We had heard about a unique museum in south-central Washington named WHOOP-N- HOLLER. This we had to see. After driving east on highway 14 we turned north at the small town of Roosevelt and headed up Roosevelt Grade Road which became East Road and later Middle Road. The drive was over high plains with an occasional wheat field, but the area is sparsely populated. After seeing nothing for eleven miles we spotted a ranch down a gravel road to the right with a sign announcing Whoop-N-Holler Ranch-N-Museum. The entrance road to the house was decorated with lines of old trucks and cars, farm machinery and many other rusting objects.

At the rear of the house we were greeted by Lawrence Whitmore. We exchanged "howdies" and he was ready to show us around. About 1950 Lawrence and his wife Ada Ruth started collecting all sorts of items and they have their collections displayed in four building and also outside. The ranch was homesteaded by Lawrence's grandfather in the early 1900's and has been in three generations. Lawrence and Ada Ruth take care of the museum and ranch along with one part-time helper. The museum's name came from the antics of their now-grown five children.

The first building we entered was a 1900 one-room school complete with desks, McGuffy readers and other period books. The entire history of the Klickitat County's school system is depicted on the wall with pictures. Lawrence explained many of the sixty-two schools the county once had and the two present consolidated schools. We next entered a large building with antique autos and trucks lining the sides. There were early Fords and Chevrolets mixed with Essex, Hudson, Maxwell, Edsel, Studebakers and a Republic truck. Lawrence had a story for each car and truck and how he acquired each one. There were several old gasoline fuel pumps, a line of barber and dentist chairs and equipment from a bygone day. One unique item was a horse drawn hearse on sled runners. The hearse had a basket inside and Lawrence explained the story to us. When a person died the hearse was sent to pick up the body and it was placed in the basket. That is were the saying came from that someone was a "basket case."

The next building contained so many items it would take a book to document them. A short list includes player pianos, pump and player organs, and enough curios, artifacts and antiques to keep a person interested for hours. The most interesting part is asking Lawrence about an item and listening to the item's history and his yarns. One unique display case contains dollhouse furniture made by Lawrence's grandfather from petrified wood found on the ranch. Our last stop was in a side room of the Whitmore's home that houses a pipe organ. We recommend if you are in the area, drive to the Whitmore ranch and stop at the back door. Lawrence will come out and greet you and tell you more history than you can absorb.