| In the picturesque valley of
the Clearwater eight miles northeast of Grangeville and nine miles above Stites
is the village of Harpster, protected from the cold winds of the surrounding
prairie and mountains by high, encircling hills. The town was named for
Abraham Harpster, one of the early settlers of Idaho County and a pioneer of the
Pierce gold rush.
Two other villages once were nearby -
Bridgeport and Riverside - both located at earlier dates than Harpster, but both
now are only a memory. The post office serving the town was always at
Harpster.
Harpster, established in the early '60's as
a way-station on the old mining road into the Elk City country never was very
large so far as its human inhabitants were concerned, yet its former
"population" has spread until now its numbers exceed those of either
London or New York. And here is how it came about:
How It Spread
In the early days some Chinese
conducted a saloon at Harpster. One day a small shipment of bottled liquor
arrived at the saloon. After the box had been unpacked it was thrown in
back of the saloon and its contents dumped into the Chinese garden, which
included weeds which had been used as packing to prevent breakage of the
bottles.
From the dumping of those
weeds has come the "goatweed" which lines the Clearwater valley from
Harpster to Arrow Junction, a distance of about 80 miles. It has spread on
all the non-cultivated slopes of the north bank of the river and is still
spreading. With it has spread the fame of Harpster.
The goatweeds grow from two to
three feet in height, have yellow blossoms and develop brown seed. They do
not seem to thrive on cultivated lands but quickly smother out grass and other
food plants on unbroken soil. Nothing in the way of livestock will eat the
weeds - unless it be goats.
Harpster promises to be an
important town on the new water-grade highway into the Elk City mining region
when the road up the Clearwater is completed. The precinct had a
population of 126 when the 1930 census was compiled. |