Burke, Idaho 1936 - 1937
Burke, Gem, and Wallace were mining towns -- lead, zinc, silver, some copper, and at one time, gold.
(More about Gem and Wallace after Lakeside, MT.)
Burke is seven miles up a winding canyon north of Wallace. Burke is 1/4 of a mile long and just 300 feet wide at its center.
At that point there were a few stores and businesses on the canyon floor.
But most of the canyon was so narrow, there was room for only a road, train tracks, and rushing Canyon Creek.
Train gets right-of-way in downtown Burke - early 1950’s
Burke was once written up in Ripley’s Believe it or Not as “The biggest little city in the world”
where the merchants rolled up their store-front awnings to make room for the train when it rumbled through town.
Hecla Mine
Dad worked as a Timberman for the Hecla Mine in Burke for six years.
I thought I heard Mama say Dad was making $100 a month and reflected to myself, “Oh my, we’re going to be rich!”
I honestly don’t know how much he made but, in retrospect, the work location and conditions were worth many times that!
Dad worked as a Timberman for the Hecla Mine in Burke for six years.
I thought I heard Mama say Dad was making $100 a month and reflected to myself, “Oh my, we’re going to be rich!”
I honestly don’t know how much he made but, in retrospect, the work location and conditions were worth many times that!
Hecla Mine - where Dad worked for 6 years. Headshaft hoist – right center, Tiger Hotel - left background
Hecla Mine headshaft hoist - 2012
Hecla Mine headworks - 2012: “under re-development”
Hecla Mine headworks - 1937
Our House
So, if you want to build a town in such a narrow space, where do you put the houses?
You build them up the sides of the mountains.
The lower portions of the mountains were dotted with long staircases leading to houses
perched on shelves excavated in the mountain sides.
Our house was in a row of homes that were the exception.
They had been built on the canyon floor by excavating space at the foot of the mountain.
Another narrow road branched at right angles from the main canyon road,
and ran up hill past our house which was the first house in that row.
Our house was enclosed partially on one side by that road rising past the house with only a narrow space
between road and house, and fully enclosed by the dirt wall cut in the mountain base behind our house.
That wall was several feet higher than our house, and left a space about three feet wide between the back of the house
and the high dirt wall behind it.
This was a two-family house with very thin walls. We tried to be quiet so our neighbors wouldn’t hear anything they shouldn’t, but we could surely hear them including when their chamber pot was in use.
Our half had living room, dining room, bed room, and kitchen with a big pantry.
So, if you want to build a town in such a narrow space, where do you put the houses?
You build them up the sides of the mountains.
The lower portions of the mountains were dotted with long staircases leading to houses
perched on shelves excavated in the mountain sides.
Our house was in a row of homes that were the exception.
They had been built on the canyon floor by excavating space at the foot of the mountain.
Another narrow road branched at right angles from the main canyon road,
and ran up hill past our house which was the first house in that row.
Our house was enclosed partially on one side by that road rising past the house with only a narrow space
between road and house, and fully enclosed by the dirt wall cut in the mountain base behind our house.
That wall was several feet higher than our house, and left a space about three feet wide between the back of the house
and the high dirt wall behind it.
This was a two-family house with very thin walls. We tried to be quiet so our neighbors wouldn’t hear anything they shouldn’t, but we could surely hear them including when their chamber pot was in use.
Our half had living room, dining room, bed room, and kitchen with a big pantry.
Shoveling snow in the doorway under the overhanging roof snow at our house in Burke, with school above - 1937
House, school, and snow
Snow-covered Canyon Creek between rows of houses
Canyon Creek, the town sewer
We shared an outhouse with the tenants of the other half of the house. That was the mind blower.
Canyon Creek ran past our front yard. Outhouses lined the creek and actually hung out over it.
Visiting the outhouse was a little unnerving because there was a constant thumping and bumping of logs and debris
being washed downstream in the creek.
That noise and resulting vibration of the outhouse made you want to get out as fast as you could
for fear of being washed downstream!
(Hmm… wonder how that might have affected the hired girl who monopolized our two-holer by the RR track.)
We shared an outhouse with the tenants of the other half of the house. That was the mind blower.
Canyon Creek ran past our front yard. Outhouses lined the creek and actually hung out over it.
Visiting the outhouse was a little unnerving because there was a constant thumping and bumping of logs and debris
being washed downstream in the creek.
That noise and resulting vibration of the outhouse made you want to get out as fast as you could
for fear of being washed downstream!
(Hmm… wonder how that might have affected the hired girl who monopolized our two-holer by the RR track.)
