Skip to main content

Full text of "History of the city of Spokane and Spokane country, Washington"

See other formats 


Google 


This  is  a  digital  copy  of  a  book  that  was  preserved  for  generations  on  library  shelves  before  it  was  carefully  scanned  by  Google  as  part  of  a  project 

to  make  the  world's  books  discoverable  online. 

It  has  survived  long  enough  for  the  copyright  to  expire  and  the  book  to  enter  the  public  domain.  A  public  domain  book  is  one  that  was  never  subject 

to  copyright  or  whose  legal  copyright  term  has  expired.  Whether  a  book  is  in  the  public  domain  may  vary  country  to  country.  Public  domain  books 

are  our  gateways  to  the  past,  representing  a  wealth  of  history,  culture  and  knowledge  that's  often  difficult  to  discover. 

Marks,  notations  and  other  maiginalia  present  in  the  original  volume  will  appear  in  this  file  -  a  reminder  of  this  book's  long  journey  from  the 

publisher  to  a  library  and  finally  to  you. 

Usage  guidelines 

Google  is  proud  to  partner  with  libraries  to  digitize  public  domain  materials  and  make  them  widely  accessible.  Public  domain  books  belong  to  the 
public  and  we  are  merely  their  custodians.  Nevertheless,  this  work  is  expensive,  so  in  order  to  keep  providing  tliis  resource,  we  liave  taken  steps  to 
prevent  abuse  by  commercial  parties,  including  placing  technical  restrictions  on  automated  querying. 
We  also  ask  that  you: 

+  Make  non-commercial  use  of  the  files  We  designed  Google  Book  Search  for  use  by  individuals,  and  we  request  that  you  use  these  files  for 
personal,  non-commercial  purposes. 

+  Refrain  fivm  automated  querying  Do  not  send  automated  queries  of  any  sort  to  Google's  system:  If  you  are  conducting  research  on  machine 
translation,  optical  character  recognition  or  other  areas  where  access  to  a  large  amount  of  text  is  helpful,  please  contact  us.  We  encourage  the 
use  of  public  domain  materials  for  these  purposes  and  may  be  able  to  help. 

+  Maintain  attributionTht  GoogXt  "watermark"  you  see  on  each  file  is  essential  for  in  forming  people  about  this  project  and  helping  them  find 
additional  materials  through  Google  Book  Search.  Please  do  not  remove  it. 

+  Keep  it  legal  Whatever  your  use,  remember  that  you  are  responsible  for  ensuring  that  what  you  are  doing  is  legal.  Do  not  assume  that  just 
because  we  believe  a  book  is  in  the  public  domain  for  users  in  the  United  States,  that  the  work  is  also  in  the  public  domain  for  users  in  other 
countries.  Whether  a  book  is  still  in  copyright  varies  from  country  to  country,  and  we  can't  offer  guidance  on  whether  any  specific  use  of 
any  specific  book  is  allowed.  Please  do  not  assume  that  a  book's  appearance  in  Google  Book  Search  means  it  can  be  used  in  any  manner 
anywhere  in  the  world.  Copyright  infringement  liabili^  can  be  quite  severe. 

About  Google  Book  Search 

Google's  mission  is  to  organize  the  world's  information  and  to  make  it  universally  accessible  and  useful.   Google  Book  Search  helps  readers 
discover  the  world's  books  while  helping  authors  and  publishers  reach  new  audiences.  You  can  search  through  the  full  text  of  this  book  on  the  web 

at|http: //books  .google  .com/I 


/ 


' 


i 


{I 


»  'I 


4 


■i 


V 

* 


I- 


TT^t 


I  PEW  Yor^K 


WuBLlC  LIBRARY 


N.  W.  DURHAM 


HISTORY 


OF  THE 


CITY  OF  SPOKANE 


AND 


SPOKANE  COUNTRY 

WASHINGTON 


From  Its  Earliest  Settlement  to  the  Present  Time 


By  N.  W.  DURHAM 


ILLUSTRATED 


History,  as  it  lies  at  the  root  of  all  science,   is  also  the  first  distinct  product  of  man's 
spiritual   nature;   his  earliest   expressions  of   what  can  be  called  thought.— car/jr/e. 


VOLUME  I 


SPOKANE-CHICAGO-PHILADELPHIA 

THE  S.  J.  CLARKE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

1912 


^ysA 


-  ''       ' 


4- 


I  ^  'u 


f^ 


■faarita 


*    p 


'•■•-'--* 


THE  NEW  YORK 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

707072 

ASTOn,  LENOX  AND 

TluOfcN  FOUNDATIONS 
R  1916  L 


>  • 


.  ••  •" 


•   •  • 

« 


v.: 

m  • 


•    "•• 


•   •  •  •  •  * 
.  •  •  •    • 


••  •• 


PREFACE 


In  the  founding  and  building  of  Spokane  and  other  cities  of  the  Inland  Empire^ 
we  find  abundant  material  for  history — a  history  rich  in  distinctive  local  color  and 
abounding  in  achievements  which  well  may  excite  our  people's  pride  and  interest. 

For  the  assembling  here,  within  the  brief  span  of  forty  years,  of  a  prosperous, 
progressive  and  metropolitan  population,  drawn  from  the  four  winds  of  earth  and 
dwelling  together  in  successful  civic  and  industrial  co-operation,  constitutes  a  great 
epic  achievement;  and  moreover,  an  achievement  which,  prior  to  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, had  scarcely  a  parallel  in  all  the  world's  long  history.  New  York,  founded  in 
1623,  possessed  a  population  two  hundred  years  later  that  only  closely  corresponded 
to  the  present  population  of  Spokane;  and  so  late  as  1840,  Philadelphia,  160  years 
after  its  colonization  by  William  Penn,  fell  10,000  short  of  Spokane's  census  returns 
of  1910. 

Men  and  women  who  came  here  with  the  founding  of  the  town,  are  still  among  us 
in  rugged  strength  and  creative  power ;  and  boys  and  girls  who  filled  the  first  classes 
in  the  public  school  are  yet  young  men  and  women.  In  all  this,  there  should  be  found 
a  brave  and  inspiring  story,  and  yet  a  narrative  that  will  adhere  with  historical 
fidelity  to  truth. 

To  the  compilation  of  this  volume  the  writer  has  given  a  little  more  than  a  year 
of  continuous  and  almost  undivided  effort;  but  now  that  his  labor  is  ended,  regret 
is  felt  that  another  year  is  lacking  to  impart  to  it  somewhat  of  that  finish  which 
should  be  a  distinct  characteristic  of  any  historic  production.  That  this  brief  preface 
may  not  be  altogether  apologetic,  the  author  may  say  that  he  has  endeavored  to  court 
accuracy,  and  to  give  Jiis  readers  a  volume  which,  while  adequate  in  detail  and  com- 
prehensive in  period  and  territory,  has  yet  attempted  to  catch  the  spirit  of  the  times. 
Assistance  and  encouragement  are  appreciatively  acknowledged  from  Mrs.  C.  L. 
Hathaway,  August  Wolf,  John  B.  Slater,  Frank  Johnson,  H.  T.  Cowley,  Father 
Louis  J.  Taelman,  W.  P.  Winans,  W.  D.  Vincent  and  J.  E.  Nessly;  to  the  Spokes- 
man-Review and  the  Chronicle  for  access  to  their  invaluable  files ;  and  to  the  advisory 
board,  comprising  James  Monaghan,  James  N.  Glover,  Mrs.  W.  H.  Ludden,  D.  C. 
Corbin,  Edwin  T.  Coman  and  Ben.  Burgunder. 

In  the  fullness  of  time,  better  histories  will  be  penned  of  Spokane  and  the  In- 
land Empire.  The  author,  however,  may  venture  a  hope  that  in  this  endeavor  he  has 
gathered  up  some  historic  data,  and  has  recorded  here  the  testimony  of  pioneers 
which,  without  his  labor,  might  have  been  wholly  lost  or  clouded  to  posterity. 

N.  W.  D. 

•  •  ■ 

in 


CONTENTS 


•J 


CHAPTER  I 

ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  HISTORY 

FIRST  MENTION   OF  THE   SP0KANE8  BY   LEWIS  AND  CLARK EARLY  DAY  SPANISH   INFLU- 
ENCES  JEFFERSON  TO  JOHN   JACOB   ASTOR — ADVENT   OF   THE   FUR  TRADERS,    1811" 

12 A  NIOHT  OF  TERROR MASSACRE  OF  THE  CREW  OF  THE  TONQUIN A  FRIGHTFUL 

REVENGE      1 


CHAPTER  II 

WHITE  MEN  ON  THE  SPOKANE 

FIN    N  MACDONALD  PROBABLY  FIRST  TO  VIEW  THE  FALLS ^RACE  BETWEEN  ASTORIANS  AND 

THE   NORTHWESTERS BRITISHERS   ESTABLISH    SPOKANE    HOUSE AMERICANS    LOCATE 

AT   MOUTH    OF    OKANOGAN A    YEAR    LATER    AT    MOUTH    OF    LITTLE    SPOKANE MR. 

ASTOr's   stock  of   goods — HORSEFLESH  STAPLE    ARTICLE   OF   DIET ADVENTURES  OF 

ROSS    COX RESCUED    BY    FRIENDLY   SPOKANES BUFFALO    WEST    OF    THE    ROCKIES 

TRADING   WITH    THE    INDIANS DUEL   AT   SPOKANE    HOUSE GAY    LIFE    IN   THE    BALL 

ROOM LIFE     OF     PERIL     AND     HARDSHIP PASSING     OF     THE     BRIGADES A     MOTLEY 

CREW     9 


CHAPTER  III 

BRITISH  FLAG  SUPPLANTS  THE  STARS  AND  STRIPES 

TAKING    THE     FURS    DOWN     THE     COLUMBIA INDIAN    THIEF     HANGED     AT     MOUTH     OF 

PALOUSE GREAT  BRITAIN  AND  AMERICA  AT  WAR ASTOR  BETRAYED  BY  HIS  PART- 
NERS AT  ASTORIA HIS  GREAT  ENTERPRISE  RUINED BRITISH  SEIZE  ASTORIA ^EXPE- 
DITION MASSACRED  ON  HEADWATERS  OF  THE  SNAKE REMARKABLE  ESCAPE  OF  PIERRE 

DORION*8    SQUAW     21 


vi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  IV 

ODD  CHARACTERS  AT  SPOKANE  HOUSE 

INDIANS    PAMIONATELY    FOND     OF    TOBACCO HALCYON    DAYS    FOR    THE     8POKANE8 A 

FIERY    HIGHLAND    SCOT TAKING    AN    INDIAN    WIFE ^WAR    NARROWLY    AVERTED 

FLATHEAD     GIRLS    SCORN    WHITE    SUITORS OTHERS    NOT    SO    FASTIDIOUS GARDENS 

PLANTED   ON   THE    SPOKANE STRANGE    INDIAN    CHIEF   NEAR   LOON    LAKE REMARK- 
ABLE CAREER  OF  A  FREE  TRADER 29 


CHAPTER  V 

TRAVEL  BETWEEN  SPOKANE  AND  ASTORIA 

NAVIGATING    THE    COLUMBIA    A    CENTURY    AGO FRENCH    AND    IROQUOIS    V0YAOEUR8 

RANGING  OVER  THE  VAST  INTERIOR MELONS  AND  CUCUMBERS  GROWN  AT  SPOKANE 

THE    GRAND   COULEE INDIAN    METHOD   OF   HUNTING   DEER HORSE-RACING   IN    SPO- 
KANE    VALLEY DELIGHTFUL     TIMES     IN     1815 ICE-BOUND     ON     THE     COLUMBIA 

SHOCKING    TRAGEDY    ON    THE    UPPER    RIVER VICTIMS    RESORT    TO     CANNIBALISM 

NORTHWEST  COMPANY  ABSORBED  BY  ITS  HUDSON's  BAY  RIVAL 39 


CHAPTER  VI 

AMUSING  AND  TRAGIC  INCIDENTS 

DANCING  WITH  SPOKANE  NYMPHS PETER  SKENE  OGDEN  AND  HIS  INDIAN  WIFE FRENCH 

THE  PREVAILING  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY LOUIS  LA  LIBERTE's  WOUNDED  PRIDE 

THRILLING    ADVENTURE     WITH     A     GRIZZLY     BEAR ROUGH     LIFE     OF     THE     FREF 

TRADERS KEEN    COMPETITION FORCED    RIDE    WITH    A    SUPPLY    OF    TOBACCO — SPO- 
KANE WOMEN  GREAT  SLAVES SHOCKING  DOUBLE  ACT  OF  REVENGE 49 


CHAPTER  VII 

EARLY  DAY  MISSIONS  JN  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

CRUDE  MISSION    EFFORTS  OF    CATHOLIC   IROQUOIS EMBLEM    OF  THE    CROSS   ON   THE   CO- 
LUMBIA  INDIAN   PILGRIMAGE   TO   ST.   LOUIS ARRIVAL  OF   REV.   SAMUEL  PARKER  IN 

1885 HIS  TRAVELS  IN  THE  SPOKANE  COUNTRY ^ARRIVAL  OF  WHITMAN  AND  SPALD- 
ING WITH  THEIR  BRIDES OVERLAND  JOURNEY  OF  BELLS  AND  WALKER  WITH  THEIR 

BRIDES — ^ADVENTURES  ON  THE  PLAINS  AND  IN  THE  MOUNTAINS ARRIVAL  AT  WHIT- 
MAN  MISSION   NEAR  WALLA  WALLA 61 


CONTENTS  vii 

CHAPTER  VIII 

FOUNDING  A  MISSION   AMONG  THE   SPOKANES 

SELLS    AND    WALKSR   MEET   THE    INDIANS    AT    CHEWELAH BIRTH    OF    FIRST    AMERICAN 

WHITE    BOT   IN   OLD   OREGON EELLS   AND    WALKER   FAMILIES    LOCATE    AT   WALKER's 

PRAIRIE^   NEAR  SPOKANE LIVING   ON    HORSE    MEAT INDIAN    CUSTOMS   DESCRIBED 

MISSION     LIFE    AT    TSHIMAKAIN MISSIONARIES    DEEPLY    DISAPPOINTED MIDWINTER 

FIRE HTMN  AS  SUNG  BY  THE  SPOKANES 75 


CHAPTER  IX 

MISSION  LIFE  AT  WALKER'S  PRAIRIE,  CONTINUED 

SEVERE   WINTER  OF    1840-41 ARDUOUS    JOURNEYS   BY   FATHER    EELLS GOING   TO    COL- 

TILLE    FOR    MAIL ^DR.    WHITMAN'S    FAMOUS    MIDWINTER    RIDE DISCOVERY    OF    THE 

PRECIOUS  METALS MOTHERS*  MEETINGS  SEVENTY  YEARS  AGO DREADFUL  WINTER  OP 

1846-47 NO    NEW      BONNETS    FOR    EASTER    SUNDAY FIRST    SHOES    FOR    THE    CHIL- 
DREN  HOW     THE     MISSION     WOMEN     MADE     CHEESE INDIAN     WIFE     WHO     WAS     "a 

JEWEL    OF    RARE    EXCELLENCE."     88 


CHAPTER  X 

MISSIONS  DESTROYED  AND  ABANDONED 

MISSIONARIES   -ILL    AND    DISCOURAGED ^W^ITMAN    MASSACRE    BRINGS    TERROR    TO    TSHI- 
MAKAIN  FAITHFUL  SPOKANES  REMAIN   LOYAL ^MISSIONARIES  FLEE  TO   COLVILLE 

GRAPHIC  REMINISCENCE  OF  EDWIN  BELLS ^A  THRILLING  MOMENT SPOKANES  RALLY 

TO   DEFENSE    OF    THEIR    TEACHERS CAYUSES    SEND    OUT    LYING    RUNNERS OREGON 

VOLUNTEERS    COME    TO    ESCORT    MISSIONARIES    TO    WILLAMETTE    VALLEY PATHETIC 

FAREWELL  ON  THE  SPOKANE "oUR  HEARTS  WEEP  TO  SEE  YOU  GO." 89 


CHAPTER  XI 

FOUNDING  THE  FIRST  CHURCHES  AROUND  SPOKANE 

FATHER     EELLS    RETURNS     TO     THE     BUNCHGRASS     REGION TWELVE     YEARS     AT     WALLA 

WALLA FOUNDS   WHITMAN    ACADEMY SPALDING      RETURNS   TO   THE    NEZ    PERCES 

BAPTIZES  253  SPOKANES ^EELLS  VISITS  HIS  OLD  FRIENDS  ON   THE   SPOKANE DELIV- 

ER8    FIRST    FOURTH    OP    JULY    ADDRESS    AT    COLVILLE ORGANIZES    AT    COLFAX    FIRST 

CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH    NORTH    OF    SNAKE    RIVER ELECTED    SCHOOL    SUPERIN- 
TENDENT   OF    WHITMAN     COUNTY LIFE     AS     A    CIRCUIT    RIDER     OUT     OF     COLFAX 

MOVES  TO  MEDICAL  LAKE' DEDICATES  CHURCH   AT   CHEWELAH ORGANIZES   CHURCH 


viii  CONTENTS 

at  medical  lake his  work   in  spokane organizes  church   at  8prague 

his  last  days  at  tacoma tributes  to  his  memory mission  work  among  the 

nez  perces life  work  of  rev.  h.  h.   spalding  a  devoted  band general 

Howard's  tribute  to  miss  m'beth   95 


CHAPTER  XII 

H.  T.  COWLEY  TELLS  OF  LIFE  AMONG  THE  SPOKANES 

BEGINS    MISSION    WORK    WITH    THE    NEZ    PERCES    IN     1871 BECOMES    AN    INDEPENDENT 

TEACHER  AT   SPOKANE   IN    1874 FAMILY    LIVES    ON    DRIED   SALMON    AND   VENISON 

OPENS    SCHOOL    IN    INDIAN     LODGE INDIANS     HELP    TO     BUILD     SCHOOLHOUSE     AND 

DWELLING  FOR  MR.   COWLEY EAGER  TO   LEARN   WAYS  OF  CIVILIZATION SLIGHT  RE- 
SPECT FOR  PRIVACY GIFTS  COME   FROM   AFAR FINDS  INDIANS  HONEST  AND  KIND 

TEACHES   FIRST  PUBLIC   SCHOOL,   WITH   SIX   PUPILS 107 


CHAPTER  XIII 

CATHOLIC  MISSIONS  IN  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

REV.   MODEST    DEMERS   DESCENDS   THE    COLUMBIA    IN    1838 MAKES    A   MISSION    TOUR   OF 

INTERIOR    THE    FOLLOWING    YEAR ST.    MARy's    ESTABLISHED    IN     1841     BY    FATHER 

DE8MET     AND     OTHERS COEUR    d'aLENE    MISSION    ESTABLISHED     ON    THE    ST.     JOE, 

1842 TRANSFERRED  TO  THE   COEUR  d'aLENE   IN    1846 FATHER   J08BT  IN    CHAROB 

ST.   IGNATIUS  MOVED   FROM    LOWER   FEND   d'oREILLE  RIVER  TO  MONTANA SACRED 

HEART   MISSION   TRANSFERRED   TO    DESMET MISSION    LABORS    AMONG   THE    NEZ   PER- 
CES  MISSIONS    IN    THE    COLVILLE    COUNTRY PRESIDENT    OF    GONZAOA    VISITS    THK 

CALISPELS ARMY     OFFICER'S     DESCRIPTION     OF     THE     OLD     MISSION     OF     ST.     IGNA- 
TIUS       113 


CHAPTER  XIV 

CATHOLIC  MISSIONS— CONTINUED 

FATHER   DESMET   JOURNEYS   IN    A    BARK    CANOE,   TO   THE    HORSE    PLAINS    IN   MONTANA 

RETURNS  TO  KALISPEL  BAY  AND  FELLS  THE  FIRST  TREE  FOR  THE  MISSION DISCOV- 
ERS   LIMESTONE    CAVE    ON    LOWER    PEND    d'oREILLE GOES    TO    WILLAMETTE    VALLEY 

FOR   SEEDS   AND   IMPLEMENTS RETURNS    AND   ERECTS   A    LITTLE    CHAPEL   OF    BOUGHS 

POETIC    DESCRIPTION    OF    KETTLE    FALLS ESTABLISHES    MISSION    OF    ST     REGIS    IN 

COLVILLE    VALLEY MEETS   PETER   SKENE   OGDEN   IN   THE    NORTHERN    WILDERNESS 

EXPRESSES  HIS  OPINION  OF  THE  OREGON  QUESTION HOW  THE  CAMAS  ROOT  WAS  PRE- 
PARED  DESMET  RANGES  FAR,  TO  THE  HEADWATERS  OF  THE  COLUMBIA INTEREST- 
ING     BLACKFOOT      TRADITION AN      INDIAN      HEAVEN MISSIONARY'S      REMARKABLE 

JOURNEY  FROM  THE   ATHABASCA  TO   KETTLE   FALLS HOW  THE   ARROW  LAKES   WERE 

NAMED     123 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER  XV 

CATHOLIC  MISSIONS— CONCLUDED 

OVERLAND    JOURNEY    FROM    OLD    WALLA    WALLA    TO    THE     SPOKANE DESMET    TAKES    A 

FRIENDLY    INDIAN    PIPE FROM    THE    SPOKANE    TO    COLVILLE fRIP    FROM    SPOKANE 

TO     THE    COEUR    d'aLENE     MISSION A    SUMMER    ENCAMPMENT    DESCRIBED TAKING 

"POT  luck"  with  INDIANS SUPERSTITIONS  OF  THE  COEUR  d'aLENES THEY  WOR- 
SHIP A  WHITE  man's  spotted  SHIRT  AND  BLANKET MISSION  EFFORTS  OF  AN  IRO- 
QUOIS    CHIEF FATHER    POINT's    LABORS    AMONG    THIS    TRIBE GOVERNOR    STEVENS* 

HOSPITABLE    RECEPTION    AT    THE    OLD    MISSION MISSIONARIES    TAKE    THE    OATH    OF 

ALLEGIANCE   TO   THE    U.    S. CAPTAIN    m'cLELLAN    AMONG   THE    YAKIMAS ST.    MICH- 

AEL's  MISSION   NEAR  HILLYARD FATHER  CARUANA  AMONG  THE  SPOKANES 135 


CHAPTER  XVI 

GOVERNOR   STEVENS'   OVERLAND   EXPEDITION   OF    1853 


FIRST  GOVERNOR  CLOTHED  WITH  REMARKABLE  POWERS ON  THE  SUMMIT  OF  THE  COEUR 

d'aLENES GUEST    OF    CATHOLIC    FATHERS    AT    OLD    MISSION IN     CAMP    AT    WOLf's 

LODGE GOVERNOR  OBSERVES  SPOKANES  AT  THEIR  DEVOTIONS FIRST  VIEW  OF  LABJS 

COEUR   d'aLENB MARCHING   DOWN    THE    SPOKANE    VALLEY GOVERNOR   VISITS   THE 

VALUa INDIAN     VILLAGE     AT    MOUTH     OF     HANGMAN     CREEK PUZZLED    BT    CHIEF 

GARRY FORCED  RIDE  TO  COLVILLE MEETS   CAPT.   GEORGE  B.  m'cLELLAN BOUNTI- 
FUL SUPPER  SERVED  BY  MRS.  MCDONALD STEAKS  COOKED  IN  BUFFALO  FAT LISTENS 

TO   TALES   OF   ADVENTURE 149 


CHAPTER  XVII 

FROM  SPOKANE  TO  WALLA  WALLA  AND  VANCOUVER 

M'cLELLAN    PROCRASTINATES    ON    THE    COLUMBIA   AND    IN    THE    CASCADES HAD    LITTLE 


FAITH   IN   THE   COUNTRY STEVENS   ASSEMBLES   HIS  PARTY   IN   CAMP   WASHINGTON- 


CHEERED   BY   A  KEG  OF   COGNAC VISITS   OLD  MISSION    ON   WALKER's   PRAIRIE COL- 
VILLE  VALLEY   SETTLERS   SEEK   NATURALIZATION FIELD   CAPITAL   NEAR   SPOKANE 

FEASTING    IN    CAMP    WASHINGTON BEEF    HEAD,    TEXAS    FASHION ARMY    OFFICERS 

SHRINK   FROM   WINTER  SERVICE GARRY  TELLS  STEVENS  OF   INDIAN   MYTHS ACROSS 

THE    PALOUSE    COUNTRY FINE    POTATOES   IN    WALLA    WALLA    VALLEY TRIBUTE    TO 

MARCUS  WHITMAN DOWN    THE    COLUMBIA   IN    A   CANOE GUEST   AT   VANCOUVER   OF 

CAPTAIN     BONNEVILLE 157 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

OLYMPIA,  THE  BACKWOODS  CAPITAL,  IN  1S5S 

FIVE    days'    hard    travel    FROM    VANCOUVER GOVERNOR    DRENCHED    IN     AN     INDIAN" 

CANOE HEARTY    PIONEER    GREETING ^MRS.    STEVENS*    GRAPHIC    PICTURE     OF    THE 

SQUALID   LITTLE   CAPITAL "wHAT  A   PROSPECT !" SHE   BREAKS   DOWN    AND   CRIES 

LATER   LEARNED  TO   LOVE  THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE HORSEBACK  ACROSS  THE 

LOVELY     PRAIRIES PLEASING     PICTURE     OF     FATHER     RICARD's     MISSION COLUMBIA 

LANCASTER  ELECTED   TO   CONGRESS BUSY   DAYS   FOR   THE    GOVERNOR MENACED   BY 

POLITICAL    RUIN PEREMPTORY    ORDER   FROM    JEFFERSON    DAVIS STEVENS    GOES    BY 

SEA   TO    NATIONAL    CAPITAL HIS  ENEMIES   ROUTED 167 


CHAPTER  XIX 

NEGOTIATING  TREATIES  WITH  THE  INTERIOR  TRIBES 

STEVENS  PLUNGES  INTO  AN  ARDUOUS  TASK WALLA  WALLA  A  GREAT  COUNCIL  GROUND 

GOVERNOR   MEETS   THERE    5,000    INDIANS   IN    1855 NEZ    PERCES    MASS   A    THOUSAND 

WARRIORS A  STRIKING   PAGEANT HAUGHTY  MESSAGE    FROM   THE   YELLOW   SERPENT 

KAMIAKEN  PROUD  AND  SCORNFUL FEASTING,  HORSE-RACING  AND  FOOT-RACING 

INDIAN  ORATORY  AND  SARCASM CHIEF   LAWYER  EXPOSES   A  PLOT  TO   MASSACRE   THE 

governor's      PARTY CONSPIRACY     IS     THWARTED THE      TREATIES      EXPLAINED A 

STARTLING  INCIDENT STORMY  COUNCIL TREATIES  CONCLUDED— CELEBRATED  WITH 

A    SCALP    DANCE 171 


CHAPTER  XX 

NEGOTIATING  THE  FLATHEAD  TREATY  IN  MONTANA 

WALLA   WALLA    COUNCIL    BREAKS    UP TRAILS    FILLED    WITH    WILD    AND    PICTURESQUE 

CAVALCADES GIFTS  FOR  THE   8POKANE8 ^STRIKlNG  BORDER^  CHARACTERS PEARSON 

THE  EXPRESS  ^IDER— STEVENS'  LITTLE  PARTY  MOVES  EASTWARD  ACROSS  THE  INLAND 

EMPIRE GREAT    COUNCIL   ON    THE    HELLGATE GOVERNOR   STEVENS    EXPLAINS   THE 

TREATIES MORE    INDIAN    ORATORY CUTTINO    THE    OORDIAN    KNOT "EVERY    MAN 

PLEASED  AND  EVERY  MAN   SATISFIED." 189 


CHAPTER  XXI 

PEACE  COUNCIL  WITH  THE  WARLIKE  BLACKFEET 

couriers  summon  numerous  tribes great  council  at  mouth  of  the  judith 

Nebraska's  commissioner  procrastinates — stevens'  opening  address — treaty 


CONTENTS  xi 

NKOOTIATED    AFTER   THREE    DAY    CONFERENCE COATS   AND    MEDALS   GIVEN    TO    THE 

CHIEFS GERMAN  SONGS  ROLL  ACROSS   THE   MISSOURI HOMERIC   FEAST  OF   BUFFALO 

RIBS  AND  FLAPJACKS LISTENING  TO  THRILLING  TALES  OF  TRAPPER  DAYS 197 


CHAPTER  XXII 


TRIBES  OF  INTERIOR  TAKE  TO  THE  WARPATH 


irsWS  TO    SHAKE    THE    STOUTEST    HEART GOVERNOR    CUT    OFF    FROM    OLYMPIA PEAR- 

SON's  DESPERATE  RIDE  THROUGH   HOSTILE  COUNTRY STEVENS  ADVISED  TO  DESCEND 

THE  MISSOURI  AND  RETURN  BY  SEA REJECTS  THAT  COUNSEL  AND  BOLDLY  RETURNS 

BY    DIRECT    ROUTE CROSSES    BITTER    ROOTS    IN    THREE    FEET    OF    SNOW STARTLES 

INDIANS    BY    SUDDEN    APPEARANCE    IN    COEUR    d'aLENES FORCED    MARCH    TO    THE 

SPOKANE ^MEETS   MINERS   FROM    COLVILLE    COUNTRY STORMY    COUNCIL   WITH   SPO- 

KANE8 GARRY   VACILLATES— STEVENS  BLAMED   FOR  YAKIMAS  OUTBREAK 8POKANE8 

CONCILIATED ^''sPOKANE     INVINCIBLES''     ORGANIZED     AS     MILITIA     COMPANY NEZ 

PERCES  GIVE  GOVERNOR  AN  ARMED      ESCORT H08TILES  ROUTED  BY  OREGON  VOLUN- 
TEERS  STEVENS   RETURNS   SAFELY  TO   OLYMPIA 201 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

GOVERNOR  STEVENS  AN  ARDENT  INLAND  EMPIRE  BOOSTER 

SENliS-  OPTIMISTIC    REPORTS    TO    WASHINGTON FORESEES    GREAT    FUTURE     FOR    WALLA 

WALLA,   PALOUSE,  YAKIMA,   SPOKANE   AND   OTHER   REGIONS REMARKABLE   FORECAST 

OF  country's  resources POINTS  OUT  VALUE  OF  LOGGED  OFF  LANDS REMARKABLE 

RIDE  BY  HIS  13  YEAR  OLD   SON CHARMED  BY  WESTERN  MONTANA  AND   IDAHO  PAN- 
HANDLE  PREDICTS  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MANY  RICH  MINES M'cLELLAN   BERATES  THE 

COUNTRY IS  PRAISED  BY  JEFFERSON  DAVIS,  WHO  WANTS  TO  DISCOURAGE  NORTHERN 

DEVELOPMENT 218 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

« 

CONFEDERATED  INDIAN  WAR  OF  1858 

WAR  FLAMES   KINDLED   OVER  A   WIDE   AREA CAUSES   LEADING  UP  TO  THE   OUTBREAK  OF 

TRIBES   NORTH   OF  SNAKE   RIVER ^YAKIMAS   REPUDIATE  TREATY   AND   MURDER  THEIR 

AGENT STEVENS   BITTERLY    ASSAILS    COMMANDER   AT    FORT    VANCOUVER STEPTOE's 

ILL-FATED  EXPEDITION HIS  CANDID  PJIPORT  OF  THE  DISASTROUS  REPULSE 221 


\ 

\ 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XXV 

DETAILED  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  STEPTOE   RETREAT 

INDIAN    HOSTILITY    A    SURPRISE H08TILE8    OPEN    FIRS OFFICIAL    REPORT    OF    KILLED 

AND  WOUNDED FATHER  JOSET's  ACCOUNT  OF  THE   TRAGEDY ^DEVILISH   INTRIGUES 

OF  THE    PALOUSES — ^RECOLLECTIONS   OF    A   SURVIVOR — STEPTOE    SAVED    FROM    ANNI- 
HILATION    BY     BTEZ     PERCE     ALLIES FAITHFUL     OLD     TIMOTHY MEMORIAL     PARK 

MARKS    THE    S|TE    OF    STEPTOB's    LAST    STAND PATRIOTIC    GIFT    OF    DAUGHTERS    OF 

THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION 229 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

COLONEL  WRIGHT'S  CAMPAIGN  OF  REPRISAL 

WAR  DEPARTMENT  ACTS  WITH  QUICK  VIGOR STRONG  COMMAND  SENT  OUT   FROM   WALLA 

WALLA SAVAGES   MASS   FOR  THE    CONFLICT ARE    INSOLENT   AND   DEFIANT BOLDLY 

ATTACK    THE    TROOPS ARE    ROUTED    WITH    HEAVY    LOSS    NEAR    MEDICAL    LAKE LT. 

kip's  GRAPHIC   ACCOUNT  OF  THE   BATTLE WILD   FLIGHT   OF  THE  ALLIES NEZ   PER- 

CE8  CELEBRATE  WITH  A  WAR  DANCE HOSTILE8  RALLY  FOR  ANOTHER  ATTACK FIRE 

THE     PRAIRIE     GRASS SCENES     OF     WILD     CONFUSION BATTLE     OF     THE     SPOKANE 

PLAINS     239 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

WRIGHT  DICTATES  STERN  TERMS  TO  THE  VANQUISHED 

COMMAND  BREAKS  CAMP  AND  MOVES  UP  THE  SPOKANE GARRY  SUES  FOR  PEACE WRIGHT 

HANGS  FIRST  VICTIM CAPTURES  AND  KILLS  VAST  HERD  OF  INDIAN  HORSES — ^RUNNER 

BRINGS    LETTER    FROM    FATHER    JOSET ^INDIAN    BARNS    AND    GRANARIES    BURNED 

CHIEF  VINCENT  OF  THE  COEUR  D^ALENES  BEGS  FOR  PEACE COMMAND  MARCHES  TO 

COEUR   d'aLENE    mission ^PEACE    COUNCIL   A   SCENE   OF   BARBARIC    COLOR ^INDIANS 

TERRIFIED    BY    APPEARANCE    OF    DONATl's    COMET 243 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

HOW  HANGMAN  CREEK  DERIVED  ITS  NAME 

WRIGHT    HOLDS   A    COUNCIL   WITH   THE    SPOKANES CANNY   OLD    COLVILLE    CHIEF SPO- 
KANE   CHIEFS    HUMBLED KAMIAKEN    ELUDES    ARREST QUALCHIEN    COMES    IN    AND 

IS  PROMPTLY   HANGED DIES   LIKE  A   COWARD OWHI   SHOT  IN  A  DASH   FOR  LIBERTY 

SIX   MORE   INDIANS   HANGED   ON    HANGMAN   CREEK — SIXTEEN   IN   ALL   ARE   VICTIMS 

OF     THE      NOOSE REMAINS     RECOVERED      OF     SOLDIERS      WHO      FELL     IN      STEPTOE's 

FIGHT 253 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER  XXIX 

WRIGHT'S  RETURN  MARCH  TO  WALLA  WALLA 

TEI.X8  THE   PALOU8E8   THET  ARE  RASCALS  AND  DESERVE  TO   BE   HUNG TREATS  THEM   AS 

OUTLAWS,    BUT   PUTS   THEM    ON    PROBATION HANGS    FOUR    AS    A    WARNING    TO    THE 

OTHERS "CUTMOUTH  JOHN"   A   CONSPICUOUS   FIGURE MILITARY  HONORS   FOR   THE 

GALLANT  DEAD LIEUTENANT  KIP's  PREDICTION ^"tHE  WAR  IS   CLOSED*' COLONEL 

MTRIGHT's    FINAL    REPORT 261 


CHAPTER  XXX 

« 

REMARKABLE   EARLY   HISTORY  OF  SPOKANE  COUNTY 

FIRST    CREATED    IN    1858 AREA    OF    75^000    SQUARE    MILES PUBLIC    OFFICES    GO    BEG- 
GING  OLD    PINKNEY    CITY    THE    COUNTY    SEAT FIRST    LEGISLATOR    MURDERED    BT 

INDIANS FIRST      POLITICAL      CONVENTION UNION      SENTIMENT      STRONG-»-COURT 

HOUSE  OF  logs;  HAD  BEEN  A  SALOON HIGH  PRICES  IN  THE  60s GOLD  DISCOVERED 

ON  THE    PEND   d'oREILLE MILITARY  POST   ESTABLISHED  AT   FORT   COLVILLE CALI- 
FORNIA   VOLUNTEERS   A   BAD    LOT GRAND    MILITARY   BALL   AT   THE    FORT PIONEER 

DISTILLERY  RAIDED EARLY   DAY   EXECUTIONS,   LEGAL   AND  OTHERWISE 265 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

INLAND  EMPIRE  HISTORY  IN  OLD  LEGISLATIVE  ACTS 

DISCOVERY    OF    GOLD ^EARLY    FERRIES    AND    BRIDGES STEAMBOATS    ON    COLUMBIA    AND 

SNAKE MEMORIALS    FOR    TRANSCONTINENTAL    RAILROAD SCHEME    TO    TURN    PEND 

d'oREILLE  RIVER  INTO  THE  SPOKANE ARMS  SENT  TO  MINERS GOLD  HUNTERS  OVER- 
RUN   NEZ    PERCE    RESERVATION TOWN    OF    LEWI8TON    LAID    OUT CANADIAN    "rECI- 

PROCITY*' MINERS  CLAMOR  FOR  BETTER  MAIL  SERVICE FIRST  BOOM  IN  THE  INLAND 

EMPIRE SPOKANE    COUNTY    ANNEXED    TO    STEVENS DEALING    WITH    THE    CHINESE 

WALLA    walla's    FIRST    LITERARY    SOCIETY JAMES    MONAOHAN    GRANTED    BRIDGE 

FRANCHISE    ON   THE   SPOKANE COAST   MERCHANTS  COMPETE    WITH   ST.    LOUIS ORE- 
GON TRIES  TO  ANNEX  WALLA  WALLA FAMOUS  OLD  MULLAN  ROAD PRICES  OF  WALLA 

WALLA    PRODUCTS 279 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

LEGISLATIVE  HISTORY  CONTINUED 

MAIL    BETWEEN    WALLA   WALLA    AND    PINKNEY    CITY LEGISLATURE    PLEADS    POVERTY 

PRAIRIE     FIRES AGITATION     TO     ANNEX     IDAHO     PANHANDLE CLAMOR     FOR     LAND 

OFFICE     AT    WALLA     WALLA SETTLERS    COME    INTO     PALOU8E     COUNTRY WHITMAN 


xiv  CONTENTS 

COUNTY  CREATED— CONDITIONS  IN  COLVILLE  VALLEY BEGINNING  OF  FAMOUS  LIEU 

LAND    STRUGGLE ^AGITATION    FOR   AN    OPEN    RIVER EARLY   DAY    ROAD    BUILDING 

LAWFUL  FENCES  DEFINED LAND  OFFICE  AT  COLVILLE MILITARY  POST  AT  SPO- 
KANE  CREATION  OF  SPOKANE  COUNTY FIRST  APPLICATION  OF  THE  REFEREN- 
DUM  PROHIBITION  STRIP  ALONG  THE  NORTHERN  PACIFIC GROWTH  OF  THE  TER- 
RITORY  MEMORIAL  FOR  MILITARY  TELEGRAPH  LINE 299 


<< 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

THE  DAYS  OF  OLD,  THE  DAYS  OF  GOLD" 


SPOKANES  SELL  GOLD  IN   1854 PIERCe's  DISCOVERIES  IN  THE   CLEARWATER  COUNTRY 

THOUSANDS  OF  MINERS  HASTEN  TO  THE   NEW  CAMPS JOAQUIN   MILLER  AN   EXPRESS 

RIDER FABULOUS    YIELDS    IN    OLD    FLORENCE    CAMP EX-GOVERNOR    COLS's    RECOL- 
LECTIONS— HIGH    PRICES    IN   THE   MINES FIRST   TRIP    OF   STEAMER    COL.   WRIGHT 

RICHEST   PLACES   IN   THE    U.   S. — HOW    FLORENCE    AND    OTHER    CAMPS   WERE    DISCOV- 
ERED  FAMINE  AND  HARDSHIPS GOLD  BY  THE  QUART ^REIGN  OF  CRIME  AND  TERROR 

AMAZING   ESCAPE    FROM    THE    GALLOWS LYNCHING    AT   LEWISTON 815 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

IMMIGRATION  OF  THE  EARLY  SEVENTIES 

ARRIVAL  OF  OLDTIME   CALIFORNIA   AND   IDAHO  MINERS THOMAS   NEWLON   ESTABLISHES 

A    FERRY    NEAR    TRENT ^WILLIAM    SPANGLe's    STAGE     STATION FIRST    SETTLER    AT 


MEDICAL   LAKE M.   M.    COWLEY   LOCATES   IN   SPOKANE   VALLEY D.   F.  PERCIVAL  IN 

ROCK    CREEK    REGION COPLEN    FAMILY    AT    LATAH WORLD^S    LARGEST    MASTODON 

DISCOVERED SPOKANE's    FIRST    BRASS    BAND 325 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

EARLY  SETTLEMENTS  BY  THE  FALLS  OF  THE  SPOKANE 

ARRIVAL  OF  DOWNING  AND  SCRANTON  IN  1871 THEIR  "MULEY"  SAW  THE  FIRST  INDUS- 
TRY  ^RECOLLECTIONS  OF  ''bABE''  DOWNING ^ARRIVAL  OF  JAMES  N.  OLOVBR  IN  1873 

HE    BUYS    OUT    SCRANTON    AND    DOWNING ^PLATS    THE    FIRST    TOWNSITB OIVB8 

FREDERICK  POST  FORTY  ACRES  TO  START  A  FLOUR  MILL^— ARRIVAL  OF  A.  M.  CANNON 

AND  J.  J.  BROWNE TROOPS  MOVE  TO  LAKE  COEUR  d'aLBNB FIRST  PHYSICIAN^  AND 

FIRST    DRUGffTORE CANNON    STARTS  .  A    BANK SPOKANs's    FIRST    GUN    PLAT — ^HOW 

THE  PIONEERS  LIVED THE  FIRST  NEWSPAPER BUSINESS  LOTS  GIVEN  AWAT — TRADE 

WITH   THE  INDIANS 329 


CONTENTS  XV 

CHAPTER  XXXVI 

NEZ  PERCE  WAR  AND  MASSACRES  OF  1877 

8ataoe  devotion  to  a  cause josepil's  love  for  the  wallowa  valley indian 

bureau    vacillates first    conflict    with    settlers fanatacism    of    the 

"dreamers" — Joseph's  band  ordered  to  nez  percb  reserve — war  party  pre- 

pares     FOR     THE     CONFLICT CAMAS     PRAIRIE     SETTLERS     ATTACKED MEN,    WOMEN 

AND    CHILDREN   MASSACRED SHOCKING   ATROCITIES SETTLERS   FLEE    TO    PLACES    OF 

REFUGE FIERCE  AND  SANGUINARY  BATTLES  WITH  U.  8.  TROOPS JOSEPH's  REMARK- 
ABLE  RUNNING   CAMPAIGN SETTLERS  IN   SPOKANE  REGION   ARE   TERRORIZED— TAKE 

REFUGE     ON     HAVERMALE     ISLAND— J.     N.     GLOVER's     RECOLLECTIONS WAR     PARTY 

DANCES  NIGHTLY  BY  THE  FALLS ARRIVAL  OF  THE  TROOPS M.  M.  COWLEy's  REMIN- 
ISCENCES       348 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 

SOME  FIRST  THINGS  BY  THE  FALLS 
Spokane's  first  "civic  center" — first  white  child — first  boarding  house,  hotel 

AND    restaurant FIRST    LAW    OFFICE,    WATER    SUPPLY,    CHURCH,    BRIDGE,    TELE- 
PHONE, ETC. FIRST  CHRISTMAS  TREE   AND  FIRST  FOURTH  OF   JULY  CELEBRATION 

REMINISCENCES  OF  FRANCIS   H.   COOK APPEARANCE   OF  THE   TOWN  IN    1880 FIRST 

TOWN    GOVERNMENT START    OF    THE    FIRE    DEPARTMENT J.    T.    DAVIE    TELLS    OF 

THE    FIRST     BRICK    KILN    AND    FIRST    BRICK    BUILDINGS HISTORY    OF    THE    PUBLIC 

LIBRARY S55 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

CONCISE   REVIEW  OF  TOWN,  1874  TO   1887 

H.  T.  COWLEY   ARRIVES  WITH   BAND  OF   NEZ   PERCE   HELPERS APPEARANCE  OF  VILLAGE 

IN   1874 INDIAN   SCARE POW-WOW   IN   FRONT   OF   OLOVER's   STORE FIRST  SCHOOL 

DISTRICT    ORGANIZED ELECTION    IN    OLOVEr's    HOUSE FIRST   CHRISTMAS   TREE   AND 

SUPPER NEZ    PERCE    INDIAN    WAR ARRIVAL   OF   TROOPS   RELIEVES   THE   TENSION 

BROWNE     AND    CANNON     ARRIVE GRAND    OPENING    OF    THE     CALIFORNIA    HOUSE 

CHENEY     CAPTURES    THE     COUNTY    SEAT FIRST    BRICK    BUILDING INCORPORATION 

OF  THE   TOWN CITIZENS   CELEBRATE   ARRIVAL  OF  NORTHERN   PACIFIC,   1881 8PO- 

KANE's    FIRST    BIG    FIRE RUSH    TO   THE    COEUR   d'aLENES LAST    SPIKE    DRIVEN    IN 

N.  P. CITY  ACQUIRES  THE  WATER  SYSTEM DEVELOPMENTS  IN  COLVILLE  COUNTRY 

PIONEER  STREET  RAILWAY SPOKANE  REGAINS  COUNTY  SEAT 369 


xvi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XXXIX 

DISCOVERY  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  COEUR  D'ALENES 

EXISTENCE    OF   GOLD    KNOWN    IN    '508 MULLAN    SAW    NUGGETS  THERE    IN    VERY   EARLY* 

DAY A.   J.   PRICHARD   FIRST   SYSTEMATIC   PROSPECTOR HONORS   DIVIDED   WITH   TOM 

IRWIN ^PRICHARD's    STORY SCHEME    TO     COLONIZE     COUNTY    WITH    "LIBERALS** 

DISCOVERY     NEAR     MURRAY WILD     STAMPEDE     OF     '88 KEEN     RIVALRY     BETWEEN 

SPOKANE    AND   AMBITIOUS   RIVALS FAMOUS   OLD   TOWN    OF   EAGLE M.   M.    COWLEY's 

RECOLLECTIONS MUSHROOM    PLACER    CAMPS DISCOVERY    OF    BUNKER    HILL THAT 

FAMOUS    DONKEY "DUTCH     JAKE's"     STORY SALE    OF    THE    GREAT     MINE OTHER 

FAMOUS      GALENA      STRIKES ROMANCE      OF      THE      HERCULES CHARLES      SWBBNY*S 

OPERATIONS — ^MARVELOUS  RECORD  OF   PRODUCTION   AND  DIVIDENDS STRANGE  STORY 

OF    "dream"    DAVIS 381 


CHAPTER  XL 

HOW  CHENEY  CAPTURED  THE  COUNTY  SEAT 

BY  E.   E.    pehry 395 


CHAPTER  XLI 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF  FRANK  DALLAM,  J.  D.  SHERWOOD  AND 

G.  B.  DENNIS 

BRAVE    DAYS    OF    NEARLY    THIRTY    YEARS    AGO DALLAM     STARTS    THE    REVIEW PRINTS 

FIRST   NUMBER   AT    CHENEY HENRY   VILLARd's   VISIT PAUL    SCHULZE   RECOMMENDS 

paint hank    vaughn,    the    desperado,    comes    to    town scrub    races    in 

Browne's    addition — appearance  of  town   in    1883 — fighting   fire  with   a 

BUCKET   line PICTURESQUE    STREET   LIFE SQUAW    FIGHTS PUBLIC    SPIRIT    BEFORE 

the      FIRE MR.       DENNIS       AND       HIS       HIGH       HAT RECOLLECTIONS       OF       "bLIND 

GEORGE"       399 


CHAPTER  XLII 

RAPID  GROWTH  OF  THE  YOUNG  CITY,  1886  TO  1889 

SLEIGH   RIDES    AND    DANCES NEW    ARLINGTON    HOTEL    OPENED ^EMMA    ABBOTT^S    COilC- 

PANY    IN    "BOHEMIAN    GIRL*' SALE    OF    OLD    DOMINION    MINE CONTEST    FOR    THE 

COURTHOUSE STEAMER       SPOKANE       WRECKED FAIR       ASSOCIATION       ORGANIZED — - 

RAPID     BUILDING     OF     RAILROADS SALE     OF     BUNKER     HILL     AND     SULLIVAN REAL 

ESTATE    BOOM VARIETY   THEATER    OPENS SPOKANE's    FIRST    SOCIAL    CLUB BACHE- 
LOR'S  BALL HOW   THE   CITY   GREW 409 


1 


CONTENTS  xvii 

CHAPTER  XLIII 

THE  GREAT  FIRE  OF  AUGUST  4,  1889 

BLAZE  STARTS  NBAR  OLD  N.  P.   PASSENGER  STATION SEEMS  A  TRIFLING  AFFAIR WATER 

SUPPLY    FAILS   AND    FLAMES   SPREAD PEOPLE    BECOME    PANIC   STRICKEN BUILDINGS 

BLOWN     UP     WITH     GIANT    POWDER MIGHTY    SEA    OP    FLAME     ROLLS    TOWARDS    THE 

RITER TERRIFIED  AND  MOTLEY  CROWD  FLEES  TO  NORTH  SIDE THIRTY-TWO  BLOCKS 

DESTROYED CITY    UNDER   MARTIAL   LAW COURAGE    QUICKLY   DISPELS    DESPAIR RE- 
LIEF   ROLLS    IN DONATIONS    FAR    EXCEED    NEEDS    OF    DESTITUTE ORGY    OF    GREED 


FOLLOWS COUNCILMEN  INDICTED  FOR  MISAPPROPRIATING  SUPPLIES OPEN  CHARGES 

OF       BRIBERY       IN       **HAM       COUNCIL**    STEVE       BAILEY       ASSAULTS       COUNCILMAN 

BETTIS      415 


CHAPTER  XLIV 

EVENTS  OF  1889  REVIEWED 


WASHINGTON    ADMITTED   TO   THE   UNION SPOKANe's   FIRST   LEGISLATIVE   DELEGATION 

CITIZENS   GIVE   LAVISHLY  TO   PUBLIC   ENTERPRISES A   BEAUTIFUL   AND   IRRIDESCENT 

DREAM OUR     BEGINNINGS     IN     ART TAe    TOWN's    BANKERS ITS    SOCIAL    "aTMOS- 

PHERe''    described    by    ''iADY    ALBION^' RECEIVING    DAYS    ON    THE    HILL    AND    IN. 

Browne's  addition — report  of  the  board  of  trade — era  of  railroad  build- 


ing  TEN    THOUSAND    MEN    IN    SURROUNDING    MINING    CAMPS ORCHARDS    STARTED 

ON    "the    gravel" RAPID    EXTENSION    OF    STREET    RAILWAYS FIFTEEN    PLACES    OF 

WORSHIP HARRY  .  HAYWARD's    THEATRICAL    ATTRACTIONS 421 


CHAPTER  XLV 

SPOKANE  IN  TENTS  AND  ON  RUNNERS 

SEVERE  WINTER   OF    1889-90 RAILROADS   BLOCKED   AND  TRAINS   SNOWED   IN SPOKANE 

AT  A   LOW   EBB   MORALLY "DUTCH   JAKe's"    FAMOUS   GAMBLING  TENT — KILLING  OF 

"big   mac" LAW   AND  ORDER   LEAGUE   ORGANIZED GAMBLING  HOUSES  CLOSED,   BUT 

REOPEN MONROE    STREET    BRIDGE    TROUBLES TIDE    LAND    FIGHT SPOKANE    CLUB 

FOUNDED CITY    LIMITS    EXTENDED SPOKANe's    FIRST    PROFESSIONAL   BALL   TEAM 

CLOUOH     ELECTED     MAYOR THE     "SHANTYTOWN     WAR** CITIZENS     DEFEND     THEIR 

LOTS    WITH    RIFLE    AND    REVOLVER FIRST    MINING    EXCHANGE ORIGIN     OF     HOME 

FOR    THE    FRIENDLESS CARPENTERS    STRIKE    AND     CITIZENS    RALLY    TO    COMPLETE 

EXPOSITION  BUILDING WILSON  DEFEATS  TURNER AUDITORIUM       ,  THEATER 

OPENED      429 


xviii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XL VI 

NEW  YEAR'S,  1891,  SEES  A  NEW  SPOKANE 

INDIAN    WAB    THREATENED    IN    OKANOGAN     COUNTRY BRIBERY    SENSATION     AT    OLYM- 

PIA CITY    ELECTION MAYOR,     COUNCIL     AND     COMMISSIONERS     CLASH BOARD     OF 

TRADE     BECOMES     CHAMBER     OF     COMMERCE SALE     OF     MORNING    MINE STRANGE 

CASE  OF  HERMAN   L.   CHASE BEGINNING  OF  ROSSLAND  CAMP ^DISCOVERY  OF   KA8IX> 

AND   SLOCAN   MINES JAMES   J.   HILL's   FIRST   VISIT NEW   HIGH  SCHOOL   OPENED^ 

Spokane's   first  derby — review  celebrates  in  its  new  building — spirited 

SCHOOL  election    4f37 


CHAPTER  XLVII 

COEUR  D'ALENE  RIOTS  OF  1892 


trouble  precipitated  by  arrival  of  strike-breakers — Idaho's  governor  issues 
warning  proclamation — deadly  battle  on  canyon  creek^  JULY  11 — strikers 

HOIST   the   white    FLAG BLOWING   UP   OF   FRISCO   MILL MILITANT   UNION    FORCES 

MARCH    ON    WARDNER CAPTURE    TOWN    AND    CONCENTRATORS SWEENY,    CLEMENT 

AND  MCAULEY  COMPELLED  TO  SIGN  AGREEMENT  TO  DISCHARGE  NON-UNION  FORCES 

LARGE  NUMBERS  OF  NON-UNION  MEN  RUN  OUT  OF  THE  COUNTRY REIGN  OF  TERROR 

AT  THE  OLD  MISSION MARTIAL  LAW  DECLARED FORERUNNER  OF  POPULISM STATE 

AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE  OPENS  AT  PULLMAN DEATH  OF  CHIEF  GARRY D.  M.  DRUM- 
HELLER   DEFEATS  JAY   P.   GRAVES   FOR   MAYOR FIRST  THROUGH   TRAIN   OVER   GREAT 

NORTHERN PISTOL  BATTLE   IN   PACIFIC   HOTEL 443 


CHAPTER  XLVIII 

YEAR  OF  TURMOIL,  GLOOM   AND  DISASTER 

MR.  cannon's  affairs  BECOME  INVOLVED HIS  BANK  FAILS OTHER  BANKS  CLOSE  THEIR 

DOORS MENACING    DEMONSTRATIONS    BY    UNEMPLOYED ^THREATS    OF    VIOLENCE 

LAW  AND  ORDER  LEAGUE  FORMED ASSISTANT  POSTMASTER  COMMITS  SUICIDE ALLEN 

AND  TURNER  SENATORIAL  CONTEST LEGISLATURE  ADJOURNS  WITHOUT  ELECTING 


BEGINNING    OF    BEET    SUGAR    INDUSTRY RETRENCHMENT    AT    CITY    HALL WHEEL 

club's    FIRST   RUN DESERTION    AND   DEATH   OF    COLGATE,   GUIDE   OF   CARLIN   PARTY 

MAYOR  POWELL  STARTS   HOME   INDUSTRY  SENTIMENT 449 


CHAPTER  XLIX 

YEAR  OF  COXEY  ARMY  AND  GREAT  A.  R.  U.  STRIKE 

COXEYITES  ASTIR  IN   SPOKANE   COUNTRY NIGHT  TIME  ORATORY  AT  THE  HAYMARKE 

HEADQUARTERS   IN   OLD   M.   E.    CHURCH ^"cOLONEL''  DOLPHIN    IN   DISGRACE GREAT 


CONTENTS 

8TS1KJS  PABAI«YZE8  TRAFFIC  ON  RAILROADS — RIOT  A^T  NORTHERN  PACIFIC  STATION 

DEPUTIX8  FIRE  OYER  CROWD — FIVE  HUNDRED  CITIZENS  SWORN  IN  TO  PRESERVE  OR- 
DER  DISORDERS  AT  SPRAOUE RISE  OF  THE  ''SHOTOUN  LEAOUE^' — POPULISTS  ELECT 

MAYOR STORMY  REPUBLICAN   STATE   CONVENTION SPOKANE^S  FIRST  FRUIT  FAIR 

FIRST    CARLOAD    OF   APPLES    SHIPPED TWO    MORE    BANK    FAILURES CITY   IN    DARK- 

NB88 LOW  COST  OP  LIVING AMATEURS  SING  LIGHT  OPERA 457 


CHAPTER  L 

HOW  SPOKANE  WON  THE  ARMY  POST 

BY  E.   E.    PERRY 465 


CHAPTER  LI 

REVIEW  OF  HISTORICAL  EVENTS  OF  1895 

JOHN  L.  WILSON   ELECTED  UNITED  STATES  SENATOR SCHISM  IN  FIRST  M.  E.  CHURCH 

FUTILE    ATTEMPT    TO    IMPEACH    JUDGE    ARTHUR LOCAL    TALENT    PRODUCES    HOME- 
MADE OPERA WAR  ON  BOX-RUSTLING DEATH  OF  A.  M.  CANNON BELT  REELECTED 

MAYOR SIMON     OPPENHEIMER    CUTS    A    WIDE     SWATH THEODORE     CU8HINO    KILLS 

THOMAS    KINO SUCCESSFUL    SOCIETY    CIRCUS COLONEL    WINSTON    MEETS    A    HIGH- 
WAYMAN  COUNCIL   THREATENS   MAYOR   WITH   IMPEACHMENT FRUIT   FAIR  A   BRIL- 

UANT  SUCCESS DEATH  OF  F.  ROCKWOOD  MOORE BETTER  TIMES  FOR  SPOKANE.  .471 


CHAPTER  LII 

SPOKANE  REVIVED  BY  MINERAL  WEALTH 

COEXJR  d'aLENES,    ROSSLAND    AND    SLOCAN    ROLL    IN    RICH    DIVIDENDS MAKING    OF    THE 

GREAT  LE  ROI "wiLDCATTERS"  FLOURISH REPUBLIC  CAMP  ATTRACTS  ATTENTION 

POUTICAI^     UPHEAVAL     OF     1896 INFLUENTIAL     REPUBLICANS     BOLT FUSION     OF 

DEMOCRATS,      POPULISTS      AND      SILVER     REPUBLICANS SPECTACULAR      CAMPAIGN 

FUSION    FORCES    SWEEP    STATE    AND    COUNTY CAUSES    OF    THE    UPHEAVAL MAKING 

WAR    ON     GROUND    SQUIRRELS GOOD    WORK    FOR    FORT    WRIGHT    BY     CONGRESSMAN 

HYDE L.  H.  PLATTOR  KILLED  BY   HENRY  8EIPFERT FRUIT   FAIR  ENLARGED.  .  .  .477 


CHAPTER  LIII 

REVIEW  OF  HISTORICAL  EVENTS  OF  1897 

OBORQK  TURNER  ELECTED  TO  THE  SENATE — DR.  OLMSTED  DEFEATS  DR.  MAC  LEAN  FOR 
MAYOR H.  L.  WILSON  MINISTER  TO  CHILE SALE  OF  WAR  EAGLE  MINE ^DEVELOP- 
MENT  OF    REPUBLIC GRANBY's   BEGINNINGS MRS.    ARCHER's    PRIZE    POEM DEATH 


XX  CONTENTS 


OF    "death    on    the    trail" LORD    8HOLTO    DOUGLAS    ARRIVES TRIBULATIONS    OF 

YBRT  REV.   DR.   DEAN   RICHMOND   BABBITT TOWN    WIDE    OPEN    AGAIN ROSE    CARNI- 
VAL AND   PARADE PROSPERITY'S   BANNERS   WELL  ADVANCED 481 


CHAPTER  LIV 

SALE   OF  LE   ROI  MINE   TO  BRITISH   COMPANY 

WHITTAKER   WRIGHT,   LONDON    PROMOTER,   OVERREACHES    HIMSELF PEYTON    INTERESTS 

SELL   CONTROL TURNER  INTERESTS  OBJECT CONTESTS  CARRIED  TO  THE   COURTS 

JAY  P.  GRAVES  MAKES  A  FORTUNE TRAGEDY  OF  THE  GREAT  EASTERN   FIRE ^DEATH 

OF   FRANK    GANAHL,   FAMOUS    PIONEER    LAWYER W.    L.    JONES  AND   F.    C.    CUSHMAN 

ELECTED    TO     CONGRESS FIFTH    ANNUAL    FRUIT    FAIR NORTHERN     PACIFIC     SELLS 

LOW   PRICED    LANDS 487 


CHAPTER  LV 

INLAND  EMPIRE  SOLDIERS  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES 

SEVEN-TWELFTHS  OF  WASHINGTON'S  REGIMENT  COME  FROM  THE  BAST  SIDE SPOKANe's 

GREETING  TO  THE  SIXTEENTH  INFANTRY REGULARS  DEPART  FOR  CUBA  AND  VOLUN- 
TEERS   FOR    MANILA COMPANIES    A    AND    L    ON    THE    FIRING    LINE GENERAL    KINO 

PRAISES  THE  SOLDIER  BOYS  FROM  WASHINGTON  AND  IDAHO SEVERE  LOSSES  IN  ACTION 

DEATHS    FROM    WOUNDS   AND   DISEASE SPOKANE    RED    CROSS   SOCIETY    CHARTERS  A 

TRAIN  AND  BRINGS  OUR  BOYS  HOME  IN  COMFORT  AND   STATE CHEERING  THOUSANDS 

WELCOME  THE  YOUNG  VETERANS MEMBERS  OF  THE  SPOKANE  COMPANIES 491 


CHAPTER  LV; 

TWO  PROGRESSIVE  YEARS,  1899  AND  1900  REVIEWED 

D.  C.  CORBIN  ESTABLISHES  BEET  SUGAR  INDUSTRY FOSTER  ELECTED  SENATOR REPUBLIC 

TO    THE    FRONT SALE    OF    REPUBLIC    MINE CLARK    AND    SWEENY    IN    THE    COEUR 

d'aLENES HEROIC    DEATH    OF    ENSIGN    MONAGHAN SPOKANE    INDUSTRIAL    EXPOSI- 
TION  ELKS   HOLD   IMPOSING   CARNIVAL GREAT  WAVE   OF   IMMIGRATION GOVERNOR 

ROGERS    REELECTED REPUBLICANS    CARRY    REST    OF    TICKET WILLIAM     JENNINGS 

BRYAN  HERE "hOT  AIR"  RAILROAD  BUILT  TO  REPUBLIC 499 


CONTENTS  xxi 

CHAPTER  LVII 

SECOND  FIERCE  LABOR  WAR  IN  THE  COEUR  D'ALENES 

ONE    THOUSAND   UNION   MINERS   SEIZE   A   TRAIN MOVE   ON   WARDNER  WITH   RIFLES  AND 

DYNAMITE BLOW    UP    BUNKER    HILL    MILL ONE    UNION    MAN    KILLED GOVERNOR 

8TEUNENBERG    CALLS    FOR    UNITED    STATES    TROOPS MARTIAL    LAW    ESTABLISHED 

UNIONS   PUT   UNDER    BAN    AND   PERMIT   SYSTEM    ESTABLISHED MANY   RIOTERS   #LEE 

TO  THE  HILLS HOST  OF  OTHERS  ARRESTED  AND  IMPRISONED  IN  "bULLPEN'' CON- 
GRESS CONDUCTS  AN  INVESTIGATION ^£D.  BOYCE  TELLS  GOMPERS  WESTERN  FEDERA- 
TION IS  NOT  A  TRADES  UNION 508 


CHAPTER  LVIII 

IMMIGRATION  ROLLS  INTO  THE   INLAND  EMPIRE 

THIRTY  THOUSAND  NEWCOMERS  ENTER  THE  SPOKANE  GATEWAY COUNTRY  COOPER- 
ATES WITH  THE  CITY OIL  BORING  CRAZE  STRIKES  THE  PUBLIC THE  KINDERGAR- 
TEN   CONTEST SENSATIONAL    PHASES    OF    RAILROAD    PASS    EVIL ^DR.    P.    S.    BYRNE 

ELECTED    MAYOR INTERSTATE    FAIR    ORGANIZED RELIGIOUS    SERVICES    IN    "dUTCH 

JAKeV*     place hill's     NORTHERN     SECURITIES     MERGER DEATH     OP     GOVERNOR 

ROGERS 507 


CHAPTER  LIX 

THRILLING  HUNT  FOR  TRACY  THE  OUTLAW 

TEACY   AND    MERRILL    KILL    THREE    GUARDS    AT    OREGON    PENITENTIARY ESCAPE    INTO 

WASHINGTON TERRORIZE   CITIES   AND  TOWNS  AROUND  PUGET  SOUND TRACY   KILLS 

MERRILL OUTLAW     APPEARS    IN     OUTSKIRTS    OF    SEATTLE KILLS    SEVERAL    MEN 

ESCAPES    INTO    THE    CASCADES CROSSES   THE    COLUMBIA MAN    HUNT   TRANSFERRED 

TO  THE    BIG    BEND DESPERADO    WOUNDED    AT    EDDY    RANCH,    COMMITS    SUICIDE 

NOTABLE     GATHERING     OF    RAILROAD     PRESIDENTS     AT    DAVENPORT     AND     COLFAX 

VOLUNTARY    CUT    IN    GRAIN    RATES WAR    ON    RAILROAD    LOBBY FIGHT    FOR    RAIL- 


ROAD     COMMISSION LAST     SPIKE      EXCURSION     TO      REPUBLIC BLACKWELL      BUILDS 

COEUR   d'aLENE    ELECTRIC    LINE N.    P.   SELLS   TIMBER   LANDS LORD   SHOLTO   DOUG- 
LAS*   FREE    BOOZE   SATURNALIA 511 


CHAPTER  LX 

LAST  CLOUD   FADES  FROM  THE  FINANCIAL  SKIES 

1908  A    YEAR    OP    STIRRING    POLITICAL    INTEREST TITANIC    STRUGGLE    BETWEEN    GOV. 

MC  BRIDE   AND  THE   RAILROADS LEVI   ANKENY   ELECTED  U.   8.  SENATOR DEATH   OF 


xxii  CONTENTS 

JOHN   B.  ALLEN SPOKANE  ENTERTAINS  PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT DEATH  OF   H.  BOX.- 

STER  AND  S.  S.  OLIDDBN ORANBY  PAYS  ITS  FIRST  DIVIDEND FABULOUS  PROFITS  FROIC 

MINES       517 


CHAPTER  LXI 

RENEWED   ACTIVITY    IN    RAILROAD    BUILDING 

D.    C.    CORBIN     ANNOUNCES    PURPOSE    TO     BUILD    C,    P.    R.     CONNECTION GRAVES    ANDi 

BLACKWELL  FINANCE  ELECTRIC  LINE  INTO  PALOUSE  COUNTRY ROSSLANd's  OUTPUT 

PASSES    THE    $25^000,000    MARK PRINCELY    PROFITS    OF    THE    COEUR    d'aLENES 

MC  BRIDE    DOWNED    IN    REPUBLICAN    STATE    CONVENTION MEAD    DEFEATS    TURNKR 

FOR     GOVERNOR SWEENY     DEVELOPS     SENATORIAL     ASPIRATIONS DEATH     OF      COL. 

P.  H.  WINSTON,  B.  C.  VAN   HOUTEN  AND  REV.  S.  G.   HAVERMALE DROWNING  OF   MISS 

LOUISE   HARRIS 521 


CHAPTER  LXII 

CHARLES  SWEENY'S  BRIEF  TILT  AT  POLITICS 

NO   MATCH    FOR    OLYMPIA    POLITICIANS HE    RETALIATES    BY    ELECTING    PILES INLAND 

EMPIRE    PROFITS DAGGETT    DEFEATS    ACUFF    FOR    MAYOR LARGE    PROJECTS    OF    W. 


W.  POWER   CO. ACTIVE  YEAR   IN  RAILROAD  BUILDING JUDGE   WHITSON  OPENS   U.  8. 

COURT    IN    SPOKANE DEATH    OF    R.    WEIL,    "jlM**    WARDNER    AND    COL.    W.    W.    D. 

TURNER INDIANS  SIGN   TREATY  WITH  THUMB  MARKS 527 


CHAPTER  LXIII 

"SPOKANE  IS  ALMOST  A  MODEL  CITY" 

TRIBUTE    OF    PRAISE    BY    COLORADO'S    GOVERNOR    IN     1906 GROWTH    OF    CHAMBER    OF 

COMMERCE PRESIDENT     EARLING     HERE ELECTRIC     LINE     EXTENDED    TO     HAYDEN 

LAKE J.    F.    SLOANE    SLAIN    BY    HIS    SON    SIDNEY RENO    HUTCHINSON,   Y.    M.    C.    A. 

SECRETARY,    MURDERED ASSASSINATION    OF    GOV.    STEUNENBERG FUTILE    ATTEMPT 

TO  IMPEACH    MAYOR  DAGGETT DEATH   OF   EX-GOVERNOR   GEORGE   E.    COLE FOUND- 
ING   OF    WESTERN    UNION    LIFE    INSURANCE    COMPANY FORMER    MILLIONAIRE    DIES 

AT  POOR   FARM 531 


CHAPTER  LXIV 

YEAR  OF  PANIC  AND  CLEARING  HOUSE  CERTIFICATES 

CHAMBER  OF   COMMERCE   CHAMPIONS  STATE   COLLEGE C.   H.  MOORE  ELECTED  MAYOR — 

PANIC  BREAKS  IN  NEW  YORK LOCAL  BANKS  ISSUE  CLEARING  HOUSE  CERTIFICATES — 


CONTENTS  xxiii 

FLURRY    SOON    SUBSIDES ^F.    A.    BI.ACKWELL    BUILDS    IDAHO    ft    WASHINGTON    NORTH- 


ERN  FINE  TOWN  OF  SPIRIT  LAKE  SPRINGS  UP  IN  THE  WILDERNESS DEATH  OF  D.  F. 

PERCIVAL    AND    THOMAS    GEORGE    THOMSON "rEY."    LESLIE    DAY    COMMITS    SUICIDE 

— WILD  DEMONSTRATION  AROUND  POLICE  STATION 535 


CHAPTER  LXV 

ROOT-GORDON  SCANDAL  AROUSES  THE  PUBLIC 

tINISTBR   RUMORS    DEVELOP    INTO    OPEN    CHARGES CHIEF    JUSTICE    HADLEY    CALLS    FOR 

BAR   ASSOCIATION    INQUIRY JUDGE    ROOT   RESIGNS GRAND   JURY   CALLED APPEAR- 
ANCE   OF    JAMBS    J.    HILL PROSECUTOR    PUGH    CHARGES    HIM    WITH    BAD    FAITH — • 

GBEAT  NORTHERN  REFUSES  TO  AID  PROSECUTION GORDON   ACQUITTED PASSING  OF 

SUNDAY    SALOON    AND   BOX-RUSTLING SPOKANE    EQUAL    SUFFRAGE    ASSOCIATION    OR- 

GANIZBD-^MILES  POINDEZTER   GOES  TO   CONGRESS COSGROVE   ELECTED   GOVERNOR 

JONES  DEFKATS  ANKENY  FOR  THE  SENATE NORTHERN  PACIFIC'S  SCHEME  OF  GRADE 

SEPARATION   DEFEATED 150^000  CLUB   FOSTERS   CHILDREN'S  HOME 539 


CHAPTER  LXVI 

BILLY  SUNDAY'S  REVIVAL  AND  THE  UNEMPLOYED 

ttlATEST   RELIGIOUS   MEETING   IN    CITY^S   HISTORY TEMPERANCE   WORKERS   MARCH   ON 

OLYMPIA CARING    FOR    ARMY    OF    IDLE    MEN PRATT   DEFEATS    OMO    FOR    MAYOR 

fPOKESMAK-REVIEW      CELEBRATES      TWENTY-FIFTH      ANNIVERSARY EXTRAORDINARY 

RUSH    FOR    INDIAN    LANDS FRIGHTFUL   WRECK   ON    COEUR  d'aLENE    ELECTRIC    LINE 

— PAN  TAN  DISCLOSURES NATIONAL  IRRIGATION   CONGRESS PRESIDENT  TAFT  VISITS 

INLAND    EMPIRE CITY's    CLASH    WITH    THE    I.    W.    W. ^YEAR    OF    FINE    GROWTH 

ORBAT    NORTHERN    ABSORBS    THE    GRAVES    SYSTEM DEATH    OF    J.    HERMAN    BEARE, 

JUDGE  NORMAN  BUCK^  E.  H.  JAMIESON  AND  C.  S.  VOORHEES 54iS 


CHAPTER  LXVII 

SPIRITED  CONTEST  OVER  RAILROAD  FRANCHISES 

COUNCIL   DEMANDS    TERMINAL    RATES    AND    A    COMMON    USER    CLAUSE CITIZENS    DIVIDE 

AND  A  SPIRITED  CONTEST  FOLLOWS COUNCIL  YIELDS  AND  RAILROADS  WIN DIS- 
ASTROUS AVALANCHES  IN  COEUR  d'aLENES AVALANCHE  DEMOLISHES  GREAT  NORTH- 
ERN TRAIN MORE  THAN  100  LIVES  LOST ALLEN  HAYNES  SINKS  $500,000  IN  IN- 
LAND  HERALD DEATH    OF    PROF.    FRANZ   MUELLER TWO    HUNDRED    LIVES    LOST   IN 

FOREST  FIRES POINDEXTER  ELECTED  TO  SENATE SPOKANE  ENTERTAINS  DRY  FARM- 
ING CONGRESS LARGE  PROJECTS  OP  WASHINGTON  WATER   POWER  CO 549 


xxiv  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  LXVIII 

COMMISSION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT  ADOPTED 

PEOPLE    GROW   WEARY   OF    FUTILE   ATTEMPTS   TO   PATCH   UP  THE   OLD    CHARTER STUDT 

THE   COMMISSION  PLAN MAYOR  PRATT  NAMES  A  COMMITTEE  TO  FRAME  NEW   CHAR- 
TER  CITIZENS    DEMAND     AN     ELECTION COUNCIL    TRIES    DILATORY    TACTICS,    BITT 

YIELDS     UNDER     PRESSURE — FIFTEEN     FREEHOLDERS     CHOSEN CITIZENS    TOTE     FOR 

ITS   PLAN   OF    COMMISSION   GOVERNMENT THE    OPPOSITION    TICKET NEW    CHARTER 

IS     ADOPTED FIVE     COMMISSIONERS     ELECTED     FROM   A     FIELD     OF       NINETY-THRSS 

CANDIDATES NEW    GOVERNMENT    INSTALLED 555 


CHAPTER  LXIX 

WHICH  BRINGS  THIS  HISTORY  UP  TO  DATE 

FORMER  POLICE  CHIEF  JOHN  T.  SULLIVAN  ASSASSINATED CITY  ENTERTAINS  ROOSEVELT 

AND    TAFT $77,481    SUBSCRIBED    FOR    GREATER    SPOKANE    PLANS    AND    PROJECTS 

SUBSTANTIAL  INCREASE  OF  POPULATION MANUFACTURE  OF  PAPER  STARTS  ON   LARGE 


SCALE NEW   MONROE   STREET   BRIDGE   OPENED SPOKANE    CLUB    OCCUPIES   ITS    NEW 

HOME REMARKABLE    GROWTH    OF   INLAND    CLUB "dOc"    BROWN    ENDS    HIS    LIFE 

GIPSY  SMITH  CONDUCTS  LARGE  REVIVAL 559 


CHAPTER  LXX 

PIONEER  CHURCHES  OF  SPOKANE 

CONGREGATIONALISTS  AND  METHODISTS  EARLY  IN  THE  FIELD FIRST  SERMON  TO  A  WHITE 

CONGREGATION    PREACHED   BY    REV.    8.   G.    HAVERMALE FIRST   ORGAN    FROM    WILLA- 
METTE   VALLEY FIRST    M.    E.    CHURCH PIONEER    BAPTIST    LABORS MISSION    WORK 

BY  THE  EPISCOPALIANS REV.  T.  G.  WATSON  ORGANIZES  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

CENTRAL     CHRISTIAN     CHURCH UNIVERSALISTS     AND     UNITARIANS ^EARLY     DAY 

EASTER  SERVICES CHRISTIAN  HOME  IN  COLVILLE  VALLEY  IN   1854 563 


CHAPTER  LXXI 

CATHOLIC  INSTITUTIONS  OF  SPOKANE 

FIRST  PLACE  OP  WORSHIP  A  SHACK,   1 5x22 FIRST  CHURCH  OF  OUR  LADY  OF  LOURDBS — 

FOUNDING   OF   THE    CHURCH    OP    ST.    JOSEPH BEGINNING   OF    ST.    ALOY8IU8 BIRTH 

AND    GROWTH    OF    GONZAGA     COLLEGE ITS    PROGRESS    FROM    FATHER    REBMANN    TO 

FATHER  TAELMAN FOUNDING  OF  SACRED  HEART  HOSPITAL  IN   1886 ^EDUCATIONAL 

INSTITUTIONS    OF   THE    SISTERS    OF    THE    HOLY    NAMES ST.    JOSEPh's    ORPHANAGE — 

OTHER    INSTITUTIONS     571 


CONTENTS  XXV 

CHAPTER  LXXII 

SPOKANE'S  JEWISH  COMMUNITY 

EARLY  DAY   HISTORY  REVIEWED   BY  RABBI    LEVINE SIMON    BERG  ESTABLISHES   A   STORE 

IN  1879 OTHERS  WHO  FOLLOWED  SOON   AFTER FIRST  JEWESSES  BY   THE   FALLS 

FIRST  BIRTH  AND  FIRST  DEATH FIRST  DIVINE  SERVICE ^RABBIS  WHO  HAVE  SERVED 

HERE VARIOUS  JEWISH   ORGANIZATIONS 579 


CHAPTER  LXXIII 

EARLY  DAY  HISTORY  OF  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

FIRST  SCHOOL   HOUSE   AT   CHEWELAH   IN   1869 HOW   THE   PIONEER  SCHOOL   WAS   BUILT 

IN      SPOKANE JAMES      MONAGHAN      COUNTY      SUPERINTENDENT      IN      1875 ONLY 

ELEVEN  CHILDREN  OF  SCHOOL  AGE  IN  SPOKANE  DISTRICT J.  J.  BROWNS  FIRST  SU- 
PERINTENDENT OF  NEW  COUNTY  OF  SPOKANE FIRST  TEACHERS'  INSTITUTE RECOL- 
LECTIONS   OF    A    PIONEER   TEACHER BENJAMIN    P.    CHENEY    ACADEMY^    AND    STATE 

NORMAL  AT  CHENEY GROWTH   BY  YEARS 588 


CHAPTER  LXXIV 

ORIGIN  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  POLICE  FORCE 

E.  B.   HYDE    TOWN    MARSHAL,    WILLIAM    KOHLHAUFF    NIGHT    WATCHMAN JOE    WARREN 

JOINS  THE    FORCE  IN    1884 LOCKUP   ON   SITE   OP   AUDITORIUM WARREN    CAPTURES 

BILL    JACKSON,    A    "wiCKED    CUSS" INDIANS    MURDER    GEORGE    RUSK    ON    DEADMAN 

CREEK WARREN    KILLS  A    BAD   INDIAN    IN    PEACEFUL   VALLEY WHEN    "wiLD    BILL" 

CRIED INDIAN    LYNCHED   BY   CITIZENS  AT   CHENEY 591 


CHAPTER  LXXV 

SPOKANE'S  LONG  FIGHT  FOR  JUST  FREIGHT  RATES 

RATES  ADVANCED   100  PER  CENT  IN   1887 A  SHARP  PROTEST FIRST  SUIT  BY  BOARD  OP 

TRADE   IN    1889 — SHIPPERS  DIYIDED    IN   1890 INTERSTATE    COMMERCE    COMMISSION 

HERE  IN    1891 ADVENT  OP  JAMES  J.  HILL GIVEN  FREE  RIGHT  OF  WAY ^INDIGNA- 
TION   OVER    BROKEN    PROMISES COMMISSION    ORDERS   REDUCTION   IN    CLASS   RATES 

RAILROADS  IGNORE  THE  ORDER COURTS  HOLD   COMMISSION   CAN   NOT  MAKE  RATES 

MYSTERIOUS   DISAPPEARANCE   OF   HILL's   TARIFF   SHEETS A.   W.  DOLAND   AND    OTHER 

SHIPPERS  GO    BEFORE  JUDGE   HANFORD LORENZO   SAWYER   KNOCKS  THEM   OUT IN- 
DIGNANT SHIPPERS  ORGANIZE   BOYCOTT ^RAILROADS  GRANT  CONCESSIONS HEPBURN 

LAW    PASSED SPOKANE    RENEWS    FIGHT    BEFORE    COMMISSION TENTATIVE    DECISION 

IN    1909 FULLER    DECISION    IN     1910 COMPLETE    DECISION    IN     1911 HOW    SPO- 
KANE   CELEBRATED     595 


xxvi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  LXXVI 

ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  NATIONAL  APPLE  SHOW 

BIRTH  AND   DEVELOPMENT  OP  AN   IDEA FIB8T  8HOW   IN    1908 DELIGHTED   THOUSANDS 

VIEW  THE  BEAUTIFUL  EXHIBITS PRESIDENT  TAFT  PRESSES  A  GOLDEN   KEY SPLEN- 
DID    ENTERPRISE      IN      PERIL SAVED     BY     ENTHUIASTIC     WORK GREAT     FUND      OF 

$60^000  RAISED    IN    1911 BRILLIANT    CARNIVAL    FEATURES TWENTY-SEVEN    VISIT- 
ING     BANDS NATIONAL      COUNTRY      LIFE      CONGRESS THIRTY-THREE      PRINCESSES 

ROYALLY    ENTERTAINED     605 


CHAPTER  LXXVII 

genesis,  growth  and  achievements  of  the  150^000  club eztraordii^ary  fund- 
raising  campaign  for. the  y.  m.  c.  a.  and  the  children's  homb— first  pianos 

in  spokane ^v.  h.  brown  called  here  in  1888  to  tune  ten  instruments 

Spokane's  first  music  store  and  first  music  teacher — history  of  the  spokes- 
man-review— HOW  the  rival  morning  journals  were  consolidated— woman 
suffrage  in  territorial  days — women  serve  on  juries. 609 


CHAPTER  LXXVIII 

D.  C.  CORBIN'S  CAREER  IN  SPOKANE  COUNTRY 
visits  the  coeur  d'alenes  in  1886 — meets  jim  wardner^  PHIL  o'rourke  and  harry 

BAER ^ALARMINO    MIXTURE   OF    ORE    SAMPLES    AND    DYNAMITE BUILDS    A    RAILROAD 

and   sells    it   to    the    NORTHERN    PACIFIC COMES    TO    SPOKANE    AND    BUILDS  THE 

SPOKANE  PALLS  &   NORTHERN TRYING  TIMES  AFTER   PANIC   OF    1898 LOYALTY  OF 

HIS    EMPLOYES BUILDS    THE    SPOKANE    INTERNATIONAL ESTABLISHES    THE    SUGAR 

BEET    INDUSTRY 615 


CHAPTER  LXXIX 

CITY    OFFICIALS   OF    SPOKANE,    FROM    1881    TO    DATE.       COMPILED   BY   CITY    CLERK    C.    A. 
FLEMING 619 


CHAPTER  LXXX 

BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIG  BEND  COUNTRY 

FUR  TRADERS   RANGE    OVER  THIS    BROAD  REGION ARRIVAL   OF  THE    FIRST   STOCKMEN 

TRAGIC  END  OF  "wiLD  GOOSE  BILL*' — ARRIVAL  OF  THE  SOLDIERS ^FIRST  SETTLER  AT 

DAVENPORT CRICKET  SCOURGE  OF  1882-88 CREATION  OF    LINCOLN  AND  DOUGLAS 


CONTENTS  xxvu 


COUNTIES HOT  AND  FURIOUS  COUNTY  BEAT    CONTEST DAVENPORT  ARMS   TO   HOLD 

THE    RECORDS INVADING    "aRMT''    FROM    8PRAOUE    TAKES    THEM    WITHOUT    BLOOD- 


SHED—A    COUNTY     WITHOUT     A     TOWN COMING     OF     THE     RAILROADS ^WHITMAN 

COUNTY    REDUCED    TO    MAKE    ADAMS    AND    FRANKLIN    COUNTIES FIRST    HOUSE    IN 

RITZVILLE HISTORIC      OLD      AINSWORTH FASCO's      EXPENSIVE      BANQUET ^ADVBNT 

OF  THE    GREAT   NORTHERN 621 


CHAPTER  LXXXI 

THE  PALOUSE  COUNTRY— ITS  SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT 

ORIGIN  AND  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  NAME GRA2ING  REGION  FOR  INDIAN  HERDS FIRST 

EXTENSIVE    SETTLEMENT    IN    1869 SITE    OF    COLFAX    LOCATED    IN    1870 COUNTY 

CREATED   IN    1872 FIRST  STORE  AND  SCHOOLHOU8B ^EABLY  DAY  GRAIN  SHIPMENTS 

— PIONEERS  ALARMED  BY  NEZ  PERCE  WAR SETTLERS  SEEK  REFUGE  IN  BLOCKHOUSE 

AT  PALOUSE FIRST  NEWSPAPER  AND  TELEPHONE  LINES STAGE  LINES  AND  STEAM- 
BOATS  THE  FIRST  RAILROAD MRS.  CHASERS  REMINISCENCES STATE  COLLEGE  LO- 
CATED  AT  PULLMAN ITS  START   AND   DEVELOPMENT 629 


CHAPTER  LXXXII 

PIONEER  WHEAT-GROWING  AND  FLOUR  MILLING 

FIRST   MILL    BUILT    AT   FALLS    ON    COLVILLE    RIVER^    NINETY    YEARS    AGO ^MISSIONARIES 

AND  INDIANS  WENT  THERE  WITH  THEIR  GRIST FIRST  PATENT  FLOUR  AND   FARINA 

IX  THE  U.  S. HISTORIC  OLD  MILLSTONES  PRESERVED ^FIRST  AMERICAN  MILL  BUILT 

BY   "judge"    YANTIS OLD-TIME    MILLER   WORKS    ON    A   FLYING  MACHINE INVENTS 

A  MACHINE    CALLED   "hELL    ON   THE   GRAB" TRIP   THROUGH   COLVILLE    VALLEY  IN 

1882     6S5 


CHAPTER  LXXXIII 

RAILWAY  CONSTRUCTION   IN   THE   INLAND   EMPIRE 

PACIFIC   RAILROAD   FIRST  ADVOCATED   PUBLICLY  IN    1834 FORECAST   OF   TEN   MILES    AN 

HOUR,  AND   ROUND   TRIP   IN  THIRTY  DAYS PORTAGE   ROAD   AT   CASCADES   FIRST  LINE 

IN  WASHINGTON NORTHERN  PACIFIC  STARTS  CONSTRUCTION  IN   1870 ^DR.   BAKEr's 

FAMOUS    ROAD    FROM    WALLA    WALLA    TO    THE     COLUMBIA LATTER-DAY    CONSTRUC- 
TION OF  MAIN  AND  BRANCH  LINES 639 


xxviii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  LXXXIV 

NATIVE  RACES  IN  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

ORIGIN  AND  MEANING  OF  "sPOKANe" INDIAN   LANGUAGES LEGENDS  OF  THE  SPOKANE 

RIVER HOW    CHIEF    GARRY   WAS   NAMED INDIAN    ROCK    PICTURES GAMBLING   AND 

GHOST  DANCING-7-GRAPHIC  DESCRIPTION  BY  FATHER  DIOMEDI STRANGE  LEGEND  OF 

THE    COEUR    d'aLENES CRUDE    RELIGIOUS    BELIEFS HABITS   AND    CUSTOMS    OF    THE 

NEZ  PERCES A  RICH  AND  BEAUTIFUL  LANGUAGE ELOQUENT  SPEECH  BY  AN  INDIAK 

ORATOR 643 


CHAPTER  LXXXV 


ORIGIN    OF    CERTAIN    INDIAN    NAMES JOAQUIN    MILLER's    ROMANTIC    EXPLANATION    OF 

THE    MEANING    OF    IDAHO— LAKE    PEND    d'oREILLE    ONCE     KNOWN    AS     KALI8PELM, 
AND  PRIEST  LAKE  AS  ROOTHAN AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  A  NOTED  PIONEER  WHO  SERVED 


WITH     GOVERNOR     STEVENS DEDICATION    OF     MONUMENT     AT     CAMP     WASHINGTON, 

NEAR  SPOKANE KETTLE  FALLS  INDIANS  SUFFER  FROM   FAMINE  AND  EAT  PINE   MOSS 

HOW   PRIEST  RAPIDS  WERE   NAMED 657 


Spokane  and  the  Inland  Empire 


CHAPTER  I 

ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  HISTORY 

FIRST  MENTION   OF   THE   SPOKANES  BY   LEWIS   AND  CLARK EARLY  DAY   SPANISH   INFLU- 
ENCES  JEFFERSON  TO   JOHN    JACOB   ASTOR — ADVENT   OF   THE   FUR   TRADERS,    1811- 

12 A    NIGHT  OF  TERROR MASSACRE  OF  THE  CREW  OF  THE  TONQUIN ^A  FRIGHTFUL 

REVEN^GE. 

Clime  of  the  West!     That  to  the  hunter's  bow, 

And  roving  herds  of  savage  men  wert  sold; — 
Their  cone-roofed  wigwams  pierced  the  wintry  snow^ — 

Their   tasselled  corn  crept  sparsely  through  the   mold, 
Their  bark  canoes  thy  glorious  waters  clave. 
The  chase  their  glory,  and  the  wild  their  grave. 

Look  up!    A  loftier  destiny  behold! 
For  to  thy  coast  the  fair-haired  Saxon  steers. 
Rich  with  the  spoils  of  Time,  the  lore  of  bards  and  seers. 

— Lydia  H.  Sigourney, 

THE  known  and  recorded  history  of  the  Spokane  country  runs  back  a  hundred 
and  five  years,  and  within  that  century  we  shall  find  enough  of  romance  and 
adventure,  of  death   and   daring,  of   wild   barbaric  color  and  civilization's 
glory,  to  make  a  narrative  that  should  be  worth  the  telling. 

First  mention  of  the  Spokane  Indians,  the  river,  lake  and  falls,  though  under 
other  names,  is  found  in  the  journals  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  expedition,  begun  in 
1804  and  completed  in  1806.  These  explorers,  bold  and  indomitable,  had  ascended 
the  Missouri,  wintered  on  the  Dakota  plains  among  the  Mandan  Indians  in  the 
winter  of  1804-5,  continued  their  journey  to  the  headwaters  of  that  stream  the  fol- 
lowing spring,  crossed  over  the  Rocky  mountains,  and  found  their  way,  down  the 
headwaters  of  the  Clearwater  river  (by  them  called  the  Kooskooskee)  to  the  Snake, 
which  they  termed  the  Lewis,  and  thence  to  and  down  the  Columbia  to  the  ocean. 
Passing  there  the  winter  of  1805-6,  they  started  on  their  return  the  following 
spring,  and  when  encamped  near  the  present  city  of  Lewiston,  recorded  this  entry 
in  their  journal: 


2  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

"At  this  place  we  met  with  three  men  of  a  nation  called  the  Skeet-ko-mish,  who 
reside  at  the  forks  of  a  large  river  discharging  itself  into  the  Colmnbia  on  its  east 
side  to  the  north  of  the  entrance  of  Clark's  river.  This  river,  they  informed  us, 
headed  in  a  large  lake  in  the  mountains,  and  that  the  falls,  below  which  they  re- 
sided, was  at  no  great  distance  from  the  lake. 

"These  people  are  the  same  in  their  dress  and  appearance  with  the  Chopunnish 
(the  Nez  Perces)  though  their  language  is  entirely  different.  The  river  here  called 
Clark's  river  is  that  which  we  have  heretofore  called  the  Flathead  river  (the  Pend 
d'Oreille  of  the  present  day).  I  have  thus  named  it  in  honor  of  my  worthy  friend 
and  fellow  traveler.  Captain  Clark.  For  this  stream  we  know  no  Indian  name, 
and  no  white  man  but  ourselves  was  ever  on  its  principal  branches." 

The  three  Indians  encountered  by  Lewis  and  Clark  were  evidently  from  the 
middle  band  of  the  Spokanes,  living  at  a  large  village  at  the  mouth  of  the  Little 
Spokane,  but  Lewis  and  Clark  obviously  fell  into  an  error  in  attributing  to  them 
the  information  that  the  Spokane  discharges  into  the  Columbia  above  the  Pend 
d'Oreille,  for  the  latter  stream  falls  into  the  greater  river  at  a  point  just  north  of 
the  international  boundary. 

Continuing,  Captain  Lewis  wrote:  "The  Skeet-ko-mish  nation  resides  in  six 
villages  and  are  about  seventy  miles  distant  from  the  Chopunnish  nation  and  beyond  a 
mountain  which  that  river  heads  in.  The  Waytom  lake  (the  Coeur  d'Alene)  is  ten 
days  around  it,  has  two  islands  in  it,  and  is  seven  days  from  the  Chopunnish.  The 
falls  of  the  Lartow  river  a  little  below  the  lake  is  150  feet,  nearly  perpendicular, 
or  thereabouts." 

Not  so  very  wide  of  the  mark,  considering  the  explorers'  means  of  information. 
The  falls,  in  their  total  descent  through  Spokane,  drop  nearly  150  feet,  but  it  can 
scarcely  be  said  that  they  are  perpendicular,  or  even  "thereabouts." 

It  seems  strange  that  so  few  of  the  names  given  by  Lewis  and  Clark  to  Indian 
tribes  and  geographical  points  have  been  retained  with  settlement  of  the  country. 
Clark's  river  has  become  the  Pend  d'Oreille  below  the  lake,  but  above  it  is  still 
called  the  Clark's  fork.  The  Lewis  has  become  the  Snake,  Waytom  lake  is  lake 
Coeur  d'Alene;  the  Skeet-ko-mish  Indians  the  Spokanes,  and  the  Lartow,  which 
the  explorers  confused  with  the  Spokane,  is  our  own  grewsome  Hangman  creek. 
Lartow  is  manifestly  another  spelling  for  the  subsequent  Lahtoo  of  General 
Wright's  reports,  and  the  Latah  of  legislative  enactment. 

Again  we  return  to  the  journals:  "The  falls  of  Clark's  river,  which  is  only 
half  a  day's  ride  from  the  latter,  falls  between  400  and  500  feet  and  leave  a  contin- 
uous spray.  The  roads  which  pass  up  Clark's  river  from  the  falls,  and  that  which 
intersects  it  from  the  falls  of  Lartow  river  are  hilly  and  bad.  The  Skeet-ko-mish 
reside  thirty  miles  up  this  river.  The  Skeet-ko-mish  reside  also  on  the  borders  of 
Waytom  lake  and  on  two  islands  within  the  same." 

Captain  Lewis's  Indian  informants  seem  to  have  drawn  a  long  bow  in  their 
description  of  the  falls  on  the  Clark  or  Pend  d'Oreille  river.  These  are  now  known 
as  Albani  falls,  and  are  near  the  town  of  Newport. 

It  is  possible  that  wandering  and  adventurous  white  men  or  half  breeds  may 
have  found  their  way  to  the  falls  of  the  Spokane  prior  to  the  coming  of  Lewis  and 
Clark  into  this  country,  but  here  we  are  embarking  on  a  wide  sea  of  conjecture. 
Early  in  the  nineteenth  century  an  aged  Spokane  woman  told  the  early-day  fur 


BIBDSBYE  VIEW  OF  SPOKiNB 

Mount  Carleton  and  Pend   d 'Oreille   range   in   th 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  3 

traders  that  she  had  once  been  far  to  the  south^  where  she  heard  mission  bells  and 
saw  men  plowing  fields^  and  it  is  within  the  range  of  probabilities  that  faint  com- 
munications had  been  opened  between  the  Indians  of  the  Spokane  country  and  the 
Spaniards  in  far-away  California.  Some  color  is  lent  to  this  conjecture  by  the 
resemblance  between  the  saddles  that  were  used  by  the  Indians  here  a  hundred 
years  ago  and  the  Spanish  or  Mexican  saddle.  Certainly  the  Indian  cayuse  ponies^ 
which  roamed  over  the  Palouse  country  in  large  bands  at  the  time  of  the  Lewis 
and  Clark  expedition^  came  from  Spanish .  stocky  for  the  horse  was  extinct  on  this 
continent  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  America.  Old  Indians  informed  the  early 
for  traders  that  the  horse  had  been  brought  into  this  section  within  their  own  mem- 
ory, and  were  fond  of  reciting  the  astonishment  with  which  they  viewed  the  strange 
animal  when  their  parents  had  taken  them  to  see  it  in  possession  of  a*  neighboring 
tribe.* 

Lewis  and  Clark  returned  to  the  east,  and  for  several  years  the  government  of 
the  United  States  put  forth  no  effort  to  follow  up  such  rights  of  possession  as  it 
may  have  acquired  by  this  great  work  of  exploration.  Indeed,  President  Jefferson, 
who  conceived  and  executed  these  explorations,  appears  to  have  entertained  but 
vague  ideas  regarding  the  outcome  of  the  heroic  achievement,  for  we  find  him,  a 
few  years  later,  writing  to  John  Jacob  Astor  of  New  York,  encouraging  the  enter- 
prise of  that  daring  merchant,  but  holding  out  no  expectation  that  either  the  flag  or 
the  constitution  would  follow  him  to  the  distant  banks  of  the  Columbia. 

"I  remember  well  having  invited  your  proposition  on  this  subject  (wrote  Jeffer- 
son to  Astor)  and  encouraged  it  with  the  assurance. of  ^Vfry  facility  and  protection 
which  the  government  could  propel'ly  affords  j  d  id^i^sidered,  as  a  great  public 
acquisition,  the  commencement  of  a  •iMttl^n^#ti1t.lon;lth&t'* point  of  the  western  coast 
of  America,  and  looked  forward  with :  gratification  to  the  time  when  its  descendants 
should  have  spread  themselves  through  thQ  whpl^^l^ngth  of  that  coast,  covering  it 
with  free  and  independent  Americans^Uwj^^j^jtt^D*  WAii  Us  But  By  The  Ties 
Op  Blood  And  Interest,  and  enjoying  like  us  the  rights  of  self-government." 

We  come  now  to  the  advent  of  the  fur  traders — to  the  first  commerce  on  the 
Spokane — and  the  establishment  a  hundred  years  ago  of  rival  stores  by  Astor's 
Pacific  Fur  company  and  the  Northwest  Fur  company  of  Canada,  at  the  con- 
finence  of  the  Spdkane  and  the  Little  Spokane,  streams,  designated  then  as  the 
Pointed  Heart  and  the  Spokane.  A  brief  resume  of  the  history  of  these  companies, 
and  the  older  Hudson's  Bay  company,  is  essential  to  a  clear  understanding  of  the 
stirring  events  that  are  to  follow.  To  that  end  I  shall  quote  in  part  from  Ross 
Cox,  who  came  to  the  northwest  in  1812  as  a  clerk  in  the  service  of  Mr.  Astor's 
Pacific  company,  and  in  part  from  Irving's  "Astoria,"  written  by  that  great  genius 
after  study  of  the  records  entrusted  to  him  by  Mr.  Astor,  his  friend. 

*  Xavier  Finlay,  a  mixed  blood,  when  more  than  80  years  of  age,  at  the  time  of  the  es- 
tsbHshment  of  Fort  ColviUe  in  1859,  said  to  white  men  that  he  could  remember  when  the 
first  horse  was  brought  into  the  country  north  of  Snake  river.  Word  came  to  the  Indians 
in  the  Colville  valley,  he  said,  of  the  presence  of  a  strange  animal  among  the  Indians  in  the 
Wibon  Creek  country,  between  Spokane  and  the  Columbia,  fleet  as  the  wind,  as  large  as  an 
elk,  but  without  horns,  and  docile  as  a  deer.  Moved  by  curiosity,  a  number  of  northern 
Indians,  including  his  grandparents,  journeyed  to  see  this  first  horse  in  the  northern  country, 
and  he  recited  how  he  was  lifted,  then  a  little  boy,  upon  the  back  of  the  strange  and  beautiful 
creature,  and  shivered  with  fear  when  the  sleek  coat  touched  his  little  bare  legs. 


4  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

The  history  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  goes  back  to  1670^  when  King  Charles 
II  of  England  granted  a  charter  to  a  number  of  adventurous  gentlemen  ambitious 
to  exploit  the  wilds  of  North  America.  Prince  Rupert  was  made  the  first  governor, 
and  the  company  was  allowed  the  exclusive  privilege  of  establishing  trading  fac- 
tories on  the  shores  of  Hudson's  bay  itnd  its  tributary  rivers. 

"While  Canada  belonged  to  France/'  says  Cox  in  'Adventures  on  the  Columbia 
River/  "the  Canadian  traders  had  advanced  many  hundred  miles  beyond  lake  Supe- 
rior, and  established  several  trading  posts  in  the  heart  of  the  interior,  some  of 
which  the  voyageurs  still  call  by  their  original  names,  such  as  Fort  Dauphin,  Fort 
Bourbon  and  others.  The  conquest  of  that  province  opened  a  new  source  of  trade 
to  British  enterprise;  and  while  the  officers  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  fancied 
their  charter  had  secured  them  in  the  undisturbed  possession  of  their  monopoly,  an 
active  and  enterprising  rival  was  gradually  encroaching  on  their  territories,  and 
imperceptibly  undermining  their  influence  with  the  Indians.  I  allude  to  the  North- 
west Fur  company  of  Canada,  which  originally  consisted  of  a  few  private  traders, 
but  subsequently  became  the  first  commercial  establishment  in  British  America. 

"Its  first  members  were  British  and  Canadian  merchants.  Their  clerks  were 
chiefly  younger  branches  of  respectable  Scottish  families,  who  entered  the  service 
as  apprentices  for  seven  years,  for  which  period  they  were  allowed  one  hundred 
pounds  and  suitable  clothing.  At  the  expiration  of  their  apprenticeship  they  were 
placed  on  yearly  salaries,  varying  from  80  to  160  pounds,  and  according  to  their 
talents  were  ultimately  provided  for  as  partners. 

"This  system,  by  creating  an  identity  of  interest,  produced  a  spirit  of  emulation 
among  the  clerks  admirably  calculated  to  promote  the  general  good;  for  as  each 
individual  was  led  to  expect  that  the  period  for  his  election  to  the  proprietary  de- 
pended on  his  own  exertions,  every  nerve  was  strained  to  attain  the  long-desired 
object  of  his  wishes. 

"Courage  was  an  indispensable  qualification,  not  merely  for  the  casual  en- 
counters with  the  Indians,  but  to  intimidate  any  competitor  in  trade  with  whom  he 
might  happen  to  come  in  collision.  Success  was  looked  upon  as  the  great  criterion 
of  a  trader's  cleverness;  and  provided  he  obtained  for  his  outfit  of  merchandise 
what  was  considered  a  good  return  of  furs,  the  partners  never  stopped  to  inquire 
about  the  means  by  which  they  were  acquired. 

"The  Hudson's  Bay  company,  on  the  contrary,  presented  no  such  inducements 
to  extra  exertion  on  the  part  of  its  officers.  Each  individual  had  a  fixed  salary, 
without  any  prospect  of  becoming  a  proprietor;  and  some  of  them,  whose  courage 
was  undoubted,  when  challenged  to  single  combat  by  a  Northwester,  refused,  alleg- 
ing as  a  reason  that  they  were  engaged  to  trade  for  furs,  and  not  to  fight  with  fel- 
low-subjects. 

"Independently  of  the  foregoing  circumstances,  the  Northwest  company,  in 
the  selection  of  its  canoe  men,  or,  as  they  were  called,  engages,  had  another  great 
advantage  over  its  chartered  rival.  These  men  were  French  Canadians,  remarkable 
for  obedience  to  their  superiors,  and  whose  skill  in  managing  canoes,  capability  of 
enduring  hardships,  and  facility  of  adapting  themselves  to  the  habits  and  peculiari- 
ties of  the  various  tribes,  rendered  them  infinitely  more  popular  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Indians  than  the  stubborn,  unbending,  matter-of-fact  Orkney  men.     (The  chief  part 


WILLIAM  CLARK 
Of  the  Lenia  nnd  Clnrk  Expe<liti( 


\i 


'•'^'-    ■  .;■   .»' t'l 


*''•••.   Li 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  5 

of  the  boatmen^  and  several  of  the  officers  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  had  been 
formerly  natives  of  the  Orkney  islands.) 

"After  establishing  opposition  trading  posts  adjoining  the  different  factories 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  in  the  interior,  the  indefatigable  Northwesters  con- 
tinued their  progress  to  the  northwest  and  westward,  and  formed  numerous  trading 
establishments  at  Athabasca,  Peace  River,  Great  and  Lesser  Slave  lakes.  New 
Caledonia  and  the  Columbia,  etc.,  to  none  of  which  places  did  the  officers  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  company  attempt  to  follow  them.  By  these  means  the  Northwest 
company  became  undisputed  masters  of  the  interior.  Their  influence  with  the  na- 
tives was  all-powerful,  and  no  single  trader,  without  incurring  imminent  danger 
from  the  Indians  or  encountering  the  risk  of  starvation,  could  attempt  to  penetrate 
into  their  territories. 

"With  the  interior  thus  inaccessible,  and  the  confines  not  worth  disputing,  Mr. 
Astor  turned  his  attention  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  American  continent  (he  had 
been  operating  on  the  Atlantic  side),  and  accordingly  made  proposals  to  the  North- 
west company  to  join  with  him  in  forming  an  establishment  on  the  Columbia  river. 
This  proposition  was  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  a  general  meeting  of  the 
wintering  proprietors  (the  annual  winter  conference  at  Fort  William,  near  lake  Supe- 
rior) and,  after  some  negotiations  as  to  the  details,  rejected. 

"Mr.  Astor  therefore  determined  to  make  the  attempt  without  their  coopera- 
tion, and  in  the  winter  of  1809  he  succeeded  in  forming  an  association  called  the 
Pacific  Fur  company,  of  which  he  himself  was  the  chief  proprietor.  As  able  and 
experienced  traders  were  necessary  to  insure  success,  he  induced  several  of  the 
gentlemen  connected  with  the  North west-«ompan7 12)  qui^  that  establishment  and  join 
in  his  speculation.  Among  these  ifas'Altxandei.  JlfcjE^y,  an  old  partner,  who  had 
accompanied  Sir  Alexander  Macke^ftife  ^"*fiiS'*perilous  jpumey  across  the  continent 
to  the  Pacific  ocean.  I 

"It  was  intended  in  the  first  ihstandfeOiQ  form -a ^'trading  establishment  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Columbia,  and  as  nfany  more  subsequently  on  its  tributary  streams 
as  the  nature  and  productions  of  the  country  would  admit.  It  was  also  arranged 
that  a  vessel  laden  with  goods  for  the  Indian  trade  should  sail  every  year  from  New 
York  for  the  Columbia,  and  after  discharging  her  cargo  at  the  establishment,  take 
on  board  the  produce  of  the  year's  trade,  and  thence  proceed  to  Canton,  which  is 
a  ready  market  for  furs  of  every  description.  On  disposing  of  her  stock  of  peltries 
at  the  latter  place,  she  was  to  return  to  New  York,  freighted  with  the  productions 
of  China. 

"The  first  vessel  fitted  out  by  the  Pacific  Fur  company  was  the  Tonquin,  com- 
manded by  Captain  Jonathan  Thome,  formerly  a  lieutenant  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States.  She  sailed  from  New  York  in  the  autumn  of  1810,  and  had  on  board 
fonr  partners,  nine  clerks,  with  a  number  of  mechanics  and  voyageurs,  with  a  large 
and  well  assorted  cargo  for  the  Indian  and  Chinese  trades. 

"Much  about  the  same  period  a  party  under  the  command  of  Messrs.  W.  P. 
Hont  and  Donald  Mackenzie  left  St.  Louis  on  the  Missouri,  with  the  intention  of 
proceeding  as  nearly  as  possible  by  Lewis  and  Clark's  route  across  the  continent 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia.  This  party  consisted,  besides  the  above  gentlemen, 
who  were  partners,  of  three  clerks  and  upwards  of  seventy  men. 

"The  following  year,  1811,  another  vessel,  the  Beaver,  of  480  tons,  commanded 


6  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

by  Captain  Cornelius  Sowles,  sailed  for  the  Columbia.  She  had  on  board  one 
partner,  six  clerks  and  a  number  of  artisans  and  voyageurs,  with  a  plentiful  supply 
of  everything  that  could  contribute  to  the  comfort  of  the  passengers  and  crew." 

Ross  Cox  came  on  the  Beaver  as  one  of  the  clerks  in  the  service  of  Mr.  Astor's 
company. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  history  to  enter  into  the  details  of  the  setting  up  of 
the  establishment  at  Astoria,  but  reference  having  been  made  to  the  Tonquin,  the 
narrative  would  be  incomplete  without  a  brief  recital  of  her  tragic  fate.  From  the 
hour  she  attempted  to  cross  the  Columbia  river  bar,  "disaster  followed  fast  upon 
disaster."  Chief  Mate  Fox,  with  two  American  sailors  and  two  Canadian  voya- 
geurs, who  were  ordered  out  by  Captain  Thome  in  the  long  boat  to  sound  the  chan- 
nel, were  drowned  in  the  breakers  on  the  23d  of  March,  and  the  gale  becanae  so 
menacing  that  the  Tonquin  drew  off  shore  and  waited  there  two  days  for  an  abate- 
ment of  the  tempest. 

On  the  25th,  the  wind  having  moderated,  a  second  effort  was  made  to  cross  the 
bar,  and  again  it  was  necessary  to  order  five  men  into  the  long  boat  for  the  perilous 
duty  of  going  ahead  to  search  out  the  channel.  Aiken,  one  of  the  officers,  Weekes, 
the  blacksmith.  Coles,  the  sailmaker,  and  two  natives  from  the  Sandwich  islands 
were  selected,  and  they  too  were  swept  into  the  breakers,  shouting  frantically  for 
the  help  that  could  not  be  given.  Aiken  and  Coles  were  drowned  with  the  capsizing 
of  the  little  craft,  but  Weekes  and  the  Sandwich  islanders  clung  to  the  boat  and 
were  carried  by  tide  and  current  out  to  sea.  They  succeeded  in  righting  the  boat, 
but  the  islanders  were  exhausted  by  cold  and  labor  and  were  powerless  to  man  the 
oars.  Weekes  pulled  hard  till  daylight,  and  made  a  landing  on  the  long  beach  to 
the  north  of  Cape  Disappointment  on  the  northern  shore  of  the  Columbia.  One  of 
the  Sandwich  islanders  had  died  in  the  night,  and  the  other  was  so  exhausted  on 
reaching  land  that  he  could  not  take  an  Indian  trail  which  appeared  to  lead  towards 
the  river.  This  trail  Weekes  followed,  and  a  few  hours'  walking  brought  him  in 
sight  of  the  Tonquin,  lying  at  anchor  in  the  bay.  A  relief  party  brought  in  his 
Hawaiian  companion  and  he  was  restored  to  health. 

Meanwhile  the  men  on  the  Tonquin  had  passed  a  night  of  terror.  As  the  long- 
boat was  carried  away,  the  ship  struck  repeatedly  on  the  bar,  and  was  swept  by 
great  breakers  rolling  in  from  the  Pacific.  She  stuck  upon  the  sands  and  for  hours 
was  deluged  in  the  darkness,  the  people  aboard  expecting  every  minute  to  be  their 
last;  but  with  daybreak  the  tide  and  a  wind  from  the  west  set  her  afloat  and  she 
was  soon  in  safe  waters  under  the  shelter  of  the  North  cape. 

The  work  of  choosing  a  site  for  the  establishment  (Astoria),  erecting  buildings 
to  shelter  the  stores  and  supplies,  and  discharging  cargo  consumed  several  weeks, 
and  the  Tonquin  did  not  leave  the  river  till  June  5.  With  23  persons  on  board  she 
set  sail  for  the  north,  and  picking  up  an  Indian  interpreter  on  the  way,  soon  came 
to  a  harbor  on  Vancouver's  island.  Out  of  that  harbor  the  Tonquin  sailed  never- 
more. 

Accounts  of  the  massacre  which  have  come  down  to  us  from  Cox,  Irving,  Fran- 
chere  and  others  are  conflicting,  but  on  one  tragic  point  there  is  complete  unanim- 
ity: saving  only  the  Indian  interpreter,  every  soul  aboard  fell  a  victim  to  savage 
treachery  and  fury. 

And  yet  the  massacre  could  easily  have  been  avoided,  and  would  have  been  but 


MERIWETHER  LEWIS 
Of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  Expeditio 


L:^-J 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  7 

for  the  pig-headedness  of  Captain  Thome,  an  irascible,  contentious,  stubborn  indi- 
vidual who  scorned  all  prudent  counsels,  and  by  his  insolence  towards  the  Indians 
invited  the  attack  and  frightful  butchery  that  followed. 

No  sooner  the  Tonquin  had  come  to  anchor  than  canoes  filled  with  Indians  and 
ladened  vdth  rich  furs  were  seen  putting  off  from  shore,  and  as  the  natives  mani- 
fested a  friendly  purpose,  they  were  taken  aboard  with  their  pelts,  and  the  business 
of  bartering  was  taken  up.  As  the  Indians  brought  a  large  number  of  sea-otter 
skins,  the  most  precious  fur  taken  on  these  shores.  Captain  Thome  saw  visions  of 
great  profits,  and  began  by  offering  trifling  values.  These  the  Indians,  grown  wise 
and  wary  by  years  of  sharp  trading  with  Yankee  ships,  scorned  and  rej  ected,  where- 
upon Captain  Thorne  grew  sulky  and  began  to  pace  his  deck  in  moody  silence.  An 
Indian  chief,  holding  a  tempting  sea-otter  skin,  dogged  his  footsteps  and  kept 
holding  the  treasure  before  the  irate  captain,  until  Thorne,  in  a  moment  of  imcon- 
trollable  anger  snatched  the  pelt  from  the  hands  of  the  chief  and  with  it  struck 
him  across  the  face. 

Secretly  vowing  revenge,  the  Indians  went  ashore,  and  the  interpreter  and  Mr. 
McKay,  one  of  the  partners,  warned  Thorne  that  mischief  was  brewing  and  advised 
him  to  weigh  anchor  and  sail  away.  These  counsels  were  curtly  rejected,  the  cap- 
tain affirming  that  he  could  whip  three  times  as  many  savages  as  the  whole  country 
could  muster,  and  pointed  to  his  cannon  and  firearms  in  substantiation  of  his  boast. 

On  the  following  morning,  while  Thorne  and  McKay  were  still  asleep,  several 
canoe  loads  of  Indians  drew  to  the  ship's  side,. and  the  natives  were  permitted  to 
come  aboard.  They  were  followed  s  by  othere,  and  soon  the  deck  was  swarming 
with  them  in  such  numbers  as  intetfened  with  the  Work  of  the  crew.  Thorne  and 
McKay  were  called,  and  McKay  urged  the  captain  to  lift  anchor  and  sail  away, 
but  even  then  Thome  was  obdurate  for  a  while,  and  allowed  the  Indians  to  exchange 
furs  for  knives.  In  the  meaniSjne  the' interpreter  had  observed  that  a  number  of 
the  natives  wore  mantles,  and  expressed  a  suspicion  to  Thorne  and  McKay  that 
they  were  secretly  armed,  a  fear  that  was  soon  to  have  frightful  verification,  for  at 
a  signal  by  the  chief,  the  mantles  were  cast  aside,  revealing  war  clubs  and  knives, 
and  with  demoniacal  yells  the  savages  began  their  work  of  death  and  destruction. 
As  the  arms  were  all  in  the  cabin,  the  officers  and  crew  could  offer  little  effective 
resistance.  Captain  Thorne  fought  with  savage  fury,  armed  only  with  a  large 
clasp  knife,  and  killed  several  Indians  and  wounded  many  others  before  he  was 
dispatched  with  a  war  club  while  leaning  on  the  tiller  wheel  in  exhaustion.  Mr. 
Lewis,  the  clerk,  though  mortally  wounded,  fought  his  way  to  the  cabin,  and  four 
of  seven  men  who  were  aloft  when  the  fighting  started,  managed  to  drop  to  the 
deck  and  reach  the  same  place  of  refuge,  the  remaining  three  having  been  dispatched 
with  war  clubs  in  the  same  effort. 

Once  in  the  cabin  and  possessed  of  arms,  the  survivors  opened  fire  and  cleared 
the  ship. 

Regarding  the  subsequent  developments  we  find  conflicting  reports.  According 
to  one  account,  wh^  some  Indians  approached  the  ship  cautiously  the  following 
morning,  the  survivors  opened  negotiations  and  offered  to  surrender  it  without  fur- 
ther fighting  provided  they  be  allowed  to  take  a  boat  and  leave  unmolested.  An- 
other statement  says  the  survivors,  with  the  exception  of  Lewis,  the  clerk,  took  to 


8  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  boat  under  cover  of  darkness  the  night  before.     It  is  probable^  though^  that 
Lewis  staid  with  the  Tonquin  to  the  last. 

The  Indian  interpreter^  who  had  been  spared  and  taken  ashore  in  one  of  the 
canoes^  reported  that  when  the  Indians  approached  the  ship  the  next  mornings  only 
one  man  was  visible^  and  responding  to  his  peaceful  invitation^  they  went  aboard  in 
large  numbers.  While  in  the  height  of  their  exultation  there  came  a  terrific  explo- 
sion of  the  ship's  magazine^  killing  more  than  a  hundred  of  the  savages  and  wound- 
ing more  than  a  hundred  others.  The  sea  was*  reddened  with  their  bloody  and  for 
days  afterward  severed  members  were  washed  upon  the  shore. 

The  four  men  who  escaped  in  the  boat^  unable^  by  reason  of  tide  and  current^  to 
pull  out  to  sea,  were  forced  to  land  in  a  small  cove.  Overpowered  by  weariness  and 
loss  of  sleep,  they  fell  into  a  deep  slimaber  and  were  captured  by  the  infuriated 
Indians.  One  report  says  they  were  dispatched  on  the  spot,  but  another  recites  that 
they  were  taken  prisoners  into  the  village  and  slowly  tortured  to  death.  The  fact 
that  Weekes,  the  man  who  made  so  gallant  a  fight  for  life  in  the  breakers  on  the 
Columbia  river  bar,  was  one  of  the  four  thus  murdered  or  tortured,  deepens  the 
pathos  of  this  distressing  tragedy  of  early  days. 

That  Lewis,  the  clerk,  meditated  and  executed  the  blowing  up  of  the  Tonquin, 
first  enticing  aboard  a  great  number  of  the  natives,  we  may  scarcely  doubt.  He 
possessed  a  melancholy  nature,  and  on  the  way  out  from  New  York  had  voiced  a 
premonition  that  he  should  die  by  his  own  hand.  Irving  says  he  refused  to  accom- 
pany the  men  who  attempted  escape  by  small  boat,  "being  disabled  by  his  wound, 
hopeless  of  escape  and  determined  on  a  terrible  revenge.  He  now  declared  his 
intention  to  remain  on  board  of  the  ship  until  daylight,  to  decoy  as  many  of  the 
savages  on  board  as  possible,  then  to  set  fire  to  the  powder  magazine,  and  terminate 
his  life  by  a  signal  act  of  vengeance." 


CHAPTER  II 

WHITE  MEN  ON  THE  SPOKANE 

FINAN  MACDONALD  PROBABLY  FIR8T  TO  VIEW  THE  FALLS RACE  BETWEEN  A8TORIAN8  AND 

THE   NORTHWESTERS BRITISHERS    ESTABLISH    SPOKANE    HOUSE AMERICANS    LOCATE 

AT   MOUTH    OF    OKANOGAN A    YEAR    LATER    AT    MOUTH    OF    LITTLE    SPOKANE MR. 

ASTOR's    STOCK   OF   GOODS — HORSEFLESH   STAPLE    ARTICLE    OF    DIET ADVENTURES   OF 

ROSS    COX RESCUED    BY    FRIENDLY    SPOKANES BUFFALO    WEST    OF    THE    ROCKIES 

TRADING    WITH    THE    INDIANS DUEL    AT    SPOKANE    HOUSE GAY    LIFE    IN    THE    BALL 

ROOM LIFE  OF  PERIL  AND  HARDSHIP PASSING  OF  THE  BRIGADES A  MOTLEY  CREW. 

INASMUCH  as  the  events  in  the  preceding  chapter  touched  the  earlier  history 
of  Spokane  and  the  Inland  Empire  at  important  points^  the  author  has  at- 
tempted to  describe  them  with  some  particularity.  They  signalized  the  very 
first  effort  by  an  American  citizen  to  establish  commerce  in  a  permanent  form  on 
the  Columbia  river  and  its  interior  tributaries,  and  portions  of  the  Tonquin's  cargo 
were  transported  to  the  interior  in  canoes  and  bateaux  for  the  founding  of  trading 
posts  at  the  mouth  of  the  Okanogan  and  the  forks  of  the  Spokane  and  Little  Spokane. 

We  know  not  for  a  certainty  the  name  of  the  first  adventurous  white  man  to 
gaze  upon  the  wild  cataracts  of  the  Spokane,  but  unquestionably  the  distinction 
of  having  been  one  of  the  first  goes  to  David  Thompson,  astronomer,  engineer  and 
naturalist  in  the  service  of  the  Northwest  Fur  company.*  In  his  "Remarkable  His- 
tory of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company,"  George  Bryce  informs  us  that — 

"In  July,  1811,  reports  began  to  reach  the  traders  at  Astoria  that  a  body  of 
white  men  were  building  a  fort  far  up  the  Columbia.  This  was  serious  news,  for 
if  true,  it  meant  that  the  supply  of  furs  looked  for  at  Astoria  would  be  cut  off. 
An  effort  was  made  to  find  out  the  truth  of  this  rumor,  without  success,  but  imme- 
diately after  came  definite  information  that  the  Northwest  company  agents  were 
erecting  a  post  at  Spokane.     This  was  none  other  than  David  Thompson,  the  emis- 


*T.  C.  Elliott  of  "Walla  Walla,  a  painstaking  student  of  northwestern  history,  believes 
that  the  Northwesters  established  Spokane  House  in  1810,  and  that  the  work  was 
probably  done  by  Finan  MacDonald,  one  of  Thompson's  men.  That  Thompson  explored  the 
Pend  d  'OreiUe  lake  and  river  region  in  1809-10,  and  wintered  that  year  at  a  trading  post  near 
the  fathead  Indians  in  Montana,  and  was  at  Spokane  House  in  the  spring  of  1811.  ' '  Skeet- 
fihoo  was  the  designation  given  by  Thompson  to  the  Spokane  river,  and  to  the  lake  later  known 
as  the  Coeur  d  'Alene. ' '  Thompson  was  then  en  route  by  horseback  to  Kettle  Falls,  where  he 
built  eanoes  for  his  descent  of  the  Columbia. — *  *  David  Thompson,  Pathfinder,  and  the  Colum- 
bia Kiver,"  an  address  delivered  at  Kettle  Falls  on  the  occasion  of  the  centennial  celebra- 
tion in  1911. 

9 


10  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

sary  of  the  Northwest  company  sent  to  forestall  the  building  of  Astoria's  fort. 
Though  too  late  to  fulfill  this  mission^  on  July  15 ,  1811^  the  doughty  astronomer 
and  surveyor^  in  his  canoe  manned  by  eight  men  and  having  the  British  ensign 
flying,  stopped  in  front  of  the  new  fort.  .  .  .  After  waiting  for  eight  days, 
Thompson,  having  received  supplies  and  goods  from  McDougall  (in  command  at 
Astoria)  started  on  his  return  journey.  With  him  journeyed  up  the  river  David 
Stuart,  who,  with  eight  men,  was  proceeding  on  a  fur  and  trading  expedition. 
Stuart  had  little  confidence  in  Thompson,  and  by  a  device  succeeded  in  getting 
him  to  proceed  on  his  journey  and  leave  him  to  choose  his  own  site  for  a  fort. 
Going  up  to  within  140  miles  of  the  Spokane  river,  and  at  the  junction  of  the 
Okanogan  and  Columbia,  Stuart  erected  a  temporary  fort  to  carry  on  his  first  sea- 
son's trade." 

It  seems  probable  that  if  Mr.  Astor  had  not  exposed  his  hand  in  his  preliminary 
negotiations  for  a  partnership  with  the  Northwesters,  Thompson  would  not  have 
been  dispatched  to  the  far  northwest,  and  the  Pacific  Fur  company  would  have 
enjoyed  an  undisputed  opportunity  to  seize  the  strategic  points  and  thus  become 
strongly  entrenched  well  ahead  of  its  cunning  and  daring  rivals. 

This  was  not,  however,  Thompson's  first  appearance  upon  the  upper  waters  of 
the  ColumbU.     From  the  same  authority  it  is  learned  that — 

**In  1^9  Thompson  determined  on  extending  his  explorations  southward  on 
the  Columbia  river,"  and  that  '*a  short  distance  south  of  the  international  boundary 
he  built  a  post  in  September  of  that  year." 

Thompson  returned  to  the  east,  but  came  back,  and  in  July,  1811,  started  on  a 
descent  of  the  Columbia  that  was  to  give  him  the  record  of  the  first  white  man  to 
follow  that  stream  to  its  confluence  with  the  Snake,  Lewis  and  Clark  having  de- 
scended by  way  of  the  Clearwater  and  the  Snake.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Spokane 
he  erected  a  pole  and  tied  to  it  a  half  sheet  of  paper,  claiming  the  country  north 
of  the  forks  as  British  territory.  This  notice  was  seen  by  a  number  of  Astor  em- 
ployes, for  Ross  states  that  he  observed  it  in  August,  "with  the  British  flag  flying 
upon  it." 

Franchere  has  recorded  a  more  circumstantial  account  of  the  invasion  of  the 
Northwesters.  On  June  15,  ten  days  after  the  Tonquin  had  sailed  away  to  de- 
struction, "some  natives  from  up  the  river  brought  us  two  strange  Indians,  a  man 
and  a  woman.  They  were  not  attired  like  the  savages  on  the  river  Columbia,  but 
wore  long  robes  of  dressed  deerskin,  with  leggings  and  moccasins  in  the  fashion  of 
the  tribes  to  the  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  We  put  questions  to  them  in  various 
Indian  dialects,  but  they  did  not  understand  us.  They  showed  us  a  letter  addressed 
to  'Mr.  John  Stuart,  Fort  Estekatadene,  New  Caledonia.'  Mr.  Pillet  then  address- 
ing them  in  the  Knisteneaux  language,  they  answered,  although  they  appeared  not 
to  understand  it  perfectly.  Notwithstanding  we  learned  from  them  that  they  had 
been  sent  by  a  Mr.  Finnan  McDonald,  a  clerk  in  the  service  of  the  Northwest 
company,  who  had  a  post  on  a  river  which  they  called  Spokan;  that  having  lost 
their  way,  they  had  followed  the  course  of  the  Tacousah-Tesseh,  the  Indian  name 
of  the  Columbia ;  that  when  they  arrived  at  the  falls,  the  natives  made  them  under- 
stand that  there  were  white  men  at  the  mouth  of  the.  river ;  and  not  doubting  that 
the  person  to  whom  the  letter  was  addressed  would  be  found  there,  they  had  come 
to  deliver  it. 


JOHN  JACOB  ASTOB 


T^S  ^i^v  v-.r.    J 
PUBLIC  LlSkAKf 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  11 

"We  kept  these  messengers  for  some  days,  and  having  drawn  from  them  impor- 
tant infonnation  respecting  the  country  in  the  interior,  west  of  the  mountains,  wc 
decided  to  send  an  expedition  thither,  under  the  command  of  Mr.  David  Stuart; 
and  the  15th  of  July  was  fixed  for  its  departure." 

Here  appears,  perhaps  for  the  first  time  in  printed  record,  the  name  "Spokan," 
and  these  wandering  natives  who  had  found  their  way  to  the  mouth  of  the  Colum- 
bia, in  all  probability  were  of  that  tribe.  Lewis  and  Clark,  it  will  be  recalled,  had 
heard  of  the  river  as  the  Skeet-ko-mish,  but  an  explanation  of  this  seeming  conflict 
in  nomenclature  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  Indians  had  no  well  established  name 
for  any  of  the  rivers  of  this  western  country,  each  tribe  or  band  applying  its  own 
local  name  to  that  portion  of  the  stream  flowing  through  its  particular  section.  In 
this  way  it  frequently  was  found  that  a  single  river  bore  half  a  dozen  or  even 
more  appellations. 

Stuart's  expedition  to  the  interior  comprised  four  clerks — Pillet,  Ross,  McLen- 
non  and  Montigny,  and  two  natives  from  the  Sandwich  islands.  Their  three  canoes 
were  well  ladened  with  provisions  and  goods  needed  for  a  trading  establishment. 

"The  place  which  he  pitched  upon  for  his  trading  post  (we  quote  now  from 
"Astoria')  was  a  point  of  land  about  three  miles  in  length  and  two  in  breadth, 
formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Oakinagan  with  the  Columbia.  The  former  is  a 
river  which  has  its  source  in  a  considerable  lake,  and  the  two  rivers,  about  the 
place  of  their  confluence,  are  bordered  by  immense  prairies  covered  with  herbage, 
but  destitute  of  trees.  The  point  itself  was  ornamented  with  wild  flowers  of  every 
hue,  in  which  innumerable  humming-birds  wer^  ^nqueting  nearly  the  livelong  day. 
"The  situation  of  this  point  appeared  tp;  be  well  adapted  for  a  trading  post. 
The  climate  was  salubrious,  the  soil  fertile,  (Okanogan  boosters  will  please  take 
notice)  the  rivers  well  stocked  with  fish,  and. i^^tlv^e^ peaceable  and  friendly.  There 
were  easy  communications  with  the  Intwaor  by -thfe' upper  waters  of  the  Columbia 
and  the  lateral  streams,  while  the  downward  current  of  the  Columbia  furnished  a 
highway  to  Astoria. 

"Availing  himself,  therefore,  of  the  driftwood  which  had  collected  in  quantities 
in  the  neighboring  bends  of  the  river,  Mr.  Stuart  and  his  men  set  to  work  to  erect 
a  house,  which  in  a  little  while  was  sufficiently  completed  for  their  residence;  and 
thus  was  established  the  first  interior  post  of  the  company." 

And  thus  was  established  the  first  American  commerce  within  the  broad  confines  ' 
of  the  Inland  Empire.  Momentous  beginning,  squalid  though  it  seemed  in  the 
little  depK>t  built  of  driftwood  from  the  banks  of  the  Columbia,  of  a  commerce  and 
an  industry  which  has  now  attained  a  magnitude  far  transcending  the  wildest  flights 
of  the  imagination  of  the  merchant  prince  who,  from  his  office  in  New  York  had 
launched  his  daring  enterprise  and  thereby  contributed  powerfully  to  the  strength- 
ening of  our  title  to  this  broad  northwest  at  a  time  when  British  statesmanship  and 
British  enterprise  were  striving  mightily  to  set  their  red  ensign  forever  in  these  skies. 
We  come  now  to  the  founding,  in  the  summer  of  1812,  of  Astor's  trading  post 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Spokane,  some  ten  miles  northwest  of  the  present  city 
of  Spokane.  It  will  interest  our  present  day  merchants,  and  the  public  as  well, 
to  take  a  hurried  inventory  of  that  first  stock  of  merchandise  to  be  vended  in  Spo- 
kane county.  As  we  have  seen,  the  Northwesters  had  beaten  the  Astorians  to  this 
point,  but  as  David  Thompson  had  traveled  overland  from  eastern  Canada,  and 


12  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

been  deserted  on  the  way  by  a  large  part  of  his  expedition  who  had  become  dis- 
contented or  alarmed  and  returned  to  civilization^  it  is  evident  that  he  could 
not  have  set  up  much  of  an  establishment  at  this  site.  The  fact  that  he  was 
destitute  of  supplies  when  he  arrived  at  Astoria^  and  was  under  the  necessity  of 
begging  from  the  Americans,  may  be  accepted  as  proof  that  he  had  not  left  much 
at  his  so-called  post  on  the  Spokane,  probably  nothing  at  all  beyond  some  impedi- 
menta which  he  was  glad  to  lay  aside.  Thompson  was  unaware,  when  he  left  the 
Spokane  country  for  the  mouth  of  the  river  in  July,  1811,  that  an  American  estab- 
lishment had  been  erected  there,  and  it  is  not  probable,  if  he  had  had  supplies  ta 
leave  on  the  Spokane,  that  he  would  have  ventured  empty-handed  down  the  Colum- 
bia, living  from  hand  to  mouth. 

Mr.  Astor's  stock,  selected  especially  to  appeal  to  Indian  nature,  included  guns 
and  ammunition,  spears,  hatchets,  knives,  beaver  traps,  copper  and  brass  kettles, 
white  and  green  blankets;  blue,  green  and  red  cloths;  calicoes,  beads,  rings,  thim- 
bles, hawksbells  and  other  gewgaws.  For  provisions,  there  were  beef,  pork,  flour, 
rice,  biscuits,  tea,  sugar  and  a  moderate  quantity  of  rum  and  wines. 

With  this  cargo  a  large  expedition  left  Astoria  June  29,  1812,  the  party  includ- 
ing three  partners,  nine  clerks,  fifty-five  Canadians,  twenty  Sandwich  islanders,  and 
Messrs.  Crooks,  McClelland  and  R.  Stuart,  who,  with  eight  men  were  to  proceed  with 
dispatches  to  St.  Louis.  It  traveled  in  bateaux  and  light  built  canoes,  the  former 
carrying  eight  men,  the  latter  six.  The  goods  were  packed  in  bales  and  boxes,  and 
the  liquids  in  kegs  holding  on  an  average,  nine  gallons.  Ross  Cox  informs  us  that 
from  thirty  to  forty  of  these  packages  were  placed  in  each  vessel,  and  the  whole  w«is 
covered  by  an  oilcloth  or  tarpaulin,  to  preserve  them  from  wet.  Each  canoe  and 
barge  had  from  six  to  eight  men,  rowing  or  paddling,  independent  of  the  passengers. 

Extraordinary  precautions  were  taken  to  guard  against  attack  by  the  thieving 
Wishram  Indians  at  the  Cascades  of  the  Columbia,  where  a  long  portage  was  re- 
quired around  the  rough  water.  The  expedition  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  portage 
on  the  evening  of  the  fourth  of  July,  and  preparations  were  made  for  action.  Each 
man  was  given  a  musket  and  forty  rounds  of  ball  cartridge,  and  over  his  clothes 
wore  an  elkskin  shirt,  reaching  to  the  knees.  It  was  entirely  arrow  proof,  and  at 
eighty  or  ninety  yards  could  not  be  penetrated  by  a  musket  ball.  Besides  the  mus- 
kets a  number  had  daggers,  short  swords  and  pistols;  "and  when  armed  cap-a-pie,", 
says  Cox,  "we  presented  a  formidable  appearance." 

So  formidable,  in  fact,  that  the  Indians,  though  gathered  around  in  numbers  and 
looking  enviously  upon  such  stores  of  wealth,  had  not  the  hardihood  to  assail  the 
strangers.  But  at  midnight,  when  the  weary  voyageurs  were  in  a  sound  slumber, 
and  the  dark  mountains  and  forests  were  but  faintly  illumined  by  the  dying  camp- 
fires,  they  were  suddenly  aroused  and  thrown  into  frightful  confusion  by  the  report 
of  a  gun  and  the  cries  of  Mr.  Pillet,  one  of  the  clerks,  that  he  had  been  shot. 
"Every  one  instantly  seized  his  arms  and  inquired  on  which  side  was  the  enemy; 
but  our  apprehensions  were  quickly  appeased  on  learning  it  was  merely  an  accident. 
One  of  the  gentlemen,  in  examining  the  musket  of  a  Sandwich  islander,  to  see  if  it 
was  primed,  handed  it  to  him  at  full  cock;  and  just  as  the  islander  had  taken 
it,  the  piece  went  off  and  the  contents  lodged  in  the  calf  of  j>oor  Pillet's  leg,  who 
naturally  enough  exclaimed  that  he  was  shot.  This  was,  however,  in  our  p]:jesent 
circumstances,  a  disagreeable  event,  as  it  rendered  Mr.  Pillet  not  only  incapable  of 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  13 

fightings  but  required  three  or  four  men  to  carry  him  in  a  litter  over  the  various 
portages.  The  wound  was  dressed  with  friar's  balsam  and  lint^  the  ball  extracted^ 
the  next  daj^  and  in  about  a  month  afterward  he  was  able  to  walk/' 

At  a  point  near  The  Dalles  the  party  purchased  five  horses  from  the  Indians. 
"The  value  of  the  goods  we  paid  for  each  in  England  would  not  exceed  &vq  shil- 
lings^*' says  the  historian  of  the  expedition.  "As  these  horses  were  intended  for  the 
kettle,  they  were  doomed  to  instant  destruction.  Our  comparatively  recent  separation 
from  the  land  of  bread  and  butter  caused  the  idea  of  feeding  on  so  useful  and  noble 
an  animal  to  be  at  first  highly  repugnant  to  our  feelings ;  but  example^  and  above 
all^  necessity^  soon  conquered  these  little  qualms  of  civilization^  and  in  a  few  days 
we  almost  brought  ourselves  to  believe  that  the  animal  on  which  we  fed  once  carried 
horns^  was  divided  in  the  hoof^  and  chewed  the  cud." 

Horseflesh^  in  fact^  was  to  become  the  staple  diet  at  the  posts  on  the  Spokane 
and  the  Okanogan^  and  it  is  recorded  that  eighty  cayuses  were  consumed  in  a  single 
winter  at  Spokane. 

After  their  association  with  the  filthy^  fish-eatings  canoe-squatting  Indians 
around  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia^  the  party  were  inclined  to  look  upon  the  more 
cleanly  interior  tribes  with  an  approving  and  indulgent  eye.  "The  Wallah- Wallahs 
were  decidedly  the  most  friendly  tribe  we  had  seen  on  the  river.  They  had  an  air  of 
open^  unsuspecting  confidence  in  their  manner  that  at  once  banished  suspicion  and 
ensured  our  friendship.  There  was  a  degree  of  natural  politeness^  too^  evinced  by  them 
on  entering  their  lodges^  which  we  did  not  see  practiced  by  any  others.  We  visited 
several  families  in  the  village^  and  the  moment  we  entered^  the  best  place  was  se- 
lected for  us^  and  a  clean  mat  spread  to  sit  on;  while  the  inmates^  particularly  the 
women  and  children,  remained  at  a  respectful  distance^  without  manifesting  any  of 
the  obtrusive  curiosity  about  our  arms  or  clothing,  by  which  we  were  so  much  an- 
noyed among  the  lower  tribes." 

Mercenary  immorality,  we  are  informed,  was  unknown  among  them,  in  admir- 
able contrast  to  the  oil-besmeared  women  on  the  coast.  Cox  found  that  "the  females 
were  distinguished  by  a  degree  of  attentive  kindness  totally  removed  from  the  dis- 
gusting familiarity  of  the  kilted  ladies  below  the  rapids,  and  equally  free  from  an 
affection  of  prudery;  and  I  believe  no  inducement  would  tempt  them  to  commit  a 
breach  of  chastity." 

At  the  junction  of  the  Columbia  and  the  Snake,  present  site  of  Pasco  and  Kenne- 
wick,  the  adventurers  encamped  for  three  days,  while  buying  horses  for  their  jour- 
neys inland.  David  Stuart  and  party  then  proceeded  up  the  Columbia  in  their 
canoes,  to  the  post  at  the  mouth  of  the  Okanogan,  and  Donald  McKenzie  and  his 
party  up   the  Snake  river,  to  establish  a  trading  post  on  its  upper  reaches. 

"The  natives  of  this  district,"  writes  Cox,  "are  called  the  Pierced-nose  Indians, 
but  as  French  is  the  language  in  general  use  among  traders  in  this  country,  owing 
to  most  of  their  workmen  being  Canadians,  we  commonly  called  them  Les  Nez 
Perch,  They  do  not  differ  much  from  the  Wallah-Wallahs  in  their  dress  or  lan- 
guage, but  are  not  so  friendly,  and  demand  higher  prices  for  their  horses.  Their 
habitations  are  covered  with  large  mats  fixed  on  poles;  some  are  square,  others 
oblong,  and  some  conical.  They  are  of  various  sizes,  from  twenty  to  seventy  feet 
long,  and  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  broad.  These  dwellings  are  pretty  free  from 
vermin,  and  are  easily  changed  when  occasion  requires. 


14  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

"The  women  wear  leathern  robes  which  cover  the  shoulders,  part  of  the  arms, 
the  breasts,  and  reach  down  to  their  legs.  The  men  have  robes  nearly  similar,  but  not 
so  long,  with  leggings  which  reach  up  half  the  thigh,  and  are  fastened  to  a  belt  round 
the  waist  with  leather  thongs.  They  are  clean,  active  and  smart-looking,  good 
hunters  and  excellent  horsemen.  They  enjoy  good  health,  and  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  sore  eyes,  did  not  appear  to  have  any  disorder.  They  are  fond  of  their 
children  and  attentive  to  the  wants  of  their  old  people.  Their  saddles  are  made  of 
dressed  deerskin,  stuffed  with  hair;  the  stirrups  are  wooden,  with  the  bottoms 
broad  and  flat,  and  covered  over  with  raw  skin,  which  when  dry  becomes  hard  and 
lasts  a  long  time.  The  bridles  are  merely  ropes  made  out  of  the  hair  of  the  horses' 
tails,  and  are  tied  round  their  under  jaw." 

After  the  purchase  of  twenty-five  horses,  the  party  proceeded  up  the  Snake, 
some  on  land  with  the  horses,  but  the  greater  part  still  in  the  canoes.  In  this  man- 
ner they  continued  to  the  mouth  of  the  Palouse  river,  where  more  horses  were  pur- 
chased, for  here  they  were  to  leave  the  river  and  go  overland  to  Spokane.  The 
canoes  and  bateaux  were  stored  away  in  a  snug  place  and  entrusted  to  the  care  of 
the  chief  of  the  village  at  that  point,  and  as  a  reward  for  his  oversight  he  was  given 
a  "fathom  of  blue  cloth,''  an  axe  and  a  knife;  and  to  his  wife  were  given  some 
strings  of  white  and  blue  beads  and  three  dozen  hawkbells  for  her  chemise  de  cuir. 
The  village  here  comprised  about  forty  mat-covered  tepees. 

Some  conception  of  the  toilsome  character  of  a  journey  as  then  made  to  the 
interior  may  be  gleaned  from  the  fact  that  this  party,  leaving  Astoria  June  29,  took 
till  August  7  to  reach  the  mouth  of  the  Palouse  on  Snake  river,  and  the  preparations 
at  that  point  consumed  eight  days  more,  so  it  was  not  until  the  15th  that  it  took 
up  the  overland  journey  for  the  Spokane,  under  the  guidance  of  an  Indian  employed 
at  the  Palouse  village. 

The  party  now  consisted  of  one  proprietor,  Clarke,  four  clerks,  twenty-one 
Canadians,  and  six  Sandwich  islanders,  with  the  Indian  guide,  and  traversed  the  in- 
tervening Palouse  country  between  the  Snake  and  the  Spokane  in  safety,  the  only 
incident  of  note  having  been  the  separation  of  Ross  Cox  from  the  brigade  and  his 
consequent  loss  and  wanderings,  alone,  without  means  of  mcJdng  fire,  and  scantily 
attired,  for  a  period  of  fourteen  days,  when  he  finally  staggered  into  the  camp  of 
some  friendly  Indians  on  the  Spokane,  emaciated  from  hunger  and  hardship,  and 
with  feet  so  swollen  and  bleeding  that  he  could  scarcely  walk. 

One  report  alleges  that  Cox,  who  was  a  red-headed  and  somewhat  impetuous 
Irishman,  persisted  in  lagging  along  the  way,  and  having  been  reprimanded  by 
Clarke  became  insubordinate,  and  still  persisting  in  his  refusal  to  keep  up  with  the 
party,  was  left  far  behind  in  the  hope  that  it  would  serve  as  a  wholesome  lesson. 
Cox  himself  offers  an  entirely  different  and  quite  plausible  explanation — in  effect 
that  attracted  by  the  beauty  of  the  banks  of  a  little  stream  where  the  expedition  had 
made  a  noonday  pause,  he  strolled  along  till  he  came  to  a  natural  arbor  and  lay 
down  to  rest.  Overcome  by  weariness  and  the  heat  of  the  August  sun,  he  fell  into 
a  sound  slumber  from  which  he  awakened  several  hours  later  to  discover  that  the 
party  was  gone  and  he  left  alone  in  a  wild  and  savage  land.  He  followed  the  trail 
until  it  was  lost  on  rocky  ground,  and  then  climbed  a  high  hill,  but  the  cavalcade 
was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  His  only  clothing  was  a  pair  of  nankeen  trousers,  a  ging- 
ham shirt  and  a  pair  of  worn  moccasins,  and  he  suffered  intensely  at  night  from  cold 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  15 

and  exposure.  Not  having  even  a  pistol,  his  only  means  of  subsistence  were  wild 
berries  and  roots,  excepting  one  meal  at  a  point  where  a  party  of  Indians  had  made 
their  camp  the  night  before  and  left  aroimd  their  fire  the  remnants  of  some  grouse 
upon  which  they  had  dined.  In  his  description  of  his  adventures.  Cox  seems  to  have 
exaggerated  his  experiences  with  wolves,  bears  and  rattlesnakes,  but  for  the  rest 
his  narrative  is  obviously  a  faithful  record  of  his  troubles. 

Rev.  Samuel  Parker,  who  was  sent  into  this  country  in  1835  by  the  American 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  and  traversed  the  Spokane  country  that  year,  makes 
light  of  Cox's  adventures  and  writes  him  down  an  arrant  nature  faker.  Describing 
the  Spokane  woods,  Parker  says:  "These  are  the  woods  in  which  Ross  Cox  was  lost, 
about  the  circumstances  of  which  he  gives  a  very  interesting  description,  but  which, 
so  far  as  I  have  had  as  yet  an  opportunity  to  judge,  contains  far  more  fiction  than 
truth.  But  his  multitude  of  growling  bears  and  howling  wolves  and  alarming  rattle- 
snakes, of  which  I  have  seen  only  one,  may  yet  come  out  from  their  lurking  places 
in  hostile  array." 

Cox's  account  of  his  ultimate  rescue  by  a  family  of  the  Spokanes  is  so  pleasingly 
descriptive  of  the  natural  kindliness  of  "our  first  citizens  of  Spokane,"  that  I  in- 
corporate it  here: 

"On  advancing  a  short  distance  into  the  meadow  (where  he  had  seen  horses) 
the  cheering  sight  of  a  small  column  of  gracefully  ascending  smoke,  announced  my 
vicinity  to  human  beings,  and  in  a  moment  after  two  Indian  women  perceived  me. 
They  instantly  fled  to  a  hut  which  appeared  at  the  farther  end  of  the  meadow.  This 
movement  made  me  doubt  whether  I  had  arrived  among  friends  or  enemies,  but  my 
apprehensions  were  quickly  dissipated  by  the  approach  of  two  men,  who  came  run- 
ning to  me  in  the  most  friendly  manner.  On  seeing  the  lacerated  state  of  my  feet, 
they  carried  me  in  their  arms  to  a  comfortable  dwelling  covered  with  deer  skins.  To 
wash  and  dress  my  torn  limbs,  roast  some  roots  and  boil  a  small  salmon,  seemed  but 
the  business  of  a  moment.  After  returning  thanks  to  that  great  and  good  Being 
in  whose  hands  are  the  issues  of  life  and  death,  and  who  had  watched  over  my 
wandering  steps,  and  rescued  me  from  the  many  perilous  dangers  I  encountered,  I 
sat  down  to  my  salmon,  of  which  it  is  needless  to  say,  I  made  a  hearty  supper. 

*The  family  consisted  of  an  elderly  man  and  his  son,  with  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren. I  collected  from  their  signs  that  they  were  aware  of  my  being  lost,  and  that 
they,  with  other  Indians  and  white  men,  had  been  out  several  days,  scouring  the 
woods  and  plains  in  search  of  me.  I  also  understood  from  them  that  our  party  had 
arrived  at  their  destination,  which  was  only  a  few  hours'  march  from  their  habitation. 
They  behaved  to  me  with  affectionate  solicitude,  and  while  the  old  woman  was  care- 
fully dressing  my  feet,  ,the  men  were  endeavoring  to  make  me  comprehend  their 
meaning. 

"As  it  was  too  late,  after  finishing  my  supper,  to  proceed  farther  that  night,  I 
retired  to  rest  on  a  comfortable  couch  of  buffalo  and  deerskins.  I  slept  soundly, 
and  the  morning  of  the  thirty-first  was  far  advanced  before  I  awoke.  After  break- 
fasting on  the  remainder  of  the  salmon,  I  prepared  to  join  my  white  friends. 

"A  considerable  stream,  about  ninety  yards  broad,  called  Coeur  d'Alene  river, 
flowed  close  to  the  hut.  (The  name  invariably  attached  in  early  days  to  that  part 
of  the  Spwkane  flowing  between  the  lake  and  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Spokane.)  We 
crossed  the  river  in  a  canoe,  after  which  they  brought  over  three  horses,  and  having 


16  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

enveloped  my  body  in  an  Indian  mantle  of  deerskin^  we  mounted  and  set  off  in  a 
smart  trot  in  an  easterly  direction. 

"We  had  not  proceeded  more  than  seven  miles  when  I  felt  the  bad  effects  of  hav- 
ing eaten  so  much  salmon  after  so  long  a  fast.  I  had  a  severe  attack  of  indigestion^ 
and  for  two  hours  suffered  extreme  agony;  and  but  for  the  great  attention  of  the 
kind  Indians^  I  think  it  would  have  proved  fatal. 

"About  an  hour  after  recommencing  our  journey,  we  arrived  in  a  clear  wood^ 
in  which,  with  joy  unutterable,  I  observed  our  Canadians  at  work  hewing  timber.  I 
rode  between  the  two  natives.  One  of  our  men,  named  Francois  Gardepie,  who  had 
been  on  a  trading  excursion,  joined  us  on  horsebadc.  My  deerskin  robe  and  sun- 
burnt features  completely  set  his  powers  of  recognition  at  defiance,  and  he  addressed 
me  as  an  Indian.  I  replied  in  French  by  asking  how  our  people  were.  Poor  Fran- 
cois appeared  electrified,  exclaimed  "Sainte  Vierge!"  and  galloped  into  the  wood 
vociferating:  *0h  mes  amis,  mes  amis  il  est  trouve!  Oui,  out,  il  est  trouve!'  (Oh, 
my  friends,  my  friends,  he  is  found!     Yes,  yes,  he  is  found!) 

"  'Quif  qui?'  asked  his  comrades,  'Monsieur  Cox,  Monsieur  Cox,'  replied  Fran- 
cois ;  *le  voilal  le  voila!'    (There  he  is,  there  he  is !) 

"Away  went  saws,  hatchets  and  axes,  and  each  man  rushed  forward  to  the 
tents  where  we  had  by  this  time  arrived.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  our  astonishment 
and  delight  at  my  miraculous  escape  were  mutual.  The  friendly  Indians  were  lib- 
erally rewarded,  the  men  were  allowed  a  holiday,  and  every  countenance  bore  the 
smile  of  joy  and  happiness." 

The  site  chosen  for  the  Spokane  post  was  the  neck  of  land  lying  between  the 
Spokane  and  Little  Spokane  rivers,  a  short  distance  above  the  joining  of  the  two 
waters.  Cox  describes  it  as  thinly  covered  with  pine  and  other  trees,  and  close  to  ' 
a  trading  post  of  the  Northwest  company,  under  the  command  of  McMillan,  one  of 
their  clerks,  who  had  ten  men  with  him.  The  Northwest  company  had  two  other 
posts  in  the  interior,  one  about  240  miles  from  Spokane  House,  in  a  northeasterly 
direction,  for  trading  with  the  Flatheads,  the  other  about  200  miles  north  of  the 
Spokane,  "among  a  tribe  called  the  Cootonais  (Kootenais)  in  whose  country  there 
are  plenty  of  beavers,  deer,  mountain  sheep,  and,  at  times,  buffaloes." 

That  buffalo*  were  to  be  foimd  among  the  Kootenais,  occupying  as  they  did  the 
wild  and  deeply  wooded  mountains  and  valleys  of  the  upper  Columbia,  may  be  ques- 
tioned. While  there  is  abundant  testimony  that  buffalo  had  formerly  roamed  over 
the  great  plains  between  the  Rocky  mountains  and  the  Cascades,  they  had  become 
extinct  here  prior  to  the  advent  of  the  first  white  men,  and  the  tribes  living  west  of 
the  Rocky  mountains  had  long  been  under  the  necessity  of  making  long  hunting 
trips  into  the  country  of  the  Black  feet  for  their  supplies  of  robes  and  dried  buffalo 
meat.  In  these  expeditions  the  interior  tribes,  notably  the  Flatheads  and  the  Coeur 
d'Alenes,  had  suffered  frightful  losses  from  savage  attacks  on  their  hunters  by  the 
Blackfeet,  and  a  fierce  and  implacable  feud  had  grown  up  between  these  tribes  and 


*  From  the  journal  of  Dr.  George  Suckley,  surgeon  XJ.  S.  A.,  who  descended  the  Pend 
d 'Oreille  in  a  canoe  in  the  autumn  of  1853,  I  take  this  interesting  excerpt:  ''Buffalo  were 
formerly  in  great  numbers  in  this  valley,  as  attested  by  the  number  of  skulls  seen  and  by  the 
reports  of  the  inhabitants.  For  a  number  of  years  past  none  had  been  seen  west  of  the 
(Rocky)  mountains;  but,  singular  to  relate,  a  buffalo  bull  was  killed  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Pend  d  'Oreille  river  on  the  day  I  passed  it.  The  Indians  were  in  great  joy  at  this,  supposing 
that  the  buffalo  were  coming  back  among  them. 


FALLS  OF  THE  PALOUSE 
A!"  drawn  by  artist  nitli  (lovernor  Stevens'  Expediti 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  17 

the  wild  warriors  of  the  plains.  As  the  Blackfeet  had  come  into  contact  with  the 
fur  traders  operating  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains^  and  had  become  possessed  of 
firearms  and  ammnnition  before  the  establishment  of  trading  posts  west  of  the 
Rocky  mountains^  the  Indians  of  the  Spokane  country  suffered  a  terrible  disad* 
vantage  in  their  wars^  and  hence  were  eager  to  meet  the  western  traders  and  ex- 
change their  furs  for  gons  and  powder  and  ball. 

The  origin  of  the  name  Flathead^  as  applied  by  the  French  trappers  and  voyageurs 
to  the  superior  tribe  occupying  the  country  on  the  western  slopes  of  the  Rockies^  is 
Teiled  in  mystery.  It  does  not  appear  that  these  Indians  had  ever  adopted  the  prac- 
tice of  flattening  the  heads  of  their  infants ;  certainly  they  were  not  given  to  that 
custom  when  the  white  men  came  into  the  country^  a  strange  custom  that  was  con- 
fined to  a  few  tribes  seated  around  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia.  It  may  be  the  name 
was  bestowed  in  derision  or  anger^  since  the  term  *'tete  plate'*  or  Flathead  has  long 
been  in  use  among  the  French  as  a  term  of  reproach  or  yiUification.  Rostand  em- 
ploys it  in  "Cyrano  de  Bergerac"  when  he  causes  de  Bergerac,  in  his  angry  outburst 
against  Le  Facheux^  to  exclaim: 

"Enorme,  mon  nez!     Vil  camus,  sot  camard,  tete  plate!" 

As  the  Northwest  company  had  established  posts  among  these  Indians^  the 
Astor  people  decided  to  set  up  rival  establishments^  and  clerk  Pillet  was  dispatched 
with  six  men  to  locate  a  post  among  the  Kootenais^  and  Famam  and  Cox  were  sent 
from  Spokane  House  to  establish  one  among  the  Flatheads.  Their  mission  achieved^ 
the  latter  returned  to  the  Spokane  in  time  to  share  in  the  New  Year's  festivities^ 
which  were  conducted  on  a  scale  of  comparative  magnificence.  Clarke  had  built  a 
mug  and  roomy  dwelling  house  of  four  rooms  and  a  kitchen ;  another  commodious 
structure  for  the  men^  and  a  capacious  store  for  the  furs  and  goods^  "the  whole 
surrounded  by  high  paling  and  flanked  by  two  bastions  with  loopholes  for  musketry." 
So  the  party  were  in  a  position  to  take  their  ease,  and  the  gay  and  care-free  French- 
men enjoyed  to  their  fullest  zest  the  Christmas  and  New  Year  "regales."  On  such 
festive  occasions  flour  and  sugar  were  served  out  to  the  men  for  cakes,  and  a  gener- 
ous allowance  of  rum  and  wine  to  wash  down  the  unwonted  luxuries  of  the  day. 

**I  passed  the  remainder  of  the  winter  at  this  place,"  run  the  Cox  chronicles, 
"and  between  hunting,  reading,  fishing,  etc.,  we  contrived  to  spend  the  time  agree- 
ably enough.  We  lived  principally  on  deer,  trout  and  carp  (more  probably  sudcers 
or  whitefish),  and  occasionally  killed  a  fat  horse  as  a  substitute  for  beef.  Custom 
had  now  so  far  reconciled  us  to  the  flesh  of  this  animal,  that  we  often  preferred  it 
to  what  in  Europe  might  be  regarded  as  luxuries.  Foals  or  colts  are  not  good,  al- 
though a  few  of  our  men  preferred  them.  A  horse  for  the  table  should  not  be  under 
three  years  nor  above  seven.  The  flesh  of  those  which  are  tame,  well  fed  and  occa- 
sionally worked,  is  tender  and  firm,  and  the  fat  hard  and  white ;  it  is  far  superior  to 
the  wild  horse,  the  flesh  of  which  is  loose  and  stringy,  and  the  fat  yellow  and  rather 
oily.  We  generally  killed  the  former  for  our  own  table,  and  J  can  assure  my  readers 
that  if  they  sat  down  to  a  fat  rib,  or  a  rump  steak  of  a  well  fed  four-year-old,  with- 
out knowing  the  animal,  they  would  imagine  themselves  regaling  on  a  piece  of  prime 
ox  beef.  In  February  we  took  immense  quantities  of  carp  in  Spokane  river  (the 
Little  Spokane)  above  its  junction  with  the  Pointed  Heart,  and  in  a  few  weeks 
after  the  trout  came  in  great  abundance. 

"The  Spokans  we  found  to  be  a  quiet,  honest,  inoffensive  tribe;  and  although 

Vol  i—i 


18  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

we  had  fortified  our  establishment  in  the  manner  above  mentioned,  we  seldom  closed 
the  gates  at  night.  Their  country  did  not  abound  in  furs,  and  they  were  rather  indo- 
lent in  hunting.  Their  chief,  Illumspokanee,  or  the  Son  of  the  Sun,  was  a  harmless 
old  man  who  spent  a  great  portion  of  his  time  between  us  and  Mr.  McMillan.  We 
entered  into  a  contract  with  that  gentleman  to  abstain  from  giving  the  Indians  any 
spirituous  liquors,  to  which  both  parties  strictly  adhered.  Mr.  Clarke,  who  was  an 
old  trader  himself,  had  often  witnessed  the  baneful  effects  of  giving  ardent  spirits 
to  Indians,  while  he  was  in  the  service  of  the  Northwest  company,  at  all  whose  es- 
tablishments on  the  east  side  of  the  Rodcy  mountains  it  was  an  almost  invariable 
custom.  .  .  .  By  this  arrangement  both  parties  saved  themselves  considerable 
trouble  and  expense,  and  kept  the  poor  natives  in  a  state  of  blissful  ignorance.  In 
other  respects  also  we  agreed  very  well  with  our  opponent,  and  neither  party 
evinced  any  of  the  turbulent  or  lawless  spirit  which  gave  so  ferocious  an  aspect  to 
the  opposition  of  the  rival  companies  on  the  east  side  of  the  mountains. 

"The  great  object  of  every  Indian  was  to  obtain  a  gun.  Now  a  good  gun  could 
not  be  had  under  twenty  beaver  skins;  a  few  short  ones  we  gave  for  fifteen;  and 
some  idea  of  the  profit  may  be  formed  when  I  state  that  the  wholesale  price  of  the 
gun  is  about  one  pound  seven  shillings,  while  the  average  value  of  twenty  beaver 
skins  is  about  twenty-five  pounds.  Two  yards  of  cloth,  which  originally  cost  twelve 
shillings,  would  generally  bring  six  or  eight  beavers,  value  eight  or  ten  pounds; 
and  so  on  in  proportion  for  other  articles.  But  they  were  satisfied  and  we  had  no 
cause  to  complain. 

"The  Spokans  are  far  superior  to  the  Indians  of  the  coast  in  cleanliness,  but  by 
no  means  equal  in  this  respect  to  the  Flatheads.  The  women  are  good  wives  and 
most  affectionate  mothers;  .the  old,  cheerful  and  complete  slaves  to  their  families; 
the  young,  lively  and  confiding;  and  whether  married  or  single,  free  from  the  vice 
of  incontinence. 

"Their  village  was  situated  at  the  point  formed  by  the  jimction  of  the  two  rivers. 
Some  houses  were  oblong,  others  conical,  and  were  covered  with  mats  or  skins  ac- 
cording to  the  wealth  of  the  proprietor.  Their  chief  riches  are  their  horses,  which 
they  generally  obtain  in  barter  from  the  Nez  Perces,  in  return  for  the  goods  which 
they  obtain  from  us  for  their  furs.  Each  man  is  therefore  the  founder  of  his  own 
fortune,  and  their  riches  or  poverty  are  generally  proportioned  according  to  their 
activity  or  indolence.  The  vice  of  gambling,  however,  is  prevalent  among  them, 
and  some  are  such  slaves  to  it  that  they  frequently  lose  all  their  horses. 

"The  spot  where  *the  rude  forefathers  of  the  hamlet  sleep'  is  about  midway  be- 
tween the  village  and  the  fort,  and  has  rather  a  picturesque  effect  at  a  distance- 
When  a  man  dies  several  horses  are  killed,  and  the  skins  are  attached  to  the  ends  of 
long  poles,  which  are  planted  in  the  graves.  The  number  of  horses  sacrificed  is 
proportioned  to  the  wealth  of  the  individual.  Besides  the  horseskins,  deer  and 
buffalo  robes,  leather  sKirts,  blankets,  pieces  of  blue,  green  and  scarlet  cloth,  strips 
of  calico,  moccasins,  provisions,  warlike  weapons,  etc.,  are  placed  in  and  about  the 
cemetery ;  all  of  which  they  imagine  will  be  more  or  less  necessary  for  the  deceased 
in  the  world  of  spirits. 

"As  their  lands  axe  much  infested  by  wolves,  which  destroy  the  foals,  they  can 
not  rear  horses  in  such  numbers  as  the  Nez  Perces,  from  whom  they  are  obliged  to 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  19 

purchase  them  annually.  They  never  kill  any  for  their  own  use,  but  felt  no  re- 
pugnance to  eat  the  flesh  at  our  place." 

Affairs  were  not  altogether  harmonious  between  the  rival  establishments  that 
first  winter  on  the  Spokane,  for  Pillet,  a  clerk  of  the  Astor  forces,  fought  a  duel 
with  pistols  with  Montour,  a  clerk  of  the  Northwesters.  They  fired  at  six  paces — 
"both  hits;  one  in  the  collar  of  the  coat,  and  the  other  in  the  leg  of  the  trousers. 
Two  of  their  men  acted  as  seconds,  and  the  tailor  speedily  healed  their  wounds." 

Spokane  House  was  the  popular  rendezvous  for  the  different  posts  and  detached 
trading  parties  operating  all  over  the  Inland  Empire.  Many  a  gay  gathering  and 
many  a  lively  social  diversion  could  the  sentinel  pines  and  downlooking  mountains 
narrate  today  if  they  but  had  the  power  of  speech.  The  establishment  boasted  a 
ball-room,  and  there  on  wintry  nights,  to  the  strains  of  flute  and  fiddle,  the  vivacious 
French  Canadians  and  more  stolid  young  Scotch  chaps  trod  a  measure  with  the 
copper-tinted  belles  of  the  Spokanes,  the  Nez  Perces  and  other  neighboring  tribes. 
Forgotten  then,  in  the  entrancement  of  Terpsichore,  were  their  weary  marches  by 
field  and  forest  and  mountain  trail ;  their  dismal  bivouacs  in  winter  snows  or  summer's 
deluge.  Loquacious  Pierre,  and  mercurial  Jean,  and  quick-tempered  Louis  cast  away 
their  memories  of  dreadful  toil  by  perilous  portage,  or  snapped  their  fingers  at  the 
thought  of  coming  travail,  when  the  breast-straps  should  cut  the  flesh  as  they  tugged 
at  the  lines  of  deep-ladened  bateaux  dancing  on  the  swift  waters  of  the  Columbia, 
the  Spokane,  the  Flathead  and  the  "Cootonai." 

In  fancy  we  may  conjure  back  the  stirring  scene:  the  deep  ball-room,  lighted  by 
the  great  hearthfire  and  flaring  flambeaux  of  pine  knots;  the  Scotch  gentlemen, 
each  in  the  tartan  of  his  clan ;  the  Americans,  decked  out  in  some  treasured  piece  of 
bright  colored  raiment  of  the  period,  brought  from  distant  New  York,  and  the 
French  Canadians  in  plume  and  sash  and  gaily  colored  capote. 

And  what  a  contrast  without,  where  the  winter  moon  spread  her  cold  beams  on  a 
landsca]>e  of  woody  moimtains  and  snowy  plains,  while  the  dark  waters  of  the  Spo- 
kane went  tearing  to  the  mighty  Oregon,  and  the  greater  river  ran  sullen  to  the  sea. 

It  was  a  hard,  wild  life,  and  few  who  embraced  it  survived  to  see  again  the 
pleasant  landscapes  of  their  boyhood  homes,  or  hear  on  sunny  Sabbath  morning  the 
deep-toned  bells  of  worship  calling  across  the  smiling  fields. 

"It  is  worthy  of  remark,"  observes  Parker,  who  traversed  this  country  in  1885, 
'that  comparatively  few  of  all  those  who  engage  in  the  fur  business  about  and  west 
of  the  Rocky  mountains,  ever  return  to  their  native  land  and  their  homes  and  friends. 
Mr.  P.  of  Fort  Walla  Walla  told  me  that  to  keep  up  their  number  of  trappers  and 
hunters  in  the  country  west  of  the  mountains,  they  were  under  the  necessity  of  send- 
ing out  recruits  annually,  about  one-third  of  the  whole  number.  Captain  W.  has 
said  that  of  more  than  200  who  had  been  in  his  employment  in  the  course  of  three 
years,  only  between  thirty  and  forty  were  known  to  be  alive.  From  this  data  it 
may  be  seen  that  the  life  of  hunters  in  these  far  western .  regions  averages  about 
three  years.  And  with  these  known  facts,  still  hundreds  and  hundreds  are  willing 
to  engage  in  the  hunter's  life  and  expose  themselves  to  hardships,  famine  and  death. 
The  estimate  has  been  made  from  sources  of  correct  information,  that  there  are  9,000 
white  men  in  the  north  and  in  the  great  west,  engaged  in  the  various  departments  of 
trading,  trapping  and  hunting.  This  number  includes  Americans,  Britons,  French- 
men and  Russians." 


20  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Life  at  Okanogan  offered  none  of  the  lively  diversions  that  were  the  accompani- 
ment of  a  winter  sojourn  at  Spokane  House.  In  a  letter  by  McGillivray^  a  year 
later  to  a  friend  at  Spokane^  we  find  a  graphic  pen  picture  of  that  dreary  outpost  of 
the  company : 

"Oakinagan^  Feb.,  1814. — This  is  a  horribly  dull  place.  Here  I  have  been, 
since  you  parted  from  us,  perfectly  solus.  My  men,  half  Canadians  and  half  Sand- 
wich islanders.  The  library  wretched,  and  no  chance  of  my  own  books  until  next 
year,  when  the  Athabasca  men  cross  the  mountains.  If  you  or  my  friends  at  Spokan 
do  not  send  me  a  few  volumes  I  shall  absolutely  die  of  ennui. 

"The  Indians  here  are  incontestably  the  most  indolent  rascals  I  ever  met;  and 
I  assure  you  it  requires  no  small  degree  of  authority,  with  the  few  men  I  have,  to 
keep  them  in  order.  Montignier  left  me  on  the  twenty-third  of  December  to  proceed 
to  Mr.  McDonald  at  Kamloops.  On  his  way  he  was  attadced  by  the  Indians  at 
Okanogan  lake,  and  robbed  of  a  number  of  his  horses.  The  natives  in  that  quarter 
seem  to  entertain  no  great  friendship  for  us,  as  this  is-  not  their  first  attempt  to 
trespass  on  our  good  nature.  My  two  Canadians  were  out  hunting  at  the  period  of 
the  robbery,  and  the  whole  of  my  household  troops  merely  consisted  of  Bonaparte, 
Washington  and  Caesar  (three  natives  of  Hawaii).  Great  names,  you  will  say;  but 
I  must  confess,  that  much  as  I  think  of  the  two  great  moderns,  and  highly  as  I  re- 
spect the  memory  of  the  immortal  Julius,  among  these  thieving  scoundrels  'a  rose 
by  any  other  name  would  smell  as  sweet.*  The  snow  is  between  two  and  three  feet 
deep,  and  my  trio  of  Owyhee  generals  find  a  sensible  difference  between  such 
hyperborean  weather  and  the  pleasing  sunshine  of  their  own  tropical  paradise. 
Poor  fellows !  They  are  not  adapted  for  these  latitudes,  and  I  heartily  wish  they 
were  at  home  in  their  own  sweet  islands,  and  sporting  in  the  'blue  summer  ocean' 
that  surrounds  them. 

"I  have  not  as  yet  made  a  pack  of  beaver.  The  lazy  Indians  won't  work;  and  as 
for  the  emperor,  president  and  dictator,  they  know  as  much  about  trapping  as  the 
monks  of  La  Trappe.  I  have  hitherto  principally  subsisted  on  horseflesh.  I  can 
not  say  it  agrees  with  me,  for  it  nearly  produced  a  dysentery.  I  have  had  plenty  of 
pork,  rice,  arrowroot,  flour,  taroroot,  tea  and  coffee;  no  sugar.  With  such  a  variety 
of  bonnes  choses  you  will  say  I  ought  not  to  complain ;  but  want  of  society  has  de- 
stroyed my  relish  for  luxuries,  and  the  only  articles  I  taste  above  par  are  souchong 
and  molasses. 

"What  a  contrast  between  the  manner  I  spent  last  year  and  this.  In  the  first 
with  all  the  pride  of  a  newly-created  subaltern,  occasionally  fighting  the  Yankees, 
a  la  mode  du  pays;  and  anon,  sporting  my  silver  wings  before  some  admiring 
paysanne  along  the  frontiers.  Then  what  a  glorious  winter  in  Montreal,  with  cap- 
tured Jonathans,  triumphant  Britons,  astonished  Indians,  gaping  habitants,  agitated 
beauties,  balls,  routs,  dinners,  suppers;  parades,  drums  beating;  colors  flying,  with 
all  the  other  'pride,  pomp  and  circumstance  of  glorious  war.'  But  'Othello's  occu- 
pation's gone,'  and  here  I  am,  with  a  shivering  guard  of  poor  islanders,  buried  in 
snow,  sipping  molasses,  smoking  tobacco,  and  masticating  horseflesh.  But  I  am  sick 
of  the  contrast !" 

Certainly  a  vivid  one,  and  made  by  a  gentleman  of  evident  culture  and  literary 
attainment. 


CHAPTER  III 

BRITISH  FLAG  SUPPLANTS  THE  STARS  AND  STRIPES 

TJOLINO     THE     FURS    DOWN     THE     COLUMBIA INDIAN    THIEF     HANOED     AT     MOUTH     OF 

PAL0U8E GREAT    BRITAIN    AND    AMERICA    AT   WAR ASTOR   BETRAYED   BT   HIS    PART* 

NERS  AT   ASTORIA HIS   OREAT  ENTERPRISE   RUINED BRITISH   SEIZE   ASTORIA ^EXPE- 
DITION MASSACRED  ON  HEADWATERS  OF  THE  SNAKE REMARKABLE  ESCAPE  OF  PIERRE 

DORION's  SQUAW. 

Ay^  tear  her  tattered  ensign  down! 

Long  has  it  waved  on  high. 
And  many  an  eye  has  danced  to  see 

That  banner  in  the  sky. 

— Oliver'  Wendell  Holmes, 

WITH  the  coming  of  spring,  1813,  Spokane  House  became  a  scene  of  lively 
preparation  for  the  springtime  brigade  down  the  Columbia  to  Astoria, 
or  Fort  George  as  it  was  soon  to  become  by  the  fortunes  of  war,  and 
the  stars  and  stripes  to  be  supplanted  by  the  British  flag.  Leaving  poor  Pillet, 
who,  between  his  accidental  shooting  at  the  Cascades,  his  duel  on  the  Spokane 
and  other  minor  untoward  experiences  was  evidently  in  an  unhappy  frame  of  mind, 
to  keep  guard  on  the  Spokane  with  four  assistants,  the  brigade  set  out  on  the 
25th  of  May  for  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia.  It  had  twenty-eight  horses 
packed  heavy  with  the  season's  catch,  and  reached  Snake  river  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Palonse,  or  Pavilion  Hver  as  it  then  was  called  by  the  French,  on  the  thirtieth  of 
May.  Here  the  canoes  were  found  in  safety,  barring  a  few  nails  which  the  Indians 
had  extracted  for  their  own  needs,  and  while  the  brigade  lay  there  to  await  repairs, 
a  tragic  incident  occurred  that  was  to  lead,  as  we  shall  later  learn,  to  a  far  more 
tragic  denouement. 

During  the  night  a  thief  or  thieves  had  entered  the  tent  in  which  Mr.  Clarke 
slept,  and  stole  from  his  garde-vin  a  valuable  silver  goblet.  Hastily  summoning  the 
Indians  of  the  village,  Clarke  told  them  that  he  had  overlooked  previous  thefts  on 
the  occasion  of  his  coming  into  their  country,  believing  that  his  indulgence  then 
would  win  better  treatment  in  future;  but  that  he  was  mistaken,  for  his  lenience  then 
had  led  to  this  bolder  theft,  and  he  saw  that  he  must  now  deal  with  them  in  a  more 
resolute  manner.  He  accordingly  announced  that  if  the  stolen  property  were  re- 
turned he  would  pardon  the  offender,  but  if  not,  he  should  hang  the  thief  if  he  could 
find  him. 

21 


22  •  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

The  chief  and  others  expressed  a  willingness  to  aid  in  the  recovery  of  the  stolen 
articles^  but  the  day  passed  with  no  results.  That  night  a  watch  was  set^  and  an 
Indian  detected  in  the  act  of  entering  one  of  the  tents.  When  discovered  he  fled  to 
a  canoe^  but  was  seized  as  he  was  stepping  into  it.  An  alarm  was  given^  the  whole 
camp  was  soon  routed  from  their  slumbers^  and  a  search  showed  that  several  valuable 
articles  were  missings  most  of  which  were  found  in  the  bottom  of  the  canoe.  The 
thief  refused  to  give  any  account  of  the  other  missing  articles^  and  as  he  had  been 
remarkably  well  treated  by  the  party,  Clarke  resolved,  in  view  of  this  and  the 
aggravated  nature  of  the  robbery,  to  put  his  threat  into  execution.  A  gallows  was 
ordered  erected,  and  the  culprit's  hands  and  feet  having  been  bound,  Clarke  assem- 
bled all  the  Indians  of  the  village  and  made  a  speech,  declaring  that  the  prisoner 
had  violated  his  confidence,  abused  the  rights  of  hospitality  and  committed  an  of- 
fense for  which  he  ought  to  suffer  death. 

The  Indians  assented  to  this  proposition  and  repudiated  the  prisoner,  affirming 
that  he  did  not  belong  to  their  tribe,  but  was  an  outlaw  from  another  village,  and 
they  had  all  been  afraid  of  him.  The  thief  offered  the  most  violent  resistance  to  his 
execution,  and  screamed  in  a  frightful  manner  as  he  was  launched  into  eternity.  An 
account  of  the  subsequent  appalling  revenge  taken  by  the  relatives  of  this  Indian 
will  appear  in  another  chapter. 

Great  news  awaited  the  Spokane  brigade  on  its  arrival,  June  11,  181S,  at  As- 
toria. "We  found  all  our  friends  in  good  health,"  says  Ross  Cox,  "but  a  total  revolu- 
tion had  taken  place  in  the  affairs  of  the  company.  Messrs.  John  George  McTavish 
and  Joseph  LaRocque  of  the  Northwest  company,  with  two  canoes  and  sixteen  men, 
had  arrived  a  few  days  before  us.  From  these  gentlemen  we  learned,  for  the  first 
time,  that  war  had  been  declared  the  year  before  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States ;  and  that  in  consequence  of  the  strict  blockade  of  the  American  pN>rt6 
by  British  cruisers,  no  vessel  would  venture  to  proceed  to  our  remote  establishment 
during  the  continuation  of  hostilities;  added  to  which,  a  trading  vessel  which  had 
touched  at  the  Columbia  in  the  early  part  of  the  spring,  had  informed  our  people 
that  the  ship  Beaver  was  blocked  up  in  Canton." 

Himself  a  British  subject,  and  holding  friendly  feelings  towards  the  Northwest- 
ers, Cox  states  lightly  and  defends  a  transaction  that  at  best  was  shameful  enough 
— a  too  ready  betrayal  by  old  Northwesters  in  Mr.  Astor's  service,  of  his  interests 
and  property  into  the  hands  of  their  former  masters.  We  quote  Cox's  version: 
"These  unlucky  and  unexpected  circumstances,  joined  to  the  impossibility  of  sus- 
taining ourselves  another  year  in  the  country  without  fresh  supplies,  induced  our 
proprietory  to  enter  into  negotiations  with  Mr.  McTavish,  who  had  been  authorized 
by  the  Northwest  company  to  treat  with  them.  In  a  few  weeks  an  amicable  arrange- 
ment was  made,  by  which  Mr.  McTavish  agreed  to  purchase  all  the  furs,  mer- 
chandise, provisions,  etc.,  of  our  company  at  a  certain  valuation,  stipulating  to 
provide  a  safe  passage  back  to  the  United  States,  either  by  sea  or  across  the  conti- 
nent, for  such  members  of  it  as  chose  to  return,  and  at  the  same  time  offering  to 
those  who  should  wish  to  join  the  Northwest  company  and  remain  in  the  country 
the  same  terms  as  if  they  had  originally  been  members  of  that  company.  Messrs. 
Ross,  McLennon  and  I  took  advantage  of  these  liberal  proposals,  and  some  time 
after   Mr.   Duncan   McDougal,  one  of  the  directors,   also  joined  the   Northwest. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  23 

The  Americans,  of  course,  preferred  returning  to  their  own  country,  as  also  did  Mr. 
Gabriel  Franchere  and  a  few  other  Canadian  clerks." 

The  phrase,  "to  their  own  country,"  has  now  a  half  humorous  ring,  but  there 
was  no  humor  to  the  situation  then.  The  Americans  were  down  and  out,  their  occu- 
pany  of  the  Columbia  River  country  had  ended  in  failure,  and  it  was  known  that  a 
British  war  vessel  was  sailing  to  these  shores  to  capture  Astoria,  pull  down  the 
American  flag  and  take  possession  of  the  country  for  the  British  empire. 

Gabriel  Franchere,  has  left,  in  his  "Narrative  of  a  Voyage  to  the  Northwest 
Coast  of  America,"  a  harsher  report  of  the  perfidy  of  McDougal  and  other  agents 
of  Mr.  Astor.  The  Astorians  were  surprised  one  day,  late  in  the  autumn  of  1812, 
by  the  appearance  of  two  canoes,  bearing  the  British  flag,  and  having  between  them 
a  third  canoe  flying  the  American  colors.  These  British  canoes  brought  J.  G.  Mc- 
Tavish  and  Angus  Bethune  of  the  Northwest  company,  the  vanguard  to  a  flotilla  of 
eight  canoes  loaded  with  furs  under  the  conduct  of  John  Stuart  and  McMillan.  The 
American  canoe  bore  a  small  party  of  Astorians,  who  had  met  the  Northwesters 
near  the  Cascades,  and  on  learning  the  news  brought  by  them,  had  returned  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia. 

McTavish  delivered  to  McDougal  a  letter  addressed  to  the  latter  by  Angus 
Shaw,  his  uncle,  one  of  the  partners  of  the  Northwest  company,  advising  him  that 
the  ship  Isaac  Todd,  bearing  letters  of  marque,  had  sailed  from  London  in  March 
under  convoy  of  the  British  frigate  Phoebe,  with  orders  from  the  government  to  seize 
the  American  establishment  at  Astoria,  which  had  been  misrepresented  to  the  admi- 
ralty as  an  important  colony  founded  by  the  government  of  the  United  States. 

A  little  later  the  eight  canoes  came  into  the  offing  and  the  Northwesters,  to  the 
number  of  seventy-five  men,  went  into  camp  on  the  beach  near  tlie  Astor  fort.  Here 
was  a  hostile  expedition,  with  confessed  designs  against  the  Astoria  enterprise,  but 
McDougal,  Mr.  Astor's  agent  on  the  ground,  and  bound  by  every  obligation  of  fidel- 
ity and  decency  to  guard  his  great  trust,  received  it  in  friendship  and  even  benevo- 
lence, for  the  Northwesters  were  destitute  of  provisions  and  were  supplied  from  Mr. 
Astor 's  stores  while  awaiting  the  expected  arrival  of  a  British  war  ship. 

The  upshot  of  the  negotiations  that  followed  was  the  sale  of  the  vast  Astor  in- 
terests to  the  rival  institution  at  a  price  not  exceeding  one-third  of  its  true  value. 

"It  was  thus,"  lamented  Franchere,  "that  after  having  passed  the  seas  and  suf- 
fered all  sorts  of  fatigues  and  privations,  I  lost  in  a  moment  all  my  hopes  of  fortune. 
I  could  not  help  remarking  that  we  had  no  right  to  expect  such  treatment  on  the  part 
of  the  British  government,  after  the  assurances  we  had  received  from  Mr.  Jadcson, 
his  majesty's  charge  d'affaires,  previously  to  our  departure  from  New  York.  But  as 
I  have  just  intimated,  the  agents  of  the  Northwest  company  had  exaggerated  the 
importance  of  the  factory  in  the  eyes  of  the  British  ministry;  for  if  the  latter  had 
known  what  it  really  was — a  mere  trading  post — and  that  nothing  but  the  rivalry  of 
the  fur  traders  of  the  Northwest  company  was  interested  in  its  destruction,  they 
would  never  have  taken  umbrage  at  it,  or  at  least  would  have  never  sent  a  maritime 
expedition  to  destroy  it." 

The  frigate  Phoebe  failed  to  put  in  appearance,  but  in  her  stead  the  British 
sloop-of-war  Raccoon  arrived  on  November  80.  When  first  sighted,  the  North- 
westers, now  in  possession  of  Astoria,  were  uncertain  as  to  her  nationality,  and  a 
fear  arose  that  she  might  bear  American  arms.    They  met  this  danger,  though,  with 


24  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

a  very  different  spirit  and  resolution  from  that  which  had  been  exhibited  by  Mc- 
Dougal  when  facing  the  possibility  of  an  appearance  of  a  British  vessel.  McDougal 
went  down  the  bay  in  a  small  boat^  under  instructions  to  ascertain  the  nationality  of 
the  newcomer^  and  to  represent  himself  either  as  an  American  or  a  British  subject, 
according  to  the  flag  that  she  might  be  found  to  fly.  Meanwhile  the  precious  furs 
stored  at  the  fort  were  hastily  loaded  into  canoes  and  hurried  up  the  river  to  a  hiding 
place  in  the  thickets  of  a  little  entering  stream. 

"From  the  account  given  in  this  chapter/'  says  Franchere^  "the  reader  will  see 
with  what  facility  the  establishment  of  the  Pacific  Fur  company  could  have  escaped 
capture  by  the  British  force.  It  was  only  necessary  to  get  rid  of  the  land  party  of 
the  Northwest  company — who  were  completely  in  our  power — ^then  remove  our  ef- 
fects up  the  river  on  some  small  stream  and  await  the  result.  The  sloop-of-war  ar- 
rived^ it  is  true;  but  as,  in  the  case  I  suppose,  she  would  have  found  nothing,  she 
would  have  left  after  setting  fire  to  our  deserted  houses.  None  of  their  boats  would 
have  dared  follow  us,  even  if  the  Indians  had  betrayed  to  them  our  lurking  place. 
Those  at  the  head  of  affairs  had  their  own  fortunes  to  seek,  and  thought  it  more 
for  their  interest,  doubtless,  to  act  as  they  did,  but  that  will  not  clear  them  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world,  and  the  charge  of  treason  to  Mr.  Astor's  interests  will  always  be 
aittached  to  their  acts." 

Jt  seems  improbable  that  the  Indians  would  have  betrayed  the  hiding  place  of 
the  Astorians,  if  this  expedient  had  been  adopted.  McDougal  had  taken  as  wife  a 
daughter  of  Chief  Concomly,  and  the  aged  one-eyed  chieftain  seems  to  have  been 
unable  to  fathom  the  quick  shiftiness  of  his  son-in-law;  for  when  the  Raccoon  ap- 
pealed in  the  bay,  Concomly  quickly  assembled  his  warriors,  marched  them  into  the 
presence  of  his  son-in-law,  and  never  doubting  that  McDougal  was  loyal  to  his  trust, 
volunteered  to  aid  him  in  battle  against  the  invader.  He  proposed  that  he  should 
station  his  warriors  in  the  thickets  on  shore,  and  when  the  "King  George  men"  at- 
tempted a  landing  he  would  open  a  hot  fire  on  them  from  cover.  When  McDougal 
declined  this  hostile  alliance,  the'  old  chief  shook  his  head  in  sadness  and  disgust, 
and  the  assurances  of  his  son-in-law,  that  the  war  vessel  was  bringing  friends,  was 
too  much  for  the  simple  intellect  of  the  old  father-in-law. 

When  Captain  Black,  having  brought  the  Raccoon  to  anchor  in  front  of  the  es- 
tablishment, saw  the  primitive  appearance  of  the  fort,  he  could  scarcely  believe  his 
eyes.  W^t  had  been  led  to  believe  that  the  Americans  had  built  there  a  great  and 
wealthy  establishment,  and  all  through  the  long  voyage  he  and  his  fellow  officers  had 
indulged  anticipations  of  the  rich  prize  money  that  would  come  to  them  with  the  fall 
of  Astoria.  He  inquired  if  there  were  not  larger  and  more  pretentious  buildings 
somewhere  in  the  vicinity,  and  when  told  that  he  had  seen  the  entire  establishment, 
cried  out: 

"Is  this  the  fort  about  which  I  have  heard  so  much  talking?  D — ^n  me,  but  I'd 
batter  it  down  in  two  hours  with  a  four-pounder!" 

And  when  he  learned  of  the  canny  transaction  by  which  the  rich  furs  of  the 
enemy  had  passed  to  a  British  subject,  and  his  last  expectation  of  prize  money 
went  vanishing  into  thin  air,  he  grew  furiously  angry,  and  demlmded  the  taking  of 
an  inventory  of  the  property  purchased  of  the  Americans,  "with  a  view  to  ulterior 
measures  in  England  for  the  recovery  of  the  value  from  the  Northwest  company." 


•     THE  ,N£.'v  i    .]    ~: 

PUBLIC  lk-'sakW 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  25 

But  as  he  cooled  off  the  ludicrousness  of  the  affair  evidently  dawned  on  his  sense  of 
hiimor^  for  the  "ulterior  measures"  were  never  taken. 

Less  than  $40^000  was  allowed  by  the  Northwest  company  for  furs  worth  in 
excess  of  $100^000^  and  goods  and  merchandise  intended  for  the  Indian  trade  were 
taken  over  at  less  than  a  third  of  their  true  value.  The  following  estimate  was  made 
of  the  furs  on  hand  and  the  prices  paid  for  them  compared  with  their  real  value : 

17,705  lbs.  beaver  parchment,  valued  at.$  2.00  worth  $  5.00 

465  old  coat  beaver,  valued  at 1.66  worth  3.50 

907   land  otter,  valued  at 50  worth  5.00 

68   sea  otter,  valued  at .12.00  worth  $45  to  60.00 

30  sea  otter,  valued  at 5.00  worth  25.00 

Nothing  was  allowed  for  179  mink  skins  worth  50  cents  each;  twenty-two  rac- 
coons, worth  40  cents  each;  twenty-eight  lynx,  worth  $2  each;  eighteen  fox,  worth 
$1  each;  one  hundred  and  six  fox,  worth  $1.50  each;  seventy-one  black  bear,  worth 
$4  each;  and  sixteen  grixxly  bear,  worth  $10  each. 

But  the  deed  was  done,  and  could  not  be  cured  by  repining  or  reproaches;  and 
with  Astoria  also  went  Spokane  House,  Okanogan  and  the  other  trading  posts  of 
the  Astor  company.  Captain  Black  of  the  sloop-of-war  took  possession  of  Astoria 
in  the  name  of  his  Britannic  Majesty,  floated  the  British  flag  above  it,  and  re- 
diristened  the  place  "Fort  George."  As  this  official  act  carried  with  it  a  claim  to  all 
the  territory  in  possession  of  British  subjects,  Spokane  passed  under  the  British 
ensign,  and  continued  British  territory  tiU^  tjbe^  ^aor  ended,  by  the  treaty  of  Ghent 
the  contracting  powers  agreed  to  restore;  iih^\  st&ttis  ante-bellum,  and  surrendered 
each  the  territory  it  had  acquired  by  conquest  or  occupation  from  the  opposing 
power,  when  Astoria  was  theoretically  reti^jr^pdi  ta  the  United  States,  although  the 
Northwest  company  remained  there  in  .undiepTxt^d  '|)6ssession  for  a  number  of  years. 

Let  us  now  take  up  the  sequel  to  Mr.  Clarke's  ill-advised  hanging  of  the  Indian 
thief  at  the  mouth  of  the  Palouse  river. 

A  few  months  subsequent  to  this  event,  John  Reed,  a  warm-hearted  old  Irish- 
man, was  sent  with  a  party  to  trap  beaver  in  the  country  around  the  upper  reaches 
of  Snake  river,  consisting  of  four  Canadians,  Giles  Le  Clerc,  Francois  Landry,  Jean 
Baptiste  Turcot,  and  Andre  La  Chappelle,  and  two  half  breed  hunters,  Pierre  Dorion 
and  Pierre  Delaunay.  Pierre  Dorion  was  a  son  of  that  French  Dorion  who  had 
accompanied  Lewis  and  Clark  across  the  continent.  Dorion  pere  had  taken  a  Sioux 
wife,  and  the  product  of  that  alliance  was  a  numerous  progeny  as  wild  and  adventu- 
rous as  the  wild  west  had  ever  yielded.  It  is  narrated  that  the  Dorion  family  were 
participants  in  numerous  drunken  debauches,  and  that  on  one  of  these  occasions, 
the  son  Pierre  engaged  in  a  rough  and  trmible  fight  on  the  cabin  floor  with  his  worthy 
parent,  and  in  a  drunken  rage  was  just  in  the  act  of  scalping  the  author  of  his  being, 
when  the  elder  Dorion  cried  out:  "Oh,  my  son,  my  son.  Don't  do  that.  You  are 
too  honorable  to  take  your  father's  scalp !"    An  appeal  which  Pierre  could  not  resist. 

When  Wilson  P.  Hunt,  who  had  been  entrusted  with  the  leadership  in  1810  of 
Mr.  Astor 's  overland  expedition  from  Montreal  to  the  Columbia,  was  strengthening 
his  party  at  St.  Louis,  he  employed  Pierre  Dorion  as  interpreter,  and  with  Pierre 
on  that  frightful  journey  came  his  squaw  and  their  two  children.    Mr.  Hunt's  party 


26  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

took  eleven  months  to  traverse  the  vast  expanse  between  northern  Missouri  and  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia^  suffered  the  loss  of  several  members  by  drowning  and  desti- 
tution^  and  experienced  hardships^  dangers  and  sufferings  far  greater  than  those  en- 
countered by  Lewis  and  Clark.  But  through  them  all  the  Dorions  came  unscathed^ 
Madame  Dorion^  in  fact  increasing  the  party  by  one  en  route;  and  when  Reed  was 
dispatched  on  this  detached  hunting  trip^  along  went  Pierre  and  his  heroic  squaw. 

Irving  has  treated  the  events  that  followed  with  a  graphic  pen: 

"In  the  course  of  the  autumn^  Reed  lost  one  man^  Landry^  by  death.  Another 
one,  Pierre  Delaunay,  who  was  of  a  sullen^  perverse  disposition,  left  him  in  a  moody 
fit,  and  was  never  heard  of  afterward.  The  number  of  his  party  was  not,  however, 
reduced  by  these  losses,  as  three  hunters,  Robinson,  Hoback  and  Rezner,  had  joined  it. 

"Reed  now  built  a  house  on  the  Snake  river  for  their  winter  quarters;  which 
being  completed,  the  party  set  about  trapping.  Rezner,  Le  Clerc  and  Pierre  Dorion 
went  about  five  days'  journey  from  the  wintering  house,  to  a  part  of  the  country 
well  stocked  with  beaver.  Here  they  put  up  a  hut  and  proceeded  to  trap  with  great 
success.  While  the  men  were  out  hunting,  Pierre  Dorion's  wife  remained  at  home  to 
dress  the  skins  and  prepare  the  meals.  She  was  thus  employed  one  evening  about 
the  beginning  of  January,  cooking  the  supper  of  the  hunters,  when  she  heard  foot- 
steps, and  Le  Clerc  staggered,  pale  and  bleeding,  into  the  hut.  He  informed  her 
that  a  party  of  savages  had  surprised  them  while  at  their  traps,  and  had  killed 
Rezner  and  her  {lusband.  He  had  barely  strength  left  to  give  this  information  when 
he  sank  upon  the  ground. 

"The  poor  woman  saw  that  the  only  chance  for  life  was  instant  flight.  With 
great  difficulty  she  caught  two  of  the  horses  belonging  to  the  party.  Then  collecting 
her  clothes  and  a  small  quantity  of  beaver  meat  and  dried  salmon,  she  packed  them 
upon  one  of  the  horses  and  helped  the  wounded  man  to  mount  upon  it.  On  the  other 
horse  she  mounted  with  her  two  children,  and  hurried  away  from  this  dangerous 
neighborhood,  directing  her  flight  to  Mr.  Reed's  establishment.  On  the  third  day 
she  descried  a  number  of  Indians  on  horseback  proceeding  in  an  easterly  direction. 
She  immediately  dismounted  with  her  children,  and  helped  Le  Clerc  to  dismount, 
and  all  concealed  themselves.  Fortunately  they  escaped  the  sharp  eyes  of  the 
savages,  but  had  to  proceed  with  the  utmost  caution.  That  night  they  slept  without 
fire  or  water;  she  managed  to  keep  her  children  warm  in  her  arms,  but  before 
morning  poor  Le  Clerc  died. 

"With  the  dawn  of  day  the  resolute  woman  pursued  her  course,  and  on  the  fourth 
day  reached  the  house  of  Mr.  Reed.  It  was  deserted,  and  all  round  were  marks  of 
blood  and  signs  of  a  furious  massacre.  Not  doubting  that  Mr.  Reed  and  all  his 
party  had  fallen  victims,  she  turned  in  fresh  horror  from  the  spot.  For  two  days 
she  continued  hurrying  forward,  ready  to  sink  for  want  of  food,  but  more  solicitous 
about  her  children  than  herself.  At  length  she  reached  a  range  of  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains, near  the  upper  part  of  the  Walla  Walla  river.  Here  she  chose  a  wild,  lonely 
ravine  as  her  place  of  winter  refuge. 

"She  had  fortunately  a  buffalo  robe  and  three  deerskins;  of  these,  and  of  pine 
bark  and  cedar  branches,  she  constructed  a  rude  wigwam,  which  she  pitched  beside 
a  mountain  spring.  Having  no  other  food,  she  killed  the  two  horses  and  smoked 
the  flesh.  The  skins  aided  to  cover  her  hut.  Here  she  dragged  out  the  winter  with 
no  other  company  than  her  two  children.     Toward  the  middle  of  March  her  provi- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  27 

sions  were  nearly  exhausted.  She  therefore  packed  up  the  remainder^  slung  it  on 
her  back^  and^  with  her  helpless  little  oncs^  set  out  again  on  her  wanderings.  Cross- 
ing the  ridge  of  mountains^  she  descended  to  the  banks  of  the  Walla  Walla^  and 
kept  along  them  until  she  arrived  where  that  river  throws  itself  into-  the  Columbia. 
She  was  hospitably  received  and  entertained  by  the  Walla  Wallas,  and  had  been 
nearly  two  weeks  among  them  when  two  canoes  passed." 

These  proved  to  contain  a  party  from  Astoria,  ascending  the  Columbia  to  Fort 
Okanogan,  the  occupants  of  which  were  surprised  by  hearing  a  childish  voice  cry 
out  in  French: 

"Arreiez  done!  arretez  done!"  (Stop  there,  stop  there!)  It  was  one  of  Do- 
rion's  children,  joyously  hailing  friends;  and  it  is  pleasing  to  add  that  the  party 
generously  rewarded  the  friendly  Walla  Wallas  for  their  kind  treatment  of  the 
brave  widow  and  her  children. 

Although  the  supposition  was  never  actually  verified,  it  was  believed  by  the 
Astorians  that  the  Reed  party  were  massacred  by  relatives  of  the  Indian  hanged  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Palouse.  It  was  known  that  they  were  greatly  enraged  by  that 
high-handed  act  of  vengeance,  and  friendly  Indians  had  frequently  warned  the  tra- 
ders that  the  family  and  friends  of  the  victim  were  threatening  retaliation. 


CHAPTER  IV 

ODD  CHARACTERS  AT  SPOKANE  HOUSE 

INDIANS    PASSIONATELY    FOND    OF    TOBACCO HALCYON    DAYS    FOR    THE     8POKANES A 

FIERY     HIGHLAND    SCOT TAKING    AN    INDIAN    WIFE WAR    NARROWLY    AVERTED 

FLATHEAD     GIRLS    SCORN     WHITE    SUITORS OTHERS    NOT    SO     FASTIDIOUS GARDENS 

PLANTED   ON   THE    SPOKANE STRANGE    INDIAN    CHIEF   NEAR   LOON    LAKE REMARK- 

ABLE  CAREER  OF  A  FREE  TRADER. 

The  pipe^  with  solemn  interposing  puff^ 

Makes  half  a  sentence  at  a  time  enough. 

The  dozing  sages  drop  the  drowsy  strain^ 

Then  pause  and  puff — and  speak^  and  pause  again. 

— Cowper, 

AFFAIRS  at  Spokane  House  were  little  altered  by  the  change  of  ownership, 
government  and  flag.  The  brigades  came  and  the  brigades  went  between  the 
Spokane  and  the  Columbia.  The  voyageurs  tugged  at  the  cordelle  quite  as 
hard  as  before,  and  the  thieving  Wishram  Indians  at  the  Cascades  grew  even  more 
thievish,  and  attacked  with  growing  audacity  the  various  parties  as  they  made  the 
arduous  portage.  The  officers  and  their  men  fared  as  before  on  dried  salmon,  horse 
meat,  and  in  a  pinch  now  and  then,  on  stewed  dog. 

Occasionally  supplies  ran  low  at  Spokane  House,  and  the  Indians  watched 
longingly  for  the  coming  of  the  brigade  with  new  stocks  of  tobacco  and  ammunition. 
On  one  occasion,  these  commodities  were  entirely  lacking  for  two  months,  and  when 
the  supplies  finally  arrived  there  was  great  rejoicing  of  savage  hearts.  "The  whole 
tribe  assembled  round  the  fort  and  viewed  with  joy  the  kegs  of  powder  and  the  bales 
of  tobacco  as  they  were  unloaded  from  the  horses,"  says  Cox.  "A  large 
circle  was  formed  in  the  courtyard,  into  the  center  of  which  we  entered,  and  having 
lit  the  friendly  calumet,  smoked  a  few  rounds  to  celebrate  the  meeting.  A  quantity 
of  tobacco  was  then  presented  to  each  man,  and  the  chief  delivered  an  oration." 

*'My  heart  13  glad  to  see  you,"  he  said;  "my  heart  is  ^ad  to  see  you.  We  were 
a  long  time  very  hungry  for  tobacco,  and  some  of  our  young  men  said  you  would 
never  come  back.  They  were  angry  and  said  to  me,  *The  white  men  made  us  love 
tobacco  almost  as  much  as  we  love  our  children,  and  now  we  are  starving  for  it. 
They  brought  us  their  wonderful  guns,  which  we  traded  ir&m  them;  we  threw  by 
our  arrows  as  useless,  because  we  knew  they  were  not  so  strong  to  kill  the  deer  as 
the  guns ;  and  now  we  are  idle  with  our  guns,  as  the  white  men  have  no  fire-powder 

29 


30  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

or  balls  to  give  us^  and  we  have  broken  our  arrows  and  almost  forgotten  how  to  nse 
them.  The  white  men  are  very  bad  and  have  deceived  us/  But  I  spoke  to  them  and 
I  said^  'You  are  fools ;  you  have  no  patience.  The  white  men's  big  canoes  are  a  long 
time  coming  over  the  great  lake  that  divides  their  country  from  ours.  They  told  me 
on  going  away  that  they  would  come  back,  and  I  know  they  would  not  tell  lies.'  " 

Turning,  then,  to  the  assembled  Indians,  he  continued:  "Did  I  not  tell  you  that 
the  white  men  would  not  tell  lies  ?  You  are  fools,  great  fools,  and  have  no  patience. 
Let  us  now  show  our  joy  at  meeting  our  friends;  and  tomorrow  let  all  our  hunters 
go  into  the  plains,  and  upon  the  hills,  and  kill  birds  and  deer  for  the  good  white 
men." 

The  red  hunters  kept  their  promise,  and  for  several  weeks  following  the  tables 
at  Spokane  House  were  plentifully  supplied  with  grouse,  wild  geese  and  ducks. 

These  were  halcyon  times  for  the  Spokanes.  The  fur  traders  had  brought  them 
many  of  the  good  things  of  civilization,  and  as  yet  few  of  its  curses.  By  a  compact, 
faithfully  kept,  between  the  rival  establishments,  intoxicants  were  withheld  from 
these  children  of  the  forests  and  the  plains ;  the  white  man  had  not  yet  appropriated 
their  lands,  nor  driven  the  edible  game  from  the  country.  They  had  brought  more 
comfortable  raiment,  beautiful  ornaments  of  glass  and  brass,  knives,  axes  and 
hatchets,  the  luxury  of  tobacco  and  many  good  things  to  eat.  A  market  had  been 
made  for  the  Indians'  furs,  and  with  the  goods  exchanged  for  these  peltries,  the 
Spokanes  bought  buffalo  robes  from  the  tribes  to  the  east,  and  many  horses  from 
their  neighbors,  the  Nez  Perces.  From  comparative  poverty  they  had  been  lifted 
into  prosperity.  Small  wonder  then,  that  they  idolized  these  "good  white  men," 
and  dwelt  with  them  in  love  and  friendship.  And  small  wonder  too,  that  in  after 
years,  when  the  old  men  recalled  the  happy,  prosperous  years  before  General  Wright 
swept  into  their  country  with  "hoof  and  with  steel"  and  destroyed  their  great  bands 
of  horses  and  burned  their  granaries  and  storehouses,  "the  tears  ran  down  their 
cheeks  like  rain." 

One  of  the  odd  characters  at  Spokane  House  was  McDonald,  a  tall,  red-headed 
Scot  from  the  Highlands.  Until  a  youth  he  had  heard  no  other  tongue  than  Gaelic, 
but  the  educational  advantages  of  Glasgow  had  given  him,  at  one  time,  a  pretty 
good  knowledge  of  pure  English.  Then  he  drifted  across  the  water  to  Canada, 
and  added  French  to  his  vocabulary.  Years  of  experience  on  the  frontier  had 
taught  him  several  Indian  dialects,  and  now  at  Spokane  House  he  had  fallen  into  a 
habit  of  mixing  his  thoughts  "in  a  most  strange  and  ludicrous  melange."  When 
angry  he  would  swear  in  half  a  dozen  tongues  at  once.  His  great  height  of  six  feet 
four,  broad  shoulders,  bushy  whiskers,  and  long  red  locks  that  had  not  felt  the 
scissors  for  years,  gave  him  a  wild  and  uncouth  appearance,  though  he  was  at  heart 
good-natured  and  inoffensive,  easily  thrown  into  a  passion  and  as  easily  mollified. 
He  had  acquired  a  Spokane  wife  and  two  children,  and  passed  most  of  his  time 
among  his  wife's  relatives,  by  whom  and  by  the  Indians-  generally  he  was  respected 
and  beloved. 

One  day,  just  as  the  men  were  sitting  down  to  dinner,  a  workman,  followed  by 
a  native,  burst  into  the  dining  room  and  urged  the  company  to  hasten  to  the  village 
and  prevent  bloodshed,  as  McDonald  was  about  to  fight  a  duel  with  one  of  the 
chiefs.     They  ran  to  the  Indian  encampment,  where  McDonald  was  found,  shifting 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  31 

a  shotgun  from  one  hand  to  the  other,  while  he  urged  the  chief  to  come  on  and  fight. 

"You  rascal,  you  dog,  you  toad!"  he  shouted;  "will  you  fight?" 

"I  will,"  the  chief  replied  in  temperate  tones,  "but  you're  a  foolish  man.  A 
chief  should  not  be  passionate.     I  always  thought  the  white  chiefs  were  men." 

"I  want  none  of  your  jaw.  1  say  you  cheated  me.  You're  a  dog!  Will  you 
fight?" 

"You  are  not  wise,"  answered  the  chief.  "You  get  angry  like  a  woman;  but  I 
will  fight.     Let  us  go  to  the  woods.    Are  you  ready?" 

"Why,  you  d — d  rascal,"  retorted  McDonald,  "what  do  you  mean?  I'll  fight  you 
here.  Take  your  distance  like  a  brave  man,  face  tp  face,  and  we'll  draw  lots  for  the 
first  shot,  or  fire  together,  whichever  you  please." 

"You  are  a  greater  fool  than  I  thought  you  were,"  remarked  the  placid  Indian; 
"whoever  heard  of  a  wise  warrior  standing  before  his  enemy's  gun  to  be  shot  at  like 
a  dog.     No  one  but  a  fool  of  a  white  man  would  do  that." 

"What  do  you  mean  ?"  asked  McDonald ;  "what  way  do  you  want  to  fight  ?" 

"The  way  that  all  red  warriors  fight:  Let  us  take  our  guns  and  go  into  the 
woods;  you  get  behind  one  tree,  and  I  will  stand  behind  another,  and  then  we  shall 
see  who  will  shoot  the  other  first." 

"You  are  afraid,  and  you  are  a  coward." 

"I'm  not  afraid,  and  you  are  a  fool." 

"Come  on  then ;  d — n  my  eyes  if  I  care !     Here's  at  you  your  own  way." 

They  were  starting  for  the  trees  when  the  men  interfered,  had  the  combatants 
disarmed,  and  induced  the  wild  Scot  to  return  to  the  fort. 

For  sheer  love  of  fighting  McDonald  occasionally  joined  the  Flatheads  in  their 
warlike  excursions  into  the  country  of  the  Blackfeet,  on  the  eastern  slopes  of  the 
Rocky  mountains.  The  following  anecdote,  which  was  related  to  Cox,  by  several 
Indians,  will  show  his  steady  courage  and  reckless  disregard  of  danger: 

In  the  summer  of  1812,  at  the  buffalo  plains,  they  fell  in  with  a  strong  party  of 
Blackfeet,  and  a  severe  contest  followed.  McDonald  was  to  be  seen  in  every  direc- 
tion, in  the  hottest  of  the  fire^  cheering  and  animating  his  friends;  and  they  at 
length  succeeded  in  driving  the  Blackfeet  to  take  shelter  in  a  thick  cluster  of  trees, 
from  whence  they  kept  up  a  constant  and  galling  fire  on  the  Flatheads,  by  which  a 
few  were  killed  and  several  wounded.  In  vain  he  exerted  all  his  influence  to  induce 
his  friends  to  storm  the  trees  €ind  drive  the  enemy  from  his  cover.  The  Flathead 
mode  of  attack  was  extremely  foolish,  and  productive  of  no  benefit ;  for  each  warrior 
advanced  opposite  the  spot  from  which  the  Blackfeet  fired,  and  after  exchanging  a 
random  shot  into  the  trees,  instantly  galloped  away. 

McDonald,  vexed  at  this  puerile  method  of  fighting,  offered  to  take  the  lead 
himself  to  dislodge  the  enemy ;  but,  with  the  exception  of  the  war  chief,  they  all  re- 
fused to  join  him.  He  therefore  resolved  to  try  the  effect  of  example,  and  putting 
his  horse  into  a  smart  trot,  rode  opposite  the  place  from  whence  the  chief  fire  of  the 
Blackfeet  proceeded.  He  then  dismounted,  took  deliberate  aim  at  the  head  of  a 
fellow  which  had  just  popped  from  behind  a  tree,  and  fired.  The  bullet  entered  the 
Blackfoot's  mouth  and  he  fell.  A  shower  of  balls  instantly  whizzed  about  McDon- 
ald and  his  horse;  but  he,  undismayed,  reloaded,  while  his  friends  besought  him  to 
retire.  He  covered  another  in  the  same  manner,  who  also  fell,  after  which  he  calmly 
remounted  and  galloped  to  his  party  uninjured.     A  prisoner  who  was  subsequently 


32  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

taken  said  that  the  only  two  killed  who  had  taken  refuge  among  the  trees^  were  both 
shot  in  the  head  by  the  "big  white  chief/'  as  they  term^  McDonald. 

A  few  years  later  McDonald  suffered  wounds  in  one  of  these  forays  against  the 
Blackfeet  from  which  he  never  quite  recovered.  A  bullet  brou^t  him  down^  when 
half  a  dozen  savages  rushed  upon  him  and  began  hacking  his  skull  with  their  toma- 
hawks. The  scalping-knife  was  out^  and  poor  McDonald  would  soon  have  been  dis- 
patched had  not  the  war  chief  and  several  others  of  the  Flatheads  rushed  to  his  re- 
lief^ and^  after  killing  three  of  the  Blackf^et^  rescued  their  courageous  ally. 

In  the  winter  of  1814-15  occurred  an  incident  which  threatened^  for  a  while,  to 
impair  the  friendly  relations  between  the  traders  and  the  Spokanes.  'One  of  the 
junior  clerks^  grown  weary  of  the  single  state,  resolved  to  seek  an  Indian  wife,  and 
engaged  the  interpreter  to  make  inquiries  in  the  village  regarding  the  eligible  list  of 
unmarried  women.  A  comely  damsel,  17  years  of  age,  listened  approvingly  to  the  in- 
terpreter's overtures,  and  the  negotiations  were  successfully  taken  up  with  her 
mother  and  brothers,  her  father  having  died  a  few  years  previously.  Blankets  and 
kettles  were  presented  to  her  principal  relatives,  and  beads,  hawkbells  and  other 
trifles  dear  to  the  Indian  heart  were  distributed  among  the  other  members  of  the 
community. 

Then  followed  the  delivery  of  the  bride  to  her  future  lord  and  master  of  the 
paleface  race.  Her  mother  brought  her  to  the  gate  of  the  fort  about  9  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  and  after  an  apathetic  and  matter-of-fact  parting,  the  young  damsel 
was  delivered  to  one  of  the  men's  wives,  called  "the  scourer,"  who  thoroughly  cleansed 
her  head  and  body  of  the  paint  and  grease  with  which  she  had  been  decorated  ac- 
cording to  the  savage  idea  of  personal  adornment.  After  these  ablutions,  she  was 
passed  along  to  the  dressmaker,  who  cast  aside  her  leathern  chemise  and  decked 
her  out  in  softer  raiment  of  civilization.  "And  the  following  morning,  when  she 
appeared  in  her  new  habiliments,"  runs  the  chronicle,  "we  thought  her  one  of  the 
most  engaging  females  that  we  had  previously  seen  of  the  Spokane  nation." 

For  several  days  everything  went  merry  as  a  marriage  bell,  and  the  young 
couple  seemed  devotedly  attached  to  each  other;  but  one  afternoon  the  occupants  of 
the  fort  were  alarmed  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  a  number  of  well  mounted  young 
warriors,  who  galloped  into  the  courtyard  of  the  fort,  armed  'and  apparently  bent 
on  serious  business.  The  young  bride,  when  her  eye  fell  on  the  foremost  horseman, 
scented  trouble  and  promptly  fled  for  refuge  into  the  storeroom,  where  she  con- 
cealed herself. 

Dismounting,  the  leader  of  the  band  demanded  a  council  with  the  principal 
white  chief,  requesting,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  other  chiefs  would  also  appear 
and  listen  to  his  complaint.  These  having  assembled,  he  addressed  them,  in  sub- 
stance as  follows: 

"Three  snows  have  passed  away  since  the  white  men  came  from  their  own 
country  to  live  among  the  Spokanes.  When  the  Evil  Spirit  thought  proper  to  dis- 
tress the  white  people  by  covering  the  water  of  the  rivers  with  ice,  so  that  they  could 
not  'catch  any  fish,  and  sent  snow  over  all  the  mountains  and  plains,  by  means 
whereof  their  horses  were  nearly  destroyed  by  wolves, — when  their  own  hunters,  in 
fact,  could  not  find  an  animal,  did  the  Spokanes  take  advantage  of  their  afflictions? 
Did  they  rob  them  of  their  horses  like  Sinapoil  (San  Poll)  dogs?  Did  they  say, 
the  white  men  are  now  poor  and  starving;  they  are  a  great  distance  from  their  own 


MARCUS   WHITMAN'S  GRAVE 
Near  Walla   Wslla 
Sketche.l  by  artist  with  Governor  Stevens 


SITE  OP  THE  ASTOR  TRADING  POST,  ESTABLISHED   IN  1811 


OLD    FOHT    WALLA    WALLA  OLD    FORT    OKANOGAN 

On   the   CotjiiDbift  Founded   in    1811    bj   John   Jaeob   Aator. 

Sketched   in   the    'SOs   by  Governor 
Stevens'   Expedition 


THE  N£W  Vohx 

l^UHUC  UBHAHy 


' -  -    » 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  33 

coontiy  and  from  any  assistance^  and  we  can  easily  take  all  their  goods  from  them^ 
and  send  them  away  naked  and  hungry?  No^  we  never  spoke  or  even  thought  of 
such  bad  things.  The  white  men  came  cunong  us  with  confidence^  and  our  hearts 
were  glad  to  see  them;  they  paid  us  for  our  fish^  our  meat  and  our  furs.  We 
thought  they  were  all  good  people^  and  in  particular  their  chiefs ;  but  I  find  we  were 
wrong  in  so  thinking." 

Here  the  native  orator  paused  for  a  moment^  and  then^  resuming^  added:  "My 
relations  and  myself  left  the  village  several  days  ago  for  the  purpose  of  hunting. 
We  returned  home  this  morning.  Their  wives  and  their  children  leaped  with  joy 
to  meet  them^  and  all  their  hearts  were  glad  but  mine.  I  went  to  my  tepee  and  called 
on  my  wife  to  come  forth;  but  she  did  not  appear.  I  was  sorrowful  and  hungry^ 
and  went  into  my  brother's  tepee^  where  I  was  told  that  she  had  gone  away  and 
had  become  the  wife  of  a  white  chief.  She  is  now  in  your  house.  I  come^  therefore^ 
white  men^  to  demand  justice.  I  first  require  that  my  wife  be  delivered  up  to  me. 
She  has  acted  like  a  dog^  and  I  shall  live  no  more  with  her ;  but  I  shall  punish  her  as 
she  deserves.  And  in  the  next  place  I  expect^  as  you  have  been  the  cause  of  my 
losing  her^  that  you  will  give  ample  compensation  for  her  loss." 

The  interpreter  was  directed  to  explain  that  the  grievance  of  the  injured  hus- 
band lay  against  the  relatives  of  the  woman^  and  not  against  the  white  people;  that 
if  the  young  chief  had  been  aware  that  she  was  married  he  would  not  have  coveted 
her  or  taken  her  to  his  lodge ;  that  he  was  willing  to  give  her  former  lord  reasonable 
compensation  for  his  loss^  but  he  could  not  deliver  her  to  him  to  be  punished^  and 
would  not  surrender  her  unless  the  husband  would  agree  not  to  hurt  her. 

The  angry  and  jealous  Indian  refused  to  make  any  promise^  and  insisted  on 
the  woman's  restitution^  but  as  the  traders  had  reason  to  fear  that  her  life  would  be 
Uken,  they  refused  to  yield. 

The  old  chief  next  addressed  the  young  Indian^  and  his  persuasions  induced 
him  to  relinquish  his  claim  on  the  young  squaw^  in  consideration  of  a  gun,  100 
rotrnds  of  ammunition^  three  blankets,  two  kettles,  a  spear,  a  dagger,  ten  fathoms  of 
tobacco  and  a  quantity  of  smaller  articles.  In  return  for  all  this  wealth,  he  bound 
himself  never  to  injure  the  girl  or  annoy  her  or  her  new  husband. 

Notwithstanding  these  demands  were  considered  exorbitant,  the  traders  thought 
it  wise  to  acQ^e  to  them  rather  than  disturb  the  friendly  relations  which  had 
hitherto  existed  between  them  and  the  Spokanes. 

After  the  Indian  had  been  put  in  possession  of  his  reward,  the  pipe  of  peace  was 
ademnly  smoked,  perceiving  which  the  object  of  all  the  controversy,  knowing  that 
it  signified  her  safety,  came  out  from  her  place  of  concealment  and  walked  boldly 
by  her  former  lord.  No  sign  of  recognition  passed  between  them,  "and  neither 
anger  nor  regret  seemed  to  disturb  the  natural  serenity  of  his  cold  and  swarthy 
coontenance." 

The  interpreter  here  mentioned  was  none  other  than  Pierre  Michel,  son  of  a 
reputable  Canadian  by  an  Indian  mother,  and  a  fine  fellow  withal.  He  was  held  in 
hig^  esteem  by  the  Flatheads,  and  like  the  big,  red-headed  McDonald,  had  accom- 
panied this  tribe  on  two  of  their  war  excursions  against  the  Blackfeet,  where  he  had 
won  great  fame  by  his  courage  and  marksmanship.  Many  a  trader  and  voyageur  had 
aspired  to  an  alliance  matrimonial  with  these  superior  natives,  but  in  every  instance, 
with  the  sole  exception  of  young  Michel,  their  overtures  had  been  rejected.     Cox, 

ViLI-t 


34  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

who  passed  the  greater  part  of  one  winter  among  the  Flatheads,  thus  describes  the 
success  of  the  interpreter: 

"Michel  wanted  a  wife,  and  having  gained  the  affections  of  a  handsome  girl 
about  16  years  of  age,  and  niece  to  the  hereditary  chieftain,  he  made  a  formal  pro- 
posal for  her.  A  council  was  thereupon  called,  at  which  her  uncle  presided,  to  take 
Michel's  offer  into  consideration.  One  young  warrior  loved  her  ardently,  and  had 
obtained  a  previous  promise  from  her  mother  that  she  should  be  his.  He,  therefore, 
with  all  his  relations,  strongly  opposed  her  union  with  Pierre,  and  urged  his  own 
claims,  which  had  been  sanctioned  by  her  mother.  The  war-chief  asked  him  if  she 
had  ever  promised  to  become  his  wife.     He  replied  in  the  negative. 

"The  chief  then  addressed  the  council,  and  particularly  the  lover,  in  favor  of 
Michel's  suit,  pointing  out  the  great  services  he  had  rendered  the  tribe  by  his  bra- 
very, and  dwelling  strongly  on  the  policy  of  uniting  him  more  firmly  to  their  interests 
by  assenting  to  the  proposed  marriage,  which,  he  said,  would  forever  make  him  as 
one  of  their  brothers.  His  influence  predominated,  and  the  unsuccessful  rival  imme- 
diately after  shook  hands  with  Michel,  and  told  the  young  woman  as  he  could  not  be 
her  husband,  he  hoped  she  would  always  regard  him  as  her  brother.  This  she  readily 
promised  to  do,  and  so  ended  all  opposition. 

"The  happy  Pierre  presented  a  gun  to  her  uncle,  some  cloth,  calico  and  orna- 
ments to  her  female  relatives,  with  a  pistol  and  handsome  dagger  to  the  defeated 
suitor.  He  proceeded  in  the  evening  to  the  chief's  lodge,  where  a  number  of  her 
friends  had  assembled  to  smoke.  Here  she  received  a  lecture  from  the  old  man, 
her  mother  and  a  few  other  ancients  on  her  duty  as  a  wife  and  mother.  They 
strongly  exhorted  her  to  be  chaste,  obedient,  industrious  and  silent;  and  when 
absent  with  her  husband  among  other  tribes,  always  to  stay  at  home  and  have  no 
intercourse  with  strange  Indians. 

"She  then  retired  with  the  old  women  to  an  adjoining  hut,  where  she  underwent 
an  ablution,  and  bade  adieu  to  her  leathern  chemise,  the  place  of  which  was  supplied 
with  one  of  gingham,  to  which  was  added  a  calico  and  green  cloth  petticoat,  and  a 
gown  of  blue  cloth. 

"After  this  was  over  she  was  conducted  back  to  her  uncle's  lodge,  when  she  re- 
ceived some  further  advice  as  to  her  future  conduct.  A  procession  was  then  formed 
by  the  two  chiefs,  and  several  warriors  carrying  blazing  flambeau)i|  to  convey  the 
bride  and  her  husband  to  the  fort.  They  began  singing  war-songs  in  praise  of 
Michel's  bravery,  and  of  their  triumphs  over  the  Blackfeet.  She  was  surrounded 
by  a  group  of  young  and  old  women,  some  of  whom  were  rejoicing  and  others  crying. 
The  men  moved  on  first,  in  a  slow,  solemn  pace,  still  chanting  their  warlike  epi- 
thalamium.  The  women  followed  at  a  short  distance;  and  when  the  whole  party 
arrived  in  front  of  the  fort,  they  formed  a  circle  and  commenced  dancing  and 
singing,  which  they  kept  up  about  twenty  minutes. 

"After  this  the  calumet  of  peace  went  round  once  more,  and  when  the  smoke  of 
the  last  whiff  had  disappeared,  Michel  shook  hands  with  his  late  rival,  embraced 
the  chiefs,  and  conducted  his  bride  to  his  room.  While  I  remained  in  the  country 
they  lived  happily  together." 

Other  Indian  women  of  the  Spokane  country  were  not  so  fastidious  as  the  Flat- 
head girls  about  taking  up  domestic  relations  with  the  white  men.  Many  of  them 
were   eager   for   such   an   alliance,  considering  that   it   elevated   them   above    their 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  35 

sisters  and  assured  them  a  life  of  less  drudgery  and  slavish  obedience  to  lord  and 
master.  Many  a  clerk^  xwyageur  and  even  partner  was  pleased  to  take  an  Indian 
woman  to  his  bosom^  and  a  gay  life  of  extravagance  some  of  these  Indian  wives 
led,  to  the  everlasting  impoverishment  of  their  white  consorts. 

The  first  attempt  at  cultivation  of  the  soil  at  Spokane  House  was  made  in  the 
spring  of  1818,  when  turnips,  potatoes,  cabbage  and  other  vegetables  were  planted 
and  returned  a  good  crop.  The  quantity  was  increased  the  following  spring,  and  by 
the  autumn  of  1814  the  post  boasted  of  an  abundance  of  the  good  things  of  the 
garden.  .  That  year,  also,  the  brigade  from  Astoria  brought  up  a  cock,  three  hens, 
three  goats  and  three  hogs,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  the  Indians,  who  called  the 
poultry  the  white  men's  grouse,  the  goats  the  white  men's  deer,  and  the  hogs  the  white 
men's  bear.  They  inquired  if  all  such  animals  were  tame  in  the  white  men's  country, 
and  when  answered  in  the  affirmative,  asked,  if  they  should  catch  some  wild  animals 
in  this  country,  could  the  white  men  domesticate  them.  They  were  told  to  make  the 
effort,  and  the  traders  would  see  what  could  be  done,  whereupon  they  brought  in  a 
young  bear,  which  was  tied  in  the  sty  with  the  hogs  and  cared  for  by  one  of  the  Can- 
adians, who  taught  him  to  dance,  beg  and  play  many  tricks,  much  to  the  delight  and 
entertainment  of  the  Indians. 

In  their  trading  expeditions  the  men  from  Spokane  House  roved  widely  over  the 
vast  interior,  and  some  of  their  expeditions  took  them  to  the  Kettle  Falls  of  the  Co- 
lombia, about  90  miles  north  of  Spokane.  As  the  basin  at  the  foot  of  the  falls  there 
resembled  a  boiling  caldron,  the  French  gave  It  the  designation  "La  Chaudiere"  and 
the  Indians  living  in  a  nearby  village,  "Les  Chaudieres,"  It  was  remarked  that 
"cleanliness  could  not  be  ranked  among  their  virtues ;  their  habitations  are  filthy  in 
the  extreme,  and  the  surrounding  atmosphere  is  impregnated  with  the  most  noxious 
efliuvia,  produced  by  the  piscatory  offals  which  lie  scattered  about  their  dwellings." 

About  midway  between  Kettle  Falls  and  Spokane  House  was  found  a  small  tribe 
of  some  fifteen  families,  speaking  a  mixed  dialect  akin  to  both  the  Kettle  Indians 
and  the  Spokanes,  but  more  closely  approaching  the  Spokane  tongue.  They  were 
inoffensive  and  received  the  white  men  with  marked  demonstrations  of  friendship. 
The  chief  of  this  tribe  was  described  as  an  extraordinary  being,  the  Indians  alleging 
that  he  belonged  to  the  epicene  gender.  He  wore  a  woman's  dress,  garnished  with 
beads,  thimbles  and  small  shells,  and  dressed  his  hair  after  the  feminine  fashion, 
but  possessed  a  rough  beard  and  masculine  voice.  The  visitors  were  informed  that 
be  never  gambled  or  associated  with  either  sex,  and  by  both  men  and  women  was 
regarded  with  fear  and  awe,  who  looked  upon  him  as  a  being  supernatural.  He  was 
usually  attended  by  two  or  three  children,  to  whom  he  paid  great  attention,  and  it 
was  their  chief  occupation  to  catch  his  horses,  of  which  he  possessed  a  great  number, 
collect  provisions,  make  fires  and  cook  his  meals.  When  these  wards  attained  a  suit- 
able age,  he  gave  them  a  portion,  secured  their  marriage  and  dismissed  them,  after 
which  he  selected  from  the  largest  and  poorest  families  the  needed  number  of  new 
recruits^  the  parents  offering  no  opposition  and  apparently  being  glad  to  have  them 
so  well  placed. 

From  this  strange  chief  the  visitors  purchased  a  number  of  horses,  and  found  him 
liberal  and  candid  in  his  dealings.  He  entertained  a  profound  scorn  for  falsehood, 
and  if  one  of  his  wards  was  detected  in  a  lie,  the  chief  promptly  dismissed  him  from 
his  service,  and  under  no  consideration  would  he  ever  take  back  the  delinquent. 


86  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

This  chief  seldom  visited  Spokane  Honse^  but  when  called  upon  by  the  traders 
there,  he  exhibited  a  courteous  hospitality  which,  they  declared,  was  superior  to 
anything  they  had  ever  met  elsewhere. 

"He  was  communicatiye  and  inquisitiye  and  ridiculed  the  follies  of  the  Indians 
in  the  most  philosophical  manner.  Of  these  he  inveighed  principally  against  gam- 
bling, and  their  improvident  thoughtlessness  in  neglecting  to  provide,  during  the 
summer  and  autumnal  months,  a  sufficient  quantity  of  dried  salmon  for  the  spring, 
which  is  the  season  of  scarcity,  by  which  neglect  they  have  been  frequently  reduced 
to  starvation.  He  had  heard  of  McDonald's  quarrel  with  the  Indian,  which  he 
adduced  as  one  of  the  bad  effects  of  gambling  and  added,  'Had  the  Spokane  been 
foolish  enough  to  follow  the  foolish  custom  of  your  countrymen,  it  is  probable  one 
of  you  would  have  been  killed  about  a  foolish  dispute  arising  out  of  a  bad  practice 
which  every  wise  man  should  avoid.'  " 

This  strange  but  wise  personage  inquired  minutely  about  the  laws  and  customs 
of  the  white  people,  their  form  of  government,  marriages  and  ideas  of  a  future  state, 
and  approved  most  of  them  as  they  were  explained  to  him;  but  he  could  not  recon- 
cile his  judgment  with  the  British  law  of  primogeniture  and  the  custom  of  dueling. 
The  first  he  pronounced  gross  injustice,  according  there  with  the  American  idea, 
and  as  for  the  code,  he  thought  no  one  but  a  man  bereft  of  his  sense  would  resort 
to  a  duel  in  settlement  of  real  or  fancied  wrongs,  an  opinion  which  has  since  come 
to  be  generally  shared  by  civilised  nations. 

This  stcange  being  was  a  person  of  unusual  thrift  and  prevision.  His  lodge 
was  completely  covered  with  deerskins,  and  was  quite  waterproof;  and  the  interior 
was  neat  and  orderly,  the  floor  spread  over  with  clean  mats.  In  one  comer  were 
stored  his  provisions,  carefully  preserved  in  leather  and  mat  bags,  and  these  he 
shared  with  a  generous  hand  in  periods  of  scarcity  and  destitution.  "In  fact  he 
wanted  nothing  that  could  add  to  his  happiness  or  comfort,"  remarked  an  observer, 
"and  possessed  a  degree  of  calm  contentment  uncommon  among  savages,  and  which 
would  put  to  the  blush  much  of  the  philosophical  wisdom  of  civilized  man." 

We  are  given  to  a  belief  that  the  Spokane  country  is  a  new  land,  whose  history 
and  development  were  not  brought  in  touch  with  civilization  until  a  generation  ago; 
and  while  this  conception  is  in  a  measure  true,  it  nevertheless  is  equally  true  that 
a  hundred  years  ago,  men  who  had  shared  in  ancient  wars — ^in  France,  in  Scotland, 
in  Canada  and  the  American  colonies — ^were  here  in  commerce  and  adventure,  and 
looked  out  upon  the  valleys,  the  mountains  and  the  waters  that  form  our  pleasing 
prospect  of  today. 

Of  these  was  Jacques  Hoole,  who,  at  the  advanced  age  of  90,  was  still  active 
as  a  "free  trader"  in  the  regions  around  Spokane  House,  and  bartered  here  the 
furs  taken  by  his  skill,  industry  and  prowess.  He  was  a  native  of  France,  and 
when  a  youth  served  in  the  French  army.  He  fought  on  the  fatal  field  of  Culloden, 
nearly  170  years  ago,  and  was  there  wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  After  an  ex- 
change of  prisoners  he  was  sent  to  Canada,  was  present  when  the  noble  Wolfe 
suffered  his  death  wound  on  the  plains  of  Abraham,  and  helped  to  carry  the  Mar- 
quis de  Montcalm  into  Quebec  after  he  had  received  his  death  wound. 

Upon  the  conquest  of  Canada  by  the  British,  Jacques  retired  from  the  French 
army,  married  and  took  to  farming;  but  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  of  the  revo- 
lution, he  left  the  plough  and  enlisted  with  the  British  arms,  and  from  a  wound 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  37 

suffered  at  that  period  he  carried  in  his  old  age  a  slight  lameness  that  was  percep- 
tible in  his  long  tramps  by  these  western  woods  and  waters. 

After  the  revolution^  troubles  fell  thick  on  the  head  of  the  old  veteran.  The 
patriot  forces  had  destroyed  his  farm^  his  children  were  disobedient  and  his  wife 
faithless^  and  he  sought  surcease  from  his  sorrows  in  the  wild  life  of  a  free  trapper 
in  the  remote  northwest.  Even  to  the  hour  of  his  tragic  death  he  retained  much  of 
the  elasticity  and  all  of  the  sprightly  temperament  of  his  youth  and  the  character- 
istic volatility  of  the  French.  By  the  Canadians  he  was  held  in  high  respect^  and 
their  daily  salutation  of  "Bon  jour,  pere,"  was  always  acknowledged  by  a  bow  and 
a  responding  "Merci,  merci,  mon  fils."  ("Good  mornings  father;"  "Thanks,  thanks, 
my  son/') 

While  trapping  beaver,  in  a  wild  and  sequestered  valley  on  the  western  slopes 
of  the  Rocky  mountains,  he  was  surprised  and  slain  by  a  predatory  band  of  Black- 
feet.  His  body  was  found  by  some  friendly  Flatheads,  close  by  a  beaver-dam. 
They  had  fired  a  bullet  through  his  head,  and  in  accordance  with  their  inhuman 
custom  had  torn  the  few  remaining  white  hairs  away  with  the  scalp.  His  clothes 
were  left  upon  him,  but  his  horses,  traps  and  arms  had  been  appropriated  by  his 
slayers. 


CHAPTER  V 

TRAVEL  BETWEEN  SPOKANE  AND  ASTORIA 

NAVIGATING    THE     COLUMBIA    A     CENTURY    AGO FRENCH     AND    IROQUOIS    VOYAGEURS 

RANGING  OVER  THE  VAST  INTERIOR MELONS  AND  CUCUMBERS  GROWN  AT  SPOKANE 

THE    GRAND    COULEE INDIAN    METHOD   OF    HUNTING    DEER HORSE-RACING    IN    SPO- 
KANE    VALLEY DELIGHTFUL    TIMES     IN      1815 ICE-BOUND     ON     THE     COLUMBIA 

SHOCKING    TRAGEDY     ON    THE    UPPER    RIVER VICTIMS    RESORT    TO     CANNIBALISM 

NORTHWEST    COMPANY    ABSORBED    BY    ITS   HUDSON^S    BAY   RIVAL. 

IN  TRANSPORTING  supplies  from  Astoria  to  Spokane,  or  furs  from  this  post 
to  the  lower  Columbia,  the  brigades  resorted  in  part  to  navigation  and  in  part 
to  pack-trains,  the  sharp  and  foaming  descent  of  the  Spokane  river  between  the 
trading  post  and  the  Columbia  making  impossible  the  use  of  canoes  and  bateaux  at 
this  end  of  the  voyage. 

A  more  inspiring  sight  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  than  the  passing,  on  some 
bright  day  of  summer,  of  one  of  these  brigades  as  it  was  swept  swiftly  along  by 
the  mighty  current  of  the  Columbia.  One  of  the  larger  canoes  or  bateaux  would 
be  manned  by  a  crew  of  eight  or  even  a  dozen  motley  voyageurs.  These,  with  the 
Astor  company  and  the  Northwesters,  were  usually  French  Canadians,  half  breeds 
or  Iroquois  Indians ;  but  with  the  later  coming  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  and 
its  absorption  of  the  Northwest,  a  number  of  Orkney  island  men  were  brought  into 
the  country.  The  positions  which  called  for  the  greatest  skill  and  dexterity  were 
in  bow  and  stern,  and  these  men  were  known  respectively  as  foreman  and  steersman ; 
the  others  as  middlemen. 

The  French  Canadians  were  a  joyous,  kindly-hearted  lot,  and  it  was  a  particu- 
larly dark  and  depressing  day  when  their  spirits  flagged  or  the  rough  music  of  their 
boat  songs  (the  chansons  Vavirons)  were  not  heard  rolling  across  the  water  and 
echoing  back  from  cliff  and  mountain-side.  When  engaged  in  the  hard  service  of 
working  these  brigades  against  wind  and  current,  or  portaging  around  the  many 
obstructions  in  the  stream,  these  voyageurs  were  most  voracious  eaters.  Incredible 
statements  are  made  of  their  gastronomic  capacity;  their  daily  allowance,  it  is 
said,  weis  ten  pounds  of  meat  to  the  man,  or  eight  pounds  if  the  ration  were  free 
of  bone.  Allowance  should  be  made,  however,  for  the  fact  that  they  had  neither 
bread  nor  vegetables,  and  for  weeks  at  a  time  their  sole  subsistence  was  meat,  soup 
and  occasionally  tea. 

Some  of  the  expeditions  to  the  interior  would  proceed  in  mass  to  the  post  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Okanogan,  and  there  break  up  into  smaller  expeditions  to  Spokane 

39 


40  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

House,  to  the  Kettle  falls  of  the  Columbia,  or  perhaps  even  to  the  higher  reaches 
of  the  Columbia  bordering  on  the  Arrow  lakes;  and  once  a  year  a  brigade  worked 
its  way  beyond  the  Arrow  lakes  to  the  Canoe  river,  and  thence  over  the  Rodty 
mountains  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Athabasca,  down  which  stream  they  glided  on 
their  way  to  the  great  rendezvous  of  Fort  William. 

Occasionally  a  detachment  would  leave  the  main  body  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Columbia  and  the  Snake,  to  ascend  the  latter  stream  to  outposts  in  the  Clearwater 
regions. 

At  other  times  the  Spokane  brigade  would  leave  the  Columbia  forty  miles  above 
the  mouth  of  the  Snake,  transferring  the  canoe  lading  to  pack-train,  and  then  march 
across  the  great  plains  to  the  Spokane.  Reporting  one  of  these  expeditions,  Cox 
leaves  an  interesting  description  of  one  of  the  deep  coulees  of  the  Big  Bend  coun- 
try, obviously  Moses  or  Grand. 

"During  this  journey,  which  occupied  five  or  six  days,  we  did  not  meet  a  single 
native;  and  with  the  exception  of  a  few  stunted  red  cedar  trees,  and  some  juniper, 
birch  and  willow,  the  country  was  divested  of  wood.  Early  on  the  morning  of 
the  second  day  we  entered  a  remarkable  ravine,  with  high,  bold  and  rocky  sides, 
through  which  we  rode  upwards  of  twenty  miles,  when  we  were  obliged  to  leave  it 
in  order  to  follow  our  direct  course.  The  soil  in  this  ravine  is  a  fine,  whitish  col- 
ored clay,  firm  and  hard.  There  is  little  vegetation  except  on  the  sides,  where 
clusters  of  willow  and  choke-cherry  are  occasionally  met  with.  While  we  rode 
through  it  we  passed  several  small  lakes,  round  the  shores  of  which  I  picked  up 
some  very  fine  pebbles  of  the  agate  species,  exceedingly  hard  and  possessing  great 
delicacy  and  variety  of  shading.  The  banks  of  the  Columbia,  from  the  falls  up 
to  Lewis  river  (the  Snake)  abound  with  pebbles  of  the  same  description ;  some  of 
which  I  brought  home  and  had  cut.  They  take  a  beautiful  polish,  and  in  the  opin- 
ion of  lapidaries  far  exceed  the  camelian  in  value. 

"The  following  day  we  passed  two  warm  springs,  one  of  which  was  so  hot  that 
in  a  short  time  water  in  a  saucepan  might  be  easily  boiled  over  it.  They  were  both 
highly  sulphuric,  but  we  had  not  time,  nor  indeed  were  we  prepared  to  analyze 
their  properties. 

"On  leaving  the  canoes  we  expected  to  have  reached  Spokane  on  the  third  day; 
but  in  consequence  of  having  no  guide,  joined  to  the  difficulty  of  finding  water,  we 
took  double  the  time  on  which  we  had  calculated.  Our  provisions  had  failed,  and 
we  were  about  killing  one  of  our  jaded  horses,  when  we  came  in  sight  of  some  lean 
deer,  two  of  which  we  shot.  This  supply  brought  us  to  Spokane  House,  which 
place  we  reached  on  the  12th  of  May." 

Stewart,  McMillan,  Cox,  Mackenzie  and  Montour  passed  a  most  pleasant  sum- 
mer that  year,  1815,  at  Spokane  House.  Their  garden  throve  "like  a  green  bay 
tree,"  and  in  addition  to  potatoes  and  other  roots  and  esculents,  experiments  with 
melons  and  cucumbers  gave  gratifying  results.  "The  Indians,  who  at  first  would 
not  touch  any  thing  which  we  planted,  beg^n  at  length  to  have  such  a  relish  for  the 
produce  of  the  garden  that  we  were  obliged  to  have  sentinels  on  the  watch  to  pre- 
vent their  continual  trespasses." 

Much  as  the  natives  relished  these  products  of  the  deep,  rich  soil  of  the  Spokane 
country,  all  efforts  by  the  traders  to  induce  them  to  cultivate  gardens  of  their  own 
proved  ineffective.     When  they  were  told  that  by  these  means  they  could  insure 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  41 

an  abundance  of  food  in  winter  and  spring  and  thus  prevent  the  recurrence  of 
famine,  they  replied  that  such  work  would  interfere  with  their  hunting  and  fishing, 
and  moreover  would  discourage  their  squaws  from  collecting  wild  roots  and  fruits 
in  autumn,  and  render  them  lazy. 

Several  excursions  were  made  that  summer  for  the  purpose  of  becoming  better 
acquainted  with  the  neighboring  Indians  and  to  acquire  a  closer  knowledge  of  the 
country;  and,  spurred  by  a  lively  curiosity  to  know  more  about  the  deep  coulee, 
which  they  had  encountered  while  traveling  across  the  Big  Bend  region,  a  second 
trip  of  exploration  was  made  out  to  that  vast  fissure  in  the  crust  of  the  earth. 

"It  is  computed  to  be  about  eighty  miles  in  length,"  runs  the  report  of  that 
excursion,  "and  presents  all  along  the  same  rocky  and  precipitous  sides.  The  path- 
ways are  so  steep  and  dangerous  that  even  Indians  in  passing  them  are  obliged  to 
dismount,  and  loaded  horses  must  be  partly  lightened.  Some  of  the  horses,  by 
missing  their  footing,  have  been  killed,  and  many  severely  injured  in  descending 
these  precipices.  The  bottom  throughout  consists  of  the  same  firm,  white  soil, 
interspersed  with  small  lakes.  Several  bold  insulated  rocks  are  scattered  here  and 
there  throughout  the  ravine,  some  of  which  exceed  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  circum- 
ference and  are  partially  clothed  with  choke-cherry  and  other  inferior  kinds  of 
vegetation. 

"From  small  horizontal  channels  worn  on  the  sides  of  the  rocks,  and  which 
seemed  to  indicate  the  action  of  water^  we  were  led  to  imagine  that  this  valley  was 
formerly  one  of  the  channels  of  the  Columbia,  the  course  of  which  we  supposed 
must  have  been  changed  by  one  of  those  extraordinary  convulsions  in  the  natural 
world,  the  causes  of  which  are  beyond  human  knowledge." 

At  that  time  on  the  broad  plateau  between  the  Spokane  and  the  Okanogan, 
hunters  found,  at  certain  seasons,  numbers  of  small  deer.  Lewis  and  Clark  had 
noted  the  presence  of  these  animals  and  classed  them  as  antelopes,  which  they 
closely  resembled  in  form  and  swiftness,  but  the  fur  traders  questioned  the  correct- 
ness of  this  classification,  since  the  antlers  were  quite  different  from  the  horns  of 
the  antelope  as  described  by  naturalists.  They  were  found  in  prime  condition  by 
early  autumn,  when  excellent  sport  was  had  in  hunting  them,  and  their  flesh  was 
pronounced  sweet  and  delicate. 

In  hunting  these  deer  the  Indians  had  a  method  of  their  own.  After  a  herd  had 
been  located,  some  members  of  the  hunting  party,  by  making  a  long  detour,  ob- 
tained a  position  in  front  of  it,  while  those  in  the  rear  fired  the  dry  bunch  grass. 
Running  before  the  flaming  wind,  the  deer  were  intercepted  by  the  hunters,  and 
great  numbers  were  killed  with  arrows. 

The  wolves,  too,  according  to  the  traders,  had  a  concerted  plan  for  preying  on 
these  defenseless  creatures  of  the  plains.  It  was  declared  that  a  band  of  wolves 
woold  form  a  semi-circular  line  and  drive  a  herd  to  the  edge  of  the  Grand  coulee; 
and  then,  by  drawing  in  th^ir  fang^snapping  cordon,  would  so  completely  hem  in 
the  victims  as  to  leave  them  no  alternative  between  leaping  to  death  and  destruction 
over  the  rocky  cliffs  or  falling  an  easy  prey  to  the  ravenous  band  of  four-footed 
hunters. 

That  was  a  warm  summer  on  the  Spokane.  During  the  days  of  mid-summer  the 
temperature  ranged  from  eighty-four  to  ninety-six  degrees,  and  on  the  fifth  of  July, 
when  a  great  horse-race  was  the  attraction,  the  thermometer  recorded  11 1  in  the  sb&de. 


42  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Horse- racing  was  then  royal  sport  on  the  Spokane  gravel  plains,  before  baseball  had 
been  invented  or  league  teams  were  disporting  before  thousands  of  enthusiastic 
"fans." 

The  precise  location  of  the  race-course  is  lost  in  the  mists  of  antiquity,  but  it 
could  not  have  been  far  from  the  present  site  of  the  city.  Rk)ss  Cox  locates  it  "on 
the  plains  between  the  Coeur  d'Alene  and  Spokane  lands,"  and  in  addition  to 
speedy  horses  owned  by  these  tribes  other  racers  were  there  from  the  land  of  the 
Flatheads,  and  several  had  been  brought  down  from  the  Colville  country  by  the 
Chaudieres.  "There  were  some  capital  heats  and  the  betting  ran  high."  The 
horses  were  ridden  by  their  owners,  and  it  was  no  uncommon  sight  for  twenty-five 
or  thirty  to  run  in  a  straightaway  five  mile  heat.  "The  course  was  a  perfect  plain, 
with  a  light  gravelly  bottom,  and  some  of  the  rearward  jockies  were  occasionally 
severely  peppered  in  the  face  from  the  small  pebbles  thrown  up  by  the  hoofs  of  the 
racers  in  front." 

Franchere  informs  us  that  these  Indians  were  passionately  fond  of  horse-races, 
and  bet  their  possessions  with  a  recklessness  that  often  reduced  them  to  poverty. 
The  women  rode  as  well  as  the  men.  For  bridle  they  used  a  cord  of  horsehair,  which 
they  attached  around  the  animal's  mouth.  With  that  he  was  easily  checked,  and  by 
laying  a  hand  on  his  neck,  was  made  to  wheel  to  this  side  or  that.  The  saddle  was 
a  cushion  of  stuffed  deerskin,  very  suitable  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  de- 
signed, rarely  hurting  the  horse  and  not  fatiguing  the  rider  so  much  as  the  Amer- 
ican saddles.  The  saddles  for  women  were  furnished  with  the  antlers  of  a  deer, 
and  resembled  the  high  pommeled  saddles  of  the  Mexican  women. 

"They  procure  their  horses  from  the  herds  of  these  animals  which  are  found  in 
a  wild  state  between  the  northern  latitudes  and  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  and  which  some 
times  count  a  thousand  or  fifteen  hundred  in  a  troop,"  says  this  informant.  "These 
horses  come  from  New  Mexico  and  are  of  Spanish  race.  We  even  saw  some  which 
had  been  marked  by  a  hot  iron  by  Spaniards.  Some  of  our  men,  who  had  been  at 
the  south,  told  me  that  they  had  seen  among  the  Indians,  bridles,  the  bits  of  which 
were  of  silver.  The  form  of  the  saddles  used  by  the  females  proves  that  they  have 
taken  their  pattern  from  the  Spanish  ones  destined  for  the  same  use." 

When  the  first  white  men  entered  this  country  they  found  the  Indians  adept  in 
the  use  of  the  lasso  and  the  capturing  of  wild  horses. 

Those  were,  indeed,  pleasant,  languorous  summer  days  in  the  valley  of  the 
Spokane,  "the  most  pleasant  and  agreeable  season  I  enjoyed  in  the  Indian  country," 
writes  Cox.  "Hunting,  fishing,  fowling,  horse-racing  and  fruit-gathering  occupied 
the  day ;  while  reading,  music,  backgammon,  etc.,  formed  the  evening  pleasures  of 
our  small  but  friendly  mess." 

We  are  further  informed  that  the  heat  of  the  day  was  generally  moderated  by 
cooling  breezes.  "Towards  the  latter  end  of  August,  and  during  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember, about  noon,  the  thermometer  generally  stood  at  eighty-six,  while  in  the 
morning  and  evening  it  fell  to  thirty-five  or  thirty-six ;"  a  weather  record  that  might 
easily  be  duplicated  now  by  one  of  the  official  reports  of  Weather  Observer  Stewart. 

I-,amentably  these  transitory  delights  could  not  continue  indefinitely  in  the  rough 
life  of  a  fur  trader.  Winter  was  approaching,  a  winter  of  deep  discontent  and  dire 
hardships  and  privations  by  frozen  river  and  wind-swept  plain. 

The  Spokane  brigade  was  late  that  autumn  (1815)  in  its  descent  of  the  Colum- 


STEPTOE  BUTTE 
Most  famous  land  mark  in  Palouxe  rountry.     Fori 


'^    .;f '% 


-  '    1 1 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  43 

bia  to  Fort  George,  as  Astoria  had  now  come  to  be  known,  and  November  was  well 
advanced  when  Keith,  Montour,  Mackenzie  and  Cox,  with  fifty  voyageurs  and 
Rivet,  the  interpreter,  started  on  the  return  trip  to  the  interior.  Winter  set  in  early, 
and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Snake  much  drift  ice  was  encountered  which  threatened  in- 
jury or  destruction  to  the  cedar  bateaux  and  such  of  the  canoes  as  were  constructed 
of  birch  bark.  Ice  jams  were  soon  met,  and  the  work  of  portaging  around  them,  in 
the  severe  temperature,  exhausted  the  men.  For  three  days  they  struggled  at  this 
dreadful  toil,  the  spirits  of  the  men  falling  to  the  lowest  ebb. 

After  a  cheerless  breakfast  a  delegation  presented  itself  before  the  tent  occupied 
by  the  clerks  and  sent  in  word  that  they  wished  to  speak  to  Mr.  Keith,  the  com- 
mander, and  when  he  appeared  at  the  tent  opening,  Bazil  Lucie,  one  of  the  best  and 
most  obedient  men  in  the  brigade  respectfully  asked  leave  to  speak  for  his  fellows. 
His  comrades,  he  said,  were  reduced  to  the  lowest  degree  of  weakness  by  the  unex- 
pected hardships  they  had  encountered,  and  had  become  convinced  that  they  could 
not  by  any  possibility  overcome  the  long  chain  of  rapids  and  ice  jams  that  lay  before 
them.  At  the  same  time  they  wished  it  to  be  understood  that  their  protest  was  not 
expressed  in  a  mutinous  spirit;  they  were  willing  and  ready  to  make  the  last  effort 
that  lay  within  their  strength,  but  felt  themselves  incapable  of  further  endeavor. 

Mr.  Keith's  first  feeling  was  of  anger  and  indignation.  The  protest  was  so  at 
variance  with  the  customary  spirit  of  Canadian  voyageurs  that  he  feared,  for  a 
moment,  that  he  would  have  to  deal  with  a  dangerous  degree  of  insubordination ;  but 
when  he  looked  upon  the  dejected  figures  of  his  men,  and  read  in  their  faithful  eyes 
the  sorrow  which  attended  their  reluctant  remonstrance,  he  realized  that  his  mo- 
mentary anger  was  unworthy  of  a  being  of  humane^  principles,  and  addressed  them 
in  a  sympathetic  spirit,  assuring  theBfi^that^'he^'did  not  find  fault  with  their  action 
and  regretted  that  he  could  not  {Iforii^jci  "ihiim -^  With"  a:  more  comfortable  wintering 
ground.  i 

For  it  had  become  apparent  ijhat  tb^  brigade  wou^d  be  unable  to  ascend  the 
Columbia  to  Okanogan,  but  would /i,^Vft*<drgo^to*wtntfer  quarters  on  the  bleak  and 
wind-swept  bank  of  the  river  and  await  the  coming  of  spring  and  the  breaking  up 
of  the  ice  blockade  which  now  held  them  in  its  unrelenting  grip. 

Fortunately  an  abundance  of  driftwood  was  near  at  hand,  and  of  this  some  of 
the  men  were  set  at  work  gathering  a  large  store,  while  others  were  occupied  in 
piling  the  trading  goods  in  a  safe  position;  and  yet  others,  with  the  assistance  of 
the  canoes,  tarpaulins  and  sails,  constructed  beds  and  shelter  for  the  expedition. 

This  winter  encampment  was  probably  in  the  vicinity  of  Badger  mountain, 
Douglas  county,  for  the  records  state  that  about  ten  miles  distant,  in  the  midst  of 
extensive  plains  there  rose  a  high  and  conically  shaped  hill,  which  the  traders  named 
Mt.  Nelson,  and  which,  on  having  been  climbed  by  Keith  and  one  of  the  clerks, 
afforded  a  commanding  viewpoint  from  which  they  looked  out  over  "a  widely  ex- 
tended prospect  of  the  great  plains  in  their  wintry  clothing;  their  undulations 
reminded  us  of  the  ocean,  when  the  troubled  waves  begin  to  subside  after  a  storm." 
Vainly  they  strained  their  eyes  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  animate  nature.  "Neither 
man,  nor  fowl,  nor  cattle,  nor  beasts,  nor  creeping  thing  met  our  longing  and  ex- 
pectant gaze.     Silent  desolation  reigned  all  around." 

We  may  readily  believe  that  the  time  passed  heavily  enough.  "Our  traveling 
library,"  writes  Cox,  "was  on  too  small  a  scale  to  afford  much  intellectual  enjoy- 


44  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

ment.  It  only  consisted  of  one  book  of  hymns,  two  song-books,  the  latest  edition  of 
Joe  Miller,  and  Darwin's  Botanic  Garden.  The  Canadians  could  not  join  us  in  the 
hymns,  and  we  endeavored  in  vain  to  tune  our  pipes  for  profane  harmony.  'Yankee 
Doodle,'  the  'Frog's  Courtship'  and  the  'Poker'  were  the  only  three  that  came 
within  the  scope  of  our  vocal  ability." 

A  few  men  who  had  been  sent  afoot  to  Fort  Okanogan  returned  early  in  Janu- 
ary with  sixteen  lean  and  hungry  cayuses  and  eight  of  these,  after  a  few  days'  rest^ 
were  loaded  with  a  part  of  the  goods  and  supplies,  and  Mr.  Keith,  taking  with  him 
the  greater  number  of  the  men,  set  off  for  the  post  at  the  mouth  of  the  Okanogan. 

"Mackenzie  and  I  passed  six  more  melancholy  weeks  in  this  spot,"  says  Cox, 
"during  which  period  we  did  not  see  an  Indian.  Our  time  would  have  passed  heav- 
ily enough,  only  that  we  fortunately  agreed  on  no  single  subject.  Episcopacy  and 
Presbyterianism,  with  all  their  offshoots  formed  a  prolific  source  of  polemic  recrea- 
tion; and  when  we  became  tired  of  the  mitre  and  the  kirk,  we  traveled  back  to 
Ossian  and  the  Culdees.  We  argued  on  the  immutability  of  the  Magellanic  clouds. 
We  discussed  the  respective  merits  of  every  writer  to  whom  the  authorship  of  Junius 
has  been  attributed.  We  differed  on  the  best  mode  of  cooking  a  leg  of  muttcm ;  and 
we  could  not  agree  as  to  the  superiority  of  a  haggis  over  a  harico,  or  of  Ferintosh 
over  Inishowen.  Plum  pudding  and  rice  each  had  its  champion;  and  when  he  rose 
in  all  his  strength  and  thought  to  destroy  me  with  the  plentiful  variety  of  a  Scotch 
breakfast,  I  at  once  floored  him  with  the  solid  substantiality  of  an  English  dinner. 
Thus  with  empty  stomachs  and  half-famished  bodies,  we  argued  on  luxuries  while 
we  anticipated  starvation. 

"Poor  Mackenzie,"  adds  Cox  in  a  footnote.  "In  1828  I  received  a  letter  from 
the  Columbia  announcing  the  melancholy  intelligence  that  he  and  four  of  his  men 
had,  the  preceding  year,  been  surprised  by  the  savages  on  Eraser's  river,  who  bar- 
barously murdered  the  entire  party." 

But  spring  came  early  and  released  the  party  from  the  ice-grip,  for  about  the 
middle  of  February,  under  the  genial  influence  of  a  strong  Chinook  wind,  the  Colum- 
bia opened,  and  on  the  16th  they  tried  once  more  their  fortunes  by  water,  and  after 
many  narrow  escapes  arrived  at  Okanogan  twelve  days  later,  "with  empty  stomachs 
and  exhausted  bodies." 

Neither  Franchere  nor  Ross  seems  to  have  foreseen  the  building  of  a  town, 
much  less  an  imperial  city,  by  the  falls  of  the  Spokane.  The  latter  had  his  eye  on 
the  mouth  of  the  Okanogan  as  the  site  of  the  future  commercial  depot  of  the  vast 
interior.  The  situation  there  he  thought  "admirably  adapted  for  a  trading  town. 
With  a  fertile  soil,  a  healthy  climate,  horses  in  abundance  for  land  carriage,  an 
opening  to  the  sea  by  the  Columbia,  and  a  communication  to  the  interior  by  it  and 
the  Okanogan ;  the  rivers  well  stocked  with  fish,  and  the  natives  quiet  and  friendly, 
it  will,  in  my  opinion,  be  selected  as  a  spot  preeminently  calculated  for  a  site  of  a 
town,  when  civilization  (which  is  at  present  so  rapidly  migrating  towards  the  west- 
ward) crosses  the  Rocky  mountains  and  reaches  the  Columbia." 

But  "man  proposes  and  God  disposes"  and  the  traders  of  a  hundred  years  ago, 
however  keen-sighted  and  far  visioned,  could  not  foresee  the  revolution  that  was  to 
come  with  the  locomotive  and  the  building  of  a  vast  and  intricate  system  of  railroads, 
whose  masters  were  to  wrest  the  growing  tonnage  of  the  future  from  the  rivers  and 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  45 

the  seas  and  contribute  to  the  building  of  cities  by  sites  that  could  not  be  approached 
by  the  light  canoe  and  the  cedar  bateau  of  the  daring  voyageur. 

The  brigade  that  came  up  from  Fort  George,  spring  of  1817,  was  the  largest  that 
had  ever  ascended  the  Columbia.  It  left  that  post  under  a  salute  of  seven  guns, 
and  comprised  five  Scots,  two  Englishmen,  one  Irishman,  thirty-six  Canadians, 
twenty  Iroquois  Indians,  two  Nipissings,  one  Cree  and  three  half-breeds;  nine  na- 
tives of  the  Sandwich  islands,  and  one  boy,  a  servant,  two  women  and  two  children. 
Two  barges  and  nine  large  canoes  were  required  for  the  transportation  of  this 
party  and  the  average  lading  to  each  boat  was  nearly  a  ton  exclusive  of  the  weight 
of  passengers  and  crews. 

This  expedition,  on  its  way  to  Fort  William,  on  lake  Superior,  arrived  at  the 
mouth  of  Canoe  river,  north  of  the  Arrow  lakes  on  the  upper  Columbia,  without 
notable  accident  or  incident.  At  that  point,  as  seven  of  the  men  had  become  inva- 
lided, it  was  decided  to  return  them  to  Spokane  House  rather  than  subject  them 
to  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  the  long  voyage  over  the  mountains  and  the  vast 
plains  of  western  Canada.  Out  of  this  action  there  was  to  develop  one  of  the  most 
horrible  tragedies  of  which  western  annals  contain  a  record. 

The  best  canoe  was  assigned  the  party  of  six  Canadians  and  Holmes,  the  English 
tailor,  and  although  only  two  of  the  men  were  able  to  work,  it  was  thought  that  the 
current  would  carry  them  in  three  days  to  Kettle  Falls,  from  whence  they  could 
easily  reach  Spokane.  As  the  stock  of  provisions  was  limited,  barely  sufficient  was 
assigned  them  for  this  period.  They  separated  from  their  companions  with  gloomy 
forebodings,  and  some  of  them  predicted  that  they  would  nevermore  see  their  fam- 
ilies and  friends  in  distant  Canada. 

The  current  of  the  Columbia,  now  swollen  by  melting  snow  fields,  carried  them 
in  ease  and. safety  to  the  upper  Dalles  or  narrows.  Here  they  disembarked,  but  in 
an  effort  to  lower  the  canoe  through  the  foaming  waters,  the  line  broke  or  was  torn 
from  the  grasp  of  the  weakened  men,  and  the  little  craft  swept  away  to  destruction. 
As  they  had  lacked  either  the  providence  or  the  strength  to  remove  their  scanty 
supply  of  provisions,  these  together  with  their  blankets  and  most  of  their  clothing, 
were  carried  away  with  the  canoe,  leaving  them  stranded  on  a  wild  and  inhospitable 
shore,  ill,  destitute  and  discouraged. 

As  no  other  course  lay  before  them,  they  set  out  feebly  on  foot  in  an  endeavor 
to  follow  the  windings  of  the  river  to  the  Indian  settlements  far  below.  As  the 
beaches  were  inundated,  they  had  frequently  to  take  to  the  wooded  mountains,  tear- 
ing their  way  along  through  the  dense  undergrowth,  falling  now  and  then  from 
weariness  or  complete  exhaustion,  and  one  by  one  abandoning  hope  and  yielding  to 
the  bladmess  of  despair.  Macon,  a  voyageur,  was  first  to  perish  under  these  ordeals, 
and  his  famished  and  desperate  comrades,  driven  now  to  the  horrors  of  cannibalism, 
divided  his  remains  equally  among  them,  and  this  shocking  subsistence  maintained 
life  for  a  few  days.  Owing  to  the  torn  and  swollen  state  of  their  feet,  they  could 
not  advance  more  than  two  or  three  mile^  daily.  Holmes,  the  tailor,  followed  Ma- 
9on;  and  one  by  one  the  others  lay  down  and  died  until  there  remained  only  La 
Pierre  and  Dubois.  Later  La  Pierre  was  found  on  the  shore  of  upper  Arrow  lake, 
by  some  Indians  in  a  canoe,  and  by  them  was  brought  down  the  river  to  Kettle  Falls. 
The  sole  survivor  declared  that  in  self-defense  he  had  been  driven  to  cut  the  throat 
of  Dubois,  who,  as  he  contended,  had  risen  in  the  night  and  first  attempted  to  kill 


46  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

him  with  a  clasp-knife.  He  was  brought  to  Spokane,  where  his  conflicting  stories 
created  suspicion,  which  was  later  intensified  by  the  statements  made  by  the  Indians 
who  had  picked  him  up,  and  he  was  subsequently  sent  to  Canada  for  trial;  but  as 
the  evidence  against  him  was  circumstantial,  he  was  acquitted. 

We  have  traced  the  manner  and  the  methods  whereby  the  interests  of  the  Pacific 
Fur  company  (the  Astor  enterprise)  were  appropriated,  through  treachery  and 
cowardice,  by  the  Northwest  company.  It  now  remains  to  narrate  the  events  which 
later  led  up  to  the  acquisition  of  the  Northwest  company  by  the  Hudson's  Bay 
people. 

At  no  time  within  the  period  covered  by  these  narratives  had  the  Hudson's  Bay 
company  obtained  a  foothold  west  of  the  Rocky  mountains;  but  in  the  country  east 
of  the  mountains  the  keenest  and  most  unscrupulous  rivalry  had  arisen  between  these 
conflicting  adventurers.  Under-handed  methods  were  later  succeeded  by  open  war- 
fare— the  taking  of  forts  by  armed  attack,  the  besieging  of  others  until  their  inmates 
perished  of  starvation,  and  other  equally  lawless  and  desperate  methods.  The  spirit 
of  that  contest  is  well  reflected  in  a  letter,  written  in  1816  from  a  Northwest  trader 
to  a  friend  at  Spokane: 

"You  already  know  the  strong  opposition  that  came  into  the  country,  the  great- 
est part  of  which  went  to  Athabasca  and  Slave  lake.  You  must  also  have  heard 
of  their  success  at  the  former  place,  having  been  obliged  from  starvation  to  give 
themselves  up  to  the  Northwest,  although  your  old  friend  (our  Mr.  Clarke  of  Spo- 
ane  House,  who  had  gone  over  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  people),  swore  he  would  rather 
die  than  come  under  any  obligation  to  our  people.  He  lost  seventeen  men  by  famine. 
At  Slave  lake  they  were  more  successful;  but  at  the  different  establishments  they 
had  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  they  lost  thirteen  more  by  starvation.  Last  June 
they  received  a  mortal  blow  from  the  Cossacks  of  Red  river  (half-breeds),  of  which 
affair,  as  I  was  on  the  spot  a  few  days  later,  I  shall  give  you  a  detail.  You  of 
course  know  that  two  of  our  forts  were  taken,  and  all  the  property,  and  that  Cap- 
tain Cameron  (a  proprietor  of  the  Northwest  company)  was  made  prisoner.  The 
forts  were  subsequently  burned. 

"Mr.  A.  McDonnell,  who  was  stationed  at  Qu'appelle  river,  held  his  fort  in  de- 
fiance of  them.  He  was  threatened  with  destruction  if  he  made  any  attempt  to  pass 
downward.  His  opponent,  however,  started  with  his  men,  and  returns  of  furs  and 
provisions,  but  those  blackguard  Brules  (also  half-breeds)  fell  in  with  them,  took 
them  all  prisoners,  and  carried  the  property  to  Mr.  McDonnell.  No  blood  was  shed 
on  this  occasion.  Some  time  after,  Mr.  McDonnell,  being  anxious  for  the  arrival 
of  the  gentlemen  from  the  northward,  sent  a  party  of  five  Canadians  with  two  carts 
loaded  with  provisions  for  us  by  land;  and  the  above  blackguards  took  upon  them- 
selves to  accompany  them  to  the  number  of  fifty.  On  passing  by  the  colony,  at  the 
distance  of  two  miles,  they  were  stopped  by  the  governor  and  twenty-six  men  well 
armed.  The  Brules  were  at  that  time  but  thirteen,  including  the  Canadians.  A 
few  words  arose  between  the  governor  and  our  men.  The  former  ordered  his  men 
to  fire,  when  two  only,  with  much  reluctance,  obeyed.  The  fire  was  immediately 
returned  by  the  Brules,  when  seven  instantly  fell.  A  retreat  was  begun  by  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  people,  but  out  of  twenty-six  only  four  escaped.  The  Brules  had  only 
one  man  killed  and  one  wounded.     They  took  the  fort,  with  a  great  quantity  of  arms 


k 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  47 

and  ammnnition,  and  have  sworn  vengeance  against  every  description  of  Hudson's 
Bay  men." 

This  was  bad  business — a  degree  of  frenzied  enterprise  which  comported  but 
poorly  vrith  the  British  boast  about  law  and  order;  but  it  needs  to  be  remembered 
that  there  existed  then  in  western  Canada  no  law  or  authority  beyond  the  rule  of 
the  fur  traders  and  the  authority  which  they  maintained  by  force  of  arms. 

Such  warfare  was^  of  course  expensive^  and  joined  to  the  ruinous  competition 
which  had  driven  the  rivals  to  a  policy  of  bidding  higher  and  higher  for  the  produce 
of  the  traps^  threatened,  if  indefinitely  continued,  to  bankrupt  one  or  the  other,  or 

■  

possibly  both  of  the  contesting  companies.  Back  in  Montreal  and  London,  where 
declining  dividends  impressed  the  stockholders  with  the  reprehensible  nature  of  the 
conflict,  an  agitation  soon  started  in  the  interest  of  peace,  and  negotiations  were 
entered  into  which  culminated  in  the  purchase  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  people  of  all 
the  interests  of  the  Northwest  company,  including  Spokane  House  and  other  posts 
in  the  interior  and  on  the  Columbia. 


CHAPTER  VI 

AMUSING  AND  TRAGIC  INCIDENTS 

DANCING  WITH  8POKANB  NYMPHS PETER  SKENE  OGDBN  AND  HIS  INDIAN  WIFE FRENCH 

THE  PREVAILING  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY LOUIS  LA  LIBERTe's  WOUNDED  PRIDE 

— THRILLING     ADVENTURE     WITH     A     GRIZZLY     BEAR ROUGH     LIFE     OF     THE     FREE 

TRADERS KEEN    COMPETITION FORCED    RIDE    WITH    A    SUPPLY    OF    TOBACCO — SPO- 
KANE WOMEN  GREAT  SLAVES SHOCKING  DOUBLE   ACT  OF  REVENGE. 

ROSS,  who  came  out  on  the  Tonquin  in  1811,  and  made  frequent  trips  to  the 
interior,  has  recorded  a  graphic  picture  of  Sp>okane  House  as  it  Ap- 
peared a  hundred  years  ago:  "There  all  the  wintering  parties,  with 
exception  of  the  northern  district,  met.  There  they  all  fitted  out;  it  was  the  great 
starting  point.  ...  At  Spokane  House  there  were  handsome  buildings;  there 
was  a  ballroom  even^  and  no  females  in  the  land  so  fair  to  look  upon  as  the  nymphs 
of  Spokane;  no  damsels  could  dance  so  gracefully  as  they,  none  were  so  attractive. 
Bot  Spokane  House  was  not  celebrated  for  fine  women  only ;  there  were  fine  horses 
also.  The  race-ground  was  admired,  and  the  pleasures  of  the  chase  often  yielded 
to  the  pleasures  of  the  race.     Altogether  Spokane  House  was  a  delightful  place." 

This  breathes  a  spirit  of  badinage,  but  relatively,  as  rough  conditions  then 
went  at  this  and  other  posts,  it  sketches  a  picture  that  is  fairly  true. 

Among  the  notable  traders  who  yielded  to  the  blandishments  of  the  Sp>okane 
ladies  of  that  dim  and  distant  day  was  Peter  Skene  Ogden,  who  took  for  wife  a 
remarkable  woman  of  that  tribe.  She  bore  him  several  children,  and  carried  into 
a  serene  old  age  a  reputation  as  a  faithful  and  dutiful  spouse  and  a  kind  and 
attentive  mother.  She  followed  the  fortunes  of  her  white  master  to  the  lower 
Colombia,  and  dwelt  for  many  years  at  Fort  Vancouver  and  Oregon  City.  She 
died,  at  the  age  of  86,  at  Lac  La  Hache,  British  Columbia.  Ogden  failed  to 
ratify  the  alliance  with  a  formal  marriage,  even  when  pressed  to  do  so  as  he  lay 
upon  his  conch  of  death.  To  the  urgent  solicitation  of  good  old  Dr.  McLoughlin 
he  made  answer  that  if  many  years  of  public  recognition  of  the  relation  and  of  his 
children  did  not  constitute  sufficient  proof,  no  formal  words  of  priest  or  magistrate 
could  help  the  matter.  Ogden  left  a  valuable  estate,  and  this  irregularity  invited 
a  vigorous  contest  of  his  will  by  relatives  in  England,  but  the  dispute  was  amicably 
compromised  through  the  efforts  of  Sir  George  Simpson,  the  executor  of  the  will. 

Ogden,  who  came  from  an  influential  colonial  family,  revealed  in  his  boyhood 
a  daring  and  adventurous  spirit  which  lured  him,  while  yet  a  youth,  into  the  west- 
ern wilds.     He  had  been  for  a  while,  in  the  service  of  John  Jacob  Astor  as  a 

V«L  1—4 

49 


50  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

clerk^  presumably  at  Montreal^  but  a  little  later^  in  1811^  he  attached  himself,  at 
the  age  of  17>  to  the  Northwest  company,  and  operated  for  several  years  in  the 
wild  country  to  the  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  He  came  upon  the  Columbia  in 
1818,  and  two  years  later,  by  his  zeal,  courage  and  indefatigable  industry,  was 
made  a  partner  in  the  Northwest  company,  and  later  became  chief  factor  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  company.  Ogden  was  a  frequent  sojourner  at  Spokane  House,  and 
was  here  at  intervals  till  the  post  was  abandonel  to  the  elements  and  the  use  of 
the  Indians  of  the  neighborhood. 

From  a  manuscript  in  the  Spokane  city  library,  "Spokane  House;  History  of 
an  Old  Trading  Post,"  I  am  permitted  by  the  author,  William  S.  Lewis  of  this  city, 
to  make  the  following  extracts: 

"After  spending  several  days  in  lodcing  for  a  suitable  site,  for  his  trading  post, 
Clarke  finally  decided  upon  a  beautiful  point  of  land  at  the  juncture  of  the  Spokane 
and  Little  Sp>okane  rivers.  .  .  .  The  site  selected  was  one  of  considerable 
beauty  as  well  as  commercial  advantage.  The  Little  Spokane,  emerging  from  a 
narrow,  heavily  wooded  valley,  flows  along  parallel  to  the  main  river  for  a  mile  or 
so  before  joining  it.  To  the  east  are  high,  bald  granite  hills;  and  to  the  west 
gravel  benches  rise,  overgrown  with  bunch-grass  and  occasional  pines.  On  the 
alluvial  bottom,  midway  between  the  two  rivers  and  a  short  distance  from  their 
juncture,  the  post  known  as  Spokane  House  was  established.     .  '  .     . 

"A  stout  stockade,  twelve  feet  high,  was  erected;  this  was  flanked  with  two 
square  bastions,  each  armed  with  a  light  four-pounder  of  brass,  and  with  loop- 
holes cut  in  the  upper  story  for  use  of  musketry.  This  defense  proved  unnecessary, 
as  the  local  tribe  of  Indians  was  very  honest  and  inoffensive,  and  the  post  gates 
were  seldom  closed  at  night.  The  only  use  'the  four-pounders  were  ever  put  to 
was  that  of  making  noise  for  local  celebrations.  Within  the  stockade  thus  built, 
to  make  the  following  extracts : 

"The  main  trading  building  was  an  oblong  structure,  built  of  peeled  logs  of 
uniform  size,  the  greater  length  extending  north  and  south,  and  the  sides  facing 
the  two  rivers. 

"The  framework  of  the  roof,  doors  and  windows  was  of  hewn  timbers,  carefully 
fitted  and  fastened  with  wooden  pegs,  in  place  of  nails,  and  the  roof  was  shingled 
with  shakes  cut  from  cedars  growing  along  the  banks  of  the  Little  Spokane. 

"In  the  middle  of  this  trading  building,  on  each  side,  an  opening  seven  feet 
high  and  eight  feet  wide  was  cut,  forming  a  passage-way.  Each  side  of  this  was 
built  up  breast  high,  as  a  counter,  to  protect  the  wares  of  the  traders  from  the 
thieving  propensities  of  the  Indians.  Indians  desiring  to  trade  could  come  into 
the  building  from  either  side,  up  to  the  log  railing,  behind  which  some  of  the 
clerks  and  men  were  always  stationed  in  care  of  the  merchandise. 

"Annexed  to  the  trading  building  was  a  room  in  which  the  furs  were  stored  for 
transportation  to  Astoria. 

"Clarke  was  an  old  and  experienced  Indian  trader.  As  soon  as  his  buildings  were 
completed,  he  assembled  the  neighboring  Indians,  made  several  speeches,  displayed 
his  fine  buildings  and  his  wealth,  and  then  gave  a  grand  ball  in  honor  of  his  men 
and  the  Indians — the  first  big  social  event  in  the  history  of  our  section.     .     .     . 

"By  a  separate  agreement  (at  the  time  the  Astor  interests  passed  to  the  North- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  51 

west  company)  Spokane  House  and  property  was  sold  to  the  Canadians  for  a  band 
of  Indian  horses^  to  be  delivered  the  following  spring. 

"Under  the  management  of  the  Northwest  company^  Spokane  House  was^  for 
several  years^  an  important  trading  center^  though  the  post  proved  to  be  in  a 
rather  out  of  the  way  location^  150  miles  from  the  better  fur  regions^  furs  being 
scarce  in  the  inmiediate  neighborhood^  and  the  local  Indians  being  but  indolent 
hunters.  Gradually^  as  the  local  fur-bearing  animals  were  destroyed,  the  busi- 
ness became  less  and  less  lucrative,  yet  the  post  continued  to  be  retained,  largely 
as  a  matter  of  sentiment  and  personal  comfort.  It  was  the  Mecca  for  all  the  fur 
traders;  the  climate  was  delightful,  the  Indians  friendly;  all  the  wintering  par- 
ties of  the  district  met  at  Sp>okane;  all  fitted  out  here — it  was  a  great  starting 
point.  Trappers,  after  their  months  of  solitary  labor,  were  eager  for  the  attrac- 
tions of  the  post.  The  buildings  were  unusually  handsome  and  commodious;  the 
post  even  boasted  of  a  ballroom,  and  the  graceful  native  dancers  were  in  great 
demand  as  partners.  There  were  many  fine  horses  about  the  place,  and  many 
a  man  wagered  the  earnings  of  a  year  up>on  the  race-course.  Deer  were  plentiful ; 
trout  and  other  fish  filled  the  streams ;  and  savory  steaks  of  bunch-grass  fed  cayuses, 
a  great  delicacy  at  Spokane  House,  were  famous  throughout  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains.     .     .     . 

"When,  March  26,  1821,  the  Northwest  company  was  absorbed  by  the  Hudson's 
Bay  company,  Spokane  House  passed  to  the  ownership  of  the  latter.  But  the  fur 
trade  on  the  lower  Columbia  was  now  on  the  decline,  and  Spokane  House  was  aban- 
doned in  1825,  and  a  new  Hudson's  Bay  post  established  on  the  Columbia  river,  a 
short  distance  above  Kettle  Falls,  called  Fort  Colville." 

W.  P.  Winans,  who  went  to  Colville  in  July,  1861,  where  he  lived  until  1878,  says, 
in  a  manuscript  relative  to  the  earliest  settlements  in  that  valley :  "When  the  war 
of  1812  forced  the  Astor  party  to  sell  to  the  Northwest  Fur  company  in  1813,  they 
abandoned  one  of  the  posts  at  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Spokane,  and  located  it  in  the 
Colville  valley,  about  1816.  When  the  Hudson's  Bay  company,  in  1821,  absorbed 
tbe  Northwest  Fur  company,  they  built  a  stockaded  fort  at  this  trading  post,  on 
tile  south  bank  of  the  Columbia  river,  about  a  mile  above  Kettle  Falls,  and  called 
it  Fort  Colville. 

"When  the  writer  visited,  in  1870,  the  location  of  these  posts  on  the  Spokane 
and  at  the  mouth  of  the  C^uinogan  river,  all  that  remained  to  indicate  that  once 
there  had  been  buildings  and  people  living  there  were  the  mounds  made  by  fallen 
chimneys  and  the  graves  of  the  dead,  although  Fort  Okanogan  was  occupied  and 
maintained  as  a  trading  post  for  about  fifty  years,  the  last  man  in  charge  being  a 
half-breed  named  Francis  Desotel,  who  in  1862  abandoned  it,  moving  the  goods  up 
to  the  Similkimeen  river,  about  eighty  miles  north,  and  established  a  trading  post 
there. 

"Either  William  Frazier  or  Archibald  MacDonald  built  Fort  Colville  and  named 
it  after  the  then  London  governor  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company.  It  was  next  to 
Vancouver  in  importance.  Here  the  accounts  or  statements  from  all  the  posts  in 
the  Pacific  northwest  were  made  up  for  transmission,  via  the  Columbia  river  to 
Boat  Encampment,  through  Athabasca  pass,  via  Jasper  House  and  York  factory  on 
Hudson  Bay,  and  thence  by  ship  to  England.  It  was  maintained  until  1870,  when 
the  Hudson's  Bay  company  moved  into  British  territory. 


52  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

"The  first  time  I  visited  Fort  Colville  was  in  August^  1861.  Then  there  was  a 
stockade  enclosing  it^  abont  250  feet  square  and  twelve  or  fourteen  feet  higfa^  in 
good  repair^  with  square  towers  or  bastions  at  opposite  comers  enclosing  the  houses.  I 
saw  it  again  in  July^  1904.  The  stockade  was  gone^  but  some  of  the  old  storeroonos 
and  one  of  the  bastions  built  in  1827^  and  the  frame  dwelling  houses  of  the  chief 
trader^  built  in  1868^  were  standing,  the  property  being  then  owned  by  Donald 
McDonald,  son  of  Angus  McDonald,  the  chief  trader,  who  claimed  it  as  a  homestead 
in  1870.  During  the  thirteen  years  I  resided  in  Colville  valley,  many  times  I 
enjoyed  the  society  of  Mr.  Angus  McDonald,  the  chief  trader,  who  dispensed  hos- 
pitality after  the  manner  of  the  Scotch  lairds  of  his  ancestral  home. 

