Lewiston’s Sesquicentennial by Lewiston Tribune

SUNDAY, JULY 3, 2011

SECTION G A special section looking at town’s early history

Lewiston’s Sesquicentennial Ho, For The Mines! And A City is Born L

ewiston’s transformation from a crude beginning to a modern city began with an unpromising and ugly chrysalis. This was “Ragtown,” the nickname for Lewiston in its earliest years, and an accurate one. Most of its camping thousands lived in tents weatherbeaten by the suns and sands of California. One of its first hotels began as a flapping tent left by a stranded circus. Merchants stored their liquors, food staples and mining tools in tentlike structures made by nailing brown drill — a durable cotton twilled fabric — over a framework of rough lumber. Lean-to sheds were attached to shelter pack animals and hay. During the first year, log cabins were few and suggested a permanence and stability that the tents belied. In early Lewiston a man was rated an old-timer after three years. Of the 10,000 or so who followed the lure of gold to Lewiston from 1861 to ’63, only about 300 remained to form the nucleus of a permanent community. The plat of streets of the original townsite — the northwest corner of downtown Lewiston where the rivers come together — hasn’t changed much, but the area’s appearance has. In the early 1860s, this downtown section was thickly scattered with rough lumber buildings — dwellings, saloons, tents, barns, packer sheds — and with corrals, hay stacks, fenced lots and a few log cabins. The streets were nature-made and man-damaged. They were either deep

STORIES INSIDE THIS SECTION:

Nez Perce Co. Historical Society

OUT OF THE SAND SPRINGS A TOWN | The earliest-known photo of Lewiston is this view in 1862, of dirt streets, small wooden buildings and tents. Note the canvas-roofed Luna House Hotel (right) and the assay office (far left). in mud or dust, depending upon the rains, and studded with rocks. Sometimes there were scattering lakelets of muddy water and high spots. At night the only light was from flickering candles or kerosene lamps shining through the drill walls of flimsy buildings. There was no paint to cover the rough boards and no signs over the stores nor on the streets. There were no sidewalks, street lamps, lawns,

shrubbery, trees or flowers. The tall Lombardy poplars were still to be planted. Households lucky enough to have shallow wells saved daily trips to one of the rivers for the family water supply. A barrel to catch rainwater stood near every dwelling. In time a larger well was sunk at the intersection of Third and D streets whence most of the business section drew a daily supply.

No Sanitation Few worried about sanitation, and no one cared if dead and decaying animals lay on the streets for months. Occasionally a butcher neglected to clear off the remains of his carcasses, or indignantly declined to do so until his neighbors went to court with a nuisance charge against him. In those years Lewiston was a gathCONTINUED ON PAGE 2 >

Pierce started gold rush but died broke

BUSINESS BOOMED FOR EARLY FERRIES

SOMBER SEVENTIES: THE DARK YEARS

The beginning of the green era

DRINK VS. THIRST: THE BLOODY FIRST

They had to push but nobody cared

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LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

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ering place of restless, venturesome and nonconformists of many lands. Some were of the French nobility who had fled to the New World to escape persecution. There were Jewish traders from Poland, Switzerland and Germany; dark Spaniards who had wandered north from Mexico; and much-traveled Scandinavians. There were fugitives from justice from a dozen eastern states. Among the earliest comers were restless brilliants as well as shiftless misfits. There were literary geniuses such as Joaquin Miller and W.A Goulder; highly trained and skillful medical men such as Dr. Madison A. Kelly and Dr. Henry W. Stainton, clever financiers such as Levi Ankeny and John P. Vollmer and promotional wizards such as Alonzo Leland.

Miller

Stainton

Ankeny

Let The Timid Stay Behind All were led by the lure of gold, profit or adventure. Timid shirkers were left behind. An atmosphere of optimism prevailed. Faith that the placer gold fields were inexhaustible was almost universal. Those who were lucky enough to discover rich diggings for themselves could

usually help some more fortunate prospector with his, working at wages about eight times what one could have expected to receive “back home.” Almost daily rumors of new mining discoveries kept the tent community in a flurry of excitement. Perhaps equally thrilling was the whistles of the sternwheel steamer as it churned up the Snake River for a landing. Nearly everyone flocked to the dock, for the steamer brought news of the latest battles of the Civil War. Sometimes there were letters from home and always there were fresh supplies of liquor and other goods for the stores. Sometimes newspapers only two or three weeks old could be purchased for $1 to $2.50 per copy. And always there were more eager prospectors.

An Age of Speed

The Lewistonians of 150 years ago considered themselves progressive. They believed they were living in a age of speed and marvelous modern inventions — such as steam engines, railroads and telegraphs. They marveled at the wonders of the last 100 years, during which Americans had won their independence from Great

Britain, and wondered what the next 100 years would bring. The talked of the coming Pony Express, which would cover 1,800 miles over the mountains in just 15 days, and of cannons that could shoot 100 balls per minute to a distance of half a mile. The white men wished they could move the Nez Perce and other Indians to a distant part of uninhabited eastern Washington where they could hunt to their heart’s content and not interfere with the search for gold.

The Luna House, built of logs, rated as the leading hotel of Lewiston in the 1860s. Second, and longer lasting was the Hotel DeFrance, with its skilled Parisian chef. The Globe, a German-style hostelry, and the What Cheer House and Alta House were short lived. Pack outfits, boat docks and express services did thriving business. The stagecoach came into its own starting about 1863. Within a year or so, certain merchants began specializing in pack train service and those who did began consolidating their packing sheds. The

Old Fashioned

Other key dates to put on your calendar . . . . . .

• Jul 21—Lecture Series: On the Leading Edge, LCSC • Jul 23—E.A.A & Stout Flying Service Air Fair/Fly In, Lewiston Airport • Aug 4—Lecture Series: Lewiston and the Great Seal, LCSC • Aug 11 to Aug 15—Vietnam Traveling Wall, NPC Fairgrounds • Aug 18—Lecture Series: From Log Benches to Laptops, LCSC • Sept 1—Lecture Series: Gold Brought Them All, LCSC • Sept 7 to Sept 11—Lewiston Roundup • Sept 15—Lecture Series: That Abyss Where Sight Is Lost, LCSC • Oct 1—Oktoberfest, Pioneer Park • Oct 14 & 15—Dining with the Spirits, Downtown • Oct 15—Pumpkin Palooza, Downtown • Nov 8—150 Years & Counting, Lewiston High School Auditorium • Nov 11 @ 11:11am—Veteran’s Day Parade, Downtown • Dec 31— Lewis-Clark Chamber of Commerce Gala Night

packing shed area was just east of the early city limits, between the present 500 and 600 blocks of Main Street.

What The Traffic Will Bear Operators charged what they pleased — or dared — until competition forced reasonable prices by the second or third year. These prices were still about three times what a traveler would have paid in the states. Board and room was available at

1861

Contact us at Celebrate150years@cityoewiston.org or visit www.cityoewiston.org for calendar of events. Logo used by permission of Nez Perce County Historical Society.

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4th of JULY Celebration

Monday July 4th Pioneer Park ~ 203 5th St. 12 noon to 4:00pm

$12 a week, single meals were 75 cents and a night’s lodging 50 cents. On the river steamers, fares and freight charges were swollen enough to bring in as much as $10,000 on a single trip. The Lewiston of 1862 had its druggists, dentists and physicians as well as its general merchandise stores, harness shops and livery stables, where the horses of travelers could be cared for at what stable owners called reasonable rates. Now and then a traveling photographer took “ambrotypes and melaineotypes” for those willing to pay the price. There were occasional touring magicians for theatrical or musical troupes. A circus in

Walking with Ancestors July 4th—9am to 11:30am Normal Hill Cemetery Learn about 12 Lewiston pioneers who passed between 1872 to 1937. Portrayers dressed in period clothing. Brought to you by Twin Rivers Genealogy Society

Fun for the whole family (FREE admission) Parade of Wheels (Check in starts at 11:30am)

Commemorative Coin is a great piece to have as a keepsake. Cost $10 available at Community Development 215 ‘D’ Street and Lewiston Community Center 1424 Main Street 311207GC-11

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a tent which measured 48 feet in diameter “folded up” here in 1862. Merchants carried miscellaneous wares, bringing in whatever they thought would tempt miners to part with their precious gold dust. Nearly half of them operated saloons, and nearly every grocer, druggist, dry goods or hardware store stocked liquor in addition to other items. One outfit announced the ambitious program of “wholesale groceries, ready made clothing, blankets, boots, brooms, vinegar, clocks, patent medicines, and dyestuffs.” The first dance halls were the decks of river steamers. The first meeting places were the lobby of the Luna House and Clark’s Hall, where now stands the Bollinger Financial Center. In February of 1862, Lewiston organized its first government. Robert Dyson was elected president of the board of the first city council. In early fall of that year Lewiston formed a vigilance committee for the self-preservation of the law-abiding majority of the people. The gold rush was beginning to ebb by the time Idaho Territory was organized in July

THE TOWN’S FIRST HUB | The Luna House hotel, shown here circa 1870, was one of the first public meeting places. of 1863. Newer and possibly richer diggings had been discovered in the Boise Basin, and the fluid population of Lewiston drained off rapidly.

The establishment of the first territorial capital at Lewiston gave the community a new burst of life, but the boom was short-lived.

Idaho’s First School District Chartered

The development of Lewiston’s early schools culminated on December 30, 1880, when the 11th Territorial Legislature chartered Independent School District No. 1, Idaho’s first. The first subscription school in Lewiston opened its door in 1863 in a log storefront at 3rd and Capitol Streets. Students shielded themselves from the breezes sailing through unsealed cracks between the logs. Crude wood-burning stoves gave the only heat, and the only light was from the sun. Teachers did not use blackboard and chalk until 1867. The school year was anything but regular, with three-month sessions being the norm, if a “qualified” itinerant teacher happened to stop in

Lewiston. According to the territorial superintendent’s report for 1869, the average term was only two months. Few early teachers stayed for more than one term. The city constructed its first public school in 1872, raising $2,000 with a levy and various community events. Visitors rated the structure as “the best school building in Idaho.” Students attended for their first nine-month school year in 18781879, when textbooks were adopted. The District created Lewiston High School, Idaho’s second, in 1888.

7th & 8th graders with teacher, Miss Cornelius Lewiston Public School – 1010 Main Street c. 1889

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1880

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

Within a year the shrunken community was in a life-ordeath struggle to hold onto the capital. On March 30, 1865, the seal and territorial

archives were taken by military force and carried off to Boise, and Lewiston settled into a torpor that lasted for several years. n

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No Sense in Rewriting History T

hanks, Ladd. staff position over those four decades, And thanks to a cast of oth- from reporter (even sports early on) ers, too. to editorial writing to being managToday’s special Tribune edi- ing editor, finishing with a stretch as tion in commemoration of this newspaper’s senior editor. Lewiston’s 150th birthday continues a So, when it came time to recount yearlong remembrance of the found- Lewiston’s birth and early years, how ing of this city in 1861, some best to do it? 31 years before Texas brothers The wise answer: Use what Eugene L. Alford and Albert our 1960-1961 news staff H. Alford arrived to start the already created. Lewiston Tribune. Would you rewrite the Tribune readers in 2011 have Bible? “Treasure Island”? “Tom had daily vignettes, more than Sawyer”? Any of your favorite 180 so far, of the significance books from years past? No. of the day’s date in Lewiston Hamilton spent 18 months history. On Mondays, all year Commentary on special assignment in 1960 long, you’ve had articles that and 1961. Sure, Hamilton first appeared in the Tribune’s a couple of days ago, A.L. recalled seven Lewiston centennial he still was called on to do editions in 1961. (Butch) some daily reporting and to Who was the mainstay of toss out his occasional vintage the Tribune’s centennial edi- Alford Jr. and pointed editorials. But tions in 1961, now 50 years the main job was the Tribune’s ago? It was Ladd Hamilton, a Tribune Lewiston centennial editions. reporter and editor from 1948 until It must have been something like his retirement in 1987, and today this: Today (with a fresh cup of percostill a Lewiston resident. Hamilton lated coffee in hand, and in those days held virtually every Tribune news probably a Chesterfield or Pall Mall,

1884

first security bank

Vollmer Great Bargain store

Hamilton

Allen

too), I’ll start the process of writing about the founding of Lewiston, its pioneer characters, its leaders of the initial decade or two. And I’ll do that for the 500 or so days ahead. “It seems like a long time ago,” Hamilton recounted. “It was a busy, busy time. Yes, it was a good time. But we were glad to get it done.” It wasn’t just Hamilton, either. His first mate on the centennial vessel was Margaret D. Allen, a reporter and later the librarian in a Tribune career that started in 1945 and ended in retirement in 1979. Allen died in 1993 at the age of 94. Hamilton’s research on Lewiston

history helped inspire him to write two books based on the Lewiston area’s earlier days. One was “This Bloody Deed: the Magruder Incident,” a re-creation of the famous Bitterroot Mountains 1863 gold rush murder of Lewiston merchant Lloyd Magruder. The New York Times praised it as “an admirable job of re-creating the gritty lives and times of these historical characters.” The other was “Snowbound,” the story of the 1893 Carlin Party in the Selway River country, a group of five men trapped by an early storm and confronted with an ethical dilemma when one of them is seriously ill. Allen and Hamilton teamed up to produce “Lewiston Country: An Armchair History.” It was Hamilton’s expert editing and assistance that made it possible for Allen to turn her collected tidbits of Lewiston history into a full book. (“Lewiston Country” can be purchased at the Luna House in downtown Lewiston for $15.95.) The 1961 centennial editions were during the managing editor days of the

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1904 1907

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1992 present

Upcoming Exhibitons & Events • Scott Schuldt: The Wilderness Within .................................... July 15- October 7 • Conuence Project: Re-imagining the Columbia River with the artwork of Maya Lin ......................................................................... August 26- November 4 • Dinner in the Garden: Community • Sustainability • Arts ...........September 17 at Osborn Community Garden

For more information contact The CAH Business Ofce: 415 Main Street 208.792.2243 www.lcsc.edu/museum

Proud to be a part of Lewiston History since 1885... Come browse our variety of shops and studios.

Morgan’s Alley 301 Main Street Lewiston, Idaho (208) 790-0233

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LEWISTONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SESQUICENTENNIAL

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LEFT: The cover of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lewiston Country: An Armchair Historyâ&#x20AC;? by Margaret Day Allen. RIGHT: The cover of â&#x20AC;&#x153;This Bloody Deedâ&#x20AC;? by Ladd Hamilton.

late William F. Johnston, an Orofino native and University of Idaho graduate, who was lured to the Tribune from The Associated Press, and who moved on to a journalism professor position at the University of Washington. This young reporter, who joined the Tribune staff full time in January 1961, had no hand in the special editions. Instead, I was starting two years in the Clarkston and Asotin County office, which seemed far from the Lewiston newsroom.

But the stories youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re about to read are a reminder of great reporters from our years past: Sylvia Harrell, Thomas W. Campbell, William E. (Johnny) Johnson, and more. Today, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all deceased, with the exception of Hamilton, whom Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve already thanked. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;â&#x20AC;&#x201D;â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Alford is the semi-retired former publisher of the Lewiston Tribune. He may be contacted at alajr@lmtribune. com or (208) 848-2250.

Century Farm Ice Cream Social! White Spring Ranch Museum

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1889

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Pierce Started The Rush But He Died Dead Broke C

MAN ON THE MOVE | Capt. Elias D. Pierce helped found the town of Lewiston but his ambitions did not allow him to stay.

apt. E.D. Pierce, a footloose Irish horse trader, was the real father of the city of Lewiston, although he probably saw his offspring briefly and only once.

