Nesbitt Brothers

Hello there, this is Nelson Olmsted. Today I have the story of two brothers who helped Paine the Wild and Willie Idaho Penhandle. That story in a moment, after a word from Clint Gruber and Pacific Power.

Welcome once again to stories of Pacific Power Land, a presentation of Pacific Power and Light, the company that has been serving the electric needs of the region's homes, farms and industries through more than half a century of progress and growth.

Now, here's Pacific Power Land's storyteller extraordinary, the country around northern Idaho's Lake Ponderay was big and wild and rugged in the years just before the turn of the century. On the northwestern corner of the Great Lake, a cluster of buildings marked what was to become the city of Sandpoint. It was here that the Nesbitt

family came in 1893, and when the father looked around with his two young sons, Harry and Mel, he said, well, one nice thing about Sandpoint, you can stand in one place and see the whole and see the whole towel without turning your head.

What, I figured the towel might grow anyhow, and ought to be a good place to have a sawmill? Mrs. Nesbitt was less enthusiastic. There were only twelve families in town, no school, no church, and a disproportionate number of saloons. However, in the best tradition of a frontier wife, she settled down to make a home for her husband and children.

Well, at the Sandpoint began to grow, the Nesbitt family contributed to its development. The Nesbitt mill cut lumber and shingles for the new buildings. Mrs. Nesbitt helped organize the town's first church. And the two boys' early training in self-sufficiency was a godsend.