The story behind Bockemuehl Canyon

DAVENPORT-- As you drive north on Highway 25 from Davenport you’ll encounter beautiful fields of golden grain as you climb in elevation for many miles before descending down into a canyon full of pine trees. This canyon north of Reinbold Road has been known as Bockemuehl Canyon for well over 100 years, and is still labeled that way on many maps today. The story behind Bockemuehl Canyon is one full of history, perseverance, and myth and it all begins with one man: Bernard Bockemuehl.

Local myth labels Bockemuehl as a bootlegger who operated a still in a hidden rock cave in this canyon, training his horse to make his deliveries. Some versions have him going bankrupt due to prohibition which is in contradiction to him being a bootlegger. But were these stories true?

Records show that Bockemuehl was born in Baden, Germany in 1838, and immigrated to America at the age of 19 in 1857 landing in Illinois. US census records of 1860 and 1870 show him living with his wife, Annie, in Litchfield, Illinois with an occupation given as a liquor dealer and brewer. Later his adopted daughter, Anna, shows up in the historic record. Bockemuehl moved his family to Rockford outside of Spokane Falls in the 1870s where he became well known in the brewery business. According to his grandson, Harold Harris, in a Spokesman Review article dated May 17, 1970, he became so successful that “he was offered any location in Spokane Falls” to continue his brewery business, but “he wanted to be where the soldiers were.” With that Bockemuehl moved to the canyon located above Fort Spokane in 1880 and built Fort Spokane Brewery.

There’s no way to say for certain why Bockemuehl wanted to be near the soldiers, but it could be attributed to his Illinois background. Bockemuehl lived in Illinois when the civil war broke out in 1861. He lived a short distance from the home of newly elected President Abraham Lincoln, and Illinois became a major source of troops for the union army. Odds are Mr. Bockemuehl had many friends who served in the civil war and had a soft spot in his heart for the soldiers. Bockemuehl also likely knew that young bachelor men in forts at this time were known to enjoy (and abuse) their alcohol, making for a favorable business opportunity.

Bockemuehl soon built his home and brewery business in the canyon and started delivering his barrels of beer to the soldiers at Fort Spokane. He was said to have had a black horse named Coaley that pulled the wagon full of beer to the Fort. The horse made so many trips that Bockemuehl soon trained Coaley to pull the buckboard full of beer barrels to the Fort by himself where the soldiers would unload it and send him back on his way home with their money. Coaley would return home in the afternoon with the empty buckboard after completing his eight mile round trip. He must have been one amazing horse becoming an early day automated delivery system for Bockemuehl so he could tend to his brewery business.

Bockemuehl’s beer became well known and articles praising his product can be found in area newspapers of that time. Several historic Fort Spokane documents list Bockemuehl as selling approximately 2,000 barrels of beer to the soldiers annually. Assuming this was true, the soldiers at Fort Spokane were consuming almost five and a half 36 gallon barrels of beer per day. At the height of army occupation the fort had just over 300 soldiers along with some families which means the average soldier was consuming roughly seven 12 oz drinks per day.

Numerous Fort Spokane history documents revealed that Mr. Bockemuehl had been caught trying to sell his beer on the post. During the occupation, sales of goods and beer on post were restricted to the post trader whose concession prices were controlled by a board of officers stationed there. Could this be the real reason behind Bockemuehl sending Coaley to deliver the beer without a driver? After all it's pretty hard to fine a horse. Later Bockemuehl's daughter, Anna, married a Fort Spokane Officer in 1892 in Joseph “Zack” Harris which may have improved relations with his fort business.

Bernard Bockemuehl was described as an eccentric man known for his peculiar traits. Early photographs of Bockemuehl's brewery show several brewery buildings, a bottling department, and his beautiful two story house located in the background at a distance. Bockemuehl built the entire operation from logging the trees on his homestead. He even carved a wooden sled from a log which he used to sled down to the brewery from his house in the winter and had pulled back to the house later in the day by his employees.

The location of a part of Bockemuehl’s brewery, a man-made cave used to store barrels of beer, can still be found today.

A 1970 Spokesman Review article shows Harold Harris and his wife standing in front of a man made tunnel. The article indicated the cave was carved 100 feet deep into the hillside. A previous owner of the property, Hazel Burgett, reported knowing about the cave but said she never entered it, due to a story about a horse being buried inside. However, the brick and mortar archway can still be found on the property.

Bockemuehl's brewery had burned down two times: in 1891 with a $2,000 loss and no insurance, and in April of 1906 with a loss of $600, and insurance in the amount of $300. Bockemuehl did not go out of business due to prohibition, but rather due to personal and worldly events of the time. In 1898 all the troops stationed at Fort Spokane were pulled away to fight in the Spanish American War, and with them the demand for 2,000 barrels of beer each year. Bockemuehl continued operating his brewery on a smaller scale, but entered into an ugly divorce in 1905. Court documents of the day show Bockemuehl was in debt to a neighbor for a large sum and paid out his remaining $1,000 to his wife to settle the divorce case. With these hardships in mind it appears Bockemuehl financially was unable to rebuild his brewery operation after the fire of 1906. Bockemuehl remained on the property with his daughter nearby, and passed away in 1908 at the age of 70 from appendicitis. Bernard Bockemuehl was buried at the Egypt Cemetery where a small aluminum sign still bears his name.

Bockemuehl's cave entrance is a reminder of his hard work during a different period in time. While he and the amazing Coaley have been gone for many years, The Bockemuehl name lives on in the well-traveled canyon serving as a reminder of early pioneers who laid out a path in the face of hardships for all of us who follow.