Burke Canyon Sewer System - outhouses were built over the edge of the creek
Once when Mama visited our outhouse she failed to completely fasten the door. Our neighbor opened the door on her.
He was so flustered that instead of immediately closing the door, he stood there staring and repeating, “Oh, I’m sorry!”
Some distance up the mountain side was a flume that carried mine waste which also emptied into Canyon Creek.
What had once been a beautiful rushing mountain stream was filthy with waste, old cars, and other trash.
The creek was actually quite pretty in winter when snow covered all the debris.
A saying went that the quickest way to commit suicide was to jump into Canyon Creek.
He was so flustered that instead of immediately closing the door, he stood there staring and repeating, “Oh, I’m sorry!”
Some distance up the mountain side was a flume that carried mine waste which also emptied into Canyon Creek.
What had once been a beautiful rushing mountain stream was filthy with waste, old cars, and other trash.
The creek was actually quite pretty in winter when snow covered all the debris.
A saying went that the quickest way to commit suicide was to jump into Canyon Creek.
Streambed is stained from a century of mine tailings, rust, and other objects sliding by
Years later I worked for the Environmental Protection Agency in Seattle.
One of the first reports that crossed my desk was about Burke and Canyon Creek
polluted with mine waste and waste from toilets hanging over the creek.
If fellow employees expressed shock or disbelief, I’d tell them, “Believe it”!
One of the first reports that crossed my desk was about Burke and Canyon Creek
polluted with mine waste and waste from toilets hanging over the creek.
If fellow employees expressed shock or disbelief, I’d tell them, “Believe it”!
Open line still drains to the stream - 2012
There was another rather cruel joke about the canyon towns.
It seemed there were an inordinate number of people who had survived polio,
and were left with one leg shorter than the other.
This was said to be because they had lived in this narrow place so long where there was room for only one foot
on the canyon floor which meant the other foot had to walk up hill on the mountain side.
That caused the mountain side leg to eventually be shorter than the other.
Some homes were actually built on stilts over the creek.
And a few businesses such as the theater and a hotel spanned the creek.
I remember going to movies and feeling like there was an earthquake because of the rumbling and thumping
of debris being washed down Canyon Creek under our seats.
It seemed there were an inordinate number of people who had survived polio,
and were left with one leg shorter than the other.
This was said to be because they had lived in this narrow place so long where there was room for only one foot
on the canyon floor which meant the other foot had to walk up hill on the mountain side.
That caused the mountain side leg to eventually be shorter than the other.
Some homes were actually built on stilts over the creek.
And a few businesses such as the theater and a hotel spanned the creek.
I remember going to movies and feeling like there was an earthquake because of the rumbling and thumping
of debris being washed down Canyon Creek under our seats.
Flume on hillside above downtown Burke |
It snowed there! Boy, did it snow!
The space behind the house completely filled to the roof with snow.
In front, Dad shoveled paths so we could get in and out of the house.
The snow he shoveled was banked so high you had to look up just to see out the windows.
Then the snow would start to thaw and slide partially over the edge of the roof before it froze and snowed again.
Those overhangs could get pretty large, and hazardous!
Every so often, someone would walk out the door only to be buried in a pile of snow and ice
from an overhang broken loose by the vibration of the door opening or closing.
The space behind the house completely filled to the roof with snow.
In front, Dad shoveled paths so we could get in and out of the house.
The snow he shoveled was banked so high you had to look up just to see out the windows.
Then the snow would start to thaw and slide partially over the edge of the roof before it froze and snowed again.
Those overhangs could get pretty large, and hazardous!
Every so often, someone would walk out the door only to be buried in a pile of snow and ice
from an overhang broken loose by the vibration of the door opening or closing.
Shoveling snow off a slippery roof
Dad went up on the roof and shoveled snow hoping to prevent an overhang. He slipped, but then one foot stuck and the rest of him went over the edge. Result -- One broken leg, temporary end to snow shoveling and just about everything else. I don’t know if Hecla compensated their workers when disabled. Our roof from side road
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With snow piled so deep in yards, kids thought it was fun to dig tunnels in the drifts.
It was also dangerous.
Every now and then one of those tunnels would collapse while a child was inside.
We were fortunate. It never happened to us.
It was also dangerous.
Every now and then one of those tunnels would collapse while a child was inside.
We were fortunate. It never happened to us.
