From Our Files

• July 28, 1949

C.P. Busche, of the local gas company, was promoted to district superintendent of the Peoples Natural Gas Co. at Schuyler, Neb. Howard Gannon, of Spencer, was the new manager of the local office.

Many Hartley residents would surely miss the well at the Botsford Lumber Co., which was filled in during the process of constructing new buildings. The Floete Lumber Co. dug it in 1908. Water from the well, which never ran dry, was softer than city water and tasted better.

The quick thinking of several Hartley firemen averted tragedy when the Farmers Mutual truck on which they were riding was rammed from the rear. Gerald Philiph, Virgil Lage and Harry Meier, who were riding on the back of the truck, jumped to safety when they saw the car approaching. The firemen were on their way to a fire southwest of Moneta.

• Aug. 1 1974

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Eilers, owners of Eilers Sports in Hartley, met actor Chuck Connors of television’s “Rifleman” fame at the Scorpion regional dealer meeting at Minneapolis, Minn. The meeting featured Connors, the spokesman for Scorpion, and the introduction of the new line of snowmobiles for 1975.

Kenneth Steen sold his Champlin station to John Long, of Hartley. Steen had been in business for a number of years. He planned to continue his lawn mower business located in the former Feller Grocery Store location. Long had been associated with Ken’s Champlin prior to the sale.

Carole Baumgarten, a 1966 graduate of Hartley High School, was named women’s basketball and track coach at Drake University. Baumgarten was a teacher and coach at Dallas Center Community School at the time of her hiring. She was an all-state basketball player during her high school career.

• Aug. 5, 1999

Lindsay Meyer, Denise Mielke, Jackie Raymond, Rebecca Scholten and Dustin Rusche, who were Spanish language students at Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn High School, returned from a 17-day study trip to Peru. They attended language sessions in the morning and also visited sites including Inca ruins, markets, villages and museums.

The 1999 O’Brien County Fair court included King Adam McCarty, of Hartley, and Queen Tami Johannsen, of Primghar. Anne Evenson, of Hartley, was also a member of the court.

The city council committed a percentage of Hartley’s local option sales tax revenues toward paying off a library bond issue. Council members chose not to commit a specific dollar amount each year because the city’s actual revenues had been approximately 17 percent less than estimated by the Department of Revenue and Finance.

From Our Files” is compiled by Sentinel-News sports editor/staff writer Mike Petersen.