South Okanogan County Exhibit brings more history to annual display

BREWSTER – The third annual Southern Okanogan County History Exhibition returned to the Brewster High School auxiliary gym last Friday and Saturday, June 7-8 with even more material about pioneer life in and around the south county area.

Author and BHS alumnus Ralph Fries and assistant Inez Strange added nearly a dozen more four-by-eight-foot poster boards of research, profiles and photos to the display bringing the total of tripod-mounted pieces to about 44. Much of the recent material covers railroad and steamboat developments from 1888 to 1942.

Despite the extensive time he has devoted to compiling his early pioneer histories, Fries said he is still surprised by some of the facts he uncovers.

“The interesting thing about all this research I did since September was the steamboats and railroads,” said Fries. “If it wasn’t for the steamboats this country would be 50 years behind schedule.”

Fries said the influence of steamboat traffic serving the area impressed him.

“Steamboats were the key because on the west side of the Columbia River there was no road because there is a long rock bluff at Beebe Bridge,” said Fries.

Fries said his steamboat research was particularly interesting because there was not a steamboat built to serve this area that did not wreck or burn up at some point.

The last steamboat built, named the Bridgeport, was constructed in Pateros in 1917 and hauled wheat and fruit from Bridgeport to Pateros to link up with the railroad that came through in 1914, Fries said.

“It was abandoned in 1942,” said Fries, pointing to a photo of the steamboat grounded on Bridgeport Bar.

One visitor to the exhibit, Vera (Bagwell) Sorensen of Entiat who lived on Stayman Flats south of Chelan as a child related a personal story about the early railroad service.

“When I was eight years old, I would stop that train when I had 15 cents and it would take me from my home to my grandma’s house in Entiat,” Sorensen said.

Fries said he underestimated the time required to complete this latest portion of his project that he started last September right after his exhibit at the Okanogan County Fair.

“When I first started, I thought I’d be done in about a month,” Fries said, “I didn’t finish it until last week.”

Fries, a 1958 graduate of Brewster High School, was inducted into the Brewster High School Wall of Fame in 2017.