The June 25, 1921 Adams County Leader described Mesa as having 1,150 acres of apples, 100 acres of peaches and 50 acres of pears. D.W. Van Hoesen owned 800 acres of the orchards, plus 2,500 acres of alfalfa and grain. The paper said his investment amounted to $650,000.
That summer of 1921 the state continued its highway construction work, starting north from the foot of Mesa Hill.
That November, David W. Van Hoesen was elected State Senator from Adams County. He was a Democrat in a strongly Republican county.
In 1922 Enderse Van Hoesen held the postmaster position in the Mesa store. It seems likely that he took over the job from Judah Gray when the Van Hoesens moved to Mesa in 1919. I don’t have exact years, but some of the postmasters in the years after Enderse were Mildred Pratt, followed by Zora Andrews, then Marcella Goraline Thompson.
In early February of 1922 Clyde Rush’s father died and was buried at Mesa. The next August (1923), the Leader reported: “Yesterday the body of the elder Rush, buried at Mesa, was disinterred and permanently buried in the Odd Fellows’ cemetery here. It is understood the burial ground at Mesa will be discontinued.” This is the only reference I’ve ever seen to a cemetery at Mesa.
By May of 1922, work on the highway at the foot of Mesa Hill has progressed to the point that the old “Moser Grade” was abandoned and became a private road. A new bridge across the Middle Fork on the new “North-South Highway” had replaced the old route and bridge, and the county was set to remove the bridge. Local residents were very vocal in opposition to removing the bridge, asking the commissioners to keep it as part of the private roadway that the Moser Grade had now become. The commissioners agreed to leave it for the time being, but by late that summer the commissioners hired John Bast and my grandfather, Jim Fisk, to remove it and install it on Ridge Road, across the West Fork of the Weiser River west of Fruitvale. That iron bridge sat there for 101 years before the county replaced it just last summer.
Mynderse Van Hoesen said: “In our early days at Mesa the Van Hoesen and Seymour wives, and later Mrs. Woodmansee, conducted religious services each Sunday in the School House. The services were well attended in spite of the fact that usually there had been an all night dance with supper or breakfast in the dance hall above the garage, or a late movie with the hand operated moving picture machine. Bill Evans, who for many years drove his team of mules to Council and back every day except Sunday with the mail and supplies, used to occasionally bring movie films on Saturdays from the theater in Council. After running them we would put them on the early morning stage coach for delivery at Weiser. I don’t think anyone connected with the consignment knew that the films had been hi-jacked for showing in Mesa. “
An advertisement in the Cambridge newspaper from August of 1922 said two movies would be shown at Mesa on August 23: “Adm. Adults, 35: Children 15, including W. T.” W.T. stood for “War Tax, which resulted from the federal War Revenue Act of 1917, passed to help fund the U.S. involvement in World War I. This tax was gradually reduced during the 1920s.
Enderse Van Hoesen’s daughter, Beth Van Hoesen Adams wrote: “I remember my father auctioning box lunches in the hall above the garage. The men would eat with whoever’s lunch they bid on. They put benches in for movies. I remember seeing ‘King Kong’ and ‘Little Miss Marker’.”
That fall of 1922, another upscale home was built for Enderse, along the row with the other Van Hoesen homes.
1923 began on a tragic note. David W. Van Hoesen, who was serving in Boise as Adams County’s Senator, died from a heart attack while sitting in a chair in his room at the Owyhee Hotel in Boise on January 15. His body laid in state in the rotunda of the capital for a time. Meanwhile, both houses of the legislature adjourned for two days after adopting resolutions of sympathy. His body was shipped to Cortland, New York for burial.
Enderse Van Hoesen, filled out the remainder of his father’s Senate term, and was reelected to a second term. Enderse and his brother, Mynderse, took their father’s former position as managers of the orchards along with Horace Woodmansee.
The same year that his father died (1923) Enderse married Frieda Marie Soulen (1899 - 2005) at Moscow, Idaho. Frieda’s brother was Harry Soulen (1893 – 1973). Enderse and Frieda had a daughter, Elizabeth Marie “Beth” Van Hoesen at Boise 1926. Beth married Earl Adams in 1953 and died at San Francisco in 2010. Beth donated some great movie footage of the orchards to the museum that I put online. You can find a link at the Council Valley Museum Facebook page, or search for my name on YouTube, or type the direct URL: https://youtu.be/5bSPLww3OCIhttps://youtu.be/5bSPLww3OCI.
100 years ago
August 22, 1924
“All the streams in the Upper Country are lower than in many years, we are told. The Weiser between here and Midvale has ceased to flow in one place.”
“The Mesa Orchards, 16 miles north of Cambridge, is one of the largest orchards in the entire Northwest and certainly the largest and best in this section. The shipping of pieces will probably start the first week in September with an estimated output of between 45 and 50 cars. The Apple crop is in fine condition. While no estimate has been given out on the Apple crop, it is known that it will run from 600 to 800 cars. There will, however, be several cars of pears.” Fruit growers had expensive reverses last year owing to poor markets, but good prices will prevail this year.
“One of the largest celebrations that has been held in Midvale for some time was put on by the Ku Klux Klan, Wednesday afternoon and evening, August 20th. The meeting opened at about three in the afternoon with a prayer and then America by everyone with music by the Salvation Army band of Weiser, who next played and sung a number of hymns. The singing and music was followed by a fine lecture by Rev. Bailer of Weiser on the principles of true Americanism. At 8:45 p.m. there was a review of the Klansmen in regalia, following was an open air naturalization ceremony, which took place in front of three fiery crosses. It is estimated that at least 1200 attended this Konklave.”
A big arrow pointing south, following the highway, has been placed “above the signboard on the highway just across from the Burton home, as so many tourists make the mistake of turning to the left when coming to the two roads.”
75 years ago
August 25, 1949
“New bucking chutes and fences have been constructed at the rodeo grounds this year, and much remodeling and repairing of the barns has also been completed. The exhibit hall has been finished with new exhibit booths.”
Died: Horace Judd Burr, 72, at Emmett. He retired in 1939 as a forest ranger after 32 years of service in the Payette and Weiser National Forests.
Married: Miss Velma Wilkerson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M. C. Wilkerson of Cambridge, and Harlow H. Oberbillig of Boise.
Midvale: A son named David Michael was born to Mr. and Mrs. David Deakins of Weiser at the Ontario hospital.
49 years ago
August 28, 1975
The Midvale Public Library will be open from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. on Tuesdays on a trial basis. The librarian is Mrs. Wilford Fox.
The Cambridge library board purchased a lot and a half from the Cambridge capital I. O. O. F. Lodge for the construction of a proposed library building.
Died: Joan Stahl, 13, at Seattle. She was born July 4 of 1962 at Council, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Duane Stahl.
25 years ago
Skipped an issue.
