Page 1 of 27 
 
Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Etta May Bryant Alldredge 
January 28-February 4, 1998  
Cassette 3, Side 1 
 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:03 
--Alldredge and Stephanie Holan, and this is tape two of our first interview, and we're still 
looking at pictures.  So you were saying that this is Wanda.  
 
Etta Alldredge  00:13 
No, that's me. 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:14 
That's you? 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:15 
No, that's Wanda.  
 
Stephanie Holan  00:15 
That's Wanda? 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:16 
This is Ward; that's before I ever met him. He works in the apples, and that's his friend. This is 
the deer they caught one-- elk they killed one year.  
 
Stephanie Holan  00:27 
Oh, wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  00:28 
And we had a camp, and we'd-- every-- always go out camping in a little trailer. That's Ward and 
his friends.  
 
Stephanie Holan  00:39 
So did you drag the trailer by the car? 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:42 
Uh-huh.  
 
Page 2 of 27 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:42 
OK, OK.  
 
Etta Alldredge  00:44 
And then my daughter and her husband and I, and Ward, went down-- and we went down to 
Death Valley. This was all taken in Death Valley. 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:52 
And is this Barbara and you?  
 
Etta Alldredge  00:54 
That's Ruby.  
 
Stephanie Holan  00:55 
That's Ruby. OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:57 
She just got back last night from a [inaudible] canal. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:01 
Oh, from the Panama Canal?  
 
Etta Alldredge  01:02 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:02 
Wow. 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:03 
They've been down there two weeks. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:05 
Oh, wow. And that's Ward right there, in that--? 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:10 
Mm-hmm. And my brother. Winton. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:13 
Winton. OK.  
 
Etta Alldredge  01:14 
That's his wife. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:15 
And that's his wife. Is that you? 
 
Page 3 of 27 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:17 
I suppose, I don't know [laughs]. And here's-- and their baby Jimmy. He's in the first year school 
now. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:25 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:26 
And then they're putting on his shoes [laughs].  
 
Stephanie Holan  01:30 
And is this Ward here?  
 
Etta Alldredge  01:31 
Yeah. And this is when they got married. This is Wanda and her husband and his mother and 
father. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:47 
So this is Wanda and Ray.  
 
Etta Alldredge  01:50 
Uh-huh. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:50 
Wow. And this is Wanda and Ray? 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:53 
Yeah. That's when they got married, [inaudible] my house. This is me. That's the rest of the 
family.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:02 
Wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:02 
This is me and Ward. This is Ruby. This is [?Eldridge?], her-- my oldest daughter's husband. 
 
Stephanie Holan  02:15 
Barbara's husband?  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:15 
This is the day when she got married, yeah, when our oldest daughter got married.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:20 
So this is you, and that's Barbara?  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:23 
Page 4 of 27 
 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:24 
And that's Wanda. OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:25 
And this is Wanda. This is me when [?I moved out?]. [Inaudible] my husband [inaudible]. This 
is Kettle Falls before they put the dam in, and both of my aunts. This is my mother and 
[inaudible], Mom and Dad. This how deep one time the snow was one time. And this and my 
daughter Ruby. This is when-- after those married.  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:10 
This is Ruby and... what was her husband's name?  
 
Etta Alldredge  03:12 
And Dick.  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:13 
Dick. OK.  Wanda showing off at the beach. 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:22 
This is my-- that's Barbara. They had a [?great?] [inaudible]. And they got that-- after they got 
married, they had that... This is my older daughter when she's a baby.  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:37 
That's Barbara-- 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:38 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Stephanie Holan  03:38 
--when she was a little baby?  
 
Etta Alldredge  03:39 
Yeah, this is her. And this is my granddaughter and her husband.  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:44 
Which one? 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:46 
Joanne. 
 
Stephanie Holan  03:47 
Joanne--  
 
Etta Alldredge  03:48 
Page 5 of 27 
 
[Inaudible]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  03:48 
--and that's Barbara's daughter?  
 
Etta Alldredge  03:49 
Yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  03:50 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:50 
And her husband. This is Barbara when she graduated high school. This is Ruby. That's when 
Barbara graduated-- or, Wanda graduated. And this is when Barbara-- Wanda was a baby. This is 
Wanda and a girlfriend. And this is Wanda. 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:15 
And who's this pretty lady? 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:18 
That's Ruby.  
 
Stephanie Holan  04:19 
That's Ruby, OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:20 
That's when she graduated.  
 