Snowplow moves up the Burke Canyon
Donald Donald and I were all bundled up playing in the snow in our front yard. He was a cute little guy in his snow suit. He fell down in the snow. I laughed and helped him up. He sort of staggered and fell again. I laughed and helped him up again. After a couple of repeats, I became suspicious something was wrong. There was a picket fence along the side of our yard parallel to the road that ran up hill past our house. When it snowed, the fence disappeared. The poor little guy had fallen in the snow that covered that fence so that the pickets poked him in the tummy and little rosy cheeks had turned blue. I quit laughing. He recovered quickly but that was scary. |
Sixth Grade
I was in the sixth grade. The grade school was behind and above our house.
It was built on another shelf dug out of the mountain side.
There was a strong fence at the edge of the school yard, at the top of the dirt wall behind our house.
I was in the sixth grade. The grade school was behind and above our house.
It was built on another shelf dug out of the mountain side.
There was a strong fence at the edge of the school yard, at the top of the dirt wall behind our house.
Burke School - with roof of our house below
Preschoolers Donald and David often played in that space behind our house during nice weather when the space wasn't filled with snow. At recess and lunch time several kids would gather at that fence to watch and talk to the “cute little boys.” They heard me call Donald “Donnie,” and say that his middle name was Boyd, but they picked it up as Donnie Boy. Donald and David with neighbor girl at Burke School
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Our teacher gave us a writing assignment. We were to write a fable. How times change. She selected my story as the best one and read it aloud to the class. Today, instead, I’d have been given a lecture on political and social correctness. You see I wrote about why Indians are called Redskins. The animals of the forest had gathered food to store for the winter. Some men found their stash and began stealing it for themselves. But, the animals caught them in the act and the men were so embarrassed their skin turned red, and so they were called Redskins. |
Helen - Sixth grade
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Camp Fire Girls
I joined Camp Fire Girls. We were given a list of Indian names and their meanings and told we could pick one.
Gahistiski meant Peace Maker. That sounded good to me. So I became Gahistiski and took my new name very seriously.
One day near our house, two boys were involved in a free-for-all and a crowd of onlookers was cheering them on.
Well, Peace Maker couldn't allow that to continue.
I pushed my way through the crowd and tried to separate the two fighters.
That brought a roar of protest from the crowd who wanted the fight to continue. In the crowd was the school bully.
I had sensed that he had a crush on me. Good thing too. The bully bellowed, “Leave her alone!” They did.
Thanks to a bully I was able to accomplish my peace-keeping mission.
Too bad the bully wasn't around at a school Halloween party.
School events such as parties and sports were held in a large building a few blocks from school.
I think we called it the “gym.” I even played basketball there. Well, I tried to.
The word I got was that the Halloween party was to be a costume affair.
Mama got out a Chinese costume she’d made to wear to a party years before.
It was a very authentic looking two-piece pants outfit with huge pockets hanging at the end of each sleeve.
She took one of her old stockings and pulled the top over my head.
The part hanging down my back she cut into three strips and braided them into a cue. I wore a full face mask.
I was happy with the costume, but dismayed when I arrived at the party to find only a few others in costume which,
unfortunately, brought us some ridicule from those who were not in costume.
Our paper boy assumed I was a boy and determined to make me identify myself.
Somehow he got me behind the piano, where he threatened to punch me in the face unless I told him who I was.
I didn’t. He did! Right in the nose.
My bully defender wasn't there to protect me from this smaller bully.
I pulled the mask off and looked into the stunned face of our paper delivery boy.
Not only had he attacked one of his customer’s kids, it was GIRL! A deluge of apologies followed but my nose still hurt.
At one Camp Fire meeting we had an impromptu talent show. I sang “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”
My first solo before an audience, all of about twelve girls.
The school was preparing for a school music program and one teacher asked if I would play the violin.
I asked if I could sing instead. She agreed. This time the selection was “Songs My Mother Taught Me,”
which I found in Mama’s sheet music. My mother was there to hear it.
At the school Christmas program I was given the role of the Spirit of Christmas.
Mama made my costume, a long white satin dress with a stiff collar that stood high in the back.
I wore a crown and held a wand with a star on the end. The stand-up collar and crown were covered with sequins.
I had no lines. I just had to stand in one spot on a raised platform at one side of the stage. Sounds pretty easy, huh? Wrong.
Try standing perfectly still while sequins (from the collar and crown) are falling inside the back of your clothes and into your stockings.
They caused itching that was pure torture! When the curtain went down after the first act, I scratched!
I scratched until the curtain was about to go back up again, then stood perfectly still again and suffered to the end of the play.
One day seated in the audience at a school affair, Mama sensed something familiar about the lady seated next to her.
