Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago — August 1922

SALISBURY — John H. Greer has purchased the house he has been occupying of Reed Johnson. It is a matter of satisfaction that lately several of our citizens have become able to own houses instead of renting, through the application of Mr. J. Cox Howell’s loan plan.

It looks as if old king coal is going to be a rare old soul this winter, and as if some work with the ax in the forests may be necessary if we are to keep warm.

The work of lowering the cement sidewalk in front of Farnam Tavern and Eggleston’s Garage in conformity with the grade of the new cement roadway has been started. The new level will afford a much easier approach to both the Inn and garage.

50 years ago — August 1972

Owners of property bordering Long Pond near Lakeville have decided on a “major reclamation project” in an effort to save the dying lake. Full-scale dredging is proposed to remove weed and algae which experts believe will otherwise close the pond to recreation in eight years.

Two Salisbury Republicans, W. Rees Harris and John Harney, were reportedly among that busload of Connecticut delegates, alternates and friends which was assailed by young demonstrators Tuesday evening in Miami. Lillian Ludlam of New Hartford, Republican State Central Committee secretary and an alternate delegate in Miami, telephoned The Lakeville Journal Wednesday to say that both men had been on the bus and both escaped unhurt. Though several windows on the bus were broken, no personal injuries to its passengers were reported.

The year-old search for a Falls Village sanitary landfill site is still “at dead center,” according to First Selectman Miles L. Blodgett. He told the Falls Village Planning Commission this week that efforts to secure all three of their preferred sites have now fallen through.

Sam Posey of Sharon, now in second place in the L & M Continental racing series, will be looking for a win Labor Day on his “home track” at Lime Rock.

Kenneth Lowell, son of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Lowell of North Elm Street in Canaan, encountered a rattlesnake on the railroad siding running from the center of town toward North Elm Street last Thursday afternoon. Kenneth reported that the snake crossed the tracks about two feet in front of him. Both Kenneth and the snake executed strategic withdrawals; the snake into a marsh, Kenny towards his home. His mother placed a call to the State Police but efforts to relocate the snake were fruitless. Rattlesnakes and copperheads have been spotted and killed in many places in the area, but never within the town confines prior to last Thursday.

Unusual and complex construction of a “bridge within a bridge” will solve the dual problem of preserving one of Cornwall’s historic landmarks and serving modern highway needs, according to plans released last week by A. Earl Wood, state transportation commissioner. Calling for bids on the restoration of the 131-year-old covered bridge between Sharon and Cornwall on Route 128, Mr. Wood explained that an “orthotropic” steel deck bridge made of thin, high-strength steel plates would be pre-fabricated, then installed within the old wooden structure.

The town of Kent has acquired a “gift horse” in the form of a used Army truck, which First Selectman Eugene O’Meara describes as a “very sound” beast. The town paid nothing for the truck, but must insure and operate it for five years. “It’s an odd-looking thing,” O’Meara reports. Olive drab with six big wheels and tandem axle and all-wheel drive, it is a powerful machine that can run even through four-foot streams of water.

25 years ago — August 1997

An insect that has been slowly killing off red pine trees for the past 60 years has reached this area, spurring a massive harvest at the Great Mountain Forest to salvage the valuable wood affected there. About 50 acres of decades-old trees in the 6,800-acre forest atop Canaan Mountain will be cut down in a two-month period, according to forest manager Joel Bronson. The all-out effort began two weeks ago with the arrival from Maine of a harvesting contractor who uses fully mechanized equipment to clear an average of three acres per day. “That’s incredibly fast,” Mr. Bronson said. But speed is necessary if they are to stay ahead of red pine scale, the insect’s common name.

KENT — Cyberian Outpost is experiencing exponential growth as the multimillion dollar firm prepares to expand its office space, staff and product offerings as the largest computer retailer on the Internet, company president/CEO Darryl Peck said this week. The Internet World Wide Web site retail “store,” which went on-line in 1995 with a five-person staff and small warehouse/office facilities in Sharon, now employs 40 staff members at its administrative headquarters in the town center where a Planning and Zoning application to add 18,000 square feet to its existing 8,000-square-foot office space is pending this week.

These items were taken from The Lakeville Journal archives at Salisbury’s Scoville Memorial Library, keeping the original wording intact as possible. Go to www.scovillelibrary.org for more.