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OLD SCHOOLS IN THE GRAND COULEE

This information was given by Louise Scott Smith, Edith Alling's mother.

Mrs. William S. Scott worked hard at getting a school established in the Grand Coulee in 1903.  It was located where the first school building built in the town of Grand Coulee was.  Norman Scott was sent, although he was only five years old, to make enough pupils to form a district.  It was named Columbia School.

ALAMEDA SCHOOL ON ALAMEDA FLATS

One room building about 14' x 20'.  It sat on the road that lead to the Pendell Ferry near the Thurlean place.  Mother reports that quite a few of the children came barefoot.


SAM POSTOFFICE AND STORE

Sam was the Postoffice and the store in the Rex area.  There was also a dance hall overhead and the blacksmith's shop was located there when Pete Pendell lived there.  Around 1930 there was a community fair held as Sam.  The County Agent came out and judged.  A baby contest was held.  The babies were Margie Holbert and Otto Jensen, Jr.


REX GRANGE

Taken from The Star, February 6, 1947

Rex Grange was organized in 1924.  It was the first Grange in Douglas County.  The Grange Community Hall is sponsored by the Rex Grange and is used for other meetings concerning farming.  It is also the polling place for elections.  The first Master was Lawrence Strecker.  There are thirty four members at present.  Cleatis Lacey is the master.

Edith Alling

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HISTORY OF THE GRAND COULEE SCHOOLS

In the early 1930's Columbia District #55 was paying tuition for the few children in the district to attend school in other places.  This was caused by the drying up of the wells which had forced most of the people to leave.  In the late summer of 1933 a few families settled in Osborne as the government had let a contract for the building of Grand Coulee Dam.  On December 4, four days before the first steam shovel load of dirt had been removed for the dam, school opened with sixteen children present.  As the schoolhouse had been used as a dwelling until two days before, there was nothing in it but the desks, the teacher's desk, and a small air tight heater.  I was not able to get a boarding place in Osborne and so stayed with Mrs. Jess Evans, whose mother and father homesteaded in the Coulee before Washington became a state.  It was necessary for me to bring water from the ranch in a thirty gallon can as there was no water in Osborne except that which was hauled from the Coulee wall.  Our first drinking cups were made of tin cans which Mr. L. J. Dors pounded into shape.

Three mothers, who had accompanied their children to school on that first day, cleaned the desks while I drove to Ephrata to see if Mrs. Gladys Washington, the county superintendent, could give me some assistance.

The next morning I went to work with all the grades except the seventh.  Harold James had done his eighth grade work in Omak but had not passed the state arithmetic and grammar examinations.  Harold and I drove to Ephrata where he took the examination in the county superintendent's office.  He passed it and became the first graduate of the Grand Coulee School District.

Mr. Westphal had opened school in North Grand Coulee on January 2 with all grades.  He had so many that some had to sit on the floor while others had to stay outside.  The citizens gave entertainments to raise money to buy materials and the carpenters donated their labor and built a two-room school in Grand Coulee Center.  here the first four grades attended school beginning February 15.  Miss Beard had so many she sent the fourth grade to Mr. Westphal but he still had too many and so he would send them back to her.  Some people said that the fourth grade spent most of their time on the road.  A month before school was closed, Miss Norma Helton came to relieve miss Beard.  She taught the third and fourth grades.

In grand Coulee Center during the summer of 1934, eight rooms were built and it housed twelve grades.  Mr. Holland was the superintendent in 1935.  More and more people were coming to the area and there were so many children that the shift system was introduced in Grand Coulee and Osborne.  Before school closed that year, construction on two rooms in Osborne.  Before school closed that year, construction on two rooms in Osborne and twelve rooms and a study hall in Grand Coulee was started.

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In 1936 there were six high school and sixteen grade teachers in Grand Coulee, four grade teachers in Osborne, six in Electric City, two in North Grand Coulee, and one in Delano.

During the next two years the enrollment remained about the same.  We all worked for a gymnasium.  One time we all paraded the streets with banners reading, "We need a gym" and "help us get a gymnasium".

The gymnasium was built and all were happy, especially the high school students.  Mr. Parks died during the thanksgiving vacation of 1937.  Mr. Westphal finished the year as superintendent.  The next year Mr. William Harmon became superintendent and remained for ten years.  He worked for a new high school building as the high school had always been crowded in our building.  In 1946 they moved into their own building.  Then it was time to work for a new grade school building as it was never intended that the old one should be permanent.  The teachers visited many new buildings and had many consultations with the architect.  Finally the contract was let but building supplies were scarce and so it was not until the last week of the 1950-1951 school term, when Mr. Herman Jaeger had been superintendent for three years, that we moved to our present site.  We had hoped to have the gymnasium moved down next to the building but the cost was prohibitive.

Mary R. Cummings  (1952)

Editor's Note:

Mr. Lyman D. Stamper, the present Superintendent of Schools came in the fall of 1950.  The new high school gym was completed in 1953.  There are now (1958) 22 teachers and 3 administrators in the Grand Coulee Schools.

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STEAMBOAT ROCK SCHOOL

The first rural school in the Coulee was the Steamboat Rock School.  When there were enough pupils of school age, before 1900 Douglas County arranged to have school in the homes.  Jenkins and Funks alternated with short sessions of school - as long as funds held out to pay a teacher.

The first regular schoolhouse for Steamboat Rock area children was built of logs, chinked with alkali mud.  It stood about one-half mile south of the point of Steamboat Rock near a group of stately pines.  It was near George Harley's homestead.  The site is now under water of the equalizing reservoir.  Schiebner brothers built the school, also its interior furniture.  On one occasion there were not enough seats so Mr. Jenkins took sacks of wheat for the children to sit on.

