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THE OSBORNE BROTHERS -- OSCAR AND CHARLES
Two pioneers who will not be forgotten in this area were Oscar and Charles Osborne. Oscar came to Washington Territory in 1882 and chose the natural meadow on the floor of the Grand Coulee for his homestead and timber culture. Charles Osborne followed his brother in 1884. he was a boy of 18, tall and thin, and anxious to become a western cowboy. His mother and father died in Tennessee, his older brothers John and Wilbur had both come west to settle elsewhere.
Supplies had to be hauled from Sprague or Cheney until the railroad came to Spokane Falls. This made a long trip during which only a few settler's cabins were passed.
Logs for the homestead house were hauled by saddle horse. Water, grass and tules for a thatched roof were plentiful. A good grade of Herefords was built up. The favorite riding horse of Charles was "Buffalo", a spotted gray which could have been either a Pinto or Apaloosa. Oscar always rode a black. he named each successive horse "Tommy". Each one soon learned the easy lope that Oscar used continually, on the range. Both men were good with a gun when in the open, and fond of reading during long evenings.
In 1896 Oscar married Lillie Schiebner. She was from Lincoln County, a pretty blond, who was an expert on southern biscuits. A new two-story frame building was erected for his family. Soon, the yard was planted with attractive lawn, roses, lilacs, and tall poplar trees surrounded it. This home was used until 1949 when the government bought the property. Three children were born: Floyd, Joanna, and Thomas. With only a few neighbors, schooling was a problem. Floyd was sent to Steamboat Rock School first, then Columbia School, District Number 55 opened. It was on the Almira stage road, near our present grade school. Joanna went her first year to Miss Ethel Brewster in 1909. It was a five mile ride for the Osborne children. During high water, they had to swim their horses across the deep drain ditch running toward the river. A corduroy log bridge had washed out. No medical help was available. When Joanna broke her ankle in a horse accident, she missed school until it healed.
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Besides being successful stockmen, Osbornes raised a fine orchard and vegetable garden. From a spring on west Coulee wall, Oscar piped water to a south slope. The next few years he supplied many dry farmers with his produce. He progressed from fruit to hogs and cattle and mules. In 1930 an artesian well was discovered with an abundance of water. The place was a western version of a southern plantation.
Other homestead lands were purchased until their ranch comprised about 3000 acres. In 1918 Charles and their sister, Miss Hattie, moved into their new home. it was built of native granite with imported hardwood interior decoration. Southern hospitality was dispensed here. After Hattie's death, Charles Schemmel bought the property and occupied it until it was purchased by the Bureau of Reclamation.
Charles moved to a small home on the river. This was purchased for the damsite. His last home was in Elmer City. He worked as custodian for the Bureau until his retirement. His ready wit and colorful personality was recognized by his friends. it is preserved for us in news articles and five books on the area in which he was mentioned. When construction of Grand Coulee Dam began, Thomas Osborne took over management of the ranch and promoting the town of Osborne. He married Gladys Young, a teacher from Yakima, in 1933.
After Oscar's death, Tom moved all property to his land along the highway. With a number of houses, it was called New Osborne. His mother kept a pleasant home there until it was moved to Coulee City. She now resides with her daughter, Mrs. Anton Anderson, in Seattle. Joanna was graduated from Teachers College, San Jose, California. She taught school several years until she married. Floyd became an electrician and now resides in Electric City. Mrs. Gladys Osborne, widow of Thomas, runs the stock ranch in New Osborne.
Now, 76 years after Oscar first homesteaded his natural meadows, the fruits of his labors are hidden under the equalizing reservoir of Columbia Basin waters. The memory of his long struggle and his inimitable sense of humor will remain with his friends.
Dayma Evans
HARRY FULTON INTERVIEW
Harry Fulton came to Stubblefield Point in 1912 with his mother and young sister, Ruth Schram. His mother and he each took homesteads or bought relinquishments. Harry's land was almost directly above little Soap Lake in Barker Canyon. They did as most of the other settlers - "water witched" for a spot to dig a well. They found ample water for household use and the pothole lakes furnished drinking water for livestock. Mrs. Schram's mother had married Mr. Carson, a rancher and land commissioner. Carsons kept a post office in their home called Sanderson.
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It had been named for Tom Sanderson who first established a post office at his grove and spring a mile further north. For many years it was known as a stop for the main line of travel across the Coulee into Okanogan Country. Ken Ehlers lives on the original Tom Sanderson property.
