A 30-mile stretch packed with unexpected sights

Published 7:28 am Sunday, October 10, 2010

Wonder if Lewis and Clark were nearly blown off their feet in 1806 as they stood at Alpowa Summit, gazing across the windswept plateau that would someday turn into wheat country.

We were coming west from Clarkston. Compasswise, Pomeroy was to the west, Clarkston to the east, the Blue Mountains’ foothills to the south and the rolling Palouse to the north.

At first, U.S. 12 runs between barren hills that sandwich the Snake River, then climbs away from the river, eventually reaching Alpowa Summit (2,785-foot elevation).

It was too windy to spend much time appreciating the nearly flat wheat-covered plateau that was a testimony to the determination of generations of farmers.

Coming down the west side, you’ll see metal sculptures: an eagle with a fish in its talons, an alligator, a dinosaur and a shark.

Pataha, a few miles shy of Pomeroy, is home to the three-story Pataha Flour Mills. Much of its sought-after high-gluten flour went to San Francisco to make macaroni.

The mill, started in 1878, was famous for Houser’s Triple X Flour, shipped worldwide. It was the first flour with a patent in the U.S. You might remember when Bugs Bunny was baking, he used a sack of flour with the XXX label.

The mill was closed in 1943. Now owned by the Van Vogt family, it has a downstairs gift shop and restaurant.

But the magic is upstairs. For the most part, it is the same as it was when the mill was running. Go up the steps past rooms called cribs that held the wheat. A branding-iron collection includes duck foot, goose egg, hoof and nail, one pipe and Rocking A brands.

The upstairs star is the antique collection of dozens of cameras dating back to 1915, a No. 4 Folding Pocket Kodak Model A 4×5. It includes a Polaroid 1948-53, an Eastman Cine Kodak 8 from 1947, a Wirgin Reflex from Germany from the ’30s, and a 1933 tiny Univex Model A film camera.

The office has been kept intact, complete with accounting ledgers, a safe originally from the Garfield County courthouse, an Underwood typewriter and a jug of Tennessee whiskey.

Check out the grinders that processed 100,000 bushels of wheat a year (80 barrels of flour a day), a plane shifter suspended by wooden dowels and other machinery.

For information on the Pataha Flour Mills, go to www.pataha.wallawallawebsolutions.com or call 509-843-3799.

Next stop, Pomeroy, a long and skinny town tucked between rows of hills.

One way to appreciate its history is to take the self-guided historic buildings and home tour that would include the Garfield County Museum and Seeley Theater &Opera House.

The commanding Garfield County Courthouse (circa 1901), some of which has been restored, has a Lady Justice statue holding the scales of justice and a sword atop the clock tower. The traditional blindfold was mysteriously left off.

Off to the edge of town is Holy Rosary Parish church, with the greens and browns of farmland providing a rising backdrop.

The church bell was shipped from New York, around The Horn, and up the Columbia and Snake rivers, where it was freighted to Pomeroy by horses in 1882.

For information on Pomeroy, go to www.pomeroychamberofcommerce.com or call 877-843-1104 or 509-843-1601.

If you’re looking for a place to stay in the area, the Eaton Season Ranch (www.eatonseasonranch.com; 209-883-3536) is a few miles from the Snake River west of Clarkston on Wawawai Canyon Road.

The fifth generation of Eatons offers a small, recently built log cabin with two lofts near the bottom of Wawawai Canyon. A trip to the close-by log-cabin-style “outhouse” is not a chore when it means electricity, a shower, toilet, sink and plush towels.

All of these sights are within a 30-mile stretch from Clarkston to Pomeroy.

Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.