Cashup Davis meet & greets nets accounts for book project

Tightly gathered around a table in the dining room of the Perkins House with others sitting just outside the circle, residents shared stories, pictures and passed down memories about Cashup Davis and the Palouse region.

Leading the meeting was Jeff Burnside, award-winning investigative reporter, and Gordon Davis, great-grandson of Cashup.

"The best we can do is interview people who remember conversations from their grandparents or great-grandparents about Cashup," Burnside said.

Burnside and Davis also conducted public meeting Nov. 14, at the Oakesdale museum.

Burnside said their response to these "meet and greets" was positive enough to have two meetings.

"The deal is we are going to do the book and then a year later we plan on doing the documentary," Davis said. "I'll be funding both of these projects."

Davis said if the documentary turns out good enough there could be a possibility for a movie.

"We will let the movie guys come to us," Davis said.

One main character that Burnside wants to be highlighted in this story is Whitman County and the Palouse region. He said that while the book is about Cashup, it essentially is really about the Palouse.

"We want to get breathtaking film footage of the seasons on the Palouse," Burnside said. "We want people to connect with this part of the world through the images. We will make the land a character of the story."

Jim Martin, Spokane historian and great-grandson to Cashup, reported he has found many photos of Cashup and has been working on restoring these photos.

"Cashup was my secret mentor as a kid," Davis said. "What I learned from him, he didn't try to fail, that's just how it turned out, but he had a great idea, it just didn't work."

Total attendance for this event came out to be roughly 15 people.

"It doesn't matter how many people showed up, it matters how many people have heard about it and that gets people talking and some will eventually find us," Burnside said. "Look at what we have done; we have brought all these people together."

Currently, Burnside has planned 21 topics that will have their own chapters in the book. The chapters are subject to change.

"Logically you think the best way to tell a story is from the beginning, but that's not always the best way," Burnside said. "We want to start off at a critical moment and then go back from there, instead of telling it chronologically."

Burnside said that part of the book will be trying to figure out what Cashup was thinking. Burnside added the question did Cashup realize that his greatest achievement is his greatest failure?

"If you don't know anything about Cashup Davis, this story of the hotel on the hill, will hook people," Burnside said. "This will be the hook to get people to buy the book. Building a hotel on a hill when there is no one around and in your late 70's, that is the hook."