Stephanie Holan  04:21 
Wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  04:28 
Oh, my gosh.  
 
Stephanie Holan  04:33 
These are really recent.  
 
Etta Alldredge  04:34 
Yeah, these are all, I think, recent. 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:36 
[Inaudible] recent pictures. 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:36 
That was when I was in the hospital. 
 
Page 6 of 27 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:41 
OK. Well, we'll wait for the recent ones. 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:43 
Oh, yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:44 
We'll get to recent life history. 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:45 
Oh, yeah, this is nothing today. I think you've tired of me.  
 
Stephanie Holan  04:48 
Oh, no! Never, never, never. Can I one time, with your permission, maybe make photocopies of 
these pictures and put them in with your-- when I write about you?  
 
Etta Alldredge  05:00 
Yeah, if you want to sometime. 
 
Stephanie Holan  05:01 
Is that OK?  
 
Etta Alldredge  05:02 
Yeah. I don't have any-- you're gonna [inaudible] take them. 
 
Stephanie Holan  05:07 
I'll take them to Kinko's and have color copies made of them.  
 
Etta Alldredge  05:10 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  05:10 
And then I'll put them in--  
 
Etta Alldredge  05:11 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  05:12 
In the-- in writing. It's hard to-- I mean, all the things that you've seen that I just take for granted 
every day. 
 
Etta Alldredge  05:18 
This is [inaudible.]  Yeah, [laughs] [?that's true?]. Just can't remember way back there [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  05:33 
That's amazing. 
Page 7 of 27 
 
 
Etta Alldredge  05:34 
[Crosstalk] [?wasn't existing?]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  05:35 
That is amazing, completely amazing. So you met Ward, right? And then-- 
 
Etta Alldredge  05:44 
And you know, I was just-- you know what? Talking about the dates the other day... And this is-- 
I remember [inaudible] my husband died and I couldn't think of [inaudible], could have been 
[inaudible]. But anyway, I got all my old pictures, I got-- I have a great, big trunk. And when I 
moved here, I didn't have room for it.  
 
Stephanie Holan  06:04 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:05 
So I put all the [inaudible] I wanted to keep, I put it in this trunk. And I put it-- I stored it in-- my 
daughter's got a great big house, and so I've got it stored over at her house.  So I don't remember 
what I [inaudible] now [laughs].  
 
Stephanie Holan  06:15 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:21 
I can put that back. 
 
Stephanie Holan  06:22 
Oh, I got it.  OK, so, back to you and Ward. You met Ward when you were 18, and then you 
guys got married.  
 
Etta Alldredge  06:36 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  06:36 
And where did you get married? 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:40 
We got married in Colville. 
 
Stephanie Holan  06:42 
In Colville. In a church? 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:46 
The house right next to the church. 
 
Page 8 of 27 
 
Stephanie Holan  06:48 
Right next-- a house right next to the church? And what was that like? What was it like to get 
married? 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:57 
[Laughs] I guess I don't remember.  
 
Stephanie Holan  06:59 
Was it a big wedding?  
 
Etta Alldredge  07:01 
Oh, no. They gave me a great big shower before I was married, and then, no, I didn't have a big 
wedding.  
 
Stephanie Holan  07:09 
Didn't have a big wedding? 
 
Etta Alldredge  07:10 
Daddy said that it cost him every time anybody got married around there-- he-- I had such a big 
shower that at the time it was... Then we got married, he had to [?dig up?] and buy something, 
but in between my shower... [laughs].  
 
Stephanie Holan  07:25 
Oh, wow. Wow. 
 
Etta Alldredge  07:31 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  07:32 
Big, big shower, and then a smaller wedding. And then where did you-- what'd you do after the 
wedding? Did you go on a--?  
 
Etta Alldredge  07:37 
Then we moved and went to Montana.  
 
Stephanie Holan  07:39 
You went to Montana. 
 
Etta Alldredge  07:40 
[Crosstalk] a little story [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  07:41 
Did you guys have a-- did you go on a honeymoon?  
 
Etta Alldredge  07:44 
Page 9 of 27 
 
Yeah. He had homesteaded in Montana and he had a house on it, and we got married, waited two 
or three days -- stayed with the folks and his folks -- and then we pulled out and went to 
Montana. It took a couple days, two or three days to get there. We had a [inaudible]-- he had a 
car, but it didn't-- it ran all right, but they didn't go very fast in those days [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  08:12 
So should we stop and do Montana next time?  
 
