A Historical Sweep of Harrison
Before white people arrived, there was a small village on the mouth of the Coeur d'Alene River in north Idaho, called alkwari't, where a band of the Schitsu'umsh Indians, also known as Skitswish, spent their winters.
The last of America's Indian uprisings occurred in the Northwest during latter half of the 1880s and a fort was established at what is now Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, to monitor the local tribes. There, Lake Coeur d'Alene's first steamboat, the Amelia Wheaton, was built in 1880. It sometimes traveled past the old Schitsu'umsh village and up the Coeur d'Alene River to the Jesuit Old Mission at Cataldo, a house of worship built by the priests and tribal members. It is now Idaho's oldest standing building.
Gold was discovered in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains in 1883 and one route to the gold fields was up the Coeur d'Alene River. Prospectors with their grubstakes took the Amelia Wheaton to the Old Mission landing, then completed the trip to the gold camp at Pritchard Creek by packstring or on foot.
During those years, a series of actions by the federal government set aside a reservation for the local Indians, now called Coeur d'Alene, and paved the way for a railroad through the reservation. A branch of the O.R. & N. went through Harrison from Tekoa, Washington, to Wallace, Idaho, in 1890, which was a prime factor in the development of Harrison.
Fred Grant purchased a sawmill operating up the St. Joe River in St. Maries and floated it to Harrison in 1891. Silas W. Crane and his wife, who were squatting in a rough log cabin in the woods at the time, built Harrison's first timber frame home in 1891. This building now serves as the Crane House Museum. So much traffic went by their door, to and from the mining region, that the Cranes opened a general store. This was the beginning of Harrison. The village experienced a building boom that July, with thirteen new structures erected during a two-week period.
Harrison mushroomed into a bustling western frontier town by the following year. Three steamboats stopped at the wharf daily. Five lumber mills along the waterfront provided a living for about 350 people. Coeur d'Alene tribal Chief Saltese and his wife visited Harrison to observe all the action. There were two hotels, two saloons, a drugstore, hardware store, two general stores, a butcher shop, barber shop, doctor's office, drug store, a real estate office, and two dray lines. All the businesses were prospering, according to the town's newspaper, The Ensign, which noted:
"The sound of the hammer and saw echo and re-echo from early morn 'till night. And we are conscious that each stroke of the saw, and each blow of the hammer, are sounds heralding the coming of a bright future that is in store for us and is also laying the foundation of a prosperous and beautiful city."
Commerce continued at a brisk pace and about 1,200 people lived in Harrison mid-decade. Grand balls were held at the hotel, water and electricity served every home, and the bank was incorporated. Steamboats and trains transported a constant flow of humanity between Spokane and Coeur d'Alene and the mining district. Homesteaders from the surrounding area came into town for supplies, and lumberjacks with pouches of money arrived from camps on the St. Joe and North Fork Rivers to blow off steam at one of a dozen saloons where the lights burned all night. The revelries often turned to fights and about one bushwacking occurred each week until a vigilante committee of community members formed to run undesirables out of town.
By 1911, Harrison had grown to the largest town in Kootenai County and the City Directory reported a population of 1,250. Sawmills and box factories provided a combined monthly payroll of around $25,000. A constant stream of old growth timbers were floated to Harrison down the St. Joe and Coeur d'Alene Rivers, and thousands of logs were stored offshore in the lake.
Fires were a common occurrence and the townspeople were able to bring them under control until the conflagration of 1917 caused the end of Harrison's upward mobility. Most of the businesses and about half the homes were destroyed. The commercial core that arose afterwards was considerably smaller than its early incarnation. The breadth of the destruction, combined with wars, depressions, and recessions occurring in the outside world, made it impossible for Harrison to recover its former glory. However, the city endured as the population declined. Today's population is about 215. The families that remained created a nurturing environment in which to raise children. Many fond memories are captured in firsthand accounts published in special editions of The Harrison Searchlight, which is produced annually in conjunction with the Old Time Picnic. The picnics, which originated in Coeur d'Alene, moved to Harrison in 1953 when 4,000 people converged on the city park to celebrate the good old days.