That would have been sometime in June or July of 1861, when Pierce made a short-lived visit to the mining fields he had discovered the year before. On his previous treks between Walla Walla and the Nez Perce Reservation he had crossed the Snake River at its junction with the Clearwater, but there was nothing there then but a sand bar and ribbon of flat between the river and the sage-topped bluffs. The Native Americans are said to have spurned the place as a most unlikely habitation, and the white intruders of 1861 probably would not have settled there if the steamer Colonel Wright had been able to push her way farther

1892

upstream on her initial trip. Fortunately or not, the Colonel Wright’s skipper deemed it wise to snub his craft ashore near the place where the rivers meet, and on that spot the hustlers, the prospectors, the merchants, the renegades and the rogues piled out and created a town. There can be no doubt that it was Captain Pierce’s town. He had founded it when he discovered gold in the streams of the upper Clearwater drainage in 1860.

Here In 1852 Pierce had come into the region for the first time in 1852 on the advice of

No matter the address, Lewiston is our home.

1st location: Third Street

1896

2nd location: Erb Hardware Building

The Owl Drug Co. opened in 1896 on Lewiston’s Main Street. Gene and Mike Auer purchased the business in the 1950’s. The Owl now includes four locations, The Owl Home Medical, The Owl Valley Medical, and The Owl Southway and Tri State which are also Hallmark Gold Crown Gift Stores. Brian and Jon Auer and Kristen Auer Adams are continuing the family owned tradition of oﬀering personal service and quality products. The Owl, serving the valley for 115 years.

Present location: 505 Capital Street lmtribune.com

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Valley Medical 2315 8th St. Grade, Lewiston 750-1444 Owl Home Medical 312 St. John’s Way, Lewiston (208) 743-7766

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THE OWL

Southway 720 16th Ave., Lewiston (208) 743-5528 Tri-State 1275 Highland Ave., Clarkston (509) 758-5533

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an old Hudson’s Bay Co. man, Charles Adams, to trade with the Nez Perce for ponies. Pierce and Adams reached the reservation in August of 1852, spent an apparently pleasant winter among the Nez Perces, and left in the following spring with 100 head of fine Appaloosa horses. Pierce returned to the reservation four years later, spent four months there, and went back to Walla Walla with another drove of horses. War erupted on the reservation then — there had been trouble between the natives and some white men — and Pierce remained safely at Walla Walla until 1860. His fateful return to the reservation in the early part of that year had a double purpose. He was still in a mood to trade for horses, but he also had reason to believe there might be gold in some of the streams near the forks of the Clearwater. His plan was to use his horse-trading activities as a cover for a prospecting venture, and with this in mind Pierce and a friend name Seth Ferrell reached the Nez Perce Reservation in February. They did some panning in the Clearwater and its feeder streams and found enough metal to justify a more thorough search. So they returned to Walla Walla and then traveled to The Dalles, Ore., to buy mining equipment, and with this arrived back on the Clearwater with supplies enough to last for four months. The weather was bad, however, and

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

Pierce and Ferrell did not linger. They elected to wait at Walla Walla until summer, and did so, meanwhile passing the word that the prospects were promising on the Clearwater. When they rode out of Walla Walla in August they had with them a party of around a dozen men. They had embarked on an illegal expedition. The Nez Perce Reservation, created by the Treaty of 1855, extend-

Pierce to induce the daughter of a local chief, Timothy, to guide his party around the Nez Perce sentries — or so the story goes — and after a long, arduous and round-about trek to the north, the white men arrived at Canal Gulch, an Orofino Creek north of the Clearwater River. Wilber Bassett, by trade a carpenter, is believed to have been the man who panned the first gold there. According

The diggings Pierce left behind in the Clearwater country poured out millions of dollars in gold dust in the next few years, established vast fortunes, and caused a rise at Lewiston, a city to serve as the jumping spot for the mines. ed over a vast area — including much of the mining country — and it was closed by law to white intrusion. The Indian agent, A.J. Cain, had warned that war could result from a prospectors’ invasion of the territory, but Pierce and his party considered the prize worth the risk and set out for the forbidden lands anyhow. They met hostile Indians on the Snake River a few miles west of the mouth of the Clearwater, near the present site of Alpowa. The warriors refused to permit the party to proceed and so the white men, unable to find a way to sneak past, set up camp and prepared to spend the winter. However, it did not take long for

1896

to an account he wrote years later: “We made camp that afternoon a little before sunset, down the gulch about 100 yards, where sunk a prospect hole in the gravel about two feet deep and panned out about 3 cents in the first pan, with which returned to the camp and exhibited the prospect to the balance of the party around the camp fire.” Subsequent pans delivered gold flakes which were 3 to 30 cents each, and the next morning the prospectors discovered they could do the same all over the area.

Back to Walla Walla The party prospected there for less

than a week, then broke camp and headed for Walla Walla and more supplies. That was in early October. By early winter, Bassett and 26 other men were back at Canal Gulch with camping gear, horses, and enough provisions to feed them through the winter. This was the party that established Pierce City in that winter of 1860-61, formed a miners’ government of sorts, cut lumber for shacks and placer boxes, and awaited the golden promises of spring. Pierce was not among them. He had gone to Olympia, then the territorial capital, to lobby the legislature for a wagon road from Walla Walla to the mines. He was at Portland in May, making arrangements to move a sawmill to Pierce City, and he was seen once more at the scene of the big strike between May and July. Pierce did no more mining there; it is not clear why. He went off looking for new gold on the Powder River, later showed up in Idaho City, Walla Walla, and Wyoming, and eventually went home to Indiana and married. The diggings he had left behind in the Clearwater country poured out millions of dollars in gold dust in the next few years, established vast fortunes, and caused a rise at Lewiston, a city to serve as the jumping spot for the mines. But Capt. Pierce could never seem to hit it again. Thirty-seven years after rocking the pan that built a city and a region, Capt. Pierce died broke. n

1898

1898 Hahn Supply Company established by Charles Hahn at 5th and B Streets in Lewiston, Idaho. 1906 A daughter named Catherine (Katie) Hahn was born to Charles and Catherine Hahn. 1931 Catherine (Katie) Hahn married A.L. Alford.

tarting back in 1896 E.P. Doris moved his small stock of hardware from Farmington, Washington, to Lewiston, Idaho, and opened a store under the name of “Cash Hardware”. In 1910 Bob Erb took over management and incorporated the store under the new name of “Erb Hardware Company”. Erb Hardware Company afliated with Ace Hardware, the largest international buying hardware co-operative in the world, in 1970. In 1996 Erb Hardware proudly celebrated its 100th anniversary! Shortly thereafter in 1998 the store was relocated to the Lewiston Orchards in order to better serve customers with a more convenient location. The team here at Erb’s Ace Hardware continues the relentless pursuit of superior customer service started all those years ago, always remembering to put you rst and to have fun doing so. So come to our store for our fresh popcorn and some friendly service that you will appreciate -- we look forward to being your helpful hardware place.

DOWNTOWN RENTAL

1959 Hahn Supply builds a new ofce/warehouse at 21st and Main Street. 1964 Catherine Hahn Alford passes away, leaving the business to Charles and Albert L. Alford Jr.

MOSCOW RENTAL

1989 Hahn Supply purchased Wade Tool Center and is operated as Hahn Tool Center. 1989 Hahn Supply purchases South Center Rental and is operated as Hahn Rental Center. 1992 Hahn Rental opens a downtown Lewiston location at its Supply HQ location at 21st and Main Streets.

KAMIAH RENTAL

1993 Hahn Rental opens a rental yard in Kamiah, Idaho. 1996 Hahn Rental opens a rental yard in Moscow, Idaho. 2002 Hahn Supply added HVAC equipment/supplies to its extensive inventory of trade building materials.

ORCHARDS RENTAL

2010 Hahn Rental opened a new 14,000 sq. ft. Rental Center in Moscow, Idaho. HAHN SUPPLY

141 Thain Rd, Lewiston Orchards

208-746-0441

Lewiston, Idaho Since 1898

2101 Main Street Lewiston, Idaho

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Business Boomed For Early Ferries

ooo, the ferry!” A grimy traveler and a grimy mule stand on the shore of the Clearwater, the traveler peering across the stream in the twilight. He raises his cupped hands to his mouth again and cries out: “Hooo, the ferry!” In its good time the ferry comes out of the dusk, winding itself in on a cable strung overhead. When it reaches the landing, almost at dark, the traveler and his mule get on, and as they do two other travelers ride up on horses and clatter aboard, too. A lantern swings in the ferryman’s hand and the ferry is away, sliding slowly into the stream. The ferryman has collected for this one-way trip $4.50 — a dollar and a half for each man with a single animal. This was John Silcott’s Lewiston ferry, plying between Silcott’s place on the north shore of the Clearwater River to a spot on the Lewiston bank where Fifth Street met the shore. It was a busy boat; it sometimes made as much as $250 in a single day, for it then enjoyed a virtual monopoly on all the traffic entering Lewiston from the north and west. One could get to Lewiston from Fort Walla Walla in 1862 by crossing the river in a canoe or a rowboat, as many had done before the ferry was built. But that meant unpacking the horses, load-

1900

Lewiston Tribune

THE ONLY WAY TO CROSS | Ferries like this one on the Snake River kept the people and commerce moving in the early days, before several bridges were constructed to make it easier.

e at Vassar-Rawls Funeral Home & Crematory are proud of our long-standing service in the valley and the neighboring communities and are proud to be a part of this historical project. Our roots in the Lewis-Clark Valley go back to 1898, so we feel it is appropriate to support this beautiful publication. Looking ahead – as Lewiston celebrates its sesquicentennial in 2011 – we see a future where we continue to say: “We are a proud part of this community and are pleased to provide meaningful and personalized funeral services for families and loved ones of the Lewis-Clark Valley and surrounding areas.” While the roots of the Vassar family in the L-C Valley go back to 1898, it was in 1900 that Clyde Vassar moved his furniture and undertaking business from Pullman to Lewiston and set up a new business – Lewiston Furniture and Undertaking – the first mortuary in the region. The location was near the present site of the YWCA on Main Street. Soon afterwards, the business was moved to a new location in the I.O.O.F. hall on the north side of the street in the 500 block of Main. The store was just east of what is now

Brackenbury Square. In 1907 Clyde Vassar and Joseph Vassar bought the residence of Robert Grostein, one of Lewiston’s early merchandise princes, at 608 Main Street – a splendid structure from which several items are still in use in the present Vassar-Rawls mortuary. The family operated the mortuary there until 1912. At that time the building was cut in half and moved to a new location at 141 Ninth Street where it still stands. At first the funeral home just sold caskets and the preparation for burial was done by the family. As time went by the funeral home took on more duties, including dressing and cleaning the bodies, providing transportation to cemeteries and arranging services. As the services increased, it became apparent there was a need for an ambulance. The first one was horse drawn. In 1913, Clyde decided to motorize the ambulance business. He and Mr. Studebaker negotiated by handwritten letter and finally came to an agreement that led to three vehicles being shipped directly from the Studebaker Wagon Works to Lewiston. The fleet included a family touring car, a hearse and an ambulance. Interestingly, the ambulance did not have a siren so, in times of emergency one of the Vassar crew would stand on the running board, wave his hat and holler to clear traffic. In the early 1970s brothers John Vassar and Richard Vassar joined the business (in 1971 and 1972, respectively) with their dad Vincent and uncle Andy, then in December 1975 Vassar-Rawls moved to its present location at 920 21st Ave. Vincent passed away in 1976. In 2007, Jeff Seipert, Jason Harwick and Dennis

Hastings took over as owners and operators of the business. Prior to that time Jeff, Jason and Dennis were co-owners and shareholders. John and Richard Vassar still provide inspiration and occasional consulting services for the funeral home. Today Vassar-Rawls Funeral Home & Crematory serves all denominations and provides complete funeral services including pre-planning, funerals and cremation. The owners of Vassar-Rawls Funeral Home & Crematory believe a properly planned ceremony or ritual can help the natural grief process. Vassar-Rawls Funeral Home’s licensed staff will assist in creating a meaningful and dignified funeral or memorial service.

Vassar-Rawls Funeral Home & Crematory Our family, serving yours, for over a century. 920 21st Ave., Lewiston 743.6541. www.vassar-rawls.com

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ing the stuff into the canoe, then shoving off with the horses swimming behind at the end of a rope. It was a lot of trouble, and risky, because the Clearwater was a fast river and sometimes the swimming horses would balk or panic and upset the boat.

Blessing and Bonanza So John Silcott’s ferry was both a blessing and a bonanza. Prospectors and entrepeneurs heading to Lewiston from Walla Walla actually had two ferries to board. The first was down the Snake a few miles at a place now called Alpowa, which was built in 1861 by the same John Silcott and his partner, D.M. White. The traveler crossed the Snake at that point, and traveled eastward to Lewiston along the north bank before reaching the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater, and then crossed the Clearwater south to Lewiston. A third ferry was established on the Snake River between Lewiston and the present city of Clarkston, but that came later. Silcott and White built their first ferry, at Alpowa, from handsawed timber cut from huge logs floated down the river and rolled out on 4-foot supports. One man worked each end of the saw, one on top of the log and one under it, slicking off the heavy planks. It took the two of them about three months to build that ferry, with the

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

help of an occasional dead-broke traveler in need of a day’s work. The cable came on a sailing ship around Cape Horn, then was shipped north from San Francisco to Portland and hauled across the Cascades on the backs of two mules, half the long iron rope on one mule, half on the other, with the connecting length running from the first mule’s back, between the ears of the second mule and into the bale on the second mule’s back. On the first effort to string the cable across, in winter at low water, the line fell into the stream and fouled on the boulders. The second time, the cable was laid out along one bank of the stream and placed across equally spaced rowboats. At a signal, the boatmen shoved off, paddling furiously against the current, and swung the free end of the cable around to the snubbing post on the other shore.

In Business The ferry was in business, and from the start it was a financial success. White and Silcott were doing so well, in fact, that they decided to build another at Lewiston. While it was under construction, Silcott sold his interest in the Alpowa ferry to White and bought the new one on the Clearwater. This one was in business by the middle of 1862. Before the end of that year another ferry had been built on the Snake at Lewiston, near where the Interstate

Bridge stands now, and it continued to operate until 1913. The Snake River Lewiston ferry was built by E.D. Pearcy, Joseph L. Davis, Gilman Hays, and George Woods, incorporated as the Walla Walla and Clearwater Road Co. They apparently were not doing too well at the start, for they were petitioning for a rate increase in the fall of 1862. They complained that the tolls allowed in their franchise were too low to grant just compensation. These rates allowed them “but $3 for one wagon and two horses, $4 for each wagon and four horses and $5 for each wagon and six horses, at which rate your petitioners do represent that they cannot afford to run a ferry ... ” They asked the toll to be doubled for each wagon and two horses, and the request was granted. A ferry was built at Greer in 1861 or 1862 (the records are a little confusing on this point) for use of miners going into and out of the gold fields at Pierce. The Greer ferry was burned by hostile Native Americans during the Nez Perce War of 1877 and later rebuilt, and it continued to operate until the Greer bridge was built in 1914. Riding on the Greer ferry in the early days was an extra crew member: a boy with a bucket, whose job it was to splash cold water on the hot hubs and iron rims of wagon wheels.

The descent to the river down the steep side of the mountain there was so bad that wagon drivers would stop at the top and tie a log to the back axle to serve as a brake. Even so, with the brakes locked and the log dragging, the wagons would rumble onto the ferry with rims so hot they burned the planks. Then the boy would douse the rims with river water to keep the deck from catching fire. Construction of the LewistonConcord bridge — they called Clarkston Concord in those days — did not put the ferry out of business there. It was a private toll bridge and the rates were high enough to permit the ferry to compete. The Snake River ferry at Lewiston continued to operate until shortly after construction of the old and unlamented 18th Street Bridge in 1913. Ice was a hazard to ferries in the wintertime. Once the Spalding ferry became entangled in floating ice while attempting to cross the Clearwater and was carried all the way to Alpowa, passengers and all. Men and horses pulled the ferry back up the Snake and Clearwater rivers to Spalding. D.M. White’s Alpowa ferry eventually was sold to M.L. Goldsmith, but the ferry later was put out of business. Ed Pearcy, operator of the Snake River CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 >

Into The Future Enhancing the Quality of Life With Compassion and Care.

