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PLUM POINT HISTORY RECALLED
With the draw down of Lake Roosevelt due to construction of the third powerhouse at the Grand Coulee Dam, many historic sites are again on dry land for the first time in 28 years of being list beneath the water.
One of these is Plum Point -- it once existed about five miles upriver from the dam. It is still submerged, but old timers wandering around the eroded banks of the lake have been able to recognize a few landmarks.
According to pioneers, the Plum store and post office was established between 1905 and 1908 by a man named Morgan. It was constructed of upright, unpainted boards, and had a shingle roof. Family living quarters were in the back of the building. It stood on the bank above a river crossing where a makeshift scow was kept.
Wes Rinker, an old timer in the area, often tells about the time his uncle brought two wild unbroken horses from what is now the Swawilla basin, and what a time he had getting them across the river. "After fighting them all over the river bank," Wes said, "my uncle finally got one practically tied to the scow, but the other one couldn't be gotten aboard no matter how hard they tried, so they had to truss him up and tow him across."
Sam Rinker, Wes's brother, also remembers early day Plum. "It was about 1910, because I was just a little kid," Sam says, "and we were down at Plum where there was a big celebration of some kind going on. There were a lot of people there and I got lost from my family. I'll never forget how scared I was, and I guess that's why I'll never forget old Plum."
In 1918, a man named Jim Christianson took over the store and post office and put a cable ferry in at the point. Christianson kept the store and post office open, and operated his ferry until 1924 when, because of lack of business, he abandoned the whole thing and moved to Wilbur.
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Except for being used as an occasional sheep camp the old buildings stood empty for many years. With the filling of the lake behind the dam, Old Plum, with other early day sites, sank beneath the water. Nothing is left now but the sand blown eroded lake shore.
Virginia Beck
July, 1970
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BOATS CHUG WHERE INDIAN DRUMS, CHANTS PREVAILED
The new boat ramp, to replace the one lost at Elmer City because of the haul road, has been completed. The access road and ramp are located between Elmer City and Belvedere. The road runs within a stone's throw of the old Steveson Ferry road, across land which was once used by Chief Moses and his people when they first arrived on the Colville Indian Reservation in 1885. Here on this land, according to the old ones on the reservation, the ghosts of the Moses people who died here come back on quiet evenings and, if you listen carefully, you can hear the drums and the chanting and, if the sun is setting just right, you can see the flicker of old campfires on the sage.
About a quarter of a mile north, on a bench overlooking the river, is the haunted pasture where, say the old ones, neither horses nor cattle will venture no matter how hungry they are. But the real history of the area is down on the river where the ramp is located. Here, in a protected cove with its abundance of spring water, Indians have camped for countless centuries.
Artifacts of all kinds, flint chips and fresh water clam shells, beads, and old square nails are scattered all over the area. The remnants of old pit houses and earth ovens appear each year when the water is low. It was here that Governor Simpson, on his firs trip down the Columbia River from old Fort Colville, noted one of the largest and most permanent Indian villages on this part of the river.
It was also here that John Tom, the famous old Nespelem medicine man, was born about 1830. This was also the birthplace of John Tom's mother. It was here, according to William Compton Brown, Okanogan historian and author, that Chief Moses and his warriors crossed the river on their way to war with Colonel George Wright at the battles on the Spokane Plains and at Four Lakes in 1855.
It was here also that Skolaskin, Dreamer of the San Poil people, stopped to wait for the earthquake of 1872 which he had predicted and which, thereafter, gave him complete control of his people.
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This cove was also the landing for one of the first ferries to operate in this area. It was a government scow and was used to ferry supplies across the river for the Indians. It was built in about 1890 and it is common knowledge among the old timers that, although the Moses and Joseph people picked up their supplies, the San Poil and Nesspelem haughtily refused theirs and it was left on the river bank to rot and rust.
In 1892 Sam Steveson, a homesteader across the river on the bar, fixed up the government scow and used it for ferrying stock across to summer graze on the reservation. In 1898, when the town of Nespelem was established, Steveson converted the scow into the first cable ferry in this area. The Okanogan County landing for this old ferry is about a quarter of a mile downriver from the new boat ramp.
Now that the ramp is finished and the hum of motor boats echo in the quiet cove it is doubtful if the old ghosts will come back but if, by some chance, a drifting boater should happen to hear the chanting and the drums, he will know what it is.
Virginia Beck
Published in the
Wenatchee Daily World
September 24, 1969
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LEGENDARY STONES DISAPPEAR
The legendary Coyote's Stepping Stones at the mouth of Jo-Jo Creek at Seaton's Grove are disappearing beneath the excavated material which is being brought down from the Third Powerplant site for the stabilization of the river bank below the dam.
