The Saga of Grandma Little (Clara)
Chapter 9
“With Spunk and Laughter the Road Back”

Doctors were few and far between. In the Spring Dr Gilchrist came to see Francis. He came on horse-back from Waterville, WA, down Brown’s Canyon and crossed the turbulent Columbia River by boat. He lead his horse up the terrible switch-backs on Knapp’s Hill. If you came down Brown’s Canyon from Waterville you arrived at the east side of the Columbia River several miles south of Chelan at Knapp’s Hill. The road rose about 600 feet straight up. the horse had come a long way and it would have winded him to carry anyone on his back. It was so steep a horse and rider had to walk up. Later before the Tunnel was blasted thru the granite rock through the mountain, the little cars had to back up so the gas could flow from the gas tank to the motor. It was easier for the car to pull it’s self with the back wheels than try to push it up hill. A farmer who lived at the top of the hill would bring his team down and pull your car up the steepest part and send you on into town The picture that is at the top of this story is the Knapp’s Hill Road. It can still be seen from across the Columbia River from the Douglass County side.
After spending the night at Joe Darnell’s Lakeview House, in the little town of Lakeside, he ferried up to the Little’ home at Granite Falls the next morning on the Stehekin Steamer.

When the doctor arrived, Francis was sitting up in bed, a game, bright eyed ten year old. His badly crippled legs were pulled up under him, His mother had draped a bright handmade crazy quilt over him.

After carefully looking at Francis twisted limbs, Dr Gilchrist quietly spoke to Francis’ worried mother, trying to think of someway to comfort her. With a sigh he took her hand knowing the truth was all he had to offer, “All we can do at the moment is hope and pray. I don’t know of any treatment that can help him, Sometimes the cords can be cut as a last resort. Please keep him out of the cold water it could make him worse.
That he is young and will learn to cope in ways we can’t even fathom is his biggest strength. Those sparkling eyes and big grin will never give up or think he has limitations.”

Later when the twisted shrunken cords that drew his little legs back out of shape, were severed, Francis was better,. He could put his feet down flatter and was soon up on his crutches dashing about with the liveliest of them. He got back up on his little buckskin pony “Queen” and was riding again. He never let this tragedy slow him down. His life was changed forever but far from finished. His determined spirit really did make this unexpected tragedy into silver for everyone who was lucky enough to be part of his bright blue sky.

As Francis got older he learned to manage traveling on the Steamboats up and down the Columbia River. He captained huge rafts of logs down Lake Chelan to the saw mill. It was hard for him, but nothing was impossible. His kindness and laughter, even if it was aimed at him, made him everybody’s favorite. He could always see something good or funny in everything that happened to him and to all around him.

His enthusiasm for wanting to be a Steamboat Captain, lead him to keep the best genealogy of all the boats on the lake.( They can be shared at the Lake Chelan Museum) After he was married he worked in Wenatchee as a bookkeeper keeping the figures straight for ten years for his brother Bill at his Inland Meat Market and was ”the man with the figures” for the Meadow-moor Dairy for twenty-six years.

He never missed spending the day with his Mother on her birthday. She was the shining Star in all of their lives. Always there, always seeing them as she knew they could and would be.

When Francis finally retired he came back to Chelan. He said no matter where he lived, his heart had always been at Lake Chelan. It was his home, his strength and his soul’s retreat.

About getting up on the Plateau where the lake is

There were only a few ways to get up on the Plateau where Lake Chelan is above the Columbia River.. I wrote about one the Little family used when they first came to Chelan in 1892. That road came up the hair raising road on the edge of the Chelan Gorge, from Chelan Falls People who came down McNeal Canyon from Mansfield used that one. Across the Chelan River where it entered the Columbia River was another little town called Chelan Station. and one of the Steam boat stops. They used another road that went up the hill behind where the Washington State Fish Hatchery is now. Even though these little towns were only one half mile apart, if you wanted to visit someone over there it was a seven mile trip up one terrible road to Chelan then down the other terrible road, an all day trip or swim your horse across the Chelan River . The river bottom was full of Glacier tumbled rocks that were round and always unstable they were also covered with the Loess Clay that made them slick and dangerous.

Last but not least was the road up Navarre Coulee that the Burch Brothers used when they cut their streamer The Queen up the middle in 1891, and pulled her one half at a time, all the way up to the lake .That road came down to the lake at First Creek, nine miles up the South Shore where the State Park is now. There were no roads along the shoreline. This was true on both sides of the lake. The boats were the only real transportation. Our first families were tough, talented and resourceful, They always had a smile for the new folks that had caught their dream and followed them on their quest

The Saga of Grandma Little (Clara)
Chapter 10
“Up and Over Bear Mountain”