The '60s marked a turning point in Harrison's economic base, as it began the slow transition from lumber town to tourism economy. The last of the area's mills closed in 1964, when Russell and Pugh's Springston Lumber Co. shut down. Mr. and Mrs. Albert Mault built the Gateway Marina and the Gateway Motel in 1964, the same year that the Harrison's famous fireworks show over the lake began. The beach was cleaned up, gravel was spread, and a restroom was installed down by the water. Electric service extended to the restaurant and the floating gem shop at the docks, owned by Glenna Ross. A new water line accommodated the restaurant and campers. By the end of the year, the Gateway Marina had thirty boat slips with room for more, a restaurant, bar, dance floor, open air pizza parlor, small c-store, and a 1,776 square-foot arcade.
Ross's gem shop was flourishing in the '70s, a new glove factory was established by Lyle Browning, and the Gateway restaurant and bar were packed solid with merry revelers on summer weekend nights. Nevertheless, the upward economic trajectory was stalled by the recession of the early 1970s. Also, a serious sewage leak into the lake from old pipes built before 1914, presented an expensive problem to repair.
Harrison's population in 1974 was 249 with a median annual income of $6,000. About a quarter of the residents were seniors living on small pensions, straining to pay their $15 electricity bills. The Chamber of Commerce collapsed in 1979 and the town was struggling to raise $800 for the 15th annual fireworks show. Mayor Glenn Addington took action by appointing an economic development council to work with the Panhandle Economic Area Council on an initiative that would promote tourism and attract new businesses.
The pace of recovery stalled in the 90s. The last freight train came through in '93 and community spirit was low. The election ballot was blank that year, because three of six council seats were open, but nobody was interested in running for office. The iconic saloon, One Shot Charlie's, with its sawdust floor and honky-tonk piano, closed in the fall of 1995, after fifty years of service. Then The Gateway flooded and went into bankruptcy after an eight-year struggle. To add insult to injury, a mapmaker placed Harrison on the wrong side of the lake that year.
Nevertheless, Harrison's enduring undercurrent of citizen action bubbled to the surface when a group rallied to construct "The Gazebo" bandstand in the park. The city's famous artist and sculptor, George Carlson, provided sketches of the proposed building and donations were solicited. The VFW, regional businesses, and local citizens all pitched in to build the covered stage that now shelters musical performers who provide free entertainment in the park every weekend. Then in 1999, David Kelly bought and reopened the Gateway marina for a half-million dollars, and One Shot Charlie's reverted to the former owner and opened for business once again.
Things took a dramatic upswing when the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes came through in 2006. Counters along the 72 mile rail-trail across the Idaho Panhandle register 100,000 riders a year, and visitors with money to spend started cycling into what has become one of the favorite stops on the trail.
The new tourist economy has made it possible for family-owned businesses to invest in Harrison and renovate historical spaces that languished during two world wars and tough economic times. Over the last decade renovations and improvements have occurred at the I.O.O.F building, which includes One Shot Charlie's bar and cafe, The Gallery at Harrison, O'Susana's Design Studio, and Tin Cup Coffee Shop; the Grant building, which houses storage units, a laundry mat, the Company Store and Bird's Nest shops; The Cycle Haus (formerly Pedal Pushers), The Landing restaurant, Harrison Creamery and Fudge Factory, Corskie House lodgings, Lakeview Lodge motel, Osprey Inn B&B, Sheppard Fruit Wines tasting room, Harrison Trading Post grocery store, The Gateway Marina, and Harrison Grange #422.
For more history about Harrison: The Crane House Museum provides local history books, a digital archive of more than 8,000 historical images, and a collection of more than 70 oral histories on CDs.
