History Series: Kayte Casebolt and the History of Potlatch

Join us as we traverse the historical landscape of Kestrel country with the Kestrel Post's very own Kayte Casebolt. 

Kayte digs into the educational ambitions that set Potlatch apart. Discover how a community's investment in education attracted distinguished teachers and cultivated some of Latah County's most brilliant mind

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

This is the Kestrel Country Podcast where we discuss the people, places and events all around Kestrel country podcast. We are very excited to be presenting a history series with Kate Casebolt, who has been a longtime writer now for the Kestrel Post. And if you don't get the Kestrel Post yet, head over to movetomoscocom and sign up to get our free newspaper. But Kate is going to be presenting her past articles, which is a lot of history about our area, so looking forward to hearing what she has to say which is a lot of history about our area, so looking forward to hearing what she has to say.

Speaker 2: 1:12

According to Allison Laird, potlatch was an experiment not just in town building but also an experiment in constructing a certain kind of social order.

Speaker 2: 1:18

Potlatch started as a company town, meaning most of its stores and housing were owned by the Potlatch Lumber Company, where Laird served as the assistant manager. He and several other influential men had a vision to create a thriving community centered around the sawmill. A main part of the motivation behind establishing a company town was the desire to limit alcohol intake. The Potlatch directors were concerned that the use of alcohol would become detrimental to their success as a sawmill. They were adamant that the Latah County Commissioners deny liquor permits along the railways and discourage the construction of saloons in the area. In 1906, the directors settled on a dry company town. They wanted to create a town that attracted the best kind of people and workers. Clarence Ferris White was hired to design the town. He arrived in January of 1906, and by that time there were already 28 worker houses built. The town would be divided into two halves one on the North Hill where the workers lived, and one to the South. This was where the management houses were constructed, known as Knob Hill. Within a month of White's arrival, he and his crew had built 40 more houses, and by the spring that number was up to 100. Still, their work was not done and they continued to build until the town was big enough to house 1,500 people.

Speaker 2: 2:35

Meanwhile, william Wilkerson oversaw the construction of the sawmill and power plants. The working-class houses all looked alike inside, although the placement of the porch, doors and windows were moved about in order to appear unique from one another. The houses had at least three rooms, while some had up to seven. The houses on Knob Hill were a bit more decorative. While the simpler houses cost less than $450 to build, the nicer homes on Knob Hill might be over $2,000 in construction costs. In addition to the family homes, boarding houses were constructed for the single men and women in the community. Although the Potlatch directors wanted stable workers with families to support, the mill simply couldn't be run without the manpower of the bachelors, so boarding houses were built to accommodate these workers.

Speaker 2: 3:23

Potlatch also heavily emphasized their children's education, so they provided additional housing for the single-woman teachers. The teachers played a significant role in the Potlatch community. A school was built in 1907 due to the fact that many applicants at the mill inquired about the education available for their children. Potlatch brought in the best teachers they could, paying over the state average. Often Potlatch teachers earned wages similar to those in Spokane. Despite being a much smaller community, potlatch was home to some of the best students in all of Latah County. They often scored higher on standardized tests than any other students in the area. Since the school was also owned by the lumber company, it functioned differently than other schools. While academic excellence was expected of the students, so was well-behaved manners. Students weren't sent to a principal when they got in trouble. Instead they were sent to the mill manager. Student misbehavior could lead to a parent losing his mill job and housing Again.

Speaker 2: 4:20

The experiment in politics was not only in designing a town but maintaining a certain kind of social order, whether in the saloons or in the schools. In addition to the school, the first church was also built in 1907. For the past year, many ministers traveled through the area, meeting wherever there was room. At last, the potluck's directors had two churches built at the company's expense. The first was a Catholic church called St Mary's Catholic. Shortly after, a Protestant church was built as well. Housing schools and churches weren't the only buildings erected. The lumber company also provided a hospital, bank, post office, hotel, jail and mercantile. For many decades, potlatch thrived as a company town. However, the mill stopped production in 1981 and was dismantled two years later. While the company town experiment did not stand the test of time, it proved to be successful for many years. Although Potlatch now has half the population it once did, there are still several buildings that remain from its days of glory as the town with the largest white pine sawmill in the world.

Speaker 1: 5:26

Thanks for joining us. Like, share, subscribe. We'll see you next week.