Latah County Oral History Collection

Viola White Cameron: You know. No, I told you, I didn't remember the story. Well, there's a well in the middle of a house. Yeah, we had the old ones. You know, everybody uses this. Now this. This Kate Waldron that we're speaking of. She lived at this time with us two, and she had two children. And, And then there was the crystals that are cranes and Vogel now.

Helen. Cranes. She was she lived up there with us, too. And,

And this small Friel, her family lived up there, so. Well, Another one. I was thinking that she might get information of her father and raised in Harvard and I can't remember. Ruby. Ruby. Now, Ruby can see her name. Used to be real.

Laura Schrager: Well, you know. Yeah, it was cleaner.

Viola White Cameron: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Right. Have you gotten a touch her? Well, this this Crystal's, is is an aunt of theirs. this crystal at this level. Is that. Ruby's there? There I am there, and. Yeah, that Ruby's there, and. Yeah. So she was. She was good to get in touch with her. She could remember a lot in the bar.

Please go down there. Who can at least go down there and stay at the farm 100. Because that's that was a great deal on. Your price.

Laura Schrager: So your father happened to be there when the fire started?

Viola White Cameron: They were at, they were on the railroad working someplace because he brought the train that took us there on the flat cars and wasn't there, Levin said they would let him black back, and I don't know, there was a lot of flat cars and everybody they thought mobile was going to burn to thing, and then it bypassed that.

See, they got it under control, but they thought it was going to burn to. Home.

Laura Schrager: How come you didn't know. Morning.

Viola White Cameron: How come. Well we were it was Warren. I mean, we knew the fire would bring in from our place. And my dad has. This would have split the the always winner would split. He said he felt worse about that. But anyway, you know, this is on the 30th. But but they could see it good. Because they say the reason they thought it was going the other way and it was all under control.

You know where the old buildings don't you. Can't you see that's that. See. Well, when that was finished, burn, that was completely black. There was no tree or anything on that for years and years and just amazing. And I got there and I know how green it's getting again and everything, because there was nothing there after that fire and there wasn't any homes.

They were all burned. Even that log cabin across the track that Manny and Dave Gentry lived in was burned.

But the shops didn't burn at all. Shops didn't burn. Didn't we just kind of jumped right over them, just kind of burnt in that one area and didn't burn. And it didn't burn. The schoolhouse. You. Well, that was rather that was over kind of straight across the shops.

Laura Schrager: What did you kids grab when you left? Did you grab anything?

Viola White Cameron: Well, we wanted to grow grass and I, we never were much to go barefooted anyway. And we came in. Mother thought we should go barefoot in the summertime, save our shoes. And so we came in and 1 or 2 wanted to put our shoes on. And then we had our shoes on. That's the only thing in the clothes we had on us.

That's all we had. Oh, yeah. and our brothers didn't even have shoes on. They didn't even have two brothers and brothers, and they didn't even have shoes, you know, and and we went to some of them, some people got off all along the way or different have friends, some had friends and dairy and Avon. and we went through the potlatch because we had friends down there and, you know, lovely people that put up with us.

Mr.. Mrs..

George Fulton,

She just died a few months ago. I think.

Laura Schrager: Where did you move back in? did they build something?

Viola White Cameron: Oh, we had a home where our father owned a home in Bovill, Idaho, and he was renting it. Well, then when I realized that the flat town burned by then, when we came back from Potlatch, we stayed there seven days, I think in Potlatch was that. And then we came back and we didn't have any furniture. But you know how people are in small town, they all help.

And then our grandmother stayed with us and our parents came up here to the Northwestern Trading Company. It's Bergen's now and bought bought our front, bought furniture and brought it back to me. Always says everything in this house was just my age. And she was right because she was born that September after this fire in August. And so, so we had that their house and that's where we lived and just moved in the house.

So we were lucky some people didn't have any stamps, you know, and and you don't you think, feel like a building fan of yours because actually all the homes were really kind of chanties, weren't there. We have basements. We had like one big room and then our net and built would lead to on for our bedroom, you know, up a slab town.

Yeah. How to get that name.

Laura Schrager: Do you know what? Do you know how it got that name?

Viola White Cameron: Well, Slab Town, I suppose, because everybody just put up a bunch of slabs, you know, suppose you know, who gave it. And just up a little high there was columns, you know, they could just. Well, call it Collins, but just this one little area there, they call sometime. I don't know, but I'm happy with their.

I wish I could remember a lot of other things, but, when I went, you know, I guess, I guess when you're, when you're kids, you know, the things you do remember, most of them are trivial, you know? I mean, you remember something, except for something like this and Christmas. But that's the thing to remember when you're small, it really don't aren't important things.

I remember that, that Mrs. Driscoll and Troy wrote to me one time and and wanted me to get a picture, a mental picture of because she was doing this painting. sites of all the towns. And it disappeared in the area, but, it wouldn't been authentic. I couldn't remember.

Laura Schrager: Of Slab Town.

Viola White Cameron: Yeah. She's painting all the. You probably know, very well, the track you've probably written here is one crystal house. Our house was right down that way. Then there was the road, and up above that was Waldron's and Hughes's. And then that was that great big barn back there. They were all block farm. And then they was like, let's say I couldn't, it's not that clear in my mind.

