The town of Lind in Adams County is located in the middle of dryland wheat country near the interchange between State Route 21 and US Highway 395, some 17 miles southwest of Ritzville. Homesteaders began settling in the Lind area in the 1880s after the Northern Pacific Railway built its transcontinental line through the region. Lind was first platted in 1890 and the town incorporated on February 4, 1902. The small town's businesses served the surrounding farming communities that prospered through the early years of the twentieth century. When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, Lind received six inches of ash fall, more than many areas closer to the volcano. With a population of 535 as of 2020, Lind has maintained its strong sense of community in a small-town setting.
A Railroad Stop in Adams County
The first recorded non-Indian settler to take up permanent residence in what is now Adams County was George Lucas (1833-?), an Irish immigrant who arrived sometime after the Civil War ended in 1865. He settled at Cow Creek on the road to Fort Colville where, in 1869, he established a supply station. Lucas raised cattle and horses, with Cow Creek and Crab Creek providing water for the herds. He remained the only known resident in the future Adams County until 1872 when other settlers began arriving. Among them, that November, were James F. Coss Jr. (1851-1931), his wife, and their two sons and one daughter, who settled on Cow Creek a dozen miles from Lucas's station. The Coss family lived in the area for 27 years.
In May 1880, as the Northern Pacific Railway planned the route for the extension of its transcontinental line across Washington, a surveyor for the company noted that a station should be established at milepost 79, which he identified by the name "Lind." The origin of the name is not known. When the rail line was constructed through the area the following year, a well, section house, and siding were placed at the milepost labeled Lind. After the Northern Pacific Railway was completed across Eastern Washington in 1883, more settlers started arriving. On November 28, 1883, Adams County was separated from Whitman County by the territorial legislature and Ritzville became the county seat. The new county was named for John Adams (1735-1826), second president of the United States.
In 1886, Henry M. Van Marter (1864-1954) filed a homestead claim south of the Lind station and Judson J. Merriman (1855-1924) filed a claim to the north. The railroad was attracting more people to the area but that spring there were still only a few settlers in the vicinity of Lind. Lind's first school was actually in the Whitman County school district. The first visiting ministers came to Lind after the Mary Queen of Heaven Parish was established at Sprague, 40 miles northeast of Lind on the Northern Pacific line. Because of the distance, the minister came to Lind for mass on the fifth Sunday of each month. This averaged about four times a year.
A small group of residents petitioned for their own voting precinct at Lind, sometimes referred to as "Lind Station."
"The petition for the formation of this precinct was presented to the commissioners at their meeting May 4, 1886, and was signed by S. A. Wells, Charles Jell, William McKay, George Shaffer, G. A. Warner, John Erickson, George Watson, W. T. Fitzpatrick, S. Davis, A. Jell, James Butler, Robert Callahan, W. C. Campbell, John Bewley, T. Schmidt and John E. Jones" (Steele and Rose, 782).
The precinct was formed at Merriman's home and the first election took place there. Ten voters, some of whom traveled more than 35 miles from their homes, took part: Merriman, his wife Charlotte Good Merriman (1856-1899), Charles Jell, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Peter Schneider Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Dunlap, and Mrs. Nolan. Women had recently won the right to vote in Washington Territory, though they would lose it shortly thereafter.
Charles Jell, who drove a handcar (pump trolley) for the Northern Pacific and was based at the Lind station, was appointed postmaster on November 13, 1886. Until 1889, the mail for Lind came through Ritzville. The Ritzville postmaster loaded it in sacks onto the train, a postal clerk tossed it from the train car onto the platform at Lind, and the operator put it in a corner where residents picked up their own mail.
Developing a Town
In 1888, Charles Labes (1856-?) filed a claim north of Lind. In August 1888 brothers Dugal (or Dougal) (1860-1906) and James (1861-1938) Neilson, who were bachelors, settled near the Northern Pacific line, building the first home within what would become the Lind town limits. Just a few yards away from their home, the brothers opened a large general-merchandise store carrying everything from groceries and chewing gum to knitting needles, farm machinery, lumber, hardware, paint, and dry goods. The town's first post office was established in the Neilson store in 1889, with James Neilson appointed as the second postmaster.
Frederick W. (1856-?) and Hannah (1863-?) Lippold arrived from Nebraska in 1889. They filed a claim for more than 320 acres, which later became part of the town of Lind, and opened a blacksmith business. David E. Philpott (1860-?) arrived and filed a homestead claim west of Lind. Philpott would own and operate a general store on Main Street in partnership with N. B. Rathbone. William W. Neare (1835-1910) and Henry Jansen (1844-1927) and their families also settled in Lind that year.
