Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Maggie So-hap-pay, daughter of a Yakima Tribe chief, warned the Inland Northwest to get ready for one of the worst winters ever.

How did she know?

For one thing, when she dug camas roots earlier in the fall, “we found them long, like the alfalfa root.” She could hardly pull them up.

“They wanted to stay in the ground; for the camas knows when the snow will be deep and the frost heavy,” she said through an interpreter.

Also, the olally berries were ripe six weeks early, because they, too, “know that the frost comes early this year.”

The horses and cattle had exceptionally long, furry coats and so did the moose. Also, the squirrels had gone deep into their nests, bringing “plenty of pine cone hearts.”

The signs, she said, were similar to those she remembered from the deadly winter of 1880-1881.

Nevertheless, her methods were not infallible. The 1912-1913 winter did not prove to be particularly harsh.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1938: Du Pont announced a name for its new synthetic yarn: “nylon.” … 1962: During the Cuban Missile Crisis, a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down while flying over Cuba, killing the pilot, U.S. Air Force Maj. Rudolf Anderson Jr.