North Cascades

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE NORTH CASCADES

CORRIDORS OF SETTLEMENT: STEHEKIN RIVER

Buckner

Interior of Buzzard/Buckner cabin showing fireplace, n.d.
(NOCA-Stehekin photo file)

The arrival of the Buckner family in Stehekin marks a second period of settlement in the valley. Between the years 1910 and 1920 more individuals and families came uplake to settle permanently, most arriving before 1915 and filing homestead claims in the early 1910s. While some new settlers were associated with mining, many were not and found other ways to subsist. Thirteen people were recorded as living in Stehekin at the time of the 1910 census. [225] This number did not change markedly over the next several decades. As late as the 1930s a few individuals were filing for homesteads in the valley, but the residential population remained constant. And times remained hard for most. A 1935 USFS report on forest homesteads stated:

There are about fourteen homesteads in the Stehekin valley and of the number only two are making a living from the use of land. In all, there are only 5 families living on their homesteads. 3 of these families are practically living on subsistence homesteads. They raise a little garden and live on money earned working for the Forest Service during the summer. [226]

The first Buckner to arrive in Stehekin came years before the Buzzard-William Van Buckner agreement of 1910. Henry Freeland Buckner came uplake in 1898 and was active early on in the Horseshoe Basin mining area. He became a manager of an important mine there and was instrumental in getting a telephone line into the basin as early as 1905. [227] He supplemented his mining income through carpentry and in the spring or summer of 1910 he built the Rainbow Lodge for Lydia George. [228] That same summer Henry Buckner applied for an 80-acre homestead on a tract of land two miles from Stehekin. Nestled between Buzzard's and Margerum's claims, Buckner's parcel was bisected by the Stehekin River; Rainbow Creek and the state wagon road traversed the eastern portion of the property (T33N R17E, Section 26, NE 1/4). One month later, USFS Ranger Jack Blankenship recommended that only 50 of the original acres applied for were suitable for agricultural purposes. Buckner died before the end of that year (1910), however, and never received title to the land. [229] A mountain above Horseshoe Basin was named for this early pioneer.

It was in the fall of 1910 that Henry Buckner's brother William first visited Stehekin. William was interested in purchasing property as an investment, and he remained three days uplake to investigate possibilities in the Stehekin valley. During this time he met Bill Buzzard and viewed Buzzard's ranch. Only after William departed Stehekin did he learn that Buzzard was willing to sell his 149-acre property (11 acres across the road had already been sold to Lydia George), and in late 1910 Buckner returned to Stehekin to discuss the matter with the old rancher.

Early April of the next year brought William, his wife, and a son to Stehekin. They would be followed by their two younger children who came in May, after completing their school year. Upon arrival at their new home in Stehekin, the family found that Buzzard had cleared only about an acre of land for a garden. The remaining land was mostly stumps because Buzzard had removed the valuable commercial timber from the property earlier on. With intentions of operating an orchard, the family set out to clear additional land. Since proper irrigation of the land was necessary, the Buckners designed a system that would divert water from Rainbow Creek to various parts of the orchard. They spent two months of that first summer digging the irrigation ditch by hand; the rest of the summer was spent clearing stumps. By April of 1912, the family was able to plant 15-20 acres of orchard.

Gradually the family increased their production until their ranch had about 50 acres of cleared and planted land. Along with improving the land for commercial production, the Buckner family worked hard at making their homestead a comfortable and livable environment. They grew vegetables and flowers and raised pigs, cows and chickens. The old log cabin had already been enlarged to three rooms by its former owner, but other structures were needed to protect animals, machinery, tools, and foodstuffs. Eventually the Buckner ranch had more than a dozen outbuildings, including a milk house, root cellar, chicken house, workshop, barn, outhouse, playhouse, smokehouse, sleeping cabins for guests or hired hands, and sheds for general use. [230] A wooden fence one mile in length was built to contain the entire property; lumber for it and all the other structures was produced at Frank Lesh's sawmill located upriver from the Buckner place. Rough, unfinished board and batten siding was used for all the structures, giving them a homogeneous appearance.

Buckner homestead outbuildings, 1985.
(Photo by C. Gilbert, NPS)

Everything on the ranch was built by the Buckners, using their own skills, experience, and knowledge. Since the family initially resided in Stehekin only during the summer months (until 1915 when son Harry began to stay permanently), the homestead developed slowly, reflecting the family's changing needs and desires, as well as evolving farm practices. When the Buckners decided they wanted electric lights, they converted a smokehouse into a power generator house. Although much of their time and energy went into making a livelihood, the Buckners also made the ranch a home, adding their own personal touch to an otherwise strictly functional complex. They constructed a simple swimming pool for summer fun and refreshment. To decorate the yard they mounted a sundial on a cobblestone base, planted flowers in the shape of a "B", and red, white, and blue flowers together in a "flag" bed. After grandchildren appeared, a playhouse was built for the children to enjoy.

William Buckner and his wife Mae lived in the old Buzzard cabin seasonally until 1924. This was the last summer they spent in Stehekin before returning permanently to California. For the next 25 years various people used the old cabin but the focal point of the homestead had long since shifted to a 1914 sleeping cabin which, over the course of several decades, had been enlarged and added to to become the homestead's main house. In 1919 this house became home for Buckner son Harry, his wife Olive (M.E. Field's daughter), and eventually, their three daughters.

It was not long before the Buckner homestead, essentially Harry's ranch, became a place well-known for both its delicious apple crop and family hospitality. Summer or winter, valley residents who passed by were always welcomed into the Buckner home to chat over homemade ice cream and coffee or a hot cooked meal. The ranch became a center of community activity, with square dances held in the apple packing shed. Over the years Harry became a familiar face in the community as Stehekin's postmaster, weatherman, and long-time valley resident. Harry's first wife died in 1948. He eventually remarried and continued to live on the homestead until the national park was created. In 1970 Harry and his wife Lena moved to a parcel of land they had retained for themselves, and sold the remaining property, orchard and all, to the National Park Service.

Today, the Buckner homestead remains intact in location and appearance, within audible range of the Stehekin River. The Park Service uses the homestead as a means of interpreting the pioneer era in the Stehekin valley. To be sure, the place has an air of an earlier time with the old log and frame cabin (now listed in the National Register of Historic Places), the numerous board and batten outbuildings, and the orchard, but it also exudes the feeling of a place very much alive, not frozen in time. Changes have been made to numerous ranch structures over the years, but their overall integrity has been retained, creating visible links between the past and present. Although it is no longer a working farm, people still live in the main house, horses graze in the pasture, apples are still picked in the fall, Rainbow Creek water still flows through the irrigation ditches, and many of the outbuildings are still in use. Remnants of other early features can still be found around the ranch: the old swimming pool with its cracked concrete foundation remains; the 1914 barn, albeit in ruins, is still in place; the old four-board-high fence can be located here and there; the concrete floor of the former apple packing shed is still used for community square dances. All of these elements help the site maintain its historic integrity, creating a place of remarkable value for the understanding of early homesteading efforts in the remote Stehekin valley. [231]

Buzzard/Buckner cabin and outbuildings on homestead, 1984.
(Photo by G. Luxenberg, NPS)