In the early 1920s the neighborhoods of Arbon Valley put baseball teams on the field. Pauline had a team, Arbon had its Bears, and South Arbon had its Cubs. The weekly American Falls Press, the paper of the Power County seat, reported their games against one another and against the American Falls town team. The valley had belonged to Power County since 1913; before that it was part of Oneida County.
Pauline at the Natatorium
On Sunday, June 12, 1921, Pauline played the American Falls team at the Natatorium grounds in American Falls. Pauline scored twice in the first inning and the game was tied at three in the third, but four late runs settled it for American Falls. The final score cannot be read with confidence in the digitized page. The Press praised the visiting pitcher:
Dave Lusk pitched well for the Pauline team. His control was the best seen on the local diamond this year. He lacked speed but made up for the lack of it with his superb control.
This was probably David Thomas Lusk of Pauline, then thirty-two. His family's history remembers him and his brother Park as players on the Pauline team, known for their athletic ability.
The oil celebration
Less than two weeks later the valley invited its neighbors to celebrate its first oil test on Thomas S. Toyn's ranch, six miles south and one mile east of the Pauline store. The program promised a ball game on Saturday, June 25, and on Sunday a game between American Falls and the winners of Saturday's game.
On Saturday Pauline played the Arbon Bears, and there was another game with "the Daniels team." The short report is hard to follow: "Pauline annexed the last game three to two in a ninth inning rally. The Cubs had been taken into camp with a comfortable margin of victory." It does not say who won the first game or who the Cubs were that day, nor why the Arbon Bears, and not Pauline, met American Falls on Sunday.
The official scorekeeper, G. M. Oliver, wrote up Sunday's game from the American Falls side, as comedy. "Everything possible to see in a base ball game was seen at Arbon Sunday," he began. American Falls won 21 to 6. He counted seventeen errors and twenty-five or thirty overthrows, and then described the field:
The diamond was covered with about six inches of dust and this aided the base runners by throwing up a "smoke screen" around them, much to the sorrow of the opposition and the umpire ...
The dust also served as an alibi for the fielders when they made an error, so we have charged all of the errors and 14 runs to the dust in the official averages.
The umpire was Lee French, the county auditor. He "satisfied everybody until the fifth inning," when an Arbon batter hit a ball down the first-base line. The Arbon captain claimed it was fair. French, "whose eyes were full of dust," called it foul. Oliver explained what happened next:
The usual procedure in a case of this kind is the player to be benched but Arbon didn't have any extra players and there were about 600 people on the sidelines who had been trying to umpire so Lee was benched and one of them given a chance.
Johnson pitched for Arbon and was "touched for 19 hits"; Lund, for American Falls, allowed five. The paper printed the Arbon Bears' line-up by surname and initial only: Van Horn, Phelps, Payne, E. Lee, T. Lee, King, Donnelly, Johnson, Hardman and Isaac. On another page the editors added a joke of their own: "As a baseball umpire, Lee French is a very efficient county auditor. Ask the boys at Pauline."
Pie, the Cubs and the Fourth
In February 1922 the Pauline correspondent reported that "the pie dance given for the benefit of the baseball team" had been a success, with an extra large crowd, "each lady bringing a pie." In June the Arbon column reported that "the Cubs of South Arbon played the Pauline baseball boys," and Pauline won 18 to 17.
That summer American Falls held its first big Fourth of July celebration in years. Pauline was to play Ross Fork, the agency town on the Fort Hall Reservation, on July 3, with the winner meeting American Falls on the Fourth. The Press said the visiting teams were "reported the strongest they have been for several seasons." The result of the preliminary is not reported, but Pauline played on the Fourth, and lost: "The ball game between American Falls and Pauline resulted in a burlesque in favor of the Falls." No score was printed. The Arbon column later noted that a large crowd from South Arbon had spent the Fourth at Malad, "while all from Pauline went to American Falls."
