Photo courtesy of the LL Historical Society Dreamwood Bay Resort was popular for boat rentals, food, cottages and swimming, as seen in these circa 1926 photos. Note the wool bathing suits in the photo at left.

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History: Dreams came true at Dreamwood Bay Resort
3/2/2011 11:15:02 AM

Photo courtesy of the Liberty Lake Historical Society

By Tom Specht
Liberty Lake Historical Society

Eugene Ernst bought 320 acres of Dreamwood Bay (along the bay and over the hill) for $3,000 in 1903. In 1907, when the trolley (railroad) put a line to the northwest end of the lake, Eugene and his wife, Leonora, started the Dreamwood Bay Resort, one of the first resorts at Liberty Lake. During summer weekends of 1913, five-car trains would arrive at Liberty Lake, sometimes ½-hour apart, for 75 cents round trip. Eugene's ad, excerpted from a 1914 railroad flyer, made the resort seem like a bit of heaven: "Cottages: Neatly furnished cottages at Dreamwood Bay, on the upper west shore of the lake, for rent at from $8 to $20 per week. Reduced rates by the month or season. Also a few nicely furnished house tents from $6 to $12 per week and less by the month. A number of choice seeded orchard lots facing grove and sandy beach, for rent as camp sites. Lake water under pressure and fine spring water for domestic use. All garbage collected. Launch service meeting all trains. Address, E. E. Ernst, Liberty Lake, Wn."

Eugene's granddaughter, Neldra Christopherson, remembers: "The summer she was 16 in 1908, my mother, Eugene's daughter, took the launch across the lake to pick up people at the train and bring them back for 25 cents per person. On Sunday, Leonora would fix a dinner meal and serve the guests in a large area on the lower floor of their house. They lived in the top floor."

Liberty Lake Historical Society President Ross Schneidmiller years ago recorded an interview with Pete Higgins, who worked as a lifeguard for then-owner Charles Stillwell in the late 1920s. Higgins remembers the resort had a toboggan run (the bottom of the chute is visible in the photo at the top right of this page). The toboggan, which floated, had four wheels on it and dumped you out in deep water near the diving platform. Higgins recalled the time a man came out with the ice cream truck driver, went down the run and did not hang on to the toboggan. No one knew he couldn't swim. Higgins was on the diving platform and was able to grab him, but couldn't hold on to him and the man drowned.

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The resort charged guests 25 cents to use the large bathhouse in the 1920s. About 50 people could change at one time. When it got busy on the weekends, the resort also used a changing room in the back of the store. They were so busy at times that people got tired of waiting and started changing in their cars. Stillwell, worrying about lost revenue, started charging 10 cents to change in the car. Higgins remembers having a heck of a time chasing people down to collect.

Higgins recalls the resort had about 60 boats it rented for $1.50 a day. Sometimes, large groups would come out as early as 4 o'clock in the morning to fish, so by breakfast they would have fried perch.

Harry Wilson, a World War I cavalry officer, and his wife ran the resort in the 1950s. In those days, the state would use a chemical called Rotenone to eradicate trash fish about every seven years. The chemical dissipated and became harmless in a few days. The state would then stock rainbow trout. Fishing was very popular. The limit was 15 a day.

Lloyd Herman recalls growing up at Liberty Lake working as Harry's helper from 1954-1957.

"Dreamwood Bay was unique in that it was a defined bay with a large mowed lawn, sandy beach and trees in the background," Herman recalled. "The houses were not there yet. Outside the store, Harry had a large aquarium where he kept rainbow trout. He always had one very large rainbow in it. I helped Harry build a 20-foot-high diving platform mounted on a floating platform set out in the lake. Back from the lake, they had a covered dance area with a jukebox. I played that jukebox a lot. The dance area was about 20 by 40 feet with slick Masonite floors. They had a box of sawdust that was sprinkled on the floor so you could glide as you danced. You paid $1 to park at the resort. One weekend, we surprised Katie, Harry's wife, when we collected $275 - a large sum in those days."

Running a resort meant working long hours every day of the week. Harry Wilson had 24-hour service on boat motors. The other resorts at the lake were closer to town. As motor boats became cheaper and people had more disposable income, more families would take their boats to the many lakes surrounding Spokane. Skip Toreson, a friend of Harry and Kay Wilson, recalls that when the Wilsons received full ownership of the property in the early 1960s, they decided to close the resort and partnered with a developer to develop the area.

Tom Specht serves on the board of the Liberty Lake Historical Society. He has lived in Liberty Lake since 1985.

DREAMWOOD BAY RESORT
Description
Located on the southwest side of the lake, Dreamwood Bay Resort was known for its boats, food, launches, cottages, house tents, picnic grounds, dancing and outdoor fireplaces.

Dates of Operation
1907-1960

Owners
• Eugene Ernst, 1907-1918
• Edwin Fuller, 1918-1922
• Charles Stillwell, 1922-1934
• Art and Neel Mitchell, 1934-1947
• Harry and Kay Wilson, 1947-1960

What's there today?
The park is now residential homes, including the original Dreamwood store and home which has been completely remodeled by Steve and Roxene Emmel. Some of the silver maple trees, now more than 100 years old, are still standing.

Did you know
• Several springs exist behind Dreamwood Bay; they were used to supply the resort.

• Dreamwood Bay kept an ice house on the resort grounds. They would cut ice from the lake in the winter and use it to supply ice boxes in the cabins during the busy summer season.

Author's note
I am writing about the Dreamwood Bay Resort because my mother-in-law loved the resort. In the 1926 family photo above, she is 5 years old sitting on her mother's lap. Her sister and father are on the oars guiding the boat in Dreamwood Bay. In the 1920s and '30s, her mother would fry a chicken, and her family, the Gerkings, would pack a picnic lunch and come almost every weekend from north-central Spokane to the resort. She loved to swim, swimming regularly her entire life. This passion started at the resort, where she first learned to swim as a young girl.
- Tom Specht