Etta Alldredge  08:16 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  08:17 
Should we stop the--? 
 
Etta Alldredge  08:17 
Yeah, and then we stayed in-- his friend and him homesteaded together, but they was joining one 
another. 'Cause the other guy had a house on his, and my husband had a house on his property.  
 
Stephanie Holan  08:33 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  08:33 
So then they moved the shacks up on the-- right on on the line, so they'd [?both?] be together. So 
my brother in law went with us, and... So he stayed in that other shack, but this guy passed away 
in the meantime, and just his widow was on the property, but she lived in Fort Benton. So my 
brother in law slept in that other house, and then we kept in this-- in his-- our house.  
 
Stephanie Holan  09:07 
So was the other house kind of next door? It was right there, all on the same property?  
 
Etta Alldredge  09:11 
Yeah, they just drawed up together for the... Ours came out this way, and his door came out this 
way.  
 
Stephanie Holan  09:19 
So kind of parallel-- or, perpendicular, like this--  
 
Etta Alldredge  09:22 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  09:23 
--kind of like a T?  
 
Etta Alldredge  09:24 
So when I stepped out of my house, he could step out of his house.  
 
Page 10 of 27 
 
Stephanie Holan  09:28 
Oh, OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  09:29 
It's just one room.  
 
Stephanie Holan  09:32 
Just a one room house?  
 
Etta Alldredge  09:33 
Mm-hmm, one house. We ate and slept in that.  
 
Stephanie Holan  09:36 
Wow. So was there... you had a bed in there, and a stove?  
 
Etta Alldredge  09:41 
[Crosstallk] bed and a stove and a rocking chair and a table. 
 
Stephanie Holan  09:45 
And did you guys have electricity in this house?  
 
Etta Alldredge  09:48 
No! 
 
Stephanie Holan  09:49 
No? Kerosene lamps? 
 
Etta Alldredge  09:51 
[?Lamps.?]  They didn't have any-- they had all the-- they stopped it two miles from Fort Benton. 
That's the biggest city [inaudible] close to. That's where my oldest daughter was born, in Fort 
Benton. 
 
Stephanie Holan  09:54 
[Laughs.] Oh, really? So how old were you when you got pregnant? 
 
Etta Alldredge  10:13 
We stayed there, oh, about two-- about three years, we lived there in that house that way. She 
was a year and a half old when we moved out here. 
 
Stephanie Holan  10:26 
And so you were living in Montana-- 
 
Etta Alldredge  10:30 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  10:30 
Page 11 of 27 
 
--and you got pregnant when you--? 
 
Etta Alldredge  10:32 
Yeah, yeah, I got [inaudible] pregnant. I was married in June and I got pregnant back then in 
August. 
 
Stephanie Holan  10:39 
Wow. 
 
Etta Alldredge  10:39 
She was born on the 20th-- about 30th April 1921.  
 
Stephanie Holan  10:45 
Oh, wow. So your mother, though, was all the way back--  
 
Etta Alldredge  10:49 
In Washington.  
 
Stephanie Holan  10:50 
--in Washington. So how was that, to be so far away from your mom and being pregnant for the 
first time?  
 
Etta Alldredge  10:57 
Well, I-- it was pretty good until [?long?] in the wintertime, I got so homesick.  
 
Stephanie Holan  11:02 
Oh, you did? 
 
Etta Alldredge  11:04 
I couldn't stand it. So my husband... we packed up and he put me on the train, and I went back 
home, and I stayed about almost three weeks. 
 
Stephanie Holan  11:18 
With your mother and father?  
 
Etta Alldredge  11:19 
Yeah. Then I went back. And when I went back, the [inaudible] river had frozen over. Oh yes, it 
does every year. And when he came to come pick me up in his car, there was about this much 
water over the top of the ice. And he took-- see, the ferry, it couldn't run. But it froze to solid. 
But then-- and just a few days after that, well, the whole river went out. 
 
Stephanie Holan  11:59 
But you made it over--  
 
Etta Alldredge  12:00 
Yeah. 
Page 12 of 27 
 
 
Stephanie Holan  12:00 
--safe, OK [laughs].  
 
Etta Alldredge  12:03 
We just plowed our way right through that water. It wasn't very far across it, but enough to had 
to have a ferry. 
 
Stephanie Holan  12:12 
So, were you happy to be home with your mom? 
 