You know, you could paint or or anything. So I suggested to her that she contacted mod for real because she and I were, yeah, people that lived up there. She lived there. And because when you're six years old and then you're home.

Laura Schrager: Yeah, yeah. Today. Have a little school there.

Viola White Cameron: Yes. A one room schoolhouse we had in the first and eighth grade. That was my first. Our first year school was there. And back in that time, We went two years now. We went one year there, I don't remember. Then we went back to to, I guess we did go two years and then and we were supposed to go in the third grade.

We went to both of them. They told us, I mean, the teacher was so great, and I put ourselves back in the second grade, mother, you know, think I about no know we went two years there because I, I can tell by my age because I, you know, I started to I started I was a lot and working with the school but they let me go to.

But I was only five. They in the fire. I was just barely seven. I must go gone. See that, that. Let's try this property that this. Crawford that used to own the local drugstore was 13. Our first our first teacher. And every year you start to school. She said, do you like this teacher as well as she did me and is that a few years ago?

Yes. Right. 91, 91.

Laura Schrager: So was she a pretty good teacher?

Viola White Cameron: She was a nice teacher. She had terrible. She had so much hair and such long, heavy hair. She had such terrific headaches. So she had this, this huge girl. What was her name? was a crystal. You.

Of course. So that's Butler. So we a butler? I think it was crystal. Human uses. Anyway, she had her teach this all the time. Was. She was eighth graders, and she had these terrible headaches. She just couldn't hardly see.

and. Oh.

I wish I could think of some things to tell her, but I said.

Laura Schrager: Would you go down to ballroom? Very much. We lived up there.

Viola White Cameron: Yes. We used to walk down usually, on Saturday, your Sunday and go to a show. Sometimes in the wintertime, remember? Yeah. We didn't go. Well, Jennifer is today in Tennessee. Yeah. He did Saturday. And then he took us in his buggy too. And then with us the first time I do remember the moon, I couldn't figure out that full moon was following us all the way to that show.

That was the funniest thing to me. That's that's the only time that I remember taking a lot of, notice of the moon when we were riding in that buggy, you know, Grace and I. Oh, yes. We had our new coats on those little sailor coats. The little white mercury, blue and red one. And, like Terra. Yes, ma'am.

So, and and.

Then we used to walk down a track a lot, you know, and we used to fish a lot up in that area. I remember one time our mother took Grace and I and, do it and Kenneth and took us, took a lunch, and we went up by that little river right there by slab down and fish. And she caught salmon.

And nobody would believe that they think they're spawning. They were up there spawning. See, no one blew that. And she caught two of these great big salmon, and no one ever caught them since or after that. But but this place catch were among the best against the long, you know. But they were right up there in that little river, you know, where the trussell went over the railroad tracks.

But mostly we we with them with little will stick in them and trail running and I, I know this is my grandpa this year. This is. And Rick's my granddaughter and my daughter. Tara.

Hi. Can I say hi, sweetie? Because you you right here. Have you been in for a long time?

Worldwide traveler? Yes.

Yeah. And about.

And home. My up there. And we're not helping her very much.

Laura Schrager: Was it much difference once we moved into both?

Viola White Cameron: What was a big city? It was a big city to us.

Laura Schrager: And that's us.

Viola White Cameron: And, you know, on on Sundays, years ago, Slab Town, when we were kids, you remember they used to have there, used to ride those cows and and bowls up there. You remember that over in that field. You know, there they used to ride their own in rodeo kind of little rodeos, you know, on a Sunday afternoon and just the local people.

But I, I remember that up there, you know, because we could we had to stay on the outside of a bench now because we were all so scared they'd come right toward us. But, but we had a good life. Yeah, yeah, it was always something for kids to do. It was going home over, you know. Never get lost or quit play.

You know, I never got where to go or anything. It isn't like it is now. What am I going to do today? What can I do? You know, I thought we never had any worries like that.

Laura Schrager: We where it was smooth out.

Viola White Cameron: Little dried up stream. You know, it goes through there now and it wasn't dried up and never used to dry up. You know, the more they log it off course, the less. And they used to raise the dam it up over there. you know, that's just houses that goes up when you up toward park. Yeah. That way we go right across there.

We'll end up in that area and we go across the tracks over there in the meadow. And they, they with the dam lit up, we just worked like, man and take the sand stuff like sandbags and Pro Bowler and not 7 or 8ft deep right there, you know, I mean good diving and everything. I never a diver. And then we're at ran over the facts and everything.

It was this beautiful place for the little one way, way plan and that ran all the time. So it was always fresh, you know, and, in that meadow, you know, as you go through Bovill on your way to Clark. Yeah. For the you know what they use? That used to be a big meadow in there. And the Indians used to come and camp in their home.

You know, when we moved down the hill and there's a lot of camps, and there was a lot of camps through there, and they used to dig that dig in the camp. I always come up from, from everything.

I.

We found neighbor skeletons we left out of camp, innocent bystanders, you know, go out to stop. And he knew their language. All right. you know, go talk to them. They were on for family. and we always marveled at the little one and the little Indian children, how well they could ride and everything bareback. You've never had a saddle or anything.

