100 Years Ago

April 17, 1921

A twelve-year-old school girl was assaulted by an unknown tramp Thursday evening while walking to her home, which is about a mile and a half out of Echo. The girl put up a desperate struggle and succeeded in escaping from him. News of the attack was brought to the Echo flour mills and a searching party was formed immediately. The hills were scoured by the party but no trace of the man could be found.

50 Years Ago

April 17, 1971

Lamb-Weston, Portland-based firm which processes more than two billion pounds of potato products a year, has agreed to the principles of a proposed merger with Amfac, a Hawaiian conglomerate that owns Rhodes Department Stores in Portland and 10,000 acres of farm land in the Horse Heaven Hills of Washington. Amfac entered the Inland Empire by acquisition of Prosser Packers last year. Lamb-Weston operates potato processing plants at American Falls, Idaho, and Connell and Quincy, Wash., a vegetable processing plant at Weston, and a freeze-dry coffee plant at Bartow, Fla. The merger announcement said the plan is to retain the present Lamb-Weston top management team.

25 Years Ago

April 17, 1996

In some ways, repairing McKay Dam would be like buying life insurance. You don’t expect to get run over by a truck, but just in case it happens you’re prepared. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says it wants to be prepared for the 1-in-10,000 chance that McKay Dam could “liquefy” under the right earthquake conditions. It plans to spend $4 million to reduce that probability. The silt that sits below the 70-year-old dam could change from solid to liquid given the right vibration, explained Larry Wolf, the bureau’s safety of dams engineer in Boise. During or just after a strong earthquake, the clay-like silt isn’t able to dispel the water pressure buildup, and it breaks down, Wolf explained.