Payette County ID Archives Obituaries.....Sherman, Marinous B. 1960 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/id/idfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Cheryl Hanson ihansonb@fmtc.com February 25, 2006, 2:33 am Independent Enterprise 11-3-1960 Independent Enterprise Payette, Idaho Thursday, November 3, 1960 Builder of Local Castle Succumbs at Ninety-Five By Cordelia Giesler Tussing Services were held Monday, Oct. 3 in Lewiston, Idaho for Mr. Marinous B. Sherman, 95, who died Sept. 29, fur days after a stroke. Interment was in Lewis-Clark Memorial Gardens across the road from where he had lived the past 12 years. Mr. Sherman was born May 26, 1865, a few weeks after the end of the Civil War, on his parents' homestead near Fredricksburg, Iowa. Mr. Sherman, a pioneer of the Payette valley was best known as the builder of a castle on the Snake River. Although never completed, his castle stood for over 40 years, a landmark, of interest to all who saw it, many people visited it, especially the last few years when it stood vacant. The castle was torn down in 1949 to make way for a housing project. The concrete blocks were used by Ed Durbin to build an apartment house in Fruitland. Mr. Sherman and his bride, Ella Gibson Sherman, both college students at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. came to Idaho in 1892. They came to sell maps to schools in Idaho, and decided to make their home in the Payette Valley. Mr. Sherman purchased 500 acres of land between the Snake and Payette rivers, about three miles south of Payette. He paid the state $10.00 an acre for the land, much of it borrowed money. After building a cabin to live in, he began the back-breaking labor of clearing his new land. The usual custom was to grub out the sage-brush, but always able to invent tools and methods to make his work easier, Mr. Sherman used a railroad rail drawn by horses to break down the brush which was the fuel used in pioneer homes. He also made a press with which he made torches of the tops of sagebrush, used to start fires. Help Build Canal Aided by other early settlers, Mr. Sherman helped build the canal for the Farmers Ditch company which came from a dam in the Payette River near Emmett. The rich new land had no value without water. After a family garden, Mr. Sherman's first venture in agriculture was to set out a few acres to Italian prune trees, the first in the valley. Although the Payette Valley later became one of the largest prune shipping areas in the state, his project failed. His fruit was of excellent quality, but there was a shortage of labor, no methods of preparing the fruit for shipment and no established markets. After Mr. Sherman's financial affairs were settled, he had only 40 acres of his original 500 acres. They included the sand hill and land which is now the gayway district. Undaunted, he set most of his land to black raspberry plants, in long rows running east and west. Soon he again was producing luscious fruit, but lack of a close market for the perishable berries and a shortage of labor, caused problems again for the little man with big ideas. Lets Berries Dry He conceived the idea of letting the berries dry on the bushes and selling the dried fruit. He laid the bearing stalks down on the south side of the row where the berries had full sunshine to dry them. Also the new growth had space to grow upright to prepare for next years crop. Again the invention farmer built machinery to cut the canes and thresh the dry leaves. They were cleaned and placed in bags, shipped to eastern cities and sold for about 20 cents a pound. Mrs. Sherman and infant died in 1900 leaving two small sons, Milo and Robert, a sister Miss Dorra Sherman came from Iowa and took care of the home and children for two years. In 1902 Mr. Sherman married a widow, Mrs. Eva G. Phillips of Payette, who had a daughter, Cosie. Two daughters, Marine and Vera were added to the family. These were prosperous years and Mr. Sherman began to plan a fine new home for his family. His life-long dream had been to build a castle on a hill. He now had the perfect setting on his sandhill above the Snake River, with its lovely view of the horizon in all directions, including Squaw Butte in Idaho and Malheur Butte in Oregon. Well To Be Dug But first a well must be dug to supply water for the project. Up to this time water for household use had been hauled in barrels from the river. William J. Reddington, a homesteader a few miles south of the Sherman home was employed to dig the well. Mr. Reddington and his wife, Lillie, both graduates of Aberlin College, were teachers before coming to Idaho while it was still a territory. He was a teacher in the school in Payette. He was also a fine carpenter and a general handyman. W.F. Sherwood who owned a brickyard at Payette also assisted in digging the well. When the well was about 100 feet deep tragedy struck, Mr. Reddington was killed. As he dug and filled a huge bucket with sand and rocks in the bottom of the well, others, aided by a windlass, raised the bucket to the top, the rope broke and Mr. Redding (Reddington) was crushed. Among those who assisted in taking his body from the well were Mr. Sherwood and Marry Ramey. There seems to be no record as to whether the well was ever finished or not. About 1909 Mr. Sherman began preliminaries to building his castle. First machinery had to be made and a factory built to make the concrete blocks. They were so well made that they will endure through the ages. Assisted by two capable men, H. J. Tharp of Ontario and D. H. Snowberger of Payette, he began to construct this castle. The center room was octangular, one story, with a balcony on top, three towers, each two stories were built around it and finished for comfortable living. Because of the failing health and financial difficulties, his castle as planned was never completed. Mr. Sherman's faith in his dried berries was so great that he purchased land at Emmett and Kimberly and set out more acres of berry plants. A divesting freeze on June 4, 1914 brought financial ruin to Mr. Sherman. His berry bushes were killed. He raided and sold garden produce until his children were educated and married. In 1930 Mr. and Mrs. Sherman moved to Ceres, Calif., to live near their youngest daughter, where they made their home for 18 years. Faith In Idaho Always with faith in Idaho and the sandy soil above the Snake River, the Shermans returned in 1948 and purchased a comfortable home and a few acres of land at Lewiston Orchards. Although then 83 years old, well past the age of hard labor, and with failing eyesight and hearing, Mr. Sherman again planted black raspberries. Soon he was producing, drying and selling the berries for $1.00 a pound. He had small cardboard cartons made to hold one pound with printed direction of making pies, jams or jelly, also larger cartons for berries to be sold to restaurants and bakeries. To his surprise, the greatest use of his dried berries was to make indelible ink from them, which was used in meat packing plants to stamp their finished products. A year ago he was compelled to give up his gardening work by ill health, but happy that he had finally proved his faith in dried berries successful. During his years in the Payette Valley, Mr. Sherman was sometimes considered eccentric, perhaps he was or possibly, he was just a man with more education and high ideals than the average pioneer. He was a true friend, always ready to help those in need. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/id/payette/obits/s/sherman1848nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/idfiles/ File size: 8.0 Kb