Laura Schrager: You were never afraid of them at all?

Viola White Cameron: No, no, we weren't afraid of Indians. But we were always kind of taught to be free gypsies. We used to have gangs that used to come out, come through camp, or slap down. And we were all, you know, they always said they don't kill women and all that one mother, there are two brothers at one time. That's right.

Town. Yeah. And back in the post classes, because they so they had so many of their own, I'm sure they weren't looking for. I sure they weren't. But those old wives tales. And so we were always afraid of them. We were always afraid of chips. And they'd come around, you know, and from the silver to tell fortune. And, they were always in that we were always afraid of them.

But we weren't afraid of Indians, because I think we followed that time. We were little, you know, and they were just going up to the Huckleberry and, you know.

Laura Schrager: The gypsies didn't come through them.

Viola White Cameron: Not that much. No. Very seldom actually. That's all I did come here this morning and just this whole house to house, when they had made the town around on the town to tell their fortune teller they leave, you know, and they, and and they stole things and, and watch and worse. Maybe they did. And I don't know, I think they, they still watch around town a lot.

And this kind of.

they never change their style of dress or anything. And they only here I felt I must have a lot of experience and. By you.

Laura Schrager: What what sort of things do you remember from, from Bovill, living there when you were young? You know, the stores that you wanted to. And, some of the people that were around when you moved in, were the Bovill still there or did they.

Viola White Cameron: I think just by that time. Another thing. What the Bovill. Yes. Well, they had gone by that time.

But not all certainly. But now it was a brother in law down. And he says he and he and his brother passed away here a while back. So he found some old letters written to his dad, and one of them was from Mr. Bovill asking him to sell his farm. And Earl Crain says the farm was there. Open up above there on that farm, and you feel him.

You still ran across it, you know. Oh, that was nice, he said. He offered his dad $250, I think, for that farm.

Laura Schrager: Was that because he wanted to move back or.

Viola White Cameron: No, no, he didn't want to sell a property. Selling the property. In fact, they said, you see, Mr. Bovill sold all for much of that meadow area that he owned. He sold it to the parlor and, and that Earl had told him that they thought they were getting a whole piece of property. But he held out this piece for frame.

Oh, for so many years. Is that's about the true there.

Oh, no.

Unknown: I'm gotta remember about moment.

Viola White Cameron: We were probably too young to remember that. Anyway, I can't think of some of the other old pioneers a thing. Can you?

Keep us, you know, all their records and everything about them. They were awfully nice because he was the superintendent of the woods there. They they didn't have any children, though, and and they were always up. Nice to have us up for ice cream cake. The whole crowd. And they were ones the first ones in town. They had a big sedan car that the doors would shut and didn't have those plastic side curtains and stuff, and they used to come and stop and take a few of us for a ride.

They had an eight passenger car. I had been to just seats, 7 to 10 seats, and oh, we were so excited to get to go for a ride in that big car. Things have been ballgames and things like that. We did have good ball games from.

Laura Schrager: There on those every week they'd have.

Viola White Cameron: Yeah. They see they had their own little league like they play the in from Troy and all. And Julietta wasn't Harrison Park in park. Yeah. Well Juliana came later I think. Oh yeah. In later years. Oh I had a good little league and everybody found her. Now, you know, of course, I'd play there one week and park and the next.

You know, I moved around as we came up with the.

Good dances, wonderful dances. That's the joy in my life was a dance start. Pretty young in a small town, you know, they danced and then we had. All right, so orchestra baskets, social baskets, socials.

Laura Schrager: Where were the dances?

Viola White Cameron: Up over the opera house. You know, where the opera dances involved them all, like. Oh, they all from the theater was downstairs. Yeah.

Laura Schrager: Is that the one? They're torn down.

Viola White Cameron: Are they tearing it down now? This one. It's been closed down for a while.

Laura Schrager: Oh, no no, no I know okay.

Viola White Cameron: Yeah. Beautiful dance floor. Yeah. Beautiful. Just standing up. So, you know, suede and flying, you know, this way they later they turn it into a miniature golf or something on a miniature golf course, and they turned it into miniature golf. And and everyone down. Down on. Hey, the theater. I dance well, and, she's quite an artist.

And she drew all the pictures of the murals and everything of golf cart. Everything all around the home. just beautiful, you know?

They were another pioneer family, a living boom. Oh, oh.

Male market. Probably. Maybe you've gotten in touch with her. Have you gone to Indiana? Parker?

Laura Schrager: Yeah. My husband.

Viola White Cameron: Has a, She went to school with us because I just had our great little Maureen. She lives in Boston.

Laura Schrager: Why? Were those dances every night? I mean, every week.

Viola White Cameron: That they had. Well, then they had them at home or sometimes. And then I'd have McCleary. We met. And how we met them all. We didn't have every week, did we? Not there. No, not later, years later. We had them pretty regularly. But not not in our younger years. But we made our own sometimes too. We had a, we had a,

Well, this is one of my school freshman, sophomore. We had a club with all the drinking club and every teenager in town long to. And then we'd have have some kids that could play the piano or something and then come in and play for us on and off again to this something and dance. Take over the dance. Oh, just so we could pay them for keeping the lights on.

