"I had told Mr. King that I had nothing to work with, no stove, table or dishes; nothing to cook and I did not see how I could accommodate him. I had been helping to break some of the young heifers to milk, and made some butter to sell, having no other way to make a dollar. I sold all the butter I could spare for one dollar a pound; but soon winter would come on and then what would we do with no money, no sale for what little stock we had? Something had to be done. We had made a garden soon after we settled and by this time we had some nice vegetables, which were a great treat to the travelers coming out of the mines.
"Mr. King told me to make a list of what I needed for my house so I could feed his passengers, and, finally, after much urging, I did so. He took my list to Walla Walla, had the bill filled, put on a freight team the next day and brought me a big, nice cookstove with all the things belonging to it; lots of dishes and linen, and said I could pay him when I made the money and could spare it.
"The very next day I gave a dinner to ten passengers, and, oh, didn't they brag on that dinner. I never will forget all the nice things they said.
"I kept the stage stand there until December 10th, when we bought this place, where Pomeroy now stands, or rather the improvements on it, consisting of a large house, a log barn and corral.
"Then the daily stage service was discontinued to once a week, with this station as a night stopping place, where all that traveled the road always got their meals. Our house became the famous stopping place between Walla Walla, Wash., and Lewiston, Idaho.
"When the travel was heavy we made some money, and when the travel was light I had to work out doors milking cows, making garden and all kinds of hard work. My little children almost raised themselves, taking care of the baby, and helping me in many ways. Work, always thinking of how to make nice things to eat for the traveling public, and how to keep expenses paid.
"Walla Walla was our trading place, for everything was high at Lewiston. But if I had anything to sell I sent it to the latter place.
"There was one family living on the Pataha besides us, two or three squaw men and some bachelors living where the King boys now live, and for a little while a family was located on the Alpowa Creek. There were some Indian ranches on that creek at that time. No one lived below on the Pataha, till you came to the old 'Parson' Quinn place, eleven miles down, then farther on were two or three cattle ranches—Rice and Montgomery, Platters, and later Archey McBrearty. There was no settlement on Snake River except at Almota, no one living on the Deadman, nor anywhere over there, and no settlers between the Pataha and the mountains.
"I helped my husband to stake the roads to the mountains. There had been a road up the Benjamin Gulch, which was so badly washed out it could not be traveled. We staked a road across 'Dutch Flat' for our own use, as wood and fencing had to come from that direction.
"There was scarcely enough brush along the Pataha to make a camp fire. The Indians would burn the grass every year along Pataha, thus killing the tender willows.