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A new school is planned for Indigenous families opposite Cusick, but the report reveals settler pressure to move them off prime hay lands and allot the land instead.
“They are occupying some of the very best hay lands in the valley and making but little use of them.”
Farmers around Usk and Cusick organize a diking district and send a committee to Spokane to beg a rivers-and-harbors congressman for a dredge, a dike, and a federal appropriation.
“The petition sets forth that the river is encroaching on its banks, and that such work will be necessary to aid navigation, and at the same time would protect an area of 20,000 acres of productive land from loss by overflow.”
Cusick's levees saved 500 acres of grain, but Dike District No. 1 lost its season to a right-of-way feud—and now heads to court to condemn the land it needs.
“Dike District No. 1 lost this year by the shortsighted, narrow-mindedness and jealousies of a couple of ranchers, through whose land the dike must run.”
Landowners face a major legal fight as the Calispel diking district moves to reclaim thousands of acres of submerged land.
“The diking of the Calispel valley will reclaim thousands of acres of valuable agricultural lands.”
A whiskey-fueled crowd shot out the windows and back bar at Joe Cusick's saloon; the town's 'better element' answered by ordering 'lewd women' to leave.
“Wanted—1000 men to drink up all the booze I have in stock. Then I quits.”
A railroad inspector suffers a broken collarbone after stepping off a train in the dark and falling twenty feet into the river bank.
“The train stopped with the caboose on the bridge and Farmer, not being aware of the location of the car, stepped off and fell to the river bank.”
A correspondent warns that the Pend Oreille freshet has wrecked $50,000 worth of Calispel Valley crops—and argues the proposed diking districts are too piecemeal to save the basin.
“These values would be immediately available, for land that is just now submarine and having only a potential value, would at once equal in productiveness the best land in Eastern Washington, with equal value.”
After backwater from the Pend Oreille drowned nearly every acre in the Calispel valley — a loss of $50,000 to $75,000 — landowners meet, hire a Spokane lawyer and move to organize a diking district under state law.
“The water of this year was higher than at any time since 1894 … this year practically the whole crop is gone, entailing a loss of from $50,000 to $75,000.”
About 25 landowners met at Gifford's ranch to sign a petition for a diking district covering nearly 10,000 acres, aiming to protect their fields from the river's annual overflow.
“The estimated cost of the work is about $40,000, and bonds will be issued to cover the improvement.”
The Ponderay Hotel and the Usk Mercantile Co. store burn to the ground an hour after midnight, and the town learns neither may ever reopen.
“The loss to Cusick is a severe one as it is understood that the hotel will not be rebuilt and the chances are against the re-opening of the Mercantile Co.'s store.”
A petition to remove the Pend Oreille Valley's Indian families instead ends in 160-acre allotments at Cusick — and a scramble for the best ground in the valley.
“He found that they were very much opposed to giving up their homes in the valley.”
A railroad contracting firm agrees to build Calispel Diking District No. 1 for warrants instead of cash, giving 6,500 acres of bottomland one season to prove it can beat the high water.
“Messrs. Jones & Onesrud have simplified matters and done away with the necessity of issuing bonds by agreeing to do the work and take warrants of the district in payment therefor.”
Federal rangers and local crews kept the Kaniksu National Forest from another Alispel-scale conflagration, but the season still burned 700 acres and cost an estimated $15,000 in damaged reproduction.
“Owing to the efficient fire patrol that was maintained throughout the dangerous season, most of the fires were discovered before they had gained much headway.”
A justice of the peace petitions county commissioners for a jail after railroad construction crews bring drinking, brawling, and black eyes to town.
“A calaboose is made necessary by the influx of hoboes and bad men following in the wake of the railroad construction camps.”
A Spokane land office ruling sided with settlers who argued that marshy ground at the upper end of Calispel Lake could be drained and farmed.
“The field notes of the surveyor general state the ground to be level, marshy ground which is overflowed and becomes Calispel Lake in spring, but can be easily drained and will become first-class agricultural land.”
A local entrepreneur brings modern infrastructure to a growing valley town.
“Joe is enterprising and deserving of credit for his public spirit.”
Cusick lays fresh sidewalks to the depot, grades its muddy streets, breaks ground on a drainage dike, and chases a long-idle sawmill back to life.
“Cusick is still on the map and growing all the time, in spite of the efforts that have been made to wipe it off the face of the earth.”
Property owners from the Calispel valley packed a Cusick meeting to lobby the Idaho Washington Northern for a west-side route—offering cheap right-of-way and a pile of guaranteed tonnage.
“The committee is composed of a bunch of hustlers, and the east side people will have to hurry if they desire to retain their advantage.”
Property owners in the proposed Calispel Diking District No. 1 unanimously back a 5,250-acre flood-control district and elect three commissioners.
“That its residents and property owners are unanimous in favoring the movement speaks well for the success of their effort to protect themselves and property from the ravages of high water.”
Property owners back a diking district 31 to 2, setting up a court survey and a railroad partnership to protect lowland farms from overflow.
“The proposition was carried by a vote of 31 to 2.”
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