A sincere thank you goes to the following people for their time, effort and generosity in helping with this and future projects: Frank and Loreen Ellersick, Bob Willey, Steve and Betty Porter, my parents Don and Sandy Ellersick, my grandmother Edna Dyke, my wife and kids Sylvia, Erica, Anna and Erin Ellersick, Bill Piper, Frank and Alice Warner, Phyllis Ellersick, Georgia Niemi, George Lundeen, Louie Koch, Gerry Potter, Sarah Thorson Little and Lorraine McConaghy.

Figure III.1. Marker at Newport, WA Football Field
Figure IV.1. Hermann Heinrich Ellersick
Figure IV.2. Anna Mary Dorfmeier
Figure V.1. Ellersick Flour Mill, Browerville, Minnesota
Figure V.2. Modern Woodworkers of America
Figure V.3. Park Rapids Lumber Company
Figure V.4. Logging Minnesota Pine
Figure V.5. Park Rapids Lumber Company
Figure V.6. Park Rapids Lumber Company
Figure VI.1. "Four Western Toughs"
Figure VI.2. Pend Oreille Lake and River
Figure VI.3. Opera Bar, Spokane, WA
Figure VI.4. Ellersick’s Riverside Lumber Company Circa 1910
Figure VI.5. Pend Oreille River Near Riverside, Idaho
Figure VI.6. U. S. Per Capita Lumber Consumption
Figure VI.7. Ferry Boat to Ione Up the Pend Oreille River
Figure VII.1. Ellersick Brothers Mill Sites
Figure VII.2. John & George Ellersick Home in 1920’s, Ione, WA
Figure VII.3. Ione, WA
Figure VII.4. Ione, WA Circa 1914
Figure VII.5. Big Muddy Creek Dam, 1920-21
Figure VII.6. Huckleberry School Flagpole
Figure VII.7. Gasoline Alley, Big Muddy Creek, 1920-21
Figure VII.8. John Ellersick
Figure VII.9. Birthplace of Wayne Ellersick; left to right: John, George, Bill Ellersick
Figure VII.10. Belle Ellersick White
Figure VII.11. Left to right: Bill, Frank Ellersick, ?, Walter White
Figure VII.12. Gasoline Alley, Big Muddy, 1920-21
Figure VII.13. White Pine Savages at Big Muddy
Figure VII.14. Big Muddy Ione, WA
Figure VII.15. Bull Chain Pole-Man, George Ellersick, Jr., Big Muddy Mill, 1920-21
Figure VII.16. Frank Ellersick turning the Cant Hook for Sawyer Jack Ellersick
Figure VII.17. Big Muddy Mill Pond
Figure VII.18. Little Muddy Mill
Figure VII.19. Little Muddy Creek Mill, 1924-25
Figure VII.20. Little Muddy Flume
Figure VII.21. Little Muddy Flume
Figure VII.22. Fannie Kahlert
Figure VII.23. Bunk and Cook House, Little Muddy
Figure VII.24. Little Muddy Railroad
Figure VII.25. Little Muddy Firebox
Figure VII.26. Little Muddy Remnants, Louie Koch, Don Ellersick
Figure VII.27. Little Muddy Firebox Remnants
Figure VII.28. Heritage’s Resort, Little Pend Oreille Lake
Figure VII.29. Beardsley Store, Ione, WA
Figure VII.30. Heritage’s Resort
Figure VII.31. Plinking in Ione
Figure VII.32. Ione Basketball Team
Figure VII.33. Ione Baseball Field
Figure VII.34. Semi-Pro Ione Baseball Team
Figure VII.35. Ione Baseball Team
Figure XI.1. Illinois County Map
Figure XI.2. Indiana County Map
Figure XI.3. Minnesota Map
Figure XI.4. Ione Vicinity Map

First arriving in Ione in 1915, when Pend Oreille county was in its infancy, the families of four Ellersick brothers, Henry, William, John, and George, worked to continue their logging and sawmill operations. The family had previously operated large, successful lumber businesses in Minnesota and Northern Idaho. However, due to a disastrous turn of events, the family left Idaho for Ione hoping to recoup lost assets. The story of this family of German immigrants will be followed in Pend Oreille County from 1915 to 1938. Additional information will be included that tells about their immigration to America and their lives in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Idaho and Washington.

