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Steptoe Butte Barley & Mushroom Soup

Cooking Time 50 minutes Serving Size 10 cups Kettle Size 4 quarts Ingredients Dehydrated mushrooms (wild mix, oyster, button), herbs and spices, dehydrated celery and carrots, beef base. Quantity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Great Ideas for Dressing up your Barley & Mushroom Soup

Tid Bits of History - Step Toe Butte

In the sensual hills of the Palouse, Steptoe Butte, with an elevation of 3612 feet, offers a stunning view of the farmlands. The jagged Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho and the distant Blue Mountains of southeast Washington. The road to the summit spirals up, making three complete 360-degree loops with a rise of 1600 feet in 4½ miles. It is listed as a National Natural Landmark because of its geological importance, a remnant mountain top of ancient rock rising through layers of much younger basalt.

At the foot of Steptoe Butte, James A. Davis operated a roadhouse beginning in 1877. He provided all the services a stage stop required: Lodging, meals, corrals, spring, feed, and water troughs. He also hosted parties and dances that drew people from all over the countryside. This lasted until 1883 when the railroads became plentiful in the Palouse and the stage traffic ended.

Davis, hoping to bring business and company for himself, built a grand hotel on the top of the butte in 1888. It was two stories high and decorated with wheat stalks above the doorways and crowned with a roof top balcony for site seeing. Davis died in 1896 a lonely man; the empty hotel burned 1.5 years later.

The area is now preserved as a park through the generosity of Virgil McCroskey. He donated two land parcels to the state in 1945 and 1946 providing they are used solely as a public park forever.