Howard Joseph Mattes

Howard Mattes was a capitalist and businessman residing in Reardan for a period of time.

He was born in 1882 in Iowa and moved to Reardan in 1905 and immediately bought a lumber yard from John Hansen which he renamed Mattes' Lumber. It was on the Southeast corner of Lake Street and Spokane Avenue. The lumber office still stands today and has been used as a beauty parlor and insurance office over the years. This lumber business expanded to include yards in Davenport, Edwall, and Harrington.

He co-founded Chamokane Lumber Company, a saw mill on the Spokane River near Little Falls, with John Raymer and Michael Moriarty. This mill supplied most of the lumber for Mattes' Lumber. This company owned several sections of land along the Spokane River between Chamokane and Nine Mile Falls.

In the planning for the construction of Little Falls and Long Lake Dams, he was in discussion with the Washington Water Power Company to provide the land for a railroad from Reardan to Little Falls. From there he could extend the line to ship lumber from the Chamokane Mill and perhaps even bring in logs for processing. This did not come into being and the construction of Little Falls Dam ended log runs on the Spokane River forcing the closure of the Chamokane Mill. He applied for a post office at Chamokane and got Lincoln County to build and operate a ferry there while Little Falls Dam was under construction. There was also a proposal for a bridge at Chamokane, but it was deemed redundant with one required at Little Falls.

He built the Mattes' Building after the fire of 1914 as a brick building along Broadway Avenue (US2) just west of Lake Street. It has housed many businesses over the years and is still standing. In 1949 he sold the building to Ralph and Edna Frisk who ran a grocery store in that building.

In 1927 he retired to Spokane and invested in several buildings there: Broadway and Monroe (was Milford's Restaurant and now is Shawn O'Donnell's American Grill and Irish Pub) and another used as a JC Penny warehouse at Indiana and Monroe (now a McDonalds).

One of his daughters, Margaret, married Ted Crosby, a brother of Bing.