How the Enaville Resort Got Its Name. . . and other interesting Tidbits!
The naming of the SnakePit has as many different stories as there are people, not to mention a history as long as your arm.
Josie and Al Bates took over the SnakePit in 1954. It had also been called the Clark Hotel. John and Alice Clark ran the hotel from the early 1900’s to the early 1940’s. They sold it to the Tomherlins; then it was sold to the Southwicks, who ran it in the early 50’s.
Josie started calling it the Enaville Resort in hopes of getting a liquor license. During the 1974 flood, they tied boats up at the foot of the steps (water was that high) and took pictures to send to Boise, just to show they had lake frontage (in hopes of getting a liquor license).
An old-timer mentioned they used to call the “girls of the morning” snakes. Before there was indoor plumbing, the outdoor ‘privies’ were out back near a swampy area. People used to see water snakes. One customer said they would catch ‘em and put them in a glass enclosure and bring them inside from time to time.
There was also a murder/suicide here. A male customer shot a gal, and then killed himself. Another longtime resident remembers getting off the train from Kellogg to transfer to a train going up the North Fork. He came over to get a bite to eat and found there was a fellow lying at the bottom of the stairs who had been knifed. He remembers people were literally stepping over the corpse to get up and down the stairs.
The Enaville Resort is located in Enaville, which was named for a railroad crewman’s wife, who was also the postmistress at the time. Her name was Ena.
A Little History of the SnakePit
We have traced the business back to 1879, when Johnson, and then Cameron, ran the place in the very early days. There was a fire of a “suspicious nature” on New Year’s Eve of 1911. The business just kept on going as a rebuild was going on.
The SnakePit has served as a hotel, railroad layover, and . . .a few girls. . Looking at the façade, you can see the skull of a bull with horns, and two red light bulbs for eyes. Guess who was available when the eyes lit up? (The owners didn’t know this until about 1990, when someone mentioned it, and they got up in the attic to find an electric cord running from a switch in the front room upstairs!).
The paintings in the place are by Joe Breckenridge, known as the, “fastest artist in the West.” He did many! He used cheap pant and some on the wall board have faded and been covered over. Breckenridge was given permission to reproduce C.M. Russell’s painting.
Enaville
In the early days, Enaville was a transportation center for railroaders, miners and loggers. It was also a railroad change-over, important for early log drives. An old timer named Warren Van says he could watch logs sink when they hit the south fork water. Mine waste made the logs very slippery to ride, and tailings were so heave at times, it sank the logs.