History of Brents & Creston

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           The Plateau Indians lived in the area south of the Columbia river in the area called the Big Bend.  They were hunters and gatherers who lived along the rivers in the canyons where it was warmer and driftwood was available for fires.  There they would fish, hunt deer and small game, and forage for berries.  In the summer month they would camp in the scabland and plateau area, hunting and digging for camus roots.  What is today called the Creston Butte was known to the Plateau Indians as "the place where deer dried their antlers."

            Isaac Stevens was the first governor of Washington Territory (1853) and Superintendent of Indian Affairs.  He was responsible for negotiating treaties between the Native American peoples of the area and the U.S. government.  "In  the spring of 1859, the Congress of the United States of America at last ratified the treaties negotiated by Isaac Stevens.  President James Buchanan declared the Indians' title to the lands of Oregon and the Washington Territory null, and opened up the country to settlers.  The Indians were in turn expected to immigrate to the holdings on the reservations allotted them, and to take up Christianity, English literacy, and farming."¹  The Colville Indian Reservation was established north of the Columbia, restricting their access to the plateau area and thereby opening the way for farmers to settle the area. 


            Around 1860s, a few stockmen came to the plateau.  They established their ranches where they could find a little water and graze their cattle on the open range.  In order that the cattle could be separated when it was time to sell, every stockman had his own brand.  It was also about this time that a number of Chinese came to the area in order to mine for gold along the river.²


            In May of 1862, the U.S. government passed the Homestead Act.  This law allowed any head of household over the age of 21 to obtain the title to 160 acres of public land if that person lived on the land for five years, cultivating and improving it.  Or, in lieu of the five year period and residence requirement, homesteaders could instead purchase the land outright for $1.25 per acre.  This law encouraged the westward push of emigrants into the prairies and eventually to the far west.


            In June of 1877, there had been attacks by Indians in what is now northern Idaho.  Fearful of this, "many settlers [around Sprague] abandoned their farms to seek refuge in Walla Walla.  But the Indians did not invade the farmlands. On their return, the fleeing farmers found that friendly Indians had, in fact tended their crops and opened corral gates so that livestock left behind could find water."³

            By 1880 the first settlers in the area, mostly homesteaders, were established north of present day Creston in what was called the Brents area, named after Thomas Hurley Brents, a three-term territorial delegate to U.S. Congress.  "Among those locating in and north of the Brent region were James Jesse Cole, John Cole, Samuel M. Comer, Trauisdell Cooper, Newton Grinstead, William Franklin Simons, George H. Simons and George L. Snyder."⁴   The Coles and the Simonses might have been the first in the area, for in Elizabeth J. Simons' obituary it says that she was the second white woman to arrive in the area, coming just days after Mrs. Jesse Cole. 

Whitestone

            The settlers found the natives of the area to be friendly. There was a large settlement across the river from Whitestone, a sheer white rock cliff that sheltered a canyon, and so the local farmers called them the Whitestone Indians.  They had their own laws and "Skookum House" -- a strong house or jail.⁵  The white settlers were not suppose to cross into their territory but the Indians would cross over the river  maintaining a friendly relationship.⁶  One common crossing was at Whitestone, across from which there was an area of flat land.  "The Indians crossing at Whitestone always swam their horses.  They would get them in the corner next to where a large rock and the water came together, then crowd them into the water, leading them with a canoe and a horse led behind the canoe.  We always found the Indians friendly and got along fine with them. We were 'tillicums' (friends)."⁷  According to recollections of George and Jeannette Simons Kunz, the Indians also would camp at Sherman Flat near the natural spring.



            In 1882, a post office was established at Brents.  They also established the first cemetery and school in this area. George and William Franklin Simons helped to organize the first school district and both served on the school board.  Classes would be offered four months of the year and all the grades would be taught in one room by one teacher.  Later the school year was increased to six months, three months in the spring and three months in the fall, with the teacher changing every time, ensuring that the students didn't learn much.⁸ 


            For several years the farmers in the area would have to go to Walla Walla or other areas east to earn money for their winter supplies.  Many of them worked on the railroad.  In 1889, the Washington Central Railroad (Northern Pacific) made its way through the scabland.  As it came through, the new towns that were established at the various rail stations began to develop at the expense of the earlier settlements such as Brents and Sherman.  One such rail station was established at the high point near Brown's Butte (later Creston Butte); thus, the town of Creston was born.   H. S. Hason purchased land from the Northern Pacific for $800 and plated the townsite of Creston in 1890. 


            "Henry Verfuth moved a building in from the Sherman district and became Creston's first resident."⁹  He established the first post office in his building, as well as a small supply store.  Soon after, others also started businesses -- a blacksmith shop, a well-digging plant, a hotel and feed stables, and more.  In 1890 the first school opened in Creston.  The term was three months long, since students would be occupied on the farms during the spring, summer and fall.

 

            Besides the Brents school, there were many other country school districts located around the Creston area in the early years. One of these schools north of Creston was the Mountain View School, thus named by Eliza Jane Brown Simons because it was in view of the mountains.  After it was established, the children of George Simons attended it because it was closer to his home then the Brents School.  After 1904, students from these country schools would go to Creston for their high school education.  Many of these students would board or live with relatives during the school months.


