This Week in Odessa History

100 years ago

The Odessa Record

February 22, 1918

Day’s work get Y.W.C.A. quota: Pro Germans and others in the state who have been opposed to the United States participating in the war will find it advisable to keep their opinions to themselves from now on. The department of home defense on the state council of defense has just issued to the county councils a complete detailed “code” of instructions and suggestions for meeting disloyalty, of whatever degree. This booklet naturally will not be made public, but it is the result of weeks of work and preparation and the policies laid down have received the approval of Governor Lister and U.S. District Attorney Clay Allen. The plan covers may phases of the general subject of disloyalty, ranging from careless repetition of hysterical rumors to actual treason. Disloyal persons who have heretofore felt themselves secure, so long as they violated no state or federal law, will be brought squarely up to the point where they will have to choose between the present methods or suffering what may be termed “extrajudicial” punishment. By this is not meant mob violence or any other form of punishment which in itself would violate the law. Every step of the procedure outlined is in strict accordance with the existing laws of the state and nation.

Probably the most effective methods recommended is the simple process of giving warning to the public at large against the disloyal statements and temper of those are proven after a careful instigation, to be dangerous persons in our midst. Any fair-minded citizen, no matter how enthusiastic a supporter of our government he may be, can appreciate the mental attitude of a German who has been naturalized here but whose brothers may be fighting in the German army.

75 years ago

The Odessa Record

February 12, 1943

Reinhold Suchland is nearing completion of his pre-officer’s school and expects to be transferred to the command school this week.

Sgt. Thomas Bresee has been assigned a unit number in the Marines, and is being sent to overseas duty.

Weldon Richardson writes of his experience on vibouac during which he acted as corporal of the guard. Camp was on a hillside and the boys would work out from under their covers and would awaken soaked by the California dew which chose to fall by the gallons.

Capt. Leonard Zagelow has been promoted to Major, states word received by relatives here. Major Zagelow is stationed at the Barnes General hospital in Vancouver, Wash.

Sgt. Robert F. Heimbigner writes from Camp Adair in Oregon that he has now received his diploma for mess sergeant and has full charge of the kitchen. They feed 225 men each day.

Mrs. Erma Roberts has returned to take charge of Erma’s Beauty shop, after a wedding trip during which the shop was in charge of Miss Dorothy Wagner. Miss Wagner has taken over the Odessa Beauty shop, formerly operated by Mrs. Otto Haase.

The county draft board announces that provisions are made in the selective service act for 18 year olds who may be called to induction before school is out. After a student is called to report for induction he may write to the local board, asking that his induction be postponed until the end of the school term. The student must do this himself, and the board will take action on his request.

The Great Northern depot at Odessa is now served by three operators working three eight-hour shifts. R.H. Beck, agent, has the first shift, Mrs. Nickerson the evening shift, and a new operator, J.A. Reiner, the night shift.

Fred S. Weishaar has purchased the section of land on which he makes his home, known as the old Chris Schorzman place north of town, from R.E. Claus, for a consideration of $20,000. Weishaar had previously purchased a half section cornering this land, giving him 960 acres in that area. He also owns a cattle ranch on Crab creek, west of Odessa.

Rationing stamp No. 1 in book No. 1 is good for shoes, it is announced this week, following a surprise move in rationing this item. Limits are three pairs a year.

Arthur John Amende, Odessa, is one of nine Lincoln county men who reported at the induction station at Spokane Friday, and were accepted for army duty.

Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau issued an order recently adding the traditional copper penny to the list of war casualties and authorizing coinage of a substitute of zinc coated steel.

50 years ago

The Odessa Record

February 8, 1968

Inclusion of 14,000 Acres in Columbia Basin Project is Imperative: A project of primary importance to Odessa businessmen and farmers immediately south and west of Odessa is to have 14,000 acres included in the Columbia Basin Project, Walter R. Larson, Odessa Record publisher, told members of the Chamber of Commerce Wednesday.

It will be recalled that two years ago the Ruff-Odessa Development committee was formed. A sign-up of farmers southwest of Odessa to join the East Irrigation District was accomplished. The petitions were presented and accepted by the East District.

Included in the sign-up two years ago was 14,000 acres near town which at that time and as of this date are not a part of the Columbia Basin Project as established by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation.

It is imperative, Larson stated, that this area be included in the project, if at all possible, in that the acreage might be provided with water when the Bacon Siphon and Tunnel and irrigation for the East High area of the Basin Project.

Should no action be taken now, and the 14,000 acres are bypassed, it would be many additional years before water might become available to farmers immediately adjacent to Odessa, Larson indicated.

The matter is to be taken up by the Irrigation Development and Agriculture committee of the chamber.

Two charged with burglary: Timothy E. Weber, 18, Odessa, was one of two persons arrested last Saturday and charged last Tuesday with second degree burglary involving a breaking and entering incident at the Del-Mar Drug store in Almira the night of January 4, according to the county sheriff’s office.