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LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

> CONTINUED from PAGE 9

ferry at Lewiston, built a wagon road over the hill to Alpowa so that it was possible to drive all the way to Concord by land and reach Lewiston by using one ferry instead of two. That cut into the Alpowa ferry’s trade so deeply that the operation died. John Silcott’s Fifth Street ferry was not the only one on the Clearwater at Lewiston. In 1881 Fred Viles established a ferry a half mile below the old Clearwater River dam — it became known as the Central Ferry — and in 1904 Fred Newman put a ferry in the river a quarter of a mile east of the present city water plant. In 1885, Nathan (Kentuck) Tallent established a ferry at Hatwai Creek with Sam Lewiston in charge. Its business collapsed after 1898, when a new road was built there and the ferry became waterlogged and sank. Newman’s ferry later was owned by Clyde Stranahan, and it operated until the opening of the 18th Street bridge, after which it was sold to new owners near Riparia. The old Central Ferry sank before it could be put out of business. The ferries plied waters that

1903

sometimes were swift and always dangerous, and yet history has recorded only one drowning — and a doubtful one at that. This involved a man near Uniontown who had married a widow, advised her to put her property in his name, and quarreled with her when she refused. One day in summer he rode down the hill, waited until dark, and boarded Silcott’s ferry, evidently drunk. When the ferry reached midstream, the man climbed upon the railing, posed for a moment with a long face, intoned a melliflorous “Goodbye” and jumped into the river. The event went into the record as suicide. Later, however, an old friend of the man reported he had seen him in Seattle, well and happy and boasting about his swimming ability. Ferries operated at Lewiston for altogether 70 years — from 1861 to 1931 — and they were years that encompassed the birth and growth of a city and a region. Getting places was faster and easier when the last of them was broken up, but crossing the river has never been quite the same since that last cry set the echoes flying: “Hooooo, the ferry!” n

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Alonzo Leland: Eternal Optimist

he man who lit the fuse that exploded into the great gold rush of 1861 was a Portland, Ore., newspaper editor named Alonzo Leland. From a desk in Portland he directed one of the greatest publicity campaigns in the history of the West. Later, from a newspaper office in Lewiston, he led a raw community to eager hopes and a harvest of disillusionment. Gold had been seen in Idaho before 1860, but the first finds were kept secret. By contrast, the gold strike at Pierce in the fall of 1860 was broadcast to the world. Alonzo Leland, then in a key position as editor of the Portland Times, was the self-appointed and inspired publicity director. Accounts of the marvels and richness of the new gold fields, as they appeared in the Times, echoed around the world, and the magnet of gold drew thousands to the Lewiston area. Leland himself succumbed to the fever and hurried to the Clearwater mining

Nez Perce Co. Historical Society

CATALYST | Alonzo Leland helped spark the start of the gold rush in north central Idaho, and then worked for years promoting Lewiston and the region.

The Tradition Continues... From our beginning on Main Street in Downtown Lewiston in 1903, when Teddy Roosevelt was President, and Lewiston’s population was 3,510, to almost 109 years later.... Our professional memorialists have been working here in the valley to assure the ﬁnest craftsmanship and customer service. Some things can go on forever.

1223 Main - 1903

743-2471 garlinghousememorials@gmail.com

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country in 1862. From the first, Leland envisioned Lewiston as the center of a vast area of inexhaustible mines and forest and expanses of fertile lands and an everincreasing trade. Through the thin years, between the playing out of the mines and the beginnings of extensive agriculture, Leland never lost sight of that vision. Even the exodus to southern Idaho in the middle 1860s Leland chose to regard as a temporary shift to the jackrabbit country.

Intolerable Loss Leland’s sublime faith in the future of Lewiston fitted aptly with the choice of Lewiston as capital of the Idaho territory. To him the loss of the capital was intolerable. In adopting the Organic Act which created Idaho Territory on March 3, 1863, Congress left the choice of a temporary capital to the first governor, William H. Wallace. The territorial legislature was designated to name a permanent capital. Wallace chose Lewiston as the temporary capital. But by the time the legislature assembled on Dec. 7, 1863, nearly nine-tenths of the population had shifted to the rich gold diggings of southern Idaho. Most of the legislators protested against a capital so far from the center of population as Lewiston. As a member of that legislature, Leland, almost single-handedly, man-

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aged to stall the removal. In the second legislature, which started Nov. 14, 1864, at Lewiston, a much larger majority of the legislators favored changing the capital to Boise City. This time Leland used his knowledge of law. By appealing to the courts he succeeded in stalling the loss of the capital to Lewiston for three more months. Largely because of Leland’s leadership, northern Idaho then revived a movement to create another new territory. This proposed territory, sometimes called Lafayette, sometimes Columbia, would have included all of Washington east of the Columbia River, northern Idaho and eastern Montana. Lewiston would have been the capital by geographic necessity, Failing in their efforts to organize a new territory, Leland and his fellow workers began working to get northern Idaho its political freedom from the Boise ring. They started a movement to re-annex northern Idaho to Washington. Starting immediately after the loss of the capital, Leland threw his all into this cause — his genius for crusading, his editorial skills, his time, and his capital. He founded two newspapers dedicated to annexation. They were the North-Idaho Radiator, begun in

1914 We have been,

“Saying it with Flowers” since 1914.

Mr. & Mrs. P.F. Stillings founded the business in 1914. In 1916 Mr. C.T. Embry was taken into the business as a partner. Mr. & Mrs. Melvin White purchased the shop from the Stillings and then sold the shop to Joe and Imogene Vassar January 1, 1959. The Vassar’s sold the shop to Gordon and Sharla Hubbard February 1, 1988.

Stillings & Embry is Lewiston’s oldest remaining Florist. 1440 Main St, Lewiston

CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 >

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(208) 743-4573

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1919

Y wca

Early 1920’s meeting of the Lewiston/Clarkston ywca

Photo Courtesy of the Nez Perce County Historical Society.

Did you know.. . • By 1940 the ywca was offering employment classes, residency rooms, childcare and raising funds for unwed mothers. • In 1953 the Y asked the Lewiston City Council to close the taverns surrounding the Y. They didn’t. • In 1954 we offered the first driver’s training courses. • In 1964 the Teen Canteen was opened, sponsoring teen dances and activities. • In 1965 the Y offered the first sex education classes (possibly in response to the Teen Canteen activities?).

ywca- 92 years of social activism promoting DIGNITY, JUSTICE and RESPECT

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In 1889 Leland wrote that he “quietly acquiesced” to the inevitable. After his death on Oct. 24, 1891, January 1865, and the Lewiston Carl A. Foresman, editor of the Journal, started in January 1867. Both publications were short-lived. Lewiston Teller, wrote: “Lewiston But the annexation movement grew has had no citizen who has worked harder for the interest of until it overshadowed the community than did all other political issues. Starting Mr. Leland. It seemed a Staunch politicians desertfate that prevented ed their parties to support immediately cruel him from seeing a fuller annexationist candidates. In 1888 Nez Perce County after the loss fruition of his labors.” Leland was born July 12, voted 1,675 to 28 for of the capital, 1818, at North Springfield, annexation. The movement was so Leland threw Vt., and orphaned at an early age. He was brought nearly successful that its backers reached the rejoic- his all into this up by an uncle and aunt. 16, he managed to qualing stage in March 1887. cause — his At ify for teaching and also Both houses of Congress genius for to complete an apprenticehad approved the measure and only the signature of crusading, his ship in carpentry. By working as a carPresident Grover Cleveland was needed to make it a editorial skills, penter, he completed college education law. Lewiston began planhis time, and his and was graduated from ning a celebration. A pocket veto by the his capital. Brown University with honors in 1843. After president stopped the teaching in Maryland rejoicing. Interference by Idaho’s governor, and Massachusetts he came west to E.A. Stevenson, opposition of south- Oregon in 1850. As a civil engineer ern Idaho, admission of Washington he helped plan the city of Portland state without the Panhandle of Idaho and also served as probate judge and annexed, and a full-fledged movement postmaster there. Then he found a more influential for statehood for Idaho combined to block Lewiston’s hopes. The cause to field in journalism and edited several which Leland had devoted a quarter Portland newspapers before following the gold craze to Lewiston. n century of his life was doomed. > CONTINUED from PAGE 11

5th Street Dumping Grounds in 1922

“Health Officer Harris called attention to the advisability of correcting usages at the City dumping grounds on the Clearwater River at the north end of 5th Street and suggested that something should be done for improvement.” City of Lewiston. Meeting of City Council of Lewiston. 2 October 1922. Improvements have been made in sanitation and other public works services since 1922, and what a difference they have made. In fact, the City of Lewiston’s Public Works Department is Idaho’s first and only Public Works Department accredited by the National Public Works Association. Health Officer Harris would be amazed. Lewiston’s Public Works Department: serving you all day, everyday, 24/7.

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LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

Somber Seventies: The Dark Years

By Margaret D. Allen

he 1870s were Lewiston’s darkest years. The decade was opened in discouragement, as the placer gold mines played out, and closed with a paralyzing case of Indian jitters after the Nez Perce War of 1877. In the early 1870s the sparkle of the gold rush had faded, leaving a sense of vast emptiness. The temporary, unpainted shacks of Lewiston’s business district were beginning to fall into grimy dilapidation. Leading business firms operated from slightly renovated log cabins. The once lucrative trade with the mining camps had dwindled to a trickle. Lewiston was hungry — hungry for the profits it had lost, hungry for companionship, hungry for lumber for home building, even hungry for food. Of the 10,000 gold seekers who swarmed into Lewiston in its first exciting days, all but a few had slipped off to richer strikes, mostly to the Boise Basin of southern Idaho. Of the 300 or so who remained, only a handful were inspired with the dream of developing a new CONTinued ON PAGE 14 >

1922

Lewiston Tribune

A COMMUNITY IN TRANSITION | Lewiston, circa 1880, when the town was experiencing growing pains, in its evolution from a stopover for miners into a permanent town with its own identity.

Four Generations of Insurance Service Serving the Lewiston Clarkston valley since 1922...

In 1922 American Insurance was established in Lewiston in conjunction with the American Bank and Trust Co. at 622 Main Street. Then in 1927 Dr. O.C. Carssow built a new oﬃce building at 9th & Main Streets (pictured left) as a new home for the bank, American Insurance and other tenants. By 1928 the demands of running the bank increased to the point that they decided to sell the insurance business. On August 15, 1928 Harry W. Christy and his wife, Blanche (Sullivan) Christy, purchased American Insurance. The business has been in the family since that day and was located at 9th and Main for 76 years until we dedicated our new building at 55 Southway (pictured below) on April 15th, 2004. One year later, with the purchase of Remington Insurance, a Moscow branch oﬃce was established to serve the Palouse area. Then, in 2008 service was further expanded to the Kendrick/ Juliaetta area with the purchase of Magnuson Insurance.

Harry W. Christy Frank W. Sullivan

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1928 Photo Founder

1946 Photo Retired President

John Sullivan

President Agent Since 1977

Shawn Sullivan Vice-President Agent Since 1994

LEWISTON

MOSCOW

746-9646

882-8544

55 Southway Ave. 203 East 3rd St.

RM NESS • FA I S U B • E M • LIFE AUTO • HO ONDS • MEDIC AL MP • B W OR K C O Quotes, Policy Service & more 24/7. Visit us at: www.Am-Ins. com

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The rows of tall Lombardy poplars, which gave early Lewiston its distinctive setting, were beginning to grow. country. Fresh vegetables and fruits could Alone On A Strip Of Land be bought only in season, eggs usuLewiston was alone on a narrow ally were scarce and butter was often strip of land along the Clearwater strong or not to be had. Sometimes River, surrounded by bald and thirsty there were even flour famines, when the grist mill wheels were plateaus where no one venstopped for long periods tured to live. because of too little or too Agriculture was getting The much water in the rivers or off to a slow start. Grist imaginitive because owners were waitmills had to be built to turn ing for parts. wheat into flour, otherwise the people had to pay began to invent Candles Replaced crushing freight charges for and import new By 1870, most of the imported food. The imaginative began types of pumps candles had been replaced to invent and import new and windmills. by kerosene lamps. Easternmade furniture was replactypes of pumps and windmills. Orchards were being Orchards were ing the hand-cut tables and chairs, and the better homes nursed from seeds, and being nursed had acquired tacked-down, planted on irrigated slopes wall-to-wall carpetnear the river. from seed, and woolen ing. Herds of second-rate planted on The religious life of the horses and cattle roamed over the miles of unfenced irrigate slopes community was limited to an occasional sermon by a range land, caring for themselves through all kinds of near the river. visiting pastor or an irregularly spaced Mass celebrated weather. The cattleman had by the area Catholic priest to take a chance that by mere numbers the herds would sur- on his rounds. A Catholic house of worship, built vive occasional deep snows and subduring the gold era, was the only zero winters. The Lewiston ditch began winding church in the community. It was its way into the life of the community without a suggestion of a spire, then in 1874, gradually transforming it from barren sands into a green oasis. CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 > > CONTINUED from PAGE 13

1924

Picture Circa 1945

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Nick’s Welding is a family owned business and is proud to have been a part of the Lewiston business community for the past approximately 87 years. In 1924, (the oldest records found), founder Nick Ellan, (who passed away in 1956), established the original welding shop at 9th and Main (back of old Willett’s building), under the name Nick’s Welding Works. In 1941 Nick’s relocated to its present location and ran the business with his wife Edith. Then in 1948 Ray Moore (brother of Edith), joined the firm and retired in 1985. In 1964 his son, Larry Moore, joined the firm. Nick’s Welding today is owned and operated by Larry Moore and his son Steve Moore who joined the firm in 1993.

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1625 Main St, Lewiston

1924

WASEM’S DRUG Weldon Wasem on far left, E.N. Clark in suit was manager of the State Bank of Clarkston, on right in suit is Bob Kidwell owner of Lee Morris dry goods store.

Malcom’s Brower-Wann

Picture taken in 1928. Across from Valley Art Center on 6th Street.

Funeral Home & Cremation

Weldon Wasem 1899-1993 started the drug store in 1924, it changed locations and names a few times until 1966 where the current store is today. His son, Cliff, 1928-2009 joined his father in 1951 after graduating in pharmacy from WSU. Cliff’s son, Rick, joined his father and grandfather in 1980, after graduating from WSU pharmacy school. Cliff’s son ,Jon, ran the photo department until 2008 when he retired, but still owns a part of the business. Cliff’s daughter, Katie, a WSU Pharmacy graduate 1997, also has worked in the store until 2002. Now Rick Wasem solely runs the stores day to day operations. Wasem’s has a coffee shop/restaurant, with home made pies made every day, prescriptions, I.V.s for in home use, specialty compounding of drug formulas, weekly med box or bubble pack service, delivery service, home medical supplies and equipment, vitamin and nutritional products, portrait studio, photo finishing, photo restoration, video transfer to DVD, art supplies, beer and wine making supplies, interior design center with floor and furniture sales, Wasem’s has grown from a store with one employee to over fifty employees. We look forward to serving the people of the Lewiston and Clarkston area for many years to come.

800 6th St, Clarkston 758-2565 • 1-800-548-2804

Open ‘til 7pm weekdays; Saturday ‘til 5pm; Sunday ‘til 4pm

www.wasems.com

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WASEM’S

Eugene M. Brower and Loren B. Wann founded the Brower-Wann Funeral Home in the old F.W. Kettenbach house at 1434 Main Street, in 1924. The home had been built in 1878 by riverboat Capt. William Smith. Wann later bought out Brower. During WWII Mr. Wann became ill and his daughter, Betty Wann Malcom, managed the business while her husband, Kermit H. Malcom, served in the Navy. After the war he went to college and became manager in 1948. A fire broke out in the funeral home in 1951 and destroyed the landmark building. The company relocated to it’s present location at 1711 18th Street, Lewiston, Idaho.

