1925 Honorary Member Profile : John Anderson

John Anderson, who joined the club in 1916 and was the only member to serve four terms as president, also distinguished himself during 20 years in the Washington State House of Representatives before his death at 78 in 1937. Elected to a second legislative term in 1915-the year the club's forerunner, the Spokane Walking Club was born- Anderson divided his energies between the two until 1933, when, a life-long Republican, he lost in the Roosevelt landslide. He served eight terms on the House Appropriations Committee, including as chair, headed the Spokane delegation, and was at one time dean of the Legislature. A 1929 House resolution praised his work as chair of the Enrollment Committee. Other committee assignments were Penal and Reform Institutions, and Elections and Privileges. And he proofread all House bills before they were approved in final form.

Besides his terms as club president in 1922, 1923, 1924, and 1926, Anderson was a perennial member-and six-time chairman-of the Walks Committee, informal commissary chief, head of the 1928 by-laws revision committee, and historian. He was the only member to reject "honorary" status. In 1925, when the club voted to give Anderson its first honorary life membership, acceptance meant losing the right to vote (editor's note. This clause was not changed until Marion Krauss became an honorary member in 1985. She, too, would have declined membership, but the club voted to change the rule instead.) He deferred this honor until poor health ended his hiking career in 1935, two years before his death.

Walking was Anderson's passion. He boasted of hiking 1,000 miles a year for 20 years. His name appears again and again in club bulletin as leader or participant in weekly 8- to 15-mile hikes. He signed the Mt. Coeur d'Alene summit register on August 20, 1916. Typical is this write-up on one of the pre-Kinnikinnick postcards used to communicate club events.

"January, 15, 1922. Walk No. 222. A winter hike to Moran Mountain. Rockwood car leaving Riverside and Wall at 9:44. Going was good on the roads. From the crest of the ridge where the route turns to the south to 'Broken Leg's' cabin, snow was about six inches deep, then increased in depth to ten inches on top of the mountain...Temperature was six above when start was made; no wind. A superb winter day. Ten enthusiasts turned out...Nine miles. John Anderson, Leader."

Most overnight trips were lead by Anderson. Here's one from 1923.

"Sept. 2-3. Walk No. 286. We start our fall schedule with a trip to interesting Signal Point, Idaho. The altitude of the peak is 5,250 feet...A mile north...and on the same ridge, is Shasta Butte, elevation 4,868 feet. Both peaks will be climbed...Bring blankets or sleeping bag. Tag your bundle with your name and 'Spokane Mountaineers,' bring it to the station, and put in the baggage car...Also bring sufficient food for four meals, and plate, knife, fork, spoon, and cup...The club's frying pans (three or four) will be taken. The club will provide coffee, tea, sugar, and milk. Take the 9:10 A.M. train on Sunday, September 2, at Terminal Building ...We will get off at Spokane Bridge and hike to camp, about seven miles. There will be no backpacking, as the Walks Committee has hired Mr. Pascal Reynolds to haul our equipment from Spokane Bridge to camp and back to Signal Point station...On Monday afternoon, we will leave camp, go over the ridge and north on the east side to Signal Point station, about eight miles, where we will take the train for home. Disposition of the time between arrival at and departure from camp will be made by the Leader, John Anderson."

"To the last," said the Spokesman-Review, "he went on club hikes, often leading the party, and easily keeping up with the stiffest pace set. It is said he could walk 25 or 30 miles daily..." Anderson was popular with young club members, who often found it hard to keep up with him. "They looked up to him as guide, philosopher, and friend."

A life-long bachelor, Anderson arrived in Spokane from the East in 1889 and began his 46-year poof-reading career with the Spokesman-Review and, later, the Spokane Daily Chronicle. His collection of pioneer photos began with Spokane's great fire that year. Downtown Spokane was his home, no doubt because it was convenient for walking-to work: to the street cars, trains, and buses ridden to trailheads; and to a 20-year hangout, the Union Printing Co., operated by E.D. Furman. The two met in 1889 at the boarding house where Anderson lived for five years. The San Marco Apartments and Parsons Hotel were later addresses.

Boyhood days were spent in a Hudson River town in western New York state, where Anderson skated in the winter and swam in the summer. He had vivid recollections of woodshed "tannings" administered for swimming on Sundays and out of season.

The Mountaineers showed appreciation to their veteran over the years. In 1925, at the 10th anniversary celebration at the Davenport Hotel, Anderson and club founder Ora Maxwell lit the 10 birthday candles on the elaborate cake topped with the effigy of an original mountaineer. In 1933, one of the club's five "Road of Remembrance" Siberian elm trees was named in his honor. (These trees were donated in a community project to line the new double-track, paved highway from Wellesley to Whitworth College.) He also formally dedicated the new club songbook at the Mountaineer Christmas tree in Paradise Valley and officiated at "chief judge" at the annual Field Day athletic event in 1933.

An interest in Indian history led Anderson to donate Gioll's Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon to the club library in 1934, as well as relate the background of Indian names during weekend walks.

Although still vigorous at retirement in 1935, the newspaper reported that "his wavy hair was snow white, but his eyes was keen, his step firm, and his mental energy amazing....A heart ailment soon sent him to Sacred Heart Hospital. He left Spokane in April to live with a cousin, his only relative, in Watervliet, New York, where he died in May 1937."

Final tribute was paid in the September-October 1937 Kinnikinnick. "Scores of our members learned their trail technique under his guidance...John Anderson is gone, but his cheery personality, the inspiration of his leadership, the memories of years of comradeship on the trails he loved will long be with his Mountaineer friends."

(Source: Mountaineer bulletins and the Spokesman-Review)

Lorna Ream