North fork of the Clearwater River. Idaho.

Dworshak Reservoir. Mile 45

The old Larkin Homestead on the port side. (and technically beneath the kayak)

June 27th and 28th. 2003

Grandma's Houe We hunted down the house where my Great Grandmother lived in Orofino Idaho. She lived there from about 1913 until 1945.	Ready to Unload Our trip Started at the Grandad Boat launch at mile 40 of the Dworshak Reservoir in North Central Idaho	Paddeling Patti My sister Patti paddeling the Chesapeake 16 with a light wind at her back on the way to the homestead	Dad Rows Dad and his ham radio gear make their way up the reservoir in the Acorn 8.	Larkins Cove Sister Patti exploring the cove created by Larkin's creek as it enters the reservoir.
Larkin's Creek Patti checking out Larkin's creek. It isn't big, but does run all year long and was the water supply for the cabin.	Heading to Camp After exploring the homestead we paddled across the lake to our camp. I'm in the Mill Creek 13	Campfire Some folks sit around the fire and drink beer. We sit around the table drinking tang and playing with the ham radio gear.	Heading home The lake was like glass for most of the paddle back to the boat launch the next morning.	Almost there You can't ski behind the Acorn 8, but Dad makes pretty good time as we head back to the van.

Our Summer 2003 kayak trip to the old Larkin Homestead.

At the end of the homestead era, about 1902, my Great grandfather Frank Larkin moved from West Virginia to Northern Idaho.  He saw three potential routes for a railroad running through the north central part of the state. Frank located an unclaimed and fairly flat parcel of land along one of the three routes, the North Fork of the Clearwater river.  The site was about 50 miles from Orofino.  The flat portion of land was large enough to support a small railroad town.  Furthermore, its distance for existing towns made it an ideal location for "Larkinville" if the railroad came through.  The US Government granted him homestead rights.

Land was cleared and a cabin was built. Wooden pipes supplied the cabin with water from Larkin's creek.  All detailed maps of the area still refer to the creek as Larkins creek to this day (somehow the apostrophe got dropped or somebody added an "s").  My grandfather's and several of his brothers and sisters spent part of their childhoods at the homestead.  When the giant three million acre forest fire of 1910 swept through the area the cabin was burned to the ground.  The homesteaders waited in the river as the fire passed.  My great grandparents rebuilt the cabin and stayed two more years.  At that time their youngest son, my grandfather was ready to start school.  The railroad wasn't coming. The fire had left quite a mess behind.  In fact we could still see snags we believed were left over from the fire as we paddeled up the reservoir. The decision was made to move to Orofino. 

All of the homesteading requirements has been met. In fact, my Grandfather's brother, Frank Jr. lived at the homestead on and off through the 1930's.  My Dad visited the homestead in 1945 as a young child and again in 1954. In the early 50's another small fire destroyed the cabin. In the 1960's the Army Corps of Engineers decided to damn the North Fork of the Clearwater river.  About 1968, the year I was born, the Government tracked down the ownership of the land and sent my Dad a check for a little over $1000 for his 1/16 ownership in property.  In 1973 the Dworshak damn was complete and the homestead was flooded.  Today, when the reservoir is full, about two thirds of the old homestead is under water. The steeper upper section stands proudly above the lake. 

My Dad hadn't been been to the homestead since he was fourteen years old.  He's been talking about going back for years and we finally did it.  One of my Dad's hobbies is building wooden boats. We choose to row and paddle in his boats to the homestead.  It was a great weekend.

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