Etta Alldredge  12:15 
Oh, yes, I was happy there. But I never have been sick after that. I never--  
 
Stephanie Holan  12:20 
You never were? 
 
Etta Alldredge  12:21 
[Inaudible.] 
 
Stephanie Holan  12:21 
So when you were at home, did you miss Ward? Did you miss your husband when you were at 
home with your parents and you wanted to go back?  
 
Etta Alldredge  12:28 
Yes. I was just 19 years old. 
 
Stephanie Holan  12:31 
And so, so you did okay being pregnant without your mom. Did you have morning sickness 
when you were first pregnant? 
 
Etta Alldredge  12:39 
What? 
 
Stephanie Holan  12:40 
Morning sickness? 
 
Etta Alldredge  12:43 
Yeah, I guess so. [Laughs] I don't remember. 
 
Stephanie Holan  12:46 
You don't remember? And then--  
 
Etta Alldredge  12:49 
But I went back then, and I never was homesick again. I never wanted... I went back sometime to 
visit, but I didn't stay there long. 
Page 13 of 27 
 
 
Stephanie Holan  13:00 
You were ready to be on your own. 
 
Etta Alldredge  13:01 
Yeah. But after Barbara was about three, almost three, by then we moved back to Washington.  
 
Stephanie Holan  13:13 
Oh, you did? And when you were living in Montana, Ward was homesteading? 
 
Etta Alldredge  13:21 
He had he had homesteaded. He homesteaded before he went to war.  
 
Stephanie Holan  13:25 
OK, OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  13:26 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  13:27 
And so you lived in your house with the brother in law next door, and little Barbara. 
 
Etta Alldredge  13:32 
Yeah. One time he was-- we had barbed wire fence there along the side. And one time [?I was 
out?], he was [inaudible] the fence. And I went off one afternoon, I walked out there, to talk to 
him, and after a minute he says, "Freeze!" And I froze. 
 
Stephanie Holan  13:58 
[Laughs.]  
 
Etta Alldredge  13:59 
He said, "I hear a rattlesnake." Oh, we had rattlesnakes there. And he looked and I looked all 
around at my feet and [inaudible] see if I could see him, but I couldn't. But that, rattle that-- and 
he looked down his feet pretty soon, and that he's stepping on it. The ground was soft, and he 
was stepping on that rattlesnake's head. He [?was only?] about this long.  
 
Stephanie Holan  14:23 
Oh, my gosh. 
 
Etta Alldredge  14:25 
But, oh, this is poisonous [inaudible] big ones. 
 
Stephanie Holan  14:27 
Oh! Were you scared?  
 
Etta Alldredge  14:29 
Page 14 of 27 
 
Oh, yes, I was scared. 
 
Stephanie Holan  14:31 
So what happened?  
 
Etta Alldredge  14:32 
Well, course, he killed that-- after he found out where the rattle, why, then he killed it, of course. 
 
Stephanie Holan  14:38 
How did he kill it? Just squish it with his foot? 
 
Etta Alldredge  14:43 
I know he had a hammer in his hand, I don't know. Maybe he hit it in the head. [Laughter] I don't 
know how he killed it. I just saw he killed it.  
 
Stephanie Holan  14:50 
Wow. 
 
Etta Alldredge  14:51 
And then one time after that, we cut the hay, and we put it in [?shops?], you know? And all 
[?was there?]. And then we [?took this day?], took the wagon and team out there, and he 
[inaudible] put some in the barn. Well, he [inaudible]-- and I stayed in-- I stayed in the in the 
wagon, in the [?hay mall?] wagon. And Barbara, put her right next to the horse [inaudible], a 
place next to the-- where I drove the horses. And I put the hay, put it in-- distributed it all over 
the bottom. He threw up one great, big pitchfork, and there was a rattlesnake in it. He jumped up, 
and I over here, and Barbara was over here. I just jumped right over that snake. Oh, that snake 
was just as scared as I was. He was trying to get-- he got-- trying to get out, to get down on the 
ground. But I jumped over there and picked her up and climbed up on the side of the wagon. But 
he wiggled around, and he found a way to get down. He got down on the ground. 
 
Stephanie Holan  16:09 
That's-- so you saved Barbara! 
 
Etta Alldredge  16:12 
Yeah. But I was scared that time. I don't like rattlesnakes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  16:16 
Oh no, no, no. Wow. 
 