25 years ago

The Odessa Record

February 11, 1993

Tonight in Old Town Hall: Lake Creek management by BLM topic of meeting

Odessa area residents tonight will have the opportunity to offer their inputs and ideas as to how 11,000 acres of public land ought to be managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

A meeting at 7 o’clock tonight (Thursday) in the Old Town Hall has been scheduled by the BLM to solicit comments regarding subjects such as wildlife enhancement project, types of recreation activities which should be permitted, types of commercial uses which might be authorized, status of existing buildings on the property and the development of new facilities.

The property in question is the Lake Creek Recreation/Wildlife Enhancement Project north and west of Odessa. The area includes public lands in Lake Creek Canyon, extending from Crab Creek west of Odessa to Pacific Lake and Lakeview Ranch, seven miles northwest of town.

The BLM has been working closely with Odessa civic leaders and business operators in making plans for the use of the area for recreation and tourism. The tourism aspect is the basis for some of the Odessa Economic Development Committees planning for economic growth in Odessa.

At tonight’s meeting, comments from the floor and open participation from the public will be encouraged, said Gary Yeager, planning coordinator with the BLM’s Spokane District office, which has jurisdiction over the project.

The meeting will be structured as a workshop, Yeager said. Information received from the meeting will be compiled and redistributed for comment within 30 days.

Lamona by Harold Kern: The Great Northern Railway, which was built across eastern Washington in 1892, was responsible for the appearance of many communities which had sprung up as almost instant trading centers between Spokane and Wenatchee.

Lamona, 64 miles west of Spokane on the transcontinental railroad, was one of these, along with Wilson Creek, Harrington, Odessa, Krupp, Mohler, Downs and Morocco.

Wilson Creek owed its existence to the railroad, for it was a division point. Harrington was established (although not incorporated) before 1892 in anticipation of the railroad’s coming. Odessa and Krupp were among the latecomers, not appearing until the turn of the century, while Lamona and Mohler were both on the map by 1895. Downs and Morocco? Well, they are part of another story which has to do with Mohler, of which there will be more later in this series.

Lamona’s post office-- which still exists as a rural station of Odessa-- came into being in 1895. As well as being the year the railroad went through, it was the time when John H. Lamona homesteaded on Cole Creek. Earlier, he had been in charge of Crab Creek Post Office, the first in what would later become Lincoln County, opened in 1878.

Lamona lent his name to the new station on the Great Northern, and he became its first postmaster. The post office served a wide area, which extended westward as far as Irby. The first signs of life in Odessa, which lay between Lamona and Irby, were still three years away. Until 1898, when a general store was built along the Great Northern at the future townsite of Odessa, ranchers in that area, including George Finney, had to travel to Lamona to pick up their mail.

If John Lamona is credited with being the founder of the community, he was certainly not the first settler.

George N. Lowe, who would later become a Lincoln County commissioner, and who played an important role in the development of the North Central Highway from Davenport to Ellensburg, arrived in the area as a young boy in 1879, only five years after “Portegee Joe” Enos, the very first settler in what is now considered the Odessa region.

Lowe, who had been orphaned in Walla Walla, came to the area with a horse caravan headed by William Bigham. The Bigham family settled on Crab Creek near Irby. And as a young man a few years later, Lowe homesteaded on the north bank of Cole Creek at the present site of Lamona. This is the farm of the Hutterian Brethren today.

The new post office was moved from Lamona’s farm home to J.M. Newland’s big new general store which was built in Lamona in September 1896. That building, which still stands, may well be the oldest existing structure in southwestern Lincoln County.

The store which Newland build was located on Railroad Avenue, which was to become Lamona’s principal business street. There is no record of and no one recalls who plotted the original town, which consisted of 22 lots on the north side of Railroad Avenue. This street ran parallel with the Great Northern Railway’s right of way.

Lowe’s Addition, with 15 lots, soon followed to the west, bordering George Lowe’s homestead. Asa Tewinkel plotted a four-square-block addition, Tewinkel’s Addition, south of the railroad and west of the Lamona school. Besides the school, the Methodist and Lutheran churches as well as the Lutheran parsonage were built in this section.

Emile E. Mayer, who came to Lamona from Canada, took over the store and post office in September 1900. The post office would remain in this building, where, along with the general store, it was the focal point of community and social life until both places closed down in 1985.

By 1905, Lamona was on its way to becoming a prosperous town. Odessa, nine miles to the west, was already overtaking Lamona in size and importance, and Mohler and Downs, to the east, were offering heavy competition as trading centers.

But Lamona was growing. In 1905 its population was estimated to be 100. Several new businesses, including a hotel, had appeared. It was becoming a grain-shipping point of importance. The school and two churches in addition to the commercial activity made Lamona “almost a town,” which it was for many decades.

In its first years, there was every promise that Lamona would achieve the status of a town within a very short time... And this was certainly supported by the community spirit, which was running high by 1905.