Dishman was an original settler in area

(Today, when we think of the early settlers of Sandpoint names like, Farmin, Whitaker, Coon, and Weil come to mind. The original white settlers were Joseph L. Prichard, Jack Waters, Wilton B. Dish-man, C. R. Martin, and their families. These first settlers filed Possessory Claims and recorded their claims at the county courthouse. They were not “squatters” on the land but legitimate settlers.

The names of these pioneer families are not commonly associated with the history of the area and therefore they have not had the recognition that they deserve.

Last week, we met Joseph L. Prichard and Jack Waters, two of the original four pioneers that settled in Sandpoint, Idaho, west of Sand Creek.

In this article you will meet Wilton B. Dishman and later, in another article, the fourth of these pioneers, C. R. Martin.)

Wilton B. Dishman and his wife, Nannie May, came west with a Northern Pacific railroad survey party which brought them to Sandpoint, Woodville (Rathdrum), and Spokane Falls.

He opened a livery in Spokane in 1887, which he called Grand Central Stable.

His older brother, Addison T. Dishman, and his wife, Ann, joined Wilton in Spokane in 1888, where Addison and two other men opened a grocery store.

When the Dishmans’ livery stable and grocery store burned in Spokane’s “Great Fire” of 1889, the Dishman brothers started a granite rock quarry on Spokane’s south hill to provide stone blocks for the rebuilding of Spokane after the fire.

In the spring of 1891, the Dishman brothers and their wives moved to Sandpoint, Idaho, where they settled on a 160-acre possessory claim on the west side of Sand Creek.

Today’s Larch Street bound their land on the north, Cedar Street on the south, and Division Avenue on the west, and Boyer Avenue on the east.

The Dishman brothers’ houses and farm buildings were located about where the Sandpoint Senior Center is today at 820 Main St.

Wilton B. Dishman started a livery and dray (local freight) business in Sandpoint. Wilton and Nannie’s two sons, Arthur and Raymond, were born here. Dishman “proved up” on his homestead on Aug. 16, 1897.

In addition, as clerk of the school board in Sandpoint from February 1897 to June 1898, Wilton Dishman was paid to supervise the building of L. D. Farmin’s second school, the “Central School.”

Addison T. Dishman became interested in prospecting and located the “Hope Ledge” and “Morning Ledge” mines. Then, in 1892, Addison moved back to Spokane where he became a building contractor.

Addison Dishman then founded the Spokane & Idaho Lime Co., using limestone from Bayview, Idaho, to make cement.

Addison Dishman decided the Spokane Valley had business potential.

On a dusty trail that is now Sprague Avenue in Spokane Valley, Addison built a general merchandise store called the “Dishman Trading Post” and gave the store to his brother Wilton.

On July 11, 1899, Wilton sold his claim in Sandpoint to Isaac Boyer, a businessman in Butte, Mont., and moved to the Spokane Valley.

Isaac Boyer never actually lived in Sandpoint but he came here from time to time to manage his property. His name is well known here since “Boyer Avenue” is named for him.

The land originally claimed by the Dishman brothers became the “West End Additions” to Sandpoint.

Although the Dishman name is not commonly associated with Sandpoint, the community that was built around the store east of Spokane became known as Dishman, Wash.

(The above article is from an interview I had with Dale Selle shortly before his death.)