Neare, Jansen, Frederick Lippold, and Walker Merriman all assisted in organizing the first school district in Lind, and served on the first school board, with Neare becoming director of the school district. The first school building was erected in 1889, consisting of a single room and a bell-tower. The building also served as a church on Sunday, a literary club hall on Friday, and a community building. Burton Jay Neare (1868-1949), who also helped organize the school district, became the first school teacher, teaching all eight grades. The school opened with nine students enrolled: Annie Jansen, Christina Jansen, Fritz Jansen, William A. Lippold, Clarence Lippold, Florence Lippold, Essie Armstrong, Tom Fitzpatrick, and Mike Fitzpatrick. Funds were limited so students were required to bring their own desks, chairs, and textbooks. On November 11, 1889, Washington became the 42nd state in the union.
Dugal and James Neilson platted the town of Lind on June 7, 1890, laying out four blocks of 16 lots each. They planned to name north-south streets with the letters of their last name -- N, E, I, L, S, O, N -- but although present-day Lind has streets named with the first five letters, it did not grow large enough to use them all.
Between 1891 and 1896, numerous additional homesteaders arrived in the area. Many were Volga German (Russian-German) wheat-farming immigrants. They brought extensive dryland farming experience and specialty skills. They filed land claims, opened businesses, and farmed wheat, flax, and rye. Lind, like towns across the country, was hit hard by the Panic of 1893, which depressed wheat prices. The national financial crisis put a halt to development of the town through the middle of the decade.
In 1897, August Boenig (1863-?) and Charles Labes bought the Neilson Brothers store and renamed it Boenig and Labes Store. Charles E. Amsbaugh (1870-?) built the Hotel Lind and opened a store. In Adams County, the first bumper crop wheat was produced that year. Bags were filled with grain and stored in warehouses all over the county.
Samuel L. Hutchinson (1858-1922), a well-known cattle rancher on Crab Creek, stood a whopping 7 feet, 2.5 inches tall and weighed 200 pounds. He was a man people looked up to, known to be the tallest in the area. In 1891, he and his wife Garfielia "Garrie" Griswold (1871-1920) moved to Lind. A black man who worked for Hutchinson died in April 1898 and was buried in the Lind Cemetery. His name is not known but there is one marker in the cemetery that has no name on it.
German-born Wilhelmina H. Kelber (1857-1922), a dressmaker with two children, settled near Lind in 1898. She filed a claim for 160 acres five miles north of town. By December 1903, she moved closer to Lind, where she owned eight lots and a home. On May 9, 1898, Judson Merriman was appointed the third postmaster. He had a new 12-by-14-foot post office building constructed. Merriman was a huge promoter of Lind.
Henry Meyers opened a saloon in the central part of the town. Joe M. Moulton opened a lumber yard and small office. On November 4, 1898, John T. (1875-?) and Isaac Dirstine opened Dirstine's Drug Store on Main Street, offering everything from drugs, prescriptions, and cosmetics to garden seeds, paints, oils, stains, and enamels. The store had two pharmacists and two assistants. On December 15, 1898, the Neilson brothers platted a 12-block addition to the town.
Despite these developments, the settlement was still tiny. Writing a year later, the Centralia News said of Lind at that time:
"The last time we saw Lind, in 1898, the town consisted of a million acres of sage brush, 400,000 jack rabbits, and long stretch of railroad track" (Steele and Rose, 782-83).
In the fall of 1899, writer Allen Percy Haas (1873-1910) arrived in Lind. That November 4, Haas established the Lind Herald, an independent two-page newspaper that he published for more than a year.
Building and Growth Continue
In 1900, the Pacific Telephone Company installed a telephone line in Dirstine's Drug Store. Nine more additions were platted between 1900 and 1902. In late 1900, Allen Haas launched the Lind Leader. Joe M. Moulton was the first subscriber and W. C. Campbell the second. The following March he described Lind in its pages:
"The town now has about 400 inhabitants and continues to grow rapidly. Daily new people are arriving and preparing to develop homes and business property. ... The business part of the town consists of two general merchandise houses with large stocks, two lumber yards, two grocery stores, two saloons, three real estate offices, two hotels, two restaurants, two livery stables, two blacksmith shops, two harness shops, one furniture store, one hardware store, one drug store, one meat market, one jewelry store, one lodging house, three grain warehouses, one physician's office and one newspaper" (Steele and Rose, 783).
In 1901, a second school building was built at a cost of around $7,000. By the end of 1901, several brick buildings were being constructed for a bank and other stores, and settlers were building more residences. In October 1901 Judson Merriman, owner of the five acres where the Lind Cemetery was built, offered the land to the town for $50. The payment and transfer of title took place after the town was incorporated the next year.
