Spokesman-Review History of Reardan 1956

This article is historic having been published in the Spokesman-Review on May 27, 1956. It should only be edited to correct typographical errors and to provide editorial clarifications enclosed in square brackets.

May 27, 1956 Spokesman Review p82

A Community Grows Through Its People

Hardy Folks Built Reardan in Rolling Grain Hills

Here, As The Lively Town's Colorful Community Day Approaches, Is a Gathering Together of its Picturesque Story Over the Years

By Mary B. Driscoll and Katherine C. Tramm [Mary Driscoll died in 1950]

To begin with, we shall try to reconstruct the landscape to see if we can imagine how it looked to the first adventurers who came riding or driving into the Reardan country. The lakes were much larger, probably covering all of the lowland to the north of the present town and extending to the bluff beyond the Capps place, which has probably not changed in appearance. Deuber’s pasture back of the mill was fairly well covered with scrub pine and box alder and other softwoods. Following down Spring Creek canyon was a good stand of fir and tamarack. None of this large timber, to be sure, but large enough to furnish fencing, logs for cabins and fuel for the early arrivals. The land, doubtless, was as at present flat, rolling and hilly; wear from erosion would have been slight. The whole was unfenced and windswept. As now green throughout the long spring seasons with many wild flowers; and then, with the coming of the hot, dry summers all would quickly become gray and brown. Nothing to suggest that its eternal peace had ever been broken by the tread of a human being except the Indian trail that came in from the east following the low places through the O. A. Stevenson ranch (NW/4 S29 T25N R40E), across Lavender’s [S19 R25N R40E], and passing near the Harder farm (NE/4 S14 T25N R39E) and along the north side of the present site of Reardan. This was the route traveled by the Indians between the Spokane country and their settlement to the west. Afterward it was followed by the first stage route on which was located our first post-office, known as Capp’s post-office, owned and operated by Mr. Capp [NW/4 S10 R29N R39E). This farm is now operated by the Plummers.

Passing through Cheney and Fort Spokane, this route was the main line of travel. Horses were changed at a station maintained by a man named Courtwright on the Deuber farm. This was the first change after leaving Spokane. Cottonwood Springs, now Davenport, was also on this route.

The earliest arrivals in whom we are interested seem to have been John Wickham, a bachelor, and Henry Harder with his wife and three children who came overland from California in 1878. Mr. Harder settled two miles east of town, and Mr. Wickham to the west.

In the fall of 1879 Gus Lutzhoft, his brother, Jake, and Fred Mahrt came from Wisconsin. Mr. Lutzhoft settled on the Henry Mahrt farm SW/4 S2 T25N R39E], his brother northeast of Peter Tramm’s and Fred Mahrt southwest of town [SE/4 S20 T25N R39E]. Very soon followed Tom Stevenson, Andrew Gray, Peter Haak (on the Brommer place [NE/2 S22 T25N R39E]), John Mahrt [NE/2 S22 T25N R39E], John Davidson, south of the Edwall road [W/2 S19 T25N R39E], Peter Wiese [SW/4 S24 T25N R39E] and Peter Tramm, Fluelling (on the Kemp place [SE/4 S24 T25N R39E]), G. L. Buckman, Ed Ensor west of town, Chris Seeman. All these and more, until in 10 years this was a busy community.

Coming from Ohio Mr. Buckman was on his way to the Coast. However, on the train he became acquainted with Mr. Ensor, who induced him to get off at Spokane. And so they both came to Reardan in 1885 and took land since occupied by Emil Koeller [NW/4 S17 T25N R39E]. They engaged in cattle raising. While Mr. Buckman was building the home which was the most pretentious to be found for miles–it was two-storied, plastered and green shuttered–his family dwelt in Fairweather, of which I shall soon speak.

The first settlers were obliged to go to Colfax for supplies; earlier ones packed supplies from Walla Walla. Soon a store was opened by Mr. Eads and Perkins Brothers at Deep Creek, but these for a time did not carry large stocks. And so Colfax was still visited.

