Squire family papers

              /?rsti  MEMORIES   OF OLD   KETTLE   FALLS -^  By: Donald A. Squire October 3,  1983  Ihe following information about OLD KETTLE FALLS and the surrounding area has been assembled from my memory and that of ray sister. Eleanor, old photographs and newspaper clippings, and personal inspections and conversations with former residents during recent years, with the hope that it will be helpful to those who are attempt¬ ing to develop a history of the region. It is basically a story of Archer Roy Squire, who,  as a civil engineer, was  employed by  the Rochester Land  Co. of  New York,  to survey and prepare a plat map  of  a proposed  cownsite  to be known as  Kettle Falls,  his wife, Carrie, and their two children, Donald and Eleanor, who grew up and received their basic education in the small community. The actual facts and those reconstructed  from memory  are  as   follows:  ARCHER K. SQUIRE  Date of Birth    -    1877  Place of Birth -    Unknown  Date of Death    -    December 21,  1964 at age 87  . CARRIE MAHLER SQUIRE  Date of Birth    -    November 8, 1878  Place of Birth -    Chicago,  Illinois  Date of Death    -    February 27,  1960 at age 82  Mr. and Mrs. Squire were married March 11,  1902 in Chicago,  Illinois. Mr. Squire was employed by Western Union Telegraph Co. in Chicago, and on February 22, 1893 left of his own accord "to better himself",  and was recommended in writing as a "faithful and honest boy" by A. C. Murphy,  Superintendent of Western Union's Chicago office.  Sometime thereafter he was employed by the Rochester Land Co. of New York, presumably because he was a civil engineer,  to survey and prepare a plat map of the proposed townsite of Old Kettle Falls. A copy of his map showing all the street names and lots, with the legend "Copyright 1909 by Archer R. Squire" is on file in the office of the Forest Ranger Station near the site of the original- town,  I personally inspected the map;  in fact,  I photographed it, and found to my dis¬ may later there was no film in my camera!    During the last Kettle Falls reunion I tried to photograph the map again, but found the ranger station closed.  Why would the Rochester Land Co. in New York want to establish a town almost a continent away from New York?    Reportedly they believed that because of the potential power of the Kettle Falls on the Columbia River, second at that time to the power of Niagara Falls in New York, a city adjacent to the Kettle Falls could surpass Spokane as a regional center in Eastern Washington. The company built the then lavish Rochester Hotel at the main intersection of the town to house,  feed and entertain prospective lot purchasers, and their aggressive promotion of the area induced many people to come from near and far (it is reported that over one thousand persons bought lota in the community)  to buy land in the belief that they were pioneering in the birth of a new city of great promise. Unfortunately,  their dreams were never realized because the railroad, an indispensable ingredient for growth and prosperity of the new community, by-passed the town and went instead to Myers Falls,  then turned north to Marcus, Northport and other towns enroute to Canada.  The Rochester Land Co. played a large part in the development of the fruit in¬ dustry along the Columbia River. Indeed, apples grown in those orchards were highly prized and brought top prices at the New York auction. The company also established the Columbia Irrigation Co. to supply water to the area. Mr- Squire managed the water company, conducted a real estate and insurance business and also acted as a licensed land surveyor for a period of 33 years, until the Grand Coulee Dam was constructed and the lake formed by the dam inundated the townsite in 1941.  (Continued)