Potlatch Historical Society Hands Out Awards

The Potlatch Historical Society chose the Depot as its venue for handing out its Pine Tree Awards on May 11.  Pictured, left to right, are Amber and Dan Akins, Carol Haddock (PHS President), Cheryl Kreid, Karen Rohn and Lindy Seip.  Dan and Amber accepted their award on behalf of the Akins family and Harvest Foods.  The local market put up a variety of historical photos on its walls, and they've been greatly enjoyed by shoppers.  Cheryl was on hand to accept the award for the Latah Federal Credit Union, which also chose to exhibit a variety of historical photos at the request of new CEO Lowell Stevens.  Karen Rohn was cited for her excellent mural of the old sawmill, which was painted on the side of the Wagon Wheel in downtown Potlatch.  Although they were absent from the evening's awards, Dale Spring and Diane Senften, owners of the Wagon Wheel, were also honored for hiring Karen to paint the mural.  Lindy Seip, long-time PHS member and previous secretary, was thoroughly surprised by her White Pine Award, which was given in recognition of her loyal service to the organization.  Lindy and her husband Bob Zemetra will be moving to Oregon where he will be taking over leadership of the wheat breeding program at Oregon State University. 

At the recent WIM HPG board meeting, the board voiced its hope that the Depot would be used for more community activities, so it was great to see PHS celebrate its Pine Tree Award ceremony there.  In similar fashion, the Palouse Empire Rail Society will hold its monthly meeting at the Depot tonight as participants have signed up for an evening of pizza and train videos.  And Karen Rohn, one of the HPG's newest members, will soon open on Fridays to display her art and also sell HPG items from the Company Store.

Monday Morning Recap

The dust has settled at the depot, and with some luck, 20 volunteers now feel a little less stiff and sore after the hard day of demolition last Saturday.  The amount of work that got accomplished was amazing, and the WIM HPG especially thanks the US Bank team for donating their community service hours to the depot project.  Kenny, Michelle, Caryn, Shannley, Tori and Phil not only furnished muscle power to take off countless buckets of lathe and plaster, but they also brought most of the food.  "Thank you" is just not enough, especially to Tori Van Allen and Phil Omlor, who traveled from the Post Falls area.  Phil said he'd done similar demolition work at Fort Missoula some years back, and Tori, who hails from Kellogg, is no stranger to historic building projects either.  Pictured at right are Jim Haddock (left) and Don Somers who got started rolling waste materials down the chute.  Thanks to Webb French and sons Ben and John, the ceiling had already been taken down, and the French team also devised the chute.

Barb West, Jim's sister-in-law, is a frequent volunteer who gives a solid day's work.  The mask is a nice touch, don't you think?  Given the huge amount of dust, masks were necessary.  It almost appears that people were working underwater given all the dust particulates floating past the camera lens!

Board member Webb French brought son Joe along to help with demolition, althoughthe French family had already done a huge amount of work the previous Saturday.  Webb did admit that lunch was a nice incentive to return to work this Saturday!  Although Benand John were absent this Saturday, we thank them for their work this past week.

The newest teller at the Potlatch branch of US Bank, Shannley Moon, gets busy with the hammer and chisel, as her husband Jonathan works in the adjacent room.

Jim Haddock, above, and Joe Griffin, below, were not afraid of the hard work, but they did seem a bit camera shy!

Karen Rohn gets ready to do some serious work.  She's already a seasoned veteran when it comes to working on the depot interiors

Dave Cada was no slacker, piling up plenty of plaster in his dusty space.  Interestingly enough, Dave spent his first year of life in the depot, where his parents Dorothy and Joe Cada lived in one of the upstairs apartments. Thus he has a great historic tie to the depot.  Dave currently serves on Potlatch City Council.

Project manager Jim takes a break with brother Mike West.  Mike and his wife Barb retired last year and were agreeable to getting up early to come and work.  Thanks, you two!

Saturday's Roster of Volunteers

WE HONOR YOU AND THANK YOU!

Don Somers, Jesse Glassman, Tori Van Allen, Caryn Brown, Kenny Cada,

Michelle French, Phil Omlor, Shannley Moon, Dave Cada, Jack Coyner,

Jim Haddock, Mike West, Barb West, Karen Rohn, Richard Craven,

Jonathan Moon, Joe Griffin, Webb French, Joe French, Barb Coyner

A special thank you to the POTLATCH HISTORICAL SOCIETY

for donating Centennial plates and mugs as gifts for volunteers

Jim West, Project Manager

He earned his lunch and more!



