Riparia, Washington, USA
Riparia, Washington, USA

Below are various images of Riparia, Wash., a railroad town in Whitman County, Wash., on the Snake River. The town is gone, replaced by a campsite; what is left is located a few miles downriver from Little Goose Dam.

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This is the house where Mary Alice Brunner (Cottingham Talbott) was born in 1915. This photo was taken by John and Mary Alice Talbott in October 1963. "Hank and friends" were members of Riparia's baseball team. I don't know which one is Hank, who is Henry Arthur Simmons, son of Lawyer Eugene Simmons and Alice Blanche Stuart. Hank was born in 1899, so this picture was probably taken in the mid- to late-1910s.
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The caption says "No. 4 O.W.R.&N. STEEL DRAWBRIDGE, RIPARIA, WASH." This picture was taken from the south side of the Snake River, looking toward Riparia. The wooden structure sticking into the river was part of the mechanism to open the bridge for boats. Here's the Riparia bridge when it was open. Again, the photo looks toward the north, toward Riparia.
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The four from the left are Voyle Oliver Brunner, Margaret Simmons Brunner, Mary Alice Brunner (in arms) and Stella Irene Stuart, who was Margaret's aunt but was only 13 years older. This photo, taken in 1915, looks south from Riparia down the bridge. Note how low the water level is below the bridge. The caption reads, "No. 2 O.W.R.&N. AND CAMAS PRAIRIE TRAINS, RIPARIA, WASH." The Stuart Hotel is at right, and the depot is beyond the center train.
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This is the cover for a Riparia School program from 1905. I do not know who is in the photo, but I suspect it to be Vina Bundy, the teacher listed on the first page of the program. I do not know what the light blue emblem underneath the photo is. The first page of the program lists the date, March 25, 1905; the teacher, Vina Bundy; and the school officers, W.H. Stuart, L. Nichols and Silas Smith.
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Twenty-one pupils are listed on the third page of the program. The program was printed by A. Owen Pub Co., Dansville, N.Y. This view of the train in front of the Stuart Hotel is taken from the west side of the tracks, along the river, looking northeast.
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The caption reads, "Stewart Hotel, Stewart, Wash." An obvious misspelling, because "STUART" is on the front of the building. One Lewiston Morning Tribune article of the era does refer to W. H. Stuart wanting to name the town after himself; the photographer simply got the wrong spelling. William Henry Stuart is at left, but I'm unsure who his companion is. It is likely his wife, Mary Jane Startin Stuart. On the back of the postcard reads: "This is one of the pictures Harry took will (sic) in Salem. He took it in the dining room. It is fine of both."
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The original Stuart Hotel was wooden and faced the river instead of the tracks. It burned sometime before 1903.

This page created on a Macintosh using PhotoPage by John A. Vink.

These pictures are part of my collection and have been handed down to me from my mother, Judith Ann Cottingham Perkins, and my grandmother, Mary Alice Brunner Cottingham Talbott. My thanks to both of them for not throwing them away. Pat Perkins, 10 Jan. 2001