Huckleberries Online

JBelle: St. Joe River Gothic

Posted by DFO

March 2, 2009 4:29 p.m. • 53 comments

We all feel the same; besides the AT&T stock he inherited from his father my dad’s legacy to us was the cottonwoods and meadow grass, the high, fast, muddy water of Memorial Day, the huckleberries and the apples, the woodpeckers and hummingbirds and the fish, elk and deer. On the Joe, my dad (shown with his granddaughter, Melissa) was man of immense means and we benefited from a largess of clarity and spirit among pine trees and splashing streams as we tramped up and down the mountainsides of the St. Joe River/JBelle, Notes From The ‘Kan EWA. More here.

Question: Is there any part of this country that you’d consider to be “in your blood”?

53 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

toadman on March 02 at 4:35 p.m.
“Is there any part of this country that you’d consider to be “in your blood”?”

Sure.. North Texas is in my blood. But it’s mostly because of the toxic waste.
Charlie on March 02 at 4:40 p.m.
Any place that isn’t big city. The Farmall tractor brings back memories, I think it’s the “H” model. As a kid on my Grandfathers farm, I drove one, my favorite was the “A” model. Memories, thanks.
inlandempiregirl on March 02 at 4:47 p.m.
Kellogg is in my blood… along with a bit of lead, silver, cadmium, zinc, and smelter smoke from Bunker Hill.
Cabbage Boy on March 02 at 4:51 p.m.
My dad had an ‘M’ Farmall. What a clunker, but oh, the memories.
JBelle on March 02 at 5:01 p.m.
Actually, Joseph Nathan of the North Bank of the St. Joe Studio is the photographer. And that beautiful baby on his lap is my dad’s granddaughter, Melissa. My dad was a passionate Republican, don’t you dare out me Gary, and he was quite pleased when Ron Rankin and Gary Ingram stepped up to make Kootenai County a safe place despite Scott Reed and Frank Church. ;)
Me on March 02 at 5:07 p.m.
Yes and it sounded like Jbelle was describing it and my childhood. Bitterroot Valley Montana.
Kage_Mann on March 02 at 5:12 p.m.
JBelle, I have family down in St.Maries and I knew Ron Rankin.
BTW- I didn’t know you had a website until DFO frontpaged it.
We need more grassroots candidates like Ron to run for office IMO.
hmoffsuite on March 02 at 5:33 p.m.
My spot is Cda lake. When I walk on to my property, my blood pressure drops 30 pts.
Liz on March 02 at 6:11 p.m.
New England. I didn’t grow up there, but my husband did and my daughter was born there. I still claim it. Go Sox….
Stickman on March 02 at 7:11 p.m.
Two places. North Idaho for sure, and where I grew up as a young lad, back before it was even a state. Hawaii. The other side of the ‘Pali’, Lanikai to be sure. Such memories are that. I have been to all of the islands, my father and my grandfather would be proud.
Stickman on March 02 at 7:14 p.m.
JBelle: Gary is a true Idahoan. Maybe some day we will finally meet, with all the mystery aside.
JIMMYMAC on March 02 at 7:24 p.m.
JBelle,
I might be naive, but I’m sure we know each other. I can’t figure out who you are for the life of me.
Kage, who is your family down yonder?
Having grown up in the Maries, it’s hard to find someone you don’t know down there.

Puzzled………….
Digger on March 02 at 7:27 p.m.
The St. Joe/St. Maries rivers are both dear to my heart since I grew up in St. Maries, Idaho. Our family owned property just downstream of where the St. Maries river empties into the St. Joe, so our little dock area was always quite warm for swimming.

I would say that I’m a true bred North Idaho boy - from Sandpoint to Moscow and all points in between I love it all!
Digger on March 02 at 7:28 p.m.
The plot thickens - Kage_Mann and JBelle both have family around St. Maries… interesting.
Sparky on March 02 at 7:37 p.m.
Sandpoint. When I go back to visit family, I tear up crossing the long bridge.
GaryIngram on March 02 at 10:34 p.m.
Hell hath no fury as a woman outed. My lips are zipped.
Bent on March 02 at 10:35 p.m.
I am more than a little bit partial to the Selle area just north of Sandpoint, and Sunnyside on the north bank of Pend Oreille.
Nick_Adams on March 02 at 11:21 p.m.
My roots are a bit south. Lawyer’s Canyon in Idaho & Lewis counties will always be in my blood. The North Fork of the Clearwater and the Salmon are close behind. When you grow up on the borders of the largest wilderness area in the lower 48, you gain a lot of perspective.
marmitetoasty on March 02 at 11:54 p.m.
This tiny little bit of Southern England.. thats where me roots grow deep……. I aint lived in all me life any more then 10-12 miles from where I sit now…

x
Stickman on March 03 at 7:58 a.m.
That’s a nice little bit of Southern England Marmite. I have been through there a few times and actually found your town name on a map awhile back.
OfCoffee on March 03 at 8:34 a.m.
Pretty much anywhere within the boundaries of Idaho, but I have a special concentration of plasma from the Stanley/Middle Fork of the Salmon area, and the Owyhee desert.
moscow_minidoka on March 03 at 10:12 a.m.
Minidoka County, Idaho. The Sawtooths. Hailey.The drive from Moscow to Boise. The Boise River from Lucky Peak to Eagle. Craters of the Moon. The Palouse. All of those are a part of what makes me tick.
moscow_minidoka on March 03 at 10:12 a.m.
I left out one specific place - The Yankee Fork (outside of Stanley), where I spent my honeymoon.
Arpie on March 03 at 10:28 a.m.
I’m with Coffee. The biggest disagreement I ever had with my wife was when she wanted to move from Teton Valley to Oregon. I remember the tears running down my face driving the U-haul when I crossed Lookout Pass back into Idaho. There are very few places in this state that I can’t feel roots growing out of my shoes and into the ground.
Sisyphus on March 03 at 10:29 a.m.
Having lived considerable portions of my life in each of the three regions, its difficult to narrow it down without a long list. So I’ll go along with OfC and say all of Idaho, every last bit. From the Arco desert to the the Rathdrum Prairie, the Owyhee River Canyons to Henry’s Lake. And like him I’ve spent a ton of time in the rivers and mountains around Stanley, the heart of the state. I know every curve in Highway 21.
Cabbage Boy on March 03 at 10:44 a.m.
As much as I love Idaho and have enjoyed every minute of living here for 12 years, there is nothing like going back home. For me, home was western North Dakota. Getting back out on the ranch in the Badlands, riding horse or just being out in the hills brings back memories and peace.

So maybe it isn’t the most beautiful compared to Idaho. It doesn’t have the recreation or pristine lakes of Idaho. The main river is called the Big Muddy if that give you an idea about pristine.

But taking all that in, there is just something about home. Especially when one grew up on the land.
silvervalleygirl on March 03 at 12:19 p.m.
The Silver Valley, of course, will always be in my blood. But I also have Spokane and Orofino, where my grandmothers lived growing up, Moscow and the Palouse, the badlands of eastern Montana, and maybe a little bit of the Treasure Valley. But my blood and biorhythms are definitely in sync with Kellogg and the Silver Valley.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.