Histories of Wilbur & Sherman
Special thanks to Evelyn Kunz Gaffney, who wrote the largest portion of this section.
Wilbur
The town of Wilbur, Washington can
trace its history back to the arrival of
Wild Goose Bill
(born
Samuel Wilbur Condit or Condon) who drifted into Washington Territory in
about 1860. He worked in the freighting business, packing supplies from
Walla Walla to the mining camps in eastern Washington, western Idaho and the Okanogan area. The area was
crossed by miners on their
way to the famous Fraser River mines. Hundreds of stalwart men passed through
on their way to
the gold fields. In 1875, Bill sold his pack animals, moved to a site on
Goose Creek in what was to become Lincoln County, and started to ranch with cattle purchased from the Natives. The meadow seemed to
spring out of sheer basalt. The area is interspersed with aspens, willows and
cottonwoods and settles between rock walls on both sides. Miles of bunch grass
made wonderful grazing lands that stretched in all directions.
While his herd grazed on rich land, Bill ran a store on the south bank of the
Columbia River. He distributed staple groceries, some utensils and implements,
overalls, blankets, calicos and a variety of items that appealed to the Indian
residents of the area who traded their furs, hides and trinkets. Condon
bought his merchandise in Sprague and hauled it across the country in four-horse
freight wagons. Before the railroad reached the area in 1889, Condon contracted
with a townsite and investment company for the establishment of the eponymous
town of Wilbur on the site of his ranch. The arrangement
guaranteed a railroad station for the new town.1
In 1882 and 1883, Lincoln County suffered from a most peculiar pest – the cricket
scourge. Myriads of large black crickets, measuring from one to two inches long,
swarmed out of the earth and up through the snow, and devastated the fields for
two seasons. Settlers combined their forces and dug ditches surrounding their
farms. Men and women worked day and night with brooms, sweeping the pests into
the ditches and destroying them. The bulk of their crop had been destroyed year
after year. Just about the time that the settlers were on the verge of yielding
in despair, there was a heavy rain, succeeded by frost. The crickets tumbled
into the pits to rise there from no more. Great was the rejoicing when it became
known that the cricket pest was exterminated.
The birth of Lincoln County dates from December 18, 1883, with Davenport named
as the temporary county seat. A considerable number of people were collected
around Davenport, Harrington, Mondovi and other points, while Sprague was a
growing town with a population of 600 or 700. In the general election of 1884,
the people were called upon to vote on the location of the county seat.
The election was hot and furious. In the end, the majority vote declared that Sprague was to
be the county seat. Charges of fraud were brought forward. One
thousand votes had been cast in Sprague – despite the fact that this was
nearly double the number of eligible voters in the town at the time.
In 1886, Dr. and Mrs. B.H. Yount, a physician and his wife, moved to the Condon Ranch and
lived in a board shack with a dirt floor and mud dripping into the little room
during the infrequent rains. Mrs. Yount, her sister Cora and Mrs. Dave Cole were the only
white women living at the Condon Ranch. Doctor Yount was called to care for patients
from a distance of 25 miles or more. Year after year he served Wilbur and the
surrounding territory beyond – bordered by Creston on the east, Coulee City on the west,
Wilson Creek on the south, and Keller on the north. Doctor Yount also served as
official physician for the Northern Pacific Railway Company in Wilbur area until
the time of his death. His son, Dr. Glen Yount, carried on his practice
until he too, died following World War II.2
Wilbur’s boom began in 1888. That year, the community had a hotel, two stores,
feed stables, blacksmith shops, a saloon and a drug store. A newspaper, the Wilbur Register, was founded in early 1889.
A post office was established in 1885
and a tri-weekly mail route began. Three large lumber mills were kept
running at full capacity in order to supply the lumber necessary for the
building of the increasing
number of homes and businesses. Wilbur was incorporated under
territorial law on May 25, 1889. The district court of the Fourth Judicial
District, sitting at Sprague, issued the decree incorporating the new town.3
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| Marion E. Hay |
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| Hay's Department Store |
While not the first businessman to establish himself in the new town of Wilbur, Marion E. Hay did become its best known merchant, rising to serve as Washington’s governor from 1909 until 1913. Hay arrived in Wilbur early in 1889 and set up shop. His store prospered and eventually became one of the largest country retail mercantile businesses on the West Coast.4
Hay’s Department Store, founded in the early 1890s, developed into one of the
largest stores in eastern Washington. It was unique, handling everything from a
needle to a threshing machine. A bookkeeper’s cage was to be found on the
mezzanine. Inside the store people could go directly from
one department to the next – from furniture to hardware to the grocery store. From groceries, one went directly into dry goods.
In the back of the dry goods section hung ready made dresses and coats in the clothing department with
its millinery shop. Full
length mirrors in golden oak frames reflected the people who passed in front of
them. Hats were back there too, and the shoe department. Those departments,
with the many aisles and tables for the bolts of cloth and linens took up, the
largest area of the complex. Shoes for the family, coats, dresses, overalls,
work shirts, underwear, patterns hats, bedding, and needles and pins were
staples.
