COULEE DAM SCHOOLS.
There were no schools in this area before construction on Grand Coulee Dam was started. in 1934 two small school districts were organized. One was Coulee Dam or Engineers' Town, District #123, Douglas County. The other was Mason City, or the contractor's town, #79, Okanogan County. Each district had its own school board, but the two boards worked together and hired one superintendent for both districts.
All of the area north of Mason City was in the Nespelem School District and from Lone Pine on north the pupils attended the Nespelem School until 1942. At that time the district was reorganized and the two small districts merged into one and the boundaries were extended to north of Belvedere, approximately the present boundaries.
The early financial history is a most complicated one. In general, the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation provided the buildings and the contractors paid the expenses of running the schools. No state aid was received until 1939. For several years there was a combination of state aid plus financial support from both contractors and U. S. Bureau of Reclamation. By 1950 most of the financial support came from regular sources and the contractors and the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation ceased giving direct financial support.
J. W. Stansfield,
Superintendent of Schools
During the school year of 1934-1935 the only school building available was a three-room school of temporary construction provided by MWAK Company. The older pupils had to attend school at Almira, 22 miles away. In 1935 the four-room permanent school building provided by the USBR was ready for occupancy and a small temporary high school was provided by the contractors. The schools were organized into two districts, No. 123 Douglas County, and No. 79 Okanogan County. The first three grades and high school were maintained in Mason City and the other five grades in Coulee Dam.
When CBI took over the contract they provided a new but temporary five-room high school and also a gymnasium. Each year the school enrollment grew by five to twenty percent and almost every year some addition to the buildings had to be made.
In 1939 two additional classrooms were provided in the basement of the government school. In 1941 three additional classrooms and manual arts rooms were added. in 1942 the high school was given two more rooms by cutting a bunkhouse in two and attaching the two halves as wings to the back of the high school building.
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In 1943 the high school library and office were enlarged and in 1944 four classrooms were added to the high school gymnasium, being constructed entirely from reclaimed materials. In 1946 a seven-room elementary school of temporary construction was provided to accommodate the large increase of population that year.
The two school districts were reorganized in 1942 and one district, no. 401, was formed with one school board of five directors. The boundaries were extended to take in all the communities north of the dam through Belvedere. The school building at Elmer City was remodeled and the transportation system enlarged.
From the Shipman Reports
(Edith Rinker)
GRAND COULEE SCHOOL DISTRICTS, RURAL AREA
Leaving the town of Grand Coulee on Highway 10B there are several gravel roads leading out into school districts that have become consolidated to form part of the Grand Coulee School system. They are Fiddle Creek, Rex, Rock Lake, Delrio, Barry. The children from these areas are transported to and from home each day by school bus.
Traveling into this farming region one sees these deserted school houses that once served the educational, social and spiritual needs of the community. Many of the old school houses have been bought by farmers to use as houses or machine sheds.
Most of these schools had less than eight months of school each year. The grades were from 1 to 8, in two of them at one time the ninth grade was taught, but most of the students had to go away to get their high school education.
There are a few teachers that taught these schools still in the area. Mrs. Dayma Evans taught at Fiddle Creek; Mrs. Dorothy Holbert taught at Rex; Mrs. Winnie Sanderson at Rock Lake; Mrs. Daisy Pendell taught at Barry and Rex; and Mrs. Edith Rinker at Mt. View. Mrs. Susie Rice and Mrs. Gladys Osborne also taught at Fiddle Creek.
RURAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS
NAME OF DISTRICT ORGANIZED DISSOLVED
Rex #46 April 6, 1906 September 1, 1950
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Fiddle Creek #20 August 6, 1932 August 3, 1943
(District #20 was formed by the consolidation of District #5 formed March 12, 1915, and District #27, formed October 1, 1890).
Rock Lake #3 September 24, 1913 July 1, 1949
Delrio #18 June 30, 1931 August 7, 1947
(District #18 was formed by consolidation of District #112, formed April 30, 1917 and District 119, formed July 7, 1904).
