A Brief History of
Snowater A Brief History of
SnowaterThe property, which was to become Snowater, consisted in the 1950's of a long stretch of the Nooksack River, a slag heap, a giant pile of sawdust (created when the land was logged in 1953) and spectacular views. Two high school buddies, Stanley S. Jeffcott and Erling Flockoi, joined together to purchase 20 acres of the land. They could see the meadow of Church Mountain and the glaciers of Mt. Baker so clearly that they could follow climbers with their bare eyes.
Joint ownership of the property was never easy. There were disputes over road rights, the relative merit of the families' children, jealousy over who built more houses from the slag or split more timber. In general, the differences had to do with who came to enhance and enjoy and who just enjoyed without the spirit of enhancement. The Jeffcott family opined that the dispute was not unlike the Hatfields and McCoys and that all were party to the dispute. Sometime during their joint ownership, a tree was planted in the path between "me and them" and the relationship ended.
On their part of the ranch, the Jeffcotts built a summer compound. The first house, "Helter Skelter Shelter," was built from slag at the downriver side of what was to become the Snowater building Klondike (700). Stanley's wife's favorite spot, the bend in the river in front of what was to become the Clubhouse, was named Beatrice's Beach. A second home, Dearly House, was built on the hill above Beatrice's Beach. Mabelle, Stanley's sister, and her husband, Uncle Smitty, summered in a panabode on the razorback overlooking the present site of the Log Cabin (Adult Center).
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| Mabelle & Smitty's Panabode House |
Stanley's son Bob purchased a log cabin from a Dutchman in Lawrence for a $100 bill. He intended to move it to Dakota Creek near Blaine to become the home for him and his sweetheart. When the relationship ended he chose to move the log cabin to the family compound before the Dutchman used it for kindling. Today the refurbished Log Cabin sits where it was reconstructed by Bob Jeffcott. The current windows were taken from an old house in Semiahmoo where a Jeffcott relative was manager. The grandfather clock in the log house was commissioned by David Syre from a clock maker in California, with the Snowater logo, designed by Mike Feiffer of Seattle, carved in its face.
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| Log Cabin |
There are a myriad of Log Cabin tales. Jeffcott children used to climb the crossties at the corner of the cabin and jump to the roof. The family horse used to enter the kitchen to drink from a bucket in the sink. There are the remains of a scorched tree outside of the front door of the log cabin. This came about when a miner, tired of bushwhacking a trail, simply started a fire to clear the way. A major forest fire ensued and the stump in front of the cabin bears its scars.
Finally, the Log Cabin was a player in a major border dispute. Masahchee (mean) Jack Sam was an Indian who killed several people along the Nooksack River. He escaped prosecution by slipping across the border into Canada. When the Log Cabin still stood in Lawrence, a group of young men used the cabin as a staging area to bring Masahchee Sam to justice. They blackened their faces, captured Sam, brought him back across the border and hanged him. That they actually hanged him in Canada and not the USA led to an international uproar of a magnitude similar to the Pig War in the San Juan Islands.
The Hatfield and McCoy dispute continued through the sale of the property to David Syre, a friend of the Jeffcott family. The Jeffcotts sold their portion of the Samson land to David Syre for development of Snowater. The Flockois held out for more money and got it. There was no settlement between the families and the icy relations endured for some years. However, Bob Jeffcott did attend a recent memorial ceremony for a Flockoi family member, held at Snowater in 1999.
Mabelle, Uncle Smitty and Bob Jeffcott © 2001 SNOWATER ASSOCIATION
