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 Mrs. Knapp recorded May 11, 1976:

Well during those years they used to have a place down in the middle of town as the things grew up a little and we used to sing this song "Here comes the girls with the hobble skirts, you can hug 'em and squeeze 'em just as much as ya like, but you can't get their hobbles above their knees." That's the way it used to be then, but now you know the hobbles are above the knees you can't get 'em below.

Then when I got through grade school I went to Wenatchee, to Ephrata and went one year through high school. Then I had a brother that lived in Port Townsend, I think it was, and I went and stayed with them in my second year of high school and then my third year, I can't quite remember, but I think I came back to Ephrata. And then on my fourth year I went to Wenatchee. I started to go to high school and I quit and went to business college. Then when I got through business college I went to work.

Then I went to Montana. I went to Clinton, Iowa. I went back to Aberdeen, Washington. Then I got married. Then I moved to Portland, Oregon on Jan. 1, 1922 and my husband went to Dental College and was a dentist there for 36 and a half years . He passed away about 18 years ago, with cancer. And I've been alone there ever since, until, let's see about a month and a half ago my Niece and husband from Soap Lake came and got me and brought me home with them. I'm going to live with them, I guess, the rest of my life.

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 Jan. 7, 1949:

22 deer sighted near Moses Lake

Deer were sighted Tuesday afternoon within five miles of Moses Lake by Bert King and Eino Kinnunen as they drove home from Ritzville. King said there were 22 in the herd, standing quietly in the snow about 500 feet off the highway.

First Aid course starts with 18

Eighteen persons were on hand Monday night when Red Cross first aid instruction was begun, with W.P. Simmons as instructor. The class will meet from 7 to 10 p.m. on Monday and Thursday night for the next three weeks, Simmons said, for the standard first aid course.

The advanced course, of two additional week's instruction, will be offered immediately following the standard course, Simmons added, and those who complete the first course will be welcomed at that time.