USA > Washington > Lincoln County > An illustrated history of the Big Bend country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams, and Franklin counties, state of Washington, pt 1 > Part 28
USA > Washington > Adams County > An illustrated history of the Big Bend country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams, and Franklin counties, state of Washington, pt 1 > Part 28
USA > Washington > Douglas County > An illustrated history of the Big Bend country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams, and Franklin counties, state of Washington, pt 1 > Part 28
USA > Washington > Franklin County > An illustrated history of the Big Bend country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams, and Franklin counties, state of Washington, pt 1 > Part 28
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Receipts.
1898.
1 80g.
Merchandise, all kinds
1,500 lons
6,000 tons.
Agricultural implements
3 cars
7 cars
Wood
31 cars
64 cars
Lumber and shingles
9 cars
26 cars
Wheat
o cars
12 cars
Machinery
o cars
3 cars
Brick and cement
o cars
I car
Forwarded.
1898.
1899.
Merchandise all kinds.
25 tons
80 tons
Wheat
400,000 bush. 720,000 bush.
Cattle
16 cars
16 cars
Flour and feed
o cars
4.3 cars
The first school in Harrington was organ- ized in a small, one-room building, and the school was taught by one teacher for terms of varying length. The number of pupils in- creased, but it was not until 1897 that a large. two-room building was erected to meet the in- creased demands for educational privileges. Two teachers were then employed. In 1900 there were 138 pupils enrolled in the Harring- ton schools and a third teacher was engaged and another building rented. In 1901 a brick school house was erected at a cost of $7,000. containing six rooms.
During the autumn of 1901 the people of
11
162
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
Harrington Legan taking active steps to incor- porate the town. There had been considerable increase in the population during the past two years, and many new buildings were erected. Naturally incorporation was the next thing in line. Harrington, being one of the oldest towns in the county, and having been outstripped in the race for supremacy only because there were not enough county seats to go around, had now come to the front in excellent condition.
November 12, 1901, agitation for incorpo- ration begun in earnest. A mass meeting of citi- zens was held that evening at which 47 citizens were present and discussed the advisability of having a municipal government. A vote was taken and thirty votes were favorable to the proposition ; seventeen against. A committee consisting of A. C. Billings, Dr. Steters, A. G. Mitchum, S. L. Blumaner and Wallace Crowell were appointed to secure signers to a petition asking the county commissioners to name a date for a special election to vote on the ques- tion. To this petition there were sixty-four signers. The election was held Friday, April 4. 1902. A convention for the purpose of nominating candidates for municipal officers had been held Monday, March 31st, with the following result : Mayor, A. C. Billings ; treas- urer. A. R. Graham ; councilmen, Thomas Han- sard, W. A. Moore, John A. Chisholm, Dr. M. F. Setters, George Wilson.
One hundred and nine votes were cast at this election: 64 for incorporation and 45 against. The only ticket in the field was the one nominated at the citizens' convention the preceding Monday and the gentlemen named thereon served as Harrington's first municipal officials. The election had actually been antic- ipated by the convention.
The present church organizations in Har- rington are the Presbyterian, Baptist. Evangel- ical and Catholic. Of fraternal lodges there are five : Harrington Lodge No. 160. I. O. O. F .: Harrington Lodge No. 122, K. of P .; Harrington Court. No. 85, F. of A .; W. O.
W. and Women of Woodcraft; Rebekahs; Rathbone Sisters; A. F. & A. M.
The city hall was completed in 1904 at a cost of $9,000. The city is provided with an excellent fire department. The water supply is abundant and of exceeding purity. There are, in fact, two water systems, and cool, crystal well water may be tapped in rock veins at a depth of from twenty to thirty feet.
DOWNS.
This village is one of the newest in Lin- coln county. It is on the Great Northern rail- road, fourteen miles west of Harrington, fif- teen miles east of Odessa, and twenty-eight miles southwest of Davenport, the county seat. Although Downs was not established until early in 1902, it has gained a population of 200 people and has outstripped many of its older rivals. Its buildings are all new and substan- tial, and visitors to Downs are favorably im- pressed with its appearance. The remarkable growth of the town and the many public im- provements which one sees here are the direct result of concerted action on the part of the citizens and all business men generally. It would be hard to find in the length and breadth of the Inland Empire a town of 200 inhabi- tants in which the business men are more ener- getic or more keenly alive to the interests of their home community.
