A Lake, Not a Farm: Homesteaders Fought Over Calispell’s Swampy Shore
A Spokane sportsman’s club contests Calispell Lake homestead claims, arguing the land is water, not farmland—and more claims may follow.
Mrs. W. J. Desart and Emmett Desart had contest papers served on their homestead Tuesday by A. S. Weeks, of Spokane. The contestee alleges that said land is not agricultural in character; that the same is covered with the waters of swampy lake, not susceptible of being cultivated for any character of plants or vegetables or grain, and the same cannot be walked on or traveled over; that there are no buildings thereon, and that the same is uninhabitable by reason of its character. They are notified to appear before the register at Spokane April 21 and 22 and offer evidence touching said allegations. A. S. Weeks is understood to be the president of the Calispel Rod and Gun Club. C. H. Finley and wife, of Penrith, were visitors in the valley and looking over their homestead in Calispel lake. Their homestead entry will probably be contested also, as their claim adjoins the two Desart claims.
“The contestee alleges that said land is not agricultural in character; that the same is covered with the waters of swampy lake...”
Land-use fights in the Calispell Valley are not new: then it was homesteaders versus a rod-and-gun club arguing a lake was too wet to farm. Today the same questions—wetlands, recreation, development and who gets to use the land—still shape Pend Oreille County.
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