In the “Northwest Tribune,” the pioneer newspaper of Cheney, under the date of September 1, 1882, is printed the following story of Fairweather:

“Messrs. J. W. Still Esq. of Cheney and W. F. Hooker, a capitalist lately from Georgia, have purchased a quarter section of land on the headwaters of the Crab, Deep and Spring creeks, 10 miles west of Deep Creek falls and 16 miles east of Cottonwood, and have laid out a townsite [NE/4 S15 T25N R39E]. The new town is well situated in one of the richest bodies of land in eastern Washington and is said to be so situated as to be sure of one or more railroads. Well-informed parties estimate that within a radius of 10 miles of Fairweather there are more than 500 ranches opened up and occupied. We hope that the town of Fairweather may be as businesslike as its namesake.” (W. H. Fairweather was at one time a prominent official of the Northern Pacific Railroad.)

But Fairweather, like many another “boom” town of the pioneer period, soon passed into oblivion. A visitor to the Big Bend country in 1887 writing in the “Northwest Tribune” of June 23. described Fairweather “as once prosperous but now defunct.” He continued, “This is the dullest town we have yet struck. Out of the five houses in the town, the only one that is ever occupied is the schoolhouse.” The buildings were a store, hotel, blacksmith shop, saloon which was never occupied as such, an unfinished residence and the schoolhouse that was located on the west side of the road to the cemetery opposite the place later occupied by Mr. Peck. For a short time a Mr. Wilson conducted the store, and a Mr. French the blacksmith shop. Then Fairweather was abandoned. But with the coming of the railroad in 1888 and 1889 it took new heart. Mr. Capps moved the post office to this point, and Mr. Olson reopened the store and hotel.

When the Northern Pacific platted the town of Reardan to the west the next year, Fairweather was doomed to become only an addition of the new town. It is now that part of Reardan east of Aspen street and south of Columbia avenue. There is left of it one structure which Mr. Hard used for a garage. Mr. Olson in the fall of 1889 built and occupied the building which we knew as Finrow’s store and which later burned.

The first building in Reardan, however, was the Northern Pacific elevator that burned more than 50 years ago. Then the depot was built and the agent, whose name was Pearce, built the first residence, later occupied by Mr. Schaeffer. The same fall, 1889, James Brand built the store building vacated by the telephone company, Ed Childs opened the first drugstore and A. Lutzhoft an implement house. John Wickham and James Warren followed with general stores; then a harness shop, furniture store, two hotels and a barber shop came. All this and the town only 2 years old. From that time until the “bumper crop” in 1897 there was an era of hard times throughout the Big Bend. Finally came a period of great prosperity which continued until the outbreak of the first world war.

In 1899 the Washington Grain and Milling company erected the flour mill under the supervision of Mr. Moriarity, an expert mill man, who managed it successfully until his death in 1911. Its original capacity was 125 barrels, soon increased to 400 a day. In the same year the Reardan Exchange bank was established, a private concern with Mr. Olson as president and his wife as cashier. Reardan was incorporated in 1903. Mr. Moriarity was elected the first mayor. John Raymer, John Wickham, Tom Stevenson, Charles Warren and J. C. Driscoll composed the first town council. Frank Garber was named clerk; Harvey Burns, treasurer; L. A. Dale, marshal, and the Rev. W. D. Barnhart, an Evangelical minister, acted as police judge. During this year the citizens of Reardan subscribed $5000 with which a road was built across the Spokane Indian reservation to the Cedar Canyon mines.

The earliest visible sign of education hereabouts was a very small building known as a schoolhouse. No one seems to know when or how it was built, but settlers who came in 1879 found it standing unused on what has since been known as the Peter Walsh ranch. When Fairweather was built this was abandoned as a schoolhouse and was purchased by a Mr. Huston, who moved it to the east side of the road between the Harder and Seeman farms. The first teacher of this school was Miss Sneider, who came from-farther west in the Big Bend. Besides the few children from this vicinity who attended, four Stroup boys came from the ranch later occupied by M. W. Ahern, first Deep Creek settler [SW/4 T25N R40E]. Schools were not plentiful here 70 years ago.