In the summer of 1901 where now stands the town of Downs was the ranch of H. S. Amon. This land consisted of a sage-brush tract and scab rock was very much in evidence. A person journeying through this part of the country on the Great Northern train at that time would hardly predict that inside of a year a flourishing town would there make its appear- ance. But such was the case. It was during the trouble between the Great Northern offi- cials and the Yarwood brothers, at Mohler. that it was decided by the railroad authorities to find a new location for side trackage and the
163
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
possible site for a new town. H. S. Amon quickly grasped the opportunities and offered the officials all the land needed for extra im- provements free of charge, provided they would build their tracks at the present loca- tion of Downs. This was quickly done by the railroad company; side-tracks were extended and the station was named "Downs" in honor of the late assistant general superintendent, P. I. Downs, who with his only son, was killed near Nyack, Montana, in a railway wreck in August, 1901. Downs was platted January 14, 1902, by Howard S. Amon.
After the company had decided to establish the new station a town was quickly built. The first building erected was the Great Northern warehouse. Immediately after George Easson, one of the leading merchants of Mohler, erected a store building at Downs and opened a general stock of merchandise, later selling the business to O'Connor & Sherman. A postoffice was es- tablished and George Easson was made post- master. D. W. Dahl built a hotel building and was Downs' first landlord. The next business house was the Ivy saloon, conducted by Lee Watson. S. Page and J. Salvay built the first residences and they were soon followed by sev- eral others. The depot was completed in De- cember, 1902. Other business enterprises that were soon started in the new town were one of the largest hardware stores in Lincoln county, by H. L. Amon, a restaurant by George Ingalls, and a blacksmith shop by MI. Gallagher. The town was still very young when Mr. Amon sold the remaining townsite land to John O'Connor. The latter at once began a system of improve- ments. He established a lumber yard in the village that would be a credit to a large city. later selling it to Hansen Brothers. Mr. O'Connor and D. Sherman purchased George Easson's stock at Downs and Mohler, and erected a substantial store building, consoli- dating the two stores at Downs. AAnother ad- dition to the town when it was in its infancy was a drug store by Dr. Freer.
For some time Mohler, two and one-half miles above Downs, was an important rival of the new town. But Downs had the backing of the railroad company. In the spring of 1903 the sidetracks at Mohler were taken up and the town which had incurred the enmity of the rail- road capitulated. Some of the business houses and most of the business men came to Downs. During the autumn of 1902 there was organized what was known as the Downs Business Men's Association, an organization which has brought about practically all the improvements that have made the municipality the progressive city that it is. The officers selected to guide the opera-' tions of the association were Dr. F. N. Freer, president; T. O. Ramsland, secretary ; and T. D. Slosson, treasurer. This organization is still in existence and doing everything in its power to advance the interest of the town. Among other things this business men's associ- ation accomplished during 1902 was the es- tablishment and editing of the Downs Dispatch, the building of sidewalks throughout the town, and the bringing to Downs of a number of busi- ness enterprises. The succeeding year witnessed many more improvements. A system of water works was put in by John O'Conner, the town- site owner, at a cost of $8,000. The citizens de- sired a suitable school house and public funds, not being available, three of Downs' energetic citizens. S. Page, D. C. Hansen and Frank Couples, erected a handsome building at a cost of $4.100, and took chances of being rein- bursed later. To the credit of the voters be it said, that when the matter of voting bonds to pay for this building came to an issue, there was not one dissenting vote against issuing bon'!s to the amount of $3.250. all that could at that period be legally voted. The school now has an enrollment of 78, and two teachers are chi- ployed. . \ local telephone exchange was es- tablished in April, 1903, and three separate barb wire telephone lines penetrate the country surrounding Downs. The Bank of Downs was another institution established in
164
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
the spring of 1903, through the efforts of the Business Men's Association. Total improve- ments for the year footed up $38.000. A Meth- odist Church is now being built at a cost of $1,700. There is a lodge of the MI. W. A. and a brass band of seventeen pieces.
EDWALL.
The first settler in the country of which the town of Edwall is the center was Peter Edwall, who came to the then uninhabitated country in 1881. He took up a ranch near the present site of the town that bears his name and en- gaged in farming. Sometime after Mr. Ed- wall settled liere Mr. William Spence, of Medi- cal Lake, homesteaded the land upon which was afterward built the town. This land was pur- chased by Mr. Edwall in 1887.
