Columbia Basin history

The Grant County Historical Society has compiled several volumes of Grant County history. The books are available for purchase at the Historical Society Museum gift shop in Ephrata.

I bought the series in 2009 and secured permission to relay some of the history through this column.

Memories of Grant County, compiled from taped interviews by the Grant County Historical Society.

Today we continue the story of the Rev. John H. Dills, given by grandson George G. Schiffsen on Nov. 11, 1975:

We had a neighbor, bachelor homesteader, who lived about five miles from us. We will call him Brownlow. He was a good farmer. He treated his horses exceptionally well, but he was addicted to drink. It was a 25 mile drive to market his wheat at Wilson Creek. While there over night, he would drink and next day he could hardly stay on the high seat of his wheat wagon. However, his intelligent, faithful horses would bring him home without much guidance.

One day he had too much, and fell from his seat, caught in the wagon gear and not being able to get loose, was drug along for miles in the dusty road. The faithful horses stopped at his barn. Later on, neighbors found his bedraggled, dead body. His sisters came from Nebraska, took his poor body back for burial, and told the sad story of how they had hoped that their brother would reform after coming to a sparsely settled, new country.

His sisters, his family, were fine people and they hated strong drink. Yet, we are now told that it is smart to take cocktails! We had another bachelor homesteader who brought some type of drug, let it get mixed with some ginger cakes, got drunk, ate the cakes and the result was his mouth and his eyes were so swollen that he could not talk or see. Mrs. Dills walked across our Coulee hill about two miles to minister to him. Yet, we hear that men of distinction drink certain brands of whiskey.

Mrs. Dills and two of her special lady friends of Spokane filed on "timber and stone" public land in the John Day country in Oregon. They had a thrilling trip there twice before they got title for the land. It cost about $500 and this was on borrowed money, but Mrs. Dills sold her timber for $1,600, and this enabled us to dig our well, buy machinery and make a payment on the Morgan quarter just north of our homestead.

About this time we acquired the 40 by buying Skrip, also on borrowed money. We now had 360 acers of land. Our wheat crops were poor and our children needed better schools.

Now after the mellowing years, I look back and ask myself, what kind of people were our neighbor homesteaders? I will not speak of the German?Russian. They were people unto themselves. I loved them but did not like them.

But who and what were the others? They were landless, poor people. Three fourths of them were bachelors, and rather strange. They were restless, and some were a shiftless sort. Some of them were immoral. A few were drunkards. A few of these bachelors married, but withal, I liked them. We got along with them.

All of us have happy memories of our near neighbors: the Grays, the Fillians, the Brockmillers and the wholesome Mitchel girls who romped all over their homestead ranch and rode their calves. We loved the Gray children, especially the two youngest, brother and sister. Mrs. Killian loved to have our girls visit her and ransack her cupboard for good things to eat. Her only daughter died, she loved ours. Mr. Jeff Killian was a quaint, wise man, and I loved to hear him talk. The Brockmillers were true friends when Mrs. Dills needed a friend. Were these people religious? No. If any were church members, they left their membership and most of their religion back across the Rockies, but down in their hearts, they were not bad.

E-mail from Cheryl

Facts from the past gleaned from the Moses Lake Herald, Columbia Basin Herald and The Neppel Record by Cheryl (Driggs) Elkins:

From the Columbia Basin Herald on July 27, 1950:

Junction here clocks more cars than Wenatchee Bridge

More traffic passes the main intersection in Moses Lake than uses the Columbia River Bridge at Wenatchee.

Nearly twice as much traffic comes to Moses Lake from Larson Ari Force Base as goes the other direction, toward Ephrata and Soap Lake.

These are findings of the state highway department and the Grant County Road Engineers' Office, it was learned by The Herald this week, as the result of traffic counts made in the Moses Lake area.

The junction of Broadway and Alder streets, where the Moses Lake-Ephrata county road feeds into U.S. 10, the main cross state highway, handled 9,835 vehicles in a 16-hour period July 11, according to James Gray, engineer attached to the Wenatchee District Office of the State Highway Department.

More about the busy intersection of Broadway and Alder streets next week.

