Etna News - Smith Service Station

from my perspective . . .

As promised . . . here are photos and information supplied by Joanne Smith Mello of the evolution from Harness Shop to Service Station, spanning the lives of her grandfather, Matthias (Matt) Smith, and her father, Raymond (Ray) Smith.

Remember this photo from the August 9th Post of the early days of downtown Etna from the Bernita Tickner Family Collection? (circa 1905)

Note the 'Harness Shop' sign to left/below the Etna Hotel sign

When Joanne saw it, she immediately emailed and said she had a great photo taken on the porch of the Harness Shop!
How right she was . . .

My note:
There is a porch outside the windows . . .
the chairs aren't just sitting in mid-air!

Left to right: Gene Wagner, Matthias F. Smith (Joanne's grandfather),
Kenny Crandall, Ed Smith, boy with horse unknown.

Joanne wrote this:
"Kenny was son of Rosalia Smith Crandall
and cousin of my father.
Ed Smith was brother of my father.

I think my dad said that Bill Smith gave him this info.
When Bill mentioned the boy with the horse,
he said: “ I don’t know the name of the boy,
but I think I know the horse.”

The overhang area above the people has a sign that says: Harness Shop.
It doesn’t show up all that well on the photograph itself,
but the letters are large & quite legible.
Why it didn’t show up in the scan, I don’t know.

When autos came upon the scene,
I believe grandpa Matt Smith switched ‘gears’
and attended more to autos than horses!

Guessing this photo is dated about 1907."

Joanne also sent the list of owners between 1874 to 1920 of the property that later became Matt's Service Station between the Stephen's Store and what we believe was then called the 'Bucket of Blood Saloon'. She was not sure what year her grandfather Matt Smith acquired the station property . . . sometime after the Etna Hotel buildings burned. Does anyone know what year that fire was???

The original photos were those little 2" x 3" ones . . . remember those in all our old photo albums? When Joanne scanned them, they came out this size:

Well, we knew that would never work as no one would be able to see what was going on! A quick check with my 'computer guru' Thelma, revealed that we should set the dpi on the scanner at 600 for small photos like that . . .
and Voilà . . .

Filling up at Matt's Service Station.
Does anyone know who this is . . .

Is that the Bucket of Blood Saloon behind the car and wheelbarrow? Does anyone have more photos of it and information they could share with us?

My note:
I wasn't exactly sure of the exact sequence
of these photos, but you will get the idea!

We believe this to be Ray Smith
working at his Dad's Service Station.
Old-style gas pumps and
big white tanks for bulk engine oil
that was brought in.
Oil was then pumped out by the quart
or however much you needed!
(Before the days of canned motor oil)

Matt passed in 1932 and his wife, Anna Salstrom Smith passed in January, 1937. Joanne presumes her father took over the station after the death of his father. When the estate was settled in February, 1938, it shows Raymond R. Smith received title to the station along with 'all accounts due said service station'.

Joanne has spent untold hours/years going through microfiche from the Western Sentinel Newspaper and found this short, but incomplete article:

Western Sentinel May 3, 1939

R. Smith Remodels Service Station

"Raymond Smith of Etna
is remodeling his service station,
Matt's so named,
tearing down the old roof and
part of the back of the building
which was at one time a blacksmith shop,
and putting in......"
(article was cut off at this point,
so we have no idea what remainder of small article would be)

Work begins . . .
love the old safe sitting outside!

Propped up and 'ready to roll'
(Note the poles under the station . . .
people back then knew about leverage
and were sooooooooo industrious and inventive)

It appears the old truck
helped move the building
while the 'pole-tenders'
kept pace with placing poles
for the building to move on.

Note the location of the street light . . .