In Eastern Washington, there’s a little ghost town that I just found out about. My son and I discovered Cloverland while we were on a totally different kind of trip. While we were playing in our pickups in the snow, the front axle shaft broke in his 1987 Dodge. This led us to search craigslist to find some new axles.  After some messaging back and forth, we planned to go get the axles that Friday.  The owner of the axles lived in Cloverland.  It’s interesting to me how long it takes to drive to places that are really not that far from us.  It’s a way of life in Idaho because the terrain is so rugged that roads are not possible in some areas.  It reminds me of the old saying, “You can’t get there from here.”  Cloverland is only 58 miles from where we live, but we had to drive to Lewiston Idaho to get across the Snake River canyon.  This turns the trip into 90 miles.  Such is the price we pay for living in such a beautiful area.

We took off just before sunrise because that’s how I roll.  I figured, if we are driving somewhere, we might as well get a sunrise picture.  It didn’t take long to find my shot.  The moon was still in the sky, but the sunrise was displaying that pink glow that comes with the below freezing weather in the winter here.

When we drove into the Cloverland area, It excited me to see the old Garage building that is in the header of this post.  I knew that I had to spend a little time here after getting the axles.  I contained my interest and we continued on to meet Bruce and buy the axles.  Afterward, I talked with Bruce about Cloverland and asked if he knew of any other old buildings in the area.  He told me that his barn was built around the turn of the century and allowed us to walk around and take pictures.  Bruce told me his family homesteaded the farm after moving there from Arkansas shortly after the Civil War because his ancestor was a Union sympathizer and was not treated well in Arkansas.  I have a couple of shots of the barn in the Full Gallery, but the sun coming through this tree out back was my favorite shot there.

Here’s the page about Cloverland from:

Exploring Washington’s Past: A Road Guide to History

By Ruth Kirk, Carmela Alexander

I did of course stop and take some pictures of the garage and the church on the way back through.  The sun was just beginning to burn through the fog and that simplified the background nicely.

I love the detail that they used to put into these buildings.  When is the last time you saw a door handle that was this interesting?

It looks like the current residents of Cloverland are proud of the old building.  It is locked up, but from what I could see through the windows, it looked well cared for and fairly clean.  There was even a broom propped up against the wall.  Here’s a shot through the window of the garage area.

I love exploring the back roads and finding treasures like this.  There are more images of this awesome place in My Gallery for you to enjoy or even purchase if you like.  Thanks for reading.  Please comment and share!