First annual Artists' Market scheduled for tomorrow

A member of the Moses Lake High School Great Class of 1965, Kris Chudomelka, has organized an artists' Market to take place tomorrow, Saturday, June 8.

The event begins at 10 a.m. and is scheduled to continue until to 2 p.m. The location is 4843 Orchard Drive NE. Showing at the event will be Dream Tree Creations by Sharon, Garden Delights by Elissa, Restore Décor by Karyll, Kreatives by Kris and more.

Shoppers will find cards, fabric art, Garden art, Jewelry, Pottery, watercolors and more.

Directions: Head north on Stratford Road and turn right on Kinder Road, just past Grocery Outlet. Continue around the curve to the left. This is where Kinder Roads turns into Orchard Drive. Next continue to the end of Orchard Drive. See you there.

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 feature the story of the Mangis Family by Mildred Mangis:

The first Mangis to make an appearance at Wilson Creek was Charles who rode in the wild horse roundup in 1899. At this time horses we re damaging the range over which they wandered and were being gathered into corrals north of town, in a valley above the old Bennett and Selden ranches.

Charles, whose home was at Creston, married Elizabeth Underwood and later bought a piece of bottom land east of Wilson Creek after it was reclaimed from a swamp.

The Underwoods lived on adjoining property where all the children and their families gathered every Thanksgiving. The Mangis family came from Creston by team and buggy or sled for the three or four day celebration.

Orville Mangis moved to the Wilson Creek ranch and started farming in 1930. He and Mildred Dunning were married in 1931 and had one child, Gary, who was born June 15, 1937. During the 20 years they lived at Wilson Creek they engaged in ranching. Orville served several years on the school board and Mildred taught occasionally when pressed into service. They were instrumental in starting 4-H and P.T.A. in the community.

In 1951 the Mangis Family moved to Creston to take over the family cattle ranch.

Today we also begin the story of the Charles C. McCormick family:

The Charles C. McCormick family resided in Wilson Creekl from 1928 to 1936. They lived across the street from the Rudy Elmers and Ray Kelbys and next door to Mrs. Friend.

Charles C. McCormick was a great Northern Agent-Telegrapher for 50 years. He used Wilson Creek as a central base of operations to keep his family in one place. Besides working in Wilson Creek, he also occasionally worked in Marlin, Stratford, Adrian, Soap Lake and Ephrata.

Marge McCormick was very active in civic affairs, Eastern Star as Worthy Matron and was a leader at the Presbyterian Church, where the entire McCormick family attended. She was also a school teacher and on occasion substituted in the Wilson Creek School system.

Don McCormick attended grade school through the third grade and Jim McCormick attended school through the first grade.

Upon leaving Wilson Creek in 1936, the McCormick family located permanently in Harrington. They moved to Harrington also in 1936. They had one more child, a son, Lynn Howard, born Aug. 2, 1940, at Harrington.

Charles retired from the Great Northern in 1965 after working nearly 50 years. He passed away in April 1967 after a series of crippling strokes.

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 Aug. 12, 1949:

Club gives linens to Hansen family

Mrs. Claire Hansen received many lively linens last week from members of the Mae-Hiawatha Club and other friends. Many of the gifts had been given to her just after her home was destroyed by fire late in June. Mrs. Hansen was away on vacation at the time and did not return to open them until last week.

Mrs. Jake Baird was hostess for the July 27 party held in the home of Mrs. S.W. Wilkins. Mrs. Wes Wyman is slated to be hostel for the next club meeting late this month.

Mr. and Mrs. Hansen are making their home near Chi Omuri and Russ Hansen temporarily while rebuilding their former home.

Family picnic at Park Lake planned by club

Members of the Ephrata Garden Club and the Cascade Valley Club were guests of the Peninsula Garden Club Friday afternoon at the Emil Tichacek home. The three clubs met for a discussion on flower displays and special project entries.

A potluck luncheon was served by Mrs. Tichacek and co-hostess Agnes berg.

Also, at the meeting of the Peninsula Improvement Club Tuesday night it was decided to have a p ie social in the near future. A family picnic is to be held Sunday at Park Lake and everyone is to be at the late noon.

Entertainment was furnished by Newell Demille and Ralph Westmore, who played the violin and guitar.

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 backtrack a bit and then continue the story of Wilson Creek by Cris Mordhorst, recorded Feb. 10, 1976:

When the gravel and sand at the block factory was partially mixed then they would level it out and pour a sack of cement on it. I don't know whether it was a full sack but they just poured it out of the sack. Then they did quite a thorough job of mixing this dry with shovels again. Then they would throw on so much water and then thoroughly mix it and for some reason or other they dumped it in a pile in the center of this board.

They had iron forms and of course being in a T they would fill that and tap it down a little with a trowel and flatten it off. Then they had a wood block about two inches thick that they put on the top. They had a huge press and they would set this in the press and this finally would get real solid.

Then it would be just one notch at a time and there would be two men get a hold of this handle and would pull them down until they got real tight. Then they would put them in a wheelbarrow and run them out to where they wanted to set them to dry.

They would set them upside down with this wood block on the bottom and in only about 20 minutes or an hour you could tap this with a rubber handle and then lift this form off and sprinkle that cement, on a hot day it had to be sprinkled quite often. This was in an old willow grove, and it finally got to be a jungle when the men came around to work in harvest or anytime we'd go out under these willows to try to hire a man, as there was shade there.