The Merritts

About the Book

This book is about the life and times in a small town of Stehekin, Washington at the head of Lake Chelan, it is the times from 1888 to 1935.  The only way to get there was by boat.  People came and stayed at the Fields Hotel which a man named J. Merritt had a sawmill and supplied most of the wood for the building of the Hotel, and other buildings being built.  People came to do hiking and fishing or just came to be entertained.  Beautiful country side, trees, Stehekin River, which ran very cold all year round.  People that lived there hunted, fished, and trapped, also some had pack horses for hire too make a living. In summer people would plant large gardens and do lots of preserving for the winter.
  It could be very harsh for people living their in the winter. No snow plows to clear roads, a lot of people and kids skied.  Most kids skied to school; some kids lived several miles from school as had no other way to get to school.  .  The one room school was built in 1921, sometimes having 20 kids in school or 5.

About the Author