Serving Lewiston & Clarkston area for over 85 years. (208) 743-4578 1711 18th Street, Lewiston, Idaho 83501 www.malcomsfuneralhome.com

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LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

Eighty Five

Bill Haines - 1926

Bob Haines - 1956

Mike Haines - 2005

Providing Top Quality Products at Exceptional Values The Diamond Shop was established in 1926 when Bill Haines fell in love with the beauty of the LewistonClarkston Valley. Since inception, The Diamond Shop has been a family owned company. Founder Bill Haines sold the business to his son Bob, and many years later Bob sold to his son, current owner, Michael Haines. Since 1926 their mission has been to provide the best customer service, the finest products and the best values. The Diamond Shop gives each customer a unique and incredible experience that will be with them for a lifetime. The Diamond Shop, when you want to say I love you!

700 Main St. • Lewiston, ID • thediamondshop.com • 746-2649 • 1-800-837-GEMS

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PREFERRED METHOD OF HAULING | Horse- and mule-drawn wagons were the main means of transporting goods inland from Lewiston in the 1870s. > CONTINUED from PAGE 14

considered so important to a church and the structure was unpainted and falling into disrepair. A fastidious Frenchman named Andrew Roux contrived to build a public bath at his barbershop by having a small room lined with zinc. But in the homes families had to make do with a wash tub. For the children there were usually three months of school in the late fall. The teacher expected his pupils to bring suitable books from

home. More important still, he hoped there would be enough money to pay his salary. He joined those who had begun to advocate some sort of tax to pay school expenses. In the 1870s there were still as many saloons as all other business houses combined. But there was a trend to more elegant names like the Bank Exchange, the Senate, the Palace and the N.P.R.R. Station. Besides saloons, there were general merchandise stores where a lady could buy her bonnet ribbon, and a shoemaker’s shop where new shoes could

1927

be purchased and old ones repaired. The tin smith, who sold stoves, called his shop a hardware store. The drug store sold kerosene in bulk as well as patent medicines. And there was the assay office, where one could get a loan at 10 to 12 percent interest, and blacksmith shops, a baker-grocery and two livery stables. Charles G. Kress, the watch repairman, also sold new jewelry. During this decade the Clearwater dock area had started to slip off into the river, and the sternwheelers were stopping at new docks about a quarter

of a mile upstream on the Snake.

A Foreign Flavor The business area still had a foreign flavor, with its various nationalities celebrating French Bastille Day, the Jewish Day of Atonement and the Chinese New Year. Downtown there was usually some agitation for building a new wagon road to some neighboring community. It was a service designed, of course, to draw in the trade. Businessmen solicited contributions for the road because all the tax money went for

1927

Pistol Palace

311236GC-11

Lolo Sporting Goods is located in historic downtown Lewiston, Idaho in a building constructed in 1927. The store opened as Rich’s grocery, with rooms for rent upstairs – now the Pistol Palace. In 1955 Paul Nolt and Hugh Helpman converted the building to Lolo Sporting Goods and operated continually until Paul died in November of 2004. The family sold to Lori Lohman, who reopened it in May of 2005. She sold the store to Dave Howell, a local businessman, in August 2009. Manager Mike Thomas supplies outdoorsmen with new and used guns, ammunition and reloading equipment and components. They buy used guns and have the lowest consignment fees of any store in the area. A highly qualied gunsmith is on hand at Lolo Sporting Goods to take care of any gunsmithing needs or wants. Need Idaho Fish and Game licenses? They have that too. Lolo wants to be your rst and last stop for all your shooting needs – and that means making sure you are completely satised with their products and services.

LOLO SPORTING GOODS 1026 Main St. Lewiston • 208-743-1031

www.LoloSportingGoods.com • Mon-Sat 10-6

updating has taken place it still holds Sporting Goods. While the story the charm of varies in some parts, the upstairs yester-year. was built to be a brothel, some The beds and say it never was and others say dressers in different. You interpret the worn each room are marks on the wooden oors. the ones that Lori Lohman reopened the were there Pistol Palace in 2008 so now when the building was constructed, but you can now stay in a piece of of course the springs and mattresses Lewiston history. While some have been replaced. A great alternative to a hotel, the Pistol Palace has seven bedrooms, three baths, a sitting area and a bar that seats eighteen. There is a kitchen and laundry room for your use as well. Whether you just need a weekend away or a place for family reunions, the Pistol Palace is the perfect place.

1028 Main Street • Lewiston 208-798-0909 • www.thepistolpalace.com

Newly restored piece of Lewiston history, located above Lolo Sporting Goods

311531GC-11

mystery surrounds the Pistol Palace, built in A 1927 and located above Lolo

S U N D A Y, J U L Y 3 , 2 0 1 1

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

necessities. More stages were on the road and drivers were usually striving for greater speed. For the first time a driver made the run from Walla Walla in a single day. Toward the close of the decade, a new hotel man, Raymond Saux, was drawing plans for the Raymond House. Meanwhile, the Hotel De France and the Luna House were the leading hotels of the community. Throughout these 10 years, Lewiston social life remained gay, with frequent public dances and parties, which everyone attended — excepting the Chinese and Indians.

Lots Of Lawyers The entire community, led by attorneys — of which Lewiston always had a goodly number — turned out for literary meetings and debate societies. There were several ventures into amateur dramatic entertainments. Everybody, more or less, also was on hand for the occasional traveling stage troupe, minstrel show, rope artist, magician, opera company or ventriloquist. These travelers frequently came as a surprise without previous booking; they evidently were willing to take their chances. n

Courtesy Al Knittel

EARLY LODGING | The Hotel De France in downtown Lewiston, as depicted on a postcard from the late 1800s.

1933

This advertisement ran in the Lewiston Tribune in December 1953.

Tom Woods Insurance 308 Main Street, Lewiston

743-8548

310925GC_11

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

FAMI OWNELY SINCE D 1935

Harley Steiner

Bert Steiner

ley In 1935, Har Harley S Steiner teiner founded S Steiner teiner Radio in do downtown wntown Lewiston. Harle Harleyy specialized specialized in repair and installation of s. After home and car radio radios. After W World orld War IIII,, S Steiner teiner Radio fferings expanded its product o offerings de appliances, to inclu include appliances, g Steiner Steiner Radio becomin becoming d Appliance. an and Appliance. In 1953 Harley’s oldest son Bert became the general manager of Steiner Radio and TV. As stereo components became more available, Bert expanded the store at 1323 F Street to include space to sell stereo records and to have a space to demonstrate

Bill Steiner

component stereo eo equipment ent component stere sp peakers. and and speakers.

In 1960, we incorporated and incor changed changed our name nam once again o to “Steiner “Steiner Electr Electronics, Inc.” Bert and his Bert his wife Carol became the sole owners became the sole thereafter In 1976, we shortly shortly thereafter. opened an installation opened install center in gas station an old old gas station at 18th and Main where car stereo s Main and CB radios radios were sold sold and installed. In 1977 Bert and Carol purchased the lot where our present location is, 1328 Main Street in Lewiston, allowing for a larger sales floor, warehousing and installation all in one location. In 1985, Bert and Carol’s son Bill became the general manager. His wife

busines in Audrey joined the business the accounting department. In the 1990’s Bill and Audrey were joined in the business by their sons Scott and Andrew.

Nobody knows more about audio and video than our family. At Steiner’s, we choose what we carry for products, with our goal being to offer the best products available and to sell them at competitive prices. Our name is on the front of the building and we realize that with every encounter with the public our reputation is on the line. We approach every customer with the Golden Rule in mind: To always treat others as we would like to be treated.

1328 Main St. Lewiston, ID 83501 • 746-3381 • SteinerElectronics.com

1938

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1880: The Beginning of the Green Era

o Lewiston, the 1880s brought the dawning of a new light. That decade brought a wave of emigrants, mostly from the middle West. It brought the first small building boom, the first banks, the beginnings of churches, the first graded public schools, the first noticeable interest in music, arts and fraternal groups. The emigrants brought a reassuring American outlook, though the complexion of the community retained a foreign cast for many years. Financial leaders were now mostly German or English extraction. The French kept the leading hotels,

while Scandinavian blood predominated among the homesteaders. The Spanish, who had wandered up through California with the prospectors, chose various fields of endeavor. Most of the business houses continued to observe Jewish holidays.

Celebrating 73 Years of Service to Members

Starting in 1938, Credit Union business was rst handled from the trunk of a car.

Southway Branch Opened 1995

This photo was taken in October of 1955 of the Credit Union’s rst ofce on mill property, the old Fuel Ofce Building.

Orchards Branch Opened 2000

In May of 1965 we moved into a new ofce on East Main, adding additional ofce space later. P1FCU used the ofce on East Main until 2000.

Clarkston Branch Opened 2007

Clarkston Walmart Branch Opened 2009

Remember When?

The Credit Union has grown tremendously from our rst “ofce” of a brief case in the trunk of a car, to the modern and comfortable branches we have today. Potlatch No. 1 Federal Credit Union is a nonprot, member owned nancial institution. Our purpose is to promote thrift and offer a wide range of nancial services at competitive costs, while ensuring the nancial stability of the Credit Union.

www.p1fcu.org 208-746-8900 • 800-843-7128

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The Chinese were called upon for day labors and operated the hand laundries. Like any other new act, the decade of the 1880s had its pre-curtain scenes, its forecasts of things to come. In the late 1870s, J.B. Mcnomy kiln-baked the first brick for the erection of the new California Brewery, the first brick building at Lewiston. Raymond Saux built his Raymond House and the first Masonic Hall was built in 1879. In the 1880s waves of emigrants were founding new towns. More wagon roads were planned and dug out. Lewiston’s leading merchants opened branch stores in surrounding settlements. There was a gradual expansion of business everywhere.

quent subject of conversation, and nearly every newspaper carried columns of speculation as to when the iron horse would come. Surveying parties passed through Lewiston in every direction. As early as 1885 there were annual predictions that the railroad would be here in time to carry off the next crop. Surrounding settlements — Riparia, Moscow, Genesee, Pomeroy — all had rail service before 1888. But Lewiston waited for 10 more years. A right of way across the reservation and the deep canyon in which Lewiston was located proved to be stumbling blocks, but the panic of 1893 was the insurmountable obstacle. The Lewiston valley fruit orchards along the Clearwater Ferry Rates Drop were coming into full bearing A movement for a bridge and more were being plantacross the Clearwater River ed. In the spring, the farmers resulted in a sharp reduction in TOWN TERMINAL | Stagecoaches made daily stops at the Raymond House in Lewiston. brought their early vegetables high ferry rates. into town by the wagonload Gradually more money was and sold them from the street between here and Craig Mountain. Only a railroad could bring full available for business and farm devel- The land was rapidly staked off into development of the area, and the corners or peddled their produce from opment, but there was no lowering of claims and more and more fields were assurance that all its crops would reach door to door. Four Protestant churches were the interest rates. Ten to 12 percent cleared and planted to wheat. the market. might not have sounded high, but it The sternwheel steamers were findIn the 1870s men began dreaming founded here in the ’80s — The was a struggle for many to pay. ing burdensome the task of haul- of a railroad. By the 1880s rail trans- Universalist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, In the 1880s, men learned that wells ing off an ever-increasing tonnage of portation was regarded as a necessity. could put water on the dry plateaus sacked grain. Railroad prospects was the most freCONTINUED ON PAGE 20 >

1941

Established in 1941 Rognstad’s Insurance by Vern Rognstad

1504 8th Street, Lewiston, Idaho

(208) 743-9426

In 1979 James Sattler joins Rognstad’s Ins. 1995 he purchased Rognstad’s Ins. which became Sattler Insurance. 311594GC_11

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S U N D A Y, J U L Y 3 , 2 0 1 1

1944

Nez Perce County Fair, an important part of our community since 1944. Over the course of the last 67 years, the Nez Perce County Fair has endured many changes. From 1898 to 1912, the Valley’s rst fair was held in Clarkston, known as the LewistonClarkston Interstate Fair, primarily a produce show. In 1912, the event moved to the Potlatch Corp. site. 1923-1944; Leadership committee was established, 4-H clubs were organized, a building was constructed for the fair at the location of the Lewiston Roundup grounds and was held in conjunction with the rodeo. In 1959, the Nez Perce County Fair acquired in its present location. September 23, 1960 marks the dedication of the new fairgrounds and buildings with grand opening ceremonies at its current location. 2011 marks the 67th Annual Nez Perce County Fair. More than 25,000 people come to experience icons of country life, the pride & tradition of the agricultural way of life and the sense of what’s best for us all. Much of the fair and all of its accomplishments are history. And the newer generation has the inspiration and ingredients for equal and even greater achievements. Every facet of the fair even today might be considered an avenue to what continues to be its main purpose — information and education. Beneath all the fun, auctions, and show ribbons the serious business of learning how to make a living off the land continues like an underground river. (Baxter Black) 311617GC-11 Congratulations Lewiston, we are proud to be a part of this community.

1945

Nez Perce County Historical Society

thespians | These Lewiston actors performed a play in 1885 that raised $100 for a library, also making trips to perform in Asotin and Pomeroy. > CONTINUED from PAGE 19

and Methodist. Each started as a gathering of the devout under leadership of a pastor. Then each organized a hardfought campaign for a church building. The ladies aid societies served big dinners on all the holidays and there was a constant whirl of programs, lectures and sociables.

an v l y S g n i l i Good ol’ Sm You More! es v a S y l l a e R

1945 Lewiston

The churches soon took over a community Christmas tree program, which during the 1870s had generally been held at the school house. Church groups began to insist on Sunday closing of stores, and the businessmen fell into line — on paper. The store keepers signed pledges but it was hard to make their resolutions stick. Sometimes they agreed to close

PRE-MIX Concrete, Inc.

BOX 646 • LEWISTON, IDAHO 83501

Lewiston Pre-Mix Concrete, Inc. Celebrating Our 66th Year in Business

Lewiston Pre-Mix is an L-C Valley tradition, serving the community since 1945. Lewiston Pre-Mix is the “Only” computerized central batch plant in the area, specializing in all aspects of residential and commercial building. 815 Main Street DOWNTOWN LEWISTON

743-8600

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Open 6:00a.m. to 4:30p.m. Monday - Friday

1402 Snake River Avenue, Lewiston

743-3333

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LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

shop for say a part of New Year’s Day or a part of the Fourth of July.

towns in Idaho The Masonic Lodge was first established during the gold rush of 1863. Sickness Prevailed Though it folded two years later, a Lewiston boosters continued to fresh start was made in 1874. brag of the city’s healthful climate, The Independent Order of Odd but they did so with tongue Fellows, Knights of Pythias in cheek. Nearly every and others followed. Lewiston newspaper had a Veterans of the Civil War Boosters long list of the ill. rallied to form Lewiston’s continued to first patriotic organization, Once the editor of the Teller speculated that fully brag of the the Grand Army of the two-thirds of the inhabitRepublic, in 1883. They city’s healthful G.A.R. traditionally celeants were on the sick list. The Board of Health was Memorial Day. climate, but brated scolding about filthy pools For years the city dads and on the main streets, but they did so others had wished a shorter little was said about the road to the top of the plashallow wells from which with tongue in teau south of town. Digging most families drew their cheek. Nearly began in the gulch at the head drinking water. of Fifth Street to form Fifth Not until the late 1880s every Lewiston Street Grade in the ’80s. was there a general objection In 1880, Lewiston had to springs and wells at the newspaper had its first nine-month school base of the “plateau south of a long list of term. Pupils were in grades town” (Normal Hill). The for the first time. A systhe ill. tem of examining a teacher water seeped down through before class work began was the community burial now well established, pupils ground, for the cemetery was at the present site of Pioneer Park. no longer had to study out of books But the awakening was soon in they found at home, and the teacher full swing. Land for a new cemetery, could usually expect to be paid. Lewiston had survived the rowdy far out in the country, had been purchased. Persistent movements for a excitement of the gold rush, endured new courthouse and a library prom- the depression of the ’70s and expeised to bear fruit. rienced an awakening in the ’80s. Its In the 1880s, Lewiston established people looked forward to the ’90s full its reputation as one of the best lodge of new plans and confidence. n

1950

Celebrating our 61st Year • Accounting & Auditing • Business Consulting • Tax Services • Personal Financial Planning • Business Valuations Lewiston

208-746-8281

208-882-2211

208-476-3012

208-983-1254

Orono

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1951

Nez Perce County Historical Museum

1916 , Company F of he 2nd Idaho Infantry, in front of the armory at 9th & F Street, downtown Lewiston.