Etta Alldredge  16:21 
Oh, I... A person has so much exper-- I can't [inaudible] to tell you all the things that I did all my 
life. 
 
Stephanie Holan  16:29 
Well, you're doing good. Doing good. Should we take a break now? 
 
Page 15 of 27 
 
Etta Alldredge  16:34 
Oh, whatever you want, whatever you want. 
 
Stephanie Holan  16:38 
Maybe we should take a break now.  
 
Etta Alldredge  16:39 
All right.  
 
Stephanie Holan  16:40 
And then we'll come back-- I'll come back, how about... 
 
Etta Alldredge  16:43 
And then I'll take up my married life, then.  
 
Stephanie Holan  16:46 
Yeah, we'll start with your married life. So-- This is Stephanie Holan here interviewing Etta 
Alldredge for the second time, and today is February 4, 1998 and it's about 3:15.  OK, so what I 
wanted to ask you was... Last time I was here, you were telling me about-- 
 
Etta Alldredge  17:10 
A little louder.  
 
Stephanie Holan  17:11 
The last time I was here, you were telling me about when your dad brought home the car, the 
Model T?  
 
Etta Alldredge  17:18 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  17:19 
And Nancy was telling me that you knew how to take it apart and fix it.  
 
Etta Alldredge  17:24 
Oh, yeah. Oh yes.  
 
Stephanie Holan  17:25 
Who taught you how to do that?  
 
Etta Alldredge  17:27 
Oh, my brothers taught me, showed me how.  
 
Stephanie Holan  17:30 
And you could take it all apart, and...?  
 
Etta Alldredge  17:32 
Page 16 of 27 
 
Yeah. There wasn't very much to it in those days. They just had a big [inaudible] wheel. 
[Laughs] That's all there was to it. 
 
Stephanie Holan  17:40 
Oh. See, I think that's very cool, because, you know, being a woman, I wouldn't think that they 
would teach you something like that.  
 
Etta Alldredge  17:50 
Oh, yes [laughs].  
 
Stephanie Holan  17:51 
Oh, yeah? [Laughs.] 
 
Etta Alldredge  17:53 
Well, we had to do everything in those days, you know?  
 
Stephanie Holan  17:56 
Yeah.  
 
Etta Alldredge  17:57 
We didn't have nothing manufactured like there is today [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  18:01 
So did you know-- then, did you know how to fix a lot of things around the house? Did they 
teach you? 
 
Etta Alldredge  18:06 
Oh, yes, my, yes. I can fix most of anything [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  18:11 
That's cool. That's very cool. Because when she told me that, I was shocked that you could take 
apart a car! 
 
Etta Alldredge  18:17 
Oh, yes, I-- if it didn't run, I just took it apart and put it back together again. 
 
Stephanie Holan  18:23 
Did it ever break down on you when you were driving it?  
 
Etta Alldredge  18:25 
What?  
 
Stephanie Holan  18:26 
Did it ever break down while you were driving it?  
 
Etta Alldredge  18:27 
Page 17 of 27 
 
No, no. 
 
Stephanie Holan  18:28 
No? 
 
Etta Alldredge  18:30 
No. 
 
Stephanie Holan  18:31 
I think that's very cool. Very cool. 
 
Etta Alldredge  18:35 
Well, you had to do everything in those days by yourself. 
 
Stephanie Holan  18:39 
Yeah, we don't have to-- we can just take it somewhere now. 
 
Etta Alldredge  18:43 
That's right.  
 
Stephanie Holan  18:44 
And then when I left, we were talking about when you went back to see your parents. 
 
Etta Alldredge  18:51 
[Inaudible]?  
 
Stephanie Holan  18:51 
When you went to see your parents after you had gotten pregnant for the first time, and you were 
married? 
 
Etta Alldredge  18:56 
Just wait. I guess I'll have to put another battery in.  
 
Stephanie Holan  18:59 
Oh, OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  19:00 
My gosh. 
 
Stephanie Holan  19:02 
OK. So, we stopped the tape and we're restarting the tape.  So, I wanted to ask you about when 
you went home to Rice after you moved to Montana with your husband.  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:15 
Yeah. 
 
Page 18 of 27 
 
Stephanie Holan  19:17 
And you went home for three months.  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:19 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  19:20 
For three months or three weeks? How long did you go home for?  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:23 
Huh? 
 
Stephanie Holan  19:24 
How long did you go home for? 
 
Etta Alldredge  19:26 
Oh, when I was homesick?  
 