A batter hurt at Central
On Sunday, August 20, 1922, the ball team from Juniper, "near Holbrook," played the Pauline team at Central, the school and store neighborhood at Arbon. In the second inning a pitch struck the Juniper batter, John Retmaster, on the back of the head. He ran about halfway to first base, became dizzy and soon collapsed unconscious. He was taken to the home of Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Evans, a physician was summoned from Pocatello, and at about 8:30, after he had rallied a little, he was taken to the hospital there. On Monday morning Mrs. Evans, the valley's telephone operator, received word that he was much better. "The spirit of the game was lost after this accident," the report said. The game was "recalled," and Juniper won 9 to 4. The name Retmaster appears in no other report found, and its spelling cannot be checked.
1924
In March 1924 the school news from Crystal reported a baseball meeting at Mr. Dickerson's, and the Pauline items announced "a party for the baseball boys next Friday." On Sunday, May 18, Pauline met American Falls again and lost 25 to 3. The Press said the game "was turned into a track meet shortly after the first inning opened."
The papers give scores, crowds and surnames, but little more about the valley's players. Most of their full names, and how the first Saturday game of June 1921 came out, are not recorded in the pages found.
The article as printed
American Falls Press, July 1, 1921, page 1. Transcribed from the page scan.
Twenty Six Runs, 24 Hits, 17 Errors, 30 Overthrows, 25 Underthrows, and Benching of Umpire C. Lee French Feature Remarkable Game at Arbon Sunday.
By G. M. Oliver, Official Score Keeper.
Everything possible to see in a baseball game was seen at Arbon Sunday when American Falls beat the Arbon Bears 21 to 5. Here's the features:
Twenty-six runs.
Twenty-four hits.
Seventeen Errors.
Twenty-five or 30 overthrows and about that many underthrows benched.
The diamond was covered with about six inches of dust and this aided the base runners by throwing up a "smoke screen" around them, much to the sorrow of the opposition and the umpire, especially the the umps.
Umpire French Benched
The dust also served as an alibi for the fielders when they made an error, so we have charged all of the errors and 14 runs to the dust in the official averages.
Lee French started the game as umpire and satisfied everybody until the fifth inning. Here's where the dust enters again. An Arbon player knocked a ball down the first base line. The Arbon captain claimed it was a fair ball but Lee, whose eyes were full of dust, thought otherwise and called it fowl.
The usual procedure in a case of this kind is the player to be benched but Arbon didn't have any extra players and there were about 500 people on the sidelines who had been trying to umpire so Lee was benched and one of them given a chance.
Johnson Pitched
Johnson, pitching for Arbon, fouled 11 American Falls men but was touched for 19 hits which coupled with errors and overthrows put Arbon out of the running early.
Lund, pitching for the locals, was very expective and with any support would have held Arbon to two runs. He fouled eight men and allowed five hits, three of them of the scratch variety.
An Effective Trio
Reed, P. Evans and Barnard lead in hitting, getting three apiece and scoring ten runs.
Lund and Stitt played the best [illegible] game, Stitt also getting 1000 per cent in umpire [illegible] during the latter part of the game.
American Falls has no game scheduled for July 4.
The teams lined up as follows:
The Arbon Bears—Van Horn cf. Phelps 2b, Payne lf and 3b, E. Lee c, T. Lee 1b. King 3b, Donnelly rf, Johnson p, Hardman ss, Isaac lf.
American Falls—Hooker ss, Reed 1b, G. Evans cf, P. Evans 3b, Lund p, Davis lf, Stitt c, Barnard 2b, Martens rf. Umpire French (for five innings).
On this site: the celebration for the first oil well; David Thomas Lusk; Thomas Bowen Evans; and the Pauline and West Fork area history.
Sources
- American Falls Press, May 22, 1909, page 1
- American Falls Press, June 17, 1921, page 1
- American Falls Press, June 24, 1921, page 1
- American Falls Press, July 1, 1921, page 1
- American Falls Press, July 1, 1921, page 6
- American Falls Press, February 24, 1922, page 7
- American Falls Press, June 15, 1922, page 1
- American Falls Press, June 29, 1922, page 1
- American Falls Press, June 29, 1922, page 7
- American Falls Press, July 6, 1922, page 1
- American Falls Press, July 13, 1922, page 4
- American Falls Press, August 24, 1922, page 1
- American Falls Press, March 27, 1924, page 2
- American Falls Press, May 22, 1924, page 1