Republic is the “jumping-off point” for Friends of MacDonald members when visiting the Ranald MacDonald grave-site in Toroda, WA. Toroda, located along the Kettle River, is a scenic 38-minute drive north from Republic (30.0 mi. via WA-21 N and Kettle River Rd.)  Republic is the home of the Ferry County Historical Society and museum (located at 15-2 N. Kean St. across from the Patterson City Park). The featured exhibits include mining and geology displays, a Native American exhibit (high-lighting Ranald MacDonald!) and an array of photos relating to ‘Turn of the Century’ Republic businesses. The museum is open Memorial Day to Labor Day, Friday-Monday from 10 am to 2 pm.  Republic, the county seat of sparsely populated Ferry County in Northeast Washington, sprang into existence as a gold-mining camp in 1896 called ‘Eureka’ [or Eureka Gulch]. By 1898 it was crowded with 2,000 miners and prospectors, housed mostly in canvas tents. Several mines, including the Republic Mine, hit lucrative gold veins. The town site was laid out in 1898 and the name changed to ‘Republic’ because Postal authorities refused the name of Eureka (since a town with that name already existed in Clark County). The present name, proposed by citizens to honor the “Great Republic mining claim”, was accepted. In 1899 Ferry County split off from Stevens County and Republic became the county seat. The first mining boom lasted only until 1901, although mining continued to be the town’s main industry. Republic has endured many mining boom-and-bust cycles since, although the economy has diversified to include ranching, farming, timber, and tourism. The town’s business district was revamped in the 1980s with a “Western Victorian” theme. Today, this city of 1120 +/- residents is well-known for a different kind of “dig”:  the Slagle-Stonerose Interpretive Center and Fossil Site, an entire hillside full of Eocene fossils, right next to downtown.

A High Forested Valley

For centuries, this piney, scenic valley was a junction point for Indian trails heading west over the Okanogan highlands, east over the Kettle Range, and south down the nearby San Poil River. Several trails converged almost exactly in the spot where the business district of today’s Republic now stands. A number of tribes frequented this high, forested valley, including the Colvilles. The site was originally part of the huge Colville Reservation, set aside for a number of tribes in 1872. Consequently, the area had little white presence for most of the 1800s.  However, in 1891, the government purchased the entire north half of the Colville Reservation, including the future site of Republic. One of the reasons: the potential for gold strikes. On February 21, 1896, the north half was opened for mineral claims and prospectors, flush with gold fever, poured in.

Rumors of gold drew several other prospectors to the little gulch in February and March 1896, including Tom Ryan and Phil Creaser, who made claims on mines called the Republic claim and the Jim Blaine claim. Some of these claims would soon prove to have rich gold veins. News of the gold strikes flashed through the region, and by April 18, 1896, 64 men were living in the mining camp. The district was named Eureka, after the creek that ran through it. The camp was made almost entirely of tents. There was no railroad or boat transportation; everything was freighted in by horse or mule. It took another year for the first wooden building to go up, a log house, followed by a two-story wood-frame hotel in July 1897. The settlement really took off in 1898, driven by the well-publicized success of the Republic Mine. Within two years, the mine was worth $3.5 million, an imagination-stretching sum at the time. New strikes were reported almost daily. By late spring of 1898, the brand-new settlement of Republic was jammed with 2,000 people — gold prospectors and those trying to make money off of the gold prospectors. They arrived not just from Spokane and Seattle — many arrived from the gold camps of British Columbia. “Civilization” began to arrive along with the saloons and the grub shacks. In 1898, telephone wires reached Republic and the first church was opened. In 1899, a school district and fire department were established. 

Early in 1899, the people of Republic decided that they no longer wanted to be part of vast Stevens County, and in January 1899, a bill was introduced in Olympia to create a new county became official on February 21, 1899. There was no dispute over which town would be named the County Seat – Republic was the only settlement of any size in Ferry County. By 1899 Republic had graduated from camp to small city. The Republic post office was doing more business than any town in Eastern Washington, except the big city of Spokane. Plenty of that outgoing mail carried the message: “There’s money to be made in Republic.” It became one of the richest mining centers in the country, and by far the most significant in Washington State history.

