REMINISCENCES OF of WILLIAM ROWELL
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William Rowell of Mesa has written some reminiscences about the Mesa and Ringold areas. His father filed on a homestead eight miles west of Mesa in December, 1904, along with two brothers who also filed on homesteads nearby. His recollections of those early days coincide pretty much with the experiences mentioned in the brief summaries of conditions at Kahlotus and Connell quoted above. (Memoirs of Otto Olds). Rowell especially mentions the many country schoolhouses in existence all over the county, but especially in the Mesa-Ringold areas. “Country schools were used as central meeting places for school entertainments, literary societies, dances, church, Sunday School and basket suppers…. There were also picnics under the trees at someone’s ranch along the river… and everyone from near and far seemed to enjoy themselves… I believe there was a stronger bond and more neighborly relationships than exist today,” Rowell wrote. “In those days people called on their own resources, and furnished their own entertainment… There was on occasion a traveling magic lantern show, (using a projector with carbide lighting showing slides). These shows had a variety of features such as dialogues, slides, motion pictures and magic acts,” he concluded.
The struggle for water and the terrible wind erosion caused by “black storms” are chronicled by Rowell. He mentions one very bad such storm when high, black clouds of dust rolled in from the north covering a wide area. He said his mother herded the kids into a cellar under the house, as she came from a tornado country. Some of the dust storms lasted several days. Mrs. Phillippay wrote that on some occasions the wind would blow steadily from the south for four days, and then it would turn around and blow steadily from the north for an equal number of days.
Rowell recalls the Indian encampments along the Columbia River during the early Ringold days. They bothered no one, and no one bothered them, he said. He recalls what he said was a very amusing incident concerning his father, who, upon seeing the first automobile near his homestead remarked: “Automobiles will never be a success in this country, just bumpity bump and sand!” He also said “The tractor will never replace the horse.” “But I cannot criticize those pioneers for their viewpoints, as it is hard to visualize the radical changes that were coming,” Rowell wrote. “Now, with the advent of the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project the entire situation has changed… Population has increased greatly; hundred of thousands of dollars worth of produce is harvested annually; we have improved roads, electric power, telephones, none of which we had in the early times… I am proud to have witnessed and played at least a minor role in the development of an era,” he concluded.