Crane House Museum
201 S. Coeur d'Alene Ave., Harrison, ID 83833
cranehistsoc@gmail.com
The last of America's Indian uprisings occurred in the Northwest during latter half of the 1880s and a fort was established at what is now Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, to monitor the local tribes. There, Lake Coeur d'Alene's first steamboat, the Amelia Wheaton, was built in 1880. It sometimes traveled past the old Schitsu'umsh village and up the Coeur d'Alene River to the Jesuit Old Mission at Cataldo, a house of worship built by the priests and tribal members. It is now Idaho's oldest standing building.
Gold was discovered in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains in 1883 and one route to the gold fields was up the Coeur d'Alene River. Prospectors with their grubstakes took the Amelia Wheaton to the Old Mission landing, then completed the trip to the gold camp at Pritchard Creek by packstring or on foot.
During those years, a series of actions by the federal government set aside a reservation for the local Indians, now called Coeur d'Alene, and paved the way for a railroad through the reservation. A branch of the O.R. & N. went through Harrison from Tekoa, Washington, to Wallace, Idaho, in 1890, which was a prime factor in the development of Harrison.
Fred Grant purchased a sawmill operating up the St. Joe River in St. Maries and floated it to Harrison in 1891. Silas W. Crane and his wife, who were squatting in a rough log cabin in the woods at the time, built Harrison's first timber frame home in 1891. This building now serves as the Crane House Museum. So much traffic went by their door, to and from the mining region, that the Cranes opened a general store. This was the beginning of Harrison. The village experienced a building boom that July, with thirteen new structures erected during a two-week period.
Harrison mushroomed into a bustling western frontier town by the following year. Three steamboats stopped at the wharf daily. Five lumber mills along the waterfront provided a living for about 350 people. Coeur d'Alene tribal Chief Saltese and his wife visited Harrison to observe all the action. There were two hotels, two saloons, a drugstore, hardware store, two general stores, a butcher shop, barber shop, doctor's office, drug store, a real estate office, and two dray lines. All the businesses were prospering, according to the town's newspaper, The Ensign, which noted:
"The sound of the hammer and saw echo and re-echo from early morn 'till night. And we are conscious that each stroke of the saw, and each blow of the hammer, are sounds heralding the coming of a bright future that is in store for us and is also laying the foundation of a prosperous and beautiful city."
Commerce continued at a brisk pace and about 1,200 people lived in Harrison mid-decade. Grand balls were held at the hotel, water and electricity served every home, and the bank was incorporated. Steamboats and trains transported a constant flow of humanity between Spokane and Coeur d'Alene and the mining district. Homesteaders from the surrounding area came into town for supplies, and lumberjacks with pouches of money arrived from camps on the St. Joe and North Fork Rivers to blow off steam at one of a dozen saloons where the lights burned all night. The revelries often turned to fights and about one bushwacking occurred each week until a vigilante committee of community members formed to run undesirables out of town.
By 1911, Harrison had grown to the largest town in Kootenai County and the City Directory reported a population of 1,250. Sawmills and box factories provided a combined monthly payroll of around $25,000. A constant stream of old growth timbers were floated to Harrison down the St. Joe and Coeur d'Alene Rivers, and thousands of logs were stored offshore in the lake.
Fires were a common occurrence and the townspeople were able to bring them under control until the conflagration of 1917 caused the end of Harrison's upward mobility. Most of the businesses and about half the homes were destroyed. The commercial core that arose afterwards was considerably smaller than its early incarnation. The breadth of the destruction, combined with wars, depressions, and recessions occurring in the outside world, made it impossible for Harrison to recover its former glory. However, the city endured as the population declined. Today's population is about 215. The families that remained created a nurturing environment in which to raise children. Many fond memories are captured in firsthand accounts published in special editions of The Harrison Searchlight, which is produced annually in conjunction with the Old Time Picnic. The picnics, which originated in Coeur d'Alene, moved to Harrison in 1953 when 4,000 people converged on the city park to celebrate the good old days.
