Bits & Pieces: Class of 1965 will have its 45th reunion in 10 days

Calling all members of the great class of 1965. We will be having our 45th class reunion on Aug. 22. This is the day after the Grant County Fair closes. The date was chosen to allow attendees to experience the fair on Saturday.

Calling all members of the great class of 1965

We will be having our 45th class reunion on Aug. 22. This is the day after the Grant County Fair closes. The date was chosen to allow attendees to experience the fair on Saturday.

Plus, we are inviting members of the classes of 63, 64, 66 and 67 to join us.

The official starting time is 1 p.m., but we will begin to set up at noon. This will allow classmates to attend church. Ending time is the following Thursday. Just kidding, but we are free to visit all afternoon and into the evening.

Kids, grandkids, parents of classmates and teachers are welcome to attend. The aquatic center is nearby, so consider it as a possible opportunity for the youngsters.

Food: This will be a potluck, so bring enough for your family, plus another person or two. We are not going to assign specific dishes, such as main dish or salad, but rather we'll just let everyone bring what they want. KFC meals or pizzas are welcome.

Drink: Again, bring what you want and enough for your family.

Place: We will be meeting at McCosh Park, under the cover.

Contact Dennis at 762-5158 or 750-0541 for more information.

Pass the word.

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 Friday, February 3, 1950:

Coal shortage causes emergency at air base

33 below zero temperature called record

Today we backtrack a bit and complete the story about the cold weather of 1950:

About half the barracks and other buildings have been closed up and the men have doubled up in other barracks in an effort to cut coal consumption and make it go around.

Meanwhile, a program of converting to oil heaters went ahead at full speed, especially on large structures such as the station hospital and airplane hangars, which take a lot of coal to heat.

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 backtrack a bit and then continue with the story of Moses Lake by Earl Cole, recorded May 13, 1975:

On the south side of the Frenchmen's Hill there were a number of wells that was started, but they were too deep and they never hit any water. In later years they did.

But my uncle drilled a well on the place where Skone and Corners got their feedlot right now. I think we drilled that well in about 1909. People used to come there with a water tank and haul water from there. We got fifty cents for a tank of water, which was about ten barrels. But most of the people hauled their water in barrels, about three barrels in a wagon.

Before we got the well we hauled water from Crab Creek. Of course there is no Crab Creek there any more. O'Sullivan Dam has covered all of that. But at that time the Drumhellers had a nice house down there and of course they run cattle you know. I think they had around 2,000 cows until about 1906. I think about 1906 they had an awful hard winter here and I understand they lost a lot of cattle.

There was a spring that rose above that house. I don't know how far it was up there but it was a big spring. It was about 16 feet wide and two feet deep and that's where we got all our water. We hauled water from there.

Wilson Creek history

A large part of this column deals with firsthand accounts of history seen through the eyes of our early pioneers. The book of memories of Wilson Creek is packed full of them. Read on.

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 begin the story of James P. Gilman by Thomas Howard Gilman:

James P. Gilman, early day homesteader, came to the Hartline area in 1900. He came from Turners, Missouri, a small community close to Springfield.

He was born in Indiana, moving to Ohio, then to Missouri where he married Cora E. Morris in 1890. The family soon followed him to Hartline; wife Cora and three children, Effe E., Louie K. and Thomas Howard in 1907, on the homestead.

James and his brother Lewis each homesteaded 10 miles south and one half mile east of the now oiled highway between Hartline and Wilson Creek in 1903. They had adjoining quarter sections of 160 acres each.

They erected lean-to shacks, a small barn, and dug a cistern and cellar. Water had to be hauled by barrels from neighbors or Wilson Creek about five miles east. Later James moved east one half mile to the corner of his quarter. A cistern was dug and a cellar, and some outbuild ings erected. A small orchard was planted, but did not grow well for lack of water. Some fruit grew there for many years though, crab apples, small sweet apples, pie cherries and a few pears.