The Fairweather schoolhouse served the double purpose of church and school for some years. Among the teachers who labored there were: Anna Waterhouse; Lila Miller, who afterward married a Mr. Runner and continued to teach; Miss Bowman, Miss Hull, Marshall Hall and Mr. Beck. At one time there were 35 pupils attending.

The first minister to serve the new settlement was Rev. Schuchnecht, an Evangelical, who came occasionally and held services in the schoolhouse. Mr. Setters is mentioned as having conducted Baptist services for a while. Quite early an organ was purchased; church services and Sunday school seem to have been well attended. Any minister, regardless of denomination, was welcomed. The oldest church building was the Baptist church, later occupied as Colville’s garage, and the second, the Lutheran church, built on the same site as the building later occupied by Mr. Waterhouse. The first doctor was Dr. Kaulbach; the first lawyer, O. B. Setters and the first editor, Mr. Schooling. Early Lutheran ministers were: Rev. II. Reike about 1889; Rev. Mollenauer, regular from Davenport; Rev. Mock-firs, resident. The first Catholic service was held upstairs in the Empire hotel by Father Faust in December, 1899. Mr. Haack donated the land for the cemetery; Mrs. [Thomas (Annie Hill) Stevenson was the first to be buried there.

Here it would not be out of place to say a few words in memory of four men whom I choose to call the “makers of Reardan”: John Raymer, John Wickham, Tom Stevenson and Mr. Moriarity. They were an unusual group, and unquestionably Reardan owed in great measure her growth and prosperity to them. They were intelligent, broad-minded, dependable, public-spirited citizens just the kind a town needs to make it substantial and progressive. Later in our town’s history might be mentioned several others of the same type, notably Conrad Scharman.

Early in the town’s growth the churches erected their own buildings. The first was built by the Baptists about 1890 with Rev. Girard the resident minister. After a decade the members sold their building to the Methodists, who maintained it a few years before disbanding.

The Lutherans organized in June, 1890, and a year later dedicated their first building. Their present edifice was built in 1917. Well remembered pastors are the Rev. William Schoeller, Rev. John Groschupf, Rev. Arthur R. M. Kettner, Rev. Karl A. Ufer, Rev. Edward Wagner and the present pastor, Rev. Robert Reitz.

The Evangelical United Brethren church was built about 1903. Recent pastors are the Rev. Louis Buckley and the present one, Rev. Allen Backer.

In 1903 the Presbyterians organized and in 1906 laid the cornerstone of their building. Among its ministers were the Revs. Joseph Hall Rodgers, Samuel McLean Forsyth, Oscar Snider Wilson, Eugene Walker, John Clayton, Clifford Clayton Saunders. Raymond N. V. Moody, Roy R. Myers Jr., Richard A. Logan and the recent Philip Walborn.

St. Michael’s Catholic church was erected in 1907. It Is part of the same parish as the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Davenport. Priests who have served are Fathers Druffel, Joseph Fleck and the present Raymond McDonald.

A group of persons in 1945 formed a Jehovah’s Witnesses society.

As the community grew, so did the schools. The Reardan school district was organized in 1884. For many years the elementary grades were taught in frame houses scattered over the area. At last a grade school building was built in Reardan, and adjacent to it in 1904 the first high school was built. Both structures were later razed.

In the early days the school term was from three to five months, and teachers’ salaries averaged $35 a month. They boarded with patrons of the school spending a few weeks at a home. Nearly everyone walked, rode horseback or traveled in farm wagons to school and staked his horses near the building. Not until the consolidated school system was formed were buses provided for transportation. Even as late as 1920 it was customary for farm boys to miss a month of school in the fall and again in the spring, since they were needed to work in the fields.