On June 3, 1899, a fire broke out in the pre-dawn hours. By the time the town’s fledgling fire department put the fire out, half of Republic’s business district was destroyed. Fire was to become a sad and recurring theme in the town’s history. In 1900, Republic endured a smallpox scare. People were afraid to go out in the streets; business in the stores fell off dramatically. It turned out to be only a “scare”; most cases proved to be mild and there were only a few fatalities.

Republic suffered through its first “bust” in 1901 when a number of mines closed. The town’s railroad connection — long-awaited and desperately needed — still had not arrived by 1901 – but the business climate did improve when railroad whistles were finally heard in 1902. Yet the mining boom was mostly over and wouldn’t revive for another 30 years. The town began to diversify into timber and farming — although farming was a tough proposition at Republic’s relatively high altitude, 2,569 feet, and short growing season.

Progress reached Republic slowly. The 1920s were especially rough, as they were on most Western mining towns. By 1925 the population was estimated at only about 700. The Spokesman-Review in Spokane described Republic’s past and prospects in 1929:

“When its mines boomed, Republic boomed; when the mining interests waned, the town slumped and badly – in spite of the fact that it is a County Seat, that it has dairying, stock raising and lumbering among its industries … Republic’s immediate future depends on the success of a projected *custom concentrator which will handle all of the ores of the camp”. *Believed to refer to a plant where ore is separated into values (concentrates) and rejects (fails).

During Prohibition, some citizens in the hills surrounding Republic resorted to distilling white lightning to make ends meet. One area near town came to be known as Moonshine Gulch. Republic also became a natural center for liquor smuggling from Canada. “It’s only 30 miles to the border, all of it mountains, so local people were transporting liquor by horse from Canada,” said local historian Dick Slagle. Republic had two federal enforcement officers who “made arrests every once in a while, but they probably overlooked a lot of stuff, too” (Slagle).

Another serious fire devastated the city once again, this time burning down the Ferry County Courthouse in 1934. The Works Progress Administration built a new courthouse in Art Deco style in 1936. The building remains one of the city’s landmarks.

The Great Depression came with a silver lining — actually a gold lining — for Republic. The price of gold soared to $35 an ounce in 1933 and most of the mines in the old Eureka Gulch re-opened, including the Republic Mine and one of the best-known of the recent producers, the Knob Hill, just a few miles out of town. Republic has gone through a number of mine-closing/reopening cycles. The Knob Hill mine continued to produce gold and silver and in 1956 had a payroll of 75. The opening of the state highway over Sherman Pass to Kettle Falls in 1953, meant that Republic was no longer quite so far off the beaten track.

Rough Times and Rebounds

The 1960s and 1970s were rough in Republic, as it became increasingly difficult to rely on a mining and timber economy. The population dipped to 862 in 1970. In 1973, the town nearly lost its hospital, but a spirited fund drive resulted in construction of a new modern facility. The population rebounded to 1,018 in 1980.

Two catastrophes arrived one after the other in the bleak early winter of 1983. First, the Knob Hill mine announced it would soon close and take 100 jobs with it. A week later, on December 4, 1983, a fire blazed through the town’s main street one more time. This one leveled the historic Republic Hotel, a café, a liquor store, and the offices of the weekly newspaper, the Republic News-Miner. But once again disaster became the spark for re-building. This time the merchants of Republic agreed to reinvent the business district with an old-time theme, playing off its gold boom origins. They spruced up the business district to the tune of $1 million. Thie boosted the town’s spirits as well as its tourist trade. In 1984, Hecla Mining Co., which owned the Knob Hill Mine, announced that it had found fresh new deposits. The mine wouldn’t have to close after all. In 1987, a new shaft, the Golden Promise, hit another gold ore body. In 1989, the town also built a new history museum, the Republic Historical Center, which incorporates one of the mining camp’s oldest log cabins. Yet the bust came again in the mid-1990s when Hecla closed its Knob Hill mine for good when the ore body ran out. Sawmill jobs also disappeared.

