50 years ago in Expo history: A glowing review from the New York Times

The Spokane Chronicle noted that John van der Zee wrote a mostly glowing account of Expo ’74 in the July 14, 1974, New York Times.

Here’s part of what he wrote:

“In the evening, the fair is at its prettiest. There is a small-town feel of the countryside, the smell of sun on farmlands, dry warmth, the light and music from the pavilions carried across the water. A great hot-air balloon rises above the fairgrounds with a glow of orange flame, then floats noiselessly back into the carnival strings of lights. And above all, there is the fresh sound of the river, tumbling through the town. Bucolic, restful, Expo ’74 is not the World’s Fair that your life is diminished for having missed. The true environmental show, as the Fair’s promoters themselves must realize, is in the surrounding region: the Snake River and the Columbia; Mount Rainier and the Cascades, Grand Coulee Dam and the Coeur d’Alene lakes. It is a fair of good and modest intentions, well realized, a good thing for Spokane, and somewhat less significant to the rest of the world.”

From 100 years ago: A farmer east of Republic was angry that his neighbor’s hogs had broken through a fence and damaged his crops.

The farmer shot his neighbor in the leg, “almost severing the leg.” The neighbor died shortly afterward from loss of blood and shock.

The farmer turned himself in to the county sheriff.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1945: U.S. drops second atomic bomb, “Fat Man,” on Nagasaki, Japan, destroying part of the city.