In the spring of 1915 the neighborhoods of Arbon Valley fielded baseball teams and played one another on Sundays. Pauline at the north end, the Central school district around Arbon, Crystal and the homesteads of the south end all had a team, and the valley correspondents of the weekly American Falls Press sent in the scores along with the rest of the week's news. The valley had been part of Power County since 1913; before that it was in Oneida County.
Rain and the Daytonites
The first game the columns describe was played on a Sunday early in May, probably May 9, at the Central baseball grounds, between the boys of the south end and the boys of north Central. Rain threatened, but the Arbon correspondent reported that a large crowd came and "the on-lookers stayed until the finish." The south end won. The correspondent called its players the Daytonites.
The name almost certainly came from Dayton, Washington. Families from Dayton had been settling at the south end of the valley, around Highland and Summit, since about 1909, and they were still arriving. On June 3 the South Arbon column reported that Jack Folsom and his bride had come from Dayton and "intend to make this their home," and in July it noted that the people who had come from Washington had held their annual picnic.
Red suits at Crystal
At Crystal, seven miles from Pauline, the players were "practicing regularly" in early May. On a Sunday in the middle of the month, probably May 16, Pauline went to Crystal and won 27 to 8 (the second figure is unclear in the digitized text) before "an enthusiastic crowd of fans." The Press gave the score and then turned to the uniforms:
The Pauline players appeared in their new suits for the first time Sunday and conducted themselves in an appropriate manner. The new suits were made possible with the aid of a dance at Pauline in the early spring. They are red with white lettering and add greatly to the appearance of the team.
Dances were a regular part of valley life that year. In February the Pauline correspondent had listed dancing every Saturday night at the Centre School House, roller skating on Wednesday nights, and Saturday afternoons from two to five for the children.
A run of Sundays
By the end of May the South Arbon team had beaten North Arbon "again." The paper printed the score as "seven to eight". Here the winners' figure seems to come second, as it did in the same issue's report of a Pauline win ("8 to 9 in favor of the Pauline boys"), although most scores in these columns give it first. The south-end team had also beaten a Bull Canyon team, and it was due to play "the Daniels team" on May 30. On a Sunday at the Central ball park, probably that same May 30, the Pauline boys wore their new suits, "which made quite a showing," and won 9 to 8. The column does not name the team they beat. A Dayton team was to meet Pauline at the same park the next Sunday.
By mid-June Pauline and Central had joined forces against the south. The Arbon column of June 17 reported:
The ball game Sunday between the Pauline-Central boys and Daytonites or South Arbon boys, was largely attended. They were helped along by several rooters. The game went 20-6 in favor of the South end boys.
The ball team had just been reorganized, the column added, with Ed Keeler as manager "for his part of the valley." He was probably the Arbon homesteader J. E. Keeler, who in 1913 had been a director of the valley's telephone company. The same page reported that the Central boys, with Add Affleck as captain, had played Pauline and lost 32 to 2. Affleck was probably Adam Affleck, Tom Evans's son-in-law, who appears in the history of the Evans family. Meanwhile the South Arbon team played the Sheep Creek nine.
The North and Central Arbon column of June 24 reported that a young boy had broken his thumb "a week ago Sunday at the ball game": a player running to a base had accidentally knocked him over.
Early in July the Press reported that the North and South Arbon teams had played at the Central school, and that the South had won again, 32 to 15. The valley had also been planning its Fourth of July. A meeting at the Central hall on June 20 chose to celebrate on Saturday, July 3, at the Central school, with a committee that included J. E. Keeler and Add Affleck of Central, and the celebration was held on the Central school grounds.
The next summer
The game went on in 1916. In its issue of June 8 that year the Press reported that the Arbon team had "motored over the mountains" and played two games in a day, against St. John in the morning and the Elkhorn team in the afternoon. It won both, by scores the paper gave as 6 to 8 and 7 to 9. The correspondent closed with an open invitation: "Any other outside teams wish a game?" Later that month the Center boys beat Pauline 33 to 28.
The columns give scores, crowds and the color of Pauline's uniforms, but they almost never name the players, and they print no box scores. Who pitched, and who wore the red suits, is not recorded in these reports.
The article as printed
American Falls Press, May 20, 1915, page 5. Transcribed from the page scan. The item ran without a headline among the town's local news. Its "scalped" is the sports slang of the day, drawn from a stereotype of Native Americans, and is kept here as printed.
Pauline scalped the Crystal ball tossers Sunday, 27 to 5, at Crystal, before an enthusiastic crowd of fans from both places. The Pauline players appeared in their new suits for the first time Sunday and conducted themselves in an appropriate manner. The new suits were made possible with the aid of a dance at Pauline in the early spring. They are red with white lettering and add greatly to the appearance of the team.
On this site: the Pauline and West Fork area history, Crystal, Summit and its Dayton settlers, and the Evans family.
Sources
- American Falls Press, February 4, 1915, page 5
- American Falls Press, May 6, 1915, page 4
- American Falls Press, May 13, 1915, page 8
- American Falls Press, May 20, 1915, page 5
- American Falls Press, June 3, 1915, page 4
- American Falls Press, June 17, 1915, page 1
- American Falls Press, June 24, 1915, page 8
- American Falls Press, July 8, 1915, page 2
- American Falls Press, June 8, 1916, page 8
- American Falls Press, June 22, 1916, page 8