stopover.html

The Enterprise, White Salmon, WA., September 18, 1980, page 3

Husum: Stopover for many pioneers

As some of the first white settlers in Klickitat County made their way up the winding White Salmon river in the mid-1800s, Husum or as it was then called - Wilkensheim - became a common stop-over point on the way farther north to the Trout Lake and Glenwood areas.
Husum had its share of settlers too, many with names still familiar in this area today including Wilkins, Carter, Thompson, Fox, Fordyce, Wolfe, Gurnsey, Cox, Golden, Huff, Feldberg, Solomon, Olson, Dean, Hendryx, Spencer, Blake and Jones.
MATTHEUS AND CHRISTIAN Wilkens homesteaded there in 1876 and on March 8, 1880, Wilkens opened a post office which he called Wilkensheim in his home. Also that year Martin Thompson established a town at the site, which he named Husum after a town and Germany near the village where he was born. Wilkens’ post office lasted only a short time and on Aug. 23, 1880, the Husum Post Office was established with Sophia Thompson as the first postmistress.
   As young Husum grew, a school, church, general store, powerhouse and even a hotel were constructed along the route which took still other homesteaders farther up the trail toward Mt. Adams.
Before the first bridge was built below the White Salmon River Falls in 1882, settlers had to ford Rattlesnake Creek, with all their belongings, causing some to dub it "Creek of the Lost Stoves." After the bridge was put in a stage road was built which followed of the White Salmon from Husum to Trout Lake.
G. CARTER PURCHASED the Wilkins homestead in 1902 and built a two-story hotel on the site to accommodate some of the weary travelers on their trek north. Although the building was moved several hundred yards south of its original location, it still stands and is the home of Dick and Bonnie Smith.
Carter also built a brickyard and power plant in the early 1900s on the land of that is now between the two present bridges Husum. Part of the flume which was behind the plant can still be seen today.
   This was the first electric plant to supply the White Salmon area with power and users in those early days paid $1 per month for the service. Inside the power-house Carter furnished a couch which he offered overnight to travelers who just couldn't make any farther.
In 1915 Carter sold his plant to Pacific Power and Light Company and it stayed in operation until 1929 when a bad storm hit the area causing the dam to break and the plant to be flooded out.
   Early Husum also featured two general stores, one which was built by George Kreps and for many years housed the town post office. It stood on its original site east of the river until it was torn down to make room for the gas station that is now in Husum.
The other store, which was located across the river, was built in 1880 or 1890 by Irvin and Myrtle Corey. It was a large two-story building with the proprietors living upstairs. The post office was later moved there and remained in the store until the early 1970s when the present post office was built. The general store building was destroyed by fire about four years ago.
HUSUM YOUNGSTERS received their lessons in spelling, arithmetic and other subjects in a number of small school houses. Herr Levitson taught the first class there in 1876 and in 1898 classes were moved to a log schoolhouse. A year later another improvement; a one room-school about 12 by 14 feet in size was built and in 1901 another one-room school was built behind the present Husum school site. Nine years later that building was turned into a teachers cottage and a wooden frame building was erected next to it.
In 1916 volunteers from the town built a square schoolhouse, which many current residents and former students still remember. The building had to classrooms upstairs with a kitchen and furnace room downstairs. A gymnasium and ran alongside a the building with a wooden balcony around around it. Before a stage was added, students and teachers had to carry in saw horses and planks to make their own stage.
The square school house remained until the 1950s when it was torn down and the present Husum School was built at a cost of $152,449.
THERE WAS ALSO A Sunday school at Husum, which began in 1907 as part of the White Salmon in Methodist Church. E. Carter was instrumental in building Husum’s own Methodist Church and his wife, Elsie, served as Sunday school superintendent until the church ended its services in 1940 because of poor attendance.
Rev. Howard Carlson started the Church of God in 1946 and after several months meeting in the woman's clubhouse rented the Methodist building. In 1966 the present church was built.
THERE HAVE BEEN a lot of other changes and additions in the Husum area in its 100-year history including the now expanded Mt. Adams Orchard, which was started by Wade Dean in 1910, Camp Columbia Boys Town, which was started by Major and Gladys Blake in 1950 and closed a few years ago, and the Department of Natural Resources Compound which moved there in 1968.
In addition to many old buildings which were moved or torn down as the years passed, the old White Salmon Falls also now has a new location. In 1936 when the new state highway bridge was put it, the falls were blasted to accommodate the present structure and back and now they sit several hundred feet upstream from their original site.