Barry #41 July 2, 1894 August 3, 1943
Lone Pine #32 July 11, 1906 August 3, 1943
Coulee Dam #123 August 20, 1935 September, 1942
Douglas County - 1947
The following districts were consolidated into the Grand Coulee District: #18, 46, 3, 41, 20, and 32 now known as 205 J. 123 J. -- Joint with Coulee Dam in Okanogan County.
THE EARLIEST GRAND COULEE SCHOOL
This information appears in the Grant County Records: Opened October 18, 1909 and closed June 3, 1910 with Ethel Brewster as teacher.
Opened October 10, 1910 and closed May 19, 1911 with Carl H. Lange as teacher. (He is a cousin of Dayma Lange Evans and has written several books.)
The above mentioned school known as District #55, Columbia River View, was located about where the Philipps' 66 Station now stands or near the present grade school. School year usually consisted of 28 weeks. This location was verified by Mrs. Rebecca Canady and Mrs. Osborne.
It was relocated at a place called "Buckley Springs". The North Dam now covers the spot where it once stood. The next move was to the town site of Osborne in the late summer of 1933.
Written by Edith Rinker from material
received from Grant County Superintendent
Mrs. Trilby M. Nelsen.
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FIDDLE CREEK SCHOOL
When I taught in the Fiddle Creek School in 1917-1918, there were 23 pupils enrolled. There were no school busses. Children came from every direction, walking, horseback or by hack. It was a comfortable building, heated by a large wood-burning stove. Water was carried from the well to the cloakroom where the bucket sat with a row of labeled cups hanging above it. There was a pump organ so we sang together each morning. During recess, organized games were played around the schoolyard. At noon period we sometimes took our lard-bucket lunch pails and went on a hike. We supplemented lunch with wild gooseberries, service berry and currant. It was a fine location for nature study - many wild flowers and odd rock formations to consider.
I boarded with the George Sanford family where Franklin Sanford Jr. now lives. Walked up the dusty trail to school each day. When the County Superintendent came for her annual visit, the big boys had to push her Ford car up the short steep hill. Some of the pupils were: Lena Repass and Bernard Bumbardner from Barry (grandchildren of Mrs. Rebecca Stevenson), Ted Rice and three stepsisters, Charlie, Leo and Alice Whited, Flossie Johnson, two Greenman boys, several Lawson and Blackenburg children.
At Christmas time a Red Cross benefit dance was held after the usual school program and tree. This was during World War I. Donations were taken for Red Cross in a passed hat. Dancing was the chief recreation of the neighborhood. The store and post office at Sam, kept by Walter Pendell, had a large dance hall overhead. Sometimes we went to homestead homes where one room was cleared of furniture so we could dance. Bedrooms were piled with coats, overshoes and sleeping babies. The kitchen was crowded with dishpans full of sandwiches, neighbors cakes and jars of homemade pickles. The copper wash boiler gave forth the fragrance of coffee for supper. Supper dances and Home Sweet Home Waltz were reserved for your "steady". Usually it was gray dawn when the dance broke up because it was easier to hook up the horse and buggy. there were no lights except lanterns for outside use. Sometimes a car came from Almira frightening our horses with its noise.
The Fiddle Creek Road followed the creek bed, winding through the trees. It was steep and often washed out during freshets.
The old Fiddle Creek Schoolhouse still stands, although most of the windows and doors were taken by people in the early days of the building of the dam. It can be seen in the canyon below 10B.
Dayma Evans
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FIRST SCHOOL
The first school in this part of Washington State was established about nine miles from Grand Coulee Dam. In 1882, the area now Douglas, Grant and Lincoln Counties was a part of Spokane County with Cheney as County seat. In 1883 Lincoln and Douglas became independent counties. The estimated population of Douglas County at that time was from fifty to a hundred with the majority of them single men.