"I  have  an  illustration  in  mind.  A  party  of  about  fifteen  of  us  concluded  we 
would  pay  our  respects  to  Mr.  McDonald  on  New  Year's  day,  1864,  and  have  a 
sleighride  too.  So  we  got  a  pair  of  bobsleds,  with  a  big  wagon  box  and  four 
horses,  and  drove  the  fifteen  miles  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  post.  Mr.  McDon- 
ald received  us  with  courtly  grace  and  abundant  cheer.  After  the  usual  greetings, 
we  spent  a  short  time  socially,  and  were  about  to  return  that  afternoon,  but  he 
.  would  have  none  of  it.  We  must  stay  to  dinner  and  spend  the  night  with  him.  We 
consented,  and  the  dinner  was  served,  on  what  he  called  a  'field  table,'  in  a  large 
room  twenty  by  thirty  feet.  Next  to  the  walls  on  the  floor  were  spread  fur  robes ; 
the  space  left  in  the  center  was  covered  with  white  table  cloths,  and  on  this  white 
field  table,  say  ten  by  twenty  feet,  were  placed  the  dishes  with  provisions.  The 
thirty  guests,  which  included  our  party  and  about  as  many  more,  being  the  princi- 
pal farmers  of  the  valley,  assembled  around  this  festal  board,  and,  reclining  on  the 
robes,  we  leisurely  partook  of  the  bountiful  supply  before  us,  and  listened  to  our 
host  relate  incidents  of  chase  or  exploration,  or  conflict  and  treaty  with  the  natives 
of  the  Northwest.     Thus  we  spent  some  hours,  retiring  about  midnight  to  our  beds. 

"While  he  was  entertaining  us,  at  the  same  time  there  were  assembled  in  other 
buildings  of  the  fort,  as  their  yearly  custom  was,  the  former  employes  of  the  com- 
pany and  their  families,  numbering  over  100,  who  usually  spent  the  holiday  week 
with  him,  having  the  best  time  in  their  lives  in  feasting,  social  mirth,  music  and 
dancing. 

"Angus  McDonald  came  to  this  country  in  1 840,  as  a  clerk  for  the  Hudson's  Bay 
company,  was  sent  to  Fort  Hall,  and  was  there  with  Captain  Grant.  Was  married 
in  1848  to  a  daughter  of  a  Nez  Perce  chief.  Came  to  Colville  and  took  charge  of 
the  post  about  1850,  and  remained  with  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  as  long 
as  they  maintained  trading  posts  in  United  States  territory.  Some  of  his  chil- 
dren having  taken  up  their  residence  in  the  Flathead  country,  he  moved  to  that 
section,  living  near  them  the  last  few  years  of  life.  He  died  February  1st,  1889, 
over  72  years  of  age." 

There  remain  some  odds  and  ends  of  anecdote  and  adventure,  and  a  few  frag- 
ments of  historic  incident,  to  round  out  the  section  of  this  volume  that  deals  with 
the  picturesque  period  of  the  fur-trader.  Those  were  brave  and  daring  times,  a 
hundred  years  ago,  when  the  British  flag  floated  over  the  Inland  Empire,  and  our 
first  citizens  were  a  medley  aggregation  of  canny  Scots  and  volatile  French  Canadians, 
of  Iroquois  and  Spokanes,  of  half  breeds  and  Sandwich  islanders,  with  now  and  then 
a  "mountain  man,"  free  trapper  and  half  savage  American  from  the  Kentudcy 
frontier. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  53 

French  was  the  prevailing  tongue^  and  traces  of  that  language  are  stamped 
forever  on  the  nomenclature  of  our  moimtains^  lakes  and  rivers.  They  are  written 
on  onr  waters  in  such  names  as  Pend  d'Oreille  (ear-ring)^  Coeur  d'Alene  (sharp- 
hearted)^  Palouse^  (a  grassy  region)^  Nez  Perces  (pierced  noses) ^  and  many  others. 
Some  of  the  Scotch  clans  were  so  numerously  represented  in  the  Spokane  country 
that  the  voyageurt,  in  order  to  escape  confusion  of  names^  resorted  to  distinctive 
nicknames.  There  were,  for  example,  Mr.  Mackenzie  le  rouge  (the  red),  Mr.  Mac- 
kenzie le  hlanc  (the  white),  Mr.  Mackenzie  le  borgne  (the  one-eyed),  Mr.  Mackenzie 
le  picote  (the  pock-marked) ;  Mr.  MacDonald  le  grand  (the  big),  Mr.  MacDonald 
le  pritre  (the  priest),  Mr.  MacDonald  le  bras  croche  (the  crooked  arm).  Ross 
Cox  narrates  an  amusing  incident  growing  out  of  this  custom ;  and  since  the  leading 
character  was  probably  the  ancestor  of  the  Liberty  family  whose  name  we  have 
perpetuated  in  Liberty  lake,  the  anecdote  has  a  fitting  place  in  a  history  of  Spo- 
kane. 

Mr.  Shaw,  one  of  the  agents,  had  passed  many  years  in  the  interior,  and  was 
by  the  voyageurs  called  Monsieur  Le  Chat  (the  cat).  On  quitting  the  Indian 
country  he  married  a  Canadian  lady,  by  whom  he  had  several  children.  Some 
years  after  this  event,  one  of  his  old  foremen,  Louis  La  Liberty,  went  to  Montreal 
to  spend  the  winter.  He  had  heard  of  his  old  bourgeois'  marriage  and  was  anxious 
to  see  him.  Mr.  Shaw  was  walking  on  the  Champ  de  Mars  with  a  couple  of  officers, 
when  La  Libert^  spied  him.  He  immediately  ran  up,  and  seizing  him  by  both 
bands,  exclaimed: 

"Ah,  mon  cher  Monsieur  Le  Chat,  comment  'vous  poriess-vous?" 
"Tree  bien,  Louisson" 

"Ei  comment  se  porie  Madame  La  ChatteV 
"Bien,  bien,  Louisson,  elle  est  tres  bien*'*  * 
"Et  tous  les  petits  Chatons?" 

("Ah,  my  dear  Monsieur  Cat,  how  do  you  do.^"  "Very  well,  Louison."  "And 
how  is  Madame  Cat?"  "Well,  well,  Louisson,  she  is  very  well."  "And  all  the  littlfe 
Kittens?") 

By  this  time  Mr.  Shaw,  a  trifle  embarrassed  before  his  fine  army  friends, 
thought  it  advisable  to  check  La  Liberty's  effusiveness  and  with  a  rather  brusque 
reply  turned  away,  leaving  Louisson  astonished  and  indignant  over  his  cool  recep- 
tion. 

La  Liberte,  adds  Cox,  was  an  extraordinary  old  man ;  he  had  several  fine  daugh- 
ters by  an  Indian  wife  and  became  father-in-law  to  three  proprietors.  He  was  there- 
fore proud  of  his  connections,  and  feeling  indignant  at  Mr.  Shaw's  supposed  cavalier 
treabnent,  adopted  an  eccentric  method  of  manifesting  his  resentment. 

He  ordered  a  coat  to  be  made  of  fine  green  cloth,  with  silver  buttons ;  a  vest  of 
crimson  velvet,  with  cameHan  buttons,  braided  sky-blue  pantaloons,  Hessian  boots 
with  gold  tassels  and  silver  heels;  a  hat,  feathers  and  silk  sash.  And  thus  accou- 
tered,  with  a  long  calumet  in  his  right  hand,  and  a  splendidly  ornamented  smoking- 
bttg  in  his  left,  he  proceeded  to  the  Champ  de  Mars  during  a  regimental  parade, 
and  observing  Mr.  Shaw  walking  in  company  with  some  ladies  and  gentlemen,  he 
vociferated : 

"Ha,  ha.  Monsieur  Le  Chat,  voyez  ma  veste!  voila  les  boutons!  En  aves-vous 
de  meme?    Ha,  ha.  Monsieur  Le  Chat!  regardez  mes  bottes;  je  suis  ferre  d' argent  I 


54  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Je  suis  le  heawp^re  de  Monsieur  McDxnnill!  Monsieur  Mackenzie  est  man  gendre; 
et  je  me  sacre  de  tous  les  Chats,  et  de  toutes  les  Chattes!" 

(Ha^  ha^  Monsieur  Cat^  see  my  vest!  There  are  the  buttons;  have  you  any  like 
them?  Ha^  ha^  Monsieur  Cat^  see  my  boots!  I  am  shod  with  silver.  I  am  the 
father-in-law  of  Monsieur  McDinnill;  Monsieur  Mackenzie  is  my  son-in-law;  and 
my  curses  on  all  the  Cats,  male  and  female!") 

Some  of  his  friends,  who  previous  to  his  leaving  home  observed  him  drinking  a 
quantity  of  rum,  followed  him  to  the  parade  ground,  and  with  much  difficulty  at 
length  succeeded  in  forcing  him  away,  while  the  old  man  every  now  and  then  lifted 
up  a  leg,  and  challenged  any  Shaw  or  officer  on  the  gpround  to  show  silver  heels  to 
his  boots. 

There  is  reason  to  believe,  from  the  abundance  of  testimony  which  comes  down 
to  us  from  early  days,  that  the  bear,  and  particularly  the  g^zzly,  was  far  more 
formidable  and  ferocious  a  hundred  years  ago  than  at  the  present  day.  This  be- 
lief is  borne  out  by  the  journals  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  always  coldly  scientific  and 
judicial,  as  well  as  by  the  circumstantial  narratives  of  hunters  and  trappers.  The 
Indians  looked  upon  the  grizzly  as  a  foe  deeply  to  be  dreaded,  and  no  greater  dis- 
tinction could  come  to  a  warrior  than  that  won  by  killing  one  of  these  monsters  of 
the  forests,  a  feat  which  entitled  the  hunter  ever  after  to  wear  a  necklace  of  the 
claws  of  the  vanquished  bear.  In  making  this  statement  the  author  is  aware 
that  the  conclusion  might  seem  to  run  counter  to  the  careful  and  undoubtedly  cor- 
rect opinions  of  Mr.  W.  H.  Wright,  the  well  known  naturalist  and  author  of  Spo- 
kane, whose  many  years  of  first-hand  study  of  the  grizzly  of  the  Pacific  coast  have 
won  for  him  a  place  as  supreme  authority  on  the  subject  now  under  discussion. 
Reflection,  however,  makes  it  apparent  that  these  seemingly  contradictory  state- 
ments of  the  nature  of  the  grizzly  bear  are  not  necessarily  incompatible.  One  may 
accept  Mr.  Wright's  present  day  judgment  and  not  have  to  reject  the  testimony  of 
a  hundred  years  ago. 

Before  the  advent  into  this  country  of  the  whites,  the  Indians  possessed  no  more 
formidable  weapons  than  the  bow,  the  spear  and  the  club.  Thus  lightly  armed,  it 
is  apparent  that  they  would  approach  the  grizzly  with  exceeding  caution,  and  he 
in  turn  had  learned  by  association  that  man  was  relatively  a  timid  being,  one 
easily  overcome  in  a  struggle  at  close  quarters;  and  this  gave  him  boldness  and 
aggression.  Naturally,  when  the  first  white  men  entered  the  country,  the  grizzly 
was  ready  to  face  them  and  to  fight,  and  was  slow  to  learn  caution  and  fear  of  the 
inferior  guns  then  in  use.  But  with  the  country's  settlement  and  the  appearance 
of  more  deadly  rifles,  he  has  been  taught  a  different  lesson.  He  has  learned  that 
the  white  man  can  kill  the  bear,  and  kill  at  long  range. 

An  adventure  experienced  in  the  spring  of  1816  by  a  party  of  ten  Canadians 
who  had  been  sent  from  Spokane  House  on  a  trading  excursion  along  the  Pend 
d'Oreille  river,  was  well  attested  by  all  the  members  at  the  time.  The  third  even- 
ing after  they  had  quitted  the  fort  on  the  Spokane,  while  sitting  around  a  camp- 
fire,  dining  on  the  choice  bits  of  a  deer,  a  half-famished  bear  sprang  from  behind 
a  tree,  clasped  one  of  the  startled  voyageurs  in  his  embrace,  and  ambled  off  with 
his  terror-stricken  burden  a  distance  of  some  fifty  yards.  Here  the  Canadian  was 
dropped,  and  a  large  bone  of  the  deer  from  which  he  had  been  eating  the  meat 
was  seized  from  his  g^p. 


DR.  JOHN   McLOUGIILIN 
Chief  factor  of  the  Hudson's  Buy  Company,  at  Va 


r~ 


•  1  .''!,»•• 


1^11  ■        —■■—■-  ..J 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  55 

As  soon  as  the  startled  campers  had  partly  recovered  from  the  alarm  occasioned 
bj  this  audacious  act,  Baptiste  Le  Blanc,  a  half-breed  hunter,  seized  his  gun  and 
was  about  to  fire  when  his  arm  was  arrested  by  some  of  his  companions  who  feared 
that  a  shot  would  kill  their  companion.  Louisson,  the  kidnaped  voyageur,  attempted 
to  escape,  now  that  the  bear  had  dropped  him  and  was  picking  at  the  bone,  but  the 
griiily  growled  in  anger  and  again  seized  him,  this  time  in  a  more  vise-like  grip. 
Louisson  screamed  out  in  agony  and  exclaimed: 

"Tire!  Tire!  man  cher  frere,  si  tu  m'aimes!  Tire,  pour  V amour  du  bon  Dieu! 
A  la  ate!  a  la  iete!  (Shoot,  shoot,  my -dear  brother,  if  thou  lovest  me!  Shoot,  for 
the  love  of  the  good  God !    At  the  head,  at  the  head !") 

Le  Blanc  fired,  and  his  well  directed  ball  wounded  the  bear,  which,  in  its  rage 
scratched  the  face  of  Louisson,  leaving  marks  that  permanently  marred  his  visage. 
At  this  juncture  the  men  rushed  in  on  the  wounded  bear  and  dispatched  it  with 
their  long  hunting  knives. 

Scattered  through  the  Spokane  country  and  other  regions  west  of  the  Rocky 
mountains  were  a  number  of  free  traders.  These,  as  a  rule,  had  served  out  their 
time  with  the  fur  companies,  and  preferred  to  continue  in  the  country  rather  than 
be  returned  east  under  the  terms  of  their  contract.  They  generally  had  Indian 
families,  and  some  of  them  practiced  polygamy.  They  brought  their  produce  to 
the  company  stores,  to  exchange  for  goods,  or,  in  some  cases  for  a  money  credit  at 
Montreal.  "From  their  constant  exposure  to  the  sun,"  says  one  observer,  "these 
men  are  as  irretrievably  bronzed  as  the  native  Indians,  from  whom,  owing  to  their 
long  separation  from  their  countrymen,  they  differ  but  little,  either  in  their  habits 
or  their  mode  of  living." 

Captain  Bonneville,  describing  these  vagrant  wanderers;  of  the  wilderness,  has 
liid  that  "they  come  and  go,  when  and  wtere^  f  key  pfej9is6 ;  proiride  their  own  arms, 
horses  and  other  equipnlents ;  trap  and  trf de^  On'  their  6\9ii  accbunt,  and  dispose  of 
their  skins  and  peltries  to  the  highest  bidder.  Sometimes,  in  a  dangerous  hunting 
groand,  they  attach  themselves  to  the  camp  of*^fbfe%a^r  for  protection.  Here 
thej  come  under  some  restrictions ;  they  hiHre  to  conform  to  the  ordinary  rules  for 
trapping,  and  to  submit  to  such  restraints  and  to  take  part  in  such  general  duties  as 
are  established  for  the  good  order  and  safety  of  the  camp.  In  return  for  this  pro- 
tection and  their  camp-keeping,  they  are  bound  to  dispose  of  all  the  beaver  they 
lake  to  the  trader  who  commands  the  camp,  at  a  certain  rate  per  skin ;  or,  should 
they  prefer  seeking  a  market  elsewhere,  they  are  to  make  him  an  allowance  of  from 
thirty  to  forty  dollars  for  the  whole  hunt." 

Washington  Irving,  who  gained  access  to  the  extended  notes  of  Captain  Bonne- 
▼iUcy  continues  with  the  following  free  transcription: 

"The  wandering  whites  who  mingle  for  any  length  of  time  with  the  savages 
hare  invariably  a  proneness  to  adopt  savage  habitudes ;  but  none  more  so  than  the 
free  trappers.  It  is  a  matter  of  vanity  and  ambition  with  them  to  discard  every- 
thing  that  may  bear  the  stamp  of  civilized  life,  and  to  adopt  the  manners,  habits, 
dress,  gestures,  and  even  walk  of  the  Indian.  You  can  not  pay  a  free  trapper  a 
greater  compliment  than  to  persuade  him  you  have  mistaken  him  for  an  Indian 
hrare;  and  in  truth,  the  counterfeit  is  complete.  His  hair,  suffered  to  attain  to 
a  great  length,  is  carefully  combed  out,  and  either  left  to  fall  carelessly  over  his 
thoolders,  or  plaited   neatly  and   tied   up  in   otterskins   or   parti-colored   ribbons. 


56  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

A  huntiiig^shirt  of  ruffled  calico  of  bright  dyes^  or  of  ornamented  leather  falls  to  his 
knee;  below  which  curiously  fashioned  leggings^  ornamented  with  strings^  fringes 
and  a  profusion  of  hawkbells^  reach  to  a  costly  pair  of  moccasins  of  the  finest  In- 
dian fabric^  richly  embroidered  with  beads.  A  blanket^  of  scarlet  or  some  other 
bright  color^  hangs'  from  his  shoulders^  and  is  girt  round  his  waist  with  a  red  sash, 
in  which  he  bestows  his  pistols^  knife,  and  the  stem  of  his  Indian  pipe;  prepara- 
tions either  for  peace  or  war.  His  gun  is  lavishly  decorated  with  brass  tacks  and 
vermilion,  and  provided  with  a  fringed  cover,  occasionally  of  buckskin,  ornamented 
here  and  there  with  a  feather. 

"His  horse,  the  noble  minister  to  the  pride,  pleasure  and  profit  of  the  moun- 
taineer is  selected  for  his  speed  and  spirit  and  prancing  gait,  and  holds  a  place  in 
his  estimation  second  only  to  himself.  He  is  caparisoned  in  the  most  dashing  and 
fantastic  style;  the  bridle  and  crupper  are  weightily  embossed  with  beads  and 
cockades;  and  head,  mane  and  tail  are  interwoven  with  an  abundance  of  eagle 
plumes  which  flutter  in  the  wind.  To  complete  this  grotesque  equipment,  the  proud 
animal  is  bestreaked  and  bespotted  with  vermilion,  or  with  white  clay,  whichever 
presents  the  most  glaring  contrast  to  his  real  color." 

The  Spokanes,  like  all  other  Indians  of  the  interior,  were  inordinately  fond,  of 
tobacco,  and  to  gratify  their  appetite  would  resort  to  industry  when  all  other  mo- 
tives were  powerless  to  lure  them  from  their  habits  of  indolence.  No  business,  how- 
ever trifling  in  importance,  could  be  transacted  until  the  negotiants  had  been  indulged 
in  an  extended  preliminary  smoke. 

A  party  would  arrive  at  the  fort  with  the  produce  of  their  traps,  deposit  it  on 
the  floor  and  gravely  squat  around  the  heap  in  a  circle.  Thereupon  the  trader 
would  light  his  long  peace  pipe  and  go  through  a  ceremonial  performance,  directing 
'  first  his  face  to  the  east,  giving  a  solemn  pufF  in  that  quarter,  and  then  repeating 
the  performance  with  his  face  towards  the  other  cardinal'  points  of  the  compass. 
After  a  few  short  quick  pufFs,  he  would  then  pass  the  pipe  to  the  chief,  who  would 
go  through  the  same  ritual,  after  which  the  calumet  would  be  handed  to  the  Indian 
next  on  his  right,  who  would  give  a  few  whifFs  and  then  pass  it  along.  In  this  way 
the  pipe  would  pass  from  hand  to  hand  imtil  the  tobacco  burned  out,  when  the 
trader  would  present  the  party  with  a  quantity  of  tobacco  for  individual  smoking, 
which  they  would  generally  finish  before  taking  up  the  business  of  barter,  remark- 
ing that  they  had  been  "a  long  time  very  hungry  for  a  smoke." 

The  smoking  over,  each  man  divided  his  skins  into  different  lots,  and  made  it 
known  to  the  trader  that  he  was  ready  for  business,  indicating  his  wants  and  that 
he  was  ready  to  trade  each  little  pile  for  some  particular  article  or  articles.  The 
business  transacted,  another  smoking  match  followed  preliminary  to  their  departure 
for  their  village  or  encampment.  The  traders  at  Spokane  House  found  them 
"shrewd,  hard  dealers,  not  a  whit  inferior  to  any  native  of  Yorkshire,  Scotland  or 
Connaught  in  driving  a  bargain." 

At  times,  before  the  Astor  posts  had  passed  to  the  control  of  the  Northwesters, 
competition  was  as  keen  between  these  rivals  as  nowadays  between  competing  com- 
mercial travelers  from  Spokane,  Portland  and  Seattle.  An  incident  in  the  spring 
of  1818  will  illustrate  both  the  Indian  love  of  tobacco  and  the  keen  rivalry  then 
existing  between  the  Astorians  and  the  Northwesters. 

One  forenoon,  at  11  o'clock,  Mr.  Clarke  at  Spokane  House  received  a  letter  by 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  57 

courier  from  Mr.  Famham^  who  had  been  dispatched  a  few  days  previously  with 
a  party  to  trade  with  the  Flatheads  in  the  country  to  the  east^  informing  him  that  he 
had  fallen  in  with  a  large  band  of  Flatheads  who  had  a  rich  supply  of  furs^  the 
produce  of  their  winter's  efforts;  that  his  rivals  Mr.  McDonald,  was  also  on  the 
ground,  but  that  both  himself  and  McDonald  were  quite  out  of  tobacco,  and 
all  business  was  at  a  standstill.  Famham  added  that  the  one  who  should  get  the 
first  supply  of  tobacco  would,  by  treating  the  Indians  to  a  grand  smoking  feast, 
obtain  their  furs,  and  urged  the  utmost  endeavor  to  expedite  the  sending  of  a 
supply.  It  was  absolutely  necessary,  he  said,  that  the  tobacco  be  delivered  to  him 
that  night,  to  prevent  the  Indians  treating  with  McDonald,  with  whom  they  had 
had  a  longer  acquaintance  than  with  Farnham. 

The  rival  traders  were  then  at  the  falls  of  the  Pend  d'Oreille,  near  the  present 
town  of  Newport,  seventy-two  miles  distant  from  Spokane  House,  and  Mr.  Clarke 
at  first  desp»aired  of  victory,  considering  it  impossible  for  any  horse  to  cover  that 
distance  in  the  limited  hours  of  daylight  that  remained.  He  was  about  giving  up 
the  contest  as  hopeless  when  one  of  his  clerks  volunteered  to  make  the  effort  if 
Clarke  would  aUow  him  to  ride  a  noted  horse  of  his  own,  called  Le  Bleu.  The  offer 
was  accepted,  the  saddle  thrown  on  Le  Bleu,  and  at  12  o'clock  the  derk  galloped 
away  from  Spokane  House  to  the  encouragement  of  cheers  from  the  men.  His 
course  lay,  for  much  the  greater  part  of  the  way,  the  length  of  the  valley  of  the 
Spokane,  and  the  trail  being  in  excellent  condition,  no  difficulty  was  encountered 
so  long  as  there  remained  a  glimmer  of  daylight,  and  the  rider  had  open  country 
before  him.  The  last  ten  miles  of  the  way  lay  in  forest,  and  dusk  descending,  the 
rider  was  delayed  by  darkness  and  obstructions  of  underbrush  and  fallen  trees; 
but  persistence  triumphed,  and  as  he  came  out  of  the  woods  his  eye  was  gladdened 
by  the  glare  of  campfires  along  the  portage. 

The  thick  twist  was  soon  in  the  hands  of  Famham,  word  quickly  ran  through 
the  encampment  that  tobacco  had  arrived,  and  in  an  incredibly  brief  time  clouds 
of  smoke  were  floating  above  the  heads  of  white  trader  and  Indian  warrior.  The 
Flatheads  thanked  Mr.  Farnham  for  his  extraordinary  efforts  to  indulge  them,  and 
promised  that  he  should  have  all  their  furs ;  but  to  clinch  the  compact  he  suggested 
that  they  deposit  their  packages  overnight  in  his  tent,  enjoy  themselves  meanwhile 
In  unlimited  free  smoke,  and  take  up  the  business  of  barter  the  following  morning. 
This  they  readily  accepted,  and  the  Astorians  got  the  last  fur  the  day  after,  not- 
withstanding two  of  their  rivals  came  in  a  few  hours  later  with  a  quantity  of  tobac- 
co, dispatched  also  from  Spokane  House  as  soon  as  the  Northwesters  there  had 
scented  the  meaning  of  the  hurried  departure  of  their  competitors.  The  Canadians 
were  deeply  chagrined  by  the  success  of  the  Americans  and  upbraided  the  Flat- 
heads  for  having  deserted  them  for  strangers ;  but  the  latter  philosophically  replied 
that  since  the  Astorians  had  been  the  first  to  gratify  their  hungry  cravings  for 
tobacco,  it  would  have  been  ungrateful  for  them  not  to  reciprocate;  and  as  for  such 
debts  as  were  owing  from  them  to  the  Canadians,  they  promised  faithfully  to  cancel 
them  in  future  dealings. 

Le  Bleu  was  described  by  an  admirer  at  the  time  as  "a  noble  animal,  between 
fifteen  and  sixteen  hands  high,  seven  years  of  age,  admirably  btdlt,  and  derived  his 
name  from  his  color,  which  was  a  dappled  white  and  sky-blue.  He  was  also  a  prime 
racer,  and  had  beaten  all  competitors  on  the  turf." 


58  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Gox  credits  the  Spokanes  as  "an  honest,  friendly  tribe,"  adding  that  "they  are 
g^od  hunters,  but  somewhat  indolent,  fond  of  gambling,  despotic  husbands,  but 
indulgent  fathers.  Their  women  are  great  slaves,  and  most  submissive  to  marital 
authority.  They  did  not  exhibit  the  same  indifference  to  the  superior  comforts 
of  a  white  man's  wife  as  that  displayed  by  the  Flathead  women,  and  some  of  'them 
consequently  became  partners  of  the  voyageurs.  They  made  excellent  wives,  and 
in  general  conducted  themselves  with  propriety.  Although  the  Spokane  men  are 
extremely  jealous,  and  punish  with  severity  any  infidelity  on  the  part  of  their 
wives,  they  themselves  are  not  overscrupulous  in  their  own  conduct." 

In  this  connection  the  same  authority  narrates  a  tragic  incident  at  Spokane 
House:  "Slavish  and  submissive  as  the  Spokane  women  are,  they  do  not  tamely 
submit  to  the  occasional  lapses  of  their  husbands,  an  instance  of  which  occurred 
in  the  summer  of  1815,  while  I  was  at  Spokane  House.  One  of  the  tribe,  named 
Singelsaascoghaght,  (or  the  horse)  from  his  gpreat  swiftness  and  dexterity  in  riding, 
was  a  tall  and  rather  handsome  Indian.  He  was  remarkable  for  his  gallantries. 
His  wife  had  for  some  time  suspected  him  of  carrying  on  an  intrigue,  and  being  con- 
stantly on  the  watch,  she  soon  discovered  that  her  suspicions  were  not  groundless. 
The  very  night  of  the  discovery,  while  he  was  in  a  profound  sleep,  she  inflicted  on 
him  a  dreadful  injury,  of  which  he  died  before  morning.  On  the  intelligence 
becoming  public,  a  crowd  of  his  relations  assembled  around  the  lodge,  to  whom  she 
openly  avowed  herself  as  the  author  of  his  death,  stating  at  the  same  time  her 
reasons  for  committing  the  dreadful  act;  but  she  had  scarcely  finished  when  an 
arrow  from  her  husband's  brother  quivered  in  her  heart.  Her  relations  instantly 
collected.  Guns,  arrows  and  tomahawks  were  in  instant  requisition,  and  before  we 
could  arrive  to  check  the  bloody  conflict,  two  men  and  two  women  had  fallen  vic- 
tims. Our  presence  restored  tranquility,  and  as  the  sufferers  on  each  side  were 
equally  divided,  we  experienced  no  gpreat  difficulty  in  bringing  about  a  reconcilia- 
tion, and  each  party   rested  satisfied  with  its  respective  Ipss." 

By  the  same  writer  the  Pointed  Hearts,  or,  as  the  Canadians  called  them,  Les 
Coeurs  d'Alenes,  (Hearts  of  Awls)  ^ere  described  as  a  small  tribe  inhabiting  the 
shores  of  a  lake  about  fifty  miles  to  the  eastward  of  Spokane  House.  "Some  of  this 
tribe  occasionally  visited  our  fort  with  furs  to  barter,  and  we  made  a  few  excur- 
sions to  their  lands.  We  found  them  uniformly  honest  in  their  traffic,  but  they  did 
not  evince  the  same  warmth  of  friendship  for  us  as  the  Spokanes,  and  expressed  no 
desire  for  the  establishment  of  a  trading  post  among  them.  They  are  in  many 
respects  more  savage  than  their  neighbors,  and  I  have  seen  some  of  them  often  eat 
deer  and  other  meat  raw.  They  are  also  more  unfeeling  husbands,  and  frequently 
beat  their  wives  in  an  unfeeling  manner." 

These  two  tribes  had  been  at  war  about  twenty  years  before  the  advent  of  the 
white  traders,  arising  out  of  an  incident  of  a  Trojan  nature,  but  at  the  period  of 
these  writings  were  at  peace,  and  intermarried  and  appeared  to  be  on  terms  of 
perfect  friendship. 

By  both  tribes  the  women  were  condemned  to  a  life  of  great  drudgery.  They 
collected  the  firewood,  carried  the  water,  cooked  the  food,  prepared  the  raiment, 
dressed  the  skins  and  gathered  and  dried  the  winter's  store  of  roots  and  berries.    When 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  59 

a  hunter  killed  a  deer^  he  merely  cut  out  the  tongue  or  removed  enough  for  a  single 
meal,  and  on  his  return  to  the  encampment  dispatched  his  wife  to  carry  in  the 
body,  she  having  for  guidance  in  this  task  notches  cut  on  trees  by  her  hunter  hus- 
band. The  women,  however,  seemed  quite  contented  in  their  subordinate  position, 
notwithstanding  its  harships  and  their  almost  total  lack  of  influence  in  tribal 
matters. 


Tht  >EW  YUhK 

iFUiJUC  LiBHART 


CHAPTER  VII 

EARLY  DAY  MISSIONS  IN  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

CRUDE  HI88ION    EFFORTS  OF    CATHOLIC    IROQUOIS EMBLEM    OF  THE    CROSS    ON   THE   CO- 
LUMBIA  ^INDIAN   PILGRIMAGE   TO   ST.   LOUIS ARRIVAL   OF   REV.    SAMUEL   PARKER   IN 

1885 — HIS  TRAVELS  IN  THE  SPOKANE  COUNTRY ^ARRIVAL  OF  "WHITMAN  AND  SPALD- 
ING WITH  THEIR  BRIDES OVERLAND  JOURNEY  OF  EBLLS  AND  WALKER  WITH  THEIR 

BRIDES ^ADVENTURES  ON  THE  PLAINS  AND  IN  THE  MOUNTAINS ARRIVAL  AT  WHIT- 
MAN MISSION    NEAR   WALLA   WALLA. 

The  groves  were  God's  first  temples.    Ere  man  learn'd 

To  hew  the  shaft  and  lay  the  architrave, 

And  spread  the  roof  ahove  them^ — ere  he  framed 

The  lofty  vault,  to  gather  and  roll  back 

The  sound  of  anthems ;  in  the  darkling  wood. 

Amid  the  cool  and  silence,  he  knelt  down. 

And  offer'd  to  the  Mightiest  solemn  thanks 

And  supplication. 

— WilUam  Cullen  Bryant, 

WITH  the  earliest  advent  of  the  white  man  in  this  region,  bringing  with 
him  arms,  implements,  food,  attire  and  customs  different  from  those  of 
the  natives ;  keen  curiosity  was  created  in  the  Indian  mind  regarding  the 
source  of  his  superior  civilization  and  gifts.  Some  slight  efforts  were  made  by  Cap- 
tains Lewis  and  Ciark  to  enlighten  the  savage  intellect  with  respect  to  the  Bible 
uul  Christianity,  but  the  results  were  necessarily  meager,  both  from  the  limitations 
of  the  aboriginal  mind  and  an  exceedingly  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  Indian  tongues. 
Native  conception  of  the  benefits  of  Christianity  was  chiefly  if  not  wholly  material 
rather  than  moral,  and  after  these  explorers  had  left  the  country,  a  belief  arose  in 
the  minds  of  the  more  intelligent  chiefs  and  head  men  that  possession  and  knowledge 
of  the  white  man's  "book"  would  supply  their  people  with  the  key  to  civilization  and 
the  mechanic  arts. 

A  few  years  after  the  departure  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  a  number  of  Christianized 
Iroquois  Indians,  who  had  been  attached  to  fur  trading  establishments  in  Canada, 
loimd  their  way  over  the  Rocky  mountains  and  fraternized  with  some  of  the  tribes 
inhabiting  the  Inland  Empire,  notably  the  Flatheads  and  tribes  along  the  Columbia. 
Zealous  to  spread  the  light  of  the  gospel,  these  Catholic  Iroquois  attempted  in  a  crude 
way  to  convert  the  tribes  to  Christianity.    When  David  Stuart,  a  partner  in  John 

61 


62  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

* 

Jacob  Astor's  Pacific  Fur  company^  was  ascending  the  Columbia  in  the  spring  of 
1811  to  establish  a  trading  post  at  the  mouth  of  the  Okanogan^  he  observed  that 
religious  services  or  ceremonies  were  being  conducted  by  one  of  these  Iroquois  mia- 
sionaries^  and  from  that  circumstance  named  the  cascades  at  that  point  "Priest 
Rapids^"  and  Priest  Rapids  they  remain  to  the  present  day. 

Considerable  results  probably  attended  these  missionizing  efforts^  for  the  Rever- 
end Samuel  Parker^  sent  out  here  by  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions  in  1835  to  explore  the  country  and  choose  sites  for  Protestant 
missions^  reported  finding  along  the  Columbia  in  eastern  Washington,  a  number  of 
Indian  graves  over  which  rudely  constructed  crosses  had  been  lifted  by  pious  hands. 
"The  night  of  our  arrival,"  says  Parker,  "a  little  girl,  of  about  six  or  seven  years 
of  age,  died.  The  morning  of  the  12th  they  buried  her.  Everything  relating  to 
the  ceremony  was  conducted  with  great  propriety.  The  grave  was  dug  only  about 
two  feet  deep ;  and  with  their  hands  they  fill  up  the  grave  after  the  body  is  deposited 
in  it.  A  mat  is  laid  in  the  grave;  then  the  body  wrapped  in  its  blanket,  with  the 
child's  drinking  cup  and  spoon,  made  of  horn;  then  a  mat  of  rushes  is  spread  over 
the  whole. 

"In  this  instance  they  had  prepared  a  cross  to  set  up  at  the  grave,  most  probably 
having  been  told  to  do  so  by  some  Iroquois  Indians,  a  few  of  whom,  not  in  the 
capacity  of  teachers,  but  as  trappers  in  the  employ  of  the  fur  companies,  I  saw  west 
of  the  mountains." 

Apparently  unconscious  of  a  spirit  of  bigotry,  and  unmindful  that  he  was  sewing 
dragon  seeds  of  discord  that  would  bring  fruits  of  bitter  controversy  between  Pro- 
testant and  Catholic  missions,  Parker  added: 

"As  I  viewed  a  cross  of  wood  made  by  men's  hands  of  no  avail  to  benefit  either 
the  dead  or  the  living,  and  far  more  likely  to  operate  as  a  salve  to  a  guilty  con- 
science,  or  a  stepping  stone  to  idolatry,  than  to  be  understood  in  its  spiritual  sense 
to  refer  to  a  crucifixion  of  our  sins,  I  took  this,  which  the  Indians  had  prepared,  and 
broke  it  to  pieces.  I  then  told  them  that  we  place  a  stone  at  the  head  and  foot  of 
the  grave,  only  to  mark  the  place;  and  without  a  murmur,  they  cheerfully  acqui- 
esced, and  adopted  our  custom." 

Twenty-six  years  after  the  return  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  a  delegation  of  five  Nei 
Perces,  two  Spokanes  and  probably  two  or  three  Flatheads,  moved  by  a  longing  to 
learn  the  ways  of  white  civilization,  and  professing  an  earnest  desire  to  acquire  the 
great  "book"  of  which  these  explorers  had  spoken,  ventured  across  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains and  down  the  Missouri  river  to  St.  Louis.  There  they  found  their  old  friend 
Captain  LeMris,  serving  as  Indian  commissioner  for  the  entire  northwest,  and  to  him 
made  known  their  hearts'  desire.  Clark  was  a  Catholic,  and  some  of  the  Indians 
became  converts  to  his  faith,  two  of  whom  died  there  and  received  burial  in  conse- 
crated ground.  On  their  return  journey  these  red  searchers  for  the  truth  experienced 
severe  hardships  and  perils,  and  several  of  them  were  either  killed  or  enslaved  by 
the  warlike  and  predatory  Sioux  in  the  land  of  the  Dakotahs.  Only  a  remnant  of 
the  delegation  survived  to  narrate  to  their  own  people  the  stirring  story  of  their 
adventures  and  the  wondrous  sights  that  had  unrolled  before  their  astonished  vision. 

Accounts  of  this  extraordinary  pilgrimage  found  their  way  into  eastern  news- 
papers, and  appealed  to  mission  zeal,  both  Protestant  and  Catholic.  Moved  by  this 
stirring  incident,  the  mission  authorities  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  the 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  63 

American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions^  and  the  Catholic  Order  of 
Society  of  Jesus^  all  planted  vigorous  missions  in  the  Pacific  northwest.  The  Meth- 
odists sent  out  the  two  Lees,  Jason  and  Daniel,  uncle  and  nephew,  who,  with  two 
lay  members,  crossed  the  continent  to  found  missions  among  the  Indians  east  of  the 
mountains.  They  arrived  on  the  Columbia  river  in  1834,  and  were  persuaded  by 
Dr.  John  McLoughlin,  chief  factor  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company,  stationed  at 
Vancouver,  to  alter  their  plans  and  establish  their  mission  and  school  in  the  Willa- 
mette valley. 

One  year  later  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  ap- 
pointed an  exploring  mission  to  the  Pacific  northwest,  "to  ascertain,  by  personal 
observation,  the  condition  and  character  of  the  Indian  nations  and  tribes,  and  the 
facilities  for  introducing  the  gospel  and  civilization  among  them."  This  society 
was  supported  by  the  Congregational,  Presbyterian  and  Dutch  Reformed  churches, 
and  selected  for  its  explorers,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Parker  and  several  other  volunteers. 
They  arrived  at  St.  Louis  in  the  spring  of  1834,  too  late  to  join  the  annual  expedi- 
tion of  the  American  Fur  company.  Two  members  of  the  party  took  up  mission 
work  among  the  Pawnees,  but  Parker,  having  been  joined  in  April,  1834,  by  Dr. 
Marcus  Whitman,  the  two  traveled  to  Green  river,  in  what  is  now  the  state  of  Wyo- 
ming, under  protection  of  the  annual  brigade  of  the  fur  company.  On  that  stream, 
at  a  point  known  as  Rendezvous,  Indians  from  both  sides  of  the  Rocky  mountains, 
together  with  traders  and  trappers  from  a  wide  expanse  of  country,  were  accus- 
tomed to  assemble  for  trade.  Information  gathered  at  the  Rendezvous,  from  "moun- 
tain men,"  white  traders  and  Indians,  convinced  Parker  and  Whitman  that  various 
tribes  living  west  of  the  mountains  desired  missions  and  schools.  It  was  thereupon 
resolved  that  Dr.  Whitman  should  return  to  the  east  to  secure  helpers,  and  Rev. 
Parker  continue  west  to  prepare  the  way. 

Upon  his  return  to  the  "United  States,"  Mr.  Parker  wrote  and  published  an 
informative,  entertaining  account  of  his  journeyings  "beyond  the  Rocky  mountains." 
He  possessed  keen  powers  of  observation,  a  well  trained  analytical  mind,  and  great 
capacity  for  enduring  weariness  and  hardships  and  adapting  himself  to  savage  life 
and  surroundings.  In  the  course  of  his  extensive  travels,  Parker  explored  the  Spo- 
kane country.  He  had  arrived  at  old  Fort  Walla  Walla,  on  the  Columbia,  in  the 
latter  part  of  May,  1835.  and  having  obtained  Indian  guides  and  two  French  voya- 
geurt  as  assistants,  "concluded  to  take  horses,  and  to  go  up  through  the  Spokein 
country,  leaving  the  great  bend  of  the  Columbia  river  to  the  left  some  fifty  or  sixty 
miles.  .  .  .  On  Sabbath,  2 2d,  we  had  worship  as  usual,  and  the  following  day 
commenced  the  journey  for  Colville." 

The  little  party  crossed  Snake  river  near  the  mouth  of  the  Palouse,  by  Parker 
called  the  Pavilion  river,  ascended  that  stream,  and  passing  north  through  the 
Palouse  country,  came  to  the  lands  of  the  "Spokeins."  "We  stopped  for  the  night, 
after  a  ride  of  fifty  miles,  near  one  of  these  villages  of  Spokeins.  Their  language 
differs  almost  entirely  from  any  tribe  or  nation  I  have  yet  seen." 

Father  Cushing  Eells,  who,  with  the  Rev.  Elkanah  Walker,  established  the  first 
mission  among  the  Spokanes,  and  labored  with  them  for  ten  years,  describes  the 
Spokane  language  as  harsh  and  guttural.  "It  makes  me  think  of  persons  husking 
com,"  was  the  expression  made  by  one  person  on  hearing  it.  "In  this  respect," 
▼rites  Myron  Eells,  "it  is  very  unlike  the  adjoining  Nez  Perce,  which  is  soft  and 


64  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

musical.  It  is  also  unlike  the  Nez  Perce  in  its  use  of  prepositions,  the  former  hav- 
ing many  and  the  latter  almost  none,  their  places  being  supplied  by  the  inflections 
of  the  verb." 

"A  few  nouns  form  their  plural  by  reduplication,  and  some  are  irregular.  For 
example,  the  word  for  man,  skul-tu-mi-hu,  becomes  in  the  plural  skul-skul-tu-mi-hn ; 
hand,  kal-lish,  is  kil-kal-lish ;  and  mountain,  ets-im-mo-ko,  is  ets-im-mo-ko-mo-ko ; 
but  woman,  sem-ain,  is  pal-pil-kwi  in  the  plural ;  and  tree,  sa-at-kl,  is  sil-a-sil.  The 
plural  for  Indian,  skai-lu,  is  the  same,  and  that  of  boy  is  expressed  by  a  numeral. 

"There  are  no  comparatives  or  jspperlatives  among  the  adjectives.  If  two 
horses  are  placed  side  by  side,  one  is  bad  and  the  other  is  good ;  but  if  the  better  of 
the  two  is  compared  with  another  still  better  it  becomes  bad  and  the  latter  is  called 
good. 

"Phrases  are  very  common,  but  not  compounded  according  to  rule.  It  was  nec- 
essary to  learn  them  by  the  power  of  memory,  and  these,  in  a  great  measure,  take  the 
place  of  grammar.  In  these  phrases  many  contractions  take  place,  and  occasional 
changes  of  letters,  evidently  for  the  sake  of  euphony. 

"The  language  ,of  the  Spokanes  is  said  to  be  the  veritable  Flathead  language, 
and  belongs  to  the  Salishan  family  spoken  by. many  Indians,  though  not  by  all,  be- 
tween the  Pacific  ocean  and  the  Rocky  mountains,  extending  south  of  the  Columbia 
and  north  a  little  beyond  its  sources.  The  geography  of  this  Salishan  family  covers 
the  greater  portion  of  Washington  southern  Idaho  and  much  of  British  Columbia, 
though  other  families,  as  the  Sahaptian,  including  the  Nez  Perces  and  Yakima,  are 
also  used  by  the  Indians  of  the  state.  .  .  .  The  Spokane  language  seems  to 
have  less  regularity  and  grammar  than  many  others  belonging  to  the  Salishan  fam- 
ily, especially  those  on  Puget  Sound." 

Parker  and  his  little  party  traveled  through  the  Spokane  woods  and  struck  the 
river  about  ten  miles  below  the  falls.  They  hallooed  for  a  long  time  for  the  Indian 
who  kept  a  ferry  there,  and  after  a  while  "two  women  came  to  the  stream,  and  with 
uncommonly  pleasant  voices,  together  with  the  language  of  signs,  the  latter  of 
which  only  I  could  understand,  informed  us  that  the  ferryman  was  gone  upon  a 
short  hunt,  would  return  in  the  evening,  and  the  next  morning  at  sun  two  hours  high 
he  would  come  and  take  us  over.  I  never  heard  voices  more  expressive  of  kindness. 
I  requested  them  to  paddle  the  canoe  over  to  us,  and  my  men  would  perform  the 
labor  ef  ferrying  over  our  baggage.  They  declined  on  account  of  the  rapidity  and 
strength  of  the  current,  the  river  being  in  full  freshet.  Therefore  we  had  to  en- 
camp and  wait  for  the  morning." 

Parker  found  "this  a  very  pleasant,  open  valley,  though  not  extensively  wide." 
He  visited  the  old  trading  post  of  the  Northwest  fur  company,  only  one  bastion  then 
remaining  standing. 

The  following  morning  the  ferryman  crossed  over  at  the  appointed  hour,  and 
after  passing  the  river  they  traversed  "the  valley  of  level  alluvial  soil,"  where  it  is 
about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  wide,  and  the  east  side  especially  is  very  fertile. 

"Here  the  village  of  the  Spokeins  is  located,  and  one  of  their  number  has  com- 
menced the  cultivation  of  a  small  field  or  garden,  which  he  has  planted  with  pota- 
toes, peas  and  beans  and  some  other  vegetables,  all  of  which  were  flourishing,  and 
were  the  first  I  had  seen  springing  up  under  Indian  industry  west  of  the  mountains." 

The  Spokanes  appear  to  have  attained  a  higher  state  of  thrift  and  industry  un- 


JASON  LEE'S   MISSION  IN  THE  WILLAMETTE  VALLEY 


METHODIST  MISSION  AT  THE  DAT.LF;S.  FOUNDED  IN  183M 


Th.^ 


/^0i^ 


>£w 


U*wt 


CHAPTER  VI 

AMUSING  AND  TRAGIC  INCIDENTS 

DAKCINO  WITH  SPOKANE  NTMPHS PETER  SKENE  OODEN  AND  HIS  INDIAN  WIFE^-FRENCH 

THE  PRETAILINO  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY LOUIS  LA  LIBERTe's  WOUNDED  PRIDE 

— THRILLING     ADVENTURE     WITH     A     GRIZZLY     BEAR ROUGH     LIFE     OF     THE     FREE 

TRADERS KEEN    COMPETITION FORCED    RIDE    WITH    A    SUPPLY    OF    TOBACCO SPO- 
KANE WOMEN  GREAT  SLAVES SHOCKING  DOUBLm  ACTiOF:  REVENGE. 

ROSS,  who  came  out  on  the  Tonquin  in  1811,  and  made  frequent  trips  to  the 
interior,  has  recorded  a  graphic  pi^^^];le^  of  Spokane  House  as  it  ap- 
peared a  hundred  years  ago:  ^  "There' all*  thfe*  wintering  parties,  with 
ezcq>tion  of  the  northern  district,  met.  There  they  all  fitted  out;  it  was  the  great 
starting  point.  ...  At  Spokane  House  there  were  handsome  buildings;  there 
was  a  ballroom  even,  and  no  females  in  the  land  so  fair  to  look  upon  as  the  nymphs 
of  Spokane;  no  damsels  could  dance  so  gracefully  as  they,  none  were  so  attractive. 
But  Spokane  House  was  not  celebrated  for  fine  women  only ;  there  were  fine  horses 
also.  The  race-ground  was  admired,  and  the  pleasures  of  the  chase  often  yielded 
to  the  pleasures  of  the  race.     Altogether  Spokane  House  was  a  delightful  place." 

This  breathes  a  spirit  of  badinage,  but  relatively,  as  rough  conditions  then 
went  at  this  and  other  posts,  it  sketches  a  picture  that  is  fairly  true. 

Among  the  notable  traders  who  yielded  to  the  blandishments  of  the  Spokane 
ladies  of  that  dim  and  distant  day  was  Peter  Skene  Ogden,  who  took  for  wife  a 
remarkable  woman  of  that  tribe.  She  bore  him  several  children,  and  carried  into 
a  serene  old  age  a  reputation  as  a  faithful  and  dutiful  spouse  and  a  kind  and 
attentive  mother.  She  followed  the  fortunes  of  her  white  master  to  the  lower 
Columbia,  and  dwelt  for  many  years  at  Fort  Vancouver  and  Oregon  City.  She 
died,  at  the  age  of  86,  at  Lac  La  Hache,  British  Columbia.  Ogden  failed  to 
ratify  the  alliance  with  a  formal  marriage^  evpp  when  pressed  to  do  so  as  he  lay 
upon  his  couch  of  death.  To  the  urgent  solicitation  of  gck>d  old  Dr.  McLoughlin 
he  made  answer  that  if  many  years  of  public  recognition  of  the  relation  and  of  his 
children  did  not  constitute  sufficient  proof,  no  forqifil  .words  of  priest  or  magistrate 
codd  help  the  matter.  Ogden  left  a  valuable  estatfe,  and  this  irregularity  invited 
a  vigorous  contest  of  his  will  by  relatives  in  England,  but  the  dispute  was  amicably 
compromised  through  the  efforts  of  Sir  George  Simpson,  the  executor  of  the  will. 

Ogden,  who  came  from  an  influential  colonial  family,  revealed  in  his  boyhood 
a  daring  and  adventurous  spirit  which  lured  him,  while  yet  a  youth,  into  the  west- 
cm  wilds.     He  had  been  for  a  while,  in  the  service  of  John  Jacob  Astor  as  a 

Vol  1-4 

49 


66  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

aded^  but  so  friendly  have  the  natives  always  been,  that  no  wars  have  ever  occurred 
among  them.  It  is  occupied  by  some  half  dozen  men  with  Indian  families,  and  is 
well  supplied  with  the  useful  animals  and  fowls  common  to  farming  establish- 
ments. The  winter  and  summer  grains,  together  with  garden  vegetables,  are  culti- 
vated with  success  and  in  profusion." 

This  trading  post  or  fort,  then  in  possession  of  the  Hudson's  'Bay  company,  had 
been  established  by  the  Northwest  company  in  1811,  and  had  passed,  with  the  other 
posts  of  the  Northwesters,  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  people  when  they  absorbed  the 
Northwesters. 

A§  the  day  after  his  arrival  was  Sunday,  Parker  conducted  ^  services  for  the 
people  of  the  fort  who  imderstood  English,  "and  we  worshipped  the  God  of  our  lives 
who  had  protected  us  hitherto,  and  from  different  nations  had  collected  us  in  a 
little  group  in  this  end  of  the  world." 

The  service  over,  a  number  of  the  Indians  gathered  about  the  preacher  "and 
expressed  great  anxiety  to  be  taught  the  revealed  will  of  God."  They  endeavored 
to  make  him  understand  their  former  beliefs  and  practices,  and  affirmed  that  what 
they  had  so  far  learned  from  him  appealed  to  them  as  reasonable  and  satisfactory. 
Parker  was  moved  by  this  experience,  which  appealed  powerfully  to  his  intense 
religious  zeal,  to  inveigh  against  the  coldness  of  the  Christian  world.  "How  little 
of  the  faith,  and  love,  and  liberality  of  the  church,"  he  lamented,  "is  invested  in  the 
most  profitable  of  all  enterprises,  the  conversion  of  the  world.  Should  some  one 
propose  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  demon- 
strate the  practicability  of  the  measure,  and  show  that  nature  has  interposed  no 
effectual  barrier,  and  that  it  would  concentrate  not  only '  the  whole  internal,  but 
also  the  China  trade,  and  the  stoc&  would  produce  annually  a  rich  dividend,  how 
soon  would  Christians  engage  in  it."  * 

It  is  somewhat  singular  that  this  preacher  in  the  wilderness,  'profoundly  stirred 
by  mission  zeal,  thus  casually  stumbled  upon  the  precise  arguments  that  later  were 
employed  by  the  promoters  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  to  float  the  stock  in 
that  vast  industrial  enterprise. 

After  a  short  sojourn,  at  Colville,  Parker  followed  the  windings  of  the  Columbia 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Okanogan.  There  he  purchased  a  bateau,  and  employing  two, 
Indians  to  take  his  horses  overland  to  old  Fort  Walla  Walla,  descended  tlie  Columbia 
to  Vancouver,  and  a  few  weeks  later  took  passage  in  a  sailing  vessel,  via  the  Sand- 
wich islands,  for  the  Atlantic  coast,  arriving  at  his  home  in  Ithaca,  New  York,  on 
the  2Srd  of  May,  "after  an  absence  of  more  than  two  years  and  two  months,  and 
having  journeyed  28,000  miles." 

His  published  reports  enter  extensively  into  the  customs  of  Indian  tribes,  the 
geology,  flora  and  fauna  of  the  country,  character  of  soil,  climate,  etc.  From  those 
reports  we  extract  the  following  excerpts  descriptive  of  the  Indians  of  the  interior 
as  they  existed  three  fourths  of  a  century  ago: 

"Proceeding  north,  we  come  to  the  country  of  the  Nez  Perces,  which  has  many 
fertile  parts  adapted  to  tillage,  and  all  of  which  is  a  fine  grazing  country.  They 
number  about  2,500. 

"The  Cay  uses  are  situated  to  the  west  of  the  Nez  Perces,  and  very  much 
resemble  them  in  person,  dress,  habits  and  morals.  They  are  equally  peaceable, 
honest  and  hospitable  to  strangers,"  an  estimate  that  was  hardly  borne  out  by  Dr. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  67 

Whitman's  subsequent  experiences.  "They  number  more  than  2,000  persons. 
Their  wealth  consists  in  horses,  which  are  usually  fine  and  numerous,  it  being  no 
oncommon  thing  for  one  man  to  own  several  hundred.  Their  country,  especially 
about  the  Grand  Round,  is  uncommonly  fertile,  producing  spontaneously  camas  in 
great  abundance,  upon  which,  with  fish  and  some  game,  they  principally  subsist. 
Their  anxiety  to  be  instructed  in  the  way  of  salvation  is  as  great  as  that  of  the 
Nez  Perces  and  Flatheads. 

"The  Walla  Walla  Indians  inhabit  the  country  about  the  river  of  the  same  name, 
and  range  some  distance  below  along  the  Columbia  river.  The  number  of  per- 
sons in  this  tribe  is  about  500.  In  their  character,  employment  and  moral  habits, 
they  do  not  materially  differ  from  the  last  named  tribes. 

"The  Palouse  tribes  are  a  part  of  the  Nez  Perces,  and  in  all  respects  are  like 
them.  Their  residence  is  along  the  Nez  Perce  river  (the  Snake)  and  up  the 
Pavilion  (the  Palouse).  They  numbered  about  300.  The  four  last  named  tribes  speak 
the  same  language,  with  a  little  dialectical  difference. 

"Northeast  of  the  Palouses  are  the  Spokein  nation.  They  number  about  800 
persons,  besides  some  small  tribes  adjoining  them  who  might  be  coimted  a  part  of 
their  nation.  Their  country  is  very  much  diversified  with  mountains  and  valleys, 
prairie  and  woods ;  and  a  large  part  is  of  primitive  formation ;  some  parts  are  very 
fertile.  They  denominate  themselves  the  children  of  the  sun,  which  in  their  language 
is  Spokein.  Their  main  dependence  for  subsistence  is  on  fishing  and  hunting,  to- 
gether with  gathering  roots  and  berries.  They  have  many  horses,  .but  not  so 
numerous  as  their  neighbors  farther  south. 

"East  of  these  are  the  Coeur  d'Alene  Indians,  whose  numbers  are  about  700, 
and  who  are  characterized  by  civility,  honesty  and  kindness.  Their  country  is 
more  open  than  the  Spokeins,  and  equally  if  not  better  adapted  to  agriculture. 

"The  country  of  the  Flatheads  is  still  farther  east  and  southeast,  and  extends 
to  the  Rocky  mountains.  They  are  a  very  interesting  tribe,  dignified  in  their 
persons,  noble,  frank  and  generous  in  their  dispositions;  and  have  always  shown 
a  firm  attachment  to  white  men.  They  number  about  800  persons,  and  live  a 
wandering  life.  For  subsistence  they  follow  the  buffalo  upon  the  waters  of  Clark 
and  Salmon  rivers,  and  often  pass  over  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Missouri.  They 
have  become  a  small  tribe  by  constant  wars  with  the  Blackf eet  Indians ;  not  that 
they  themselves  are  of  a  ferocious  or  hostile  disposition.  Being  averse  to  war, 
they  wish  to  settle  upon  their  lands,  and  are  only  waiting  to  be  instructed  in  the 
arts  of  civilization  and  in  Christianity.  Their  country  is  mountainous,  but  inter- 
sected with  pleasant,  fertile  valleys,  large  portions  of  which  are  prairie.  The 
mountains  are  cold,  but  in  the  valleys  the  climate  is  mild. 

"The  Ponderas  are  so  nearly  like  the  Flatheads  in  person,  manners  and  char- 
acter that  a  particular  description  of  them  may  be  passed  over.  They  number 
about  2,200,  and  live  on  the  north  of  Clark's  river,  and  on  a  lake  which  takes  its 
name  from  the  tribe.  Their  country  has  many  fertile  parts,  and  would  soon  be 
put  under  cultivation,  if  they  could  obtain  instructors  to  teach  them  agriculture 
and  to  impart  to  them  a  knowledge  of  those  things  which  are  necessary  to  con- 
stitute a  happy  and  prosperous  community.  Their  language  is  'the  same  as  the 
Spokeins  and  Flatheads. 

"The  Cootanies   inhabit   a   section   of  country  to   the  north  of  the  Ponderas 


68  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

along  McGillivray's  river^  and  they  are  represented  as  an  Uncommonly  interest- 
ing people.  They  speak  a  language  distinct  from  all  the  tribes  about  them^  open 
and  sonorous^  and  free  from  gutturals^  which  are  common  in  the  language  of  the 
surrounding  tribes.  They  are  neat  in  their  persons  and  lodges^  candid  and  hon- 
esty and  kind  to  each  other.  I  could  not  ascertain  their  numbers^  but  probably 
they  are  not  oyer  a  thousand. 

"North  of  the  Cootanies  are  the  Carriers^  whose  number  is  estimated  to  be 
4^000^  and  south  of  these  are  the  Lake  Indians^  so  named  from  their  place  of  resi- 
dence^ which  is  about  the  Arrow  lakes.     They  are  about  500  in  number. 

"At  the  souths  and  about  ColviUe^  are  the  Kettle  Falls  Indians.  Their  num- 
ber is  560.  West  of  these  are  the  Sinpauelish  (the  San  Polls)  1^000  in  number, 
and  below  these  are  the  Shooshaps,  having  a  population  of  575.  At  the  west 
and  northwest,  next  in  order,  are  the  Okanogans,  numbering  1,050.  Between 
Okanogan  and  the  long  rapids  are  detachments  of  Indians  who  appear  poor,  and 
wanting  in  that  manly  and  active  spirit  which  characterizes  the  tribes  above 
named. 

"South  of  the  long  rapids,  and  to  the  confluence  of  Lewis'  river  (the  Snake) 
with  the  Columbia,  are  the  Yookoomans  (the  Yakimas),  a  more  active  people, 
numbering  about  700. 

"The  whole  number  of  the  above  named  Indians  is  32,585.  This  is  probably 
a  low  estimate,  and  in  the  number  there  are  not  included  the  Fall  and  La  Dalle 
Indians.'' 

A  general  study  of  the  Indian  missions  of  the  northwest  will  not  be  permitted 
by  the  scope  of  this  history.  We  shall,  however,  enter  into  some  detail  with 
regard  to  mission  labors  among  the  Spokanes,  and  to  some  extent  into  the  mis- 
sions conducted  among  neighboring  tribes.  A  brief  review  of  the  events  leading 
up  to  the  establishment,  in  1837-8,  of  the  Eells  and  Walker  mission,  on  Walker's 
prairie,  twenty-five  miles  northwest  of  this  city,  will  be  found  essential  to  a 
clearer  understanding  of  the  systematic  effort  that  was  made  three-fourths  of  a 
century  ago,  to  Christianize  and  civilize  the  various  bands  that  then  inhabited 
the  region  around  the  falls. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman,  who  accompanied  Parker  to 
the  Rendezvous  on  Green  river,  returned  to  the  east  to  stimulate  interest  in  their 
courageous  undertaking,  and  secure  volunteers  for  the  contemplated  mission  sta- 
tions in  the  Pacific  northwest.  In  this  effort  he  was  successful  in  a  most  roman- 
tic way,  winning  at  once  a  bride  and  a  mission  helper  in  the  peVson  of  Miss  Nar- 
cissa  Prentiss,  who  was  to  shaire  with  him  the  perils  and  the  pleasures  of  the 
wilderness,  and,  eleven  years  after,  fall  with  the  devoted  martyr  before  the  death- 
dealing  tomahawk  of  the  treacherous  Cayuses,  at  their  Waiilatpu  mission,  six  miles 
from  the  existing  city  of  Walla  Walla. 

Additional  helpers  were  found  in  Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding  and  wife,  another  bridal 
couple,  and  in  \\\  H.  Gray,  secular  agent  of  the  American  Board.  Dr.  Whit- 
man, having  learned  that  Mr.  Spalding  and  bride  had  volunteered  for  mission 
work  among  the  Osage  Indians,  and  obtained  the  consent  of  the  mission  board, 
set  out  in  an  effort  to  overtake  them  on  their  way  to  the  land  of  the  Osages  and 
induce  them  to  change  their  plans  and  go  with  him  to  the  Pacific  northwest.  He 
came  up  with  them  in  the  deep  snows  of  western  New  York.     They  were  travel- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  69 

ing  by  sleigh^  ^d  Mrs.  Spalding^  who  was  convalescent  from  a  long  illness^  was 
still  unable  to  walk  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  With  characteristic  abruptness^  Whit- 
man called  out: 

"We  want  you  for  the  Oregon  mission." 

"How  long  will  the  journey  take.^**  answered  Spalding. 

"The  summer  of  two  years." 

"WTiat  convoy  shall  we  have.^" 

"The  American  Fur  company  to  the  divide." 

"What  shall  we  have  to  live  on.^" 

"Buffalo  meat  till  we  raise  our  own  grain." 

"How  shall  we  journey?" 

"On  horseback." 

"How  cross  the  rivers.^" 

"Swim  them." 

Mr.  Spalding  then  turned  from  Whitman  to  his  bride: 

"My  dear,"  he  said,  "my  mind  is  made  up ;  it  is  not  your  duty  to  go,  but  we  will 
leave  it  to  you  after  we  have  prayed." 

The  little  party  came  presently  to  a  tavern,  and  pausing  there  took  a  private 
room  and  each  prayed  in  turn.  With  beaming  face  Mrs.  Spalding  emerged  after 
a  few  minutes  of  prayer,  and  declared : 

"I   have   made   up  my   mind   to   go." 

The  husband  lovingly  remonstrated  with  her  zeal,  pointing  out  the  hardships, 
the  privations  and  perils  of  the  way,  and  as  he  reflected  upon  these  dangers  the 
brave  man    broke   down    and   cried. 

"What  mean  ye  to  weep  and  to  break  mine  heart,"  was  the  bride's  reply ; 
"for  I  am  ready  not  to  be  bound  only,  but  also  to  die  at  Jerusalem  for  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus." 

Such  was  the  spirit  that  carried  these  resolute  men  and  women  into  the  Ore- 
gon wilderness. 

And  so  they  came  into  the  depths  of  the  wildest  west,  and  never  before  was 
bridal  journey  like  unto  this. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Whitman  established  their  mission  in  the  Walla  Walla  valley. 
The  Spaldings  located  theirs  at  Lapwai,  in  northern  Idaho. 

And  still  the  Macedonian  cry  went  up  for  more  workers  in  the  heathen  land, 
and  Mr.  Gray  returned  east  in  1837  to  win  the  needed  recruits. 

In  a  time-stained  book  of  records  at  Holden,  Massachusetts,  one  still  may 
find  this   simple   it^m: 

"March  5,  1888.  Rev.  Gushing  Eells,  of  East  Windsor,  Conn.,  and  Myra 
Fairbank  were  married  by  William  P.  Paine." 

Fired  by  religious  zeal,  the  young  couple  had  volunteered  for  the  African 
missions  of  the  American  Board,  but  altered  their  life  plans  at  the  solicitation  of 
Mr.  Gray.  Rev.  Elkanah  Walker,  of  North  Yarmouth,  Maine,  and  Miss  Mary 
Richardson,  to  whom  he  was  engaged,  also  abandoned  their  African  plans  to  engage 
in  the  work  in  the  Oregon  country.  •  Rev.  A.  B.  Smith,  of  Connecticut,  and  his 
wife,  likewise  consented  to  come,  and  the  matrimonial  spirit  running  high,  Mr. 
Gray  found  a   bride  iit  Miss  Mary  Dix,  of  Champlain,  New  York.     The  party 


70  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

was  completed  by  the  addition  of  Cornelius  Rogers^  who  came  in, the  capacity  of 
assistant  missionary. 

"On  March  6,  the  day  after  their  marriage/'  many  years  later  wrote  their 
son,  the  Rev.  Myron  Eells,  "Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eells  began  their  bridal  tour,  which 
was  not  completed  for  more  than  a  year,  until  the  last  of  April,  1889.  Then  they 
were  ready  to  receive  callers  in  their  own  home  of  log  huts  or  i>ens." 

From  New  York,  where  the  party  had  assembled,  they  traveled  by  boat  and 
train  to  Chambersburg,  Pennsylvania;  from  Chambersburg  to  Pittsburg,  by  stage; 
and  from  Pittsburg  to  Independence,  Missouri,  by  steamboats  on  the  Ohio,  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Missouri.  As  they  were  strict  Sabbatarians,  the  question  of 
Sunday  travel  gave  them  deep  concern,  and  taking  counsel  at  Cincinnati  with 
Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  that  eminent  divine  dryly  observed  that  if  he  were  on  a 
ship  on  the  ocean,  he  should  not  jump  into  the  sea  when  Saturday  night  came. 

At  Westport,  Missouri,  twelve  miles  west  of  Independence,  they  found  the 
annual  expedition  of  the  American  Fur  company,  under  which  they  were  to  have 
convoy  to  the  Rocky  mountains.  Its  caravan  this  year  consisted  of  200  horses 
and  mules  and  seventeen  carts  that  were  drawn  each  by  two  mules  hitched  tan- 
dem. The  missionaries  had  twenty-two  horses  and  mules,  and  for  a  part  of  the 
way  a  wagon,  taken  to  enable  the  ladies  to  find  relief  from  horseback  riding  until 
they  had  grown  thoroughly  accustomed  to  that  mode  of  travel. 

"We  generally  stop  about  two  hours  at  noon,"  wrote  Mrs.  Eells  in  her  diary, 
turn  out  the  animals,  get  our   dinners  and  eat;  then  we  wash  the  dishes  again, 
the  men  catch  the  animals  and  pack  them.     We  mount  our  horses  and  are  riding 
over   rolling   prairies,    over    high    bluffs,   through    deep    ravines    and    rivers,    but 
through  no  woods. 

"At  night,  when  our  animals  are  unpacked,  the  gentlemen  pitch  our  tents.  We 
spread  our  buffalo  skins  first,  and  then  a  piece  of  oilcloth  for  our  floor.  Then  we 
neatly  arrange  our  saddles  and  other  loose  baggage  around  the  inside  of  our  house. 
For  our  chairs  we  fold  our  blankets  and  lay  them  around,  leaving  a  circle  in  the  cen- 
ter upon  which  we  spread  a  tablecloth  when  we  eat.  In  the  morning  we  get  up  at 
half-past  three,  turn  the  animals  out  to  eat ;  then  we  get  our  breakfast,  eat  and  have 
worship.  After  this  we  wash  and  pack  our  dishes,  our  husbands  catch  the  animals, 
saddle  the  horses  and  pack  the  mules.  When  we  are  fairly  on  our  way  we  have  much 
the  appearance  of  a  large  funeral  procession.  I  suppose  the  company  reaches  half 
a  mile." 

Buffalo  meat  was  the  staple  food,  but  buffalo  were  not  found  that  spring  as  early 
as  had  been  expected,  and  when  the  supply  came  their  flour  was  all  but  exhausted, 
barely  sufficient  remaining  to  make  gravy.  The  change  to  green  buffalo  meat  proved 
most  trying,  and  the  missionaries  suffered  intensely  from  illness,  overwork  and  ex- 
posure. Mrs.  Eells  wrote  in  her  diary.  May  9:  "All  is  hubbub  and  confusion. 
Camp  wants  to  move  early;  horses  bad  to  catch;  dishes  not  packed  in  season.  Oh, 
how  much  patience  one  needs  to  sustain  him  in  this  life." 

And  again,  on  May  12:  "It  rains  so  hard  that  notwithstanding  we  have  a  good 
fire  we  can  not  dry  our  clothes  at  all.  Obliged  to  sleep  in  our  blankets  wet  as  when 
taken  from  our  horses.  Our  sheets  are  our  partitions  between  us  and  Mr.  Gray. 
When  it  rains  they  are  spread  over  the  tents. 

"13th,  Sabbath.     Arise  this  morning,  put  on  our  clothes  wet  as  when  we  took 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  71 

them  off^  and  prepare  for  a  long  ride.     I  am  so  strongly  reminded  of  bygone  days 
that  I  can  not  refrain  from  weeping. 

"24th.  Mr.  Eells  and  myself  hardly  able  to  sit  up^  but  obliged  to  eat^  drink  and 
work  as  though  we  were  well.     Think  it  is  trying.  .     .     . 

"Nothing  but  the  restraining  grace  of  God  can  carry  us  through.  I  trust  we 
both  have  this  grace." 

They  crossed  the  North  Fork  of  the  Platte  in  boats  made  of  willow  frames, 
covered  with  buffalo  hides.  It  rained  here  so  hard  that  the  camp  was  flooded^  and 
Mrs.  Walker,  though  strong  and  vigorous,  and  ordinarily  cheerful  with  a  pleasant 
word  for  every  one,  fell  to  weeping  as  she  sat  on  a  pile  of  goods  within  the  tent.  In 
answer  to  efforts  made  to  console  her,  she  exclaimed,  "I  am  thinking  how  comfort- 
able my  father's  hogs  are." 

June  the  twenty-third  brought  them  to  the  American  Rendezvous,  on  Wind  river, 
and  there  they  remained  for  three  weeks,  surrounded  by  as  wild  and  motley  a  com- 
pany as  ever  drank  bad  whiskey,  or  engaged  in  the  savage  sports  of  the  wilderness. 
Mrs.  Eells  wrote,  in  her  diary,  July  5:  "Captain  Bridger  came  in  about  10  o'clock 
with  drums  and  firing,  an  apology  for  a  scalp  dance.  After  they  had  given  Captain 
Drips'  company  a  salute,  fifteen  or  twenty  mountain  men  and  Indians  came  to  our 
tent  with  drumming,  firing  and  dancing.  If  I  might  make  the  comparison,  I  should 
think  they  looked  like  the  emissaries  of  the  devil  worshiping  their  own  master.  They 
had  the  scalp  of  a  Blackfoot  Indian,  which  they  carried  for  a  color,  all  rejoicing  in 
the  fate  of  the  Blackfeet  in  consequence  of  the  smallpox.  The  dog,  being  frightened, 
took  the  trail,  crossed  the  river,  and  howled  so  that  we  knew  him  and  called  him 
back.    When  he  came  back  he  went  to  each  tent  to  see  if  we  were  all  safe." 

They  had  been  terrorized  the  night  before  by  a  party  of  drunken  white  men  who 
came  to  the  tent  and  threatened  to  settle  accounts  with  Mr.  Gray,  with  whom  they 
had  previously  been  in  altercation.  While  Gray  loaded  his  gun  within  the  tent,  Mr. 
Eells  remonstrated  with  them  and  they  went  away  and  gave  no  further  trouble. 

Under  date  of  July  6  Mrs.  Eells  made  this  entry  in  her  journal:  "Last  night 
twelve  white  men  came,  dressed  and  painted  in  Indian  style,  anH  gave  us  a  dance. 
No  pen  can  describe  the  horrible  scene  they  presented.  I  could  not  imagine  that 
white  men,  brought  up  in  a  civilized  land,  can  appear  so  much  to  imitate  the  devil." 
Hardships  were  endured,  and  dangers  confronted,  by  the  pioneer  women  who 
came  into  the  Spokane  country  forty  years  after  these  mission  brides  crossed  the 
Cimtinent  and  took  up  their  abode  near  the  pleasant  river  Spokane;  but  their  expe- 
riences when  brought  in  contrast  with  the  dangers  and  deprivations  endured  by  Mrs. 
Eells  and  Mrs.  Walker,  seem  little  more  than  an  entertaining  outing. 

At  the  Rendezvous  flour  sold  for  $2  a  pound;  sugar,  tea  and  coffee,  $1  a  pint; 
calico,  $5  a  yard ;  a  shirt,  $5 ;  tobacco,  $3  to  $5  a  pound ;  and  whiskey,  $30  a  gallon ; 
and  yet  the  wild  rangers  of  the  plains  and  the  moimtains  drank  whiskey  and  smoked 
tobacco  as  though  they  had  been  millionaires  and  the  price  of  these  indulgences  were 
the  normal  rates  going  back  in  the  United  States. 

From  the  Rendezvous  on  Green  river  the  missionaries  expected  to  have  convoy  by 
a  party  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company.  This  year,  though,  the  American  Fur  com- 
pany had  become  vexed  over  some  grievance  at  the  hands  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  peo- 
ple, and  instead  of  meeting  the  latter  at  the  customary  gathering  place  on  Green 
river,  had  selected  a  rendezvous  150  miles  north,  on  a  tributary  of  Green  river.     By 


72  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

a  narrow  chance  Mr.  Ermatinger^  in  charge  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  party,  learned  of 
the  altered  plans  of  his  rivals  and  the  mission  party  was  saved  from  the  alarming 
alternatives  of  returning  with  the  American  Fur  caravan,  of  firoinc  to  California  with 
a  party  of  trappers,  or  becoming  stranded  in  the  heart  of  the  wildest  part  of  the 
Rocky  mountains.  When  Mr.  Ermatinger  came  to  the  Green  river  Rendez- 
vous, he  foimd,  scrawled  in  charcoal  on  the  old  storehouse  door,  this  significant  in- 
scription: "Come  to  Popoazua  on  Wind  river,  and  you  will  find  plenty  trade,  whis- 
key and  white  women."  This  told  him  the  location  of  the  mission  party,  and  he 
hastened  there  to  put  them  under  the  protection  of  his  brigade. 

From  this  Rendezvous  they  started  for  the  Oregon  country  on  July  12.  On  Son- 
day,  July  22,  Mrs.  Eells  wrote:  "The  Indians  are  about  our  tents  before  we  are  up, 
and  stay  about  all  day.  Think  they  are  the  most  filthy  Indians  we  have  seen.  Some 
of  them  have  a  buffalo  skin  around  them.  Mr.  Walker  read  a  sermon,  and  although 
they  could  not  understand  a  word,  they  were  still  and  paid  good  attention.  They  ap- 
peared amused  with  our  singing." 

Thus  the  summer  wore  away,  and  always  it  was  travel,  travel,  travel;  through 
mountain  passes,  by  rushing  rivers,  and  on  the  wind  swept  plains  of  the  Snake  river 
desert.  But  even  a  transcontinental  journey  of  seventy-five  years  ago  had  ending, 
and  under  date  of  Wednesday,  August  29,  appears  this  entry  in  Mrs.  Eells'  journal: 
"Rode  seven  hours,  thirty  miles;  arrived  at  Dr.  Whitman's.  Met  Mr.  Spalding 
and  wife,  with  Dr.  Whitman  and  wife,  anxiously  awaiting  our  arrival.  They  all 
appear  friendly,  and  treat  us  with  great  hospitality.  Dr.  Whitman's  house  is  on  the 
Walla  Walla,  twenty-five  miles  east  of  Fort  Walla  Walla.  It  is  built  of  adobe,  mud 
dried  in  the  form  of  brick,  only  larger.  I  cannot  describe  its  appearance,  as  I  can 
not  compare  it  with  anything  I  ever  saw.  There  are  doors  and  windows,  but  they 
are  of  the  roughest  material,  the  boards  being  sawed  by  hand  and  put  together  by 
no  carpenter,  but  by  one  who  knows  nothing  about  the  work.  There  are  a  number 
of  wheat,  com  and  potato  fields  about  the  house,  besides  a  garden  of.  melons  and  all 
kinds  of  vegetables  common  to  a  garden.  There  are  no  fences,  there  being  no 
timber  of  which  to  make  them.  The  furniture  is  very  primitive;  the  bedsteads  are 
boards  nailed  to  the  side  of  the  house,  sink-f ashion ;  then  some  blankets  and  husks 
make  the  bed;  but  it  is  good  compared  with  traveling  accommodations." 

From  the  Atlantic  coast  the  long  journey  had  consumed  177  days;  from  the 
Missouri  river,  129.  Mrs.  Whitman  and  Mrs.  Spalding  were  the  first  white  women 
to  cross  the  Rocky  mountains.  Mrs.  Eells  and  Mrs.  Walker  were  the  next  to  achieve 
an  undertaking  which  well  might  have  daunted  the  heart  of  a  brave  and  rugged  man. 
Describing  the  Oregon  country  of  1838,  Rev.  Myron  Eells  informs  us  that  in 
the  broad  expanse  of  what  are  now  the  states  of  Oregon,  Washington,  Idaho  and 
Montana  there  were  only  thirteen  settlements:  the  mission  station  of  Dr.  Whitman 
at  Waiilatpu  in  the  Walla  Walla  valley,  of  Mr.  Spalding  at  Lapwai  among  the  Nei 
Perces,  of  the  Methodists  at  The  Dalles  and  near  Salem,  and  the  Hudson's  Bay  com- 
pany forts  at  old  Fort  Walla  Walla  on  the  Columbia,  Colville,  Fort  Hall,  Boise,  Van- 
couver, Ni squally,  Umpqua,  and  Okanogan,  and  the  settlement  at  Astoria.  Eells 
and  Walker  were  to  establish  a  fourteenth,  on  Tshimakain  creek,  six  miles  north  of 
the  Spokane  river,  and  about  twenty-five  miles  from  the  falls. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  73 

When  they  arrived  at  the  Whitman  mission^  there  were  only  fifty  Americans  in 
the  country  of  whom  thirty  were  connected  with  the  missions.  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  were  in  controversy  over  ownership  of  the  greater  part  of  the 
Oregon  conntry^  and  had  struck  a  truce  under  a  treaty  of  joint  occupation.  It  was 
even  considered  necessary  for  the  missionaries  to  travel  under  passport. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

FOUNDING  A  MISSION  AMONG  THE  SPOKANES 

EELLS   AND    WALKER    MEET    THE    INDIANS    AT    CHEWELAH BIRTH    OF    FIRST    AMERICAN 

WHITE    BOY    IN    OLD    OREGON EELLS   AND    WALKER    FAMILIES    LOCATE    AT    WALKEr's 

PRAIRIE^    NEAR   SPOKANE LIVING   ON    HORSE    MEAT INDIAN    CUSTOMS    DESCRIBED 

MISSION     LIFE    AT    TSHIMAKAIN MISSIONARIES    DEEPLY    DISAPPOINTED MIDWINTER 

FIRE HYMN  AS  SUNG  BY  THE  SPOKANES. 

AFTER  a  fortnight's  rest  at  the  Whitman  mission,  Walker  and  Eells  started 
northward,  September  10,  1838,  to  explore  the  country  preliminary  to  found- 
ing a  mission  among  the  Spokanes.  At  Chewelah  they  rested  over  the  Sab- 
bath, meeting  there  many  of  the  natives,  and  the  next  day  pushed  forward  to  Fort 
Colville  to  seek  the  counsel  of  Archibald  McDonald,  factor  in  charge  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  establishment  there,  second  only  in  impM>rtance  to  the  greater  establishment  at 
Vancouver  under  Dr.  John  McLoughlin.  At  Colville  the  company  grew  annually 
about  4,000  bushels  of  wheat,  and  maintained  there  a  flour  mill.  Com  and  vege- 
tables were  grown  there  in  abundance,  a  large  herd  of  cattle  added  to  the  domesticity 
of  the  surroundings,  and  as  the  buildings  were  commodious,  Mr.  Walker  exclaimed, 
as  the  valley  scene  rolled  in  upon  their  vision,  "a  city  under  a  hill." 

Mr.  McDonald,  a  worthy,  intelligent  Scot,  received  them  with  great  kindness,  an 
attitude  he  maintained  so  long  as  he  remained  in  charge.  He  advised  that  the  mis- 
sion be  located  at  Tshimakain,  (the  plain  of  springs)  on  the  Colville- Walla 
Walla  road,  a  place  combining  the  advantages  of  soil,  timber,  water  and  accessibility 
to  the  various  bands  of  the  Spokanes.  Thither  they  went,  and  with  Indian  help,  and 
two  axes  borrowed  from  Colville,  erected  two  log  cabins  fourteen  feet  long  and  about 
twenty  feet  apart.  As  winter  was  approaching,  they  suspended  their  work  before 
the  cabins  had  been  roofed  in,  and  returned  to  Walla  Walla,  by  way  of  Spalding's 
Lapwai  mission. 

There  they  wintered  with  their  families,  and  there,  on  December  7,  1888,  was 
bom  Cyrus  Hamlin  Walker,  thought  to  be  the  first  American  white  boy  born  within 
the  boundaries  of  old  Oregon.  Alice,  daughter  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Whitman,  drowned 
in  early  childhood,  was  the  first  American  white  child  born  within  the  same  boimda- 
ries.  Much  of  their  time  was  devoted  that  winter  to  study  of  the  Spokane  language, 
the  missionaries  having  for  their  instructor  the  famous  Nez  Perce  chief  Lawyer, 
who  understood  that  tongue. 

Late  in  February  came  the  chief  of  the  Spokanes,  with*  four  men  and  four  women, 
to  assist  the  party  in  moving  to  their  new  home,  and  on  March  5,  1839,  the  wedding 

75 


76  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

anniversary  of  both  couples^  they  set  their  faces  northward  on  the  journey  to  Tshi- 
makain,  arriving  there  on  March  20. 

Tents  were  pitched^  and  a  messenger  dispatched  to  Colville  for  provisions,  and 
with  these  came  back  an  urgent  invitation  from  Mr.  McDonald  for  the  ladies  and 
baby  to  become  his  guests  while  their  husbands  were  completing  their  cabin  homes. 
The  invitation  was  accepted,  and  it  was  the  last  of  April  when  they  returned  and 
set  up  housekeeping. 

At  first  the  houses  had  only  earthen  floors,  and  pine  boughs  served  for  roof.  As 
the  spring  rains  quickly  penetrated  this  rough  shelter,  earth  was  put  upon  the 
boughs;  and  still  the  roofs  leaked,  so  bearskins  were  spread  upon  the  beds  to  keep 
dry  "our  first  families"  near  Spokane. 

The  luxury  of  a  cookstove  was  unknown  throughout  the  nine  years'  life  of  the  mis- 
sion at  Tshimakain.  In  lieu  of  window  glass,  cotton  cloth,  and  later  oiled  deerskin, 
were  used.  A  few  years  later  there  was  much  rejoicing  over  the  receipt  of  a  few 
panes  of  glass,  sent  in  sailing  vessel  around  the  Horn  by  Massachusetts  friends,  and 
transported,  with  infinite  care,  to  the  distant  interior. 

For  nine  years  the  mission  could  boast  of  only  a  single  chair.  Three  boards,  three 
feet  long,  were  packed  150  miles,,  and  by  driving  four  stakes  into  the  ground,  a  table 
was  constructed.     Timber,  riven  and  hewn,  was  used  for  other  furniture. 

In  all  the  Oregon  country  there  were  two  flour  mills,  both  owned  by  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  company,  one  at  Colville,  the  other  at  Vancouver.  Flour  at  the  Whitman 
mission  was  worth  $24  a  barrel.  With  the  harvesting  of  the  first  crop  of  wheat  at 
Tshimakain,  the  grain  was  taken  in  buckskin  bags  to  Colville  for  grinding.  "It  was 
only  seventy  miles  distant,  and  they  could  go  and  return  in  &vt  days." 

The  plough  was  homemade,  with  rawhide  on  the  singletrees  in  place  of  iron,  and 
for  nine  years  the  wheat  crop  was  cut  with  sickles. 

"The  beef,"  according  to  Myron  Eells,  "neither  chewed  the  cud  nor  parted  the 
hoof.  It  was  made  out  of  the  Indian  pony.  Cattle  were  very  scarce.  Neither  love 
nor  money  could  procure  one  from  the  Hudson's  Bay  company.  About  half  a  dozen 
horses  were  killed  for  beef  at  Dr.  Whitman's  during  the  winter  of  1888-89,  and  for 
several  years  Mr.  Eells  was  accustomed  to  salt  one  down  every  winter.  They  were 
fattened  on  the  rich  bunch-grass,  and  with  few  exceptions  were  eaten  with  a  rehsh, 
even  by  the  fastidious." 

Mrs.  Eells  once  wrote:  "I  had  the  luxury  of  eating  a  piece  of  the  first  cow 
that  was  driven  into  the  country." 

Fire  was  made  with  flint,  steel  and  punk.  Mail  from  the  east  was  brought  out 
twice  a  year  in  vessels  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company.  That  for  the  mission  was 
sent  up  the  Columbia  to  old  Fort  Walla  Walla,  and  when  the  missionaries  learned 
of  its  arrival  there,  they  would  "go  to  the  postoffice,"  200  miles  away,  the  round  trip 
taking  two  weeks. 

In  January,  1 844,  Mrs.  Eells  wrote  to  her  sister  in  Massachusetts :  "Your  letter 
dated  September,  1841,  I  received  July,  1848,  a  long  time,  sure  enough,  but,  as  the 
Indians  say,  'I  am  thankful  to  get  a  letter  of  any  date.' "  To  the  same  sister  she 
wrote,  in  April,  1847:  "I  have  just  been  reading  your  sisterly  letter  of  December, 
1844,  and  although  it  was  written  more  than  two  years  ago,  yet  since  it  is  the  last 
I  have  heard  from  you,  it  is  like  reviving  conversation  and  talking  of  past  events." 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  77 

In  a  letter  written  from  the  Whitman  mission^  soon  after  their  arrival  there  in 
the  fall  of  1 SS8,  Mrs.  Eells  recorded  her  impressions : 

'The  country  is  large^  and  there  are  comparatively  few  inhabitants  in  it.  The 
Hudson's  Bay  company  has  a  number  of  trading  posts^  which  are  generally  about 
300  miles  apart.  Mr.  Spalding  and  Dr.  Whitman  have  each  a  station  about  125 
miles  apart.  The  Methodists  have  two  stations — one  150  miles^  and  the  other  400 
miles  from  here.  Besides  these  settlements^  there  are  no  others  in  this  great  territory. 
Of  course  the  people  of  each  settlement  must  raise  their  own  provisions^  make  their 
own  furniture^  farming  utensils,  houses  and  bams.  Everything  of  cloth  is  brought 
from  some  foreign  port.  There  is  nothing  yet  to  make  cloth  of^  and  if  there  were, 
there  is  no  way  to  manufacture  it.  Had  I  known  there  is  not  a  spinning  wheel  in 
this  whole  country,  I  should  have  been  exceedingly  anxious  to  have  one  sent  with 
my  other  things.  There  are  Very  few  sheep  here,  and  more  have  been  sent  for  from 
California.  Dr.  Whitman  has  raised  a  little  flax,  though  not  much,  for  want  of 
seed. 

"There  never  having  been  any  white  women  here  before  the  missionaries,  there 
has  been  no  call  for  anything  but  Indian  articles  of  trade.  The  men  wear  striped 
cotton  or  calico  shirts,  sleep  in  Indian  blankets  and  buffalo  skins,  and  of  course 
have  had  no  need  for  white  cotton  cloth,  and  have  none. 

"Mrs.  Whitman  and  Mrs.  Spalding  have  obtained  some  earthern  dishes,  but  think 
it  doubtful  whether  we  can  have  any  others  until  we  order  them  from  England,  or 
the  States.  Perhaps  you  will  wonder  what  we  shall  eat  with.  We  have  the  dishes 
we  used  on  the  way,  which  we  have  divided  so  that  we  shall  each  have  a  tin  dish 
and  a  spoon,  each  a  knife,  fork  and  plate.  We  must  be  contented  with  what  books 
we  have  until  ours  come  around  Cape  Horn. 

"The  Indians  are  numerous,  but  they  live  a  wandering  life.  They  live  upon 
game,  fish  and  roots,  which  are  found  in  many  different  places.  They  have  no  houses, 
but  live  in  lodges  made  of  sticks  set  in  a  circle  in  the  ground,  and  drawn  together 
at  the  top  and  fastened  with  a  string,  leaving  a  place  at  the  top  for  the  smoke  to 
pass  out.  Over  this  frame  they  throw  skins,  grass,  willows  and  the  like,  which  make 
their  covering.  They  build  their  fire  upon  the  ground,  in  the  center,  around  which 
they  live  and  sleep.  They  generally  have  one  kettle,  in  which  they  boil  their  fish, 
meat,  com  and  potatoes,  if  they  have  any.  None  of  them  have  com  and  potatoes  ex- 
cept what  they  get  from  some  of  the  above-named  settlements.  Not  many  of  them, 
have  any  dishes,  knives  or  forks  or  spoons  of  any  kind.  They  eat  standing,  with  the 
kettle  in  the  middle,  their  hands  supplying  the  place  of  all  dishes.  They  will  often 
perform  a  long  journey  for  a  knife  or  blanket.     .     .     . 

"They  have  learned  of  Mr.  Spalding  and  Dr.  Whitman  some  scripture  history 
and  some  hymns,  which  they  sing.  They  have  not  yet  had  much  time  to  teach  them, 
being  obliged  to  do  most  of  their  work.  It  is  true  the  Indians  help  them  some,  but 
they  cannot  be  depended  upon.  They  are  here  today,  and  tomorrow  they  are  some- 
where else.  Besides,  if  they  think  you  are  depending  on  them,  they  will  not  work 
unless  they  are  driven  to  it  by  hunger.  Some  of  them  are  beginning  to  sow  little 
patches  of  corn,  wheat  and  potatoes  for  themselves ;  this  the  men  have  done  and  are 
proud  of  it;  but  if  a  man  works  for  us,  they  call  him  a  slave  and  a  fool.  Three  or 
four  have  given  evidence  of  a  change  of  heart. 

"We  feel  that  we  are  a  small  band  of  missionaries  in  a  heathen  land,  far  re- 


78  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

moved  from  the  luxuries  and  many  of  the  comforts  of  life,  and  we  feel  more  keenly 
the  absence  of  civilized  and  Christian  society." 

Mr.  Eells,  under  date  of  February  25,  1840,  wrote  of  their  labors  amon^  the 
Spokanes:  "We  are  advancing  slowly  in  the  acquisition  of  the  language,  though  as 
yet  our  knowledge  of  it  is  very  limited.  .  .  .  The  Flathead  (Spokane)  and  the 
Nez  Perce  languages  are  distinct.  Their  philological  construction  is  wholly  unlike. 
We  have  not  been  able  to  find  any  one  word  common  to  both  languages. 

"Taking  this  place  (Tshimakain)  as  the  center  of  a  circle  whose  radius  shall  not 
exceed  sixty  miles,  it  will  include  a  population  of  near  2,000  souls,  nine-tenths  of 
whom  rarely,  if  ever,  leave  the  above  specified  ground  for  a  length  of  time,  unless 
it  be  for  a  few  weeks  in  the  spring.  There  are  five  or  six  bands,  each  of  which  has 
particular  lands  which  they  call  theirs,  and  where  they  pass  a  portion  of  each  year. 
So  far  as  I  can  learn,  they  are  somewhat  regular  in  their  removings. 

"In  April  a  large  nmnber  meet  in  one  plain  to  dig  a  root  called  popo.  In  May 
they  returned  to  this  place,  and  after  remaining  a  few  weeks,  moved  to  a  large  camas 
plain,  ten  miles  from  us.  The  camas  is  their  most  substantial  root.  It  remains  good 
from  May  till  the  next  March.  In  June,  salmon  begin  to  go  up  the  Spokane  river, 
which  passes  within  six  miles  of  our  house.  At  first  a  barrier  was  constructed  near 
some  falls,  ten  miles  from  this  place,  and  perhaps  fifteen  miles  from  the  camas 
grounds.  At  that  place  salmon  were  taken  only  during  high  water,  and  then  not  in 
large  quantities,  as  the  barrier  extended  only  part  of  the  way  across  the  river.  While 
the  men  and  boys  were  employed  at  the  salmon,  the  women  were  digging  and  prepar- 
ing camas,  and  daily  horses  passed  between  the  two  places,  loaded  both  ways,  so 
that  all  could  share  in  both  kinds  of  food.  As  the  water  fell  another  barrier  was  built 
farther  down,  extending  across  the  entire  river;  and  when  completed,  men,  women 
and  children  made  a  general  move  to  the  place.  If  I  judged  correctly,  I  saw  there 
at  one  time  near  1,000  persons,  and  the  number  was  rapidly  increasing.  From  400 
to  800  salmon  were  taken  in  a  day,  weighing  variously  from  ten  to  forty  pounds 
apiece. 

"When  they  ceased  to  take  salmon,  about  the  first  of  August,  they  returned  to 
the  camas  ground,  where  they  remained  till  October,  and  then  began  to  make  prepa- 
rations for  taking  the  poor  salmon  as  they  went  down  the  river.  During  this  month 
they  were  very  much  scattered,  though  not  very  remote  from  each  other.  In  No- 
vember they  went  to  their  wintering  places. 

"From  March  to  November,  our  congregations  varied  from  30  to  100, 
not  more  than  one  half  of  whom  usually  remained  with  us  during  the  week. 
They  often  came  ten,  fifteen,  and  sometimes  thirty  miles  on  Saturday,  and  returned 
again  on  Monday.  Since  November  nearly  200  have  remained  with  us  almost  con- 
stantly. In  addition  to  those  just  mentioned,  there  have  been  frequent  visitors  from 
neighboring  bands,  coming  in  various  numbers,  from  three  or  four  to  sixty  at  a  time. 
They  usually  spend  two  or  three  weeks  and  then  return. 

"We  have  habitually  conducted  worship  with  them  morning  and  evening,  when  we 
read  a  portion  of  scriptures,  and,  so  far  as  we  are  able,  explain  it,  sing  and  pray. 
On  the  Sabbath  we  have  had  three  services.  While  the  weather  continued  warm, 
the  place  for  worship  was  under  some  pine  trees;  but  as  it  became  cold,  a  house 
was  prepared  for  entirely  by  the  people,  expressly  for  worship.  It  resembled  some- 
what in  form  the  roof  of  a  house  in  New  England,  making  the  angle  at  the  top 


KEV.  ELKANAH  WALKEH 


BEV.  GUSHING  EELLS  MBS.  MTBA  P.  EELL8 

PB0TE8TANT   MISSIONARIES   ON  WAUIEB'S   PRAIRIE 


T 


It  '>»V< 


I     N 


^*  f iOnj 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  79 

much  smaller  than  that  of  most  modem  houses.  The  frame  is  made  of  poles  four  or 
five  inches  in  diameter^  and  covered  with  rush  mats.  Most  of  the  Indian  houses  here 
are  made  in  the  same  way. 

"For  want  of  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  language^  much  of  the  instruc- 
tion communicated  has  related  to  scriptural  history^  though  I  think  we  have  not 
failed  to  give  them  some  correct  ideas  respecting  the  character  of  God^  the  fallen 
state  of  man^  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  and  regeneration^  and  the  necessity  of 
repentance  and  faith  in  Christ  to  secure  salvation.  It  is  strictly  true  that  they  must 
have  *line  upon  line ;'  every  new  idea  must,  be  repeated  many  times.  The  nearer  our 
teaching  approaches  to  Sabbath  school  insVrtiction^  appropriate  for  small  children^ 
the  better  it  is  understood.  This  people  are  slow  to  believe  that  the  religion  we  teach 
extends  farther  than  to  the  external  conduct.  Tbey^  wisir  to  believe  that  to  abstain 
from  gross  sin  and  attend  to  a  form  of  wors||j^fti'aBrCHat  is  irecessary  to  fit  them  for 
heaven." 

In  this  respect,  the  Spokane  attitude  towards  the  life  religious  was  not  altogether 
at  variance  with  that  entertained  by  some  good  people  of  the  present  day. 

Throughout  the  journals,  diaries  and  correspondence  of  the  missionaries  at 
Tshimakain,  at  Lapwai  and  at  Waiilatpu,  one  finds  abounding  evidence,  that  in  an 
excess  of  zeal  and  a  severe  application  of  "the  New  England  conscience,"  these  devout 
men  and  women  had  keyed  too  high  their  expectations  of  savage  response  to  theo- 
logical refinements  and  subtleties.  Because  the  Pentecostal  fire  could  not  flame  in  the 
Indian  breast,  they  grieved  and  lamented.  Often  their  way  seemed  dark,  their  life 
work  a  failure,  their  missions,  perhaps,  a  mistake.  So  late  as  October,  1847,  Mrs. 
Eells  wrote:  "We  have  been  here  almost  nine  years,  and  have  not  been  permitted  to 
hear  the  cries  of  one  penitent,  or  the  songs  of  one  redeemed  soul.  We  often  ask  our- 
selves the  question,  'Why  is  it?'  Yet  we  labor  on,  hoping  and  waiting,  and  expect- 
ing that  the  seed,  though  long  buried,  will  spring  up  and  bear  fruit.  We  feel  in- 
creasingly interested  in  the  work,  and  though  we  do  not  see  the  immediate  fruit  of 
our  labor,  we  can  not  find  it  in  our  hearts  to  leave  our  people.  We  can  not  say  that 
they  have  j>ersecuted  us  so  that  we  should  be  authorized  'to  flee  to  another  city.' 
They  listen  to  the  word  respectfully,  but  it  appears  to  produce  no  saving  effect." 

Two  months  after  the  writing  of  this  letter.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Whitman,  their  as- 
sistant, Mr.  Rogers,  and  eleven  others,  chiefly  immigrants  stopping  at  Waiilatpu, 
were  massacred  by  treacherous  Cayuses,  the  little  m^sion  band  at  Tshimakain  took 
asylum  at  Fort  Colville,  and,  a  few  months  later",  acting  under  the  insistent  advice  of 
the  Oregon  authorities,  abandoned  their  statiOA- for'e^er,  and  under  military  escort, 
found  refuge  and  new  homes  in  tiie  Willamette  valley;;  Thus  ended,  in  despair  and 
darkness,  a  decade  of  faithful,  earnest  pffQrt,-and  to  th^e  distressed  and  disappointed 
missionaries  it  well  may  have  seemed  *  that' atf  tlieir  good  seed  of  ten  years'  sowing 
had  fallen  upon  stony  ground.  But  many  years  later  we  find  Governor  Stevens, 
Lieutenant  Wilkes  of  the  United  States  navy.  General  O.  O.  Howard  and  others 
giving  testimony  to  the  enduring  and  beneficial  results  of  the  mission  among  the 
Spokanes. 

Returning  to  the  EeUs  journal,  we  learn  that  in  November,  1839,  a  school 
was  opened,  at  first  with  but  thirty  pupils,  but  grown  by  April  following  to  more 
than  eighty.  That  first  year  at  Tshimakain  brought  incessant  toil  and  countless 
privations.     Cabins   were  made  habitable,  ground   was   broken   and   prepared   for 


80  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

garden  and  wheat  fields  fences  built  to  protect  the  crops  from  the  Indian  horses, 
long  journeys  were  made  to  Fort  Colville  on  the  north  and  old  Fort  Walla  Walla 
on  the  south;  and  superimposed  upon  all  this  and  much  more  was  the  real  work 
of  the  mission,  the  preaching  and  the  teaching,  the  study  of  the  difficult  Spokane 
language,  and  the  imparting  of  agricultural  and  manual  instruction  to  such  of 
the  natives  as  were  willing  to  deceive  it. 

"My  opinion,"  said  Father  Eells  at  that  period,  "is  that  our  chief  efforts 
should  be  with  the  children,"  a  method  adopted  afterward  by  government,  and 
found,  after  many  years  of  experience,  to  return  disappointing  results,  owing 
to  the  disposition  of  the  adults  to  ridicule  the  young  people  on  their  return  from 
Carlisle,  Forest  Grove  and  Salem,  and  shame  them  back  to  the  blanket  and  the 
tepee.  And  yet,  after  three-fourths  of  a  century  of  experiment  and  testing,  it 
cannot  be  said  that  a  better  plan  offers  than  that  recommended  by  Mr.  Eells! 

The  mission  work  went  on,  with  trials  and  tribulations.  "On  the  morning 
of  January  11,  1840,"  wrote  Mr.  Eells,  "we  met  with  a  heavy  loss.  While  en- 
gaged in  family  worship  our  house  took  fire,  and  being  mostly  lined  with  rush 
mats,  and  having  no  inside  doors  except  cloths  hung  up,  the  flame  spread  so 
rapidly  that  it  went  through  every  part  of  the  building  before  an  article  was  re- 
moved. After  the  first  flash  had  passed  such  things  as  were  in  boxes  were  mostly 
saved.  But  before  anything  was  taken  out  the  greater  part  of  the  more  valuable 
property  which  the  house  contained  was  nearly  destroyed,  such  as  library,  writ- 
ing desk,  clock,  watch,  two  beds  and  bedding,  much  personal  clothing,  a  quantity 
of  Indian  goods,  tinware,  riding  and  pack  saddles,  traveling  apparatus,  etc.  Our 
food  was  mostly  saved.  The  walls  of  the  house,  built  of  rough  logs,  were  not 
essentially  injured,  except  in  being  badly  charred  upon  the  inside." 

In  the  face  of  this  disaster,  the  spirits  of  the  mission  workers  must  have 
fallen  correspondingly  to  the  zero  temperature  without,  for  the  thermometer  reg- 
istered eight  below.  But  there  was  a  silver  lining  even  to  this  dark  cloud  of  mis- 
fortune; for  the  Indians  responded  to  the  alarm  with  commendable  promptness 
and  energy,  constituting  themselves  the  first  volunteer  fire  brigade  in  the  Spokane 
country,  and  exhibiting  admirable  honesty  in  restoring  small  articles  which  might 
easily  have  been  concealed  from  the  owners.  And  Mr.  McDonald,  in  charge  at 
Colville,  with  characteristic  goodness,  dispatched,  without  asking,  four  men  from 
his  fort  who  soon  made  the  burned  house  habitable,  and  with  them  came  also  two 
gentlemen  from  that  post,  Messrs.  McLean  and  McPherson.  With  the  tempera- 
ture ten  below  zero,  and  a  foot  of  snow  over  the  country,  the  six  volunteers 
camped  on  the  ground,  an  exhibition  of  kindness  and  fortitude  that  was  deeply 
appreciated.  "This  is  but  a  specimen  of  the  unvaried  kindness  shown  us  by  the 
gentlemen  of  the  company  with  which  we  have  had  no  particular  intercourse  or 
connection,"  said  Father  Eells. 

Writing  at  this  date  of  mission  results,  Mr.  Eells  said:  "During  the  past 
winter  nearly  250  Indians  have  been  encamped  by  us.  If  we  judge  correctly, 
there  has  been  a  marked  increase  in  the  knowledge  of  Divine  Truth.  This  is 
especially  true  of  the  chief  mentioned  in  the  Herald  by  the  name  of  Big  Head. 
It  has  been  a  rather  general  impression  among  the  best-informed  Indians  that 
thieves,  gamblers.  Sabbath-breakers  and  such  like  will  go  to  a  place  of  misery 
when  they  die,  but  that  such  as  are  not  guilty  of  open  vices,  and  attend  to  a  form 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 


81 


of  worship  will  go  above.  We  have  labored  much  to  correct  this  and  kindred 
errors^  and  unless  we  greatly  mistake^  our  labor  has  not  been  in  vain.  The  lan- 
guage of  the  chief  is:  'I  formerly  thought  my  heart  was  good^  but  I  now  see  it 
is  not.  We  are  full  of  all  manner  of  wickedness — are  covered  up  in  our  sins. 
They  hold  us  like  strong  cords.  One  thing  must  be  done.  Our  hearts  must  be 
changed,  or  we  shall  go  below  when  we  die.'  " 

In  the  school  instruction  was  given  in  reading,  spelling,  arithmetic  and  music, 
the  pupils,  both  young  and  old,  showing  quick  aptitude  in  numbers  and  mani- 
festing a  passionate  love  for  music.  From  the  fur  traders  the  Spokanes  had 
picked  up  a  number  of  lewd  songs,  and  the  missionaries  tried  to  supplant  these 
with  hymns  and  sacred  songs.  They  began  with  the  doxology,  and  the  Indian 
voice  showed  sufficient  compass  to  sing  it  in  three  octaves  in  F.  Then  Mr.  Eells 
composed  the  following  hymn,  words  and  music,  and  it  proved  popular,  the  natives 
clinging  to  it  many  years  after  the  mission  had  been  abandoned  and  their  instruc- 
tors had  taken  up  new  homes  in  Oregon.  Mr.  McLean  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  com- 
pany heard  Indians  singing  it  in  the  heart  of  the  Rocky  mountains. 


Lam  -  a  -  lem,     on    -    a  -  we        Je 
Thanks  .  .  .  thee  ....  Je 


ho 
ho 


vah, 
vah, 


Kain  -  pe  -  la, 
We 


tas         ka  -  leel.        Rait    -    si  -  ah 
not  .  \  .  .    dead,  We  ...      all 


■^^ 


wheel, 
live. 


Kain 
We 


pe 


la 


Vol  I— e 


CHAPTER  IX 

MISSION  LIFE  AT  WALKER'S   PRAIRIE,   CONTINUED 

8ETERE    WINTER    OF    1840-41 ARDUOUS   JOURNEYS   BY    FATHER   EELLS GOING   TO    COL- 

VILLE    FOR    MAIL DR.    WHITMAN'S    FAMOUS    MIDWINTER    RIDE DISCOVERY    OF    THE 

PRECIOUS  METALS MOTHERS*  MEETINGS  SEVENTY  YEARS  AGO DREADFUL  WINTER  OF 

1846-47 NO    NEW    BONNETS    FOR    EASTER    SUNDAY FIRST    SHOES    FOR    THE    CHIL- 
DREN— HOW     THE     MISSION     WOMEN     MADE     CHEESE INDIAN     WIFE    WHO     WAS     "a 

JEWEL    OF    RARE    EXCELLENCE." 

SO  SEVERE  was  the  winter  of  1840-41  that  only  fifty  Indians  remained  at 
the  mission,  and  the  attendance  at  the  school  fell  to  eleven.  But  another 
school,  maintained  at  a  point  Bye  miles  from  the  mission,  and  attended  almost 
daily  hy  some  one  from  the  mission,  had  an  attendance  of  twenty-two.  In  the  last 
analysis  Indian  nature  is  not  essentially  different  from  white  nature;  is  charmed 
by  novelty,  and  the  mind  grows  dull  by  tedious  repetition;  and  though  the  sdiool 
was  continued,  it  never  afterward  numbered  more  than  fifteen. 

With  that  indefatigable  zeal  and  energy  which  attended  him  throughout  a 
long  life  of  intense  religious  endeavor,  Mr.  Eells  traveled,  in  the  year  ending 
March  1,  1841,  1,200  miles  on  horseback,  work  which  took  him  from  home  fifty- 
seven  days.  Teaching  Indians  at  other  points  required  400  miles  additional  travel 
and  twenty-three  days  more  absence  from  home.  He  has  left  an  interesting  ac- 
count, in  the  Walla  Walla  Watchman  of  March  27,  1885,  of  one  trip  made  to 
Fort  Colville  with  mail.  "With  our  limited  facilities,  the  annual  autumnal  passage 
of  the  brigade  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  from  east  of  the  mountains  down  the 
Columbia  was  an  important  event.  Its  arrival  at  Fort  Colville  was  to  be  pre- 
pared for.  Thus  an  opportunity  was  afforded  for  the  conveyance  of  letters  to 
Vancouver,  and  thence  via  the  Sandwich  islands  to  Boston.  I  had  written  and 
arranged  with  an  Indian  to  accompany  and  assist  me  in  conveying  the  mails,  and 
in  conveying  supplies  from  the  fort.  In  vain  I  looked  for  the  arrival,  according 
to  promise,  of  the  needed  helper.  The  morning  hours  passed.  The  idea  of  not 
forwarding  what  I  had  prepared  was  unendurable.  On  a  riding  horse,  with  pack 
mule  carrying  tent,  bedding,  food,  I  started.  The  moon  was  at  its  full.  After  a 
ride  of  forty  miles  I  camped.  Seasonably  the  next  morning  I  was  traveling.  The 
distance,  thirty  miles  to  the  post,  was  passed.  The  boats  had  not  arrived.  My 
mail  was  left,  and  I  returned  twenty  miles. 

"The  fifty  miles  for  the  next  day  should  be  commenced  early,  as  the  last  fifteen 
miles  were  darkened  with  timber.     The  moon  would  not  rise  till  more  than  two 

83 


84  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

hours  after  sunset^  and  it  was  cloudy.  With  such  facts  in  mind  I  encamped.  I 
slept^  I  awoke;  my  first  thou^t  was,  it  is  daylight.  The  moon  was  concealed 
behind  the  clouds.  Hurriedly  I  struck  tent,  saddled^  packed  and  was  off.  After 
riding  an  indefinite  length  of  time  the  location  of  the  moon  was  discernible.  Judg- 
ing thus,  it  was  not  far  from  midnight.  After  a  nocturnal  ride  of  ten  miles,  I 
lay  down  again  and  slept  without  fear  of  being  benighted  in  dark  timber.  The 
distance  traveled  was  140  miles;  length  of  time,  a  little  in  excess  of  two  days 
and  a  half,  with  object  attained  and  mail  taken  to  postoffice." 

To  enter  into  the  long-standing  Whitman  controversy  is  not  within  the  pur- 
view of  this  history.*  Respecting  Dr.  Whitman's  memorable  mid-winter  ride  across 
the  continent  volumes  have  been  written — to  show  that  its  object  was  patriotic,  to 
wrest  the  Oregon  country  from  impending  British  ownership;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  to  prove  that  his  controlling  motive  was  prevention  of  abandonment  of  the 
Oregon  missions  by  the  American  Board,  and  the  part  he  played  politically  had 
little  or  no  bearing  in  saving  Oregon  to  the  United  States.  But  since  Eells  and 
Walker  were  called  into  counsel  with  Whitman,  and  went  to  Walla  Walla  at  his 
summons,  regard  for  at  least  approximate  completeness  of  the  Tshimakain  record 
requires  the  publication  here  of  an  affidavit  made  by  Mr.  Eells^  before  a  notary 
public  at  Spokane,  August  23,  1883,  in  part  as  follows: 

"September,  1842,  a  letter  written  by  Dr.  Whitman,  addressed  to  Rev.  Messrs. 
E.  Walker  and  C.  Eells,  at  Tshimakain,  reached  its  destination  and  was  received 
by  the  persons  to  whom  it  was  written.  By  the  contents  of  ^aid  letter,  a  meeting 
of  the  Oregon  mission  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis- 
sions was  invited  to  be  held  at  Waiilatpu.  The  object  of  said  meeting,  as  stated 
in  the  letter  named,  was  to  approve  of  a  purpose  formed  by  Dr.  Whitman,  that 
he  go  east  on  behalf  of  Oregon  as  related  to  the  United  States.  In  the  judgment 
of  Mr.  Walker  and  myself,  that  object  was  foreign  to  our  assigned  work.  With 
troubled  thoughts  we  anticipated  the  proposed  meeting. 

"On  the  following  day,  Wednesday,  we  started,  and  on  Saturday  afternoon 
camped  on  the  Touchet,  at  the  ford  near  the  MuUan  bridge.  We  were  pleased 
with  the  prospect  of  enjoying  a  period  of  rest,  reflection  and  prayer — needful 
preparation  for  the  antagonism  of  opposing  ideas.  We  never  moved  camp  on 
the  Lord's  day.  On  Monday  morning  we  arrived  at  Waiilatpu,  and  met  there 
the  two  resident  families  of  Dr.  Whitman  and  Mr.  Gray.  Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding 
was  there.     All  the  male  members  of  the  mission  were  thus  together. 

"In  the  discussion  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Walker  and  myself  remained  unchanged. 
The  purpose  of  Dr.  Whitman  was  fixed.  In  his  estimation,  the  saving  of  Oregon 
to  the  United  States  was  of  paramount  importance,  and  he  would  make  the  attempt 


*  A  resolution  adopted  by  the  legislature  of  Washington  territory,  in  October,  1869,  as- 
serted that  Dr.  Whitman,  "knowing  the  vast  resources  and  mineral  wealth  of  Oregon  terfi- 
tory,  and  the  intention  of  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  dispose  of  the  same  for 
a  trivial  consideration,  to  the  government  of  Great  Britain,  from  not  being  aware  of  th« 
immense  value  .  .  .  did,  in  the  dead  of  winter,  at  his  own  private  expense,  cross  the 
continent  amid  the  snows  of  the  Rocky  mountains  and  the  bleakness  of  the  intervening  plains, 
inhabited  by  savage  Indians,  and  reached  Washington  City  and  informed  the  government  of 
the  United  States  of  the  great  value  of  said  territory,  and  thereby  prevented  the  sale  and 
loss  of  said  territory  to  the  United  States.'' 


T8HIMAKAIX,  A9  SKETCHED  BY  GRAY,  1843 


TSHIMAKAIN,  AS  SKETCHED  BY  ARTIST  WITH  OOVERNOR 

STEVENS'   EXPEDITrOX,   1S53 


THE      hi*       V;, 


i   t  / 


*3 


L  ■ 


UK 


'^* 


^  *  J 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  85 

to  do  so^  even  if  he  had  to  withdraw  from  the  mission  in  order  to  accomplish  his 
purpose. 

"In   reply  to   considerations   intended  to   hold   Dr.   Whitman  to  his    assigned 

work^  he  said^  'I  am  not  expatriated  by  becoming  a  missionary.'     The  idea  of  his 

« 

withdrawal  could  not  be  entertained;  therefore  to  retain  him  in  the  mission  a  vote 
to  approve  of  his  making  the  perilous  endeavor  prevailed.  He  had  a  cherished 
object  for  the  accomplishment  of  which  he  desired  consultation  with  Rev.  David 
Greene,  secretary  of  correspondence  with  the  mission  at  Boston,  Mass.,  but  I 
have  no  recollection  that  it  was  named  in  the  meeting.  A  part  of  two  days  was 
spent  in  consultation.  Record  of  the  date  and  acts  of  the  meeting  was  made. 
The  book  containing  the  same  was  in  the  keeping, j2£-<i'^-^^^^°^A"  family.  At  the 
ume  of  their  massacre,  November  29,  1847,  it  ditftj^pJfeJtSd.**^'  \  , 

Long  before  the  purpose  or  the  results  of  -Dr.  Whfnnam*s  journey  had  been 
called  into  question.  Father  Eells  wrote  an  extended  statement  for  publication  in 
the  Missionary   Herald   of  December,   1 866 : 

"The  Hudson's  Bay  company,"  he  said, .  "was  aware  at  an  early  date  of  the 
existence  of  mineral  deposits  in  that  portion  of  Oregon  claimed  both  by  England 
and  the  United   States." 

Some  of  its  men  had  early  discovered  the  extensive  lead  outcroppings,  on 
the  shore  of  Kootenai  lake  in  southern  British  Columbia,  which  in  after  years 
were  to  be  located,  under  the  mineral  law,  as  the  famous  Bluebell  mine. 

"If  I  remember  correctly,"  continues  Mr.  Eells,  "I  had  not  been  long  in  this 
country  before  the  statement  was  made  that  gold  had  been  found  on  the  Colum- 
bia river,  taken  to  England,  made  into  a  watch  seal,  brought  back  here,  and  worn 
by  a  gentleman  connected  with  the  Hudson's  Bay  company."  That  the  existence 
of  gold  in  the  country  east  of  the  Cascade  mountains  was  known  to  representa- 
tives of  the  fur  company  long  prior  to  the  discovery  of  that  metal  at  Sutter's 
mill  in  California,  can  scarcely  be  doubted,  but  for  obvious  prudential  reasons  it 
was  not  to  the  interest  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  to  exploit  the  important 
fact. 

"In  those  early  days,"  testifies  Mr.  Eells,  "Dr.  Whitman  made  in  my  hearing 
the  following  statement:  'There  is  no  doubt  that  this  country  abounds  in  the 
precious  metals.'  In  the  autumn  or  early  winter  of  1  S^S  a  German  botanist  was 
traveling  with  employes  of  the  Hudson's  Baj.t^ttfpify,  and  having  had  some 
knowledge  of  mining  operations  in  Germany,  h^  ex|]ii»issed  to  his  fellow  travelers 
the  opinion  that  precious  metals  existed  in  a  designated  locality.  They  replied, 
'We  know  such  to  be  the  case  from  actual  investiflu^en:*"'  'But  while  the  resources 
of  the  country  were  measurably  appreciated,  special -effort  was  made  to  produce 
the  impression  that  the  country  was  of  small  value,  and  that  much  of  it  was 
worthless. 

"Previous  to  1848,  Mrs.  McDonald,  at  Fort  Colville,  had  a  collection  of  min- 
eral specimens,  a  iK)rtion  of  which  she  presented  to  Mrs.  Eells.  These  were  shown 
to  Dr.  Whitman  on  his  return  in  1848. 

"An  unyielding  purpose  was  formed  by  Dr.  Whitman  to  go  east.  The  mission 
was  called  together  to  consider  whether  or  not  its  approval  could  be  given  to 
the  proposed  undertaking.  Mr.  Walker  and  myself  were  decidedly  opposed,  and 
wc  yielded  only  when  it  became  evident  that  he  would  go,  even  if  he  had  to  become 


86  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

disconnected  from  the  mission  in  order  to  do  so.  According  to  the  understanding  of 
the  members  of  the  mission  the  single  object  of  Dr.  Whitman  in  attempting  to 
cross  the  continent  in  the  winter  of  1842-3^  amid  mighty  peril  and  sufferings 
was  to  make  a  desperate  effort  to  save  this  country  to  the  United  States." 

They  had  mothers*  meetings^  and  a  "Columbia  Maternal  association^"  here 
in  the  Inland  Empire^  back  in  1838.  It  was  organized  soon  after  the  arrival  of 
Mrs.  Walker  and  Mrs.  Eells  at  the  Whitman  mission^  with  six  members.  By 
1842  seven  others  had  joined  it^  including  the  wives  of  two  members  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  company. 

"Sensible  of  the  evils  that  beset  the  young  mind  in  a  heathen  land  (so  ran  the 
preamble)  and  confident  that  no  arm  but  God's  can  secure  our  children  or  those 
committed  to  our  care  from  the  dangers  that  surround  them  and  bring  them  early 
into  the  fold  of  Christ  and  fit  them  for  usefulness  here  and  glory  hereafter^  we^ 
the  subscribers^  agree  to  form  ourselves  into  an  association  for  the  purpose  of 
adopting  such  rules  as  are  best  calculated  to  assist  us  in  the  right  performance  of 
our  maternal  duties." 

Climatically  the  mission  was  not  well  located  at  Walker's  prairie.  The  crops 
at  Tshimakain  suffered  from  frosts^  and  the  winters  were  longer  and  more  severe 
than  at  more  favored  spots  in  the  valley  of  the  Spokane.  That  of  1846-7  was 
particularly  rigorous. 

"The  past  winter  has  been  the  most  severe  in  the  memory  of  the  oldest  In- 
dians/' wrote  Mrs.  Eells:  "The  snow  began  to  fall  about  the  middle  of  November; 
about  the  middle  of  December  it  was  not  far  from  two  feet  deep,  and  it  continued 
to  increase  to  the  first  of  March.  For  more  than  five  months  the  earth  was  clothed 
in  a  robe  of  white;  for  more  than  three  months  we  were  literally  buried  in  snow; 
all  the  west  side  of  our  house  was  banked  to  the  roof,  and  would  have  been  dark 
only  that  the  snow  was  shoveled  from  the  windows." 

Mission  work  among  the  Indians  was  practically  suspended  that  dreary  win- 
ter. The  meeting  house  was  closed  from  the  17th  of  January  to  the  last  Sunday 
in  March,  and  even  then  Mr.  Eells  went  on  snowshoes  to  open  it.  It  was  so  cold 
the  first  of  March  that  the  air  cut  like  a  knife,  and  even  at  that  late  date  in  win- 
ter the  missionaries  found  it  hard  to  keep  comfortable  in  their  cabin  homes,  not- 
withstanding fuel  was  abundant  and  they  heaped  high  the  supply  on  the  broad 
fireplaces. 

"From  the  middle  of  December  till  well  into  April  men,  women  and  children 
traveled  on  snowshoes.  With  great  difficulty  Mr.  Walker  and  Mr.  Eells  fed  their 
horses  and  cattle,  but  by  economizing  in  feeding  they  saved  all  their  horses  but 
one,  though  twelve  of  their  cattle  died  of  starvation.  "We  have,  however,"  wrote 
Mrs.  Eells,  "had  an  abundance  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  more  of  its  luxuries 
than  has  sometimes  fallen  to  our  lot."  Measured  by  present  day  standards  of 
luxurious  living,  few  indeed  must  have  been  their  luxuries  that  winter  at  Tshima- 
kain. 

The  Indians  suffered  heavy  losses  of  live  stock.  Notwithstanding  the  men 
and  women  spent  a  great  part  of  their  time  clearing  away  snow  so  that  their  ani- 
mals could  get  at  the  frozen  bunch-grass,  nearly  all  their  horses  died  before  the 
last  of  January.  With  the  beginning  of  winter  the  Spokane  chief  had  seventy 
horses  and  thirty  cattle.     But  with  the  tardy  coming  of  spring  he  had  lost  every 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  87 

horse  and  aU  but  two  of  his  cattle.  "The  Indians  generally  had  from  one  to  ten 
horses^"  wrote  Mrs.  Eells^  "bnt  all  alike  are  now  on  foot.  I  do  not  know  of 
half  a  dozen  live  ones  in  all  this  region  belonging  to  the  Indians.  They  had 
nearly  forty  cattle  which  they  had  obtained  through  our  instrumentality;  there 
are  only  three  or  four  left.  A  band  of  sixteen  cattle  belonging  to  the  Bay  Indians 
was  sent  to  the  Spokane  river  to  winter ;  only  one  of  them  now  is  alive. 

"At  ColviUe  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  had  270  horses;  by  April  only  three 
were  alive.  Every  one  of  another  band  of  eighty  horses  belonging  to  a  single 
man  is  dead.  The  horses  of  the  Indians  in  that  region^  and  also  of  the  Bay  Indians 
further  north,  are  all  dead.  At  ColviUe  some  of  the  cattle  froze  to  death  stand- 
mg. 

At  Tshimakain  they  took  little  heed  of  the  New  York  or  Paris  fashions;  and 
there  were  no  new  bonnets  for  Easter  Sunday.  About  that  time,  acknowledging 
the  gift  of  a  shawl  which  had  been  sent  around  the  Horn  by  eastern  friends,  Mrs. 
Eells  wrote:  "Mrs.  Walker  and  I  had  each  our  red  merino  shawls  that  we  wore 
in  the  States  (nine  years  previous)  and  our  plaids  are  pretty  good,  though  they 
have  been  washed  several  times,  and  we  concluded  to  send  the  shawl  to  Mrs.  Whit- 
man, as  we  were  pretty  sure  she  had  none.  She  has  since  sent  back  many  thanks, 
as  she  was  destitute."  Think  upon  this  heroic  act  of  self-abnegation,  ye  pampered 
sisters  of  the  twentieth  century;  think  of  this  when  all  the  world  seems  dark  and 
dreary  under  that  last  summer's  creation  in  Parisian   millinery. 

That  same  box  of  Massachusetts  luxuries  brought  several  pairs  of  shoes  for 
the  children,  the  very  first  their  youthful  eyes  had  ever  fallen  upon.  They  had 
always  worn  moccasins,  and  in  winter  were  obliged  to  stay  in  the  house  or  have 
wet  feet. 

"Edwin  and  Myron  think  very  much  of  the  books  sent  them  last  fall,"  wrote 
the  faithful  mother  with  grateful  heart.  "I  think  they  learn  books  very  well,  but 
thej  can  never  know  the  noble,  exhilarating  feeling  there  is  connected  with  going 
to  worship  in  a  good  meeting-house,  where  they  can  understand  what  is  said,  or 
to  a  good  school  with  others  of  their  own  age.  But  I  have  no  doubt  the  Lord  will 
take  care  of  them  if  we  do  our  duty."  Oh,  that  severe  New  England  training 
of  five  and  seventy  years  ago !  Has  it  forever  vanished  from  our  midst  ?  Have 
ife  grown  into  better  things,  with  all  the  wealth  of  luxury  and ^  ease  that  came 
with  the  locomotive  and  the  electric  wire,  or  have  we  fallen  upon  degenerate  days, 
tbat  the  confidences  of  this  time-stained  journal,  penned,  oh,  so  long  ago,  at 
lonely  Tshimakain,  sound  quaint  and  peculiar  to  ears  grown  wiser  in  the  brilliant 
light  of  the  twentieth  century  f 

But  those  Mission  mothers  were  practical  withal.  "Last  year  and  the  year 
before  we  had  milk,  so  that  we  made  a  few  small  cheeses.  Just  to  prove  how  neces- 
sity can  invent  new  ways  when  the  old  ones  are  not  at  hand,  I  will  tell  you  how  we 
went  to  work.  At  first,  I  believe,  Mrs.  McDonald  of  Fort  ColviUe,  gave  us  a  little 
itnnct,  but  we  cquld  bring  no  curd  with  it.  Then  Dr.  Whitman  gave  us  a  little 
beefs  rennet,  but  we  succeeded  no  better  with  it.  At  last  Mrs.  Walker  thought 
that  perhaps  young  deer's  rennet  would  do,  so  after  a  while  an  Indian  brought  us 
one  which  we  tried,  and  it  did  well.  But  perhaps  you  will  say.  Why  did  you  not 
ba?e  calves*  rennet?  Because  a  general  feeling  has  prevailed  that  calves  should 
not  be  killed. 


88  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

"Now  for  the  cheese  basket  and  tong^^  and  something  to  dress  it  with.  The 
first  named  utensil  we  did  without.  We  succeeded  in  getting  a  two-gallon  keg 
sawed  in  two^  which  served  for  hoops^  and  at  first  we  pressed  with  stones  and  bags 
of  musket  balls.  Last  year  Mrs.  Walker  made  herself  a  lever  which  saved  her 
strength  some^  but  I  did  not  try  anything  new." 

This  Mrs.  McDonald^  who  goes  into  history  as  a  charter  member  of  the  Colum- 
bia Maternal  association,  collector  of  mineral  specimens  and  assistant  in  the  first 
cheese-making  establishment  in  the  Inland  Empire,  was  an  Indian  woman,  but 
according  to  Mr.  Eells,  "a  jewel  of  rare  excellence,  intelligent,  and  her  numerous 
children  were  a  living  testimony  to  her  maternal  efficiency." 


CHAPTER  X 

MISSIONS  DESTROYED  AND  ABANDONED 

MISSIONARIES    ILL    AND    DISCOURAGED ^WHITMAN    MASSACRE    BRINGS    TERROR    TO    T8HI- 

MAKAIN FAITHFUL  SPOKANES   REMAIN   LOTAL ^MISSIONARIES   FLEE  TO   COLTILLE ■ 

GRAPHIC  REMINISCENCE  OF  EDWIN  EELLS A  THRILLING  MOMENT SPOKANES  RALLY 

TO   DEFENSE    OF    THEIR    TEACHERS CAYUSES    SEND    OUT    LYING    RUNNERS OREGON 

VOLUNTEERS    COME    TO    ESCORT    MISSIONARIES    TO    WILLAMETTE    VALLEY PATHETIC 

FAREWELL  ON  THE  SPOKANE "oUR  HEARTS  WEEP   TO   SEE  YOU  GO/^ 

THE  long  hard  winter  of  1846-47  left  the  mission  colony  depressed  in  spirit 
and  some  of  them  bodily  ill.  It  had  been  particularly  trying  to  Mrs.  Eells. 
They  were  discouraged^  and  frankly  confessed  that  their  work  had  been  dis- 
appointing in  results.  Indian  interest,  both  in  church  and  school,  had  fallen  off, 
and  reactionary  spirits  among  the  Spokanes  taunted  the  teachers,  and  challenged 
them  to  point  out  what  benefits  they  had  brought  to  the  Indians.  A  few  remained 
faithful,  and  in  a  way  zealous,  but  not  one  had  shown  sufficient  change  of  heart,  ac- 
cording to  the  severe  theological  tests  of  the  times,  to  warrant  his  admission  to  the 
chnrch  or  to  become  a  partaker  of  the  sacrament. 

Before  the  Whitman  massacre  in  November,  1847,  abandonment  of  the  Spokane 
mission  had  practically  been  agreed  upon.  The  Methodists  were  closing  their  Ore- 
gon missions,  and  Dr.  Whitman  bought  their  establishment  at  The  Dalles.  It  was 
plamied  that  Spalding  should  give  up  his  work  among  the  Nez  Perces  at  Lapwai  and 
join  WTiitman  at  Waiilatpu.  Walker  was  to  go  from  to  Tshimakain  to  The  Dalles ; 
and  Eells  was  to  move  to  Dr.  Whitman's,  and  engage  in  winter  work  for  the  benefit 
of  the  whites,  many  of  whom  were  now  settling  in  Oregon,  while  his  summers  were 
to  be  given  up  to  itinerating  work  among  the  Indians.  But  man  proposes  and  God 
disposes.  Mr.  Walker's  ill  health  detained  him  at  Tshimakain,  and  it  seemed  im- 
prudent for  Mr.  Eells  to  leave  him  alone  among  the  Spokanes.  And  for  some  rea- 
son Spalding  lingered,  too,  at  Lapwai,  and  thus  several  lives  were  saved  from  the 
frightful  fate  that  befell  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Whitman. 

After  the  massacre,  futile  efforts  were  made  by  the  Cayuse  Indians  to  induce 
the  Spokanes  to  slay  their  teachers  at  Tshimakain.  A  number  of  Indians  from  the 
Spokane  country  had  gone  down  into  the  Willamette  valley  and  taken  employment 
uiider  the  white  settlers.  The  Cayuses  sent  false  reports  to  the  Spokanes  that  the 
white  people  in  Oregon,  in^  retaliation  for  the  Whitman  massacre,  had  killed  sixty  of 
these  Indians  from  the  Spokane  region.  Mr.  Eells  went  to  the  chief  of  the  Spokanes 
and  gave  him  assurance  that  the  report  was  false.  "Believe  not  the  message,"  he 
declared ;  "it  is  not  the  way  the  Americans  do." 

89 


90  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

"Avoid  being  out  after  dark/'  counseled  the  chief.  "I  and  my  people  are  friendly, 
but  some  lurking  Cayuses  may  try  to  kill  you  and  throw  suspicion  on  us.  Make  the 
door  fast;  place  a  strong  shutter  over  the  window.  If  there  is  a  call  for  admittance^ 
delay;  make  inquiry.  By  the  dialect  of  the  person  at  the  door  you  will  know  from 
what  band  he  comes — whether  from  those  well  or  evil  disposed." 

It  was  a  time  to  try  the  souls  of  the  bravest,  but  the  faithful  Spokanes  remained 
stanch,  and  the  missionaries  had  faith  in  their  loyalty. 

"Soon  after  the  massacre,"  says  Myron  Eells  in  his  biography  of  Father  EqIIs, 
"the  government  of  Oregon  raised  volunteers,  chiefly  in  the  Willamette  valley,  who 
chastised  the  Cayuses,  built  Fort  Waters  at  Dr.  Whitman's  station,  and  drove  the 
Indians  out  of  their  own  country  nearly  half  way  to  Tshimakain.  This  brought  the 
enemy  so  near  that  there  seemed  to  be  more  danger  than  before,  and  Mr.  Walker 
went  to  Fort  Colville  about  the  first  of  March  to  consult  with  Mr.  Lewes,  in  charge 
there,  as  to  their  safety." 

"Remain  quiet  at  the  mission  as  long  as  you  can,"  replied  Lewes.  "If  you  become 
convinced  of  real  danger,  come  to  my  fort,  and  I  will  protect  you  equally  with  myself 
and  family." 

Confronted  with  the  possibility  of  losing  their  teachers,  the  Spokanes  now  ex- 
hibited the  most  earnest  evidences  of  friendship.  They  were  ready,  they  aflirmed, 
to  go  to  war  with  the  Cayuses. 

"But  the  hostile  camp  was  now  only  about  sixty  miles  from  Tshimakain,"  says 
Myron  Eells,  "and  it  began  to  seem  unsafe  to  stay  any  longer.  Mr.  Walker  and  Mrs. 
Eells  were  constitutionally  timid  and  wished  to  leave.  Mrs.  Walker  had  strong  nerves, 
but  her  six  children  made  her  cautious.  She  was  on  an  even  poise.  Mr.  Eells  was 
not  satisfied  that  there  was  danger  enough  to  render  it  necessary  to  move;  but  he 
alone  anchored  the  fourteen  persons  there,  and  the  responsibility  was  too  great.  It 
was  decided  to  leave  for  Fort  Colville.  So  happy  were  the  timid  ones  at  this,  that 
notwithstanding  that  it  rained  when  they  started,  and  their  first  camp  was  in  the 
snow,  and  they  did  not  reach  Colville  until  the  fourth  day,  yet  the  move  was  made 
without  a  murmur.  The  next  week  Messrs.  Walker  and  Eells  and  Edwin  Eells,  then 
six  years  old,  returned  to  Tshimakain  to  look  after  what  was  left." 

Edwin  Eells,  in  a  recent  article  in  the  Sunday  Spokesman-Review,  tells^  in 
graphic  reminiscence  of  that  return  to  the  abandoned  mission : 

"On  the  Sabbath  following  our  arrival  at  our  now  desolate  home,  about  4  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  while  sitting  quietly  in  our  house,  we  heard  an  unusual  noise.  My 
father  went  to  the  door  and  listened.  He  shut  it  quickly,  fastened  it  and  went  into 
the  back  yard,  where  we  mounted  a  table  standing  there,  from  which  we  could  lock 
over  the  picket  fort  fence  that  surrounded  us,  and  listened. 

"Off  in  the  woods,  a  mile  away,  were  Indians  coming,  heralding  their  approach 
with  the  Indian  warwhoop.  Nearer  and  nearer,  and  louder  and  louder  came  the 
soimd.  The  cold  chills  ran  down  my  back.  I  felt  as  though  my  hair  was  standing 
up  under  my  cap,  and  I  said:  'Father,  father,  what  is  it?  What  is  it?'  He  was  too 
intent  to  answer  me. 

"At  length  they  came  out  into  the  open  prairie,  half  a  mile  distant.  There  were 
a  score  of  them  or  more,  with  faces  painted,  feathers  in  their  hair,  bows  and  arrows 
in  their  hands,  riding  bareback  and  yelling  like  mad.  After  a  few  minutes  of  intense 
suspense,  my  father  recognized  the  horses  and  some  of  the  Indians  aa  belonging  to 


GRAVE  OP  MISSIONARY  SPALDING,  AT  SPALDING,  IDAHO 


IHUL-fLiC  LlBKAK'/l 


I 

^*p'—  -  — - 


(    r  f 


^J^^KAR 


t  ■'u* 


Tic  U>  S     (  , 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  91 

our  own  friendly  band.     His  fears  for  our  immediate  safety  were  allayed,  but  he 
was  intensely  excited  and  apprehensive. 

''After  dashing  wildly  about  the  prairie  and  giving  all  the  variations  of  the 
warwhoop,  they  formed  a  half  circle  and  made  a  bee  line  for  the  houses,  reaching 
Mr.  Walker's  first,  where  all  stopped  suddenly,  with  an  ear-splitting  shriek.  Mr. 
Walker,  who  was  sitting  in  his  house  with  a  half  breed  Indian,  was  paralyzed  with 
terror.  My  father  and  I  went  down  to  his  house,  distant,  perhaps,  100  yards,  to 
meet  them.  On  the  way  he  led  me  by  the  hand,  and  being  very  much  excited,  walked 
so  fast  that  I  had  to  trot  to  keep  up  with  him.  I  said,  'Father,  what  makes  you 
walk  so  fast }'    Again  he  did  not  reply. 

"The  old  chief's  son  was  at  the  head  of  the  band.  His  story  was  that  one  of 
their  people,  while  hunting  horses  the  day  before,  had  visited  a  camp  of  the  Cayuses 
and  found  some  of  them  gone,  he  could  not  learn  where.  He  suspected  it  was  to 
Tshimakain.  Upon  his  way  home  he  came  upon  fresh  horse  tracks,  which  so 
strengthened  his  suspicions  that  he  walked  all  night  and  till  noon  that  day  to  tell 
the  old  chief,  who,  with  a  part  of  the  band,  '^as  campjed  about  twenty-five  miles  from 
home,  near  the  Spokane  Falls.  *" 

"The  chief  immediately  said,  'Young  men,  catch  your  horses  and  run  to  Tshima- 
kain and  protect  your  teachers,'  not  knowing  that  we  had  moved  away.  That  night 
onr  horses  were  secured  and  put  under  lock  and  key,  a  guard  was  kept  all  night, 
with  fires  burning,  and  the  next  morning,  with  an  escort  of  twenty  men,  we  rode 
three  miles  across  the  ferry  on  our  way  back  to  the  fort.  They  did  this  to  show  the 
enemy,  if  any  were  lurking  about,  that  we  were  protected.  After  entering  the  tim- 
ber they  began  to  scatter,  returning  through  the  woods  by  separate  trails,  and  thus 
our  guard  gradually  diminished  till  we  arrived  at  the  fort,  one  or  two  only  accom- 
panying us  all  the  way.     .     .     . 

"During  the  next  ten  weeks  Mr.  Eells  was  almost  continually  in  the  saddle,  and 
traveled  about  1,400  miles,  visiting  all  the  Spokane  Indian  bands,  most  of  whom 
maintained  friendly  relations,  and  none  of  whom  became  hostile.  He  always  traveled 
alone,  except  when  accompanied  by  trusty  Indians.  Being  a  man  of  peace,  he  never 
carried  any  TveaponS.  With  a  horse  that  could  outrun  any  Indian  horse  in  the  coun- 
try, and  a  mule  that  could  scent  an  Indian  half  a  mile  or  more  tethered  close  by,  he 
often  slept  alone  in  some  out  of  the  way  place  under  a  friendly  bush.  His  quiet 
courage  and  strict  integrity  won  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  Indians,  and  en- 
abled him  to  hold  them  all  in  check  and  prevent  bloodshed. 

**With  their  right  hands  reverently  placed  on  his  pocket  testament  and  in  his 
presence,  the  chiefs  and  head  men  of  the  several  bands  made  solemn  promises  of 
fealty  to  the  whites  which  they  faithfully  kept." 

The  Whitman  massacre  had  thrown  the  whole  country  into  a  furor  of  alarming 
apprehensions.  The  dreadful  news,  carried  quickly  into  the  scattered  settlements, 
from  French  Prairie  in  the  Willamette  valley  to  the  fur  trading  outposts  in  British 
Columbia,  struck  alarm  to  the  minds  of  the  bravest  men  and  terror  to  the  hearts  of 
timid  women  and  children.  Every  rifle  in  the  Oregon  country  was  cleaned  and 
oiled  for  the  general  savage  warfare  that  seemed  impending,  and  the  door  of  every 
remote  cabin  was  doubly  barricaded. 

Mischievous  and  murderous  minded  Cayuse  Indians  had  put  out  their  runners, 
with  lying  reports  calculated  to  inflame  the  tribes  of  the  interior,  and  to  allay  these 


92  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

disturbing  influences^  Father  Eells  was  in  the  saddle^  weeks  at  a  time,  going  every- 
where over  the  interior,  serene,  courageous,  self-possessed.  And  this  at  a  time  when 
even  the  fur  traders  suffered  from  attacks  of  "nerves,"  for  at  Fort  Colville  Factor 
Lewes  kept  his  place  guarded,  night  and  day. 

News  of  the  massacre  at  Waiilatpu  roused  the  fighting  spirit  of  the  Oregon  set- 
tlers, and  a  volunteer  regiment,  commanded  by  Colonel  H'.  A.  G.  Lee,  marched  out 
of  the  Willamette  valley,  ascended  the  Columbia  river  to  the  interior,  and  invaded 
the  country  of  the  hostiles.  But  their  elusive  foe,  thoroughly  alarmed  at  this  formid- 
able appearance  of  bitter  and  resolute  avengers,  scattered  to  the  winds,  and  little 
punishment  could  be  inflicted.  May  28  two  Indians  brought  letters  to  the  refugees 
at  Fort  Colville,  one  from  Colonel  Lee  informing  the  missionaries  that  his  forces  had 
dispersed  and  chased  the  flying  Cayuses  across  Snake  river,  and  adding: 

"When  we  found  that  it  was  not  expedient  to  pursue  the  flying  Indians  further, 
we  halted.  The  question  was  asked :  Shall  we  go  back  to  the  Willamette  and  leave 
the  two  mission  families  of  Rev.  Messrs.  Walker  and  Eells?  That  could  not  be 
thought  of.  They  could  not  look  Americans  in  the  face  and  say:  *We  have  left  two 
missionary  families  in  the  Indian  country  in  these  times.'  Volunteers  were  asked 
for  to  bring  away  those  families  and  sixty  responded.  Major  Joseph  Magone  was 
placed  in  charge." 

A  letter  from  Major  Magone  stated  that  he  would  be  at  Tshimakain  with  his 
forces  on  Sunday,  May  28  (the  same  day  that  the  messengers  arrived  at  Colville 
with  these  dispatches),  to  give  them  military  escort  to  the  Willamette  settlements. 

After  consulting  among  themselves  and  with  Factor  Lewes,  a  verdict  was  reached 
for  abandonment  of  the  mission,  and  early  the  next  morning  Walker,  Eells  and  a  son 
of  Mr.  Lewes  were  in  the  saddle  for  Tshimakain,  where  they  arrived  before  sunset, 
a  ride  of  70  miles.  The  Spokanes  were  reluctant  to  lose  their  teachers,  and  pro- 
tested, with  fine  spirit,  that  they  would  protect  the  white  families,  and  if  need  be, 
were  ready  to  make  war  on.  the  Cayuses.  When  reminded  that  the  presence  of  the 
missionaries  might  involve  them  in  serious  troubles,  they  answered  that  they  were 
ready  to  accept  the  risk  and  one  Indian,  opening  his  blanket,  declared,  with  fine 
imagery,  that  they  would  protect  the  missionaries  even  as  a  mother  protected  her 
child.  To  the  last  the  Spokanes  remonstrated  against  the  contemplated  separation, 
and  seeing  that  further  conference  could  be  of  no  profit,  the  party  returned  to  Col- 
ville. By  noon  of  Thursday  all  were  ready,  and  bidding  goodbye  to  their  kind  hosts 
and  protectors  at  Fort  Colville,  they  sorrowfully  faced  the  south  and  reached  the  vi- 
cinity of  Tshimakain  on  Saturday.  Lacking  the  heart  to  encounter  again  the  plead- 
ing eyes  and  voices  of  the  Spokanes,  they  changed  their  plan  of  remaining  there 
over  Sunday,  and  crossed  the  Spokane  and  observed  the  Sabbath  on  the  south  bank 
of  the  stream. 

"The  groves  were  God's  first  temples,"  in  the  Spokane  country.  Our  mission 
workers  could  not  wait  for  the  rearing  even  of  four  plain  walls,  much  less  for 
"fretted  vault,"  and  swelling  organ  tones.  Many  a  time  and  oft  they  spoke  God's 
word  in  the  beautiful  cathedral  of  nature,  beneath  the  vast  dome  of  heaven,  while 
their  wild  and  uncouth  congregations  gathered  attentively  around,  in  the  shade  of 
the  pillared  pines.  Fitting  theme  for  the  hand  and  brush  of  genius  was  that  fare- 
well service,  on  a  Sabbath  morning  in  early  June,  on  the  bank  of  the  brimming  Spo- 
kane, with  the  women  and  children  seated  on  bales  of  household  goods,  and  the 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  93 

Oregon  volunteers^  stained  by  week^  of  campaigning  through  the  Indian  country^ 
some  seated  on  logs^  others  half -reclining  on  the  turf,  and  others  yet  with  folded 
arms,  standing  soldierly  erect. 

As  the  quiet  Sunday  wore  away,  many  sorrowing  Indians  gathered  in.  "We  do 
not  know  when  we  shall  hear  you  again,"  said  Qual-qual-a-hive-tsa ;  "will  you  not  say 
a  serrice  for  us  ?"  And  for  scripture  text  the  preacher  took,  "The  people  departed, 
sorrowing  most  of  all  that  they  might  see  our  face  no  more." 

And  so,  after  more  than  nine  years  of  rough  home-building  among  the  Spokanes, 
they  went  away  from  beautiful  Tshimakain,  birthplace  of  five  of  the  Walker  chil- 
dren and  of  Edwin  and  Myron  Eells.  Few  of  them  were  ever  to  look  again  upon 
that  mountain  vale.  And  yet,  "there  is  a  clinging  to  the  land  of  one's  birth,"  and  in 
memory  of  the  place,  Mrs.  Mary  Walker,  "Grandma  Walker"  she  became  in  later 
years  to  all  the  people  of  the  countryside,  wrote  these  lines  for  her  children: 

Tshimakain.     Oh,  how   fine. 
Fruits  and  flowers  abounding; 
And  the  breeze  through  the  trees, 
Life  and  health  conferring 

And  the  rill  near  the  hill. 
With  its  sparkling  water; 
Lowing  herds  and   prancing  steeds 
Around  it  used  to  gather. 

And  the  Sabbath  was  so  quiet, 
And  the  log-house  chapel. 
Where  the   Indians   used  to  gather 
In   their   robes   and   blankets. 

Now  it  stands,  alas,  forsaken: 
No  one  with  the  Bible 
Comes  to  teach  the  tawny  Skailu* 
Of   Kai-ko-len-so-tin.f 

Other  spots  on  earth  may  be 
To  other  hearts  as  dear; 
But  not  to  me;  the  reason  why. 
It  was*  the  place  that  bore  me." 

That  first  week  of  the  exodus  took  them  to  Dr.  Whitman's  mission.  Two  faith- 
ful Spokanes  went  with  them  to  the  crossing  of  Snake  river,  and,  parting,  one  of 
thera  said:  "Our  hearts  weep  to  see  you  go,  but  wc  are  reconciled."  The  second 
week  brought  them  to  The  Dalles.  There  the  cavalcade  divided,  Mr.  Eells,  with  his 
domestic  animals,  going  with  the  troops  overland  through  the  Cascade  mountains 
by  way  of  Barlow  pass,  the  others  descending  the  Columbia  in  boats  and  going  up 
the  Willamette  to  Oregon  City  at  the  falls. 


•  People, 
t  God. 


94  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

"The  missions  of  the  American  Board  in  Oregon  were  broken  up,"  says  Myron 
Bells  in  the  biography  of  his  father.  "Could  they  be  resumed?  The  only  mission 
in  regard  to  which  there  was  any  hope  was  that,  among  the  Spokanes.  Hoping 
that  the  way  would  open  for  their  return,  Messrs.  Walker  and  Eells  did  not  sever 
their  connection  with  the  Board  for  ^ve  years. 

"The  Indians  were  very  anxious  to  have  them  return,  and  in  1851  journeyed 
four  hundred  and  fifty  miles  to  Oregon  City  to  obtain  teachers.  Dr.  Dart,  superin- 
tendent of  Indian  affairs,  did  what  he  could  to  aid  them,  but  after  thoroughly 
weighing  the  matter  neither  Mr.  Walker  nor  Mr.  Eells  could  feel  it  his  duty  to 
return;  for,  first,  there  was  no  adequate  protection  at  Tshimakain;  and,  second, 
the  cost  of  resuming  and  sustaining  operations  was  very  great,  owing  largely  to  the 
high  prices  resulting  from  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California.  .  .  .  Hence  in 
1855  their  connection  as  missionaries  with  the  Board  was  formally  dissolved. 

"The  Indians  had  been  left  by  their  teachers,  and  the  question  was.  Would 
they  return  to  their  former  practices?  Instead  of  retrogression  came  advance. 
If  not  members  of  the  visible  church — and  not  one  had  been  thought  fit  for  church 
membership — some  showed  that  they  were  members  of  the  invisible  one.  Several, 
as  if  divinely  called,  took  position  as  leaders  and  teachers.  There  were  public 
Sabbath  services  and  daily  worship  in  their  lodges.  If  the  head  man  were  absent, 
another  took  his  place.  If  the  praying  men  were  all  away,  the  praying  women 
took  their  places." 

Annually  some  of  the  Spokanes  went  to  the  Willamette  valley  for  work,  and 
each  year  they  pleaded  for  the  return  of  the  missionaries.  Yielding,  at  last,  to 
their  importuning,  Mr.  Walker  resolved  to  pay  them  a  visit,  in  company  with 
Indian  Superintendent  Dart.  The  two  started  for  the  Spokane  country,  but  Dart 
was  called  back,  and  Walker  deemed  it  best  to  return  with  him. 

"Notwithstanding  all  the  commotion  about  Tshimakain  in  the  spring  of  1848,  the 
wheat  had  been  sown  in  hope  that  it  might  be  needed,"  adds  Father  Eells'  biog- 
rapher. "When  the  missionaries  left  in  June,  Mr.  Eells  gave  the  Indians  the  two 
sickles,  and  they  were  instructed  to  cut  it  when  it  was  ripe  and  put  it  in  the  bam, 
and  if  the  missionaries  did  not  return  before  the  snow  should  fall,  they  might 
thresh  and  eat  it.  It  was  harvested,  but  the  chief  said  it  must  be  kept  for  the 
use  of  their  teachers  on  their  return.  It  was  used  in  time  of  need  for  seed,  but 
was  replaced.  When  they  expected  Mr.  Walker  to  visit  them,  they  carried  it  to 
Colville  and  had  it  ground,  and  brought  it  back  for  the  use  of  the  party." 

In  1861,  the  government  having  established  a  military  post  at  Fort  Colville 
and  placed  Major  Lugenbeel  in  command,  that  officer,  who  served  also  as  Indian 
agent,  said  to  Mr.  Eells:  "Those  Indians  of  yours  are  the  best  Indians  I  ever 
saw.    I  wish  you  would  go  back  and  resume  missionary  operations  among  them." 


CHAPTER  XI 

FOUNDING  THE  FIRST  CHURCHES  AROUND  SPOKANE 

FATHSR    SELLS    RETURNS    TO    THE     BUNCHGRA88    REGION TWELVE     YEARS    AT     WALLA 

WALLA FOUNDS    WHITMAN    ACADEMY — SPALDING   RETURNS    TO    THE    NEZ    PERCES 

■ 

baptizes  253  8pokane8 eells  visits  his  old  friends  on  the  spokane ^deliv- 
ers first  fourth  of  july  address  at  colville^-organizes  at  colfax  first 
congregational  church  north  of  snake  river elected  school  superin- 
tendent  of   whitman    county life   as   a   circuit  rider   out  of   colfax 

moves  to  medical  lake dedicates  church  at  chewelah organizes  church 

at  medical  lake his  work  in   spokane organizes   church   at  8prague 

his  last  days  at  tacoma tributes  to  his  memory mission  work  among  the 

nez  perces life  work  of  rev.  h.  h.  spalding a  devoted  band general 

Howard's  tribute  to  miss  m'beth. 

Near  yonder  copse,  where  once  the  garden  smiled, 
And  still  where  many  a  garden  flower  grows  wild. 
There,  where  a  few  torn  shrubs  the  place  disclose. 
The  village  preacher's  modest  mansion  rose. 
A  man  he  was  to  all  the  country  dear, 
And  passing  rich  with  forty  pounds  a  year. 

— Oliver  Goldsmith, 

FATHER  EELLS  was  never  content  with  life  in  the  Willamette  valley 
or  on  Puget  Sound.  The  call  of  the  bunch-grass  country  came  strong  and 
persistent.  He  yielded  to  its  subtle  power,  and  in  1860  went  to  Walla 
Walla,  where  he  lived  for  twelve  years,  preaching,  teaching  and  laboring  inces- 
santly for  Whitman  academy,  an  institution  of  his  founding  as  an  enduring  me- 
morial to  the  murdered  missionary.  In  1862  he  went  back  to  Tshimakain,  his 
first  visit  since  the  abandonment  of  the  mission.  He  held  services  on  a  Sabbath, 
attended  by  many  Indians  who  gathered  in  from  the  surrounding  country  to  greet 
thdp  old  teacher. 

While  he  lived  at  Walla  Walla,  a  number  of  Spokanes  came  down  to  that  val- 
ley every  year  to  work  for  farmers.  Many  of  these  frequently  attended  the  Con- 
gregational church,  and,  remaining  for  Sunday  school,  were  gathered  into  a  class 
and  taught  in  their  own  tongue.  At  times  this  class  had  twenty-five  to  thirty-five 
members. 

At  Tshimakain  the  missionaries  had  given  the  Indians  a  tract  filled  with  Bible 

95 


96  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

• 

pictures.  This  they  had  treasured  through  the  years.  To  aid  them  in  remem- 
brance of  dates^  the  missionaries  had  prepared  a  simple  chronological  charts  a 
short  line  marking  a  year^  one  a  little  longer  a  decade^  and  a  long  line  a  centary. 
By  this  means  the  time  was  illustrated^  from  the  creation  to  the  deluge^  the  deluge  to 
the  Christian  era^  and  from  the  days  of  Christ  to  the  present.  They  treasured  this 
simple  chart  for  nearly  thirty  years.  One  Sunday  in  1868,  at  Walla  Walla,  after 
a  number  of  them  had  attended  Sunday  school,  they  followed  Mr.  Eells  to  his 
home,  and  presenting  this  old  paper,  A-ma-mel-i-kan  uttered  the  single  word, 
"tem-e-walsh" — it  is  worn  out.     They  were  given  a  new  one. 

Mr.  Eells  moved  from  Walla  Walla  to  Puget  Sound  in  1872,  and  the  Spokanes, 
still  seeking  religious  instruction,  appealed  to  Missionary  H.  H.  Spalding,  who 
had  resumed  his  work  among  the  Nez  Perces.  Spalding  went  among  them  in  1873 
and  baptized  258,  a  mission  from  which  he  probably  derived  peculiar  gratifica- 
tion growing  out  of  his  intense  and  unreasoning  aversion  to  the  Catholics.  Under  a 
new  Indian  policy  adopted  in  President  Grant's  administration,  of  turning  over 
Indian  educational  work  to  various  religious  denominations,  the  Spokanes  were 
assigned  in  1871  to  the  Colville  agency,  which  chanced  to  fall  under  Catholic  con- 
trol. Naturally  the  Catholic  missionaries  were  eager  to  extend  the  influence  of 
the  church  of  Rome,  and  this  action  by  Spalding  thwarted  their  plans. 

But  the  lure  of  the  sun-bright  interior  remained  strong  in  the  heart  of  Father 
Eells.  When  James  N.  Glover,  in  1878,  brought  his  sawmill  from  Salem,  Oregon, 
to  Spokane,  he  employed  as  millwright  Deacon  J.  J.  MacFarland  of  that  place. 
MacFarland  attended,  next  year,  the  meeting  of  the  Congregational  Association 
of  Oregon  and  Washington,  at  Olympia,  and  there  narrated  to  Father  Eells  his 
observations  made  while  erecting  the  mill  on  the  Spokane;  how  the  Indians  en- 
camped by  the  falls  had  daily  called  the  people  together  for  worship,  and  main- 
tained double  services  on  Sunday.  It  was  like  a  bugle  call  to  the  stout-hearted  old  mis- 
sionary, and  packing  food  and  bedding  on  his  favorite  horse  Le  Bleu  (how  the  old 
French  names  lingered  in  the  land,  for  Le  Bleu  was  a  favorite  horse  name  among 
the  trappers  a  century  ago)  he  set  out  in  July,  1874,  to  cross  the  Cascade  moun- 
tains. Alternately  riding  and  walking  to  rest  his  horse,  he  traversed  the  state, 
going  by  way  of  Walla  Walla  and  Colfax.  Coming  to  the  Spokane,  he  saw  an 
Indian  camp  across  the  river.  "Do  you  know  me?"  he  called  out  across  the  water. 
"Yes,  yes ;  it's  Mr.  Leels  !*'  answered  the  glad  voice  of  the  Indians. 

News  of  the  return  of  their  old  friend  and  teacher  ran  over  the  country,  and 
it  was  arranged  that  he  should  hold  services  at  Chewelah  the  following  Sunday. 
That  was  a  busy  day  for  Mr.  Eells,  for  within  six  hours  he  conducted  two  services 
for  the  natives  and  two  more  for  the  white  settlers.  From  Chewelah  he  went  to 
Colville  to  consult  Indian  Agent  J.  A.  Simms.  Then  back  to  the  Spokane  river, 
where  two  more  services  were  held,  and  then  a  trip  to  the  little  settlement  by  the 
falls  to  meet  and  counsel  with  Rev.  H.  T.  Cowley,  who  was  taking  up  independent 
missionary  work  among  the  natives  there. 

The  next  summer  Mr.  Eells  revisited  the  Spokane  country  and  held  twenty- 
four  services  with  his  former  wards.  One  Sunday  he  and  Mr.  Cowley  adminis- 
tered the  sacrament  to  sixty  communicants  before  a  congregation  of  860.  "I 
made  note,"  he  remarked,  "of  the  propriety  of  language  used  in  prayer." 

He  returned  to  the  Puget  Sound  country,  but  the  summer  of  1876  found  him 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  97 

back  in  the  interior^  giving  his  Sundays  to  the  white  people  in  the  vicinity  of  Col- 
Tille^  and  most  of  his  week  days  to  the  Spokanes  at  various  places.  During  nine- 
teen weeks  of  this  summer  he  held  forty  services  with  the  Indians  and  forty  more 
with  the  whites.  He  delivered^  too^  the  address  at  the  first  fourth  of  July  celebra- 
tion held  at  Colville.  "As  it  was  the  Centennial  year^"  says  his  son^  Myron  Eells^ 
"the  oration  was  expected  to  be  largely  an  historical  sketch  of  the  valley.  Partly 
from  public  records^  partly  from  the  reminiscences  of  early  settlers,  and  partly 
from  his  own  recollection,  it  was  prepared.  One  man,  John  A.  Simms,  Indian 
agent,  was  present,  who  had  been  present  when  he  delivered  the  first  similar  address 
in  the  Walla  Walla  valley  sixteen  years  before." 

The  coontry  was  now  filling  with  settlers,  in  anticipation  of  the  coming  of 
the  Northern  Pacific  railroad,  and  Mr.  Eells  was  impressed  with  the  opportunity 
here  presented  for  home  mission  work. 

"True,"  writes  his  biographer,  "the  country  was  not  thickly  settled.  Spokane 
had  in  1874,  when  he  first  visited  it  after  it  had  been  laid  out  as  a  town  (though 
he  had  visited  the  place  thirty  or  more  years  before)  only  two  women;  and  for 
many  years  afterward  had  in  Cheney  a  strong  rival,  and  in  1880  could  boast  of 
only  about  a  hundred  people.  The  entire  district  (eastern  Washington  north  of 
Snake  river)  had  only  2,434  population.  There  was  no  railroad.  Not  until  1888 
was  the  last  spike  on  the  Northern  Pacific  driven.  But  there  was  a  certainty  that 
it  would  be  built  through  that  region ;  hence  a  few  had  gone  there,  among  them 
quite  a  number  of  Dr.  Eells'  old  acquaintances  in  the  Walla  Walla  valley. 

"In  the  early  days  he  often  spoke  of  the  rich  Palouse  country,  and  so  he  turned 
bis  steps  in  1877  to  its  center,  Colfax.  August  9,  1874,  while  passing  from  Col- 
rille  to  Skokomish,  he  had  preached  his  first  sermon  there,  the  first  preaching  from 
a  Congregational  minister  in  that  town." 

At  Colfax,  on  Sunday,  July  8,  1877,  assisted  by  Rev.  Dr.  Atkinson  of  Oregon, 
be  organized  the  first  Congregational  church  north  of  Snake  river,  ten  persons 
entering  into  the  organization.  For  four  years  he  was  pastor  of  that  pioneer 
cburch. 

As  Mrs.  Eells  was  in  failing  health,  it  was  deemed  unwise  at  first  to  bring  her 
to  Colfax,  but  in  the  spring  of  1878  he  thought  it  best  for  her  to  be  more  closely 
associated  with  him  in  his  labors,  and  it  was  planned  that  she  should  join  him 
there,  plans  that  were  not  to  be  carried  to  execution,  for  in  May  this  faithful  and 
devoted  "mother  in  Israel,"  who  had  come  as  a  bride  nearly  forty  years  before 
to  lonely  Tshimakain,  was  seized  with  her  last  illness.  August  9,  1878,  at  the  age 
of  78,  she  passed  to  her  great  reward.  Funeral  services  were  held  at  Skokomish, 
and  the  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  her  son.  Rev.  Myron  Eells,  as  there  was 
no  other  minister  within  thirty  miles. 

"Before  her  death,"  this  son  has  written,  "plans  had  been  made  for  a  church 
building  at  Colfax.  At  first  the  proposition  was  made  to  the  church  that  if  it 
wonld  allow  other  churches  to  use  the  building  half  the  time,  they  would  cooperate 
in  building  it.  In  accordance  with  that  plan  subscriptions  were  made.  But  to 
Dr.  Eells  this  was  injudicious.  He  believed  that  the  Congregational  church  would 
have  to  do  the  greater  part  of  the  work,  and  would  have  the  church  but  half  the 
tune.  After  consultation  the  plan  was  abandoned.  Then  Dr.  Eells  said  that  he 
would  give  as  much  as  all  the  members  for  the  erection  of  a  building  not  to  exceed 

Vd.  1—7 


98  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

a  thousand  dollars.  J.  A.  Perkins  gave  $500^  the  rest  $500.  It  was  a  great  effort, 
and  some  had  to  borrow  money.  When  finished  the  cost  was  over  $2^000.  The 
money  was  all  furnished  by  the  churchy  then  increased  to  thirteen  members,  and 
its  pastor,  except  about  fifty  dollars." 

It  was  a  small  band,  "but  those  charter  members  were  a  host,"  testified  the 
pastor.  "They  were  influential  and  highly  esteemed.  They  were  small  in  num- 
ber, but  earnest,  active,  efficient." 

Besides  his  $500  to  the  church  building,  Mr.  Eells  paid  $100  for  the  lots,  $100 
for  the  organ,  $311  for  the  bell,  and  for  hymn  books,  bibles  and  incidentals  enougii 
more  to  swell  his  total  gift  to  $1,600.  The  building,  30  by  60  feet,  was  dedi- 
cated September  7,  1879.  Dr.  Eells  offered  the  dedicatory  prayer,  and  it  was 
dedicated  free  of  debt.  And  this^  in  brief,  was  the  beginning  of  Plymouth  church, 
Colfax. 

At  the  election  of  1878  Mr.  Eells  was  elected  school  superintendent  of  WTiit- 
man  county,  having  then  an  area  considerably  larger  than  that  of  Connecticut. 
He  qualified  reluctantly,  and  findipg  his  double  duties  a  severe  tax  upon  his  strength, 
resigned  the  office  June  1,  1879,  and  a  successor  was  appointed,  but  failed  to 
qualify,  and  Mr.  Eells  served  out  the  term  of  two  years.  The  following  quota- 
tion from  his  own  chronicles  will  illustrate  pioneer  conditions  in  Whitman  county: 

"Monday  morning  left  Colfax;  rode  perhaps  seven  miles;  was  at  a  school  in 
Spring  valley  soon  after  nine  o'clock.  Hobbled  my  horse  and  let  him  graze  out- 
side, and  spent  the  forenoon  in  school.  At  12  o'clock  I  rode  on  and  ate  a  cold 
lunch  in  the  saddle.  After  a  little  more  than  an  hour's  ride,  arrived  at  a  school 
in  Thousand  Springs  Valley.  Remained  till  the  close  of  school.  I  then  rode  on; 
ate  my  supper  as  I  had  done  my  lunch.  When  it  was  becoming  a  little  dark,  I 
arrived  at  the  residence  of  aged  persons  who,  I  thought,  would  entertain  me.  It 
was  raining.  I  knocked  at  the  door;  there  was  no  response.  There  was  a  rude 
stable  constructed  of  rails  and  straw.  I  went  to  that;  there  was  no  feed  there.  I 
had  taken  the  precaution  to  carry  a  small  portion  of  grain  on  my  horse.  I  now 
gave  that  to  him.  I  had  not  plcuined  to  camp;  consequently  my  bedding  was 
short.  The  flooring  of  the  stable  was  the  ground.  I  lay  down;  slept  some  of  the 
time,  and  some  of  the  time  I  did  not.  In  the  morning  the  rain  had  ceased  falling. 
My  horse  needed  grass.  I  went  out  and  lay  down,  making  a  pillow  of  my  arm, 
and  added  somewhat  to  my  sleep.  Had  a  cold  breakfast  of  such  food  as  I  had  with 
me.  Had  traveled  thirty-five  miles  the  day  before.  In  due  time  I  passed  on. 
At  half-past  8  I  was  near  the  schoolhouse  that  I  wished  to  visit.  It  was  a  large 
school,  and  there  was  an  unusual  number  of  large  scholars.  I  spent  the  entire 
forenoon  in  that  school,  my  horse  outside  hobbled  and  grazing. 

"At  the  close  of  the  school  I  rode  on  to  the  school  at  Colton,  and  was  there 
seasonablv  for  the  afternoon  session,  and  remained  there  until  near  the  close  of 
the  afternoon.  As  I  had  failed  the  night  before  to  find  entertainment,  I  now 
planned  to  be  in  season.  I  had  several  miles  to  ride.  I  rode  down  the  valley 
called  Union  Flat.  While  passing,  I  took  out  dry  bread,  dismounted,  dipped  it 
in  the  water  and  then  got  in  the  saddle.  It  speedily  softened.  Seasonably  I 
arrived  at  the  residence  of  Mrs.  H.  B.  Heald.  I  said  to  her,  *Will  you  allow  me 
to  leave  tomorrow  morning  before  breakfast.^' — for  I  had  some  ten  miles  to  ride 
to  go  to  the  next  school.     *I  think  we  can  give  you  an  early  breakfast,'  was  the 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  99 

reply.  She  arose  at  five  o'clock  the  next  morning  and  gave  me  my  breakfast  so 
early  that  I  was  at  the  school  house  as  soon  as  the  teacher  arrived.  I  spent  the 
forenoon  in  that  school  and  then  returned  to  Colfax." 

Churches  grew  slowly  in  pioneer  days.  When  Mr.  Eells^  after  a  four  year 
pastorate  at  Colfax^  resigned  in  July,  1881,  that  church  had  but  twenty-eight 
members;  and  it  was  yet  the  largest  church  north  of  Snake  river.  The  Rev.  J.  T. 
Marsh  was  his  successor  in  Plymouth  church. 

While  Mr.  Eells  was  at  Colfax  his  labors  extended  far  beyond  the  radius  of 
his  congregation  there.  He  was,  in  effect,  a  "circuit  rider"  over  much  the  greater 
part  of  that  four  years,  preaching  at  Lone  Pine,  Almota,  Steptoe  Butte,  Marshall, 
Colville  and  other  places.  Special  work,  says  his  biographer,  was  done  also  at 
Dayton,  Chewelah,  Cheney,  Spokane  Falls  and  Medical  Lake,  and  he  counseled 
largely  in  the  organization  of  most  of  the  earlier  churches  of  eastern  Washington. 
His  was  a  wide  stage  of  action,  extending  from  the  Canadian  boundary  on  the 
north,  to  the  Oregon  line  near  Walla  Walla;  but  he  was 'gifted  with  extraordinary 
vigor  and  vitality,  and  his  "little  jaunts"  over  eastern  Washington  at  this  period 
of  its  development,  even  though  made  by  a  man  who  had  attained  the  scriptural 
allotment  of  three  score  and  ten,  brought  little  of  hardship  to  one  who  in  his 
younger,  days  had  shared  the  hard,  rough  life  of  traders  and  trappers,  and  lived 
for  weeks  at  a  time  on  Indian  fare. 

Upon  leaving  Colfax,  Mr.  Eells,  thinking  the  waters  of  Medical  Lake  would 
benefit  his  health,  took  up  his  residence  there  and,  as  his  strength  permitted,  en- 
gaged in  general  missionary  work.  But  Medical  Lake  was  off  the  railroad,  and 
finding  that  his  work  could  be  better  conducted  from  Cheney,  he  removed  to  that 
town  in  April,  1882,  and  built  himself  a  small  dwelling  house.  "For  nearly  a 
vear  and  a  half,"  says  his  son,  "his  time  was  spent  in  a  round  of  labors  in  nine 
different  places  in  three  counties :  Lone  Pine  in  Whitman  county ;  Cheney,  Sprague, 
Spangle,  Medical  Lake  and  near  Cottonwood  Springs  in  Spokane  county ;  Chewelah, 
Fort  Colville  and  Colville  town  in  Stevens  county.  Then  followed  a  year  in  the 
cast  for  Whitman  college,  after  which  he  still  made  his  home  at  Cheney,  nomi- 
nally, though  really  it  was  everywhere  throughout  the  region." 

"I  have  been  away  from  home  sixteen  nights  (he  wrote  in  July,  1885),  at 
home  twelve.  I  am  weary  in  my  work,  but  not  tired  of  it."  Again  in  October: 
"After  an  absence  of  fifteen  days  on  a  preaching  tour  I  returned.  I  have  con- 
ducted preaching  services  at  each  of  nine  different  places."  After  a  trip  to  Colfax, 
he  wrote,  September  11,  1885:  "A  boy,  judged  to  be  about  ten  years  old,  rode 
twenty-five  miles  to  get  a  pair  of  shoes  for  his  sister  to  wear  to  service." 

In  October,  1886,  he  returned  to  Medical  Lake,  where  he  remained  a  year 
and  a  half,  his  preaching  places  at  that  period  being  Medical  Lake,  Pleasant 
Prairie,  Half  Moon  Prairie,  Meadow  Lake  and  Cheney,  with  an  occasional  visit 
to  Chewelah  and  Colville. 

In  1892  a  church  was  erected  at  Chewelah,  and  notwithstanding  Father  Eells 
was  then  living  west  of  the  Cascade  mountains,  the  people  there  felt  that  none 
could  grace  so  well  the  occasion  of  the  dedication.  Fifty-four  years  to  a  day,  after 
he  first  camped  on  the  site  of  the  town,  he  offered  prayer  in  this  new  church. 
'Tt  may  be  a  weakness  for  me,  an  old  man,  to  go  so  far,  four  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  and  back,  to  accept  the  invitation,"  he  wrote  of  this  journey,  "but  if  anybody 


707072 


100  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

else  had  camped  on  that  spot>  and  held  services  there  fifty-four  years  previous, 
perhaps  he  would  have  the  same  weakness." 

A  gift  of  a  bell  for  this  church  was  his  last  important  act  for  any  church.  He 
bought  it  in  New  York,  and  paid  for  it  a  few  days  before  his  death.  Said  the  Rev. 
H.  L.  Hallock  at  his  funeral:  "Its  first  tones  in  eastern  Washington  will  ring  out  a 
tender  requiem — nay,  rather  a  glorious  tone  of  rejoicing  for  the  work  he  has  ac- 
complished, and  the  crown  of  life  he  has  gone  to  wear  on  high." 

Writing  years  after  of  his  work  at  Cheney,  his  son,  the  Rev.  Myron  Eells,  said: 
"Previous  to  1881,  Deacon  G.  R.  Andrus,  whose  home  was  near  Cheney,  had  held  a 
Sabbath  school  near  that  place,  which  was  afterward  moved  to  the  town.  The 
question  then  was,  'Can  a  church  be  organized!^'  It  was  done  February  20,  1881, 
by  Dr.  Eells,  in  a  hotel  over  a  barroom,  with  nine  members,  three  males  and  six 
females,  and  was  the  first  church  of  any  denomination  in  the  place.  He  was  its 
pastor  until  the  ordination  of  the  Rev.  F.  T.  Clarke  the  next  winter. 

"The  next  question '  was  to  erect  a  building.  Dr.  Eells  prepared  a  sub 
scription  paper  and  headed  it  with  $500.  Others  subscribed.  It  was  a  strug- 
gle, yet  it  was  carried  forward.  A  contract  was  made  for  $1,500.  The  first  $500 
were  easily  paid;  the  Church  Building  Society  had  promised  to  furnish  the 
last  $500 ;  the  second  payment  was  the  hard  work.  '  The  day  on  which  the  payment 
was  to  be  made  was  one  of  anxiety.  Deacon  Andrus  went  about  the  place  trying  to 
obtain  assistance.  About  noon  he  and  Dr.  Eells  met  to  see  the  result  of  their  united 
effort.  There  was  no  lack.  It  seemed  wonderful.  That  afternoon  he  left  for  Lone 
Pine  and  camped  by  a  tree  at  night.  As  he  sat  by  the  tree  and  thought  of  the  day's 
work  and  the  progress  that  had  been  made  in  regard  to  the  church  edifice,  his  heart 
overflowed  with  gratitude." 

To  this  church  Mr.  Eells  also  gave  a  bell,  and  in  all  his  gifts  to  the  Cheney 
church  aggregated  $1,100.  The  bell  cracked  in  1884,  and  he  had  it  sent  back  to  the 
factory  at  West  Troy,  paying  $50  for  freight  and  exchange  for  a  new  bell. 

After  he  had  left  eastern  Washington  he  wrote  in  his  journal:  "August  27,  1888: 
I  pray  much  for  the  divine  approval  of  my  work  at  Cheney  and  Medical  Lake.  Feb- 
ruary 25,  1891:  Have  been  to  Tacoma  to  pay  interest  money  on  a  note  against  the 
Congregational  church  at  Cheney." 

Of  Father  EellsMater  work  at  Spokane  his  son  has  written:  "Dr.  Eells  first 
visited  this  place  in  1874,  when  but  two  white  women  were  in  it.  He  afterwards 
preached  there  at  times.  A  church  was  organized  May  22,  1879,  and  their  next 
great  step  was  to  erect  a  building.  They  were  then  worshiping  in  a  schoolhouse, 
26  by  40  feet,  and  thought  that  a  church  of  the  same  size  would  be  larg^  enough. 
Dr.  Eells  advised  them  to  make  it  ten  feet  longer,  and  promised  them  $200.  It  was 
built  the  same  size  as  the  one  at  Cheney,  30  by  50,  at  a  cost  of  $2,000.  Afterwards 
he  gave  this  church  a  bell,  then  some  books,  and  some  more  money,  amounting  to 
$500  in  all.  At  its  dedication,  December  20,  1881,  the  day  after  the  one  at  Chenej 
was  dedicated,  he  offered  the  dedicatory  prayer,  Dr.  Atkinson  preaching  the  ser- 
mon. He  counseled  it  through  troublous  times  in  1882-88,  and  for  a  short  time  in 
1888  was  its  pastor." 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  Westminster  Congregational  church  of  Spokane,  and 
among  its  memorial  windows  is  one  with  this  inscription: 


The  ^£w  I'onK 
PUfaUC  LiSRAK 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  101 

Gushing  Eblls, 
Always  abounding  in  good  works. 

When  Mr.  Eells  learned  that  with  the  construction  of  the  Northern  Pacific  a 
town  was  to  be  started  at  Sprague^  his  memory  ran  back  to  many  interesting  incidents 
associated  with  that  site.  There  the  mission  families  had  encamped^  tha^  rainy 
spring  in  1839^  when  on  their  way  from  the  Whitman  mission  to  Tshimakain;  and 
there,  while  they  were  detained  by  the  kick  of  a  horse  suffered  by  Mr.  Walker,  he 
had  walked  to  a  slight  eminence  overlooking  the  present  town  and  engaged  in  medi- 
tation and  prayer.  It  was  a  convenient  camping  place  on  his  journeys  from  Tshima- 
kain to  the  Whitman  mission  and  old  Fort  Walla  Walla  on  the  Columbia,  and  there 
the  mission  families,  on  their  way  to  the  annual  conference  at  Waiilatpu  had  passed 
two  Sundays  in  rest  and  religious  service.  It  seemed  to  him  that  a  spot  thus  enshrined 
in  the  deeper  emotions  of  his  heart  extended  to  him  a  special  call  to  duty  and  action, 
and  accordingly  he  responded  to  that  call,  and  there,  on  April  14,  1881,  in  the  din- 
ing-room of  the  hotel,  he  conducted  the  first  protestant  services  ever  held  in  the 
town.  On  June  18,  1882,  he  organized  a  Congregational  church  there  with  five 
members  and  became  its  pastor,  serving  the  little  congregation  for  two  years.  At 
his  own  expense  he  built,  the  same  year,  a  union  Sunday  school  on  a  lot  owned  by 
himself.  Out  of  his  private  purse  came,  too,  the  purchase  price  of  the  church  bell, 
and  the  lot  for  the  parsonage  was  his  contribution.  In  all  his  gifts  to  this  church 
totaled  more  than  $750. 

With  his  resignation  of  the  pastorate  at  Medical  Lake  ended  the  active  life  work 
of  Father  Eells.    On  leaving  that  place.  May.  19^  1988,  he  wrote  in  his  journal: 

"This  afternoon  I  leave  Medical  Lake.  Marked  kindness  has  been  shown  me  by 
predous  friends.  Inexpressible  sorrow  and  anguish  have  been  experienced  by  the 
words  and  acts  of  others.  I  think  it  is  not  unlikely  their  conduct  is  largely  attribu- 
table to  ignorance  and  erroneous  belief.    Doubtles9*I  am  sensitive." 

Moved  by  the  infirmities  of  advancing  age,  he  retired  to  the  home  of  his  son  Ed- 
win on  the  Puyallup  Indian  reservation  near  Tacoma.  But  again  and  again  his 
heart  went  out  to  his  churches  in  eastern  Washington,  and  under  date  of  August  19, 
1889,  is  found  this  entry  in  his  journal: 

"I  have  ordered  an  800  pound  bell  to  be  forwarded  to  Rev.  David  Wirt  at  Medi- 
cal Lake."    And  again: 

"October  19,  1889:    In  my  dreams  and  waking  moments  I  am  at  Medical  Lake." 

On  Saturday,  February  11,  189S,  he  wrote  the  last  entry  in  his  journal,  that 
journal  which,  for  fifty-five  years  of  active  life,  he  had  maintained,  with  almost  daily 
regularity.  With  unerring  premonition  of  the  approaching  change,  he  wrote,  "My 
feelings  impress  me  with  the  nearing  close  of  my  mortal  life"  The  next  day  was 
Sunday,  and  he  rode  to  church  from  his  son's  house  in  Tacoma,  participating  in 
some  of  the  services  at  the  First  Congregational  church.  On  the  way  home  he  suf- 
fered a  severe  chill,  but  went  out  after  dinner  to  feed  his  old  horse,  Le  Blond,  but 
fell  in  the  effort  and  was  unable  to  rise.  He  was  carried  to  his  bed  with  pneumonia, 
but  a  seeming  change  appearing  for  the  better  he  rose  on  Wednesday  and  wrote  a 
little.  That  night  he  grew  worse  and  a  physician  was  summoned.  The  dying  mis- 
sionary watched  the  passing  hours  until  after  midnight  of  the  sixteenth,  his  birthday, 
when  he  directed  his  granddaughter  to  write  in  his  journal:  "Eighty-three  years 


102  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

ago  today  I  commenced  this  mortal  life."  His  last  words  were  some  directions  re- 
garding his  faithful  horse,  and  about  half-past  two  his  eyes  closed  forever  in  death. 
The  body  was  taken  to  Seattle  and  laid  to  rest  by  the  grave  of  his  wife. 

Memorial  services  were  held  at  Walla  Walla,  where  the  principal  address  was 
spoken  by  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  assisted  by  President  J.  F.  Eaton  and  Mrs. 
N.  F.  Cobleigh  of  Whitman  college,  and  Dr.  A.  J.  Anderson,  a  former  president. 
At  Colfax,  where  the  chief  address  was  delivered  by  the  Rev.  H.  P.  James,  Dr.  F. 
M.  Bunnell  also  voicing  a  fitting  tribute.  At  Medical  Lake,  where  expressions 
were  made  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  B.  S.  Dudley,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  W.  Gilkey,  and  the  Rev. 
F.  V.  Hoyt.  At  Skokomish,  in  the  first  church  of  the  town,  of  which  he  once  had 
been  pastor,  memorial  services  were  conducted  by  his  son;  and  at  Ravenswood,  near 
Chicago,  a  memorial  address  was  made  by  the  Rev.  Marcus  Whitman  Montgomery, 
with  stereopticon  views  by  Dr.  J.  E.  Roy. 

Speaking  of  the  death  of  this  truly  great  and  good  man.  Dr.  F.  B.  Cherrington, 
pastor  of  Westminster  church  in  Spokane,  said:  that  a  hero  was  one  who  had  an 
opportunity  and  proved  equal  to  it;  but  Dr.  Eells  had  an  opportunity  and  im- 
proved it. 

The  Rev.  L.  H.  Hallock,  his  Tacoma  pastor,  said:  "At  the  dawn  of  his  eighty- 
third  birthday  was  translated  from  earth  to  heaven.  Dr.  Gushing  Eells,  one  of  God's 
noblemen;  pioneer  missionary,  friend  of  humanity,  founder  of  Whitman  college,  and 
judged  by  the  test  of  long  and  unwearied  service,  entitled  as  much  as  any  man  to  the 
Master's  greeting,  'Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant;  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of 
thy  Lord/  Good  Father  Eells  died  with  the  respect  of  all  who  knew  him.  He  died 
in  peace  to  meet  the  reward  of  an  honored  and  faithful  servant." 

The  Occidental  Congregationalist:  "A  company  of  our  legislators,  sitting  in 
committee  at  Olympia,  debated  whether  they  should  tax  church  property.  One  of 
them  asked  why  it  should  be  favored.  He  was  reminded  that  there  lay,  not  many 
miles  from  him,  the  mortal  remains  of  a  Christian  patriarch.  Father  Eells  of 
venerable  memory,  through  whose  efforts  and  those  of  his  colleague,  Marcus  Whit- 
man, this  very  state  in  which  the  legislators  sat  had  been  saved  to  him  and  to  Amer- 
ica. On  the  day  that  rounded  eighty-three  years  of  life.  Gushing  Eells  left  Washing- 
ton for  another  home.  On  the  day  after  his  death,  a  legislative  committee  of  the 
state  of  Washington,  who  owed  their  property  and  their  Christian  nurture  to  him, 
determined  to  favor  the  churches  because  of  his  work.  And  if  ever  a  question  was 
squarely  answered,  it  was  answered  when  a  gentleman  from  Tacoma  instanced  the 
life  of  Gushing  Eells  as  the  reason  why  Washington  owes  something  to  the  Christian 
missionary,  the  Christian  church  and  the  Christian's  God." 

Dr.  Lyman  Abbott  wrote  in  the  Christian  Union:  "A  man  of  great  and  beautiful 
character,  of  imsurpassed  consecration,  and  one  to  whom  the  republic  of  the  United 
States  owes  a  far  greater  debt  than  to  many  who  have  occupied  a  far  more  con- 
spicuous place  in  history." 

Measured  by  interest  aroused,  numbers  converted,  and  sustained  results,  the 
Nez  Perce  missions  at  Lapwai  and  Kamiah  were  the  most  successful  of  all  Protestant 
efforts  to  evangelize  the  native  races  of  the  Pacific  northwest.  The  reader  will 
recall  that  with  Marcus  Whitman  and  his  bride  came  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding 
and  bride,  crossing  the  Rocky  mountains  in  1836,  the  young  wives  the  first  women 
to  traverse  the  American  continent;  and  that  the  Spaldings  answered  the  call  of 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  103 

the  Nez  Perces,  the  most  numerous  and  extensive  of  all  the  Indian  tribes  of  the 
interior,  and  established  a  mission  and  school  among  them  at  Lapwai.  The  school 
opened  with  100  pupils,  old  and  young,  and  three  years  after  the  attendance  had 
grown  to  150  children  and  as  many  adults.  Mr.  Spalding  reported  that  the  more 
devout  Nea  Perces  frequently  spent  the  entire  night  pondering  over  what  they 
had  learned  the  day  before.  Two  years  later  these  Indians  gathered  in  assem- 
blages of  from  1,000  to  2,000  for  religious  instruction. 

They  eagerly  sought  instruction  in  agriculture,  and  some  of  them  would  barter 
their  guns,  dearest  (possession  of  the  Indian  heart,  for  hoes  and  spades.  Nearly 
a  hundred  families  planted  fields  around  Mr.  Spalding  s,  who  reported  in  1838  that 
his  own  field  yielded  2,000  bushels  of  potatoes,  besides  a  good  crop  of  wheat  and 
other  products. 

For  many  years  after  the  missionaries  had  withdrawn  to  the  Willamette  valley, 
the  Nez  Perces  remained  without  white  instructors,  but  immigrants,  gold  hunters, 
Indian  agents  and  traders  reported  that  the  Christianizing  influences  of  the  mis- 
sionaries remained.  One  third  of  the  Nez  Perces  were  found  to  be  maintaining 
family  worship,  and  public  services  were  continued  under  the  faithful  preaching 
of  Timothy.  They  possessed  hymn  books  in  their  own  beautiful  language,  and 
read  from  the  gospel  of  Matthew,  also  in  their  own  tongue — books  that  had  been 
printed  in  mission  days  on  the  first  printing  press  to  be  set  up  and  operated  west 
of  the  Rocky  mountains.  This  equipment  of  the  "art  preservative  of  all  arts" 
had  come  as  a  donation  from  the  Rev.  H.  Bingham's  church  at  Honolulu,  and  with  it, 
in  1839,  had  come  E.  O.  Hall,  a  printer  from  the  Sandwich  islands,  induced  to 
make  the  long  voyage  and  journey  to  the  interior  of  the  American  continent  by 
the  invalidism  of  his  wife.  The  Halls  remained  at  Lapwai  till  the  spring  of 
1840,  when  they  returned  to  the  Sandwich  islands. 

So  well  had  many  of  the  Nez  Perces  kept  up  their  knowledge  of  reading  and 
writing  that  they  were  able,  at  the  great  council  at  Walla  Walla  in  1855,  as  re- 
ported by  General  Joel  Palmer  and  others,  to  take  notes  of  the  proceedings  and 
make  copies  of  the  treaties  there  negotiated  by  Governor  Stevens. 

After  the  vigorous  and  successful  Wright  campaign  of  1858,  the  country  east 
of  the  Cascade  mountains  was  declared  open  by  military  proclamation,  in  1859, 
to  white  settlement,  and  soon  thereafter  Mr.  Spalding,  who,  through  all  the  wait- 
ing years  down  in  the  Willamette  valley,  had  cherished  a  purpose  to  return  to 
his  first  field  of  endeavor,  came  back  to  the  Nez  Perce  country  and  resumed  his 
mission  labors.  "Although  Mr.  Spalding  had  been  absent  from  the  tribe  many 
years,"  repjorted  Indian  Agent  J.  W.  Anderson,  "yet  they  retained  all  the  forms 
of  worship  which  had  been  taught  them.     Many  of  them  have  prayers  night  and 

* 

morning  in  their  lodges.  Not  having  any  suitable  schoolhouse,  I  permitted  Mr. 
Spalding  to  open  his  school  in  my  ofHce  shortly  after  his  arrival,  and  from  that 
time  till  he  was  compelled  to  discontinue  the  school  from  severe  sickness,  the  school 
was  crowded,  not  only  with  children,  but  with  old  men  and  women,  some  of  whom 
were  compelled  to  use  glasses  to  assist  the  sight.  Some  of  the  old  men  would  remain 
tiU  bedtime  engaged  in  transcribing  into  their  language  portions  of  scripture  trans- 
lated by  Mr.  Spalding." 

Judge  Alexander   Smith,   of   the   first  judicial  district  of   Idaho,  wrote  about 


104  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

that  time^  for  publication  in  a  San  Francisco  ne^spaper^  the  following  interesting 
account  of  services  held  at  Lewiston  by  Mr.  Spalding: 

"On  Sunday  last  I  had  the  pleasure  of  attending  church  at  Uiis  place^  condactcd 
in  Nez  Perce  by  Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding.  The  governor,  federal  and  county  officers 
and  citizens  of  Lewiston  were  mostly  present.  The  scene  was  deeply  solemn  and 
interesting;  the  breathless  silence,  the  earnest,  devout  attention  of  that  great  con- 
gregation (even  the  small  children)  to  the  words  of  their  much  loved  pastor;  the 
spirit,  the  sweet  melody  of  their  singing;  the  readiness  with  which  they  tamed  to 
hymns  and  chapters,  and  read  with  Mr.  Spalding  the  lesions  from  their  testaments 
which  Mr.  Spalding  had  translated  and  printed  twenty  years  before;  the  earnest, 
pathetic  voices  of  the  native  Christians  whom  Mr.  Spalding  called  upon  to  pray — 
all,  all  deeply  and  solemnly  impressed  that  large  congregation  of  white  spectators, 
even  to  tears.  It  were  better  a  thousand  times  over,  if  the  government  would  do 
away  with  its  policy  that  is  so  insufficiently  carried  out,  and  only  lend  its  aid  to 
a  few  such  men  as  Mr.  Spalding,  whose  whole  heart  is  in  the  business,  who  has  but 
one  desire,  to  civilize  and  Christianize  the  Indians." 

In  his  able  work,  "Indian  Missions,"  the  Rev.  Myron  Eells  blames  "govern- 
mental policy  and  officers,  the  Indian  ring  and  others,"  for  hostile  interference  with 
Mr.  Spalding's  later  work  among  the  Nez  Perces.  ''Some  of  the  time  he  was  on  the 
outskirts,  some  of  the  time  in  the  Walla  Walla  region,  and  sometimes  elsewhere; 
yet  all  of  the  time  he  was  aiming  to  do  one  thing,  notwithstanding  the  opposition 
of  those  who  so  often  defeated  him,"  a  judgment  which  needs  to  be  tempered  by  the 
statement  of  fact  that  Mr.  Spalding,  as  often  is  the  case  with  men  of  intense 
'zeal  and  resolution  of  purpose,  was  temperamentally  unfortunate  and  not  infre- 
quently bitter  and  undiplomatic  in  his  relations  with  others. 

"It  was  not  until  he  went  in  person  to  Washington,  in  the  winter  of  1870-71," 
adds  Eells,  ''that  he  obtained  an  order  freely  to  return  to  his  field.  He  reentered 
it  in  the  fall  of  1871,  and  for  three  years  worked  with  unabating  zeal,  and  during 
this  time  he  was  allowed  to  gather  in  the  harvest." 

He  lies  buried  at  Lapwai,  death  calling  him  to  his  long  reward  on  Aug^t  8, 
1874.  Large  part- of  the  last  year  of  his  life  was  devoted  to  mission  work  among 
the  Spokanes.     Of  these  he  baptized  nearly  700  in  the  last  three  years  of  his  life. 

"Perhaps,"  said  the  Oregonian  of  August  22,  1874,  "it  is  to  his  influence  more 
than  to  any  other  cause,  that  the  Nez  Perces  are  indebted  for  the  distinction  they 
enjoy  of  being  regarded  as  the  most  intelligent  and  the  least  savage  of  all  our  Indian 
tribes.  Amid  the  grateful  remembrance  of  those  who  came  in  after  him  to  enjoy 
the  blessings  his  sacrifices  purchased,  he  rests  from  his  labors,  and  his  works  do 
follow  him." 

In  the  closing  years  of  his  mission  Mr.  Spalding  drew  around  him  a  most  devoted, 
earnest  band  of  Christian  workers,  including  our  Spokane  pioneer,  H.  T.  Cowley  and 
wife,  and  Miss  S.  L.  McBeth,  who  came  from  the  Choctaw  mission  to  take  employ- 
ment under  government  as  a  teacher  among  the  Nez  Perces.  Of  this  remarkable 
woman  General  O.  O.  Howard,  who  visited  her  when  passing  through  the  country 
with  his  command  in  pursuit  of  Chief  Joseph  and  his  hostile  band,  wrote  in  the 
Chicago  Advance  of  June  14,  1877: 

"In  a  small  house  having  two  or  three  rooms,  I  found  Miss  McBeth  living  by 
herself.     She  is  such  an  invalid  from  partial  paralysis,  that  she  can  not  walk  from 


SPOKA.NE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  105 

house  to  honse^  so  I  was  sure  to  find  her  at  home.  The  candle  gave  us  a  dim 
light,  so  that  I  could  scarcely  make  out  how  she  looked  as  she  gave  me  her  hand 
and  welcomed  me  to  Kamiah.  The  next  time  I  saw  her  by  day,  showed  me  a  pale 
intellectual  face,  above  a  slight  frame.  How  could  this  face  and  frame  seek  this 
far-off  region  ?  Little  by  little  the  mystery  is  solved.  Her  soul  has  been  fully  con* 
secrated  to  Christ,  and  He  has,  as  she  believes,  sent  her  upon  a  special  mission  to 
the  Indians.  Her  work  seems  simple,  just  like  the  Master's  in  some  respects.  For 
example,  she  gathers  her  disciples  around  her,  a  few  at  a  time,  and  having  herself 
learned  their  language,  so  as  to  understand  them  and  to  speak  passably,  she  instructs 
them  and  makes  teachers  of  these  disciples. 

"There  is  the  lounge  and  the  chair,  there  the  cook  stove  and  the  table,  there, 
in  another  room,  the  little  cabinet  organ,  and  a  few  benches.  So  is  everything  about 
this  Utile  teacher,  the  simplest  in  style  and  work.  The  only  Nez  Perces  books  thus 
far  are  the  gospel  of  Matthew,  translated  by  Mr.  Spalding,  and  the  gospel  of  John, 
by  James  Reuben,  the  Indian  assistant  teacher,  who  was  aided  in  the  translation 
by  tibe  Rev.  Mr.  Ainslie.  It  is  evident  these  must  be  largely  used  in  this  woric  of 
instruction.  I  hear  that  the  Indian  department  is  afraid  that  Miss  McBeth  is 
teaching  theology  and  orders  her  back  to  the  rudiments.  Certainly  not  theology  in 
the  way  of  'isms'  of  any  kind,  I  am  ready  to  affirm.  I  told  her  to  call  it  'theophily,' 
if  a  high-sounding  name  was  needed  for  God's  love.  For  as  Jonah,  the  sub-chief, 
brokenly  said,  'It  makes  Indians  stop  buying  and  selling  wives;  stop  gambling  and 
horse-racing  for  money;  stop  getting  drunk  and  running  about;  stop  all  time  lazy 
and  make  them  all  time  work.'  It  is  filling  this  charming  little  village  with  houses, 
and  though  she  can  not  visit  them,  her  pupils'  houses  are  becoming  neat  and  cleanly. 
The  wife  is  becoming  industrious  within  doors,  sews,  knits  and  cooks.  The  fences 
are  up,  the  fields  are  planted.  Oh,  that  men  could  see  that  this  faithful  teaching 
has  the  speedy  effect  to  change  the  heart  of  the  individual  man ;  then  all  the  fruits 
of  civilization  begin  to  follow." 

In  the  chapter  next  following,  the  narrative  of  the  Rev.  H.  T.  Cowley's  removal 
from  the  Nez  Perce  reservation,  to  take  up  independent  mission  work  among  the 
Spokanes,  will  conclude  our  review  of  Protestant  missions  in  the  Inland  Empire. 


CHAPTER  XII 

H.  T.  COWLEY  TELLS  OF  LIFE  AMONG  THE  SPOKA.NES 

BEGINS   MISSION    WORK   WITH    THE    NEZ    PERCE8    IN    1871 BECOMES    AN    INDEPENDENT 

TEACHER   AT   SPOKANE   IN    1874 FAMILY   LIVES  ON   DRIED   SALMON   AND   VENISON 

OPENS    SCHOOL    IN     INDIAN     LODGE INDIANS     HELP    TO    BUILD    SCHOOLHOU8E    AND 

DWELLING  FOR  MR.   COWLEY ^EAGER  TO  LEARN  WAYS  OF  CIVILIZATION SLIGHT  RE- 
SPECT FOR  PRIVACY GIFTS  COME   FROM  AFAR FINDS  INDIANS  HONEST  AND   KIND 

TEACHES  FIRST  PUBLIC   SCHOOL,  WITH  SIX  PUPILS. 


T 


HE  appended  tabulation^  compiled  by  Captain  Thomas  W.  Symons,  U.  S,  en- 
gineer corps^  shows  the  variant  spelling  of  the  name  Spokane : 


Spokan    .Official  Transfer  Papers  Pacific  Fur  company  to  Northwest 

Fur  company. 

Spokan    Ross  Cox. 

Spokane    War  Department  Map  1838. 

Spokane    Commodore  Wilkes. 

Spokein Rev.  S.  Parker.     This  writer,  who  visited  the  country  in  1 886, 

says:  "The  name  of  this  nation  is  generally  written  Spo- 
kan, sometimes  Spokane.  I  called  them  Spokans,  but  they 
corrected  my  pronunciation  and  said  'Spokein'  and  this 
they  repeated  several  times,  until  I  was  convinced  that  to 
give  their  name  a  correct  pronunciation,  it  should  be  writ- 
ten Spokein." 

Spokan Greenhow. 

Spokain McVickar. 

Spokan   Nath.  J.  Wyeth's  report,  1889. 

Spokane    Robertson. 

Spokane    Thornton. 

Spokane    A.  Ross. 

Spokan Franchere. 

Spokan Irving. 

Spokan Nat.   Railroad  Memoirs. 

Spokan Armstrong. 

Spokan ,  .St.  John. 

Spokane Pacific  Railroad  Report. 

Spokane    MuUan. 

Spoken Robertson  &  Crawford. 

107 


108  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Perhaps  no  one  here  has  more  intimate  knowledge  of  Indian  life  and  character 
than  that  possessed  by  H.  T.  Cowley.  Mr.  Cowley  went  amon^  the  Ne«  Perces  in 
1871  as  missionary  and  teacher,  and  in  1874  transferred  his  labors  to  the  land  of 
the  Spokanes.  With  these  he  maintained  the  relation  of  "guide,  counsellor  and 
friend"  for  a  period  of  eight  years,  preaching  in  their  lodges,  teaching  in  a  rough 
building  constructed  largely  by  their  efforts,  and  for  a  while  subsisting,  himself 
and  family,  on  their  rough  fare  of  dried  salmon  and  lean  venison. 

While  a  student  at  Oberlin  college,  Mr.  Cowley  met  and  married  Mrs.  Cowley, 
and  under  the  rules  was  thereby  disbarred  from  the  completion  of  his  course.  He 
went  then  to  Antioch  as  teacher  and  student,  and  was  graduated  from  that  college. 
A  year  later  he  went  to  Auburn  Theological  seminary  and  was  graduated  from  that 
institution.  After  two  years'  service  among  the  Protestant  Nez  Perces  at  Kamiah, 
Idaho,  differences  having  come  up  between  the  Indian  agent  and  the  missionaries, 
he  resigned  and  took  up  his  residence  at  the  new  settlement  of  Mt.  Idaho,  on  Camas 
prairie. 

"A  year  or  so  later,"  said  Mr.  Cowley,  "the  Spokane  Indians  sent  down  a  delega- 
tion to  petition  me  to  come  among  them  and  establish  a  school  and  church  at  the 
falls  of  the  Spokane.  They  expressed  an  earnest  desire  for  the  white  man's  en- 
lightenment, and  undertook  to  provide  a  house  for  my  family,  a  school  building  for 
their  own  people,  and  the  necessary  food  supplies  for  my  support.  I  was  urged 
to  take  this  step  by  the  pioneer  missionary,  H.  H.  Spalding,  then  teaching  and 
preaching  at  Lapwai.  Mr.  Spalding  had  preached  to  the  Spokanes  in  the  summer 
of  1873,  and  intended  to  return  with  me  in  1874,  but  was  taken  ill  and  died  that 
summer.     He  now  lies  buried  at  Lapwai. 

"I  arrived  here  in  June,  1874,  in  company  with  six  young  Nez  Perces,  who  had 
been  my  helpers  at  Kamiah,  one  of  them  a  son  of  Chief  Lawyer.  The  Lawyers  were 
a  remarkable  family.  A  daughter,  Lucy,  was  a  very  attractive  young  woman,  and 
could  readily  have  made  an  alliance  with  any  one  of  several  white  suitors.  One  of 
the  army  officers  at  Fort  Lapwai  formed  a  deep  attachment  for  her,  and  asked  her 
hand  in  marriage,  but  she  declined  the  offer  and  remained  single  to  her  death.  She 
spoke  English  well  and  was  a  very  intelligent  woman.  Lawyer's  two  sons  became 
Presbyterian  preachers.  Archie,  the  younger,  was  as  fine  a  young  man  as  you 
would  see  anywhere.  He  possessed  a  splendid  form,  the  Indian  physiognomy  was 
not  pronounced  in  him,  and  he  had  a  bearing  of  great  dignity. 

"After  I  had  looked  over  the  field  at  Spokane,  I  returned  to  Mt.  Idaho  for  my 
family,  and  we  arrived  here  in  the  middle  of  October,  traveling  by  wagon.  Living 
at  the  falls  then  were  J.  N.  Glover,  his  partner,  C.  F.  Yeaton,  and  a  man  named 
Kizer.  On  our  way  up  from  Mt.  Idaho,  we  overtook  William  Pool,  a  carpenter, 
and  his  family,  who  were  coming  to  locate  at  Spokane.  Mr.  Pool  helped  me  to 
build  my  house  and  the  Indian  schoolhouse. 

"My  first  dwelling  was  at  a  point  which  is  now  on  Sixth  avenue,  between  Divi- 
sion and  Browne.  We  built  the  schoolhouse  on  Sixth  between  Division  and  Pine. 
The  dwelling  was  of  logs,  two  rooms  below  and  a  large  attic  above,  and  we  later 
added  a  leanto  kitchen.  We  could  not  find  mortar  or  clay  for  chinking,  and  as  a 
substitute  used  a  quantity  of  pine  moss,  which  the  Indian  squaws  brought  from  the 
woods  beyond  Hangman  creek.  The  logs  used  in  this  structure  had  previously  gone 
into  a  half  completed  building  down  near  Howard  street  and  the  river.     Someone 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  109 

had  started  a  house  there^  which  had  never  been  completed^  and  Mr.  Glover  had 
sold  it  to  the  Indians.  Enochs  a  Spokane  sub-chief/ who  had  been  instrumental  in 
my  coming  here^  took  his  team  and  hauled  the  logs  up  to  the  building  site.  There 
were  here,  at  that  time,  about  250  or  300  Indians,  who  had  been  living  in  scattered 
encampments  but  later  assembled  in  the  vicinity  of  Pine  street  in  order  to  be  near 
the  school.  Enoch  had  fenced  in  about  180  acres;  his  north  line  was  about  where 
Third  avenue  now  lies,  his  south  line  was  the  cli£f,  his  west  line  Howard  street  and 
the  east  line  ran  near  Pine. 

"The  schoolhouse  was  a  box  structure,  20  by  30,  built  of  lumber  bought 
at  Glover's  mill.  There  was  some  dissatisfaction  over  the  refusal  by  Mr.  Glover 
to  donate  the  lumber,  the  Indians  alleging  that  his  predecessors,  who  had  located 
here  in  1871,  had  promised,  in  an  informal  treaty,  to  give  them  all  the  lumber  they 
might  require  for  their  own  uses,  and  they  contended  that  Mr.  Glover  ought  to 
consider  himself  bound  to  carry  out  that  agreement.  They  finally  agreed  to  pay 
for  the  lumber  in  furs  and  grain,  but  Mr.  Glover  had  considerable  difficulty  in  col- 
lecting, and  I  believe  he  never  was  fully  compensated  for  that  lumber.  The  In- 
dians had  very  crude  ideas  about  contracts  and  debts.  They  could  barter  furs  for 
goods,  but  beyond  that  could  not  grasp  the  white  man's  contracts  and  agreements. 
They  were  as  ignorant  as  children.  In  the  same  way  Mr.  Pool,  the  carpenter,  was 
to  have  three  horses  for  his  labor,  and  we  had  considerable  difficulty  in  getting  them. 
"Before  the  building  was  erected,  I  opened  school  in  a  large  Indian  lodge,  about 
eighty  feet  long,  covered  with  Indian  matting,  canvas,  sheeting  and  a  few  buffalo 
robes.  Some  of  the  Indians,  but  not  all,  had  robes  enough  for  lodges.  Buffalo 
robes  were  generally  used  for  bedding,  and  were  spread  upon  a  rough  mattress  of 
pine  boughs  and  moss,  or  of  tall  rye  grass  and  rushes  from  the  swamps.  I  fre- 
quently slept  in  their  tents  in  winter.  On  cold  nights  they  would  keep  a  fire  going 
and  some  of  these  lodges  were  quite  comfortable. 

"The  young  men  carried  the  lumber  on  their  backs  all  the  way  from  the  saw- 
mill down  on  the  river  bank,  and  the  building  was  not  completed  until  March.  .  A 
stove  was  brought  from  Walla  Walla. 

"When  it  was  completed,  old  and  young  gathered  in  and  filled  the  place  to  its 
capacity.     Enoch  himself  would  come  occasionally  and  spend  the  day,  taking  in- 
struction.    I  never  saw  a  people  so  eager  to  learn  the  ways  of  civilization.     I  first 
tau^t  them  the  letters  and  figures.    I  had  a  blackboard  and  some  crayons  and  drew 
IHctures  of  animals  and  familiar  articles.     Pointing  to  one  of  these,  I  would  get 
the  Indian  word  for  it  and  write  it  down,  and  then  the  corresponding  English  word. 
Considering  the  difficulties  we  had  to  contend  with,  they  made  very  rapid  progress. 
They  wanted  to  start  the  lessons  at  daylight  and  keep  up  the  instruction  until  dark. 
"My  family  then  comprised  Mrs.  Cowley,  Edith,  aged  seven,  now  Mrs.  E.  C. 
StiUman,  living  on  the  old  homestead  at  Sixth  and  Division ;  Fred  W.,  aged  five,  after- 
ward drowned  in  Loon  lake ;  Grace,  aged  three,  who  died  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  her 
mother  in  1900;  Agnes,  aged  one,  now  Mrs.  J.  L.  Paine,  living  in  the  Wellington 
apartments  at  Stevens  and  Sixth.    Cazenovia,  born  here  in  June,  1876,  is  now  Mrs. 
A.  K.  Smythe  of  Portland;  and  Arthur  W.,  born  here  in  1878,  is  an  architect  of 
this  city. 

"I  was  long  of  the  belief  that  my  daughter  was  the  first  white  child  born  in 
Spokane,  but  recently  my  attention  has  been  directed  to  historical  authority  which 


110  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

credits  that  distinction  to  the  little  daughter  of  a  family  named  Bassett^  and  I  think 
that  claim  is  correct.  The  Bassetts  had  moved  from  Spokane  to  the  Four  Lakes 
country  before  my  arrival  here,  and  their  little  daughter  was  drowned  at  that  place. 

**In  looking  back  over  those  eventful  years,  I  marvel  now  that  I  ventured  so 
much  in  bringing  my  family  here  and  taking  up  my  work  independent  of  any  sup- 
port beyond  the  meager  help  promised  by  the  Indians.  They  had  agreed  to  provide 
a  house  and  provisions,  but  were  unable  to  carry  out  their  promise.  I  came  here 
with  just  $13  in  gold  dust,  given  to  me  by  Mrs.  H.  H.  Spalding  after  the  death  of 
her  husband.  I  acted  on  religious  faith,  trusting  that  the  Lord  would  provide  for 
my  family,  and  in  this  trust  I  was  not  disappointed. 

"The  Indians  brought  us  a  little  dried  salmon  and  some  lean  venison,  and 
Enoch,  who  had  a  cow,  brought  us  a  bucket  of  milk  daily.  Our  first  substantial 
supplies  came  from  settlers  at  Spangle — a  wagonload  of  potatoes,  carrots,  cabbages, 
turnips  and  onions,  and  half  of  a  young  hog.  In  some  way,  without  any  effort  on 
my  part,  an  account  of  my  work  got  into  the  newspapers,  and  it  must  have  appealed 
to  public  sentiment,  for  it  was  not  long  till  we  were  receiving  boxes  of  provisions, 
clothing  and  bedding  from  Walla  Walla,  Lewiston,  Portland  and  even  Cazenovia, 
New  York,  so  that  we  suffered  no  hardships,  and  experienced  no  siduiess. 

"The  Indians  made  as  free  with  our  house  as  their  own  lodges.  They  would 
crowd  into  the  living  room  on  winter  days  or  nights  and  unceremoniously  stretch 
themselves  before  the  open  fire,  never  appearing  to  realize  that  they  were  shutting 
off  the  heat  from  the  members  of  my  family.  They  were  like  children,  yet  we 
enjoyed  the  experience,  and  every  day  was  filled  with  work. 

"Good  friends  at  Portland  were  also  active  in  another  way.  After  I  had  been 
working  in  this  independent  manner  for  several  months,  I  was  surprised  and  grati- 
fied to  learn  that  through  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lindsley,  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
church  in  Portland,  influence  had  been  successfully  exerted  to  secure  me  a  commis- 
sion from  the  Indian  department,  as  teacher  for  the  Spokanes  at  a  yearly  salary 
of  $1,000.  Some  time  prior  to  that,  the  government  had  adopted  a  new  policy  in  re- 
spect to  Indian  education,  of  recognizing  both  Catholic  and  Protestant  organizations, 
and  transferring  to  them  educational  work  which  had  previously  been  carried  on  by 
the  war  department.  As  the  Spokanes  were  chiefly  Protestants  under  the  influence  of 
Fathers  Eells  and  Walker,  at  Walker's  prairie,  northwest  of  Spokane,  I  was  di- 
rected to  report  to  the  Nez  Perce  agent  at  Lapwai,  the  Nez  Perces  also  being 
chiefly '  Protestants. 

"We  used  the  schoolhouse  as  a  church,  but  before  it  was  built  I  held  religious 
services  in  their  lodges.  When  I  first  came  here  in  June,  the  young  Indians  cut 
down  a  number  of  cottonwood  trees,  dug  holes  and  formed  a  sort  of  amphitheatre, 
which  they  covered  over  with  poles  and  boughs,  and  in  that  arbor  I  preached  to  a 
large  congregation. 

"I  found  Indian  nature  totally  different  from  what  I  had  conceived  it  to  be  in 
my  youth.  In  general  they  were  just  as  reliable  as  white  people,  honest  and  re- 
gardful of  their  word.  In  my  entire  experience  I  lost  only  two  articles  by  theft — 
a  halter  and  a  watermelon.  They  returned  the  halter,  and  the  Indian  who  took  the 
watermelon  stood  up  in  church  and  made  open  confession.  I  felt  as  safe  among 
them  as  among  the  same  number  of  whites.  Once  you  get  their  confidence,  they  are 
loyal  to  the  core.     The  Spokanes  were  as  industrious  as  you  could  expect  a  people 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  111 

to  be  in  their  state.  They  foresaw  the  coining  of  the  changed  conditions  growing 
out  of  the  settlement  of  their  country^  and  took  to  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  and 
raising  of  cattle^  and  wanted  schoolhouses  and  churches.  I  endeavored^  from  the 
beginnings  to  impress  upon  them  that  the  Northern  Pacific^  when  completed^  would 
bring  settlers  and  their  only  hope  was  to  take  up  land  and  learn  the  ways  of  the 
white  man.  There  was  no  other  hope  for  them  as  a  race,  but  they  foupd  it  very 
difficult  to  give  up  the  tribal  relation,  and  did  not  want  to  take  up  land  in  severalty. 
"When  General  O.  O.  Howard  and  Governor  Ferry  met  them  here  in  council 
in  1881,  on  the  prairie  in  what  is  now  Dennis  &  Bradley's  addition,  and  announced 
that  they  must  take  land  in  severalty,  or  be  placed  on  a  reservation  west  of  the 
Columbia,  they  were  indignant  and  said:  'What  right  have  you  to  dictate  to  us? 
This  is  our  country  and  we  will  not  leave  it!'  Garry,  who  could  speak  English 
qoite  well,  voiced  the  protest,  and  it  was  heeded.  The  government  did  not  care  to 
repeat  the  blunder  made  in  1877,  with  the  Nez  Perces. 

"Soon  after  I  came  Mr.  Glover,  Mr.  Yeaton,  L.  M.  Swift,  an  attorney,  and  my- 
self held  a  school  election.  Glover,  Yeaton  and  I  elected  ourselves  directors  and 
Swift,  clerk,  and  I  was  employed  as  teacher.  I  had  to  go  to  Colville  to  get  a 
teacher's  certificate. 

"As  my  house  was  the  only  available  place,  we  opened  there  the  first  school  in 
January,  1875,  with  six  pupils:  Edith,  Fred  and  Grace  Cowley,  two  children  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pool,  girls,  and  a  little  daughter  of  Mr.  Yeaton.  I  soon  discovered 
that  I  could  not  keep  up  teaching  in  connection  with  my  other  work  and  turned  the 
school  over  to  Mrs.  Swift,  and  she  removed  it  to  her  residence,  a  log  house  between 
Third  and  Fourth  avenues  and  Bernard  and  Browne  streets,  and  she  completed 
there  the  three  months'  term  in  March. 

"About  1876,  Rev.  S.  G.  Havermale,  who  had  come  here  in  1875,  started  a  pri- 
vate school  in  the  hall  over  Glover's  store.  He  had  expectations  of  building  up  a 
Methodist  educational  institution,  and  wanted  to  combine  his  school  with  the  pub- 
lic school,  but  it  was  found  that  this  could  not  be  done  under  the  law." 

After  Mr.  Cowley  gave  up  his  work  as  missionary  and  teacher,  he  engaged  for 
awhile  in  journalism.  C.  B.  Carlisle  had  come  here  from  Portland  in  1881,  under 
financial  encouragement  from  J.  N.  Glover,  J.  J.  Browne,  and  A.  M.  Cannon,  and 
founded  the  weekly  Chronicle.  Later  Carlisle  sold  to  C.  B.  Hopkins,  Lucien  Kellogg, 
and  Hiram  Allen,  brother  of  Senator  John  B.  Allen  of  Walla  Walla.  They  in  turn 
sold  to  a  newspaper  man  named  Woodbury,  who  came  here  from  the  Cincinnati 
Commercial  Gazette,  and  a  little  later  Woodbury  sold  the  paper  to  Mr.  Cowley,  in 
the  spring  of  1883,  who  held  it  till  1887.  Encouraged  by  the  boom  growing  out  of 
the  discovery  and  development  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mines,  Mr.  Cowley  raised  the 
Chronicle  to  a  daily  in  July,  1884,  but  gave  it  up  in  the  fall  and  ran  it  as  a  weekly 
until  1886,  when  it  became  a  permanent  daily. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

CATHOLIC  MISSIONS  IN  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

BET.  MODEST   DEMER8   DESCENDS   THE    COLUMBIA    IN    1838 ^MAKES    A   MISSION    TOUR   OF 

INTERIOR    THE    FOLLOWING    YEAR ST.    MARY^S    ESTABLISHED    IN     1841     BY    FATHER 

DE8MET    AND     OTHERS COEUR    d'aLENE    MISSION    ESTABLISHED    ON    THE    ST.     JOE^ 

1842 — TRANSFERRED  TO  THE   COEUR  D^ALENE   IN    1846 FATHER  JOSET   IN    CHARGE 

— ST.  IGNATIUS  MOVED   FROM    LOWER   FEND   D^OREILLE  RIVER  TO  MONTANA SACRED 

HEART  MISSION   TRANSFERRED   TO   DESMET MISSION    LABORS   AMONG   THE    NEZ   PER- 

CE8 — MISSIONS    IN    THE    COLVILLE    COUNTRY PRESIDENT    OF    GONZAGA    VISITS    THE 

CALI8PEL8 — ARMY  OFFICER'S  DESCRIPTION   OF   THE   OLD   MISSION   OF   ST.    IGNATIUS. 

A  parish  priest  was  of  the  pilgrim  train, 
An  awful^  reverend  and  religious  man. 
His  eyes  diffused  a  venerable  grace, 
And  charity  itself  was  in*  his  face. 
Rich  was  his  soul,  though  his  attire  was  poor, 
.  (As  God  hath  clothed  his  own  ambassador). 
For  such,  on  earth,  his  blessed  Redeemer  bore. 
Of  sixty  years  he  seemed;  and  well  might  last 
To  sixty  more,  but  that  he  lived  too  fast; 
Refined  himself  to  soul,  to  curb  the  sense, 
And  made  almost  a  sin  of  abstinence. 

— Dryden, 

IN  THE  history  of  the  Catholic  missions  of  the  Inland  Empire  we  possess 
a  deathless  story  of  absorbing  interest  and  inspiration;  a  record  of  dangers 
braved,  privations  borne  and  hardships  endured  under  the  sacred  banner  of 
the  church.  So  long  as  history  shall  be  read,  that  long  will  survive  and  be  held  in 
honored  remembrance  the  names  and  deeds  of  such  devoted  priests  as  Blanchet 
and  Demers,  De  Smet  and  Joset,  Hoecken,  Mengarini,  Point,  Ravalli. 

Historic  evidence  sustains  the  belief  that  the  sacred  emblem  of  the  cross  was 
lifted  on  these  Pacific  shores  by  Spanish  explorers,  and  possibly  by  Spanish  priests. 
Writing  from  Cowlitz,  in  western  Washington,  under  date  of  February,  1844,  the 
apostolical  missionary  J.  B.  Z.  Bolduc  said  that  even  then  he  found  ruins  of  birch 
edifices,  "constructed  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  the  savage  nations  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  gospel;"  and  among  the  natives,  relics  had  been  found  attesting  this 
fact.    "A  certain  tribe  had  possessed  for  ages  a  brazen  crucifix,  bearing  the  ap- 

Vol.     J—* 

113 


114  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

pearance  of  great  antiquity;  when^  how^  and  by  whom  it  was  brought  thither,  none 
can  attest." 

Although  the  officers,  clerks  and  employes  of  the  fur  companies  that  operated 
in  these  regions  over  the  first  half  of  the  past  century  were  of  the  Catholic  faith, 
no  organized  effort  was  made  to  establish  missions  in  the  Pacific  northwest  until 
the  year  1834.  By  that  time  an  extensive  colony  of  former  servants  of  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  company  had  settled  on  French  prairie,  in  the  Willamette  valley  of  Ore- 
gon, and  application  was  made  to  Dr.  Provencher,  vicar  apostolic  of  Hudson  Bay, 
for  a  clergyman  for  their  service.  But  means  of  communication  were  slow,  events 
moved  leisurely  in  those  distant  days,  and  their  prayers  were  not  fully  answered 
until  1888.  The  Rev.  Modest  Demers  came  as  far  west  as  the  Canadian  Red  River 
settlement  in  1837,  and  arranged  with  the  fur  company  for  himself  and  a  fellow 
laborer  to  pass  into  Oregon  the  following  year.  According  to  an  outline  sketch  of 
Oregon  territory  and  its  missions,  which  later  prefaced  the  published  letters  of 
Father  De  Smet,  Rev.  F.  N.  Blanchet  "left  Canada  at  the  appointed  time,  and  joined 
his  companion  at  Red  River,  whence  they  both  started  on  the  10th  of  July,  and 
after  a  perilous  journey  of  between  4,000  and  5,000  miles,  and  the  loss  of  twelve 
of  their  fellow  travelers  in  the  rapids  of  the  Columbia  river,  they  arrived  at  Fort 
Vancouver  the  24th  of  November  the  same  year.  .      .     On  seeing  Uie  mission- 

aries at  length  among  them,  the  Canadians  wept  for  joy,  and  the  savages  assembled 
from  a  distance  of  100  miles  to  behold  the  black  gowns,  of  whom  so  much  had  been 
said." 

After  several  months  of  mission  work  west  of  the  Cascade  mountains.  Father 
Demers  ascended  the  Columbia  in  July,  1839,  visiting  Walla  Walla,  Okanogan 
and  Fort  Colville,  "baptizing  all  the  children  that  were  brought  to  him  in  Uie  course 
of  his  journey."  He  was  the  first  ordained  priest  to  spread  \he  Catholic  faith  in 
the  Inland  Empire.  His  journey  to  Uie  interior  consumed  three  months,  and  he 
returned  in  October  to  Fort  Vancouver.  The  following  year  Father  Demers  re- 
peated his  journey  of  1839,  again  visiting  Walla  Walla,  Okanogan  and  Colville. 

We  quote  now  from  a  manuscript  in  possession  of  August  Wolf,  prepared  with 
the  sanction  of  Gonzaga  college: 

"In  response  to  solicitations  (from  the  Indians  to  the  bishop  of  St.  Louis)  Fa- 
thers Peter  J.  DeSmet,  Gregory  Mengarini  and  Nicholas  Point,  accompanied  by 
Brothers  Specht,  Huet  and  Claessens,  set  out  for  the  Rocky  mountains  in  1841. 
Arrived  in  the  Flathead  country,  they  founded,  September  24,  the  first  mission 
of  St.  Mary's,  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley,  not  far  from  the  site  of  the  present  town 
of  Stevensville,  Montana.  The  fathers  lived  among  the  Indians,  instructing  them 
and  administering  the  sacraments,  and  conforming  themselves  to  the  customs  of 
the  savages.  They  learned  their  language,  and  lived  as  the  savages  did,  on  roots 
and  berries,  and  the  products  of  the  fisheries  and  the  chase.  In  Uie  course  of  time 
they  erected  a  church  and  residence,  and  cultivated  the  land,  striving  at  first,  with- 
out much  success,  to  induce  their  wild  neophytes  to  imitate  them  in  ag^'cultural 
matters.  However,  the  Flatheads,  as  well  as  many  of  the  neighboring  tribes,  re- 
sponded to  the  call  of  salvation,  and  a  great  number  were  baptized  and  came  to 
worship  at  the  mission.  The  history  of  subsequent  missions  was  somewhat  similar, 
except  in  later  years  the  school  became  an  important  feature. 

"On  various  occasions  the  faUiers  at  St.  Mary's  received  visits  from  members 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  115 

of  tribes  on  both  sides  of  the  mountains^  and  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  in  particular  begged 
that  a  mission  might  be  given  them  also.  Their  wish  was  granted  in  the  autumn 
of  1842^  when  Father  Nicholas  Point  and  Brother  Huet  built  a  residence  on  the 
St.  Joe  river^  a  sluggish  stream  that  empties  into  Lake  Coeur  d'Alene.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  famous  Cdeur  d'Alene  mission^  now  at  Desmet,  Idaho. 

"In  1848  Fathers  Peter  DeVos  and  Andrew  Hoecken,  with  four  lay  brothers, 
Among  them  Brother  J.  B.  McGean,  arrived  at  St.  Mary's  from  St.  Louis,  and 
shortly  afterward,  in  1844,  Father  Joseph  Joset  and  Father  Zerbinati  came  from 
the  same  place,  with  Brother  Vincent  Magri.  They  made  a  welcome  addition  to 
the  little  band  of  missionaries  and  soon  found  employment.  Father  Hoecken,  after 
visiting  the  Sacred  Heart  mission  on  the  St.  Joe,  was  detailed  to  found  a  mission 
among  the  Calispels,  near  Lake  Pend  d'Oreille.  In  the  summer  of  1844  he  located 
the  first  St.  Ignatius  mission  on  Clark's  fork,  some  sixty  miles  below  Sand  Point. 
This  was  the  third  mission  founded.  Father  Joset,  in  the  meantime,  joined  Father 
Point  at  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mission,  while  Father  DeVos  and  Father  Zerbinati 
remained  with  Father  Mengarini  at  St.  Mary's.  Meanwhile  Father  DeSmet,  su- 
perior of  the  missions,  had  traveled  to  Europe  to  obtain  recruits.  He  was  well 
received  everywhere,  and  his  holiness.  Pope  Gregory  XVI,  proposed  to  make  him 
bishop  of  the  new  diocese  to  be  erected  in  Oregon.  He  managed,  however,  to  trans- 
fer this  burden  to  the  shoulders  of  the  Rev.  Father  F.  N.  Blanchet 

"In  1845  Father  Nobili  and  Father  Ravalli  were  called  to  active  service.  The 
former  was  sent  to  found  a  mission  in  New  Caledonia  (in  northern  British  Colum- 
bia). Father  Ravalli  was  ordered  to  found  a  mission  in  the  Colville  valley,  and 
built  the  first  chapel  there,  on  a  hill  between  the  fishery  at  Kettle  Falls  and  Fort 
Colville.  This  chapel  was  named  St.  Paul's.  After  a  few  months,  however,  he 
was  called  to  St.  Mary's  on  the  death  of  Father  Zerbinati.  Here  he  remained  till 
1850,  when  that  mission  was  closed  for  sixteen  years. 

"In  1846  the  mission  on  the  St.  Joe  was  transferred  to  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river 
on  account  of  the  floods.  The  new  mission,  which  is  now  known  as  the  "Old  Mis- 
sion," was  placed  in  charge  of  Father  Joset,  who  a  little  later  became  superior  of 
the  Rocky  mountains  when  Father  DeSmet  was  called  away  from  the  mountains 
by  other  duties.  Father  DeSmet  took  with  him  Father  Point,  who  had  been  re- 
called by  his  superiors  to  Canada.  The  two  fathers  parted  after  crossing  the 
Rocky  mountains,  and  Father  Point  remained  among  the  Blackfeet,  to  instruct 
them  during  the  winter  of  1846-47.  The  order  recalling  Father  Point  had  been 
issued  from  Paris  in  1848,  but  did  not  reach  him  until  the  end  of  1846.  Such  were 
the  means  of  communication  in  those  days.     ... 

"In  1850  Father  Joset  was  sent  to  close  old  St.  Mary's,  on  account  of  the  bad 
disposition  shown  by  the  Indians,  under  the  influence  of  some  white  men  who  had 
lately  come  among  them.  Father  Mengarini  was  sent  down  to  the  Willamette,  and 
later  on  to  California,  while  Father  Ravalli  took  charge  of  the  mission  on  the 
Coeur  d'Alene  river,  and  Father  Joset,.  after  visiting  Father  Hoecken  at  St.  Igna- 
tius, established  himself  in  1851  in  Colville  valley.  Here  he  remained  with  Father 
Vercmysse  till  1858.  Father  Ravalli,  in  the  meantime,  was  drawing  up  plans  and 
commencing  to  build  the  wonderful  church  at  the  old  Coeur  d'Alene  mission,  which 
to  this  day  wins  the  admiration  of  visitors- — a  church  built  without  nails,  planned 


116  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

by  a  genius^  and  put  up  by  skilled  workmen^  assisted  by  savages  in  the  midst  of 
the  wilderness.     .     .     . 

"We  must  now  return  to  the  mountains  and  rapidly  sketch  the  progress  of  the 
missions  there  to  the  present  day.  When  Father  Congiato  was  made  superior  of 
both  missions  in  1854^  the  Kalispel  mission  of  St.  Ignatius  was  moved  from  the 
banks  of  the  Pend  d'Oreille  to  Mission  valley  in  the  Flathead  country^  some  twenty 
miles  east  of  Flathead  lake.  Here  was  founded  the  present  St.  Ignatius  mission, 
which  exists  to  this  day^  one  of  the  most  striking  evidences  of  missionary  enter- 
prise in  the  country.  The  present  church  and  residence^  and  the  houses  of  the 
Sisters  of  Providence  and  of  the  Ursuline  Sisters  are  buildings  no  one  would  expect 
to  find  on  an  Indian  reservation. 

"In  1858  Father  Ravalli  replaced  Father  Joset  at  Colville^  and  Father  Joset 
returned  to  his  beloved  Coeur  d'Alenes.  The  Colville  mission  was  closed  the  fol- 
lowing year,  and  Father  Ravalli  was  transferred  to  St.  Ignatius.     .     .     . 

"In  1866  old  St  Mary's  mission  was  reopened,  and  the  general  superior.  Fa- 
ther Giorda,  worn  out  with  his  labors,  retired  there  to  recuperate,  leaving  Father 
Urban  Grass!  as  vice-superior  to  look  after  the  missions  for  the  next  three  years. 
He  again  resumed  his  work  in  1869,  and  remained  in  office  till  June,  1877,  when 
Father  Cataldo  took  his  place.  Father  Joseph  Bandiui  afterward  became  superior 
at  St.  Mary's,  and  later  on  Father  Guidi.  Father  Jerome  D'Aste  was  the  last 
missionary  to  reside  at  the  place,  for  it  was  closed  in  1891,  and  the  Indians  were 
transferred  to  St.  Ignatius  on  the  Jocko  reservation.  At  St.  Mary's  died  Father 
Ravalli,  on  October  2,  1884.  A  monument  was  erected  to  him  by  friends  and  ad- 
mirers, and  some  forty  miles  north  of  Missoula,  a  station  on  the  Northern  Pacific 
railroad  was  named  after  him.  He  had  retired  to  St.  Mary's  at  its  reopening  in 
1866. 

"In  Idaho  the  old  Sacred  Heart  mission  on  the  Coeur  d*Alene  river  flourished  for 
a  long  time  under  Father  Joset,  later  on  assisted  by  Father  Caruana  and  others. 
In  1879  it  was  transferred  to  Desmet,  Idaho  (on  the  Coeur  d'Alene  reservation), 
where  it  now  stands.  Here  Father  Caruana,  who  has  labored  for  over  forty  years 
among  the  Indians,  still  displays  his  great  zeal  and  energy.  This,  perhaps,  has 
been  the  most  successful  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  missions,  and  today  the  well-kept 
farms  and  the  devout  bearing  of  the  Indians  is  remarked  by  all  who  visit  them. 
The  history  of  the  DeSmet  mission  might  well  occupy  us,  did  space  allow.  Here 
the  first  novitiate  of  the  moimtains  was  established.  Here  Father  Joset  died,  in 
1899,  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  ninety.  He  had  passed  seventy  years  in  religion,  and 
fifty-six  among  the  Indians.  He  was  the  last  of  the  old  missionaries  who  had 
labored  with  Fathers  DeSmet,  Point,  Hoecken  and  Giorda. 

"In  1865  our  fathers  were  asked  to  take  charge  of  the  mission  among  the  Nez 
Perce  Indians  in  Idaho.  At  an  early  period  these  Indians  had  fallen  under  Pro- 
testant influence,  but  many  nevertheless  wished  for  the  'Black  Robes.'  In  1866 
Father  Cataldo  left  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mission,  to  visit  Lewiston,  and  met  some  of 
the  Indians  there.  Next  year,  being  appointed  to  take  charge  of  Lewiston  and  the 
Indians,  he  built  a  small  church  and  a  small  residence  there.  In  1868  he  built  a 
small  log  church  on  the  Clearwater  river,  and  in  1869  remodeled  the  old  chief's 
house  as  a  chapel  and  a  school  for  the  Indians.  In  1870  he  was  recalled  to  the 
old  Coeur  d'Alene  mission,  but  was  charged  to  visit  the  Nez  Perces  from  time  to 


VIEW  OF  COLVILLE,  WASHINGTON 


y 


*.c»T  *« 


->•-  N     f 


L«  .♦vX 


^  -^'^■^'^  1  iONJ 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  117 

time*  In  1872  we  find  him  back  in  Lewiston^  where  he  worked  with  great  energy^ 
and  in  1874  was  able  to  build  a  church  for  the  Indians  at  Slickpoo^  where  the  first 
mass  was  said  the  same  year.  In  1875  Father  Morville  arrived  from  Italy  and 
wintered  at  old  Coeur  d'Alene  with  Father  Cataldo^  but  the  following  year  he  took 
up  his  residence  at  Slickpoo  with  Brother  Carfagno.  Father  Gazzoli  joined  them  in 
1877,  the  year  of  the  Nea  Perce  war.  Thus  the  mission  of  St.  Joseph's  was  founded, 
and  today  one-third  of  the  Indians  are  Catholic.  Lewiston  is  now  a  thriving  parish. 
"In  1865  the  mission  of  St.  Paul's  in  Colville  was  reopened.  Father  Joset  had 
there  commenced  to  build  the  church  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  near  Fort  Col- 
ville, for  the  benefit  of  the  soldiers.  This  was  completed  in  1 865  by  Father  Menet- 
rey  and  Brother  Campopiana.  Father  Grassi  now  thought  to  choose  a  new  site 
for  a  mission  between  St.  Paul's  and  this  church,  and  bought  land  from  a  Canadian 
for  this  purpose.  Here  some  modest  cabins  were  erected  which  served  as  a  residence 
from  1869  to  1878,  when  Fathers  Jacob  Vanzina,  Joseph  Guidi  and  Paschal  Tosi, 
with  Brothers  Gaspard  Ochiena,  Lucian  D'Agestino  and  Achilles  Carfagno  com- 
menced to  build  the  present  mission  of  St.  'Frdncrs  Regis.  Here  the  cornerstone  of 
the  commodious  chapel  was  blessed  in- 1878  by  Fathers  Diomedi  and  Vanzina.  A 
year  later  it  was  completely  destroyed  by  fire  and  has  since  been  replaced  by  the 
present  excellent  building. 

"The  Kettle  Falls  Indians  were  not  the  only  ones  to  be  visited  from  Colville, 
for  our  fathers  used  to  make  excursions  among  the  Semitakan,  the  Chelans,  We- 
natchees  and  Okanogans.  Father  DeRoug6  commenced  a  permanent  mission  among 
these  latter  in  1885.  Previously  Father  Urban  Grassi  had  traveled  among  them 
and  lived  with  them  in  their  tepees,  instructing  them  in  Christian  morals  and  doc- 
trine. But  with  the  coming  of  Father  DeRoug^  great  strides  were  made.  He  has 
built  a  church  and  school,  and  done  great  work  in  spite  of  exceptional  difiiculties. 

"About  this  time  the  parish  of  Yakima  came  into  the  hands  of  our  fathers.  This 
is  the  largest  and  most  progressive  town  between  Spokane  and  Seattle,  and  the  parish 
is  increasing  in  proportion  to  the  growth  of  the  community.  The  Indians  on  the 
Yakima  reservation,  who  until  two  years  ago  had  also  a  resident  priest,  are  now 
attended  from  North  Yakima. 

"In  Oregon  there  is  the  parish  at  Pendleton,  and  the  mission  to  the  Umatilla 
Indians  attached  to  it." 

Such,  in  outline,  is  the  history  of  Catholic  missions  in  the  broad  region  around 
Spokane,  running  back  over  a  period  of  seventy  years,  told  without  embellishment, 
and,  from  neccessity  of  brevity,  expressing  little  of  the  inspiration  that  brought 
the  pioneer  fathers  into  a  land  of  savage  wildness,  or  the  faith  that  sustained 
them  through  a  thousand  perils  by  land  and  sea.  Happily  these  have  come  down 
to  us  in  the  published  letters  of  Father  DeSmet,  letters  which  reveal,  as  the  preface 
from  another's  pen  has  said,  "the  manners  and  customs  of  the  North  American  In- 
dians— their  traditions,  their  superstitions,  their  docility  in  admitting  the  maxims  of 
the  gospel,"  and  "described  with  a  freshness  of  coloring,  and  an  exactness  of  detail, 
that  will  render  them  invaluable  not  only  to  our  own  times,  but  especially  to  pos- 
terity." In  the  language  of  this  preface,  "He  travels  through  those  vast  and  un- 
explored deserts,  not  merely  as  a  missionary,  filled  with  the  zeal  which  characterized 
the  apostles  of  the  primitive  society  to  which  he  belongs  (the  Jesuits)  but  with  the 
eye  of  a  poet,  and  an  imagination  glowing  with  a  bright  yet  calm  enthusiasm.    Hence 


118  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  exquisite  descriptions  of  scenery^  of  incidents^  of  events;  descriptions  which 
breathe  the  spirit  of  a  mind  imbned  with  the  loftiest  conceptions  of  nature^  and 
chastened  with  the  sacred  influences  of  faith/' 

As  we  have  seen^  Father  DeSmet^  after  crossing  the  plains  and  threading  the 
winding  defiles  of  the  Rocky  mountains^  in   1841,  established  the  mother  mission 
of  St.  Mary's,  near  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  Stevensville,  in  Montana.     Im- 
pressed with  the  vastness  of  the  field,  he  went  then  to  Europe  to  arouse  interest 
and  win  support  for  the  poor  and  struggling  missions  of  the  Rocky  mountains;  and 
from  that  long  journey  and  voyage  we  find  him  returning  by  sea  and  crossing  the 
troubled  Columbia  river  bar  in  July,   1844,  successful  and  elated,  and  eager   to 
plunge  into  the  deep  solitudes  of  the  interior  and  greet  again  his  savage  friends 
from  whom  he  had  parted  two  years  before.     Duties  in  the  Willamette  valley  de- 
tained him  several  months,  but  these  accomplished,  he  set  out,  in  the  beginning  of 
February,  1845,  for  the  interior.    He  ascended  the  Columbia  in  a  canoe  to  old  Fort 
Walla  Walla,  and  taking  the  broad  and  well-worn  trail  of  the  Indians  and  the  fur 
traders,  traversed  the  Walla  Walla  valley,  passed  through  the  Palouse  country,  and 
crossing  the  Spokane  valley,  passed  on  to  St.  Ignatius  mission  on  the  lower  Pend 
d'Oreille  river  where  he  was  greeted  by  Father  Adrian  Hoecken.     This  mission 
stood  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Pend  d'Oreille,  seven  miles  below  the  present  town  of 
Usk.     By  reason  of  frequent  flooding  from  high  water,  it  was  abandoned  in  1854, 
and  a  new  site  chosen  on  the  Flathead  reservation  in  western  Montana. 

Although  the  priests  could  give  these  Indians  but  occasional  visitations  after  the 
removal  of  the  mission,  the  Kalispels  have  continued  devout  in  the  Catholic  faith. 
With  rejoicing  they  greeted  Father  Taelman  at  the  Christmas  holidays  of  1911, 
when  consideration  for  his  old  friends  among  them  prompted  the  busy  president  of 
Gonzaga  to  venture  again  into  the  wintry  wilderness.  Again  in  January,  1912, 
Father  Taelman  was  summoned  by  Chief  Massalah  to  \he  bedside  of  a  dying  girl. 
"My  people,"  spoke  Massalah,  at  the  funeral,  "we  are  grieved  today  at  the  loss  of 
our  dear  one ;  but  God  has  his  way.  This  world  is  a  valley  of  tears.  We  are  now 
poor  and  suffering,  but  if  we  are  true  to  God,  there  is  a  country  above  where  we 
shall  all  meet  again." 

Dr.  George  Suckley,  assistant  surgeon  U.  S.  A.,  who  accompanied  Governor 
Stevens  across  the  continent  in  1853,  and  under  direction  of  that  official  made  a 
remarkable  canoe  voyage  from  Fort  Owen  in  Montana,  to  Vancouver,  descending 
the  Bitter  Root,  Clark's  Fork  and  Columbia,  visited  St.  Ignatius  on  that  voyage. 
He  has  left,  in  his  official  report,  a  most  entertaining  description  of  the  mission: 

"I  walked  up  to  the  door  of  the  mission  house,  knocked  and  entered.  I  was  met 
by  the  reverend  superior  of  the  mission.  Father  Hoecken,  who,  in  a  truly  benevolent 
and  pleasing  manner,  said :  'Walk  in,  you  are  welcome ;  we  are  glad  to  see  the  face 
of  a  white  man.'  I  introduced  myself  and  the  men,  and  stated  that  I  had  come  all 
the  way  from  St.  Mary's  by  water,  after  a  voyage  of  twenty-five  days ;  that  I  was 
out  of  provisions  and  tired.  He  bade  us  welcome,  had  our  things  brought  up  from 
the  boat,  an  excellent  dinner  prepared  for  us,  and  a  nice  room  to  sleep  in,  and  treated 
us  with  the  cordiality  and  kindness  of  a  Christian  and  a  gentleman.  In  these  kind- 
nesses the  Reverend  Father  Menetrey  and  the  lay  brother,  Mr.  Magean,  cordially 
took  part — all  uniting  in  their  endeavors  to  make  us  comfortable  and  feel  at  home. 

"From  the  Reverend  Mr.  Hoecken  I  have  the  following  particulars  concerning 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  119 

the  mission  and  the  condition  of  the  inhabitants  in  its  vicinity:  The  mission  was 
established  nine  years  ago  (in  1844),  the  whole  country  at  that  time  being  a  vast 
wilderness.  Its  inhabitants  were  the  Kalispelms.  They  lived  mostly  from  the 
Kallspebn  or  Pend  d'Oreille  lake,  down  the  Clark  river  to  this  point;  they  speak 
nearly  the  same  language  as  the  Flathead  or  Salish  Indians.  Another  mission  (St. 
Mary's)  was  at  the  same  time  opened  among  the  last  mentioned  tribe.     .     .     . 

"There  are  two  lay  brethren  attached  to  the  mission.  One  of  these,  Brother 
Francis,  is  a  perfect  jack  of  all  trades.  He  is  by  turns  a  carpenter,  blacksmith, 
gnnsmith,  and  tinman — in  each  of  which  he  is  a  good  workman.  The  other.  Brother 
Magean,  superintends  the  farming  operations.  They  both  worked  hard  in  bringing 
the  mission  to  its  present  state  of  perfection,  building  successively  a  windmill, 
blacksmith  and  carpenter's  shops,  barns,  cowsheds,  etc.,  besides  an  excellent  chapel, 
in  addition  to  a  large  dwelling-house  of  hewn  timbers  for  the  missionaries. 

"The  church  is  quite  large,  and  is  tastefully  and  even  beautifully  decorated.  I 
was  shown  the  handsomely  carved  and  gilded  altar,  the  statue  of  'Our  Mother,' 
brazen  crosses  and  rich  bronzed  fonts,  work,  which,  at  sight  appears  so  well  executed 
as  to  lead  one  to  suppose  that  they  all  must  have  been  imported.  But  no,  they  are 
the  result  of  the  patient  labor  and  ingenuity  of  the  devoted  missionaries,  and  work 
which  is  at  the  same  time  rich,  substantial  and  beautiful. 

"Works  of  ornament  are  not  their  only  deeds.  A  grindstone,  hewn  out  of  the 
native  rock,  and  moulded  by  the  same  hand  which  made  the  chisel  which  wrought 
it;  tinware,  a  blacksmith's  shop,  bellows,  ploughshares,  bricks  for  their  chimneys, 
their  own  tobacco  pipes,  turned  out  of  wood  and  lined  with  tin — all  have  been  made 
by  their  industry.  In  household  economy  they  are  not  excelled.  They  make  their 
own  soap,  candles,  vinegar,  etc.,  and  it  is  both  interesting  and  amusing  to  listen  to 
didr  account  of  their  plans,  shifts  and  turns  in  overcoming  obstacles  at  their  first 
attempts,  their  repeated  failures,  and  their  final  triumphs. 

"The  mission  farm  consists  of  about  160  acres  of  cleared  land.  Spring  wheat, 
barley,  onions,  cabbages,  parisnips,  peas,  beets,  potatoes  and  carrots  are  its  principal 
products.  The  Indians  are  especially  fond  of  carrots.  Father  Hoecken  says  that 
if  the  children  see  carrots  growing  they  must  eat  some.  Says  he,  'I  must  shut  my 
ejts  to  the  theft,  because  they  cannot,  cannot,  resist  the  temptation.'  An3rthing  else 
than  carrots  the  little  creatures  respect.  The  Indians  are  very  fond  of  peas  and 
cabbage,  but  beets,  and  particularly  onions,  they  dislike.*  The  other  productions  of 
the  farm  are  cattle,  hogs,  poultry,  butter  and  cheese. 

"Around  the  mission  buildings  are  the  houses  of  the  natives.  They  are  built  of 
logs  and  hewn  timber,  and  are  sixteen  in  number.  There  are,  also,  quite  a  number 
of  mat  and  skin  lodges.  Although  the  tribe  is  emphatically  a  wandering  tribe,  yet 
the  mission  and  its  vicinity  are  lodced  upon  as  headquarters." 

Passing  to  a  description  of  the  Indians  and  the  uplifting  work  of  the  missionaries, 
Dr.  Suckley  reported : 

"They  came  among  these  Indians  about  nine  years  ago,  and  found  them  to  be 
a  poor,  miserable,  half-starved  race,  with  an  insufficiency  of  food  and  nearly  naked, 
Uying  upon  fish,  camas  and  other  roots,  and,  at  the  last  extremity,  upon  the  pine-tree 
ODoss.  Unlike  the  Indians  east  of  the  mountains,  they  had  no  idea  of  a  future  state 
or  a  Great  Spirit ;  neither  had  they  any  idea  of  a  soul.  They  considered  themselves 
to  be  animals,  nearly  allied  to  the  beaver,  but  greater  than  the  beaver — and  why  ? 


120  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Because,  they  said,  'the  beaver  builds  houses  like  us,  and  he  is  very  cunning  too  ; 
but  we  can  catch  the  beaver,  and  he  can  not  catch  us — therefore  we  are  greater  thao 
he.'  They  thought  when  they  died  that  was  the  last  of  them.  While  thus  ignorant, 
it  was  not  uncommon  for  them  to  bury  the  very  old  and  very  young  alive,  because, 
they  said,  'these  cannot  take  care  of  themselves,  and  we  can  not  take  care  of  them, 
and  they  had  better  die.' 

"Of  the  soul  they  had  no  conception.  In  the  beginning  the  priests  were  obliged 
to  depend  upon  the  imperfect  translations  of  half-breed  interpreters.  The  word 
'soul'  was  singularly  translated  to  the  Indians,  by  one  of  these  telling  them  that 
they  had  a  gut  that  never  rotted,  and  that  this  was  their  living  principle  or  soul. 
The  chief  of  the  tribe  was  converted,  and  was  baptized  Loyola;  the  mass  of  the 
tribe  followed  their  leader.  They  now  almost  all  pray,  have  devotional  exercisrs 
in  their  families,  and  seem  in  a  fair  way  for  further  advancement. 

"To  show  you  the  good  sense,  benevolence  and  foresight  of  the  priests,  I  will 
relate  a  short  cgnversation  I  had  with  Father  Hoecken,  who  is  the  superior  of  the 
mission  and  has  been  among  the  people  from  the  first.  Says  he,  'Doctor,  you  will 
scarcely  believe  it;  surrounded  by  water  as  we  are,  we  often  have  difficulty  in  getting 
fish  even  for  our  Friday  dinner.*  I  replied,  jokingly,  'I  suppose.  Father,  that  the 
Indians  find  no  difficulty  in  observing  a  fast  on  Friday.'  He  answered  immediately: 
*I  never  spoke  to  them  about  it;  it  would  not  do.  Poor  creatures,  they  fast  too  much 
as  it  is,  and  it  is  not  necessary  for  them  to  fast  more.' 

"The  people  look  up  to  the  father,  and  love  him.  They  say  that  if  the  father 
should  go  away,  they  would  die.  Before  the  advent  of  the  missionaries,  the  in- 
habitants, although  totally  destitute  of  religious  ideas,  still  believed  that  evil  and 
bad  luck  emanated  from  a  fabulous  old  woman  or  sorceress.  They  were  great  be- 
lievers in  charms,  or  medicine.  Every  man  had  his  peculiar  medicine  or  charm, 
which  was  his  deity,  so  to  speak ;  and  of  it  they  expected  good  or  ill.  With  some  it 
would  be  the  mouse ;  with  others,  the  deer,  buffalo,  elk,  salmon,  bear,  etc. ;  and  which- 
ever it  Was,  the  savage  would  carry  a  portion  of  it  constantly  by  him.  The  tail  of 
a  mouse,  or  the  fur,  hoof,  claw,  feather,  fin  or  scale  of  whatever  it  might  be,  became 
the  amulet.  When  a  young  man  grew  up  he  was  not  yet  considered  a  man  until  he 
had  discovered  his  medicine.  His  father  would  send  him  to  the  top  of  a  high  moun- 
tain in  the  neighborhood  of  the  present  mission.  Here  he  was  obliged  to  remain 
without  food  until  he  had  dreamed  of  an  animal;  the  first  one  so  dreamed  about  be- 
coming his  medicine  for  life.  Of  course  anxiety,  fatigue,  cold  and  fasting  would 
render  his  sleep  troubled  and  replete  with  dreams.  In  a  short  time  he  would  have 
dreamed  of  ^hat  he  wanted,  and  return  to  his  home  a  man.     .     .     . 

"At  the  mission  they  have  a  small  mill,  by  which  the  Indians  grind  their  wheat. 
The  mill  is  turned  by  hand,  and  will  grind  but  three  bushels  a  day." 

A  discovery  made  near  the  mission  by  Dr.  Suckley  indicates  the  comparatively 
recent  activity  of  a  volcano  in  the  Inland  Empire:  "A  few  inches  below  the  surface 
of  the  earth  can  be  found  the  ashes  and  cineritious  deposit  of  a  volcano.  The 
stratum  is  about  one-third  of  an  inch  thick.  As  you  proceed  in  a  north-northeasterly 
direction,  it  becomes  thicker  and  thicker.  Hence  we  may  infer  that  the  crater  was 
in  that  direction,  and  probably  can  now  be  found.  The  inhabitants  have  never  seen 
it.  They  do  not  travel  from  curiosity,  and  the  direction  is  among  mountains  from  the 
very  door  of  the  mission.     In  the  tribe  there  are  men  and  women  still  living  who 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  121 

reBaember  the  eruption.  They  say  that  it  came  on  during  the  afternoon  and  night> 
during  which  it  rained  cinders  and  fire.  The  Indians  supposed  that  the  sun  had 
burned  up^  and  that  there  was  an  end  of  all  things.  The  next  mornings  when  the 
sun  arose^  they  were  so  delighted  as  to  have  a  great  dance  and  a  feast." 

At  St  Ignatius  mission  Dr.  Suckley  learned  that  there  was  an  abimdance  of 
lead  ore  on  the  Kootenai  river.  Black  lead  had  been  found  at  St.  Mary's  and  gold 
an  Hell  Gate  river,  while  copper  and  silver  were  said  to  exist  in  the  mountains  north; 
"The  loud^  deep-sounding  reports,  like  the  explosions  of  heavy  pieces  of  ord- 
nance, occasionally  heard  in  the  Rocky  mountains,  and  spoken  of  by  Lewis  and 
Clark  in  their  narrative,  are  now  and  then  heard.  They  never  occur  except  during 
the  coldest  winters.  The  old  trappers  thought  that  these  noises  were  produced  by 
the  bursting  of  silver  mines.  Their  opinion  in  such  a  matter  is  of  but  little  importance 
to  my  mind."  These  detonations  he  attributed  to  volcanic  eruptions,  to  the  break- 
ing away  of  heavy  ice  masses,  or  to  landslides. 

Continuing  his  descent  of  the  Clark's  fork.  Lake  Pend  d*Oreille  and  the  river  of 
the  same  name.  Dr.  Suckley,  three  days  after  leaving  St.  Ignatius,  arrived  at  old 
Fort  ColviUe  on  the  Columbia,  where  he  was  kindly  entertained  by  Angus  McDonald, 
in  charge  of  that  post  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company. 

"Near  the  fort  (continues  his  report  to  Governor  Stevens)  is  the  mission,  of  St. 
Paul,  established  among  the  Kettle  Falls  Indians,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Columbia, 
about  one  mile  from  the  Kettle  Falls.  I  visited  the  mission  establishment  three 
times  during  my  stay  at  Fort  ColviUe.  It  is  superintended  by  the  Reverend  Father 
Joset,  assisted  by  one  other  priest  and  a  lay  brother.  Father  Joset  received  me  very 
kindly.  He  is  a  Swiss,  and  very  gentlemanly  and  agreeable  in  his  manners.  To  him 
I  am  indebted  for  much  valuable  information  concerning  this  part  of  the  country. 
The  mission  establishment  consists  of  a  chapel,  a  dwelling-house  and  several  other 
buildings.  There  is  no  farm  attached  to  it.  The  Indians  have  sufficient  to  eat 
which  they  obtain  from  other  sources.  There  is,  consequently,  no  necessity  requir- 
ing the  missionaries  to  cultivate  land,  as  they  can  obtain  all  they  want  for  their  own 
nse  from  the  Hudson's  Bay  company. 

"The  Kettle  Falls  Indians  call  themselves  Squeer-yer-pe.  The  chief  of  this 
tribe  is  caUed  Pierre  Jean.  He,  with  most  of  his  followers,  live  in  their  lodges 
around  the  mission.  The  number  of  souls  in  this  band  is  about  350.  During  the 
summer  season  the  Indians  from  all  the  surrounding  country  congregate  at  this 
place  to  catch  salmon.  There  are  then  about  1000  at  the  falls.  The  Squeer-yer-pe 
name  for  the  Kettle  Falls  is  Schwan-ate-koo,  or  deep-sounding  water.  Here  the 
Colombia  pitches  over  a  ledge  of  rocks,  making  a  fall  of  about  fifteen  feet  perpen- 
dicnlar.  The  Indians  sow  a  little  wheat  and  plant  some^  potatoes,  of  which  they 
are  very  fond;  but  their  principal  subsistence  is  the  everlasting  salmon.  They 
come  up  annually  in  great  numbers,  on  their  way  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Columbia. 
The  Indians  kill  hundreds  of  thousands  of  these  fish  by  spearing  them.  The  myriads 
of  salmon  that  ascend  the  rivers  of  the  Pacific  coast  are  almost  incredible.  In  many 
places  the  water  appears  alive  with  them,  and  the  shores  are  thickly  lined  with  the 
dead  and  dying  fish.  This,  according  to  De  Smet,  is  particularly  noticed  on  the  small 
lakes  of  the  upper  Columbia,  in  the  vicinity  of  Martin's  rapids." 

Just  before  his  arrival  at  St.  Ignatius,  Dr.  Suckley,  reduced  to  the  point  of 
famine,  lodged  one  night  with  a  band  of  Pend  d'Oreilles.     "Our  provisions  are  out/' 


122  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

says  his  journal^  "the  ground  is  covered  with  snow^  and  the  sky  obscured  by  doiids. 
The  weather  is  excessively  cold.    Our  tent  is  wet^  as  indeed  it  has  been  for  a  nveek 
or  more.     Our  robes  and  some  of  our  blankets  are  in  the  same  condition;  and^  on 
the  whole^  our  situation  is  quite  uncomfortable.     Under  these  circumstances  I  con> 
eluded  to  lodge  all  night  with  the  Indians.    Our  hungry  stomachs  were  quite  willing 
to  partake  of  any  hospitality  they  might  offer  in  the  shape  of  food.     With  these 
feelings  I  entered  the  lodge  of  All-ol-Sturgh^  the  head  of  the  encampment.     The 
other  lodges  are  principally  occupied  by  his  children  and  grand-children.     They 
provided  us  with  dried  camas  and  berries^  also  a  piece  of  raw  tallow^  which  tasted 
very  good.     Shortly  after  our  entrance  AD-ol-Sturgh  rang  a  little  bell;  directly  the 
lodge  was  filled  with  inhabitants  of  the  camp^  men^  women  and  childrm^  who  im- 
mediately got  upon  their  knees  and  repeated^  or  rather  chanted^  a  long  prayer^  in 
their  own  language^  to  the  Creator.     The  repetition  of  a  few  pious  sentences^  an 
invocation,  and  a  hymn,  closed  the  exercises.     In  these  the  squaws  took  as  active 
a  part  as  the  men.     The  promptness,  fervency  and  earnestness  all  showed,   was 
pleasing  to  contemplate.     These  prayers,  etc.,  have  been  taught  them  by  their  kind 
missionary  and  friend,  the  much-loved  Father  Hoecken  (S.  J.).     The  participation 
of  the  squaws  in  the  exercises,  and  the  apparent  footing  of  equality  between  them 
and  the  men,  so  much  unlike  their  condition  in  other  savage  tribes,  appear  remark- 
able." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

CATHOLIC  MISSIONS— CONTINUED 

JTATHER  DB8MET   JOURNEYS   IN   A   BARK   CANOE^  TO   THE   HORSE   PLAINS   IN   MONTANA 

RETURNS  TO  KALI8PBL  BAY  AND   FELLS  THE   FIRST  TREE   FOR  THE   MISSION ^DISCOV- 
ERS   LIMESTONE    CATE    ON    LOWER    PEND    d'oRBILLE GOES    TO    WILLAMETTE    VALLEY 

FOR  SEEDS  AND  IMPLEMENTS RETURNS   AND   ERECTS  A   LITTLE   CHAPEL   OF   BOUGHS 

— POETIC    DESCRIPTION    OF    KETTLE    FALLS ESTABLISHES    MISSION    OF    ST.    REGIS    IN 

COLYILLE   VALLEY MEETS  PETER  SKENE    OGDEN   IN   THE   NORTHERN   WILDERNESS 

EXPRESSES  HIS  OPINION  OF  THE  OREGON  QUESTION HOW  THE  CAMAS  ROOT  WAS  PRE- 
PARED  DE8MET  RANGES  FAR^  TO  THE  HEADWATERS  OF  THE  COLUMBIA ^INTEREST- 
ING    BLACKFOOT      TRADITION AN      INDIAN      HEAVEN ^MISSIONARY'S      REMARKABLE 

JOURNEY  FROM  THE  ATHABASCA  TO  KETTLE   FALLS HOW   THE  ARROW   LAKES  WERE 

NAMED. 

PAUSING  a  few  days  at  St.  Ignatius  for  rest  and  recuperation^  Father  De 
Smet  voyaged  in  a  bark  canoe  about  120  miles  from  St.  Ignatius  to  the 
Horse  plains  in  Montana^  where  he  was  "among  his  dear  Flatheads  and 
Pcnd  d'Oreilles  of  the  mountains  during  the  Paschal  time^  1845,  and  had  the  great 
consolation  of  finding  them  replete  with  zeal  and  fervor  in  fulfilling  the  duties  of 
troe  children  of  prayer.  The  solemn  feast  of  Easter/'  says  he  in  a  letter  to  Bishop 
John  Hughes  of  New  York,  "all  the  Flatheads  at  St.  Mary's  devoutly  approached 
tbe  most  blessed  sacrament  during  my  mass ;  and  about  800  Pend  d'Oreilles,  (the 
greater  number  adults)  belonging  to  the  station  of  St.  Francis  Borgia,  presented 
themselves  at  the  baptismal  font.  How  consoling  it  is  to  pour  the  regenerating 
water  of  baptism  on  the  furrowed  and  scarified  brows  of  these  desert  warriors, — 
to  behold  these  children  of  the  plains  and  forests  emerging  from  that  profound  ig- 
norance and  superstition  in  which  they  have  been  for  so  many  ages  deeply  and 
<iarkly  enveloped ;  to  see  them  embrace  the  faith  and  all  its  sacred  practices  with  an 
eagerness,  an  attention,  a  zeal,  worthy  the  pristine  Christians !" 

Sixteen  days  of  laborious  work  with  paddle  and  pole  had  been  required  to  take 
the  missionary  from  St.  Ignatius  to  the  mission  in  Montana.  Returning  with  the 
corrent,  the  long  and  devious  way  was  covered  in  four.  "On  returning  to  the  bay, 
(DeSmet  always  referred  to  St.  Ignatius  as  Kalispel  Bay)  accompanied  by  Rev. 
Father  Hoecken  and  several  chiefs,  my  first  care  was  to  exanune  the  lands  belong- 
ing to  this  portion  of  the  tribe  of  Kalispels,  and  select  a  fit  site  for  erecting  the  new 
'  establishment  of  St.  Ignatius.  We  found  a  vast  and  beautiful  prairie,  three  miles 
in  extent,  surrounded  by  cedar  and  pine,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  cavern  of  New 

123 


124  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Manresa,  and  its  quarries^  and  a  fall  of  water  of  more  than  200  feet^  presentiii^ 
every  advantage  for  the  erection  of  mills.  I  felled  the  first  tree,  and  after  having 
taken  all  necessary  measures  to  expedite  the  work,  I  departed  for  Walla  Walla, 
where  I  embarked  in  a  small  boat  and  descended  the  Columbia  as  far  as  Fort  Van- 
couver." 

The  significance  of  De  Smet's  mention  of  "the  cavern  of  New  Manresa"  becomes 
more  apparent  on  recalling  that  he  was  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  that  Ignatius 
Loyola,  founder  of  the  Jesuit  order,  while  undergoing  austerities,  passed  a  year  in 
a  cave  near  the  town  of  Manresa  in  northeastern  Spain.  Limestone  abounds  along 
the  lower  Pend  d'Oreille,  and  a  remarkable  cavern,  probably  that  which  the  nois- 
sionaries  located  near  St.  Ignatius,  is  one  of  the  natural  wonders  of  that  region. 

DeSmet's  purpose  in  returning  to  the  Willamette  was  to  secure  ploughs,  spades, 
pickaxes,  scythes  and  carpenters'  tools  for  the  new  missions  in  the  interior,  and  a 
few  weeks  later  we  find  him  bringing  a  pack-train  of  eleven  animals,  ladened  with 
these  implements,  over  the  Indian  trail  which  penetrates  a  pass  in  the  Cascade  moun- 
tains by  the  bas^  of  Mount  Hood,  a  trail  that  even  then  had  been  put  to  extensive 
use  by  the  immigration  that  was  pouring  into  Oregon,  and  which  has  passed  into 
history  as  the  Barlow  road.  For  companions  he  had  "the  good  Brother  McGean, 
and  two  metis  or  mongrels,"  and  the  little  party  encountered  many  difficulties  from 
the  melting  snows  which  sent  a  thousand  rills  and  torrents  rushing  down  the 
mountainsides  into  the  narrow  valleys.  The  missionary  noted,  as  have  thousands 
since  him  who  have  traveled  over  this  historic  route,  the  extensive  groves  of  rho- 
dodendron, which  at  that  season  "displays  all  its  strength  and  beauty.  It  rises," 
says  the  missionary  author,  "to  the  height  of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet,  and  entire 
groves  are  formed  by  thousands  of  these  shrubs,  whose  clustering  branches  entwine 
themselves  in  beautiful  green  arches,  adorned  with  innumerable  bouquets  of  splendid 
flowers,  varying  their  hues  from  the  pure  white,  to  the  deepened  tint  of  the  crim- 
soned rose." 

He  noted,  too,  traces  of  the  distress  and  hardships  suffered  by  pioneers  who  had 
struggled  through  these  mountain  defiles  while  on  the  last  stage  of  their  long  over- 
land journey  to  Oregon,  for  his  "path  was  strewed  with  the  whitened  bones  of  horses 
and  oxen,  melancholy  testimonies  of  the  miseries  endured  by  other  travelers  through 
these  regions."  Twenty  days  were  required  to  pass,  in  this  way,  from  the  Wil- 
lamette to  Walla  Walla,  a  journey  now  made  by  railroad  train  in  half  as  manv 
hours. 

"About  the  middle  of  July,"  runs  the  DeSmet  narrative,  "I  arrived  safely  with 
all  my  effects  at  the  Bay  of  Kalispels  (the  mission  of  St.  Ignatius).  In  my  absence 
the  number  of  neophytes  had  considerably  increased.  On  the  feast  of  the  Ascen- 
sion, Father  Hoecken  had  the  happiness  of  baptizing  more  than  100  adults.  Since 
my  departure  in  the  spring,  our  little  colony  has  built  four  houses,  prepared  con- 
structing materials  for  a  small  church,  and  enclosed  a  field  of  300  acres.  More  than 
400  Kalispels,  computing  adults  and  children,  have  been  baptized.  They  are  all 
animated  with  fervor  and  zeal;  they  make  use  of  the  hatchet  and  plow,  being  re- 
solved to  abandon  an  itinerant  life  for  a  permanent  abode.  The  beautiful  falls  of 
the  Columbia,  called  the  Chaudieres,  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Colville,  are  distant  two 
days'  journey  from  our  new  residence  of  St.  Ignatius." 

These   falls  are  now  known  as   the   Kettle  Falls  of  the  Columbia.     Thither 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  125 

went  Father  DeSmet  to  celebrate  the  feast  of  St.  Ignatius^  and  he  found  800  or  900 
Indians  assembled  for  the  salmon  fishing.  "Within  the  last  four  ye&rs"  he  con- 
tinoes,  "omsiderable  numbers  of  these  Indians  were  visited  by  the  'black  gowns^' 
who  administered  the  sacrament  of  baptism.  I  was  received  by  my  dear  Indians 
with  filial  joy  and  tenderness.  I  caused  my  little  chapel  of  boughs  to  be  placed  on 
an  eminence  in  the  midst  of  the  Indians'  huts^  where  it  might  not  inaptly  be  com- 
pared to  the  pelican  of  the  wilderness^  surrounded  by  her  yoimg^  seeking  with 
avidity  the  divine  word^  and  sheltering  themselves  under  the  protection  of  their 
fostering  mother.  I  gave  three  instructions  daily;  the  Indians  assisted  at  them  with 
great  assiduity  and  attention.     ... 

"More  than  100  children  were  presented  for  baptism,  and  eleven  old  men,  borne 
to  me  on  skins,  seemed  only  waiting  regenerating  waters,  to  depart  home  and  repose 
in  the  bosom  of  their  divine  Savior.  ...  A  solemn  mass  was  celebrated,  during 
which  the  Indians  chanted  canticles  in  praise  of  God.  The  ceremonies  of  baptism 
foUowed,  and  all  terminated  in  the  most  perfect  order,  to  the  great  delight  and 
gratification  of  the  savages.  It  was  indeed  a  most  imposing  spectacle;  all  around 
contributed  to  heighten  the  effect.  The  noble  and  gigantic  rock,  the  distant  roar 
of  the  cataracts  breaking  in  on  the  religious  silence  of  that  solitude,  situated  on  an 
eminence  overlooking  the  powerful  Oregon  river,  and  on  the  spot  where  the  im- 
petuous waters,  freeing  themselves  from  their  limits,  rush  in  fury  and  dash  over  a 
pile  of  rocks,  casting  upwards  a  thousand  jets  d'eau,  whose  transparent  columns 
reflect,  in  varied  colors,  the  rays  of  the  dazzling  sun!" 

Gathered  at  the  falls,  besides  the  Chaudieres  or  Kettle  Indians,  were  several 
San  Foils  and  Spokanes,  the  latter  tribe  termed  by  Father  DeSmet  the  Zingomenes, 
a  varied  spelling  of  "Sinkomans,"  a  name  given  the  Spokanes  by  some  of  their 
neighboring  tribes. 

"I  gave  the  name  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Shuyelphi  nation,*'  adds  DeSmet,  "and  placed 
nnder  the  care  of  St.  Peter  the  tribe  inhabiting  the  shores  of  the  great  Columbia 
lakes,  whither  Father  Hoecken  is  about  to  repair,  to  continue  instructing  and  baptiz- 
ing their  adults.  My  presence  among  the  Indians  did  not  interrupt  their  fine  and 
abundant  fishery.  An  enormous  basket  was  fastened  to  a  projecting  rock,  and  the 
finest  fish  of  the  Columbia,  as  if  by  fascination,  cast  themselves  by  dozens  into  the 
snare.  Seven  or  eight  times  during  the  day,  these  baskets  were  examined,  and 
each  time  were  found  to  contain  about  250  salmon.  The  Indians,  meanwhile,  were 
seen  on  every  projecting  rock,  piercing  the  fish  with  the  greatest  dexterity.  .  .  . 
"I  left  Chaudiere  or  Kettle  Falls  August  4th,  accompanied  by  several  of  the 
nation  of  the  Crees,  to  examine  the  lands  they  have  selected  for  the  site  of  a  village. 
The  ground  is  rich  and  well  suited  for  all  agricultural  purposes.  Several  buildings 
were  commenced ;  I  gave  the  name  of  St.  Francis  Regis  to  this  new  station,  where 
a  great  number  of  the  mixed  race  and  beaver  hunters  have  resolved  to  settle  with 
their  families." 

This  mission  is  in  the  Colville  valley,  about  seven  miles  from  the  present 
town  of  Colville.  Thwaites,  who  edited  a  more  recent  edition  of  DeSmet's  letters, 
says  that  on  the  missionary's  next  visit  to  St.  Regis  he  found  settled  there  about 
seventy  half  breeds,  and  adds  that  "the  station  does  not  appear  to  have  been  con- 
tinuous, but  to  have  been  reestablished  after  the  Indian  wars.     Later  it  became  a 


126  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

flourishing  mission^  with  schools  for  boys  and  girls,  and  was  frequently  visited  bj 
Spokane  and  Colville  Indians  from  the  neighboring  reservations." 

From  St.  Francis  Regis  Father  DeSmet^set  out,  August  9,  on  a  circuitous  journey 
into  the  country  of  the  Kootenays,  in  eastern  British  Columbia.  As  the  roads  were 
inundated  by  a  great  freshet,  he  resolved  to  return  to  Lake  Pend  d'Oreille  and 
ascend  the  Clark  or  Flathead  river,  cross  country  by  trail,  and  strike  the  Kootenai 
river  near  the  border  between  Idaho  and  Montana.  This  river,  known  to  the  fur 
traders  as  the  McGillivray,  the  missionary  designated  the  Flatbow  (Arc-a-plat^  and 
the  Kootenay  tribe  he  gave  the  same  designation.  On  this  journey,  in  the  depths 
of  the  forest,  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet  Peter  Skene  Ogden,  famous  explorer, 
adventurer  and  chief  factor  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company. 

"As  we  approached  the  forests,  several  horsemen  issued  forth  in  tattered  gar- 
ments. The  foremost  gentleman  saluted  me  by  name,  with  all  the  familiarity  of 
an  old  acquaintance.  I  returned  the  gracious  salutation,  desiring  to  know  whom  I 
had  the  honor  of  addressing.  A  small  river  separated  us,  and  with  a  smile  he  said : 
'Wait  until  I  reach  the  opposite  shore,  and  then  you  will  recognize  me.'  He  is  not 
a  beaver  hunter,  said  I  to  myself;  yet  under  this  tattered  garb  and  slouched  hat,  I 
could  not  easily  descry  one  of  the  principal  members  of  the  Hon.  Hudson's  Bay 
company,  the  worthy  and  respectable  Mr.  Ogden.  I  had  the  honor  and  good  fortune 
of  making  a  voyage  with  him,  and  in  his  own  barge,  from  Colville  to  Fort  Van- 
couver, in  1842,  and  no  one  could  desire  more  agreeable  society.  It  would  be  nec- 
essary for  you  to  traverse  the  desert,  to  feel  yourself  insulated,  remote  from  brethren, 
friends,  to  conceive  the  consolation  and  joy  of  such  a  rencounter." 

Ogden,  who  had  been  on  a  voyage  to  England,  had  returned  in  April,  accom- 
panied by  two  British  officers- — Captain  Henry  J.  Warre,  nephew  and  aide-de-camp 
of  Sir  R.  Downer  Jackson,  commanding  the  British  forces  in  America,  and  Lieu- 
tenant M.  Vavasour  of  the  British  engineer  corps.  They  had  a  commission,  says 
Thwaites,  from  the  government,  perhaps  not  as  extensive  as  is  reported  by  DeSmet, 
but  doubtless  ample  in  case  of  war.  They  were  also  secretly  commissioned  by  the 
Hudson's  Bay  company  to  report  on  Dr.  McLoughlin's  attitude  in  regard  to  the 
American  settlers,  and  their  adverse  account  was  answered  by  him  in  detail,  after 
his  resignation. 

According  to  DeSmet,  "It  was  neither  curiosity  nor  pleasure  that  induced  these 
two  officers  to  cross  so  many  desolate  regions,  and  hasten  their  course  towards  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia.  They  were  invested  with  orders  from  their  government 
to  take  possession  of  Cape  Disappointment  (at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia),  to 
hoist  the  English  standard,  and  erect  a  fortress  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the 
entrance  of  the  river  in  case  of  war." 

At  this  period  the  long-standing  boundary  dispute  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  had  approached  a  crisis.  Public  sentiment  was  inflamed  against 
England,  and  newspapers  and  politicians  clamored  for  a  vigorous  and  exacting  policy 
by  our  state  department.  In  the  presidential  campaign  of  1844,  the  catch  phrase, 
"Fifty- four-forty  or  fight,"  had  served  as  a  political  slogan  for  the  winning  party, 
expressive  of  a  popular  desire  that  the  government  of  the  United  States  should 
treat  with  England  on  no  other  basis  than  fixing  the  international  boundary  on  that 
line  of  latitude,  giving  to  the  stars  and  stripes  the  greater  part  of  the  present 
province  of  British  Columbia.     But,  as  was  aptly  said  a  little  later,  we  didn't  get 


THE  OLD  MISSION  ON  THE  COEUR  D'ALENE  RIVER  BUILT  BY  THE 
JESUITS  NEARLY  SEVENTY  YEARS  AGO 


r*" 


THl    ^£w    Y'^ir^K 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  127 

54-40^  and  we  didn't  fight.     DeSmet  evidently  regarded  the  attitude  of  the  United 
States  as  large  part  bluster^  for  he  remarked  at  the  time: 

"In  the  Oregon  question  John  Bnll^  without  much  talk^  attains  his  end,  and 
secures  the  most  important  part  of  this  country;  whereas  Uncle  Sam  displodes  a 
ToUey  of  words,  inveighs  and  storms."  It  wasn't  nearly  so  bad  as  that,  for  the 
treaty  of  1846  really  gave  Uncle  Sam  "the  most  important  part  of  the  country,"  al- 
tboogh  the  award  threw  to  Britain  the  rich  and  beautiful  province  of  British  Colum- 
bia. 

DeSmet  described  the  country  between  Lake  Pend  d'Oreille  and  the  Kootenai 
as  one  of  dense  forests,  the  trail  much  obstructed  by  fallen  trees,  "morasses,  fright- 
ful sloughs,  from  which  the  poor  horses  with  much  difficulty  extricate  themselves; 
bat  having  finally  surmounted  all  these  obstacles,  we  contemplate  from  an  eminence 
a  smiling  and  accessible  valley,  whose  mellow  and  abundant  verdure  is  nourished  by 
two  lovely  lakes,  where  the  graceful  river  of  the  Arcs-a-plats  winds  in  such  fan- 
tastic beauty  that  it  serves  to  make  the  weary  traveler  not  only  forget  his  past 
dangers,  but  amply  compensates  him  for  the  fatigues  of  a  long  and  tiresome  journey." 
Of  the  subsistence  of  the  Kootenai  Indians  he  wrote:  "These  lakes  and  morasses, 
formed    in    the    spring,    are    filled    with    fish;    they    remain    there,    enclosed    as 
in  a   natural    reservoir,    for   the    use    of    the    inhabitants.      The    fish    swarm    in 
such  abundance  that  the  Indians  have  no  other  labor  than  to  take  them  from  the 
water  and  prepare  them  for  the  boiler.     Such  an  existence  is,  however,  precarious; 
the  savages,  who  are  not  of  a  provident  natujre,  ar^  oblig[ed;to  go  afterwards  in  quest 
of  roots,  grains,  berries  and  fruits ;  sucji  a8,^t)ie.  thorny  bush  which  b^rs  a  sweet, 
pleasant  blackberry;  the  rosebuds,  mountain  cherry,  cormier.or  service  berry,  vari- 
ous sorts  of  gooseberries  and  currants  of  excellgi^t  flavor ;  raspberries,  the  hawthorn 
berry,  the  wappato  (sagittafolia)  a  verg^  nwirishing,  inilbous  root;  the  bitter  root, 
whose  appellation  sufficiently  denotes  its  peculiar  quality,  is,  however,  very  healthy ; 
it  grows  in  light,  dry,  sandy  soil,  as  also  the  caious  or  biscuit  root.     The  former  is 
of  a  thin  and  cylindrical  form ;  the  latter,  though  farinaceous  and  insipid,  is  a  sub- 
stitute for  bread;  it  resembles  a  small,  white  radish;  the  watery  potato,  oval  and 
greenish,  is  prepared  like  our  ordinary  potato,  but  greatly  inferior  to  it;  the  sweet 
onion,  which  bears  a  lovely  flower  resembling  the  tulip.     Strawberries  are  common 
and  delicious.     .     .     . 

"I  can  not  pass  over  in  silence  the  camash  root  (the  camas)  and  the  peculiar  man- 
ner in  which  it  is  prepared.  It  is  abundant,  and,  I  may  say,  the  queen  root  of  this 
dime.  It  is  a  small,  white,  vapid  onion,  when  removed  from  the  earth,  but  becomes 
black  and  sweet  when  prepared  for  food.  The  women  arm  themselves  with  long, 
crooked  sticks,  to  go  in  search  of  the  camash.  After  having  procured  a  certain 
quantity  of  these  roots,  by  dint  of  long  and  painful  labor,  they  make  an  excavation 
in  the  earth,  from  twelve  to  fifteen  inches  deep,  and  of  proportional  diameter  to 
contain  the  roots.  They  cover  the  bottom  with  closely  cemented  pavement,  which 
they  make  red  hot  by  means  of  a  fire.  After  having  carefully  withdrawn  all  the 
coals,  they  cover  the  stones  with  grass  and  wet  hay ;  then  place  a  layer  of  camash, 
another  of  wet  hay,  a  third  of  bark  overlaid  with  mold,  whereon  is  kept  a  glowing 
fire  for  fifty,  sixty,  and  sometimes  seventy  hours.  The  camash  thus  acquires  a 
consistency  equal  to  that  of  the  jujube.     It  is  sometimes  made  into  loaves  of  vari- 


128  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

ous  dimensions.     It  is  excellent,  especially  when  boiled  with  meat;  if  kept  dry,  it 
can  be  preserved  a  long  time." 

Throughout  the  forested  sections  of  the  Spokane  country  the  Indian,  when  re- 
duced to  famine  in  spring-time,  resorted  to  pine  moss.  M.  M.  Cowley  informed  the 
editor  that  he  often  saw  the  Spd^anes  make  use  of  this  poor  substitute,  after  he 
came  into  the  valley  in  1872.  DeSmet  thus  describes  its  use:  "It  is  a  parasite  of 
the  pine,  a  tree  common  in  these  latitudes,  and  hangs  from  its  boughs  in  great 
quantities.  It  appears  more  suitable  for  mattresses,  than  for  the  sustenance  of 
human  life.  When  they  have  procured  a  great  quantity,  they  pidc  out  all  hetero- 
geneous substance,  and  prepare  it  as  they  do  the  camash;  it  becomes  compact^  and 
is,  in  my  opinion,  a  most  miserable  food,  which,  in  a  brief  space,  reduces  those  who 
live  on  it  to  a  pitiable  state  of  emaciation." 

Over  a  period  of  nearly  two  years  we  find  this  intrepid  missionary  ranging  the 
vast  wilderness  around  the  sources  of  the  Columbia,  the  Missouri,  the  Saskatchewan 
and  the  Athabasca,  at  times  bearing  the  gospel  and  the  cross  to  the  very  sources  of 
the  great  river  of  the  west.  "The  tradition  of  man's  creation  and  future  immor- 
tality," he  writes  from  the  "Fort  of  the  Mountains,"  October  80,  1845,  "exists  among 
most  of  the  Indian  tribes;  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  visiting  and  questioning 
them  on  the  subject.  Those  who  live  by  fishery,  suppose  their  Heaven  to  be  full 
of  lakes  and  rivers,  abounding  in  fish,  whose  enchanted  shores  and  verdant  islands 
produce  fruits  of  every  kind." 

Much  of  this  trying  and  perilous  period  he  passed  among  the  fierce  and  blood- 
thirsty Bladcfeet.  "I  encamped  (he  writes  in  the  same  letter)  on  the  banks  of  two 
lakes  to  the  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  which  the  Blackfeet  call  the  Lake  of 
Men  and  the  Lake  of  Women.  According  to  their  traditions,  from  the  first  of  these 
issued  a  band  of  young  men,  handsome  and  vigorous,  but  poor  and  naked.  From 
the  second,  an  equal  number  of  ingenious  and  industrious  young  women,  who  con- 
structed and  made  themselves  clothing.  They  lived  a  long  time,  separate  and  un- 
known to  each  other,  until  the  great  Manitou  Wizakeschak,  or  the  old  man  (still  in- 
voked by  the  Blackfeet)  visited  them;  he  taught  them  to  slay  animals  in  the  chase, 
but  they  were  yet  ignorant  of  the  art  of  dressing  skins.  Wizakeschak  conducted 
them  to  the  dwelling  of  the  yoimg  women,  who  received  their  guests  with  dances 
and  cries  of  joy.  Shoes,  leggins,  shirts  and  robes,  garnished  with  porcupine  quills, 
were  presented  them.  Each  young  woman  selected  her  guest,  and  presented  him 
with  a  dish  of  seeds  and  roots ;  the  men,  desiring  to  contribute  to  the  entertainment, 
sought  the  chase  and  returned  loaded  with  game.  The  women  liked  the  meat,  and 
admired  the  streng^th,  skill  and  bravery  of  the  hunters.  The  men  were  equally 
delighted  with  the  beauty  of  their  trappings,  and  admired  the  industry  of  the  women. 
Both  parties  began  to  think  they  were  necessary  to  each  other,  and  Wizakeschak 
presided  at  the  solemn  compact  in  which  it  was  agreed  that  the  men  should  become 
the  protectors  of  the  women,  and  provide  all  necessaries  for  their  support;  whilst 
all  other  family  cares  should  devolve  upon  the  women." 

DeSmet  drolly  adds  that  "the  Blackfeet  squaws  often  bitterly  complain  of  the 
astonishing  folly  of  their  mothers  in  accepting  such  a  proposition;  declaring,  if  the 
compact  were  yet  to  be  made,  they  would  arrange  it  in  a  very  different  manner. 

"The  Blackfoot  heaven  is  a  country  of  sandy  hills,  which  they  call  Espatchekie, 
whither  the  soul  goes  after  death,  and  where  they  will  find  again  all  the  animals 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  129 

tfaey  have  killed^  and  all  the  horses  they  have  stolen.  The  buffalo^  hind  and  stag 
abound  there.  In  speaking  of  the  departed^  a  Blackfoot  never  says  such  a  one  is 
dead,  but  'Espatchekie  etake,' — to  the  Sand  hills  he  is  gone." 