Grostein Mansion

Businesses Since

• Vasar-Rawls • Bill’s Second Hand • Care Connection Home Care

Knights of Pithius

Businesses Since

• C.O.D Laundry • Twin City Glass • Probation & Parole

Preserving Lewiston’s Architecture One Building At A Time Kirk Stedman

Inland Auto Glass 225 7th St., Lewisotn | 746-3644 | www.inlandautoglass.com

Lewiston Deserves the Best!

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

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1953 Lewiston Veterinary Clinic is pleased to announce

their induction into the American Veterinary History Society Registry of Heritage Veterinary Practices having served residents and their animals in the Lewis Clark Valley and surrounding areas for fifty eight years. 421 22nd Street North • Lewiston

311771GC-11

208.743.6361 | Farm Animals 208.743.6553 | Small Animals Boarding | Farm Calls | On-Call Emergency Service

1955

E.W. Hanson photo

fair lasses | Three young women pose for an undated group portrait in a Lewiston photo studio. The chalkboards at right say, “Too late for school.”

1957

Deep Roots and A Long History Rudolph Motors has a long history serving the valley. Known today for outstanding automotive service, the business can trace it’s roots back to 1957 as Gray Buick GMC. Prior to becoming an Automotive Service Center, Rudolph Motors was a Buick, Pontiac and GMC dealership. Prior to becoming Gray Buick, the dealership went by the name Gray Webb Buick.

Rudolph’s Service Department 502 B. St., Lewiston • (208) 743-8072 Service Hours: 8-5 Mon-Fri

311657GC-11

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LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

POPLARS MARK THE STREETS | A view of downtown Lewiston from what is now Normal Hill, taken at the turn of the 20th century.

1960

1959

John’s Saw Service

Proudly Serving You Since 1960

Orchard Lanes – Strike & Spare. We’ve been here for more than half a century bringing to the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley excellence in bowling and fabulous food. Mike and Fran Fitzpatrick opened the doors to Orchard Lanes in 1959 and the Strike & Spare, famous for its jumbo turkey sandwiches debuted in 1962. Their son Tom joined the management team in 1979 and has continued to expand and grow the family business with the latest addition coming this August with new Qubica AMF SPL Synthetic lanes!

John Tackett

John Tackett opened his saw shop in 1960 in downtown Lewiston. Customer service has been the key to the business’s success, specializing in Stihl sales and service. John passed away in 1992, his son, Steve Swanson, now owns and operates the business.

Join us as we help celebrate the history of our valley. We offer: 9 Thunder Alley Friday and Saturday 9 Colorama Friday nights – prizes and jackpots! 9 Kids Bowl Free! – all summer long 9 Penny A Pin Mondays 9 Pizza Pins and Pop Tuesday nights 9 League action 9 Birthday and Corporate parties

¾Strike & Spare

9 Famous Jumbo Sandwiches 9 Prime Rib Tuesday and Friday’s 9 Our legendary Bite-size Steak 9 Full-service lounge 9 Daily Happy Hour from 3-6 p.m.

ARCADE – POOL – DARTS

Orchard Lanes 208-743-7822 Strike & Spare Bar and Grill 208-743-4742

244 Thain Road, Lewiston • www.orchardlanesbowling.com

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¾16-lane bowling center

John & Florence Tackett

Satisified Customer

106 16th St, Lewiston

743-8982

John tackett & Dudley Jackson 311595GC_11

LEWISTONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SESQUICENTENNIAL

S U N D A Y, J U L Y 3 , 2 0 1 1

when steamboats plied the rivers | The Lewiston Commercial Fleet, circa 1900, was a

The Glamour Never Lost Its Shine

ears afterward, a woman who had grown up on Snake River Avenue remembered how it used to be when she was a child and the steamboats pulled away. The children would watch her go, off toward the elbow in the Snake River, smoke pluming from her stacks, and using a little song that never changed: Steamboat going round the bend, Goodbye my lover goodbye; Her decks are full of steamboat men, Goodbye my lover goodbye!

Over a period of 80 years, from the first steamboat to the last, the excitement of arrival and departure was the same. And

over those years the names of the boats became etched into the history of Lewiston. There was, for example, the Colonel George Wright, the first steamer on the upper Columbia and the Snake, which was built in 1858. She was built at the mouth of the Deschutes by R.R. Thompson and E.F. Coe, who had been carrying freight

by bateaux from Celilo to up the Clearwater almost as Fort Walla Walla, a distance far as the present town of of about 120 miles. With Orofino before the swift curthe money they had made rent slowed her to a stop, in this venture, they built and her pilot, Capt. Leonard the Colonel Wright, naming White, had been unable in her after the hero of Steptoe all the distance to find a safe Butte, a famous Indian fightplace to unload. er. So Capt. White maneuShe was put on the run vered the steamer back downfrom Celilo to Wallula in river to the confluence of the 1859, carrying freight at $80 Capt. Leonard White Clearwater and the Snake a ton, and within a few years and unloaded her there. she had made a fortune. That was on May 13, 1861. That day In May 1861, the Colonel Wright the city of Lewiston was born. churned up the Snake River loaded And from that day forward steamwith freight and passengers for the boats were an important part of life at Pierce City mines. She managed to get Lewiston. They provided her chief link

S U N D A Y, J U L Y 3 , 2 0 1 1

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

a busy and important part of life in the Lewis-Clark Valley, supplying freight from the coast. with the bustling ports of the lower Columbia; they brought the newspapers that made it possible for Lewiston to follow the course of the Civil War and they carried word of the death of Lincoln; they transported hopeful seekers after the glittering gold of the Bitterroots and carried too many of them back down the river still broke. They were the great pump, throbbing with the beat of massive engines driving big sternwheels, that kept the blood of commerce flowing between this world and the Coast. And how beautiful they were! The mere sound of their names suggests some of the romance they brought to the Snake and the Columbia. The Spray was built in the summer of 1862 at the mouth of the Deschutes by A.P. Ankeny, W.H. Corbet, Dr. D.S. Baker, and Capt. E.W. Baughman. A relatively small boat, she was put on the Lewiston-Celilo run and paid for herself

five times over in the first five months she was in service. The Oregon Steam Navigation Co. bought the Spray in March of 1863 and shortly after that dismantled her. The Casadilla, another small sternwheeler, was built at Celilo in 1862 by Capt. W.H. Gray and operated on the Clearwater between Lewiston and Spalding. The Nez Perce Chief was built in 1863 by Capt. Gray and put into service on the Lewiston-Celilo run. She was fast but too light for freight service and in 1870 she was taken down to the lower river. The Nez Perce Chief holds the record for the most valuable cargo ever brought down the river in a single trip — $382,000 in gold dust on Oct. 29, 1863. Capt. Thomas Stump was her last pilot on the upper river. The Tenino and the Okanogan were added to the fleet on the upper river in

1862. The Tenino was the second boat on the river, larger than the Colonel Wright and also extremely profitable. She was rebuilt in 1867 and rechristened the New Tenino. The Okanogan ran on the upper river until 1866, when Capt. Stump established a new first in the Columbia River navigation by taking her over Celilo Falls. The Yakima and the Owyhee began to be seen at Lewiston in 1864. The Yakima, the speediest vessel on the upper river, was a handsome craft with 26 staterooms sumptuously furnished and with a freight capacity of 200 tons. She set a record time of 41 hours and 36 minutes from Celilo to Lewiston. Until the opening of the Celilo Canal in 1915, it was necessary to portage around the falls between the upper and lower rivers. At first these portages were made by horse and wagon, later by a

short-line railway. In May of 1869, according to old records, passengers could leave Portland on Friday morning, catch the Yakima at Celilo in the evening, pass Umatilla at 6 a.m. Saturday, and reach Lewiston at noon Sunday. In the summer months of good water, the trip could be made once a week. In winter, when the water was low, it could not be made at all. Then the wharves at Lewiston would be quiet and deserted, the landing bleak. But then one day in spring, usually in March or April, a whistle would echo among the greening hills and a tall feather of smoke would come marking up the Snake. “Steamboat ’round the bend!” someone would shout, and there she’d be, white and shiny and proud — and loaded. n

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

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1890: A Butterfly Opens Its Wings

since 1961 ....

appliances video | audio mattresses

By Margaret D. Allen

he 1890s were the flowing years at Lewiston. Then the seeds of encouragement and culture that were planted in the 1880s came into full bloom. For the first time the community had a charm of its own, with its new brick buildings, new homes and gardens and rows of white picket fences against the tall poplar trees. This beauty was independent of the setting at the confluence of two rivers. The decade began with high hopes that swelled into a boom. Yet there were dark days, too. At Lewiston, as elsewhere, there was no money during the panic of 1893, and there were more hard times in 1899. Financially, Lewiston had passed the turning point by 1900. The marks of the ghost town, which were present in 1870, had vanished. In their place were sure economic foundations — the coming of the railroad, the opening of the Nez Perce Reservation, the building of the water ditch onto

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1961 Bernard’s Repair & Towing and Central Grade Auto Parts

Clarkston Flat, the acquisition of the Lewiston State Normal School and a new bridge across the Snake River. More important still were the boatloads and trainloads of new settlers. Each new arrival brought energy and determination, as well as all his earthly goods, to enrich the country. Henceforth the community had only to continue its growth.

Roads Improved Roads to neighboring communities were being improved. More and more

1961

“The One Stop Pet & Pond Shop!” Bob’s Pet & Pond has provided the valley with a complete pet and pond supplies store since 1961. Bob’s Pet & Pond is family owned and operated and the staff has over 150 years of combined knowledge and service – they really know the pet business. One of Bob’s main message centers on the most basic facet of animal care: food. All pet foods are not created equal and the experts at Bob’s are here to explain the difference for the health and longevity of your dog, cat, small furry friend or even your sh. Bob’s Pet & Pond currently employs 11 people. Come meet the specialists, such as Bob, the pond guy; Bobby, the saltwater expert; Chris, the animal consultant and buyer; Ruth and Kerri, the bookkeepers; or one of the other six knowledgeable and friendly employees. Stop by today for advice; to visit Ruby, the store dog; Beamer, the cat; or take home happiness of your own with a new pet! Bob’s is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday thru Saturday.

Linda Bernard’s Towing and Central Grade Auto Parts is a third generation owned and operated valley business. We have a computerized inventory system of used parts for your vehicle and friendly, courteous crew is ready to meet your automotive needs. If we don’t stock it, our nationwide search system can locate what you are looking for. Our towing professionals can recover, transport or tow you car, pickup, truck, RV, boat, motorcycle in town – out of the mountains – or out of the water 24 hours a day. We can direct bill most insurance companies. Our parts office is open 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday. 26195 Central Grade Road, Lewiston ID Parts: 208-743-9505 Towing: 208-743-9504 www.centralgradeautoparts.com • email – cgaparts@lewiston.com

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S U N D A Y, J U L Y 3 , 2 0 1 1

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

orchards and wheat fields were being planted. New towns were springing up on all sides. Breeded cattle were replacing the scrub stock on the ranges. Fences and shelters were being built and cattlemen were winter-feeding their stock. The Lewiston cemetery was moved from the hill just over the town, the present Pioneer Park, and taken far out into the country. A sewer system had been installed through much of the town. Suitable water for table use was being pumped in under pressure. Electric lights were turned on in the streets and in many of the homes. Many of the business houses and a few of the homes had telephones. Some of the more progressive citizens were looking longingly at pictures of new horseless carriages.

The Human Touch Salvation Army workers made their first appearance in 1896. The Army brought more than a new church. With it came a human touch in relief for the indigent. This helped lay the foundation for such movements as Boy CONTINUED ON PAGE 28 >

1961

Nez Perce Co. Historical Society/Don Mathison collection

IT WAS A TIME OF GROWTH | In the last decade of the 19th century, the wide streets of Lewiston were lined with tall poplar trees and graced with wooden sidewalks and white picket fences, signs of its urban maturity.

1962

Celebrating 50 years!

The Valley’s Oldest Used Car Dealership

“2011 - 2012 Season”

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Busiest Corner in the Valley

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Over 100 Cars, Pickups and SUVs in Stock!

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in painting and photograph tinting. Drama clubs flourished. Their productions were well attended and at least one amateur star received a bid from professional companies. Drama clubs of neighboring communities exchanged some of their best productions with apparent interest and success.

> CONTINUED from PAGE 27

Scouts and Camp Fire Girls. At least two additional churches were organized and opened campaigns for building funds. The Lewiston First Christian Church was formed in 1897. That same year Christian Scientists began holding meetings which led to the organization of Lewiston First Church of Christ, Scientist. The Lewiston First Baptist Church had its formal beginning in 1898. The day of the stagecoach and prancing horses was nearing an end. Service continued to the smaller communities which had not yet been reached by the iron horse, but the railway had brought an end to much of the bouncing discomfort on dusty roads. The Tsceminicum Club, the first women’s study club, was organized in 1898. By 1900 it had achieved the beginning of the Lewiston Public Library.

Fraternal Groups Flourished The Lewiston Commandery of Knights Templar, York Rite Masonic group, was just getting a start, as were the Rainbow Circle No. 1 of the Order of Chosen Friends and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, while the Scottish Rite groups and the Shrine were in the offing. In the 1890s the Fraternal Order of Woodmen, the Independent Order of Good Templars and the Knights of Maccabees and the first Eastern Star

Always A Brass Band

THESPIANS | The cast of the play “Down by the Sea” poses for a snapshot on March 1, 1890. Top row, left to right: Leslie Thompson, Mark Moans, Harry Thatcher, Bernie Rice and George Leland. Bottom row: Sonny Gibson, S.L. Thompson, Myrtle Smith, Ida Gordan, Lon Rice and Clade Parker. chapter, known as the Gem Chapter OES, also were organized. For a time the goat-riding stunts indulged in after the formal, secret and solemn initiations were more boisterous than ever. Electricity was added to the torture when candidates would be placed in a cage with a slight electrical charge. There they would dance for the entertainment of the membership. Gradually the hazing became less severe and finally it was dropped.

1963

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Showy fashions, for the women, rich ornamentation in the homes, gingerbread on the housetops and handlebar moustaches combined to bring about the term, “The Gay Nineties.” But those who lived through the decade emphatically deny that there was any excess of joy in those anxious years. There was a surge of interest in the arts, especially music. An Ed Smith, new in the community from Spokane Falls, enrolled several groups for lessons

1966

In the mid 1960’s, Frank Bruneel and a partner operated a Ɵre business in the Boise area. Both partners wished to own the business solely but neither wanted to sell his share. The maƩer was resolved by a literal ip of the coin leaving Frank Bruneel to sell his half and prompƟng him to make a move to Lewiston with his wife Sharon and 5 children (three more children were born in Lewiston). In Lewiston he managed Evergreen Tire (a well known Goodyear Dealer) for a period of Ɵme and, in 1966, saw an opportunity to open his own Ɵre business. Bruneel Tire Service had its humble beginnings at 1832 “G” Street with Frank and two employees, Kermit Yochum and Al Staples, taking care of resident’s Ɵre and auto service needs. The Bruneel Tire Service quickly earned a reputaƟon for providing high quality service, solid warranƟes and value pricing. In 1988, Frank’s oldest son, Craig, joined the business he grew up in aŌer graduaƟng from the University of Utah. In 1994, when Frank Bruneel reƟred and began a new life of service as an Idaho State legislator, Craig took over as president of Bruneel Tire Service, ulƟmately taking over ownership as well. In February of 2000 the business aĸliated with Northwest Tire Factory Group which consists of nearly 200 stores in 10 western states. The buying power and mulƟple locaƟons of the Tire Factory Group provide customers with service and warranty advantages as well as compeƟƟve, money-saving Ɵre prices. Bruneel Tire Factory has a long-term commitment to Idaho local communiƟes and patrons which is summed up in one slogan: “We go the extra mile.”