The Fossil Find

By this time, a different kind of dig had put Republic on the national map. Paleontologists discovered that Boot Hill, right in town, was chock full of fossils from the Eocene Epoch, embedded in shale. The site of Republic was part of vast, ancient lake bed, filled with plants, insects and fish. These fossils were plentiful and remarkably easy to find.

At first it was of interest mostly to scientists. “Republic is a very important site — age-wise and because the preservation is so good — for piecing together the changes that were going on in the West in ancient times,” said a paleo-botany curator from the Smithsonian Institute (Godes). Then in 1986, the city organized some public digs, in which hundreds of schoolchildren fanned out over the hill. It went so well that the city made plans to build a museum and interpretive center, which opened in 1987. Today, the Stonerose Interpretive Center and Fossil Site issues daily digging permits to thousands of visitors every year. Nearly everyone comes away with a fossil souvenir. [Stonerose reserves the right to retain any fossils with scientific significance]. Stonerose is now the center of Republic’s tourist economy. The other major tourist attractions surround the city in all directions — dozens of lakes, creeks, trails, and campgrounds in this vast, secluded region of the state.

Gold mining is a thing of the past in Republic. The Knob Hill mine never reopened. However, mining remains a significant part of the economy, since gold ore is still trucked in from another mine in the region and milled in Republic. Meanwhile, for those who take the time to look, Republic’s mining past is evident everywhere, in the abandoned shafts and tailings of what was once called Eureka Gulch. Despite a few modern structures, the town of Republic retains a flavor of the Old West along its main street, with an ancient “opry house,” now a motion picture theater, balconied and false-fronted buildings, and old-time bars untouched by the fire of 1938, which razed a section of the street.

* * * *

In part, by Jim Kershner, Posted 6/14/2009; made possible by The State of Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation

The Ferry County Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which places its primary emphasis on preserving and exhibiting artifacts related to the rich history of Ferry County.

https://dev.historylink.org/File/9050

Slagle-Stonerose Fossil Site, Republic, Washington – Home of the Ferry Country Historical Society and Heritage Museum

Fifty million years ago, during the early Eocene Epoch, the present day “Okanagan Highlands” – an elevated, hilly plateau that covers parts of British Columbia, Canada and the North-Central portion of the State of Washington – lay beneath the waters of a very large ancient lake.  As the lake bed slowly filled with volcanic ash and sediment, leaves, flowers, fish and insects were trapped in between layers of the resulting mud.  Today that unknown ancient lake is gone, along with the unusual mix of topography and climate that produced and was home to plants and animals that have not been found together in any other known location.               

Since the Stonerose dig site’s discovery by Wes Wehr and Kirk Johnson in 1977, more than 200 different species of plants and animals have been found there in fossilized form. Located on an unassuming road-cut along Knob Hill Road just north of Republic, Washington’s “city center”, the “Boot Hill Fossil Site” provides paleontologists and amateur fossil hunters alike the unprecedented opportunity to discover world-class example of Eocene plant life such as leaves belonging to the rose, birch, maple, and redwood families. The on-site facilities consist of portable toilets and a shaded picnic table. You’ll be spending lots of time in the sun, so remember to bring a sun hat, suntan lotion, and water. If you have a pair of garden knee pads, you may want to bring them along.

As with fishing and gambling, it is possible you could go home empty-handed, but it’s more likely than not that you will find several beautiful, delicate fossil specimens that you will be proud to display in your home.  Finding a fossil at the Stonerose Interpretive Center just takes a bit of patience and maybe a few blisters, yet for years this rocky hillside has yielded a tremendous cache of fossilized remains, making the odds of finding one better than even. There’s a euphoric moment when you find your first fossil – suddenly a nondescript rock becomes a tangible link to the age of the dinosaurs. That spine-tingling moment doesn’t even have to come from a T-Rex or raptor claw – it can overtake you with the first signs of a 52-million-year old leaf skeleton. For some, it may be the beginning of an addicting hunt that will last a lifetime. The best part is that vacationers, rock hounds, and amateur fossil hunters can search this amazing site for their own one-of-a-kind fossils. Warning: be careful, finding fossils is addictive.