When the Great Northern Railway built through central Lincoln county the right of way crossed Mr. Edwall's land. Forty acres of this land he platted into a townsite which he named Edwall. The county records show that this filing of the plat was made May 19, 1892. The railroad erected a water tank and other buildings at the station. Friday night, Decem- ber 7, 1893, occurred a disastrous wreck on the line of the Great Northern Railway at Edwall. Train No. 16 was standing at the water tank. Train No. 15, expecting a clear track, came along from the east and dashed into the stand- ing train. Engineer Joseph Shinski and Fire- man Wallace were instantly killed. When one hundred yards away Shinski saw the train standing in his way and whistled for "down brakes." It was too late. The two engines piled up and were thrown twenty feet from the track. Two oil cars were immediately behind the tender of No. 15. The oil caught fire and the wreck was soon in flames. Shinski's body was found under the wreck. The fire immed- iately surrounding him was extinguished and the body recovered, the upper part having been burned beyond recognition. Wallace's body
was not scorched by the flames. The oil tanks burst and the fire consumed five cars.
Eye witnesses of this terrible accident say that when the oil cars took fire a terrible ex- plosion followed, the flames shooting up nearly 200 feet. The blaze appeared to spread out over the sky, and for a few moments it ap- peared that the entire town was about to be enveloped by the consuming flames. Fortun- ately they spent themselves before reaching the ground. It was a lurid sight and resulted in the destruction of railroad property probably to exceed $50,000.
To the credit of the people in the Edwall country be it said the first building erected on the townsite was a church. A number of farm- ers had in 1893, settled in the vicinity, and these people raised money and erected a place of worship-a church of the Methodist (South ) persuasion. The same year the first store build- ing was built by a gentleman named Enlow, from Medical Lake. Owing to lack of funds Mr. Enlow did not complete this building, but disposed of his interest to Mr. Edwall. The latter finished the structure and the following year Messrs. Gill and Moffatt opened the first store in this building. This firm was the only business house in Edwall until the following year, when Lemly & Randall erected a building and engaged in the saloon business. In 1897 the second mercantile house was started by Thomas Campbell. He came from Medical Lake with a stock of goods. Commencing with this year Edwall began to grow and its ex- pansion since has been of a substantial nature. Today it is a town of about 275 inhabitants. It lias a number of general merchandise stores, warehouses, bank, a newspaper, and many other business establishments. The Methodist (South), German Methodist, Catholic and Baptist churches have organizations, the three first named having church buildings. Fra- ternal organizations are represented by the Masons and the Woodmen of the World. Fifty scholars are enrolled in the public schools,
165
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
which employ two teachers. Edwall is on the main line of the Great Northern Railway. twenty miles east of Harrington, eighteen miles from Davenport and seventeen miles from Sprague.
Most of the land in the vicinity of Edwall is devoted to wheat raising. It is a volcanic ash and contains great strength and richness. It is in these fields that the great amounts of wheat are produced, the yield running from twenty 10 forty bushels to the acre. Many of those now farming here came into the country with little or nothing, and today these are the men of af- fluence. The whole of the country around the town is in a progressive condition, and the farm houses are among the best in the state. Among the prominent business houses are the Bank of Edwall, of which Mr. Frank Carpenter is cashier ; the mercantile house of Gill & Com- pany, doing an excellent business and the larg- est establishment of its kind in the town; the feed mill and creamery of S. P. Hay, which does an excellent business in the farming coun- try thereabout; a hardware and implement house, a blacksmith and tonsorial artist and other enterprises, as well as a first-class hotel conducted by Butler Brothers.
MOSCOW.
When the Great Northern Railroad Com- pany built its line through Lincoln county in 1892, what were called "stations" were estal)- lished at regular intervals along the line. At first these consisted generally of a sign-board upon which was painted the name of the station. One of these was Moscow. a few miles west of the other signboard called Edwall. In the sum- mer of 1894 Moscow fell heir to something in the nature of a boom, principally through the efforts of Mr. Wells. A postoffice was estab- lished and Mr. Thomas Denson was made the government official there.
