Wilson Creek area 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.

Now we present the story of the Oliver family by Mrs. Alice N. Oliver.

Owners of the Wilson Creek Café from 1932 through 1936. Also Doctor W. G. Oliver, M.D. was the owner of the Wilson Creek Tavern from 1933 through 1936.

The Olivers lived a very quiet and serene life in Wilson Creek. Alice Oliver ran a very fine cafe. She took great pride in the fact that every Great Northern train crew stopped in Wilson Creek to eat their meals because they maintained her café was the best eating place between Wenatchee and Spokane.

Dr. Oliver was a M.D., but retired from the profession when he moved to Wilson Creek. Doctor did have one experience which should be remembered by most Wilson Creek old timers. In 1934, an armed man came into the tavern to rob Doctor. He wrestled the man for possession of the weapon, but lost.

The robber struck the doctor over the head with the butt-end of the revolver discharging the weapon and killing the robber. The gun butt left quite a wound in Doc Oliver's head, but he recovered and continued to run his tavern business until he and his wife moved from Wilson Creek.

After selling their businesses and leaving Wilson Creek in 1936, the Olivers purchased a few acres of irrigated land and moved to Spokane Valley. The doctor passed away in 1942 in Spokane and Alice Oliver passed away in 1946 at the home of her daughter, Marge McCormick, Mrs. Charles "Chuck" C. McCormick.

Today we conclude the story of the Mickelson family:

Eos lived on the family farm until he married, after which he had a restaurant in Wilson Creek. Later moved to Spokane and then bought a farm in Othello. He had three children: Bob, Glenn and Velma. Due to health problems he lived with his son Bob and family in Dayton during his later years, where he passed away. The children are married and have families of their own.

Cora married Russell Parker, formerly of Seattle, in 1916. They lived on the Dahlgren farm several years, later moved to Bonners Ferry. They had two children: Dorothy and Dwain. Dorothy married Ray Taber, formerly of North Dakota, and live in San Carlos, Calif. with their two girls. Dwain married Kathy from Bonners Ferry. They have two children: Dale, going to University in Seattle.

Russell is married, lives in Tenino. Dwain has been principal of the school in Tenino for a number of years. Russell passed away a number of years ago. Cora still lives in Bonners Ferry.

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 Sept. 28, 1950:

Phyllis Frick wins 4-H scholarship

Phyllis Frick, a member of the Marlin Better Homemakers 4-H Club, has won the 1950 scholarship provided by the Standard Oil Company of California for junior 4-H leaders who have made an outstanding contribution to 4-H work in their communities and counties. This is the first time such an award has been given. It consisted of providing the dues expenses of attending state 4-H club camp which Phyllis attended in June.

A junior 4-H leader in each county in Washington was eligible to receive a scholarship. Phyllis is one of five junior leaders in Grant County. It is her eighth year in club work and the fourth year she has take leadership responsibility. At county 4-H camp Phyllis taught the class in shell craft and was advisor for the camp paper.

Grant County 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 Soap Lake by Paul Klasen Sr. recorded May 11, 1976:

Somebody had the brilliant idea to build a water tower out on the lake and it was about 40 feet high. They thought that would be a great place to set off the fireworks and so, sure enough, when 4th of July came the men went up there, put all their fireworks up there and of course there was a miscue and all the fireworks went off at once.

One poor fellow got burned pretty badly and he took to the water. That's one thing that saved them. They had a place to go. They jumped right into the water. All the fireworks went off at once.

In addition to the hotel, we had what we called the McDonald Building. It had a nice hardwood dance floor and they gave dances there. The man in charge would charge 10 cent a dance. He'd sell tickets and during the intermission you'd buy the tickets and during the intermission he'd pick up the tickets and the dance would go on. That lasted for several years. Later on they charged general admission.

The highway was all gravel in the early days. I don't know whether the county was running it or the state, but anyway all the equipment they had was a one-ton truck that pulled a little old drag behind something like a blade and it was all that a one-ton truck would pull. The roads were very wash-boardy. We had people come to Soap Lake on stretchers and they would have to travel in the baggage car.

We used our trucks to bring these patients into town, and it happened quite a number of times. I sure would feel sorry for those people that were in that condition and would have to ride those wash-board roads; especially one time I didn't have the pneumatic tires on, I had the hard tires. That poor fellow was sure complaining about the ride.

The baggage man on the train said they didn't appreciate having those fellows come in on a stretcher, because sometimes they had an attendant and sometimes there wasn't an attendant and they didn't like to have the worry of having a sick person on the train.

We had an evening train that came in from Wenatchee and a night train that came from Wenatchee. Well it didn't come from Wenatchee, but came through Wenatchee. It came from Seattle and went all the way to St. Paul.

The through train came through at midnight and for a short time we even had a night man to take care of it. The laundry and everything that came to Soap Lake came by rail. There was no other way to do it. If you went to Wenatchee you had to ferry or go by way of Waterville to go over the bridge. There was no road going up to Coulee.

I don't know how many times the post office changed, but it had to move every once in a while. When it first came it just had a little corner in the store, one of the grocery stores. There was a little corner fenced off for the post office. Later on, when that store burned, they moved it to another place and they kept moving it around.

I have pictures of the old Soap Lake School and the Grant Orchards School.

The lake level one night came up high. It was very high. Of course, there were different opinions as to what caused it. During, I think it was 1916 or 1917, they had a big snow. Some thought it was that, but I think it was the early settlers up at Grant Orchards. They built a ditch from Stratford.