New book details the vision for the creation of Clarkston

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Asotin County Museum. Asotin County Rural Heritage Collection.

This 1910 panorama from the Idaho side of the Snake River, looking northwest across the river towards Vineland and the hills, clearly shows the amount of land under cultivation in Vineland. The young town of Clarkston is barely visible (right of center). It also gives a sense of how high above the river Vineland was.

When it comes to the famous explorers, Lewis always comes before Clark, and when it comes to local histories, Lewiston always seems to get more attention than its companion city across the Snake River, Clarkston.

In her new book, “Just Add Water: From Barren Jawbone Flat to Bountiful Clarkston, Washington, 1890-1940,” area historian Carole Simon-Smolinski aims to shed new light on its creation story.

Simon-Smolinski has written books about Lewiston’s territorial past, detailing its origins as a supply center and jumping off point for 1800s miners and as a port for sternwheel riverboats. She assumes Clarkston hasn’t gotten as much attention because people perceive its beginnings as more “humdrum and boring.”

“That view is wrong, which I attempt to set to rest,” the Clarkston native said. 

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Asotin County Museum

The Clarkston Heights pipeline follows a northeast trajectory to the Pomeroy Reservoir. Present-day Reservoir Road follows this route.

Both Simon-Smolinski and her husband, Max, graduated from Clarkston’s Charles Francis Adams High School. Adams was the grandson of John Quincy Adams and great-grandson of John Adams, the sixth and second U.S. presidents. It was his vision that spurred Clarkston’s creation. In “Just Add Water,” Simon-Smolinski details how it unfolded.

While Lewiston got its name in 1861, Clarkston remained a barren land locals called Jawbone Flat. Access to water was the main reason it remained undeveloped, Simon-Smolinski said.

“At the time, whereas Lewiston was at river level and water could be reached through shallow wells or a ditch through town, the Clarkston area sat too high above the river for those conveniences. Remember, at the time the river was 40 feet lower than now,” she said.

Asotin County Museum. Asotin County Rural Heritage Collection.

A wheelbarrow load of Flame Tokay grapes. The company hired famed photographer Asahel Curtis to take photographs for its promotional brochures.

In 1896, under Adams’ vision and direction, Eastern investors launched an ambitious irrigation and power project helmed by engineer Cassius C. Van Arsdol and publicist and promoter Edgar Libby. 

When the community was platted in August 1896, it was called Lewiston, Wash., but the post office thought that would be confusing and requested another name, Simon-Smolinski explained. It was briefly called Concord, but most of Libby’s promotional literature referred to it as Vineland. It was incorporated in August 1902 as Clarkston. 

“This book is the story of their venture — the things they accomplished, the dreams they dreamed and failed to accomplish — and the four irrigation and power companies that oversaw Clarkston, Vineland, Clarkston Heights and Clemans Addition development and growth,” she said.

Asotin County Museum. Asotin County Rural Heritage Collection.

A 1910 photo of employees inside Sprague's Cannery in Clarkston. Many women and girls found employment in the canneries well into the 1950s. In the early years, the fruit had to be individually hand packed into the wood boxes.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Carole Simon-Smolinski signing “Just Add Water: From Barren Jawbone Flat to Bountiful Clarkston, Washington, 1890-1940.”

WHEN AND WHERE: 

2-4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, And Books Too, 918 Sixth St., Clarkston.

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 14, Artisans at the Dahmen Barn, 419 N. Parkway, Uniontown.