as co-valedictorians. Sharon Clabots is salutatorian.

Chief of Police William

Card reported he has an “all-out” investigation underway

to find the person or persons who deliberately broke fifteen white way lights within the City of Staples last Tuesday evening.

REMINISCENCES Last week eleven phone calls were received regarding the passed down story of a roller rink located in Batcher’s Opera Hall which was closed after the building began swaying while skating was occurring. Eleven people agreed that indeed there was a roller rink as they remember skating, all thought it was in the early ‘40’s and one told me that she knew about the swaying building. In the absence of verifiable facts (research has found nothing so far) I will stay with the version of the swaying building.

The second in my series on local folklore regards Dower and Hayden Lakes. My Grandpa Eli Martin was born east of Staples near Hayden Lake in 1888. He told me this story when I was a child at some point after 1947 when I was born and before 1957 when he died. My memory is mostly of the expressive telling of the story not of the point in time when the events of the story occurred or if he remembered it or if it was passed down to him from his father. I know my Grandpa Eli was yardmaster for the Northern Pacific in Staples in 1933 but don’t know how long or when he started this position. I do know he retired with an NP pension. Enough with the preamble.

The events took place at some point in early days of our community while the lumbering and early railroad work was going on at Dower Lake. Dower Lake has long had the reputation of having a shifting bottom, swamp gasses from under surface water sources and stories about quicksand on the western and southwestern edges. I can personally attest to the quicksand on the western edge. Grandpa Eli said that a barge working on Dower Lake sunk and all attempts to recover it failed because they couldn’t find it. Later, the story goes, that a large mass of ice formed during the spring breakup at Hayden and threatened the little railroad trestle/ bridge. In some manner the Northern Pacific crew used dynamite to break up the ice jam and the barge from Dower rose to the surface in Hayden.

Wow! For years I’ve been hearing stories similar in nature. Fish stocked at Dower have been found in Hayden. Recently, my husband told me he spoke to a friend associated with the DNR Dower Pier crew who told of all the extra expenses of the new, now infamous and much maligned Dower Pier. Apparently it’s common knowledge that the original figures for depth for the pylons weren’t correct. In one case the measurement of 35 feet to solid bottom actually was 65 feet and this happened often during construction greatly increasing the original cost of the pier. Does the bottom of Dower Lake shift? Has anyone heard the story of the barge or similar stories? I’d love to hear from you. My e-mail is: stevenmargo77@msn. com. Ah, history, legend and folklore - I love this stuff, but is it folklore, legend or is it historical truth.