Is  it  only  coincidence  that  the  Japanese  have  a  tradition  closely  resembling  the 
Blackfoot  myth  of  the  origin  of  the  family  relation? 

A  year  later,  in  1 846,  Father  DeSmet  is  found  traversing  the  expansive  prairies 
that  now  support  the  thriving  cities  of  Calgary  and  Edmonton.  With  prophetic 
vision  he  thus  writes  of  the  potential  resources  of  the  broad  region  lying  between 
Walla  Walla  and  Edmonton: 

"Are  these  vast  and  innumerable  fields  of  hay  forever  destined  to  be  consumed 
by  fire,  or  perish  in  the  autumnal  snows  ?  How  long  shall  these  superb  forests  be  the 
haunts  of  wild  beasts?  And  these  inexhaustible  quarries,  these  abimdant  mines  of 
coal,  lead,  sulphur,  iron,  copper  and  saltpetre — can  it  be  that  they  are  doomed  to 
remain  forever  inactive?  Not  so — the  day  will  come  when  some  laboring  hand  will 
give  them  value:  a  strong,  active  and  enterprising  people  are  destined  to  fill  this 
spacious  void. — The  wild  beasts  will,  ere  long,  give  place  to  our  domestic  animals; 
flocks  and  herds  will  graze  in  the  beautiful  meadows  that  border  the  numberless 
moontains,  hills,  valleys  and  plains  of  this  extensive  region." 

In  letters  from  "Boat  Encampment  on  the  Columbia,"  May  10,  1846,  and  "St. 
Paul's  Station  near  Colville,"  May  29,  1846,  the  missionary  gives  us  a  lively,  cheer- 
ful and  at  times  humorous  narrative  of  a  remarkable  journey  he  had  just  completed, 
by  way  of  the  historic  route  of  the  fur  traders,  from  the  headwaters  of  the  Atha- 
basca to  navigable  water  on  the  Columbia.  Boat  Encampment  is  at  the  extreme 
northern  point  of  the  upper  big  bend  of  the  Columbia,  where  the  Canoe  and  Little 
Canoe  enter  the  larger  river.  At  this  point,  in  1809,  David  Thompson,  explorer 
and  astronomer  for  the  Northwestern  Fur  company,  paused  to  build  canoes  for  his 
descent  of  the  Columbia,  the  first  white  man  to  explore  the  great  river  from  that 
point  to  the  mouth  of  Snake  river.  It  was  long  a  noted  stopping  place  on  the 
apper  Columbia,  where  horses  or  snowshoes  were  exchanged  for  canoes  or  bateaux, 
or  navigation  ended  and  the  land  journey  began,  as  the  case  might  be. 

"We  had  now  (says  DeSmet)  seventy  miles  to  travel  on  snowshoes,  in  order 
to  reach  the  Boat  Encampment  on  the  banks  of  the  Columbia.  We  proposed  to  ac- 
complish this  in  two  days  and  a  half.  The  most  worthy  and  excellent  Messrs. 
Rowan  and  Harriot,  whose  kindness  at  the  Rocky  mountain  house  and  Fort  Au- 
gustas I  shall  ever  acknowledge,  were  of  opinion  that  it  was  absolutely  impossible 
for  me  to  accomplish  the  journey.  However,  I  thought  I  could  remedy  the  incon- 
renience  of  my  surplus  stock,  by  a  vigorous  fast  of  thirty  days,  which  I  cheerfully 
wuierwent.  I  found  myself  much  lighter,  indeed,  and  started  off  somewhat  en- 
couraged over  snow  sixteen  feet  deep.  We  went  in  single  file, — alternately  ascend- 
ing and  descending — sometimes  across  plains  piled  up  with  avalanches — sometimes 
over  lakes  and  rapids  buried  deeply  under  the  snow, — now  on  the  side  of  a  deep 
OHHmtain — ^then  across  a  forest  of  cypress  trees,  of  which  we  could  only  see  the  tops. 
I  can  not  tell  you  the  number  of  my  summersets.  I  continually  found  myself  em- 
barrassed by  my  snowshoes,  or  entangled  in  some  branch  of  a  tree.  When  falling,  I 
spread  my  arms  before  me,  as  one  naturally  would  do,  to  break  the  violence  of  the 
fall ;  and  upon  deep  snow  the  danger  is  not  great, — though  I  was  often  half  buried. 


130  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

when   I   required   the  assistance  of   my   companions^  which   was    always    attended 
with  great  kindness  and  good  humor." 

In  this  manner  thirty  miles  were  made  the  first  day^  and  the  party  encamped 
near  the  summit.  "Some  pine  trees  were  cut  down  and  stripped  of  their  branches^ 
and  these  being  laid  on  the  snow^  furnished  us  with  a  bed^  whilst  a  fire  was  lighted 
on  a  floor  of  green  logs."  Every  one  who  has  traveled  primitively  in  these  north- 
western solitudes^  and  has  carried  to  the  toil  a  genuine  love  of  nature,  can  appre- 
ciate  the  missionary's  revery: 

"To  sleep  thus — under  the  beautiful  canopy  of  the.  starry  heavens — in  the  midst 
of  lofty  and  steep  mountains — among  sweet  murmuring  rills  and  roaring  torrents — 
may  appear  strange  to  you,  and  to  all  lovers  of  rooms  rendered  comfortable  by 
stoves  and  feathers;  but  you  may  think  differently  after  having  come  and  breathed 
the  pure  air  of  the  mountains,  where  in  return,  coughs  and  colds  are  unknown.  Come 
and  make  a  trial,  and  you  will  say  that  it  is  easy  to  forget  the  fatigues  of  a  long 
march,  and  find  contentment  and  joy,  even  upon  the  spread  branches  of  pines,  on 
which,  after  the  Indian  fashion,  we  extended  ourselves  and  slept,  wrapped  up  in 
buffalo  robes." 

Only  a  soul  imbued  with  a  profound  and  abiding  love  of  nature,  and  sustained  by 
deep  faith  in  God's  infinite  wisdom  and  mercy,  could  express  sentiments  so  beautiful 
and  lofty  after  enduring  the  dreadful  hardships  that  befell  Father  DeSmet  the 
day  following: 

"At  the  foot  of  the  mountain  an  obstacle  of  a  new  kind  presented  itself.  All 
the  barriers  of  snow,  the  innumerable  banks,  which  had  stopped  the  water  of  the 
streams,  lakes  and  torrents,  were  broken  up  during  the  night,  and  swelled  consider- 
ably the  great  Portage  river  (the  Little  Canoe).  It  meanders  so  remarkably  in  this 
straight  valley,  down  which  we  traveled  for  a  day  and  a  half,  that  we  were  com- 
pelled to  cross  it  not  less  than  forty  times,  with  the  water  frequently  up  to  our 
shoulders.  So  great  is  its  impetuosity,  that  we  were  obliged  mutually  to  support 
ourselves,  to  prevent  being  carried  away  by  the  current.  We  marched  in  our  wet 
clothes  during  the  rest  of  our  sad  route.  The  long  soaking,  joined  to  my  great  fa- 
tigue, swelled  my  limbs.  All  the  nails  of  my  feet  came  off,  and  the  blood  stained 
my  moccasins.  Four  times  I  found  my  strength  gone,  and  I  certainly  should  have 
perished  in  that  frightful  region,  if  the  courage  and  strength  of  my  companions  had 
not  roused  and  aided  me  in  my  distress." 

DeSmet  describes  an  interesting  custom.  His  party  came  over  the  Portage  in 
May,  and  "saw  Maypoles  all  along  the  old  encampments.  Each  traveler  who 
passes  there  for  the  first  time  selects  his  own.  A  young  Canadian,  with  much  kind- 
ness, dedicated  one  to  me,  which  was  at  least  120  feet  in  height,  and  which  reared 
its  lofty  head  above  all  the  neighboring  trees.  Did  I  deserve  it.'*  He  stripped  it  of 
all  its  branches,  only  leaving  at  the  top  a  little  crown;  at  the  bottom  my  name  and 
the  date  of  the  transit  were  written."     .     .     . 

"After  so  many  labors  and  dangers,"  continues  the  missionary,  "we  deserved 
a  repast.  Happily,  we  foimd  at  the  Encampment  all  the  ingredients  that  were 
necessary  for  a  feast — a  bag  of  flour,  a  large  ham,  part  of  a  reindeer,  cheese,  sugar 
and  tea  in  abundance,  which  the  gentlemen  of  the  English  company  had  charitably 
left  behind.  While  some  were  employed  refitting  the  barge,  others  prepared  the 
dinner;  and  in  about  an  hour  we  found  ourselves  snugly  seated  and  stretched  out 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  131 

around  the  kettles  and  roasts^  laughing  and  joking  about  the  summersets  on  the 
mountains^  and  the  accidents  on  the  Portage.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  they  de- 
scribed me  as  the  most  clumsy  and  awkward  traveler  in  the  band." 

From  St.  Paul's  station,  near  Colville,  Father  DeSmet  penned  a  continuation 
of  this   interesting  narrative.     After  the  feast  which  he  has  just  described,  the 
party  launched  the  barge  and  shot  rapidly  down  the  swollen  current  of  the  Colum- 
bia,   "Guided  by  an  expert  Iroquois  pilot,  and  aided  with  ten  oars,  the  boat  darted 
over  the  boisterous  surface"  of  Martin's  rapids,  and  at  sunset  they  were  at  the 
Dalle  of  the  Dead,  where  "the  waters  are  <5ompressed  between  a  range  of  perpen- 
dicular rocks,  presenting  innumerable  crags,  fissures  and  cliffs,  through  which  the 
Columbia  leaps  with  irresistible  impetuosity,  forming,  as  it  dashes  along,  frightful 
whirlpools,  where  every  passing  object  is  swallowed  and  disappears."  .  By  means 
of  two  long  ropes,  the  barge  was  lowered  through  this  frightful  trough,  and  the 
party  encamped  for  the  night  at  its  foot.     For  details  of  the  tragic  incident  which 
imparted  to  this  stretch  of  the  river  a  name  so  sad  and  shocking,  the  reader  is  di- 
rected to  the  chapter  wherein  an  account  is  given  by  Ross  Cox  of  the  disastrous 
fate  which  befell  a  party  that  turned  back  from  the  mouth  of  the  Canoe  river  in 
1817. 

May  11  the  party  resumed  its  voyage  at  early  dawn,  and  that  evening  encamped 
at  the  entrance  to  Upper  Arrow  lake  (an  extended  dilation  of  the  Columbia  river). 
"This  beautiful  sheet  of  crystalline  water,  whilst  the  rising  sun  was  tinting  the 
tops  of  a  thousand  hills  around,  came  most  refreshing  to  the  eye.  It  is  about  thirty 
miles  long,  by  four  or  ^ve  wide.  Its  borders  are  embellished  by  overhanging  preci- 
pices and  majestic  peaks,  which,  rearing  their  white  heads  above  the  clouds,  look 
down  like  venerable  monarchs  of  the  desert  upon  the  great  forests  of  pines  and 
cedar  surrounding  the  lake.  The  two  highest  peaks  are  called  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul." 

Here  the  father  found  twenty  Indian  families,  belonging  to  the  mission  of  St. 
Paul,  encamped  on  the  shore  of  the  lake,  and  gladly  accepted  their  pressing  invi- 
tation to  visit  them.  "It  was  the  meeting  of  a  father  with  his  children,  after  ten 
months  of  absence  and  dangers,"  wrote  the  priest,  adding  a  belief  that  "the  joy 
was  mutually  sincere.  The  greater  part  of  the  tribe  had  been  converted  the  past 
Tear  at  Kettle  Falls.  These  families  were  absent  at  that  time.  I  passed,  there- 
fore, several  days  among  them,  to  instruct  them  in  the  duties  and  practices  of 
religion.  They  then  received  baptism,  with  all  the  marks  of  sincere  piety  and 
gratitude.  Gregory,  the  name  of  their  chief,  who  had  not  ceased  to  exhort  his 
people  by  word  and  example,  had  the  happiness  to  receive  baptism  in  1838,  from 
the  hands  of  the  Rev.  Mr.,  now  Archbishop,  Blanchet.  The  worthy  and  respectable 
chief  was  now  at  the  height  of  his  joy,  in  seeing  at  last  all  his  children  brought 
under  the  standard  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  tribe  of  these  lake  Indians  are  a  part  of 
the  Kettle  Fall  nation.  They  are  very  poor,  and  subsist  principally  on  fish  and 
wild  roots.  As  soon  as  we  shall  have  more  means  at  our  disposal,  we  will  supply 
them  with  implements  of  husbandry  and  with  various  seeds  and  roots,  which,  I 
have  no  doubt,  will  thrive  well  in  their  country." 

With  no  desire  to  draw  invidious  comparison,  but  as  a  direct  historical  state- 
ment, the  fact  is  conspicuous  that  the  Catholic  missionaries  adopted  and  main- 
tained, from  the  beginning,  a  theory  and  an  attitude  differing  fundamentally  from 


132  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

those  which  controlled  and  animated  the  Protestants.  Freely  and  almost  without 
reserve^  they  admitted  into  full  communion  their  Indian  conyerts^  dispensing;,  with 
unstinted  hand  the  sacraments  of  the  Roman  churchy  and  carefully  avoiding  an 
appearance  of  patronage  or  an  air  of  superiority.  Better  had  it  been  if  Whitman, 
Spalding,  Walker  and  Eells  had  been  less  exacting  in  theological  standards  (as 
distinct  from  morals) ;  had  relaxed  their  austere  New  England  doctrines,  and 
adopted  towards  their  untutored  wards  a  bearing  of  closer  brotherhood,  instead 
of  maintaining^  down  to  the  very  close  of  their  missions,  a  policy  of  holding  them 
under  probation  or  tutelage.  As  the  years  rolled  by,  and  the  Cayuses  saw  them- 
selves permanently  denied  full  conununion,  a  spirit  of  sullen  resentment  developed; 
and  the  belief  intensified  that  they  were  being  exploited  in  a  conunercial  spirit, 
and  the  missionaries  were  only  fore-runners  of  an  inmiigration  that  threatened  the 
very  existence  of  the  Indian  tribes. 

Explanatory  of  the  origin  of  the  name,  Arrow  lake,  the  author  recalls  the  put- 
ting forward,  a  few  years  ago,  by  a  contributor  to  a  Spokane  newspaper,  of  an 
erroneous  theory  that  the  first  white  men  to  pass  through  that  region  heard  an 
Indian  legend^  that  the  Great  Spirit,  while  hunting  one  day,  had  emptied  into  these 
lakes  his  quiver  of  gigantic  arrows ;  and  in  substantiation  of  this  fantastic  idea,  huge 
shafts  of  the  forest,  stripped  clean  of  limbs  and  silvered  with  years  of  weather, 
imbedded  in  the  lake  bottpm  and  leaning  at  a  sharp  angle  above  the  surface  of  the 
water,  were  shown  in  proof  of  the  truth  of  the  legend.  Father  DeSmet  gives  the 
true  origin  of  the  name: 

"We  passed  under  a  perpendicular  rock,  where  we  beheld  an  innumerable  num- 
ber of  arrows  sticking  out  of  the  fissures.  The  Indians,  when  they  ascend  the 
lake,  have  a  custom  of  lodging  each  an  arrow  into  these  crevices." 

In  his  "Fur  Hunters,"  Alexander  Ross  writes  of  rude  paintings  in  red  upon  a 
smooth  and  perpendicular  rock  on  the  shore  of  the  lower  lake.  Against  these  paint- 
ings, says  that  author,  Indians  passing  below  in  their  canoes  shot  arrows  in  a 
spirit  of  defiance  against  a  neighboring  warring  tribe.  From  the  make  of  these 
arrows  the  natives  could  tell  what  tribes  had  recently  passied. 

Passing  through  the  Arrow  lakes,  and  floating  on  the  swift  current  of  the  Col- 
umbia, the  missionary  came  to  the  Little  Dalles.  "Our  barge  was  in  great  danger 
in  the  Dalle,  some  miles  above  Colville,"  he  writes.  "I  had  left  it,  to  go  on  foot, 
to  avoid  the  dangerous  passage.  The  young  boatmen,  notwithstanding  my  remon- 
strances, thought  they  could  pass  in  safety.  A  whirlpool  suddenly  arrested  their 
course,  and  threatened  to  bury  them  beneath  its  angry  waters.  Their  redoubled 
efforts  proved  ineffectual, — I  saw  them  borne  on  with  an  irresistible  force  to  the 
engulfing  center-— the  bow  of  the  boat  descended  already  into  the  abyss  and  filled. 
I  was  on  my  knees  upon  the  rock  which  overhung  this  frightful  spectacle,  sur- 
rounded by  several  Indians; — we  implored  the  aid  of  heaven  in  favor  of  our  poor 
comrades — they  seemed  to  be  evidently  lost — when  the  whirlpool  fiUed,  and  threw 
them  from  its  bosom,  as  it  reluctantly  yielded  up  the  prey  which  it  had  so  tena- 
ciously held.  We  all  gave  heartfelt  thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  having  delivered 
them  from  a  danger  so  imminent." 

At  this  point  in  his  narrative  the  missionary  digresses  into  a  comprehensive 
description  of  the  surrounding  country:  "The  mouth  of  the  river  McGillivray,  or 
Flatbow  (the  Kootenai  of  the  present  day),  is  near  the  outlet  of  the  lower  lake. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  133 

It  presents  a  beautiful  situation  for  the  establishment  of  a  future  reduction  or 
mission,  and  I  have  already  marked  out  a  site  for  the  construction  of  a  church. 
About  twenty  miles  lower  we  passed  the  Flathead  or  Clark's  river  (the  Pend 
d'Oreille),  which  contributes  largely  to  the  Columbia.  These  two  beautiful  riyers 
deriye  a  great  portion  of  their  waters  from  the  same  chain  of  the  Rocky  mountains 
from  which  a  great  number  of  the  forks  of  the  Saskatchewan  and  of  the  Missouri 
are  supplied.  For  a  distance  of  about  thirty  miles  from  their  jimction  with  the 
Columbia,  are  they  obstructed  with  insurmountable  falls  and  rapids.  Among  the 
many  lakes  connected  with  the  Flathead  riyer,  three  are  very  conspicuous,  and 
measure  from  thirty  to  forty  miles  in  lengthy  and  from  four  to  six  in  width.  The 
Flathead  lake  receiyes  a  large  and  beautiful  stream,  extending  upwards  of  a  hun- 
dred miles  in  a  northwestern  direction,  through  a  most  delightful  Talley,  and  is 
supplied  by  considerable  torrents,  coming  from  a  great  cluster  of  mountains,  con- 
nected immediately  with  the  main  chain,  in  which  a  great  number  of  lakes  lie  em- 
bedded. Clark's  fork  passes  through  Lake  Kalispel.  Lake  Roothan  is  situated  in 
the  Pend  d'Ordlle  and  Flatbow  mountains,  and  discharges  itself  by  the  Black- 
Gown  riyer  into  the  Clark,  twenty  miles  below  Kalispel  lake." 

Lake  Roothan  finds  frequent  mention  in  Governor  Stevens'  reports  as  lake 
"Rootham,"  and  is  so  printed  on  old  government  maps.  It  is  now  known  as  Priest 
lake,  and  the  "Black-Gown  river"  of  DeSmet  is  the  Priest  river  of  the  present  day. 
The  lake  was  named  by  the  Jesuits  in  honor  of  the  then  father  general  of  their  order. 
"Towards  the  end  of  the  month  of  May,"  continues  the  narrative,  "I  arrived  at 
Fort  Colville.  I  found  the  nation  of  Shuyelphi  or  Kettle  Fall  already  baptized 
by  the  Rev.  Father  Hoecken,  who  had  continued  to  instruct  them  after  my  depart- 
ure in  the  month  of  August  last  year.  They  had  built,  to  my  great  surprise,  a 
small  frame  church,  so  much  the  more  beautiful  and  agreeable  to  my  eyes,  as  being 
their  first  attempt  at  architecture,  and  the  exclusive  work  of  the  Indians.  With  a 
laudable  pride  they  conducted  me,  as  in  triumph,  to  the  humble  and  new  temple  of 
the  Lord,  and  in  favor  of  that  good  people,  and  for  their  perseverance  in  the  faith, 
I  there  offered  the  august  sacrifice  of  the  altar. 

"The  arrival  of  the  good  Father  Nobili  at  Colville  filled  us  with  great  joy  and 
consolation.  He  had  made  missionary  excursions  over  the  greatest  portion  of  New 
Caledonia.  Everywhere  the  Indian  tribes  received  him  with  open  arms,  and  took 
great  care  to  bring  their  little  children  to  be  baptized.  Having  made  a  retreat  of 
eight  days  in  the  Reduction  of  St.  Ignatius,  and  after  a  month  of  repose  and  prep- 
aration for  a  second  expedition,  he  returned  with  renewed  zeal  and  fervor  to  his 
dear  Caledonians,  accompanied  by  several  laborers,  and  supplied  with  a  dozen 
horses,  loaded  with  implements  of  agriculture  and  carpentry. 

"Father  Nobili  and  myself  were  most  hospitably  entertained  during  our  stay 
at  Fort  Colville.  The  kindness  of  the  Honorable  Mr.  Lewes  and  family  I  shall 
never  forget.  Truly  and  deservedly  has  Commodore  Wilkes  stated,  'That  the  lib- 
erality and  hospitality  of  all  the  gentlemen  of  the  Honorable  Hudson's  Bay  com- 
pany are  proverbial.'  " 


CHAPTER  XV 

CATHOLIC  MISSIONS— CONCLUDED 

OVERLAND    JOURNEY    FROM    OLD    WALLA    WALLA    TO    THE    SPOKANE DE8MET    TAKES    A 

FRIENDLY    INDIAN    PIPE FROM    THE    SPOKANE    TO    COLVILLE TRIP    FROM    SPOKANE 

TO    THE     COEUR    d'aLENE    MISSION A    SUMMER    ENCAMPMENT    DESCRIBED TAKING 

"pOT    luck"   with   INDIANS SUPERSTITIONS   OF   THE   COEUR   d'aLENES THEY    WOR' 

SHIP   A    WHITE   man's   SPOTTED   SHIRT   AND   BLANKET*— MISSION    EFFORTS    OF   AN    IRO- 
QUOIS   CHIEF FATHER    POINT's     LABORS    AMONG    THIS    TRIBE GOVERNOR    STEVENS* 

HOSPITABLE    RECEPTION    AT    THE    OLD    MISSION MISSIONARIES    TAKE    THE    OATH    OF 

ALLEGIANCE   TO   THE    U.   S. CAPTAIN    m'cLELLAN    AMONG   THE   YAKIMAS ST.    MICH- 

AEl's    mission    near     HILLYARD FATHER    CARUANA    AMONG    THE    SPOKANES. 

FROM  Colville  DeSmet  descended  the  Columbia  in  one  of  the  barges  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  company,  stopping  at  Fort  Okanogan,  where,  he  adminis- 
tered baptism  to  forty-three  persons.  From  Vancouver  he  set  out  in  July 
on  a  return  to  the  interior,  and  under  date  of  July  26,  1846,  in  a  letter  from  St. 
Ignatius,  on  the  lower  Pend  d'Oreille  river,  thus  records  the  incidents  of  an  over- 
land journey  from  old  Walla  Walla  on  the  Columbia: 

'The  eighth  day  after  my  departure  from  Fort  Vancouver,  I  landed  safely  at 
Walla  Walla,  with  the  goods  destined  for  the  different  missions.  In  a  few  days 
all  was  ready,  and  having  thanked  the  good  and  kind-hearted  Mr.  McBean,  the 
superintendent  of  the  fort,  who  had  rendered  me  every  assistance  in  his  power, 
we  soon  found  ourselves  on  the  way  to  the  mountains,  leading  a  band  of  pack  mules 
and  horses  over  a  sandy,  dry  plain,  covered  with  bunch-grass  and  wormwood." 

In  fair  weather  this  William  B.  McBean  could  be  kind  and  hospitable  to  a  degree ; 
but  when,  in  his  defense,  all  is  said  that  may  be  said,  the  distressing  fact  remains 
that  he  behaved  badly  when  begged  for  succor  and  defense  by  survivors  of  the 
Whitman  massacre.  Thwaites,  editor  of  "The  Jesuit  Relations  and  Allied  Docu- 
ments," says  that  McBean  was  an  educated  half-breed,  who  succeeded  Archibald 
McKinley  at  Fort  Walla  Walla  in  1845.  "He  attained  an  unpleasant  notoriety  in 
connection  with  the  Whitman  massacre,  because  of  his  Catholic  proclivities,  and 
his  tardiness  in  aiding  the  survivors;  but  most  of  the  charges  against  him  were 
unfounded.  In  New  Caledonia  he  had  a  reputation  for  being  despotic  and  wily, 
also  somewhat  fanatical  in  religious  matters." 

With  all  the  deep  ardor  of  a  lover  of  nature.  Father  DeSmet  enjoyed  his  life 
on  the  trail — afloat  on  rushing  mountain  river,  by  campfire  beneath  the  solemn 
pines,  or  out  upon  the  free  and  starlit  prairie.     "We  encamped  for  the  night,"  re- 

135 


136  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

sumes  his  narrative,  "in  a  beautiful  little  meadow,  watered  by  the  Walla  Walla 
river,  where  we  found  abundance  of  grass  for  our  animals.  These  were  soon  un- 
loaded and  left  free  to  graze  at  leisure.  We  next  made  a  fire,  put  on  the  camp 
kettle,  stretched  the  bed,  consisting  of  a  buffalo  robe,  and  smoked  together  the 
friendly  Indian  pipe,  whilst  supper  was  preparing.  We  found  ourselves  at  home 
•and  perfectly  at  ease  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  The  evening  was  clear 
and  beautiful — not  a  cloud — our  sleep,  sound  and  refreshing,  prepared  us  for  an 
early  start  at  dawn  of  day." 

Here  was  a  spectacle — a  priest  of  God  puffing  at  an  Indian  pipe  and  unblush- 
ingly  proclaiming  the  enjoyment  of  it — that  would  have  scandalized  the  zealous 
Parker,  forerunner  of  Whitman  and  Spalding  in  the  lone  land  where  rolls  the  Ore- 
gon. Parker  detested  the  incense  of  the  pipe,  inveighed  against  its  use  by  trapper 
and  Indian,  and  often  gravely  admonished  the  Indians  against  this  sin.  Like 
DeSmet,  he  was  brave,  and  zealous,  and  a  lover  of  wild  nature  too;  but  unlike 
DeSmet,  he  seemed  not  to  know  when  to  unbend,  or  when  to  look  with  indolgent 
*eye  on  a  practice  which  had  long  been  dear  to  the  Indian  heart. 

"The  Aext  day,"  continues  DeSmet,  "we  found  about  a  dozen  Indian  lodges, 
callec^he  Palooses,  a  portion  of  the  Sapetan  (Sahaptin)  or  Nez  Perce  tribe.  We 
procured^rom  the  Indians  here  some  fresh  salmon,  for  which  we  made  them  ample 
return  in  powder  and  lead.  But  as  the  grass  was  withered  and  scanty,  and  the  pil- 
fering dispositions  of  these  Indians  rather  doubtful,  we  resolved  on  proceeding 
eight  or  ten  miles  farther,  and  encamped  late  in  the  evening  on  the  Pavilion  river 
(now  the  Palouse). 

"On  the  fifth  day  of  our  departure  from  Walla  Walla,  we  reached  the  Spokane 
river,  and  found  a  good  fording  for  our  animals.  You  will  see  with  pleasure  the 
chart  I  have  made  of' the  headwaters  of  this  river,  which,  though  beautiful  and 
interesting,  is  yet,  like  all  the  other  rivers  in  Oregon,  almost  an  imbroken  succes- 
sion of  rapids,  falls  and  cascades,  and  of  course  ill-adapted  in  its  present  conditicHi 
to  the  purposes  of  navigation.  The  two  upper  valleys  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  are 
beautiful,  and  of  a  rich  mold.  They  are  watered  by  two  deep  forks,  running  into 
the  Coeur  d'Alene  lake,  a  fine  sheet  of  water,  of  about  thirty  miles  in  length  by 
four  or  ^Ye  broad,  from  which  the  river  Spokane  derives  its  source.  I  called  the 
two  upper  forks  the  St.  Joseph's  and  the  St.  Ignatius.  They  are  formed  by  in- 
numerable torrents,  descending  from  the  Pointed  Heart  mountains,  a  chain  of  the 
Rocky  mountains.  The  two  upper  valleys  are  about  sixty  or  eighty  miles  long,  and 
four  or  eight  miles  broad.  I  counted  upwards  of  forty  little  lakes  in  them.  The 
whole  neighborhood  of  the  Spokane  river  affords  very  abundant  grazing,  and  in 
many  sections  is  tolerably  well  timbered  with  pines  of  different  species." 

DeSmet  probably  followed  the  old  Indian  trail  leading  from  the  Walla  Walla 
valley  to  Colville,  which  crossed  the  Spokane  about  twenty  miles  below  the  falls, 
and  passed  through  the  Tshimakain  valley,  now  Walker's  prairie,  where  Eells  and 
Walker  maintained  their  Protestant  mission  from  1889  to  1848.  "On  leaving  the 
river,"  he  says,  "we  ascended  by  a  steep  Indian  path.  A  few  miles  ride  across  a 
pine  forest  brings  you  to  a  beautiful  valley  leading  to  Colville,  agreeably  diversified 
by  plains  and  forests,  hemmed  in  by  high  wooded  mountains,  and  by  huge  pic- 
turesque rocks  towering  their  lofty  heads  over  all  the  rest.  Fountains  and  rivulets 
are  here  very  numerous.     After  about  thirty  miles  we  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  137 

Kalispel  mountain^  in  the  neighborhood  of  St.  Francis  Regis^  where  already  about 
seventy  metis  or  halfbreeds  have  collected  to  settle  permanently." 

From  St.  Ignatius^  under  date  of  July  25,  1846,  Father  DeSmet  wrote  to  Mrs. 
S.  Parmentier,  a  Brooklyn  woman  who  had  made  a  liberal  donation  for  the  support 
of  his  missions.  "I  am  indeed  ashamed,"  he  begins,  "at  not  having  been  able  sooner 
to  answer  the  letters  which  yon  had  the  kindness  to  write  me  on  the  2d  of  Septem- 
ber and  the  7th  of  December,  1 844."  Evidently  the  mail  service  was  no  better  for 
the  Catholic  missionaries  than  it  had  been  for  the  Protestants,  who  regarded  as  one 
of  their  chief  hardships  the  long  delays  involved  in  communication  with  eastern 
friends.  Father  DeSmet  explained  that  this  lady's  letters  "reached  the  Rocky 
mountains  only  the  year  after,  while  I  was  engaged  in  a  distant  mission  among  the 
Indians,  so  that  I  received  them  only  in  the  month  of  July,  1846.  ...  I  have 
given  directions  to  the  Indians  of  these  different  tribes  to  recite,  every  week,  the 
Rosary  for  one  of  their  great  benefactresses,  meaning  yourself.  Now,  you  can 
not  but  be  aware,  that,  among  the  Indians,  the  beads  are  recited  in  each  family, 
so  that  I  am  already  assured,  and  I  have  the  consolation  of  saying  to  you,  that 
many  thousand  pairs  of  beads  have  already  been  offered  up  to  God  and  his  august 
mother  for  you.  Those  good  Indians — ^those  children  of  the  forest — so  dear  to 
my  heart,  will  continue  to  display  their  gratitude  till  I  tell  them  to  cease,  and  that 
will  not  be  very  soon.  .  .  .  How  happy  should  I  be,  my  dear,  excellent  Madam, 
could  I  give  you  to  understand  how  great,  how  sweet,  how  enrapturing,  is  their 
devotion  to  the  august  mother  of  God.  The  name  of  Mary,  which,  pronounced  in 
the  Indian  language,  is  something  so  sweet  and  endearing,  delights  and  charms 
them. 

"The  usual  place  of  residence  of  the  Kalispels — that  in  which  the  reduction  of 
St  Ignatius  is  now  established — is  an  extensive  prairie,  called  the  Bay  of  the  Kal- 
ispels, thirty  or  forty  miles  above  the  mouth  of  Clark  or  Flathead  river.  A  beau- 
tiful grotto  exists  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  mission,  which  I  have  named  the 
grotto  of  Manresa,  in  honor  of  our  Holy  Founder.  It  is  very  large,  and  might, 
at  small  expense,  be  fitted  up  for  a  church.  May  the  Indians  gather  in  crowds 
into  this  new  Manresa,  and  after  the  example  of  their  patron,  St.  Ignatius,  be 
penetrated  with  a  feeling  sense  of  heavenly  things,  and  inflamed  with  the  love  of 
God. 

"I  shall  always  remember  with  pleasure  the  winter  of  1844-45,  which  I  had 
the  happiness  of  spending  among  these  good  Indians.  The  place  for  wintering 
was  well  chosen,  picturesque,  agreeable  and  convenient.  The  camp  was  placed 
near  a  beautiful  waterfall,  caused  by  Clark's  river  being  blocked  up  by  an  immense 
rock,  through  which'  the  waters,  forcing  narrow  passages,  precipitate  themselves. 
A  dense  and  interminable  forest  protected  us  from  the  north  winds,  and  a  countless 
number  of  dead  trees,  standing  on  all  sides,  furnished  us  with  abundant  fuel  for 
oar  fires  during  the  inclement  season.  We  were  encircled  by  ranges  of  lofty  moun- 
tains,  whose  snowclad  summits  reflected  in  the  sun,  their  brightness  on  all  the 
surrounding  country."  From  this  description,  it  seems  probable  that  the  rendez- 
vous just  described  was  at  Albani  Falls,  near  the  present  town  of  Newport. 

"The  place  for  wintering  being  determined,  the  first  care  of  the  Indians  was 
to  erect  the  house  of  prayer.  While  the  men  cut  down  saplings,  the  women  brought 
bark  and  mats  to  cover  them.     In  two  days  this  humble  house  of  the  Lord  was 


138  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

completed — humble  and  poor,  indeed,  but  truly  the  house  of  prayer,  to  which  pure, 
simple,  innocent  souls  repaired,  to  offer  to  the  Great  Spirit  their  vows,  and  the 
tribute  of  their  affections.     .     .     . 

"The  great  festival  of  Christmas,  the  day  on  which  the  little  band  was  to  be 
added  to  the  number  of  the  true  children  of  God,  will  never  be  effaced  from  the 
memory  of  our  good  Indians.  The  manner  in  which  we  celebrated  midnight  mass, 
may  give  you  an  idea  of  our  festival.  The  signal  for  rising,  which  was  to  be  given 
a  few  minutes  before  midnight,  was  the  firing  of  a  pistol,  announcing  to  the  In- 
dians that  the  house  of  prayer  would  soon  be  open.  This  was  followed  by  a  gen- 
eral discharge  of  guns,  in  honor  of  the  birth  of  the  infant  Savior,  and  800  voices 
rose  spontaneously  from  the  midst  of  the  forest,  and  entoned  in  the  language  of  the 
Pend  d'Oreilles,  the  beautiful  canticle:  'Du  Dieu  puiuant  tout  annonce  la  gloire/ 
— 'The  Almighty's  glory  all  things  proclaim.'  In  a  moment  a  multitude  of  adorers 
were  seen  wending  their  way  to  the  humble  temple  of  the  Lord — resembling,  in- 
deed, the  manger  in  which  the  Messiah  was  born.  On  that  night,  which  all  at  once 
became  bright  as  day,  they  experienced,  I  know  not  what,  that  which  made  them 
exclaini  aloud,  *0h,  God,  I  give  Thee  my  heart.' 

"On  the  eve  the  church  was  embellished  with  garlands  and  wreaths  of  green 
boughs,  forming,  as  it  were,  a  frame  for  the  images  which  represent  the  affecting 
mysteries  of  Christmas  night.  The  interior  was  ornamented  with  pine  branches. 
The  altar  was  neatly  decorated,  bespangled  with  stars  of  various  brightness,  and 
covered  with  a  profusion  of  ribbons — things  exceedingly  attractive  to  the  eye  of  an 
Indian.  At  midnight  I  celebrated  a  solemn  mass,  the  Indians  sang  several  canticles 
suitable  to  the  occasion.  That  peace  announced  in  the  first  verse  of  the  Angelic 
hymn,  'The  Gloria — Peace  on  earth  to  men  of  good  will,'  was,  I  venture  to  say, 
literally  fulfilled  to  the  Indians  of  the  forest. 

"A  grand  banquet,  according  to  Indian  custom,  followed  the  first  mass.  Some 
choice  pieces  of  the  animals  slain  in  the  chase  had  been  set  apart  for  the  occasion. 
I  ordered  half  a  sack  of  flour  and  a  large  boiler  of  sweetened  coffee  to  be  added. 
The  union,  the  contentment,  the  joy,  and  charity,  which  pervaded  the  whole  as- 
sembly, might  well  be  compared  to  the  agape  of  the  primitive  Christians." 

"Fathers  Mengarini  and  Serbinati  (the  last-mentioned  father  has  since  died),  had 
the  consolation  to  see  the  whole  tribe  of  the  Flatheads,  among  whom  they  had  been 
laboring,  approach  the  holy  table  on  this  day.  Twelve  young  Indians,  taught  by 
Father  Mengarini,  performed,  with  accuracy,  several  pieces  of  music  during  the 
midnight  mass.  Fathers  Point  and  Joset  had,  also,  the  consolation  of  admitting 
for  the  first  time,  nearly  the  entire  tribe  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  on  this  auspicious 
day,  to  the  Holy  Communion.  The  Christmas  of  1844  was,  therefore,  a  great  and 
glorious  day  in  the  Rocky  mountains. 

"I  will  close  this  already  lengthy  letter  with  a  few  words  more  concerning  the 
Pends  d'Oreilles  of  the  Bay.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1845,  they  began  to  build 
upon  the  spot  selected  for  the  Reduction  of  St.  Ignatius,  and  to  open  fields.  On 
Ascension  day  of  the  same  year,  Father  Hoecken  administered  baptism  to  upwards 
of  a  hundred  adults.  At  my  last  visit,  which  I  paid  them  in  July  last,  they  had 
already  put  up  fourteen  log  houses,  besides  a  large  barn,  had  the  timbers  prepared 
for  a  church,  and  had  upwards  of  300  acres  in  grain,  enclosed  by  a  substantial 
fence.     The  whole  village,  men,  women  and  children,  had  worked  most  cheerfully. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  139 

I  counted  thirty  head  of  horned  cattle — ^the  sqaaws  had  learned  to  milk  the  cows 
and  chum ;  they  had  a  few  hogs,  and  some  domestic  fowls.  The  number  of  Chris- 
tians had  doubled  since  Christmas^  1844." 

August^  1846^  found  DeSmet  at  St.  Mary's  mission  in  Montana^  describing,  in 
A  letter  of  August  10,  a  journey  from  St.  Ignatius  mission  by  way  of  the  Colville 
country  and  the  Spokane  valley,  to  the  mission  of  the  Sacred  Heart  on  the  Coeur 
d'Alene  river.  "We  had  beautiful  weather,  and  a  path  remarkably  free  from 
those  obstructions  so  annoying  to  travelers  in  the  mountains.  Towards  the  middle 
of  our  day's  journey,  we  reached  a  beautiful  lake  surrounded  by  hills,  and  a  thick 
forest  of  larch  (tamarack).  I  have  named  it  the  Lake  DeNef,  as  a  token  of  grati- 
tude towards  one  of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  the  mission.  It  discharges  itself 
through  a  narrow  passage,  forming  a  beautiful  rapid  called  the  Toumhout-torrent, 
at  the  termination  of  which  it  joins  its  limpid  waters  to  those  of  the  river  Spo- 
kane." In  the  opinion  of  Thwaites,  who  edited  a  revised  volume  of  DeSmet's  cor- 
respondence, this  was  the  present  Blake's  lake  in  northern  Spokane  county,  ."which 
discharges  by  the  West  Branch  into  Little  Spokane  river." 

The  missionary  forded  the  Spokane  river,  just  below  the  main  falls,  and  fol- 
lowed up  the  south  bank  to  Lake  Coeur  d'Alene.  "A  few  words  descriptive  of  our 
encampments  during  wet  weather  may  not  be  out  of  place,"  says  his  narrative  of 
this  journey.  "The  tent  erected  in  haste — saddles,  bridles,  baggage,  etc.,  thrown 
into  some  sheltered  spot — large  heaps  of  larch  branches  or  brushwood  are  cut 
down  and  spread  over  the  spot  of  ground  destined  for  our  repose — provision  of  as 
much  dry  wood  as  can  be  collected  is  now  brought  forth  for  the  whole  night;  on 
this  occasion  we  made  a  fire  large  enough  to  roast  an  ox.  These  preparations  com- 
pleted, our  meal  (dinner  and  supper  the  same  time),  consisting  of  flour,  camash 
roots,  and  some  buifalo  tallow,  is  thrown  into  a  large  kettle  nearly  filled  with 
water.  The  great  heat  requiring  the  cook  to  stand  at  a  respectable  distance  from 
the  fire,  a  long  pole  serves  as  a  ladle  to  stir  about  the  contents  until  the  mixture 
has  acquired  the  proper  density,  when  a  vigorous  attack  is  made  upon  it  after  a 
singular  fashion  indeed.  On  the  present  occasion  we  were  six  in  number,  trusting 
to  a  single  spoon,  but  necessity  soon  supplied  the  deficiency.  Two  of  the  company 
used  pieces  of  bark ;  two  others  strips  of  leather ;  and  the  fifth,  a  small  turtle  shell." 

As  the  missionary's  compagnons  du  voyage  were  natives — two  Kalispels  and 
three  Coeur  d'Alenes,  it  may  be  surmised  that  they  graciously  awarded  the  single 
spoon  to  the  blackrobe.  "Grace  being  said,"  continues  the  father,  "a  circle  is  formed 
round  the  kettle,  and  the  instruments  plunge  and  replunge  into  it  with  as  much 
regularity  and  address  as  a  number  of  smiths'  hammers  plying  at  the  anvils;  a  few 
moments,  and  the  contents  of  the  large  kettle  are  gone,  leaving  not  a  vestige  be- 
hind. We  found  this  repast  delicious,  thanks  to  our  keen  appetites.  Making  due 
allowance  for  the  taste  of  others,  I  confess  I  have  never  enjoyed  a  feast  more 
heartily  than  such  as  I  have  now  described,  prepared  in  the  open  air,  after  the 
Indian  fashion.  All  the  refined  inventions  of  the  art  culinary,  as  sauces,  pickles, 
preserves,  pies,  etc.,  designed  to  quicken  or  restore  weak  appetites,  are  here  utterly 
useless.  Loss  of  appetite,  which  among  the  wealthy  forms  the  reigning  complaint, 
furnishing  abundant  employment  to  apothecaries  and  doctors,  is  here  unheard  of. 
n  these  patients  would  have  the  courage  to  abandon  for  a  time  their  high  living, 
and  traverse  the  wilds  of  this  region  on  horseback,  breakfasting  at  daybreak  and 


140  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

dining  at  sunset^  after  a  ride  of  forty  miles^  I  venture  to  predict  that  they  ynH  not 
need  any  refined  incitements  to  relish  as  I  did  a  simple  dish  prepared  by  the  In- 
dians." 

The  scene  here  described  with  such  good  humor  and  sounds  practical  philosophy 
lay  in  our  beautiful  valley  of  the  Spokane;  and  the  dietary  truths  so  pleasingly 
advanced  by  the  pioneer  of  the  gospel  and  the  cross^  are  as  sound  today  as  two- 
thirds  of  a  century  ago.  Now^  as  then^  health  and  the  zest  of  keen  appetite  may 
be  had  for  the  seeking  in  our  mountain  vales  and  by  our  wooded  waters;  but  the 
tribe  of  apothecaries  and  the  clan  of  physicians  flourish  in  our  midst. 

"Having  dried  our  blankets^  and  said  night  prayers^  our  repose  was  not  l^s 
sound  for  having  fared  so  simply^  or  lain  upon  a  rough  couch  of  brushwood,"  the 
good  father  adds  contentedly. 

At  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mission  DeSmet  was  cordially  received  by  Fathers  Joset 
and  Point.     All  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  of  the  neighborhood  came  to  welcome   him. 
"The  fervor  and  piety  of  these  poor  Indians  filled  me  with  great  joy  and  consola- 
tion/' remarks  the  missionary,  "especially  when  I  considered  how  great  the  change 
wrought  in  them  since  their  conversion  to  Christianity.     .     .     .     Previous  to  their 
conversion,  these  Indians  were  shunned  by  the  other  tribes,  on  account,  it  is  said, 
of  their  great  power  in  juggling  and  other  idolatrous  practices.     ...     A  single 
instance  will  serve  to  give  you  some  idea  of  the  objects  of  their  worship,  and  the 
facility  with  which  they  adopt  their  manitous  or  divinities.     They  related  to  me 
that  the  first  white  man  they  saw  in  their  country  wore  a  calico  shirt,  spotted  all 
over  with  black  and  white,  which  to  them  appeared  like  the  smallpox;  he  also  wore 
a  white  coverlet.     The  Coeur  d'Alenes  imagined  that  the  spotted  shirt  was  the 
great  manitou  himself — ^the  great  master  of  that  alarming  disease,  the  smallpox — 
and  that  the  white  coverlet  was  the  great  manitou  of  the  snow;  that  if  they  could 
obtain  possession  of  these,  and  pay  them  divine  honors,  their  nation  would  never 
afterwards  be  visited  by  that  dreadful  scourge;  and  their  winter  hunts  be  rendered 
successful  by  an  abundant  fall  of  snow.    They  accordingly  offered  him,  in  exchange 
for  these,  several  of  their  best  horses.     The  bargain  was  eagerly  closed  by  the 
white  man.     The  spotted  shirt  and  the  white  coverlet  became  thenceforward,  ob- 
jects of  great  veneration  for  many  years.     On  grand  solemnities  the  two  manitous 
were  carried  in  procession  to  a  lofty  eminence,  usually  consecrated  to  the  perform- 
ance of  their  superstitious  rites.    They  were  then  respectfully  spread  on  the  grass: 
the  great  medicine  pipe  offered  to  them,  with  as  much  veneration  as  it  is  customary 
with  the  Indians,  in  presenting  it  to  the  sun,  the  fire,  the  earth  and  the  water.    The 
whole  band  of  jugglers,  or  medicine  men,  then  entoned  canticles  of  adoration  to 
them.     The  service  was  generally  terminated  with  a  grand  dance,  in  which  the 
performers  exhibited  the  most  hideous  contortions  and  extravagant  gestures,  accom- 
panied with  a  most  unearthly  howling." 

Father  Nicholas  Point,  who  labored  long  among  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  is  authority 
that  this  tribe  was  partly  converted  to  Christianity,  about  the  year  18S0,  by  an 
Iroquois  chief  called  Ignatius.  They  had  heard,  in  an  imperfect  way  from  the  fur 
traders,  that  in  the  faith  of  the  white  man  there  was  but  one  God,  who  had  an 
invisible  place  called  heaven  as  abode  of  good  people  after  death,  and  an  invisible 
place  of  torment  called  hell,  where  the  wicked  spirits  were  consigned.  That  God's 
son  in  heaven,  beholding  all  men  running  in  the  road  to  the  bad  place,  descended 


PETEB  JOHN  DE  8MET 
The  great  apoatle  of  tbe  Indians 


' . 


~  '-'7 


.\ 


:^        ^'    --      •-..    V.AKY 


I 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  141 

to  earth  to  point  them  to  the  good  road,  but  that  in  order  to  effect  this,  it  was 
required  that  he  die  upon  the  cross. 

"One  evening,"  says  Father  Point,  in  an  extended  letter  recording  the  details 
of  the  conversion  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  "all  the  families,  who  were  dispersed  in 
different  directions,  for  fishing,  for  hunting,  and  for  gathering  roots,  assembled 
upon  the  ground  of  an  old  chief  called  Ignatius,  to  see  the  author  of  this  news. 
R^^dless  of  fatigue,  they  prolonged  their  sitting  to  the  silence  of  the  night,  and 
listened  to  aU  the  details  of  the  glorious  message." 

While  the  tribe  halted  between  two  opinions;,  hesitating  whether  they  should 
abandon  their  old  beliefs  and  accept  the  doctrine  of  the  white  men,  a  death-inflict- 
ing disease  came  among  them,  probably  small-pox,  and  at  the  moment  it  raged  with 
greatest  violence,  one  of  the  dying,  afterwards  called  Stephen,  ani\punced  that  he 
had  heard  a  voice  from  heaven,  saying,  "Cast  down  thy  idols;  adore  Jesus  Christ, 
and  thou  shalt  be  cured." 

"The  dying  man,"  says  Father  Point,  "believed  the  word  and  was  cured.  He 
went  about  the  camp  and  related  what  had  taken  place:  all  the  sick  who  heard  him 
imitated  his  example,  and  recovered  their  health.  I  have  this  fact  from  the  mouth 
of  the  savages  who  heard  the  voice  from  heaven,  and  the  same  has  been  confirmed 
by  eye-witnesses." 

However,  remarks  Father  Point,  as  neither  constancy  nor  reflection  is  to  be 
found  in  the  savage,  the  gpreater  part  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  relapsed  into  idolatry^ 
hastened  in  this  reactionary  tendency  by  the  influence  of  the  medicine  men. 

"Such,"  says  Father  Point,  "was  pretty  nearly  the  condition  of  the  people 
when  Providence  sent  among  them  the  Rev.  Father  DeSmet.  His  visit  disposed 
them  so  much  in  favor  of  the  Blackgowns,  tha.t  it  was  determmed  I  should  be  sent 
to  their  aid.  Three  months  after,  that  is,  at  th^  •<*lo^ '6f  thei  hunting  expeditions 
of  the  autumn  of  1842,  I  left  St.  Mary's  to  »pllidfei;ti^-iie^'c8riverts  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus." 

Father  Point  arrived  among  the  Coeur  (JAleneaTflle'fir^t  Friday  in  November, 
and  on  the  first  Friday  in  December,  lifted,*witn' chant  and  prayer,  the  cross  on 
the  shore  of  a  lake  where  the  savages  had  gathered  for  fishing.  As  the  first  mission 
of  the  Sacred  Heart  was  reared  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Joseph  river,  this  lake  was 
probably  the  Coeur  d*Alene,  or  Chatcolet  lake  adjacent  to  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Joseph.  Soon  these  Indians  "spoke  no  more  of  their  assemblies  of  imposters,  their 
diabolical  visions,  nor  superstitious  ceremonies,  which  had  before  been  so  common; 
and  most  important  of  all,  gambling,  which  had  always  occupied  a  great  portion 
of  their  time,  was  two  weeks  afterwards  abandoned;  the  conjugal  bond,  which  for 
centuries,  perhaps,  had  known  among  them  neither  unity  nor  indissolubility,  was 
brought  back  to  its  primitive  character;  and  a  beautiful  sight  was  presented  by 
the  medicine  men  themselves,  who,  with  their  own  hands,  did  justice  to  the  wretched 
instruments  hell  had  used  to  deceive  them.  During  the  long  nights  of  that  period 
it  will  not  be  necessary  to  tell  how  many  sacrifices  were  made  of  feathers,  wolves* 
tails,  stags'  feet,  deer's  hoofs,  wooden  images,  etc." 

With  the  advent  of  early  spring  the  Indians  assembled  at  the  chosen  site  for 
the  mission,  and  with  enthusiasm  and  industry  set  about  the  building  of  a  village, 
formed  upon'  the  ancient  plans  in  Paraguay,  under  which  each  one  contributed  ac- 


142  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

cording  to  his  strength  and  industry.     Trees  were  felled  for  cabins,  roads  opened, 
a  church  erected  and  the  public  fields  enclosed,  broken  and  planted. 

From  the  9th  of  September  to  the  date  of  this  letter,  a  period  of  six  months, 
"not  one  single  fault  which  can  be  called  serious,"  adds  Father  Point,  "has  been 
committed  in  the  village  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus;  and  a  great  many  who 
reproached  themselves  with  light  failings,  cease  not  to  make  public  confession  in 
terms  of  grief.  I  have  seen  husbands  come  after  their  wives,  and  mothers  after 
their  daughters,  not  to  excuse  the  accusations  they  had  made,  but  to  acknowledge 
that  their  want  of  patience  and  humility  were  the  cause  of  the  failings  of  others. 

"It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  of  all  the  adults  who  had  not  yet  received  baptism, 
and  all  who  united  to  prepare  for  their  first  communion,  not  one  was  judged  un- 
worthy to  receive  the  sacraments.  Their  simplicity,  piety,  charity,  and  especially 
their  faith,  were  admirable.  And  truly  all  these  virtues  were  necessary  for  these 
good  old  men,  who,  for  the  sake  of  learning  their  prayers,  had  to  become  the 
scholars  of  their  children,  and  for  the  children  to  enable  them  to  do  violence  to 
their  natural  vivacity,  while  they  slowly  communicated  to  their  old  parents  and 
grandparents,  a  part  of  what  they  had  learned;  and  the  chiefs  would  rise  at  the 
dawn  of  day,  and  sometimes  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  to  exhort  their  people  to 
weep  over  their  sins." 

Father  Point  has  left  us  an  affectionate  description  of  the  sacrament  of  the 
holy  communion,  conferred  in  the  little  church  in  the  wilderness  by  the  venerable 
Father  Joset,  whose  labors  have  entered  so  extensively  into  the  early  history  of 
the  Catholic  church  in  Spokane: 

"The  church  was  small;  it  measured  in  length  fifty  feet,  and  in  breadth  twenty- 
four.  It  was  indeed  poor,  but  from  every  part  of  the  wall  and  ceiling,  were  sus- 
pended rich  festoons  of  leaves.  While  the  stars  were  still  shining  in  the  firmament, 
the  chant,  Lauda  Sion,  was  heard.  But  who  sung  that  divine  canticle.^  The  sav- 
ages who  lately  addressed  their  prayers  only  to  the  animals  of  their  mountains. 
.  .  .  It  was  Father  Joset  who  had  the  happiness  to  distribute  to  them  the  bread 
of  life — a  happiness  so  much  the  more  felt,  as  he  had  just  arrived  among  them. 
Before  they  approached  the  holy  table,  he  addressed  them  a  few  words;  but  the 
tender  piety  apparent  in  all  at  the  moment  of  communicating,  made  him  fear  to 
spoil  the  work  of  God  by  adding  more  words  of  his  own,  and  he  left  them  to  their 
own  devotion." 

As  repeated  floods  in  the  St.  Joseph  river  showed  that  the  first  site  of  the  mis- 
sion had  been  unfortunately  chosen,  the  church  and  village  of  Sacred  Heart  were 
moved  in  1846  to  a  more  salubrious  spot  on  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river. 

VISITED  BY  GOVERNOR    STEVENS 

When  Governor  Isaac  I.  Stevens  came  into  this  country  in  1853,  in  the  three 
fold  capacity  of  governor  of  Washington  territory,  Indian  commissioner  to  treat 
with  various  tribes  between  Dakota  and  Puget  Sound,  and  searcher  out  of  north- 
ern routes  for  a  transcontinental  railroad,  he  visited  this  beautiful  mission.  Late 
on  an  October  evening  with  Antoine  Plant  for  guide,  he  came  to  the  mission  door 
and  sought  hospitality  of  the  fathers  then  in  charge.  "The  mission,"  said  Stevens 
in  his  official  report  to  the  secretary  of  war,  "is  beautifully  located  upon  a  hill 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  143 

overlookiiig  extensive  prairies  stretching  to  the  east  and  west  toward  the  Coeur 
d'Alene  mountains  and  the  Columbia  river.  About  100  acres  of  the  eastern  prairie 
adjoining  the  mission  are  enclosed  and  under  cultivation^  furnishing  employment 
to  thirty  or  forty  Indians — men^  women  and  children.  I  observed  two  ploughing, 
which  they  executed  skilfully;  others  were  sowing  wheat,  and  others  digging  po- 
tatoes. 

"Pere  Gazzoli  received  me  with  the  most  pleasing  hospitality.  Associated  with 
him  are  Pere  Ravalli,  now  absent  to  secure  supplies,  and  Brothers  Charles  Huett 
and  Maginn.  The  latter,  however,  is  a  lay  brother,  attached  to  the  Pend  d'Oreille 
mission,  who  is  here  at  this  time  to  assist  in  harvesting. 

"Towards  evening  I  witnessed  the  burial  of  an  Indian  chief.  The  funeral  serv- 
ices were  conducted  after  the  Catholic  form,  and  I  was  struck  with  the  harmonious 
voices  of  the  Indian  choristers,  and  with  their  solemn  observance  of  the  ceremonies. 
"The  mission  is  composed  of  buildings  enclosing  a  square.  Some  of  them  are 
quite  old,  but  the  bam  is  large  and  new.  The  church  stands  a  little  distance  fron\ 
the  rest,  and  does  much  credit  to  those  who  erected  it.  It  is  constructed  on  a  plan 
designed  by  Pere  Ravalli,  and  is  of  the  Roman  demi-style  of  architecture.  Pulleys 
and  ropes  were  the  only  mechanical  aids  in  the  construction.  Pere  Ravalli  is  quite 
an  architect,  and  drew  up  many  designs  before  the  one  selected  was  adopted.  In 
his  room,  which  I  was  kindly  given  to  occupy,  was  his  library.  I  observed  that  it 
contained  several  standard  works  on  architecture.  The  church  was  not  completed, 
although  sufficiently  so  for  the  performance  of  services  within.  The  interior  is 
prettily  arranged.  The  altar  is  supported  by  two  massive  timbers  of  pine  which 
are  about  four  feet  in  diameter.  We  were  informed  that  in  erecting  these  pillars, 
an  Indian  who  was  holding  one  of  them  became  frightened  and  let  it  fall,  fortu- 
nately without  injury  to  any  one.  The  priests  live  in  a  self-denying  manner,  and  the 
^;ood  effects  of  their  influence  over  the  Indians  around  them  are  plainly  manifest. 

"There  is  quite  a  village  of  Indians  near  the  mission.     They  have  some  half 
doxen  log-houses,  but  most  of  them  live  in  lodges. 

"While  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  train,  I  was  enabled  more  particularly  to 
observe  the  manner  in  which  the  affairs  of  the  mission  were  conducted.  Brother 
Charles  has  charge  of  the  buildings  and  attends  to  the  indoor  work,  cooks,  makes 
butter  and  cheese,  issues  provisions,  and  pays  the  Indians  for  their  work,  which 
pajment  is  made  in  tickets  bearing  a  certain  value,  'good  for  so  many  potatoes  or 
so  much  wheat,'  etc.  By  this  management  the  Indians  are  able  to  procure  their 
subsistence  in  the  summer  by  hunting  and  fishing,  and  have  tickets  in  store  for  liv- 
ing during  the  winter.  They  are  well  contented,  and  I  was  pleased  to  observe 
habits  of  industry  growing  upon  them.  In  the  barn  we  saw  their  operations  of 
threshing:  four  boys  rode  as  many  mules  abreast  around  in  a  circle,  being  followed 
by  two  girls  with  flails,  who  appeared  to  be  perfectly  at  home  in  their  business. 
One  half  of  the  bam  is  reserved  for  their  crops,  while  the  other  is  arranged  for 
cattle.  Their  stock  at  present  consists  of  twenty  cows,  eight  pairs  of  oxen  and 
ninety  pigs,  which  are  driven  to  pasture  upon  the  prairie  by  Indians  boys  daily. 
I  noticed  an  Indian  woman  milking,  and  was  surprised  to  see  her  use  both  hands, 
something  rarely  seen  among  the  Indians.  We  afterwards  visited  the  field — a  large 
fire  was  burning,  and  around  it  sat  Indians  roasting  and  eating  potatoes.     There 


144  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

appeared  to  be  a  great  scarcity  of  proper  implements^  and  in  digging  potatoes  I 
noticed  that  many  had  nothing  better  than  sharpened  sticks." 

Governor  Stevens  remarked  that  Brother  Maginn  declared  himself  to  be^  like 
many  other  naturalized  citizens,  a  good  democrat,  inquired  who  was  president  of 
the  United  States,  and  appeared  to  be  much  pleased  when  informed  that  he  was  a 
democrat. 

Two  years  later,  in  June,  1855,  Governor  Stevens  revisited  this  mission.  "We 
were  received  in  the  most  hospitable  and  cordial  manner,  and  remained  there  the 
next  day,"  says  his  official  report.  "To  show  something  of  the  privations  which 
the  missionaries  have  to  undergo,  I  will  remaik  that  Father  Ravalli,  in  his  recent 
trip  from  The  Dalles,  had  the  assistance  of  only  two  Indians  and  an  Indian  boy 
in  bringing  up  a  train  of  twenty-two  pack  animals.  He  was  obliged  to  see  per- 
sonaUy  to  the  packing  of  each  one  of  his  animals,  doing  most  of  the  piannal  labor 
himself,  and  could  not  get  off  (though  he  commenced  at  early  dawn)  until  towards 
ten  o'clock  in  the  morning." 

On  the  occasion  of  the  governor's  first  visit  to  the  mission,  the  Indians  were 
caUed  in  from  the  fields,  and  he  addressed  them,  saying: 

"I  am  glad  to  see  you  and  find  that  you  are  under  such  good  direction.  I  have 
come  four  times  as  far  as  you  go  to  hunt  buffalo,  and  have  come  with  directions 
from  the  Great  Father  to  see  you,  to  talk  to  you,  and  to  do  all  I  can  for  your  wel- 
fare. I  see  cultivated  fields,  a  church,  houses,  cattle,  and  the  fruits  of  the  earth, 
the  work  of  your  own  hands.  The  Great  Father  will  be  delighted  to  hear  this,  and 
will  certainly  assist  you.  Go  on,  and  every  family  will  have  a  house,  and  a  patch 
of  ground,  and  every  one  will  be  well  clothed.  I  have  had  talks  with  the  Black- 
feet,  who  promise  to  make  peace  with  all  the  Indian  tribes.  Listen  to  the  good 
father  and  to  the  good  brothers  who  labor  for  your  good." 

That  evening  the  governor  had  a  long  conversation  with  the  father  and  brothers, 
and  on  leaving  the  next  morning  he  made  glad  the  heart  of  Brother  Charles  by 
presenting  him  a  number  of  lariats  for  use  in  raising  the  timbers  of  the  uncom- 
pleted church. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  governor's  second  visit  to  the  mission,  in  June,  1855, 
the  fathers  and  lay  brothers  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  and  signed  naturalization  papers.  Stevens  remarked  that  they 
seemed  much  pleased  with  the  idea  of  becoming  American  citizens. 

IN   THE    YAKIMA  VALLEY 

Captain  George  B.  McClellan,' when  traveling  down  the  Yakima  in  1858,  visited 
the  mission  in  that  valley,  and  George  Gibbs,  a  member  of  his  expedition,  has  left 
us  this  description :  "The  mission,  which,  in  summer,  is  maintained  in  the  Ahtanum 
valley,  is  transferred  (with  the  moving  of  the  Indians  in  winter)  into  that  of  the 
main  river.  There  are  two  priests  attached  to  this  mission,  belonging  to  the  order 
of  the  Oblats,  Fathers  Pandozy  and  d'Harbomey.  The  stations  are  small  log 
buildings,  divided  into  a  chapel  and  lodging  room,  with  a  corral  for  horses  and  a 
spot  of  enclosed  garden  ground  adjoining  the  one  at  Ahtanum.  The  fathers  in- 
formed us  that  they  found  the  Yakimas  not  very  teachable,  and  that  they  had 
accomplished  little  except  as  peacemakers;  the  Indians  were  lazy  and  cultivated 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  145 

the  ground  with  but  little  regularity^  some  years  not  planting  at  all.  They  did  not 
believe  that  a  resident  farmer  would  be  of  use.  The  Indians,  however,  say,  and 
justly,  that  they  have  no  tools,  and  but  little  inducement  to  labor,  their  country 
affording  other  subsistence,  and  the  toil  of  planting  with  their  own  rude  imple- 
ments not  being  compensated  by  the  results.  With  proper  encouragement,  and 
assistance  in  breaking  up  the  ground,  they  would  doubtless  do  more.  It  is  probably 
an  object  with  the  missionaries  to  discourage  secular  residents,  who  might  divide 
their  own  influence  over  the  natives. 

"The  courteous  attention  of  these  gentlemen  to  the  officers  of  the  expedition 
requires  acknowledgment.  They  furnished  all  the  information  in  their  power  re- 
specting the  country,  secured  good  guides  to  the  parties,  and  acted  as  interpreters 
with  the  Indians.  Father  Pandozy,  in  particular,  is  familiarly  acquainted  with  the 
Yakima  tongue.  Kamiaken  is  the  only  one  of  the  three  brothers  who  has  adopted 
even  the  forms  of  Catholicism,  and  he  refuses  to  be  baptized,  because  he  would  be 
compelled  to  put  away  his  surplus  wives,  of  whom  he  has  several." 

Gibbs  states  that  a  number  of  Yakimas  professed  to  have  a  remedy  for  small- 
pox. "Father  Pandozy,  one  of  the  missionaries,  informed  me  that  he  believed  it 
to  be  the  root  of  a  species  of  iris.  He  had  once  tasted  it,  and  it  acted  as  a  violent 
emetic.  The  Spokanes  have  also  another  and  different  specific.  It  is  known  to 
but  few  persons,  having  been  gradually  forgotten  since  the  former  visitation.  Re- 
cently, when  it  broke  out  in  one  of  the  Spokane  villages,  an  old  woman,  who  was 
blind,  described  it  to  her  daughter^  and  directed  her  to  proceed  towards  Kamiaken's 
country,  and  that  if  she  encountered  none  in  her  way,  to  get  from  him  some  of 
whidi  he  used.  The  girl,  however,  did  find  the  herb  and  returned  with  it.  The 
mother  prepared  the  medicine,  and  the  smallpox  was  stayed,  but  not  until  it  had 
nearly  destroyed  the  village.  We  were  not  successful  in  obtaining  specimens  of  this 
plant,  but  Father  Pandozy  kindly  promised  to  save  some  when  opportimity  offered. 
In  regard  to  this  disease,  the  greatest  scourge  of  the  red  man,  it  has  passed  through 
this  region  more  than  once,  and  was  probably  the  first  severe  blow  which  fell  upon 
the  Oregon  tribes.  Its  appearance  seems  to  have  been  before  any  direct  intercourse 
took  place  with  the  whites,  and  it  may  have  found  its  way  northward  from  Cali- 
fornia. Captains  Lewis  and  Clark  conjectured,  from  the  relations  of  the  Indians, 
and  the  apparent  age  of  individuals  marked  with  it,  that  it  had  prevailed  about 
thirty  years  before  their  arrival.  It  also  spread  with  great  virulence  in  1848.  From 
the  other,  and  no  less  sure,  destroyer  of  the  coast  tribes,  the  venereal,  the  Yakimas, 
and  generally  the  Indians  east  of  the  mountains,  are,  as  yet,  exempt.  Spirituous  ' 
liquors  have  never  been  introduced  into  their  country,  at  least  beyond  the  neigh- 
borhood of  The  Dalles." 

ST.  Michael's  MISSION  near  spokane 

From  a  manuscript  in  the  Spokane  public  library,  written  by  one  of  the  resi- 
dents at  Gonzaga  college,  we  extract  the  following: 

In  the  '60s  St.  Michael's  mission  to  the  Indians  was  founded  on  Peone  prairie, 
nine  miles  northeast  of  Spokane.  Baptiste  •  Peone  was  the  chief.  In  1 863  he 
became  a  Catholic,  and  from  that  time  till  the  winter  of  1866,  when  Father  Cataldo 
made  the  first  attempt  to  establish  a  permanent  mission  on  the  prairie,  the  converted 

Vol  I— 10 


146  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND-  EMPIRE 

chief's  home  was  the  stopping  place  of  the  missionaries  on  their  periodical  visits 
to  the  Spokane  Indians.  Father  Cataldo  having  been  assigned  to  work  among  them, 
his  first  care  was  to  procure  a  chapel  wherein  to  hold  services,  but  they  opp>osed 
him,  and  declared  that  in  the  absence  of  the  head  chief  they  could  not  assume  the 
responsibility  of  granting  his  request.  But  as  the  chief  was  not  to  return  for  some 
time,  the  Father  told  the  Indians  that  he  would  erect  a'chap>el,  and  then  if  they  did 
not  desire  to  have  it,  he  would  totally  destroy  it  at  the  end  of  three  months.  With 
some  murmurings  they  assented  to  this  proposition,  and  forthwith  Father  Cataldo 
erected  a  log  structure,  about  two  miles  from  the  present  St.  Michael's  mission. 
When  the  three  months  had  elapsed,  nearly  all  of  the  Indians  had  become  Catholic, 
and  when  Father  Cataldo  expressed  a  willingness  to  destroy  the  chapel  as  he  had 
promised,  the  new  converts,  of  a  different  mind  now,  strongly  objected,  one  of  the 
chiefs  boldly  declaring  that  if  the  head  chief  did  not  like  what  had  been  done  in 
his  absence,  he  could  go  elsewhere;  and  as  for  the  Father's  leaving,  they  would 
only  consent  to  that  upon  the  terms  that  another  be  sent  in  his  place. 

For  some  time  after  the  foundation  of  this  mission,  it  was  very  hard  to  get 
fathers  to  go  there,  as  so  much  other  work  was  to  be  done,  and  as  a  consequence 
the  Indians  grew  dissatisfied  and  went  to  the  Protestant  faith. 

In  1878  the  mission  was  moved  to  the  present  site,  about  three  miles  from 
Hillyard,  and  a  priest  sent  there  to  officiate  regularly.  There  were  about  600  in 
the  Spokane  tribe  at  that  time,  and  of  these  the  Catholics  numbered  one  half. 

The  Indians  of  this  section  used  to  gather  together  and  do  their  hunting  by 
driving  the  game  onto  Peone  prairie,  there  killing  and  portioning  it.  In  the  fall 
they  would  assemble  and  start  out  for  deer,  the  hunt  taking  about  a  month.  An 
Indian  was  placed  at  a  deer  trail,  and  if  there  were  not  enough  Indians,  they  would 
build  a  fire  in  the  trail  and  put  some  moccasins  on  the  fire  to  drive  the  deer  back. 
After  a  few  days  the  Indians  would  start  towards  the  prairie,  driving  the  deer 
before  them,  and  when  they  reached  the  prairie  there  was  great  feasting  and  re- 
joicing if  the  hunt  had  been  a  profitable  one. 

The  Indians  did  their  fishing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Spokane.  They  would 
make  two  nets,  one  considerably  higher  than  the  other,  and  stretch  these  across  the 
river,  the  higher  net  above  the  lower.  The  fish  which  they  were  after,  known  as 
the  s'chiluize  in  Indian,  never  went  backwards;  they  were  caught  in  the  space 
between  the  two  nets,  and  at  the  end  of  the  season  were  dried  and  preserved  for 
food  during  the  winter. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Nez  Perce  Indian  war.  Chief  Joseph  sent  messengers  to 
Seltis,  then  chief  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  asking  him  to  join  in  the  war  against  the 
whites.  Seltis  refused  point  blank,  and  furthermore  took  steps  to  protect  the 
whites  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  tribe.  Joseph's  men  had  raided 
some  of  the  settlements  in  the  Palouse  country,  and  Seltis,  hearing  of  this  outrage, 
immediately  gathered  together  his  men  and  set  out  to  recapture  the  towns  that 
were  said  to  be  raided,  and  then  sent  for  the  whites  that  had  taken  refuge  in  some 
of  the  neighboring  settlements  to  return  to  their  farms  and  towns,  and  he  would  pro- 
tect them  and  see  that  no  harm  came  to  them.  The  Colfax  people,  soon  after  this 
magnanimous  act  of  Seltis,  asked  him  and  his  men  to  come  to  Colfax  and  a  banquet 
would  be  given  in  his  honor.  But  the  old  chief  politely  refused,  as  he  feared  that  fire- 
water would  be  flowing,  and  it  would  not  be  good  for  his  men  to  attend.     The  chief 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  147 

was  also  great  in  other  ways,  as  he  had  been  invited  to  Washington  several  times 
by  the  presidents  of  that  day,  but  he  always  refused,  as  he  thought  it  prudent  to 
stay  with  and  protect  his  tribe  from  the  ravages  of  the  unscrupulous. 

St.  Michael's  is  no  longer  used  to  teach  the  Indian,  but  as  an  adjunct  to  Gon- 
zaga  it  furnishes  a  portion  of  the  farm  produce  used  by  that  institution,  and  gives 
a  quiet  resting  place  for  the  tired  and  overworked  fathers  and  scholastics. 

The  site  was  on  a  slight  rise  above  Chief  Peone's  camp,  and  overlooking  it  so 
that  nearly  all  parts  of  the  prairie  could  be  seen.     There  was  no  water  at  the  site, 
bat  the  Indians  furnished  all  the  necessaries  of  life,  even  while  they  were  at  outs 
irith  the  rest  of  the  whites.     The  priests  never  suflfered  for  the  lack  of  anything. 
Two  structures  were  erected  side  by  side,  one  of  them  a  small  residence  for  the 
priest,  and   the  other  a  chapel  where  services  were  held.     These  buildings  were 
destroyed  a  few  years  ago  by  fire  caught  from  a  surrounding  field.     The  old  grave- 
yard to  the  east  of  the  mission  site  still  remains,  and  the  graves  of  the  Indians  may 
be  seen.     The  practice  of  buryifig  above  the  ground  was  not  followed  after  the 
advent  of  the  mission,  and  all  the  graves  were  marked  with  crosses,  which  may  be 
seen  today.     The  graves  are  enclosed  in  little  log  huts,  with  six  or  eight  buried  in 
each  enclosure. 

Rev.  Joseph  M.  Caruana,  S.  J.,  came  in  1862.  "In  September,  1862,"  said  he, 
"I  baptized  seventeen  Indian  children  on  the  very  spot  where  now  is  located  the 
Xorthern  Pacific  depot,  then  occupied  by  a  large  Indian  camp  fishing  for  white 
salmon.  The  whole  country,  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  was  covered  with  Indian 
tepees  and  bands  of  cayuses."  In  1864  Father  Caruana  made  the  acquaintance  of 
James  Mona^han,  at  his  ferry  down  the  river,  and  about  the  same  time  of  another 
white  man,  Camille  Lanctau,  who  had  been  running  a  ferry  for  two  or  three  years, 
seven  miles  below  the  falls. 

"About  1866,"  adds  Father  Caruana,  "was  built  the  first  store  in  the  Spokane 
valley,  at  what  we  now  call  Spokane  bridge.  Of  course  that  store  was  started  and 
kfpt  by  white  people.  It  was  also  the  nearest  postoffice  we  had.  Our  previous 
postoffice  was  in  Walla  Walla." 

For  a  continuation  of  the  early-day  labors  of  Catholic  missionaries  and  priests 
the  reader  is  directed  to  the  chapter  on  "Catholic  Institutions  of  Spokane." 


Xi    L     i'L'A     ','o-'f'. 

PUbUC  LidKARY 

A»T«N,  Ltl»*X              1 

fi^^tH    Kov>NOArt«Ht      J 

k. 


±1  r^—j  \  .  *.     '    t 


CHAPTER  XVI 

GOVERNOR   STEVENS'   OVERLAND    EXPEDITION   OF    1858 

FIfiST  GOVERNOR  CLOTHED  WITH  REMARKABLE  POWERS ON  THE  SUMMIT  OF  THE  COEUR 

d'aLENES GUEST    OF    CATHOLIC    FATHERS    AT    OLD    MISSION IN     CAMP    AT    WOLf's 

LODGE QOYERNOR  OBSERVES  SPOKA^ES  AT  THEIR  DEVOTIONS FIRST  VIEW  OF  LAKE 

COEUR   D^ALENE — -MARCHING    DOWN    THE    SPOKANE    VALLEY GOVERNOR   VISITS   THE 

FALLS ^INDIAN     VILLAGE     AT    MOUTH     OF     HANGMAN     CREEK PUZZLED     BT    CHIEF 

OARRT FORCED  RIDE  TO  COLVILLE MEETS   CAPT.   GEORGE  B.  m'cLELLAN BOUNTI- 
FUL SUPPER  SERVED  BY  MRS.  m'dONALD STEAKS  COOKED  IN   BUFFALO  FAT LISTENS 

TO  TALES    OF   ADVENTURE. 

His  life  was  gentle;  and  the  elements 

So   mix'd   in   him,   that    Nature   might   stand   up^ 

And  say  to  all  the  world,  "Thia  was  a  man !" 

— Shakespeare. 

CROSSING  the  country  from  St.  Paul  to  Puget  Sound,  to  assume  office  at 
Olympia,  Isaac  I.  Stevens,  first  goveirnor  of  the  infant  territory,  looked 
upon  the  troubled  waters  at  Spokane,  October  17,  1853.  This  region  showed 
then  little  change  from  the  appearance  it  presented  to  the  fur  traders  of  the  rival 
Astor  and  Northwest  companies,  nearly  fifty,  years  before.  The  old  regime  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  company  had  all  but  disappeared,  the  Protestant  tnissionaries 
had  left  the  country  ^ve  years  before,  but  Catholic  missions  still  flourished,  and 
onder  their  tutelage  and  the  still  prevailing  influences  of  the  Protestant  workers, 
the  Indians  had  come  noticeably  under  the  sway  of  civilization  and  peace;  the. 
indnstrious  had  grown  prosperous,  and  some  of  them  men  of  relative  wealth. 

Wide  and  far-sweeping  was  the  domain  over  which  this  brave,  energetic  and  able 
soldier  came  to  rule,  comprising  the  area  now  embraced  within  the  boundaries  of 
Washington  state,  and  including  as  well  the  Panhandle  of  northern  Idaho  and  a 
Urge  section  of  western  Montana,  sweeping  eastward  to  the  summits  of  the  Rocky 
mountains. 

One  better  fitted,  by  temperament,  education  and  training,  or  by  knowledge  of 
hnnum  nature,  refined  or  savage,  to  fill  the  new  office  and  meet  its  grave  and  per- 
plexing duties.  President  Pierce  could  scarce  have  found  if  he  had  searched  the 
heart  and  soul  of  every  strong  and  able  American,  north  or  south.  Nearly  sixty 
years  have  drifted  by  since  Stevens  came  into  the  ultimate  west;  the  young  terri- 
tory has  grown  rich,  populous  and  sovereign ;  but  a  greater  man  than  Isaac  Ingalls 

149 


150  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Stevens  it  has  yet  to  produce.  Had  he  not  fallen  in  one  of  the  early  battles  of  the 
civil  war^  his  genius  might  have  swept  him  to  the  head  of  the  Union  forces ;  for  in 
bold  resolution^  in  leadership  of  men^  and  ability  to  grapple  with  dangers  and  diffi- 
culties, he,  showed  himself  vastly  the  superior  of  Captain  George  B.  McClellan  when, 
side  by  side,  they  played  their  parts  on  the  broad  stage  of  the  Pacific  northwest.  But 
Stevens  was  to  fall  in  early  action,  and  McClellan  to  command  the  Union  armies, 
and  temporize  on  the  Potomac  as  he  had  procrastinated  on  the  Columbia. 

Stevens  came  clothed  with  remarkable  powers.  Additional  to  his  governorship, 
he  commanded  a  large  and  thoroughly  equipped  expedition  to  search  out  passes  and 
routes  for  a  railroad  from  the  Mississippi  to  Puget  Sound,  and  was  empowered  to 
negotiate  treaties  with  Indian  tribes  between  the  Dakotahs  and  the  Pacific. 

"It  is  difficult,"  says  the  son.  Hazard  Stevens,  in  his  'Life  of  General  Isaac  I. 
Stevens,*  "to  realize  the  magnitude  of  the  task  here  outlined.  It  was  to  traverse 
and  explore  a  domain  2,000  miles  in  length  by  250  in  breadth,  stretching  from 
the  Mississippi  river  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  across  1,000  miles  of  arid  plains 
and  two  great  mountain  ranges,  a  region  almost  unexplored,  and  infested  by  pow- 
erful tribes  of  predatory  and  warlike  savages;  to  determine  the  navigability  of  the 
two  great  rivers,  the  Missouri  and  the  Columbia,  which  intersect  the  region;  to 
locate  by  reconnoissance  and  to  survey  a  practicable  railroad  route;  to  examine  the 
mountain  passes  and  determine  the  depth  of  winter  snow  in  them;  to  collect  all 
possible  information  on  the  geology,  climate,  flora  and  fauna,  as  well  as  the  topog- 
raphy,  of  the  region  traversed;  and  finally  to  treat  with  the  Indians  on  the  route, 
cultivate  their  friendship,  and  collect  information  as  to  their  languages,  numbers, 
customs,  traditions  and  history;  and  all  this,  including  the  work  of  preparation 
and  organization,  to  be  accomplished  in  a  single  season." 

After  months  of  scientific  labor,  Stevens  and  his  party  attained,  on  a  fair  Octo- 
l?er  day,  the  summit  of  the  Coeur  d*Alene  mountains,  and  from  those  clear  heights 
the  governor  looked  down  upon  a  large  part  of  his  imperial  domain.  In  his  official 
reports  he  has  left  a  description  of  that  scene: 

"Upon  awakening  this  morning  we  were  surprised  to  be  greeted  by  one  of  the 
loveliest  days  imaginable.  The  sky  was  clear,  and  the  air  as  soft  and  balmy  as  a 
morn  in  summer.  After  striking  camp,  we  ascended  to  the  highest  point  of  the 
ridge,  about  one  mile  and  a  half  from  camp.  Here  we  made  a  long  halt,  enjoying  the 
magnificent  view  spread  open  to  us,  which,  I  venture  to  say,  can  scarcely  be  sur- 
passed in  any  country.  Far  distant  in  the  east  the  peaks  of  the  Rocky  mountains 
loom  up  into  view,  stretched  out  to  a  great  length,  while  the  Flathead  lake  and  the 
valley  thence  to  the  Blackfoot  pass  was  plainly  visible.  Nearly  the  entire  range  of 
the  Coeur  d'Alene  mountains,  clothed  with  evergreen  forests,  with  here  and  there 
an  open  summit  covered  with  grass;  numerous  valleys  intersecting  the  country  for 
miles  around ;  courses  of  many  streams,  marked  by  the  ascending  fog,  all  conduced  to 
render  the  view  fascinating  in  the  greatest  degree  to  the  beholder.  The  mountains 
were  covered  with  luxuriant  coarse  grass.  Seated  on  this  point,  Mr.  Stanley  was 
enabled  to  transfer  this  beautiful  panorama  to  his  sketch-book. 

"Descending  the  peak  to  the  general  level  of  the  ridge,  we  continued  on  for 
nearly  six  miles,  when  the  descent  commenced,  and  in  less  than  three  miles  we 
passed  down  a  very  steep  descent  and  gained  the  base  of  the  mountains,  which  we 
estimated  rose  3,500  feet  above  it.    This  brought  us  into  a  valley  filled  with  gigantic 


OOVKKNOK  8TKVEX8  GOVERXOE^STEVEXS 

As  a  young  army  officer 


HAZARD  STEVENS 

The  Governor's  hod,  who,  as  f 

bov  of  thirteen,   tvitiiessed 

the    tp-eat    council    at 

Walla   Walla 


FRANCIS  J.  D.  WOLFF 


»* 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  151 

cedars.  The  larch^  spruce  and  vine  maple  are  found  in  today's  march  in  large 
qaantities^  the  latter  giving  a  pleasing  variety  to  the  forest  growth.  About  four 
o'clock  we  encamped  on  the  bank  of  the  stream,  which  here  grows  much  wider." 

The  expedition  was  now  on  the  headwaters  of  the  south  fork  of  the  Coeur 
d'Alene  river,  and  descending  that  valley,  the  governor,  guided  by  Antoine  Plant 
of  the  Spokane  valley,  drew  rein  late  that  evening  at  the  hospitable  doors  of  the 
Catholic  mission. 

Under  the  vigilant  eye  of  Governor  Stevens  this  extensive  government  expe- 
dition had  traversed  the  wide  prairies  of  the  Dakotahs,  crossed  over  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains, and  descended  into  our  beautiful  Inland  Empire,  without  encountering  serious 
mishap.  Perhaps  a  better  conception  of  the  character  of  the  expedition  and  the 
military  rigor  of  its  government  en  route  will  be  obtained  from  the  following  orders 
which  were  issued  early  in  the  campaign  by  Governor  Stevens: 

**The  most  careful  attention  to  animals  is  enjoined  upon  all  persons  engaged  in 
this  expedition,  and  will  be  rigidly  enforced.  The  animals  must  not  go  beyond  a 
walk,  except  in  case  of  necessity;  and  each  mounted  man  must  walk  some  four  or 
five  miles  each  day  to  rest  his  animal,  unless  it  be  impracticable,  in  consequence  of 
bis  duties.     At  halts,  men  must  dismount. 

"On  the  march  the  train  will  keep  together  as  much  as  possible;  the  speed  of 
the  wagons  will  be  regulated  by  Governor  Stevens*  ambulance  or  wagon,  or  by  the 
instrument  wagon.  The  acting  quartermaster  will  regulate  the  pace  of  the  lead- 
ing team  in  such  a  manner  that  all  other  teams  can  keep  up  without  forcing  the 
moles.  No  person  except  guides,  or  those  having  permission,  will  precede  the  train 
by  more  than  one-fourth  of  a  mile,  or  go  further  from  it  than  that  distance,  unless 
in  case  of  necessity,  or  for  the  performance  of  some  duty." 

Camp  regulations  were  embodied  in  the  following  order : 

1.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  an  escort  to  this  expedition.  Each  man  is 
escorted  by  every  other  man.  The  chiefs  of  the  scientific  corps  will,  equally  with 
the  officers  of  the  army,  act  as  officers  of  the  guard.  It  is  confidently  believed  that 
every  member  of  the  expedition  will  cheerfully  do  his  duty  in  promoting  all  the  ob- 
jects of  the  expedition,  sharing  its  toils  of  every  description. 

2.  Each  man  of  the  expedition  will  habitually  go  armed.  The  chief  of  each 
party  and  detachment  will  rigidly  inspect  arms  each  morning  and  evening.  Ex- 
cept in  extraordinary  cases  there  shall  be  no  march  on  Sunday.  On  that  day  thert 
will  be  a  thorough  inspection  of  persons  and  things.  Clothes  should  be  washed  and 
mended,  and,  if  water  can  be  found,  each  man  will  be  required  to  bathe  his  whole 
person.     This  course  is  taken  to  secure  health. 

3.  The  Indian  country  will  be  reached  in  ten  days.  There  is  no  danger  to  be 
apprehended,  except  from  the- want  of  vigilance  of  guards,  and  the  carelessness  of 
single  men.  The  chief  of  a  party  or  detachment  will  inspect  the  guard  from  time 
to  time  in  the  night,  and  report  every  case  of  inattention  to  duty. 

4.  It  will  be  the  habitual  rule  of  each  member  of  the  scientific  corps  to  take 
charge  of  his  own  horse,  and  to  take  from  and  place  in  the  wagon  his  own  personal 
ba^^ge.  As  private  servants  are  not  allowed,  the  necessity  of  this  rule  will  be 
apparent.  There  are  exceptional  cases,  however,  as  the  chief  of  a  party,  or  where 
great  labor   has   to  be   performed. 

5.  There  will  be  no  firing  of  any  description,  either  in  camp  or  on  the  march, 


152  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

except  by  the  hunters  and  guides^  and  certain  members  of  the  scientific  corps, 
without  permission  of  the  chief  of  the  expedition,  or,  in  case  of  detachments^  of  the 
officer  in  charge  of  the  detachment*. 

Leaving  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mission  on  the  morning  of  October  15,  the  expeciition 
encamped  ''in  a  beautiful  prairie,  called  the  Wolf's  Lodge,  with  good  grass."  Here 
the  governor  met  a  party  of  100  Spokanes,  with  300  horses  on  their  way  to  hunt 
buffalo  on  the  plains  beyond  the  Rocky  mountains. 

"Towards  sundo¥m  this  evening,"  wrote  Stevens,  "I  was  greatly  interested  in 
observing  our  friends,  the  Spokanes,  at  their  devotions.  A  bell  rang,  and  the  whole 
band  gathered  in  and  around  a  large  lodge  for  evening  prayers.  There  was  some- 
thing solemn  and  pathetic  in  the  evening  psalm  resounding  through  the  forests 
around  us.  This  shows  what  good  results  can  flow  from  the  labor  of  devoted  mis- 
sionaries; for  the  Spokanes  had  had  no  religious  instruction  for  the  last  five  years. 
As  I  went  down  the  river,  and  met  band  after  band  of  the  Spokanes,  I  invariably 
found  the  same  regard  for  religious  services.  Afterwards  they  came  around  my 
camp-fire  and  we  had  a  talk.  They  tell  me  that  six  days  since  Governor  Ogden  (of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  company)  and  three  gentlemen,  with  some  soldiers,  left  Walla 
Walla  for  Colville  to  meet  me.  Garry,  they  say,  is  at  his  farm,  four  miles  from  the 
Spokane  House.  I  spoke  to  them  also  with  reference  to  being  on  friendly  terms 
with  the  Coeur  d'Alenes." 

With  quick  and  prophetic  eye  Governor  Stevens  took  notice  of  the  opportuni- 
ties for  future  settlement:  ''The  country  through  which  we  have  passed  today, 
though  obstructed  with  fallen  timber,  and  rolling,  and  at  times  broken  in  surface, 
was  arable,  and  reminded  me  of  a  great  deal  of  country  that  I  have  seen  in  New 
England,  where  there  are  now  productive  farms." 

He  was  of  Massachusetts  birth,  seventh  in  descent  from  the  first  settler  at 
Andover,  and  having  been  brought  up  from  infancy  amid  New  England  sur- 
roundings, where  hard-willed  men  had  struggled  with  adverse  nature  and  come  off 
victorious  from  the  combat,  had  developed  a  peculiar  faculty  for  comprehending, 
almost  within  a  glance,  the  future  productive  possibilities  of  a  broad  region  which 
then  lay  wild  and  savagely  beautiful.  He  had  developed,  too,  a  system  of  gath- 
ering information  by  questioning  occasional  settlers,  trappers  and  missionaries,  as 
chance  gave  him  the  desired  opportunity.  He  was  ever  ready  for  a  "talk"  with 
chief  or  head  man,  and  often,  after  a  day  of  the  severest  travel,  would  eagerly  sit  up 
half  the  night  or  more  to  draw  out  the  conversational  powers  of  his  frontier  host. 
From  the  good  fathers  and  brothers  at  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mission  he  learned  that 
"the  country  intermediate  between  this  and  Clark's  fork  on  the  Pend  d'Oreille  lake 
is  arable,  well-watered,  and  not  much  intersected  by  spurs  or  ridges." 

Soon  after  leaving  camp  on  the  morning  of  the  sixteenth  the  party  came  in  view 
of  lake  Coeur  d'Alene,  shinmiering  below  them  in  the  mellow  October  sunlight,  and 
eleven  miles  from  camp  "struck  it  near  its  western  extremity."  Stevens  described 
the  lake  as  "a  beautiful  sheet  of  water  surrounded  by  picturesque  hills  mostly 
covered  with  wood.  Its  shape  is  irregular,  unlike  that  given  it  upon  the  maps.  Its 
waters  are  received  from  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river,  which  runs  through  it.  Below 
the  lake  the  river  is  not  easily  navigable,  there  being  many  rapids,  and  in  numerous 
instances  it  widens  greatly  and  runs  sluggishly  through  a  shallow  channel.  Above 
the  lake  I  am  informed  by  the  missionaries  that  it  is  navigable  nearly  to  the  mis- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  153 

sion.    Upon  the  eastern  side  appears  a  range  of  hills,  along  the  eastern  base  of  which 
I  think  the  road  from  the  mission  to  Walla  Walla  passes." 

Leaving  the  lake,  at  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Coeur  d'Alene,  the  expedition 
followed  down  the  Spokane  river  on  its  northern  bank,  passing  a  camp  of  Coeur 
d'Alenes  occupied  with  their  trout  fisheries. 

When  Governor  Stevens  entered  the  country,  the  Spokane  river,  from  the  lake 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Spokane,  still  bore  the  fur  traders'  designation,  the 
Coenr  d'Alene,  and  the  Spokane  valley  was  called  the  Coeur  d'Alene  prairie.  The 
broad  region  sweeping  westward  from  the  falls  to  the  Columbia,  bearing  the  present 
day  designation  of  the  Big  Bend  country,  was  then  termed  the  Spokane  plains. 

Passing  on  down  the  valley,  the  party  "witnessed  a  touching  sight,  a  daughter 
administering  to  her  dying  father;"  and  still  keeping  through  open  woods,  "on  a 
most  excellent  road,  in  two  miles  further  came  to  the  Coeur  d'Alene  prairie,  a 
beautiful  tract  of  land  containing  several  hundred  square  miles.  Trap  rock,  pro- 
jecting above  the  surface  of  the  ground,  borders  the  river  as  we  enter  the  prairie." 
Continuing  on,  they  met  a  half  breed,  Francis  Finlay,  on  his  way  from  his  home 
at  Colville  to  the  Bitter  Root  valley  with  his  family,  "among  whom  we  saw  his 
pretty  half-breed  daughter."  They  impressed  the  governor  as  being  well  dressed 
and  presenting  "a  very  respectable  appearance." 

Three  miles  before  reaching  the  night's  encampment,  they  met  a  party  of  Spo- 
kaues  who  informed  them  that  Chief  Garry  was  at  his  farm  and  was  holding  there 
»me  of  the  horses  that  had  been  left  with  him  by  Lieutenant  Saxton,  who  had  come 
in  from  the  Columbia  river  to  join  the  main  expedition  in  the  interior. 

Leaving  camp,  the  governor,  accompanied  by  Antoine  the  guide,  Osgood  and 
the  artist  Stanley,  "turned  from  the  trail  to  visit  the  falls  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
river  (the  Spokane),  while  Lavette  took  the  train  ahead  on  the  trail  to  the  Spokane 
House.  There  are  two  principal  falls,"  reported  Stevens,  "one  of  twenty  feet 
and  the  other  of  from  ten  to  twelve  feet ;  in  the  latter  there  being  a  perpendicular 
faU  of  seven  or  eight  feet ;  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  the  descent  is  rapid,  over  a  rough 
bed  of  rocks,  and  in  this  distance  we  estimate  a  fall  of  90  to  100  feet,"  rather  an 
onder-estimate,  both  of  the  main  falls  and  of  the  total  descent  of  the  river. 

One  mile  below  the  falls,  at  the  mouth  of  Hangman  creek,  the  governor  found  a 
small  Indian  village  whose  inhabitants  were  catching  salmon.  He  "noticed  one 
large  woman^  who  seemed  to  pride  herself  upon  her  person,  which  she  took  pains  to 
set  off  in  the  most  becoming  manner,  by  means  of  a  blanket  wrapped  around  her." 
The  road  from  Hangman  creek  to  Spokane  House,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Little 
Spokane,  was  described  as  passing  over  "a  sandy  prairie  interspersed  with  groves 
of  pine.  Crossing  a  dividing  ridge  with  high  and  steep  banks,  we  came  into  the 
prairie  in  which  the  Spokane  House  is  situated,  in  which  were  two  Spokane  villages. 
We  inquired  for  Garry,  and  I  sent  him  a  request  that  he  would  visit  me  at  my  camp. 
The  train  we  found  a  mile  below  the  junction,  across  the  Spokane.  The  Indians 
indicating  a  good  camp  some  distance  beyond,  we  moved  on  eight  and  a  half  miles  to 
it,  which  we  reached  half  an  hour  before  sundown.  Here  there  was  good  grass  and 
plenty  of  water,  and  we  soon  made  up  a  large  campfire."  • 

After  arranging  matters  in  camp,  the  governor  observed,  after  nightfall,  a  fire 
down  the  river,  "and  strolling  down  to  the  place  came  upon  a  camp  of  Spokane 
Indians,  and  found  them  engaged  in  religious  services,  which  I  was  glad  of  the 


154  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

opportunity  to  witness.  I'here  were  three  or  four  men,  as  many  women,  and  half 
a  dozen  children.  Their  exercises  were:  1,  address;  2,  Lord's  prayer;  3,  psalms; 
4,  benediction;  and  were  conducted  with  great  solemnity." 

In  its  work  of  exploring  routes  for  a  transcontinental  railroad,  the  United  States 
government  had  adopted  the  plan  applied  more  than  forty  years  before  by  John 
Jacob  Astor  in  his  bold  'enterprise  of  founding  on  the  northwest  coast  of  America 
his  Pacific  Fur  company,  namely,  of  sending  one  expedition  overland  and  a  second 
by  sea,  around  Cape  Horn  and  into  the  Columbia  river.  On  Governor  Stevens' 
request,  command  of  the  water  expedition  had  been  entrusted  to  Captain  George 
B.  McClellan.  "As  the  route  was  new  and  comparatively  unexplored,"  says  Stevens, 
"it  was  determined  to  organize  the  whole  command  into  two  divisions — the  eastern 
division  being  under  my  immediate  direction,  and  the  western  division  under  Captain 
George  B.  McClellan,  of  the  corps  of  engineers,  who  was  ordered  to  report  to  me, 
and  whose  field  of  duty  is  best  shown  by  the  following  extract  from  the  general 
instructions:  *A  second  party  will  proceed  at  once  to  Puget  Sound  and  explore  the 
passes  of  the  Cascade  range,  meeting  the  eastern  party  between  that  range  and  the 
Rocky  mountains,  as  may  be  arranged  by  Governor  Stevens.'  " 

Stevens  had  reason  to  believe  that  McClellan's  party  was  somewhere  in  the 
interior,  and  his  object  now  was  to  consolidate  the  two  parties  and  plan  out  the  fur- 
ther work  of  exploration.  Garry  and  a  number  of  other  Spokanes  came  in  that  even- 
ing and  "gave  rumors  of  a  large  party  having  arrived  opposite  Colville ;  also  of  a 
small  party  having  gone  from  Walla  Walla  to  Colville."  There  was  also  a  repwrt  of 
the  arrival  of  a  party,  at  Walla  Walla  from  the  mountains.  The  governor  was  further 
informed  that  an  old  man  had  just  come  from  the  Yakima  valley  in  four  days,  bring- 
ing news  of  a  party  operating  in  that  vicinity,  towards  Colville.  "I  can  not  learn," 
wrote  Stevens,  "whether  the  party  is  under  Captain  McClellan  or  one  of  his  officers. 
The  Indians  confirm  the  intelligence  given  by  the  Cayuse  Indians  at  the  Coeur 
d'Alene  mission,  that  thirty  wagons  have  crossed  the  Cascades  by  the  military  road, 
but  rumors  vary  as  to  their  success  in  getting  through." 

The  governor  was  puzzled  by  Chief  Garry's  apparent  lack  of  candor.  "Garry," 
he  wrote  from  the  field,  "was  educated  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  at  Red  river, 
where  he  lived  four  years,  with  six  other  Indians  from  this  vicinity,  all  of  whom 
are  now  dead.  He  speaks  English  and  French  well,  and  we  have  had  a  long  con- 
versation this  evening;  but  he  is  not  frank,  and  I  do  not  understand  him."  Stevens' 
first  measure  of  the  Spokane  chief  squares  with  the  judgment  of  James  N.  Glover, 
who  considered  him  "an  old  skulker."  In  justice,  however,  to  the  memory  of  the 
aged  chieftain,  who  lies  buried  in  Greenwood  cemetery,  we  add  that  Stevens  later 
readjusted  his  first  estimate  and  learned  to  place  much  confidence  in  Garry's  sin- 
cerity and  ability.  The  chief  was  then  cultivating  an  extensive  field ;  he  had  learned 
farming  from  Elkanah  Walker,  the  protestant  missionary  who  labored  among  the 
Spokanes  for  nearly  ten  years,  and  had  a  good  crop  of  wheat  when  Governor  Stev- 
ens came  into  his  country,  and  was  going  to  Colville  the  next  day  to  have  some  of 
it  ground  at  the  old  Hudson's  Bay  mill. ' 

Stevens  resolved  to  push  on  to  Colville,  and  at  half  past  eight  the  next  morn- 
ing broke  camp  and  started  north.  On  the  way  there  they  were  joined  by  an  old 
Indian  from  the  Yakima  country,  who  had  been  directed  by  Garry  to  meet  the  gov- 
ernor and  impart  further  information  concerning  the  party  of  white  men  he  had 


i. 


L 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  E^IPIRE  155 

seen  beyond  the  Columbia  river.  The  old  man  stated  that  a  large  party  had  reaehea 
the  bank  of  the  river  opposite  Colville  the  day  before.  "I  was  satisfied  from  his 
accounts,"  says  Stevens,  "that  the  party  was  McClellan's,  and  accordingly  deter- 
mined on  going  to  Colville  tonight.  Antoine  has  horses  half  way.  We  rested  until 
2  o'clock  and  then  set  out,  Antoine  and  myself  pushing  ahead  of  the  train.  We 
met  Antoine's  family  encamped  in  a  fine  prairie,  with  whom  Antoine  remained,  send- 
ing his  brother-in-law  on  with  us  as  a  guide." 

At  a  point  twenty-eight  miles  from  Colville  the  governor  was  told  that  he  could 
not  complete  the  journey  that  day,  as  it  was  growing  late  and  parts  of  the  road 
were  bad,  "but  being  determined  to  do  so  we  pushed  on  and  reached  Brown's  at 
5:45,  who  informed  us  that  the  distance  to  Colville  was  eighteen  miles.  After  par- 
taking of  some  bread  and  milk,  we  resumed  the  road  with  the  same  animals,  dash- 
ing off  at  full  speed,  going  eight  or  nine  miles  an  hour  most  of  the  way,  and  reached 
Colville  at  nine  o'clock.  Mr.  McDonald,  the  trader  in  charge,  gave  me  a  most 
hospitable  reception  and  addressed  a  note  to  McClellan,  who  had  just  gone  to  his 
camp  near  by,  informing  him  of  my  arrival.  McClellan  came  up  immediately,  and 
though  I  was  fairly  worn  out  with  the  severity  of  the  ride,  we  sat  up  till  one 
o'clock.  At  11  we  sat  down  to  a  nice  supper  prepared  by  Mrs.  McDonald  and 
regaled  ourselves  with  steaks  cooked  in  buffalo  fat,  giving  them  the  flavor  of  buf- 
falo meat.     I  retired  exhausted  with  the  fatigues  of  the  day." 

"During  our  stay  at  Colville,"  wrote  Stevens,  "we  visited  McDonald's  camp. 
Near  it  there  is  a  mission,  under  Fere  Lewis,  whom  we  visited.  The  Indians  about 
the  mission  are  well  disposed  and  religious.  In  the  evening  we  listened  to  the 
thrilling  stories  and  exciting  legends  of  McDonald,  with  which  his  memory  seems  to 
be  weU  stored.  He  says  intelligence  had  reached  him  through  the  Blackfeet  of 
the  coming  of  my  party ;  that  the  Blackfeet  gave  most  singular  accounts  of  every- 
thing connected  with  us.  For  instance,  they  Said '  that  our  horses  had  claws  like 
the  grizzly  bear ;  they  climbed  up  the  *steep  rocks  and  held  on  by  their  claws ;  that 
their  necks  were  like  the  new  moon ;  and  that  their  neighing  was  like  the  sound  of 
distant  thunder.  McDonald  has,  of  course,  given  a  free  translation  of  the  reports 
made  by  Indians. 

"We  listened  to  his  accounts  of  his  own  thrilling  adventures  of  his  mountain  life, 
and  a  description  of  an  encounter  with  a  party  of  Blackfeet  is  well  worth  relating. 
At  the  head  of  a  party  of  three  or  four  men  he  was  met  by  a  band  of  these  Indians, 
who  showed  evidences  of  hostility.  By  signs  he  requested  the  chief  of  the  Black- 
feet to  advance  and  meet  him,  both  being  unarmed.  When  the  chief  assented  and 
met  him  half  way  between  the  two  parties,  McDonald  caught  him  by  the  hair  of 
the  head,  and,  holding  him  firmly,  exacted  from  the  remaining  Indians  promises  to 
give  up  their  arms,  which  they  accordingly  did,  and  passed  on  peacably.  He  has 
lived  here  many  years,  and  is  an  upright,  intelligent,  manly  and  energetic  man." 


CHAPTER  XVII 

FROM  SPOKANE  TO  WALLA  WALLA  AND  VANCOUVER 

m'cLELLAN    procrastinates    on    the    COLUMBIA    AND    IN    THE    CASCADES HAD    LITTLE 

FAITH  IN   THE    COUNTRY STEVENS   ASSEMBLES   HIS   PARTY   IN    CAMP   WASHINGTON 

CHEERED   BY    A   KEQ   OF    COGNAC VISITS   OLD   MISSION    ON    WALKER's    PRAIRIE COL- 

VILLE  VALLEY   SETTLERS   SEEK    NATURALIZATION FIELD   CAPITAL    NEAR   SPOKANE 

FEASTING    IN     CAMP     WASHINGTON BEEF    HEAD,    TEXAS    FASHION ARMY    OFFICERS 

SHRINK   FROM    WINTER   SERVICE GARRY   TELLS   STEVENS   OF   INDIAN    MYTHS ACROSS 

THE    PALOUSE    COUNTRY FINE    POTATOES    IN    WALLA    WALLA    VALLEY TRIBUTE    TO 

MARCUS  WHITMAN DOWN    THE    COLUMBIA    IN    A    CANOE GUEST   AT   VANCOUVER    OF 

CAPTAIN    BONNEVILLE. 

McCLELLAN  had  been  only  measurably  successful  with  his  end  of  the  work. 
He  had  arrived  at  Vancouver,  on  the  Columbia  on  the  27th  of  June,  but 
with  characteristic  disinclination  to  move  until  every  detail  of  equipment 
and  preparation  was  worked  out,  he  did  not  put  his  party  in  motion  till  July  18, 
and  then  to  find,  before  he  had  penetrated  the  Cascade  mountains  a  great  distance, 
that  his  thoroughness  of  preparation  was  but  a  handicap,  as  he  had  organized  a 
larger  exi>edition  than  he  could  expeditiously  move  through  a  tangled  and  broken 
mountain  region.  Unable  to  penetrate  the  western  slopes  of  the  Cascades  with  his 
unwieldly  expedition,  he  directed  his  efforts  east  of  the  Cascades,  where  the  country 
was  more  open,  and  by  means  of  detachments  had  gleaned  a  pretty  fair  knowledge 
of  the  passes  as  far  north  as  the  Methow.  McClellan's  report  on  the  character  of 
the  prairie  country  between  the  Columbia  river  and  Spokane  was  based  on  long 
range  observation.  From  the  summit  of  a  high  ridge  separating  the  waters  of  the 
Yakima  and  the  Wenatchee  he  obtained  a  view  which  he  described  most  drearily: 

"That  portion  of  the  Cascade  range  which  crosses  the  Columbia  sinks  into  an 
elevated  plateau,  which  extends  as  far  as  the  limit  of  vision  to  the  eastward;  this 
is  the  Spokane  Plain.  On  it  we  could  see  no  indication  of  water,  not  a  single  tree ; 
and  except  on  the  mountain  spur,  not  one  spot  of  verdure.  It  was  of  a  dead,  yel- 
lowish hue,  with  large  clouds  of  black  blending  into  the  yellowish  tinge,  and 
appeared  to  be  a  sage  desert,  with  a  scanty  growth  of  dry  bunch-grass,  and  fre- 
<iuent  outcroppings  of  basalt." 

"McClellan,  as  appears  from  his  report,"  says  Hazard  Stevens  in  the  biography 
of  his  father,  "took  a  decidedly  unfavorable  opinion  of  the  country,  and  of  a  rail- 
road route  across  the  Cascades.  He  declared  in  substance  that  the  Columbia  river 
pass  was  the  only  one  worth  considering,  that  there  was  no  pass  whatever  north  of 

157 


158  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

it  except  the  Snoqualmie  pass^  and  gave  it  as  his  firm  and  settled  opinion  that  the 
snow  in  winter  was  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  deep  in  that  pass. 

"His  examination  of  the  pass  was  a  very  hasty  and  cursory  one,  with  no  other 
instruments  than  a  compass  and  a  barometer,  and  extended  only  three  miles  across 
the  summit.  His  only  information  as  to  the  depth  of  winter  snow  was  the  reports 
of  Indians,  and  the  marks  of  snow  on  the  trees,  or  what  he  took  to  be  such.  Thus 
the  most  important  point,  the  real  problem  of  the  field  of  exploration  entrusted  to 
him,  namely,  the  existence  and  character  of  the  Cascade  passes,  he  failed  to  deter- 
mine. He  failed  utterly  to  respond  to  Governor  Stevens*  earnest  an3  manly  exhor- 
tation, *We  must  not  be  frightened  with  long  tunnels,  or  enormous  snows,  but  set 
ourselves  to  work  to  overcome  them.'  He  manifested  the  same  dilatoriness  in  prep- 
aration and  moving,  the  same  timidity  in  action,  the  same  magnifying  of  difficulties, 
that  later  marked  and  ruined  his  career  as  an  army  commander. 

"Two  railroads  now  cross  the  range  which  he  examined — the  Northern  Pacific, 
by  a  pass  just  south  of  the  Snoqualmie  and  north  of  the  Nahchess,  the  very  place  of 
which  McClellan  reported  that  *there  certainly  is  none  between  this  (the  Snoqual- 
mie) and  the  Nahchess  pass ;'  and  the  Great  Northern,  by  a  pass  at  the  head  of  the 
Wenatchee  or  Pisquouse  river,  of  which  stream  he  declared,  'It  appears  certain  that 
there  can  be  no  pass  at  its  head  for  a  road.'  The  snows  he  so  much  exaggerated 
have  proved  no  obstacle,  and  in  fact  have  actually  caused  less  trouble  and  obstruc- 
tion in  these  passes  than  in  the  Columbia  pass  itself." 

Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  Snoqualmie  pass  has  been  appropriated  by 
the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul,  and  R.  E.  Strahorn's  North  Coast  system 
has  found  an  excellent  pass  farther  to  the  south,  and  following  closely,  in  fact,  the 
line  of  march  followed  by  McClellan  between  Vancouver  and  the  valley  of  the 
Yakima. 

Hazard  Stevens  adds  that  one  of  the  lines  of  the  Northern  Pacific  (the  Mullan 
branch  from  Missoula)  now  crosses  the  Coeur  d'Alene  pass  on  Governor  Stevens* 
route,  to  the  vicinity  of  the  mission,  running  thence  south  of  Coeur  d'Alene  lake  to 
Spokane. 

Describing  the  valley  of  the  Columbia,  McClellan  wrote: 

"Through  a  valley  of  about  a  mile  in  breadth,  in. which  not  a  tree  is  to  be  seen 
and  seldom  even  a  bush,  and  which  is  bordered  by  steep  walls  of  trap,  lava  and 
sandstone,  often  arranged  in  a  succession  of  high  plateaux  or  steps,  the  deep  blue 
water  of  the  Columbia  flows  with  a  rapid,  powerful  current.  It  is  the  only  lifelike 
object  in  the  desert."  "The  character  of  the  valley  is  much  the  same  as  far  as  Fort 
Okinakane.  It  occasionally  widens  out  slightly,  again  it  is  narrowed  by  the  moun- 
tains pressing  in.  Sometimes  the  trail  passes  over  the  lower  bottom,  at  others  ele- 
vated and  extensive  terraces,  and  in  a  few  places  over  dangerous  points  in  the 
mountains." 

McClellan  measured  the  stream  just  above  the  mouth  of  the  Wenatchee,  (then 
called  the  Pisquouse)  and  found  it  371  yards  wide  in  September.  Fifteen  miles 
further  up  it  was  829  yards  wide. 

"It  will  be  seen,"  reported  Stevens,  "that  though  a  very  fine  examination  had 
been  made  of  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Cascades,  no  line  had  been  run  by  Captain 
McClellan  to  Puget  Sound,  and  I  deemed  it  of  the  greatest  consequence  to  carry 
through  such  a  line,  so  that  we  could  speak  with  positiveness  and  certainty  of  the 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  159 

grades  on  the  western  sides^  and  the  other  facts  bearing  upon  the  question  of  rail- 
road practicability.  Captain  McClellan  was  of  opinion  that  it  was  possible  to 
carry  such  a  line  through  at  this  season  of  the  year^  although  he  apprehended  that 
some  difSculty  might  be  found  from  the  presence  of  snow/' 

Governor  Stevens  resolved  to  assemble  the  whole  party  in  a  camp  south  of  the 
Spokane  river^  and  "then  to  arrange  parties  so  as  to  move  to  the  Sound  and  the 
lower  Columbia  river  in  such  a  way  as  would  give  the  best  additional  knowledge  of 
the  country."  Chief  Garry,  having  come  in  with  his  wheat,  was  dispatched  with  a 
letter  to  Lieutenant  Donelson  relative  to  the  place  of  rendezvous.  Stevens  decided 
to  remain  at  Colville  another  day,  and  to  leave  October  20  for  the  concentration 
camp,  "a  valley  south  of  the  Spokane  river,  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  south  of  the 
Spokane  House.  This  spot,"  explained  Stevens,  "is  only  a  short  distance  off  the  trail 
leading  from  Walker  and  Eells'  mission  to  Walla  Walla." 

When  the  party  moved  off  the  following  morning,  Trader  McDonald  presented 
the  governor  with  "a  keg  of  cognac  to  cheer  the  hearts  of  the  members  of  all  par- 
ties, and  obliged  us  also  to  take  a  supply  of  port  wine."  On  the  way  to  the  evening 
camp  they  passed  McDonald's  grist  mill  "on  Mill  river,  the  only  one  in  the  neigh- 
borhood." McDonald  kept  them  company,  and  that  night  they  enjoyed  a  "glorious 
supper  of  smoking  steaks  and  hot  cakes,  and  the  stories  added  to  the  relish  with 
which  it  was  eaten."  McDonald  was  a  born  raconteur,  and  as  they  sat  around  the 
flaring  campfire  charmed  them  "with  a  recital  of  his  thrilling  adventures,  and 
expressed  much  regret  that  the  expected  arrival  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  express  from 
Canada  obliged  him  to  return  the  next  morning." 

From  Stevens*  journal:  October  22. — We  got  off  early,  and  at  Brown's  stopped 
to  purchase  horses,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining  two,  one  for  McClellan  and  the 
other  for  myself.  McDonald  accompanied  me  some  distance  further,  when,  bid- 
ding each  other  adieu,  I  pushed  ahead,  and  reaching  a  small  stream  I  found  that 
MeClellan's  party  had  taken  the  left  bank,  and  that  the  captain,  who  came  up 
afterwards  with  Mr.  Stanley,  had  gone  on  to  join  them.  We  took  the  right,  and 
thus  avoided  a  bad  crossing  in  which  MeClellan's  party  became  involved.  We 
encamped  upon  the  borders  of  the  stream.  Our  train  is  now  larger  and  more 
heavily  laden  than  before,  in  consequence  of  the  increased  supplies.  Today  we 
have  thirteen  packs.  At  night  we  killed  a  cow,  purchased  of  Brown,  and  we 
still  have  an  ox  in  reserve,  to  be  killed  when  we  meet  Donelson.  I  may  say  here 
that  two  pounds  of  beef  and  half  pound  of  flour  per  man  is  not  too  much  for  a 
day's  allowance. 

October  23. — Snow  is  falling  this  morning,  and  it  has  cleaned  our  beef  ad- 
mirably. I  received  a  note  from  McClellan,  just  after  starting  out,  saying  that  in 
consequence  of  yesterday's  difficulty  with  the  train  he  thought  that  he  had  better 
remain  with  his  own  train.  He  afterwards,  at  my  request,  joined  me,  leaving  the 
train  under  the  charge  of  Duncan.  We  journeyed  but  ten  miles,  encamping  near 
where  we  had  seen  Antoine's  family  in  going  to  Colville.  The  snow  ceased  falling 
about  noon,  with  five  inches  ujK)n  the  ground.  It  is  light,  and  we  think  it  will 
disappear  in  a  few  days.  The  Indians  inform  me  that  we  shall  not  probably  find 
it  south  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river ;  and  from  their  statements  it  would  seem  that 
this  river  is  a  dividing  line  as  regards  climate. 

October    24. — We    started    this    morning    with    the    intention    of   reaching   the 


160  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

appointed  place  of  meeting  tonight.    McClellan^  Minter,  Osgood^  Stanley  and  my- 
self pushed  ahead,  and  at  noon  we  reached  the  old  Chemakane  mission,  so  called 
from  a  spring  of  that  name  near  by.    The  mission  was  occupied  by  Messrs.  Walker 
and  Eells,  but  in  1849,  in  consequence  of  the  Cayuse  difficulties,  it  was  abandoned. 
These  gentlemen  labored  ardently  for  the  good  of  the  Indians.    Walker  was  a  good 
farmer  and  taught  them  agriculture,  and  by  them  his  name  is  now  mentioned  with 
great  respect.     The  house  occupied  by  Walker  is  still  standing,  but  that  of  Eells 
has  been  burned  down.     The  site  of  the  mission  is  hve  miles  from  the  Spokane 
river,  in  an  extensive  open  valley,  well  watered  and  very  rich.     Here  we  met  Garry 
and  some  200  Spokanes.     Garry  has  forwarded  the  letter  to  Donelson,  but  had 
received  no  intelligence  of  his  arrival  in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  plain.     We  therefore 
concluded  to  encamp  here,  and  tomorrow  McClellan  and  myself  are  to  accompiany 
Garry  to  the  Spokane  House.     The  route  by  Walker  and  Eells*  mission  to  Colville 
united  with  that  taken  by  us  twelve  or  fourteen  miles  from  the  mission.     It  is  a 
better  route,  affording  good  grazing  during  the  whole  distance.     The  Colville  or 
Slawntehus  and  Chemakane  valleys  have  productive  soil,  and  are  from  one  to  three 
miles  wide,  and  bordered  by  low  hills,  covered  with  larch,  pine  and  spruce,  having 
also  a  productive  soil,  which  gradually  become  broken  and  lower  towards  the  south. 
In  the  evening  the  Indians  clustered  around  our  fire,  and  manifested  much  pleasure 
in  our  treatment  of  them.     Gibbs  was  indefatigable  in  collecting  information  in 
regard  to  these  Indians.     I  have  now  seen  a  great  deal  of  Garry  and  am  much 
pleased  with  him.     Beneath  a  quiet  exterior  he  shows  himself  to  be  a  man  of  judg- 
ment, forecast  and  great  reliability,  and  I  could  see  in  my  interview  with  his  band 
the  ascendency  he  possesses  over  them.     Near  the  mission  lives  Solomon  Pelter,  a 
settler,  who,  by  Garry's  permission,  has  taken  up  his  abode  in  this  valley.     I  told 
Pelter,  in  reply  to  his  request  to  be  permitted  to  remain  here,  that  though  I  had  no 
power  to  authorize  him,  yet  I  could  see  no  objection  to  his  so  doing;  that  I  looked 
with  favor   upon   it,  and  requested   him  to   have  an   eye  to  the  interests  of  the 
Indians. 

"I  should  have  mentioned,  in  its  proper  place,  that  in  Colville  valley  there  is  a 
line  of  settlements  twenty-eight  miles  long.  The  settlers  are  persons  formerly  con- 
nected with  the  Hudson's  Bay  company,  and  they  are  anxious  to  become  naturalized, 
and  have  the  lands  they  now  occupy  transferred  to  themselves.  I  informed  them 
that  I  could  only  express  my  hopes  that  their  case  would  be  met  by  the  passage  of 
a  special  act.     They  are  extensive  farmers  and  raise  a  great  deal  of  wheat." 

Governor  Stevens  and  Captain  McClellan,  guided  by  Chief  Garry,  went  on  to 
Spokane  House  the  following  morning.  Garry's  family  they  found  occupying  a 
comfortable  lodge,  and  Garry  informed  them  that  he  always  had  on  hand  flour, 
sugar  and  coffee,  with  which  he  could  make  his  friends  comfortable.  "We  then 
went  to  our  new  camp  south  of  the  Spokane,  which  had  been  established  while  we 
were  visiting  Garry's  place.  From  the  Chemakane  mission  the  train  left  the  river, 
and  passing  through  a  rolling  country  covered  with  open  pine  woods,  in  ^ve  miles 
reached  the  SpK)kane,  and  crossing  it  by  a  good  and  winding  ford,  ascended  the 
plain,  and  in  six  miles,  the  first  two  of  which  was  through  open  pine,  reached  Camp 
Washington." 

To  Secretary  W.  H.  Gilstrap  of  the  State  Historical  society  I  am  indebted  for 
interesting  details  regarding  the  location,  after  a  lapse  of  fifty  years,  of  the  site  of 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  161 

Camp  Washington.  A  distant  relative  of  the  secretary,  Owen  B.  Gilstrap,  informed 
him  that  in  plowing  he  had  unearthed  an  old  musket,  a  rusted  sword  and  other 
warlike  implements,  and  expressed  a  belief  that  his  homestead,  near  Four  Mound 
prairie,  had  been  the  scene  of  an  Indian  battle.  Secretary  Gilstrap  replied  that 
while  the  find  was  a  most  interesting  one,  it  could  hardly  mark  a  battleground, 
for  the  site  lay  north  of  Wright's  line  of  fighting  in  the  war  of  1858,  and  history 
afforded  no  evidence  of  any  other  engagement  between  whites  and  Indians  in  that 
Ticinity. 

Secretary  Gilstrap  surmised  that  the  relics  might  have  connection  with  Gov- 
ernor Stevens*  movements  in  this  section,  and  a  rereading  of  the  official  reports 
seemed  to  confirm  his  belief.  He  discovered  in  the  governor's  reports  a  detailed 
description  of  his  operations  in  the  Spokane  country  in  1853,  and  learned  that 
the  party,  after  leaving  the  Spokane  House,  at  the  junction  of  the  Spokane  and 
Little  SpK>kane  rivers,  had  traveled  six  miles  and  halted  at  a  spot  which  afforded 
good  grass  and  water.  The  old  route  was  followed,  and  at  a  distance  of  six 
miles  a  glade  was  found  in  the  pine  woods;  in  it  a  spring  which  formed  a  little 
lake  of  two  acres,  and  surrounded  by  a  small  meadow.  No  other  spot  in  the 
vicinity  met  the  description,  but  Mr.  Gilstrap,  in  the  true  spirit  of  historical  re- 
search, was  careful  not  to  jump  at  a  conclusion,  and  induced  "Curly  Jim/'  an  aged 
Spokane  who  was  a  youth  when  Stevens  entered  this  country,  to  accompany  him 
to  the  scene.  The  aged  Indian  retained  a  keen  recollection  of  the  incidents  de- 
scribed by  Stevens,  and  pointed  out  the  exact  site  of  historic  Camp  Washington. 

"I  believe  the  people  of  Spokane  county  can  justly  make  the  claim  that  within 
their  borders  was  consummated  the  organization  of  the  new  conunonwealth,"  said  Mr. 
Gilstrap  in  a  recent  conversation  with  the  author;  "and  in  a  sense 
this  historic  site  of  Camp  Washington  was  the  first  capital  of  the  territory. 
For  here  Governor  Stevens  relinquished  his  duties  as  explorer  and  searcher  out 
of  routes  for  future  railroads,  and  entered  upon  his  duties  under  the  president's 
commission    as   governor." 

Mr.  Gilstrap  has  also  an  interesting  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  name  "Four 
Mound."  At  a  point  not  distant  from  Stevens*  camp  four  large  natural  stone  monu- 
ments stand  out  against  the,  surrounding  landscape,  and  on  the  largest  of  these  Indian 
hands  erected  nearly  a  century  ago  four  cairns  of  broken  rock.  These  remain  today. 
Aged  Indians  preserve  a  tradition  that  Camp  Washington  was  a  rendezvous  for 
trappers  and  traders  prior  to  the  coming  of  Governor  Stevens.  From  time  imme- 
morial the  place  had  been  a  natural  gathering  place  by  reason  of  the  advantages 
which  prompted  Stevens  to  choose  it  for  his  camp' — its  abundance  of  grass  and 
water;  and  while  it  was  six  miles  distant  from  the  trading  post  at  Spokane  House, 
it  appears  that  the  traders  frequently  transported  a  part  of  their  wares  there 
and  exchanged  them  for  furs  brought  in  by  Indian  hunters.  Even  today  the  old 
Indian  trails,  worn  deep  in  places  by  the  passing  of  many  feet,  are  still  in  evi- 
dence, having  survived  the  winter  snows  and  summer  rains  of  more  than  half  a 
century. 

When  Governor  Stevens  entered  the  new  territory  of  Washington,  the  Hudson's 
Bay  company  still  maintained  trading  posts  at  Colville,  Walla  Walla,  Vancouver 
and  Steilacoom,  near  Tacoma,  but  its  oldtime  autocratic  $way  was  tottering  to  a 
fall.    It  still  asserted  extensive  though  ill  defined  rights,  and  its  officers  were  most 


162  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

anxious  to  cultivate  the  friendship  and  good  will  of  the  first  governor.  With  far- 
seeing  political  vision^  Stevens  anticipated  the  seductive  influences  that  would  be 
extended  towards  himself  and  other  members  of  the  expedition,  and  in  his  instruc- 
tions to  Captain  McClellan  and  others  was  explicit  and  emphatic: 

"I  am  exceedingly  desirous  (he  wrote)  that  no  exertion  should  be  spared  to  have 
means  of  our  own  for  our  expedition,  and  shall  much  prefer  to  be  in  condition  to 
extend  aid  than  to  be  obliged  to  receive  aid  from  others.  Whilst  we  will  gratefully 
receive  aid  from  the  company  in  case  of  necessity,  let  it  be  our  determination  to 
have  within  ourselves  the  means  of  the  most  complete  efficacy.  I  am  more  and  more 
convinced  that  in  our  operations  we  should  be  self-dependent,  and  whilst  we  ex- 
change courtesies  and  hospitalities  with  the  Hudson's  Bay  company,  the  people 
and  the  Indians  of  the  Territory  should  see  that  we  have  all  the  elements  of  success 
in  our  hands.  The  Indians  must  look  to  us  for  protection  and  counsel.  They  must 
see  that  we  are  their  true  friends,  and  be  taught  not  to  look,  as  they  have  been 
accustomed  to,  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  company.  I  am  so  impressed  with  this  fact 
that  I  wish  no  Indian  presents  to  be  procured  from  British  posts.  I  am  determined, 
in  my  intercourse  with  the  Indians,  to  break  up  the  ascendency  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  company,  and  permit  no  authority  or  sanction  to  come  between  the  Indians 
and  the  officers  of  this  government." 

For  ^ve  days  the  expedition  remained  in  Camp  Washington,  making  arrange- 
ments to  move  westward.  Lieutenant  Donelson  came  in  with  his  detachment  on 
the  28th,  "and  soon  we  all  sat  down  to  a  fine  supper  prepared  for  the  occasion," 
wrote  Governor  Stevens.  "All  the  members  of  the  expedition  were  in  fine  spirits; 
our  table  was  spread  under  a  canopy,  and  ufN)n  it  a  great  variety  of  dishes  ap- 
peared— roasted  beef,  bouilli,  steaks,  and  abundance  of  hot  bread,  coffee,  sugar,  and 
our  friend  McDonald's  good  cheer."  Probably  so  great  a  feast  had  not  been  spread 
in  the  country  since  the  regale  days  of  forty  years  agone,  when  trader,  trapper  and 
voyageur  cheered  their  hearts  with  creature  comforts  on  some  great  feast  day  of 
the  church  of  Rome. 

"But  the  best  dish,"  adds  Stevens,  "was  a  beef's  head  cooked  by  friend  Minter 
in  Texas  fashion.  It  was  placed  in  a  hole  in  the  ground,  on  a  layer  of  hot  stones, 
with  moss  and  leaves  around  it  to  protect  it  from  the  dirt,  and  then  covered  up. 
There  it  remained  for  some  ^ve.  or  six  hours,  when  removing  it  from  the  place  where 
it  was  deposited,  the  skin  came  off  without  difficulty,  and  it  presented  a  very  tempt- 
ing dish,  and  was  enjoyed  by  every  member  of  the  party." 

The  question  now  confronting  Governor  Stevens  was,  were  the  animals  in  fit 
condition  for  severe  wbrk  in  the  Cascade  mountains.^  He  was  deeply  concerned 
with  the  importance  of  running  a  survey  through  the  Snoqualmie  pass  (Sno-qual- 
mop  he  wrote  it  in  his  reports),  but  "was  unwilling,  after  so  much  labor  and  fatigue, 
to  assign  the  gentlemen  to  duty,  when  they  did  not  have  confidence  in  their  means, 
unless  it  was  a  case  of  imperative  necessity." 

Accordingly  he  resolved  to  leave  the  matter  to  their  judgment,  and  while  both 
McClellan  and  Donelson  "were  ready  cheerfully  to  conform  to  any  direction,  they 
did  not  desire  to  go  upon  the  duty ;  and  accordingly,  somewhat  reluctantly,  I  deter- 
mined to  send  the  whole  party  to  the  Walla  Walla,  thence  to  The  Dalles  and  Van- 
couver, and  thence  to  Olympia,  making  carefully  a  survey  of  the  country  on  the  route. 

"I  will  here  observe,"  says  Stevens  in  mild  criticism,  "that  all  the  gentlemen 


h'AI.I^  OF  HPOKANK  AS  SKETCHED  BY  AX  ARTIST  WITH 
GOVERX08  STEVENS.  18:'i3 


SPOKANE  FALLS  IN   THE   EARLY    '80s— L.  W.  RIMA   IN  THE   tORE(iR0lIND 


UPPER  SPOKANE  FALLS,  INSl 


PUSLiC  L13KAHY1 


'         "^^£     >£:'vV     y,;^u 


— — —      ^^'^UA  f  jg,,| 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  163 

were  too  much  influenced  in  their  judgment  by  the  belief  that  snows  would  fall 
early  and  deep  in  the  Sno-qual-moo  pass^  and  on  the  route  from  the  Coeur  d'Alene, 
under  the  base  of  the  Bitter  Root,  to  the  Walla  Walla.  The  little  fall  of  snow 
which  I  have  mentioned — although  in  snow  countries  it  is  simply  an  incident  of  the 
faU,  haying  nothing  to  do  with  betokening  the  approach  of  winter,  but  rather  indi- 
cating, if  anything,  a  late  winter — ^had  not  been  appreciated,  and  was  thought  to 
indicate  that  winter  was  already  upon  us.  The  necessary  instructions  were  sent 
accordingly.  I  sent  word  by  an  Indian  expressman  to  Lieutenant  Arnold  at  Col- 
?ille,  informing  him  of  the  arrangements,  and  also  letters  to  Lieutenant  Mullan 
and  Mr.  Tinkham,  at  Fort  Owen;  for  I  was  now  satisfied,  from  what  I  had  gath- 
ered upon  the  route,  that  Mr.  Tinkham  would  find  great  difficulty  in  moving  over 
the  southern  Nez  Perce  trail  to  Fort  Walla  Walla  in  December.  The  fall  of  snow 
varies  exceedingly  at  short  distances  apart  on  the  Bitter  Root  mountains,  as  I  then 
had  reason  to  believe,  and  as  was  afterwards  demonstrated.  I  still  desired  that 
Lieutenant  Donelson  should  go  up  the  Coeur  d'Alene,  although  all*  the  other  parties 
went  on  the  direct  route,  but  he  did  not  desire  to  do  this.  And  I  will  again  observe, 
that  had  I  possessed  at  Camp  Washington  information  which  I  gained  in  six  days 
afterwards  at  Walla  Walla,  I  should  have  pushed  the  party  over  the  Cascades  in 
the  present  condition  of  the  animals ;  but  Captain  McClellan  was  entitled  to  weight 
in  his  judgment  of  the  route,  it  being  upon  the  special  field  of  his  examination." 

Leaving  Camp  Washington,  the  expedition  traveled  in  a  southerly  direction 
^hroogh  the  Palouse  country.  They  came,  on  the  second  day,  to  a  chain  of  small 
akes,  abounding  in  wild  fowl.  "We  saw  in  one  of  these  lakes,*'  wrote  Stevens, 
'surrounded  by  ducks  and  geese,  a  pair  of  white  swans,  which  remained  to  challenge 
our  admiration  after  their  companions  had  been  frightened  away  by  our  approach.*' 
"Garry  assures  us,"  added  the  governor,  "that  there  is  a  remarkable  lake  called 
En-chush-chesh-she-luxum,  or  Never  Freezing  Water,  about  thirty  miles  to  the  east 
of  this  place.  It  is  much  largier  than  any  of  the  lakes  just  mentioned,  and  so  com- 
pletely surrounded  by  high  and  precipitous  rocks  that  it  is  impossible  to  descend 
to  the  water.     It  is  said  never  to  freeze,  even  in  the  most  severe  winters.     The  In- 

« 

I  ians  believe  that  it  is  inhabited  by  buffalo,  elk,  deer  and*  all  other  kinds  of  game, 
which  they  say  may  be  seen  in  the  clear,  transparent  element." 

Garry  also  narrated  a  superstition  respecting  a  point  of  painted  rock  in 
Pcnd  d'Oreille  lake,  near  a  place  then  occupied  by  Michael  Ogden.  He  assured 
GoTemor  Stevens  that  the  Indians  never  dared  to  venture  by  the  mystic  point, 
f^^prehending  that  such  act  of  sacrilege,  as  related  in  their  legends,  would  be  re- 
sented by  the  Great  Spirit,  who  would  cause  a  terrific  commotion  in  the  waters  and 
caase  them  to  be  swallowed  up  in  frightful  waves.  The  painted  rocks  were  said  to 
be  very  high,  and  to  "contain  effigies  of  men  and  beasts,  and  other  characters,  made, 
as  the  Indians  believe,  by  a  race  of  men  who  preceded  them  as  inhabitants  of  the 
land."    Similar  painted  rocks  exist  at  the  upper  end  of  lake  Chelan. 

On  the  afternoon  of  November  1  the  expedition  arrived  at  the  junction  of  the 
Paloose  and  the  Snake,  and  crossing  Snake  river,  pitched  camp  on  its  southern 
bank.  Chief  Wi-ti-my-hoy-she,  of  a  band  of  Palouse  Indians  encamped  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Palouse,  exhibited  a  medal  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  dated  1801,  given  to 
his  grandfather,  he  said,  by  Captains  LcMris  and  Clark  when  they  passed  through 
th**  country  in  1 805. 


164  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Governor  Stevens  was  unable  to  visit  the  falls  of  the  Palonse,  but  inserted  in 
his  official  report,  the  following  description,  supplied  him  by  Stanley,  the  artist, 
who  had  seen  them  in  1847: 

"The  Palouse  river  (Stevens  spelled  it  Peluse)  flows  over  three  steppes,  each  of 
which  is  estimated  to  have  an  ascent  of  a  thousand  feet.     The  falls  descend  from 
the  middle  of  the  lower  of  these  steppes.     There  is  no  timber  along  the  course  of 
this  stream,  and  but  few  willow  or  other  bushes ;  yet  the  soil  is  fertile  and  the  grass 
nutritious  and  abundant  even  in  winter.     The  fall  of  water,  which  is  about  thirty 
feet  wide,  can  not  be  seen  from  any  distant  point,  for  flowing  through  a  fissure  in 
the  basaltic  rocks,  portions  of  which  tower  above  in  jagged  pinnacles,  it  suddenly 
descends  some  125  feet  into  a  narrow  basin,  and  thence  flows  rapidly  away  through 
a  deep  canyon.     The  distance  from  the  falls  to  Snake  river  is  about  nine  miles. 
The  valley  widens  considerably  for  about  half  a  mile  from  the  mouth  of  the  Palouse. 
The  home  of  the  Palouse  Indians  is  near  this  junction,  where  they  devote  much  of 
their  time  to  salmon  fishing.     The  salmon  ascend  to  the  falls,  but  these   Indians 
have  a  legend  which  tells  of  the  wickedness  of  the  Indians  higher  up  the  country, 
and  how  the  Great  Spirit,  in  his  displeasure,  placed  the  falls  as  a  barrier  to  the 
further  ascent  of  the  salmon." 

From  the  crossing  of  Snake  river  the  governor  pushed  rapidly  to  old  Fort  Walla 
Walla,  on  the  Columbia.  The  country  between  the  Snake  and  Walla  Walla  rivers 
he  described  as  "high  rolling  prairies.  On  the  road  I  traveled,"  he  added,  "the 
grass  was  uniformly  good,  but  on  leaving  the  Snake  the  first  water  was  the  Touchet, 
twenty-seven  and  one  half  miles  distant.  This  was  the  longest  march  we  had 
accomplished  without  water  after  leaving  Fort  Benton,  perhaps  the  longest  between 
the  Mississippi  and  the  Columbia.  Captain  McClellan,  by  a  slight  change  of  direc- 
tion, striking  the  Touchet  higher  up,  and  crossing  the  Walla  .Walla  valley  by  a  more 
central  line,  found  good  water  and  camps  at  less  than  twenty  miles  apart" 

At  Fort  Walla  Walla  the  governor  was  the  g^est  of  Factor  Pembrum  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  company.  He  remained  in  the  Walla  Walla  country  till  November 
8,  and  on  the  fourth  and  fifth  rode  through  the  valley. 

November  4. — We  started  on  the  trip  through  this  valley,  riding  upon  our 
horses.  Arriving  at  the  Hudson  Bay  farm,  we  exchanged  them  for  fresh  ones,  send- 
ing back  to  Walla  Walla  (on  the  Columbia)  the  old  ones  by  an  Indian.  This  farm 
is  eighteen  miles  from  Walla  Walla,  and  is  a  fine  tract  of  land,  well  adapted  to 
grazing  or  cultivation.  It  is  naturally  bounded  by  streams,  and  is  equivalent  to  a 
mile  square.  There  is  the  richest  grass  we  have  seen  since  leaving  St.  Mary's.  Two 
herders  tend  their  animals,  and  a  small  house  is  erected  for  their  accommodation. 
From  this  we  went  to  McBane's  house,  a  retired  factor  of  the  company,  from  whence 
we  had  a  fine  view  of  the  southern  portion  of  the  valley,  which  is  watered  by  many 
tributaries  from  the  Blue  mountains.  The  land  here  is  very  fertile.  McBane 
was  in  charge  of  Fort  Walla  Walla  during  the  Cayuse  difficulties.  Thirty  miles 
from  Walla  Walla,  and  near  McBane's,  lives  Father  Chirouse,  a  missionary  of  the 
Catholic  order,  who,  with  two  laymen,  exercises  his  influence  among  the  surrounding 
tribes.  A  party  of  immigrants,  who  had  lost  nearly  all  their  animals,  are  shel- 
tered here  at  this  time.  From  Chirouse  and  McBane  I  learned  that  the  inmiigrants 
frequently  cast  wishful  eyes  upon  the  valley,  but  having  made  no  arrangements 
with  the  Indians,  thev  are  unable  to  settle  there. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  165 

November  5. — We  remained  with  Mr.  McBane  over  nighty  and  returned  to  the 
fort  by  way  of  the  Whitman  mission^  now  occupied  by  Bumford  and  Brooke.     They 
were  harvesting,  and  I  saw  as  fine  potatoes  as  ever  I  beheld — many  weighing  two 
pounds,  and  one  weighing  five  and  a  half.     Their  carrots  and  beets,  too,  were  of 
extraordinary  size.     Mr.  Whitman  must  have  done  a  great  deal  of  good  for  the 
Indians.     His  mission  is  situated  upon  a  fine  tract  of  land,  and  he  had  erected  a 
saw  and  grist  mill.     It  is  said  that  his  death  was  brought  about  by  the  false  reports 
of  a  troublesome  half-breed,  who  reported  having  heard  Mrs.  Whitman  say  to  her 
husband,  when  speaking  of  the  Indians:     "We  will  get  rid  of  them  some  day.*' 
From  Bum  ford's  to  the  mouth  of  the  Touchet  are  many  farms,  mostly  occupied  by 
the  retired  employes  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company.     On  our  return  we  met  Pu-pu- 
mox-mox,  the  Walla  Walla  chief,  known  and  respected  far  and  wide.     He  possesses 
not  so  much  intelligence  and  energy  as  Garry,  but  he  has  some  gifts  of  which  the 
latter  is  deprived.     He  is  of  dignified  manner  and  well  qualified  to  manage  men. 
He  owns  over  2,000  horses,  besides  many  cattle,  and  has  a  farm  near  that  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  company.     On  the  occurrence  of  the  Cayuse  war  he  was  invited  to 
join  them,  but  steadily  refused.    After  their  destruction  of  the  mission  he  was  asked 
to  share  the  spoils,  and  again  refused.     They  then  taunted  him  vrith  being  afraid  of 
the  whites,  to  which  he  replied:     "I  am  not  afraid  of  the  whites,  nor  am  I  afraid 
of  the  Cayuse.     I  defy  your  whole  band.    I  will  plant  my  three  lodges  on  the  border 
of  my  own  territory,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Touchet,  and  there  I  will  meet  you  if  you 
dare  to  attack  me."     He  accordingly  moved  his  lodges  to  this  point  and  remained 
there  three  or  four  weeks.     Stanley  (the  artist)  was  on  his  way  from  Walker  and 
Eells*  mission  to  Whitman's  mission,  and,  indeed,  was  actually  within  three  miles 
of  the  mission  when  he  learned   of  the  terrible  tragedy  which  had  been  enacted 
there,  and  the  information  was  brought  to  him  by  an  Indian  of  Pu-Pu-mox-mox's 
band.    Pu-pu-mox-mox  has  saved  up  a  large  amount  of  money  (probably  as  much  as 
to .000),  still  he  is  generous,  and  frequently  gives  an  ox  and  other  articles  of  value 
to  his  neighbors.     Some  of  his  people  having  made  a  contract  to  ferry  the  immi- 
grants across  the  river  who  crossed  the  Cascades  this  year,  and  then  having  refused 
to  execute  it,  he  compelled  them  to  carry  it  out  faithfully,  and,  mounting  his  horse, 
he  thrashed  them  until  they  complied.     He  has  the  air  of  a  substantial  farmer. 

From  the  Walla  Walla  valley  Governor  Stevens  continued  down  the  Columbia 
in  a  canoe,  carefully  examining  the  principal  rapids  between  the  mouth  of  the  Walla 
Walla  and  the  Cascades,  and  from  the  best  examination  which  he  was  able  to  make, 
''became  at  once  convinced  that  the  river  was  probably  navigable  for  steamers,  or 
at  all  events  worthy  of  being  experimentally  tested." 

The  night  of  November  14  he  passed  at  the  Cascades,  meeting  there  "several 
gentlemen — men  who  had  crossed  the  plains,  and  who  had  made  farms  in  several 
states  and  in  Oregon  or  Washington — who  had  carefully  examined  the  Yakima  coun- 
try for  new  locations,  and  who  impressed  me  with  the  importance  of  it  as  an 
agricultural  and  grazing  country."  The  new  governor's  faith,  sympathy  and  even 
affection  for  the  pioneers  stand  out  in  clear  expression  in  his  official  reports  and 
private  correspondence.    Of  them  he  said  in  one  of  his  reports: 

"They  have  crossed  the  mountains,  and  made  the  long  distance  from  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi  to  their  homes  on  the  Pacific;  they  have  done  so  frequently,  hav- 
ing to  cut  out  roads  as  they  went,  and  knowing  little  of  the  difficulties  before  them. 


166  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

They  are  therefore  men  of  observation,  of  experience,  of  enterprise,  and  men  who 
at  home  had,  by  industry  and  frugality,  secured  a  competence  and  the  respect  of 
their  neighbors;  for  it  must  be  known  that  our  innnigrants  travel  in  parties,  and 
those  f^  together  who  were  acquaintances  at  home,  because  they  mutually  confide  in 
each  other.  I  was  struck  with  the  high  qualities  of  the  frontier  people,  and  soon 
learned  how  to  confide  in  them  and  gather  information  from  them." 

As  an  example  in  contrast,  we  offer  an  extract  from  a  letter  from  Captain  George 
B.  McClellan  to  Secretary  of  War  Jefferson  Davis,  of  date  September  18,  1858: 

"But  the  result,  of  my  short  experience  in  this  country  has  been  that  not  the 
slightest  faith  or  confidence  is  to  be  placed  in  information  derived  from  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  territory;  in  every  instance  when  I  have  acted  upon  information  thus 
obtained,  I  have  been  altogether  deceived  and  misled." 

From  the  Cascades  Governor  Stevens  continued  his  canoe  voyage  to  Vancouver, 
where  he  remained  from  the  seventeenth  to  the  nineteenth  as  the  g^est  of  Captain 
Bonneville,  made  famous  by  the  genius  of  Washing^n  Irving,  and  where  he  also 
became  acquainted  with  the  officers  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

OLYMPIA,  THE  BACKWOODS  CAPITAL,  IN  1853. 

riTK    days'     hard     travel    from    VANCOUVER GOVERNOR    DRENCHED    IN    AN     INDIAN 

CANOE HKARTT     PIONEER    GREETING MRS.    STEVENS'    GRAPHIC    PICTURE    OF    THE 

SQUALID   LITTLE   CAPITAL ^"WHAT   A  PROSPECT !" SHE   BREAKS  DOWN   AND  CRIES 

LATER  LBARNED  TO   LOVE  THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS   PEOPLE HORSEBACK  ACROSS  THE 

LOVELY     PRAIRIES PLEASING     PICTURE    OF     FATHER     RICARD^S     MISSION COLUMBIA 

LANCASTER    ELECTED  TO   CONGRESS BUSY    DAYS   FOR  THE   GOVERNOR MENACED   BY 

POUTICAL    RUIN PEREMPTORY    ORDER   FROM    JEFFERSON    DAVIS STEVENS    GOES    BY 

SEA   TO   NATIONAL   CAPITAL HIS   ENEMIES   ROUTED. 

"Not  stones,  nor  wood,  nor  the  art  of  artisans  make  a  state;  but  where  men  are 
who  know  how  to  take  care  of  themselves,  there  are  cities  and  walls." 

— Attributed  to  Alcaeus  hy  Aristides. 

FIVE  days  of  the  hardest  sort  of  travel  it  took  the  first  governor  of  Washing- 
ton to  go  from  Vancouver  to  Olympia,  cramped  up  for  the  greater  part  of  the 
time  in  an  Indian  *  canoe,  and  drenched  by  the  cold  November  rains;  but 
Stevens  facetiously  dismisses  the  incident  by  "advising  voyageurs  in  the  interior, 
when  they  get  suddenly  into  the  rains  west  of  the  Cascades,  to  take  off  their  buck- 
ikin  underclothing."  He  neglected  the  precaution,  "and  among  the  many  agree- 
abilities  of  this  trip  up  the  Cowlitz  was  to  have  the  underclothing  of  buckskin  wet 
entirely  throng^."     And  buckskin  possesses  a  strong  retentive  affinity  for  moisture. 

Bnt  a  warm  and  hearty  pioneer  greeting  awaited  him  at  Olympia,  and  when,  a 
few  days  later,  he  delivered  a  lecture  descriptive  of  his  long  overland  journey  and 
the  feasibility  of  building  a  railroad  from  St.  Paul  to  Puget  Sound,  the  whole  town 
torned  out  and  greeted  enthusiastically  his  confident  predictions  that  they  would  live 
to  hear  the  locomotive's  whistle  echoing  amid  the  wooded  hills  of  that  primeval  wil- 
derness. 

Looking  backward  over  the  vista  of  sixty  years,  one  marvels  that  congress  pos- 
sessed the  prescience  then  to  found  an  embryo  commonwealth  in  this  remote  and 
sparsely  settled  region.  There  were  fewer  than  5,000  inhabitants  in  all  the  terri- 
tory's wide  expanse,  from  the  Pacific  to  the  summits  of  the  Rocky  mountains. 
Olympia,  the  capital,  was  a  dreary,  rain-drenched  mudhole,  and  the  future  cities  of 
Spokane,  Seattle,  Tacoma,  WaUa  Walla  and  Yakima  had  either  no  existence  on  the 
^ap)  or  were,  at  best,  a  few  shacks  and  cabins  hastily  thrown  up  against  the  win- 
ter's rains  and  snows.     Mrs.  Stevens,  who  came  to  Olympia  two  years  after,  and, 

167 


168  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

who,  as  wife  of  the  governor  was  the  social  leader  of  her  husband's  vast  political  do- 
main, has  recorded  graphically  her  impressions  of  the  squalid  little  capital: 

"At  night  we  were  told,  on  ascending  a  hill.  There  is  Olympia !'  Below  us,  in 
the  deep  mud,  were  a  few  low,  wooden  houses,  at  the  head  of  Puget  Sound.  My  heart 
sank,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  at  the  prospect.  After  ploughing  through  the 
mud,  we  stopped  at  the  principal  hotel,  to  stay  until  our  house  was  ready  for  us. 
As  we  went  upstairs  there  were  a  number  of  people  standing  about  to  see  the  gover- 
nor and  his  family.  I  was  very  much  annoyed  at  their  staring  and  their  remarks, 
which  they  made  audibly,  and  hastened  to  get  in  some  private  room,  where  I  could 
make  mysplf  better  prepared  for  an  inspection.  Being  out  in  rains  for  many  days 
had  not  improved  our  appearance  or  clothes.  But  there  seemed  no  rest  for  the 
weary.  Upon  being  ushered  into  the  public  parlor,  I  found  people  from  far  and 
near  had  been  invited  to  inspect  us.  The  room  was  full.  The  sick  child  was  cross 
and  took  no  notice  of  anything  that  was  said  to  her.  One  of  the  women  saying*  aloud, 
*What  a  cross  brat  that  is,'  I  could  stand  it  no  longer,  but  opened  a  door  and  went 
into  a  large  dancing  hall,  and  soon  after,  when  the  governor  came  to  look  me  up,  I 
was  breaking  my  heart  over  the  forlorn  situation  I  found  myself  in — cold,  wet,  un- 
comfortable, no  fire,  shaking  with  chills.    What  a  prospect !" 

But  the  mistress  of  the  capital  soon  found  fire,  and  more  cheering  and  refined 
greetings,  and  quickly  learned  to  catch  her  husband's  brave  and  sympathetic  spirit 
Many  of  the  people  called  on  her,  and  she  found  them  pleasant  and  agreeable.  "Many 
of  them  were  well  educated  and  interesting  young  ladies,  who  had  come  here  with 
their  husbands,  government  officials,  and  who  had  given  up  their  city  homes  to  live 
in  this  unknown  land,  surrounded  by  Indians  and  dense  forests." 

Mrs.  Stevens  dwelt  there  for  three  years,  and  learned  to  love  the  country  round- 
about. "There  was  a  pleasant  company  of  officers,  with  their  wives,  stationed 
at  Steilacoom,  twenty  miles  from  Olympia,  with  whom  I  became  acquainted,  and  had 
visits  from  and  visited.  Naval  ships  came  up  Puget  Soilnd,  with  agreeable  officers 
on  board.  I  had  a  horse  to  ride  on  horseback  across  the  lovely  prairies.  .  .  . 
About  two  miles  down  there  was  a  Catholic  mission,  a  large  dark  house  or  monastery, 
surrounded  by  cultivated  land,  a  large  garden  in  front  filled  with  flowers,  bordered 
on  one  side,  next  the  water,  with  immense  bushes  of  wall  flowers  in  full  bloom;  the 
fragrance,  resembling  the  sweet  English  violet,  filling  the  air  with  its  delicious  odor. 
Father  Ricard,  the  venerable  head  of  this  house,  was  from  Paris.  He  had  lived  in 
this  place  more  than  twenty  years.  He  had  with  him  Father  Blanchet  (later  of  be- 
loved memory  in  our  own  inland  region),  a  short,  thickset  man,  who  managed  every- 
thing pertaining  to  the  temporal  comfort  of  the  mission.  Under  him  were  servants, 
who  were  employed  in  various  ways,  baking,  cooking,  digging  and  planting.  Their 
fruit  was  excellent  and  a  great  rarity,  as  there  was  but  one  more  orchard  in  the 
whole  country.  There  was  a  large  number  of  Flatheads  settled  about  them,  who 
had  been  taught  to  count  their  beads,  say  prayers,  and  were  good  Catholics  in  all 
outward  observances ;  chanted  the  morning  and  evening  prayers,  which  they  sang  in 
their  own  language  in  a  low,  sweet  strain,  which,  the  first  time  I  heard  it,  sitting  in 
my  boat  at  sunset,  was  impressive  and  solemn.  We  went  often  to  visit  Father  Ricard, 
who  was  a  highly  educated  man,  who  seemed  to  enjoy  having  some  one  to  converse 
with  him  in  his  own  language.  He  said  the  Canadians  used  such  bad  French." 
'   A  proclamation  by  the  governor,  published  soon  after  his  arrival  at  Olympia  in 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  169 

November,  1853,  designated  January  30  as  election  day  to  choose  a  delegate  to  con- 
gress, and  members  of  the  legislature,  and  summoning  that  body  to  meet  in  the 
capital  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  February.  Columbia  Lancaster,  a  lawyer,  was 
elected  delegate,  and  the  legislature  having  assembled  on  the  appointed  day.  Gover- 
nor Stevens,  in  his  first  message,  recommended  the  adoption  of  a  code  of  laws  and 
organization  of  the  country  east  of  the  Cascades  into  counties.  On  his  recommen- 
dation, the  legislature  memorialized  congress  for  a  surveyor  general  and  a  land 
office,  for  more  rapid  surveys  of  public  lands,  for  amendment  of  the  land  laws  so 
that  single  women  would  have  the  same  footing  as  married  ones,  for  a  grant  of  lands 
for  a  university,  for  improved  mail  service,  and  for  a  wagon  road  from  Puget  Sound 
to  Walla  Walla. 

Busy  days  were  these  for  the  governor,  filled  with  absorbing  duties  and  official 
cares.  In  an  Indian  canoe  he  had  explored  the  shores  of  Puget  Sound,  and  not- 
withstanding the  congressional  appropriation  for  railroad  surveys  and  exploration 
had  become  exhausted,  he  drove  forward  that  important  work  with  his  usual  intelli- 
gence and  vigor,  and  thereby  incurred  grave  peril  of  political  ruin.  To  provide  the 
necessary  funds  for  the  immediate  and  pressing  needs  of  the  survey,  he  drew  on 
Corcoran  &  Riggs,  government  bankers  at  Washington,  for  $16,000,  and  these  drafts 
were  dishonored.  Jefferson  Davis,  secretary  of  war,  was  in  deep  sympathy  with  the 
pro-slavery  party  in  congress,  which  neglected  no  intrigue  to  discourage  and  prevent 
the  building  of  a  northern  line  of  railroad. 

About  that  time  the  political  situation  was  explained  to  Stevens  in  a  letter  from 
his  old  friend  Halleck,  then  stationed  in  California.  "The  pro-slavery  extension 
party,"  pointed  out  Halleck,  "will  work  very  hard  against  the  North  Pacific  states, 
which  must  of  necessity  remain  free.'*  Halleck  added  that  a  vigorous  conspiracy 
was  then  fomenting  in  California.  "The  first  branch  of  this  project  was  to  call  a 
new  convention  in  California,  dividing  it  into  two  states,  making  the.  southern  one 
a  slave  state,  with  San  Diego  as  the  port  and  terminus  of  a  railroad  through  Texas. 
Circulars  and  letters  to  that  effect  were  sent  to  pro-slavery  men  in  California,  and 
the  attempt  made  to  divide  the  state,  but  it  failed.  The  next  move  was  to  acquire 
Lower  California  and  parts  of  Sonora  and  Chihuahua,  making  Guaymas  the  termi- 
nus, and  the  newly  acqmred  territory  slave  states.  ...  If  the  territory  is  ac- 
quired, it  will  be  a  slave  territory,  and  a  most  tremendous  effort  will  be  made  to  run 
a  railroad,  if  not  the  railroad,  from  Texas  to  Guaymas,  with  a  branch  to  San 
Francisco." 

Corroborative  of  these  warnings,  the  governor  received  a  curt  and  peremptory 
order  from  Secretary  Davis,  disapproving  his  arrangements  and  ordering  him  to 
suspend  his  winter  operations.  This  critical  situation  he  met  with  a  quick  resolu- 
tion to  hasten  to  the  national  capital  and  thwart  the  cunning  schemes  of  southern 
politicians,  and  to  justify  his  apparent  desertion  of  territorial  duties,  the  legislature 
readily  passed  a  joint  resolution  that  "no  disadvantage  would  result  to  the  terri- 
tory should  the  governor  visit  Washington,  if,  in  his  judgment,  the  interests  of  the 
Northern  Pacific  Railroad  survey  could  thereby  be  promoted." 

Leaving  Olympia  March  26,  the  governor  went  by  way  of  the  Cowlitz  river  to 
the  Columbia,  and  took  steamer  for  San  Francisco,  arriving  there  early  in 
April.  Taking  the  isthmus  route,  he  was  in  New  York  in  May,  and  proceeding 
promptly  to  Washington,  presented  before  the  department  a  report  so  thorough  and 


170  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

convincing  that  Secretary  Davis  was  moved  to  submit  to  congress  an  estimate  to 
cover  the  deficiency.  The  necessary  appropriation  was  made^  and  the  protested 
drafts  honored.    Of  this  incident  General  Hmit  afterwards  wrote: 

"I  followed  him  in  the  thorough  work  he  made  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway 
survey — of  his  row  with  Jeff  Davis  for  overrunning  in  his  expenditures  the  amount 
assigned  him^  and  so  preventing  Jeff's  designs  of  defeating  that  road.  In  1854  I 
had^  at  Fort  Monroe^  occasion  to  describe  your  father  to  old  Major  Holmes^  a  class- 
mate of  Jeff.  He  went  to  Washington^  and  on  his  return  told  me^  'Your  friend 
Stevens  is  ruined.  Davis  refuses  to  recommend  to  congress  to  make  good  tiie  ex- 
penditures as  contrary  to  orders.  It  will  ruin  Stevens.'  'Wait  awhile/  said  I;  'I 
see  by  the  last  Union  that  Stevens  has  just  arrived,  en  route  to  Washington,  at 
Panama.  He  will  leave  Jeff  nowhere.'  Soon  after  he  arrived  in  Washington,  was 
followed  by  an  appropriation  covering  all  his  bills,  and  so  Jeff  failed  all  round." 


CHAPTER  XIX 

NEGOTIATING  TREATIES  WITH   THE   INTERIOR  TRIBES 

rrETEXS  PLUNGES  INTO  AN  ARDUOUS  TASK WALLA  WALLA  A  CHRSAT  COUNCIL  OSOUND 

GOVERNOR   MEETS  THERE    5^000   INDIANS   IN    1855 NEZ   PERCES   MASS   A    THOUSAND 

WARRIORS A  STRIKING  PAGEANT HAUGHTY  MESSAGE  FROM  THE  YELLOW  SERPENT 

KAMIAKEN    PROUD   AND   SCORNFUL FEASTING^    HORSE-RACING    AND    FOOT-RACING 

INDIAN    ORATORY  AND  SARCASM CHIEF   LAWYER  EXPOSES   A  PLOT  TO  MASSACRE  THE 

governor's      party CONSPIRACY     IS     THWARTED THE     TREATIES     EXPLAINED A 

STARTLING  INCIDENT STORMY  COUNCIL TREATIES  CONCLUDED CELEBRATED  WITH 

A  SCALP  DANCE. 

"The  passions  are  the  only  orators  that  always  persuade ;  they  are^  as  it  were^  a 
natural  art^  the  rules  of  which  are  infallible;  and  the  simplest  man  with  passion  is 
more  persuasive  than  the  most  eloquent  without  it." 

— La  Rochefoucauld, 

CONGRESS  had  enacted  the  donation  land  act,  which  held  out  to  jsettlers 
the  enticing  offer  of  320  acres  to  a  single  man,  320  acres  each  to  married 
man  and  wife,  who  would  cross  the  plains  and  mountains  and  found  homes  in 
Oregon.  No  serious  attempt  had  been  made  to  establish  treaty  rights  with  the 
possessing  Indians,  who,  finding  themselves  ignored  and  their  property  rights  dis- 
r^rded,  and  noting  the  swelling  stream  of  white  immigration,  grew  startled, 
iospicious,  alarmed  and  restless.  This  native  discontent  was  fast  deepening  into 
indignation  and  anger,  and  throughout  the  interior  bolder  spirits  were  advocating 
a  widespread  uprising  and  war  of  extermination  before  it  should  become  forever 
too  late  to  roll  back  the  white  invaders. 

To  face  and  solve  this  difficult  problem,  to  allay  the  Indians'  grievance  and 
patch  up  tardy  treaties  with  the  tribes  both  east  and  west  of  the  Cascade  moun- 
tains, was  the  delicate  and  difficult  duty  laid  by  government  upon  the  governor  of 
the  young  territory  of  Washing^n.  Returning  from  the  national  capital,  Stevens 
promptly  plunged  into  this  arduous  undertaking,  and  having  first  established  trea- 
ties with  the  Indians  in  the  Puget  Sound  country,  we  find  him,  in  the  early  months 
of  1855,  inviting  two  great  councils  with  the  tribes  between  the  Cascade  and  the 
Rocky  mountains. 

Indian  Agents  A.  J.  Bolon  and  R.  H.  Lansdale  were  sent  that  spring  among 
the  powerful  tribes  of  the  Inland  Empire,  to  point  out  to  the  chiefs  the  advan- 
tages that  would  accrue  to  their  people  by  entering  peaceably  into  just  and  liberal 

171 


172  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

treaty  relations  with  the  government,  and  on  the  suggestion  of  Kamiaken,  head 
chief  of  the  Yakimas,  the  Walla  Walla  valley  was  selected  for  the  council  ground. 
"There  of  old/'  said  Kamiaken,  **is  the  place  where  we  held  our  councils  with 
the  neighboring  tribes,  and  we  will  hold  this  council  there  now." 

Preparatory  to  the  assembling  of  the  tribes,  a  large  quantity  of  merchandise 
and  provisions  was  taken  up  the  Columbia  in  keelboats  to  Walla  Walla,  and  a 
party  of  twenty-five  men  was  organized  at  The  Dalles,  in  eastern  Oregon,  and  with 
packtrain,  mules,  riding  animals  and  provisions,  sent  to  the  council  ground  to  pre- 
pare for  the  coming  of  the  redmen,  and  afterwards  to  accompany  Governor  Stevens 
to  the  scene  of  another  great  council,  to  be  held  near  the  site  of  the  present  city  of 
Missoula,   Montana. 

"The  Walla  Walla  council,  like  the  Black  foot,"  says  Hazard  Stevens,  "was 
conceived  and  planned  exclusively  by  Governor  Stevens.  He  alone  impressed 
the  necessity  of  them  upon  the  government,  and  obtained  the  requisite  authority. 
The  work  of  collecting  the  Indians  was-  done  chiefly  by  his  agents,  and  it  was  not 
until  he  learned  from  Doty  that  the  Indians  had  agreed  to  attend,  and  that  the 
council  was  assured,  that  he  invited  Superintendent  Palmer  (of  Oregon)  to  take 
part  in  it  as  joint  commissioner  with  himself  for  such  tribes  as  lived  partly  in 
both  territories.  This  fact  he  caused  to  be  entered  on  the  joint  record  of  the 
council." 

Leaving  the  governor's  office  in  charge  of  Secretary  of  State  Mason,  Governor 
Stevens  set  out  from  Olympia  early  in  May  for  the  W^alla  Walla  valley.  The 
route  taken  by  his  party  lay  across  country  to  Cowlitz  landing,  where  canoes  were 
taken  down  the  Cowlitz  to  the  Columbia;  thence  by  steamboat  to  Vancouver,  and 
thence  by  steamboats  and  portage  to  The  Dalles,  where  the  United  States  main- 
tained a  military  post  of  two  companies  of  the  Fourth  infantry,  under  Major 
G.  J.  Rains,  and  where  Superintendent  Joel  Palmer  of  the  Oregon  agencies  awaited 
liis  coming. 

"The  outlook  for  effecting  a  treaty  was  deemed  unfavorable  by  all,"  says  Hazard 
Stevens.  ^'Governor  Stevens  was  warned  by  Father  Ricard,  of  the  Yakima  mis- 
sion, that  the  Indians  were  plotting  to  cut  off  the  white  chiefs  who  might  attempt 
to  hold  a  council.  The  Snake  Indians  had  attacked  and  massacred  parties  of 
white  immigrants  recently,  and  Major  Rains  was  under  orders  to  send  a  force 
on  the  immigrant  road  to  protect  them." 

But  the  governor  was  determined  to  carry  out  the  arrangements,  for  he  fore- 
saw that  retreat  at  this  critical  moment,  after  the  council  had  been  agreed  upon, 
the  Indians  invited  to  the  rendezvous,  and  gifts  assembled  on  the  ground,  would 
involve  a  fatal  show  of  weakness  and  in  all  probability  prove  the  very  means  to 
precipitate  the  threatened  uprising.  After  supper  he  discussed  the  situation  for 
two  hours  with  Major  Rains,  and  persuaded  that  officer  to  give  him  a  small  detach- 
ment of  forty  soldiers.  "I  remarked,"  he  wrote  in  his  diary,  "that  the  services 
of  a  small  force  in  checking  insolence  would  be  as  good  as  200  men  subsequently. 
We  deemed  it  necessary  to  maintain  our  dignity  and  that  of  our  government  at 
the  council,  and  we  would  seize  any  person,  whether  white  man  or  Indian,  who 
behaved  in  an  improper  manner.  There  were  unquestionably  a  great  many  mal- 
contents in  each  tribe.  A  few  determined  spirits,  if  not  controlled,  might  embolden 
all  not  well  disposed,  and  defeat  the  negotiations.     Should  this  spirit  be  shown. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  173 

uwx  must  be  seized ;  the  well  affected  would  then  govern  in  the  deliberations^  and 
I  anticipated  little  or  no  difficulty  in  negotiating.  I  then  alluded  to  my  determina- 
tion to  call  out  the  militia  of  the  territory  should  I  find^  on  reaching  the  council 
ground^   that   any   plan   of   hostilities   was   being   matured. 

''So  doubtful  did  General  Palmer  consider  the  whole  matter,  that  it  was  only 
the  circumstance  of  a  military  force  being  dispatched  which  determined  him  to 
send  to  the  treaty  ground  presents  to  the  Indians.  He  stated  to  me  that  he  had 
concluded  to  send  up  no  goods;  but,  the  escort  having  been  ordered,  he  would  send 
up  his  goods." 

History,  I  believe,  will  sustain  the  opinion  that  in  tense  dramatic  interest,  in 
wealth  of  savage  staging  and  barbaric  color,  and  in  ultimate  influence  alike  upon 
the  white  man  and  his  red  brother,  the  Walla  Walla  council  stands  out  in  bold 
relief,  the  most  important,  the  most  striking  historic  event  in  the  Inland  Empire, 
if  not  within  the  entire  Pacific  northwest.  Five  thousand  Indians  gathered  there — 
2,000  warriors  sat  in  council,  and  the  proceedings  were  enlivened  by  fierce 
native  eloquence  and  haughty  flights  of  bitter  irony  and  biting  wit.  Tribe  found 
itself  arrayed  against  tribe,  and  faction  set  against  faction;  some  counseled  peace, 
some  boldly  stood  for  unrelenting  war;  and  some  there  were  who  carried  on  auda- 
ciously their  angry  plot  to  sound  the  dreadful  tocsin  by  massacreing  on  this  council 
ground  the  governor's  party  and  his  little  soldier  escort  of  forty  men. 

The  council  ground  lay  on  the  right  bank  of  Mill  creek,  six  miles  from  the 
Whitman  mission,  and  within  the  present  limits  of  the  city  of  Walla  Walla.  "The 
valley,"  says  the  governor's  biographer,  "was  almost  a  perfect  level,  covered 
with  the  greatest  profusion  of  waving  bunch-grass  and  flowers,  amidst  which  grazed 
namerous  bands  of  beautiful,  sleek  mustangs,  and  herds  of  long-horned  Spanish 
cattie  belonging  to  the  Indians,  and  was  intersected  every  half  mile  by  a  clear, 
rapid,  sparkling  stream,  whose  course  could  be  easily  traced  in  the  distance  by  its 
fringe  of  willows  and  tall  cotton  woods.  Now  every  foot  of  this  rich  valley  is  un- 
der cultivation,  a'  dozen  grist  mills  run  their  wheels  by  these  streams,  and  the  very 
treaty  ground  is  the  center  of  the  thriving  town  of  Walla  Walla."  A  city  it  has 
grown  since  that  was  penned,  with  20,000  people  dwelling  together  in  culture, 
prosperity  and  wealth. 

Towards  evening  of  May  21  came  the  governor  and  his  party  upon  the  scene, 
drenched  by  the  soaking  rains  through  which  they  had  ridden  since  early  mom, 
but  cheered  by  the  sight  of  barbaric  comfort  that  met  their  eager  eye.  Hazard 
Stevens,  who,  then  a  boy  of  13,  rode  with  his  father  to  the  council  ground,  thus 
describes  the  historic  scene: 

"The  camp  was  found  pitched,  and  everything  in  readiness  for  the  council. 
A  wall  tent,  with  a  large  arbor  of  poles  and  boughs  in  front,  stood  on  level,  open 
ground,  a  short  distance  from  the  creek  and  facing  the  Blue  mountains,  all  ready 
for  the  governor.  This  was  also  to  serve  as  the  council  chamber,  and  ample  clear 
space  was  left  for  the  Indians  to  assemble  and  seat  themselves  on  the  ground  in 
front  of  the  arbor.  A  little  farther  in  front,  and  nearer  the  creek,  were  ranged 
the  tents  of  the  rest  of  the  party,  a  stout  log  house  to  safely  hold  the  supplies  and 
Indian  goods,  and  a  large  arbor  to  serve  as  a  banqueting  hall  for  distinguished 
chiefs,  so  that,  as  in  civil  lands,  gastronomy  might  aid  diplomacy.  A  large  herd  of 
beef  cattle  and  a  pile  of  potatoes,  purchased  of  Messrs.  Lloyd  Brooke,  Bumford  & 


174  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Noble,  traders  and  stock-raisers,  who  were  occupying  the  site  of  the  Whitman 
mission,  and  ample  stores  of  sugar,  coffee,  bacon  and  flour,  furnished  the  materials 
for  the  feasts." 

Previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  Indians,  the  following  program  was  adopted: 

1.  Governor  Stevens  to  preside. 

2.  Each  superintendent  to  be  sole  commissioner  for  the  Indians  within  his 
jurisdiction. 

3.  Both  to  act  jointly  for  tribes  common  to  both  Oregon  and  Washingrton,  each 
to  appoint  an  agent  and  commissary  for  them,  and  goods  and  provisions  to  be 
distributed  to  them  in  proportion  to  the  number  under  the  respective  jurisdictions. 

4.  Separate  records  to  be  kept,  to  be  carefully  compared  and  certified  jointly 
as  far  as  related  to  tribes  of  both  Territories. 

5.  To  keep  a  public  table  for  the  chiefs. 

The  following  officers  were  appointed  for  the  joint  treaties: 

Washing^n:  Commissioner,  Governor  Isaac  I.  Stevens;  secretary,  James  Doty; 
commissary,  R.  H.  Crosby ;  agent,  R.  H.  Lansdale ;  interpreters,  William  Craig  and 
N.  Raymond. 

Oregon:  Commissioner,  Joel  Palmer;  secretary,  William  C.  McKay;  com- 
missary, N.  Olney;  agent,  R.  R.  Thompson;  interpreters,  Matthew  Danpher  and 
John  Flette. 

As  additional  interpreters  Governor  Stevens  appointed  A.  D.  Pambrun,  John 
Whitford,  James  Coxie  and  Patrick  McKensie. 

Lieutenant  Gracie  and  his  little  command  from  The  Dalles  arrived  on  the  2Sd, 
and  with  the  lieutenant,  as  guest,  came  Lieutenant  Kip,  who  was  to  participate  in 
the  Wright  campaign  in  the  Spokane  country  two  years  later  and  record  in  enter- 
taining style  his  experiences  in  a  little  book  called  "Army  Life  on  the  Pacific." 
For  their  comfort  the  governor  had  pitched  a  tent,  while  the  soldiers  threw  up 
rough  shelters  of  boughs,  covered  with  canvas  pack-covers.  The  two  officers  dined 
Mrith  the  governor,  "off  a  table  constructed  from  split  pine  logs,"  says  Kip,  "smoothed 
off,  but  not  very  smooth." 

Now  all  was  ready  for  the  Indian  hosts.  First  came  the  Nez  Perces,  men, 
women  and  children,  2,500  in  all,  the  greater  part  of  the  tribe,  for  the  occasion 
was  deemed  one  of  high  moment  and  perhaps  of  enduring  significance  to  them 
and  their  descendants  for  untold  generations.  Dear  to  the  Indian  heart  is  studied 
ceremonial,  and  learning  of  the  approach  of  the  barbaric  cavalcade,  the  commis- 
sioners drew  up  their  little  party  on  a  knoll  which  commanded  a  fine  view  of 
the  wide  and  flower  spangled  valley.  In  token  of  Nez  Perce  friendship  through- 
out the  Cayuse  war  that  followed  the  Whitman  massacre  of  1847,  the  officers  in 
that  campaign  had  presented  the  tribe  with  a  large  American  flag.^  This  they  bore 
aloft  in  the  soft  May  sunshine,  and  sent  ahead  of  their  advancing  hosts  to  be 
planted  upon  the  knoll. 

"Soon  their  cavalcade  came  in  sight,"  says  an  observer  of  this  stirring  scene,* 
"a  thousand  warriors  mounted  on  fine  horses  and  riding  at  a  gallop,  two  abreast, 
naked  to  the  breechclout,  their  faces  colored  with  white,  red  and  yellow  paint 
in  fanciful  designs,  and  decked  with  plumes  and  feathers  and  trinkets  fluttering 
in  the  sunshine.    The  ponies  were  even  more  gaudily  arrayed,  many  of  them  selected 


*  Hazard  Stevens. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  175 

for  their  singular  color  and  markings^  and  many  painted  in  vivid  colors  contrast- 
ing with  their  natural  skins — crimson  slashed  in  broad  stripes  across  white^  yellow 
or  white  against  black  or  bay ;  and  with  their  free  and  wild  action^  the  thin  buffalo 
line  tied  around  the  lower  jaw, — ^the  only  bridle,  almost  invisible — the  naked  riders, 
seated  as  though  grown  to  their  backs,  presented  the  very  picture  of  the  fabled 
centaurs.  Halting  and  forming  a  long  line  across  the  prairie,  they  again  advanced 
at  a  gallop  still  nearer,  then  halted,  while  the  head  chief.  Lawyer,  and  two  other 
chiefs  rode  slowly  forward  to  the  knoll,  dismounted  and  shook  hands  with  the  com- 
missioners, and  then  took  post  in  rear  of  them.  The  other  chiefs,  twenty-five  in 
number,  then  rode  forward,  and  went  through  the  same  ceremony.  Then  came 
charging  on  at  full  gallop  in  single  file  the  cavalcade  of  braves,  breaking  succes- 
si?ely  from  one  flank  of  the  line,  firing  their  guns,  brandishing  their  shields,  beat- 
ing their  drums,  and  yelling  their  warwhoops,  and  dashed  in  a  wide  circle  around 
the  little  party  on  the  knoll,  now  charging  up  as  though  to  overwhelm  it,  now  wheel- 
ing back,  redoubling  their  wild  action  and  fierce  yells  in  frenzied  excitement.  At 
length  they  all  dismounted  and  took  their  stations  in  rear  of  the  chiefs.  Then 
a  number  of  young  braves,  forming  a  ring,  while  others  beat  their  drums,  enter- 
tained the  commissioners  with  their  dances,  after  which  the  Indians  remounted  and 
filed  off  to  the  place  designated  for  their  camps.  This  was  on  a  small  stream 
flowing  parallel  to  Mill  creek,  on  the  same  side  with  and  over  half  a  mile  from 
the  council  camp.  The  chiefs  accompanied  the  governor  to  his  tent  and  arbor, 
smoked  the  pipe  of  peace,  and  had  an  informal  talk." 

As  the  Indians  came  to  the  council  on  invitation  of  the  commissioners,  they 
were  regarded  as  guests  of  the  government,  and  rations  were  issued  to  the  Nez 
Perces  and  some  other  petty  tribes  then  on  the  ground — one  and  a  half  pounds  of 
beef,  two  pounds  of  potatoes,  and  a  half  pound  of  corn  to  each  person. 

Xext  to  arrive  were  the  Cayuses,  Walla  Wallas  and  Umatillas.  Without  pomp 
or  pageantry  they  encamped  on  the  opposite  side  of  Mill  creek,  at  a  point  more 
than  a  mile  removed  from  the  whites.  An  intervening  fringe  of  leaf  trees  com- 
pletely concealed  them  from  view.  As  head  chief  of  the  Walla  Wallas  and  Uma- 
tillas, the  aged  Pu-pu-mox-mox,  or  Yellow  Serpent,  exerted  autocratic  sway  over 
his  own  people,  and  was  a  personage  of  marked  influence  with  neighboring  tribes. 
He  was  a  thrifty  soul,  and  by  trade  Mdth  the  immigrants  passing  through  his  do- 
mains en  route  to  the  Willamette  valley,  had  acquired  a  large  sum  in  coin.  His 
herds  ran  into  the  thousands.  Notwithstanding  his  son  had  been  murdered  by 
California  gold  miners,  he  had  always  maintained  friendly  relations  with  the  whites, 
although  the  loss  of  his  son  still  rankled  in  his  breast,  and  as  he  had  grown  some- 
what childish,  malcontents  were  striving,  by  frequent  reference  to  that  outrage, 
to  inflame  his  mind  and  induce  him  to  join  in  a  war  of  extermination. 

The  day  after  their  arrival,  the  Nez  Perce  chiefs  and  head  men,  to  the  number 
of  more  than  thirty,  came  over  to  dine  with  the  commissioners.  Seated  upon  the 
ground,  in  two  long  parallel  lines,  they  quite  filled  the  arbor.  They  brought  vora-; 
cious  appetites  to  the  banquet,  and  Governor  Stevens  and  Commissioner  Palmer, 
▼ho  had  graciously  assumed  the  office  of  carvers,  discovered  that  they  had  bur- 
dened themselves  with  a  strenuous  task.  At  length,  their  arms  wearied  by  the  work 
and  the  perspiration  dropping  from  their  faces,  they  were  glad  to  yield  the  honors 
to  two  husky  packers.     "The  table  for  the  chiefs  was  kept  up  during  the  council, 


176  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

and  every  day  was  well  attended^  but  it  was  not  again  graced  by  the  presence  of 
the  commissioners." 

An  envoy  from  Pu-pu-mox-mox,  the  Yellow  Serpent,  brought  the  haughty  and 
ominous  message  that  the  Yakimas,  Cayuses  and  Walla  Wallas  would  accept  no 
provisions  from  the  commissioners;  that  they  would  bring  their  own,  and  it  was 
their  desire  that  the  Young  Chief,  Lawyer,  Kamiaken  and  himself,  head  chiefs  of 
the  Cayuses,  Nez  Perces,  Yakimas  and  Walla  Wallas  respectively,  shoold  do  all 
the  talking  for  the  Indians  at  the  council.  Refusing  to  accept  any  tobacco  for 
his  chief,  the  messenger  was  overheard  to  mutter  as  he  rode  disdainfully  away, 
"You  will  find  out  by  and  by  why  we  won't  take  provisions." 

Father  Chirouse  of  the  Catholic  mission  among  the  Walla  Wallas,  and  Father 
Pandosy  of  the  Yakima  mission,  came  in  to  attend  the  council,  and  reported  that 
with  the  exception  of  Kamiaken  these  Indians  were  generally  well  disposed  towards 
the  whites.     This  chief  had  been  heard  to  say,  "If  Governor  Stevens  speaks  hard, 
I  will  speak  hard,  too."     Other  Indians  had  said  that  Kamiaken  would  come  to  the 
council  with  his  young  men,  "but  with   powder  and  ball."     When  invited   to  the 
council   by   the   governor's   secretary,   Mr.   Doty,   he   had   scornfully   rejected   the 
tendered  presents,  declaring  that  he  "had  never  accepted  anything  from  the  whites, 
not  even  to  the  value  of  a  grain  of  wheat,  without  paying  for  it,  and  that  he  did 
not  wish  to  purchase  the  presents."    Speaking  of  this  noted  chief.  Governor  Stevens 
said:     "He  is  a  peculiar  man,  reminding  me  of  the  panther  and  the  grizzly  bear. 
His  countenance  has  an  extraordinary  play,  one  moment  in  frowns,  the  next  in 
smiles,  flashing  with  light,  and  black  as  Erebus,  the  same  instant.     His  pantomime 
is  great,  and  his  gesticulation  much  and  expressive.     He  talks  mostly  in  his  face, 
and  with  his  hands  and  arms." 

Rumors  ran  over  the  great  encampment  that  these  tribes  had  allied  to  oppose 
a  treaty,  and  fears  were  expressed  that  an  attempt  to  open  the  council  would  be 
the  signal  for  a  warlike  outbreak. 

The  next  day  a  body  of  400  mounted  Cayuses  and  Walla  Wallas,  armed  and 
in  full  gala  dress,  and  yelling  like  demons,  rode  furiously  thrice  around  the  Nez 
Perces  camp,  and  soon  thereafter  Young  Chief,  accompanied  by  his  principal  sub- 
chiefs,  rode  up  to  the  governor's  tent,  but  dismounted  on  invitation  with  apparent 
reluctance,  and  shook  hands  with  a  cold  and  forbidding  demeanor,  refused  to 
smoke,  and  remained  but  a  few  moments.  "The  haughty  carriage  of  these  chiefs," 
wrote  Stevens  in  his  journal,  "and  their  manly  character  have,  for  the  first  time,  in 
my  Indian  experience,  realized  the  descriptions  of  the  writers  of  fiction." 

Head  Chief  Garry  of  the  Spokanes  attended  the  council,  but  only  as  an  ob- 
server. It  had  been  found  impossible  to  assemble  the  Spokanes  at  a  point  so  dis- 
tant  from  their  country,  within  the  brief  time  that  offered,  and  Governor  Stevens 
proposed  a  separate  treaty  with  them,  later  on  his  return  from  the  Missouri. 

A  messenger  sent  to  invite  the  Palouses  to  the  council  returned  with  a  single 
chief  of  that  tribe,  who  said  that  his  people  took  little  interest  and  would  not 
come. 

Sunday,  May  27,  Governor  Stevens  made  this  entry  in  his  journal:  "There 
was  service  in  the  Nez  Perce  camp  and  in  the  Nez  Perce  language,  Timothy  bdng 
the  preacher.  The  commissioners  attended.  The  sermon  was  on  the  ten  com- 
mandments.    Timothy  has  a  natural  and  graceful  delivery,  and  his  words  were 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  177 

rq)eated  by  a  prompter.  The  Nez  Perces  have  evidently  profited  much  from  the 
labor  of  Mr.  Spalding,  who  was  with  them  ten  years,  and  their  whole  deport- 
ment throughout  the  service  was  devout." 

The  next  day  came  the  Yakimas.  Agent  Bolon  and  an  interpreter  went  out 
to  meet  them,  and  returned  bringing  Kamiaken  and  the  Yellow  Serpent.  The 
latter  affected  to  be  grieved  and  indignant  over  reports  that  he  was  unfriendly 
to  the  whites,  and  declared  his  purpose  to  face  the  commissioners  and  ask  why 
such  slanders  had  been  circulated  against  him.  Soon  thereafter,  in  company  with 
Kamiaken,  Owhi  and  Skloom,  Yakima  chiefs,  rode  into  camp,  dismounted  and 
shook  hands  in  apparent  friendship,  but  in  the  smoke  that  followed  in  the  arbor 
thev  used  their  own  tobacco  exclusively,  declining  that  tendered  them  by  the  com- 
missioners. 

Governor  Stevens  formally  opened  the  council  in  the  afternoon  of  May  29,  1855. 
Two  thousand  Indians,  more  than  half  of  them  Nez  Perces,  were  present,  seated 
on  the  ground  in  semi-circular  rows  forty  deep,  one  behind  the  other.  Facing  them, 
under  the  arbor  in  front  of  the  tent,  sat  the  commissioners,  secretaries^  interpreters 
and  Indian  agents.  Timothy,  chief  and  preacher  of  the  Nez  Perces,  assisted  by 
several  of  his  young  men  who  had  been  taught  to  read  and  write  by  the  missionary 
Spalding,  were  provided  a  table  beneath  the  arbor  and  kept  their  own  records  for 
that  great  and  powerful  tribe. 

Beyond  a  silent,  solemn  smoking  of  the  peace  pipe,  the  appointment  and  swear- 
ing in  of  two  interpreters  for  each  tribe,  and  some  brief  preliminary  remarks,  little 
was  accomplished  the  first  day.  Before  adjourning  to  ten  o'clock  the  next  morning 
Governor  Stevens  repeated  the  offer  of  provisions  for  the  various  tribes,  suggesting 
that  two  oxen  be  taken  to  each  camp  and  slaughtered  for  its  use. 

"We  have  plenty  of  cattle,"  replied  Young  Chief  of  the  Cayuses.  "They  are 
close  to  our  camp.     We  have  already  killed  three  and  have  plenty  of  provisions. 

General  Palmer  to  the  interpreter :  "Say  to  the  Yakimas,  'You  have  come  a  long 
way;  you  may  not  have  provisions.  If  you  want  any,  we  have  them,  and  you  are 
welcome.*  *' 

"Kamiaken  is  supplied  at  our  camp,"  was  the  quick  interjection  of  Young  Chief 
of  the  Cayuses,  who  declined,  too,  to  dine  at  the  table  of  the  commissioners ;  but 
Pu-pu-mox-mox  (the  Yellow  Serpent)  and  the  great  war  chief  Kamiaken  were  more 
friendly  in  demeanor,  dining  with  the  commissioners  and  remaining  afterwards  a 
long  time  in  their  tent,  smoking  and  talking  in  a  friendly  way. 

May  30  and  31  were  devoted  to  a  careful  explanation  by  Governor  Stevens  of 
the  two  treaties  that  were  under  consideration.  "There  were  to  be  two  reserva- 
tions," says  his  son  Hazard  Stevens — one  in  the  Nez  Perce  country  of  3,000,000 
acres,  on  the  north  side  of  Snake  river,  embracing  both  the  Kooskooskia  (Clearwater) 
and  Salmon  rivers,  including  a  large  extent  of  good  arable  land,  with  fine  fisheries, 
^^t  grounds,  timber  and  mill  sites,  and  was  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Cayuses, 
"alia  Wallas,  Umatillas  and  Spokanes,  as  well  as  the  Nez  Perces. 

"The  other  embraced  a  large  and  fertile  tract  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Ya- 
fcima.  and  was  for  the  Yakimas,  Klickitats,  Palouses  and  kindred  bands. 

"The  reservations  were  to  belong  to  the  Indians,  and  no  white  man  should  come 
^n  them  without  their  consent.  An  agent,  With  school  teachers,  mechanics  and 
fanners,  would  take  charge  of  each  resen'ation,  and  instruct  them  in  agriculture. 


178  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

trades^  etc.;  grist  and  saw  mills  were  to  be  built;  the  head  chiefs  were  to  receive  an 
annuity  of  $500  each,  in  order  that  they  might  devote  their  whole  time  to  their 
people;  and  annuities  in  clothing,  tools  and  useful  articles  were  to  be  given  for 
twenty  years,  after  which  they  were  to  be  self-supporting. 

"The  advantages  of  the  reservations  were  dwelt  upon.  They  embraced  some 
of  the  best  land  in  the  country,  and  were  large  enough  to  afford  each  family  a  farm 
to  itself,  besides  grazing  for  all  their  stock ;  they  contained  good  fisheries,  abundance 
of  roots  and  berries,  and  considerable  game.  They  were  near  enough  to  the  great 
roads  for  trade  with  the  immigrants,  yet  far  enough  from  them  to  be  undisturbed 
by  travelers.  By  having  so  many  tribes  on  one  reservation,  the  agent  could  better 
look  after  them,  and  could  accomplish  more  with  the  same  means  at  his  disposal. 

"The  staple  argument  held  out  was  the  superior  advantages  of  civilization,  and 
the  absolute  necessity  of  their  adopting  the  habits  and  mode  of  life  of  the  white 
man  in  order  to  escape  extinction.  Governor  Stevens  also  exorted  them  to  treat 
for  the  sake  of  the  example  upon  their  inveterate  enemies,  the  Blackf eet ;  that  thereby 
they  would  prove  themselves  firm  friends  of  the  whites,  and  that  he  would  then  take 
delegations  from  each  tribe  with  his  party  and  proceed  to  the  Blackfoot  country, 
and  make  a  lasting  treaty  of  peace,  so  that  they  could  ever  after  hunt  the  buffalo 
in  safety,  and  trade  horses  with  the  Indians  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains." 

Young  Chief  of  the  Cayuses  began  to  show  an  apparent  yielding.  On  the  third 
day  of  the  council  he  dined,  for  the  first  time,  with  the  other  head  chiefs  at  the  gov- 
ernor's table,  and  that  evening  sent  word  that  his  young  men  had  grown  weary  of 
the  close  confinement  of  the  long  sessions,  and  as  they  desired  a  holiday,  he  asked 
that  the  next  day  be  given  up  to  diversion,  and  no  coYmcil  be  held  until  Saturday. 
The  commissioners,  pleased  at  this  Indication  of  a  more  tractable  spirit,  cheerfully 
assented  to  the  idea. 

There  were  now  assembled  on  the  ground,  according  to  Lieutenant  Kip,  "about 
5,000  Indians,  including  squaws  and  children;"  and  their  encampment  and 
lodges,  scattered  over  the  valley  for  more  than  a  mile,  presented  "a  wild  and  fantas- 
tic appearance."  The  holiday  was  given  over  to  feasting,  horse-racing  and 
foot-racing.  Despite  all  missionary  efforts  to  break  up  the  gambling  evil,  that 
passion  still  ran  high  in  the  Indian  breast,  and  fierce  gaming  attended  these  council 
races.  "The  usual  course  was  a  long  one,  sometimes  two  miles  out  and  back,"  says 
Hazard  Stevens.  "Oftentimes  thirty  horses  would  start  together  in  a  grand  sweep- 
stakes; the  riders  and  betters  would  throw  into  one  common  pile  the  articles  put 
up  as  stakes — blankets,  leggings,  horse  equipments  and  whatever  else  was  bet,  and 
the  winner  would  take  the  whole  pile.  The  foot  races  were  equally  long,  and  the 
runners  would  be  escorted  in  their  course  by  a  crowd  of  mounted  Indians,  galloping 
behind  and  beside  them  so  closely  that  the  exhausted  ones  could  hardly  stop  without 
being  run  down.  The  riders  and  runners  were  invariably  stripped  to  the  breech- 
cloth,  and  presented  many  fine,  manly  forms,  perfect  Apollos  in  bronze." 

When  the  council  reassembled,  Saturday,  June  2,  Governor  Stevens  invited  the 
Indians  to  speak  freely.  "We  want  you  to  open  your  hearts  to  us,"  he  said,  and 
seizing  this  invitation,  the  opponents  of  the  treaties  promptly  took  the  lead  in  the 
resulting  oratory. 

"We  have  listened  to  all  you  have  to  say,"  began  the  Yellow  Serpent,  "and  now 
we  desire  you  to  listen  when  any  Indian  speaks.     I  know  the  value  of  your  speech 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  179 

from  having  heard  such  speeches  in  California^  and  having  seen  treaties  there.  We 
have  not  seen  in  a  true  light  the  object  of  ypur  speeches^  as  if  there  were  a  tree  set 
between  us.  Look  at  yourselves:  your  flesh  is  white;  mine  is  different,  mine  looks 
poor." 

Thus  with  native  skill  of  oratory,  Yellow  Serpent  began  an  affected  plea  of  in- 
feriority,  of  humility,  of  inability  to  cope  in  cunning  with  the  white  commissioners. 
Then,  with  a  quick  turn  of  insinuation,  he  declared,  "If  you  would  speak  straight, 
then  I  would  think  you  spoke  well."  Then  came  a  sharp  thrust  at  the  demoralizing 
effects  of  that  superior  white  civilization,  upon  which  Governor  Stevens  had  dwelt 
in  all  his  utterances :  "Should  I  speak  to  you  of  things  that  happened  long  ago,  as 
yoD  have  done.^  The  whites  made  me  do  what  they  pleased.  They  told  me  to  do 
this,  and  I  did  it.  They  used  to  make  our  women  to  smoke.  I  supposed  then  they 
did  what  was  right.  When  they  told  me  to  dance  with  all  these  nations  that  are 
here,  I  danced.  From  that  time  all  the  Indians  became  proud  and  called  themselves 
chiefs. 

"Now  how  are  we  here  as  at  a  post.^  From  what  you  have  said,  I  think  that  you 
intend  to  win  our  country,  or  how  is  it  to  be.^  In  one  day  the  Americans  become  as 
numerous  as  the  grass.  This  I  learned  in  California.  I  know  it  is  not  right;  you 
ha?e  spoken  in  a  roundabout  way.  Speak  straight.  I  have  ears  to  hear  you,  and 
here  is  my  heart.  Suppose  you  show  me  goods,  shall  I  run  up  and  take  them  ?  That 
is  the  way  of  all  us  Indians  as  you  know  us.  Goods  and  the  earth  are  not  equal. 
Goods  are  for  using  on  the  earth.  I  do  not  know  where  the  whites  have  given  lands 
for  goods. 

"We  require  time  to  think  quietly,  slowly.  You  have  spoken  in  a  manner  quietly 
tending  to  evil.  Speak  plain  to  us^  I  am  a  poor  Indian;  show  me  charity. 
If  there  were  a  chief  among  the  Nez  Perces  or  the  Cayuses,  and  they  saw  evil  done, 
tbej  would  put  a  stop  to  it,  and  all  would  be  quiet.  Such  chiefs  I  hope  Governor 
Stevens  and  General  Palmer  have.*' 

With  cutting  sarcasm,  the  Yellow  Serpent  added,  "I  should  feel  very  much 
ashamed  if  the  Americans  did  anything  wrong.    I  had  but  a  little  to  say,  that  is  all." 

As  if  by  prearrangement,  to  bear  out  Yellow  Serpent's  assertion  that  the  chiefs 
would  brook  no  wrong,  Camospelo,  a  Cayuse  chief,  sharply  rebuked  some  of  his 
joung  men  who  had  behaved  in  a  disrespectful  manner,  talking  and  walking  about 
while  the  council  was  in  session. 

Late  that  evening  Lawyer,  chief  of  the  Nez  Perces,  came  secretly  to  the  tent  of 
Governor  Stevens  and  revealed  a  conspiracy  of  the  Cayuses  to  massacre  all  the 
whites  on  the  council  ground.  Lawyer,  who  had  suspected  treachery,  had  discovered 
the  peril  through  a  spy,  for  the  plot  had  been  developed  in  great  secrecy.  It  had 
been  under  nightly  consideration,  and  a  determination  reached  in  full  council  of  the 
tribe  on  the  very  day  that  Young  Chief  had  sought  as  a  holiday.  They  were  now 
only  awaiting  the  assent  of  the  Yakimas  and  Walla  Wallas,  and  that  gained,  were 
to  start  a  war  of  white  extermination. 

Lawyer  was  ready  and  able  to  thwart  the  massacre.  "I  will  come  with  my 
family  and  pitch  my  lodge  in  the  midst  of  your  camp," 'he  declared,  "so  that  those 
Cayuses  may  see  that  you  and  your  party  are  under  the  protection  of  the  head  chief 
of  the  Nei  Perces."  Notwithstanding  it  was  then  after  midnight,  Lawyer  carried 
ont  his  promise  before  daylight,  and  the  next  morning  caused  it  to  be  bruited  among 


180  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  other  Indians  that  the  commissioners  enjoyed  the  protection  of  the   powerful 
Nez  Perces. 

Governor  Stevens,  fearing  that  full  knowledge  of  the  conspiracy  would  start  a 
panic  among  the  whites,  revealed  the  news  only  to  his  secretary,  Mr.  Doty,  and 
Packmaster  Higgins,  and  through  them  the  soldiers  were  directed  to  put  their  arms 
in  readiness.  Night  guards  were  posted,  and  the  council  continued  as  if  nothing 
alarming  had  developed. 

On  Monday  Lawyer  spoke  for  the  treaty,  and  several  of  his  chiefs  followed  in 
similar  tenor.     They  were  followed  by  Kamiaken: 

"I  have  something  different  to  say  from  what  the  others  have  said.  They 
are  young  men  who  have  spoken  as  they  have  spoken.  I  have  been  afraid  of  the 
white  man.  His  doings  are  different  from  ours.  Perhaps  you  have  spoken  straight 
that  your  children  will  do  what  is  right.     Let  them  do  as  they  have  promised." 

"I  do  not  wish  to  speak,"  declared  the  Yellow  Serpent,  contemptuously.  "I  leave 
that  to  the  old  men." 

Eagle-from-the-Light,  a  Nez  Perce  chief,  spoke  with  deep  feeling  and  pathetic 
import.  His  speech  was  regarded  by  some  of  the  white  men  as  the  most  impressive 
heard  at  the  council: 

"You  are  now  come  to  join  together  the  white  man  and  the  red  man.  And  why 
should  I  hide  anything?  I  am  going  now  to  tell  you  a  tale.  The  time  the  whites 
first  passed  through  this  country,  although  the  people  of  this  country  were  blind, 
it  was  their  heart  to  be  friendly  to  them.  Although  they  did  not  know  what  the 
white  people  said  to  them,  they  answered  Yes,  as  if  they  were  blind.  They  traveled 
about  with  the  white  people  as  if  they  had  been  lost. 

"I  have  been  talked  to  by  the  French  (employes  of  the  fur  companies)  and  by 
the  Americans ;  and  one  says  to  me.  Go  this  way,  and  another  says  Go  another  way, 
and  that  is  the  reason  I  am  lost  between  them. 

"A  long  time  ago  they  hung  my  brother  for 'no  offense,  and  this  I  say  to  my 
brother  here,  that  he  may  think  of  it.  Afterwards  came  Spalding  and  ^Vhitman. 
They  advised  us  well  and  taught  us  well — very  well.  It  was  from  the  same  source 
— the  light  (the  east).  They  had  pity  on  us,  and  we  were  pitied,  and  Spalding  sent 
my  father  to  the  east — the  States,  and  he  went.  His  body  has  never  returned.  He 
was  sent  to  learn  good  counsel,  and  friendship  and  many  things.  This  is  another 
thing  to  think  of.  At  the  time,  in  this  place  here,  when  there  was  blood  spilled  on 
the  ground,  we  were  friends  to  the  whites,  and  they  to  us.  At  that  time  they  found 
it  out  that  we  were  friends  to  them.  My  chief,  my  own  chief,  said,  'I  will  try  to  set- 
tle all  the  bad  matters  with  the  whites,'  and  he  started  to  look  for  counsel  to 
straighten  up  matters,  and  there  his  body  lies  beyond  there.    He  has  never  returned. 

"At  the  time  the  Indians  held  a  grand  council  at  Fort  Laramie,  I  was  with  the 
Flatheads,  and  I  heard  there  would  be  a  grand  council  on  this  side  next  year.  We 
were  asked  to  go  and  find  counsel,  friendship  and  good  advice.  Many  of  my  people 
started,  and  died  in  the  country — died  hunting  what  was  right.  There  were  a  good 
many  started ;  on  Green  river  the  smallpox  killed  all  but  one.  They  were  going  to 
find  good  counsel  in  the  east,  and  here  am  I,  looking  still  for  counsel,  and  tp  be 
taught  what  is  best  to  be  done. 

"And  now  look  at  my  people's  bodies  scattered  everywhere,  hunting  for  knowl- 
edge— hunting  for  some  one  to  teach  them  to  go  straight.    And  now  I  show  it  to  you, 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  181 

and  I  want  you  to  think  of  it.  I  am  of  a  poor  people.  A  preacher  came  to  us^  Mr. 
Spalding.  He  talked  to  us  to  learn^  and  from  that  he  turned  to  be  a  trader,  as 
though  there  were  two  in  one,  one  a  preacher  and  the  other  a  trader.  He  made  a 
farm  and  raised  grain  and  bought  our  stock,  as  though  there  were  two  in  one,  one  a 
preacher,  the  other  a  trader.  And  now  one  from  the  east  has  spoken,  and  I  have 
heard  it,  and  I  do  not  wish  another  preacher  to  come,  and  be  both  trader  and  preacher 
in  one.  A  piece  of  ground  for  a  preacher  big  enough  for  his  own  use  is  all  that  is 
necessary  for  him. 

"Look  at  that;  it  is  the  tale  I  had  to  tell  you,  and  now  I  am  going  to  hunt 
friendship  and  good  advice.  We  will  come  straight  here — slowly  perhaps,  but  we 
will  come  straight." 

As  the  Indians  were  slow  to  speak.  Governor  Stevens  and  Commissioner  Palmer 
devoted  the  next  two  days  to  further  explanation  of  the  treaties  and  a  large  map, 
showing  the  boundaries  of  the  reservations,  the  streams,  root  grounds  and  camping 
places. 

Reticence,  however,  continued  the  prevailing  attitude  of  the  aboriginal  mind. 
The  chiefs  were  slow  to  speak,  and  when  Steachus,  regarded  as  most  amicable  of  all 
the  Cayuse  leaders,  expressed  his  sentiments,  they  revealed,  even  in  that  friendly 
quarter,  a  spirit  of  disapprobation  and  doubt. 

"My  friends,"  began  this  chief,  "I  wish  to  show  you  my  heart.  If  your  mother 
were  in  this  country,  gave  you  birth  and  suckled  you,  and,  while  you  were  suckling, 
some  person  came  and  took  away  your  mother,  and  left  you  alone  and  sold  your 
mother,  how  would  you  feel  then  f  This  is  our  mother — this  country — as  if  we  drew 
onr  living  from  her.  My  friends,  all  of  this  you  have  taken.  Had  I  two  rivers,  I 
would  leave  the  one,  and  be  contented  to  live  on  the  other.  I  name  the  place  for 
myself,  the  Grande  Ronde,  the  Touchet  towards  the  mountains,  and  the  Tucanon." 
Willing  to  divide  his  native  land  with  the  white  invaders,  but  grieved  and  mourn- 
ful over  the  thought  of  yielding  it  all,  to  the  last  rood  and  acre,  and  moving  with  his 
people  to  a  strange  and  distant  reservation.  With  dim  eye  and  savage,  angry  heart, 
this  forbidding  prospect  had  been  glimpsed  by  the  Cayuse  mind  eight  years  before, 
when  Whitman  and  his  little  mission  band  were  slain  in  protest  against  that  ever 
increasing  train  of  tented  wagons,  rolling  out  of  the  mysterious  and  distant  east, 
and  rumbling  down  the  western  slopes  of  the  beautiful  Blue  mountains. 

Stevens  and  Palmer  well  knew  how  futile  it  is  to  attempt  to  rush  the  Indian 
mind  to  hasty  decision,  and  tactfully  adjourned  the  council  to  the  following  day. 
Lawyer,  speaking  then  for  the  Nez  Perces,  adopted  the  only  line  of  reasoning  that 
gave  the  slightest  hope  of  winning  over  the  cold  and  sullen  chiefs  of  other  tribes. 
He  dwelt  upon  the  vast  numbers  of  westward  moving  whites,  the  power  of  their 
civilization,  the  utter  hopelessness  of  Indian  opposition,  and  the  imperative  need 
of  a  peaceful  adjustment  of  their  relations.  Their  only  refuge,  he  declared,  would 
be  found  in  placing  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  Great  Father  at  Wash- 
ington. Silence  followed  this  appeal  for  the  treaty,  to  be  broken  by  the  haughty 
Young  Chief  of  the  Cayuses. 

"His  country  he  would  not  sell.  He  heard  what  the  earth  said.  The  earth  said 
to  him,  *God  has  placed  me  here  to  take  care  of  the  Indian,  to  yield  roots  for  him, 
snd  grasses  for  his  horses  and  cattle.'     The  water  spoke  the  same  way.     God  has 


182  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

forbidden  the  Indian  to  sell  his  country  except  for  a  fair  price,  and   he  did  not 
understand  the  treaty." 

This  adroit  use  of  revelation  served  as  a  cue  for  Five  Crows,  the  Yellow  Serpent, 
Owhi  and  several  other  chiefs — Owhi,  who,  three  years  later,  was  to  meet  his  death 
in  a  daring  effort  to  escape  from  the  guards  of  Colonel  Wright's  command. 

Pu-pu-mox-mox,  or  the  Yellow  Serpent,  head  chief  of  the  Walla  Wallas,  proposed 
that  this  council  should  adjourn,  and  another  be  held  at  some  future  time.  He 
protested  that  the  Indians  were  treated  like  children,  were  not  consulted  in  the  draft- 
ing of  treaties  which  they  were  asked  to  sign,  and  declared  that  he  wanted  no  alterna- 
tive to  the  complete  exclusion  of  the  white  people  from  his  domains.  Kamiaken,  the 
famous  war  chief  of  the  Yakimas,  maintained  a  studied  silence.  "I  have  nothing 
to  say,"  was  his  invariable  reply  to  all  appeals  to  reveal  his  heart. 

Governor  Stevens  saw  that  the  time  had  come  for  plain  speaking  and  vigorous 
resentment  of  the  accusation  that  the  white  commissioners  were  seeking  to  deceive 
the  red  parties  to  the  proposed  treaty. 

"My  brother  and  myself  have  talked  straight.  Have  all  of  you  talked  straight.^ 
Lawyer  has,  and  his  people  here,  and  their  business  will  be  done  tomorrow. 

''The  Young  Chief  says  he  is  blind  and  does  not  understand.  What  is.it  that  he 
wants?  Steachus  says  that  his  heart  is  in  one  of  three  places — the  Grande  Ronde, 
the  Touchet  and  the  Tucanon.    Where  is  the  heart  of  Young  Chief  .^ 

"Pu-pu-mox-mox  can  not  be  wafted  off  like  a  feather.  Does  he  prefer  the 
Yakima  reservation  to  that  of  the  Nez  Perces.'^  We  have  asked  him  before.  We 
ask  him  now.  Where  is  his  heart? 

"And  Kamiaken,  the  great  chief  of  the  Yakimas,  he  has  not  spoken  at  all.  His 
people  have  had  no  voice  here  today.  He  is  not  ashamed  to  speak.  He  is  not 
afraid  to  speak.    Then  speak  out. 

"But  Owhi  is  afraid  lest  God  be  angry  at  his  selling  his  land.  Owhi,  my 
brother,  I  do  not  think  that  God  will  be  angry  if  you  do  your  best  for  yourself  and 
your  children.  Ask  yourself  this  question  tonight,  'Will  not  God  be  angry  with  me 
if  I  neglected  this  opportunity  to  do  them  good  ?'  Owhi  says  his  people  are  not  here. 
Why  did  he  promise  to  come  here,  then,  to  hear  our  talk?  I  do  not  want  to  be 
ashamed  of  Owhi.  We  expect  him  to  speak  straight  out.  We  expect  to  hear  from 
Kamiaken,  from  Skloom." 

Five  Crows  here  proposed  an  adjournment.  "Listen  to  me,  you  chiefs,"  said  he. 
"Hitherto  we  have  been  as  one  people  with  the  Nez  Perces.  This  day  we  are  di- 
vided.   We,  the  Cayuses,  the  Walla  Wallas  and  Kamiaken's  people  and  others  will 

think  over  the  matter  tonight,  and  give  you  an  answer  tomorrow." 

* 

Stevens  and  Palmer  had  now  sufficiently  tested  out  the  Indian  mind  to  see  that 
in  its  present  form  the  treaty  would  fail  of  acceptance.  Concessions  must  be  made, 
and  to  overcome  the  aversion  of  the  Cayuses,  the  Walla  Wallas  and  the  Umatillas  to 
removing  to  the  Nez  Perce  lands,  they  brought  forward  at  the  council  next  day  a 
plan  for  an  additional  reservation  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Umatilla,  at  the  base 
of  the  Blue  mountains.  To  mollify  the  stubborn  chiefs,  the  annuities  of  $500  to  be 
paid  each  of  the  head  chiefs  for  ten  years  were  extended  over  a  period  of  twenty 
years.  The  Yellow  Serpent  was  offered  the  additional  advantage  of  trading  with 
settlers  and  immigrants  at  an  established  trading  post,  and  an  annuity  of  $100  for 
twenty  years  to  his  son.     In  lengthy,  rambling  speeches  Young  Chief  and  Yellow 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  188 

Serpent  accepted  the  treaties.  "Now  you  may  send  me  provisions/*  said  the  Yel- 
low Serpent  in  conclusion;  bat  Kamiaken  of  the  Yakimas  maintained  his  sullen 
bearing  and  refused  to  assent  to  the  treaties. 

A  startling  incident  now  menaced  all  the  efforts  of  the  two  commissioners.     A 
small  band  of  warriors^  painted^  armed^  chanting  a  war-song  and  waving  the  gory 
trophy  of  a  freshly  taken  scalp^  came  galloping  upon  the  council  ground.    Instantly 
the  great  assemblage  was  thrown  into  conjecture  and  commotion.     Looking  Glass^ 
war  chief  of  the  Nez  Perces^  returning  from  a  prolonged  bunting  trip  among  the 
Blackfeet;  on  the  great  plains  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains^  had  learned^  on  reach- 
ing the  Bitter  Root  valley,  that  his  tribe  were  in  a  great  council  in  the  Walla  Walla 
valley,  negotiating  a  treaty  without  his  presence  or  knowledge.     This  chief,  while 
old,  petulant  and  shifty,  had  an  influence  with  the  tribe  second  only  to  that  of 
Lawyer.     He  had  been  made  furious  by  the  news,  and  leaving  the  main  body  of  his 
banting  party  on  the  Bitter  Root  river,  had  hurried  westward  with  a  few  chosen 
friends.    In  spite  of  his  seventy  years,  and  deep  and  melting  snows  in  the  Bitter  Roots, 
the  war  chief  and  his  party  had  traveled  800  miles  in  seven  days,  and  were  now 
arrived  upon  the  council  ground  at  the  critical  moment  when  the  commissioners 
were  laboring  with  the  recalcitrant  Kamiaken.     Surrounded  by  his  band  of  faithful 
warriors,  still  waving  the  scalp-locks  of  their  Blackfeet  victims.  Looking  Glass  rode 
proudly  upon  the  scene,  his  brow  a  thunder-cloud  of  angry  protest,  his  eye  darting 
indignation  at  his  friends,  and  broke  into  a  fierce  Jeremiad  against  the  tribe: 

"My  people,  my  people,  what  have  you  done  f  While  I  was  gone,  you  have  sold 
my  country !  I  have  come  home,  and  there  is  not  left  me  a  place  on  which  to  pitch 
my  lodge.     Go  home  to  your  lodges !    I  will  talk  to  you  !*' 

Instantly  the  council  was  adjourned,  and  Governor  Stevens  sought  private  coun- 
sel with  Lawyer,  who  thought  that  the  war  chief  would  calm  down  when  he  learned 
the  terms  of  the  treaty.  Lawyer,  said,  though,  that  Looking  Glass's  untimely  return 
had  80  unsettled  the  tribe  that  the  original  boundaries  of  the  Nez  Perce  reservation, 
though  larger  than  the  tribe  would  need  since  other  provision  had  been  made  for  the 
CajTuses,  Walla  Wallas  and  UmatiUas,  could  not  now  be  reduced. 

When  the  council  met  the  following  day  it  quickly  became  apparent  that  Look- 
ing Glass  had  not  softened  down.  He  asserted  his  head  chieftainship  over  the  Nez 
Perce  tribe,  and  contemptuously  said  that  the  boys  had  spoken  yesterday,  but  now 
his  voice  must  be  heard.  After  many  inquiries  and  objections,  he  finally  mapped 
oat  other  lines  for  the  Nez  Perce  reservation  which  included  nearly  all  the  territory 
that  the  tribe  had  ever  claimed.  Encouraged  by  Looking  Glass's  opposition,  the 
Cayuses  withdrew  their  assent  to  the  treaty,  and  Young  Chief  artfully  played  on 
the  seeming  indignity  suffered  by  the  Nez  Perce  war  chief,  while  away  fighting  the 
hereditary  enemies  of  his  tribe,  and  still  more  artfully  recognized  him  as  head  chief 
of  all  the  Nez  Perces.  Lawyer,  indignant  at  this  attempted  repudiation  of  his 
rights,  abruptly  left  the  council  while  Looking  Glass  was  delivering  his  fierce 
tirade.  The  commissioners,  refusing  to  yield  to  the  grasping  demands  of  the  aged 
duef,  adjourned  the  council  to  the  following  Monday. 

Affairs  took  now  a  more  hopeful  form,  for  after  adjournment.  Yellow  Serpent 
for  the  Walla  Wallas,  and  Kamiaken  for  the  Yakimas,  yielding  under  pressure  from 
their  snb-chiefs  and  head  men,  came  in  and  signed  their  respective  treaties.  The 
Yellow  Serpent  had  said  in  the  morning,  when  a  spirit  of  repudiation  was  in  the  air. 


184  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

that  his  word  had  passed^  and  he  should  sign  the  treaty  regardless  of  what  Looking 
Glass  and  his  followers  among  the  Nez  Perces  might  do.  His  example  had  mudi 
influence  with  Kamiaken. 

Later  in  the  evening  a  new  complication^  in  the  aggrieved  hearing  of  the  faith- 
ful and  friendly  Lawyer,  confronted  Governor  Stevens.  Coming  to  the  governor's 
tent,  this  chief  said  in  complaint: 

"Governor  Stevens,  you  are  my  chief.  You  come  from  the  President.  He  has 
spoken  kind  words  to  us,  a  poor  people.  We  have  listened  to  them  and  agreed  to  a 
treaty.  We  are  bound  by  the  agreement.  When  Looking  Glass  asked  you,  *How 
long  will  the  agent  live  with  us.^'  you  might  have  replied  by  asking  the  question, 
*How  long  have  you  been  head  chief  of  the  Nez  Perces?'  When  he  said,  *I,  the  head 
chief  have  just  got  back;  I  will  talk;  the  boys  talked  yesterday,'  you  might  have  re- 
plied, *The  Lawyer,  and  not  you,  is  the  head  chief.  The  whole  Nez  Perce  tribe  have 
said  in  council  that  Lawyer  was  the  head  chief.  Your  faith  is  pledged;  you  have 
agreed  to  the  treaty.  I  call  upon  you  to  sign  it.'  Had  this  course  been  taken,  the 
treaty  would  have  been  signed." 

"In  reply,"  says  Stevens,  "I  told  the  Lawyer  that  we  considered  all  the  talk  of 
Looking  Glass  as  the  outpourings  of  an  angry  and  excited  old  man,  whose  heart 
would  become  all  right  if  left  to  himself  for  a  time;  that  the  Lawyer  had  left  the 
council  whilst  in  session,  and  without  speaking;  that  it  was  his  business  to  have 
interfered  in  this  way  if  it  had  been  necessary.  We  considered  the  Lawyer's  leaving 
as  saying,  'Nothing  more  can  be  done  today;  it  must  be  finished  tomorrow.'  Your 
authority  will  be  sustained,  and  your  people  will  be  called  upon  to  keep  their  word. 
You  will  be  sustained.  The  Looking  Glass  will  not  be  allowed  to  speak  as  head 
chief.  You,  and  you  alone,  will  be  recognized.  Should  Looking  Glass  persist,  the 
appeal  will  be  made  to  your  people.  They  must  sign  the  treaty  agreed  to  by  them 
through  you  as  head  chief,  or  the  council  will  be  broken  up  and  you  will  return 
home,  your  faith  broken,  your  hopes  of  the  future  gone." 

Nez  Perce  and  Cayuse  tribal  councils,  held  that  night,  were  not  concluded  until 
daylight.  The  Nez  Perces  had  a  stormy  council,  but  ended  in  an  agreement  that 
Lawyer  was  head  chief,  and  Looking  Glass  second  only  to  him.  This  was  reduced 
to  writing,  and  contained  a  declaration  that  the  faith  of  the  tribe  was  pledged  to 
Governor  Stevens  and  the  treaty  must  be  signed. 

A  peaceful  Sabbath  succeeded  these  stormy  events,  and  pious  Timothy,  that 
Timothy  who  later,  in  1858,  was  to  save  Colonel  Steptoe's  little  command  from  ut- 
ter rout  and  death,  preached  a  timely  sermon,  holding  up  to  the  execration  of  the 
tribe  and  the  retribution  of  Heaven  those  members  who  would  follow  after  the 
treacherous  teachings  of  the  Cayuses  and  break  the  unsuUied  Nez  Perce  faith.  That 
day  Kamiaken,  in  conference  with  Stevens,  said: 

"I-ooking  Glass,  if  left  alone,  will  sign  the  treaty.  Don't  ask  me  to  accept  pres- 
ents. I  have  never  taken  one  from  a  white  man.  When  the  payments  are  made  I 
will  take  my  share." 

Monday  brought  the  closing  scenes  of  this  spectacjilar  and  momentous  council. 
Early  in  the  morning  Governor  Stevens  said  to  Lawyer:  "We  are  now  ready  to  go 
into  council.  I  shall  call  upon  your  people  to  keep  their  word,  and  upon  you,  as 
head  chief,  to  sign  first.  We  want  no  speeches.  This  will  be  the  last  day  of  the 
council.    Call  your  people  together  as  soon  as  possible."    "That  is  the  right  course," 


WALLA  WALLA  COUNCIL, 


FEASTING  THE  ClIIEra  AT  WALLA  WALLA  COUNCIL 


THE  SCALP   DANCE  AT   WALLA   WALLA  COUNCIL 

PRESENTS  a:^!)  Sl'PPLIf:S  WEKE  STOREO 
IN  THE  LOO  HUT 


THE  ^EW  YOKK 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY! 


km 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  185 

replied  Lawyer,  as  he  turned  away  to  assemble  his  people.    Governor  Stevens  thus 
describes  the  closing  scenes  of  the  gathering: 

"The  Looking  Glass  took  his  seat  in  council  in  the  very  best  humor.  The  Cayuses 
ajad  Nez  Perces  were  all  present.  Kamiaken  sat  down  near  the  Young  Chief.  The 
council  was  opened  by  me  in  a  brief  speech :  *We  meet  for  the  last  time.  Your  words 
are  pledged  to  sign  the  treaty.  The  tribes  have  spoken  through  their  head  chiefs, 
Joseph,  Red  Wolf,  the  Eagle,  Ip-se-male-e-con,  all  declaring  Lawyer  was  the  head 
chief,  I  call  upon  Lawyer  to  sign  first.'  Lawyer  then  signed  the  treaty.  *I  now 
cnli  upon  Joseph  and  the  Looking  Glass.'  Looking  Glass  signed,  then  Joseph.  Then 
crery  chief  and  man  of  note,  both  Nez  Perces  and  Cayuses,  signed  their  respective 
treaties. 

"After  the  treaties  were  signed,  I  spoke  briefly  of  the  Blackfoot  council,  and 
asked  each  tribe  to  send  delegations,  the  Nez  Perces  a  hundred  chiefs  and  braves, 
the  whole  under  the  head  chief,  or  some  chief  of  acknowledged  authority,  as  Look- 
ing Glass.  There  was  much  talk  on  the  subject  on  the  part  of  the  Indians.  Look- 
ing Glass  said  he  would  have  a  talk  with  me  alone  some  other  time." 

The  council  ended,  presents  were  distributed  among  the  assembled  tribes.  In 
return  for  his  present,  Eagle-from-the-Light,  the  Nez  Perce  chief  who  had  spoken 
in  eloquent  opposition  to  the  treaty,  and  proudly  refused  the  commissioners*  offer  of 
provisions,  tendered  to  Governor  Stevens  a  superb  skin  of  a  grizzly  bear,  with  teeth 
and  claws  intact.  "This  skin,"  he  said  in  a  presentation  speech,  "is  my  medicine. 
It  came  with  me  every  day  to.,  the  council.  It  tells  me  everything. 
It  says  now  that  what  has  been  doife  is  right.  •  Had  anything  been  done  wrong  it 
would  have  spoken  out.  I  have  now*  no*  use  for  it.  I  give  it  you  that  you  may  know 
my  heart  is  right."  Every  day  throughout  the  council  sessions,  Eagle-from-the- 
Light  had  sat  upon  this  skin,  teeth  and  claws  turned  towards  the  commissioners,  re- 
fusing the  roll  of  blankets  which  had  been  oiOfered  him. 

"Thus  ended,"  says  Governor  Stevens'  journal,  "in  the  most  satisfactory  manner, 
this  great  council,  prolonged  through  so  many  days — a  council  which,  in  the  num- 
ber of  Indians  assembled  and  the  different  tribes,  old  difficulties  and  troubles  be- 
tween them  and  the  whites,  a  deep-seated  dislike  to  and  determination  against  giv- 
ing up  their  lands,  and  the  great  importance,  nay,  absolute  necessity,  of  opening  this 
land  by  treaty  to  occupation  by  the  whites,  that  bloodshed  and  the  enormous  expense 
of  Indian  wars  might  be  avoided,  and  in  its  general  influence  and  difliculty — has 
never  been  equaled  by  any  council  held  with  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  United  States. 
"It  was  so  considered  by  all  present,  and  a  final  relief  from  the  intense  anxiety 
and  vexation  of  the  last  month  was  especially  grateful  to  all  concerned." 

In  celebration  of  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty,  and  the  return  of  Chief  Looking 
Glass  and  his  braves  from  the  buffalo  country,  the  Nez  Perces  gave  a  scalp  dance. 
Hazard  Stevens,  the  governor's  son,  who  witnessed  with  boyish  eyes  that  frightful 
savage  scene,  describes  it  in  his  biography  of  Governor  Stevens: 

"The  chiefs  and  braves,  in  full  war  paint  and  adorned  with  all  their  savage 
finery,  formed  a  large  circle,  standing  several  ranks  deep.  Within  this  arena  a 
chosen  body  of  warriors  performed  the  war  dance,  while  the  densely  massed  ranks 
of  braves  circled  around  them,  keeping  time  in  measured  tread,  and  accompanying 
it  with  their  wild  and  barbaric  war  song.  The  ferocious  and  often  hideous  mien  of 
these  stalwart  savages,  their  frenzied  attitudes  and  shrill  and  startling  yells,  formed 


186  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

a  subject  worthy  the  pen  of  Dante  and  the  pencil  of  Dor^.     The  missionary  still 
had  work  to  do. 

"Presently  an  old  hag,  the  very  picture  of  squalor  and  woe,  burst  into  the  circle, 
bearing  aloft  on  a  pole  one  of  the  fresh  scalps  so  recently  taken  by  Looking  Glass, 
and,  dancing  and  jumping  about  with  wild  and  extravagant  action,  heaped  upon  the 
poor  relic  of  a  fallen  foe  every  mark  of  indignity  and  contempt.  Shaking  it  aloft, 
she  vociferously  abused  it;  she  beat  it,  she  spat  upon  it;  she  bestrode  the  pole  and 
rushed  around  the  ring,  trailing  it  in  the  dust,  again  and  again;  while  the  warriors, 
with  grim  satisfaction,  kept  up  their  measured  tread,  chanted  their  war  songs,  and 
uttered,  if  possible,  yet  more  ear-piercing  yells. 

"A  softer  and  more  pleasing  scene  succeeded.  The  old  hag  retired  with  her  be- 
draggled trophy,  and  a  long  line  of  Indian  maidens  stepped  within  the  circles,  and, 
forming  an  inner  rank,  moved  slowly  round  and  round,  chanting  a  mild  and  plain- 
tive air.  A  number  of  the  stylish  young  braves,  real  Indian  beaux  in  the  height  of 
paint  and  feathers,  next  took  post  within  the  circle,  near  the  rank  of  moving  maid- 
ens, and  each  one,  as  the  object  of  his  adoration  passed  liim,  placed  a  gaily  deco- 
rated token  upon  her  shoulder.  If  she  allowed  it  to  remain,  his  affection  was  re- 
turned and  he  was  accepted,  but  if  she  shook  it  off,  he  knew  that  he  was  a  rejected 
suitor.  Coquetry,  evidently,  is  not  confined  to  the  civiliaed  fair,  for,  without  excep- 
tion, the  maidens,  as  if  indignant  at  such  public  wooing  threw  off  the  token  with 
disdain,  while  every  new  victim  of  delusive  hopes  was  greeted  with  shouts  of  lau^- 
ter  from  the  spectators." 

When  the  council  ended  thus  happily,  few  of  the  little  band  of  white  partici- 
pants, realized  how  perilously  near  they  had  been  to  a  death  of  Indian  treachery. 
If  the  Nez  Perce  chief  Lawyer  had  not,  through  his  spies  in  the  hostile  Cayuse 
camp,  discovered  the  conspiracy,  warned  Stevens  and  assumed  open  and  conspicu- 
ous protectorate  over  the  commissioners  and  their  party,  the  murderous  plot  would 
probably  have  been  consummated,  and  the  fair  valley  of  the  Walla  W^Ua  would 
have  witnessed  a  recurrence  of  that  Cayuse  treachery  which  signalised  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Whitman  mission. 

"Their  design,  (says  Lieutenant  Kip)  was  first  to  massacre  the  escort,  which 
would  have  been  easily  done.  Fifty  soldiers  against  8,000  Indian  warriors,  out  on 
the  open  plains,  made  rather  too  great  odds.  We  should  have  had  time,  like  Lieuten- 
ant Grattan  at  Fort  Laramie  last  season,  to  deliver  one  fire,  and  then  the  contest 
would  have  been  over.  Their  next  move  was  to  surprise  the  post  at  The  Dalles,  as 
they  could  also  have  easily  done,  as  most  of  the  troops  were  withdrawn,  and  the 
Indians  in  the  neighborhood  had  recently  united  with  them.  This  would  have  been 
the  beginning  of  their  war  of  extermination  against  the  settlers." 

"Foiled  in  their  plot,"  comments  Hazard  Stevens,  "why  did  they  then  so  quickly 
agree  to  the  treaties.^  All  the  circumstances  and  evidence  go  to  show  that,  with  the 
exception  of  Steachus,  the  friendly  Cayuse,  they  all — Young  Chief,  Five  Crows, 
Pu-pu-mox-mox,  Kamiaken  and  their  sub-chiefs — all  signed  the  treaties  as  a  delib- 
erate act  of  treachery,  in  order  to  lull  the  whites  into  fancied  security,  give  time  for 
Governor  Stevens  to  depart  to  the  distant  Blackfoot  country,  where  he  would  prob- 
ably be  wiped  out  by  those  truculent  savages,  and  for  the  Nez  Perces  to  return 
home,  and  also  for  completing  their  preparations  for  a  wide-spread  and  simultaneous 
onslaught  on  all  the  settlements.     Scarcely  had  they  reached  home  from  the  council 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  187 

when  they  resumed  such  preparation,  buying  extra  stores  of  ammunition,  and  send- 
ing emissaries  to  the  Spokanes,  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  even  to  some  of  the  Nez  Perces 
and  to  other  tribes,  to  incite  them  to  a  war,  actually  held  a  council  of  the  disaf- 
fected at  a  point  in  the  Palouse  country  the  following  month,  and,  within  three 
months  of  accepting  ostensibly  the  protection  of  the  Great  Father,  precipitated  the 
conflict.  Agent  Bolon  and  many  white  miners  and  settlers  in  the  upper  country  were 
massacred,  and  settlements  as  widespread  as  Puget  Sound  and  southern  Oregon,  600 
miles  apart,  were  attacked  on  the  same  day.  In  this  conspiracy  and  contest,  Kamia- 
ken  was  the  moving  spirit,  the  organizer,  the  instigator,  whose  crafty  wiles  never 
slept,  and  whose  stubborn  resolution  no  disaster  could  break.  But  in  the  end,  after 
protracted  and  stubborn  resistance,  they  were  defeated  and  compelled  to  move  on 
their  reservations,  and  live  under  the  very  treaties  they  so  treacherously  agreed  to, 
and  under  which  they  still  live  and  have  greatly  prospered. 

"Over  60,000  square  miles  were  ceded  by  these  treaties.  The  Nez  Perce  reser- 
ration  contained  5,000  square  miles,  including  mountain  and  forest  as  well  as  good 
land,  and  provision  was  made  for  moving  other  tribes  upon  it.  The  payment  for 
the  Nez  Perce  lands  comprised  $200,000  in  the  usual  annuities,  and  $60,000  for  im- 
proving the  reservation,  saw  and  grist  mills,  schools,  shops,  teachers,  farmers,  me- 
chanics, etc.  Ardent  spirits  were  excluded.  The  right  to  hunt,  fish,  gather  roots 
and  berries,  and  pasture  stock  on  vacant  land  was  secured,  and  provision  was  made 
for  ultimately  allotting  the  land  in  severalty.  An  annuity  of  $500  for  twenty  years 
was  given  the  head  chief,  and  a  house  was  to  be  built  for  him,  and  ten  acres  of  land 
fenced  and  broken  up  the  first  year.  At  the  special  request  of  the  Indians,  the  claim 
and  homestead  of  William  Craig  (near  Lewiston)  was  confirmed  to  him,  and  was 
not  to  be  considered  part  of  the  reservation,  although  within  its  boundaries." 

Besides  Lawyer  and  Looking  Glass,  fifty-six  sub-chiefs  signed  the  Nez  Perce 
treaty.  Of  these  was  Joseph,  father  of  the  younger  Joseph,  who,  twenty-two  years 
later,  was  to  become  famous  as  leader  of  the  warring  Nez  Perces  and  fight  a  bril- 
liant running  battle,  over  a  long  and  devious  trail,  baffling  again  and  again  Generals 
Howard  and  Gibbon,  and  inflicting  heavy  losses  on  the  regulars  engaged  in  that  mem- 
orable campaign  of  1877. 

Eight  hundred  square  miles  were  embraced  in  the  Umatilla  reservation.  The 
treaty  carried  $100,000  in  annuities,  $50,000  for  improvements,  $10,000  for  moving 
the  immigrant  road,  and  provisions  for  a  saw  and  a  grist  mill,  two  schoolhouses, 
a  blacksmith  shop,  wag^n  and  plough-making  shop,  carpenter  and  joiner  shop, 
tools  and  equipments.  For  instruction,  teachers,  farmers  and  mechanics  were 
provided  for  twenty  years.  The  head  chief  received  the  same  allowance  as  in 
the  Nez  Perce  treaty,  and  Pu-pu-mox-mox  was  granted  the  privilege  of  conduct- 
ing a  trading  post  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yakima,  and  received  besides  three  yoke 
of  oxen  and  liberal  stores  of  agricultural  machinery  and  farm  implements.  The 
canny  old  chief  had  certainly  driven  a  hard  bargain.  This  treaty  was  signed 
by  three  head-chiefs   and   thirty-two   sub-chiefs. 

The  Yakima  treaty  carried  the  same  general  provisions  as  the  Nez  Perce 
and  Umatilla  agreements.  In  addition  to  their  large  reservation  in  the  Yakima 
country,  they  were  given  a  smaller  one  on  the  Wenatchee,  where  they  had  a  fishery. 
The  payments  carried  $200,000  in  annuities,  $60,000  for  improving  the  reserva- 
tions, and  allowances  for  instruction,  etc.,  similar  to  those  in  the  other  treaties. 


CHAPTER  XX 

NEGOTIATING  THE  FLATHEAD  TREATY  IN   MONTANA 

WALLA    WALLA    COUNCIL    BREAKS    UP TRAILS    FILLED    WITH    WILD    AND    PICTURESQUE 

CAVALCADES GIFTS  FOR  THE   8POKANES STRIKING  BORDER   CHARACTERS PEARSON 

THE  EXPRESS  RIDER STEVENS*   LITTLE  PARTY  MOVES  EASTWARD  ACROSS  THE  INLAND 

EMPIRE GREAT    COUNCIL   ON    THE    HELLOATE GOVERNOR    STEVENS    EXPLAINS   THE 

TREATIES MORE    INDIAN    ORATORY CUTTING    THE    GORDIAN    KNOT "eVERY    MAN 

PLEASED   AND   EVERY   MAN    SATISFIED." 

SCENES  of  extraordinary  bustle  and  seeming  confusion  succeeded  the  ter- 
mination of  the  council.  A  great  village  of  more  than  5,000  people  was 
quickly  demolished  and  as  quickly  passed  from  view.  Lodges  were  lowered, 
the  scattered  herds  were  rounded  up,  and  decked  in  their  gorgeous  and  resplendent 
gifts  of  scarlet  blankets  and  gaily  figured  calicoes,  the  assembled  tribes  scattered 
to  every  point  of  the  compass.  They  "filled  all  the  trails  leading  out  of  the  valley 
with  their  wild  and  picturesque  cavalcades." 

Next  in  order  now  was  the  holding  of  other  great  councils  with  the  Flatheads 
^d  neighboring  tribes,  the  Spokanes,  and  the  warlike  Blackfeet  in  the  bufifalo 
country  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  As  the  territory  of  Washington  joined  then 
the  territory  of  Nebraska,  Alfred  Gumming,  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs  for 
Nebraska,  had  been  appointed  as  one  of  three  commissioners  to  negotiate  the 
Blackfoot  treaty.  General  Palmer  of  Oregon  had  been  named  as  the  third,  but 
his  territory  having  at  most,  only  remote  association  with  the  far  eastern  tribes, 
he  declined  the  appointment,  and  with  the  Oregon  officers  left  fpr  the  Willamette 
Tallev. 

As  Stevens  intended  to  negotiate  a  separate  treaty  with  the  Spokanes,  on  his 
return  from  the  Blackfoot  council,  A.  J.  Bolon,  Indian  agent  of  the  Yakimas, 
▼as  despatched  with  a  small  party  to  old  Fort  Walla  Walla  on  the  Columbia,  with 
goods  intended  for  the  Spokanes,  there  to  be  stored  for  safe-keeping.  He  was 
next  to  visit  and  inspect  the  Yakima  reservation,  and  after  that  proceed  to  The 
Dalles,  bring  the  Nez  Perce  goods  to  Walla  Walla,  where  he  was  to  load  up  with 
the  Spokane  goods  and  pack  them  to  Antoine  Plant's  ranch  on  the  Spokane  river, 
preparatory  to  the  governor's  council  on  his  return  from  the  country  of  the  Black- 
feet. 

"It  was  a  beautiful  sunny  June  morning,  the  16th,"  says  Hazard  Stevens, 
"when  the  little  train  drew  out  from  the  deserted  council  ground  and  took  its  way 
in  single  file  across  the  level  valley  prairie,  covered   with  luxuriant  bunch-grass 

189 


190  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

and  vivid-hued  flowers.  A  large^  fine-looking  Coeur  d'Alene  Indian  named  Joseph^ 
led  the  way  as  guide;  then  rode  the  governor  with  his  son,  Secretary  Doty,  Agent 
Lansdale,  and  Gustave  Schon,  the  artist,  barometer  carrier  and  observer;  then 
came  Packmaster  Higgins,  followed  by  the  train  of  eleven  packers  and  trwo  cooks, 
and  forty-one  sleek,  long-eared  pack-moles,  each  bearing  a  burden  of  200  pounds, 
the  men  interspersed  with  the  mules  to  keep  them  moving  on  the  trail;  while 
seventeen  loose  animals,  in  a  disorderly  bunch,  driven  by  a  couple  of  herders, 
brought  up  in  the  rear.  It  was  a  picked  force,  both  men  and  animals,  and  made 
up  in  efficiency  for  scanty  numbers. 

"The  artist,  Gustave  Schon,  a  soldier  of  the  Fourth  infantry,  detailed  for 
the  trip,  was  an  intelligent  German,  a  clever  sketcher,  and  competent  to  take 
instrumental  observations. 

"Higgins,  ex-orderly  sergeant  of  dragoons,  a  tall,  broad-shouldered,  spare, 
sinewy  man,  a  fine  swordsman  and  drillmaster,  a  scientific  bo.xer,  was  a  man  o£ 
unusual  firmness,  intelligence,  and  good  judgment,  and  quiet,  gentlemanly  manners, 
and  held  the  implicit  respect,  obedience  and  good  will  of  his  subordinates.  He 
afterwards  became  the  founder,  banker  and  first  citizen  of  the  flourishing  town  of 
Missoula,  at  Hellgate  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley. 

''A.  H.  Robie  worked  up  from  the  ranks,  married  a  daughter  of  Craig,  and 
settled  at  Boise  City,  Idaho,  where  he  achieved  a  highly  prosperous  and  respected 
career. 

"Sidney  Ford,  a  son  of  Judge  Ford,  was  a  handsome,  stalwart  young  Saxon 
in  appearance,  broad-shotddered,  sensible,  capable,  and  kindly.  The  others  were 
all  men  of  experience  on  the  plains  and  mountains,  brave  and  true.  By  all  odds 
the  most  skilful  and  picturesque  of  these  mountain  men,  and  having  the  most 
varied  and  romantic  history-,  was  Delaware  Jim,  whose  father  was  a  Delaware 
chief  and  his  mother  a  white  woman,  and  who  had  spent  a  lifetime — for  he  was 
now  past  middle  age — in  hunting  and  traveling  over  all  parts  of  the  country,  from 
the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific,  meeting  with  many  thrilling  adventures  and  hair- 
breadth  escapes. 

"Many  of  the  men  were  clad  in  buckskin  moccasins,  breeches  and  fringed  hunt- 
ing shirts;  others  in  rough,  serviceable  woolen  garb,  stout  boots  and  wide  slouch 
hats.  All  carried  navy  revolvers  and  keen  bowie  knives,  and  many  in  addition 
bore  the  long,  heavy,  small-bored  Kentucky  rifle,  which  they  fired  with  great 
deliberation  and  unerring  skill. 

"One  of  the  most  remarkable  men  connected  with  the  expedition  was  the  ex- 
press rider,  W.  H.  Pearson.  A  native  of  Philadelphia,  of  small  but  well  knit 
frame,  with  muscles  of  steel,  and  spirit  and  endurance  that  no  exertion  apparently 
could  break  down,  waving,  chestnut  hair,  high  forehead,  a  refined,  intelligent  and 
pleasant  face,  the  manners  and  bearing  of  a  gentleman — such  was  Pearson." 

In  one  of  his  official  reports  Governor  Stevens  pays  cordial  tribute  to  this 
splendid  border  character:  "Hardy,  bold,  intelligent  and  resolute,  having  a  great 
diversity  of  experience,  which  had  made  him  acquainted  with  all  the  relations 
between  Indians  and  white  men  from  the  borders  of  Texas  to  the  forty-ninth 
parallel,  and  which  enabled  him  to  know  best  how  to  move,  whether  under  south- 
ern tropics  or  the  winter  snows  of  the  north,  I   suppose  there  has  scarcely  ever 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  191 

been  any  man  in  the  service  of  the  government  who  excelled  Pearson  as  an  ex- 
pressman." 

Taking  the  Ne*  Perce  trail,  the  party  moved  leisurely  up  through  the  Walla 
Walla  valley  into  the  Palouse  country,  camped  one  night  on  Hangman  creek  south  of 
the  falls  of  the  Spokane,  passed  thence  into  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  and  moving 
up  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river,  by  way  of  the  Catholic  mission,  retraced  the  gover- 
nor's route  of  1853,  and  crossing  the  summit  of  the  Bitter  Root  mountains  on  July  1, 
descended  the  St.  Regis  de  Borgia,  and  came  to  the  Bitter  Root  river  on  July  S. 

While  encamped  on  Hangman  creek.  Governor  Stevens  was  visited  by  the  Palouse 
chief  Slah-yot-see  and  thirty  braves,  the  chief  complaining  because  no  goods  had 
been  given  him  at  the  Walla  Walla  council.  The  governor  promptly  met  his 
whining  with  this  terse  reply: 

"Slah-yot-see,  you  went  away  before  the  council  was  ended.  Koh-lat-toose 
remained  and  signed  the  treaty.  He  was  recognized  as  the  head  chief  of  the 
PaloQses,  and  to  him  the  goods  were  g^iven  to  be  distributed  among  his  tribe  as  he 
and  the  principal  men  should  determine.  I  have  brought  no  goods  to  give  you. 
Go  to  Koh-lat-toose.  He  is  the  chief,  and  it  is  from  him  you  must  obtain  your 
share  of  the  presents.  Had  you  remained  until  the  council  terminated,  you  would 
ha?e  had  a  voice  in  the  distribution  of  the  goods.  Kamiaken,  your  head  chief, 
signed  the  treaty,  and  said  that  he  should  bring  the  Palouses  into  the  Yakima 
country,  where  they  properly  belonged." 

The  crossing  of  the  Bitter  Root  river  was  safely  effected  on  July  4,  although 
the  stream  was  then  at  its  torrential  stage.  Moving  eastward,  the  party  was  met 
on  the  7th  by  800  chiefs  and  warriors  of  the  Flathead,  Pend  d'Oreille  and  Kootenay 
tribes,  and  lyith  a  rattling  discharge  of  musketry  were  conducted  to  their  encamp- 
ment near  the  Hellgate  river.  After  a  pleasant  conference  of  several  hours,  the 
gOTemor's  party  established  camp  on  the  main  river,  a  mile  distant  from  the  Indian 
rendezvous.  That  afternoon  three  head  chiefs — Victor  of  the  Flatheads,  Alexan- 
der of  the  Pend  d'Oreilles,  and  Michelle  of  the  Kootenays,  along  with  several 
snb-chiefs,  visited  the  governor,  and  after  the  peace  pipe  had  been  duly  smoked, 
were  addressed  by  him  in  his  usual  opening  vein.  He  spoke  of  the  recent  council 
at  Walla  Walla,  and  proposed  the  following  Monday  as  opening  day  for  their 
council. 

"The  Flatheads  or  Salish,"  says  Hazard  Stevens,  "including  the  Pend  d'Oreilles 
and  Kootenays,  were  among  those  who  had  been  driven  westward  by  the  Blackfeet, 
and  now  occupied  the  pleasant  valleys  of  the  mountains.  They  were 
noted  for  their  intelligence,  honesty  and  bravery,  and  although  of  medium 
stature  and  inferior,  in  physique  to  the  brawny  Blackfeet,  never  hesitated  to  attack 
them  if  the  odds  were  not  greater  than  ^ve  to  one.  Having  been  supplied  by  the 
early  fur-traders  with  firearms,  which  enabled  them  to  make  a  stand  against  their 
out-numbering  foe,  they  had  always  been  the  firm  friends  of  the  whites,  and  like 
the  Nez  Perces,  often  himted  with  the  mountain  men  and  entertained  them  in  their 
lodges.  A  number  of  Iroquois  hunters  and  half-breeds  had  joined  and  intermar- 
ried with  them.  (These  Iroquois  had  been  brought  into  this  country  by  the  old 
Northwest  Fur  company,  as  voyageurt  or  boatmen,  in  which  occupation  they  gen- 
erally excelled  all  others.)  The  Bitter  Root  valley  was  the  seat  of  the  Flatheads 
proper.     The  Pend  d'Oreilles  lived  lower  down  the  river,  or  northward  in  two 


192  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

bands — the  Upper  Pend  d'Oreilles  on  the  Horse  plains  and  Jocko  prairies,  and 
the  lower  Pend  d'Oreilles  on  Clark's  fork,  below  the  lake  of  their  name,  and 
were  canoe  Indians,  owning  few  horses.  The  Kootenays  lived  about  the  Flathead 
river  and  lake.  All  these,  except  the  Lower  Pend  d'Oreilles,  went  to  buffalo,  and 
their  hunting  trips  were  spiced  with  the  constant  peril  and  excitement  of  frequent 
skirmishes  with  their  hereditary  enemies.  The  Jesuits,  in  1843,  established  a  mis- 
sion among  the  Lower  Pend  d'Oreilles,  but  in  1854  moved  to  the  Flathead  river, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Jocko.  They  also  started  a  mission  among  the  Flatheads 
in  the  Bitter  Root  valley,  forty  miles  above  Hellgate,  ^ere  they  founded  the 
beautiful  village  of  St.  Mary,  amid  charming  scenery;  but  the  incessant  raids  of 
the  Black  feet  were  surely  but  slowly  'wiping  out'  these  brave  and  interesting 
Indians,  and  the  mission  was  abandoned  in  1850  as  too  much  exposed.  The  Owen 
Brothers  then  started  a  trading  pK>st  at  this  point,  which  they  named  Fort  Owien; 
and  fourteen  miles  above  it  Lieutenant  MuUan  built  his  winter  camp  in  1853, 
known  as  Cantonment  Stevens,  which  has  been  succeeded  by  the  town  of  Stevens- 
ville." 

At  the  opening  session  of  the  council,  Monday,  July  9,  Governor  Stevens  made 
a  long  speech  in  which  he  p>ointed  out  the  superior  advantages  of  civilization, 
their  need  of  the  protecting  arm  of  the  Great  Father  to  stop  the  incessant  and 
decimating  wars  with  the  Blackfeet,  and  the  detailed  terms  and  advantages  pro- 
posed by  the  government.  But  while  the  Indians  were  most  friendly  in  spirit, 
and  willing  and  even  eager  to  follow  the  white  man's  way,  they  shrank  from  the 
requirement  of  the  proposed  treaty  which  compelled  them  all  to  go  upon  the  same 
reservation.  But  to  the  governor  this  requirement  seemed  advisable  and  bene- 
ficial, since  all  three  tribes  belonged  to  the  common  Salish  family,  speaking  the 
same  language  and  being  closely  intermarried  and  otherwise  allied.  He  therefore 
offered  to  segregate  a  tract  for  them  either  in  the  upper  Bitter  Root  valley  in 
Victor's  country,  or  the  Horse  plains  and  Jocko  river  in  the  Pend  d'Oreille  terri- 
tory. 

When  the  governor  had  finished,  the  chiefs,  one  by  one,  voiced  either  their 
open  opposition  or  expressed  emphatic  reluctance  to  the  adoption  of  this  plan. 
Big  Canoe,  a  Pend  d'Oreille  chief,  objected  to  relinquishing  any  part  of  his  terri- 
tory, but  thought  the  whites  and  Indians  could  continue  to  dwell  together  without 
treaties  or  reservations.     In  his  speech,  as  translated  by  the  interpreters,  he  said: 

**Talk  about  treaty,  when  did  I  kill  you?  When  did  you  kill  me.''  What  is 
the  reason  we  are  talking  about  treaties.'*  We  are  friends.  We  never  spilt  the 
blood  of  one  of  you.  I  never  saw  your  blood.  I  want  my  country.  I  thought  no 
one  would  ever  want  to  talk  about  my  country.  Now  you  talk,  you  white  men. 
Now  that  I  have  heard,  I  wish  the  whites  to  stop  coming.  Perhaps  you  will  put 
me  in  a  trap,  if  I  do  not  listen  to  you,  white  chiefs.  It  is  our  land,  both  of  us. 
If  you  make  a  farm,  I  would  not  go  there  and  pull  up  your  crops.  I  would  not 
drive  you  away  from  it.  If  I  were  to  go  to  your  country  and  say,  'Give  me  a 
little  piece,'  I  wonder  would  you  say,  'Here,  take  it.'  I  expect  that  is  the  same 
way  you  want  me  to  do  here.  I  am  very  poor.  This  is  all  the  small  piece  I  have 
got.  I  am  not  going  to  let  it  go.  I  did  not  come  to  make  trouble;  therefore  I 
would  say,  I  am  very  poor. 

"It  is  two  winters  since  you  passed  here.     Every  year  since  my  horses  have 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  193 

gone  to  the  Blackfeet.  Here  this  spring  the  Blackfeet  put  my  daughter  on  foot. 
She  packed  her  goods  on  her  back.  It  made  me  feel  bad.  I  was  going  on  a  war 
partj  as  your  express  passed  along.  Then  I  think  of  what  I  heard  from  you^  my 
father^  and  take  my  heart  back  and  keep  quiet.  If  I  had  not  listened  to -your 
express^  I  should  have  gone  on  war  parties  oyer  yonder.  We  drove  one  band  of 
horses  from  the  Blackfeet.  I  talked  about  it  to  my  Indians.  I  said^  'Give  &e 
horses  back^  my  children.'  My  chief  took  them  back.  You  talked  about  it  strongs 
my  father.  My  chief  took  them  back.  That  is  the  way  we  act.  When  I  found 
my  children  were  going  on  war  parties^  I  would 'tell  them  to  stop^  be  quiet.  Tell 
them  I  expect  now  we  will  see  the  chief.  I  expect  he  will  talk  to  the  Blackfeet 
again. 

Governor  Stevens:  "I  will  ask  you,  my  children,  if  you  fully  understand  all 
that  was  said  yesterday  ?  I  ask  you  now,  can  you  all  agree  t6  live  on  one  reserva- 
tion? I  ask  Victor,  are  you  willing  to  go  on  the  same  reservation  with  the  Pend 
d'OreiUes  and  Kootenays.^  I  ask  Alexander,  are  you  willing  to  go  on  the  same 
reservation  with  the  Flatheads  and  Kootenays.  I  ask  Michelle,  are  you  willing 
to  go  on  the  same  reservation  with  the  Flatheads  and  Pend  d'OreiUes  ?  What  do 
TOO,  Victor,  Alexander  and  Michelle,  think  f  You  are  the  head-chiefs ;  I  want  you 
to  speak." 

Victor:  "I  am  willing  to  go  V)n  one  reservation,  but  I  do  not  want  to  go  over 
yonder"  (the  Pend  d'Oreille  country). 

Alexander:     "It  is  good  for  us  all  to  stop  in  one  place." 
Michelle:     "I  am  with  Alexander." 

Governor  Stevens:  "The  Pend  d'Oreilles  and  Kootenays  think  it  well  to  have 
all  these  tribes  together.  Perhaps  Victor  might  think  so  by  and  by,  if  the  place 
suits.  Alexander  and  Michelle  wish  to  live  together,  their  people  in  one  place; 
they  have  a  thousand  people,  the  land  ought  to  be  good.  Each  man  wants  his 
field;  the  climate  ought  to  be  mild. 

"I  ask  Victor,  Alexander  and  Michelle  to  think  it  over.  Will  they  go  to  the 
ralley  with  Victor,  or  to  the  mission  with  Alexander  and  Michelle?  I  do  not 
care  which.  You  will  have  your  priests  with  you,  whether  you  go  to  the  mission 
or  Fort  Owen.  Those  who  want  the  priest  can  have  him.  The  Great  Father 
means  that  every  one  shall  do  as  he  pleases  in  regard  to  receiving  the  instructions 
of  the  priests." 

Next  day's  council  brought  no  change  of  mind,  Victor  refusing  to  move  to  the 
niission,  Alexander  declining  to  go  to  the  valley;  neither  objecting  to  the  other 
coming  to  his  place.  To  overcome  this .  deadlock.  Governor  Stevens  proposed  a 
holiday  and  feast,  and  used  the  delay  to  send  for  Father  Hoecken  to  investigate 
a  rmnor  that  the  priests  were  exerting  an  adverse  influence  on  the  negotiations. 
Father  Hoedten  arrived  before  the  conclusion  of  the  council  and  quickly  con- 
Tinced  the  governor  of  the  falsity  of  the  rumor.  He  expressed  complete  approval 
of  the  treaty,  and  on  its  conclusion  signed  the  instrument  as  one  of  the  witnesses. 
Twelve  hundred  Indians  were  now  encamped  on  the  treaty  grounds,  and  for 
their  pleasure  on  the  day  of  the  feast  two  beeves,  coffee,  sugar,  flour  and  other 
proTisions  were  supplied  them.  After  the  feast  the  Indians  counseled  among 
themselves  respecting  the  treaty. 

But  at  next  day's  council  the  deadlock  seemed  as  unbroken  as  ever.     Victor 

Vol  I— 1  a 


194  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

« 

refused  to  speak^  declaring  that  he  had  not  yet  made  up  his  mind.     At  this  point 
the  governor  adopted  a  taunting  tone: 

"Does  Victor  want  to  treat?"  he  asked.  "Is  he,  as  one  of  his  people  has 
called  him,  an  old  woman  .^  Dumb  as  a  dog.  If  Victor  is  a  chief,  let  him  speak 
now." 

To  escape  Stevens'  adroit  pressure,  Victor  abruptly  left  the  council  and 
went  to  his  lodge.  The  next  day  he  sent  word  that  his  mind  was  not  yet  made 
up,  and  the  governor  adjourned  the  council  to  Monday,  when  Victor,  manifestly 
to  "save  his  face'*  before  the  governor  and  his  own  people,  brought  forward  a 
compromise  arrangement.  He  proposed  that  the  two  tracts  under  consideration 
should  be  carefully  surveyed  and  examined  by  Governor  Stevens,  and  the  one 
found  best  should  be  chosen  for  the  reservation. 

Alexander  and  Michelle  persisting  in  their  decision  the  governor  cut  the  Gordian 
knot  by  accepting  Victor's  plan  so  far  as  it  concerned  him  and  his  people  and 
giving  the   others  the  reservation  around  the  mission. 

"My  children  (he  said)  Victor  has  made  his  proposition.  Alexander  and  Mich- 
elle have  made  theirs.  We  will  make  a  treaty  for  them.  Both  tracts  shall  be 
surveyed.  If  the  mission  is  the  best  land,  Victor  shall  live  there.  If  the  valley 
is  the  best  land,  Victor  shall  stay  there.  Alexander  and  Michelle  may  stay  at 
the  mission." 

The  three  head-chiefs  then  signed  the  treaties,  but  Moses,  a  sub-chief  of  the 
Flatheads,  would  not  sign. 

"My  brother  is  buried  here,"  he  protested.  "I  did  not  think  you  would  take 
the  only  piece  of  ground  I  had.  Here  are  three  fellows  (the  head-chiefs) ;  they 
say,  'Get  on  your  horses  and  go.'  Last  year  when  you  were  talking  about  the  Black- 
feet  you   were  joking." 

Governor  Stevens:  "How  can  Moses  say,  I  am  not  going  to  the  Blackfoot 
country.?  I  have  gone  all  the  way  to  the  Great  Father  to  arrange  about  the  Black- 
foot  council.  What  more  can  I  do.''  A  man  is  coming  from  the  Great  Father  to 
meet  me.  Does  Moses  not  know  that  Mr.  Burr  and  another  man  went  to  Fort 
Benton  the  other  day?" 

With  fine  imagery  Moses  rejoined:  "You  have  pulled  all  my  wings  off  and  then 
let  me  down." 

Governor  Stevens:  "All  that  we  have  done  is  for  vour  benefit.  I  have  said 
that  the  Flatheads  were  brave  and  honest  and  should  be  protected.  Be  patient 
Everything  will  come  right." 

Moses:  "I  do  not  know  how  it  will 'be  straight.  A  few  days  ago  the  Black- 
thet  stole  horses  at  Salmon  river." 

Governor  Stevens,  to  the  interpreter:  "Ask  him  if  he  sees  the  Nez  Perce 
chief  Eagle-from-the-Light;  he  is  going  to  the  Blackfoot  council  with  me." 

Moses:  "Yes,  I  see  him;  they  will  get  his  hair.  The  Blackfeet  are  not  like 
these  people;  they  are  all  drunk." 

When  the  influenital  men  had  signed.  Governor  Stevens  said: 

"Here  are  three  papers  which  you  have  signed,  copies  of  the  same  treaty.  One 
goes  to  the  President,  one  I  place  in  the  hands  of  the  head-chief,  and  one  I  keep 
myself.     Everything  that  has  been  said  here  goes  to  the  President.     I  have  now  a 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  195 

few  presents  for  you.  They  are  simply  a  gift,  no  part  of  the  payments.  The  pay- 
ments can  not  be  made  until  we  hear  from  the  President  next  year." 

After  a  council  protracted  for  eight  days,  success  crowned  the  governor's  labors. 
"Every  man  pleased  and  every  man  satisfied,"  as  he  expressed  it. 

This  reservation,  which  was  opened  to  white  settlement  in  1909,  embraced  1,250,- 
000  acres.  The  treaty  carried  $84,000  in  annuity  goods,  $36,000  to  improve  the  res- 
eiration ;  salaries  of  $500  a  year  for  twenty  years,  with  a  house  and  ten  acres  fenced 
and  ploughed,  to  the  three  head-chiefs ;  schools,  mills,  hospitals,  shops ;  teachers  and 
mechanics  for  twenty  years;  the  right  to  fish,  hunt,  gather  roots  and  berries,  and 
pasture  stock  on  vacant  land  outside  the  reservation.  The  three  tribes  were  to  con- 
stitute one  nation,  under  the  head  chieftainship  of  Victor,  to  be  called  the  Flathead 
nation.  Father  Hoecken,  R.  H.  Lansdale,  W.  H.  Trappan,  R.  H.  Crosby  and  Will- 
iam Craig  witnessed  the  treaty.  About  20,000  square  miles  were  ceded.  The  treaty 
gronnds  were  adjacent  to  the  present  thriving  and  progressive  city  of  Missoula. 

"This  is  not  the  place,"  says  Governor  Stevens  in  his  narrative  of  1855,  "to  go 
into  the  details  of  the  Flathead  treaty."  With  calm  confidence  in  the  judgment  of 
history  and  the  unbiased  verdict  of  posterity,  the  governor  adds:  "I  trust  the  time 
will  come  when  my  treaty  operations  of  1855 — the  most  extensive  operations  ever 
midertaken  and  carried  out  in  these  latter  days  of  our  history — I  repeat,  I  trust  the 
time  will  come  when  1  shall  be  able  to  vindicate  them,  and  show  that  they  were  wise 
and  proper,  and  that  they  accomplished  a  great  end.  They  have  been  very  much 
critidsed  and  very  much  abused;  but  I  have  always  felt  that  history  will  do  these 
operations  justice.  I  have  not  been  impatient  as  to  time,  but  have  been  willing  that 
mj  vindication  should  come  at  the  end  of  a  term  of  years.  Let  short-minded  men 
denounce  and  criticise  ig^orantly  and  injuriously,  and  let  time  show  that  the  gov- 
cnmient  nuide  no  mistake  in  the  man  whom  it  placed  in  the  great  field  of  duty  as  its 
commissioner  to  make  treaties  with  the  Indian  tribes." 


CHAPTER  XXI 

PEACE  COUNCIL  WITH  THE  WARLIKE  BLACKFEET 

COURlfiBS   SUMMON    NUMEROUS    TRIBES GREAT    COUNCIL   AT   MOUTH    OF   THE    JUDITH 

NEBRASKA'S   COMMISSIONER   PROCRASTINATES STEVENS*   OPENING   ADDRESS TREATY 

NEGOTIATED   AFTER   THREE    DAY    CONFERENCE COATS   AND    MEDALS   GIVEN    TO   THE 

CHIEFS GERMAN   SONGS  ROLL  ACROSS   THE   MISSOURI HOMERIC   FEAST   OF   BUFFALO 

RIBS  AND   FLAPJACKS LISTENING  TO   THRILLING  TALES   OF  TRAPPER  DAYS. 

BREAKING  camp  at  the  conclusion  of  the  Flathead  council^  Governor  Stevens 
and  party  hastened  eastward  for  the  great  peace  council  with  the  Blackfeet. 
Fort  Benton,  head  of  navigation  on  the  Missouri,  was  the  appointed  rendez- 
foiis,  where  his  party  were  to  meet  Colonel  Alfred  Cumming,  Indian  superintendent 
for  Nebraska  territory,  who  had  been  designated  by  the  government  as  the  other 
commissioner  to  negotiate  this  treaty.  Under  plans  carefully  worked  out  by  Stev- 
ens, Gumming  was  to  ascend  the  Missouri  by  steamboat,  bringing  with  him  the  neces- 
sary goods  and  provisions  for  the  council;  but  Cumming,  who  was  amazingly  pom- 
pous, petulant  and  inefficient,  had  proceeded  so  dilatorily  that  he  himself  at  one 
time  despaired  of  getting  on  the  ground  that  season,  and  proposed  that  the  govern- 
ment postpone  the  council  to  the  following  year. 

Officials  at  Washington  realized  that  this  course  would  never  do;  that  Governor 
Stevens,  with  great  difficulty,  having  notified  numerous  tribes  and  bands  ranging  over 
avast  extent  of  country,  that  the  council  would  be  held  late  in  the  summer  of  1855, 
failure  to  carry  out  these  arrangements  would  be  taken  by  the  Indians  as  a  mani- 
festation of  broken  faith ;  the  council  must  be  held.  Cmnming  was  thereupon  admon- 
ished to  go  forward  with  the  orig^inal  plans,  but  his  disregard  of  Governor  Stevens' 
recommendations  involved  him  in  additional  delays,  and  when  Stevens  and  party  ar- 
rived at  Benton,  they  met  the  disappointing  news  that  Cumming  and  all  the  goods 
and  provisions  were  far  down  the  Missouri ;  that  the  Nebraska  official  had  prema- 
turely unloaded  the  steamer,  and  was  trying  to  cordelle  the  freight  up  the  swift 
current  of  the  upper  Missouri  in  small  boats. 

Stevens  sent  out  couriers  in  all  directions,  advising  the  various  bands  that  the 
comicil  could  not  be  held  at  the  designated  date,  and  asking  them  to  hold  their  peo- 
ple in  readiness  for  a  later  summons.  Chafing  under  these  delays  and  disappoint- 
ments, foreseeing  that  the  Indians  could  not  be  held  indefinitely  as  they  must  shift 
their  camps. with  the  erratic  movements  of  the  buffalo,  and  were  in  danger  of  pass- 
ing beyond  call,  the  governor  decided  to  change  the  council  ground  from  Fort 
Benton  to  the  mouth  of  the  Judith,  farther  down  the  Missouri,  and  thus  eliminate 

197 


198  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  delay  involved  in  cordelling  the  merchandise  and  provisions  over  that  long  and 
difficult  reach  of  the  river. 

"Had  the  goods  arrived  at  any  time  during  this  waiting  period/'  says  Haxard 
Stevens,  "not  less  than  12,000  Indians  would  have  attended  the  council,  comprising 
10,000  Blackfeet,  1,100  Nez  Perces,  700  Flatheads  and  Pend  d'Oreillcs  and  400 
Snakes,  the  western  Indians  numbering  2,200."  When  the  council  finally  assembled, 
October  16,  only  3,500  Indians  were  in  attendance.  The  double  purpose  of  the  pro- 
posed treaty  was  to  establish  an  enduring  peace  between  the  Blackfeet  and  the 
tribes  living  west  of  them,  and  l^ate  the  former  upon  a  reservation.  In  his  opening 
speech  the  governor  said: 

"My  children,  my  heart  is  glad  today.  I  see  Indians  east  of  the  mountains  and 
Indians  west  of  the  mountains  sitting  here  as  friends — Bloods,  Blackfeet,  Piegans, 
pros  Ventres ;  and  Nez  Perces,  Kootenays,  Pend  d'Oreilles,  Flatheads ;  and  we  have 
the  Cree  chief  sitting  down  here  from  the  north  and  east,  and  Snakes  farther  from 
the  west.  There  is  peace  now  here  between  you  all  present.  We  want  peace  also 
with  absent  tribes,  with  the  Crees  and  Assiniboines,  with  the  Snakes,  and  yes,  even 
with  the  Crows.  You  have  all  sent  your  message  to  the  Crows,  telling  them  you 
would  meet  them  in  friendship  here.  The  Crows  were  far,  and  could  not  be  present, 
but  we  expect  you  to  promise  to  be  friends  with  the  Crows.     .     .     . 

"I  shall  say  nothing  about  peace  with  the  white  man.  No  white  man  enters  a 
Blackfoot  or  a  western  Indian's  lodge  without  being  treated  to  the  very  best.  Peace 
already  prevails.  We  trust  such  will  continue  to  be  the  case  forever.  We  have  been 
traveling  over  your  whole  country,  both  to  the  east  and  west  of  the  mountains,  in 
small  parties,  ranging  away  north  to  Bow  river,  and  south  to  the  Yellowstone.  We 
have  kept  no  guard.  We  have  not  tied  up  our  horses.  All  has  been  safe.  There- 
fore I  say,  peace  has  been,  is  now  and  will  continue,  between  these  Indians  and  the 
white  man." 

The  treaty  was  then  read,  the  governor  explaining  its  terms,  sentence  by  sen- 
tence. Speeches  by  all  the  chiefs  followed,  extolling  the  advantages  of  peace  and 
manifesting  the  best  of  feeling.  On  the  third  day  the  treaty  was  negotiated  and 
signed  by  all  the  attending  chiefs  and  head  men.  Three  days  more  were  given  up  to 
the  distribution  of  presents,  including  coats  and  medals  to  the  chiefs,  with  appro- 
priate speeches  by  the  two  commissioners,  exhorting  them  to  respect  their  pledges 
to  the  Great  Father  and  control  their  young  braves  in  the  interest  of  enduring  peace. 
The  personnel  of  the  officer^  was:  Isaac  I.  Stevens  and  Alfred  Cumming,  commis- 
sioners; James  Doty,  secretary;  Thomas  Adams  and  A.  J.  Vaughn,  reporters.  The 
interpreters  were:  James  Bird,  A.  Culbertson  and  M.  Roche  for  the  Blackfeet; 
Benjamin  Kiser  and  G.  Schon,  for  the  Flatheads;  William  Craig  and  Delaware  Jini) 
for  the  Nez  Perces. 

"The  treaty  was  much  more  than  a  treaty  of  peace  as  far  as  the  Blackfeet  were 
concerned,"  comments  Hazard  Stevens,  "for  it  gave  them  schools,  farms,  agricul- 
tural implements,  etc.,  an  agent,  and  annuities  of  $35,000  for  ten  years,  of  which 
$15,000  was  devoted  to  educating  them  in  agriculture  and  to  teaching  the  children. 
It  contained  the  usual  provision  prohibiting  intoxicating  liquor.  The  extensive  re- 
gion between  the  Missouri  and  the  Yellowstone  was  made  the  common  hunting 
ground  of  all  the  tribes.  All  agreed  to  maintain  peace  with  each  other,  including 
those  tribes  that  were  unable  to  be  present,  the  Crows,  Crees,  Assiniboines  and 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  199 

Snakes.  The  treaty  was  made  obligatory  on  the  Indians  from  their  signing  it^  and 
on  the  United  States  from  its  ratification^  which  occurred  the  next  springs  and  it 
was  duly  proclaimed  by  the  president  on  April  25^  1856. 

"The  peace  made  at  this  council  was  observed  with  gratifying  fidelity  in  the 
main.  The  Blackf eet  ceased  their  incessant  and  bloody  raids^  and  met  their  former 
enemies  on  friendly  terms  upon  the  common  hunting  grounds.  Within  a  few  years^ 
in  1862-63^  large  white  settlements  sprang  up  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Missouri^ 
but  they  were  spared  the  horrors  and  sufferings  of  Indian  warfare  with  so  powerful 
a  tribe,  largely  in  consequence  of  this  treaty.  The  council,  which  Governor  Stevens 
planned  and  carried  out  with  such  foresight,  sagacity  and  indefatigable  exertions 
during  two  years,  bore  fruit  at  last  in  the  perpetual  peace  he  hoped  for  and  pre- 
dicted. Few  treaties  with  Indians  have  been  so  well  observed  by  them  as  this  by 
the  'bloodthirsty'  Blackfeet.  They  took  no  part  in  the  great  Sioux  wars,  nor  in  the 
outbreak  of  Joseph.  They  were  afterwards  gathered  together  on  a  large  reserva- 
tion, including  the  country  about  the  Sun  river,  where  the  governor  proposed  to  es- 
tablish their  farms." 

A  pleasing  description  of  the  council  ground  has  been  recorded  by  the  same 
author,  who,  as  a  boy  of  13  accompanied  his  father  and  witnessed  the  savage  and 
barbaric  council.  It  was  "a  wide,  level  plain,  covered  with  a  noble  grove  of  huge 
cottonwoods.  It  was  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Missouri,  nearly  opposite  but  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Judith.  This  stream  was  also  bordered  by  broad  bottoms,  which  were 
covered  wih  large  sage-brush,  and  fairly  swarming  with  deer.  The  governor's 
camp  was  pitched  under  the  lofty  cottonwoods,  and  lower  down  was  the  camp  of  the 
crew  of  men  who  had  dragged  the  boats  up  the  river.  They  were  a  hundred  strong, 
TDosilj  Germans,  having  many  fine  voices  among  them,  and  were  fond  of  spending 
the  evenings  in  singing.  The  effect  of  their  grand  choruses,  pealing  forth  over  the 
river  and  resounding  among  the  lofty  trees,  was  magnificent. 

"In  the  governor's  camp  an  unusually  large  Indian  lodge — a  great  cone  of  poles 
covered  with  dressed  and  smoke-stained  buffalo  skins — was  erected  and  used  as  an 
office  tent,  where  the  records  were  copied  and  smaller  conferences  held.  Every 
night  between  eleven  and  twelve,  when  the  work  of  the  day  was  concluded,  the 
governor  would  call  in  the  gentlemen  of  the  party,  a  few  chiefs,  and  some  of  the  in- 
terpreters, and  have  a  real  Homeric  feast  of  buffalo  ribs,  fiap jacks  with  melted 
sugar,  and  hot  coffee.  Whole  sides  of  ribs  would  be  brought  in,  smoking  hot  from 
the  fire,  and  passed  around,  and  each  guest  would  cut  off  a  rib  for  himself  with  his 
hunting  knife,  and  sit  there  holding  the  huge  dainty,  three  feet  long,  and  tearing  off 
the  juicy  and  delicious  meat  with  teeth  and  knife,  principally  the  former.  No 
description  can  convey  an  idea  of  the  hearty  zest  and  relish  and  enjoyment,  or  the 
keen  appetites,  with  which  they  met  at  these  hospitable  repasts,  and  recounted  the 
▼aried  adventures  and  experiences  of  their  recent  trips,  or  listened  as  Craig,  Dela- 
ware Jim,  or  Ben  Kiser  related  some  thrilling  tale  of  trapper  days,  or  desperate 
fi^t  with  Indian  or  grizzly  bear." 

A  far  cry  this  may  seem  from  the  night-lighted  streets  of  Spokane,  with  their 
flaring  electric  signs,  swift-passing  automobiles,  and  pleasure-seeking  throngs ;  but 
these  nomadic  scenes  in  Walla  Walla  vale,  and  by  Missoula's  flowing  waters,  and  on 
^c  distant  plains  where  mingle  the  Judith  and  the  Missouri,  required  their  setting 
Mid  their  shifting,  seven  and  fifty  years  ago,  else  had  there  been  no  pea^e  with  In- 


200  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

dian  tribes^  no  settlement  by  daring  and  adventurous  pioneers^  no  turning  of  the  soO 
to  farm  and  garden^  or  felling  of  the  forest  monarchs ;  no  rocking  out  of  millions  in 
placer  gold  or  delving  deep  for  hidden  treasures  of  mineral  vein  and  chamber.  And 
without  these  antedating  achievements^  where  now  could  be  the  beautiful^  the  sub- 
stantial empress  city  of  the  Inlakid  Empire? 


CHAPTER  XXII 

TRIBES  OF  INTERIOR  TAKE  TO  THE  WARPATH 

NBW8  TO    SHAKE    THE    STOUTEST    HEART GOVERNOR    CUT    OFF    FROM    OLYMPIA PEAR- 
SON's   DESPERATE  RIDE  THROUGH  HOSTILE  COUNTRY STEVENS  ADVISED  TO  DESCEND 

THE  MISSOURI  AND  RETURN  BY  SEA ^REJECTS  THAT  COUNSEL  AND  BOLDLY  RETURNS 

BY    DIRECT    ROUTE CROSSES    BITTER    ROOTS    IN    THREE    FEET    OF    SNOW STARTLES 

INDIANS    BY    SUDDEN    APPEARANCE    IN    COEUR    d'aLENES FORCED    MARCH    TO    THE 

SPOKANE MEETS   MINERS   FROM    COLVILLE    COUNTRY STORMY    COUNCIL   WITH   SPO- 

KANES GARRY   VACILLATES STEVENS   BLAMED   FOR  YAKIMAS  OUTBREAK SPOKANES 

CONCILIATED ^''sPOKANE     INVINCIBLES"     ORGANIZED     AS     MILITIA     COMPANY NEZ 

PERCES  GIVE  GOVERNOR  AN   ARMED     ESCORT HOSTILES  ROUTED  BY  OREGON  VOLUN- 
TEERS  STEVENS  RETURNS  SAFELY  TO  OLYMPIA. 

"It  is  vain  for  the  coward  to  flee ;  death  follows  close  behind ;  it  is  only  by  defy- 
ing it  that  the  brave  escape." — Voltaire. 

IN  BUOYANT  spirits^  with  no  premonition  of  impending  peril.  Governor 
Stevens  and  party  left  the  Blackfoot  council  ground.  "Everything  had  suc- 
ceeded to  our  entire  satisfaction,  and,  indeed,  beyond  our  most  sanguine  expecta- 
tions," the  governor  reported.  "The  greatest  delight  and  good  will  seemed  to  per- 
vade the  minds  of  all  the  Indians,  and  we  left  them  at  the  mouth  of  the  Judith  on 
our  way  to  Fort  Benton,  and  proceeded  thence  to  the  waters  of  the  Pacific,  Tcjoiced 
that  our  labors  had  had  such  a  consummation." 

Packing  up,  the  little  party  of  twenty- four  faced  westward  on  October  24,  reached 
Fort  Benton  the  next  day,  and  after  a  two  day  pause  there,  preparing  for  the  long 
homeward  journey,  left  Benton  October  28.  On  the  evening  of  the  twenty-ninth, 
while  in  camp  on  the  Teton,  the  evening  meal  dispatched  and  the'  men  assembled 
aronnd  the  campfire,  a  horseman  was  seen  approaching  in  the  gathering  twilight.  It 
was  the  daring  express  rider,  W.  H.  Pearson,  bearing  news  calculated  to  shake  the 
stoutest  heart.  He  had  ridden  desperately  and  long,  and  as  his  exhausted  mount 
^^^gg^ed  into  the  firelight,  it  was  seen,  from  Pearson's  wild,  emaciated  and  haggard 
appearance,  that  he  had  passed  through  some  ordeal  of  a  trying  nature.  Eager  arms 
lifted  him  from  the  saddle,  friendly  hands  ministered  to  the  fainting  man  with 
warmth  and  food ;  and  he  then  delivered  his  dispatches  and  a  made  a  ref>ort  that,  for 
a  moment,  struck  consternation  to  that  little  band  on  desert  plains  a  thousand  miles 
from  home. 

"The  great  tribes  of  the  upper  Columbia  country,  the  Cayuses,  Yakimas,  Walla 

201 


202  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Wallas,  Umatillas,  Palouses  and  all  the  Oregon  bands  down  to  The  Dalles,  the  very 
ones  who  had  signed  the  treaties  at  the  Walla  Walla  council  and  professed  such 
friendship,  had  all  broken  out  in  open  war,"  says  Stevens'  biographer.  "They  had 
swept  the  upper  country  clean  of  whites,  killing  all  the  settlers  and  miners  found 
there,  and  murdered  Agent  Bolon  under  circumstances  of  peculiar  atrocity.  Major 
Haller,  s^nt  into  the  Yakima  country  with  a  hundred  regulars  and  a  how- 
itzer, had  been  defeated  and  forced  to  retreat  by  Kamiaken's  warriors,  "w^ith  the 
lost  of  a  third  of  his  force  and  his  cannon.  The  Indians  west  of  the  Cascades 
stad  also  risen  simultaneously,  and  laid  waste  the  settlements  on  Puget  Sound  and 
*n  Oregon,  showing  that  a  widespread  conspiracy  prevailed.  The  Spokanes  and 
Coeur  d'Alenes  were  hostile,  or  soon  would  become  hostile  under  the  spur  and  taunts 
of  the  young  Cayuse  and  Yakima  warriors  sent  among  them  to  stir  them  up, 
and  even  some  of  the  Nez  Perces  were  disaffected.  A  thousand  well  armed  and 
brave  hostile  warriors  under  Kamiaken,  Pu-pu-mox-mox,  Young  Chief  and  Five 
Crows,  were  gathered  in  the  Walla  Walla  valley,  waiting  to  *wipe  out'  the  party 
on  its  return ;  squads  of  young  braves  were  visiting  the  Nez  Perces,  Spokanes  and ' 
Cocur  d'Alenes,  vaunting  their  victories,  displaying  fresh  gory  scalps,  and  using 
every  effort  to  cajole  or  force  them  into  hostility  to  the  whites. 

"The  daring  expressman's  story  of  how  he  ran  the  gantlet  of  the  hostile  tribes 
with  the  dispatches  and  information  upon  which  depended  the  lives  of  the  party, 
heightened  the  impression  made  by  his  wretched  appearance  and  doleful  tidings.*' 

He  had  left  The  Dalles  on  his  return  trip,  fresh  and  well  mounted,  and  riding 
all  day  and  night,  reached  Billy  McKay's  ranch  on  the  Umatilla  at  daylight.  The 
place  was  deserted.  Lassoing  a  fresh  mount,  he  saw  a  band  of  hostiles,  racing 
down  the  hills  towards  the  valley,  and  as  he  sprang  into  the  saddle,  they  gave 
fierce  yells  and  cries  of  "Kill  the  white  man!  Kill  the  white  man!"  They  pur- 
sued him  for  many  miles,  but  he  slowly  drew  away,  and  at  nightfall  turned  off 
the  trail  at  right  angles,  rode  for  several  miles,  and  then  took  a  course  parallel 
with  the  regular  route.  Riding  in  this  strategic  manner,  resting  a  few  hours  in 
secluded  covert,  and  seeking  unusual  fords,  he  reached  Lapwai,  and  after  a  day's 
rest,  pushed  on  over  the  Bitter  Root  mountains.  A  blinding  snowstorm  beset  him, 
a  tree  felt  and  crushed  his  Nez  Perce  companion,  and  the  trail  was  buried  imder 
several  feet  of  new-fallen  snow.  Unable  to  travel  further  on  horseback,  Pear- 
son improvised  snowshoes,  cutting  the  frames  with  his  knife,  and  weaving  the 
webs  with  strands  of  his  rawhide  lariat;  and  packing  blankets  and  a  little  dried 
meat  upon  his  back,  pushed  ovier  the  snow-buried  heights,  and  after  four  days  of 
this  desperate  travel,  descended  into  the  Bitter  Root  valley,  near  Fort  Owen,  where 
rest,  a  fresh  mount  and  friendly  greetings  awaited  him.  Three  days  more,  and  he 
was  in  Stevens'  camp  on  the  Teton. 

"He  brought  me  letters  from  official  sources  (so  runs  the  governor's  record), 
stating  that  my  only  chance  of  safety  was  to  go  down  the  Missouri  and  return  to 
the  western  coast  by  the  way  of  New  York;"  but  the  governor's  "determination 
was  fixed  and  unalterable  that  an  attempt  should  be  made  to  reach  the  settlements 
by  the  direct  route,  and  that  all  dangers  on  the  road  should  be  sternly  confronted." 
Secretary  Doty  was  sent  back  to  Fort  Benton  for  a  large  quantity  of  powder  and 
ball,  additional  arms   and   additional   animals,   and   these   procured,  the   governor 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  203 

decided  to  hasten  homeward  at  express  speed.  Pushing  on  to  Hellgate^  he  pur- 
chased every  good  mule  and  horse  that  he  could  get  in  the  valley. 

"The  question  was,  what  should  be  our  route  home,"  says  Stevens.  "It  was  im- 
portant, it  seemed  to  me,  to  our  success,  that  we  should  be  able  to  cross  the  moun- 
tains and  throw  ourselves  into  the  nearest  tribes,  without  their  having  the  slightest 
iiotice  of  our  coming.  I  felt  a  strong  assurance  that  if  I  could  bring  this  about,  I 
could  handle  enough  tribes  and  conciliate  the  friendship  of  enough  Indians  to  be 
sufficiently  strong  to  defy  the  rest.  There  would  certainly  be  no  difficulty  from  the 
snow  down  Clark's  fork  (and  through  the  Spokane  valley),  but  it  was  known  that 
the  Upper  and  Lower  Pend  d'Oreille  Indians  were  along  the  road,  and  no  party 
could  travel  over  it  without  its  approach  being  communicated  to  the  Indians; 
whereas  Indian  report  had  it  that  the  Coeur  d'Alene  pass  was  blocked  up  with  snow 
at  this  season  of  the  year,  and  I  felt  satisfied  that  they  would  not  expect  us  on  this 
route,  and  therefore  I  determined  to  move  over  it.  It  was  the  shorter  jpcnte  of 
the  two ;  it  was  a  route  where  I  desired  to  make  additional  examinations ;  it  was  a 
route  which  enabled  me  to  creep  up,  as  it  were,  to  the  first  Indian  tribe,  and  then, 
moving  rapidly,  to  jump  upon  them  without  their  having  time  for  preparation.  I 
knew  that  Kamiaken  and  Pu-pu-mox-mox  had  sent  a  body  bf  warriors  to  cut  off 
my  party;  and  that  we  had  to  guard  against  falling  into  an  ambush,  but  an  Indian 
has  not  patience  to  wait  many  days  for  such  a  purpose,  and  I  thought,  looking  to 
all  these  things,  that  the  line  of  safety  was  to  move  over  the  Coeur  d'Alene  pass." 

Notwithstanding  the  members  of  the  party,  almost  without  exception,  looked 
tipon  this  plan  as  most  desperate,  still  they  maintained  a  cheerful  spirit,  obeyed 
every  order  with  alacrity,  "and  enjoyed  themselves  very  much  in  the  evening 
camp." 

In  three  feet  of  snow  they  crossed  the  Bitter  Root  mountains  November  20, 
and  moving  down  the  headwaters  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river  the  following  day, 
came  to  good  grass,  with  fine  water,  affording  excellent  range  for  the  exhausted 
animals.  Here  a  day  was  taken  for  needed  recuperation.  "From  the  appearance 
of  all  that  surrounded  us,"  reported  Stevens,  "I  was  satisfied  that  there  were  no 
Indian  runners  on  the  lookout  for  us." 

