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THE THOREN FAMILY
Albin J. Thoren first came to Coulee City in the fall of 1902 at the age of 12. In 1904 his father, Peter Thoren, homesteaded on the place where the Melvin Thorens now live.
In 1907 Mr Albin Thoren recalls working on a horse-powered stationary threshing machine called "The Columbia", which was pulled by 21 head of horses. There were three horses on a sweep, with seven sweeps in all. The horses walked in a circle, going around and around to make power to run the threshing machine. This outfit was pulled from ranch to ranch to thresh stacked, cut grain in a large part of the Delrio area.
Before threshing, a crew usually cut and stacked the "headings". These headers which were used to cut the ripened grain were rather peculiar pieces of farm equipment. They were ground powered, and pushed by six well broken horses - three on each side of the header beam. (The horses were behind the cutting bar.) A header puncher, behind the horses and above the rudder wheel drove the outfit and used four lines - two on each side. The puncher stood up all of the time - the rudder wheel between his legs. The Jacob's Staff was in front of the driver and was used to raise and lower the header. About a fourteen foot swath was cut; the wheat heads elevated by a draper into a header box pulled by three horses driven abreast which always worked along side the header. In this, another man besides the driver, would ride and carefully load the wagon so as not to shatter the grain; this loader worked on all of the header boxes. When the wagon was filled, it was driven to the stock and unloaded by pitchfork. The stacker stacked and sometimes a spike pitch stayed at the stack and helped unload. Three header boxes were usually used for one header. In all about 7 men and 15 horses were necessary for a heading outfit.
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In 1908 nearly the same threshing run was made except the horse powered threshing method was replaced by a steam outfit called "The Advance", which was fired with straw. This machine was owned by Adolph, Albert, and Ed Thoren, Charlie, Henry, and Albert Wyborney. It was pulled about by 8 head of horses. In this particular harvest the water for the steam engine was hauled by Melvin Davis using a water wagon drawn by 4 horses. He could generally haul 500 gallons of water in one trip, and sometimes made as many as six trips a day obtaining most of the water from springs and wells as near to the threshing machine as possible. This straw-burning outfit was operated for about three years. In 1909 Thorens bought out the Wyborney's interest in the thresher. Also this same year, the road to Mansfield was finished. Before this most of the grain had to be hauled to Coulee City.
In 1912 Mr. Thoren ran a Case steam engine on the threshing machine and the outfit worked at nearly all of the ranches from Coleman Hill to the Coulee Wall. This operation was continued from 1912 through 1915. The harvesting generally started about the first of August and ran for about 35 days. However, in 1913 Mr. Thoren recalls still threshing on Thanksgiving Day and having his dinner in the cook wagon. This old Case threshing machine ended its career in 1917 when it was destroyed by fire.
Written by Gene Thoren
Heading story by Helen Rinker
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INTERVIEW WITH POP WALLIS
STREETS. - In 1934 the main street of Grand Coulee, newly graded, was so bad that oxfords couldn't be worn. In dry weather there was dust. In wet weather, mud. Caterpillars were kept to pull cars up the street and storekeepers kept a shovel for mud at the door.
A meeting was held a Wallis' store where the Grosso Building is now, to put a rock base on Main Street. McCaslin, Wallis, and James, the Roosevelt Theater man, made up the committee in charge. Business men were assessed to pay for it. They did not pay in to keep the truckers hauling rock so the remaining money had to be pro-rated. One big red-haired trucker indignant at not receiving full pay grabbed James by the neck and shook him until he agreed to trucker's terms.
Wallis opened his store the day of President Roosevelt's visit. He called it "Wallis Has It". The town was full of eating booths, temporary for the day, but since newspapers advised people to bring their own lunches, most of them suffered a loss. Wallis had a milk plant and lunch counter. He bought dairy products and eggs from farmers and retailed them. Ted Daniels and Hansen's Dairy had the largest milk supply. Milk sold for ten cents a quart and eggs for twenty cents a dozen. If you drove to a rancher's home you got eggs for as little as nine cents per dozen.
One of Wallis' famous refreshments was advertised as "Buttermilk, - All You Can Drink for a Nickle". He had a large container of converted to buttermilk to supply a large demand. Wages for girls at the counter were thirty cents an hour. The Dime Store paid a dollar a day for its help and had plenty of offers.
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In 1936 August there was a big fire which destroyed several frame buildings. Wallis immediately changed his sign to "Wallis Had It".