Thank you. Thank you for having heard about a light system before Washington Water. Right. Three had that old Delco system, you know. Yeah, the lights went out. Of course, at 11:00. They blink the lights twice. 411. Boy, that was fine. If you weren't going to go to bed, you better get the candle lit. The old kerosene because he ran him up, and then they didn't come on till 10:00 in the morning.

Sometimes his mother get everything ready so she can run that washing machine that they had that, you know, that light on or that special motor. She had to have a special motor on that first washer. She had them. We were looking at some of the old things over there in. That one was a washer. So like I said, this is I'd give a nickel for every time we pulled up in here and thought we review them.

There was. A little better than the washboard.

Aren't you glad you live in this, Avon?

I can hardly handle what I have now.

Laura Schrager: When you gave money to the light, people could turn the lights back on for you. Was that.

Viola White Cameron: No. You couldn't do it.

Laura Schrager: No I didn't. They used to do that in the year for the movie theater.

Viola White Cameron: Maybe they did, maybe they did, but I don't, I don't, I don't maybe Mr. Denman did or something. Yeah, he may have, you know, he may, I know he had his own power plant for his show. Yeah. You remember? Oh, yeah. They're all available. Yeah. Oh, yeah. there was a side member. Yeah, yeah, that ain't so.

But some of them may have if there was something special going on, but I don't know about them.

Laura Schrager: Did the town have any, did they get together for, you know, any occasions when you go.

Viola White Cameron: Okay, well, of course, they had their large occasions, you know. Yeah. A lot of lady, they always on and always 4th of July celebration. Always. But I think that was a big opportunity. And and then the Chautauqua used to come through and that was that was the biggest day of her life. And that was then the convention. I was like the 10th.

They've gone back for some of the 10th, 10th and down there. I think all the park there across from. Yeah, that tent would take up that whole area there. You know, it was such a big camp.

Laura Schrager: Can you describe 1000 that you talked was because I don't know that much. Yeah.

Viola White Cameron: Well, actually it would be like, like, vaudeville, only it was in a tent, you know, and they'd have all kinds of different acts all the way from opera to comic and everything all the way, you know, and, they'd always have a matinee and they might come in for 3 or 4 days, I don't remember. I don't think they ever say more than that.

No, I think it's about three days. And. But anyway, they each show a different film. They'd have one in the afternoon and one in the evening, you know, and and as I say, it had a big stage and a big stage. You well lighted. Well, I and they had their own and then they had a little place sometimes they'd get little skits.

You remember little plays. That's why I say it was just like it was more like Monroeville. Holy. It was a traveling, traveling buttermilk, but was very.

Laura Schrager: What kind of things with those, skits.

Viola White Cameron: And they just had, you know, like little short skits, like they do. You see them on TV? Well, just.

I.

I can't remember right offhand. But I remember their costuming was we thought it was just beautiful because we'd never seen anything so glamorous with all that costuming they had. We had lots of we had lots of revivals. Oh, yeah. Tent revivals up there. Oh, yeah. Remember? And then we we had the circus used to come to every once in a while.

Member used to be down there in that meadow across from Rose. Down that way. You never used to put it down there. And and the circus. They looked awful big, but then they probably.

Like small theater.

Yeah, yeah, but it looked big. The big does the trapeze and everything as far as they just had one ring or something like, suppose, you know, because it wasn't.

Laura Schrager: Did they bring in in.

Viola White Cameron: Yeah. And as I say we thought they're wonderful but they probably see it now. We probably wouldn't think so. But few children, they they look pretty wonderful woman.

Laura Schrager: did you go to any of the revivals?

Viola White Cameron: Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. We loved the singing. And, and there's always somebody going forward to be saved.

Yes.

Yeah. And they feel at that time, I still find the same songs. And Billy Graham and Billy Graham sing to them foreign. They feel like they said just as I am. Yeah, I oh, that's that's where we learned that. That's really where the revival.

I said, that's the thing I enjoy about Billy Graham's show is that he he sings all these songs. Always that I used to hear when I was a youngster.

Yes. Yeah.

Laura Schrager: Would people go to them just because it was something happening more than because.

Viola White Cameron: It was on a lot of them? I think weekends went just to have some place to go. Yeah, probably they all, some of the older people had a serious about more serious about it. But you know when you're and we are 12, 13 years old, you know, you just you don't get much serious about things. We just love the singing.

I just love him.

We always.

Laura Schrager: But there's been a lot of love written.

Viola White Cameron: That when you.

Laura Schrager: Come through ten.

Viola White Cameron: Oh oh yeah. Saturday nights, you couldn't hardly get through the downtown of Bobo. You know, so filled with men coming in from the camps. And they were all so kind and good. Always nice. They only. All right, gentlemen, like fright we ever had. they were IWW, had the strike. Had the strike. And and then I think hearing the grown ups talk.

To them about that strike that I did, that was true. I mean, there were too many, if it just been the regular man he was. I don't think he ever thought much about it, but I think it was because there was so many agitators coming in. You know, people like it is now, just like my educators in the disturbed, the, the whole folks set up because they needed they needed that strike because people with it had to take their bedding to camp with them, you know.

