Photo: Horses killed by lightning strike near St. John

In early June of 1940, Wesley Ulrich was plowing a field with an eight-horse team on the Ben Ulrich farm just outside of St. John, Washington. Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck, killing seven of the horses and knocking Wes to the ground. After the initial shock, Wes got himself upright and ran for help, blood flowing from his ears.

Amazingly, Wes recovered from the trauma while friends and neighbors pitched in to help on the family farm. They buried the horses and loaned the Ulrich's their own animals to assist in the farming. Even the surviving horse lent a hand by adopting the colt of one of the deceased mares.

But life did not have a happy ending for Wesley Ulrich. About a month after being struck by lightning, Wes went for a swim in the Palouse River making it across to the opposite shore. On his return voyage, Wes grew very weak. As he disappeared beneath the surface, his younger brother Harland tried to save him but Harland couldn't swim. Most folks believed that Wes' untimely death was a result of the lightning strike.

As part of the Whitman County Rural Heritage project, a library volunteer heard Wes' story from Margie Robertson, who heard it from Connie Ulrich, who heard it from her late husband Harland, who undoubtedly haunted by the memory of his brother's tragic death. This interesting piece of history and photos of the dead horse-team will soon be available for viewing when the St. John collection goes online later this month.

Whitman County Rural Heritage is a local collection of historic photographs, documents and information that is being digitized and placed online by volunteers and staff at Whitman County Library. Found at the Whitman County Library website, the Rural Heritage project currently houses collections from Tekoa, Colfax and the library with a goal of digitizing a comprehensive collection from the entire county.

Besides the website, two exciting exhibits depicting historic scenes of Whitman County are being produced by Scott Barrie of Creative Image Portrait Studio in Pullman. One exhibit will be permanently housed in the Whitman County courthouse, while a portable exhibit will visit museums, schools, libraries, and community celebrations across Whitman County.

Along with collections from community residents, a number of local agencies are participating in the Rural Heritage project. Those contributing include the Artisans of Dahmen Barn, the Battle Days Museum, the McCoy Valley Museum, the McGregor Company, the Palouse Empire Fair, the Rosalia Historical Commission and Visitor's Center, the Roy Chatters Newspaper and Printing Museum, the St. John museum committee, the Tekoa Museum, Washington State University Archives and the Whitman County Historical society.

For more information, contact:

Kristie Kirkpatrick at 509-397-4366 or see the Whitman County Library website or the library's new events calendar.