50 years ago in Expo history: Mexico’s participation in the fair was up in the air

Mexico announced it was withdrawing from Expo ’74 – but was it, really?

The withdrawal announcement came from the Mexican Council of Tourism, which had signed a contract months ago to create a Mexican pavilion. Expo went ahead and built a 4,250 square-foot building to house the Mexican pavilion. Expo officials had been nervous for weeks, since no interior work had been done. Then came the withdrawal announcement.

Expo president King Cole still held out hope that the Mexican government – as opposed to the tourism council – would still come through with an exhibit. He said Expo was “saving” the building for Mexico. He was currently negotiating with government officials about the “extent of Mexican representation.”

From 100 years ago: A dozen tribal chiefs of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation gathered at a Spokane courthouse to file a $20 million claim for “lands of which they were unlawfully deprived.”

They said that under an 1855 treaty, they were entitled to lands along both sides of the Columbia River, “from the summit of the Cascades to the summit of the Pend Oreilles,” an apparent reference to an Inland Northwest mountain range. The reservation covers only a fraction of that land, and the tribes’ suit stipulated that they received no compensation for the vacated lands. Attorney William S. Lewis of Spokane and James Lynch of Toroda were representing the tribes in the action.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1917: Rep. Jeannette Rankin, R-Mont., begins her term as the first female member of the U.S. House of Representatives.