Pages of the Past

100 years ago

December 25, 1924

A majority of the businessmen in Basin report that Christmas business has been good and, when compared with that of a year ago, there is a very appreciable gain. One prominent firm goes so far as to say that its business thus far in December has to be double that of a year ago and its manager asserts that he has faith that this part of the state is decidedly upon the upward trend. 

The basketball game between Basin and Billings on Monday night successfully demonstrated that Basin has an excellent team this year. Handicapped with Marple’s crippled condition, they still held the Billings team to 19-15 in the game.

75 years ago

December 22, 1949

A large and attentive audience filled the Methodist church on last Sunday evening to hear the Basin Community Chorus present a program of Christmas and sacred music. Singing a cappella under the direction of Miss Hortense Zaring, the chorus included young men and women of Basin who have been working together for several months. 

Several Otto folds people went to Greybull Friday evening to see the junior high school basketball game. A number of Otto boys helped make up the team. They are: Darrell and Jerry Bullinger, Melvin Clark, Bobby Fletcher and Duane Williams. Wally Tolman plays on the freshman team. 

The Otto boys playing on the Greybull varsity team are: Melvin Anderson, Larry Bullinger, Calvin Wardell and Larry Shepard. 

50 years ago

December 24, 1974

Ann Zaring was selected as F.H.A.’er of the month for November. Ann is presently the treasurer for the organization and has done an outstanding job as chairman of the fruitcakes and UNICEF.

Janet Haworth was chosen as the December F.H.A.’er of the month. Janet has been active in F.H.A. for two years and sold the most fruitcakes, which is the F.H.A.’s main money making project. 

A pre-school Christmas party was held at the school lunchroom Tuesday afternoon, sponsored by the Hyattville Christian Ladies Aid. Mothers and children attending were Mrs. Leo Kimble and Wayne; Mrs. Dave Greer, Travis and Casey; Mrs. William Greer and Barbara Jo; Mrs. Chrisie Hill and Heather and Timothy; Mrs. Jerry Tharp and Cal Lee; Mrs. Tom Mercer and Martin Don; Mrs. Steve Paumer and Cara; Mrs. James Willis and Sherry and Dale; Mrs. Clarke Straight and Chad; Mrs. Robert Rea and Jody; Mrs. George Hill and Renae and Michelle. 

25 years ago

December 23, 1999

Local officials are reasonably confident that everything will go smoothly when the new millennium comes, but are preparing for possible problems with essential services. The so-called “Y2K” problem has generated a great deal of anxiety in recent months because of concern that the computers that run many aspects of our lives may not recognize the year 2000 and crash.

Teams from Riverside High School claimed third and fifth at the recent Knowledge Bowl. The RHS “B” team included Reid Stidolph, Julie Stidolph, Kris Kidner and Jennifer Cooper, while the “A” squad consisted of Alex Nauman, Tim Hagemeister, Lisa Frame, Chad Schell and Anna Bayert.