                Established in 1989, the Stonerose Interpretive Center and Fossil Site is located on N. Clark Ave. on Republic, Washington’s main thoroughfare. The Boot Hill Fossil Site is a .2 miles walk or drive from the Interpretive Center. Stonerose Dig site is open daily from 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. (latest time to start digging is 3 p.m.) through Sept. 4th. Off-season hours vary. Adults $10/kids $5 – Public digging is by permit only. Visitors may retain up to three fossil pieces per person per day, though significant finds must be left at the site. The Boot Hill Fossil Site is owned by the Friends of Stonerose Fossils, a non-profit organization founded by Wes Wehr, Bert Chadick, Madeline Perry, Gary Anderson, Richard Slagle, Klifton Frazier.

In January this year, when going through e-mails on my computer (without any specific purpose other than try to clean up some old messages), I came across an email from a Founding Member of FOMdated nearly 14 years ago (Saturday, March 20, 2010 to be exact). The subject was “Ranald Stamp”. I became very curious and decided to read it again because I had been very much aware that this year – 2024 – Ranald MacDonald would be 200 years old … The following is the message:

“Hi,  Many years ago I asked an FOM officer in Japan if we might get the Japanese Post Office to issue a stamp in 1994 or 1998* for one of Ranald MacDonald’s big anniversaries. [* – 1994 would have been the

100^th Memorial of Ranald’s death; 1998 would have been the 150^th Anniversary of Ranald’s landing on Rishiri Island – both significant dates and events.] I was told then it was impossible because government rules proscribed depicting stamps of foreigners. That may have been true then

but I was just looking at some (current) Japanese stamps. Two caught my eye. One was a double frame, 80 yen each, showing a bird’s eye view of Dejima in the center background. On the left is a Dutch sailing ship identified as Liefde, perhaps. On the right is a stylized illustration of a Dutch trader. The words “Japan- Netherland” are in the kanji caption. The other stamp of interest is an 80 yen stamp with a handsomely drawn face of Philipp Franz von Siebold, 1796-1866. [I received the letter on April 2, 1996. I had taped these two stamps into my copy of Fred Schodt’s book, Native American in the Land of the Shogun.] I may not be around in the year 2024, but if I am, I sure would like to see Ranald’s face on a stamp honoring him on his bicentennial. Maybe even a joint issue with Japan, U.S.A. and Canada!  Is this an idea worth working on?”

Indeed, it was an excellent idea! 

We immediately got into action after re-reading that email by contacting the Consular Office here in Portland. Council Naoto Shigehisa and I discussed the possibility of this ‘project’; he kindly provided us with the contact information of Nippon Yusei Kosha in Tokyo (formerly ‘Postal Services Agency of the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications’) which is now used for ordering new memorial stamps. We contacted the office directly by phone; the lady of the office in Tokyo and I exchanged a few telephone calls and a few e-mails regarding this. In the meantime, we were hard at work designing the “Ranald MacDonald memorial stamp” per SPECIFIC design requirements by Nippon Yusei Kosha. The last hurdle was the payment AND we already had a unanimous donor for the project. We contacted Mr. Nishiya of FOMJ in Rishiri for some help with logistics and the following, as they say, is HISTORY !

今年 1 月のある日、私がパソコンでEメールを閲覧していた時（古いメッセージを整理する以外、特に目的はありませんでしたが・・・。）、約 1４ 年前の日付のブルース・ バーニー氏からのメールを見つけたのです（実際には、２０１０年３月２０日付け）。 宛先は、私、谷田部勝と家内アリス、そしてジム・モックフォード、CCはフレッド・ショットと マック・バーンズ。 お題は「ラナルドの切手」。 とても興味が湧いて来ました。と言うのが、家内 アリスと私は、今年 –２０２４年は、若し – ラナルド・マクドナルドが生きていたら満 200 歳になる事を良くわきまえて居たので、もう一度そのメールを再読してみる事にしたのです。 以下がブルースから私たちへのEメールメッセージでした。

