A Writer And His Dog Enjoy A Simple Life
Yarnspinner Harvey Scott knows one of the paramount lessons of life in North Idaho’s woods: Never walk away from a legal way to make a buck.
He was the son of an itinerant preacher. And poor. So poor, he chewed tar instead of chewing gum.
At 53, “Scotty” is still content with a humble lifestyle.
If you see a faded blue ‘70-something Volkswagen scooting up and down state Highway 41, that’s him in his “rust collection,” a gift from his ex-wife.
Or you might spot Harvey at a phone booth in Rathdrum calling a magazine editor in New York City.
Harvey has learned that his life in the woods offers the raw makings of magazine stories. He is also writing the story of his life.
Forty-odd years ago, he left Fort Wayne, Indiana, with his mother, sister and younger brother to follow his father to North Idaho. A home-made, sixteen foot trailer carried all their worldly possessions - until the car broke down in Marmoth, N.D.
Harvey, then 16, was “the only guy in town not wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots in the cow-town,” located near the Montana border. “No one would talk to a kid wearing overalls and workboots, so I sat down behind the hotel and played my guitar. Some girls heard me, ran and told their folks and before the evening was over I’d played my guitar in almost every home in Marmoth, by invitation,” Harvey said.
Harvey “cowboyed” on a 16,000-acre ranch, until the car was repaired that September. The family resumed their journey “out West.”
Their destination was Granite, even then an Idaho ghost town. Harvey and his brother and dad did horse logging. He earned fifty cents a day. Later, he went to Priest Lake and felled timber and bucked logs with a cross-cut saw.
“We had a rag-camp, dad cooked and fed us breakfast at first light. We worked till dark. There was no clock that I knew.”
As for so many who came to Idaho, the mountain life consisted of working at various jobs - almost any job to earn a living.
For the last 11 years, he has lived in the backwoods north of Rathdrum. Godshaux (pronounced God-shocks), his blind dog, is his longtime companion - and the subject of his first published story.
He hauls his water, recently added solar panels to his trailer and, by choice, has no telephone. Other than Godshaux and an occasional intrusive bear, he lives in solitude among the pines.
Harvey has been published in magazines such as Guidepost and Grays Sporting Journal. He’ll speak about magazine writing to the Idaho Christian Writers at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Living Hope Church, 2300 Ironwood Drive, Coeur d’Alene. For more information call 667-9730.
Changes at City Hall
Rathdrum soon will have a new city hall. Plans have been submitted to the state for approval. The mayor and city clerk’s office will be on the main floor. The basement will provide much needed space for the planning and zoning department and Rathdrum’s public works department. The new building will be located on the site of the old public works office, which burned down last fall.
Rathdrum’s existing city hall will be used solely by the city police.
Room to play
Jim Tuttle, Lions Club president, announced that next year Little League teams will be playing on new baseball fields in Rathdrum. The Lions Club logged the property adjacent to its clubhouse and RV park. Proceeds from the sale will help pay for the project. Local business and others are donating equipment, grass seed and manpower.
Increased use of park facilities has meant a lack of adequate playing fields. The Little League Association will sign a six-year lease for use of the new baseball diamonds.