Stephanie Holan  19:27 
Yeah.  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:28 
Oh, I think about two or three weeks. 
 
Stephanie Holan  19:31 
Two or three weeks?  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:31 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  19:32 
And you were pregnant that whole time.  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:34 
Yes, I was pregnant.  
 
Stephanie Holan  19:35 
Did you guys plan to get pregnant, or did it happen...?  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:39 
Just happened. 
 
Stephanie Holan  19:39 
Just happened [laughs]. And so were you excited about it?  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:45 
Page 19 of 27 
 
Well, yes, I guess I was. I was married in June, and then I must have got pregnant in August, 
[?made it in?] April. 
 
Stephanie Holan  19:56 
Wow. Was it frightening being so far away from your mom? 
 
Etta Alldredge  20:03 
Oh, yes, way over in Montana. 
 
Stephanie Holan  20:06 
Yeah?  
 
Etta Alldredge  20:07 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  20:08 
So then... 
 
Etta Alldredge  20:10 
Go ahead. 
 
Stephanie Holan  20:11 
OK, so then when you were at home, did your mom give you any kind of advice about the 
pregnancy? 
 
Etta Alldredge  20:20 
Oh, yes, they knew it.  
 
Stephanie Holan  20:21 
Did she-- 
 
Etta Alldredge  20:35 
[Inaudible] I can [?call?] you now.  
 
Stephanie Holan  20:36 
OK. Did she give you any advice for when the baby was coming and-- or anything like that? 
 
Etta Alldredge  20:45 
No, I don't think so.  Yes, Nancy, [?now?]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  20:47 
No? 
 
Etta Alldredge  20:47 
No. 
 
Page 20 of 27 
 
Stephanie Holan  20:47 
So you just were gonna wing it [laughs]? Where's Nancy?  [Tape cuts] OK. So now you can hear 
me.  OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  20:54 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  20:55 
OK. So what was I gonna ask you now? Now I forgot! 
 
Etta Alldredge  21:01 
You asked me about my-- if I was homesick.  
 
Stephanie Holan  21:05 
Yes. OK. So you went home... 
 
Etta Alldredge  21:08 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  21:08 
And you stayed home; what did you do while you were home with your family? 
 
Etta Alldredge  21:11 
Oh, gosh, it's been so long. [Inaudible]. Oh, I just went with the family, I guess, and just visited 
with the family, and just [inaudible] I guess that's all I can think about.  
 
Stephanie Holan  21:21 
OK. And then I was going to ask you, what was a day like with your husband before you had any 
children? What was your typical day like? 
 
Etta Alldredge  21:31 
Well, we were married, and then we came home and stayed overnight. And then we-- he had a 
car, and then we started out for Montana, and then his brother went with us.  
 
Stephanie Holan  21:48 
OK.  Oh, OK.  
 
Etta Alldredge  21:48 
And it took us a couple of days to get to to his-- what-- the [?jail?] is where his-- the post office 
was.  And then we went on to his homestead.  
 
Stephanie Holan  22:01 
In Montana? 
 
Etta Alldredge  22:02 
Page 21 of 27 
 
In Montana. Yeah. And see, we had to cross the Missouri River. And that was right close-- it 
had-- the railroad came up the river, and the riv-- and the ferry, had to have a ferry to go across 
the river. And then-- well, then one time [?after we got up?] [inaudible] [?and settled in?], why, 
then I tried to make some bread [laughs]. And my yeast was dead. I didn't know it. And I cooked 
it. It was so sour, you couldn't eat it. And my-- and I was crying because I couldn't get that bread. 
 
Stephanie Holan  22:03 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  22:47 
I helped mother lots and lots of time make bread. I knew how to make it and everything. But 
anyway, he he took me by the hand, and he ran me down to the barn, by the time we got down 
there I'd forgot all about the bread [laughs].  
 
Stephanie Holan  22:47 
Aww.  Aww. So before the kids came--  
 
Etta Alldredge  23:13 
Yeah?  
 
Stephanie Holan  23:13 
--you guys would get up in the morning...  
 
Etta Alldredge  23:15 
Yes.  
 
Stephanie Holan  23:16 
And then what-- like, what time did you get up? And how did you guys start your day together? 
 
