Lunch with the Troops next scheduled for Tuesday

The Monthly Lunch with the Troops event for June is scheduled for next Tuesday, June, 21. The luncheon will take place at the Porterhouse Steakhouse in Moses Lake from noon to 1 p.m.

We are asking everyone to arrive right on time, so we can begin without anyone missing the fun. Porterhouse Steakhouse Managers Sam and Cale offer a fantastic buffet lunch for $10 which includes the tip and a non-alcoholic beverage.

Besides the knife raffle, see below, many business and individuals are giving various items such as pens, golf balls, small wallets, can and bottle holders, first aid kits, coffee mugs, lighted key chains, books, etc. Thanks to all who have contributed and to the knife sponsors as well. Nothing appropriate will be turned down.

We are offering one Buck Knife and one Wenger, Genuine Swiss Army Knife, in a raffle to benefit Operation Warm Heart, a fund operated by unit First Sergeants to assist airmen and airwomen in need.

Stanley Rauch representing Desert Falls Delivery will be sponsoring the Buck Knife this month and Mike O'Halloran representing Russell Construction Company is sponsoring the Wenger Swiss Army Knife.

In July, Mike O'Halloran and his wife, Becky, will be sponsoring the Buck Knife in their names and the American Legion Post 209. Also in July, Eric Van Woert will sponsor the Swiss Army Knife in the name of the Olde World Trading Company.

Terri and Garry Ottmar will sponsor the Wenger in their names in August, and in September they will sponsor the Buck Knife in the name of Ottmar Construction.

Randy Graham of RSC Equipment Rental said the business wants to sponsor one, maybe more knifes. This leaves six or seven more knives needing sponsors. Contact me for details.

Becky Hill, Manager of the Moses Lake American Legion Post 209, conducts the raffle, so we are in compliance with Washington State laws and regulations. Raffle tickets will be sold during the luncheon with the knives as a prize. The drawing will take place at the end of the event.

Come join the fun and bring a friend or two. You will find the visit with the troops invigorating and heartwarming.

People wanting to attend the June 21 luncheon are asked to call me at: Home: 762-5158 or Cell: 750-0541. Or the Porterhouse Steakhouse at: 766-0308. We won't turn anyone away, but we need to have an approximate head count.

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 June 30, 1964:

We have covered CBH articles about Friendship Day in 1963, but today we jump forward to information about Friendship Day 1964. Read on.

Larson's turn, but mayor isn't conceding horseshoe match

Moses Lake Mayor Harold Stadshaug pointed out it was time for the base to win again, but that he wasn't conceding defeat in the upcoming July 4 Friendship Day horseshoe pitching contest at Moses Lake State Park.

When the mayor and Col. Clyde Owen, commander of Larson's Combat Support Group, got together yesterday for picture taking both emphasized neither had had any horseshoe pitching practice this season.

In fact, Stadshaug went so far as to say he hadn't tossed horseshoes since he was a kid.

Col. Owen couldn't match that, as he was on the losing end of a 21-13 score to last year's mayor, John Dietzen.

After winning two years in a row, Dietzen retired as mayor. That brought this quip from Col. Owen.

"Deitzen didn't run for mayor again because he wanted to quit while he was ahead."

More about the upcoming horseshoe match next week.

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 and continue the story of Coulee City, by Alfred Twining recorded July 30, 1975:

During the Fourth of July celebration in 1895 or 1896 in Coulee City, old Chief Moses happened to be in town and I remember him. He was all dressed up in his furs and feathers and had his big headpiece on with feathers clear down to the ground behind him. He was quite dressed up in his chief outfit and I remember him. He was a well built man, must have weighed over 200 pounds, tall and broad shouldered, a nice looking man.

Then I heard a story about a greenhorn stage driver that was scared to death. I guess Moses had a camp up there somewhere and quite a bunch of Indians there. So this fellow started across the Coulee with the stage and about 50 Indians came up toward him on horseback and he started whipping his horses and he got out of there right quick. He thought sure as heck he was going to get scalped. He told me about it when I saw him about 20 years ago in Ellensburg.

"Oh, them Indians was mean," he said.

