#10 Prairie Pioneers

A few years ago I joined a genealogy club in Palm Desert to hone my ancestry research skills.
I remember being surprised to learn at one club meeting that there are people, legions of people, who roam the cemeteries of rural America looking for clues to their family history, and the history of others' families.  It's not a surprising practice, really.  Gravestones often provide salient family history clues that one can't find in the Office of Public Records.  There's even a highly regarded genealogy website with the macabre name of "www.findagrave.com".  Who knew?

Well now I know. So that explains why I hit the brakes on a quiet 2-lane stretch of highway just west of Davenport, Washington.  I'd seen a roadsign pointing the way to "Old Cemetery Road."  I was intrigued.  I turned.  And I was amazed...

I know that skulking around graveyards isn't everybody's cup of tea. So this may be where you want to close down your computer and go watch reruns of "Friends."

But if you'd like to explore the fascination, the thrill of real world historic discovery?  Read on.
Look at some of these photos. And consider the stories behind the lives of some of Washington state's earliest pioneers.

For reference, remember that...
• Lewis and Clark didn't reach the Columbia River until 1806, a section of the Columbia that was far away from Washington's truly remote northeast.
• The Oregon Trail, active from the 1840s through the 1870s, brought settlers to the Oregon territory, also far to the south of northeast Washington Territory.
• The Washington Territory wasn't ceded by the British Empire until 1846.
• Marcus Whitman, a missionary who the first white settlers into the Walla Walla region of eastern Washington was killed by in 1847 by indians angry that only native men were dying from the diseases the white men introduced.  Over the next several decades almost no settlers were living in the northeastern part of the state.
• The first American settlers in the northeast were squatters J.J. Downing with his wife & stepdaughter, and S.R. Scranton, built a cabin and established a claim at Spokane Falls in 1871.
• By 1881,  the Northern Pacific Railway was competed (it's western Terminus was Tacoma), and the first significant settlement in the northeast began.
So... bottom line:  Anyone living in the northeast portion of Washington in the second half of the 19th Century was a pioneer.  A true pioneer.

This is what a seeker of pioneer history finds at the end of Cemetery Road. Imagine this place blanketed in snow in the winter.

Sarah was born in 1812...

Orson Tucker came to northeast Washington frontier from Zuba County, Colorado. He died in 1859 at age 47.  What a remarkable life he must have lived.

The fact that pioneer William Reiland lived for 80 years and 4 months was more remarkable to his survivors than the dates of his birth & death, which are not noted on his gravestone (surrounded by other gravestones no newer than 1906.)

The fact that Catherine's life should be summarized merely as being the wife of John C. Martin is a stunning insight into the gender inequality of the pioneer years. Other pioneer women's graves were similarly inscribed.

Richard Sullivan died as an infant out on the wild American frontier.

Joseph and Aglaee, laid to rest side-by-side, apparently never married. 

An arrangement that was less shocking than practical, perhaps?

Alphonso. Lived to be nearly 100 years old. Aglaee's son. But apparently not Joseph's son?

Velma & Lester were married for 65 years. Living on the remote plains of northeast Washington. "All you need is love."  What better testimony to a life well lived?

#9 Grand Coulee detour

The Grand Coulee Dam.  A remarkable achievement.  From an engineering standpoint. From an environmental standpoint.  From an historical standpoint. From a cultural standpoint. Truly remarkable.

Want to be impressed?
go to:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Coulee_Dam

I wanted to be impressed.  I wanted to see it.  So I re-routed my return to Tacoma.  Instead of driving southwest on I-90 out of Spokane, I drove due west on U.S. Highway 2.  Toward Waterville, Wenachee.  In the eye-blink burg of Wilbur, about 80 miles out of Spokane, I turned onto Washington State Highway 174, heading northwest.  It is a magnificent drive. Stark and scenic beyond description.  And right in the middle of a return loop afforded by the junction of state Highway 155 is the mighty Columbia River.  STOPPED there by the Grand Coulee Dam.

Photos don't capture the enormity of what it is, where it is.  IMO? The only way to get a true sense of its remarkable presence is to drive there.  Across miles and miles of open landscape.  And look.

Even these apparently small bits of the dam would appear BIG anyplace else.

Concrete.  Steel.  Rock.  And water...

"Damn!"

Making the upriver crossing of the Columbia on a steel-truss bridge, now nearly 100 years old...