There were a good many settlers throughout this part of Douglas County requiring mail service. Also, Grand Coulee homesteaders from Steamboat Rock to Coulee City. Harry bought a model T Ford and was the successful bidder on the Sanderson to Coulee City route. He carried 78 canvas mail sacks, which were hung with a rope of strap to hook on a post. They were high enough so the mail carrier could reach the sack without leaving his seat. Several patrons came down Ferguson Trail from the west side after their mail. Parcel Post and groceries, in an emergency, were hauled out this way. When a doctor prescribed fresh liver once a week for a patient it came via mail route. The neighbor would telephone, "Mr. Schemmel, your liver is here" - or, "I saw your liver hanging on the mail post".
The mail route covered a distance of 70 miles round trip and ran three times per week. In winter, horses and sleigh took two days for the round trip.
The winter of 1916 a bad storm occurred. Mercury fell to 35 below at Sanderson Post Office. There were 60 mile per hour winds which filled tracks almost immediately. Going toward Coulee City, Harry's team followed a 6-horse team which broke a track. He walked most of the way beside his team. The trip took 24 hours one way with a stop at Furgusons to feed his horses. In Coulee City all transportation was stopped. Merchants stoked their furnaces all night. Adolph Young met travelers at his livery stable, took the horses to care for and sent the freezing driver to old Bill Adair's eating house.*
There were 20 inches of snow on the level and bad drifts.
On the return trip, a string of teams followed close to each other to break through the drifts. It took Harry two hours to make the last two miles from the top of Barker Canyon to Sanderson Post Office with his exhausted team.
In 1921 Harry married Golda Hampton, a Coulee teacher. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Fulton now live in Davenport and care for Mrs. Mollie Hampton, a Steamboat Rock pioneer. They have one daughter, Mrs. Bart Calkins, in California and two grandchildren.
Dayma Evans
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* 13 Sep 2011: I asked the Facebook group, "You're probably from Coulee City if...": "
Connor Jorgensen: I have heard about Adolph Young or came across something about him and his stable but I don't know much. There were quite a few livery barns in town many years ago - one where Aldrich's garage was, one where the theatre building was and one where Henry Ewell's place was. These were all around in about 1906-1907. I believe after about 1912, Young moved down the Coulee.
My Great-Great-Grandpa, Leo Lavin, worked as a dishwasher for Billy Adair in his restaurant. There's a William Adair buried at the Highland Cemetery, born 185- and died 1930.
Harold Evans: Young's camp or stop over for what ever it was called was where Dick Pierpoint lived. Pierpoint family still owns the property. They had cabins as well as place for your horses etc.
Bill Adair's cafe was where the NCNB bank is now. According to my mother (who worked there) he was quite a character.
Floy Kinsella: My Dad and Mom worked at Bill's cafe when I was a little girl. He also had a small grocery next to the cafe where I remember he let me put some of the canned goods on the shelf. Later this building burned down. Bill died while I was still ...in elem. school I think. I remember going to the memorial at the school gym. My dad was a cook at the cafe and my mom a waitress. All meals were a $1.00 and the waitress told people what was on the menu because they didn't have menus to hand out. I think it was the only cafe in town at that time and had a big horse shoe counter and a few tables.
Cousin Sam
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FROM THE STAR - FEBRUARY 1947
Do you remember when -
Back in the fall of 1934 when the town was in diapers, gumbo was king, and everyone wore long boots and their destination was uncertain? The chief topic of conversation was the low dam, electricity was not yet ours, and the Roosevelt Theatre was almost completed?
Everyone was clamoring for a show and had no place to go. On the night of November 4, 1934, with the aid of a gasoline engine which did everything but run, and old motor and two sheets, the Roosevelt put on its first show. Little Jeff kept the gasoline motor putting and the picture was dim and bright according to his efforts at persuading it to run slow and fast.
Edith Rinker
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A VENTURE IN RANCHING
Ed Schrock moved to Okanogan County, the Duley Lake region, in 1909 selling his interests in the Coulee to Baldwin and Barnhizle. These young family men were determined to develop the several combined ranches into a big cattle business. They were graduated from Michigan State College and able to put thousands of dollars in their work. They had big plans and many tough blows in the hard school of experience. The cattle brand on the broad right side was a sprawling steamboat. They called it the Steamboat Rock Stock Company and soon their acres were full of whiteface cattle. For years, in the lobby of the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, a photograph hung of Steamboat Rock with a herd of running cattle driven by cowboys. Asahel Curtis of Seattle was the photographer. The ranch comprised 5000 acres at this time and about 500 head of cattle were held there.