The Stones, a well known landmark to the old timers, are a series of rounded boulders which span the river. According to old Indian legend, the Stones were used by the Coyote God a long time ago when animals were people.
Due to a restricted channel because of the river bank reinforcement, the stones will soon be beneath the water. At the present time, only two stones are still visible.
Virginia Beck
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STAGE STOPS AND OLD FREIGHTER ROADS
probably one of the stage stops nearest to the site of the mighty Grand Coulee Dam was that located near the last switchback at the top of the old Almira highway. The stage stop with buildings, such as they were, was in charge of Harry Swiford, who had charge of the extra horses for the Almira-Nespelem passenger-mail route. Billy McLean was an extra driver, but it was Fred Evers who had the Almira-Nespelem mail contract and who drove the stage.
Perhaps, if one possessed sufficient patience and perseverance, one might locate some of the old roads which are on the Russell Rosenberg Ranch. But one well-informed source indicated that a Mr. Emmett Shaffer had, at one time, been associated with the operation of that stage stop and mail route.
What was the route for the Almira-Nespelem run? The answer - down the old Almira hill road, past the old school site where the present new library is now located, and down the hill and up the other side past the present Rawe & Rauch Hardware store and curved around the hill past the location of the Grand Coulee Dam's westside switchyard; past the Frank Sanford place where traces of the old road are plainly visible. Next, a narrow canyon to the Columbia River to the Steveson Ferry at Barry which is opposite Belvedere. The stage left of mail, but did not change horses there.
Two incidents happened at the Steveson Ferry. One, during the summer of 1914 during the high-water season. Cables broke loose from the ferry so that the chains wrapped themselves around the towers anchored on each shore. For a spell the ferry was completely out of control in the wild waters. Finally, some men -- Jess Flohr, Roy "Bob" Rice, and the Stevesons - Waite, Harvey, and Elba, saved the day.
Ethel Duffy was a passenger on the Almira-Nespelem stagecoach trip one mid-winter's day. Evers and the ferryman thought the river channel was okay, but in midstream, the mushy ice had frozen solid. Nothing to do but spend the day out in the middle of the Columbia as best they could.
Fred Weber, Rex-Delrio rancher, recalls the stage stop at the Condon Ferry. The old livery stable, blacksmith shop, hotel, saloon, and postoffice have been under water for many years. The Condon Ferry made its last trip on July 4, 1929. The ferry cable went out in the 1948 flood, but traces of the old road and the cable anchor still remain away above the danger, so far, from high water. Weber also recalled that freighters did not come very close to his folks' place. He also remembered that soldiers from Walla Walla headed for Okanogan, crossed on the Condon (Wild Goose) Ferry.
Among the freighters hauling goods and supplies from Spokane to Ruby, Conconully and Nighthawk, which was one of the gold fields near the United
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States-Canadian border, were Washington Rinker, Frank Roberts of Wilbur, and briefely at Coulee Dam, and a Raleigh Holbert. Rinker drove a six-horse team with a "trail wagon" -- two wagons hitched one behind the other.
For a time, Leahy (later Leahy Junction) was a stage stop for miners, prospectors, etc., traveling the Cariboo Trail. The trail started at the Columbia River; then via Priest Rapids, etc., to Coulee City. The trail (today Highway 17) followed Foster Creek to Bridgeport, next along the east shore of the Okanogan River and north into British Columbia.
Leahy was named for Danial, Dennis and James Leahy, all from Quebec, Canada, and who later were joined by a brother, Mike. A chapel started by a Father Deichmann in 1906 was completed in 1908, but today is a mere shambles of its former self.
Somehow, the end of the activities in the gold fields brought about an unexpected type of prosperity. Ben Snipes, Sunnyside, Washington, and "King of the Northwest Cowboys," drove thousands of cattle up the Cariboo Trail to eastern British Columbia. Snipes was a gentlemen who never drank, smoked, or cussed. His drivers were unlike the rowdies of the Chisholm Trail over which much smaller herds were driven. Incidentally, the name of the Cariboo Trail originated from the French name for either deer or elk (I'm not sure which), but John Wesley Cameron, who made one of the big gold strikes in the British Columbia gold fields, was dubbed "Cariboo Cameron" and he is my husband's great uncle, who came by land across Canada to seek his fortune, made it, and like many, saw it vanish in thin air, and died a virtual pauper.
Mrs. C. J. Rabideau
From The Star
January 16, 1975
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