Some of the pupils were:  Alfred, Nell, and Emma Northrup, Fred Sitts, Anna, Walter, Herman and May Schiebner, Ed and Mattie Funk, Elma, Gertrude, and Roy Jenkins, Marcy and Hazel Hubbard, and Grace Rupe.  The last three came the farthest, from the opposite side of Steamboat Lake.
The first teacher was Mrs. Steiner.  Later Judge Steiner who was also the first teacher in Waterville.  This area was all Douglas County at that time.  Later teachers were: Charles Domrese, Mrs. Tyler, Miss St. Germaine, Frank Emert and Sherm Lacky.  The bachelor teachers lived in dug-outs but Emert had a two room house built for his family.

About 1904, a young cousin of the Osborne brothers came west from Tennessee.  She was Miss Jennie Blair, a vivacious young teacher who believed in southern decorum.  She would ride side-saddle until out of sight of the house, then change to western style.  She boarded at the Osborne ranch while teaching the Steamboat Rock School.  This was Oscar Osborne's way of transporting his oldest son, Floyd, to school.  Part time they drove a team of horses with a buggy.  Miss Blair became a close friend to Miss Della Green.  miss Green was proving up on her homestead a few miles from Steamboat Rock.  She was a teacher at Wilbur at that time.  Miss Green became Mrs. William P. Gray, a prominent citizen and State Senator's wife.  Miss Blair is now Mrs. tom O'Leary of Eugene, Oregon.  The O'Learys published a newspaper at White Bluffs until Hanford took over that area.

Two other marriages occurred about this time.  Miss Mattie Funk married Rollie Bernard and Miss Helen Harris married Fred Schiebner.  Helen was the youngest daughter of H. H. Harris who taught singing school and organ playing in the early Steamboat Rock School.  Both of these successful marriages produced a number of fine children who still live in the vicinity.

Steamboat Rock School was moved about 1908 to a location midway on the north side of the rock.  A larger new building was erected with Fred Schiebner one of the main carpenters.  For many years it was useful.

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Children of the following families attended:  Walkers, George and Bailey Martin, Irwins, Jenkins, Greens, Schrocks, Otis Martins, Fords, and Arrands.

Local girls who taught there at various times were:  Miss Mamie Walker, Miss Lillian Herron, Nialeen Hanson, Golda Fulton.  Others were:  Miss Happy Winkler, Miss Myra Pannebaker, Miss Edith Jess, Miss Ione Fockler.

Many social events were held in the building:  Church and school entertainments, plays, and dances.  In 1916 a Grant County Agricultural Agent helped arrange a rural fair.  Quoting the Coulee City Dispatch:

"The Steamboat Rock Community Fair opened Friday with a large crowd in attendance.  All the forenoon teams and mounted horsemen came pouring in.  During the afternoon there were foot races, horse races, riding and bucking contests.  A motion picture man was present and gave a good program of pictures in the evening after which the young people danced.  Saturday was another clear sunny day and those who did not camp on the grounds came early.  Fruit and vegetable display was very good.  Even the children did credit to themselves in canning.  Nuts of several varieties were shown proving that they can be grown in the Grand Coulee.  The Steamboat Rock School took first prize in school displays, Lakeview School second.  County Superintendent Blackburn made a good speech in the interests of the schools."

To accommodate families of school children in 1934, Steamboat Rock School moved to the small town of Rimrock near the Hamton Ranch.  Mrs. Eunice Fisher of Waterville was the teacher here for about ten pupils.  (Mrs. Fisher was Mrs. John Heidt's sister.)  Some of the pupils were Billy Jean Lewis, jack and Dick Lewis, Virginia Kruk, George Dowling, an Brown boy and Moore children.  As construction of Grand Coulee Dam progressed, another move was made.  Districts were consolidated and the Steamboat Rock School building was moved to Electric City.  Here it served for school purposes for a few years.  In modernizing the school the old building was discarded.  it was bought by Earl Rose who remodeled it into apartments.  Rose occupies it at present where it is one block off main highway near Electric City Fire Station.

Dayma Evans

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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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A WRITER VIEWS GRAND COULEE DURING CONSTRUCTION DAYS

During construction days of the Grand Coulee Dam, Richard Newberger, Oregon writer, wrote "Our Promised land", and in it he declared that sin and salvation were doing business on the same street in the "piano box" town.  He was referring to life on B Street at that time.

Further he wrote "In contrast to the dam which, rising block on block in the river canyon, appears as permanent as granite, the town of Grand Coulee seems as ephemeral as a one-night circus stand.  The buildings are of crude lumber or formed from tar-paper tacked to lathes.  Here and there is one of greater durability, but it is the exception.  Some of the houses resemble big packing boxes.  A piano would fill most of them to overflowing.  Everything bespeaks haste, hurry and carelessness."

Further on in the book, he writes, when describing conditions on B Street, "It is likely there is nothing at Grand Coulee which does not exist in Seattle, Spokane or Portland or Denver or any other city.  But it prevails in a highly concentrated form.  So, Grand Coulee squats on its hills and is a definite social phase of a great engineering project in the wilderness.  In it live wild and dissolute individuals and in it also live decent and respectable and upright Americans, who are trying to make a living on the country's last, great frontier."


Editor's Note --

As construction tapered off, conditions in that questionable part of Grand Coulee lessened in proportion.  the moral weight of those "decent and respectable and upright Americans," he mentioned as also living there, built a Grand Coulee which had nothing in common with the Grand Coulee he described.  This Grand Coulee has always reached out for community betterment and created a Community Park and children's playground even when conditions elsewhere appeared to be most flagrant.