Afterward, they chatted and the lady introduced herself as Mrs. Rounce.
It was the same Mrs. Rounce in whose Sidney home Mama stayed during high school and who taught her piano lessons!
Mr. Rounce was a school official in the Burke area.*
*(Years later, I met their daughter Barbara in a music class at the U. of Montana.)
I joined Camp Fire Girls. We were given a list of Indian names and their meanings and told we could pick one.
Gahistiski meant Peace Maker. That sounded good to me. So I became Gahistiski and took my new name very seriously.
One day near our house, two boys were involved in a free-for-all and a crowd of onlookers was cheering them on.
Well, Peace Maker couldn't allow that to continue.
I pushed my way through the crowd and tried to separate the two fighters.
That brought a roar of protest from the crowd who wanted the fight to continue. In the crowd was the school bully.
I had sensed that he had a crush on me. Good thing too. The bully bellowed, “Leave her alone!” They did.
Thanks to a bully I was able to accomplish my peace-keeping mission.
Too bad the bully wasn't around at a school Halloween party.
School events such as parties and sports were held in a large building a few blocks from school.
I think we called it the “gym.” I even played basketball there. Well, I tried to.
The word I got was that the Halloween party was to be a costume affair.
Mama got out a Chinese costume she’d made to wear to a party years before.
It was a very authentic looking two-piece pants outfit with huge pockets hanging at the end of each sleeve.
She took one of her old stockings and pulled the top over my head.
The part hanging down my back she cut into three strips and braided them into a cue. I wore a full face mask.
I was happy with the costume, but dismayed when I arrived at the party to find only a few others in costume which,
unfortunately, brought us some ridicule from those who were not in costume.
Our paper boy assumed I was a boy and determined to make me identify myself.
Somehow he got me behind the piano, where he threatened to punch me in the face unless I told him who I was.
I didn’t. He did! Right in the nose.
My bully defender wasn't there to protect me from this smaller bully.
I pulled the mask off and looked into the stunned face of our paper delivery boy.
Not only had he attacked one of his customer’s kids, it was GIRL! A deluge of apologies followed but my nose still hurt.
At one Camp Fire meeting we had an impromptu talent show. I sang “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”
My first solo before an audience, all of about twelve girls.
The school was preparing for a school music program and one teacher asked if I would play the violin.
I asked if I could sing instead. She agreed. This time the selection was “Songs My Mother Taught Me,”
which I found in Mama’s sheet music. My mother was there to hear it.
At the school Christmas program I was given the role of the Spirit of Christmas.
Mama made my costume, a long white satin dress with a stiff collar that stood high in the back.
I wore a crown and held a wand with a star on the end. The stand-up collar and crown were covered with sequins.
I had no lines. I just had to stand in one spot on a raised platform at one side of the stage. Sounds pretty easy, huh? Wrong.
Try standing perfectly still while sequins (from the collar and crown) are falling inside the back of your clothes and into your stockings.
They caused itching that was pure torture! When the curtain went down after the first act, I scratched!
I scratched until the curtain was about to go back up again, then stood perfectly still again and suffered to the end of the play.
One day seated in the audience at a school affair, Mama sensed something familiar about the lady seated next to her.
Afterward, they chatted and the lady introduced herself as Mrs. Rounce.
It was the same Mrs. Rounce in whose Sidney home Mama stayed during high school and who taught her piano lessons!
Mr. Rounce was a school official in the Burke area.*
*(Years later, I met their daughter Barbara in a music class at the U. of Montana.)
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David's 4th birthday
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Violin Lessons
Some people came to our house selling violin and guitar lessons.
I really kind of wanted to play the guitar, but we already had Dad’s Sears Roebuck fiddle.
I sensed Mama and Dad really wanted me to choose the violin. So I did.
I was glad I had that violin because, although it cost only $25,
it had a much better tone than the squawk boxes provided by the “teachers.”
The word, teachers, is in quotes because, tho’ they did teach us to play, instead of teaching us the names of notes,
they told us, for instance, “This note on this space is this finger on this string.”
But it got me started, and I actually enjoyed it.
I’d practice before school. When I heard the five-minute bell ring at the school,
I’d try to finish whatever exercise or piece I was playing,
and then run like mad up that hill to school. Usually made it there on time.
Later I had private violin teachers and learned to read notes the right way.
(See "Lakeside" and "Gem and Wallace")
Some people came to our house selling violin and guitar lessons.
I really kind of wanted to play the guitar, but we already had Dad’s Sears Roebuck fiddle.