Lind was finally big enough to incorporate. On Saturday, January 25, 1902, an election was held to incorporate Lind as a town of the fourth-class. Sixty votes were cast, with 57 for incorporation and only three against. In the same election, voters chose Dugal Neilson as mayor of the new town and James Neilson as treasurer. Joe M. Moulton, August Boenig, Sylvester L. Van Marter (1863-?), Hugh D. Dunlap, and Charles H. Low were elected to the new town council. On February 4, 1902, the town of Lind officially came into existence when the incorporation paperwork was filed with the Washington Secretary of State.
James Neilson married Lucy Middough (1870-?) on March 12, 1902. They had two children: James Kenneth (1905-1933) and Frances Eloise (1911-1996). The Neilson brothers purchased the first shipment of wheat to be sent out from Lind. The wheat was stored in the Northern Pacific Railway's woodshed until shipped.
The largest family on record in the Lind community is that of Volga German immigrants Gottlieb Martin Sackmann (1877-1940) and his wife Lydia Birkholz Sackmann (1878-1963), who arrived in 1900 with their first child, Lydia. The young couple had decided to come to America with only $700. Settling in Lind, they worked as farm laborers, saved their money, and rented land for farming. They would later purchase their own land. They and their large family became self-sufficient by growing their own food and paying cash when buying goods.
The Sackmanns had a total of 18 children (one of whom died in infancy), all born without a doctor -- Lydia Sackmann Fode (1899-1978), William Sackmann (1901-1986), Mary Sackmann Fode (1903-1989), Emma Sackmann Heider (1904-1978), Martin Sackmann (1905-1996), Rebecca Sackmann (1907-1907), Rebecca Sackmann Krug (1908-2000), Elsie Sackmann Overvold (1911-1998), Bertha Sackmann Borth (1912-1980), Martha Sackmann Wahl (1913-1999), Albert Sackmann (1915-2013), Alfred Sackmann (1917-1989), Hilda Sackmann Ruff (1918-2004), Gottfried (Godfrey) Sackmann (1920-1997), Reinhold Sackmann (1921-1983), Emil Sackmann (1922-2018), and Esther Margaret Sackmann Jeske (1923-2008).
In April 1903 the population was estimated at 592. By this time, there were three churches serving the spiritual needs of the residents: German Lutheran, Methodist, and Christian. Earl Timothy Copp (1881-1965) brought the first car to Lind, an Orient Buckboard made in Waltham, Massachusetts. Copp became the first Ford dealer in town. By 1904, the little town was laid out with straight streets, good drainage, and abundance of water. The Lind school had five teachers. In 1906, Dugal Neilson, one of Lind's founders, died. He never married nor had children.
In 1908, electricity came to town, supplied by Big Bend Light and Power. The Union Elevator and Warehouse Company built the first bulk elevator in Lind. The third school, a brick building trimmed in white, was completed. It had six classrooms on the first floor, with two more classrooms, a high-school recitation room, assembly room, library, laboratory, and offices on the second floor. The first Lind High School graduating class -- two students: Allie Urquhart and William Curry -- was in 1909.
Also in 1909, Lind gained a second railroad line when the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound Railway (Milwaukee Road) included the town as a stop on its transcontinental line completed through Washington that year. The new line's passenger trains began serving Lind on June 15, with the first passenger to board there noted as R. P. Smith, headed for Seattle. With two railroads providing transportation for the town, Lind's population boomed. The railroads persuaded lots of people to come to America and settle in communities they served by selling promotional brochures.
The Big Fire
In 1910, newspaper publisher Allen Haas was committed to an insane asylum at Medical Lake. On Christmas Eve he and another patient escaped from the third floor of the hospital by tying bedding together to climb down. Haas's body was found floating under ice near the shore of Medical Lake. The other patient was never found.
The first female student to graduate from Lind High School was Carolyn Moore in 1911. The 1911 class was memorialized in the planting of an English Ivy as the class tree.
Like most early settlements in Washington, Lind was built of wood. And like so many others, the town was the victim of a devastating fire. In the morning of July 22, 1911, a fire started in the back of the Old Oak Cafe. The wind was blowing from the southwest and the cafe was instantly engulfed in flames that spread to neighboring frail wood buildings in a short period of time. The Oak Cafe, along with the Mascot Pool Hall, Annex Saloon, Wellington Pool Hall, the Bloomer building, and many others were reduced to ashes. The O.K. Livery Stable barely missed serious damage.
Lind Holds Its Own
With the two railroads completed through Lind, farming prospered over the next decade. The Washington State University (WSU) Lind Dryland Research Station, originally known as the Adams Branch Experiment Station of the Washington Agricultural Experiment Station, was established in April 1915. The goal was to improve dryland farming. Adams County provided 320 acres for the station, of which 260 areas were focused on crop production. The research concentrated on wheat breeding, soil fertilization, erosion control, residue management, variety adaption, with weed and disease control as priorities. Over the years, the station has contributed to testing every known variety of dryland wheat.