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|
Town of Wilbur |
The hardware department’s tall moveable ladder, that slid along a track from the front end of the store to the back, leaned against the west wall. The wall was was lined with dozens of labelled drawers holding screws and nails and all the small hardware necessary for the repair and maintenance of farm machinery. Coleman lanterns, coils of chain, and barrels of spikes were part of the stock that farmers could count on finding in the store. Behind the store, the whole area was fenced to encompass large pieces of John Deere farm machinery displayed there.
The store was purposely built several feet off the ground with the sidewalks
proportionately high in order that farmers might easily load their wagons
from the walk. At either end of the block short wooden inclines led down to
the street. Through the spaces between boards of the walk, silt, dust and
rain easily filtered through. Under there boys hunted for money that had
been dropped.5
"Main Street and beyond had a remarkable variety of businesses. In the west block
were Bandy’s Drug Store, Sherman Clay’s, Wilbur Meat Company, the Wilbur Bank,
and the Livery and Feed Stable. Lawyer Love had his office above Bandy’s Drug
Store. Beyond this block was the Madsen Hotel, with both sleeping rooms and a
dining room to serve townspeople and travelers.
"In the east block were Gray’s Newstand and the M.E. & E.T. Hay Department Store,
which took up three-quarters of the block. On the other side of the street was
Bump’s pool hall. The brick grocery store with the lodge hall above was at the
far end of the block. Around the corner was the post office.
"South of Main Street was the Chinese laundry. Beyond that lay the railroad
tracks on which the Northern Pacific Railroad brought mail, passengers and
freight. The ice house, past the red depot, was where the engines stopped.
Freight trains arrived early in the day to load wheat from the grain
warehouses bordering the tracks, or to load flour from the Columbia River
Milling Company. "6
The financial panic of 1893 hit the Hay business hard, leaving him with little
chance of collecting the $400,000 in accounts receivable on his books. He
managed to remain in business without the necessity of forcing the wholesale
foreclosures on any but a few individuals who actually attempted to escape
paying their debts. Farmers in the Wilbur area told how they had gone to Hay and
offered to sign their farms to him as a means of paying off their debts. He
refused to accept their offers, telling them that their success was his. His
faith paid off, and he lost very little of the money owed him.
By the turn of the century, the community boasted church representation from the
Catholics, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Evangelical Lutherans, and
German Lutherans. In 1888 the spiritual needs of the Catholics were taken care
of in a store building. In 1900, Sacred Heart Church was built on the south hill
of Wilbur. One of the most generous contributors to the building was M.E. Hay, a
non-Catholic, who provided a gift of six lots and $200 in cash. The first
resident priest arrived in 1906.
In 1908,
Sacred Heart Catholic Church undertook to drill a well on its property on
the south hill. The well furnished more water than was needed by the
church. After a time of disuse, the town negotiated with the church to
use the well for domestic purposes. Water patrons joked that they were
getting "holy water" ever time they turned on their faucets.7
Sherman
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|
Town of Sherman |
On August 13, 1888, George Sherman signed the township of Sherman and platted out the “streets and alleys” with three distinct main lines: Douglas Street, Sherman Street and Lincoln Street. (This document is sealed with George Sherman’s own seal and is now framed in museum glass in the Wilbur Museum.)
The town of Sherman was 10 miles northeast of Wilbur. The first settlers came
about 1880 and by 1885 the Sherman area was rapidly being settled, most of the
families locating between Sherman and the Columbia River. Many of the early
settlers were Civil War veterans, a large group coming from Virginia. The post
office at Sherman was run by George W. Sherman from its beginning in 1884 until
about 1898. Rural free postal delivery from Wilbur was established in 1905 when
the railroad came to Wilbur so the post office at Sherman was discontinued.
Buildings in Sherman included the post office, a blacksmith shop, two or three
family residences and the Redwine store with a dance hall upstairs. Soon after
1885, the Redwine store was sold and the building was moved to Creston. The
merchandise was moved to the post office building and George Sherman and his
mother ran the post office and the store. George Sherman never married.
In
approximately 1888, Arthur B. Cort, his wife and two children moved into the area about 2 miles north
of Sherman.
Herbert Jones declared Cort to be "quite outstanding
in many ways. He taught our school one term and I got the idea that an education
might be worthwhile."8 (Jones himself went on to teach at
the Potlatch School, where he taught Effie, Joe,
George and Maude Kunz. Effie took the 8th grade examination and got a
diploma.9) After teaching at the school Arthur Cort got the idea of starting an academy at
his place where those who desired could get a little more schooling than was
offered in the public school. He made an old log barn over into a school
building and a few other cheap places were added where students could batch,
bringing food from their homes. He added a few more teachers and the Cortland
Academy and Business College came into operation. The first semester
opened in 1889, offering a
curriculum of commercial studies, a course in teaching, a classical course, and
elementary studies for both adults and children. The list of names who attended
this school included Jones, Wynhoff, Johnson,
but no Simons nor Kunz.
"It was proposed to build a town to be called Cortland at this college.