Natives watched with interest the flow of city visitors. Some summers a Harvard man would be running the mower or Yale might be represented with a sheepherder. Chinese cooks served the first year and Barnhizles dressed for dinner.
Their ranches were called by number. Old Fleet Place was Number One; Number Two was on the north shore of Steamboat Lake where a large dairy barn was built; Number Three was the old Hubbard place which extended well into Douglas County in lower Barker Canyon. On maps, this was the site of the Steamboat Rock Post Office (1912). Later, school was held in a homestead shack there. It was called Steamboat Rock School. Still later the company had lambing sheds and sheep corrals there.
An expensive irrigation project was worked out. A large Rumley oilpull engine was put in on the south end of Devils Lake near Number Two. Water was pumped through numerous wooden Flumes, over an alkali lake, open ditches four miles long over to the irrigable land on ranch Number Three. Alfalfa fields began to produce. About 300 acres of choice alfalfa improved the looks of the sage covered coulee. Several men with families were employed year round. During haying there was a seasonal crew of ten to fifteen men.
One of the stories of the time was that Baldwin had three crews - one comin', one goin', one workin'! If the boss fired a man he paid the stage fare back to town - if the hired man quit he had to pay his own fare. Harry Fulton, a stage driver from Coulee City to Sanderson Post Office in Douglas County, drove a Model T Ford on his route. He vouches for the business of hauling hired and fired men. On one occasion he hauled eight fired men and their bedrolls and baggage in his five passenger Ford. In addition, he had the usual freight load cases of eggs and cream cans - all perishable goods that required quick delivery to Coulee City. He emphasized "That was a load," considering dirt roads of that day. Speed was somewhat curtailed.
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The Steamboat Rock Stock Company had ill fortune. The comfortable house on Number Two burned. Mother Nature seemed to send a rain storm whenever the alfalfa hay was down. Inexperienced cattle men had trouble. Barnhizle withdrew leaving Baldwin to handle the ranch. His Winton 6 car was a familiar sight on the highway. Louise Baldwin and two small boys were happy in the Coulee. When a party of forty internationally known geography professors and geologists visited the Coulee about 1914, Baldwins entertained them with a picnic dinner. The Coulee was being recognized as an important geographical oddity. Nothing in the world compared to it they said. All local people were invited to meet these interesting visitors.
World War I caused variations in market prices and labor costs. George Baldwin left the Coulee in 1917 selling to Mr. Hebert of Kemp and Hebert in Spokane and Danson, a lawyer.
Reorganized, the ranch became known as Lincoln Stock Farm with Otis J. Martin manager. The brand was changed to Bar Eleven. It became diversified, with hog raising emphasized and later converted to sheep raising. Mr. Martin developed the old Hubbard place or Number Three into an attractive ranch layout. A manager's house was added, landscaping with ornamental trees improved its looks. A productive garden was added. The old fruit trees cared for. Lambing sheds, cattle corrals, and bunkhouses for the men were fixed up. The old log house was the main building where the cook turned out filling meals to hungry hands. A walled-in refrigerator kept meat on hand. Outside the cookhouse door hung a large circular saw used as a dinner gong. The cook beat out a musical summons to "Come an' get it".
Water for the ranch was piped from Ghent Springs two miles away at the foot of Okanogan Trail. It was cool and palatable. A windbreak of trees flourished. Elsm, black locusts, white birch grew large to provide shade and comfort. On a greasewood covered flat country, the Lincoln Stock Farm showed up like an oasis in the desert. The Bureau of Reclamation bought the ranch in 1942 and most of it is used as the equalizing reservoir.
The Otis Martins gave their two children Lura and Howard state university educations. Lura is now Mrs. J. O'Brien in Seattle and Howard also lives in Seattle. Mrs. Martin retains her home in Spokane, still remembering her old friends in the Coulee.
Mrs. Louise Baldwin now lives in Port Orchard, Washington. Her two boys are George Baldwin in California, and Van Atta Baldwin of Walla Walla, Washington.