Many family pictures show the brothers standing by their sawmills or by huge wagon loads of logs. On one picture, the caption "White Pine Savages" is written. These four brothers and their sons, dubbed the "White Pine Savages," developed an ardent work ethic logging the mighty white pine in the forests of Minnesota, Idaho and Washington. Their lives as lumbermen encompassed forty years, 1885 to 1925. This narration ends in the year 1938 with the birth in Ione of my dad, Donald, who died in 1996. (A future article is planned). My grandfather, George Herman, was the last Ellersick to make a living in the lumber industry in Pend Oreille County where he worked for the Diamond Match Company from the ‘30’s to the ‘60’s, the latest years as foreman.

Ellersicks currently living in Pend Oreille County, Washington are direct descendants of Herman Heinrich Ellersiek, see Figure IV.1, who came to America from Germany in 1854 at the age of 28. Prior to 1871, there was no German nation, but only a collection of separate German states. Some family members think Herman emigrated from the Westphalia, Prussia area to escape military duty. It is possible that the revolutionary troubles of 1848 may have also furnished a motive. This may have played a part in his decision, but most likely he was drawn to the United States by economic reasons as were hundreds of thousands of other Germans in the 1850’s. Herman Ellersiek was born in Enger, a farming area, and probably saw little future on the family farm, so sought opportunity in the United States. It was a tremendous adventure to leave the troubles of Europe behind, to make a home in a half empty land bright with opportunity.

Throwing a wrinkle in this scenario is that the 1850 United States census lists a 25 year old Harmon Ellersick working as a carpenter and living on the farm of German-born John Brockschmidt in Washington County, Illinois; (see G3 area on in Appendix A). This age fits that of Herman’s. Possible explanations to this apparent discrepancy include the possibility that perhaps Herman made more than one trip to and from America and the 1900 Census reflects Herman’s statement for his last and final trip or perhaps the 1900 Census is not correct. Herman is listed in the 1850 census, yet the 1900 Census states he did not arrive until 1854.

In addition, the 1900 Census records that Herman and his wife Anna Mary have been married 52 years, in 1848, and has Anna’s birth year the same as Herman’s, which could not be possible if the dates of birth are correct. Family stories tell that a baby was born and died on the ship enroute to America and is buried on Ellis or Staten Island. A scenario that may explain this additional conflicting information is that Herman married a daughter of John Brockschmidt in Germany and first came in 1848, and the baby and wife died on the way. This would explain why Herman is living with John Brockschmidt. Perhaps, there is a need to accept that the census data is not totally accurate and that a baby did die, not on the way to America, but in Indiana. At this time, we will surmise the 1900 United States census is not accurate in some areas and the family story is partially true that a child died and is buried in Indiana and not on Ellis Island.

Therefore, it is believed Herman was single when he came to America. Herman worked as a farmer in Illinois and Indiana and married Anna Mary Dorfmeier, see Appendix B, in Dubois County, Indiana 1854. Anna, Figure IV.2, was born in Haringhausen, Germany close to the same area as the Ellersicks and their families probably knew each other in the homeland. Herman and Anna Mary had six children while living in Illinois and Indiana. Following are the names, dates and place of birth for the children: Anna, 1855, Indiana, died in 1857; Henry, 1857, Dubois, Indiana; Mary, 1860, Indiana; William, 1861, Pike, Indiana; John, 1864, Vandalia, Illinois; and Anna, 1867, Effingham, Illinois. The 1870 U. S. Federal Census shows Herman and his family farming on land valued at $800, in Mound Township, Effingham County, Illinois.

According to Frank Ellersick, the Ellersick children did not attend school and only spoke German at home. Their bed time prayer was said in German and the children repeated the last line, "Ich habe gebetet, gute nacht!" until a "Gute Nacht!" response was heard from their parents.
 

The Ellersick family traveled up the Mississippi River into Minnesota sometime between late 1870 and early 1871 and continued farming. Herman and Anna’s last child, George Frank, was born in August 1871, in Kandiyohi, Minnesota, an area with a large German population. The 1880 Census shows the family in Germania Township, Todd County. By 1885, the Ellersicks had moved north in Minnesota to the Browerville area. The enterprising Herman created a flour mill, see Figure V.1. This area in Minnesota is near the famous Pilsbury family flour millers.

Herman and Anna’s four sons all married, Lemke and Kahlert sisters, and started families in Minnesota: Henry married Bertha Lemke in 1885, William married Louise Lemke, John married Fannie Kahlert, and George married Emma Kahlert, 1891.

It is not known why the Ellersicks changed from farming and flour milling into lumbering, but it was most likely due to Henry Ellersick, Herman’s oldest son who according to the 1880 Census was working in a sawmill. Herman may have entered the lumber industry because his farm land held forests and his farm and flour mill required timber. Herman Ellersick and his four sons, who were young men now, read the signs of the time and saw potential in the lumber industry so changed professions. In the first part of 1893, the Ellersicks moved north, into the heart of Minnesota’s northern pine lands, to Park Rapids.

