The Lost Town of Cabinet? (Sandpoint, Clark Fork: for sale, homes, buying)

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Here's a question for those of you who are familiar with the Clark Fork area: Do you know anything about the abandoned townsite of Cabinet, between the fish hatchery and the dam? Is there anything to see, and can you get to it? We tried to find it, driving down Cabinet Gorge Road toward Montana, but there is no access road, and we don't want to all of a sudden find ourselves in somebody's backyard, looking like idiot CA rookies ...The townsite is still on the official maps, and it used to be a thriving town in the early 20th century, with its own depot, a ferry, and a spectacular hanging bridge, until a storm took the ferry and the bridge, sometime in the 1930s, I think. It's featured in a nice new book about Bonner County ferries, but it was too expensive for us to pick up this time around. There's even supposed to be foundations left, and maybe the remnants of a building. Doesn't that sound cool? Old West history! Love it!

[brokencrayola]

I lived at the hatchery there. There is a small cement foundation on someone's property next to the hatchery where there was a back and forth pully type thing once. The old brick schoolhouse stood intact until we had that really bad winter. That property was bought by someone I think in AZ. They came one summer and put in electricity to the old school and said they were going to fix it up, but never did. They had someone that was suppose to monitor the snowload on the roof and did not and the whole thing collapsed and left a huge pile of bricks. There was a wooden building close to the tracks that I believe was a place where railroad employeres slept now and then. That guy who bought the property destroyed that. If you walk through the fields towards the dam you will see lilac bushes, sometime Iris flowers and apple trees that were once in people's yards. Occasionally in the river you can find pieces of Chinese pottery. We have found one or two pieces. The Chinese were the laborers. Up the hill where the private school is there is the old Cabinet Cemetary with several graves and gravestones.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by brokencrayola

I lived at the hatchery there. There is a small cement foundation on someone's property next to the hatchery where there was a back and forth pully type thing once. The old brick schoolhouse stood intact until we had that really bad winter. That property was bought by someone I think in AZ. They came one summer and put in electricity to the old school and said they were going to fix it up, but never did. They had someone that was suppose to monitor the snowload on the roof and did not and the whole thing collapsed and left a huge pile of bricks. There was a wooden building close to the tracks that I believe was a place where railroad employeres slept now and then. That guy who bought the property destroyed that. If you walk through the fields towards the dam you will see lilac bushes, sometime Iris flowers and apple trees that were once in people's yards. Occasionally in the river you can find pieces of Chinese pottery. We have found one or two pieces. The Chinese were the laborers. Up the hill where the private school is there is the old Cabinet Cemetary with several graves and gravestones.

Thanks so much for telling this story! It breaks my heart to think that something could have been saved, and was neglected and/or destroyed. It could be that the owners were oblivious to the value of NID history--it could also be that they simply didn't have the means to follow through on good intentions. I prefer to think the latter. We probably weren't in the market for buying property at the time, and riverfront property would have been out of our price range, anyway, but I keep thinking that if that had been the piece of property we'd bought, we'd have done what we could to restore the structures. It's a moot point, of course, but I'm sorry a piece of history was lost. But we'll definitely take a walk along the river (we'll have to find out about privacy issues and right-of-way along the water) and look for pottery pieces, and we'll go look for the cemetery. Next summer, that is...sigh...

Too bad you're no longer at the hatchery--we'd have been practically neighbors!

[Clark Fork Fantast]

I'm reading a fascinating (and hard-to-find) little book by Mariam Lawton Clayton, A Pioneer Grandmother's Story of Her Life, from 1971. She and her husband were the owners of Blue Creek Ranch between Cabinet, ID and Heron, MT. She tells of how they arrived in Idaho in the dead of winter 1917--they thought it would be spring already, but it wasn't! They got off the train in Cabinet with their kids and their livestock (she describes the little town of Cabinet), took the ferry across the river, and made it across Blue Creek (no Highway 200 then, and no bridge) where they built their first cabin. Her book is full of great details about life in the area in the early part of the 20th century--Clark Fork, Hope, Sandpoint, etc. The family survived and prospered--tough people in hard times! But she says life on Blue Creek just wasn't the same after they built the Cabinet Gorge dam... When you're somewhat familiar with the area her story really comes to life. We actually looked at land for sale up Blue Creek Road some years ago, before we decided to focus on the ID side of the border!