I sensed Mama and Dad really wanted me to choose the violin. So I did.
I was glad I had that violin because, although it cost only $25,
it had a much better tone than the squawk boxes provided by the “teachers.”
The word, teachers, is in quotes because, tho’ they did teach us to play, instead of teaching us the names of notes,
they told us, for instance, “This note on this space is this finger on this string.”
But it got me started, and I actually enjoyed it.
I’d practice before school. When I heard the five-minute bell ring at the school,
I’d try to finish whatever exercise or piece I was playing,
and then run like mad up that hill to school. Usually made it there on time.
Later I had private violin teachers and learned to read notes the right way.
(See "Lakeside" and "Gem and Wallace")
Auburn adventure
We had the Auburn before we left Poplar. Dad converted the previous Essex into a grand four-wheel trailer for the move. One day he drove the family in the Auburn, trailer attached, up a mountain road. As I recall, his plan was to gather wood. That mountain road got the best of Donald and David. Not only was it winding, it was very narrow and the mountain went almost straight up on one side of the car and almost straight down on the other side. Two whimpering little guys huddled against the side of the car next to the uphill side. They were sure we were going to roll off the road down the mountain side. When we got as close to the top as the road went, we found the numerous curves had actually caused the trailer hitch to bend. I don’t remember how Dad remedied that, but he got us home. On one family drive in the Auburn, suddenly a huge ball of fur slammed into the passenger side of the car. A bear had run out of the woods and decided to cross the road at the wrong time. Bear seemed OK and walked away, stunned, I’m sure. Auburn suffered an indentation. After the initial shock, family decided that was quite an experience. |
Picnic by the snow in upper Burke Canyon – May 1937
Fast Forward…
Once you got out of the mining towns, or looked above the houses in town,
you could not help but be struck by the magnificent beauty of those rugged, tree covered mountains.
Years later (1992), Norman and I were driving from Burke over the pass toward Thompson Falls
along the road where we’d had the bear encounter.
We spotted (and fed) a little deer alongside the road and it adopted us. Rather than staying home, it began following us.
When we’d stop, the deer would stop. We’d go forward again and the deer would follow again.
(“Don’t feed the animals.” – n)
That little deer added a very special touch to the drive.
Once you got out of the mining towns, or looked above the houses in town,
you could not help but be struck by the magnificent beauty of those rugged, tree covered mountains.
Years later (1992), Norman and I were driving from Burke over the pass toward Thompson Falls
along the road where we’d had the bear encounter.
We spotted (and fed) a little deer alongside the road and it adopted us. Rather than staying home, it began following us.
When we’d stop, the deer would stop. We’d go forward again and the deer would follow again.
(“Don’t feed the animals.” – n)
That little deer added a very special touch to the drive.
...and Back Again
Mining towns tend be mixed culturally. The population in Burke ranged from educated and refined to uneducated, and even criminal. There were a lot of drunks. Our parents decided they wanted a better environment for their kids. They packed up our household into the four-wheeled trailer, and Dad drove us to Lakeside where we were able to rent the same wonderful lake shore cabin we stayed in before. The rent? Very affordable -- $5.00 a month! (See "10 Lakeside, Montana") Dad drove himself back to Burke, the Hecla, and a room at the Beanery. (See "Tiger Hotel" below) Click to view Tiger Hotel in Burke Idaho When finished viewing, close the active Browser Tab to return here He would keep working at the Hecla for almost five more years.
But after the year at Lakeside, he moved his family back to Idaho to a house in Gem between Burke and Wallace. (See "12 Gem and Wallace") |
Ready for Sunday school
(Brick boarding house in background, at left) |
Burke revisited - 2012
Clear Canyon Creek flows past the site of our house - 2012
"The last time I saw Canyon Creek it had again become a beautiful clear mountain stream.
But most of the people were gone. Burke was a ghost town." - hm
But most of the people were gone. Burke was a ghost town." - hm
Schoolhouse basement is now a temporary residence
Downtown Burke - 2012: Canyon Creek covered behind fence. (See 2nd picture from top "Train gets right-of-way")
Abandoned boarding house, but possibly occupied – 2012
"On the mountain side opposite where we lived stood a lonesome house with a For Sale sign.
It made me feel sad. Who would ever buy it?" - hm
It made me feel sad. Who would ever buy it?" - hm
Site of our house between the stream and the schoolyard wall - 2012
"The spot where our house had stood was empty.
The house was destroyed in a fire sometime after we moved from there." - hm
The house was destroyed in a fire sometime after we moved from there." - hm