100 years ago in Spokane: Local airline industry gets boost; Cedar Creek wildfire spreads

Spokane’s brand-new passenger airline industry got another boost when Lt. W.T. Barnard, former army pilot, announced that he was instituting service, according to the Spokane Daily Chronicle.

He and his brother bought a two-passenger JN4D training plane, which was sold off by the government.

“We are prepared to take passengers anywhere at any time,” Lt. Barnard said. “It is possible that much of our flying will be done at points outside of Spokane, making trips in nearby towns. The service will be expanded to meet the demand.”

Another pilot, T.W. Symons, had already carried 10 passengers, mostly on sightseeing excursions.

From the wildfire beat: A team of firefighters had to run for their lives when the Cedar Creek fire, south of Avery, Idaho, roared toward them, the Chronicle reported.

High winds caused the fire to “crown” for more than two hours. The men had to abandon all of their equipment to outrun the fire.

“All the firefighting tools which the men on the Cedar Creek fire were using were burned,” said a forest supervisor. “The men all escaped without injury, but the fire was at its worst yesterday.”

In another fire-ravaged area, a pack train with 10 men and 10 horses was cut off from the rest of the firefighting crews for one night.

The pack train was able to make it through the next day.