Whenever work was again taken up at the dam conditions tried to repeat themselves, but never again did they flare to the proportions they were in those early days of construction.

Editor

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GRAND COULEE NEWSPAPERS

When work first started on Grand Coulee Dam, the country was in the midst of the depression.  Newspapermen were looking for new opportunities.  A number were interested in the new townsites starting to mushroom at the damsite in the fall of 1933.  Two outfits tried to cover the field by getting out newspapers printed in distant cities.  These quickly died on the vine when the damsite had its own newspapers.

The race to get out the first newspaper at the dam was won by the Grand Coulee News.  It was established by Sidney Jackson, who was publishing a weekly newspaper in Oregon, his father, A. J. Jackson, of Seattle, and Charles E. Webb, a printer, also from Oregon.  Sid Jackson eventually purchased the interests of his partners and became sole owner.

Volume I, No. 1 was published November 3, 1933.  Workmen were still putting the finishing touches to the plant building.  The first issue was printed through cooperation of the Waterville Empire-Press, at Waterville.  In the immediate months following, the paper was printed at Grand Coulee, but linotype matter was set at Wilbur.  Early issues were tabloid size and run, page at a time, on a 12 x 18 platen press.  As there was no electricity, power was furnished by a small gas engine.  This method was used for about six months until a power line was run in from the diesel plant of Three Engineers at the damsite.

The Friday before the first issue was published, the first community meeting was held in the News Building.  It was attended by 45 men.  James Raferty was elected temporary chairman and J. R. Jones, secretary.  Main topic of discussion was condition of the road leading to B Street from the county road.  The newspaper noted that: "collection was taken up to have gravel put on the road.  The amount raised, $20.00, was thought sufficient."

Two weeks after the News published its first edition, Robert W. Ross and his wife, Mary, and their two small sons, Dick and Meryl, arrived in Grand Coulee from Richland, Washington where Bob and Mary had been publishing a small weekly newspaper.  They brought along a housetrailer that was both home and office.  They immediately started printing a mimeographed daily called the "Booster."  It was one page, mimeographed on both sides.

There was no post office and mail was brought in from Coulee City and Almira by any persons who happened to be down at one of these towns.  A box was rigged up at the News office.  Mail would be left there, sorted out, and put in the proper pigeon hole.  Then the mailman on Star Route, Almira to Nespelem, started dropping off a mail sack at the road Junction in the Center, and it would be brought to the News office for sorting.

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This "public service" soon developed into a major headache.  On Christmas Day seven sacks of mail arrived.  Joe Crandall, circulation and ad man on the News, spent his Christmas sorting out mail.  Soon a woman was persuaded to take over the "post office" and she ran a private post office at Johnny Pozar's Club where you could rent a box for a nominal fee per month.  It was several months before Uncle Sam got around to opening a postoffice in the Center.

The News also had the first telephone in Grand Coulee, a pay phone.  This rapidly developed into a headache, especially when members of the crew were routed out after midnight, night after night, for people wanting to take advantage of the "after midnight" rate.  After about 60 days the phone was moved across the road to Kinnune's Men's Store.

During 1934 the "townsites" continued to grow and the newspapers with them.  Bob Ross was joined by an uncle, Richard Bushell, from the coast.  They brought in a printing plant which was established in a building in the new Noble Addition, just north of original Grand Coulee.  They started publishing a small daily by regular letterpress.  The newspaper's name was changed to "Grand Coulee Times."  It was tabloid size, usually four pages.  As far as the writer knows it was the first daily newspaper published in Grant County.  The Grand Coulee News went to a twice-a-week, with publication days on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Grand Coulee soon became a "hot spot" as far as newspaper competition.  In addition to the two papers already mentioned, Ben Rogaway, an advertising salesman from Spokane, established a small hand-set plant and started publishing a weekly shopper.  Several mimeographed "dailies" were also started but eventually folded.

The competition proved too keen.  The Times was forced to change over to a weekly, with free distribution at the damsite.  The News then dropped its Tuesday edition and also provided free distribution in the immediate damsite area.

Ross and Bushell disposed of their interests in the Times, which was moved to the rapidly-developing "Center Addition" and eventually came under the ownership of Ben Rogaway, previously mentioned, and Glenn Arnold, a newspaperman from Coulee City.

The Grand Coulee News suffered two fires.  It rebuilt after the first one which badly damaged the plant.  However, in the big fire in July, 1933 (?), which took nearly a block of stores on B Street, the loss was complete.  In this fire the Public Market, Kozy Korner Restaurant, News, Stones (successor to the Trading Post), were completely destroyed and Ross Clothing Store partially destroyed.

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Faced with a near total loss, Jackson sold the newspaper to the Grand Coulee Times, and the News was merged with that publication.  The Times operated alone in the field for a short period, when another newspaperman, Nelson Cheney, was persuaded by merchants of B Street and others to start another newspaper.  He moved in a plant on C Street, original Grand Coulee, and started the Grand Coulee Advertiser.  This venture however did not pay out and the plant was liquidated.

Bob Ross, who in the meantime had become the postmaster for Grand Coulee, purchased the job printing equipment of the Advertiser.  He started a job shop in his garage in the Center which was run by Harold Dahl.  Later he added a linotype and newspaper press and started "The Star."

The peak of construction was now over and there was not sufficient business for two newspapers.  Ross then bought the field from the Times, with Rogaway and Arnold retaining their printing equipment.  They moved this equipment to Moses Lake where the first newspaper was established for that community, and became the forerunner of the present daily, the Columbia Basin Herald.