Wilson Creek History

The Rev. David H. Crawford compiled and published a history of families in and surrounding Wilson creek titled, "Family Memories of Wilson Creek Area." The book was printed in 1978, which was the 75th anniversary of the town.

David's son, John Crawford, has given permission for those memories to be a part of this column.

Today we backtrack a bit and then continue the story of Erhard Hirschel by Howard Hirschel:

Sad occurrence

There also is a report of an auto wreck that occurred about a mile and a half north of Wilson Creek in which a teacher of the Timm School was killed and Erhard injured.

Miss Ella Cook, who boarded at the Harry Hirschel home received notice of her father being near death in California. Erhard was taking her to meet the night train in Seattle where her prother lived and from where she would have continued her journey to California.

It was a dark moonless night and about 9:30 they ran into a bunch of loose horses on the roadway. The car overturned throwing Miss Cook out and into the rocks killing her instantly.

This incident has been mentioned because it is part of the Wilson Creek story. It was a sad occurrence.

Today we begin the story of Harry Henry Christian Hirschel by Howard Hirschel.

Harry Henry Christian Hirschel, the eldest son of Adam and Emma M. Hirschel was a young lad when they arrived in Wilson Creek on October 18, 1901.

He had been born at Jackson, Minnesota on Dec. 5, 1892. Some may say that his parents loved him so much, that they named him three times. The names, Henry and Christian, were those of his grandfathers, so I presume he was given the name Harry to avoid confusion. He was known as Harry, but his signature was H. H. C. Hirschel.

One of Harry's first tasks in the new country was to assist in moving the livestock to the 320 acre home, north of town, where his father was to begin the arduous task of establishing himself and family.

His father, Adam, had sold some of their belongings before coming west. He brought some machinery with him. As near as I can determine, it consisted of, a wagon, harrow, disc, and a single plow, sometimes referred to as a walking plow, or a foot burner. The plow was pulled by two or three horses and was controlled by the driver who walked behind it. It is easy to understand why the plowman would call it foot burner after trailing it for hours.

A small portion of the land was made ready for planting the first year. It was necessary to hire the harvesting done the first year, due to lack of the required machinery.

The second year a two bottom plow was purchased along with additional horses to pull it. Additional equipment was accumulated as soon as it could be afforded. Eventually the buildings were erected, the livestock was increased, and a well was dug. A McCormick header was purchased to cut the grain, so it could be stacked to await the threshing crew.

The three brothers grew to manhood and pooled their efforts, to gradually assume the farming operation, under the name of Hirschel Brothers. In due time the combined harvester appeared. These machines were pulled by horses and mules. The power to drive the machinery was derived from the large wheels that the harvester rode upon. The first harvester had a 16-foot header. It was replaced by a 20-foot Harrington harvester that required 32 head of horses or mules to pull it.

June 18, 1913 was a red letter day for Harry Hirschell and Lillie Roschmann. They were married in the City of Wilson Creek by the Rev. Helmer.

They went to the Frank Vorba farm north of town. They were able to improve their farming equipment and were able to afford the luxury of a 1917 model T Ford. Harry escaped the draft of World War I. The next call would have included him.

It was a happy time until August 5, 1919. On that sad day his wife, Lillie, passed away, to be followed about one month later by her infant daughter. Harry placed the little one in the care of his aunt, Sophia Helmke, and he along with his other children, Howard and Eleanor, returned to the parental home of Adam Hirschel. Time is a great healer, but the scars of memory will always remain.

Harry continued to carry on his part of the farming operation. His sister Clara had taken over the responsibility of the household labors. The time came when Clara, and her sister, Ida, left home to pursue a life of their own. It was then that Adam, the father incurred the duties of housekeeper.

Eventually, as brother Ben's health deteriorated, the father, Adam, left home to care for his son. This necessitated the hiring of a housekeeper from time to time. Sarah L. (Semro) Swartz, with her two young sons, George and Donald, was one of those hired. On February 19, 1929, Harry and Sarah were married at Davenport.

Sarah's three daughters and her oldest son came to visit from time to time, but live in the Spokane area.