1925 Honorary Member Profile : A. W. Deavitt

Veteran official court reporter Alexander W. Deavitt was the only honorary member to have a cave named after him. Years after his death in a 1934 hunting accident, Mountaineers were hiking to "Deavitt Caves" on the Little Spokane River near Dartford.

The caves on his Little Spokane property were a factor in his election as one of the first four honorary members in January 1925. The Spokesman-Review later cited "his active promotion of knowledge concerning the scenic attractions of the Inland Empire" and added, "He gave the Mountaineers the privilege of hiking through and camping on, at any time, the beautiful tract of woodland near Dartford which contains the 'potholes' of the Little Spokane and the great underground water channel known to the club as 'Deavitt's Cave.'"

Past president Helen Stowell recalls that her first club trip, in February 1947, was a hike to Deavitt Caves (also often called Dartford Caves). Requirements listed in the Kinnikinnick for Outing 1929 were "lunch, thermos, and a flashlight or candle..."

First mention of Deavitt's property was Outing 318 in April 1924. Thirty-thee left the Auto Interurban Station by bus for the Little Spokane near Colbert. "Lunch will be eaten among the picturesque rocks on Mr. A. W. Deavitt's country home on the river--a beauty spot." The next time, in November, hikers took the Great Northern train to Mead and dined well. According to the Kinnikinnick, "Down Deadman Creek to the Little Spokane River, and along that stream to Mr. A. W. Deavitt's place, where the Commissary Committee will have beefsteak for the piece de resistance of the noonday meal."

Valentine's Day was celebrated on Walk 393 to the Deavitt property in 1926. "The Social Committee is planning 'doin's' appropriate to this time-honored and 'heart-breaking' day." In June 1932, the "potholes" were the site of the club's then-annual breakfast outing. Numerous other outings occurred at the popular site.

Deavitt came to Spokane from Butte, Montana. City directories first list him in 1908 under Lake & Deavitt, stenographers, in the Peyton Building. The listing changed to court reporter under his name only in 1910. His home then was at 1204 Broadway. He was serving as reporter in the court of Judge Fred H. Witt when he died.

Tragedy struck at the end of the 1934 hunting season when Deavitt was 57. He died instantly from a bullet fired from a borrowed .30-.30 rifle, reported the November 13 Spokesman-Review. He had gone to the woods 7 miles northwest of his home with hunting partner Frank Horak, who heard two shots and found Deavitt's body in a clump of brush. Horak carried no gun. The newspaper quoted an official report: "It looked like he might have fired at something and then left the gun cocked as he set it down....The gun was discharged at close range, in bullet entering above his left eye....We were inclined to believe that the death was due to the accidental discharge of the gun....It was an accident which might have happened to any one not familiar with firearms and Deavitt was not a gun expert." Just one week earlier, Deavitt had paid off the mortgage on his home. He left his wife, Bertha L., two daughters, Perscilla A. and Sylvia E., and a son, Richard M.

Under the heading, "A Name Is Stricken," the January-February 1935 Kinnikinnick stated, "Although not active as a hiker, he was an earnest friend of the Mountaineers, and interested in our activities."

Lorna Ream

(Sources: Club bulletins, city directories, and news clippings provided, in part, by member and Spokesman-Review outdoor editor Rich Landers and the Spokane Public Library's Northwest Room head Nancy Compau.)