Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

For the first time in weeks, foresters in the Coeur d’Alenes could heave a sigh of relief. Frequent showers had started falling the day before, offering long-desired relief from the fires that had ravaged the area since June. Next up? Assessing the damage.

“After the rains have put out fires and settled dust and ashes the department will put out a force to estimate the area burned and the probable values.”

Still, things had been dicey. It was just revealed that on Sept. 2, the town of Coolin, Idaho, was in danger of being burned out. Seems a team of firefighters, upon being discharged from service, left a small campfire burning. The fire spread to an acre before quick-working residents saved the town and got the fire under control.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1888: George Eastman received a patent for his roll-film box camera. … 1951: President Harry S. Truman addressed the nation from the Japanese peace treaty conference in San Francisco in the first live, coast-to-coast television broadcast. … 1957: Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus used Arkansas National Guardsmen to prevent nine black students from entering all-white Central High School in Little Rock. … 1969: The Food and Drug Administration issued a report calling birth control pills “safe,” despite a slight risk of fatal blood- clotting disorders linked to the pills.