The '60s marked a turning point in Harrison's economic base, as it began the slow transition from lumber town to tourism economy. The last of the area's mills closed in 1964, when Russell and Pugh's Springston Lumber Co. shut down. Mr. and Mrs. Albert Mault built the Gateway Marina and the Gateway Motel in 1964, the same year that the Harrison's famous fireworks show over the lake began. The beach was cleaned up, gravel was spread, and a restroom was installed down by the water. Electric service extended to the restaurant and the floating gem shop at the docks, owned by Glenna Ross. A new water line accommodated the restaurant and campers. By the end of the year, the Gateway Marina had thirty boat slips with room for more, a restaurant, bar, dance floor, open air pizza parlor, small c-store, and a 1,776 square-foot arcade.
Ross's gem shop was flourishing in the '70s, a new glove factory was established by Lyle Browning, and the Gateway restaurant and bar were packed solid with merry revelers on summer weekend nights. Nevertheless, the upward economic trajectory was stalled by the recession of the early 1970s. Also, a serious sewage leak into the lake from old pipes built before 1914, presented an expensive problem to repair.
Harrison's population in 1974 was 249 with a median annual income of $6,000. About a quarter of the residents were seniors living on small pensions, straining to pay their $15 electricity bills. The Chamber of Commerce collapsed in 1979 and the town was struggling to raise $800 for the 15th annual fireworks show. Mayor Glenn Addington took action by appointing an economic development council to work with the Panhandle Economic Area Council on an initiative that would promote tourism and attract new businesses.
The pace of recovery stalled in the 90s. The last freight train came through in '93 and community spirit was low. The election ballot was blank that year, because three of six council seats were open, but nobody was interested in running for office. The iconic saloon, One Shot Charlie's, with its sawdust floor and honky-tonk piano, closed in the fall of 1995, after fifty years of service. Then The Gateway flooded and went into bankruptcy after an eight-year struggle. To add insult to injury, a mapmaker placed Harrison on the wrong side of the lake that year.
Nevertheless, Harrison's enduring undercurrent of citizen action bubbled to the surface when a group rallied to construct "The Gazebo" bandstand in the park. The city's famous artist and sculptor, George Carlson, provided sketches of the proposed building and donations were solicited. The VFW, regional businesses, and local citizens all pitched in to build the covered stage that now shelters musical performers who provide free entertainment in the park every weekend. Then in 1999, David Kelly bought and reopened the Gateway marina for a half-million dollars, and One Shot Charlie's reverted to the former owner and opened for business once again.
Things took a dramatic upswing when the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes came through in 2006. Counters along the 72 mile rail-trail across the Idaho Panhandle register 100,000 riders a year, and visitors with money to spend started cycling into what has become one of the favorite stops on the trail.
The new tourist economy has made it possible for family-owned businesses to invest in Harrison and renovate historical spaces that languished during two world wars and tough economic times. Over the last decade renovations and improvements have occurred at the I.O.O.F building, which includes One Shot Charlie's bar and cafe, The Gallery at Harrison, O'Susana's Design Studio, and Tin Cup Coffee Shop; the Grant building, which houses storage units, a laundry mat, the Company Store and Bird's Nest shops; The Cycle Haus (formerly Pedal Pushers), The Landing restaurant, Harrison Creamery and Fudge Factory, Corskie House lodgings, Lakeview Lodge motel, Osprey Inn B&B, Sheppard Fruit Wines tasting room, Harrison Trading Post grocery store, The Gateway Marina, and Harrison Grange #422.
For more history about Harrison: The Crane House Museum provides local history books, a digital archive of more than 8,000 historical images, and a collection of more than 70 oral histories on CDs.
Crane House Museum
201 S. Coeur d'Alene Ave., Harrison, ID 83833
cranehistsoc@gmail.com