The Tiger Store
This is the story of the growth of a pioneer community, its way of life, and its decline as changing technology and centralization caused smaller communities in the area to wither.
And it's the story of a passion to preserve knowledge of the past--of the days when hard work and helping your neighbors was a way of life. But through the years, from 1906 to the present, there was always a Tiger Store.
The earliest known settlers in the Tiger area came in the 1880s and 90s. Shortly after, the area was opened for timber claims. Among the first to take up a claim on the wooded lots was George Tiger, who arrived in 1899. John and Mary Pfister were among the first homesteaders.
In the early days the river was the "highway" for passengers and freight. When George Tiger established a riverboat landing, people called it "Tiger's Landing". That's how the town acquired its name.
Wes and Jennie Wooding were one of the first six homesteaders in the area. Jennie circulated a petition to form a post office in 1905. The proposed service area was 36 square miles. it was typical to have the post office in a general store. So the community pitched in and built a log building for a store and post office on the river bank near the boat landing. The post office was established January 16, 1906. The mail was delivered by steamboat--until October 1909.
"Old man Yoder was the first postmaster, and he built what he called a hotel near the post office. It only had three rooms, and when he rented them he didn't have a place to stay himself. He finally built a lean-to on the back of the hotel."
The first school north of the Calispell Valley was at Tiger. The school district included the area north to the Canadian line, east to the Idaho border, south to the Calispell Valley and west to the Tiger Hill summit. "In that big district there was only a handful of school kids." --Jennie Wooding.
The entire community gathered to build a log school house in 1902--located north of here across present SR 31. Destroyed by a forest fire in 1909, it was replaced by a wood framed school in 1911. (In the interim, school was held at the Woodings.) A one-room school, Forest Home, was built in 1911 for the children on Tiger Hill.
The Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad was built to connect the railroad in Newport with the towns on this side of the river, reaching Tiger in 1909.
The post office moved to the Cross' new store across SR 20 from today's store. Typically, the building's upper floor was hotel rooms. Flora Cross was postmaster from 1913 to 1943.
The Tiger area was heavily timbered. For nearly two decades the area bustled with logging and lumbering activity. Cordwood for riverboat boilers, cedar poles for utility lines, railroad ties, etc. were produced for outside markets. Products were barged upriver to the railroad in Newport. After 1909 Tiger boasted a daily I&WNRR train, which mainly transported logs. Small lumber mills sprang up in the area. The St. Regis Lumber Co. employed around 70 men; its drying and loading yard was east of the railroad tracks, across from today's store.
The community grew westward, towards the railroad and beyond. Businesses and houses lined the Tiger Road from the river to half a mile up Tiger Hill. Tiger was the first town north of Newport to have a post office, school, livery stable and dance hall. At one time, Tiger boasted that 2,000 people received mail at the Tiger Post Office.
The building that is today the Tiger Store was built in 1912. It housed several other businesses before it became the Tiger Store and post office in 1944.
Barbara Smith came here in 1944 from Montana and bought today's store. Becoming postmaster in 1944, she moved the post office to her store. She served until 1975.
The St. Regis Mill closed in the 1920s. The Newport to Colville road was completed in 1925, and the road to Canada in 1929--but the anticipated traffic did not materialize. The Great Depression hit in 1929; a forest fire in 1931 destroyed much of the town. The town of Tiger slid into a gradual decline, losing its residents to more prosperous communities. Although the town of Tiger was no more, the store remained in use, supported by the post office. On February 29, 1975 the Tiger Post Office closed, and the Tiger Store closed with it.
In 1982 a group of local history buffs founded the Tiger Historical Center. Their goal was to preserve the history of Tiger and the Tiger Store. They leased the empty building from Barbara Smith to house a museum for the community and visitors. From 1983 to 1997 several thousand people visited the museum. It was Barbara's wish that the building be gifted to the Tiger Historical Center, which occurred in 1998. In 1999, badly in need of repair, the Tiger Store was renovated as the gateway for the North Pend Oreille Scenic Byway. Today, all that's left of the town that once had its own baseball team--the Tiger Wideawakes--is the Tiger Store.
From the Historic Marker