LOOK UP: We were excited beyond words when we received this
e-mail Monday from Russ Swanson: “Can spring be far behind! At
10:20 this morning there was a flock of about 125 geese going over
Mount Jewett. The good thing is that they were going north and they
were going fast.”
OLD DAYS: We’re used to thinking of the “good old days” as
happening quite awhile ago, but with our historically high gas
prices “old” is only a few years ago.
“Gas drops under ,1” – that was the headline for the top story
in the March 4, 1998, Era.
What a difference a decade makes.
The story had an accompanying photograph of the sign outside
Country Fair on West Washington Street that advertised regular gas
for .99 a gallon.
Until the drop in prices, the story reads, Bradford residents
had been paying ,1.03 for regular unleaded gas.
Nowadays, we’d be thrilled to open the Era to see a headline
that said, “Gas drops under ,3.”
The story continued: “Whereas Bradford stations used to post
some of the highest gas prices in the region, refueling here is now
cheaper than in many surrounding communities.”
It’s not like those places were suffering, compared to today. In
Smethport and Port Allegany, prices backed then ranged from ,1.05
to ,1.07 a gallon.
Besides Bradford, the only other place nearby where gas cost
less than a dollar was the Seneca Indian Reservation where it sold
for 93 cents.
Local oil producers, the story said, were in a bind since their
expenses weren’t dropping along with the prices.
Oil, by the way, had just reached a four-year low of ,12.50 a
barrel.
ERA CALENDARS: Bernadette Oswald of Emporium drops us a line,
“In Round the Square today, you have a paragraph discussing The
Bradford Era calendars. I have a wall calendar dated 1956 from the
Era. It features a photo of Marilla Brook and says the photographer
is J. Zenner. I have it hanging in my kitchen and love it. It is
printed by the Bradford Printing Co., 10 St. James Place.”
This 1956 calendar may have been the first year The Era
published a calendar.
At least, that’s what a Bradford resident called to tell us the
other day. Bernadette must really like the photograph to hang onto
the calendar all these many years.
