The Grange Movement Sweeps Stevens County
State organizers are rapidly establishing local chapters to advocate for rural interests, good roads, and political reform.
O. E. Flint of Blaine, Whatcom County, state organizer for the Farmers' Grange, and R. B. Martin of Opportunity, Spokane County, have been working in Stevens County for the past two weeks. They have temporarily organized granges at Chewelah, Cottonwood, Camas Valley, Walker's Prairie, Loon Lake, Valley, Bossburg, and Bruce Creek. Addy, Boundary, and areas near Northport are to be organized this week. After that, they have ten or twelve other places in sight, which will keep them working for the next thirty days. They commenced with a total of seven granges in the county and expect to close with about thirty. The Grange stands for good government and its members will work for good government along non-partisan lines. Its objects are social, political, educational, and cooperative. Its work is toward the betterment of rural and farming conditions, good roads, pure food laws, higher education, equal suffrage, direct legislation, and township organization where practicable.
“The Grange stands for good government and its members will work for good government along non-partisan lines.”
The Grange was a powerful force in early 20th-century Washington, acting as a bridge between rural isolation and political power. Today, the legacy of these cooperative efforts survives in the state's robust agricultural networks and the continued focus on rural infrastructure in Stevens County.
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