History at a Glance

On May 11, 1939, the Journal announced Shelton's annual cleanup effort. "With the city offering its cooperation next week, Shelton's annual Cleanup Week will be from Monday May 15 through Saturday May 20. So, this little logging and rayon center should wake up and find itself all spic and span a week from Sunday morning."

City residents were asked to clean up their yards, clear out attics and basements, and scrub up the garage and woodshed. The resulting accumulation of unwanted junk and broken-down odds and ends could be piled in the alleys behind their homes, to be picked up by a city truck. Under the direction of Street and Water Superintendent E. E. Brewer, the town would be covered several times during the week by city crews, and the accumulations of rubbish dug out by Shelton residents would be carted off to the garbage dump.

"But those are only the things which constitute the minimum for Clean-up Week," Mayor C. C. Cole commented. "The week itself should point also to a continuing campaign through the spring, carried on individually by every householder, to improve the city's appearance. There could be lots of paint spread. There should be lots of flowers planted, lawns improved, shrubs put in, and other work to be done. An individual pride in appearance of each place in the city by its owner will result in improved community pride and a better community appearance. Those are things we should do now to be prepared to give the best possible impression to the thousands of tourists who will see Shelton this summer."

However, while the mayor was promoting flowers, lawns, and shrubs, residents were also being asked to conserve water, due to unprecedented dry, hot weather. The city's water supply was being drained by increased yard sprinkling, threatening the reserve necessary in case of fire. Superintendent Brewer said, "This is a situation we do not usually meet with until mid-summer, and we are asking cooperation from residents so that we don't have to apply sprinkling restrictions. The first priority is to maintain a sufficient reserve to keep pressure high enough in case of a fire." He asked that sprinkling be done only during the cool hours of the morning or the evening, adding that "lawns should not be flooded to the point that water runs down the street." Mayor Cole asked that in addition to careful watering, residents should repair leaks in water pipes. According to Superintendent Brewer, a hole only 1/32nd in diameter would leak 170 gallons in 24 hours under 40 pounds of water pressure.

On May 14, the temperature in Shelton hit 90 degrees, then dropped to 40 degrees at night. The high May 15 was 92 degrees. On May 16, Rayonier offered to let the city temporarily hook up to one of its wells to augment the water supply.

Finally, the rains came. Weather during the last half of the month of May more than made up for the unusually dry first half, with 3.34 inches of rain falling - the fourth highest total on record for Shelton.

■ Jan Parker is a researcher for the Mason County Historical Museum. She can be reached at [email protected]. Membership in the Mason County Historical Society is $25 per year. For a limited time, new members will receive a free copy of the book "Shelton, the First Century Plus Ten."