Colville Wagon Road highlights historical society annual meeting

An afternoon of historical facts and trivia as well as a fully catered meal is on tap as the Adams County Historical Society hosts its annual meeting on Sunday, Sept. 27, at the Ralston Grange Hall, 11 miles outside of Ritzville beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Don McLaughlin, historical preservationist, is this year’s guest speaker.

His program entitled, “Traveling the Old Colville Wagon Road” will profile the history of territorial era Eastern Washington and the first north/south road in the area. He will present maps, photos and answer questions during the one-hour presentation.

McLaughlin lives in Stevens County three miles north of Chewelah. After a career in theatre, including 15 years as a faculty member at Eastern Washington University, he has dedicated his time to historical research and preservation.

In 2010, McLaughlin retired from EWU and began volunteering at the Chewelah Historical Society Museum, now called the Walt Goodman Museum.

He has been instrumental in helping to preserve and stabilize the Historic Colville Indian Agency in Colville. McLaughlin has participated in fundraising and grant work to assist the Stevens County Historical Society in this historical preservation project.

McLaughlin has worked in the Culture and Language Program at the Kalispel Tribe of Indians as a teacher for Traditional Native American Stories and has been a presenter at the Salish Conference for the past five years.

He is a member of the Heritage Network, the Chewelah and Stevens County Historical Societies and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

In addition to his work as a volunteer in the historical community, he was hired as project manager of the Fort Walla Walla to Fort Colville Military Road Project, 1859-1882, funded by the Washington Department of Transportation.

From 2012-2014, McLaughlin traveled 12,000 miles and spent 2,000 hours documenting the Colville Wagon Road, which stretches 220 miles from Walla Walla to Military Fort Colville.

During that time, he coordinated more than 180 volunteers and contributors and published a 106-page final report that includes a summary of the data collected.

In the course of the project, McLaughlin took 3,000 photographs and helped generate new maps of the old road, prepared by a professional surveyor by examining the earliest Bureau of Land Management maps.

McLaughlin, along with volunteers, took to the field with a handheld GPS unit, located and confirmed the findings and photographed the locations on section lines.

Memories Diner is in charge of the meal.

Tickets are $22 per person and are available at the Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce office in Ritzville at 111 West Main Avenue or by contacting board members Rudy Plager, Carol Becker or Karin Clinesmith.

Individuals interested in attending the event are requested to buy advanced tickets so organizers can have an accurate head count.

Deadline to purchase tickets is Monday, Sept. 21.