A visit with Perry

One of my most fervant desires is to never have to walk through foot-deep slop again. I can't say that I'll avoid it completely, but if I do so while performing my morning and evening barn chores, I'll be a happy farmer. Foot-deep slop is difficult to avoid on North Idaho farms, especially during the winter and early spring months.

When we first looked at the future Lovestead, it was a drizzly day in March. At least six inches of snow still covered the ground in most places, and more than enough rain was mixing with that snow. So, we were able to see the potential slop centers on this place. I made a mental note at the time to make sure preventative maintenance for slop would be high on our list of "things to do" once we moved here.

And, that is where Perry Palmer comes in. I've mentioned Perry before as the well-seasoned road builder in this area. Once we knew the new place was a certainty, I told Perry we'd be calling on him. So, we did, and yesterday, Perry came calling on us to see what we wanted done to avoid winter-time slop.

We enjoyed listening to his observations---coming from a highly-trained and experienced eye--as to what would do the trick to keep us above the slop while walking to the barn and the storage shed at the end of the lane. It took just one walk-through for Perry to know just what was needed and how he'd go about it.

After taking care of business and assuring us that the lane would receive adequate gravel and grading to take care of my slop-eradication desires, Bill, Perry and I spent about an hour visiting in the driveway. When it was over, I commented to Bill that Perry Palmer is definitely a walking history book for the Sandpoint area.

His dad and his uncles built a mill at the base of what's now Schweitzer Mountain Resort. It was called Palmer Bros. Mill, and a young entrepreneur, Jim Brown eventually bought it. He and his buddy Jack Bopp had been pulling "deadheads" out of the lake. Those are also known as sinker logs which have been underwater for sometime.

They had their deadheads milled at Palmer Bros. Jim Brown's purchase eventually led to the giant Pack River Lumber Co., which had mills all over the northwest. One fortuitous development set Jim Brown on his way. His mill had turned a large amount of white pine into lumber just about the time that Farragut Naval Training Station began to evolve on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille southeast of Sandpoint. Jim Brown had a market for his lumber and then some and then some.

In later years, Jim Brown became the major stockholder in Schweitzer Mountain Resort (then known as Schweitzer Ski Basin) on that same mountain above where Palmer Bros. had their logging operations. Before Schweitzer was built, it had to have a decent road. Perry's older brother Bud Palmer and his brother-in-law Wayne Ebbett got the nod as major builders of the original Schweitzer Road in the early 1960s. I'm pretty sure there was an Oliver and a Stradley who participated too. Perry helped them and later built some roads of his own around the ski area.

Our conversation yesterday also centered on the Humbird Mill which thrived in Sandpoint during the early part of the Twentieth Century. One of Perry's uncles, John, served as a camp superintendent for Humbird Lumber Co. It was a job that would take him to the logging camps all over Bonner County where Humbird owned land. Of course, Bill loved listening to the stories because he has developed a program where he speaks to groups about the Humbird influence in the area.

We now live on former Humbird land, and Perry had a few stories to tell about these areas which were logged off and later sold as stump ranches. In one case, he told us about the Tucker family who read the real estate brochures put out by Humbird, jumped at the chance, and bought their land north of Sandpoint. Then, they arrived to see that the brochures had maybe enhanced the story a bit.

"I read that Grandma Tucker saw where they were going to live and 'cried for a week,'" Perry told us yesterday. Well, the Tuckers, like most folks in North Idaho, must have had strong constitutions because they survived. And one of their plots of land at Colburn now belongs to my mother and Tibbs Arabians. So, I guess we have the Humbird folks to thank for luring all these folks who turned those stump ranches into nice farms.

I could have listened to Perry for much more than the hour he spent with us yesterday because he's a man with a wealth of local history. He appears to have an accurate take on what he shares. The best part, though, about visiting with him---especially in these days when we don't seem to recognize most of the faces we see in the grocery stores---was that we never had to explain to one another who someone was. All parties knew the names and knew their games.

That's pretty darned refreshing. And, knowing that Perry's gonna take care of most of our barnyard slop long before winter made for a perfect visit.