Forty acres were to be platted and placed on the market. The lots were to
be sold to families on the following plan. Those paying $100 tuition to the
academy and erecting a building at a cost of $150 were to be given a warranty
deed for a lot. No saloons or immoral houses were to be allowed to operate
with[in] the limits of the proposed college town."10 A store,
owned by Mr. Pendleton, was located in the
center of town. A well was dug and a town pump installed, and a telegraph line
was built to Cortland in 1891. There were twelve houses, sheltering nearly 100
persons. In June of 1891, the Lincoln County Times printed a flattering
endorsement for the Academy.
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|
Sherman (Cortland) Church |
Cortland grew into quite a community. (The small Presbyterian Church, built in 1898 in Cortland, was eventually moved and now stands near the Sherman Cemetery.) Sunday school and church were started as Arthur B. Cort was a Presbyterian minister and his wife was an educated woman, especially in music. Mrs. Cort had the first organ in the area. It was just a little thing that one could carry, but it added much to the community.
Despite the
hard work of the Corts and the support of the local paper, Cortland Academy
was not a financial success and by 1892 it had ceased to exist.
Pendleton’s store did not last very long either, and in 1893, the
merchandise was sold to the storekeeper at Sherman.
Cortland Academy was not the only school in the region, however. In 1894 a new school house was built at Sherman with volunteer labour. Yet the civic encouragement of education only went so far among the local population. An election in 1897 in this district resulted in an almost 100 % vote against providing free textbooks.
For about 4 or 5 years around 1900 Sherman was quite a lively place. The Baptist
and Presbyterian churches were very active. The new people coming from Virginia,
including the Copenhavers, were active in these churches as well as in other community
affairs. For several years there was a Literary and Debating Society at Sherman.
Herbert E. Jones writes of his recollections about the Sherman area:
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|
Chief Moses |
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|
Chief Joseph |
I remember quite well the first 4th of July we celebrated in Sherman. I suppose there were as many Indians as whites. Indians were camped all around and they had ponies for sale.... The flat up by Bob Houston’s was all open and that was the race track. Indians always liked horse racing. Chief Moses always had good race horses. I saw Chief Joseph a few times and Chief Moses many times.11
A young
people’s group known as the Baptist Young People’s Society was organized in
Sherman and they, along with the young people’s group from the Presbyterian
Church, were responsible for many New Year’s watch parties, skating parties,
basket socials and other activities. A Baptist church was built near
where the community hall stands. Sunday school and church services
were held there until 1898 when it was decided to move to Cortland.
The move split the congregation and a minority elected to stay at Sherman
for Sunday school. This split led eventually to the church being
united with the Baptist church in Wilbur and the church building was torn
down.
The neighbourhood was not without its bad times. There was no doctor
closer than Sprague until 1896 when Dr.Yount arrived in Wilbur. The situation
seemed particular dangerous in the 1890s when a case of cholera was reported at Brents in 1892 and
the entire community was quarantined with smallpox in 1899.
But the turn
of the century also brought with it the hope of opening Sherman to the
larger world somewhat.
The railroad survey of 1891 gave hope that the Great Northern Railroad would be
coming through on the old Sherman-Sprague route. This did not come to
pass, though. The railroad did not pass through Sherman, but reached
only Wilbur in 1889.
The Sons of Veterans, a patriotic group, was organized in 1890. In the spring of
1893 the Grand Army of the Republic and the Sons of Veterans erected a hall at
Sherman for the use of the two orders and the public. The two organizations with
the greatest impact on the community have been the Sherman Cemetery Association
and the Sherman Swastika Ladies Club, the latter of which was organized in 1912 to
maintain and improve the Sherman Cemetery. ("Swastika" was chosen as a name because the emblem stood
for friendship and charity. During the Nazi reign in Germany the swastika no
longer carried an untarnished reputation, so the name of the club was changed to
the Sherman Cemetery Club.) Bazaars and other entertainment were
sponsored to raise funds.
As of the turn of the millennium, the community hall still stands, used as a storage building by Lary Kunz. The old Presbyterian Church dominates the horizon near the cemetery,
which is well kept and frequently visited. Although Sherman never grew to be
more than a small village and the post office closed its doors almost 100 years
ago, in 2005, there is still a sense of community pride among residents of the
area.
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1 Donald E. Walter, ed. Lincoln County: A Lasting Legacy. Davenport, WA: Lincoln County Centennial Committee, 1988, p 403.
2 Ibid., p 404.
3 Ibid., p 405.
4 Ibid., p 408.
5 Helen Gray Christopher. Double Entry. PanPress Publishers, 1997, p 10.
6 Description of the town from a 1912 picture and accompanying text from Helen Gray Christopher, Double Entry. PanPress Publishers, 1997.
7 Richard F. Steele and Arthur P. Rose. An Illustrated History of the Big Bend Country Embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin Counties, State of Washington, Western Historical Publishing Company, 1904, p 210.
8 Herbert E. Jones, Early History of the Big Bend Country, 1963, p 10.
9 Ibid., p 21.
10 Ibid., p 10.
11 Ibid., p 11, 13.