The present high school was built in 1930 on the site of the old grade school.. It was used for elementary instruction until 1953 when it was converted into a secondary school. At this same time on the site south of the original buildings the new grade school was completed. The vocational agriculture building was constructed in 1939 and enlarged in 1954. Rounding out the school unit which covers about four city blocks are the bus garage, athletic field and experimental grass plots. Lewis McKay is superintendent and Glen Wisdom principal.

One hundred and fifty square miles of territory are included in the Reardan consolidated schools district 210 to 412. Six non-high school districts bring the total service area to about 250 square miles. The 10 regular bus routes reach 127 families and carry 235 students daily and cover 735 miles each day.

Reardan flourished from 1899 to 1920. Local men worked for the Washington Grain and Milling company, which later sold out to the Centennial Milling company. Fire destroyed the building four years ago [1952]. When the Long Lake dam and Little Falls dam were constructed on the Spokane river from 1910 to 1912 many of those employed by the Washington Water Power company found lodging in Reardan.

Ed W. Childs founded the Pioneer drug store about 1893. It was bought in 1904 by Alois Hanel, who has operated it continuously since then to the present. For a time W. H. McCoy was also a local druggist.

Another early-day firm still in business is Raymer’s hardware store started in 1890 by John Raymer and O. A. Menger. Four years later Mr. Raymer became sole proprietor and added furniture to his stock. In 1910 he opened a garage and automobile agency about the same time George Schultz had another garage. Nelson Raymer now owns the hardware business begun by his father.

Other prominent merchants of this era were S. S. Bentley, James C. Driscoll, E. Worthy, Gus and E. K. Finrow. Conrad Scharman was proprietor of a thriving meat market for many years until at last he sold out to William Hopkins. Walter S. Bliss conducted a bakery and restaurant from 1901 to 1916. Mr. Hoye ran a harness shop, Walter King was one of the town’s blacksmiths, and Hugh Smith had a livery barn. J. A. Hansen owned a lumber yard and feed and planing mill. Later he went into the concrete block building business with James Moorehouse as his partner and afterwards owned a hardware store. He sold his lumber interests to H. J. Mattes.

Frank Garber engaged in the real estate and insurance business and was notary public. William H. Padley practiced law for 40 years. Dr. George Green owned and operated the general hospital. A widely known physician of a later period was Dr. Emmett Reinking.

For a number of summers the Indians pitched their tepees a few weeks or less at a time on the eastern outskirts of town. From the farmers they obtained fruit which they dried for food. Often they camped overnight on their way to Spokane and on their return trip to the reservation.

Among the pioneer women long residing in or near Reardan are Anna Wiese Lutzhoff, Emma Frederickson Carstens, Annie Mahrt Hansen, Minnie Jessen Coopman, Anna Sidel Anderson, Elizabeth Zeimantz Schultz, Hattie Latham Raymer and Rosa Harder Moon. The latter is the daughter of the same Henry Harder who settled on a farm east of the site of Fairweather in 1878. She is the wife of the late Nathian Gould Moon and the mother of six children and in point of continuous residence the eldest living citizen in the community.

A few shelves in Mr. Hanel’s store were at first devoted to books owned by the Town library. Then it was moved to its present location, the building given to the city expressly for that purpose by Emil Deuber. Since about 1927 it has grown and been maintained by the Reardan Women’s Study club. Mrs. J. C. Driscoll was the librarian for a long time.

Two fires caused setbacks to the business district. The first occurred in 1914 and started in a barn. In addition to it, two saloons, a hotel, a watch repair shop, a restaurant and V. A. Hard’s Undertaking company were destroyed. On August 3, 1926, fire wiped out the old hotel, the Bowie building, Finrow’s store, Hanel’s drug store and spared only the Farmers’ State bank building. It was generally believed that someone had deliberately set the blaze.