[brokencrayola]

Wow, that sounds like an interesting book. I will have to see if I can find it. Thanks!

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by brokencrayola

Wow, that sounds like an interesting book. I will have to see if I can find it. Thanks!

I got it through Amazon.com (used), but they probably have it at the Sandpoint public library. You can skip to the last 30 pages to get to the local stuff, but what she writes about her youth in Kansas and New York where they almost had "modern times" in the early 20th century really sets the contrast to the frontier life in NID and MT that she chose! It's strange for me to read about how and where they built their first cabin, thinking that we'll be doing the same thing just across the river almost within sight of her old ranch, nearly 100 years later...

[pacalady]

Your love of local history shines in your posts. Here are some local names you might be interested in researching to give you more insight into the evolution of the Hope/Clark Fork/Cabinet Idaho areas. I am fourth generation to the Clark Fork area, and these are names that made some sort of history and or impact on the area in their lifetimes from the late 1890's thru the 1960's and beyond.

The Whitcomb (not sure of spelling) family homesteaded in CF during the late 1890's but homestead rights were fought to the Supreme Court of the US by the White Family who had homesteaded as well (you can find the entire brief on the internet) It was kind of like the more modern day feud of the Hatfields and McCoys!

John E White .... first telegrapher in Clark Fork, where the railroad then ended as the Chinese workers continued to build towards Hope. The depot was located just east of the railroad crossing at Stephen St. at that time. His compensation was $60 per month plus coal.

There is a chinese burial ground in Hope somewhere, but I've never been there.

Compton Ignatious White Sr (Congressman) buried in private buriel site near the entrance to Cabinet Gorge Dam.)
Compton Ignatious White Jr (Congressman in the 60's)

The Thornton Family

The Ruen Family .... Grandfather immigrated from Germany with a few seed potatoes that ultimately brought the following generations to become the "Seed Potato Kings of Idaho" during the late 50's and 60's and into the 70's

The Foster Family

The Fanning Family

The Reed Family

The Harris Family

Emma Rathburn, and the Mercantile Store

The Derr Family (start with John Derr)

The Shields Family

The Nolan Family

The Dawson Family

The Rounsville Family

The Brashear Family

The Hays Family

Hope this info is helpful in your quest to learn more about the area .... Some facts you'll be able to find in print or over the internet ..... otherwise, you'll need to talk to someone who 'lived it' and can tell you more in person!

PacaLady

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by pacalady

Your love of local history shines in your posts. Here are some local names you might be interested in researching to give you more insight into the evolution of the Hope/Clark Fork/Cabinet Idaho areas. I am fourth generation to the Clark Fork area, and these are names that made some sort of history and or impact on the area in their lifetimes from the late 1890's thru the 1960's and beyond.

PacaLady

PacaLady,
How generous of you to supply me with this great list! I printed it out and put it with our Clark Fork papers for our next trip "home" . In the meantime I'll pursue Internet research. I'm very excited about acquiring more knowledge about an area we have fallen in love with! Maybe you won't mind me stopping by some day? I'd love to hear local stories, and see your alpacas! I've encountered a few of the names on the list before--in Clark Fork there is a friendly little restaurant with old-time local photos displayed on the walls, and somebody had taken the trouble to put captions on them all.

[Teresa M.]

Hi all you history detectives! I am writing in response to Cabinet, Montana. My husband and I are interested in that old place as well. We are also trying to locate the old site of a town called Thornton. It too is on the old maps, somewhere between Hope and Clark Fork. It would be so great to find information on Thornton. I noticed in pacalady's post she lists The Thornton family with the familial history here. I have lived in the Northwest since 1968 and am truly interested in the history of Clark Fork and the surrounding areas. Any info anyone could give would be much appreciated!
Teresa

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Hi Teresa,
Another NID history buff, how delightful ! I looked at my Forest Service map of the region, and Thornton isn't listed, but I have an old map somewhere, so I'll see what I can find. A Google search came up with this:
A Geological Reconnaissance in ... - Google Books

It mentions a "Thornton siding" a few miles east of Hope! I'm sure the exact location can be found. Looking at the area in Bing Maps aerial view doesn't really reveal anything, though. Unfortunately I'm 1500 miles away from our CF property, so I can't just drive up the road and take a look-see , but maybe Pacalady or Brokencrayola know about Thornton?