McGregor, Scheuerman lecture on Palouse at WSU

Speakers with roots at Hooper and Endicott presented a fast paced commentary on “Remarkable People and a Remarkable Land” April 15 for the 14th E. Paul Catts Memorial Lecture in the WSU Cub.

Richard Scheuerman of Endicott provided an account of his life-long research of the native population of the Palouse country, and Alex McGregor used several quick sketches of some of the settlers that reflected the outlook and stamina that developed the remarkable land and stewardship of the land.

Now on the faculty of the graduate school of education at Seattle Pacific University, Scheuerman and co-author Michael Finley are finalists for the Washington Book of the Year competition for their “Finding Chief Kamiakin.”

Scheuerman dated the start of his research back to a bulletin board in his fourth grade class at Endicott elementary. He had already learned about the Palouse tribe through first-hand accounts from his grandfather and wondered why the tribe‘s name didn’t appear on a bulletin board at the start of a study section on pioneers and Indians. The Nez Perce and Yakamas were depicted on the board, but the space between, the Palouse space, was vacant.

Scheuerman, who also co-authored “Renegade Tribe” described some of the episodes in his research, including the welcome he received as a young man in 1972 when he first went to Colville reservation in search of the elders.

The Endicott native also showed photos and talked about tribal members who remained on tribal property along the last miles of the Palouse River down to the Snake River.

Scheuerman credited the McGregor family members with helping tribal members with creating what became a 1500-acre holding on the ancestral ground. Isolated parcels remain in tribal ownership to this day.

Scheuerman pointed out the first people of the Palouse country welcomed some of the first families of whites who came into the country and helped them with crops and livestock. However, the toll taken by diseases brought by the whites and violations of the 1855 treaty council led up to the 1858 campaigns of Col. Steptoe and then Col. Wright.

One of his footnotes involved the discovery of a long-sought recording of Cleveland Kamiakin in the Ellensburg library. The recording was of a 1956 talk in which Chief Kamiakin’s last surviving son, three years before his death, urged tribal people and whites to “live together on the same land, one people to another” and manage the land for the benefit of all.

McGregor, president of the McGregor Co. and a long-time friend of Scheuerman, used quotes from some of the “remarkable people” who developed the land. Photos of the pioneer farmers and McGregor crew members who developed the operation were shown in conjunction with the speech.

Short videos of McGregor’s father, Sherman McGregor, who developed the ag company, and his cousin, Bill McGregor, were included on the screens.

In pointing out the advance of science and stewardship to the county, Alex McGregor recalled the days of family outings when they attempted to spot the highway centerline between soil-blown deposits on the local highways.

The late Bill McGregor in his video appearance noted the most remarkable feature of the first settlers was their optimism to persevere through the tough times. He added the pioneers also had a sustained sense of humor which they used often used to distill some of the hardships.

McGregor points out the changes which have impacted the remarkable land, including the evolution of McGregor Land & Livestock which closed down its sheep business three decades ago with the market demand for lamb and wool declined.

He noted the McGregor harvest crew, which at one time involved 110 people and 310 animals now normally numbers seven.

Despite the decline in the number of farm operators in the Palouse, McGregor pointed out farming remains the “last bastion” for family enterprise in the modern corporate world. The risks of farming and the unpredictable returns from year to year make it unattractive to corporations, he said.

The WSU Catts lecture, started in 1997, is conducted in memory of Dr. E. Paul Catts, former chair of the WSU Entomology Department.

Sponsors of the joint lecture were the WSU Entomology Club and the Plateau Center for American Indian Studies.