And yet this postoffice was destined to be of temporary benefit only. Owing to some
difficulty between Postmaster Denson and the train postal clerks the office was discontinued. So near as the facts can be ascertained the trains were oftentimes irregular ; the postmaster was not always on hand, and occasionally the mail pouch was thrown off either above or be- low the platform, where on several occasions it was permitted to remain over night. Thus the mail clerks and postmaster acquired the habit of reporting each other to departmental head- quarters, until the officials finally tired of the constant friction and ordered the office discon- tinued. However, another office was subse- quently established.
It was not until the autumn of 1898 that a townsite of Moscow was platted by Mr. N. S. Long. Settlers in the vicinity desired to make this place their shipping point and a small village made its appearance. December 4, 1903, the Lincoln County Times said :
"The townsite of Moscow was purchased a short time ago by F. W. Anderson, of Daven- port, from John O'Connor, of Downs. The lit- tle city has taken on new life and promises to share the prosperity being enjoyed by the vari- ous towns throughout the county. A neat four- room school house has been erected ; a new de- pot has been promised. The old school build- ing will be remodeled and utilized as a church. A state bank will be started and a lumber yard, a hardware store and other enterprises will be added to the business portion of the town. What is now the main street of Moscow is to be abandoned to mercantile establishments and occupied by warehouses. Hereafter the main business street will run north and south, just west of the business center of the town."
The population of Moscow is about 175.
ODESS.1.
Considered as an enterprising western town Odessa has a most desirable location. It lies in a broad, productive valley, with Crab creek. a fine stream, traversing the place. It is lo-
I66
HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
cated on the Great Northern Railway, twenty- five miles from Harrington, and the same dis- tance from Ritzville, in Adams county, on the south. It is a Russian settlement and named for the celebrated wheat shipping point of the Muscovite empire.
Although one of the youngest tows in Lin- coln county Odessa has come into prominence within the past few years and is rapidly taking its place in line with the most progressive mu- nicipalities in the Big Bend. Unlike the earlier settled portions of Lincoln county, where single individuals control and farm several sec- tions, the agricultural population adjacent to Odessa is closely clustered and there are two or three settlers to the section. They are mostly German-Russian or Bohemian farmers. George W. Finney was the founder of the town of Odessa and he is the earliest pioneer of this portion of the county, having homesteaded the land upon which now stands the town. It was platted by Mr. Finney in the summer of 1899 in generous lots of 50x125 feet. Of Mr. Fin- ney and his brother, Richard, the Big Bend Chief, published at Wilsoncreek, Douglas county, said :
"George and Dick Finney came to the Crab creek country from Missouri at an early day, and engaged in stock raising, the only line of business represented here. Dick located as a homestead what is now Odessa, but later re- linquished it for the purpose of filing on a tim- ber claim. George homesteaded a piece of land in the same locality. Later the brothers came into possession of the Odessa tract and when they dissolved partnership George, rather re- luctantly, took possession of it. He attempted to raise wheat on the townsite of Odessa, but made a failure of it and decided that he had nearly a worthless ranch. A change came, however, and he platted a portion of it."
The Odessa Record continues the story of the birth of the town :
George W. Finney may properly be called the father
of Odessa. He settled in this part of Crab Creek valley in 1886, filing on the land where the greater portion of Odessa now stands, as a timber culture claim. There were only a few settlers up and down the creek in those days and it was not until the year 1892 that the Great Northern Railway was built through this part of the country to the coast. Houses were miles apart and Ritzville and Harrington were the nearest trading points. Up to six or seven years ago (1897) stock raising was carried on quite successfully in the valley and for years Mr. Finney's cattle roamed at will over the ground now occupied by the growing young town of Odessa.
It was in the winter of 1897-8 that Mr. Finney first conceived the idea of building a town here, and hẹ set about to interest others in the project. The Great Northern then had a sidetrack here and the place was known as Odessa siding. In the month of January, 1898, Roy E. Trantum, W. N. Schoonover, and J. B. Ziegler landed here, driving across country from Ritz- ville to investigate the possibilities of opening a general merchandise store. They were well pleased with the location and believing that it would some day make a good town, Messrs. Tantrum and Schoonover decided to erect a store building. Mr. Finney furnished them with a site and they employed Mr. Ziegler to build for them. By May the building was completed and their stock, consisting of general merchandise and lumber having arrived, they commenced business.
