by Mary Garrison, 2025
The little community of Blanchard is a few miles northwest of Spirit Lake and the Kootenai County line.
The community, a lake and a creek were all named for Joseph “Joe” Blanchard, who was an early settler to the area. He and his family didn’t stay long nor was there a homestead issued to him. Joseph was born in Quebec, Canada in 1853. I found a picture of him at his hotel at 320 W Railroad Avenue in Spokane ca 1888. I believe he was living in the Blanchard area (At the time it was Kootenai County), before 1893.
On the “History of Blanchard, Idaho page by Charles Cook, he indicates that Joesph Blanchard homesteaded near Blanchard Creek. Another source stated it was closer to the Washington State Line on Blanchard Creek. However, there is no listing of a homestead patent in the BLM GLO Search program.
The BLM GLO Survey search from 1893 shows Blanchard Creek. So, I am pretty sure the Blanchard family was living in the area by 1893. By 1899 they had returned to Canada where Dorothea passed.
Dorothea was Pete Albeni Poirier’s sister. She passed away in Canada in 1899. They had five children: Ernest Joseph Blanchard, Homer J. Blanchard, Albany Blanchard, Ozalinda Elizabeth “Ozzie” Blanchard and Roselinda “Babe” Blanchard.
Joseph married Dorothea Adele Poirier in 1876 in Quebec, Canada. She was the sister of Peter Albeni and Louis Manville Poirier who were key figures in the Blanchard, Rathdrum and Albeni Falls communities. The Blanchard family returned to Canada at Pilot Bay on Kootenay Lake prior to 1899. While the family did not live long in America, Joseph had made an impact leading to the creek and town named in honor of him. Blanchard Lake (Fish Lake) was also named for him.
This picture was found on Ancestry.com. It is of the Blanchard Hotel at 320 W Railroad Avenue in Spokane ca 1888. The author stated that Joe Blanchard is the 3rd from the left. Beside him is his son, Albany, wife, “Alda” and daughters: Ozalinda “Ozzie” and Rosalinda “Babe”. It indicated that he was the owner of the hotel. I did notice in the 1901 Canadian Census Joseph, a widow, and his five children were living in Pilot Bay on Kootenay Lake in British Columbia. He was a hotel keeper.
The first to received his homestead patent was William A. White on 7/15/1899. In April 1903 White applied for a post office that would be located in the NW 20-54N-5W – on his homestead. William was a farmer from Illinois. By 1920 he was living in the Spokane area.
Oliver Cromwell Edwards was born in 1850 in Ohio. He received his homestead patent 7/15/1899 but by 1900 was farming in the Nosler district of Spokane County.
Harry Salmons was born in England and immigrated about 1867. He was a wheat farmer from Kansas looking for a better climate when he homesteaded near Blanchard. Shortly afterward he moved to the Spokane area where he continued to farm.
I found the 1930 Federal census interesting because it showed Harry, his wife and his brother living in Millwood near Spokane. It was actually his brother-in-law, William A. White, the first postmaster of White/Blanchard.
John B Pruitt received his homestead on 3/17/1903. I haven’t been able to locate who he was or where he was from. I did see a notice in the Silver Blade (Rathdrum Newspaper) dated Feb 11, 1899: John Pruitt of Company L, a Spokane regiment, was dangerously wounded in the battle fought last Sunday at Manila. Mr. Pruitt has a farm in Spirit Valley, where he has lived for several years. (The Blanchard area was also referred to as Spirit Valley. In the same paper, he was listed as a “casualty”.
Blanchard has had several long time pioneers in its community: The Rusho Families and Poirier Families are among those long time pioneers.
Using the 1974 Metsker Map from the Historic Map Works site and the BLM GLO Patent Search Site, these are the homesteaders in the area of Blanchard:
Yellow: William A. White 7/15/1899 80 acre Homestead.
Green: Oliver C. Edwards 7/15/1899 160 acre Homestead.
Blue: Harry Salmons 4/26/1900 160 acre Homestead.
Pink: John B. Pruitt 3/17/1903 160 acre Homestead.
Orange: Albert C. Vawter 9/9/1904 160 acre Homestead.
Purple: James H. Presnell 4/6/1908 160 acre Homestead.
Dark Green Outline: Frank Rusho 1/9/1911 80 acre Homestead
Lavender Outline: Henry L. Melder 6/11/1912 167.89 acre Cash Land Grant.
I searched the Newspapers.com site for the Blanchard Hotel and found this little gem. Courtesy of the Spokane Chronicle August 31, 1922.
The depot at Blanchard on the Idaho and Washington North Railway owned by F. Blackwell.
On March 22, 1904, Earl Joseph Rusho, postmaster, filed an updated application for the White/Blanchard Post office showing it would be moving to a new location 2,475 feet southeast of the current site. It would serve about 20 families in the area, but there was no official village.
On January 19, 1905, Earl Rusho re-filed the application for a location paperwork showing the site would be in the NE4 Section 20-54N-5W. The nearest railroad, the Great Northern Railroad, was at Newport about 13.5 miles north.
August 27, 1908, the proposed postmaster, E. J. McLaughlin, filed paperwork to change the name from White to Blanchard. At that time the nearest railroad was the Idaho & Washington North (Northern) Railway that had been built by Blackwell for his timber investments.
Dec 29, 1915, Frank Rusho, the postmaster, was asked to reverify his location.
Google Earth shot of Blanchard today.
Copyright (c) 2025, Mary Garrison
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