70 YEARS AGO

AUGUST 9, 1950

HUCKLEBERRIES PLENTIFUL

Berries are plentiful on most of the high ridges this season, is the report of those going out the past few days to gather the luscious fruit. Some hand pick the huckleberries which grow on low bushes, others beat them off onto tarps and still others use regular picking machines if they go into the business commercially. Having much more flavor than blueberries these mountain grown berries are truly in demand.

NEW GRANGE HALL FOR WHITEPINE

Work has started on the new Grange Hall at Whitepine it was learned here this week. Excavating, which was done by Bob Louden of Belknap, is completed and part of the lumber for basement forms has already been purchased and delivered from one of the local mills.

30 YEARS AGO

AUGUST 2, 1990

HOPS, MINT IN STOBIE FUTURE

Hops and mint. That's what Herb Stobie is putting his hopes in for farm crop success in the future as he awaits results of a three-year hops growing experiment at his Eddy ranch east of Thompson Falls.

The hops strung along overhead cables in his field beside the Clark Fork River are now in the second year after suffering a freeze that set back this year's production. The experiment is being financed by the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Co., which is seeking new hops growing areas to replace traditional sources in Europe. The maker of Budweiser and other popular beers has contracted for hops grown north of Bonners Ferry, Idaho for several years and the Stobie experiment is an extension of that growth.

This year, Stobie is growing five varieties, two less than a year ago. He expects the brewing firm to ask that he eliminate two more varieties after results of this year's harvest have been assessed. The five varieties are being grown in a three-acre area.

If the hops experiment turns out favorably as it would appear reasonable to expect, Stobie has hopes to extend his hops field to cover 20 acres. A successful hops grower can expect to receive up to $3,500 per acre, a much better return than earned from cattle or hay or other farming operations.

Stobie also notes that his farm has an advantage in that his irrigation water is all gravity flow and no pumping costs are involved.

Just how well the hops experiment is faring at the Stobie ranch is a mystery. Stobie says Anheuser-Busch is tight-lipped and has told him nothing about the quality of the hops from his field last year. All he knows is that A-B is financing the experiment for two more years.

But, Stobie remains optimistic.

However, he is not discontinuing his plans to grow mint in his field on the north side of Highway 200. There his family has succeeded in extending a few scraggly plants of spearmint into four acres this year. The new spearmint plants are a new variety that still is in the testing stage.

The mint to be harvested in advance of the first killing frost this fall will be transported to Bob Stonebrook's farm west of Plains for distilling into mint oil. Stobie said that Stonebrook has installed a still that he did not have in operation last year.

New plants planted this year by Stobie are wilt resistant and replace earlier plants that developed wilt last year.

EDDY was a station on the Northern Pacific. There was a section house, a watertower, and from 1900 on, a post office. John McKay was the postmaster and later a schoolhouse was built on a corner of his homestead. A lumber mill and a camp for workers were also built. The town was named for Dick Eddy from Missoula, one of the early promotors of the area. In 1960 it became a rural postal station out of Thompson Falls.