He said he went back the next day and told Jim Cunningham about it, but Jim said, "They are alright. They are good friendly Indians."

Jim and his wife got along good with the Indians. So Jim said, "You just take a pint of whisky with you tomorrow and when the Indians come just hold that bottle up, you'll be alright."

He took a pint of whiskey and the Indians came up, grabbed the whiskey and away they went, tickled to death. He was sure scared the first day.

Then I'd better tell you a story about Soap Lake. I don't know if everybody has heard this story or not, put I got it straight from the lion's mouth. Wen dell Pate and his dad brought a bunch of sheep in about 1881 or 1882 from Oregon and they developed a disease, I think they called it the scab.

They were losing their wool, and that was one of the main profits to the sheep man; so they got to Soap Lake. Wendell Pate was the oldest son, and I talked to him about 25 years ago in Wenatchee. He must he dead by now, but he told me when he came to Soap Lake there was no lake there, just a spring, and they tasted the water and knew it was mineral water, so they built some vats, I don't know where they got the lumber, and chutes and heated the water, he said and put the sheep through and eventually got rid of the scab.

Wendell told me that. He went to school here when I first started to school, but he was probably 20 to 21 years old when I was about 6, so he was about 15 years older than I was.

He had a mouth harp and used to play it at noon out on the porch. That was the first music I ever heard and I thought that was pretty good.

He had a brother, Mike and another brother, Minor. Minor settled up in the Okanogan Valley someplace between Brewster and Omak or Winthrop. I went past his place way back in the 20s. Someone said that was Minor's place. Frank Pate, the younger brother used to pal around with me quite a bit, because we were the same age. Annie Pate, the daughter, I don't know what became of her. They lived here in town for a number of years while the kids went to school.

In the early days 1891 or 1892 or 1893 Harry Hutton had sold his confectionery business and started a saloon, and it seems they had a poker game there every night. An old Chinaman had come to town and built himself a laundry back of Hutton's saloon, so when he had his day's work done, I guess, he'd go to the saloon and sit down and watch the poker game, until 1 or 2 in the morning. So one night, Tom Parry told me this himself, a bunch of the boys got together and went back to the Chinaman's house, and he had a coal oil lamp. They poured the coal oil out of it and filled it up with water. When the Chinaman came in he couldn't light his lamp.

Then they put a tick tack or something on the window to make a lot of noise and scared the Chinaman. He grabbed a six shooter and ran out and shot four or five times up in the air.

After that they ran and sent the Marshal in, I think Jim Hansen was the Marshall, to arrest the Chinaman.

And he said, "Did you kill Hutton?"

"No, no Huttton my friend," said the Chinaman.

"Well, Hutton is dead," they said. "We'll show you."

They had Hutton stretched out on some sawhorses and some boards in the saloon with ketchup and flour and stuff all over his face to make him look like a corpse and scared hell out of the Chinaman. So they took him down and put him in jail and scared him some more. After while they came down and turned him out and told him what the joke was.

Wilson Creek 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.

Today we backtrack a bit and continue the story of Adam and Emma Helmke Hirschel by Rosa Hirschel Knopp and Clara Hirschel Mordhorst:

The fuel for the wood stove consisted of sagebrush gathered from the land and lumber scraps from the buildings. Mother fried homemade bread for breakfast, which we thought was delicious.

We moved into the house the middle of November. It felt so good to be secure from the elements and wild animals. At night the coyotes crept close, barking with yelps as if protesting the invasion of their territory. The frightened dogs would creep under the beds and needed stern persuasion to bring them out. We kids shared their fright.

Father cleared the land and planted grain which grew well on the new ground. Mother had wonderful gardens the first few years, while her health permitted.

The rural area became settled and school was a necessity. In 1903 father walked from house to house soliciting signers to organize a school district. A neighbor, Jim Harris, furnished one horse and father the other, and with this team drove to Waterville, the county seat at that time.

They obtained per mission to establish the school district. They hired Miss Young to teach that winter for three months in my Uncle Henry Hirschel's shack. He furnished housing for the school each season until he moved his family to Latah, Washington.