This week in Clark County history

A weekly look back compiled by the Clark County Historical Museum from The Columbian archives available at columbian.newspapers.com or at the museum.

• 100 years ago

City health officer Dr. R.D. Wiswall announced on Jan. 22, 1924, that “every person in the city who handles food for public, whether grocer, butcher or restaurant employee, must have a health card before Feb. 1.” Required to “prevent contagious diseases being spread,” food handlers are examined to see “that they have no contagious disease of any character.”

• 75 years ago

On Jan. 27, 1949, Vancouver logged 26 consecutive days of at or below freezing temperatures — “the longest cold snap ever recorded in Vancouver weather history.” With no real end in sight to the chilly weather, a local weather forecaster cautiously indicated a potential break of 35 degrees the following day. The history-making weather led to issues throughout the city, including decreased fuel stock, traffic accidents and continued closures of schools and businesses.

• 50 years ago

On Jan. 27, 1974, Georgia-Pacific pleaded guilty to 30 of 73 counts of “shipping massive quantities of sulfuric acid in defective rail cars, most of it to Vancouver” in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The corporation faced up to a $1,000 fine per count.

• 25 years ago

On Jan. 21, 1999, the results of a year-old Vancouver Police Department internal affairs investigation into two sergeants’ entanglement with ostrich eggs were released. Sgt. Rex Gunderson and Sgt. Byron Harada, both cleared, were together “accused of fraud for selling ostrich-egg investments to law-enforcement acquaintances from January 1995 to April 1996.” Nearly $335,000 was invested by 40 individuals, many of whom lived in Vancouver, to raise ostrich eggs in Arizona. Ultimately, investigators found the officers’ actions “did not rise to the level of intentional criminal conduct.”