When Wallis Warfield married the Duke of Windsor his sign read "God Save the King, Wallis Has Him".
THE FIRST TOWN BAND - Mr. Wallis started a town band in 1937. It consisted of 11 members - five that could play, 6 that couldn't. There were Bill and Alden Wallis, Robert and Ronald Woods, Jerry and Bill Ford, and a colored boy among them. He also had an orchestra organized among the Sunday School members at the Community Church. Rod Hartman was a member. From that small beginning, Wallis worked up to a 40 piece band which went to the Blossom Festival in Wenatchee in 1936. With the help of the U.S.B.R., uniforms were worked out. These consisted of blue denim pants, white shirts with black ties, white safety belts, tin hats and regulation ropes. In the parade Grand Coulee High School cut quite a caper. The Roosevelt Theater had a brand new sound truck for advertising. It was commandeered. Bob Ross and seven other men sang from it an original song written by Wallis. The Roosevelt Theater had a brand new sound truck for advertising. It was commandeered. Bob Ross and seven other men sang from it an original song written by Wallis. Here it is, written to the tune of World War I Caisson marching song:
With a whang, with a bang, we will build Grand Coulee Dam
As the river goes rolling along.Whenever the Commercial Club wanted a band, they called the group of band members together. One night Bob Hunter had some sort of political rally. The band made such a racket that manager James of the Roosevelt Theater called the State Patrol to quell the disturbance. it was diverting the theater attendance. The whole town was upset over the interference of the law and eventually Wallis got a note of apology from the officers.
There was Hill, there was Dill, who have swallowed bitter pills
In their battle to push it along.
So it's heigh, heigh hee in the town of Grand Coulee!
Our respects to Elwood Mead we want to pay.
But where ever we go, we want the world to know
That we're building Grand Coulee Dam
While the river goes flowing along.
Moving to its present site in 1945 "Pop" Wallis began Halloween Parties for grade school children from Kindergarten to fourth grade. Then on his birthday, September 14, each child was given a treat. His store became a gallery of art work. Drawings were sent to Mr. Wallis' niece, an art instructor at University of Idaho, to be judged. A prize was given to the winning room.
In 1955, after his serious illness, the lower grades of Grand Coulee gave Pop a party. Quinton's Bakery presented a huge decorated cake. Children came in a large group around his front door to sing. Pop sat in the door and shook hands with each child as the line passed by him.
Pop Wallis has retired but he continues to keep a home among old friends. His work now is to keep his yard and garden a beauty spot in Grand Coulee.
Dayma Evans
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PLUVIUS IRRIGATION COMPANY
In the early 1900s an irrigation scheme was planned in the scab rock near the present Rosenberg Ranch. It is said fifty thousand dollars was spent uselessly, The plan was to hold run-off water in Long Lake as a reservoir, and later use it to irrigate land in Spring Canyon. C. J. Weller, fresh out of Washington State College Engineering School, was a big name. Jess Lewis handled a surveying crew. Duncan, the famous scholar of Fiddle Creek, was in the crew. Two steam Burleys worked, drilling with water. A number of families rushed to file on land to be irrigated. The Pluvius Irrigation Company boomed. The project was doomed to fail. It destroyed the natural course of water toward Northrup Canyon, down Northrup Creek to empty in Steamboat lake and extend the lake further west. Schiebner's mill pond was depleted. Shrock's ranch was effected. A lawsuit resulted in 1907 in which nearly all residents of the Coulee took sides. An arbitrator was sent from the State Land Office in Olympia. He laughed at the affair, saying, "Why squabble over such small timber?" He was accustomed to large coast timber holdings. So the case rested in litigation till all funds were depleted. This ended the Pluvius Irrigation Company.
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VINEYARD ON THE COLUMBIA
Another venture which succeeded only temporarily was Sheminski's vineyard on the Columbia River below Keller. Bernard White, who owns land in that neighborhood, tells the story. Sheminski tried strawberry raising. He commented, "Strawberry season comes too early - money all gone by winter." So he set out grapes. He established a licensed distillery. It wasn't profitable enough, so he moved to Wilbur. Balthis took over the vineyard. It gradually went down hill. Sheminski also owned mining stock and worked mines in Montana. he probably moved to make money in an easier way. Much of the land is now covered with the waters of Lake Roosevelt.