This brings us to the point where the Hilsons entered the picture, and they should continue the narrative from this point on.  The following resume is mainly from memory, as the old files were destroyed in the fire.  I have a copy of the first issue of the News, given me by Billy Clapp of Ephrata; a copy of the first anniversary edition, November, 1934, which was saved by my mother in Seattle; and on the tab copies in February 1954.  Some of the data comes from these.

Note:  This material was sent by Sidney Jackson in answer to our request.  The Editor.

Rob Hilson, one of the owners of the Grand Coulee Star, sent this at our request:  In answer to your letter regarding the history of the Star since we Hilsons took it over ---

I purchased the paper from Bob Ross in June, 1943, at which time it was a free circulation tabloid-size publication.

My brother, Howard, went into partnership with me following his discharge from the service in 1946.

The paper was enlarged to a full size (the same as it is at present) in 1947 and we placed it on a paid subscription basis a short time later.

In 1948 my brother, Jack, and I bought out the interest of Howard who went into the publishing business at Portland.  Jack and I are still in business together.

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GRAND COULEE POST OFFICE

The Post office in Grand Coulee was opened as a fourth class office in October 1934, with Charles E. Kinnune, as first postmaster.  He served until January 1936, when he passed away after a short illness.

The post office was first located in the rear of a clothing store operated by Mr. Kinnune.  Later a building was built next door and the post office moved there.  It has remained in the same location up to the present time.

Robert Rose was appointed postmaster after Mr. Kinnune's death and served until September 1943.

On July 1, 1936, the post office was raised to second class.  September 3, 1936 a sub-station was opened on B Street in old Grand Coulee, serving that area until July 31, 1943 when it was closed.

Previous to the opening of the B Street Station, Art Murphy, the star route mail carrier from Ephrata, was employed by the merchants, hotel owners and cabin courts as an unofficial mail carrier.  On the Heights two grocers picked up mail for their customers.  The mail was addressed in care of them and called for at their stores.

The present postmaster, Mr. Kurth, was promoted from clerk to acting postmaster in September, 1943 and received his commission as postmaster December 1, 1944.

A star route to the Rex area in Douglas County was established in April 1944.

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COULEE DAM POST OFFICE

Prior to the opening of the Coulee Dam Post Office, the residents of the area received their mail from a Star Route that ran between Almira and Nespelem.  There were two large boxes, one at Grand Coulee and one near the ferry.  Any mail belonging to this area, was dumped into one of these boxes and each individual sorted over the mail, taking out that which belonged to him, leaving the rest.

Harry E. Robbins opened the first Coulee Dam Post Office in February, 1934 which was located about where the Green Hut is now.  Following the opening of the post office, several business houses in Grand Coulee rigged up an unofficial post office, picked up the mail for their patrons from the Coulee Dam Post Office and took it back to Grand Coulee.

A new star route was established from Ephrata to Coulee Dam.  The first driver on that route was Art Murphy.  Mr. Evars was the first driver on the Almira to Nespelem Star Route, then, in 1934, Orin Wiley took over the route and is still driving.

Mrs. Myrtle Patrick was the first clerk hired at Coulee Dam Post Office in October 1934.

Mason City was named for Silas Mason, Chairman of the Mason, Walsh, Atkinson, Kier Co. Contractors, builders of the first stage of Grand Coulee Dam.  Also builders of the town.

Mason City Post Office opened December 6, 1934 as the third post office in the area, following Coulee Dam and Grand Coulee, with W. E. Kier of Kier Brothers Co. as Postmaster and C. E. Sears, former postmaster from Chewelah, Washington as Assistant Postmaster.  From 1934 to 1938 Mason City Post Office served over 100,000 different patrons; in other words, moving a city the size of Tacoma, Washington through a medium size second class post office.

In 1938 the M.W.A.K Company finished their contract and now the contract was awarded to a new company made up of M.W.A.K. Company and the Six Company, builders of Boulder Dam.  This company was known as Consolidated Builders, Inc. or CBI.  At this time Mr. Kier resigned as Postmaster and Mr. Sears was advanced to Postmaster and, for a short time in 1942 and 1943 while Mr. Sears was in the army, C. J. Walker served as Acting Postmaster until Mr. Sears returned in February 1943.

In 1943 the USBR took over the town of Mason City from the CBI Company.  On October 1, 1943 the Mason City Post Office was discontinued and consolidated with the Coulee Dam Post Office in its present location with Mr. Sears as Postmaster and Harry Robbins as Assistant Postmaster.

Carrier service was established in February, 1944.

The largest population of Coulee Dam was from 1948 to 1950 when the post office served 5500 to 6000 patrons.  At the present time the population has leveled off to about 1600, or about 450 families who are now served by Coulee Dam Post Office.

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FROM PIONEERS TO POWER - post 5

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GRAND COULEE -- FROM THE BOOM TOWN TO HOME TOWN

In 1931 - 32, the years when the depression was at its worst, there were rumors of a dam to be built on the Columbia River at the Grand Coulee in Washington State.  A rumor which brought hope and courage to the residents of Grant, Douglas, Okanogan, and Lincoln counties, from which the men were to be employed, and which became a reality in 1933.  If one had been strolling up the dusty area, which later was to become known as the notorious B Street, he would have beheld a most unusual sight.  The only buildings were the Smoke Shop, a small restaurant and the start of one or two more saloons.  At the upper end of B Street a tent was pitched with several men using it as their home and where newcomers were welcome to put their blankets and grip and invited to lunch with them -- this being the only form of a hotel.  The only restaurant was a small shack run by an old lady and her son.  The menu consisted of hot cakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast, stew for lunch and steak and greasy french fries for supper, seven days a week, but the hungry workmen were thankful for even this.