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Lewiston traditionally had a brass band, the first one being formed before 1865. Annual balls for the support of the band and for the purpose of instruments were held on Thanksgiving night starting in 1884. Minstrel shows, apparently very popular, were also staged as benefits. The band played for church “sociables,” Fourth of July celebrations, and parades. It paraded and played on Christmas night, played for dances and even for funerals. Band leaders in the ’90s were Kay Thompson, Leslie Thompson and Prof. Orion. Lewiston had several music teachers. Previous to the coming of the railroad in 1898, pianos had to be carted and guided by hand down the steep north hill. Through the years the town drew music teachers of outstanding ability, including the daughters of the Rev. and Mrs. Levi Tarr, Miss Essie Phillips, Miss Eleanor Truax, Prof. Jean Holtbuer, Miss Nettie Woods, and Mrs. A.S. Stacy. In the 20th century others came to take their places. n

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LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

Out Of The Sand, A Bit Of Beauty

Genevieve Vollmer Bonner, a member of one of Lewiston’s first families, wrote a long and knowledgeable account of the city’s gardening history for the Lewiston Morning Tribune about 80 years ago. The following is an excerpt from Mrs. Bonner’s article. By Genevieve V. Bonner

In 1861, Lewiston was a point of shipping to and from the mining country of the interior. It was then almost entirely a tent city but even then we could lay claim to a certain degree of charm, for one of our first woman travelers reported that in 1861 Lewiston by night was an exquisite sight, for “when the candles and lanterns were lighted in the tents the town looked like a marble city.” Even our famous hotel, the Luna House, was in 1862 still a tent-house ... You who today see Lewiston brightened by its wealth of CONTINUED ON PAGE 31 >

Lewiston Tribune

A CARPET OF TREES | The Schleicher Vineyards cover the East Lewiston area that is now occupied by Clearwater Paper.

1968

Hay's 1996

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Hay's Produce and Garden Center has been serving the LC Valley and surrounding area since 1968. They specialize in fresh produce and top quality plants. Hay's carries a large variety of specialty foods including Cougar cheese, gluten free products, bulk grains, pickled asparagus and their famous Hay's Huckleberry jam. Let one of their friendly staff help you personalize a gift basket for that special someone. You choose the items... they'll customize it for you! Bring the family and enjoy their Pumpkin Patch every October and fresh cut Christmas trees every December. Stop by today!

Orchards Pharmacy and Gifts, established in 1968 by Dennis Smith, offers unique gifts for all occasions: home decor in various styles and themes, jewelry, greeting cards, McCall candles, Webkinz, and free gift wrapping. The pharmacy offers a full-service pharmacy with friendly service, prescription delivery, and billing to most insurance companies. Dennis Smith purchased the pharmacy in 1968 and moved it to its present location in 1973. Pharmacist Laura Heitzman began working at Orchards Pharmacy in 1992. Laura became business partners with Dennis Smith in 2000. Laura and her husband Steve Heitzman took over the business in 2005. Orchards Pharmacy and Gifts provides friendly, personal customer service to each and every person that comes through the door. It is very important to the entire staff at Orchards Pharmacy that every customer leaves the store satised with the quick and friendly service they receive. Orchards Pharmacy and Gifts, "Where YOU are always our #1 priority!"

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As Lewiston grew, so did the extent of flower gardens around the residential areas and commericial gardens on the flats of East Lewiston and other areas.

> CONTINUED from PAGE 29

beautiful flowers, coolly shaded by luxuriant trees, and unconcernedly watch fountains throw lavish jets of water into the air can scarcely realize what excruciating agony was put into the making of that completed picture. An arid waste of land above two magnificent streams greeted the eye of the early settler, not a brook or a creek cut through the sandy waste, not a sign of any vegetation other than wild grass and sagebrush, with sand, sand, sand everywhere, filling every nook and cranny. What a vision was that to confront the women who had followed their menfolk into this new land of promise. Today the sight of that hot sand and the heat of shriveling sun would bake our gardening impulses into a fine alkali of despair. But not so those indomitable pioneer women from the South and the West. They had a mission to fulfill and the courage with which to fulfill it. They were the makers and the keepers of homes, the guardians of beauty and culture, and they would not be defeated by lowering their standards. What if water did have to be hauled from the Clearwater and a barrel outside the door the only reservoir? Couldn’t they spare a few drops of the precious liquid to water the cherished cuttings they had brought with them. If I were asked to name the most prolific crop in Lewiston in the 1860s, I would unhesitatingly say “the blue cove oyster and tomato cans.” Every home proudly displayed from one to a dozen of these in the front window, boasting a few straggly shoots of Wandering Jew and geranium. “Hope springs eternal,” they said, but I venture to say that the Lewiston man was something of a joker who first thought of placing a rain barrel outside the front door. But there it stood, one every stoop, wistfully waiting to be filled; while the potential gardener hopefully scanned the skies for one tiny cloud that might portend a cooling drink to the thirsting plants. We have all learned how vain is the hope in August. The front lawns of these homes were of wild grass and one day one of these landscape artists, when tenderly caring for her plants, saw a beautiful cat coming toward her. She loved animals and longed for a pet. Just at that moment her husband came out of the house and the cat disappeared, never to return. It was a lynx. This home later became known as the Ankeny home and was one of the best known in the country. A silver poplar tree grew there in the first days of Lewiston.

Portulacas In The Sand Mrs. Levi Ankeny, who had formerly lived in Portland, Ore., attempting to have flowers in her front dooryard, planted portulacas in the sand, but

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

Nez Perce Co. Historical Society

The trees returned thanks by throwing out a gracious shade from the sweltering sun and by their dignity and beauty lifted our village from the ranks of mediocrity into those of unusual dignity. For two miles the main street of Lewiston was a vaulted arch of green formed by these superb trees; and Lewiston became known, up and down the coast, as the “city of poplars.”

‘Progress’ Wins

nothing happened. A year later, with water, the seeds sprang into flower and the whole place was ablaze, to the joy and delight of all. One day a well was dug and a new epoch in gardening began. Those fortunate ones who had wells upon their places could indulge their love for flowers just as ardently as their arms were strong enough to pump the water to sprinkle the plants, or just as long as the faithful Chinese immigrant could be induced to work. In a short time no man who had a home dared face his wife if he didn’t at least attempt to dig a well. Thus the flower season began in Lewiston. Water cans were at a premium. Dingee, Conard & Co., Peter Henderson and Mahl catalogues were pored over for the latest offerings in portulaca, verbena and petunia. The front dooryard bloomed and the faithful followers of the creed “beauty” now had multi-colored cans filled with the finest varieties of abutilon, amaryllis, fuschias, begonia, and calla lilies. In the middle of the ’60s it is said that a freighter brought with him from Walla Walla a switch from a poplar tree. He stuck it in the sand in front of the store before which he was unloading. The rain fell, the miracle happened. The switch took root. More switches were brought and planted. Again the women tenderly nursed them. Water was brought in cans and fences were built about the frail twigs to protect them from the wandering village cows. The village merchants also cooperated and after

the ditch was dug trap doors were made so that buckets could be let down to draw water for the thirsty, struggling poplars.

1966

Imagine the consternation of the men and women who had slaved and sacrificed for this blessed shade to hear, years later, that the city council had ordered these trees to be cut down. They were classed as “a menace to life and limb and an obstruction in the march of progress.” Do you doubt that these city fathers were in disfavor for years? For at that moment Lewiston’s claim to distinction faded into oblivion. In the earliest days of Lewiston there came a man and his wife who had energy unsurpassed, who took up CONTINUED ON PAGE 33 >

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

1922

S U N D A Y, J U L Y 3 , 2 0 1 1

Celebrating Lewiston’s th 150 Anniversary

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Financial Advisor Years 102!

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S U N D A Y, J U L Y 3 , 2 0 1 1

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

> CONTINUED from PAGE 31

Profusion of Berries The line of the ditch was marked by berry bushes — wonderful ones of all varieties grew here in rank profusion, while fine vegetables filled the space between the ditch and the house. Near and around the house the space was reserved for the flowers. There all the old-fashioned favorites grew in glorious confusion — peonies, Canterbury bells, roses, flags, all the old perennials, with some of the hardy annuals; white roses, climbing roses, moss roses, the Eloise de Dijon

Nez Perce County Historical Society/Fair Thompson photo/Floren

In this photo taken in 1904, the East Lewiston area is blanketed by large orchards and pasture land. and the Empress of Clives and coral honeysuckles covered the houses and chicken-yard fences. The lawn extended only a short distance in front of the house. The rest of the yard was generally of wild grass under the lovely fruit trees and extended down to the front fence along Main Street. By this time flowering shrubs began to brighten the picture and to fill the air with perfume. No sight could have been more refreshing to the jaded travelers than our lovely Main Street at this time. Lofty poplar trees lined both sides of the street; back of the trim pocket fences of each of those cozy homes one glimpsed the barrel-staved hammock stretched invitingly under the widespread apple tree, while nearby the well with its bucket and community dipper offered hospitable refreshment. By this time the floral decoration had taken on quite a magnificence.

‘The Loveliest Thing’ Oleanders then came into fame. Rubber plants and lemon and orange trees grew to great size. I remember being taken to see a night-blooming cereus, the loveliest thing that had ever

1973

Flower pots of clay and china had replaced the memorable tin can, and plants stood upon iron stands or on pieces of furniture built for that special purpose, a kind of whatnot, while hanging baskets of ferns hung in the window and every home had canaries that warbled joyously all day long. The bay window became a miniature hot house and harbored the most exotic of plants. A member of one of our oldest families had a century plant in a tub on rollers. She tenderly rolled it in and out of the sun, nursing it like a baby for 15 years, and then one night it inconsiderately froze to death.

happened in Lewiston, and all of the schoolchildren were allowed to stay up that night long enough to see the wonder of the town. How grieved we were when no more marvels of nature broke our regular routine of life! n

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a homestead about two miles out of town. Their names were Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Mulkey — and we later knew the place as the J.N. Lindsay place. Now this sounds incredible, but they planted an orchard of apples almost entirely from seed. Think of it. An orchard grew in tree and fruit until the apples were sought after throughout this country. This orchard, lying on the banks of the Clearwater River and irrigated by what is now called Lindsay Creek, contained the finest varieties of apples: Yellow Newtowns, Pearmains, golden russets, winesaps, etc. Mr. Mulkey also planted some pear seeds and one tree was later developed as the Idaho pear. The crops of this orchard were first sent by pack train to Montana and sold for 5 cents a pound. This was a lucrative business but the crickets came in hordes and for four years during the early ’70s the orchardist fought them every spring for six weeks. It was necessary to dig great trenches all about the orchard, covering the upper edges with tin, so the insects would be exterminated for that year. By the end of the fourth year Mr. Mulkey became discouraged and sold his place for $4,000 to Mr. Lindsay. The place paid for itself in one year and, strange to relate, was never again infested by any plague except a grasshopper invasion one year. Mr. Mulkey continued his activities in town and put it in an orchard which was later the J.W. Poe place, lying at the foot of the hill below Vollmer Bowl. Again his apple orchard became famous and his lilies and watermelons were the mecca of all Lewiston youngsters. This is a mooted question, but the oldest settlers say Mr. Mulkey put in the first irrigation ditch. It was built primarily for his mill but it served a double purpose. It was later acquired and enlarged by John Brearly. This was the beginning of the real cultivation of land on east Main Street. The properties there were deep, extending from Main Street back to the hill. The ditch ran at the back of these lots and each property owner had a waterwheel which raised the water into troughs from which the gardens and lawns could be irrigated.

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LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

1974

WORLD CLASS SELECTION OF WINE, IMPORTED BEER, AND CIGARS

S U N D A Y, J U L Y 3 , 2 0 1 1

Drink Vs. Thirst: ‘The Bloody First’

By Thomas Campbell

tarting in 1908 and through 1916, voters of Lewiston and other towns in Nez Perce County went to the polls almost biennially to ballot on whether the distribution and sale of intoxicating liquor should be legalized or outlawed. In five local option elections, the socalled wets and the so-called drys each won two, as I recall, and when the fifth election occurred the drys were again victors. The county commissioners declined to issue licenses in 1916 and this spelled the doom of legalized saloons here before the advent of statewide and national prohibition.

Such a battle! Families were divided. The proponents for and against engaged in heated arguments. Fights often resulted. Both sides were organized and determined. The first ward — including the district in Lewiston west of Fifth Street — was the battleground. Workers favoring legal-

ized saloons controlled the ward, but the “antis” always staged a lively scrap. Fistic encounters were not unusual.

Challenges Common Challenging of votes was commonplace, spurring the prohibitionists to greater activity. This resulted in No. 1 being dubbed “The Bloody First.” The wets held their own and, if I properly recall, always claimed the Bloody First. The biggest thorn in the side of the wet cause was Lafe Williams. Lafe then was well along in years. He hated liquor and he had many ardent supporters. I always spent considerable time on election days in the Bloody First. I knew one or more stories would be produced before voting was over. And

1975

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I was never disappointed. On one election day the drys staged a parade. Hundreds of children were in line, girls wearing white dresses and boys white waists and trousers. A band headed the march. The wets, of course, learned in advance the parade would take place in early afternoon. Several wet workers were dispatched to assemble boxes, barrels, cordwood and other inflammable material, and pile it near the top of Fifth Street Grade. The parade started, the band tooting. About the time the marchers reached Third Street, someone touched a match to the pile and a few minutes later a fire alarm was turned in. The parade by this time had almost reached Fifth Street. The fire truck tore up Fifth Street Grade. Smoke was billowing from the blaze. The paraders saw the fire and the children broke ranks and rushed up the grade. The parade was over. In 1916, when the drys won, Dr. Susan Bruce, later the city health officer and opposed to prohibition, appeared on Main Street carrying an umbrella. Its covering had been removed, leaving only the handle and ribs. She was besieged with inquiries. “Why,” explained Dr. Bruce, “it’s going to be dry for two years. So why any protection against moisture?” So bitter was the feeling in each election that several violent squabbles between women broke out downtown.

1975

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

license which did not expire until two weeks after expiration of all the other licenses. This was a bonanza for the owners. They had visioned a land-office business and stocked up accordingly. I never witnessed such scenes. From the time the saloon opened until it closed, about midnight, the room was packed. Bartenders had been increased from one to eight. The bar, 25 feet long, was extended to the rear of the building. If you wanted a drink you had to fight for it. Bottled goods went like hotcakes in preparation for the impending drought. Police were called to clear the sidewalk and to quell disturbances.

Others Had Troubles

Lewiston Tribune/Greenburg Colle

OLD-TIME HOSPITALITY | Bartender Al Anderson and customer Bill Anderson pose in Hank Trimble’s Saloon at Lewiston, circa 1880s.

‘Mother Takes In Washing’ In another parade sponsored by the prohibitionists, children were provided large printed signs attached to staffs. The sentiments expressed irked many wets. For example: “My father is a drunkard,” and on the reverse side, “My mother takes in washing;” “Beware of the black bottle;” “Where is my wandering boy tonight?” and so on.