The rich soil of California Settlement in the Tipso vicinity drew families with children who needed school. Records in Big Bend History published in 1904, show that Vera Brown, County Superintendent of Schools in Douglas County, established the first school district in May 1885. It covered most of Township 27. Joining it on the west was school district #2. It ran the first school in a separate building from September 1885 to January 1886.
Frank Sanford Sr. attended this school called "Union School". One of his teachers was Miss Winnie McCue who later became Mrs. Whitlock. Mrs. Whitlock was a resident and business woman of Electric City for many years. She now lives in Everett. She is a sister of Jess McCue, a pioneer store keeper in Grand Coulee Heights.
Dayma Evans
INTERVIEW WITH MRS. ROBERTA PRICE WEITZEL
THE NORTH STAR SCHOOL
The North Star School was located about eight miles from Grand Coulee and about fourteen miles northwest of Wilbur, in the center of the wheat and cattle country.
Mrs. Weitzel's father spent all his school days there, and Mrs. Weitzel, as Roberta Price, also attended. In fact most of the students were the Price's children, although Harold Engleson, deceased, and his sister Helen also went there. Helen now resides in Wilbur and her husband operates the Phillips 66 station there. Jack Green, who runs the Green Ranch near here was another pupil.
After completing the fifth grade, Mrs. Weitzel spent most of her school time helping teach the younger pupils. She was the only one in her class, through the eight grades.
Mary Seaton, daughter of Elmer Seaton, and neice of Sam Seaton, was her first teacher. The Seaton brothers ran ferries across the Columbia above the present townsite of Coulee Dam.
Every Christmas, the school staged a community program. People came from far and near, whether they had children in the school or not. At the end of the school year, they had a big picnic, which was usually held at Almira Falls.
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In the winter, it was very difficult to get to school. Sometimes the children rode horseback, sometimes walked through deep snow, and when it was too deep, Mr. Price would take them in the bob sled and call for them. Everyone of the pupils loved to ride in the sled.
The old North Star school building was moved to Wilbur, remodeled and is now an attractive home.
Mrs. Glenn McCoy
WASHINGTON SCHOOL IN LINCOLN COUNTY ONE OF THE OLDEST
The herdrich ranch can be seen along the skyline as you drive to Spokane. It is in Lincoln County about 10 miles from Grand Coulee. Mr. and Mrs. Herdrich came from Wisconsin about 1902 and bought this property from Jones and Shamlin. Mrs. Herdrich's parents, the Allens, lived in the neighborhood. Mr. Allen was a minister. Their burial place was the LaFollette Cemetery. The Herdrich children born here were Muriel (deceased), Allen, who now operates the John Birchell ranch, and Dorothy, who lives in Colville. The children all attended Washington School south and west of their home as long as it continued. Later the family moved to Colville.
In 1916 when Dayma Lange, Mrs. Dayma Evans, taught the Washington School there were nine pupils in attendance. Muriel, Allen, and Fred Herdrich, Marian Peterman, Ina, Marvin, and Selia White, Everetta Miller and a small sister. Teacher and children all walked to school, more than a mile. When snow fell and drifted over fence posts the farmer had to break a road with bob sled and horses to get his children to school.
Since there was no woodshed, fuel was piled in one corner of the room. An axe stood in the corner to chop kindling to start the fire each morning. Because of a leaky roof, there often was a scum of ice over the floor. On these days pupils sat in their desks with feet on the footrail around the stove, or beat a tattoo to keep their toes from going numb with cold.
Two events stand clear in memory: Christmas for which the older pupils hiked down the canyon to cut their own tree. It was decorated only with handmade trimmings. And the day Lincoln County Library Service sent by parcel post a wooden box of books for our extra reading hours. People were hospitable and visited around frequently. Parties, dances and socials were within a radius of ten miles. Lincoln County paid rural teachers $60.00 per month but if the warrant was not held until maturity it was cashed for $57.00. Board and room was $20.00 per month.
Mrs. Dayma Evans
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