Michael Kintchi (Edwall)

This page is part of the Reardan History 1959 booklet that was written by the Washington State History class of 1958-1959.

By G. Sanford as told by Mr. Michael Kintschi of Edwall

He was born in Wisconsin, but soon after his birth they traveled by train to San Francisco, then made their way to Wallula by boat. Then his parents journeyed to Rosalia and from there to a homestead site eight miles southwest of Edwall, Washington.

Mr. Kintschi was six months old when he arrived in this portion of the country. His father began immediately to construct a hut which was located one hundred yards south of the present home. It was built into the side of a hill. Logs were used for the front and a few were used for the sides, The roof was constructed for branches and brush. Then this was covered with sod for the roof. The floor was dirt for the first few years, then this was replace with boards. The cracks in the walls were caulked with red clay mud.

A small center of activity for this one area was called Sassen (some believe this was the name given by the Postal Department). This spot on the map or center was the only stop for the stage coach between Fort Colville and Fort Walla Walla. In this wayside inn was the Post Office. Mr. Kintchi’s father held the contract of carrying the mail for four years. When the Northern Pacific completed to railroad through Sprague, he lost his contract.

Mr. Kintschi arrived in the Sassen are in the spring of 1881 and homesteaded 160 acres in 1882. Hot having enough land Mr. Kintschi’s father took out a timber claim on another 160 acres and planted box elders on this land. In this way of improving the land, in five years a person could keep it by having witnesses come out and verify the fact that improvements had taken place.

The year 1881 was also the year in which the railroad was completed through Sprague and thus ended the transporting of supplies from Walla Walla. The trip to Walla Walla was a six-day journey. All the lumber was hauled from Walla Walla to this are until the railroad started hauling in supplies.

A man named Cosgrove was the nearest neighbor of Mr. Kintschi. He lived about one and a half miles away.

The city of Sprague was thriving, small city an was the center of activity for miles around. Supplies or foodstuffs were gotten from Sprague about every two weeks. These consisted mostly of flour, sugar, coffee, and corn meal.

Mr. Kintschi’s father came over from Switzerland in his youth an was interested in dairying as he ha been in the old country and Wisconsin. His interests in dairying were substantiated by his starting a herd of cattle an selling dairy products in and around Sassen an Sprague. At one time he had one hundred head of cattle and a few sheep.

In 1888, one year before Washington became a state, the Kintschis built their present home. This well built home is still well-kept and semi-modern even today.

Mr. Kintschi’s father spoke German as he came form that section of Switzerland. This complicated matters for Mr. Kintschi as he lasted only three days in school the first year under a Mr. Scott. The only language he knew was German.

In school, which usually ran three month in the fall and two or three months in the spring (depending on the money supply), he dropped out and started to learn some English. Next year in school he had an old maid school teacher, Ella Kerr, who could speak some German, so together, with his somewhat limited vocabulary of English and German, they got along just fine. Another early teacher in the Sassin school was Elda Sinclair.

He would walk to school. The school day started at 9:00 and went to 12:00 o’clock. It then convened at 1:00 and lasted until 4:00. Everything was book learning–no basketball or other activities as such. The teacher received twenty-five dollars a month. All the Kintschi children attended the Sassen School. He was the eldest of ten children. All the other children were born on the homestead. In later years this school consolidated with the Edwall district.

The Sassen Church was built in 1888 and claims have been made that this was the first Evangelical Church in the whole of Washington territory.

Sprague was the first county seat of Lincoln County and the Catholic Academy, which is on the north side of town, was located near the Court House. Then in the middle 1890s the county seat moved to Harrington, because it supposedly located in a more central position in the county. But again it moved, and is now at the present town of Davenport.

In 1893, Mr. Kintschi took his first trip to Spokane to visit a Mr. Tanner (Mrs. Bob Snow’s grandfather) who lived on Hangman Creek.

The first harvest was don by mower and rake. Then they advanced to the reaper–then the headers. One early system of thrashing the grain was having a post with a swivel located on the top with horses connected to it and they would be driven around and around the post–thus the grain would be trampled and somewhat thrashed out. The chaff would be wind blown and the few bushels left, in most cases, could be used for chicken feed. Then came horsepower, another method of separating the grain from the other husk. Now arrived in the area, team thrashing outfits. These used wood at first, but finally went over to straw as it was more plentiful and handy to use. The first year they contracted the use of a steam thrasher was in 1896.

In 1903 the last virgin ground left on the homestead was broken and tilled. Spring wheat being the pre-dominant crop of the area. Oats were grown n he valleys because of the moisture content factor. Some barley was grown. None of the grains did very well for it took too long to plow this soil before the moisture could be contained and planted to utilized this moisture. Usually by the time you finished plowing, the ground was dry and hard as a board. One reason for finishing late, in plowing, was to have the plants that were growing on the soil used as feed for the many horses.

In clearing or preparing the ground for usage in planting, it required the tilling of a grass which was known as “wool grass.” It had a highly complex system of roots and they were like wine [twine? or wire?]. This grass had advantages though, it checked the soil in the spring run offs and made a good erosion preventive. The clearing rocks and brush wasn’t much of a problem n this area as was the job of getting rid of this “wool grass.”

More pioneer stories from the Early History of Reardan written by the Washington State History class of 1958-1959.