Mike Lemeshko and His New Book

“I just sold my first book!” he told us yesterday afternoon.  Mike Lemeshko was talking about The Cantankerous Farmer vs. The Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company and the rest of his neighbors on the Long Beach Peninsula – his hot-off-the-press, self-published book about Judge John Briscoe (1812 – 1901).  I couldn’t have been more pleased had I been saying those words myself!

In the book’s preface, Mike tells how the book came to be – from an intriguing first ‘introduction’ to “the cantankerous farmer” in 2010, through the six-year journey that has resulted in this 100-page volume, complete with photographs and a thorough documentation of sources.  I was surprised to find myself in his acknowledgements and, though his words were kind and perhaps true from his perspective, from my own point of view I was simply one of many who clapped and cheered from the sidelines.

We met three (almost four) years ago at a Community Historian class.  I was impressed that a) Mike was ‘commuting’ to Ilwaco every week from Bothell; b) that he was part-owner of the Anchorage Cottages, a long-time Peninsula landmark; and c) that he was hoping to learn more about the man who had taken out the original Donation Land Claim for that property back in 1853!  I knew a little about John Briscoe – he and his family had lived next door to my great-grandparents in Oysterville in those early days.  Mike and I talked a bit that first day of class, and so our friendship began!  And so did the clapping and cheering.

By Mike Lemeshko

During that first fifteen weeks, Mike was the most attentive ‘student’ ever.  He took notes, quizzed the speakers, talked with classmates.  He was curious about everything – where and how to proceed with research, who to contact for further information, who Briscoe’s descendants were…  In the next few years he returned for more Community Historian classes and it wasn’t long before he, himself, was the go-to guy for the how-to questions!  When it comes to researching local history, Mike Lemeshko ‘knows where the bodies are buried.’

No one could have been more delighted than I when Mike began talking about putting what he had learned into book form.  “I’m not a writer,” he would say.  In fact, that’s what he said yesterday when he presented me with a copy of the book.  Maybe not.  But he is now an author and documentarian and, I hope, on his way to another book!

The Cantankerous Farmer vs. The Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company and the rest of his neighbors on the Long Beach Peninsula (and doncha just love that old-fashioned, tell-it-all-on-the-cover title!) is available at the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum and will, no doubt, be showing up at other local outlets as well.  When you read it, you’ll be clapping and cheering, too!