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RATTLESNAKE CANYON
years before construction of Grand Coulee Dam, there were homes in this canyon. Almost directly east of Weaver's Associated Service Station in the canyon below was a small farm. it was occupied by Herb and Inez Buelen. Their small son was born here about 1916. Herb was a bachelor for many years, a friend of Si Buckley. He worked at the Brakefield Sawmill downriver, fished and hunted, and took a few harvest jobs. Then he married the daughter of the daughter of the publisher of the Big Bend Outlook Almira. Their stay was short, as pioneer life was rugged. The little home is almost forgotten. A stream followed the canyon to the river with straggling trees along its banks making an attractive location for the home.
The canyon below Grand Coulee running eastward with its prosperous fruit ranch was occupied by the Frank Davis family. People came from miles around after fresh fruit and vegetables. many a happy picnic was held in the shade of the big weeping willows and poplar trees. Mrs. Davis
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was an artist in making hooked rugs, using garden seed catalogs for design, dyeing old woolen garments for her strips. her flowers were famous. When a funeral occurred, Davis flowers offered the solace of beauty. Years after the ranch was gone, as Coulee Dam construction took the land from the Noble family, there were still yellow roses growing wild, but originally planted by a pioneer flower lover.
In the Davis household, growing up were Charles, Everett, William, and Ray, Mary, Ruth, and Anola, none of whom are left in the immediate vicinity. Ruth married Loren Shaffer and lives in Spokane; their children are grown up. The widow of Everett is Mrs. Mary Davis, now a resident of Grand Coulee.
A few hundred yards below the Davis house in the canyon wall was the remains of a dugout occupied by Texas Jack. Because of his ignorance and unfriendliness, he was considered an outlaw and horse thief, although it was not actually proved. There was evidence that he rifled empty houses and buried the loot. One time when he visited a neighbor, he had a frowzy young woman ridding horseback with him. He disappeared as quietly as he lived, probably avoiding the law. His time of residence here preceded the Davis family.
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FLEET-SCHROCK RANCH
From an aged yellowed scrapbook belonging to Mrs. Lange, we read the story of William H. Fleet, a well-known character of early days in the Grand Coulee. He was a bachelor who took the first homestead and the choicest springs for his stock raising. It lay on the west side of Castle Rock near where Steamboat Rock resort is now operating. The choice meadows are covered by the equalizing reservoir.
William Fleet was born in New York in 1836. At 19 he sailed around the Horn to become a pioneer in the northwest. He worked at his trade of millwright or at managing a pack horse train in early days in Montana, Oregon, Idaho, California, and New Mexico. He came to the Grand Coulee in 1883 with Senator Dan Paul (wealthy rancher of Coulee City). Fleet bought the old AN brand of cattle which consisted of several hundred head and the same season shipped 700 here from Missoula, Montana. Mr. Fleet bought the Jack Hardley camp at Steamboat Rock which was considerably improved under his direction. In 1898 he decided to retire and removed to his home in New York. Fleet's obituary reads,
He was a prominent figure in this country and those who knew him well could sum up his religion in one word: Humanity. Though not a member of nay church or lodge, he solved the great problems of life by always proving himself a true and honorable friend.Fleet sold his land to Ed Schrock. Ed and Willis Schrock were partners in stock raising northwest of Almira. Ed took the stock and moved them to the Fleet place. In lower altitude, sheltered by Coulee Walls, it took
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half a ton of hay less to winter a cow. Ed was a man of sound business judgment. He had married a pioneer neighbor girl, Anor Bernard, who came with him to her new home. Her artistic temperament was in an appropriate setting near the picturesque granite walls of Castle Rock. She painted in oils, kept a flower garden of beauty and became a leader in community affairs.
Three children were born here: Ethel, Doris, and Walter. All attended Steamboat Rock School. Mrs. Schrock sent five year old Ethel to the log chicken house after eggs late one evening. The trail ran around the hill through granite boulders. A few minutes later, Ethel came in breathlessly carrying the eggs in her apron. She told her mother, "There was a big kitty in the chicken house. He made faces at me and followed me back clear to the spring house." Then Mrs. Schrock realized a bobcat had followed her little girl on the trail.
In 1907 Dorothy Strahl came to share the Schrock home. She had lost her mother and was near the age of Ethel and Doris. They chummed together many years and became excellent horsewomen. Both daughters were graduated from the University of Washington. Mrs. Ethel Moss lives in Weattle. Mrs. Doris Keller-Block in Salt Lake City, and Walter, a graduate of Washington State College, runs a large stock ranch near Bend, Oregon. Mrs. Anor Schrock, still painting with oils, belongs to an Art Colony in palm Springs, California, where she makes her home.
Dayma Evans
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