And our father bring his bedding home after he'd been at camp. And mother put it in the tub out in the backyard and pour hot water on it and be full of bedbugs. So the, the, you know, the IWW say they needed eight hours a day and they needed. Right? Right.

Only got the showers there.

Yeah, I think know them until they made them put in iron medicine and and all these, they had these old wooden bunk beds for the lumberjacks. There's not really a.

By the.

Way. And they worked hard. Yeah, they really worked hard. Just like the logging now.

Hours and eight hours. Yeah.

Yeah.

Laura Schrager: Where you have having the campsite.

Viola White Cameron: No.

And he just knows you. That's my little.

Boy from me.

Who he spoke inbred that we used to have a lot of bones that that were up there by the old, you know, water tank and the little wild thing up above us. They had to be a lot of bums on, you know. I mean, they never bothered anybody. They just hobos, you know, they called it. And House. Yeah.

They used to call it the jungle. Yeah. You know, jungle. And then they'd get and they'd camp out, you know, and they didn't really bother anybody out there. you can always tell in there, bunch of them up there, they might come to town to grocery.

Shopping, but.

They really didn't bother anybody. That's been the paper boy.

You know, so.

Laura Schrager: Who were the agitators that they were? Were they?

Viola White Cameron: I think it's just people they sent from Spokane, you know, up to to kind of when, you know, like they do on these riots. Now they send people in to different cities to get things going. And I think they did it there because it was none of our local people doing it. No local people. Okay. But those lumberjacks were so kind and so good to all of us kids.

When I was 15, I worked in a lumber camp at 15.

That's,

So did you know we waited table in the lumber camp?

Laura Schrager: Where was that up at?

Viola White Cameron: Clark. Yeah. How to? Clark. Yeah, Idaho. Up in the marble Creek. We rode half. We rode, half hour on horseback. I don't know, there weren't any roads that went back, and the train could only get back so far. So we rode up on the train as far as one of the camps, I don't remember which camp. Then we had to ride horseback up to the way back into the way up on grandma mountain, and, most of us had horses that looked like horses, but, she was afraid of horses, so they gave her an old white plug, and they gave one of the other girls, Laura.

They gave her a little mule, old Rhiannon. And we were going around these trails way up along the river and everything, and we look way back. And here was this on our little white blog. And Laura just peach them. Just loves those pictures that we have. And then all and the pack train and they use the Howard Ben scatter was the one of the Packers has to bring us strawberries and watermelons because he'd known us all our life.

Put it on. See, they had to pack everything in and to pack in their own pack trains. And that wasn't that many years ago. That was what, 1921? So, yeah.

Laura Schrager: Was that after the fire up there?

Viola White Cameron: Yes. Well, they had that big fire. That's what we came a marble brakeman. Yeah. That was, that's when they had to come out. That's a hell of a mind going on a hand. But that's why you had to take them out over a mountain to get them. We had to take them over grandmother's, take us out over grandmother's mountain.

And I couldn't remember what, that those hands were on a horse. And I said to the man, shall I hang on to these sticks? He thought I was so stupid because I didn't know they were horses. Hey, yeah, I know they said some of the horses like, cause they long with horses then, you know. And I said some of those mountains were so steep going up that they had to put weights on the horse's neck to keep them, you know, balance, you know, some of those mountains are straight up up there if you've ever been up in that country.

Yeah, know country but it's your high.

Laura Schrager: But so you went up there before the fire and you had to leave.

Viola White Cameron: Yeah. I had already gone out. My girlfriend quit, so I quit with her. And so we went out ahead of myself, of course, Greenwood and Dark Crystal. We came out here having fun. Yeah. They moved you out over the desert, out over grandmother's mouth. And I was so scared.

I think.

Laura Schrager: What was the work that you did?

Viola White Cameron: So I was waiting to hear. We go to work at 530 in the morning, and, then we did breakfast at 630 to go to work at five. Oh, and, well, Mr.. Mr. Thomas and his wife had their things pretty well, you know. Oh, you know, and then, he had the eggs and stuff, and I just have to put the coffee in the big coffee pots on the table and carry the food in, because that set the table, and I always did that.

I had a towel. And then we had, we had the mop, and then we had after that, but then we had to clean up the, the breakfast dish had all those dishes to do. There was 100 men there and had all those dishes to do and all of it a sack of onions, two people, sack of onions and a sack of carrots and and a sack of potatoes.

The onions was the thing that got me. I just cry and cry. I couldn't have it. They told me to hold a needle in my teeth. They told me to do everything. But I still cried. Then we worked about three shifts. I mean split shifts about three ways. Then you'd have a couple hours off, maybe. Or maybe go back for lunch.

Go back for lunch and serve in and out. And then and you go back and you had a long day, you know, and then once a week, why we scrubbed the floor with lye and a broom and, you know, and throw buckets of water on it and so step up because, you know, had to keep it. This was a log cabin, a log cookhouse.

