Silver Valley Stories: Clearwater River Fears

7/23/10

Clearwater River Fears

It is interesting as I read over my siblings writings about the Clearwater River here and here, and read about the fears of the Clearwater River, mostly passed on by our mother.

Mom's fears must have been all absorbed by Raymond Pert and Inland Empire Girl before I came along, because I have no memory of Mom being so afraid of the river.

In fact, I never remember being at the river with my mom.

Many of my sibling's memories of the river were at Beaver Dam. This was before my time. This was before Dworshak Dam and the reservoir became a reality. And because of that reality, Beaver Dam was covered up.

My memories of the Clearwater River all happened at Zann's Beach.

And I only remember being at the river with my dad. And I remember being amazed Dad could swim across the river and back, because I had never seen him swim at home, even when we would visit friend's river places up the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River.

I did have a fear of the river one summer, though. It was the summer of 1975. I would have been 12-years-old. That summer I had gone to The Rena Theater, and watched a movie called "Jaws".

That summer when we went to Zann's Beach with my family, I refused to go out into the water very deep, because I was convinced a great white shark would come and attack me.

Seriously!

Thank goodness, 35 years later, my fears of sharks in the water are gone. I was able to go to Zann's beach with my own daughters and husband and niece, and enjoy the water, and remember the white sand on the beach that was hard to get off, the volcanic rocks on the beach, and the memories of times gone by.

Here are some pictures of our family at Zann's Beach a few weeks ago when our family attended the "Last Cousin Standing Hootenanny" family reunion in Orofino, Idaho.