Etta Alldredge  23:19 
Well, we'd get up about at seven or seven o'clock or six-- [inaudible]. And then we'd-- let's see 
[laughs]. It's been quite a while ago. Well, we was out there on the prairie and everything, so 
there wasn't much to do-- much to do. But then we'd-- oh, we'd go down to the river, take a lunch 
and go out on horseback, and go down to the river and spend the day down there, fishin' or 
foolin' around down there. One some days. Some days, we'd just take horseback and we'd just go 
for a ride all over the country. You were the horseback lady.  Well, I grew up with horses. 
[Laughter.] 
 
Stephanie Holan  24:13 
So then Barbara was born, your first child, Barbara was born? 
 
Etta Alldredge  24:17 
Barbara born the 3rd of April in Fort Benton.  
 
Stephanie Holan  24:21 
In a hospital?  
Page 22 of 27 
 
 
Etta Alldredge  24:22 
Yes, in the hospital, in Fort Benton. 
 
Stephanie Holan  24:25 
And how long were you in labor? 
 
Etta Alldredge  24:28 
They kept me 10 days.  
 
Stephanie Holan  24:31 
Ten days in the hospital?  
 
Etta Alldredge  24:32 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  24:33 
Wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  24:34 
Well, they-- that's what they did those days. Women didn't get up right out of bed and go to 
[?walk?]. We would stayed in bed and rested for about 10 days. 
 
Stephanie Holan  24:44 
So what was that like to see your first child for the very first time? 
 
Etta Alldredge  24:47 
Oh, my, I-- she was a little doll.  
 
Stephanie Holan  24:54 
And was Ward-- was Ward there? 
 
Etta Alldredge  24:56 
Yeah. Well, no. I just-- he came-- he went, started to go to work that day, and something told 
him that he'd better get down to the hospital. So he got in his car and drove down to the hospital, 
and just as he came up the steps, I-- they take me back to the bed.  
 
Stephanie Holan  25:21 
Oh, wow. He just knew.  
 
Etta Alldredge  25:24 
Yeah, he just knew that that's gonna happen.  
 
Stephanie Holan  25:27 
And how did you get to the hospital? 
 
Page 23 of 27 
 
Etta Alldredge  25:29 
How did he?  
 
Stephanie Holan  25:30 
How did you get there? Because weren't you at home? 
 
Etta Alldredge  25:34 
No, no, I was in the hospital.  
 
Stephanie Holan  25:36 
Oh, OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  25:38 
And he came up the steps, and I was-- just came out of the delivery room, back to bed.  
 
Stephanie Holan  25:44 
Wow. 
 
Etta Alldredge  25:46 
You got that, did you? 
 
Stephanie Holan  25:47 
Mm-hmm.  
 
Etta Alldredge  25:47 
Yeah? 
 
Stephanie Holan  25:50 
So then when you took her home-- 
 
Etta Alldredge  25:53 
Yeah? 
 
Stephanie Holan  25:53 
--what was that like? 
 
Etta Alldredge  25:54 
Well, I had to-- I was nursing her, and I had a high neck dress and opened up in the back 
[laughs]. So I nursed her in the hospital. Before we left, they had a [?car?]. And I went over to 
my neighbors, and we drove -- I was quite a ways, about 50 miles, I guess, from the hospital to 
where we lived. And I stopped at the neighbor's woman, and I raised up my dress and nursed her 
there [laughter].  
 
Stephanie Holan  26:30 
So then, when you were home, did Ward stay home with you for a few days?  
 
Page 24 of 27 
 
Etta Alldredge  26:35 
Oh, he was there all the time.  
 
Stephanie Holan  26:36 
Oh, he was?  
 
Etta Alldredge  26:37 
Yes, he was there all the time. Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  26:39 
So that must have been nice.  
 
Etta Alldredge  26:40 
Oh yes, it was.  
 
Stephanie Holan  26:41 
Did he help a lot?  
 
Etta Alldredge  26:42 
Oh yes, he helped me. He was better with the her than I was, because I never had a baby-- never 
had around babies. But he had-- he was the oldest of nine children, so he knew what babies was. 
 
Stephanie Holan  26:58 
Oh. So you learned from Ward, and you just learned from experience.  
 
Etta Alldredge  27:04 
Yeah, just learned from experience. I didn't know a thing about babies.  
 
Stephanie Holan  27:08 
Wow. And then, um, so then you had... Who came next after Barbara? I just spaced out. 
 
Etta Alldredge  27:20 
[Laughs] well after-- we stayed there and the grasshoppers ate us out.  
 
Stephanie Holan  27:26 
Oh, that's right! OK, you were telling me about the grasshoppers.  
 
