Fisherman's Paradise on Lake Pend Oreille

by Bob Gunter

The whistle of the strange looking craft broke the silence as it pulled away from the City Docks of Sandpoint.

It had just started its maiden voyage and Captain Earl Farmin was at the helm. On that Thanksgiving Day of 1932 there were on board what the local paper called, "a super cargo of more or less confirmed addicts of the vice of White Fishing." After the shake-down cruise the boat would be ready in time for the White Fish season that started on December 15 and paying customers would be welcomed aboard.

Earl Farmin, the son of Sandpoint pioneers L.D. and Ella Farmin, had devised a fishing craft that was a real palace to any sportsman. The craft was called "a sea-going ranch house" especially built for those caught up in the White Fish craze. With the advent of Farmin's boat named the "Fishhouse" the fishermen of the area could troll and stay warm.

Click photo to enlarge

The craft was on 50-foot sticks with a 30-foot beam. The inside was one large compartment that was steam heated for comfort. There were plans for a turbine to furnish electric lights and a radio would be added for the enjoyment of the passengers. Much of the boat's installations had been taken from the famed steamboat "Northern." The Northern had plied the waterways of Lake Pend Oreille in previous years doing duty moving freight, mail, and passengers. It had become the favorite steamer used by the people of Sandpoint for excursions on the lake.

The Northern had burned several years before and Farmin used what he could salvage of the old boat. The decks of the Fishhouse were of spruce that had been roughed to prevent a person from slipping. There was an anchor that when dropped would hold the fishing boat over the White Fish schools. The paper reported, "The rudder was three feet long and as deep as a cop's suspicions."

At the end of the first trip the passengers stated that the boat "took the rough going like 'nobodies business' flattening the waves like a steam mangle taking wrinkles out of a sheet." It was estimated that the boat could do six miles an hour if it had a tail wind. The cruising speed was four miles an hour and that was just right for trolling. It could make Contest Point across the lake from Sandpoint in 30 minutes and an hour from the dock would put it on any of the fishing grounds on the lower lake. The boat carried five cords of wood and Farmin had placed additional supplies at several places around the lake. When ice closed the Sandpoint harbor then the boat would operate out of Sunnyside.

This all sounds great but the big question was, "how do you fish from it?' In the cabin there had been 24 holes cut in the deck and at each hole there was an opera chair. Businessmen were encouraged to bring their work aboard and do some catching up while waiting for a nibble. Bridge players were encouraged to bring "a celluloid" deck of cards and play while waiting for a bite.

The excursions aboard the Fishhouse were scheduled at noon and to every fisherman's delight a mulligan (a stew) was served to all that were fortunate enough to get one of the fishing holes.

All photographs have been used with permission of the Bonner County Museum.