Wilma Allen's tales bring history of early-day Sandpoint to life

When I first came to Sandpoint, I wanted to learn all I could about the history of this place I had chosen to live.

I was told, by several people, the person I needed to talk with was Wilma Allen. I called her and she consented to meet me at the museum and it did not take long for me to realize why I had been told to talk to her.

She shared her Sandpoint with me in a way that brought its history back to life. Today, when I want to know something about a person, a building, or just check out some story I heard, I call Wilma. She has always been gracious in her response and willing to share her knowledge of this place called Sandpoint. I want to thank her again for giving me the opportunity to say, "Folks, meet Wilma Allen."

"My name is Wilma Mae Harrell McArthur Allen and I was born in Fairchild Hill County, Mont., on Nov. 17, 1917. I came to Sandpoint in 1923 when I was five years old and we found a house at 708 N. Boyer.

"Helen Jennestad was one of our neighbors and Stella Kitchen lived across the street, and there were about six or seven other kids in the neighborhood. We all would congregate on the street and play baseball. We had, believe it or not, some cement sidewalks. I don't know if any of you know what roller skates were like in those days, but they were metal, so we had roller skates and would go here and there on them. We ice skated on Sand Creek and, besides that, we had Humbird's Hill or Pearson's Hill and the kids from our entire neighborhood and the kids from Mill Town would come down; we had our sleds and more than once we got dumped in the creek. We had a lot of fun when I was a kid.

"I recall the footbridge that led to Humbird's Mill that was across Sand Creek. Over that bridge was a sawmill, a planer, a dry kiln and the lumber sheds. Humbird Lumber Company was really good to their employees. They had various picnics, ball games and other activities. They had a Christmas party and that was where all of the mill people, and just about everybody in Sandpoint, went at Christmas.

"I remember the Four-L Hall that at one time had been a boarding house but Humbird had made it into a big hall. That is where they had the Christmas parties and they had dances in the hall for the young people.

"We had a lot of fun going to the planer mill because my Dad was a grader, a lumber grader, and we would get to watch him work. You could see all those huge wheels going around that were the mechanism that made the mill run and made the planer run.

"My brother and I would take some friends over there and we would go over to the mill and watch the logs come up the chain and into the carriage. The dogs would flip the logs and they'd slice a piece off of it and flip it again and another piece would go off of it. At that time, number one, two, and three was real lumber. There were no knots, no planer burns, and no belt burns. It really was select lumber.

"Another thing that you might like to know is that the Indians had their powwows down on the beach. From the time I was 10 years old, I can remember going down there and we all swam together — the Indian kids and us. We had fun playing together and doing things together. I remember watching them play their stick games. We were not allowed to play the stick game because that was an Indian game and it stayed an Indian game. That was one of the few things that we were not to take part in.

"I remember when the Indians would come in to Sandpoint with their horse and wagons filled with huckleberries. They sold their huckleberries for ten cents a gallon.

"My Dad was elected city clerk and he made $50 a month for the full-time job. He later became justice of the peace. I worked with him when he had his insurance company, The Harrell Agency that was located in the Panida Theater.

"I married Roy McArthur in Sandpoint and we had two boys and two girls. Roy died in 1962. I married Lloyd Allen on Aug. 7, 1967 and we live in Sandpoint."