In June the Odessa postoffice was established and Mr. Schoonover was appointed postmaster. Others had arrived on the scene by this time and a few build- ings were put up and another store started by Gust. Zabel. In the fall Mr. Ziegler was appointed justice of the peace and notary public and opened a real estate and insurance office. It was then evident that there would be a town, so Mr. Finney employed J. W. Strack, then city engineer of Spokane, to survey and plat the town. (The town was platted July 17, 1899, by George W. Finney.) The following spring L. G. Nuelsen and George Unsoeld bought Trantum & Schoonover's stock of merchandise and Mr. Nuelsen succeeded Mr. Schoon- over as postmaster, which office he held until February, 1901, when Dr. Connell, the present postmaster, was ap- pointed to succeed him. In the fall of 1899 I. T. Whistler came here as agent for the Great Northern Railway Com- pany. The depot was not built until the early part of the year 1900, and he transacted the company's business in Adams & Company's grain warehouse, now owned by the Seattle Grain Company.
At this time the population consisted of between fifty and one hundred people. During the year others came and several new business enterprises were started. In October Trantum & Schoonover's addition to the town was platted and they sold several lots. But it was not until the summer of 1901 that the town began to show rapid growth. During that year the population increased very rapidly and before the year was out it
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HISTORY OF THE BIG BEND COUNTRY.
numbered over four hundred souls. In May, Finney's First Addition was platted and about the same time Mr. Ziegler laid out another addition to the town on the west. These two additions now constitute the greater part of the residence portion of the town. The Odessa State Bank was established in April, 1901, with George A. Kennedy, our present mayor, as cashier. The Odessa Record made its appearance on May roth, with the name of M. F. Devlin at the masthead. Last year (1902), the town was incorporated, the mill, the new brick school house, and several brick blocks were erected and numerous new business enterprises estab- lished. In the fall another new addition to the town was laid out and platted, by Messrs. George W. Finney and J. J. Pattee.
During the stimmer of 1903 Mr. Roy E. Tranttum, one of the prominent business men of Odessa, contributed the following personal reminiscence to the Odessa Record:
Five years ago the 7th of last January ( 1898), J. B. Ziegler, W. N. Schoonover and myself landed in Crab Creek valley at a point known as Odessa sidetrack, on the main line of the Great Northern Railway, coming across the country with a team and wagon from Ritz- ville, the county seat of Adams county, to investigate the possibilities of opening a general merchandise store. The land tributary to Odessa, which is now fenced and producing the finest kind of wheat, was then a vast rolling prairie, and not a cabin or fence to greet the eye. but it was nevertheless, a magnificent picture. We were so well pleased with the location and believing that there was a glorious future for the country surrounding. Mr. Schoonover and myself decided at once to erect a store building and forthwith employed Mr. Ziegler. then a contractor, to erect a building 24x50 feet.
We had to wait about two months for our build- ing material, and in the meantime Mr. Ziegler filed a homestead right on a vacant 40-acre tract a short dis- tance from our location, and built a cabin thereon. The tract is now known as Ziegler's addition to Odessa. During the construction of our store building there appeared upon the scene C. V. Drazan, an enterprising young immigrant agent, and he was so well pleased with the country, and foreseeing the grand opportunities to be achieved, he at once secured the agency of the North- ern Pacific Land Company, acting as their resident agent, and commenced advertising the country and its possibilities, and to him a large share of praise is to be given for the number of industrious farmers who surround our busy little burg. By May we had a very good stock of general merchandise, lumber and wood. In June W. N. Schoonover was duly appointed post- master, which office was much appreciated by the people in our locality. Previous to this time we had to go to Lamona for our mail. a distance of twelve miles cast
and it was a great inconvenience. It was evident that we would have a town, and Mr. Finney employed the services of J. W. Strack, a surveyor from Spokane, to lay out about ten acres in blocks and lots, and Mr. Finney then gave us a deed to one lot 50 x 100 on which our store was built. The lots sold so well that since that time Mr. Finney has had several additions staked out. Joe Jilk and Frank Ardolf were the next to erect a building for a hotel and a saloon. Mr. C. V. Drazan then built an office and in the fall Gus. Zabel built a a store and put in a stock of general merchandise. At about this time J. B. Ziegler was appointed justice of the peace and notary public, also securing the agency of the American Central Fire Insurance Company. Mr. Ziegler has been very prosperous, which he deserves for his integrity and earnest work for the welfare of the town.
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