Etta Alldredge  27:28 
Yeah. Well, then after that, we moved back to Rice.  
 
Stephanie Holan  27:31 
OK.  
 
Etta Alldredge  27:32 
Page 25 of 27 
 
And then we moved to Colville, and he working in a garage there. And then they-- he bought a 
[inaudible] truck. And White Pine opened on across the river, Columbia River, and in Kettle 
Falls, it opened a big mill over there. And he [inaudible] and hauled logs for that big mill. 
 
Stephanie Holan  27:58 
And is this when you lived in the tent? 
 
Etta Alldredge  28:00 
Yeah, that's when we lived in the tent.  
 
Stephanie Holan  28:02 
OK. And what was that like, living in the tent?  
 
Etta Alldredge  28:05 
Oh, that was all right, [inaudible]. I didn't have no housework or anything to do [laughs].  
 
Stephanie Holan  28:10 
Well, that's nice.  
 
Etta Alldredge  28:11 
I did my washing and everything, but on the-- over the fire in a big tub. 
 
Stephanie Holan  28:17 
Wow. And so was it just one-- a big room tent that you lived in?  
 
Etta Alldredge  28:23 
Oh, no, it was just about the size of this. But we ate outside most of the time, because it was nice 
weather. 
 
Stephanie Holan  28:31 
OK.  And so all of you obviously slept in the tent, then?  
 
Etta Alldredge  28:32 
Yeah.  Just slept in the tent. Yes.  
 
Stephanie Holan  28:38 
OK. And then, so how long did you stay there at Kettle Falls? 
 
Etta Alldredge  28:44 
Well, we stayed there... This was early spring, and we stayed there [inaudible] fall. And then 
they-- it snowed and couldn't haul logs. So then we, in the meantime, we bought a place in Kettle 
Falls.  
 
Stephanie Holan  29:03 
Oh, a house? 
 
Page 26 of 27 
 
Etta Alldredge  29:04 
Yeah, I bought a house in Kettle Falls. We moved back to that house. 
 
Stephanie Holan  29:08 
What was that-- what did the house look like?  
 
Etta Alldredge  29:11 
Well, it was just a one-room house.  
 
Stephanie Holan  29:13 
OK.  
 
Etta Alldredge  29:15 
And it was... see, it had a bedroom, too, and then the n-- and then there was the front room with 
the kitchen and the front room, yes.  
 
Stephanie Holan  29:29 
And then Ruby-- was Ruby born when you lived in that house? 
 
Etta Alldredge  29:35 
No, no. Then-- oh, oh, no. Ruby was born-- she's-- Barbara's about five or six years older than 
her. 
 
Stephanie Holan  29:43 
Oh, OK. So Ruby hadn't come along yet, OK. And then you lived in Kettle Falls. 
 
Etta Alldredge  29:51 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  29:52 
And he wasn't working logging, but he was doing...  
 
Etta Alldredge  29:55 
Oh. 
 
Stephanie Holan  29:56 
...working in the mill? 
 
Etta Alldredge  29:58 
What?  
 
Stephanie Holan  29:59 
What did he do after the lo-- after he couldn't log anymore?  
 
Etta Alldredge  30:02 
Page 27 of 27 
 
Well, he didn't do much of anything, because it was wintertime in Kettle Falls. He played pool 
most of the time. Well, played cards at the pool hall [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  30:14 
Was that okay with you? 
 
Etta Alldredge  30:15 
Well, it wasn't at first, but I kind of got used to it.  
 
Stephanie Holan  30:19 
Did you guys fight about it or anything?  
 
Etta Alldredge  30:20 
Oh, we had a little few words about it. And then-- and then-- let's see... [Inaudible.] God, I forgot 
[laughs]. Let's see. Oh, oh, I-- we-- when I-- before she was born, or quite a while before she 
born, I went and picked cherries for one fall.  
 
Stephanie Holan  30:57 
To earn money? 
 
Etta Alldredge  30:59 
Yeah. He just picking cherries and packing them.  
 
Stephanie Holan  31:05 
Yeah? 
 
Etta Alldredge  31:06 
And one of the neighbors had a big orchard there, and we'd go up there and pick cherries and 
pack cherries.  
 
Stephanie Holan  31:14 
Did Barbara go with you?  
 
Etta Alldredge  31:15 
No, I guess my mother in law kept her. 
 
Stephanie Holan  31:21 
And-- 
 