Kirchners worked wheat harvest in Eastern Washington
Many hands were once needed for the wheat harvest in Eastern Washington. Besides working the threshing rigs, meals needed to be prepared on the spot and all of the workers needed to be fed. The Kirchners were a part of several harvests while working for various thrashing outfits. Read on.
Wilson Creek area 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 continue the story of the J.G. Kirchner family:
Joe Kirchner operated the Blue Front Bar, later changed to Blue Front Saloon, in partnership with his brother, Rudolph (Bill) until prohibition left them without customers and merchandise. In later years he worked at odd jobs and as a member of the Great Northern section crew for several years. He served as town marshal for a short lime.
For a number at years, both Mr. and Mrs. Kirchner were on hand for the annual wheat harvest working with threshing rigs, including those operated by J.Q. Freeman and Joe Bryant in 1912, by Vickery & Son in the Stratford area in 1913 and O'Leary & Maidlow during the 1916 harvest.
Mr. Kirchner usually worked as forker transferring the cut grain and straw to the separator from the stack. Mrs. Kirchner was the cook, preparing the meals including fresh baked bread and buns, hot cakes and desserts for the entire crew and sometimes a few extra guests arriving about mealtime.
The covered wagon cook?house was moved from one farm to another and on different occasions the harvest lasted over seventy days. In addition to the healthful outdoor threshing work, both Joe and Edith Kirchner worked for J. D. Urquhart during the spring sheep lambing and shearing time before the sheep were moved to summer pasture in the foothills in Ferry and Stevens counties.
Mr. Kirchner was one of the volunteer carpenters to erect the Presbyterian Church and Mrs. Kirchner was active in church and Sunday School endeavor during her life in Wilson Creek. She was an active member of the Ladies Library Club and other com?munity projects. She was employed for several years as waitress at the Great Northern Restaurant, known at the time as The Beanery, where train crews ate at the end of their run from Hillyard.
The division was extended to Apple Yard just east of Wenatchee and the Beanery soon closed. Mr. and Mrs. Kirchner were employed as janitors at the Wilson Creek School for many years, with Mrs. Kirchner taking over the duties after Joe started work for the G. N. track maintenance crew.
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 CBH on Friday, April 21, 1950:
Housing to take applications for smallest units
Applications for no-bedroom units in the Moses Lake housing project will again be accepted next week, Mrs. Jessie Pearce, manager, announced this week.
Because of the large number of applicants wanting housing, with no vacancies occurring, no additional applications have been taken at the project for several weeks. There are no vacancies now, Mrs. Pearce said, but turnover in the smallest units rented only to childless couples, means that some applicants might be admitted in the next month.
Applications must be filed in person at the housing project office after 8:30 a.m. Monday. No applications for larger units can be accepted, Mrs. Pearce added.
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 Hartline, by Kathryn (Kay) Evans, recorded May 9, 1978 and the letter written by her grandmother, Aunt Kate, in 1940:
"I forgot to mention that in the fall after coming back from Ohio, we built a little house in Hartline, while teaching there, in which we lived for two years until I filed on a second homestead. Afterward the girls batched in the little brown house as it got to be called while attending school during the winter months.
"Otto Schultz built a little shack on the same lot in which he lived and batched while he attended school. He and the girls used to borrow various and sundry groceries forth and back like some house?wives. Otto would put together some of his Dutch dishes and bring them over for the girls to put in their fireless cooker to finish cooking while they were at school.
"We rented most of the wheat land while Walter was growing up, gradually accumulated horses and farm implements and by the time he was 17, we had enough to do our own farming. It took at least 15 horses to run a header outfit, so that meant there were always 20 or more horses about the place?, colts, saddle ponies, etc., besides cattle, pigs and chickens. We were so much inclined to make pets of all our livestock that it was always rather heart breaking to dispose of any of them.
"It would take too long to tell about those years on the ranch while the children were growing up and going to school. Evelyn and Bess graduated from high school, won honors frequently in declaratory contests.
"Walter was too much afflicted with the wanderlust and never finished the 8th grade, but he was a great reader and was far better informed in history and general knowledge than the majority of school teachers. He was also an excellent speaker and could always hold an audience. Those years were years of ups and downs, poor crops, good crops, good prices, poor prices for our wheat.
"The girls went to College of Puget Sound, Evelyn graduated there. Bess attended there, but graduated at Cheney. Then World War I came. Walter enlisted in April before war was declared by the United States and went over with the 41st Division, was killed in action, January 22, 1918, and is buried in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery near Ver?dun, France. My grandmother, my mother and my aunt were all fortunate enough to have been able to visit his grave in France.
"During those years on the ranch, there were but few houses in our community, in the country and in Hartline, that I was not there at the time of births, deaths, accidents and sickness. During the first flu epidemic, I spent weeks, day and night, taking care of the sick.