When  within  twenty-five  miles  of  the  Catholic  mission,  the  governor,  deeming 
it  impracticable  to  take  the  whole  train  in  in  one  day  without  breaking  down  the 
horses,  took  Pearson,  Craig  and  four  Nez  Perces,  and  starting  at  daylight,  pushed 
rapidly  into  the  mission,  "throwing  ourselves  into  the  midst  of  the  Indians,  and, 
with  our  rifles  in  one  hand,  and  our  arms  outstretched  on  the  other  side,  we  ten- 
dered to  them  both  the  sword  and  the  olive  branch.  They  met  us  very  cordially," 
says  the  governor's  narrative,*  "every  Indian  left  his  lodge  and  gathered  around  us.  I 
had  told  the  four  Nez  Perces,  *When  you  reach  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  talk  to  them 
Blackfoot;  tell  them  about  our  great  council  and  treaty  at  Fort  Benton;  tell  them 
that  they  can  hunt  buffalo  without  being  disturbed  by  their  hereditary  enemies, 
the  Blackfeet;  tell  them  that  the  lion  and  the  lamb  have  lain  down  together;  get 
their  minds  off  their  troubles  here,  and  turn  them  to  other  subjects  in  which  they 
take  an  interest.'  It  is  enough  for  me  to  say  that  we  established  the  most  cordial 
relations  with  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.     We  found  that  the  emissaries  of  the  Yakimas 


*  By  the  Indians  Stevens  was  called  the  Hyas  Tyee  Skookum  Tum-Tum,  the  * '  Big  Chief 
^th  the  Strong  Heart.  * ' 


204  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

had  only  left  that  point  some 'four  or  five  days^  having  despaired  of  our  crossing 
the  mountains." 

The  train  arrived  the  next  day^  and  Stevens  determined  to  push  on  to  the  Spo- 
kane river^  having  sent  forward  from  the  mission  Craig  and  a  part  of  the  Nez 
Perees^  to  bring  a  large  delegation  of  the  latter  tribe  into  the  proposed  council  with 
the  Spokanes^  and  to  arrange  for  a  friendly  Nez  Perce  escort  through  the  hostile 
country  and  on  to  the  military  post  at  The  Dalles. 

"Moving  from  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mission  on  the  27th  day  of  November,"  con- 
tinues the  narrative,  "I  made  our  first  camp  at  the  Wolf's  lodge,  some  nineteen 
miles  from  it,  and  the  next  day  made  a  forced  march,  moving  forty  miles  to  the 
Spokane  country.  We  met  Polatkin,  one  of  the  principal  chiefs  of  the  Spokanes,  on 
our  way,  and  were  at  Antoine  Plant's  before  dark." 

This  Antoine  Plant,  the  reader  will  recall,  had  served  as  guide  between  the 
Spdkane  country  and  the  Blackfoot  treaty  grounds.  He  was  a  French  Canadian, 
with  one- fourth  Blackfoot  blood  in  his  veins,  but  cherished  a  cordial  hatred  for  his 
mother's  tribe,  and  when  Governor  Stevens  sought  his  services  as  a  guide,  had 
eagerly  laid  aside  the  pleasures  of  his  peaceful  life  on  the  Spokane,  and  his  eye 
kindled  at  the  prospect  of  going  once  more  into  the  land  of  the  warlike  and  pred- 
atory Blackfeet,  where,  in  his  more  youthful  days,  he  had  taken  part  in  numerous  bat- 
tles. Antoine  kept  a  small  trading  post  at  a  ford  on  the  Spokane  river  below 
the  site  that  afterwards  became  historic  as  Cowley's  bridge.  When  on  the  march  he 
had  a  cheery  habit  of  rousing  the  encampment  at  daybreak  with  a  warwhoop.  He 
had  been  a  voyageur  under  the  regime  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company,  but  having 
retired  from  that  service,  had  settled  down  to  a  semi-savage  life  in  the  pleasant 
valley  of  the  Spokane. 

Here  the  governor  found  a  number  of  miners  from  the  Colville  country.  Stevens 
never  neglected  to  strike  when  the  iron  was  hot.  Before  midnight  he  had  Indian 
messengers  on  the  trails,  to  the  Lower  Spokanes,  to  the  Colville  Indians,  and  thence 
on  to  the  Okanogans,  and  to  the  Lower  Pend  d'Oreilles,  asking  them  to  meet  him  in 
council.  Angus  McDonald,  in  charge  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  post  at  Colville,  and 
the  Jesuit  fathers  from  the  mission  there,  were  also  invited  to  visit  him  in  his  camp. 
"We  remained  on  the  Spokane  nine  days,"  says  the  governor,  "and  I  had  there  one 
of  the  most  stormy  councils  for  three  days  that  ever  occurred  in  my  whole  Indian 
experience;  yet  having  gone  there  with  the  most  anxious  desire  to  prevent  their 
entering  into  the  war,  but  with  a  firm  determination  to  tell  them  plainly  and  can- 
didly the  truth,  I  succeeded  both  in  convincing  them  of  the  facts  and  gaining  their 
entire  confidence.  At  this  council  were  all  the  chiefs  and  people  of  the  Coeur 
d'Alenes  and  the  Spokanes — the  very  tribes  who  defeated  Steptoe  the  past  season, 
the  very  tribes  who  have  met  our  troops  since  in  two. pitched  battles;  and  I  feel  that 
I  can,  without  impropriety  refer  to  the  success  of  my  labors  among  these  Indians, 
backed  up  simply  with  a  little  party  of  twenty-four  men.  When  our  council  was 
adjourned,  the  Indians  gave  the  best  test  of  their  friendship  and  affection,  by  each 
one  coming  to  lay  before  me  his  little  wrongs  and  ask  redress.  They  come  in  a 
body  and  offered  me  a  force  to  help  me  through  the  hostilities  of  Walla  Walla  val- 
ley and  on  the  banks  of  the  Columbia,  which  I  declined,  saying  that  I  came  not 
among  the  Spokanes  for  their  aid,  but  to  protect  them  as  their  father." 

Garry  and  a  party  of  Coeur  d'Alene  chiefs  and  influential  men  arrived  at  the 


LOOKING   GLASS 
War  Chief  of  the   Nei   Percf 


Head   Chief  of  the  Walla  Wallas 


THE  LAWYER 
Ilearl  C'bief  of  the  Nez  Perces 


6,-n 


OW-HI 
A   Chief  of  the  Yakimas 


THE  YOUNG  CHIEF 
Tleail  Chief  of  the  Cayuses 


KAMIAKEN 
Head  Cliief  of  the  Yakiir 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  205 

council  ground  November  29.  Three  days  later  came  McDonald  with  the  Colville 
chiefs^  the  missionaries  and  four  white  miners.  The  council  was  held  December  S, 
4  and  5,  and  was  marked^  says  Hazard  Stevens^  "by  disaffected  and  at  times  openly 
hostile  news  and  expressions  and  uncertain  purposes^  on  the  part  of  the  Indians^ 
and  steadfast  determination  to  hold  their  friendship  and  restrain  them  from  war^ 
on  the  part  of  the  governor.  The  Spokanes  openly  sympathized  with  the  hostiles. 
Many  of  their  young  braves  had  joined  them.  They  insisted  that  no  white  troops 
should  enter  their  country^  and  urged  the  governor  to  make  peace  with  the  Yakimas^ 
for  the  rumor  was  current  that  the  troops  had  driven  them  across  the  Columbia  and 
into  the  region  claimed  by  the  Spokanes.  They  objected  to  the  whites  taking  up 
their  land  before  they  had  made  treaties  and  sold  it^  and  were  much  stirred  up  be- 
cause a  number  of  Hudson's  Bay  company  ex-employes  at  Colville  had  staked  out 
claims,  and  filed  with  Judge  Yantis  the  declaratory  statements  claiming  them  under 
the  donation  act.  Kamiaken's  emissaries  had  imbued  them  with  all  kinds  of  false- 
hoods concerning  the  war  and  its  causes,  and  the  purposes  of  the  whites,  particularly 
of  Governor  Stevens,  and  what  he  did  and  said  at  the  Walla  Walla  council.  They 
were  to  be  driven  by  soldiers  from  their  own  country,  and  forced  to  go  on  the  Nez 
Perces  reservation  without  any  treaty  or  compensation.  They  were  to  be  deported 
west  of  the  Cascades,  and  shipped  across  seas  to  an  unknown  and  dreadful  doom. 
Highly  colored  but  imaginary  stories  of  wrong  and  outrage  inflicted  upon  Indians 
were  industriously  circulated,  and  equally  mythical  tales  of  Indian  victories  and 
exploits." 

Prior  to  the  opening  of  the  council,  Stevens  learned  to  distrust  the  petulant, 
treacherous  and  aged  chief  Looking  Glass  of  the  Nez  Perces.  A  half-breed  inter- 
preter, employed  by  the  governor,  to  keep  a  close  watch  on  Looking  Glass  and 
Garry,  saw  Looking  Glass  enter  Garry's  tent  late  one  night,  and  creeping  up  to  the 
lodge,  overheard  a  conversation  wherein  Looking  Glass  proposed  a  plot  to  entrap 
the  governor  and  his  party  on  their  arrival  in  the  Nez  Perce  country,  and  force 
him  to  enlarge  the  Nez  Perce  reservation  to  the  area  which  had  been  demanded  by 
Looking  Glass  at  the  Walla  Walla  council  when  he  came  theatrically  upon  the  coun- 
cil grounds  there,  after  his  return  from  a  long  hunting  trip  beyond  the  Rocky 
mountains,  and  to  demand  such  additional  payments  and  advantages  as  would 
amount  to  a  stiff  ransom. 

Stevens  met  this  alarming  situation  by  despatching  a  messenger  to  Lapwai,  ad- 
rising  Craig  of  the  proposed  conspiracy  and  instructing  him  how  to  imdermine 
Looking  Glass's  hostile  influence  among  the  Nez  Perces.  Garry,  unaware  that  the 
governor  knew  of  Looking  Glass's  proposal,  boldly  and  artfully  supported  his  de- 
mands in  a  speech  before  the  council. 

**When  I  heard  of  the  war  (said  Garry)  I  had  two  hearts,  and  have  had  two 
hearts  ever  since.  The  bad  heart  was  a  little  larger  than  the  good.  Now  I  am 
thinking  that  if  you  do  not  make  peace  with  the  Yakimas,  war  will  come  into  this 
country  like  the  waters  of  the  sea.  From  the  time  of  my  first  recollection,  no  blood 
has  ever  been  on  the  hands  of  my  people.  Now  that  I  am  grown  up,  I  am  afraid 
that  we  may  have  the  blood  of  the  whites  upon  our  hands.     .     .     . 

"I  hope  that  you  will  make  peace  on  the  other  side  of  the  Columbia,  and  keep 
the  soldiers  from  coming  here.  The  Americans  and  the  Yakimas  are  fighting.  I 
think  they  are  both  equally  guilty.     If  there  were  many  Frenchmen  here,  my  heart 


206  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

would  be  like  fighting.  These  French  people  here  have  talked  too  much.  I  went  to 
the  Walla  Walla  council^  and  when  I  returned  I  found  that  all  the  Frenchmen  (set- 
tlers in  the  Colville  valley,  who  were  former  employes  of  the  fur  company)  had 
gotten  their  land  written  down  on  a  paper.  I  ask  them  *Why  are  you  in  such  a 
hurry  to  have  writings  for  your  lands  now.?  Why  don't  you  wait  until  a  treaty  is 
made .?' 

''Governor,  these  troubles  are  on  my  mind  all  the  time,  and  I  will  not  hide  them. 
When  I  was  at  the  Walla  Walla  council  my  mind  was  divided.     When  you  first 
commenced  to  speak,  you  said  the  Walla  Wallas,  Cayuses  and  Umatillas  were  to  move 
on  to  the  Nez  Perce  reservation  and  the  Spokanes  were  to  move  there  also.     Then 
I  thought  you  spoke  bad.    Then  I  thought  when  you  said  that,  that  you  would  strike 
the  Indians  to  the  heart.     After  you  had  spoken  of  these  nine  different  thing^s,  as 
schools,  and  shops,  and  farms,  if  you  had  then  asked  the  chiefs  to  mark  out  a  piece 
of  land — a  pretty  large  piece — to  give  you,  it  would  not  have  struck  the  Indians 
so  to  the  heart.    Your  thou^t  was  good.    You  see   far.    But  the   Indians,   being 
dull-headed,  can  not  see  far.     Now  your  children  have  fallen.     The  Indians  have 
spilled  their  blood,  because  they  have  not  sense  enough  to  understand  you.     Those 
who  killed   Pu-pu-mox-mox's  son  in   California,  they   were  Americans.     Why  are 
those  Americans  alive  now.?    Why  are  they  not  hanged.?     That  is  what  the  Indians 
think,  that  it  will  be  Indians  only  who  are  hanged  for  murder.     Now,  governor, 
here  are  these  young  people — ray  people.     I  do  not  know  their  minds,  but  if  they 
will  listen  to  you,  I  shall  be  very  glad.     When  you  talk  to  your  soldiers  and  tell 
them  not  to  cross  Snake  river  into  our  country,  I  shall  be  glad." 

"Why  is  the  country  in  difficulty  again .?"  asked  the  chief  of  the  Lower  Spokanes. 
"That  comes  on  account  of  the  smallpox  brought  into  the  country,  and  is  all  the 
time  on  the  Indians'  heart.  They  would  keep  thinking  the  whites  brought  sickness 
into  the  country  to  kill  them.  That  is  what  has  hurt  the  hearts  of  the  Yakimas. 
That  is  what  we  think  has  brought  about  this  difficulty  between  the  Indians  and  the 
whites.  I  think,  governor,  you  have  talked  a  little  too  hard.  It  is  as  if  you  had 
thrown  away  all  the  Indians.  I  heard  you  said  at  the  Walla  Walla  council  that 
we  were  children,  and  that  our  women  and  children  and  cattle  should  be  for  you, 
and  then  we  thought  we  would  never  raise  camp  and  move  where  you  wished  us  to. 
We  had  in  our  hearts  that  if  you  tried  to  move  us  off  we  would  die  on  the  land." 

Then  spoke  up  Stellam,  chief  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes:  "We  have  not  yet  made 
friends.  All  the  Indians  are  not  yet  your  children.  When  I  heard  that  war  had 
commenced  in  the  Yakima  country,  I  did  not  believe  they  had  done  well  to  com- 
mence. I  wish  you  would  speak  and  dry  the  blood  on  that  land  now.  If  you 
would  do  that,  then  I  would  take  you  for  a  friend.  You  have  many  soldiers,  and 
I  would  not  like  to  have  them  mix  among  my  people." 

Schlateal  voiced  similar  sentiments:  "Now  the  Yakimas  have  crossed  the  Colum- 
bia, I  would  not  like  to  have  the  whites  cross  to  this  side.  If  the  whites  do  not 
cross  the  river  the  Indians  will  all  be  pleased.  We  have  not  made  friendship  yet. 
We  have  not  shaken  hands  yet.  When  we  see  that  the  soldiers  don't  cross  the 
Columbia  we  shall  believe  you  take  us  for  your  friends.  When  you  stop  that  diffi- 
culty— the  fighting  now  going  on — we  shall  believe  that  you  intend  to  adopt  us  for 
your  children.  Then  I  will  believe  that  you  have  taken  us  for  your  friends,  and 
will  take  you  for  my  friend." 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  207 

Peter  John^  a  Colville  chief:  "My  heart  is  very  poor,  very  bad.  My  heart  is  of 
all  nations.  I  never  hide  it.  My  heart  is  fearful.  There  are  some  who  have  talked 
bad.  I  am  always  thinking  that  all  woidd  be  well.  I  wish  all  the  whites  and 
Indians  to  be  friendly;  but  even  if  my  people  should  take  up  arms  against  the 
Americans^  I  myself  would  not.  I  know  we  can  not  stop  the  river  from  running, 
nor  the  wind  from  blowing,  and  I  have  heard  that  you  whites  are  the  same.  We 
could  not  stop  you.     I  only  speak  to  show  my  heart.     I  am  done." 

Snohomish,  a  chief  of  the  Lower  Spokanes,^  living  near  the  Columbia,  said: 
"When  you  went  away  to  the  Blackfoot  country,  and  the  Yakimas  commenced  fight- 
ing, my  heart  was  broken.  Ever  since  my  heart  is  very  small.  Ever  since  I  have 
been  thinking.  How  will  the  governor  speak  to  us?  And  yesterday  he  did  speak, 
and  said  to  the  Indians,  'You  must  keep  peace,'  and  I  have  been  thinking  what  God 
would  say  if  we  should  spill  blood  on  our  land.  I  never  loved  bad  Indians,  nor 
war;  I  never  believed  in  making  war  against  Americans.  I  wish  they  would  stop 
all  the  Indians  and  whites  from  fighting.  Now  I  will  stop.  I  have  shown  my 
heart." 

Big  Star,  Spokane  chief:  "The  reason  that  I  am  talking  now  is  that  all  the  In- 
dians did  not  like  what  you  said  at  the  Walla  Walla  council.  They  put  all  the 
blame  on  you  for  the  trouble  since.  The  Indians  say  you  are  the  cause  of  the  war. 
My  heart  is  very  small  towards  you.  My  heart  is  the  same  as  the  others  for  you. 
Ever  since  I  heard  there  was  war,  I  was  afraid  for  you.  I  am  afraid  you  will  be 
killed.  You  have  not  yet  made  a  treaty,  and  you  passed  us  by,  and  your  people 
have  commenced  coming — the  miners — and  they  will  upset  my  land.  This  spring, 
when  my  people  commenced  talking  about  the  ammunition,  I  said,  'My  children, 
do  not  listen  to  my  children  who  wish  to  /lo  wrong.'  I  said  to  the  Sun  chief,  'What 
is  the  reason  you  are  getting  into  trouble }  Your  father  was  good ;  now  he  is  killed 
by  the  Blackfeet.'  And  this  summer,  when  the  governor  passed  here,  I  spoke  to 
him  again,  and  he  would  not  listen.  I  left  home  and  went  to  the  Nez  Perces,  and 
there  met  Mr.  McDonald.  After  crossing  the  Columbia  river  these  two  young 
fellows  overtook  me.  I  spoke  to  Mr.  McDonald  to  give  me  good  advice  to  help  my 
children.  He  did  speak,  and  I  thought  he  gave  me  good  help.  I  was  glad.  We 
had  not  yet  arrived  at  the  fort  when  that  young  man  (a  Spokane)  rushed  on  the 
whites  and  choked  them.  After  McDonald  and  myself  had  talked  to  them,  I  thought 
they  would  listen.  If  I  had  not  tried  to  make  them  do  right,  it  would  not  have 
hurt  my  feelings  so  much.     Since  that,  I  am  cr3ring  all  the  time." 

Qnin-quim-moe-so,  a  Spokane  chief  living  at  Eells  and  Walker's  old  mission  on 
Walker's  prairie,  was  outspoken  in  fixing  on  Governor  Stevens  the  blame  for  the 
Yakima  uprising:  "When  I  heard,  governor,  what  you  had  said  at  the  Walla. 
Walla  ground,  I  thought  you  had  done  well.  But  one  thing  you  said  was  not  right. 
Yon  alone  arranged  the  Indians'  land ;  the  Indians  did  not  speak.  Then  you  struck 
the  Indians  to  the  heart.  You  thought  they  were  only  Indians.  That  is  why  you 
did  it.  I  am  not  a  big  chief,  but  I  will  not  hide  my  mind.  I  will  not  talk  low.  I 
wish  you  to  hear  what  I  am  saying.  That  is  the  reason,  governor;  it  is  all  your 
faolt  the  Indians  are  at  war.  It  is  your  fault,  because  you  have  said  that  the 
Caynses  and  Walla  Wallas  will  be  moved  to  the  Yakima  land.  They  who  owned 
the  land  did  not  speak,  and  yet  you  divided  the  land." 

As  the  council  progressed,  Garry  assumed  a  tone  of  haughty  equality  and  inde- 


208  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

pendence:  "When  you  look  at  the  red  men^  you  think  you  have  mote  hearty  more 
sense^  than  these  poor  Indians.  I  think  the  difference  between  us  and  you  Ameri- 
cans is  in  the  clothing:  the  blood  and  body  are  the  same.  Do  you  think^  because  your 
mother  was  white  and  theirs  dark^  that  you  are  higher  or  better?  We  are  dark^ 
yet  if  we  cut  ourselves^  the  blood  will  be  red^  and  so  with  the  whites  it  is  the  same^ 
though  their  skin  is  white.  I  do  not  think  we  are  poor  because  we  belong  to  another 
nation.  If  you  take  those  Indians  for  men^  treat  them  so  now.  If  you  talk  to  the 
Indians  to  make  a  peace^  the  Indians  will  do  the  same  to  you.  You  see  now  the 
Indians  are  proud.  On  account  of  one  of  your  remarks^  some  of  your  people  haye 
already  fallen  to  the  ground.  The  Indians  are  not  satisfied  with  the  land  you  gave 
them.  What  commenced  the  trouble  was  the  murder  of  Pu-pu-mox-mox's  son  (by 
miners  in  California)  and  Dr.  Whitman^  and  now  they  find  their  reservations  too 
small.  If  all  those  Indians  had  marked  out  their  own  reservations^  the  trouble 
would  not  have  happened.  If  you  could  get  their  reservations  made  a  little  larger, 
they  would  be  pleased.  If  I  had  the  business  to  do^  I  could  Rx  it  by  giving  them  a 
little  more  land.  Talking  about  land^  I  am  only  speaking  my  mind.  What  I  was 
saying  yesterday  about  not  crossing  the  soldiers  to  this  side  of  the  Columbia  is  my 
business.  Those  Indians  have  gone  to  war^  and  I  don't  know  myself  how  to  6x  it 
up.  That  is  your  business!  Since,  governor,  the  beginning  of  the  world  there 
has  been  war.  Why  can  not  you  manage  to  keep  peace  .^  Maybe  there  will  be  no 
peace  ever.  Even  if  you  should  hang  all  the  bad  people,  war  would  begin  again, 
and  would    never    stop." 

'  By  patient  reasoning  and  convincing  denial  of  the  false  reports  concerning  his 
utterances  at  the  Walla  Walla  council,  the  governor  dissipated,  at  least  for  the 
time,  the  growing  hostile  feelings  of  the  Spokanes,  and  when  the  council  was  over, 
they  expressed  friendly  sentiments  and  willingly  exchanged  their  fresh  horses  for 
the  travel-jaded  animals  of  the  party,  taking  for  boot  the  Indian  goods  which  had 
been  brought  up  from  old  Fort  Walla  Walla  for  the  deferred  council.  They  even 
gave  up  some  of  their  rifles,  needed  by  Stevens  to  arm  the  miners  who  had  come  in 
from  the  upper  Columbia  river  bars,  and  who  were  now  mustered  in,  along  with 
the  other  members  of  the  expedition  as  the  ''Spokane  Invincibles,"  the  first  militia 
company  to  be  organized  and  armed  in  the  Inland  Empire. 

"When  I  moved  -from  Spokane,"  reported  Stevens,  "I  had  with  me  the  best 
train  of  the  season.     I  reduced  transportation  to  twelve  days,  and  the  packs  to 
eighty  pounds,  for  I  desired  to  be  in  a  condition  if  the  Nez  Perces  were  reaUy 
hostile^  and  I  was  not  strong  enough  to  fight,  I  could  make  a  good  run,  and  then  I    ,. 
struck  for  the  Nez  Perces  countrv." 

.  Moving  down  the  valley,  on  the  afternoon  of  December  6,  from  the  treaty 
grounds  at  Antoine  Plant's  place,  the  party  encamped  by  the  falls  of  the  Spokane. 
"The  second  day,"  runs  Stevens'  narrative  of  1855,  "I  met  an  express  from  Craig's, 
telling  me  that  the  Nez  Perces  were  all  right,  and  that  the  whole  tribe  would  badt 
me  up.  We  moved  towards  Lapwai,  and  were  fo^'r  days  in  reaching  that  point,  the 
distance  being  108  miles.  The  weather  was  very  disagreeable,  being  snowy  and 
rainy.  In  about  fifty  miles  from  the  Spokane  we  got  upK>n  our  old  trail  to  the  Red 
Wolf's  ground,  which  trail  we  followed  for  about  twenty  miles,  and  then  keeping  to 
our  left,  passed  to  the  mouth  of  the  Lapwai,  and  thence  to  William  Craig's  place 
on  that  stream     .     .     .     My  object  not  being  to  give  an  account  of  my  Indian 


BLOCK    HOUSE    AT   UPPEK    CASCADES 
OF  THE  COLUMBIA 


^^t  >£w  yopi/ 


*ll1 1t», 


Li  i*«x 


lONt 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  209 

operations  op  of  the  Indian  war,"  says  the  narrative  of  1855  in  conclusion,  "I  will 
close  my  narrative  at  this  pK>int,  referring  you  to  my  official  reports  should  further 
information  be  desired  in  connection  with  this  trip.  I  will  state  that  on  my  way 
into  the  settlements  I  remained  in  the  Walla  Walla  valley  some  ten  days,  where  I 
saw  much  of  the  Oregon  volunteers.  Went  to  The  Dalles,  in  advance  of  my  party, 
with  three  men,  and,  the  river  being  closed  by  ice,  went  down  from  The  Dalles  to- 
near  Vancouver  on  the  trail,  and  reached  Olympia  on  the  19th  of  January." 

Notwithstanding  winter  was  well  advanced  when  the  governor's  party  came  to 
William  Craig's  hospitable  homestead  and  the  ground  was  well  spread  with  snow. 
Chief  Lawyer  had  brought  together  there  208  lodges,  which  sheltered  more  than 
2,000  friendly  Nez  Perces.  "An  animated  council  was  at  once  held,"  says  Hazard 
Stevens.  "The  coimcil  lodge  was  a  hundred  feet  in  length,  built  of  poles,  mats  and 
skins,  and  in  this  assembled  200  chiefs  and  principal  men,  Lawyer  presiding.  An 
ox  had  been  killed,  and  young  men,  who  officiated  for  the  occasion,  roasted  or  boiled 
the  meat  at  fires  in  the  lodge,  and  handed  it  around  in  large  pans,  from  which  each 
person  selected  such  choice  pieces  as  suited  his  fancy.  The  scheme  of  Looking 
Glass  found  no  adherent,  indeed  was  not  broached,  and  the  unanimous  resolve  was 
not  only  to  maintain  their  friendship  to  the  whites  and  stand  by  their  treaty,  but 
to  escort  Governor  Stevens  with  250  of  their  bravest  and  best  armed  warriors, 
stark  buffalo  hunters  and  Blackfoot  fighters  every  one,  and  force  their  way  through 
the  masses  of.  hostile  Indians  gathered  in  the  Walla  Walla  valley." 

Finding  no  suppK>rt  for  his  treacherous  plot,  old.  Looking  Glass  craftily  turned 
front  and  made  a  virtue  of  necessity.  "I  told  thp  governor,"  he  said  in  council, 
''that  the  Walla  Walla  country  was  blocked  up  by  bad  Indians,  and  that  I  would 
go  ahead  and  he  behind,  and  that's  my  heart  now.  Now  that  he  says  he  will  go,  I 
will  get  up  and  go  with  him.  Now  let  npne  of  you  turn  your  face  from  what  has 
been  said.  Your  old  men  have  spoken,  and  where  is  the  man  who  will  turn  his 
back  on  it." 

As  the  council  ended  an  Indian  runner  came  in  from  the  Walla  Walla  valley  with 
the  startling  and  cheering  news  that  a  regiment  of  500  Oregon  volunteers  com- 
manded by  Colonel  Kelly,  who  later  served  as  United  States  senator,  had  come  up 
from  the  Willamette  valley  into  the  Walla  Walla  country,  and  after  four  days  hard 
fighting  had  routed  the  hostiles  and  driven  them  out  of  the  valley.  The  way  thus 
cleared.  Governor  Stevens  could  have  dispensed  with  the  tendered  escort  of  the 
Nez  Perces,  but  to  confirm  their  fidelity  and  cement  the  bond  of  friendship,  he 
in?ited  a  hundred  warriors  to  go  with  him  as  far  as  the  Walla  Walla  valley. 

"It  was  a  clear,  bright,  frosty  December  morning  that  the  mingled  cavalcade 
of  white  and  Indian  left  behind  the  hospital  lodges  of  the  Nez  Perces,  and  filed 
along  the  banks  of  the  Lapwai  and  Kooskooskia,"  says  Hazard  Stevens.  "Rarely 
has  the  Clearwater  reflected  a  more  picturesque  or  jovial  crew.  Here  were  the 
gentlemen  of  the  party,  with  their  black  felt  hats  and  heavy  cloth  overcoats;  rough- 
dad  miners  and  packers;  the  mountain-men,  with  buckskin  shirts  and  leggings 
and  fur  caps ;  the  long-eared  pack-mules,  with  their  bulky  loads ;  and  the  blanketed 
young  braves,  with  painted  visage,  and  hair  adorned  with  eagle  feathers,  mounted  on 
sleek  and  spirited  mustangs,  and  dashing  hither  and  thither  in  the  greatest  excite- 
ment and  glee.  Each  of  the  warriors  had  three  fine,  spirited  horses,  which  he  rode 
in  turn  as  the  fancy  moved  him.     They  used  buckskin  pads  or  wooden  saddles  cov- 

VoLI— 14 


210  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

ered  with  buffalo^  bear  or  mountain  goat  skin.  The  bridle  was  a  simple  line  of 
buffalo  hair  tied  around  the  lower  jaw  of  the  steed^  which  yielded  implicit  obedience 
to  this  scanty  headgear.  At  a  halt  the  long  end  of  the  line  is  flung  loosely  on  the 
ground^  and  the  horse  is  trained  to  stand  without  other  fastening. 

"The  demeanor  of  the  young  braves  on  this  march  was  in  marked  contrast  to 
'the  traditional  gravity  and  stoicism  of  their  race.  They  shouted,  laughed^  told 
stories,  cracked  jokes,  and  gave  free  vent  to  their  native  gaiety  and  high  spirits. 
Craig,  who  accompanied  the  party,  translated  these  good  things  as  they  occurred, 
to  the  great  amusement  of  the  whites.  Crossing  a  wide,  flat  plain  covered  with  tall 
rye  grass,  he  related  an  anecdote  of  Lawyer,  with  the  reminiscence  of  which  the 
young  braves  seemed  particularly  tickled.  While  yet  an  obscure  young  -warrior, 
Lawyer  was  traveling  over  this  ground  with  a  party  of  the  tribe,  including  several 
of  the  principal  chiefs.  It  was  a  cold  winter  day,  and  a  biting  gale  swept  up  the 
river,  penetrating  their  clothing  and  chilling  them  to  the  bone.  The  chiefs  sat 
down  in  the  shelter  of  the  tall  rye  grass,  and  were  indulging  in  a  cosy  smoke^  when 
Lawyer  flred  the  prairie  far  to  windward,  and  in  an  instant  the  fiery  element  in 
a  long,  crackling,  blazing  line,  came  sweeping  down  on  the  wings  of  the  wind  upon 
the  comfort-taking  chiefs,  and  drove  them  to  rush  belter  skelter  into  the  river  for 
safety,  dropping  robes,  pipes  and  everything  that  might  impede  their  flight.  For 
this  audacious  prank  Lawyer  barely  escaped  a  public  whipping. 

"It  was  a  gala  day  for  the  Nez  Perces  when  the  party  reached  the  valley,  and 
were  received  by  the  Oregon  volunteers  with  a  military  parade  and  a  salute  of  mus- 
ketry; and  when  Governor  Stevens  dismissed  them  with  presents  and  thanks  and 
words  of  encouragement,  they  returned  home  the  most  devoted  and  enthusiastic  auxi- 
liaries that  ever  marched  in  behalf  of  the  whites. 

.  "The  valley  was  reached  on  the  20th.  Major  Chinn  commanding  the  volun- 
teers, and  other  officers  rode  out  to  meet  the  governor,  and,  on  reaching  the  vol- 
unteer camp,  the  troops,  four  hundred  in  number,  paraded  and  fired  a  volley  in 
salute  as  the  picturesque  column  marched  past,  the  fifty  sturdy,  travel-stained  whites 
in  advance,  followed  by  the  hundred  proud  and  flaunting  braves,  curveting  their 
horses  and  uttering  their  warwhoops.  The  volunteers  then  formed  in  hollow 
square,  and  the  governor  addressed  them  in  a  brief  speech,  complimenting  them  on 
their  energy  in  pushing  forward  at  that  inclement  season,  and  gallantry  in  engag- 
ing and  routing  a  superior  force  of  the  enemy,  and  tendering  the  thanks  of  his 
party  for  opening  the  road." 

Governor  Stevens  and  party  eagerly  listened  to  the  news  of  the  winter  cam- 
paign of  the  volunteers.  The  engagement  had  been  a  severe  one,  the  confederated 
hostiles  resisting  firmly  for  four  days,  and  then  falling  back  in  confusion  on  mis- 
taking a  distant  pack-train,  descending  the  slopes  of  the  Blue  mountains,  for  a 
reinforcing  column  of  armed  white  soldiers.  In  the  combat  Pu-pu-mox-mox  had 
been  taken  prisoner,  and  attempting  to  escape  from  his  guard,  was  killed  by  a 
rifle  volley.  By  a  singular  tragic  coincidence,  Owhi,  another  leading  chief  in  this 
uprising,  was  to  suffer  a  like  fate  two  years  later,  while  attempting  to  escape  from 
Colonel  Wright's  command. 

General  Wool,  commanding  the  department  of  the  Columbia,  had  arrived  at  Van- 
couver from  San  Francisco,  but  had  either  failed  or  refused  to  support  the  volun- 
teers or  send  relief  to  Governor  Stevens.     He  took  the  view  that  the  Indians  were 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  211 

not  to  blame^  and  that  the  war  had  been  instigated  by  white  speculators.  "He  had 
cren  disbanded  two  companies  of  Washington  volunteers  at  Vancouver,  after  they 
had  been  actually  mustered  into  the  United  States  service/*  declares  Hazard  Stevens, 
in  a  spirited  defense  of  his  father ;  "and  a  company  that  had  been  raised  under  the 
direction  of  Colonel  Frank  Shaw,  for  the  express  purpose  of  going  to  the  defense 
of  the  governor,  was  dismissed  by  Wool  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  its  officers 
and  of  Major  Rains." 

In  a  succeeding  chapter  we  shall  relate  the  stirring  events  which  followed  as  a 
seqnel  to  the  Yakima- Walla  Walla  outbreak,  and  deal  somewhat  with  Governor 
Sterens'  severe  arraignment  of  General  Wool  before  the  war  department. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

GOVERNOR  STEVENS  AN  ARDENT  INLAND  EMPIRE  BOOSTER 

SENDS-  OPTIMISTIC    REPORTS    TO    WASHINGTON FORESEES    GREAT     FUTURE     FOR    WALLA 

WALLA^  PALOUSS,  YAKIMA,   SPOKANE    AND   OTHER   REGIONS REMARKABLE   FORECAST 

OF  country's  RESOURCES POINTS  OUT  VALUE  OF  LOGGED  OFF  LANDS ^REMARKABLE 

RIDB  BY  HIS   13  YEAR  OLD  SON CHARMED   BY  WESTERN  MONTANA  AND  IDAHO  PAN- 
HANDLE  PREDICTS  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MANY  RICH  MINES ^m'cLELLAN   BERATES  THE 

COUNTRY IS  PRAISED  BY   JEFFERSON  DAVIS,  WHO  WANTS  TO  DISCOURAGE  NORTHERN 

DEVELOPMENT. 

Thy  voice  sounds  like  a  prophet's  word; 
And  in  its  hollow  tones  are  heard 
The  thanks  of  millions  yet  to  be. 

— Fitz  Greene  Halleck, 

WHEN  in  the  field  Governor  Stevens  took  note  of  climatic  conditions,  the 
soil,  timber,  water,  building  materials  and  other  elements  bearing  on 
future  settlement  of  this  region.  His  reports  to  Washington  are  clear, 
informative,  optimistic.  He  comprehended,  as  none  before  him,  the  coimtry's  poten- 
tial resources,  its  mild  and  invigorating  climate,  and  great  possibilities  for  settle- 
ment and  conversion,  through  the  enterprise,  courage  and  industry  of  our  pioneers, 
into  an  empire  abounding  in  pleasant  homes  and  productive  industries. 

After  passing  through  the  Walla  Walla  country  in  June,  1855,  on  his  way  east- 
ward to  the  Blackfoot  council,  he  wrote  in  his  journal:  "We  left  our  camp  in  the 
Walla  Walla  valley  at  noon,  moving  over  a  delightful  rolling  country,  well  grassed 
and  arable;  and  on  June  17  we  moved  twenty  miles  over  a  remarkably  fine  grazing 
and  wheat  country,  and  camped  on  the  Pa-at-ta-ha  creek,  a  branch  of  the  Touchet 
river.  The  following  points  of  today's  journey  are  worthy  of  attention,"  adds  the 
governor,  "in  order  to  show  that  this  region  is  not  the  barren  desert  it  has  been  rep- 
resented to  be.  In  six  and  a  half  miles  we  crossed  the  Smahine  creek  of  the  Touchet, 
where  there  was  good  running  water.  In  three  miles  and  three  quarters  further  on 
We  crossed  the  Kapyah  creek  of  the  Touchet,  near  its  junction  with  the  latter  stream. 
There  was  pine  in  view  in  the  valley  of  the  Touchet,  and  the  country  was  very  beau- 
tiful and  inviting.  One  mile  further,  on  a  small  fork  of  the  Touchet,  several  persons 
have  taken  claims  in  the  vicinity.  .  .  .  The  whole  country  in  view  was  well 
adapted  to  purposes  of  agriculture  and  stock-raising." 

Continuing  his  description  of  the  country.  Governor  Stevens  said:     "Leaving 

213 


214  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  Tukanon^  we  ascended  the  bluffs  and  passed  over  table-land  of  the  same  charac- 
ter as  that  of  the  first  portion  of  our  journey,  and  reached  the  Pa-at-ta-ha  tributary 
of  the  Tukanon.  This  tributary  furnishes  a  large  amount  of  excellent  land ;  its  val- 
ley, as  well  as  the  table-land  between  it  and  the  adjacent  streams,  is  uniformly  fer- 
tile, and  at  the  present  time  covered  with  the  most  luxuriant  grass.  I  will  here 
remark,  to  guard  against  misconception,  that  it  must  not  be  inferred,  when  I  speak 
of  a  country  as  being  covered  with  excellent  grass,  that  it  is  not  an  arable  country, 
for  I  suppose  it  will  be  admitted  that  all  arable  countries  ought  to  furnish  grass  of 
some  kind.  After  traveling  up  this  stream  three  miles,  we  came  to  a  rather  broad 
trail,  which,  turning  off  from  the  stream,  crosses  Snake  river,  eighteen  miles  below 
the  Red  Wolf's  ground,  and  leads  to  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mission  and  the  Spokane 
country.  .  .  .  The  day's  journey  has  been  delightful  to  all  the  members  of  my 
party,  for  it  passed  over  a  most  beautiful  prairie  country,  the  whole  of  it  adapted  to 
agriculture.  In  the  valley  of  the  Tukanon  we  found  a  very  experienced  and  kind- 
hearted  mountaineer,  Louis  Moragne,  who,  with  his  Flathead  wife  and  six  children, 
had  gathered  about  him  all  the  comforts  of  a  home.  His  eldest  daughter  was  mar- 
ried to  a  very  intelligent  American,  Henry  Chase,  a  native  of  my  own  county,  in  the 
good  old  state  of  Massachusetts,  and  they  now  propose  to  locate  on  the  Touchet 

.  .  Moragne  is  the  owner  of  some  fifty  horses  and  many  cattle.  His  potatoes 
were  in  blossom  and  his  wheat  excellent.  He  had  four  acres  imder  cultivation.  He 
succeeded  well  in  raising  poultry,  of  which  he  had  three  or  four  dozen." 

Moving  northward  the  governor  and  his  party  came  to  the  junction  of  Alpowah 
creek  and  the  Snake,  where  Red  Wolf  had  "a  fine  field  of  corn  which  promises  a 
most  luxuriant  crop."  Stevens  estimated  the  amount  under  cultivation  there  at 
twenty  acres,  irrigated  by  the  waters  of  the  creek,  "and  tolerably  well  set  out  with 
fruit  trees.  I  observed,"  adds  the  governor,  "with  great  pleasure,  that  men  as  well 
as  women  and  children,  were  at  work  in  this  field,  ploughing  and  taking  care  of 
their  crops.  The  com,  planted  only  six  weeks  since,  was  about  ready  to  silk  out. 
From  the  appearance  of  the  valley  of  the  Alpahwah,  I  am  satisfied  that  grapes  would 
be  a  very  profitable  crop."  Snake  river  valley  vineyards  are  noted  for  the  excellence 
of  their  products. 

"The  Nez  Perces  country,"  the  official  report  continues,  "is  exceedingly  well 
adapted  to  grazing,  and  is,  for  the  most  part,  a  fine,  arable  country.  There  are  very 
extensive  fields  of  the  camas,  and  the  Indians  lay  up  large  stores  of  that  nutritious 
and  delightful  root." 

Moving  northward  into  the  Palouse  country,  the  party  "reached  the  table-land. 
.  .  .  And  here  I  was  astonished,  not  simply  at  the  luxuriance  of  the  grass,  but 
the  richness  of  the  soil;  and  I  will  again  remind  the  reader  that  it  does  not  follow 
because  the  grass  is  luxuriant  that  the  country  is  not  arable."  The  governor  closed 
his  journal  that  day  by  another  expression  of  astonishment  at  the  luxuriance  of  the 
grass  and  the  richness  of  the  soil.  "The  whole  view  presents  to  the  eye  a  vast  bed 
of  flowers  in  all  their  varied  beauty.  The  country  is  a  rolling  table-land,  and  the 
soil  like  that  of  the  prairies  of  Illinois." 

Their  next  night  encampment  was  on  the  right  bank  of  the  main  Palouse  river. 
"The  whole  country  to  the  westward,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  was  an  open 
plain,  the  skies  clear,  and  the  atmosphere  transparent;  I  say  again,  the  whole  coun- 
try was,  apparently,  exceedingly  rich  and  luxuriant"     The  governor  interrogated 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  '215 

Tcry  closely  his  packmaster^  Higgins^  in  reference  to  the  character  of  the  country 
westward,  "for  he  had  crossed  it  on  two  di£Ferent  lines  between  our  present  trail 
and  that  from  the  mouth  of  the  Palouse ;  and  he  assured  me  that  the  country  which 
mj  own  eye  saw  today^  and  had  seen  yesterday,  was  precisely  the  same  country  as 
that  found  on  the  westward  lines." 

"The  narrative  of  these  last  four  days  travel,"  adds  Stevens,  "shows  how  extraor- 
dinarily well  watered  the  country  is  west  of  the  spur  of  the  Bitter  Root  mountains. 
I  will  state  again,  having  crossed  the  great  plain  of  the  Columbia  from  the  Chema- 
kane  mission  north  of  the  Spokane  to  the  mouth  of  the  Palouse,  that  the  difference 
in  the  character  of  the  country  on  these  two  lines  is  most  extraordinary.  A  large 
portion  of  the  country  from  the  Chemakane  mission  to  the  mouth  of  the  Palouse  is 
arable,  and  generally  well  grassed.  There  is  no  deficiency  of  wood  for  camps,  yet 
occasionally  the  basaltic  formations  crop  out  of  the  ground,  at  which  points  the 
country  is  sterile  and  uncultivable.  But  imder  the  spurs  of  the  Bitter  Root  moun- 
tains (the  Coeur  d'Alenes)  the  whole  country  is  arable,  the  soil  as  rich  as  the  best 
prairies  of  Minnesota,  and  every  convenience  for  the  house  and  farm  at  hand — wa- 
ter, wood  for  fires,  and  timber  for  building." 

Governor  Stevens  foresaw,  nearly  sixty  years  ago,  the  agricultural  future  of  the 
timber  lands  of  the  Inland  Empire,  after  they  should  be  logged  off.  "I  paid  particu- 
lar attention  to  the  forest  growth,"  he  remarks,  "and  I  bore  in  mind  our  Puget 
Sound  experience,  which  had  established  the  fact  that  the  timber  lands,  as  a  general 
thing,  were  much  superior  to  the  prairie  lands.  When  I  first  went  to  the  Puget 
Sound  country  in  1858,  that  fact  was  not  acknowledged;  but  the  popular  impression 
was  that  the  timber  lands  were  worthless  except  for  the  timber.  In  1855  there  had 
been  experience  of  crops  on  timber  lands,  which  established  conclusively  the  fact 
that  they  were  our  most  valuable  lands  for  agricultural  purposes." 

Commenting  on  the  ease  of  travel  in  the  interior,  the  governor  wrote:  "My  son 
Hazard,  13  years  of  age,  had  accompanied  me  from  Olympia  to  the  waters  of  the 
Missouri.  Like  all  youths  of  that  age,  he  was  always  ready  for  the  saddle  and 
delighted  in  the  hunt,  and  had  spent  some  days  with  one  of  my  hunting  parties  on 
the  Judith,  where  he  had  become  well  acquainted  with  the  Gros  Ventres.  When  we 
determined  to  change  the  council  from  Fort  Benton  to  the  mouth  of  the  Judith,  I 
andertook,  in  the  name  of  the  commission,  the  duty  of  seeing  the  necessary  messages 
sent  to  the  various  bands  and  tribes,  and  to  bring  them  all  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Judith  at  the  proper  moment.  These  Indians  were  scattered  from  Milk  river,  near 
Hammell's  Houses,  along  the  Marais,  along  the  Teton,  to  a  considerable  distance 
south  of  the  Missouri,  the  Flatheads  being  on  the  Judith,  and  the  Upper  Pend 
d'OreiUes  on  Smith's  fork  of  the  Missouri,  with  two  bands  of  the  Blackfeet  lying 
somewhat  intermediate,  but  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Girdle  mountains.  I  succeeded 
in  securing  the  services  of  a  fit  and  reliable  man  for  each  one  of  these  bands  and 
tribes,  except  the  Gros  Ventres,  camped  on  Milk  river.  There  were  several  men 
who  had  had  considerable  experience  among  Indians  and  in  voyaging  who  desired  to 
go,  but  I  had  not  confidence  in  them,  and  accordingly,  at  10  o'clock  on  Simday  morn- 
ing, I  started  my  little  son  as  a  messenger  to  the  Gros  Ventres.  Accompanied  by 
the  interpreter  Legare,  he  made  that  Gros  Ventres  camp  before  dark,  a  distance  of 
seventy-five  miles,  and  gave  his  message  the  same  evening  to  the  chiefs,  and  without 


216  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

changing  horses  they  were  in  the  saddle  early  in  the  mornings  and  reached  my  camp 
at  half  past  three  o'clock. 

"Thus  a  youth  of  thirteen  traveled  150  measured  miles  from  10  o'clock  one  day  to 
half  past  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  next;  and  he  came  in  so  fresh  that  he 
could  have  traveled^  without  fatigue^  at  least  thirty  miles  further  that  evening.  The 
Gros  Ventres  made  their  marches  exactly  as  I  had  desired,  and  reached  the  new 
council  ground  at  the  mouth  of  the  Judith  on  the  very  morning  which  had  been 
appointed,  being  the  first  of  all  the  bands  and  tribes." 

Of  western  Montana,  the  country  lying  between  the  Rocky  mountains  and  the 
Bitter  Roots,  Governor  Stevens  wrote  with  a  far-seeing  and  prophetic  eye.     Of  the 
whole  area  of  this  beautiful  region,  some  30,000  square  miles,  he  estimated  that 
12,000  square  miles  would  be  brought  under  cultivation.     "The  country  in  the  forks 
of  the  Flathead  and  the  Bitter  Root,  stretching  away  east  above  the  Blackfoot  can- 
yon, is  mostly  a  table-land,  well  watered  and  arable;  and  on  all  these  tributaries — 
the  Bitter  Root,  the  Hellgate,  the  Big  Blackfoot,  the  Jocko,  the  Maple  river,  the 
Hot  Spring  river,  and  the  Lou-Lou  fork  itself — the  timber  land  will  be  found  un- 
questionably better  than  the  prairie  land.     It  will  not  be  in  the  immediate  bottom 
or  valley  of  the  river  where  farmers  will  find  their  best  locations,  but  on  the  smaller 
tributaries  some  few  miles,  above  their  junction  with  the  main  streams.    The  traveler 
passing  up  these  rivers,  and  seeing  a  little  tributary  breaking  out  in  the  valley,  will, 
in  going  up  it,  invariably  come  into  an  open  and  beautiful  country.     The  observer 
who  has  passed  through  this  country  often ;  who  has  had  intelligent  men  who  have 
lived  in  it  long;  who  understands  intercourse  with  the  Indians,  and  knows  how  to 
verify  information  which  they  give  him,  will  be  astonished  at  the  conclusions  wfaicfa 
he  will  reach  in  regard  to  the  agricultural  advantages  of  this  country ;  and  it  will  not 
be  many  years  before  the  progress  of  settlements  will  establish  its  superiority  as  an 
agricultural  region." 

Although  his  seat  of  government  was  at  Olympia,  Stevens  seemed  never  to  weary 
in  his  enthusiastic  proclaiming  of  the  beauties,  the  resources  and  the  favorable  cli- 
mate of  the  interior  of  his  vast  territory.  Its  verdant  and  flower-pied  prairies 
charmed  his  senses,  and  its  more  open  and  park-like  forests,  as  contrasted  with  the 
tangled  and  somber  depths  of  the  Puget  Sound  region,  enlivened  his  fancy  and 
kindled  his  prophetic  fires.  He  was  the  first  influential  "booster"  of  the  Spokane 
country.  We  owe  to  his  memory  an  enduring  monument,  but  it  should  not  be  erected 
until  a  fund  is  gathered  sufficient  to  insure  artistic  genius  of  the  highest  order.  Young 
cities  that  purchase  statues  prematurely  are  in  danger  of  amassing  a  collection  of 
monuments  better  suited  to  the  cemetery  than  to  public  parks  and  open  places. 

In  his  voluminous  report  to  the  national  government,  Stevens  described,  in  great 
minuteness,  the  country  traversed  by  his  expedition.  With  quick  eye  he  noted  its 
potential  resources,  and  with  facile  pen  portrayed  them  with  a  fidelity  to  fact  that 
seems  remarkably  prophetic  in  the  light  of  subsequent  settlement  and  development. 
"That  portion  of  the  great  plain  lying  east  of  the  main  Columbia,  and  which  may 
be  regarded  as  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Spokane,  and  on  the  east  by  the  foothills 
of  the  Bitter  Root  mountains,"  says  his  report  of  1855,  "is,  for  the  most  part,  well 
watered  and  well  grassed.  The  eastern  half  of  this  portion  is  exceedingly  well 
adapted  to  agricultural  purposes.  The  various  streams — the  Palouse,  the  Camas 
Prairie  creek  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene   (Hangman),  the  Spokane  and  Coeur  d'Alcne 


THt  .viw   t>iKK 


"•> 


ipiJbUC  Li&KARY 


J 

IL 

V 


,    The  ,\^^v  v"";;"..  * 


*QN« 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  217 

rivers — are  well  timbered  with  j^ine^  and  numerous  rivulets  and  springs  are  found 
throng  that  portion  of  the  country,  facilitating  the  progress  of  settlements,  and 
rendering  the  whole  at  once  available  to  the  agriculturist.  Indeed,  the  whole  of  the 
western  slopes  of  the  Bitter  Root  mountains  are  densely  timbered  with  pine,  spruce, 
larch,  cedar  and  other  trees.  These  spurs  have,  in  most  cases,  a  gradual  slope  to 
the  west,  and  the  valleys  of  the  several  streams  above  referred  to,  as  well  as  the 
Clearwater  and  Clark's  fork,  are  wide  and  open,  including  in  the  lower  valley  the 
immediate,  gentle  and  numerous  lateral  spurs  branching  off  from  the  main  spurs." 

Passing  to  a  description  of  the  Palouse  and  Big  Bend  regions,  Stevens  wrote: 
"This  country  is  better  supplied  with  wood  than  has  been  generally  imagined.     If  \ 

the  voyageur  traveling  over  this  country^  whatever  route  he  takes,  be  asked  what 
sort  of  country  it  is,  he  will  tell  you  an  excellent  country  for  traveling — wood,  water 
and  grass  everywhere.  But  the  pine  of  the  Spokane  extends  nearly  to  its  mouth, 
and  for  some  miles  south  of  the  river.  The  Spokane  is  the  name  of  the  main  stream 
to  its  junction  with  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river,  when  its  name  is  given  to  a  smaller 
tributary  coming  from  the  north  (the  Little  Spokane),  the  Coeur  d'Alene  being  the 
main  stream. 

"One  of  the  most  beautiful  features  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river  and  country  is 
the  Coeur  d'Alene  lake,  which  is  embosomed  in  the  midst  of  gently  sloping  hills,  cov- 
ered with  a  dense  forest  growth ;  the  irregularity  of  its  form,  and  the  changing  aspect 
of  the  scenery  about  it,  makes  it  one  of  the  most  picturesque  objects  in  the  interior. 

"The  whole  valley  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  and  Spokane  is  well  adapted  to  settle- 
ment, abounding  in  timber  for  buildings  and  for  fires,  exceedingly  well  watered,  and 
the  greater  portion  of  the  land  arable.  Even  on  the  main  route  from  Colville  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Palouse,  there  is  much  arable  land  for  thirty  miles  south  of  the  Spo- 
kane.   East  of  this  line  the  whole  country  may  be  denominated  as  cultivable  country. 

"North  of  the  Great  Plain,  that  is,  from  the  Spokane  to  the  forty-ninth  parallel 
east  of  the  main  Columbia,  the  country  for  the  most  part  is  densely  wooded,  although 
many  valleys  and  open  places  occur,  some  of  them  now  occupied  by  settlers,  and  all 
presenting  advantages  for  settlement.  Down  Clark's  fork  itself  (the  Pend  d'Oreille) 
there  are  open  patches  of  land  of  considerable  size,  and  so  on  the  Kootenay  river. 
North  of  the  Spokane  is  a  large  prairie,  known  as  the  Coeur  d'Alene  prairie  (the 
Spokane  valley)  through  which  the  trail  passes  from  Wall^  Walla  to  Lake  Pend 
d'Oreille.  .  .  .  From  Fort  Colville  to  ^be^^  the  Columbia  bends  suddenly  to  the 
west  there  is  a  good  deal  of  excellent  land.  It  will  be  safe  to  pronounce  the  whole 
comitry  north  of  the  Spokane,  and  lying  between  the  main  Columbia  and  the  Koote- 
nay and  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mountains  as  a;  cultivable  country,  although  the  dense 
forests  will  be  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  rapid  occupation  of  the  country. 

"But  here  comes  in  another  element  of  wealth:  The  country  about  Colville  and 
on  Clark's  fork  has  been  pretty  thoroughly  prospected  for  gold,  and  it  exists  in 
paying  quantities  throughout  that  region.  On  the  Kootenay  river  are  found  mines  of 
lead,  copper,  quicksilver,  sulphur  and  platinum ;  and  there  can  be  no  question,  from 
information  derived  from  practical  miners,  from  geological  explorers,  and  especially 
from  the  testimony  of  the  ^Jesuit  fathers,  DeSmet,  Hoecken  and  Ravalli,  that  this  is 
a  country  very  rich  in  minerals." 

Of  the  country  lying  between  the  Columbia  and  the  Cascade  mountains,  including 
the  valleys  of  the  Yakima,  the  Wenatchee  or  Pisquouse,  the  Entiat,  Chelan,  Methow 


218  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

and  Okanogan^  Governor  Stevens  contended  that  a  great  injustice  had  been  done  it 
"by  a  want  of  patience  and  consideration  on  the  part  of  gentlemen  who  have  gone 
over  it  rapidly  in  the  summer^  and  who  have  been  over  it  but  once.  Now  the  most 
intelligent  voyageura  and  best  practical  farmers  in  that  country  agree  in  opinion 
that  there  is  a  large  quantity  of  arable  land  throughout  this  country,  and  very 
superior  grazing.  This  is  the  opinion  of  intelligent  Indian  chiefs  who  have  them- 
selves made  some  progress  in  raising  crops,  and  who  are  already  great  stodt- 
raisers." 

"On  the  several  tributaries  of  the  Yakima,  particularly  towards  their  upper 
waters,  the  land  is  rich  and  adapted  to  most  of  the  crops,  and  so  in  the  valley  of 
the  main  Yakima  itself.  This  valley  has  been  denominated  by  some  a  desert  and  sage 
plain;  sage  does  not  occur  in  spots  and  small  quantities,  but  much  of  the  country 
is  cultivable  and  productive.  It  may  be  observed  that  in  regard  to  the  whole  of  this 
central  portion  of  the  Territory,  it  will  be  necessary  to  exercise  care  as  to  seed- 
time, and  farmers  will  have  a  disadvantage  over  those  west  of  the  Cascades  in  their 
seedtime  being  very  much  shorter;  but  with  ordinary  care  as  to  the  time  of  putting 
in  seed  no  danger  need  be  apprehended  from  droughts. 

"This  portion  of  the  country  is  wooded  about  half  way  from  the  divide  of  the 
Cascade  mountains  to  the  Columbia  itself,  but  you  pass  up  the  main  Yakima  seventy 
miles  before  you  reach  the  building  pine,  although  cottonwood  is  found  on  its  banks 
sufficient  for  camping  purposes ;  but  when  you  reach  the  Pisquouse  or  Wenatshapam, 
you  come  to  a  wooded  region  which  extends  to  the  main  Columbia.  The  forest 
growth  of  the  upper  waters  of  the  Clearwater  and  of  the  main  Columbia  from  above 
the  mouth  of  the  Wenatshapam,  furnishes  inexhaustible  supplies,  which,  after  being 
rafted  down  the  streams — that  is,  the  Snake  and  Columbia  rivers — will  furnish  set- 
tlements in  the  vicinity  of  those  rivers  with  firewood  and  lumber  at  moderate  rates." 

Worthy  of  observation,  said  the  governor,  was  the  discovery,  by  his  explorations 
of  1853,  that  gold  existed  "throughout  the  whole  region  between  the  Cascades  and 
the  main  Columbia  to  north  of  the  boundary,  and  paying  localities  have  since  been 
found  at  several  points,  particularly  on  the  southern  tributary  of  the  Wenatshapam 
(the  Wenatchee).  Gold  quartz  also  is  found  on  the  Natchess  river.  The  gold-bear- 
ing zone,  crossing  the  Columbia  and  stretching  eastward  along  Clark's  fork  and  the 
Kootenay  river,  unquestionably  extends  to  the  Rocky  mountains." 

In  sharp  contrast  to  Stevens'  optimism.  Captain  George  B.  McClellan,  reporting 
from  his  camp  at  Ketetas,  on  Yakima  river,  September  18,  1853,  thus  describes  the 
Yakima  country:  "The  last  forty-five  miles  of  the  trail  have  been  over  barren  sage 
plains,  mostly  without  grass,  always  without  timber,  and  very  stony:  in  some  of  the 
valleys  pretty  good  bunch-grass  is  found.  The  soil  of  the  valleys  of  the  Yakima  and 
its  branches,  though  very  limited  in  extent,  is  good  enough  to  make  tolerable  farms, 
if  irrigated." 

This  of  the  orchard  soil  that  has  since  become  world  famous.  McClellan  usu- 
ally took  a  pessimistic  view,  and  his  discouraging  reports  were  eagerly  seized  by 
Jefferson  Davis,  then  secretary  of  war,  to  discredit  Stevens'  enthusiastic  laudation 
of  the  northern  routes.  Southern  slave-holding  interests  and  sympathizers  were 
then  active  and  adroit  in  their  political  manipulations  to  prevent  settlement  of 
northern  territories,  and  at  the  same  time  foster  the  extension  of  slavery  in  the  vast 
unsettled  areas  of  the  southwest.     In  this  momentous  political  struggle  they  had,  of 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  219 

course,  the  able  support  of  Secretary  Davis,  who  exerted  his  official  influence  in  sup- 
port of  an  extreme  southern  route  that  would  have  for  its  Pacific  terminus  the  harbor 
of  San  Pedro^  near  Los  Angeles^  or  that  of  San  Diego,  still  nearer  the  Mexican 
boundary.  In  his  rej>ort  to  congress.  Secretary  Davis  quotes  McClellan,  approvingly, 
as  follows :  "I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  Yakima  pass  is  barely  practicable,  and 
that  only  at  a  high  cost  of  time,  labor  and  money/'  "The  depth  of  snow  upon  the 
summit  of  this  pass  has  been  much  discussed,**  says  Davis's  report.  "Captain 
McClellan,  who  made  the  reconnaissance,  says  that  he  and  his  party  spared  no  pains 
in  inquiring  of  the  Indians  during  the  summer,  fall  and  winter,  as  to  the  quantity 
and  nature  of  the  snow  in  the  mountains  during  the  winter.  .  .  .  All  the  infor- 
mation obtained  was  consistent;  and  the  resulting  conclusions,  that  in  ordinary  win- 
ters there  could  not  be  less  than  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  of  snow  in  the 
passes." 

Subsequent  railroad  construction  and  operation  have  shown  the  wildness  of  these 
superficial  guesses.  Governor  Stevens,  who  well  understood  the  unreliability  of 
Indian  testimony  on  this  point,  as  they  were  opposed,  from  interest,  to  the  building 
of  railroads  in  their  country,  felt,  from  the  beginning,  that  McClellan's  estimates 
were  nnreliable,  and  emphatically  urged  that  officer  to  make  a  more  thorough  exam- 
ination of  the  Cascade  passes  in  the  winter  of  1853-54;  but  McClellan  raised  one 
difficulty  after  another,  failed  altogether  to  grasp  Stevens*  argument  that  winter  was 
jost  the  time  to  examine  the  passes  and  gather  definite,  reliable  data,  and  when 
another  officer,  Lieutenant  Tinkham,  acting  under  the  governor's  directions,  accom- 
plished the  very  achievement  which  McClellan  had  pronounced  impracticable,  and 
at  the  same  time  proved  the  untrustworthiness  of  McClellan*s  conclusions,  the  officer 
who  was  later  to  command  the  Union  armies  on  the  Potomac  resented  the  governor's 
resolute  action,  and  a  coldness  grew  up  between  them. 

Returning  to  McClellan*s  report  on  the  Yakima  valley,  we  find  him  asserting 
that  while  the  Indians  raised  excellent  potatoes,  "the  cold  nights  (the  thermometer 
frequently  standing  below  thirty-two  degrees  at  sunrise),  and  the  shortness  of  the 
season,  would  be  great  obstacles  in  the  way  of  cultivation.  .  .  .  The  Yakima  val- 
ley below  this  is  wide,  often  destitute  of  grass,  no  timber  of  any  consequence,  and  a 
limited  extent  of  soil  that  by  irrigation  could  be  made  moderately  productive.  On 
the  trail  to  The  Dalles  the  country  is  everywhere  stony,  barren  and  worthless.  The 
Tallcy  of  the  Columbia,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Yakima,  is  a  vast  sage  desert." 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

CONFEDERATED  INDIAN  WAR  OF  1858 

WIR  FLAMES   KINDLED   OVER   A    WIDE   AREA CAUSES   LEADING  UP  TO   THE   OUTBREAK   OF 

TRIBES   NORTH  OF   SNAKE   RIVER YAKIMA8   REPUDIATE  TREATY   AND   MURDER  THEIR 

AGENT STEVENS    BITTERLY    ASSAILS    COMMANDER    AT    FORT    VANCOUVER STEPTOE's 

ILL-FATED  EXPEDITION HIS    CANDID  REPORT  OF  THE   DISASTROUS  REPULSE. 

How  sleep  the  brave  who  sink  to  rest 
By  all  their  country's  wishes  blest. 
When  spring;  with  dewy  fingers  cold. 
Returns  to  deck  their  hallowed  mould, 
She  there  shall  dress  a  sweeter  sod 
Than  fancy's  feet  have  ever  trod. 

By  fairy  hands  their  knell  is  rung. 
By  forms  unseen  their  dirge  is  sung; 
There  Honor  comes,  a  pilgrim  gray. 
To  bless  the  turf  that  wraps  their  clay: 
And  Freedom  shall  awhile  repair, 
To  dwell  a  weeping  hermit  there. 

— William  Collins. 

IT  IS  a  fitting  coincidence  that  the  United  States  government  has  established  the 
military  reservation  of  Fort  George  Wright  on  the  very  scene  where  that  able 
soldier,  four  and  fifty  years  ago,  dealt  his  final  crushing  blow  to  the  confed- 
erated hostile  Indians  in  the  war  of  1858.  By  that  victory  a  lasting  peace  was  won, 
and  this  fair  wild  land  made  ready  for  awaiting  pioneers.  So  condign  was  that 
defeat,  so  stem  the  treaty  language  of  the  stout  soldier  Wright  that  the  spirit  of 
angry  insolence  was  forever  driven  from  the  red  warrior's  breast,  and  the  Spokanes 
and  Coeur  d'Alenes  have  ever  remained  our  enduring  friends. 

If  the  reader,  bent  on  historic  search,  will  follow  downward  for  two  miles  the 
^est  bank  of  the  Spokane  from  its  confluence  with  Hangman  creek,  his  eye  will 
Wl  on  the  scene  where  Wright  and  his  gallant  command  struck  the  river  after  their 
niemorable  running  fight  of  fifteen  miles.  Retracing  his  steps  a  mile,  he  will  dis- 
<^er,  at  a  point  one  mile  down  stream  from  Hangman  creek,  the  spot  that  was 
made  their  night  encampment  after  that  strenuous  autumn  day. 

If  the  reader  care  to  continue  his  stroll  on  historic  ground,  and  will  seek  out  a 

221 


222  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

point  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Spokane  two  miles  above  the  main  falls^  his  foot 
will  press  the  treaty  grounds  where  the  broken  and  terrified  Spokanes^  responding  to 
Wright's  imperious  summons^  gathered  in  penitence  and  besought  his  mercy. 

Wright's  campaign  in  the  autumn  of  1858  followed  fast  upon  the  disastrous  re- 
pulse of  Colonel  Step  toe  at  a  point  near  the  present  flourishing  town  of  Rosalia  in 
northern  Whitman  county.  So  charged  with  stirring  interest  are  these  events,  so 
fraught  with  lasting  consequences,  that  they  constitute  an  essential  episode  in  Spo- 
kane's history  and  that  of  the  whole  Inland  Empire.  It  is  therefore  the  author's 
purpose  to  devote  to  them  a  somewhat  extended  recital. 

The  period  passing  between  1853  and  1858  was  signalized  by  many  savage  In- 
dian uprisings  throughout  the  Pacific  northwest.  At  times  within  that  period  the 
skies  were  red  with  war  flames  from  the  Rogue  river  region  of  southern  Oregon 
northward  to  Puget  Sound,  and  from  the  western  waters  to  the  Rocky  moontains. 
Some  tribes  of  the  interior  had,  in  fact,  maintained  a  constant  attitude  of  haughty 
insolence  since  the  Cayuse  uprising  in  1847  and  the  massacre,  at  Whitman  mission 
near  Walla  Walla,  of  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman,  Mrs.  Narcissa  Whitman  and  other  mem- 
bers of  their  household. 

Dissatisfaction  existed  in  the  minds  of  some  of  the  interior  tribes  against  cer- 
tain treaties  which  had  been  negotiated  in  1855  by  Isaac  I.  Stevens,  who  bore  from 
the  president  of  the  United  States  a  dual  appointment  as  first  governor  of  Washing- 
ton territory  and  commissioner  empowered  to  treat  with  all  the  Indian  tribes  of  the 
vast  interior  from  the  Missouri  to  the  Pacific.  A  number  of  chiefs  protested  that 
Stevens  had  failed  to  negotiate  with  the  men  who  were  authorized  to  bind  their 
people  by  treaty  obligations,  and  angry  protests  were  made  against  some  of  the 
conditions  of  these  treaties. 

The  unrest  was  further  intensified  by  a  long  delay  by  the  senate  in  its  work  of 
treaty  ratification  and  by  a  conflict  of  official  opinion  regarding  the  ultimate  fate 
of  the  treaties  at  Washington.  Army  officers  in  the  field  were  positive  that  ratifica- 
tion and  an  attempt  by  the  government  to  enforce  the  treaties  would  precipitate  a 
general  uprising.  Colonel  E.  J.  Steptoe,  then  conmianding  at  Fort  Walla  Walla, 
entered  vigorous  protest,  declaring  in  a  letter  to  the  assistant  adjutant-general  at 
San  Francisco: 

"It  is  my  duty  to  inform  the  general  that  Mr.  J.  Ross  Brown,  acting,  as  I  believe, 
as  an  agent  of  the  Indian  Bureau,  did,  in  a  recent  conversation  with  "Lawyer"  the 
Nez  Perces  chief,  assert  that  Governor  Stevens'  treaty  of  Walla  Walla  would  cer- 
tainly be  ratified  and  enforced.  Considering  that  this  statement  is  in  direct  opposi- 
tion to  what  the  Indians  have  been  told  by  us,  and  to  what,  as  I  believe,  nearly  all 
of  them  desire,  it  seems  to  me  in  very  bad  taste,  to  say  the  least  of  it.  Mr.  Brown 
could  not  possibly  have  known  that  the  treaty  will  be  ratified,  and  even  if  he  had, 
the  proper  time  to  enlighten  the  Indians  on  the  subject  is  obviously  after  it  shall 
have  become  a  law  of  the  land.  He  had  no  right  to  unsettle  the  Indian's  minds  on 
a  point  respecting  which  his  convictions  are  probably  no  stronger  than  the  opposite 
belief  of  many  others  in  daily  intercourse  with  them. 

"I  will  simply  add  that  in  my  opinion  any  attempt  to  enforce  that  treaty  will  be 
followed  by  immediate  hostilities  with  most  of  the  tribes  in  this  part  of  the  country; 
for  which  reason  it  does  appear  to  me  greatly  desirable  that  a  new  commission  be 
appointed,  and  a  new  treaty  made,  thoroughly  digested  and  accepted  by  both  sides." 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  223 

Obviously  it  did  not  occur  to  Steptoe  that  if  Brown  erred  in  telling  the  Indians 
that  the  treaty  would  be  ratified  and  enforced,  himself  and  other  army  oflScers  were 
alike  at  fault  when  they  told  the  red  men  that  it  would  not  be  ratified  or  enforced. 
Brown's  rights  as  a  prophet  were  at  least  equal  to  those  of  Steptoe  and  Clarke, 
commanding  the  department  of  the  Columbia. 

Ringleaders  in  this  sorry  business  of  repudiating  treaties  were  the  Yakimas. 
They  had  met  Governor  Stevens  in  the  summer  of  1855,  entered  into  treaty  relations 
and  accepted  agency  rule,  only,  a  few  months  later,  to  go  on  the  warpath  and  mur- 
der their  agent,  A.  J.  Bolon,  and  a  number  of  other  white  men  in  their  country. 
These  atrocities  they  followed  up  by  defeating  a  detachment  of  United  States  troops 
nnder  Major  Haller,  and  declared  their  determination  to  exterminate  all  the  whites 
in  the  country. 

As  we  have  seen,  news  of  the  Yakima  war  reached  Governor  Stevens  on  October 
29, 1855,  when  returning  from  a  council  with  the  Blackfoot  nation  in  Montana.  He 
was  two  days'  march  from  old  Fort  Benton,  head  of  navigation  on  the  Missouri, 
when  this  alarming  intelligence  reached  him  by  an  express  from  Acting  Governor 
Mason  at  Olympia,  and  his  position  became  one  of  imminent  peril.  ''At  this  time," 
to  quote  from  his  report  to  Jefferson  Davis,  then  secretary  of  war,  but  within  a  few 
years  to  be  making  greater  history  as  president  of  the  southern  Confederacy,  ''my 
party  of  twenty-five  men  were  in  this  condition:  our  animals  were  poor  and  jaded 
from  the  constant  express  service  in  which  they  had  been  employed  in  the  operations 
preliminary  to  the  Blackfoot  council ;  for  our  expresses  had  ranged  from  Saskatche- 
wan on  the  norths  to  the  Yellowstone  on  the  south ;  they  possessed  but  few  arms  and 
little  ammunition,  as  we  had,  in  coming  up,  found  no  use  for  them,  passing  through 
the  territory  of  friendly  Indians." 

Stevens,  however,  as  we  have  seen  in  a  preceding  chapter,  met  the  situation 
with  his  customary  courage  and  vigor. 

The  governor  complained  bitterly  to  the  war  department  against  the  refusal  of 
General  Wool,  commanding  at  Fort  Vancouver,  to  dispatch  regulars  to  his  relief 
when  it  became  apparent  that  he  had  been  cut  off  from  the  settlements  and  his  party 
was  in  imminent  danger  of  destruction.  "We  had  reached  a  place  of  safety  unaided, 
excepting  by  the  fortunate  movements  of  the  Oregon  troops.  Not  a  single  man  had 
been  pushed  forward  to  meet  us,  although  it  was  well  known  we  should  cross  the 
monntains  about  a  certain  time,  and  arrive  at  Walla  Walla  at  the  time  we  did." 

"Mr.  Secretary,"  continues  the  indignant  governor,  "Major-General  Wool,  com- 
manding the  Pacific  division,  neglected  and  refused  to  send  a  force  to  the  relief  of 
myself  and  party,  when  known  to  be  in  imminent  danger,  and  believed  by  those  who 
archest  capable  of  judging,  to  be  coming  on  to  certain  death;  and  this  when  he  had 
at  his  command  an  efficient  force  of  regular  troops.  It  was  reserved  for  the  Oregon 
troops  to  rescue  us.  There  has  been  a  breach  of  faith  somewhere.  I  ask  for  An 
investigation  into  the  whole  matter." 

From  Walla  Walla  the  governor  hastened  to  Olympia,  to  deal  with  the  warlike 
Indians  in  the  Puget  Sound  country.  He  found  time,  however,  to  map  out  a  winter 
campaign  against  the  warring  savages  of  the  interior,  and  went  to  Vancouver  to  lay 
it  before  General  Wool,  but  missed  that  officer  by  a  few  hours.  Wool  having  sailed 
from  Portland  for  San  Francisco.  The  limitations  of  this  history  forbid  the  presen- 
tation here  of  Stevens'  plan  in  detail,  but  it  may  be  said  in  passing  that  he  advanced 


224  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

there  a  doctrine  of  successful  Indian  warfare  which  ultimately  was  applied  some 
twenty  years  later  in  Indian  wars  on  the  great  plains  east  of  the  Rodty  mountains, 
after  repeated  failure  had  demonstrated  that  the  old  plan  of  spring  and  summer 
campaigns  was  powerless  to  strike  effective  blows.  Stevens'  advice  was  founded  on 
the  well  known  fact  that  when  young  grass  comes  in  springtime^  the  Indian  finds 
maintenance  everywhere,  and  if  menaced  by  an  invading  enemy,  has  only  io  disperse 
his  people  in  all  directions  to  baffle  and  defeat  pursuit  But  in  winter  his  people  can 
not  rove  at  will  or  pleasure.  They  are  required  by  the  rigors  of  climate  to  concen- 
trate in  sheltered  places,  around  their  winter  stores  of  provisions,  while  an  invading 
force  of  regulars  can  transport  supplies  by  wagon  and  keep  its  horses  in  good  con- 
dition by  feeding  grain. 

"I  will  respectfully  urge/'  advises  Stevens  in  a  detailed  communication  to  Wool, 
"that  you  forward  your  preparations  with  all  possible  dispatch.  Get  all  of  your 
disposable  force  in  the  Walla  Walla  valley  in  January.  Establish  a  large  depot 
camp  here;  occupy  Fort  Walla  Walla  and  be  ready  early  in  February  to  take  the 
field.  February  is  generally  a  mild  and  open  month.  February  and  March  are  the 
favorable  months  for  operating;  all  the  Indians  are  destitute  of  food;  the  rivers  are 
easy  to  cross;  the  mountain  passes  are  closed.  In  April  the  Indians  can  retreat 
on  the  Pend  d'Oreille  route,  eastward  of  the  mountains.  In  May  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
route  is  also  open;  the  streams  are  swollen  and  the  salmon  begin  to  run.  In  June 
roots  are  abundant  and  the  streams  difficult  to  cross.  If  operations  be  vigorously 
prosecuted  in  February  and  March,  there  is  little  probability  of  any  of  the  tribes 
now  peaceable,  taking  part  in  the  war.  This  is  the  conclusion  to  which  I  was  brought 
by  the  recent  council  held  by  m^  with  the  Indian  tribes  on  the  Spokane." 

Had  these  recommendations  been  heeded,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  inte- 
rior tribes  would  have  been  pacified  by  early  spring  of  1856,  and  history  would 
not  have  recorded  the  disastrous  repulse  of  Steptoe  in  the  summer  of  1858.  Numer- 
ous atrocities  would  have  been  spared,  and  the  task  of  subjugating  the  hostiles 
would  have  been  far  less  difficult  and  expensive  than  it  afterwards  proved  to  be. 

This  view  is  ably  sustained  by  Lieutenant  John  Mullan,  an  officer  under  Wright 
in  1858,  and  afterwards  made  famous  as  surveyor  and  builder  of  the  historic  Mullan 
trail.  "The  war  feeling  of  1855,"  says  this  authority,  *'was  not  ended  in  1858. 
Many  may  join  issue,  but  let  them  remember  that  at  the  end  of  the  winter  campaign 
of  1856  there  was  a  mutual  withdrawing  of  troops  and  Indians  from  the  field.  In 
1857  no  troops  were  sent  into  the  field.  The  immigrant  routes  were  all  blocked  up 
in  consequence  of  difficulties  in  the  interior,  and  thus  no  passage  of  persons  was  had 
through  the  Indian  country.  The  command  under  Colonel  Steptoe  then  that  entered 
the  country  in  1858  was  the  first  military  force  that  tried  the  field  since  the  apparent 
cessation  of  hostilities." 

It  is  true  that  Steptoe's  little  conunand  entered  the  country  with  no  hostile  in- 
tent. On  the  contrary,  as  Mullan  says,  Steptoe  had  ever  been  a  firm  friend  of  the 
Indians,  and  the  objects  of  his  expedition  were  to  "adjust  amicably  all  the  differ- 
ences that  existed  among  the  Indians  and  whites  that  then  had  place  at  Fort  Col- 
ville;  to  punish  those  who  had  run  off  cattle  from  Walla  Walla,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  produce  a  moral  effect  on  the  Indians  by  moving  a  military  column  through 
the  country,  and  give  his  men  at  the  same  time  a  field  experience." 

Steptoe  has  been  severely  criticised  for  apparent  over-confidence  in  the  friendli- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  225 

nese  of  the  tribes  north  of  the  Snake^  and  the  circumstance  that  his  party  came  with 
an  inadequate  supply  of  ammunition  has  been  cited  in  substantiation  of  that  belief. 
Bat  the  truth  is^  Steptoe  had  given  orders  for  an  adequate  supply  before  leaving 
Walla  Walla^  but  lamentably^  as  a  survivor  of  the  expedition^  who  served  as  pack- 
master^  frankly  confessed  to  the  author  a  few  years  ago^  the  greater  part  of  the 
ammunition  that  had  been  brought  out  for  packing  was  overlooked  in  the  excitement 
of  the  hour^  and  the  loss  was  not  detected  until  the  party  had  entered  the  Spokane 
country  and  found  itself  surrounded  by  a  vastly  superior  niunber  of  furious,  taunt- 
ing warriors. 

Apparently  no  official  explanation  was  made  of  the  scant  supply  of  ammunition^ 
for  General  Winfield  Scott^  then  commanding  the  army^  commented  in  this  terse 
manner  on  Steptoe's  report:  "This  is  a  candid  report  of  a  disastrous  affair.  The 
small  supply  of  ammunition  is  surprising  and  unaccounted  for." 

It  is  not  clear^  however^  that  the  disaster  would  have  been  averted  if  ammunition 
had  been  carried  in  quantity,  for  Steptoe's  force  was  vastly  outnumbered  by  the 
enemy,  a  part  of  his  soldiers  carried  old  musketoons,  an  arm  inferior  to  the  rifles 
borne  by  some  of  the  Indians,  and  a  part  of  the  command  were  recent  recruits  who 
had  never  been  under  Are  and  were  inexperienced  in  field  service.  It  seems  probable 
that  with  a  greater  ammunition  supply  Steptoe  would  not  have  made  his  successful 
night  retreat,  and  that  with  the  return  of  day  the  Indians — who  had  surrounded  his 
position — would  have  charged  his  camp  and  annihilated  his  command.  Even  if 
they  had  ladced  the  courage  to  dose  in,  they  would  have  renewed  the  battle  and 
subjected  the  troops  to  a  repetition  of  the  galling  attack  as  it  slowly  retreated  toward 
the  Snake.  In  that  event  it  seems  certain,  too,  that  the  enemy  would  have  sent  a 
sufficient  force  to  the  river  to  capture  Steptoe's  canoes  and  thus  cut  off  his  retreat  to 
WaUa  Walla. 

Steptoe's  official  report  of  his  repulse  bears  evidence  of  candor,  truthfulness  and 
moral  courage.  Writing,  May  28,  froin  Fort  Walla  Walla,  to  Major  W.  M.  Mackall, 
assistant  adjutant-general  stationed  at  San  Francisco,  he  said: 

"Major:  On  the  second  instant  I  informed  you  of  my  intention  to  move  north- 
ward with  a  part  of  my  command.  Accordingly  on  the  6tfa  I  left  here  with  compa- 
nies C,  E  and  H,  First  dragoons  (the  term  then  employed  for  mounted  men)  and  E, 
Ninth  infantry,  in  all,  five  company  officers  and  152  enlisted  men.  Hearing  that  the 
hostile  Pelouses  were  near  Al-pon-on-we,  in  the  Nez  Perces  land,  I  moved  to  that 
point  and  was  ferried  across  Snake  river  by  Timothy,  a  Nez  Perces  chief.  The 
enemy  fled  towards  the  north  and  I  followed  leisurely  on  the  road  to  Colville.  On 
Sunday  morning,  the  16th,  when  near  the  Te-hoto-nim-me  (probably  Pine  creek) 
m  the  Spokane  country,  we  found  ourselves  suddenly  in  presence  of  ten  or  twelve 
hundred  Indians  of  various  tribes — Spokanes,  Pelouses,  Coeur  d'Alenes,  Yakimas 
and  some  others — all  armed,  painted  and  defiant.  I  moved  slowly  on  until  just 
about  to  enter  a  ravine  that  wound  along  the  bases  of  several  hills  which  were  all 
crowned  by  the  excited  savages.  Perceiving  that  it  was  their  purpose  to  attack  us 
in  this  dangerous  place,  I  turned  aside  and  encamped,  the  whole  wild,  frenzied  mass 
moving  parallel  to  us,  and,  by  yells,  taunts  and  menaces  apparently  trying  to  drive 
us  to  some  initiatory  act  of  violence. 

'Towards  night  a  number  of  chiefs  rode  up  to  talk  with  me,  and  inquired  what* 
were  our  motives  to  this  intrusion  upon  them.     I  answered  that  we  were  passing  on 

ToLI— u 


226  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

to  Colville,  and  had  no  hostile  intentions  towards  the  Spokanes,  who  had  always  been 
our  friends^  nor  towards  any  other  tribes  who  were  friendly;  that  my  chief  aim  in 
coming  so  far  was  to  see  the  Indians  and  the  white  people  at  Colville,  and  by  friendly 
discussion  with  both,  endeavor  to  strengthen  their  good  feelings  for  each  other.  They 
expressed  themselves  satisfied,  but  would  not  consent  to  let  me  have  canoes,  without 
which  it  would  be  impossible  to  cross  the  Spokane  river.  I  concluded,  for  this  rea- 
son, to  retrace  my  steps  at  once,  and  the  next  morning  (17th)  turned  back  towards 
this  post. 

"We  had  not  marched  three  miles  when  the  Indians,  who  had  gathered  on  the 
hills  adjoining  the  line  of  march,  began  an  attack  upon  the  rear  guard,  and  immedi- 
ately the  fight  became  general.  We  labored  under  the  great  disadvantage  of  having 
to  defend  the  pack  train  while  in  motion  and  in  a  rolling  country  peculiarly  favorable 
to  the  Indian  mode  of  warfare.  We  had  only  a  small  quantity  of  ammunition,  but  in 
thfir  excitement  the  soldiers  could  not  be  restrained  from  firing  it  in  the  wildest 
manner.  They  did,  however,  under  the  leading  of  their  respective  commanders,  sus- 
tain well  the  reputation  of  the  army  for  some  hours,  charging  the  enemy  repeatedly 
with  gallantry  and  success. 

"The  difficult  and  dangerous  duty  of  flanking  the  column  was  assigned  to  Brevet 
Captain  Taylor  and  Lieutenant  Gaston,  to  both  of  whom  it  proved  fatal.  The  latter 
fell  about  12  o'clock,  and  the  enemy  soon  after  charging  formally  upon  his  com- 
pany, it  fell  back  in  confusion  and  could  not  be  rallied. 

"About  a  half  hour  after  this  Captain  Taylor  was  brought  in  mortally  wounded; 
upon  which  I  immediately  took  possession  of  a  convenient  height  and  halted.  The 
fight  continued  here  with  unabated  activity;  the  Indians  occupying  neighboring 
heights  and  working  themselves  along  to  pick  off  our  men.  The  wounded  increased 
in  number  continually.  Twice  the  enemy  gave  unmistakable  evidence  of  a  design 
to  carry  our  position  by  assault,  and  their  number  and  desperate  courage  caused  me 
to  fear  the  most  serious  consequences  to  us  from  such  an  attempt  on  their  part. 

"It  was  manifest  that  the  loss  of  their  officers  and  comrades  began  to  tell  upon 
the  spirit  of  the  soldiers ;  that  they  were  becoming  discouraged,  and  not  to  be  reHed 
upon  with  confidence.  Some  of  them  were  recruits  but  recently  joined;  two  of  the 
companies  had  musketoons,  which  were  utterly  worthless  to  us  in  our  present  condi- 
tion; and,  what  was  most  alarming,  only  two  or  three  rounds  of  cartridges  remained 
to  some  of  the  men,  and  but  few  to  any  of  them. 

"It  was  plain  that  the  enemy  would  give  the  troops  no  rest  during  the  night, 
and  they  would  be  still  further  disqualified  for  stout  resistance  on  the  morrow,  while 
the  number  of  enemies  would  certainly  be  increased.  I  determined  for  these  rea- 
sons, to  make  a  forced  march  to  Snake  river,  about  eighty-five  miles  distant,  and  se- 
cure the  canoes  in  advance  of  the  Indians,  who  had  already  threatened  to  do  the 
same  in  regard  to  us.  After  consulting  with  the  officers,  all  of  whom  urged  me  to  the 
step  as  the  only  means,  in  their  opinion,  of  securing  the  safety  of  the  command,  I 
concluded  to  abandon  everything  that  might  impede  our  march.  Accordingly  we 
set  out  about  10  o'clock  in  perfectly  good  order,  leaving  the  disabled  animals  and 
such  as  were  not  in  condition  to  travel  so  far  and  so  fast,  and,  with  deep  pain  I  have 
to  add,  the  two  howitzers.  The  necessity  for  this  last  measure  will  give  you,  as  weU 
as  many  words,  a  conception  of  the  strait  to  which  we  believed  ourselves  reduced. 
Not  an  officer  of  the  command  doubted  that  we  would  be  overwhelmed  with  the  first 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  227 

rush  of  the  enemy  upon  our  position  in  the  morning;  to  retreat  further  by  day,  with 
our  wounded  men  and  property,  was  out  of  the  question ;  to  retreat  slowly  by  night 
qually  so,  as  we  could  not  then  be  in  position  to  fight  all  next  day ;  it  was  therefore 
necessary  to  relieve  ourselves  of  all  incumbrances  and  to  fly.  We  had  no  horses  able 
to  carry  the  guns  over  eighty  miles  without  resting,  and  if  the  enemy  should  attack 
us  en  route,  *as,  from  their  ferocity,  we  certainly  expected  they  would,  not  a  soldier 
coold  be  spared  for  any  other  duty  than  skirmishing.  For  these  reasons,  which,  I 
own  candidly,  seemed  to  me  more  cogent  at  the  time  than  they  do  now,  I  resolved 
to  bury  the  howitzers.  What  distresses  me  is  that  no  attempt  was  made  to  bring 
them  off;  and  all  I  can  add  is,  that  if  this  was  an  error  of  judgment  it  was  committed 
after  the  calmest  discussion  of  the  matter,  in  which,  I  believe,  every  officer  agreed 
vith  me. 

"Enclosed  is  a  list  of  the  killed  and  wounded.  The  enemy  acknowledged  a  loss 
of  nine  killed  and  forty  or  fifty  wounded,  many  of  them  mortaUy.  It  is  known  to 
us  that  this  is  an  underestimate^  for  one  of  the  officers  informs  us  that  on  a  single 
spot  where  Lieutenants  Gregg  and  Gaston  met  in  a  joint  charge  twelve  dead  Indians 
were  counted.     Many  others  were  seen  to  fall. 

"I  can  not  do  justice  in  this  communication  to  the  conduct  of  the  officers  through- 
out the  affair.  The  gallant  bearing  of  each  and  all  was  accompanied  by  an  admirable 
coolness  and  sound  judgment.  To  the  skill  and  promptness  of  Assistant  Surgeon 
Randolph  the  wounded  are  deeply  indebted. 

"Be  pleased  to  excuse  the  hasty  appearance  of  this  letter;  I  am  anxious  to  get  it 
off,  and  have  not  time  to  have  it  transcribed. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"E.  J.  Steptoe, 
"Brevet  lAeutenani-Colonel  United  States  Army," 


CHAPTER  XXV 

DETAILED  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  STEPTOE   RETREAT 

IKDIAN    HOSTILITY    A    SURPRISE ^HOSTILBS    OPEN    FIRE OFFICIAL    REPORT    OF    KILLED 

AND  WOUNDED— ^FATHER  JOSET's  ACCOUNT  OF  THE   TRAGEDY DEVILISH   INTRIGUES 

OF  THE   PALOUSE8 ^RECOLLECTIONS    OF    A    SURVIVOR — STEPTOE   SAVED    FROM    ANNI- 
HILATION    BY     NEZ     PERCE     ALLIES FAITHFUL     OLD     TIMOTHY — MEMORIAL     PARK 

MARKS    THE    SITE    OF    STEPTOE's    LAST    STAND PATRIOTIC    GIFT    OF    DAUGHTERS    OF 

THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION. 

In   all   the   trade   of   war^   no   feat 
Is  nobler  than  a  brave  retreat. 

— Butler^s  Hudihras. 

LIEUTENANT  GREGG,  in  Steptoe's  command,  wrote  to  a  friend  at  Fort 
Vancouver  that  when  they  left  Walla  Walla  no  one  thought  of  having  an 
enconnter,  for  the  Spokanes  had  always  been  considered  as  friends  of  the 
whites.  It  was  therefore  a  surprise  when  these  Indians  halted  the  soldiers  and  pro- 
tested against  their  further  advance  into  the  country.  Gregg  reported  that  the 
Indians  were  well  mounted,  armed  principally  with  rifles,  and  were  extended 
along  Steptoe's  flank  at  a  distance  of  100  yards.  After  Steptoe  had  talked  with 
the  chiefs  he  informed  his  officers  that  they  would  have  to  flght,  as  the  Indians 
▼ere  constantly  growing  more  menacing  and  insulting.  The  soldiers  dared  not 
dismount,  and  remained  in  the  saddle  for  three  hours  until  the  Indians  dispersed 
with  the  setting  of  the  sun. 

This  was  Sunday,  the  16th,  and  the  morning  following  the  command  started 
on  the  retrograde  movement  towards  Walla  Walla.  The  Indians  opened  fire  as  the 
troops  were  crossing  a  little  stream,  and  within  twenty  minutes  the  firing  was  gen- 
eral Gregg  reported  the  losses'  at  two  officers,  five  men  and  three  friendly  Indians 
blled,  ten  men  wounded,  and  Sergeant  Ball,  who  had  greatly  distinguished  himself 
in  the  action,  as  missing.  He  added,  "It  will  take  a  thousand  men  to  go  into  the 
Spokane  country." 


OrPlCIAL  REPORT  OF  THE  KILLED,  WOUNDED  AND  MISSING  IN  THE  BATTLE  AT  TE-HOTO- 

NIM-ME^  MAT  17,   1858. 

Killed — Brevet  Captain  O.  H.  Taylor,  Second  Lieutenant  William  Gaston, 
Privates  Alfred  Barnes,  Charles  H.  Hamish,  James  Crozet,  Victor  Charles  DeMoy, 
First  Sergeant  William  C.  Williams. 

229 


230  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Wounded — James  Lynch,  Henry  Montreville,  Elijah  R.  Birch,  James  Kelly, 
William  D.  Micon,  Hariet  Sneckster,  James  Healy,  Maurice  Henley,  Charles 
Hughes,  John  Mitchell,  Ormond  W.  Hammond,  John  Klay  and  Gotlieb  Berger. 

After  the  command  had  retreated  to  Walla  Walla  intense  and  bitter  interest 
centered  around  the  source  of  the  Indians'  supply  of  ammunition,  and  unjust  and 
unfounded  rumor  asserted  that  Father  Joset,  the  Jesuit  priest  at  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
mission,  had  supplied  it.  In  an  official  report  Steptoe  discredited  that  rumor,  and 
gave  his  belief  that  it  had  been  supplied  either  by  the  traders  at  Fort  ColviUe  or 
the  Mormons  from  the  Utah  country.  Father  Joset  was  deeply  grieved  by  the  cruel 
rumor,  and  said  to  Steptoe  that  it  was  a  charge  too  monstrous  for  him  to  notice  in. 
a  formal  way. 

It  is  not  difficult,  now,  to  comprehend  the  origin  of  a  story  so  diametrically  in 
conflict  with  the  truth.  From  the  beginning  of  the  unrest.  Father  Joset  had  pleaded 
incessantly  with  the  Indians  for  peace.    As  a  result  of  his  labors,  a  large  number  of 

0 

the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  probably  half  of  the  tribe,  had  declined  to  be  drawn  into  the 
tighting.  In  his  zeal  to  prevent  the  impending  clash,  the  priest  had  followed 
his  wards  to  the  very  point  of  conflict,  remonstrating  with  them  till  his  own 
life  was  imperilled.  When  the  soldiers,  not  understanding  his  motives,  saw 
this  man  of  God  mingling  with  their  savage  enemies,  they  were  startled,  and  sprang 
to  the  conclusion  that  he  had  been  instrumental  in  inflaming  their  minds,  and  out 
of  that  belief  grew  the  wild  rumor  that  he  had  supplied  them  with  ammunition. 

We  quote  now  from  a  letter  of  Father  Joset,  to  Father  Congiato,  superior  of 
the  missions  in  the  Rocky  mountains,  in  relation  to  'the  events  of  the  unfortunate 
17th  of  May,  and  of  the  causes  which  have  brought  such  sad  results*: 

"Do  not  think,  my  reverend  father,  that  I  am  beknowing  to  all  the  affairs  of  the 
savages;  there  is  a  great  deal  wanting;  they  come  to  us  about  the  affairs  of  their 
conscience,  but  as  to  the  rest  they  consult  us  but  little.  .  .  .  After  the  battle 
Bonaventure,  one  of  the  best  young  men  in  the  nation,  who  was  not  in  the  fight, 
and  who,  as  I  will  tell  later,  has  aided  us  a  great  deal  in  saving  the  lives  of  the 
Americans  at  the  mission  at  the  time  of  the  battle,  said  to  me,  *Do  you  think  that 
if  M'e  thought  to  kill  the  Americans  we  would  tell  you  so?'  Even  among  the  Coeur 
d'Alenes  there  is  a  certain  number  that  we  never  see,  that  I  do  not  know  in  any 
manner.  The  majority  distrust  me  when  I  come  to  speak  in  favor  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. 

"Last  winter  Michelle  said  to  me:  'Father,  if  the  soldiers  exhibit  themselves  in 
the  country  (of  the  mountains)  the  Indians  will  become  furious.'  I  had  heard 
rumors  that  a  detachment  would  come  to  ColviUe,  and  I  intended  to  go  to  inform 
Colonel  Steptoe  of  this  disposition  of  the  Indians.  Toward  the  beginning  of 
April  it  was  learned  that  an  American  had  been  assassinated  by  a  Nez  Perce.  Im- 
mediately rumor  commences  to  circulate  that  troops  were  preparing  to  cross  the 
Nez  Perces  (the  Snake  river)  to  obtain  vengeance  for  this  crime.  Toward  the  end 
of  April  at  the  time  of  my  departure  the  chief,  Pierre  Prulin,  told  me  not  to  go 
now;  to  wait  some  weeks  to  see  what  turn  affairs  are  going  to  take.  *I  am  too  hur- 
ried,' I  replied  to  him,  *I  can  not  wait.'  Arrived  at  the  Camas  prairie,  I  met  the 
express  of  the  great  chief  Vincent;  this  told  me  to  return,  his  people  thought  there 
was  too  much  danger  at  that  moment.  I  replied  that  I  was  going  to  wait  three 
days  to  give  the  chief  time  to  find  me  himself;  that  if  he  did  not  come  I  would 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  231 

• 

continue  my  route.  I  said  to  myself,  if  Vincent  believes  really  in  the  greatness 
of  tbe  danger,  however  bad  or  however  long  the  road  may  be,  he  will  not  fail  to 
come.  In  the  meantime  I  saw  several  Nez  Perces.  Their  conversation  was  gen- 
erally against  the  Americans.  One  of  them  said  in  my  presence,  'We  will  not  be 
able  to  bring  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  to  take  part  with  us  against  the  Americans;  the 
priest  is  the  cause ;  for  this  we  wish  to  kill  the  priest.* 

"Vincent  marched  day  and  night  to  find  me.  He  said  'We  are  not  on  good 
terms  with  the  Nez  Perces  and  the  Palouses;  they  are  after  us  without  cessation 
to  determine  us  in  the  war  against  the  Americans.  We  are  so  fatigued  with  their 
underhand  dealings  that  I  do  not  know  if  we  will  not  come  to  break  with  them  entire- 
ly. Their  spies  cover  the  country.  When  the  young  men  go  for  horses,  they  will 
kill  them  secretly  and  start  the  report  that  they  have  been  killed  by  the  Americans. 
Then  there  will  not  be  any  means  to  restrain  our  people.  We  hear  the  chief  of 
the  soldiers  spoken  of  only  by  the  Nez  Perces,  and  it  is  all  against  us  and  to 
excite  our  young  people.     I  have  great  desire  to  go  to  see  him  (Steptoe).' 

*'It  was  agreed  that  when  I  should  go  down  I  should  take  him  to  see  the  colonel. 
It  is  then  I  learned  a  part  of  the  rumors  which  were  spreading  over  the  country. 
A  white  man  had  said:  'Poor  Indians,  you  are  finished  now;  the  soldiers  are  pre- 
paring to  cross  the  river  to  destroy  you;  then  another  five  hundred  soldiers  will  go 
to  establish  themselves  at  Colville;  then  five  hundred  others  will  join  them;  then 
others  and  others  till  they  find  themselves  the  strongest;  then  they  will  chase  the 
Indians   from  the  country.' 

"Still  another  white  man  had  seen  ^ve  hundred  soldiers  encamped  upon  the  Pa- 
louse  preparing  themselves  to  cross  the  river.  All  the  above  passed  three  weeks 
before  the  last  events.  Among  other  things  Vincent  said  to  me:  'If  the  troops  are 
coming  to  pass  the  river,  I  am  sure  the  Nez  Perces  are  going  to  direct  them  upon 
us.    .     .     ' 

"On  the   15th  of  May  I  received  another  express  from  Vincent.     The  troops 
had  pcissed  the  Nez  Perces  (the  Snake)  ;  they  had  said  to  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  that 
it  was  for  them  the  soldiers  wished.     Vincent  desired  me  to  go  to  aid  him  in  pre- 
venting a  conflict.     He  told  me  to  be  quick — the  troops  were  near.     I  set  out  in  an 
instant.     .     .     .     The  distance  from  the  mission  to  Vincent's  camp  was,  I  think, 
about  90  miles ;  as  the  water  was  very  high,  I  could  only  arrive  on  the  evening  of 
the  16th.     Vincent  told  me  he  had  been  kept  very  busy  to  restrain  his  young  men; 
that  he  had  been  at  first  to  the  chief  of  the  soldiers,  and  had  asked  him  if  he  had 
come  to  fight  the  Coeur  d'Alenes ;  that  upon  his  negative  reply  he  had  said :  'Well, 
go  on,'  but  to  his  great  displeasure  he  had  camped  in  his  neighborhood ;  that  then 
he  had  made  his  people  retire.     Still  a  bloodthirsty  Palouse  was  endeavoring  to 
excite  them.      Later  other   Indians  confirmed  to  me  the   same  report;  they   were 
Vincent  and  the  Spokane's  chief  who  prevented  the  fight  on  the  15th.     The  chiefs 
of  the  different  tribes  and  a  quantity  of  other  Indians  gathered  around  me.     I 
spoke  to  them  to  persuade  them  to  peace.     I  told  them  that  they  did  not  know 
with  what  intention  the  chief  of  the  soldiers  was  coming;  that  the  next  day  they 
should  bring  me  a  horse,  and  that  they  might  accompany  me  till  in  sight  of  the 
soldiers;  that  I  would  then  go  alone  to  find  the  officers  in  command,  and  would 
roake  them  to  know  th6n  what  was  now  doubtful ;  they  app>eared  well  satisfied.     I 
said  still  to  Vincent  to  see  that  no  person  took  the  advance. 


232  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

"The  same  evening  they  came  from  the  camp  of  the  Palouses  to  announce  that 
one  of  the  slaves  of  the  soldiers  (it  is  thus  that  they  call  the  Indians  who  accom- 
pany the  troops)  had  just  arrived.  The  chief  of  the  soldiers  had  said^  according  to 
him,  'You  Coeur  d'Alenes,  you  are  well-to-do;  your  lands,  your  women,  are  oups/ 
I  told  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  not  to  believe  it;  that  no  officer  ever  spoke  in  that  way; 
tomorrow,  I  said,  I  will  ask  the  chief  of  the  soldiers  if  he  has  said  that. 

"The  next  morning  I  saw  the  Si>okane*s  Tshequyseken  (medicine  man).  Said 
he  to  me:  'Yesterday  evening  I  was  with  the  chief  of  the  soldiers  when  a  Palouse 
came  to  tell  him  that  the  priest  had  just  arrived;  he  has  brought  some  powder  to 
the  Coeur  d'Alenes  to  encourage  them  to  kill  the  soldiers.'  Then,  turning  around 
towards  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  I  said:  'Do  you  see  now  the  deceit  of  this  people?  They 
go  and  slander  us  before  the  soldiers,  and  slander  the  soldiers  here.' 

"When  they  had  brought  me  a  horse  I  went  to  the  camp  of  the  soldiers;  they 
were  far  off.  I  set  out  in  their  direction  to  join  them.  I  saw  Colonel  Steptoe, 
made  him  acquainted  with  the  dispositions  of  the  Indians,  the  mistrust  the  presence 
of  the  troops  would  inspire,  and  how  I  had  been  kept  from  going  to  inform  him 
in  the  spring.  .  .  .  I  ^  asked  him  if  he  did  not  desire  to  see  the  chiefs.  Upon 
his  reply  that  his  dragoon  horses  were  too  much  frightened  to  stop  long,  I  observed 
to  him  that  they  could  talk  in  marching;  he  then  said  he  would  take  pleasure  in 
seeing  them.  I  went  to  seek  them,  but  could  find  only  Vincent;  him  I  conducted 
to  the  Colonel;  he  was  fully  satisfied  with  him.  One  of  the  Indians  who  accom- 
.  panied  the  troops  gave  Vincent  a  blow  over  the  shoulders  with  his  whip,  saying  to 
him,  'Proud  man,  why  do  you  not  fire?'  and  then  accused  one  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes 
who  had  followed  Vincent  of  having  wished  to  fire  upon  a  soldier.  Vincent  was 
replying  to  the  colonel  when  his  uijcle  came  to  seek  him,  saying  the  Palouses 
were  about  commencing  to  fire.  I  warned  the  colonel  of  it  and  then  went  with 
Vincent  to  try  and  restrain  the  S]>okanes  and  Coeur  d'Alenes;  when  we  had  made 
them  acquainted  with  the  disposition  of  the  colonel  they  appeared  well  satisfied. 
Victor,  one  of  the  braves  who  has  since  died  of  his  wounds,  said,  'We  have  nothing 
more  to  do  here,  we  will  each  one  go  to  his  home.'  Jean  Pierre,  the  chief,  supported 
the  proposition  of  Victor;  then  Malkapsi  became  furious.  I  did  not  at  the  time 
know  why.  I  found  out  later  that  he  wished  all  to  go  to  the  camp  of  Vincent  to 
talk  over  their  affairs.  Malkapsi  slapped  Jean  Pierre,  and  struck  Victor  with  the 
handle  of  his  whip.  I  seized  the  infuriated  man  and  a  few  words  sufficed  to  calm 
him. 

"I  set  out  then  with  a  few  chiefs  to  announce  at  the  camp  that  all  was  tran- 
quil; a  half  hour  or  an  hour  later,  what  was  my  surprise  to  learn  that  they  were 
fighting.  I  had  to  ask  for  a  horse,  and  there  was  in  the  camp  only  old  men  and 
women;  it  was  about  three  o'clock  when  they  brought  me  a  heavy  wagon  horse.  I 
set  out,  however,  with  the  hope  of  getting  there  by  night,  when  I  was  met  by  an 
Indian  who  told  me  it  was  useless  to  fatigue  myself,  'the  Indians  are  enraged  at 
the  death  of  their  people,  they  will  listen  to  no  one,'  whereupon  I  returned  to  my 
tent,  the  dagger  in  my  heart. 

"The  following  is  the  cause  of  this  unhappy  conflict  as  it  has  been  related  to 
me:  The  parents  of  Malkapsi,  irritated  and  ashamed  of  his  passion,  said  to  him, 
'What  do  you  do?  You  maltreat  your  own  people.  If  jdu  wish  to  fight,  behold 
your  enemies'  (pointing  to  the  troops),  then  saying,  'Oh,  well  let  us  go  and  die/ 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  233 

thej  ran  towards  the  troops.  I  do  not  think  there  was  more  than  a  dozen  of  them. 
The  affair  did  not  become  serious  until  Jacques^  an  excellent  Indian^  well  beloved, 
and  Zachariah^  brother-in-law  of  the  great  chief  Vincent^  had  been  killed ;  then  the 
fury  of  the  Indians  knew  no  bounds. 

"The  next  day  I  asked  those  that  I  saw,  'What  provocation  have  you  received 
from  the  troops.''*  *None/  said  they.  'Then  you  are  only  murderers,  the  authors 
of  the  death  of  your  own  people.'  'That  is  true ;  the  fault  can  in  no  way  be  attrib- 
uted to  the  soldiers.     Malkapsi  is  the  cause  of  all  the  evil.' 

"But  they  were  not  all  so  well  disposed.  When  I  asked  others  what  the  soldiers 
had  done  to  them,  they  replied  to  me:  'And  what  have  we  done  to  them  that  they 
should  come  thus  to  seek  us;  if  they  were  going  to  Colville,'  said  they,  'why  do 
they  not  take  the  road;  no  one  of  us  would  then  think  of  molesting  them.'*  Why  do 
they  go  to  cross  the  Nez  Perces  so  high  up  f  Why  direct  themselves  in  the  interior  of 
our  country,  removing  themselves  further  from  Colville  ?  Is  it  us  who  have  been  to 
seek  the  soldiers,  or  the  soldiers  who  have  come  to  fall  on  us  with  their  cannon?' 
Thus^  although  they  avow  that  they  fired  first,  they  pretend  that  the  first  act  ol 
hostility  came  from  the  troops.  I  asked  them  if  they  had  taken  scalps.  They  told 
me  no,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  piece  that  had  been  taken  by  a  half  fool.  I 
asked  them  also  if  they  had  interred  the  dead.  They  replied  that  the  women 
had  buried  them,  but  that  the  Palouses  had  opened  the  graves  which  were  at  the 
encampment.  It  is  then  also  that  the  Indians  told  me :  'We  see  now  that  the  father 
did  not  deceive  us  when  he  told  us  that  the  soldiers  wished  peace.  We  forced  them 
to  fight.  We  fired  a  long  time  upon  them  before  they  answered  our  fire.'  .  .  . 
•     •     • 

"You  will  easily  believe  me,  my  reverend  father,  when  I  tell  you  I  would  pur- 
chase back  with  my  life  this  unhappy  event;  not  on  my  own  account;  I  have  been 
and  will  be  much  slandered;  but  what  are  the  judgments  of  man  to  me,  when  God 
is  my  witness  that  I  have  done  everything  in  my  power  to  preserve  peace  ?     .     .     . 

"I  am,  with  respect,  my  reverend  father,  your  very  humble  servant, 

P.  JOSET,  S.  J." 

Father  Joset  accused  Steptoe's  Nez  Perce  guides  with  intriguing  to  bring  on  a 
dash  of  arms  between  the  troops  and  the  Spokanes  and  Coeur  d'Alenes,  alleging 
as  a  motive  their  desire  to  settle  old  feuds  against  those  tribes,  and  believing  that 
the  soldiers  would  easily  defeat  and  humiliate  their  enemies.  Without  question 
the  guides  directed  the  command  to  the  wrong  road,  as  the  direct  and  natural  route 
to  Colville  would  have  led  the  party  more  to  the  west  and  towards  a  crossing  further 
down  the  Spokane.  That  the  guide  mistook  himself  so  grossly,  he  declares,  would 
be  absurd  to  suppose.  "I  see  no  other  way  to  explain  his  conduct  than  to  say  he 
laid  a  snare  for  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  whom  he  wished  to  humiliate,  and  seeing  after- 
wards the  troops  fall  in  the  ditch  that  he  had  dug  for  others,  he  has  done  every- 
thing possible  to  draw  them  from  it." 

Poor,  faithful  old  Timothy,  for  his  fidelity  to  the  whites  can  not  be  doubted, 
cren  though,  as  Joset  charges,  he  fell  into  a  design  to  use  them  to  humiliate  a  tribal 
enemy,  was  doubly  unfortunate  in  falling  under  a  cloud  of  suspicion;  for  Beall 
tells  us  that  when  Timothy  came  in  from  his  perilous  work  of  scouting  in  search  of 
an  opening  through  which  the  exhausted  command  might  retreat  to  Walla  Walla,  a 


234  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

number  of  the  soldiers  questioned  his  fidelity^  and  murmured  that  he  was  betraying 
them  into  the  hands  of  the  savage  foe^  and  would  lead  them  to  ambush  and  de- 
struction. 

The  Palouses  were  Machiavellian  in  their  devilish  work  of  embittering  the 
Spokanes  and  Coeur  d'Alenes  against  the  whites.  They  made  it  their  chief  mission 
to  circulate  false  rumors^  always  attributing  evil  designs  to  the  soldiers,  and  were 
deplorably  successful  in  their  scheme  of  poisoning  the  minds  of  their  childlike  and 
credulous  dupes.  Lieutenant  MuUan  has  expressed  his  deepest  contempt  for  the 
mischief-making  role  of  these  Indians,  whose  tribe,  he  avers,  was  made  up  of 
renegades  from  every  other  tribe  in  the  interior.  They  bore  **a  most  unenviable 
reputation  for  lying  and  thieving — their  best  of  traits,"  and  he  adds  that  with 
such  men  for  newsmongers  and  such  men  for  councillors  it  is  not  surprising  to  know 
that  the  Indians  who  had  been  friendly  were  misled  and  misinformed  regarding 
the  intentions  of  the  white  people.  They  had  been  told  that  the  primary  and  prin- 
cipal object  was  for  the  extermination  of  the  Indian  and  to  put  the  white  man  in 
possession  of  his  women,  his  wives,  his  lands,  his  all. 

During  all  of  this  time,  continues  Mullan,  the  Jesuit  fathers  had  been  indefat- 
igable in  their  exertions  to  preserve  peace.  They  pleaded  early  and  late,  till  their 
weak  voices  were  drowned  in  the  stronger  voices  of  the  hostiles  crying  for  war, 
until  their  very  motives  were  suspected  and  impugned  and  they  themselves  threat- 
ened with  a  fate  which  the  agitators  had  now  planned  for  all  the  whites. 

Fifty  years  after.  Major  J.  G.  Trimble,  a  survivor  of  the  battle,  residing  then 
at  Berkeley,  California,  wrote  a  graphic  reminiscence  of  the  retreat:  "The  com- 
mand arrived  at  the  butte  (scene  of  Steptoe's  final  stand)  about  the  middle  of  the 
afternoon.  The  uninjured  men  spread  out  in  skirmish  lines  along  the  north  and 
east  sides  of  the  butte,  seeking  refuge  behind  tufts  of  bunch-grass.  Behind  them 
were  placed  the  supplies,  the  wounded  and  the  two  howitzers.  The  wounded  suf- 
fered severely.  The  men  had  been  without  food  since  daybreak,  and  without  sleep 
for  more  than  24  hours. 

"The  Indians  kept  attacking  persistently.  They  tied  bunch-grass  to  their  heads 
and  then  wriggled  like  snakes  through  the  tall  grass.  To  add  to  the  desperation 
of  the  situation,  the  command  was  running  short  of  ammunition,  it  having  started 
with  only  30  rounds  to  the  man. 

"When  evening  fell  the  Indians  ceased  firing,  but  their  campfires  blazed  aU 
round  and  made  the  attempted  sortie  dangerous.  Flight  was  the  only  course  left. 
The  howitzers  were  buried  and  the  dead  interred.  The  wounded  were  tied  to 
horses,  the  white  horses  being  covered  with  dark  blankets.  A  few  mules  were 
picketed  to  one  side  to  suggest  some  sort  of  trap  to  the  wary  savages,  and  at  9 
o'clock  at  night  the  command  set  forth  under  the  guidance  of  the  Nez  Perces. 

"Through  all  the  weary  night  the  men  rode,  reaching  the  Palouse  hills  at  day- 
break. When  they  had  crossed  the  river  a  halt  was  made  and  some  semblance  of 
order  restored  to  the  command,  but  there  was  no  food  to  be  had.  Six  men  were 
missing,  probably  becoming  lost  in  the  hurried  flight  through  the  dark.  The  rest 
of  the  command  soon  mounted  the  jaded  horses  and  rode  hard  towards  the  Snake 
river. 

"About  dusk  the  troops  reached  the  top  of  the  long  rough  descent  to  the  river 
now  known  as  Steptoe  canyon,  and  at  midnight  they  got  to  the  river,  and  the  faith- 


EOSALIA,  WASHINGTON 

'   tbis  ground  Steptoe's  eommaDd   retreated  in   1S5S,   pursued   by   one  thousand   howling, 
painted  warriors.     Within  a  stone's  throw  of  tbis  sceue  he  made 
his  last  stand  against  the  hostilea 


r  M  E  ^  £  A  I  w  p,  K 
FuaUC  LlBi:AKr 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  235 

ful  Nez  Perces  were  there.  A  strong  body  of  them  climbed  to  the  top  of  the  canyon 
and  stood  goard  till  daylight^  when  the  troops  crossed  the  river.  The  squaws  suc- 
cored the  wounded  and  broiled  salmon  for  the  nearly  famished  men.  Had  the  Nez 
Perces  not  remained  faithful^  it  is  probable  that  the  entire  command  would  have 
been  destroyed." 

According  to  Trimble  the  equipment  was  poor.  One  company  had  Mississippi 
Yager  rifles^  an  arm  that  carried  well  but  could  not  be  loaded  on  horseback.  The 
others  fought  with  musketoons,  which  carried  one  ball  and  three  buckshot,  but 
these  guns  were  of  no  execution  at  more  than  fifty  yards.  The  men  also  had  old- 
fashioned,  single  barrel,  muzzle-loading  pistolets,  decidedly  inferior  to  those  of  the 
Indians.  These  arms  were  inferior  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  rifles  of  the  Indians,  and 
only  the  determined  bravery  of  the  troops,  in  repeatedly  charging  the  yelling  sav- 
ages saved  the  command  from  destruction  in  the  running  fight  along  Pine  'creek. 

Years  afterward,  when  the  smiling  arts  of  peace  had  conquered  these  scenes  of 
former  warlike  aspect,  a  number  of  these  antiquated  arms  were  turned  by  the  plough 
again  to  the  sunshine  and  the  winds.  In  the  heat  and  stress  of  battle,  weary  sol- 
diers, their  ammunition  gone,  had  cast  them  away.  And  years  later,  wheels  of  the 
howitzer  carriages  were  taken  from  a  deep  pool  in  Pine  creek,  near  the  base  of 
battle  hill. 

Lieutenant  Lawrence  Kip,  an  oflicer  in  Wright's  expedition,  expressed  the  con- 
sensus of  official  judgment  in  holding  that  the  retreat  was  necessary,  and,  under  the 
circumstances,  admirably  conducted.  "Night  at  last  settled  down  on  the  battle- 
field and  found  the  little  command  perfectly  exhausted  and  with  the  ammunition 
almost  gone,"  wrote  Kip.  Two  officers^^Captain  Oliver  H.  P.  Taylor  and  Lieu- 
tenant  William  Gaston,  both  of  the  First,  dragoopsT-Bad  fallen  with  a  number  of 

men.     The   remainder  were   gathered   bn   rising  Aground,   while   every   hill   around 

< 

swarmed  with  their  exulting  enemies  who  seemed  to  have  them  now  completely  in 
tlieir  toils.  i 


•  v-'^rf''     ••• 


"A  council  of  the  officers  was  hastily  held  by  Colonel  Steptoe  at  which  there 
was  but  one  opinion.     The  force  against  them  was  overpowering,  and  by  the  next 
morning  would  undoubtedly  be  still  further  increased.     Without  ammunition  they 
would  be  almost  defenseless,  and  it  was  evident  that  long  before  the  close  of  the . 
next  day  not  one  of  the  command  would  be  left  to  tell  the  story  of  their  fight. 

"Nothing  remained  therefore  but  to  attempt  a  retreat  during  the  night.  The 
bodies  of  the  fallen  which  were  within  their  reach  were  buried,  the  two  howitzers 
were  cached,  and  the  command  mounted  and  struck  off  in  the  direction  of  the  Snake 
river. 

In  every  account  of  this  sad  affair  the  author  has  discovered  an  earnest  desire 
to  commend  the  fidelity  and  fine  intelligence  of  our  Nez  Perce  allies.  They  saved 
the  command  from  annihilation.  It  was  the  writer's  good  fortune,  in  the  spring  of 
1907,  to  meet  a  little  group  of  the  survivors  who  were  visiting  Rosalia  as  guests  of 
the  townspeople.  In  the  work  of  relocating  the  various  points  of  interest  they  lived 
again  in  the  wild,  free  past,  and  many  an  eye  was  dim  with  tears  as  these  grizzled 
veterans  strode  still  sturdily  over  the  hills  and  through  the  pleasant  meadows  where 
half  a  century  before  they  had  fought  so  desperately  for  life.  The  prosperous  town 
has  preempted  a  considerable  portion  of  the  old  battlefield,  and  straggles  out  to  the 
base  of  the  low  hill  where  the  last  stand  was  made.     The  little  vallev  of  Pine  creek 


236  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

lies  at  its  base^  and  across  this  meadow  and  up  the  hill  was  carried  the  supply  of 
water  that  saved  the  lives  of  wounded  soldiers  and  served  to  refresh  the  weary 
comrades  who  fought  so  gallantly  to  save  the  command. 

Particularly  dear  and  vivid  were  the  recollections  of  Private  Thomas  J.  Beall, 
and  the  lapse  of  fifty  years  had  not  dulled  his  gratitude  to  the  faithful  Nea  Perce 
guides.  He  recalled  their  names  with  fondest  recollection — pious  names  they  bore 
in  token  of  the  labors  of  zealous  mission  bands.  There  was  Timothy,  a  chief, 
and  Levi  and  Simon,  and  half-breed  Charlie  Connors,  "who  was  killed  on  yonder 
hill  the  night  that  we  escaped." 

In  the  dusk  of  the  summer  night  loyal  Timothy  volunteered  to  scout  under 
cover  of  darkness  out  beyond  the  skirmish  line,  in  search  of  some  possible  opening 
in  that  terrible  cordon  of  savage  foes.  And  Steptoe  accepted  the  brave  service, 
and  never  questioned  Timothy's  loyalty  or  judgment  when  he  returned  after  an 
hour  of  perilous  adventure  and  reported  that  he  had  found  a  gap  and  through  it 
could  lead  the  soldiers,  perhaps  to  safety  and  home.  The  way  led  across  the  little 
valley,  over  a  shallow  in  the  stream,  and  thence  up  a  steep  hill  on  the  other  side, 
so  steep  indeed  that  the  hostile  Indians  had  not  thought  it  worth  their  while  to 
guard. 

Three  survivors  of  the  Steptoe  and  Wright  campaigns  went  over  the  extended 
Steptoe  battlefield  at  Rosalia,  Whitman  county,  June  14th,  1907,  and  explained 
to  nearly  sixty  visitors  from  Si>okane  and  many  citizens  of  Rosalia,  the  scenes  and 
stirring  events  in  that  disastrous  fight.  These  survivors  were  Thomas  J.  Beall, 
who  now  lives  near  Juliaetta,  Idaho.  He  was  Colonel  Steptoe's  chief-padanaster 
in  the  Steptoe  battle;  Michael  J.  Kenny  who  also  took  part  in  the  battle  and  who 
came  to  the  reunion  from  Walla  Walla;  J.  J.  Rohn,  also  from  Walla  Walla,  who 
was  with  Colonel  Wright's  command  the  following  autumn  and  was  a  part  of  the 
detachment  sent  by  Colonel  Wright  to  the  scene  of  the  Steptoe  battle,  to  recover 
the  remains  of  the  officers  and  men  who  fell  in  that  action. 

A  memorial  park  marks  now  the  site  of  Steptoe's  last  stand.  Citizens  of  RosaHa 
donated  three  acres,  and  Esther  Reed  chapter  of  Spokane .  of  the  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution  has  taken  up  the  commendable  work  of  erecting  there  an 
'  enduring  monument  to  the  memory  of  the  soldier  band  who  fought  with  such 
heroic  fortitude  in  order  that  we  who  came  after,  and  our  children  and  children's 
children  might  have  the  blessing  of  enduring  peace.  The  chapter  has  pledged  the 
completion  of  that  work,  and  the  historic  eminence  will  bear  a  fitting  granite  obe- 
lisk. 

The  site  was  formally  dedicated,  June  15,  1908,  with  an  impressive  prograDame 
before  an  assemblage  of  more  than  1,000  people.  Spedal  trains  brought  two  hun- 
dred regulars  from  Fort  Wright  and  interested  citizens  from  Spokane  and  ColfaXi 
and  the  visitors  were  met  in  Rosalia  by  a  spedal  reception  committee  comprising 
Mayor  F.  M.  Campbell  and  Mrs.  Campbell,  Tom  Prichard,  marshal  of  the  day, 
assisted  by  L.  W.  Anderson;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  M.  E.  Cheat,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles 
Helmer,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  J.  Wilmer,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ralston  McCaig,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  M.  W.  Merritt,  Mrs.  T.  R.  Lewis,  Miss  Kate  Woods,  S.  W.  Towne,  T.  F. 
Donohoe,  E.  W.  Wagner  and  others. 

Esther  Reed  chapter  was  represented  by  Mrs.  M.  J.  Gordon,  regent;  Mrs.  F.  H. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  237 

Crombie^  vice-regent;  Mrs.  J.  W.  Macintosh,  recording  secretary;  Mrs.  J.  S.  Moore, 
registrar;  Mrs.  William  H.  Smiley,  treasurer,  and  Mrs.  J.  T.  Cooper,  director. 

A  procession  was  formed  and  marched  to  the  battle  ground,  and  arrived  there, 
the  Colfax  band  played  patriotic  airs  while  the  people  cheered  and  waved  flags. 
Prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  F.  N.  Smith  of  Rosalia,  and  H.  M.  West,  on  behalf 
of  the  citizens  of  Rosalia  presented  the  deed  of  gift  of  the  park  to  J.  R.  Rupley, 
chairman  of  the  Whitman  county  board  of  commissioners.  Mrs.  M.  A.  Phelps, 
diairman  of  the  Steptoe  Monument  association,  responded  to  the  presentation  of 
the  deed  on  behalf  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution.  General  T.  R. 
Tannatt  of  Spokane,  a  member  of  the  West  Point  Graduates  association  whose  long 
army  service  in  the  west  had  brought  him  into  intimate  relationship  with  many  of 
the  officers  who  fought  in  the  Indian  wars  of  the  '50s,  reviewed  the  careers  of 
Taylor,  Gaston  and  Gregg. 

In  the  afternoon  formal  and  eloquent  addresses  were  made  by  Governor  Albert 
E.  Mead,  Colonel  Lea  Febiger,  then  commanding  at  Fort  Wright,  and  Judge  Stephen  ' 
J.  Chadwick,  then  of  the  superior  bench  of  Whitman  county  and  later  of  the  state 
snpreme  court. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

COLONEL  WRIGHT'S  CAMPAIGN  OF  REPRISAL 

WAR  DEPARTMENT  ACTS  WITH  QUICK  VIGOR STRONG  COMMAND  SENT  OUT  FROM   WALLA 

WALLA — SAVAGES  MASS   FOR  THE    CONFLICT ^ARE   INSOLENT  AND   DEFIANT BOLDLY 

ATTACK    THE    TROOPS ARE    ROUTED    WITH    HEAVY    LOSS    NEAR    MEDICAL    LAKE LT. 

KIP's   GRAPHIC  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  BATTLE — WILD  FLIGHT  OF  THE  ALLIES NEZ  PER- 

CB8  CELEBRATE  WITH  A  WAR  DANCE HOSTILE8  RALLY  FOR  ANOTHER  ATTACK FIRE 

THE  PRAIRIE  GRASS SCENES  OF  WILD  CONFUSION BATTLE  OF  THE  SPOKANE  PLAINS. 

The  setting  sun 
With  yellow  radiance  lightened  all  the  vale: 
And^  as  the  warriors  moved^  each  polished  helm 
Corslet^  or  spear^  glanced  hack  in  gilded  beams. 
The  hill  they  climbed ;  and  halting  at  its  top^ 
Of  more  than  mortal  size,  towering  they  deemed 
An  host  angelic  clad  in  burning  arms. 

— John  Home. 

THE  war  department  was  quick  to  grasp  the  unpleasant  fact  that  Steptoe's 
repulse  made  necessary  a  campaign  of  resolute  vigor  and  stem  reprisal. 
Intoxicated  by  their  victory,  the  hostile  tribes  grew  more  arrogant  and  con- 
fident than  before,  and  boasted  that  they  would  drive  back  any  force  that  the  govern- 
ment might  dare  to  send  north  of  Snake  river.  Clamor  rose  louder  and  more  angry 
with  each  passing  week  for  the  massacre  or  expulsion  of  every  white  man  in  the 
country,  and  it  became  apparent  that  nothing  short  of  complete  chastisement  would 
allay  the  bitter  hostility  of  the  savage  niind. 

Accordingly  it  was  decided  to  hurry  reinforcements  to  Fort  Walla  Walla,  and 
to  send  a  strong  column  under  Colonel  George  Wright  into  the  Indian  country. 

These  preparations  consumed  a  period  of  about  three  months.  Before  leaving 
Walla  Walla  Colonel  Wright  dispatched  couriers  to  the  friendly  Nez  Perces,  asking 
them  to  meet  him  at  the  fort.  When  they  arrived  a  council  was  held  under  an  im- 
provised arbor,  and  they  were  told  by  the  commander  that  so  long  as  they  remained 
faithful  they  should  have  the  protection  of  the  strong  arm  of  the  law.  After  several 
chiefs  had  s]>oken,  about  thirty  warriors  volunteered  to  accompany  the  command. 

The  first  detachment,  under  Captain  Keyes,  moved  out  from  the  fort  on  the 
morning  of  August  7,  charged  with  the  duty  of  selecting  a  crossing  at  the  Snake  and 
choosing  a  site  for  the  necessary  field  work  to  guard  it,  and  at  the  same  time  to  keep 

239 


240  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

open  the  line  of  communication  with  Fort  Walla  Walla.  Captain  Keyes  selected  the 
crossing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tucanon^  as  it  offered  an  abundance  of  good  wood  and 
grass^  and  designated  it  "Fort  Taylor"  in  honor  of  the  Captain  Taylor  who  had 
fallen  in  Steptoe's  battle  of  May  17.  Here  a  fortification  was  erected^  a  road  con- 
structed for  the  use  of  the  troops  in  descending  from  the  plateau  to  the  stream^  and 
a  large  flatboat  built  to  ferry  the  command  across  the  Snake. 

A  severe  storm  delayed  the  crossing  two  days^  but  on  August  25  and  26  Wri^t 
made  the  passage  successfully  with  his  entire  command^  without  loss  or  accident^  and 
went  into  camp  on  the  north  bank  with  a  force  of  570  regulars^  thirty  friendly  Nez 
Perces^  100  employes  and  800  animals  of  all  kinds^  with  subsistence  for  thirty-eight 
days.  Brevet  Major  Wyse,  with  company  D,  Third  artillery,  was  left  to  occupy 
Fort  Taylor  to  protect  the  stores  and  boats  and  keep  open  the  line  of  communication. 

"Marching  from  Snake  river  on  the  morning  of  the  27th/'  runs  the  official  report 
of  Colonel  Wright,  "our  route  lay  over  a  very  broken  country  for  a  distance  of  four- 
teen miles,  where  we  struck  the  Pelouse  river  and  encamped  on  its  right  bank.  Re- 
suming  our  march  on  the  28th,  I  halted,  after  a  march  of  six  miles  and  a  quarter^  at 
a  point  where  the  trail  divides — that  to  the  left  leading  to  Colville  direct,  and  that 
to  the  right  more  to  the  eastward.  After  consulting  our  guides  and  examining  our 
maps  and  itineraries,  I  determined  to  march  on  the  trail  to  the  right;  accordin^y, 
on  the  29th,  we  advanced.  The  country  presented  a  forbidding  aspect;  extensive 
burnt  districts  were  traversed,  but  at  the  distance  of  twenty  miles  I  found  a  very 
good  encampment,  with  sufficient  grass,  wood  and  water.  Up  to  this  time  we  had 
seen  no  hostile  Indians,  although  Lieutenant  Mullan,  my  engineer  officer,  with  our 
eagle-eyed  allies,  the  Nez  Perces,  had  been  constantly  in  advance  and  on  either 
flank;  signs,  however,  had  been  discovered,  and  I  knew  that  our  approach  was  known 
to  the  hostiles. 

"Advancing  on  the  morning  of  the  30th,  occasionally  a  few  of  the  enemy  were 
seen  on  the  hilltops  on  our  right  flank,  increasing  during  the  day  and  moving  parallel 
with  our  line  of  march,  but  too  remote  and  too  few  in  number  to  justify  pursuit. 

"After  marching  eighteen  miles  I  encamped,  and  about  5  p.  m.  the  Indians 
approached  our  pickets  and  a  sharp  firing  commenced.  I  immediately  moved  out 
with  a  portion  of  my  command  and  the  enemy  fled.  I  pursued  them  for  four  miles 
over  a  very  broken  country,  and  then  returned  to  camp  at  sunset.  All  was  quiet 
during  the  night,  and  at  6  o'clock  this  morning  we  were  again  on  the  mardi.  Soon 
the  Indians  were  seen  in  small  parties  at  the  distance  of  two  or  three  miles  on  the 
hills,  and  moving  as  yesterday,  with  their  numbers  gradually  increasing  and  ap- 
proaching a  little  nearer,  but  I  did  not  deem  them  worthy  of  notice,  only  taking  the 
precaution  to  halt  frequently  and  close  up  our  baggage  and  supply  trains  as  com- 
pactly as  possible.  Our  march  this  day  was  ten  miles  longer  than  we  anticipated, 
and  for  a  long  distance  without  water;  and,  at  two  miles  from  this  camp,  the  Indians 
made  a  strong  demonstration  on  our  supply  train,  but  were  handsomely  dispersed 
and  driven  off  by  the  rear  guards,  and  infantry  deployed  on  either  flank. 

"My  men  and  animals  require  rest;  I  shall  remain  here  tomorrow;  I  have  a  good 
camp,  with  an  abundance  of  wood,  water  and  grass." 

The  command  was  now  well  advanced  into  the  Spokane  country,  and  was  mov- 
ing over  the  elevated  and  broken  plateau  which  forms  an  indistinct  boundary  between 
the  Palouse  region,  the  Big  Bend  country,  and  the  Spokane  valley  proper.     Little 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  241 

time,  however,  remained  for  rest,  for  the  savage  foe  was  massing  for  the  conflict, 
eager  for  the  impending  clash,  still  flushed  with  his  recent  victory  over  Steptoe's 
Utile  column,  and  confident  that  a  few  more  suns  at  furthest  would  witness  a  repeti- 
tion of  that  disaster  and  perhaps  on  a  more  sanguinary  scale. 

On  the  morning  of  September  1st,  Indians  in  greater  numbers  were  seen  posted 
on  the  surrounding  hills.  They  were  defiant  and  insolent,  and  seemed  eager  for  an 
engagement.  Wright  met  the  challenge  by  ordering  out  a  large  part  of  his  force 
to  drive  the  enemy  from  the  hills  and  engage  the  main  body  of  the  warriors,  reported 
by  the  scouts  to  be  concentrated  just  beyond  an  overlooking  eminence.  After  advanc- 
ing a  mile  and  a  half,  this  force  of  220  men  came  to  the  foot  of  the  hill  and  promptly 
dislodged  the  savages.  The  dragoons  first  reached  the  summit,  and  after  exchanging 
a  volley,  drove  back  the  Indians'  skirmish  line,  and  held  the  position  till  the  foot 
soldiers  came  up. 

On  the  plain  below  the  enemy  was  massed,  and  every  spot  seemed  alive  with  the 
red  warriors  which  the  soldiers  had  come  so  far  to  fight.  The  scene  was  in  the 
vicinity  of  Four  Lakes,  near  the  present  town  of  Medical  Lake,  and  about  twenty 
miles  from  the  falls  of  the  S]>okane.  The  Indians,  mounted,  were  in  the  scattered 
woods  on  the  shores  of  the  lakes,  in  ravines  and  gullies,  and  dashing  madly  over  the 
open  ground.  Kip  reported  that  they  seemed  to  cover  the  country  for  a  distance 
of  two  miles.  "Mounted  on  their  fleet,  hardy  horses,  the  crowd  swayed  back  and 
forth,  brandishing  their  weapons,  shouting  their  war  cries,  and  keeping  up  a  song 
of  defiance.  Most  of  them  were  armed  with  Hudson's  Bay  muskets,  while  others 
had  bows  and  arrows  and  long  lances." 

In  his  description  of  the  scenes  that  followed,  Lieutenant  Kip  has  left  us  a 
graphic  portrayal  that  is  suggestive  of  the  best  lines  of  Walter  Scott: 

"They  were  in  all  the  bravery  of  their  war  array,  gaudily  painted  and  decorated 
with  their  wild  trappings.  Their  plumes  fluttered  above  them,  while  below  skins 
and  trinkets  and  all  kinds  of  fantastic  embellishments  flaunted  in  the  sunshine. 
Their  horses,  too,  were  arrayed  in  the  most  glaring  finery.  Some  were  even  painted, 
and  with  colors  to  form  the  greatest  contrast ;  the  white  being  smeared  with  crimson 
in  fantastic  figures,  and  the  dark  colored  streaked  with  white  clay.  Beads  and 
fringes  of  gaudy  colors  were  hanging  from  their  bridles,  while  the  plumes  of  eagle 
feathers,  interwoven  with  the  mane  and  tail,  fluttered  as  the  breeze  swept  over 
them,  and  completed  their  wild  and  fantastic  appearance." 

But  a  disheartening  surprise  was  in  store  for  them.  Steptoe's  troops  had  been 
equipped  with  antiquated  arms  inferior  to  those  carried  by  the  savages,  but  the  men 
under  Wright  were  armed  with  the  latest  military  rifle  which  propelled  a  minnie 
ball  with  great  accuracy  and  long  range.  It  soon  became  apparent  that  consterna- 
tion had  seized  the  red  warriors,  for  they  retreated  before  the  death-dealing  fire  of 
the  soldiers.  At  first  they  came  resolutely  forward  to  engage  the  invaders,  advanc- 
ing rapidly,  firing,  and  then  retreating  with  great  quickness  and  baffling  irregularity. 
But  as  the  line  advanced,  an  increasing  number  of  Indians  were  seen  to  fall  from 
their  saddles,  although  their  fire  was  impotent  against  the  troops.  As  in  the  Step- 
toe  fight,  they  made  desperate  and  successful  efforts  to  prevent  their  dead  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  soldiers.  One  Indian  was  seen  leading  off  a  horse  with  two 
of  his  dead  companions  bound  to  it. 

As  the  steadily  advancing  troops  drew  nearer  and  the  fire  grew  more  heavy,  the 

Vol  T    -16 


242  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

whole  array  that  had  been  gathered  in  the  woods  and  ravines  around  the  base  of 
the  hill  broke  and  fled  towards  the  plain. 

This  was  the  moment  eagerly  awaited  by  the  dragoons^  and  when  the  order  was 
given  to  charge,  the  companies  that  had  been  with  Steptoe  and  seen  Taylor  and 
Gaston  fall  before  the  fire  of  the  redmen,  went  wild  with  the  spirit  of  vengeancCi 
Up  to  this  moment  the  momited  men  had  been  held  in  the  rear  of  the  foot  soldiers, 
but  galloped  forward  between  the  company  intervals  when  they  heard  the  command- 
ing voice  of  Captain  Grier  shouting,  "Charge  the  rascals!"  In  a  twinkling  the 
dragoons  were  upon  the  madly  retreating  Indians.  Out  came  the  sabers^  flashing 
in  the  mellow  autumn  sunlight,  and  with  clatter  of  hoof  and  rattle  of  arms,  and 
fierce  yells  of  the  victors  and  shrieks  of  the  vanquished,  the  work  of  cutting  down 
the  laggards  was  accomplished  with  a  resolution  and  thoroughness  that  struck  terror 
to  the  fleeing  foes.  Lieutenant  Davidson  shot  one  warrior  from  the  saddle,  with  a 
blow  of  his  saber  Lieutenant  Gregg  split  the  skull  of  another.  It  became  a  wild  race 
for  life,  with  the  fleeing  Indians  dashing  desperately  for  cover  in  the  rocks  and 
woods.  Only  the  jaded  condition  of  the  soldiers'  mounts  saved  the  fugitives  from 
complete  destruction.  The  troops  had  been  on  the  march  for  twenty-eight  days, 
there  had  been  constant  scouting,  and  at  night  the  horses  were  picketed  with  insuffi- 
cient grazing  area,  and  they  were  consequently  no  match  for  the  fresh  mounts  of 
the  Indian  fighters. 

So  completely  were  the  horses  exhausted,  that  they  were  passed  by  the  foot 
troops,  who  advanced  and  drove  the  enemy  under  a  constant  fire  for  about  two  miles. 

As  the  Indians  had  scattered  under  wide  cover.  Colonel  Wright  ordered  a  bugle 
recall,  and  the  flushed  and  triumphant  soldiers  returned  to  camp.  The  fighting  had 
lasted  four  hours,  and  extended  over  a  field  of  three  miles.  Not  a  man  was  killed 
or  wounded,  while  the  Indians  had  suffered  a  loss  of  fifteen  or  twenty  killed  and 
forty  or  fifty  wounded.  Their  dead  included  a  brother  and  brother-in-law  of  Chief 
Garry  of  the  Spokanes. 

In  their  precipitate  flight  the  Indians  threw  away  their  impedimenta,  and  the 
plain  was  strewn  with  muskets,  quivers,  bows  and  arrows,  blankets  and  robes.  There 
was  much  gaiety  as  the  troops  came  in  with  trophies  of  the  fight,  particularly  when 
an  officer  appeared  with  two  buffalo  robes  and  a  blanket  wrapped  around  himself 
and  horse. 

A  little  later  the  Nez  Perce  allies  straggled  in.  They  had  pursued  the  fleeing 
enemy  ten  miles,  and  came  back  even  richer  in  spoils  than  their  white  comrades. 
Deplorably,  their  collection  contained  several  scalps,  and  "Cutmouth  John,"  who 
had  received  in  the  Whitman  massacre  a  frightful  wound  that  hideously  marred  his 
features,  was  most  jubilant  of  all  as  he  waved  his  bloody  trophy  high  above  his 
head.  A  grand  war  dance,  protracted  far  into  the  night,  celebrated  the  day's  events 
to  the  complete  satisfaction  of  the  allies. 

Colonel  Wright,  in  his  official  report,  "took  great  pleasure  in  commending  to  the 
department  the  coolness  and  gallantry  displayed  by  every  officer  and  soldier  en- 
gaged in  the  battle." 

To  recruit  the  weary  animals  after  the  battle  of  the  Four  Lakes,  the  command 
rested  there  for  three  days.  No  hostile  Indians  appeared  to  disturb  the  well-earned 
rest,  and  the  Nez  Perce  scouts,  after  reconnoitering  the  surrounding  comitry,  re- 
ported that  none  were  in  sight. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  243 

At  6  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  September  5  the  column  broke  camp  and  started 
tbroogh  the  broken  country  for  the  Spokane  river.  After  a  march  of  ^yt  miles,  the 
enemy  was  seen  collecting  in  large  numbers  on  the  right.  For  some  time  they  rode 
parallel  to  the  troops,  all  the  while  increasing  in  numbers  and  insolence.  The  lesson 
of  the  1st  was  incomplete,  and  the  hostiles  had  seemingly  renewed  their  courage, 
their  confidence  and  insolence  indicating  some  newly  conceived  plan  of  battle  in 
vhich  they  were  placing  high  confidence.  This  they  quickly  put  into  execution.  A 
high  wind  was  blowing  from  the  south,  and  the  Indians  firing  the  dry  grass  of  the 
prairies,  a  roaring  sea  of  flame  was  soon  rolling  upon  the  command,  enveloping  it  in 
dense  clouds  of  smoke.  Under  cover  of  this  bank  of  smoke,  the  redmen  partly 
encircled  the  troops  and  poured  in  a  rifle  fire  upon  them.  The  pack  train  promptly 
closed  up  and  was  guarded  by  Captain  Dent's  company  of  rifles,  a  company  of  the 
Third  artillery  and  a  company  of  dragoons,  while  the  remainder  of  the  command 
made  ready  to  repulse  the  foe. 

A  curious  and  exciting  scene  attended  these  preparations.  While  the  Mexican 
muleteers  were  driving  the  400  heavily  loaded  pack  animals  to  a  center,  many  of 
the  hostiles,  wild  with  rage  and  excitement,  were  indulging  in  the  most  daring  feats 
of  horsemanship,  dashing  down  steep  hills  with  all  the  reckless  abandon  at  their 
command,  the  while  shouting  in  defiance  and  taunting  the  soldiers  to  meet  them  in 
action.  Their  courage  was  of  short  duration,  for  when  the  soldiers,  flushed  with 
recent  victory,  charged  through  the  smoke  and  flames,  they  quickly  broke  and  fled 
to  the  cover  of  woods  and  canyons.  But  they  had  short  respite  in  the  woods,  for 
the  howitzers  soon  shelled  them  out  of  that  cover.  It  was  then  that  the  great  war 
chief  Kamiaken  of  the  Yakimas  had  a  narrow  escape  from  death,  a  shell  bursting  in 
a  tree-top  above  him  and  sending  down  a  branch  that  inflicted  a  severe  wound. 

Then  the  infantry  renewed  the  charge  and  rapidly  drove  the  skulkers  on  towards 
the  river,  until  the  country  for  a  distance  of  four  miles,  which  had  recently  been 
swarming  with  them,  was  cleared  of  their  presence.  Among  those  who  fell  in  this 
stage  of  the  fighting  was  a  chief  upon  whose  saddle  was  found  the  pistol  used  by 
Lieutenant  Gaston  in  the  Steptoe  campaign. 

Fighting  of  this  nature,  alternate  charges  by  dragoons  and  infantry,  continued 
all  the  way  to  the  Spokane  river,  over  the  present  military  reservation  of  Fort 
Wright 

In  his  official  report  Colonel  Wright  states  that  he  had  continuous  fighting  for 
seven  hours,  over  a  distance  of  fourteen  miles,  and  finally  camped  on  the  banks  of 
the  river,  the  troops  exhausted  by  a  long  and  fatiguing  march,  without  water  and 
for  two-thirds  of  the  distance  between  the  four  lakes  and  the  stream  having  been 
constantly  under  fire.  "The  battle  was  .won,"  Wright  adds,  "two  chiefs  and  two 
brothers  of  Chief  Garry  killed,  besides  many  of  lesser  note,  killed  or  wounded.  A 
kind  Providence  protected  us,  although  at  many  times  the  balls  flew  thick  and  fast 
throogh  our  ranks ;  yet,  strange  to  say,  we  had  but  one  man  slightly  wounded." 

Wri^t  officially  designated  this  engagement  the  "battle  of  the  Spokane  plains," 
M  the  eastern  portion  of  what  is  now  termed  the  Big  Bend  country  was  then  known. 
His  official  reports  and  others  speak  of  the  Spokane  valley  as  "Coeur  d'Alene  prai- 
rie." This  seeming  error  in  terms  will  be  better  understood  when  the  fact  is  recalled 
that  the  fur  traders  who  began  operating  in  this  region  in  1811  called  the  stream 
from  the  lake  to  the  present  Little  Spokane  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river,  and  considered 


244  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  Little  Spokane  and  the  stream  below  its  mouth  the  Spokane.  Old  maps,  reports 
and  narratives  frequently  refer  to  the  Spokane  house  at  the  confluence  of  the  Cocur 
d'Alene  and  Spokane,  or  the  "Pointed  Heart"  and  the  Spokane,  Coeur  d'Alene  being 
a  French  phrase  translatable  as  "arrow-hearted,"  or  more  literally,  "awl-hearted." 
Lieutenant  John  Mullan  leaves  us  the  following  interesting  information  bearing  on 
this  point : 

The  version  given  me  (says  Mullan),  and  which  would  api>ear  to  be  reliable,  is 
as  follows:  AVhen  the  English  trading  corporation  known  as  the  Hudson's  Bay 
company,  monopolized  that  whole  region  of  Oregon,  their  successes  in  establishing 
trading  stations  among  the  Indians  was  of  the  most  marked  character.  No  tribe, 
however  hostile  or  numerous,  had  been  ever  known  to  oppose  any  obstacle  in  their 
way,  until  they  made  the  attempt  to  establish  a  station  or  post  among  this  small 
band  of  Indians,  who,  tenacious  of  their  rights,  and  loving  their  mountain  wilder- 
ness, said  to  this  company:  "We  are  willing  to  barter  our  furs  and  peltries  for 
your  ]>owder  and  ball  and  such  things  as  you  bring  for  traffic,  but  we  can  only  make 
the  exchange  at  certain  points,"  named  by  themselves ;  "within  the  limits  of  our  land 
you  can  not  enter,  but  on  the  banks  of  yonder  river,  which  marks  our  border,  we 
will  meet  you  at  stated  times,  and  there,  and  there  only,  we  can  trade  and  traffic" 
Their  determination,  which  even  up  to  this  day  (1858)  they  have  most  steadfastly 
clung,  became  the  law  of  the  company,  and  they  so  persistently  maintained  it  that 
the  Canadian  voyageurs,  employes  of  the  company,  immediately  called  these  sav- 
ages "Coeur  d'Alenes,"  Indians  having  "hearts  of  arrows,"  and  hence  often  called 
"Pointed  Hearted"  Indians,  and  the  mission  "Pointed  Heart"  mission. 

When  the  disciples  of  Loyola  entered  this  region  (Mullan  continues),  with  the 
praiseworthy  object  of  establishing  their  missions  at  different  points  in  the  moun- 
tains, the  Coeur  d'Alene  country,  among  other  sections,  was  selected.  "But,"  said 
the  members  of  this  same  company  to  the  fathers,  "you  are  certainly  not  going  to 
establish  a  mission  among  the  Pointed  Hearts?"  "Why  not?"  said  they.  "Be- 
cause," was  the  reply,  "we  have  tried  for  years  past  to  surmount,  and  as  yet  with- 
out success,  the  difficulties  that  array  themselves  against  us  and  forbid  the  attempt" 
But  the  more  anxious  now,  because  difficulties  did  environ  their  pathway,  the  noble 
DeSmet,  Joset  and  Point,  in  1842,  went  forth  and  successfully  established  the  cross 
in  the  Rocky  mountains,  and,  too,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  country  of  these  semi- 
savages;  and  the  evidences  that  we  now  saw  around  us  all  bore  witness  how  untir- 
ing and  successful  their  efforts  had  been." 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

WRIGHT  DICTATES  STERN  TERMS  TO  THE  VANQUISHED 

COMMAND  BREAKS  CAMP  AND  MOVES  UP  THE  SPOKANE OARRY  SUES  FOR  PEACE WRIGHT 

HAKOS  FIRST  VICTIM CAPTURES  AND  KILLS  VAST  HERD  OF  INDIAN  HORSES RUNNER 

BRIKG8    LETTER    FROM    FATHER    JOSET INDIAN    BARNS    AND    GRANARIES    BURNED 

CHIEF  VINCENT  OF  THE  COEUR  d'aLENES  BEOS  FOR  PEACE COMMAND  MARCHES  TO 

COEUR  d'aLENE   mission PEACE    COUNCIL   A   SCENE   OF   BARBARIC    COLOR ^INDIANS 

TERRIFIED    BY    APPEARANCE    OF    DONATl's    COMET. 

WE  PAUSE  in  the  narrative  to  take  a  prospect  of  this  region  as  it  unrolled 
before  the  eye  of  Wright's  command.  Walla  Walla's  fair  valley  was  as 
unsettled  as  in  the  days  when  the  fur  trader  entered  the  country  a  cen- 
tury ago^  for  little  effort  had  been  made  by  home-builders  to  invade  it  since  the 
atrocities  of  the  Whitman  massacre  of  1847.  Its  great  beauty  and  potential  fertil- 
ity, however,  were  then  apparent,  and  an  officer  under  Wright  predicted  that  it 
could  be  brought  to  the  support  of  a  population  of  15,000,  an  estimate  that  seemed 
then  a  rather  vald  flight  into  the  fanciful.  Walla  Walla  city  alone  has  now  a  i>opu- 
lation  in  excess  of  20,000. 

After  the  command  crossed  Snake  river,  its  way  lay  across  what  is  now  the 
heart  of  the  rich  Palouse  country,  then  a  vast,  open  bunch-grass  region,  dotted  by 
bands  of  Indian  horses,  and  with  an  occasional  village  of  tepees  in  the  sheltered 
groves  along  the  streams.  The  reader  will  have  noted  that  the  author,  when  quoting 
from  official  reports,  has  regarded  the  original  and  correct  spelling  of  the  name 
Pelouse — a  French  noun  translatable  into  English  as  a  grassy  sward,  an  appellation 
bestowed  by  French  trappers  and  voyageurs  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  This  beautiful,  rolling  region,  now  so  rich  in  material  wealth,  and  all  the 
attendants  of  refinement  and  civilization — with  its  amplitude  of  schools,  colleger 
and  churches,  of  homes,  towns  and  cities,  served  as  a  great  pasturage  domain  for 
Indian  herds.  Its  rich  volccmic  soil  had  nowhere  been  broken  by  the  ploughshare's 
steel. 

At  the  falls  of  the  Spokane  the  river  ran  as  wild  and  free  as  it  had  thundered 
through  the  distant  ages,  and  save  the  nomadic  shelters  of  the  red  men,  no  habita- 
tion marked  its  shores.  Up  the  valley,  as  the  command  neared  lake  Coeur  d'Alene, 
evidences  of  semi-civilized  cultivation  met  the  eye.  Wheat-growing  had  been  at- 
tempted with  considerable  success  by  the  Spokanes  and  Coeur  d'Alenes,  and  in  their 
gardens  potatoes  and  other  vegetables  gave  promise  of  the  more  bountiful  yielda 
that  the  soil  would  bear  under  the  white  settler's  care. 

245 


246  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Excepting  an  occasional  small  enclosure  for  these  agricultural  beginnings,  the 
Spokane  valley  was  also  a  spreading  bunch-grass  domain,  over  which  roamed  large 
bands  of  eajuse  ponies  and  some  small  herds  of  cattle. 

The  fighting  over,  the  officers  and  their  brave  men  had  better  opportunity  to 
enjoy  the  wildly  beautiful  panorama  which  nature  had  spread  around  their  camps. 
Lieutenant  Kip  wrote  enthusiastically  of  the  entrancing  scenes,  blending  a  pros[>ect 
of  rushing  waters,  of  limpid  lakes  and  distant  wooded  mountains.  We  quote  from  his 
description : 

"We  broke  up  our  camp  this  morning  at  seven,  and  moved  up  the  river  about 
seven  miles,  when  we  again  encamped.  Most  of  our  way  lay  through  the  wood 
skirting  the  river  (the  command  is  now  marching  over  ground  that  afterward  became 
the  business  and  residence  sections  of  Spokane),  the  scenery  around  being  very 
beautiful.  Just  before  reaching  our  camping  ground,  we  passed  the  great  Spokan 
falls  (note  his  omission  of  the  final  'e').  It  is  a  high,  narrow,  basaltic  canyon, 
where  the  whole  river  passes  over  an  inclined  ledge  of  rocks,  with  a  fall  of  between 
forty  and  fifty  feet.  The  view  from  every  point  is  exceedingly  picturesque.  As 
high  up  as  the  falls,  salmon  are  found  in  great  abundance,  while  above  them  trout 
are  very  plenty." 

A  few  days  later  the  same  writer  wrote  glowingly  of  the  scenes  surrounding 
lake  Coeur  d'Alene : 

"All  day  we  have  toiled  along  through  beautiful  scenery,  yet  a  country  difficult 
for  a  force  to  make  its  way,  as  our  march  has  been  through  the  forest  in  its  primeval 
state.  For  the  first  few  miles  along  the  borders  of  the  lake,  the  trees  were  scat- 
tered, but  after  leaving  the  shore  the  timber  became  so  thick  that  the  troops  had  to 
march  in  single  file.  The  forest  seemed  to  become  more  dense  as  we  advanced, 
until  we  could  see  nothing  about  us  but  high  hills  and  deep  caverns,  with  thick 
woods  covering  all,  through  which  we  wound  our  way  in  a  twilight  gloom. 

"This  is  a  splendid  country  as  a  home  for  the  Indians,  and  we  can  not  wonder 
that  they  are  aroused  when  they  think  the  white  men  are  intruding  on  them.  The 
Coeur  d*Alene  lake,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  I  have  ever  seen,  with  water  clear 
as  crystal,  is  about  fifteen  miles  in  length  (it  is  nearer  thirty  in  fact),  buried,  as  it 
were,  in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mountains,  which  rise  around  it  on  every  side.  The 
woods  are  full  of  berries,  while  in  the  Spokan  river  salmon  abound  below  the  falls 
and  trout  above.  In  the  winter  season  deer  and  elk  are  found  in  the  mountains. 
Many  parts  of  the  country  are  good  for  grazing,  while  there  are  a  sufficient  number 
of  fertile  spots  where  crops  can  easily  be  raised.  When  the  Indian  thinks  of  the 
hunting  grounds  to  which  he  is  looking  forward  in  the  Spirit  land,  we  doubt  whether 
he  could  imagine  anything  more  in  accordance  with  his  taste  than  this  reality." 

We  now  resume  the  thread  of  the  narrative  at  the  point  where  Colonel  Wright 
went  into  camp,  with  his  weary  but  victory  flushed  troops,  on  the  Spokane  river 
at  a  point  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Greenwood  cemetery  of  the  present  day.  The 
sixth  of  September  was  a  day  of  rest.  Indians  skulked  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
stream,  and  that  afternoon  a  few  plucked  up  courage  and  came  into  the  camp,  pro- 
fessing friendship  and  giving  information  about  the  fords. 

The  next  morning  the  command  marched  up  the  river,  passing  over  the  present 
site  of  Spokane.  Again  Indians  were  sighted  on  the  opposite  shore,  and  communica- 
tion was  opened  with  them  through  the  Nez  Perce  guides.    They  reported  that  Chief 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  247 

Gany  was  near  by  and  wanted  a  conference,  and  Wright  directed  them  to  meet 
him  at  the  ford  about  two  miles  above  the  falls.  The  command  halted  at  the  desig- 
nated point,  and  Garry  crossed  over  and  came  into  camp.  He  said  that  he  had  been 
opposed  to  the  fighting,  but  that  the  young  men  were  against  him  and  he  could  not 
control  his  people.  Credence  was  given  to  his  professions,  for  Dr.  Perkins,  who 
bad  attended  the  Spokane  council  at  Fort  Colville,  had  made  the  following  mention 
of  Carry:  "He  says  his  heart  is  undecided;  he  does  not  know  which  way  to  go;  his 
friends  are  fighting  the  whites,  and  he  does  not  like  to  join  them;  but  if  he  does 
not,  they  will  kill  him.  During  the  whole  time  that  we  were  in  the  council,  Garry* 
ne?er  said  a  word,  but  merely  looked  on." 

Wright  told  Garry  to  go  to  his  people  and  all  the  other  Indians  and  say  for  him : 
"I  have  met  you  in  two  bloody  battles ;  you  have  been  badly  whipped ;  you  have  lost 
several  chiefs  and  many  warriors,  killed  or  wounded.  I  have  not  lost  a  man  or 
animal ;  I  have  a  large  force,  and  you  Spokanes,  Coeur  d'Alenes,  Pelouses  and  Pend 
d'Oreilles  may  unite,  and  I  can  beat  you  as  badly  as  before.  I  did  not  come  into 
this  country  to  ask  you  to  make  peace ;  I  came  here  to  fight.  Now  when  you  are 
tired  of  the  war  and  ask  for  peace,  I  will  tell  you  what  you  must  do:  You  must 
come  to  me  with  your  arms,  with  your  women  and  children,  and  everything  you  have, 
and  lay  them  at  my  feet ;  you  must  put  your  faith  in  me  and  trust  to  my  mercy.  If 
yon  do  this,  I  shall  then  dictate  the  terms  upon  which  I  will  grant  you  peace.  If 
yon  do  not  do  this,  war  will  be  made  on  you  this  year  and  next,  and  until  your 
nation  shall  be  exterminated."  Garry  promised  to  join  Wright  the  following  morn- 
ing on  the  march. 

After  the  interview  with  Garry,  Polotkin,  another  Spokane  chief,  came  forward 
with  nine  warriors  and  sought  an  interview.  Wright  was  suspicious  of  this  Indian, 
having  learned  that  he  had  been  conspicuous  in  the  attad^  on  Steptoe,  and  was  a 
leader  in  the  battles  of  the  Four  lakes  and  the  Spokane  plains.  As  this  party  had 
left  their  rifles  on  the  opposite  bank,  Wright  directed  the  chief  to  sit  still  while  two 
of  his  Indians  were  sent  over  to  bring  them  in.  He  then  told  Polotkin  that  he  would 
hold  him  in  custody,  with  one  of  his  men  who  was  strongly  suspected  of  the  murder 
of  two  miners  in  the  preceding  April.  After  encamping  the  following  evening  at  a 
point  sixteen  miles  up  the  valley,  Wright  further  investigated  the  case  of  this  Indian, 
and  as  his  guilt  seemed  established  beyond  question,  he  was  hanged  for  the  murder 
of  the  miners.  This  was  the  first  execution  as  a  result  of  the  uprising,  but  before 
Wright  left  the  Spokane  country  he  hanged  many  others.  Particulars  of  this  sum- 
mary justice  will  be  narrated  further  along  in  the  narrative. 

When  the  two  Indians  had  crossed  the  river  to  bring  in  the  rifles,  one  of  them, 
thinking  discretion  the  better  part  of  valor,  made  off  in  a  hurry,  but  the  other  re- 
turned with  the  arms,   which   were  found  to  be   of  British  manufacture,  marked 

•  In  the  judgment  of  H.  T.  Cowley,  *  *  Garry  was  of  a  weak  and  vacillating  character, 
crafty  and  unreliable.  He  reported  to  Colonel  Wright  after  the  defeat,  that  he  had  advised 
aj^Dst  the  hostile  movement,  but  I  have  been  told  by  Thomas  Brown,  one  of  the  oldest  set- 
tlers in  the  Colville  valley,  that  Garry  used  his  utmost  endeavors  to  draw  the  Colville  and 
Calispel  Indians  into  hostilities,  setting  forth  the  allurement  of  the  large  amount  of  plunder 
which  would  be  divided  among  them  in  ease  of  the  defeat  of  the  expedition,  a  result  which 
be  thought  easy  of  accomplishment.  Prominent  members  of  his  own  tribe  here  informed  me 
of  the  same  circumstances.  * ' 


248  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

"London^  1847,"  and  had  evidently  been  purchased  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company 
at  Fort  Colville. 

The  command  marched  at  sunrise  on  the  morning  of  September  8,  and  after  ad- 
vancing up  the  valley  about  ten  miles,  the  Nez  Perce  scouts  reported  that  they  had 
sighted  Indians  on  the  right,  and  at  the  same  time  clouds  of  dust  were  seen  rising 
between  the  command  and  the  mountains.    Tilkohitz,  a  Palouse  chief,  was  trying  to 
run  his  great  band  of  horses  out  of  the  country,  and  was  heading  for  a  pass  in  the 
hills  on  the  southern  side  of  the  valley.     The  Nez  Perce  allies  and  a  number  of  the 
soldiers  were  sent  in  pursuit,  and  after  a  short  skirmish  captured  the  whole  band  of 
800  or  900  animals.    The  Indians  retreated  to  the  hills,  and,  as  afterwards  learned, 
watched  the  driving  off  of  the  horses  from  an  eminence,  observing  that  it  did  not 
matter  a  great  deal,  since  Wright  would  have  to  turn  them  loose  again,  and  they  could 
be  rounded  up  after  he  had  left  the  country.     The  capture  was  made  "near  a  wide 
lake  to  the  right  of  the  great  Coeur  d'Alene  trail,  a  place  where  large  numbers  of  the 
four  tribes  winter"  (probably  Saltese  lake.)     Two  days  later  Colonel  Wright,  as  a 
war  measure,  to  punish  the  Indians  and  prevent  the  possibility  of  renewed  hostilities 
after  he  should  leave  the  country,  ordered  the  killing  of  these  horses,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  about  ISO  saved  for  the  use  of  his  expedition.     This  distressing  work  con- 
sumed the  greater  part  of  two  days.     The  method  first  adopted  was  to  enclose  the 
animals  in  a  large  corral,  and  then  lasso  them  one  by  one,  drag  them  out  and  kill 
them  with  a  well-placed  rifle  ball.     In  this  way  about  200  were  dispatched,  but  the 
plan  proving  slow  and  painful  to  the  feelings  of  the  soldiers,  it  was  abandoned,  and 
most  of  the  others  were  killed  by  firing  volleys  into  the  corral.     The  colts  were  dis- 
patched with  a  blow  on  the  head,  and  an  officer  who  witnessed  the  painful  duty, 
wrote  afterward  that  it  was  most  distressing,  at  night  after  the  killing,  to  hear  the 
brood  mares  that  yet  remained,  neighing  mournfully  for  their  young.     A  number 
of   the    animals,    becoming    wild    with    fright,    broke    away    from    their    captors 
and  escaped  to  the  hills.     The  site  of  this  tragedy  was  appropriately  called  the 
"Horse  Slaughter  camp,"  and  was  marked  till  a  comparatively  recent  date  by  piles 
of  bones  on  the  open  prairie. 

On  the  morning  of  September  10  an  Indian  runner  came  in  from  the  Coear 
d'Alene  mission,  bearing  from  Father  Joset  a  letter  stating  that  the  Indians  were 
entirely  crushed  and  had  requested  him  to  intercede  for  them.  Colonel  Wright  there- 
upon decided  to  march  his  command  to  the  mission.  Accordingly  an  advance  was 
ordered,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  eleventh  the  river  was  crossed  at  the  upper  ford, 
and  the  trail  taken  for  lake  Coeur  d'Alene.  This  led  over  an  easy  prairie  road  for 
two  and  a  half  miles,  where  the  road  forked,  one  leading  across  the  prairie  to  Clark's 
fork  of  the  Columbia,  and  the  other  through  the  open  timber  along  the  north  bank 
of  the  Spokane.  This  route  carried  the  command  across  the  site  of  the  present  town 
of  Post  Falls.  "About  twelve  miles  below  the  lake,"  says  Mullan,  "the  river  makes 
another  fall,  passing  through  a  deep  and  narrow  rocky  gorge  some  thirty  yards 
wide,  in  a  beautiful  sheet  of  white  foam." 

Lieutenant  Mullan,  who  subsequently  laid  out  and  constructed  the  famous  Mul- 
lan road  for  the  war  department,  kept  a  keen  eye  during  this  campaign  for  possi- 
bilities of  such  a  road,  and  in  a  subsequent  report  suggested  that  it  might  be  found 
feasible  to  blast  out  the  rocky  obstructions  at  Post  Falls  and  thereby  lower  the  lake, 


CHIEF  GARRY   AS   SKETCHED   IN   IS-lo  CHIEF  GARRY  I.\  OLD  AGE 


r 


l?U:iulC  LlbKART 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  249 

reclaim  overflow  lands  in  the  St.  Joe  valley  and  prepare  a  way  for  easy  road-building 
along  the  banks  of  that  stream. 

At  a  point  four  miles  from  the  lake  the  command  came  to  some  Indian  fields  and 
gardens  and  destroyed  there  two  or  three  barns  filled  with  wheat.  Some  caches  hold- 
ing dried  cake  and  berries  were  also  destroyed.  "This  outbreak,"  wrote  Kip,  "will 
bring  upon  the  Indians  a  winter  of  great  suffering  from  the  destruction  of  their 
stores." 

Just  before  reaching  a  .camping  spot  on  the  lake  shore,  an  Indian  burial  place 
was  passed.  "Each  grave  was  covered  with  a  low  log  house,  surmounted  by  a  cross, 
the  house  answering  both  as  a  monument  and  a  protection  for  the  remains  against 
wild  animals."  "Though  our  march  was  one  of  devastation  through  the  country,  we 
left  unharmed  and  untouched  the  spot  where  reposed  the  lifeless  dead,"  remarks 
MuUan — an  example  which,  had  it  been  more  closely  followed  by  settlers  through- 
out the  northwest,  must  have  softened  the  antipathy  of  the  natives  against  the  in- 
vaders, prevented  a  great  deal  of  bitter  indignation,  and  made  unnecessary  the  re- 
cording of  many  savage  acts  of  revenge.  To  the  ghoulish  acts  of  curio-hunters,  who 
have  not  hesitated  at  desecration  of  Indian  graves,  may  be  traced  the  cause  of  the 
kilhng  of  many  a  white  man  by  infuriated  Indians. 

As  the  troops  were  about  to  resume  their  march  on  the  morning  of  the  twelfth, 
Vincent,  head  chief  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  came  in,  bearing  a  pass  from  Father  Joset, 
and  announcing  that  he  was  rounding  up  the  hostiles  to  bring  them  to  the  mission 
to  meet  Wright  and  sue  for  peace.  The  route  this  -day  followed  an  Indian  trail 
along  the  lake  for  three  and  a  half  inj[les,^w)ien  It  ascended  a  mountain  that  com- 
manded  a  fine  view  of  the  lake  and  surrounding  forests.  A  distance  of  only  ten 
miles  was  covered,  and  the  army  encamped  in  a  beautiful  little  prairie  on  Wolf's 
Lodge  creek.  1  .... 

Thence  on  to  the  mission  the  way  was  much  obstructed  by  fallen  trees  in  a  dense 
forest.  Over  the  narrow  trail  the  command  could  only  proceed  in  single  file,  and 
extended  over  the  trail  for  six  or  eight  miles.  The  march  was  made,  though,  with- 
out danger,  as  the  fighting  spirit  had  been  entirely  driven  from  the  Indian  breast. 
Wright  considered  it,  however,  an  act  of  prudence  to  maintain  a  strong  front  and 
rear  guard  until  he  reached  the  mission,  nineteen  miles  from  the  camp  on  Wolf's 
Lodge  creek.  It  was  10  at  night  when  the  last  of  the  pack  train  arrived  at  the  mis- 
sion. The  weather  had  been  sultry,  and  the  soldiers  suffered  considerably  on  the 
inarch.  The  officers  were  provided  with  mounts,  but  shared  them  through  the  day 
with  exhausted  privates  who  had  fallen  by  the  wayside,  and  many  of  whom  required 
medical  attenion. 

"We  first  came  in  sight  of  the  mission  when  about  £ve  miles  off,"  writes  Lieuten- 
ant Kip.  "It  is  situated  in  a  beautiful  valley  surrounded  by  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
mountains.  A  pretty  stream,  a  branch  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river,  with  clear,  cold 
water,  runs  alongside  of  it,  furnishing  means  of  irrigation.  In  the  center  of  the 
mission  stands  the  church,  and  round  it  cluster  the  other  buildings — ^a  mill,  a  couple 
of  houses  for  the  priests,  the  dwellings  of  the  Indiati  converts,  and  some  bams  to 
store  their  produce.  The  priests,  in  the  evening,  sent  a  wagon  full  of  vegetables  to 
the  officers." 

While  awaiting  the  coming  of  Vincent  and  other  Coeur  d'Alenes  for  the  ap- 
proaching council,  the  officers  paid  frequent  visits  to  the  priests.  Fathers  Joset  and 


250  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Minitrey,  and  three  lay  brothers^  by  whom  they  were  received  with  great  kindness 
and  politeness.  This  mission  was  not  established  till  1846^  when  experience  had 
shown  that  the  one  on  the  St.  Joseph  river  was  not  admirably  located,  being  subject 
to  flood  in  time  of  high  wat^r.  The  priests  informed  Colonel  Wright  that  the  Coeur 
d'Alenes  could  not  muster  more  than  100  warriors,  and  the  whole  tribe  did  not  ex- 
ceed 400  souls.  Most  of  them,  though,  participated  in  the  recent  fights.  The  Spo- 
kanes  numbered  about  four  times  as  many  warriors  and  people. 

On  the  morning  of  the  seventeenth,  practically  all  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  being  as- 
sembled, was  held  the  memorable  peace  council.  The  scene  was  one  of  marked  bar- 
baric color.  Before  Colonel  Wright's  tent  an  arbor  of  trees  and  boughs  had  been 
provided,  and  in  this  sylvan  chamber  the  chiefs  met  the  officers  who  were  to  deter- 
mine their  fate  and  future. 

"I  have  committed  a  great  crime,"  confessed  Chief  Vincent,  in  opening  the  coun- 
cil. "I  am  fully  conscious  of  it,  and  am  deeply  sorry  for  it.  I  and  all  my  people  are 
deeply  rejoiced  that  you  are  willing  to  forgive  us.    I  have  done." 

Colonel  Wright  (to  the  Indians) :  "As  your  chief  has  said,  you  have  committed 
a  great  crime.  It  has  angered  your  Great  Father,  and  I  have  been  sent  to  punish 
you.  You  attacked  Colonel  Steptoe  when  he  was  passing  peaceably  through  your 
country,  and  you  have  killed  some  of  his  men.  But  you  ask  for  peace,  and  you  shall 
have  it  on  certain  conditions. 

"You  see  that  you  fight  against  us  hopelessly.  I  have  a  great  many  soldiers.  I 
have  a  great  many  men  at  Walla  Walla,  and  have  a  large  body  coming  from  Salt 
Lake  City.  What  can  you  do  against  us  f  1  can  place  my  soldiers  on  your  plains,  by 
your  fishing  grounds  and  in  the  mountains  where  you  catch  game,  and  your  helpless 
families  can  not  run  away. 

"You  shall  have  peace  on  the  following  conditions:  You  must  deliver  to  me,  to 
take  to  the  general,  the  men  who  struck  the  first  blow  in  the  affair  with  Colonel 
Steptoe.  You  must  deliver  to  me,  to  take  to  Walla  Walla,  one  chief  and  four  war- 
riors with  their  families.  You  must  deliver  up  to  me  all  property  taken  in  the  affair 
with  Colonel  Steptoe.  You  must  allow  all  tiroops  and  other  white  men  to  pass 
through  your  country  unmolested.  You  must  not  allow  any  hostile  Indians  to  come 
into  your  country,  and  not  engage  in  any  hostilities  with  any  white  man.  I  promise 
you  that  if  you  will  comply  with  all  my  requirements  none  of  your  people  shall  be 
harmed,  but  I  will  withdraw  from  your  country  and  you  shall  have  peace  forever. 

"I  also  require  that  the  hatchet  shall  be  buried  between  you  and  our  friends,  the 
Nez  Perces." 

The  part  of  the  speech  referring  to  the  Nez  Perces  was  repeated  to  the  Coeur 
d'Alenes  in  their  presence. 

Vincent:    "I  desire  to  hear  what  the  Nez  Perces'  heart  is." 

Haitzmaliken,  chief  of  the  Nez  Perces,  replied :  "You  behold  me  before  you,  and 
I  will  lay  my  heart  open  to  you.  I  desire  there  shall  be  peace  between  us.  It  shall 
be  as  the  colonel  says.  I  will  never  wage  war  against  any  of  the  friends  of  the 
white  man." 

Vincent:  "It  does  my  heart  good  and  makes  also  my  people  glad,  to  hear  700 
speak  so.  I  have  desired  peace  between  us.  There  shall  never  be  war  between  our 
people,  nor  between  us  and  the  white  men.     The  past  is  forgotten." 

The  conditions  proposed  by  Colonel  Wright  were  then  formally  signed,  first  by 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  251 

himself  and  his  officers^  and  then  by  Vincent  and  the  other  chiefs  and  head  men. 
The  pipe  of  peace  was  smoked  all  round  and  the  council  was  ended. 

The  aged  Spokane  chief  Polotkin^  who  had  formerly  been  held  as  a  prisoner^ 
also  Doade  a  short  speech^  saying  that  he  was  satisfied  and  would  try  to  bring  in 
his  people.    He  left  the  camp  immediately  on  the  conclusion  of  the  council. 

Pacific  relations  were  now  completely  established^  and  the  soldiers  and  Indians 
engaged  in  brisk  tradings  shirts  and  blankets  being  exchanged  for  robes  and  mocca- 
sins. But  the  scene  had  yet  its  side  of  sadness,  for  a  number  of  the  women  were 
weeping  bitterly,  some  for  those  who  had  fallen  in  battle,  others  for  the  hostages  who 
were  to  be  taken  away  to  Walla  Walla.  The  Indians  found  it  difficult  to  understand 
why  the  soldiers  could  be  so  friendly  with  them,  and  Father  Joset  explained  it  by 
saying  the  soldiers  "were  like  lions  in  war  and  lambs  in  peace." 

Some  of  the  Coeur  d*Alenes  frankly  disclosed  the  tactics  by  which  they  had 
hoped  to  defeat  the  command.  They  had  expected  to  be  attacked  first  by  the  dra- 
goons or  mounted  men,  and  had  planned  to  concentrate  their  rifle  fire  and  ammuni- 
tion on  that  arm  of  the  service.  The  dragoons  disposed  of,  they  had  expected  to 
surround  the  infantry  and  to  keep  riding  round  them,  shooting  in  arrows.  As  they 
greatly  outnumbered  the  foot  troops,  they  counted  on  thus  cutting  them  off  from  re- 
treat and  gradually  wiping  them  out.  The  long  range  rifles  demolished  this  well 
planned  scheme. 

"In  the  beginning  of  September,'*  we  are  informed  by  an  officer  under  Colonel 
Wright,  "Donati's  comet  app»eared^  and  night  after  night  it  has  been  streaming  above 
OS  in  all  its  glory.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  it  has  exerted  a  powerful  influence  over 
the  Indians  in  our  behalf.  Appearing  just  as  we  entered  the  country,  it  seemed  to 
them  like  some  huge  besom  to  sweep  them  from  the  earth.  The  effect  was  probably 
much  increased  by  the  fact  that  it  disappeared  about  the  time  our  campaign  ended 
and  the  treaties  were  formed.  They  must  have  imagined  that  it  had  been  sent  home 
to  their  Great  Father  in  Washington,  to  be  put  away  until  required  the  next  time." 

"I  have  never,"  says  Wright  in  an  official  report,  "witnessed  such  manifestations 
of  joy  as  were  expressed  by  the  whole  Coeur  d'Alene  nation — ^men,  women  and  chil- 
dren— at  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty.  They  know  us,  they  have  felt  our  power,  and 
I  have  full  faith  that  henceforth  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  will  be  our  stanch  friends." 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

HOW  HANGMAN  CREEK  DERIVED  ITS  NAME 

WRIGHT    HOLDS   A    COUNCIL   WITH   THE    8POKANE8 CANNY   OLD    COLYILLE    CHIEF SPO- 
KANE    CHIEFS    HUMBLED KAMIAKEN    ELUDES    ARREST QUALCHIEN    COMES    IN    AND 

IS   PROMPTLY   HANGED DIES   LIKE   A   COWARD OWHI   SHOT  IN   A  DASH   FOR   LIBERTY 

SIX   MORE   INDIANS   HANGED   ON   HANGMAN    CREEK — SIXTEEN   IN   ALL  ARE   VICTIMS 

OF  THS    NOOSE ^REMAINS  RECOVERED   OF   SOLDIERS   WHO  FELL   IN   STEPTOE^S   FIGHT. 

WRIGHT'S  next  move  was  a  great  council  with  the  Spokanes,  and  the 
place  chosen  for  the  rendezvous  was  on  the  banks  of  Hangman  creek^ 
near  the  present  town  of  Spangle,  in  the  southern  part  of  Spokane 
county.     The  command,  leaving  the  Mission  on  the  morning  of  the  18th,  and  moving 
by  way  of  the  St.  Joseph  river,  arrived  at  the  council  grounds  on  the  evening  of  the 
S2d,    where    the    Spokane    nation    awaited    him.        Kamiaken,    the    great    war 
chief  of  the  Yakimas  had  been  in  camp  the  evening  before,  but  his  courage  seems 
to  have  failed  him  for  he  and  another  chief  cleared  out  before  the  troops  arrived. 
Wright  sent  Chiefs  Garry  and  Big  Star  out  after  him,  with  a  message  that  he 
should  not  be  harmed  if  he  came  in, "but  if  he  failed  to  surrender  he  would  be  hunted 
down  and  put  to  death.     Kamiaken  was  regarded  as  the  most  powerful  chief  in  the 
Inland  Empire,  and  the  most  relentless  foe  of  the  white  men.     His  mother  was  a 
Yakima  and  his  father  a  Pelouse,  this  giving  him  a  great  influence  over  the  two 
tribes,  and  his  talents  as  an  organizer  won  him  considerable  authority  over  most  of 
the  tribes  of  the  interior. 

*'My  first  acquaintance  with  Kamiaken,"  says  Kip,  "was  at  the  Walla  Walla 
council,  three  years  before.  There  it  was  evident  that  he  was  the  great  impediment 
in  the  way  of  any  cession  of  the  Indian  lands.  While  the  other  chiefs,  one  by  one, 
came  into  the  measure,  and  even  Looking  Glass,  the  war  chief  of  the  Nez  Perces, 
at  first  entirely  hostile,  at  last  yielded  to  the  force  of  some  peculiar  arguments 
which  are  equally  potent  with  savages  and  white  men,  nothing  could  move  Kamia- 
ken. With  more  far-reaching  wisdom  than  the  rest,  he  probably  saw  that  this  sur- 
render of  their  lands  and  intrusion  of  the  white  men  would  be  the .  final  step  in 
destroying  the  nation.  Governor  Stevens  was  unable  to  induce  him  to  express  any 
opinion,  but  he  sat  in  gloomy  silence.  Several  times  when  the  governor  appealed  to 
him  with  the  inquiry,  'we  would  like  to  know  what  is  the  heart  of  Kamiaken,'  his 
only  answer  was,  'What  have  I  to  say?'  He  was  the  leader  in  the  outbreak  which 
took  place  shortly  after,  when  Major  Haller's  force  was  defeated,  and  he  has  been, 
we  have  no  doubt,  the  moving  spirit  in  arraying  all  these  tribes  against  us  this 

253 


254  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

season^  and  bringing  on  this  open  warfare.     It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  therefore^ 
that  he  is  afraid  to  put  himself  in  the  power  of  the  whites." 

Hangman  creek  took  its  name  from  the  hanging  of  a  number  of  outlaw  Indians 
by  order  of  Colonel  Wright  at  this  encampment.  It  has  been  a  stream  of  ext^isiTC 
nomenclature.  Wright  dated  his  dispatches  from  this  pointy  "Camp  on  the  Ned- 
whauld  River,  W.  T.,  Lat.  47  degrees,  24  minutes  north."  Others  in  his  party 
spelled  it  "Neduald,"  and  yet  others  termed  it  the  Ned-whuald  or  Lahtoo  creek. 
In  one  report  it  appears  as  Camas  Prairie  creek,  and  a  few  years  before  his  death 
the  venerable  and  beloved  Protestant  missionary  Father  £  ells 'informed  the  writer 
of  this  volume  that  the  Indians  called  it  "Sin-too-too-ooley"  creek,  or  the  place 
where  little  fish  were  caught.  Objecting  to  the  grewsome  name  of  Hangman,  the 
Washington  legislature  attempted  a  few  years  ago  to  fix  the  name  by  statute  as  Latah 
creek,  a  clumsy  corruption  of  the  more  euphonious  Indian  word  ''Lahtoo." 

The  Spokane  council  was  held  on  the  morning  of  September  28,  in  front  of 
Colonel  Wright's  tent.  It  was  a  delegate  gathering,  attended  by  107  representatives 
and  chiefs,  who  came  empowered  to  speak  for  the  Spokanes,  the  Colvilles,  the  Pend 
d'Oreilles  and  several  smaller  bands.  The  Colville  chief  was  a  canny  old  redskin. 
Prior  to  the  war  he  told  his  people  that  he  had  heard  a  good  deal  about  the  soldiers, 
but  never  having  seen  them,  he  would  go  down  and  be  a  witness  of  the  fighting.  He 
was  at  the  battle  of  the  Four  Lakes,  and  when  the  engagement  was  over  he  hastily 
mounted  his  horse  and  hurried  back  to  his  own  illihee,  the  Indian  word  for  home 
or  country.  Having  called  his  tribe  together,  he  reported  that  he  had  seen  the 
soldiers,  but  never  wanted  to  see  them  again.  They  stood  as  firm  as  the  pines,  he 
said,  when  the  Indians  fired  at  them;  they  could  march  faster  and  further  in  a 
day  than  horses  and  their  guns  carried  a  mile,  more  than  half  way  as  far  again 
as  the  Indians'  arms;  and  his  concluding  words  were  that  they  should  always  re- 
main friends  with  the  whites. 

Addressing  the  council  Colonel  Wright  promised  them  peace  on  the  same  terms 
he  had  imposed  on  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.  He  expected  them,  he  said,  to  come  for- 
ward like  men,  as  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  had  done  and  were  now  friends  of  the  gov- 
ernment. This  was  the  last  treaty  that  he  should  make,  and  he  desired  that  the 
friendly  Nez  Perces  be  included  in  it,  but  the  hostile  Nez  Perces  who  had  taken 
part  in  the  fighting  must  be  driven  out  of  the  country.  In  conclusion  he  declared 
that  the  government  intended  to  make  roads  through  their  country,  where  and 
whenever  it  pleased,  and  the  men  employed  in  that  work  must  not  be  molested. 

The  Spokane  chief  replied:  "I  am  sorry  for  what  has  been  done,  and  glad  of 
the  opportunity  now  offered  to  make  peace  with  the  Great  Father.  We  promise 
to  obey  and  fulfill  these  terms  in  every  point." 

Another  old  Spokane  chief  said  "My  heart  is  the  same.  I  trust  everybody  is 
included  in  the  Colonel's  mercy." 

Colonel  Wright:  "It  embraces  everybody,  and  those  who  go  with  me  to  Walla 
Walla  as  hostages  for  the  good  behavior  of  the  nation  shall  not  be  hurt  the  least, 
but  well  taken  care  of  until  their  safe  return  at  the  expiration  of  one  year." 

The  treaty  was  signed  by  all  the  chiefs  present  for  the  Si>okanes.  While  the 
council  was  in  session,  Garry  and  Big  Star  returned  and  reported  that  they  had 
hunted  all  night  for  Kamiaken  without  success,  but  had  found  him  and  his  brother 
Schroom  at  daybreak  on  the  other  side  of  the  Spokane  river.     They  could  not  in- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  255 

duce  him,  however,  to  come  in,  as  he  said  he  was  afraid  of  being  taken  to  Walla 
Walla, 

After  the  conditions  of  peace  had  been  interpreted  to  Garry  and  Big  Star  they 
also  signed  the  treaty. 

Milcapzy,  a  Coeur  d'Alene  chief  who  had  not  attended  the  council  of  his  tribe 
at  the  mission,  was  present  at  the  Spokane  council,  and  Colonel  Wright  singled  him 
out  and  said: 

"Milcapzy,  I  saw  your  letter  to  General  Clarke.  You  said  to  the  General: 
'Perhaps  you  think  that  we  are  poor  and  want  peace.  We  are  neither  poor  nor  do 
we  want  peace.  If  you  want  peace  you  must  come  and  ask  for  it,  and  take  care 
that  you  do  not  come  beyond  the  battle  ground.' 

'"Who  now  asks  for  peace?  I  do  not.  And  where  stands  the  battleground.'* 
Milcapzy  thinks  he  is  rich.  He  has  bands  of  horses,  and  houses  and  farms  and 
lodges  full  of  grain.  Let  him  remember  that  riches  sometimes  take  wings  and  fly 
away.  Tilkohitz  was  rich  once,  but  is  poor  now.  Milcapzy,  look  upon  the  banks  of 
the  Spokane  (a  reference  to  the  killing  of  Tilkohitz's  great  band  of  horses).  I 
should  like  to  hear  Milcapzy  speak." 

Milcapzy  reflected  a  moment,  conferred  with  a  warrior  at  his  side,  and  after 
adjusting  his  head-dress,  replied:  ''I  am  aware  that  I  have  committed  a  great 
crime.  I  am  very  sorry  for  it.  My  heart  is  cast  down.  But  I  have  heard  your  talk 
jast  made  in  this  council.  I  have  confidence  in  what  you  say,  and  I  thank  you  for 
it.    I  am  ready  to  abide  by  the  terms  you  propose." 

After  Father  Joset  had  explained  to  him  the  terms  of  the  treaty  under  which 
peace  had  been  granted  to  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  he  signed  it  and  the  council  was 
ended. 

"Among  the  chiefs  at  this  council,"  according  to  Kip,  "were  Polotkin,  the  head 
chief  of  the  Spokanes,  whom  we  formerly  held  as  a  prisoner  and  released — and  one 
of  bis  sons,  the  one  who  visited  our  camp  on  the  Spokane  the  day  his  father  was 
detained.  His  brother  and  himself  were  the  Indians  who  were  fired  at  by  the 
goard  across  the  river  when  demanding  the  release  of  the  old  chief.  He  is  one  of 
the  most  splendid  looking  men  I  have  ever  seen.  He  was  shot  in  the  arm  below 
the  elbow,  and  his  brother  was  shot  through  the  body.  From  what  we  could  learn 
of  him,  he  will  probably  not  recover." 

One  of  the  hostages  taken  to  Walla  Walla  was  Anthony,  a  Coeur  d'Alene  chief 
who  was  in  the  fight  with  Steptoe.  When  Lieutenant  Gaston  fell,  he  covered  his 
body  with  leaves,  intending  to  go  back  afterward  and  bury  it,  but  when  he  returned 
the  bod V  had  been  removed. 

« 

"I  can  not  close  this  communication,"  says  Wright  in  his  report  of  the  council, 
"without  expressing  my  thanks  to  Father  Joset,  the  superior  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
mission,  for  his  zealous  and  unwearied  exertions  in  bringing  all  these  Indians  to  a 
true  understanding  of  their  position.  For  ten  days  and  nights  the  father  has  toiled 
incessantly,  and  only  left  us  this  morning  after  witnessing  the  fruition  of  all  his 
labors." 

Conspicuous  as  ringleaders  in  the  work  of  inciting  the  uprising  were  Owhi  and 
Qoalchien,  father  and  son.  They  were  Yakimas,  Owhi  a  brother-in-law  of  Chief 
Kamiaken,  and  were  regarded  as  two  of  the  worst  Indians  west  of  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains.   The  son  was  even  more  notorious  than  the  father,  and  Colonel  Wright  was 


256  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

particularly  anxious  to  secure  him.  That  desire  was  now  to  be  gratified,  and  a 
tragedy  was  to  be  enacted  on  the  meadow  banks  of  the  Ned-whuald  that  would 
change  its  name  and  associate  it  forever  with  as  startling  an  act  of  military  jus- 
tice as  the  annals  of  Indian  warfare  can  anywhere  present. 

Owhi  was  a  conspicuous  figure  at  the  great  council  at  Walla  Walla  in  1855, 
where  he  opposed  all  cessions  of  land  to  the  whites,  protesting  against  the  treaties 
with  great  zeal  and  ability.  Thanks  to  Lieutenant  Kip,  who  was  at  the  Walla 
Walla  council  and  took  notes  of  Owhi's  speech,  his  sentiments  have  been  preserved 
in  history: 

''We  are  talking  together,"  said  Owhi  on  that  occasion,  "and  the  Great  Spirit 
hears  all  that  we  say  today.  The  Great  Spirit  gave  us  the  land  and  measured  the 
land  to  us.  This  is  the  reason  that  I  am  afraid  to  say  anything  about  this  land. 
I  am  afraid  of  the  laws  of  the  Great  Spirit.  This  is  the  reason  of  my  heart 
being  sad.  This  is  the  reason  I  cannot  give  you  an  answer.  I  am  afraid  of 
the  Great  Spirit.  Shall  I  steal  this  land  and  sell  it.^  or  what  shall  I  do?  This 
is  the  reason  why  my  heart  is  sad.  The  Great  Spirit  made  our  friends,  but  the 
Great  Spirit  made  our  bodies  from  the  earth,  as  if  they  were  different  from  the 
whites.  What  shall  I  do.'*  Shall  I  give  the  land,  which  is  a  part  of  my  body,  and 
leave  myself  poor  and  destitute.^  Shall  I  say  I  will  give  you  my  land?  I  cannot 
say  so.  I  am  afraid  of  the  Great  Spirit.  I  love  my  life.  The  reason  I  do  not 
give  my  land  away  is  I  am  afraid  of  being  sent  to  hell.  I  love  my  friends,  I  love  my 
life.  This  is  the  reason  why  I  do  not  give  my  land  away.  I  have  one  word  more 
to  say.  My  people  are  far  away.  They  do  not  know  your  words.  This  is  the  reason 
I  can  not  give  you  an  answer.     I  show  you  my  heart.     This  is  all  I  have  to  say." 

After  their  defeat  at  the  Walla  Walla  council,  Owhi   and  his  son  Qualchien 
cooperated  with  Kamiaken  to  organize  the  uprising  and  outbreak  of  the  follow- 
.ing  winter  when  the  Indian  agent  and  several  other  white  men  were  murdered. 

On  the  evening  of  the  Spokane  council,  Owhi  came  in  and  surrendered  to 
Colonel  Wright,  who  received  him  in  sternness  and  sent  for  a  priest  to  act  as 
interpreter.     The  colonel  had  a  peculiarly  nervous  way  of  putting  questions. 

Wright:     "Where  did  he  see  me  last?" 

Priest:     "He  saw  you  in  his  country." 

Wright:    "Whereabout  in  his  country?" 

Priest:     "On  the  Natchess  river." 

Wright:     "What  did  he  promise  me  at  that  time?" 

Priest:     "That  he  would  come  in  with  his  people  in  some  days." 

Owhi  became  pale  and  confused. 

Wright:  "Why  did  he  not  do  so?"  (Aside:  "Tell  the  officer  of  the  guard  to 
bring  a  file  of  his  men;  and  Captain  Kirkham,  you  will  have  some  iron  shackles 
made  ready.") 

Owhi  hung  his  head  and  looked  still  more  confused. 

Priest:     "He  says  he  did  do  so." 

Wright:     "Where  is  he  from  now?" 

Priest:     "From  the  mouth  of  the  Spokane." 

Wright:     "How  long  has  he  been  away  from  there?" 

Priest:     "Two  days." 

Wright:     "Where   is   Qualchien?" 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  257 

Priest:     "At  the  mouth  of  the  Spokane." 

Wright:  "Tell  Owhi  that  I  will  send  a  message  to  Qualchien.  Tell  him  he,  too, 
shall  send  a  message^  and  if  Qualchien  does  not  join  me  before  I  cross  the  Snake 
river,  in  four  days  I  will  hang  Owhi." 

When  this  communication  was  made  to  Owhi,  we  are  informed  by  Kip,  he  ap- 
peared to  lose  all  power  over  himself.  He  sank  on  the  ground  and  perspiration 
came  out  on  him  in  large  drops.  He  took  out  a  book  of  prayers,  and  in  much 
confusion  turned  over  the  leaves  for  a  moment,  looking  at  the  pictures  apparently 
without  knowing  what  he  was  doing,  and  handed  it  to  the  priest  who  was  standing 
by  him.  He  was  then  taken  off  by  the  guard  and  put  in  irons.  When  the  mes- 
senger went  off  Owhi  said  he  did  not  think  Qualchien  would  come  in. 

Captain  Keyes  has  left  a  graphic  description  of  the  surrender  of  Qualchien 
and  the  quick  resulting  tragedy.  About  12  o'clock  on  the  day  following  the  plac- 
ing of  Owhi  in  irons,  two  Indians  and  a  .fine-looking  squaw  emerged  from  a  canyon 
near  the  camp.  The  three  rode  abreast,  and  a  little  distance  behind  them  rode 
an  Indian  hunchback.  The  three  chief  personages  were  gaily  dressed  and  ap- 
proached with  a  dashing  air.  They  wore  a  great  deal  of  scarlet,  and  the  squaw 
displayed  two  ornamental  scarfs,  passing  over  the  right  shoulder  and  under  the 
left  arm.  Across  the  front  of  her  saddle  she  carried  a  long  lance,  the  handle  com- 
pletely wound  with  bright  beads,  and  from  the  ends  of  which  hung  two  long 
tippets  of  beaver  skins.  The  two  braves  bore  rifles,  and  one,  evidently  the  leader, 
carried  an  ornamented  tomahawk.  With  exceeding  boldness  they  directed  their 
horses  to  Colonel  Wright's  tent.  » 

Captain  Keyes  pulled  aside  the  tent  flap  and  said:  "Colonel,  we  have  distin- 
guished visitors  here."  When  the  colonel  came  out  he  instantly  recognized  Qual- 
chien, who  daringly  entered  into  conversation  with  him,  retaining  his  rifle  by  his 
side.  Qualchien's  bearing  was  so  defiant  that  Captain  Keyes,  fearing  that  the  out- 
law meditated  violence,  placed  himself  on  guard  and  stood  alert  to  spring  on  the 
Indian  at  the  slightest  demonstration. 

Presently  Colonel  Wright  mentioned  Owhi's  name  and  Qualchien  started  and 
exclaimed,  "Car.^"  (where).  "Owhi  mittite  yawa*'  (Owhi  is  over  there),  re- 
plied the  colonel. 

At  these  words  Qualchien  seemed  to  be  half  paralyzed.  He  acted  in  the  dazed 
way  of  a  man  who  had  been  stunned  by  a  physical  blow.  He  kept  repeating, 
mechanically,  "Owhi  mittite  yawa!"  "Owhi  mittite  yawa!"  Then  he  made  a 
motion  as  if  he  would  use  his  rifle,  and  made  towards  his  horse,  but  was  seized 
by  the  guard  and  disarmed.  He  carried  a  fine  pistol  capped  and  loaded,  and 
plenty  of  ammunition. 

Colonel  Wright  commanded  him  to  go  with  the  guard,  and  he  at  first  assented, 
but  then  held  back  and  was  pulled  along.  He  was  a  fine  specimen  of  physical 
manhood,  with  a  broad  chest,  muscular  limbs  and  small  hands  and  feet.  By  the 
time  he  had  reached  the  guard  tent  he  was  recovered  from  his  semi-stupor  and 
fought  desperately  for  his  freedom.  It  required  six  men  to  tie  his  hands  and 
feet,  although  he  suffered  at  the  time  from  an  unhealed  wound  in  the  lower  part 
of  his  body.  The  subsequent  proceedings  were  startlingly  summary.  Wright 
recorded  them  in  his  official  report  in  a  single  sentence:  "Qualchien  came  to  me 
at  9  this  morning,  and  at  9:15  a.  m.  he  was  hung." 

▼ol.  1— IT 


258  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

But  letters  and  reports  by  others  of  his  command  have  preserved  for  us  a  more 
dramatic  setting.  When  Qualchien's  fate  was  made  known  to  him^  he  fell  to  curs- 
ing Kamiaken.  He  was  dragged  to  a  neighboring  tree^  but  when  they  attempted 
to  place  the  rope  around  his  neck^  the  struggle  was  renewed,  and  bound  as  he 
was,  it  became  necessary  to  throw  him  on  his  back  before  the  noose  could  be  put 
over  his  head,  he  shrieking  all  the  while:  "Copet  six!  (stop  my  friends).  Wake 
memaloose  nika!  (do  not  kill  me);  nika  potlatch  hiyu  chickamin,  hiyu  knitan  (I 
will  give  much  money,  a  great  many  horses)  ;  spore  nika  memaloose,  nika  hiyu 
siwash  silex  (if  you  kill  me  a  great  many  Indians  will  be  angry)  ;  copet  six!''  In 
spite  of  his  protests  the  rope  was  run  over  the  limb  of  a  tree  and  he  was  strung 
up,  shouting  curses  on  Kamiaken  with  his  last  breath.  Among  those  who  pulled 
with  eagerness  on  the  rope  were  two  miners  who  had  been  with  the  party  attacked 
by  Qualchicn  and  his  band  in  the  Colville  country  a  few  months  before. 

It  developed  a  little  later  that  Qualchien  had  been  the  victim  of  some  act  of 
treachery,  for  he  had  not  met  the  messenger  sent  out  in  search  of  him,  but  bad 
either  come  of  his  own  accord  or  been  lured  in  by  the  Indian  hunchback,  whose 
expression  when  Qualchien  was  hauled  up  indicated  a  devilish  satisfaction.  And 
as  soon  as  the  deed  was  over  the  hunchback  galloped  to  the  upper  end  of  the  en- 
campment where  he  related  with  savage  joy  to  his  people  the  part  he  had  played 
in  guiding  the  victim  into  the  hands  of  Wright.  The  squaw  who,  a  few  minutes 
before,  had  ridden  in  so  airily,  proved  to  be  Qualchien's  wife,  a  daughter  of  Polot- 
kin.  She  was  suffered  to  depart,  and  rode  off  with  Qualchien's  companion.  It  was 
supposed  that  Qualchien  had  been  sent  in  by  Kamiaken,  as  a  spy,  to  learu  what 
Colonel  Wright  would  do  with  the  ringleaders  of  the  outbreak,  and  the  victim 
looked  upon  the  great  war  chief  of  the  Yakimas  as  the  author  of  his  death. 

"He  died  like  a  coward,"  wrote  an  officer  who  had  witnessed  the  tragedy,  "and 
very  differently  from  the  manner  in  which  the  Indians  generally  met  their  fate. 
So  loud  indeed  were  his  cries  that  they  were  heard  by  Owhi,  who  was  confined 
near  by."  In  disgust  the  old  chief  disowned  him,  saying,  "He  is  not  my  son,  but 
the  son  of  Kamiaken,"  meaning  that  he  had  followed  the  counsel  of  the  Yakima 
leader. 

It  became  bruited  around  the  next  day  that  Qualchien  had  a  large  sum  of  money 
on  his  person,  and  his  body  was  exhumed  to  prevent  the  treasure  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  Indians,  but  little  of  value  was  discovered. 

"In  all  the  battles,  forays  and  disturbances  in  Washington  territory,"  said 
Kip,  "Qualchien  has  been  one  of  the  leading  spirits.  The  influence  for  evil  which 
he  exerted  was  probably  greater  even  than  that  of  either  Owhi  or  Kamiaken.  Of 
the  three,  he  was  the  most  addicted  to  fighting  and  bloodshed.  He  has  been  di- 
rectly charged  with  the  murder  of  nine  white  men  at  different  times.  In  the  action 
of  March  1,  1856,  on  White  river,  Puget  Sound  district,  Qualchien  was  present 
with  fifty  Yakima  warriors,  and  of  these  seven  were  killed." 

Three  days  after  the  hanging  of  Qualchien,  Owhi,  his  father,  made  a  dash  for 
freedom.  Lieutenant  Morgan,  riding  by  his  side,  fired  three  shots  from  his  re- 
volver, all  taking  effect,  and  a  dragoon  hastened  to  the  wounded  chief  and  pnt  a 
bullet  through  his  head. 

"Nothing  has  been  done  in  this  campaign,"  said  Lieutenant  Kip,  "so  effectually 
to  secure  the  peace  of  the  country  as  the  death  of  these  two  chiefs." 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  259 

Jn  explanation  of  the  hanging  of  Qualchien^  Colonel  Wright  said  in  his  report 
to  his  superior  at  Fort  Vancouver :  "He  has  been  actively  engaged  in  all  the  mur- 
ders^ robberies  and  attacks  upon  the  white  people  since  1S55,  both  east  and  west 
of  the  Cascade  mountains.  He  was  with  the  party  who  attacked  the  miners  on 
the  We-nat-che  river  in  June  last,  and  was  severely  wounded;  but  recovering 
rapidly,  he  has  since  been  committing  assaults  on  our  people  whenever  an  oppor- 
tunity offered." 

I  have  been  unable  to  find  in  Colonel  Wright's  reports  any  account  of  the 
hanging  of  other  Indians  on  Hangman  creek.  Lieutenant  Mullan  mentions  briefly 
that  "a  number  of  Pelouses  at  this  camp  expiated  their  many  crimes  upon  a  gal- 
lows erected  for  the  purpose,"  and  Kip  is  a  little  more  circumstantial.  "In  the 
middle  of  the  day,"  says  that  authority,  "two  Pelouse  Indians  came  in,  bringing 
a  letter  from  the  priest.  They  were  followed  shortly  after  by  seven  or  eight 
vooTe.  The  whole  party  were  at  once  taken  to  the  guard-house  and  ironed.  At 
evening  they  were  brought  up  for  examination,  and  being  convicted  of  having 
been  engaged  in  various  atrocities,  six  of  them  were  at  once  hung.  One  of  them 
was  proved  to  be  the  Indian  who  killed  Sergeant  Williams  at  Snake  river,  when, 
after  being  wounded  in  Colonel  Steptoe's  affair,  he  was  trying  to  make  his  way 
back  to  Walla  Walla."  These,  in  addition  to  Qualchien,  and  the  Indian  hanged 
in  the  Spokane  valley,  made  a  total  of  eight  who  died  by  the  noose  in  the  Spokane 
country.  Four  more  were  hanged  on  the  Palouse,  and  four  at  Walla  Walla.  Ac- 
cording to  Wright,  eleven  Indians  were  hanged  in  all,  but  other  reports  show  a 
total  of  sixteen  and  that  is  probably  the  correct  count. 

While  the  main  command  rested  on  Hangman  creek.  Colonel  Wright  dispatched 
three  companies  of  dragoons  to  the  Steptoe  battlefield,  distant  about  ten  miles,  to 
recover  the  remains  of  the  officers  and  men  who  had  fallen  in  that  engagement  and 
the  two  mountain  howitzers  which  had  been  buried  on  the  evening  of  the  memor- 
able night  retreat  to  Snake  river..  Lieutenant  Kip,  who  participated  in  this  sad 
mission,  thus  describes  the  solemn  duty: 

"On  reaching  the  battlefield  proper,  we  halted  and  encamped,  and  picketing 
cor  animals  in  good  grass,  began  to  search  for  the  remains  of  the  men  there  so 
inhumanly  butchered,  and  the  guns  lost  in  that  desperate  encounter. 

"The  guns  having  been  well  buried,  were  found  as  they  had  been  left,  undis- 
turbed. Passing  along  the  slope  of  the  hill,  we  came  upon  a  small  ravine  in  which 
lay  the  graves  of  four  men:  Captain  Taylor,  a  half-breed,  and  two  dragoons. 
Silently  and  mournfully,  we  disinterred  their  remains,  and  securely  packing  them 
bore  them  from  the  field  to  our  camp,  in  order  to  transport  them  to  Walla  Walla, 
there  to  give  them  proper  burial  with  military  honors. 

"Silently  surveying  the  ground  from  the  top  of  this  hill,  a  scene  of  sadness 
and  desolation  met  the  eye  at  every  turn.  Broken  and  burnt  fragments  of  all  that 
had  once  constituted  the  equipage  of  this  command  lay  scattered  to  the  right  and 
left,  and  everywhere  were  to  be  seen  the  unmistakable  signs  of  a  relentless  savage 
foe  who  had  determined  on  the  utter  annihilation  of  this  small  command. 

"But  one  thing  remained  not  totally  destroyed,  a  pair  of  shafts  of  one  of  the 
buried  guns.  Why  this  had  escaped  the  general  conflagration  of  such  things  as  the 
Indians  could  not  usefully  appropriate  was  a  wonder  to  us  all. 

"This,  with  our  rude  means  at  hand,  we  framed  and  fashioned  into  a  cross, 


260  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

which  we  erected  upon  the  battlefield  as  a  Christian  token  to  the  honored  dead,  and 
to  point  the  stranger  to  the  spot  where  brave  men  bravely  met  their  fate;  and  as 
each  officer  and  soldier  lingered  near  the  spot,  and  heard  rehearsed  the  sad  recital 
of  that  memorable  defeat,  the  silent  tear  stole  down  many  a  bronzed  cheek  that  had 
confronted  death  and  braved  danger  upon  many  a  tented  field." 

"Poor  Gaston/'  exclaims  Kip.  "My  parting  with  him  was  at  West  Point,  when 
full  of  life  and  spirits  and  bright  anticipations  of  his  future  career.  My  last  recol- 
lection of  him  is  in  his  gray  cadet  uniform.  I  never  saw  him  after,  until  I  thus 
stood  by  his  remains  today.  He  was  every  inch  a  soldier ;  and  when,  during  the  last 
year,  ill  health  weighed  him  down,  and  he  feared  the  approach  of  that  feebleness 
which  would  withdraw  him  from  his  duties,  his  military  spirit  seemed  to  be  the 
strongest  impulse  he  felt.  He  often  expressed  the  hope  that  he  might  die  in  battle, 
and  thus  it  was  that  his  wish  was  gratified.  He  had  a  soldier's  death,  and  will  have 
a  soldier's  burial  and  grave, — 

"  'The  fresh  turf,  and  not  the  feverish  bed.' " 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

WRIGHT'S  RETURN  MARCH  TO  WALLA  WALLA 

TELLS  THE   PALOUSE8   THEY  ARE   RASCALS  AND  DESERVE  TO   BE    HUNG TREATS  THEM   AS 

OUTLAWS,    BUT    PUTS   THEM    ON    PROBATION HANGS    FOUR    AS    A    WARNING    TO    THE 

OTHERS "CUTMOUTH   JOHN"   A   CONSPICUOUS   FIGURE MILITARY  HONORS   FOR   THE 

GALLANT  DEAD LIEUTENANT   KIP's  PREDICTION ^"tHE   WAR  IS   CLOSED*' COLONEL 

Wright's  final  report. 

HAVING  practically  completed  his  campaign^  Colonel  Wright  now  broke 
camp  on  Hangman  creek  and  began  the  retrograde  march  to  Walla  Walla 
on  the  morning  of  September  26.  On  the  evening  of  the  twenty-ninth  the 
command  encamped  at  a  point  well  down  on  the  Palouse  river,  on  what  appeared  to 
have  been  an  old  battleground  of  the  Indians,  arrow  heads  and  remains  of  other 
weapons  being  scattered  about. 

A  large  number  of  Palouse  Indians  came  in  the  next  morning,  with  their  families, 
and  the  Colonel  determined  to  hold  a  "council,"  as  he  termed  these  somewhat  one- 
sided conferences  with  the  broken  and  humiliated  tribes.  The  Palouses  having 
gathered  before  his  tent,  and  the  interpreter  being  ready,  the  Colonel  delivered  this 
gracious  and  complimentary  address: 

"Tell  them  they  are  a  set  of  rascals  and  deserve  to  be  hung;  that  if  I  should 
hang  them  all,  I  should  not  do  wrong.  Tell  them  I  have  made  a  written  treaty 
with  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  the  Spokanes,  but  I  will  not  make  a  written  treaty  with 
them;  and  if  I  catch  one  of  them  on  the  other  side  of  the  Snake  river,  J  will  hang 
him.  Tell  them  they  shall  not  go  into  the  Coeur  d'Alene  country,  nor  the  Spokane 
country,  nor  shall  they  allow  the  Walla  Walla  Indians  to  come  into  their  country. 
If  they  behave  themselves,  and  do  all  that  I  direct  them,  I  will  make  a  written 
treaty  with  them  next  spring.  If  I  do,  there  will  be  no  more  war  between  us.  If 
thej  do  not  submit  to  these  terms,  I  will  make  war  on  them ;  and  if  I  come  here  again 
to  war,  I  will  hang  them  all,  men,  women  and  children. 

"Tell  them  that  five  moons  ago  two  of  their  tribe  killed  some  miners.  The  mur- 
derers must  immediately  be  delivered  up." 

After  the  Palouses  had  weighed  these  words,  they  conferred  among  themselves, 
and  presently  one  of  them  came  forward.  The  other  had  slipped  away,  apparently 
to  the  great  annoyance  of  his  tribe,  who,  to  save  themselves  were  eager  to  comply 
with  the  victor's  conditions. 

Colonel  Wright:  "Tell  them  they  must  deliver  up  the  six  men  who  stole  our 
beef  cattle  at  Walla  Walla." 

261 


262  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

This  demand  met  with  quick  compliance^  and  the  offenders  were  brought  forward 
and  handed  over  to  the  guard. 

Colonel  Wright  continued:  "Tell  them  they  must  allow  all  white  men  to  pass 
unmolested  through  their  country,  and  must  deliver  up  to  me  one  chief  and  four 
warriors,  with  their  families,  to  go  with  me  to  Walla  Walla  as  hostages." 

All  these  terms  were  accepted  by  the  unhappy  and  terror-stricken  Palouses,  and 
then,  to  make  the  lesson  more  impressive,  four  of  them — the  murderer  and  three 
others  who  had  been  selected  as  notorious  marauders — ^were  marched  to  a  tree  sev- 
eral hundred  yards  distant  and  hanged. 

The  return  to  Walla  Walla  was  made  without  notable  incident,  the  command 
arriving  there  October  5,  after  an  absence  of  just  sixty  marching  days.  As  it 
marched  into  the  fort,  "Cutmouth  John"  was  by  far  its  most  conspicuous  figure, 
clad  in  a  red  blanket,  a  large  skin  cap  upon  his  head,  and  in  his  hand  a  long  lance 
from  the  end  of  which  dangled  the  scalp  he  had  taken  in  the  battle  of  the  Four  Lakes. 

When  the  troops  reached  the  parade  ground  the  column  halted,  the  ranks  opened, 
and  Colonel  Mansfield,  the  inspector  general  of  the  department,  who  had  arrived  a 
few  days  before,  made  a  thorough  inspection.  There  was  nothing  about  the  com- 
mand, says  Kip,  of  the  "pomp  and  circumstance  of  glorious  war."  During  two 
months  no  one  had  slept  under  roof,  and  all  were  begrimed  with  mud,  rain  and  dost 
The  artillery  and  infantry  wore  blue  flannel  shirts,  drawn  over  their  uniforms  and 
belted  at  the  waist.  The  dragoons  had  a  similar  dress  of  gray  flannel.  The  officers 
had  adopted  the  same,  with  slouched  hats.  The  only  marks  of  their  rank  were  the 
shoulder-strap  sewed  on  to  the  flannel.  Yet  all  this  was  showing  the  reality  of  serv- 
ice. If  there  was  little  display  of  uniforms,  the  arms  were  in  perfect  order,  and  we 
believe  the  troops  had  never  been  in  a  higher  state  of  discipline  or  a  more  perfect 
condition  for  action. 

Quoting  from  the  same  officer's  journal: 

October  7th. — Today  we  turned  to  more  solemn  duties.  At  ten  o'clock  took  place 
the  burial  of  Captain  Taylor,  Lieutenant  Gaston  and  the  remains  of  the  men  which 
had  been  found  on  Colonel  Steptoe's  battleground.  It  was  from  this  post  they  had 
marched  forth,  and  here  they  were  to  be  laid  to  their  rest.  They  were,  of  course, 
buried  with  military  honors,  the  ceremony  being  invested  with  all  the  pageantry 
ivhich  was  possible,  to  show  respect  to  the  memory  of  our  gallant  comrades.  All  the 
officers,  thirty-nine  in  number,  and  the  troops  at  the  post,  amounting  to  800  (rein- 
forcements having  arrived  since  our  departure),  took  part  in  the  ceremonies.  The 
horses  of  the  dead,  draped  in  black,  having  on  them  the  officers'  swords  and  boots, 
were  led  behind  the  coffins.  The  remains  were  taken  about  half  a  mile  from  the  post 
and  there  interred.  Three  volleys  were  fired  over  them,  and  we  left  them  where 
day  after  day  the  notes  of  the  bugle  will  be  borne  over  their  graves,  while  we  cherish 
their  memories  as  those  who  laid  down  their  young  lives  in  the  battlefield  for  their 
country. 

With  prophetic  foresight  this  gifted  young  officer  added:  "This  immense  tract 
of  splendid  country  over  which  we  marched,  is  now  opened  to  the  white  man,  and  the 
time  is  not  far  distant  when  settlers  will  begin  to  occupy  it,  and  the  farmer  will  dis- 
cover that  he  can  reap  his  harvest,  and  the  miner  explore  its  ores  without  danger 
from  the  former  savage  foes." 

But  buoyant  as  were  these  predictions,  the  progress  of  fifty  years  has  brought 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  263 

a  realization  immeasnrablv  beyond  their  expectations.  Opulent  cities^  prosperous 
towns,  productive  fields  and  pleasant  orchards  cover  the  land  which  then  lay  wild 
and  savage.  Railroads  have  everywhere  supplanted  the  Indian  trails,  and  the  red- 
man's  campfire  has  given  way  to  the  firesides  of  more  than  100,000  homes. 

I  can  not  close  this  chapter  without  a  few  words  of  feeble  tribute  to  our  gallant 
and  ever  efficient  regular  army.  We  who  now  possess  this  pleasant  land  in  peace 
and  prosperity  owe  an  unextinguishable  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  courage,  devotion 
and  self-sacrifice  of  its  officers  and  men.  Their  work  is  ended,  and  save  a  mere  hand- 
full  of  survivors  still  spared  to  us  by  the  relentless  hand  of  Time,  they  have  passed 
to  their  long  reward.  Some  fell  in  later  Indian  wars  of  the  west ;  others  were  called 
to  a  greater  theater  of  conflict  and  served  their  country  with  valor  in  the  civil  war. 
Yet  others  passed  into  peaceful  pursuits  and  contributed  notably  to  the  development 
of  the  country  and  its  resources.  Soldiers  of  Steptoe  and  Wright,  if  living  still,  we 
render  our  salute.  If  resting  beneath  the  turf,  we  bow  in  homage  to  your  honored 
memorv. 

Under  date  of  September  30,  1858,  I  find  Colonel  Wright's  last  word  on  the 
campaign.  It  was  written  from  his  camp  on  the  Palouse  river,  en  route  to  Walla 
Walla,  and  addressed  to  the  assistant  adjutant-general,  headquarters  of  the  depart- 
ment of  the  Pacific,  Fort  Vancouver,  W.  T.: 

"Sir:  The  war  is  closed.  Peace  is  restored  with  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  Spokanes 
and  Palouses.  After  a  vigorous  campaign  the  Indians  have  been  entirely  subdued, 
and  were  most  happy  to  accept  such  terms  of  peace  as  I  might  dictate. 

"Results 

"1.  Two  battles  were  fought  by  the  troops  under  my  command,  against  the 
combined  forces  of  the  Spokanes,  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  Palouses,  in  both  of  which  the 
Indians  were  signally  defeated,  with  a  severe  loss  of  chiefs  and  warriors,  either 
killed  or  wounded. 

"2.  The  capture  of  1,000  horses  and  a  large  number  of  cattle  from  the  hostile 
Indians,  all  of  which  were  either  killed  or  appropriated  to  the  service  of  the  United 
States. 

**3.  Many  barns  filled  with  wheat  or  oats,  also  several  fields  of  grain,  with 
numerous  caches  of  vegetables,  dried  berries  and  kamas,  all  destroyed  or  used  by  the 
troops. 

"4.  The  Yakima  chief,  Owhi  in  irons,  and  the  notorious  war-chief  Qualchien 
hung.  The  murderers  of  the  miners,  the  cattle-stealers,  etc  (in  all  eleven  Indians), 
all  hung. 

"The  Spokanes,  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  Palouses  entirely  subdued,  and  sue  most 
abjectly  for  peace  on  any  terms. 

"6.  Treaties  made  with  the  above-named  nations;  they  have  restored  all  prop- 
erty which  was  in  their  possession,  belonging  either  to  the  United  States  or  indi- 
Tiduals;  they  have  promised  that  all  white  people  shall  travel  through  their  country 
nnraolested,  and  that  no  hostile  Indians  shall  be  allowed  to  pass  through  or  remain 
among  them. 

"7.  The  delivery  to  the  officer  in  command  of  the  United  States  troops  of  one 
chief  and  four  men,  with  their  families,  from  each  of  the  above-named  tribes  to  be 


264  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

taken  to  Fort  Walla  Walla^  and  held  as  hostages  for  the  future  good  conduct  of  their 
respective  nations. 

"9.     The  recovery  of  two  mountain  howitzers  abandoned  by  the  troops  under 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Steptoe. 

'Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"G.  Wright, 
"Colonel  Ninth  Infantry,  Commanding/* 


€€y 


CHAPTER  XXX 

REMARKABLE   EARLY   HISTORY  OF   SPOKANE   COUNTY 

FIRST   CREATED    IN     1858 AREA    OP    75,000    SQUARE    MILES PUBLIC    OPFICES    GO    BEG- 
GING  OLD     PINKNEY    CITY    THE    COUNTY    SEAT FIRST    LEGISLATOR    MURDERED    BY 

INDIANS PIRST       POLITICAL       CONVENTION UNION       SENTIMENT       STRONG COURT 

HOUSE  OF  logs;  had  been  a  saloon HIGH   PRICES  IN  THE  60S GOLD  DISCOVERED 

OX   THE    PEND    d'oREILLE MILITARY   POST   ESTABLISHED   AT    FORT    COLVILLE CALI- 
FORNIA   VOLUNTEERS    A    BAD    LOT GRAND    MILITARY    BALL    AT    THE    FORT PIONEER 

DISTILLERY    RAIDED EARLY    DAY    EXECUTIONS^    LEGAL    AND    OTHERWISE. 

THE  early  history  of  Spokane  county  has  connected  with  it  events  of  an 
extraordinary  character.  Four  times  was  it  created  by  legislative  act. 
Twice  it  was  not  organized  by  the  agents  appointed  for  that  purpose. 
Once  it  had^  after  organization^  a  short  and  precarious  existence^  and  was  merged 
into  Stevens  county;  and  the  fourth  creation  was  followed  by  the  political  com- 
munity of  recent  years." — From  a  manuscript  by  W.  P.  Winans,  who  served  two 
terms,  beginning  in  1862,  as  auditor  of  the  original  county  of  Spokane,  when  the 
comity  seat  was  Pinkney  City. 

With  free-handed  disregard  of  actual  needs  and  conditions,  the  early  legisla- 
tures of  Washington  territory  parceled  out  the  interior  into  county  forms  long 
before  towns  or  even  crossroads  settlements  had  come  into  existence.  A  number 
of  these  counties  never  had  other  than  mere  legal  or  fictional  being,  and  in  that 
class  for  several  years,  belonged  the  first  county  of  Spokane,  attempted  to  be  set 
up  at  the  session  of  1857-8,  when  a  bill  was  enacted  January  29,  "to  create  and 
organize  Spokane  county,"  as  follows: 

"Be  it  enacted.  That  all  that  portion  of  the  county  of  Walla  Walla  embraced 
within  the  following  boundaries,  to  wit:  Commencing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Snake 
river,  following  up  said  river  mid  channel  to  the  forty-sixth  parallel  of  north  lati- 
tude; thence  east  along  said  parallel  to  the  summit  of  the  Rocky  mountains;  thence 
north  along  said  summit  to  the  forty-ninth  parallel  of  north  latitude ;  thence  west 
along  said  parallel  to  the  Columbia  river;  thence  down  mid  channel  of  said  river 
to  the  place  of  beginning;  the  same  is  hereby  constituted  and  organized  into  a  sepa- 
rate county,  to  be  known  and  called  Spokane  county. 

"That  the  county  seat  of  the  said  county  is  hereby  temporarily  located  on  the 
land  claim  of  Angus  McLeod. 

"That  Robert  Douglass,  John  Owen  and  William  McCreary  are  hereby  ap- 
pointed a  board  of  county  commissioners;  and  that   Patrick  McKenzie  is  hereby 

265 


266  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

appointed  sheriff;  and  that  Lafayette  Alexander  is  hereby  appointed  connty  audi- 
tor." 

Vast^  wild  and  untenanted  by  civilization  was  the  region  embraced  within  the 
designated  boundaries — a  stretch  of  plain  and  mountain^  of  prairie  and  forest,  of 
placid  lakes  and  foaming  torrents^  SOO  miles  wide  and  nearly  400  miles  lon^^  com- 
prising an  area  of  more  than  75^000  square  miles,  and  with  scarcely  one  white 
person  to  each  thousand  square  miles  of  territory.  Such  feeble  and  scattered  set- 
tlements as  then  had  existence  were  found  in  the  Colville  valley.  Settlers  along 
the  Spokane,  there  were  none  of  the  white  race.  The  Indians  were  warlike,  inso- 
lent and  aggressive,  and  the  county  in  fact  was  conjured  into  fictional  being  on 
the  eve  of  the  allied  outbreak  of  the  Indian  tribes  north  of  Snake  river. 

Public  office  went  a  begging  then  in  eastern  Washington,  and  found  no  takers 
in  the  remote,  unsettled  and  moneyless  county  of  Spokane;  for  the  officials  named 
in  the  first  legislative  act  failed  to  qualify  or  to  organize  county  government;  and 
a  year  later  the  legislative  assembly,  which  then  met  annually,  made  a  second  effort 
An  act  of  January  18,  1859,  named  Robert  Douglass,  John  McDougald  and  Angus 
McCloud  as  commissioners  of  the  proposed  new  county.  Thomas  Brown  was  desig- 
nated to  serve  as  sheriff,  Patrick  McKenzie  as  auditor,  Thomas  Stensgar  as  probate 
judge,  and  Solomon  Pelkie  justice  of  the  peace — all  to  hold  office  until  the  next 
regular  election,  or  until  their  successors  should  be  elected  and  qualify.  No  loca- 
tion for  a  county  seat  was  specified. 

This  attempt  was  as  futile  as  the  first,  but  undaunted,  the  legislature  tried 
again.  After  the  brilliant  campaign  of  1858,  and  thorough  pacification  of  the 
country  by  the  troops  under  Colonel  George  Wright,  it  passed  another  act,  in 
January,  1860,  to  reestablish  the  county  of  Spokane.  The  boundaries  were  defined 
as  before,  but  this  time  the  county  seat  was  temporarily  located  "on  the  land 
claim  of  Dr.  Bates,"  in  the  Colville  valley.  "Few  of  the  vast  population  of  Spo- 
kane county  today  know  that  while  its  official  organization  dates  back  to  a  time 
but  little  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  having  been  carved — a  small  and  then  insig- 
nificant portion — out  of  Stevens  county,  yet  there  was  a  county  of  Spokane  estab- 
lished by  an  act  of  the  territorial  legislature  of  1860,"  says  Attorney  John  B. 
Slater  in  an  article  written  after  a  search  of  the  old  county  records  at  Colville.  "It 
was  organized  in  April  of  that  year,  and  flourished  for  four  years."  In  honor 
then  of  the  gallant  memory  of  Isaac  I.  Stevens,  first  territorial  governor,  who 
had  fallen  in  one  of  the  early  battles  of  the  civil  war,  the  legislature  changed  the 
county's  name  to  Stevens. 

The  initial  entry  in  the  first  book  of  records  of  this  original  county  of  Spokane 
follows : 

"No.  1.  Received  of  William  H.  Watson,  $25,  in  full  for  house  and  lot  and 
all  things  belonging  thereto. 

"Pinkney  City,  W.  T.,  July  11,  1860. 
(Signed)         "C.  L.  Thomas. 
"Recorded  July  12,  1860,  6  o'clock  p.  m. 

"R.  H.  Rogers, 

"County  Auditor." 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  267 

And  on  page  2  of  bo<^  1,  of  the  records  of  Spokane  county,  appear,  as  follows, 
Vie  first  minutes  of  the  proceedings  of  the  board  of  county  commissioners: 

"In  pursuance  of  an  act  of  the  legislative  assembly  of  the  territory  of  Wash- 
ington, passed  January  17,  1860  (a  certified  copy  of  which  is  attached  to  page  1 
of  this  record),  the  county  of  Spokane  was  organized,  and  the  following  named 
persons  were  respectively  sworn  into  office  and  executed  bond  according  to  law, 


ni: 


J.  W.  Seaman,  James  Hays  and  Jacques  Dumas,  as  county  commissioners; 
John  Wynn,  as  sheriff;  R.  H.  Rogers,  as  auditor;  R.  H.  Douglas,  as  treasurer;  J. 
R.  Bates,  as  justice  of  the  peace,  and  F.  Wolff,  as  coroner. 

"In  witness  whereof,   I   have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  private  seal    (there 
being  no  official  seal  provided),  this  7th  day  of  May,  1860. 

"R.  H.  Rogers  (L.  S.) 
"Auditor  in  and  for  Spokane  county,  W,  T." 


"It  seems,"  says  Mr.  Slater,  "that  Rogers  and  Douglas  became  mixed  in  the 
process  of  qualification,  and,  according  to  the  fact  as  stated  by  a  witness  to  the 
ceremony,  Douglas,  by  accident,  signed  and  qualified  by  oath  upon  the  blank  form 
provided  for  Rogers,  the  latter,  at  the  same  time,  making  the  same  mistake  with 
reference  to  the  blank  form  provided  for  Douglas,  as  treasurer.  The  spectators 
laughed  heartily  over  the  mistake,  and  the  two  gentlemen  accepted  the  change  as 
a  sort  of  joke,  although  afterward,  it  is  said,  they  became  bitter  enemies. 

"On  the  8th  of  May,  1860,  the  board  met  and  designated  Pinkney  City  the 
county  seat,  which  was  the  town  or  trading  post  adjoining  the  site  of  Fort  Col- 
TiUe,  three  miles  north  of  the  present  site  of  Colville.  Two  election  precincts  were 
established  and  election  notices  directed  to  be  posted.  John  L.  Houck  was  ap- 
pointed the  first  road  supervisor,  and  given  charge  of  all  the  public  highways  in 
the  county,  which  then  extended  from  Wenatchee  on  the  west  to  Helena,  Montana, 
on  the  east,  and  from  Lewiston,  Idaho,  on  the  south  to  the  British  line  on  the 
north. 

"At  the  election  held  in  June,  1860,  George  Taylor  was  elected  to  succeed 
Jacques  Dumas  as  county  commissioner,  who  had  drawn  a  short  term  and  was 
elected  chairman  of  the  board.  As  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained  from  the  records, 
the  officers  elected  for  the  first  term  were:  Treasurer,  R.  H.  Douglas;  assessor, 
John  Gunn,  who  failed  to  qualify,  and  J.  T.  Demarce  was  appointed  to  succeed 
him;  auditor,  J.  R.  Bates;  and  sheriff,  F.  Wolff. 

"On  April  11,  1861,  James  Hays  resigned  the  office  of  county  commissioner, 
and  Robert  Bruce  was  appointed  his  successor. 

"The  first  money  received  by  the  county  was  $200  paid  by  Chamberlain  & 
Walker  for  a  license  to  vend  ardent  spirits  in  Pinkney  City.  This  was  immediately 
followed  by  licenses  to  five  others  for  the  same  place,  a  living  evidence  that  Pink- 
ney City  was  a  lively  town. 

"The  population  of  the  place  is  said  to  have  been  nearly  a  thousand  people.* 
All  the  business  was  along  one  street,  and  extended  along  each  side  of  the  thor- 
oughfare for  nearly  a  mile.     The  commissioners,  in  order  to  provide  ample  fire 

•Ben  Burgunder's  recollection  is  that  it  never  exceeded  200  or  300. 


268  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

protection  and  pure  water  for  domestic  purposes  for  the  town,  appropriated  $100 
to  be  expended  in  digging  a  well  in  the  center  of  the  street,  and  as  nearly  the 
center  of  the  town  as  possible.  The  well  was  dug,  but  it  is  said  the  water  was  never 
used  except  for  slaking  the  thirst  of  the  cavalry  horses  from  the  post  nearby. 
Today  there  is  not  a  sign  of  the  well  remaining,  and  all  that  would  indicate  that 
once  there  might  have  been  human  inhabitants  upon  this  historic  spot  is  an  occa- 
sional depression  in  the  earth,  the  remains  of  old  cellars  and  basements,  under 
buildings  that  handled  the  trade  of  the  country. 

"The  commissioners'  journal  was  kept  by  hands  not  trained  to  clerical  work, 
but  the  good  old  pioneers  did  the  best  they  could  for  Spokane  county,  as  is  evi- 
denced by  some  of  the  proceedings  which  commemorate  the  stirring  times.  The 
most  influential  men  were  elected  to  oflice,  and,  whether  or  not  they  obeyed  the 
laws  themselves,  they  made  it  appear  by  the  records  that  they  were  especially 
solicitous  that  all  others  make  good  under  existing  statutes.  Once  they  made  a 
record  applauding  the  auditor  because  he  had  been  diligent  in  enforcing  payment 
of  license  money  for  the  privilege  of  keeping  saloon. 

"The  proceedings  of  the  Spokane  county  commissioners  cover  only  about  thirty- 
five  pages,  the  last  being  the  record  of  the  meeting  held  on  November  20,  1865, 
when  Thomas  Stensgar,  John  U.  Hofstetter  and  Robert  Bruce  were  commis- 
sioners. At  this  meeting  the  following  record  was  made:  *The  auditor  was  in- 
structed to  write  to  Dr.  Tobey,  representative,  requesting  him  to  get  a  bill  passed 
immediately  to  tax  Chinamen,  the  tax  to  be  $1.50  a  month,  or  $4.50  a  quarter,  to 
be  collected  by  the  sheriff,  and  he  be  allowed  20  per  cent  on  what  he  collects,  and 
the  treasurer  and  auditor  their  usual  fees,  as  in  other  public  moneys;  also  have 
Stevens  county  attached  to  this'  (Spokane)  county,  the  citizens  having  failed  to 
organize.'  "  Explanatory  of  this  last  instruction  to  Representative  Toby,  it  may 
be  explained  that  the  legislature,  at  the  previous  session,  had  cut  off  a  section  of 
Walla  Walla  county  and  called  it  Stevens. 

Mr.  Slater  found  that  the  first  grand  jury  of  Spokane  county  was  convened 
in  June,  1860,  by  Judge  William  Strong.  When  it  came  to  paying  the  jury  the 
commissioners  objected  upon  the  ground  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment to  pay  its  court  officials,  and  the  court  was  obliged  to  exercise  his  judicial 
prerogative  in  a  court  order  to  compel  payment.  The  commissioners  paid  the  bill, 
but  made  a  minute  of  the  fact  that  their  act  of  obedience  was  exercised  under  pro- 
test. 

Notwithstanding  no  provision  had  been  made  in  the  legislative  act  for  repre- 
sentation from  the  new  county  in  the  assembly  at  Olympia,  the  voters  elected  W. 
H.  Watson  at  the  first  election.  He  appeared  at  the  capital,  ready  to  take  the 
oath  and  enter  upon  legislative  duties,  but  the  assembly  declined  to  seat  him.  As 
a  sort  of  consolation  salve,  however,  he  was  elected  doorkeeper  of  the  house.  While 
returning  on  horseback,  from  the  capital  to  Pinkney  City,  in  the  spring  of  1861, 
Watson  was  murdered  by  a  Spokane  Indian,  Ci-sit-shee,  between  Walker's  prairie 
and  Camas  prairie.  Walker  wore  a  fine  gold  watch,  coveting  which  the  Indian  fol- 
lowed him  from  his  night  encampment,  and  found  on  the  Spokane's  person  after 
the  discovery  of  the  crime,  led  to  his  arrest  on  the  Spokane.  He  was  taken  to 
the  county  seat  by  Sheriff  Wolff,  and  bound  over  for  trial  by  Justice  of  the  Peace 
Cyrus  Hall.     The  crime  and  the  examination  aroused  intense  public  feeling,  and 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  269 

the  little  court  room  of  the  justice  was  filled  with  citizens  and  soldiers  from  Fort 
Colville.  Immediately  after  the  examination  a  mob  formed,  took  the  prisoner 
from  the  sheriff^  and  hanged  him  from  the  cross  beam  of  the  double  gate  before 
the  brewery.  Justice  in  those  days  seems  to  have  been  expeditious  and  cheap, 
for  the  total  cost  to  the  county  of  the  arrest,  trial,  conviction  and  execution,  all 
transpiring  within  two  days,  was  only  thirty  dollars. 

J.  R.  Bates,  the  first  representative  from  Spokane  county,  was  elected  in  July, 
1861.  Taking  warning  from  the  tragic  fate  of  Mr.  Watson,  he  went  properly 
"heeled"  with  a  Colt's  dragoon  revolver  with  gun  stock  attachment. 

W.  P.  Winans,  who  lived  for  thirteen  years  in  the  Colville  valley,  and  held 
various  offices  of  public  trust  when  Pinkney  City  was  the  county  seat,  kept  a 
journal  in  which  were  recorded  events  and  incidents  on  the  day  of  their  occurrence. 
From  that  journal,  and  aid  given  by  such  pioneers  as  S.  F.  Sherwood,  Francis 
Wolflf,  John  U.  Hofstetter,  C.  H.  Montgomery,  L.  W.  Meyers,  Benjamin  Bur- 
gunder,  James  Monaghan,  George  McCrea  and  Mrs.  Christina  McDonald  Will- 
iams, Mr.  Winans  has  written  an  invaluable  manuscript  history  of  early  days  in 
the  Colville  valley  and  the  Spokane  country.  By  courtesy  of  Ross  R.  Brattain  of 
Spokane,  the  writer  has  had  access  to  a  copy  of  the  Winans  manuscript,  and  from 
it  gleans  many  interesting  and  important  facts  about  men  and  events,  full  fifty 
years  ago. 

Construction  of  the  first  brewery,  at  Pinkney  City,  was  commenced  in  1860  by 

John  Shaw  and  a  man  named  Berry,  and  finished  by  John  U.  Hofstetter  in  1861. 

Pinkney  City,  which  was  built  just  across  the  creek  from  Fort  Colville  reserve, 

was  named  in  honor  of  the  commanding  officer  of  the  fort,  Major  Pinkney  Lou- 

genbeel. 

In  the  winter  of  1861,  Mr.  Carpenter,  a  clerk  employed  in  the  store  of  01m- 
stead  &  Co.,  was  killed  by  Perote.  The  murderer  was  arrested  and  taken  to  the 
nearest  jail,  at  Vancouver,  and  the  records  of  the  commissioners  show  that  on 
April  10,  1861,  Sheriff  Francis  Wolff  was  allowed  $438.25  for  expenses  and  mile- 
age of  the  trip.  Another  county  official,  R.  H.  Rogers,  presented  a  claim  of 
$816.50  for  carrying  the  poll  books  to  Vancouver,  containing  the  vote  on  joint  coun- 
cilman; but  the  commissioners,  regarding  the  claim  as  excessive,  allowed  a  mile- 
age rate  of  30  cents  on  the  470  miles  to  Vancouver,  and  awarded  Rogers  $141. 

The  winter  of  1861-62  was  unusually  severe.  Mr.  Winans  recorded  the  fol- 
lowing temperatures  in  his  journal:  January  15,  30  below  zero;  January  17,  SS 
below;  January  18,  30  below.  And  snow  from  two  to  four  feet  deep.  There  was 
not  a  day  in  that  month  that  the  mercury  did  not  fall  below  zero. 

"March  22,  1862,  mail  carrier  for  Walla  Walla  came  back,  unable  to  get 
through;  reported  snow  three  to  five  feet  deep  on  Spokane  plains,  about  Willow 
springs.  Joe  Mason  started  on  snowshoes,  became  snow  blind,  was  found  by  In- 
dians and  brought  back  to  Spokane  river. 

"April  1,  1862,  J.  W.  Seaman  got  through  from  W^alla  Walla;  left  there  two 
weeks  ago;  reported  snow  then  12  to  15  inches  deep,  wood  $25  per  cord.  Brought 
news  from  the  States  up  to  November  27th  (more  than  four  months  old)." 

It  is  believed  that  the  following  is  the  first  record  of  a  political  convention  held 
in  the  Spokane  country: 


270  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Spokane  County  Convention 

The  Union  county  convention  met  at  the  courthouse^  Pinkney  City^  W.  T.^ 
June  14^  1864;  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  candidates  for  the  coming  election. 
J.  R.  Bates  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  W.  P.  Winans  elected  secretary. 

Nominations: — For  representative,  B.  F.  Yantis;  for  sheriff,  L.  T.  Marshall; 
for  treasurer,  J.  R.  Bates;  for  auditor,  W.  P.  Winans;  for  probate  judge,  John 
Wynne;  for  coroner,  N.  R.  Scranton;  for  county  commissioners,  R<Aert  Bruce  and 
John  U.  Hofstetter;  for  justice  of  the  peace,  D.  H.  Ferguson. 

After  the  nominations  the  following  resolutions  were  read  and  adopted: 

"Resolved,  That  our  Representative  be  instructed  to  use  his  best  efforts  to 
have  a  treaty  made  with  the  Indians  in  our  county,  and  to  have  the  public  surveys 
extended  over  our  county  as  soon  as  possible. 

"Resolved,  That  he  use  his  best  endeavors  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the 
county,  the  mining  interests  in  particular;  and  to  use  his  influence  to  have  the 
mail  route  reestablished  from  Fort  Colville  and  Walla  Walla.  Also  to  use  his 
influence  toward  having  the  capital  removed  from  Olympia  to  Walla  Walla. 

"Resolved,  That  we  regret  the  present  deplorable  condition  of  our  country 
in  its  struggle  to  maintain  its  existence,  and  we  heartily  endorse  the  policy  of  the 
government  in  its  execution  of  the  laws,  and  we  rejoice  in  the  success  of  the  Fed- 
eral Arms. 

"Resolved,  That  we  will  use  our  best  efforts  to  sustain  the  government  in  its 
present  struggle  to  establish  its  supremacy  over  all  the  land." 

These  proceedings  were  in  mass  convention.  The  resolutions,  as  Mr.  Winans 
recalls,  were  written  by  Henry  Wellington,  "a  man  of  education  and  refinement 
who  could  command  attention  in  any  assembly.  He  moved  to  the  Okanogan  valley 
about  thirty  years  ago,  dying  in  June,  1908,  loved,  honored  and  respected  by  all 
who  knew  him,  for  his  lofty  character  and  sterling  worth." 

At  the  election,  July  14,  121  votes  were  polled  in  the  county,  and  all  those 
nominated  at  the  June  convention,  with  the  exception  by  B.  F.  Yantis,  for  repre- 
sentative, were  elected.  Yantis  had  only  thirty-eight  votes,  his  opponent,  Charles 
H.  Campfield,  forty-eight;  but  Yantis  went  to  Olympia,  where  his  family  resided, 
contested  the  seat  before  the  legislative  assembly,  and  won. 

Of  necessity  a  county  so  poor  and  unsettled  as  the  early  day  Spokane  had 
to  make  shift  with  a  primitive  courthouse.  At  their  April  session,  1861,  the  com- 
missioners bought  from  Charles  R.  Allen,  for  $500,  a  log  building  20x40,  that 
had  been  used  as  a  saloon.  This  cabin  housed  the  government  for  five  years,  and 
was  then  sold  to  C.  H.  Montgomery  for  $1,200  in  county  warrants,  worth  then 
about  25  cents  on  the  dollar;  and  on  February  23,  1867,  a  larger  log  building  was 
bought  from  R.  H.  Douglass  for  $500  in  coin,  or  $666.66  in  paper.  This  second 
building  continued  to  be  the  courthouse  until  the  town  was  moved  to  its  present 
location,  the  site  of  the  modern  Colville. 

By  legislative  act  of  January  3,  1862,  a  judicial  district  was  created  to  cover 
Spokane  and  Missoula  counties,  and  court  met  for  the  first  time  at  Pinkney  City, 
July  28,  1862,  with  Judge  E.  P.  Oliphant  presiding;  W.  P.  Winans,  clerk;  J.  J. 
McGillvra,  United  States  attorney;  S.  B.  Fargo,  prosecuting  attorney;  L.  T.  Mar- 
shall, sheriff;  and  Salucius  Garfielde  attorney. 


KETTLE  PALL8  OF  THE  COLUirBlA 

Aa  sketched  by  the  Stevens'  Expedition  in  1S53 


OLD   HUDSON'S  BAY   COMPANY 

POST  AT  KETTLE  FAU^S, 

ERECTED  IN  1833 


INTERNATIONAL    BOUNDARY    B 
TWEEN  WASHINGTON  AND 
OLD  HUDSON'S  BAY  COMPANY  AT  BRITISH  COLUMBIA. 

J'ORT   COLVILLE,   AS  IT   AP- 
PEARED   IN    1887 


THE   M^'    '■'■  ''. 


1^ 


THE   ^LW   ti^KK 

ubuc  libkaky; 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  271 

Only  annual  sessions  were  held^  and  when  court  convened  in  June^  1863^  for 
a  two-day  session^  it  was  presided  over  by  Judge  J.  E.  Wyche,  with  not  a  lawyer 
in  sight.  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Walters  was  granted  the  first  divorce  in  the  county.  Of 
a  verity  hath  it  been  said  that  "great  oaks  from  little  acorns  grow."  The  divorce 
crop  has  kept  well  apace  with  the  general  step  of  growth  and  progress. 

Then^  as  now^  expectation  rose  and  fell  with  the  prospect  of  immigration  and 
fuller  development  of  the  potential  resources  of  the  land ;  and  the  intelligence  was 
welcomed  when  Captain  John  Mullan^  surveyor  and  builder  of  the  Mullan  road 
from  Walla  Walla  to  Fort  Benton,  wrote  in  June^  1^62,  that  four  Missouri  river 
steamboats  had  arrived  at  Benton,  with  350  passengers  from  St.  Louis,  en  route 
to  Bitter  Root,  Deer  Lodge  and  Walla  Wlalla  valleys.  "They  came  provided  with 
their  carriages  and  wagons,  purchased  animals  at  Fort  Benton,  and  have  already 
started  for  their  new  homes  on  the  Pacific.  The  boats  made  the  trip  from  St. 
Lonis  in  thirty-two  days,  and  the  teams  will  make  the  trip  over  the  new  military 
wagon  road  in  forty  days  to  Walla  Walla." 

At  Fort  Colville,  in  July,  1862,  the  military  paid  $2.50  a  bushel  for  wheat,  $14 
a  barrel  for  flour,  and  $1  a  bushel  for  oats. 

Charles  Frush  and  Fred.  Sherwood  arranged  in  the  spring  of  1868  to  run 
an  express  from  Fort  Benton  to  Walla  Walla,  by  way  of  Spokane  prairie,  to  con- 
nect with  the  Wells  Fargo  express  at  Walla  Walla. 

In  the  spring  of  1865,  Mr.  Winans  paid  121/^  cents  per  pound  for  carrying 
freight  from  Wallula,  on  the  Columbia,  to  Colville,  and  sold  bacon  at  62^  cents, 
coffee  75  cents,  sugar  50  cents,  beans  35  cents,  salt  25  cents,  nails  40  cents,  butter 
fl,  and  shot  50  cents.  Calico  brought  87^  cents  per  yard,  a  spool  of  thread  25 
cents,  and  a  paper  of  needles  the  same. 

The  first  steamboat  to  run  the  Columbia  above  the  international  boundary  was 
Ijnilt  by  Captain  Lew  White  where  the  town  of  Marcus  now  stands.  It  was  chris- 
tened the  "Forty-Nine,"  and  Miss  Christina  McDonald  and  Miss  Mary  L.  Brown 
drove  the  first  nails.  It  was  launched  November  18,  1865,  and  made  its  first  run 
abont  April,  1866,  with  Lew  White  as  captain,  Wesley  Briggs  purser,  A.  C. 
Pingstone  mate,  and  Wash.   Eldridge  engineer. 

The  first  annual  statement  of  the  treasurer  of  Spokane  county,  as  shown  by 
the  records,  is   as   follows : 

PiNKNEY  City,  W.  T.,  January  1,  1868. 

To  amount  received    $2,587.58 

Paid  out: 

By  county   orders   redeemed $1,881.98 

By  cash,  school  fund,  1861 277.02 

By  cash,  school  fund,   1862 122.26 

By  cash,  territorial  fund,  1861 106.01 

By  cash,  territorial  fund,  1862 56.22 

By  cash,  war  fund   50.00 

Fees,  R.  H.  Douglass    8.12 

Fees,  for  disbursing 85.18 

By  Cash   .79     $2,587.58 


272  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Under  date  of  December  28,  1862,  Mr.  Winans'  journal  contains  this  entry: 
"E.  F.  Smith,  my  employer,  started  below,  with  $22,000  in  gold  dust,  accompanied 
by  James  Monaghan,  Pucket  and  Lieut.  Hoadley."  And  January  2,  1863:  "Con- 
ner's mule  train  got  in  with  goods  from  Wallula,  13,000  pounds  of  bacon,  sugar, 
etc.,  thirty-six  days  since  he  started  for  the  goods.  Paid  freight  bill  on  same, 
$1,950." 

"On  May  26,  1863,  at  the  upper  Palouse  camp,"  writes  Mr.  Winans,  "there 
were  stolen  from  Ferguson  &  Co.,  nine  mules.  The  teams  to  which  these  animals 
belonged  were  en  route  to  Colville  with  goods.  The  mules  were  driven  towards 
British  Columbia,  crossed  the  Columbia  at  Dancing  Bill  ferry,  and  thence  up  the 
Okanogan  to  British  Columbia.  Francis  Wolff  accepted  an  offer  of  $500  for  the 
return  of  the  mules.  At  the  boundary  line  he  struck  their  trail,  and  changing 
horses  several  times  with  the  Indians,  he  overtook  the  thieves,  and  watching  his 
opportunity  at  night,  about  ten  miles  this  side  of  Nicholas  lake,  B.  C,  he  recov- 
ered the  mules,  leaving  the  thieves  afoot.  He  drove  the  mules  to  Colville,  arriving 
June  15,  1863,  about  twenty  days  after  they  were  stolen,  he  living  most  of  that 
time  on  suckers  bought  from  the  Indians.  The  thieves  were  W.  Page,  an  Eng- 
lishman with  pock  marks,  Louis  Williams,  or  'Nigger  Louie,'  and  John  Wagoner, 
or  'Dutch  John.'  Afterwards,  in  1864,  Page  was  concerned  in  the  Magmder 
murder,  and  killed  at  Lewiston.  Wagoner,  with  a  partner,  held  up  a  wagon  train 
near  Boise;  the  partner  was  killed,  he  was  caught  and  hung.  I  have  no  record 
of  what  became  of  'Nigger  Louie,'  but  Ben  Burgunder  says  he  was  living  at  one 
time  with  the  Indians  at  Kamloops,  B.  C." 

By  act  of  January  30,  1863,  the  legislature  cut  off  from  Walla  Walla  county 
the  territory  lying  between  the  international  boundary  on  the  north  and  the  Wenat- 
chee  river  on  the  south,  and  the  Columbia  river  on  the  east  and  the  Cascade  moun- 
tains on  the  west,  and  named  it  Stevens  county.  W.  B.  Yantis  was  named  as  sheriff 
and  Charles  H.  Campfield  auditor.  The  county  seat  was  "temporarily"  located 
at  "H.  E.  Young's  store."  "No  attempt  was  made  to  organize  the  county  of 
Stevens  at  H.  E.  Young's  store,"  says  Mr.  Winans,  "for  it  was  so  temporary  that 
it  remained  within  its  proposed  boundaries  but  a  few  months.  The  officials  named, 
being  miners,  were  on  the  move  hunting  new  diggings,  the  claims  they  abandoned 
being  occupied  by  hundreds  of  Chinamen,  who  were  apparently  making  good  wages 
and  paying  no  taxes." 

It  is  Mr.  Winans'  recollection  of  the  discussion  of  this  question  that  the  principal 
reason  advanced  for  the  annexation  of  Stevens  to  Spokane  was  the  need  of  control  of 
both  sides  of  the  Columbia,  to  prevent  evasion  of  head  tax  by  Chinese  shifting 
from  one  side  of  the  river  to  the  other.  "Our  representative  evidently  tried  to  fol- 
low out  his  instructions,  but  in  his  endeavors  to  have  Stevens  county  attached  to 
Spokane,  the  legislature  reversed  him,  for  the  act  of  January  19,  1864,  attached 
Spokane  to  Stevens,  but  the  officers  of  Spokane  were  made  the  officials  of  Stevens." 

Dr.  Tobey  secured  the  passage  of  an  "Act  to  protect  free  white  labor  from  com- 
petition of  Chinamen,"  levying  a  quarterly  tax  of  $6,  the  sheriff  to  have  25  per 
cent,  the  remainder  to  be  divided  equally  between  the  county  and  the  territory. 
Under  this  act  there  was  paid  the  treasurer  of  Stevens  county  $2,940  in  1864, 
$1,542  in  1865,  and  $3,076  in  1866.  Explanatory  of  the  small  collections  of  1865, 
it  is  recalled  that  bogus  collectors,  impersonating  the  sheriff  and  his  deputies,  weiit 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  273 

among  the  confiding  Chinese  and  collected  several  hundred  dollars  of  the  tax.     The 
law  was  repealed  in  1869. 

At  the  election,  July  13,  1868,  for  delegate  to  congress,  the  vote  of  Stevens 
comity  was:    Cole  56,  Tumey  22,  Raynor  11,  Richardson  2. 

The  following  entries  are  taken  from  the  Winans  diary: 

"July  26,  1863.  Received  news  today  of  the  battles  and  victories  of  Gettysburg 
and  Vicksburg,  of  July  4,  only  twenty-two  days.    Very  quick  time." 

"August  17,  1863.  Very  hard  frost  last  night;  killed  the  potato  and  squash 
Tines;  also  the  wheat  and  oats  were  rendered  valueless." 

"September  8,  1863.  Marcus  Oppenheimer  and  W.  V.  Brown  took  possession  of 
some  of  the  buildings  of  the  British  Boundary  Commission,  abandoned  last  year  by 
Col.  Hawkins  and  the  sappers  and  miners." 

Brown  died  some  years  before  Oppenheimer.  The  latter  filed  a  homestead  on 
the  place,  and  the  town  of  Marcus,  now  on  the  site,  was  named  for  him. 

As  some  confusion  arose  from  the  fact  that  the  county  seat  was  called  Pinkney 
City,  but  the  postoffice  Fort  Colville,  the  name  of  the  county  seat  was  changed  to 
Fort  Colville  by  an  act  passed  January  4, 1868.  Seven  years  later,  the  little  village 
of  Spokane  Falls,  ambitious  to  become  the  seat  of  government,  made  an  audacious 
effort  to  take  the  county  seat  from  Colville.  An  act  was  actually  passed,  November 
5. 1875,  locating  the  county  seat  at  Spokane,  and  directing  "that  on  or  before  May 
1,  1876,  the  county  commissioners  shall  remove  all  records  to  that  place."  "The 
comity  commissioners  did  not  permit  an  act  of  the  legislature  to  override  their  per- 
sonal preferences,"  observes  Mr.  Winans,  for  the  county  records  show  that  on 
April  26,  1876,  all  three  commissioners,  L.  W.  Meyers,  D.  F.  Percival  and  J.  La- 
mona,  being  present,  the  question  of  changing  the  county  seat  was  discussed,  and 
the  majority  decided  that  'the  act  was  null  and  void,  because  it  was  an  amendment  to 
the  act  of  1 863,  which  was  repealed  by  act  of  1 864,  which  located  the  county  seat 
at  Colville.'  Percival  dissented,  but  no  further  action  was  taken.  We  think  this  is 
the  first  instance  of  a  board  of  county  commissioners  passing  on  the  legality  of  an 
act  of  the  legislature  and  winning  out,  for  the  county  seat  remained  at  Colville^  and 
is  there  to  this  dav." 

Dismemberment  of  Stevens  county  began  November  27,  1871,  with  the  cutting 
away  of  Whitman  county.  Then,  in  chronological  order,  came  the  cutting  off  of  Spo- 
kane, October  30,  1879;  Eattitas  and  Lincoln,  November  24,  1883;  Adams,  Franklin 
Mid  Douglas,  November  28,  1883;  Okanogan,  February  2,  1888;  Ferry,  February 
21,1899;  and  Chelan,  March  13,  1899. 

The  act  creating  Whitman  county  took  from  Stevens  all  territory  south  of  a 
line  drawn  from  White  Bluffs  northeasterly  to  Lougenbeel  creek ;  thence  by  Fifth 
standard  parallel  to  the  Idaho  liiie,  and  appointed  as  its  first  officers:  Charles  D. 
Porter,  sheriff;  James  Ewart,  auditor,  and  W.  A.  Belcher,  treasurer. 

"The  county  officials  named,"  says  Mr.  Winans,  "assembled  January  1,  1872,  and 
took  oath  of  office  in  the  hewn  log  house  built  by  J.  A.  Perkins,  being  the  first  house 
in  Colfax,  and  it  still  stands  in  the  rear  of  the  present  residence  of  the  builder,  who 
not  only  erected  the  first  house,  but  also  assisted  in  building  the  first  sawmill,  and 
has,  during  his  long  residence  in  the  county,  been  one  of  its  most  efficient,  unselfish 
and  leading  factors  in  building  up  that  thriving  city  and  prosperous  community." 
Speaking  of  the  organization  of  Whitman  county.  Captain  James  Ewart  has  said : 


Tti.  I— It 


274  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

"At  this  first  meeting  the  question  arose,  who  would  administer  the  oath  of  office. 
No  one  present  was  authorized  to  do  so.  It  happened  that  Anderson  Cox,  an  officer 
of  the  land  office  at  Walla  Walla,  was  in  Colfax,  and  they,  making  virtue  of  neces- 
sity, had  him  swear  in  James  Ewart  as  county  auditor,  and  he  administered  the 
oath  of  office  to  the  other  officials.  A  statement  of  the  organization  was  afterwards 
made  to  Judge  Kennedy,  and  he  declared  it  legal." 

We  return  now  to  the  early  history  of  Spokane  and  Stevens  county.  "It  was  not 
until  after  the  war  that  parties  divided  politically,"  continues  Mr.  Winans.  "Then 
for  a  few  years  it  was  Union  and  Democratic  parties,  but  in  1869  five  of  the  seven 
avowed  republicans  met  in  the  office  of  the  writer  and  agreed  on  a  plan  of  organiza- 
tion, which  was  carried  into  effect  by  placing  a  republican  ticket  in  the  field  and 
electing  the  greater  part  of  it.  The  seven  were  Henry  Wellington,  W.  V.  Brown, 
H.  E.  Young,  F.  W.  Perkins,  George  McCrae,  S.  F.  Sherwood  and  W.  P.  Winans. 
For  political  literature  the  democrats  circulated  Brick  Pomeroy's  Democrat,  and  the 
republicans  the  New  York  Tribune  and  Harpers'  Weekly." 

According  to  the  same  authority,  the  legislative  representatives  elected  during 
the  first  few  years  of  Spokane-Stevens  county  are:  J.  A.  Bates,  1861;  Charles  H. 
Campfield,  1862,  B.  F.  Yantis,  contested,  Campfield  made  no  api>earance,  and  Yantis 
got  the  seat;  Dr.  Isaac  L.  Tobey,  for  1863,  reelected  for  1864,  bpt  resigned,  as  the 
pay,  $8  a  day  and  mileage  in  "greenbacks"  at  40  cents  on  the  dollar  would  not  cover 
his  expenses  and  he  did  not  go  to  Olympia  a  second  time.  Wm.  V.  Brown,  for  1865, 
would  not  leave  his  business  to  go  to  the  capital.  J.  J.  H.  Bokkelem  for  1866.  W.  P. 
Winans  for  1867,  member  of  the  first  biennial  session;  Charles  H.  Montgomery, 
1869;  W.  P.  Winans,  1871 ;  T.  O.  Favorite,  1878;  R.  H.  Wimpy,  1875;  D.  F.  Perci- 
val,  1877  and  1879. 

The  joint  councilmen  representing  Walla  Walla,  Sp<^ane,  Stevens  and  other 
counties  for  the  first  few  years  of  organization  were:  John  A.  Simms,  1861-2;  Dan- 
iel Stewart,  1863-4;  Anderson  Cox,  1865-6;  B.  L.  Sharpstein,  1866-7;  J.  M.  Van- 
sycke,  from  1867  to  1870;  H.  O.  D.  Bryant,  1871-2;  Charles  H.  Montgomery,  1873-4. 

Under  the  caption  of  "Incidents,"  Mr.  Winans  records  the  following: 

Before  the  organization  of  the  county  government,  gold  was  dicovered  on  the 
Pend  d'Oreille  river  by  Joe  Morrell  in  1854,  and  in  1855,  the  news  being  scattered 
abroad,  quite  a  number  of  owners,  packers  and  traders  came  into  the  ColviUe  valley 
among  them  Francis  Wolff,  who  in  1856  brought  the  first  merchandise  on  wagons 
into  the  valley,  starting  from  The  Dalles,  going  by  Walla  Walla  valley,  and  crossing 
Snake  river  at  the  mouth  of  the  Palouse  by  lashing  canoes  together.  After  driving 
across  country,  he  ferried  the  Spokane  in  the  same  way,  and  passed  thence  into  the 
valley  by  way  of  Walker's  prairie,  making  the  wagon  tracks  that  Major  Lougenbeel 
followed  in  1859  when  he  came  to  establish  the  military  post. 

The  discovery  of  gold,  the  influx  of  miners,  and  the  location  of  the  United  States 
military  post  called  the  attention  of  the  territorial  legislature  to  the  valley,  and  on 
January  11,  1859,  an  act  was  passed  "Authorizing  Edward  L.  Massey  to  establish  a 
ferry  across  Snake  river,  where  the  road  crosses  between  Walla  Walla  and  Fort  Col- 
viUe." On  December  14,  1859,  the  general  government  was  petitioned  to  build  a 
wagon  road  from  Seattle,  via  Snoqualmie  pass,  to  Fort  Colville. 

In  1859  and  1860  J.  R.  Bates  operated  the  ferry  at  the  Government  crossing  on 
the  Spokane  river.    He  sold  out  to  W.  J.  Terry  and  William  Nixon,  and  on  Septem- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  275 

ber  20,  1 860,  James  Monaghan  was  employed  by  them  to  take  charge  of  it,  he  at  that 
time  being  20  years  old.  Tht  legislature,  on  January  11,  1861,  granted  them  a 
charter  to  build  a  bridge.  This  ferry  afterwards  became  the  property  of  James 
Monaghan,  who  built  the  first  bridge  in  1865,  at  this  crossing.  This  bridge  after- 
wards was  called  Lapray's  bridge,  Joseph  Lapray  purchasing  it  about  1875. 

The  first  bridge  built  on  the  Spokane  river  was  above  the  Mullan  road  crossing, 
in  1864,  by  Tim  Lee,  Joe  Herrin  and  Ned  Jordan.  High  water  in  the  spring  of 
1865  took  it  out,  and  it  was  rebuilt  by  the  same  persons  that  year. 

The  Kootenai  mines  were  discovered  in  the  fall  of  1868,  and  to  ascertain  if  a 
practical  route  could  be  had  by  water,  D.  H.  Ferguson  &  Co.,  in  the  spring  of  1864, 
bought  a  canoe,  employed  Dick  Fr}',  Adam  Boyd  and  Old  Piene  as  guide,  provisioned 
them  for  six  months,  and  sent  them  to  find  a  route  to  the  mines.  They  went  up  the 
Columbia  river  to  its  headwaters,  portaged  the  canoe  three-fourths  of  a  mile  to  the 
Kootenai  river,  and  floated  down  that  stream  to  the  mouth  of  Wild  Horse  creek, 
where  the  Walla  Walla  trail  crossed  the  river.  They  used  the  canoe  as  a  ferry  boat 
to  cross  the  miners  from  the  south,  en  route  to  the  mines. 

About  100  miners  wintered  (1864-65)  at  Marcus,  and  in  the  spring  of  1865 
started  up  the  Columbia  river  and  prospected  the  streams  emptying  into  it,  and  dis- 
covered the  French  Creek,  or  Big  Bend  mines,  in  the  fall  of  1865. 

To  enable  the  people  of  Colville  to  reach  the  Kootenai  trail  with  the  products  of 
the  valley,  it  was  necessary  to  make  a  road  from  Cottonwood  creek,  a  few  miles  south 
of  Chewelah,  to  Peone  prairie,  a  distance  of  about  sixty  miles  through  the  timber. 
The  people  volunteered  the  labor,  and  the  merchants,  C.  H.  Montgomery,  D.  H. 
Ferguson  &  Co.,  and  W.  P.  Winans  donated  the  provisions.  The  road  was  laid  out 
by  a  company,  consisting  of  D.  H.  Ferguson  as  commissary,  John  U.  Hofstetter  as 
orerseer,  and  an  Indian  as  guide.  The  people  by  the  dozens  worked  there  during 
the  summer  and  fall  of  1 867,  and  completed  the  road  so  that  it  has  been  used  ever 
since.  In  1871  Chief  Engineer  Moberly,  in  charge  of  the  surveying  parties  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  railroad,  bought  provisions  in  Colville,  and  they  were  packed  over 
this  road  to  Kootenai,  British  Columbia. 

In  July,  1881,  Captain  Hunter,  with  a  detachment  of  the  First  cavalry,  repaired 
the  road,  John  U.  Hofstetter  again  overseeing  the  work.  He  camped  at  the  beauti- 
ful lake  on  the  divide,  and  on  account  of  the  numerous  loons,  named  it  Loon  lake,  by 
which  it  is  now  known. 

Immediately  following  the  Wright  campaign  of  1858,  the  war  department  decided 
to  establish  a  permanent  military  post  in  the  Spokane  country,  and  in  the  spring  of 
1859  four  companies  of  the  Ninth  U.  S.  infantry,  under  Major  Pinkney  Lougenbeel, 
were  ordered  to  the  Colville  valley.  The  command  crossed  the  Snake  river  at  the 
month  of  the  Palouse,  the  Spokane  at  the  point  now  known  as  the  Lapray  bridge, 
Mul  located,  June  21,  1859,  the  military  post  on  the  flat  near  Mill  creek,  about  three 
miles  from  the  present  town  of  Colville.  A  four  company  post  was  built  of  hewn 
^gs.  R.  H.  Douglass  and  John  Nelson  had  built  a  sawmill  in  1858,  at  the  falls 
on  the  creek  about  three  miles  below  the  site  of  the  fort,  and  Major  Lougenbeel  tried 
to  rent  it  on  a  basis  of  $20  per  thousand  for  lumber  sawed,  he  to  supply  logs  and 
labor.  The  owners  demanded  $40,  whereupon  the  Major  built  a  dam  half  a  mile 
above  the  post  site,  put  in  a  sawmill  and  cut  out  enough  lumber  for  his  own  needs, 


276  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

then  leasing  the  mill  to  others,  and  in  this  way  the  settlers  were  enabled  to  buy 
lumber  at  $10  a  thousand. 

The  same  year,  says  Mr.  Winans,  the  British  boundary  commission^  under  Col- 
onel Hawkins,  located  their  quarters  on  the  south  side  of  the  Columbia  river,  two 
miles  above  Kettle  Falls,  and  about  fifteen  miles  from  the  American  post,  and 
built  comfortable  log  houses  to  shelter  his  command.  The  place  is  now  occu- 
pied by  the  town  of  Marcus.  On  August  6,  1861,  Captain  John  G.  Parke  sold  such 
supplies  as  he  had  belonging  to  the  American  Boundary  Commission  (the  American 
and  British  engineers  had  worked  together  locating  the  boundary)  and  left  for  the 
States;  and  on  April  4,  1862,  Colonel  Hawkins  abandoned  his  building  and  started 
for  England  by  way  of  Walla  Walla. 

For  the  historic  dates  in  this  chapter,  relating  to  the  military  occupation  of  the 
Colville  valley,  I  am  indebted  to  the  valuable  journal  of  Mr.  Winans. 

On  November  17,  1861,  Major  Lougenbeel  was  relieved  of  the  command  of  Fort 
Colville  by  Major  James  F.  Curtis,  with  two  companies  of  the  Second  Infantry,  Cali- 
fornia Volunteers.  One  of  the  first  orders  issued  by  Major  Curtis  dismissed  the  post 
sutler,  Charles  R.  Allen.  It  was  terse,  emphatic  and  patriotic:  "Sir:  You  are  dis- 
missed as  sutler  from  this  post  for  your  unqualified  secession  principles." 

Some  of  the  California  Volunteers  were  a  rough  and  disorderly  lot,  reputed  jail- 
birds of  San  Francisco,  a  city  then  swarming  with  the  offscourings  of  civilization. 

"Besides  getting  drunk,  they  would  fight,  steal  and  kill.  Within  four  days  of 
their  arrival  they  broke  into  the  only  washhouse  in  town,  ran  off  the  Chinamen  and 
stole  the  clothes,  leaving  most  of  the  citizens  with  only  what  underclothing  was  on 
their  persons.  February  8,  1862,  Lieutenant  John  M.  Henry  came  to  the  town, 
and  in  cold  blood  killed  John  Burk  with  a  butcher  knife.  The  coroner's  inquest  found 
Henry  guilty  of  murder.  Major  Curtis  confined  him  to  his  quarters  for  about  twenty 
days,  and  then,  on  account  of  criticism  by  citizens,  turned  him  over  to  Sheriff  Fran- 
cis Wolff.  The  nearest  jail  being  470  miles  distant,  at  Vancouver,  the  sheriff  took 
him  to  his  farm,  about  &ye  miles  distant,  and  kept  him  until  spring,  when  Henry  de- 
manded a  hearing  before  a  justice  of  the  peace.  At  the  examination,  and  on  ac- 
count of  the  intimidation  of  these  soldiers,  no  one  appeared  to  prosecute,  and  he  was 
discharged  and  left  the  place.  It  was  reported  some  months  later  that  he  was  killed 
in  a  row  in  California.  Sheriff  Wolff  was  allowed  $352  by  the  county  commissioners 
for  guarding  and  feeding  Lieutenant  Henry." 

February  22,  1863,  passes  into  history  as  ^memorable  for  the  largest  and  most 
brilliant  social  event  that  had  ever  been  given  in  the  Spokane  country,  the  great 
ball  of  the  California  Volunteers.  Invitations  were  sent  out  to  practically  everybody 
in  the  Colville  valley^  including  the  officers  and  men  of  the  British  Boundary  Com- 
mission. The  times  were  democratic,  social  distinctions  were  obliterated  between 
officers  and  men,  and  there  was  a  joyous  commingling  of  the  native  and  Caucasian 
races.  More  than  400  guests  attended,  including  about  150  women  of  the  valley, 
chiefly  natives  and  mixed  bloods,  and  half  a  dozen  white  women,  all  that  could  be 
mustered  in  the  fort  and  the  country.  Major  Curtis  and  his  officers  attended  in  full 
dress  uniform,  and  were  hospitable  to  a  degree,  exerting  themselves  to  see  that  none 
lacked  attention,  and  capping  their  hospitality  with  a  bountiful  supper.  Evidently 
the  California  Volunteers  were  on  their  good  behavior,  and  there  was  only  a  "sound 
of  revelry  by  night"  where  too  frequently  had  been  a  sound  of  deviltry  by  day. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  277 

One  of  the  company  barracks^  a  log  building  25x100,  had  been  patriotically  and 
beautifully  decorated  as  a  ballroom.  At  each  end,  over  the  great  fireplaces,  were 
rosettes  of  guns  and  sabers,  flanked  by  the  flags  of  the  United  States  and  the  British 
Empire.  Flags  and  bunting  were  on  the  sides  of  the  building  in  profusion,  and  for 
illumination  artistic  hands  had  formed  great  chandeliers  of  bayonets  attached  to 
hoops,  in  cone  and  pyramidal  effect.  The  dancing  and  the  feasting  lasted  until 
dayh^t. 

We  quote  now  from  Mr.  Winan's  diary: 

March  26,  1862.  Lieutenant  Wing  of  the  California  Volunteers  committed  sui- 
cide by  shooting  himself,  placing  the  muzzle  of  the  pistol  in  his  mouth.  The  first  use 
made  of  the  beautiful  marble  of  which  the  valley  has  such  a  great  variety  and  abun- 
dance was  a  slab  marking  his  grave. 

April  21,  1862.  Major  Curtis  came  with  his  command  to  the  town,  went  to  John 
Shaw's  distillery,  took  the  worm  of  the  still  out  and  up  to  the  fort,  knocked  all  the 
barrels  of  whisky  in  the  head,  and  ordered  every  one  in  town  not  to  sell  liquor  to 
any  one,  which  order  was  obeyed.  The  character  of  some  of  the  men  in  his  com- 
mand was  such  that  life  and  property  were  not  safe  when  they  were  drinking. 
The  order  was  obeyed,  not  only  because  it  was  an  order,  but  for  self-protection. 

July  11,  1862.  Major  C.  H.  RumriU,  with  two  companies  of  the  Washington 
Territory  Volunteers,  relieved  Major  Curtis,  who,  with  his  command,  went  to  Fort 
Vancouver. 

November  8,  1862.  The  order  of  Major  Curtis  of  April  21,  stopping  the 
sale  of  liquors,  was  suspended  by  order  of  Major  RumriU,  and  whisky  selling  was 
again  permitted.  It  might  be  proper  to  say  that  during  the  prohibition  the  settlers 
expended  about  the  same  amount  of  money,  but  it  was  noticeable  that  their  families 
were  more  comfortably  housed  and  better  clothed. 

During  the  fall  and  winter  of  1862-63,  some  desperadoes,  driven  out  of  Lewiston, 
came  to  Colville.  One  of  them,  Charles  Harper,  shot  and  killed  Mrs.  McRice  at  a 
dance,  at  the  British  Boundary  Commission  barracks.  He  fled,  but  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  January,  1868,  was  caught  by  a  party  of  miners  and  hanged  at  Leo's  bar 
on  the  Columbia  river,  about  fifteen  miles  below  the  old  fort. 

Another  called  Williams  (who  was  thought  by  his  associates  to  be  Wells,  a  man 
who  killed  a  sheriff  and  his  deputy  and  driver  near  Sacramento  four  years  before) 
with  three  others,  were  stopping  on  the  Little  Pend  d'Oreille,  on  the  place  afterwards 
owned  by  Mrs.  A.  Reeves  Ayers.  His  companions  became  afraid  of  him  and  killed 
him.  The  younger  one,  a  boy  of  18,  told  Major  RumriU  about  it,  alleging  self- 
defense,  hoping  to  get  the  supposed  reward  offered  for  Wells.  The  body,  when  un- 
earthed and  examined,  showed  that  Williams  had  been  shot,  knocked  in  the  head 
with  an  ax,  and  choked  with  a  scarf.  This  investigation  implicated  the  others,  and 
they  tried  to  get  out  of  the  country,  but  the  sheriff  and  posse,  with  the  guidance  of 
James  Monaghan  and  his  prompt  action,  overtook  them  on  the  Spokane,  near  An- 
toine  Plant's  ferry,  and  took  them  back  to  Colville.  There  being  no  jail,  they,  with 
two  others,  were  kept  in  the  guard  house  all  winter,  and  the  following  April  broke 
away  from  the  guard,  and  were  afterwards  seen  in  Walla  Walla. 

November  5,  1863,  Lieutenant  Charles  P.  Egan  was  married  to  Miss  Emma 
Johnson,  at  the  commanding  officer's  quarters,  by  D.  H.  Ferguson,  justice  of  the 
peace.    A  splendid  dinner  followed  the  ceremony.     This  officer,  as  commissary  gen- 


278  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

eral,  attained  considerable  notoriety  in  canned  beef  contracts  during  the  Spanish- 
American  war. 

December  24,  186S,  military  ball  at  the  Fort.  All  the  people  of  the  Valley  were 
there,  the  Washington  Volunteers  trying  to  excel  the  California  Volunteers  in  the 
entertainment  of  the  year  before. 

May  26,  1865,  Captain  F.  O.  McCown,  with  one  company  of  Oregon  Volunteers, 
relieved  Major  Rumrill  and  his  command  of  two  companies  of  Washington  Territory 
Volunteers,  they  going  to  Walla  Walla.  Captain  McCown,  on  taking  command,  au- 
thorized W.  P.  Winans  to  act  as  post  trader. 

November  9,  1865,  Captain  John  S.  Wharton,  with  one  company,  sixty-two  men. 
Fourteenth  U.  S.  infantry  regulars,  arrived  and  relieved  Captain  McCown  and  his 
command,  who  went  to  Vancouver  to  be  mustered  out  of  service.  From  this  date 
until  abandonment,  September,  1882,  the  fort  was  garrisoned  by  regular  troops  from 
different  regiments  with  different  officers. 

On  January  19,  1866,  John  S.  Davis,  living  at  the  British  Boundary  Commis- 
sion barracks,  was  punishing  his  squaw;  her  mother,  seeing  it,  ran  a  knife  through 
his  body,  killing  him.  A  few  hours  afterward  the  mother  was  found  hanging  by  her 
neck  in  one  of  the  vacant  buildings.  The  people  did  not  take  the  law  into  their  own 
hands  in  every  case,  for  in  1865  an  Indian  killed  a  white  man  on  Kettle  river,  at 
night  while  the  victim  was  sleeping.  He  was  given  a  jury  trial,  was  found  guilty  of 
murder,  and  hanged  from  a  gallows  erected  by  the  sheriff. 

On  February  18,1 867,  a  party  of  five  soldiers  came  to  town,  and  shot  and  killed 
H.  P.  Stewart,  the  probate  judge.  On  June  8,  1867,  the  court  met,  presided  over 
by  Judge  J.  E.  Wyche,  and  soldier  Reilly  was  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  twenty 
years  in  the  penitentiary  at  Steilacoom.  Judge  Stewart  was  buried  with  Masonic 
ceremonies.  Seven  Masons  were  present.  This  was  the  first  Masonic  funeral  in  the 
county. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Merriam,  with  his  command  of  three  companies,  camped 
during  the  winter  of  1879-80  on  Foster  creek,  and  in  the  spring  of  1880  went  to 
Chelan  and  commenced  to  build  a  post,  but  the  difficulties  of  access,  and  the  lade  of 
transportation  were  such  that  a  new  location  was  sought  for,  and  the  fort  was  finally 
located  near  the  mouth  of  the  Spokane  river,  and  built  there  in  1881. 

Lieutenant  Webster  and  his  command  were  then  withdrawn  from  Colville,  leav- 
ing a  quartermaster's  man,  Christ  Gilson,  in  charge,  who,  after  a  few  months,  was 
discharged,  and  in  1882  the  fort  was  left  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  people.  In  a  • 
few  years  not  a  house  was  left  on  the  original  site.  Parts  of  them>  though,  can  yet 
be  found,  twenty-five  miles  away  from  where  they  formerly  stood.  The  land  of  the 
military  reserve  was  appraised  and  sold,  and  is  now  owned  by  citizens  and  cultivated 
as  farms. 

The  troops  were  withdrawn  from  Fort  Spokane  in  1898,  to  take  part  in  the  Span- 
ish war,  and  later  the  fort  was  turned  over  to  the  Indian  department  and  used  as  An 
Indian  school. 

For  the  record  of  changes  since  1873  Mr.  Winans  acknowledges  information 
given  by  James  Monaghah  and  Edward  O'Shea. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

INLAND  EMPIRE  HISTORY  IN  OLD  LEGISLATIVE  ACTS 

DISCOTERY    OF    GOLD EARLY    FERRIES    AND    BRIDGES STEAMBOATS    ON    COLUMBIA    AND 

SNAKE MEMORIALS    FOR    TRANSCONTINENTAL    RAILROAD — SCHEME    TO    TURN    PEND 

d'oREILLE  RIYER  into  the  SPOKANE ARMS  SENT  TO  MINERS GOLD  HUNTERS  OVER- 
RUN   XEZ    PERCE   RESERVATION TOWN    OF    LEWISTON    LAID   OUT CANADIAN    "rECI- 

PROCITY"" ^MINERS  CLAMOR  FOR  BETTER  MAIL  SERVICE FIRST  BOOM  IN  THE  INLAND 

EMPIRE SPOKANE    COUNTY    ANNEXED    TO    STEVENS DEALING    WITH    THE    CHINESE 

WALLA    walla's    FIRST    LITERARY    SOCIETY ^JAMES    MONAGHAN    GRANTED    BRIDGE 

FRANCHISE   ON   THE   SPOKANE COAST   MERCHANTS   COMPETE   WITH   ST.  LOUIS ORE- 
GON TRIES  TO  ANNEX  WALLA  WALLA FAMOUS  OLD  MULLAN  ROAD PRICES  OF  WALLA 

WALLA  PRODUCTS. 

Trust  me^  each  state  must  have  its  policies ; 

Eangdoms  have  edicts^  cities  have  their  charters; 

Even  the  wild  outlaw^  in  his  forest  walk^ 

Keeps  yet  some  touch  of  civil  discipline; 

For  not  since  Adam  wore  his  verdant  apron^ 

Hath  man  with  man  in  social  union  dwelt^ 

But  laws  were  made  to  draw  that  union  closer. 

—Old  Play. 

AT  THE  sessions  of  1860-1  and  1861-2,  the  legislature  carved,  out  of  the 
original  boimdaries  of  Spokane,  the  counties  of  Missoula,  Idaho,  Nez  Perce 
and  Shoshone,  that  territory  having  received  a  large  influx  of  gold  miners; 
and  at  the  latter  session  enacted  a  law  constituting  these  counties,  and  with  them 
Spokane  and  Walla  Walla,  the  first  judicial  district.  At  the  same  session  acts  were 
passed  establishing  courts  at  the  county  seats  of  Idaho,  Spokane  and  Shoshone,  that 
of  Spokane  to  have  jurisdiction  in  Spokane  and  Missoula  counties. 

At  this  time  discoveries  of  gold  at  various  points  in  the  Clearwater  and  Salmon 
river  region  and  along  the  bars  of  the  Columbia  river  were  luring  thousands  of  ad- 
venturous men  into  the  interior,  and  ferries  were  needed  at  many  points  where  roads 
and  trails  crossed  deep  or  turbulent  rivers.  At  its  winter  sessions  of  1860-1  and 
1861-2  the  legislature  at  Olympia  was  besieged  by  eager  applicants  for  ferry  fran- 
chises. An  act  passed  in  January,  1861,  authorized  "Antoine  Plant,  his  heirs  and 
assigns  to  establish  and  keep  a  ferry  across  the  Spokane  river,  at  or  near  the  point 
where  the  military  road  from  Fort  Walla  Walla  to  Fort  Benton  crosses  said  river ;" 
and  allowing  him  to  charge  the  following  tolls : 

279 


280  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

For  each  wagop^  carriage  or  vehicle^  with  two  animals  attached . .  $4.00 

For  each  pleasure  wagon^  with  two  horses S.OO 

For  each  additional  animal 50 

For  each  cart^  wagon  or  carriage  with  one  horse 2.00 

For  man  and  horse 1 .50 

For   each   animal   packed 1.50 

For   each    footman 50 

For  loose  animals^  other  than  sheep  or  hogs 25 

For  sheep^  goats  or  hogs^  each  head 15 

The  grantee  was  required^  "within  six  months  from  and  after  the  passage  of  tiiis 
act^  to  procure  and  keep  on  said  ferry  a  sufficient  ferry  boat^  with  the  requisite  num- 
ber of  hands  to  work  the  same^  for  the  transportation  of  all  persons  and  their  prop* 
erty  without  unnecessary  delay;"  and  further,  to  pay  "into  the  county  treasury  of 
the  county  in  which  said  ferry  may  be  located,  as  an  annual  tax,  a  sum  not  to  ex- 
ceed $25  for  the  use  of  said  county." 

At  the  same  session  the  legislature  incorporated  the  Spokane  Bridge  company, 
with  W.  J.  Terry,  William  Nix  "and  such  others  as  may  become  associated  with 
them,"  as  incorporators,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $20,000;  "for  the  purpose  of  con- 
structing a  bridge  across  the  Spokane  river,  Spokane  county,  at  or  near  the  govern- 
ment crossing."    Maximum  toUs  were  established: 

For  each  foot  passenger $  .25 

For  each  man   and  horse    1 .00 

For  each  pack  animal  and  pack 75 

For  each  cart,  chaise,  gig  with  two  wheels,  or  other  two-wheeled 

carriage  drawn  by  one  horse 1.25 

The  same  drawn  by  two  horses  or  oxen 1.50 

For  each  four-wheeled  wagon,  buggy  or  carriage,  with  one  horse.    1.50 

The  same  with  two  horses  or  oxen 1.75 

For  additional  horse  or  ox 25 

For  each  pleasure  carriage,  coach  or  vehicle  for  conveyance  of 

persons,  with  four  horses 2.00 

For  each  horse,  mule  or  ass,  or  neat  cattle 25 

For  each  sheep  or  hog 10 

The  president  of  the  company  was  required,  as  soon  as  the  bridge  was  com- 
pletied  and  tolls  collected  thereon,  to  list  under  oath  the  capital  stock  and  other  prop- 
erty of  the  company,  "for  taxation  as  personal  proi>erty  is  then  listed  for  taxation  by 
law."  And  "at  any  time  after  ten  years  from  the  time  the  tolls  may  be  first  col- 
lected on  said  bridge,  the  county  commissioners  or  proper  authorities  of  Spokane 
county  shall  have  a  right  to  purchase  and  manage  said  bridge  in  such  a  manner  as 
may  be  provided  by  law." 

