The following two articles appeared in The Star of Grand Coulee, Washington, May 6, 1971.
Fatal Car Wreck
A two-car accident claimed the life of pioneer Sam Seaton last Wednesday (April 29, 1971) when a car driven by Edward Frank, 33, of Nespelem, hit the Seaton car head on. The accident occurred on the lower road between Elmer City and Lone Pine at noon as the Seaton car, driven by Mrs. Irene Phillips of Grand Coulee, was coming toward Coulee Dam. The Frank car went off the right shoulder traveling north, came back onto the road in a partial broadside skid and struck the Seaton car head-on.
Passengers in the Frank car were Calvin Pakootas, 18, who suffered head lacerations and abrasions; Ferris Tatshama, 52, who had facial and hand lacerations and a fractured right ankle; Raymond Lee, 43, who had head and facial lacerations and was later taken to a Spokane hospital, and Ron Circle, who was apparently uninjured.
Mrs. Phillips suffered severe chest injuries and a fractured right knee.
The injured were all taken to the Coulee General hospital.
Investigating officer was R. D. Zitting of the Washington State patrol.
Seaton Was Area Pioneer
The death of Sam Seaton last Wednesday in an automobile accident closed another chapter of colorful Northwest history.
To his host of friends and acquaintances, Sam seemed almost as permanent and durable as the landscape, and losing him gives everyone that feeling of nostalgia which always seems to be present when we see some old, well-loved landmark being torn down.
Sam had lived in this area for almost eighty years. Although he was born in Missouri, he had been brought by his parents to the Wilbur-Grand Coulee country at an early age.
His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas B. Seaton, settled on a piece of land north of Wilbur and Sam remembered the wool grass and how hard it was to get a plow into it.
In the very early days, Sam's father operated a Halfway House on his property and later established a store and Post Office there, which he called Hesseltine. Hesseltine was located not too far above the old Columbia River crossing where Sam would later help his father establish one of the first ferries in this area.
Sam said the Indian people who used the old crossing seldom stopped at the homestead before the store was established, but afterward, they came by quite often.
Some of Sam's earliest memories concerned these people and he often used to tell about how well Chief Moses liked fresh eggs. Moses would sit down by a bucket of eggs, Sam said, crack an egg, tip back his head and drop it into his mouth and he seldom stopped until he had eaten a dozen. Sam used to stand by, fascinated, and wait for him to miss his mouth, but he never did.
Sam never called the Indian people by their tribe's name. To him they were Joseph's people, Moses' people, or Skolaskin's people.
Another memory concerned an incident that Sam often said ". . . sure could have led to trouble". It happened while Sam was attending the old Broadaxe School. A group of Indian people had crossed the river and camped just below the school and Sam, with some other boys, decided to go down and visit awhile. One boy, who always managed to get into trouble, according to Sam, slipped a burr under the saddle of one of the fattest old ladies in camp, knowing that she would soon be mounting her horse to go gather wood. What he didn't know is that she would decide to take a baby with her. When she hung the baby board on the saddle horn and climbed aboard, the horse went into a regular frenzy of bucking. The men came running to quiet the horse and the boys took off for the school house but their teacher, realizing the seriousness of the situation, hiked them out the back window and told them to hide. The men knew which boy was responsible and when they had rescued the woman and baby, they went looking for him. A nearby homesteader hid the boy under his bed, Sam said, and then tried to placate the angry men. he was finally successful and the men went back to camp.
The homesteader then snaked the boy out from under the bead and whaled the daylights out of him; then when the boy's father came home he whaled the daylights out of him all over again."
When Sam was about twelve he helped his father build the historic Seaton's Ferry.
It was here in this area that Sam, with his brother Elmer, and his sisters, Cora and Bess, grew up. He saw the bunch and wool grass covered plains give way to miles of golden wheat.
In 1912 he married Mary Bertossa, the teacher at the old North Star School and they moved upriver to a homestead where they raised livestock, farmed and ran a gas-powered launch.
The new Mrs. Seaton, an Easterner, was afraid of cactus, rattlesnakes, coyotes, horses and Indians. Swawilla, the old Indian man who lived just across the river from them, and for whom the Swawilla Basin was named, soon caught on and nothing delighted him more than to come calling when Sam was gone.
Sam used to tell one of the ways Swawilla made his living. In those days there were a lot of wild horses running in the hills around Manila Creek and Swawilla always kept about seven old mares. Early in the spring he would turn them out on the range while he harvested their winter supply of rye and meadow grass. Each fall the mares would return to their corral and they always brought a bunch of wild horses back with them. Then, said Sam, Swawilla would send word out to all the riders to come to a rodeo and barbecue, stick games and dancing. Sam said you could never see a rodeo like that in these days. Using only a hackamore, the Indian riders would break all those horses and when the celebration was over, Swawilla took all the horses but the old mares to market.
In 1920 Sam and his family moved down to what is now the site of the Grand Coulee Dam, where he took over the Grant County Ferry. He stayed there until construction of the Dam forced the ferry out of operation.
The family then moved down-river to the old Joe-Joe Indian allotment where Sam developed what is now Seaton's Grove.
Always a lover of good horses, Sam, at one time, had a beautiful herd of Appaloosas. He also owned a herd of pintos. His old friends remember Sam riding old Swan, a dark pinto which looked like someone had painted a white swan on his side.
Always an active man, Sam belonged to the Royal Order of the Moose, the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, and was a life member of the Washington State Fiddler's Association.
After Sam's funeral Saturday the Eagles, in collaboration with the Senior citizens, gave a lunch at the Grand Coulee Community Center for relatives and friends.
Both the Grand Coulee and the Coulee Dam Chambers of Commerce sent letters of condolence to the family in honor of this outstanding pioneer citizen.
Sam was buried at Spring Canyon Cemetery near the site of his father's old ferry and in an area he had known since he was a small boy.
Besides his wife, Mary, he is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Margaret Taschereau of Coulee City, Mrs. Eleanor Manchester of South Lake Tahoe, California and Mrs. Patricia Vance of Mansfield; a son, Clair of Goldendale; a sister, Mrs. Cora Rinker of Wenatchee and several grandchildren.
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The following is a letter to the editor, written by his daughter, Margaret Taschereau [my mother], dated 19 April 1979. What paper it was sent to is not indicated on my copy.
No offense at wreck picture
I have just re-read the letter to the paper from Mrs. Curtis Greer (protesting the printing of a fatal wreck picture).
I got out the pictures and articles about the crash in which my dad died, April 28, 1971, at Elmer City. They look just as awful today as then. Those were in both Spokane papers, The Star, Grant County Journal, even some out of state papers. The Wenatchee and Star articles are much the better.
I don't think any of our family were offended. We expected the pictures. We were also too busy with the funeral and other things.
By some miracle only dad was killed. Both drivers were in the hospital for months. The other passengers were less seriously injured. All in the other car were drunk.
Mrs. Greer should remember taht such pictures are always printed. Not just certain ones. I don't know whether they serve any good. Perhaps a warning to a few.
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