As the parade passed the old White Front saloon someone suggested to the boy carrying the placard reading “My father is a drunkard” and “My mother takes in washing” that he carry it into the saloon. He did. In less time than it takes to tell, the banner flew through the door and the boy followed. When Lewiston went legally dry the Trader & Todd Saloon opposite the Masonic Temple on Main Street held a

While all this was going on in Lewiston, the county outside was having its prohibition troubles. Lapwai and Spalding were the scenes of greatest dispute. It was the contention of the wets that Indians did not hold the right of suffrage. But the prosecuting attorney ruled Indians over the age of 21 were citizens of the United States and if properly registered could vote. They voted in large numbers and helped carry the election for the drys in 1914. One may hear the “hot” elections for national, state, county and municipal offices nowadays. But none can compare with those wet-dry elections when The Bloody First was the battleground. n

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involvement in the business came with the death of the younger Joe Thiebes in 1982. However, Pacific is dedicated to carrying on the Thiebes family tradition of “shooting straight”.

Today, Pacific is an employeeowned corporation with 42 branch offices in Washington, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado, and Montana. The Lewiston operation was established in 1975 and employs 21 people. The retail business sells The Thiebes family owned the company all types of steel, livestock handling and the senior Joe Thiebes continued equipment, culvert, hardware and to serve as chairman of the board much, much more. They are a full until his death in 1988, though he scale recycling division as well, wasn’t involved in Pacific’s day-to-day accepting commercial, industrial and management. The end of daily family residential material.

~The Pacific Team~

During World War I, the company expanded beyond furs and hides into collecting ferrous and nonferrous scrap. And this scrap metals venture eventually led the firm to branch out in the 1950s into sales of new steel products. The Thiebes family business continued into the third generation, with another son - again named Joe - joining forces with his father as the company steadily opened additional locations under the Pacific Hide & Fur name.

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LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

S U N D A Y, J U L Y 3 , 2 0 1 1

They Had To Push But Nobody Cared

hey had to push it over the bridge the first time out, but nobody cared. On the third of May, 1915, Lewiston and Clarkston had a streetcar to ride and just about everybody was riding it.

The trolley line was begun in an era of expansion and with the promise of prosperity. Every town of any consequence had one or was striving to get one, and Lewiston and Clarkston were fast becoming a community of consequence. The officials of the new trolley line worried a great deal about getting cars and other supplies on time. They did not lose a wink of sleep over a possible lack of patronage. The Lewiston-Clarkston Transit Co., which had organized itself to give trolley service to the valley, had been invited to come here by Robert A. Foster, president of the Lewiston-Clarkston Improvement Co., “the company” that was promoting Clarkston. It had been endorsed by both Lewiston and Clarkston businessmen. As a special inducement, the new street railway managers had been offered the franchise of a previous company, the Lewiston Terminal

Co. That firm had offered $40,000 in stock for the sale and for a time had operated a noisy gasoline motor car up Main Street before making a financial exit in 1913.

Tracks Already Laid Lewiston business leaders had the foresight to install streetcar tracks when Main Street was paved in 1909. That track and the franchise were worth trying for. “With experienced and qualified street railway men at the helm, the new Lewiston-Clarkston Transit Co. was confident. But the company was hard pressed for time. If it expected to capitalize on the failure of the Lewiston Terminal Co., cars would have to be running by July 1, 1915. It was a race to get the full line in by the deadline. To get cars to run on the line in time was even more difficult. “The streetcar industry was enjoying its greatest boom that

Nez Perce County Historical Society/Bonnie & Irv Faling collec

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION | An electric streetcar travels along the west end of Main Street, near the Lewis-Clark Hotel, circa 1915.

1976

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The business started in 1976 by Chuck Shoemaker under the name Chuck’s Radiator. Chuck added mufer and exhaust repair a couple years later changing the name to Chuck’s Radiator and Mufer. It remained Chuck’s until 1986 when Rogers Motors purchased the business. It ran under the Rogers Motors ag until 1996 when it was purchased by Jim Peterson. It is now Peterson Radiator, Mufer & Transmission. Today, Jim is proud to be celebrating his 16th year in business. He offers transmission, differential and radiator repair, brakes, tune-ups, cooling system repair and diagnostics, anything that will keep your vehicle running smoothly! Jim’s employees have more than 100 years of combined automotive experience. Congratulations Lewiston! We are proud to be a part of this community. “Shop the rest, come to the best.”

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In April of 1976, Bill and Carol Chipman purchased Brown & Holter Chev-Olds Co. (Pullman Location) from brothers Martin (Crick) Brown and Bob Brown. The dealership was located on the corner of Main and Grand Avenue, now the site of Square of Antique Mall. Bill Chipman changed the name of the dealership to Chipman & Brown Chev-Olds Co. and in 1986, built the new facility at SE 250 Bishop Blvd. The same year, he took on a partner, Tom Taylor, and renamed the dealership Chipman & Taylow Chev-Olds. Co. Bill and Tom had worked through the ranks of the automobile industry together. Bill graduated in accounting from University of Idaho in 1968 and worked as a Business Manager. Tom began his automotive career in the technical eld, rather than in sales. He worked several years as a heavy equipment mechanic, and later as a technician. Bill and Tom’s working relationship was successful because they both had an in depth understanding of their respective strengths. Bill enjoyed the challenge of working with people, while Tom had an excellent technical knowledge of the operation of a vehicle. Their unique blend of expertise caused the dealership to prosper. Bill Chipman died January 1996 of an unfortunate accident. Carol Chipman sold all but 10% of her holdings to Tom Taylor in October 1997. Both Tom and Carol are determined to continue the traditions and policies put in place years ago which have guided the success of this dealership.

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year ... It was just impossible to secure cars,” the late Henry C. Hartung, superintendent of the trolley company, once recalled. “We tried to get them from the Pullman Company and all the large and small manufacturers in the East, but orders were booked for months ahead. Finally we induced Spokane United Railways to sell us three of its old cars. They cost us $300 each. “The cars were already old and almost worn out, and too heavy and large for our needs, but they served the purposes until we were able to secure new ones in April 1916. Later these cars were replaced by one-man steel cars operated by a combination conductor-motorman.” A second reason why the trolley company was in a hurry: It wanted to be part of a big celebration planned by Lewiston-Clarkston for May 3, honoring the opening of the Celilo Canal and “an open river to the sea.” By starting with a shorter line than planned, from Sixth and Sycamore in Clarkston to 13th and Main streets in Lewiston, and taking the heavy old cars, the company made its May 3 aim. Of the estimated 25,000 out to attend the celebration that day, 4,780 rode on the streetcars. Superintendent Hartung himself drove the first carload.

Stalled on Bridge The car stalled in trying to climb

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

TROLLEY ROLLING | This shot of Main Street looking east shows the various means of transportation, circa 1910. the incline over the high arched cantilever bridge. The wheel flanges lacked traction on the new rails. Finally it was necessary for John Dean, a company employee, to shovel

1981

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sand on the rails from a wheelbarrow, throwing sand in front of the car until it reached the top of the arch. The street trolley made a good start. Hundreds rode the cars to and

from their work morning and evening. Within a year the company had extended its line from 13th and CONTINUED ON PAGE 38 >

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> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37

Highland, Clarkston, to 21st Street in East Lewiston. Business increased until 1920. There was even talk, for a time, of extending the line to Asotin and building a network of tracks on Normal Hill. In its best year the company claimed a gross return of $30,000 and employed as many as 14 men. Cars ran every 20 minutes, beginning at 6:10 a.m. and making the last trip at 11:40 p.m. Three cars were regularly used and a fourth was kept in reserve. A fifth car eventually was purchased. There were turnout switches for passing at Sixth and Poplar at Clarkston and in front of the Temple Theatre at Lewiston. It required one hour to make the entire run of four miles and 400 feet. In the years when automobiles were few, unreliable and relatively more expensive than today, many went joy riding on the trolley, just for the outing, in the evenings and on Sundays.

STUCK TO SCHEDULES “The streetcars served well and rarely was service interrupted,” according to the late Henry True, first employee of the transit com-

pany and long-time conductor. “Once, however, during the winter of 1918, four feet of snow fell in the valley. One of the cars became stalled in a drift at the approach to the bridge on the Lewiston side. There it remained five days before company employees were able to free it. “It was always necessary after a snow to place salt on the tracks to get traction. This was done by a man or boy standing on the track in front of the car. Sometimes, following a

S U N D A Y, J U L Y 3 , 2 0 1 1

he said. Into a car with 50 seats he managed to pack 108 men and women. As the car crawled up the incline in front of the car barns at the Lewiston approach to the present interstate bridge, Hartung ran out and in his excitement slipped into the German accent he had long outgrown. “My God, Eddie, how many you got on?” he called from the front fender. On getting the answer, he said, “For goodness sake, take it

As the years passed and the streets filled with automobiles, the trolley line served fewer and fewer customers. It was already on the skids in 1925, when a motor bus began making runs on Normal Hill. severe storm, it was necessary to use two or three tons.” A bag of sand was standard equipment on all cars, E.J. Hill, one of the two remaining conductors of the line, said recently. The sand was used to assure traction on frosty mornings and when the rails were wet. An occasion when he carried the largest load on record was recalled by Hill. It was a circus day at Lewiston. The show was over and everyone was eager to get back home to Clarkston,

1982

easy.” “Maybe you think I haven’t been taking it easy!” Hill responded. Hill recalled several near misses but no tragedies in his nine years as conductor. Once he kept calm when a youngster on a bicycle fell directly in front of the car he was operating. A passenger on the front seat exclaimed, “How did you stop?” After it was all over, Hill said, he trembled with fear for hours. As the years passed and the streets

filled with automobiles, the trolley line served fewer and fewer customers. It was already on the skids in 1925, when a motor bus began making runs on Normal Hill. Finally the competition became too severe, and the LewistonClarkston Transit Co. threw in the towel. The last trolley pulled into the barns on Aug. 3, 1929. A motor bus immediately took its place.

CARS PUT TO USE Some of the cars were purchased years later by an enterprising businessman and served as cabins in a Clarkston trailer court. The tracks were removed over a period of years as sections of the street were resurfaced, and the car barn was dismantled when the approach to the new Interstate Bridge was built in 1939. Superintendent Hartung became an orchardist and was elected to the Washington State Legislature. Hill operated a bus for several years and then joined the sales force of a large Lewiston mercantile company. Some other employees of the transit company were V.A. Bilderback, who was in charge of the mechanical department, and S.L. Fowler, Milo Gipson, William Doran, J.A. Morrow, and Ed Parks. 

1982

Rusty’s Ranch cafe

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LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

‘Get Out & Get Under Again’ H e had the parts all over the kitchen,” a Lewiston

woman once said of an auto owner she knew in the early days. “He had more fun with his automobile than anyone I have ever known.” In those days, almost anybody’s car was more often all over the kitchen than out on the road. Even so, motoring was fun. It was an adventure during which anything could happen, on roads which were not only poor but unmarked, in snorting, wheezing, exploding contraptions that might get you there and might not. “Get Out and Get Under” was the name of a song popular around 1910. So temperamental and unpredictable were the automobiles of that day that a prudent man used his for pleasure only; to keep an appointment, he drove his horse.

GOIN’ BUGGY | The Woods family is ready for what looks like a Sunday drive around 1910. John Woods is driving, with sons Earl J., left, and Leonard, middle, riding in back. Note the family dog wearing goggles.

The first car owners had to be their own mechanics; there were no garages to come to the rescue. Among the early Lewiston auto owners was Charlie Dowd,

of a wealthy farm family in the Tammany area. Matt Dowd, his brother, operated what may have been the first garage. Physicians were slow to turn down the faithful old dobbin

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1986

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for a chance at making better speed under motor power. Those who did usually hired a chauffeur. Anyone applying for such a position knew he must be an expert mechanic

for he would be required to fix his own auto in an emergency. High power was not the word for the early two-cylinder automobiles. By 1905 a few of them, with flickering lights and wobbly wheels, were running about on Normal Hill. Several drivers also tried their luck on the flat downtown, whenever the mud was not too deep. Few ventured on the steep grades. Climbs to Normal Hill were steeper then than now, for grades were built so the horse and buggy could get on top in a hurry. The grades have since been flattened by

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> CONTINUED from PAGE 41

1992

extending the inclines. Among the early automobiles here was a White Steamer, owned by W. F. Kettenbach around 1904. Kettenbach’s experiences did not promote a quick acceptance of automobiles in general.

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Elm View Chiropractic Clinic Owned by Terri J. Drury, DC

Celebrating 19 years in practice in Clarkston! Dr. Drury offers a family environment with chiropractic care for all ages. She utilizes several adjusting techniques, some are manual hand adjustments and others use adjusting instruments. She also offers cold laser therapy which helps with the healing process. This technology is providing exciting results. Dr. Drury is certified in the Webster Technique which is safe and specific for pregnancy care. And to keep your growing family healthy, her pediatric certification helps with the needs of your children from birth on. Most insurance is accepted including Medicare, Workers Compensation and Auto Injury. Laurie McMasters, our office manager, can assist you with your financial questions. Don't hesitate to call with your questions or to schedule an appointment. We are accepting new patients. Monday and Wednesday 8:30-5:30pm; Thursday 9:30-6:30pm; Friday 8-12 noon. Clarkston office is closed on Tuesdays. Pomeroy Office (located at 708 Main St) Hours: 10-4pm twice a month on Tuesdays.

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1992

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While on an outing in the country Kettenbach stopped to refill his gasoline tank, with the help of an assistant. The highly inflammable quality of the gasoline was not realized by the assistant, and soon the White Steamer and owner were surrounded by fire. Kettenbach had the presence of mind to roll down the hill in the sand and extinguish the fire. But the adventure destroyed his original delight in the car. This auto operated on steam, generated by heat from a gasoline fire. Car mechanics say the scheme had its advantages, but it kept the owner in search of both water and gasoline. Lights were operated by a carbide generator, usually on the running board. Water dripping on the carbide would generate a gas which would be carried in tubes to the headlights. The operator would raise each head-

light lid separately and strike a match, then close the lid quickly to keep the wind from blowing out the flame. The first horns — more correctly warning sounds — were produced by pulling a cord over a hole in the spark plug. The result was a shrill whistle which would startle every horse for blocks around. Another warning device was the coaxle horn, which produced a loud squawk. More common was the bulb horn, which made a blat like a sick calf.

Motoring was a costume event. Both the men and women wore long linen and linencolored dusters which covered them from head to foot.

Tires Were Poor

Tires were small and the rubber thin and of poor quality. A high air pressure of 60 to 70 pounds was used, which also helped build the reputation of insecurity. Tires were forever going flat, sometimes on the most embarrassing occasions. Motoring was a costume event. Both the men and women wore long linen and linen-colored dusters which covered them from head to foot. The women also wore giant veils which covered hats, heads and all and tied down securely. The men wore gauntlet gloves. They were all protections against the racing open air, as well as the dust. The winds were often like a hurricane,

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even when the cars were not. By 1909, automobiles were becoming more common among the Lewiston professional and business men. The Commercial Club sponsored a two-day excursion into the country, that September. John P. Vollmer and Curtis Thatcher owned electric cars in the second decade of the century. The Vollmer electric, a Baker model, was known as a ladies’ car partly because of the elegant upholstery, a cone-shaped case for flowers and its quiet operation. The seats were arranged facing each other in conversational style. Steering was by a tiller. Power was furnished by two banks of storage batteries, one each at the rear and front of the car. Frank Thompson owned one of the early automobiles about 1910, a Franklin which operated with side gears. It was considered dependable enough to make the trip to Lake Waha for Sunday outings. About the same time, Dr. Charles Phillips had invested in a Hudson. His young partner, Dr. E.L. White, who had arrived from Spokane in 1910, rode or drove a quarter horse. When the horse died,

1995

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

Dr. White took up his courage and his $700 and invested in an Overland with a planetary transmission. It shifted gears by friction. The theory may have been all right, but the transmission was always wearing out, Dr. White said. He had little but trouble with that first automobile.

