TOLD by the PIONEERS - Washington Secretary of State

Told by the Pioneers
No white man now living remembers when a nameless tribe of Indians
'would come to the wild country through which the Snake river
winds its way among the hills of what is now Eastern INashington.
In the canyons the tribe would gather for winter shelter. They built
lOdges of cedar poles, and held ceremonial dances, the beating of their
war drums echoing far among the bunchgrass hills. This is still an
awe-inspiring region. The highway drops from the high lands about
Colfax to a low level along the Snake river at Almota.
In this 'wild setting, on moonlight nights, when the salmon made
their runs, leaping and flashing, these nomadic tribesmen skimmed
the surface of the stream in their dug-out canoes, spearing their winter's
food.
" Almotine," in the language of the dusky warriors, means i'moonlight
fishing," and this name during the years has been changed to its
present form, Almota, and applied to the little shipping point on the
Snake river, a place of great historic interest.
Almota had one of the first settlements in Eastern Washington and
for many years was the principal shipping point for the entire country
north of the Sake river. The territorial road from Dayton to Colfax
via Pomeroy went through the town and a ferry was established in
1877.
The first settler on Almota creek was L. M. Ringer. Jack Turner
and another man settled on the townsite, but Henry H. Spalding, my
husband, and the son of the famous missionary, came from Prescott
and bought them out. These two men remained for a while to supply
the steamboats with driftwood. Sometimes there were se,'ell steamers
at the wharf at one time. ::'111'. Spalding built a warehouse ill 1876.
In 1877 a town was laid out, L. ~I. Ringer opened a store. ~fr.
Spalding became postmaster. After this, there were built two hotels,
two warehouses, a grist mill, several shops, a school house and many
dwellings.
Only one of our cows, for which we had traded our Prescott farm,
survived the hard winter. There 'were two peach trees on the land
we bought. Seeing an opportunity to succeed in the raising of fruit,
my husband planted an orchard which for 40 years was tended by
Chinese. The climate was mild, fruit ripened early and was hauled
out in wagons to the less favored regions of the north and east.
Other orchards were set out, some wheat was raised and flax was
brought from the Moscow country for shipment. Around Penewawa
there was the beginning of a settlement in 1871 when Ed J ohnsoll, a
stockman, came in. C. C. Cramm established a ferry in 1872, and
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