In the late 1800’s, the upper Mississippi River and Great Lake region was covered by vast forests. In Minnesota, the prairie met the pine. The prairie lands and the pine lands were both greatly in demand. Incoming settlers coveted the fine prairie lands just as lumbermen coveted the timber. The farmers on the prairie were eager for lumber that was produced nearby, and lumbermen were eager for the market that was developing on the prairie lands and in the rest of America.

A great era of individualism followed the Civil War. Dynamic energy, both physical and mental, was devoted to economic development. The United States was on the march for the conquest of the continent and thousands of people journeyed westward. Forest lands were like gold to the immigrants. The pine forests of Minnesota lay next to the great regions of prairie which had amazingly fertile soil. The settlers sought the prairies for farming and soon realized that large amount of lumber were needed for homes, barns and fences. At this time, the market could consume more than industry could produce. Science, invention and machine power were applied to the processes of extraction and manufacture, and labor was inexpensive and steady. Large scale exploitation of timber resources occurred and deemed necessary to meet the demand. White pine lumber was good wood and inexpensive, so was greatly desired. Also , it was inexpensive to the consumer, so forests were logged of much of the pine.

In 1893, Herman Ellersick and his four sons operated the Park Rapids Lumber Company near Pine Island. Figure V.3 shows that the saw mill was located on Great Northern railroad tracks, making it convenient to transport the lumber to market.

John Ellersick, one of the sons, was certified and licensed by the state of Minnesota as a "Special Engineer" "to take charge of Stationary Steam Engines, Steam Boilers, and other apparatus for generating steam in 1892. Steam power was critical to saw mill operation at that time.

The forests of the white pine were vast and dense, and many believed that these forests in Minnesota would last forever or be sufficient for all time. However, they began to decrease within the lifetime of the men who began logging them. Even by 1890, when the Ellersicks entered the lumber business, most of the virgin forests of the Great Lakes had been cut over. The timber that remained was not enough to sustain the families who operated the immense saw mills. The predominant Minnesota lumber barons, such as Frederick Weyerhaeuser, were looking West for new timber stands, and James Hills completion of his Great Northern to Puget Sound Railroad from St. Paul, Minnesota in 1897, opened up a new empire.

In coming to America, Herman Ellersick had realized a dream. He married, had a large family, and managed a successful company. However, at the beginning of the 1900’s when he was in his seventies, the same dream and spirit that propelled him to America was still with him and had also been instilled in his four sons. The Ellersicks were once again ready to risk what they had gained for a greater opportunity and so planned to move West.

No where in the far Northwest did the Weyerhaeuser group cherish brighter hopes at the beginning of the century than in Idaho. At the northern tip of the Idaho Panhandle grew dense forests of Douglas fir, white fir, spruce, ponderosa, lodge-pole pine (commonest of all Idaho evergreens but not commercial), red cedar, larch, and the western white pine among the high mountain valleys and beautiful lakes and rivers. Western white pine was the aristocrat of the forest, sometimes reaching two hundred feet in height. In August 1900, Weyerhaeuser and other timber experts sent crews exploring for white pine.

By 1900, Herman and sons had considerable stumpage in Minnesota, but the Ellersicks decided to make their own cruises for white pine. In November 1899, Herman and Anna’s four sons were sent west to scout for timberland and an even better future. Figure VI.1. "Four Western Toughs" shows the "four western toughs" on their journey. Each has one foot in Washington and one in Idaho. They are standing on the bridge between Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston, Washington. They also searched for timber on the Washington coast, in the Spokane, Washington area and in the Northern Idaho Panhandle.

They settled on a site on the Northern Pacific Railroad line in Kootenai, Idaho; see Figure VI.2. The area was still primitive and largely unsettled, but the decision was made because of its location. The site was in the midst of white pine stands. Also, rail transportation, along with water, was a key to moving lumber to market. They could use the railroad to ship their cut timber. The numerous streams feeding into the lake could transport the logs into Pend Oreille Lake where they would be stored.

The local newspaper, The Republic, in Sandpoint, Idaho, reported in November 6, 1901, "The Ellersicks are expected to leave St. Paul about August 6th to build a mill at Greenough’s Spur." Herman and Anna Ellersick, their four sons and their families (John, Henry, William and George) traveled west via four cars on a chartered train, bringing all their employees, personal, business and survival necessities to Kootenai, Idaho where they built a saw mill, planar, homes and the Company Store. The store was operated by Herman Kahlert, George and Jack’s (John’s nickname) father in law.