More expensive then Though the cost of those automobiles may sound low nowadays, they were proportionately more expensive than today’s models. Motoring was by no means comfortable for many years. Before 1918, when the self-starter became standard equipment, drivers frequently wore arm bandages. They had forgotten to make sure the car was not in gear when they turned the starter. The kickback was terrific. Not until after the World War I did automobile ownership become really commonplace in the Lewiston area. Even then all roads off the main thoroughfares were poor and practically unmarked. A cautious man allowed as much as eight hours to make a trip to Spokane. n

Lewiston’s One And Only President

here was never a day quite like the day that President William Howard Taft visited Lewiston. It was October 7, 1911. Elaborate preparations to greet the 27th chief executive of the United States had been under way for weeks. And now the day

had arrived, and Lewiston was teeming with excitement. President Taft was due at 2 p.m. at the railroad depot in his private car, “The Ideal.” Accompanying him were Secret Service men and various dignitaries. The president had intended to extend his tour only as far as Kansas, but as his tour progressed his trip had been expanded. “The Ideal” was en route to Lewiston now from Walla Walla. Soon the only president actually in office to visit Lewiston before or since would arrive in person. The fever of expectancy quickened as the hours passed by. A waiting caravan of 15 convertible cars had assembled at the depot to escort the president along a parade en route to Pioneer Park, where he would deliver a short address. Among the officials was Mayor L.F. Perkins, who would ride with President Taft to the

park. Also there was the largest police contingent ever assembled at Lewiston. Heading the force was Seth Jones, a stockman specially deputized for the event. Big Seth weighed 365 pounds. Others included W.J. Green, 290 pounds, and John Gertje, 290 pounds. The weather was perfect, even a little hot. All week long people had been pouring into Lewiston to see the president. They came from Wallowa, Pomeroy, Uniontown, Genesee. State Sen. Mitchell of Nezperce alone made the journey to Lewiston. The Clearwater crowd was 400. All of Clarkston had crossed the interstate bridge to welcome the chief executive.

Indians On Hand Earlier in the week a band of 200 Nez CONTINUED ON PAGE 42 >

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> CONTINUED from PAGE 41

Perce Indians, including many papooses and squaws, had come off the reservation and had pitched a camp at the Lewiston-Clarkston Fairgrounds to await the arrival of “The Great White Chief.” An urgent call was issued for emergency housing to provide for the travelers. A committee sent special pleas to 800 to 900 private homes to open their doors. Finally, the day had come. Between 15,000 and 18,000 people awaited the president. Then, on schedule, the first wisps of smoke could be seen in the distance. The president would arrive in minutes. The long presidential train chugged slowly to a halt and all eyes were on “The Ideal.” “Hello, Bill,” the first shouts rang out. The president waved at the swollen crowd, obviously delighted by the throng. After a short greeting ceremony the president was hurriedly escorted to the lead car. No time must be wasted, as Taft had barely an hour to spend at Lewiston. The caravan swung west on Main Street, up the Snake

River Grade, then turned east on Third Avenue, to enter the park from the west side near Sixth Street. It continued along the back of the street toward the library, where it turned in before unloading. Along the way thousands yelled their greetings to the president. Both sides of Main Street were jammed to capacity. The car sped rapidly through the crowd to the park and as it did the spectators broke for the park where the president would speak.

Children Sing As his car proceeded a column of school children sang “America the Beautiful.” The band played “Hail Columbia.” Along the way the president shed his overcoat. He remarked to mayor Perkins

Nez Perce County Historical Society

TAFT DRAWS a crowd | President William Howard Taft speaks from the original bandshell in Lewiston’s Pioneer Park on Oct. 7, 1911. The 27th president traveled by train to make the only visit to Lewiston by a U.S. president. that he could understand such hot weather at this season of the year in a country so far north. He called it the “remarkable climate of the Lewiston Valley.” As he entered the park he was saluted by a Boy Scout troop and “the honored blue

of the old army fast passing away.” In the crowd were James Stuart of Kamiah, half breed Nez Perce who signed the first agreement to open the Nez Perce reservation; Chief Peo Peo Tholekt and Silas Whitman, his interpreter;

plus senators, men from factory, business and farm. A young girl, Miss Neill Barnett, presented the president with a bouquet with the remark, “And, Mr. President, they were grown outdoors.” Taft responded with a delighted smile.

1998

1996

Windows, Doors and More...Store “Where Our Doors Always Open”

Windows, Doors & More...Store was established in 1998 by two men, Bill Williams and Ken Nearing. The two were offering windows, residential, commercial and specialty doors and hardware, stair parts, mouldings, storm doors, tube and regular skylights and more. In 2000, they expanded not only their inventory, but manpower. Mike Seale and Mark Thorson joined the team, enabling them to meet their customers’ needs better than before. They designed a showroom to offer more displays and samples to help their customers pick out the windows, doors, moldings and supplies they may be looking for. Later in 2005, Denise Taylor joined the team as their bookkeeper. Windows, Doors & More...Store pride themselves in offering customer service and assistance from start to nish. Each of the employees having over 30 years experience and knowledge to help their customers with all their project needs. “There is no project - big or small - that they won’t help you with.”

STRIPES-A-LOT

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In the crowd were 1,000 children. The president said, “I’m glad to see the school children here. I hope they got a half holiday. No, they didn’t, today is Saturday.” The crowd roared with laughter at the great man’s sense of humor.

A Great Success He was a great success with the women, who had waited hours to see and hear him, when he referred to them as “handsome.” A special section for the press had been roped off in front of the president’s stand and the reporters were busily at work. After a brief address the president’s entourage prepared to retrace the route back to the train station. The crowd scrambled back down the hill to see Taft pass through town again and to follow him into the depot. Police reports reveal that not a single incident marred the day. Main Street had been roped off to traffic from 1 to 3 p.m. The crowd, festive now, eagerly anticipated an evening of street dancing and theater going. Thousands

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

danced until early in the morning on D Street between Fourth and Fifth. At the Temple Theater, “Jim the Penman” was playing with Florence Robert and Theodore Roberts in the starring roles. At the station the president was surprised to find baskets of grapes, strawberries, peaches and apples waiting for him, all gathered from the orchard nearby. The grapes came from the vineyards of Robert Schleicher, the strawberries from Charles Brown of East Lewiston, the peaches from the Wawawai ranch of White Bros. & Crum, the Jonathon apples from the LewistonClarkston Improvement Co.

‘Goodbye, Bill’ Taft said his good-byes in a clear, strong voice which all could hear. Then he walked back into “The Ideal.” “Goodbye, Bill,” shouted the crowd. The president waved once more. The train gave a sudden lurch, then slowly pulled away. The crowd watched it until it could be seen no more. n

Just Watch Those Idahos; ‘They’re Fighting Devils’

t was May 5, 1889, and the cream of Lewiston’s sons were boarding the steamboat Almota. They were dressed in blue woolen uniforms and equipped with .45 caliber

Springfield rifles. And they were going off to war. On Feb. 15, 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine, had been resting quietly in Havana harbor when a bomb exploded and sank the vessel. “Remember the Maine,” the nation declared. Congress declared war against Spain on April 21. The SpanishAmerican War, which President McKinley had tried to avoid, had begun by popular demand. The Lewiston men, members of company B, first regiment, Idaho volunteer infantry, had gathered for final review and inspection by their

2000

neighbors, relatives and sweethearts before trudging up the loading plank of the Almota for a voyage down to Pasco. From there they traveled by train to Boise to be organized for service in the insurrection in the Philippine Islands. Some of these gallant young men, smiling and waving as they boarded the historic Almota, wouldn’t be back. The casualties: Corp. Frank R. Caldwell and Pvts. James H. Fraser and George W. Hall, killed in action. Sgts. Ernest Scot and William M. Keller and Pvts. Richard B. Jones, Frank McCall and John W. Luitjens, wounded on the field.

Joined By Company C The volunteers from Lewiston were joined by company C from Grangeville. After the Lewiston company was mustered into federal service at Camp Stevenson at Boise, on May 12 1898, it left by train for San Francisco and proceeded into Camp Merritt. On June 27 the company shipped out on the S.S. Morgan City for Honolulu harbor and on July 31 it reached the Philippines. The Spanish-American War had been brought about by reaction in the U.S. toward concentration camps set up in Cuba by the government of Spain to bring Cuban insurgents into line. Across the Pacific a similar insurrection against Spain had been going on in the Philippines for two years. CONTINUED ON PAGE 44 >

2000

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> CONTINUED from PAGE 43

Two battalions of Idaho soldiers made up the 1st Idaho Infantry, U.S. Volunteers. The second of these was commanded by Maj. Edward McConville of Lewiston. The campaigns in the Philippines were wet and dismal, and rations were poor. There was a standing joke among the Idaho men that they sometimes found old friends when the opened their “canned horse,” claiming to recognize Idaho brands on the meat.

Fighting Begins On Aug. 9 the Idahoans began their march toward Manila and their first actual fighting. The battle was won and for the next few months the regiments stood guard in the city. Then, on Feb. 5, during the battle of Santa Ana, a small town about three miles east of Manila, the Idaho soldiers earned a reputation for all time as one of the fightingest units in the war.

Nez Perce County Historical Society

HEADED FOR FOREIGN BATTLEFIELDS | In 1898, National Guardsmen from Lewiston shipped out to the Spanish-American War aboard the steamboat Almota, leaving on May 5, less than three months after the battleship USS Maine was blown up in Cuba. By late July they were in the Phillipines after a three-month journey by boat, trains and ships.

2001

2002

Alzheimer’s & Dementia Care Specialists

10 Year Anniversary!

Guardian Angel homes has been serving the elderly in Lewiston for the past 10 years. Our facility began with one secured, fteen bed home and over the years has expanded to ve secured homes and a community center. We look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve the elderly and will remain dedicated to specializing in Alzheimer’s and dementia care.

The Cottage – 2001

The Tudor – 2001

The Craftsman – 2002

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The Liberty House – 2005

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As the battle raged the Idahos, under fire from sharpshooters, advanced to Paco. During the night units from Washington and California had moved forward to occupy exposed positions in rice fields. In order to reach them the Idahos had to advance under a heavy cross-fire and wade across a stream 20 feet wide. According to historian C.F. Baker, the following action took plate:

the advance line. These men were attacking a fort, which was heavily defended. In the final charge on the fort Maj. McConville, the battalion commander from Lewiston, was killed. His body was brought home for burial and he was given one of the largest funerals ever held in Nez Perce County. His grave is marked by a government monument in Normal Hill cemetery. Later in the campaign, the ‘CAN’T STOP THEM’ Idahos were ordered to the “There go San Pedro Macati district “When they arrived on the firing line they were there was considerthe Idaho where received with cheers by able fighting. They guarded their comrades. They were savages, and the flank of the army at not content to remain there Malabon under heavy fire long, firing at the enemy all hell can’t and the 2nd battalion sup600 yards away. The men stop them.” ported the Montanas in a could not be restrained long charge up a slope in — GEN. but rushed forward toward skirmish line. the trenches. Gen. Charles CHARLES KING When the war ended, King, the brigade comcompany B sailed from the mander, exclaimed: “There islands aboard the transport go the Idaho savages, and all hell and arrived at San Francisco on Aug. can’t stop them.’ 29, 1899. The men were mustered “When within 200 yards of the out at the Presidio on Sept. 25 trenches they gave a yell and went and from there they came home to over the top, the enemy retiring Lewiston. with considerable loss in killed and But not all of them. Of the entire captured.” Idaho regiment, eight were killed in Company B from Lewiston had action, 22 wounded and 15 died of kept the Idaho colors flying on disease. 

1994

LEWISTON’S SESQUICENTENNIAL

Additional Copies

of this Keepsake Edition Lewiston’s Sesquicentennial will be available for purchase at the Tribune for only $1.00 each (while supplies last)

•These would make a great read for out-of-area family members and friends. •Also great to save additional copies for kids and grandkids.

2006

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Hyundai Arrives In The Lewis-Clark Valley November 2006 Michael Wysup and his wife, Shelley, owners of Wysup Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge in Pullman, WA saw an opportunity and the potential Hyundai had in the Lewis Clark Valley. They applied for and were granted the Hyundai franchise for Lewiston and the Quad Cities. The employees at Wysup Hyundai on 21st street in Lewiston are excited to represent Hyundai, the world’s 5th largest car maker, because today’s Hyundai meets and surpasses the changing needs of today’s car buyer. Starting with the 40 mpg all-new Accent and Elantra, as well as the 200 hp, 35 mpg all-new Sonata, Hyundai leads the way with unsurpassed reliability, backed by America’s best warranty. The new, European-designed Tucson sets the pace in the small SUV segment with cutting-edge style and features at a surprisingly competetive price. The Genesis coupe and sedan offer class-leading features and performance, while the Azera sedan, Santa Fe and Veracruz SUVs show that world-class comfort and room don’t have to come at a premium price. Coming this summer is the Veloster, a new kind of sports car that combines economy, style and perormance like no car before! Stop by today and see why at Wysup Hyundai we mean it when we say WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU !!! We want to join all the other businesses in congratulating Lewiston for 150 years. Thank you for welcoming us to the Valley. AWARD WINNING HYUNDAI QUALITY BACKED BY AMERICA’S BEST WARRANTY TM 10 YEAR/100,000 MILE POWERTRAIN PROTECTION

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Everything Moved on Backs of Mules

hey used to say there was nothing you couldn’t carry on a mule,

and that must have been the case here in the 1860s. For on a pack train tip to Elk City in those days, according to an old tale, one mule trudged all the way with “a lady riding on one side and her cook stove on the other.” Almost all of the freight of the region was carried on the backs of mules and horses — and, in winter, on the backs of men — before the wagon roads were built. Even after that, well into the 1890s, mule trains competed with the freight wagons. At Lewiston, long lines of mules, carrying up to 300 pounds each, would carry food, liquor, miners’ supplies, and other goods to mining camps at Pierce, Orofino, Warren, Florence and Elk City. Merchants such as Lloyd



Nez Perce County Historical Society/Ruth Woefel Collection

MULE POWER | A long train of mules is photographed standing on Lewiston’s Main Street. Magruder would pack merchandise by muleback from Lewiston to points as far away as the Virginia City mining camps of Montana — then a part of Idaho Territory — making journeys of up to 400

miles each way. A typical pack train, made up at Lewiston, might include between 40 and 70 mules and up to a dozen or more men on horses to care for the animals, handle packs, cook, and guard

the goods. They would have to spend as much as three weeks on the trail, but pay was fairly good because the profits were high. Prospectors needing a new grubstake often would

show up at the packer sheds at Lewiston where the trains were fitted out and hire on with some outgoing train. The first packer sheds were in the old part of town, near the confluence of the rivers, but later, they were moved to place on the south side of Main Street between the present 500 and 600 blocks. Here the merchandise brought upriver by steamer was stored before being moved out to the mining camps, and here the mules were mustered together and loaded. The first pack trains into the mountains usually departed Lewiston in April, and the mules continued trudging the trains until they were closed by snow sometime in October. In the winter months, when the snow was too deep for horses and mules, the freight was carried on men’s backs, on the long, cold snowshoe trails that later became wagon roads and later still smooth highways. n

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LEWISTONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SESQUICENTENNIAL

SEL is coming to Lewiston! Twenty-nine years ago, in Pullman, Washington, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories invented the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first digital distance relay improving the delivery of electric power. SEL continues to invent, design, and manufacture innovative products, solutions, and services that help keep the power on in 140 countries worldwide. Our mission is simpleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; to make electric power safer, more reliable, and more economical. We look forward to extending this tradition of innovation to Lewiston, Idaho, with the opening of our new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. We are proud to become part of your community.

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1898

Traditions have changed. Our philosophy hasn’t.

Although funeral customs have changed over the years, our dedication to serving the grieving families of our area remains as strong as Henry Merchant’s was when he founded his first funeral home in Asotin in 1898. Henry went on to open Clarkston Furniture & Undertaking in 1909.

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Traditional Funerals • Memorial Services • Memorial Receptions Graveside Services • Simple Cremation • Simple Burial • Crematory Mausoleum • Columbarium • Cemetery

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