Mention  of  Antoine  Plant's  place  on  the  Spokane  river  is  made  in  preceding  chap- 
ters. Ben  Burgunder,  a  resident  of  Colfax  since  1879,  who  came  into  the  Inland 
Empire  in  1862,  and  a  year  later  went  to  Marcus,  Stevens  county,  where  he  en- 
gaged   in   business    for   many   years,   has   given   the   writer   valuable   information 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  281 

respecting  Antoine's  place  and  other  historic  crossings  of  the  Spokane.  Plant's 
ferry  was  at  a  point  a  short  distance  above  Trent,  but  his  home,  where  Governor 
Stevens  repeatedly  was  sheltered  in  the  '50s,  was  at  the  large  spring  which  gushes 
from  the  hillside  about  a  mile  and  a  half  north  of  the  stream. 

* 

The  Mullan  road  crossed  the  river  at  Plant's  ferry,  and  ran  up  the  valley  to 
Lake  Coeur  d'Alene.  At  Antoine  Camille's  place,  some  three  miles  above  Plant's 
dwelling,  it  connected  with  the  old  Colville  road  coming  down  over  Peone  prairie. 
Mr.  Burgunder  recalls  that  the  MuUan  road  followed  the  old  Colville  road  from 
Walla  Walla  to  the  crossing  of  Cow  creek,  and  there  took  an  independent  course, 
and  crossed  Snake  river  at  the  mouth  of  the  Palouse.  McWirck  Bros,  had  the 
first  ferry  at  that  point.  They  operated  under  a  charter  granted  in  the  early  '60s. 
The  place  is  now  known  as  Lyon's  Ferry. 

Tim  Lee  and  Joe  Herrin  built  the  first  bridge  across  the  Spokane,  in  1864,  and 
sold  it  to  Charley  Kendall,  who  had  a  store  on  the  east  bank.  The  store  of  M.  M. 
Cowley  and  Tom  Ford  was  on  the  west  side.  Kendall  was  killed  about  1875  by 
Joe  Leonard,  who  fired  through  Kendall's  bedroom  window.  Leonard  was  killed 
in  Montana,  while  serving  as  a  U.  S.  scout  in  the  Nez  Perce  war  of  1 877.  At  the 
time  Kendall  operated  his  toll  bridge  across  the  Spokane,  Isaac  Kellogg  came  up 
from  Waitsburg  in  1865  and  built  a  free  bridge  across  the  stream  at  Antoine 
Plant's  old  ferry.  While  sitting  in  his  cabin  one  night,  he  was  killed  by  a  shot 
fired  through  the  window. 

Lieutenant  MuDan  found  Plant  "a  very  worthy  halfbreed  Flathead  Indian,  who 
speaks  both  French  and  English;  has  a  small  field  under  cultivation,  from  which 
he  obtains  com,  wheat  and  vegetables ;  these,  with  the  salmon  found  in  the  river, 
form  an  abundant  supply  for  his  Indian  family." 

Mullan,  with  a  party  of  100  men,  completed  his  historic  old  highway  in  1859-60. 
His  main  command  started  from  Walla  Walla  July  1,  bridging  rivers,  creeks  and 
sloughs  on  their  march,  and  noting  the  character  of  the  country.  Of  the  Palouse 
region  Mullan  ventured  the  prediction  that  "the  black  loam  would  doubtless  pro- 
duce vegetables  and  cereals,  and  it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  the  grazier  and 
agriculturist  will  find,  at  no  distant  day,  tracts  of  land  that  will  amply  repay 
their  reclamation." 

Under  date  of  July  14  Mullan  made  this  entry  in  his  journal:  **We  camped  this 
day  on  the  banks  of  the  Nedwhuald,  and  at  the  same  point  where  General  Wright 
hong  Qualchien,  the  noted  Yakima  chief,  and  several  other  Indians,  from  which 
fact  the  creek  is  known  to  many  as  Hangman's  creek." 

Of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  Indians  Mullan  wrote:  "They  ar^  wily  fellows,  and 
great  caution  is  necessary  in  all  intercourse  with  them." 

His  great  task  ended,  Mullan's  command  was  disbanded  at  Walla  Walla  in 
August,  1860,  and  the  outfit  sold.  "Thus  ended  my  work  in  the  field,"  he  reported, 
"costing  seven  years  of  close  and  arduous  attention,  exploring  and  opening  up  a 
road  of  624  miles,  from  the  Columbia  to  the  Missouri  river,  at  a  cost  of  $280,000.'* 

At  this  period  all  eyes  were  dazzled  by  the  glitter  and  glamour  of  gold,  for  the 
rich  placers  of  the  Spokane  country  were  yielding  princely  tribute;  fortune  smiled 
on  many  a  poor  miner,  and  the  spirit  of  promotion  and  exploitation  was  in  the  land. 
Steamboats  were  needed  on  the  swift  waters  of  the  Columbia,  the  Snake  and  the 
Clearwater,  to  transport  passengers  and  merchandise  to  the  interior,  and  to  meet 


282  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

that  need  we  find  J.  C.  Ainsworth,  Daniel  F.  Bradford,  R.  R.  Thompson  and  J.  S. 
Ruggle  appearing  at  Olympia  for  legislative  articles  to  incorporate  the  historic  old 
Oregon  Steam  Navigation  company,  predecessor  of  the  Oregon  Reulroad  &  Navi- 
gation company,  or  as  now  known,  the  Harriman  system  in  Washington  and  Oregon. 
At  least  two  of  these,  were  to  become  steamboat  princes,  for  their  boats  earned 
fabulous  profits,  as  wealth  came  easily  when  miners  were  rocking  out  from  $10  to 
$100  a  day  to  the  man  at  Pierce  City,  Orofino,  Florence  and  other  famous  placer 
camps  of  fifty  years  ago. 

Even  then,  and  for  years  before,  the  people  had  keen  anticipations  of  the  coming 
of  the  Northern  Pacific  railorad  and  the  transformation  to  be  wrought  by  it  in  pio- 
neer conditions  of  travel,  transportation  and  development.  A  memorial  adopted  by 
the  Washington  legislature,  February  4,  1858,  told  congress  that  "the  time  has  ar- 
rived for  the  construction  of  a  great  national  railway  across  the  continent,  connect- 
ing the  populous  states  of  the  Atlantic  with  the  Pacific  shores  of  the  Union,  already 
colonized  with  our  young  and  vigorous  men.  ...  It  will  bind  together  this  vast 
republic,  and  be  a  chain  of  union  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  states.  It  will 
insure  the  defense  of  the  country.  Armies,  seaman,  military  and  naval  stores  may  be 
transported  from  ocean  to  ocean  in  less  time  and  with  less  expense  than  were  re- 
quired  between  New  York  and  the  lakes  during  the  war  of  1812.  It  will  give  a 
direct,  quick  transit  to  mails.  Military  reasons  call  for  its  construction.  Political 
reasons  require  that  it  should  be  made;  and  more  than  all,  commercial  reasons  de- 
mand it.  The  trade  of  the  Pacific  ocean  and  eastern  Asia  will  take  its  track.  The 
trade  of  India,  whose  channels  have  been  shifting  for  hundreds  of  years,  is  destined 
to  shift  once  more,  and  that  is  across  our  continent.  The  American  road  to  India 
will  become  the  European  track  to  that  region,  and  the  rich  commerce  of  India  will 
flow  through  our  center." 

For  these  and  other  reasons,  it  was — 

"Resolved,  As  the  opinion  of  the  legislative  assembly,  that  the  cheapest  and 
shortest  route  from  the  great  commercial  emporiums  of  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
is  the  route  explored  and  surveyed  by  Governor  Stevens  near  the  forty-ninth  parallel 
of  north  latitude,  connecting  Puget  Sound,  the  largest  and  most  commodious  harbor 
in  the  world,  with  its  inexhaustible  beds  of  coal,  with  the  head  of  Lake  Superior  and 
the  three  great  lakes  which  connect  directly  with  the  Atlantic,  thus  greatly  reducing 
the  cost  of  transit  on  heavy  merchandise. 

"Resolved,  That  the  northern  line  is  the  most  accessible  by  navigation,  passes 
through  the  lumber  regions  of  Minnesota  and  Washington,  and  has  easy  access  to  the 
vast  pine  forests  of  .the  Red  river,  and  passing  through  the  rich  and  boundless  prai- 
ries of  the  northwest. 

"Resolved,  That  the  construction  of  this  great  northern  national  system  can 
not  only  be  the  work  of  the  present  century,  but  it  can  be  made  the  great  work  of  the 
present  administration,  giving  it  undying  fame,  binding  together  this  vast  empire  in 
bands  of  iron,  and  bearing  the  light  of  the  gospel,  of  science  and  civilization  across 
the  continent,  and  making  it  the  great  highway  between  Europe  and  Asia." 

But  lamentably  the  civil  war  was  coming  on,  and  Buchanan's  administration, 

0 

soon  to  be  swept  from  power,  was  not  to  have  the  "undying  fame"  held  out  to  it  by 
the  legislative  assembly  of  the  young  territory  of  Washington.  Russian  peasants 
have  a  saying  that  "God  and  the  czar  are  far  away,"  and  congress  and  a  trans- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  283 

continental  railroad  were  far  distant  from  the  voice  of  the  legislative  assembly  that 
was  trying  to  make  itself  heard  from  the  backwoods  capital  of  Olympia. 

We  have  in  the  Spokane  river  a  pretty  fine  water  power,  even  as  nature  bestowed 
it  upon  us;  but  we  should  have  possessed  a  far  greater  power  if  only  the -brilliant 
project  of  the  promoters  of  the  Pend  d'Oreille  mining  company  had  materialized 
some  fifty  years  ago.  Their  object,  however,  was  the  quest  of  gold,  not  to  amplify 
the  water  power  in  the  Spokane,  of  which  it  then  seemed  there  was  an  abundance  and 
more  for  all  future  time. 

By  an  act  passed  in  January,  1861,  this  corporation,  having  as  its  incorporators 
W.  H.  Watson,  H.  Way,  W.  Terry,  R.  Ricord,  G.  C.  Blankenship,  William  Cardwell 
and  B.  F.  Yantis,  was  granted  power  "to  construct  and  maintain  a  canal  for  the  pur- 
pose of  turning  the  channel  of  the  Pend  d'Oreille  river  into  the  Spokane  river  from 
any  point  on  said  Pend  d'Oreille  river  that  the  said  company  shall  deem  most  advis- 
able; and  shall  have  the  exclusive  right  for  mining  purposes  to  the  bed  of  said  river 
below  low  water  mark."  It  further  was  provided  that  "any  person  not  a  member  of 
said  corporation  who  shall  attempt  to  mine  in  said  river  below  low  water  mark,  shall 
be  deemed  guilty  of  a  trespass,  and  upon  conviction  thereof,  shall  forfeit  and  pay  to 
the  said  corporation  not  less  than  $500  nor  more  than  $1,000,  recoverable  before 
any  court  having  jurisdiction,  in  the  name  of  the  corporation." 

On  the  theory  that  the  bed  of  the  Pend  d'Oreille  was  rich  in  placer  gold,  it  was 
the  intention  of  the  company  to  divert,  through  a  canal,  the  entire  flow  of  that  river 
into  the  headwaters  of  the  Little  SpK>kane,  and  thence  into  the  main  Spokane.  But 
the  stock  proved  unsalable,  and  it  appears  that  the  project  never  advanced  beyond 
the  "paper"  stage* 

At  the  session  of  1859-60,  John  W.  Park  was  granted  a  franchise  for  a  ferry 
across  the  St.  Joseph  river,  "in  what  is  commonly  known  as  Spokane  county,"  at  the 
point  "where  the  territorial  or  military  road  leading  from  post  or  Fort  Walla  Walla 
to  Fort  Benton,  Montana,"  crossed  that  stream.  The  authorized  tolls  were  somewhat 
hi^er  than  the  legislature  had  permitted  on  other  ferries  in  the  interior,  ranging 
from  50  cents  for  a  footman  to  $5  for  each  wagon  with  two  animals  attached. 

William  Forman  was  authorized  to  establish  a  ferry  across  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
river,  "in  what  is  commonly 'called  Spokane  county,"  at  the  point  where  the  Walla 
Walla-Fort  Benton  road  crossed  that  stream,  with  permission  to  charge  the  same 
schedule  of  tolls  as  had  been  granted  the  ferry  across  the  St.  Joseph. 

Notwithstanding  the  pacification  of  the  country  by  the  crushing  defeats  ad- 
ministered by  Colonel  Wright  in  1858  upon  the  turbulent  Indian  tribes,  the  settlers 
were  apprehensive  of  renewed  hostilities  north  of  Snake  river ;  and  the  legislature, 
by  a  resolution  passed  February  1st,  1860,  directed  the  quartermaster  general  "to 
forward  one-fourth  of  all  the  territorial  arms  now  in  his  possession,  to  some  con- 
venient point  or  points  in  the  counties  of  SpK)kane  and  Walla  Walla,  or  both  of  them." 

Among  the  important  acts  passed  at  this  session  was  one  "to  establish  an  insti- 
tution of  learning  in  Walla  Walla  county," — the  beginning  of  the  Whitman  college 
of  the  present  day.  The  act,  passed  December  20,  1 859,  provided  for  "the  instruc- 
tion of  persons  of  both  sexes,  in  science  and  literature,"  in  an  institution  "to  be 
called  the  Whitman  seminary;"  and  named  Elkanah  Walker,  George  H.  Atkinson, 
Elisha  S.  Tanner,  Erastus  S.  Joslyn,  W.  A.  Tenney,  H.  H.  Spalding,  John  C.  Smith, 
James  Craigie  and  Gushing  Eells  as  trustees.    The  capital  stock  was  never  to  exceed 


284  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

$150^000^  "nor  the  income  or  proceeds  of  the  same  be  appropriated  to  any  other  use 
than  for  the  benefit  of  said  institution  as  contemplated  by  this  act." 

For  the  accommodation  of  gold-hunters  passing  into  the  upper  Columbia  river 
country  and  on  the  way  to  the  Similkameen  placers,  P.  C.  Dunlevey  was  authorized 
at  this  session  to  establish  and  keep  a  ferry  "across  Shalam  river  in  Spokane  county, 
commencing  at  lake  Shalam  and  extending  ^ye  miles  down  Shalam  river/'  Thus 
they  attempted  to  spell  "Chelan"  half  a  century  and  more  ago. 

The  country  east  of  the  Cascade  mountains  engrossed  a  large  part  of  the  thought 
and  attention  of  the  legislative  session  of  the  winter  of  1860-61.  Travel  was  setting 
in  briskly  towards  the  placer  mining  camps  of  northern  Idaho,  and  the  upper 
Columbia,  and  to  facilitate  it  the  legislature  granted  the  Walla  Walla  &  Clear- 
water road  company  a  franchise  to  construct  and  maintain  a  toll  road  by  way  of 
the  old  Indian  trail.  Elias  D.  Pierce^  Joseph  L.  Davis,  James  Buckley  and  Lycurgus 
Jackson  were  named  as  incorporators,  and  empowered  to  charge  tolls  at  each  bridge 
or  ferry  ranging  from  fifty  cents  for  a  footman  to  $5  for  each  wagon  with  six 
mules,  horses  or  oxen.  Daniel  Ladoux  was  authorized  to  keep  a  ferry  across  the 
Columbia  at  the  mouth  of  Kettle  river. 

Congress  was  memorialized  for  the  appointment  of  a  commissioner  to  treat 
with  the  Nez  Perce  Indians  for  a  change  in  their  reservation,  the  memorial  point- 
ing out  that  "during  the  past  year  discoveries  have  indicated  the  existence  of  rich 
gold  fields  within  the  limits  of  the  Nez  Perce  reservation  in  this  territory;"  that 
"this  has  caused  great  excitement  among  those  Indians,  as  also  among  our  white 
population,  and  it  is  feared  that  unless  some  action  is  taken  by  the  general  govern- 
ment, it  may  lead  to  serious  difficulty  between  the  whites  and  the  Nez  Perces,  who 
have  been  uniformly  friendly  to  our  citizens."  It  was  believed  "that  the  lands 
upon  which  the  gold  is  indicated  may  be  peaceably  procured  of  the  Indians  should 
a  commissioner  be  appointed  to  treat  with  them  for  a  change  in  the  boundaries 
of  the  reservation." 

The  first  treatv  was  made  with  the  Nez  Perces  in  1855,  but  was  not  ratified 
until  1859,  explains  Myron  Eells,  in  "History  of  Indian  Missions  on  the  Pacific 
Coast."  The  next  year  the  gold  mines  of  Orofino  were  discovered  on  their  reserva- 
tion, and  the  following  year  those  of  Florence  and  other  places  in  western  Idaho, 
to  the  east  of  the  reservation;  but  to  reach  the  latter  the  miners  were  obliged  to 
travel  across  the  reservation;  and  men  did  rush  on  to  it  and  across  it  very  much 
as  if  it  had  not  been  set  apart  for  the  Indians.  In  order  to  avoid  a  conflict,  a  new 
treaty  was  made  in  April,  1861  (which,  however,  was  never  ratified),  by  which 
that  part  of  the  reservation  lying  north  of  Snake  and  Clearwater  rivers,  the  south 
fork  of  the  Clearwater,  and  the  trail  from  the  south  fork  by  the  Wieppe  root 
ground,  across  the  Bitter  Root  mountains,  was  opened  to  the  whites  in  common  with 
the  Indians  for  mining  purposes.  As  long  as  the  United  States  did  not  ratify  it,  it 
did  not  become  binding  on  the  Indians,  and  even  if  it  had  been,  only  a  part  of 
the  reservation  was  opened,  and  that  only  for  mining  purposes.  Yet,  in  defiance 
of  law,  and  against  the  protestations  of  the  Indian  agent,  the  town  of  Lewiston 
was  laid  out  in  1861  on  the  reservation,  and  on  that  part  of  it  which  had  not  been 
thus  opened.  The  town  soon  grew  to  be  a  place  of  1,200  people,  and  the  first 
capital  of  Idaho;  and  the  anomaly  was  seen  of  the  legislature  of  a  territory  sitting 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  285 

on  an  Indian  reservation,  and  even  making  laws,  some  of  which  were  contrary 
to  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  in  regard  to  intercourse  with  Indians. 

"By  the  spring  of  1863,"  adds  Eells,  "it  was  evident  that  a  new  treaty  was 
needed,  whereby  the  reservation  should  be  curtailed,  if  possible;  and  this  was 
made  in  June  of  that  year;  but  it  was  not  ratified  by  the  United  States  until  1867. 
Lawyer,  the  head  chief,  and  fifty  other  sub-chiefs  and  head  men  agreed  to  it,  but 
others  did  not,  among  whom  were  Joseph,  White  Bird  and  Looking  Glass,  who 
Dved  on  the  part  surrendered  to  the  United  States ;  and  this  was  the  main  cause  of 
the  war  with  Joseph  in  1877. 

"The  tribe  was  thus,  in  1863,  divided  into  treaty  and  non-treaty  Indians,  and 
as  government  failed  either  to  ratify  this  treaty,  or  even  to  pay  all  the  money  due 
under  the  first  treaty,  the  division  between  the  two  parties  grew  wider  and  wider, 
and  the  non-treaty  party  grew  constantly  stronger,  while  the  other  side  grew  weaker. 
To  add  to  the  difficulty,  the  miners  and  others,  of  whom  3,000  or  4,000  were  on  the 
reservation,  carried  a  large  amount  of  whiskey  with  them,  a  considerable  part  of 
▼hich  was  furnished  to  the  Indians,  enough  at  times  to  occasion  serious  trouble, 
had  there   been   no   other   cause. 

"Lawyer,  notwithstanding,  stood  firm  for  the  whites  until  June,  1867,  more 
than  six  years  after  the  miners  had  entered  his  reservation,  and  four  years  after 
the  last  treaty  had  been  made.  But  by  that  time  he  seemed  to  tire  of  waiting, 
and  at  a  council  held  that  month  he  boldly  demanded  that  justice  be  done;  and  such 
was  the  feeling  of  the  tribe  that  if  he  had  not  done  so,  wrote  the  agent,  J.  O'Neill, 
"he  would  not  have  lived  forty-eight  hours.  I  know  this  to  be  true,"  he  added ;  "I 
know  that  some  of  his  people  would  have  killed  him." 

News  of  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  however,  reached  them  soon  after  this: 
the  promises  made  soon  began  to  be  fulfilled,  and  trouble  was  avoided. 

In  another  memorial  the  legislature  directed  congressional  attention  to  the  need 
of  Canadian    "reciprocity."      It   recited   that — 

"A  valuable  mineral  region  lies  in  the  Columbia  river  basin  east  of  the  Cascade 
mountains  which  is  divided  by  our  northern  boundary  line,  the  forty-ninth  parallel; 
that  a  valuable  and  quite  extensive  mining  region,  in  which  are  now  wintering 
upwards  of  400  American  miners,  lies  south  of  said  forty-ninth  parallel ;  that  from 
the  topography  of  the  country  it  is  absolutely  essential  that  Americans,  who  are 
obliged  to  travel  from  point  to  point,  in  obtaining  ingress  or  egress  from  said 
mines,  must  traverse  a  portion  of  British  Columbia;  that  it  is  equally  essential 
that  British  miners  and  merchants,  who  desire  to  locate  in  the  mines  of  British 
Columbia  are  compelled  to  pass  through  an  extensive  portion  of  the  territory  in- 
cluded in  Territory  of  Washington;  that  large  quantities  of  British  goods  are  thus 
necessarily  passed  through  our  territory,  and  a  large  quantity  is  supplied  to  our 
miners,  without  paying  any  duties  whatever;  that  a  British  custom-house  is  estab- 
lished on  the  route  which  Americans  are  compelled,  at  present,  to  travel,  and  a 
number  of  revenue  officers  are  stationed  along  said  route,  compelling  the  payment, 
not  only  of  duties  (although  the  goods  and  supplies  are  not  sold  or  disposed  of 
until  they  again  reach  our  own  territory),  but  also,  in  the  shape  of  tonnage  dues 
and  road  taxes,  according  to  the  following  schedule: 


286  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Tonnage  dues^  per  ton   $  3.00 

Road  tax,  per  ton    10.00 

Wagons,    each     10.00 

Single  teams ^.OO 

Horsemen    1.50 

"That,  in  consequence  of  British  merchants  securing  importation  to  American 
miners  free  of  duty,  and  our  American  fellow  citizens  having  to  pay  the  British 
dues  and  the  tribute  money  or  toll  above  referred  to,  the  latter  are  powerless  to 
compete  with  the  British  Columbians." 

The  memorial  closed  with  the  significant  statement  that  while  "no  difficulty 
has  yet  occurred  calculated  to  mar  the  peaceful  relations  existing  between  the  two 
nations,   this   state  of  things   cannot  long  continue." 

Still  another  memorial  urged  that  "a  military  road  is  much  needed  from  the 
headwaters  of  Puget  Sound  to  Fort  Colville,  as  the  postmaster  general  has  adver- 
tised for  bids  for  carrying  the  United  States  mails  from  Bellingham  Bay  to  that 
point."  It  was  set  forth  that  "the  distance  in  a  straight  line  between  the  two 
points  is  about  185  miles,"  and  that  the  citizens  of  Bellingham  Bay  had  spent 
large  sums  of  money  and  labor  in  opening  a  trail  between  the  two  said  points, 
and  thoroughly  tested  the  practicability  of  a  wagon  road  on  or  near  the  line  of 
said  trail  which  was  accessible  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.     It  was  added  that — 

"The  pass  through  the  Cascade  mountains  known  as  Park's  pass,  is  the  best 
heretofore  discovered,  and  the  Northwestern  Boundary  commission  passed  over 
the  same  last  summer  with  all  their  animals  and  baggage.  This  is  the  nearest 
route  to  the  open  country  east  of  the  Cascades  by  at  least  150  miles,  from  the 
waters  of  Puget  Sound.  This  road,  if  established,  will  open  large  and  fertile 
tracts  of  country  to  settlement,  and  also  give  us  a  post  road  to  Fort  Colville  and 
the  gold  mines. 

After  fifty  years  the  dream  of  the  pioneers  is  yet  a  dream;  and  the  Bellingham 
Bay  &  Eastern  railroad,  on  which  high  hopes  were  subsequently  founded  to  put 
the  towns  of  Bellingham  Bay  in  competition  with  Seattle  and  Tacoma  for  the  com- 
merce of  the  Indian  Empire,  languishes  for  want  of  funds  and  enterprise. 

Roads,  ferries  and  bridges,  better  mail  facilities — ^these  were  the  crying  needs 
of  the  Spokane  country  half  a  century  ago.  The  old  order  has  passed  away,  and 
the  brave,  hardy  men  who  were  engaged  then  in  the  inspiring  work  of  empire 
building,  have,  most  of  them,  gone  on  the  long,  long  journey  which  needs  no 
bridge  or  ferry;  but  the  spirit  of  their  times  we  find  expressed  in  the  time-worn 
and  age-stained   volumes   of   legislative   lore. 

Passing  on  to  the  session  of  '61-2  we  discover  the  appointment,  by  an  act  passed 
January  4,  of  J.  L.  Henck,  John  Wynn  and  John  Drumheller,  "to  locate  and  estab- 
lish a  territorial  road  from  Fort  Walla  Walla  to  Fort  Colville,  on  the  Columbia 
river  in  Spokane  county.  For  this  service  they  were  to  receive  "a  compensation  of 
three  dollars  per  day  while  actually  employed  in  the  viewing  and  locating  of  said 
road,  to  be  paid  out  of  the  county  treasuries  of  their  respective  counties." 

And  at  the  same  session  J.  R.  Bates  was  authorized  to  build  a  toll  bridge 
"across  the  Spokane  river  at  a  point  where  the  territorial  road  leading  from  Walla 
Walla  to  Colville  on   the  Columbia   river  crosses  or  may  cross  said  river;"  and 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  287 

pending  the  building  of  the  bridge^  ''the  said  J.  R.  Bates^  his  heirs  or  assigns^  shall 
secure  a  good  and  sufficient  fiatboat  with  sufficient  hands  to  work  the  same^  for  the 
transportation  of  all  persons  and  their  property,  across  said  river  without  delay." 
The  tolls  ranged  from  fifty  cents  for  a  footman  to  $8  for  "each  pleasure,  car- 
riage, coach  or  vehicle  for  conveyance  of  persons."  Automobiling  in  the  vicinity 
of  Spokane  would  have  been  expensive  recreation  in  those  times. 

Gold  dust  was  the  prevailing  medium  of  exchange.  Hence  the  adoption  of 
the  foUowing  law  by  the  territorial  solons  that  winter  at  Olympia: 

"That  if  any  person  shall  counterfeit  any  kind  or  species  of  gold  dust,  gold 
bullion  or  bars,  lumps,  pieces  or  nuggets  of  gold,  or  any  description  whatsoever 
of  uncoined  gold,  currently  passing  in  this  territory,  or  shall  alter  or  put  off  any 
kind  of  uncoined  gold  mentioned  in  this  section,  for  the  purpose  of  defrauding  any 
person  or  persons,  body  politic  or  corporate;  .  .  .  every  such  person  so  offend- 
ing, or  any  person  or  persons  aiding  and  abetting  in  said  offense  or  offenses,  shall 
be  deemed  guilty  of  counterfeiting,  and  upon  conviction  thereof,  shall  be  punished 
by  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary  for  a  term  not  less  than  one  year  nor  more 
than  fourteen  years." 

Men  were  now  invading  the  Inland  Empire  by  the  thousand,  lured  by  the 
search  for  the  "golden  fleece."  The  fame  of  the  new  "diggings"  had  spread  afar, 
and  experienced  gold  miners  hastened  here  from  California,  from  British  Columbia, 
from  southern  Oregon,  from  the  Willamette  valley  and  the  Puget  Sound  country. 
In  large  part  they  were  home-owning  citizens;  many  of  them  left  families  down 
below;  others  were  young  men  with  sweethearts  and  mothers  in  the  places  of  their 
bringing-up,  and  in  every  mining  camp  the  hastily  assembled  population  was  eager 
for  news  from  home,  and  grew  clamorous  for  better  mail  service.  This  agitation 
found  expression  in  a  memorial,  passed,  January  6,  1862,  the  legislature  at  Olym- 
pia "respectfully  representing"  to  the  postmaster-general  "that  the  people  now  living 
in  the  eastern  portion  of  this  territory  are  laboring  under  great  inconvenience  and 
expense  from  the  fact  of  there  being  no  mail  facilities  to  the  northward  and  east- 
ward of  the  town  of  Walla  Walla. 

"The  great  extent  and  richness  of  our  gold  fields,"  so  runs  the  memorial,  "to- 
gether with  the  unequaled  grazing  and  farming  lands  east  of  the  Cascade  range 
of  mountains,  justifies  the  belief  that  there  will  be  soon  many  thousand  perma- 
nent settlers  engaged  in  farming  and  mining  in  that  portion  of  our  territory.  In 
view  of  these  facts,  your  memorialists  would  pray  that  a  weekly  mail  route  be 
established  between  the  town  of  Walla  Walla  and  Fort  Colville,  and  also  a  weekly 
mail  route  be  established  between  Walla  Walla  and  Pierce  City,  via  Lewiston.  A 
weekly  mail  should  also  be  established  between  Lewiston  and  Florence  City,  situ-  . 
ated  in  the   far-famed  Salmon  river  mines. 

"We  would  also  respectfully  request  that  a  daily  mail  route  be  established  be- 
tween Vancouver  City  and  Walla  Walla,  thus  connecting  with  the  overland  daily 
mail  between  Sacramento  City,  Cal.,  and  Olympia,  W.  T." 

A  week  later  a  still  more  pressing  memorial  was  addressed  to  "the  Honorable 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  in  Congress  assembled,"  "respectfully  repre- 
senting that  in  view  of  the  fact  of  the  rich  deposits  of  gold  in  the  country  lying 
east  of  the  Cascade  mountains  in  this  territory,  which  country  has  now  within 
its  limits  more  than  Ave  thousand  men  engaged  in  gold  mining,  which  number  will 


288  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

be  increased  to  more  than  50^000  men  during  the  ensuing  summer^  which  popula- 
tion have  no  facilities  whatever  for  the  delivery  of  the  United  States  mail  amongst 
them ; 

"We,  your  memorialists,  would  respectfully  request  your  honorable  body  to 
establish  the  following  mail  routes; 

"A  mail  route  from  Walla  Walla,  via  Lewiston  and  Pierce  City,  to  Elk  City, 
distance  about  200  miles,  weekly  service. 

**A  branch  route  from  Lewiston  to  Florence  City,  about  85  miles,  weekly  service. 

"A  route  from  Walla  Walla,  via  Antoine  Plant's  and  the  Coeur  d'Alenc  mis- 
sion, to  Hell  Gate  Ronde,  distance  350  miles,  semi-weekly  service." 

In  yet  another  memorial,  the  legislature  protested  to  the  postmaster-general 
against  the  discontinuance  of  mail  service  between  Walla  Walla  and  Colville,  and 
presented  the  following  facts  for  his  consideration: 

Walla  Walla  county  has  now  about  1,000  inhabitants.  There  are  5,000  men 
in  the  country  north  of  Colville,  whose  only  American  office  is  that  of  Colville. 

That  there  will  be  50,000  people  in  the  country  east  of  the  Cascade  mountains 
before  the  close  of  the  ensuing  summer. 

There  has  been  a  semi-weekly  line  of  steamers  running  with  through  connec- 
tions between  Portland  and  Walla  Walla,  which  semi-weekly  line  is  to  be  increased 
to  a  daily  line  on  the  reopening  of  navigation  on  the  Columbia  in  February. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  a  daily  mail  service  was  asked  between  Portland  and 
Walla  Walla,  and  the  legislature  repeated  its  request  for  the  new  lines  proposed 
in  the   foregoing  memorials. 

Another  memorial  to  congress  represented  that  "there  are  vast  tracts  of  agri- 
cultural  lands  within  the  county  boundaries  of  Spokane  and  Missoula,  over  which 
the  public  surveys  of  the  government  have  not  been  extended.  Upon  these  lands 
a  large  number  of  our  citizens  are  located,  who  have  erected  houses  and  opened 
farms.  We  therefore  ask  congress  to  make  an  appropriation  which  will  be  suffi- 
ciently large  to  extend  this  much  needed  survey  over  the  counties  to  which  we 
refer." 

The  legislature  was  certainly  busy  writing  and  passing  memorials  that  winter. 
Another  represented  that  "great  inconvenience  exists  to  the  settlers  on  the  public 
lands  in  the  counties  of  Walla  Walla,  Spokane,  Shoshone,  Missoula,  Nez  Perce 
and  Idaho,  by  consequence  of  their  remote  situation  from  any  land  office  of  the 
United  States;  and  you  are  hereby  respectfully  petitioned  to  establish  a  land 
office  at  the  city  of  Walla  Walla,  in  Walla  Walla  county." 

In  these  various  acts  and  memorials  we  find  lack  of  uniformity  in  spelling  the 
name  "Spokane,"  and  it  appears  frequently  without  the  final  "e." 

Lewiston  had  now  become  the  largest  town,  excepting  Portland,  in  the  Pacific 
northwest.  Almost  literally  it  may  be  said  that  it  sprang  up  in  a  night,  experience 
having  shown  that  its  site  was  the  practical  head  of  navigation  on  the  Snake  and 
the  Clearwater,  and  therefore  the  natural  outfitting  and  distributing  point  for 
miners  and  others  going  into  the  placer  camps  of  the  Clearwater  and  Salmon 
river  districts.  A  controversy  arose  a  few  years  ago,  respecting  the  date  of  its 
founding  and  the  origin  of  its  name,  and  the  question  having  been  referred  to 
George  E.  Cole,  former  governor  of  Washington  territory,  Mr.  Cole  replied: 

"Colonel    Lyle,   Captain   Ainsworth,   Lawrence   Coe,   Vic.    Trevett   and   myself 


CHARLES   H.  MOXTGOMERY 
A  noted  Stei-ens  County  Pionwr 


JAMES   MONAtillAN  M.    M.    COWLEV 

iVIio   c-ame  to   the   Spokane 


r 


THc  >EV.'  'lOhK 


FUbLlC  LI  BR  AH  Yl 


U 


THE  .nl".""y,jKK 
iPUfaLiC  LIBKARY 


[.- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  289 

selected  the  location  and  named  the  place  Lewiston^  in  the  latter  part  of  May 
or  the  first  part  of  June^  1861^  in  honor  of  Captain  Lewis^  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark 
expedition." 

An  act  passed  at  the  session  of  1862-3  authorized  David  Williamson  to  estab- 
lish and  keep  a  ferry  "across  the  Spokane  river^  at  a  point  two  and  a  quarter  miles 
above  Colonel  Wright's  crossing  of  the  same^  with  the  privilege  of  two  miles  each 
way  op  and  down  from  said  point."  For  each  footman^  a  toll  of  50  cents  could  be 
collected;  for  each  man  and  horse^  and  for  each  animal  packed^  $1.50;  for  each 
wagon  with  two  animals  attached^  $3^.imd  for  each  wagon  with  four  animals  at- 
tached^ $4f ;  but  the  county  commissioiierst'  were  empowered  to  regulate  and  change 
these  tolls  at  any  regular  term  of  theii  '^dtott*.  An-anftuat'tax  of  $25  was  charged 
for  the  franchise. 

At  the  same  session  A.  W.  Compjton  and«Heary  Carpes  were  "authorized  to 
establish  and  keep  a  ferry  across  tk«."T'ehd"  d'OreUTe'  river  at  Singuackwateen^ 
with  a  50-cent  toll  for  footmen^  but  somewhat  lower  rates  for  conveyances  than 
in  the  case  of  the  Spokane  ferry. 

Another  franchise  was  granted  to  George  Melville  "and  his  associates  to 
establish  and  keep  a  ferry  across  the  Kootenay  river^  at  a  point  where  the  boundary 
commissioners'  trail  crosses  said  river^  known  as  Chelemta."  All  of  these  fran- 
chises were  in  Spokane  county. 

At  that  period  many  Chinese  were  entering  the  country  to  mine  placers  that 
were  not  considered  sufficiently  profitable  by  white  miners^  and  the  legislature 
fixed  a  poll  tax  on  Chinese  of  $16  a  head^  the  proceeds  to  go  to  the  school  funds 
of  the  various  counties,  excepting  in  Stevens,  where  the  money  went  into  the  road 
fond.  By  special  act,  it  was  provided  that  "in  the  collection  of  the  Chinese  police 
tax  the  sheriff  of  Stevens  county  or  his  deputy  shall  have  power  to  pursue  any  per- 
son who  shall  attempt  to  evade  the  payment  of  this  tax  into  any  county  in  the 
territory,  and  enforce  the  collection  in  the  same  manner  as  though  he  were  in  the 
comity  of  Stevens.'*  Obviously  the  pioneers  of  fifty  years  ago  believed,  with 
'Truthful  James,"  that  "for  ways  that  are  dark  and  tricks  that  are  vain,  the 
heathen  Chinee  is  peculiar." 

At  the  session  of  1864-5,  Irwin  R.  Morris  was  voted  a  franchise  to  build  a 
toll  bridge  across  the  Spokane  river,  "commencing  at  a  point  two  miles  above  the 
house  of  Antoine  Plant,  and  extending  up  said  river  a  distance  of  ^ye  miles  above 
said  point."  Coimty  organizations  were  still  'faint/ and  irregular,  for  while  the 
grant  lay  within  Spokane  county  the  gifantee  was  required  to  pay  into  the  treasury 
of  Walla  Walla  county  an  annual  tax  of  $25. 

And  on  the  following  day,  S.  D.  Smith  was  granted  a  franchise  for  a  toll 
bridge  "across  the  Spokane  river  at  or  near  the  place  known  as  Colonel  Wright's 
crossing,  with  the  same  requirement  as  to  payment  of  annual  tax  to  Walla  Walla 
county."  The  schedule  of  charges  ranged  from  50  cents  for  a  footman  to  $4  for  a 
wagon  and  two-horse  team. 

Culture  was  not  altogether  ignored  in  the  interior,  and  Walla  Walla  was  the 
place  to  light  and  hold  aloft  the  lamp  of  learning.  The  legisature,  at  this  session, 
passed  an  act  "to  incorporate  a  library  and  literary  association  in  the  town  of  Walla 
Walla,"  with  W.  W.  Johnson,  B.  N.  Sexton,  L.  B.  Monson,  L.  J.  Rector,  J.  H. 

f  01.  l~lf 


290  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Kendrick   and   Angus    McKay,   and   *-the   officers   and   members   of   the  Calliopian 
society  of  Walla  Walla"  as  incorporators. 

"Said  corporation  may  receive  and  hold  all  moneys  or  property  coming  into 
their  hands  by  voluntary  subscriptions,  contributions  or  otherwise,  or  apply  the 
same  to  the  establishing  and  maintaining  of  a  library^  and  may  also  receive  and 
hold  all  donations  of  books,  papers  and  periodicals  that  may  be  donated  for  that 
purpose." 

Travel  over  the  Walla  Walla-Colville  valley  road  had  been  heavy  and  continuous 
for  several  years,  and  James  Monaghan  and  William  Nix,  who  had  been  conducting 
a  ferry  at  the  Spokane  crossing  of  that  highway,  about  twenty  miles  below  the 
present  city,  sought  and  were  granted,  by  the  legislature  of  1865-6,  a  franchise  to 
build  a  bridge.  The  act  required  that  "the  said  bridge  shall  not  be  less  than  eight 
feet  wide,  and  shall  be  substantially  built,  and  sufficiently  strong  to  bear  up  with 
safety  a  wagon  carrying  three  tons  with  the  team  attached."  The  franchise  ran  for 
ten  years,  and  the  grantees  were  to  pay  an  annual  tax  of  $25  to  Stevens  county.  The 
tolls  ran  from  25  cents  for  a  foot  passenger  to  $4  for  each  wagon  with  two  horses 
attached. 

Mr.  Monaghan  was  one  of  the  first  white  men  to  engage  definitely  and  perma- 
nently in  business  on  the  Spokane.    He  had  come  to  America  from  Ireland  in  1856, 
and  two  years  later  came  to  the  Pacific  coast  by  way  of  the  Isthmus,  arriving  at 
Vancouver,  this  state,  in  May,  1858.    For  a  year  or  so  he  worked  on  a  ferry  across 
the  DesChutes  river  in  eastern  Oregon;  was  next  employed  until  1860  on  the  little 
steamer  Colonel  Wright,  the  first  steamboat  to  run  on  the  upper  Columbia.    His  next 
occupation  was  on  the  ferry  across  the  Spokane,  which  he  bought  from  its  former 
owner  and  later  converted  into  a  bridge,  under  the  foregoing  franchise.     In  1 869  he 
went  to  Walla  Walla  for  a  short  time,  and  the  following  year  bought  an  interest  in  a 
store  at  Chewelah,  Washington,  also  buying  from  the   Indians  a  farm  on  which  a 
part  of  the  town  site  is  now  located.     In  1 873  he  removed  to  Colville,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  merchandising  until  1879,  and  then  went  with  the  United  States  troops  to 
the  mouth  of  Foster  creek,  in  the  Big  Bend  country,  and  the  following  spring  to 
Chelan.    In  1880  he  took  supplies  by  boat  from  Colville  to  the  mouth  of  Foster  creek. 

Mr.  Monaghan  next  came  to  Fort  Spokane,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Spokane  river, 
where  he  was  engaged  in  contracting  for  government  supplies,  and  also  served  as 
postmaster  and  post-trader  of  that  post  from  1882  to  1885.  He  and  C.  B.  King 
erected  the  first  private  boat  on  Lake  Coeur  d'Alene,  running  from  Coeur  d'Alene  City 
to  Old  Mission  during  the  gold  excitement  on  the  North  fork  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene, 
and  a  year  later  they  laid  out  the  townsite  of  Coeur  d'Alene.  Mr.  Monaghan  came  to 
Spokane  in  1887,  and  this  city  has  since  been  his  home.  His  son,  John  Robert 
Monaghan,  born  at  Chewelah,  entered  the  United  States  naval  academy  at  Annapo- 
lis, was  graduated  with  honors,  assigned  to  service  as  an  ensign,  and  fell  in  action, 
under  particularly  heroic  circumstances,  in  a  hot  skirmish  with  rebellious  natives, 
near  Apia  in  the  Samoan  islands.  An  impressive  monument  at  the  intersection  of 
Riverside  avenue  and  Monroe  streets,  was  erected  by  admiring  friends  and  citisens 
of  Spokane  as  a  tribute  to  his  gallant  memory. 

Clamor  still  rose  for  better  mail  service,  and  the  legislature,  in  January,  1865, 
memorialized  congress  to  establish  a  distributing  postoffice  at  Walla  Walla.  In  sup- 
port of  this  request  it  argued  that — 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  291 

"There  is,  in  the  territories  of  Washington  and  Oregon,  a  combined  population 
of  over  80,000  inhabitants ;  that  in  these  territories  rich  deposits  of  gold  and  silver 
are  being  constantly  discovered  apd  developed;  that  the  permanent  population  is 
being  steadily  and  rapidly  augmented ;  that  mining  towns  are  in  consequence  spring- 
ing into  existence  in  every  part  of  the  mining  districts ;  that  the  present  postal  ar- 
rangements are  entirely  inadequate  to  meet  the  growing  demand  for  postal  con- 
Tcniences;  that  the  city  of  Walla  Walla  is  on  the  natural  and  recognized  transit 
roate  of  the  great  northern  overland  mail,  and  is  the  geographic  and  eligible  center 
of  distribution  for  the  great  mining  districts  of  Idaho  and  Washington  territories ; 
that  at  this  time  such  settlements  are  almost  entirely  dependent  upon  the  said  over- 
land mail,  which  arrives  at  Walla  Walla  three  times  a  week,  which  city  is  already 
connected  by  roads  with  Lewiston,  Fort  Lapwai,  Fort  Colville,  Florence,  Pierce  City, 
Elk  City,  Orofino,  Deer  Lodge  Valley  and  other  mining  camps ;  that  mail  matter  for 
such  towns  and  settlements  must  and  necessarily  does  pass  through  Walla  Walla; 
and  that  the  western  portion  of  Washington  territory,  embracing  the  lower  Colum- 
bia and  Puget  Sound  country,  as  well  as  all  the  portion  of  Oregon  north  of  the 
Calapooia  mountains,  can,  with  slight  addition  to  existing  postal  arrangements  of 
oTerland  service,  secure  the  reception  of  mail  matter  from  the  Atlantic  States  in  from 
fire  to  ten  days  less  time  thtm  by  way  of  Sacramento,  California." 

A  memorial  adopted  in  January,  1866,  represented  "that  in  view  of  the  rapid 
filling  up  of  the  country  east  of  the  Cascade  range  of  mountains  with  a  hardy  and 
industrious  class  of  immigrants,  who  are  making  homes  for  themselves  and  poster- 
ity," there  was  urgent  necessity  at  the  earliest  practicable  date,  of  effecting  a  treaty 
with  snch  tribes  of  Indians  as  had  not  already  been  treated  with  for  their  lands. 
The  memorial  added  that  the  Indians  not  treated  with  had  manifested  a  hostile  atti- 
tude at  various  times  and  places  for  the  last  seven  years:  "that  murder  and  theft  are 
of  very  frequent  occurrence,  and  the  security  of  life  and  property  are  in  constant 
jeopardy  from  the  small  roving  tribes  that  have  not  been  placed  on  reservations." 

"Your  memorialists  would  further  represent  that  all  of  the  Indian  tribes  not 
treated  with  east  of  the  Cascade  mountains  reside  within  the  boundaries  of  Stevens 
county,  and  that  they  number  between  1,500  and  2,000." 

A  memorial  adopted  in  December,  1865,  urged  the  establishment  of  a  post  route 
from  Helena,  Montana  territory,  to  Wallula,  on  the  Columbia  river,  in  eastern  Wash- 
ington, via  Hell  Gate,  Pend  d'Oreille  lake  and  Antoine  Plant's  place  on  the  Spo- 
kane. In  argument  it  was  represented  that  "the  portion  of  Montana  territory  lying 
westward  of  the  Rocky  mountains  is  fast  filling  with  population  attracted  thither  by 
the  rich  mining  fields  recently  discovered  and  already  being  successfully  developed ; 
that  there  is  now  in  such  portion  of  said  territory  an  estimated  population  of  some 
25,000,  distributed  in  numerous  mining  camps  and  towns;  that  your  memorialists 
believe  that  these  pioneers  of  settlement  who  are  laboring  to  develop  the  resources 
of  the  country  have  strong  claims  on  your  consideration,  and  that  the  encouragement 
by  the  government  of  mining  interests  will  materially  tend  to  increase  the  supply  of 
the  precious  metals  and  their  distribution,  the  result  of  which  must  secure  a  national 
benefit,  because  of  the  fact  that  an  abundance  of  gold  and  silver  would  defeat  a 
speculation  in  gold,  and  as  the  premium  on  that  was  reduced,  it  would  measurably 
enhance  the  value  of  currency,  thereby  alleviating  the  government  in  its  discharge  of 
our  great  national  debt." 


292  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Men  come  and  go,  and  the  years  roll  by^  but  animating  motives  remain  the  same. 
Portland  and  San  Francisco  merchants  wanted  the  trade  of  the  vast  interior  as 
against  the  merchants  of  St.  Louis  and  Missouri  river  cities,  who  were  actively 
reaching  out  for  it  by  steamboat  transportation  to  old  Fort  Benton,  on  the  upper 
Missouri.  Portland  merchants,  forty  or  fifty  years  ago,  sold  goods  all  the  way  to 
Benton,  and  enjoyed  a  thriving  trade,  particularly  at  seasons  when  low  water  pre- 
vented the  Missouri  river  boats  from  ascending  to  the  head  of  hig^water  navigation. 
The  late  Edward  Failing,  long  engaged  in  the  wholesale  hardware  line  in  Portland, 
informed  the  writer  years  ago  that  his  house  had  placed  many  a  rich  order  in  the 
country  around  Fort  Benton. 

This  motive  of  trade  expansion  was  candidly  paraded  in  the  memorial,  which 
added:  "The  natural  outlet  of  said  region,  whereby  its  vast  mineral  wealth  is  to  be- 
come beneficial  to  the  world,  is  through  the  Columbia  river  to  Portland,  Oregon,  and 
San  Francisco;  that  upon  these  points  and  by  such  channel  the  population  of  this 
region  are  to  depend,  principally  for  their  supplies,  and  a  reference  to  the  map  will 
demonstrate  that  through  this  channel  they  can  be  easily,  cheaply  and  expeditiously 
supplied  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  And  your  memorialists  may  add  in  this  connec- 
tion, that  if  these  settlements  are  made  to  depend  upon  St.  Louis,  they  will  be  re- 
stricted to  the  occasional  trips  of  steamboats  at  the  high  stages  of  water^of  the  Mis- 
souri river." 

By  whom  could  then  be  foreseen  the  swift,  transforming  changes  of  forty  years: 
the  passing  forevermore,  with  the  dawning  of  the  twentieth  century,  of  steamboat 
navigation  on  the  Missouri;  and  the  construction,  not  of  a  single  transcontinental 
railroad,  but  half  a  dozen;  and  the  building,  at  their  crossroads  by  the  falls  of  the 
Spokane,  of  a  city  twenty  times  as  large  as  the  Portland  of  old?  And  whose  then 
the  vision  to  discern  the  rise  by  the  shores  of  lonely  Puget  Sound  of  a  city  that  should 
cover  by  1912  a  population  greater  than  St.  Louis  boasted  when  the  ink  was  yet  not 
dry  on  this  old  memorial  of  six  and  forty  years  agone? 

Oregon  coveted  then  the  fair  vale  of  Walla  Walla,  and  the  Washington  legisla- 
ture, in  a  resolution  passed  January  9,  18^6,  directed  its  delegate  in  congress  "to 
resist  any  and  all  attempt  to  diminish  the  area  of  the  territory  of  Washington  by 
annexing  Walla  Walla  county  to  the  state  of  Oregon."  The  firm  belief  was  further 
expressed  ''that  such  proposed  scheme  of  annexation  meets  with  the  earnest  disap- 
probation of  a  large  majority  of  the  citizens  of  said  county,  and  finds  no  favor  with 
the  people  of  the  territory." 

"Coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before,"  and  the  coming  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  was  foreshadowed  in  a  resolution  passed  January  15,  1866: 

"Whereas  there  has  been  a  project  organized  to  connect  the  great  lakes  of  the 
North  with  Puget  Sound  and  the  Pacific  ocean  by  a  railroad  to  be  designated  as  the 
Northern  Pacific  railroad;  and 

"Whereas,  We  believe  such  an  enterprise  would  be  greatly  beneficial  to  Wash- 
ington territory  in  developing  its  various  agricultural,  mineral  and  commercial  in- 
terests ;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  By  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  the  Territory  of  Washington,  That  we 
hail  with  joy  an  enterprise  of  this  kind  as  tending  to  develop  not  only  the  interests 
of  Washington  territory,  but  all  the  great  Northwest." 

An  act  adopted  in  January,  1867,  defined  the  boundaries  of  Stevens  conntv  as 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  293 

commencing  at  the  point  of  intersection  of  the  forty-ninth  parallel  of  latitude  and 
the  boimdary  line  between  Washington  and  Idaho  territories ;  thence  west  with  said 
parallel  to  the  summit  of  the  Cascade  mountains;  thence  southerly  with  said  summit 
to  the  headwaters  of  the  Wenatchee  river ;  thence  down  the  channel  of  said  river  to 
the  Columbia  river ;  thence  down  mid-channel  of  said  river  to  the  mouth  of  Snake 
river;  thence  up  mid-channel  of  said  river  to  the  boundary  line  between  Wash- 
ington and  Idaho  territories ;  thence  north  on  said  line  to  the  forty-ninth  parallel  of 
Utitode  and  place  of  beginning. 

Out  of  this  expansive  domain  have  since  been  cut  the  counties  of  Ferry,  Okano- 
gan, Chelan^  Douglas,  Grant,  Franklin,  Lincoln,  Adams,  Whitman  and  Spokane — 
material  ample  enough  in  territory  and  wealth  and  variety  of  natural  resources  for 
an  imperial  state. 

For  the  building  and  improvement  of  roads  within  this  domain,  the  legislature, 
at  the  same  session,  authorized  the  county  commissioners  to  assess  a  road  tax  of  $6 
on  every  person  liable  to  perform  labor  on  the  public  roads,  and  also  to  assess 
not  less  than  5  nor  more  than  10  mills  on  the  dollar  of  the  valuation  as  determined 
by  the  county  assessor. 

W.  A.  Ball  and  associates  were  authorized  to  construct  a  wagon  road  from  Goose 
Island  on  Snake  river,  to  the  Mullan  road,  "near  the  old  Indian  ferry  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Spokane  river,  and  to  establish  bridges  on  the  Palouse  and  Spokane 
rivers."  A  rather  stiff  schedule  of  tolls  was  authorized:  For  each  wagon  with  two 
animals  attached,  $12;  for  each  additional  span  or  yoke  of  animals,  $2;  for  each 
boggy  and  horse,  $10;  for  each  horseman,  $4;  for  each  loaded  pack  animal,  $2;  for 
each  loose  or  unloaded  animal,  $1 ;  for  each  head  of  homed  cattle,  $1  and  for  each 
footman,  and  head  of  sheep  or  swine,  50  cents.  But  these  charges  were  to  cover  the 
crossing  at  both  bridges. 

J.  D.  Schnebley  was  given  a  grant  to  build  and  operate  a  bridge  across  the  Spo- 
kane "at  a  place  distant  from  two  to  three  miles  above  the  ferry  of  Antoine  Plant,  at 
such  particular  point  as  may  be  most  eligible  for  building  such  bridge." 

At  the  same  session,  Patrick  Farrell  was  authorized  to  build  and  keep  a  toll 
bridge  across  Hangman  creek,  on  the  direct  road  leading  from  Walla  Walla  to  Fort 
Benton. 

This  famous  old  highway,  located  and  built  by  the  Lieutenant  John  Mullan,  who 
attended  Colonel  Wright  in  his  campaign  against  the  hostile  Indians  in  1858,  had 
fallen  into  such  a  state  of  neglect  that  the  legislature  was  moved  to  address  a  strong 
memorial  to  congress,  urging  its  repair.  As  that  document  set  forth  with  admirable 
clearness  the  history  of  the  road  and  the  conditions  existing  in  1866  throughout  the 
entire  "upper  country,"  it  deserves,  at  least  in  part,  a  place  in  this  history.  After 
reciting  that  the  highway,  for  much  of  the  distance  through  the  Coeur  d'Alene  and 
Bitter  Root  mountains  was  in  an  almost  impassable  condition  for  wagons,  on  account 
of  fallen  timber  and  destruction  of  bridges,  it  went  on  to  represent  that — 

"The  necessity  for  a  great  national  highway  connecting  the  Missouri  and  Colum- 
bia rivers  by  a  good  and  substantial  wagon  road,  was  by  its  own  importance  first 
brongfat  to  the  notice  of  your  honorable  bodies  as  early  as  the  year  1849.  In  the 
spring  of  1 852^  the  necessity  felt  by  the  government  for  a  more  thorough  and  satis- 
iactory  knowledge  in  detail  of  the  geographical  and  topographical  character  of 
the  country  lying  between  the  Columbia  and  the  Missouri  rivers,  induced  congress 


294  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

to  make  an  appropriation  for  the  purpose^  and  in  the  spring  of  1853^  bj  authority 
of  congress^  several  corps  of  engineers  and  explorers  were  organized  and  sent 
forth  under  the  direction  of  Honorable  I.  I.  Stevens.  The  voluminous  and  truth- 
ful reports  of  these  several  parties  induced  congress  to  act  and  act  promptly,  and 
in  1857  Captain  John  Mullan  was  ordered  into  the  field,  being  fully  supplied  with 
all  the  necessary  men  and  means,  and  was  on  the  ground  in  the  spring  of  1858. 
Commencing  at  Wallula  (then  old  Fort  Walla  Walla)  on  the  Columbia  river,  he 
had  completed  the  Walla  Walla  and  Fort  Benton  military  wagon  road  in  Sep- 
tember,  1862. 

"The  opening  of  this  road  is  of  the  greatest,  most  vital  importance  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Washington,  Idaho,  and  that  portion  of  Montana  lying  west  of  the  Rocky 
mountains;  and  in  the  opinion  of  your  memorialists,  in  a  military  point  of  view 
its  importance  cannot  be  over-estimated. 

"Your  memorialists  are  of  the  opinion  that  $100,000  judiciously  expended  in 
repairing  said  road  between  Walla  Walla  and  Helena  cities,  a  distance  of  445 
miles,  under  the  direction  of  a  competent  engineer  from  the  United  States  topo- 
graphical bureau,  will  put  the  road  in  good  condition  and  enable  teams  loaded 
with  freight  and  machinery  to  pass  over  from  the  Columbia  river  into  the  heart 
of  a  rich  mining  country. 

"Rich  quartz  veins  are  being  discovered  in  the  hearts  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene 
and  Bitter  Root  mountains,  which  will  ere  long  demand  machinery  for  their  de- 
velopment, and  the  working  of  which,  in  connection  with  the  placer  mines,  would 
contribute  largely  to  the  development  of  Washington,  Idaho  and  the  western  por- 
tion of   Montana  territories. 

"The  opening  of  this  road  will  enable  a  large  portion  of  the  population  now 
on  the  western  slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Cascades  and  Rocky  mountains  to  use 
this  great  thoroughfare  in  reaching  the  rich  gold  and  silver  mines  lying  along  its 
route  from  Helena  west  to  the  Columbia  river.  Again,  it  is  through  this  national 
highway  that  the  immigrant  from  the  eastern  side  of  the  mountains,  and  those 
who  ascend  the  Missouri  river  to  Fort  Benton  must  pass  to  reach  western  Montana, 
Washington  and  a  large  portion  of   Idaho  territory. 

"There  is  a  constant  stream  of  population  flowing  into  the  region  of  country 
lying  along  and  adjacent  to  this  so-called  Mullan  road.  The  immigrant  who  is 
seeking  farming  land  comes  on  down  to  the  Walla  Walla  and  other  rich  valleys  ly- 
ing along  the  western  terminus  of  the  road,  and  thence  on  to  Puget  sound. 

"There  is  at  the  present  time  a  population  of  over  100,000  inhabitants  in  the 
territories  of  Washington,  Idaho  and  western  Montana.  Rich  deposits  of  gold, 
silver,  copper,  lead  and  iron  are  constantly  being  discovered  and  rapidly  developed. 
Mining  towns  are  springing  into  existence  in  all  parts  of  the  newly  settled  region. 
Branch  roads  leading  from  thia  main  trunk  (Mullan  road)  to  the  different  mining 
camps  are  being  made  by  individual  enterprise,  and  everything  gives  indication  that 
at  no  distant  day  these  hardy  and  successful  pioneers  will  be  knocking  at  the  door 
of  congress  asking  to  be  admitted  into  the  sisterhood  of  states.  But  the  popula- 
tion of  this  vast  region  of  country  is  too  new  and  too  poor  to  be  able  to  take  hold 
of  and  rapidly  complete  such  a  great  enterprise  as  the  opening  of  this  military 
road. 

"The  inhabitants,  coming  as  they  have  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  are 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  295 

unacquainted  with  each  other^  and  admitting  that  they  have  all  the  necessary  means 
within  themselves  for  the  opening  of  this  road^  a  few  months'  acquaintance  with 
each  other  is  not  sufficient  to  establish  the  necessary  confidence  to  organize  a  com- 
pany and  put  forward  to  completion  so  great  an  undertaking.  Nor  is  this  all: 
the  great  length  of  this  road  and  the  large  number  of  people  it  would  benefit  when 
opened  demands  that  it  should  be  a  free  road. 

"Youp  memorialists  wish  to  further  show  the  vital  importance  of  an  early 
opening  of  a  free  road  through  this  rich  and  fertile  region  of  public  domain, 
whereby  the  producers  of  the  valleys  may  be  enabled  to  reach  the  mining  regions 
with  their  produce^  and  supply  the  miners  with  the  necessaries  of  life  at  prices 
which  will  enable  them  to  remain  in  and  develop  the  mines.  We  will  give  some 
statistics  carefully  compiled  and  drawn  from  reliable  sources  relative  to  the  produc- 
tions and  ruling  prices  for  the  same^  of  Walla  Walla  valley  alone,  together  with 
the  number  of  tons  of  freight  landed  by  steamers  at  Wallula,  and  the  amount  pass- 
ing over  the  MuUan  road  by  pack  trains  to  western  Montana. 

"The  Walla  Walla  valley,  including  that  portion  which  lies  in  the  state  of 
Or^on,  has  produced  this  season  (1866)  500,000  bushels  of  wheat,  250,000  bushels 
of  oats,  200,000  bushels  of  barley,  150,000  bushels  of  corn,  170,000  pounds  of 
beans,  4,500  head  of  hogs,  1,800  head  of  horses,  2,500  head  of  cattle. 

"From  January  1  to  November  15,  1866,  1,500  head  of  horses  have  been  pur- 
chased by  individual  miners  at  Walla  Walla  horse  markets,  2,000  miners  have  out- 
fitted at  Walla  Walla,  5,000  head  of  cattle  were  driven  from  Walla  Walla  to 
Montana,  6,000  mules  have  left  Walla  Walla  and  the  Columbia  river,  loaded  with 
freight  for  Montana;  fifty-two  light  wagons  with  families  have  left  Walla  Walla 
for  Montana,  thirty-one  wagons  with  immigrants  have  come  through  from  the 
States  via  the  Mullan  road,  a  portion  of  whom  settled  in  Walla  Walla  valley  and 
the  remainder  crossed  the  Columbia -river  at  Wallula  and  settled  on  the  Yakima 
nVer,  or  passed  on  to  Puget  Sound ;  not  less  than  20,000  persons  have  passed  over 
the  Mullan  road  to  and  from  Montana  during  the  past  season;  $1,000,000  in 
treasure  has  passed  through  Walla  Walla  and  Wallula  during  the  same  period. 

"The  Walla  Walla  valley  contains  six  flouring  mills,  six  saw  mills,  two  planing 
mills,  two  distilleries,  one  foundry  and  fifty-two  threshing,  heading  and  reaping 
machines. 

"The  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  company  have  run  a  daily  line  of  boats  to 
Wallula  (Sundays  excepted)  during  the  past  season  up  to  the  fourth  day  of  No- 
vember; since  that  time  the  boats  have  made  four  trips  per  week.  These  boats  are 
of  the  capacity  from  75  to  200  tons  burden,  and  giving  the  very  lowest  estimates, 
have  landed  not  less  than  5,000  tons  of  freight  at  Wallula  during  the  season. 

"As  early  as  1862,  about  the  time  the  Fort  Benton  wagon  road  was  completed, 
the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  company  landed  at  Wallula,  from  the  fifth  day  of 
July  to  the  eleventh  day  of  October  inclusive,  1,705  tons  of  freight,  making  three 
trips  per  week,  which  is  an  average  of  over  forty  tons  per  trip. 

"The  government  has  a  large  warehouse  at  Wallula,  a  quartermaster's  agent 
in  charge,  and  all  the  government  supplies  for  Fort  Walla  Walla,  Fort  Boise  and 
a  large  proportion  of  those  for  Forts  Colville  and  Lapwai  are  landed  there.  Freight 
is  landed  at  Wallula  for  Lewiston,  Florence,  Pierce  City,  Elk  City  and  Orofino, 
during  the  spring  and   fall,  and   for   Helena,  Blackfoot  City,  Deer  Lodge,  Hell 


296  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Gaie^  Bitter  Root  valley^  Cariboo^  Kootenai  and  Pend  d'Oreille  lake^  at  all  seasons 
of  the  year^  ice  not  preventing. 

"Your  memorialists  will  further  state  that  owing  to  the  condition  of  the  Mullan 
road^  the  producers  of  the  Walla  Walla  and  other  valleys  adjacent  thereto  are 
deprived  of  a  valuable  market  for  their  products^  and  the  inhabitants  living  along 
the  line  of  the  road  and  in  western  Montana^  are  compelled  to  pay  exorbitant, 
not  to  say  extortionate,  prices  for  the  necessaries  of  life,  while  the  best  standard 
mills  family  flour  is  selling  at  Walla  Walla  for  five  dollars  per  barrel,  and  the 
best  of  wheat  is  selling  at  sixty  cents  per  bushel;  the  freight  on  either  of  these 
articles  to  Montana,  via  the  Mullan  road  in  its  present  condition,  costing  from  thir- 
teen to  twenty-two  cents  per  pound  by  pack  animals. 

"Your  memorialists  are  of  the  opinion  that  wheat  can  not  be  purchased  any- 
where in  the  United  States  at  what  it  is  now  being  sold  for  daily  at  Walla  Walla, 
sixty  cents  per  bushel.  Oats  command  from  one  to  one  and  one-half  cents  per  pound; 
barley  from  one  to  one  and  one-quarter  cents  per  pound.  Last  year  the  merchants 
of  Walla  Walla  shipped  over  600,000  pounds  of  oats  to  Oregon,  and  113,000 
pounds  of  wool  and  a  large  quantity  of  potatoes  and  onions." 

The  postoffice  department  had  established  a  mail  route  from  Wallula  to 
Helena,  making  Wallula  a  distributing  office,  and  the  memorial  concluded  with  the 
opinion  "that  by  opening  the  road  we  are  assured  that  we  shall  soon  have  what 
the  requirements  of  the  country  and  the  number  of  inhabitants  demand,  a  mail 
coach  on  the  route  instead  of  a  train  of  packhorses." 

In  this  memorial  is  presented  a  vivid  portrayal  of  conditions  in  the  Inland 
Empire,  Ave  and  forty  years  ago,  and  a  faithful  picture  of  traffic  as  it  moved 
over  the  historic  old  Mullan  road.  In  fancy  we  may  conjure  back  the  scenes  of 
other  days,  and  contrast  with  the  changed  conditions  of  the  present  hour  the 
stream  of  traffic  as  then  it  flowed  along  this  old  highway  down  the  wild  valley  of 
the  Spokane.  Let  us,  in  imagination,  take  a  position  beside  the  pioneer  thorough- 
fare and  await  the  passing  of  the  traffic  of  a  busy  day  in  autunm.  Comes  yonder 
a  long  cavalcade  of  pack  animals,  with  lading  of  merchandise  from  Portland  or 
Walla  Walla,  cinched  high  above  the  rough  pack  saddles  of  frontier  pattern.  It 
is  headed  for  the  Montana  mines  and  three  hundred  miles  away  to  the  east  an 
enterprising  merchant  frets  in  impatience  as  he  scans  his  empty  shelves  and  cal- 
culates his  daily  loss  in  the  gold  dust  that  would  be  his  if  only  he  had  the  goods 
so  wanted  by  the  red-shirted,  big-booted  miners  up  the  gulch. 

Scarcely  has  the  dust  raised  by  this  shuffling  caravan  been  wafted  away  by 
the  vagrant  breeze  than  we  may  detect  a  moving  picture  of  a  different  sort.  Ad 
immigrant  train  is  coming  round  a  near-by  bend  and  stirring  up  a  stupendous 
dust  as  it  moves  along.  Galloping  a  little  in  advance,  a  horseman  sights  an  attract- 
ive camping  place,  with  the  three-fold  advantages  of  wood,  grass  and  water,  scans, 
under  a  sheltering  hand,  the  meridian  sun,  and  sends  back  a  long  halloo  whose 
cheery  meaning  even  the  jaded  teams  are  quick  to  understand  and  answer  with 
a  quickened  pace.  Within  a  few  minutes  the  little  train  has  lumbered  up,  wagons 
come  to  rest  at  various  vantage  points  around  the  wayside  brook;  women  and  chil- 
dren climb  out  from  the  covered  wagon  beds;  traces  are  unhooked,  lines  looped  np 
on  the  hames,  neckyokes  quickly  taken  from  wagon-tongues,  and  instantly  we  hear 
a  medley  of  jingling  harness,  rattling  tinware  and  childish  voices  made  sharp  by 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  297 

hanger's  call.  For  they  have  come  far  since  they  left  their  camping-spot  of  the 
ni^t  before  and  the  days  are  long  and  tedious  when  one  travels  in  an  immigrant 
wagon  across  the  plains  or  through  the  mountains  and  the  deep  forests  of  the  west. 
They  are  on  their  way^  perhaps  from  old  Missouri  or  more  distant  Illinois  or  In- 
diana^ to  a  promised  land  in  the  Walla  Walla  or  the  Willamette  valley;  and  have 
been  steadily  on  the  move  since  early  spring  gave  promise  of  sufficient  pasturage 
to  sustain  their  teams  and  cattle.  Grim  resolution^  with  sunshine  and  the  winds^ 
has  fixed  upon  their  features  lines  of  determination^  but  hope  gleams  in  every  eye, 
and  quiet  courage^  and  patient  endurance.  The  long  journey  is  nearing  the  end^ 
and  the  land  of  pleasant  abundance  can  not  be  far  away. 

It  is  only  a  conjured  picture,  but  we  lift  our  hats  to  these  immigrants  of  fifty 
years  ago.  For  they  were  strong,  and  they  had  confidence,  and  they  were  unafraid. 
Builders  of  empire,  founders  of  states,  creators  of  towns  and  cities — they  have  be- 
come an  almost  vanished  type,  and  with  their  passing,  state  and  nation  have  lost 
something  of  the  picturesque  and  somewhat  of  rugged  courage  and  virtue. 

The  Mullan  road  crossed  the  Spokane  at  Schnebley's  bridge,  two  and  a  half  miles 
above  the  present  town  of  Trent,  or  about  IS  miles  east  of  the  city  of  Spokane.  It* 
ran,  thence,  along  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  past  the  old  Kendall  (later  Cowley's) 
bridge,  eighteen  miles  above  Spokane;  and  thence,  by  way  of  Post  Falls  to  Lake 
Coeur  d'Alene,  through  Fourth  of  July  canyon,  and  up  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river, 
by  way  of  the  Old  Mission,  crossing  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river  frequently,  and  pass- 
ing into  Montana  over  the  pass  of  St.  Regpis  Borgias. 

From  the  (tossing  of  the  Spokane  river,  it  ran  (towards  Walla  Walla)  down 
the  Spokane  valley  a  few  miles,  and  turned  south  and  left  the  valley  at  a  point 
about  six  miles  east  of  the  city,  passing  over  Moran  prairie  near  the  present  coun- 
try residence  of  J.  J.  Browne.  It  crossed  Hangman  creek  about  nine  miles  from 
Spokane.  From  the  Hangman  creek  crossing  it  headed  southwest  for  the  ferry 
across  Snake  river  near  the  mouth  of  the  Palouse,  passing  enroute  about  three  miles 
north  of  Spangle,  and  thence  to  the  Hines  place  on  lower  Rock  creek,  where  a  settler 
named  Hines  ran  an  eating  place.  From  the  Hines  place  it  ran  by  way  of  lake 
Colville,  near  the  present  town  of  Sprague  to  Cow  creek,  the  next  stopping  place, 
and  then  on  to  the  crossing  of  the  Snake.  Beyond  Snake  river  it  ran  by  way  of 
the  Touchet  river  to  Waitsburg,  and  thence  on  to  Walla  Walla. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

LEGISLATIVE    HISTORY   CONTINUED 

MAIL    BETWEEN    WALLA   WALLA   AND    PINKNEY    CITY LEOI8LATURE    PLEADS    POVERTY 

PRAIRIE     FIRES AGITATION     TO     ANNEX     IDAHO     PANHANDLE CLAMOR     FOR     LAND 

OFFICE    AT     WALLA    WALLA SETTLERS     COME     INTO    PALOUSE     COUNTRY WHITMAN 

COUNTY  CREATED CONDITIONS  IN   COLVILLE  VALLEY BEGINNING  OF   FAMOUS  LIEU 

LAND   STRUGGLE AGITATION    FOR    AN    OPEN    RIVER EARLY    DAY    ROAD    BUILDING 

LAWFUL  FENCES  DEFINED LAND  OFFICE  AT  COLVILLE MILITARY  POST  AT  SPO- 
KANE  CREATION  OF  SPOKANE  COUNTY FIRST  APPLICATION  OF  THE  REFEREN- 
DUM  PROHIBITION  STRIP  ALONG  THE  NORTHERN  PACIFIC GROWTH  OF  THE  TER- 
RITORY  MEMORIAL    FOR    MILITARY    TELEGRAPH    LINE. 

A  MEMORIAL  to  the  postmaster-general,  December  15,  1866,  represented 
that  "under  an  order  issued  by  the  postal  department,  the  postmaster  was 
instructed  not  to  pay  over  $4,000  for  carrying  the  mail  between  Walla 
Walla  and  Pinkney  City,"  but  this  sum  was  deemed  inadequate  for  the  distance  of 
229  miles  and  the  character  of  the  country  traversed.  On  solicitation  of  citizens 
of  Walla  W^alla  and  Stevens  county,  J.  R.  Bates  and  a  man  named  Brennick  had 
been  induced  to  cover  the  route  at  that  rate  for  three  months  only,  on  an  under- 
standing that  the  matter  would  be  taken  up  with  the  department  and  an  increase 
asked  to  $7,000.  This  consideration  the  legislature  thought  reasonable,  and  the 
increase  was  therefore  asked,  adding  that  the  mail  on  this  route  was  important,  as 
there  then  existed  at  the  Pinkney  City  end  of  the  route  the  following  government 
offices:  Custom  house  at  Little  Dalles,  Indian  agent  and  collector  and  assessor  of 
internal  revenue  at  Pinkney  City,  and  a  military  post.  By  a  legislative  act  passed 
a  jear  later,  the  name  of  Pinkney  City  was  changed  to  Colville. 

In  furtherance  of  the  building  of  a  transcontinental  railroad,  the  legislature 
memorialized  congress,  under  date  of  January  5,  1867,  as  follows:  "That  in  accord- 
ance with  the  rapid  progress  of  commercial  ert'^rnrise,  and  the  increasing  demand  for 
rapid  intercourse  across  the  domain  of  the  United  States,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific  oceans,  the  congress  of  the  United  States  has  provided  by  legislative  enact- 
ments for  the  construction  of  two  lines  of  railroads,  known  as  the  Union  or  Cen- 
tral, and  the  Northern  Pacific  railroads,  but  the  northern  road  has  not  re- 
ceived the  same  assistance  from  the  fostering  hand  of  the  general  government  which 
has  been  extended  to  the  central  road,  although  from  the  natural  condition  of  affairs 
it  is  more  necessary  that  such  assistance  should  be  extepded  to  the  Northern  than  to 
the  Central  road,  for  the  reasons :  First,  that  in  Washington  territory,  the  terminus 

299 


300  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

of  the  road^  there  is  not  sufficient  capital  throughout  the  whole  territory  even  to 
commence  such  an  enterprise^  while  in  California^  the  terminus  of  the  Central  road, 
sufficient  capital  could  be  obtained^  were  the  holders  thereof  willing^  to  build  the 
whole  road  without  any  assistance  from  the  general  government.  Second^  that  from 
the  geographical  position  of  the  different  routes^  the  northern  road  when  completed 
will  build  up  a  national  and  international  commerce  of  far  greater  extent  and  value 
than  the  central^  and  that  the  nature  of  the  soil  along  the  northern  route  guarantees 
the  more  rapid  growth  of  a  rich  and  powerful  agricultural  community  along  the 
whole  extent  of  country  through  which  it  will  pass." 

In  view  of  these  considerations^  the  legislature  prayed  congress  to  pass  an  act 
granting  the  same  privileges  to  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  company  as  had  been 
already  granted  to  the  Union  Pacific  railroad  company. 

The  legplslatures  of  45  and  50  years  ago  were  not  ashamed  to  plead  poverty  when- 
ever a  probability  arose  of  obtaining  something  from  congress  by  making  that  plea, 
for  we  find  frequent  assertion,  in  old  memorials  and  resolutions,  of  the  financial 
weakness  of  the  territory  and  its  people.  They  were  rich  only  in  anticipation,  and 
eager  to  dip  a  hand  in  the  opulent  commerce  of  the  Orient.  And  a  territory  may  beg 
insistently  without  sacrificing  state  pride. 

At  that  time  little  had  been  attempted  in  a  farming  way  in  eastern  Washington 
outside  of  the  Walla  Walla  valley.  The  expansive  Palouse  and  Big  Bend  sections 
were  open  grazing  country,  with  hardly  a  furrow  turned  anywhere;  and  when  the 
luxuriant  bunch-g^ass  had  cured  in  the  summer  sun,  danger  arose  constantly  of 
wide-sweeping  prairie  fires.  To  check  that  peril,  the  legislature  passed  a  law  in 
January,  1868,  to  prohibit  the  setting  of  grass  fires  "on  any  of  the  unoccupied  land 
or  lands,  being  known  as  prairie  or  pasturage  land  in  the  counties  of  Walla  Walla, 
Stevens,  Yakima  and  Klickitat,"  and  providing  penalties  of  imprisonment  in  the 
county  jail  for  not  more  than  one  year,  or  a  fine  not  exceeding  $500,  or  both  impris- 
onment and  fine. 

Although  Washington  territory  had  allowed,  almost  without  a  protest,  Idaho  to 
be  cut  away  from  its  eastern  area  a  few  years  before,  agitation  now  arose  for 
restoration  of  the  Panhandle,  and  the  legislature,  in  January,  1868,  adopted  a 
memorial  which  represented  that: 

"By  the  boundaries  of  Idaho  territory,  there  is  a  long  narrow  strip  lying  in  the 
northern  portion  of  said  territory,  bounded  on  the  north  by  British  Columbia,  on 
the  east  by  Montana  territory,  and  on  the  west  by  Washington  territory;  and  that 
the  said  strip  of  territory,  at  its  northern  extremity,  is  only  about  fifty  miles  wide," 
divided  into  the  three  counties  of  Nez  Perce,  Shoshone  and  Idaho. 

"Your  memorialists  are  assured,  by  the  voice  of  the  residents  and  the  press  of 
said  portion  of  Idaho  territory,  that  they  are  desirous  of  being  annexed  to  the  ter- 
ritory of  Washington;  that  the  commercial,  social  and  political  interests  of  the 
people  of  the  said  northern  portion  of  Idaho  are  identical  with  those  of  the  people 
of  Washington  territory. 

"The  great  distance  of  these  three  northern  countries  from  Boise  City — the 
capital  of  Idaho — a  distance  of  over  500  miles-^incurs  great  expense  to  said 
territory,  and  also  to  their  legislators. 

"And  your  memorialists  would  further  show  that  the  representatives  from  the 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  301 

said  counties,  in  order  to  reach  their  capital,  are  compelled  to  travel  through  a 
large  portion  of  Washington  territory  and  the  state  of  Oregon/' 

Believing  that  the  people  of  northern  Idaho  desired  annexation  to  Washington, 
the  legislature  asked  congress  to  make  the  reqmsite  change  in  boundary  lines.  The 
striking  fact  can  not  escape  the  reader  that,  after  a  lapse  of  more  than  40  years, 
the  conditions  set  out  in  the  foregoing  memorial  survive  today,  substantially  as  they 
existed  in  1868.  By  social  and  commercial  ties,  northern  Idaho  is  still  bound  to 
eastern  Washington;  and,  just  as  forty-three  years  ago,  the  people  of  the  Pan- 
handle are  required  to  pass  through  Washington  and  Oregon  to  transact  business 
at  the  capital  at  Boise. 

The  agitation,  begun  in  1868,  has  had  frequent  revival,  and  6ven  now  is  not 
wholly  extinguished.  It  developed  such  strength  when  Cleveland  was  president 
that  a  bill  restoring  the  Panhandle  to  Washington  passed  both  houses  of  Congress, 
bat  failed  to  win  executive  approval. 

A  memorial  relative  to  the  carrying  of  mail  between  Colville  and  Spokane 
Bridge,  adopted  in  December,  1867,  reveals  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country. 
The  postmaster  at  Colville  had  been  instructed  by  the  department  not  to  pay  more 
than  $1,500  a  year  for  that  service,  and  if  a  contract  could  not  be  let,  to  discon- 
tinue the  route  and  the  postoffice  at  Spokane  Bridge.  Ira  Matthews  was  induced 
to  take  the  contract,  but  on  the  understanding  that  the  matter  would  be  taken  up 
with  the  department  and  increased  pay  recommended.  The  memorial  set  forth 
that  in  view  of  the  length  of  Uie  route,  ninety  miles,  "weight  of  mail  matter;  difficult 
roads,  attributable  to  the  character  of  the  country  through  which  the  route  must 
necessarily  pass;  the  absence  of  settlement  in  a  distance  of  sixty  miles,  rendering 
it  essential  for  the  carrier  to  provide  and  transport  necessary  forage,"  the  allowance 
of  $1,500  for  a  weekly  mail  was  entirely  inadequate,  "in  fact,  not  sufficient  to  meet 
the  necessary  expense  of  keeping  open  the  route."  An  allowance  of  $3,000  a  year 
was  therefore  urged  upon  the  postal  department. 

A  memorial  adopted  in  October,  1869,  urged  the  establishment  of  a  United  States 
land  office  at  Walla  Walla,  as  "a  matter  of  vital  importance  and  pressing  necessity 
to  all  the  people  of  Washington  territory  who  reside  east  of  the  Cascade  moun- 
tains." It  represented  that  "the  only  land  office  at  which  these  people  can  enter 
their  homestead  and  preemption  land  claims  is  at  Vancouver,  west  of  the  Cascade 
mountains  and  about  250  miles  distant  from  Walla  Walla.  The  most  of  the  home- 
stead claimants  have  yet  to  make  their  final  homestead  proof;  and  the  same  is  true 
of  the  preemption  land  claimants." 

At  that  time  there  were  in  the  counties  of  Klickitat,  Yakima,  Walla  Walla  and 
Stevens  about  2,000  land  claimants,  and  the  memorial  estimated  that  it  would  cost 
them,  on  an  average,  $150  in  traveling  expenses  alone  if  they  were  required  to  make 
final  proof  at  Vancouver,  "while  the  government  receives  of  the  homestead  settler, 
in  all,  $22  legal  tender  for  160  acres,  and  from  the  preemptionists  $200  currency." 

According  to  this  memorial,  not  a  fifteenth  part  of  the  fertile  and  arable  land 
had  been  surveyed  or  settled. 

Again  the  legislature  urged  upon  congress  the  importance  of  aiding  the  build- 
ing of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad.  This  highway,  it  said,  would  connect  with  the 
great  lakes  and  through  them  with  the  St.  Lawrence  river,  while  the  route,  from 
the  headwaters  of  Lake  Superior  to  Puget  Sound,  was  comparatively  short,  well 


302  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

watered  and  timbered^  with  abundance  of  coal^  ''and  capable  of  sustaining  an  almost 
uninterrupted  belt  of  population  across  the  continent  on  either  side  of  the  road." 
"This  road/*  the  memorial  continued,  "presents  a  direct,  feasible  and  eligible 
route  across  the  continent  which  will  open  the  territories  of  Dacotah,  Montana,  Ida- 
ho, Washington  and  Oregon  to  civilization,  settlement  and  commerce,  and  stimulate 
the  development  of  their  great  agricultural  and  mineral  resources;  and  which  will 
invite  the  commerce  of  Japan  and  China  to  our  Pacific  coast  and  across  the  conti- 
nent, thereby  increasing  the  national  wealth  and  revenue,  and  promoting  our  foreign 
and  domestic  trade  and  the  general  industry  of  our  people." 

Prophetic  words!  And  vision  sweeping  down  the  century!  Uttered  by  the 
deep- forested  shores  of  Puget  Sound,  in  the  unpretentious  capital  of  the  territory, 
and  with  Hie  backwoods  for  environment,  but  vibrant  with  an  inspiration  of  ap- 
proaching events  of  worldwide  magnitude.  These  pioneer  legislators  of  fifty  years 
ago  brought  to  their  tasks  some  of  the  elements  of  genuine  greatness.  Their  "native 
hue  of  resolution"  had  not  become  "sicklied  o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of  thought;" 
and  while  their  old  laws,  resolutions  and  memorials  reveal  here  and  there  an  imper- 
fect knowledge  of  the  spelling  book,  they  were  generally  framed  with  clearness  of 
diction  and  a  directness  that  might  well  be  copied  in  these  days  of  too  frequent  indi- 
rection and  evasion. 

A  hundred  years  ago,  when  the  first  fur  traders  entered  this  region,  they  found 
and  used  an  Indian  highway  crossing  the  country  from  the  Columbia  river,  near 
old  Fort  Walla  W^alla,  to  the  Colville  valley  and  the  Kettle  or  Chaudiere  falls. 
Wlien,  in  1860,  government  established  the  first  mail  route  in  the  section  north  of 
Snake  river,  it  adopted  this  prehistoric  route,  leaving  Walla  Walla  and  passing 
thence  by  way  of  the  Palouse  ferry  on  the  Snake,  Cow  creek,  Big  lake,  and  lower 
Spokane  bridge  (operated  by  James  Monaghan)  to  old  Fort  Colville,  a  distance  of 
210  miles.  This  route  was  pursued  until  1867,  when  the  service  was  shifted  by 
way  of  Waitsburg  and  Tucanon,  in  Walla  Walla  county,  and  thence  via  the  upper 
Spokane  bridge,  twelve  miles  above  the  falls,  to  Fort  Colville. 

A  memorial  adopted  in  October,  1869,  asked  that  the  service  be  restored  to  the 
old  route,  representing  that  Waitsburg,  Tucanon  and  other  offices  were  directly  on 
the  mail  route  from  Walla  Walla  to  Lewiston,  and  could  be  supplied  with  all  neces- 
sary mail  facilities  by  that  route  vrithout  any  additional  expense  to  the  government 

The  memorial  further  represented  "that  as  at  present  arranged,  the  mails  arc 
carried  on  said  route,  in  order  to  reach  Fort  Colville,  a  distance  of  285  miles,  making 
the  schedule  time,  on  the  trip,  of  twelve  days ;  but  that  mail  matter  is  frequently  de- 
layed for  four  weeks,  to  the  great  detriment  and  inconvenience  of  many  citizens." 
It  was  argued  that  the  route  could  be  materially  shortened  and  afford  better  facili- 
ties and  accommodations  by  having  the  mails  carried  as  formerly  when  the  route 
was  first  established. 

From  time  to  time  a  few  settlers  had  found  their  way  into  the  Palouse  country, 
and  by  the  summer  of  1871  the  possibilities  there  in  way  of  soil  and  climate  had 
been  sufficiently  demonstrated  to  call  for  the  organization  of  a  new  county.  The 
legislature  recognized  these  new  conditions,  and  an  act  approved  by  Governor  Ed- 
ward S.  Salomon,  November  29,  1871,  set  up  the  county  of  Whitman  and  defined 
the  following  boundaries: 

Commencing  at  a  point  on  Snake  river  where  the  line  dividing  Idaho  and  Wash- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  303 

ington  territories  strikes  said  river,  thence  down  mid  channel  of  said  river  to  its 
month;  thence  np  mid  channel  of  the  Columbia  river  to  White  bluffs;  thence  in  a 
northeasterly  course  to  where  the  fifth  standard  parallel  crosses  Lougenbeal  creek; 
thence  east  along  said  parrallel  to  the  dividing  line  between  Washington  and  Idaho 
territories;  thence  south  along  said  line  to  the  place  of  beginning:  Provided,  That 
until  the  fifth  standard  parallel  is  established,  the  line  from  White  bluffs  shall  be 
in  a  northeasterly  course  to  the  south  end  of  Big  lake ;  thence  in  an  easterly  course 
to  Stone  house  near  Rock  lake ;  thence  east  to  the  dividing  line  between  Washing- 
ton and  Idaho  territories ;  thence  south  along  said  line  to  the  place  of  beginning. 
As  first  board  of  county  commissioners  the  act  named  G.  D.  Wilber,  William  R. 
Rexford  and  Henry  S.  Burlingame.  Charles  D.  Porter  was  appointed  sheriff  and 
*  asse^or;  James  Ewart  auditor,  W.  A.  Belcher  treasurer,  John  Denny  probate 
judge,  C.  E.  White  superintendent  of  schools,  and  John  Fincher  coroner,  "to  hold 
their  offices  until  the  next  general  election,  or  until  their  successors  are  elected  and 
qnahfied/'  William  Lucas,  Jesse  Logsdon  and  J.  A.  Perkins  were  appointed  com- 
missioners to  locate  a  county  seat  until  the  next  general  efection,  when  the  deter- 
mination of  the  permanent  county  seat  was  to  be  referred  to  the  voters. 

The  new  county  was  added  to  Walla  Walla  for  judicial  purposes;  to  the  coun- 
ties of  Walla  Walla  and  Stevens  in  the  election  of  joint  councilman,  and  to  Stevens 
county  in  the  election  of  joint  representatives.  Stevens  and  Whitman  were  to  divide 
the  debt  of  old  Stevens  county  in  proportion  to  the  taxable  property  returned  by 
the  respective  assessors  of  the  two  counties.  Whitman  to  issue  county  orders  to 
Stevens  for  its  proportion. 

Road-making,  as  always  the  case  in  a  new  country,  was  one  of  the  most  pressing 
tasks,  and  to  meet  this  need  in  part,  the  legpislature  at  the  same  session  directed  the 
county  commissioners  of  Walla  Walla,  Whitman  and  Stevens,  at  their  February 
session  in  1872,  to  appoint  one  citizen  of  their  respective  counties,  "who  shall  be 
and  are  hereby  constituted  a  board  of  commissioners  to  view  and  locate  a  territorial 
road  from  Walla  Walla  city  via  Waitsburg,  in  Walla  Walla  county,  on  the  most 
direct  practical  route  to  Bellville,  in  Whitman  county,  crossing  Snake  river  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Pinawawa,  thence  by  the  most  direct  practical  route  to  Fort  Colville, 
in  Stevens  county."  For  this  service  the  locators  were  to  be  paid  a  per  diem  of  four 
dollars  each. 

Even  with  the  loss  of  territory  suffered  by  the  erection  of  Whitman  county, 
Stevens  remained  a  county  of  "magnificent  distances,"  embracing  within  its  con- 
fines nearly  one  half  of  the  area  of  Washington  territory,  being  200  miles  in  length 
and  150  in  breadth,  and  containing  80,000  square  miles.  Interesting  glimpses  of 
this  region  as  it  then  existed  are  found  in  a  memorial  adopted  in  November,  1871. 
It  represented  that  Stevens  county  "is  inhabited  by  the  Spokane,  Coeur  d'Alene, 
Isle  de  Pierre,  San  Pod,  Okanogan,  Lake,  Colville  and  Calispell  tribes  of  Indians, 
in  all  numbering  about  4,500;  that  Colville  valley  contains  127  white  settlers,  with 
thirty  women  and  117  children,  and  that  there  are  scattered  in  various  settlements 
here  and  there,  in  other  parts  of  the  county,  187  white  settlers,  with  forty  women 
and  114  children;  that  no  treaty  has  ever  been  made  by  the  United  States  with  the 
Indians  of  Stevens  county,  nor  have  they  ever  been  placed  on  reservations ;  that  Fort 
Colville  is  a  military  post  of  the  United  States,  garrisoned  by  a  single  company  of 
infantry,  and  situated  at  a  distance  of  200  miles  from  the  settled  portions  of  Wash- 


304  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

ington  territory  east  of  the  Cascade  mountains ;  that  the  Indians  inhabiting  Stevens 
county  have  heretofore  been  kept  in  cheeky  owing  to  the  presence  of  this  small  body 
of  troops  (since  their  defeat  by  the  late  General  George  Wright)  but  that  when 
lately  it  was  rumored  that  the  troops  would  be  removed^  they  became  emboldened 
and  openly  announced  their  intention  of  driving  out  the  white  settlers  and  taking 
possession  of  their  property  as  soon  as  the  removal  of  the  troops  was  accomplished ; 
that  the  settlers  of  Colville  valley  would  be  unable  to  protect  themselves,  and  would 
be  compelled  to  abandon  their  farms  on  which  they  have  expended  many  years  of 
toil,  were  the  troops  removed ;  that  the  settlers  in  other  parts  of  the  county,  except 
possibly  those  living  near  the  county  of  Walla  Walla,  would  likewise  be  driven  from 
their  homes  by  the  Indians,  and  that  hostilities  between  the  whites  and  Indians 
would  almost  necessarily  follow  the  removal  of  the  troops;  that  in  anticipation  of 
the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  passing  across  Stevens  county,  settlers  are  immigrating 
to  it  very  rapidly,  and  that  in  the  opinion  of  your  memorialists,  the  military  post 
already  established  by  the  government,  with  its  garrison,  should  be  continued  until 
the  settlers  are  numerous  enough  to  protect  themselves  and  to  convince  the  Indian 
tribes  living  in  that  county  that  any  resistance  to  immigration  or  hostilities  to  the 
white  population  would  be  futile." 

A  marked  change  in  legpislative  temper  and  policy  towards  the  Northern  Pacific 
railroad  company  was  manifested  at  the  session  of  1873.  Prior  to  that  time,  the 
legislature  had  been  most  supplicating  in  its  pleas  for  generous  national  aid  and 
encouragement  for  the  company;  but  circumstances  alter  cases,  and  with  the  contem- 
poraneous arrival  of  construction  forces  and  settlers  in  eastern  Washington  came 
conflicts  of  interest,  and  the  legislature  felt  in  duty  bound  to  champion  the  cause 
of  the  settler. 

A  serious  clash  of  title  rose  now  between  the  company  and  a  large  number  of 
settlers.  By  act  of  congress  of  July  2,  1864,  a  grant  of  land  was  given  the  com- 
pany of  ''every  alternate  section  of  public  land,  not  mineral,  designated  by  odd  num- 
bers, to  the  amount  of  twenty  alternate  sections  per  mile,  on  each  side  of  said 
railroad  line,  as  said  company  may  adopt  through  the  territories  of  the  United 
States,  and  ten  alternate  sections  of  land  per  mile  on  each  side  of  said  railroad, 
whenever  it  passes  through  any  state;  and  whenever,  on  the  line  thereof  the  United 
States  have  full  title,  not  reserved,  sold,  granted  or  otherwise  appropriated,  and 
free  from  preemption  or  other  claims  or  rights,  at  the  time  the  line  of  said  road  is 
definitely  fixed,  and  a  plat  thereof  filed  in  the  office  of  the  commissioner  of  the  general 
land  oflice;  and  whenever  prior  to  said  time,  any  of  said  sections  or  parts  of  said  sec- 
tions shall  have  been  granted,  sold,  reserved,  occupied  by  homestead  settlers,  or  pre- 
emption or  otherwise  disposed  of,  other  land  shall  be  selected  by  said  company  in  lien 
thereof." 

Under  this  grant  the  company  filed  its  map  of  definite  route  in  the  office  of  the 
commissioner  of  the  general  land  ofiice,  August  13,  1870,  and  the  secretary  of  the 
interior,  J.  D.  Cox,  held  in  a  letter  to  the  president  of  the  Northern  Pacific,  that 
such  withdrawal  should  take  effect  from  and  after  the  receipt  of  the  map  of  the 
same  at  the  local  United  States  land  offices.  These  maps,  though  filed  at  Washing- 
ton in  August,  were  not  filed  in  the  local  land  offices  in  eastern  Washington  till  the 
following  October,  and  in  this  interim  many  settlers  filed  on  odd  numbered  sections 
within  the  grant.    By  the  decision  of  Secretary  Cox,  these  settlers  were  within  their 


ill"" 


l=i'i,l'"sil^'- 


I         "  1      !■■  S: 


r 


The  ^EW  YORK 


IPUBUC  LIBRARY 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  305 

rights ;  but  his  successor  subsequently  reversed  that  decision  and  held  that  the  rail- 
road's title  attached  from  the  time  of  filing  at  Washington,  and  consequently  settlers 
v^ho  Trent  upon  these  lands  after  August  IS,  were  trespassers  on  railroad  lands. 

Out  of  these  conflicting  decisions  developed  the  famous  "lieu  land  controversy" 
v^hich  entered  vigorously  into  the  territorial  politics  of  the  day,  and  which  was 
instrumental  several  years  later  in  electing  as  delegate  to  congress  the  late  Charles 
S.  Voorhees,  of  Colfax  and  Spokane,  who  championed  the  cause  of  the  settlers 
a^inst  the  railroad  company. 

A  memorial  adopted  in  November,  1875,  declared  that  the  settlers  "went  upon 
the  lands  in  good  faith  for  the  purpose  of  making  homes  for  themselves  and  families ; 
that  the  decision  of  Secretary  Delano  gplves  over  to  the  railroad  company 
the  homes  and  improvements  of  settlers  with  the  labor  of  years  expended  thereon; 
that  at  the  time  of  making  their  settlements  and  filing,  the  tracts  were  unoccupied 
and  unappropriated  public  lands,  and  considered  by  all  the  land  officers  of  the  gov- 
ernment, from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  as  property  subject  to  homestead  and  pre- 
emption; and  that  said  railroad  demands  of  such  settlers  that  they  shall  purchase 
of  it^  and  asks  such  an  exorbitant  price  for  each  tract  that  the  settlers  are  both 
unwilling  and  unable  to  purchase." 

The  memorial  charged  President  Cass  of  the  Northern  Pacific  with  broken  faith 
and  open  repudiation  of  written  promises  to  relinquish  these  lands  to  the  settlers 
and  take  other  lands  in  lieu  under  a  special  act  of  congress  which  had  been  passed 
to  cure  the  injustice,  and  generally  assumed  a  hostile  attitude  against  the  company. 
Similar  conflicts  of  interest  had  developed  in  western  Washington,  along  the  line 
between  Tacoma  and  Kalama  on  the  Columbia  river,  and  altogether  the  Northern 
Pacific  had  made  itself  intensely  unpopular  in  a  telrlitdry  whose  people  had  pre- 
viously bowed  down  before  it  almost  to  the  poiht  of  worship. 

After  pointing  out  that  the  grant  had  been  made  by  congress  on  condition  that 
the  company  complete  not  less  than  100  miles  of  ira'ds:  yearly,  and  alleging  that  it 
had  built  no  road  at  all  within  the  two  preceding  years,  the  legislature  further  pro-' 
tested  against  the  contention  of  the  railroad  that  it  was  exempt  from  taxation  within 
the  territories,  and  concluded: 

"Wherefore,  in  consideration  of  the  facts  herein  stated,  your  memorialists,  as  a 
matter  of  justice  to  the  people  of  the  territory,  would  most  respectfully  and  earnestly 
ask  that  the  lands  in  this  territory  unearned  by  the  completed  road  of  said  company 
be  restored  to  homestead  and  preemption  settlement;  that  such  legislation  as  will 
require  said  company  to  bear  its  proper  burden  of  taxation  may  be  adopted,  and  that 
the  act  of  congress  approved  June  22,  1874,  entitled  *an  act  for  the  relief  of  settlers 
on  railroad  lands,'  be  so  amended  as  to  permit  bona  fide  settlers,  who  settled  or 
filed  in  the  local  land  office  prior  to  the  date  of  the  company  filing  its  map  of  definite 
location,  to  prove  up  and  take  title  from  government  without  let  or  hindrance  from 
said  Northern  Pacific  railroad  company." 

For  nearly  thirty  years  the  Northern  Pacific  resisted  this  plea  for  justice,  oppos- 
ing the  settlers  in  the  courts,  before  the  departments  and  in  congress,  and  interfer- 
ing continuously  with  territorial  and  state  politics.  In  this  way  it  wore  out  most 
of  the  claimants  until  they  were  glad,  in  order  to  clear  title  to  their  homes,  to  yield 
to  the  railroad's  terms  of  settlement  Many  years  later  the  old  controversy  was 
ended  by  act  of  congress,  but  on  terms  that  were  considered  immensely  advantageous 


YoLI— » 


306  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

to  the  company,  and  which  brought  upon  United  States  Senator  John  L.  Wilson 
some  criticism  for  his  part  in  introducing  and  advocating  the  curative  legislation. 

An  act  to  encourage  forestation  in  eastern  Washington  found  legislative  favor 
in  November,  1 878.  It  authorized  the  commissioners  of  Stevens  and  Whitman  coun- 
ties "to  exempt  from  taxation,  except  for  territorial  purposes,  the  real  or  personal 
property  of  each  taxpayer  who  shall,  within  the  county  within  such  year,  plant  and 
suitably  cultivate  one  or  more  acres  of  forest  trees  for  timber,  to  an  amount  not 
exceeding  $800  for  each  acre."  ' 

A  memorial  adopted  in  November,  1873,  and  signed  by  N.  T.  Caton  as  speaker 
of  the  house  of  representatives,  and  Wm.  McLane  as  president  of  the  council,  prayed 
congress  for  an  appropriation  to  overccnne  obstacles  in  the  Columbia  river.  It  rep- 
resented that — 

"The  Cascade  mountains  divide  the  territory  into  western  and  eastern  Washing- 
ton; that  eastern  Washington  territory  is  almost  exclusively  a  grazing  and  agricul- 
tural country,  that  the  soil  is  capable  of  producing  all  the  grasses  and  cereals  known 
to  the  middle  and  western  states ;  that  the  product  of  Walla  Walla  county  alone,  with 
a  population  of  about  8,000  souls,  in  its  g^ain  yield  for  the  year  1873,  as  shown  by 
the  most  carefully  prepared  statistics,  will  reach  the  enormous  sum  of  1,000,000 
bushels.  That  large  bodies  of  land  in  the  counties  of  Walla  Walla,  Stevens,  Yakima 
and  Whitman  are  equally  as  susceptible  of  cultivation  as  those  already  occupied, 
improved  and  cultivated ;  that  the  counties  above  enumerated  are  fast  filling  up  with 
an  intelligent  and  industrious  population." 

The  people  residing  in  eastern  Washington,  it  was  pointed  out,  were  almost 
wholly  dependent  on  the  Columbia  river  for  an  outlet  to  the  Pacific  ocean  and  to 
markets  for  the  products  of  their  soil  and  the  fruits  of  th«ur  labor,  and  the  memorial 
added : 

"That  from  the  points  of  shipment  on  the  Columbia  river  to  the  junction  of  the 
Willamette  river  therewith,  nature  has  opposed  great  obstacles  to  the  free  and  suc- 
cessful navigation  of  the  stream — one  at  The  Dalles  and  one  at  the  Cascades,  making 
a  portage  of  fourteen  miles  at  the  former  place,  and  of  five  or  six  at  the  latter,  an 
imperative  necessity.  The  costs  and  expenses  attending  the  transportation  of  freight 
over  the  portages  aforesaid  are  so  burdensome  on  the  people  of  eastern  Washington 
as  to  amount  to  an  almost  entire  prohibition ;  that  the  people  may  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  develop  the  region  of  country  in  which  they  live,  and  at  the  same  time  pro- 
vide the  means  of  subsistence  for  themselves  and  families  whilst  thus  laboring  without 
meeting  with  the  great  hindrances  to  the  free  navigation  of  the  Columbia  river,  your 
memorialists  earnestly  pray  your  honorable  bodies  to  make  such  an  appropriation 
as  shall  in  your  judgments  overcome  the  obstacles  aforesaid.*' 

Another  memorial  at  this  session  advanced  "serious  and  weighty  reasons"  why 
northern  Idaho  should  be  annexed  to  Washington  territory.  Among  these  were 
the  "impassable  barrier  in  the  shape  of  towering  rugged  mountains,  where  perennial 
snows  ever  abound,  making  it  absolutely  necessary,  in  order  to  have  any  communi- 
cations with  other  portions  of  the  territory,  during  eight  months  of  the  year,  to 
take  circuitous  routes  through  Washington  territory  and  the  state  of  Oregon  before 
any  portion  of  the  balance  of  the  territory  can  be  reached,  either  on  foot,  horseback, 
or  bv  vehicle. 

"We   would   further  represent,"  continues  the  memorial,   "that  that  portion  of 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  307 

Idaho  which  it  is  proposed  to  annex  to  Washington  is  a  narrow  strip  of  country, 
about  in  proportion  to  the  halance  of  the  territory  as  the  handle  of  a  frying  pan 
is  to  the  pan,  and  it  lies  contiguous  to  our  territory,  lying  immediately  east,  and  with 
no  barriers  intervening.  Its  commercial,  political  and  social  interests  are  identical 
with  ours;  its  products,  climate  and  people  are  in  every  respect  similar.  It  helps 
to  form  one  grand  basin  where  there  is  no  dissimilarity  in  the  soil,  the  pursuits  of 
the  people,  the  general  appearance  of  the  country  or  the  character  of  its  resources. 

"Annex  the  same  to  Washington,  and  it  must  g^ow  and  prosper;  but  keep  it  tied 
to  Idaho  territory,  and  it  must  ever  remain  in  a  comparatively  primitive  state.  As 
where  there  is  no  affinity  of  interest,  no  affinity  of  feeling,  and  where  there  is  so 
little  hope  of  ever  overcoming  to  any  great  extent  the  rankling  sectional  feeling,  that 
sectional  antagonism  which  too  often  is  prevalent  among  the  greater  towards  the 
smaller  population,  there  is  little  ground  for  hoping  that  these  conditions  will  ever 
be  materially  unchanged." 

A  little  overdrawn,  but  having  substantial  basis  of  truth  and  reason.  Happily 
the  pessimistic  predictions  of  the  memorial  have  not  been  verified.  Northern  Idaho 
has  not  "ever  remained  in  a  comparatively  primitive  state,*'  for  its  commercial  and 
social  relations,  as  indicated  in  this  old  plea  for  annexation,  have  been  inseparably 
bound  up  with  those  of  eastern  Washington,  and  these  are  ever  more  potent  in  indus- 
trial and  social  progress  than  political  ties.  Some  rankling  sectional  feeling  there 
has  been  against  the  capital  end  of  the  commonwealth ;  but  have  we  of  eastern  Wash- 
ington not  felt  at  times  that  our  greater  half,  lying  west  of  the  Cascade  mountains, 
has  been  lacking  in  the  breadth  and  understanding  that  would  have  contributed  more 
freely  to  our  happiness  and  progress  without  impairing  in  the  least  the  welfare  of 
our  neighbors  to  the  west.^ 

We  come  now  to  the  year  1875,  and  still  the  paramount  need  was  better  means 
of  communication — more  highways  and  improvement  of  the  existing  ways.  Con- 
stant need  was  felt  and  expressed  for  more  adequate  communication  between  the 
east  side  and  the  west,  for  in  many  respects  the  bond  then  existing  between  the  two 
sections  was  closer  than  that  of  today.  The  interior  had  then  no  other  outlet  than 
to  the  west ;  was  drawing  almost  its  entire  immigration  from  that  source ;  and  was 
dependent  on  coast  capital  and  enterprise  for  development  of  its  resources.  For 
news  interest  the  people  east  of  the  Cascade  mountains  turned  to  the  coast;  their 
mail  came  from  that  quarter;  they  read  coast  newspapers,  and  most  of  them  had 
family  ties  on  Puget  Sound  or  down  in  the  Willamette  valley. 

So  keen  was  this  desire  for  closer  relations  that  the  legislature  of  1875  over- 
powered its  moral  scruples,  if  such  it  had,  and  authorized  private  lotteries  in  the 
cause  of  a  highway  across  the  Cascades.  By  statute  "any  person  residing  in  this 
territory  who  is  desirous  of  aiding  in  the  construction  of  a  wagon  road  across  the 
Cascade  mountains  shall  have  the  right  to  dispose  of  any  of  his  property,  real  and 
personal,  by  lottery  distribution,  under  such  restrictions  and  conditions  as  are  pro- 
vided in  this  act." 

The  chief  condition  was  the  payment  of  ten  per  cent,  of  the  proceeds  of  the  lot- 
tery to  a  trustee,  who  in  turn  was  to  pay  it  to  a  board  composed  of  three  citizens 
of  Yakima  county  and  two  of  King  who  were  "to  superintend  the  expenditure  of  all 
moneys  realized  for  the  benefit  of  said  road,  under  the  provisions  of  this  act." 

The  road  thus  favored  was  to  be  constructed  from  Snoqualmie  prairie  in  King 


308  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

county^  to  the  south  end  of  Lake  Kichelas  in  Yakima  county;  was  to  be  opened  at 
least  thirty  feet  wide,  all  grades  to  be  at  least  fifteen  feet  wide,  and  be  a  part  of 
a  territorial  road  from  Seattle  to  Walla  Walla. 

Another  act  defined  lawful  fences  in  Whitman  and  Yakima  counties :  Plank  fence, 
four  feet,  eight  inches  high;  posts,  ^ve  inches  or  more  in  diameter,  substantially 
set  in  the  ground,  not  more  than  eight  feet  apart;  the  lower  plank  placed  twenty 
inches  from  the  ground,  second  plank  eight  inches  above  the  lower,  and  third  plank 
ten  inches  from  second,  the  plank  to  be  six  inches  wide,  one  inch  thick  stnd  firmly 
fastened  to  the  posts  by  nails,  wire  or  otherwise. 

Post  and  rail  fence,  ^ve  feet  high,  made  of  sound  posts,  ^ve  or  more  inches  in 
diameter,  firmly  set  in  the  ground,  not  more  than  twelve  feet  apart,  with  four  rails 
not  less  than  four  inches  in  diameter,  securely  fastened ;  the  lower  rail  twenty  inches 
from  the  ground,  and  the  remaining  three  rails  not  more  than  eight  inches  apart 

Provision  was  also  made  for  post  and  pole  fences,  "worm"  fences,  and  ditches 
of  two  designs,  one  design  being  a  ditch  three  feet  deep  with  embankment  and  sod 
thrown  up  on  inside  of  ditch  two  feet  six  inches  high,  with  substantial  posts  set  in 
embankment,  not  more  than  twelve  feet  apart,  and  pole  or  rail  securely  fastened 
thereto  not  more  than  fifteen  inches  from  the  embankment.  To  such  makeshifts  were 
the  pioneer  settlers  of  a  prairie  region  driven  in  the  early  homesteading  era  of  our 
countrv. 

An  act  approved  November  12,  1875,  declared  the  Spokane  river  navigable  and 
a  public  highway  from  its  mouth  to  the  dividing  line  between  Washington  and  Idaho, 
''for  the  purpose  of  rafting,  driving  and  floating  logs,  timber  and  other  material." 

Fines  were  provided  for  the  punishment  of  persons  who  might  obstruct  the  chan- 
nel, but  it  was  provided,  "that  the  placing  of  any  mill  dam  or  boom  across  said 
stream  shall  not  be  construed  to  be  an  obstruction  to  the  navigation  aforesaid,  if  the 
same  be  so  constructed  as  to  allow  the  passage  of  logs,  timber  and  other  material 
without  unreasonable  delay;"  and  persons  running  logs  were  made  liable  for  dam- 
ages sustained  by  bridges. 

Another  memorial,  urging  the  overcoming  of  obstructions  in  the  Columbia  river 
and  passed  at  this  session,  is  remarkable  for  the  accuracy  of  its  prediction  regarding 
the  wheat-growing  possibilities  of  eastern  Washington.  That  season's  exportable 
surplus  from  this  district  was  given  as  1,000,000  bushels,  but  it  was  estimated  that 
with  lower  freight  rates  the  country  could  produce  20,000,000  bushels  for  export 
Although  wheat  was  then  selling  for  $1  a  bushel  at  Portland,  the  market  price  at 
Walla  Walla,  the  principal  purchasing  point  in  eastern  Washington,  was  only  45 
cents  per  bushel;  the  difference  was  absorbed  in  excessive  transportation  charges 
and  high  profits  for  middlemen.  Attention  was  directed  to  a  report  of  Brevet  Briga- 
dier-General Michler,  of  the  United  States  engineer  corps,  estimating  the  cost  oi 
short  canals  and  locks  at  $1,500,000.  The  combined  population  of  eastern  Wash- 
ington, eastern  Oregon  and  northern  Idaho,  "which  would  be  directly  and  immedi- 
ately benefited  by  the  removal  of  these  obstructions  and  by  the  free  navigation  of 
this  river,"  was  estimated  at  "about  80,000,  a  very  large  proportion  of  whom  are 
engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits." 

The  establishment  of  a  land  office  at  Colfax  was  urged  in  a  memorial  to  congress 
as  "a  matter  of  great  importance  to  all  the  settlers  north  of  Snake  river  and  east 
of  the  Cascade  mountains."     Congress,  it  added,  "in  justice  ought  to  act  in  this 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  309 

matter  for  the  following  reasons:  The  only  land  office  east  of  the  Cascade  moun- 
tains is  at  Walla  Walla  City,  near  the  southern  boundary  of  the  territory,  and  dis- 
tant about  200  miles  from  a  majority  of  the  settlers  in  said  portion  of  the  territory." 
In  the  establishment  of  these  local  land  offices  we  may  trace  unerringly  the  settle- 
ment and  development  of  the  country.  For  several  years  a  single  land  office  at 
Oregon  City  served  the  needs  of  the  country.  Later  an  office  was  located  at  Van- 
couver, near  Portland.  Then,  with  the  settlement  of  the  country  east  of  the  moun- 
tains congress  in  turn  established  land  offices  at  Walla  Walla,  Yakima,  Colfax,  Spo- 
kane and  Waterville  in  the  Big  Bend  country. 

Meanwhile  settlement  and  progress  drifted  around  Spokane,  but  prior  to  1872 
there  were  few  happenings  of  moment  at  the  falls.  The  site  of  the  present  city  lay 
off  the  two  important  highways  of  the  interior.  The  Mullan  road  cut  across  Moran 
prairie  and  struck  the  valley  six  miles  above  the  falls,  while  the  old  Walla  Walla- 
Colville  route  crossed  the  Spokane  at  Monaghan's  bridge  some  twenty  miles  below. 
From  ancient  times  the  valley  of  the  Spokane  had  been  considered  lacking  in  agri- 
cultural possibilities,  and  was  used  chiefly  as  pasturage  ground  for  herds  of  Indian 
horses  and  as  an  Indian  race  course  where  the  neighboring  tribes  assembled  to  match 
their  crack  running  horses  and  gamble  furiously  on  speed  contests.  Homeseekers 
passed  its  gravel  soil  contemptuously  by ;  and  as  for  water  power,  was  not  the  coun- 
try full  of  it,  going  everywhere  to  waste?  No  one  could  capitalize  water  power 
in  those  days. 

But  with  the  arrival  here  in  1871  of  Scranton  and  Downing,  the  building  of 
their  little  "muley"  saw  mill,  and  the  homesteading  of  farming  lands  in  the  Four 
Lakes  country  and  down  around  Spangle,  the  southern  end  of  Stevens  county  began 
to  command  some  attention,  and  an  act  approved  November  9,  1 877,  authorized  the 
commissioners  to  levy  a  special  tax  on  the  assessable  property  of  the  county  "for 
the  purpose  of  building  a  bridge  across  the  Spokane  river  at  or  near  Spokane  Falls." 

Some  of  the  newcomers  into  eastern  Washington,  moved  by  memories  of  their 
boyhood  days  in  eastern  states,  had  attempted  to  stock  the  country  with  "Bob  White" 
quail,  and  an  act  approved  November  9,  1877,  provided  that  "any  person  or  per- 
sons who  shall  buy,  sell,  shoot,  kill,  snare  or  trap  any  quail  in  the  counties  of  Walla 
Walla,  Columbia  and  Whitman  before  the  first  day  of  September,  1881,  shall  be 
deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  on  conviction  .  .  .  shall  be  fined  not  more 
than  $50  nor  less  than  $10,  one-half  to  be  paid  to  the  informer  and  the  other  to  go 
into  the  county  school  fund."  Either  the  law  proved  ineffective,  or  the  imported 
birds  failed  to  thrive  and  multiply  in  their  new  environment,  for  the  quail  was 
comparatively  an  unknown  bird  in  this  region  imtil  later  efforts  by  sportsmen  of 
Spokane  proved  measurably  successful  in  introducing  it  here  in  numbers. 

Alarmed  by  the  apparent  policy  of  the  Northern  Pacific  to  seek  another  terminus 
on  Puget  Sound  or  the  Columbia  river,  enterprising  citizens  of  Seattle  projected  a 
railroad  from  their  town  to  Walla  Walla,  and  obtained,  at  the  legislative  session 
of  1877,  the  passage  of  an  act  authorizing  various  counties  to  subscribe  to  the  cap- 
iUl  stock:  King  and  Walla  Walla,  $100,000  each;  Yakima,  $50,000;  Columbia, 
$75,000;  Whitman,  $60,000;  Stevens,  $20,000;  Klickitat,  $10,000;  and  various  other 
comities  $5,000  each. 

Some  progfress  was  made  in  construction  out  of  Seattle,  but  the  line  never  got 
very  far  into  the  Cascade  mountains. 


310  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Congress  was  memorialized  at  this  session  to  convert  the  Colville  valley  into  an 
Indian  reservation.     It  was  represented — 

"That  the  unsettled  condition  of  the  Indians  east  of  the  Cascade  mountains  in 
Washington  territory^  is  alike  injurious  to  the  Indians  and  the  white  people.  The 
permanent  location  of  these  Indians  upon  one  reservation  would  result  in  the  pros- 
perity and  peace  of  both  the  white  people  and  the  Indians. 

"We  would  further  represent  that  the  Colville  valley  is  admirably  adapted  for 
an  Indian  territory  for  all  the  Indians  east  of  the  Cascade  mountains^  not  only  on 
account  of  its  arable  lands^  the  roots^  camas  and  salmon  fisheries^  but  also  on  account 
of  its  situation^  which^  owing  to  the  surrounding  country^  can  never  to  intrenched 
upon  by  any  white  settlements.  The  remnants  of  different  tribes  to  whom  reserva- 
tions have  been  assigned  under  different  treaties^  to  the  exclusion  of  white  settlers, 
derive  no  benefit  from  these  reservations  which  they  could  not  fully  enjoy  in  Col- 
ville valley.  Yet  their  occupancy  of  the  different  reservations  keeps  a  body  of  fine, 
arable  land  from  cultivation  and  settlement  by  white  people.  These  different  reser- 
vations together  contain  more  arable  land  than  the  Colville  valley^  and  their  situa- 
tion in  close  proximity  to  the  settlements  of  white  people^  makes  a  change  not  only 
desirable,  but  also  of  ultimate  benefit  to  all  concerned,  and  thereby  the  peace  of 
the  country  will  be  more  fuUy  secured." 

This  petition,  it  need  scarcely  be  added,  passed  unheeded  by  congress. 

Another  memorial  adopted  at  this  session  prayed  for  the  establishment  of  a  mili- 
tary post  at  Spokane  Falls.     It  represented  that — 

"There  is  a  large  number  of  Indians  in  Stevens,  Columbia  and  Whitman  coun- 
ties; that  many  of  them  are  untreated  with,  and  that  large  numbers  roam  over  the 
country  at  will.  That  since  the  late  war  with  Joseph  and  his  tribe,  these  Indians 
have  manifested  more  or  less  hostile  feeling  toward  the  white  people.  That  the 
white  settlers  in  these  counties  and  in  the  county  of  Yakima  are  widely  scattered 
over  this  vast  area  of  country,  and  in  case  of  Indian  outbreak  are  totally  unpro- 
tected. That  experience  has  demonstrated  the  impossibility  of  the  attempt  to  confine 
the  majority  of  these  Indians  to  reservations.  That  in  view  of  the  above-mentioned 
facts,  there  is  an  urgent  necessity  for  a  military  post  somewhere  in  the  section  of 
country  above  referred  to;"  and  the  legislature  earnestly  asked  that  it  be  estab- 
lished at  "Spokane  Falls,  Stevens  county,  Washington." 

At  the  date  of  the  adoption  of  this  memorial  two  companies  of  United  States 
troops  were  stationed  temporarily  at  Spokane,  and  the  settlers  there  and  in  the 
surrounding  country  wanted  to  retain  them.  That  was  the  year  of  the  Nea  Perce 
Indian  war,  and  when  Chief  Joseph  took  the  warpath,  these  two  companies  had  been 
hurried  to  Spokane  to  overawe  the  Spokanes,  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  other  neigh- 
boring tribes  and  thus  restrain  them  from  taking  up  arms  in  alliance  with  the  hos- 
tiles.  The  frightful  atrocities  of  savage  warfare  had  been  enacted  almost  within 
view  of  the  alarmed  settlers  of  the  Spokane  country.  Women  and  children  here 
were  still  trembling  in  fear  and  horror  as  they  thought  upon  the  shocking  cruelties 
perpetrated  by  Joseph's  retreating  army  as  it  swept  across  Camas  prairie,  near  the 
present  flourishing  town  of  Grangeville,  Idaho,  where  women  were  slain,  scalps 
taken,  children  butchered,  and  the  tongues  of  some  victims  torn  out  by  the  roots. 
It  was  a  time  of  unrest  among  the  Indians  and  uncertainty  and  alarm  in  the  minds 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  311 

of  the  scattered  home-builders^  and  an  intense  desire  existed  to  keep  these  soldiers 
in  the  country  for  their  moral  and  restraining  influence  on  the  agitated  Indians. 

General  W.  T.  Sherman  had  traversed  this  region  a  few  months  prior  to  the 
adoption  of  this  memorial.  With  an  armed  escort  he  had  traveled  from  old  Fort 
Benton^  at  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Missouri  river^  coming  over  the  MuUan 
road.  He  had  camped  one  night  on  the  shore  of  Lakei  Coeur  d'Alene^  and  the  follow- 
ing day  he  and  his  party  were  guests  of  James  N.  Glover  at  the  Falls.  Mr.  Glover 
made  good  use  of  the  opportunity  thus  presented  to  urge  upon  the  General's  mind 
the  need  of  a  permanent  garrison  in  this  vicinity^  and  on  his  representation  General 
Sherman  ordered  two  companies^  then  in  this  vicinity^  to  go  into  winter  quarters 
at  Spokane.  He  had  been  deeply  impressed  with  the  beauty  and  advantages  of  Lake 
Coeur  d'Alene^  and  on  his  recommendation  a  site  adjoining  the  present  dty  of  Coeur 
d'Alene  was  selected  by  the  war  department  for  a  permanent  post.  The  soldiers 
wintered  by  the  falls,  but  were  moved  to  Fort  Sherman  by  the  lake  the  following 
May. 

The  presence  of  this  strong  garrison  allayed  fear  and  restored  confidence;  the 
Indians  assumed  a  friendly  demeanor,  and  the  work  of  peopling  the  wilderness  went 
forward  with  renewed  vigor.  Enticed  by  glowing  reports  of  the  salubrity  of  the 
climate,  the  beauty  of  the  landscape  and  the  fertility  of  the*soil,  homeseekers  entered 
the  Inland  Empire  in  constantly  increasing  numbers  and  took  up  fat  homesteads 
on  the  fertile  lands  of  the  Palouse.  The  little  settlement  by  the  Falls  felt  the  vivi- 
fying influence  of  this  immigration  and  developed  aspirations  for  county  seat  honors. 
Colville  was  a  long  distance  from  the  settlepients  in  the  southern  end  of  Stevens 
county,  and  need  was  felt  of  a  nearer  seat  of  local  government.  The  summer  of 
1878  had  brought  J.  J.  Browne  and  A.  M.  Cannon,  and  Mr.  Browne  went  to  Olym- 
pia  the  following  year  to  work  for  the  creation  of  a  new  county  to  be  called  Spo- 
kane. His  mission  was  successful,  and  an  act  approved  October  30,  1879,  estab- 
lished the  county  and  defined  the  following  boundaries: 

"Commencing  at  a  point  where  the  section  line  between  sections  21  and  28,  in 
township  14  north,  range  27  east,  Willamette  meridian,  Washington  territory,  strikes 
the  main  body  of  the  Columbia  river  on  the  west  side  of  the  island ;  thence  west 
to  the  mid  channel  of  the  Columbia  river ;  thence  up  the  mid  channel  of  the  Colum- 
bia river  to  the  Spokane  river;  thence  up  the  mid  channel  of  the  Spokane  river 
to  the  Little  Spokane  river ;  thence  north  to  the  township  line  between  townships  29 
and  80 ;  thence  east  to  the  boundary  line  between  Washington  and  Idaho  territories ; 
thence  south  on  said  boundary  line  to  the  fifth  standard  parallel ;  thence  west  on  said 
parallel  to  the  Columbia  guide  meridian ;  thence  south  on  said  meridian  to  the  fourth 
standard  parallel;  thence  west  on  the  fourth  standard  parallel  to  the  range  line 
between  ranges  27  and  28;  thence  south  on  said  range  line  to  the  section  line  be- 
tween sections  24  and  25,  in  township  14  north,  range  27  east,  Willamette  meridian; 
thence  west  to  the  place  of  beginning." 

The  county  seat  was  temporarily  located  at  Spokane  Falls,  "until  located  else- 
where  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  legal  electors  of  said  county,  for  which  purpose 
there  may  be  a  vote  taken  at  the  next  general  election." 

W.  C.  Gray,  John  H.  Wells  and  Andrew  Lafevre  were  appointed  a  board  of  com- 
missioners to  call  a  special  election  for  the  election  of  county  officers — auditor,  treas- 


312  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

urer,  sheriff  and  auditor^  probate  judge^  superintendent  of   schools^  coroner   and 
three  county  commissioners. 

The  act  required  "that  all  taxes  levied  and  assessed  by  the  board  of  county  com- 
missioners of  Stevens  county  for  the  year  1879,  upon  persons  or  property  within 
the  boundaries  of  said  county  of  Spokane,  shall  be  collected  and  paid  into  the  treas- 
ury of  Stevens  county  for  the  use  of  said  county  of  Stevens;  provided,  however, 
that  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  deprive  the  county  of  Spokane 
of  its  proportion  of  the  tax  levied  for  common  school  purposes  for  the  above  named 
year;  and  provided,  further,  that  the  county  of  Spokane  shall  not  be  liable  for  any 
of  the  indebtedness  of  the  county  of  Stevens,  nor  entitled  to  any  portion  of  the 
property  of  said  county  of  Stevens." 

We  look  upon  the  referendum  as  a  novel,  even  revolutionary,  legislative  principle. 
It  may  come  as  a  surprise,  then,  to  some  of  my  readers  that  a  practical,  legalized 
application  of  that  principle  was  made  in  eastern  Washington  more  than  thirty 
years  ago.  With  the  settlement  of  prairie  or  grass  regions,  one  of  the  first  public 
questions  to  arise  is  that  of  fences  or  no  fences,  "herd  law"  or  "no  herd  law."  Set- 
tlement and  development  of  the  country  east  of  the  Cascade  mountains  came  in  waves 
or  eras.  Of  these  came  first  the  period  of  the  fur  traders,  to  be  followed  in  sequence 
by  the  missions.  Catholic  and  Protestant,  the  gold  miners,  and  after  these  latter 
the  herd  owners  who  ranged  large  numbers  of  cattle  and  horses  over  the  bunch-grass 
areas  of  what  we  now  term  the  Palouse  and  Big  Bend  districts.  These  always  view 
askance  the  appearance  of  agricultural  home-makers,  protesting  now,  as  the  fur 
traders  had  protested  before  them,  that  the  country  was  unsuited  to  soil  cultivation, 
and  grumbling,  even  after  the  richness  of  the  land  had  been  demonstrated,  that  the 
plough  was  "spoiling  a  mighty  good  stock  country  to  make  a  miserably  poor  farm- 
ing country." 

With  the  rapid  appropriation  of  the  public  domain  by  homesteaders  came  the 
inevitable  conflict  of  interest  between  stockman  and  ploughman.  The  herd  owner 
contended  that  the  settler  should  fence  in  his  cultivated  area.  The  settler  held 
that  the  stock  owner  should  keep  his  cattle  or  horses  under  close  herd  control  and 
thereby  relieve  the  permanent  home-maker  of  the  labor  and  expense  of  building 
fences.  To  meet  this  conflict  of  interest,  the  legislature  passed  an  act  under  date 
November  18,  1879,  "to  ascertain  the  wishes  of  the  people  in  certain  counties  in 
regard  to  the  fence  law."  It  provided  that  "at  the  next  general  election  for  dele- 
gate to  congress,  to  be  held  in  November,  1880,  the  question  of  fence  law  or  no 
fence  law  shall  be  submitted  to  the  legal  voters  of  Walla  Walla,  Columbia,  Whitman, 
Spokan,  Stevens,  Yakima  and  Klickitat  counties,"  then  embracing  all  of  the  terri- 
tory lying  east  of  the  Cascades. 

"At  such  election,"  continues  this  act,  "there  shall  be  plainly  written  or  printed 
on  each  ticket,  in  said  counties,  the  words,  Tor  fence  law,*  or  'No  fence  law.' 
The  vote  shall  be  canvassed  the  same  as  other  votes  or  other  questions  are  can- 
vassed, and  shall  be  returned  to  the  county  auditor,  who  shall  keep  the  same  on  file, 
and  give  each  member  elected  to  the  legislative  assembly  as  a  guide  for  future 
legislation  in  regard  to  fence  laws  in  their  respective  counties." 

By  an  act  passed  at  this  session  a  zone  of  one  mile  on  each  side  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  right  of  way  through  this  section  of  country  was  made  "dry"  territory.  It 
provided  that — 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  313 

"The  county  commissioners  of  Spokan^  Stevens  and  Whitman  counties  shall  not 
grant  any  license  in  their  resi>ective  counties  for  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors 
within  one  mile  of  the  proposed  railroad  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  company, 
as  established  by  said  company,  now  in  process  of  construction  in  said  counties,  until 
said  railroad  shall  have  been  completed  and  in  operation. 

"It  shall  be  unlawful  to  sell  or  dispose  of  any  intoxicating  liquors  within  sai<} 
limits  to  any  person  during  the  construction  of  said  railroad ;  and  any  person  violat- 
ing any  of  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and 
punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  $300,  or  imprisonment  not  to  exceed  three  months, 
or  both,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

"This  act  shall  not  apply  to  towns  located  within  said  limits,  where  legal  licenses 
have  already  been  granted  for  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors." 

A  memorial  to  congress,  asking  for  an  increase  in  the  legislative  assembly,  adopted 
at  the  session  of  1879,  contained  much  informative  data  relative  to  area,  population, 
and  wealth.  "Our  territory,**  it  set  forth,  "embraces  nearly  eight  degrees  of  longi- 
tude, with  an  average  width  of  three  degrees  of  latitude,  equal  to  69,994  square 
miles,  or  44,796,160  acres.  After  deducting  the  approximate  area  of  Puget  Sound, 
which  has  a  shore  line  of  1,594  miles,  there  remains  85,000,000  acres,  of  which 
20,000,000  are  timber  lands,  5,000,000  alluvial  bottom  lands,  and  10,000,000  prai- 
ries and  plains.  Our  territory  has  an  area  nearly  ten  times  as  large  as  the  state  of 
Massachusetts,  more  than  twice  as  large  as  Ohio,  and  almost  double  that  of  New 
York.  That  our  territory  is,  at  present,  divided  into  twenty-four  counties,  with  a 
total  population  of  57,784." 

King  county,  including  Seattle,  had  then  a  population  of  only  5,188,  and  was 
exceeded  by  two  eastern  Washington  counties,  Walla  Walla,  with  6,215,  and  Colum- 
bia, with  6,894;  and  was  close  pressed  by  Whitman,  with  5,290.  Spokane  and 
Stevens  had  a  combined  population  of  only  2,601. 

The  memorial  further  represented  that  "during  the  year  1878  our  population 
increased  7,288,  a  gain  of  more  than  twelve  per  cent,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the 
gain  for  1879  will  equal  if  not  exceed  twenty-five  per  cent."  The  assessed  valuation 
of  property  for  1879  was  $21,021,832,  an  increase  in  two  years  of  $4,165,843.  Con- 
gress was  reminded  "that  if  our  population  and  wealth  are  considered,  spread  as  it 
is  over  a  vast  territory  and  compared  with  the  state  of  Delaware,  New  York,  Rhode 
Island  and  some  of  the  southern  states  whose  legislatures  are  composed  of  from 
100  to  200  members,  it  will  be  seen  that  our  people  and  their  interests  are  not  fairly 
represented  in  their  territorial  legislature.  That  that  part  of  the  legislative,  execu- 
tive and  judiciary  bill  approved  June  21,  1879,  insofar  as  it  applies  to  our  territory, 
and  which  reduces  our  council  to  not  more  than  twelve  members,  and  our  house  of 
representatives  to  not  more  than  twenty-four  members,  and  which  fixes  the  compen- 
sation of  the  oflicers,  employes  and  members  of  the  assembly,  we  believe  to  be  unjust 
and  unreasonable,  as  it  deprives  our  people  of  fair  and  equal  representation  in  their 
own  legislative  body,  and  tends  to  deprive  their  officers  and  representatives  of  just 
compensation  for  services  rendered.  That  it  seems  not  to  have  been  considered  in 
the  passage  of  said  act  that  the  sessions  of  our  legislature  were  held  only  every 
two  years,  and  that  only  forty  days  were  allowed  in  which  so  few  members  were 
expected  to  represent  and  legislate  upon  the  varied  interests  of  a  great  territory 
with  so  considerable  and  fast  growing  population.     That  we  have  many  business 


314  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

centers,  with  from  1,000  to  8,000  people,  whose  populations  are  daily  increasing 
and  whose  interests  and  business  vary  according  to  location,  soil,  etc.  That  our 
legislature  has  the  interests  of  game  and  gaming,  fish  and  fishing,  mines  and  mining, 
commerce,  manufactures  and  agriculture  to  consider,  foster  and  provide  for,  any 
one  branch  of  which  should  not  be  deprived  of  fair  and  equal  representation. 

"Your  memorialists  therefore  pray  that  your  honorable  body  enact  such  law  as 
will  Ax  the  maximum  of  our  council  at  eighteen,  and  our  house  of  representatives  at 
forty-five  members.  The  compensation  of  the  members  of  our  legislative  assembly 
be  fixed  at  not  less  than  $6  per  day,  with  mileage,  and  that  the  speaker  of  the  house 
and  the  president  of  the  council  be  allowed,  each,  $4  per  day  additional  as  such. 
That  the  chief  clerk  of  each  house  be  allowed  $6  per  day,  and  the  officers  and  em- 
ployes of  the  assembly  be  allowed  from  $5  to  $3  per  day,  according  to  the  services 
performed  and  in  the  discretion  of  the  legislature." 

A  memorial  relative  to  a  military  telegraph  line  represented  "that  large  num- 
bers of  Indians  are  located  on  reservations  between  Snake  river  and  British  Colum- 
bia, making  it  necessary  for  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  maintain  military 
posts  at  various  points  for  the  protection  of  the  people;"  and  that  "telegraphic 
communications  with  these  military  posts"  connecting  with  the  military  telegraph 
line  now  in  operation  from  Lewiston,  I.  T.,  to  Dayton,  W.  T.,  commencing  at  Pome- 
roy,  W.  T.,  on  said  line,  via  AlmOta  and  Colfax  to  Spokane  Falls,  and  thence  con- 
necting the  several  military  posts  aforesaid,  would  render  the  military  more  efficient 
and  inspire  the  citizen  with  more  confidence  of  protection  against  hostile  demon- 
strations of  Indians  than  could  be  given  them  from  almost  any  other  measure,  and 
in  case  of  hostilities  would  result  in  incalculable  benefit  to  both  citizens  and  military." 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

"THE  DAYS  OF  OLD,  THE  DAYS  OF  GOLD" 

SP0KANE8  8SLL  GOLD  IN   1854 PIERCB's  DISCOYERIEB  IN  THE  CLEARWATER  COUNTRY 

THOUSANDS  OF  MINERS  HASTEN  TO  THE  NEW   CAMPS JOAQUIN  MILLER  AN   EXPRESS 

WDER ^FABULOUS    YIELDS    IN    OLD    FLORENCE    CAMP BX-OOVERNOR    COLE's    RECOL- 
LECTIONS  ^HIOH    PRICES   IN    THE    MINES FIRST   TRIP    OF   STEAMER   COL.   WRIGHT 

RICHEST   PLACERS  IN  THE   U.   S. HOW  FLORENCE   AND  OTHER  CAMPS   WERE   DISCOV- 

IRED-^FAMINE     AND     HARDSHIPS GOLD     BY    THE     QUART ^REIGN     OF     CRIME     AND 

TERROR AMAZING  ESCAPE  FROM  THE   GALLOWS LYNCHING  AT  LEWISTON. 

For  thee,  for  thee,  vile  yellow  slave! 

I  left  a  heart  that  loved  me  true. 
I  crossed  the  tedious  ocean  wave. 

To  roam  in  climes  unkind  and  new. 

The  cold  wind  of  the  stranger  blew 

Chill  on  my  withered  heart;  the  grave 
Dark  and  untimely  met  my  view — 

And  all  for  thee,  vile  yellow  slave! 

— John  Ley  den, 

LONG  before  the  discovery  of  gold  at  Sutter's  mill  in  California,  fur  traders 
knew  of  the  existence  of  the  precious  metal  in  the  sands  of  the  upper 
Columbia  river  and  some  of  its  tributaries.  According  to  one  report,  an 
officer  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  obtained  a  quantity  of  gold  dust  from  the 
interior  and  sent  it  to  London  to  be  made  into  an  article  of  jewelry.  Bancroft 
sajs  that  in  1854  a  man  named  Bobbins  of  Portland  purchased  some  gold  from 
Spokane  Indians.  By  1858,  year  of  the  Steptoe  repulse  and  the  Wright  campaign, 
placer  miners  were  scattered  through  the  interior,  and  the  murder  of  some  miners 
near  Colville  precipitated  the  Indian  outbreak  of  that  year. 

The  first  substantial  discovery  in  the  Clearwater  country  was  made  by  E.  D. 
Pierce,  an  Indian  trader.  Pierce  had  long  known  that  gold  existed  in  the  moun- 
tains east  of  the  great  bend  of  the  Snake,  but  was  prevented  by  the  Nez  Perces  from 
prospecting  for  paying  deposits,  and  went  to  California.  He  returned  to  the  Nez 
Perces'  country  in  1858,  and  the  ratification  of  a  treaty  with  these  Indians  provided 
the  long  desired  opportunity.  Early  in  1 860  he  confirmed  his  belief  that  gold  was 
there  in  paying  quantities,  and  reported  his  discovery  at  Walla  Walla.    With  a  party 

315 


316  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

of  ten  men  organized  there  he  made  a  more  thorough  examination^  and  returning 
to  Walla  Walla  in  November,  freely  imparted  all  information  at  his  coomiand. 
The  fields  were  150  miles  east  of  Walla  Walla,  the  diggings  were  dry,  and  the  pay 
dirt  yielded  from  8  to  1 5  cents  to  the  pan. 

In  the  spring  of  1861  Pierce  organized  a  larger  party  and  returned  to  the 
gold  country.  They  built  cabins,  sawed  lumber  for  flumes,  and  wintered  there, 
1861-2.  News  of  the  discovery  drifted  down  to  Portland  and  the  Willamette  valley, 
and  thence  on  to  California,  and  when  the  Nez  Perce  treaty  was  concluded,  300 
miners  were  in  the  Orofino  district.  A  month  later  their  number  had  grown 
to  1,000,  and  miners  and  adventurers  were  coming  in  large  numbers  from 
Oregon  and  California.  The  route  was  from  Portland  to  Wallula  on  the  Columbia 
by  boat,  thence  by  stage  to  Walla  Walla,  and  the  remaining  distance  was  by  teanr 
or  pack  train. 

"The  winter  of  1861-2  was  the  hardest  ever  known  in  the  country  east  of  the 
mountains,"  said  Ex-Governor  George  E.  Cole  to  the  writer.  "I  was  living  in  Walla 
Walla  then,  and  for  fifty-six  days  we  had  no  news  from  any  part  of  the  country 
except  the  mines  at  Orofino,  Elk  City  and  Florence.  Joaquin  Miller,  then  known 
as  Charlie  Miller,  ran  an  express  from  the  mines  to  Walla  Walla,  with  a  man 
named  Mossman.  They  were  obliged  to  pack  everything  on  their  backs  and  walk  on 
snowshoes.  When  winter  broke  on  the  first  of  April,  several  pack  trains  started 
for  the  Florence  mines,  which  were  situated  in  a  basin  on  the  mountains  near 
Salmon  river. 

"It  was  curious  how  those  mines  were  discovered,  and  I  will  tell  you  about  it. 
During  the  previous  fall  a  party  of  prospectors  camped  for  the  night  in  the  basin 
and  tied  their  horses  to  the  tall  bunch-grass.  During  the  night  several  of  the  horses 
were  restless  and  pulled  up  the  bunches  they  were  tied  to.  In  the  morning  the 
prospectors  found  gold  at  the  roots  of  the  grass. 

"They  remained  there,  and  during  the  fall  took  out  from  a  baking  powder  can 
to  an  oyster  can  full  of  dust  per  day  to  the  man.  I  met  Jack  Monroe  coming  to 
Lewiston  with  250  pounds  of  gold  which  belonged  to  the  camp.  When  the  news 
reached  Walla  Walla,  several  pack  trains  were  gotten  ready  immediately  to  go  to 
the  mines,  but  the  winter  came  on  with  such  severitv  that  we  had  to  wait  for  the 
spring  of  1862. 

"I  left  Walla  Walla  about  the  first  of  April  for  Florence,  on  a  foot  trail  with 
four  loads.  From  the  foot  of  the  mountains  to  Florence  was  about  fortv  miles, 
and  it  was  impossible  to  get  to  Florence  with  the  animals.  We  were  obliged  to  pack 
our  supplies  across  on  our  backs.  The  charge  was  50  cents  a  pound  into  Florence. 
We  carried  the  freight  to  the  Mountain  House,  a  distance  of  ten  miles,  for  which 
we  made  a  charge  of  ten  cents  per  pound.  From  there  to  Florence  it  was  forty 
cents.  We  sold  our  goods  at  the  Mountain  House.  For  flour  we  received  $1  per 
pound,  and  $1.25  for  bacon,  sugar  and  coffee.  The  price  of  whisky  was  $25  per 
gallon.  A  meal  at  the  Mountain  House  cost  $3,  and  consisted  of  hard  bread,  bacon 
and  coffee  without  sugar." 

In  May,  1861,  the  steamer  Col.  Wright,  Leonard  White  captain,  ascended  the 
Columbia,  Snake  and  Clearwater  to  within  twelve  miles  of  the  forks  of  the  Clear- 
water, or  forty  miles  from  Pierce  City,  then  the  objective  point  of  the  gold-hunters. 
Bancroft  says  a  town  was  immediately  started  at  this  landing,  called  Slaterville 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  317 

after  its  founder.  It  contained  in  May  five  canvas  houses^  one  a  saloon.  This 
primitive  place  of  good  cheer  was  roofed  with  two  blankets^  one  red^  the  other  blue^ 
and  on  its  side  the  adventurous  proprietor  wrote  the  single  word,  "Whisky,"  in 
large  charcoal  letters.  His  stock  was  one  barrel  of  whisky,  and  two  bottles  and 
two  glasses  constituted  the  bar  furniture. 

C.  W.  Shively  of  Astoria,  one  of  the  800  passengers  who  made  the  pioneer  trip 
on  the  Colonel  Wright,  recalls  some  of  the  incidents  of  the  voyage : 

"Five  days  had  elapsed  since  leaving  Celilo.  Shortly  before  night  a  large  In- 
dian village  was  seen.  When  the  boat  blew  the  steamer  whistle  to  make  a  landing, 
there  was  confusion  and  excitement  on  shore,  as  this,  in  all  probability,  was  the 
first  steamboat  ever  seen  by  these  Indians.  This  village  was  on  a  large  flat,  barren 
of  trees,  at  the  point  where  the  Clearwater  empties  into  the  Snake.  Lawyer,  head 
chief  of  the  Nez  Perces,  was  here  on  a  visit  from  his  home,  further  up  the  Clear- 
water at  Lapwai.  In  the  evening  some  of  the  Indians  came  on  board  to  examine 
the  wonderful  fireboat." 

The  Wright  was  fifty  tons  burthen,  and  125  feet  long.  John  Gurty  was  engi- 
neer, Frank  Coe  purser,  and  she  carried  a  crew  of  two  firemen,  a  steward  and  assis- 
tant, and  six  deck  hands. 

On  the  second  trip  of  the  Wright,  Captain  Leonard  White  stopped  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Clearwater ;  but  a  messenger  from  Slater  asked  him  to  come  on  to  Slaterville 
and  take  his  outfit,  as  he  had  decided  to  establish  his  store  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Snake  and  the  Clearwater.  The  trip  was  made  in  safety,  and  Slater  opened  the 
first  mercantile  establishment  in  what  is  now  the  very  substantial  and  prosperous 
citv  of  Lewiston. 

A  few  months  later  Captain  W.  P.  Gray  ascended  the  rivers  to  Lewiston  in  a 
sail  boat,  ninety-one  feet  long  and  twelve  feet  beam.  Captain  Gray  is  a  son  of 
W.  H.  Gray,  who,  as  secular  agent  of  the  American  Board,  came  overland  to  Walla 
Walla  in  18S6  with  the  Whitman-Spalding  party.  Captain  Gray  navigated  steam- 
boats on  the  Columbia  and  Snake  for  many  years.  In  the  early  '80s  he  took  a  home- 
stead at  the  present  site  of  Pasco,  of  which  flourishing  city,  until  recently,  he  was 
mayor. 

To  accomodate  the  rush  to  the  interior,  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  company 
put  a  larger  and  better  equipped  steamer  on  the  river,  the  Okanogan,  with  Captain 
White  in  command.  Ephraim  Baughman,  who  had  served  under  White  as  pilot 
of  the  Colonel  Wright,  was  made  Captain  of  the  pioneer  steamer.  A  month  later 
the  Tenino,  yet  larger  than  the  Okanogan,  was  placed  in  service.  Steamer  service 
was  suspended  in  July  by  low  water. 

In  July,  1862,  Levi  Ankeny,  Dorsey  S.  Baker,  Captain  Baughman  and  several 
others  put  an  oppositioir  boat  on  the  river,  the  Spray.  It  ran  between  Celilo  and 
Lewiston  till  November,  and  the  following  winter  was  sold  to  the  Oregon  Steam 
Navigation  company  for  nearly  double  its  cost. 

By  July,  1861,  about  2,000  men  were  in  the  Orofino  district.  The  riche**- 
claims  were  in  Rhodes  and  Canal  gulches.  The  California  mining  laws  were 
adopted,  and  three  kinds  of  claims  were  recognized — creek  and  gulch  claims,  ex- 
tending two  hundred  feet  along  the  creek  or  gulch  and  one  hundred  fifty  feet  wide, 
and  hill  claims,  i  from  the  rimrock  to  the  summit  of  the  hill,  with  two  hundred  feet 
frontage.     The  first  laws  were  enacted  in  miners  meetings  held  on  Sundays.     After 


318  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  lapse  of  a  few  years  Orofino  City  became  a  memory,  but  Pierce  City  flourished 
longer,  becoming  the  county  seat  of  Shoshone  county  and  holding  that  distinction 
till  the  discovery  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mines. 

By  the  end  of  the  summer  of  1861  weekly  receipts  of  gold  .dust  at  Portland 
were  nearly  $100,000.  "The  Colville  and  Orofino  mines  helped  Portland  greatly," 
says  a  manuscript  history  by  Judge  Matthew  P.  Deady,  "and  in  1861  built  op  the 
O.  S.  N.  company.  Loaded  drays  used  to  stand  in  line  half  a  mile  long,  unloading 
at  night  freight  to  go-  in  the  morning  that  involved  a  fortune." 

In  Orofino  building  lots  sold  for  from  $100  to  $200;  with  a  log  house,  from 
$500  to  $1,000.  Carpenters'  wages  were  $8  to  $10,  and  common  labor  $8.50  to  $6. 
Lumber  was  20  cents  a  foot  and  nails  40  cents  a  pound. 

I  find  a  wide  discrepancy  in  estimates  of  the  number  of  men  in  the  mining  dis- 
tricts of  northern  Idaho  when  the  placers  were  in  the  heyday  of  their  affluence, 
ranging  all  the  way  from  5,000  to  25,000.  Bancroft  thinks  it  probable  that  after 
the  influx  from  California  there  were  at  one  time  20,000  in  the  mines  of  Clear- 
water, Salmon,  Powder  and  John  Day  rivers.  Probably  a  majority  of  these  i^ere 
in  the  mines  of  north  Idaho. 

In  the  judgment  of  old  and  experienced  miners,  some  of  whom  had  mined  in 
the  bonanza  diggings  of  California,  the  Florence  placers  Were  the  richest  ever  un- 
covered in  the  United  States.  In  the  gulches  claims  yielded  to  the  rocker  from  $30 
to  $250  a  day,  two  men  to  a  rocker.  Out  of  his  claim  in  Baboon  gulch  Weiser  took 
$6,600  in  a  single  day,  and  half  that  amount  in  another,  one  pan  of  dirt  yielding 
$500.     The  average  yield  of  these  placers  was  not  far  from  $75  a  day. 

In  an  article  in  the  Portland  Oregonian,  August  81,  1861,  G.  C.  Bobbins  re- 
ported that  2,500  practical  miners  were  at  work  on  Rhodes  creek,  Orofino  creek, 
Canal  gulch  and  French  creek,  and  that  4,000  or  5,000  men  were  making  a  living 
in  other  ways.  A  few  claims  were  yielding  fabulous  returns,  but  most  properties 
paid  from  $10  to  $20  a  day  to  the  man.  Shaffer  &  Co.  working  fourteen  men,  were 
taking  out  $60  a  day  to  the  man;  Paine  &  Co.,  twenty  men,  $70;  Mortimer  &  Co., 
twenty- four  men,  $70  to  $80;  wages  ranged  from  $5  to  $8. 

The  Elk  City  placers  were  discovered  in  1861.  In  May,  a  party  of  fifty-two 
men  left  Orofino  to  prospect  the  south  fork  of  the  Clearwater  and  tributary  streams. 
Indians  protested  and  half  the  party  turned  back,  but  the  others  pressed  on  and 
discovered  gold  at  the  point  where  the  three  branches  of  the  south  fork  come  to- 
gether— ^American  and  Red  rivers  and  Elk  creek.  A  mining  recorder's  office  was 
established,  with  Captain  L.  B.  Monson  as  recorder.  Elk  City  was  laid  out  that 
fall,  between  Elk  and  American  rivers.  Joel  D.  Martin,  who  went  there  in  the 
early  summer  of  1862,  found  several  stores,  five  saloons  and  two  principal  hotels — 
Ralph's  and  the  Marsten  house.  The  crest  of  this  camp's*  prosperity  came  in  1 862, 
but  its  yield  was  greater  in  1868  and  1864,  when  hydraulics  had  displaced  the  primi- 
tive rocker. 

Joshua  Fockler,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  in  Florence,  says  that  camp  was  dis- 
covered in  August,  1861,  by  a  party  of  five  that  included  John  Healy,  James  Ayers 
and  a  man  named  Grigsly,  a  detachment  of  a  party  of  nineteen  which  started  from 
Elk  City  and  the  Clearwater  to  prospect  the  Salmon  river  country,  traveling  via 
Camas  prairie  and  White  Bird  creek.  When  they  reached  Pioneer  gulch  a  tree  that 
had  been  uprooted  by  the  wind  attracted  their  attention.     They  panned  the  sand 


GIRLS'  DORMITORY.  STATE  XORMAL  SCHOOL,  LEWISTON,  IDAHO 


STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL,  LEWISTON,  IDAHO 


THE  ^K  ^"   ^^^^^ 
1PU?^1^    LibKAK 


T^ 


f 


*3  I  ^h 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  319 

and  gravel  in  the  excavation  and  found  it  exceedingly  rich.  After  prospecting  the 
ground  in  various  places^  the  party  started  for  Elk  City.  At  Buffalo  Hump  they 
fell  in  with  fourteen  men  of  the  original  party  of  nineteen  and  revealed  to  them 
their  good  fortune.  All  returned  to  Elk  City,  agreeing  not  to  divulge  the  news 
till  the  following  springs  and  then  return  and  locate  the  best  ground  for  them- 
selves. The  agreement  was  quickly  broken^  a  stampede  followed,  and  by  the  first 
of  November  men  were  swarming  over  the  creeks  and  gulches  of  the  new  district. 
In  miners  meeting  it  was  decided  to  lay  out  a  town  on  Summit  flat  at  the  head  of 
Baboon  gulch.  Dr.  Ferber,  one  of  the  first  arrivals,  proposed  the  name  Florence, 
after  his  adopted  daughter  in  California.  Early  merchants  in  the  camp  were  John 
Creighton,  Ralph  Bledsoe,  and  S.  S.  or  "Three  Fingered"  Smith. 

So  fabulous  were  the  easy  returns  at  Florence  that  men  rushed  in  ahead  of  sup- 
plies, and  provisions  commanded  amazing,  prices :  $7^'fo^  'a  50  pound  sack  of  flour, 
$50  for  gum  boots,  $80  for  a  camp  kettle/ $9  a^]5chin«'for- feacpn,  $3  each  for  tin- 
cnps,  $10  to  $12  for  a  frying  pan,  and  ^S  a  pound  for  sugar  and  beans.  A  winter 
followed  of  dire  privations.  Destitute  knd^ jJesp'eratfe*  toen  dug  down  through  ten 
feet  of  snow,  softened  with  hot  water  tfie  frozen  gravel,  and  washed  out  gold  to 
buy  precious  food.  Rheumatism,  throat,  bronchial  and  lung  diseases  caused  a  high 
mortality.  "By  the  last  of  January,"  says  one  writer,  "nothing  to  eat  could  be  pur- 
chased except  flour  at  two  dollars  a  pound."  Noble  says  that  in  one  case  of  sickness 
the  patient  lived  for  five  weeks  on  flour  and  tea  made  by  steeping  the  young  needles 
of  the  fir.  A  young  man  who  came  from  a  home  of  plenty  complained  of  "nothing 
but  a  kind  of  weakness  all  over.  He  had  lived  two  weeks  on  four  pounds  of  flour 
and  the  inner  bark  of  the  pine  tree,  with  snow  water  for  drink." 

And  still  men  pushed  their  way  into  the  snowy,  famine-stricken  wilderness,  till 
the  trail  was  completely  blocked  in  February,  and  Florence  lay  isolated  till  May. 

The  fame  of  the  rich  diggings  had  spread  afar.  A  correspondent  of  the  Port- 
land Times  reported  that  while  he  was  at  these  mines  in  October,  1861,  he  saw 
claims  yielding  $80  to  $80  to  the  pan;  that  a  man  named  Weiser,  for  whom  an 
Idaho  river  was  later  named,  took  out  $1,800  in  three  hours  with  a  rocker;  that  a 
single  pan  of  dirt  in  Baboon  gulch  yielded  $151.50.  George  W.  Smith  states  that 
"Three  Fingered"  Smith,  who  owned  the  richest  claim  in  the  camp,  kept  three 
W)ckers  at  work  through  the  winter,  and  each  rocker  averaged  $1,000  a  day.  "It 
was  no  uncommon  thing,"  says  Bancroft,  "to  see  on  entering  a  miner's  cabin  a 
gold  pan  measuring  eight  quarts  full  to  the  brim  or  half  filled  with  gold  dust  washed 
out  in  one  or  two  weeks.  All  manner  of  vessels,  such  as  oyster  cans  and  pickle 
bottles,  were  in  demand  in  which  to  store  the  precious  dpst," 

By  midsummer,  1862,  prospectors  were  scouting  far  and  wide  in  the  search  for 
liew  eldorados.  In  July,  1 862,  James  Warren,  a  college  graduate,  Matt  Bledsoe  and 
a  few  others,  left  on  an  exploring  tour  of  the  Salmon  river  country,  and  discovered 
Warren's  camp,  where  as  high  as  sixty  ounces  a  day  to  the  rocker  were  taken  out. 
Judge  J.  W.  Poe,  who  was  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  at  Florence  with 
Joseph  Haines,  and  S.  S.  Smith,  says  when  news  came  of  this  discovery,  thousands 
deserted  Florence  for  the  new  mines.  The  trail  led  from  Florence  down  the  Sal- 
iQon  river,  across  that  stream,  several  miles  up  a  mountain,  past  Marshall  lake  and 
over  a  divide  to  Warren  creek.  His  firm  dispatched  Haines  with  a  stock  of  goods, 
tli^  first  to  enter  with  a  mercantile  train,  September  8,  1862.    Miners  helped  Haines 


320  .       SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

to  build  a  log  cabin^  and  before  night  the  first  store  in  the  new  district  was  stand- 
ing at  the  mouth  of  Slaughter  creek.  "The  settlement  which  sprang  up  around  it 
was  named  Richmond^  ^fter  the  Confederate  capital^  and  the  Unionists^  not  to  be 
outdone^  established  another  settlement  a  mile  below^  to  which  they  gave  the  name 
Washington.  Richmond  did  not  long  survive  the  Confederate  cause^  for  by  1866  it 
was  abandoned  by  nearly  all  its  inhabitants.  Early  in  the  fall  of  1862  a  miners' 
meeting  was  held  at  Richmond^  at  which  I  was  elected  by  acclamation  to  the  office 
of  district  recorder.  For  recording  a  claim  I  received  a  fee  of  $1.50^  and  some 
times  I  recorded  as  many  as  100  a  day.  When  the  law  reduced  this  fee  to  $1^  I 
resigned^  not  caring  to  bother  with  such  work  and  believing  that  I  could  make  more 
in  the  mines." 

Several  thousand  men  rushed  into  the  Warren  district  but  by  the  fall  of  1862 
the  population  fell  to  1^000.  It  increased  in  1863  to  1^500^  and  so  late  as  1867 
was  at  least  1,200. 

Bancroft  says  that  Warren  was  "a  shiftless  individual^  a  petty  gambler,  miner 
and  prospector.  Unlike  the  Florence  mines,  the  Warren  diggings  were  rich  as  well 
as  deep.  This  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  valuable  discoveries  made.  The  dig- 
gings outlasted  the  Florence  mines,  and  when  the  placers  were  exhausted  on  the 
creek  bottoms,  still  yielded  by  hydraulic  treatment  returns  nearly  as  rich  as  the 
placers.  Notwithstanding  the  uncanny  reputation  of  the  discoverer,  Warren's  dig- 
gings were  worked  chiefly  by  practical  miners  and  men  of  good  character,  many  of 
whom  remained  there  long  in  business.  In  November  400  men  were  mining  at  War- 
ren's, taking  out  an  average  of  $14  to  $20  daily.  When  the  mines  had  been  worked 
for  ten  years  they  were  sold  to  Chinese  miners,  some  of  whom  became  wealthy." 
Chinese  followed  white  miners  into  all  the  placer  camps  of  this  country. 

Estimates  as  high  as  $140,000,000  have  been  made  of  the  output  of  the  northern 
Idaho  placers  in  the  decade  lying  between  I860  and  1870.  Probably  half  that 
sum  would  be  nearer  the  mark.  Treasure  shipments  from  Portland  to  San  Francisco 
in  the  six  months  between  June  25  and  December  5  aggregated  $2,393,656.  Ex- 
ports of  treasure  by  Wells-Fargo  were  $6,200,000  in  1864,  $5,800,000  in  1865, 
$5,400,000  in  1866,  and  $4,001,000  in  1867,  and  at  this  period  the  cream  of  the 
richer  placers  had  been  skimmed. 

The  old  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  company,  predecessor  of  the  O.  R.  &  N., 
drew  enormous  profits  from  the  mines.  Fare,  Portland  to  Lewiston,  was  $60  in  gold, 
with  meals  and  berths  a  dollar  each.  The  freight  charge  between  Portland  and 
Lewiston  was  $40  a  ton,  measurement  basis.  On  a  single  up  trip  the  Tenino  col- 
lected over  $18,000  for  freight,  fares,  berths  and  meals.  Extras  and  the  bar  privi- 
lege produced  $1,200  a  month. 

Hundreds  of  reckless,  lawless  and  desperate  characters  were  drawn  by  the  lure 
of  easy  money  to  these  rich  camps.  Men  mined  by  day,  and  dissipated  their  golden 
gains  at  the  gambling  table  at  night.  Every  other  shack  or  tent  was  a  saloon, 
dance  hall  or  gambling  house.  Passions  ran  high,  and  men  fought  at  the  drop  of 
a  hat.  Thie  roads  and  trails  between  Lewiston  and  the  eldorado  camps  were  infested 
by  highwaymen,  called  in  the  vernacular  of  the  times,  "road  agents."  From  the 
files  of  newspapers  of  the  day,  Bancroft  compiled  a  significant  though  only  partial 
list  of  criminal  deeds: 

Robert  Upcreek  shot  at  Orofino  by  a  Frenchman  in  September,  1861. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  321 

Hyppolite^  owner  of  a  large  pack  train  and  $500  in  gold^  murdered  on  the  road 
in  October,  1861. 

Ned  Meany  killed  in  a  quarrel  at  Jackson's  Ferry,  near  Lewiston,  November, 
1861. 

Two  masked  men  entered  a  house  in  Lewiston  in  December,  and  in  spite  of  re- 
sistance carried  off  $500,  shooting  fatally  one  of  the  inmates. 

Matt  Bledsoe  killed  James  H.  Harmon  at  Slate  creek,  Salmon  river,  over  a 
game  of  cards,  December,  1861. 

Four  murders  were  conunitted  within  two  weeks  at  Lewiston  in  the  fall  of  1861. 

Three  murders  in  March,  1862,  at  Florence. 

William  Kirby  killed  John  Maples,  in  July,  1863. 

William  H.  Tower,  while  threatening  others,  was  shot  and  killed  at  Florence, 
February  23,  1863. 

Morrissey,  a  desperado,  was  killed  at  Elk  City  about  the  same  time. 

George  Reed  was  shot  by  Isaac  Warwick  in  a  quarrel  about  a  claim  in  April, 
1863. 

Frank  Gallagher  was  murdered  by  Berryman,  with  whom  he  was  traveling. 

At  a  ball  in  Florence  on  New  Year's  eve,  an  immoral  woman  was  ejected  from 
the  dancing  room,  whereupon  Henry  J.  Talbotte  (Cherokee  Bob)  and  William 
WiUoughby  armed  themselves  for  vengeance.  Later  they  were  both  killed  in  an 
attempt  to  get  it. 

One  Bull,  living  near  Elk  City,  kindly  entertained  one  night  two  men  who 
asked  for  shelter.  In  the  morning  the  men  and  five  horses  were  missing.  Bull 
followed  them  for  twenty  days,  coming  up  with  them  at  a  camp  on  Gold  creek,  265 
miles  from  home.  On  seeing  him  one  of  the  men  sprang  on  a  horse  and  fled;  the 
other,  William  Amett,  was  shot.  A  party  pursuing  the  fleeing  robber  brought 
him  back  and  hanged  him. 

Enoch  Fruit  was  a  chief  of  road  agents;  James  Robinson,  a  mere  boy,  was  one 
of  his  assistants.  In  the  autumn  of  1862  they  were  prominent  among  the  ''knights 
of  the  road"  between  Florence  and  Lewiston.     Both  met  violent  deaths. 

James  Crow,  Michael  Mulkie  and  Jack  McCoy  robbed  three  travelers  between 
Orofino  and  Lewiston.  William  Rowland  and  George  Law  were  a  couple  of  horse 
thieves  operating  on  Camas  prairie. 

George  A.  Noble  of  Oregon  City  was  robbed  of  100  pounds  of  gold  dust  between 
Florence  and  Orofino  in  December,  1862. 

Two  horse  thieves,  for  stealing  from  a  government  train,  were  shot  dead. 

Joel  D.  Martin  and  James  Witt,  eye  witnesses,  gave  a  writer  in  the  History  of 
North  Idaho  an  account  of  the  first  determined  resistance  to  crime,  made  at  Elk 
Cify  in  the  summer  of  1 862.  James  Maguire  and  one  Finnigan,  after  fighting  sev- 
eral rounds,  agreed  to  settle  their  difiiculties  amicably  and  the  bargain  was  sealed 
oyer  the  bar.  Between  drinks  protestations  of  friendship  were  made  again  and 
again,  but  one  party  to  the  compact  of  amity  was  a  traitor.  In  keeping  with  the 
unenviable  reputation  for  treachery  he  sustained  in  California,  Maguire  stealthily 
seixed  the  handle  of  Finnigan's  knife  and  unsheathed  the  weapon  with  intent  to 
bury  its  blade  in  its  owner's  bosom.  But  bystanders  saw  the  movement,  threw 
themselves  up  on  the  aggressor  and  prevented  the  consummation  of  the  atrocious 
deed. 


322  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Later  the  two  men  met  again.  Finnigan  fired  Ave  shots^  wounding  Magaire 
in  the  leg  and  neck.  Friends  carried  the  injured  man  to  a  room  over  Maltby's 
saloon  and  there  left  him^  expecting  to  return  in  the  morning.  During  the  ni^t 
Finnigan  returned  and  slipping  up  stairs^  killed  his  foe  in  a  most  atrocious  manner^ 
leaving  the  cruel  bowie  knife  in  Maguire's  throat.  Had  Finnigan  killed  Magoire 
in  a  fair  fight  the  spirit  of  the  times  would  have  condoned  him;  but  cowardice  and 
treachery  were  unpardonable. 

Finnigan  was  arrested  and  put  on  trial  before  a  popular  tribunal.  He  admitted 
the  crime  but  claimed  in  extenuation  that  he  had  to  kill  Maguire  to  save 
his  own  life.  A  newly  elected  justice  of  the  peace  presided  as  judge^  and  Colonel 
Johnson^  a  lawyer  recently  from  California^  acted  as  defendant's  council.  The 
testimony  elicited  some  expressions  of  sympathy  for  the  prisoner^  but  the  jury 
nevertheless  rendered  a  verdict  of  guilty. 

The  following  afternoon^  a  man  named  Powers^  who  was  acting  as  sheriff,  led 
Finnigan  to  the  gallows.  Brackett^  a  shoemaker,  tied  the  hangman's  knot  and  when 
all  was  ready  the  Irishman  was  launched  into  space.  But  the  knot  failed  to  hold 
and  Finnigan  fell  to  the  ground,  soon  recovered  from  the  shock,  gained  his  feet,  and 
accompanied  by  Moses  Hart  and  Joseph  Ritchie,  two  of  his  friends  ran  away  from 
the  scene.  The  crowd  was  so  dumbfounded  that  for  a  short  time  not  a  man  moved. 
Then  Josh.  Phipps  started  in  pursuit  and  overtaking  the  fugitives  covered  them 
with  his  rifle  and  demanded  that  they  halt.  Phipps  expected  that  others  would 
come  to  his  assistance,  but  as  none  came  he  lowered  his  gun  and  told  Finnigan  to  go, 
a  command  which  the  latter  was  quick  to  obey.  It  is  said  that  he  was  later  seen 
in  San  Francisco  by-  one  who  knew  him  in  Idaho  and  that  the  tell  tale  mark  of  the 
rope  was  still  on  his  neck. 

The  next  assumption  of  judicial  functions  by  the  populace  says  the  writer  of  the 
foregoing,  was  in  Lewiston  in  the  fall  of  1862.  The  occasion  was  the  robbery  of 
the  Berry  brothers,  while  on  their  way  from  Florence  to  Lewiston  with  a  pack 
train.  When  near  Rocky  canyon,  each  of  the  men  was  confronted  by  a  masked  high- 
wayman armed  with  a  shot  gun  and  ordered  to  throw  up  his  hands.  The  men  were 
relieved  of  between  $1,100  and  $1,400  in  gold  dust. 

When  Berry  arrived  in  Lewiston  he  found  that  the  robbers  had  gone  on  to  Walla 
Walla.  Then  commenced  the  pursuit.  The  Berrys  had  recognized  the  voices  of  the 
two  men.  Bill  Peoples  and  Dave  English,  who  held  them  up  (for  both  were  well 
known  to  them  personally) .  They  later  ascertained  that  Charley  Scott  was  also  in  the 
plot. 

In  company  with  Gus  Meamber,  a  Frenchman,  and  others  who  joined  him  at 
Lewiston,  the  merchant  proceeded  post  haste  to  Walla  Walla,  traveling  with  a  four 
horse  team  and  breaking  the  record  for  fast  time.  They  arrived  just  behind  the 
highwaymen.  Berry  met  Peoples  in  a  saloon,  disarmed  him  and  took  him  into 
custody.  Meamber  found  and  arrested  Scott.  Dave  English  had  not  stopped  in 
Walla  Walla  but  had  gone  to  Wallula.  His  arrest  was  made  by  Sheriff  James  Back- 
ley,  his  deputy  and  a  saloon  keeper  named  Vandse.  It  is  said  that  an  attempt 
was  made  to  secure  for  the  prisoners  a  civil  trial  in  the  Walla  Walla  courts,  which 
failed;  also  that  the  roughs  of  the  city  attempted  the  rescue  of  their  captured 
confreres.  But  the  captors  escaped  with  their  prisoners  to  Lewiston.  Here  the 
outlaws  were  confined  in  a  little  log  building. 


O    JO 
EC   H 


r 


T^r  >£W  VC'HK 

)r\ir.:.iC  Lis 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  323 

The  people  of  Lewiston  were  thoroughly  aroused  over  this  crime.  The  victims 
of  the  robbery  were  well  known  and  liked ;  furthermore  there  was  a  general  feeling 
that  the  rule  of  the  roughs  must  be  brought  to  its  termination^  and  accordingly 
efficient  means  were  provided  for  the  safe  guarding  of  the  prisoners.  The  men  were 
confined  in  a  little  building  situated  on  the  point  formed  by  the  confluence  of  the 
Clearwater  and  Snake  rivers.  Two  men^  thoroughly  armed^  guarded  them  day  and 
night  and  these  were  to  bring  to  their  assistance  the  entire  populace  in  case  of  an 
attempted  rescue^  by  ringing  a  large  triangle  near  at  hand.  A  plot  for  their  release 
▼as  led  by  an  unde  of  Peoples,  named  Marshall,  but  the  raid  was  defeated  by  Jonas 
\^Tialey,  of  the  guard,  a  shot  from  whose  Kentucky  rifle  served  the  double  purpose  of 
temporarily  disabling  Marshall  and  alarming  the  citizens. 

Eventually  a  trial  was  given  the  accused  men  in  George  H.  Sandy's  store,  at 
the  comer  of  D  and  Second  streets,  which  ended  in  their  conviction.  That  night 
the  guards  were  notified  that  their  services  were  no  longer  needed.  The  next 
morning  those  who  went  over  to  the  jail  to  see  the  prisoners  found  the  three  men 
hanging  by  their  necks  from  the  rafters. 

The  date  of  this  summary  execution,  according  to  a  notation  in  the  old  Luna  hotel 
register,  now  in  the  possesion  of  Charles  F.  Leland,  was  November  9,  1862.  It 
marked  the  decline  of  lawlessness  in  the  vicinitv  of  the  Clearwater,  for  the  villain- 
ous  element  departed  one  by  one  and  in  small  squads  to  points  in  the  interior  and 
in  Montana,  where  most  of  them  ended  their  careers  as  such  men  usually  do,  Ather 
at  the  hands  of  their  kind  during  quarrels  or  by  the  merciless  ropes  of  vigilance 
committees.  Among  those  to  depart  this  life  by  the  latter  route  was  Henry  Plum- 
mer  himself,  the  reputed  leader  of  the  l^i'gest  ba^d,  and  the  known  author  of  many 
murders,  homicides  and  robberies.      mX <»>*»..-     .i      . 

Lewiston  first,  then  Orofino  an(S  finally  Florence  had  been  centers  of  opera- 
tion for  these  bands  of  criminals.  7  In  FloYfence  a  vijrilance  committee  had  been 
formed.  Its  members  met  after  the  oeath  of  "Cherokee  Bob"  and  Willoughby  and 
instructed  their  executive  committee  to  warn  all  suspicious  characters  to  leave  the 
town  forthwith.    The  most  notorious  characters  had,  however,  taken  refuge  in  flight. 

A.  J.  Miner  organized  a  pack  train  in  1857  and  carried  provisions  from  Walla 
Walla  to  the  Wild  Horse  placer  mines  in  British  Columbia.  On  his  first  trip  he 
passed  over  the  present  site  of  Spokane.  "I  saw  SOO  Indians  drying  fish  in  the  sun 
in  the  woods  where  the  city  haU  now  stands,  at  Howard  and  Front,"  said  Mr.  Miner. 
"This  was  a  great  fishing  place  for  the  Indians  in  those  days.  The  squaws  took 
the  fish  in  dipnets,  and  after  they  cleaned  them  the  bucks  would  dry  them  in  the 
sun.  I  built  a  store  in  Elk  City  in  1861,  and  ran  it  for  years.  Sugar  was  $1.25  a 
ponnd,  boots  $10  a  pair.  The  only  house  of  any  kind  within  miles  of  Spokane  was 
a  small  store  built  by  Charles  Kendall  at  Spokane  Bridge,  east  of  here  in  1 862.  At 
that  time  there  were  only  three  women  in  the  Inland  Empire.  My  wife  was  one  of 
them." 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

IMMIGRATION  OF  THE  EARLY  SEVENTIES 

ARRITAL   OF   OLDTIME    CALIFORNIA    AND   IDAHO   MINERS THOMAS    NBWLON    ESTABLISHES 

A    FERRY    NEAR    TRENT WILLIAM    SPANOLe's    STAGE    STATION FIRST    SETTLER    AT 

MEDICAL   LAKE M.   M.    COWLEY   LOCATES   IN    SPOKANE   VALLEY D.   F.   PERCIYAL   IN 

ROCK    CREEK    REGION COPLEN    FAMILY    AT    LATAH WORLD's    LARGEST    MASTODON 

DISCOYSRED SPOKANE's  FIRST  BRASS  BAND. 

TYPICAL  of  the  pioneers  who  came  into  the  Spokane  country  in  the  '608  is 
Maxime  Mulouin^  who  after  a  life  of  danger  and  hardship  settled  down  in 
1871  to  peaceful  pursuits  on  a  farm  on  the  present  site  of  Mica.  Bom  in 
Canada  in  1840^  he  came  overland  to  California  in  1861.  He  shifted  north  in  1864^ 
and  for  a  year  followed  mining  when  the  rush  was  on  to  the  old  Wild  Horse  placers 
on  the  upper  Kootenai  river^  hnd  then  became  a  packer  between  those  mines  and 
Walla  Walla.  As  early  as  1864  he  traveled  with  his  pack  train  over  the  place  he 
subsequently  took  as  a  homestead^  and  in  1871  bought  out  the  rights  of  a  prior 
settler  there  named  Knight.  By  thrift  and  industry  Mr.  Mulouin  subsequently  en- 
larged his  holdings  to  1^800  acres. 

Thomas  Newlon  crossed  the  plains  to  Oregon  in  1852.  He  joined  the  rush  to 
the  Orofino  mines  in  1860,  mined  there  for  three  years,  returned  to  Walla  Walla 
where  he  lived  until  1 865,  when  he  bought  a  boat  and  operated  a  ferry  for  one  year 
at  Riparia.  He  came  to  the  Spokane  valley  in  1 866,  built  a  cabin  and  constructed 
a  ferry  above  Trent.  He  then  went  back  to  Snake  river,  but  soon  returned  to  his 
bridge,  which  he  ran  until  1868,  when  he  sold  out  and  mined  in  Montana  until 
1872,  when  he  returned  to  the  Spokane  valley,  and  followed  the  carpenter's  trade 
for  a  while,  but  later  built  a  ferry  boat  at  Spokane  Bridge  after  M.  M.  Cowley's 
bridge  had  fallen  in.     In  1876  he  homestead ed  160  acres  on  Moran  prairie. 

Eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-two  brought  many  settlers  into  the  territory 
north  of  Snake  river. 

Wijliam  Spangle  came  with  his  family  from  Walla  Walla  and  located 
a  squatter's  claim  on  the  present  site  of  the  town  of  Spangle.  At  first  he  kept  a 
stage  station  and  postoffice,  then  started  a  blacksmith  shop,  then  a  hardware  store, 
and  as  the  country  became  more  settled  he  encouraged  others  to  locate  in  business, 
and  a  town  was  incorporated  in  1 878  and  named  in  his  honor. 

Andrew  Lefevre,  a  California  pioneer  of  1849  and  veteran  of  the  Indian  wars 
of  Washington  territory,  located  at  Medical  lake,  bringing  a  band  of  horses,  cattle 
and  sheep.     The  Indians,  to  discourage  his  settlement  there,  told  him  the  waters 

325 


326  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

were  poisonous^  but  holding  to  his  purpose^  he  took  as  a  homestead  the  site  of  the 
present  town.  He  served  one  term  as  county  commissioner;  died  January  15^ 
1900. 

M.  M.  Cowley  established  this  year  an  Indian  trading  p>ost  at  Spokane  Bridge, 
better  known  in  later  days  as  Cowley's  Bridge.  He  went  to  the  Salmon  river 
mines  in  1862,  and  mined  and  traded  there  till  1867,  when  he  opened  a  store  and 
ran  a  ferry  at  old  Bonner's  Ferry  on  the  Kootenai.  He  became  identified  with  the 
Trader's  National  bank  in  1885,  and  in  1889  sold  his  stock  of  goods  at  the  Bridge 
and  moved  to  Sp>okane  to  become  cashier  of  the  bank.  He  was  elected  president  in 
January,  1892. 

Thomas  Steele,  who  came  in  a  wagon  from  Portland  to  the  site  of  Spangle, 
claimed  to  have  once  owned  the  site  of  Rosalia,  and  to  have  built  the  first  house 
ever  erected  in  Spokane. 

Philo  S.  Barnum  settled  twelve  miles 'north  of  Sprague,  and  later  moved  to  Tyler, 
Spokane  county. 

Frederick  A.  Dashiell  took  a  preemption  claim  two  and  a  half  miles  southeast 
of  Spangle. 

George  W.  Spangle  took  a  preemption  near  Spangle.  His  mother,  also  a  pio- 
neer of  1872,  died  in  Spangle  February  25,  1900,  aged  87. 

Cornelius  W.  Murphey  preempted  160  acres  near  Medical  Lake. 

D.  F.  Percival  engaged  in  stock-raising  in  the  Rock  Creek  coimtry  in  1872. 
He  rode  horseback  from  Walla  Walla  to  Colville,  and  a  few  years  before  his  death 
said  to  the  writer  that  he  met  in  that  journey  only  a  single  settler  in  the  Palouse 
country,  who  was  discouraged  by  frosts  and  was  planning  to  abandon  his  claim 
and  return  to  the  Willamette  valley.  The  first  settlers  in  that  region  naturally  chose 
the  valleys,  where  frost  is  more  prevalent  than  on  the  uplands,  and  had  not  yet 
discovered  the  important  fact  that  the  hillsides  and  elevated  benches  were  admir- 
ably suited  to  grain-growing  and  fruit-raising. 

In  1873  the  Coplen  family  took  as  a  homestead  the  future  site  of  the  town  of 
Latah.  A.,  D.  Coplen,  then  eleven  ye^rs  of  age,  became  one  of  the  most  enterprising 
mining  men  and  prospectors  this  section  has  developed.  He  was  actively  identified 
with  the  development  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  of  Rossland  camp  and  the  Slocan. 

The  fossil  remains  of  the  largest  mastodon  known  to  science  were  discovered  in 
the  spring  of  1878  in  the  southern  end  of  Spokane  coimty.  They  were  uncovered 
on  the  Coplen  farm  in  a  marshy  hollow  formed  by  a  spring  which  oozed  out  of  a  bed 
of  black  mud.  They  were  exposed  by  workmen  who  were  cutting  a  ditch  to  drain 
the  swampy  ground.  Parts  of  four  adult  skeleto*"*'  were  taken  out,  and  from  these 
the  great  mammoth  was  moiinted  by  the  Chicago  Academy  of  Science,  and  later  ex- 
hibited at  the  Columbian  exposition  in  1893.  This  prehistoric  monster  stands  thir- 
teen feet  high ;  length  of  tusk,  nine  feet  ten  inches ;  length  of  lower  teeth,  ten  inches ; 
length  of  lower  jaw,  twenty-two  inches;  length  of  humerus,  forty-five  inches. 

In  1874  Benjamin  F.  Dashiell  came  to  the  site  of  Waverly,  secured  a  farm  of 
320  acres,  and  later  platted  the  townsite  from  his  holdings. 

In  1875  John  W.  Hammond  located  at  Colfax;  after  seventeen  years'  residence 
there  he  moved  to  Rockford  in  1892.  Montgomery  Hardman  located  at  Rosalia 
and  became  postmaster.  His  postoffice  and  that  at  Spangle  were  the  only  ones 
between   Spokane  and   Colfax.     Herman   Linke  took  employment  with  Frederick 


POSTMASTERS  OF  SPOKANE,  1872  TO  1912 
(POKTRAITS  COLLECTED  BY  POSTMASTER  W.  P.  EDRIS) 

Top  row,  left  to  right — C.  F.  Yeaton,  appointed  September  16,  1873;  S.  B.  Scranton,  July 
5,  1872;  James  N.  Glover,  February  5,  1877. 

SeeoDd  row,  left  to  right— Sylvester  Heath,  October  14,  1880;  J.  J.  L.  Peel,  October  28, 
1886;  Thomas  B.  Warren,  August  2.  1889;  Arthur  J.  Shaw,  July  24,  1890. 

Third  row,  left  to  right— Howard  T.  Mallon,  May  9,  1894;  George  W.  Temple,  July  14, 
1898;  Millard  T,  HartBon,  February  5,  1902. 

Bottom  portrait,  W.  P.  Edris,  July  26,  1909. 


• '^ -^  ^EW  YORK 


fpp 


i'^aUC  IIBRAH 


I 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  327 

Post  near  Rathdrum  and  two  years  later  took  a  preemption  claim  at  Saltese  lake. 

In  1876  James  Butler  located  in  Whitman  county;  Richard  Millman  near  Cheney; 
HobertG.  Williamson  five  miles  southeast  of  Spokane;  and  William  K.  Griffith  near 
Cheney, 

Year  of  the  Nez  Perce  war,  1877,  brought  an  increased  immigration.  T.  W. 
Pj-sD  came  with  the  troops,  but  left  the  army  in  1880  and  engaged  in  the  restaur- 
ant and  bakery  business  in  Spokane.  He  organized,  in  1882,  the  Spokane  Falls 
orass  band,  the  first  band  in  the  town. 

James  P.  Campbell  took  a  homestead  near  Latah.  He  was  elected  county  com- 
missioner in  1898  on  the  republican  ticket.  His  father,  Samuel  L.  Campbell,  came 
to  Latah  in  1876. 

Elisha  C.  Thompson  located  near  Latah.  He  came  to  Spokane  in  1899  as  county 
jailer. 

Thomas  J.  McFeron  came  to  Cheney  and  filed  on  the  first  quarter  section  taken 
in  that  township. 

Thomas  Botham  and  his  two  brothers-in-law  were  the  original  settlers  this  year 
at  Rock  ford. 


.c 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

EARLY  SETTLEMENTS  BY  THE  FALLS  OF  THE  SPOKANE 

ARRIVAL  OF  DOWNING  AND  SCRANTON  IN   1871 THEIR  "muLEY"  SAW  THE  FIRST  INDUS- 
TRY  ^RECOLLECTIONS  OF  "bABE^'  DOWNING ^ARRIVAL  OF  JAMES  N.  GLOYER  IN   1878 

— HE    BUYS    OUT    SCRANTON     AND    DOWNING PLATS    THE     FIRST    TOWN8ITE GIVES 

FREDERICK  POST  FORTY  ACRES  TO  START  A  FLOUR  MILL ^ARRIVAL  OF   A.   M.   CANNON 

AND  J.  J.  BROWNE TROOPS  MOVE  TO  LAKE  COEUR  D^ALENE FIRST  PHYSICIAN,  AND 

FIRST    DRUGSTORE CANNON    STARTS    A    BANK SPOKANE^S    FIRST    GUN    PLAY HOW 

THE  PIONEERS  LIVED THE  FIRST  NEWSPAPER BUSINESS  LOTS  GIVEN  AWAY TRADE 

WITH  THE  INDIANS. 


"The  beginnings  of  all  things  are  small." 

— Cicero. 

THE  names  of  J.  J.  Downing  and  S.  R.  Scranton  will  pass  down  the  ages  as 
the  first  white  settlers  by  the  falls  of  the  Spwkane.  Some  conflict  of  opinion 
exists  regarding  the  date  of  their  arrival,  but  the  weight  of  authority  points 
to  1871. 

Mrs.  E.  R.  Bailey,  known  more  familiarly  to  the  first  pioneers  here  as  "Babe" 
Downing,  who  has  the  distinction  of  having  been  the  first  young  woman  to  take  up 
her  home  in  Spokane,  has  contributed  to  Mrs.  Hathaway,  of  the  Spokane  public 
library,  an  approved  manuscript,  narrative  of  her  recollections  of  the  little  outpost 
as  it  broke  upon  her  girlish  eyes,  forty  years  ago.  She  fixes  the  date  of  the  arrival 
here  of  Downing  and  Scranton  as  1870,  but  James  N.  Glover,  H.  T.  Cowley  and 
other  pioneers  are  confident  that  her  recollection  errs. 

"They  were  at  the  Falls  when  I  located  at  Cowley's  Bridge  in  1872,"  says  M. 
M.  Cowley. 

"They  came  about  1870,"  says  James  Monaghan,  then  a  resident  of  Colville. 
"It  might  have  been  1872.  The  old  records  at  Colville  should  throw  some  light  on 
this  question,  for  Scranton  and  Downing  began  to  attract  attention  very  soon  after 
their  arrival  at  the  Falls." 

John  B.  Slater,  the  well  known  pioneer  attorney  of  Stevens  county,  obligingly 
searched  the  records  at  Colville.  On  page  169  of  Book  1,  county  commissioners' 
proceedings,  under  date  of  May  6,  1872,  this  entry  was  found:  "Spokane  Bridge 
precinct  was  formed,  and  S.  P.  Scranton*  appointed  judge  of  election."     And  on 

•Mr.  Glover  recalls  Scranton 's  initials  as  S.  R.;  Mrs.  Bailey  as  8.  B.,  and  the  Colville 
records  give  them  S.  P. 

329 


330  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

page  186,  November  25,  1872:  "S.  P.  Scranton,  bill  for  $4,  election  judge,  ordered 
paid."  Mr.  Slater  searched  back  to  1869,  but  found  no  earlier  references  to  Scran- 
ton or  Downing. 

H.  L.  Gray  of  Orofino  camped  near  the  mouth  of  Hangman  creek  in  1870.  "The 
only  person  living  at  Spokane  then  was  a  squaw  man.  There  were  people  living  on 
the  California  ranch,  between  the  falls  and  the  old  Spokane  bridge.  At  old  Spokane 
bridge  a  man  by  the  name  of  KendaU  owned  a  store." 

G.  W.  Bassett,  a  well  known  pioneer,  residing  now  at  Washtucna,  who  was  with 
Scranton  when  he  located  at  the  Falls,  recently  said: 

"I  had  known  Scranton  and  Downing  for  several  years  in  Montana.  Down- 
ing and  myself  left  Helena,  Mont.,  the  fall  of  1870  and  went  to  Walla  Walla  to 
buy  cattle,  but  prices  were  too  high  and  Downing  returned  to  Montana  in  mid- 
winter by  snowshoeing  it  part  of  the  way. 

"I  remained  at  Walla  Walla  until  the  following  April  and  started  for  Mon- 
tana with  a  bunch  of  horses,  and  when  I  reached  Moran  prairie  I  found  Downing 
and  Scranton  had  picked  claims  on  Moran  prairie. 

**I  remained  with  them  10  days  waiting  for  the  snow  to  melt  in  the  mountains, 
then  it  was  Scranton  and  I  visited  the  Falls  and  Scranton  located. 

"I  thought  at  the  time  the  man  was  going  'batty.' 

"I  went  on  to  Montana  and  when  I  returned  in  October  to  Walla  WaUa  I 
called  at  the  Falls  and  found  Downing  and  Scranton  had  nearly  completed  a  saw- 
mill." 

Mr.  Glover,  who  long  held  to  a  belief  that  Scranton  and  Downing  located  here 
in  1872,  it  now  convinced  that  the  date  was  1871. 

"It  was  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1870  that  J.  J.  Downing  and  wife,  and  Mr. 
Downing's  partner,  S.  B.  Scranton,  who  had  been  stock-raisers  in  Montana,  in  look- 
ing around  for  a  location,  came  upon  the  beautiful  falls  in  the  Spokane  river,"  says 
Mrs.  Bailey's  manuscript.  "They  immediately  recognized  the  great  benefit  to  be 
derived  from  the  vast  amount  of  natural  water  power  here,  and  decided  to  remain. 
Accordingly  Downing  squatted  on  160  acres  of  land  on  the  south  side  of  the  river, 
and  Scranton  on  160  acres  on  the  north  side,  the  two  quarter  sections  almost  totally 
embracing  the  falls." 

Here  again  Mr.  Glover's  recollection  is  at  variance  with  that  of  the  manuscript 
Nothing  was  said,  when  he  bought  out  Downing  and  Scranton,  about  squatter  rights 
on  the  north  side  of  the  river. 

"At  this  time  (resuming  the  manuscript),  there  were  but  few  settlers  in  the 
Spokane  country;  some  of  them,  who  afterwards  played  an  important  part  in  its 
development,  being  Joseph  Moran,  on  Moran  prairie;  Baptiste  Peone,  of  Peone 
prairie;  Steve  Liberty,  near  Liberty  lake,  and  Frederick  Post,  at  Rathdrum. 

"In  a  short  space  of  time  Downing  and  Scranton  began  the  erection  of  a  saw- 
mill at  a  point  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  somewhere  near  Havermale  island. 
In  this  mill  they  installed  a  'muley'  saw,  operated  with  an  overshot  wheel,  but  this 
was  not  a  success  in  the  sawing  of  the  large  logs,  and  after  some  use  it  was  torn  oat 
and  a  ^ve  foot  circular  saw  and  a  four  foot  edger,  operated  with  a  turbine  wheel, 
was  installed  to  take  its  place.  With  this  equipment  the  daily  capacity  of  the  mill 
was  between  85,000  and  40,000  feet,  the  natural  water  power  being  used  entirely." 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  331 

liere  again  Mrs.  Bailey's  recollection  wanders:  the  enlarged  mill  was  installed 
bj  Mr.  Glover^  after  Downing  and  Scranton  had  left  Spokane. 

"Only  a  little  over  a  year  after  their  settlement  here,"  continues  Mrs.  Bailey's 
narrative,  "Mrs.  Bailey,  who  was  more  popularly  known  then  as  'Babe'  Downing, 
after  graduating  from  school  in  the  east,  started  for  her  new  home  in  this  far  off 
western  country.  At  that  time  Spokane  was  not  the  center  of  the  network  of  subur- 
ban electric  lines  and  transcontinental  steam  railroads  that  it  is  now,  the  closest  she 
could  get  by  rail  being  Kelton,  Utah.  Here  she  began  a  very  perilous  journey  over- 
land to  Walla  Walla,  where  she  was  met  by  her  father,  completing  the  journey  to 
Spokane  with  him.     .     .     . 

"In  that  day  there  was  a  ravine  running  from  Cannon  Hill  to  the  river,  a  little 
below  the  falls,  known  as  Little  Wolf  ditch.  For  one  approaching  the  settlement 
from  the  southwest,  the  view  of  the  falls  and  river  valley  was  almost  entirely  oh- 
stmcted  until  the  opposite  side  of  the  ravine  was  reached.  Then  there  flashed  into 
view,  as  if  by  magic,  a  scene  which,  for  beauty  and  grandeur,  was  surpassed  no- 
wliere.  Here  lay  a  broad,  fertile  valley,  completely  covered  with  waving  bunch- 
grass,  and  surrounded  by  ranges  of  lofty  mountains  whose  hooded  peaks,  towering 
above  the  fleecy  clouds,  seemed  to  fade  away  into  the  serene  blue  of  the  heavens. 
Through  the  valley  the  river  wound  its  course,  now  nmning  smoothly,  and  now 
mshing  with  a  roar  over  boulders  and  cataracts.     .     .     . 

"Mrs.  Bailey  was  the  first  white  girl  in  this  section  of  the  country,  so  her  arrival 
was  of  much  interest  to  the  Indians,  who  came  from  far  and  near  to  look  upon  this 
new  wonder  of  the  palefaces.     .     .     . 

"The  country  at  that  time  afforded  many  pastimes  for  the  early  settlers.  One 
of  the  most  largely  indulged  in  was  the  salmon  fishing,  which  began  in  July,  at 
which  time  the  red  salmon,  coming  up  the  river  from  the  Columbia,  began  to  make 
theit  appearance  just  below  the  falls.  The  white  salmon  did  not  come  up  the  river 
until  later  in  the  year,  in  October."     ...  ^ 

Mrs.  Bailey  says  that  her  father,  "although  always  conscious  of  the  vast  wealth 
of  the  waterpower  at  the  falls,  greatly  underestimated  the  agricultural  possibilities 
of  the  region  surrounding  it,  which  he  thought  necessary  for  the  building  of  an 
important  city,"  and  he  was  therefore  in  a  ready  frame  of  mind  to  dispose  of  his 
interests.  "Accordingly,  when  a  man  by  the  name  of  Benjamin  came  to  the  falls 
and  offered  him  $5,000  for  hjs  rights,  he  accepted  and  moved  his  family  to  a  claim 
six  miles  from  Hangman  creek.  While  they  were  living  at  this  place,"  continues  her 
reminiscence,  "this  region  was  visited  by  the  last  and  most  violent  of  the  earth- 
quakes recorded  in  the  northwest.  It  was  on  the  night  of  the  14th  of  December 
when  it  came.  The  Downings  were  almost  shaken  from  their  beds,  and  awoke  ter- 
rified by  the  swaying  of  the  house  and  the  sound  of  various  articles  crashing  to  the 
floor.  They  rushed  out  of  doors,  only  to  see  large  trees  shaken  to  the  ground,  and 
to  find  a  large  corral  battered  down,  either  by  the  shaking  of  the  earth  or  the  feet 
of  the  frightened  animals  it  contained.  On  this  night  the  region  underwent  its  last 
great  topographical  change,  marked  by  the  disappearance  of  many  of  the  smaller 
streams  and  the  appearance  of  new  ones.  It  was  also  reported  that  a  large  point 
of  land  on  lake  Okanogan  entirely  disappeared  from  sight. 

"Downing  had  not  lived  here  long  when  he  was  forced  back  into  the  mill  busi- 
ness by  the  failure  of  Benjamin  to  make  his  payments.     The  original  owners  of  the 


332  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

mill  continued  in  its  operation  until  1874,  when  J.  N.  Glover,  J.  N.  Matheny  and 
Cyrus  F.  Yeaton,  in  looking  around  for  an  investment,  came  to  the  falls  and  offered 
the  partners  $10,000  for  the  entire  property.  This  offer  was  accepted,  and  Down- 
ing moved  to  a  ranch  on  Moran  prairie,  while  Scranton  left  for  California.  But 
the  separation  of  states  was  not  to  interfere  with  the  romance  which  had  received 
so  much  nourishment  at  the  falls ;  so  late  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  'Babe'  Down- 
ing left  for  a  southern  clime,  where  she  entered  into  a  life  partnership  with  the  man 
who  had  formerly  been  her  father's  business  partner.  They  lived  in  California 
about  four  years,  when  they  returned  to  Walla  Walla,  but  the  climate  of  the  north 
did  not  agree  with  Mr.  Scranton,  and  he  again  left  for  California,  where  he  died. 
Six  children  had  been  bom  to  their  union,  the  four  who  are  still  living  being  Frank 
S.  Scranton  of  Spokane;  Ada  V.  Sturgiss  of  Pendleton,  Oregon;  Earl  H.  Scranton 
of  Spokane,  and  Vernie  L.  Scranton  of  Pendleton.  Twenty-two  years  ago  Mrs. 
Bailey  was  married  to  her  present  husband,  at  Dayton,  Wash.  During  this  course 
of  time  four  children  have  been  born.  They  are  Mrs.  F.  C.  Daugherty,  of  Spokane; 
Mrs.  Carl  Leonard,  of  Pendleton,  Oregon;  Hazel  R.  Bailey  and  Bill  Bailey,  of 
Spokane. 

"J.  J.  Downing  died  twenty  years  ago  at  Dayton,  Wash.,  only  slightly  realizing 
the  vastness  of  the  fortune  he  let  slip  by  him  at  Spokane  Falls.  His  wife  followed 
him  nine  years  afterward,  both  being  buried  at  Dayton." 

Mrs.  Bailey's  memory  is  manifestly  in  error  regarding  the  date  of  the  coming 
of  Glover,  Yeaton  and  Matheny,  1 873,  not  1 874,  and  the  price  paid  for  the  townsitc 
and  mill,  which  was  $4,000,  not  $10,000. 

To  James  N.  Glover  belongs  the  title  of  Father  of  Spokane.  While  three  or 
four  other  white  men  were  here  before  him,  they  remained  but  a  short  time.  Mr. 
Glover  has  been  here  continuously  since  May,  1873,  and  there  is  not  now  in  Spokane, 
nor  has  there  been  for  many  years,  a  man  who  located  here  ahead  of  him. 

Mr.  Glover,  who  had  lived  in  the  Willamette  Valley  of  Western  Oregon  for 
many  years,  having  learned  of  the  possibilities  of  the  upper  country  as  it  then  was 
called,  resolved  in  May  of  that  year  to  take  a  prospecting  trip  over  the  Inland  Em- 
pire, and  to  locate,  if  possible,  the  site  of  the  future  commercial  metropolis  of  this 
section.  He  traveled  by  boat  from  Portland  to  Lewiston,  and  at  the  latter  place 
purchased  a  cayuse  saddle  horse  and  rode  extensively  over  the  country.  He  was 
accompanied  by  J.  N.  Matheny,  a  fellow  townsman  of  his  in  Salem,  and  the  two 
rode  leisurely  over  the  country,  consuming  eight  or  nine  days  on  the  road  between 
Lewiston  and  the  falls. 

"We  very  rarely  saw  a  white  man  or  a  house,"  says  Mr.  Glover;  "when  we 
reached  the  falls  we  found  here  ahead  of  us,  J.  J.  Downing,  S.  R.  Scranton,  Walter 
France,  Benjamin,  and  A.  C.  Swift,  who  posed  as  an  attorney.  Scrantcm  and  Down- 
ing had  set  up  a  little  upright  sawmill  on  the  site  of  what  is  now  the  Phoenix  Mill; 
near  the  foot  of  Mill  street.  They  asserted  that  by  working  from  sunrise  to  sunset, 
they  could  rip  out  seven  hundred  feet,  but  I  doubt  if  their  little  outfit  really  had  that 
capacity.  Downing  had  a  wife  and  a  step-daughter,  Nellie  Downing,  or  'Babe,*  as 
everyone  familiarly  called  her.  They  later  lived  on  the  brink  of  the  falls,  at  what 
is  now  the  south  end  of  the  Post  street  bridge,  in  a  log  building  of  two  large  rooms 
and  a  cellar  beneath,  but  I  found  them  occupying  a  little  box  house  adjoining  the 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  333 

mill,  on  what  is  now  block  4  of  Spokane^  roughly  constructed  of  green  lumber 
and  withoift  battens. 

"The  larger  log  house  was  occupied  when  I  arrived  by  a  man  named  Benjamin^ 
who  had  a  large  family.  Scranton  had  no  family.  He  and  Downing  had  come  here 
aboat  a  year  before  and  taken  squatters'  claims^  both  on  the  south  side  of  the  river. 
They  claimed  nothing  on  the  north  side.  Benjamin  had  entered  into  a  deal  with  Down- 
ing for  his  squatter's  right  in  this  property.  He  had  agreed  to  pay  $2^000^  and  had 
made  one  cash  payment  of  $400.  The  next  payment  was  overdue  and  Benjamin 
could  not  raise  the  money.  I  found  that  there  was  quite  a  feud  between  the  two 
men  over  this  transaction. 

"Directly  I  arrived,  Downing  came  to  me  for  a  deal,  and  really  I  was  in  a  good 
humor  for  a  deal,  for  I  was  never  so  infatuated  with  a  place  in  all  my  life.  I  asked 
him  his  price,  and  when  he  gave  it  I  replied  that  I  would  take  it  under  consideration, 
but  first  wanted  to  scout  around  a  little  and  look  at  the  country.  I  walked  up  the 
river  a  way  and  found  a  makeshift  of  a  canoe,  lioUowed  out  of  a  pine  log  about  ten 
feet  long.  In  this  tippy  craft,  I  paddled  across  the  river  at  a  point  near  the  little 
island,  adjacent  to  the  Division  street  bridge.  I  spent  the  day  looking  over  the 
north  side  of  the  river,  and  when  I  returned  in  the  evening.  Downing  tackled  me 
again. 

"  *Mr.  Downing.'  I  said,  'you  have  sold  this  property  once  to  Mr.  Benjamin  and 
he  has  paid  you  $400  down  on  it.' 

"  *Yes,  that  is  correct.' 

"  'Well,  I'll  teU  you.  Mr.  Benjamin  has  a  large  family  and  no  means  of  sup- 
port. If  I  purchase  your  property,  the  first  money  would  have  to  be  paid  to  Mr. 
Benjamin— that  $400.' 

"I  added  that  if  he  did  not  accept  this  proposition,  I'd  be  off  the  next  morning. 
Downing  and  his  wife  conferred  together  a  little  while  and  he  then  came  out  and 
said: 

'I  have  come  to  accept  your  offer  of  two  thousand  dollars.' 

'I  employed  Swift  to  draw  up  the  papers  and  had  them  signed  by  Downing  and 
wife,  Scranton,  'Babe'  Downing,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Benjamin.  By  this  action  I 
made  a  lasting  friend  of  Benjamin. 

"Immediately  after  buying  Downing's  squatter's  right,  I  arranged  with  Scran- 
ton to  look  after  the  property  while  I  returned  to  Salem.  I  had  little  confidence  in 
the  man,  but  he  was  the  only  logical  person  to  leave  in  charge.  Benjamin  and  his 
family  moved  onto  a  homestead  on  the  head  of  Rock  creek,  twenty-five  miles  south- 
west of  the  falls,  and  Downing  and  his  family  then  moved  into  the  old  log  house, 
vacating  the  little  box  house  by  the  mill. 

"Mr.  Matheny  and  I  then  returned  to  Oregon,  riding  cayuses  to  Lewiston,  and 
taking  the  stage  there  for  Wallula  by  way  of  Walla  Walla.  At  Salem,  I  contracted 
for  a  new  sawmill,  and  had  it  shipped  to  Portland  and  thence  by  boat  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Palouse  river,  on  the  Snake. 

"In  the  meantime  I  had  formed  a  partnership  with  C.  F.  Yeaton  and  J.  N. 
Matheny  and  sent  them  ahead  with  the  machinery,  a  mill  wright,  and  a  few  other 
men  to  build  the  mill  and  install  the  machinery. 

"They  arrived  here  on  July  29,  1878,  and  notified  me  at  once  by  letter,  that 
cm  their  arrival,  they  had  found  the  place  here  filled  with  constables.    All  the  white 


(<  <i 


«' 


334  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

men  in  the  Colville  valley  had  been  sworn  in  as  constables  and  were  hunting  for 
Scranton^  my  agent^  and  my  partners  urged  me  to  come  up  as  soon  as  possible.  I 
returned  here  on  the  nineteenth  of  August,  and  found  eight  or  ten  of  the  constables 
still  here.  I  had  driven  from  old  Wallula  junction  in  a  lumber  wagon.  It  was  a 
very  hot  and  dusty  drive,  and  I  was  pretty  well  worn  out.  While  I  was  helping 
the  man  unhitch  his  horses,  a  man  came  alongside  and  said  in  a  low  voice : 

"  *Would  you  like  to  see  Scranton?' 

*'  'Not  especially,'  I  said.    *I  have  no  business  with  Scranton.' 

"After  the  team  had  been  put  away,  I  asked  this  man  his  name,  and  he  said  it 
was  Charlie  May.. 

"  *Do  you  know  where  Scranton  is  ?' 

**  '111  take  you  to  him  if  you  want  to  see  him.'  he  replied. 

"  *I  may  want  to  see  him,  but  don't  feel  like  going  very  far.' 

"  *You  won't  have  to  go  very  far,'  he  said. 

"  'Well,  you  come  to  me  at  one  tomorrow  aild  I'll  go  where  Scranton  is.' 

''At  the  appointed  time  he  was  on  hand,  and  I  went  with  him.  We  crossed  the 
Spokane  in  the  little  log  canoe,  and  as  the  river  was  low,  the  water  was  still.  I  found 
Scranton,  where  at  that  time  there  was  a  little  lake,  just  east  of  the  present  O.  B. 
&  N.  depot.  It  was  surrounded  by  a  very  thick  growth  of  blackthorn  so  dense  that 
May  and  I  had  to  crawl  in  on  our  hands  and  knees. 

"We  found  Scranton  lying  on  a  buffalo  robe  with  his  weapons  alongside  of  him. 
After  a  fifteen  minutes  talk,  I  arranged  for  him  to  come  in  to  the  log  cabin  where 
Downing  and  his  family  still  lived,  at  1 1  o'clock  that  night  when  I  would  have  papers 
all  ready  to  buy  him  out.     I  realized  that  I  could  not  do  business  with  him. 

"He  came  in  and  we  bought  him  out  and  he  disappeared. 

"Scranton  left  the  country  and  I  never  saw  him  again.  A  little  later  two 
or  three  Indians  came  to  me  and  said  that  he  had  crossed  the  river  with 
eighty-one  head  of  American  horses,  at  a  ford  where  the  O.  R.  &  N.  bridge  now  spans 
the  Spokane.  They  added  that  they  had  gone  south  with  Charlie  May.  I  doubted 
their  story  for  a  long  time,  but  later  found  that  the  Indians  were  correct.  Scranton 
and  May  crossed  the  Clearwater  near  Lewiston,  were  later  seen  near  Boise  City, 
and  still  later  in  Nevada,  where  they  had  driven  the  horses.  May  was  never  heard 
of  afterwards. 

"After  disposing  of  the  horses,  Scranton  moved  to  Santa  Ana,  in  southern  Cali- 
fornia. While  living  there  he  was  married  to  Miss  Downing.  After  residing  there 
a  few  years,  they  moved  into  the  Blue  mountains  above  Dayton,  in  this  state.  He 
built  a  shingle  mill  and  lived  there  till  his  death.  His  widow  was  in  Spokane  last 
year.  She  telephoned  me  then  and  I  called  on  her  at  her  residence  on  MalloD 
avenue.    She  had  married  again  and  had  several  children. 

"From  Spokane  Downing  moved  to  Moran  prairie.  Later  he  drifted  to  the  Snake 
river  country  and  then  went  to  Walla  Walla,  where  he  and  his  wife  died. 

"The  Benjamins,  I  think,  are  dead. 

"Lawyer  Swift  left  here  with  his  wife  about  a  year  after  my  arrival,  and  they 
too  went  to  Santa  Ana. 

"It  was  several  years  after  my  arrival  before  the  little  settlement  could  show  as 
much  population  as  it  had  possessed  when  I  came  here.  My  wife  joined  me  in  Au- 
gust, 1873,  and  my  partner,  Mr.  Yeaton,  came  with  his  family  in  July.     He  had  a 


MBS.  J.  J.  DOWNING 
First  white  iToman  in  Spokane.     Came  here  with  her  husbnnd  io 


FHEDEBICK  POST,  WHO  BUILT 

THE   FIRST   FLOUR   MILL 

IN  SPOKANE 


H.  T.  COWLEY,  WHO  CAME  TO  SPO- 
KANE IN  1874  AS   MISSIONABY 
AND  TEACHER  AMONG 
THE  SPOKANES 


/•     '--N^4, 


riON0 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  335 

wife  and  one  daughter,  and  the  three  of  them  are  now  living  in  or  near  Seattle.    They 
stayed  here  Ull  the  fall  of  1876. 

"Mr.  Matheny's  family  joined  him  in  1874.  His  wife  was  dead  and  his  sister- 
in-law  cared  for  his  four  children. 

•*My  first  store  was  just  across  the  street  and  directly  west  of  the  present  City 
Hall.  It  stood  in  about  the  center  of  the  block  and  was  a  frame  building.  My  first 
stock  of  goods  was  made  up  very  largely  of  Indian  supplies — cheap  blankets,  shawls, 
calicoes,  beads,  paints  (I  did  a  big  business  in  paints),  tobacco,  sugar,  tea  and  coffee, 
cutlery  and  all  sorts  of  groceries.  I  never  carried  powder  and  lead,  and  with  the 
exception  of  an  old  shot  gun  had  no  fire  arms.  I  frequently  loaned  the  shot  gun  to 
Indians,  and  they  would  occasionally  bring  in  a  deer  for  its  use.  I  always  got 
alcmg  pleasantly  with  the  Indians,  although  I  was  always  firm  with  them.  From  the 
beginning  I  adopted  a  policy  of  trading  with  them  just  as  I  would  with  white  men. 
They  were  cautious  buyers  and  always  watched  the  scales  very  closely. 

"The  Indians  here  at  the  Falls  were  known  a&  the  Upper  band  of  Spokanes.  In 
summer  they  pitched  their  tents  near  the  river,  but  in  winter  they  would  move  back 
to  a  point  near  Fourth  avenue  and  Pine  street.  There  is .  a  little  knoll  there  and 
they  had  a  cemetery  near  by.  They  had  a  couplcof  old  siheds  in  a  dry  and  well 
sheltered  spot.  When  I  came  they  buried  their  dead  in  the  earth,  the  same  as  the 
whites  do,  having  been  taught  this  method  by  Father  Eells,  the  Protestant  mission- 
ary.   At  their  funerals  they  held  Christian  services. 

"I  lived  in  my  store  building,  where  I  had  partitioned  off  a  living  room,  bed  room 
and  a  little  kitchen.  Mr.  Yeaton  lived  in  the  rear  of  the  store,  and  Mr.  Matheny 
in  a  log  house  on  the  present  site  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  hotel.  We  built  several  log 
houses  and  were  glad  to  have  people  come  in  and  use  them  rent  free. 

"I  bought  out  Mr.  Matheny  in  the  spring  of  1876  and  Mr.  Yeaton  in  the  fall  of 
the  same  year.  I  paid  them  their  own  price  and  they  were  glad  to  find  that  I  was 
in  a  position  to  buy  them  out  and  let  them  go. 

''Up  to  that  time  we  had  not  increased  in  population,  but  had  rather  decreased. 
AU  this  while  I  was  growing  more  uneasy  about  my  squatter's  right.  When  I  re- 
flected on  how  much  I  had  invested,  and  the  years  of  waiting,  and  thought  that  all 
this  might  be  lost,  if  it  should  turn  out  that  I  was  on  railroad  land,  the  thought 
grew  pretty  disturbing.  At  that  time,  the  present  business  district  from  the  river 
to  the  present  line  of  the  Northern  Pacific  tracks,  was  a  beautiful  prairie  of  bunch- 
grass  and  sun-flowers,  and  when  these  flowers  were  in  bloom  they  made  a  sea  of 
gold.  I  kept  a  horse  staked  out  there  all  the  time  for  emergency.  One  bright,  beau- 
tiful morning  in  June,  1875,  an  Indian,  named  George,  half  brother  to  Curly  Jim, 
rode  up  in  great  excitement,  his  horse  in  a  foam  of  perspiration,  and  told  me  that 
he  had  seen  a  squad  of  white  men  coming  from  White  Bluff  prairie  down  the  Hang- 
man creek  slope.  He  described  them  to  me  and  I  knew  they  were  surveyors.  I 
told  him  to  rest  a  moment  till  I  could  put  a  saddle  on  my  horse,  when  I  would  go 
with  him.  We  went  down  the  road  on  about  the  same  route  that  now  leads  to  Green- 
wood cemetery,  and  pretty  soon  I  met  Till  Sheets  and  his  party  of  two  line-men  and 
two  blazers.     I  introduced  myself  and  he  said: 

"  *So  you  are  the  man  they  call  Jim  Glover?  I'm  trying  to  locate  you.  I  had  a 
contract  from  the  government  to  survey  three  townships  on  Crab  creek.  After  I 
completed  that  work,  I  said  to  my  men  that  Jim  Glover  is  at  the  Spokane  Falls,  and 


336  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

don't  know  whether  he  is  afoot  or  ahorseback.  I  told  them  that  if  they  would  giye 
their  time  I  would  board  them^  and  we  would  run  a  base  line  and  show  Mr.  Glover 
where  he  is.' 

"I  soon  knew  that  I  was  on  government  land.  It  was  a  warm  d&%  and  I  was 
sweating  like  a  Turk.  Strange  as  it  may  appear,  those  lines  came  just  about  where 
I  wanted  them.  My  east  line  was  Bernard  street;  my  south  line  the  center  of 
Sprague  avenue;  my  west  line  was  Cedar  street;  and  my  north  line  was  Broadway, 
east  to  a  point  where  the  line  makes  a  jog  and  crosses  the  river.  My  claim  included 
most  of  the  bay  by  the  Phoenix  mill  and  took  in  the  Centennial  mill  property.  It 
then  ran  due  south  to  a  point  at  the  curve  of  Mill  street,  a  little  north  of  Front 
•  avenue,  and  then  ran  due  east  to  Bernard. 

"From  the  beginning  I  had  refused  to  deal  in  liquors,  but  when  I  bought  my 
second  bill  of  goods  from  Barney  Goldsmith,  he  asked  me  if  we  had  any  rattle- 
snakes up  at  the  Falls.  I  replied  that  there  were  none  at  the  Falls,  but  I  had  seen 
two  or  three  in  the  rocks  west  of  there.  Mr.  Goldsmith  then  said  that  as  I  had  been 
a  pretty  good  customer,  he  was  gcnng  to  make  me  a  present  of  a  barrel  of  whisky. 
I  accepted  the  present,  but  afterwards  regretted  that  I  had  done  so,  as  I  had  heard 
that  Indians  could  smell  liquor  a  great  distance.  When  the  barrel  of  whisky 
arrived,  I  built  in  a  little  closet  in  my  store,  just  big  enough  to  hold  it,  and  boxed 
the  barrel  in  and  nailed  it  up  solid.  I  never  tapped  that  barrel  till  Surveyor  Sheets 
came  in,  but  I  then  felt  so  grateful  that  I  ripped  the  boards  away  and  gave  him 
and  his  men  all  they  could  drink. 

"When  my  partners,  Matheny  and  Yeaton  moved  away,  we  had  less  population 
at  the  falls  than  ever,  and  I  made  extraordinary  efforts  to  induce  Frederick  Post 
to  come  here  from  Rathdrum  and  build  a  little  gristmill.  I  had  to  pull  all  my  floor 
from  Waitsburg,  and  it  was  a  hard  task.  I  argued  long  with  Mr.  Post,  as  he  was  a 
practical  millwright  and  already  had  most  of  the  necessary  machinery.  He  was  one 
of  God's  noblemen.  He  and  his  wife  were  old  fashioned  Germans,  as  fine  people 
as  I  ever  knew  in  my  life.  They  had  Bvc  daughters,  Mary,  Martha,  Alice,  Julia 
and  one  whose  name  I  cannot  remember.  They  were  nice  girls.  All  are  dead  except 
Alice,  who  married  a  man  named  Martin,  and  they  still  live  in  the  old  Post  house 
on  the  south  side  of  the  river  at  Post  Falls.  Mary  married  West  Wood,  Martha  died 
single,  Julia  married  one  of  the  Dart  family,  for  whom  the  town  of  Dartford  on 
the  Little  Spokane  was  named.  Mother  Post  died  last  winter,  and  Mr.  Post  about 
eighteen  months  ago. 

"I  finally  made  Mr.  Post  an  offer  he  could  not  well  resist,  forty  acres  of  my 
preemption  as  a  gift.  Out  of  that  forty  acres  I  reserved  the  block  where  the  Audi- 
torium building  stands.  He  was  very  anxious  later  to  square  up  his  forty,  and 
begged  me  to  sell  him  that  Auditorium  block.  I  finally  let  him  have  it  in  1876  f(« 
$850,  and  he  raised  the  money  and  paid  me.    Later  he  came  to  me  and  said: 

"  'You  are  the  only  man  I  can  go  to  for  help.  I  am  broke  and  you  will  have  to 
take  that  property  back.'  I  replied  that  I  was  broke  too  but  that  I  would  take  it 
back.  In  that  way  that  piece  of  property  passed  back  and  forth  between  us  five 
times  and  the  price  was  always  the  same.  Mr.  Post  finally  sold  it  to  A.  M.  Cannon 
and  J.  J.  Browne  and  they  built  the  Auditorium  theatre  upon  it. 

"The  frame  of  the  old  mill  stood  until  last  yenr,  when  it  was  torn  down.    It  had 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  337 

a  capacity  of  twenty  barrels  a  day,  and  did  its  first  grinding  about  November  1, 
1877. 

"My  sawmill  had  a  capacity  of  35,000  to  40,000  feet  a  day.  It  was  a  fine  mill 
and  much  too  large  for  the  comitry.  My  only  market  was  among  a  very  few  settlers 
as  they  came  into  the  surromiding  comitry.  I  would  saw  out  150,000  feet  in  four 
or  &vt  days  and  that  output  would  supply  the  demand  for  a  year." 

Mr.  Post's  old  residence  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  the  autumn  of  1911.  It  was 
attached  to  the  old  Falls  View  house,  west  of  Post  street  and  north  of  Front  avenue. 

When  the  Nez  Perce  war  broke  out  in  1877,  Spokane  had  a  total  population  of 
less  than  twenty:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Glover,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  S.  G.  Havermale,  who, 
however,  were  hardly  permanent  residents,  as  they  were  coming  and  going  from  time 
to  time.  H.  T.  Cowley  and  family,  and  Frederick  Post,  his  wife  and  Bvc  daughters. 
But  the  little  frontier  settlement  had  prospects,  and  its  founder  had  expectations 
for  he  platted  a  townsite  in  January,  1878. 

"For  that  work  I  employed  L.  W.  Rinia,"  said  Mr.  Glover  in  discussing  pioneer 
times  with  the  writer  of  this  volume. 

Mr.  Rima  had  come  here  after  the  Nez  Perce  uprising  and  started  a  little  jewelry 
store — an  act  of  sublime  confidence  in  future  developments,  for  assuredly  the  imme- 
diate prospect  of  a  demand  for  diamonds  and  gold  watches  could  not  have  been 
alluring.  Rima  bought  a  lot  from  Mr.  Glover,  on  the  alley  on  Howard  street,  just 
south  of  what  is  now  the  Coeur  d'Alene  hotel,  and  later  built  a  small  two-story 
brick  building,  one  of  the  first,  but  not  the  very  first  structure  to  be  erected  here  of 
that  material. 

"I  platted  from  my  east  line  at  Bernard,"  said  Mr.  Glover,  "to  the  west  line 
of  Post  street,  and  from  Sprague  avenue  to  the  river.  Sprague  street  I  named  in 
honor  of  General  Sprague,  then  general  superintendent  of  the  western  division  of 
the  Northern  Pacific.  As  I  expected  Riverside  to  continue  westward  as  a  boulevard 
or  drive  along  the  river  bank,  it  was  given  that  designation.  Main  street  I  rather 
expected  to  become  the  chief  business  thoroughfare,  and  Front  was  so-called  because 
of  its  fronting  on  the  stream.  Washington  was  named  jointly  for  the  father  of  'our 
country  and  the  territory,  Stevens  for  the  first  governor,  Isaac  I.  Stevens,  Howard 
for  General  O.  O.  Howard,  who  commanded  the  troops  in  the  Nez  Perce  war.  Mill 
because  I  expected  the  milling  industry  to  center  around  its  terminus  at  the  river, 
and  Post  street  in  recognition  of  Frederick  Post.  I  regret  exceedingly  that  the  name 
of  Mill  street  was  changed  to  Wall,  a  designation  having  no  local  or  pioneer  sig- 
nificance. 

"Mr.  Rima  made  little  pretension  to  exact  knowledge  of  civil  engineering,  but 
he  had  some  instruments  and  had  done  a  little  surveying.  I  assisted  in  the  work, 
serving  as  chainman.  He  lacked  a  propter  chain,  and  later  I  made  up  my  mind  that 
there  were  errors  in  the  original  survey  and  determined  to  have  a  resurvey,  hence 
the  existence  of  that  term  in  the  official  description  of  property  in  the  original  plat. 

"For  this  resurvey  and  the  platting  of  another  section  of  my  land  west  to  Cedar 
street,  I  employed  G.  F.  Wright,  a  Northern  Pacific  engineer,  in  1881.  Mr.  Wright's 
resurvey  made  a  number  of  lots  and  blocks  a  little  larger  than  they  had  been  orig- 
inally, and  I  made  a  great  number  of  quitclaim  deeds  to  persons  who  had  previously 
purchased  lots,  granting  them  the  additional  ground  without  additional  pay.     Lin- 

VoL  I— ss 


338  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

coln^  Monroe,  Madison  and  Jefferson  streets  were  so  named  in  honor  of  those  four 
presidents/' 

In  April,  1878,  came  A.  M.  Cannon  and  J.  J.  Browne.  They  were  from  Port- 
land, Oregon,  then  the  metropolis  of  the  broad  northwest,  with  a  population  of  about 
15,000  exclusive  of  Chinese,  of  whom  the  town  held  several  thousand,  lured  there 
by  railroad  construction.  The  newcomers  were  to  play  conspicuous  parts  in  the 
great  drama  of  city  building  by  the  wild  cataracts  of  the  Spokane,  and  it  may  well 
be  doubted  if  two  men  better  fitted  by  courage,  enthusiasm  and  knowledge  of  west- 
ern life  and  western  conditions  could  have  been  found,  either  east  or  west,  to  take 
up  that  work  and  carry  it  forward  to  success  and  brilliant  achievement.  Both  men 
had  limited  means,  and  in  a  sense  were  soldiers  of  fortune.  Mr.  Cannon  had  led  an 
adventurous  life  from  early  manhood.  When  a  young  man  lie  had  gone  to  Chicago 
and  made  and  lost  a  considerable  fortune  on  the  grain  exchange.  From  Chicago  he 
drifted  to  the  Pacific  coast  by  way  of  Kansas  City  and  Denver.  In  Portland  he 
engaged  in  the  business  of  selling  sewing  machines,  but  suffering  there  from  sciatic 
rheumatism,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  seek  health  and  fortune  in  "the  upper  country," 
concerning  which  he  had  heard  enticing  reports,  both  in  respect  to  its  scenic  beauty 
and  its  natural  resources. 

Mr.  Browne's  activities  up  to  that  time  had  been  divided  between  the  law  and 
education,  and  he  had  served  a  term  as  county  superintendent  of  schools  at  Portland. 
He  was  attending  court  at  The  Dalles,  Oregon,  when  Mr.  Cannon,  on  his  way  to 
Spokane,  encountered  him  there  and  persuaded  him  to  join  in  the  scouting  expedi- 
tion. 

"Cannon  and  Browne  arrived  here,  I  think,  on  the  S4th  of  April,  1878,"  said 
Mr.  Glover.  "They  approached  me  with  a  proposition  to  buy  an  interest  in  the 
townsite,  and  held  out  inducements  in  the  way  of  boosting  for  the  town  and  helping 
to  build  here  an  important  business  center.  Two  days  later  an  agreement  was  drawn 
up  and  signed,  I  agreeing  to  sell  them  a  half  interest  in  my  claim,  excepting  such 
portions  as  I  had  given  to  Mr.  Post  and  built  upon  myself,  and  a  few  other  lots 
which  I  had  practically  given  away.  They  were  to  pay  me  $8,000  for  it,  $50  down, 
all  they  had,  as  neither  man  possessed  any  means  beyond  the  little  required  to  bring 
their  families  here.    The  final  payments  were  not  made  for  five  or  six  years." 

At  this  time  Spokane's  population  was  little  larger  than  it  had  been  when  Mr. 
Glover  landed  by  the  falls  in  1878.  The  two  companies  of  regulars  that  had  win- 
tered here  after  the  Nez  Perce  war,  were  moving  to  Fort  Sherman,  on  Lake  Coenr 
d'Alene.  The  first  physician  was  here  in  the  person  of  Dr.  J.  M.  Masterson,  who 
brought  with  him  a  wife  and  three  or  four  children;  and  about  that  time  came 
George  A.  Davis  and  C.  W.  Cornelius,  also  from  down  Portland  way,  and  started  s 
little  drugstore  fronting  on  Front  avenue  and  just  west  of  Glover's  store.  About 
that  time,  too,  came  Captain  J.  M.  Nosier,  after  whom  Nosier 's  addition  was  named, 
with  a  few  drugs  from  Colfax. 

"Browne  and  Cannon  returned  to  Portland  immediately  after  the  signing  of  the 
agreement,"  continues  the  narrative  of  Mr.  Glover,  "and  in  the  fall  of  the  same 
year  Cannon  returned  with  his  family  and  Alexander  Warner,  a  brother-in-law. 
They  brought  a  little  stock  of  general  merchandise  and  set  it  up  in  my  store  build- 
ing, I  having  discontinued  the  merchandise  business.  They  continued  in  business 
there  for  several  years  under  the  firm  name  of  Cannon  &  Warner. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  839 

"It  was  there^  in  a  little  addition  I  had  built  on  the  store,  fronting  on  Howard 
that  Mr.  Cannon  put  out  his  sign,  'Bank  of  Spokane  Falls ;  A.  M.  Cannon/  This 
is  how  the  first  bank  was  started  here.  At  that  time  I  was  employed  by  the  North- 
ern Pacific  as  forage  agent  and  to  construct  necessary  buildings  for  its  construction 
camps,  and  I  had  to  traverse  the  country  and  buy  hay  and  grain  for  the  horses. 
Most  of  my  supplies  I  bought  around  Farmington,  fifty  or  sixty  miles  south  of  here, 
for  there  were  very  few  settlers  producing  anything  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
Spokane.  D.  C.  Cushman  and  a  man  named  Lewis  were  in  charge  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  land  oflSce  at  Colfax,  and  I  had  to  go  there  to  draw  funds  for  my  purchases 
and  make  settlement  with  the  company. 

"Returning  from  one  of  these  trips  to  Colfax,  great  was  my  surprise,  on  stepping 
from  the  stage,  to  see  Mr.  Cannon's  bank  sign.  When  I  walked  into  the  store  build- 
ing Mr.  Cannon  was  the  first  man  I  met,  and  when  we  had  shaken  hands  he  said: 

"  *Mr.  Glover,  I  guess  you'll  be  greatly  surprised  to  see  what  I  have  done.' 

"  'Why,  what  do  you  allude  to,  Mr.  Cannon?' 

"  'I've  started  a  bank,  and  you  know  better  than  J  do  that  I  haven't  got  a  dollar; 
but  Mrs.  Pope  (a  sister-in-law)  had  $1,000  and  agreed  to  loan  it  to  me.  There's 
no  business  here  now  for  a  bank,  but  the  Northern  Pacific  iis  coming  this  way  with 
its  grade  and  construction  and  there  will  be  all  sorts  of  timechecks  and  other  checks 
to  cash,  and  I  thought  I  might  as  well  get  in  and  be  ready  to  take  care  of  it.' 

"Mr.  Warner,  Mr.  Cannon's  partner,  was  a  very  near-sighted  man,  and  was 
bending  over  his  books  in  the  front  of  the  store.  When  I  approached  him  he  looked 
up  and  said: 

"  'You  see  what  A.  M.  has  done  ?  What  a  foolish  man ;  over  head  and  heels  in 
debt  and  starting  a  bank.  But  if  he  wants  to  do  it  and  run  it  on  wind,  he'll  have 
to  go  it  alone.    I'll  have  nothing  to  do  with  it'!'  " 

In  November,  1882,  Mr.  Glover,  F.  Rockwood  Moore,  Horace  L.  Cutter,  H.  M. 
McCartney,  Dr.  L.  H.  Whitehouse,  and  August  Goldsmith  incorporated  the  First 
National  bank  of  Spokane.  It  was  capitalized  at  $50,000  and  was  housed  in  a  two 
story  wooden  building,  at  the  comer  of  Main  and  Howard,  fronting  on  Main. 

"Mr.  Cannon  came  to  me  one  day,"  says  Mr.  Glover,  "and  said  his  bank  was  in 
trouble  and  he  wanted  help.  I  replied  that  our  bank  could  not  extend  help  until 
we  had  first  looked  over  his  affairs  and  seen  what  he  had  in  his  institution.  I  went 
in  with  him  and  his  cashier  B.  L.  Bennett,  early  in  the  morning  before  banking 
hoars,  to  see  what  he  had  in  the  way  of  money  and  securities.  I  found  a  most  deso- 
late and  woebegone  situation ;  25  cents  was  all  the  cash  on  hand.  I  asked  Cashier 
Bennett  why  he  had  not  bought  a  drink  with  the  two-bits,  and  he  replied  that  it 
belonged  to  the  bank.  We  decided  that  if  Mr.  Cannon  would  give  us  such  collateral 
AS  he  had,  and  a  note  signed  by  himself  and  wife,  secured  by  certain  pieces  of  real 
estate,  that  we  would  advance  him  $4,000  or  $5,000.  His  word  was  good  and  I 
knew  he  would  meet  any  obligation  that  lay  within  his  power.  He  gradually  paid 
us  back. 

"Mr.  Browne  came  back  either  in  the  fall  of  1878  or  1879  with  his  family.  For 
a  while  he  rented  rooms  and  boarded  with  Mr.  Post.  I  had  two  offices  in  my  store 
building  on  the  second  floor,  and  he  took  one  of  them  as  a  law  office.  His  first  house 
was  in  what  is  now  Browne's  addition.  My  first  claim  was  a  preemption,  and  I  had 
homesteaded  160  acres  west  of  it.    This  I  relinquished  to  Mr.  Browne.     I  took  my 


340  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

team  and  plowed  ground  for  his  garden  and  orchard  at  a  place  just  south  of  Pacific 
avenue  and  west  of  Maple  street.  Mr.  Browne  and  family  lived  there  until  he  built 
the  large  brick  place  further  west  in  his  addition^  the  place  that  is  now  owned  by 
R.  E.  Strahom. 

"Mr.  Cannon  also  took  a  homestead^  covering  what  is  now  Cannon's  addition 
and  Cannon  Hill,  but  had  established  no  residence  on  it,  his  only  improvement  being 
the  digging  of  a  trench  and  the  setting  of  a  few  pine  poles.  I  had  as  my  cleric  in 
my  railroad  work,  a  very  fine  young  man,  Howard  Tilton,  son  of  General  Tilton, 
a  close  friend  of  Superintendent  Sprague.  Howard  was  very  much  taken  with  Spo- 
kane, and  not  considering  Mr.  Cannon's  improvements  a  compliance  with  the  law 
located  himself  upon  the  same  claim,  built  a  little  shack  and  was  living  there.  One 
day  as  I  was  returning  from  Colfax,  on  reaching  the  town  of  Spangle,  I  was  in- 
formed by  Mr.  Spangle  that  a  great  row  had  taken  place  up  in  Spokane  and  a  num- 
ber of  shots  had  been  fired.  I  hastened  on  to  Spokane  and  learned  that  a  mask  ball 
had  been  given  at  the  California  house,  and  that  after  the  ball  was  over  the  party 
had  gone  out  to  Tilton's  shack  with  guns  and  revolvers,  driven  Tilton  out  of  his 
place  and  demolished  it.  Tilton  had  a  revolver  and  fired  several  shots  in  return.  I 
never  did  find  out  the  names  of  the  men  who  were  in  the  raid.  Mr.  Cannon  assured 
me  that  he  had  no  hand  in  the  affair,  and  both  he  and  Mr.  Browne  urged  me  to 
write  to'  General  Sprague  asking  him  to  recall  Tilton  and  give  him  employment  at 
some  other  place.  Although  I  disliked  to  do  this,  I  consented  in  the  interest  of  peace 
and  the  harmony  of  the  community,  and  the  young  man  was  called  away  and  given 
work  at  Tacoma.  Years  later  I  met  him  in  San  Francisco,  and  he  said  the  one 
great  regret  of  his  life  was  that  he  had  not  resisted  my  advice  and  held  his  claim. 
This  happened  in  the  winter  of  '79  and  '80. 

"For  a  long  time  the  Cannons  and  Warners  lived  in  the  building  that  I  had 
used  as  my  first  store,  and  when  the  Cannons  moved  it  was  into  a  little  frame  house 
that  Mr.  Cannon  had  built  for  his  homestead.  Mr.  Cannon's  wife  was  a  widow 
when  he  married  her,  and  they  had  a  good  sized  family  of  young  men  and  women. 
There  were  Ralph  Clark;  Marie,  who  married  B.  H.  Bennett  in  Spokane,  and  who 
after  the  death  of  Mr.  Bennett  became  the  wife  of  M.  D.  Wright,  now  of  Hayden 
Lake;  George,  who  died  and  was  buried  here;  Kitty,  who  married  J.  R.  Allen,  a 
railroad  engineer  who,  I  learn,  afterwards  made  a  great  fortune  in  South  America, 
and  is  now  living  in  New  York;  Josephine,  the  youngest  is  married  and  living  in 
London.  Mr.  Cannon's  father  lived  with  him  and  died  and  was  buried  here.  The 
family  came  from  Illinois,  and  two  brothers  followed  Mr.  Cannon  to  Spokane  and 
took  up  their  residences  here. 

"Colonel  D.  P.  Jenkins  came  in  the  spring  of  1880,  and  took  a  homestead  on  the 
north  side.  The  Court  House  now  stands  upon  his  homestead.  The  river  had  not 
been  bridged  and  Jenkins'  only  means  of  communication  between  the  town  and  his 
claim  was  a  little  boat  which  he  kept  tied  just  below  the  falls.  He  practiced  law 
a  little,  but  at  that  time  legal  business  was  not  extensive  and  there  was  not  much  to 
do  beyond  the  making  out  of  deeds  and  other  papers. 

"About  the  same  time  Robert  W.  Forrest,  who  afterwards  became  Spokane's 
first  mayor,  located  here  and  operated  the  first  ferry  across  the  Spokane.  It  was 
a  little  flatboat,  propelled  by  man  power,  and  ran  at  a  point  east  of  the  Division 
street  bridge,  just  where  the  river  makes  a  bend. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  341 

"Francis  H.  Cook  came  in  1879  and  started  that  year,  Spokane's  first  newspaper, 
the  Weekly  Times.  I  gave  him  the  lot  at  the  southeast  comer  of  Riverside  and 
Howard  as  an  inducement  to  his  starting  the  paper,  sixty  feet  by  a  hundred  and 
eighty  running  through  to  Sprague.  This  corner  is  now  covered  in  part  by  the 
Whitehouse  store  and  Rookery  building.  He  constructed  a  little  two  story  wooden 
building,  and  there  is  where  he  operated  that  paper.  Mr.  Cook  was  aggressive  in 
some  of  his  utterances  and  in  one  article  gave  deep  offense  to  Mr.  Cannon  and  Mr. 
Cannon's  son-in-law,  B.  H.  Bennett.  The  two  went  up  to  demand  a  retraction  and 
it  was  said  that  Bennett  carried  a  revolver  and  used  it  menacingly  towards  Cook, 
but  the  results  were  not  what  they  had  expected,  for  Cook  came  at  them  with  a 
heavy  iron  bar,  a  jxece  of  his  mechanical  equipment,  beating  Bennett  over  the  head 
with  it  and  finally  kicking  him  down  stairs." 

At  this  period  an  interesting  feud  had  grown  up  in  the  community  over  the 
proper  way  of  spelling  the  name  "Spokane."  One  party  under  the  leadership  of 
Editor  Cook  stood  valorously  for  "Spokan,"  without  the  final  **e."  The  other  felt 
that  the  fate  of  the  future  great  city  depended  on  the  final  "e."  In  a  smaller  way 
the  controversy  became  as  tense  and  accrimonious  as  the  historic  feud  between 
Guelph  and  Ghibelline,  and  the  final  **e"  party  determined  that  an  opposition  news- 
paper must  be  established.  Accordingly  they  entered  into  negotiations  with  an 
editor  named  Carlisle,  and  dispatched  him  to  Portland  to  purchase  a  printing  plant. 
Editor  Carlisle  was  subsidized  in  this  great  undertaking  by  Glover,  Browne  and 
Cannon,  and  the  result  was  the  founding  of  the  Spokane  Chronicle. 

From  the  beginning,  Mr.  Glover  adopted  a  freehanded  policy  of  encouraging 
newcomers  by  outright  donations  of  corner  lots,  any  one  of  which  would  now  com- 
mand a  good  sized  fortune  on  the  real  estate  market  of  Spokane. 

The  reader  will  recall  that  C.  F.  Yeaton  was  one  of  his  partners  in  the  original 
enterprise,  but  subsequently  becoming  dissatisfied,  sold  out  his  interest  and  returned' 
to  Oregon.  When  Yeaton  learned  that  two  companies  of  regular  soldiers  had  gone 
into  winter  quarters  at  Spokane,  and  Spokane  in  consequence  was  enjoying  its  first 
boom,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Glover  asking  means  to  bring  himself,  wife  and  daughter 
back  to  the  falls,  and  an  opportunity  to  take  charge  of  Mr.  Glover's  store,  suggesting 
further  that  possibly  he  might  get  something  to  do  in  connection  with  the  military 
people.  Mr.  Glover  forwarded  Yeaton  what  little  money  he  could  scrape  up  and 
the  Yeatons  promptly  acknowledged  its  receipt  by  putting  themselves  in  evidence. 
Mr.  Glover  put  them  in  the  store  and  a  little  later  used  his  influence  with  Colonel 
Conrad,  Captain  Daggett  and  such  other  army  officers  as  he  could  reach,  to  secure 
Yeaton's  appointment  as  post-trader  at  Fort  Sherman.  Yeaton  retained  that  place 
for  six  or  seven  years,  and  prospered  immensely,  accumulating  a  fortune  of  $35,000. 
Then  he  grew  weary  of  the  life  of  a  post-trader,  disposed  of  his  interests,  and  de- 
cided to  move  out  of  the  country.  Before  going  to  California  the  Yeatons  spent 
several  days  visiting  Mr.  Glover. 

"I  gave  Mrs.  Yeaton  Lot  1,  Block  4,  directly  across  Howard  street  from  the 
dty  hall,  and  at  the  same  time  presented  her  daughter.  Lulu,  Lot  7,  in  Block  23, 
the  south-east  comer  of  Riverside  and  Lincoln  directly  across  the  street  from  the 
Empire  State  building.  Mrs.  Yeaton  wanted  to  sell  her  lot  right  away,  and  insisted 
80  strongly  that  I  went  out  and  disposed  of  it  for  her  for  $1,200.     I  persuaded  Lulu 


342  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

to  hold  her  lot  for  several  years.  Several  times  she  wrote  me^  asking  thai  I  dis- 
pose of  it  for  her^  and  finally  became  so  insistent  that  I  found  a  buyer  and  sent  her 
$5,000. 

"From  1878  to  1877,"  continued  Mr.  Glover,  "my  trade  almost  entirely  was 
with  Indians  who  brought  in  furs.  I  have  bought  as  high  as  $1,000  in  one  night 
The  Indians  are  peculiar  in  their  ways  of  doing  business,  doing  their  trading  almost 
invariably  at  night.  My  first  business  in  this  line  was  in  December,  1878.  They 
came  in  one  evening  about  sunset,  a  swarm  of  them.  Up  to  that  time,  M.  M.  Cowley 
and  Tommy  Ford,  who  had  a  trading-post  at  a  point  seventeen  miles  up  the  river, 
had  enjoyed  a  monopoly  of  the  Indian  trade  in  this  valley.  This  time  there  was 
about  a  foot  of  snow  on  the  ground,  and  forty  or  fifty  Indians  came  into  my  place 
a  little  after  dark,  with  their  furs  packed  on  their  ponies.  They  always  wanted  to 
have  a  long  smoke  before  getting  down  to  business.  After  they  had  their  smoke 
out  they  would  ask  prices  and  this  would  be  followed  by  the  actual  business  of 
bartering  wares  for  furs.  The  skins  I  bought  were  chiefly  marten.  The  dark  marten 
was  as  handsome  a  fur  as  could  be  bought  anywhere.  For  these  I  paid  from  $2.50 
to  $5.00.  Other  furs  were  musk-rat,  beaver,  black  and  brown  bear,  and  at  times  in 
winter,  a  great  many  buckskins.  In  the  fall  of  1874  I  bought  some  of  the  most 
beautiful  buffalo  robes  I  had  ever  seen,  forty-five  of  them,  and  for  these  paid  from 
$4  to  $4.50.  They  were  beautifully  tanned.  I  shipped  them  by  wagon  to  Wallula 
and  thence  by  boat  by  way  of  Portland  to  Victoria,  paying  the  freight  and  receiving 
for  these  beautiful  robes  only  $5,^5.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  profit  on  my  mer- 
chandise, I  would  have  lost  on  the  transaction. 

"I  never  could  learn  the  reason,  but  these  fur-bearing  animals  disappeared  like 
magic  and  after  1877  my  Indian  trade  in  furs  fell  off  to  almost  nothing.'' 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

NEZ  PERCE  WAR  AND  MASSACRES  OF  1877 

iata6b  devotion  to  a  cause — joseph^s  love  for  the  wallowa  valley indian 

bureau    vacillates first    conflict    with    settlers fanatacism    of    the 

''dreamers'' — Joseph's  band  ordered  to  nez  perce  reserve — war  party  pre- 
pares   FOR    the     conflict CAMAS    PRAIRIE    SETTLERS    ATTACKED MEN,    WOMEN 

AND    CHILDREN    MASSACRED SHOCKING    ATROCITIES SETTLERS   FLEE    TO    PLACES   OF 

REFUGE FIERCE  AND  SANGUINARY  BATTLES  WITH  U.  S.  TROOPS JOSEPH's  REMARK- 
ABLE  RUNNING   CAMPAIGN SETTLERS   IN   SPOKANE   REGION   ARE   TERRORIZED TAKE 

REFUGE     ON     HAVERMALE     ISLAND J.     N.     GLOVER's     RECOLLECTIONS WAR     PARTY 

DANCES  NIGHTLY  BY  THE  FALLS ARRIVAL  OF  THE  TROOPS M.  M.  COWLEY's  REMIN- 
ISCENCES. 

Kamiah^  Kamiah^  Voice  of  the  Wolf^ 
Blood  of  my  spirit  and  heart  of  your  sires^ 
Sleepy  for  the  West  is  kindling  its  fires; 
Sleep,  for  the  sun,  worn  out  by  its  flight, 
Creeps  to  the  dusky  wigwams  of  Night. 
Sleep,  little  Kamiah,  Voice  of  the  Wolf. 

Kamiah,  Kamiah,  Voice  of  the  Wolf, 
Some  day  our  fathers  will  call  from  the  sky, 
And  march  with  the  braves;  the  paleface  will  fly 
Like  snow  when  Chinooks  blow  over  the  swale. 
Sleep,  for  you  soon  must  go  forth  on  the  trail. 
Sleep,  little  Kamiah,  Voice  of  the  Wolf. 

Kamiah,  Kamiah,  Voice  of  the  Wolf, 

The  buffalo  yet  shall  return  to  the  plain. 

The  bellow  of  moose  shall  be  heard  once  again. 

The  red  men  shall  hunt  through  the  land  as  they  please. 

Slumber,  my  young  brave,  and  dream  you  of  these. 

Slumber,  my  Kamiah,  Voice  of  the  Wolf. 

— Winfred  Chandler. 

IX  SPECTACULAR   setting  and   deep,  tragic   interest   the   Nez   Perce   Indian 
war  of  1877  stands  out  in  history,  an  unsurpassed  exhibition  of  savage  devotion 
to  a  cause.     In  a  technical,  legal  sense  Chief  Joseph  erred  in  that  dramatic 
clash  of  arms.     In  its  moral  aspects,  the  uprising  was  not  unjustified. 

From  time  immemorial  the  Joseph  band  of  the  Nez  Perce  tribe  had  occupied  in 
''fflimer  and  autumn  the  Wallowa  valley  in  eastern  Oregon.     Their  deep  ancestral 

348 


344  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

love  for  it  flashed  keen  and  strong  in  1S55,  when  Governor  Isaac  I.  Stevens  of 
Washington  and  Indian  Superintendent  Joel  Palmer  of  Oregon  negotiated  treaties 
with  the  various  tribes  of  the  interior  and  Old  Chief  Joseph,  father  of  the  warrior 
of  later  days,  insisted  that  this  ancestral  vale  be  included  within  the  areas  set 
apart  for  the  Nez  Perces.  As  we  have  seen  in  a  preceding  chapter  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  northern  Idaho  led  to  the  adoption  in  1 863  of  a  supplemental  treaty  which 
narrowed  the  boundaries  of  the  Indians'  domain,  and  surrendered  the  Wallowa 
country  to  the  United  States.  This  treaty  Old  Joseph  refused  to  sign;  its  validity 
he  challenged  to  his  death,  and  his  people  went  on  making  their  annual  pilgrimages 
to  their  favorite  hunting  land.     Old  Joseph  was  buried  there. 

Young  Joseph  fell  heir  to  his  father's  cause.  The  tribe,  as  a  whole  had  no 
right  to  barter  away  the  possessions  of  a  powerful  protesting  clan;  the  Wallowa 
valley  had  always  been  the  acknowledged  property  of  this  particular  band ;  they  had 
never  assented  to  its  sale;  and  for  more  than  twenty  years  had  maintained,  without 
official  protest,  their  possessory  rights.  Thus,  in  brief,  Joseph  and  his  supporters 
presented  their  case. 

Down  to  1872  the  Wallowa  region  remained  as  wild  as  it  had  been  a  hundred 
years  before ;  but  in  the  spring  of  that  year  the  TuUey  Brothers  drove  in  300  head 
of  stock  and  used  the  valley  as  a  cattle  range.  A  little  later  came  other  stockmen, 
and  in  August  forty  or  fifty  Nez  Perces  held  a  protesting  council,  but  offered  no 
overt  resistance  to  the  white  invaders. 

In  1873  the  secretary  of  the  interior  recorded  an  official  order  that  seemed,  at 
least  to  the  Indian  mind,  to  confirm  their  claim.     He  directed — 

"That  the  band  of  Indians  referred  to  be  permitted  to  remain  in  said  valley 
and  occupy  it  during  the  summer  and  autumn,  or  for  such  time  as  the  weather  is 
suitable,  according  to  a  previous  custom;  and  that  assurance  be  given  them  that  it 
is  not  the  intention  of  the  department  to  disturb  them  so  long  as  they  remain  quiet" 

The  secretary  further  directed  that  white  settlers  be  notified  that  they  were 
prohibited  from  settling  in  the  valley,  and  that  the  property  of  the  settlers  already 
there  be  appraised,  in  order  that  congress  might  be  asked  for  an  appropriation,  and 
"that  the  claims  of  the  settlers  may  be  extinguished." 

Governor  L.  F.  Grover  of  Oregon  promptly  wrote  a  protesting  letter  to  the 
secretary  of  the  interior.  "I  urge  (he  said)  that  the  Indian  title  to  the  land  oc- 
cupied by  these  settlers  has  been  doubly  extinguished — first  by  treaty,  and  second 
by  form  of  law  .  .  .  There  is  abundant  room  for  Joseph's  band  on  the  pres- 
ent Nez  Perce  reservation.  Joseph's  band  do  not  desire  the  Wallowa  valley  for  a 
reservation  and  for  a  home.  I  understand  that  they  will  not  accept  it  on  condition 
that  they  shall  occupy  it  as  such.  The  reason  of  this  is  obvious:  they  can  ha?e 
better  land  and  a  more  congenial  climate  at  a  location  which  has  been  tendered  them 
upon  the  Nez  Perce  reservation.  There  are  but  seventy-two  warriors  in  this  band. 
The  white  settlers  in  the  Wallowa  country  number  eighty-seven." 

Vacillating  first  on  this  side  and  then  on  that,  the  Indian  bureau  decided  in  the 
spring  of  1 874  to  abandon  its  plan  of  making  an  Indian  reservation  of  the  Wallowa 
country,  and  so  advised  Senator  Kelly  of  Oregon. 

Joseph's  band  continued  its  summer  visits,  but  no  conflict  occurred  till  the  sam- 
mer  of  1 876.  A.  B.  Findley  and  Wells  McNall,  while  hunting  lost  horses,  came  upon 
an  Indian  encampment;  an  altercation  followed,  one  of  the  Indians  grappled  with 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  345 

McXall  and  tried  to  wrest  away  his  rifle,  and  Findley  shot  and  killed  the  Indian. 
The  white  men  were  tried  at  Union  and  acquitted,  and  thereupon  the  Indians 
demanded  that  they  be  tried  by  Indian  law.  This  was  denied  them,  and  Joseph 
ordered  the  white  settlers  to  leave  the  valley.  The  settlers  appealed  for  help,  and 
forty  volunteers  came  out  from  Union  and  other  towns  and  encamped  at  the  McNall 
ranch  the  day  preceding  that  set  by  Joseph  for  the  eviction.  Lieutenant  Forse  with 
forty-eight  regular  soldiers  made  a  forced  march  from  Fort  Walla  Walla,  and 
found  the  Indians  on  a  hill  near  Wallowa  lake,  painted,  stripped,  well  armed  and 
in  battle  array.  Forse  held  a  council  with  them  and  demanded  that  they  should 
stay  on  the  opposite  side  of  Hurricane  creek  from  the  whites.  Joseph  assented  and 
the  warriors  washed  off  their  war  paint. 

In  November,  1876  a  commission  was  sent  to  Lapwai  to  endeavor  to  adjust  these 
differences  with  Joseph  and  the  non-treaty  Indians,  but  the  council  broke  up  after 
several  stormy  sessions,  with  no  agreement.  The  commissioners  met  stout  opposi- 
tion from  the  "dreamers,"  who  contended  that  since  the  earth  was  created  by  the 
Great  Spirit  for  his  red  children,  to  sell  it  would  be  shameful  sacrilege,  an  act 
comparable  with  the  sale  of  one's  mother. 

"This  fanaticism,"  wrote  General  Howard,  "is  kept  up  by  the  superstition  of 
these  dreamers,  who  industriously  teach  that  if  they  continue  steadfast  in  their 
present  belief,  a  leader  will  be  raised  up  in  the  east  who  will  restore  all  the  dead 
Indians  to  life,  who  will  unite  with  them  in  expelling  the  whites  from  this  country, 
when  they  will  again  enter  upon  and  repossess  the  lands  of  their  ancestors." 

The  commission  recommended:  "If  these  Indians  overrtm  lands  belonging  to 
the  whites,  and  commit  depredations  on  their  property,  we  recommend  the  employ- 
ment of  sufficient  forces  to  bring  them  into  subjection  and  to  place  them  upon  the 
Nez  Perce  reservation.  The  Indian  agent  at  Lapwai  should  be  fully  instructed  to 
carry  into  execution  these  suggestions,  relying  at  all  times  upon  the  department 
commander  for  aid  when  necessary." 

Early  in  1877  the  government  ordered  Indian  Agent  J.  B.  Monteith  to  carry  out 
the  recommendations  of  the  commission,  and  directed  Howard  to  occupy  the  Wal- 
lowa valley  and  cooperate  with  the  agent.  Howard  and  the  agent  then  directed 
pressure  against  Joseph,  and  an  extended  conference  at  Fort  Lapwai  in  May  was 
attended  by  Howard,  Monteith,  P.  B.  Wliitman  (a  nephew  of  Dr.  Marcus  Whit- 
man) as  interpreter,  Joseph,  his  brother  Ollicutt,  and  about  fifty  of  the  non-treaty 
Indians.  After  a  stormy  council  the  Indians  agreed  to  go  upon  the  reservation,  and 
June  14  was  designated  as  the  date. 

The  war  party  among  the  Nez  Perces  devoted  the  intervening  month  to  hasty 
and  secret  preparations  for  conflict.  Guns  and  ammunition  were  purchased,  horses 
were  rounded  up,  and  provisions  accumulated  in  a  wild  and  picturesque  glen  at 
the  head  of  Rocky  canyon,  eight  miles  west  of  Grangeville.  In  that  deep  and 
secluded  defile  they  herded  their  stock,  killed  beeves  and  dried  the  meat,  and 
stored  their  provisions  in  a  great  cave.  By  day  there  were  councils  and  drills,  by 
night  dances  and  feasting.  Here  they  argued  the  momentous  issue,  peace  or  war, 
with  opposing  forces  almost  evenly  divided. 

General  Howard  at  Lapwai  received  his  first  intimation  of  treachery  in  a  letter 
of  June  14  from  L.  P.  Brown  of  Mt.  Idaho  on  Camas  prairie. 

"Yesterday  (wrote  Brown)  they  had  a  grand  parade.     About  100  were  mounted 


846  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

and  well  anned^  and  went  through  the  maneuvers  of  a  fight  for  about  two  hours. 
Thej  B&y  openly  that  they  are  going  to  fight  the  soldiers  when  they  come  to  put 
them  on  the  reservation.  A  good  many  were  in  town  today^  and  were  trying  to 
obtain  powder  and  other  ammunition." 

On  the  day  after  came  this  startling  bulletin: 

"Mount  Idaho^  7  a.  m.,  Friday,  June  15,  1877. 
"Commanding  Officer,  Fort  Lapwai: 

"Last  night  we  started  a  messenger  to  you,  who  reached  Cottonwood  bouse, 
where  he  was  wounded  and  driven  back  by  the  Indians.  The  people  of  Cotton- 
wood  undertook  to  come  here  during  the  night ;  were  interrupted,  all*  wounded  or 
killed.  Parties  this  morning  found  some  of  them  on  the  prairie.  The  whites  arQ.. 
engaged,  about  forty  of  them,  in  getting  in  the  wounded.  One  thing  is  certain: 
we  are  in  the  midst  of  an  Indian  war.  Every  family  is  here,  and  we  have  taken 
all  the  precautions  we  can,  but  are  poorly  armed.  We  want  arms  and  ammunition 
and  help  at  once.  Don't  delay  a  moment.  We  have  a  report  that  some  white  men 
were  killed  yesterday  on  the  Salmon  river.  You  can  not  imagine  the  people  in  a 
worse  condition  than  they  are  here.  Mr.  West  has  volunteered  to  go  to  Lapwai; 
rely  on  his  statements. 

"L.  P.  Brown." 

Howard  promptly  dispatched  Colonel  Perry,  with  90  cavalrymen,  to  the  scene 
of  the  uprising. 

Richard  Devine  a  retired  English  sailor  living  alone  on  a  ranch  on  the  Salmon 
river  was  the  first  victim,  it  is  thought  of  the  Nez  Perce  uprising.  Some  pioneers 
hold  that  the  first  sacrifice  was  made  on  John  Day  creek,  six  or  seven  miles  from 
the  Devine  ranch.  Devine  possessed  a  fine  new  rifle,  coveting  which  three  Indian 
youths,  the  oldest  not  more  than  21,  fell  suddenly  upon  their  victim  on  the  evening 
of  June  18.  These  Indians  went  the  following  day  to  the  Elfers  ranch  and  massa-' 
cred  H.  Elfers,  Henry  Beckroge  and  R.  S.  Bland,  who  were  working  in  a  hay  field. 
They  next  went  to  the  Elfers  house  and  seized  a  rifle,  but  made  no  effort  to  molest 
Mrs.  Elfers. 

Passing  down  the  Salmon,  they  shot  and  wounded  Samuel  Benedict  near  the 
mouth  of  White  Bird  creek.  That  afternoon  they  returned  to  the  Indian  rendei- 
vous  at  the  head  of  Rocky  canyon,  reported  their  bloody  deeds,  and  exclaimed, 
gleefully,  "Now  you  have  to  fight!"  Here  they  were  joined  by  twelve  or  fifteen 
recruits,  and  led  by  Mox-Mox  (Yellow  Bull)  returned  immediately  to  the  Salmon, 
and  attacked  a  party  of  refugees  who  were  on  their  way  to  seek  cover  in  the  stone 
cellar  of  James  Baker.  Mrs.  Manuel  and  her  baby  were  mounted  on  one  horse, 
Mr.  Manuel  and  his  seven-year-old  daughter  Maggie  were  on  another,  and  Baker 
rode  a  third.  Mrs.  Manuel's  father,  George  Popham,  and  Patrick  Price  remained 
at  the  Manuel  place,  hidden  in  the  brush.  The  hostiles  fired  on  this  party,  wounding 
Manuel  and  his  daughter,  who  fell  from  their  horse.  Mrs.  Manuel  and  the  baby 
fell  from  their  plunging  mount,  and  Baker  was  mortally  wounded  by  arrows. 

Mrs.  Manuel  and  her  baby  were  taken  back  tp  the  house  by  the  Indians  and 
promised  immunity  if  she  would  deliver  up  a  rifle  and  ammunition.  Acquiring  these 
the  band  rode  off,  and  Price  and  Popham  came  out  from  their  thidcet  and  learned 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  347 

from  Mrs.  Manuel  that  her  husband  and  little  daughter  had  been  wounded  and  had 
crawled  into  the  brush.  Popham  brought  the  little  girl  into  the  house^  but  as  Manuel 
was  wounded  and  could  not  walk^  blankets^  food  and  water  were  carried  to  him. 

Another  band  came  to  this  house  the  next  afternoon^  and  one  of  them  drove  a 
knife  into  Mrs.  Manuel's  breast.  The  last  words  of  the  dying  mother^  twice  re- 
peated^ were  "Don't  kill  my  children." 

"After  this/'  said  Maggie,  in  a  signed  statement  made  at  Grange ville  April  1, 
1903,  "the  Indians  took  me  to  an  adjoining  room  and  shut  me  in.  Of  course  I  cried, 
and  one  of  the  White  Bird  Indians  slapped  me.  Being  sick  and  exhausted,  I  fell 
asleep,  and  didn't  wake  up  until  nearly  dark.  Then  I  went  into  the  other  room 
where  mother  had  been  killed.  I  was  barefooted,  and  even  now  I  can  recall  the  hor- 
rible feeling  that  came  over  me  as  the  blood  oozed  between  my  toes.  The  body  was 
naked  and  lying  in  a  pool  of  her  life  blood.  At  her  head  lay  baby  Johnnie,  also 
dead." 

That  night  the  little  girl  and  Price  lay  in  the  brush,  but  were  attacked  by 
Indians  at  daylight.  Baring  his  breast.  Price  resolved  on  a  bold  ruse.  .  Advancing 
into  the  open,  he  showed  the  Indians  a  cross  tattooed  upon  his  skin,  and  proposed 
that  if  they  would  permit  him  to  take  the  child  to  Mt.  Idaho,  he  would  return  and 
snrrender  to  them,  and  to  this  strange  offer  the  Indians  assented. 

"After  we  had  gone  into  the  house  and  seen  mother's  and  baby's  bodies,"  con- 
tinues this  narrative,  "we  left  for  Camas  prairie.  I  was  barefooted  and  in  my  night 
clothes.  We  traveled  all  day,  Mr.  Price  carrying  me  a  part  of  the  way,  and  stayed 
that  ni^t  at  Harris'  place  near  the  head  of  Rocky  canyon.  There  Mr.  Price  made 
me  a  chair,  fashioned  out  of  a  dry-goods  box.  With  a  rope  he  fastened  it  on  his 
back.  At  this  place  he  found  an  old  white  shirt  and  put  it  on  me.  During  all 
this  time,  and  until  I  reached  Mt.  Idaho,  my  left  arm,  which  had  been  broken  in 
the  fall  from  the  horse,  hung  limp  by  my  side,  the  old  people  in  the  excitement  not 
even  fixing  me  a  sling.  In  this  box  chair  I  rode  into  Mt.  Idaho,  reaching  there  about 
noon. 

"The  day  we  left  the  house  the  Indians  burned  it,  together  with  the  bodies  of 
mother  and  baby.  From  his  place  of  concealment  in  the  brush  grandfather  wit- 
nessed the  destruction  of  the  buildings.  Father  remained  in  the  brush  and  small 
outbuildings  on  the  ranch  for  thirteen  days,  living  on  berries  and  vegetables  from 
the  little  garden.  After  suffering  for  five  days  from  the  arrow  in  his  neck,  he-  cut 
it  out  with  his  knife  and  dressed  the  wound,  using  horseradish  leaves  and  cold  water 
from  the  creek.  His  hip  wounds  had  crippled  him  so  seriously  that  he  could  not 
travel.  The  soldiers  found  him  and  brought  him  to  Mt.  Idaho,  where  he  eventually 
recovered.  Grandfather  came  into  Mt.  Idaho  several  days  after  Mr.  Price  and  I 
arrived." 

The  band  that  first  attacked  the  Manuels  found  Benedict  (previously  wounded) 
in  his  store  and  saloon,  with  August  Bacon  and  killed  them.  After  the  war  they 
said  they  offered  Bacon  his  life  if  he  would  leave  Benedict  and  come  out,  but  he 
refused  to  desert  his  wounded  comrade. 

Meanwhile  scenes  more  tragic  yet,  more  horrible  than  death,  were  unfolding 
among  the  feeble  and  scattered  settlements  on  C aulas  prairie.  Warned  by  the 
menacing  demeanor  of  the  Indians,  settlers  far  and  wide  hastened  towards  Mount 
Idaho,  and  by  nightfall  of  the  14th  nearly  all  had  gained  that  place  of  refuge. 


348  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Warned  by  Lew  Day  of  the  imminent  peril  that  beset  them,  the  people  at  Cotton- 
wood house,  conducted  by  B.  B.  Norton,  made  hasty  preparations  to  flee,  and  a 
party  including  Norton,  his  wife  and  son  Hill,  Miss  Linn  Bowers,  John  Chamber- 
lain, wife  and  two  children,  and  Joseph  Moore,  started  by  wagon  and  saddle  about 
10  o'clock  at  night.  When  ten  miles  upon  their  way,  a  band  of  Indians  attacked 
them  in  the  rear,  firing  and  yelling  like  demons.  Almost  instantly  the  horses 
ridden  by  Norton  and  Moore  were  down,  but  the  men  escaped  to  the  wagon,  and 
the  wild  race  was  renewed.  Presently  the  team  was  shot,  and  instantly  the  savages 
were  upon  the  terrified  fugitives.  Miss  Bowers  and  little  Hill  Norton  slipped  away 
under  cover  of  darkness  and  escaped  unharmed  to  Mount  Idaho.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Chamberlain  and  their  two  children  made  a  like  effort,  but  were  discovered,  and 
Chamberlain  and  the  boy  were  killed  before  the  horrified  eyes  of  the  frantic  mother, 
and  the  other  child  torn  from  her  arms,  stabbed  in  the  neck  and  a  part  of  its  tongue 
cut  out.  Lew  Wilmot,  now  a  resident  of  Keller,  Wash.,  a  member  of  a  rescue  party 
that  went  out  the  following  day  and  gathered  up  the  wounded  and  the  dead,  informed 
the  writer  of  this  volume  that  when  his  party  came  upon  the  mutilated  child  strong 
men  broke  into  curses  while  tears  coursed  down  their  cheeks.  Mrs.  Chamberlain 
was  tortured  and  subjected  to  outrages  more  terrible  than  death. 

"Norton,  Day,  Moore  and  Mrs.  Norton  had  remained  near  the  wagon,'*  says  a 
writer  in  a  local  history  of  North  Idaho,  "Norton  was  shot  just  after  he  sprang 
from  the  wagon,  and  Mrs.  Norton  as  she  stood  on  a  wheel,  but  she  crawled  out  and 
sought  refuge  behind  the  dead  horses.  The  bullet  which  struck  Norton  severed  an 
artery  and  resulted  in  his  death  fifteen  minutes  later.  Moore  was  shot  throng 
both  hips;  Day  received  two  bullets  in  the  shoulders  and  one  through  the  leg;  and 
Mrs.  Norton  was  wounded  in  both  lower  limbs.  At  daylight,  for  some  unaccount* 
able  reason,  the  Indians  withdrew. 

"Meanwhile  Miss  Bowers  and  the  little  Norton  boy  had  become  separated  in 
their  flight  for  life,  but  both  managed  to  keep  on  the  right  course.  The  child  was 
picked  up  about  daylight,  four  miles  northwest  of  Mount  Idaho,  by  F.  A.  Fenn,  who 
was  scouting;  Mr.  Fenn  took  the  boy  on  his  horse  to  Crook's  ranch  (now  Grange- 
ville)  where  a  general  alarm  was  given.  Miss  Bowers  was  found  about  nine  o'clock 
by  J.  A.  Bowers,  about  two  miles  north  of  Mount  Idaho,  and  taken  to  that  town. 

"At  the  Crook's  ranch  a  party  consisting  of  Frank  A.  Fenn,  C.  L.  Rice  and 
James  Atkinson  set  out  for  the  scene  of  the  encounter.  About  three  miles  north- 
west of  Grangeville  they  found  the  wagon,  and  to  it  Rice  and  Fenn  hitched  their 
saddle  horses.  Mrs.  Norton  was  placed  in  the  wagon,  when  the  redskins  suddenly 
appeared  on  a  nearby  hill.  At  once  Fenn  and  Rice  mounted  the  horses,  and  the 
party  commenced  another  race  for  life.  Fortunately  a  second  and  larger  party  came 
to  their  relief  and  the  Indians  drew  off.  Peter  Ready,  Lew  Wilmot,  E.  W.  Robie, 
Mac  Williams  and  others  went  out  later  the  same  day  and  picked  up  Mrs.  Chamber- 
lain and  others,  living  and  dead.  Mr.  Chamberlain's  body  was  found  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  wagon.  His  two  children,  one  of  whom  was  also  dead, 
were  lying  in  his  arms.  Half  a  mile  away  Mrs.  Chamberlain  was  picked  up.  All 
were  placed  in  the  wagon  and  brought  to  Mt.  Idaho,  where  every  attention  was  given 
them.  Day  died  the  following  afternoon,  and  six  weeks  later  Moore  succumbed, 
but  Mrs.  Norton,  Mrs.  Chamberlain  and  the  child  eventually  recovered." 

Attempts  to  hold  accountable  the  Nez  Perces  as  a  tribe  for  these  and  other 


CHIEF  JOSEPH 
SKETCHED  BY  HOMEB  DAVENPORT 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  349 

atrocities  of  the  war  are  unwarranted  and  unjust.  They  were  perpetrated  by  two  or 
three  small  bands^  made  up  of  lawless  and  desperate  spirits  who  had  gone  entirely 
bejond  all  responsible  control.  Had  Joseph  and  his  warriors  been  so  disposed, 
they  could  easily  have  inflicted  a  general  massacre^  for  the  settlers  were  poorly  armed 
.and  incapable  of  serious  resistance. 

Chief  Joseph  himself  has  been  accused  of  personally  participating  in  some  of  these 
atrocities.  Mrs.  Maggie  Bowman,  whose  mother,  Mrs.  Manuel,  was  stabbed  to  death 
by  an  Indian  before  her  then  childish  eyes,  has  asserted  that  Joseph  committed  the 
shocking  deed.  "Joseph  was  dressed  as  a  chief  and  told  us  that  he  was  chief  Joseph. 
The  Indians  called  him  Joseph  and  I  am  positive  that  it  was  he."  But  Maggie 
was  then  a  child  of  seven,  and  this  statement  is  a  recollection  made  twenty-six 
years  after.  That  Joseph,  burdened  with  the  exacting  cares  of  leadership  and  the 
multitude  of  details  involved  in  his  preparation  for  war,  should  have  abandoned  the 
council  tent  and  gone  off  on  a  foray  of  this  character,  must  strike  the  reader  as 
the  very  height  of  improbability.  Joseph  well  knew  that  his  bold  step  would 
bring  the  army  upon  his  trail;  that  he  would  have  soldiers  to  fight;  and  all  his 
thought  and  all  his  activities,  by  night  and  by  day,  were  centered  then  on  prepara- 
tions for  that  serious  work. 

The  scope  of  this  history  will  not  permit  an  extended  review  of  the  Nez  Perce 
war.  Briefly  it  may  be  said  that  Captain  Perry's  troop  of  cavalry,  hurriedly  sent 
from  Lapwai  by  General  Howard,  came  upon  the  savages  in  force  at  White  Bird 
creek  and  suffered  a  disastrous  repulse,  leaving  more  than  thirty  per  cent  of  his 
little  conmiand  of  110  men  dead  upon  the  field.  Joseph  then  made  a  number  of 
skilful  maneuvers,  evading  the  pursuing  troopB,  and  escaped  up  the  Clearwater. 
On  that  stream  he  fought  a  successful  battU,.  and  took,  to  the  Lolo  trail.  Crossing 
into  Montana,  he  encountered  a  force  under  General  Gibbon,  which  he  repulsed  on 
Ruby  creek,  and  after  swinging  back  into  tht  Lemhi  valley  of  Idaho,  struck  across 
into  Wyoming  and  the  Yellowstone  park  reg^on^i^U  vthe  while  impeded  by  women, 
children  and  camp  impedimenta. 

Six  companies  of  the  Seventh  cavalry  and  ^ve  of  the  Fifth  were  now  hot  in 
pursuit,  but  after  several  skirmishes  he  eluded  them  all,  and  crossed  the  Yellow- 
stone on  September  10  and  headed  for  the  Canadian  boundary.  General  Miles, 
who  had  been  on  the  lower  Yellowstone,  hastened  north  to  intercept  him,  and  on 
September  80  began  an  attack  at  Bear  Paw  mountain.  Five  days  later  Joseph 
surrendered.  He  and  his  band  were  deported  to  Indian  territory,  but  after  seven 
years,  reduced  by  disease  from  450  to  280,  they  were  returned  to  the  north  and 
placed  on  the  Colville  reservation. 

In  this  fierce  running  campaign  Howard's  forces  marched  nearly  1,500  miles; 
the  United  States  lost  105  officers  and  men  killed  and  120  wounded;  thirteen  volun- 
teers were  killed  and  fiftv  settlers  massacred. 

Throughout  the  Salmon  river  region  and  around  Camas  prairie,  pioneers  still 
cherish  deep  hatred  for  Chief  Joseph.  Many  of  them  resent  the  suggestion  that 
he  was  endowed  with  admirable  or  heroic  qualities.  They  regard  him  as  a  treach- 
erous, bloodthirsty  savage,  and  contend  that  his  campaign  was  characterized  by 
cowardice,  and  make  up  of  ambuscades  and  sneaking  retreats  before  forces  numeri- 
cally no  stronger  than  his  own.  But  Howard,  Miles  and  other  army  officers  dis- 
sent from  this  harsh  judgment,  and  credit  Joseph  with  remarkable  military  ability. 


350  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

m 

Before  Joseph  escaped  over  the  Lolo  trail  deep  alarm  was  felt  in  all  the  scat- 
tered settlements  north  of  Snake  river.  Appeals  were  sent  to  the  coast  towns  for 
arms  and  ammunition^  and  at  many  points  in  the  Spokane  section  and  the  Paloose 
country  settlers  gathered  for  defense  with  their  wives  and  children.  James  N. 
Glover,  then  conducting  a  store  at  Spokane  Falls,  contributes  an  interesting  ac- 
coimt  of  the  manner  in  which  the  danger  was  met  by  the  settlers  around  the  faUs: 

"We  drifted  along  in  that  dull  way  until  1877,  the  year  of  the  Nez  Perce  In- 
dian war.  June  came  around  and  we  began  to  get  little  glimpses  of  the  conditions 
in  the  Lapwai  country.  We  learned  that  chief  Joseph  and  his  followers  had 
broken  away  from  the  reservation,  had  taken  to  the  warpath  and  had  killed  two 
or  three  white  men  on  White  Bird  creek  near  the  Salmon  river.  Meanwhile  the 
government  had  ordered  the  second  regiment,  commanded  by  Colonel  Wheatdn 
to  the  scene.  At  that  time  we  had  mail  once  a  week,  carried  on  a  cavuse  from 
Lewiston  to  Pend  d'Oreille  lake,  but  I  got  my  most  authentic  news  through  the 
Indians.  Things  here  continued  fairly  quiet  and  I  went  on  trading  with  the  In- 
dians until  about  the  middle  of  July,  then  a  squad  of  Nez  Perce  Indians,  who  had 
been  on  the  warpath,  were  sent  over  here  to  work  up  the  young  bloods  of  the 
Spokane  tribe.  They  had  a  camp  out  near  a  little  grove,  just  south  of  the  present 
line  of  the  Northern  Pacific  tracks.  After  they  had  been  doing  the  war  dance 
for  a  week,  I  gradually  got  alarmed.  It  seemed  to  me  that  the  trouble  was  getting 
so  close  to  me  that  I  could  almost  smell  gunpowder.  I  sat  up  one  night  and  watched 
them  at  their  war  dance.  Mr.  Post  and  Reverend  Mr.  Havermale  were  the  only 
other  men  then  here.  I  watched  the  red  devils  from  dusk  till  daylight,  when  they 
lay  down  to  sleep.  The  next  night  Ed.  Bradbury,  afterward  sheriff  of  Kootenai 
county,  Idaho,  came  in  and  volunteered  to  sit  up  with  me*  It  was  a  gloriously 
beautiful  summer  night  and  we  could  plainly  see  them  dancing  from  the  stoop  of 
my  store,  where  the  Pioneer  building  now  stands,  at  the  corner  of  Front  and 
Howard. 

"While  we  were  watching,  I  saw  a  procession  coming  along  the  trail  from  the 
four  lakes  country,  as  the  Medical  Lake  section  was  then  known.  When  I  sighted 
the  procession  it  was  at  a  point  that  is  now  the  corner  of  Riverside  and  Howard,  I 
turned  to  Bradbury  and  said: 

"  *Ed.,  I  think  we  are  up  against  the  real  thing.' 

"That  night  every  soul  in  Spokane  except  Mr.  Post  and  his  family  was  sleep- 
ing in  my  house.  Bradbury  went  to  the  house  and  gave  the  alarm.  He  found  Mr. 
Havermale  at  the  rear  end  of  the  building  trying  to  get  out  of  a  window.  Mr. 
Havermale's  daughter,  Mrs.  B.  F.  Burch,  was  on  a  pallet  on  the  floor.  .She  had 
a  child  under  each  arm,  and  was  praying  that  if  she  had  to  go,  she  wanted  to  go 
just  as  she  was  with  her  children. 

"All  the  time  I  was  watching  the  procession,  and  when  Bradbury  returned,  its 
outlines  were  a  little  more  distinct  and  I  could  hear  wagons.  I  turned  to  him 
and  said: 

"  'Bradbury,  it's  white  people  instead  of  Indians.' 

"First  came  an  old  man  named  Crunk,  a  homesteader,  riding  a  pony.  He 
had  an  old  bedspread  over  his  head,  which  gave  him  very  much  the  appearance 
of  an  Indian  in  a  blanket.  It  proved  to  be  fifteen  or  twenty  settlers,  men,  women 
and  children  from  the  country  west  of  Spokane.     They  had  come  here  with  the  idea 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  351 

of  taking  refuge  on  Havermale  island  and  building  fortifications  there.  Other 
fortifications  had  already  been  built  at  Spangle^  Pine  Grove,  Lower  Pine  Creek, 
and  Colfax,  and  the  settlers  roundabout  had  been  assembled  at  those  places. 

"They  were  all  pretty  hungry  and  the  first  thing  to  do  was  to  get  them  some- 
Uung  to  eat.  By  this  time  daylight  had  come.  I  had  a  skiff  and  we  constructed 
a  raft  and  moved  them  and  the>r  effects  over  on  the  island.  I  had  made  up  my 
mmd  to  stand  my  ground,  but  after  two  nights  of  sitting  up,  I  had  determined 
on  the  course  that  I  would  pursue — call  a  few  of  the  old  Indians  into  my  store 
and  have  a  heart  to  heart  talk  with  them  as  I  had  often  done  before.  Many  times 
the  old  fellows  had  told  me  of  the  Wright  campaign,  and  the  tears  would  run 
down  their  cheeks  like  rain. 

"I  called  them  in  and  closed  the  door.  I  asked  them  if  they  remembered  the 
time  when  they  were  a  happy  and  prosperous  people.  They  said  they  did.  I 
asked  them  if  they  remembered  when  Colonel  Wright  came  and  destroyed  their 
wealth  and  made  them  a  poor  people.     They  said  they  did. 

*'I  then  asked  them  if  they  knew  what  this  squad  of  Nez  Perce  Indians  were 
here  for,  dancing  the  war  dance  night  after  night.     They  said  they  did. 

"I  then  said  at  a  hazard: 

"  *My  friends,  I  know  where  Uncle  Sam's  soldiers  are.  They  are  very  near 
here,  and  I  can  call  them  here  at  any  hour.  Do  you  want  to  have  the  last  rem- 
nants of  your  people  wiped  from  the  face  of  the  earth  .^  If  you  do  not,  see  that 
these  Indians  leave  here  and  leave  here  for  good  before  noon.' 

"They  promised  me,  went  directly  to  the  camp,  and  before  noon  there  was  not 
a  sign  of  an  Indian  to  be  seen  there. 

"I  don't  know  whether  providence  so  ordered  it  or  not,  but  it  happened  that 
between  eleven  and  twelve  o'clock  the  foUovnng  day  Colonel  Wheaton  with  ten 
companies  of  soldiers  marched  into  Spokane. 

"Among  the  Indians  at  the  conference  at  my  store  were  Curly  Jim,  who  is 
still  alive;  George,  Old  Totonahee  and  Old  Enoch. 

"The  regiment  went  into  camp  right  by  my  store.  General  O.  O.  Howard,  in 
whose  honor  I  named  Howard  street,  was  with  the  command.  The  second  day 
after  the  arrival  of  the  troops,  they  held  a  council  with  the  Indians  at  a  point 
that  is  now  in  Union  Park.  Chief  Garry  and  several  other  chiefs  were  there,  in 
all  about  three  hundred  or  four  hundred  Indians  came  to  the  council.  Howard 
addressed  them.  He  told  them  what  the  Nez  Perces  had  been  doing  and  that 
they  had  been  run  out  of  the  country  and- might  never  be  allowed  to  return.  He 
reminded  them  that  the  Spokanes  had  been  at  war  once  with  the  United  States 
and  if  they  went  to  war  again  they  would  be  severely  dealt  with.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  they  behaved,  they  would  be  taken  care  of.  Chief  Garry,  an  old  skulker 
and  hypocrite,  bowed  his  head  and  said  nothing.  Enoch,  a  sub-chief,  a  man  of 
principle  and  a  good  man,  said  he  had  always  been  at  peace  with  the  whites  and 
always  intended  to  remain  their  friend,  as  they  had  always  been  fair  to  him. 

"A  few  days  later  General  Howard  and  Colonel  Wheaton  left  companies  I 
and  H  at  Spokane,  and  went  with  the  rest  of  the  command  to  the  Lapwai  coun- 
try. The  two  companies  remained  here  about  six  weeks,  and  a  few  days  after  they 
had  left  General  Sherman  with  an  escort  of  twelve  or  fourteen  men  arrived  here 
from  Fort  Benton  over  the  Mullan  trail  on  his  way  to  Walla  Walla.     The  general 


352  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  ExMPIRE 

and  his  party  took  lunch  with  me  and  spent  the  day  here.  He  had  camped  the 
night  before  on  Lake  Coeur  d'Alene^  and  as  I  afterwards  learned  had  selected 
then  the  site  for  Fort  Sherman. 

"At  that  lunch  I  made  the  most  earnest  plea  of  my  life^  urging  the  general  to 
order  the  two  companies  to  return  here  and  go  into  winter  quarters.  He  gave  me  no 
encouragement^  but  listened  very  attentively  to  all  I  had  to  say.  He  and  his 
party  started  for  Walla  Walla  about  four  o'clock  that  afternoon. 

''As  soon  as  I  could  get  a  team  and  make  my  arrangements^  I  started  for 
Walla  Walla  to  lay  in  my  winter's  supply.  I  made  my  purchases  and  had  almost 
reached  home  on  the  return,  when  a  man  rode  up  behind  my  wagon  and  called 
out: 

"  *Mr.  Glover,  I've  got  good  news  for  you.' 

''It  was  'Doc'  E.  J.  Philleo,  who  now  has  a  large  ranch  on  Rock  creek  in  this 
county. 

"  'Out  with  it.  Doc,'  I  said. 

"  'General  Sherman  has  ordei;ed  Companies  H  and  I  to  return  to  Spokane  and 
go  into  winter  quarters.' 

"I  hastened  home  and  the  ne^ct  day  after  my  arrival  in  came  Colonel  Conrad 
and  Captain  Daggett  with  the  two  companies.  I  was  so  glad  to  see  them  that  I 
said : 

"  'Colonel,  I'll  move  right  out  of  my  house  and  take  another,  and  that  house 
will  be  yours.  There  is  a  big  hall  overhead  that  will  answer  for  your  commis- 
sary.' 

"  'That's  all  right,  Mr.  Glover,  but  what  about  lumber  to  build  quarters  for 
my  men?' 

"I  answered:     *I  have  some  logs  out  there  in  the  woods,  but  no  teams  to  haul 
them.     If  you  will  have  your  men  and  mules  bring  in  the  logs,  I'll  file  my  saw 
'  and  cut  your  lumber.' 

"  'All  right.  Glover;  but  who'll  run  the  store  and  postoffice?' 
"  'Well,  I  guess  business  isn't  so  brisk  that  I  can't  attend  to  that,  too.* 
"He  had  the  logs  hauled  in  and  dumped  into  the  pond  in  no  time  at  all,  and  I 
cut  out  enough  lumber  to  build  barracks  for  the  two  companies  and  for  a  house 
for  Captain  Daggett.  Daggett  paid  me  $25  for  a  lot  80x142  feet,  in  about  the 
center  of  the  block  facing  south  on  Main,  between  Stevens  and  Howard.  The 
Real  Estate  block  now  occupies  that  ground. 

"They  lived  comfortably  here  all  winter  and  allowed  me  to  furnish  their  sup- 
plies, nearly  everything  they  wanted.  They  remained  at  the  falls  until  May, 
1878,  when  they  went  to  Fort  Sherman.  Their  barracks  were  on  what  is  now  Main 
street  in  front  of  the  Grand  Hotel,  corner  of  Main  and  Howard." 

