Morsels from The Daily Morning Astorian, May 08, 1884:

• A “dollar store” is the latest idea in the matter of merchandising.

Note: A dollar then would be $32 now.

• Now that election is coming on, remember that Dr. Henley’s Dandelion Tonic will brace you up.

Note: The ingredients were: Dandelion extract, podophyllum, calisaya bark (quinine), cardamon seed and wild cherry bark. Incidentally, podophyllum is “poisonous and unsafe when taken by mouth,” according to WebMD.

• Suprenaut & Ferguson have a contract to drive piles for a distance of 600 feet at Fort Canby, Washington Territory, to keep the driftwood from washing in. The work costs $1,200 (about $139,000 today).

• The skies that flush in crimson splendor above the fir-crowned hills wero radiant yesterday with the rose and purple tints of May; the white sails of the river fleet glittered in sunshine and dimmed in shadow on the water; and DeForco began smashing salmon heads at his oil works on Young’s River.

• There is a wild rumor afloat that Squemoqua and Main Streets (currently Commercial and Ninth) are to be improved, and a sewer built, but that is beyond all belief. The idea probably arose from the sight of Henry Failing holding his nose as he walked down Main Street yesterday morning, and Mr. Corbett’s piteous appeal for a “mouthful of fresh air” at the same time and place.