50 years ago:

March 11, 1965

Editor: Ace Comstock

Two-year-old rescued from old well shaft

Fire Chief Marion Hunter and Robert McVeigh rescued 2-year-old Joseph Aaron McVeigh from a sandy, abandoned well shaft about 10 inches in diameter.

Joseph’s 3-year-old brother Jeffrey came into the McVeigh home on Maxwelton and informed his mother that his brother had fallen into the dirt.

Mrs. McVeigh, who had just checked on the boys moments prior, investigated and said she was unable to see her son, but heard him calling faintly.

The McVeighs had just moved to Whidbey from Seattle about two months ago, and said they had no idea there was an abandoned well in their backyard.

The McVeighs had no phone, but Mrs. McVeigh drove the car to the house of the fire chief, who promptly came to Joseph’s rescue.

25 years ago:

March 13, 1990

Editor: Jim Larsen

Slide sends house into Sound

Part of a bluff gave way and demolished a house on the north end of Brighton Beach near Clinton Friday evening.

The house was used as a summer home by the Steve Samuelson family of Bellevue and was unoccupied at the time of the slide.

The majority of the home was swept over a seven-foot high bulkhead onto the beach. Much of the lower half was buried in mud while the upper story ended up in the water of Saratoga Passage.

Properties on either side of the destroyed house suffered some mud damage, but appeared to be intact.

Slides have been a problem in the Old Clinton area for several years, but neighbors said they could not recall another house being so destroyed.

The area consists of a string of houses situated between a high bluff and the water. In the area of the Samuelson home, only a few feet of space separates the houses from the bluff and only a few feet on the other side of the homes separates them from the beach below.

Samuelson and his wife declined to comment when contacted Monday.