In  an  interview  reminiscent  of  the  Nez  Perce  war,  M.  M.  Cowley  says:  "I 
was  postmaster  at  Spokane  Bridge  during  those  stirring  days  and  received  the 
mail  from  the  jjost  riders,  mounted  on  the  hurricane  decks  of  cayuses.  The  riders 
carried  horse  mail  sacks.  Their  arrival  and  departure  was  watched  with  interest 
by  the  people  of  the  settlement.  The  riders  would  come  in  from  Montana,  after 
changing  horses  at  the  dozen  or  more  points.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  ceremony 
about  the  way  they  would  draw  up  their  sweating  animals,  toss  the  mail  to  the 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  353 

official  designated  to  receive  it,  and,  after  a  hurried  meal,  mount  another  cay  use 
and  hasten  on  to  the  next  stopping  place. 

"But  the  Coeur  d'Alene  Indians  who  were  friendly  gave  us  information  from 
two  to  three  days  in  advance  of  our  own  despatch  riders.  In  this  way  we  were 
able  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  operations  of  the  Indians.  Stel-Stel-Lame,  which 
means  *Big  Thunder,*  used  to  come  to  the  settlement  giving  us  the  latest  news, 
which  generally  turned  out  right.  One  instance  in  particular  shows  that  he  and 
his  tribesmen  knew  the  interior  workings  of  the  campaign.  The  Indian  report 
came  that  General  Howard  had  sent  an  officer  and  soldiers  against  the  Nez  Perces 
on  Camas  Prairie  and  the  white  men  were  killed.  The  report  was  discredited  by 
friends  of  General  Howard,  who  insisted  that  Chief  Joseph  was  unable  thus  to 
ootwit  the  trained  soldiers,  but  it  turned  out  to  be  true,  as  did  most  of  Big  Thun- 
der's advice  to  us.  He  told  us  'Joseph  has  the  best  of  us.*  He  had  told  the  truth, 
as  we  ascertained  later :  the  troops  were  in  great  peril,  as  the  Indian  sharpshooters 
were  picking  off  the  best  men  one  by  one,  and  their  continual  firing  kept  the  whites 
away  from  the  stream  and  they  were  unable  to  get  water  for  their  sick  and 
wounded.  The  bravery  of  the  men  was  never  questioned,  but  when  Howard  asked 
for  volunteers  and  not  a  man  offered  to  go,  the  *^old  general  himself  gathered  up 
the  canteens  in  his  one  hand  and  started  for  the  stream.  After  that  he  had  no 
difficulty  in  securing  men  to  carry  water.     Jackson*s  cavalry  relieved  the  situation. 

"We  were  more  than  ordinarily  interested  in  the  outcome  of  this  engagement. 
There  were  two  outlets  for  the  Indians,  one  of  them  by  the  way  of  Spokane 
Bridge  and  the  other  by  the  lower  pass.  We  knew  the  Indians  wanted  our  stores 
and  we  prepared  in  a  measure  to  defend  them,  as  well  as  the  handful  of  people 
in  the  settlement.  Believe  me,  it  was  with  a  feeling  of  relief  that  we  heard  the 
news  from  the  Indian  courier  that  the  Nez  Perces  were  breaking  for  the  lower  pass. 
General  Miles  and  his  force  afterwards  captured  Chief  Joseph  near  the  boundary. 

"  'This  Howard  man  puzzles  me,'  said  an  Indian  of  the  Nez  Perces  in  council, 
when  the  terms  of  the  treaty  were  under  discussion.  *He  preaches  peace,  and  yet 
he  fights  like  a  warrior  of  old.     I  will  see  whether  he  is  a  Christian  or  a  soldier.' 

"Well,  that  Indian  was  a  natural  born  strategist.  We  went  to  council  and  while 
the  scrivners  were  drawing  up  the  treaty,  he  spoke  through  an  interpreter,  sub- 
stantially in  these  words:  'I  have  something  to  say.'  When  told  he  was  privi- 
leged to  speak,  he  said,  'who  is  going  to  put  us  on  the  reservation  if  we  don't 
want  to  go?*  General  Howard  is  quoted  as  having  replied,  with  a  show  of  author- 
ity and  a  little  impatience.  The  Indian  then  stepped  to  the  outer  edge  of  the  circle 
and  picked  up  as  much  earth  as  he  could  hold  between  his  two  fingers  and  shouted 
in  defiance:  'When  I  am  like  that  you  may  do  it.  General  Howard,  but  not  before!' 
This  irritated  the  general  and  he  ordered  the  guards  to  arrest  the  man.  WTiile 
he  was  being  hustled  out,  he  threw  back  his  head  and  shouted  a  single  word,  so  that 
all  could  hear.    It  was  'Soldier !'  " 


VoL  I  —  :•» 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 

SOME   FIRST   THINGS   BY   THE    FALLS 
Spokane's  first  "civic  center" — first  white  child — first  boarding  house,  hotel 

AND     restaurant FIRST    LAW     OFFICE,    WATER    SUPPLY,    CHURCH,    BRIDGE,    TELE- 
PHONIC, ETC. FIRST  CHRISTMAS  TREE   AND   FIRST   FOURTH  OF   JULY   CELEBRATION 

REMINISCENCES  OF  FRANCIS   H.   COOK APPEARANCE   OF  THE   TOWN   IN    1880 FIRST 

TOWN     GOVERNMENT START    OF    THE    FIRE    DEPARTMENT J.    T.    DAVIE    TELLS    OF 

THE     FIRST    BRICK    KILN    AND    FIRST    BRICK    BUILDINGS HISTORY    OF    THE    PUBLIC 

UBRARY. 


"Distance  is  nothing;  it  is  only  the  first  step  that  counts." 

— Mme,   du  Deffand. 

AFTER  the  Nez  Perce  war,  the  little  settlement  clustered  around  the  present 
corner  of  Howard  and  Front.  On  the  southwest  corner  was  the  store 
owned  by  James  N.  Glover,  location  of  the  postoffice.  On  the  north- 
west corner  were  two  frame  buildings  occupied  by  officers  of  the  troops.  The  north- 
east comer  was  vacant,  and  Mr.  Glover's  residence  stood  on  the  southeast  corner. 
On  the  southwest  comer  of  Stevens  and  Front  was  a  boarding  house  owned  by 
James  Masterson.  With  the  exception  of  the  log  barracks  occupied  by  the  sol- 
diers, these  were  the  only  buildings. 

The  first  white  child  born  at  the  Falls  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W. 
F.  Bassett,  in  a  cabin  which  stood  about  ten  rods  from  the  Post  street  bridge. 
Her  parents  moved  to  the  Four  Lakes  country  soon  after  her  birth,  and  she  was 
drowned  there,  July  4,  1875.  Mr.  Bassett  was  the  millwright  who  constructed 
the  first  Mttle  sawmill  for  Scranton  and  Downing. 

Among  the  first  white  children  bom  near  the  present  city  was  a  son  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Sol  Ziegler,  living  on  Moran  prairie,  in  October,  1872. 

• 

Writing  of  first  things  in  Spokane,  Rev.  T.  G.  Watson,  pioneer  Presbyterian 
minister,  made  the  following  record  a  few  years  prior  to  his  death: 

"Dr.  Masterson  had  a  boarding  house  on  Front  and  Stevens  in  1877;  but  W.  C. 
Gray  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  build  a  hotel  proper,  the  California  house — 
bnmed  down  partially,  and  rebuilt  and  enlarged  into  the  Windsor,  which  again 
Went  down  in  the  great  fire  of  1889. 

"The  first  restaurant  was  opened  by  S.  T.  Arthur,  or  possibly  by  Charles 
Carson.  It  is  said  of  the  latter  that  at  first  he  had  to  be  steward,  clerk,  cook 
and  dishwasher,  but  would  go  behind  the  screen  and  repeat  his  orders  as  if  there 
Were  a  dozen  waiters  in  attendance. 

"The  first  law  office  was  opened  by  J.  J.  Browne  in  1878. 

355 


356  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EiMPIRE 

"The  first  water  supply  was  chiefly  in  tanks^  brought  from  the  river.  The 
waterworks  were  introduced  in  1884,  but  hard  times  made  it  necessary  for  thirty 
citizens  to  buy  them  up  and  hold  them  one  year  till  a  city  election  authorized  the 
issue  of  bonds.  The  floating  of  these  bonds  was  one  of  the  hardest  things  under- 
taken in  the  history  of  the  city.  Mayor  Cannon  and  Chairman  R.  W.  Forrest  de- 
served great  credit  for  their  final  success. 

"The  first  church  organized  was  the  First  Congregational,  though  a  Methodist 
Episcopal  class  was  started  about  the  same  time,  possibly  before.  That  was  in 
the  spring  of  1879.  However,  Mr.  Havermale  had  started  a  Sabbath  school  in 
Glover's  hall  in  1876,  and  this  being  given  up,  a  new  one  was  started  by  the  Rev. 
H.  W.  Stratton  in  1878. 

"The  first  Baptist  and  Episcopal  churches  came  in  1881-82,  and  the  first 
Presbyterian  in   1883." 

Mrs.  Stella  Newell  Clarke,  a  resident  of  Spokane  since  1879,  recalls  the  fol- 
lowing pioneer  events:  "The  first  bridge  was  built  across  the  river  at  Howard  in 
September,  1881.  The  first  brick  block,  'The  Wolverton,*  was  completed  that 
same  month.  We  also,  in  that  eventful  month  of  September,  had  a  visit  and  speech, 
in  Graham's  hall,  comer  of  Main  and  Howard,  from  Governor  Newell  of  the 
territory  of  Washington.  The  first  furniture  store  was  owned  by  Peter  Deuber, 
who  died  in  1910.  Morris,  a  real  Englishman,  had  the  first  picture  store  and 
newsstand.  I  am  still  the  proud  owner  of  articles  from  stores  of  Deuber  and 
Morris  and  Rima's  jewelry  store.  I  think  the  first  hardware  store  and  tinshop 
was  opened  in  1880  by  A.  K.  Clark  and  Ed.  Knight,  on  Main  avenue,  near  the 
Howard  corner.  They  also,  with  Mr.  Wolverton,  were  the  first  to  occupy  the  Wol- 
verton  block  on  Riverside.  Clark,  Knight  and  Clarence  White  stretched  the  first 
telephone  wire  in  Spokane.  The  line  ran  from  a  hardware  store  to  a  newspaper 
office  where  Mr.  White  was  employed." 

"We  enjoy  simply  a  semi- weekly  mail  service,"  said  the  first  issue  of  the  Spo- 
kane Times,  April  24,  1879.  "Small  favors  from  Uncle  Sam  are  thankfully  re- 
ceived, larger  ones  in  proportion.  This  section  of  country  is  certainly  entitled 
to  a  tri-weekly  mail,  at  least,  inasmuch  as  there  are  two  important  military  posts 
north  of  us,  and  a  rapidly  increasing  settlement  all  over  the  country." 

The  Spokane  Chronicle  says  that  a  little  steamer  from  Stanley  Brothers,  in 
Massachusetts,  puffing  along  the  streets  of  Spokane  in  1900,  with  F.  O.  Berg 
steering  it,  was  the  first  automobile  seen  in  this  city.  The  car  had  previously  done 
service  in  Portland,  Oregon,  for  two  years.  Mr.  Berg  kept  it  eighteen  months, 
traveled  7,000  miles  in  it,  and  then  sold  it  to  a  laundryman. 

J.  R.  DePugh  and  William  Dozier  were  the  first  settlers  on  Five  Mile  prairie, 
spring  of  1879.  The  same  season  came  G.  W.  White,  J.  F.  Strong  and  Charles 
Wilson.  In  1881  a  friendly  Indian  warned  the  settlers  on  the  prairie  that  they 
were  in  danger  of  massacre,  and  the  alarmed  homesteaders  gathered  at  the  place 
of  J.  S.  Allen,  while  about  thirty  volunteers  came  out  from  Spokane.  Guards 
were  posted,  but  no  attack  was  made,  though  some  alarm  grew  out  of  an  acci- 
dental discharge  of  a  gun. 

Spokane  Typographical  Union  was  chartered  by  the  International  organiza- 
tion in  August,  1886.  George  E.  Epperson  was  the  first  president.  H.  W.  Green- 
berg,  who  at  one  time  owned  a  third  interest  in  the  Daily  Review,  is  the  only  char- 


] 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  357 

ter  member  of  the  union^  now  living  here.  N.  J.  Laumer,  still  a  resident  of  the 
dtj,  came  from  a  union  in  the  east  shortly  after  the  charter  had  been  received 
and  was  the  first  elected  president  of  the  local  union  and  the  first  delegate  chosen 
to  attend  the  international  convention. 

Shortly  after  the  Typographical  Union  was  on  a  sound  footing,  in  cooperation 
with  the  Carpenters'  Union,  it  started  a  small  circulating  library,  of  which  E.  J. 
Tamblin  was  the  first  librarian. 

*'In  1888/*  writes  Mrs.  C.  L.  Hathaway,  of  the  public  library,  "a  number  of 
oar  Spokane  women,  realizing  the  need  of  a  library  and  reading  room,  made  a 
house  to  house  canvass  soliciting  books.  Among  the  earnest  workers  were  Mrs. 
I.  S.  Kaufman,  Mrs.  Eugene  Fellowes,  and  the  Rev.  T.  G.  Watson.  They  organ- 
ized the  Spokane  library  in  1884,  with  Mrs.  Fellowes  as  first  librarian  at  a  salary 
of  $25  a  month.  Later  the  labor  imions  had  a  reading  room  and  small  library, 
and  April  6,  1891,  they  consolidated  with  the  Spokane  library  and  the  name  was 
changed  to  the  Union  Library  association,  E.  J.  Tamblin  librarian. 

**In  October,  1891,  F.  L.  Price  was  elected  librarian,  but  owing  to  ill  health 
he  resigned,  and  in  January,  1895,  Miss  Emma  DriscoU  was  elected  librarian. 

"In  August,  1894,  the  name  was  changed  to  the  Spokane  City  Library  and  the 
membership  fee  was  one  dollar  a  year,  which  was  abolished  by  act  of  the  city  coun- 
cil in  January,  1901,  and  the  library  made  free. 

"In  April,  1902,  Mrs.  Estelle  Deffenbaugh  was  appointed  librarian.  This  year 
a  namber  of  citizens  appealed  to  Andrew  Carnegie  for  a  library  building,  as  we 
had  outgrown  our  quarters  in  the  city  hall  and  were  sadly  in  need  of  a  larger  home 
for  our  books.  Mr.  Carnegie  responded  with  a  donation  of  $85,000,  and  on  De- 
cember 18,  1905,  we  moved  into  our  present  building  on  Cedar  street  between  River- 
side and  First  avenues.  For  the  site  A.  B.  Campbell  donated  a  block  of  land 
costing  $15,000,  triangular  in  shape  and  bounded  by  three  streets,  giving  the  li- 
brary abundance  of  light,  air  and  a  good  lawn.  March  14,  1907,  the  library  was 
pat  under  the  state  law. 

"Mrs.  Deffenbaugh  was  succeeded  as  librarian  by  Miss  Alta  Stansbury  in  Sep- 
tember, 1909,  and  in  September,  1911,  the  Rev.  George  W.  Fuller  was  appointed 
librarian." 

"For  the.  first  time  in  the  history  of  Spokan  Falls,"  observed  the  Times  in 
its  issue  just  before  the  holidays,  1879,  "it  has  been  decided  to  have  a  public 
Christmas  tree  and  entertainment  on  next  Christmas  eve.  The  management  will 
be  in  the  hands  of  the  officers  and  friends  of  the  Sabbath  school."  The  following 
committees  were  appointed  and  accepted  by  the  school: 

Executive  committee — Mr.  Cook,  Mrs.  Nosier  and  Miss  Peet. 
Finance — Mr.  Clark,  Miss  Ida  Ellis,  Miss  Rilla  Masterson,  Miss  Ama  Water- 
house  an^  Mrs.  MoUie  Wood. 

Marc — Dr.  Gandy,  Mrs.  Cook  and  Oily  Ellis. 
Dcbration — Mrs.  Warner,  Miss  Post  and  Curtis  Dart. 
Tfee   and  evergreens — Lafayette  Dart,  Mr.  Rue  and  Herbert  Percival. 
horn. — Messrs.  Lewis,  Whitten  and  Muzzy, 
resents — The  teachers. 
Tomucopias — The   two   Bible  classes,  with   Mrs.   Shannon  as   chairman. 
Popcorn — Mr.  Rima,  Miss  Muzzy  and  Miss  Edith  Cowley. 


358  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

« 

"The  celebration  at  this  place  on  the  fourth/'  reported  the  Times  of  July  lOj 

1879^  "was  a  grand  success^  and  with  the  exception  of  the  slight  rainfall  in  the 
afternoon^  all  who  participated  considered  it  one  of  the  most  pleasant  days  thev 
had  spent  for  a  number  of  years." 

J.  M.  Nosier  was  president  of  the  day.  After  the  audience  was  called  to  ordei 
prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  S.  G.  Havermale,  D.  F.  Percival  followed  with  an 
address  of  welcome,  the  audience  sang  "America,"  J.  T.  Lockhart  read  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence,  "Hail  Columbia"  was  sung  by  the  assemblage.  "The 
oration  of  J.  J.  Browne,  Esq.,"  says  the  Times,  "was  a  well  rendered  piece  of  ora- 
tory." Mr.  Browne  so  wrought  on  the  patriotic  fervor  of  one  of  the  audience  that 
he  brought  out  the  exclamation,  "Bully  for  the  Boston  tea  party."  Mr.  Rowe 
sang  as  a  solo  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner,"  the  Glee  Club  joining  in  the  chores, 
"After  dinner  the  audience  was  called  together  by  the  firing  of  the  anvil,  when 
toasts  were  offered  and  responded  to  by  those  called  on.  Next  was  an  address 
of  welcome  to  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  by  Dr.  Waterhouse,  which  was  re- 
sponded to  by  Mr.  Weeks,  chief  of  the  surveying  party,  who  said  that  he  felt 
safe  in  saying  that  by  another  Fourth  of  July  the  people  of  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try would  hear  the  whistle  of  the  locomotive  mingling  with  the  anviL 

"The  croN^d  next  adjourned  to  the  baseball  ground  to  witness  a  game  between 
a  nine  picked  fr^HQ  the  survey  party  and  the  Spokan  Falls  club.  The  surveyors 
had  their  choice  andtoSl^^^^  field.  The  Spokans  made  thirteen  runs  and  then 
took  the  field,  the  surveyorsmSfe'^^  eight  runs  before  getting  out  At  the  con- 
clusion of  this  inning  the  rain  beg^^?  ^®^'  *^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^*^  ^^^  ^^  ^^  °°" 
Pire,  Captain  Pease,  the  score  standing^Sllikf^^  ^^'  Surveyors,  8.  This  ended  the 
afternoon's  sports.  '     ^^^. 

"In  the  evening  a  large  number  assembled  IW'"  ''''"'  ""^  '^^^'^  ""  ""f't 
ing  was  crowded,  a  very  enjoyable  time  was  eSL"^"*'*^-  °""''"^u  '"^  S 
up  until  a  late  hour.    The  sanrSr   „!,•  ^  ^t  *«  California  house  .bout 

twelvp  n'.i    1,  supper,  which  was  served  HL 

twelve  o  clock,  was  gotten  up  in  good  style  " 


FRANCIS    H.    COOK    AND    THE    FIRST    NEWsJ 


LPER 


Francis  H.  Cook    who  <.f^rf»^  *k    c    ^  WP'  «""*  ^  ^P""^' 

in  the  spring  of  7s79  tTI  .  .'  u  "^""P'P"'  *»>«  TimW  ,.y  ^f  Portl««i, 
and  thence  by  Ll  up  the  Col  H  Tt  '""  ''''*'""'*'  \m^n  «,«..- 
At  Almota  the  Tress  and  I  *''  ^""'^  ""  Almotamurted  for  Sp. 

kane,  but  bad  road    d^f   71  "T  *""''"'^'  ''  "  ^''^^  ^nd^L  while  w.iti^ 

there'  for  the'mu:'  o  d  ^te  l^^^^^  T'  '^  '^''l  T  '"''-  ^^''^  '' 
Spokane    April  29    jg^^j^'^fPf '''''^'^  t^<>  «''«"««  of  his  paper.     CoJfctheootft 

Recalling  pioneer  days  and  condition-.    \f,   r^^u         .      ,  1 

review  in  June,  1909-  *^«'""t'«'«'.  Mr.  Cook  wrote  the  foUoiving  hisl 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  359 

one  purchaser  in  the  early  spring  of  1878^  and  the  acceptance  of  this  offer  was  in 
the  nature  of  a  trade. 

'*1r  those  early  days  a  few  lot  stakes  in  the  prairie  grass  indicated  what  was 
mapped  out  as  South  street^  with  no  buildings  or  fences  and  not  even  a  wagon 
I       road  to  mark  it's  east  or  west  comers.     The  lots  on  the  south  side  of  South  street 
extended  to  the  section  line  and  were  214  feet  in  length.    As  it's  name  would  indi- 
cate, this  street  suggested  the  extreme  southern  limits  of  the  town. 

"The  business  interests  of  Spokane  Falls  at  the  time  mentioned  were  repre- 
sented by  a  little  store  at  Front  and  Howard  and  a  shack  for  boarding  wood- 
choppers  at  the  corner  of  Front  avenue  and  Stevens  street.  All  lands  north  of 
the  Spokane  river  and^  with  the  single  exceptions  of  the  Havermale  claim  on  the 
east;  all  lands  souths  east  and  west  that  the  eye  could  rest  upon  had  no  particular 
Talae. 

"With  the  exceptions  of  the  sections  which  were  claimed  by  the  Nortiiern 
Pacific  Railroad  company,  the  lands  mentioned  were  without  owners. 

"Whitman  county  was  an  extreme  frontier  and  Columbia  coimty  the  regular 
mecca  for  prospective  settlers,  while  Walla   Walla  county  was   so  far  advanced 
as  to  be  a  suitable  field  for  sewing  machine  and  organ  agents.     Colfax  was  a  typi- 
\      cal  frontier^  Dayton,  a  neat  little  village  and  Walla  Walla,  the  well  ordered  busi- 
ness center  of  the  bunch-grass  country. 
'  "Colville  was  the  far-away  relic  of  the  fur  gathering  days  of  the  Hudson's 

I  Bay  company^  with  many  miles  of  wild  and  unsettled  country  between  it  and 
I  dvilization.  No  man  could  keep  his  eyes  on  Pasco  in  those  days,  for  the  site  of  the 
{  present  prosperous  little  city  was  a  sagebrush  pasture.  Ritzville,  Sprague  and 
Cheney  were  not  yet  located  and  stray  herds  grazed  over  the  future  site  of  Daven- 
port. Luxuriant  bunch-grass  waved  over  the  unbroken  sod  where  Waterville  now 
stands  and  Coeur  d'Alene  was  only  a  quiet  lake  where  the  aborigines  alone  launched 
their  light  canoes. 

"Rosalia  and  Spangle  each  had  a  farm  house,  and  Rock  ford,  Latah  and  Waverly 
were  similarly  favored.  Deer  Park  was  only  what  it's  name  describes  and  Post 
Falls  was  a  wild  and  unharnessed  cataract  without  habitation;  in  fact,  this  whole 
'apper  country'  was  a  land  of  long  distances  with  a  questionable  future. 

"In  order  to  reach  the  Spokane  country  one  generally  touched  at  Portland, 
Walla  Walla,  Dayton  and  Colfax,  and  was  given  to  understand  at  the  latter  places 
that  all  realty  values  had  about  reached  the  zero  point  soon  after  leaving  the  last 
named  town  going  north. 

"The   first   organized  boosting   for   Spokane   and  the   great  Spokane   country 
began  in  March,  1878,  and  publicity  has  kept  this  growing  section  in  the  public 
\cye  ever  since. 

^^\  "The  people  of  Spokane  Falls  in  the  spring  of  1879  had  increased  to  about 
s,  fl  ^^ty-five*  persons,  with, several  small  business  houses,  mostly  one-story  shacks, 

ole  *^*^^^ng  each  a  lot  or  part  of  a  lot  on  Howard  Street,  between  Front  and  Main, 
jokanes\  ^^^ 

y  people  now  look  wise  and  say,  *If  I  had  been  here  in  those  early  days 
owiw^  "*^\have  gotten  many  good  lots  and  held  them,  and  now  I  would  be  rich.' 

souls,  they  would  have  done  nothing  of  the  sort;  the  town  proprietors 
£  nrhat  is  \  in  lots  and  the  whole  population  was  short  in  money.     If  anyone  had 


id* 


360  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

more  lots  than  be  required  for  his  business  or  home  he  was  looking  for  suckers, 
for  he  wanted  to  sell.  He  knew  that  a  walk  of  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  out  upon  the 
prairie  would  bring  him  to  eighty  or  160  broad  acres  that  he  could  have  in  ex- 
change for  the  trouble  of  living  upon  them.  Spokane  Falls  had  no  capitalists,  and 
every  man  was  struggling  manfully  to  make  the  business  he  was  engaged  in  earn 
his  family  a  living. 

''There  were  several  reasons  why  Spokane  Falls  lots  were  not  in  demand  in 
1878.  First,  the  adjacent  lands  were  not  considered  good  for  farming.  Second, 
the  main  routes  of  travel  were  the  Walla  Walla  and  Colville  wagon  road,  fifteen 
miles  west,  and  the  old  Mullan  road  ^ve  miles  south.  Third,  rival  towns  sprang 
up  which  claimed  all  the  advantages  necessary  for  the  metropolis  of  the  great 
Spokane   country. 

"Cowley  and  Ford  of  Cowley's  Bridge,  eighteen  miles  east,  were  the  only 
capitalists  in  this  part  of  the  country  with  a  rival  store.  Colonel  G.  H.  Morgan 
located  what  he  claimed  would  be  the  future  great  city.  Four  Lakes,  at  the  cross 
roads  where  Meadow  Lake  Station  is  now  situated,  fifteen  miles  west.  The  most 
formidable  and  for  some  years  the  most  successful,  rival  of  Spokane  Falls  was 
located  eighteen  miles  southwest,  and  was  first  named  Section  Thirteen,  then 
Depot  Springs  and  lastly  Cheney,  after  a  Boston  director  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad.  The  rivalry  extended  over  a  period  of  several  years,  with  the  officials 
of  the  Railroad  working  strenuously  against  Spokane  Falls.  Such  was  the  case 
even  after  the  company  had  joined  the  huge  railroad  addition  to  the  outer  limits 
of  the  latter  town. 

''Among  the  early  speculative  buyers  of  lots  in  Spokane  Falls  were  Captains 
Hunter  and  Symonds,  the  former  purchasing  on  Riverside  and  the  latter  on 
Sprague.  Colonel  H.  C.  Merriam,  also  an  officer  of  the  United  States  Army,  was 
dining  with  the  family  of  the  writer  shortly  after  Railroad  addition  had  been  laid 
out,  when  the  conversation  turned  on  town  lots.  We  told  the  colonel  that  the  block 
lying  west  of  Howard  street,  south  of  First  avenue,  east  of  Mill  street,  and  north 
of  the  railroad,  could  be  purchased  for  $625.00,  and  that  we  considered  it  a  good 
buy.  He  said  he  had  just  about  that  sum  to  his  credit  in  one  of  the  Portland 
banks,  and  he  believed  he  would  buy  the  block.  We  looked  up  the  agent  and  after 
an  introduction  the  trade  was  made.  A  conservative  estimate  of  that  block  now 
would  be  placed  at  something  away  up  among  the  three  sets  of  figures.  Those 
officersf  are  now  ranking  high,  but  they  have  held  on  to  their  lots  until  they  have 
brought  them  wealth. 

"Francis  H.  Cook." 

Harvey  Brace,  a  former  Spokane  pioneer  of  1879,  but  since  a  resident  of  Cash- 
mere, Wash.,  recalls  that  when  he  arrived  here  about  April  6th,  1879,  the  town 
had,  not  to  exceed  seventy-five  inhabitants. 

"Bill  Gray  was  then  running  the  California  hotel  on  the  present  site  of  the 
City  Hall.  It  was  the  only  hotel  in  Spokane,  consisting  of  about  eight  rooms 
and  a  corral  upstairs,  a  big  room  where  the  boys  could  bunk  down  with  their  blankets 
when  the  rooms  were  full.     Bill  was  a  great  favorite  with  all  the  boys. 

"L.  W.  Rima  ran  a  small  jewelry  store  on  the  east  side  of  Howard  near  the 
present  site  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  hotel.     Just  across  the  street  Jack  Squier  ran  a 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  361 

saloon  and  just  back  of  that  was  the  local  jail.  A.  M.  Cannon  had  a  store  on  the 
northwest  comer  of  the  square  opposite  the  California  hotel.  S.  Heath  was  his 
clerk  at  $75  a  month.  J.  N.  Glover  had  a  small  frame  house  surrounded  by  a 
picket  fence  where  the  Coeur  d'Alene  hotel  now  stands  and  just  east  of  this  was 
another  small  house^  in  which^  later^  was  organized  Spokane's  Masonic  Lodge, 
No.  34,  during  the  winter  of  1879  and  1880,  of  which  I  was  a  charter  member. 
Louis  Ziegler  was  elected  worshipful  master;  Colonel  Smith,  of  Medical  Lake, 
senior  warden;  L.  W.  Warren,  treasurer,  and  I  don't  remember  our  secretary's 
name.  The  first  member  initiated  by  our  new  lodge,  which  was  the  second  organ- 
isation north  of  the  Snake  river,  was  John  Blalock. 

''Cannon's  sawmill  was  in  operation  at  the  time  on  the  present  site  of  the 
Phoenix  mill.  I  was  a  sawyer  and  millwright  and  during  the  winter  of  1879- 
1880,  remodeled  the  mill.  At  that  time  the  Post  grist  mill  was  located  above  the 
lower  falls  where  the  Medical  Lake  electric  depot  later  stood.  At  the  time  I  was  op- 
erating the  mill  for  Cannon,  Bill  Shannon  was  jacking  logs  and  operating  the  bull 
wheel.  We  had  a  big  wind  storm  that  spring  and  the  big  pine  which  stood  south  of 
Jim  Glover's  house,  had  it's  top  blown  off.  The  wind  carried  the  broken  portion 
completely  over  Cannon's  store  which  saved  the  building  from  being  demolished. 
Five  men  had  to  sit  on  a  trunk,  which  was  placed  on  the  inside  of  the  front  door 
of  the  California  hotel,  to  keep  the  wind  from  forcing  the  door  and  demolishing 
the  hotel. 

"I  helped  set  out  two  of  the  first  six  apple  trees  which  came  to  Spokane  from 
Ritz's  nursery  at  Walla  Walla.  The  two  I  planted  were  near  the  old  Pedicord 
hotel  and  I  believe  one  of  the  original  trees  still  stands.  I  witnessed  the  first  deed 
drawn  up  by  J.  J.  Browne,  conveying  a  lot  from  Mr.  Havermale  to  a  woman  from 
Walla  Walla,  who  built  upon  this  lot  the  first  frame  house  on  Riverside  avenue 
east  of  Howard  street." 

SPOKANE   IN    1880 

Major  E.  A.  Routhe  has  recorded  a  graphic  pen  picture  of  the  little  town  by 
the  falls  as  it  broke  upon  the  stranger's  eye  in  1880:  "A  little  cluster  of  houses, 
some  fifty  or  more,  upon  the  south  side  of  the  river  near  the  falls,  comprised  all 
there  was  of  the  town.  A  little  rope  ferry  and  a  couple  of  canoes  offered  the  only 
means  of  passing  over  the  swift  stream  as  it  rushed  among  the  little  islands  and 
tumbled  over  a  series  of  precipices  in  its  adamantine  bed  in  unrestrained  freedom, 
save  at  one  point  where  a  noisy  little  dam  reached  across  a  quiet  arm  of  the 
river  to  furnish  power  for  a  busy  sawmill.  A  missionary,  a  merchant,  a  miller, 
a  district  clerk,  a  sturdy  smith  and  a  tavern-keeper  constituted  the  representative 
element  of  the  little  hamlet.  .  .  .  Indian  tepees  dotted  the  hillsides  and  pleas- 
ant places  along  the  river,  and  blanketed  braves  loafed  and  stalked  majestically 
in  the  shade  of  the  silent  pines,  and  their  ponies  browsed  at  will  over  the  grounds 
of  the  future  city.  The  packhorse  and  freighter's  wagon  afforded  the  only  means 
of  transportation  for  goods.  The  merchant's  supplies  and  the  iron  for  the  smith 
were  brought  from  Walla  Walla,  then  the  great  supply  center  of  the  inland  north- 
west." 

Walla  Walla,  as  shown  by  the  United  States  census  of  1880,  was  the  largest 
town  in  the  territory. 


362  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

FIRST    TOWN    GOVERNMENT 

The  city  was  incorporated  in  1881,  with  Robert  W.  Forrest  as  its  first  mayor, 
and  a  council  of  seven — S.  G.  Havermale,  A.  M.  Cannon,  Dr.  L.  H.  Whitehouse, 
L.  W.  Rima,  F.  R.  Moore,  George  A.  Davis  and  W.  C.  Gray.  These  held  office  by 
legislative  appointment.  The  incorporating  act  was  approved  November  29,  1881. 
It  vested  the  city  government  in  a  mayor  and  common  council  of  seven  members, 
with  a  city  treasurer,  city  marshal  and  city  clerk  to  be  elected  by  the  council  with 
the  approval  of  the  mayor  "(the  city  treasurer  may  be  one  of  the  council),  and  who 
shall  hold  their  offices  during  the  pleasure  of  the  council,  and  the  council  may  ap- 
point and  dismiss  at  its  pleasure  such  other  offices  and  agents  as  may  be  deemed 
necessary.  Provided  there  shall  be  no  officer  appointed  under  this  section  ex- 
cept those  herein  named,  unless  the  office  is  established  by  ordinance." 

The  city  was  empowered  to  "purchase,  acquire,  receive  and  hold  proj>erty, 
real,  personal  and  mixed,  for  the  use  of  the  city ;  may  lease,  sell  and  dispose  of 
the  same  for  the  benefit  of  the  city ;  may  purchase,  acquire,  receive  and  hold  prop- 
erty beyond  the  limits  of  the  city  to  be  used  for  burial  purposes,  also  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  hospitals  for  the  reception  of  persons  affected  with  contagious  diseases, 
also  for  workhouses  or  houses  of  correction,  also  for  the  erection  of  waterworks  to 
supply  the  city  wiUi  water;  and  may  sell,  leasee  or  dispose  of  the  same  for  the 
benefit  of  the  city." 

Elections  were  to  be  annual,  on  the  first  Monday  in  April.  All  vacancies  to  be 
filled  by  the  council. 

The  usual  powers  were  conferred  on  the  council,  but  it  was  expressly  pro- 
vided that  the  city  tax  levy  should  not  exceed  ^ve  mills,  and  that  no  tax  should  be 
levied  "on  the  value  of  articles  the  growth  and  produce  of  the  territory  which  are 
brought  into  such  city  and  sold." 

As  a  further  safeguard  against  extravagance,  it  was  provided  that  "when  the 
city's  indebtedness  amounts  to  $1,500  no  further  debts  shall  be  created  except  for 
the  ordinary  current  expenses  of  the  city,  and  debts  created  in  violation  of  this 
provision  shall  be  void." 

It  was  provided  that  the  mayor  and  councilmen  should  serve  without  pay,  and 
that  "all  other  officers  provided  for  in  this  act,  or  to  be  created,  shall  receive  such 
compensation  as  shall  be  provided  for  by  ordinance." 

Violations  of  ordinances  could  be  punished  by  fines  not  exceeding  $100,  and 
by  imprisonment  not  exceeding  thirty  days.  All  moneys  received  for  licenses  or 
from  fines  was  to  be  paid  into  the  city  treasury  and  constitute  a  general  municipal 
fund,  "including  two-thirds  of  all  county  license  for  liquor,  assessed  or  collected 
within  the  corporate  limits  of  the  said  city  of  Spokan  Falls." 

An  act  of  the  legislature  of  1883  extended  the  city  limits  to  two  miles  square 
and  divided  the  city  into  four  wards,  with  Riverside  and  Howard  the  cornering 
point.  Election  day  was  changed  from  the  first  Monday  to  the  first  Tuesday  in 
April,  treasurer,  attorney,  marshal  and  clerk  to  be  elected  by  the  people;  and  the 
mayor  was  made  the  presiding  officer  of  the  council.  The  charter  of  1883  was  still 
further  amended  by  the  legislature  of  1886. 

S.  G.  Havermale  served  as  president  of  the  first  council;  A.  M.  Cannon  was 
treasurer,  and  J.  S.  Gray  city  clerk.    At  the  first  election,  in  April,  1882,  the  legis- 


SPOKANE'S   FIRST   CARRIAGE, 


INDIAN   ENCAMPMENT   IN   PEACEFUL  VALLEY,  ]N   1S34 
This  was  their  favorite  camping  place  in  earlj'  days 


r  7~: 


PuiUC  LlBkAKT 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  363 

lative  appointees  were  elected  with  only  one  change:  S.  T.  Arthur  was  substituted 
for  A.  M.  Cannon^  but  he  moved  to  Missoula  shortly  after  his  election  and  Mr. 
Cannon  was  chosen  to  fill  liis  place. 

At  the  election  in.  1883  J.  N.  Glover  was  elected  mayor,  and  A.  M.  Cannon, 
R.  W.  Forrest,  F.  R.  Moore,  J.  F.  Lockhart,  J.  M.  Grimmer,  L.  H.  Whitehouse, 
and  L.  W.  Rima,  councilmen.     J.  Kennedy  Stout  was  chosen  as  city  attorney. 

FIRST    FIRE    DEPARTMENT 

To  an  editorial  article  in  a  semi-humorous,  semi-serious  weekly  paper  called 
the  Mule,  and  printed  from  the  Review  press  by  one  of  the  printers  of  Mr.  Dallam's 
journal,  pioneers  attribute  the  organization  of  the  fir^t  volunteer  fire  department 
in  the  town. 

"Through  negligence  of  the  powers  that  be,  our  rapidly  growing  city  is  com- 
pletely at  the  mercy  of  that  ruthless  destroyer  of  citie;^,.  fire.  'Lock  the  stable 
door  after  the  horse  is  stolen,'  as  did  our  sister  city  Colfax  last  year.  Will  not 
at  least  a  few  of  our  enterprising  business  men  take  the  matter  in  hand  and  organ- 
ize some  means  of  defense  against  this  dreadful  element,  be  it  only  the  forming 
of  a  bucket  brigade.^  There  are,  to  our  certain  knowledge,  nearly  100  old  and 
experienced  firemen  at  present  in  the  city,  many  of  whom  own  not  a  single  dol- 
lar's worth  of  property  here,  but  who  are  ready  and  willing  to  enter  an  organiza- 
tion and  contribute  their  mite  toward  the  purchase  of  equipment  for  the  same.  Bab- 
cock  fire  extinguishers  would  be  better  than  nothing.  Let  us  hear  from  Mr.  Charles 
Abel  on  the  subject,  and  any  other  gentleman  who  realizes  the  immediate  danger 
of  our  beautiful  city  at  the  hands  of  the  lurid  leveler." 

Mayor  Glover  and  other  active  citizens  took  the  matter  under  discussion,  and 
in  the  autunm  of  1884  R.  J.  Anderson,  then  in  the  jewelry  business,  with  B.  H. 
Bennett  and  Grover  Simpson,  organized  a  company  that  was  the  nucleus  of  the 
present  large  fire  department  of  Spokane — "Rescue  Hose  Company  No.  1."  A 
small  hose  cart,  to  be  drawn  through  the  streets  by  hand,  was  bought.  Rescue 
company's  meetings  were  held  in  a  building  on  the  south  side  of  Main  avenue, 
east  of  Howard  street.  The  Spokane  Falls  fire  department  was  organized,  with 
George  W.  Wooster  as  president  of  the  board,  and  R.  J.  Anderson  secretary. 
Members  of  the  hose  company  included  Frank  Dallam,  the  editor;  B.  H.  Bennett, 
A.M.  Cannon's  son-in-law;  Harry  Gordon,  the  town's  amateur  poet;  W.  R.  New- 
port, R.  J.  Anderson,  one  of  the  Brickell  boys;  E.  B.  Hyde,  later  state  senator 
and  register  of  the  United  States  land  office;  Cal.  Duncan;  Hal  J.  Cole,  later 
Indian  agent  on  the  Colville  reservation  and  receiver  of  the  United  States  land 
office;  William  Wilson;  W.  W.  Witherspoon,  who  subsequently  filled  the  offices 
of  city  commissioner  and  chief  of  police;  Grover  Simpson,  Wylie  Glover,  George 
W.  Wooster,  A.  M.  Orchard,  William  Edwards,  E.  J.  Pitman,  Alva  Summers 
and  Ralph  Clark,  another  of  Mr.  Cannon's  sons-in-law. 

FIRST    BRICK    AND    FIRST    BRICK    BUILDINGS 

I  think  I  shall  credit  J.  T.  Davie  with  burning  the  first  brick  in  Spokane, 
Mr.  Davie  himself  says  that  he  did,  and  then  again  he  didn't.     Another  had  come 


364  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

before  him  and  fired  a  little  kiln^  but  the  product  was  so  poor  that  it  could  not 
fairly  be   termed  brick. 

Mr.  Davie  came  to  eastern  Washington  from  Napa,  California,  and  arrived 
at  Walla  Walla  November  6,  1879.  Lacking  $10  of  the  stage  fare  to  Spokane, 
there  was  nothing  left  for  him  but  to  walk,  "as  many  other  good  fellows  had  done 
and  were  doing." 

"On  arriving  at  Colfax,"  he  writes,  "I  found  that  brick  were  being  manufac- 
tured and  sold  there  by  James  Bleeker  for  $12.00  per  1,000  at  the  kiln.  Having 
worked  in  brickyards  in  New  England  and  California,  I  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  if  there  was  no  brickyard  in  Spokane  Falls  I  would  supply  the  want. 

"When  I  arrived  at  Spangle  I  struck  out  west  as  far  as  Cottonwood  Springs  near 
the  present  site  of  Davenport,  Lincoln  county,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  exploring 
the  country  which  was  little  more  than  an  uninhabited  wilderness.  I  got  caught 
in  a  snowstorm  out  there  and  traveled  through  it  for  three  or  four  hours,  when 
at  a  certain  point  of  the  inevitable  circle  I  was  describing  I  bumped  into  a  German 
settler  coming  from  the  woods  with  a  load  of  fuel.  His  next  neighbor,  he  told  me, 
was  a  Norwegian  whose  homestead  was  exactly  ^ve  miles  east.  They  visited  each 
other  at  their  respective  homes  every  alternate  Sunday.  I  stayed  with  my  Ger- 
man friend  over  night,  passed  the  Norwegian  next  day  on  my  way  to  the  Falls 
and  reported  the  Dutchman  alive  and  well. 

"I  walked  into  Spokane  Falls  just  before  noon,  November  15th,  and  made  my 
quarters  at  Sam  Arthur's  hotel  and  restaurant  near  Howard  and  Front.  I  dined 
sumptuously  and  then  commenced  asking  questions,  the  only  one  of  which  I  now 
remember  was,  'Is  there  ere  a  brickyard  here?*  to  which  I  got  two  replies,  there 
was,  and  there  wasn't.  Some  one  had  been  trying  to  make  brick  but  was  not  suc- 
cessful in  some  essential  particulars.  I  said  that  I  would  go  and  see  for  myself 
and  would  report  on  my  return.  I  found  the  yard  on  the  homestead  of  the  Rev. 
H.  T.  Cowley.  It  was  somewhere  about  where  the 'Lincoln  schoolhouse  now  stands. 
My  report  was  that  the  brickyard  and  kiln  were  not  gems  of  the  first  water,  that 
the  brick  in  the  kiln  had  been  jammed  close  together,  no  spaces^  being  left  be- 
tween them  for  the  flames  to  travel  through  and  consequently  the  burning  was  a 
failure.  A  very  small  portion  of  the  brick  next  the  fires  being  burned,  but  very 
imperfectly. 

"A  few  days  afterwards  I  ran  across  the  proprietor  of  the  yard,  'a  man  by  the 
name  of  Roberts,  a  bricklayer  by  trade.  He  told  me  that  he  had  a  chance  to  build 
some  flues  and  fireplaces,  but  there  was  not  any  brick  to  be  got  nearer  than  Colfax, 
and  he  had  undertaken  to  make  brick  himself  nearer  the  seat  of  his  operations. 
He  had  worked  at  his  trade  on  the  construction  of  the  Napa  Insane  Asylum,  Cali- 
fornia, 'and  I  had  worked  for  two  seasons  in  the  brickyard  at  the  same  job.  We 
agreed  that  I  would  make  the  brick  and  he  would  lay  them  as  of  yore  in  our  new 
home.  When  I  reported  our  interview  to  the  boys  down  in  the  village  they  all 
with  one  accord  commenced  examining  me  for  cuts,  bruises  and  broken  bones. 
The  brickman  had  threatened  to  paralyze  the  new  man  for  criticizing  his  kiln. 

"I  took  up  a  homestead  in  February,  '80,  and  the  location  was  about  eight  miles 
west  of  Medical  Lake.  I  commuted  and  paid  for  it  in  '83  and  held  possession  of 
it  till  1895  one  of  the  years  in  this  country  that  tried  men's  souls.     I  fortunately 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  365 

got  a  chance  to  sell  it  that  year,  and  small  as  the  price  'was,  it  helped  very  mate- 
rially to  keep  me  on  earth  and  our  brickyard  on  the  map. 

"At  the  time  'that  I  took  up  that  homestead  I  might  have  taken  anything  in 
Spokane  north  of  the  river  except  Jenkins'  addition.  The  north  side,  however, 
did  not  look  good  to  me  at  that  time. 

"I  secured  permission  from  Wentzel  Grant  to  locate  my  yard  on  his  ranch  on 
Hangman,  creek  and  broke  ground  on  it  April  12th,  1880.  I  built  my  pug  mill, 
constructed  moulds  and  wheelbarrows,  also  built  a  shack  out  of  slabs  and  the  only 
iron  in  the 'whole  outfit  was  a  few  pounds  of  nails  which  cost  15  cents  per  pound. 
I  bought  a  cuitan  for  $15.00  and  went  to  work  with  a  crew  of  three  men  besides 
myself.  We  put  up  a  small  kiln,  containing  about  30,000  brick,  when  the  funds 
ran  out.  ■   I  burned  the  kiln  myself  and  got  a  very  fair  bum,  but  a  trifle  soft. 

"After  the  kiln  was  burned  nobody  appeared  to  want  brick  very  badly,  and 
while  I  was  waiting  a  la  Macawber  somebody  stole  my  little  horse.  I  did  not 
have  the  wherewithal  to  induce  a  Siwash  to  let  me  have  another.  I  borrowed  one, 
however,  and  went  to  work  again  constituting  the  whole  brickyard  gang  myself. 
I  moulded,  carried  out,  set  and  filled  the  pit  myself,  and  so  kept  everything  in 
the  family.     I -turned  out  from  1,000  to  1,200  brick  a  day. 

"The  second  kiln  I  put  up  on  the  homestead  of  R.  R.  Pynor,  about  half  a  mile 
from  my  first  location.  Grant  noticed  that  it  made  a  hole  in  the  ground  where 
the  clay  was  taken  out  of  and  he  would  not  stand  for  that. 

"By  and  by  my  first  kiln  began  to  move  a  little.  The  first  load  I  sold  was  to 
a  freighter  by  the  name  of  Harris,  who  was  hauling  freight  from  RitzviUe,  at  that 
time  the  nearest  or  most  advanced  point  on  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway.  He 
claimed  that  he  lacked  $2.00  of  having  enough  to  pay  for  them,  but  he  agreed  to 
bring  it  to  me  when  he  returned  with  another  load  of  freight,  but  he  never  came 
back. 

"Roberts,  the  bricklayer,  left  town  in  the  spring  of  '80  and  I.  T.  Benham,  a 
contractor  and  builder,  still  well  remembered  among  the  old-timers,  came  in. 
Benham  was  thoroughly  up  in  his  business  and  built  quite  a  number  of  the  best 
business  blocks  that  went  up  before  the  big  fire  of  '89. 

"The  first  brick  building  constructed  in  town  was  built  this  year.  It  was  a 
storage  warehouse,  put  up  by  I.  T.  Benham  for  J.  N.  Squier,  the  pioneer  saloon- 
keeper. The  first  story  was  of  rock  and  the  second  of 'brick.  The  brick  were  laid 
herring-bone  fashion,  as  Benham  phrased  it.  The  brick  were  laid  on  edge  with 
a  header,  so  constructing  a  hollow  wall. 

"I  burned  my  second  kiln  of  brick  containing  50,000  late  in  the  fall.  Alto- 
gether in  1880  I  sold  about  50,000  brick  and  carried  about  30,000  over  till  next 
spring.  About  half  of  them  were  used  in  town  and  the  rest  were  sold  to  farmers 
and  to  the  coimty  seat  to  be,  Cheney.  Cheney  captured  the  county  seat  in  Novem- 
ber, *80,  at  the  polls,  and  a  few  weeks  later  by  strategy  and  arms  that  were  not 
brought  into  action.  The  first  year  I  sold  brick  at  the  kiln  for  $10.00 'per  1,000, 
raising  them  in  the  latter  part  of  the  season  to  $12.00. 

"In  1881  I  made  about  200,000  brick  and  I.  T.  Benham  built  out  of  them  the 
first  Wolverton  block  (the  first  all-brick  block)  for  W.  M.  Wolverton,  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Mill  and  Riverside.  There  was  a  brickyard  started  at  Cheney  this  year  by 
a  man  named  Carew.     I  think  he  ran  his  yard  there  two  or  three  years,  but  was 


866  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

not  very  successful.  Cheney  in  its  palmy  days  would  have  done  considerable  brick 
building  if  the  brick  there  had  only  been  of  passable  quality.  Better  late  than  never^ 
there  is  a  first-class  brickyard  there  now  'under  able  management. 

"In  1882  I  made  400^000  brick^  having  my  brother  William  as  partner  in  the 
first  part  of  the  season^  and  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  N.  :H.  Wright  in  the 
latter  part.  In  August^  J.  N.  Glover  bargained  for  250^000  brick  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  First  National  Bank  building,  comer  of  Front  and  Howard.  He 
paid  me  in  advance  for  100,000  of  them  at  $9.00  per  1,000  delivered,  and  I  had 
never  felt  so  rich  before  nor  have  I  since,  and  I  never 'expect  to  feel  half  as  rich 
again.  H.  Preusse,  architect,  arrived  in  town  this  summer  and  his  first  work 
was  drawing  plans  for  the  First  National  Bank  block.  '  Henry  Brook  also  came 
to  town  about  the  same  time  and  next  year  superintended  the  brick  work  on  the 
bank. 

"1888  was  a  stirring  year  in  the  manufacture  of  brick  and  the  construction 
of  buildings.  Wright  and  I  made  about  850,000  during  the  season.  A  man 
by  the  name  of  Taylor  started  a  large  yard  southeast  of  town  on 
the  Moran  prairie  road  and  went  broke  about  the  middle  of  summer.  Charles 
Sweeny  took  over  his  yard  to  satisfy  a  claim  for  groceries  and  supplies  furnished 
and  ran  it  for  the  rest  of  the  season.  We  bought  our  stuff  from  Sweeny,  but  paid 
for  it  sooner  or  later.  It  was  not  in  that  brickyard  that  Sweeny  made  his  mil- 
lions. 

"A  man  by  the  name  of  Adams  late  in  the  season  of  '83  burned  the  brick  for 
the  old  Gonzaga  College.  Adams  was  up  a  stump  for  a  hand  moulder  and  it  looked 
for  a  while  that  he  would  not  be  able  to  get  his  brick  made  that  year.  We  had  a 
good  moulder,  a  Colfax  boy  by  the  name  of  Monte  Bickford,  that  we  were  paying 
$90.00  a  month  and  board.  Monte  went  over  to  Adams'  yard  to  see  how  the  clay 
worked.  He  found  that  it  moulded  first-class  and  came  back  and  reported.  He 
also  said  that  the  fathers  over  there  offered  him  $5.00  and  board  to  do  the  mould- 
ing, but  that  he  had  hired  for  the  season  to  us  and  he  did  not  want  to  break  bar- 
gain. I  told  him  to  take  it  in  and  I  would  do  the  moulding  on  our  yard  for  the 
rest  of  the  season.  Monte  went  to  college,  and  moulded  up  all  the  material  that 
had  been  hauled  up  from  the  bank  of  the  river  to  the  site  of  the  prospective  build- 
ing. The  old  building  still  stands  and  it  was  moved  a  few  years  ago  a  consider- 
able distance  from  its  original  site  and  planted  down  on  a  new  foundation  that 
stands  square  with  the  North  Star,  which  is  more  than  the  first  foundation  did. 

"But  I  am  getting  ahead  of  my  story.  The  building  was  put  up  next  year 
and  I  have  still  to  mention  that  among  the  buildings  put  up  in  1883  were  the  First 
National  Bank,  the  Union  block  situated  across  Howard  street  froni  said  bank, 
Henry  French's  block,  Jamieson  block,  and  the  Browne  block  on  the  corner  of 
Riverside  and  Post.  Over  1,500,000  brick  were  laid  in  the  wall  in  1883  and  the 
town  for  the  first  time  was  overbuilt.  There  were  all  kinds  of  vacancies  and  it 
was  about  two  years  before  there  was  much  more  done  in  the  way  of  brick-building 

"In  1884  I  was  the  only  one  in  the  brick-making  business  and  the  only  build- 
ing that  went  up  was  the  Gonzaga  College  building.  Henry  Brook  and  Preusse, 
the  architect,  were  the  officers  in  charge,  and  both  of  them  took  a  hand  with  the 
trowel  in  its  construction.     There  was  about  250,000  brick  used  in  the  building. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  367 

As  between  the  rival  cities   of  Spokane   Falls   and  Cheney,    1884   was  Cheney's 
round. 

"1885  opened  hard  on  your  humble  servant.  A  prospective  gas  works  came 
to  town  that  was  all  gas  of  the  foulest  kind.  The  promoters  bargained  for  a  lot 
from  J.  N.  Glover  on  the  corner  of  Washingjton  and  Front  avenue.  They  also 
bargained  for  brick,  lumber  and  everything  needed  for  the  construction  of  the 
works.  The  building  was  pushed  along  until  it  was  about  half  completed,  when 
the  promoters  started  out  over  town  to  sell  stock  in  the  concern,  but  the  gentle 
public  would  not  bite,  as  the  unfortunate  material  men  had  done.  The  promoters 
then  rolled  up  their  tent  like  an  Arab  and  hied  away.  They  had  paid  for  noth- 
ing, neither  lot,  material,  board  nor  lodgings. 

"About  the  time  they  left  a  terrific  thunderstorm  hit  these  parts  and  laid  my 
brickyard  in  ruin.  While  it  was  drying  up  I  went  to  town  to  try  to  get  some  sym- 
pathy and  other  necessities,  when  the  cheering  news  was  gently  broken  to  me  that 
the  gas  works  people  had  cleared  out.  I  went  over  to  the  works  and  found  that 
nearly  all  of  about  100,000  brick  that  I  had  sent  in  were  in  the  walls;  there  might 
have  been  5,000  left  still  in  the  pile.  As  I  was  standing  there  viewing  the  ruin, 
wishing  th^t  I  was  possessed  of  an  'anathema  of  power  so  dread  as  to  blend  the 
living  with  the  dead,'  to  send  after  the  scoundrels  that  had  just  been  working  here, 
I  saw  Frank  Johnson,  contractor,  and  a  priest  coming  across  the  street  to  where 
1  was.  'Now,'  says  I  to  myself,  *if  that  priest  would  only  go  by  on  the  other  side 
I  perhaps  could  get  Frank  to  help  me  do  some  cussing;'  but  this  was  not  the 
priest  that  ever  went  by  on  the  other  side,  and  this  time  to  me  he  proved  to  be  the 
good  Samaritan  himself.  Johnson  introduced  me  to  him,  Father  Jacquet.  I  told 
my  tale  of  woe  to  the  reverend  gentleman  and  he  told  me  by  way  of  consolation 
that  I  was  just  the  man  he  wanted  to  see,  that  he  wanted  a  whole  lot  of  brick  to 
build  a  church  on  Main  avenue,  about  a  couple  of  blocks  away.  He  bought  the 
brick  lying  at  the  works  and  enough  more  to  put  the  church  up.  If  I  remember 
aright,  he  advanced  me  some  money.  Anyway,  when  I  parted  with  him  I  had  prac- 
tipally  forgotten  all  about  the  late  buffetings  of  the  evil  one. 

"Later  in  the  season  of  '85  I  sold  D.  M.  Drumheller  brick  for  a  residence  on  the 
comer  of  Second  and  Mill  streets,  and  Mr.  Van  Valkenburg  for  his  block  adjoin- 
ing the  Jamieson  block  on  Riverside  avenue. 

"In  1886  I  moved  my  plant  from  Latah  creek  up  to  the  present  location  of 
Cannon  Hill  Park.  Henry  Brook  and  I  bought  eighty  acres  of  land  up  there  from 
Calvin  Robertson.  Mr.  Brook  had  forty  acres  adjoining  which  he  had  bought 
some  time  before  from  W.  D.  Parks.  We  paid  $30  an  acre  for  one  of  our  forties 
and  $50  for  the  other.  Mr.  Brook  handled  all  of  the  brick  I  made,  using  most 
of  them  himself  for  the  buildings  for  which  he  contracted.  Among  the  buildings 
that  he  erected  this  year  were  the  Keats  block,  corner  Riverside  and  Howard, 
the  old  Hyde  block,  adjoining,  and  the  First  Presbyterian  church  on  the  present 
site  of  the  Review  building.  This  year,  with  one  hand  moulder  I  made  over  1,000,- 
000  brick.  I  moulded  the  last  two  months  myself,  which  was  the  last  of  my  hand 
moulding.  In  this  year  N.  Triplet,  my  first  co-worker  that  stayed  in  the  clay- 
working  craft  for  any  length  of  time,  started  operations.  His  yard  was  first  located 
on  Downer's  ranch,  or  the  present  location  of  Liberty  Park.  Wm.  Reddy  ran 
a  yard  for  several  seasons  on  the  same  site  some  time  after.     Next  year  Triplet 


368  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

moved  down  to  Hangman  creek  to  the  site  of  one  of  my  old  yards  and  he  stayed  in 
the  business  altogether  for  nearly  twenty  years,  when  he  retired.  He  made  and 
burned  many  millions  and  made  brick  for  a  good  many  of  the  substantial  blocks 
put  up  after  the  big  fire.  He  turned  out  a  good,  shapely,  well-burned  brick  while 
he  was  in  the  business. 

''In  1887  the  first  machines  were  introduced  into  Spokane  for  the  manufacture 
of  brick.  That  year  I  made  3,000,000  brick  and  burned  them.  There  was  great 
difficulty  in  early  days  in  getting  skilled  help,  and  that  year  so  much  of  the  higher 
mysteries  of  the  craft  fell  to  my  lot  that  I  overworked  myself  and  my  health  broke 
down.  I  did  all  of  the  burning  in  the  daytime  along  with  my  other  work,  and 
also  put  in  a  good  many  nights.  The  burner  that  I  had  hired  for  the  season  had 
gone  insane  and  was  committed  a  short  time  before  the  yard  started,  and  I  could 
not  get  one  to  take  his  place.  Early  in  1888  I  sold  out  all  of  my  interests  in  the 
business,  including  the  land,  to  Mr.  Brook,  and  took  the  season  off  for  rest  and 
repairs. 

"Mr.  Brook  ran  the  yard  under  the  superintendence  of  Gebrge  B.  M.  Rambo, 
and  after  a  short  time  sold  out  to  two  men  from  the  east,  Messrs.  Spear  and  Belt. 
Belt  went  out  of  the  business  that  year,  and  Messrs.  Brook  and  Spear  formed  the 
company  that  certainly  came  to  stay,  the  Washington  Brick  and  Lime  Company. 
Mr.  Brook  died  some  years  ago,  but  Mr.  Spear  is  still  at  the  head  of  one  of  the 
greatest  industries  of  the  northwest  and  a  clay-working  establishment  of  national 
note.  Its  history  is  written  and  is  being  written  on  tablets  of  clay.  Nothing  on 
earth  can  stand  the  gnawings  of  the  tooth  of  time  like  well-burned  clay. 

"In  1889  I  came  back  to  the  business,  taking  in  Mr.  P.  Erickson  as  partner.  We 
have  burned  up  a  whole  lot  of  wood  and  mother  earth  since  that  time  and  are  still 
turning  out  our  ware.  J.  C.  Truitt  came  to  town  this  year  and  started  a  brick- 
yard adjoining  us.     He  stayed  in  the  business  dye  or  six  years. 

"After  the  big  fire  of  August  4,  1889,  brickmakers  crowded  into  Spokane  from 
all  over  the  United  States.  Next  year  there  must  have  been  about  two  dozen  con- 
cerns pouring  brick  into  the  city  by  wagon  and  rail.  The  business  was  entirely 
overdone  and  the  burg  was  as  badly  overbuilt  that  year,  which,  of  course,  resulted 
in  the  inevitable  and  world-old  struggle  among  the  clayworkers,  the  survival  of 
the  fittest,  and  in  about  two  years  after,  when  the  smoke  of  battle  had  cleared 
away,  only  the  four  old  firms  that  were  here  before  the  fire,  though  'much  dilapi- 
dated, were  still  in  the  ring.*  A  still  harder  battle  was  on  hand,  however — ^those 
terrible  years  of  the  panic  of  *93.  Three  of  the  old  yards  survived  those:  The 
Washing^n  Brick  &  Lime  Company,  N.  Triplet,  and  J.  T.  Davie  &  Co.  I  think 
it  was  in  '95  that  we  were  the  onlv  outfit  that  moved  a  wheel." 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

CONCISE   REVIEW   OF  TOWN,  1874  TO   1887 

H.  T.  COWLEY   ARRIVES  WITH   BAND   OF   NEZ   PERCE   HELPERS APPEARANCE   OF   VILLAGE 

IX   1874 INDIAN   SCARE POW-WOW   IN    FRONT   OP   OLOVER's   STORE FIRST   SCHOOL 

DISTRICT    ORGANIZED ELECTION    IN    OLOVER's    HOUSE FIRST    CHRISTMAS   TREE  AND 

SUPPER NEZ    PERCE    INDIAN    WAR ARRIVAL   OF   TROOPS   RELIEVES   THE   TENSION 

BROWNE     AND     CANNON     ARRIVE GRAND    OPENING    OF    THE     CALIFORNIA    HOUSE 

CHENEY    CAPTURES    THE     COUNTY    SEAT FIRST    BRICK    BUILDING INCORPORATION 

OF  THE    TOWN CITIZENS   CELEBRATE   ARRIVAL  OF   NORTHERN   PACIFIC,    1881 SPO- 

KANe's    first    big    FIRE RUSH    TO   THE    COEUR    d'aLENES LAST    SPIKE    DRIVEN    IN 

N.  P. CITY  ACQUIRES  THE  WATER  SYSTEM ^DEVELOPMENTS  IN  COLVILLE  COUNTRY 

PIONEER   STREET   RAILWAY SPOKANE   REGAINS   COUNTY   SEAT. 


BY    H.    T.    COWLEY 

IT  WAS  a  radiant  day  in  the  month  of  June,  1874,  when  the  writer,  accom- 
panied by  four  or  &ve  young  Nez  Perce  Indians  as  helpers  and  guides,  halted 
for  a  few  moments  on  the  bluff  south  of  the  falls,  to  admire  the  indescribable 
quiet  and  beauty  of  the  groves  of  pine  which  ^  interspersed  to  the  dreamy  murmur 
of  the  cataract.  Descending,  they  pitched  their  camp  opposite  the  upper  rapids, 
and  laved  their  dust-begrimed  faces  in  the  limpid  river.  After  a  brief  rest,  the 
writer  I  sought  the  little  settlement  which  had  preceded  him  one  year,  and  found  it 
to  consist  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  N.  Glover,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cyrus  F.  Yeaton 
and  their  charming  little  daughter  Luella.  The  sum  total  of  the  embryo  hamlet 
consisted  of  two  "box"  structures  built  continuous,  one  of  which  was  occupied  by 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Glover  as  a  domicile,  and  the  other  as  a  store  kept  by  Mr.  Yeaton, 
with  living  rooms  in  the  rear.  These  were  the  nucleus  and  headquarters.  Besides, 
there  were  a  couple  of  transient  families  who  were  helpers  in  the  rather  rude  saw- 
mill built  on  the  site  of  the  Phoenix  ^  mill  of  today. 

This  mill  and  a  few  lumbermen's  rude  shanties  Mr.  Glover  had  found  in  the 
spring  of  1873,  on  his  first  prospecting  trip  into  the  Spokane  country,  attracted 
by  the  probable  selection  of  the  new  Northern  Pacific  railroad  company  of  the  Spo- 
kane valley  as  the  outlet  from  the  Rocky  mountains  of  their  great  transcontinental 
route.  The  mill  had  been  erected  the  previous  year  by  S.  R.  Scranton,  J.  J.  Down- 
ing and  Mr.  Benjamin,  to  supply, the  expected  demand  for  building  material  which 
the  early  advent  of  the  Northern  Pacific  road  would  naturally  create.  The  collapse 
of  the  great  enterprise  in  its  incipiency  was  a  blight  to  the  hopes  of  these  hardy 

ToLl  —24 

369 


370  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

pioneers^  and  one  of  the  firm^  Mr.  Scranton^  was  rather  solicitously  avoiding  an 
interview  with  the  sheriff.  This  state  of  affairs  was  becoming  disagreeable  to  the 
little  community^  and  Mr.  Glover's  arrival  on  the  scene  at  that  time,  from  Salem, 
Oregon,  was  most  opportune  for  all  concerned.  They  were  anxious  to  go  farther 
west,  and  Mr.  Glover  easily  negotiated  the  entire  improvements  and  squatters' 
rights  for  $4,000, ,  which  was  a  most  liberal  sum.  Scranton,  the  fugitive,  concealed 
in  a  clump  of  underbrush,  had  to  be  approached  in  a  boat  under  cover  of  darkness 
to  complete  the  transfer.  A  dabbler  at  law  named  Swift  had  also  built  a  comfortable 
log  house  some  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  falls,  and  his  wife  was  acting  as  post- 
mistress.  The  mail  service  was  up  the  Columbia  and  Snake  rivers,  via  Lewiston,  at 
that  time  the  largest  town  in  the  upper  country,  besides  Walla  Walla.  Major  R. 
H.  Wimpy,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Palouse  country,  and  subsequently  a  repre- 
sentative of  Stevens  county  in  the  legislature,  had  the  contract  for  delivering  the 
mail  weekly. 

After  thus  gaining ,  possession  of  the  future  townsite,  Mr.  Glover  was  joined  by 
J.  N.  Matheny  of  Salem  and  C.  F.  Yeaton  of  Portland,  in  a  partnership  for  the 
purpose  of  running  the  sawmill  and  dealing  in  lumber  and  general  merchandise. 
The  pioneer  settlers  were  scattered  ^far  apart,  from  Snake  river  to  Colville,  and 
Stevens  county  then  embraced,  besides  its  present  limits,  the  counties  of  Spokane, 
Lincoln  and  Douglas.  Probably  not  over  350,  besides  the  garrison  at  Colville,  would 
sum  up  the  entire  white  population  from  Snake  river  to  the  British  line.  It  was  a 
daring  venture  to  risk  one's  property,  not  to  say  life,  in  such  isolation,  although  the 
Indians  were  peaceably  inclined,  and  even  anxious  to  adopt  the  white  man's  civili- 
zation. But  the  sparse  settlements  afforded  renegade  adventurers  an  excellent  op- 
portunity for  depredations  and  lawlessness.  The  predominance  of  brave  and  up- 
riglit  citizens,  however,  was  so  noted  that  but  few  efforts  at  pillage  and  violence 
were  ever  undertaken,  and  the  country  prospered  finely  considering  its  feeble 
beginning. 

Besides  those  already  mentioned,  were  J.  F.  Moran,  of  Moran  prairie;  M.  M. 
Cowley,  trader  at  Spokane  Bridge;  William  Spangler,  founder  of  the  town  of 
Spangle;  Henry  Kaiser,  a  ranchman  up  the  valley;  Maxime  and  Peter  Muludne, 
proprietors  of  the  California  ranch ;  Steve  Liberty  and  Daniel  Courchaine,  their  near- 
est neighbors;  Frederick  Post,  who  owned  the  site  of  the  original  town  of  Rath- 
drum;  and  Messrs.  LeFevre,  Labrie  and  Murphy,  of  the  Medical  Lake  region. 

The  task  which  confronted  the  new  firm  of  improving  their  investment  and  se- 
curing a  living  in  the  face  of  the  slow  resuscitation  which  was  the  apparent  prospect 
of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  company  owing  to  the  failure  of  Jay  Cooke,  was 
not  an  attractive  one.  Mr.  Glover,  however,  went  vigorously  at  work,  determined 
to  conquer  a  success.  Late  in  July,  Mr.  Matheny  and  Mr.  Yeaton  and  family  arrived 
and  took  charge  of  the  new  purchase,  while  Mr.  Glover  returned  to  Portland  to 
select  a  stock  of  goods  and  order  an  entirely  new  outfit  of  machinery  for  the 
sawmill,  returning  by  the  middle  of  August  with  his  wife.  The  machinery  was 
put  in  operation  late  in  the  fall,  and  before  winter  had  set  in  they  had  turned  oat 
over  100,000  feet  of  lumber,  and  put  up  a  store  room  and  dwelling  combined,  and 
the  stock  of  goods  was  impacked  for  business.  Mr.  Yeaton  received  the  appoint- 
ment of  postmaster  and  filled  the  office  for  three  years. 

Something  of  an   Indian  scare  occurred  during  the  season,  which   was  about 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  371 

equally  shared  on  both  sides.  Unfounded  rumors  of  an  expected  outbreak  got  afloat 
and  were  magnified  by  the  Portland  and  lower  country  papers,  until  an  excitement 
prevailed  which  prompted  a  number  of  families  to  abandon  their  claims  and  take 
refuge  in  Walla  Walla.  In  the  midst  of  the  excitement^  Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding^  a 
missionary  among  the  Nez  Perces  at  Lapwai^  appeared^  having  come  at  the  urgent 
solicitation  of  the  Spokanes^  and  after  holding  religious  services  in  the  various  camps 
at  the  root  and  fishing  grounds^  aided  greatly  in  quieting  the  feverish  apprehensions. 
These  little  excitements  occurred  almost  periodically  for  several  years,  but  with 
no  better  foundation  except  in  the  Nez  Perce  outbreak  in  1877. 

The  little  community  wintered  without  serious  incident  (1873-74),  and  pre- 
pared for  a  busy  season.  But  the  hoped  for  immigration  did  not  appear.  A  few 
additions  were  made  to  the  unfinished  dwellings,  and  several  hundred  thousand  feet 
of  lumber  were  added  to  the  stock,  but  the  demand  was  light  and  mostly  on  credit, 
there  being  but  little  money  in  the  country.  The  predatory  crickets  nearly  devas- 
tated the  small  crops  of  the  few  remaining  farmers,  and  the  season  was  a  discourag- 
ing one  to  the  entire  upper  country. 

In  October  (1874)  the  writer  arrived  with  his  family  of  four  and  a  Mr.  Poole 
and  family  of  three  came  the  following  day.  An  intelligent  and  enterprising  Spokane 
named  Siliquowya,  had  fenced  in  below  the  bluff  about  180  acres  of  land,  and  had 
urged  the  writer  to  build  and  conduct  an  Indian  school  on  his  premises.  Messrs. 
Glover  and  Yeaton  generously  aided  the  project,  agreeing  to  e:xchange  lumber  for 
grain,  furs  and  ponies,  and  Mr.  Poole  accepted  horses  in  payment  for  his  aid  as 
builder.  The  greatest  event  of  the  season  was  the  visit  of  General  Jeff.  C.  Davis, 
department  commander,  on  a  tour  of  inspection  to  Fort  Colville.  He  met  the  Spo- 
kanes,  just  returned  from  their  camas  digging,  in  a  pleasant  powwow  in  front  of 
the  store.  As  the  Indians  were  new  hands  at  making  contracts  for  building  school- 
bouses,  they  went  beyond  their  resources,  and  the  debts  they  incurred  were  never 
fully  liquidated,  and  they  were  never  pressed  for  payment. 

The  first  school  district  among  the  whites  was  formed  that  fall  of  '74,  and 
comprised  the  region  between  Spangle  and  Colville,  on  the  south  and  north,  and 
the  Idaho  line  and  the  Columbia  river,  on  the  east  and  west.  Messrs.  Yeaton  and 
Poole  and  the  writer  were  elected  the  first  directors,  and  Mr.  Swift  clerk.  The 
first  school  was  organized  and  held  in  the  writer's  house,  and  comprised  six  pupils. 
Mrs.  Swift  finished  the  first  term,  as  the  writer's  time  was  demanded  exclusively  in 
the  Indian  school. 

The  first  territorial  election  was  held  in  Spokane  Falls  precinct  the  same  fall,  the 
polls  being  opened  in  Mr.  Glover's  house.  R.  H.  Wimpy  was  elected  to  represent 
Stevens  county  in  the  legislature.  D.  F.  Percival  of  Four  Lakes  (later  a  banker  at 
Cheney)  and  L.  W.  Meyers  of  Colville  were  elected  county  commissioners,  and  J. 
X.  Glover  justice  of  the  peace.  The  county  seat  of  Stevens  county  was  at  Colville, 
and  thither  the  writer  went,  a  distance  of  eighty-five  miles,  in  the  middle  of  Decem- 
ber, on  a  three-fold  errand — as  the  bearer  of  the  election  returns,  to  perform  the 
marriage  ceremony  for  Captain  Evan  Miles,  commander  of  the  garrison,  and  Miss 
Stitzel,  and  to  secure  a  teacher's  certificate. 

Notwithstanding  the  drawbacks  of  securing  anything  but  the  barest  necessaries 
of  life,  it  was  resolved  that  winter  to  celebrate  the  holidays  in  the  most  elaborate 
manner  at  the  command  of  the  little  community.     Mrs.  Yeaton,  Mrs.  Glover,  Mrs. 


372  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Cowley,  Mrs.  Swift,  'and  Mrs.  Poole  combined  their  resources,  and  probably  no 
more  enjoyable  Christmas  tree  and  supper,  and  New  Year's  dinner,  ever  gladdened 
the  hearts  of  the  eight  children  who  participated.  The  result  was  a  surprise  to  all, 
who  at  first  imagined  that  such  a  variety  of  gifts  and  good  things  could  not  be  mustered 
in  one  of  the  most  isolated  regions  of  the  west.  The  Indians  also  observed  the  fes- 
tivities in  their  own  peculiar  way,  and  the  bonds  of  peace  and  good  will  were 
strengthened  all  around. 

The  winter  and  summer  of  1875  hung  heavily  over  the  whole  land,  and  the  de- 
pression was  keenly  felt  at  Spokane.  Enterprise  drooped  listlessly,  and  no  improve- 
ments were  undertaken.  During  the  summer  of  this  season.  Rev.  S.  G.  Havermale, 
then  presiding  elder  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  passed  through  the  hamlet 
with  his  wife,  on  the  way  from  Colville  in  the  course  of  his  itinerary,  and  was  vividly 
impressed  with  the  scenery  and  water  power,  and  recognized  the  future  possibilities 
of  the  locality  as  a  commanding  site  for  a  city.  It  impressed  him  also  as  a  possible 
great  educational  center,  and  with  a  plan  for  an  academy,  he  returned  late  in  the 
fall  and  preempted  what  is  now  known  as  Havermale's  addition,  including  valuable 
water  power. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1876,  Frederick  Post  decided  to  remove  from  Rathdrum, 
and  transfer  his  mill  enterprise  from  the  present  village  of  Trent  to  the  Falls. 
With  his  interesting  family  the  acquisition  was  hailed  with  delight.  He  was  met  by 
the  town  proprietors  with  the  most  liberal  inducements.  Owing  to  the  scarcity  of 
help  but  little  was  done  this  season  toward  the  mill  enterprise  but  the  excavation  of  a 
flume  and  the  cutting  of  lumber.  The  town  firm  began  the  construction  of  a  new 
store  building  and  hall,  on  the  site  of  Glover's  corner  at  Howard  and  Front,  and 
hastened  its  preparations  for  the  celebration  of  the  Centennial  Fourth  of  July, 
which  was  carried  through  with  great  enthusiasm,  and  participated  in  by  all  the 
region  between  Snake  river  and  the  British  line.  The  gathering  was  an  inspiration 
to  all  eastern  Washington,  as  it  revealed  to  the  participants  the  larger  number  and 
superior  character  of  the  pioneers  than  had  been  looked  for.  The  celebration  was 
a  most  happy  success,  and  all  returned  more  contentedly  and  hopefully  to  their 
scattered  homes. 

The  population  of  the  Falls  was  increased  this  season  by  Messrs.  Downer, 
Evans  and  Smith.  Mr.  Evans  started  a  cabinet  shop,  and  Mr.  Downer  took  up  a 
farm  southeast  of  the  city.  Mr.  Smith  remained  for  a  time  and  went  to  farming  in 
Spangle. 

The  spring  of  1 877  revealed  but  faint  prospects  for  the  enlargement  of  enterprise, 
and  the  town  firm  dissolved  partnership,  Messrs.  Yeaton  and  Matheny  retiring.  The 
store  and  lumber  business  had  not  been  profitable,  but  Mr.  Glover  held  on.  This 
was  the  year  of  the  Nez  Perces  outbreak,  and  was  the  most  trying  period  in  the 
history  of  our  settlement.  The  massacre  of  the  settlers  on  Salmon  river  by  non-treaty 
Nez  Perces  terrified  the  whole  upper  country,  and  intense  anxiety  prevailed  in  an- 
ticipation of  a  general  outbreak  throughout  all  eastern  Washington,  Oregon  and 
northern  Idaho.  From  the  27th  of  June  till  the  10th  of  August  the  suspense  was 
painful  in  the  extreme,  and  many  removed  their  families  to  Walla  Walla  and  Colfax, 
and  the  latter  place  put  up  works  of  defense  and  organized  a  company  of  minate 
men.  There  were  a  few  days  of  terror  at  the  Falls,  and  the  farmers  and  their 
families  who  had  gathered  in  great  haste  for  refuge,  put  up  a  small  fortification 


A.  M.   CANNON  EEV.  SAMUEL  G.  HAVERMALE 


MKS.  SAMl'EL  G.  HAVERMALE 


JAMES  N.  GIX)VER  J.  J.  BROWNE 


,  . '  '  --  - 


I 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  373 

OD  the  Big  Island^  but  the  peaceable  assurances  of  the  Spokanes  induced  the  settlers 
to  scatter  to  their  homes  within  a  week.  There  was  a  great  relaxation  of  the  ten- 
sion, however,  when,  on  the  10th  of  August,  General  Frank  Wheaton  arrived  with 
500  troops  of  the  left  wing  of  General  Howard's  army,  which  had  pursued  the  hos^ 
tile  Nez  Perces  across  the  Clearwater  and  the  Bitter  Root  moimtains  into  Montana, 
where  they  were,  later  in  the  season,  captured  by  General  Miles. 

The  command  was  accompanied  by  Colonel  E.  C.  Watkins,  Indian  inspector, 
who  had  authority  to  convoke  the  Indians  of  eastern  Washington  and  northern  Ida- 
ho in  grand  council,  to  assign  them  reservations.  The  movement  of  troops  was  for 
the  several  purposes  of  blocking  the  possible'  return  of  the  hostiles  through  the 
Mullan  pass,  overawing  the  natives,  and  establishing  the  security  of  the  infant  set- 
tlements. The  great  council  was  held  in  the  plresfende  ©f  the  troops,  who  had  en- 
camped between  Riverside  avenue  and  the*  river,  on  Maverttiale's  addition.  All  the 
tribes  summoned  were  present  except  that. of  Moses,  who  refused  to  appear.  Aside 
from  the  confidence  inspired  in  the  settlement  by  the  visit  of  the  troops,  the  only 
result  was  the  decision  of  General  Sherman,  who  passed  through  later  in  the  season, 
with  an  escort  of  fifty  cavalry,  to  establish  a  post  at  Coeur  d'Alene  lake,  and  the 
wintering  of  two  companies  of  infantry  at  the  Falls,  preparatory  to  Ibuilding  the 
fort  in  the  spring  following. 

Herbert  and  Myron  Percival,  L.  W.  Rima,  Dr.  Masterson  and  several  others 
arrived  during  the  fall.  The  building  of  the  quarters  for  the  soldiery,  and  business 
created  by  their  presence,  presented  a  marked  contrast  to  the  previous  winters, 
and  inspired  new  confidence  that  the  country  would  come  out  all  right.  Mr.  Post 
had  so  far  completed  his  mill  that  he  began  to  turn  out  flour,  and  Spokane  began 
to  be  a  producing  point. 

The  spring  of  '78  saw  the  departure  of  the  troops  to  Coeur  d'Alene,  to  construct 
the  new  post,  the  revival  of  the  prospects  for  pushing  through  the  Northern  Pacific 
railroad,  and  the  arrival  of  Anthony  M.  Cannon  and  J.  J.  Browne,  whose  pur- 
chase of  a  joint  interest  in  the  town  site,  and  the  addition  of  a  large  stock  of  goods 
by  Cannon,  Warner  &  Co.,  gave  a  fresh  impetus  to  the  place.  Among  the  arrivals 
this  season  were  Captain  J.  M.  Nosier,  W.  C.  Gray,  Dr.  L.  P.  Waterhouse,  A.  E. 
Ellis  and  Piatt  Corbaley.  Mr.  Gray  built  the  beginning  of  the  old  California  house, 
and  opened  it  on  Thanksgiving  evening,  on  the  occasion  of  a  supper  and  ball  for 
the  benefit  of  the  public  school  building,  which  had  been  started  in  a  grove  near 
the  Northern  Pacific  right  of  way.  The  entertainment  was  unanimously  attended, 
and  netted  a  handsome  benefit  for  the  school. 

The  season  of  1879  brought  renewed  buoyancy  and  hope  in  the  resumption  of 
activity  along  the  line  of  the  Northern  Pacific  road.  A  resurvey  of  the  route  was 
poshed  through  eastern  Washington.  The  first  newspaper,  the  Spokane  Weekly 
Times,  was  established  by  Francis  H.  Cook,  then  a  member  of  the  territorial  legis- 
lature from  Pierce  county.  Howard  street  began  to  assume  a  business-like  aspect 
with  the  store  buildings  of  F.  R.  Moore  &  Co.,  corner  of  Front  and  Howard,  J.  T. 
Graham,  corner  of  Main  and  Howard,  Friedenrich  &  Berg,  opposite  corner,  N. 
P.  Hotel,  by  Arthur  &  Shaver,  J.  N.  Squier,  McCammon  &  Whitman,  R.  W.  Forrest, 
Louis  Ziegler,  Clark  &  Rickard,  and  Percival  &  Corbaley  on  Main,  and  Davis  & 
Cornelius  on  Front. 

A.  M.  Caimon  also  established  this  year  the  first  bank,  the  Bank  of  Spokane 


374  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Falls^  the  first  north  of  Snake  river.  The  first  two  churches,  the  Methodist  and  the 
Congregational,  were,  respectively  organized  in  April  and  May  of  this  season  by  Rev. 
J.  H.  Leard  and  Rev.  G.  H.  Atkinson.  '  The  legislature  of  1879  passed  a  bill  author- 
izing the  organization  of  Spokane  county,  located  the  temporary  county  seat  at  Spa- 
kane  Falls,  and  provided  for  a  confirmatory  ballot  on  permanent  location  the  follow- 
ing year. 

The  season  of  1880  witnessed  the  approach  of  the  ^construction  force  of  the  North- 
ern Pacific  railroad  from  Ainsworth,  on  Snake  river.  There  was  a  temporary  lull 
in  building  extension,  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  road.  The  year,  however,  was 
famous  for  the  rather  lively  discussion  of  the  question  of  permanent  location  of  the 
county  seat.  A  syndicate  of  railroad  men  and  capitalists  from  Colfax  saw  their 
opportunity,  laid  out  the  townsite  of  Cheney,  and  with  some  local  assistance  in  what 
was  then  called  the  Four  Lake  county  (around  Medical  Lake)  they  succeeded  in 
capturing  the  county  seat  by  a  small  majority.  Spokane  now  had  a  rival,  backed 
by  railroad  ofiicials  and  adverse  interests,  and  although  the  advent  of  the  railroad  in 
June  of  1881  brought  a  temporary  activity,  the  new  coimty  seat  took  the  cream  of 
the  boom,  and  for  two  years  Spokane  rather  languished. 

The  Spokane  Chronicle  was  established  in  July,  1881,  by  C.  B.  Carlisle,  and 
Congregational  and  Episcopal  church  edifices  were  erected.  The  first  brick  building 
was  erected  this  year  by  W.  M.  Wolverton,  corner  of  Riverside  and  Mill.  Although 
a  modest  two-story  structure,  some  thirty  by  fifty,  it  was  regarded  as  "a  new  era 
in  building  in  Spokane,**  and  a  finer  stroke  of  enterprise,  even,  than  the  recent  erec- 
tion of  the  Old  National  bank  building.  Movements  were  placed  on  foot  by  the 
Methodists  and  Catholics  to  lay  the  foundations  of  large  educational  institutions,  and 
through  the  encouragement  given  them  by  our  citizens,  these  two  religious  bodies 
decided  on  locating  here  the  Spokane  and  Gonzaga  colleges.  To  Elders  Havermale, 
Anderson,  Strong  and  Turner  is  due  the  credit,  seconded  by  Messrs.  Cannon,  Browne, 
Forrest  and  others,  for  the  measure  of  success  reached  in  the  establishment  of  the  for- 
mer; and  Rev.  J.  M.  Cataldo  and  his  confreres  for  the  latter.  Besides  contributions  in 
money  by  the  citizens  named.  Colonel  D.  P.  Jenkins  donated  to  the  Methodist  col- 
lege a  tract  of  land  beautifully  located  for  the  purpose,  north  of  the  river  and  west 
of  Monroe  street.  With  sagacious  foresight.  Father  Cataldo  applied  the  contribu- 
tions received  to  the  purchase  of  320  acres  of  railroad  land  at  $2.60  per  acre,  which  is 
now  worth  several  thousand  dollars  per  acre,  and  which  long  ago  was  platted  as  a 
part  of  the  city.  The  year  was  also  signalized  by  the  incorporation  of  the  town, 
and  a  municipal  government  was  organized,  with  R.  W,  Forrest  as  mayor,  and  A.  M. 
Cannon,  L.  H.  Whitehouse,  L.  W.  Rima,  F.  R.  Moore,  George  A.  Davis  and  W.  C. 
Gray  as  councilmen,  and  J.  Kennedy  Stout  as  city  attorney.  The  population  of  the 
previous  year  is  given  by  official  figures  as  670,  and  the  city  began  its  career  with  a 
population  of  about  1,000. 

It  was  an  occasion  of  enthusiastic  rejoicing  when  the  rails  were  laid  through 
town  late  in  June,  and  a  rousing  Fourth  of  July  celebration,  with  a  free  rail  ex- 
cursion to  Cheney,  duly  celebrated  the  occasion  of  connection  by  rail  with  the  rest 
of  the  world.  The  city  was  visited  during  the  summer  by  Henry  Villard,  the  new 
president  of  the  road,  and  a  coterie  of  capitalists,  who  were  given  a  reception  and 
duly  posted  as  to  the  promising  future  of  the  young  city ;  but  either  the  great  future 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  375 

was  too  dimly  perceptible,  or  there  was  too  little  spare  cash,  for  the  investments 
were  insignificant. 

During  the  previous  years,  the  sawmill  under  the  management  of  Messrs.  Glover 
&  Matheny,  and  Glover  &  Havermale,  had  passed  to  the  control  of  Messrs.  Cannon, 
Warner  &  Pease,  and  finally  emerged  into  the  Spokane  Mill  company  in  the  fall  of 
I8S6,  with  £.  J.  Brickell  as  the  administrative  genius.  Owing  to  frequent  loss  of 
logs  by  breaking  of  the  boom  in  the  river,  and  the  difficulty  of  securing  a  supply  of 
logs,  on  account  of  the  timber  laws,  the  mill  was  not  a  profitable  investment  for  the 
owners,  but  it  was  a  very  important  adjunct  in  the  building  of  the  city. 

Early  in  1882  Messrs.  Havermale  and  Davis  began  the  construction  of  the  Mam- 
moth Echo  Roller  Mills,  which  for  daring  enterprise  and  successful  results  had  not 
been  surpassed  in  eastern  Washington.  Mr.  Cannon  constructed  a  fine  wooden 
block,  on  the  comer  of  Riverside  and  Mill,  which  at  that  time  was  so  far  from  the 
"center  of  business"  that  it  was  regarded  as  an  exceedingly  doubtful  venture.  Mr. 
Cannon,  who  had  bought  out  Mr.  Warner's  interest  in  the  store,  removed  his  mer- 
cantile and  banking  business  to  the  new  quarters  in  December,  his  customers  promptly 
followed,  and  a  new  "business  center"  was  established.  The  Sprague  house  was 
also  built  and  opened  this  year  by  Wm.  Keyser,  and  added  materially  to  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  city. 

Mr.  Carlisle  was  succeeded  in  the  publication  of  the  Chronicle  by  H,  E.  Allen 
and  C.  B.  Hopkins,  who  in  turn  sold  out  in  the  fall  to  A.  K.  Woodbury.   Louis  Ziegler 
built  and  moved  into  a  fine  building  on  the  corner  of  Riverside  and  Howard.     The 
First  National  bank  was  organized  this  year.     There  were  other  substantial  im- 
provements, but  as  before  mentioned,  the  impetus  given  to  Cheney  by  the  removal 
of  the  county  seat  tended  to  divide  the  business  of  the  region,  and  Cheney  had  the 
real  boom  that  year.     Mr.  Forrest  was  reelected  mayor,  and  although  with  but  a 
meager  revenue,  the  city  government  was  reduced  to  better  working  order.    Among 
those  who  contributed  to  the  good  order  and  safety  of  the  city  in  its  earlier  days 
of  meagerest  salaries,  none  was  more  instrumental  than  ex-Marshal  and  ex-Council- 
man E.  B.  Hyde.     To  the  public  spirit,  self-denial  and  patience  of  the  early  mem- 
,    bers  of  the  city  government  is  d"*^  -r-n'-  vriise  for  the  good  order  and  prosperity 
of  the  city.     This  feature  of  our  early  growth  was  quickly  noticed  by  tourists,  and 
Spokane  became  noted  as  a  safe  and  attractive  place  for  residence  and  investments. 
The  first  considerable  fire  which  left  its  mark  in  Spokane  startled  the  city  on  the 
night  of  January  19,  1883.     The  conflagration  broke  out  the  coldest  night  of  the 
winter,  in  the  store  of  F.  R.  Moore  &  Co.,  and  as  there  was  no  fire  department,  the 
space  between  Front  street  and  the  alley  south,  comprising  F.  R.  Moore  &  Co.*s 
store,  Charlie   Carson's  restaurant,  Forrest's  grocery.  Porter's  drugstore  and  the 
postoffice,  was  completely  leveled,  and  Rima's  jewelry  store  across  the  alley  was  torn 
down  to  arrest  the  flames.     It  was  a  heavy  loss  and  could  illy  afford  to  be  borne, 
but  the  losers  had  resolved  almost  before  the  ashes  had  cooled  down,  to  rebuild  with 
brick.    The  year  1883  was  thus  signalized  by  a  new  impetus  in  building.    There  was 
a  loud  call  for  brick,  and  during  the  season  there  were  built  and  occupied  in  rapid 
succession,  the  Glover,  Burch,  Moore  &  Co.,  Forrest,  Hyde,  Gandy,  Rima,  French, 
Porter,  Wolverton,  Jamieson,  Wilson  and  Browne  buildings.    The  Echo  Roller  Mills 
were  so  far  completed  that  they  began  the  output  of  flour.    The  prospect  would  have 
been  most  hopeful,  but  for  the  drawback  of  the  long  drouth  of  that  season,  which 


376  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

lasted  about  four  months  and  pinched  the  agricultural  products  to  about  half  a 
crop.  It  was  an  experience^  however^  which  had  the  effect  of  establishing  a  basis  of 
confidence  in  the  remarkable  character  of  the  soil  of  eastern  Washington  for  pro- 
ducing crops  without  rain  or  irrigation. 

A  new  factor  in  the  growth  of  the  city  appeared  in  May  of  this  year,  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Spokane  Review  by  F.  M.  Dallam,  who  had  the  winter  before  dis- 
cerned the  bright  future  for  the  place,  and  launching  out  with  a  new  plant,  labored 
unceasingly  to  push  his  confidence  to  a  brilliant  issue.  The  Chronicle  chan^^ed 
hands,  passing  into  the  control  of  H.  T.  Cowley,  who  had  been  disabled  the  previous 
year  in  the  Indian  service  by  a  broken  leg.  The  Chronicle  repeated  the  experiment 
of  running  a  daily,  which  had  been  essayed  two  years  before  by  the  Times^  but 
the  short  crop  depressed  business,  and  the  daily  Chronicle  withdrew  to  await  better 
times. 

During  the  fall  of  this  year,  mineral  discoveries  in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mountains 
began  to  excite  attention,  and  it  was  soon  discerned  that  Spokane  was  to  participate 
in  an  unlooked  for  impetus.  The  existence  of  placer  gold  had  been  discovered  by 
Prichard  and  others,  on  what  is  now  known  as  Prichard  creek,  and  an  attempt  made 
by  the  discoverer  to  mine* the  auriferous  gravel  proved  a  failure  owning  to  the  great 
depth  of  the  snow,  and  the  disappointed  prospectors  came  near  hanging  the  unhappy 
leader.  Later  in  the  season  it  was  thoroughly  established  that  gold  was  there,  and 
before  winter  the  news  spread. 

The  connection  this  year  of  the  two  ends  of  the  Northern  Pacific  road,  from  the 
east  and  from  the  west,  at  Gold  Creek,  Montana,  which  occasion  was  elaborately 
magnified  along  the  line,  inspired  new  vigor  and  contributed  to  draw  mining  men 
and  adventurers  by  the  hundred  to  rendezvous  at  Spokane  that  winter,  to  be  ready 
for  the  first  dawn  of  spring  to  open  the  way  to  the  new  treasure  fields.  But  the 
impatient  crowd  of  adventurers  which  had  thronged  Spokane,  Rathdrum,  Missoula 
and  Butte,  and  the  hundreds  who  poured  in  from  other  mining  camps,  found  them- 
selves months  in  advance  of  the  proper  season  to  operate  in  a  mountainous  region, 
and  the  camp  being  covered  with  heavy  timber,  it  was  soon  discerned  that  the  fuller 
development  of  the  placers  would  be  the  work  of  years.  Discouragement  and  dis- 
gust took  early  possession  of  the  camps,  the  hopes  of  speedy  fortunes  melted  away 
with  the  mountain  torrents,  and  there  was  an  almost  wholesale  scattering  of  "dead 
broke"  prospectors. 

Of  course  this  was  a  sore  disappointment  to  the  expectant  city,  but  there  was 
sufficient  confidence  left  that  the  mines  would  yet  "turn  out  all  right,"  and  all  the 
spare  energj'  that  could  be  mustered  still  shaped  plans  to  utilize  the  mining  interests 
as  one  of  Spokane's  most  hopeful  resources.  To  verify  the  conviction  that  profitable 
mineral  deposits  existed  within  reach  of  the  city,  discoveries  were  made  during  the 
season  in  the  Colville  valley  which  resulted  in  a  considerable  diversion  from  the 
Coeur  d'Alene  placers  and  the  townsites  of  Chewelah  and  Embrey  were  laid  out  in 
anticipation  of  a  boom  in  that  direction.  Later  still  the  Pend  d'Oreille  region  showed 
metalliferous  indications,  and  Spokane  began  to  be  noted  as  a  mining  center. 

The  Spokane  College,  which  had  been  instituted  by  the  trustees  early  in  the 
winter  of  1882,  and  placed  in  charge  of  Prof.  I.  C.  Libby  as  president,  and  had 
been  conducting  classes  in  the  Methodist  chapel,  this  year  erected  a  substantial 
edifice  on  the  tract  over  the  river  donated  by  Colonel  D.  P.  Jenkins,  and  the  insti- 


FIRST   MEMORfAL   DAY   CELEBRATION    IN   SPOKANE 

aion    an   S^fond    avenue   en    r< 


RIVERSIDE  AND   HOWARD  STREETS,   1SS8 


ji  11'     »    »     11  ■■  T«» ■■■■■—■       1       i"l" 

THE  NE^V  YORK 

IFUBLIC  LlBkAKY 

1 
I 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  377 

totiozi  had  an  auspicious  start  in  its  new  home.  A  commodious  public  school  build- 
ing was  also  constructed^  and  the  basement  of  the  Catholic  college  was  laid^  and 
brick  prepared  for  raising  the  walls  the  next  season.  The  Post  street  bridge  was 
built  by  private  subscription^  and  a  movement  started  which  resulted  in  the  starting 
of  the  Spokane  Library  Association. 

Notwithstanding  its  drawbacks^  1883  was  a  season  of  great  activity^  and  on  the 
whole  very  satisfactory  in  results  for  Spokane^  revealing  the  enterprising  charac- 
teristics of  her  citizens^  and  showing  the  stability  of  her  resources  as  compared  with 
tjie  ephemeral  boom  of  Cheney^  which  now  began  to  show  signs  of  collapse. 

Although  the  previous  year  had  been  so  prolific  in  brick  building,  there  was 
still  demand  for  more  such  structures^  and  the  Moore  Sc  Mason  blocks  Squier  &  Ben- 
ham  block  and  the  Jamieson  block  were  added  in  1884  to  the  city's  substantial  busi- 
ness places.  A  fire  in  August  swept  off  Jbhe  row  of  buildings  on  the  southeast  cor- 
ner  of  Main  and  Howard^  while  the  Moore  &  Mason  block  was  under  construction^ 
and  late  in  the  season  a  one-story  uncompleted  brick  building  on  the  same  corner 
partially  replaced  the  burnt  space. 

The  Review  took  its  turn  in  June  of  this  year  to  do  the  daily  act^  beginning  as 
an  evening  paper,  and  although  it  had  to  face  the  dull  music  of  a  reaction,  it  never 
missed  an  issue,  although  its  former  proprietors  could  tell  of  some  hard  pinches. 

The  Holley  water  system,  which  was  started  by  a  local  company  under  a  city, 
charter,  was  brought  to  a  standstill  in  August,  owing  to  the  growing  financial  strin- 
gency, and  was  taken  under  control  by  a  citizens'  association  of  thirty,  who  each 
assumed  $1,000  responsibility,  with  the  pledge  that  at  the  ensuing  spring  election 
the  city  should  vote  to  reimburse  them  and  accept  proprietary  control.  The  spirit 
manifested  in  meeting  this  critical  emergency,  and  of  turning  over  the  valuable  fran- 
chise to  the  city,  was  a  gratifying  revelation  of  the  loyalty  of  our  citizens  to  the 
city's  best  interests. 

Two  volunteer  hose  companies  were  organized  during  the  year  and  did^  some 
valuable  service  at  the  three  fires  which  threatened  to  devastate  the  city.  Besides 
the  brick  buildings  put  up  this  season,  Wolverton  &  Conlan  built  a  frame  between 
the  Central  block  and  Jamieson's ;  Charles  Webster  a  frame  where  the  Hyde  block 
now  stands ;  W.  W.  Wolverton,  a  frame  next  his  brick ;  Moore  &  Cutter,  a  two-story 
frame;  J.  Lange,  one  on  the  corner  of  Howard  and  Sprague;  Witherspoon  &  Kinney 
built  two  on  the  opposite  corner  of- Sprague,  the  first  one  having  been  burned  in 
the  September  fire.  Loewenberg  Brothers  bought  out  the  mercantile  b.usiness  of 
Charles  Sweeny  &  Co.,  and  the  Great  Eastern  Co.  established  its  business. 

The  winter  of  1884-85  began  to  look  blue  to  many  of  our  business  men,  and  a 
few  of  the  smaller  enterprises  let  go  their  grip,  but  there  was  no  such  panic  as 
reigned  in  many  of  the  older  cities. 

Paul  F.  Mohr,  who  had  begun  late  in  the  fall  of  1884,  to  study  the  value  of 
the  water  power,  undertook  to  organize  a  syndicate  of  eastern  capitalists  to  furnish 
$400,000  to  purchase  the  water  power,  and  the  prospect  of  the  success  of  this  under- 
taking helped  to  buoy  up  the  situation.  The  financial  stringency  was,  however,  too 
apparent,  and  the  project  lapsed.  Early  in  February  H.  M.  McCartney  succeeded 
in  getting  a  contract  to  furnish  supplies,  by  way  of  the  Colville  valley  and  Colum- 
bia river  for  the  construction  force  on  the  Canadian  Pacific  road,  and  the  building 
of  a  steamboat  at  the  Little  Dalles,  together  with  the  collection  of  supplies,  afforded 


\ 


378  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

a  timely  relief,  and  kept  the  wheels  of  improvement  in  motion.  This,  with  the  stim- 
ulation of  prospecting  in  the  Colville  valley  (notably  the  discovery  of  the  Old 
Dominion  claim)  and  the  brighter  outlook  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  which  now  began 
to  develop  from  a  placer  to  a  quartz  camp,  renewed  the  fires  of  enthusiasm,  and 
Spokane  faced  the  hard  times  with  a  more  determined  mien. 

The  city  voted  at  the  April  election,  with  hardly  a  dissenting  vote,  to  assume 
control  of  the  waterworks.  The  Catholic  church  was  erected  and  the  college  build- 
ing advanced  toward  completion.  Mr.  Van  Valkenberg  put  up  an  extension  to  the 
Jamieson  block;  the  Spokane  Lumber  &  Manufacturing  Co.  was  organized  and  be-' 
gan  laying  the  foundations  for  extensive  works ;  Clark  &  Curtis  erected  the  C.  &  C. 
Mills;  an  electric  light  plant  was  put  into  operation  by  George  Fitch;  the  Spokane 
Manufacturing  company  started  with  modest  beginnings  on  Post  street,  developing 
the  next  year  into  a  large  plant  south  of  the  railroad  station;  and  surveys  were 
made  under  Paul  F.  Mohr  for  the  Spokane  &  Palouse  railroad.  A  strong  move  was 
made  at  the  session  of  the  legislature  to  secure  the  passage  of  an  act  to  enable 
the  county  to  vote  on  relocation  of  the  county  seat,  which  was  passed.  The  organi- 
zation of  the  Traders*  National  bank  in  November  was  a  bright  harbinger,  and 
the  year  closed  with  unusually  bright  prospects. 

The  spring  of  1886  opened  up  lively,  and  transferred  its  vigorous  gait  on  to 
summer  and  fall.  The  first  branch  railway,  the  Spokane  &  Palouse,  was  to  be  an 
undeniable  fact.  Its  establishment,  with  Spokane  as  terminals,  had  been  secured 
by  the  unremitting  efforts  of  A.  M.  Cannon  and  Paul  F.  Mohr,  who  were  respectively 
chosen  as  president  and  chief  engineer^  and  began  grading  with  the  earliest  dawn  of 
spring.  The  vast  silver  and  lead  deposits  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river  region  were 
brought  more  prominently  to  light,  and  the  fuller  significance. for  Spokane  of  these 
great  mineral  discoveries  began  to  be  more  generally  appreciated.  Capitalists  in- 
spected the  situation,  and  decided  that  there  must  be  an  outlet  for  the  ore,  and 
early  in  the  season  a  company  was  formed  to  construct  a  railway  to  Coeur  d'Alene 
lake,  which  was  later  in  the  season  transferred,  with  the  Coeur  d'Alene  Navigation 
company,  to  a  company  which  built  and  operated  it  under  the  title  of  the  Spokane  & 
Idaho  Railroad  company,  in  the  interest  of  the  Northern  Pacific.  Montana  capi- 
talists extended  the  highway  to  the  mines,  by  building  farther  on  from  Mission,  the 
head  of  navigation  on  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river,  to  Wardner. 

The  first  street  railway  company  set  on  foot  by  H.  C.  Marshall  and  A.  J.  Ross, 
was  granted  a  charter.  The  Spokane  Electric  Light  &  Power  company  was  or- 
ganized and  increased  the  electric  light  plant.  Mother  Joseph  of  Vancouver  plan- 
ned and  superintended  the  building  of  the  hospital  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  The 
Washington  &  Idaho  Fair  association  was  formed,  and  held  the  first  agricultural 
fair  in  Spokane. 

Prospecting  in  the  Okanogan  region  had  been  prosecuted  during  the  spring  and 
summer,  and  before  the  close  of  the  season  the  Salmon  river  mining  region  developed 
with  a  reputation  hardly  less  promising  than  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  Colville. 

The  Daily  Review,  which  had  been  changed  the  previous  season  to  a  morning 
daily,  brought  this  year  to  its  aid  H.  T.  Brown  and  H.  W.  Greenberg,  who  increased 
its  news  facilities  to  full  press  reports.  The  Chronicle  launched  out  as  an  evening 
daily,  with  Major  E.  A.  Routheas  editor,  and  now  divided  the  honors  with  the 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  379 

Review.  The  Northwest -Tribune  removed  from  Cheney  to  Spokane,  and  the  Daily 
News  was  run  for  several  weeks  as  a  campaign  paper. 

Mason^  Smith  &  Co.  bought  out  the  Schulein  Brothers  stock,  and  W.  D.  Plants  & 
Co.  established  a  wholesale  grocery  business.  Three-story  bricks  were  required 
this  year  to  meet  the  demand,  and  stately  blocks  were  put  up  by  A.  E.  Keats,  E. 
B.  Hyde,  W.  M.  Wolverton  and  F.  R.  Moore  for  business  and  office  purposes;  the 
Arlington  hotel,  four  stories,  by  Arthur  &  Lasher,  and  a  fine  two-story  block  by 
£.  J.  Brickell  for  the  postoffice  and  the  warehouse  of  the  Spokane  Mill  company. 
The  latter  firm  was  this  year  reorganized  from  the  former  Spokane  Lumber  & 
Manufacturing  company,  its  capital  and  scope  greatly  enlarged,  and  spacious  ac- 
commodations provided  for  its  varied  line  of  manufactures. 

The  Presbyterian  church  society  built  a  fine  house  of  worship. 

The  November  election  settled  the  county  seat  question  emphatically  in  favor 
of  Spokane.  The  year  closed  with  buoyant  and  accelerated  prospects,  and  left  to 
1887  the  heritage  of  more  brilliant  achievements  than  Spokane  had  yet  seen. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 

DISCOVERY  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  COEUR  D'ALENES 

EXISTENCE    OF    GOLD    KNOWN    IN    '508 MULLAN    SAW    NUGGETS   THERE    IN    VERY   EARLY 

DAY A.    J.    PRICHARD   FIRST    SYSTEMATIC    PROSPECTOR HONORS   DIVIDED   WITH   TOM 

IRWIN PRICHARD^S    STORY SCHEME     TO     COLONIZE     COUNTY    WITH     "LIBERALS*' 

DISCOVERY     NEAR     MURRAY WILD     STAMPEDE     OF     '83 KEEN     RIVALRY     BETWEEN 

SPOKANE    AND    AMBITIOUS    RIVALS FAMOUS    OLD    TOWN   OF   EAGLE M.    M.    COWLEY's 

RECOLLECTIONS MUSHROOM    PLACER    CAMPS DISCOVERY    OF    BUNKER    HILL THAT 

FAMOUS    DONKEY "dUTCH     JAKE's"     STORY SALE     OF     THE     GREAT     MINE OTHER 

FAMOUS      GALENA      STRIKES ROMANCE      OF      THE      HERCULES CHARLES      SWEENY'S 

OPERATIONS MARVELOUS  RECORD   OF   PRODUCTION  AND   DIVIDENDS STRANGE  STORY 

OF  **DREAM"    DAVIS. 

Above  the  pines  the  moon  was  slowly  drifting; 

The  river  sang  below; 
The  dim  Sierras,  far  beyond,  uplifting 

Their  minarets  of  snow. 

The  roaring  camp-fire,  with  rude  humor  painted 

The  ruddy  hues  of  health 
On  haggard  face  and  form  that  drooped  and  fainted 

In  the  fierce  race  for  wealth. 

— Bret  Harte. 

ASK  an  old-timer  in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  country  "Who  discovered  gold  in  this 
district?"  and  without  a  moment's  hesitation  he  will  answer,  "A.  J.  Prichard 
was  the  man."  That  Prichard  was  first  in  that  field  as  systematic  searcher 
for  placer  gold,  and  that  his  discoveries  brought  about  the  spectacular  rush  of 
1883-4,  no  longer  admits  of  doubt.  That  question  was  threshed  over  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago,  and  Adam  Aulbach,  veteran  editor  of  the  North  Fork 
country,  who  challenged  for  awhile  Prichard's  claim  to  the  distinction,  was  con- 
vinced after  a  painstaking  study  of  all  the  facts,  and  in  a  letter  published  in  1896 
testified  that  "gold  was  discovered  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  in  1882  by  A.  J.  Prichard 
on  what  is  now  known  as  Prichard  creek,  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the  north  fork 
of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river." 

The  existence  of  gold  was  known,  however,  many  years  before  Prichard  went 
through  the  country  with  his  gold  pan  and  prospector's  pack.     Lieutenant  John 

381 


382  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Mullan,  who  built  the  historic  Mullan  road,  took  note  in  1858-9  of  the  appearance 
of  great  ledges  of  mineral-bearing  quartz.  "Nay,  more,  I  now  recall  quite  vividly," 
wrote  Mullan  in  1884  to  the  Coeur  d'Alene  Eagle,  "that  one  of  my  hunters  and 
herders,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Moise,  a  French-Canadian,  came  into  camp  one 
day  with  a  handful  of  coarse  gold  which  he  said  he  had  found  on  the  headwaters 
of  the  north  fork  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  while  out  hunting  for  our  expedition.  This 
gold  was  so  pure,  so  heavy,  and  so  free  from  quartz  or  matrix  rock,  and  weigh- 
ing several  ounces,  that  it  attracted  not  only  a  great  deal  of  attention  but  some 
degree  of  surprise  at  the  time." 

"The  members  of  my  expedition,"  adds  Mullan,  "were  very  largely  old  miners 
from  California,  and  their  universal  verdict  was  that  the  entire  country  from  Coeur 
d'Alene  lake  on  toward  and  including  the  east  slope  of  the  Rocky  mountains  was 
one  vast  gold-bearing  country,  and  I  was  always  nervous  as  to  the  possible  dis- 
covery of  gold  along  the  line  of  my  road ;  and  I  am  now  frank  to  say  I  did  nothing 
to  encourage  its  discovery  at  that  time,  for  I  feared  that  any  general  discovery 
would  lead  to  a  stampede  of  my  men  from  my  own  expedition  and  thus  destroy 
the  probable  consummation  of  my  work  during  the  time  within  which  I  desired 
to  complete  the  same.  I  then  regarded  it  as  of  the  first  importance  to  myself  and 
the  public  to  open  a  base  line  from  the  plains  of  the  Spokane  on  the  west  to  the 
plains  of  the  Missouri  on  the  east,  from  which  other  lines  could  be  subsequently 
opened  and  by  means  of  which  the  correct  geography  of  the  country  could  be 
delineated." 

Prichard*s  own  statements  seem  straightforward  and  bear  an  impress  of  verac- 
ity. He  came  to  the  Coeur  d'Alene  country  in  the  fall  of  1878,  from  New  Mexico 
by  way  of  Colorado  and  Montana.  "I  found  the  quartz  lead  known  as  the  Evolu- 
tion lead,  on  my  way  in  in  November,  1878.  It  being  late  in  the  fall,  I  went  to 
Post  Coeur  d'Alene  (Fort  Sherman),  thence  over  to  Heyden's  lake  where  I  did 
some  work  for  Heyden,  and  remained  until  January.  While  there,  hearing  that 
Cannon,  Warner  &  Co.  wanted  some  logs,  I  went  to  Spokane  Falls  to  see  them 
and  took  a  contract." 

In  after  years  Tom  Irwin  was  given  credit  by  some  for  pioneering  in  the 
Coeur  d'Alenes.  "My  first  acquaintance  with  Irwin,"  says  Prichard,  "was  in 
January,  '79,  while  at  the  falls.  Finding  him  gentlemanly  and  an  old  prospector, 
we  talked  over  the  prospects  of  the  country,  in  which  I  spoke  of  my  finding  what 
is  now  known  as  the  Evolution  lead.  In  the  spring  while  I  was  at  work  Mr. 
Irwin  came  up  on  a  prospecting  trip  on  the  South  Coeur  d'Alene.  Being  short  of 
provisions  Irwin  had  to  return,  doing  very  little  prospecting.  On  his  return  he 
found  the  lead  near  Miners'  camp,  to  which  he  afterwards  returned  and  put  up 
his  cabin  in  the  summer  of  '79." 

Prichard  says  he  returned  to  his  Evolution  claim  in  the  fall  of  1879,  and 
worked  his  lead  through  the  winter,  but  "doing  very  little  execution,  having  no 
tools  to  work  with  and  no  money  to  buy,  having  only  a  silver  dollar  left  on  arriv- 
ing. In  February  I  commenced  prospecting  on  a  small  gulch  called  Prospect 
gulch,  putting  in  sluice  boxes  in  March,  and,  to  my  knowledge,  taking  out  the  first 
placer  gold  on  the  Coeur  d'Alene.  It  being  a  small  gulch,  the  water  did  not  last 
long,  but  I  got  some  very  nice  specimens  of  coarse  gold." 

If  Prichard's  statement  be  accepted,  his  discovery  of  placer  gold  was  made, 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  383 

therefore,  in  the  spring  of  1880.  He  remained  on  the  South  Fork  in  1880,  work- 
ing on  the  Evolution  lead  and  prospecting,  but  in  1881  went  over  the  mountains, 
alone,  to  the  North  Fork  coimtry,  and  prospected  on  Prichard  creek.  From  one 
pan  of  dirt  there,  according  to  Mrs.  Prichard,  he  washed  out  $42.  These  were 
bonanza  returns,  and  Prichard  must  have  realized,  as  an  old  prospector,  that  if 
the  facts  became  known  outside  they  would  create  a  sensation  and  precipitate  a 
stampede.  For  that  he  was  not  ready,  a  fact  which  explains  his  quiet  operations 
over  a  period  of  three  or  four  years.  He  held  infidel  or  "liberal"  views,  was  a 
constant  reader  of  the  "Truth  Seeker,"  and  cherished  a  dream  of  a  colony  made 
up  of  people  holding  to  his  anti-religious  opinions.  In  1888  the  Spokane  Review 
printed  a  copy  of  a  letter  from  Prichard  to  a  "liberal  friend,"  dated  "Evolution, 
January  7,  1888."  "I  have  made  a  discovery,"  he  affirmed,  "of  a  gold-bearing 
conntry  that  will  give  emplojonent  to  at  least  15,000  to  20,000  men.  There  are 
two  streams  that  I  have  prospected  well;  one  is  sixteen  to  twenty-five  miles  long, 
as  near  as  I  can  judge;  the  other  twelve  to  sixteen  miles,  and  an  average  width 
of  sixty  to  seventy  rods ;  have  found  gold  on  three  other  streams  of  near  the  same 
size,  but  have  not  tested  them  enough  to  know  how  they  will  pay.  The  two  streams 
I  speak  of  will  pay  their  whole  length,  and  probably  most  of  their  tributaries, 
with  an  abundance  of  good  timber  and  water.  Bedrock  from  five  to  twelve  feet. 
Gold  coarse  and  of  good  quality.  There  are  two  good  and  natural  townsites  where 
will  be  built  cities  representing  thousands  in  less  than  two  years,  and  the  country 
is  traversed  with  hundreds  of  mineral  bearing  lodes  of  quartz.  And  now  for 
good  reasons  which  I  have  not  time  to  explain,  I  would  like  to  see  as  much  of  this 
go  into  the  hands  of  the  liberals  as  possible,  and  also  see  them  build  a  city  where 
they  can  have  their  own  laws  and  enough  of  this  vast  mining  region  to  support  it, 
which  they  can  do  if  they  will  go  at  it  cool  and  work  together." 

Meanwhile  Prichard  had  continued  his  prospecting  on  the  North  fork.  In 
1882,  accompanied  by  William  Dempsey,  Phil  Markson,  Fanning  and  Gelatt,  he 
located  claims  near  the  mouth  of  Eagle  creek,  and  the  party  put  in  several  months 
preparing  to  work  the  ground. 

"In  March,  1883,"  says  William  S.  Shiach,  in  the  History  of  North  Idaho,  "Mr. 
Prichard  located,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  present  Murray,  the  Discovery  group,  con- 
sisting of  four  claims,  one  of  which  was  for  his  son  Jesse,  one  for  Mrs.  C.  A. 
Schultz  of  Michigan,  one  for  Mrs.  Mary  H.  Lane  of  Illinois  (this  is  the  claim 
which  subsequently  became  known  as  the  'Widow's  claim'),  and  one  for  Willard 
0.  Endicott,  a  son  of  Mr.  Prichard's  old  lieutenant.  In  each  of  these  Prichard 
was  to  have  a  half  interest  for  working  and  management.  Besides  the  Discovery 
group  he  took  a  great  many  other  claims  on  the  creek  bank  for  different  friends 
by  power  of  attorney.  Gelatt  took  a  claim  which  developed  into  one  of  the  lead- 
ing producers  in  the  camp.  Dempsey  located  placer  ground  about  a  mile  above 
Eagle." 

Prichard  derived  little  substantial  or  enduring  benefit  from  his  discoveries. 
He  died  in  his  lonely  cabin,  near  Murray,  a  decade  ago,  dreaming  to  the  last  of 
the  glory  that  was  his,  and  the  hidden  gold  which  lay,  as  he  believed,  in  the  claims 
he  had  retained  so  long,  and  so  faithfully  developed  from  year  to  year. 

Letters  from  Prichard  to  members  of  Liberal  leagues  throughout  the  Rocky 
mountain   and    Pacific   coast   states   and   territories   awakened    widespread   interest 


384  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

and  by  early  summer,  1883,  miners,  prospectors  and  adventurers  in  large  numbers 
were  entering  the  Coeur  d'Alene  country.  Prichard  had  done  his  work  with  thor- 
oughness— had  located  for  friends  nearly  all  the  valuable  ground  along  Pridiard 
creek,  and  in  protest  against  his  greed  later  arrivals  started  the  practice  of  claim 
jumping.  Prichard  and  his  little  group  of  partners  on  the  ground  saw  that  thej 
could  not  hold  claims  for  absentees,  and  sent  a  hurried  call  to  friends  in  the  Palouse 
country.  "At  least  fifty  responded,"  says  Shiach,  "coming  in  by  every  species  of 
conveyance,"  and  about  that  time  another  party  of  thirty,  led  by  Wm.  StillweS^ 
Barney  McAleer  and  William  Osburn  came  upon  the  scene.  "At  first  claims  were 
held  by  those  who  could  muster  the  greatest  show  of  force  to  defend  their  real 
or  pretended  rights,  but  the  numerous  disputes  were  later  taken  into  the  courts 
and  made  the  subject  of  protracted  and  costly  litigation." 

The  Northern  Pacific,  nearing  completion  that  year,  had  been  built  at  enormous 
expense  through  a  wild  and  unsettled  region.  Foreign  bondholders  were  beginning 
to  question  the  soundness  of  Mr.  Villard's  judgment  in  placing  their  investments 
in  so  desolate  a  region,  and  officials  of  the  company  seized  eagerly  on  news  of  the 
gold  find  to  stimulate  travel  and  foster  the  country's  development.  A  circular  they 
scattered  far  and  wide  in  the  summer  of  1883  was  later  severely  blamed  for  the 
midwinter  rush  of  1883-4,  with  all  its  attendant  disappointments,  hardships  and 
suffering. 

"The  claims  are  very  rich,"  said  the  railroad  pamphlet.  .  .  .  "Nuggets 
have  been  found  which  weigh  $50,  $100,  $166  and  $200.  .  .  .  The  ore  taken 
from  veins  shows  a  great  amount  of  free  gold;  in  fact,  it  fairly  glistens.  .  .  . 
Such  is  a  brief  sketch  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mines,  which  surpass  in  richness  and 
volume  the  most  fabulous  quartz  and  placers  ever  discovered,  even  the  famous 
deposits  of  Potosi  being  inferior  to  those  which  underlie  the  mountains  of  the 
Coeur  d'Alenes.  As  the  mines  of  the  old  world,  some  of  which  have  been  worked 
since  the  eleventh  century,  are  still  employing  thousands  of  men,  the  conclusion 
to  be  drawn  in  regard  to  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  a  region  far  superior  in  every  way, 
is  that  they  are  inexhaustible,  and  although  thousands  may  work  them,  there  will 
still  be  room  for  thousands  more." 

This  was  conjecture,  pure  and  audacious,  but  the  prophet  divined  even  wiser 
than  he  knew. 

Ambitious  towns  on  the  Northern  Pacific  engaged  in  keen  rivalry  as  outfitting 
points  for  the  new  mines.  Chief  of  these  were  Spokane,  Rathdrum  and  Thompson 
Falls,  Montana.  Spokane  and  Rathdrum  ran  opposition  stage  lines  to  Coeur 
d'Alene  City,  where  passengers  took  steamer  up  Coeur  d'Alene  lake  and  river  to 
Kingston.  There  a  train  of  thirty  saddle  horses  conveyed  them  to  Jackass,  on  the 
MuUan  road  three  miles  above  Elingston,  and  thence  over  the  divide  to  Eagle 
City,  the  first  town  to  be  laid  out  in  the  placer  district.  Town  lots  there  in  March 
brought  from  $200  to  $2,000.  Heating  stoves  sold  at  from  $20  to  $80,  and  cook 
stoves  at  $75  to  $150.  Mail  was  carried  on  snow  shoes,  and  the  carriers  charged 
fifty  cents  for  a  letter.  "Many  a  poor  fellow  is  in  camp  who  cannot  pay  fiftr 
cents  for  a  letter,"  protested  the  Nugget  newspaper;  "many  a  one  who  could  do 
so  cannot  get  his  letters  with  any  degree  of  promptness  or  certainty." 

Conditions  there  were  thus  pictured  by  the  Eagle  in  April,  1884: 

"Eagle  presents  the  appearance  of  a  hard  place.     Its  buildings  are  located  on 


CITY   OP   COEUR   D'ALENE,   IDAHO 


INDIANS  IN  BARK  CAXOG  OX  LAKE  CALISPEL 


OLD  COEUK  D'ALENE  MISSION 
Sketched  bv  Stevens'  Expetlition  in  1853 


LAKE  PEND   D'ORBILLE,   FORMERLY   CALLED   LAKE   KALISPELM 


( 


:me  rJtw  YORK 
IPUHLIC  LIBRARYl 


^^'E  NEW  vo;?i^ 


^^^-^    L«*»<,x 


''^^  fiONf 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  385 

lots  from  which  snow  to  the  depth  of  four  feet  has  been  excavated  and  dumped 
into  the  street^  so  that  between  the  buildings  and  the  streets  there  is  a  solid  wall 
of  snow.  The  buildings  are  composed  of  logs  and  shakes.  Great  tents  with 
gaudily  painted  signs  loom  up  in  endless  variety,  while  from  within  come  the 
sound  of  revelry  and  strains  of  music,  the  click  of  chips  and  metallic  chink  of  hard 
cash  as  it  passes  over  the  bar.  The  streets  and  public  places  are  thronged  night 
and  day  with  miners  and  prospectors  waiting  for  the  snow  to  disappear,  so  they 
can  get  off  into  the  mountains  on  their  annual  prospecting  tour.  Then  there  are 
the  packers  and  transient  population,  a  tough-looking  crowd,  but  very  orderly,  who 
stand  around  enjoying  the  luxury  of  a  sun  bath. 

''On  the  corners  are  knots  of  men  talking  mines  ai^d^  mining,  and  criticizing 
ore  specimens  that  pass  from  hand  to  hand;.  The  stores  are  thronged  discussing 
the  locahty  and  merits  of  the  last  new  thing  in  strikes.  The  report  of  a  pistol 
shot  will  bring  a  hundred  men  to  their  feet  for  an  instant,  and  the  saloons  will 
disgorge  twice  as  many  more  in  the  same  moment,  all  on  the  alert  to  catch  a  sensa- 
tion, which  has  never  occurred  yet.  Then  there  are  the  arrival  of  pack  trains  and 
toboggans  in  a  more  or  less  advanced  stage  of  dilapidation  from  hard  usagpe  on 
the  different  trails.  ...  This  is  about  the  status  of  Eagle  today.  Every 
branch  of  business  is  well  represented.  We  have  two  banks,  several  stores  of 
general  merchandise,  and  more  saloons  and  lodging  houses  than  you  can  shake  a 
stick  at." 

"In  the  late  fall  of  1888  Coeur  d'Alene  was  struck,  but  there  was  not  much 
doing  till  the  early  summer  of  1884,"  says  M.  M.  Cowley.  "Spokane  was  then  a 
town  of  900  to  1,000  people,  but  what  they  were  lacking  in  numbers  they  made 
up  in  energy,  perseverance  and  pluck.  When  gold  was  struck  the  movement  of 
mining  men  towards  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  was  picturesque  and  characteristic  of  the 
early  inhabitants  of  the  country.  There  was  a  stage  line  established  in  the  winter 
of  1888,  to  take  passengers  to  Coeur  d'Alene  City,  in  opposition  to  one  from  Rath- 
dmm  to  the  same  place,  and  a  rivalry  sprang  up  between  the  two  towns  to  get  the 
people  from  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  to  the  lake.  Those  who  were  not  finan- 
cially able  to  ride  on  stages,  steamboats  or  on  horseback,  went  afoot,  with  their 
blankets  and  food  on  their  backs. 

"When  the  excitement  was  at  its  height,  in  the  early  spring  of  1884,  a  young 
man  passed  by  where  I  then  lived,  at  Spokane  Bridge,  with  his  blankets  and  a  very 
limited  supply  of  food.  He  was  a  talkative  chap,  and  in  the  conversation  about  the 
mines  I  asked  him  where  he  came  from.  He  replied  San  Francisco,  where  he  had 
been  working  for  Murphy,  Grant  &  Co.,  a  large  firm  in  that  city.  *Have  you  any 
mining  experience.^'  He  answered  no.  'Well,*  said  I,  'you  take  the  advice  of  an 
experienced  person.  Go  back  now,  if  your  job  is  open,  and  resume  the  dry-goods 
business.  You  are  too  yoqng  for  this  opening.'  He  went  on,  and  in  the  late  fall 
he  turned  up  again,  on  his  way  back  to  San  Francisco,  and  he  had  made  over 
$1,000  in  a  very  peculiar  way.  He  had  started  a  lodging  house  by  driving  pickets 
in  the  ground  in  a  circle,  with  an  opening  for  a  door,  and  got  tentage  enough  to 
cover  it  on  credit,  as  he  had  none,  or  very  little  cash,  and  charged  fifty  cents  a 
ni^t  for  allowing  a  person  to  spread  his  own  blankets  inside  the  enclosure.  Of 
course  he  kept  the  place  clean,  and  kept  a  lock  on  the  door,  and  all  his  patrons  were 
satisfied  with  the  accommodations." 


386  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Soon  Eagle  City  had  its  rivals^  and  before  the  end  of  1884  Murray  had  taken 
the  lead.  Mushroom  towns  sprang  up  that  year^  flourished  a  few  fevered  months, 
and  became  a  memory.  In  this  class  were  Beaver  City,  Carbon  City,  Butte  City 
(later  Littlefield),  Raven  City,  and  Myrtle. 

Development  proved  that  many  of  the  2,000  placer  claims  staked  out  that  year 
in  the  North  Fork  country  were  good  producers.  A  number  of  them  yielded  an 
ounce  a  day  to  the  man,  and  a  few  were  much  richer,  but  the  diggings  fell  short 
of  expectations,  and  never  approximated  the  wealth  of  old  Pierce  City,  Orofino 
and  Florence.  Hundreds  of  disappointed  men,  taking  the  back  trail  after  a  few 
weeks  of  idleness  or  superficial  effort  at  prospecting,  were  emphatic  in  denuncia- 
tion of  the  country  and  the  men  and  interests  who  were  blamed  for  inciting  the 
stampede. 

But  men  of  pluck  and  persistence,  plenty  of  them,  stayed  with  the  country. 
They  saw  that  it  was  full  of  mineral,  both  quartz  and  placer;  that  time  is  required 
to  test'  a  new  mining  camp;  and  that  a  determined  fellow,  not  afraid  of  work 
and  hard  fare  in  the  virgin  wilderness,  stood  an  excellent  chance  of  turning  up  a 
fortune.  Of  this  type  were  Phil  O'Rourke,  seasoned  by  years  of  experience  in 
Colorado,  N.  S.  Kellogg,  Con  Sullivan,  "Dutch  Jake"  Goetz  and  easily  several 
himdred  others.  Time  has  amply  sustained  their  judgment,  for  within  a  twelve- 
month after  the  district's  fierce  denunciation,  came  discovery  of  the  marvelous 
treasure  vaults  of  the  South  Fork  region,  mines  which  literally  have  surpassed  the 
famous  historic  producers  of  old  Potosi. 

Most  famous  of  them  all  perhaps  comes  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan,  dis- 
covered in  the  fall  of  1885 — not  by  the  historic  donkey,  although  the  donkey  figured 
conspicuously  and  profitably  to  its  owners  in  subsequent  litigation,  but  by  the 
trained  eye  of  Phil  O'Rourke. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1885  Cooper  &  Peck  of  Murray  "grubstaked"  N.  S. 
Kellogg  for  a  prospecting  trip  through  the  hills.  Thus  provided  with  $18.75 
worth  of  provisions  and  tools,  and  a  Mexican  burro  as  beast  of  burden,  Kellogg 
scouted  over  the  South  Fork  country  for  sixty  days,  and  returned  to  Murray  with 
samples  from  a  big  iron-capped  quartz  ledge  he  had  discovered,  near  the  present 
site  of  the  town  of  Kellogg.  Cooper  &  Peck  showed  this  ore  to  John  M.  Burke, 
who  saw  at  once  that  it  was  not  free  milling  gold  rock,  and  when  so  informed 
the  grubstakers  expressed  their  disappointment  in  pretty  sharp  terms  to  Kellogg. 

Jacob  Goetz  ("Dutch  Jake")  says  Kellogg  showed  his  samples  to  Phil  O'Rourke, 
and  "it  didn't  take  Phil  a  minute  to  see  that  they  gave  promise  of  producing  some 
galena  or  carbonates  like  the  ores  that  made  Colorado  famous.  Phil  came  to  me  and 
told  me  we'd  better  join  Kellogg  in  staking  that  ground,  so  I  turned  our  cay  uses  and 
provisions  over  to  Phil  and  Kellogg,  and  they  struck  right  off  for  the  South  Fork. 
Meantime  Kellogg  had  notified  Cooper  &  Peck  that  he  had  quit  the  grubstake  deal 
with  them." 

On  Milo  creek  they  lost  a  packhorse,  and  while  old  man  Kellogg  went  in 
search  of  it,  O'Rourke  scouted  up  Milo  gulch.  Near  its  head  he  found  "float" 
galena,  "and  though  it  was  dreadful  hard  work  to  get  through  the  brush  and  fallen 
timber,  he  climbed  up  the  hill  about  500  feet,  and  there  he  stumbled  upon  the 
great  Bunker  Hill  ledge,  sticking  right  up  out  of  the  ground.     There  was  nothing 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  387 

in  sight  but  glittering  galena^  and  O'Rourke  knew  he  had  found  the  greatest  thing 
ever  discovered  in  the  northwest." 

O'Rourke  told  the  writer^  several  yes^rs  later^  that  at  sight  of  that  shining  mass 
of  ore,  glistening  in  the  autumn  sunlight^  his  strength  forsook  him^  he  turned 
weak  in  the  knees^  and  was  unable  to  walk  until  he  had  sat  down  and  rested  for 
half  an  hour.  "That  night,"  says  "Dutch  Jake,"  "he  wrote  out  the  location  notice 
and  called  the  mine  the  Bunker  Hill,  after  the  battle  of  the  revolution.  But  he 
decided  it  would  be  better  to  have  Kellogg  sign  the  notice  as  locator. 

"Next  morning  they  started  up  the  gulch  about  two  miles  to  make  the  loca- 
tion, but  their  cayuses  had  strayed  away.  As  luck  would  have  it,  they  found 
the  old  white  burro  that  Cooper  &  Peck  had  turned  over  to  Kellogg  as  a  part  of 
his  grubstake.  The  burro  had  wandered  away  when  Kellogg  was  there  first. 
They  caught  the  beast,  and  loading  their  picks  and  grub  on  it,  went  up  the  gulch 
to  the  Bunker  Hill  lode.  Then  Kellogg  happened  to  think  that  maybe  he'd  better 
not  appear  as  locator,  for  Cooper  &  Peck  might  claim  an  interest  on  account  of 
his  first  grubstake.  So  they  threw  away  the  location  notice,  with  Kellogg  as 
locator  and  wrote  a  new  one,  with  O'Rourke  as  locator  and  Kellogg  as  witness. 

"They  went  back  to  Murray  next  morning,  and  the  sight  of  their  samples  set 
the  camp  crazy.  Everybody  knew  in  a  general  way  that  the  find  was  on  the  South 
Fork,  and  although  O'Rourke  and  Kellogg  wouldn't  tell  folks  exactly  where  it 
lay,  the  miners  were  getting  ready  for  a  stampede. 

"Phil  took  me  off  to  one  side  and  wanted  me  to  locate  the  extension  of  the 
Bunker  Hill.  He  thought  that  I'd  better  take  Con  Sullivan  along  with  me. 
Sollivan  was  a  sort  of  side  partner  of  Phil's.  That  night  at  10  o'clock  Con  and  I 
started  out  in  a  furious  rain,  without  even  a  pack  horse." 

Goetz  and  Sullivan  lost  their  bearings,  wandered  over  into  the  St.  Joe  coun- 
try, and  for  two  days  were  without  food  and  almost  destitute  of  water.  •  They 
rambled  in  a  circle,  and  finally  came  out  on  the  South  Fork  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene, 
SnUivan  went  on  to  the  discovery,  but  Goetz  returned  to  Murray  in  a  rage,  think- 
ing O'Rourke  had  tried  to  deceive  him  by  giving  wrong  directions.  "But  when  I 
reached  Murray  I  got  word  to  come  back  to  the  strike,  so  back  I  went,  and  found 
out  that  Phil  had  made  a  mistake. 

"Meanwhile  Cooper  &  Peck  had  been  over  there  looking  at  the  strike.  They 
found  the  first  location  notice  that  Kellogg  had  thrown  aside,  and  they  learned 
through  the  talk  of  Kellogg  and  O'Rourke  that  the  two  used  Cooper  &  Peck's 
burro  in  making  the  location.  That  was  enough  for  Cooper  &  Peck,  and  they  com- 
menced suit  against  the  locators  for  a  half  interest  in  the  property  on  account 
of  their  original  grubstake.  They  didn't  think  of  locating  the  extensions  to  the 
Bunker  Hill,  for  O'Rourke  had  put  up  some  fictitious  posts  to  cover  the  ground. 
So  when  I  got  back  there  Sullivan  and  I  located  an  extension,  and  we  called  it 
the  Sullivan  mine,  in  honor  of  John  L.  Sullivan,  the  pugilist.  It  was  staked  Sep- 
tember 10,  1885,  just  ten  days  after  the  Bunker  Hill  was  staked. 

"When  Cooper  &  Peck's  suit  for  a  grubstake  was  brought  in  the  district  court 
at  Murray  the  jury  gave  a  verdict  against  them.  However,  Judge  Norman  Buck, 
who  presided,  reversed  the  jury's  verdict  and  held  that  the  real  discoverers  of 
the  Bunker  Hill  were  Phil  O'Rourke,  Kellogg  and  the  jackass,  which  was  the 
property  of  Cooper  &  Peck.     He  gave  them  a  quarter  interest  in  the  Sullivan 


388  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

and  a  half  interest  in  the  Bunker  Hill.  It  was  shown  in  the  trial  that  Messrs. 
Cooper  &  Peck  only  went  good  for  a  grubstake  to  Kellogg^  amounting  to  $22.85. 
They  had  paid  $2.40  of  it  and  the  balance  is  unpaid  to  this  day.  W.  B.  Heybum, 
now  senator  from  Idaho^  and  Major  Woods  of  Wallace^  Idaho^  were  counsel  for 
Cooper  &  Peck.  Our  attorneys  were  Albert  Allen,  Judge  Clagett  and  Frank 
Ganahi.  The  lawyers  all  got  interests  in  the  mine  for  their  fees.  We  appealed 
the  case  to  the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  but  while  it  was  pending  there  a  deal 
was  made  to  sell  the  mine  to  Sim  Reed  of  Portland,  Oregon.  It  was  necessary  to 
give  him  a  clear  title,  so  we  compromised  by  paying  Cooper  &  Peck  $76^000. 

"The  sale  was  made  in  May,  1887,  and  it  was  put  thorough  by  Colonel  'Jim' 
Wardner.  Harry  Baer  and  I,  who  were  partners  in  all  our  mining  operations, 
got  $200,000  cash  in  one  lump  for  our  interests.  Phil  O'Rourke  got  over  $200,000, 
Kellogg  got  $800,000,  Con  Sullivan  got  $75,000,  and  Alex  Monk,  a  sort  of  side- 
partner  of  O'Rourke's,  got  $75,000." 

Sim  Reed  of  Portland  sold  the  great  property  to  D.  O.  Mills  and  a  San  Fran- 
cisco syndicate.  Mills  entrusted  the  presidency  and  management  to  John  Hays 
Hammond,  and  Hammond  chose  Victor  Clement  for  his  superintendent.  A  few 
years  later  Hammond  was  employed  by  Cecil  Rhodes  as  chief  engineer  of  his 
South  African  gold  mines,  and  Clement  went  with  the  noted  mining  engineer  to 
Johannesburg.  The  two  became  involved  in  British  intrigues  against  the  Boer 
government,  were  arrested,  tried  and  convicted  of  high  treason  and  sentenced  to 
be  shot.  Powerful  American  and  British  interests  intervened,  and  Presaden!} 
Kruegper  commuted  the  sentence  to  a  $300,000  iSne  against  Hammond  and  $100,000 
against  Clement,  on  condition  that  they  leave  the  country  and  never  return.  They 
were  glad  to  escape  with  their  lives. 

Meanwhile  other  prospectors  had  been  active  in  the  hills  and  gulches  around 
the  present  towns  of  WaUace,  Burke  and  MuUan.  A  number  of  claims  which  sub- 
sequently were  developed  into  great  producing  mines  had  been  discovered  prior 
to  the  iSnding  of  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan;  To  John  Carton  and  Almeda  Sey- 
more,  who  discovered  the  Tiger  lode  on  Canyon  creek.  May  2,  1B84,  belongs  the 
distinction  of  finding  the  first  silver-lead  mine  in  that  district.  After  they  had 
revealed  its  possibilities  by  development  work  they  bonded  it  to  John  M.  Burke, 
and  he  in  turn  bonded  it  to  S.  S.  Glidden  of  St.  Paul,  a  pioneer  merchant,  mine 
developer  and  railroad  builder  of  keen  sagacity  and  enterprise.  F.  R.  Culbertson 
became  manfger  in  1885  and  he  and  Mr.  Glidden  entered  on  a  vigorous  policy  of 
mine  development,  cutting  trails  to  Placer  Center  (now  Wallace)  and  Thompson 
Falls,  Montana.  Mr.  Glidden  organized  the  Canyon  Creek  railroad  company 
and  later  sold  it  to  D.  C.  Corbin. 

J.  G.  Hunter  and  F.  A.  Moore,  Montana  prospectors,  found  the  Hunter  mine, 
near  Mullan,  May  15,  1884.  The  famous  Standard  group,  one  mile  from  Burke, 
was  discovered  May  7,  1885,  by  Timothy  McCarthy,  Timothy  Hynes,  Frank  Han- 
son and  John  H.  Simmons.  This  rich  property  passed  to  the  ownership  of  syndi- 
cate of  Youngstown,  Ohio,  capitalists,  and  under  the  management  of  Jol^n  A. 
Finch  and  A.  B.  Campbell,  was  long  regarded  as  the  richest  producer  in  the  Coeur 
d'Alene  country. 

In  September,  1887,  the  Poorman  claim,  just  across  the  gulch  from  the  Tiger 
mine,  and  located  the  day  after  discovery  of  the  Tiger,  was  sold  to  Marcus  Dalv,  / 


■     TriE  NEW  YORK 

jPUbUC  LISkAR 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  389 

Patrick  Clark^  B.  C.  Kingsbury  and  other  Montana  mining  men^  and  under  the 
active  management  of  Mr.  Clark  became  the  first  dividend  payer  in  the  Coeur 
d'Alenes. 

George  Goode  located  the  Morning  mine^  near  Mullan,  in  1884.  It  subse- 
quently passed  to  the  ownership  of  Charles  and  Warren  Hussey  of  Spokane. 

From  the  beginning  Spokane  profited  tremendously  in  the  discovery  and  de- 
velopment of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.  It  became  an  important  outfitting  point  in 
188S-4.  A  large  part  of  the  money  received  from  the  sale  of  the  Bunker  Hill 
and  Sullivan  was  immediately  invested  here  by  "Dutch  Jake/*  Harry  Baer  and 
others,  and  from  time  to  time  the  enterprising  mine  owners  and  managers  either 
made  this  place  their  home  or  their  base  of  operations.  Among  these  were  Finch 
and  Campbell^  D.  C.  Corbin,  Patrick  Clark,  the  Husseys,  S.  S.  Glidden,  F.  R. 
Culbertson,  Porter  Brothers,  "Jim"  Wardner,  John  M.  Burke,  Charles  Sweeny, 
F.  Lewis  Clark,  the  Greenoughs,  and  a  host  of  others  with  the  drifting  of  the 
years. 

A  history  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  which  omitted  the  drama  of  the  great  Her- 
cules mine  would  be  the  play  of  "Hamlet"  without  the  melancholy  prince.  A 
writer  in  the  Spokesman-Review  says  that  Harry  L.  Day  and  Fred  Harper  were 
the  original  locators.  They  left  Wardner  for  Sunset  Peak,  where  they  intended 
prospecting.  They  did  not  have  enough  money  to  purchase  a  ticket  to  ride  as  far 
as  Burke,  and  therefore  had  to  walk  over  the  hills.  This  was  in  the  summer  of 
1889.  Without  meeting  with  success  on  Sunset,  where  there  are  now  good  mines, 
they  decided  to  go  to  Burke,  but  were  driven  back  by  a  heavy  forest  fire.  After  the 
fire  died  away  they  proceeded  to  the  hill  above  Burke,  and  it  was  then  they  found 
rich  float  brought  to  view  by  the  fire.  They  located  the  Hercules  and  the  Fire  Fly 
as  they  were  driven  back.  Mr.  Harper  sold  out  a  short  time  later  to  C.  H.  Reeves, 
his  father-in-law,  for  $100. 

"Mr.  Reeves  was  a  barber  in  Wallace.  Mr.  Day  and  Mr.  Reeves  barely  did 
their  assessment  for  the  next  few  years.  The  property  was  located  on  the  trail 
nmning  to  Sunset  and  hundreds  of  people  passed  over  that  way.  Those  who  saw 
the  two  men  trying  to  hold  down  their  claims  tried  to  discourage  them,  saying  it 
was  foolishness  to  work  in  such  a  formation.  They  were  the  laughing  stock  of 
the  mining  fraternity  for  years,  but  still  they  had  confidence.  Mr.  Day  did  not 
know  much  about  mining,  but  he  was  satisfied  there  was  something  there.  Previous 
to  locating  the  claim  he  was  engaged  in  delivering  milk  on  a  pack-horse  in  Wardner 
from  his  father's  ranch  in  Government  gulch.  The  Day  family  came  in  from  Cal- 
ifornia. All  the  family  worked  to  get  sufficient  money  to  carry  on  the  work  at  the 
property.  The  principal  money  was  given  by  Miss  Ellen  Day,  who  was  teaching, 
and  who  contributed  every  cent  of  her  small  salary.  She  later  married  Edward 
Boyce,  the  noted  labor  leader.  Mr.  Reeves  was  forced  to  sell  out  his  barber  shop  to 
obtain  his  share  of  the  money  used  in  prospecting  the  property. 

"In  1895  August  Paulsen,  one  of  the  noted  characters  in  the  group  of  owners, 
became  interested  in  the  property  by  getting  a  quarter  interest  for  $500.  Mr. 
Paulsen  is  a  native  of  Denmark  and  worked  for  some  time  on  a  milk  ranch  neai 
Spokane.  Later  he  worked  on  a  milk  ranch  near  Wallace,  for  several  years,  as 
foreman  for  Markwell  &  Sons,  and  there  is  where  he  saved  his  salary  of  $40 
per  month  to  become  interested  in  the  property.     To  show  what  little  he  knew 


390  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

about  minings  his  experience  is  worth  recording.  He  was  set  to  work  in  driving 
the  prospect  tunnel  which  had  been  run  as  crooked  as  a  worm  fence.  At  last^  ac- 
cidentally making  an  angle  in  the  tunnel^  he  encountered  the  lead.  He  did  not 
know  what  he  had  discovered,  but  thought  the  formation  of  no  value  and  quit  work. 
He  left  for  Gem,  where  he  met  Mr.  Day.    He  said  to  Mr.  Day: 

"  *I  have  encountered  a  formation  which  appears  very  much  like  white  ashes, 
and  there  is  no  use  of  doing  any  further  work,  as  the  property  is  not  worth  any- 
thing.' 

"Mr  Day  immediately  went  to  the  property  and  what  met  his  view  astounded 
him.     It  was  the  Hercules  vein. 

"In  the  spring  of  1896  S.  Markwell  and  L.  W.  Hutton  became  interested  in 
the  property,  giving  $1,750  in  cash  and  signing  a  contract  with  Mr.  Reeves  that 
when  the  property  paid  $2,000  in  dividends  they  were  each  to  pay  Mr.  Reeves 
$250.  It  is  needless  to  say  this  money  has  been  paid.  Mr.  Markwell  and  sons  were 
the  owners  of  a  milk  ranch  west  of  the  city.  They  came  here  from  California  in 
1890.  Mr.  Hutton  was  a  railroad  engineer,  coming  from  California.  At  the  time  he 
became  interested,  along  with  his  wife,  Mrs.  May  Arkwright  Hutton,  he  had  the 
Canyon  run  on  the  railway.  At  the  time  of  the  labor  troubles  he  was  forced  to  pull 
the  men  to  Wardner  at  the  time  the  mill  was  blown  up.  That  was  about  the  last  he 
worked  for  the  Northern  Pacific. 

"Damian  Cardoner,  a  native  of  Spain,  and  the  owner  of  a  large  mercantile 
store  in  Burke,  became  interested  in  the  property  in  1898  for  $600.  Other  owners 
are  H.  F.  Samuels,  an  attorney,  and  F.  M.  Rothrock,  who  was  at  one  time  a  butcher, 
having  an  extensive  meat  business  in  Wallace.  They  each  paid  $3,000  for  their 
interest,  going  in  as  late  as  1899." 

The  Hercules  has  done  its  full  share  of  contributing  to  the  upbuilding  of 
Spokane.     Its  most  notable  monuments  here  are  the  Paulsen  and  Hutton  buildings. 

It  paid  $875,348  profit  in  1905,  and  $787,534  in  1906.  By  July,  1909,  it  had 
a  dividend  record  of  $3,600,000,  and  to  date  it  has  distributed  about  $5,000,000 
among  its   fortunate  owners. 

A  decade  ag^  Charles  Sweeny  of  Spokane  became  a  dominant  influence  in  the 
Coeur  d'Alenes.  For  twenty  years  or  more  Sweeny  had  been  drifting  around  over 
the  Pacific  coast,  a  veritable  soldier  of  fortune.  He  came  to  Spokane  in 
the  early  '80s  and  ran  a  general  merchandise  store.  With  F.  Rock  wood  Moore 
he  opened  the  Last  Chance  mine  near  Wardner  in  1886,  but  profited  little  from 
the  earlier  fortunes  of  the  camp.  The  panic  of  1 893  left  him  pretty  well  stranded, 
but  the  opening  up  of  Rossland  camp  in  1895  gave  him  a  little  start,  and  back 
he  went  to  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.  With  F.  Lewis  Clark,  who  had  been  receiver  of  the 
First  National  bank  of  Spokane,  Sweeny  acquired  control  of  the  old  Last  Chance, 
one  of  the  assets  of  the  broken  bank,  and  a  sharp  advance  in  the  price  of  lead 
put  him  well  along  on  the  high  road  to  fortune.  They  organized  the  Empire 
State-Idaho  Mining  &  Development  company  in  1898,  and  in  1903  merged  it  into 
the  greater  corporation  which  now  owns  a  large  part  of  the  producing  area  of 
the  Coeur  d'Alenes — ^the  Federal  Mining  &  Smelting  company.  In  August,  that 
year,  the  Sweeny  interests  bought  the  Standard  and  Mammoth  mines  from  the 
Finch  &  Campbell  syndicate  and  incorporated  the  Federal,  with  $30,000,000  of 
capital  stock,  of  which  $20,000,000  was  issued.     They  acquired  the  Puget  Sound 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  391 

Reduction  company's  smelter  at  Everett  and  the  Monte  Cristo  mine,  a  property 
which  long  had  been  an  elephant  on  the  hands  of  the  Rockefellers,  and  which  con- 
tinues an  elephant  to  the  present  day.  The  Federal's  first  board  of  directors  com- 
prised John  T.  Gates,  George  Gould,  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Charles  Sweeny,  Edwin 
Packard,  Richard  Wilson,  John  A.  Finch,  George  W.  Young,  CD.  Warren,  E.  J. 
Barney,  Peter  Bradley  and  Horace  J.  Knowles.  Sweeny  was  made  president. 
His  profits  in  this  flotation  ran  into  the  millions,  and  he  invested  heavily  in  Spokane 
business  properties,  and  acquired  control  of  the  Exchange  National  bank.  Later 
he  gradually  disposed  of  a  majority  of  his  Spokane  interests,  including  his  stock 
in  the  bank. 

DIVIDEND  RECORD   OF   COEUR  d'aLENES 

Bunker  Hill  &  Sullivan   $11,121,000 

Standard-Mammoth    8,500,000 

Hercules    3,600,000 

Hecla 1,810,000 

Morning 2,000,000 

Last    Chance    4,500,000 

Success    650,000 

Snow  Storm 780,000 

Tiger-Poorman   1,250,000 

Frisco    1,225,000 

Gem 500,000 

Silver  King 250,000 

Sierra  Nevada    225,000 

Pittsburg   Lead    90,000 

Total  to  July,  1909   $36,501,000 

A  number  of  other  companies  have  paid  dividends  in  smaller  amounts,  but  the 
exact  figures  were  not  available  to  the  Coeur  d'Alene  Mine  Makers'  association 
of  Wallace.     Dividends  paid  since  1909  have  carried  the  total  beyond  $40,000,000. 


392 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 


9 


"^    08 


5 

0 


a 

00 

s 

I 

8 

e 

I 

u 

0) 


0 
o 


s2 


Oc5 


>U1 


§1 
o 


flO 

eg 


•S 
^ 


o 
en 


t>-  Q  CO  $(M  00 
CO  ^CO  05  (N  05 


(MQO^iOClO(M(M'^t^rHgQ 
(N05iftCOCOCOOOO>OC?l 


t^  <N  (M  QO  t^  O.OD  ^  00 
OCOift^-iflOOOOCOt^ 
t^COiflOC^ICOCD'^O 

aocO€0(Ma6(>i(MooQOXaococO'^iocoQp^t^io^c^»rt'^co 

»nt>-COC<ICOCOCO€OCOiOT-«rHOOCDOQOCO'^QpOt^aOqpin 
(MC0'^O'<*<iftrHa0iOC^C0Ot^t^mC<lirSt^a000(M(MQ0OC0 

i-HrHC^'Tji'rf^CO'^CO'^'^COOCDOaOaOrHOOt^OOiCO 

tH  rH  tH  tH  (N  tH  tH 


ir5t^aOlf3rHt^OO<N 
©s|COrHrHC^rHrHC<l<N 


C^J  rH  0>  Oi 

o  00  ir^  CO  _ 

CO  CO  CO  CO  (5^ 


t^  00  rH  00  00  "^  CO  l>  rH  '(t* 


8Q  COt^ 
c5^ 


CO 

_        (?^  CO  i)^  cO 

ift  (M  00  COC^  '^ 


00  rH  05  0> 
"^  CO  CO  CO 
t"*  ifl  '^  CO  ^ 


in 


ifl  f-i  tH 
-HCOlO 
OJt^CO 


O  '^f  na  ift 
lO  '^  CO  O 
t^  (M  "^  rH 


<NOOQOt^OOOOOOrHTt<t^QOt^COCOaDiO'^'^t^t^(NCOCO'^ 


'^OOOOCOCOO'^rHiO 
COC<lOCO'^lft(MrHCOrH 
COlflb-rHCO00<MCOCO»H 


cp»nooaot^'^'*!*<ir5C^t>-csi 

^(M^^t^rHt^OiOOCO 
OO^OOiACdCOOOGbOO 


id"  G^  O  iT^  "^  CO'  *6  CD  i6  CO  <N  "^  o  ini  c^  CO  S-  -^  c<i  oi  Vh  o  th 

^CO(M<Nt^rH'^C^00<NCOCOt^"^COQiftiOT-it^lft00lfl 
r-iC0iflOi000Oift'<*<C0rH<NOc0(MOC005lflCM(Nt^'*!*< 


<N(M<N»HCOC^(N<NC0'^»rt"^C0 


O  CO  lO 
CO  COCO 

s^i  cot^ 


«^         •  *v 


T-H'^Ot^<N<NOOt^COaDQCO't*t^(MQ 
CO»HO»r5f-iOOrHrH05(MMC<ICOOOO^ 

iftcocococ<i05C^'^c<iOicO"^cO'^Oioo 

C0O'^irt0?lftmC0C0THC0C0rHt^rH05C0TH^Ht^C0t^^-i 
Tfi|«005C<l05Cp'^t^COift(MCOCOCOCOt^'^ir5Q'-«CO 
C0l»O'^a0rH^C0'^rHt^lOt^©s|C0O'^rHCq^C0lft 

»HrHrH»HT-«C^C<|COCOCOC^lft'^lftlftCOt^t^t^CO 


O'^i«C0'^(M00aC(MC0^C00D 

iri'rt<c<icoo50ic^iftt^cOQcoir^ 

COOi'^»flCO'«f<M(MCO'^^C<IC<l 
06  00AOCO(Mt^CO'^0000(N^lOQI>COTHGqi-Ht>^c6c^i-^ 

cocoocoo5iftco©QcpQi-Hir3C<i'^Oc^^t^t^cO'^coco 

rHiflt^C0C0Q0(M'^^O(Mr-i<NTt<<NOOt^<M05(M(NC0 
r-lC^C<l©s|C^tH©s|(M'^'^'^t^COCO00OirHTfiC^Q0 


4» 


O)  CO 

CO  CO 
00  lA 


Ol^OicP»^COOi^-iQ"^iOiftCO 

kr5t^ccQC0kr5C005c005c^cpi» 

<Nt^C0Oii^05t^C0i«0i00Ot^ 


rHiftOOt^t^COt^OiO»Ht^t^COOrHCl6"^COt^CO»rt'^(M 

r-lWCO<M(MCOCOCOiOir5ir500COt^OOC^<MrHO 

tH  1—1  1—1  rH  rH  I— I 


'^iftCOt^00O5QTH(MCO'^ii^COt^00Oi 
OOOOOOOOOOOO^OdOdO^O^OdOdOdO^Od 
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOOOOOOOOO 


•  • 


tH  (M  CO  3JJ  iC5  CO  t^ 
^  ^  wS  ^  ^  ^  Cm 


QO 
CO 

CO 

00 
00 
rH 


o 

o 


CO 

CO 


g 

G^ 


00 
00 


(M 

00 

o 


«» 


:o 

<M 

O 
(M 
CO 


5 

o 


OS 


QO 

o 


a 

o 


^3 

o 

u 


9 

^ 
5 


.2 
.  *C 

^E 

O     -4^ 

^      © 
QQ      n 

©   '^ 

S    03 
tCoo 

Cfl 

2 
p« 

:^  o 

tc 

u 

.   08 
00  — 

CD   «8 

gs 

rH    O 

•Sw. 

c  o 

p  o 

O'O 

s  J 

©  o 

*  J; 

'o  g 

CO    O 

fi  ft 

O  O 


S 


"♦a 

4A 


.       SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  393 

The  Murray  Sun  of  Febmary,  1887,  an  excellent  authority  on  Coeur  d'Alene 
history^  contained  the  following  item: 

"The  body  of  F.  M.  Davis,  known  to  every  one  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  as  *Dream 
Davis,'  has  been  discovered.  He  disappeared  from  Portland  about  two  months 
ago.  His  body  was  identified,  beyond  doubt,  in  Los  Angeles,  California.  He  had 
spent  all  his  money  and  committed  suicide.  Davis  was  not  a  miner;  he  was  a 
man  of  the  Gospel  in  his  day.  When  the  Coeur  d'Alene  excitement  broke  out  in 
1883  it  preyed  upon  his  mind  and  his  vision,  as  he  termed  it,  directed  him  to 
Dream  Gulch.  He  laid  down  the  Bible  and  the  plow  in  the  Palouse  country  and 
came  op  to  the  camp  to  realize  his  dream.  Whether  by  accident  or  otherwise, 
he  struck  it  and  during  the  summer  of  1884  made  considerable  money  and  in  the 
fall  sold  out  an  interest  in  his  ground.  He  cleared  up  about  $10,000.00  and  re- 
turned to  the  Palouse  region.  He  afterwards  bought  a  farm  at  Monmouth,  Ore- 
gon. 

Davis  contended  that  in  his  dream  or  vision,  which  came  to  him  three  nights 
successively,  he  saw  with  vivid  clearness  a  lonely  gulch  in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  moun- 
tains and  a  voice  declared  that  in  this  gulch  lay  a  store  of  golden  wealth.  Acting 
on  this  revelation,  he  went  to  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  noted  and  followed  certain 
land-marks  as  he  had  seen  them  in  his  dream  and  found  the  gulch  exactly  as  it 
bad  appeared  in  his  vision. 


CHAPTER  XL 

HOW  CHENEY  CAPTURED  THE  COUNTY  SEAT 

BY   B.    B.    PERRY 

SPOKANE  insurgency  developed  in  1879  and  J.  N.  Glover,  who  still  lives  in 
Spokane,  was  probably  the  original  in  that  line.  He  and  the  several  others 
that  then  constituted  the  population  of  Spokane  Falls  began  to  promulgate  the 
doctrine  that  there  was  room  for  another  county  in  eastern  Washington. 

Mr.  Glover  made  the  long  trip  from  Spokane  to  Olympia  in  that  year  and  rea- 
soned with  the  legislature.  It  was  something  of  a  session,  for  nobody  on  the 
West  Side  could  see  the  need  of  a  new  county  in  eastern  Washing^n.  They  dis- 
cussed it  with  Glover  in  Doane's  old  oyster  house  over  pan  roasts.  They  had  liquid 
refreshments,  after  that  they  took  cigars.  These  things  cost  money  in  pioneer 
days.  Glover  knows.  He  paid  for  them.  He  got  back  to  Spokane  perplexed 
with  the  mystery  of  how  he  would  obtain  sufficient  salt  pork  for  the  coming  win- 
ter, but  he  had  Spokane  county  legally  recreated  with  the  county  seat  temporarily 
established  at  Spokane  Falls.  Where  it  would  permanently  be  was  left  to  the 
voters. 

Several  settlers,  then  present,  were  personally  interested  in  seeing  that  county 
seat  located  at  Spokane  Falls,  because  they  had  come  to  stay  and  their  future 
unrolled  in  the  form  of  the  valley,  rocks  and  hills  hereabout.  Glover  was  pro- 
nounced in  this  opinion  and  he  was  supported  by  A.  M.  Cannon,  J.  J.  Browne, 
Judge  L.  B.  Nash,  Col.  D.  P.  Jenkins,  Samuel  Hyde  and  one  or  two  others. 

Against  this  bulwark  the  recently  arrived  town  of  Cheney  hurled  its  claim. 
Cheney  was  favored  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad;  was,  in  fact,  christened  for 
one  of  the  Northern  Pacific  directors,  and  in  one  way  and  another  developed  omin- 
ous symptoms.  Also  it  had  its  friends  out  round  in  the  remote  bunch-grass.  M.  M. 
Cowley  lived  up  at  Cowley's  Bridge  then  and  was  a  Cheney  partisan. 

The  election  was  held  in  November,  1880,  without  unusual  casualties  and  the 
following  officers  elected:  Michael  Sullivan,  sheriff;  Samuel  Hyde,  prosecuting 
attorney;  A.  M.  Cannon,  treasurer;  W.  H.  Bishop,  auditor;  Avery  A.  Smith,  pro- 
bate judge;  Jerry  Rockford,  surveyor;  Thomas  Jennings,  John  Roberts  and  a 
man  named  Bacon,  commissioners.  The  county  seat  location  was  held  to  be  in 
doubt.  The  vote  was  canvassed  in  Spokane,  of  course,  and  a  very  painstaking 
canvassing  board  it  was.  On  their  first  count  the  returns  showed  that  Cheney  had  won 
by  fourteen  majority.  But  grave  irregularities  immediately  developed  in  the  ballot- 
ing.   In  one  precinct,  the  judge,  lacking  anybody  else  handy  to  do  the  job,  swore 

395 


396  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

» 

himself  in.  In  another  the  polling  officers  had  used  longhand  where  they  could 
have  used  figures^  and  in  still  another  they  used  figures  where  they  should  ba^e 
used  longhand.  These  were  errors  that  required  much  conscientious  industry  to 
rectify^  but  the  work  was  done  and  when  the  total  count  had  been  officially  read- 
justed^ it  appeared  that  Spokane  had  won  by  a  majority  of  two  or  three. 

Cheney  displayed  symptoms  of  petulant  distrust  and  went  into  the  territorial 
court  with  a  complaint  that  still  retains  vigor  of  language.  Preliminary  to  this 
they  retained  John  B.  Allen  and  Thomas  H.  Caton^  two  pioneer  attorneys.  Col. 
Jenkins^  J.  J.  Browne  and  Judge  L.  B.  Nash  represented  the  injured  and  aston- 
ished town  of  Spokane  Falls. 

Circuit  Judge  Wingard  heard  the  evidence  and  argument  with  men  who  car- 
ried hardware  in  their  clothes  filling  the  courtroom,  and  he  concluded  it  might  be 
well  to  have  a  recount.     He  omitted  specifying  a  date  for  this. 

Spokane  submitted  to  the  verdict  with  an  air  of  patience  which  was  not  at 
all  contagious,  so  far  as  Cheney  folks  were  concerned.  They  were  willing  to  rest 
their  case  on  a  recount,  but  they  desired  something  definite  in  regard  to  the  time 
of  counting,  a  matter  that  appeared  to  worry  Spokane  Falls  people  not  a  bit.  They 
had  faith  in   the   future. 

Still  Spokane  Falls  possessed  the  records  and  boasted  a  courthouse  in  the 
shape  of  a  frame  building  at  the  corner  of  Main  and  Howard. 

Dick  Wright  married  Miss  Piper  and  Spokane  went  to  the  wedding  dance. 
The  rigorous  exertions  of  the  campaign  were  over  and  social  relaxation  prevailed. 
A  lone  night  watchman  guarded  the  town,  the  lights  beamed  from  the  windows 
and  the  dance  went  on  to  the  alluring  croon  of  the  fiddle. 

W.  H.  Bishop,  the  auditor,  and  now  bailiff  in  Judge  Huneke's  court,  is  a  man  of 
excellently  preserved  intelligence.  His  memory  ranges  back  over  thirty-six  years 
of  residence  in  this  part  of  Washington.  There  is  no  more  accurate  recollection 
of  the  events  of  that  period  than  his.  And  yet.  Bishop  cannot  recall  how  it  hap- 
pened that  he  was  on  duty  in  the  auditor's  office  that  night  at  midnight,  instead 
of  being  at  the  dance.  The  county  was  new  and  probably  there  was  a  great  deal 
of  extra  work  to  be  done  on  the  books.  Bishop  was  young  and  ambitious  and  also 
new  to  politics.  At  any  rate  he  was  on  the  job  and  by  midnight  he  had  the  elec- 
tion returns  all  tabulated.  All  that  was  needed  to  make  them  official  was  the  signa- 
tures of  the  auditor,  probate  judge  and  a  justice  of  peace,  to  be  attached  when  the 
ballot  count  was  settled,  of  course. 

In  those  days  a  deep  gulch  ran  from  where  the  Inland  Empire  Station  now  is 
to  a  point  about  where  the  Old  National  skyscraper  casts  its  shadow  across  the 
townsite.  A  trail  ran  across  the  gulch  toward  the  present  site  of  the  Hyde  Build- 
ing. This  little  matter  of  topography,  is  important.  The  trail  was  unnoticeajble 
in  the  dark. 

The  county  clock's  hour  hand  was  nearing  one  o'clock  and  Bishop  might  have 
been  justified  in  seeking  the  livelier  diversions  of  the  wedding  dance,  but  he  con- 
scientiously stuck  to  his  post.  Perhaps  he  had  a  premonition.  He  became  almost 
convinced  of  it  when  he  detected  the  muffled  tramp  of  feet  in  the  building.  It 
was  Bishop's  duty  to  protect  the  county  property,  but  in  this  crisis  he  had  no 
time  to  resort  to  slaughter.  • 

The  muffled   tramp  came   into  the   auditor's  office,  bringing  with  it  Avery  A. 


SPOKANE  STREET  SCENE,  1SS5 


•iWaH«HB«^ 


Ttid  NEW  YOHK 

iPUBLlC  LIBRARY 
) 


r  —  -- 


"*   *•, 


-•*/, 


V*; 


H>««a 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  397 

Smithy  probate  judge;  James  Monroe  Hatton,  better  known  as  Mike;  John  Sill, 
justice  of  the  peace;  Wm.  Oris  wold,  now  of  Seattle;  Frank  Spencer,  newspaper 
man,  now  in  California;  Graves,  also  now  in  California,  and,  not  positively  but 
very  probably,  L.  E.  Kellogg. 

Hatton  was  deputy  sheriff.  •  These  visitors  had  guns  on  their  persons  and  had 
business  with  the  county  auditor.  By  singular  powers  of  observation  they  imme- 
diately noticed  the  tabulated  returns  Bishop  had  been  working  on.  Judge  Smith 
also  noted  that  they  still  lacked  his  signature.  Justice  of  Peace  Still  made  a 
similar  observation.  There  wasn't  a  very  good  light,  either.  Bishop  was  probably 
as  vigilant  in  this  matter  as  any  of  the  others.  Whatever  happened,  the  returns 
were  quickly  in  legal  shape  to  be  declared  official  and  the  declaration  that  Cheney 
bad  been  legally  voted  the  county  seat  i^as  promulgated,  while  the  caller  over  at 
the  dance  was  getting  one  more  couple  foi^  the  miadrille. 

The  courthouse  callers  apparently  h^d«a«,)defiailie 'object  in  view.  Following 
the  close  of  legal  formalities  they  took  possession  of  the  county  books  and  Auditor 
Bishop.  They  had  gunny  sacks  on  their  feet  and  some  reason  for  their  haste. 
There  was  no  confusion  nor  anything  in  the  nature  of  a  midnight  disturbance. 

Down  that  trail  across  the  gulch  went  the  books  and  with  them  went  Bishop 
as  became  his  duty  as  auditor.  The  procession  ended  in  the  primeval  wilderness 
of  Riverside  and  Post,  where  three  wagons  awaited  in  the  gloom.  These  wagons 
suddenly  absorbed  the  county  government  and  started  away  in  the  specific  direc- 
tion of  Cheney. 

Right  then  occurred  the  only  outbreak  of  the  evening  and  the  Cheney  people 
can  pride  themselves  that  they  did  not  make  it.  Spokane's  solitary  night  watchman 
happened  to  hear  sounds  up  in  the  woods  somewiiere.  He  discharged  his  duty  and 
his  revolver  simultaneously  in  a  couple  of  shots  for  general  results.  Then  he 
subsided. 

There  was  no  reply  from  the  then  transient  county  seat.  Cheney  had  brought 
its  shooting  irons  along,  but  only  as  a  last  resort. 

Dr.  Morgan,  driving  in  from  somewhere,  reported  to  the  few  Spokane  people 
he  met  that  he  had  seen  men  with  guns  and  wagons  going  out  of  town,  but  no 
immediate  attention  was  paid  to  this  circumstance.  Men  with  guns  and  wagons 
were  rather  common  then  at  any  hour  of  the  night. 

The  next  morning  SfK)kane  came  down  town  as  usual,  which  function  con- 
sisted in  merely  coming  out  of  doors.  Some  of  the  prominent  citizens  of  the  day 
had  offices  in  the  courthouse  shack.  They  ascertained  presently  that  the  court* 
house  had  undergone  a  change.  Bishop  was  absent,  for  one  thing,  and  it  was 
found  that  the  county  books  had  also  vanished.  Further  inquiry  developed  the  ad- 
venture  of  the  night  watchman,  the  observation  of  Dr.  Morgan  and  the  proper 
conclusion  as  to  what  had  become  of  the  county  seat.  A  caucus  of  old-timers 
.  ensued  immediately. 

They  dispatched  a  scout  down  to  Cheney  to  reconnoiter.  The  scout  came  back 
in  a  melandioly  frame  of  mind.  Cheney  seemed  to  have  the  best  of  the  argument. 
It  was  standing  around  the  county  books  with  guns  in  its  hands.  This  was  on 
March  21,  1880.     The  caucus  adjourned. 

As  an  incident  of  history  Cheney  stood  around  those  books  with  guns  for  six 
weeks.     It  acctunulated  all  the  county  officers,  except  Cannon,  who  declined  to  be 


398  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

treasurer  anywhere  except  in  Spokane  Falls.  The  first  potent  peace  token  was 
when  he  finally  consented  to  deputize  a  man  at  Cheney^  as  the  commissioners  had 
about  decided  to  see  what  they  could  do  toward  securing  a  reconstructed  treas- 
urer. 

But  Cheney  was  boldly  and,  as  it  afterward  proved,  untimely  sardonic  in  tri- 
umph. Spokane  had  a  show  billed  for  its  infrequent  amusement  in  that  line. 
Cheney  also  got  up  a  fair^  at  which  it  installed  a  solitary  wisp  of  woebegone 
barley,  labeled,  "From  J.  N.  Glover's  Place." 

Meanwhile,  the  Spokane  builders,  confident  in  the  advantage  of  their  loca- 
tion, went  on  with  the  heavy  work  of  laying  a  city's  foundation,  none  the  less 
trustful  of  the  future.  They  kept  at  it  until  1886,  when  another  county  seat  elec- 
tion was  held.  There  was  no  necessity  of  going  after  the  books  in  wagons  after 
that  vote  was  counted.     Anything  in  the  nature  of  a  recount  was  also  superfluous. 


CHAPTER  XLI 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF  FRANK  DALLAM,  J.  D.  SHERWOOD  AND 

G.  B.  DENNIS 

BRATB   DAYS    OF    NEARLY    THIRTY    YEARS    AGO DALLAM    STARTS    THE    REVIEW PRINTS 

FIRST  NUMBER   AT   CHENEY HENRY   YILLARd's   VISIT PAUL   SCHULZE   RECOMMENDS 

paint hank    vaughn,    the  'desperado,    comes    to    town scrub    races    in 

Browne's  addition — appearance   op   town   in    1883 — fighting  fire  with  a 

bucket  line picturesque  street  life squaw  fights public  spirit  before 

the  firs mr.  dennis  and  his  high  hat recollections  of  "blind  george." 

FRANK  DALLAM,  who  came  to  Spokane  from  California  in  the  winter  of 
1882-83,  and  a  few  months  later  issued  the  first  number  of  the  Review, 
caught  instantly  the  free,  hospitable  and  optimistic  spirit  of  the  town. 
One  better  fitted  by  temperament  and  training  to  edit  a  journal  of  the  frontier 
the  wide  west  could  scarce  have  sent  to  Spokane.  Life  on  the  border,  scorning  con- 
ventionality and  pulsing  high  with  the  spirit  of  hospitable  democracy,  Dallam 
loved  with  all  the  ardor  of  his  genial  nature.  "The  town,"  he  has  said,  speaking  of 
the  brave  days  of  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  "was  made  up  of  frame  buildings, 
pretty  well  grouped  about  the  falls,  the  conspicuousness  of  the  material,  devoid  of 
paint,  indicating  recent  erection.  There  was  but  one  building  on  the  north  side, 
owned  by  Colonel  D.  P.  Jenkins.  A.  M.  Cannon  and  J.  J.  Browne  lived  at  re- 
mote distances  from  the  business  center,  in  very  modest  houses.  But  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  place  was  intoxicating,  and  every  indication  of  future  greatness 
aroQsed  a  desire  to  grow  up  with  the  city.  I  made  efforts  to  gain  a  foothold. 
The  weekly  Chronicle  was  in  existence  published  by  a  man  named  Woodbury, 
hut  he  would  listen  to  no  overtures.  I  met  Wm.  Kizer,  who  was  conducting  a 
delightful  hostelry  on  a  lot  back  of  where  the  Spokane  theater  now  stands,  and 
^'  M.  Cannon,  who  was  at  the  head  of  a  large  mercantile  business,  in  a  new,  unfin- 
ished and  what  was  then  considered  a  very  pretentious  building.  He  had  also  just 
opened  a  banking  house.  This  was  on  the  lot  now  occupied  by  the  marble  bank 
building.  I  informed  them  gently  of  my  mission,  and  as  the  Chronicle  had  decided 
leaning  toward  democracy,  and  I  would  not  publish  anything  but  a  paper  advo- 
cating republicanism,  they  were  very  solicitous  in  their  efforts  to  induce  me  to 
locate  in  Spokane." 

Dallam  returned  to  California,  but  was  back  in  May  with  his  plant  for  the 
Review. 

"But  the  first  copy  of  the  Review  was  not  printed  without  heart-breaking  trials 

399 


400  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

and  tribulations.  The  aim  had  been  to  get  out  the  initial  copy  early  in  May^  but  in 
the  shipment  of  the  material  a  portion  of  the  hand  press  was  lost  in  roate,  and 
could  not  be  located  for  days.  I  was  in  a  fever  of  impatience.  I  determined  to  wait 
no  longer^  for  a  few  days  more  would  carry  me  over  into  June,  and  I  concluded  to 
take  the  forms  to  Cheney,  where  there  were  tw6  papers,  and  'work'  the  issue  at  that 
plcu^e.  Loading  them  on  a  spring  wagon  in  the  evening,  I  started  out  for  the  neigh- 
boring town,  perfectly  ignorant  of  the  wagon  road  or  of  the  lay  of  the  country. 
That  ignorance  caused  me  more  misery,  for  when  daylight  appeared  I  was  near  a 
small  cabin,  and  knocked  the  people  out  to  find  'where  I  was  at.'  It  added  no  at- 
tractions to  a  lovely  spring  morning  to  learn  that  I  was  close  to  Spangle,  almost  in 
an  opposite  direction  from  Cheney. 

"I  re£u:hed  my  destination  at  last;  and  with  much  difficulty,  as  the  bed  of  the 
Cheney  press  would  hardly  take  the  Review  forms,  the  issue  was  printed  and  speedily 
circulated. 

"If  I  was  delighted  with  the  prospect  when  Spokane  was  first  seen  under  adverse 
conditions  (in  the  depth  of  winter),  words  can  not  express  my  feelings  of  satisfac- 
tion when  I  arrived  upon  the  scene  to  stay.  The  little  city  sat  like  a  gem  in  a  gnnd 
amphitheater,  shrouded  by  pine-clad  mountains,  and  then  and  there  I  fully  realised 
the  grand  future  of  Spokane,  a  future  that  I  am  glad  to  have  lived  to  see  come  about 

"Yet  so  far  as  the  town  was  concerned  at  that  time,  it  was  rather  a  crude  beauty, 
because  there  was  a  dearth  of  paint  in  evidence,  and  the  house  with  color  was  the 
exception  to  the  rule.  Speaking  of  the  rawness  of  the  building  aspect  reminds  me 
of  the  advice  given  to  the  citizens  by  Paul  Schulze,  then  land  agent  for  the  railroad, 
when  the  Northern  Pacific  was  completed.  On  that  great  occasion  Henry  ViUard, 
then  the  Napoleon  of  railroad  building,  was  due  to  visit  Spokane  with  his  retinue. 
The  citizens  got  busy.  Arches  were  constructed  across  the  street;  committees  of 
arrangements  and  receptions  fiew  about  and  became  flustered,  over-heated  and  ex- 
cited. The  only  barouche  in  the  city  was  secured  to  accommodate  the  dignitaries, 
and  the  people  started  in  to  wait  for  the  coming  of  the  magnates. 

"As  was  usual  in  those  days,  something  happened  to  delay  the  train.  Villard 
arrived  too  late  to  see  much  of  the  town  and  the  preparations  made  for  his  reception, 
but  he.  and  some  of  his  party  did  take  a  short  ride  in  the  vehicle,  and  from  the 
platform  he  and  Mr.  Schulze  addressed  the  admiring  and  shouting  conunoners.  The 
only  thing  about  the  speaking  that  I  can  remember  was  the  sugg^estion  made  by 
Mr.  Schulze  that  a  little  paint  judiciously  applied  might  contribute  to  the  attrac- 
tions of  the  place,  and  it  struck  me  that  the  gentleman  was  a  trifle  sarcastic,  which 
would  not  be  surprising,  as  he  was  inclined  to  be  mordacious  in  his  intercourse  with 
men. 

"In  those  days  lived  Hank  Vaughn,  with  a  western  reputation  founded  upon  the 
scientific  and  expeditious  use  of  a  gun  of  the  six-shot  vintage.  Hank  had  used  this 
weapon  with  a  degree  of  efficiency  that  had  created  for  him  a  graveyard,  and  when 
Hank  was  out  for  a  joyous  festival,  he  was  given  carte  blanche  and  no  questions 
asked.  During  the  preceding  winter  Hank  favored  Spokane  with  a  visit,  and  while 
he  gave  no  exhibition  of  shooting  up  a  fellow  citizen,  because  no  one  was  inclined 
to  doubt  his  ability,  he  gave  the  town  a  touch  of  high  life  that  made  history  on  the 
Rialto.  He  had  to  have  a  ride  in  that  barouche,  and  proposed  to  do  the  driving.  The 
fit  took  him  at  a  time  when  his  discretion  was  somewhat  at  fault,  and  he  attempted 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  401 

to  drive  into  a  barroom  under  the  old  Star  lodging  house.  As  the  walk  was  a  couple 
of  feet  above  the  road^  and  the  horses  going  at  some  speedy  the  body  and  wheels  of 
the  hack  parted  company.  Hank  and  the  team  were  lined  up  at  the  bar^  but  in  such 
confusion  that  the  'barkeep'  was  at  a  loss  to  fill  the  order.  The  'barkeep'  was  one 
Jones^  who  had  the  thumb  of  his  right  hand  shot  off  a  year  or  so  afterward  by  one 
of  the  famous^  or  infamous  Earp  brothers^  while  frantically  reaching  for  his  own 
gun.  This  happened  off  Howard  street,  and  in  an  interview  Earp  informed  me  that 
he  did  not  care  to  kill  Jones^  but  by  knocking  off  his  hammer  thumb  he  put  a  kibosh 
on  proceedings  that  might  have  ended  more  seriously. 

"There  is  little  left  in  way  of  landmarks  to  remind  one  of  old  Spokane.  The 
inequalities  of  the  earth  have  been  smoothed  off;  the  falls  have  been  shorn  of  their 
attractiveness ;  the  trees  that  crowded  down  to  the  river  have  disappeared,  and  stately 
blocks  of  steel  and  stone  have  elbowed  the  frame  structures  out  of  the  way. '  The 
village  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  has  been  replaced  by  a  magnificent  metropolis. 

"In  May,  1883,  the  Review  occupied  a  shell  of  a  building  at  the  rear  of  the 
lot  east  of  the  Spokane  theater.  The  Episcopal  church  stood  nearly  where  the  great 
Review  building  stands  today^  and  that  was  a  vacant  block.  From  the  present  Re- 
view building  to  J.  J.  Browne's  residence  was  a  straightaway  racetrack  for  a  half 
mile,  where  scrub  races  were  run  on  the  Fourth  of  July  that  year.  Brovme*s  addi- 
tion existed  in  name  only,  there  being  no  houses  on  it.  There  were  trees  and  brush 
on  the  south  side  of  the  railroad  track,  almost  to  the  rails.  There  were  few  if  any 
houses  east  of  the  present  Paulsen  monument  of  steel  and  brick,  and  that  site  was 
occupied  by  James  Glover's  residence.  Howard  street  and  Riverside  avenue 
had  just  been  cut  down  to  some  kind  of  grade  the  fall  before,  and  the  houses  lining 
that  street  were  propped  up  on  rock  piles.  The  North  side  was  a  gravelly  waste 
without  a  habitation.  The  calaboose,  a  small,  dingy  affair,  stood  on  ground  that 
is  now  covered  by  the  Auditorium.  The  cemetery,  sparsely  populated,  was  at  the 
extreme  northwest  end  of  Brovme's  addition.  The  smallest  flag  station  along  the 
lines  of  the  various  railroads  can  boast  of  a  better  depot  than  was  in  use  in  Spo- 
kane. There  were  few  sidewalks  except  in  the  business  portion,  and  they  were 
rough,  uneven  and  crude. 

"Of  the  men  in  business  at  that  time,  many  have  answered  the  last  summons; 
others  have  sought  honors  elsewhere,  and  a  few  are  still  residents  of  the  city  they 
aided  in  building,  most  of  them,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  say,  enjoying  a  well-earned  com- 
petency. 

"The  Rev.  H.  T.  Cowley  was  owner  and  publisher  of  the  Chronicle,  having 
purchased  the  paper  from  Mr.  Woodbury,  who  would  not  entertain  an  offer  four 
months  before.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  state  that  throughout  Mr.  Cowley's  ownership, 
the  most  amicable  relations  existed  between  the  Chronicle  and  the  Review.  There 
was  no  unseemly  rivalry,  no  personalities,  and  the  papers  worked  along  common  lines 
in  aiding  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  place.     Mr.  Cowley  is  now  in  California. 

"S.  Heath  was  postmaster  and  handed  out  the  mail  from  a  small  building  on  the 
west  of  the  Grand  hotel,  at  the  corner  of  Howard  and  Riverside.  The  mail  was  a 
rather  insignificant  affair  at  that  time,  being  about  enough  to  fill  a  cracker  box. 
Mr.  Heath  hung  on  to  his  homestead,  which  is  now  an  attractive  residence  portion 
of  the  city. 

Vol.  1—26 


402  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

'*J.  J.  Browne  was  practicing  law^  and  had  accumulated  a  homestead^  a  timber 
culture  and  a  few  other  holdings  that  have  made  him  rich. 

"James  N.  Glover  owned  the  better  portion  of  the  original  townsite,  and  was 
offering  bargains  in  town  lots  to  newcomers  that  would  make  the  eyes  of  purchasers 
of  today  bulge  in  astonishment. 

"Louis  Ziegler  was  conducting  a  hardware  store  in  a  fine  building  where  the 
Ziegler  block  now  stands.  J.  B.  Blalock  had  a  shoe  store  in  a  small  building'  -where 
the  Exchange  National  bank  building  now  stands.  J.  M.  Grimmer  conducted  the 
Northern  Pacific  hotel^  at  the  northeast  comer  of  Howard  and  Main.  J.  B.  Gray  was 
proprietor  of  the  California  house^  where  the  city  hall  now  stands.  Harry  Hay- 
ward  kept  a  men's  furnishing  store^  with  sporting  goods^  cigars  and  tobacco  as  a 
side  line.  He  was  located  on  the  lot  in  the  rear  of  the  Grand  hotel,  facing  Howard 
street.  John  Glover  and  Lane  Gilliam  had  a  livery  stable  on  the  lot  across  the 
street  and  just  west  of  the  California  house. 

"Among  the  lawyers  practicing  were  S.  C.  Hyde,  L.  B.  Nash,  J.  Kennedy  Stout, 
E.  H.  Jamieson,  E.  J.  Webster  and  J.  S.  Allen.  Eugene  B.  Hyde  was  town  mar- 
shal, and  made  a  very  efficient  official.  Charles  McNab  conducted  a  drugstore,  at 
the  southeast  corner  of  Howard  street  and  Riverside  avenue.  Charles  Clough  had 
a  book  and  notion  store  on  Howard  street,  and  Henry  French  a  candy  and  peanut 
stand  across  the  street.  Charlie  Carson  conducted  a  restaurant  on  Front  street,  in 
the  rear  of  the  California  house. 

"The  men  of  that  time  I  hold  in  kindest  remembrance.  Our  ways  separated  long 
ago,  and  I  have  known  little  of  them  for  a  score  of  years ;  yet  the  recollections  of 
those  early  days,  and  the  people  with  whom  I  associated,  will  always  be  coupled 
with  keenest  pleasure,  and  whenever  I  chance  to  meet  one  of  them,  memory  romps 
back  to  the  time  when  Spokane  was  a  flower,  and  all  men  seemed  to  be  working  hand 
in  hand  in  a  common  cause." 

Dallam's  fortunes  were  linked  with  those  of  the  paper  he  had  founded  until 
the  summer  of  1887.  He  then  sold  his  remaining  interest  in  the  daily,  and  trans- 
ferred his  interests  to  Davenport,  Lincoln  county.  From  Davenport  he  moved  to 
Loomis,  in  the  Okanogan  country,  and  later  to  Oroville,  and  that  section  has  since 
been  his  home.  He  has  owned  and  edited  several  weekly  newspapers  in  Okanogan 
county.  While  in  Davenport  he  served  a  term  as  receiver  of  the  United  States  land 
office,  and  since  going  to  Okanogan  county  has  held  the  office  of  commissioner  of 
the  federal  court. 

1888 

In  October,  1883,  the  Chronicle  claimed  a  population  of  1,500  for  Spokane. 
Six  religious  denominations  were  represented,  &ye  with  places  of  worship.  A  cen- 
sus of  the  business  interests  showed  two  banks,  three  wholesale  and  retail  general 
merchandise  stores,  three  drugstores,  three  grocery  and  provision  stores,  one  com- 
mission store,  two  millinery  stores,  two  watchmakers  and  jewelers,  three  men's 
furnishing  stores,  four  hardware,  two  furniture,  three  agricultural  implement,  three 
harness,  three  livery  and  express  stables,  three  blacksmith  shops,  one  machine  shop, 
one  carriage  factory,  two  flouring  mills,  one  saw,  shingle  and  planing  mill,  one  sasb 
and  door  factory,  four  fruit  and  confectionery  stores,  two  meat  markets,  one  bakery, 
one  soda  water  factory,  one  fruit  nursery,  one  shoe  store,  two  shoemaker  shops,  one 


CORNER  OF  RIVERSIDE  AND  HOWARD   IN  THE   EARLY    '80b 


SPOKANE  IN  1887,  FROM  THE  HILL  NEAR  THE  HEAD  OF  HOWARD  STREET 


THE  «RW  YO?K 

iPUBLJC  UBftAR 


n 

NT 


M^ -i^UC 


t     r.. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  403 

photograph  gallery^  two  paint  shops^  four  contractors  and  builders^  one  hide  and 
fur  depots  one  gun  and  locksmith^  three  barber  shops^  two  breweries^  one  wholesale 
liquor  store^  eight  saloons^  five  hotels  and  three  restaurants. 

Transportation  and  communication  were  provided  by  one  railroad^  two  express 
companies^  three  stage  lines  and  two  telegraphs. 

The  United  States  land  office  had  just  been  moved  to  Spokane  from  Colfax. 

Professionally  the  city  had  six  law  firms^  eight  physicians,  one  dentist,  one  col- 
lege president,  six  teachers  and  two  newspaper  editors.'  There  were  six  real-estate 
and  insurance  offices. 

The  new  public  school  building,  nearing  completion,  was  regarded  by  the  Chron- 
icle "as  an  ornament  to  the  town,  to  be  pointed  out  to  strangers  with  just  pride." 
It  was  frame,  two  stories,  forty  by  sixty-eight,  with  two  schoolrooms  on  each  floor. 

"This  is  a  good  place,"  said  the  Chronicle,  "for  all  active  and  wide  awake  busi- 
ness and  professional  men,  for  skilful  mechanics,  for  capable  housekeepers,  and  for 
industrious,  courageous,  intelligent  farmers  and  laborers.  It  is  no  lazy  man's  para- 
dise. If  you  want  lands,  health,  labor,  business,  wealth,  and  to  grow  up  with  most 
favored  conditions  in  the  country,  come  to  Spokane." 

BY   J.   b.    SHERWOOD 

I  landed  in  Spokane  December  27th,  1883,  coming  west  over  the  Northern  Pa- 
cific railroad  which  had  just  been  completed  to  the  coast  that  summer. 

At  that  time  Spokane  was  a  most  interesting  frontier  town  of  about  1,500  popu- 
lation. It  was  in  a  state  of  wild  excitement  over  the  discovery  of  gold  near  Murray, 
in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.  The  place  was  full  of  prospectors  buying  supplies  to  be 
hauled  over  the  mountains  on  sleds.  The  merchants  were  busy — town  lots  were 
selling — everybody  active  and  expectant. 

Not  long  after  my  arrival,  I  caught  the  western  fever,  filed  on  160  acres  near 
town,  and  decided  to  embark  in  the  mercantile  business  which  was  started  two 
months  later  under  the  style  of  "Sherwood  &  Dempsie." 

With  the  exception  of  about  twenty  buildin^^p^the  north  side,  the  entire  town 
was  embraced  by  the  Northern  Pacific  tracks  and  dUe  *river  from  Division  street  on 
the  east  to  Cedar  street  on  the  west.  There  wer6  'blif  few  dwellings  beyond  these 
boundaries. 

The  business  houses  were  centered  on  Howard  street  between  Riverside  Avenue 
and  the  river, — a  few  along  Riverside  to  Post  Street.  The  "California  House"  was 
the  chief  hotel,  on  the  northeast  comer  of  Front  avenue  and  Howard  street.  Resi- 
d^ces  were  scattered  on  East  Riverside  and  Main — ^West  on  Sprague  and  First 
avenues,  with  large  vacant  spaces  of  prairie  between. 

The  Post  street  bridge  was  the  only  river  crossing  from  which  a  view  of  the 
falls  in  their  natural  beauty  was  had. 

Browne's  addition  was  then  a  pine  forest  which  held  the  snow  and  afforded  good 
sleighing  for  several  winter  months. 

With  the  exception  of  a  dozen  two-story  brick  buildings,  the  business  houses 
were  rows  of  one-story  frames.  There  were  several  destructive  fires  which  always 
caused  great  excitement,  as  there  were  no  water  pipes  laid  until  1885. 

I  look  back  with  considerable  amusement  at  the  first  fire  that  occurred.     Was 


404  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

awakened  early  one  morning  by  revolver  shots  fired  in  rapid  succession  (the  usual 
fire  alarm)  announcing  a  fire  on  Main  avenue  near  Howard  street  which  consumed 
several  buildings^  including  the  postoffice.  A  line  of  men^  the  "bucket  line"  was 
hastily  formed  from  the  fire  to  the  river.  Buckets  of  water  were  passed  from  hand 
to  hand  which  were  either  thrown  on  the  fire  or  used  to  wet  blankets  hung  on  ad- 
joining buildings  to  prevent  the  fire  from  spreading. 

Nothing  was  funnier  than  this  indiscriminate  bucket  line  composed  of  men  of 
every  occupation  from  the  banker  to  the  laborer^  each  excitedly  prodding  his  neigh- 
bor "to  hurry  up  there/'  and  slopping  water  all  over  themselves.  When  the  fire 
was  finally  checked  it  was  customary  for  the  saloons  to  dispense  free  drinks  to 
everybody — all  celebrating  the  occasion  in  a  grand  spree. 

Many  reasons  have  been  given  for  the  rapid  growth  of  Spokane.  Its  water 
power^  its  wheat  and  timber  •  lands^  its  mines  have  been  contributing  factors  but  its 
geographical  location  as  a  trade  center  has  been  the  important  element  in  making  it 
a  metropolis. 

Before  the  whites  came,  the  Indians  found  Spokane  Falls  a  convenient  meeting 
place.  All  their  trails  crossed  here.  For  similar  reasons  it  has  become  a  great 
railroad  center. 

In  1884  the  street  life  was  a  proof  of  this.  There  were  cowboys  from  the  Big 
Bend  who  gave  us  interesting  exhibitions  of  horse  breaking  and  pony  racing;  miners 
loading  their  pack  trains ;  Canadian  boatmen  from  Uie  upper  Columbia  buying  mer- 
chandise to  smuggle  across  the  line;  Chinamen  selling  fine  gold  washed  from  the 
sands  of  the  Columbia;  lumber- jacks  and  ranchers  all  buying  and  trading  or  "blow- 
ing in"  their  savings  for  a  good  time.  I  had  the  opportunity  of  meeting  these  people 
in  a  business  way. 

Shooting  scrapes  were  not  uncommon.  I  remember  one  night  about  ten  o'clock 
hearing  considerable  hilarity  in  a  saloon  opposite.  Looking  in,  I  saw  a  man  butting 
his  friends  with  his  head,  apparently  having  great  fun  over  it.  A  few  minutes 
later  he  butted  some  surly  cuss  who  pulled  a  gun  and  shot  him  dead.  About  this 
time  the  Indians  murdered  several  whites.  One  summer  afternoon,  the  town  was 
enjoying  a  German  picnic  in  the  beautiful  pine  grove  just  below  the  falls  (now 
West  Riverside  Addition)  ;  suddenly  a  messenger  reported  a  man  had  been  killed 
by  Indians  on  the  North  Side  near  Post  Street.  A  posse  of  volunteers  was  formed 
which  started  in  hot  pursuit.  The  picnic  was  then  resumed  without  further  inter- 
ruption. 

A  policeman  named  Rusk  was  shot  by  Indians  in  his  camp  on  Dead-man's  creek, 
some  fifteen  miles  north  of  town.  He  had  left  Spokane  the  same  day  bound  for  the 
Colville  Valley  on  a  mining  trip.  As  he  was  a  popular  fellow,  his  death  caused  a 
great  commotion. 

A  thing  quite  common  then  which  always  gathered  crowds  on  the  streets,  was 
a  squaw  fight  in  which  two  squaws  would  go  for  each  other  tooth  and  nail,  until 
their  fierce  hair-pulling  contest  was  stopped  by  the  police  who  lodged  the  Indian 
maidens  in  the  "Skookum  house,"  as  the  jail  was  then  called. 

At  certain  seasons  of  the  year  the  Indians  assembled  in  Spokane  for  their  "pow- 
wows." Their  faces  painted  yellow  and  red,  attired  in  colored  blankets,  they  pre- 
sented a  picturesque  appearance.  Their  meeting  place  was  the  point  above  the  falls 
where  Front  avenue  ends.     Here  they  would  play  cards  for  days  and  gamble  away 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  406 

all  their  chattels  including  their  ponies  and  the  hlankets  on  their  backs.  The  Indians 
were  generally  quiet  and  peaceful  unless  furnished  with  liquor  which  they  were 
always  eager  to  buy.  To  sell  them  whisky  has  always  been  a  criminal  offense 
but  they  often  managed  to  buy  lemon  or  vanilla  extract  from  some  unthinking  grocer 
which  contained  enough  alcohol  to  produce  the  same  dangerous  effect. 

Old  Garry,  chief  of  the  Spokanes,  was  frequently  seen  around  town.  He  was 
a  small  sensible  fellow,  usually  dressed  in  old  clothes  presented  by  his  white  friends, 
among  whom  he  was  very  popular.  Chief  Joseph,  the  big  warrior,  often  visited 
Spokane  from  his  northern  home,  and  was  naturally  the  object  of  much  curiosity 
on  account  of  his  historical  career.    He  was  certainly  a  handsome  specimen  of  Indian. 

A  favorite  bathing  place  for  Indians,  white  men,  and  boys,  was  at  a  bend  of  the 
river  near  Elm  street,  which  was  then  so  far  from  town  that  bathing  suits  were  not 
required. 

From  1885  to  1889,  the  year  of  the  big  fire,  the  population  increased  from  2,000 
to  15,000.  The  lead-silver  mines  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  discovered  in  '85,  the  de- 
velopment of  farm  lands,  railroad  building,  etc.,  established  Spokane  as  an  im- 
portant jobbing  center.  The  citizens  then  were  most  public-spirited.  I  was  ap-  • 
pointed  secretary  of  a  subscription  committee  to  raise  $250,000  bonus  for  the  Seattle,  \ 
Lake  Shore  &  Eastern  railroad  company,  in  consideration  of  which  the  company 
agreed  to  build  a  railroad  from  Spokane  to  Puget  Sound.  It  seemed  an  impossible 
task  but  this  money  was  all  subscribed  in  two  weeks'  time — a  remarkable  fact  con- 
sidering the  size  of  the  place.  Equally  large  donations  were  made  later  to  the 
Great  Northern  for  entering  Spokane  and  promising  terminal  rates;  also  to  the 
Spokane  &  Northern.  I  cite  these  magnificent  subscriptions  not  only  because  they 
were  such  great  factors  in  city-making  at  that  time  when  Spokane's  future  was 
trembling  in  the  balance,  but  also  as  a  tribute  to  the  nerve  and  loyalty  of  its  pio- 
neers, many  of  whom  lost  their  fortunes  after  the  great  fire  of  August  4th,  1889, 
or  have  passed  away  forever. 

In  the  spring  of  '89,  I  started  a  five-story  office  building  with  an  elevator — then 
the  highest  building  in  town,  called  the  "Washington  Building."  It  was  hardly  fin- 
ished when  destroyed  in  the  big  fire  of  August  4th.  In  1891  I  built  the  "Sherwood 
Building"  on  the  same  site  of  heavy  arched  construction  to  withstand  another  simi- 
lar calamity.  *  Had  I  built  higher  than  three  stories,  the  mortgagee  probably  would 
have  taken  it  over  with  many  other  Riverside  avenue  structures. 

Most  of  my  time  has  been  devoted  to  the  real-estate  business  but  I  became  inter- 
ested in  the  electric  light,  street  railway  and  water-power  companies  from  their 
inception, — the  properties  now  owned  by  the  Washington  Water  Power  Company. 

J.  D.  Sherwood. 

G.  B.  Dennis  organized  the  Ross  Park  Electric  Railway  company  in  1888,  and  that 
corporation  built  and  opened  to  operation  in  1889  the  first  electric  railway  in  Spo- 
kane and  one  of  the  first  in  the  west.  The  venture  was  unprofitable,  and  in  addi- 
tion to  losses  borne  in  operation,  the  company  paid  out  a  great  deal  for  the  grading 
of  Front  avenue  through  the  rocks  from  Division  street  to  the  river,  and  built  the 
bridge  to  cross  the  river.  It  was  a  bold  undertaking,  for  there  were  few  residents 
between  Division  street  and  the  end  of  the  line,  four  miles  out  across  the  open 
prairies,  to  Minnehaha  park. 


406  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

"We  operated  that  line  three  years  at  an  average  loss  of  $3^000  a  month,"  said 
Mr.  Dennis,  "and  it  being  such  a  good  thing,  turned  it  over  after  the  panic  of  1895 
to  the  Washington  Water  Power  company  which  has  operated  it  ever  since. 

"On  May  5,  1885,"  added  Mr.  Dennis,  "a  Northern  Pacific  train  pulled  into 
Spokane.  I  was  aboard  that  train.  Of  the  2,000  inhabitants,  counting  the  Indians, 
there  were  at  the  depot  about  200.  The  moment  I  appeared  on  the  platform  I  was 
greeted  with  'Shoot  that  hat,'  very  much  to  my  embarrassment.  I  had  on  a  high, 
brown  Cashmere  hat,  the  same  shape  as  the  silk  hat,  then  the  style  in  the  east. 
Everybody  on  the  platform  had  on  a  slouch  hat.  That  same  afternoon  I  hunted  up 
a  haberdasher,  £.  Dempsie,  bought  a  slouch  hat,  and  have  had  no  desire  to  change 
shape  or  style  since.    Mr.  Dempsie  was  the  first  man  I  met  in  Spokane." 

W.  S.  George  ("Blind  George")  who  came  to  Spokane  in  1888,  has  recorded  an 
interesting  description  of  the  town:  "Spokane  had  then  about  1,500  inhabitants; 
most  of  the  business  was  located  on  Howard  Street,  from  the  river  to  Riverside  avenue. 
There  was  but  one  bridge  across  the  river,  over  the  south  channel  at  Howard 
street  to  the  Big  island.  The  North  side  was  reached  by  a  ferry  at  the  east  end  of 
the  island  about  Division  street.  The  California  hotel,  owned  by  William  Gray, 
occupied  the  site  of  the  present  city  hall.  It  was  the  largest  and  most  pretentious 
hotel  in  this  part  of  the  country.  The  stage  coach  was  the  principal  means  of  con- 
veyance. There  were  stages  running  to  Coeur  d'Alene  City,  Colville,  Fort  Spokane, 
Medical  Lake  and  the  Big  Bend  country,  and  to  Colfax,  where  connections  were 
made  to  Moscow  and  Lewiston. 

"Charles  Sweeny  and  Loewenberg  conducted  a  general  merchandise  store  on  the 
comer  of  Front  and  Howard,  and  the  First  National  bank  occupied  another  comer. 
Parker,  proprietor  of  the  O.  K.  barber  shop,  o|>ened  a  place  that  fall  in  the  east 
end  of  the  California  hotel. 

"Cal  Duncan,  who  was  afterwards  run  over  by  a  train  and  killed  near  Meacham, 
Oregon,  opened  the  Pantheon  saloon  and  billiard  hall,  the  first  place  of  its  kind 
at  that  time  in  Spokane.  They  occupied  rooms  immediately  south  of  what  is  at 
present  the  Coeur  d'Alene  bowling  alley.  Harry  Hayward  had  a  sporting^goods 
store  in  the  same  block,  at  the  corner  of  the  alley. 

"On  the  west  side  of  Howard,  immediately  back  of  the  First  National  bank, 
was  the  Poodle  Dog  restaurant.  The  Senate  saloon  occupied  the  adjoining  build- 
ing. 

"E.  E.  Johnson,  who  at  that  time  was  traveling  auditor  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
and  agent  at  Ains worth,  where  a  package  of  over  $18,000  disappeared  from  the  safe, 
and  who  was  arrested,  tried  and  acquitted  at  Walla  Walla  for  the  theft,  bought  the 
Senate  saloon  and  cut  quite  a  wide  swath  in  the  underworld  of  Spokane. 

"Jack  Squier  was  doing  business  in  the  store  basement  on  Howard  street,  be- 
tween Front  and  Main.  George  Darby's  place  occupied  the  northwest  corner  of  Main 
and  Howard;  the  N.  P.  hotel,  the  northeast  corner.  The  HoUey  hartiware  store 
occupied  the  southwest  corner  of  Main  and  Howard.  The  small  story  and  a  half 
frame  building  known  as  the  Boston  store  occupied  the  southeast  comer. 

"The  Blalock  boot  and  shoe  store  occupied  the  northwest  comer  of  Riverside 
and  Howard.  Three  stores  facing  on  Howard  street,  one  of  them  occupied  by  Bell 
Brothers  as  a  grocery,  were  on  the  present  site  of  the  Ziegler  building.     There  was 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  407 

a  drugstore  where  the  United  Cigars  store  now  stands  (southeast  corner  of  River- 
side and  Howard).  L.  C.  Keats  conducted  a  grocery  store  on  the  corner  now  occu- 
pied by  the  Traders  National  bank. 

"There  were  a  few  small  business  houses  on  Riverside  avenue,  and  one  or  two  on 
Railroad  avenue  facing  the  track.  Not  more  than  a  dozen  buildings  had  been  erected 
south  of  the  Northern  Pacific,  and  but  two  north  of  the  river." 


VJ 


xo^* 


■pvjbU' 


UB^^ 


^r% 


CHAPTER  XLII 

RAPID  GROWTH  OF  THE  YOUNG  CITY,  1886  TO  1889 

SLEIGH    RIDES    AND    DANCES NEW    ARLINGTON    HOTEL    OPENED EMMA    ABBOTt's    COM- 
PANY    IN    '^BOHEMIAN    GIRL" SALE    OF    OLD    DOMINION    MINE CONTEST    FOR    THE 

COURTHOUSE STEAMER       SPOKANE       WRECKED FAIR       ASSOCIATION       ORGANIZED 

RAPID      BUILDING     OF     RAILROADS SALE     OF     BUNKER     HILL     AND     SULLIVAN REAL 

ESTATE    BOOM VARIETY   THEATER    OPENS SPOKANb's    FIRST    SOCIAL    CLUB BACHE- 
LOR'S   BALL HOW    THE    CITY    GREW. 

SOCIALLY  the  town  was  lively  in  the  winter  of  1886-7.  A  charity  ball  was 
a  feature  during  the  holidays,  given  in  Joy*s  opera  house,  at  Post  street  and 
Riverside,  where  now  stands  the  Galena  block.  The  ladies  wore  Mother 
Goose  costumes.  Local  talent  was  rehearsing  for  '-'The  Mikado,"  and  had  given 
"Pinafore"  earlier  in  the  year.  "The  Mikado"  was  scheduled  for  Christinas  week, 
but  the  costumes  failed  to  arrive  in  time.  Kirtland  K.  Cutter  painted  the  scenery. 
Herbert  Bolster  took  the  part  of  the  Mikado,  Walker  L.  Bean  was  Nankie-Poo, 
J.  D.  Sherwood  Ko-Ko,  Charles  Vajen  Poo-Bah,  Ralph  Clark  Pish  Tush,  Miss 
Maria  Taylor  (Mrs.  Harl  J.  Cook),  Mrs.  H.  E.  Houghton  and  Miss  Grace  Clark 
(later  Mrs.  Fred  Harrington)  were  the  three  little  maids  from  school.  Mrs.  D. 
M.  Thompson  sang  Katisha.  The  performance  was  given  with  great  eclat  early  in 
January,  1887,  in  Joy's  opera  house. 

Rapid  as  had  been  its  growth  after  discovery  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mines,  the 
little  city  by  the  Falls  was  destined  to  experience  a  more  marvelous  development  in 
the  period  lying  between  1886  and  1889.  The  school  report  for  the  term  ended  De- 
cember 24,  1886,  showed  an  enrollment  of  five  hundred  and  three  with  an  average 
attendance  of  three  hundred  and  eighty.  Seven  teachers  were  employed  and  the 
pay  roll  aggregated  $550  a  month,  including  janitor's  wages  and  rent  for  the  use 
of  some  primary  buildings. 

Enthusiastic  citizens  claimed  a  population  of  five  thousand. 
Deep  snows  fell  in  the  winter  of  1886  and  1887,  but  the  townspeople  suffered  no 
lack  of  entertainment.  There  were  sleigh  rides  to  neighboring  towns,  with  dances 
at  the  other  end,  and  dancing  was  the  popular  amusement  in  Spokane.  They  had  a 
Waltz  Club,  with  Ralph  L.  Clark,  Dr.  N.  Fred  Essig  and  Fred  McBroom,  as  floor 
committee,  but  with  due  regard  for  the  religious  scruples  of  some  of  its  members, 
no  dances  were  held  during  Lent. 

Other  social  events  of  the  year,  were  the  opening  of  the  new  Arlington  hotel  on 
the  evening  of  March  1,  and  the  appearance,  about  the  same  time,  of  Emma  Ab- 

409 


410  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

bott's  Opera  Company^  which  made  a  one  night  stand  in  the  "Boheniian  GirL" 
Editor  Dallam  called  it  "Grand  Opera"  and  poked  a  good  deal  of  fun  at  the  people 
of  Walla  Walla  because  their  musical  taste  called  for  a  lighter  production  by  the 
same  company.  For  weeks  before  the  arrival  of  Enuna  Abbott,  the  town  was  on 
the  qui  vive  and  when  the  train  arrived  with  the  singer  and  her  company^  a  great 
crowd  was  there  to  give  them  greeting.  The  new  Arlington  had  not  been  opened 
and  the  arrival  of  the  opera  company  severely  taxed  the  town's  hotel  facilities. 

F.  M.  Tull  came  that  winter  from  Kansas,  bought  property  and  announced  his 
intention  of  building  a  brick  block,  one  hundred  foot  front  and  three  stories  hi^ 
on  the  site  then  occupied  by  J.  N.  Glover's  residence  and  now  covered  by  the  Paulsen 
building. 

In  February,  Major  Sidney  D.  Waters  purchased  from  Elmer  E.  Alexander, 
his  interest  in  the  Old  Dominion  mine  near  Colville.  The  original  owners  of  this 
mine  were  Al  Benoist,  Pat  and  Will  Kearney  and  Alexander. 

The  Review  of  February  10  reported  the  return  from  Olympia,  where  the  Judge 
had  been  acting  as  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court  for  several  weeks,  of  Judge 
and  Mrs.  George  Turner.  The  paper  added,  "He  met  with  many  congratulations 
at  his  home  on  his  decision  in  the  women's  suffrage  cases  and  probably  is  deeply 
cursed  in  other  quarters."  Under  an  active  propaganda  led  by  Mrs.  Abigail  Scott 
Duniway  of  Portland,  the  territorial  legislature  had  passed  an  act  conferring  suf- 
frage  on  women.  The  constitutionality  of  this  act  was  challenged,  and  the  issue 
being  carried  to  the  courts,  the  law  was  held  to  be  unconstitutional  in  an  opinion  ren- 
dered by  Judge  Turner.  ; 

Notwithstanding  the  town  was  on  the  verge  of  a  great  boom,  business  men  com-, 
plained  that  winter  of  dull  times,  although  the  streets  were  crowded  with  teams 
and  people. 

Spokane  had  won  the  county  seat  froip  Cheney,  and  the  permanent  location  of 
the  courthouse  was  the  big  issue  of  the  winter,  with  the  north  side  pitted  against 
the  south  side.  A  committee  composed  of  E.  J.  Webster,  J.  E.  Gandy,  Cyrus  Brad- 
ley and  S.  Heath  offered  to  donate  a  site  of  seven  lots,  about  one  half  of  Block  103 
at  Front  and  Division  streets.  Only  one  other  free  offer  came  before  the  commis- 
sioners, that  of  Col.  D.  P.  Jenkins,  tendering  Block  5  in  his  addition  on  the  north 
side,  which  he  valued  at  $5,000  and  offering  in  addition  to  give  the  County  $1,000  in 
money.  A  number  of  other  propositions  were  submitted  to  the  commissioners,  but 
as  they  all  involved  a  monetary  consideration  from  the  County,  the  contest  narrowed 
down  to  the  two  free  offers  and  that  made  by  Col.  Jenkins  was  accepted  and  the 
courthouse  located  u|>on  its  present  site. 

Labor  Unions  established  a  foothold  this  winter.  Unions  were  organized  by 
the  carpenters,  plasterers  and  brick  layers. 

Fire  alarms  were  sounded  by  revolver  shots,  yells  and  the  ringing  of  bells,  and 
complaint  was  heard  that  the  fire  bell  was  improperly  hung  and  could  not  be  heard 
sufficient  distance. 

F.  H.  Mason  &  Company,  having  decided  to  engage  in  other  business,  were 
closing  out  their  large  stock  of  dry  goods. 

The  Steamer  Spokane,  which  had  just  been  placed  on  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river  by 
Nelson  Martin,  was  wrecked  April  4,  1887,  while  descending  on  the  swift  current 
between  Mission  and  Kingston.    It  struck  a  log  drift,  capsized  and  five  of  the  twenty 


I 


.'"the  new  YORK 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY! 


L 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  411 

passengers  were  drowned,  including  J.  C.  Hanna^  city  clerk  of  Spokane  and  Col. 
N.  J.  Higgins,  a  capitalist  from  Bangor,  Maine.  Nelson  Martin,  the  owner,  had  a 
narrow  escape.     George  T.  Crane  superintended  the  work  of  recovering  the  bodies. 

There  were  doubters  then  of  Spokane's  future.  "The  question  was  put  to  us 
the  other  day,"  said  Editor  Dallam,  "What  is  there  here  to  build  a  great  city.^  We 
answered  'the  men.'  "     And  a  very  good  answer  it  was. 

At  the  election  in  April,  1887,  W.  H.  Taylor  defeated  E.  B.  Hyde  for  mayor. 

In  that  month,  too,  organization  of  the  Eastern  Washington  &  Northern  Idaho 
Fair  Association,  was  completed  with  A.  A.  Newbery,  president;  J.  N.  Glover,  vice- 
president;  John  Todd,  secretary,  and  George  K.  Reed,  treasurer.  These,  with  A. 
M.  Cannon,  John  McGrane,  W.  H.  Taylor,  H.  G.  Stimmel,  L.  H.  Whitehouse,  Peter 
Deuber,  L.  B.  Nash,  E.  J.  Webster  and  Mat  Lieb,  constituted  the  board  of  directors. 
The  Association  acquired  extensive  grounds  east  of  north  Monroe  street  and  south  of 
the  hill,  laid  out  a  race  course,  erected  a  grand  stand,  fair  buildings  and  other  needed 
structures,  and  there  in  the  autumn  of  1887  and  for  several  years  thereafter,  gave  a 
very  creditable  fair  and  excellent  racing.  These  grounds  were  subsequently  sold  to 
D.  C.  Corbin  and  by  him  platted  as  Corbin  Park  addition. 

As  summer  drew  on,  transportation  was  in  the  air.  Mr.  Corbin  was  pushing 
construction  on  the  Mission  and  Wardner  Railroad  and  urged  the  Spokane  business  v 
men  to  go  after  the  trade  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.  In  the  language  of  a  local  paper, 
"The  eyes  of  the  people  of  the  West  are  turned  upon  the  progress  of  the  Manitoba 
road,  (The  Great  Northern)."  James  Monaghan,  D.  M.  Drumheller,  J.  N.  Glover, 
C.  B.  King  and  Lewis  McMorris  incorporated  the  Kalispel  Steam  Navigation  com- 
pany to  build  and  operate  a  steamboat  line  from  Sandpoint  down  the  Pend  d'Oreille 
lake  and  river  into  Stevens  county.  The  Northern  Pacific  was  pushing  its  line 
across  the  Cascades.  Undaunted  by  the  destruction. of  the  Steamer  Spokane,  Nelson 
Martin  bought  a  thirty-six  foot  boat,  built  at  Medical  Lake  and  put  it  on  the  Spo- 
kane River  to  carry  passengers  and  freight  from  Post  Falls  to  the  old  Mission. 

Mining  interest  centered  around  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  the  Salmon  River  and  Ruby 
districts  in  the  Okanogan  country^  the  Colville  district  and  discoveries  around  Lake 
Pend  d'Oreille.  The  biggest  piece  of  mining  news  that  the  country  had  heard  in  a 
long  while  came  in  a  verified  report  that  S.  G.  Reed  of  Portland  had  bought  the 
Banker  Hill  and  Sullivan  mines,  at  a  price  reputed  to  be  between  $1,000,000  and 
$1,250,000.  Jim  Wardner  was  given  credit  for  working  up  the  big  deal.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Daily  Review,  the  purchase  included,  in  addition  to  the  Bunker  Hill  and 
SoUivan  mines,  the  Peck  and  Cooper  claims,  which  had  been  under  litigation  in  the 
courts  for  a  long  time,  also,  the  Sancho  fraction,  the  Bunker  Hill  fraction,  the  con- 
centrator and  concentrator  contract  held  by  the  Helena  Concentrator  company  and 
J.  F.  Wardner;  also  a  contract  for  extracting  83,500  tons  of  second  class  ore  and 
10,000  tons  of  first  class  ore,  held  by  J.  F.  Wardner;  the  Milo  Water  right  owned 
by  Wardner  and  the  South  Forks  Water  right  of  10,000  inches.  "The  purchase," 
said  the  Review,  "throws  a  large  sum  of  money  into  the  hands  of  various  residents, 
among  whom  are  N.  S.  Kellogg,  Con  Sullivan,  Phil  O'Rourke,  Alex  Monk,  Jacob 
Goetz  (Dutch  Jake),  Harry  Baer,  Albert  Allen  and  S.  T.  Hauser,  owners;  O.  O. 
Peck  and  Dr.  Cooper,  litigants ;  W.  W.  Woods,  W.  B.  Heyburn,  W.  F.  Stoll,  at- 
torneys; while  the  others  are  Jas.  F.  Wardner,  the  Helena  Concentrator.  Col.  A.  M. 
Esler,  Jack  Fitzgerald,  Robert  Miller  and  C.  S.  Burke. 


412  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

« 

The  Oddfellows  had  a  celebration  in  April  and  a  feature  of  the  day  was  the 
ball  game  between  the  Sprague  Club  and  the  Review  nine — score  Review  29, 
Sprague  12. 

C.  S.  Voorhees  was  delegate  in  Congress  and  the  Review  which  differed  from 
him  politically  had  this  to  say:  *'Hon.  Chas.  S.  Voorhees  appeared  in  a  carriage 
in  front  of  the  Arlington  last  evening  and  made  a  speech.  He  turned  out  to  thank 
the  band,  but  the  chance  was  too  good  and  he  got  in  a  few  licks  for  next  season  in 
advance."  The  Review  sarcastically  added  that  Mr.  Voorhees  lifted  his  voice  as 
though  he  thought  his  audience  were  on  the  hills  a  mile  away. 

Construction  started  on  the  gas  plant  this  spring.  Several  franchises  had  been 
granted  by  the  council  in  previous  years,  but  all  lapsed  by  default  until  the  fall 
of  1886,  when  a  franchise  was  given  to  eastern  capitalists  who  bought  ground  on 
Stevens  street  between  Railroad  avenue  and  Second  avenue  and  pushed  the  work 
vigorously  in  the  spring  of  '87. 

By  May  the  real  estate  boom  was  under  full  swing  and  Editor  Dallam  warned 
the  people  against  inflated  prices  for  outside  platting.  **In  many  outljring  localities 
lots  are  being  held  at  figures  entirely  out  of  reason  and  the  effect  will  be  a  positive 
fietriment  to  the  growth  and  development  of  Spokane  Falls.  The  heavy  property 
owner  and  the  real-estate  agent  are  the  only  parties  benefited  by  these  unreasonably 
high  prices.  The  city,  the  mass  of  the  people  and  all  branches  of  merchandising 
and  manufacturing  will  be  positive  sufferers  thereby.''  At  that  time  two  hundred 
houses  were  under  erection  and  the  inflation  of  values  that  called  out  this  editorial 
warning  was  mild  and  modest  compared  to  the  degrees  that  were  to  follow. 

In  August,  a  rifle  club  was  organized  with  Judge  George  Turner,  president; 
Mayor  W.  H.  Taylor  vice-president;  Paul  J.  Strobach,  secretary;  A.  J.  Staus, 
treasurer  and  an  executive  committee  of  O.  C.  Squire,  J.  B.  Simpson  and  A.  J. 
Warren. 

The  first  social  club,  the  Carlton,  had  its  inception  in  August,  when  a  number 
of  business  and  professional  men  met  at  Turner  &  Forster's  law  office  and  appointed 
Paul  Strobach,  A.  J.  Staus  and  Harl  J.  Cook  to  draw  up  articles  of  incorporation 
and  T.  C.  Griffitts,  H.  T.  Browne  and  N.  Toklas,  to  solicit  members. 

In  August,  the  city  directory  appeared  with  2,800  names  and  on  a  calculation  of 
three  to  each  directory  name,  the  town  claimed  a  population  of  6,900. 

In  November  the  school  enrollment  had  increased  to  687,  and  in  December  a 
variety  theater  appeared,  leading  the  Review  to  say,  "A  variety  theater  may  not 
add  to  the  moral  tone  of  a  city,  but  it  indicates  that  the  place  has  grown  to  the  sise 
where  a  regular  place  of  amusement  is  in  demand.  Other  cities  support  theaters 
of  this  class  and  Spokane  Falls  will  not  remain  in  the  rear  of  the  procession." 

During  the  holidays,  a  Bachelor's  ball  was  given  in  Concordia  Hall  on  Second 
avenue,  with  Frank  Hemmenway,  Lane  C.  Gilliam,  J.  K.  Stout,  H.  Bolster  and  A 
F.  McBroom,  committee  on  arrangements.  Members  of  the  refreshment  committee 
were  Paul  F.  Mohr,  Ben  Norman  and  K.  K.  Cutter.  It  was  quite  the  society  event 
of  the  winter. 

To  an  unknown  writer  in  the  Daily  Review  of  August  4,  1890,  I  am  indebted 
for  the  following  review: 

The  years  from  1880  to  1886  had  been  preparatory.  The  business  efforts  of 
the  people  had  been  a  school,  in  which  they  had  learned  the  value  of  concerted  to- 


THE  .NEW  YORIC 

;F:.;bLiC  LIBRARY] 


I 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  418 

tion.  The  population  by  1886  had  reached  2^000^  the  town  had  accumulated  a 
bank  capital  of  ^bout  $200^000.  It's  resolute  fight  for  the  County  Seat  had  attracted 
attention.  From  the  spring  of  1887  to  August  4t,  1889^  a  little  more  than  two  years^ 
may  be  grouped  together  as  a  period  of  most  wonderful  activity,  preparation  for 
ivhich  had  been  made  with  a  sagacity  equal  to  its  results. 

The  Spokane  &  Palouse  Railroad  had  been  projected  and  built  ninety  miles 
into  the  heart  of  the  fertile  Palouse  district. 

The  Seattle,  Lake  Shore  &  Eastern  had  been  projected  and  constructed  westward 
forty  miles  into  the  Big  Bend  country. 

The  Spokane  Falls  &  Idaho  was  built  to  a  connection  with  water  transporta- 
tion on  Coeur  d'Alene  lake,  rapidly  developing  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mining  region. 

The  Washington  Central  Railroad  was  organized  and  had  constructed  nearly 
one  hundred  miles  toward  the  Okanogan  mines. 

The  Spokane  Falls  &  Northern  was  projected  to  reach  the  Colville  and  Koo- 
tenai mining  regions. 

The  Northern  Pacific  had,  in  the  meantime,  built  its  line  through  to  Puget  Soiind. 

The  Union  Pacific  had  built  a  railroad  from  the  south  to  secure  a  share  of  the 
rich  traffic  of  the  Spokane  country.  How  great  that  traffic  had  been  may  be  realized 
by  the  fact  that  the  different  lines  of  railroad  then  received  and  discharged  more 
than  twenty  thousand  tons  of  freight  monthly  in  Spokane.  At  the  same  time  traffic 
had  so  increased  that  fully  five  thousand,  .people  reached  Spokane  Falls  by  the 
various  lines  every  month.  )       • -^i-: .    •'•  7i'     -  : 

In  1 887  the  first  street  railway  was  jjrojfeil^ifl  iaiid  'fmift  '^out  four  and  one-half 
miles  on  Riverside  avenue  and  through  Cannon's  addition,  a  belt  line  returning 
through  Browne's  addition,  followed  by  the  M'^^i  .line  -to  Cook's  Heights  and  the 
electric  street  railway  line  and  the  cable  railway.  In  all  about  twenty  miles  of 
street  car  track  in  a  city,  which  had  scarcely  3,000  people  two  years  before. 

The  banks  of  the  city  had  risen  in  number  from  two  to  ten,  the  capital  had  grown 
to  nearly  $1,000,000,  with  deposits  of  over  $2,000,000.  Mercantile  transactions  had 
swelled  in  proportion,  the  material  results  of  the  country  had  been  developed,  the 
manufacture  of  lumber  had  grown  till  the  output  of  the  mills  was  valued  at  $150,000 
per  month.  The  flour  mills  had  been  enlarged  and  new  ones  built  till  the  manu- 
facture was  800  barrels  a  day.  The  manufacture  of  brick,  the  production  of  lime 
and  the  quarrying  of  the  beautiful  gray  granite  of  the  country  had  taken  up  large 
capital.  Scores  of  fine  business  buildings  had  been  built  and  occupied.  Beautiful 
residences  crowned  the  hills  and  points  of  vantage,  where  the  owners  could  look 
out  upon  the  permanent  character  of  their  work  and  view  with  pride  the  thousands 
of  happy  homes  around  them,  for  in  this  brief  period,  the  city  had  grown  in  popu- 
lation to  nearly  twenty  thousand  souls.  Then  in  the  hour  of  splendid  success, 
when,  standing  on  the  firm  present  they  could  look  back  on  the  waving  line  of  small 
beginnings  €tnd  the  broader  course  of  gathering  strength,  and  forward  to  the  fu- 
ture when  their  miners  should  wrench  out  the  wealth  of  the  mountains  and  their 
merchants  should  gather  the  produce  of  the  hills  and  bring  them  here  to  be  wrought 
up  for  the  use  of  commerce  in  their  own  mills  and  furnaces, — the  clang  of  the  fire 
bell,  the  voice  of  calamity  broke  the  stillness  of  an  August  evening. 


V 

\ 


CHAPTER  XLIII 

THE  GREAT  FIRE  OF  AUGUST  4,  1889 

BLAZE   STARTS  NBAR  OLD  N.  P.   PASSENGER  STATION SEEMS  A  TRIFLING  AFFAIR WATER 

SUPPLY   FAILS   AND    FLAMES  SPREAD PEOPLE    BECOME    PANIC    STRICKEN BUILDINGS 

BLOWN    UP    WITH    GIANT    POWDER MIGHTY    SEA    OF    FLAME    ROLLS    TOWARDS    THE 

RITER TERRIFIED  AND  MOTLEY  CROWD  FLEES  TO  NORTH  SIDE THIRTY-TWO  BLOCKS 

DESTROYED CITY  UNDER    MARTIAL    LAW COURAGE    QUICKLY   DISPELS   DESPAIR RE- 
LIEF   ROLLS    IN DONATIONS    FAR    EXCEED    NEEDS    OF    DESTITUTE ORGY    OF    GREED 

•  FOLLOWS COUNCILMEN  INDICTED  FOR  MISAPPROPRIATING  SUPPLIES — OPEN  CHARGES 

OF  BRIBERY  IN   "haM  COUNCIL*' STEVE  BAILEY  ASSAULTS  COUNCILMAN  BETTIS. 

SUNDAY,  August  4,  1889,  became  memorable  as  the  date  of  the  "great  fire." 
The  flames  originated  in  a  row  of  frame  buildings  near  the  comer  of  Rail- 
road avenue  and  Post  street,  just  opposite  the  old  Northern  Pacific  passenger 
station.  There  had  been  no  rain  for  many  weeks  and  fierce  forest  fires  were  burn- 
ing in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.  A  dense  cloud  of  smoke  hung  over  the  city,  sometimes 
obscuring  the  sun.  On  the  first  anniversary  of  the  conflagration  the  Review  retold 
the  story  of  that  fiery  evening: 

The  blaze  seemed  a  trifling  affair  and  a  bystander  watching  it  before  the  fire- 
men arrived  remarked:  "Six  men  could  check  the  fire  with  buckets,  the  firemen  will 
have  it  under  control  in  a  few  minutes."  The  fire  department  arrived  promptly 
and  worked  well,  but  there  was  no  water.  Men  ran  from  one  hydrant  to  another, 
while  others  impatiently  held  the  nozzles  of  the  empty  hose. 

The  flames  increased,  slowly  burning  their  way  from  the  roof  of  the  two-story 
building  to  the  lower  story  and  gradually  extended  to  the  adjacent  houses  which 
almost  filled  an  entire  block. 

Darkness  came  on  and  the  assembled  crowd  moved  back  in  amazement  as  the 
flames  mounted  higher  to  the  sky.  Mayor  Furth  galloped  into  the  crowd  on  horse- 
back, then  galloped  away  to  look  after  the  water  supply.  The  situation  became 
alarming  and  whisperings  were  heard  that  the  city  was  doomed.  Word  went 
roTuid  that  Superintendent  Jones,  of  the  water  works,  was  out  of  town  and  the 
man  in  charge  of  the  pumping  station  was  unacquainted  with  the  machinery.  The 
whole  block  of  frame  buildings  was  then  ablaze  and  the  flames  had  created  a 
high  wind.  The  Pacific  Hotel  stood  near,  then  one  of  the  handsomest  structures 
in  the  dty.  Before  water  came,  its  front  began  to  yield,  the  plate  glass  began  to 
crackle,  curling  clouds  of  smoke  crept  through  the  openings  and  arrows  of  flame 
•hot  through  the  swirling  smoke  banks. 

415 


416  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Then  came  the  panie^  for  the  people  realized  that  no  power  could  check  the 
conflagration.  Hundreds  hurried  away  to  save  their  own  effects.  Every  available 
vehicle  was  brought  into  requisition  and  fabulous  sums  were  offered  for  assistance 
in  the  salvage  of  valuables.  In  less  time  than  it  takes  to  relate  the  story,  the 
dome  of  the  Pacific  fell  with  a  crash  and  a  whirlwind  arose  that  speedily  swept 
over  the  block  adjoining  northward.     In  a  moment  that  block  was  ablaze. 

The  scene  was  both  grand  and  appalling,  but  there  was  work  to  be  done. 
Those  who  had  gone  to  the  telegraph  office  to  inform  friends  that  a  fire  was  rag- 
ing here,  went  again  and  found  that  building  in  flames.  Shrieks  of  women  and 
children  commingled  with  the  commanding  tones  of  the  teamsters,  the  firemen  and 
thousands  of  other  voices,  all  of  which  were  drowned  by  the  roar  of  the  sea  of 
fire. 

People  supposed  at  first  that  such  buildings  as  the  Hyde  block.  Eagle,  Tull, 
Granite  and  the  Frankfurt  would  prove  a  barrier,  but  even  these  went  down  like 
children's  playhouses.  On  the  destroyer  swept  until  the  river  was  reached.  All 
the  banks,  all  the  hotels,  the  postoffice,  the  land  office,  all  the  large  business  houses 
were  destroyed  in  less  than  four  hours  from  the  time  the  alarm  sounded.  Every 
pound  of  giant  powder  that  could  be  obtained  was  used  in  the  blowing  up  of  build- 
ings on  corners  and  by  this  means  much  valuable  property  was  saved. 

'  At  the  river  masses  of  burning  shingles  and  even  flaming  timbers  floated 
northward  in  the  air,  igniting  the  mills  on  the  other  side,  but  by  great  effort  and 
the  judicious  use  of  the  little  dynamite  that  was  left,  the  fire  was  conquered 
there.  Several  bridges  were  destroyed,  but  the  Washington  and  Post  street  cross- 
ings were  saved.  Over  these  a  terrified  and  motley  stream  of  homeless  people 
passed,  seeking  shelter  under  the  pine  trees  and  relief  from  the  smoke  and  heat 
and  din  of  the  ruins.  They  were  not  heavily  burdened,  for  there  were  few  down- 
town dwellers  who  had  time  to  save  anything  of  value.  Some  had  blankets,  others 
pillows  and  a  few  carried  bundles  on  their  backs,  but  most  of  them  were  scantily 
attired  and  bankrupt  of  all  personal  effects.  Among  the  latter  were  many  theatri- 
cal and  "sporting"  people,  who  were  in  great  distress,  for  they  lost  not  only  all 
they  possessed,  but  their  means  of  earning  a  livelihood  was  gone. 

Before  the  midnight  train  on  the  Northern  Pacific  was  due,  a  rush  was  made 
for  the  depot.  A  scene  of  turmoil  and  destruction  was  there  presented.  The 
tracks  had  been  destroyed  all  the  way  from  Monroe  to  Washington  street;  the 
telegraph  wires  and  poles  were  down  for  a  greater  distance.  Men  and  women 
from  the  telegraph  office  were  at  work,  tapping  the  wires  at  both  sides  of  the 
burned  district  to  accommodate  the  thousands  who  were  clamoring  for  means 
of  communication  with  the  outer  world.  The  clanging  of  the  church  bells  had 
ceased,  but  still  there  were  shriekings  of  locomotives  and  hoarse  shouts  of  men  in 
the  railroad  yards,  seeking  to  save  the  company's  effects.  Both  passenger  and 
freight  depots  were  gone  and  blazing  cars  were  hauled  away  to  protect  the  long 
trains  that  stood  on  the  side  tracks. 

Thirty- two  blocks  in  the  heart  of  the  city  had  been  destroyed.  No  vestige  of 
their  former  grandeur  remaining,  save  the  blackened  walls  and  smoldering  wrecks 
in  basements. 

The  conflagration  was  under  control  by  nine  o'clock  and  before  midnight  the 
city  was  placed  under  military  laws.     Ropes  were  stretched  across  the  principal    * 


^m 


^  IrE  >EW  YORK 
?ODi,lC  LlBRARYl 

T*wO*.N    F«UNDATl«N»       \ 

- 1    I—        r"i  -mT->  '  r     -  "^  .v«^ 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  417 

streets  and  lines  were  plainly  marked.  Notices  were  issued  forbidding  intrusion 
apon  the  stricken  territory.  Badges  were  issued  those  who  could  show  that  busi- 
ness demanded  their  admittance^  but  others  were  strictly  refused^  for  the  city 
was  filled  with  thieves. 

Great  alarm  was  felt  lest  there  might  be  much  suffering  for  want  of  provisions 
and  appeals  for  aid  went  out  over  the  wires.  Subsequent  facts  afterwards  demon- 
strated that  this  alarm  was  unfounded^  for  a  few  carloads  of  supplies,  for  which 
most  of  the  people  in  need  of  them  were  amply  able  to  pay,  would  have  been  suffi- 
cient, but  the  panic  was  so  great  that  the  officials  were  possibly  justified  in  their 
calls  for  assistance  and  the  response  came  promptly,  bountifully  and  overwhelm- 
ingly. Money  was  not  needed,  yet  thousands  of  dollars  came  by  wire,  by  mail  and 
by  express.  Tents  came  from  Fort  Sherman  and  Walla  Walla  and  blankets,  quilts 
and  clothing  from  other  sources  sufficient  to  supply  an  army.  Bacon  was  corded 
up  like  wood  in  a  forest  and  hams  were  shipped  in  by  the  ton  with  whole  carloads 
of  canned  goods.  Pickles,  preserves  and  other  delicacies  accumulated  to  such 
an  extent  that  a  large  force  of  men  were  employed  to  receive  them. 

The  actual  loss  in  dollars  and  cents  was  never  ascertained,  owing  to  the  great 
number  of  small  dealers,  mechanics,  lodgers  and  others,  who  lost  all  and  carried 
no  insurance  and  made  no  report.  Thirty  representatives  of  insurance  companies 
were  sent  to  adjust  the  losses.  They  found  over  $6,000,000.  Two  deaths  occurred 
dnring  the  fire  and  several  persons  were  injured.  Fortunately  only  the  business 
district  was  burned  and  all  the  residences,  the  6CE90IS  and  the  churches  escaped. 

When  the  sun  came  up  the  morning  after  a  4^mal  scene  was  rpresented.  Tower- 
ing amid  the  smoke  and  above  the  glowing  embers  were  the  charred  remains  of 
stately  structures.  Thousands  were  scurrying  hithes^and  thither  viewing  the  ap- 
palling  scene.  Exclamations  were  uttered  that  Spokane  Falls  had  received  its 
death  blow.  A  dense  smoke  hung  over  the  city  and  the  sun  wore  an  angry  look. 
Despair  was  depicted  upon  many  a  face  until  a  rallying  voice,  seemingly  borne 
apon  the  breezes,  swept  over  the  throng.  The  effect  was  electrical.  "It  was  a 
blessing  in  disguise,''  the  p>eople  said,  "and  the  city  will  rise  again,  stronger  and 
better  than  ever  before." 

The  mayor  and  president  of  the  board  of  trade,  called  a  meeting  of  citizens 
and  the  council  jointly,  and  Superintendent  Jones,  of  the  water  works,  was  per- 
mitted to  resign.  Committees  were  appointed  to  look  after  individual  cases  of 
distress.  The  fire  limits  were  extended  and  assurance  given  that  better  protec- 
tion would  be  afforded  in  the  future.  Additional  fire  apparatus  was  ordered  by 
telegraph,  authority  was  given  to  buy  horses  to  draw  the  hose  carts,  an  electric 
fire  alarm  was  ordered.  This  reassured  the  men  who  had  lost  their  fine  struc- 
tures and  they  began  bidding  against  each  other  for  choice  locations.  Before 
the  day  was  ended  three  banks  had  purchased  corners  at  Riverside  and  Howard 
at  $1,000  per  front  foot  and  architects  and  builders  were  at  work.  Tents  were 
erected  for  temporary  use  and  all  through  the  fall  and  winter  thousands  of  men 
and  teams  were  employed.  The  ruined  walls  were  knocked  down  with  dynamite 
and  the  rubbish  cleared  away.  As  soon  as  plans  could  be  drawn  and  material 
obtained,  grander  structures  were  in  process  of  construction. 

Vol.  1— «7 


418  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Lavishly  the  big  heart  of  the  west  responded  to  Spokane's  cry  of  distress. 
Tents^  bedding,  clothing,  food,  rolled  in  upon  the  burned  city,  literally  by  the  train- 
load — in  quantities  vastly  beyond  the  needs  of  the  homeless  people.  And  out  of 
that  surfeit  of  relief  came  acts  of  greed  and  plunder  that  made  Spokane  hang  in 
sheer  shame  the  proud  head  which  had  remained  unbent  before  the  city's  flaming  dis- 
aster. From  the  overflowing  relief  depot  goods  were  hauled  in  wagon  load  to 
official  homes,  and  to  homes  of  citizens  beside,  where  plenty  already  ruled.  These 
revelations  excited  a  mighty  outburst  of  public  indignation,  and  in  December, 
1889,  the  grand  jury  indicted  Councilmen  Sidney  D.  Waters  and  Peter  Deuber 
and  Police  Officer  William  Gillespie  for  misappropriating  relief  supplies.  These 
cases  dragged  along  in  the  courts  for  several  years,  but  the  indicted  men  were 
never  brought  to  trial,  for  the  alleged  reason  that  the  chief  witnesses  had  left  the 
country.  But  it  was  long  a  matter  of  notorious  comment  that  a  few  prominent 
citizens,  who  had  weakly  yielded  to  the  argument  that  the  supplies  were  spoiling 
and  might  better  be  distributed  in  quantity  among  them,  covertly  intrigued  to 
protect  the  indicted  officials. 

Some  one  dubbed  the  city  council  then  in  power  the  ''ham  council,"  a  jovial 
reference  to  the  generous  stores  of  packing  house  products  piled  high  in  the 
cellars  of  some  of  the  members,  and  the  name  stuck  and  passed  into  history.  But 
the  indicted  councilmen  held  on.  As  B.  E.  Barinds  expressed  it,  "Every  tribunal 
before  which  the  relief  case  boodlers  have  been  called  has  found  them  guilty;  yet 
they  still  walk  the  streets  and  administer  the  affairs  of  the  city  in  its  council 
chamber." 

At  a  council  meeting  in  April,  1890,  Councilman  F.  A.  Bettis  declared  that  he 
had  information  that  a  member  of  the  council  had  been  offered  $500  to  vote  for 
one  of  the  candidates  for  the  police  judgeship.     The  contest  lay  between  General 
A.  P.  Curry  and  C.   B.  Dunning,  and   after  the  council  meeting  Mr.   Bettis   in- 
formed the  reporters  that  the  bribe  had  not  been  offered  in  behalf  of  Mr.  Dunning. 
Later  Bettis  gave  names  to  Mayor  Furth,  and  at  the  next  meeting  the  mayor  an- 
nounced that  Peter  Deuber  was  the  councilman  alleged  to  have  offered  the  bribe, 
and  Councilman  Davidson  the  man  who  had  rejected  the  offer.     Mr.  Bettis  fur- 
ther alleged  that  he  himself  had  been  offered  $1,000  by  Contractor  V.  N.  Massey 
to  vote  for  acceptance  of  the  Adams  street  grade.     As  a  result  of  an  extended  in- 
vestigation, Peter  Deuber  was  expelled  from  the  council,  May  7,  on  a  charge  of 
bribery.      For   expulsion,    Bartlett,   Covey,   Traut;    for    suspension,   Fellowes   and 
Booge.     F.  H.  Notbohm  was  elected  as  Deuber's  successor. 

At  the  council  meeting  of  April  7,  1890,  former  Councilman  Stephen  S.  Bailey, 
who  had  been  permitted  to  address  the  body  on  a  matter  of  personal  privilege, 
dashed  a  glass  of  water  in  Councilman  Bettis'  face,  ''causing  a  wild  scene  of  con- 
fusion which  came  very  near  breaking  up  the  council  in  a  row."     In  those  days  the 
council  ran  nearly  all  the  affairs  of  the  city,  personally  superintending  the  buy- 
ing of  supplies.     Councilman   Bettis  had  asserted  that  Mr.   Bailey,  when  in  the 
council,  had  paid  $375  for  a  horse  for  the  fire  department,  and  the  animal  was  not 
worth  $25.    Defending  himself,  Bailey  declared  with  much  spirit  that  he  had  acted 
throughout  in  good  faith,  and  he  challenged  any  one  to  bring  a  single  charge  of 


INSURANCE  ADJUSTERS  AT  WORK  AFTER  THE  CiBEAT  FIRE 


.   LlBkAklf 


L 


The  new  'I u K h:     j 
IPUBLJC   LlHKAkr 


*9  '  »»<.    Lfr  -^OX 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  419 

dishonesty  against  him  while  he  was  a  member  of  the  council.  He  grew  personal 
in  his  remarks  against  Bettis^  who  retorted  hotly  that  Bailey  knew  that  this  horse 
and  others  he  had  bought  were  worthless.  Then  it  was  that  Bailey^  who  had 
drawn  a  glass  of  water  from  the  cooler^  stepped  across  the  room  and  dashed  the 
contents  in  Bettis'  face.  Instantly  the  room  was  in  an  uproar;  sides  were  taken^ 
and  chaUenges  flew  back  and  forth  to  come  outside  and  fight  it  out.  The  police 
restored  order  and  Bailey  was  arrested. 


CHAPTER  XLIV 

EVENTS  OF  1889  REVIEWED 

WASHINGTON    ADMITTED   TO   THE   UNION SPOKANe's   FIRST   LEGISLATIVE   DELEGATION 

CITIZENS  GIVE   LAVISHLY   TO   PUBLIC   ENTERPRISES A   BEAUTIFUL   AND   IRRIDESCENT 

DRSAJd OUR    BEGINNINGS     IN     ART THE    TOWN's    BANKERS ITS    SOCIAL    "aTMOS- 

PHERE'*    DESCRIBED    BY    *'lADY    ALBION*' RECEIVING    DAYS    ON    THE    HILL    AND    IN. 

Browne's  addition — report  op  the  board  of  trade — era  of  railroad  build- 
ing  TEN    THOUSAND    MEN    IN    SURROUNDING    MINING    CAMPS ORCHARDS    STARTED 

ON    "the    gravel" RAPID    EXTENSION    OF    STREET    RAILWAYS FIFTEEN    PLACES    OF 

WORSHIP HARRY  HAYWARD's  THEATRICAL  ATTRACTIONS. 

THE  year  1889  brought  Washington  into  the  Union.  Appropriately,  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  signed  the  act  providing  for  statehood  on  Washington's 
birthday,  February  22,  and  under  its  provisions  the  voters  of  the  territory 
elected  seventy-five  delegates  who  assembled  in  constitutional  convention  at  Olym- 
pia,  July  4.*  They  completed  their  labors  August  22,  and  the  constitution  was 
ratified  October  1  by  a  vote  of  40,152  to  11,789. 

By  presidential  proclamation  the  state  came  into  the  Union  November  11,  the 
new  state  officers  were  inaugurated  Monday,  November  18,  and  on  the  day  follow- 
ing elected  Watson  C.  Squire  of  Seattle  and  John  B.  Allen  of  Walla  Walla  to  the 
United  States  senate.  John  L.  Wilsonf  of  Spokane  had  previously  been  elected 
as  the  young  state's  representative  in  congress.  Elisha  P.  Ferry  of  Seattle  was 
the  state's  first  governor. 


•Judge  J.  Z.  Moore  of  Spokane  was  elected  temporary  chairman,  and  John  P.  Hoyt  of 
Seattle  permanent  chairman.  John  I.  Booge  of  Spokane  served  as  chief  clerk.  Eastern 
Washington  counties  were  represented  by  the  following  delegates:  Adams — ^D.  Buchanan. 
Columbia— M.  M.  Godman,  B.  F.  Sturdevant.  Franklin— W.  B.  Gray.  Garfield— S.  G. 
Cosgrove.  Kittitas— J.  A.  Shoudy,  A.  Mires,  J.  T.  McDonald.  Klickitat— B.  O.  Dunbar. 
Lincoln — ^H.  W.  Eairweather,  B.  B.  Glasscock,  Frank  Dallam.  Spokane — C.  P.  Coey,  George 
Turner,  J.  Z.  Moore,  J.  J.  Browne,  T.  C.  Griffitts,  H.  F.  Suksdorf,  Hiram  E.  Allen.  Stevens — 
S.  H.  Manley,  J.  J.  Travis.  Whitman— J.  P.  T.  McCloskey,  C.  H  Warner,  E,  H.  Sullivan, 
J.  M.  Beed,  James  Hungate,  George  Comegys.  Walla  Walla — Lewis  Neace,  D.  J.  Crowley, 
B.  L.  Sharpstein,  N.  G.  Blalock.    Yakima — W.  F.  Prosser. 

tin  February,  1881,  John  L.  Wilson,  then  a  resident  of  Montgomery  county,  Indiana,  was 
appointed  by  President  Arthur  receiver  in  the  U.  S.  land  office  at  Colfax.  When  the  land 
ofSee  was  moved  to  Spokane  he  came  with  it.  In  1889,  as  the  republican  nominee  for  repre- 
sentative in  congress,  he  defeated  Thomas  C.  Griffitts,  democrat.  He  was  reelected  in  1891, 
and  again  in  1893,  and  at  the  legislative  session  of  1895-96  was  elected  to  the  United  States 
senate  for  the  broken  term  ending  March  4,  1899. 

421 


422  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Spokane's  delegation  to  the  first  state  legislature^  elected  in  November,  1889: 
Senate— H.  W.  Fairweather,  H.  E.  Houghton,  E.  B.  Hyde,  B.  C.  Van  Houtcn- 
House — J.  S.  Brown,  A.  K.  Clark,  E.  B.  Dean,  J.  W.  Feighan,  J.  E.  Gandy,  S.  G. 
Grubbe. 

Feighan  was  elected  speaker  of  the  house,  thus  weakening  the  senatorial  pros- 
pects of  George  Turner  and  making  easy  victory  for  the  Allen-Squire  combina- 
tion. S.  C.  Hyde  of  Spokane  was  also  a  senatorial  aspirant,  but  withdrew  in 
expectation  of  securing  the  appointment  of  United  States  district  judge,  an  honor 
which  later  went  to  C.  H.  Han  ford. 

When  the  year  was  reviewed  in  its  closing  month,  it  was  seen  that  1889  had 
been  prolific  in  event  and  progress.  Sales  of  city  property  from  December  1, 
1888,  to  December  20,  1889,  reached  the  amazing  aggregate  of  $18,756,323.  The 
railroads  brought  that  year  a  grand  tonnage  of  49,733  and  were  paid  about 
$2,000,000  in  freight  rates. 

Seven  banking  houses  had  an  aggregate  capital  of  $857,660,  and  total  bank 
deposits,  exclusive  of  two  savings  banks,  were  $3,212,832.  County  and  city  as- 
sessment on  real  and  personal  property  totaled  $15,131,928.  The  year's  ore  ship- 
ments from  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  aggregated  72,000  tons,  of  an  average  value  per 
ton  of  $60 — a  total  yield  in  excess  of  $4,000,000. 

The  value  of  buildings  constructed  and  under  construction  since  the  great  fire 
of  August  4  was  given  as  $3,020,500.  The  year's  lumber  cut  was  30,000,000  feet 
within  the  city.  Total  amount  expended  on  public  and  corporation  work,  $2,- 
510,450. 

Some  of  our  property  owners  and  business  men  think  they  are  hard  hit  these 
modern  days  in  calls  for  public  funds  to  carry  forward  the  fuller  exploitation  of 
the  country's  resources.  To  such  we  offer  in  consolation  the  stupendous  record 
of  subscriptions  in  1889: 

To  the  Seattle,  Lake  Shore  &  Eastern,  $175,000. 

To  the  Spokane  Falls  &  Northern,  $100,000. 

To  colleges  and  seminaries,  $230,000;  to  lodges,  $36,000;  to  churches,  $100,000. 

A  grand  toUl  of  $641,000. 

"In  1885,"  wrote  Major  Routhe  in  review,  "we  had  3,000  souls;  in  1886, 
4,000;  in  1887,  7,000;  in  1888,  13,500;  in  1889  we  have  25,000.  This  ratio  will 
give  us,  at  the  end  of  1890,  35,000;  at  the  end  of  1891,  50,000;  in  1892,  65,000; 
in  1893   80,000;  and  at  the  close  of  1894,   100,000." 

It  was  a  dream — beautiful,  irridescent  and  alluring  as  the  gates  of  paradise; 
but  a  dream.  The  gallant  steamer  Spokane  had  on  a  full  head  of  steam,  her  fire- 
box "chock  full  o'  rosin  and  pine,  and  a  nigger  squattin'  on  the  safety  valve;"  every- 
body dancing  in  the  ladies'  cabin,  and  between  dances  the  men  lined  up  four  deep 
at  the  bar;  but  just  around  the  bend  were  fatal  reefs  and  shifting  bars,  and  count- 
less hidden  "sawyers"  waiting  for  their  prey.  "At  the  close  of  1894,"  quoth 
kindly,  genial,  hopeful,  noble  old  Major  Routhe.  Ah,  that  direful,  dreadful  year, 
1 894 !  Incomparably  worse  even  than  the  fever  and  excitement  of  1 893,  for  hope's 
candle  then  had  quite  burned  out  for  many  a  brave  and  worthy  soul,  and  black 
despair  had  settled  in  its  place. 

But  we  interrupt  the  brave  old  major  in  his  charming  dream.  "Some  may 
smile  at  this  counting  of  chickens,"  he  went  on  to  say,  "but  the  eggs  are  here;  now 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  423 

who  will  dare  to  say  they  will  not  be  hatched?"  Right  you  were,  major,  after 
all.  The  eggs  were  here — the  country's  potential  resources  loomed  even  then, 
big  and  sure,  and  the  100,000  chickens  have  been  hatched,  and  more;  and  you  were 
spared  to  see  the  vision  come  real  and  true,  before  they  laid  you  to  rest,  with 
the  old  sword  of  the  Union  by  your  side,  in  a  soldier's  grave  within  the  shadow 
of  the  California  mountains  that  look  down  upon  the  southern  seas. 

We  had  then  our  beginnings  in  art.  "Miss  Maria  J.  C.  aBecket,"  observed 
the  Review,  "whose  studio  is  in  the  Sherwood  building,  is  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting members  of  the  artist  colony.  Miss  aBecket  has  a  natural  gift  for  rifle 
shooting,  and  keeps  her  skill  with  very  little  practice,  or  none  at  all.  She  is  an 
enthusiastic  canoeist  and  camper  also,  and  though  nowadays  she  is  too  much 
absorbed  in  her  art  for  recreation,  can  shoot  a  rapid  like  a  hunter  or  a  veteran 
guide.  Few  painters  are  more  indefatigable.  All  through  last  winter  she  rose 
early,  went  to  church,  breakfasted,  then  painted  without  rest  till  a  six  o'clock  din- 
ner; resumed  work  after  that  and  often  remained  in  front  of  the  easel  till  one 
or  two  o'clock  in  the  morning."  As  the  soulful  cowboy  would  say,  "that  sure  was 
some  art." 

In  Spokane's  banking  world  these  men  loomed  large: 

First  National — President,  James  N.  Glover;  directors,  Frank  R.  Moore,  H. 
W.  Fairweather,  James  Monaghan ;  cashier,  Horace  L.  Cutter. 

Spokane  National — President,  W.  H.  Taylor;  vice-president,  Charles  Hussey; 
directors,  W.  H.  Taylor,  C.  R.  Burns,  Fred.  D.  Chamberlain,  H.  L.  Tilton,  B. 
Loewenberg;  cashier,  Warren  Hussey. 

Traders'  National — President,  E.  J.  Brickell;  vice-president,  D.  M.  Drum- 
heller;  cashier,  M.   M.  Cowley. 

Exchange  National — President,  Jacob  Hoover;  directors,  G.  Lauman,  J.  E. 
Gandy,  A.  J.  Ross,  George  W.  Odell,  Charles  E.  Kingman;  cashier,  E.  J.  Dyer. 

Citizens'  National — President,  B.  C.  Van  Houten;  vice-president,  John  L.  Wil- 
son; cashier,  J.  F.  McEwen. 

Browne  National — President,  J.  J.  Browne;  vice-president,  F.  Heine;  cashier, 
Theo.  Reed. 

Washington  Savings  Bank — President,  H.  L.  Tilton;  vice-president,  A.  M. 
Cannon;  cashier,  K.  J.  L.  Ross. 

Spokane  Savings  Bank — President,  Horace  L.  Cutter;  vice-president,  James 
Monaghan;  cashier,  J.  L.  Prickett. 

Bank  of  Spokane  Falls — President,  A.  M.  Cannon;  cashier,  B.  L.  Bennett. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  Strobach  8c  Munter  conducted  a  savings  bank 
that  was  a  close,  limited  corporation. 

The  business  of  the  postoffice  doubled  in  all  departments  after  the  fire.  De- 
cember 1,  1889,  two  carriers  were  added  to  the  service  and  provided  with  horses 
and  carts.  T.  B.  Warren  had  been  postmaster  since  September  8.  On  December 
15  the  postoffice  was  moved  from  its  quarters  in  the  old  M.  E.  Church  to  the 
Granite  block.  Over  1,000  lock  boxes  were  rented  in  December.  The  revenue 
above  all  expenses  was  $935  in  October  and  $2,345  in  November. 

The  records  of  the  United  States  land  office  showed  that  in  1889  settlers  filed 
on  30t:!,682  acres;  596  homesteads  were  entered,  702  preemption  filings  were  made 


424  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

on  89^000  acres;  final  proofs  were  made  on  62^000  acres;  190  cash  entries  covered 
20^000  acres^  and  under  the  timber  act  261  filings  were  made  on  41^000  acres. 

Of  course  the  town  had  a  social  "atmosphere/'  and  Mrs.  W.  A.  Mears^  who 
wrote  under  the  nom  de  plume  of  "Lady  Albion,"  g^ves  it  expression.  "Water, 
earth  and  air  unite  to  crown  Spokane  the  ideal,  the  peerless  queen  of  cities,"  says 
she  in  rhapsody.  We  are  told  that  "the  Hill  is  very  aristocratic,  and  receives  on 
Wednesdays,  when  carriages  and  coupes,  hansoms  and  gurneys  (those  dreadful  gur- 
neys,  happily  now  long  extinct),  climb  the  spacious  streets  and  throng  the  wide 
avenues  with  their  fair  freight.  (Now,  oh,  cruel  hand  of  time,  "fair,  fat  and  fifty!") 
"The  heavy  portiere  is  lifted,"  continues  "Lady  Albion,"  "and  the  smiling  visitor 
glides  into  the  perfumed  presence  of  the  mistress  of  the  mansion,  where,  clad  in 
classic  robe  or  dainty  empire  gown,  she  nestles  mid  downy  pillows,  silken  soft.  Coals 
glow  in  the  brazier,  and  anon  a  gentle  aroma  floats  through  the  room  from  the 
Russian  samovar  where  the  tea  is  brewing,  while  fingers  like  rose  leaves  stray  softly, 
yet  busily  among  the  dainty  cups." 

"Mr.  J.  N.  Glover,  one  time  the  sole  owner  of  all  Spokane,  is  just  completing 
a  home  which  will  be  a  source  of  pride  to  all  the  town.  Built  of  granite,  it  is 
baronial  in  the  magnificence  of  the  stately  rooms,  wid^  halls,  broad  stairways, 
great  libraries  and  spacious  conservatories. 

"Right  on  the  verge  of  the  cliff  the  Northern  Pacific  has  laid  out  a  magnificent 
addition.  Cliff  avenue  follows  the  natural  windings  of  the  landscape.  Out  of 
the  center  of  this  addition  a  thirty-acre  park  will  be  given  to  the  city,  and  a  huge 
boulder  will  form  a  natural  reservoir  for  the  water  which  will  have  to  be  pumped 
there  for  the  city's  use.  This,  I  predict,  will  be  the  very  choicest  residence  por- 
tion of  town. 

"West  from  the  Hill  rise  softly  swelling  hills,  covered  with  trees  except  where 
beautiful  airy  streets  have  been  cut  through  them.  Hundreds  of  lovely  homes  on 
these  hills,  with  other  hundreds  of  lovely  homes  running  down  to  the  level  land 
and  beyond,  almost  to  the  river,  are  known  as  Cannon's  addition.  A  palatial 
home  in  the  midst  of  perfectly  kept  and  highly  ornamented  grounds  is  Mr.  Can- 
non's residence.  Where  one  home  stands  thousands  will  cluster  on  the  hills,  back, 
back  to  the  south  and  west — homes  of  peace  and  plenty. 

"Thursday  is  reception  day  in  Browne's  addition,  and  this  center  of  wealth 
and  fashion  is  just  as  gracious  in  its  dispensation  of  pleasant  hospitality  as  the 
Hill. 

"The  northern  part  of  the  city  is  building  up  wonderfully,  and  probably  10,000 
people  live  on  that  side  of  the  river.  The  cable  road  crosses  the  river  at  Monroe 
street,  and  goes  out  across  the  boulevard,  and  crosses  the  river  again  at  Twicken- 
ham, a  delightful  suburb  where  many  pretty  homes  have  been  built,  and  where  the 
baseball  park  is  located  and  the  meetings  of  the  gun  club  are  held." 

From  perfumed  hostesses  and  Russian  samovars  to  noisy,  utilitarian  sawmills 
is  somewhat  of  a  flight,  but  we  must  make  it.  The  output  of  Spokane's  mills  is 
given  in  dollars: 

SAWMILLS 

Spokane  Mill  Company   $1,100,000 

G.   P.   Dart    60,000 


■•^ 


THE  f^EW  YORK 

IhUBLlC  LlBRARTl 

AST«ft,   LfH«X 

TiLCfN   FOONOATl«N« 
I   I  ■■■■■    mmm^^^aMmmmm'^^ 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  425 

Falls   City   Company    216,000 

Cbattaroy  Lumber  Company 135,000 

Russell,  Parker  &  Co 300,000 

W:  R.  Marvin   120,000 

Smith,  King  &  Co 60,000 

Sexton  &  Merryweather ^  149,000 

Dart   Bros    90,000 

FLOUR    MILLS 

C.  &  C.  Mills    $328,000 

Echo  Mills   250,000 

Centennial  Mills    : 265,000 

Prof.  David  Bemiss,  who  afterwards  retired  to  his  farm  near  Marshall  Junc- 
tion, and  who  died  several  years  after  his  retirement,  was  superintendent  of  the 
city  schools.  E.  A.  Routhe,  J.  B.  Sargent,  E.  H.  Bartlett,  6.  B.  Dennis  and 
Theodore  Reed  constituted  the  board  of  education.  In  evidence  of  growth  it  was 
pointed  out  that  while,  in  1883,  one  building  of  four  rooms  served  the  town's 
educational  needs,  "now  five  regular  schoolhouses  and  five  rented  buildings  are  used 
for  school  purposes.  Then  the  enrollment  was  less  than  225;  now  the  total  en- 
rollment for  the  year  to  December  6  is  1,756,  and  the  average  daily  attendance 
1,083."  A  new  central  high  school  of  twelve  rooms,  to  cost  $75,000,  was  contem- 
phted. 

W.  H.  Taylor  was  president  of  the  board  of  trade,  and  W.  S.  Norman,  secre- 
tary.  The  annual  report  held  out  confident  expectation  of  the  early  establishment 
of  a  woolen  mill.  The  city  had  enjoyed  within  the  year  a  commercial  growth  of 
100  per  cent,  its  population  had  increased  from  15,000  to  25,000,  and  its  freight 
payments  from  $125,000  a  month  to  $250,000.  The  O.  R.  &  N.  was  completed 
into  Spokane  in  August.  D.  C.  Corbin,  with  a  promised  bonus  of  $100,000,  had 
built  the  Spokane  Falls  &  Northern  to  Colville,  eighty-eight  miles  north,  and  trains 
were  running  regularly.  "Next  spring,"  said  the  report,  "communication  by  steam- 
boat will  be  opened  between  the  S.  F.  &  N.  and  the  Canadian  Pacific,  and  Mr. 
Corbin  has  already  taken  steps  to  make  an  extension  of  his  system  which  will 
ultimately  end  in  giving  to  Spokane  Falls  direct  railroad  connection  with  the 
Canadian  Pacific  and  in  opening  up  the  immense  mining  regions  which  lie  to  the 
east,  north  and  west  of  this  important  artery  of  our  growth.  This  road  has  long 
been  the  hope  and  aspiration  of  our  citizens.  Back  in  '84  a  few  of  our  citizens 
organized  a  corporation  with  the  intention  of  building  a  road  to  the  Columbia 
river.  In  1888  a  second  corporation,  with  Mr.  A.  A.  Newbery  as  president,  again 
stepped  into  the  breach  and  carried  out  surveys  and  made  preparations  for  the 
work.  This  latter  corporation  interested  Mr.  Corbin  in  the  undertaking,  and  to 
tbem  belongs  the  credit  and  glory  of  its  success. 

"Railroad  building  west  of  the  city  also  has  progressed  considerably.  The 
Seattle,  Lake  Shore  &  Eastern  company  have  completed  their  road  to  Daven- 
port, a  distance  of  Ave  miles  from  its  termination  last  year,  while  the  Northern 
Pacific  have  pushed  the  Washington  Central  road  some  forty  miles  from  Daven- 
port into  the  Big  Bend  country.     .     .     .     On   the  twentieth   of  this   month   the 


426  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Coeur  d'Alene  branch  of  the  O.  R.  &  N.  will  be  opened  for  passenger  traffic^  and 
trains  will  be  put  on  between  Spokane  Falls  and  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  making  the 
round  trip  each  day. 

''The  boast  which  was  made  some  seven  years  ago^  when  Walla  Walla  was  a 
city  of  3^000  people  and  Spokane  Falls  a  hamlet  of  500^  that  the  day  was  coming 
when  the  wheat  of  the  Walla  Walla  valley  would  be  brought  up  to  the  mills  on 
the  falls  of  the  Spokane  river^  manufactured  into  flour  and  carried  back  and  sold 
in  the  market  of  its  growth^  is  now  more  than  a  possibility. 

''As  near  as  can  be  ascertained^  the  total  loss  by  the  recent  fire  was  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  $5,000,000.  Of  this  sum  50  per  cent  was  covered  by  Insurance,  mak- 
ing the  net  loss  about  $2,500,000.  This  loss,  however,  has  been  materially  rednced 
in  the  enhancement  of  values  which  has  taken  place  in  the  land  by  reason  of  the 
removal  of  improvements  which  had  outgrown  their  usefulness. 

"Since  the  fire  the  total  number  of  buildings  on  which  construction  has  been 
commenced  in  the  fire  limits  is  about  500,  representing  an  expenditure  of  $4,211,- 
000,  of  which  about  15  or  20  per  cent  has  now  been  expended.  There  are  already 
under  construction  one  mile  and  three-eighths  of  street  frontage  in  the  fire  limits 
of  Spokane  Falls,  in  solid  brick  or  stone,  from  three  to  seven  stories  high. 

"The  Spokane  Falls  &  Northern  has  cost  $1,250,000;  the  O.  R.  &  N.  spent  a 
similar  amount;  the  Northern  Pacific,  $800,000  or  $400,000;  the  Seattle  &  Lake 
Shore,  $150,000;  the  terminal  company  about  the  same;  cable  railroad  company, 
$150,000;  Ross  Park  Electric  Railroad  company,  $125,000;  Washington  Water 
Power  company,  $125,000;  Spokane  Water  Power  company,  $50,000;  electric 
light  company,  $60,000;  and  the  city  on  its  water  works,  nearly  $113,000.  The 
city  has  now  completed  in  the  last  nine  months  eleven  miles  of  street  grading, 
the  total  contract  price  being  $197,450.  The  water  works  of  the  city  have  been 
greatly  improved  during  the  past  year.  Two  HoUey  pumps  have  been  added, 
giving  a  combined  capacity  of  6,000,000  gallons  per  diem,  and  12,182  feet  of  water 
mains  have  been  laid. 

"Five  new  bridges  have  been  built  across  the  Spokane  river  in  the  past  year: 
two  by  the  Cable  Railroad  company,  at  a  cost  of  $68,000;  one  by  the  city  (the 
Washington  street  bridge),  and  two  by  the  Ross  Park  Electric  Railway  company." 

The  city  assessment  in  1888  was  $8,686,188;  in  1889,  $8,785,856.  The  terri- 
torial and  county  tax  was  $222,117. 

It  was  stated  by  Vice-president  Oakes  of  the  Northern  Pacific  that  more  busi- 
ness for  his  company  originated  from  Spokane  Falls  the  previous  fiscal  year  than 
from  any  other  point  on  their  8,500  miles  of  line.  The  total  number  of  passen- 
gers arriving  in  the  city  in  the  year  ending  November  80  was  50,091. 

About  10,000  men  were  working  in  the  mining  camps  surrounding  Spokane — 
in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  the  Pend  d'Oreille,  Metaline,  Kootenai,  Colville,  Kettle 
River,  Rock  Creek,  Okanogan  and  Chloride  camps.  There  were  completed  in 
1889  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  seven  concentrators,  four  of  them  the  growth  of  that 
year.  The  Coeur  d'Alenes  were  then  producing  more  than  one-fifth  of  the  entire 
lead  consumption  of  the  United  States. 

Three  thousand  horse  power  had  been  developed  in  Spokane,  about  a  tenth 
of  the  net.  efficiency  of  the  power  of  the  Spokane  river  here.  The  board  of  trade 
was  urging  factories — linseed  oil  mills  to  manufacture,  "from  the  fiax  which  is 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  427 

gro-wn  so  abundantly  in  the  Palouse  country;  a  pulp  and  paper  mill  which  would 
have  the  spruce  and  poplar  groves  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  Spokane  and  Stevens 
counties  for  its  supply;  a  box  and  barrel  factory^  carriage  shops,  tanning  indus- 
try and  a  distillery."  A  distillery  was  subsequently  built  at  Trent,  nine  miles  up 
the  valley,  but  was  not  a  success. 

E.  E.  Alexander,  G.  P.  Dart,  E.  P.  Gilbert,  W.  H.  Marshall,  Benjamin  H. 
Lewis,  E.  P.  Warren  and  a  few  others  had  started  orchards  on  the  gravel  east  of 
Spokane,  and  Mr.  Alexander  thought  that  Spokane  gravel  was  "the  natural  home 
for  grapes."  "Beginning  four  and  a  half  miles  east  of  the  Northern  Pacific  depot 
(then  at  Railroad  and  Monroe),"  wrote  Mr.  Alexander,  "we  have  arrived  where 
will  be  the  future  homes,  surrounded  by  fruits  of  all  varieties  suitable  to  the  cli- 
mate. W.  H.  Taylor's  place  is  the  first,  with  about  five  acres  planted  to  trees 
which  have  had  little  care,  having  changed  hands  too  often.  The  next  must  be 
mentioned,  even  though  it  does  belong  to  the  writer,  who  preempted  only  three 
years  ago  and  planted  four  acres  of  a  variety  of  fruit  trees,  some  of  which  bore 
this  season.  Surface  irrigation,"  warned  Mr.  Alexander,  "is  found  by  experience 
to  be  a  damage  to  trees.  And  the  way  to  irrigate  from  beneath  is  to  keep  the  weeds 
down,  stir  the  soil  after  every  rain  to  prevent  baking,  and  also  mulch  each  tree, 
not  too  heavy  or  too  close  to  the  tree,  as  heating  of  the  manure  will  dry  out  the 
soil  as  well  as  scald  the  tree." 

The  boast  was  made  that  "Spokane  Falls  has  the  very  best  electric  street  rail- 
way in  America,  with  the  most  perfect  and  complete  equipment  of  rolling  stock." 
Sixteen  and  a  half  miles  of  street  railway  were  in  operation  January  1,  1890. 

The  Ross  Park  electric  line,  the  first  in  Spokane,  had  been  in  operation  about 
six  weeks.  G.  B.  Dennis  was  president,  and  Charles  L.  Marshall  secretary,  and 
the  chief  stockholders  were  H.  N.  Belt,  who  later  served  two  terms  as  mayor; 
G.  B.  Dennis,  C.  R.  Burns,  Cyrus  Bradley,  I.  S.  Kaufman,  E.  J.  Webster,  S. 
Heath  and  R.  W.  Forrest.     The  company  had  four  miles  of  double  tracks. 

The  Spokane  Street  Railway  company,  oldest  in  the  city,  had  three  and  a 
half  miles  in  operation,  and  were  still  using  horse  cars.  H.  Bolster  was  president, 
and  C.  Herbert  Moore,  afterwards  to  become  mayor,  secretary,  and  the  list  of 
stockholders  included  W.  O.  Nettleton,  Henry  Brook,  Alfred  S.  Moore,  Herbert 
Bolster,  J.  D.  Sherwood,  F.  R.  Moore  and  Horace  L.  Cutter. 

The  Spokane  Cable  Railway  company  had  invested  $250,000  in  its  plant. 
J.  D.  Sherwood  was  its  president,  Frank  R.  Moore  vice-president,  and  C.  Herbert 
Moore  secretary.  The  cable  line  began  at  Monroe  and  First,  ran  north  across  the 
river  to  Boone,  and  then  west  and  crossed  the  river  at  a  point  near  Natatorium 
park,  having  its  terminus  on  the  present  drill  grounds  of  Fort  Wright.  Three 
miles  of  track  were  in  operation. 

The  Spokane  &  Montrose  Motor  line,  which  subsequently  became  the  nucleus 
of  the  present  Graves  system,  had  been  built  by  Francis  H.  Cook,  president  and 
principal  owner.  It  operated  two  miles  of  line,  from  Front  avenue  by  way  of 
Washington  to  Fifth,  out  Fifth  to  Saxon  street,  and  then  on  through  Cook's  addi- 
tion. It  ran  one  car  with  a  steam  motor,  but  later  the  line  was  extended  and  more 
cars  added. 

There  were  fifteen  places  of  worship — Catholic,  Methodist,  Presbyterian,  Con- 
gregational, Baptist,  Unitarian,  Episcopalian,  Methodist  Episcopal  South,  German 


428  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Lutheran  and  Christian.  The  First  Baptist  church  had  a  woman  pastor^  ReF. 
May  C.  Jones^  who  had  just  completed  her  second  year  of  service.  Rev.  Jona- 
than Edwards  had  been  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational  church  for  about  four 
years. 

Theatrical  attractions,  under  the  management  of  Harry  Hayward,  were  played 
in  old  Concordia  hall,  Second  avenue  west  of  Monroe.  Manager  Hayward  an- 
nounced that  he  had  contracted  for  the  following  star  features: 

Frank  Mayo,  the  DuflF  Opera  company,  Vernona  Jarbeau,  Goodyear,  Co<^  & 
DiUon's  minstrels,  Joe  Murphy  in  "Kerry  Gow"  and  "Shaun  Rhue,"  Maggie 
Mitchell,  Sol.  Smith  Russell,  Augustine  Daly's  company,  Bill  Nye  and  James 
Whitcomb  Riley,  Levy  Concert  company,  Paul  Kauvar,  Aronson's  New  York 
Casino  Opera  company  in  "Erminie"  and  "Nadja,**  and  the  Nellie  McHenry  Com- 
edy company. 

"To  be  followed  in  rapid  succession  by  Denman  Thompson's  New  York  suc- 
cess, 'The  Old  Homestead,'  which  has  made  the  longest  run  ever  perpetrated  in 
New  York  city  and  UUie  Ackerstrom  in  'Still  Alarm,'  the  Webster-Brady  com- 
pany in  *She'  and  'After  Dark,'  the  great  melodrama,  'The  Stowaway,'  the  Emma 
Abbott  Opera  company,  Frank  Daniels  in  'Little  Puck,'  and  Donnelly  &  Girard 
in  'Natural  Gas.'  " 


CHAPTER  XLV 

SPOKANE  IN  TENTS  AND  ON  RUNNERS 

ft 

8£VER£  WINTER    OF    1889-90 RAILROADS    BLOCKED    AND  TRAINS    SNOWED    IN SPOKANE 

AT  A    LOW    EBB    MORALLY "dUTCH    JAKE's"    FAMOUS   GAMBLING  TENT KILLING  OF 

"big   mac" LAW    AND   ORDER    LEAGUE   ORGANIZED GAMBLING   HOUSES  CLOSED,   BUT 

REOPEN MONROE    STREET    BRIDGE    TROUBLES TIDE    LAND    FIGHT SPOKANE    CLUB 

FOUNDED CITY    LIMITS    EXTENDED SPOKANe's    FIRST    PROFESSIONAL    BALL    TEAM 

CL0U6H     ELECTED     MAYOR THE     "SHANTYTOWN     WAR" CITIZENS     DEFEND     THEIR 

LOTS    WITH    RIFLE     AND    REVOLVER FIRST    MINING    EXCHANGE ORIGIN     OF     HOME 

FOR     THE     FRIENDLESS CARPENTERS     STRIKE     AND     CITIZENS    RALLY    TO     COMPLETE 

EXPOSITION    BUILDING WILSON    DEFEATS   TURNER AUDITORIUM    THEATER    OPENED. 

PIONEERS  will  long  recall  the  severe  winter  of  1889-90,  intensified  by  the 
primitive  tented  structures  which  were  hurriedly  thrown  up  in  the  business 
district  after  the  August  fire.  Heavy  snows  fell  early,  and  the  earth  was 
hidden  for  three  months  or  more.  The  temperature  fell  as  low  as  twenty-three 
below.  "All  Spokane  is  on  runners,"  observed  an  eastern  visitor.  "All  the  hacks, 
coupes,  express  wagons,  lumber  wagons  and  heavy  trucks  are  fitted  with  runners, 
and  a  street  scene  is  a  queer  incongruity.  The  effect  is  heightened  by  the  number 
of  handsome  cutters  of  all  the  different  graceful  styles — the  double  sleighs  of 
English  and  Parisian  designs,  and  the  stately  and  elegant  Russian  models."  Even 
the  gumeys  went  on  runners  that  winter. 

All  the  railroads  were  blockaded,  and  on  the  Central  Washington  branch  train 
service  was  suspended  for  weeks.  An  O.  R.  &  N.  passenger  train  from  Portland 
was  caught  in  a  deep  cut  between  Tekoa  and  Latah,  was  abandoned  by  passengers 
and  crew,  and  lay  there  for  weeks,  completely  buried  in  snow  and  blocking  all 
traffic  on  that  line.  In  some  towns  on  the  Central  Washington  line  the  stocks  of 
kerosene  and  candles  gave  out,  and  the  citizens  sat  in  darkness,  or  went  early  to 
bed  to  escape  the  gloom. 

Morally  Spokane  was  at  low  ebb.  A  score  or  more  of  gambling  tents,  with 
frontage  on  Riverside,  Sprague  and  Main,  were  noisy  with  the  raucous  cries  of 
the  dealers,  the  click  of  "chips,"  and  the  confused  babel  of  restless  throngs.  Of 
these  resorts  that  conducted  by  Jacob  Goetz  ("Dutch  Jake")  and  Harry  Baer,  on 
the  north  side  of  Riverside  between  Post  and  Lincoln,  was  easily  the  chief.  Within 
its  tented  area  of  50x150  it  was  no  uncommon  sight  to  see  1,000  men  or  more 
pla3ring  at  a  dozen  games  of  chance,  or  dining  at  the  excellent  restaurant  which 
the  resort  maintained.  Literally  one  could  there  eat  a  steak  and  play  at  faro 
synchronously  without  moving  from  his  seat. 

429 


430  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

In  the  snowy  street  before  this  tent,  on  the  night  of  January  10,  Harry  Baer, 
as  he  claimed  in  self-defense,  shot  and  mortally  woimded  a  disreputable  character 
known  as'  "Big  Mac"  McCrossen.  Baer  was  ejecting  another  man  from  the  tent, 
McCrossen  interfered,  an  altercation  followed,  and  the  pistol  shot  rang  out  on  the 
frosty  air.  The  wounded  man  ran  a  few  steps  and  fell  in  the  snow;  was  carried 
to  the  hospital,  and  died  a  half  hour  later.  Testimony  before  the  coroner's  jury 
contended  that  McCrossen  first  struck  Baer  a  stinging  blow  over  the  eye,  and  the  jury 
found  that  "the  killing  was  perfectly  justifiable."  Later  Mr.  Baer  was  tried  in 
the  superior  court  and  acquitted. 

Like  a  flash  of  lightning  and  a  peal  of  thunder  the  fatal  shot  aroused  the  dor- 
mant moral  conscience  of  the  community,  f^ress  and  pulpit  called  on  the  officers 
of  the  law  to  close  the  gambling  games,  and  organization  of  a  Law  of  Order 
League  quickly  followed.  "Here  we  have  a  vice,"  declared  the  Review,  "which 
cuts  like  a  two-edged  sword,  wrecking  the  lives  of  all  who  tamper  with  it;  a 
'business'  which  has  never  produced  a  morsel  of  food  or  shred  of  raiment,  or 
contributed  a  cent  to  the  world's  capital.  And  yet  there  are  men  who  gravely 
assert  that  gambling  is  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  a  city.  Nevermore  will  vice 
and  lawlessness  lift  their  heads  so  arrogantly  as  during  the  period  following  the 
great  fire  of  last  August.  A  flame  of  public  opinion  has  been  aroused  that  may 
be  relied  upon  to  protect  the  homes  of  Spokane  and  shield  the  sons  and  daughters 
of  this  fair  young  city." 

By  order  of  Mayor  Fred.  Furth,  Chief  of  Police  Joel  F.  Warren,  on  January 
11,  visited  the  gambling  houses  and  notified  the  proprietors  to  close  their  games. 
That  afternoon  the  Law  and  Order  League  had  taken  out  warrants  for  the  arrest 
of  a  number  of  gamblers,  but  when  it  was  learned  that  the  mayor  had  ordered 
the  games  closed  they  were  not  served. 

Spokane,  however,  was  not  ready  to  maintain  a  firm  stand  against  public 
gambling.  In  a  little  while  the  storm  of  public  indignation  passed  over,  and 
within  a  few  weeks  the  games  were  again  in  operation,  though  in  a  more  guarded 
and  less  offensive  manner. 

In  congress  Representative  John  L.  Wilson  introduced  a  bill  for  a  $300,000 
public  building  in  Spokane.  More  than  twenty  years  were  to  roll  away  before 
the  expectant  citizens  should  see  the  consummation  of  that  measure. 

In  January  the  final  papers  of  the  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Coeur  d'Alene  Indians  were  signed  at  DeSmet  mission  on  the  reservation  occupied 
by  that  tribe.  The  Indians  were  paid  $250,000  for  220,000  acres.  Ben  Simp- 
son of  Alabama  and  George  A.  Shoup  of  Idaho  were  commissioners  for  the  United 
States. 

On  recommendation  of  Senators  Squire  and  Allen,  the  president,  January  18, 
appointed  Patrick  Henry  Winston  of  Spokane  United  States  district  attorney  for 
Washington. 

Even  then  the  city  had  its  Monroe  street  bridge  troubles.  The  first  structure 
was  a  cheap  wooden  bridge  that  cost  $42,500.  Of  this  sum  the  city  was  to  pay 
$15,000,  the  Cable  Railway  company  $12,500,  and  benefited  property  owners  along 
the  street  the  remaining  $15,000.  The  city  withheld  its  payment,  regarding  the 
bridge  as  unsafe  and  not  built  up  to  specifications.  Thereupon  the  Cable  com- 
pany nailed   up   the   entrances   and   attached   signs   bearing  the   legend,    "Private 


RITNS  AFTER  THK  CRHAT   FIRE 


r 


—  ■  i>  ■  ■  ■  ■-- ""       J 

Hi   Nt  <^    ^  y^^      \ 


THii 


u 


'■-•Lii;LiC  LlbKAK' 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  431 

Property;  no  Crossing."     Later  the  bridge  was  strengthened   to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  city  and  again  opened  to  public  use. 

In  the  legislature  the  chief  issue  that  winter  was  the  tide  land  question.  A 
bill  -was  pending  to  permit  owners  of  abutting  shore  lands  to  buy  the  state's  tide- 
lands  under  a  preferential  scheme  that  would  return  to  the  public  only  a  small 
fraction  of  their  real  value.  Under  leadership  of  Attorney  General  W.  C.  Jones^ 
eastern  Washington  protested  sharply  against  the  raid,  and  the  Review  gave 
vigorous  support  to  the  protestants.  "The  tide  lands  of  the  state  of  Washing- 
ton/' said  that  paper,  "are  worth  millions  of  dollars.  By  express  and  explicit 
declaration  of  the  constitution  they  belong  to  the  people,  and  under  honest  con- 
trol would  be  the  means  of  reducing  taxation  and  placing  the  finances  of  the  state 
upon  so  firm  a  foundation  that  they  woijd  be  the  glory  of  the  commonwealth. 
Bot  there  is  danger,  under  a  foul  conspiracy,  and  with  the  aid  of  cheap  and  cor- 
rupt men,  that  this  magnificent  heritage  otoir'-fhlt*  jovftig  state  will  pass  into  the 
hands  of  an  audacious  clique  at  an  outrageous  fraction  of  its  true  value." 

