George S. Turner poses at his Greencreek home with his cat, Cat, in this Michael Haberman photo published in the Dec. 10, 1989, Lewiston Tribune. The photo accompanied a story in Haberman’s Elders series, and Turner, 91, talked at length about his early life. He met a teenaged Charles Lindbergh in Minnesota and worked in the woods and on log drives before heading West where he worked for the U.S. Forest Service backcountry. For the Moose Creek District of the Nez Perce National Forest, he headed up fire crews and took supplies by pack mule to fire lookouts. He and his wife, Zola, bought the Greencreek home in 1929, just before the Great Depression hit. “We lived that winter on two dollars and 40 odd cents I had in my pocket and what my missus had canned,” Turner remembered. Eventually, he quit the Forest Service and turned to farming full time. In retirement, he still keeps a larger garden every summer. Readers who would like to share their historical photos (20 years or older) from throughout the region may do so by emailing them to blasts@lmtribune.com or submitting them to: Blast from the Past, P.O. Box 957, Lewiston, ID 83501. Questions? Call Jeanne M. DePaul at (208) 848-2221.