            On June 19, 1892 Mr. and Mrs. Huson donated property to the Catholic Church.  "The first pastor was the Rev. William Dwyer, who was appointed rector of the Big Bend Missions in 1888.  This included all territory north of Sprague and Harrington and extended from Cheney on the east to Waterville and the Columbia river on the west.  Fr. Dwyer, who lived at Medical Lake, traveled by train to some of the missions, but to others he had to pack off on horseback, by stagecoach or by horse and buggy.  In 1894 Fr. Dwyer started the frame church building in Creston... It was dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes."¹⁰  Some of the early parishioners included Robert Miller, Michael Kunz, James Sullivan, Pat Kelly, Ed Ring, John Carrol, Joseph Rosman, John Markey, Theodore Greer, George Kunz Sr., Jon Moylan, Roderick Fraser and Reilly Jump.   


            A few years later, in 1900, Sacred Heart Church was built in Wilbur.  A year later, Bishop Edward O'Dea of the diocese of Nisqually, which included all of the state, asked if the mission in Creston could be made smaller.  By February 1906, Sacred Heart parish in Wilbur received a resident pastor, Rev. Henry Deichman, and so the missions in Creston, Coulee City, and St. John (north of Almira and Hartline) were included in this parish.  The pastor continued services at each community for years.  However, after 1935, regular Catholic services at Creston were abandoned, though masses were sometimes celebrated in Creston on special occasions.  Fr. Arthur Joda offered the last mass at Our Lady of Lourdes sometime before his departure in 1953.


            In the early years, Creston had four Protestant churches:  Southern Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Saints. The ministers of these protestant churches did not live in Creston, though, and so services were not held on a regular basis. This did not encourage their survival.  The Presbyterian community however, remained strong despite these hardships for twenty years. 


 

            During the winter of 1904, Rev. Walter Reed, pastor of the Christian Church in Davenport, came to Creston to preach on a Thursday.  This group grew in attendance and enthusiasm.  Various pastors came to serve this church that seemed to fit the need of the community.  One pastor of note was Gifford Ernest.  Due to his influence, two young men from the community, Donald and Ernest Mitchell decided to study for the ministry at Bible college in Eugene, OR.  In the spring of 1912 Ernest Mitchell returned and took up the work as student pastor at Creston while also continuing his studies.  He served for about six or seven years.  Later in the 1930s he returned to serve the Creston Church until he retired in 1953 after 27 years of service.  He held the distinction of serving in one congregation of the Christian Church longer than any other one pastor in the Pacific Northwest.¹¹


            The Creston area is wheat-producing country, and so the physical construction of the town reflects the growth and changes in this industry.  At first, farmers had to break the sod and work the land before they could actually raise anything.  This first wheat was harvested with scythe, flailed, winnowed and sacked by hand, and brought by wagon to the nearest mill, market or transport depot -- perhaps in Sprague or Walla Walla, at least two or three days away.  But as the number of farmers increased and they began to save enough capital, eventually some were able to buy a threshing machine which could be moved farm to farm. 


            At this point, the railway was being established in the area.  Farmers could now cooperatively build a warehouse near the train depot for storing wheat sacks as they came in from the farms, awaiting the next train on its way to the markets.  In 1901, two large grain warehouses were built in Creston.   Shortly afterward, a flour mill was constructed, producing Thistle Down Flour.  The farmers now had the option of selling some of their wheat to the local mill. 
 
 
             Sacking grain for the purposes of transport and later unsacking it eventually proved to be burdensome.  A change was introduced:  the shipping of bulk grain.  Farmers built sidings on their wagons so that they could put the threshed wheat directly into their wagons.  In the early 1940s, Creston not only transformed its traditional grain warehouses, built to hold sacks of grain, into structures strong enough to hold bulk grain, built also built a concrete tank in order to provide extra storage space. 
 

           The telephone was introduced to the area in 1898, linking Davenport to Wilbur.  These first phone lines were established using the top wire of barbed wire fences to transmit the calls.  Though the system worked rather effectively, variables such as the weather could affect the quality of calls.  It was only in 1904 that regular telephone poles and lines were installed between Creston and Wilbur.¹²

Return to the story of Frank Simons.

Return to the story of William Simons.

Return to the interview with George Simons and Jeannette Simons Kunz.

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¹  Robert Clark.  River of the West:  A Chronicle of the Columbia.  NY:  St.Martin's Press, 1995, p 159.

²  Herbert E. Jones, Early History of the Big Bend Country, 1963, p 36.

³  Donald E. Walter, ed. Lincoln County:  A Lasting Legacy. Davenport, WA:  Lincoln County Centennial Committee, 1988, p 8.

⁴  Ibid., p 75.

⁵  Herbert E. Jones, Early History of the Big Bend Country, 1963, p 11.

⁶  Ibid., p 7.

⁷  Ibid., p 13.

⁸  Notes from Lillian Simons, who went to Brents in 1915 and taught school there.

⁹  Donald E. Walter, ed. Lincoln County:  A Lasting Legacy. Davenport, WA:  Lincoln County Centennial Committee, 1988, p 76.

¹⁰  Ibid., p 78.

¹¹ Ibid., p 79-80.

¹² Ibid., p 82.