Three Forks Indian Trails sign finds new home
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-Photos by Leta Travis
The Three Forks Indian Trails sign was put into place by Scott Laughery, left, and Terry John earlier this year. The sign was removed by the state and replaced by a new, state-approved marker, so Gary Cole saved this original sign, which now lives east of the Garfield County Museum entrance. Upper left: Mark Ledgerwood, on the forklift, maneuvers the cumbersome sign closer to its final position while, John, left, and Laughery, help guide. Upper right: John, Ledgerwood and Laughery wrestle the sign to reposition it prior to final placement. Lower right: Gary Cole supervises as the sign he saved is prepared for mounting in front of the Garfield County Museum.
POMEROY–The Three Forks Indian Trails sign now makes its home in front of the Garfield County Museum on Columbia Street. The crew of three placed it carefully on the east side of the entrance to the building, in view of passersby and visitors.
Four local men, Terry John, Mark Ledgerwood, Scott Laughery and Gary Cole, moved the saved historic land mark into place where it will spark interest in museum visitors of a treasured Trails.
The original Three Forks Indian Trails sign put up by historian Bob Beale–the one remembered and refurbished by Gary Cole–was positioned near the Lewis Clark campsite on Highway 12, six miles toward Lewiston, mile 49.5 at Mayview Road. It was later removed by the State and replaced with a government-approved sign.
Cole, inspired by Beale, became interested in history and decided to finance a replacement Three Forks Indian Trails sign for the one removed by the State, around the time of the bicentennial. "Bob Beale is a historian and he taught me a lot," said Cole. "I used to haul hay for him when I was a kid, and we'd take it clear out to the end of the Earth, and he would talk about all this and got me into history," he said. "Of course, when we bought the place where Lewi and Clark camped. I financed this sign in that wide spot around the time we had the Bicentennial," he said.
"It was when I was lead scout on the two wagon trains that one year from Dayton to Pomeroy, and the next year we went from Pomeroy on the Lewis and Clark Trails (about three fourths of the day) that we went down the Alpowa to many creek crossings, and the fish people had a fit, so we looped around. Orville Flerchinger was involved at the time and we camped at the Dressler place where he (Bob) recalled seeing the Indians go up through there when he was a kid," said Cole. Flerchinger died at 106 years, and nothing was recorded of his historic recollections, but there are books by him.
-Photos by Leta Travis
Cole continues to tell the evolution of how the Three Forks Indian Trails sign ended up at the Garfield County Museum. "So, along about that time, the State of Washington decided to take the sign Bob Beale financed down and put another sign with information and pictures. But I preserved this sign," said Cole. "I originally was going to put it to the side in the field, but the State said I had to remove it, so I put it in the shed.
Cole offered it to the Museum and went to work getting it placed. To erect the sign, it took a strategic plan: Mark Gladwood furnished the forklift, Scott Laughery, Terry John, and Mark Ledgerwood did the heavy work, and Cole directed the activity. Working together, they lifted and maneuvered it into its present home at the Garfield County Museum.
