Harrison Searchlight has dedicated volunteers

HARRISON – Once upon a time, more than 100 years ago, Harrison was the largest town on Lake Coeur d’Alene with seven working lumber mills and a population of 3,000.

It also boasted a weekly newspaper, The Harrison Searchlight.

Today, the mills have gone the way of the buffalo, and the resident year-round population is less than 300.

Nevertheless, a small volunteer staff still publishes the Searchlight – once a year as a prelude to the Harrison Old-Time Picnic, the town’s annual homecoming and celebration of friendships and memories.

This year’s event will be Friday, next Saturday and July 29 in keeping with the tradition that the last Sunday of July is picnic day.

By the first week of June, volunteers had folded, addressed and stamped this year’s 40-page edition of the Searchlight full of news, features and pictures that would reach recipients in 44 states.

The newspaper is the product of a volunteer staff. Even advertising is handled by volunteers, Marian Jones and Wilma Schorzman.

Judging by the positive comments in the letters- to-the-editor section, these efforts are appreciated. Typical letters begin, “Hi, Don” or “Dear Don.”

“Don” is Don Heikkila, who has served as editor for the past 34 years. Before that, as a student majoring in journalism at the University of Idaho, Heikkila was a free-lance writer for the Searchlight and other area newspapers, including The Spokesman-Review.

Heikkila recalls that he had to get permission to have a special telephone installed in his dorm room so that if there was an important breaking story in the Palouse country, he could call The Spokesman-Review and dictate the story he had written.

“If timeliness was not an issue,” he recalled, “I would simply type and mail the story – regular mail. Electronic mail has changed all that.”

According to old-timers, the Searchlight was not the first or only newspaper to serve the people at the south end of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

In the 1970s, Tom Lamb and Dick Stephanson found an 1892 copy of The Ensign stuffed in the walls of a house they were tearing down.

Another paper, the colorfully named Fog Horn, was begun in 1893 but ceased publication when it combined with the Mountain Messenger to become The Harrison Searchlight.

According to Heikkila, this paper continued as a weekly until 1947 when it ceased regular publication.

In 1953, the Searchlight was revived with the beginning of the annual special editions.

Between 1953 and 1968, local names that figured prominently as editor or as members of the editorial board included Bert and Joyce Russell, Bruce and Lorine Wilkinson, Bruce Russell and Ted Reynolds.

Heikkila says he began in 1969, working as co-editor with local writer Bert Russell. On the masthead of this year’s edition, Heikkila’s name is listed as “editor.”

Stories in this year’s publication are much like those in previous editions. Letters to the editor fill the inside of the front page while Page 3 lists the weekend’s special events.

The lead story profiles this year’s king and queen, Loy and Maxine Christensen. Other stories recount the histories of longtime residents of the area.

“The Searchlight is becoming a source of genealogical data recording the lives of people who have lived here over the years,” said Heikkila.

“In Passing” records the lives of those who have died during the past year.

Feature stories include one about the discovery and restoration of an old saddle and another about Kootenai County’s old Powerline School.

Heikkila encourages people to tell their stores, write them down and send them to him. All submissions are due by April 1 next year.

“Family photos are welcome and used to augment the stories,” he said. “We also are interested in acquiring old copies of the Searchlight.”

Heikkila says that over the years, a number of published writers have contributed to the Searchlight, including Hazel Selby, Louise Shadatuck and railroad historian John Wood.

People always ask about the cost of publishing and mailing the Searchlight. Heikkila says that to print 5,000 copies and mail 3,000 costs about $5,000.

But the annual celebration edition of the Searchlight would never happen without the dedication of the volunteers.