Sacrifice, community-first attitude behind region's development

(Sitting down with Harp Turnbull at his kitchen table, was an experience I will long remember. We were taking a break from the regular interview for the "Sandpoint Centennial" movie when the following conversation took place.

Below, Harp shares in his own words, his honest answers to the questions asked of him. We get a close look at the character of this man called Harp Turnbull. The interview took place in 2002 and Harp died a few years later.) 

Question: Harp, how do you think people have changed?

Harp: Now here we are going back to that bridge over there. I can't find it now to show you, but I have the receipt for my brother-in-law where he donated $10 to the building of the first bridge across Lake Pend Oreille. Now things were done that way, by conscription. People didn't have any money and $10 was a lot of money then. I have a receipt where he donated that to Bonner County to build that bridge over there.

Now, donating that $10 bill was probably harder on him than it is for you to donate $1,000. Nevertheless, this is the way things were done, and that's what built the country, what developed the country. People sacrificing, and when they built these roads here, the one you came in on, that land was donated to Bonner County from the people who owned it. It wasn't purchased.

This land here was all donated and people made those sacrifices. What did a few acres of land mean to 'em? A road meant more to them than the few acres of land that they lost.

People don't do that today. They quarrel and fight over how many dollars they can get for a square foot of their land, instead of going ahead and doing things for their community. That's another thing that has changed and I don't like it. That's the attitude that so many people have.

Question: Are you talking about human greed?

Harp: We're all exposed to the basic human instincts and it's up to us which ones we want to put forward and develop, and which ones we want to back away from.

We're all exposed to these basic human instincts — love, hate, greed, and the whole works of 'em and greed is a top priority, whatever you want to call it. I spent hours out there going around and around on that old tractor of mine asking what is it? What are we here for? What is the purpose? What is the creation? What is the answer? What are we? It is a mystery to me and I know there's a lot of theories put forward.

Question: I have heard people talk about the winters in this area and how they have changed. Do you agree?

Harp: I cannot remember all 87 of 'em, Bob. I've put in 87 of 'em here and I don't think there's ever been any two alike. I've seen this land here have shirt-sleeved winter weather in the 1930s.

I saw one time when the thermometer said 40 below zero. I have seen the snow when those (pointing) regular fence posts were snowed under. I have seen water pouring down this creek until these little streams was a flood, a regular raging torrent. So what do you call a normal winter in the state of Idaho, in Bonner County?

I don't know. I don't think I've ever seen any two alike. I think that is one thing that I like about it.

Question: Do you miss the good old days?

Harp: Change is inevitable in everything. If I want the good old days, I can go into the northland and live the same kind of life that my people lived here. I would not vacate these modern conveniences, and the like, for anything.

Hell, we are spoiled. The whole human race is spoiled,  spoiled rotten. I want to say a little bit about the development of this area. We developed Sandpoint from a bunch of beautiful timber into a city or a town. My dad told me in 1880 that in Spokane there was one brick building and the rest was a tent town. Change is inevitable. Nothing will ever stay the same.