History of Dearo:
The town of Deary was born on September 24, 1907. That was the first sale day of town lots by the Deary Townsite Company, managed by F. C. McGowan and H. P. Henry. Unlike the town of Potlatch where every interest and life itself was run by the lumber company, the announced policy of Potlatch. Lumber Company was to log around Deary and then sell the cleared lands. McGowan and Henry were former employees of Potlatch until 1907, who had been educated in the East, risen through the company ranks, and installed as managers of the Townsite Company to oversee Potlatch interests. Two homes which still stand were built for their occupation by Potlatch

Residence lots were not expensive. Later, some were donated to the University of Idaho and some were given away in community. fund-raising lotteries. In the first year Deary grew quickly. Several mercantile stores opened to satisfy the real needs of the established farming community.

The first business buildings were sided with "rustic", lined with burlap, and roofed with paper. The Latah County State Bank opened its doors September 14, 1908: its officers were J. A. Harsh, H. D. Warren, A. W. Laird, McGowan, Henry and Ole Bohman. Bohman was also an officer of the Troy bank, respected and well-liked. Harsh had never been to Idaho and was, in fact, still in Michigan.

The newspaper, the Deary Enterprise, started publication on September 19, 1908. Its owner was Carl Peterson, who had formerly published a newspaper at Peck, Idaho. He immediately began extolling the virtues of Deary and the Upper Potlatch country. He publicized every developmental scheme and quoted the "boosters", who was anyone actively working to bring business to the Deary area. Periodically he would remind subscribers of his favorite developmental hopes: the dairying industry, strawberry growing, and a cold storage plant. The newspaper tried mightily to exact the proper respect for everything about Deary and never referred to Spud Hill except as Mt. Deary.

In those early days Deary was publicized all over the West as far east as Minnesota. This was largely the result of the Deary Commercial Club, which was the impetus behind the organization of North Idaho civic clubs. McGowan, as club member, was in charge of the Latah county exhibit at the Minneapolis Land Products Exposition of 1912, where most visitors thought that all land in Idaho needed irrigation. (Though few today have any personal recollection of McGowan, his own interests and those of Deary intertwined for several years.  He was elected to the state legislature in 1914.)

Many businesses came and went in the early boom period. Lumbering brought jobs and money, but it did have a seasonality and unless merchants could weather the snow and slowdown of winter, they would find themselves having extended too much credit and holding too much inventory. The Potlatch Company logged year round in some places and let job contracts to locals for the summer. Around Deary, C. W. Asplund, the Greenwood Brothers, Swan Erickson, Joe Wells, and G. R Lawrence regularly received these contracts. They in turn hired six to twelve men for their crews, which cut timber along spur-lines (short track routes up timbered drainages). Lawrence often logged his own land, and since there were several sawmills around Deary and persistent demand for lumber, he was one of the few independents.

Joe Wells, a black who immigrated from North Carolina in 1889, was a legendary lumberman in the region. He earned his reputation of hard work and hospitality with the help of his wife, Lou. They operated a lodging house and Joe experimented raising Angora goats, dug the third well in Deary, held a contract in 1910 to log three million feet of timber, and took the prize at the Upper Potlatch Fair for his stallions.

Seasonal jobs were vital for every family around Deary, when the men had to work in the timber or go to the harvests for cash, the women stayed at home and ran the farm.  The strength required to be a mother, farmer, and homemaker in isolated rural life created strong-willed independent women.  In a society where divorce was not an alternative, domestic incompatibility might be resolved with buckshot delivered by the wife as well as husband.

Deary continued to grow as Potlatch Lumber Company expanded its operations. The Deary Lumber Company was established in 1909 to independently mill lumber, the Deary Clay Products Company turned out bricks first used in building the First State Bank at Bovill, and the Farmer's Union built warehouses to make Deary a grain shipping point. Through it all, Anton Lee, who opened his studio July 16, 1909, photographed people, places, and events for postcards and portraits--making a valuable historical record of the region.

In October 1923, the town's major fire destroyed all the buildings except the bank on the west side of Main Street.Afterwards, with the dwindling activity of the Potlatch Company and the paving of roads to Moscow, Deary settled into its present role as an outlying agricultural community.