In the lower block of B Street men were quickly putting up a building -- the first pre-fabricated building and within half an hour the structure was up and housed the first newspaper for this area.  This was a typical example of the mushroom growth of the town of Grand Coulee and all the other small towns in the area.

As mentioned above, the people to be employed on the preliminary digging were to be taken from the residents in the above counties, so, by the fall of 1933, workers were coming to the project.  Many were ragged and hungry.  Since there was no place for everyone to live at the immediate damsite, many went up on the hill to Grand Coulee, and to other small towns in the area.

The incorporated town of Grand Coulee was divided into three sections.  In the fall of 1932 Paul Donaldson started by purchasing a part of the Purtee Property and had it platted, the streets running East to West were A to C Street, inclusive, and North to South from Division to Fourth and Fifth to the edge of town.  The Continental Land Company, a group of men from Spokane, acquired Si Buckley's land through a mortgage and platted it.  This land extended from Burdin Blvd. to Partello Park.  Mr. A. Elmore and Mrs. Ida Flieshman bought land adjoining this and platted it and this was later known as Grand Coulee Heights.  The streets were named after promoters and builders of the dam -- Dill, Roosevelt, Banks, etc.

There was competition between Mr. Donaldson and Major Weil, the manager of the Continental land Company to obtain the schools, post offices, Churches and business houses in their part of town, but the only level place for a business district was from Fortuyn to C Street in what is known as North or Old Grand Coulee.  Had it not been for some enterprising citizens who thought a construction town should mainly consist of taverns, brothels and other houses of ill repute, this is where the business part of town may have been today.

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The first school house was in this part of town, as was the first newspaper, but as B Street grew wilder they moved to the center and one of the best level residential parts with a beautiful view, which later was known as the Negro Section.

Among other business built in 1933 and 1934 in old Grand Coulee was a unique little store which had squatted by the Columbia River and later moved up to Grand Coulee.  It was on wheels and had a big sign on it, "The Biggest Little Store by a Damsite".  There was a barrel shaped restaurant known as "The Barrel"; the Hub Clothiers; Pioneer Jewelers; Pioneer Cafe and Tavern, the second story of which was rented by the Peerless Dentist and employed four dentists for several years; The Silver Dollar, now moved to the Speedball Highway and is run by one of its original owners Mr. and Mrs. D. Shannon; the Grand Coulee Club, still owned by its original owner, Mrs. Pozar and in the same location; the Gig Three, which included a bowling alley, the Workman's Club, the Deluxe Hotel, which is also now on the Speedball Highway and still owned by its original proprietor, Mrs. Marie Baines; Rawe's Hardware which is in its original place on Division Street; Theus Dime Store, later moved to the Center and now owned and operated by Oscar Skaar; Pryors Dry Goods Store; Massart's Plumbing Shop; Blanche's Dress Shop, later to be Grayce's Dress Shop now in business on Main Street in the Center; Tom Dahl Service Station built on the Y on Division at the end of B Street; Rogaway and Wilson Furniture Store which is now the M & M Furniture; Ted Atwater Drug Store; Meadowmoor Dairy; the Columbia Hotel; Bedford's Grocery; Rambler's Bakery; the High Dam Tavern and others too numerous to remember.  Most of the taverns had loud speakers playing records out in the street to attract customers.

Three other people adjoining Grand Coulee platted their land.  Jesse Lewis bought some from Mr. Lael and called it the Lael Addition.  Mr. Purtee plated what is known as the Purtee Addition and Mr. Noble plated what is known as the Noble Addition but these have never become incorporated in the town.

The highway to the dam first went through some Continental Land Company land up to and down B Street and over the hill to the dam but they fenced this land and would not allow through traffic as it would bypass Coulee Center and so the highway which is still in use and known as the Speedball Highway was formed and stores sprang up on Main Street.

Among the first to be built were Kinnune's Clothing Store; Wallis-Has-It; Victory Cleaners, now in operation on Grand Coulee Avenue; Loepps Electric, now Loepp's Hardware; Roosevelt Theater, built in 1934, still in operation in the same building; Gemmel's Grocery; Continental Hotel; Bungalow Hotel; Ludolph's Grocery; Dover's Hamburger Stand and numerous others.  The first hospital was on Federal Avenue run by a Dr. Carmichael.

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On the heights were Mac's Tavern; McCue's Store; Smith's Cabins and Hansen Grocery, now Acel Ponder's Grocery and Lunch and others.  On the Speedball Highway businesses operating were Dube Brothers Grocery; Howell's Hardware; Heidt's Western Auto, now the Charlanne Motel; the Richfield Service; Spratlin -- Attorney-at-Law, still in business at the same place and others.

Mail was quite a problem in the first year.  Various business people picked up the mail and passed it out until the first Post Office with Charles Kinnune as Postmaster opened in October of 1934 on Main Street in the Center.  Station A, a sub Post Office on B Street opened in 1936 and closed in 1943.

Grand Coulee was incorporated on October 27, 1935 with Charles Howell as the first Mayor and Jake Myers the first Police Chief, both of whom are still residents of Grand Coulee.

Two room cabin courts sprang up everywhere.  Among the first were Refertys, Roberts, Johnsons, and Shaeffers.  Families lived in these two rooms and at times additional relatives also.  These cabins rented for a prohibitive price but were always filled.  The work went on 24 hours a day and the taverns and some stores never closed.  there were two shifts at school and many people had children going to both morning and afternoon sessions and men working on all shifts so meals at all hours were the order of the day.