... the fragile native (reservation) town of Coulee Dam attempts to lure visitors with one of the most tired looking and uninspiring Casinos in the Northwest.  No, I didn't go in.  I don't suspect many visitors do.

And now...  do you REALLY want to be impressed?
Then consider this:  The Grand Coulee Dam, once the most stupendous hydro-electric edifice ever conceived by humankind, is not even among the TOP 40 of the mega-dams now controlling the rivers of Mother Earth.  If we're going to be honest about it?  The Grand Coulee Dam is an artifact of the late Industrial Age.  Humbling.

Want to be really, really impressed (and alarmed)?  Then check out China's recently completed Three Gorges Dam. It is truly immense.  And some say, a disaster waiting to happen.
go to:  https://www.internationalrivers.org/campaigns/three-gorges-dam

#8 Roadside Attractions

Washington author Tom Robbins earned the cult-like worship of literate hippies and other social rebels back in the '70s & '80s.  His first book, Another Roadside Attraction, was the story of a quirky-but-lovable commune of Northwest ragamuffins who operated a roadside Flea Circus in Mount Vernon, in western Washington's scenic Skaggit Valley.  Few motorists were lured in by the promise of performing fleas, so a plan was set afoot to add the (Stop Press! Newly found!) Body of Jesus to their menu of remarkable attractions....  Right.  A good, rollicking read.

And when Road Tripping on today's highways and byways in rural Washington?  There are still plenty of Roadside Attractions to capture the interest of passing motorists.  More often than not, these Roadside Attractions are not meant to be odd or provocative.  But to the many urban-oriented, over-educated motorists, like me, whizzing past in their uber-cool European travel boxes, the Ordinary of eastern Washington can be appreciated as Authenticity of the Most Extra-Ordinary kind.  Some photos...

This huge complex of old, metal-sided ag/industrial buildings along the Spokane River seemed to me to be the eastern Washington equivalent of a medieval castle compound in Tuscany...

As impressive as these Creston grain silos may be...

...the most impressive thing to be found in Creston is the neon sign for Billy Burgers.  Yes, I stopped. And no, the burger is nowhere near as impressive as the sign. Wish I'd've been able to see it at night!
(the sign, not the burger...) 

The Boorman Greenacres windmill/water pump isn't the charming historical remnant of pioneer days. It's nearly new. It's how this inland farmer gets his water from the underground aquifer.

The grain-farming town of Davenport has been around for 140+ years.  The local economy hasn't changed much in that time...

... although one thing in Davenport that has changed, apparently, is the operation of Stockland, a livestock auction site with a vast, seemingly abandoned grid of out-back corrals. Presumably livestock are now transported by 18-wheelers to distant mega-sized auction sites.

Who would believe that a small town merchant could make a living from a retail shop that primarily sells... letter jackets?  Well, at least it was located just a couple of blocks from the high school.

Not so difficult to believe is the existence of this enterprise alongside the Interstate in Liberty, Washington.  They fix RV rooftops. At first glance, you wonder, "How in the world...?"  But then you realize:  "If I have a leaky RV rooftop, where can I get it fixed?"  Well, it's no big deal for someone with an RV to simply schedule the repair for the next time they happen to be driving along I-90 in eastern Washington.  A specialist service for the mobile, real-world economy of the 21st Century.  The proprietor is probably doing very well.

Certainly the STRANGEST Roadside Attraction I spotted on this trip was the Chinese Gardens restaurant about 10 miles west of the Washington/Idaho state line.  Bizarre. Not the restaurant itself, mind you. Chinese restaurants can be found anywhere.  Not even their promise of cocktails & dancing. (Imagine...)  But what was truly bizarre was the single vehicle parked in front. A snow-white hearse.   Oh, my.  It's a dark-humor cartoon just begging for the endless possibilities for irreverent captions:  "Tried the cocktails. Tried the dancing. Nope. Still dead."
Or...  
"Customer said chow mein didn't agree with him.  We've called a car." 

Tom Robbins would be smiling...

#7 Landscape

Motoring along. In silence. Taking it all in.
Lots to take in.  Like the stark beauty of the Columbia River Gorge...

The pure pastel perfection of the open prairie...

The glimpse of an iconic old barn...

The tenacious presence of an old farmstead in the midst of a winter-harsh land...

The pre-Internet, pre-Interstate communication & transportation infrastructure...