We did. And we had to scrub the floor with big buckets with big, big old brooms and, and then rinse the water off. So the big clean, you know, so the days we did that was heavy work, you know, hard work and heavy work. They had those big white porcelain plates about this and we'd have them stacked clear up like this for setting the table.

And we used to have apple boxes and those big white cups, you know, and carry those on our hips, all the apple. And whenever somebody like if one of the fellows quick or left, you always turn the cup up this way. And then if a stranger came in, you know where to put him. And they always ate at the same place.

Nobody family like a family. Nobody ever sat in anybody else's place. Everybody had their own place. And another thing about lumberjacks, they'd come in and they were there to eat. There was no one talking at the table. They came in and ate and left. They never talked or I, I don't know whether it was some custom that they had developed or what, but they'd come in and come and eat and go.

And in ten, 15 minutes everybody be gone and you clean it all up again. Yeah, but I say you work seven days a week. You know, it was hard work, but you got $60 a month board room, board room. And that was a lot of money in those days. That was a month you made more doing that than anything else.

But. Right. She was like.

Laura Schrager: Did the lumberjacks give you any trouble since, you know.

Viola White Cameron: You have great respect for labor, they appreciate that, in fact. In fact, some of them used to come up at night and wonder if I wanted to walk across town when I worked at Clark, at the ranch, because they knew it was dark going across the meadow, that they were going over to the pool room, and I wanted to go see my friend Agnes Gallagher that owned the drugstore there in Clark.

Yeah. And they'd wait till I got my dishes done. Sometimes they'd help me, and then they'd walk me over. And then when they get ready to go home, they'd come to the drugstore to see if I. And then I'd walk. They walked me back home and they were all. They were never any trouble. Yeah. Off on ice cream.

Oh. Thank you.

Laura Schrager: Oh, they never, Even if they. I've heard that they, you know, would drink quite a bit even up to that, you know.

Viola White Cameron: And they didn't lose much strength there in camp. No. None. Yeah. I never saw any drinking in Kent. And no, they would just when most of the save their money and then they'd come to Spokane Valley in a week's time, they'd come back and we're broke, you know, spend it on. I says, oh man, I was cooking for my these men think you're a not a good cook.

He said, well, that's because by all he says that they're hungry. He said, but wait till they get their stomach all filled out good. And they all start complaining about the food, or they take their money and leave. You know, they really set a table along with lumber camp.

Oh, yeah. Oh, you.

Really did that. Every can have a coupon.

When she's been sick.

Oh, she's still on her diet.

and you finished and come. Oh, yeah. Think.

Laura Schrager: Which would your mother. Your mother would stay in town?

Viola White Cameron: Yes. She took care of the longer she was, she. No, she had a big job to do. She had 11 of us. Myself and Grace. And then, two brothers, and then,

Just three brothers.

And three brothers. Yeah, but, I mean, that's just the four of us. And then. And then, you know, Mabel and then the rest of them, and then the rest of them came along and did. His father was our oldest brother. Nielsen lives, actually, he was our oldest brother was one of my died.

He was to me.

From here a couple of years ago. And.

Laura Schrager: Did you two have to go better at home?

Viola White Cameron: Oh, yeah. Everybody had to help out. Everybody. You know, in those days, there were lots of chores, though, you know, for children to do. I mean, you had to keep the old kerosene lamps cleaned and, chimneys washed and and, so trim the wicks. Yeah. Fell on them. And there was always wood split for the boys and things like that.

I mean, there a lot more chores and children have to do now, you know, they don't have that many. When I look back, we could have been a lot more help than we were. Oh, okay. I think mother was pretty easy on us, really. You know, because they had she had a wash on the board for years. And then when she, as I say, then we'd complain on, on.

I had to work the old washing machine, you know, for people. We never came home to a cold lunch or anything either. I don't know how she did it. Never. Did she ever come home to call training for school. She always had soup or macaroni and cheese or beans and and made wonderful big homemade bread, you know, of course, all of them didn't know and.

And our big family, our bread, our bread box was one of those great big lard containers from the lumber camps. That was our bread box up this high. You know, it's like a big drum.

Oh, we have to do the dishes. So I could I could do them on the stove. I could stand on a box by the cook stove and with my dish pan, and they put the other dish pan to drain a man down on a on a kitchen chair and Bruce and wife. But that's about the only real. We never did have much argument about that.

But like I said, I didn't like to wash them because I didn't like pots and pans and she didn't like to dry them. So we got along. All right. Let's go. But I mean, we didn't have too many chores to do. Really. As I say, we could have helped a lot more. Oh yeah, a lot more. I think all children can help out a lot more.

Than make us.

Go.

Laura Schrager: Okay, okay. Did your father continue to back, staff, you have to stay away. You know, throughout your childhood. Would you just see him on the weekends and then. Well, in the winter, know we'll see.

Viola White Cameron: Our father died in 1926, so he's 49 years old. So. You know, he.

Laura Schrager: Doesn't sound like you could have seen much of the moon.

Viola White Cameron: No, we didn't. We really didn't know. Maybe. No, we don't. Because he was gone. Because they'd work 12 and 13 hours a day. And, you know, they didn't have any, you know, or law, you know, or they'll he come home when he could. And so. The mother was always there. He was seldom ever gone. They shouldn't have time to go any place.