When  the  bill  came  up  for  passage  in-  the  house,  it  .was  first  defeated  by  the 
almost  solid  adverse  vote  of  Spokane  and  Wliitmdn  dounties,  only  Clark  and 
Grubbe  of  Spokane  voting  for  it.  A  few  days  later  the  defeated  grabbers  rallied 
for  a  second  effort  and  the  bill  was  passed  on  reconsideration.  Later  it  passed 
the  senate  and  was  approved  by  Governor  Ferry  of  Seattle.  Railroads  and  manu- 
facturing interests  have  since  bought  much  of  these  tidelands  in  the  Seattle  and 
Tacoma  harbors  at  prices  running  as  high  as  a  thousand  times  greater  than  the 
prices  received  by  the  state.  In  some  cases  lands  sold  by  the  state  for  a  few  thou- 
sand dollars  were  resold  within  sixty  days  at  prices  forty  times  in  excess  of  the 
meager  prices  received  by  the  state. 

The  Spokane  Club  came  into  being  this  year,  and  took  quarters  in  March  in 
a  building  adjoining  the  Spokane  hotel  on  First  avenue. '  Its  charter  members 
were  H.  B.  Nichols,  W.  H.  Taylor,  A.  A.  Newbery,  J.  L.  Prickett,  H.  Bolster, 
J.  W.  Chapman,  Warren  Hussey,  Fred.  Chamberlain,  B.  C.  VanHouten,  T.  J. 
Hay,  F.  R.  Moore,  H.  W.  Augustine,'  Ben  Norman,  T.  E.  Jefferson,  F.  Lewis 
Clark,  Lane  Gilliam,  N.  Fred.  Essig,  H.  L.  Wilson,  C.  R.  Burns,  Fred.  Mason; 
these  twenty  subscribing  each  for  $500  of  the  $10,000  capital  stock.  A.  A.  New- 
bery was  the  first  president;  W.  H.  Tiaylor,  treasurer;  H.  B.  Nichols,  secretary; 
and  H.  Bolster,  F.  R.  Moore,  T.  E.  Jfefferson,  J.  W.  Chapman  and  C.  R.  Burns, 
vice-presidents. 

The  legislature  created  an  additional  superior  judgeship  for  Spokane  county, 
and  Governor  Ferry  appointed  J.  M.  Kinnaird.  Poor  Kinnaird!  Little  thought 
he  or  his  friends  that  Fate  held  in  store  for  him  a  black  and  tragic  ending. 

This  spring  the  city  limits  were  extended,  from  two  miles  to  three  and  a  half 
miles  square,  adding  one  mile  on  the  north  and  a  half  on  the  south,  one  mile  on 
the  east  and  a  half  on  the  west. 

Sunday  morning,  March  9,  appeared  the  first  number  of  the  daily  Spokesman. 

Professional  baseball  in  Spokane  dates  from  March  10,  when  a  stock  company 

was  organized  with  $10,000  capital,  by  J.  D.  Sherwood,  T.  E.  Jefferson,  F.  R. 

Moore,  H.  Bolster,  H.  C.  Holmes,  H.  L.  Cutter,  A.  S.  Moore  and  C.  H.  Moore. 

John  S.  Barnes  came  out  from  St.  Paul  to  manage  Spokane's  first  team,  which 


432  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

won  the  pennant  in  1890^  an  achievement  not  to  have  repetiton  until  exactly  twenty 
years  thereafter. 

Tom  Jefferson  was  president;  Mose  Oppenheimer^  first  vice-president;  Joe 
Hanauer^  second  vice-president;  F.  K.  McBroom,  treasurer;  W.  F.  Kennedy,  secre- 
tary. The  club  had  membership  in  the  Pacific  Northwest  Baseball  League,  with 
Portland,  Seattle  and  Tacoma,  which  in  turn  was  a  member  of  the  National  League 
of  America.  Under  the  rules  no  club  could  expend  more  than  $1,000  a  month  for 
players. 

Spokane  had  that  spring  a  season  of  grand  opera,  Emma  Juch  and  company 
singing  "Faust"  and  "Carmen"  in  old  Concordia  hall  on  Second  avenue  west  of 
Monroe.  "Never  before,"  said  the  Review,  "have  the  wealth,  beauty  and  fashion 
of  this  fair  young  city  turned  out  in  such  numbers." 

For  mayor,  C.  F.  Clough  ran  against  F.  E.  Curtis.  The  election  fell  on  April 
1,  and  Clough  polled  791  votes,  Curtis  871.  J.  S.  Watson  was  elected  city  treas- 
urer, P.  F.  Quinn  city  attorney,  M.  G.  Harbord  chief  of  police,  J.  Nestor  city 
assessor,  and  E.  C.  Covey,  E.  J.  Fellowes,  E.  H.  Bartlett  and  A.  Traut  to  the 
council. 

Probably  the  most  spectacular  and  exciting  event  of  1890  was  the  "Shanty- 
town  war,"  which  grew  out  of  a  three-cornered  contest  over  the  immensely  valuable 
tract  lying  between  Mill  and  Division,  west  and  east,  and  Sprague  and  the  alley 
between  Sixth  and  Seventh,  north  and  south.  This  land  had  been  settled  on  by 
Enoch,  a  sub-chief  of  the  Spokanes,  prior  to  the  coming  of  the  first  white  settlers. 
Enoch,  in  1874,  induced  H.  T.  Cowley  to  come  to  Spokane  as  missionary  and 
teacher,  and  gave  him  a  part  of  his  tract.  The  land  fell  within  the  grant  of  the 
Northern  Pacific,  which  contested  Enoch's  claim.  Cowley  entered  into  contract 
with  the  railroad  company  to  buy  his  portion,  but  the  company  subsequently  repu- 
diated the  contract,  and  to  clear  its  title  bought  Enoch  off.  L.  H.  Prather  and 
others  raised  the  legal  point  that  Enoch  could  not  legally  transfer,  and  that  when 
he  abandoned  the  land  it  reverted  to  the  public  domain.  On  this  theory  they  peti- 
tioned the  secretary  of  the  interior  to  convert  the  land  into  a  public  townsite,  and 
made  sufficient  impression  to  lead  Secretary  Noble  to  designate  a  day  for  a  public 
hearing.  That  started  the  "boomers"  with  a  rush.  All  day  April  16,  and  through 
the  night  as  well,  "Shantytown"  presented  a  novel  and  a  stirring  sight.  Hun- 
dreds of  squatters  were  building  shacks  on  their  "claims,"  and  in  self-protection 
many  citizens  who  had  bought  lots  from  the  Northern  Pacific  hurriedly  threw  up 
shanties,  to  be  "on  the  safe  side."  Among  the  lots  jumped  was  one  but  recently 
bought  by  the  Catholic  church  for  $10,500.  Otto  Bringgold,  living  on  his  two 
lots  at  Fourth  and  Bernard,  took  a  Winchester  rifle  and  drove  the  jumpers  from 
his  place.  For  $12,500  the  Congregational  church  had  recently  bought  from  the 
Northern  Pacific  the  southeast  corner  of  Fourth  and  Washington.  These  were 
jumped,  and  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  the  pastor,  was  assaulted  by  the  claimants. 

Horace  L.  Cutter  held  his  lot  on  Fifth,  between  Washington  and  Bernard,  by 
building  a  shanty,  and  Fred  McBroom  fenced  in  his  lot  on  Fourth.  Two  lots  owned 
by  G.  B.  Dennis  on  Fifth  were  jumped  and  shacks  erected. 

The  following  day  citizens  who  had  bought  from  the  railroad  rallied  in  force 
and  demolished  a  large  number  of  the  shanties,  and  H.  T.  Cowley  caused  the  arrest 
of  a  number  of  men  who  had  jumped  lots  on  his  tract.     Twenty  special  police- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  433 

men  and  a  large  number  of  sheri£Fs'  deputies  were  kept  on  the  scene  to  preserve 
law  and  order.  Later  Secretary  Noble  decided  that  as  Enoch  had  never  severed 
his  tribal  relations^  he  could  not  take  land  in  severalty^  thus  disposing  of  the  claims 
of  the  squatters.  The  contest  between  Mr.  Cowley  and  the  Northern  Pacific 
dragged  its  weary  way  for  nearly  twenty  years  through  the  departments  and  the 
courts^  with  Cowley  winning  at  every  turn;  and  in  the  end  the  railroad  was  glad 
to  make  a  settlement  on  the  basis  of  yielding  all  except  the  right  of  way  and  lots 
it  had  deeded  to  others,  in  lieu  of  which  it  paid  Mr.  Cowley  $25,000  in  cash. 

At  its  height  Shantytown  boasted  of  400  shacks,  but  it  faded  away  under  the 
adverse  decisions,  and  when  B.  £.  Barinds,  representing  the  property  owners, 
leased  forty  acres  of  school  section  16  in  the  east  end,  platted  it  as  Mechanics- 
Tiile,  and  offered  the  survivors  free  occupancy  of  a  lot  for  one  year,  many  of  them 
moved  out  there  and  years  later  bought  at  low  prices  from  the  state. 

Henry  B.  Clifford  came  to  Spokane  in  the  spring  and  worked  up  local  senti- 
ment for  a  smelter.  Several  public  meetings  were  held,  a  right  of  way  secured 
for  a  railroad  down  the  Spokane  river  five  miles,  and  Clifford,  returning  east,  gave 
lectures  and  sold  stock,  enlisted  the  support  of  Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  the  famous 
agnostic,  and  finally  built  the  smelter  whose  dismantled  ruins  still  adorn  a  flat  on 
the  river  shore  just  below  Fairmount  cemetery. 

Early  in  May  Spokane's  first  mining  exchange  was  organized.  Among  the 
members  were  F.  R.  Wilcox,  T.  S.  Griffith,  L.  C.  Dillman,  R.  S.  Oakley,  R.  H. 
Kemp,  F.  E.  Goodall,  J.  Hanauer,  Knox  Johnson,  Warren  Hussey,  H.  M.  Augus- 
tine, W.  H.  Taylor,  F.  R.  Moore,  B.  E.  Barinds,  L.  K.  Armstrong,  E.  J. 
Brickell,  B.  H.  Bennett,  L.  MacLean,  Sam  Silverman,  S.  Oppenheimer,  J.  W. 
Chapman,  C.  W.  Ide  and  E.  J.  M.  Hale.  Warren  Hussey  was  president,  F.  E. 
Goodall  vice-president,  and  L.  K.  Armstrong  secretary. 

The  New  Home  for  the  Friendless  was  dedicated  May  22.  It  grew  out  of  a 
"Mother  Goose"  charity  ball,  held  in  December,  1886.  The  idea  originated  with 
Miss  Fannie  Reamer,  and  Mrs.  John  Todd,  Mrs.  A.  B.  Wheeler,  Mrs.  Wm.  Butter- 
worth,  Miss  Kate  Reamer  and  Miss  MoUie  Scott  sold  tickets.  The  ball  was  held 
in  the  old  opera  house,  corner  of  Post  and  Riverside,  the  ladies  appearing  in 
"Mother  Goose"  costumes,  and  netted  $145.  On  the  evening  of  January  17, 
1S87,  the  ladies  who  gave  the  ball  met  at  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Butterworth  and 
organized  the  Ladies'  Benevolent  society:  Mrs.  John  Todd,  president;  Miss  Fan- 
nie Reamer,  first  vice-president;  Mrs.  A.  B.  Junken,  second  vice-president.  The 
society  was  incorporated  April  4,  1888.  In  February,  1889,  J.  J.  Browne  donated 
two  lots  in  Central  addition.  Mrs.  J.  J.  Browne,  Mrs.  T.  E.  Jefferson,  Mrs.  D.  F. 
Wetzel,  and  Mrs.  A.  J.  Ross  were  named  a  conmiittee  on  plans.  The  fire  relief 
committee  donated  $8,000,  and  the  building  was  erected. 

Fire,  the  night  of  July  28,  burned  the  Monroe  street  bridge  and  a  number 
of  frame  business  structures  on  North  Monroe.  At  the  same  time  another  fire 
broke  out-on  Second  avenue  in  the  business  district.  The  water  supply  failed,  and 
for  a  while  it  seemed  that  the  town  was  to  suffer  another  sweeping  conflagration, 
fortunately  the  night  was  calm,  and  the  two  blazes  slowly  burned  themselves  out 
with  a  loss  of  $200,000.  Agitation  followed  for  a  reservoir  and  a  more  adequate 
water  supply. 

Vol.  1—2  « 


434  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Fire  at  Wallace^  Idaho^  July  28^  consumed  the  entire  business  district^  at  a 
loss  of  half  a  million  dollars. 

Connection  was  made  in  August^  by  the  Spokane  Falls  &  Northern  and  a  line 
of  steamboats  from  Northport^  with  the  main  line  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  at 
Revelstoke^  and  the  first  through  passengers  arrived  in  Spokane  the  15th. 

August  28  all  the  union  carpenters  employed  by  the  Spokane  Mill  company 
went  out  on  strike^  and  a  week  later  the  union  men  at  work  on  the  Audltoriam 
building  went  out  on  a  refusal  to  use  material  from  the  mill  company.  The  strike 
soon  became  general  among  the  carpenters,  who  protested  against  long  hours  and 
wages  that  were  inadequate  to  the  high  cost  of  living.  They  had  been  working 
ten  hours  for  three  dollars,  and  demanded  a  reduction  of  one  hour  without  any 
cut  in  the  wage  scale.  Their  demand  was  undoubtedly  just  and  moderate,  but  un- 
fortunately they  alienated  public  sentiment  by  withdrawing  their  men  from  the 
building  then  under  construction  by  the  Spokane  Industrial  Exposition.  This 
action,  taken  September  17,  with  the  date  of  opening  drawing  near,  menaced  the 
success  of  an  enterprise  dear  to  the  public  heart.  The  directors  promptly  issued 
this  appeal: 

"All  good  citizens  are  requested  to  report  at  the  exposition  building  tomorrow 
morning  at  7  o'clock,  with  or  without  tools,  to  do  whatever  is  within  their  power 
to  aid  in  completion  of  the  building." 

By  the  appointed  hour  350  citizens  were  on  the  site.  Among  the  volunteers 
were  A.  M.  Cannon,  W.  H.  Taylor,  A.  A.  Newbery,  Paul  Mohr,  C.  R.  Bums,  J.  X. 
Glover,  Walker  L.  Bean,  A.  P.  Sawyer,  Herbert  Bolster,  K.  K.  Cutter,  Henry  M. 
Hoyt,  Herbert  Nichols,  Oskar  Huber,  Howard  Mallon,  E.  J.  Webster,  Council- 
man Notbohm  and  sons,  E.  J.  Hyde,  R.  S.  Oakley,  Fred.  Mason,  L.  S.  Roberts, 
W.  S.  McCrea,  M.  A.  Phelps,  Henry  L.  Wilson,  F.  Lewis  Clark. 

During  the  day  a  number  of  citizens  took  carpenters  off  their  own  buildings 
and  put  them  at  work  on  the  exposition  structure,  and  by  night  200  skilled  car- 
penters were  at  work  alongside  of  a  greater  number  of  volimteers.  A  large  group 
of  well  known  women  went  out  to  the  building  and  served  luncheon  to  the  work- 
ers. Among  these  were  Mesdames  A.  M.  Cannon,  N.  Fred.  Essig,  John  L.  Wil- 
son, J.  N.  Glover,  Alfred  Moore,  C.  M.  Patterson,  Frank  Moore,  J.  E.  Gandy, 
H,  L.  Cutter,  W.  H.  Taylor,  Fred.  Mason,  Warren  Hussey,  I.  S.  Kaufman  and  P. 
H.  Winston. 

The  building  was  finished  on  time,  and  the  exposition  opened  October  1,  with 
an  estimated  attendance  of  12,000.  W.  H.  Calkins  was  orator  of  the  day.  Musical 
attractions  were  a  grand  chorus  by  150  singers  of  the  Spokane  Musical  society, 
and  patriotic  airs  by  the  Fourth  Infantry  band  and  that  of  the  Second  regiment 
N.  G.  W.  President  F.  Lewis  Clark  delivered  the  address  of  welcome,  and  re- 
marks were  made  by  Mayor  C.  F.  Clough.  General  A.  P.  Curry,  assisted  by  Lieu- 
tenant J.  J.  White,  was  chief  marshal  of  the  parade.  Lane  C.  Gilliam  was  floor 
manager  of  a  brilliant  ball  at  night  in  the  art  gallery.  The  fair,  which  was  man- 
aged by  Charles  W.  Robinson,  at  an  annual  salary  of  $5,000,  ran  for  more  than  a 
month,  closing  November  3.  Oflicers,  besides  President  Clark,  were:  W.  H.  Tay- 
lor, vice-president,  who  succeeded  G.  B.  Dennis,  resigned;  John  W.  Goss,  secre- 
tary; and  an  executive  committee  that  included  A.  A.  Newbery,  A.  M.  Cannon, 
Jay  P.  Graves,  L.  C.  Dillman,  C.  R.  Bums  and  F.  R.  Moore.     Other  directors 


FIRST  MUXROK  STREKT  BRIlXiK,  OPKN'EI)  IN  18H9.     LATKR  nKSTROYEI)  BY  FIKE 


SE(().\1>  MONROE  STREET  BKIIKiK,  BULL.T  IN  THE  EARLY   '9lla 


NEW  SrOXKOE  STREET  KHIDOE.  COMPl-KTEI)  IN   IBll   AT  A  COST  (tE  FLVE  HUN- 

DBKI)  THorsANI)   DOLLARS.     X.0XGE8T   CONCRETE   ARcri 

IN  THE  TNITED  !-TATES 


S  T 


>   ^     '       '    I    .     f" 


.hi.:»    :<-    ^w-NAHf 


1  .LUt  N    ruoN>.A[,ONt 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  435 

were  H.  L.  Tilton,  H.  N.  Belt,  John  R.  Reavis,  J.  J.  Browne,  H.  L.  Wilson,  E. 
J.  Brickell,  J.  N.  Glover  and  W.  H.  Lynch. 

The  exposition  was  held  on  a  block  of  ground  donated  by  L.  C.  Dillman,  be- 
tween Riverside  and  Sprague,  and  six  blocks  east  of  Division.  Out  of  a  desire 
to  make  the  fair  permanent,  the  city  government,  in  November,  bought  the  build- 
ing and  grounds  for  $75,000.     Fire,  a  few  years  later,  destroyed  the  structure. 

A  spirited  political  contest  for  control  of  the  republican  organization  was 
waged  this  year  between  John  L.  Wilson  and  Judge  George  Turner,  and  culminated 
at  the  primaries,  September  6,  which  "resembled  a  general  election  in  every  re- 
spect^" and  brought  out  an  astonishingly  ^^fVtT  -  ^^^*^  (^r  ^^^  popular  total  vote 
Turner  carried  the  city,  winning  in  the  ^i;^)^^ ;fr)Rrd  by)  il;p9. majority;  but  Wilson 
carried  the  three  other  wards  by  an  aggregate  majority  of  sixty-nine,  and  also  won 
in  a  majority  of  the  country  precincts,  wich  gatyfl\iii^  ^control  of  the  county  con- 
vention. Total  republican  vote  in  the  ciij^^^jiJI'T^*' •At 'the  state  convention  at  Ta- 
coma,  September  25,  Wilson  was  renominated  for  congress  by  acclamation. 

A  notable  event  of  1890  was  the  formal  opening  of  the  beautiful  Auditorium 
theater,  with  a  performance  of  "Nanon"  by  the  Carleton  Opera  company.  The 
building  was  packed  from  orchestra  to  the  top  gallery.  In  an  opening  address 
Col.  P.  H.  Winston  complimented  Manager  H.  C.  Hayward.  Calls  came  from  the 
audience  for  A.  M.  Cannon  and  J.  J.  Browne,  the  men  whose  enterprise  and  wealth 
had  given  the  splendid  theater  to  Spokane,  and  they  responded  with  words  of 
thanks. 

In  box  A  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  M.  Cannon  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Francis  Hem- 
menway;  B,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  B.  H.  Bennett,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ralph  Clark;  C,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  J.  W.  Chapman;  D,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  R.  Bums,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Lockhart;  E, 
Miss  Josie  Cannon,  Idelle  Houghton,  Miss  Anderson,  Mrs.  Willet,  Paul  F.  Mohr, 
L.  Howser;  F,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  J.  Browne;  G,  Mayor  C.  F.  Clough  and  Mrs. 
Ciough;  H,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  R.  Moore,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Alfred  S.  Moore. 

In  a  theater  party  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  H.  Taylor,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  N.  Fred. 
Essig,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  T.  E.  Jefferson,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  C.  S.  Penfield,  Mrs.  John  L. 
Wilson,  Henry  L.  Wilson.  Others  whose  presence  was  noted  were  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Henry  L.  Pittock  from  Portland,  Mr.  and  Mrs,.  T.  ,C  Grlffitts,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jay 
P.  Graves,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Binkley,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Taylor,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  R.  S.  Oak- 
ley, Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hyde,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  P.  H.  Winston,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  B. 
Hopkins,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  M.  Tull,  Mr.  and  Mb».  J.  F.  Sloane,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  H. 
Greenberg,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walker  L.  Beaa^-^Mr. 'and  Mrs.  Warren  Hussey,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Charles  Hussey,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Dodson,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harl  J.  Cook, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  D.  F.  Wetzel,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Todd,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  L.  Cutter, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  D.  T.  Ham,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  S.  Voorhees,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  P. 
Oadin. 

The  ushers:  George  Dreher,  J.  C.  Beidelman,  Harry  Vincent,  W.  S.  McCrea, 
W.  McCallum,  J.  R.  Way,  C.  F.  Webster,  W.  Canette,  F.  Kershaw,  M.  McDonald, 
F.  Arnold. 

At  a  special  election  September  27  the  fifteen  following  citizens  were  elected 
to  revise  the  city  charter:  Albert  Allen,  F.  A.  Bettis,  C.  R.  Burns,  A.  M.  Cannon, 
James  Glispin,  J.   N.  Glover,   H.   E.   Houghton,  D.   P.  Jenkins,   I.   S.   Kaufman, 


436  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

George   H.'  Leonard^   F.   Mason,   James   Monaghan,'  A.   Munter^   Robert  Russell, 
E.  J.  Webster. 

Among  other  events  of  1890  was  the  appointment  of  C.  H.  Hanford  as  federal 
judge.  Other  aspirants  were  S.  C.  Hyde  and  J.  Z.  Moore  of  Spokane,  and  W.  H. 
Calkins  of  Tacoma. 

Work  started  March  19  on  the  Review  building. 

Hotel  Spokane  opened  April  23. 

In  May  floods  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  extreme  high  water  in  the  Spdkane 
river. 

Decision  of  the  Northern  Pacific  to  locate  its  new  passenger  station  between 
Divison  and  Bernard. 

Signing  of  the  Idaho  admission  act,  July  3,  by  President  Harrison. 

Destruction  of  the  entire  business  district  of  Pullman,  July  3,  involving  a  loss 
of  $200,000. 

City  council  decided  that  all  tents  in  the  Are  limits  must  be  vacated  and  torn 
down  by  August  1. 

Appointment  of  A.  J.  Shaw  as  postmaster,  July  17,  to  succeed  Tom  B.  War- 
ren.    Mr.   Shaw  took  possession   September   1. 

Institution  of  El  Katif  temple,  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  July  31,  by  a 
large  delegation  from  Mecca  Temple,  New  York. 

Suspension  of  the  Spokane  National,  bank,  December  17.  W.  H.  Taylor, 
president;   Warren   Hussey,   cashier. 

Death  of  J.  M.  Adams,  December  22,  Had  been  register  of  the  Spokane  land 
office,  and  editor  of  the  Morning  Review  from  January  1,  1889,  to  October,  1889. 

Starting  of  work  on  the  Monroe  street  bridge.  The  piers  were  built  by  day 
labor,  the  bridge  by  contract. 

In  December  the  Spokane  Street  Railway  company  started  work  by  potting 
in  electric  power  and  abolishing  horses. 


CHAPTER  XL VI 

NEW  YEAR'S,  1891,  SEES  A  NEW  SPOKANE 

indian   war   threatened  in   okanogan   country bribery  sensation   at   olym- 

pia city   election mayor,    council    and    commissioners    clash board   of 

trade    becomes    chamber    of    commerce sale    of    morning   mine strange 

case  of  herman  l.  chase beginning  of  rossland  camp discovery  of  kaslo 

and  slocan  mines james  j.  hill^s  first  visit new  high  school  opened 

Spokane's   first   derby — review   celebrates   in   its   new   building — spirited 
school  election. 

BY  JANUARY  1,  1891,  sixteen  months  after  the  great  fire  of  1889,  a  new 
and  imposing  business  district  had  taken  the  place -of  that  leveled  by  flame. 
It  was  closely  estimated  that  $5,000,000  had  gone  into  new  buildings  in 
1890.  The  census  of  June  had  given  Spokane  nearly  20,000  population,  but  that 
count  embraced  only  people  living  within  the  old  city  limits,  two  miles  square. 
Population  within  the  annexed  territory  gave  a  true  total  of  nearly  25,000,  and 
by  January  1   the  newspapers  claimed  28,000. 

Real  estate  transfers  for  1890  were  totaled  at  $18,000,000.  The  assessed 
valuation  of  city  property  was  $18,790,000.  The  flour  mills  had  a  daily  capacity 
of  700  barrels,  and  the  year's  lumber  cut  was  30,000,000  feet.  Eleven  banks  had 
$5,000,000  on  deposit.  The  year's  postoffice  receipts  were  $52,705.  as  against 
$19,612  in  1888.  A  census  of  the  manufacturing  interests  showed  223  concerns, 
employing  2,584  hands.  The  railroads  that  year  had  carried  in  and  out  of  Spokane 
257,500  tons  of  freight.  The  telephone  system  had  410  subscribers,  and  thirty- 
four  miles  of  street  railway  were  in  operation. 

The  city  had  nine  public  school  buildings,  valued  at  $425,000;  forty-three  teach- 
ers and  2,500  pupils.     There  were  thirty  churches. 

As  revealing  the  growth  of  a  decade,  the  Review  contrasted  these  figures  with 
the  showing  of  1880,  when  the  town  had  a  population  of  350,  an  assessed  valua- 
tion of  $50,000,  real  estate  transfers  of  $25,000,  a  milling  capacity  of  ten  barrels 
daily,  an  annual  lumber  cut  of  500,000  feet,  and  a  payroll  of  twenty-five  hands. 

In  January  came  news  of  a  threatened  Indian  uprising  in  the  Okanogan  coun- 
try. A  freighter  named  Cole  had  been  murdered  by  Indians,  and  in  making  arrests 
Deputy  Sheriff  Ives  killed  '"'Captain  John."  Stephen,  a  youth  of  15^  and  cou«in 
of  Captain  John,  came  in  and  surrendered  on  a  promise  that  he  should  be  tried  by 
law.  Twenty-five  masked  men  went  to  the  jail  on  the  morning  of  January  8, 
seised  the  Indian  boy,  and     hanged  him  to  a  tree  half  a  mile  below  Ruby  City. 

437 


438  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

This  deeply  grieved  and  angered  the  Indians  on  the  Colville  reservation^  some  of 
whom  grew  menacing.  The  unrest  spread  to  neighboring  tribes,  and  so  far  away 
as  Yakima  redmen  were  war  dancing.  The  scattered  settlements,  alarmed  at  this 
showing,  sent  out  appeab  for  protection,  and  the  governor  ordered  Company  G  of 
Spokane  in  readiness  to  be  dispatched  to  the  front.  At  this  juncture  Adjutant- 
General  A.  P.  Curry  of  Spokane,  gathering  around  him  a  few  experienced  fron- 
tiersmen, went  into  the  Nespelim  country,  held  a  conference  with  seventy  of  the 
leading  Indians,  and  was  successful  in  his  effort  to  mollify  them. 

Thus  passed  the  last  Indian  scare  in  the  Spokane  country. 

At  Olympia  this  winter  the  senatorial  contest  lay  between  Watson  C.  Squire,  of 
Seattle,  who  sought  reelection,  and  W.  H.  Calkins  of  Tacoma.  In  the  house,  January 
20,  Representative  John  L.  Metcalf  of  Stevens  stated  that  Harry  A.  Clarke  of  Spo- 
kane had  offered  him  $500  to  vote  for  Calkins.  Friends  of  the  Tacoma  candidate 
promptly  branded  this  as  a  Squire  trick  to  discredit  Calkins.  The  next  day  Squire 
was  elected.  A  legislative  investigation  was  ordered,  and  after  a  series  of  sensational 
hearings,  the  committee  reported  that  Clarke  had  paid  the  bribe,  but  Metcalf  had 
solicited  it,  and  exonerated  Calkins  from  knowledge  of  the  transaction.  By  a  vote 
of  41  to  38  the  house  refused  to  unseat  Metcalf. 

In  the  spring  campaign  three  tickets  went  before  the  voters.  On  that  of  the 
Citizens  Jacob  Hoover  appeared  for  mayor,  I.  C.  Libby  for  comptroller,  J.  H.  Eard- 
ley  for  treasurer,  J.  T.  Hamilton  for  city  attorney,  and  Robert  Abernethy  for  as- 
sessor. 

Another  ticket  was  headed  by  Frank  A.-  Bettis  for  mayor,  and  his  running  mates 
were:  Comptroller,  W.  H.  Carson;  treasurer,  J.  S.  Watson;  attorney,  J.  J.  Reagan; 
assessor,  P.  J.  Donahoe. 

On  the  People's  ticket  were:  D.  B.  Fotheringham  for  mayor;  Theodore  Reed, 
comptroller;  J.  S.  Watson,  treasurer;  P.  F.  Quinn,  attorney;  L.  K.  Boissonnault, 
assessor. 

At  the  election,  March  24,  Fotheringham  was  elected  mayor,  Reed  comptroller, 
Watson  treasurer,  Hamilton  attorney,  and  Abernethy  assessor. 

The  new  charter,  framed  by  a  freeholders  committee  of  15  under  the  guiding 
hand  of  H.  E.  Houghton,  was  adopted  by  a  large  majority,  and  under  its  provisions 
fifteen  councilmen  were  chosen: 

First  ward — Frank  P.  Cook,  J.  N;  Barker,  J.  F.  Spiger. 

Second — George  G.  Ambs,  Fred.   Baldwin,  Peter  Graham. 

Third— H.  W.  Greenberg,  Paul  J.  Strobach,  A.  Traut. 

Fourth — J.  D.  MacLean,  W.  O.  Nettleton,  M.  Thomsen. 

Fifth— C.  L.  Knox,  A.  D.  Jones,  H.  N.  Belt. 

Fotheringham  had  328  plurality,  Reed  791,  Watson,  543,  Hamilton  74,  and  Ab- 
ernethy 67.  The  official  name  of  the  city  was  changed  from  "Spokane  Falls" 
to  plain  Spokane. 

For  city  commissioners  under  the  new  charter  the  council  accepted  Mayor  Foth- 
eringham's  nominations  of  James  Monaghan  and  W.  H.  Wiscombe,  but  rejected 
that  of  Clarence  Ide.  Later  the  mayor  and  the  council  came  together  on  G.  G. 
Smith  for  the  third  commissioner.  For  chief  of  police  the  commissioners  elected 
Peter  Mertz,  Wiscombe  voting  for  W.  W.  Witherspoon,  all  three  ignoring  the  mayors 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  439 

choice  of  Hal  Cole.     For  corporation  counsel  the  councilmen  rejected  the  mayor's 
nominee,  Albert  Allen,  but  subsequently  accepted  H.  £.  Houghton. 

At  a  special  election,  June  16,  the  electors  voted,  1,519  to  79,  for  a  bond  issue 
of  $1^SOO,000,  to  take  up  warrants,  improve  and  extend  the  water  system,  build 
bridges  at  Monroe  street  and  other  crossings  and  make  various  needed  public  im- 
provements. 

In  June  Mayor  Fotheringham  directed  the  commissioners  to  instruct  the  chief 
of  pK>lice  to  enforce  the  law  closing  saloons  and  variety  theaters  on  Sunday.  "If 
ihey  "want  to  kill  the  town,  they  are  going  at  it  just  right,"  was  Harry  Baer's  brief 
comment. 

In  July  Captain  Thomas  W.  Symons,  U.  S.  engineer  corps,  employed  by  the  city 
as  consulting  engineer,  submitted  a  report.  He  advised  a  central  power  station, 
and  if  the  supply  should  be  taken  from  the  river,  the  laying  of  an  intake  pipe  to  a 
point  sufficiently  extended  up  stream  to  avoid  sewer  contamination.  His  report,  how- 
ever, rather  favored  the  gathering  up  of  the  large  springs  on  the  Selheim  ranch  on 
the  Little  Spokane.     He  urged  the  building  of  a  reservoir. 

Lack  of  harmony  involved  the  mayor,  council  and  commissioners  in  frequent 
clashes  of  authority.  In  October  the  mayor,  with  the  support  of  thirteen  of  the 
fifteen  coimcilmen,  removed  commissioners  Smith  and  Wiscombe,  and  they  were 
succeeded  by  H.  W.  Fair  weather  and  B.  C.  Riblet.  December  26  the  council  re- 
moved Commissioner  Riblet,  and  three  days  later  W.  W.  Witherspoon  was  appointed 
and  confirmed. 

This  year  the  board  of  trade  was  reorganized  as  a  chamber  of  commerce,  and 
sent  Robert  Easson  to  New  York  and  Chicago  to  urge  upon  high  railroad  officials  the 
justice  of  Spokane's  appeal  for  reduced  freight  rates.  The  trustees  were  confident, 
if  the  merchants  would  stand  united,  that  a  substantial  reduction  could  be  won. 
On  the  night  of  December  26  the  chamber  gave  "the  largest  and  most  successful 
banquet  that  was  ever  carried  out  on  the  North  Pacific  coast."  One  hundred  and 
fifty  plates  were  laid  at  the  hotel  Spokane.  President  A.  A.  Newbery  was  toast- 
master.  George  Turner  spoke  to  "The  State  of  Washington,"  Ex-United  States 
Senator  W.  J.  McConnell  to  "The  State  of  Idaho,"  and  Henry  L.  Wilson  to  "The 
City  of  Spokane."  Other  speakers  were  Robert  Easson,  Attorney-General  W.  C. 
Jones,  Walter  Hughson,  S.  R.  Stern,  Cyrus  R.  Burns,  J.  J.  Browne  and  A.  M. 
Cannon. 

Herman  L.  Chase,  receiver  of  the  Spokane  National,  went  east  to  sell  the  Morn- 
ing mine  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  chief  asset  of  the  bank.  Negotiations  were  pending 
over  a  greater  part  of  the  year,  but  in  Det"  ember  came  news  that  the  mine  was  sold 
to  a  syndicate  of  New  York  and  Milwauk*  e  bankers,  for  $400,000.  After  the  pay- 
ment of  a  mortgage  and  other  prior  liens,  enough  was  realized  eventually  to  return 
the  depositors  nearly  100  cents  on  the  dollar. 

Receiver  Chase  was  lauded  for  his  able  management  of  his  trust,  but  subse- 
quently, by  a  strange  contradiction  of  character,  became  involved  in  two  disreput- 
able personal  transactions.  While  his  family  was  away  from  home  he  was  arrested, 
on  complaint  of  his  domestic,  for  criminal  assault.  Evidence  brought  out  at  his 
trial  in  the  superior  court  convinced  the  public  mind  that  he  was  culpable,  but  under 
instructions  from  Judge  Jesse  Arthur,  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  not  guilty. 
A  wave  of  indignation  rolled  over  the  city,  and  many  well  known  women  publicly 


440  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

• 

branded  the  trial  as  a  farce  and  the  verdict  a  gross  miscarriage  of  justice.  Out;  af 
this  agitation  came  later  a  legislative  investigation^  and  Judge  Arthur  narro^y 
escaped  impeachment.  Chase  moved  to  Tacoma^  and  was  there  arrested^  but  sub- 
sequently acquitted  on  a  charge  of  stealing  the  personal  effects  of  an  acquaintance. 

In  the  summer  of  1891  the  Trail  Creek  mining  district,  later  better  known  as 
Rossland  eamp^  began  to  attract  public  attention.    The  first  locations  had  been  made 
in  July^  1890,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  November,  the  same  year,  a  company   of 
Spokane  men — Oliver  Durant,  Alex.  H.  Tarbet,  George  M.  Forster,  I.  N.  Peyton, 
W.  W.  D.  Turner,  George  Turner,  W.  M.  Ridpath,  Harry  Stimmel  and  J.  R.  Taylor 
— contracted  the  Le  Roi  claim  and  put  in  winter  supplies  and  m^n  to  develop  it. 
By  April,  1891,  they  had  sunk  an  inclined  shaft  sixty  feet,  and  made  numerous  open 
cuts  in  ore  that  ran  5  to  20  per  cent  copper,  8  to  10  ounces  silver,  and  $48  to  $470 
gold.     Trains  on  the  Spokane  Falls  &  Northern  were  taking  many  prospectors  and 
mining  men  into  the  new  eldorado.     About  that  time  D.  C.  Corbin,  with  the  end 
of  his  railroad  at  Northport  on  the  Columbia,  was  scanning  the  wild  hills  of  the 
Kootenay  country,  with  a  dream  that  was  scarcely  yet  a  purpose,  of  extending  his 
line  to  aid  in  the  stupendous  task  of  unlocking  their  mineral  vaults.     "Mark  vrhst 
I  say,"  observed  Mr.  Corbin  to  a  reporter,  "that  Trail  creek  district  is  coming  to 
the  front."     To  carry  on  development  work,  the  Le  Roi  company  offered  a  large 
block  of  treasury  stock  in  June  at  25  cents  a  share — a  basis  of  $125,000  for  the 
property,  which  struck  most  people  as  absurdly  high. 

In  1891  came  discovery  of  the  Kaslo  and  Slocan  mining  districts,  and  the  loca- 
tion of  a  number  of  fabulously  rich  silver-lead  mines  that  were  to  pour  their  divi- 
dends into  the  purses  of  several  score  of  Spokane  mining  men  and  investors.  News 
of  these  discoveries  reached  Spokane  in  August.  Andy  Jardine,  who  had  penetrated 
that  wilderness  from  Ainsworth,  on  Kootenay  lake,  returned  with  his  pack  saddle 
well  loaded  with  promising  appearing  specimens.  He  quietly  informed  a  few  friends 
of  his  discovery,  and  that  he  had  located  a  claim  in  there  and  called  it  the  "Kastlo." 
Jim  Van  Hook  and  T.  T.  McLeod  went  in  and  located  extensions,  and  when  they 
returned  to  the  lake,  assays  of  their  sj>ecimens  ran  300  ounces  in  silver.  A  stam- 
pede into  the  new  district  quickly  followed.  By  September  80  prospectors  had  pushed 
over  the  divide  and  were  locating  mines  in  the  Slocan  country.  Under  date  of  Octo- 
ber 19  a  dispatch  from  Ainsworth  reported  that  Jack  Evans  of  Nelson  had  made 
the  biggest  strike  yet  found  around  Slocan  lake.  The  country  was  wild  with  ex- 
citement, and  hundreds  of  prospectors  and  miners  were  leaving  for  the  new  district. 

This  year  was  made  memorable,  too,  by  the  extension  of  the  Manitoba,  as  the 
Great  Northern  then  was  known,  over  the  Rocky  mountains  and  towards  the  salt 
inland  sea  of  Puget  Sound.  September  5  James  J.  Hill  made  his  first  visit  of  ob- 
servation, taking  carriage  and  driving  over  the  town.  A  delegation  of  citizens, 
including  J.  J.  Browne,  I.  S.  Kaufman,  Henry  L.  Wilson,  John  R.  Reavis  and  J. 
B.  Jones,  Charlie  Voorhees'  law  partner,  called  on  the  famous  railroad  captain,  who 
promised  to  come  again,  and  "made  a  most  favorable  impression  on  all  who  met 
him."  Burns  &  Chapman,  local  railroad  contractors,  were  building  a  large  section 
of  the  new  railroad  across  the  Idaho  Panhandle. 

The  Irish-American  association  was  organized  in  February,  with  James  Mona- 
ghan  its  first  president. 

The  Spokane  Athletic  club  had  organized  with  Herbert  Bolster  for  president, 


LOWER  FALLS  OF  THE  SPOKANE  AS  THEY   APPEARED  THIRTY   YEARS  AGO 


Thi:  NEW  VUHK 

.I--,i!.lC  LIBRARY 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  441 

and  on  the  evening  of  February  23  threw  open  to  the  public  its  well  equipped  quar- 
ters, "the  finest  in  the  northwest." 

F.  Scrivir  started  a  small  match  factory  in  March,  with  cordial  local  encourage- 
ment, but  the  product  proved  to  be  inferior,  and  the  enterprise  was  not  a  success. 

An  entertainment  given  June  3,  in  Concordia  hall,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Union 
library,  netted  $125.  This  worthy  organization,  fostered  by  a  group  of  union  labor 
leaders,  was  the  nucleus  of  the  present  public  library. 

In  April  eastern  Washington  was  on  the  qui  vive  over  the  approaching  location 
of  the  State  Agricultural  college.  George  H.  Black  of  Fairhaven,  S.  B.  Conover  of 
Port  Townsend  and  A.  H.  Smith  of  Tacoma,  appointed  .by  Governor  Laughton  to 
choose  a  location,  arrived  in  Spokane  And  were  sho^n  over.  Five  Mile,  Moran  and 
Pleasant  prairies.  Pullman  was  chosen  in  preference  to  Yakima,  Colfax,  Spokane 
and  other  aspirants.  j 

The  Colville  Indian  commission  clo|edintb€  Jwg  P^I^U^g  treaty  with  the  Indians 
at  Marcus,  May  23,  the  tribes  ceding  1,500,000  acres.  A  great  council  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Nespelim  was  attended  by  Chiefs  Joseph  and  Moses.  Mark  A.  Fullerton  of 
Colfax,  James  F.  Payne  of  North  Carolina,  and  W.  H.  H.  Dufur  of  Oregon,  were 
the  commissioners. 

The  new  high  school  was  formally  delivered,  May  25,  by  the  contractor  to  the 
board  of  education.  Five  hundred  citizens  attended  the  exercises  in  the  auditorium 
of  the  new  structure,  which  cost  $102,222. 

June  SO  the  first  Spokane  Derby  was  run  on  the  old  track,  now  covered  by  Corbin 
park,  before  a  crowd  of  8,000.  The  course  was  a  mile  and  a  half,  and  Kylo  won 
the  $600  purse;  time  2:39  1-2,  defeating  Bonnie  Gray,  Malcolm  and  Terry. 

Sarah  Bernhardt  and  company  appeared  in  'Xa  Tosca"  the  evening  of  September 
25.    Society  attended  in  full  dress,  but  the  audience  was  "chilly." 

The  funeral  of  £.  J.  Brickell,  rated  at  his  death  as  the  wealthiest  man  in  Spo- 
kane, was  held  from  the  Methodist  Tabernacle  Sunday  afternoon,  September  27. 
D.  M.  Drumheller,  J.  N.  Glover,  H.  W.  Fairweather,  J.  R.  Marks,  E.  B.  Hyde, 
Jacob  Hoover,  A.  M.  Cannon,  J.  J.  Browne,  J.  J.  L.  Peel,  M.  M.  Cowley,  Martin 
Cooney  and  Charles  M.  Patterson  were  pallbearers.  Music  by  Mrs.  Harl  J.  Cook, 
soprano;  Mrs.  D.  M.  Thompson,  alto;  D.  M.  Thompson,  tenor;  LaRue  Perrine,  bass; 
Prof.  Franz  Mueller,  organist.  The  funeral  procession  was  the  most  imposing  ever 
seen  in  the  city. 

With  a  public  reception  the  Review  opened  its  new  building  the  evening  of 
October  24,  and  it  was  estimated  that  8,000  people  attended.  The  reception  com- 
mittee included  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Joseph  French  JoHnson,  S.  R.  Flynn,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
A.  M.  Cannon,  Judge  and  Mrs.  H.  E.  Houghton,  Miss  Josephine  Clark,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  J.  E.  Fenton,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  M.  Fassett,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  N.  W.  Durham,  Mrs. 
Kate  Alexander,  Mrs.  N.  L.  Palmer,  Miss  Jessie  Palmer,  Miss  Ada  Coburn,  H.  C. 
Hay  ward,  J.  M.  Kinnaird  and  F.  C.  Goodin. 

School  elections  had  been  going  by  default,  and  emphatic  criticism  had  been  di- 
rected against  the  management  of  the  city  schools.  This  aroused  deep  interest  in 
the  election  of  November  7,  and  nearly  2,000  votes  were  cast.  J.  J.  Browne,  with 
1,087  votes,  and  M.  F.  Mendenhall,  983,  were  elected.  Charges  had  been  made,  and 
an  investigation  by  a  committee  of  two  members  of  the  board  and  three  citizens  found 


442  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

that  loose  and  careless  methods  had  grown  up  in  the  construction  of  the  new  build- 
ings and  in  dealing  with  contractors. 

The  county  commissioners,  at  a  meeting  December  19,  decided  to  build  a  new 
courthouse,  and  called  for  plans  and  specifications,  and  also  for  proposals  for  a 
new  location. 


CHAPTER  XL VII 

COEUR  D'ALENE  RIOTS  OF  1892 

TROUBLE     PRECIPITATED    BY    ARRIVAL    OF    STRIKE-BREAKERS IDAHO's    GOVERNOR    ISSUES 

WARNING  PROCLAMATION DEADLY   BATTLE  ON  CANYON   CRBEK^  JULY    11 STRIKERS 

HOIST    THE   WHITE    FLAG BLOWING   UP   OF    FRISCO    MILL MILITANT   UNION    FORCES 

MARCH     ON    WARDNER CAPTURE    TOWN    AND    CONCENTRATORS SWEENY,    CLEMENT 

AND  MCAULBY  COMPELLED  TO  SIGN  AGREEMENT  TO  DISCHARGE  NON-UNION   FORCES 

LARGE  NUMBERS  OF  NON-UNION  MEN  RUN  OUT  OF  THE  COUNTRY ^REIGN  OF  TERROR 

AT  THE  OLD  MISSION MARTIAL  LAW  DECLARED FORERUNNER  OF  POPULISM STATE 

AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE  OPENS  AT  PULLMAN DEATH  OF  CHIEF  GARRY D.  M.  DRUM- 
HELLER   DEFEATS   JAY    P.    GRAVES    FOR   MAYOR FIRST  THROUGH    TRAIN    OVER    GREAT 

NORTHERN PISTOL   BATTLE    IN   PACIFIC   HOTEL. 

A  BACKWARD  glance  on  New  Year's  day,  1892,  revealed  a  fair  degree  of 
constructive  activity.  Notwithstanding  the  subsidence  jof  the  feverish  real 
estate  craze^  1891  had  seen  begun  and  completed  more  than  half  a  mile  of 
new  brick  frontage;  factories  had  been  erected,  the  street  car  system  extended, 
sewers  laid,  new  bridges  started,  and  many  miles  of  streets  graded  and  laid  with 
sidewalk.  The  Northern  Pacific  and  the  Union  Pacific  had  carried  in  and  out  of 
Spokane  in  1901  more  merchandise  and  produce  than  in  any  previous  year  of  the 
city's  history:  Inbound  freight,  191,158,182  pounds;  outbound,  116,378,879. 

Memorable  events  of  1892  were  thC  coming  of  the  Great  Northern  and  fierce 
labor  riots  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes. 

In  the  winter  pf  1891-92  owners  of  the  large  producing  mines  at  Wardner  and 
on  Canyon  creek  closed  down  their  properties,  or  greatly  restricted  the  output,  as- 
signing as  a  reason  the  excessive  freight  rate  levied  by  the  railroads.  Later  it  was 
seen  that  the  trouble  had  labor  complications,  and  by  the  end  of  March  the  tension 
was  intense  between  the  miners*  unions  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  the  Mine  Owners 
association.  Both  sides  made  extended  appeals  to  the  public.  The  going  scale  of 
wages,  maintained  from  the  beginning  of  the  mining  industry  in  the  South  Fork 
country,  was  $8.50  for  miners,  $3  for  carmen  and  shovelers.  This  scale  the  mine 
owners  were  willing  to  continue.  The  unions  demanded  a  uniform  scale  of  $8.50 
ior  miners,  carmen  and  shovelers.  They  had  other  grievances  in  respect  to  the 
company  boarding-house  and  company  store  evil,  and  resented,  too,  the  system  of 
enforced  collection  of  hospital  dues,  believing  that  the  mine-owners  were  making  a 
profit  therefrom. 

Extended  negotiations  proving  unavailing,  as  neither  side  would  yield,  the  Mine 

443 


444  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

owners  association  tried  to  break  the  deadlock  in  May  by  importing  100  strike- 
breakers from  eastern  states.  A  special  train  bearing  the  new  men^  heavily  guarded 
by  a  large  force  of  so-called  Pinkerton  deputies  under  command  of  Joel  Warren  of 
Spokane^  was  run  over  the  Missoula  branch  of  the  Northern  Pacific^  and  taken  to 
the  Union  mine  on  the  hiUside  high  above  the  little  vaUey  of  Canyon  creek.  Months 
of  idleness  had  brought  the  inevitable  discontent  and  bitterness  that  attend  labor 
strikes  in  mining  regions^  and  the  appearance  of  the  strike-breakers  intensified  the 
angry  feelings  of  the  unemployed. 

On  June  4  Governor  Gorman  B.  Willey  of  Idaho  issued  a  proclamation  warning 
the  strikers  ''that  if  lawlessness^  threats^  interference  and  intimidation  still  continue 
in  Shoshone  county^  and  if  owners  of  properties  are  further  interrupted  and  inter- 
fered with  in  the  peaceful  and  lawful  occupation  and  working  of  the  same^  and 
its  citizens  further  molested  and  intimidated^  I,  as  chief  executive^  will  issue  an  order 
declaring  the  county  of  Shoshone  in  a  state  of  insurrection,  and  will  call  to  my  aid 
all  necessary  military  force,  both  state  and  national,  to  enforce  the  law  and  preserve 
the  peace." 

Early  in  June  Patrick  Clark,  for  the  Poorman  mine^  and  S.  S.  Glidden  for  the 
Tiger,  reached  an  agreement  with  the  union  to  resume  work  in  those  properties;  all 
workmen  underground  to  receive  $3.50,  the  owners  to  "hire  and  discharge  whomever 
we  please  without  dictation  from  any  man  or  organization." 

July  11,  1892,  is  a  day  never  to  be  forgotten  in  the  Coeur  d'Alene  country,  for 
on  that  day  came  open  war  between  the  opposing  forces.  Work  had  been  partially 
resumed  in  a  number  of  Canyon  creek  mines,  and  the  owners  had  large  forces  of 
armed  guards  in  their  concentrators.  The  strikers,  asserting  that  they  had  been 
first  fired  upon,  attacked  the  Gem  mine  and  mill  in  force,  and  a  fierce  rifle  battle 
was  waged  for  several  hours.  At  10  o'clock  the  besieged  force  in  the  Gem  mill  sur- 
rendered to  the  strikers,  under  promise  that  they  should  have  aU  the  rights  of  pris- 
oners'of  war.  They  were  promptly  disarmed  and  put  under  guard,  and  later  driven 
out  of  the  country. 

Meanwhile  another  fierce  engagement  had  been  fought  around  the  Frisco  mill, 
and  the  attacking  forces,  after  losing  several  of  their  men,  blew  up  the  mill  by 
sending  a  gigantic  charge  of  dynamite  do'^n  the  flume.  The  defending  force  then 
ran  up  a  white  flag  and  surrendered.  In  these  engagements  ^ve  men  were  killed 
and  eighteen  or  twenty  wounded,  the  union  forces  suffering  the  -heavier  losses. 

Inflamed  by  their  success  and  their  losses  the  militant  union  forces  moved  on 
Wardner,  some  twenty  miles  from  the  seat  of  war  on  Canyon  creek.  A  special  train, 
bearing  400  men  from  Wallace,  Gem,  Burke  and  Mullan,  was  met  at  the  Wardner 
depot  by  many  members  of  the  local  union,  and  under  cover  of  darkness  the  besieg- 
ing forces  quickly  surrounded  the  large  concentrator  of  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sulli- 
van mines  with  an  armed  cordon  of  600  men.  An  enormous  quantity  of  dynamite 
was  then  deliberately  placed  under  the  buildings,  and  a  fuse  attached.  All  that 
night  an  armed  patrol  of  the  union  men  guarded  the  mills  and  the  town  of  Wardner. 
At  1 1  o'clock  the  following  morning,  a  conunittee  of  union  men  waited  on  Victor 
Clement,  superintendent  of  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan,  Charles  Sweeny,  manag- 
ing the  Last  Chance,  and  George  McAuley,  of  the  Sierra  Nevada.  They  announced 
that  if  the  non-union  men  were  not  discharged  within  24  hours,  they  would  blow  the 


THi:"  NEW  YORK 

/l!3LiC  LlBKARYl 


•»>^— ^B*» 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  445 

concentrators  into  fragments.    Under  duress  the  three  managers^  who  were  virtually 
prisoners  of  war^  signed  the  stipulated  agreement. 

That  afternoon  132  non-union  miners  and  guards^  guarded  by  twelve  armed  men^ 
were  driven  aboard  a  train  of  boxcars  and  taken  to  the  terminus  of  the  narrow  gauge 
railroad^  at  the  Old  Mission  on  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river.    While  awaiting  there  the 
boat  from  Coeur  d'Alene  City^  the  refugees  were  startled  by  the  appearance^  in  the 
gathering  dusk,  of  eight  armed  men  who  were  yeUing  like  Indians.     As  the  exiles 
scattered  and  ran  in  various  directions^  the  ruffians  fired  upon  them.    Some  were  held 
up  and  robbed  of  their  purses  and  watches.    Others  escaped  by  leaping  into  the  Coeur 
d'Alene  river  and  swimming  to  islands  and  marshy  points;  and  yet  others  concealed 
themselves  in  the  thickets  and  worked  their  way^  through  the  darkness^  down  stream^ 
later  hailing  the  steamer  on  its  down  trip.     Yet  another  squad  were  driven  into 
Fourth  of  July  canyon,  historic  route  from  the  Old  Missdon  to  the  Spokane  valley. 
Wildly  exaggerated  reports  of  the  outrafpe,  telling  of  ivanton  murder  of  a  large 
number  of  the  fugitives,  reached  Spokane;  |but  investigation  subsequently  Revealed 
little  or  no  loss  of  life.     Apparently  the  d^speradoea,  wishing  to  terrify  the  fugi- 
tives^ stopped  short  of  murder  and  fired  over  th^  liead^  of 'their  frightened  victims. 
These  fugitives  were  chiefly  from  Canyon  creek  and  Wallace.     The  day  after 
their  expulsion  from  the  Coeur  d'Alene  country,  the  union  forces  drove  800  non- 
union miners  and  their  families  out  of  Wardner.     The  women  and  children  were 
plac^  in  passenger  coaches;  the  men  were  packed  into  eighteen  boxcars,  and  the 
train  took  them  over  the  O.  R.  &  N.  to  Tekoa  in  the  Palouse  country. 

After  their  victory  the  union  forces  delivered  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan 
mill  to  three  deputy  sheriffs,  calmly  removed  the  two  tons  of  djuamite  from  beneath 
the  buildings,  and  Chairman  O'Brien  of  the  miners'  executive  committee  assured 
Manager  Clement  that  his  property  was  uninjured,  and  the  company  would  be  re- 
imbursed by  the  union  for  provisions  taken  from  the  cookhouse. 

Governor  Willey  promptly  placed  Shoshone  county  under  martial  law,  and 
militia  and  regulars  were  hurriedly  mobilized  from  Fort  Sherman,  Fort  Spokane, 
Walla  Walla  and  Vancouver.  Large  numbers  of  the  rioters  fled  into  the  hills,  hid- 
ing in  abandoned  cabins  and  secretly  receiving  supplies  from  friends  and  sympathiz- 
ers, but  several  hundred  were  arrested  and  imprisoned  in  a  large  stockade  at  Ward- 
ner. Under  protection  of  the  armed  forces  of  the  state  of  Idaho  and  the  United 
States,  most  of  the  fugitive  non-union  miners  returned  and  work  was  resumed  in  the 
Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan,  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  other  mines.  Nineteen  of  the 
suspected  ringleaders  wete  taken  to  Boise  and  placed  on  trial  in  the  United  States 
court.  Ten  of  these  were  discharged,  and  nine  sentenced  to  six  and  eight  months 
terms  in  jail. 

Throughout  the  farming  districts  political  unrest  found  expression  in  the  Farm- 
ers' Alliance  and  Industrial  Union,  forerunner  of  the  advancing  tidal  wave  of 
populism.  This  society  organized  at  Cheney  in  1891,  held  its  second  quarterly  meet- 
ing at  MarshaU,  and  in  January,  1 892,  met  at  the  courthouse  in  Spokane. 

January  15  the  State  Agricultural  college  and  School  of  Science  informally 
opened  at  Pullman,  with  forty-seven  students  and  a  faculty  composed  of  George 
Lilley  president,  John  O.  Scobey,  E.  R.  Lane,  George  H.  Hitchcock,  C.  E.  Munn, 
and  Nancy  L.  Van  Doren,  preceptress.  S.  B.  Conover  was  president  of  the  board 
of  regents. 


446  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

The  Odd  Fellows^  January   14^  dedicated  their  new  temple  on  First 
erected  on  a  site  they  had  bought  in  1885. 

Chief  Garry  of  the  Spokanes  died  in  January^  and  his  funeral,  held  from.  t:lie 
First  Presbyterian  church,  the  16th,  was  attended  by  many  pioneers  and  ne&rJy  a-Il 
the  survivors  of  Garry's  meager  band.  White  people  and  Indians  filed  by  the  open 
coffin  and  took  a  last  look  upon  the  sleeping  features  of  the  old  chief.  His  aged  ^finfc, 
completely  blind,  was  led  to  the  coffin,  and  as  she  passed  her  withered  hands 
the  familiar  features,  and  smoothed  for  the  last  time  the  long  gray  tresses, 
coursed  down  her  wrinkled  cheeks,  a  pathetic  spectacle  which  moved  many  to  te^A: 
The  aged  chieftain  sleeps  in  Greenwood. 

For  mayor  at  the  spring  election  of  1892,  the  democracy  nominated  D.  !>X. 
Drumheller,  and  the  republicans  advanced  Jay  P.  Graves.  Drumheller  was  eleoted 
by  255  majority. 

The  Spokane  Bar  association  organized  April  2:  President,  R.  B.  Blake;  vice- 
president,  J.  B.  Jones;  secretary,  S.  P.  Domer;  treasurer,  P.  Wikoff. 

Fire  on  May  28  consumed  the  plant  of  the  Spokane  Mill  company,  the  Echo 
roller  mills  and  several  other  buildings.  Four  men  lost  their  lives,  several  others 
were  injured,  and  a  property  loss  of  $800,000  was  suffered. 

The  first  through  train  over  the  Great  Northern  arrived  May  27.  It  carried  a. 
single  passenger  coach  and  brought  three  through  passengers  from  St.  Paul,  who  were 
landed  at  the  end  of  the  Ross  Park  electric  line  and  came  into  the  city  by  street- 
car. Two  days  later  connection  was  made  with  the  O.  R.  &  N.,  and  trains  ran 
regularly  into  the  old  Union  depot. 

This  year  raged  the  state  flower  controversy,  and  a  group  of  Seattle  ladies  sent 
over  some  rhododendrons  for  exhibition  in  Spokane.  "Away  with  the  soulless 
stranger  sent  hither  by  the  ladies  of  Seattle,'*  protested  the  Review,  "leave  the 
clover  to  the  cows  (Ella  Higginson  wanted  the  clover  blossom)  and  the  camas  to 
the  squaws;  and  vote  for  some  blossom  that  carries  with  its  colors  or  its  perfume 
all  that  is  true,  ennobling  and  refining.  Such  a  blossom  is  the  regal  fleur-de-lis; 
such  a  flower  is  the  wild  rose,  shy  queen  of  the  wilderness  and  the  garden." 

The  "safety"  bicycle  was  coming  into  extensive  use,  and  to  demonstrate  its 
military  usefulness.  Sergeant  Major  Davis  of  Fort  Sherman  rode  the  round  trip 
of  seventy  miles  from  Lake  Coeur  d'Alene  to  Spokane.  He  passed  several  hours  in 
Spokane,  transacting  business  for  General  Carlin.  and  was  back  at  the  fort  before 
dusk. 

Open  gambling  had  been  resumed,  and  in  June  two  gamblers,  Billy  Fay  and 
Jack  Delmore  met  in  a  pistol  duel  at  Main  and  Howard.  They  opened  fire  simul- 
taneously and  several  shots  were  exchanged.  Fay  shot  Delmore  through  the  body, 
and  the  wounded  man,  fleeing,  fell  in  the  entrance  to  the  Old  National  bank,  then  on 
Howard  street,  and  died  within  an  hour. 

On  the  afternoon  of  July  12,  William  Masterson  was  shot  and  instantly  killed  in 
a  room  in  the  Pacific  hotel,  while  attempting  to  rescue  his  son-in-law,  Edward 
Harris,  from  an  officer  of  the  law.  John  Burke,  a  well  known  citizen  of  Spokane, 
assisted  the  desperado,  and  was  severely  wounded.  Luke  Rawls,  a  plucky  deputy 
sheriff,  was  shot  in  the  arm  and  shoulder  while  trying  to  hold  his  prisoner.  Harris 
had  been  arrested  in  Montana  for  horse-stealing  in  the  Palouse  country,  and  the 
officer  was  taking  him  to  Colfax  for  trial.    Mrs.  Harris  was  with  her  husband  when 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  447 

the  pistol  battle  was  fought  in  the  hotel  room^  but  escaped  uninjured.  Masterson 
had  figured  in  many  desperate  encounters  in  the  Inland  Empire^  and  had  killed 
four  men. 

Fire,  July  25,  destroyed  half  the  business  district  of  Oakesdale,  with  a  prop- 
erty loss  of  $70,000. 

S.  C.  Hyde  entered  the  lists  this  year  against  John  L.  Wilson  and  the  primaries 
in  July  were  sharply  contested.  Wilson  carried  the  county  and  Hyde  gave  up  the 
struggle. 

George  Turner  became  an  avowed  and  aggressive  senatorial  candidate  against 
Senator  John  B.  Allen  of  Walla  Walla. 

At  a  special  city  election  in  December,  a  project  to  buy  an  up-river  water  power 
site  offered  by  F.  Lewis  Clark  and  others,  and  bond  the  city  for  waterworks  ex- 
tensions fell  a  little  short  of  the  necessary  two  thirds  vote. 

One  of  the  picturesque  characters  around  Spokane,  winter  of  1892-98,  was 
Arthur  Higgins,  more  widely  known  on  lower  Howard  street  as  "Gold  Dust  Ar- 
thur." He  posed  as  a  prospector  who  had  discovered  a  placer  mine  of  fabulous 
richness,  and  for  a  few  weeks  sustained  the  character  by  spending  his  money  with  a 
lavish  hand.  Arthur  soon  reached  the  bottom  of  his  flour  barrel,  and  had  recourse, 
then,  to  a  "turn"  on  the  stage  of  a  local  variety  theater.  While  he  lasted  he  made 
good  "copy"  for  the  newspaper  boys. 


CHAPTER  XLVIII 

YEAR  OF  TURMOIL,  GLOOM  AND  DISASTER 

MB.  CAKNON^S  AFFAIRS  BECOME  INVOLYED HIS  BANK  FAILS OTHER  BANKS  CLOSE  THEIR 

I>OORS ^MENACING    DEMONSTRATIONS    BY    UNEMPLOYED THREATS    OF    YIOLENCE 

LAW  AND  ORDER  LEAGUE  FORMED ASSISTANT  POSTMASTER  COMMITS  SUICIDE ALLEN 

AND  TURNER  SENATORIAL  CONTEST LEGISLATURE  ADJOURNS  WITHOUT  ELECTING 

BEGINNING    OF    BEET    SUGAR    INDUSTRY RETRENCHMENT    AT    CITY    HALL WHEEL 

club's   first   run DESERTION    AND   DEATH   OF    COLGATE^   GUIDE   OF   CARLIN   PARTY 

^MAYOR    POWELL   STARTS   HOME    INDUSTRY   SENTIMENT. 

The  sea  of  Fortune  doth  not  ever  flow; 

She  draws  her  favors  to  the  lowest  ebb; 

Her  tides  have  equal  times  to  come  and  go; 

Her  loom  doth  weave  the  fine  and  coarsest  web: 

No  joy  so  great  but  runneth  to  an  end. 

No  hap  so  hard  but  may  in  time  amend. 

— Robert  Southwell. 

EIGHTEEN    HUNDRED    AND    NINETY-THREE,   year    of    gloom    and 
disaster,  of  crashing  banks  and  crippled  industry,  of  riotous  demonstrations 
and  counter  organization  for  law  and  order^  will  linger  unto  death  in  the 
memories  of  our  pioneers. 

The  year  dawned  fair  as  a  summer  morn.  Trade  and  industry  had  prospered 
through  1892,  as  reflected  in  a  large  increase  in  railway  business — a  total  tonnage 
of  506,597,889  pounds,  compared  with  307,581,561  the  year  before.  Apparently 
the  financial  flurries  had  blown  away,  and  Spokane  looked  confidently  forward  to 
a  prosperous  year.  The  Great  Northern  was  completed,  and  the  public  still  cher- 
ished expectations  of  lower  rates;  in  the  rich  Coeur  d'AIenes  mining  had  been  re- 
sumed on  extensive  scale;  another  great  mineral  area  had  been  discovered  and 
opened  to  the  north;  heavy  snowfall  gave  promise  of  abundant  crops,  and  irrigation 
was  gaining  a  foothold  at  various  points  in  the  Inland  Empire. 

In  1892  more  than  a  million  dollars  had  been  expended  on  new  buildings,  in- 
cluding the  city  hall,  the  new  Echo  mills  and  the  marble  bank  palace,  erected  by 
A.  M.  Cannon  with  a  courage  bordering  on  sheer  audacity.  Unfortunately  for 
himself  and  the  town,  Mr.  Cannon  had  cast  his  financial  lines  into  pools  too  numerous 
and  distant.  Under  the  bold  leadership  of  Paul  Mohr,  he  had  been  lured  into  heavy 
investments  in  coal  mines  and   a  coking  plant  in  the  Cascade  mountains,  and  a 

Vol  1—29 

449 


V 


450  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

portage  railroad  scheme  around  the  rapids  in  the  Columbia  river  above  The  Dalles. 
Mohr  went  east  in  a  desperate  effort  to  unload  these  elephants  on  New  York  in- 
vestors^ and  Mr.  Cannon,  realizing  his  critical  condition^  eagerly  scanned  his  agent's 
reports  by  mail  and  telegraph.  With  characteristic  optimism,  Mohr  held  out  the 
lure  of  hope,  but  in  the  end  he  failed,  and  Mr.  Cannon  was  driven  to  the  humilia- 
tion of  asking  help  from  the  local  banks.  After  an  examination  of  his  affairs  this 
was  denied^  and  on  the  morning  of  June  5,  1898,  the  bank  of  Spokane  Falls,  or- 
ganized in  1879  as  the  first  banking  institution  north  of  Snake  river,  failed  to  open 
its  doors  for  business. 

This  startling  news  created  a  tremendous  sensation,  and  deep  sympathy  was 
expressed  for  the  white-bearded  and  kindly-hearted  old  pioneer.  To  "inability  to 
make  collections  and  to  realize  upon  a  mass  of  valuable  securities"  he  attributed  his 
bank's  suspension.  ''To  the  task  and  duty  of  paying  every  creditor  in  full,  with  in- 
terest to  date  of  payment,"  ran  his  announcement  to  the  public,  "I  pledge  my  efforts 
and  my  fortune.  Of  my  friends  and  neighbors,  my  creditors  and  debtors,  I  now 
crave  only  that  forbearance,  indulgence  and  charity  which  the  past  may  seem  to 
have  fairly  won,"  an  expectation  that  was  never  to  have  realization,  for  desperate 
times  yet  to  come  quite  extinguished  his  private  equities,  and  the  bank's  liabiUties 
of  $200,000  proved  a  total  loss. 

Twenty-four  hours  later  the  Washington  National  and  the  Washington  Savings 
bank,  institutions  of  .close  connection  with  Mr.  Cannon,  also  suspended  payment, 
and  a  hard  run  on  the  Citizens  National  forced  that  bank  to  close  its  doors  and 
draw  its  curtains  one  hour  before  the  time  for  closing.  The  Washington  National 
had  $250,000  capital  and  its  principal  shareholders  were  Mr.  Cannon,  H.  L.  Tilton 
and  E.  J.  M.  Hale.  The  Citizens  National  was  capitalized  at  $150,000,  and  its  chief 
stockholders  i*ere  E.  B.  Hyde,  A.  A.  Newbery,  John  L.  Wilson  and  Henry  L.  Wilson. 

July  6  the  Washington  National  resumed  business  in  quarters  previously  occu- 
pied by  the  broken  Spokane  National,  at  Riverside  and  Howard,  which  had  stood 
vacant  for  two  years. 

These  disasters  subjected  the  remaining  banks  to  heavy  strain,  and  on  July  26 
the  First  National,  after  a  steady  run  of  fifty  days,  became  insolvent  and  went 
into  liquidation.  J.  N.  Glover  was  its  president,  H.  W.  Fairweather  vice-president, 
Horace  L.  Cutter  cashier,  and  F.  K.  McBroom  assistant  cashier.  It  had  $284,000 
liabilities,  and  owed  $230,000  to  its  depositors. 

At  a  special  election  July  25,  1898,  the  voters,  1,803  to  293,  ratified  the  council's 
project  to  buy  the  site  of  the  present  waterworks,  develop  power  with  a  dam  and 
lay  the  necessary  mains  from  the  city  to  the  proposed  pumping  station.  In  No- 
vember, on  complaint  of  A.  L.  Davis,  the  city  officials  were  temporarily  restrained 
from  building  the  system.  This  action  excited  an  angry  protest  from  the  unem- 
ployed, and  in  public  meetings,  harangued  by  agitators,  menacing  utterances  were 
directed  against  the  courts,  citizens  who  opposed  the  plan,  and  city  officials. 
Alarmed  by  threats  of  personal  violence  Mr.  Davis  withdrew  his  name  from  the 
complaint. 

In  a  speech  at  Auditorium  hall  W.  A.  Helm,  the  chief  agitator,  said :  "If  I  should 
tell  you  to  hang  Simon  Oppenheimer,  you  would  say  that  was  unlawful,  so  I  won't 
tell  you  that.  If  I  should  tell  you  to  give  A.  M.  Cannon  and  A.  L.  Davis  a  coat  of 
tar  and  feathers,  you  would  say  I  was  an  incendiarist,  so  I  don't  tell  you  to  do 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  451 

that.  Neither  do  I  advise  you  to  tear  down  the  Review  building.  I  am  in  favor 
of  selecting  100  good  men  who  will  go  to  Mr.  Davis  and  say,  'Withdraw  your  in- 
junction and  get  out  of  this  town,  or  we  will  tar  and  feather  you  and  ride  you  on  a 
rail  down  Riverside  avenue.*  I  am  in  favor  of  doing  everything  to  feed  my  starv- 
ing -wife,  but  mind  you,  I  don't  counsel  violence." 

"We  warn  the  law-abiding  people  of  Spokane,*'  said  the  Review,  "that  they  are 
facing  conditions  which  always  run  ahead  of  riot,  violence  and  bloodshed.  We  have 
heard  sentiments  cheered  that  should  be  hissed  by  patriotic  men.  We  have  heard 
the  chief  leader  of  yesterday's  gathering  boast  that  he  had  to  use  his  influence  to 
prevent  his  friends  blowing  up  buildings." 

The  day  following  a  public  meeting  of  different  character  was  held  in  Audi- 
torium hall,  on  a  call  signed  by  George  Turner,  N.  Fred.  Essig,  H.  W.  Fairweather, 
A.  K.  McBroom  and  J.  T.  Lockhart.  Two  hundred  well  known  citizens  attended,  and 
Robert  Easson  presided. 

The  spirit  of  the  assemblage  was  voiced  in  these  resolutions; 
"Resolved^  That  this  meeting  is  unalterably  in  favor  of  the  maintenance  of  law 
and  order. 

"Resolved,  That  this  meeting  unhesitatingly  condemns  the  incendiary  senti- 
ments put  forth  by  the  sj>eakers  and  the  resolutions  at  the  meeting  of  Wednesday 
night. 

"Resolved,  That  each  and  every  member  of  this  meeting  pledges  himself  to 
rally  at  call  to  the  assistance  of  the  civil  authorities  to  prevent  and  suppress  such 
demonstration  in  future. 

"Resolved,  That  this  meeting  is  hereby  organized  as  a  Law  and  Order  League. 
"Resolved,  That  if,  as  the  result  of  the  recent  lawless  and  incendiary  condi- 
tions in  our  midst,  any  destruction  of  property  or  injury  to  p^son  ensue,  we  pledge 
ourselves  not  to  desist  until  the  ringleaders  and  promoters  of  said  lawless  and  in- 
cendiary conduct  be  brought  to  justice. 

"Resolved,  That  we  demand  of  the  city  government  and  the  lawful  authorities 
of  our  country  the  arrest,  indictment  and  punishment  of  all  persons  guilty  of  lan- 
guage in  a  public  meeting  of  an  incendiary  character,  or  tending  to  provoke  riot  and 
disturbance  of  public  or  private  property." 

These  resolutions,  framed  by  George  Turner,  E.  Dempsie,  J.  P.  M.  Richards, 
M.  M.  Cowley  and  H.  L.  Wilson  were  unanimously  adopted. 

A  committee  of  fifteen  was  appointed  to  confer  with  the  mayor  and  other  city 
officials.  It  comprised  Barney  Barinds,  George  M.  Forster,  Gus  Seiffert,  Chauncey 
G.  Betts,  A.  R.  Johnson,  C.  F.  Clough,  D.  Holzman,  James  Monaghan,  H.  W.  Fair- 
weather,  Adolph  Munter,  A.  W.  Doland,  B.  Gard  Ewing,  F.  H.  Mason,  R.  R. 
Grote  and  Fred.  Chamberlain. 

Commenting  further  on  the  riotous  demonstration  the  Review  editorially  said: 
**Who  can  doubt  that  Spokane  is  now  grappling  with  anarchy  of  a  dangerous  form.^ 
Avowed  and  audacious  efforts  have  been  made  to  intimidate  the  courts.  A  suitor 
at  the  bar  of  justice  has  been  intimidated  and  required,  at  peril  of  his  life,  to  with- 
draw his  suit.  A  mob  of  200  men  has  gathered  on  the  steps  of  a  newspaper  office 
and  served  notice  that  the  paper's  course  must  be  shaped  to  the  liking  of  anarchistic 
leaders,  or  the  building  would  be  razed  to  the  ground.     From  the  rostrum  and  a 


452  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

score  of  street  corners  open  threats  have  been  made  of  using  dynamite  and  blowing 
up  buildings." 

A  few  days  later  the  injunction  suit  of  A.  L.  Davis  was  withdrawn^  on  motion 
of  Frank  Graves,  counsel  for  plaintiff — *'not  because  it  was  without  merit,"  ex- 
plained Mr.  Graves,  *'but  because  Mr.  Davis  had  been  intimidated  into  a  promise 
that  he  would  withdraw  the  suit,  and  desired  to  keep  his  word." 

The  Law  and  Order  League  exerted  a  wholesome  restraining  influence,  and  put 
a  prompt  quietus  pn  riotous  demonstrations  and  incendiary  utterances. 

At  the  beginning  of  1893  the  enrollment  in  the  city  schools  had  grown  to  2,702, 
as  against  1,565  two  years  before,  with  fifty-eight  teachers  as  compared  with  twenfy- 
two.  The  Union  library,  with  quarters  in  the  Auditorium  building,  had  2,000  vol- 
umes, and  received  some  support  from  the  city  government. 

New  Year's  day,  1898,  Chief  Mertz  ordered  the  closing  of  all  keno  games,  on 
the  ground  that  they  were  too  noisy  a  form  of  gambling.  The  keno  men  asserted 
that  the  order  was  instigated  by  the  faro  gamblers,  and  in  April  were  permitted  to 
resume  business.  Early  in  the  spring  the  council  ordered  the  closing  of  the  variety 
theaters  on  Sunday,  but  Judge  Miller  of  the  police  court  held  that  the  order  was  in- 
valid. 

More  than  300  citizens  petitioned  for  a  bridge  at  Cedar  street,  but  J.  N.  Glover, 
I.  S.  Kaufman,  H.  L.  Tilton  and  others,  opposing  the  bridge  as  a  needless  extrava- 
gance, secured  a  restraining  order  forbidding  the  county  commissioners  to  receive  or 
open  bids. 

At  a  point  thirteen  miles  below  the  summit,  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Cas- 
cades, the  last  spike  was  driven  in  the  Great  Northern,  January  6,  1893.  Two  tun- 
nels were  uncompleted,  and  for  some  time  the  company  ran  trains  over  a  picturesque 
switchback. 

George  A.  Silvey,  assistant  postmaster  under  Arthur  J.  Shaw,  committed  suicide 
February  9  by  firing  a  bullet  through  his  brain.  Inspection  of  his  accounts  revealed 
a  shortage  of  about  $7,000  which  he  had  cunningly  concealed  from  Postmaster 
Shaw.     Women  and  gambling  were  his  undoing. 

In  February  Austin  Corbin,  E.  J.  Roberts,  Wm.  H.  Sampson,  George  K.  Reed, 
George  M.  Forster  and  S.  L.  Burbridge  bought  the  War  Eagle  mine  at  Rossland 
from  its  locators,  Joe  Morris  and  Joe  Bourgeois. 

Perhaps  the  most  spectacular  and  stubbornly  fought  political  battle  in  the  state's 
history  was  the  senatorial  contest,  winter  of  1892-3,  between  John  B.  Allen,  of 
Walla  Walla,  who  sought  reelection,  and  George  Turner  of  Spokane.  Allen  had  the 
aggressive  support  of  the  historic  "King  county  ring,"  dominated  then  by  L.  S.  J. 
Hunt  who  owned  the  Post- Intelligencer.  Numerically  Allen  had  the  larger  support, 
but  not  sufficient  to  elect  or  to  hold  a  binding  and  effective  caucus.  The  Turner  sup- 
porters refused  to  enter  a  caucus  unless  the  Allen  men  would  assent  to  a  secret  bal- 
lot, alleging  that  many  legislators  were  voting  for  Allen  under  the  cracking  of  the 
boss's  whip  who  would  support  Turner  if  allowed  to  express  their  real  desire.  The 
legislature  adjourned  March  8,  with  the  deadlock  unbroken,  the  final  ballot  giving 
Turner  23,  Allen  49 — 57  necessary  to  a  choice. 

"The  senatorial  contest  closed  today,"  said  Turner  in  a  statement  to  the  public, 
"without  result  and  without  any  change  in  the  ballot.  We  have  vindicated  freedom 
of  thought  and  action,  and  have  emancipated  the  republican  party  from  the  control 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  458 

of  an  imperious  and  domineering  political  ring.  Spokane  receives  just  commendation 
for  her  heroic  part  in  this  glorious  work.  She  will  be  listened  to  and  her  just 
wishes  respected  for  the  future."  Governor  John  H.  McGraw  promptly  appointed 
Allen  to  the  vacant  seat,  but  the  senate,  after  a  long  debate,  held  that  the  legislature 
having  failed  to  elect,  the  governor  could  not  appoint. 

Col.  E.  H.  Morrison  of  Fairfield,  Spokane  county,  had  long  been  conducting 
tests  in  the  growing  of  sugar  beets  and  had  demonstrated  with  the  aid  of  extensive 
analyses  at  the  State  college  at  Pullman  that  beets  grown  in  the  Palouse  country 
contained  a  high  sugar  content  of  exceptional  purity.  John  R.  Reavis  long  secre- 
tary of  the  Spokane  chamber  of  commerce,  went  to  Olympia  that  winter  and  induced 
the  legislature  to  encourage  development  of  the  beet  sugar  industry  by  offering  a 
bounty  up  to  $50,000 — one  half  to  go  to  the  growers  of  beets,  and  the  other  half 
to  the  manufacturer. 

Joel  Warren  of  Spokane,  indicted  for  leading  into  Idaho  a  body  of  armed  men 
from  other  states  at  the  time  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  riots,  went  to  Rathdrum  in  March 
to  stand  trial.  He  was  acquitted,  and  on  the  28th  of  March  the  cases  against  a 
nuniher  of  the  strikers,  on  trial  in  the  same  court,  were  dismissed. 

Miss  Effie  Clark,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Nelson  Clark,  a  pioneer  minister  of 
Spokane,  while  attending  Northwestern  University  near  Chicago,  was  fatally  shot 
April  1  by  E.  Ross  Smith,  a  rejected  suitor,  also  a  student  there  from  Spokane,  who 
followed  his  mad  act  by  committing  suicide. 

Vigorous  agitation  was  waged  in  April,  1893,  for  retrenchment  at  the  city  hall. 
The  street  department  was  costing  the  city  about  $50,000  a  year,  with  teamsters  at 
$3.50  a  day,  and  laborers  $1.75.  The  engineer's  office  cost  about  $14,000  a  year.  The 
finance  committee  of  the  council  advised  a  sweeping  reduction  in  salaries,  from  mayor 
to  policemen  and  firemen. 

The  long  standing  "boodle**  cases  against  Deuber,  Waters  and  Gillespie  were 
dismissed  April  13,  on  motion  of  Prosecuting  Attorney  J.  E.  Fenton. 

Several  years  before  the  original  city  limits  were  extended,  a  Dr.  Morgan  went 
out  on  the  grassy  prairie  north  of  the  river  and  founded  a  rival  town  which  he 
called  Denver.  When  the  city  of  Spokane,  sprawling  out  in  that  direction,  swal- 
lowed up  its  ambitious  rival,  Dr.  Morgan  contested  in  the  courts  the  act  of  annexa- 
tion. He  brought  suit  this  year  to  restrain  the  city  from  collecting  taxes  in  his 
burg,  over  which  he  claimed  to  preside  as  mayor.  Dr.  Morgan  lost,  and  Denver 
winked  out  as  an  individual  entitv. 

A  republican  city  convention  in  April  nominated  E.  L.  Powell  for  mayor.  Fred. 
E.  Baldwin  was  the  democratic  nominee.  Powell  won  by  more  than  700  majority, 
and  with  the  exception  of  one  councilman,  the  republicans  swept  the  city. 

A  notable  entertainment  this  year  was  the  public  contest  at  the  Auditorium 
April  29,  to  select  a  singer  to  represent  eastern  Washington  in  a  great  song  festival 
at  the  world's  fair  in  Chicago.  The  aspirants  were  Miss  Bernadine  Sargent,  Miss 
Margaret  Stewart,  Miss  Anna  C.  Turner,  Miss  Mattie  C.  Sharpe  and  Mrs.  Fred.  B. 
Grinnell  of  Spokane,  and  Miss  Estelle  Berry  of  Walla  Walla.  Dr.  C.  S.  Penfield, 
Eugenne  Fellowes  and  Prof.  Fred  Hoppe,  the  committee,  awarded  the  honor  to 
Miss  Sargent,  then  only  17  years  of  age.  The  contest  awoke  extraordinary  inter- 
est, and  .hundreds  were  unable  to  gain  entrance  to  the  theater. 

The  Spokane  Wheel  club  made  its  first  run,  Sunday,  May  14,  to  Cowley's  bridge, 


454  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

eighteen  miles  east.  In  the  party  were  Robert  Glen^  M.  A.  Cisna^  Joseph  Henry^ 
Robert  Burruss,  H.  T.  Burruss,  W.  F.  Hazlett,  E.  A.  Palmer,  Al.  Ware,  N.  W. 
Neimes,  H.  O.  Russell,  H.  C.  Randall,  H.  M.  Ryan,  I.  Comthwaite,  J.  E.  Wallace, 
O.  Kratzger,  E.  Brewer,  and  H.  W.  Hall. 

On  Decoration  day  was  nm  the  first  bicycle  road  race.  James  A.  Drain,  who 
later  became  adjutant-general  of  Washington,  won  the  medal — time,  83:8.  George 
Rusk,  second,  in  33:29,  won  a  silver  cup.     The  course  was  ten  miles. 

Vice-President  Adlai  Stevenson  was  in  Spokane  the  afternoon  and  evening  of 
July  29,  and  addressed  a  large  open  air  meeting  near  the  hotel  Spokane. 

A  new  city  directory  in  August  contained  13,267  names,  an  increase  of  1,928,  in- 
dicating that  the  city  had  grown  right  through  panic  times.  The  publishers  esti- 
mated that  Spokane  had  a  population  of  36,484. 

The  Northern  Pacific  went  into  the  hands  of  receivers  August  15. 

Councilmen  Peter  Graham  and  Peter  Steep,  of  the  Second  ward,  were  arrested 
August  15,  accused  of  accepting  bribes  from  a  contractor  who  had  a  claim  pend- 
ing for  extras.  Their  trial  in  the  superior  court  brought  a  verdict  of  not  guilty, 
but  Graham  was  removed  from  the  council  and  Steep  resigned.  E.  N.  Corey  and 
W.  W.  Waltman  succeeded  them. 

A  city  indebtedness  of  $1,415,422  was  revealed  by  a  statement  of  November  1: 
Old  water  bonds,  $120,000;  water  bonds  of  1891,  due  in  1911,  $500,000;  general 
municipal  bonds,  $700,000;  accrued  interest,  $18,683;  outstanding  warrants,  $74,- 
504. 

The  city  had  then  an  annual  payroll  of  $124,795  (its  present  payroll  is  nearly  as 
great  in  a  single  month).  The  police  force,  with  twenty- four  men,  were  paid 
$24,500;  the  fire  department,  forty-five  men,  $40,380;  water  department,  eight 
men,  $8,760;  streets,  $17,583;  city  engineer's  office,  $6,240;  health  department, 
$2,412. 

At  the  November  school  election,  George  H.  Whittle  and  Charles  L.  £jiapp  were 
elected  directors.     Of  the  2,000  votes  polled  fully  one  half  were  cast  by  women. 

A  hunting  party  headed  by  William  E.  Carlin,  son  of  General  Carlin  who  was 
long  in  command  at  Fort  Sherman,  became  snowbound  in  the  autumn  of  1893  in 
the  wild  country  drained  by  the  headwaters  of  the  Clearwater  river.     Military  ex- 
peditions went  to  their  rescue,  and  a  party  under  Lieutenant  Elliott  found  them 
November  22  as  they  were  slowly  working  their  way  down  one  of  the  forks  of  the 
Clearwater,  greatly  exhausted  from  lack  of  food  and  buffeting  the  ice-cold  waters. 
George  Colgate,  their  guide,  of  Post  Falls,  had  developed  dropsy,  and  him  they 
had  abandoned  on  the  trail,  soon  after  starting  from  their  hunting  encampment 
This  conduct  was  stigmatized  by  many  as  cowardly  and  in  gross  violation  of  the  un- 
written law  of  the  wilderness.     Members  of  the  party  defended  themselves  by  con- 
tending that  Colgate  was  in  a  dying  condition,  and  could  not  by  any  possibilitr 
have  been  helped  out  to  the  settlements ;  that  to  linger  with  him  would  have  quickly 
exhausted  their  scanty  supply  of  food  and  imperilled  the  lives  of  all;  and  weighing 
these  facts,  they  reluctantly  abandoned  him  to  his  fate.     Nearly  a  year  later  the 
scattered  remains  of  poor  Colgate  were  found  by  a  searching  party.    He  had  crawled 
on  hands  and  knees  a  long  distance  from  the  spot  where  his  alarmed  companions 
had  left  him  the  vear  before. 

Prices  ruled  low  in  the  fall  of  1893:  Wheat  in  bulk  at  the  citv  mills,  36  cents; 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  455 

flonr^  $3  per  barrel;  breakfast  bacon^  10  to  11  cents;  hams^  11  to  18;  creamery  but- 
ter, 33  to  34;  Cheney  full  cream  cheese  12  1-2;  potatoes^  5p  to  55  cents  per  hun- 
dred; dressed  turkey^  15;  young  chickens^  per  dozen^  $2.50  to  $8;  venison^  retail^ 
10  to  12;  pheasants^  8t>;  wild  geese^  65  to  70. 

Nolrwithstanding  the  hard  times^  the  city  showed  some  growth  in  1893.  A  num- 
ber of  new  homes  were  built,  and  attendance  in  the  city  schools  December  1  was 
3,3S6,  as  against  2,880  on  the  corresponding  date  in  1892.  And  the  holidays 
broaght  a  better  spirit  all  around — a  more  hopeful  and  even  cheery  view.  At 
Christinas  time  Mayor  Powell  issued  an  informal  proclamation,  inviting  citizens  to 
subscribe  to  a  pledge  to  patronize  home  industry,  "and  in  the  employment  of  labor 
and  the  purchase  of  merchandise  always  to  give  the  preference  to  resident  citizens." 
To  Mayor  Powell,  I  believe,  belongs  the  distinction  and  the  credit  of  sounding  a 
keynote  in  a  growing  campaign  that  was  to  help  immensely  in  the  rehabilitation  of 
the  depressed  industries  of  Spokane  and  its  neighboring  country. 


CHAPTER  XLIX 

YEAR  OF  COXEY  ARMY  AND  GREAT  A.  R.  U.  STRIKE 

COXEYITE8  ASTIR   IN   SPOKANE    COUNTRY NIGHT   TIME   ORATORY  AT  THE   HAYMARKET 

HEADQUARTERS    IN    OLD   M.    E.    CHURCH ^"cOLONEL''  DOLPHIN    IN    DISGRACE GREAT 

STRIKE   PARALYZES  TRAFFIC   ON  RAILROADS RIOT  AT  NORTHERN   PACIFIC  STATION 

DEPUTIES   FIRE   OVER   CROWD FIVE   HUNDRED   CITIZENS  SWORN   IN  TO   PRESERVE   OR- 
DER— DISORDERS  AT  SPRAGUE RISE  OP  THE  "SHOTOUN   LEAGUE*' POPULISTS  ELECT 


MAYOR STORMY  REPUBLICAN   STATE    CONVENTION SPOKANe's  FIRST   FRUIT  FAIR- 


FIRST    CARLOAD    OF    APPLES    SHIPPED TWO    MORE    BANK    FAILURES CITY    IN    DARK- 
NESS  LOW   COST  OF   LIVING AMATEURS   SING   LIGHT  OPERA. 

AS  AFTERMATH  of  the  panic  year  of  1898,  with  its  long  train  of  financial 
ruin,  industrial  depression  and  lamentable  distress  among  the  country's 
wage-earners — Spokane  wrestled  in  1894  with  the  Coxey  army  evanescence 
and  the  more  tragic  disorders  of  the  country-wide  strike  of  the  American  Railway 
Union,  under  leadership  of  Eugene  V.  Debs. 

The  Coxeyites  were  early  astir  in  the  Spokane  country.  By  middle  of  April 
their  motley  clans  had  gathered  here  in  number.  For  forum  they  appropriated  the 
old  "Haymarket"  on  Sprague  and  some  vacant  lots  on  North  Monroe,  and  for  head- 
quarters and  barracks,  contrived  to  gain  possession  of  the  old  Methodist  church  at 
Sprague  and  Bernard,  left  vacant  when  the  postoffice  moved  to  new  quarters  in  the 
Granite  block.  At  nightly  meetings  impassioned  orators  of  the  "proletariat"  rang 
changes  on  the  Coxey  slogan,  "On  to  Washington."  For  most  part  they  were  an 
inoffensive  mixture  of  wandering  workingmen  down  on  their  luck,  with  a  liberal 
sprinkling  of  the  genus  hobo,  and  for  inspiration  they  had  a  good  deal  of  rugged 
native  oratory  from  a  class  that  dearly  loves  to  mount  an  express  wagon  or  a 
large  dry  goods  box,  and  by  the  flare  of  the  night-blooming  gasoline  flambeau  turn 
loose  a  high-keyed  voice  on  the  vesper  air.  A  parade  through  the  business  streets 
preceded  the  "feast  of  oratory  and  flow  of  soul,"  and  on  their  oriflamme  the  "army" 
bore  high  aloft  the  motto,  "Going  to  Washington  to  See  Grover." 

A  commissary  committee  went  daily  from  store  to  store  and  house  to  house,  to 
gather  up  contributions  of  edibles  from  generous  sympathizers  or  indulgent  citizens. 
At  headquarters  quite  a  show  of  military  organization  was  maintained.  Men  were 
brought  in  as  "recruits,"  enlisted  and  fed.  RoUcall  came  daily  at  9  a.  m.,  fol- 
lowed by  ninety  minutes  of  drill  work — keeping  step,  facing,  dressing  ranks  and 
saluting.  A  second  roUcall  was  held  at  4  in  the  afternoon.  By  April  20  about  150 
men  were  fed  in  the  old  brick  church,  with  "Colonel"  Dolphin  in  command. 

457 


458  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Aside  from  repeated  attempts  to  seize  trains^  in  their  effort  to  speed  on  to 
Washington^  the  "army"  gave  the  authorities  little  trouble.  To  guard  the  prop- 
erty of  the  railroads  in  Spokane^  fifty-three  deputies  were  sworn  in  by  the  United 
States  marshal.  Flint-hearted  city  and  county  officials  refused  to  provide  transpor- 
tation. April  SO  four  companies  of  United  States  troops  came  from  Fort  Sherman 
and  went  into  camp  in  the  eastern  outskirts. 

The  army  put  it  up  to  "Colonel"  Dolphin  to  provide  transportation,  and  after 
a  month  of  inaction  and  failure,  with  repeated  promises  that  were  never  fulfilled, 
the  ranks  grew  discontented.  In  his  desperation  Dolphin  announced  on  the  morn- 
ing of  May  7,  that  a  train  had  been  provided  over  the  Great  Northern,  and  gave 
orders  for  the  men  to  roll  their  blankets  and  march  out  to  Hillyard.  As  they  filed 
out  of  the  old  church,  125  "Commonwealers"  from  Seattle  filed  in  and  appro- 
priated their  abandoned  quarters.  Instead  of  the  expected  train  at  Hillyard,  the 
Coxeyites  found  sixty  sheriff's  deputies,  guarding  the  shops  and  roundhouses  with 
Winchesters.  Sullen  and  disappointed,  they  went  into  camp  in  a  cold,  drenching 
rainstorm.  Three  days  later  "Colonel"  Dolphin  and  "Major"  Stevenson  were 
tried  by  a  committee  from  the  trades  council  and  deposed  from  command.  It  was 
alleged  that  Dolphin,  with  all  the  funds  in  the  scanty  treasury,  had  bought  a 
ticket  for  himself  and  tried  to  leave  the  country.  He  was  seized  as  he  emerged 
from  the  ticket  office  and  put  under  a  protecting  guard,  as  threats  had  been  made 
to  lynch  him. 

By  this  time  the  "army"  was  strung  along  the  Northern  Pacific,  all  the  way 
from  Seattle  to  the  Montana  border.  Sixty-five  Coxeyites, .  arrested  at  Yakima 
for  assaulting  deputies  and  interfering  with  the  movement  of  trains,  were  ran 
into  Spokane  in  three  box  cars,  and  then  taken  back  to  Seattle  for  trial 
before  the  United  States  court.  The  Spokane  companies  were  now  scattered  east- 
ward, but  to  take  their  places  850  "Commonwealers"  had  drifted  in  from  Seattle, 
and  100  more  from  Tacoma.  Sympathizers  here  gave  public  entertainments  for 
their  benefit.  Unsucces^ul  attempts  were  made  to  seize  trains  at  Tekoa  and  Hill- 
yard.  They  gradually  drifted  away,  and  Spokane  shed  no  tears  when  the  last 
"soldier"  vanished  on  the  eastern  horizon. 

Their  purpose  was  to  march  in  forceful  demonstration  on  Washington,  and 
there  demand  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver,  an  issue  of  $1,000,000,000 
in  greenbacks,  and  large  appropriations  for  government  irrigation. 

In  the  closing  days  of  June  came  the  great  strike  of  the  American  Railway 
Union,  paralyzing  traffic  on  western  railroads.  July  5  the  first  train  in  ten  days 
on  the  Northern  Pacific  came  in  from  the  west  with  a  non-union  crew — sixteen 
coaches  under  heavy  guard  of  armed  deputies.  A  crowd  of  3,000  gathered  at  the 
Northern  Pacific  station,  held  back  from  the  right  of  way  by  rope  lines  and  a 
police  detachment.  As  the  train  drew  in  the  crowd  surged  over  the  lines,  and  the 
more  disorderly  members  began  to  push  cars  on  the  side-tracks.  Mayor  Belt 
made  a  speech,  counselling  order  and  advising  the  men  to  go  to  their  homes,  and 
with  a  squad  of  policemen  Chief  Mertz  pushed  the  pressing  crowd  back  from  the 
right  of  way.  United  States  Marshal  Vinson  and  thirty  deputies  took  possession 
of  the  roundhouse,  and  the  crowd  rushed  in  on  them  with  curses  and  execrations. 
Stones  began  to  fly,  and  the  deputies  fired  over  the  heads  of  the  mob,  wounding  a 
bystander.     Yelling  "Kill  the  deputies !"  "Hang  them !"  "Lynch  them !"  the  en- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  459 

raged  cro'wd  fell  back.  At  this  critical  moment  Chief  of  Police  Mertz  effected  a 
compromise,  the  crowd  and  the  deputies  to  retire  and  the  police  to  guard  the  round- 
house. 

Company  G  of  Spokane,  at  Tacoma  July  7,  was  disarmed  and  placed  under 
arrest  for  refusal  to  ride  on  a  train  manned  by  a  non-union  crew.  Subsequently 
a  court  of  inquiry  was  held  in  Spokane,  and  on  its  report  Governor  McGraw  dis- 
charged First  Lieutenant  Arthur  R.  Brooks,  Second  Lieutenant  E.  T.  Brown,  and 
thirty- four  privates,  leaving  only  fifteen  members  in  the  company,  with  no  ofl&cers. 
Under  the  leadership  of  a  cpmmittee  composed  of  George  Turner,  Dr.  N. 
Fred,  Cssig,  Adolph  Munter,  Col.  N.  E.  Linsley,  C.  B.  Dimning,  J.  W.  Binkley, 
S.  T.  Arthur,  Thomas  C.  Griffitts  and  George  M.  Forster,  250  representative  citi- 
zens of  Spokane  volunteered  their  aid  to  Sheriff  Pugh  to  preserve  law  and  order, 
and  were  sworn  in  as  sheriff's  deputies.  Their  number  grew  within  a  few  days 
to  500. 

The  night  of  July  8  brought  violent  disorder  at  Sprag^e.  A  special  train  from 
the  west,  bearing  several  companies  of  militia,  crashed  into  some  box  cars  derailed 
across  the  track  by  rioters.  At  the  same  time  rioters  had  fired  a  long  trestle  east 
of  Spra^e,  and  they  ran  an  oil  car  to  a  trestle  west  of  town,  which  they  fired, 
cutting  off  the  approaches  east  and  west.  Federal  troops,  brought  in  the  next  day 
from  the  west,  restored  order. 

In  Spokane  eleven  men  were  arrested  for  complicity  in  the  riot  at  the  Northern 
Pacific  depot,  and  taken  to  Seattle  for  trial  before  Judge  Hanford.  Seven  were 
convicted  and  sentenced  to  eight  months'  imprisonment  in  jail  at  Seattle  and 
Tacoma. 

Before  the  first  of  August  the  great  strike  collapsed,  and  the  disheartened  men 
came  b^ck  on  terms  dictated  by  the  railroads. 

This  year  a  secret  political  organization  called  the  "Freemen's  Silver  Protec- 
tive Association"  gained  a  strong  foothold  throughout  the  farming  districts  of  the 
Inland  Empire.  Some  called  it  the  "Shotgun  League,"  and  charged  it  with  dark 
and  mysterious  deeds.  About  that  time  a  farmer  named  Gloystein,  in  the  Palouse 
country,  disappeared  from  his  family  and  his  home.  He  had  been  known  to 
criticise  the  "League,"  and  it  was  suspected  of  his  murder  or  abduction,  a  sus- 
picion without  foundation  in  fact,  for  Sheriff  Pugh  found  the  man  several  months 
later  working  on  an  Oregon  ranch. 

Politically,  1894  brought  much  that  was  of  interest.  The  Republican  Union, 
a  secret  Spokane  society  better  known  as  "Little  Tammany,"  waxed  strong  and 
exerted  much  influence  in  city  and  county  affairs. 

On  the  evening  of  April  16  the  first  populist  municipal  convention  in  Spokane 
nominated  H.  N.  Belt  for  mayor,  George  Mudgett  for  treasurer,  Howard  L. 
Weed  for  comptroller,  and  a  full  council  ticket. 

The  republican  convention,  April  18,  nominated  A.  J.  Shaw,  the  Wilson  candi- 
date for  mayor,  over  E.  Dempsie,  the  Turner  candidate.  The  ticket  was  completed 
by  nominating  M.  D.  Smith  for  comptroller  and  W.  H.  Wiscombe  for  treasurer. 
Belt  was  elected  Mayor  over  Shaw  by  178  majority;  Weed,  comptroller,  by  738, 
and  Wiscombe,  treasurer,  by   136. 

Perhaps  the  stormiest  convention  ever  held  by  the  republicans  of  Washington 
state  w£w  that  which   convened   in   the   Spokane  Auditorium,   September    19.     A 


460  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

battle  royal  was  fought  out  there  between  King  county  and  Spokane^  and  when  it 
was  over,  victory  was  written  on  the  banner  of  Spokane.  The  contest  was  over 
the  financial  plank  in  the  platform.  The  committee,  unable  to  agree,  and  closely 
divided,  decided  to  toss  the  issue  before  the  whole  convention  for  settlement.  King 
county,  with  an  almost  solid  delegation  led  by  Andrew  F.  Burleigh,  C.  F.  Fishback 
and   Sam.    Piles,    proposed    the    resolution    following: 

"The  republican  party  of  Washington  believes  in  sound  and  honest  money,  and 
to  the  end  that  we  may  have  a  sound  and  stable  currency,  we  declare  ourselves 
in  favor  of  bimetallism.  We  commend  the  wise  and  patriotic  utterances  of  the 
republican  national  convention  of  1892  in  the  national  platform.  We  believe  that 
platform  means  just  what  it  says  upon  this  question;  and  we  instruct  our  sena- 
tors and  representatives  in  congress  to  favor  such  legislation  as  shall  secure  the 
absolute  equality  in  debt-paying  power  of  every  dollar  of  the  money  of  the  coun- 
try, whether  of  gold,  silver  or  currency." 

Judge  R.  B.  Blake  of  the  Spokane  delegation  offered  the  following: 

"The  republican  party,  from  tradition  and  interest,  favors  bimetallism,  and  we 
believe  that  true  bimetallism  can  be  accomplished  only  through  the  free  coinage  of 
silver  at  the  ratio  of  sixteen  to  one.  We  further  favor  discriminating  tariffs  against 
all  countries  maintaining  the  single  gold  standard." 

After  several  hours  of  impassioned  debate,  the  resolution  offered  by  King 
county  was  adopted  late  in  the  afternoon,  274  to  210.  But  at  the  night  session, 
before  an  audience  that  filled  the  large  theater  to  standing  room  capacity,  Spokane 
moved  and  won  a  reconsideration,  and  brought  forward  a  substitute  resolution: 

"Resolved,  That  we  are  in  favor  of  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver 
produced  by  mines  of  the  United  States,  at  the  ratio  of  sixteen  to  one.*' 

Fishback,  Burleigh  and  Piles  led  the  speaking  against  the  substitute.  Judge 
Turner  closed  for  the  silver  forces,  before  an  audience  that  was  on  its  feet,  wildly 
cheering  his  impassioned  protest  against  the  "crack  of  the  ring-master's  whip  from 
Seattle."  In  tense  excitement  the  vote  was  taken,  and  when  it  was  seen  that  the 
Spokane  substitute  had  prevailed,  266  to  219,  the  cheering  was  heard  many  blocks 
away. 

For  representatives  in  congress  the  convention  nominated  S.  C.  Hyde  of  Spo- 
kane (John  L.  Wilson  having  announced  his  candidacy  for  the  senate)  and  W.  H. 
Doolittle  of  Tacoma. 

The  democratic  state  convention  at  North  Yakima  nominated  B.  F.  Heuston 
of  Tacoma  and  Judge  N.  T.  Caton  of  Lincoln  county  for  congress,  and  expressed 
an  unqualified  demand  for  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver,  sixteen  to  one. 

The  republicans  carried  the  state  in  November.  In  Spokane  county  the  result 
was  divided,  the  populists  taking  sheriff,  treasurer,  two  commissioners,  school 
superintendent,  a  state  senator  and  three  representatives,  and  the  republicans, 
auditor,  prosecuting  attorney,  assessor,  clerk,  surveyor  and  five  representatives  in 
the  legislature. 

The  school  election,  November  3,  brought  out  a  vote  of  4,000.  D.  H.  Dwighl 
and  Dr.  G.  T.  Penn  were  elected.  Other  candidates  were  George  W.  Belt,  Mrs. 
A.  V.  Wilson,  H.  L.  Kennan  and  Col.  Patrick  Henry  Winston. 

Spokane's  first  fruit  fair  was  held  October  24  to  27,  in  a  vacant  agricultural 
implement   warehouse   on   east   Riverside   avenue,  and   revealed   a   display  of  fine 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  461 

fruits  and  other  products  of  the  farm  that  surprised^  delighted  and  encouraged 
the  thousands  who  attended.  One  hundred  and  fifty  exhibitors  competed  for  prizes 
offered  by  a  committee  comprising  Dr.  J.  E.  Gandy,  O.  B.  Nelson,  R.  S.  Oakley, 
J.  L.  Smith,  John  R.  Reavis,  £.  P.  Gilbert  and  H.  Bolster.  At  the  opening  exer- 
dses  J.  W.  Binkley,  president  of  the  Board  of  Immigration,  under  whose  auspices 
the  fair  was  held,  introduced  Mayor  Belt,  who  formally  declared  the  fair  open 
to  the  public  of  Spokane  and  surrounding  country.  Music  was  provided  by  the 
Borchert  Ladies'  orchestra  of  five  players.  Admission  was  a  dime,  and  2,527  paid 
admissions  were  recorded  the  opening  day. 

"The  magnificence,  beauty  and  superiority  of  the  exhibits  are  remarkable," 
commented  the  Evening  Chronicle.  "No  one  thought  that  it  would  be  such  a  big 
show.  People  who  have  lived  in  this  country  all  their  lives,  and  who  thought 
they  knew  the  capabilities  of  the  soil  in  every  way,  have  received  a  new  education, 
and  will  go  home  with  greater  faith  than  ever  in  the  latent  richness  of  Washing- 
ton." 

The  fame  and  beauty  of  the  exhibition  were  spread  abroad  by  the  first  day  visi- 
tors, and  greater  throngs  followed.  Total  paid  admissions  in  the  four  days  ex- 
ceeded 14,000.  Whitman  county  donated  its  entire  exhibit  to  the  Board  of  Immi- 
gration for  advertising  purposes,  and  the  exhibitors  returned  to  their  homes  greatly 
pleased  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  crowds  and  the  hospitable  spirit  of  Spokane. 

In  January,  1894,  local  mills  engaged  in  a  price  war,  and  some  brands  of  flour 
went  as  low  as  $2.25  a  barrel,  or  65  cents  a  hundred. 

Judge  J.  M.  Kinnaird  disappeared  the  evening  of  February  13.  Later  it  was 
learned  that  in  a  fit  of  despondency  he  had  leaped  to  his  death  from  one  of  the 
city  bridges. 

Attendance  at  the  high  school  this  year  had  grown  to  220,  as  compared  with 
twelve  in   1888. 

The  first  carload  of  apples  ever  shipped  from  Spokane  to  an  eastern  market 
went  out  over  the  Union  Pacific,  March  31.  They  were  of  the  Ben  Davis  variety, 
from  Wm.  Hunter's  orchard  on  Moran  prairie; 

A  report  by  the  finance  committee  of  the  council  showed  that  within  the  pre- 
ceding two  years  $177,000  had  been  paid  out  on  the  Monroe  street  bridge,  $30,000 
at  Howard  street,  $47,000  at  Division  street,  $64,000  for  the  city  hall  site,  and 
$90,000  for  the  city  hall  building. 

May  brought  unprecedented  high  water  in  the  Spokane,  passing  the  previous 
high  water  mark  of  1890.  Peaceful  Valley  was  flooded,  parts  of  Dennis  and  Brad- 
ley's addition  resembled  a  lake,  and  eight  bridges  were  washed  away  or  severely 
damaged.  By  June  1  the  only  crossings  left  for  wagon  traffic  between  the  western 
city  limits  and  Lake  Coeur  d'Alene  were  at  Post  and  Monroe  streets. 
This  year  brought  the  building  of  the  new  courthouse. 

All  Saints  Episcopal  parish  was  merged  in  June  in  a  cathedral  system.  A 
new  corporation,  the  Bishop  and  Chapter  of  All  Saints,  was  formed  with  ten  trus- 
tees— Bishop  Lemuel  H.  Wells,  the  Rev.  W.  M.  Lane,  Jacob  Hoover,  Eugene  Klein, 
Frederick  Phair,  R.  M.  Russell,  J.  J.  Graham,  C.  L.  Springer,  W.  D.  Vincent, 
A.  H.  Posten — and  the  property  of  the  parish  was  deeded  to  it.  Rector  Lane 
became  dean,  and  the  vestry  was  changed  for  a  chapter  of  seven — four  chosen  by 


462  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  bishop  and  three  by  the  congregation.  Women  communicants  were  given  the 
right  to  vote   for  chaptermen. 

Operation  of  the  Monroe  street  cable  line  was  suspended  July  22.  Lack  of 
patronage  and  loss  of  money  were  given  in  explanation. 

A  light  opera  called  "Arlone/*  music  by  F.  E.  Hoppe,  libretto  by  John  J.  Rea- 
gan^ was  sung  at  the  Auditorium  on  the  evening  of  October  19  by  home  talent. 

Arlone Miss  Bernadine  Sargent 

Leona   Miss  Margaret  Stewart 

Clarence   Charles  T.  Vajen 

Algernon    A.  Y.   Crowell 

Dr.  Forbes Herbert  Moore 

Jennie Miss  Grace  Ewing 

Marie Miss  Lulu  Johnson 

It  was  tuneful  and  bright  and  the  company  were  enthusiactically  applauded. 

Adolph  Selheim^  a  well  known  pioneer  character  who  then  owned  Selheim 
springs  ranch  on  the  Little  Spokane,  which  afterwards  became  the  property  of  Jay 
P.  Graves,  shot  and  fatally  wounded  Wm.  Smith  in  a  saloon  on  Front  avenue. 

In  November  came  the  end  of  the  bank  failures.  The  Citizens  National,  which 
had  been  allowed  to  reopen  the  previous  year,  again  closed  its  doors  on  the  22d, 
and  the  same  day  the  Browne  National  suspended  payments,  with  liabilities  of 
$101,000.  President  J.  J.  Browne  had  liquidated  nearly  all  the  deposits,  and  the 
institution  was  in  such  excellent  condition  that  he  was  allowed  to  administer  the 
trust  himself,  and  subsequently  paid  out  all  obligations  in  full. 

At  midnight,  November  30,  the  electric  light  company  turned  off  the  current 
from  all  the  street  lights,  and  the  city  was  plunged  into  darkness.  The  contract 
had  expired,  and  the  council  and  company  could  not  agree  on  conditions  for  re- 
newal. The  city  had  maintained  200  arc  lights,  but  out  of  regard  for  economj 
decided  to  cut  the  number  to  fifty.  After  a  few  nights  of  Stygian  darkness,  an 
agreement  was  reached  on  a  basis  of  $475  monthly  for  fifty  arcs. 

A  movement  was  under  way  in  November  to  secure  a  United  States  army  post 
for  Spokane.  At  a  special  session  the  council  decided  to  offer  free  water,  and 
to  raise  a  fund  for  preliminary  expenses,  local  talent  gave  a  concert  at  the  Audi- 
torium which  was  attended  by  1,500  enthusiastic  "boosters."  Committees  were 
hard  at  work  raising  the  needed  $40,000  for  the  site. 

Near  the  close  of  1894  loyal  citizens  derived  much  gratification  from  the  fact 
that  the  real  estate  record  for  eleven  months  totaled  $4,175,949,  while  that  of  Port- 
land, for  the  same  period,  was  but  $4,298,161,  although  Portland  claimed  to  have 
a  population  more  than  twice  as  great  as  Spokane's. 

We  had  low  cost  of  living  then.  By  December,  1894,  prices  had  fallen  to 
bedrock:  Flour,  $1.90  to  $2  per  barrel;  timothy  hay,  $8;  bacon,  9  to  11  cents; 
hams,  11  to  13  cents;  dairy  butter,  15  cents;  creamery,  26  to  28  cents;  potatoes, 
40  to  50  cents  per  hundred ;  spring  chickens,  $2  to  $2.25  per  dozen ;  dressed  chick- 
ens, 10  cents  per  pound;  dressed  turkeys,  10  to  12^/^  cents;  prairie  chickens,  $1.50 
per  dozen;  grouse,  25  cents;  venison,  8  cents;  pheasants,  15  to  18  cents. 

Gilbert  and  Sullivan's  light  opera  "Patience"  was  sung  the  night  of  Decern- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  463 

bcr  IS  by  the  Mozart  club:  Miss  Alice  May  Harrah  as  Patience;  Mrs.  D.  C. 
Joslyn,  Lady  Saphyr;  Miss  Mattie  Sharpe,  Lady  Argela;  Mrs.  John  H.  Stone^ 
Lady  Jane;  Miss  Mabel  Kester^  Lady  Ella;  Dr.  C.  S.  Penfield^  as  Bunthorne 
and  E.  K.  Erwin,  George  J.  Reiner,  LaRue  Perrine  and  A.  B.  Keeler  in  other  roles. 
To  "purify  politics,  get  a  better  class  of  citizens  into  office,  and  secure  the 
passage  and  enforcement  of  good  laws,"  a  Good  Government  club  was  organized 
December  27.  President,  Rev.  Wm.  Davies;  vice-president,  J.  A.  Williams;  secre- 
tary^ Adolph  Nelson;  treasurer.  Dr.  C.  S.  Kalb,  and  the  following  trustees:  J. 
Grier  Long,  Charles  L.  MacKenzie,  W.  A.  Huneke,  Henry  E.  -Miller  and  W.  W. 
Belden. 


CHAPTER  L 

HOW  SPOKANE  WON  THE  ARMY  POST 

BY  E.  E.  PERRY 

SPOKANE  had  a  Christmas  tree  on  the  last  night  of  1894,  a  Christmas  tree 
that  all  of  the  city's  population  that  could  crowd  into  the  Auditorium  theater 
attended.  The  story  of  this  affair  tells  the  story  of  the  Spokane  of  today 
better  than  any  other  incident.  From  that  Christmas  tree  the  city  plucked  Fort 
Wright,  national  prestige  and  renewed  faith  in  its  own  enterprise  and  resources 
that  has  steadily  increased  since. 

Midsummer  of  1894  was  the  midwinter  of  hard  times  in  the  northwest.  Com- 
ing here  and  getting  started  in  a  new  home  had  put  a  heavy  strain  on  the  finances 
of  most  of  the  city's  population  at  that  time.  The  people  were  unacquainted  with 
each  other  and  the  country.  Local  conditions  were  as  shifty  and  unstable  then  as 
they  are  now  fixed  and  reliable.  Upon  that  situation  had  fallen  the  frost  of  na- 
tional panic,  and  the  bread  and  butter  issue  became  vital  for  the  magnate  and  mor- 
tar mixer  alike. 

But  there  were  men  in  Spokane  then,  as  now,  who  had  the  faculty  of  sitting 
tight  through  a  pinch  and  always  looking  forward.  These  men  maintained  a 
Spokane  bureau  of  immigration,  although  most  of  the  immigration  of  that  day 
traveled  by  freight  train  and  beseeched  somebody  for  a  bite  to  eat  as  soon  as  it 
struck  town.  Looking  out  beyond  the  sluggish  uncertainty  of  their  time  the  bureau 
noted  that  the  government  was  considering  the  project  of  establishing  another 
army  post  in  the  northwest.  The  bureau  learned  that  the  consideration  for  the 
post  would  amount  to  1,000  acres  of  suitable  land  and  free  water.  That  much 
ascertained  the  bureau  put  A.  A.  Newbery  on  the  train  for  Washington,  D.  C, 
with  instructions  to  capture  the  prospective  fort.  The  bureau  chipped  in  out  of 
its  individual  pockets — and  it  required  numerous  pockets — to  pay  the  expenses 
of  the  trip. 

SPOKANE   RESOLVES   TO   POSSESS   THE   FORT 

Xewbery  put  in  six  weeks  on  the  expedition  and  a  mass  meeting  in  the  Audi- 
torium heard  his  report  when  he  returned.  He  brought  assurance  that  the  new 
fort  could  be  located  in  Spokane  if  the  city  would  donate  1,000  acres  and  water. 
A  matter  of  quick  but  correct  arithmetic  brought  the  question  down  to  the  raising 
of  $40,000,  of  which  $15,000  must  be  in  cash  and  the  balance  in  land  that  could 
be  negotiated.  This  was  based  on  the  theory  that  the  bulk  of  the  fort  site  would 
be  donated,  a  theory  which  proved  entirely  reliable.     Of  several  locations  offered 

Vol  I— 80 

465 


466  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  present  fort  grounds^  or  Twickenham  park^  as  it  was  then  called^  was  f aTored 
by  General  Otis^  who  had  made  an  inspection  trip  previously. 

The  problem  of  land  donations  was  not  complex — there  was  plenty  of  it  un- 
occupied then — but  the  realization  of  $15,000  cash,  when  the  majority  of  Spokane 
citizens  were  highly  appreciative  of  15  cents,  was  another  matter  entirely.  Yet 
that  mass  meeting  accepted  the  proposition  with  no  more  hesitation  than  it  was  in 
the  habit  of  accepting  whatever  it  could  get  to  eat,  voted  to  produce  the  cash,  and 
then  walked  home,  because  the  street  car  company  displayed  a  persistent  desire 
to  collect  fare. 

The  campaign  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  general  committee,  consisting  of 
A.  A.  Newbery,  J.  W.  Binkley,  F.  Lewis  Clark,  J.  P.  Carritte,  Herbert  Bolster, 
Judge  J.  Z.  Moore,  Charles  F.  Clough,  E.  J.  Webster,  J.  C.  Byrd,  W.  R.  Newport, 
H.  B.  Nichols,  J.  F.  Sloan,  Robert  Easson,  W.  S.  Norman,  A.  J.  Shaw,  A.  P. 
Sawyer,  Howard  Peel,  Jacob  Schiller,  S.  Rosenhaupt,  A.  J.  Ross,  Frank  P.  Hogan, 
J.  W.  Chapman  and  Cyrus  Happy.  They  named  an  auditing  committee  and  the 
Spokane  &  Eastern  Trust  company  was  made  trustee  of  the  fund  to  come,  exactly 
as  if  everybody  thought  there  was  still  any  money  in  the  country. 

EVERYTHING  IN  SIGHT  EXCEPT  HARD  CASH 

The  preliminaries  had  been  financed  out  of  private  contributions  by  individuaL, 
but  the  limit  to  this  had  been  reached  dismally  sudden.  Right  here  is  where  Spo- 
kane was  finally  welded  into  compact  progressiveness.  The  town  became  earnestly 
eager  to  give  anything  it  could  to  secure  the  fort,  and  from  this  willingness  evolved 
the  novelty  of  a  booster  Christmas  tree. 

Straight  donations  of  any  consequence  to  the  fund  were  of  discouraging  infre- 
quency,  although  every  citizen  that  could  respond,  did  so.  Through  their  mana- 
ger, W.  S.  Norman,  the  Falls  City  Land  company,  and  the  land  department  of  the 
Washington  Water  Power  company  donated  125  acres  of  land.  Binkley  &  Taylor 
contributed  $1,000  in  cash  and  $8,000  worth  of  land.  Donations  of  $500  each  were 
made  by  Holley,  Mason,  Marks  &  Co.,  Rosenhaupt  Bros.,  and  Doc  Brown,  who  ran 
the  Owl  gambling  house  and  who  declared  he  would  double  the  ante  if  it  was 
necessary.  F.  Lewis  Clark  gave  $2,000,  H.  B.  Nichols  and  A.  P.  Wolverton  $1,000 
and  $500  respectively,  in  real  estate;  J.  W.  Chapman,  40  acres  near  the  proposed 
site,  and  Chamberlin  Bros.,  $500  worth  of  land.  This  was  good,  as  far  as  it  went, 
but  it  still  fell  lamentably  short  of  $15,000  cash. 

WOMEN   START   REAL   MONEY   CAMPAIGN 

Then  the  women  began  to  take  a  hand  and  a  fort  concert  was  presently  an- 
nounced, with  a  home  talent  program  it  would  be  hard  to  surpass  now.  tt  con- 
tained such  numbers  as  the  "Ballade  du  Roi  de  Thule  et  Air  Des  Bijoux,"  from 
"Faust,"  sung  by  Mrs.  A.  H.  Otis;  Strelezki's  "Waltz  Song,"  by  Miss  Bemadine 
Sargent;  Shelly's  "Love's  Sorrows,"  by  Miss  Mattie  Sharpe;  Gounod's  "La  Regina 
di  Saba,"  by  Miss  Alice  May  Harrah,  and  selections  from  Mendelssohn's  operas, 
played  on  the  violin  by  Miss  Luella  Hoppe.  The  concert  closed  with  a  splendid 
rendition  of  classic  music  by  the  Mozart  club's  sixty  members.  The  concert  netted 
$1,200,  all  clear. 


kr 


r" 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  467 

This  was  early  in  December.  The  committee  worked  along  through  the  dreary 
winter  weather  and  the  drearier  business  prospects  with  indifferent  success,  al- 
though something  was  constantly  dribbling  in.  Army  officers  and  war  department 
officials  were  constantly  urging  speedy  action.  The  committee  met  one  noon  and 
decided  that  it  must  be  personally  represented  again  at  Washington,  D.  C.  It 
asked  ,Newbery  when  he  could  be  ready  to  start.  Newbery  was  at  the  depot  with 
his  grip  a  couple  of  hours  later. 

Meanwhile  400  acres  more  land  was  needed  for  the  fort  site.  Dan  Drumheller, 
Frank  P.  Hogan,  J.  W.  Chapman  arid  several  others  had  syndicated  to  buy  this 
land  from  the  Northern  Pacific.  They  had  half  paid  for  it  and  they  cheerfully 
donated  their  interests.  Newbery  stopped  at  St.  Paul  long  enough  to  open  prolific 
negotiations  for  a  Northern  Pacific  contribution  on  the  balance. 

But  time  was  dragging  on  and  the  needed  cash  was  not  coming  in.  The  loca- 
tion of  the  fort  here  meant  the  expenditure  of  something  like  $500,000  by  the 
government  for  buildings,  and  the  stationing  of  several  hundred  men,  all  drawing 
steady  pay.  A  soldier's  salary  was  nothing  to  be  scorned  in  those  days.  H.  M. 
Richards  and  A.  W.  Doland  had  both  had  experience  with  army  post  towns  and 
they  worked  unceasingly  for  it  here. 

CHRISTMAS  TREE   TOOK   ROOT  AND  GREW 

When  it  seemed  that  every  means  of  raising  cash  had  been  exhausted  somebody 
suggested  the  fort  Christmas  tree.  Mrs.  Alice  Houghton  was  one  of  the  first  pro- 
moters of  it,  but  nobody  was  far  behind  when  the  plan  because  understood.  Briefly, 
the  scheme  was  to  have  everybody  donate  anything  they  could,  use  these  donations 
for  presents  and  give  them  out  according  to  the  numbers  corresponding  to  tickets 
sold.  The  distribution  was  to  be  made  from  a  huge  Christmas  tree  on  the  Audi- 
toriuDQ  stage. 

The  list  of  donated  presents  that  came  pouring  in  is  something  to  smile  over  at 
first,  and  after  that  it  begins  to  nearly  resemble  the  family  pewter  melted  up  to 
supply  patriots'  bullets.  One  woman,  with  a  desire  to  do  something,  and  nothing 
much  to  do  with,  finally  got  together  the  ingredients  of  a  mince  pie  and  offered 
that.  Somebody  with  more  live  stock  than  cash,  offered  a  colt.  Teachers  gave 
music  and  painting  lessons,  and  so  the  list  ran  down  through  rheumatism  medicine, 
curling  irons,  harmonica,  dental  and  surgical  work,  a  month's  board,  a  month's 
shaves,  photographic  and  plumbing  work,  paint,  pickles,  cigarette  tobacco,  •  electric 
baths,  skating  rink  tickets — you  could  scarcely  name  a  thing  on  sale  that  was  not 
to  be  found  listed  for  the  fort  Christmas  tree.  The  country  districts  joined  in,  one 
man  at  Chattaroy  sending  two-bits  and  regrets  that  it  was  all  he  had.  It  wasn't 
a  poverty  social  affair,  by  any  means,  however,  for  gold  watches,  a  bicycle,  expen- 
sive dishes,  furs  and  a  costly  shotgun  were  also  contributed.  The  same  spirit 
prevailed  with  everybody  and  everybody  gave  what  they  could  and  more  than  they 
could  really  afford.  It  was  the  strangest  and  most  varied  Christmas  tree  assort- 
ment  ever  gotten  together.     Nothing  was  rejected. 

everybodV  had  tickets  for  sale 

Tickets  of  admission  to  the  tree,  carrying  chances  on  the  presents,  were  sold 
at  $1.     You  couldn't  meet  a  councilman,  policeman  or  any  other  able-bodied  citizen 


468  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

who  wouldn't  have  a  bunch  of  tickets  to  sell,  and  who  wouldn't  sell  you  one  if 
you  had  a  dollar  in  your  clothes.  Men  and  women  who  now  ride  about  town  in 
latest  model  automobiles,  walked  then  and  sold  Christmas  tree  tickets  along  the 
route.  The  Spokane  club  set  aside  Saturdays  as  days  when  all  members  who  in-r 
dulged  in  innocent  little  games  played  for  tickets.  Social  circles  played  euchre  for 
ticket  prizes.  » 

Tlie  project  grew  at  such  a  rate  that  the  committee  was  unable  to  prepare  the 
tree  before  the  night  of  December  81.  When  the  Auditorium  doors  were  opened 
at  7  o'clock  a  crowd  surged  in  that  taxed  Harry  Hayward's  ingenuity,  and  Harry 
never  was  what  might  be  called  a  green  stripling.  Robert  Easson,  J.  W*  Went- 
worth,  A.  C.  Ware,  E.  M.  Shaw  and  John  Leghorn,  as  floor  committee,  put  in  an 
evening's  work  that  is  not  yet  forgotten. 

The  crowd  was  fairly  rollicking  in  the.  universal  sentiment  of  booster  unity. 
It  was  the  fort  now  or  never.  If  there  wasn't  a  loose  dollar  left  in  town,  what 
was  the  odds.^     Everybody  was  in  the  same  boat. 

The  curtain  rose  on  "Billy"  Wyard  costumed  as  the  old  year.  In  a  little  open- 
ing sketch  he  called  for  the  new  year,  and  Miss  Virginia  Winston  responded.  She 
summoned  Santa  Glaus,  in  the  person  of  W.  H.  MacFarlan  and  Santa  Glaus  gave 
the  signal  that  disclosed  the  Ghristmas  tree,  thirty  feet  high  and  gleaming  with 
electric  lights.  The  committee  was  also  up  there  with  two  big  chums  full  of  cou- 
pons that  called  for  presents.  Judge  Blake  and  John  W.  Graham  were  unani- 
mously selected  to  draw  the  tickets.  J.  R.  Taylor  sat  as  judge  over  the  proceed- 
ings, and  the  fun  began. 

GOT  A  BULL  PUP  FROM  SANTA  CLAUS 

The  first  prize  pulled  out  was  a  pound  of  tea  and  it  was  sent  up  to  a  man  in 
the  gallery.  Later  came  a  bull  pup  and  then  a  case  of  beer.  The  city  papers  had 
offered  subscriptions  for  presents  and  the  circulation  manager  of  one  drew  his  own 
paper  for  a  year.  F.  Lewis  Glark  drew  a  turkey,  Herbert  Bolster  got  a  pair  of 
spectacles  and  several  subscriptions,  while  other  members  of  the  committees,  who 
had  all  bought  tickets,  carried  home  potatoes  and  pictures.  Postmaster  Mallop 
had  bought  forty  tickets.  Out  of  that  he  got  a  woman's  hat  and  two 
pictures.  Miss  Bottorff  won  the  $125  shotgun  on  a  ticket  that  had  been 
given  to  her,  and  the  3-year-old  son  of  B.  L.  Gordon  got  the  $15  kodak.  R.  D. 
Westfall  took  the  gold  watch;  Sid  Rosenhaupt  drew  the  $100  bicycle,  and  an  immi- 
grant who  had  just  got  in  from  Idaho  walked  off  with  the  $40  dinner  set.  George 
Adams,  who  had  dreamed  that  a  certain  ticket  would  win  the  gold  watch  and  had 
bribed  a  schoolboy  to  part  with  it  for  $2,  won  a  25-cent  harmonica.  So  the  list 
ran,  ridiculously  amusing  in  many  instances,  and  yet  very  likely  some  of  those 
presents  are  prized  relics  in  Spokane  homes  today. 

FORT  WAS  ON   THE   CHRISTMAS  TREE 

The  cash  receipts  Ghristmas  tree  netted  $4,500  in  cash  and  this  assured  the 
fort's  location  so  far  as  Spokane's  part  of  the  work  was  concerned.  There  was 
red  tape  at  Washington  to  be  unwound,  but  Newbery  was  on  the  job.  The  ac- 
quirement of  property   still  necessary  went  steadily  on  and  some  more  cash  was 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  469 

needed,  but  it  came  readily.  The  uproarious  jollity  of  the  Christmas  tree  had 
thawed  finances  theretofore  frozen  up  solidly.  The  fort  came  in  due  time  and 
with  it  came  the  prestige  of  furnishing  the  cash  and  land  in  a  time  when  request 
for  any  sort  of  public  contribution  assumed  the  guise  of  a  particularly  irritating 
form  of  joke.  And  the  finishing  touch  was  put  on  through  a  wholesale  offering 
of  Christmas  presents  running  from  a  $125  shotgun  down  to  a  25-cent  harmonica 
and  a  mince  pie. 


CHAPTER  LI 

REVIEW  OF  HISTORICAL  EVENTS  OF   1895 

JOHN  L.  WILSON  ELECTED  UNITED  STATES  SENATOR SCHISM  IN   FIRST  M.  E.   CHURCH 

FUTILE  ATTEMPT  TO  IMPEACH  JUDGE  ARTHUR LOCAL  TALENT  PRODUCES  HOME- 
MADE OPERA WAR  ON  BOX-RUSTLING DEATH  OF  A.  M.  CANNON BELT  REELECTED 

MAYOR SIMON     OPPENHEIMER     CUTS     A     WIDE     SWATH THEODORE     GUSHING     KILLS 

THOMAS  KING SUCCESSFUL  SOCIETY  CIRCUS COLONEL  WINSTON  MEETS  A  HIGH- 
WAYMAN  COUNCIL  THREATENS  MAYOR  WITH  IMPEACHMENT FRUIT  FAIR  A  BRIL- 
LIANT SUCCESS ^DEATH  OF  F.  ROCK  WOOD   MOORE BETTER  TIMES  FOR  SPOKANE. 

CONSPICUOUS  in  events  of  1895  were  tHe  development  of  Rossland  camp 
to  the  dividend  stage;  the  Wibon-Ankeny  senatorial  contest,  involving  for 
a  brief  period  Judge  George  Turner,  but  ending,  after  a  surprising  recov- 
ery from  seeming  defeat,  in  the  election  of  John  L.  Wilson,  and  the  death  of  A.  M. 
Cannon. 

On  the  opening  ballot  at  Olympia,  in  January,  the  republican  strength  divided 
between  Wilson,  with  twenty-nine  votes,  Levi  Ankeny,  who  received  twenty-seven 
and  John  B.  Allen,  who  found  fourteen  supporters.  The  second  day  came  a  break 
in  Wilson's  support,  and  the  ninth  ballot  left  him  with  a  corporal's  guard  of 
seven.  At  this  critical  moment  nineteen  legislative  friends  and  admirers  of  Turner, 
who  had  been  voting  in  various  other  camps,  broke  to  him,  and  a  determined  effort 
was  made  to  stampede  the  legislature  in  his  favor,  but  without  success,  for  Wilson 
rallied  next  day  to  twenty-eight,  and  the  Turner  following  dropped  to  six.  Recog- 
nizing the  futility  of  further  effort,  Turner  withdrew,  and  Wilson  was  elected 
February  1,  the  result  of  a  caucus  the  night  before. 

Taking  the  year's  happenings  in  chronological  order,  we  find  J.  M.  Comstock, 
R.  B.  Paterson,  C.  H.  Weeks  and  J.  L.  Paine  filing  articles  January  2  incorporat- 
ing the  Spokane  Dry  Goods  company. 

Dissatisfaction  with  the  pastor.  Rev.  David  N.  Mclnturff,  of  the  First  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  church,  led  a  large  part  of  the  membership  to  withdraw,  and  at 
a  meeting  at  the  residence  of  Henry  Brook,  the  evening  of  January  1 4,  steps  were 
taken  to  organize  Vincent  church.  Among  those  who  attended  were  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
S.  Heath,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brook  and  two  daughters,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  D.  Parks, 
Nelson  Clark  and  family,  D.  S.  Prescott  and  family,  W.  S.  McCrea,  I.  S.  Kauf- 
man, Frank  Kizer  and  family,  J.  H.  Bishop  and  family  and  Judge  R.  B.  Blake 
and  family.     The  Rev.  M.  H.  Marvin  became  the  first  pastor  of  the  new  church. 

Increasing  dissatisfaction   with   the  conduct,  judicial   and   personal,   of   Judge 

471 


472  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Jesse  Arthur  of  the  superior  courts  developed  in  Fehruary  into  an  organized  move* 
ment  for  impeachment.  At  the  request  of  J.  R.  Lamhly^  Representative  Tnll  of 
Spokane  introduced  a  resolution  in  the  house  for  an  official  investigation.  Judge 
Arthur  was  charged  with  malfeasance  and  misconduct  in  the  trial  of  Herman  L. 
Chase^  excessive  and  habitual  use  of  morphine^  falling  asleep  on  the  bench  while 
cases  were  on  trials  and  wilful  absence  from  his  judicial  duties.  The  resolution 
was  adopted  and  a  legislative  committee  held  extended  hearings  at  Spokane  and 
Colville,  and  submitted  majority  and  minority  reports.  February  22,  by  a  vote  of 
forty-seven  to  twenty-one,  the  house  adopted  the  majority  report  against  impeach- 
ment, which,  though  finding  Arthur  negligent  in  regard  to  the  Stevens  county  grand 
jury,  and  culpable  in  permitting  instructions  to  go  to  the  Chase  jury  that  were  con- 
trary to  law,  nevertheless  recommended,  in  view  of  "extenuating  circumstances,"  that 
"the  house  take  no  further  action." 

Property  holders,  feeling  the  pinch  of  taxation  in  hard  times,  clamored  long 
and  loud  for  retrenchment  at  the  city  hall  and  courthouse.  This  discontent  took 
concrete  form  in  the  fall  of  1894,  in  the  organization  of  the  Taxpayers*  League, 
with  A.  W.  Doland  chairman,  and  B.  £.  Barinds  secretary.  This  aggressive 
organization  investigated  the  building  of  the  new  courthouse,  and  took  a  firm  stand 
for  better  and  more  economical  government.  Yielding  to  this  pressure,  the  city 
council  reduced  the  police  force  in  February,  1895,  to  the  chief,  one  captain, 
twenty  patrolmen  and  three  special  officers — a  cut  of  ^ve  regular  and  eight  special 
officers. 

Chairman  Henry  L.  Wilson  reported,  February  26,  that  excepting  two  pieces, 
all  the  land  necessary  for  the  army  post  had  been  acquired.  The  work  of  closing 
up  the  details  was  carried  on  by  Chairman  Wilson,  Henry  M.  Richards,  S.  Rosen- 
haupt,  Howell  Peel,  J.  P.  Carritte  and  A.  P.  Sawyer. 

This  spring  vertical  writing  was  adopted  in  the  first  three  grades  of  the  Spo- 
kane schools. 

The  Helm  bill  to  reduce  grain  and  produce  rates  had  passed  the  house,  sixty 
to  eight,  but  was  in  danger  of  defeat  by  the  senate.  A  mass  meeting  was  held  in 
the  coimcil  chamber,  the  evening  of  March  5,  to  support  it,  and  favoring  speeches 
were  made  by  Frank  Graves  and  Judge  R.  B.  Blake.  W.  S.  Norman  spoke  in 
opposition.  The  bill  was  beaten  in  the  senate,  twenty-one  to  thirteen,  Ide  and 
VanHouten  of  Spokane  voting  against  it. 

Prof.  Franz  Mueller  turned  his  hand  this  spring  to  the  composition  of  a  light 
opera,  with  Reginald  F.  Mead  assisting  as  librettist.  They  named  it  "The  White 
Fawn,"  a  romance  of  the  wide,  wild  west,  with  Indians,  cowboys  and  refined  young 
ladies  disporting  on  the  stage,  and  sang  it  the  night  of  March  29  before  an  appre- 
ciative audience  at  the  Auditorium.    Mrs.  Harl  J.  Cook  took  the  title  role. 

The  Ministerial  Association  waged  aggressive  warfare  on  the  box-rustling 
variety  theaters,  and  the  council  passed  a  prohibitory  ordinance  which  Mayor  Bdt 
promptly  vetoed,  for  which  he  was  roundly  denounced  the  following  Sunday  from 
many  of  the  Spokane  pulpits.  Sitting  in  his  pew  in  Westminster  Congregational, 
the  mayor  listened  to  a  scathing  arraignment  from  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  F.  B. 
Cherington. 

In  April  came  news  of  the  death,  at  a  hotel  in  New  York,  of  the  kindly  but 
broken-hearted  old  pioneer,  A.  M.  Cannon.     In  a  desperate  endeavor  to  retrieve  his 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  473 

shattered  fortunes^  Mr.  Cannon  had  traveled  through  some  of  the  South  American 
countries^  looking  vainly  for  an  inviting  opening.  From  that  journey  he  returned 
to  New  York,  despondent  and  ill.  "His  history  since  1878/*  said  the  Chronicle, 
then  owned  and  conducted  by  J.  J.  Browne,  "needs  no  repetition  to  the  people  of 
Spokane.  The  establishment  of  the  Bank  of  Spokane  Falls  in  1879;  the  starting  of 
a  sawmill  in  the  same  year ;  the  formation  of  the  Spokane  Mill  company ;  the  build- 
ing of  the  Spokane  &  Palouse  railroad ;  the  construction  of  the  grand  Auditorium, 
and  fifty  other  enterprises  which  were  originated  or  assisted  by  his  versatile 
energy,  will  bear  permanent  testimony  to  the  genius  of  this  man." 

The  body  was  brought  home  for  its  long  last  rest  in  Greenwood,  and  a  most 
solemn  and  impressive  funeral  service  was  conducted  by  the  Rev.  T.  G.  Watson, 
April  14,  in  the  First  Presbyterian  church.  "He  stood  erect  before  the  world," 
said  the  pioneer  preacher,  "and  with  touching  courage  and  a  faith  divine  avowed 
his  purpose  of  beginning  anew  the  struggle  for  fortune.  It  is  a  noble  example, 
one  we  may  take  with  us  into  our  homes  and  daily  lives." 

In  the  April  municipal  campaign  three  tickets  appeared.  The  republican  con- 
vention, April  13,  nominated  C.  B.  Hopkins  for  mayor,  George  A.  Liebes  for 
comptroller,  and  A.  G.  Ansell  for  treasurer. 

A  Citizens'  convention  nominated  Walter  France  for  mayor,  A.  J.  Smith  for 
comptroller,  and  J.  L.  Smith  for  treasurer. 

Nominees  of  the  populist  convention  were  H.  N.  Belt  for  mayor,  Charles  L. 
McKenzie  for  comptroller,  and  Hal  Gredin  for  treasurer. 

A  total  of  8,875  votes  was  polled,  and  Belt  was  elected  mayor  by  a  plurality 
of  291  over  Hopkins,  who  received  1,227  votes,  France  coming  in  third  with  1,130. 
Liebes  and  Ansell,  republicans,  were  elected  comptroller  and  treasurer.  The  popu- 
Usts  elected  C.  Bungay  and  D.  K.  Oliver  to  the  council,  and  the  republicans  Jacob 
Schiller,  W.  H.  Acuff,  and  C.  B.  Dunning. 

For  several  months  in  1895  Simon  Oppenheimer  was  quite  the  "biggest  man  in 
Spokane."  People  paused  in  awe  of  him  as  he  passed  along  the  street,  and  bank- 
ers stood  deferentially  around  when  he  discussed  finance  and  the  great  achieve- 
ments he  had  in  store  for  Spokane.  For  Simon  had  accomplished  the  wonder  of 
going  over  to  Holland  and  tearing  off  $300,000  of  real  money  for  investment  here. 
He  had  bonded  the  property  of  the  old  Spokane  Mill  company  and  sold  the  bonds 
to  the  Amsterdamsch  Trustees  Kantoor.  With  this  money  he  started  out  to  build 
the  present  Phoenix  sawmill,  and  a  large  flouring  mill  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
river.  These  were  properties  of  the  Northwest  Milling  and  Power  company. 
The  sawmill  was  completed  in  September,  and  started  industry  with  an  elaborate 
ceremonial.  John  L.  Wilson  orated,  Mrs.  H.  Oppenheimer  broke  a  bottle  of  cham- 
pagne, the  whistles  blew  and  the  overjoyed  populace  cheered. 

Simon  had  another  corporation  up  his  sleeve — the  Consumers*  Light  &  Power 
company — that  was  going  to  enter  into  vigorous  competiton  with  the  Washington 
Water  Power  company,  and  in  July  the  council  fell  all  over  itself  in  its  eagerness 
to  grant  him  a  fifty-year  franchise  to  set  poles  and  string  wires  in  the  city  streets. 

That  was  about  as  far  as  Simon  Oppenheimer  ever  got  with  his  great  work  of 
rejuvenating  the  languid  industries  of  Spokane.  Before  the  year  was  ended  he  had 
expended  the  $300,000  and  borrowed  at  the  local  banks  besides,  and  in  March  fol- 
lowing, on  application  of  the  Exchange  National,  J.  N.  Glover  was  appointed  re- 


v 


474  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

ceiver  of  the  company.     Mr.  Glover  found  a  Badly  tangled  mass  of  books  and 
accounts.     Oppenheimer  left  the  country  and  went  to  South  America. 

Theodore  Gushing,  who  built  the  Gushing  block,  now  occupied  by  the  Spokane 
&  Eastern  Trust  company,  having  lost  it  under  foreclosure,  retired  to  a  ranch  on 
the  Little  Spokane.  There,  on  May  14,  after  an  altercation  over  wages,  he  shot 
and  killed  Thomas  King,  a  farm  hand  in  his  service.  He  pleaded  self-defense,  but 
after  an  extended  trial  which  excited  deep  public  interest,  was  convicted  of  mur- 
der in  the  second  degree  and  sentenced  to  a  term  in  the  penitentiary. 

By  midsummer  the  depths  of  the  financial  depression  had  been  sounded,  and 
the  city's  business  and  industries  were  thrilling  with  the  renaissance.  By  July 
bank  clearings  had  risen  to  $825,000  a  week,  an  increase  of  fifty  per  cent  over  the 
corresponding  period  in  1894,  the  largest  percentage  of  increase  of  all  the  cities 
in  the  United  States. 

A  "society  circus,"  out  at  Natatorium  park  in  July,  scored  a  local  hit.  A.  J. 
Ross,  in  regulation  attire,  was  ringmaster,  and  W.  S.  McGrea,  George  Reiner,  Eddie 
Kohlhauff  and  "Bob"  and  Ed.  Quinn  made  merry  as  clowns.  But  quite  the  chief 
attraction  was  a  bareback  riding  act  by  the  dashing  Mrs.  S.  G.  Allen,  wife  of  a 
prominent  member  of  the  local  bar. 

An  enlivening  incident  that  summer  was  Golonel  Patrick  Henry  Winston's 
encounter  with  a  highwayman  and  loss  of  a  silver  dollar. 

"He  asked  me,"  said  Mr.  Winston,  reporting  the  affair>  "if  that  was  all  I  had, 
and  I  assured  him,  upo|i  my  honor,  that  it  was  all.  Strangely,  he  took  my  word  for 
it,  so  I  must  conclude  that  he  was  a  stranger,  for  who  else  would  take  the  word 
of  the  average  citizen  of  Spokane  for  truth  and  veracity.^  As  I  was  about  to 
part  company  with  the  fellow,  I  suddenly  remembered  that  I  had  a  cigar  with  me, 
and  asked  him  to  accept  it,  which  he  did.  I  then  lighted  a  match  with  him  and 
told  him  to  smoke  with  me.  He  said,  'Well,  you  take  it  d — d  cool  for  a  man  who 
is  being  robbed.'  I  replied  that  there  was  nothing  to  excite  a  man  to  be  robbed 
in  Spokane  in  some  manner  or  other.  *Now  if  I  was  robbing  you,  and  thought  I 
was  about  to  get  something,  I  would  be  so  d — d  excited  that  I  could  not  stand 
still.'  As  I  saw  there  was  no  prospect  of  getting  anything  of  value  from  the  fel- 
low, I  politely  excused  myself  and  left  him." 

Fire  at  Sprague,  August  3,  burned  the  Northern  Pacific  shops  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  town,  and  caused  a  loss  of  more  than  a  million  dollars.  The  company 
decided  not  to  rebuild  in  Sprague,  but  to  transfer  its  extensive  shops  and  round- 
houses to  Spokane. 

The  railroad  from  Kaslo  into  the  Slocan  country  was  built  this  year. 

John  Gonsidine,  who  subsequently  attained  eminence  in  the  vaudeville  world, 
was  running  a  box-rustling  variety  theater  on  .lower  Howard  street,  and  while 
contesting  the  validity  of  the  state  barmaid  act  was  arrested.  In  the  end  the 
courts  sustained  the  law. 

The  Nez  Perce  Indians  having  ceded  a  part  of  their  reservation,  large  pay- 
ments were  made  to  them  this  summer  by  the  government,  and  Lewiston  bankers 
and  business  men  profited  briskly  by  Indian  trade.  The  valuable  ceded  lands  were 
opened  to  settlement,  and  by  November  8,500  settlers  had  taken  homes. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  475 

The  year  was  notable  for  sharp  clashes  of  authority  between  Mayor  Belt  and 
the  council.  In  September  the  council  removed  Police  Chief  Mertz,  who  publicly 
attributed  his  removal  to  hostile  influence  of  the  A.  P.  A.  That  anti-Catholic 
organization^  he  asserted^  had  six  members  in  the  council.  The  council  directed 
Captain  Coverly  to  assume  command  of  the  force,  and  the  mayor  ordered  William 
McKeman  to  serve  as  acting  chief.  This  led  to  a  sharp  division  in  the  force,  some 
of  the  men  reporting  to  the  mayor's  man,  and  others  siding  with  the  council's 
appointee.  Taking  advantage  of  a  provision  of  the  charter,  Mayor  Belt  declared 
an  emergency  and  assumed  command  of  the  police  department.  The  issue  was 
carried  to  the  courts,  where  the  mayor's  position  was  sustained.  Meanwhile  the 
council  had  passed  an  impeaching  ordinance  and  shook  it  over  the  mayor's  head, 
but  seemingly  fell  short  of  sufficient  courage  to  make  good  its  threats. 

This  year  brought  the  first  attempt  to  irrigate  the  lands  of  the  Spokane  valley. 
In  September  the  Washington  &  Idaho  irrigation  company  incorporated,  with  a 
purpose  to  take  water  from  Hayden  and  Newman  lakes.  George  S.  Palmer  was 
president  of  the  company;  H.  M.  Moseley,  secretary,  and  Charles  W.  Clark,  treas- 
urer.   F.  E.  Elmendorf  was  manager. 

In  June  the  Spokane  Immigration  Bureau  appointed  Howell  M.  Peel,  R.  E.  M. 
Strickland  and  I.  S.  Kaufman  a  committee  to  assist  Secretary  Bolster  in  planning 
for  another  fruit  fair.  September  80  to  October  9  were  chosen  for  the  dates,  and 
a  large  tented  structure,  124x156,  was  erected,  fronting  on  Sprague  avenue,  at  the 
comer  of  Mill.  At  the  opening  exercises  speeches  were  made  by  J;  W.  Binkley, 
Governor  W.  J.  McConnell  of  Idaho,  and  Mayor  Belt.  For  music  we  had  the 
Fourth  cavalry  band  from  Walla  Walla.  The  railroads  made  special  excursion 
rates  of  one  cent  a  mile  from  all  points  in  the  Inland  Empire,  and  these  and  the 
fame  of  the  fair  drew  in  unprecedented  throngs  of  visitors.  It  was  conservatively 
estimated  that  on  the  second  day  the  Northern  Pacific  brought  in  2,500  excur- 
sionists on  its  Spokane  &  Palouse  branch — thirty-five  coaches  filled  to  the  aisles  and 
platforms,  and  hundreds  were  unable  to  board  the  trains  as  they  came  up  through 
the  Palouse  country.  Three  hundred  visitors  came  from  Walla  Walla,  and  the  Big 
Bend  country,  Stevens  county,  Lewiston,  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  other  northern 
Idaho  towns  s^nt  in  their  thousands.     The  total  paid  attendance  exceeded  40,000. 

In  October  the  new  courthouse  was  nearing  completion.  The  cornerstone  of 
the  normal  school  building  was  laid  at  Cheney,  October  14,  with  the  Masonic 
ritual.  With  the  autumnal  rains  came  renewed  agitation  for  the  paving  of  River- 
side. 

F.  Rockwood  Moore,  one  of  the  best  known  of  Spokane's  early  pioneers,  died 
November  21.  He  came  in  1878,  and  the  next  year  engaged  in  railroad  contract- 
ing and  the  general  merchandise  business.  At  his  fimeral  Lane  C.  Gilliam,  Charles 
Sweeny,  J.  N.  Glover,  Ben  Norman,  Henry  Brook  and  R.  D.  Sherwood  were  pall- 
bearers.    His  grave  is  in  Greenwood. 

The  new  water  works  were  nearing  completion.  The  contract  was  let  to 
RoUa  A.  Jones  at  $340,000,  but  in  a  statement  to  the  council  Comptroller  Liebes 
estimated  that  the  cost  would  exceed  that  figure  by  $75,000. 

D.  B.  Fotheringham  had  the  courthouse  contract  at  $247,600,  but  extras  brought 
the  final  cost  up  to  $276,266. 


476  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

By  the  end  of  1895  prices  had  started  upward^  and  in  the  Palouse  countrj  wheat 
was  commanding  40  cents^  a  price  which  then  seemed  to  spell  prosperity  for  the 
farming  sections^  for  the  cost  of  production  was  lower  than  ever  before  or  since. 

Four  banks — the  Exchange^  Traders^  Old  National  and  Spokane  8c  Eastern 
Trust — had  $1^350^321  on  deposit.  "Rarely  has  there  been  a  happier  holiday  sea- 
son in  Spokane/'  cheerily  said  the  Chronicle. 


CHAPTER  LII 

SPOKANE  REVIVED  BY  MINERAL  WEALTH 

COEUR    d'aLENES,    ROSSLAND    AND    SLOGAN    ROLL    IN    RICH    DIVIDENDS MAKING    OF    THE 

GREAT  LE  ROI "wiLDCATTERS"  FLOURISH REPUBLIC  CAMP  ATTRACTS  ATTENTION 

POLITICAL     UPHEAVAL     OF      1896 INFLUENTIAL     REPUBLICANS     BOLT FUSION     OF 

DEMOCRATS^      POPULISTS      AND      SILVER      REPUBLICANS SPECTACULAR      CAMPAIGN 

FUSION    FORCES    SWEEP    STATE    AND    COUNTY CAUSES    OF    THE    UPHEAVAL MAKING 

WAR     ON     GROUND    SQUIRRELS GOOD     WORK     FOR    FORT     WRIGHT     BY     CONGRESSMAN 

HYDE L.    H.    PLATTOR    KILLED   BY    HENRY    SEIFFERT FRUIT    FAIR    ENLARGED. 

NEW  YEAR  of  1896  brought  renewed  hope  and  confidence.  "Spokane"  (I 
wrote  in  January)  "stands  on  the  threshold  of  a  new  career.  It  is  not  a 
boast  to  say  that  the  outlook^  as  we  stand  in  the  dawn  of  a  new  year^  is 
better  than  ever  for  further  progress  and  substantial  development.  With  the  plant- 
ing here  of  national  government  interests,  the  establishment  of  new  productive  in- 
dustries, and  the  rapid  growth  of  mining  interests,  Spokane's  future  is  assured." 
And  again:  "New  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston  and  Chicago  have  become  great 
cities  through  the  genius  of  the  American  people  and  development  of  wild  re- 
sources. The  same  influences  will  build  great  cities  by  these  western  shores,  and 
those  cities  will  be  the  places  which  now  possess  the  railroads,  the  water  power 
and  the  harbors." 

From  the  treasure  vaults  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  Rossland,  and  from  snowy, 
silvery  Slocan  came  swelling  streams  of  new  wealth,  and  everybody  caught  the 
infection  and  fell  to  dabbling  in  mines.  Under  the  management  of  Patrick  Clark, 
the  War  Eagle  led  off  with  the  first  Rossland  dividend,  summer  of  1895,  and  in 
October,  1896,  had  $187,500  to  its  credit.  The  great  Le  Roi  quickly  followed  suit, 
and  made  an  even  better  record;  and  by  the  autumn  of  '96  Byron  White's  Slocan 
Star  had  distributed  in  dividends  an  even  quarter  of  a  million  dollars. 

At  the  annual  I^e  Roi  election  this  year  W.  W.  D.  Turner  was  made  president, 
D.  W.  Henley  vice-president,  L.  F.  Williams  secretary,  and  J.  M.  Armstrong 
treasurer.  These,  with  George  Turner,  W.  J.  Harris,  Frank  H.  Graves,  E.  D. 
Sanders  and  W.  M.  Ridpath,  constituted  the  board  of  directors.  George  Turner, 
W.  J.  Harris  and  W.  M.  Ridpath  were  a  managing  committee.  Under  a  contract 
with  the  Le  Roi  people,  F.  Aug.  Heinze  was  building  a  smelter  at  the  mouth  of 
Trail  creek,  but  the  company  was  making  heavy  and  constant  shipments  to  Mon- 
tana and  the  coast.  From' the  bottom  of  the  shaft  it  shipped  one  lot  of  forty  tons 
in  January  that  sampled  $520  a  ton.  The  stock  was  selling  around  $1.50.  The 
fates  had  decreed  that  this  property  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  men  of  pluck  and 

477 


478  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

persistence.  Thej  hammered  away  on  the  hard  diorite^  assessed  themselves  to 
carry  on  development,  kept  drilling  away  through  panic  times,  built  roads  into 
the  wild  mountains,  and  after  four  years  of  persistent  effort  made  a  shoiv^ing  that 
caused  the  "experts"  to  revise  their  former  discouraging  judgment.  They  shipped 
ore,  and  the  returns  began  to  pay  for  development  and  machinery;  and  then  they 
worked  along  for  another  two  years,  the  marvelous  ore  bodies  disclosed  themselves, 
and  the  mine  began  to  distribute  handsome  dividends  among  its  owners. 

In  March  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan,  Standard,  Hunter,  Morning,  Helena 
and  Frisco,  Emma  and  Last  Chance,  Tiger  and  Poorman,  Stemwinder  and  the 
Gem,  all  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  were  yielding  11,000  tons  of  silver-lead  concen- 
trates a  month. 

With  all  this  rich  mineral  development  came  the  inevitable  crop  of  "wild- 
catters" and  mine  "salters."  C.  P.  Oudin  had  bought  the  Monitor  claim,  near 
Rossland,  and  when  he  discovered  that  deception  had  been  practiced,  sued  Charles 
and  Mabel  Grossman.  Special  Judge  J.  R.  McBride  sustained  the  allegations, 
ordered  the  contract  rescinded  and  the  return  of  $1,000  to  plaintiff. 

"It  needs  to  be  said,  over  and  over  again,"  remarked  the  Spokesman- Review, 
"that  it  is  folly  to  put  money  into  mines  or  stocks  which  have  not  back  of  them 
a  sound  title,  good  business  management  and  skilled  superintendency.  By  a  mere 
'fluke'  one  might  make  a  profit  by  disregarding,  these  tests,  but  the  odds  are  as  a 
hundred  to  one  that  money  so  invested  would  be  worse  than  wasted.  Spokane 
has  no  resources  to  squander  in  that  fashion.  It  is  desired  that  her  marvelous 
mineral  wealth  be  developed,  but  loose  methods  and  blind  flounderings  will  not 
bring  development  to  the  industry,  nor  wealth  to  the  city.  They  will  rather  im- 
poverish individuals,  check  the  rising  tide  of  prosperity,  and  chill  the  present  de- 
sirable interest  in  mining." 

The  president  having  signed;  on  February  20,  the  bill  extending  operation  of 
the  mineral  laws  to  the  north  half  of  the  Colville  reservation,  hundreds  of  pros- 
pectors swarmed  into  that  district.  Republic  camp,  then  known  as  Eureka,  was 
attracting  attention  in  May.  About  100  locations  had  been  made  there,  and  among 
the  Spokane  owners  were  Patrick  Clark,  Tommy  Ryan,  Phil  Creasor,  John  Consi- 
dine  and  A.  W.  Strong. 

Up  Slocan  way  that  year  S.  S.  Bailey  sold  the  Payne  group  at  a  reputed  price 
of  $125,000,  and  Col.  S.  M.  Wharton,  J.  M.  Harris  and  fi.  J.  Kelly  were  taking 
ore  of  fabulous  richness  from  the  Reco.  They  shipped  four  carloads  in  December 
that  netted  $20,798.     A  previous  shipment  of  two  carloads  returned  $18,000  profit 

Politically,  1896  brought  a  mighty  upheaval.  The  Wilson  organization  con- 
trolled the  republican  county  convention  in  April,  and  instructed  the  delegation 
to  the  state  convention  to  support  Henry  L.  Wilson  for  delegate  to  the  national 
convention.  A  secret  anti-Catholic  society,  the  American  Protective  association, 
was  now  in  the  heyday  of  its  power,  and  Cyrus  Happy  and  Alonzo  M.  Murphej 
asserted  that  it  had  controlled  the  primaries  and  convention.  Judge  Welty,  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  A.  P.  A.  in  Spokane,  gave  out  in  an  interview  the  statement 
that  "Senator  John  L.  Wilson's  official  acts  have  met  with  the  approval  of  the  order 
generally,  and  in  recognition  of  his  course  in  the  senate,.  I  account  for  the  action  of 
the  order  here  today  in  supporting  his  brother  for  delegate." 

Spokane's  public  school  system  had  fallen  under. the  sway  of  this  organization, 


MOrTH  OK  THE  OKANOGAN  RIVEK  VIKW    OF    ROSSI.ANJ),   B.    C. 


VIEW  OF  CHEWELAH,  WASHINGTON.     FrRST  SCHOOL  NORTH  OP 
SNAKE  RIVER  WAS  STARTED  HERE 


.'J 


4 


'     '  .^ 


,  N  > .  *  T   C  ^^  3 


i".-:  NEW  YORK 

r'.'b.iC  LIBRARTI 


Llj 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  479 

and  two  joung  ladies^  the  only  Catholic  teachers  in  the  public  schools^  were  dis- 
charged. It  was  later  revealed .  that  the  printed  application  forms  included  a  re- 
ligious test^  one  question  asking  the  applicant's  church  affiliation. 

In  state  convention  at  Everett,  the  republicans  instructed  for  McKinley  and 
the  gold  standard  and  declared  against  free  coinage  of  silver.  Henry  L.  Wilson 
was  elected  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  national  convention. 

At  the  republican  national  convention  in  St.  Louis,  a  group  of  silver  republi- 
cans, under  leadership  of  Senator  Henry  M.  Teller  of  Colorado,  marched  out 
from  convention  hall  when  the  platform  was  adopted.  Under  date  of  June  22 
this  telegram  was  sent  from   Spokane: 

"Hon.  H.  M.  Teller,  or  Fred.  Dubois,  and  their  associates,  St.  Louis:  The 
undersigned  republicans  admire  your  cq'urse  and  endorse  your  action,  and  stand 
ready  to  follow  your  leadership.  We  pledge  you  the  state  of  Washington.  We 
state  further  that  the  republicans  of  this  state  are  misrepresented  in  the  national 
convention  on  the  financial  question.  Signed:  George  Turner,  W^.  C.  Jones,  J.  R. 
McBride,  Cyrus  Happy,  Patrick  Clark,  B.  C.  Kingsbury,  W.  O'Brien,  Albert  Allen, 
D.  W.  Henley,  L.  F.  Williams,  Louis  Ziegler,  Charles  H.  Wolf,  J.  H.  McBroom, 
Frank  H.  Graves,  W.  M.  Ridpath,  J.  M.  Armstrong,  C.  H.  Thompson,  Henry 
M.  Hoyt." 

Fusion  was  effected  in  state  and  county  by  populists,  democrats  and  silver 
republicans.  The  fusion  state  convention  at  Ellensburg  nominated  John  R.  Rogers 
for  governor,  W.  C.  Jones  of  Spokane,  and  James  Hamilton  Lewis  of  Tacoma, 
for  congress,  and  Col.  Patrick  Henry  Winston  of  Spokane  for  attorney-general. 

In  state  convention  the  republicans  nominated  P.  C.  Sullivan  for  governor, 
and  S.  C.  Hyde  of  Spokane,  and  Wm.  H.  Doolittle  of  Tacoma,  for  congress. 

The  campaign  was  the  most  spirited  and  spectacular  in  the  state's  history.  In 
Spokane  great  torchlight  processions  filled  Riverside  avenue  at  night,  republicans 
and  fusionists  vicing  in  extraordinary  efforts  to  put  their  voters  in  }ine.  The  regu- 
lar republicans  made  a  gallant  effort,  but  it  was  clearly  foreseen  that  the  tide  had 
set  hopelessly  strong  against  them.  At  the  election  the  fusion  forces  swept  county 
and  state.  In  Spokane  they  elected  every  man  on  the  county  and  legislative 
tickets,  and  a  similar  result  was  recorded  in  a  number  of  other  east  side  counties. 
Bryan  carried  Spokane  county  by  3,000  plurality;  Rogers,  Jones  and  Lewis  by 
about  2,800. 

The  Spokesman- Review  attributed  the  result  in  this  state  to  "a  shameful  and 
wholesale  control  of  legislation;  by  ^corporate  influences,  wasteful  extravagance, 
the  frittering  away  of  the  pub||S^|^ps(ipj  scandalous  scenes  attending  senatorial 
elections,  want  of  dignity  in  high  official  life,  the  elevation  of  mediocrity,  peni- 
tentiary scandals,  tide  land  andiharbp^r^lCiE^nd^r^ds,  manipulation  of  state  funds  in 
the  interest  of  favored  banks,  dnd^gi^tftic'cfv^eTriding  of  the  plain  provisions  of 
the  constitution  fixing  a  limit  to  state  indebtedness." 

A  county  seat  contest  in  Lincoln  county  resulted  in  the  removal  of  the  court- 
house from  Sprague  to  Davenport. 

OTHER   EVENTS   OF    1896 

An  early  day  pest  in  the  grain-growing  sections  of  the  Inland  Empire  was 
the  ground  squirrel.      It  bred  in   incredible  numbers,  burrowing  upon   sod  lands. 


480  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

and  coming  out  in  springtime  to  feed  on  the  tender  shoots  of  the  yomig  wheat. 
Farmers  were  driven  to  desperation^  and  some  lost  all  or  nearly  all  their  crops. 
Numerous  were  the  agencies  of  destruction  then  employed — poisoned  wheat,  deadly 
fumes  generated  by  dropping  chemicals  into  the  burrows,  twenty-two  caliber  rifles 
and  Anally  the  State  Agricultural  college  went  at  the  problem  scientifically  and 
worked  out  a  deadly  virus,  inoculating  with  it  large  numbers  of  the  rodents  and 
turning  them  loose  to  carry  the  infection  far  and  near. 

Under  a  state  law  this  year  the  county  commissioners  were  paying  a  bounty 
on  ground  squirrel  tails — one  cent  in  March,  half  a  cent  in  April  and  May.  In  a 
single  month  the  commissioners  paid  bounty  on  40,000  tails.  On  March  31  the 
entire  office  force  was  engaged  in  the  fascinating  and  highly  intellectual  avocation 
of  counting  tails,  and  when  twilight  fell  had  enumerated  that  day  a  grand  total 
of  26,510. 

Congress  made  this  year  the  first  appropriation  for  Fort  George  Wright,  and 
Representative  S.  C.  Hyde  came  home  from  the  capital  with  a  fine  feather  in  his 
cap.  "Uncle  Joe"  Cannon,  chairman  of  the  committee  on  appropriations,  was  try- 
ing to  make  a  record  for  economy,  and  the  committee  threw  out  this  item.  Mr. 
Hyde  appealed  to  Speaker  Reed,  won  his  promise  of  recognition,  and  when  the 
sundry  civil  bill  was  reached  in  the  house,  offered  an  amendment  to  appropriate 
for  Fort  Wright  $75,000  of  the  $300,000  carried  by  the  bill  for  new  buildings  at 
army  posts.  He  reviewed  before  the  house  the  story  of  Spokane's  sacrifice  for  the 
army  post  and  the  flag,  but  Chairman  Cannon  was  flinty-hearted  and  carried  his 
opposition  to  the  floor.  Grosvenor  of  Ohio  supported  Hyde,  and  despite  Mr. 
Cannon's  appeal  to  the  members  to  stand  by  their  committee's  report,  Hyde's 
amendment  carried  by  a  good  majority.  In  conference  the  item  was  trimmed  to 
$50,000. 

L.  H.  Plattor,  prominent  attorney  and  democratic  politician,  was  fatally  shot 
by  Henry  Seiff^rt,  in  the  corridor  of  the  county  courthouse,  August  2.     The  two 
men  had  come  from  Judge  Arthur's  courtroom,  where  a  motion  for  appointment 
of  a  special  administrator  for  the   Rudolph  Gorkow  estate  was  under  considera- 
tion.    Plattor,  who  represented  some  of  the  beneficiaries  of  the  will,  had  made 
remarks  by  Seiffert  construed  as  a  reflection  on  his  character.    Angry  words  passed, 
Plattor  struck  Seiffert  with  his  cane,  and  Seiffert  drew  a  revolver  and  fired  the 
fatal  shot.     Plattor  was  the  democratic  nominee  in   1889  for  lieutenant-governor, 
and  in   1892   for  presidential   elector  on  the  democratic   ticket.     Both  men  were 
prominent  in  the  order  of  Elks.     Seiffert  was  tried  and  acquitted. 

A  new  city  directory  in  August  carried  12,500  names,  an  increase  of  10  per 
cent.     The  city's  population  was  estimated  at  35,280. 

Greatly  enlarged,  with  a  midway,  a  rock-drilling  contest  and  a  poultry  show, 
this  year's  fruit  fair  was  sheltered  in  a  big  tent  adjacent  to  the  Auditorium,  Octo- 
ber 6  to  18.     Total  paid  admissions,  56,031. 


CHAPTER  LIII 

REVIEW  OF  HISTORICAL  EVENTS  OF  1897 

GEORGE   TURNER   ELECTED   TO   THE   SENATE DR.    OLMSTED  DEFEATS   DR.    MAC    LEAN    FOR 

MAYOR H.    L.   WILSON    MINISTER   TO    CHILE SALE   OF   WAR   EAOLE   MINE ^DEVELOP- 
MENT   OF    REPUBLIC ORANBY's    BEGINNINGS MRS.    ARCHER's    PRIZE    POEM DEATH 

OF    "death    on    the    trail" LORD    SHOLTO    DOUGLAS    ARRIVES TRIBULATIONS    OF 

VERY   REV.    DR.    DEAN   RICHMOND    BABBITT TOWN    WIDE    OPEN    AGAIN ROSE    CARNI- 
VAL AND  PARADE PROSPERITY'S   BANNERS   WELL  ADVANCED. 

GEORGE  TURNER'S  election  by  a  fusion  legislature  in  January,  1897, 
gave  Spokane  both  United  States  senators,  as  John  L.  Wilson  was  then 
a  resident  of  the  town.  When  the  legislature  convened  it  was  seen 
that  the  senatorial  contest  was  in  deep  doubt.  While  the  fusion  forces  had  a  large 
majority  on  joint  ballot,  the  populists  evinced  a  disinclination  to  affiliate  with  the 
democrats  and  the  silver  republicans.  They  had  senatorial  aspirants  of  their  own, 
and  a  further  complication  appeared  in  the  persistent  desire  of  Senator  Watson  C. 
Squire  to  be  returned  to  the  senate.  After  some  delays  and  extensive  negotiations, 
the  fusion  members  were  gotten  together  in  caucus,  night  of  January  28,  and 
Turner  made  the  caucus  nominee,  in  spite  of  a  bolt  by  twenty  supporters  of  Squire. 
His  election  followed  on  joint  ballot  the  day  after  the  caucus,  all  the  democrats, 
all  the  silver  republicans  and  forty  of  the  fifty-eight  populists  voting  for  him. 
Senator  Turner  was  given  a  non-partisan  public  greeting  when  he  returned  from 
Olympia  to  his  home.  A  large  reception  committee  included  J.  J.  Browne,  Judge 
W.  E.  Richardson,  R.  B.  Blake,  A.  W.  Doland,  General  A.  P.  Curry,  George  Belt,, 
Sheriff  C.  C.  Dempsey,  Mayor  H.  N.  Belt,  Cyrus  Happy,  George  Mudgett,  Dr. 
Grubbe,  R.  W.  Nuzum,  B.  E.  Barinds,  D.  C.  Newman,  Dr.  J.  D.  MacLean,  L. 
Bertonneau,  Henry  Seiffert,  C.  S.  Rutter,  E.  Dempsie,  N.  W.  Durham,  Charles 
Leary,  Louis  Ziegler,  J.  W.  Daniel,  Dr.  N.  Fred.  Essig,  F.  P.  Hogan,  B.  N. 
Carrier,  L.  H.  Prather,  A.  P.  Wolverton,  Ben.  Norman,  J.  A.  Schiller,  M.  Oppen- 
heimer,  D.  W.  Henley,  E.  T.  Steele. 

At  the  municipal  election  the  Citizens'  ticket  elected  all  its  nominees  except- 
ing councilmen  from  the  Fifth  ward,  where  J.  S.  Phillips  and  A.  W.  McMorran, 
people's  party  nominees,  were  successful.  For  mayor.  Dr.  E.  D.  Olmsted  defeated 
Dr.  J.  D.  MacLean  by  a  majority  of  744,  in  a  total  vote  of  8,880,  For  comp- 
troller, George  Liebes  defeated  Floyd  M.  Daggett,  and  W.  S.  McCrea  became  treas- 
urer by  490  votes  over  F.  J.  J.  Quirk.  C.  S.  Rutter  and  W.  F.  Mitchem  were 
elected  to  the  council  from  the  First  ward,  J.  N.  Glover  and  J.  T.  Omo  from  the 

Vol  1—81 

481 


482  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Second^  J.  M.  Comstock  and  J.  A.  Schiller  from  the  Thirds  and  J.  D.  Hinkle  and 
W.  H.  Acuff  from  the  Fourth. 

In  June  Henry  L.  Wilson^  brother  of  Senator  John  L.  Wilson^  was  appointed 
minister  to  Chile.  He  came  to  Spokane  in  1886^  and  was  editorial  writer  for 
a  while  on  Frank  Dallam's  Daily  Review.  Leaving  journalism  to  embark  in  the 
real  estate  business^  Mr.  Wilson  quickly  amassed  a  fortune  of  $200^000^  but  it 
was  swept  from  his  grasp  in  the  panic  of  1893. 

Early  in  January  F.  Lewis  Clark  and  Charles  Sweeny^  then  partners^  an- 
nounced their  purpose  to  tear  down  the  old  Commercial  hotel  building  at  River- 
side and  Lincoln^  and  the  old  frame  building  adjoining  on  the  west  and  erect  a 
modern  store  and  office  building.  The  city  had  leased  a  part  of  the  ground  sev- 
eral years  before^  and  erected  a  cheap  two-story  city  hall  and  police  station. 
The  famous^  or  infamous^  "ham"  council  met  there  after  the  fire  of  1889. 

By  the  sale  of  the  War  Eagle  mine  in  January^  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  mil- 
lion dollars  of  new  capital  was  poured  into  Spokane.  The  sale  was  negotiated  in 
Toronto  by  Patrick  Clark^  president  of  the  company^  to  the  Gooderham-Blackstock 
S3n3dicate  of  Canadian  investors.  The  mine  had  then  paid  $187^500  in  dividends, 
so  in  round  numbers  that  little  strip  of  Red  Mountain  yielded  nearly  a  million  dol- 
lars towards  the  enrichment  of  Spokane. 

Ratification  of  Mr.  Clark's  deal  was  vigorously  contested  by  the  Corbin  inter- 
ests. The  Gooderham  syndicate  tendered  $770,000  cash,  but  a  competing  syndi- 
cate represented  by  Frank  T.  Post  offered  $900,000  for  the  mine,  $200,000  in 
cash,  the  remainder  in  deferred  payments.  The  Clark-Finch  party  were  supported 
by  a  majority  of  the  voted  shares,  over  the  opposition  led  by  Austin  Corbin  and 
£.  J.  Roberts.  Subsequent  developments  proved  the  wisdom  of  the  cash  sale. 
The  developed  ore  bodies  had  been  almost  exhausted,  and  the  new  owners  were 
soon  confronted  with  the  necessity  of  making  expensive  and  extensive  search  for 
new  reserves. 

Eureka  (Republic)  developed  this  year  into  a  lively  camp.  In  October  it 
boasted  fifty  log  and  canvas  houses,  and  had  ^ve  stores,  three  blacksmith  shops, 
two  barber  shops,  four  restaurants,  two  hotels,  two  fruit  and  cigar  stores,  two 
meat  markets,  three  livery  stables,  three  bakeries,  three  assay  offices,  a  tailor,  a 
shoemaker,  a  doctor,  a  lawyer,  a  jeweler  who  also  sold  patent  medicines  two  sa- 
loons— and  gambling  in  full  blast.  A  cemetery  was  started  when  a  woman  was 
mysteriously  strangled  by  an  unknown  assassin. 

Jay  P.  Graves  returned  from  Montreal  in  May,  successful  organizer  of  « 
company  of  Canadian  and  Spokane  investors  to  take  over  and  develop  the  Old 
Ironsides  mine  in  the  Boundary  district.  S.  E.  Rigg  was ,  president,  Mr.  Gt&vcs 
vice-president  and  James  Penfield  secretary.  A.  L.  White  was  also  identified  with 
the  enterprise.     Such  was  the  beginning  of  Granby. 

An  incident  of  early  summer  was  the  publication  by  the  Review  of  a  number  of 
poems  on  the  Spokane  river.  To  stimulate  interest  in  Spokane's  scenic  setting, 
that  journal  offered  a  small  cash  prize,  to  be  awarded  by  Rev.  O.  J.  Fairfield  and 
J.  Kennedy  Stout.  In  their  judgment,  which  was  sustained  by  public  opinion, 
the  honor  was  clearly  won  by  Mrs.  Sara  F.  Archer,  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools. 
In  beauty  of  expression,  charm  of  imagery  and  haunting  melody  this  poem  has 
yet  to  be  equaled  by  local  effort: 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  483 

O,  beaQtiful   river,  sweep  into  the   west, 
With  the  shadow  of  hemlock  and  fir  on  thy  breast; 
With  the  glint  of  the  green  in  thy  cool,  crystal  wave. 
Thou  hast  stolen  from  hills  that  thy  swift  waters  lave. 

In  the  lake,  hill-encircled,  thy  rushing  rills  meet, 
Down,  down  from  the  heights  come  their  hurrying  feet. 
.From  the  heart  of  the  mountain  thy  bright  torrent  drains. 
Thy  sources  are  deep  in  the  dim  Coeur  d'Alenes. 

Convulsions  volcanic  thy  stern  bed  have  made. 
In  basalt  and  granite  thy  couch  has  been  laid; 
'Tis  veined  with  the  onyx  and  broidered  with  gold. 
And  into  its  gorges  thy  liquid  life  rolled. 

High  over  thy  head  croons  the  sentinel  pine: 
Deep  into  thy  bosom  the  watchful  stars  shine; 
The  tamaracks  gaze  on  thy  foam-covered  face. 
And  shivering,  stand  in  the  breath  of  thy  race. 

Columbia  thunders;  its  echoes  invite. 
Deep  answers  to  deep  in  the  cataract's  might. 
Speed  on  to  thy  nuptials,  exulting  in  pride. 
And  the  peerless  Spokane  is  Columbia's  bride. 

A  picturesque  figure,  seen  often  on  the  city's  streets  in  the  '90s  was  John  W. 
Proctor,  more  generally  known  as  "Death  on  the  Trail."  Proctor  stood  six  feet 
six,  and  wore  habitually  the  attire  of  the  frontier.  He  had  drifted  to  the  Spokane 
country  from  Dakota,  where  he  was  the  original  locator  of  the  town  of  Bismarck, 
and  had  seen  service  as  a  scout  with  the  United  States  troops  in  the  Black  Hills 
and  for  General  Custer  in  the  Sioux  war.  His  home  was  on  the  river  bank  in 
Peaceful  valley,  and  as  he  never  posed  as  a  desperado  or  tough  man,  he  had  many 
friends  and  admirers.  He  found  occupation  as  guide  to  hunting  parties  and  at 
prospecting  for  mineral.  He  met  his  death.  New  Year's  day,  1897,  by  falling 
from  a  rocky  cliff  near  Hope,  Idaho. 

Another  remarkable  character  at  this  time,  though  of  different  type,  was 
Lord  Sholto  Douglas,  a  real  scion  of  British  nobility,  son  of  the  Marquis  of  Queens- 
berry,  who  preferred  the  lights  of  lower  Howard  street  to  his  native  heath.  While 
knocking  around  over  the  Pacific  coast  he  became  enamored  of  a  variety  actress, 
and  impulsively  led  her  to  the  altar  and  thus  conferred  upon  her  the  title  of  Lady 
Douglas. 

Perhaps  the  most  militant  parson  that  ever  shook  the  dust  of  Spokane  from 
his  shoes  was  the  Very  Reverend  Dr.  Dean  Richmond  Babbitt,  who  held  for  a 
year  or  so  the  high  position  of  dean  of  All  Saints  Episcopal  cathedral.  Dr.  Bab* 
bitt  was  scholarly  and  possessed  many  charming  personal  traits,  but  the  chapter 
of  All  Saints  found  him  "temperamentally  difficult,"  as  indeed  he  well  knew  how 
to  be  when  crossed  in  purpose  or  ruffled  in  his  dignity.  In  September,  this  year, 
the  chapter  voted  to  dispense  with  his  services,  whereupon  he  girded  up  his  armor 
and  carried  the  warfare  into  the  ecclesiastical  and  legal  courts,  holding  that  his 


484  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

attempted  removal  was  in  violation  of  his  rights.  The  dean  refused  to  vacate  his 
study  in  the  churchy  and  left  there  on  guard  his  assistant^  the  Rev.  John  Manning. 
In  an  effort  to  regain  possession^  Vestrymen  R.  L.  Rutter^  R.  M.  Russell^  George 
S.  Brooke  and  W.  D.  Vincent  went  there  on  the  night  of  October  13  and  demanded 
possession^  which^  refused^  they  felt  justified  in  resorting  to  force.  The  dean's 
assistant  resisted  eviction^  and  afterwards  complained  that  in  the  scuffle  his  assail- 
ants stifled  his  cries  by  gagging  him  with  a  handkerchief.  Dr.  Babbitt  made  much 
of  this  incident^  but  in  the  end  lost  his  cause  before  the  bishop  and  in  the  courts 
as  well.  Barred  from  the  cathedral^  he  held  independent  services  for  a  while  in 
Elks  temple. 

This  summer  the  town  was  wider  open  than  it  had  been  before^  since  the  re- 
construction period  of  1889-90.     Emboldened  by  lax  enforcement  of  the  laws^  and 
apparent  apathetic  public  sentiment^  the  proprietors  of  the  box-rustling  variety 
theaters^  to  stimulate  attendance^  adopted  the   advertising  plan  of  parading  the 
streets  on  pleasant  afternoons.     Behind  their  bands  came  the  performers  and  a 
host  of  box-rustlers  in  carriages^  a  spectacle  that  aroused  much  indignation  and 
excited  a  sharp  demand  on  Mayor  Olmsted's  administration  for  reform.     "While  I 
am  not  a  puritan/'  said  the  mayor,  "I  am  convinced  that  vice  and  immorality  have 
put  on  too  brazen  a  front  in  Spokane.     We  have  started  out  to  close  the  dance 
halls  and  variety  theaters,  believing  that  they  are  a  detriment  to  the  town  and  a 
menace  to  public  morals."     Regarding  gambling,  the  mayor  said:     "It  is  an  evil, 
and  I  await  the  verdict  of  the  people  and  the  will  of  the  law-making  power.    I  will 
say  this,  however:  if  the  gambling  games  are  to  continue  in  Spokane,  they  must 
be  run  out  of  sight;  there  must  be  no  cinch  games;  they  must  be  under  constant 
police  control,  and  pay  a  considerable  revenue  to  the  city."     Enforcement  of  the 
law  closed  the  dance  halls  and  variety  theaters,  but  the  Coeur  d'Alene  and  the 
Comique  reopened  in  September,  with  a  promise  to  abandon  box-rustling. 

In  June  we  had  a  rose  carnival  and  parade.  Miss  Jessie  Galusha  was  crowned 
queen  of  roses  by  the  mayor,  in  public  exercises  at  Natatorium  park.  Miss  Flor- 
ence Greene  was  maid  of  honor,  Alice  Irvine  crown-bearer,  and  as  flower  girls 
came  Elsie  Crane,  Ruth  Penfield,  and  Frances  Loring.  Ladies  in  waiting  were 
Marie  Luhn,  Jessie  McTavish,  Garrett  Glidden,  Blonde  Nash,  Lucille  Nash,  Ger- 
trude Sweeny,  Mary  Sexton,  Kate  Marshall,  Edna  Campbell  and  Miss  Luhn.  As 
outriders  on  prancing  steeds,  B.  E.  Barinds,  T.  E.  Jefferson,  Guy  Essig,  John  C. 
Onderdonk,  E.  M.  Shaw,  Harry  Vincent,  Jirah  Moseley,  James  Penfield,  Roy  Clark 
and  Howard   Dennis  galloped  here  and  there. 

To  carry  on  the  fruit  fair  a  fund  of  $5,300  was  raised  by  public  subscription 
by  a  committee  comprising  John  A.  Finch,  J.  W.  Wentworth,  O.  L.  Rankin,  J. 
M.  Comstock,  J.  Goldstein,  W.  H.  Cowles,  Howell  Peel,  R.  B.  Paterson,  Fred. 
Mason,  S.  Rosenhaupt,  A.  W.  Doland,  Frank  Grote,  E.  Dempsie,  and  J.  A.  Schiller. 
Under  the  management  of  H.  Bolster  the  fair  scored  another  success,  with  68,000 
paid  admissions  at  15  cents,  and  a  balance  after  all  bills  were  paid  of  $1,624. 
John  A.  Finch  was  president,  and  W.  H.  Cowles,  J.  M.  Comstock  and  H.  M.  Rich- 
ards the  board  of  control. 

Prosperity's  banners  were  now  well  advanced,  and  the  year  brought  much  con- 
struction. In  October,  buildings  completed  this  year  or  under  construction  agg^ 
gated   $1,280,000.      Fine   residences   were   started   by   D.   C.   and  Austin   Corbin, 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  485 

John  A.  Finch,  A.  B.  Campbell  and  many  others;  and  the  Jesuits  expended  $100,000 
on  their  new  Gonzaga  college,  and  built  besides  twenty-four  rental  cottages  on 
their  tract,  at  a  cost  of  $50,000. 

The  new  directory  in  June  indicated  a  ten  per  cent  increase  in  population. 

At  a  meeting  in  October  of  the  Spokane  Lumber  association  the  fact  developed 
that  for  the  first  time  in  seven  years  the  supply  of  dry  lumber  was  exhausted  in 
the  territory  between  Montana  and  the  Cascades,  and  Oregon  and  the  Canadian 
Pacific  railroad.     Prices  were  accordingly  advanced. 

The  death  in  August  of  Horace  £.  Houghton  deprived  Spokane  of  one  of  its 
brightest  and  ablest  minds.  Mr.  Houghton  was  a  pioneer  of  1884.  He  served 
three  terms  as  city  attorney,  and  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  in  1889  and 
again  in   1896. 


CHAPTER  LIV 

SALE  OF  LE   ROI   MINE   TO   BRITISH   COMPANY 

WHITTAKER    WRIGHT,    LONDON    PROMOTER,    OVERREACHES    HIMSELF PEYTON    INTERESTS 

SELL   CONTROL TURNER  INTERESTS   OBJECT CONTESTS   CARRIED   TO  THE   COURTS 

JAY  P.  GRAVES  MAKES  A  FORTUNE TRAGEDY  OP  THE   GREAT  EASTERN   FIRE DEATH 

OF    FRANK    OANAHL,    FAMOUS    PIONEER    LAWYER W.    L.    JONES   AND    F.    C.    CUSHMAN 

ELECTED    TO     CONGRESS FIFTH     ANNUAL    FRUIT    FAIR NORTHERN     PACIFIC     SELLS 

LOW   PRICED   LANDS. 

THE  town  overbuilt  after  the  fire  of  1889,  and  many  owners  of  large  busi- 
ness blocks  having  lost  their  properties  under  mortgage  foreclosure,  a  wary 
spirit  lingered  far  into  the  '90s.  In  1898  the  business  district  stood  sub- 
stantially as  it  had  risen  from  the  ashes  and  debris  eight  years  before,  and  the 
Auditorium,  Review,  Granite,  First  National  (now  the  Exchange  National),  Hyde, 
Rookery,  Femwell,  Lindell,  Van  Valkenberg,  Great  Eastern,  Traders,  Ziegler,  Jam- 
ieson^  Holley-Mason-Marks  and  Hotel  Spokane  buildings  were  still  the  chief  business 
structures  of  the  town.  Spokane  could  exhibit  then  eleven  five-story  buildings, 
seven  of  four  stories,  and  thirty-four  three-story.  But  commerce  h^d  grown,  and 
twenty-three  firms  were  engaged  in  the  jobbing  business.  Bank  clearings  had 
risen  from  the  low  mark  of  $15,000,000  in  1894  to  $33,000,000  in  1897,  and  for 
1898  were  near  the  $40,000,000  mark.  Postoffice  receipts  had  advanced  from 
$41,000  in  the  year  ending  June  80,  1895,  to  $70,000  for  the  year  ended  June 
30,  1898. 

A  summary  taken  that  year  showed  forty-two  miles  of  street  railway,  fifty-six 
church  bodies,  and  a  creditable  array  of  social  organizations,  including  the  Spokane 
club,  the  Country  club,  with  fifty  members  and  grounds  at  Liberty  Park,  the  Spo- 
kane Wheel  club,  the  Spokane  Amateur  Athletic  club,  with  more  than  400  members, 
Sorosis  and  Cultus  clubs  for  women,  Gonzaga  Athletic  association,  Spokane  Junior 
Athletic  club,  German  Turnverein,  Spokane  Rod  and  Gun  club,  a  Ladies'  Riding 
and  Fencing  club,  and  the  Matinee  Musical. 

Among  the  buildings  started  or  completed  this  year  were  Gonzaga  college, 
$100,000;  Fourth  avenue  school,  $46,000;  Liberty  park  school,  $12,000;  Peyton 
building  (the  burned  Great  Eastern  restored),  $46,000;  Crescent  store,  $30,000; 
Buckley  building.  Riverside  and  Post,  $22,000;  Blake  building,  Riverside  between 
Post  and  Lincoln,  $12,000;  Jones  &  Dillingham  building  on  First,  $20,000;  Frank- 
fort block,  Howard  and  Main,  $15,000. 

Many  fine  residences  were  constructed  in  1898,  the  list  including  Austin  Cor- 

487 


488  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

bin's  at  a  cost  of  $83,000;  A.  B.  Campbell's,  $30,000;  Patrick  Clark's,  $40,000; 
D.  C.  Corbin's,  $17,000;  J.  D.  Sherwood's,  $10,000;  W.  E.  Cullen's,  $9,000;  and 
F.  T.  Post's,  $8,000.  In  building,  a  dollar  then  went  nearly  as  far  as  two  dollars 
will  go  today. 

Riverside  avenue   was   paved  this  year,  though  not  without  great  effort,    for 
many  property-holders  were  over-cautious. 

After  a  spectacular  contest,  the  Le  Roi  mine  passed  to  the  control  of  a  British 
company.     Early  in  January  the  British  America  corporation,  a  London  company 
organized  by  Whittaker  Wright,  an  American  who  had  gone  across  the  water  a  few 
years  before  and  hypnotized  a  large  part  of  the  British  investing  public,  put  out 
a  prospectus  which  asserted  that  the  company  had  either  bought  or  taken  option 
on  ten  British  Columbia  mines,  and  featured  the  Le  Roi  as  "the  premier  mine  of 
British  Columbia."     Local  officers  of  the  Le  Roi  promptly  challenged  that  asser- 
tion.   They  said  the  British  company  had  no  option  on  their  mine;  that  they  had 
merely  quoted  Wright  a  price,  the  negotiations  bound  neither  side,  and  the  Le  Roi 
company  was  free  to  sell  to  another  bidder,  or  to  retain  the  property  itself.    For 
his  directors  Wright  had  a  number  of  the  great  names  of  England,  including  Lord 
Loch  and  the  Marquis  of  Dufferin,  who  thus  found  themselves  involved  in  a  shady 
transaction — in  permitting  the  use  of  their  names  for  solicitation  of  stock  subscrip- 
tions upon  what  appeared  to  be   false  representations,  a  thing'  British  law  and 
British  public  sentiment  hold  in  sharp  condemnation.     It  looked  as  though  Whit- 
taker Wright  had  overreached  himself  and  brought  about  conditions  which  placed 
him  at  the  mercy  of  a  little  group  of  astute  gentlemen  in  Spokane. 

The  Peyton  interests  wanted  to  sell  to  the  B.  A.  C,  at  $6  a  share,  $3,000,000 
for  mine  and  smelter.  This  offer  George  Turner  and  W.  M.  Ridpath  resisted  with 
vigor,  but  at  a  meeting  in  May  of  ^ve  of  the  nine  directors,  all  favorable  to  the 
transfer,  they  voted  to  accept  the  London  offer.  At  a  meeting  attended  by  all 
nine  directors,  these  five  voted  to  ratify  the  preliminary  agreement.  Stockholders 
who  assented  to  this  deal,  with  the  number  of  shares  held  by  each  were: 

I.  N.  Peyton 70,000 

J.  G.  English 21,524 

W.   A.    Peyton    16,500 

C.  L.  English   12,341 

L.   D.  Glass    4,000 

J.  T.  English    2,198 

L.  F.  Williams   12,000 

J.  M.  Armstrong 17,000 

D.  W.   Henley    20,000 

Valentine  Peyton    71,086 

These,  with  a  number  of  minor  holdings,  constituted  a  majority  of  the  capital 
stock. 

Under  Canadian  law  it  was  necessary  for  the  directors  to  meet  in  Rossland 
and  ratify  the  Spokane  action,  but  before  that  meeting  could  be  held  the  contest- 
ants carried  the  issue  into  the  British  Columbia  courts.  After  several  months  of 
litigation,  an  agreement  was  reached  with  the  Turner-Ridpath  minority  on  a  basis 
of  about  $8  a  share;  and  thereupon  the  Peyton  majority  interest,  that  had  sold 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  489 

ioT  $6,  set  up  a  demand  for  the  difference,  holding  that  the  British  buyers  had 
promised  them  as  much  additional  as  might  be  paid  for  the  Turner  interests.  This 
demand  the  B.  A.  C.  successfully  resisted  in  the  British  Columbia  courts. 

In  December,  *98,  Jay  P.  Graves  organized  a  company  at  Montreal  to  build 
a  smelter  for  treatment  of  ores  from  the  Old  Ironsides  and  Knob  Hill  mines  in 
the  Boundary  Creek  district.  On  the  Montreal  market  Old  Ironsides  was  selling  at 
$1-40,  Knob  Hill  at  75  cents.  Eighteen  months  previously  Old  Ironsides  was 
hawked  around  Spokane  at  five  cents.  Mr.  Graves  owned  a  quarter  in  each  mine, 
and  his  interests  were  then  rated  at  $500,000.  His  good  fortune  was  the  sensa- 
tion of  the  Spokane  mining  world,  for  four  years  before,  the  panic  and  resulting 
depression  had  stripped  him  bare  and  left  him  worse  than  "broke,"  with  a  heavy 
incubus  of  overhanging  debts. 

In  January,  this  year,  occurred  the  Great  Eastern  fire,  most  disastrous  in  loss 
of  life  in  the  city's  history.  Flames  broke  out  about  midnight,  apparently  in  the 
basement  of  John  W.  Graham  &  Co.*s  store,  and  quickly  the  hallways  above  were 
filled  with  suffocating  clouds  of  smoke.  The  upper  floors  were  occupied  as  apart- 
ments, and  a  number  of  the  roomers  fell  suffocated  in  the  halls  in  a  vain  effort  to 
escape.  Within  a  few  minutes  the  elevator  was  disabled,  escape  was  cut  off  from 
the  stairways,  and  persons  remaining  in  the  building  gathered  at  windows  and 
on  the  fire  escapes.  Many  were  carried  down  ladders  by  the  firemen.  One  man, 
four  women  and  three  little  girls  perished  in  the  smoke  and  flame:  W.  B.  Gordon, 
mining  engineer;  Mrs.  H.  B.  Davies,  Miss  Alice  Wilson,  Maud  Wilson,  Mrs.  Maud 
Smith,  Mrs.  Cora  Peters,  Ethel  and  Alma  Peters.  A  property  loss  of  $240,000 
was  suffered.  Col.  I.  N.  Peyton  bought  the  ruins  and  the  ground,  and  erected 
there  the  following  summer  the  present  Peyton  block. 

A  famous  pioneer  lawyer,  with  a  reputation  for  eloquence  and  biting  sarcasm 
that  extended  from  Mexico  to  Alaska,  was  Frank  Ganahl,  who  died  in  July,  this 
year.  Anecdotes  of  his  wit  and  invective  will  long  be  told  in  cabin  and  oflice  in 
the  Coeur  d*Alenes,  where  he  dwelt  for  several  years  and  figured  in  many  of  the 
noted  mining  cases  of  the  times.  Ganahl  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  public 
s]>eakers  who  ever  mounted  stage  or  forum  in  the  Inland  Empire;  in  the  judgment 
of  many,  he  had  no  peer.  Particularly  I  recall  an  address  he  gave,  some  twenty 
years  ago,  before  the  Irish-American  citizens  of  Spokane,  a  flight  of  oratory  I 
have  seldom  heard  surpassed.  To  his  old-time  friend  and  admirer,  W.  T.  StoU,  I 
am  indebted  for  facts  regarding  his  career  and  fame.  He  came  to  the  Pacific  coast 
in  the  early  '50s,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  and  Harvard's  law  school,  and  at  once 
took  rank  as  one  of  the  foremost  lawyers,  and  perhaps  as  the  foremost  advocate 
and  jury  orator  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

On  the  night  of  the  great  fire,  August  4,  1889,  Ganahl  was  a  guest  in  "Bill" 
Osborn's  hotel  at  Wardner,  and  when  news  came  of  the  conflagration,  Osborn  went 
to  Ganahl's  room,  woke  him  and  said,  "Frank,  Spokane  is  burning  up."  Ganahl 
sat  up  in  bed,  rubbed  his  eyes  a  bit  and  said,  "Bill,  give  me  a  drink." 

A  big  mining  case  was  being  tried  in  the  Idaho  courts,  Ganahl  on  one  side. 
Senator  W.  B.  Heyburn  on  the  other.  It  was  a  hot  day  in  August;  the  case  had 
been  dragging  for  a  long  time,  and  every  one  was  fatigued  and  pretty  well  worn  out. 
Ganahl  asked  for  a  paper,  and  the  judge  said  that  it  was  on  the  table,  pointing  to  it. 
Mr.  Heyburn,  himself  a  very  corpulent  man,  though  not  so  corpulent  as  Mr.  Ganahl, 


190  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

arose  and  politely,  though  humorously,  remarked,  "Mr.  Ganahl,  I  will  get  it  for 
you,  as  I  am  able  to  get  around  better  than  you,  on  account  of  not  being  quite  so 
fat."  Like  an  explosion  of  dynamite,  Ganahl  jumped  to  his  feet,  the  clarion  notes 
from  his  voice  electrifying  every  one,  and  shouted:  "Fat,  am  I?  Ah,  yea,  my  mas- 
ter; I  must  admit  the  soft  impeachment;  but  mark  the  distinction:  I  carry  my  fat 
under  my  belly  band,  where  a  gentleman  should,  and  not  under  my  hat  band,  where 
my  friend  does." 

Ganahl,  concludes  his  old  friend  and  panegyrist,  "was  the  central  figure  in  many 
of  the  great  dramas  enacted  in  the  wilderness  and  on  the  frontier.  He  sleeps  in  an 
unmarked  grave  in  Greenwood  cemetery,  but  his  fame  will  endure  long  after  this 
generation  has  passed  away." 

In  state  convention  at  Ellensburg,  the  fusion  .party  renominated  W.  C.  Jones 
and  James  Hamilton  Lewis  for  congress.  The  republicans  nominated  W.  L.  Jones 
of  Yakima,  and  F.  C.  Cushman  of  Tacoma.  The  November  election  brou^t  a  sharp 
reversal  of  the  public  judgment  of  '96,  and  state  and  county  were  easily  carried 
by  the  republicans.  Cushman  carried  Spokane  county  by  400  majority,  and  the 
republicans  elected  their  entire  county  ticket.  Spokane  sent  to  Olympia  the  follow- 
ing legislative  delegation:  Senate — W.  H.  Plummer  and  W.  E.  Runner,  people's 
party,  holdovers;  Herman  D.  Crow,  republican.  Representatives,  all  republicans: 
Hiram  E.  Allen,  Wallace  Mount,  Joseph  Scott,  Harry  Rosenhaupt,  R.  N.  McLean, 
J.  F.  Sexton,  F.  P.  Witter,  A.  Harrison. 

The  fifth  annual  fruit  fair  opened  October  4,  with  a  parade.  Miss  Katherine 
Hogan  appearing  in  a  chariot  as  goddess  of  plenty.  Grand  Marshal  Lane  C.  Gilliam 
was  assisted  by  J.  C.  Williams,  F.  H.  McCullough,  Sidney  Rosenhaupt,  Oskar 
Huber,  J.  L.  McAtee,  R.  E.  M.  Strickland,  Sidney  Norman,  R.  Insinger  and  N.  R. 
Sibley.  At  the  large  tented  building  adjoining  the  Auditorium,  Miss  Hogan  recited 
a  fruit  fair  ode  from  the  pen  of  Mrs.  Sara  F.  Archer: 

"Another  year  of  garnered  hopes. 
Of  bending  boughs  on  orchard  slopes, 
Of  stubble-fields  where  Ceres  reigns, 
Of  bursting  bams  and  stagg'ring  wains: 
The  tardy  sun  seeks  southern  skies, 
And  Hesperus  is  quick  to  rise." 

President  John  A.  Finch  delivered  an  address  of  welcome.  Attendance  for  twelve 
days,  72,250. 

MINOR   EVENTS   IN    1898 

Attendance  in  the  public  schools  in  November  showed  an  increase  of  more  than 
400  over  November  the  year  before. 

To  stimulate  more  rapid  settlement  of  the  open  places,  the  Northern  Pacific 
adopted  a  policy  of  greatly  lowering  its  land  prices  in  Washington.  Its  remaining 
agricultural  lands  it  sold  at  from  $2  to  $4  an  acre ;  grazing  lands,  from  fifty  cents  to 
a  dollar ;  but  large  part  of  these  "grazing"  areas  were  afterwards  found  to  be  excel- 
lent grain  lands.  From  the  rapid  advance  in  these  land  values,  many  fortunes  were 
made  in  eastern  Washington. 

July  1  the  president  signed  the  bill  to  open  to  mineral  entry  the  south  half  of 
the  Colville  reservation. 


CHAPTER  LV 

INLAND  EMPIRE  SOLDIERS  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES 

SEVEN-TWELFTHS  OF   WASHINGTON'S  REGIMENT   COME   FROM  THE  EAST  SIDE SPOKANe's 

GREETING  TO  THE  SIXTEENTH  INFANTRY REGULARS  DEPART  FOR  CUBA  AND  VOLUN- 
TEERS   FOR    MANILA COMPANIES    A    AND    L    ON    THE    FIRING    LINE GENERAL    KING 

PRAISES  THE  SOLDIER  BOYS  FROM  WASHINGTON  AND  IDAHO SEVERE  LOSSES  IN  ACTION 

DEATHS    FROM    WOUNDS    AND   DISEASE SPOKANE    RED    CROSS   SOCIETY    CHARTERS   A 

TRAIN  AND  BRINGS  OUR  BOYS  HOME  IN  COMFORT  AND   STATE CHEERING  THOUSANDS 

WELCOME  THE  YOUNG  VETERANS MEMBERS  OF  THE  SPOKANE   COMPANIES. 

And^  though  the  warrior's  sun  has  set^ 
Its  light  shall  linger  round  us  yet^ 
Bright^  radiant^  blest. 

— Coplas  De  Manrique. 

PRESIDENT  McKINLEY'S  call  of  April  25,  1898,  for  125,000  volunteers  to 
follow  the  flag  in  the  war  with  Spain,  stirred  deeply  the  martial  spirit  of 
the  young  manhood  of  the  west.  Washington,'  Idaho,  Oregon  and  Montana 
sent  each  a  regiment  of  volunteers,  and  a  large  part  of  these  organizations  came  out 
of  the  Inland  Empire.  In  the  stem  task  of  suppressing  the  Filipino  insurrection 
and  the  more  trying  duty  of  pacification  of  the  island  after  the  crushing  of  the  main 
revolt,  our  western  soldiers  bore  a  gallant  part.  Out  of  85  military  organizations 
participating  in  the  campaigns  in  the  Philippines,  but  four  sustained  greater  losses 
in  action  than  were  suffered  by  the  First  Washington  Volunteers  with  its  fifteen 
men  killed  in  battle.  The  Nebraska  regiment  lost  28,  South  Dakota  20,  Kansas  17, 
and  the  Third  U.  S.  artillery  18.  . 

Besides  its  loss  of  fifteen  in  action,  Washington  lost  nine  who  died  from  wounds 
and  twelve  from  disease,  a  total  of  36.  Idaho  lost  six  in  action,  three  from  wounds 
and  thirteen  from  disease.  Oregon  twelve  in  action,  three  from  wounds  and  31 
from  disease;  and  Montana  gave  ten  in  action,  thirteen  from  wounds  and  18  from 
disease. 

With  one  third  of  the  state's  population,  eastern  Washington  contributed  seven 
of  the  twelve  companies  of  the  Washington  regiment.  Spokane  sent  two  companies, 
and  Walla  Walla,  Waitsburg,  Dayton,  North  Yakima  and  Ellensburg  one  each. 
Wm.  H.  Luhn  of  Spokane  became  adjutant  of  the  regiment,  John  Carr,  of  Dayton, 
major,  and  Wm.  McVan  Patten  of  Walla  Walla,  assistant  surgeon.  George  M. 
Dreher  of  Spokane  served  as  first  lieutenant  of  the  company  from  Centralia. 

491 


492  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Spokane  had  the  honor  of  sending  to  the  flag  two  bodies  of  soldiers  that  gallantly 
distinguished  themselves  in  the  Spanish-American  war  and  on  battle-fields  in  the 
Philippines. 

On  a  bright  day  in  April,  1898,  when  blue  skies  bent  above  them  and  the 
prairie  grasses  rippled  in  the  warm  west  wind,  the  boys  of  the  Sixteenth  regular 
infantry  marched  out  from  their  barracks  at  Fort  Sherman,  gave  a  farewell  look 
upon  the  forest  girded  waters  of  Coeur  d'Alene,  and  were  carried  over  the  railroad, 
35  miles  to  Spokane.  Here  a  cheering  welcome  awaited  them.  With  many  a  smile 
and  many  a  flower,  Spokane  was  out  to  give  them  royal  greeting;  presented  them  a 
silken  flag,  and  bade  them  God-speed  in  the  cause  of  human  freedom.  On  Santiago 
field  the  Sixteenth  led  the  charge,  and  suffered  greater  losses  there  than  fell  to  any 
other  regiment.  Many  a  brave  fellow  fell  in  that  memorable  battle,  nevermore  to 
see  the  sunlight  gleaming  on  the  forest  slopes  of  Idaho. 

Nine  days  later  the  town  had  tears  and  cheers  for  its  departing  volunteers, 
when  companies  A  and  L  bade  goodbye  to  friends  and  kindred  and  began  the  long 
service  which  carried  them  to  distant  isles  of  the  sea,  and  placed  them  in  the  post 
of  honor  in  the  fierce  battle  of  Manila.  In  that  engagement  our  Washington  and 
Idaho  soldiers  fought  with  distinguished  courage,  and  the  Washington  men  sus- 
tained severer  losses  than  fell  on  any  other  regiment  in  action. 

April  21  ^ve  companies  of  the  Sixteenth  arrived  here,  en  route  to  the  front- 
Business  houses  decorated  with  the  colors,  and  the  public  schools  were  dismissed  to 
let  the  children  view  the  patriotic  parade.  For  mascot  the  regiment  bore  a  live 
eagle,  and  nearly  600  men  were  in  line,  with  Colonel  Thaker  in  command. 

Impending  war  confronted  the  Union.  Congress  had  declared  the  independence 
of  the  Cuban  republic,  demanded  that  Spain  take  down  her  yellow  flag  and  leave 
the  island,  and  to  enforce  its  decree  placed  the  entire  land  and  naval  forces  at  the 
president's  command.  Thereupon  McKinley  called  for  125,000  troops,  and  Wash- 
ington's quota  was    1,178. 

To  the  stirring  strains  of  "Yankee  Doodle,"  "Dixie,"  and  "The  Girl  I  Left  Be- 
hind Me,"  Spokane's  two  companies,  L  and  battery  A,  light  artillery,  converted 
into  an  infantry  company,  left  the  city  Saturday,  April  30,  for  the  concentration 
camp  near  Tacoma.  As  they  marched  up  Riverside,  the  avenue  was  a  blase  of  red, 
while  and  blue.  At  the  Northern  Pacific  they  took  position  before  a  platform  and 
heard  farewell  speeches  by  Mayor  Olmsted  and  J.  M.  Comstock,  president  of  the 
city  council.  The  great  throng  cheered  the  presentation  of  flags,  and  there  was 
continuous  cheering  as  the  train  drew  out  at  2:45. 

May  1  the  twelve  companies  assembled  at  Camp  Rogers  near  Tacoma,  so  named 
in  honor  of  Governor  John  R.  Rogers.  Companies  A  and  L  of  Spokane  were  mus- 
tered in  May  9;  and  on  the  same  day  Company  E  of  North  Yakima,  with  Marshall 
S.  Scudder  as  captain,  Fred.  T.  Briggs  first  lieutenant,  and  Wm.  L.  Lemon  second 
lieutenant.  Company  I  of  Walla  Walla  followed  the  next  day  with  Wm.  B.  Buffum 
as  captain.  Morrow  C.  Gustin  first  lieutenant,  and  Thomas  D.  S.  Hart  second  lieu- 
tenant. The  same  day  saw  the  mustering  in  of  Company  F  of  Dayton,  with  Chester 
F.  Miller  captain,  Charles  A.  Booker  first  lieutenant,  and  George  B.  Dorr  second 
lieutenant.  Company  H  of  EUensburg  was  mustered  in  May  11,  with  Alfred  C. 
Steinman  captain,  Samuel  C.  Davidson  first  lieutenant,  and  Edward  G.  Southern 
second  lieutenant.     Company  K  of  Waitsburg  was  mustered  in  the  next  day,  with 


WASHINGTON  SCOUTS.  TAKEN  AT  PASIGO,  PHILIPPINES 


WASHINOTON    TROOPS    EMBARKING    ON   THE   VALENCIA    AT    SAN   FRANCISCO 


TKit  NEW  Y')P.K 

'PUBLIC  LIB'kAKY 


1. 


'     THE  NEW  YORK 

IPUBLIC  LIBKAKY 
1 

*6 

SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  493 

Charles  T.  Smith  captain^  Jesse  K.  Arnold  first  lieutenant,  and  John  B.  Caldwell 
second  lieutenant. 

We  need  not  trace  here  the  minute  details  of  the  weeks  of  active  preparation, 
the  movement  of  the  regiment  to  San  Francisco,  and  the  busy,  interesting  days 
passed  there  awaiting  orders  to  sail  to  the  Philippines.  These  came  in  October,  to 
the  intense  delight  of  every  man  in  the  regiment,  and  November,  1898,  found  our 
soldier  boys  in  Manila. 

From  an  accoimt  of  the  field  operations  of  the  regiment,  compiled  by  Adjutant 
Luhn  and  published  in  ''Campaigning  in  the  Philippines,**  we  take  an  interesting 
excerpt : 

"The  regiment  was  assigned  to  the  2d  brigade,  1st  division,  8th  army  corps,  but 
shortly  after  was  assigned  to  the  1st  brigade,  1st  division,  with  General  King  as 
brigade  commander  and  General  Anderson  division  commander.  Our  duty  com- 
menced on  December  8th,  six  days  after  landing,  by  furnishing  the  guard  for  out- 
post duty  at  blockhouse  No.  11,  where  the  ppst^qf  o,uj  s^nCihel  was  on  one  side  of 
the  Concordia  bridge,  while  that  of  the  insurgent  sentinel  was  on  the  other. 

"Concordia  bridge  is  so-called  because  it  spans  the  small  creek  of  Concordia. 
The  insurgents  at  this  place  had  concentrated  a  strong  support  of  their  advanced 
line.  The  delimitation  between  the  American  and  insurgent  forces  had  been 
thoroughly  defined  and  assented  to  by  the  two  commanders,  and  the  stations  of  the 
two  sentries  at  the  bridge  were  on  these  lines,  and  any  advance  by  either  would  be  an 
encroachment  which  justified  forcible  resistance.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  sentry 
was  not  only  in  the  habit  of  invading  the  neutral  ground,  but  taunting  and  daring 
our  sentry  to  molest  him.  At  times  so  threatening  was  the  situation  because  of  this 
that  the  command  was  called  under  arms. 

"As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Washington  regiment  was  put  to  the  front,  where  it 
had  its  full  share  of  outpost  and  other  duty  from  the  start.  First  Lieutenant  David- 
son, who  was  left  at  Angel  Island,  California,  on  account  of  physical  disability, 
was  discharged,  and  on  December  9  Second  Lieutenant  Southern  was  promoted  to  be 
first  lieutenant,  and  Regimental  Sergeant  Major  Joe  Smith  was  commissioned  a 
second  lieutenant  to  succeed  Lieutenant  Southern.  Private  Thomas  W.  Lemon,  com- 
pany A,  was  appointed  regimental  sergeant-major  to  succeed  Joe  Smith." 

For  three  months  the  American  and  insurgent  forces  confronted  each  other, 
with  the  tension  growing  constantly  more  acute.  Our  forces  were  under  constant 
admonition  to  avoid  a  conflict,  and  this  policy  of  forbearance  was  misconstrued  by 
the  Filipinos  as  cowardice.  The  break  came  on  the  night  of  February  4,  1899, 
when  four  armed  Filipino  soldiers  triedi  to  pass  the"  iiiiierican  line  near  block  house 
6,  and  refusing  to  halt,  were  fired  upon"by  private  Grayson  of  the  Nebraska  regi- 
ment. Almost  instantly  volleys  came  from  the  Filipino  earthworks.  The  war  had 
come. 

As  the  day  wore  away  (February  5)  the  firing  on  General  King's  line  became 
heavier,  and  the  Washington  and  Idaho  regiments  were  put  on  the  firing  line  on 
the  Paco  front.  In  his  report,  speaking  of  the  action  of  the  Washington  regiment 
when  the  advance  order  was  given.  General  King  said: 

"At  that  moment  the  First  Washington  had  six  companies  at  our  front,  support- 
ing block  house  No.  1 1 .  This  gallant  regiment  had  been  the  delight  of  the  brigade 
commander  for  weeks  past.     It  was  so  soldierly,  so  well  drilled,  and  so  thorough  in 


494  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

every  duty.  Now  it  had  to  lie  down  in  the  rice  fields  and  answer  as  best  it  could  a 
rasping  fire  coming  in  three  directions  from  across  the  stream^  a  narrow  estuary 
of  the  Pasig^  that  formed  the  dividing  line  between  Manila  limits  and  the  territory 
of  the  insurgents.     .     .     .     Then  at  last  the  order  came — and  then  the  result. 

"I  have  seen  the  hounds  loosed  from  their  leash^  and  racers  from  the  best  states 
given  the  drum-tap  and  the  word  "go,"  but  in  all  my  life  I  have  seen  no  moment, 
known  no  exhilaration  like  that  that  came  when,  launching  the  Washington  state 
volunteers  across  the  stream  and  letting  the  Idahos  follow  close,  I  rode  into  the 
attack.  .  .  .  The  Washingtons  took  the  plunge  into  the  narrow  little  estuary 
and  clambered  the  opposite  bank,  mud  up  to  their  middles,  but  in  an  instant  their 
Springfields  were  blazing  across  the  fields,  and  Johnny  Filipino  streaked  it  for  his 
entrenchments,  dived  into  them  like  so  many  prairie  .dogs,  and  then,  turning,  let 
drive  with  Mauser  and  Remington  on  the  steadily  advancing  lines. 

"The  sight  of  the  Idaho  regiment  coming  up  from  Paco  with  colors  flying  (they 
wouldn't  leave  them  behind)  seemed  to  set  fire  to  every  wall  and  hedgerow,  and 
the  bullets  buzzed  like  wasps  in  a  fury,  sweeping  Santa  Ana  bridge  diagonally, 
smashing  lamps  into  flinders,  and  sending  chips  flyii^  from  the  stone  parapets 
.  .  .  Something  had  to  be  done  to  at  least  quell  that  infernal  fire  from  the  left 
front,  and  looking  about  me  for  available  infantry,  I  could  for  an  instant  see  noth- 
ing but  the  dead  and  wounded  of  the  Washington  still  lying  on  the  original  battle 
line,  where  we  had  so  long  been  held  in  check  by  orders  from  the  rear. 

''I  think  I  never  knew  a  sensation  quite  as  thrilling  as  when  from  just  behind 
the  slowly  advancing  firing  line  at  the  center  on  the  Santa  Ana  road,  I  heard  the 
crash  of  McConville's  (Idaho)  and  Fortson's  (Washington)  volleys  at  the  left  rear, 
and  saw  them  leap  out  of  their  cover  on  its  left,  and,  obedient  to  the  chief,  swing 
upon  the  enemy  and  head  for  the  Pasig — the  right  and  center  goii^  square  into  and 
through  Santa  Ana,  and  the  center  sharing  in  the  glory  of  the  left  in  the  capture 
of  the  Krupps  and  the  carrying  of  the  redoubts.  I  can  .still  hear  the  glorious  bursts 
of  cheers  with  which  the  center  went  over  to  the  enemy's  works,  and  the  echoing 
hurrahs  where,  just  a  fourth  of  a  mile  away,  Fortson  with  his  Washington  battalion, 
and  McConville  with  two  Idaho  battalions,  were  making  mincemeat  of  the  west 
redoubt.     .     .     . 

"In  killed  and  wounded  we  had  lost  some  gallant  officers  and  men — seventy  was 
the  number  sent  in  by  the  surgeons  that  night — but  the  fields  over  which  we  charged, 
the  earthworks,  the  redoubts,  the  village  streets,  the  river  banks,  were  strewn  with 
the  insurgent  dead." 

Adjutant  Luhn  explains  that  the  Krupp  guns  of  which  the  General  speaks 
were  captured  by  Lieutenant  Southern  and  his  brave  fellows  of  Company  H.  In 
the  rush  they  had  no  time  to  haul  the  guns,  but  took  the  breech-blocks,  sights,  lan- 
yards and  primers.  "This,"  adds  Adjutant  Luhn,  "was  the  heaviest  battle  of  the 
war.  With  a  very  few  exceptions  among  some  old  regulars  who  had  enlisted  in  the 
regiment,  there  was  not  a  man  who  had  ever  been  imder  fire.  Every  man  stood 
to  his  duty,  and  this  can  be  no  more  conclusively  proven  than  by  the  fact  that  the 
casualties  were  17  per  cent  greater  than  in  any  other  organization.  .  .  .  This, 
in  brief,  is  the  history  of  the  first  battle  in  which  the  First  Washington  volunteers 
participated.  Our  loss  in  this  engagement  was  nine  killed  and  46  wounded,  Lieu- 
tenants Erwin  and  Smith  being  among  the  latter." 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  495 

In  this  engagement  the  Idaho  regiment  charged  a  redoubt^  carrying  it  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet,  and  driving  an  insurgent  regiment  to  the  bank  of  the  river, 
annihilated  it.  Not  a  man  was  seen  to  gain  the  opposite  bank.  Major  Figgins  of 
the  Idahos  estimated  the  enemy's  loss  in  this  movement  at  700  killed,  wounded, 
drowned  and  captured. 

Their  service  over,  the  Spokane  boys  were  mustered  out  at  San  Francisco,  and 
came  home  in  a  special  train,  chartered  by  the  ladies  of  the  Spokane  Red  Cross 
society,  who  raised  by  public  subscription  a  necessary  fund  of  several  thousand 
dollars.    Their  home-coming  (in  November,  1899),  was  the  occasion  of  a  noble  out- 
pourings of  patriotic  pride  and  gratitude.     The  special  train  drew  in  at  the  station, 
at  9  o'clock  in  the  morning,  to  a  greeting  of  bells,  whistles  and  cheers.     Breakfast 
was  served  the  young  veterans,  in  Elks  temple,  by  the  ladies  of  the  Red  Cross,  who 
had  strung  a  long  banner  across  the  hall,  bearing  the  inscription,  "Welcome,  In- 
vincible First  Washington  Volunteers,"  and  as  the  soldier  boys  marched  into  the 
room,  they  met  a  rattling  volley  of  feminine  hand-clapping.     After  breakfast  came 
a  parade,  with  Lieutenant  E.  K.  Erwin  as  marshal  of  the  day,  accompanied  by  Cap- 
tain £.  Martinson,  Lieutenant  Joe  Smith,  Chaplain  C.  C.  Bateman,  and  Hospital 
Steward  McBride.     Chief  Witherspoon  and  a  platoon  of  police,  lead  by  Sergeant 
John  Sullivan,  marched  in  advance,  and  next  in  order  came  Sedgwick  and  Reno  posts 
of  the  G.  A.  R.,  under  command  of  Mayor  Comstock ;  a  band,  company  A,  company 
L,  carriage  with  Mrs.  Virginia  K.  Hay  ward,  president  of  the  Red  Cross  society, 
Mrs.  George  Turner  and  a  Filipino  boy  brought  home  by  Lieutenant  Nosier;  car- 
riages bearing  Mesdames  L.  J.  Birdseye,  L.  B.  Stratton,  S.  K.  Green,  J.  A.  Schiller, 
A.  P.  Foster,  W.  S.  Nettleton,  N.  W.  Durham,  W.  S.  Bickham,  J.  H.  Madison,  M. 
M.  Cowley,  J.  W.  Chapman,  Frank  Ganahl,  M.  E.  Kelly,  Ette  A.  Whitehouse,  L.  F. 
Williams  and  C.  H.  Wolf.     County  and  city  officials  completed  the  first  division, 
marshaled  by  General  A.  P.  Curry  and  Dr.  R.  B.  Freeman. 

Leading  the  second  division  came  Aides  Frank  McCullough  and  Dan  Weaver, 
and  after  them  the  boys  brigade  in  which  marched  boys  of  the  high  school,  Gon- 
saga  college  students,  and  boys  from  the  grade  schools. 

Dr.  H.  B.  Luhn  and  W.  S.  McCrea  led  the  third  division  of  clubs  and  societies. 

At  the  Auditorium  speeches  were  made  by  Mayor  Comstock,  Senator  George 

Turner,  Ex-Senator  John  L.  Wilson  and  Mrs.  Virginia  K.  Hayward.     A  living  flag 

chorus  was  directed  by  Dr.  R.  A.  Heritage.     Mrs.  A.  J.  Shaw  and  Stage  Manager 

Jack  Quinn  had  decorated  the  theater. 

Supper  and  a  campfire  at  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  church  added  a  final 
touch  to  a  day  of  enthusiastic  greetings. 

COMPANY   L 

Captain  Jos.  M.  Moore,  First  Lieutenant  John  E.  Ballaine,  Second  Lieutenant 
Charles  E.  Nosier,  First  Sergeant  Leroy  L.  Childs,  Quartermaster  Sergeant  Howard 
Woodard,  Sergeants  Thomas  Doody,  William  G.  Adams,  Reno  D.  Hoppe,  James 
J.  Butler;  Corporals  James  B.  Raub,  Frank  M.  Merriam,  Otis  L.  Higbee,  Robert 
D.  Dow,  Walter  A.  Dickson,  Wm.  H.  Egbert,  Charles  O.  Miller,  Alfred  C.  Saun- 
ders, Samuel  Jensen,  J.  Grant  Hinkle,  Charles  W.  Schmidt,  Milton  Rhodes,  Will 
0.  Campbell;  Musicians  David  H.  Durgin  and  Morton  G.  Smith;  Artificer  George 


496  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

E.  Hedger,  Wagoner  Marshall  W.  Pullen;  Privates  Hector  W.  Allen,  Charles  G. 
Anderson,  Robert  E.  Bowman,  Wm.  M.  Briggs,  Joseph  L.  Buckley,  George  H. 
Burggrabe,  Els  worth  Button,  Charles  A.  Carson,  Charles  A.  Christy,  Robert  H. 
Diehl,  Ernest  E.  Drake,  Charles  A.  Dunn,  Robert  T.  Dye,  Wm.  Eddind,  Carson 

E.  Ellis,  Edward.  R.  Ennis,  Wm.  T.  Fleming,  George  F.  Harson,  Walter  R.  Has- 
kin,  Thomas  T.  Hause,  Charles  Hedger,  John  B.  Heybum,  Charles  A.  Janes,  Stan- 
ley Jodrey,  Fred  J.  King,  George  E.  Marks,  Charles  H.  Merriam,  Clifford  M. 
Mumby,  John  B.  McChesney,  John  Perry,  Clarence  V.  Roberts,  Arthur  Rose, 
Charles  J.  Shidler,  Henry  J.  Sievers,  Robert  J.  Sly,  Orpheus  U.  Tatro,  Orlando  P. 
Vaughn,  Lee  F.  Warren,  John  H.  Wells,  Mortimer  J.  Winter. 

Discharged — Quartermaster  Sergeant  Wm.  Q.  Kelley,  Sergeants  Joseph  W. 
Childs  and  Fred  B.  Slee;  Corporals  Moray  J.  Craig  and  Henry  K.  Harrison;  Leon- 
ard F.  Adams,  George  G.  Ahlbaum,  John  B.  Arrowsmith,  John  J.  Baglin,  Walter 
R.  Bucklew,  Benton  Edgcombe,  Lewis  C.  Greenwood,  Warren  A.  Harper,  George 
M.  Harty,  John  E.  Jardine,  John  J.  Kane,  Edward  Lamb,  Charles  J.  Lee,  Alex.  H. 
Mattinks,  Robert  T.  Morrison,  Arthur  R.  Porter,  John  Pruitt,  Wm.  Schermerhom, 
Patrick  Shea,  Jos.  M.  Stewart,  Edward  H.  Truax,  Herbert  C.  Vaughan,  Charles 

F.  Watrous,  Edward  A.  Baldwin,  George  A.  Newcomb,  Allen  Ray,  Ira  E.  Rose, 
Allen  R.  Scott,  Charles  H.  Smith,  John  Smith,  John  W.  Willis,  Harvey  Woodbridge. 

Transferred — Corporal  Hugh  Cusick,  Melvin  R.  Arant,  Albert  Anderson,  Tru- 
man K.  Hunt,  Edward  Smith. 

Died — Corporal  Harry  R.  S.  Stroud,  of  dysentery  at  regimental  hospital;  Wal- 
ter M.  Hanson,  killed  in  battle  at  Santa  Ana. 

Woimded — First  Sergeant  Leroy  S.  Childs,  left  arm;  Sergeant  Reno  D.  Hoppe, 
over  left  eye;  Charles  G.  Anderson,  left  leg;  Carson  E.  Ellis,  left  arm;  Edward  R. 
Ennis,  right  breast;  John  Truitt,  in  both  legs;  Wm.  Schermerhorn,  left  arm. 

COMPANY   A 

Captain  A.  H.  Otis,  First  Lieutenant  William  I.  Hinckley,  Second  Lieutenant 
Walter  L.  McCallum,  First  Sergeant  Fred  L.  Titsworth,  Quartermaster  Sergeant 
James  A.  Timewell,  Sergeants  Herman  P.  Hasler,  William  T.  Harrison,  Walter 
A.  Graves  and  Kendall  Fellowes,  Corporals  Daniel  Raymond,  Ernest  C.  Hollings- 
worth,  George  F.  DeGraff,  Wm.  C.  Ackerman,  Charles  F.  Delano,  John  F.  Mitdiell, 
Robert  M.  Betts,  Fred.  W.  Schander,  Ed.  Fox,  Thomas  B.  Richart,  Walter  A 
Nicholls  and  Ancil  C.  Raybum;  Cook  Ernest  Wizeman,  Musician  Amo  L.  Marsh, 
Artificer  Charles  E.  Black;  Wagoner  Walter  W.  Hicks. 

Privates — Albert  Anderson,  Arthur  E.  Anderson,  Loyal  T.  Bintliff,  Robert  F. 
Britton,  George  E.  Childs,  Fred.  Chapman,  John  F.  Crowley,  John  A.  Coughlin, 
Leo  M.  Domberg,  Stephen  A.  Dunn,  Oliver  P.  Eslick,  Wm.  C.  Everett,  Wm.  R. 
Fait,  Dennis  C.  Feeney,  Edward  D.  Freeman,  Edward  D.  Furman,  Elmer  E.  Gor- 
don, Loren  D.  Grinstead,  Gust  Gustafson,  John  L.  Harrington,  Robert  A.  Harris, 
Thomas  Honey,  Otto  H.  Hoppe,  Clement  C.  Hubbard,  Albert  D.  Hughes,  Wm.  A. 
Long,  Wm.  T.  McNeill,  Wm.  E.  Nickerson,  John  M.  Pike,  George  E.  Primley, 
Clyde  Secrist,  Oscar  Sowards,  Harry  Stenson,  M.  E.  Thompson  Jr.,  George  Zuppe. 

Discharged — ^First  Lieutenant  Edward  K.  Erwin,  First  Sergeant  Milo  C.  Corey, 
Sergeants  Louis  E.  Brigham,  Robert  G.  Eraser,  Walter  L.  McCallum,  Charles  B. 


WASHINGTON  CONVALESCENTS  AT  THE  FIRST  RESERVE  HOSPITAL 


MONTANA  MEN  ON  THE  FIRING  LINE 


^1   «M,     Ck*^* 


•     THii  NEW  VO|vK      I 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  497 

Syphert;  Corporals  Fred.  R.  Bingham^  Peter  M.  Gauvreau^  Harvey  J.  Martin, 
Fred-  H.  Marsh,  James  H.  Pierce,  George  M.  Tattle,  Wm.  H.  Young;  Privates 
Swen  G,  Beckman,  Peter  Christensen,  Harry  Clark,  George  Crerar,  John  A.  De- 
lancey,  Jos.  E.  Dougherty,  James  F.  Greek,  Charles  J.  Green,  George  Gros,  Gilbert 
Haigh,  George  W.  Harlan,  David  Hyatt,  John  C.  Kline,  Thomas  A.  Lemon,  Alex,  J. 
McDonald,  Wm.  A.  May,  John  W.  McArthur,  James  McCauley,  Wm.  H.  Melville, 
Wm.  A.  Myers,  Joseph  O'Hara,  Elbert  W.  Owen,  Frank  Rivers,  Wm.  W.  Rolf e,  Wm. 
C.  Russell,  George  Scott,  Ray  Spear,  John  W.  Stephens,  Henry  Yake. 

Transferred — Robert  L.  Clarke,  Jeremiah  L.  Dore,  Charles  H.  Merriam,  Mor- 
ton G.  Smith,  George  M.  Stiles. 

Dead — Corporal  George  W.  McGowan  and  Ralph  W.  Simonds,  killed  in  action 
near  blockhouse;  Richard  H.  McLean,  died  of  wotihds  received  in  action. 

Wounded — Captain  Albert  H.  Otis,  in  right  cheek;  First  Lieutenant  Edward 
K.  Erwin,  in  left  shoulder;  Quartermaster  Sergeant  James  A.  Timewell,  in  left 
forearm;  Sergeant  Kendall  Fellowes,  .in. left.  li}p;  Corporal  Charles  F.  Delano,  in 
left  hand;  Corporal  John  F.  Mitchell,  left  leg;  Corporal  Fred.  W.  Schander,  right 
cheek  and  right  shoulder;  Joseph  £.  Dougherty,  left  hip  and  leg;  Wm.  E.  Everett, 
right  shoulder;  Wm.  R.  Fait,  left  forearm;  James  F.  Greek,  left  shoulder;  Otto  H. 
Hoppe,  in  head;  John  C.  Kline,  lower  jaw;  Wm.  A.  Myers,  left  forearm;  Elbert 
W.  Owen,  in  neck;  Frank  Rivers,  right  elbow;  Oscar  Sowards,  right  elbow;  George 
Znppe,  right  knee. 


voLX-as 


CHAPTER  LVI 

TWO  PROGRESSIVE  YEARS,  1899  AND  1900  REVIEWED 

D.  C.  CORBIN  ESTABLISHES  BEET  SUGAR  INDUSTRY FOSTER  ELECTED  SENATOR REPUBLIC 

TO    THE    FRONT SALE    OF    REPUBLIC    MINE qLARK    AND    SWEENY    IN    THE    COEUR 

d'aLENES HEROIC    DEATH    OF    ENSIGN    MONAOHAN SPOKANE    INDUSTRIAL    EXPOSI- 
TION  ELKS   HOLD   IMPOSING   CARNIVAL GREAT  WAVE   OF   IMMIGRATION GOVERNOR 

ROGERS    REELECTED REPUBLICANS     CARRY    REST    OF    TICKET WILLIAM     JENNINGS 

BRYAN  HERE "HOT  AIR"  RAILROAD  BUILT  TO  REPUBLIC. 

DC.  CORBIN  announced  in  March,  1899,  his  intention  to  build  a  $350,000 
beet  sugar  factory  at  Waverly,  in  the  southern  part  of  Spokane  county. 
Col.  E.  H.  Morrison  had  cleared  the  way  by  years  of  careful,  extensive  ex- 
perimentation with  the  sugar  beet  on  his  large  estate  at  Fairfield,  and  systematic 
scientific  testing  of  his  product  by  the  school  of  science  at  the  State  College  at 
Pullman  had  piled  proof  upon  proof  that  soil  and  climate  of  the  Palouse  country 
would  yield  beets  of  high  sugar  pontent  and  exceptional  purity.  Three  years  prior 
to  Mr.  Corbin's  action,  the  Spokane  chamber  of  commerce  enlisted  its  efforts,  and 
with  the  enthusiastic  assistance  of  its  secretary,  John  R.  Reavis,  induced  the  legisla- 
ture to  offer  a  bounty  in  1897  for  encouragement  of  the  infant  industry.  Into  this  in- 
viting field  first  came  the  agents  of  a  wealthy  Scotch  company,  but  these  willing  in- 
vestors were  repelled  by  the  provision  in  the  state  constitution  which  inhibits  owner- 
ship of  land  by  aliens.  They  sought  various  ways  of  getting  around  this  barrier, 
but  in  the  end  had  to  abandon  their  purpose. 

At  the  session  of  1899,  the  legislature  enacted  another  bill,  to  pay  bounty  of 
one  cent  a  pound  on  sugar  produced  within  three  years  in  factories  completed  prior 
to  November  1,  1901,  not  more  than  $50,000  to  be  paid  in  boimties  in  one  year. 
Thus  encouraged,  Mr.  Corbin  engaged  in  the  enterprise  with  his  characteristic  vigor 
and  intelligence,  and  in  spite  of  some  disappointments  and  imforeseen  obstacles, 
planted  successfully  a  new  industry  on  the  Palouse  hills  and  in  the  Spokane  valley. 
The  first  carload  of  sugar  from  this  factory  was  received  in  Spokane  January  28, 
1900. 

The  legislative  session  in  January  brought  the  turmoil  of  another  senatorial  elec- 
tion. John  L.  Wilson  was  a  candidate  for  reelection,  but  found  himself  heavily 
handicapped  by  a  feeling  throughout  the  state  that  Spokane  should  not  indefinitely 
wear  dual  senatorial  honors.  Levi  Ankeny  of  Walla  Walla,  who  had  failed  in  his 
contest  in  1895,  returned  for  another  struggle.  King  county  advanced  Judge  Humes 
as  its  nominal  candidate,  but  belief  was  widespread  that  he  played  the  role  of  a 

499 


500  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

stalking-horse  for  Ankeny.  Pierce  coimty  came  into  the  fight  with  Addison  G.  Fos- 
ter of  Tacoma.  On  first  ballot  the  fusion  forces  gave  their  complimentary  yote  of 
twenty-seven  to  James  Hamilton  Lewis^  and  the  republican  streng^  was  divided — 
Foster  twenty-six,  Wilson  twenty-five,  Humes  twenty-two,  Ankeny  eight.  In  caucus 
the  Humes  forces  went  to  Ankeny,  and  the  Wilson  followers  moved  over  en  masse  to 
Foster,  and  the  Tacoma  man  was  made  the  caucus  nominee  in  spite  of  a  bolt  by  the 
Ankeny-Humes  alliance.  Foster  was  elected  senator,  February  1,  receiving  eighty- 
one  of  the  eighty-three  republican  votes. 

Republic  was  now  to  the  forefront  in  the  mining  world,  and  under  Patrick 
Clark's  management  the  Republic  mine  had  disbursed  dividends  in  May  aggregat- 
ing $190,000.  Control  of  this  property  passed  now  into  Canadian  hands,  and  a 
new  company  was  formed,  with  8,500,000  shares  at  $1  each,  the  British  interests 
buying  out  the  Spokane  owners  at  prices  ranging  around  $3  per  share  for  the  old 
stock,  or  a  valuation  of  about  $8,000,000  for  the  mine.  Phil  Creasor  and  Tom  Ryan 
staked  this  claim  in  February,  1896,  on  a  grubstake  by  L.  H.  Long  and  Charles 
Robbins,  but  little  work  was  done  that  year.  Denis  Clark  looked  over  the  ledge  in 
1897  and  found  good  values.  A  company  was  formed,  and  in  June  Patrick  Clark 
acquired  a  controlling  interest.  A  large  quantity  of  the  stock  was  sold  in  Spokane  at 
ten  cents  a  share. 

Charles  Sweeny  and  F.  Lewis  Clark  were  now  operating  boldly  and  extensively  in 
the  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  the  Buffalo  Hump  country  of  central  Idaho.  They  bought, 
in  June,  the  Tiger-Poorman  mine  from  the  Glidden  interests,  at  a  reputed  price  of 
$240,000,  and  organized  the  Empire  State-Idaho  company,  with  holdings  of  the  Last 
Chance  and  seventeen  other  claims  in  Wardner. 

News  of  the  heroic  death  of  Ensign  Monaghan,  of  the  United  States  navy,  son 
of  the  well  known  pioneer  James  Monaghan,  came  from  distant  Samoa  in  April. 
The  Samoan  islands  were  then  under  a  triple  protectorate  of  the  United  States, 
Germany  and  Great  Britain.  Mataafa,  the  deposed  chief,  secretly  encouraged,  it 
was  thought,  by  Germany,  had  risen  in  revolt.  A  small  scouting  party  of  Ameri- 
cans and  British  had  gone  a  short  distance  into  the  interior,  and  found  themselves 
ambushed  by  a  vastly  superior  party  of  hostile  natives.  The  New  Zealand  Herald 
thus  reported  the  tragic  encounter: 

"Ensign  Monaghan  acted  like  a  hero  during  the  affair,  and  the  English  officers 
here  declare  that  his  self-sacrifice  and  bravery  entitled  him  to  the  Victoria  cross. 
Lieutenant  Lansdale  (of  the  British  navy),  Ensign  Monaghan  and  a  few  British 
and  American  sailors  were  together  when  Lansdale  was  shot  through  the  leg.  En- 
sign Monaghan  and  two  American  sailors  tried  to  assist  this  officer.  Then  one  of 
the  sailors  was  shot.  Lansdale  bade  the  other  retreat  and  join  his  comrades,  and 
the  man  did  so.  Then  a  Porpoise  bluejacket  named  Hurst  came  up  and  heard  Lans- 
dale urge  Monaghan  to  leave  him.  'Leave  me,  Mon.,'  he  said,  *I'm  done  for,'  but 
Monaghan  stuck  bravely  to  the  wounded  man.  Then  a  shot  struck  Lansdale  through 
the  heart,  and  he  fell.  Brave  Ensign  Monaghan,  who  stuck  by  his  comrade  to  the 
death,  moved  a  few  steps  away,  when  he,  too,  was  shot  through  the  heart  and  met 
the  fate  of  a  hero." 

Ensign  Monaghan  was  born  at  Chewelah,  Stevens  county ;  was  educated  at  Gon- 
zaga  college  and  the  United  States  naval  academy  at  Annapolis,  and  had  but  recently 
graduated  from  the  academy  and  received  his  commission  as  ensign.     His  mangled    , 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  501 

body  was  brought  home  for  military  honors^  and  an  appropriate  monument  at  Riv- 
erside and  Monroe  testifies  to  the  esteem  in  which  his  gallant  memory  is  cherished 
by  a  host  of  patriotic  citizens  of  Spokane. 

The  old  fruit  fair^  which  had  played  an  important  part  in  development  of  the 
country's  resources^  reviving  confidence  and  binding  city  and  country  together  in 
friendly  cooperation^  was  merged  this  year  into  the  Spokane  Industrial  Exposition^ 
with  £.  D.  Olmsted  president^  H.  Bolster  manager^  and  L.  J.  Smith  general  super- 
intendent. Miss  Jean  Goldie  Amos  was  goddess  of  plenty%  The  Grand  Army  band 
was  brought  from  Canton^  Ohio,  and  the  fair  ran  fifteen  days,  on  the  old  grounds  near 
the  Auditorium,  with  a  total  attendance  of  nearly  80,000. 

On  the  night  of  October  11,  the  Elks  gave  the  most  imposing  carnival  parade  the 
city  had  ever  witnessed.  Thousands  of  red  fire  torches  carried  by  the  marchers  gave 
to  the  moving  column  the  resemblance  of  a  river  of  fire,  rolling  majestically  between 
dark  banks  of  humanity.  This  illusion  was  heightened  by  the  appearance  above  the 
fiery  current,  of  elaborate  floats,  and  their  resemblance  to  a  moving  fleet  of  dec- 
orated ships  and  galleys.  And  streaming  in  the  fiery  night  wind,  above  this  mag^c 
fleet,  floated  a  vast  array  of  crimsoned  flags  and  banners,  and  high  over  these  the 
glare  of  red  fire  and  huge  columns  of  swirling,  rosy  smoke. 
Chief  Moses  died  on  the  Colville  reservation,  March  25. 

A  bill  creating  Ferry  county  was  passed  at  Olympia.  Also  a  bill  providing  for 
the  organization  of  Chelan  county. 

Early  Sunday  morning,  September  3,  two  masked  men  held  up  Harry  Green's 
gambling  resort  on  Howard  street,  seized  $1,700  and  fled  to  the  street.  They  were 
pursued  by  Richard  Gemmrig,  a  merchants'  policeman,  and  in  the  fusillade  of  shots 
Gemmrig  fell  with  a  bullet  through  his  groin. 

REVIEW   OF   YEAR    1900 

Nineteen  hundred  brought  a  great  wave  of  immigration  into  the  Inland  Empire. 
Never  before  had  eastern  homeseekers  spied  out  the  land  in  such  vast  numbers.  In 
a  single  week  5,000  colonists  passed  through  the  St.  Paul  gateway,  on  their  way  to 
all  points  in  the  Pacific  northwest,  from  Montana  to  Oregon.  A  growing  demand  for 
irrigated  lands  encouraged  D.  C.  Corbin  and  W.  L.  Benham  to  take  up  the  import- 
ant work  of  reclaiming  large  areas  of  the  warm  gravel  soil  of  the  Spokane  valley. 

This  year  the  Weyerhaeusers  came  into  Washington,  and  bought  from  the  North- 
em  Pacific  company,  900,000  acres  of  timber  lands  for  $6,000,000,  an  area  nearly  as 
large  as  Spokane  county. 

Judge  J.  Z.  Moore  aspired  this  year  to  the  governorship,  but  the  Wilson  organi- 
zation controlled  the  republican  county  convention  in  June,  and  withheld  from  him 
the  necessary  support  of  the  Spokane  delegation  to  the  state  convention.  For  gov- 
ernor, the  republicans,  in  convention  at  Tacoma,  nominated  J.  M.  Frink,  of  Seattle, 
for  lieutenant-governor,  Henry  McBride  of  Skagit,  and  for  congress  honored  W.  C. 
Jones  of  Yakima  and  Frank  Cushman  of  Tacoma  with  renomination. 

The  fusionists  renominated  Governor  John  R.  Rogers,  with  W.  E.  McCroskey 
of  Whitman  county  for  lieutenant-governor,  and  F.  C.  Robertson  of  Spokane  and 
J.  T.  Ronald  of  Seattle  for  congress. 

At  the  November  election.  Governor  Rogers  was  reelected,  but  the  remainder  of 


502  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  fusion  ticket  went  down  to  defeat.  Spokane  county^  which  gave  Rogers  132 
majority^  went  for  McKinley  by  361  majority,  for  Cushman  by  178,  and  for  Jones 
by  242.  Legislative  and  county  tickets  were  divided  between  the  republicans  and  the 
fusionists.  Of  the  total  vote  of  11,182  in  the  county,  Spokane  city  had  6,794,  and 
the  country  precincts  4,388. 

The  Spokane  Exposition  company  was  incorporated  in  January  by  a  committee 
of  the  chamber  of  commerce:  Joseph  A.  Borden,  E.  D.  Olmsted,  C.  E.  Virden, 
Sam.  Glasgow  and  O.  L.  .Rankin,  with  Mr.  Olmsted  as  president,  Mr.  Borden  vice- 
president,  and  J.  E.  Hawley  secretary.  The  fair  in  October  brought  the  usual  throngs 
of  visitors  from  the  surrounding  country,  and  the  musical  features  were  exceptionally 
inviting — the  Royal  Marine  band,  and  on  Exposition  Sunday  a  rendition  of  "The 
Messiah''  by  the  Spokane  Oratorio  society,  led  by  R.  A.  Heritage  and  assisted  by  the 
Matinee  Musicale.  Miss  Bernadine  Sargent,  soprano,  J.  W.  Belcher  tenor.  Prof. 
W.  F.  Werschkul  bass. 

Notable  buildings  this  year  were  the  Empire  State  and  Spokane  club  on  River- 
side, by  F.  Lewis  Clark,  the  first  substantial  addition  to  the  avenue  since  the  panic  of 
1893;  the  Hieber  Brewing  &  Malting  company's  five  story  brewery  on  Second,  be- 
tween Walnut  and  Cedar;  Elks  temple,  the  Webster  and  Holmes  schools,  and  an 
addition  to  the  Peyton  building. 

W.  J.  Bryan  visited  Spokane  March  30,  and  spoke  to  large  open-air  audiences — 
10,000  in  the  afternoon,  and  15,000  at  night. 

Fire  completely  destroyed  the  mining  town  of  Sandon  in  the  Slocan  country  in 
May.  Nearly  1,200  people  were  left  homeless,  and  a  property  loss  inflicted  of  be- 
tween $250,000  and  $500,000. 

The  north  half  of  the  Colville  reservation  was  opened  to  homestead  entry  Octo- 
ber 10. 

Articles  of  incorporation  were  filed  in  September  by  the  Republic  &  Grand 
Forks  Railroad  company,  with  the  following  trustees:  James  Robert  Stratton  of 
Toronto,  Tracy  W.  Holland  of  Grand  Forks,  Thomas  P.  Coffee  of  Toronto,  W.  C. 
Morris  of  Republic,  Henry  V.  Gardner  of  Seattle,  Thomas  M.  Hammond  and  Eber 
C.  Smith  of  Republic.  Locally  and  facetiously  this  enterprise  was  dubbed  the  "Hot 
Air  Line,"  but  that  proved  a  misnomer,  for  the  promoters  readily  raised  the  neces- 
sary money  in  eastern  Canada  and  built  the  projected  road,  which,  unfortunately  was 
a  losing  venture. 

The  population  of  Washington,  officially  announced  November  28,  was  found  to 
be  518,103,  an  increase  in  the  decade  of  168,713 — Spokane's  population,  36,848. 


CHAPTER  LVII 

SECOND  FIERCE  LABOR  WAR  IN  THE  COEUR  D'ALENES 

ONE   THOUSAND   UNION    MINERS   SEIZE    A   TRAIN MOVE   ON    WARDNER   WITH    RIFLES   AND 

DYNAMITE BLOW    UP    BUNKER    HILL    MILL ONE    UNION    MAN    KILLED GOVERNOR 

6TEUNBNBERO    CALLS    FOR    UNITED    STATES    TROOPS MARTIAL    LAW    ESTABLISHED 

UNIONS    PUT    UNDER   BAN    AND   PERMIT   SYSTEM    ESTABLISHED MANY   RIOTERS    iTLBE 

TO  THE  HILLS HOST  OF  OTHERS  ARRESTED  AND  IMPRISONED  IN  ''bULLPEN" CON- 
GRESS CONDUCTS  AN  INVESTIGATION ED.  BOYCB  TELLS  GOMPERS  WESTERN  FEDERA- 
TION   IS    NOT   A   TRADES    UNION. 

IN  THE  spring  of  1899  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mining  country  suffered  a  repetition 
of  the  fierce  lahor  war  of  1892.     Its  picturesque  canyons  and  valleys  felt  again 
the    determined   tread   of   desperate   men,   and   the   detonations   of    destructive 
blasts  of  dynamite  rolled  ominously  among  its  forested  mountains. 

Notwithstanding  the  restoration  of  good  times,  the  Bunker  *Hill  and  Sullivan 
mine  at  Wardner,  largest  employer  of  labor  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  had  perpetuated 
the  low  wage  scale  which  it  applied  in  the  hard  times  of  the  early  nineties — $3  for 
practical  miners,  $2.50  for  shovelers  and  car  men.  Nominally,  its  great  mines  were 
manned  by  non-union  labor,  but  the  union  had  gradually  gained  a  foothold,  and  in 
April  its  leaders  considered  their  organization  sufficiently  entrenched  to  make  a 
stand  for  higher  wages.  April  26  the  union  men  struck  for  a  flat  scale  of  $8.50, 
applicable  alike  to  miners  and  "muckers";  the  company  offered  $8.50  and  $8,  the 
going  scale  at  the  time  of  the  strike  of  1892,  and  from  these  positions  neither  side 
would  yield. 

Three  days  later  a  thousand  union  miners  and  sympathizers  seized  a  Northern 
Pacific  train  on  Canyon  creek,  required  the  train  crew  to  run  them  down  to  Wardner, 
twenty  miles  away,  and  promptly  took  armed  possession  of  the  town.  With  military 
organization  they  posted  pickets  on  the  hills,  surrounded  the  great  $200,000  con- 
centrator of  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan  company,  under  which  they  placed  a 
gigantic  charge  of  8,000  pounds  of  dynamite,  and  at  the  word  of  command  the  fuse 
was  fired  that  blew  that  property  into  kindling  wood.  Jack  Smith,  a  union  miner 
from  Burke,  was  shot  and  killed  by  the  rioters,  either  accidentally  or  by  design, 
presumably  the  latter,  for  the  body  was  buried  without  union  honors,  and  only  a 
solitary  mourner  followed  the  coffin  to  the  grave.  Two  non-union  men  were  wounded, 
one  fatally. 

A  telephone  message  apprised  Manager  Burbridge  of  the  approach  of  the  hostile 
anny  from  Canyon  creek,  and  recognizing  the  futility  of  resistance,  he  hastily  with- 

503 


504  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

drew  the  ninety  men  employed  in  the  mill  and  left  the  property  easy  prey  to  the 
forces.  These  filled  ten  freight  cars  and  a  passenger  coach^  and  when  the  train 
drew  in  at  Wardner^  masked  men,  and  others  faintly  disguised  by  turnings  their 
coats,  swarmed  off  it  like  bees.  They  bristled  with  rifles,  and  all  wore  a  white 
badge  of  identification. 

Unloading  sixty  fifty  pound  boxes  of  dynamite  the  mob  marched  upon  the  empty 
mill,  which  they  surrounded  and  into  which  they  poured  a  thousand  rifle  shots.  Find- 
ing it  deserted,  they  placed  the  dynamite,  fired  the  adjacent  boarding  house,  lighted 
the  fuse,  and  withdrew  to  places  of  safety  to  await  the  impending  explosion. 

James  Cheyne,  employed  at  the  Bunker  Hill  mill,  and  R.  R.  Rogers,  a  stranger, 
were  captured  and  ordered  out  of  town.  As  they  turned  to  obey  the  order,  they 
were  fired  upon,  and  Cheyne  fell  in  the  street,  shot  through  the  hip,  and  Rogerir 
was  slightly  wounded  in  the  lip.  Moved  by  the  sufferings  of  the  dying  man  a  Mrs. 
Sinclair  went  courageously  to  his  relief,  and  demanding  help  from  his  assailants, 
bore  him  to  a  nearby  hotel. 

Three  hours  after  the  arrival  of  the  train,  the  invading  hosts  gathered  up  their 
numbers,  and  started  on  the  return  trip  to  Wallace  and  Canyon  creek. 

Practically  no  attempt  was  made  to  conceal  the  active  hand  of  the  miners'  union. 
The  Idaho  State  Tribune  of  Wallace,  official  organ  of  the  Western  Federation  of 
Miners,  then  edited  by  James  R.  Sovereign,  reported  the  affair  in  a  tone  of  perfect 
candor : 

''Saturday  last  witnessed  what  might  properly  be  considered  the  close  of  a  seven 
year  war.  .     .     The  streets  of  Wallace  took  on  an  air  of  excitement,  and  before 

the  train  proceeded  to  Wardner  with  its  human  freight,  on  their  mission  of  destruc- 
tion, armed  men  walked  the  streets  in  quest  of  an  abundant  supply  of  ammunition. 
It  was  evident  to  all  that  some  of  the  scenes  of  1892  were  to  be  repeated,  and  this 
time  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan  Mining  company  at  Wardner,  twelve  miles  be- 
low Wallace,  was  to  be  the  victim  of  a  forceful  demonstration  on  the  part  of  the 
organized  miners  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes.  On  the  train  were  about  200  members  of 
the  organization  at  Mullan.  .  .  .  The  train  reached  Wardner  at  1  o'clock,  and 
the  work  of  clearing  the  country  of  all  opposition  began.  A  detachment  of  union 
miners,  armed  with  Winchester  rifles,  was  dispatched  to  the  mountainside  beyond 
the  mill,  and  the  work  of  placing  3,000  pounds  of  dynamite,  taken  from  the  maga- 
zine of  the  Frisco  mine  at  Gem,  was  commenced.  At  no  time  did  the  demonstration 
assume  the  appearance  or  the  attitude  of  a  disorganized  mob.  All  the  details  were 
managed  with  the  discipline  and  precision  of  a  perfectly  trained  military  organiza- 
tion. .  .  .  Sixty  armed  scabs  in  the  employ  of  the  Bunker  Hill  company  offered 
the  only  resistance,  and  they  only  gave  expression  to  the  most  pitiable  and  lament- 
able cowardice." 

Governor  Frank  Steunenberg  of  Idaho  promptly  telegraphed  to  the  president 
for  the  "military  forces  of  the  United  States  to  suppress  the  insurrection  in  Shoshone 
county,"  this  action  being  deemed  necessary  from  "the  fact  that  all  the  available 
national  guard  volunteered  for  service  in  the  Philippines."  The  governor  sent 
State  Auditor  Bartlett  Sinclair  to  Wardner  as  his  personal  representative;  troops 
were  hurried  to  the  scene,  martial  law  declared,  and  suspects  arrested  by  the  hun- 
dreds, while  others  fled  into  the  recesses  of  the  hills.     The  first  soldiers  on  the 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  505 

ground  were  a  company  of  the  Twenty-fourth  infantry  from  Spokane^  under  Cap- 
tain Bacheler. 

By  request  of  Attorney-General  Hays  of  Idaho^  a  meeting  of  Coeur  d'Alene  mine 
owners  was  held  in  Spokane  to  discuss  with  him  the  situation^  and  attended  by  John 
A.  Finch  and  A.  B.  Campbell,  of  the  Standard,  Mammoth  and  Hecla ;  Peter  Larson 
and  T.  L.  Greenough,  of  the  Morning;  S.  S.  Glidden,  of  the  Tiger-Poorman ;  Charles 
Sweeny,  of  the  Empire-State  company  and  F.  W.  Bradley,  of  the  Bunker  Hill  and 
Sullivan. 

"The  state  of  Idaho,"  said  Attorney-General  Hays,  "does  not  propose  to  harbor 
within  its  limits  the  class  of  desperate  characters  that  has  swayed  the  miners  unions 
and  caused  the  criminal  acts  to  be  committed.  We  have  over  700  men  under  arrest, 
and  are  going  after  the  rest  of  them  as  fast  as  possible.  We  don't  want  to  give  them 
any  encouragement,  so  the  owners  must  close  their  mines  or  cease  employing  them." 
In  other  words,  mine-owners  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  who  wished  to  operate  under 
martial  law  could  do  so  only  on  condition  that  they  would  not  employ  members  of 
the  miners  unions,  and  the  mine-owners  acquiesced  in  this  requirement. 

Bartlett  Sinclair  offered  Sheriff  James  D.  Young  and  County  Commissioner 
Boyle  the  option  of  resigning  from  office  or  standing  arrest.  They  took  the  latter 
alternative,  and  Coroner  Hugh  France,  a  stout  champion  of  law  and  order,  became 
sheriff.  Subsequently,  on  impeachment  proceedings  in  court.  Young  and  Commis- 
sioners Moses  H.  Simmons,  Wm.  Bo  vie  and  William  R.  Stimson  were  removed  from 
office. 

The  men  arrested  were  largely  of  foreign  origin.  Out  of  132  prisoners  examined 
in  a  single  day  by  Bartlett  Sinclair,  only  twenty-six  claimed  to  be  American  citizens. 

In  pursuance  of  his  oral  statement  to  the  mine-owners,  Attorney-General  Hays 
served  them  with  the  following  public  declaration: 

"To  the  mine-owners  of  Shoshone  county:  Certain  organizations  or  combinations 
existing  in  Shoshone  county,  having  shown  themselves  to  be  criminal  in  purpose, 
inciting,  and^  as  organizations,  procuring  property  to  be  destroyed  and  murders  to 
be  committed,  by  reason  whereof  it  has  been  twice  necessary  to  declare  martial  law 
in  Shoshone  county; 

"You  are  therefore  notified  that  the  employment  of  men  belonging  to  said  or 
other  criminal  organizations  during  the  continuance  of  martial  law  must  cease.  In 
case  this  direction  is  not  observed,  your  mines  will  be  closed." 

Only  such  men  might  be  employed  as  had  obtained  a  permit  from  Dr.  France 
or  his  deputy  at  Wardner  or  Wallace ;  and  to  secure  the  permit  the  applicant  had  to 
deny  or  renounce  membership  in  any  organization  which  had  incited^  encouraged  or 
approved  the  recent  riots  or  other  violations  of  law.  Union  miners  refused  to  take 
out  permits,  and  the  mines  of  Canyon  creek  closed  down.  Employes  of  the  Bunker 
Hill  and  Sullivan  company  took  permits  and  that  property  continued  in  operation. 

At  a  meeting  held  in  Spokane  May  24,  mine-owners  decided  to  cooperate  with  the 
state  and  resume  operations  as  quickly  as  forces  could  be  organized :  $3.50  to  be  paid 
at  Burke,  Gem  and  Mullan  for  all  men  underground;  $8.50  for  miners  at  Wardner, 
and  $3  for  "muckers."  In  attendance  at  this  meeting  were  S.  S.  Glidden  and  F. 
R.  Culbertson,  for  the  Tiger-Poorman;  Joseph  McDonald  and  Judge  Norman  Hol- 
ter  of  Montana,  for  the  Helena-Frisco;  Richard  Watson  and  William  Leonard,  of 
the  Mammoth ;  F.  Lewis  Clark  and  Charles  SVeeny,  for  the  Empire  State  company ; 


506  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

F.  W.  Bradley^  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan;  Peter  Larson^  Morning;  John  A  Finch 
and  A.  B.  Campbell^  Standard^  Hecla  and  Gem. 

A  resolution  adopted  by  the  Butte  Trades  and  Labor  assembly  is  indicative  of 
the  spirit  of  resentment  felt  by  the  more  radical  labor  organizations: 

"Resolved,  That  if  the  martial  law  game  to  defeat  the  trades  union  succeeds 
in  this  instance^  then  the  workingmen  will  find  cause  to  formulate  certain  limits  to 
present  to  the  government^  beyond  which  friends  of  organized  labor  will  not  allow 
any  of  their  friends  to  go ;  and^  standing  on  their  constitutional  rights^  they  will  pre- 
pare to  defend  these  rights  at  any  cost." 

In  July  practically  every  producing  mine  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  was  working  un- 
der the  permit  system.  Paul  Corcoran  was  tried  in  July  at  Wallace,  convicted  of 
murder  in  the  second  degree  in  the  killing  of  Cheyne,  and  sentenced  to  seventeen 
years  in  the  penitentiary. 

Under  martial  law  a  thousand  men  or  more,  arrested  for  complicity  in  the  de- 
struction of  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan  mill,  were  imprisoned  in  a  stockade  at 
Wardner,  opprobriously  styled  the  **bullpen'*  by  the  rioters  and  their  sympathizers. 
Incidental  to  the  handling  of  this  large  body  of  turbulent  prisoners,  some  hard- 
ships were  inflicted,  and  these  were  greatly  magnified  and  vigorously  used  to  excite 
sympathy  and  indignation  among  the  laboring  people  of  the  United  States.  A  con- 
gressional inquiry,  conducted  at  Washington,  went  into  these  and  other  matters  con- 
nected with  the  strike,  with  the  usual  result  of  majority  and  minority  reports,  and 
revealed  the  fighting  spirit  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  as  it  was  then 
dominated  by  President  Ed.  Boyce.  Correspondence  between  President  Boyce 
and  Samuel  Gompers,  introduced  in  evidence,  revealed  unmistakably  the  militant 
character  of  this  organization.  Writing  to  Gompers  under  date  of  March  10,  1897, 
Boyce  protested  that  he  was  not  a  labor  unionist.  "There  is  an  easier  way  of  win- 
ning the  battles  of  labor,"  he  said.     "Get  out  and  fight  with  the  sword." 

Protesting  against  this  dangerous  doctrine,  Mr.  Gompers  wrote:  "As  to  your  sug- 
gestion that  the  resort  must  be  to  the  sword,  I  prefer  not  to  discuss.  I  only  want  to 
call  your  attention  to  the  fact,  however,  that  force  may  have  changed  forms  of  gov- 
ernment, but  never  attained  real  liberty."  ,In  his  rejoinder  President  Boyce  re- 
iterated that  he  was  "not  the  president  of  a  trades  union,  nor  a  member  of  one." 
In  a  speech  about  that  time,  before  the  annual  convention  of  the  Western  Federa- 
tion at  Salt  Lake,  Boyce  urged  the  members  to  arm  themselves  with  modern  repeating 
rifies,  and  boldly  declared  that  he  hoped  before  long  to  "hear  the  inspiring  tread  of 
thirty  thousand  armed  men." 

January  11,  1901,  Governor  Hunt  directed  Hugh  France,  state  representative 
in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  to  abolish  the  permit  system,  "by  which  persons  desiring  to 
seek  employment  in  the  mines  of  Shoshone  county,  Idaho,  were  required  to  secure  a 
permit  from  the  representative  of  the  state."  The  mine-owners  met  this  move  by 
creating  a  central  employment  bureau  at  Wallace  and  requiring  all  applicants  for 
employment  to  obtain  there  the  necessary  clearance  card. 


CHAPTER  LVIII 

IMMIGRATION   ROLLS   INTO  THE   INLAND   EMPIRE 

THIRTY  THOUSAND  NEWCOMERS  ENTER  THE  SPOKANE  GATEWAY COUNTRY  COOPER- 
ATES WITH  THE  CITY OIL  BORING  CRAZE  STRIKES  THE  PUBLIC THE  KINDERGAR- 
TEN    CONTEST SENSATIONAL    PHASES    OF    RAILROAD    PASS    EVIL DR.    P.     8.     BYRNE 

ELECTED     MAYOR INTERSTATE     PAIR    ORGANIZED RELIGIOUS    SERVICES    IN    ''dUTCH 

Jake's^'    place — hill's    northern    securities    merger — death    of    governor 

ROGERS. 

WITH  the  advent  of  the  twentieth  century  came  another  large  wave  of 
immigration.  There  were  2,500  homeseekers  who  moved  out  of  St.  Paul 
in  a  single  day,  when  the  early  spring  colonist  rates  took  effect  in  1901, 
and  when,  a  few  weeks  later,  the  special  rates  lapsed,  it  was  conservatively  calculated 
that  30,000  immigrants,  tourists  and  investors  had  entered  the  Spokane  gateway. 
It  was  observed  the  year  before  that  a  large  majority  of  the  newcomers  passed 
00  to  the  coast,  evidence  that  the  interior  suffered  from  insufficient  advertising,  and 
to  obviate  this  misfortime,  a  well  attended  immigration  meeting  was  held  in  Spo- 
kane under  the  auspices  of  the  chamber  of  commerce,  to  which  a  number  of  the 
neighboring  towns  sent  delegates,  including  O.  M.  Sparks  and  S.  S.  King,  Tekoa; 
E.  Buchanan,  Moscow;  J.  H.  Taylor,  Farmington;  John  G.  Lawrence,  Garfield; 
James  Perkins,  Colfax;  J.  H.  Longwill,  Oakesdale;  J.  H.  Miller,  Tekoa;  W.  E. 
Thompson,  Farmington;  R.  P.  Turnley,  Rosalia,  and  E.  Harvey,  Pullman.  Mr. 
Lawrence  voiced  the  cooperative  spirit  of  the  country.  "There  was  a  time,"  he  said, 
"when  to  hear  the  assertion  that  the  Palouse  was  tributary  to  Spokane  would  have 
aroused  opposition  among  us.  That  time  has  passed.  We  are  now  glad  to  acknowl- 
edge it,  and  glad  that  it  is  so.  Spokane  is  our  market.  Our  interests  and  those  of 
all  the  country  roundabout  are  identical  Mrith  those  of  Spokane." 

An  executive  committee  was  appointed  comprising  D.  M.  Thompson,  Wm. 
O'Brien,  J.  M.  Comstock,  Sam.  Glasgow,  and  W.  E.  Goodspeed  of  Spokane;  F.  H. 
Luce,  Davenport;  M.  E.  Hay,  Wilbur;  A.  A.  Anderson,  Wenatchee;  S.  S.  King, 
Tekoa;  J.  A.  Perkins,  Colfax;  J.  C.  Lawrence,  Garfield;  G.  W.  Peddycord,  Palouse; 
Sig.  Dilsheimer,  Colville;  E.  H.  Libby,  Lewiston,  and  E.  Buchanan,  Moscow.  The 
committee  raised  $3,000  and  dispatched  F.  E.  Elmendorf  to  St.  Paul  to  distribute 

printed  matter  among  the  eager  homeseekers ;  and  his  work  in  the  east  was  ably  sup- 
plemented at  home  by  enthusiastic  volunteers  who  boarded  the  incoming  trains  at 

points  in  the   Idaho  Panhandle,  mingled  the  homeseekers   and  discoursed  on   the 

fertility  and  cheapness  of  the  lands  of  the  Inland  Empire. 

We  had  an  "oil  craze"  in  1901.     Lured  on  by  promising  indications  at  numerous 

points  in  the  interior,  and  the  readiness  of  the  speculative  public  to  "take  a  flyer" 

in  almost  any  scheme  that  gave  even  remote  promise  of  quick  and  large  returns,  a 

507 


508  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

host  of  pTomoters  organized  companies,  sold  more  or  less  stock  at  a  few  cents  a 
share^  and  went  drilling  for  oil  and  gas  through  the  hard  overlying  basaltic  strata. 
Unfortunately  the  multiplicity  of  these  concerns  so  scattered  the  resources  of  the 
investing  public  that  no  one  company  received  enough  funds  to  make  a  thorough 
test  of  the  undertaking,  and  all  came  to  the  end  of  their  resources  before  a  single 
well  had  been  bored  to  sea  level. 

Spokane  had  developed  the  public  kindergartens  far  in  advance  of  any  other 
western  city.  It  had  fourteen  of  them,  and  many  citizens  came  to  the  belief  that  the 
results  were  not  commensurate  with  the  cost.  Rapid  gprowth  of  the  school  population 
taxed  severely  the  capacity  of  the  buildings.  "The  public  kindergarten,"  observed 
the  Spokesman-Review,  "has  grown  here  out  of  all  proportion  to  population  or  re- 
sources, and  is  injuring  the  public  school  system."  Dr.  J.  M.  Semple,  of  the  school 
board,  conceived  the  plan  of  directing  a  thorough  official  inspection  of  the  records  of 
a  large  number  of  children  who  had  advanced  into  the  grades  from  the  kindergartens, 
for  comparison  with  an  equal  number  who  had  received  no  kindergarten  instruction, 
and  the  result  was  disappointing  to  the  friends  of  the  kindergarten  principle.  The 
non-kindergarten  pupils  made  quite  as  good  a  showing  as  the  kindergarten  young- 
sters, and,  indeed^  slightly  surpassed  them  in  deportment,  punctuality  and  neatness 
of  desks  and  books.  Upon  this  showing  the  board  unanimously  voted  to  discontinue . 
all  but  two  of  the  kindergartens. 

For  several  years  the  Spokesman-Review  had  conducted  a  vigorous  crusade 
against  the  railroad  pass  evil,  holding  that  these  favors  were  distributed  among  legis- 
lators and  other  officials  as  insidious  bribes.  The  practice  was  so  general  and  deep- 
seated  that  many  public  officials  long  made  light  of  the  newspaper's  protest,  and  tried 
to  dismiss  it  as  Quixotish  and  hypercritical.  But  meanwhile  public  sentiment  was 
growing  against  the  evil,  and  certain  sensational  developments  growing  out  of  tiie 
legislative  session  this  year  convinced  a  number  of  legislators  that  their  railroad 
passes  were  given  in  expectation  of  favors  to  be  returned.  In  the  senate  C.  A. 
Mantz  of  Colville  and  Herman  D.  Crow  of  Spokane  supported  bills  to  regulate 
railroads  and  reduce  rates  and  fares,  and  thereby  so  angered  Will  Thompson,  chief 
counsel  of  the  Great  Northern,  that  he  peremptorily  demanded  the  return  of  their 
passes.     Of  this  incident  the  Spokesman-Review  said: 

"If  the  railroad  gave  a  pass  to  Senator  Crow  as  a  bribe,  and  took  it  from  him 
because  he  failed  to  earn  it,  the  railroad  has  broken  the  law.  Its  offense  has  been 
as  great  as  that  of  an  individual  deeply  concerned  in  certain  legislation,  who  should 
give  a  fine  horse  to  a  member  as  a  bribe,  and  who,  angered  at  the  alleged  unfaith- 
fulness of  the  member,  should  hold  him  up  on  the  public  highway  and  force  him  to 
return  the  horse.  Is  there  to  be  one  law  in  this  state  for  the  individual  citizen,  and 
an  entirely  different  law  for  the  great  railway  interests?  Are  the  railroads  to  be 
free  to  bribe  whom  they  please?  Can  they  say  to  one  man,  'Well  done,  thou  good 
and  faithful  servant,  keep  thou  thy  pass;'  while  saying  to  another,  *You  played 
us  false,  disgorge  the  bribe'?" 

Senator  Crow  frankly  admitted  that  he  had  been  in  error  in  believing  that  rail- 
road passes  were  distributed  in  an  exclusive  spirit  of  mere  courtesy. 

At  the  spring  election  in  1901,  Dr.  P.  S.  Byrne,  democrat,  was  elected  mayor, 
receiving  2,080  votes  against  1,981  for  Dr.  C.  G.  Brown,  the  republican  nominee, 
and  1,580  for  John  Anderson,  prohibitionist. 


DEDICATION  OF  MASONIC  TEMPLE        SPOKANE  AMATEUR  ATHLETIC  CLUB 


DAVENPORT'S   RESTAURANT 


'kyI 


L 


*dT  «*     ^(  „^^y 


T,».t"t'-    t 


r 


I 


THE  NEW  VJhK      I 

I'PUbLic  libhaky! 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  509 

Floyd  L.  Daggett^  democrat^  became  comptroller,  defeating  J.  J.  White,  repub- 
lican, and  J.  Grant  Hinkle,  prohibitionist,  by  326  plurality. 

M.  H.  Eggleston,  democrat,  was  elected  treasurer  over  Joseph  M.  Moore,  re- 
publican, and  W.  H.  Shields,  prohibitionist.  Eggleston's  plurality,  299.  In  the 
new  council  the  democrats  had  Leonard  Funk,  E.  W.  Hand,  F.  E.  Baldwin,  £.  M. 
Woydt,  George  W.  Burch  and  N.  S.  Pratt;  and  the  republicans,  J.  E.  Foster, 
Frank  Johnson,  Walter  E.  Bell  and  J.  S.  Phillips. 

Spokane's  Interstate  Fair  came  into  being  this  year.  At  a  meeting  held  in 
early  summer  Chairman  Howell  W.  Peel  was  authorized  to  take  steps  to  incor- 
porate with  $25,000  capital  stock,  and  it  was  decided  to  acquire  a  site,  erect  per- 
manent buildings  and  offer  $10,000  in  racing  prizes.  On  the  first  board  of  trus- 
tees were  Mr.  Peel,  Jacob  Goldstein,  D.  L.  Huntington,  George  T.  Crane,  J.  A. 
Schiller,  O.  L.  Rankin,  C.  H.  Weeks,  A.  S.  Crowder,  Sam  Glasgow,  W.  S.  Norman, 
H.  G.  Stimmel,  Frank  W.  Branson,  Thos.  S.  Griffiths,  John  L.  Smith  and  H.  Bol- 
ster. Mr.  Peel  was  president,  Mr.  Bolster  secretary  and  manager,  and  Mr^.  Smith 
superintendent;  and  these,  with  J.  A.  Schil[ler  ,wd<.Gbeorge.T.  Crane,  formed  the 
executive  committee.  The  first  fair  was  helH  on  the  present  grounds,  September 
10  to  21,  but  the  weather  was  forbidding  and  the  total  paid  attendance  was  scarcely 
in  excess  of  20,000. 

To  commemorate  the  dedication  of  their  new  temple,  the  Elks  gave  a  carnival 
in  connection  with  the  fair,  with  88,482  paid  admissions.  A  rock-drilling  contest 
was  a  feature.  The  dedication  committee  embraced  L.  R.  Notbohm,  W.  J.  C. 
Wakefield,  E.  Dempsie,  W.  F.  Connor,  George  Turner,  Dr.  E.  L.  Kimball,  W.  W. 
D.  Turner.  The  Spokane  lodge  was  chartered  February  2,  1892,  and  the  lodge 
was  instituted  February  13,  in  a  hall  in  the  Daniels  block. 

To  enliven  the  tedium  of  Sunday  afternoons,  "Dutch  Jake"  conceived  and  put 
into  execution  in  November  a  plan  of  tendering  the  large  barroom  of  his  Coeur 
d'Alene  theater  for  religous  services.  There  on  the  afternoon  of  November  S  the 
Rev.  A.  R.  Lambert  of  the  First  M.  E.  church,  the  Rev.  M.  E.  Dunn,  United  Pres- 
byterian, and  Frank  Dickson,  an  evangelist,  conducted  services  before  a  motley 
gathering  of  nearly  400  men,  gathered  in  from  the  congenial  resorts  of  lower  How- 
ard street  and  Main  and  Front  avenues.  Jake's  expansive  and  hospitable  roof  then 
covered  three  bars,  a  gambling  house,  cafe,  variety  theater  and  Turkish  bath.  Re- 
porting the  event,  the  morning  paper  said:  "Mingling  with  the  hymns  of  salva- 
tion  and  the  message  of  religioiji  were  the  clink  of  glasses,  the  maudlin  utterances 
of  tipsy  men,  the  noise  of  shuffling  feet,  the  hurrying  to  and  fro  of  waiters  with 
calls  of  *one  stein,'  *one  egg  sherry,* ''*btie  girt  ^zz  and  four  cocktails,'  'ham  and 
eggs,'  and  the  score  and  one  other  phrases  of  the  barroom.  During  the  brief  wait 
for  the  services  to  begin,  the  crowd  was  entertained  with  selections  on  the  big  me- 
chanical pipe  organ,  while  the  electric  fountain  silently  winked  its  myriad  of  electric 
lights.  'Dutch  Jake*  was  everywhere,  giving  the  glad  hand  to  all  and  sundry.  His 
joy  was  so  great  that  frequent  visits  to  the  bar,  with  nothing  stronger  than  snips 
of  beer,  could  not  be  resisted,  and  with  his  customary  hospitality  he  did  not  par- 
take alone,  but  let  his  good  will  extend  to  all  who  would  step  up  and  join  him." 

James  J.  Hill  startled  the  country  in  1901  by  organizing  the  Northern  Securi- 
ties company,  a  holding  corporation  to  take  over  control  of  Northern  Pacific  and 


510  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Great  Northern.  Senator  Turner  held  that  the  merger  was  illegal^  and  advised 
Governor  John  R.  Rogers  to  endeavor  to  secure  joint  action  with  the  governors  of 
other  states  concerned.  "So  strongly  am  I  impressed  with  the  great  evils  in  store 
for  us  if  this  monopoly  be  fastened  <hi  us  (he  wrote  to  the  governor) ^  that  I  would 
be  willing  to  see  our  state  act  alone  if  necessary  in  fighting  it  to  a  finish.  I  shall 
undertake  the  duty^  if  no  one  more  influential  moves  in  the  matter,  of  bringing  the 
subject  to  the  attention  of  the  president  and  the  attorney-general^  and  urging  them 
to  set  the  machinery  of  the  United  States  courts  in  motion,  for  the  protection  of  our 
country  against  this  unlawful  combine." 

This  letter  found  Governor  Rogers  upon  his  deathbed.  After  a  brief  illness  of 
six  days,  he  died  the  day  after  Christmas,  and  Lieutenant-Governor  Henry  Mc- 
Bride,  a  republican,  was  called  to  the  executive  chair. 

OTHER   EVENTS   OF    1901 

J.  J.  Hill  announced  in  April  that  he  would  build  into  Republic.  The  Great 
Northern  depot  was  completed  this  year. 

Brick  business  buildings  under  construction  in  August  totaled  1,000  feet  of 
frontage. 

The  Hazelwood  Dairy  company  increased  its  capitalization  from  $dO,000  to 
$100,000,  the  four  owners,  G.  M.  Brown,  T.  E.  Armistead,  J.  L.  Smith  and  David 
Brown,  taking  the  increased  stock. 

Spokane  made  a  formal  offer  in  March  to  Andrew  Carnegie  for  a  $100,000 
public  library. 

Thirty-three  delegates  from  eleven  clubs  organized  in  May  the  City  Federation 
of  Women's  clubs,  with  Mrs.  J.  A,  Mitchell,  president;  Mrs.  C.  E.  Grove,  first 
vice-president;  Mrs.  L.  S.  Roberts,  second  vice-president;  Mrs.  A.  D.  Alexander, 
recording  secretary;  Mrs.  James  Mendenhall,  recording  secretary;  Mrs.  Robert 
Glen,  treasurer. 

A  light  fall  of  snow  was  noticed  here  June  5,  and  a  fall  of  two  inches  was  re- 
ported at  Hilly ard  and  of  four  inches  on  Pleasant  prairie. 

The  police  force  of  forty  men  was  reduced  in  October  to  twenty-six — four 
officers  and  twenty-two  regulars. 

Provision  was  made  for  the  first  rural  free  mail  delivery  out  of  Spokane.  The 
service  started  January  1,  1902,  with  lines  to  White  Bluff,  Moran  and  Paradise 
prairies  and  Saltese  lake. 

Harvard  men  organized  a  club  in  November,  the  membership  embracing  F. 
Lewis  Clark,  Frank  T.  Post,  Edgar  W.  McColl,  W.  J.  Bowen,  Thomas  F.  Kerl, 
Judge  James  Z.  Moore,  Thomas  B.  Higgins,  Richard  B.  Harris,  F.  W.  Dewart, 
Fred.  Chamberlain,  Phil  Richmond,  J.  D.  Sherwood,  Guy  Waring  and  J.  D. 
Finley. 

Bank  deposits  turned  the  $5,000,000  mark  in  May. 

Jay  P.  Graves  organized  the  Granby  Consolidated  Mining,  Smelting  &  Power 
company  in  May,  which  took  over  the  Old  Ironsides  and  Knob  Hill  mines  at 
Phoenix,  the  townsite  there,  and  the  Granby  smelter  and  water  and  power  plants 
at  Grand  Forks,  B.  C.  S.  H.  C.  Miner  was  president.  Jay  P.  Graves  vice-presi- 
dent, and  A.  L.  White  secretary.  Twelve  millions  of  the  $15,000,000  capital  stock 
was  issued. 


CHAPTER  LIX 

THRILLING   HUNT  FOR  TRACY  THE   OUTLAW 

TRACY    AND    MERRILL    KILL    THREE    GUARDS    AT    OREGON    PENITENTIARY ESCAPE    INTO 

WASHINGTON TERRORIZE   CITIES  AND  TOWNS  AROUND   PUGBT  SOUND TRACY   KILLS 

MERRILL OUTLAW    APPEARS    IN     OUTSKIRTS    OF    SEATTLE KILLS    SEVERAL    MEN — 

ESCAPES    INTO    THE    CASCADES CROSSES   THE    COLUMRIA MAN    HUNT   TRANSFERRED 

TO    THE    RIG    BEND DESPERADO    WOUNDED    AT    EDDY    RANCH^    COMMITS    SUICIDE 

NOTABLE     GATHERING     OF     RAILROAD     PRESIDENTS     AT     DAVENPORT     AND     COLFAX 

VOLUNTARY    CUT    IN    GRAIN    RATES WAR    ON    RAILROAD    LOBBY FIGHT    FOR    RAIL- 
ROAD     COMMISSION LAST     SPIKE     EXCURSION     TO     REPUBLIC BLACKWELL      BUILDS 

COEUR   D^ALENB   ELECTRIC    LINE N.   P.   SELLS   TIMBER   LANDS LORD  SHOLTO  DOUG- 
LAS*   FREE    BOOZE    SATURNALIA. 

LIKE  other  cities  of  the  Pacific  slope,  Spokane  was  not  a  factory  town,  and 
absence  of  lofty  stacks  and  an  overhangring  pall  of  coal  smoke  had  led  to 
a  widespread  but  erroneous  impression  that  the  town  lacked  a  large  and 
sustaining  payroll.  A  census  taken  in  January,  1902,  by  the  Spokesman-Review 
corrected  this  error  in  the  public  mind  and  greatly  strengthened  confidence  in  the 
solidity  of  Spokane's  foundations.  By  actual  detailed  count,  payrolls  aggregating 
8,685  men  and  women  were  discovered,  exclusive  of  many  minor  concerns,  and 
that  journal  concluded  that  it  was  a  conservative  calculation  that  the  total  payroll 
was  not  less  than  10,000.  It  was  found  that  the  steam  railways  employed  1,663 
men  who  made  their  headquarters  in  Spokane ;  wholesale  houses,  625 ;  theaters,  278 ; 
the  building  trades,  900,  of  whom  775  were  in  the  unions ;  city,  county  and  national 
governments,  427,  exclusive  of  teachers,  of  whom  242  were  employed  in  public 
and  private  schools.  Dry  goods  and  department  stores  employed  412  people;  tele- 
graph and  telephone  companies,  231 ;  and  the  grocery  stores,  280. 

Out  in  the  farming  districts  a  good  wheat  crop  (estimated  at  24,000,000  bushels 
for  the  harvest  of  1902  by  State  Grain  Inspector  Arrasmith),  and  a  price  of  50 
cents  a  bushel,  the  highest  paid  in  two  years,  imparted  confidence  and  contentment. 

