Rope swing lives on in residents' memories

Folks, the human brain has been called the fastest, most efficient, computer ever produced by unskilled labor. Let me tell you what I mean. I was rocking away the other day and in a few nanoseconds, I visited my birthplace in Alabama, the Bitterroot Valley in Montana, and ended by remembering the kids swinging from a rope over Sand Creek.

Mem-ory is a wonderful thing and even though the house where I was born has been gone many years, I can still bring it up on my mental computer and revisit it. I must give you a word of warning. The closer you get to Washington, D.C. the more likely you will experience malfunctions and dead spots in your brain computer. You can still fire it up but you can’t get it to work. This disorder is a way of life in that particular area.

Sand Creek, as we knew it, is no longer with us but it does still exist in our memories. As I thought about those kids swinging from a rope over the water, I thought of a special day that took place a few years ago. I think it was called, “Celebrate Sand Creek.” People gathered along the banks of the creek and had a good time sharing their special memories.

I recalled that Karen Seashore had collected many of these memories and gave her a call.

Today, I want to share with you just a few of these recollections of the creek collected by Karen, in hope that they will bring to the forefront of your memory some special moments.

“I used to work at Selkirk Gallery in Gunnings Alley and I’d look out that window, winter or summer, and love it. In winter, I’d see the children and adults on skates, the little ones riding in those runnered push sleds. It seemed that every time I saw kids skating, there were always dogs with them. In the summer, it was the rope swing.”  Judy Pederson

“In ‘85 we had a nice cold winter. We shoveled off the ice, sprayed hot water from the boiler with a hose, and made an ice rink. We see about 150 deer every year on the creek and a moose that swims over to the back of the hospital where there must be a salt lick. There are beaver, geese, and a heron. The water is like a hatchery and there’s lots of food for the heron; that’s why he’s there.” Tom Rieman

“Humbird put up a footbridge for the mill workers, a short cut from Mill Town (where Serve-A-Burger is now) to the mill. A large 4-L Hall was across the footbridge and we would walk to the dances with just about everyone from Mill Town. Then we’d dance all night, have sandwiches, and come home with our families early in the morning. We would walk down to the beach, and on the way back we would be starving and we’d stop and eat apples from the tree on the banks of the creek.” Lucille Simonson

“Around the winter of ’84-’85, Sandpoint’s Volunteer Fire Department put on a ski poker run to raise funds. They set up a track for cross-country skiing all around Sand Creek between the marina and under the Cedar Street Bridge. You skied from point to point, picking up a playing card at each of seven stations.” Rod Crawford

“My memories are illegal. In the early ’60s, they used to have a night watchman at the Sandpoint Marina and he slept in a little house there. We were 12 (years old) and we used to dive in and swim under the docks. The watchman was old and he didn’t hear us. In the early ’60s we never stole anything but the whiskey and the beer — no fishing gear or anything.” Anonymous

“One of my favorite memories of Sand Creek, and it didn’t happen very often, was when they had trails shoveled off for ice skating and they had rental equipment. There were several different trails. It was great to take the kids down there and follow the trails. The other thing is watching the kids go off the rope swing. To me, that’s the epitome of Sand Creek. The rope swing is so Norman Rockwell-ish.” Tea Aunan