Mule day, celebrated in Reardan from 1904 to about 1918, was the community’s focal gathering point and outstanding event. Its originator. John W. Mann, was grand marshal of the parade and led the line of march. Featured were bands, special floats, six-mule teams and occasion’ ally even 20-mule teams, spans of work horses, driving teams, single drivers, mounted saddle horses, pedigreed horses and colts and registered cows. There was a rodeo together with carnival and concessions and dancing. The purpose of the day was not primarily money-making but good fellowship.

In a letter dated November 28, 1887, William Childs mentions a Grange hall located near Spring Creek. How long it was active and how many more Granges there were is not known. However, in the 1930s the Grange movement revived. In the following order these Granges were formed: Mondovi, Waukon, West Deep Creek and Spring Creek. During the Second World war they set up the Lincoln Mutual Service, Inc. No. 2 for the purpose of buying gasoline and oil cooperatively at a lower cost. In time the business expanded until it now includes groceries, hardware, farm implements, a refrigeration plant and meat department.

In its beginning in 1920 the Reardan fire department used two hand-drawn wagons, each holding 40 gallons of chemicals. Later by fastening hooks to them they could be pulled by automobiles. Next a one-cylinder chassis was converted into a hose-and-ladder cart. When water hydrants were installed in town, two hose reels of 500 feet of 2-inch hose were either hand-drawn or attached to automobiles. Then an old truck was remodeled into a self-propelled fire truck that could be used both in town and in the country. In 1938 a chain-drive city truck was bought and an oxygen tank installed for pressure in place of the former soda-and-acid mixture. Thus the fire departtnent qualified to become Reardan fire district No. 4 and Spokane county district No. 5. It has three trucks, one for use in town and two for the country. Senior member of the volunteer brigade was William J. Colville, who was fire chief for 35 years.

Since 1943 Reardan Community day has been observed annually on the first Saturday in June. All local and many adjacent organizations participate in the joyful occasion. To renew old acquaintances, friends come from neighboring towns and distant places.

The Reardan Memorial clinic, dedicated on June 6, 1950, is a 12-room, modern structure. Especially honored with their names engraved on a plaque are these local young men who made the supreme sacrifice: Joe E. Mann, Gus Magnuson Jr., Kenneth Tyler, Jack Zeimantz, Marvin Zwainz, Lewis [Supinger, Arthur Seeger, Frederick] Wollenberg and Roger Mahrt. Resident physicians were the late Dr. John J. Driscoll Jr. and the late Dr. Eugene Read. Drs. R. A. Pe How and Thomas O. Pe now are the present physicians and Dr. Robert Bliss the dentist.

Looming high on the horizon are the six storage bins of the Reardan Grain Growers Company, Inc., and the warehouse of the former Reardan Union Grain company. To tell the changes that took place in the lives of the local farmers as the result of the industrial revolution is another story in itself. From the sod houses and log cabins of some of the first settlers to the modern, electrically equipped homes of today is an enormous development. From the “foot burner” plow behind which a man was required to walk seven miles to the acre to the present tractor-drawn plow with which he can turn over as much earth in a day as he did in two weeks by the old method, is a tremendous improvement. From cutting grain with a scythe and flailing it to using the harvester machine that combines the work of reaping and threshing and from using horse or mule-drawn equipment to using steam, gasoline and diesel-oil powered machines–by these successive methods more land could be fanned more efficiently and more quickly. Consequently as the ranches grew larger they became fewer in number. Such amazing advances have happened all in the span of a man’s lifetime!

The principal occupation of the community from the early days has been grain-producing with stock-raising as a sideline. It is from the fertility of the soil and the vigor of its people that it draws its existence. In the majority of cases descendants of the pioneer ranchers still farm the land.

By means of abiding faith, constant effort and patient thrift Reardan was founded and developed and by these same qualities it will continue to prosper.

Pictures:

Mule day, a lively one, at Reardan some years ago.

Reardan in 1890 was a typical frame building town.

The Reardan memorial clinic.

Reardan’s handsome grade school was built in 1953.

One of the older milling companies in Reardan area.

Symbolizing Reardan’s industry is this grain company.