This photo was taken in 1905 when freight wagons crowded into Riverside, head of navigation on the Okanogan River and supply center for a vast area
Blackwell & Co.store in Riverside, was built in 1903, and was destroyed by fire in 1916
Occidental Hotel at Riverside. As a stage or steamship arrived, the lobby would erupt into a flurry of activity as traveling men & women, homesteaders, mining investors, and others signed in
The town of Riverside came into existence at the mouth of Johnson creek, about seven miles north of the present site of Omak, in the early 1900s. This was a logical place for a distribution center. It marked the head of navigation for steam wheelers coming up the Okanogan river.
Riverside was platted in 1902 by James E. Forde. The town was originally known as "Republic Landing" in a thinly- disguised effort to convince shippers that the merchandise consigned to the booming camp of Republic could be encomically dispatched to Johnson creek.
The steam wheelers continued to bring hundreds of pioneers into this area. But Riverside was most centrally located as a supply center. When time came for a boat to arrive, its streets were lined with wagons waiting to by goods.
In 1913 Riverside had two department stores, drug store, meat shop, and two hotels, the Occidental and the Cooper. There were lawyer’s offices, a shoe shop, the Argus, a hospital with two doctors, two restaurants, a dance hall, a post office, church, school and two saloons.
In the 1920s and 1930s young people had a good life at Riverside, swimming in and ice skating on the Okanogan river. There were basketball games, music programs and church doings.
The old school building still standing in Riverside was a great part of the town life. At one time 250 pupils attended. The present school was built in 1914. But in 1956 the total remaining six high schoolers were transferred to Omak. In 1976 with Riverside’s population declining, the grade school was annexed to Omak. Old timers say the community spirit went out of the town when the schools were shut down.
Riverside school was built in 1914, at one time it had 250 students attending. Today it stands empty.
Riverside today is a town with only a few business. There remains a saloon, DeTro’s western store, a post office and a city hall. As people seek out places to live that are still rural and with elbow room, Riverside and its colorful history will never be forgotten.
Originally known as Blackwell's Riverside Store, built in 1916 now houses De Tro's Western Store
The Riverside cemetery has a legend attached to it. There is a grave on the far side which, according to legend, contains the remnants of Frank Watkins, Riverside’s only murder victim.
Frank Watkins tomestone, with Riverside in center background
The story goes that Frank Watkins, a gun toting cowboy, had been run out of Oregon by angry ranchers. He arrived in Riverside in 1903 with a string of hot blooded horses, having many mixed brands. That night Watkins entered the saloon and ordered up his favorite drink, a "Tom and Jerry." Jack Williams the owner of the saloon told him that he had no more hot water for Tom and Jerry’s.
Watkins pulled out his six shooter and shot the spout off of the kettle which sat on the wood stove. In the crowd was a man, carpenter by trade, who at the time had his saw in his hand, when he heard the shots, he yelled and threw up his hands. Watkins disarmed him of his saw, and before leaving the saloon, put three bullet holes through the roof. The one time saloon is now a small grocery store, and the three bullet holes are still there to be seen in the roof today.
The one time saloon where the desperado Frank Watkins did his drinking, is now a small grocery store
The bullet holes from Frank Watkins six shooter can still be seen today
The following spring Frank Watkins met his death. After riding into town, the desperado rented space in Kendall livery stable for his horse and himself, then rolled out a gunny sack to spend the night. No one ever learned who shot Watkins. He had been shot right through the sacks, with a single wound to the head, killing him as he lay sleeping.
When morning came, nobody in Riverside was sorry to hear that this desperado was dead, AND the local town people didn’t want him sleeping in their cemetery either, rubbing elbows with their righteous kin.
A fitting inscription to an end, "He just had too many horses in his corral."
His grave is located about five hundred yards outside the cemetery on top of the hill to the south of the cemetery. The restless ghost of gun toting Frank Watkins is said to have haunted the Riverside Cemetery for the last ninety five years because the town folks wouldn’t let him be buried in the cemetery.
Where the gun toting cowboy, Frank Watkins, is layed to rest.