To add to the discomfort were the frequent dust storms.  One could see them coming down the Coulee for miles.  All doors and windows would be closed, though the temperatures were often 114 in the shade.  The houses were suffocating!  There were no air conditioners in those days to relieve the heat.  The dust storms would last for hours and one could not see across the street.  The houses were hastily put up and many not finished completely so the dust poured in, and after the storms subsided housewives would literally shovel the dirt out and usually accomplished the task just in time to meet another dust storm.

The streets were inches thick with dust in summer and mud in the winter.  Once one lost his footing crossing B Street there was nothing to do but go down with the mud and with the help of passersby get up and make a new start.  Even so, B Street was thriving -- fights were the order of the day especially on pay nights.  Most of the rooms over the stores and taverns were occupied by redlight houses.  Taxi dancers (women and girls who were paid for dances and also received a percentage on the drinks the men bought) were in demand.  Even wives and mothers plied this trade.  It wasn't long before B Street became notorious everywhere and most all tourists who came to view the dam went "slumming" (as they called it) on B Street.  By this time the work on the dam had been opened to everyone and thousands were employed from all over the United States.

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In the very early days there was no electricity or water supplies.  Coal oil lamps were used and water was carried or hauled to old Grand Coulee, Coulee Center and the three additions, from a spring and small lake known as the Buckley Spring which was situated where the dam for the equalizing reservoir now is located.  People living on the heights obtained their water from a spring at Eden's Harbor and a spring above the town.  Later a pipe from this spring was carried to Roosevelt Drive, near McCue's Store and water was hauled from there until the spring of 1934 when water mains and a water tank were installed.

In January 1934 Mr. N. C. Jannsen of the Jannsen Drilling Company in Seattle, came to Grand Coulee and took out a franchise to start the N. C. Jannsen Water Company to furnish water to all of Grand Coulee except the heights.  A well was drilled and a pump house, living quarters, and office for the manager were built in the 100 bloc on A Street.  In September another well was drilled near the small lake and Buckley Spring which proved a much better well than the first and with a larger flow of water.

Two large aluminum tanks were installed on the hill on C Street and two in the Center on the hill.  These tanks are still standing as a landmark though not in use for years.  Water mains were installed and water furnished to all residents and business places in North and Central Grand Coulee.  N. C. Jannsen also sold water to the Lael, Noble and Purtee additions who put in their own mains and furnished water to the people on their property for several years until the Jannsen Water Company bought them out.

The wells furnished ample water for years until for some reason the water table receded.  Another well was drilled but very little water was found and the Government was appealed to for help, which they finally gave by allowing the Jannsen Water Company to put in a pipeline on top of the ground from their tanks above Grand Coulee to the City main and buy water from them.  An extra wooden water tank had been built further up the hill to have more power for the water mains furnishing Purtee Addition and also a few residents in Pleasant Valley.  In 1946 the City purchased the Jannsen Water Company and the Elmore-Fleischman Water Company and put in a pump and chlorinating plant in the river, and a large reservoir above Grand Coulee Center which eliminated all water shortages for the future.

In January 1934 three men formed a company calling themselves the Three Engineers and put up an electric plant and office at the corner of Fortuyn (?) and Fourth Street where the Grand Coulee Park is now situated, and in March furnished electricity to all Grand Coulee and Delano and other small towns in the coulee.  The City bought them out in 1941 and moved the buildings to the site of the present utilities building on the Speedball Highway.

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Everything wasn't hard work and miserable living.  Most early residents, no matter where they have moved, have tender reminiscences of these times and, for a long time, wherever they found others living in that town formed Grand Coulee Clubs.  People had come here from all parts and all walks of life.  There was more talent in this small area to draw from than in most large cities for all the entertainments that were put on.  Card parties, assorted sales, etc. were given and enjoyed by all.  It was one big, happy family for awhile, as they all had money and work for the first time in years.

A library was started, P.T.A., Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, churches, schools and organizations such as the Moose, I.O.O.F., American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and later the eagles and others.  Auxiliaries of these organizations were formed for the women as was the Business and Professional Women's organization.

The Lady Lions started a small park with children's play equipment on D Street but water was too high in price to keep it green.  A roller skating rink was built on the corner of A and third Street and a tennis court was started under the auspices of the P.T.A. at the site of the present tennis court and in the winter was flooded for an ice skating rink.  There was a swimming pool, called the Crystal Palace, on the Spokane Way and later was converted into a motel and is now the Save-A-Dollar Motel.  McCaslin's Castle was another building well known for its uniqueness.  It was started as a mess hall and living rooms for the men employed by Lynch Brothers.  It consisted of a large building, mess hall and kitchen and around the outside of the grounds were rows of one room cabins.  The grounds between the mess hall and the cabins was laid entirely with boards and all was painted in a bright green.  After dinner in the evenings the tables and benches were put back and dances were held for people who did not care to go to tavern dance halls.  This structure is owned by the American Legion as a meeting place.

Politics were taken very seriously in the early days.  Candidates would have rallies with bands, etc. usually in a parade before election day.  Arguments were frequent.  Once it led to the arrest of an aspiring individual who was lobbying too close to a polling booth on the Heights.  Another time all votes were challenged and a recount taken in Ephrata.

The first school house in Grand Coulee was started in 1933 with Mr. Westphal as teacher.  This school was located above the Purtee Addition and was later purchased and moved to the 100 block on A Street and donated to the Catholic Church.  It was built as part of a basement, and is still there, but has not been used for several years.  Many an old timer, Protestant or Catholic alike, can remember enjoyable card parties and pot luck dinners held in this building.