Lind Field Day, which the station first held in 1916, has become an annual event where visitors learn about the science and practices of wheat farming. It is free and open to the public, and includes field tours, lunch, the opportunity to meet team members, and presentations. The Lind Station celebrated 100 years in 2015.
Lind Municipal Airport opened for operation in April 1940. The airport, located east of town on some 64 acres, does not provide fuel or other services.
Many residents of Lind served during World War II. Six men gave their lives: Eugene Douglas Kirby (1924-1945), Edward F. Haase (1898-1966), LeRoy G. Weston (1866-1949), Eldwyn E. Huse (1909-1944), Sidney Wesley Graham (1890-1951), and Walter Harry Giese (1890-1951).
From June 7 to 9, 1963, Lind held a Diamond Jubilee to commemorate what was designated its 75th anniversary, based on the Neilson brothers in 1888 building the first home within what later became the town limits. The celebration included a parade, pageant, rodeo, public barbecue, dance at the grain house, a Sunrise Service on Sunday morning, and many other activities.
Through an accident of geography and meteorology, Lind got one of the heaviest loads of volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980. Lind resident Gladie Nagamitsu, then a weather researcher at the WSU Dryland Research Station, stuck a yardstick into the ash the next day and found it six inches deep. Nearly 40 years later, Nagamitsu recalled:
"It looked like dirty snow that would never, ever melt. It was horrible. We thought we'd never see green grass again ...
"All these years later, when I tell people who weren't in Lind that we got six inches of ash, they can hardly believe it" (Weiford).
How and why did Lind, some 200 miles from Mount St. Helens, get six inches of ash, substantially more than many areas closer to the mountain received? The reason is scientific and complicated to explain. Although the largest ash accumulation occurred directly downwind of the eruption, a second large concentration landed a substantial distance away, near Lind and Ritzville, where the ash cloud would have been expected to be dispersing and dropping less. Researchers theorized that the new concentration was caused by ash particles clumping together within a surging cloud. Candis Claiborn, a professor with WSU's Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, called the theory that ash particles aggregated plausible, adding, "Wind velocity alone doesn't explain the thick ash deposits left in the Lind and Ritzville vicinity. It's clear that other forces were at work" (Weiford). After the eruption, Lind residents spent months cleaning ash from everywhere. Signs were placed that said, "Welcome to LIND -- DROP IN -- MT. ST.HELENS DID!" (Adams County Hazard Mitigation Plan, 55).
The Milwaukee Road, whose tracks ran through the south side of town parallel to the Northern Pacific tracks, discontinued service in 1980. The tracks were removed and developed into a cross-state trail route that is now the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail (originally named the John Wayne Pioneer Trail). The trail is used for walking, bicycling, and riding horses.
Since the mid-1980s, the Lind Combine Demolition Derby, hosted by the Lind Lions Club, has been held on the second weekend in June. The annual fundraiser draws residents and tourists to watch the Mad-Max like desert faceoff. The derby, which was the idea of Bill Loomis, features old combines (large machines used to harvest wheat and other crops) that no longer are in use. The vehicles roll onto the field and begin crashing into each other. Referees are in place to officiate the competition.
The rules are reinforced and calls are made if the rules are broken. Competing combines come from all over Eastern Washington and Oregon, with most from Lind or elsewhere in Adams County. The combines have to be about 25 years old in order to compete in the event. The event averages about 25 combines and some 4,000 onlookers ever year. In recent years Josh Knodel and Matt Miller have dominated the sport. The weekend also includes a car show; races for grain trucks, cars, and pickup trucks; a beer garden; barbecue; camping; music; and the Lind Chamber of Commerce Grand Parade. The derby gives Lind an economic morale boost.
In October 2018, Strata Solar selected Lind to install what was then the largest solar farm in Washington, with 82,000 solar panels capable of generating 28 megawatts of renewable energy. The 200-acre solar farm surrounds the Lind Cemetery.
Near Lind, there is still massive acreage of dryland wheat fields. The grain produced is the main source of income for local farmers. Today's technology has also made it possible for income to come from other resources. However there has been little to no recent housing development or business expansion in Lind. Many members of the younger generations are moving to bigger cities to live and work, those of the senior generation are moving to be with family members. However, Lind's population has remained largely stable through the first decades of the twenty-first century, numbering 582 in 2000, then 564 in 2010, and 535 in 2020.
Today, Lind's history can be experienced at the Adams County Historical Society and its Adams County Historical Society Museum, located in Lind. As of 2023, the population of Lind was estimated at 515. The community continues to plan for the future while preserving its past.