Saturday's Demolition Day

Project Manager Jim West gives safety talk

The US Bank team:  Michelle French, Phil Omlor, Caryn Brown,

Shannley Moon, Tori Van Allen, Kenny Cada (front)

Caryn Brown wields a mean shovel

Phil Omlor and Jack Coyner lug lathe to the chute

Kenny Cada works the bucket brigade

Jesse Glassman does dumpster duty

US Bank employees Tori Van Allen and Phil Omlor 

came from Post Falls for the work party

Stirring up the dust--good reason for the masks!

Shovel Ready Project?

The Latah County Historic Preservation Commission met at the depot this morning, and the "before" part of the before-and-after tour shows that we definitely have a shovel-ready project for Saturday!  And this is one of the tidier scenes.  Lathe and plaster everywhere, and that's only from the ceiling demolition.  One can only wonder where all the waste materials will go once we get busy on Saturday!

Work Party Saturday

Thanks to our venerable president Kenny Cada, US Bank is supplying some much needed muscle to do demolition work upstairs in the depot this Saturday.  Jim and his little band of elves must've been at work last weekend, because the ceilings are already down and the floors are piled high with lathe and plaster.  This week, work resumes with the US Bank volunteers and others taking on the lathe and plaster walls.  The work party begins at 9 am, lunch will be served, and there will also be a chance to do some outside gardening chores.  The HPG will supply hard hats, safety glasses and respirators, and volunteers should bring leather gloves and wear thick-soled boots.  The work teams will rotate with frequent breaks, so plan to have some fun along with the labor!

On a related note, Larry Comer and Del Hatch were in town yesterday as part of kicking off a study of possibilities for the old mill site.  The depot is a key part of that land and its future, so Larry and Del took copious notes to learn more about the WIM HPG, the depot and our plans.   It was a very productive tour, with a fair amount of dreaming involved.  Pie in the sky?  Not really when you think of how much has been accomplished since the mill closed 30 years ago this year! 

Deary's Desk Comes to the Depot

Dan Crandall brought the William Deary desk to the depot last Saturday.  Dan is the Director of the Latah County Historical Society and a real fan of the depot project.  For some time he has hoped to bring the desk back to town and he picked a day of pouring rain and cold to get the job done.  Accompanied by his wife Marilyn, sister and brother-in-law, Linda and Ward Pletcher of Ferndale WA, son Aaron and grandson Perry, Dan toured his family through the depot and even enjoyed a look at the caboose. Marilyn was especially interested in being part of the demolition day scheduled for April 30.  That's when the US Bank employees will volunteer some hours of community service, thanks to HPG President Kenny Cada, manager of the Potlatch branch of US Bank.

Dan isn't exactly sure how the desk came to the LCHS headquarters and he didn't know whether the desk had been at the depot or maybe at an office in Moscow, but he knew it was Deary's desk.  It is possible that the desk actually was in the depot back in the days of Deary's tenure.  Dan assures us he will be looking into the background of the desk when he gets time and further information.

Dan Crandall and his family toured the caboose as part of delivering the William Deary desk to the depot last weekend. 

Meanwhile Paul "Poke" Montgomery called last week to say the lumber for the caboose is ready and will be brought to the annex when the weather clears up.  Poke and his wife Jeanette are donating the lumber for the caboose, a very generous gift for the X5 and the HPG!

Annual Meeting Sets New Goals

Saturday March 19, 2011, brought the WIM HPG board together for its annual meeting and the group saw some changes.  For starters, charter board members Tom Burg and Jack Coyner got off the board, along with Brian Magelky, and two new members, Webb French and Paul Kimmell, were added.  During the election of officers, Kendria "Kenny" Cada took over the helm as President, Jack stepped in as Veep, Barb Coyner stayed on as Secretary, and Don Somers retained the challenging duties as Treasurer.  Jim West will serve as Chairman of the Board.  Other board members are Tom Hillebrant and Carl Sonner.

The group reviewed its significant progress at developing the north end of the depot, and discussed upcoming demolition efforts as volunteers from US Bank work on the second floor on April 30.  Board member also want to make the depot more open to the public and many hope to see the Potlatch Historical Society keep some regular hours during the summer.  Don and Jack might hold some train group meetings in the future in keeping with the Palouse Empire Rail Society's past mission.  And the X5 caboose also received its share of attention as it was announced that Poke and Jeanette Montgomery will donate lumber to repair the caboose's deteriorating siding.  The Potlatch Recreation District has chipped in with a generous donation to help restore the caboose, as well.  It is this type of local support that has the HPG moving ahead.

In addition to the meeting, several HPG members went "sidetracking" to check out the trains around Plummer Junction.  The above photo is compliments of Tom Hillebrant, the able editor of the White Pine Quarterly.  Look for more of his photos in the next WPQ.