photos by J. Kemble

September 2019

A Deeper Story

There is a historical marker in Northrup Canyon that talks briefly about the murder that took place in 1903. The story is a bit deeper. In the mid-1890s John W. and Caty Northrup moved into the canyon. Together through hard work they created a wonderful orchard and irrigation system. With John W.’s health failing, the couple moved into Coulee City and leased the land including the orchard to another gentleman by the name of Isreal Sanford. After John W. died, Caty set up a homestead in Barker Canyon. Her relationship with Sanford was strained, and eventually Isreal came to believe that Caty was stealing full grown fruit trees from him. One day after a heated debate, Isreal traveled to Almira and bought a gun, returning to the canyon, his family ran and hid when they saw him coming. Isreal encountered Caty in the washroom, where he shot and killed her. 

At trial the jury acquitted Isreal Sanford as being of unsound mind due to injuries inflicted during his time in the battlefields of the Civil War. He was returned to the Sanford family who locked him in a woodshed for several years until his sanity returned. 

J. Kemble, Them Dam Writers online

October 2019

The Old Wagon Trail in Northrup Canyon

George and Caty Northrup weren’t the only family in the canyon at the turn of the 20th century. Sheibner brothers Charles and Fred had moved into the canyon a couple years earlier and were already known for their produce, in particular, luscious strawberries. In 1901 with the backing of the farming community around Steamboat Rock the brothers petitioned the county for a bond to create a road up the south talus slope wall. The main purpose for the new road was to move fresh produce up to the railhead in Almira or Hartline quicker. The bond was granted by Douglas County and by July 1902 the newly christened County Route 337 was opened to the public. Horse drawn wagons of fruit and people made their way up the County Route, and back down into the canyon. County Route 337 suffered problems from the start. Frequent rockslides meant continuous maintenance, and there were several incidents with wagons on the switchbacks near the top. By 1920 the age of automobiles and lack of upkeep made Route 337 obsolete to all but a few thrill-seekers. Eventually it became known as the Sheibner Grade in Northrup Canyon.

By J. Kemble, Them Dam Writers online

November 2019

The Scheibner Sawmill in Northrup Canyon

The Scheibner Brothers in Northrup Canyon also ran a pre-industrial age sawmill on Northrup Creek around the year of 1900. Original Steamboat Rock pioneer William Fleet worked as a millwright helping with the design, implementation and upkeep of the Scheibner watermill. Charles Scheibner and William Fleet along with one other gentleman would back up the creek at night with a dike creating a small pond. In the morning they would run the water down a long sluice that would turn a water wheel and power the saw. They would saw until the water ran out. It was in this way that many of the pioneers around the area obtained lumber, with some making incredible journeys by horse and wagon to purchase building materials. The famous Steamboat Rock School was made of lumber from the Scheibner sawmill, as well as most of the buildings at the old homestead in the back of Northrup Canyon. Unfortunately, the Scheibners weren’t the only people that relied on Northrup Creek for their livelihood, and eventually the brothers were sued by neighbors over water rights and lost in court. The Scheibners were ordered to remove the watermill and the sawmill at Northrup Canyon faded into obscurity.

By J. Kemble, Them Dam Writers online

December 2020 

Pioneer Millwright William Fleet

By the time the Scheibner Brothers set up their sawmill William Fleet had been on the land for a while. Born in 1836 New York, at the age of 19 William Sailed around the Horn and started a career in the far west as a millwright and pack train manager. For the next twenty-five plus years William Fleet traveled between New Mexico, California, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and finally into Washington State with Dan Paul. While Paul settled around the Coulee City area, Fleet continued up into the Steamboat Rock area where he bought an old drover camp used by Jack Hardly as a stop-over in the Grand Coulee. William Fleet improved on the choice land by Northrup Creek at the base of Castle Rock, adding a house, barn and several other outbuildings created the first homestead around Steamboat Rock in 1883. A well-known and liked bachelor, Fleet had run a small but profitable cattle operation at the base of Castle Rock where he also worked as a millwright and helped establish the Scheibner Sawmill. William Fleet retired back to New York, but the story of his land would continue. 

J. Kemble 2019, Them Dam Writers online

Jan 2020

Optimistic Bachelor Len Dillman

At first when the Colville Reservation was formed in 1872 there was a paranoia from the lawmakers in the east that an attack would come from across the Columbia River by Seaton’s Landing. To keep an eye on things, the U.S. Government sent out two decorated Indian War veterans, Len and Sam Dillman. When they arrived in the Grand Coulee they set up base close to Rattlesnake Canyon, but pretty soon purchased the orchard at the bottom of the canyon. When it became apparent the attack would never happen, Sam moved down to Woodchoppers Spring on the northside of Steamboat Rock. After several years alone in Rattlesnake Canyon, Len sold his property and moved south where he raised goats on his brother’s land. Woodchoppers Spring was in the vicinity of Northrup Canyon, where Len’s sister Caty Northrup lived. Len was there on the day that Caty was murdered c.1903, and one of the last people she talked to. It wasn’t long after that Len Dillman moved further south to Payne Gulch, an old man he refused to be broken by past experience and became known as the Optimistic Bachelor, fondly remembered years after his death. 

J. Kemble with help from Arlene Spencer