October 25, 2007

McGregor attracts historical

society crowd in Hooper

By Jennifer Larsen

News editor

Journal photo by Jennifer Larsen

Family sleuths. Amidst relics collected through the years and preserved in the MacGregor Store in Hooper, Mary McGregor (left) and Alex McGregor display a painting by Edith (Shaw) Ford, whose father worked for the McGregor family, in 1911. Edith’s daughter, Kathleen (Ford) Scholz (front) of Dusty and her daughter Claudia Eblin took the painting to the Adams County Historical Society annual meeting to determine if Edith painted with Alex’s grandmother, Jenny. The two McGregor siblings noted some similarities in the Ford painting with their grandmother’s.

More than 80 people from Adams County, Whitman County and beyond gathered at the MacGregor Store in Hooper on Sunday, Oct. 21, for the Adams County Historical Society annual meeting.

After a meal catered by Tom and Nancy Meise of Washtucna, society President Allan Koch recognized Kathleen (Ford) Scholz, whose grandfather worked for the McGregors and is from Dusty, as possibly the longest living visitor at the event.

Stella (Greene) Sinclair was mentioned as a former student and educator at Benge who had visited the McGregors in her childhood.

Bev McCullough traveled the farthest to attend the meeting at 420 miles and received a book by Harland Eastwood.

Lenny Roth of Lind and LaVerne Kautz of Ritzville have lived in Adams County the longest at 84 years and will receive a copy of Alex McGregor’s book, Counting Sheep: From Open Range to Agribusiness on the Columbia Plateau.

Trish McRae has lived in the county the shortest amount of time – two years – and received a membership to the historical society and all previous issues of the organization’s newsletters.

Each year, the historical society meets at various locations across the county to conduct a little business and hear a featured speaker. Past speakers have included Dick Scheuerman, Harland Eastwood and Keith Deaton portraying Abe Lincoln.

Introducing this year’s featured guest was Ron Jirava, longtime wheat industry advocate and farmer.

“Alex has always had the producers of Eastern Washington at heart,” he said. “He refers to them as salt of the earth. Alex is as much salt of the earth as the rest of us.”

Alex McGregor, head of the McGregor Company and McGregor Land and Livestock, shared his wide range of experiences as a country boy and voice of agriculture in the main room of the store, surrounded by books and magazines from every genre, photographs of early life on the ranch, paintings skillfully created by his grandmother, Jenny, and the distinct ambience of the building itself.

McGregor delved into the history that binds and distinguishes Adams and Whitman Counties, especially the families that call this area home, after introducing about a dozen family members that shared the afternoon with the historical society guests.

“This historic little town preserves hints of a remarkable story of Salt Of The Earth farm families, ranchers and rural families,” McGregor said. “It is a story of many area families and friends who have deep roots and homes in the surrounding area.”

He talked about the history of Hooper and the company, both interweaved in the roots of Hooper since the early 1900s.

As early as 90 years ago, rail cars were loaded with apples grown in the valley, he said. “This was a very productive irrigated land.”

Four years after the MacGregor Store was built, it did more than $200,000 of business in sales in 1920. Ninety years ago, a non-typical traveler stayed at the Hotel Glenmore. That traveler – Zane Grey– later wrote about the area in his 1919 novel, The Desert of Wheat.

McGregor said that floodwaters were about 450-feet deep where the store is located during the Missoula Flood. He also said that a camel dating a million and a half years ago was found near Hooper.

After the meeting was adjourned, McGregor hosted an informal tour of the Hotel Glenmore, which is still used for community activities and social gatherings.