Dayma Evans
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THOMSON RANCH
The Earl Thomsons had one son born on the Coulee Ranch which was located where Electric City is now. Starr is now living in Colville where he has a logging business. He has twin sons, Wesley and Leslie.
After the Thomsons, the Netherlands Land Company took over the ranch in 1916. Mr. DeWaard, a Spokane member of the company, brought in several thousand head of sheep. Old cattle men shook their heads, thinking of the over-grazing problem. The new venture did not last long. All buildings were moved from the marshy meadows to an upper spring, a half mile north. The headquarters had a house, lambing sheds and corrals. Mr. and Mrs. DeWaard had two small sons while living here. E. F. Carier Van Dissel and family were partners. World War I price fluctuations brought the business to an end.
The next occupant of this ranch was the Herron family. They were wheat growers from Whitman County. Five pretty girls and one lively son were a big addition to the social set in the coulee. Skating parties, wiener roasts, chicken dinners and dancing parties kept life merry. A few cars were in use but the old standby, saddle horses, were the usual transportation. Roads were winding cow paths, barbed wire gates had to be struggled with. A cloud of dust meant "company a-comin'" and visitors were hospitably received. There was not much money to be made on a hay ranch so the Herrons returned to wheat raising near St. John.
The next family on this place was the Dan Laels. Dan married a popular local girl, Dora Purtee. Three boys and two little girls eventually played over the sage and greasewood covered hills. They raised hay on the meadows and herded their sheep on the sloaps. Soon Coulee Dam was started. New families settled closer. The children attended the Osborne School. The choice garden furnished fresh vegetables for Electric City newcomers. Needing more space for sheep, Laels moved to Northport. Park Purtee ran a dairy route from the ranch, delivering milk to Grand Coulee. Competition soon closed him out and the place was deserted. So the Thomson Ranch, homesteaded around 1885, made its dignified demise for the sake of progress and the Columbia Basin Project.
During the building of the townsite at the base of the Grand Coulee Dam, the government hauled tons of top soil from this ranch for the yards and Douglas Park in West Coulee Dam because it was enriched from being a former stock range.
On the Thomson Ranch was the round house, the terminal for the railroad coming from Coulee City to the dam. This railroad brought in all the freight and heavy equipment for the building of the dam.
When the Laels owned the ranch their nearest neighbor was Cliff Stearman. His land joined theirs to the east. He was one of the oldest homesteaders in the coulee. When all the lowland was bought by the Bureau of
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Reclamation for the equalizing reservoir, the Stearman family moved to Electric City and eventually to Spokane. Cliff and Lucy and their daughter Mary Etta now live in Spokane. Their son John is married and has one child. He now lives in Seattle.
Dayma Evans
THE HERDRICH - BIRCHELL PLACE
On the Spokane Road, at the top of Cooper Canyon on the right, stands the old Birchell Ranch home occupied now by the Fred Herdrichs. The following story was given by Florice Herdrich's father, John Birchell, who now lives in Spokane Valley.
I attended school at Sherman in a log building 10 x 12. We sat on a 1 x 12 and used another board for the desk. In the spring of 1898 we moved to the North Star School District in Lincoln County. We held school in a dug-out in the first hollow south of the North Star school grounds. It belonged then to Frank Warehime. A better school was built after the old one burned down.
I remember one morning when we arrived at school, we discovered a skunk had moved in. We sat out in the sun all day.
Wade Cole lived in a dugout near by. Tommy Gordon bought the place northeast of us which was homesteaded by John Warehime in 1888. In 1904 Tommy Gordon was visiting Wade Cole. Cole had a man digging a well for him and he was thawing blasting powder on the kitchen stove. The powder exploded just as Tommy stepped into the kitchen. It killed the well digger instantly. Tommy was hit but did not die until late afternoon. Before dying he willed his property to Cole. The following summer Wade Cole hanged himself in the canyon on the Gordon place. his brother-in-law, Roy Houston, farmed both places after these incidents.
My mother Nettie Nielsen, and father Andrew A Birchell, came from Norway when each was 20 years old and both traveled to Wisconsin. They never met until they came to Spokane. They were married in 1887 in the home of J. J. Brown, a Spokane Pioneer. Both have passed away.
There are four children in the Herdrich family. The oldest son attends Washington State College and another son and two daughters attend Almira schools.
Dayma Evans
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