They built a single-band sawmill at Greenough’s Railroad Spur, two miles north of Sandpoint on Lake Pend Oreille, and called it the Kootenai Bay Lumber Company . The brothers brought their lumbering skills and expertise from Minnesota and were versatile in all aspects of the lumbering industry, but each had his own specialty area: Henry, the inventor, did the planning and designing; William supervised the logging; John was the steam engineer; and George, the millwright, built and set up the mill.

The brothers and their wives were busy raising large families. The children of the four brothers and birth dates are listed: Henry and Bertha: Lillian, 1885; Emma, 1887; Ida, 1891; Harriet, 1893; Louise, 1895; Josephine, 1897; Harry, 1900; and Marion, 1902. William and Louise: Eva, Marion, Henrietta, Samuel and Robert, 1893. John and Fannie: William, 1892; John, 1893; Isabelle, 1895; Walter, 1897; Frank, 1898; and Florence, 1901. George and Emma: Adeline, 1894; Alfred, 1897; Gertrude, 1897; Ella, 1900; George, 1903; Ernest, 1909; Harold, 1914, Howard’s twin, died at birth; and Howard, 1914.

A tremendous setback to the Idaho dream occurred when the key man in the lumber operations, Henry Ellersick, died from cancer at the early age of 45 in 1902 at Kootenai. Henry was "the brains" behind the operation. After Henry’s death, the Ellersicks kept the Kootenai Bay Mill less than a year then sold it to the Humbird Lumber Company, a subsidiary of the giant Weyerhaeuser Company. At the time of the sale, the Kootenai Bay Lumber Company payroll records shows 123 employees in September 1903 working six, ten hour days per week. Incidentally, wages at that time were twenty cents a day for laborers and sixty cents per day for the sawyer, filer and foreman.

After Henry’s death, John Ellersick bought a family burial plot in Fairmont Memorial Park in Spokane. Following the sale to Humbird, all the families, except William’s, moved to Spokane. While in Spokane, John operated a saloon (see Figure VI.3) in 1905 and 1906, but the brothers planned to return to the lumber business.

In 1907, they built a large saw mill and planar, see Figure VI.4, at Riverside, Idaho just down the railroad line from their Kootenai Bay mill. Riverside, near Laclede, Idaho on the Pend Oreille River is near the ancient Seneacquoteen Indian trail and ferry boat crossing (see Figure VI.2). John Ellersick’s family home stands by the river today and was operated as the River Birch Farm Bed and Breakfast for many years.

The Ellersick Riverside Lumber Company payroll books show records from March 1903 to March 1914. The last month’s payroll shows the following Ellersicks: William Sr., John Sr., George, Fred, Walter, Frank, John Jr., William Jr.; and Henry Lemke (Henry and William’s father in law) and W. J. Johnson. Anna Ellersick passed away in 1907. The man who started the venture, Herman Heinrich Ellersick, died at the age of 88 in 1913 in Sandpoint, Idaho.

In 1914, shortly after Herman’s death, the Ellersick lost their mill. It must have been sudden as Frank Ellersick was told that his grandfather John threw himself on the bed saying "We have lost it all!" It is not exactly known for sure what the cause of this disaster was, but the following theories have been passed down by family members. One thought is that they kept their funds in a German bank and at the beginning of World War I the banks closed and they lost all their money. Another story is that a crooked book keeper swindled their money. Also, during World War I, John and George had a time limit contract for spruce on Mt. Spokane in 1918. Due to a diphtheria outbreak among the Ellersick logging crew, they could not fulfill the contract and the Diamond Match Company stepped in and their financial holdings were lost. Last, the devastating fires of 1910 burned valuable family forest land and maybe even the mill burned down. Family members have told the story of how the family hurried into boats with as many possessions as they could and stayed on the Pend Oreille River to escape the raging fire.

All of these explanations may contain truth, but some have not been substantiated. As seen in Figure VI.6, 1906 was the peak year for per capita lumber consumption and consumption steadily declined through the depression. Demand for lumber was depressed. In 1914, in the larger mills in the Inland Empire, only forty-seven percent capacity was being used. Therefore, in this strong current of a declining disappointing lumber trade, the specific events or combinations of events remembered by living family members seem plausible triggers to the Ellersick asset loss.

Thus, the end of an era for the Ellersicks in the sawmill and lumber industry had come. Herman Ellersick’s had built success upon success. Times had changed and the brothers and their families reached out to other vocations. His great adventure to the United States had been realized.

William and family stayed in the Riverside, Idaho area. John, George and Bertha (Henry’s widow) remain together and return to their Spokane, Washington homes.