Remember When?

80 YEARS AGO

DECEMBER 13, 1944

BIG MILL COMES IN

The Flodin Brothers of Plains are moving their big, all electric mill to Thompson Falls. They started work Tuesday with their bull-dozers. They will be located this side of Thompson River between the highway and the old highway and have a strip of land connecting with the river. The Flodin Brothers are big lumber producers. Their cut runs into ten or twelve million board feet annually when in full operation.

Talked to Walter Flodin Sunday at the Turkey Shoot. Both he and his wife were there playing the wheel, bingo and other games. Mrs. Flodin won a turkey.

The Flodin mill owners consist of Swan Flodin, the senior partner, Walter Flodin and Eric Bryce. The capacity of their mill is about 50,000 feet a day. They hope to have their mill ready for operation by March if the weather permits, so they can start on their big Thompson River state cut. All told, they will employ about fifty or fifty-five men. However, due to the housing shortage, most of the men employed will travel to and from Plains each day, with possibly a sub-camp in the woods.They intend to keep most of their old crew.

STRAWBERRIES IN DECEMBER

Mrs. A.G. McAllister brought into this office visible proof that strawberries were blooming on the 12th of December (1939). Her garden at Birdland is filled with blooming strawberries. In some places pansies and even roses are blooming due to the unprecedented warm spell of weather. A few nights ago it was so warm that without fires in the house heavy winter bed blankets were discarded by many people.

30 YEARS AGO • DECEMBER 15, 1984

LOCAL BANK TO INSTALL COUNTY’S FIRST ATM

Sanders County could have its first Automated Teller Machine as early as Friday if plans go as anticipated by the First State Bank of Thompson Falls.

Dan Whittenburg of the bank said an ATM is to be installed at Harvest Foods, just east of Thompson Falls.

The installation of the ATM and the new service it provides are part of a major remodeling project just being completed at the bank.

With the installation of the machine, users can access up to $200 per day in cash from either a checking or savings account, they can transfer money between those accounts, they can make deposits to either or they can obtain account balance information.

And Whittenburg said one of the more significant benefits is that the First State Bank is now associated with the Cash Card Network which will allow users to obtain cash and make ATM transactions from any Cirrus or Plus ATMs throughout the world. Cirrus and Plus are the ATM affiliations of Visa and MasterCard.

“We realize we need to offer more than traditional banking services,” Whittenburg explained, “and we felt this would be one service that customers would appreciate.”

He said that with increased traffic in the valley the bank fields numerous inquiries of the whereabouts of an ATM and that contributed to the decision.

First State Bank customers can obtain their card at the bank, with Linda Phillips being the primary individual in charge of issuing cards. She explained that the process is simple. The cards are ready and waiting at the bank and after a customer fills out a short form, they are asked to enter a four digit personal identification number that is known only to them. A special machine then encodes the PIN on the magnetic stripe of a cash card and after verification the customer can take their card with them. “It’s that simple,” she commented. She had issued about 30 cards as of Monday and expected traffic to increase dramatically as news spreads of the bank’s new service.

Transactions at the ATM can be completed during business hours at Harvest Foods.

Whittenburg added that although there is no charge for transactions by First State Bank customers at the Harvest Foods ATM, there will be a small charge for each withdrawal at an ATM at another location. That feature is standard within the Cash Card Network.