The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1922-12-22
WINTER OF THE BIG SNOW.

About every winter when the firs
white herbinger of that season makel
its appearance 1t is the habit of OLE
timers to burnish up tneir memorie,
and recall stories OF the big snow
that covered eastern Washington dur
ing the winter of 1889. There hat
been big SHOWS" previous to tha
date since the country was first set
tied, and numerous big SHOWS" since
that date, and often controversies
nave arisen as to which of the "bia
snows' was entitled to the blue rib.
bon. During a residence of forty years
IN eastern Washington, as our first
arrival dated back in December. 1882
we nave more or less vivid recollec-
tons of number of SHOWS worthy OF
the prefix big, but 1t seems to us
that that Of the winter of 1889 top
ped anything Of like kind in our ex-
Iperience.
That winter We were living in DAY.
enport and there are incidents con-
nected with the storm that made the
winter famous that are not easily for
gotten. AT that time the Spokane, Sc
attic & Eastern railroad was con-
structed from Spokane to Davenport.
Tlis was an ambitious transportation
project that from its name would in
dicate that its object was a transcon-
tinental railroad from tide water to
some indefinate point in the east. 1t
was born in the brain of that bunch
OF rustlers who took a conspicuous
part in boosting Spokane Falls in the
days Of its first flower. Those birds
halted at nothing, and grabbed at the
proposition Of building transcontin-
entail railroad as promptly as they
would Of grading some city street. It
was one of many projects having for
its aim the upbuilding of Spokane
Falls that the town people took hold
Of financed and carried out to more
or less successful conclusion. Rgnt off
the bat the residents of Spokane Falls
subscribed $1S5,0OO toward the con-
struction Of the Spokane, Seattle &
Eastern railroad, and work commence
ed out Of Spokane Falls with Seattle
as the objective as the first link in the
proposed highway. Construction never
got beyond Davenport, but for several
lyears trains ran over the road from
Spokane to that terminus. Today that
railroad is only memory and the
cuts and grades along the right Of
way are probably wholly obliterated
The hard winter Of 1889 was a
Eastern. A member Of our family who
had been visiting in Spokane Falls,
returned to Davenport on the evening
train over this road December 31st
and that night snow commenced fall
ing. 1t was no such snow storm as the
people of this valley have experienced
in the last rs years. The immaculate
precipitation came down like q
blanket, the wind roared and drifts
piled into miniature mountains. From
that date until late In March not a
wheel turned on the Spokane, Seattle
'& Eastern railroad. The road was
tied up into a hard knot, and in order
even at last to clear the track Ice and
snow had to be blasted out Of the cuts
that were level full and tmpervious to
pick and shovel,
| What depth the snow reached on a
level we are not prepared to say, but
for days the town was cut off from all
communication with the country. We
remember that fuel famine followed
and wood scared so high that one had
to mortgage his property in order to
get sufficient fuel to keep worm. Not
anticipating anything Of the kind, as
the fall and winter up to that period
had been mild, we had not provided the
Times office with wood, and we were
| in dilemma, for a printing office
without heat in wiater Is as useless
as a laundry without water. In this
emergency wagon loaded with two
cords of wood and drawn by six aorses
came in sight. Even on Main street
4 the horses floundered in the snow al
most breat high. That wood We had
to have and hailed the driver. Yes, he
would sell, but he demanded $18 a
cord. Thirty-two dollars at one
crack. whew! For fortnight people
had not been moving about and tne
office treasury was on the ragged
edge. But wood had to be had. Charley
May, cashier of the bank. next door
Land one Of the most generous men
who ever did business in the Big Bend
came to the rescue and financed the
deal. And that reminds us that profit
!eering is not always confined to wal
industrial babies. The wood was
Thrown off in the snow and after the
man had delivered 1t We had tns
wood piled up and measured. 1t meas
Iured ND a trifle over cord and al
eighth We did not see that farmer fol
six months, and then when we bonet
him for a come back he had tn
audacity to laugh in our face, deciar
anp taat the wood was worth tn
: money even if 1t ran cord short, con
sidering the hardships he had under
gone getting it to town. And we tnel
|, and there acknowledged that ne wa
correct. But that is only a side issue
That storm, and repetitions at reg
u,ar intervals was a stemwinder, an
lbas always been retired to as a.
, onoch making event in the history
. fac eastern part Of the state. In
drifts fingered long and the sprin
= wos late. One monsterous DRIFT Il
srort NJ o,irr residence was coastih
e place for the kiddies well in'o Apr.
a The damage done by tnat s'orl
could he estimated. STOCK me