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The next school building was a two room building near the site of the present grade school with Alda Board and Norma Hilton as first teachers.  A larger school was built later.  This two-room schoolhouse was sold to a Mrs. Brown who had it moved down to Federal Avenue.  It was known as Brown's Boarding House and later bought by Ernest Fahr and moved to Main Street for a residence.  The children form all parts of Grand Coulee went to the new school house in the Center for a few years when a small school was put up on the corner of a and Second Streets to be used by the first and second grades in North Grand Coulee with Mrs. Florence Miller as teacher.  Mrs Miller is still on the teaching staff in Grand Coulee.  This small school was continued for a few years until school bus service was started and it was sold to Frank Sanford, Sr.  The building was moved to his farm and made into a residence.

The first public bus service into Grand Coulee started in the spring of 1934 with the Washington Motor Company.  Also a private firm started one from Omak to Grand Coulee.  A railroad spur from Coulee City was put into service in 1934 to haul materials to the dam.  It was discontinued after early construction.

In 1934 a group of business men in North Grand Coulee started a fire department.  They bought an old Dodge car and some hose and converted it into a fire truck.  A fire station was built on Division Street and later built a new one on B Street.  In 1934 another group of men formed an additional fire department and a fire barn was built on Spokane Way.  The two fire departments continued to serve the City until 1956 when they were consolidated.

There were, as always is the case in hastily put up towns, three very large fires.  In 1935 a whole block on Main Street burned stopping at the Roosevelt Theater.  The firemen and helpers had quite a time saving the theater because of lack of water.  In the summer of 1937 a tragic fire took an entire block on B Street including the plumbing store of Mr. Massart.  Mrs. Massart who was sleeping in an upstairs room at the time of the fire burned to death.  In 1938 another block on B Street burned and several years later the block on B Street including the Columbia Hotel burned.  Insurance was difficult to obtain and had an extremely high rate as all buildings were of Wood construction and situated close together and insurance companies are reluctant to insure in towns that are not permanent.

The Ridge Riders Club was formed and were the starters of the Western Festival which has become an annual affair.  The Ridge Riders are known for their fine riding ability and exhibitions.

B Street is now a ghost town of empty buildings but there are some lovely homes above the canal, in North Grand Coulee, the Center and the Heights and other nice buildings such as the high school and large

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gymnasium, grade school, and utility building which serves as the city hall and jail.  Also a lovely Safeway Store and several beautiful motels.  The streets are surfaced and sidewalks are on Main Street.  A good pumping plant and reservoirs are now established as well as a library.  Several years ago a Civic Club was formed by a group of women who worked hard to get the beautiful City Park we now have on Grand Coulee Avenue on the Heights and the playground park in North Grand Coulee.

Grand Coulee has also had two or three recessions when Consolidated Builders Incorporated finished their contract, and during the war, but has always come back and moved forward.

Doris Angell

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B Street Map - Jan 1937
EWU Archives and Special Collections (SPC 006-0628-5-6-1)



FROM PIONEERS TO POWER - post 4

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THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS: THE INDIANS

The Okanogan County portion of the Grand Coulee Dam area was inhabited by the San Poil and Nespelem Indians long before the coming of the white man.  Neither group ever became a party to any treaty with the United States, and not until 1872 was a reservation set aside for them.  The reservation was known as the Colville, and was originally bounded by the Columbia river on the south and east, the Okanogan River on the west, and the international boundary on the north.  Later, the north half of this area was subtracted, and portions of the remainder were thrown open to homesteading by white men.  According to some of the older Indians, numerous Indian villages existed along the river, including a summer settlement at the mouth of the Nespelem River; another across the river from Barry Post Office (Stevenson Ferry); and a fishing ground across the river from the mouth of the Grand Coulee.

Nespelem and Keller became permanent communities after the reservation was established and each has played an important tribal role in social, cultural and political activities.

In 1884, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce and 150 of his band were sent to the Colville reservation, and, at about the same time, the Moses Indians from the Columbia Basin were also assigned to this Indian reserve.  Older members of the Colville tribes often referred to these newcomers as treaty Indians with no intention of compliment.

Many present residents of this area will remember one of the truly old time Indians, Sally Iswald Keller, who was reputedly 112 years old when she died at Malott December 26, 1957.  Until a very few years before her death, she was a familiar figure in Coulee Dam and Elmer City, jogging unhurriedly along on an ancient white horse, sometimes selling huckleberries, sometimes travelling from her summer camp near Keller to Nespelem, and sometimes going nowhere in particular.

From the early days of the reservation, the Indians held two major gatherings each year, the Salmon Day celebration at Keller in the late spring and the Fourth of July Pow Wow at Nespelem.

The Salmon Day celebration which has occurred only spasmodically since the formation of Lake Roosevelt, was held at the original site of Keller, a few miles upstream from the mouth of the San Poil River.  The celebration also included a rodeo, wild horse races, public and tribal dances, and a generous supply of unscheduled entertainment, which in later years attracted as many or more white people than Indians.

The Nespelem Pow Wow frequently lasts for as much as two weeks, with Indians arriving from other reservations in Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon as early as July first, to set up their tee-pees in the "Circle" and prepare the long house for the feasts and tribal dances.

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In these later days, the celebration usually gets under way July Fourth with a parade from the campground on a flat near the Colville Agency in Nespelem and back to the Circle, where the rest of the festivities take place, including, besides the feasts and dances, various forms of gambling such as stick games and wahluks.

In the parade and dances, one sees many traditional costumes, some actually worn by warriors in battle, war bonnets original worn by members of the Joseph band handed down to the present generation; Chief Moses' ceremonial costume, now owned by his grandson George Friedlander; and women's buckskin dresses, some bleached white, beautifully fringed and beaded.

Early day settlers often traveled fifty or sixty miles by cart or wagon to attend the celebration, camping for days at a time in shady spots along the Nespelem River within convenient walking distance of the Circle.

