Soap Lake History Chapters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Chapter 4
Soap Lake was just a temporary stopping place for many years before anyone decided to consider it as a permanent home. The first people were women, Mrs. Gray, and her daughter, Lucy, who homesteaded in 1901 on the south-western corner of the lake.
Theirs was the only building in the vicinity until a Mr. Jensen decided there was enough traffic through the area to support a store, and in 1904 built the structure that was to mark a new town.
Railway stations at nearby Adrian and Ephrata were already serving thriving communities when the town of Soap Lake was born as Soap Lake was off the beaten path.
Indians still came here each summer to gather tsuka-lotsa, use the water, and to race horses. White men came to use the water and to enjoy the races.
It seems natural, therefore, that the second place of business to be built in the new town would be a hotel for the benefit of those who were not inclined to camp out while visiting the area.
In 1905 the Lombardy Hotel was built on land purchased from the State of Washington at the edge of the lake. It was the first of many, and was the only one of the original hotel-sanitariums to survive demolition by fire. It later became the Soap Lake Sanitarium and operated until 1945.
The first school and post office were housed in the Lombardy. Construction began on the most famous sanitarium, the Siloam, in 1905 on the hill overlooking what is now the East beach.
During the spectacular 15 year career of the Siloam, it became the nationally advertised social center and health resort of the Columbia Basin until it went up in a tremendous blaze started accidently by the owner himself.
The builders of the Siloam acquired a parcel of land below the hill and platted a townsite, hoping to name it Siloam after the healing springs mentioned in the Old Testament. Unfortunately, communications broke down between parties on the east coast and the west coast, and the name of the townsite came up "Salome", after the notorious dancer.
In 1908 a plat was filed on the land surrounding the Lombardy and dubbed "Cottage City." When the town of Soap Lake was actually incorporated in 1919, the two rival factions gave up their battle of names and went with the tide.
By the time Soap Lake became official, it was already a busy resort and health spa with four hotels, many rooming houses and apartments, and businesses catering to the campers by renting tents, boats and bathing suits.
Most maps printed at this time were labeling it "Sanitarium Lake."
Hopeful sojourners often could not find accommodations at the hotel or sanitarium of their choice and had to be content with a tent provided behind the buildings for overflow guests.
A present resident of the county tells of her newly-married sister and groom arriving at Soap Lake in 1910 for a romantic and luxurious honeymoon at the Siloam, only to find themselves relegated to one of the overflow tents out back.
Another "old timer" recalls growing up with parents who ran one of the hotels, and often coming home on summer evenings to find his bedroom rented.
Until 1911, passengers on the Northern Pacific Railroad who were bound for Soap Lake had to get off at Ephrata or Adrian, and hire a ride the rest of the way to their destination. After that date, the new station at Grant Orchards, only two miles from Soap Lake, was their point of disembarcation.
Four trains arrived each day and were met by a hack and enthusiastic driver from each of the sanitariums. People often arrived with no special place of residence in mind, and each driver felt it his duty to "sell" his place of business in any way possible.
Often the "arrivees" were too sick to protest and were more or less shanghaied by the strongest or fastest driver. After several brawls had to be broken up by the sheriff, the railroad company imposed order upon the hacks and drivers by setting up a specified parking lot marked off by stones, and a rotating system of parking so that each hotel had a turn at first pick of the passengers.
In spite of the fact that Soap Lake's main industry evolved from its medicinal powers, it soon became a gala social center with an atmosphere and reputation not unlike that of New Orleans.
In its heyday it was impossible to walk down the street on summer nights because of the crowds of socializers promenading the sidewalks. Visitors who stayed at the sanitariums often regained their health enough to seek entertainment to fill their time. And, residents of the surrounding sparsely populated county were always "hot just to get to be with someone" as one old-timer put it.
So any excuse for a gathering was never overlooked and any gathering meant fun whether it was the Fourth of July, the arrival of the first aeroplane to the county, a pie supper at the school, a national convention at one of the hotels, or just the weekly dance.
From the beginning, dances were a big thing. Before Soap Lake sported a real dance hall, a bachelor on a nearby farm built his house with a dance floor to accommodate large crowds in order to satisfy his own love for dancing.
After the Siloam was built, the dining room, cleared of tables, was a regular site of dances. Eventually the town could boast an open-air dance hall right on the beach, but it was a battle to keep bathers off the floor in their wet and dripping suits.
Residents with a musical talent were in constant demand. Often big name bands were brought from Spokane and paid well for their gigs.
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