I don't think, that's a good way to help a sick neighbor or something.

By. having.

Him.

Laura Schrager: Is that the first time you worked out? You worked in,

Viola White Cameron: I mean, the first time we ever went out to work, and I went picking strawberries. Yeah. If you call that dirty. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We're right down there. What, was we down there a week or. We. We looked and we didn't make enough money. And when we brought a strawberries home, our father had to pay for it.

I think it was two and a half. And we did it and we said, okay. And that. Oh, that was the first time we worked at went, all we did is, we all slept in one bed. We made one great big long bed in their bunk down there, and all we brought home great. The strawberries and the seven year old.

All the kids.

And then mother really did have work. Yeah, because she had to change things every day, you know, bedding and wash and iron. And you can use to sleep in the same bed. You know, you re-infected yourself. But then I loved it. But we used to babysit, take care of you know.

What did you get that it.

Oh, well, somebody in that group sleeping. Well, we all put our bedding and everything together. Somebody in that group had it. We never did. They passed it along to every one of us. And then we passed along to all the kids at home.

Laura Schrager: What was it? I don't.

Viola White Cameron: Even know. I don't think we even have it anymore. No, it's it's a rash that you get, and it starts like little blisters between your fingers and and it just starts itching and and then you might get it stay in place and you scratch it and then it breaks out and, and, this is a continuous thing. The doctor can get rid of it, as I say.

And you don't even hear of it anymore. I don't think anybody ever has it anymore. But they were sure it was our first. That was our first, you know, going out or we didn't. We didn't do anything very. I never let you two out of the house again to go work with it. It would have been much cheaper to keep us all.

Both laugh, although I don't. one of those things other off mine. Come on. Glad you could laugh about it. That mother had quite a stroke after my dad passed away. You know.

Laura Schrager: She still had some pretty young kids.

Viola White Cameron: Youngest one was four.

Laura Schrager: And,

Viola White Cameron: All the way up.

Laura Schrager: Did you. Were you married by then or were you still.

Viola White Cameron: She was married at the time when my father died. but I was. I was I was married in 1924. I've been married 50 years. This October. So we're going to celebrate that. Yeah.

Oh, we, we were just getting.

That the other day. Yes, I get going on.

And.

Didn't, but. Yeah. So that's how long I've been away from home.

Laura Schrager: You left and.

Viola White Cameron: I've been away from there for over a hundred years because I was a grandma, you know, taking care of dad.

Laura Schrager: What? What? Between the time when you worked up at Clark and, what did you do between then and when, you know.

Viola White Cameron: Well, then I came up to Spokane.

Laura Schrager: Yeah, right after.

Viola White Cameron: I was about, Well, I went to school, and the next year, and then the next year when dad was sick and grandma wanted to go east, and I came up here and stayed, you know, and east. And then that October, I got married and I was 18, and then we slept over there at grandma's house. But then she worked two.

I work for years, years here in town. And I work I used to work at, Parker store there in mobile. I worked there for about three years.

Oh.

Of course, when I say we were when we were like 15 and we work at the lumber camps in the summertime and then go back to school, see, and, then I came Spokane and I worked up here for a few years, and then I went back home and work in Parker store for you. Then I came back up here.

I guess I haven't been up there to live for. I don't know how many years. Good, many years to.

Laura Schrager: When did you work in Parker's store?

Viola White Cameron: I can't think of the years, but it was,

Laura Schrager: Was it before the depression? Yeah.

Viola White Cameron: Right. And at the depression, when I came up here, because, was about 1920 work. So when I graduated from high school. Yeah, but I worked there before, too, before I worked there quite a while before you graduated. One 3131 so it was probably I probably worked there for maybe 28 to 31 or something like that. I know I worked there three, three years and two days.

Exactly. I don't remember why. I remember because I worked at the Astor here in Spokane, and I went down to work at Parker's, and I worked there three years and two days, and it came right back up here and started in just where I left off. I was learning to pack candy at the Astor at the time, and I came right up, and they started teaching me the candy again.

That's why I remember so distinctly, because I thought it was funny. That was almost exactly three years and, and and that was depression time. That was just, you know, and I worked at Cook's Net shop during the depression time. And that's the reason I left Parker is because they gave my job to their son, you know, because naturally, which was right, you know.

But Nealon came back then and he was having a rough time. So I put him because it was just general merchandise, you know, Parker's store was, you know, measure up here at least, and then sell a pair of logging boots, you know, and and just one thing in them that they were great people to work for. Mr. Cryer and Mr. Parker, they were wonderful people.

He died. And they. Mr. Cryer. yeah, they're all in now. Even named Logan.

Laura Schrager: can you describe that? The inside of the, the Parker store?

Viola White Cameron: Oh, yes. I can almost draw your picture. The post office was in down in the left hand corner and.

Laura Schrager: Was at the front end of the store.

Viola White Cameron: Or the back of the back, way back to the back and on the left hand side near the back door. Here's a little post office there with all boxes, everybody's boxes and things. And the windows were around one side and golden to and Sophie was Sophie single then worked in the post office at that time. And then, on the left hand side of the store above the post office was all.

