Week 8: The Harrington Adventure

     This week, we had five main readings, the website, and the video (which I could not get to work). The purpose of these assignments were to educate and broaden our horizons on that little hamlet known as Harrington.

     Steele: History of Lincoln County Washington:

Harrington City Hall circa 1910s. Image Courtesy
of HistoryLink

One of the main themes of all of our readings for this week is that you have to take Lincoln county as a whole. It is very difficult to find information on Harrington itself. The town is usually just a fraction of the story that is Lincoln county as a whole. The Steele article is interesting because it was written in 1909. It is written in an educational manner that is designed to lure new people into the area. It starts out dismantling the myth that the Northwest is all timber, wildlife, and seafood/fishing. The article focuses on the farming aspect of Lincoln county through wheat and ranching...also strangely enough Steele mentions bee culturing, which I wouldn't think of as alluring. When discussing the city of Harrington, Steele focuses on the Northern Pacific Railroad being the lifeblood of the city since it is able to transport large amounts of wheat as a result of it. This same section also talks about the booming population of Harrington at that time. That population being 1,200. (21)

     Harrington 100 Years:
This was the most educational reading about Harrington since it was dedicated to the city of Harrington and had less to do with the other cities of Lincoln county, respectively. This gives detailed stories and history about the entirety of Harrington. The main theme is that the railroad was incredible vital to this community, as it was to all western towns, and with the railroad came wealth, population, and opportunity, and with the loss of the railroad, the city fails. There is an interesting story in here about a the big and devastating fire in Harrington. While it is not on the scale of the Chicago fires, it destroyed the main building of the Harrington Manufacturing Company, but it didn't destroy the neighborhood or community because of the concrete that the building was made with (44)

     HistoyLink's History of Lincoln County & An Illustrated History of Big Bend County:
These two articles continue the examination of Lincoln County. It continues to give insight into what made Lincoln county in the first place, and what made the small towns within it sustainable. Through wheat production and the railroad, a town of Harrington was able to survive and to thrive for a time.

     Spokesman Article & WISAARD:

"School Slow" sign from Harrington. Image courtesy of WISAARD

The Spokesman Article that I randomly stumbled across in our class research day tells the story of the fair lady being forced to give up her land to the evil "horny" man. It is an interesting story not just from the angle of fair maiden against evil-eyed villain but because it shows a female homesteader in the early 1900s. I would still very much like to know for sure what the outcome of this story was. We did find that the bad man, Joseph Drazen, moved away, so it is fair to assume that he lost his land...or did he? The website this week was WISAARD, and from it we find historical centers and buildings within Harrington and the public is able to look at photos etc of the town itself.