Montrose – The library is to be closed on Mondays and Fridays until further notice in order to conserve fuel. ALSO J.J. Ryan and Co. is installing steam heat at the Titman House. This will insure comfortable quarters for the guests of the house.

Forest City – One of the oldest landmarks of this place was totally consumed by fire. Fire was seen issuing from the Traction Hotel and hall at 3:15 a.m. and soon the building was a mass of flames. The origin of the fire is unknown but it is supposed was caused by an overheated stove in the kitchen. On reaching the fire the firemen were handicapped by frozen hydrants, thus allowing the fire a good start and spread to adjoining buildings owned by Jacob and Henry Weiss and J. Kozlowski. The Weiss building was almost totally destroyed and roof and south side of the Kozlowski structure was badly burned. There was a fruit and confectionery stand in the Weiss building and the Kozlowskis conducted a grocery, dry goods and butcher shop.

Great Bend – Mr. and Mrs. Leon Tuttle drove Wm. Hunt’s horse to Binghamton, Wednesday. As Mr. Tuttle was hitching up in a livery barn on Water street, the horse broke from him, with the back pad and bells on, and came home alone in about two hours time, not any the worse for the trip.

Uniondale – The storm on Monday proved to be the worst of the season.  L.M. Owens’ milk team came from Elkdale, but was prevented from returning. Tuesday the farmers turned out and made the roads fairly passable. John J. Simpson brought a large force of men from his vicinity with shovels and they dug the trenches.

New Milford – The citizens of this place, who are working for a temperance town, have shown their steadfastness in the cause of making their town dry and keeping it dry by purchasing the Jay House. Representatives of the temperance people of New Milford were here on Wednesday and filed the deed of record for the property. The promoters have responsible parties in view to conduct the hotel, are planning extensive improvements and promise one of the best conducted hotels in this part of the state, The Jay House, for a number of years, has been considered New Milford’s leading hotel.

Little Meadows – John A. Williams, who lately established equipment for crushing limestone in a quarry here, is being swamped with the demand for the soil sweetener in that part of the county. The rock has a high test and the quantity is apparently unlimited. Owing to the distance from a railroad in which the farmers of the western part of the county are situated, the enterprise is of vast benefit to them in producing larger crops.

County News – Mrs. Clementine VanAuken, who has been State nurse for this county for nine years, has resigned her position and Miss Farris, of Tunkhannock, has been appointed to succeed her. Mrs. VanAuken has been very painstaking with her people and has improved the living conditions in many cases here and around Susquehanna, where the two dispensaries have been located.

Springville Twp. – The death of Sterling Beebe, aged resident living near Pleasant Grove, occurred on Jan. 21. Mr. Beebe had been to town in the morning and in the afternoon went to the barn to husk corn. Not returning at the usual time, Mrs. Beebe went out and found him unconscious. He was cared for by neighbors and a physician summoned, but death came about midnight. After the funeral, held from his home, he was interred in the Newton Cemetery. Mr. Beebe was Civil War veteran and a member of Lieut. H.C. Titman Post of Auburn,

Hopbottom – Earl Tiffany has given the children of the Universalist Sunday School a free sleighride during many years in succession. Last Saturday he did it again. He hitched up his four-in-hand to his big bob-sled, covered a bed of hay with a lot of heavy blankets, took in a whole host of children, provided them with heavy blankets to keep them warm, and drove off with them for a long ride. They went down the creek on the highway toward Nicholson, and up the stream on the macadam toward Brooklyn until they were all cold enough to come in. It was a famous ride, long to be remembered and greatly enjoyed by all. Upon their return to the church the ladies of the society served hot refreshments to them all. It was a great occasion.

Rush – Mrs. Catherine Haire has sold the Haire hotel, at Lawton, to Nicholas Snyder.

Auburn Twp. – The snow is about twenty-eight inches deep here.

Tunkhannock - The first piece of baggage checked over this section of the Lehigh Valley road belonged to Mrs. Elmer L. Bolles, of Vineland, NJ who was enroute to Auburn Township to visit friends in September 1869. The tracks were rough, the locomotives small and used wood for fuel, and the cars were crude in comparison with those of the present day.  Mrs. Bolles declared that the train stopped at every cross-roads and hitching post along the way.

Ainey – Olin W. Taylor came home from Chester sick, he says, with the Hog Island grippe. He says they all have it down there. He is better and thinks he will return to his work the 1st of February.

200 Years Ago from the Montrose Centinel, January 31, 1818.

* Melancholy. On Friday evening, the 23d inst. the body of Charles M’Carty, of Silver Lake township, was found under a tree top mangled in a shocking manner. It appeared that he had, in attempting to fall a tree, lodged it upon another tree; and in attempting to fall the one on which it had lodged the limbs that sustained the lodged one, gave way and fell directly upon him. His scull [skull] was broken in, and one of his arms was broken in several places. The Coroner’s Inquest sat upon the body and brought in a verdict of “accidental death.” He has left a wife and two children in indigent circumstances, without a relative in America.