Cat-astrophe

Photo of Cally and Helen Method with Helen's cat "Snowball," circa 1948. Photo courtesy of the Bonner County Museum & Historical Society, donated to the collection by Helen Newton.

Too many cats! Brought to you by the Bonner County Historical Society & Museum

Halloween is upon us, and many different pictures and stories pop into our heads—one of which might be a black cat on a broomstick, a witch’s little helper.

One day, in 1910, many cats of different colors were presented to a man named Gus Welsch to be his little helpers. Mr. Welsch had a 55-acre farm up the Pack River and had a terrible mouse problem, so he told his friend to put an ad in the paper requesting that people bring cats to Mr. Welsch. The friend requested two dozen cats, which seemed a little excessive to Mr. Welsch, but he did not get two dozen cats—he got 106!

These cats were brought to the City Stables, and not knowing what to do with all of them, they decided to disperse the cats to other residents around town as gifts. Unfortunately, this meant many cats had been captured and relocated to other homes in Sandpoint, but farms around the town were most likely mouse-free.