Thursday, March 28, 2024

Third annual visit

Southern Okanogan County Historical Exhibit returns to Brewster gym June 7-8

Posted

BREWSTER - The Southern Okanogan County Historical Exhibition, a comprehensive compilation of homesteader histories displayed in words and photos on a series of four-by-eight-foot poster boards, is making its third consecutive visit to the small gym at Brewster High School on Friday and Saturday, June 7-8.

The Historical Exhibition will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and the Pie Social Exhibition will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Visitors to the Pie Social are encouraged to bring a pie of their choice.

Since 2006 writer and historian Ralph J. Fries, a 1955 Brewster graduate and 2017 inductee into the BHS Wall of Fame, has been compiling facts and photos of more than 425 homesteaders who lived in the Chilowist, North Star District, Wilson District, Harmony Heights, Brewster Flats, Brewster, College Flats and Okanogan River area.

Last September Fries brought a 28-board display to the Okanogan County Fair. For the current display Fries said he expects to add at least 10 new boards that will include the Griggs Steamboat story, steamboat history, Thorvald Friis story and more.

“I am hoping to have the story of the steamboat completed which operated on the Columbia River from Wenatchee to Riverside on the Okanogan River from 1888 to 1914,” said Fries. “Also, the development of the Great Northern Railroad from Wenatchee to Oroville which took over the transporting of U.S. Mail from the steamboats on July 1, 1914, will be new this year.”

The exhibition will also include stories of 14 pioneer women, Chief Long Jim, the last chieftain of the Chelan Indians along with histories of the original settlers.

See more photos at www.qcherald.com

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here