The.

The men's work pants and the logging boots and everything like that. Then down the center, was yardage and and lace and crochet thread and everything, you know. And then on the far side was the groceries. They had all the groceries and things over on that side. So it's just a general merchandise started.

I don't know, I got to no.

Unknown: No no no. no.

Viola White Cameron: no, I don't know. with. Just.

Laura Schrager: Do they have a pretty good selection of stuff there?

Viola White Cameron: Oh, yeah.

Laura Schrager: If you.

Viola White Cameron: You bet they did. Had they had a, there was another store, they had Hambros store and, It was another just general merchandise store. So the two of them, they were pretty good competitors, you know.

Laura Schrager: they sold the same kind of stuff.

Viola White Cameron: Same type of thing. Both of them. but but but you could get a pretty good selection, you know, a lot of,

It was made. It was pretty hard on the, the merchants. So after that, people got cars and things because they could get it cheaper by going to Moscow and things. You know, a lot of the merchants there, you know, but but you could get just about anything you want.

Laura Schrager: It was the competition between the grocery store and the Parker store. Was that, was it pretty friendly? I mean, did they were they real competitors or did they just share the business? You know, I.

Viola White Cameron: Know, I don't know, I don't I don't think they were I just think they shared the business. Yeah, I think so because we used to and they, they didn't.

Laura Schrager: Have huge sales and.

Viola White Cameron: Oh no no no no no nothing like that. And they both had their delivery okay. And you know, and so you just call up and ask what you want and you'd get it delivered. You know, they'd bring in horse and buggy or horse buggy right to your door. Yeah. So, so people didn't have to go to town and carry anything.

Of course, as I say, that was before everybody had cars. You know. And both our brothers were in delivery boys at times. And my brother D that is, that is to deliver, they had to take care of the horses and everything, you know. And he was just a kid. And I think in 12, 13 when he was doing that and.

That was before I long for. I worked down there.

Laura Schrager: How long did that store for you during the day to remember?

Viola White Cameron: Okay.

Well, yeah, I don't think their hours were much different to me. I think when I worked there.

I worked from nine.

Six, six and, a couple nights a week. No, I think it was only one night. One night they stayed open later. That was it, wasn't it? Saturday night when the lumberjacks came to town and everything one night, I don't.

Laura Schrager: Is that one a lot of lumberjacks? What would they.

Viola White Cameron: Yeah, that was there. I mean, only time they could get by, you know, I would. And no, I don't think their hours weren't any different than other than they are right now.

And you. Yeah. The well.

Laura Schrager: What do you remember some of the people like, Pat Malone.

Viola White Cameron: Or. I guess he was a real character. Well, you know, just part of town, right? Person, even just part of everybody's family. I think he was kind of good to everybody.

Laura Schrager: I heard he was really good to keep.

Viola White Cameron: He was just born.

I just I don't care how big they were or they were all kids. His eyes, you know, I mean, like the older boys, me 17, 18. He was nice to them. He was just a little handsome. And I can just close my eyes and see me out. I can too, and I can see him night. You always get going real fast, like Dave and everybody.

Yeah they're blue. Sky blue is going to box up fast. Oh, I think he was great for the town of black. He real big. I'm still seeing young David. Yeah. And.

Yeah. All that one. No one was real, man.

I'd say the only amount of anything that we remember this thing, you know. It was Billy O'Meara. He was a nice. He was real good, too. I had some of that type knowing he wasn't that hard. He just worked in a city. Or you probably talked to some of the David. Oh, not very simple. I know that many of the David's left is there.

I think, Mary and him, they were the only ones, but, they live in Lewiston. I think. But I thought maybe. Do they live in Lewiston? Yeah. Mary. What I looked at as far they could probably gave me a lot of he could because he worked in, on the trains and everything, and he worked on the trains with them, didn't he, you know, breaking or something.

And have you talked to the Hayes, any of the hazes?

Oh.

They lived up there in Buffalo a long time, too.

Georgia O'Keeffe was she would probably just be able to give you a lot of information, but she lives in Seattle some place and I don't have one. But she has, Bob Dylan, I think lives in Lewiston or some Lewiston lives in Lewiston. What's his name? Bob Denman. And this would be his mother in law.

I don't want her name is no. Know. You said she remember.

But she could probably give you a lot of information because she was there. So she was just occurred along. Yes. And.

oh.

Well we're we're going to stand next. We're going to come in.

And say I don't think we're being much help to you.

Laura Schrager: It's hard for me. Too hard to concentrate with something, anything. I got the microphone, the taping like this. The microphone is going to pick up the kids so loud.

Viola White Cameron: Oh, is that right? Or it's going to pick up the baby? I never thought of that.

Laura Schrager: Oh. Picks up noises like that. It's sort of annoying because it picks up. It picks up just. I mean, that's a sharp move, And it just it just, you know, we can block it out. And, you know, I could hear very much, but then, like, we'll just, you know, if you go like this. Oh, you know, is there kind of a walk like that?

Viola White Cameron: It it'll you pick up one.

Yeah.

Laura Schrager: Yeah, we should probably should have at one point gotten the better, right? Yeah. Do.