“こんにちわ、

何年も前の事ですが、FOM日本支部の役員に（注：FOM創設時には、FOM日本支部が存在した。）「日本の郵便局／郵政省により、１９９４年（マクドナルド没後１００年）か１９９８年（マクドナルドの利尻島上陸１５０周年）のFOMの大きなイベントを祝う際に、マクドナルドの記念切手を発行してもらう事が出来ないだろうか？」と、問い合わせたところ、返って来た回答は「それは不可能！何故ならば日本の切手に外国人を載せる事は禁じられているから・・・。」という事だった。多分、その頃は、そうだったかもしれないが、ある日、私は日本から送られて来た一通の封筒を眺めていた。それに貼られた二枚の切手が目に入った。一枚は８０円で二重枠の中央は出島の鳥瞰図、左側にオランダの帆船、多分、リーフデ号、右側はオランダの貿易商のイラスト。漢字で日本‐阿蘭陀と書かれていた。もう一枚の興味深い切手は、８０円切手でフィリップ・フランツ・ボン・シーボルト、１７９６－１８６６の顔がハンサムに描かれていた。［私が（それらの切手が貼られた）封筒を受け取ったのは１９９６年4月２日だった。又、その2枚の記念切手を、私はFred の本 ( Native American in the Land of the Shogun) にテープで貼り付け、保管する事にした。］                                                                              

２０２４年に、私はもうこの世に居ないかもしれないが、若し居たなら、ラナルドの顔をラナルド生誕２００周年を祝う記念切手上に是非とも見たいものである。それは日本、アメリカ、カナダの共同発行になるかも知れないが。これは取り組む価値のあるアイディアだろうか？ ブルースより”

確かに、それは素晴らしいアイデアだったよ、ブルース！　　　　　　　　　　　　　

アリスと私はブルースからの古いメールを再読した後、すぐ、ここポートランドの領事館にメールと電話で連絡、行動に移りました。 重久直人領事と、この「プロジェクト」の可能性について協議、その後、重久領事は、ご親切に、新しい各種記念切手発行依頼受注窓口である東京の日本郵政公社（旧総務省郵政事業庁）の連絡先を教えて下さったのでした。 私は東京の時間帯を見計らって当該窓口に直接架電。幸運な事に、電話に出られた担当の女性は、とても懇切、丁寧にそのプロセスや料金等をご説明して下さいました。その後も何回かそのお方と電話やメールで交信、 その間、アリスは日本郵政公社特定デザイン規格に従い、パソコンを駆使して何件か「ラナルド・マクドナルド記念切手」のサンプル作成に熱心に取り組んで居りました。 最後のハードルは支払いでしたが、このプロジェクトには既に全額ご支援下さったご奇特なFOM会員が居りました。しかし、何故かカードでの支払いがスムーズに行かず、結局、FOMJの西谷氏に加担して頂き、事無きを得ました。以上、歴史です！

ラナルド・マクドナルド生誕200周年記念切手発行!!!

この切手は日本国内でのみ使用可能ですが、収集物件として誰でも所有できます。 1シートに84円切手が20枚。 アメリカでは1シートを15ドルで提供。日本ではFOMJの西谷さん（利尻島）を通じて1シート2,000円で販売します。（売値は、日米共に送料込みです。）特に 日本でより多くの切手が販売され、使用されることを願って居ります。 そうする事で、ラナルド・マクドナルドを「日本で最初の（ネイティブ）英語教師」としてより多くの人達に知って頂くのに役立つと思われますので！

“Junk” is a term that Americans still use to refer to “traditional” Asian boats. The origin of this term is

probably a transliteration* that a missionary from the Order of Friars Minor in Italy (mid 14th century), used in his writing about his voyage to China via the Indian Ocean during the Yuan dynasty; a Muslim traveler referred to ships seen in the Indian Ocean and along the Chinese coasts as “Gonku” or “Chunko.” It is believed that the word ‘Junk’ came from the Malay-Javanese word jung or ajung (hard ‘g’) which could have been derived from the Chinese word jung meaning “floating house”.

A *transliteration, put in simple terms, doesn’t tell you the meaning of a word, but it gives you an idea of how the word is pronounced in a foreign language.    And now you know.