Until the last few years, the mournful keening of the Indian women in the tee pees singing the tribal death chants as the parade passed in slow review around the Circle, was a never-to-be-forgotten experience.  Along with many other ancient ceremonials these death chants which honored the fallen warriors symbolized by costumes worn in the parade, have been discontinued to a great extent although the traditional rites are still observed to mark the passing of some of the elders or members of prominent Indian families such as Minnie Poween Yellow Wolf, one of the last survivors of the Lolo Trail retreat, whose death in 1955 brought Nez Perce tribesmen from several other reservations to Nespelem for the full ceremonial rites.

Although they no longer play a major part in the pow-wow, the ancient traditions are far from lost, and through the interest and racial pride of some of the younger Indians, are gradually being revived; and the rhythm of the drums, symbolism of each step in the colorful dances; the song -- the meaning of each, and the proud history of which it is a part, is again being emphasized.

Hereditary chieftains in full tribal regalia formed part of the welcoming committee on the occasions when President Roosevelt and President Truman visited the dam.

RUTH KELLEY

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OLD FERRIES ON THE RIVER ** FROM KELLER FERRY TO CONDON FERRY

By Ruth Kelley, Granddaughter of one of the Oldest Pioneers in Coulee Dam Area.


KELLER FERRY, FOUNDED AS PRIVATE ENTERPRISE ABOUT 1890

I remember when it was still a cable ferry, it often had to stop operations during the high water, and the traffic to the reservation was rerouted down to our ferry, even though perhaps the celebration drawing the crowd was being held at the town of Keller.  Sometimes floating logs and debris caused the outage -- other times the water was so swift, a single cable ferry didn't have sufficient control to be safe.

PLUM FERRY -- three separate operations -- Sam Seaton installed a power ferry in 1912, four or five miles above plum point on present navigation maps of the reservoir -- in 1913, Henry Covington put in a cable ferry just below Sam's; and still later, date uncertain, Jim Christenson put in a cable ferry at Plum Point.  Neither Sam's ferry nor the Covington ferry were in operation for very many years, and by the mid to late '20's, the Christenson ferry, or Plum Ferry, as it was also known, was also out of operation, and Mr. C. had opened a meat market in Wilbur.

SEATON FERRY -- founded by Thomas Brownfield Seaton (my grandfather) in 1896 or 1898, probably the latter date.  Also had a small general store and post office, known as Seaton or Seaton Ferry, I think the latter, until about 1915.  That was 2.3 miles above the site of the dam, and remained in the family until operations of the dam halted traffic in 1934.  Grandpa Seaton ran it himself until 1915, when his son-in-law, Charlie Dumas bought it; and 1922 or 1923, sold it to the younger Seaton son, Elmer (my dad).  The Seaton children were Cora Lee, the eldest and a half sister of the others -- she married Washington Rinker, is living in Wenatchee -- is the mother of Wesley, Sam and Roy Rinker, two daughters living in Wenatchee, and another deceased, and Mrs. Jim Davis of Mansfield; Mrs. Bessie Dumas, her half sister lives in Wenatchee at present.  She has two children, a son Baylis, at Odessa; a daughter, Mrs. Bud Coleman, Quincy.  There was another son, who died as a young man.  Next comes Sam Seaton, who lives at Seaton's Grove, and was involved in another ferry deal at the damsite.  His children -- Mrs. Henry Taschereau, Coulee City; Clair Seaton; Mrs. Charles Manchester and a younger daughter, Patricia, who is married and lives over near Mansfield.  My Dad, Elmer, was the youngest of the family -- I had one sister, Josef and Joanne's mother, who died in '47; my brother Frank, who lives at McGinnis Lake.

My Grandpa was an interesting character -- franchises for public conveyances and public transportation weren't in effect, I understand, during the days he operated the ferry, so, tho' he was a most respectable and worthy old

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gentleman, he was also independent and individualistic -- if he didn't like a person, that person couldn't cross on his ferry, and they could darn well go back home, or detour to the next nearest crossing!  Two instances of which I've heard directly from those he refused to ferry were first, a difference of political opinions; and second "I've heard you drink sometimes (said Grandpa, probably truthfully!) and furthermore, you traded me a wind-broke horse -- If you want to cross this river, you can just go back to Keller."

As long as the ferry was in existence, Indians crossed for half fare -- and that came about through a little conference between Chief Moses and Grandpa Seaton -- Moses thought the Indians should cross free because they "owned half the river" and the north landing was on reservation land.  Said Grandpa, "I'll take you over your half free, and then you get out and walk."  Moses was amused -- Moses compromised -- as long as the ferry ran, Indians crossed half fare.

The next ferry downriver was the one at the dam site, put in as the Grant County Ferry, as a more convenient crossing for traffic from Coulee City to Nespelem and Omak, begun in 1919, opened to traffic in 1920, operated by Ethel Tschirgi's father for awhile, then in 1920 or 1921 by Sam Seaton, who bought it in 1934, after the enabling legislation for the Dam was passed.

Two miles downriver from Sam's ferry was Steveson Ferry, started by Sam Steveson in 1892, primarily as a sheep crossing from the Columbia Basin where many bands of sheep were wintered and then taken to summer pasture on the Okanogan highlands.  Waite Steveson, who now lives near Grand Coulee, operated the ferry later -- I don't know when it was closed to traffic, but I think in the early or middle thirties.  Waite also has a son, Orville Steveson, living near Grand Coulee, and a daughter, Mrs. Louis V. Miller, Lone Pine.

Next downriver was the Hopkins Ferry - 1902.

Ruth Kelley


The story of the Condon Ferry is told in the Wild Goose Bill Tale.

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