The purple mountain majesty, the fields of waving grain...

The Palouse...  eastern Washington's breadbasket to the world. 

The Upper Columbia... where Lewis & Clark paddled in 1806...  

Steamboat Rock State Park, where I hope to return in September... 

The abstract essence of eastern Washington's high desert...

#6 On The Road

What's the perfect vehicle for camping/touring/biking in the inland Northwest?
There are probably many 'perfect' vehicles for the task.

Any SUV can easily stash a folding clown bike and a bunch of camping gear.  But one of the very best choices for the varied demands of the Road Trip described here must certainly be the 1st generation model X3 from BMW.   It was the company's first ever SUV... they initially tried to insist that it be called a 'Sports Activity Vehicle' apparently in tepid defense of their 'ultimate driving machine' credibility. SUV? SAV? Who cares?  What matters is its practicality and performance and pure pleasure across a broad range of on-road & off-road demands while touring.  The X3 delivers...

My '06 X3?  It's especially well-suited to Northwest Road Trips because it's optioned with a very rare 6-speed manual transmission and the equally rare M-Sport Performance Package. These features provide unusual driver engagement when navigating the twists, the turns, the elevation changes and the vast distances encountered on Washington's rural highways.  The manual transmission and the AWD also combine to insure confidence-inspiring off-pavement competence (and foul-weather competence.) 

It's quiet, it's powerful, and it's nimble. It performs magnificently without working hard.  At 70mph it's loafing along, barely turning 2500 rpm in 6th gear.  It's ability to easily overtake slower-moving traffic on 2 or 3-lane roads -- downshift, pass, return, upshift -- makes for happy and stressless transit between two points.   

Due to its short wheelbase and its very firm M-Sport suspension, the X3's ride quality feels pretty choppy at low speeds around town.  But out on the open road?  The ride quality miraculously morphs into smooth, asphalt-gobbling comfort for the long haul.  I'm not sure how BMW achieves that...  Even when driving all day at speed, its silky-smooth 6-cylinder engine delivers 24mpg.  Add in the great driver-centric ergonomics & great all-around visibility....   And also add in the abject luxury of the giant sunroof that lets the Outside IN...  and you've got a Road Trip filled with Driver Delight.  
We won't mention the remarkably crisp sound system -- oops, just mentioned! -- because, curiously, I completed the nearly 1,000 miles of this high desert Road Trip without once turning on the radio or playing a CD.  This Road Trip was all about BEING out there. Present. In each passing moment.  With each passing mile.  A very, very nice place to be.  

Grateful me. 

#5 Call in the Cavalry

In Hollywood's mid-20th Century hey day of Western movie-making, the U.S. Cavalry was always depicted as noble, heroic.  A fiction, of course.

In Spokane's mid-20th Century, "loyal citizens" erected a monument to the U.S. Cavalry for what was described as their noble and heroic role in preventing northwest native peoples from waging war on white settlers. Cyclists on The Centennial Trail will find the monument right on the side of the river, about 10 miles east of town.

The monument carries an inscription: "In 1858, Colonel George Wright with 700 soldiers was sent from Walla Walla to suppress an indian outbreak.  After defeating the indians in two battles, he captured 800 indian horses. To prevent the indians from waging further warfare, he killed the horses on the bank directly north of this monument, erected 1946."  

Really?  A more accurate inscription might read as follows:  "In 1858, Native Americans who had been displaced from their ancestral hunting lands were driven to raiding pioneers' homesteads in order to feed their families. The U.S. Army was called upon to kill native warriors in a great 'ethnic cleansing.' The Army also cruelly killed the natives' horses, thereby denying them the means to hunt and sustain an independent livelihood."

The tragedy of this local genocide is all the more profound when one considers that the native people had lived in the Spokane area for a very long time. The Spokane tribe, ("children of the sun" in the Salishan language) are believed to be descended from ancestors whose local remains have been dated to 8,000-13,000 years ago.  For all those millennia, the Spokane people were hunter-gatherers who lived off plentiful fish and game... until European settlers ruthlessly destroyed their way of life in a matter of a few decades.

If it's now right to be removing statues of dubious "heroes" all across America, wouldn't it be right to remove this monument?

#4 Spokane

Thursday morning, Day #4.  There remained still one segment of The Centennial Trail that I wanted to ride.  The shortest and the most unique segment.  It was my Urban-Poke-About.  Downtown Spokane.  Good for a couple of hours after checking out of the hotel.

