Page 14 - Forest Grove Years 17 Feb

the lodge to deliver Sheila and Louis
Judson’s first child in our front bedroom.
I cannot put a year to this.

Sue remembered it as follows:
“I guess the most memorable event
that we all participated in was the birth
of Sheila Judson's baby. Arch arrived at
our door asking if Sue could come to
the Lodge, "right now". Sue had a cake
in the oven for Dave's birthday and said
she couldn't come right then. Arch said
"okay, then Sheila's baby would have to
be born without help". Sue asked a cou-
ple of the millworkers to take the cake
out of the oven and went to deliver
Sheila's baby safely. In the confusion,
Priscilla was looking for a large pot to
boil water in, but stated she couldn't
find one big enough, all the while hold-
ing onto a canner, which was more than
ample.”

Hiroko and Robert ca. 1951 Another memory provided by Sue Bush
related to me a few years ago was indicative of native life in the late 1940s.

“I worked at the store and post office frequently and recall how the Natives would come
in to buy a dress for their "squaw" and when Arch would ask "what size" they would say
"it doesn't matter, just a dress". When Paddy, the Reserve Policeman, came in on
crutches one day in March, Priscilla asked him where he had been as he had been away
so long, and he said there had been trouble on the Reserve on New Year's Eve and
when he tried to break it up they broke his foot "right off" as he put it.”
One of my favourite outings in these early preschool years was to have my mother take
me up the hill behind the barn to the wreck of a very old car which probably dated from
the pre war years. I think that we would have lunch there before returning home.
Birthday parties were considered important by my mother and she would gather a
group of children of roughly my age for an afternoon of cake and entertainment. I have
no particular memories of these events but look happy enough in the photographs.

Forest Grove Trading Post
Forest Grove Trading Post was a busy place. Indians came to sell their fur and buy sup-
plies for their homes on the Canim Lake Indian Reservation. American hunters arrived
in the fall to stay at the “lodge” and were guided by local Indians in the employ of the
partnership. I think that it was the law at that time which required them to have a na-
tive guide. The store and the post office served the local community and were a gather-
ing place for a great many interesting people. I assume that the business prospered
until 1951 when tragedy struck. Early one winter morning we awoke to a fire in the
store. By the time it was discovered it was too late to do anything but watch the build-
ing being consumed by flames. I was afflicted by chicken pox on that winter morning