Spokane's lushly landscaped Riverfront Park was developed from the city's old industrial/transportation center as the focal point for the 1974 World's Fair. Residents will proudly and perversely tell you that no World's Fair has never been held in a smaller city (!)  The park features many public sculptures, a vintage carousel, an 'ice ribbon', a gondola terminal, and bridges & pathways aplenty, including a through route for The Centennial Trail. The impressive tower of the original Northern Pacific terminal is the only railroad vestige that still remains in what was once a very rail-centric downtown.  Park and Trail signs give details of the short yet fascinating history of this frontier river town. It wasn't until the late 19th Century that the native population was cruelly displaced or dispatched by the fortune-seeking men who brought hydro-power and the Northern Pacific to the side of the river.  Gonzaga University has a sprawling bike-friendly campus, just off the Trail; a pleasure to explore.

Sadly, Spokane was COVID-closed... so the streets were quiet, the people-scape was subdued.  Even The Runner photographed here seemed stuck in his tracks.  There were no tourists riding the gondola that dangles above the raging water works next to the Trail that passes by the Washington Water Power generating station. A lone Ice Slushee vendor was struggling to find customers on the very warm Spokane morning.

By noon I was done with my downtown Poke-About.  So I folded up my clown bike and tossed it into the back of the BMW.  And I began driving west.

#3 The WA2ID Segment

Whoa!  Where's this?  What's this?
That's no campsite.  No, it's the view from the balcony of a top-floor deluxe room in the Oxford Suites Hotel in downtown Spokane.  But it's one of the very few area hotels that is right on The Centennial Trail.  It turns out that if you want to spend the night adjacent to a trailhead for The Centennial Trail, you have only 2 options:  a grim campsite at Nine Mile Recreation Area, or a riverfront hotel in Spokane.

Well.... I'd tried the first approach for 2 nights.  So for Night #3, I elected the second approach: crisp white linens and a gorgeous view of the Spokane River downtown. My relocation meant that I could spend the morning of Day #3 completing the most compelling section of The Centennial Trail, from the outskirts of Spokane to the Idaho state line.  13+ miles of dedicated bikeway and fabulous viewscapes.

I snapped a few photos, including a self-portrait, a bucolic view of the most idyllic location ever for a picnic table, and a Stop-Action shot of young boys diving into the Spokane River from the 20ft clifftop of The Island.  I spoke to one who wanted to know if I'd seen him jump.  "Yes!" I assured him. "Very impressive."

I also rode about 3-4 miles with Don, a pleasant 40-something cyclist who had voiced his curiosity about my clown bike.  He also freely voiced is immodest pride in his own vintage ('70s) Schwinn Le Tour.  (I recalled how Brian Steen, my Palo Alto bicycle buddy, had raved about Schwinn road bikes of this era, before the quality of the company's bikes went downhill.  The Le Tour was nearly as impressive as the ultra-collectible Paramount, said Brian. Yup. You guessed right. Brian rode a Paramount.)  After Don got all talked out about his Le Tour, he boldly ventured into talking about The Work of The Lord.  Oh, dear.  Was I going to be listening to evangelical fervor all the way to the Idaho border?  I don't think so.  My sudden urge to photograph -- crawling insects, dandelions, rocks... anything(!) -- was my salvation. I dismounted. Don pedaled on.  Praise the Lord.

Idaho commandeers The Centennial Trail at the state line, where it becomes the North Idaho Centennial Trail, and the mile markers are reset to zero.   The good citizens of Idaho have provided a nice rest stop for trail-goers.  It features a genuine hand-crank water pump for thirsty cyclists.  But... "Hah! Only kidding." (It doesn't work.)

Following my 26-mile R-T,  I checked in to my hotel. I luxuriated in a long, hot shower. And then I ventured out in search of the reception clerk's recommendation for "Spokane's best burger & beer spot."  A quick bike ride over a downtown bridge to the other side of the river brought me to the front door of Onions.  Fully masked and hungry as can be, I ventured inside and was warmly greeted by a fully masked and fully figured (very round) hostess. Very cheerful.  She seated me and gave me a menu. And there it was, right at the top of page 2:  "America's Greatest Hamburger!"  Hyperbole, perhaps?  Far be it for me to quibble.  Maybe not America's greatest.  But fabulous food. Delicious. Certainly the best in Spokane.