Spectacular  events  of  1902  were  the  thrilling  man-hunt  for  Outlaw  Tracy,  and 
a  dramatic  gathering  of  railway  presidents  in  conference  with  the  farmers  and 
business  men  of  the  Big  Bend  and  Palouse  districts. 

Tracy  and  Merrill,  two  convicts  in  the  Oregon  penitentiary  at  Salem,  witli 
rifles  smuggled  in  by  outside  friends,  attacked  the  guards  June  9,  killed  three  of 
them,  and  escaped  to  the  thickets  and  deep  forests  of  the  Willamette  valley.  They 
terrorized   the   countryside,  boldly   confronting  the   occupants   of   farmhouses   and 

511 


512  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

compelling  housewives  to  serve  them  with  food;  and  again  and  again^  hy  alertness 
or  audacious  courage^  either  evaded  or  routed  the  numerous  posses  sent  against 
them.  Working  norths  the  outlaws  crossed  the  Columbia  river  into  Clark  connty, 
Washington.  Early  in  July^  after  nearly  a  month  of  dearly  bought  freedom^ 
Tracy  appeared  alone  on  Puget  Sounds  and  at  the  point  of  his  rifle  compelled  a 
boatman  to  row  him  to  the  vicinity  of  Olympia.  There  he  impressed  the  owner 
and  crew  of  four  men  in  a  gasoline  launch^  and  forced  them  to  convey  him  to 
Meadow  Pointy  just  outside  the  northern  city  limits  of  Seattle.  He  informed  his 
captives  that  he  had  killed  his  comrade^  a  statement  that  was  subsequently  verified 
by  the  discovery  of  Merrill's  body,  punctured  by  a  rifle  bullet  fired  into  his  badL. 

July  8  Tracy  opened  fire  on  a  posse  near  Seattle,  and  killed  Deputy  Sheriff 
Charles  Raymond  of  Snohomish  county,  and  severely  wounded  Deputy  Sheriff  Jack 
Williams  of  Seattle.  His  next  appearance  was  at  Fremont,  a  Seattle  suburb,  where, 
in  the  gathering  dusk  of  the  same  day,  he  killed  Policeman  £.  E.  Breece  and  mor- 
tally wounded  Neil  Rawley. 

Tracy's  daring  escapades  had  now  become  a  national  sensation.  Governor 
McBride  offered  a  reward  of  $2,500  for  his  capture,  dead  or  ^live,  and  other  re- 
wards brought  the  total  price  set  upon  the  outlaw's  head  to  $8,000.  Tracy  re- 
treated to  the  wild  defiles  of  the  Cascade  mountains,  and  by  taking  food  from 
remote  settlements  or  deeply  isolated  prospectors  and  timber  cruisers,  kept  the 
authorities  guessing  about  his  whereabouts.  All  this  while  he  was  working  his 
way  eastward.  On  the  night  of  July  80  he  boldly  appeared  at  a  ferry  on  the 
Columbia,  eighteen  miles  below  Wenatchee,  and,  as  was  his  custom,  frankly  revealed 
his  identity.  Darkness  prevented  his  immediate  crossing,  but  the  morning  after, 
exchanging  his  jaded  horses  for  two  fresh  mounts  in  an  adjacent  pasture,  he  re- 
quired his  ferryman  host  to  put  him  across  the  Columbia,  and  mounting  one  horse 
and  leading  the  other,  he  rode  up  the  breaks  of  the  Columbia  to  the  elevated  pla- 
teau of  Douglas  county.  The  man-hunt  was  now  feverishly  renewed  in  eastern 
Washington.  Posses  rode  high  on  the  hills  and  deep  in  the  ravines  of  the  broken 
country  in  Douglas  and  Lincoln  counties,  and  pursued  numerous  false  dues  which 
drifted  in  to  the  towns  from  remote  ranches. 

Meanwhile  the  outlaw  was  leisurely  working  his  way  eastward,  and  on  August 
S  overtook,  on  a  country  road,  a  young  man,  George  E.  Goldfinch,  on  his  way  to 
the  Eddy  ranch,  in  the  Lake  Creek  country,  three  miles  from  Fellowes  siding  on 
the  Central  Washington  railroad,  and  about  nine  miles  from  Creston.  Announcing 
his  identity,  he  rode  on  to  the  Eddy  ranch,  and  with  reckless  disregard  of  conse- 
quences, remained  there  for  two  days,  resting,  and  occasionally  helping  the  owner 
in  his  work  of  shingling  a  barn  roof.  Yoimg  Goldfinch  slipped  away  from  the 
ranch,  and  carried  the  startling  news  to  Creston.  Five  brave  and  determined 
men  of  that  town  promptly  declared  their  purpose  to  go  after  the  outlaw.  Arm- 
ing themselves,  C.  A.  Straub,  Dr.  E.  C.  Leonard,  Maurice  Smith,  J.  J.  Morrison 
and  Frank  Lillengreen,  rode  out  to  the  Eddy  place.  Tracy,  ever  alert  and  watch- 
ful, detected  their  approach  in  the  twilight,  and  ran  for  his  rifle  in  the  bam.  Tak- 
ing cover  behind  a  large  rock,  the  Creston  men  prepared  for  action.  A  minute 
later  Tracy  dashed  from  the  barn  and  ran  for  the  cover  of  a  nearby  haystack,  and 
a  moment  later  made  another  dash  for  a  large  boulder  lying  at  the  edge  of  a  idieat 
field.     Obviously  his  purpose  was  to  Mrin  this  extended  cover  of  tall  wheat,  and 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  518 

escape  in  the  darkness,  bat  as  he  ran  the  rifles  of  the  Creston  men  spat  fire  and 
the  outlaw  was  seen  to  fall  forward  into  the  tall  wheat. 

All  through  the  summer  night  the  posse  stood  guard,  realizing  the  deadly  peril 
of  an  open  attack.  In  the  darkness  they  heard  a  revolver  shot,  and  surmised  cor- 
rectly that  the  quarry  had  killed  himself. 

Meanwhile  the  news  had  spread  over  the  country,  and  by  morning  fifty  armed 
men  surrounded  the  wheat  field.  They  found  the  outlaw's  body,  stark  and  cold, 
where  he  had  put  a  violent  end  to  his  violent  life.  A  rifle  bullet  had  torn  a  great 
wound  in  his  leg,  and  to  staunch  the  frightful  flow  of  blood  the  desperado  had  im- 
provised a  ligature.  The  trampled  wheat  showed  that  after  falling  Tracy  had 
crawled  200  feet,  and  realizing  that  further  flight  was  impossible,  had  turned  his 
own  revolver  upon  his  crime-hardened  visage. 

August  was  an  eventful  month  in  the  Big  Bend  country;  for  even  while  Tracy 
the  outlaw  was  riding  to  his  death,  railroad  chiefs  were  gathering  from  east  and 
west  for  their  scheduled  conference  at  Davenport,  August  4.  Never  before  in  the 
Inland  Empire  had  there  been  as  notable  a  rally  of  famous  transportation  chiefs. 
Their  purpose  was  to  break  the  gathering  storm  of  public  sentiment  against  their 
long-maintained  lobby  at  the  state's  capital,  and  mollify  the  people's  clamor  for 
lower  rates  and  better  regulation  of  the  common  carriers.  •  With  fearless  vigor 
Governor  McBride  was  campaigning  the  state,  denouncing  the  lobby,  condemning 
the  pass  evil  and  urging  the  people  to  choose  legislators  pledged  to  vote  for  a 
state  railroad  commission. 

As  herald  for  these  conferences  James  J.  Hill  could  hardly  have  selected  an 
abler  person  than  Charles  P.  Chamberlain.  Mr.  Chamberlain  years  before  had 
been  a  conductor  in  the  Palouse  country,  and  his  efficient  service  as  receiver  of 
the  Central  Washington  branch  of  the  Northern  Pacific  had  given  him  wide  ac- 
quaintance with  the  leading  men  of  the  Big  Bend  country,  and  his  carefully  worked 
out  plan  of  lowered  freight  rates  on  that  railroad  was  evidence  of  his  belief  that 
excessive  charges  were  detrimental  alike  to  the  producers,  to  the  country's  growth 
and  to  the  railroads  themselves.  Aided  by  James  Odgers,  a  pioneer  editor  of  the 
Big  Bend  country,  Mr.  Chamberlain  had  no  difficulty  in  inducing  representative 
farmers  and  business  men  to  invite  the  railroad  presidents  to  conferences  at  Daven- 
port and  Colfax;  and  when  Presidents  James  J.  Hill  of  the  Great  Northern,  C.  S. 
Mellen  of  the  Northern  Pacific,  and  A.  L.  Mohler  of  the  O.  R.  &  N.,  accompanied 
by  their  able  lieutenants,  came  into  Daven]K>rt,  August  4,  on  their  special  train, 
they  were  met  by  a  gathering  of  many  hundred  representative  farmers  and  busi- 
ness men,  and  given  a  cordial  and  hospitable  greeting.  Successful  farmers  spoke 
on  the  cost  of  growing  wheat,  and  Mr.  Hill  responded  with  statistics  on  the  cost 
of  moving  freight.  He  was  followed  by  President  Mellen,  who  spoke  directly  to 
the  point  with  an  announcement  that  the  railroads  had  decided  to  reduce  grain 
rates  from  the  interior  to  the  coast,  and  that  the  reduction  would  average  about 
ten  per  cent.  Work  would  be  started  immediately  on  the)  Adrian  cutoff  to  connect 
the  Great  Northern  and  the  Central  Washington,  whereby  the  roads  in  future 
would  be  relieved  of  the  long  and  expensive  haul  of  grain  tonnage  along  the  Cen- 
tral Washington  by  way  of  Marshall  Junction  and  the  main  line  of  the  Northern 
Pacific.     In  his  Davenport  speech  Mr.  Hill  said: 

*'You  might  just  as  well  try  to  set  a  broken  ankle  by  statute  as  to  reduce  rates 

Vol.  1—33 


514  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

by  statute.     You  can  legislate  until  the  barn  door  has  fallen  off  its  hinges 
rust,  and  you  will  not  succeed." 

A  similar  conference,  attended  by  about  1,000  representative  farmers  and  busi- 
ness men,  was  held  at  Colfax,  August  5. 

An  anti-lobby  convention  at  Colfax  in  June,  1902,  was  largely  attended  and 
addressed  by  Harold  Preston  of  Seattle,  William  Goodyear  of  Whitman  county, 
and  a  number  of  legislative  candidates.  United  States  Senator  Turner  wrote  from 
Washington:  "I  drafted  and  advocated  the  provision  of  our  state  constitution  re- 
quiring the  legislature  to  pass  laws  regulating  freight  rates  and  fares  and  estab- 
lish a  railroad  commission.  I  am  as  strongly  impressed  today  with  the  necessity 
for  such  laws  as  I  have  ever  been.  The  next  legislature  should  carry  out  the  im- 
perative mandate  of  the  constitution,  and  establish  a  railway  commission  with 
ample  powers  to  control  the  public  agencies." 

State  Senator  Warren  W.  Tolman  of  Spokane,  democrat,  was  also  a  persistent 
and  aggressive  champion  of  the  principle  of  railway  regulation.  He  was  author 
of  the  Tolman  commission  bill. 

This  issue  precipitated  a  bitter  struggle  within  the  republican  party  in  state 
and  county.  The  county  convention  instructed  its  delegation  to  the  state  con- 
vention to  support  a  commission  plank  in  the  state  platform,  but  thirteen  of  the 
forty-eight  delegates  from  Spokane,  bolted  the  instructions.  Notwithstanding  this 
defection,  a  strong  commission  plank  was  adopted,  808  to  262.  Francis  W.  Cnsfa- 
man  of  Tacoma,  Wesley  L.  Jones  of  North  Yakima,  and  W.  E.  Humphrey  of 
Seattle  were  nominated  for  congress. 

At  the  democratic  state  convention  at  Tacoma,  September  16,  George  F.  Cot^ 
terill  of  King,  O.  R.  Holcomb  of  Adams,  and  James  £.  Bell  of  Snohomish  were 
named  for  congress,  and  a  plank  adopted  for  a  railroad  commission,  to  be  first  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor,  and  subsequently  chosen  in  such  manner  as  the  legisla- 
ture should  determine.     Senator  Turner  was  named  for  reelection. 

At  the  November  election,  1902,  the  republicans  swept  the  state  and  won  tbe 
legislature  by  a  large  majority.  But  in  Spokane  county,  where  the  republican  con- 
gressional ticket  had  majorities  of  1,200  to  1,500,  democracy  won  seven  of  the  twelve 
legislators.  For  state  senate  Will  Graves  and  Huber  Rasher  easily  defeated  Frank 
Shaw  and  Jacob  Schiller,  while  Dana  Child,  P.  F.  Quinn,  J.  J.  Fitzgerald,  A.  J. 
Reise  and  John  Gray,  aU  democrats,  were  elected  to  the  house.  The  republicans 
elected  W.  A.  Stark,  S.  A.  Wells,  E.  C.  Whitney,  J.  B.  Lindsley  and  Walker  Henry, 
but  Stark,  Wells  and  Whitney  were  opposed  to  the  senatorial  aspirations  of  John 
L.  Wilson.  The  county  convention  in  June  had  declared  for  Wilson  for  the  senate, 
but  these  three  refused  to  stand  on  the  resolution  and  openly  campaigned  on  that 
issue.  The  result  on  the  legislative  ticket  was  generally  accepted  as  a  public  protest 
against  Mr.  Wilson.  Excepting  George  Mudgett  for  treasurer^  the  republicans 
elected  their  entire  county  ticket.  The  election  of  a  republican  legislature  eliminated 
Senator  Turner.  The  populist  party,  once  dominant  in  Spokane  county,  had  prac- 
tically disappeared.  It  polled  about  100  votes  in  the  county,  and  ranked  fifth, 
falling  below  the  prohibition  and  the  socialist  vote. 

A  large  excursion  of  Spokane  mining  and  business  men  went  to  Grand  Forks 
and  Republic  in  April,  1902,  to  attend  the  driving  of  the  last  spike,  on  the  11th, 
of  the  Kettle  Valley  lines,  more  widely  known  as  the  "Hot  Air*'  line.     They  were 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  515 

bosiptably  entertained  at  Grand  Forks  and  Republic.  The  celebration  was  slightly 
premature^  for  unforeseen  obstacles  had  delayed  construction,  and  the  visitors 
bad  to  be  conveyed  several  miles  in  carriages  at  the  Republic  end  of  the  road. 
In  July  the  Great  Northern  completed  its  rival  line  to  Republic. 

This  year  marks  the  advent  of  an  able  and  resourceful  independent  railroad 
builder^  in  the  person  of  F.  A.  Black  well,  a  resident  of  Coeur  d'Alene  City,  where 
himself  and  eastern  associates  had  acquired  extensive  forest  areas  and  milling 
facilities.  Without  flourish  of  trumpets,  Mr.  Blackwell  incorporated  in  October 
the  Coenr  d'Alene  &  Spokane  Railway  company,  and  went  quietly  but  actively 
about  the  task  of  acquiring  right  of  way  for  the  electric  road  which  connects  Spo- 
kane and  the  beautiful  and  prosperous  city  on  Lake  Coeur  d'Alene.  Mr.  Black- 
well,  William  Dollar,  A.  Bettes,  C.  P.  Lindsley  and  F.  S.  Robbins  were  named  as 
directors.  Large  part  of  Spokane's  growth  and  prosperity  must  be  ascribed  to  the 
fine  enterprise  and  keen  intelligence  of  a  group  of  local  railway  builders,  compris- 
ing D.  C.  Corbin,  Jay  P.  Graves,  Henry  M.  Richards,  Mr.  Blackwell  and  Robert 
£.  Strahorn. 

In  February,  1902,  was  organized  the  Eastern  Washington  &  Idaho  Lumber- 
men's association,  with  thirty  members.  President,  E.  F.  Cartier  Van  Dissel; 
vice-president,  O.  M.  Field  of  Hope,  Idaho;  secretary,  George  W.  Hoag. 

In  April  the  Northern  Pacific  closed  out  the  remainder  of  its  timber  holdings 
north  of  Spokane — 225,000  acres  at  an  average  price  of  $2.50  an  acre.  The  Saw- 
mill Phoenix  took  10,000  acres,  Holland-Horr  Mill  Co.  15,000,  Buckeye  Lumber 
company  46,000,  Spokane  Lumber  company  28,000,  Washington  Mill  company 
4,000,  Consolidated  Lumber  company  7,000,  Standard  Lumber  company  5,000, 
Bradley  company  of  Wisconsin  100,000. 

In  a  mining  way  the  year  was  signalized  by  a  stampede  into  the  Thunder 
mountain  district  of  central  Idaho.  Attractive  discoveries  there  in  1901  had  lured 
into  the  country  several  hundred  prospectors,  and  with  the  wearing  away  of  the 
winter  of  1891-92  food  supplies  were  exhausted  and  famine  prices  were  demanded. 
Flour  sold  as  high  as  $80  a  hundred,  and  beans,  rice  and  dried  fruit  brought  60 
cents  a  pound.  With  the  approach  of  spring  desperate  efforts  were  made  to  con- 
vey supplies  into  the  snowbound  regions,  and  the  arrival  of  the  first  pack  train 
measurably  relieved  the  distress,  so  that  flour  fell  to  20  cents  a  pound,  and  bacon, 
sugar,  rice,  salt  and  fruit  to  25  cents. 

More  than  1,000  men  were  encamped  in  May,  1902,  along  the  border  of  the 
south  half  of  the  Colville  reservation,  awaiting  a  signal  that  should  announce  the 

« 

opening  of  that  region  to  mineral  location.  Many  prospectors  slipped  over  the 
line,  but  all  "sooners"  were  driven  off  by  Indian  police,  directed-  by  a  deputy 
United  States  marshal. 

These  pages  have  mentioned  the  coming  of  Lord  Sholto  Douglas.  In  February 
his  lordship  was  joined  by  Lady  Sholto,  and  wearying  of  the  proprietorship  of  his 
wet  goods  emporium  on  lower  Howard  street,  Lord  Sholto  conceived  and  put  to 
execution  the  unique  idea  of  inviting  in  the  populace  and  dispensing  free  booze 
80  long  as  it  lasted.  The  event  was  a  howling  success,  and  there  gathered  around 
the  bar  a  shouting,  swearing  mob  of  hoboes,  soldiers  from  Fort  Wright  and  curi- 


516  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

osity  seekers.      It  was  the   wildest,  maddest,  merriest  Sunday   evening  Spokane's 
tenderloin  had   ever   seen. 

Two  noted  Indians  died  this  year — Chief  Lot  of  the  Spokanes,  on  the  Spokane 
reservation^  and  Chief  Saltese  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  at  DeSmet  mission,  where 
high  mass  was  celebrated  by  Rev.  Father  Caruana,  the  aged  Catholic  missionary, 
then  in  his  ninety-second  year. 


1 


CHAPTER  LX 

LAST  CLOUD   FADES  FROM   THE   FINANCL\L  SKIES 

1903    A    YEAR    OP    STIRRING    POLITICAL    INTEREST TITANIC    STRUGGLE    BETWEEN    GOV. 

MC  BRIDE   AND   THE   RAILROADS LEVI   AN  KEN  Y   ELECTED   U.   S.   SENATOR DEATH    OP 

JOHN   B.   ALLEN SPOKANE  ENTERTAINS   PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT DEATH  OF   H.   BOL- 
STER AND  S.  8.  GLIDDEN GRANBY  PAYS  ITS  FIRST  DIVIDEND FABULOUS  PROFITS  FROM 

MINES. 

THE  last  cload  had  faded  from  the  financial  skies  and  in  1908  city  and  coun- 
try were  in  enjoyment  of  prosperity  at  high  tide.  For  the  first  time  in 
their  history  the  Spokane  banks  wrested  from  Portland  a  large  share  of 
the  loans  on  the  Inland  Empire  wheat  harvest.  For  the  fiscal  year  ended  Septem- 
ber 30,  bank  clearings  were  $108,000,000 — more  than  seven  times  as  great  as  the 
clearings  of  1894,  and  nearly  doable  those  of  1900.  Clearings  for  the  calendar 
year  of  1908  made  a  yet  better  showing,  $112,000,000.  Like  a  young  green  bay 
tree  the  youthful  city  by  the  falls  flourished  strong  and  beautiful.  Building  per- 
mits this  year  totaled  $2,569,470,  and  it  was  estimated  that  the  actual  outlay  in  new 
construction  was  three  and  three-quarters  of  a  million  dollars. 

Politically  1903  was  of  stirring  interest.  When  the  legislature  convened  at 
Olympia  the  public  saw  a  Titanic  struggle  between  Governor  McBride,  resolute 
and  uncompromising  in  his  grim  determination  to  put  under  state  regulation  the 
common  carriers^  and  an  equally  resolute  opposition  from  the  railway  managers 
and  ]K>liticians  and  big  business  men  in  sympathy  with  or  in  fear  of  them.  On  this 
issue,  too,  was  fought  the  senatorial  contest  between  Harold  Preston  of  Seattle, 
an  avowed,  aggressive  and  sincere  advocate  of  railroad  regulation,  and  Levi  Ankeny 
of  Walla  Walla,  who  candidly  declared  his  opposition  to  it.  The  first  ballot  showed 
Ankeny  in  the  lead  with  forty-eight  votes,  against  forty-one  for  Preston,  twelve 
for  John  L.  Wilson,  five  for  Carroll  Graves,  an  "old  guard"  vote  of  three  for 
John  B.  Allen,  and  the  democratic  vote  of  twenty-three  given  complimentarily  to 
Turner.  Ankeny  was  elected  on  the  thirteenth  ballot,  with  ninety-nine  votes,  four- 
teen republicans  going  into  the  last  ditch  against  him. 

Casting  a  somber  shadow  over  the  triumph  of  the  contest  was  the  sudden  death 
of  John  B.  Allen,  who  for  the  fourth  time  had  struggled  unsuccessfully  with  Ankeny 
for  political  control  of  Walla  Walla.  The  former  senator  died  suddenly,  January 
28,  at  his  home  in  Seattle,  whither  he  had  moved  upon  his  retirement  from  the 
senate.  He  came  to  the  territory  in  1870,  and  five  years  later  President  Grant 
made  him  United  States  district  attorney,  a  position  held   for  ten  years  and  its 

517 


518  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

duties  performed  with  fidelity  and  high  legal  ability.  He  was  elected  delegate  to 
the  Fifty-first  congress,  to  the  United  States  senate  on  admission  in  1889^  and 
served  to  March  4^  1893. 

To  cap  their  victory^  the  railroad  forces  defeated  the  commission  bill. 

At  the  Spokane  city  election  of  1903  L.  Frank  Boyd,  republican  nominee,  was* 
elected  mayor  by  eighty-one  plurality  over  W.  H.  Acuff,  municipal  league  nominee; 
P.  S.  Byrne,  independent  labor,  and  Huber  Rasher,  democrats    Floyd  L.  Daggett 
was  reelected  comptroller,  and  M.  H.  Eggleston  treasurer. 

For  the  first  time  in  its  history,  Spokiine  entertained  a  president  of  the  United 
States.  Roosevelt  arrived  on  the  morning  of  Alay  26,  and  was  received  at  his  spe- 
cial train  by  a  citisens'  committee  headed  by  John  A.  Finch.  Business  houses  and 
residences  along  the  line  of  march  were  decorated  beautifully  and  profusely,  and 
from  a  platform  erected  .on  vacant  ground  near  the  Auditorium  he  delivered  a 
characteristic  address  to  an  enthusiastic  audience  of  20,000  people.  Ex-Senator 
George  Turner  delivered  the  introductory  address. 

The  president  this  year  appointed  Mr.  Turner  a  member  of  the  international 
Alaska  boundary  commission,  with  Secretary  of  War  Elihu  Root  and  Senator 
Henry  Cabot  Lodge  of  Massachusetts.  Justice  Armory  of  the  supreme  court  of 
Canada,  Justice  Jett,  retired,  and  Lord  Alverstone,  chief  justice  of  England,  were 
the  British  commissioners.  The  commission  sat  in  London,  and  its^  award,  while 
in  the  nature  of  a  compromise,  was  regarded  as  a  victory  for  the  United  States. 

Notable  deaths  this  year  were  H.  Bolster,  father  of  the  fruit  fair  and  the 
Interstate  exposition,  who  died  July  17,  and  S.  S.  Glidden,  founder  of  the  Old 
National  bank,  who  died  in  March  at  Los  Angeles,  whither  he  had  gone  in  search 
of  health. 

Granby  paid  its  first  dividend  in  November,  $133,500,  and  a  few  days  later 
Charles  Sweeny's  new  Federal  company,  with  properties  in  the  Coeur  d'Alencs, 
distributed  profits  of  $183,750. 

DIVIDENDS   PAID   TO    AUGUST,    1903 

Coeur  d'Alene  Silver-Lead  Mines 

Bunker  Hill  &  Sullivan   $  1,514,000 

Coeur  d'Alene  Dev.  Co 200,000 

Sierra  Nevada 250,000 

Milwaukee  Mining  Co 505,000 

Hecla    120,000 

Hercules 450,000 

Tiger 500,000 

Poorman    ; 480,000 

Granite    500,000 

Mammoth    1,500,000 

Morning    500,000 

Standard    2,910,000 

Empire  State-Idaho 1,768,878 

Tiger-Poorman  Co 20,000 

Republic 382,000 


HARRY  HAYWABD 

PIONEER   THEATRICAL   MAN 

OF  SPOKANE 


FAMOUS  ELKS'  QUARTETTE 


>    K 


■fl^AZ  LlsrtAK 


I 

L 


■"    ^*  i^hvV  YORK     I 

UudLIC  LlBHAHr 


-•o  '  w  "      ..rKyX 


Or^l 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  519 

Deer  Trail 85,000 

Iron  Mountain   500,000 

$12,129,878 
Rossland 

• 

Le  Roi,  gold-copper   $  1,805,000 

Le  5oi  No.  2,  gold-copper   800,000 

War  Eagle,  gold-copper    187,500 

War  Eagle  Con.,  gold-copper   545,250 

Centre  Star,  gold-copper   210,000 

Slocan 

Antoine,  silver-lead * $  10,000 

Bosom,  silver-lead   1 2,000 

Goodenough,  silver-lead    18,185 

Idaho  Mines,  silver-lead    400,000 

Jacks<m,   silver-lead    20,000 

Last  Chance,  silver-lead    218,109 

Monitor,   silver-lead 27,500 

Noble  Five,  silver-lead 50,000 

Payne,  silver-lead    1,420,000 

Queen  Bess,  silver-lead 25,000 

Rambler   Cariboo,   silver-lead    220,000 

Reco,  silver-lead    287,000 

Ruth,  silver-lead    125,000 

Slocan  Star,  silver-lead 500,000 

Surprise,  silver-lead 20,000 

Sunset,  silver-lead   55,000 

Washington,  silver-lead 88,000 

Whitewater,  silver-lead 194,000 

East  Kootenay 

North   Star,  silver-lead    $  873,000 

St.  Eugene,  silver-lead   210,000 

Camp  McKinley 

Cariboo,  gold $  500,000 

Fern,  gold 15,000 

Nelson 

Hail  Mines,  gold-copper $  160,000 

Poorman,  gold   25,000 


$7,460,544 
Or  a  grand  total  of  $19,590,422. 


CHAPTER  LXI 

RENEWED   ACTIVITY    IN    RAILROAD    BUILDING 

D.    C.    CORBIN     ANNOUNCES    PURPOSE    TO    BUILD    C.     P.    R.     CONNECTION GRAVES    ANI> 

BLACKWELL  FINANCE  ELECTRIC  LINE  INTO  PALOUSB  COUNTRY ROSSLANd's  OUTPUT 

PASSES    THE    $25^0009000    MARK PRINCELY    PROFITS    OF    THE    COBUR    d'aLENES 

MC  BRIDE    DOWNED    IN    REPUBLICAN    STATE    CONVENTION MEAD    DEFEATS    TURNER 

FOR     GOVERNOR SWEENY     DEVELOPS     SENATORIAL     ASPIRATIONS DEATH     OF     COL. 

P.  H.  WINSTON,  B.  C.  VAN   HOUTEN  AND  REV.  S.  G.  HAVBRMALE DROWNING  OF  MISS 

LOUISE  HARRIS. 

SPOKANE'S  population,  January  1,  1904^  as  estimated  for  the  director  of  the 
United  States  census  by  Mayor  Boyd,  was  59,249.  The  publisher  of  Polk's 
directory,  counting  HHlyard  and  outlying  additions  not  within  the  city 
limits,  gave  an  estimate  of  65,267.  Bank  clearings  rose  to  $124,168,971,  a  gain 
of  twenty-seven  per  cent  over  1908.  Building  permits  totaled  $4,000,000,  an  increase 
of  nearly  forty  per  cent.  Within  the  year  ten  miles  of  asphalt  streets  were  laid, 
125  miles  of  asphalt  and  cement  sidewalks,  thirty- four  miles  of  sewer  pipe,  fifty- 
seven  miles  of  water  mains,  and  seventy-four  miles  of  streets  were  graded  and  side- 
walked. 

Among  the  buildings  erected  were  Our  Lady  of  Lourdes  Catholic  church,  $125,- 
000;  Spokane  Amateur  Athletic  club,  $90,000;  St.  Luke's  hospital,  $65,000;  Masonic 
temple,  $65,000;  Gonzaga  college  buildings,  $200,000;  Carnegie  public  library, 
$75,000;  Central  Christian  church,  $25,000;  Universalist  church,  $15,000;  new  thea- 
ter, $75,000;  three  school  buildings,  nearly  $150,000;  and  ten  apartment  houses, 
$7,000  to  $65,000  each.  A  million,  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  went  into  busi- 
ness buildings  of  various  sorts. 

The  year  1904  brought  renewed  activity  in  railroad  construction.  D.  C.  Cor- 
bin  announced  in  March  his  intention  to  build  a  railroad  from  Spokane  to  a  con- 
nection with  the  Canadian  Pacific,  provided  the  citizens  would  donate  a  right  of 
way  and  terminals.     Later  Mr.  Corbin  voluntarily  waived  this  condition. 

The  Washington  Water  Power  company  announced  its  plan  of  building  an 
electric  line  to  Medical  Lake. 

In  October  President  F.  A.  Blackwell  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  &  Spokane  electric 
road  returned  from  the  east,  where  he  and  Jay  P.  Graves  had  sought  financial  sup- 
port for  an  electric  road  into  the  Palouse  country.  "If  the  citizens  of  Spokane  and 
citizens  along  the  line  and  in  the  towns  the  line  will  touch  will  subscribe  for  a  rea- 
sonable amount  of  stock,"  he  said,  "the  Spokane-Colfax  electric  line,  running  through 

521 


522  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  heart  of  the  Palouse  country^  will  be  built.  We  have  practically  arranged  for 
the  financing  of  the  proposed  road." 

Suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  Blackwell  and  Graves  incorporated  the  Spokane 
&  Interurban  system  in  December,  and  announced  a  purpose  to  build  to  Moscow, 
Idaho.  With  them  as  incorporators  were  Alfred  Coolidge,  John  Twohy  and  F. 
Lewis  Clark.  Jay  P.  Graves  became  president,  F.  A.  Blackwell  vice-president,  H. 
B.  Ferris  treasurer.  Will  Davidson  secretary,  and  A.  M.  Lupfer  supervising  engi- 
neer. A  few  weeks  later,  at  an  enthusiastic  meeting  of  250  business  men  and 
property  holders,  Mr.  Graves  outlined  the  company's  plans,  and  $39,000  of  the 
stock  was  taken  on  the  spot.  Graves,  Coolidge,  Twohy,  Clark  and  Thomas  L. 
Greenough  had  previously  put  $200,000  into  the  enterprise.  The  company  bought 
the  power  site  and  riparian  rights  at  Nine  Mile  bridge. 

Mines  owned  or  controlled  in  Spokane  were  producing  enormously.  Granbj's 
output  in  1904  was  nearly  $4,000,000,  of  which  $1^719,496  was  in  copper,  $959,360 
in  gold,  and  $103,081  silver.  ,  i 

In  ten  years  Rossland  camp, had  yields  more  than  $^5,000,000,  with  this  rec- 
ord by  years: 

1894 $  75,000 

1895 702,359 

1896 1,243,360 

1897 2,007,780 

1898 2,470,811 

1899    3,211,400 

1900 3,500,000 

1901    3,700,000 

1902 4,274,352 

1903 4,631,280 


$25,816,342 

Prodigious  were  the  product  and  profits  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  whose  silver- 
lead  mines  yielded  $11,600,000  in  1908,  an  increase  of  thirty-three  per  cent  over 
1902.  Idaho  law  required  sworn  statements  of  yield  and  profits  to  the  assessor, 
and  for  1903  and  1904  mine  managers  made  affidavit  to  the  following  profits: 

1903 

Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan    $  67,891 

Coeur  d'Alene  Development  Co 143,096 

Cleveland 12,607 

Empire  State  Mines 286,704 

Hercules 169,527 

Mammoth 348,386 

Morning 11 1,054 

Hecla : 45,048 

Standard 271,626 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  523 

1904 

Standard  and  Mammoth $59&fiSS 

Last  Chance   * . . . . i  • 882,652 

Tiger-Poorman 21,036 

Hercules 488,476 

Morning , 846,420    • 

Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan 287,497     ' 

Hecla    V..'.  ..V 84,785 

* 

The  official  statement  of  Charles  Sweeny's  Federal  company,  for  the  year  ended 
August  .81,  1904,  gave  ore  shipments  of  $4,908,926,  and  net  profits  of  $1,885,725. 
This  company,  owned  and  controlled  by  Rockefeller,  {he  Goulds  and  other  New 
York  capitalists,  now  owned  and  operated  the  Last  Chance,  the  Tiger-Poorman, 
the  Standard,  the  Mammoth. 

In  the  summer  of  1904  eight  Coeur  d'Alene  mines  were  paying  monthly  divi- 
dends aggregating  $272,000.  The  1904  output  of  that  district  aggregated  $12,- 
316,875 — $8,889,422  in  lead,  $8,576,962  in  silver,  $800,000  in  copper,  and  about 
$50,000  in  gold. 

Politically  1904  was  a  stirring  year;  and' when  the  shouting  was  dver  and  the 
ballots  counted  it  appeared  that  Washington  electors  had  voted  rather  illogically. 
While  they  had  given  Roosevelt  an  amasing  plurality  of  more  than  70,000  votes, 
they  had,  in  convention  or  at  the  polls,  defeated  the  very  leaders  within  the  state 
who  had  stood  most  conspicuously  and  unfalteringly  for  the  Roosevelt  policies. 
In  state  convention  the  republicans  had  cast  out  Governor  McBride,  and  rejected 
his  railroad  commission  policy.  At  the  polls  the  voters  defeated  George  Turner 
for  governor  and  ratified  the  action  of  the  railroad  controlled  convention  of  the 
republican  party.  Eastern  Washington,  however,  voted  consistently,  giving  Turner 
a  large  majority,  but  the  Spokane  candidate  went  down  under  a  larger  adverse 
majority,  which  the  West  Side  rolled  over  the  crest  of  the  Cascade  mountains. 

Throughout  eastern  Washington  sentiment  developed  strong  for  Governor 
McBride.  In  March  a  Roosevelt-McBride  club  was  organized  with  55S  members, 
and  quickly  expanded  to  more  than  1,000.  Similar  clubs  were  formed  all  over 
eastern  Washington.  McBride  easily  carried  Spokane  county  at  the  primaries, 
and  the  county  convention  sent  to  the  state  convention  a  strong  and  enthusiastic 
delegation.  At  Tacoma  the  state  convention  rejected  a  commission  plank,  878  to 
277,  and  nominated  for  governor  Albert  E.  Mead  of  Whatcom,  and  for  congress 
renominated  Jones,  Cushman  and  Humphrey. 

The  democratic  state  convention,  meeting  at  Bellingham,  named  George  Turner 
for  governor,  and  demanded  "a  regulative,  non-]K>litical  railroad  commission,  to  be 
appointed  by  the  governor,  with  power  to  adjust  and  regulate  freight  and  passen- 
ger rates." 

While  his  party's  platform  was  silent  on  the  commission  question,  Mead 
promptly  announced  that  if  the  legislature  should  pass  a  commission  law  he  would 
approve  it,  a  pledge  which  he  subsequently  fulfilled.  Turner  went  to  the  summit 
of  the  Cascades  with  nearly  6,000  majority,  but  Mead  met  him  there  with  28,000. 
Roosevelt  carried  Sjjokane  county  by  7,688  plurality,  and  Turner  by  2,977.  On 
the  congressional  ticket  the  county  was  republican  by  nearly  5,000.     Stephen  Jud- 


524  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

son  for  lieutenant-governor  on  the  democratic  ticket,  and  George  Mudgett,  demo- 
cratic nominee  for  state  treasurer,  carried  the  county  respectively  by  924  and 
1,878.    The  republicans  easily  elected  their  county  and  legislative  tickets. 

Republican  campaign  expenses  in  Spokane  county  had  been  largely  borne  by 
Charles  Sweeny,  and  soon  after  the  election,  at  a  meeting  attended  by  twelve  of 
the  thirteen  members  of  the  legislative  delegation,  he  was  advanced  as  Spokane's 
candidate  for  United  States  senator.  Present  were  State  Senators  Walker  Henry 
and  Dr.  C.  G.  Brown,  and  Representatives  Daniel  Hoch,  Jesse  Huxtable,  W.  D. 
Scott,  D.  P.  Bowers,  George  T.  Crane,  N.  E.  Linsley,  Joseph  B.  Lindsley,  Dr.  G. 
T.  Doolittle,  J.  A.  Fancher  and  C.  T.  Ratcliffe.  A.  B.  Campbell  announced  that 
he  would  be  a  candidate  against  Sweeny,  but  later  reconsidered  his  decision.  Other 
senatorial  candidates  were  Samuel  H.  Piles,  John  L.  Wilson  and  Jacob  Furth  of 
Seattle,  and  Senator  Addison  G.  Foster  of  Tacoma.  The  developments  of  this 
contest  will  be  reviewed  in  another  chapter. 

After  long  infirmities.  Colonel  Patrick  Henry  Winston  died  at  his  home  in 
Spokane,  Sunday,  April  3,  1904.  A  native  of  North  Carolina,  he  came  to  the 
west  in  1884,  appointed  by  President  Arthur  to  be  register  of  the  land  office  at 
Lewiston,  Idaho.  He  later  removed  with  his  family  to  Spokane,  bought  an  inter- 
est in  the  Daily  Review  and  edited  that  journal  for  about  two  years.  After  the 
state*s  admission  in  1889  he  was  appointed  United  States  district  attorney.  Be- 
coming a  populist,  he  was  elected  attorney-general  in  1896.  He  started  Winston's 
Weekly  in  1903,  and  was  editing  that  paper  at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  had  wit 
and  eloquence  in  high  degree,  a  well  trained  legal  mind,  and  a  vigorous,  independ- 
ent and  captivating  personality.  Whether  in  high  political  council  or  in  curb- 
stone causerie.  Colonel  Winston  could  always  be  relied  upon  to  add  gaiety  to  the 
occasion. 

One  incident  will  illustrate  his  aptness  for  political  repartee.  While  campaign- 
ing the  state  in  1894  for  the  republican  party  he  was  addressing  a  large  audience 
down  in  the  Palouse  country.  It  was  a  night  meeting  and  the  mellow  light  of  a 
large  oil  lamp,  reflected  from  a  tin  background  just  above  his  head,  imparted  a 
peculiar  beaming  appearance  to  his  utterly  bald  head.  Out  in  the  audience  arose 
a  tall  figure,  bewhiskered  to  the  waist,  to  demand  the  privilege  of  asking  a  ques- 
tion of  the  speaker.  "Colonel  Winston,"  it  said,  "I  should  like  to  know  why,  if, 
as  you  say,  there  are  no  inequalities  under  the  law,  you  account  for  the  unequal 
distribution  of  wealth.^** 

"I  will  answer  that  question  with  pleasure,"  said  Mr.  Winston,  "after  the  gen- 
tleman has  first  answered  a  little  question  that  I  am  going  to  propound."  Inclin- 
ing his  shining  poll  to  the  amused  audience,  he  asked:  "How  do  you  explain  Na- 
ture's unequal  distribution  of  hair?" 

Death  claimed  this  year  three  other  well  known  pioneers.  B.  C.  Van  Houten 
died  at  Seattle  in  January.  He  was  for  several  years  a  towering  figure  in  the 
political  and  financial  world.  He  came  to  Cheney  in  1881,  and  to  Spokane  in  1884. 
He  organized  the  Citizens'  National  bank  and  became  its  president;  was  elected 
to  the  state  senate,  and  after  his  fortune  was  swept  from  him  by  the  panic  of 
1893,  became  Levi  Ankeny's  political  manager  in  the  Walla  Wallan's  senatorial 
campaign. 

Francis  Asbury  Pugh,  an  Oregon  pioneer  of  1846,  died  at  his  home  in  Spokane, 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  525 

January  16.  He  went  to  California  in  the  gold  rash  of  1849,  and  came  to  Spo- 
kane county  in  1881.  He  was  father  of  the  well  known  Pugh  brothers,  long 
prominent  in  Spokane  county  political  life. 

Rev.  S.  G.  Havermale,  who,  as  presiding  elder  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church,  preached  the  first  sermon  ever  delivered  before  a  white  audience  in  Spo- 
kane, died  in  a  serene  old  age,  January  13. 

On  the  stormy  night  of  January  8,  1904,  the  steamer  Clallam  was  wrecked  in 
the  straits  of  San  Juan  de  Fuca,  near  Victoria,  and  fifty-four  persons  perished, 
including  every  woman  and  child  aboard.  Among  the  victims  was  Miss  Louise 
Harris  of  Spokane,  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  J.  Harris. 


CHAPTER  LXII 

CHARLES  SWEENY'S  BRIEF  TILT  AT  POLITICS 

so    MATCH    FOR    OLYMPIA    POLITICIANS^ — HE    RETALIATES    BY    ELECTING    PILES INLAND 

EMPIRE    PROFITS DAOOETT    DEFEATS    ACUPF    FOR    MAYOR LARGE    PROJECTS    OF    W. 

W.  POWER   CO.^ ACTIVE  YEAR   IN  RAILROAD  BUILDING JUDGE  WHITSON  OPENS  U.  8. 

COURT    IN    SPOKANE^ DEATH    OF    R.    WEIL,    "jlM**    WARDNER    AND    COL.    W.    W.    D. 

TURNER INDIANS  SIGN   TREATY  WITH   THUMB  MARKS. 

CHARLES  SWEENY  couW  play  the  game  in  Wall  street,  but  was  no  match 
for  the  seasoned  politicians  who  made  Olympia  their  rendezvous.  They 
played  him  fast  and  loose;  but  once  "bis  eyes  were  open  he  retaliated  hard. 
The  first  joint  ballot  in  January,  1905,  put  Foster  in  the  lead  with  forty-four 
votes;  Piles  had  thirty-three.  Sweeny  twenty-seven,  Wilson  fifteen,  Cosgrove  five 
and  Jones  four.  The  democratic  corporal's  guard  of  seven  legislators  voted  for 
Turner.  Here  were  two  wealthy  men  in  the  running^S weeny  of  Spokane  and 
Foster  of  Tacoma — Sweeny  bold,  bluff  and  open-handed;  Foster  cautious,  canny 
and  thrifty;  and  a  number  of  politicians,  eager  to  get  forward  in  a  financial  way, 
ihon^t  they  had  discovered  an  easy  scheme  of  playing  one  against  the  other. 
Sweeny  considered  their  demands  outrageous,  and  declared  that  he  would  be  re- 
venged. He  would  not,  he  said,  pay  their  price,  nor  would  he  allow  another  to 
pay  it.  He  would  elect  a  poor  man  to  the  senate,  "so  poor  that  he  had  a  mortgage 
on  his  home;"  and  he  moved  his  support  to  Piles  and  made  him  the  caucus  choice. 
This  combination  the  legislature  ratified  next  day,  when  Piles  received  125  votes, 
Foster  two.  Turner  six.  But  Piles  had  to  pay  a  price;  and  it  took  the  form  of  a 
signed  agreement  binding  him  to  do  certain  stipulated  things  for  eastern.  Wash- 
ington: 

First,  that  he  would  stand  with  Roosevelt  in  enlarging  the  powers  of  the  inter- 
state commerce  commission  (and  thereby  enable  Spokane  to  make  another  fight  for 
terminar  rates). 

Second,  that  with  the  help  of  the  King  county  delegation  a  railroad  commis- 
sion bill  satisfactory  to  eastern  Washington  should  be  passed. 

Third,  that  Piles  should  support  the  openiiig  of  the  Columbia  river. 

Fourth*,  that  he  would  work  for  a  federal  judicial  district  in  eastern  Washing- 
ton, with  headquarters  at  Spokane. 

Fifth,  that  Spokane  should  speedily  be  made  a  sub-port  of  entry. 

In  fulfillment  of  this  agreement,  the  le^slature  enacted  the  commission  law, 
almost  without  opposition,  even  the  senate,  which  for  nearly  twenty  ye^krs  had  been 

527 


528  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  bulwark  of  the  railroad  forces,  passing  the  bill^  thirty-six  to  fonr.  Governor 
Mead  signed  the  measure^  and  later  appointed  as  commissioners  H.  A.  Fairchild  of 
Bellingham^  John  S.  McMillin  of  ^an  Juan  county,  and  J.  C.  Lawrence  of  Garfield, 
Whitman   county. 

At  the  municipal  election  in  May,  1905,  the  democrats  elected  Floyd  L.  Dag- 
gett mayor  by  846  plurality  over  W.  H.  Acuff,  republican.  H.  L.  Lilienthal,  in- 
dependent, polled  1,542  votes,  and  C.  A.  Bungay,  socialist,  557.  Daggett  carried 
the  First,  Second  and  Fourth  wards,  Acuff  the  Third  and  Fifth.  For  comptroller 
Robert  Fairley  had  542  plurality,  and  for  treasurer,  M.  H.  Eggleston  1,563.  The 
democrats  elected  six  councilmen — Leonard  Funk,  L.  C.  Brown,  Fred.  Baldwin, 
John  Gray,  N.  J.  Laumer  and  N.  S.  Pratt;  and  the  republicans  four — ^W.  G.  Estep, 
H.  G.  Stimmel,  W.  T.  Horr  and  J.  S.  Phillips. 

City  and  country  ran  lustily  forward  with  fine  growth.  Spokane  had  a  popula- 
tion in  March,  according  to  the  directory  estimate,  which  included  Hilly ard  and 
platted  additions  outside  the  city  limits,  of  73,  852.  The  state  statistical  department 
estimated  Washington's  population  this  year  at  874,310.  Spokane  it  credited  with 
70,000,  as  against  36,B48  in  1900,  and  19,922  in  1890. 

President  Henry  M.  Richards  returned  from  New  York  in  February,  to  an- 
nounce that  the  Washington  Water  Power  company  had  provided  $3,500,000  for 
extensions  and  improvements  within  the  next  three  years,  of  which  $1,100,000 
was  immediately  available  for  1905.  With  this  fund  the  company  completed  its 
line  to  Medical  Lake,  built  the  large  dam  and  power  house  at  Post  Falls,  and  car- 
ried electric  power  into  the  Palouse  country. 

Mr.  Corbin  pushed  construction  of  the  Spokane  International.  He  had  entered 
into  a  fifty-year  traffic  agreement  with  the  Canadian  Pacific,  under  terms  which 
rendered  it  impossible  that  the  Spokane  International  should  ever  pass  to  other 
control  than  the  Canadian  Pacific.  Mr.  Corbin  announced  in  March  that  the  bond 
issue  of  $4,000,000  was  all  sold;  $3,000,000  had  been  taken  by  six  men  in  equal 
amounts. 

In  April  the  Spokane  &  Inland,  the  Coeur  d'Alene  &  Spokane  Railway  com- 
pany and  the  Spokane  Traction  company  (afterwards  merged  into  the  Inland 
Empire  system)  signed  a  ten-year  contract  with  the  Washington  Water  Power 
company  for  electric  power,  and  decided  to  defer  development  of  their  own  power 
at  Nine  Mile  bridge,  below  the  city.  Construction  was  hastened  this  year  on  the 
line  into  the  Palouse  country. 

It  had  now  become  apparent  that  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  was  in 
earnest  with  its  Pacific  Coast  extension.  In  April  it  began  acquisition  of  exten- 
sive terminals  on  the  tide  lands  at  Seattle. 

The  Weyerhaeuser  interests  in  May  let  a  contract  for  a  railroad  from  the  town 
of  Palouse  to  pierce  its  white  pine  timber  belt  on  the  Palouse  river,  and  decided 
to  double  the  capacity  of  its  mill  at  Palouse. 

Robert  £.  Strahorn  organized  in  September  his  mysterious  North  Coast  rail- 
way, and  announced  that  his  company  would  build  a  system  of  steam  railways  in 
the  Yakima  valley. 

Judge  Edward  Whitson  of  North  Yakima,  who  had  been  appointed  judge  of 
the  new  federal  court  for  eastern  Washington,  came  to  Spokane  in  March  and  organ- 
ized his  court. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  529 

Among  the  well  known  Spokane  men  who  died  in  1905  was  R.  Weil,  in  San 
Francisco  in  May.  He  came  to  Spokane  in  1889,  and  from  a  small  beginning  built 
up  -the  Palace  store  mitil  it  took  rank  with  the  great  department  stores  of  the 
Pacific  northwest. 

James  F.  Wardner,  for  whom  the  town  of  Wardner  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  was 
named,  died  in  March  at  £1  Paso,  Texas.  Wardner  was  a  true  soldier  of  fortune, 
whose  cheerful  optimism  was  known  in  every  mining  camp  the  world  aroimd.  He 
went  into  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  in  an  early  day,  and  promoted  the  sale  of  the  Bunker 
Hill  and  Sullivan  mines  by  the  original  owners  to  S.  G.  Reed  of  Portland,  Oregon. 

Col.  W.  W.  D.  Turner  died  at  Los  Angeles  in  April.  He  was  a  brother  of  Judge 
George  Turner,  and  contributed  materially  to  the  making  of  the  Le  Roi. 

Granby  paid  a  dividend  of  $405,000  in  December. 

Charles  Sweeny  this  year  disposed  of  the  greater  part  of  his  interest  in  the 
Federal  company.    He  said  in  an  interview  that  he  had  received  $2,660,000. 

Near  the  end  of  1905  a  treaty  was  negotiated  at  old  Fort  Spokane  for  the 
opening  of  the  south  half  of  the  Colville  reservation.  The  Indians  signed  the 
agreement  with  thumb  marks. 


Vol.  I— M 


CHAPTER  LXIII 

"SPOKANE  IS  ALMOST  A  MODEL  CITY" 

TRIBUTE    OF    PRAISE    BY    COLORADO'S    GOVERNOR     IN     1906 GROWTH    OF     CHAMBER    OF 

COMMERCE PRESIDENT     EARLING     HERE ELECTRIC     LINE     EXTENDED     TO     HAYDEN 

LAKE J.    F.    SLOANE    SLAIN    BY   HIS    SON    SIDNEY RENO    HUTCHINSON,   Y.    M.    C.    A. 

SECRETARY,    MURDERED ASSASSINATION    OF    GOV.    8TEUNENBERG FUTILE    ATTEMPT 

TO   IMPEACH    MAYOR   DAGGETT — a)EATH    OF    EX-GOVERNOR   GEORGE    E.    COLE FOUND- 
ING   OF    WESTERN    UNION    LIFE    INSURANCE    COMPANY FORMER    MILLIONAIRE    DIES 

AT  POOR  FARM. 

SPOKANE,"  wrote  Governor  Alva  Adams  of  Colorado  in  Harpers'  Weekly, 
in  1906,  "is  almost  a  model  city.  Its  great  river  and  falls,  its  beautiful 
homes,  lawns  and  trees,  satisfy  the  love  of  scenic  beauty.  Its  churches, 
schools,  art  and  literary  dubs  provide  the  moral  and  intellectual  sides.  Its  business 
men  are  young,  enthusiastic  and  patriotic.  Not  satisfied  to  sit  and  wait  for  tribute, 
their  capital  and  enterprise  go  out  into  tributary  territory,  where  they  plough  virgin 
fields,  dig. canals,  build  railroads,  transform  the  desert,  mine  gold,  silver,  copper 
and  lead  in  the  mountains.     They  are  builders,  creators,  developers." 

A  generous,  intelligent  and  accurate  description  this,  of  the  city  by  the  falls, 
grown  opulent,  metropolitan  and  highly  ambitious  within  the  decade  which  sepa- 
rated it  from  the  distress  and  disaster  of  panic  years.  Progressive  spirits  had  taken 
the  measure  of  their  city  and  its  resources,  and  the  knowledge  that  greater  things 
were  in  store  filled  them  with  enthusiasm  and  a  desire  to  play  well  their  part  in  the 
inspiring  work  of  empire  building.  The  cooperative  spirit  was  mirrored  in  the 
chamber  of  commerce,  which  had  grown  from  a  feeble,  apathetic  organization  of 
ninety- five  members  in  January,  1903,  to  a  membership  in  1904  of  205,  in  1905. 
of  308,  and  in  1906  of  436.  Under  the  able  and  enthusiastic  leadership  of  Chair- 
man G.  B.  Dennis,  the  chamber's  publicity  committee  raised  in  1906  its  first  great 
fund  of  $40,000  for  promotion  and  publicity  work.  The  Hundred  and  Fifty  Thou- 
sand club,  organized  in  1905,  had  2,000  loyal  and  enthusiastic  members  by  New 
Year's  day,  1906,  with  F.  W.  King  for  president,  Ren  H.  Rice  secretary,  and  W. 
E.  Goodspeed  treasurer. 

Jay  P.  Graves  and  his  associates  organized  in  January,  1906,  the  Inland  Em- 
pire railway  company,  with  $20,000,000  capital  stock, — a  merger  of  the  Spokane 
Traction  company,  the  Spokane  &  Inland  railway,  the  Coeur  d'Alene  &  Spokane 
electric  road  and  the  Spokane  Terminal  company. 

President  A.  J.  Earling  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  came  in  Janu- 

531 


532  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

ary  to  spy  out  the  land  for  that  company's  Pacific  extension^  and  President  F.  £. 
Goodall^  J.  J.  Browne  and  N.  W.  Durham^  a  committee  from  the  chamber  of  com- 
merce^ called  upon  him  and  pointed  out  the  advisability  of  choosing  a  route  that 
would  put  Spokane  on  the  main  line. 

"I  can  only  say  at    this  time/*  replied  President  Earling^  "that  we  are  as  de- 

* 

sirous  of  coming  to  Spokane  as  you  are  to  have  us  come."  The  company  hastened 
its  work  of  securing  right  of  way  across  the  state^  and  let  a  contract  in  August  fon 
construction  between  the  Bitter  Root  mountains  and  the  Columbia  river. 

The  Coeur  d'Alene  and  Spokane  electric  line  was  extended  to  Hayden  lake, 
and  James  J.  Hill  decided  to  build  the  Spokane,  Portland  &  Seattle  down  the  north 
bank  of  the  Columbia. 

The  year  1906  was  ill-starred  by  three  peculiarly  atrocious  and  shocking  crimes. 
Morning  of  August  27  the  murdered  body  of  J.  F.  Sloane,  a  prominent  pioneer  of 
1886^  was  found  in  an  alley  near  his  home.  Suspicion  fell  immediately  upon  his 
son  Sidney^  17  years  of  age.  Under  police  questioning  the  youth  advanced  con- 
flicting and  improbable  stories^  and  later  confessed  that  he  had  slain  his  father 
with  an  axe^  and  used  a  wheelbarrow  to  remove  the  mutilated  body  from  the  death 
chamber  to  the  open  alley  where  it  was  found.  The  seeming  motive  was  either 
robbery  or  rage  arising  from  the  father's  refusal  to  meet  his  demands  for  money. 
The  trials  which  ran  for  more  than  forty  days^  constituted  one  of  the  most  sensa- 
tional criminal  cases  in  the  history  of  the  town.  It  opened  November  12  and  ended 
December  24,  and  the  work  of  selecting  a  jury  consumed  nine  days.  A  plea  of  in- 
sanity was  ably  advanced  and  maintained  by  Attorney  F.  C.  Robertson,  and  the 
jury  acquiesced  in  this  defense  and  rendered  a  verdict  of  not  guilty;  but  the  court, 
in  accordance  with  a  state  law  for  such  cases  provided,  committed  the  acquitted  boy 
to  the  state  penitentiary  at  Walla  Walla. 

Reno  Hutchinson,  general  secretary  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  association, 
was  mysteriously  murdered  at  the  comer  of  Seventh  avenue  and  Howard  street,  at 
8  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  October  15.  A  bullet  from  the  assassin's  revolver  pene- 
trated the  victim's  body,  and  falling,  the  dying  man  plunged  upon  the  lawn  at  the 
residence  of  Postmaster  M.  T.  Hartson.  The  murderer  was  seen  to  flee  across  the 
lawn  and  quickly  vanish  under  cover  of  the  darkness  of  an  autumn  evening. 
Whether  the  deed  of  a  highwayman  or  an  embittered  enemy,  was  the  mystery  of 
the  hour,  and  a  mystery  has  ever  since  remained. 

Ex-Governor  Frank  Steunenberg  of  Idaho,  opening  the  gate  at  his  residence  in 
Caldwell,  that  state,  exploded  a  terrific  charge  of  dynamite  which  had  been  set  with 
cunning  flendishness  to  encompass  his  death.  Suspicion  was  instantly  directed 
against  Harry  Orchard,  who,  under  an  assumed  name,  had  taken  a  room  in  a 
Caldwell  hotel,  had  been  observed  spying  around  the  Steunenberg  home,  and  asked 
questions  about  the  business  hours  and  habits  of  the  ex-governor.  Governor  Steun- 
enberg had  vigorously  enforced  the  laws  at  the  time  of  the  miners'  riots  in  the 
Coeur  d'Alenes,  and  as  Orchard  had  been  closely  associated  with  the  Western  Fed- 
eration of  Miners,  suspicion  fell  upon  that  powerful  organization.  An  amaiing 
confession  by  Orchard  implicated  President  Moyer,  Heywood  and  Pettibone,  not 
only  in  this  crime,  but  in  a  long  series  of  similar  outrages,  •  and  they  were  arrested 
in  their  eastern  homes  and  spirited  away  to  Idaho  before  their  friends  could  fight 
their  extradition  in  the  courts.     The  legality  of  their  arrest  was  contested  in  the 


EDWARD   WHITSON,   DECEASED  BISHOP  LEMUEL  H.  WELLS 

First  FederalJudge  at  SpokaEe  Of    All    Saiuta'   Cathedral 


BHUCE  M.  WATSON  (lOVERNOR  M.   E.  HAY,  W.  L.  LAFOLLETTE 

1912  Congressman,  1912 


GBOROE  TUENEB  W.  E.  BORAH,  MILES  POIXDEXTER, 

Former  Senator  Senator  of  Idaho,  1912  Senator,   1912 


^Tm   new  YORK 

;;U:.UCL13RAHY 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  533 

highest  courts^  but  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States  refused  to  interfere. 
Their  trial  at  Boise  City  excited  national  interest,  but  the  jury^  after  a  fair  and 
thorough  trial,  refused  to  convict  the  defendants  on  the  sole  testimony  of  a-  wit- 
ness who  stood  confessedly  the  most  monstrous  criminal  of  the  age. 

A  vigorous  effort  by  the  Law  Enforcement  League  of  Spokane,  to  have  Mayor 
Daggett  impeached  for  failure  to  enforce  the  Sunday  closing  law  was  carried  be- 
fore the  council.  That  body,  by  a  vote  of  six  to  four,  refused  to  proceed  with  im- 
peachment proceedings — Funk,  Baldwin,  Gray,  Baines,  Snyder  and  Koontz  sup- 
porting the  mayor,  and  Estep,  Horr,  Pratt  and  Phillips  vpting  to  put  the  mayor 
on  trial. 

In  state  convention  at  Seattle,  Septemiber  19,  the  rfepublfckn  party  renominated 
Congressmen  F.  W.  Cushman,  W.  E.  Humphrey  and  Wesley  L.  Jones.  One  week 
later,  in  their  state  convention,  also  at  Sea^t}ej,'the  democrats  .'named  against  them 
Dr.  P.  S.  Byrne  of  Spokane,  Dudley  Eshelman  of  Pierce  couiity,  and  Wm.  Black- 
man  of  King.  For  justice  of  the  supreme  court  they  advanced  Warren  W.  Tolman 
of  Spokane. 

The  republicans  easily  carried  the  state.  Spokane  county  gave  their  congres- 
sional candidates  2,500  plurality,  and  elected  nearly  all  of  the  nominees  on  the  re- 
publican legislative   and  county   tickets. 

Death  claimed  a  noted  pioneer  in  the  person  of  ex-Governor  George  E.  Cole, 
who  died  in  Portland,  December  8,  while  en  route  to  California  for  his  health. 
Governor  Cole  came  to  Oregon  in  an  early  day,  and  to  Walla  Walla  in  1861.  He 
joined  the  rush  to  the  Clearwater  gold  camps,  with  a  pack  train  and  stock  of  mer- 
chandise from  Walla  Walla.  He  was  in  business  in  Lewiston  in  1862,  but  returned 
to  Walla  Walla  in  1863,  and  soon  thereafter  was  elected  to  congress.  He  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  Washington  in  1866,  and  when  his  term  of  office  expired  re- 
turned to  Portland  and  became  closely  associated  with  Ben  Holladay,  the  famous 
pioneer  builder  of  railroads  in  Oregon.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  had  been  a 
resident  of  Spokane  for  several  years. 

D.  K.  Oliver,  a  pioneer  of  1878,  died  January  28. 

The  Western  Union  Life  Insurance  company,  a  local  enterprise  which  has  since 
enjoyed  vigorous  growth,  was  incorporated  October  31,  1906,  and  began  business 
November  28.  R.  Lewis  Rutter  was  its  first  president;  A.  F.  MacFarland,  vice- 
president  and  manager;  Philip  Harding,. secretary;  T.  H.  Brewer,  treasurer;  C.  P. 
Thomas,  medical  director.  Directors:  L.  M.  Davenport,  R.  B.  Paterson,  Alfred  Cool- 
idge,  Henry  M.  Richards,  Thomas.., George  Thomson,  J.  P.  McGoldrick,  C.  P. 
Thomas,  T.  H.  Brewer,  F.  B.  Grinnell,  and  A,  F.  MacFarland.  The  last  official  state- 
ment of  insurance  in  force  shows  remarkable  growth:  1906,  $402,500;  1907,  $3,716,- 
000;  1908,  $7,410,220;  1909,  $7,995,270;  1910,  $9,501,625;  October  1,  1911, 
$10,789,268.  The  company's  admitted  assets  increased  from  $85,528  in  1906  to 
$764,768  on  October  1,  1911. 

The  Hazelwood  irrigation  project  was  started  this  year.  With  water  conveyed 
from  Silver  lake,  near  Medical  lake,  it  has  brought  under  intensive  cultivation  a  large 
area  of  rich  soil  lying  on  the  plateau  immediately  west  of  Spokane. 

The  death  of  George  H.  Leonard,  late  in  December  at  the  county  poor  farm  at 
Spangle,  dropped  the  curtain  on  a  tragic  life  drama  of  vivid  contrasts  and  startling 
vicissitudes.     Leonard,  in  the  '80s,  was  a  millionaire  grain  operator  on  the  Chicago 


534  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

board  of  trade^  a  partner  of  "Old  Hutch/'  and  mayor  of  the  Chicago  suburb  of  Hyde 
Park.  At  times  he  and  Hutchinson  were  absolute  masters  of  the  wheat  market.  His 
fortune  swept  away  in  an  unsuccessful  "corner^"  Leonard  came  to  Spokane  in  1886 
and  engaged  in  the  real-estate  business  with  Herbert  Bolster  as  partner.  Fortune 
favored  him  again^  and  he  amassed  a  fortune  estimated  at  $200^000^  but  the  panic  of 
1898  dissipated  his  wealth,  and  he  never  rallied  from  the  second  blow.  His  wife 
and  children  scattered  to  the  four  winds,  he  sank  under  adversity's  blows,  and  in 
his  declining  years  found  a  calm  refuge  at  the  county  farm. 


CHAPTER  LXIV 

YEAR  OF  PANIC  AND  CLEARING  HOUSE  CERTIFICATES 

CHAMBER   OF   COMMERCE   CHAMPIONS  STATE   COLLEGE C.  H.  MOORE  ELECTED  MAYOR- 


PANIC  BREAKS  IN  NEW  YORK LOCAL  BANKS  ISSUE  CLEARING  HOUSE  CERTIFICATES 

FLURRY    SOON    SUBSIDES F.    A.    BLACKWELL    BUILDS    IDAHO    &    WASHINGTON    NORTH- 
ERN  FINE  TOWN  OF  SPIRIT  LAKE  SPRINGS  UP  IN  THE  WILDERNESS DEATH  OF  D.  F. 

PERCIVAL    AND    THOMAS    GEORGE    THOMSON "rEV."    LESLIE    DAY    COMMITS    SUICIDE 

— WILD   DEMONSTRATION    AROUND    POLICE  STATION. 

EARLY  in  1907  West  Side  enemies  of  the  State  College  at  Pullman  opened 
a  vigorous  attack  upon  that  institution^  with  the  obvious  object  of  crippling 
it  by  withholding  adequate  appropriations.  To  refute  their  misrepresenta- 
tions and  put  facts  before  the  people  of  Washington^  the  chamber  of  commerce  ap- 
pointed a  committee  comprising  W.  D.  Vincent^  David  Brown^  Samuel  Glasgow, 
D.  T.  Ham^  Jay  P.  Graves,  A.  L.  White  and  N.  W.  Durham,  which  sent  to  Pull- 
man a  sub-committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  Vincent,  Brown  and  Durham.  Their 
report,  laid  before  the  chamber  of  commerce  in  February,  was  enthusiastically 
adopted  and  a  copy  sent  to  every  commercial  organization  in  Washington.  "Your 
committee,''  said  the  report  in  part,  "was  particularly  impressed  by  the  appearance 
of  industry  which  characterizes  this  college.  The  success  with  which  this  institu- 
tion has  been  applied  to  the  basic  industries  and  resources  of  Washington  is  marve- 
lous. Everywhere  around  the  college — upon  the  grounds  and  in  the  buildings, 
earnest,  young  men  and  women  were  at  work.  We  saw  students  in  large  groups,  sur- 
veying in  the  field,  at  work  in  the  iron  foundry,  in  the  machine  shops,  in  the  great 
hall  of  manual  training,  in  practical  work  in  -veterinary  science,  in  dairying  and  the 
care  of  live  stock,  and  in  mining.  The  presence  of  such  an  institution  is  of  incal- 
culable benefit  to  the  varied  industries  of  all  sections  of  the  state."  Other  organi- 
zations took  up  the  cause,  and  opposition  to  the  college  was  easily  routed. 

At  the  election.  May  8,  1907,  C.  Herbert  Moore,  republican  nominee  and  candi- 
date of  the  Good  Citizens  League,  was  elected  mayor  by  1,874  plurality  over  Floyd 
L.  Daggett,  democrat,  on  a  total  vote  of  about  10,000.  The  result  surprised  the 
element  that  favored  a  "liberal"  town,  who  had  bet  their  money  with  free-handed 
disregard  of  the  evident  magnitude  and  deep  enthusiasm  of  the  reform  movement 
back  of  Mr.  Moore.  Robert  Fairley,  democrat,  was  elected  comptroller  by  1,709 
majority,  and  M.  H.  Eggleston  was  reelected  treasurer  by  a  margin  of  219  votes. 
To  the  council  the  democrats  elected  Leonard  Funk,  Fred.  Baldwin  and  John  Gray ; 
the  republicans  M.  B.  Watkins,  W.  G.  Estep,  E.  V.  Lambert,  Robert  L.  Dalke. 

535 


536  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Charles  W.  Mohr^  J.  S.  Phillips  and  B.  R.  Ostrander.  A  $400^000  bond  issae  was 
voted  for  new  bridges^  and  four  charter  amendments  carried:  for  the  assessment  of 
benefited  property  to  defray  the  cost  of  laying  water  mains;  for  the  initiative  and 
referendum;  to  increase  the  salaries  of  city  officials^  and  for  the  creation  of  a  non- 
partisan park,  commission.    Bungay^  socialist  candidate  for  mayor^  polled  .292  votes. 

As  the  summer  wore  along,  panic  conditions  developed  swiftly  at  New  York  and 
other  eastern  financial  centers.  There  was  an  ominous  tightening  of  the  money  mar- 
ket, and  the  press  dispatches  brought  increasing  reports  of  flurries  in  Wall  street 
and  bank  failures  east  of  the  Mississippi.  The  distant  storm  scarcely  put  a  ripple 
on  the  placid  financial  waters  of  the  Inland  Empire,  and  a  compilation  of  the  year's 
production,  made  in  October  by  August  Wolf  of  the  press  bureau  of  the  chamber 
of  commerce,  convinced  even  the  timid  ones,  that  Spokane  and  its  neighboring  terri- 
tory were  in  excellent  condition  to  withstand  any  disturbance  which  might  sympa- 
thetically follow  the  eastern  panic.  Mr.  Wolf's  compilation  showed  that  the  indus- 
tries of  the  Inland  Empire  had  produced  $128,500,000  of  new  wealth  in  tlie  year 
just  past,  the  equivalent  of  $207  for  every  person  in  the  district.  To  lumber  was 
credited  $17,000,000,  to  wheat  $82,500,000,  to  fruits  $14,000,000,  to  dairy  pro- 
ducts $5,000,000,  to  live  stock  and  poultry  $14,000,000,  and  to  other  farm  products 
$14,000,000, 

As  a  measure  of  sheer  self-protection  the  bankers  of  Spokane,  after  a  conference 
lasting  several  hours  and  extending  far  into  the  night,  decided,  on  Tuesday,  October 
29,  to  suspend  legal  tender  payment,  and,  following  the  example  of  other  cities, 
emit  an  issue  of  clearing  house  certificates.  Accordingly  they  had  printed  $400,000 
of  these  certificates  in  denominations  of  $1,  $2,  $5  and  $10. 

"Conditions  which  call  for  the  protection  of  the  current  resources  of  western 
banks  are  not  of  home-making,"  explained  the  Spokesman- Review.  "There  never 
was  a  time  in  western  history  when  the  people  were  so  prosperous,  the  burden  of 
debt  so  light,  the  supply  of  money  and  credit  so  generous.  The  banks  of  many  west- 
ern cities  have  taken  precaution  to  protect  their  cash  resources  from  the  strong  poll 
exerted  by  desperate  New  York  bankers.  That  action,  in  turn,  has  seemed  to  make 
it  advisable  for  bankers  still  further  west  to  protect  themselves  in  like  manner. 
Failing  to  adopt  that  safeguard,  their  cash  would  gradually  be  drawn  from  them  by 
banks  holding  balances  against  them,  while  banks  indebted  to  the  home  banks  would 
refuse  to  settle  their  balances  in  cash.  Thus  the  unprotected  banks  would  soon  lose 
their  cash  and  hold  instead  certificates  of  clearing  house  associations  in  distant  cities 
— sound  enough  as  an  investment,  but  worthless  for  the  immediate  needs  of  real  cur- 
rency," 

With  admirable  spirit  the  public  accepted  the  situation,  and  utilized  the  certifi- 
cates as  a  passing  makeshift.  Business  men,  big  and  little,  took  the  improvised  cur- 
rency at  par,  and  were  glad  to  get  it;  and  real  estate  men  advertised  their  willingf- 
ness  to  take  it  in  exchange  for  building  lots  in  their  additions. 

A  convention  in  Spokane,  Sunday,  November  10,  was  attended  by  the  represen- 
tatives of  161  bankers  from  all  parts  of  the  Inland  Empire.  After  extended  dis- 
cussion resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted  approving  the  plans  that  had  been 
adopted  and  affirming  that  no  change  was  needed. 

Early  in  December  the  Spokane  banks  began  to  retire  their  certificates,  and 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  537 

$133^000  of  them  were  burned  December  9.    .The  flurry  was  over;  confidence  stood 
unshaken^  and  Prosperity's  chariot  rolled  serenely  on. 

Meanwhile  railroad  building  was  progressing  at  many  points  in  the  Spokane 
country.     In  March  F,  A.  Blackwell^  his  son  R.  F.  Blackwell^  and  their  associates 
incorporated  the  Idaho  &  Washington  Northern  Railroad  company^  put  surveyors 
in  the  fields  and  began  to  acquire  right  of  way  for  a  line  that  was  to  connect  with 
varioas  other  systems  out  in  the  Spokane  valley  and  develop  the  country  between 
Rathdmm  and  Newport  on  the  Pend  d'Oreille  river.     Mr.  Blackwell  had  purchased 
extensive  forest  tracts  around  Spirit  lake,  forty  miles  northeast  of  Spokane,  and 
entered  vigorously  on  the  work  of  clearing  at  the  outlet  a  site  for  a  large  and  modern 
sawmill.     An  adjoining  section,  bought  from  Mrs.  S.  M.  Wharton,  was  cleared  and 
laid  out  as  a  modern  townsite,  and  October  3  the  spick  and  span  new  town  of  Spirit 
Lake  came  into  prosperous  being.     This  marked  a  new  departure  in  methods  of 
building  towns  in  the  Inland  Empire.     The  spot  selected  was  in  a  virgin  wilderness, 
and  no  roof  had  ever  been  erected  on  the  new  townsite.    Broad  streets  were  graded, 
miles  of  cement  sidewalks  laid,  electric  light  and  water  plants  installed,  large  pub- 
lic parks  cleared  and  seeded ;  and  a  few  months  after  the  beginning,  a  beautiful  and 
thoroughly*  up-to-date  little  city  looked  out  upon  the  encircling  wilderness.     In  the 
meantime  Mr.  Blackwell  drove  forward  with  fine  energy  the  task  of  railroad  con- 
struction, and  by  the  February  following  carried  on  excursion  to  Newport  several 
hundred  representative  Spokane  business  men.     This  line  he  subsequently  extended 
down  the  valley  of  the  Pend  d'Oreille  to  Metaline  Falls,  near  the  Canadian  border. 
This  summer  the  Milwaukee  company  built  vigorously  across  the  Idaho  Pan- 
handle, and  the  Palouse  country  forty  miles  south  of  Spokane.     Work  was  driven, 
too,  on  the   Spokane,   Seattle  &   Portland.      In   September  Mr.   Strahorn's   North 
Coast  company  made  extensive  purchases  of  Front  avenue  property. 

D.  F.  Percival,  a  pioneer  of  1872,  died  at  Cheney,  January  11,  aged  sixty-seven. 
He  came  to  the  Rock  Creek  section,  then  in  Stevens  county,  in  1872;  was  elected 
county  commissioner,  to  serve  at  Colville,  in  1874,  and  served  in  the  territorial  legis- 
lature from  1876  to  1880.  He  engaged  in  the  banking  business  at  Cheney  in  1881, 
and  was  there  elected  mayor  for  ^ve  consecutive  terms.  He  was  a  citizen  of  unusual 
public  spirit  and  enterprise. 

The  death  of  Thomas  George  Thomson,  manager  of  the  Hypotheekbank,  occurred 
October  8.  This  Holland  concern  made  extensive  mortgage  loans  on  city  and  coun- 
try real  estate  in  the  Spokane  country.  After  the  panic  of  189S  it  acquired  by  fore- 
closure a  large  part  of  the  improved  business  property  of  the  town.  With  the  re- 
turn of  better  times  it  gradually  disposed  of  this  foreclosed  proi>erty,  and  Mr.  Thom- 
son was  sent  from  Holland  to  manage  its  affairs  in  and  around  Spokane.  He  quickly 
won  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 

J.  D.  Labrie,  who  died  October  14  at  Medical  Lake,  came  to  Spokane  county  in 
1871  from  Douglas  county,  Oregon,  and  the  next  spring  located  on  a  homestead  a 
mile  north  of  the  present  town  of  Medical  Lake.  He  helped  to  operate  the  first 
sawmill  in  Spokane,  and  was  Medical  Lake's  first  postmaster. 

Perhaps  the  most  picturesque  figure  about  Spokane  in  the  early  '90s  was  "Rev." 
Leslie  Day,  alias  Leslie  R.  Kingsley,  who  committed  suicide  at  St.  Paul  in  November, 
1907.  While  in  Spokane  he  was  successively  street  preacher,  miner,  clairvoyant  and 
healer.     Leaving  San  Francisco  for  San  Francisco's  good,  and  on  pointed  intima- 


538  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

tions  from  the  police,  he  drifted  to  Spokane  and  found  a  ferUle  field.  Masquerading 
as  a  minister  while  here,  he  not  only  failed  to  practice  what  he  preached,  but  in 
his  Jekyll-Hyde  life  was  as  much  at  home  among  the  vicious  element  as  among  hon- 
est folk.  He  left  Spokane  at  the  time  of  the  Klondjke  rush.  Day  had  a  checkered 
career.  Was  born  on  a  battle  field  of  the  Crimean  war;  was  educated  for  the 
priesthood  in  St.  Petersburg ;  became  a  lieutenant  in  the  Russian  army ;  wandered  to 
Australia,  and  thence  drifted  to  San  Francisco.  He  was  a  man  of  powerful  physique 
and  deep  resounding  voice. 

One  of  the  wildest  demonstrations  ever  witnessed  on  the  streets  of  Spokane  was 
that  on  the  night  of  September  7,  when  a  frenzied  mob  of  more  than  2,000  people 
surged  around  the  police  station  and  clamored  for  the  release  of  Mrs.  Ida  Crouch 
Hazlett,  a  socialist  speaker  arrested  for  violating  the  city  ordinance  forbidding 
street  speaking  within  the  fire  limits.  Released  on  bail,  she  came  out  of  the  station 
bareheaded  and  without  a  jacket,  and  led  a  triumphant  procession  up  Howard  street 
to  her  headqual*ters  in  a  lodging  house. 


CHAPTER  LXV 

ROOT-GORDON  SCANDAL  AROUSES  THE  PUBLIC 

SINISTER    RUMORS    DEVELOP    INTO    OPEN    CHARGES CHIEF    JUSTICE    HADLEY    CALLS    FOR 

BAR    ASSOCIATION    INQUIRY JUDGE    ROOT   RESIGNS GRAND    JURY   CALLED APPEAR- 
ANCE   OF    JAMES    J.    HILL PROSECUTOR    PUGH    CHARGES    HIM    WITH    BAD    FAITH ' 

GREAT   NORTHERN  REFUSES  TO   AID   PROSECUTION GORDON    ACQUITTED PASSING  OF 

SUNDAY    SALOON    AND    BOX-RUSTLING SPOKANE    EQUAL    SUFFRAGE    ASSOCIATION    OR- 


GANIZED  MILES  POINDEXTER   GOES  TO    CONGRESS COSGROTE   ELECTED   GOVERNOR- 


JONES  DEFEATS  ANKENY  FOR  THE  SENATE NORTHERN  PACIFIc's  SCHEME  OF  GRADE 

SEPARATION    DEFEATED 150^000    CLUB    FOSTERS   CHILDREN'S   HOME. 

IN  THE  summer  of  1908  a  sinister  whisper  ran  over  the  state  that  M.  J. 
Gordon,  Great  Northern  attorney  at  Spokane,  was  $50,000  to  $100,000  short 
in  his  accounts  with  that  company.  Gordon  had  held  for  five  years  the  high 
office  of  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  Washington,  and  for  three  years  was  chief 
justice.  He  had  resigned  from  the  supreme  bench  to  take  service  with  the  Great 
Northern.  At  first,  men  of  cautious  mind  rejected  these  ugly  rumors  as  mere  fab- 
rications of  some  sensational  scandal-monger.  But  the  rumors  would  not  be 
silenced,  and  grew  in  persistence  and  circumstantial  detail  until  they  became  in  No- 
vember an  open  secret  among  the  well-informed  lawyers  of  the  northwest,  and  soon 
found  their  way  into  the  columns  of  the  public  press. 

Rumor  added  that  a  part  of  the  alleged  shortage  had  been  paid  to  Judge  Milo 
A.  Root  of  the  state  supreme  court.  Chief  Justice  W.  E.  Hadley  formally  requested 
J.  B.  Bridges,  president  of  the  State  Bar  association,  to  investigate  these  charges  of 
"conduct  of  a  highly  criminal  nature/'  and  Bridges  appointed  John  H.  Powell,  and 
Harold  Preston  of  Seattle,  T.  L.  Stiles  and  R.  G.  Hudson  of  Tacoma,  and  H-  M. 
Stephens  of  Spokane  a  committee  to  make  the  investigation. 

November  24  Justice  Root  offered  his  resignation  to  the  governor.  "My  relations 
with  Judge  Gordon,"  he  affirmed,  "will  bear  the  closest  investigation,  and  will  re- 
flect no  more  upon  me  than  the  indiscretions  of  friendship.  Yet  I  realize  that  for 
a  justice  of  the  supreme  court  there  should  exist  not  even  an  indiscretion,  especially 
as  I  realize  that  any  reflection  upon  any  member  casts  a  cloud  upon  the  entire 
court." 

These  sensational  revelations  stirred  public  sentiment  to  its  depths,  and  the  sen- 
sation was  intensified  by  newspaper  interviews  wherein  L.  C.  Gilman,  general  west- 
em  counsel  for  the  Great  Northern,  and  W.  R.  Begg,  general  solicitor  at  St.  Paul, 
admitted  that  a  shortage  existed  in  Gordon's  accounts. 

539 


540  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Gordon  seemed  dazed  by  the  weight  of  his  troubles^  and  personal  friends  main- 
tained a  close  watch  to  prevent  possible  soicide.  "Gordon,"  said  a  Spokane  acquaint- 
ance, ''is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  I  have  ever  seen.  He  could  stay  up  all 
night,  hire  an  automobile  in  the  morning,  go  into  the  country  with  a  party  of  friends, 
sing  a  few  songs,  drink  more  booze,  and  return  to  town  apparently  refreshed  and 
ready  for  the  legal  business  in  which  he  was  interested.  On  these  trips  he  usually 
insisted  on  paying  all  expenses.  He  is  a  good  story-teller,  a  good  listener,  and  one 
of  the  best  entertainers  I  ever  knew.  Apparently  he  had  no  sense  of  the  value  of 
money,  and  I  often  wondered  what  would  be  the  finish  of  the  clip  at  which  he  was 
going." 

The  Bar  Association  committee  conducted  investigations  at  Spokane,  Seattle, 
Tacoma  and  elsewhere.  Root  and  Gordon  came  before  it  at  Seattle,  and  Root  denied 
that  he  had  ever  received  a  dollar  improperly  from  Gordon.  In  published  state- 
ments Gordon  denied  that  he  was  short  with  the  Great  Northern. 

The  investigating  committee  reported  in  January,  1909,  that  Judge  Root  had 
corresponded  with  Gordon  regarding  a  money  transaction;  that  Root  accepted  from 
the  Great  Northern,  through  Gordon,  and  from  other  railroads,  free  transportation; 
that  Root  filed  as  the  opinion  of  the  supreme  court  an  almost  verbatim  draft  of  an 
opinion  dictated  by  Gordon  as  attorney  for  the  Great  Northern  in  the  case  of  Harris 
against  the  railroad  company. 

The  committee  was  unable  to  obtain  any  facts  to  substantiate  rumors  of  the  giv- 
ing out  of  advance  information-  concerning  decisions  of  the  supreme  court,  or  to  ob- 
tain any  facts  to  substantiate  rumors  of  bribery  and  corruption.  The  committee  held 
that  the  conduct  of  Root  in  receiving  free  transportation  was  highly  censureable; 
that  his  conduct  in  the  Harris  case  was  a  gross  breach  of  judicial  and  professional 
propriety,  and  showed  such  a  want  of  appreciation  of  the  duties  of  a  judge  of  the  su- 
preme court  as  to  unfit  him  for  occupying  that  position.  The  report  recommended 
that  the  State  Bar  association  request  the  judges  of  the  superior  court  of  Spokane 
county  to  call  a  grand  jury  to  investigate  fully  the  rumors  of  corruption. 

Gordon  was  arrested  on  a  specific  charge  of  embezzling  $9,200  from  the  Great 
Northern,  and  pleaded  not  guilty  in  the  superior  court  of  Spokane. 

A  grand  jury  was  called  at  Spokane,  and  its  investigations  were  vigorously  con- 
ducted by  Prosecuting  Attorney  Fred.  C.  Pugh.  It  returned  a  number  of  indict- 
ments against  Gordon,  who  was  arrested  in  May  on  additional  charges  of  embezzle- 
ment. 

While  passing  through  Spokane,  June  S,  President  James  J.  Hill  of  the  Great 
Northern  was  served  with  a  subpoena  to  appear  before  the  grand  jury,  and  went 
before  that  body  the  following  day.  "I  have  promised  the' grand  jury  that  I  will 
do  all  in  my  power  to  see  that  it  gets  the  papers  and  documents  which  it  desires," 
said  Mr.  Hill  upon  leaving  the  grand  jury  room.  (Prosecutor  Pugh  had  given  him 
a  list  of  the  documents  desired.)  "I  shall  write  to  St.  Paul  this  afternoon,  so  that 
a  meeting  of  the  board  of  directors  may  be  held  when  I  arrive."  A  few  days  later 
the  board  of  directors  decided  not  to  supply  the  grand  jury  with  the  desired  records 
and  documents.  "This  shows  bad  faith  on  the  part  of  James  J.  Hill,"  said  Mr. 
Pugh. 

Gordon's  trial  came  on  in  the  superior  court  March  11,  but  the  state's  inability 
to  obtain  important  documentary  evidence  from  the  books  and  files  of  the  Great 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  541 

Northern,  or  to  secure  the  presence  as  a  witness  of  L.  C.  Oilman,  greatly  weakened 
the  case,  and  Judge  Xennan  directed  the  jury  to  return  a  verdict  of  not  guilty." 

After  an  intermittent  warfare  of  nearly  twenty  years,  a  slowly  awakening  pub- 
lic sentiment  triumphed  in  1908,  over  the  Sunday  saloon  and  the  pioneer  type  of 
box-rustling  variety  theaters.  Early  in  January  Mayor  Moore's  administration 
warned  the  saloons  that  the  Sunday  closing  law  would  be  enforced,  and,  this  warn- 
ing disregarded,  wholesale  arrests  followed.  The  liquor  dealers  appealed  to  the 
courts,  and  failing  there,  125  of  them  forfeited  their  bonds  in  the  police  court  in  a 
single  day  and  tacitly  agreed  to  conform  to  the  law.  On  the  night  of  January  11 
the  Coeur  d'Alene,  Comique  and  O.  K.  theaters  closed  their  doors.  With  this  disap- 
p>earance  of  a  frontier  type  of  amusement  resorts,  Spokane  passed  forever  from  a 
stage  that  was  highly  picturesque,  but  unsuited  to  an  aspiring  city  of  the  modem 
mold,  eager  to  rank  as  a  social,  educational  and  amusetnent  center  of  the  better  kind. 

Politically  the  year  brought  much  of  interest.  In  February  was  organized  the 
Spokane  Equal  Suffrage  association  with  Mrs.  May  Arkwright  Hutton  as  president, 
Mrs.  H.  W.  Allen  first  vice-president,  Mrs.  E.  Phyllis  Carlton  second  vice-president, 
Mrs.  Nellie  Colbum  secretary,  Mrs.  Jessie  S.  Emery  treasurer,  and  Mrs.  J.  G.  Cun- 
ningham musical  superintendent.  This  organization  entered  on  a  vigorous  but  digni- 
fied and  effective  crusade  for  woman  suffrage,  and  by  its  enthusiasm  and  intelligent 
example  helped  to  stimulate  the  statewide  movement  which  later  won  a  signal  success 
at  Olympia  and  the  polls. 

Miles  Poindexter  resigned  from  the  superior  bench  of  Sp(Jcane  county  to  make  the 
race  for  congress  in  the  Third  district,  comprising  all  the  counties  of  eastern  Wash- 
ington excepting  Klickitat.  Politics  took  on  new  interest  this  year,  the  people  test- 
ing, for  the  first  time,  the  new  principle  of  direct  primaries.  At  the  primary  elec- 
tions in  September  Poindexter  defeated  a  field  of  republican  contestants  which  in- 
cluded T.  D.  Rockwell,  W.  H.  Ludden  and  Harry  Rosenhaupt,  all  of  Spokane, 
Boone  of  Whitman,  and  Field  of  Chelan.  For  the  United  States  senate  Wesley  L. 
Jones  of  Yakima  defeated  Senator  Levi  Ankeny  of  Walla  Walla.  For  the  govern- 
orship the  contest  was  lively  and  exciting  between  Governor  A.  E.  Mead,  Ex-Gov- 
ernor Henry  McBride  and  S.  G.  Cosgrove,  with  Col.  W.  M.  Ridpath  of  Spokane 
and  Atkinson  also  in  the  race.  Spokane  county  went  for  Poindexter,  Jones  and  Mc- 
Bride— for  Poindexter  by  2,300  votes,  for  Jones  by  more  than  4,000,  and  for  Mc- 
Bride by  2,097  votes  over  Mead,  and  2,665  over  Cosgrove.  In  the  state  a  count  of 
the  second  choice  votes  gave  the  republican  nomination  for  governor  to  Cosgrove. 

At  the  November  election  the  republicans  swept  state  and  county.  For  presi- 
dent, Taft  defeated  Bryan  in  the  state  by  55,000,  in  the  county  by  5,000.  Cosgrove 
was  elected  governor  by  about  45,000  majority,  but  death  robbed  him  of  the  fruits 
of  his  victory.  Weakened  by  exhaustion  and  disease,  he  broke  down  in  the  cam- 
paign, and  was  taken  to  California  for  his  health.  He  returned  to  Olympia  for  in- 
auguration, but  lacked  the  strength  to  take  up  the  duties  of  the  office,  and  shortly 
after  was  removed  by  death.  Lieutenant-Governor  M.  E.  Hay  of  Spokane  there- 
upon became  governor. 

In  the  Third  congressional  district  Poindexter  defeated  William  Goodyear,  dem- 
ocrat of  Whitman  county,  by  about  12,000  votes. 

In  Spokane  the  republicans  carried  all  the  county  and  legislative  offices,  with 
the  single  exception  of  Lester  P.  Edge,  democrat  for  the  legislature. 


642  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

The  Northern  Pacific  presented  a  plan  of  grade  separation  this  year^  and  that 
question  was  threshed  out  before  the  council  in  March.  The  plans  excited  a  wide- 
spread protest^  from  the  general  public  as  well  as  owners  of  property  and  leases 
along  the  right  of  way.  Objections  were  directed  against  the  unsightly  appearance 
of  the  proposed  elevated  structure^  the  treatment  of  intersecting  streets^  and  the 
plan  of  readjusting  the  tracks  to  warehouses  along  the  right  of  way.  After  several 
weeks  of  spirited  controversy  and  the  presentation  of  a  vast  number  of  remonstrances, 
the  railroad  company  withdrew  its  plans  and  stated  that,  so  far  as  it  was  concerned, 
the  question  of  grade  separation  was  a  closed  incident. 

Mysterious  and  covert  buying  of  Front  avenue  real  estate,  long  suspected  as  in 
the  interest  of  R.  E.  Strahom's  occult  North  Coast  Railroad  company,  culminated 
in  July  when  that  company  filed  for  record  114  deeds,  representing  purchases  ag- 
gregating nearly  $1,000,000  and  covering  an  almost  continuous  strip  from  the  city 
hall  to  the  western  city  limits. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  150,000  club,  April  6,  President  F.  W.  King,  to  represent 
the  club,  W.  S.  Rogers  for  the  contractor,  and  George  W.  Mackay,  for  the  labor 
unions,  were  appointed  as  a  building  committee  to  take  charge  of  construction  of  the 
new  Children's  home.  A  resolution  was  adopted  thanking  Asa  V.  Bradrick  for  his 
admirable  and  enthusiastic  direction  of  the  inspiring  campaign  to  raise  the  needed 
fund.  A  handsome  donation  by  John  A.  Finch  of  fourteen  lot^  as  a  site  for  the  new 
home,  two  and  a  fourth  miles  northwest  of  Riverside  and  Howard,  lifted  this  worthy 
undertaking  out  of  the  realm  of  uncertainty. 

Death  claimed  two  pioneers — Mrs.  Louis  Ziegler,  May  31,  a  pioneer  of  1880,  and 
Frederick  Post,  who  died  at  Post  Falls,  August  7,  in  his  eighty-seventh  year. 

In  July  the  Woman's  Club  conducted  the  first  Chautauqua  in  Spokane.  The  new 
city  market  was  opened  August  22.  The  North  Central  high  school  was  built  this 
year.    The  Orpheum  theatrical  circuit  was  extended  to  Spokane  in  June. 

Big  buildings  started  or  completed  this  year  were  the  Paulsen,  $900,000;  Spo- 
kane Dry  Goods  company.  Railroad  and  Lincoln,  $160,000;  Kemp  &  Herbert,  Main 
and  Washington,  $150,000;  Peyton,  $175,000,  Spokane  and  Post,  and  the  Federal 
building.  Riverside  and  Lincoln. 

By  the  accidental  discharge  of  his  fowling  piece,  Allan  F.  Gill,  former  city  en- 
gineer and  city  commissioner,  was  killed  while  hunting  on  the  frozen  shores  of  Moses 
lake,  in  the  Big  Bend  country. 

The  new  Catholic  church  of  Our  Lady  of  Lourdes  was  dedicated  on  Thanksgiv- 
ing day 'by  Bishop  Edward  O'Dea. 

Bank  clearings  in  1908  aggregated  $308,000,000,  an  increase  of  more  than  $6,- 
000,000.  Postoffice  receipts  increased  more  than  thirteen  per  cent,  the  jobbing 
trade  twenty  per  cent.  The  manufacturing  payroll  showed  an  increase  of  $500,000. 
Building  permits  exceeded  those  of  1907  by  $150,000,  a  gratifying  record  when  the 
fact  was  considered  that  the  1907  record  was  rounded  out  by  permits  for  the  Paul- 
sen and  Federal  buildings  and  several  other  unusually  large  projects. 


CHAPTER  LXVI 

BILLY  SUNDAY'S  REVIVAL  AND  THE  UNEMPLOYED 

OREATEST    RELIGIOUS   MEETING   IN    CITy's   HISTORY TEMPERANCE    WORKERS   MARCH    ON 

OLYMPIA CARING    FOR    ARMY    OF    IDLE    MEN PRATT    DEFEATS    OMO    FOR    MAYOR 

SPOKESMAN-REVIEW      CELEBRATES      TWENTY-FIFTH      ANNIVERSARY EXTRAORDINARY 

RUSH    FOR    INDIAN    LANDS FRIGHTFUL    WRECK    ON    COEUR   d'aLENE    ELECTRIC    LINE 

— PAN  TAN  DISCLOSURES NATIONAL  IRRIGATION  CONGRESS PRESIDENT  TAFT  VISITS 

INLAND  .  EMPIRE CITy's    CLASH    WITH    THE    I.    W.    W. — YEAR    OF    FINE    GROWTH 


GREAT    NORTHERN    ABSORBS    THE    GRAVES    SYSTEM DEATH    OF    J.    HERMAN    BEARE^ 

JUDGE   NORMAN   BUCK,   E.   H.   JAMIESON   AND   C.   S.   VOORHEES. 

ON  SUNDAY,  January  24,  1909,  was  held  the  greatest  religious  meeting  in 
the  history  of  Spokane,  when  10,000  men  assembled  in  a  huge  tented  taber- 
nacle to  hear  Billy  Sunday's  indictment  of  the  saloon.  Five  thousand  men 
outside,  clamoring  for  impossible  admittance,  nearly  precipitated  a  riot.  Local  op- 
tion legislation  was  pending  before  the  legislature.  Under  the  auspices  of  the  evan- 
gelical churches  of  the  city,  Mr.  Sunday  had  been  conducting  a  memorable  series 
of  revival  meetings,  and  had  stirred  profoundly  the  religious  and  moral  conscious- 
ness of  the  community.  Thousands  attended  his  meetings  from  the  surrounding 
country.  At  the  close  of  the  revival,  5,666  conversion  cards  had  been  returned. 
To  impress  the  legislature,  one  hundred  Spokane  citizens  chartered  a  special  train 
and  accompanied  the  revivalist  to  the  state  capital,  and  presented  ,'^to  the  Spokane 
county  delegation  petitions  for  local  option  signed  by  8,000  Spokane  citizens.  Mr. 
Sunday  addressed  two  great  audiences  in  the  Olympia  theater.  Among  the  well 
known  citizens  who  accompanied  the  evangelist  to  Olympia  were  Senator  Miles 
Poindexter,  W.  H.  Ludden,  Zach  Stewart,  J.  L.  Paine,  W.  H.  Shields,  J.  C.  Barline, 
M.  L.  Higley,  Rev.  H.  L.  Rasmus,  A.  V.  Bradrick,  H.  C.  Blair,  C.  H.  Weeks,  F. 
£.  Elmendorf. 

A  large  influx  of  unemployed  taxed  the  capacity  of  the  police  department  this 
winter,  and  engaged  the  attention  of  the  charitably  minded.  Billy  Sunday's  big  tab- 
ernacle was  opened  as  a  retreat  for  the  homeless.  400  slept  there  on  benches  the 
first  night,  600  the  next,  and  their  numbers  rapidly  grew  to  900,  to  1,000,  to  1,250. 
Donations  from  citizens  provided  food,  and  nightly  after  the  services  were  over 
volunteers  remained  to  feed  the  homeless,  hungry  men.  Word  ran  over  the  surround- 
ing country,  hundreds  of  miles  away,  that  Spokane  had  food  and  shelter  for  all,  and 
it  became  necessary  for  the  ministerial  association  to  limit  its  hospitality  to  free 
sleeping  shelter  for  all  and  breakfast  for  400;  and  a  committee  asked  Police  Chief 

543 


544  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Rice  to  aid  in  the  task  of  sheltering  the  wanderers.  Chief  Rice  expressed  a  readi- 
ness to  take  care  of  300^  but  that^  he  declared^  was  the  limit  of  the  city's  capacity. 
With  the  return  of  milder  weather  came  a  thinning  out  of  the  unemployed. 

For  the  first  time  the  city  campaign  was  conducted  under  the  direct  primary  law. 
At  the  primary  election^  April  6,  J.  T.  Omo,  CM.  Fassett^  R.  A.  Hutchinson  and 
J.  Grant  Hinkle  contested  for  the  republican  nomination  for  mayor^  and  finished  in 
the  order  named^  Omo  leading  Fassett  by  nearly  1^000  votes.  In  the  democratic 
primaries  N.  S.  Pratt  defeated  N.  J.  Laumer^  987  to  447.  For  comptroller^  W.  J. 
McKean  was  the  republican  nominee^  Robert  Fairley  the  democratic;  and  for  treas- 
urer J.  Oscar  Peterson^  republican^  was  matched  against  M.  H.  Eggleston^  democrat. 

At  the  election  a  few  days  later,  Prat^,  supported  by  the  Non-Partiaan  dub, 
composed  chiefly  of  republicans,  was  elected  mayor  over  Omo  by  a  majority  of 
nearly  800  votes.  Fairley  was  elected  comptroller  by  a  majority  of  1,700,  and 
Peterson  treasurer  by  nearly  800.     A  million  dollar  park  b<Hid  issue  was  defeated. 

Representative  Miles  Poindexter  announced  his  candidacy  for  the  United  States 
senate  this  year. 

Former  Senator  George  Turner  was  engaged  by  the  state  department  as  asso- 
ciate counsel  for  the  United  States  before  the  Hague  tribunal,  in  arbitration  of  the 
long-standing  fisheries  dispute  between  Canada  and  this  country,  growing  out  of  the 
treaty  of  1818. 

With  an  anniversary  number,  June  17,  the  Spokesman-Review  commemorated 
the  twenty-fifth  year  of  the  establishment  of  the  Daily  Review.  "Bound  up  in  this 
eventful  quarter  of  a  century  (said  its  leading  editorial)  and  told  from  day  to  day  in 
graphic  story,  lie  all  the  hopes  and  aspirations,  the  victories  and  tragedies,  the  courage 
and  devotion  that  are  woven  into  the  building  of  this  fine  modem  city  of  more  than 
100,000  people.  For  the  Spokane  of  this  June  morning  has  been  erected  since  Mr. 
Dallam,  on  June  17,  1884,  pulled  from  a  little  hand-press  the  first  copy  of  the  Daily 
Review.  Scarce  a  building  that  stood  then  in  the  scattered  village  is  here  today. 
All  has  been  obliterated  by  the  tooth  of  time,  the  crushing  car  of  progress  and  the 
hot  flames  of  conflagration.  But  while  the  handiwork  has  vanished  of  those  pioneer 
times,  it  is  pleasant  to  reflect  that  many  of  the  pioneers  who  were  here  a  quarter  of 
a  century  ago  are  with  us  today  in  enjoyment  and  pride  of  this  spirited  young  city 
of  the  west." 

Registration  in  July  and  August  for  the  opening  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene,  Spokane 
and  Flathead  Indian  reservations  drew  into  the  northwest  unprecedented  throngs 
of  land  and  fortune  seekers.  They  filled  the  hotels  and  lodging-houses  and  taxed 
the  transportation  facilities  of  the  railroads.  Registration  books  were  opened  at 
Spokane,  Coeur  d'Alene  City  and  Kalispel  and  Missoula,  Montana.  In  excess  of 
105,000  registered  for  claims  on  the  Coeur  d'Alene  reserve,  nearly  100,000  for  the 
Spokane,  and  nearly  90,000  for  the  Flathead — an  aggregate  of  286,238  applications 
for  a  few  thousand  claims. 

Out  of  this  mad  rush  came  the  most  shocking  railroad  disaster  in  the  history 
of  the  Spokane  country.  July  31  two  trains  on  the  Coeur  d'Alene  electric  line, 
jammed  with  landseekers  going  and  returning  from  the  lake  city,  crashed  together 
head  on  and  at  high  speed,  at  La  Crosse  station  a  few  miles  out  from  Coeur  d'Alene. 
From  this  awful  wreck  ten  dead  victims  were  taken  out,  four  others  who  died  soon 


"BILLY"  SUNDAY  TABERNACLE 


SPOKANE  FRUIT   FAIR 


,pU&LiC  LlB'KAkY 


■     'KV"  NF.W  YORK 

PUBLIC  LIBRAR' 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  545 

after,  and  seventy-five  injured  passengers^  suffering  from  varying  degrees  of  in- 
jury. 

The  political  sensation  of  the  year  was  the  disclosure  in  August  of  the  existence 
of  a  secret  political  society,  the  Panta  Pantois,  or  as  it  was  generally  termed  by  the 
newspapers  and  the  public,  the  Pan  Tans,  and  having  for  a  motto  the  slogan  of  the 
Musketeers  of  the  French  King  Louis  XIII,  "One  for  all  and  all  for  one."  Its  mem- 
bership included  three  judges  of  the  superior  court,  the  justice  of  the  police  court, 

« 

two  city  coomiissioners,  four  members  of  the  city  council,  and  a  number  of  other 
city  and  county  officials,  besides  a  sprinkling  of  business  men.  The  exposure  grew 
out  of  the  expulsion  from  the  order  of  Police  Commissioner  Carl  Tuerke  for  his 
refusal,  as  alleged,  to  promote  two  members  of  the  police  department  who  were 
also  members  of  the  order. 

As  committee  of  investigation  Mayor  Pratt  appointed  Ex-Senator  W.  W.  Tol- 
man,  S.  Heath,  Dr.  W.  W.  Potter,  Julius  Zittel  and  J.  T.  Burcham. 

"The  number  of  members  has  never  exceeded  approximately  seventy-five,*'  the 
committee  reported,  "and  of  this  number  twenty-two  at  least,  during  the  time  they 
were  members,  have  been  public  officials  of  this  city  or  county,  and  a  number  more 
have  been  actively  interested  in  local  politics.  Its  activities  have  been  largely  con- 
fined to  political  matters,  and  particularly  to  securing  public  office  for  its  members. 
Funds  of  the  order  have  been  applied  in  payment  of  the  campaign  expenses  of  the 
members  who  were  candidates  for  office.  Commissioner  Tuerke  was  expelled  because 
of  liis  acts  in  connection  with  the  candidacy  of  a  member  of  the  society  to  public 
office  which  was  in  his  control  as  a  public  officer,  which  candidacy  the  order  most 
aggressively  supported." 

"It  has  not  been  established  before  us,"  the  report  added,  "that  any  public  officer 
belonging  to  this  society  has  been  improperly  influenced  in  the  discharge  of  his  pub- 
lic duties  by  his  membership  in  this  organization." 

Commissioner  Tuerke  was  removed  by  the  city  council  September  28,  by  a  vote 
of  seven  to  two,  a  result  that  was  ascribed  to  saloon  hostility  (he  had  been  aggres- 
sive in  enforcement  of  the  anti-screen  law)  and  resentment  by  members  of  the  Panta 
Pantois.     The  order  disbanded. 

The  seventeenth  National  Irrigation  congress  opened  in  Spokane  August  9,  with 
1,800  delegates  and  300  visitors.  Thorough  preparations  were  made  and  a  cordial 
welcome  extended  by  a  local  board  of  control,  Robert  Insinger,  chairman.  Among 
the  notables  in  attendance  were  Secretary  R.  A.  Ballinger  of  the  interior  depart- 
ment. Chief  Forester  Gifford  Pinchot,  Director  F.  H.  Newell  of  the  United  States 
reclamation  service,  Ex-Governor  Pardee  of  California,  and  President  Howard 
Elliott  of  the  Northern  Pacific.  An  elaborately  mounted  historic  pageant,  organized 
by  E.  F.  C.  Van  Dissel  and  Perry  D.  Tull,  was  the  chief  amusement  feature  of  the 
week,  introducing  Indians,  cowboys  and  numerous  striking  pioneer  types.  The  ses- 
sions of  the  congress  were  enlivened  by  dramatic  clashes  between  the  opposing  Bal- 
linger and  Pinchot  forces. 

President  Taft  was  in  Spokane  September  28.  He  took  breakfast  at  Daven- 
port's restaurant,  followed  by  a  drive  over  the  city,  arranged  to  review  the  school 
children.  At  Riverside  and  Monroe  a  huge  grand  stand  was  erected,  and  there  the 
president  spoke  to  a  vast  audience  that  was  estimated  at  25,000.  Governor  M.  E. 
Hay  introduced  the  chief  executive  of  the  nation,  and  Governor  Brady  of  Idaho 

VoLI— 85 


546  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

was  on  the  platform.  The  famous  apple  Imicheon  followed  at  Davenport's^  where 
the  hall  of  the  Doges  was  decorated  with  apple  boughs  and  fruity  and  several  bear- 
ing apple  trees  transplanted  from  the  orchard^  and  a  menu  scheme  was  elaborately 
worked  out  with  the  apple  for  its  motif.  Judge  George  Turner  made  an  introductory 
speech^  and  the  president  responded  in  an  extended  address.  In  the  afternoon  the 
presidential  party,  escorted  by  several  hundred  citizens,  went  up  the  Spokane  val- 
ley by  electric  train  to  Coeur  d'Alene  City  and  Hayden  lake.  At  Coeur  d'Alene 
the  president  spoke  to  5,000  Idahoans.  At  Bozanta  tavern  on  Hayden  lake  he  was 
given  rest  and  the  privacy  of  his  room  for  two  hours,  and  after  that  came  an  elab- 
orate game  dinner,  with  mountain  trout,  venison,  bear  steaks  and  pheasant. 

Some  two  weeks  before  the  presidential  visit  the  chamber  of  commerce  enter- 
tained the  Japanese  commercial  delegates,  a  party  of  half  a  hundred  Japanese  trav- 
elers, eminent  in  their  native  land  in  commerce,  banking,  manufacturing,  education 
and  journalism.  At  a  banquet  in  the  hall  of  the  Doges  Mayor  Pratt  spoke  an  ad- 
dress of  welcome,  and  Baron  Shibusawa  responded.  President  F.  E.  Goodall  of  the 
chamber  of  commerce  presided  as  toastmaster. 

In  sharp  contrast  to  these  festive  scenes  came  the  I.  W.  W.  demonstrations, 
starting  early  in  November.  An  organization  styling  itself  the  Industrial  Workers  of 
the  World,  and  having  largely  for  membership  unskilled  workers  of  the  class  that 
drifts  around  over  the  country,  began  gathering  here  in  a  concerted  effort  to  make  a 
demonstration  against  the  ordinance  which  prohibited  public  speaking  on  streets  within 
the  fire  limits.  The  Industrial  Workers  argued  that  this  ordinance  invaded  the  con- 
stitutional right  of  free  speech,  and  as  the  membership  had  strong  socialistic  ten- 
dencies, local  socialists  aided  and  abetted  them  in  their  contention.  Bevond  their 
stubborn  determination  to  violate  this  ordinance  and  defy  and  villify  the  police, 
the  I.  W.  W.  demonstrators  were  rather  a  peaceable  lot,  but  some  of  their  leaders 
were  cantankerous  to  a  degree,  and  succeeded  in  putting  the  police  force  and  the 
entire  city  government  to  a  deal  of  trouble  before  they  were  finally  convinced  that 
Spokane  was  just  as  resolute  to  enforce  order  as  they  were  to  create  disorder. 

By  the  night  of  November  2  the  city  jail  imprisoned  103  of  these  "martyrs  of 
free  speech,"  and  the  next  night  this  number  had  grown  to  1 50.  Their  avowed  tac- 
tics were  to  flood  the  city  with  volunteers  and  fill  the  jails  to  overflowing  until  the 
city,  in  sheer  desperation,  would  repeal  the  ordinance. 

Many  exciting  street  scenes  were  enacted,  and  the  police  were  kept  on  the 
quickstep,  going  from  one  point  to  another  to  arrest  the  street  speaking  conspirators. 
Throngs  of  idle  men  and  curiosity  seekers  gathered  around  the  speakers,  and  sympa- 
thizers jeered  the  police  as  they  made  arrests.  The  fire  department  was  put  under 
the  orders  of  Police  Chief  John  Sullivan,  and  streams  of  cold  water  turned  on  some 
of  the  more  disorderly  crowds. 

When  the  city  jail  had  been  filled  to  overflowing,  the  city  converted  the  abandoned 
Franklin  school  building  into  an  auxiliary  prison,  and  when  that  filled  up,  per- 
mission was  had  from  the  war  department  to  use  the  guard-house  at  Fort  Wright. 

To  create  sympathy  many  of  the  prisoners  refused  food,  declaring  a  purpose  to 
die  of  starvation.  The  jails  were  made  hideous  by  night  and  day  with  the  shouts, 
the  execrations  and  the  incendiary  singing  of  the  prisoners. 

The  organization  maintained  a  weekly  newspaper  organ,  and  Elizabeth  Gurley 
Flynn,  a  fiery  young  zealot,  was  brought  here  from  Montana  to  edit  it  and  make 


i 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  547 

street  harangues.  With  several  other  women  speakers  she  was  arrested^  but  the 
women  were  turned  loose  on  their  own  recognizance  and  a  promise  not  to  speak  again 
in  violation  of  the  ordinance. 

After  this  furor  had  continued  for  a  months  the  city  caused  the  arrest  of  ^ve  of 
the  ringleaders^  including  Mrs.  Flynn,  on  conspiracy  charges.  December  9  a  jury 
of  leading  business  men  convicted  Mrs.  Flynn  in  the  justice  court,  and  she  was  sen- 
tenced to  three  months  in  the  county  jail.  Appeal  was  taken  to  the  superior  court, 
and  her  case  and  that  of  Filigno,  another  leader,  was  tried  in  February,  resulting  in 
a  verdict  of  not  guilty  for  the  woman  and  guilty  for  the  man.  By  this  time  the 
movement  was  broken  up  and  the  agitation  stamped  out. 

The  year  was  one  of  fine  growth  and  substantial  progress.  The  Old  National 
bank  decided  in  January,  1909,  to  increase  its  capital  stock  from  $500,000  to  $1,- 
000,000;  to  sell. for  $200,000  its  Marble  bank  building  at  Riverside  and  Wall  street 
to  the  tfnion  Trust  company,  a  subsidiary  institution ;  and  to  purchase  for  $300,000 
from  the  latter  company  the  double  comer  at  Riverside  and  Stevens  and  erect  there- 
on a  fourteen  story  modern  steel  banking  and  office  building.  These  plans  were 
carried  out  with  great  energy  and  expedition. 

This  was  a  year  of  big  constructive  undertakings  for  the  Washington  Water 
Power  company.  The  directors  set  aside  $3,000,000  for  extensions  and  improve- 
ments. The  expenditure  of  $750,000  on  the  power  plant  at  the  Little  Falls  on  the 
Spokane  was  the  largest  single  item  in  this  $3,000,000  budget.  The  company  also 
vigorously  carried  forward  the  construction  of  its  large  sub-station  on  the  west  side 
of  Post  street  and  the  south  bank  of  the  Spokane.  Construction  was  started  in  the 
spring  on  the  dam  at  Little  Falls,  twenty-five  miles  northwest  of  Spokane.  This 
big  project  was  completed  in  1911,  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,600,000.  Three  hundred 
and  fifty  men  were  employed  there  in  1909. 

One  hundred  jobbing  firms  were  engaged  here  in  business  in  the  summer  of  1909. 
Exclusive  of  the  lumber  trade,  they  embraced  all  lines  of  business,  with  $11,000,000 
of  invested  capital,  annual  sales  of  $23,000,000,  a  payroll  of  2,250  people  and 
$2,000,000  a  year.  These  statistics  were  compiled  by  President  A.  W.  Doland  of 
the  Spokane  Merchants  association. 

Data  compiled  at  the  end  of  the  year  by  August  Wolf,  of  the  publicity  committee 
of  the  chamber  of  commerce  showed  substantial  growth  all  along  the  line : 

1909  1908 

■ 

Bank  clearings $206,504,000  $153,895,000 

Bank  deposits 31,000,000  25,000,000 

No.  of  building  permits 2,963  2,937 

Building  expenditures 8,765,226  5,927,148 

City  water  receipts 395,000  321,736 

Postoffice  receipts    426,820  360,504 

Jobbing   trade    27,500,000  24,500,000 

No.  of  Man.  Ind 450  410 

Capital  invested 14,300,000  13,000,000 

Output   of   product 19,000,000  17,000,000 

Wages  paid  by  m'ftrs 6,500,000  '     4,500,000 

Wages  paid  by  jobbers 2,500,000  1,500,000 


548  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

No.  of  wage-earners 7,000  5,200 

Wheat  product  of  Inland  Empire . . .  50,000,000  27,500,000 

Live  stock  and  poultry 16,500,000  16,000,000 

Lumber    19,250,000  18,000,000 

Fruits    15,000,000  14,000,000 

Dairy  products    '. .  8,000,000  6,000,000 

Other  farm  products 15,500,000  15,250,000 

Mineral  production    43,000,000  40,000,000 

New  mileage,  steam  and  electric. . . .  600  453 

The  Great  Northern  acquired  control  in  October  of  the  Inland  Empire  proper- 
ties, locally  more  widely  known  as  the  Graves  system.  By  purchasing  the  stodc 
held  by  Mr.  Graves  and  associates,  the  Hill  interests  took  possession  of  the  electric 
lines  into  the  Palouse  country,  the  line  to  Coeur  d'Alene  and  Hayden  lake,  the 
Traction  street  railway  system  in  Spokane,  and  the  developed  power  plant  at  Nine 
Mile  on  the  Spokane. 

Spokane's  death  roll  this  year  included  J.  Herman  Beare,  principal  of  the  North 
Central  high  school ;  Judge  Norman  Buck,  E.  H.  Jamieson  and  Charles  S.  Voorhees. 

Mr.  Beare  had  in  remarkable  degree  the  happy  talent  of  winning  quickly  and 
holding  with  hooks  of  steel  the  esteem  and  affection  of  students  who  came  under 
the  charm  of  his  rare  and  winsome  personality.  The  acquisition  of  wealth,  the  at- 
tainment of  social  eminence,  the  winning  of  political  distincticm — do  these  not  seem 
sordid  in  contrast  with  the  high  ideals  and  intensely  practical  devotion  of  a  life 
like  his  ^ 

Judge  Buck  was  a  veteran  of  the  civil  war,  and  was  one  of  the  most  widely  known 
pioneer  judges  of  northern  Idaho  and  eastern  Washington. 

Mr.  Jamieson  was  a  pioneer  attorney  of  Spokane,  and  a  citizen  of  s<^<darly  at- 
tainments who  divided  his  time  between  business  life  in  the  city  and  country  life 
at  his  extensive  estate  on  Moran  prairie.  He  built  the  Jamieson  block,  and  was 
one  of  the  few  pioneers  who  withstood  the  shock  of  panic  in  1893. 

In  territorial  days,  in  the  '80s,  Mr.  Voorhees  was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
political  figures  in  Washington.  He  was  a  son  of  Senator  Daniel  W.  Voorhees  of 
Indiana;  came  to  Colfax  in  1882  and  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  Whitman 
county.  Was  elected  delegate  to  congress  on  the  democratic  ticket  in  1884,  and  re- 
elected in  1886.  He  came  to  Spokane  in  1889  and  formed  a  law  partnership  with 
J.  B.  Jones,  and  a  little  later  with  H.  M.  Stephens  under  the  firm  name  of  Jones, 
Voorhees  &  Stephens. 


CHAPTER  LXVII 

SPIRITED  CONTEST  OVER  RAILROAD  FRANCHISES 

COUNCIL    DEMANDS    TERMINAL    RATES    AND    A    COMMON    USER    CLAUSE CITIZENS    DIVIDE 

AND  A  SPIRITED  CONTEST  FOLLOWS COUNCIL  YIELDS  AND  RAILROADS  WIN DIS- 
ASTROUS AVALANCHES  IN  COEUR  d'aLENES AVALANCHE  DEMOLISHES  GREAT  NORTH- 
ERN TRAIN MORE  THAN  100  LIVES  LOST ALLEN  HATNES  SINKS  $500,000  IN  IN- 
LAND   HERALD DEATH    OF    PROF.    FRANZ    MUELLER TWO    HUNDRED    LIVES    LOST   IN 

FOREST  FIRES POINDEXTER  ELECTED  TO  SENATE SPOKANE  ENTERTAINS  DRY  FARM- 
ING  CONGRESS LARGE    PROJECTS   OF   WASHINGTON   WATER    POWER    CO. 

AN  ISSUE  which  deeply  divided  public  opinion  in  1910  developed  out  of  the 
franchise  applications  of  the  North  Coast  and  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  Puget 
Sound  railway  companies.  Sitting  in  committee  of  the  whole,  March  3,  the 
coiincil  unanimously  adopted  an  amendment  offered  by  Mr.  Ostrander  to  make  the 
yielding  of  terminal  rates  and  a  common  user  clause  a  condition  of  the  granting  of 
the  franchises.  Attorney  H.  M.  Stephens,  whose  long  and  able  championship  of 
Spokane's  cause  before  the  interstate  commerce  commission  gave  great  weight  to 
his  judgment,  appeared  before  the  council,  and  also  a  largely  attended  meeting  of 
the  chamber  of  commerce  in  support  of  the  Ostrander  resolution.  Spokane,  he  said, 
fMiid  annually  $14,000,000  to  the  railroad  companies,  and  if  the  North  Coast  and 
the  Milwaukee  found  that  entrance  could  not  otherwise  be  gained,  they  would  yield 
to  the  city's  demands.  Advocates  of  the  terminal  rate  requirement  argued  that  Spo- 
kane's chief  need  was  lower  rates  rather  than  two  more  railroads  to  join  with  those 
already  here  in  exacting  excessive  rates. 

On  the  opposing  hand,  A.  W.  Doland,  who  had  stood  in  the  fore  front  for  nearly 
twenty  years,  battling  for  terminal  rates,  carried  great  weight  with  the  argument 
that  it  would  be  better  to  let  in  these  new  roads,  with  all  their  benefits  of  large  ex- 
penditure and  development  of  new  territory,  and  continue  the  fight  for  justice  along 
the  old  lines  before  the  interstate  commerce  commission.  Looking  backward  over 
the  famous  controversy  it  is  seen  that  here  was  an  issue  presenting  strong  arguments 
on  both  sides,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  citizens  of  -equal  intelligence,  experience 
and  devotion  to  Spokane  lined  up  in  opposing  ranks. 

Apparently  the  council  could  not  be  shaken  from  its  stand,  for  it  adopted  unani- 
mously, March  10,  a  resolution  that  no  further  action  would  be  taken  on  the  fran- 
chise applications  until  the  companies  had  signed  a  written  agreement  to  accept  them 
with  the  terminal  rate  and  common  user  amendments.  A  resolution  from  the  cham- 
ber of  commerce  asked  the  council  to  reconsider  its  action.     Citizens  divided  into 

549 


550  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

two  opposing  ranks^  one  under  the  leadership  of  Chairman  A.  W.  Doland  of  the 
Citizens  committee^  the  other  led  by  B.  L.  Gordon  of  the  People's  Terminal  rate  com- 
mittee. Petitions  actively  circulated  by  the  former  were  signed  by  10,000  people, 
asking  the  council  to  reconsider  its  action.  Opposing  petitions  urged  the  council  to 
submit  the  issue  to  a  referendum  vote  at  the  polk. 

Impressed,  evidently,  by  the  strong  showing  of  petitions  from  the  Citizens  com- 
mittee, the  council,  June  14,  granted  the  franchises.  Councilman  J.  A.  Schiller  alone 
voting  no.  Mr.  Ostrander's  term  of  office  had  expired  before  the  question  came  to 
final  vote. 

Deep  snows  fell  in  the  mountains,  winter  of  1909-10,  and  with  their  melting  late 
in  February  came  a  series  of  deadly  avalanches  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  the  Cas- 
cades and  disastrous  floods  at  many  points  in  the  Inland  Empire.  Snowslides  the 
night  of  Sunday,  February  27,  extinguished  twenty-one  lives  and  injured  scores  of 
men,  women  and  children.  At  Mace,  on  Canyon  creek,  twelve  lives  were  lost,  includ- 
ing those  of  R.  H.  Pascoe,  superintendent  of  the  Standard  mine,  and  two  Pascoe 
children.  Five  persons  were  killed  at  Burke,  two  at  Carbonate  Hill,  and  two  at  Dor- 
sey.  Many  dwellings  were  buried  under  the  avalanches.  On  Canyon  creek  hun- 
dreds of  volunteers  worked  frantically  by  lantern  light,  taking  out  the  dead  and 
injured. 

A  yet  greater  disaster  occurred  on  the  snow-buried  summits  of  the  Cascade  moim- 
tains.  Early  on  the  morning  of  March  1  a  Great  Northern  passenger  train,  snow- 
bound at  the  west  portal  of  Cascade  tunnel,  was  struck  by  a  mighty  mass  of  snow, 
rocks  and  trees  rushing  down  the  steep  mountain-side,  and  rolled  and  crushed  into 
the  canyon's  depths  below.  More  than  100  lives  were  lost  in  this  tragedy  of  the 
showy  wilds,  and  among  the  victims  were  R.  M.  Barnhart,  C.  S.  Eltinge,  Miss  Kath- 
erine  O'Reilly  and  Miss  Nellie  Sharp,  all  of  Spokane.  Mr.  Eltinge  was  formerly 
cashier  of  the  Traders  National  bank,  and  later  one  of  its  vice-presidents.  Mr. 
Barnhart  had  served  six  years  as  prosecuting  attorney  of  Spokane  county,  and  his 
term  had  but  recently  expired.  The  work  of  taking  out  the  bodies  consumed  several 
weeks. 

Floods  in  Whitman  county  in  March  caused  a  property  loss  of  $1,000,000.  Col- 
fax and  Pullman  were  the  chief  sufferers.  At  Colfax  scores  of  dwellings  were  swept 
off  their  foundations  and  a  number  of  business  structures  were  undermined.  The 
floods  came  from  a  sudden  rise  in  the  South  fork  of  the  Palouse.  Mains  were  washed 
out,  and  the  water  supply  was  hauled  in  barrels.  Colfax  is  one  of  the  wealthiest 
towns,  in  proportion  to  population,  in  the  United  States,  but  damage  to  railway  lines 
reduced  its  food  supplies,  and  as  a  relief  measure  the  Spokane  chamber  of  commerce 
sent  down  a  carload  of  provisions  and  bedding. 

Davenport,  Walla  Walla,  and  many  other  towns  suffered  in  less  degree. 

A  new  daily  journal  made  its  meteoric  appearance  February  8 — the  Inland  Her- 
ald, an  afternoon  and  Sunday  morning  paper,  financed  by  local  capital,  edited  by 
Allan  Haynes  and  published  by  the  Allan  Haynes  Publishing  company.  Haynes 
brought  to  the  task  a  remarkably  persuasive  personality  which  verged  upon  powers 
almost  hypnotic.  He  had  energy  and  enthusiasm,  but  was  wholly  inexperienced  in 
the  diflicult  business  of  editing  and  publishing  a  daily  journal,  and  wasted  enormous 
sums  that  could  have  been  saved  by  an  experienced  publisher  of  careful  judgment 
After  a  year  of  tempestuous  experiences  and  steadily  waning  income,  the  Herald 


PS 

Is 


'     THE  NEW  YORK 
.PUBLIC  LIBKAR 


r- 


THE  KEW  YORK 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


i»9  I  w^,   Lf  -OK 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  551 

went  into  a  receiver's  hands^  and  suspended  publication  May  8^  1911^  fifteen  months 
after  its  spectacular  naissance.  Receiver  F.  H.  Sammis  found  that  "a  little  more 
than  $500^000  had  been  spent  on  the  Herald  since  it  started."  F.  B.  Gregg  was  the 
largest  individual  loser^  about  $100^000.  B.  F.  O'Neil^  the  Wallace  banker  and  can* 
didate  for  governor  of  Idaho^  was  another  heavy  loser. 

Prof.  Franz  Mueller  died  March  12.  He  came  to  Spokane  in  1889  to  take  charge 
of  the  musical  department  of  the  Methodist  college.  None  labored  more  faithfully 
than  he  to  breathe  the  soul  of  music  into  this  young  city  of  the  west^  and  none  has 
contributed  so  extensively  in  original  compositions.  Long  after  the  turf  has  matted 
o'er  his  grave  hundreds  of  young  men  and  women  .wJvo  received  instruction  at  his 
hands  will  cherish  a  pleasant  remembrance  of  his  kindly,  genial  manner  and  a  certain 
sweet  simplicity  that  dominated  his  hopeful,  helpful  and  courageous  personality.  He 
left  some  sixty  musical  compositions,  among  them  "The  White  Fawn,"  a  tuneful 
light  opera. 

At  a  special  election.  May  2,  a  million  dollar  park  bond  issue  carried  by  the 
narrow  margin  of  eighteen  votes.  Members  of  the  park  commission  were  A.  L. 
White,  G.  A.  Sonnemann,  F.  E.  Goodall,  A.  W.  Jones,  P.  S.  Byrne,  D.  H.  Dwight, 
F.  P.  Hogan,  N.  S.  Pratt,  L.  M.  Davenport  and  W.  J.  C.  Wakefield. 

The  South  Central  high  school  building  burned  the  morning  of  June  21,  throwing 
upon  the  district  a  loss  of  $250,000.  When  the  schools  reopened  in  the  fall,  the  en- 
tire student  body  of  the  city  was  concentrated  in  the  large  modern  North  Central 
high  school. 

Approximately  two  hundred  people  perished  in  forest  fires  in  August.  The  fire 
zone  covered  large  parts  of  northern  Idaho,  eastern  Washington  and  western  Mon- 
tana. Driven  by  high  winds,  the  flames  frequently  traveled  with  incredible  swift- 
ness, and  burning  embers,  whirled  high  by  ascending  columns  of  superheated  air, 
were  carried  long  distances  to  fire  other  sections  of  forest  growth.  The  skies  were 
palled  by  day  and  lurid  by  night,  and  gigantic  smoke  banks  swept  across  the  Rocky 
mountains  and  spread  over  the  Dakota  plains.  Two  thousand  refugees  came  into 
Spokane,  many  of  them  having  lost  all  their  possessions  and  narrowly  escaping  with 
their  lives.  An  army  of  several  thousand  fire  fighters  toiled  desperately  to  check  the 
flames,  and  in  numerous  cases  detachments  of  these  fighters  were  cut  off  by  en- 
circling flames  and  perished  in  the  blackened  woods.  The  exact  loss  of  life  can  never 
be  known,  but  approximately  was  covered  by  the  following  summary: 

United  States  forestry  employes  (officjal)  104. 

Settlers  and  loggers  in  the  St.  Joe  valley  (estimated)  fifty. 

On  Big  Fork,  near  Wallace,  thirteen. 

At  the  Bullion  mine,  western  Montana,  eight. 

At  Wallace,  four.  •    • 

At  Newport,  Wash.,  three. 

At  Mullan,  Idaho,  three. 

Business  men  and  property  owners  in  Wallace  suffered  a  property  loss  of  one 
million  dollars. 

Progressive  republicans  won  a  brilliant  victory  at  the  direct  primary  election, 
September  18.  Chief  interest  centered  in  the  senatorial  contest  between  Miles  Poin- 
dexter  of  Spokane,  progressive,  and  an  opposition  field  comprising  John  L.  Wilson 
and  Judge  Thomas  Burke  of  Seattle  and  James  Ashton  of  Tacoma.     It  became  ap- 


552  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

parent  several  weeks  before  the  {Mrimaries  that  Poindexter  was  the  strongest  indi- 
vidual contestant^  and  after  repeated  efforts  by  the  opposition  to  concentrate  the 
reactionary  forces,  Mr.  Wilson  withdrew  and  advised  his  supporters  to  vote  for 
Burke.  Poindexter  won  a  victory  whose  proportions  surprised  even  his  most  ardent 
supporters.  At  home  he  was  given  eigt\tj  per  cent  of  the  republican  vote  of  Spo- 
kane county.  He  defeated  Burke  in  King  county  by  5,000  plurality,  and  led  Ashton 
in  Tacoma  and  Pierce  county.  In  the  state  he  had  a  plurality  of  30,000.  The 
result  was  so  staggering  that  all  talk  of  legislative  disregard  of  the  popular  verdict 
was  silenced,  and  when  the  legislature  convened  in  January  it  promptly  ratified  the 
vote  at  the  primaries. 

In  the  Third  congressional  district  W.  L.  LaFollette  of  Pullman,  also  progressive, 
defeated  Seabury  Merritt,  C.  H.  Braden,  S.  A.  Mann  and  E.  A.  Veatch. 

At  the  election  in  November  the  state  went  republican  by  a  normal  majority  and 
elected  a  legislature  overwhelmingly  republican  and  pledged  to  vote  for  Poindexter 
for  senator.  The  equal  suffragists  won  a  brilliant  victory  in  the  adoption,  by  a 
large  majority,  of  a  constitutional  amendment  granting  the  ballot  to  women.  La- 
Follette was  elected  to  congress  by  a  vote  of  more  than  two  to  one  over  his  demo- 
cratic opponent,  H.  D.  Merritt.  In  Spokane  county  the  republicans  elected  a  sohd 
legislative  delegation,  and  their  county  ticket  with  the  exception  of  sheriff,  prosecut- 
ing attorney,  clerk  and  one  commissioner.    The  results  in  the  county : 

Superior  judge — J.  Stanley  Webster. 

State  senators — Harry  Rosenhaupt  and  George  W.  Shaefer. 

Representatives — R.  E.  Buchanan,  W.  E.  Stephens,  George  L.  Denman,  Dal- 
bert  E.  Twitchell,  Clyde  Miller,  A.  M.  Stevens,  Lloyd  E.  Gandy,  Guy  B.  Groff,  E. 
H.  Eshelman  and  H.  H.  Phipps. 

Sheriff — George  E.  Stone. 

Clerk — Glenn  B.  Derbyshire. 

Auditor — Robert  W.  Butler. 

Treasurer — Zach.  Stewart. 

Prosecuting  attorney — John  L.  Wiley. 

Assessor — Glen  B.  Creighton. 

Superintendent  of  schools — F.  V.  Yeager. 

Engineer — C.  L.  Graves. 

Coroner — H.  E.  Schlegle. 

Commissioners — Allen  R.  Scott  (Rep.),  Warner  Cobb  (Dem.).  The  death  of 
Mr.  Cobb  in  1911  created  a  vacancy  that  was  filled  by  the  appointment  of  H.  W. 
Collins. 

Spokane  had  this  year  the  distinction  of  entertaining  the  International  Dry  Farm- 
ing  Congress,  which  assembled  in  the  Armory  October  8.  Funds  for  this  conven- 
tion, as  also  for  the  National  Irrigation  congress  in  1909,  were  raised  by  the  Greater 
Spokane  committee  working  under  the  direction  of  the  chamber  of  commerce.  A 
local  board  of  control,  D.  T.  Ham,  chairman,  planned  a  most  successful  program  of 
entertainment.  At  the  opening  telegrams  were  read  from  President  Taft  and  cx- 
Prcsident  Roosevelt.  Governor  M.  E.  Hay,  Mayor  N.  S.  Pratt  and  President  C. 
M.  Fassett  of  the  chamber  of  commerce  welcomed  the  visitors.  Foreign  delegates 
were  in  attendance  from  Chile,  Hungary,  Mexico,  Great  Britain,  Canada,  Brazil, 
Germany,  Russia,  France  and  Australia. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  553 

The  federal  census^  taken  in  Jone^  gave  Spokane  104,402  population^  in  com- 
parison with  36^8481  in  1900,  and  19,922  in  1890. 

Constructively  1910  was  a  quiet  year.  In  June  the  Pacific  Telephone  &  Tele- 
graph company  bought  ground  at  the  comer  of  Second  avenue  and  Stevens  street, 
and  began  the  erection  of  eight  stories  of  what  ultimately  will  become  a  twelve 
story,  steel  frame,  modern  office  building  for  the  company's  requirements. 

December  1  the  Washington  Water  Power  company  opened  its  new  transmis- 
sion line  between  Spokane  and  the  power  station  at  Little  Falls,  twenty-eight  miles 
down  the  Spokane  river.  The  line  is  carried  by  197  steel  towers,  from  60  to  70 
feet  high  and  set  about  750  feet  apart,  and  is  capable  of  transmitting  40,000 
horse  power  of  current.  Late  in  1910  the  company  started  preliminary  work  on  a 
vast  power  plant  twenty-three  miles  west  of  Spokane  and  five  miles  east  of  its 
Little  Falls  plant.  President  D.  L.  Huntington  stated  that  the  new  plant  would 
develop  70,000  horse  power,  twice  the  capacity  of  the  Little  Falls  station. 

The  new  American  theater.  Post  street  and  Front  avenue,  was  opened  Christ- 
mas day  by  the  Del  S.  Lawrence  stock  company. 


CHAPTER  LXVIII 

COMMISSION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT  ADOPTED 

PEOPLE    GROW    WEARY    OF    FUTILE    ATTEMPTS   TO    PATCH    UP   THE    OLD    CHARTER STUDY 

THE   COMMISSION   PLAN MAYOR  PRATT  NAMES   A   COMMITTEE  TO   FRAME   NEW   CHAR- 
TER  CITIZENS    DEMAND     AN     ELECTION COUNCIL    TRIES    DILATORY    TACTICS,    BUT 

YIELDS     UNDER     PRESSURE FIFTEEN     FREEHOLDERS     CHOSEN CITIZENS     VOTE     FOR 

ITS   PLAN    OF    COMMISSION    GOVERNMENT THE    OPPOSITION    TICKET NEW    CHARTER 

IS     ADOPTED FIVE     COMMISSIONERS     ELECTED     FROM   A     FIELD     OF        NINETY-THREE 

CANDIDATES NEW   GOVERNMENT    INSTALLED. 

TWENTY  years'  trial  of  their  old  city  charter,  with  repeated  attempt  to 
bolster  up  its  general  scheme  by  amendment  and  revision,  drove  into  the 
voters*  minds  a  conviction  that  it  was  unsuited  to  a  growing  city's  needs. 
In  general  outline  it  was  modeled  after  the  national  government,  with  an  involved 
system  of  checks  and  balances,  leading  to  interminable  clashing  of  authority  be- 
tween mayor  and  council,  council  and  commissioners,  and  commissioners,  mayor 
and  the  various  departments.  The  people  found  it  difficult,  and  at  times  impossi- 
ble, to  fix  responsibility,  and  finally  gave  up  the  effort  and  turned  their  attention 
to  a  study  of  the  new  and  rapidly  rising  commission  form  of  government.  Gordon 
C.  Corbaley,  Adolph  Munter  and  Mayor  N.  S.  Pratt  were  pioneers  in  this  field 
of  investigation. 

In  November,  1909,  Mayor  Pratt  appointed,  as  a  citizens'  committee  to  frame 
a  proposed  charter  for  a  commission  form  of  government.  Dr.  E.  D.  Olmsted, 
chairman,  J.  M.  Geraghty,  Gordon  C.  Corbaley,  J.  Grier  Long,  H.  D.  Merritt, 
John  E.  Blair,  B.  R.  Ostrander,  W.  W.  Tolman,  Fred.  E.  Baldwin,  D.  C.  Coates, 
Thomas  H.  Brewer,  N.  J.  Laumer,  F.  P.  Greene,  Frank  H.  Walker,  F.  T.  Post, 
Jacob  Schiller  and  Zach  Stewart.  The  committee  met  and  delegated  the  drafting 
of  a  preliminary  instrument  to  Messrs  Corbaley,  Schiller,  Post,  Stewart  and  Long. 
The  work  of  this  committee  was  chiefiv  of  an  educational  nature,  and  it  rendered 
valuable  service. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1910  petitions  were  circulated  and  extensively  signed, 
requiring  the  council  to  call  an  election  of  fifteen  freeholders  to  draft  a  new  charter. 
At  the  council  meeting  June  28,  a  report  by  the  city  clerk  showed  that  these  peti- 
tions contained  5,103  names,  of  which  2,302  had  registered  in  1909;  that  94  were 
duplicates;  that  three  of  the  petitioners  resided  outside  the  city;  and  that  3,600 
names  were  25  per  cent  of  the  total  vote  cast  at  the  last  city  election  and  were 
necessary  to  call  a  special  election. 

555 


556  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Councilman  R.  Dalke  moved  that  as  the  city  had  set  aside  no  money  for  a  special 
election,  and  the  petition,  in  the  opinion  of  the  council  fell  short  of  the  necessary 
number  of  signers,  no  election  be  held,  but  that  the  matter  be  submitted  to  the  voters 
at  the  regular  election  in  the  spring  of  1911.  The  motion  carried.  Nelson,  Funk 
and  Cartwright  voting  no. 

This  action  aroused  a  spirit  of  indignation,  and  the  charter  revision  forces,  led 
by  Adolph  Munter,  pointed  out  that  the  council's  attitude  was  contrary  to  state 
law,  as  the  supreme  court  had  held  that  registration  was  not  a  test  of  qualification, 
but  that  residence  in  the  state  of  one  year  and  in  the  precinct  thirty  days  made  a 
citizen  a  qualified  voter.  Notice  was  served  upon  the  council  that  if  it  continued 
to  disregard  the  will  of  the  people,  2,000  or  more  voters  would  be  called  into  court 
on  mandamus  proceedings,  to  testify,  at  an  expense  to  the  city  of  $2.50  each,  that 
they  were  qualified  voters.     The  council  yielded. 

As  their  ticket  of  fifteen,  the  original  commission  forces  advanced  John  E.  Blair, 
Thomas  H.  Brewer,  W.  A.  Clift,  D.  C.  Coates,  Gordon  C.  Corbaley,  Samuel  Evans, 
C.  M.  Fassett,  H.  A.  Jarvis,  G.  Grier  Long,  O.  B.  Nelson,  E.  D.  Olmsted,  B.  R, 
Ostrander,  H.  M.  Stephens,  Zack.  Stewart  and  Frank  H.  Walker. 

In  the  judgment  of  many  conservative  citizens,  who  represented  extensive 
property  interests,  a  number  of  the  foregoing  nominees,  who  were  styled  "the 
Munter  ticket,"  were  inclined  towards  a  spirit  of  radical  innovation.  Accordingly 
they  put  forward  an  opposition  ticket  of  twenty-one,  fifteen  to  be  elected.  On  this 
ticket  of  twenty-one  were  S.  A.  Anderson,  Dr.  T.  L.  Catterson,  C.  F.  Clougfa,  J. 
M.  Comstock,  F.  R.  Culbertson,  A.  W.  Doland,  Frank  J.  Dorsey,  E.  P.  Galbraith, 
James  M.  Geraghty,  Will  G.  Graves,  W.  C.  Gray,  F.  B.  Grinnell,  A.  E.  House, 
R.  A.  Hutchinson,  N.  J.  Laumer,  Gus  Meese,  Fred.  Phair,  D.  Ryrie,  W.  J.  Sul- 
livan, E.  J.  Tamblin  and  W.  J.  C.  Wakefield. 

The  so-called  Munter  ticket,  vigorously  supported  by  the  Spokesman-R-eview, 
was  elected.  Jarvis,  who  received  the  lowest  vote  on  this  ticket,  polled  4,071  as 
against  3,755  for  J.  M.  Comstock,  the  highest  candidate  on  the  opposition  ticket. 

Of  the  fifteen  charter  commissioners  thus  elected,  nine  had  served  on  the  origi- 
nal commission  appointed  by  Mayor  Pratt  namely  Blair,  Brewer,  Coates,  Corbaley, 
Long,  Olmsted,  Ostrander,  Stewart  and  Walker.  Blair  was  a  lawyer,  and  had 
served  as  assistant  corporation  counsel;  Brewer  was  vice-president  of  the  Ex- 
change National  bank;  Clift  was  business  agent  of  the  Federal  labor  union;  D.  C. 
Coates  was  a  printer  and  one  of  the  publishers  of  the  Labor  Journal;  Corbaley 
was  in  the  real-estate  business;  Evans  was  a  member  of  the  carpenters*  union; 
Fassett  was  president  of  the  chamber  of  commerce;  Jarvis  president  of  the  central 
trades  and  labor  council;  Long  vice-president  of  the  Washington  Trust  company; 
Nelson  was  a  merchant;  Olmsted  a  physician  and  former  mayor;  Ostrander  a 
business  man  and  former  councilman;  Stephens  an  attorney;  Zach.  Stewart  county 
treasurer  and  F.  H.  Walker  a  printer  and  leader  in  the  ranks  of  organized  labor. 

The  commission  promptly  entered  on  its  arduous  labors.  Its  meetings,  held  at 
the  public  library,  were  open  to  the  public,  and  the  proceedings  were  fully  reported 
in  the  press.  It  submitted  the  proposed  charter  to  the  city  council  November  11, 
and  that  body  accepted  it  and  set  December  27  as  the  date  for  its  submission  to 
the  voters.     Th«  new  charter  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  6,350  to  4',113.     Excepting 


ROBERT   PAIRLEY  C.   M.  FA8SETT 


W.  J.  HINDLEY 


Z.  E.  HAYDEN  D.  C.  COATES 

SPOKANE'S    FIRST    COMMISSION 


THE   >;^-'   V'JF.K 


'     T—   >LW  Y'JRK 

;:.  -^MC  LIBRARY 

A.  >  «ft,    Lf  I*** 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  557 

the  Second^  which  returned  an  adverse  majority  of  forty-four,  all  the  wards  gave 
it  approval  by  majorities  ranging  from  164  to  736. 

Under  the  charter  thus  adopted,  "all  power  of  the  city,  unless  otherwise  pro- 
vided, shall  be  exercised  by,  throu^  and  under  the  direction  of  five  commissioners, 
who  shall  constitute  the  council  and  one  of  whom  shall  be  the  mayor.    The  commis- 
sioners and  council   shall  be  subject  to  the  control  and   direction  of  the  people 
at  all  times,  by  the  initiative,  referendum  and  recall  provided  for  in  the  charter." 
The  five  commissioners  are  the  only  elective  officers  in  the  city  government,  all 
others  holding  office  through  appointment  by  the  commissioners,  whose  terms  are 
fixed  at  four  years.     General  municipal  elections  are  to  be  held''  etery  two  years, 
"and  at  each  alternative  election  two  or  three  commissioners,  -  respiectively,  shall  be 
elected."    Of  the  five  chosen  at  the  first  election,  the  three  who  received  the  highest 
votes  are  to  hold  o&ce  until  the  second  secular  day  of  Jan\Kiiry,  Wld,  and  the  other 
two  until  the  second  secular  day  of  January,  1914:     The  salary  of  the  conunis- 
sioners  was  fixed  at  $5,000  per  annum. 

In  voting  for  commissioners  the  elector  is  given  an  opportunity  to  express  first, 
second  and  third  choice.  He  is  required  to  vote  first  choice  for  as  many  places  as 
are  to  be  filled.  He  may  (but  it  is  not  obligatory)  vote  second  choice  for  as  many 
places  as  are  to  be  filled,  no  more,  no  less.  He  may  (but  it  is  not  obligatory)  vote 
third  choice  for  all  other  candidates  whom  he  may  wish  to  support. 

At  the  election  March  7  ninety-three  candidates  had  qualified  in  the  contest  for 
the  election  of  five  commissioners.  The  voter,  therefore,  was  required  to  vote  for 
five  for  his  first  choice.  If  he  passed  then  to  a  second  choice,  it  was  obligatory  that 
he  vote  for  five.  He  then  had  the  privilege  of  voting  third  choice  for  one  or  more 
of  the  remaining  names  on  the  ballot. 

Robert  Fairley,  W.  J.  Hindley,  C.  M.  Fassett,  D.  C.  Coates  and  Z.  E.  Hayden 
were  elected — Fairley,  Fassett  and  Hindley  winning  the  five-year  terms.  Appended 
is  the  detailed  vote  of  those  candidates  who  received  4,000  votes  or  more: 

1st  Choice  2d  Choice  dd  Choice  Total 

Robert   Fairley    12,779  1,692  547  15,018 

W.  J.   Hindley 7,518  1,755  628  9,896 

C.  M.  Fassett 6,284  1,815  459  8,558 

D.  C.  Coates 6,272  861  392  7,525 

Z.    E.    Hayden 4,260  2,400  784  7,894 

M.    J.    Luby ,.  4,804  2,170  825  7,299 

S.  A.  Anderson : 4,661  1,734  617  7,012 

J.  Grier  Long.' ...:..  ^  8,891  2,099  708  6,693 

N.  W.  Durh^ 4,604  1,552  494  6,650 

W.    J.    Dousi  . .  .  .•.*t  .V  .  .w  ...  .  2,752  2,544  1,169  6,465 

Leonard  FunlF-r^!  v.. ;....'..  4,007  1,523  564  6,094 

F.  M.  Goodwin 8,248  1,753  7^2  5,718 

N.    S.    Pratt    8,365  1,587  651  5,603 

B.  R.  Ostrander 1,919  1,918  878  4,705 

C.  G.  Hubbard 2,264  1,234  871  4,869 

\V.  A.  Clift  2,758,  Hal.  J.  Cole  8,768,  Thomas  D.  Gamble  3,157,  John  Gifford 
8,362,  J.  M.  Grimmer  2,668,  R.  A.  Hutchinson  2,789,  Henry  L.  Lilienthal  3,071,  J. 


558  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

T.  Omo  3,406,  J.  Oscar  Peterson  2,999,  Milton  N.  Rogers  2,626,  James  J.  Turrish 
2,912,  Otto  A.  Weile  2,867,  E.  M.  Woydt  3,426,  J.  C.  Argall  2,568. 

The  new  government  organized  and  took  possession  Tuesday,  March  14,  191 1, 
with  the' following  adjustment  of  departmental  duties: 

Mayor  and  commissioner  of  public  affairs,  W.  J.  Hindley. 

Vice-president  of  the  council  and  commissioner  of  finance,  Robert  Fairley. 

Commissioner  of  public  safety,  Z.  E.  Hayden. 

Commissioner  of  public  utilities,  CM.  Fassett. 

Commissioner  of  public  works,  D.  C.  Coates. 


CHAPTER  LXIX 

WHICH  BRINGS  THIS  HISTORY  UP  TO  DATE 

FORMER  POLICE   CHIEF  JOHN  T.  SULLIVAN   ASSASSINATED— CITY  ENTERTAINS  ROOSEVELT 

AND    TAPT $77,481    SUBSCRIBED    FOR    GREATER    SPOKANE    PLANS    AND    PROJECTS 

SUBSTANTIAL  INCREASE  OF  POPULATION MANUFACTURE  OF  PAPER  STARTS  ON   LARGE 

SCALE NEW   MONROE   STREET   BRIDGE    OPENED SPOKANE    CLUB    OCCUPIES    ITS    NEW 

HOME REMARKABLE    GROWTH    OF    INLAND    CLUB "doc"    BROWN    ENDS    HIS    LIFE 

GIPSY  SMITH  CONDUCTS  LARGE  RBYIYAL. 

ASSASSINATION  of  former  Chief  of  Police  John  T.  Sullivan,  evening  of 
January  5,  1911;  the  presence  of  Ex-President  Roosevelt  and  President 
Taft;  the  raising  of  a  large  fund  for  the  fourth  national  apple  show  and 
merchants'  carnival;  and  the  formal  opening  of  the  new  bridge  at  Monroe  street, 
were  prominent  events  of  1911. 

As  Mr.  Sullivan,  then  captain  of  police,  was  seated  by  his  fireside,  an  unknown 
enemy  fired  upK>n  him  through  an  uncurtained  window.  The  wound  was  mortal; 
the  brave  veteran  of  the  police  force  lingered  two  days  in  a  courageous  and  cheer- 
ful fight  for  life,  and  p>assed  beyond  after  nearly  twenty  years  of  faithful  and 
respected  service  on  the  force.  Deep  indignation  for  the  crime  and  profound  sym- 
pathy for  Captain  Sullivan  were  felt  by  the  people  of  Spokane  and  surrounding 
country,  and  found  quick  expression  in  a  fund  of  more  than  $10,000  collected  by 
the  chamber  of  commerce  for  the  family  of  the  murdered  officer.  The  assassin 
escaped  and  baffled  a  determined  effort  to  ferret  out  his  crime. 

Mr.  Roosevelt's  visit  was  the  most  extended  ever  made  in  Spokane  by  a  presi- 
dent or  ex-president  of  the  United  States.  He  entered  the  city  by  the  Northern 
Pacific  from  the  west,  on  a  Friday  evening  in  April,  and  remained  until  Sunday  after- 
noon. A  throng  of  several  thousand  admirers  had  gathered  at  the  depot,  and  the 
former  president,  accompanied  by  Senator  Poindexter  and  Governor  Hay,  was 
met  by  a  reception  committee  headed  by  R.  L.  Rutter,  and  taken  to  specially  pre- 
pared apartments  at  Davenport's.  An  extended  program  had  been  arranged  for 
Saturday.  It  included  a  drive  to  Fort  Wright  and  review  of  the  troops;  a  sight- 
seeing trip  in  automobiles;  address  before  the  teachers  convention  at  the  First 
Methodist  church;  chamber  of  commerce  luncheon  and  reception  at  the  hall  of  the 
Doges;  parade  through  the  business  district;  an  address  from  the  veranda  of 
Masonic  temple  at  Riverside  and  Madison;  and  a  notable  meeting  at  night  in  the 
armory,  under  direction  of  the  Progressive  Republican  League  of  Spokane  county. 

President  E.  T.  Coman  of  the  chamber  of  commerce  presided  at  the  luncheon. 

559 


560  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

"No  occupant  of  the  executive  chair  since  Jefferson^"  said  Mr.  Coman,  "has  had 
such  keen  comprehension  of  the  possibilities  of  the  west  as  the  guest  of  today." 
After  additional  greetings  had  been  spoken  by  Mayor  Hindley^  Mr.  Roosevelt  de- 
livered an  address. 

The  night  meeting  at  the  armory  brought  out  the  largest  audience  ever  assem- 
bled within  walls  in  Spokane  to  greet  a  political  speaker.  Thousands  were  unable 
to  gain  admission  to  the  crowded  auditorium.  Sunday  morning  Mr.  Roosevelt 
attended  church  at  All  Saints  Episcopal  cathedral^  was  a  guest  at  luncheon  at  the 
residence  of  W.  H.  Cowles^  and  left  in  the  afternoon  for  Moscow  over  the  Inland 
electric  line. 

President  Taft's  visits  the  night  of  October  1,  was  of  a  flying  nature,  as  his 
itinerary  allowed  but  two  hours  in  Spokane.  The  chief  executive  of  the  nation 
was  greeted  at  the  Northern  Pacific  depot  by  a  waiting  crowd  of  several  thousand 
and  a  reception  committee  under  direction  of  R.  Lewis  Rutter^  and  taken  directly 
for  a  parade  on  Sprague  and  Riverside  avenues^  and  after  that  to  the  Interstate 
fair  grounds^  where  the  president  spoke  before  a  waiting  audience  of  12^000.  The 
throngs  along  the  line  of  parade  were  closely  estimated  at  25,000. 

Nineteen  hundred  and  eleven  passes  into  history  as  a  year  of  commercial  and 
industrial  dullness^  as  compared  with  more  stirring  years  before  it;  but  the  apple 
show  banquet^  evening  of  August  18,  when  $18,000  was  subscribed  around  the 
banquet  tables  as  a  starter  for  a  greater  fund  of  $40,000  to  finance  the  fourth  show 
and  an  accompanying  carnival,  gave  abundant  proof  that  the  Spokane  spirit  waa 
never  more  alive.  The  dinner  was  given  by  a  committee  comprising  D.  W.  Twohy, 
H,  M.  Richards,  D.  C.  Corbin,  J.  M.  Coinstock,  W.  J.  Hindley,  John  A.  Finch,  R. 
E.  Strahorn,  H.  M.  Stephens,  E.  T,  Coman,  J,  Grier  Long,  H.  J.  Neely  and  W.  H. 
Cowles.  A  large  part  of  the  enthusiasm  and  success  of  the  evening  was  attributed 
to  G.  B.  Dennis.  "I'm  ^already  down  for  $100,  but  111  tell  you  what  I'll  do,"  said 
Mr.  Dennis  in  way  of  challenge.  "If  there  are  nine  men  here  who  will  give  $100 
each,  I'll  add  another  hundred  to  my  subscription,  and  when  that  $1000  is  raised 
I  have  another  proposition  to  make  to  you."  Mr.  Dennis  repeated  this  challenge 
till  he  was  down  for  $500.  R.  L.  Rutter  was  elected  executive  chairman  of  the 
citizens  committee  which  completed  the  work  of  raising  nearly  $40,000. 

At  the  largest  annual  banquet  ever  held  by  the  Greater  Spokane  committee, 
evening  of  March  27,  the  fund  for  publicity  and  factories  was  launched  with  volun- 
tary subscriptions  of  $20,542. 

A  total  of  $77,481  was  subscribed  by  1,489  contributors  to  the  two  large  funds 
raised  this  year;  901  contributors  subscribed  $39,500  to  the  apple  show  and  car- 
nival, and  588  donated  $37,931  to  the  Greater  Spokane  publicity  and  chamber  of 
commerce  fund. 

The  Interstate  fair  had  a  week  of  ideal  weather,  and  the  exposition  was  praised  as 
the  best  in  the  history  of  the  city.  Paid  admissions  aggregated  116,980,  as  com- 
pared with  110,198  in  1910. 

Publication  in  February,  1911,  of  the  new  city  directory  brought  proof  of  fine 
growth  in  1910.  The  number  of  directory  names  increased  within  the  year  from 
55,150  to  61,148.  Based  on  the  ratio  of  directory  names  in  1910  to  the  United 
States  census  returns,  this  indicated,  on  the  same  calculation,  a  population  at  the 
beginning  of  1911  of  114,654.     The  increase  in  directory  names,  from  20,010  in 


^   THE  KEW  tOSK 

■FUBUC  LIBHART 


I 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  561 

1901  to  61^148  in  1911,  revealed  a  growth  of  more  than  200  per  cent  in  the  pre- 
ceding decade. 

Postal  receipts  for  the  fiscal  year  ended  Sept.  SO,  1911,  were  $481,928.  The  city's 
growth  since  1 896,  the  year  that  signalized  the  return  of  prosperity  after  the  panic  of 
'98,  is  impressively  reflected  in  the  postal  receipts  of  the  intervening  years: 

1897     $  64,761      1904    174,321 

1898 75,023      1905    202,201 

1899    90,280      1906    250,284 

1900    93,887      1907 818,662 

1901     104,082      1908    856,714 

1902    125,101      1909    426,640 

1903    151,849      1910    469,531 

A  memorable  event  of  1911  was  the  formal  opening  of  the  new  Monroe  street 
concrete  bridge,  November  23,  with  the  largest  monolithic  arch  in  the  United  States 
— one  solid  piece  of  concrete,  281  feet  long,  186  feet  high  and  71  feet  wide.  The 
Rocky  river  bridge  at  Cleveland  falls  short  of  this  great  span  by  a  single  foot.  The 
three  arches  of  the  Monroe  street  structure  present  a  combined  length  of  784  feet, 
and  a  wooden  approach  at  the  south  end  bringrs  the  total  length  to  965  feet.  In 
round  numbers  the  bridge  cost  $475,000,  and  its  construction  extended  over  a  period 
of  two  years.  In  its  building  two  lives  were  lost,  two  other  workmen  were  seriously 
injured,  and  nearly  50  workmen  received  minor  injuries.  The  bridge  was  designed 
by  J.  C.  Ralston,  then  city  engineer,  and  was  built  under  his  direction  and  that  of 
City  Engineer  Morton  Macartney,  his  successor. 

Constructively  1910  and  1911  had  much  to  offer.  In  October  and  November  the 
chamber  of  commerce  conducted  an  interesting  and  revealing  series  of  "seeing  Spo- 
kane" excursions,  designed  to  give  its  members  a  closer  knowledge  of  their  home 
town.  The  excursion  of  November  10  took  85  business  men  to  the  newly  completed 
plant  of  the  Inland  Empire  Paper  company  at  Millwood,  three  miles  east.  Wilbur 
S.  Yearsley  and  Don  Ryrie,  officers  of  the  company,  conducted  the  party.  At  that 
time  the  company  had  invested  $850,000,  and  had  planned  an  ultimate  investment 
of  $680,000.  It  had  a  daily  output  December  1  of  twenty-two  tons,  and  contem- 
plates a  daily  output  in  1912  of  57  tons.  The  factory  then  employed  96  people, 
with  a  monthly  payroll  of  $8,000.  When  completed,  employment  will  be  provided 
for  225  people,  with  a  $20,000  monthly  payroll.  To  D.  T.  Ham  large  credit  is  given 
for  the  bringing  of  this  new  industry  to  Spokane. 

Among  the  large  buildings  completed  this  year  was  the  new  Spokane  club,  fin- 
ished for  occupancy  in  August  at  a  cost  of  nearly  $300,000,  with  four  floors  and  a 
roof  garden  above  ground,  and  three  basements  of  the  size  of  the  first  floor. 

Another  notable  structure  was  the  home  of  the  Inland  Commercial  club  and  Eilers 
music  house,  erected  at  Post  and  Sprague  at  a  cost  of  $125,000.  A  significant  in- 
dication of  the  Spokane  spirit  was  evident  in  the  remarkable  success  of  the  Inland 
club,  which  attained  a  resident  membership  of  700  before  the  close  of  the  year, 
with  149  non-resident  and  117  commercial  traveler  memberships.  J.  P.  McGoldrick 
is  president  and  E.  A.  von  Hasslocher  secretary,  and  the  governing  board  is  com- 
posed of  Thomas  S.  Griffith,  Joseph  A.  Borden,  F.  M.  March,  R.  E.  Strahorn,  F.  R. 


Vot      J— 8C 


502  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Culbertson,  A.  Starke  Oliver,  J.  F.  Meagher,  J.  C.  White,  P.  D.  Tull,  A.  C.  Ware, 
Seabury  Merritt,  H.  C.  Miinson,  Dr.  A.  E.  Stuht,  Don  Ryrie,  E.  L.'  Ensign,  Gordon 
C.  Corbaley,  Charles  Hebberd,  Bob  Mabry  and  E.  A.  Moye. 

Another  impressive  addition  to  the  city's  architecture  was  the  £jiickerbo<jLer 
apartment  house,  Fifth  and  Howard,  built  by  G.  B.  Dennis  at  an  expenditure  of 
$200,000. 

The  suicide  at  Oakland,  California,  April  18,  of  H.  G.  Brown,  more  widely 
known  as  "Doc"  Brown,  removed  a  remarkable  pioneer  personality.  Brown  came  to 
Spokane  in  1887  or  1888,  and  opened  the  old  Arlington  gambling  house,  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  Main  and  Howard.  After  the  fire  he  reopened  under  canvas  on 
Riverside  avenue,  near  the  big  gambling  tent  of  "Dutch  Jake"  and  Harry  Baer. 
The  following  year  he  established  the  historic  Owl  gambling  house  and  restaurant, 
at  Main  and  Howard  streets,  with  Charles  White  and  C.  D.  Bibbins,  present  owners 
of  the  Fernwell  and  Mohawk  blocks  as  partners. 

After  the  enactment  of  the  law  making  gambling  a  felony  in  this  state.  Brown 
moved  to  Portland,  and  thence  to  Panama,  in  a  hope  that  the  building  of  the  canal, 
with  its  attendant  army  of  wage-earners,  would  afford  him  an  opportunity  to  re- 
coup his  losses.  Disappointed  in  this  expectation,  he  drifted  back  to  Spokane;  but 
the  old  days  had  vanished,  and  with  them  the  oldtime  conditions  that  were  never- 
more to  return.  Open  gambling  had  become  history,  and  little  or  nothing  remained 
that  could  be  conducted  profitably  under  cover.  Discouraged,  Brown  went  to  San 
Francisco,  grew  despondent  over  his  long  contihued  losses,  and  ended  his  checkered 
career  with  a  revolver.  The  tragic  news  shocked  and  grieved  many  an  oldtimer 
who  had  known  "Doc"  Brown  in  his  prosperous  days.  A  more  generous  soul  it 
would  be  hard  to  find  in  a  day's  journey.  His  gifts  to  charity,  to  public  enterprises, 
and  to  individuals  in  distress  had  long  been  proverbial.  In  the  years  of  his  af- 
fluence few  were  the  subscription  papers  circulated  in  Spokane  without  his  sig- 
nature. To  his  reputation  for  liberality  he  added  a  quiet,  gentlemanly  demeanor,  a 
mild  voice  and  an  almost  diffident  bearing.  You  always  felt  that  in  some  manner 
"Doc"  Brown  must  have  been  a  victim  of  untoward  circumstances,  else  he  could 
hardly  have  drifted  into  the  life  of  a  professional  gambler.  "The  whitest  man  that 
ever  engaged  in  a  bad  business"  was  the  verdict  of  that  i>ortion  of  the  public  who 
had  known  him  personally  in  happier  days. 

Two  developments  of  unusual  interest  in  church  circles  this  year  were  the 
Gipsy  Smith  meetings  and  the  Men  and  Religion  Forward  movement.  In  a  large 
tented  tabernacle  at  Front  and  Division,  the  famous  English  evangelist  directed 
his  powerfully  persuasive  appeal  nightly  for  two  weeks  in  October.  Nearly  700 
conversion  cards  were  signed,  some  of  them  by  church  members  as  a  pledge  to  con- 
secrate themselves  anew  to  the  Christian  life. 

Spokane  was  among  the  90  American  cities  selected  for  the  great  laymen's  move- 
ment, and  a  local  committee  of  100  was  organized  here  with  W.  S.  Gilbert  as  chair- 
man. 


CHAPTER  LXX 

PIONEER  CHURCHES  OF  SPOKANE 

CONOREOATIONALISTS  AND  METHODISTS  EARLY  IN  THE  FIELD FIRST  SERMON  TO  A  WHITE 

CONGREGATION    PREACHED    BY    REV.    S.    G.    HAVBRMALE FIRST    ORGAN    FROM    WILLA- 
METTE   VALLEY FIRST    M.    E.    CHURCH PIONEER    BAPTIST    LABORS MISSION    WORK 

BY  THE  EPISCOPALIANS REV.  T.  G.  WATSON  ORGANIZES  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

CENTRAL     CHRISTIAN      CHURCH UNIVERSALISTS     AND     UNITARIANS EARLY     DAY 

EASTER    SERVICES CHRISTIAN    HOME    IN    COLVILLE   VALLEY    IN    1854. 

Dim  as  the  borrowed  beams  of  moon  and  stars^ 

To  lonely,  weary,  wandering  travelers. 

Is  Reason  to  the  soul;  and  as  on  high 

Those  rolling  fires  discover  but  the  sky, 

Not  light  us  here,  so  Reason's  glimmering  ray 

Was  lent,  not  to  assure  our  doubtful  way. 

But  guide  us  upward  to  a  better  day. 

And  as  those  nightly  tapers  disappear 

When  day's  bright  lord  ascends  our  hemisphere. 

So  pale  grows  Reason  at  Religion's  sight, — 

So  dies,  and  so  dissolves  in  supernatural  light. 

— Dry  den. 

CREDIT  for  initial  religious  effort  in  Spokane  (apart  from  Indian  mission 
work)  lies  fairly  divided  between  the  Congregationalists  and  the  Method- 
ists. Congregationalism  has  the  record  of  the  first  organized  church,  but 
Rev.  S.  G.  Havermale,  then  presiding  elder  in  the  country  north  of  Snake  river, 
preached  here  the  first  sermon  to  a  white  congregation,  November  14,  1875.  Dr.  P. 
A.  Cool,  former  pastor  of  the  First  Methodist  church,  is  authority  that  Mr.  Haver- 
male, in  May,  1875,  in  company  with  G.  W.  Grannis,  made  his  first  visit  to  the  site  of 
Spokane,  finding  here  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  N.  Glover,  H.  T.  Cowley  and  family,  and 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Yeaton  and  child.  He  preached  his  first  sermon  in  a  little  box  house 
just  west  of  the  city  hall  site  at  Howard  and  Front.  Mrs.  Yeaton,  who  had 
brought  an  organ  from  her  home  in  the  Willamette  valley,  supplied  music  and  led 
the  singing. 

Rev.  T.  G.  Watson,  pioneer  Presbyterian  minister,  says  that  Mr.  Havermale 
started  a  Sunday  school  in  Glover's  hall  in  1876,  and  this  being  given  up,  a  new 
one  was  started  by  Rev.  H.  W.  Stratton  in  1878.     Mr.  Watson  was  also  of  belief 

563 


564  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

that  Mr.  Havermale  conducted  here  a  Methodist  Episcopal  class  about  the  time, 
possibly  before,  the  Congregationalists  founded  their  First  church,  May  22,  1879. 
Rev.  Rosine  M.  Edwards  says  this  pioneer  Congregational  church  was  organized 
in  the  home  of  Rev.  H.  T.  Cowley,  Division  and  Sixth,  by  the  Rev.  G.  H.  Atkinson, 
D.  D.,  superintendent  of  home  missions  in  Oregon  and  Washington.     Mr.  Cowley 
was  elected  acting  pastor,  and  R.  G.  Williamson  deacon.     Services  were  held  for 
two  years  in  the  town  schoolhouse,  near  the  corner  of  Railroad  avenue  and  Post 
street.     Rev.  F.  T.  Clark,  who  arrived  in  the  spring  of  1881,  was  the  first  regular 
pastor,  and  December  20  that  year  a  church  building  was  dedicated  on  the  comer 
of  Sprague  and  Bernard.     Rev.  G.  H.  Atkinson  and  Father  Cushing  Eells  took 
part  in  the  dedicatory  services. 

After  two  years,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Clarke  resigned  the  pastorate  and  during  the 
two  succeeding  years,  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Renshaw  served  the  church,  resigning  in  No- 
vember, 1885.  In  the  spring  of  the  following  year,  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards 
became  pastor.  In  September,  1889,  this  church  with  its  site  was  sold,  and  a  loca- 
tion secured  at  Fourth  and  Washington,  where  the  Granite  church  now  stands. 

Soon  after  organization  of  the  First  Congregational  church,  in  1879,  the  Rev. 
J.  H.  Leard  organised  the  first  Methodist  society,  still  known  as  the  First  Methodist 
Episcopal  church  of  Spokane.  The  charter  members  were  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  S. 
G.  Havermale,  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  J.  H.  Leard,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  E.  Ellis  and  the 
Misses  Ollie  and  Ida  Ellis.     Mr.  Ellis  was  class  leader. 

The  second  pastor,  says  Dr.  Cool,  was  Rev.  M.  S.  Anderson,  who  was  appointed 
August  15,  1880.  The  list  of  preaching  places  outside  of  Spokane  included  Cheney, 
Crescent,  Egypt  (twelve  miles  north  of  what  is  now  Davenport),  Mondovi,  Saltese 
lake  and  Moran  prairie.  "The  roads  were  long,  the  field  was  wide,  and  the  workers 
few.  A  lot  was  secured  on  the  comer  of  Sprague  and  Washington,  and  the  first 
church  building  erected."  This  property  was  sold  in  1887,  and  a  lot  on  the  comer 
of  Sprague  and  Bernard  purchased,  where  a  large  brick  church  was  completed 
and  dedicated  February  3,  1889.  This  church  was  sold  for  $55,000  after  the  fire, 
and  a  temporary  tabernacle  erected  at  Howard  and  Third. 

The  first  Baptist  work  in  Spokane  county,  according  to  the  Rev.  A.  M.  Allyn, 
was  in  the  winter  of  1879-80,  when  the  Rev.  S.  E.  Steames,  of  pioneer  fame,  both 
in  Idaho  and  Washington,  came  from  Colfax  to  Spangle,  sought  out  the  scattered 
Baptists  there  and  began  regular  preaching.  On  the  13th  of  March,  1880,  he  or- 
ganized the  First  Baptist  church  of  Spangle.  The  second  Baptist  church  in  Spo- 
kane county  was  organized  at  Cheney,  in  May,  1881,  by  the  Rev.  D.  W.  C.  Britt. 
It  started  with  seven  members. 

First  efforts  towards  a  Baptist  church  in  Spokane  were  made  by  Rev.  D.  J. 
Pierce  and  Rev.  S.  E.  Steames,  "who  selected  and  purchased  a  lot  for  the  future 
Baptist  church,  and  is  said  to  have  paid  for  it  out  of  his  scanty  salary  of  $300." 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Britt  organized  this  church  with  seven  members,  December  8,  1881. 
Soon  thereafter  a  house  of  worship,  the  first  Baptist  meeting  house  in  the  county, 
was  erected  at  a  cost  of  about  $2,000. 

The  Rev.  R.  D.  Nevius  conducted  the  first  Protestant  Episcopal  services  in 
Spokane,  **about  1880,'*  according  to  one  authority — in  1881,  according  to  a  brief 
historical  review  by  the  Rev.  T.  G.  Watson.  Jonathan  Edwards*  History  of  Spo- 
kane County  says  a  little  church  was  built  on  the  corner  of  Riverside  and  Lincoln, 


Central  Chris (ian 


Swedish  Evangplicai  Liitlieran  All   Saints'   Episcopal 

OROnp  OF  SPOKANE  CIIURCHK.S,  1912 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  565 

and  there  a  parish  school  for  boys  was  conducted  for  a  while.     Later  this  little 

building  was  moved  to  the  present  site  of  the  cathedral,  and  subsequently  burned 

down.     The  Rev.  Dr.  H.  Compton  Burnett  succeeded  Dr.  Nevius  as  missioner,  and 

the  Rev.  Charles  B.  Crawford  succeeded  him  and  was  the  first  rector  of  All  Saints 

parish. 

In  1889  the  parish  completed  and  furnished  its  church  on  the  present  site,  at 

a  cost  of  $8,000.     A  vested  choir  of  twenty  boys  and  men  had  been  organized,  and 

the  first  choral  service  was  held  on  Christmas,  when  $1,000  was  collected  towards 

a  pip»e  organ  fund.     All  Saints  had  then  150  members,  and  a  Sunday  school  of  160 

with  thirteen  teachers  and  officers.     St.  Mary's  hall,  afterwards  burned  (now  Bru- 

not  hall),  had   been  completed   and  occupied   at  a  co^t  of  $8,500.     St.   Andrews 

Brotherhood  had  a  flourishing  athletic  club.^  .  .    :c  ' 

'  •  ■  •  '  * 

The  First  Presbyterian  church  of  Spokane  was  organized .  June   10,   188S,  by 

Rev.  T.  G.  Watson,  at  that  time  the  only  ^acting  minipte^  of  his  church  north  of 

Snake  river  in  eastern  Washington,  and  t^ie  .care-  of  •^tlmt' broad   region,  together 

with  that  of  Idaho  north  of  Farmington  was  laid  upon  him.     E.  H.  Jamieson,  J. 

S.  Allison,  James  Gibson,  A.  M.  Cannon  and  R.  W.  Forrest  were  the  first  trustees. 

At  first  the  congregation  worshiped  in  a  hall  in  Cannon's  block,  at  Riverside  and 

Mill,  but  in  the  spring  of  1884  services  were  held  in  the  Van  Dorn  opera  house, 

at  Riverside  and  Post.     In  the  fall  of  that  year  the  congregation  moved  to  Glover's 

hall,  Howard  and  Front. 

The  first  church  was  housed  for  some  time  in  a  brick  structure  on  the  present 
site  of  the  Review  building;  but  the  congregation  sold  that  church,  and  late  in 
1889  was  holding  service  in  Concordia  hall,  on  Second  avenue.  Presbyterian  leaders 
here  and  others  had  recently  incorporated  "the  Spokane  University,"  and  with 
high  hopes  and  ambitions  were  conducting  a  girls*  seminary  in  rooms  adjoining 
Concordia  hall,  with  Miss  Mary  Edmiston  and  Miss  Lillian  Feazel  as  teachers. 
The  university  board  of  trustees  comprised  Rev.  T.  G.  Watson,  president;  Dr.  J. 
D.  McLean,  secretary,  H.  N.  Belt,  treasurer,  and  J.  J.  Browne,  A.  M.  Cannon,  W. 
H.  Taylor,  George  H.  Leonard,  Rev.  Donald  Ross,  Rev.  T.  M.  Gunn,  L.  B.  Cornell, 
J.  W.  Goss,  C.  S.  Penfield,  and  N.  F.  Holman.  The  university  scarce  passed  be- 
yond the  incorporation  stage. 

A  church  edifice  was  erected  in  1890  at  Second  and  Jefferson,  and  after  several 
years  of  growth  in  that  location,  the  church  bought  lots  in  the  old  Cannon  home- 
stead block,  and  erected  there  their  present  beautiful,  spacious  building. 

The  Centenary  Presbyterian  church  was  organized  February  8,  1888,  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Watson  and  H.  W.  Stratton,'  who  as  a  retired  minister  had  come  here 
several  years  before  and  homesteaded  the  taiid  that  later  was  laid  out  as  Stratton 's 
addition,  north  of  the  river.     Centenary's  first  pastor  was  Philip  M.  Jamieson. 

While  the  Christian  church  did  not  entfei^'the  city  field  until  1886,  it  was  among 
the  first  to  win  a  foothold  in  Spokane  county.  Elder  C.  J.  Wright  organized  a 
congregation  at  Spangle,  April  4,  1880,  with  a  charter  membership  of  28.  For  a 
while  services  were  held  in  the  schoolhouse,  and  later  in  the  Baptist  church  under 
a  harmonious  arrangement  growing  out  of  liberal  contributions  by  members  of  the 
Christian  church  towards  the  building  of  that  edifice.  Afterwards  the  congrega- 
tion built  their  own  church,  and  held  there  the  first  services  in  1892. 

Elder  Wright  organized  a  church  in  Alpha  schoolhouse,  two  miles  from  Latah, 


566  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

in  March^  1883^  with  23  members,  and  when  the  town  of  Latah  was   founded,  & 
church  was  erected  there. 

Evangelist  A.  W.  Dean  came  from  Colfax,  Illinois,  to  Cheney  in  1886,  and 
held  revival  services  and  organized  churches  in  Cheney,  Medical  Lake,  Deep  Creek, 
and  Spokane.  Central  Christian  church  was  organized  April  1,  1886,  with  21 
members,  among  whom  were  Dr.  J.  M.  Major,  A.  P.  Wolverton,  Mrs.  S.  J.  Pynor, 
Mrs.  Lizzie  Wright,  Major  and  Mrs.  R.  H.  Wimpey,  William  Hix,  and  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  W.  H.  Brockman.  For  a  time  weekly  services  were  held  in  the  Congregational 
church,  and  then  successively  in  a  hall  over  the  First  National  bank  building,  in 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  hall  and  W.  C.  T.  U.  hall.  Rev.  S.  B.  Letson,  coming  in  January,  * 
1888,  was  the  first  regular  pastor.  A  lot  was  purchased  in  1888  at  Post  and  Third, 
and  the  first  church  building  erected  thereon.  Later  a  site  was  acquired  at  Third 
and  Stevens,  and  a  more  commodious  building  erected.  Evangelist  Dean  died  at 
Medical  Lake  in  1888,  remembered,  says  Jonathan  Edwards,  "with  great  affection 
by  all  for  whose  salvation  and  happiness  he  had  so  faithfully  labored  and  suffered." 

Rev.  W.  A.  Spalding  arrived  in  Spokane  in  August,  1890,  commissioned  by 
the  Home  Missionary  Board  of  the  United  Presbyterian  church  to  organize  a  con- 
gregation here.  In  the  Phoenix  block.  Second  avenue  and  Jefferson  street,  No- 
vember 7,  the  church  was  organized  with  the  following  charter  members:  John 
Anderson,  Mrs.  Maggie  Anderson,  W.  H.  McCoy,  Mrs.  Ella  McCoy,  Isaac  Mc- 
Cracken,  Mrs.  Isabel  McCracken,  W.  E.  Reed,  Mrs.  Millie  Reed,  H.  C.  Blair,  D. 
E.  Blair,  Miss  Sarah  E.  Blair,  Miss  Agnes  L.  Thompson,  W.  C.  McMillan,  J.  M. 
McMillan,  Miss  Emma  Patton,  Miss  Mary  A.  Taggart,  W.  H.  Shields,  J.  G.  Mc- 
Cracken, John  E.  Reed,  Mrs.  Maggie  Reed,  Miss  Lena  McCoy,  Thomas  H.  Brewer, 
Mrs.  Margaret  B.  Spalding,  Mrs.  Sophia  Cannon,  Mrs.  Matie  Shields,  J.  F.  Cama- 
han,  Mrs.  Tallie  Carnahan.  The  congregation  purchased  a  lot  at  Third  and  Adams, 
built  a  chapel  in  1891,  and  in  1898  erected  a  permanent  edifice. 

The  Spokane  Universalist  society  was  organized  March  16,  1892,  by  the  Rev. 
Q.  H.  Shinn^  with  a  charter  membership  of  ten.  In  January,  1898,  a  parish  was 
organized  with  an  enrollment  of  forty-five  names,  and  August  27,  same  year,  a 
church  was  organized  by  the  Rev.  A.  C.  Grier,  with  a  membership  of  28.  For  sev- 
eral years  lay  meetings  were  held  in  Oliver  hall,  until  the  summer  of  1896,  when 
the  Rev.  Asa  M.  Bradley,  Pacific  coast  missionary,  came  from  Oakland,  California, 
and  conducted  services  for  eight  months  until  called  to  another  field. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  South,  organized  in  February,  1888,  with  21 
members.    Rev.  Reginald  B.  Swift  of  Tennessee  was  its  first  pastor. 

At  a  meeting  in  the  law  ofiice  of  George  M.  Forster,  in  the  spring  of  1887,  the 
First  Unitarian  church  of  Spokane  was  organized  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Forster,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  A.  J.  Ross,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  H.  Graves,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  R.  E.  Clarke,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  A.  L.  Davis,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  W.  Greenberg,  Mrs.  J.  F.  Sloane,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  C.  W.  Brundage,  N.  G.  Willis,  F.  E.  Curtis,  E.  R.  Cushing,  Mrs.  Alex.  War- 
ner and  D.  W.  Lockhart.  The  Rev.  Edwin  M.  Wheelodc  was  organizer  and  first 
pastor  of  the  church,  and  under  his  guidance  a  strong  society  was  organized,  with 
a  Sunday  school  and  Ladies  Aid  society.  Under  his  pastorate  the  building  in  which 
the  congregation  still  worships  was  erected  in  1888  at  Sprague  and  Jefferson. 

The  first  Christian  Science  meetings  were  held  here  in  1890,  in  the  Granite 
building,  and  later  in  the  Review  building.    The  First  Church  of  Christ  was  organ- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  567 

ized  in  1896.  Meetings  were  held  for  a  while  in  the  Jewish  Temple,  but  with  tb** 
rapid  ^prowth  of  the  congregation  a  lot  was  acquired  at  Fourth  avenue  and  Post 
and  a  spacious  and  beautiful  church  erected. 

In  the  winter  of  1887  Elder  H.  W.  Decker,  first  missionary  of  the  Seventh  Day 
Adventists  to  preach  in  Spokane  county,  held  meetings  in  a  tent.  The  first  reg- 
ular meetings  were  held  in  the  Presbyterian  church  building,  where  the  Review 
building  now  stands,  and  the  Rev.  L.  W.  Scoles  was  the  first  pastor. 

The  African  M.  E.  chnrch  was  organized  in  1890,  in  a  house  at  168  South 
Stevens  street,  by  Rev.  Augustus,  sent  here  by  the  California  conference.  It  started 
with  ten  members. 

In  January,  1885,  Rev.  J.  Bowersox,  presiding  elder  of  the  Oregon  conference 
of  the  Evangelical  Association,  organized  a  class  of  eight  members  in  Spokane, 
one  at  Rockford  with  seven  members,  and  another  at  Wild  Rose  prairie  with  six 
members.  In  May,  the  same  year,  the  Rev.  H.  Schuknecht  came  here  with  his 
family  from  Michigan,  as  missionary  of  Washington  territory,  and  under  his  zeal- 
ous care  a  number  of  churches  were  organized  throughout  this  section.  The  churches 
have  flourishing  missionary  societies,  Young  People's  Alliances,  women's  societies 
and  Sunday  schools. 

Salem  church,  of  the  Swedish  Evangelical  Lutheran  denomination,  was  organ- 
ized here  June  25,  1888,  by  the  Rev.  P.  Carlson,  with  nineteen  members.  In  1889 
a  theological  student,  S.  G.  Youngert,  had  charge  of  the  work.  A  church  building 
was  erected  at  Broadway  and  Walnut.  Rev.  C.  P.  Rydholm  was  the  first  ordained 
pastor  of  the  church. 

German  Lutherans  held  their  first  services  here  about  1888,  with  missionary 
preaching  in  the  Congregational  church.  Rev.  P.  Groschupf  was  their  pioneer 
pastor. 

The  Norwegian  Lutherans  began  work  in  Spokane  about  1887,  and  in  1890 
erected  their  church  at  Washington  and  Sinto. 

PIONEER    EASTER    SERVICES 

According  to  a  writer  in  the  Spokesman-Review,  April  16,  1911,  the  Episco- 
palians began  to  hold  regular  services  in  Spokane  in  1880,  in  a  rickety  building 
near  the  present  city  hall  site,  probably  the  same  in  which  the  Rev.  S.  G.  Haver- 
male  had  formerly  preached.  A  saloon  occupied  the  ground  floor.  The  Rev.  R. 
D.  Nevius  was  the  pioneer  pastor.  Jacob  Hoover  was  the  first  warden.  Bishop 
L.  H.  Wells  was  then  a  missionary  priest  at  Walla  Walla,  to  which  station  he  had 
come  in  1871. 

"The  Rev.  C.  C.  Burnett,  the  first  resident  rector  of  All  Saints,  came  to  Spokane 
in  1888,  and  his  family  followed  shortly.  Their  best  remembered  Easter  came  in 
1884.  The  church  was  a  small  frame  structure,  on  the  present  site  of  the  Empire 
State  building.  Riverside  and  Lincoln,  and  was  surrounded  by  pine  trees.  A  lean-to 
of  five  small  rooms  sheltered  the  rector's  family  of  eight.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Burnett 
came  originally  from  England,  and  moved  to  Spokane  from  a  comfortable  rectory 
in  Iowa.  Mrs.  Burnett  and  her  daughter.  Miss  May  C.  Burnett,  still  live  here,  and 
they  have  forgotten  few  particulars  of  that  first  Easter  in  their  new  home.  May, 
with  Margaret  and  Jean  Gibson  and  Amy  Sherlock,  now  Mrs.  Will  Newman,  gath- 


568  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

ered  the  buttercups  and  ferns  with  which  they  decorated  the  church.  A  parlor 
organ  of  indifferent  quality,  played  by  John  Keogh,  supplied  the  instrumental 
music.  Mrs.  John  L.  Wilson,  wife  of  the  former  senator,  was  the  soloist,  and  the 
choir  included  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eugene  Fellowes,  Miss  Katherine  Clark  and  Frank 
Hemmenway.  In  the  congregation  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Horace  L.  Cutter,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  F.  Rockwood  Moore,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jacob  Hoover,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  H.  Bryer, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  M.  McCartney,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fred.  Furth,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  M. 
Grimmer,  Miss  Victoria  Fellowes,  J.  M.  Kinnard,  J.  Kennedy  Stout. 

"There  were  Ave  communicants  at  All  Saints  when  the  Rev.  Mr.  Burnett  arrived- 
The  bell  now  on  the  cathedral  was  secured  in  1886,  and  rang  out  Easter  greetings 
the  day  after  it  arrived. 

"Mrs.  W.  W.  Stillman  of  this  city  remembers  an  Easter  Sunday,  April  23, 
1887,  when  they  gathered  twenty-three  varieties  of  wild  flowers  for  decoration  of 
the  Congregational  church.  The  church  stood  where  Bernard  and  Sprague  now 
intersect.  The  Rev.  H.  T.  Cowley,  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards  and  the  Rev.  J. 
B.  Renshaw  were  early  pastors  there.  The  latter  occupied  the  pulpit  at  the  Easter 
services  which  Mrs.  Stillman  recalls,  and  he  also  sang  bass  in  the  choir.  Mrs.  D. 
M.  Thompson  was  the  organist.  Mrs.  I.  N.  Peyton  and  Mrs.  Alice  Houghton  were 
members  of  the  choir. 

"The  first  formal  Catholic  Easter  ceremonies  were  held  in  a  little  carpenter 
shop  on  Main,  near  Bernard,  in  the  early  '80s.  Father  Diomedi,  S.  J.,  recalls  that 
they  observed  the  usual  rites  there,  so  far  as  they  were  able  in  a  room  capable  of 
accommodating  fifteen  people  on  a  pinch. 

"Father  J.  Rebmann,  S.  J.,  first  president  of  Gonzaga,  had  charge  of  the  church 
of  our  Lady  of  Lourdes  when  the  first  Easter  was  held  there.  The  church  was 
built  by  Frank  Johnson,  on  the  lot  adjoining  the  carpenter  shop  chapel,  and  it 
was  an  elaborate  structure  in  its  day.  On  Easter  morning  of  1886  Father  Reb- 
mann rowed  across  the  river  from  the  college,  built  the  fire  in  the  church  and  rang 
the  bell.  The  principal  decoration  was  a  painting  of  the  Virgin,  her  heart  pierced 
with  a  sword,  the  work  of  Brother  Carignano.  He  painted  the  picture  on  tin,  and 
the  tin  was  trimmed  to  conform  to  the  figure.  The  bell  used  then  is  now  serving 
Our  Lady  of  Lourdes  church.  It  was  donated  by  a  member  named  O'Connor,  in 
memory  of  his  mother.  Among  the  worshipers  at  that  service  were  Mrs.  William 
Bell,  mother  of  Mrs.  D.  W.  Twohy;  Miss  Genevieve  Bell,  now -Mrs.  E.  Cullen; 
Wm.  O.  Brien,  F.  P.  Hogan  and  Peter  Graham. 

"Mrs.  L.  M.  Flournoy  had  charge  of  the  music  at  the  Easter  service  the  fol- 
lowing year.  The  choir  for  that  service  consisted  of  twelve  voices,  and  among  the 
congregation  were  Mrs.  Fred.  Mason,  Mrs.  Charles  Sweeny,  Mrs.  William  Bell,  the 
Misses  Louise  and  Flora  Haas,  Mrs.  Traverse,  Mrs.  Bianchard,  Mrs.  Schoen,  Mrs. 
Harry  Bell,  Mr.  Williams,  Frank  Bracht,  Mrs.  Sauer,  Mrs.  Peter  Graham  and  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  M.  M.  Cowley." 

BROWN    FAMILY    CAME    IN    1854 

In  the  records  of  the  Congregational  church  at  Chewelah  appears  this  initial 
entry:  "The  first  religious  service  in  the  (Colville)  valley  was  in  September,  1838, 
conducted  by  Rev.  Cushing  Eells,  and  the  first  protestant  church  was  organized 


KirBt  Cliurch  of  ( 


Our  Ladj  of  Lourdes,  Catholic 


Temple  Emanuel,  Jewish 


Emmanuel  German  Liitherao  First  Methodist  Episcopal 

GROUP  OP  SPOKANE  CHURCHES.  1912 


t 

I 

f 

I 


r-JE  NEW  yOF.K 

i'-.i^LlC  LJBRARTl 


N0 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  569 

by  him  at  Chewelah,  September  14,  1879,  with  four  members,  viz:  Mrs.  Thomas 
Brown,  Andrew  Mowatt  (her  brother),  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  McCred."  On  the 
fly  leaf  of  the  pulpit  bible  is  written:  "This  bible  is  sent  by  Rev.  Gushing  Eells, 
to  be  used  as  a  pulpit  bible  by  the  people  of  Colville  valley  when  they  have  relig- 
ious services.     August  14,  1875." 

Mrs.  Thomas  Brown  was  the  first  white  woman,  after  the  mission  wives  had 
left  Walker's  prairie,  to  find  a  home  in  the  wilderness  of  the  Spokane  country. 
With  her  husband,  Thomas  Brown,  and  four  small  children — Mary,  Margaret, 
Robina  and  John,  the  oldest  but  six  years  of  age,  they  struggled  into  the  Colville 
valley,  December  10,  1854.  They  were  seven  months  on  the  trail  between  Selkirk 
Settlement  on  the  Red  River  of  the  North  and  Colville,  and  endured  many  hard- 
ships, privations  and  perils.  At  the  Kootenai  lakes  they  would  have  perished  of 
starvation  but  for  the  providential  aid  of  a  countryman,  a  Scotch  trader  and  trapper 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company.  "When  th^  aprrived^*'^  SaJ^s"  W.  P.  Winans,  "it 
was  winter,  and  they  were  almost  destitute  of  [JMiytfihigf  btifc  cotrrage  and  persever- 
ance. Mr.  Brown,  being  a  carpenter,  soon  had  a  shelter  for  them,  and  such  com- 
forts as  his  neighbors  enjoyed.  Mrs.  Brown,  was  tiio 'first -white  woman  to  make 
her  home  in  all  that  vast  region  between  the  Ca&cade^'anB'  Iftioclcy  mountains,  north 
of  the  Columbia  and  Snake  rivers.  She  was  an  inspiration  of  good  works.  Her 
courage  in  danger,  her  patience  under  adverse  conditions,  her  Christian  fortitude 
and  perseverance  in  the  struggle  to  bring  up  her  family  to  Christian  manhood  and 
womanhood  amid  such  unfavorable  surroundings,  are  worthy  of  all  commendation." 
She  died  at  Chewelah  July  20,  1900,  in  her  79th  year,  "full  of  years  and  good 
works." 


.^. .  .     • 


CHAPTER  LXXI 

CATHOLIC  INSTITUTIONS  OF   SPOKANE 

FIRST  PLACE  OP  WORSHIP  A  SHACK^   15x22 FIRST  CHURCH  OF  OUR  LADY  OF   LOURDE8 

FOUNDING   OF    THE    CHURCH    OF    ST.    JOSEPH BEGINNING   OF    ST.    ALOYSIUS BIRTH 

AND    GROWTH    OF    OONZAGA     COLLEGE ITS    PROGRESS    FROM    FATHER    REBMANN    TO 

FATHER  TAELMAN FOUNDING  OF  SACRED  HEART  HOSPITAL  IN  1886 ^EDUCATIONAL 

INSTITUTIONS    OF   THE    SISTERS    OF    THE    HOLY    NAMES ST.    JOSBPH^S    ORPHANAGE 

OTHER    INSTITUTIONS. 

FOR  the  following  history  of  Catholic  institutions  in  SpK>kane  I  am  largely 
indebted  to  a  historical  review  by  the  Very  Rev.  Leopold  Van  Gorp,  S.  J., 
former  general  superior  of  Indian  missions,  Gonzaga  college;  and  to  infor- 
mation obligingly  supplied  by  the  Rev.  Louis  J.  Taelman,  S.  J.,  president  of  Gon- 
zaga college,  and  Father  George  F.  Wddel,  S.  J.  Aid  has  also  been  found  in  the 
files  of  the  Spokesman-Review. 

Among  the  early  settlers  there  were  of  course  Catholics  to  be  found,  who,  hear- 
ing that  there  was  a  priest  among  the  Spokane  Indians  soon  availed  themselves 
of  the  opportunity  to  visit  him.  But  St.  Michael's  (on  Peone  prairie)  was  quite 
out  of  the  way,  and  yielding  to  the  reiterated  petition  of  the  white  Catholics,  Father 
Cataldo,  then  superior  of  the  Rocky  mountain  mission,  in  the  fall  of  1881  pur- 
chased the  lot  and  small  building,  1 5x22,  on  the  comer  of  Main  and  Bernard  streets. 
This  building,  which  is  still  standing,  was  used  temporarily  for  church  purpK>se8. 
At  the  Christmas  mass  in  1881  there  were  but  twelve  persons  present.  Rev.  Aloy- 
sius  Jacquet,  who  arrived  in  Spokane  April  12,  1882,  and  said  mass  in  this  little 
chapel  the  following  Sunday,  had  a  congregation  of  fourteen  persons,  ^ve  of  whom 
were  protestants.  This  father,  who  resided  at  St.  Michael's,  was  given  charge  of 
the  outlying  districts,  and  visited,  besides  Spokane,  Cheney,  Sprague,  the  Big  Bend 
country,  Forts  Spokane  and  Sherman  and  the  Coeur  d'Alene  district. 

During  the  winter  of  1881-82  a  temporary  building  was  erected  just  at  about 
the  present  crossing  of  the  Spokane  &  Northern  and  Union  Pacific  tracks,  on  prop- 
erty purchased  from  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  company.  This  building  served 
as  residence  for  the  fathers  until  Gonzaga  college  was  completed  in  1886.  Be- 
sides attending  to  the  little  parish  in  town,  the  Fathers  continued  their  work  at 
St.  Michael's  mission,  where  Father  Joset  had  a  congregation  of  between  100  and 
150  Indians. 

On  April  9,  1884,  Father  Ruellan  arrived  at  St.  Michael's  mission,  and,  after 
spending  Holy  Week  there,  came  into  Spokane  with  Father  Cataldo,  who  appointed 

571 


572  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

him  resident  priest  for  Spokane  Falls.  The  want  of  a  church  able  to  accommodate 
the  congregation  was  keenly  felt,  and  to  meet  this  want  Father  Ruellan  opened 
a  subscription  list  for  a  new  brick  church.  But  in  December,  1884,  he  was  a|>- 
pointed  superior  of  the  Colville  mission,  and  went  there  on  the  21st  of  December^ 
but  died  a  few  days  after  arriving. 

He  was  succeeded  at  Spokane  Falls  by  Rev.  Aloysius  Jacquet,  who  at  once 
exerted  himself  to  gather  the  money  necessary  for  the  new  church.  This  was  no 
easy  task,  as  the  Catholics  were- few  and  just  starting  in  life.  However,  they  did 
what  they  could.  The  Father,  moreover,  found  great  generosity  on  the  part  of 
non-Catholics.  At  last  the  money  required  was  gathered,  and  before  long  the  church 
of  Our  Lady  of  Lourdes  which  stood  on  Main  street  between  Washington  and 
Bernard,  was  completed.  On  Sunday,  July  4,  1886,  the  church  was  dedicated  by 
the  late  Bishop  Junger.  A  few  days  afterwards  Father  Jacquet  was  sent  to 
DeSmet  mission  to  replace  Father  Tosi,  who  was  setting  out  for  Alaska,  and  Father 
Rebmann,  who  was  already  in  charge  of  Gonzaga  college,  assumed  the  charge  of 
the  church  and  parish. 

On  October  6,  1887,  the  Catholics  of  Spokane  had  the  pleasure  of  paying  their 
respects  to  Cardinal  Gibbons.  Hearing  that  he  was  to  pass  through  the  city,  they 
sent  a  committee  to  meet  him  at  Rathdrum,  and  when  the  train  arrived  at  the  Spo- 
kane depot,  quite  a  crowd,  not  merely  of  Catholics  but  of  other  citizens  as  well, 
greeted  the  Cardinal,  who  was  accompanied  by  Archbishop  Gross,  Bishop  Bundel 
of  Helena,  and  Dr.  Chappel  of  Washington,  D.  C. 

It  was  during  the  pastorship  of  Father  Rebmann  that  the  Sisters  of  Providence 
came  to  found  the  hospital,  which  has  been  such  a  blessing  to  Spokane. 

In  March,  1887,  Father  Jacquet  was  recalled  to  Spokane  to  raise  money  to  put 
up  the  parochial  school  which  stood  next  to  the  Main  street  church.  Work  was 
begun  soon  after,  and  the  building  was  opened  in  1888,  with  the  Sisters  of  the 
Holy  Names  in  charge. 

The  Catholic  population  had  so  much  increased  that  even  the  church  of  Our 
Lady  of  Lourdes  was  not  sufficient,  so  during  the  pastorship  of  Rev.  Charles  Mackin 
the  church  of  St.  Joseph,  situated  on  Dean  avenue,  was  built  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers 
and  was  dedicated  by  Bishop  Junger,  May  15,  1890.  Father  E.  Kauten  attended 
it,  together  with  the  Main  street  church,  for  about  a  year  and  a  half,  when  its 
present  pastor.  Rev.  J.  DeKanter,  took  charge.  In  connection  with  St.  Joseph's 
there  is  a  flourishing  parish  school,  in  charge  of  the  Sisters  of  the  Immaculate 
Heart  of  Mary. 

In  1890  Rev.  J.  M.  Cataldo,  then  superior  of  the  Jesuits  of  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains, turned  over  both  the  church  of  Our  Lady  of  Lourdes  and  that  of  St.  Joseph's 
to  the  secular  clergy.  Rev.  Emile  Kauten  was  on  May  1,  1890,  assigned  by  the 
bishop  as  pastor  of  the  church  of  Our  Lady  of  Lourdes,  where  he  long  remained, 
endearing  himself  to  his  flock  by  his  untiring  zeal.  His  death  occurred  at  Seattle, 
January  7,  1912. 

On  October  4,  1891  an  event  of  great  interest  in  the  history  of  the  Catholic 
church  in  the  Northwest  was  celebrated  at  Gonzaga  college,  the  golden  jubilee  of 
the  founding  of  the  Rocky  mountain  missions. 

On  November  16,  1891,  another  Catholic  church,  that  of  the  Sacred  Heart, 
situated  on  Fifth  avenue,  was  dedicated  by  Rev.  Father  Joeren  of  Uniontown,  who 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  573 

was  delegated  by  Bishop  Junger  to  act  in  his  stead  as  the  Bishop  lay  sick  at  the 
time  at  the  Sisters'  hospital  in  this  city.  This  church,  which  has  since  disappeared, 
was  bought  and  removed  to  its  present  site  by  Rev.  Barnabas  Held,  O.  S.  B.,  who 
had  come  to  Spokane  August  17,  1890,  as  an  assistant  to  Father  Kauten. 

After  turning  over  the  two  churches  to  the  secular  clergy,  the  Jesuits  confined 
themselves  to  their  new  parish  and  college  work  and  as  quite  a  few  Catholic  fam- 
ilies lived  near  the  college  the  college  chapel  was  opened  to  them  as  a  place  of 
worship.  But  the  number  of  students  as  well  as  the  number  of  Catholics  on  the 
North  Side  increasing,  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  build  a  church  on  the  college 
grounds,  especially  as  the  Bishop  had  lately  erected  the  new  parish  of  St.  Aloy- 
si  us,  with  the  college  chapel  as  its  church.  Accordingly  work  was  begun  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1892  by  Rev.  J.  B.  Ren^,  on  a  new  church,  and  on  November  20,  1892,  it 
was  dedicated  by  the  late  Bishop  Aegidius  Junger,  D.  D.,  and  named  St.  Aloysius 
church.    With  the  growth  of  the  parish  the  congregation  outgrew  this  church,  and 

in  its  place  arose  the  present  spacious  and  beautiful  St.  Aloysius,  one  of  the  finest 

places  of  worship  in  the  northwest. 

When,  in   1893  the  Great  Northern  railroad  established  its  yards  at  Hillyard, 

the  Jesuit  Fathers  bought  ground  and  erected  thereon  a  small  church  at  their  own 

expense;  and  on  its  being  completed  it  was  blessed,  as  had  been  the  other  Catholic 

churches  of  Spokane,  by  Bish<^  Junger  under  the  title  of  St.  Patrick's  church. 

It  has  since  been  replaced  by  a  handsome  brick  structure  at  a  cost  of  about  $20,000. 

The  church  has  now  a  resident  pastcMr. 

GONZAOA  COLLEOB 

As  stated  in  the  first  part  of  this  article,  the  Jesuit  Fathers  bought  land  from 
the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  company,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  intending 
it  for  school  purposes.  But  it  was  not  until  1884  that  work  was  begun  on  what 
was  to  be  Gonzaga  college,  and  it  was  not  until  1886  that  the  building  was  com- 
pleted. It  was  first  opened  to  students  in  the  fall  of  1887  under  the  presidency 
of  Rev.  J.  Rebmann.  Its  beginning  was  quite  modest,  only  eighteen  students  ap- 
pearing on  its  roll  for  the  first  scholastic  year,  and  these  were  mostly  small  boys  in 
the  lower  classes.  The  following  year,  however,  the  number  of  students  was 
doubled,  and  the  course  of  studies  advanced  from  that  time  until  the  scholastic 
year  of  1892-93,  when  the  college  had  100  students;  its  progress  was  steady,  not 
only  in  increase  of  students,  but  in  a  continual  raising  of  the  standard  of  studies. 
In  1889  the  Rev.  Charles  Mackin,  S.  J.,  succeeded  Father  Rebmann  as  president. 
On  April  22,  1894,  this  college  was  incorporated  and  empowered  to  confer  such 
degrees  and  literary  honors  as  are  usually  conferred  by  similar  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, and  on  June  28  of  this  same  year,  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  was  con- 
ferred on  two  students  who  had  completed  the  prescribed  course.  From  that  time 
on  the  success  of  Gonzaga  college  was  assured. 

It  sopn  became  apparent  that  a  new  building  was  necessary,  and  on  July  29, 
1897,  ground  was  broken  for  the  new  Gonzaga  college  building,  situated  on  the 
beautiful  site  overlooking  the  bay  and  facing  Boone  avenue,  near  the  old  college 
building,  which  it  replaced. 

In  September,  1899,  the  new  college  opened,  under  the  presidency  of  Rev.  Geo. 


574  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

de  la  Motte,  S.  J.  Nearly  200  students  were  enrolled  during  this  year,  while  for 
the  following  year  240  names  appeared  on  the  registry.  The  old  college,  though 
a  hrick  structure,  some  120  ft.  by  160  ft.,  having  been  safely  moved  from  its  orig^ 
inal  site  to  a  more  convenient  location  near  the  new  building,  has  been  devoted 
exclusively  to  the  Jesuit  scholastics,  to  pursue  here  an  advanced  course  of  philos- 
ophy, mathematics  and  natural  science. 

Having  been  chosen  as  general  superior  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  Mission, 
Father  de  la  Motte  resigned  the  presidency  to  the  Rev.  Raphael  J.  Crimont,  S.  J-, 
during  whose  administration  the  present  addition,  which  doubled  the  capacity  of 
Gonzaga,  was  begun.  In  May,  1904,  Father  Crimont  was  appointed  to  the  re- 
sponsible post  of  prefect-apostolic  of  Alaska  and  was  succeeded  as  president  of 
the  college  by  Rev.  Francis  C.  Dillon,  who  completed  the  main  building  and  the 
gymnasium. 

In  1905  the  Rev.  Herman  J.  Goller,  S.  J.,  took  up  the  reins  of  government  and 
guided  the  destinies  of  Gonzaga  until  he  was  appointed  first  provincial  of  the  Cal- 
ifornia province  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  September,  1909. 

During  the  administration  of  Father  Goller  many  improvements  were  made  at 
Gonzaga,  the  most  important  being  the  erection  of  the  infirmary  building,  situated  at 
the  west  end  of  the  main  building.  Father  Goller  was  succeeded  in  his  office  of 
rector  by  the  incumbent,  the  Rev.  Louis  J.  Taelman,  S.  J.,  whose  aim  and  purpose 
is  to  make  the  college  the  leading  educational  institution  of  the  great  northwest. 

The  main  building  of  buff  brick  and  granite  trimmings  is  five  stories  and  has  a 
frontage  of  445  feet  along  Boone  avenue,  with  a  depth  of  120  feet  on  Standard 
street.  In  the  basement  are  located  the  dining  halls,  kitchen,  music  rooms  and  rooms 
for  the  heating  plant.  The  first  floor  contains  the  office  of  the  faculty  and  several 
large,  well  lighted  class  rooms.  The  second  floor  has  two  large  study  rooms  and 
several  class  rooms.  The  students'  chapel  with  a  seating  capacity  of  700,  occupies 
the  greater  part  of  the  third  floor,  which  also  contains  the  lecture  halls  of  the  sci- 
ence departments  and  the  college  museum.  The  fourth  floor  is  devoted  entirely 
to  dormitories. 

The  gymnasium  fronts  on  Boone  avenue  and  is  116  feet  long  by  67  feet  wide. 
Ninety  feet  of  the  length  is  for  the  open  floor  space  and  25  feet  for  the  reading 
and  billiard  room  at  the  north  end.  This  gynmasium  is,  with  its  floor  space  of 
6,000  square  feet,  one  of  the  largest  in  the  West  and  is  fully  equipped  with  all 
the  modern  apparatus,  billiard  rooms,  swimming  pool,  shower  baths,  dressing  rooms 
and  lockers. 

The  infirmary  is  a  separate  building  and  is  conveniently  situated  at  the  second 
part  of  the  quadrangle.  It  is  equipped  with  every  modern  convenience.  "There 
are  three  wards  containing  twenty  beds,  besides  thirteen  private  rooms  for  sucb 
as  are  not  ordinarily  indisposed  and  who  need  special  attention.  A  pharmacy  and 
a  doctor's  office,  bath  rooms  and  toilet  rooms  are  annexed.  A  lay  brother  with 
assistants,  is  in  constant  attendance  and  the  college  physician  calls  every  day  to 
visit  the  sick  and  advise  those  who  desire  consultation. 

In  1889  Rev.  Charles  Mackin,  S.  J.,  then  president  of  Gonzaga  college,  turned 
the  little  frame  building  on  Main  street,  near  the  Catholic  church,  into  a  day  school, 
St.  Ignatius,  under  the  direction  of  the  college  authorities.  It  was  intended  to 
prepare  children  residing  in  the  city  for  the  higher  classes  of  the  coll^ate  course. 


EARLIEST  CATHOLIC  aiURCH  IN  SPOKANE 
Congregation  worahipped  at  first  in  the  little  boi  house  c 
right.     Later  tie  brick  church  on  the  left,  Our 
Lady  of  Lourdes,  was  erected 


FATHER   JOSET 


i  k 


NEW  YORK 

"-iC  LiBRAR 


1 

I 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  575 

This  school  in  1889-90  had  forty  boys  on  the  roll,  and  was  taught  by  Mr.  Thomas 
Purcell,  later  a  priest  in  charge  of  Coeur  d'Alene  City  and  surrounding  missions. 
It  -was  conducted  until  1892,  when  its  teacher  and  most  of  the  pupils  entered  Gon- 
za^a  college. 

SACRED    HEART   HOSPITAL 

One  of  the  needs  most  keenly  felt  in  the  early  days  of  Spokane  was  a  place  where 
the  sick  and  maimed  could  find  the  care  their  condition  required.  To  meet  this 
pressing  want,  the  Sisters  of  Providence  were  invited  to  come  here  and  erect  a 
hospital,  and  on  August  30,  1886,  Sister  Joseph  of  the  Sacred  Heart  and  Sister 
Joseph  of  Chrimathea,  left  Vancouver,  Washington,  for  Spokane,  where  a  site  was 
secured.  The  former  supervised  the  work  of  constructing  the  hospital;  the  latter 
became  its  first  superioress. 

They  put  up  for  a  while  at  the  California  hotel,  whjle  a  rough  shanty  was  being 
built  as  a  temporary  residence  near  the  ground  purchased  for  the  hospital.  This 
was  a  rude  structure,  and  the  Sisters  had  to  cover  themselves  with  oilcloth  when 
retiring  to  rest  in  rainy  weather.  Contracts  for  the  new  hospital  were  given  out 
and  work  commenced.  The  cornerstone  of  the  new  hospital  was  laid  by  the  late 
Bishop  Junger,  assisted  by  the  Catholic  clergy  of  the  town.  While  the  building 
was  going  up  two  more  Sisters  came  to  SpK>kane,  and  shortly  after  two  of  the  four 
then  here  visited  the  Coeur  d'Alene  miners  to  beg  some  alms  for  the  completion  of 
the  work.  The  miners  received  the  Sisters  kindly,  and  gave  them  liberal  alms. 
The  first  patient  was  admitted  while  the  carpenters  were  still  at  work.  He  was  a 
young  man  found  sick  and  alone  in  a  shed.  The  Sisters  took  him  in  and  cared  for 
him,  but  all  they  could  do  was  to  smooth  the  pillow  of  death,  for  he  expired  in 
four  days. 

On  January  27,  1887,  the  Sisters  took  possession  of  the  new  building,  and  at 
once  received  seven  patients.  On  the  first  Friday  of  February,  1887,  mass  was 
said  for  the  first  time  in  the  chapel  of  the  hospital.  The  good  work  had  now  begun 
in  earnest,  and  at  the  end  of  the  first  year,  as  a  summary  of  the  year's  work,  the 
Sisters  could  pK>int  to  122  patients  attended  to  in  the  hospital,  and  1,040  visits  to 
the  poor  and  sick  outside. 

With  the  passing  of  the  years  Sacred  Heart  outgrew  this  building,  and  extensive 
ground  was  acquired  at  Eighth  avenue  and  Browne  street  for  a  new  and  more  spacious 
structure.     An  engraving  of  this  majestic  building  appears  on  another  page. 

*       SISTERS   OF   THE    HOLY    NAMES 

The  arrival  of  the  Sister^  ot  the  Holy  Names  in  Spokane  takes  us  back  to  the 
summer  of  1888.  At  the  pressing  invitation  of  the  Rev.  James  Rebmann,  S.  J., 
the  School  of  Our  Lady  of  Lourdes  was  erected  on  Main  street.  Five  sisters  from 
the  provincial  house  of  Portland,  Oregon,  assumed  charge  of  the  new  school  in 
September,  1888.  On  opening  day  three  hundred  children  responded  to  the  roll 
call.  To  meet  the  demands  three  teachers  were  added.  This  school  was  subse- 
quently removed  to  its  present  location  adjoining  the  new  church  of  Our  Lady  of 
Lourdes. 

The  Very  Rev.  Joseph  M.  Cataldo,  S.  J.,  was  in  1889,  superior  of  the  Jesuit 
missions  of  the  Rocky  mountans.     The  reverend  father  made  a  formal  request  to 


576  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Names  to  open  a  boarding  school  in  Spokane  and  gener- 
ously donated  for  the  purpose  a  tract  of  five  and  two-tenths  acres  in  Sinto's  addi- 
tion. The  comer  stone  of  the  fitture  academy  was  laid  September  14,  1890.  It 
was  now  only  a  question  of  time  when  the  cherished  wish  of  the  Jesuit  fathers 
would  be  realized.  While  Gonzaga  would  provide  for  the  home  life  and  education 
of  the  young  men,  the  Academy  of  Holy  Names  would  become  a  center  of  Chris- 
tian training  for  young  women. 

On  July  31,  1891,  the  large  and  commodious  institution  was  dedicated  by  the 
Rev.  J.  B.  Rene,  president  of  Gonzaga  college,  and  classes  were  opened  August  31. 
It  was  evident  that  the  new  academy  had  been  built  for  a  greater  Spokane  and  not 
for  that  of  1891.  Its  location  on  the  north  side  of  Spokane  river  was  suburban, 
the  car  services  were  irregular,  so  the  attendance  was  at  first  meager — ^but  on  be- 
holding the  success  which  had  crowned  the  elder  institution,  Gonzaga  college,  the 
Sisters  read  their  brighter  days  in  the  distant  future. 

Another  decade  ushered  in  an  era  of  rapid  development  in  Spokane.  The  Sis- 
ters were  no  longer  at  tiie  extreme  limits  of  the  city;  it  had  stretched  far  beyond 
them.  In  1902,  286  students  had  been  entered  and  of  these  eighty-one  were  resi- 
dent students. 

The  building  could  not  accommodate  greater  numbers.  Matters  so  apparent 
found  a  speedy  relief.  The  frontage  of  the  original  building  is  not  to  be  recognized 
in  the  modern  elevation.  Two  extensive  wings  were  erected,  one  on  either  side  of 
the  central  structure,  the  whole  presenting  an  elegant  design.  What  is  true,  liter- 
ally of  the  beautiful  lawns,  and  shaded  campus,  is  no  less  true  figuratively — "the 
wilderness  has  blossomed  as  the  rose." 

In  perfect  company  with  the  material  advancement  of  the  academy,  has  been 
its  progress  along  educational  lines.  Holy  Names  Academy  was  chartered  4n  1891 
as  one  of  a  group  of  academies  under  the  direction  of  the  Sisters  of  Holy  Names 
of  Jesus  and  Mary  in  the  states  of  Oregon  and  Washington.  By  this  act  it  came 
into  the  ranks  of  the  secondary  school  of  the  state.  In  1908  it  was  placed  among 
the  State  accredited  high  schools. 

An  amendm^it  to  the  School  Laws  of  the  State,  passed  during  the  legislative 
session  of  1907,  empowered  the  faculty  of  Holy  Names  Academy  to  establish  the 
advanced  normal  training  course  of  two  years  as  maintained  in  the  state  normal 
schools.  The  normal  course  was  inaugurated  in  September,  1907,  and  in  November 
the  work  was  officially  examined  by  three  inspectors  appointed  for  this  purpose  by 
the  State  Board  of  Education.  On  December  31,  1907,  at  a  meeting  of  the  State 
Board  of  Education  held  in  Seattle,  the  normal  department  was  formally  accred- 
ited. A  student  on  being  graduated  in  this  department  receives  a  professional  cer- 
tificate entitling  her  to  teach  in  the  public  schools  for  a  period  of  five  years.  After 
twenty-seven  months  of  successful  teaching  in  Washington,  Oregon,  Idaho  or  Mon- 
tana, the  holder  receives  a  life  diploma. 

From  the  foundation  of  the  Normal  department,  the  faculty  saw  the  fitness  and 
wisdom  of  having  the  department  presided  over  by  a  local  board,  to  which  body 
all  matters  pertaining  to  the  Normal  school  might  be  referred.  Edward  O'Shea, 
senior  chairman  of  the  board;  James  Monaghan,  M.  M.  Cowley,  Frank  P.  Hogan, 
E.  J.  Cannon,  D.  W.  Twohy,  James  P.  McGoldrick,  Dr.  P.  S.  Byrne,  Judge  P.  F. 
Quinn  and  M.  B.  McGowan,  constitute  this  board. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  577 


ST.  Joseph's  orphanage 


The  invitation  extended  by  Spokane  to  the  Franciscan  Sisters  to  come  and 
found  an  orphanage  in  Spokane  was  cheerfully  accepted,  and  Sister  Barbara  as 
superioress,  and  three  other  Sisters,  all  from  Philadelphia,  reached  Spokane  in 
September,  1890,  to  commence  the  noble  work  of  protecting  and  instructing  the 
orphaned  and  homeless.  Rev.  Joseph  Cataldo  donated  land  in  Sinto  addition  near 
the  Spokane  river,  and  the  united  offerings  of  certain  of  our  citizens  had  a  simple 
frame  building  put  up.  The  building  was  not  quite  finished  when  the  Sisters  ar- 
rived, but  Mrs.  James  Monaghan  cared  for  them  till  their  own  building  was  hab- 
itable. They  opened  this  same  month  with  only  four  children,  but  it  was  not  long 
before  the  orphanage  became  known,  and  in  1891  the  number  of  children  had 
already  run  up  to  70. 

The  orphanage  had  only  been  in  existence  a  year  when  the  first  building  put 
up  was  found  wholly  inadequate  for  the  ever  increasing  number  of  children  brought 
to  these  good  Sisters  to  be  cared  for.  Charitable  friends  aided  the  Sisters  to  have 
an  addition  made  to  their  house,  and  this  was  finished  in  August,  1891,  and  no 
sooner  finished  than  it  was  filled.  But  it  was  not  until  November  2^  1891^  that  the 
orphanage  was  formally  blessed  by  the  Rev.  President  of  Gonzaga  college. 

Other  Catholic  institutions  are  the  refuge  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  for  unfor- 
tunate girls ;  St.  Ann's  church  in  Union  Park ;  St.  Francis  Xavier's  church  and  school 
in  Lidgerwood;  St.  Anthony's  church  in  the  Northwestern  section  of  the  city;  and 
a  new  parish  organizing  in  January,  1912,  in  the  southeastern  part  of  town,  and 
including  Sacred  Heart  hospital. 


Tot  I— ST 


CHAPTER  LXXII 

SPOKANE'S  JEWISH  COMMUNITY 

CABLT  DAT    HISTORY   REVIEWED   BY  RABBI    LEYINE SIMON    BERG   ESTABLISHES   A    STORE 

IN  1879 OTHERS  WHO  FOLLOWED  SOON  AFTER FIRST  JEWESSES  BY   THE   FALLS 

FIRST  BIRTH  AND  FIRST  DEATH FIRST  DIVINE  SERVICE ^RABBIS  WHO  HAVE  SERVED 

HERE — VARIOUS  JEWISH  ORGANIZATIONS. 

OUR  Jewish  citizens  have  played  well  their  part  in  building  np  Spokane 
and  the  Inland  Empire.  To  Rabbi  David  Levine,  Ph.  D.,  the  editor  is  in- 
debted for  the  appended  concise  and  interesting  sketch: 

Abont  a  score  and  five  years  ago  the  first  beginnings  of  a  Jewish  commimity 
were  discemable  in  Spokane.  The  early  comers  were  attracted  by  the  splendid 
possibilities  of  the  little  town  growing  np  around  about  the  falls  of  Spokane  river. 

The  first  Jew  to  take  up  his  abode  in  this  city  was  Simon  Berg^  who  arrived  in 
1879  and  established  a  general  merchandise  store  on  the  comer  of  Howard  and 
Main.  Others  who  followed  within  the  next  half  dozen  years  were  Ben  Scheeline^ 
S.  J.  Holland^  Albert  Heller^  Eugene  Michael^  Simon  and  Joseph  Rosenhaupt^ 
Isaac  Baum^  Jacob  Barmon^  Solomon  and  Simon  Oppenhdmer^  Ben  Loewenberg^ 
Mose  Oppenheimer^  Simon  Auerbach^  and  Emanuel  Schwartz.  Those  who  came 
between  1886  and  August^  1889^  when  Spokane  was  reduced  to  ashes^  were  Joe 
and  Sam  Hanauer^  Leopold  and  Sam  Stem,  Frank  Wolf,  Sol  Mayer,  A.  B.  Gold- 
stein, I.  Bramson,  A.  W.  Siegel,  Ben  Solomon,  Joseph  R.  Grinsfelder,  Nathan 
Toklas,  D.  Holzman,  J.  A.  Schiller  and  Sam  Bayless.  Of  those  who  came  shortly 
after  the  great  fire  were  Louis  Reubens,  Samuel  Katz,  Arthur  Benjamin,  A.  W. 
Voorsanger,  H.  L.  Jackson,  Reuben  Weil,  Hugo  Fisher,  A.  F.  Levy,  Herman 
Hanauer,  the  Galland  brothers  (Adolph,  Julius  and  Sam),  and  A.  Friedlein. 

The  first  Jewesses  to  arrive  in  Spokane  were  Miss  Tillie  Oppenheimer  (now 
Mrs.  Isaac  Baum)  and  her  sister,  Mrs.  Ben  Scheeline,  who  came  in  the  fall  of 
1888  and  saw  the  town  leap  from  a  population  of  1,500  to  5,000  in  six  months. 

Their  brother,  Simon  Oppenheimer,  was  most  prominently  identified  with  the 
development  of  the  dty.  By  attracting  Dutch  capital  to  Spokane  Simon  Oppen- 
heimer was  incidentally  responsible  for  the  establishment  of  the  Holland  Bank. 
He  was  one  of  the  incorporatots  of  the  Traders  National  Bank. 

The  first  Jewish  child  bom  in  Spokane  was  May  Rosenhaupt  (Mrs.  J.  Howells) 
— ^February  5,  1888. 

The  first  death  in  the  little  Jewish  community  occurred  in  1886  when  Amy 
Scheeline,  a  child  9  years  old,  died  of  scarlet  fever.     Owing  to  the  nature  of  the 

579 


580  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

disease  the  authorities  would  not  permit  the  body  to  be  shipped  to  another  town 
for  burial  in  a  Jewish  cemetery.  The  family  was  therefore  obliged  to  inter  the 
remains  in  the  general  cemetery  then  located  at  what  is  now  Maple  street  and 
Eleventh  avenue.  The  body  now  lies  in  the  Jewish  section  of  the  Fairmont  ceme- 
tery. 

The  very  first  Jewish  divine  service  in  this  city  was  held  in  1885  in  the  home 
of  S.  Auerbach^  who  acted  as  precentor.  A  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  organising^ 
a  congregation  was  held  at  Concordia  Hall  September  28^  1890.  J.  W.  Toklas 
acted  as  chairman  and  Hugo  Fisher  as  secretary.  Committees  were  appointed  to 
draft  a  constitution  and  to  secure  additional  members.  At  a  subsequent  meeting, 
held  October  5,  1890^  a  tempK>rary  constitution  and  by-laws  were  adopted  and  the 
organization  of  Congregation  Emanuel  formally  effected.  The  following  officers 
were  elected:  J.  W.  Toklas,  president;  Ben  Solomon,  vice-president;  A.  W.  Voor- 
sanger,  treasurer;  Arthur  Benjamin,  secretary;  and  J.  Eellner^  Albert  Heller  and 
N.  Phillips,  trustees.  On  December  28,  1890,  the  committee  on  constitution  and 
by-laws  reported  that  they  recommended  the  adoption  of  the  complete  constitution 
and  by-laws  of  Temple  Emanuel  of  New  York  City.  This  document  was  read, 
discussed  and  rejected  as  the  congregation  felt  that  it  did  not  cover  their  special 
needs.  Accordingly  the  temporary  constitution  and  by-laws  were,  with  slight  alter- 
tions,  permanently  adopted. 

In  August,  1891,  a  call  was  extended  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Emanuel  Schreiber  to 
serve  for  one  year.  The  congregation  was  incorporated  September  16,  1891.  On 
September  14,  1892,  a  newly  erected  synagogue  was  dedicated  with  appropriate 
ceremony.  In  October,  1892,  the  religious  school  was  organized  by  Arthur  Benja- 
min and  Miss  Hannah  Munter,  who  acted  as  the  principal  teachers  for  a  number 
of  years. 

The  following  have  been  presidents  of  the  boards  of  trustees:  J.  W.  Toklas 
(October,  '90 — October  '91);  Louis  Reubens  (October,  '91 — October,  '93);  Sam 
Bayless  (October,  '93 — October,  '94)  ;  H.  L.  Jackson  (October,  '94 — January,  '95) ; 
Sam  Bayless  (January,  *95 — September,  '96) ;  Leopold  Stem  (September,  '96 — 
September,  '98);  Louis  Reubens  (September,  '98 — September,  1911);  Sam  Gal- 
land  (September,  1911 — ).  Of  the  vice-presidents,  Aaron  Kuhn  holds  the  record 
for  the  longest  period  in  office  (1903-1910). 

The  following  have  served  as  ministers  of  the  congregation:  Dr.  Emanuel 
Schreiber  (September,  '91 — August,  '92)  ;  Dr.  Rudolf  Farber  (November,  '95 — 
September,  '97);  Rabbi  Jacob  Bloch  (September,  '92— June,  '94);  Dr.  David 
Levine   (September,  1904 — ), 

The  present  officers  of  the  congregation  are:  honorable  president,  Louis  Reu- 
bens; president,  Sam  Galland;  vice-president,  Harry  Holland;  treasurer,  A.  Fried- 
lein ;  honorary  secretary,  A.  Feuchtwanger.  Other  members  of  the  board  of  trustees 
are  Eugene  Michael,  L.  Dellar,  Sam  Ofner,  S.  R.  Stern,  P.  Saffron.  The  Women's 
Auxiliary  Society  of  the  Congregation  is  presided  over  by  Mrs.  S.  Sternberg. 

The  Orthodox  element  of  Spokane  Jewry  is  represented  by  Congregation  Ken- 
eseth  Israel,  organized  in  1902.  During  the  first  seven  years  of  their  existence 
they  worshiped  in  Odd  Fellows  hall.  In  1909  the  congregation  erected  a  syna- 
gogue at  a  cost  of  $35,000.  The  chief  lay  workers  of-  this  congregation  have  been 
the  Cohn  brothers  (Hyman,  Joseph  and  Harry),  Abraham  Phillips,  Abraham  Coll, 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  581 

Wolf  Goldberg,  and  B.  Asheim.  The  congregation  has  thus  far  had  two  Rabbis: 
the  Rev.  S.  Reuben^  and  the  present  incumbent,  the  Rev.  B.  H.  Rosengard.  Abra- 
ham Coll  is  president  of  the  board  of  trustees.  Mrs.  Hyman  Cohn  is  president  of 
the  congregation's  auxiliary  society. 

The  following  are  the  communal  organizations  conducted  independently  of 
either  congregation:  the  Ladies'  Benevolent  Society,  president,  Mrs.  Eugene 
Michael;  The  Jewish  Brotherhood,  the  men's  benevolent  society,  A.  Feuchtwanger, 
president;  the  Sisters  of  Loving  Kindness,  president,  Mrs.  L.  Dellar, — this  society 
^ys  the  last  respect  to  departed  sisters  in  Israel;  Abraham  Geiger  Lodge,  No. 
423,  of  the  Independent  Order  of  the  B'nai  B'rith,  S.  Edelstein,  president;  the 
Progress  Social  Club,  president,  S.  Galland,  and  the  Free  Hebrew  School  and  Educa- 
tional Alliance,  principal,  A.  Villkomirson. 

The  Jews  of  SpK>kane  are  contributing  their  share  toward  the  moral  and  mate- 
rial upbuilding  of  the  city  and  the  development  of  the  tributary  territory.  Their 
deep  interest  in  the  well-being  of  this  city  is  evidenced  by  their  generous  response 
whenever  called  upon  in  behalf  of  the  common  good.  Although  numbering  at  the 
most  about  2,000  souls,  they  either  lead  or  are  counted  with  the  leaders  in  the  fol- 
lowing lines  of  business:  Wholesale  and  retail  crockery,  wholesale  and  retail  toys, 
wholesale  and  retail  bakeries,  wholesale  and  retail  cigars,  wholesale  post  cards, 
wholesale  liquors,  wholesale  and  retail  men's  clothing  and  furnishing  goods,  banks, 
cloaks  and  suits,  millinery,  ladies'  tailoring  establishments,  department  stores,  real 
estate,  insurance,  theatres,  shoes,  drugs,  jewelry,  hides  and  junk,  furs,  furniture 
and  other  household  furnishings,  groceries  and  optical  goods. 


CHAPTER  LXXIII 

EARLY  DAY  HISTORY  OF  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

FIRST  SCHOOL  HOUSE  AT  CHEWELAH   IN   1869 HOW  THE   PIONEER  SCHOOL   WAS   BUILT 

IN      SPOKANE ^JAMES     MONAOHAN      COUNTY     SUPERINTENDENT      IN      1875 ONLY 

ELEVEN  CHILDREN  OF  SCHOOL  AGE  IN  SPOKANE  DISTRICT J.  J.  BROWNE  FIRST  SU- 
PERINTENDENT OP  NEW  COUNTY  OF  SPOKANE FIRST  TEACHBRs'  INSTITUTE ^RBCOL- 

* 

LECTIONS   OF    A    PIONEER    TEACHER ^BENJAMIN    P.    CHENEY    ACADEMY^    AND    STATE 

NORMAL   AT    CHENEY GROWTH    BY   YEARS. 

"Let  the  soldier  be  abroad  if  he  will;  he  can  do  nothing  in  this  age."*^^  The 
schoolmaster  is  abroad^  and  I  trust  to  him^  armed  with  his  primer^  against  the 
soldier  in  full  military  array."  — Lord  Brougham. 

ACCORDING  to  W.  P.  Winans'  diary,  the  first  schoolhouse  in  the  Spokane 
country  was  built  of  peeled  round  logs  at  Chewelah,  in  1869,  by  Thomas 
Brown  and  others,  and  was  used  until  1884.  Thomas  Brown  moved  to 
Chewelah  in  1 866,  and  school  was  taught  in  his  dwelling  until  this  house  was  built. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Inland  Historical  Association  in  December,  1908,  J.  J. 
Browne  spoke  of  the  location  in  1878  of  the  first  schoolhouse  in  Spokane.  "At 
the  time,"  said  Mr.  Browne,  "the  school  district  covered  about  a  third  of  Spokane 
county.  The  people  with  families  wanted  a  schoolhouse,  but  there  was  a  larger 
number  of  settlers  who  were  miners  and  bachelors.  They  owned  the  most  of  the 
taxable  property  and  could  not  see  why  they  should  be  taxed  to  educate  children 
that  had  no  claim  upon  them.  The  opposition  developed  to  an  alarming  extent.  I 
had  been  superintendent  of  schools  in  Multnomah  county,  Oregon,  but  had  reached 
here  to  spy  out  the  land.  I  was  brought  to  the  meeting  to  aid  in  the  fight  and  made 
a  speech  in  which  I  set  forth  the  advantages  of  the  school.  The  matter  was  voted 
through  and  all  seemed  well.  The  meeting  had  voted  a  ten  mill  levy  and  wanted 
to  raise  $200.  The  law  required  $20,000  worth  of  assessable  property  in  the  new 
school  district.  The  district  here  lacked  just  $550  of  coining  up  to  the  total  of 
$20,000.  I  wrote  the  officials  of  the  county  seat  at  Colville  to  give  in  $550  worth 
of  personal  property  in  my  name  and  that  I  would  pay  the  taxes  on  it. 

"This  was  done  and  the  school  was  located  at  the  place  where  Davenport's 
restaurant  now  stands.  This  school  district  comprised  the  territory  laying  south 
of  the  Spokane  river  and  east  of  Hangman  Creek  and  running  back  to  the  Idaho 

line." 

The  first  Spokane  school  district  was  organized  in   1874.     James  Monaghan 

583 


584  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

was  then  superintendent  of  schools  in  Stevens  county.  It  was  school  district  num- 
ber 8^  and  was  bounded  as  "Commencing  at  the  mouth  of  Hangman  creek,  follow- 
ing up  the  creek  to  the  Idaho  line;  thence  north  along  said  line  to  Spokane  river; 
thence  to  place  of  beginning."  The  first  report  on  record  is  by  C.  F.  Yeaton,  cleric 
dated  November^  1 875 :  Number  of  children  of  legal  age,  1 1 ;  average  attendance^ 
4;  months  taught,  S;  amount  paid  teacher,  $67;  books  principally  used.  Pacific 
Reader  and  Speller,  Cornell's  Geography,  Davis'  Primer  and  Arithmetic,  and 
Greene's  Grammar. 

Although  Clerk  Yeaton's  report  for  the  following  year  showed  an  increase  of 
47  of  the  number  of  children  over  4  and  under  21,  no  school  was  tau^t  that  year. 

In  1877  S.  G.  Havermale  was  derk,  and  his  report  showed  a  falling  off  of  10 
in  the  number  of  children  of  school  age,  probably  the  result  of  the  Indian  war 
scare  of  that  year.     Mr.  Havermale  reported  "school  in  session." 

As  a  vivid  contrast  to  the  splendid  educational  equipment  of  the  present  day, 
we  here  quote  the  annual  report  of  James  Monaghan,  school  superintendent  of 
Stevens  county,  for  the  year  ending  December  31,  1875: 

"Number  of  scholars,  319  (in  territory*  then  embracing  the  greater  part  of 
eastern  Washington) ;  number  of  schoolhouses,  5 ;  number  of  schools  kept,  7 ;  num- 
ber of  scholars  attending,  105;  amount  of  fund  apportioned,  $850.57;  amount 
raised  by  subscription,  $94.49;  amount  paid  teachers,  $945.  The  principal  books 
used  are  Sanders'  series  and  Davis'  geography;  branches  taught  are  reading,  writ- 
^Sy  spelling,  grammer,  geography,  arithmetic  and  history. 

"Some  of  the  districts  are  so  thinly  settled,  and  the  school  fund  so  small,  that 
it  is  difficult  to  give  all  the  children  the  advantage  of  the  public  schools,  hence  the 
small  attendance  of  scholars.  But  the  desire  to  promote  the  cause  of  education  is 
steadily  growing  stronger  amongst  the  people  of  this  county,  and  there  appears 
to  be  a  disposition  at  present  to  increase  the  school  fund  by  private  contributions 
and  special  taxes,  especially  in  the  sparsely  settled  districts,  that  will,  if  perse- 
vered in,  give  better  facilities  for  all  the  children  to  attend  school  than  at  present 
exist.  I  have  prepared  a  school  map  of  the  county,  with  district  boundaries  plainly 
defined.  In  the  filtering  of  boundaries  and  establishing  new  districts,  I  have,  to 
the  best  of  my  ability,  arranged  the  lines  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  scholars  resid- 
ing in  the  county.  I  would  respectfully  call  your  attention  to  section  7,  page  424, 
school  law  1873,  requiring  county  superintendents  to  visit  all  the  schools  in  the 
county  once  a  year,  and  state  that  there  is  no  provision  requiring  clerks  or  directors 
to  notify  the  superintendent  during  the  time  the  schools  are  going  on.  In  a  county 
like  this,  having  a  large  territory  and  very  little  mail  facilities,  it  is  difiicult  to 
know  when  a  school  in  a  remote  district  is  in  active  operation.  I  have  the  honor 
to  be,  very  re8i>ectfully, 

"Your  obedient  servant, 

"J.  Monaghan,  Superintendent." 

When  Spokane  county  was  cut  off  from  Stevens  in  1879,  J.  J.  Browne  was  ap- 
pointed school  superintendent,  and  at  the  first  county  election  in  1880,  Mrs.  Maggie 
M.  Halsell  was  elected  to  the  office.  She  conducted  the  first  teachers'  institute,  held 
in  the  public  school  building  in  Spokane,  November  5,  1880,  and  opened  the  pro- 
gram with  a  paper  on  "Education."    Miss  Belle  Spangler  read  a  paper  on  "Gram- 


INTERIOR  OF  FIRST  SCHOOLHOUSE   IN  8P0KAXE 


-^ ;-    •■  h  W  V  r,  i^  K      j 

.'..AC  LIBKAKY 


/-. 


'■"'-  •'■^'A'  r"hK- 


<      '  (         r 


•         '  »  • 


";>  ■  '^'^ 


I  t  %.'i 


*-  ^1, 


i 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  585 

mar."    At  a  county  institute  in  this  dty  in  1892^  Mrs.  Halsell  read  a  reminiscent 
pa|>er. 

"Many  were  the  times  the  war-songs  were  heard  at  dead  of  nighty  bringing  the 
thought  of  horror  and  despair  to  the  unprotected  pioneers.  Spokane  county  at  that 
time  was  about  three  times  its  present  size.  The  broad  prairies  abounded  with 
wild  animals  and  savages.  There  were  no  cities  or  railroads^  few  roads  cmd  only 
two  or  three  villages  within  the  limits  of  Spokane  county.  Most  of  my  work  was 
in  the  field.  Filled  with  vigor  and  enthusiasm  when  I  accepted  the  county  school 
superintendency^  I  did  not  realize  (although  dismayed  by  parental  opposition)^ 
the  dangers  abroad  to  be  any  greater  than  those  at  home.  Being  surrounded  by 
painted  Indians^  armed  with  bows  and  ^rro^^  siiigiiig  their  war  songs,  was  a  living 
horror  to  be  endured  by  the  pioneers,  j  ■''*''•'      . 

"Spokane  county's  first  surveyor,  Vhile  on  duty  in  the  Coulee  country,  was 
severely  wounded  and  left  for  dead  bV  the  indiaiMsr,*  who  mounted  his  horse  and 
disappeared  in  the  woods.  On  the  same  -day,  ^^^  returning  from  visiting  a  school, 
when  within  four  miles  of  home,  I  was  startled  by  two  drunken  Indians,  one  of 
whom  clutched  the  bridle  rein  of  my  horse,  which,  taking  fright,  reared  frantically, 
loosening  the  hold  of  the  fiendish  captor.  No  time  was  lost  in  making  good  my 
escape.  With  fear  and  caution  many  miles  were  traveled  across  the  broad  prairies, 
only  to  find  myself  at  the  door  of  a  little  log  cabin  called  a  schoolhouse,  in  which 
the  teacher  had  from  four  to  twelve  urchins  seated  on  hewed  slabs  which  were  laid 
upon  sawed  cuts  of  logs. 

"On  one  occasion,  while  visiting  a  school,  I  was  surprised  to  find  two  teachers 
partly  employed  in  teaching  seven  children.  I  decided  that  the  teachers,  (an  elderly 
man  and  his  wife)  also  boarded  and  lodged  in  the  same  apartment  in  which  they 
taught.  Although  it  was  small,  they  seemed  to  find  room  for  all,  seating  them  on 
trunks,  boxes  and  the  bed.  Nothing  had  the  appearance  of  order.  The  children 
were  accustomed  to  talk  aloud,  and  it  did  not  seem  to  be  any  part  of  their  program 
to  devote  their  time  to  study." 

The  second  county  superintendent  of  schools,  says  Jonathan  Edwards,  was  A. 
J.  Stevens,  who  started  a  private  school  at  Medical  Lake,  and  was  also  principal  of 
the  Cheney  school.  Mr.  Stevens  conducted  a  teachers'  institute  at  Cheney,  Septem- 
ber 27  and  28,  1881,  with  fifteen  teachers  in  attendance.  Miss  Nellie  Muzzey  of 
Spokane  Falls  was  made  secretary.  Miss  Waterhouse  and  Miss  Nash  of  Spokane, 
and  Miss  Gilkey  of  Medical  Lake  were  the  committee  on  arrangements.  The  pro- 
gram  included  a  discussion  on  "Organization  of  Schools,"  and  the  following  papers : 
"Primary  Arithmetic,"  Miss  Gilkey;  "Teaching  Notation,"  Mr.  Thrall;  "Numera- 
tion," Misses  Waterhouse  and  Nash ;  "School  GoveriMnent,"  Superintendent  Stevens ; 
"Language,"  Rev.  Cushing  Eells;  "Reading,'!  Mr.  Doolittle  and  Mrs.  Bentley. 
"Among  the  superintendents  of  this  time,"  adds  Historian  Edwards,  "we  find,  after 
the  ones  mentioned,  A.  J.  Warren,  who  was  one  of  the  early  teachers  of  Spokane 
Falls,  and  died  here  a  few  years  ago;  Mrs.  Lizzie  (Halderman)  Foraker,  and  Mrs. 
W.  G.  (McMahon)  Jones,  now  the  wife  of  Ex-Congressman  W.  C.  Jones,  residing 
in  Spokane.    They  proved  themselves  devoted  and  efficient  officers." 

On  another  page  is  reproduced  a  photograph  of  the  first  public  school  building 
in  Spokane.  So  slow  was  the  growth  of  the  town  through  those  early  years  that 
this  building  was  not  erected  until  1878.     It  stood  on  or  near  the  Northern  Pacific 


586  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

right  of  way,  about  the  intersection  of  Lincoln  street.  Subsequently  it  was  moved  to 
a  site  near  the  corner  of  Post  and  Sprague^  and  later,  when  a  better  school  building 
was  provided,  the  old  structure  was  occupied  by  Frank  M.  Dallam,  and  there  the 
Review  was  first  published. 

"Miss  Whitehouse  is  the  teacher,  and  has  twenty-two  scholars,"  chronicled  the 
Times  of  April,  1879;  and  the  issue  of  September  18,  the  same  year,  contained 
this  item: 

"School  was  opened  last  Monday  by  Captain  Tobias,  who  speaks  very  flatter- 
ingly of  his  pupils.  We  are  pleased  to  learn  that  the  Captain  is  favorably  impressed 
with  his  school.  He  is  the  right  man  in  the  ri^t  place.  He  has  had  fifteen  years' 
experience  in  the  schoolroom." 

On  the  honor  roll  .of  the  school  for  the  two  months  ending  November  7,  1879, 
appeared  these  names:  Marie  Clark,  Alice  Post,  Willie  Smiley,  Julia  Post,  Nettie 
Piper,  Gracie  Gray,  Charley  Smiley,  Eddie  Nosier,  John  Masterson,  Katie  Clark, 
George  Clark,  Gertie  Goodner,  George  Glover,  Hattie  Warner,  Fred.  Lowery, 
Sarah  McGourin.  Seventeen  boys  and  eighteen  girls  were  enrolled,  and  the  average 
daily  attendance  was  27. 

Rev.  W.  H.  Stratton  and  A.  J.  Warren  taught  the  school  in  1880-81.  "I  secured 
the  position  of  teacher  of  the  higher  grade  pupils  in  this  school  at  forty  dollars  a 
month,"  said  Mr.  Stratton  shortly  before  his  death.  **I  had  about  forty-five  young 
men  and  women  in  my  room,  which  was  about  16x22.  We  were  so  crowded  that 
there  was  hardly  room  to  seat  the  class  reciting  at  the  time.  Prof.  A.  J.  Warren, 
Mrs.  Lamona's  brother,  taught  the  lower  grades  in  a  somewhat  larger  room.  Among 
my  pupils  were  the  Ellis  girls — Ida,  now  Mrs.  S.  Heath,  Ollie,  who  married  A.  E. 
Keats,  since  dead.  Perry  Lamona  and  Winnie,  she  who  is  now  Mrs.  Fruit,  Belle 
Dawson  and  her  sister  Eva,  Ed  Whinery,  Frank  Waterhouse,  Minnie  Morgan,  now 
Mrs.  Josie  Clark,  Judge  Nash's  son  Frank,  E.  Hyde,  Julia  Post,  Alice  P.  Wagner 
and  her  sisters,  Eva  and  Edith,  James  Stafford,  Ed  Robinson,  and  Luella,  ZiUah 
and  Lue  Parker.  The  school  continued  to  grow,  so  that  in  the  fall  of  1883  there  was 
an  enrollment  of  200  scholars,  necessitating  four  teachers." 

The  fall  and  winter  term,  1 882-83,  was  taught  by  Miss  Mattie  Hyde,  (now  Mrs. 
J.  B.  Blalock)  and  Ella  E.  Davenport,  and  school  closed  April  5,  1883. 

October  22,  1888,  school  opened  in  the  new  four  room  building,  on  the  site  of  the 
present  Lewis  and  Clark  high  school,  with  W.  W.  Johnson  principal,  and  Mattie 
Hyde,  Stella  Mariner  and  Lizzie  Haldeman  assistants.  When  the  high  school  build- 
ing was  erected,  this  old  structure  was  moved  several  blocks  to  the  east,  and  used 
as  a  Catholic  parochial  school  under  Father  Held. 

Says  Jonathan  Edwards'  history:  "Prof.  L.  H.  Prather,  afterwards  judge  of 
the  superior  court,  succeeded  W.  W.  Johnson  as  principal,  and  continued  until 
1886.  The  Judge  took  up  a  ranch  six  miles  east  of  the  city,  and  often  walked  both 
ways  from  his  place  to  the  schoolhouse.  During  his  principalship  an  addition  was 
built  to  the  schoolhouse,  making  it  a  six  room  building.  During  the  last  year  it  be- 
came necessary  to  liire  a  separate  room  for  the  primary  department.  Miss  Rose 
Rice,  now  Mrs.  W.  B.  Turner,  taught  the  primary  grades  a  part  of  the  time  in  the 
Congregational  church,  on  Sprague  and  Bernard,  and  also  in  a  frame  building  on 
Post  street  near  Second  avenue.  During  the  last  year  of  Judge  Prather's  adminis- 
tration, the  ninth  grade  of  study  was  pursued. 


NORTH  CENTEAL  HIGH  SCHOOL.  SPOKANE 


NEW  LEWIS  AND  CLARK  HIC.H  SCHOOL,  SPOKANK 


,  I  ^*  »-j  ' .  i  .     1  -  i  J'  f\  A  tS  I 


L. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  587 

"In  the  fall  of  1886,  Prof.  W.  B.  Turner,  afterward  principal  of  the  state 
normal  school  at  Cheney,  hecame  principal.  At  the  dose  of  the  fall  term  there 
was  an  enrollment  of  523  pupils,  with  seven  teachers.  In  the  following  April  the 
enrollment  reached  648.  Prof.  Jonathan  Heaton  succeeded  Turner  as  principal  in 
the  fall  of  1887.  At  the  opening  there  was  an  enrollment  of  715,  with  thirteen 
teachers. 

"The  population  was  increasing  rapidly.  The  district  was  divided.  A  school 
was  opened  on  the  North  side,  and  several  churches  were  used.  In  the  fall  of  1888 
Prof.  Bruce  Wolverton  was  elected  superintendent  of  schools.  The  high  school  sys- 
tem having  been  fully  inaugurated.  Prof.  -Heaton  was  made  principal  thereof,  with 
Miss  Kate  North  ds  assistant.  The  nimber  of  scholars  increased  rapidly,  passing 
the  thousand  mark  before  the  close  of  clie  lair  term.*' 

Then  followed  a  period  of  demoralJLzation,  too  often  the  hateful  handmaid  of 
sadden  growth.  Reviewing  those  time^,  op^  ,of.ihQ*.dfiily  journals  said:  "Politics, 
selfishness  and  poorly  concealed  corrupHon  crept  into  the  public  schools  in  those 
booming  years  of  1888  and  1889.  Quarrels,  plots,  counterplots  and  startling  charges 
culminated  at  last  in  the  open  charge  of  bribery — ^the  plain  statement  that  teachers 
had  bought  their  places  and  secured  high  salaries  by  paying  a  commission  to  certain 
trustees.  It  was  the  first  cry  of  'boodle,'  the  beginning  of  that  disgraceful  era  when 
extravagance,  carelessness,  fraud,  theft  and  bribery  ran  riot  in  the  public  offices  of 
Spokane.  The  whole  town  was  in  ferment.  Old  pupils  withdrew  from  the  schools 
in  disgust,  and  new  ones  declined  to  enter  till  peace  should  be  restored.  The  teach- 
ers were  angry  and  discouraged;  the  high  school  was  so  nearly  deserted  that  some 
thought  it  might  as  well  be  abandoned  as  a  needless  expense." 

The  source  of  all  this  trouble  lay  in  the  bad  citizenship  of  the  "good  citizens" 
of  the  town — in  their  neglect  of  civic  duty,  their  failure  to  take  interest  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  or  in  the  elections  where  directors  were  chosen.  At  the  election  November 
5,  1887,  when  P.  D.  Michael  was  elected  director  and  Richard  Miles  derk,  only  28 
votes  were  cast  for  director  cmd  99  for  clerk. 

"But  the  following  year,"  says  Edwards,  "there  was  a  revival  of  interest  and 
the  election  was  a  lively  one.  The  women  turned  out  in  large  numbers,  so  that  581 
ballots  were  cast.  F.  M.  Spain  was  elected  director  and  Richard  Miles  clerk.  For- 
tunately an  experienced  educator  passed  through  this  city,  who  was  known  to  some 
of  the  teachers.  He  was  called  to  the  position  of  superintendent  and  accepted  it. 
In  the  fall  of  1889  Prof.  D.  Bemiss  took  charge  of  the  schools.  Then  was  ushered 
in  a  period  of  reorganization,  harmony  and  progress..  There  were  many  difficulties 
to  be  faced  and  great  obstacles  to  be  sui^onnted.  There  were  nearly  2,000  pupils, 
with  a  seating  capacity  for  about  600.  ;The  superintendent  took  hold  of  the  work 
with  commendable  courage.  The  studies  were  systematized  and  made  more  thorough, 
and  the  corps  of  teachers  increased.  t*he^  needs  increased  with  the  population. 
Major  £.  A.  Routhe,  president  of  the  board  of  education,  in  his  1890  report,  stated 
the  needs  to  be  four  large  ward  schoolhouses  and  a  large  central  building  for  the 
high  school.  It  was  found  that  $250,000  over  the  tax  levy  was  needed  to  provide 
the  necessary  accommodations.  The  people  voted  to  issue  bonds  for  that  amount. 
The  central  building  for  the  high  school,  costing  $90,000,  and  six  ward  buildings, 
costing  $29,000  each,  were  erected.  They  were  all  given  historical  names — Lincoln, 
Franklin,  Logan,  Bryant,  Bancroft,  Irving." 


588  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

8TATB  NORMAL  AT   CHENEY 

The  state  normal  school  at  Cheney  is  an  otttgrowth  of  a  privately  endowed 
academy.  Thirty  years  ago,  when  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  was  under  con- 
struction across  the  Inland  Empire,  Benjamin  P.  Cheney  of  Boston,  its  president, 
for  whom  the  town  had  been  christened,  donated  $10,000,  and  the  company  gave  a 
site  of  eight  acres,  for  the  establishment  of  the  Benjamin  P.  Cheney  Academy. 
The  first  board  of  trustees  organized  in  1881,  comprised  the  pioneer  Congregational 
minister.  Rev.  George  H.  Atkinson,  the  pioneer  banker,  D.  F.  Percival,  and  Gen. 
J.  W.  Sprague,  then  superintendent  of  construction  of  the  Northern  Pacific.  School 
opened  April  3,  1882,  in  a  building  erected  especially  for  the  academy.  The  in- 
stitution enjoyed  encouraging  growth,  and  when  Mr.  Cheney  visited  his  name-town 
in  1883,  the  citizens  tendered  him  an  appreciative  banquet. 

At  the  session  of  the  legislature  in  1890  a  bill  introduced  by  Representative  S. 
G.  Grubbe  of  Spokane  county  was  enacted  and  approved  by  the  governor  to  locate 
a  state  normal  school  at  Cheney,  provided  the  building  and  grounds  of  the  academy 
were  conveyed  to  the  state  for  normal  school  purposes.  We  are  advised  by  a  recent 
official  report  of  the  board  of  trustees  that  the  first  board  consisted  of  L.  Walter, 
A.  F.  Suksdorf,  S.  A.  Wells,  W.  H.  H.  McClure,  and  W.  E.  Weygant.  It  met  on 
August  18,  1890,  and  organized  with  Mr.  Walter  for  chairman,  and  Mr.  Weygant 
for  secretary.  The  deed  for  the  transfer  to  the  state  of  the  property  of  the  Cheney 
Academy  having  been  approved  by  the  attorney-general,  the  board  of  trustees  ac- 
cepted the  gift  in  behalf  of  the  state.  The  building  then  accepted  answered  the 
purpose  of  the  board,  and  on  October  18,  1890,  the  State  Normal  School  was  opened, 
with  W.  W.  Gillette  as  principal.  There  were  present  on  the  opening  day  nineteen 
applicants  for  admission,  sixteen  of  whom  were  admitted.  By  the  close  of  the  first 
half  year  the  enrollment  had  reached  twenty-five,  and  by  the  end  of  the  first  year, 
fifty. 

In  the  spring  of  1891  a  two-story  addition,  40  by  60,  was  constructed  f(>r  use  as 
an  assembly  room,  library,  and  laboratory.  These  were  newly  furnished  and 
equipped  when,  on  the  night  of  August  27,  1891,  just  a  week  before  the  opem'ng 
for  the  new  year,  the  entire  building  and  contents  were  destroyed  by  fire.  The 
board  met  the  misfortune  by  securing  a  business  block  on  First  street,  and  here 
for  two  years  the  State  Normal  was  housed.  During  these  two  years  the  attendance 
increased  and  the  accommodations  became  so  overtaxed  that  the  newly  erected 
public  school  building  was  secured  for  the  Normal  School,  and  here  the  State  Nor- 
mal remained  for  three  years.  The  legislature  at  its  session  in  1891  provided  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  school  for  the  following  biennium,  but  no  further  appropria- 
tion was  made  until  1895.  During  the  interim  the  school  continued  its  work,  the 
principal  and  instructors  receiving  but  a  portion  of  their  salaries,  and  this  from  the 
generosity  of  friends  of  the  school. 

The  phenomenal  growth  of  the  institution  under  such  circumstances,  and  the 
high  character  of  work  done  by  the  faculty  and  students  won  the  approval  of  in- 
fluential people  in  the  state,  and  the  legislature  of  1895  not  only  appropriated  •money 
to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  preceding  biennium,  as  well  as  the  following  one,  but  also 
appropriated  $60,000  to  erect  a  new  building.  This  was  expeditiously  and  carefully 
built  and  the  class  of  1 896  was  the  first  to  graduate  from  the  new  building. 


GONZAGA  COLLEGE,   1912  8POKANK  COLLEGp:.   1912 


PIONEER  SCHOOL  IN  THE  PEND  D'OREILLE  WOODS 


10"^ 


THE  NEW  YORK 


' :  jf 


IPUBLJC  LIBRARY 


ur 


I 


,     "^HE  SFM'  YOHr 


L«  NOX 


O^NDAriONI 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  589 

In  1897  the  governor  vetoed  the  appropriation  and  the  school  closed  its  doors. 
But  in  the  fall  of  1898  it  was  opened  again  and  was  maintained  by  toition  and  the 
aid  of  local  friends^  and  during  this  year  the  attendance  reached  101.  In  1899  the 
legislature  again  made  an  appropriation  for  the  following  biennium^  and  since  that 
time  appropriations  have  regularly  been  made  each  biennium. 

In  the  22  years  of  its  existence  the  normal  school  has  been  directed  by  the  fol- 
lowing principals:  W.  W.  Gillette,  W.  J.  Sutton,  J.  J.  Rippeteau,  W.  B.  Turner, — 
Miller,  Lewis  B.  Alger,  H.  M.  Shafer,  H.  C.  Sampson,  C.  S.  Kingston  and  N.  D. 
Sho waiter.  It  has  taken  high  rank  as  one  of  the  strong,  progressive  normal  schools 
of  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  LXXIV 

ORIGIN  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  POLICE  FORCE 

E.   B.    HYDE    TOWN    MARSHAL,    WILLIAM    KOHLHAUFF    NIGHT    WATCHMAN JOE    WARREN 

JOINS  THE    FORCE  IN    1884 LOCKUP   ON   SITE   OF   AUDITORIUM WARREN    CAPTURES 

BILL    JACKSON,    A    "wiCKED    CUSS" INDIANS   MURDER    OEOROE    RUSK    ON    DEADMAN 

CREEK WARREN   KILLS  A   BAD   INDIAN   IN   PEACEFUL   VALLEY WHEN    "wiLD   BILl" 

CRIED INDIAN   LYNCHED  BY   CITIZENS  AT  CHENEY. 

EB.  HYDE  was  town  marshal  in  1884^  the  only  paid  officer  on  the  "depart- 
ment;" but  William  Kohlhauff  served  as  night  watchman  mider  an  ar- 
rangement with  the  business  men.  Joel  F.  Warren  was  added  to  the  force 
in  the  spring  of  1884.  The  lockup  was  on  ground  now  covered  by  the  Auditorium 
buildings  and  police  headquarters  were  at  first  in  the  council  chamber,  at  Front  and 
Howard,  but  afterwards  were  moved  to  the  hose  house  of  Rescue  company  No.  1, 
comer  of  Railroad  and  Howards  James  Glispin  was  elected  marshal  in  1885,  and 
the  next  spring  the  office  of  chief  of  police  superseded  the  marshalship  and  he  was 
reelected. 

A  noted  pioneer  peace  officer  was  Joel  Warren,  who  came  to  Walla  Walla  with 
his  parents  in  1865  and  to  Deep  Creek,  Spokane  county,  in  1879.  "It  was  practi- 
cally an  accident  that  I  became  a  peace  officer,"  said  Mr.  Warren,  recalling  early 
day  experiences  in  Spokane.  "It  was  in  1884  that  Bill  Jackson,  a  half  breed,  killed 
the  Indian  Chief  'Three  Mountains,'  and  had  nearly  everybody  in  the  county  afraid 
of  him.  Jackson  defied  the  whole  county  and  seemed  to  be  making  good.  He  was 
what  they  called  a  'wicked  cuss'  in  those  days.  I  wrote  to  Sheriff  Patrick  Dillon 
from  Deep  Creek  that  I  believed  I  could  capture  Jackson.  Meantime  Lane  Gilliam, 
who  was  deputy  sheriff,  arrested  Jackson,  but  he  got  the  drop  on  Gilliam  and  there 
was  nothing  for  Lane  to  do  but  let  Bill  get  away.  The  sheriff  recalled  my  offer  and 
gladly  sent  word  to  me  to  capture  Jackson  if  I  wanted  to.  He  deputized  me  on 
March  23d,  1884,  to  make  the  arrest. 

"I  employed  old  Curly  Jim,  a  lame  old  Indian  around  town,  to  tip  off  the 
movements  of  Jackson  to  me.  Jackson  came  back  to  Spokane  and  on  the  evening 
of  March  24th  I  went  out  and  found  him.  Two  Catholic  priests  and  Henry  Preusse 
the  architect,  were  a  few  feet  away,  but  did  not  know  the  identity  of  Jadcson  until 
I  hollered  for  him  to  surrender.  At  the  sound  of  the  command  and  sight  of  the  gun 
play,  Mr.  Preusse  jumped  astride  a  cayuse  and  started  over  the  hill  at  breakneck 
speed,  the  two  fathers  keeping  up  with  him.  It  wasr  so  ludicrous  a  race  that  I  be- 
gan laughing,  although  I  had  my  man  covered.     I  brought  Jackson  into  town  and 

591 


592  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

surrendered   him   to  the  authorities.     There   was   much   excitement   following  the 
arrest. 

"Daniel  Drumheller  met  me  in  Cheney  shortly  after  and  insisted  that  I  come  to 
Spokane  and  be  the  first  policeman.     They  offered  me  $65  a  month,  but  that  was 
not  enough.     Finally   Mel   Grimmer,  the  truckman,  said   he   would   add  $2.50  & 
month,  if  I  would  come,  Eugene  Hyde,  ex-receiver  of  the  land  office,  who  was  the 
town  marshal,  agreed  to  contribute  $5  a  month  and  I  took  the  position  when  they 
raised  the  pot  to  $75  a  month.     I  was  sworn  in  April  13,  1884.     Since  those  days  I 
have  often  remembered  the  advice  that  Eugene  Hyde  gave  me.     He  was  a  man  I 
always  liked  to  work  with,  because  you  never  had  to  ask  him  to  come  along,  he  was 
always  in  the  lead  when  there  was  trouble.     He  carried  a  44-caliber  double-action 
revolver  and  was  quick  with  a  gun.    When  I  was  sworn  in,  Eugene  said  to  me,  'Read 
the  ordinances,  Joe,  and  never  lose  a  fight;  if  you  lose,  it  will  have  a  bad  effect 
upon  the  community  and  cause  you  lots  of  trouble.'     I  have  always  tried  to  follow 
that  advice. 

"George  Rusk  was  the  second  man  put  on  the  police  force  and  he  joined  in 
1885.  He  was  a  good  officer.  I  remember  when  he  was  killed.  Mr.  Rusk  came 
down  to  the  wooden  calaboose  which  stood  where  the  Auditorium  now  stands.  A 
drunken  Indian  was  locked  up  and  other  Indians  were  chopping  down  the  jail.  Rusk 
told  them  to  wait  and  he  would  go  and  get  the  keys.  He  came  back  with  help  and 
threw  the  choppers  into  jail.  A  week  later  Rusk  got  a  vacation  and  was  killed  by 
Indians  at  Deadman  Creek,  nine  miles  north  of  town.  I  was  one  of  those  who 
found  the  body  a  week  later.  There  were  seventeen  in  the  party,  George  Crane,  the 
shoe  man,  being  one.  Later  with  the  aid  of  Indian  Jim,  I  found  the  two  Indians 
who  had  done  the  killing,  and  they  were  convicted  and  sent  to  Walla  Walla  for 
twenty  years. 

"My  next  important  arrest  was  that  of  Jack  Conover,  who  killed  a  man  when 
the  first  5-cent  beer  hall  was  opened  in  Spokane.  The  hall  stood  on  Howard  street 
between  Main  avenue  and  Front  avenue.  Conover  killed  an  innocent  carpenter  in  a 
wanton  and  cruel  manner  on  the  opening  night.  I  trailed  him  ten  miles  up  Hang- 
man Creek  to  his  cabin,  and  when  the  door  was  opened  he  had  me  covered  with  his 
gun.  He  stuck  me  up  for  about  twenty  minutes  before  I  talked  him  into  surrender- 
ing. Waterhouse  was  coroner  and  lived  at  Deep  Creek.  When  I  arrived  with  the 
coroner  the  next  day,  the  dead  man  still  lay  in  the  saloon.  When  I  arrived  with  the 
prisoner,  the  people  formed  a  plan  to  lynch  him,  but  I  got  him  into  the  calaboose 
and  away  from  the  crowd;  then  I  whisked  him  to  the  county  jail  at  Cheney,  then 
the  county  seat.  Conover  broke  jail  or  dug  his  way  out  and  I  never  heard  of  him 
until  about  a  year  ago,  when  a  friend  told  me  in  Nome  that  he  was  running  as  con- 
ductor on  a  passenger  train  out  of  Denver. 

"The  oddest  game  I  was  ever  up  against  was  in  Peaceful  Valley  in  1888.  An 
Indian  was  down  there  and  was  reported  to  be  a  bad  man.  When  I  met  him  he 
got  the  drop  on  me  with  a  cavalry  carbine  at  forty  paces.  I  dropped  to  the  ground 
and  he  missed  me.  He  got  in  three  more  shots  at  me  and  in  the  mecmtime  I  got  my 
six  shooter  in  operation.  He  became  rattled  after  the  first  shot.  The  Indians 
buried  him  next  day.  Later  we  learned  that  he  had  killed  two  prospectors  and 
fatally  injured  a  third  on  the  Idaho  line  the  preceding  day,  and  thought  I  was  after 
him  for  that  offiense. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 


593 


"In  the  early  days  there  were  always  a  few  blood-curdling  four-flushers  in  town. 
I  remember  one  fellow  who  called  himself  'Wild  Bill.'  He  blew  into  town  with  a 
mammoth  six  shooter  strapped  to  his  person  and  carrying  a  bowie-knife  in  his  boot.  I 
heard  a  lot  of  him  and  did  not  know  but  that  he  would  cause  me  some  trouble.  Wild 
Bill  carried  thin^ics  with  a  free  hand  and  entered  a  saloon  that  stands  where  the  Grand 
hotel  now  stands.  He  was  running  the  house  with  the  aid  of  a  gun;  was  doing 
as  he  pleased.  I  went  in  and  told  him  he  was  under  arrest.  Wild  Bill  cried  and 
begged  me  not  to  shoot  him. 

"The  last  important  Indian  arrest  I  made  was  that  of  a  buck  who  had  assaulted 
a  white  woman  on  a  lonely  road  west  of  the  city.  The  Indian  stuck  Lane  Gilliam 
up  with  a  six  shooter.  After  I  had  landed  him  in  the  county  jail  at  Cheney^  the 
citizens  broke  into  the  jail  and  lynched  him.  Other  Indians  blamed  me  for  the 
lynching,  and  for  two  or  three  years  I  was  warned  that  these  Indians  were  watch- 
ing for  a  chance  to  kill  me." 

Mr.  Warren  was  elected  chief  of  police  in  1887,  again  in  1888  and  1889.  When 
the  oflice  of  chief  of  police  became  appointive,  he  was  appointed  by  Mayor  Olmsted. 
In  1900  he  went  to  Nome  and  has  since  been  a  resident  of  Alaska. 


Vol.  1—88 


CHAPTER  LXXV 

SPOKANE'S  LONG  FIGHT  FOR  JUST  FREIGHT  RATES 

RATES  ADVANCED  100  PER  CENT  IN    1887 ^A  SHARP   PROTEST FIRST  SUIT  BY  BOARD   OP 

TRADE   IN    1889 — SHIPPERS  DIVIDED   IN    1890 INTERSTATE    COMMERCE    COMMISSION 

HERB  IN    1891 ^ADVENT  OP  JAMES  J.  HILL GIVEN  FREE  RIGHT  OP  WAY INDIGNA- 
TION   OVER    BROKEN    PROMISES COMMISSION    ORDERS   REDUCTION    IN    CLASS   RATES 

RAILROADS  IGNORE  THE  ORDER COURTS  HOLD   COMMISSION   CAN  NOT  MAKE  RATES 

MYSTERIOUS   DISAPPEARANCE   OF   HILL^S   TARIFF   SHEETS A.   W.   DOLAND   AND    OTHER 

SHIPPERS  GO    BEFORE   JUDGE   HANFORD LORENZO   SAWYER  KNOCKS  THEM   OUT IN- 
DIGNANT SHIPPERS  ORGANIZE   BOYCOTT ^RAILROADS  GRANT  CONCESSIONS ^HEPBURN 

LAW    PASSED SPOKANE    RENEWS    FIGHT    BEFORE   COMMISSION TENTATIVE    DECISION 

IN    1909 FULLER    DECISION    IN    1910 COMPLETE    DECISION    IN     1911 HOW    SPO- 
KANE CELEBRATED. 

Justice  is  itself  the  great  standing  policy  of  civil  society;  and  any  eminent  de- 
parture from  it^  under  any  circumstances^  lies  under  the  suspicion  of  being  no  policy 
at  all. — Burke. 

Whoever   fights^   whoever    falls. 
Justice  conquers  evermore.— Emerson. 

DISCUSSING  the  injustice  of  discriminating  rates,  the  writer  of  this  vol- 
ume said  in  an  editorial  article  in  the  morning  Review  of  December  27, 
1890,  "If  Spokane  were  given  her  rights,  if  those  things  which  are  Cae- 
sar's were  rendered  unto  Caesar,  this  city  would  become  the  greatest  commercial 
center  in  the  state  of  Washington.  The  way  to  the  problem  of  our  future  growth 
lies  in  recognition  of  this  important  fact.  When  Judge  Deady  of  Portland  decided 
that  railroads  might  charge  more  for  short  than  long  hauls  of  merchandise,  when 
the  long  hauls  entered  into  water  competition,  he  struck  a  most  effective  blow  at  the 
growth  of  this  city.  If  the  other  interpretation  had  been  taken,  if  the  merchants 
of  this  city  could  obtain  the  same  rates  that  are  obtained  by  merchants  five  hundred 
miles  farther  from  the  centers  of  shipment,  Spokane  would  be  the  Seattle  of  the 
State.  People  often  declare  that  we  want  manufactories  above  all  else.  That  is 
hardly  correct;  we  want  equitable  freight  rates.  Given  that,  the  factories  will  come 
along  of  their  own  volition. 

"Repeatedly  the  Review  has  pointed  out  that  the  claims  of  this  city  will  have 
to  be  recognized,  that  the  interests  of  the  city  and  railroads  are  identical,  and  that 
in  discriminating  against  Spokane  in  order  to  enter  into  ruinous  competition  with 

595 


596  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

water  shipments^  they  are  cutting  down  their  own  earnings.  As  matters  now  stand 
there  is  lamentable  waste  of  energy.  While  Spokane  sits  four  hundred  miles  nearei 
the  manufacturing  and  commercial  centers  of  the  East^  and  from  two  hundred  to 
four  hundred  miles  nearer  the  consumer^  and  has  an  admirable  railroad  system^  the 
transcontinental  lines  have  pursued  a  false  policy  of  hauling  freight  through  to  the 
sea-port  -and  then  hauling  it  back  to  the  consumer^  twice  climbing  one  of  the  world's 
great  mountain  ranges.  Much  of  this  freight  passes  through  Spokane  before  it  can 
reach  the  terminals.  This  is  extravagant  waste  of  time  and  power.  If  the  Trans- 
continental roads  would  make  this  city  their  distributing  center^  if  they  would  stop 
the  prevailing  waste  of  energy  and  time  that  are  now  consumed  in  a  longer  haul 
and  an  unnecessary  back  haul  to  the  consumer,  they  might  snap  their  fingers  at 
water  competition^  earn  dividends  for  their  stockholders  and  give  the  people  the 
benefit  of  more  advantageous  rates." 

Twenty-one  years  after  that  was  penned,  the  interstate  commerce  commission 
uttered  substantially  an  identical  argument  when  it  rendered  its  final  decision  up- 
holding Spokane's  claims: 

"Spokane  (the  decision  runs),  is  a  great  distributing  center  and  aims  to  be  a 
greater  one.  It  demands  the  right  to  rates  which  will  enable  it  to  bring  from  the 
east  and  distribute  into  territory  lying  east  of  the  Cascade  range.  Such  traffic^ 
when  distributed  from  Spokane,  is  hauled  a  less  distance  by  400  miles  than  when 
distributed  from  Seattle,  and  the  distribution  haul  itself  is  also  much  less  expen- 
sive. It  is  a  manifest  economic  waste  to  haul  traffic  over  the  Cascade  mountains 
and  back  again.  The  interest  of  the  carrier  and  the  public  as  much  require  that 
this  business  should  stop  at  Spokane  instead  of  going  on  to  Seattle  as  that  it  should 
originate  in  the  middle  west  instead  of  upon  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

''The  carriers  insist  that  they  may  determine  as  a  matter  of  policy  whether  they 
will  meet  this  water  competition  and  in  what  manner  and  at  what  points;  and  this 
is  true  so  far  as  that  is  a  matter  of  policy.  To  a  disinterested  observer  it  would 
seem  to  be  in  the  true  interest  of  these  transcontinental  lines,  which  begin  at  the 
Missouri  fiver,  to  make  rates  which  would  build  up  interior  points  as  against  the 
coast.  The  haul  to  these  points  is  shorter  and  less  expensive.  The  distribution 
from  these  points  is  easier,  but,  above  all,  the  traffic  which  is  created  at  such  a 
point  belongs  to  the  rail  line  which  creates  it,  while  the  traffic  which  is  fostered 
upon  the  Coast  iis  the  prey  of  every  vessel  which  sails  the  sea.  Carriers  in  the 
future  will  doubtless  adopt  this  method  and  will  voluntarily  make  rates  to  interior 
points  like  Spokane  which  will  enable  those  localities  to  compete  with  coast  cities.'* 

As  early  as  1887,  with  rapid  growth  of  population  and  increasing  development 
of  transportation,  the  people  of  Spokane  grew  restive  and  indignant  under  the 
discriminating  policy  of  the  railroads.  The  discontent  found  expression  in  the 
Review  of  Mav  19. 

"Since  the  suspension  of  the  fourth  section  of  the  interstate  commerce  law," 
said  that  journal,  "charges  on  freight  to  Spokane  Falls  have  been  increased  fully 
100  per  cent.  This  thing  smacks  very  strongly  of  what  is  popularly  termed  'the 
grinding  corporation,'  It  is  a  violent  outrage  on  every  rule  of  fair  dealing  in  busi- 
ness transactions  and  is  disastrous  in  its  effects  upon  the  business  of  Spokane  Falls 
merchants.     If  we  are  not  mistaken  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  is  building  up 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  597 

a  formidable   sentiment   against  itself,   which   in  days   to  come   will   repay   these 
injuries  to  local  business  dollar  for  dollar." 

By  suspension  of  the  fourth  section^  the  Review  had  reference  to  a  recent  deci- 
sion by  Judge  Matthew  P.  Deady  of  the  federal  court  at  Portland,  holding  that 
water  competition  was  a  factor  which  justified,  under  the  law,  the  charging  of 
higher  rates  to  interior  pcnnts  than  to  sea-ports. 

In  the  annijia]  report  of  the  board  of  trade,  rendered  late  in  the  year  1889, 
appears  this  reference  to  the  subject:  "The  question  of  freight  rates  and  unjust 
discrimination  against  this  city  by  the  railroads  has  been  a  subject  discussed  by 
the  board  of  trade  in  the  past  year.  In  June  last,  as  the  result  of  the  work  of 
the  committee,  a  case  was  prepared  against  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  for  ad- 
judication before  the  interstate  commerce  commission.  That  case  was  laid  by  an 
association  known  as  the  Merchants'  Protective  association  of  this  city.  The  board 
of  trade  prepared  that  case,  but  the  Merchants'  Protective  association  stepped  in 
to  fight  it.  Judge  Cooley  visited  this  point  and  set  a  date  for  hearing,  but  the  case 
was  postponed,  and  is  now  on  the  docket  of  the  commission  in  Washington,  and 
will  come  up  for  hearing  on  the  17th  inst.,  when  we  hope  it  will  he  pushed  to  a 
determination," 

Spokane's  organized  fight  for  justice,  therefore,  began  twenty-three  years  ago, 
and  within  the  intervening  period  our  citizens  have  resolutely  employed  every  legiti- 
mate weapon  that  seemed  to  offer  a  hope  of  redress  of  their  wrongs.  The  inter- 
state commerce  commission,  the  courts,  conciliation,  rataliation — all  have  been  seized 
u{K>n  and  used.  From  the  discouragement  of  one  defeat  Spokane  has  rallied  with 
renewed  courage  for  another  expensive  and  arduous  contest,  and  then  to  another, 
and  yet  another.  Many  a  time  and  oft  has  it  seemed  that  the  city  and  surrounding 
regions  were  helpless  victims  of  a  system  that  endeavored  to  hold 

"Right  forever  on  the  scaffold. 
Wrong  forever  on  the  throne." 

In  the  summer  of  1890  shippers  were  divided  in  opinion.  A  few  wanted  to 
wage  an  aggressive  fight  for  terminal  rates,  but  others  criticised  the  board  of  trade 
for  antagonizing  the  railroads,  and  advocated  a  more  friendly  policy  of  pleading 
for  more  favorable  distributing  rates.  To  checkmate  the  O.  R.  &  N.,  which  had 
entered  the  city  the  previous  fall,  the  Northern  Pacific  was  offering  longtime  leases 
of  warehouse  sites  on  its  right  of  way.  "Rates  being  equal,"  ran  one  provision, 
"said  party  of  the  second  part  agrees  to  do  his  transportation  business  on  the  rail- 
road of  the  party  of  the  first  part  in  preference  to  any  other."  This,  of  course, 
would  have  the  certain  effect  of  discouraging  rate  reductions  by  the  new  railroad, 
for  the  Northern  Pacific,  by  meeting  any  possible  cut,  would  continue  to  hold  the 
business. 

Spokane's  first  case  was  filed  in  June,  1889.  Nearly  two  years  after,  in  April, 
1891,  Judge  George  Turner  was  advised  by  the  secretary  of  the  interstate  com- 
merce commission,  that  the  commission  would  soon  be  prepared  to  take  up  the  case 
of  the  Spokane  Merchants  Protective  association  against  the  Northern  Pacific. 

Commissioners  W.  G.  Veazey,  Wm.  R.  Morrison  ("Horizontal  Bill"),  Walter  L. 
Bragg  and  M.  Knapp  arrived  in  Spokane  in  May  and  conducted  public  hearings 


598  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

from  the  27th  to  the  30th.  George  Turner  and  Corporation  Counsel  H.  E.  Hoogli- 
ton  represented  the  association  and  the  city.  The  railroad  came  fortified  wilii  a 
strong  array  of  attorneys  and  officials.  A  meeting  of  citizens  in  the  rooms  of  the 
chamber  of  commerce  resolved  to  push  the  case  with  vigor. 

While  the  commission  deliberated^  a  new  factor  came  over  the  continental  divide. 
The  Great  Northern  railroad^  then  more  widely  known  as  the  Manitoba,  was  pusli- 
ing  its  resolute  way  to  tidewater.  Here  seemed  a  potent  competitor  in  the  Spokane 
field,  and  shippers  and  consumers  took  renewed  hope  from  the  captivating,  honeyed 
words  of  the  remarkable  genius  at  its  head. 

President  James  J.  Hill  met  the  citizens  in  public  meeting,  February  9,  1892^ 
and  asked  for  a  free  right  of  way  through  the  town.  Iii  an  extended  address  he 
intimated  that  if  a  donated  right  of  way  were  not  forthcoming,  the  Great  Northern 
would  pass  twenty  miles  to  the  north.  On  the  other  hand,  if  a  ri^^t  of  way  were 
given,  his  road  would  make  rates  which  would  enable  Spokane  to  compete  success- 
fully with  any  city  to  the  west  or  the  south.  His  roseate  promises  awoke  the  live- 
liest interest  and  a  committee  of  active  citizens  was  appointed  to  take  up  with  vigor 
the  task  of  securing  the  required  right  of  way.  Its  members  were  J.  J.  Browne^ 
A.  M.  Cannon,  L.  C.  Dillman,  H.  L.  Tilton,  James  N.  Glover,  G.  B.  Dennis,  I.  S- 
Kaufman,  A.  K.  McBroom,  D.  P.  Jenkins,  E.  J.  Webster,  W.  S.  Norman,  E.  B. 
Hyde,  Charles  Monteith,  C.  R.  Burns,  N.  Toklas,  O.  B.  Nelson,  T.  S.  Griffith, 
James  Monaghan,  and  S.  Rosenhaupt. 

As  managing  editor  of  the  Review,  the  writer  of  this  volume  obtained  from  Mr. 
Hill  a  carefully  prepared  and  authorized  statement  for  publication. 

''Mr.  Hill  (so  ran  this  interview),  if  you  had  come  to  this  country  eight  years 
ago,  and  been  the  only  transcontinental  carrier  here,  would  you  have  pursued  the 
policy  that  has  been  pursued  by  the  old  roads  of  adjusting  the  tariff  so  that  mer- 
chandise brought  here  from  the  east  would  go  through  to  the  coast,  <mly  to  be  car- 
ried  back  to  the  consumer,  far  in  the  interior,  thereby  entailing  an  unnecessary  haul 
of  from  500  to  1,000  miles,  twice  over  a  great  mountain  range?" 

"No,  I  would  not,"  was  the  emphatic  answer.  "For  one  reason,  I  think  it  would 
be  illegal.  I  think  you  people  have  made  a  mistake  in  gmng  before  the  interstate 
commerce  commission.  You  should  have  made  a  test  case — ^allowed  some  shipper 
to  refuse  to  pay  more  than  is  paid  by  the  shipper  on  tidewater,  and  thus  carried 
the  grievance  straight  into  the  United  States  court.  I  don't  think  a  jury  of  twelve 
men  could  have  been  found  to  decide  that  such  a  charge  was  legal.  In  that  man- 
ner you  could  have  settled  this  matter  in  short  order — ^in  a  day  once  the  case  got 
before  the  courts." 

At  Mr.  Hiir.s  request  a  proof  sheet  of  the  foregoing  statement  was  submitted 
to  him,  and  he  returned  it  to  the  newspaper  office  with  his  approval.  In  after  years 
this  publication  was  introduced  in  evidence  before  the  commission.  Mr.  Hill  has 
never  denied  its  authenticity  or  its  accuracy. 

After  the  right  of  way  had  been  acquired,  Hill  returned  the  following  June, 
and  in  press  interviews  "hedged"  on  his  terminal  rate  offer.  "When  I  was  here 
before,"  he  said,  "I  promised  that  Spokane  should  have  rates  which  would  enable 
her  to  compete  for  business  with  any  city  west  or  south  of  her.  By  that  I  meant 
that  she  should  be  put  in  a  position  to  do  the  business  of  the  territory  rightfully 


JAMES  J.  HILL— "THE  EMPIRE  BUILDER" 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  599 

tributary  to  her.     I  stand  by  that  pledge^  and  it  will  be  redeemed  at  the  proper 
time."     BUT— 

"Rate  wars  are  things  to  be  avoided.  They  do  nobody  any  good.  The  inevitable 
result  is  that  the  companies  get  together  and  agree  on  a  readjustment.  Now  I 
believe  in  adjusting  these  things  in  a  friendly  way." 

In  an  interview  given  out  at  Sprague^  Mr.  Hill  said: 

"A  number  of  gentlemen^  representing,  I  think,  the  chamber  of  commerce,  waited 
on  me  last  evening,  and  attempted  to  force  me  to  make  a  reduction  of  rates  at  this 
time,  saying  that  the  right  of  way  had  been  secured  for  our  road  under  a  promise 
of  terminal  rates.  I  never  made  any  such  promise,  nor  did  I  intend  that  any  one 
should  put  such  a  construction  on  my  words.  All  promises  made  to  the  people  of 
Spokane  by  me  on  behalf  of  the  Great  Northern  will  be  made  good,  in  every  re- 
spect, but  no  small  or  large  number  of  men  can  force  us  to  take  any  steps  that  our 
own  business  judgment  does  not  approve,  and  we  will  at  no  time  pursue  any  arbi- 
trary or  unbusinesslike  course  with  our  railroad  neighbors.  Any  freight  rate  that 
is  made  must  be  a  matter  of  conference  and  agreement  between  the  parties  making 
it.    That  is  the  situation  in  a  few  words." 

A  decision  was  handed  down,  November  29,  1892,  by  the  interstate  commerce 
commission  in  the  case  of  the  Merchants  Protective  association  of  Spokane  against 
the  Northern  Pacific.  It  held  that  water  competition  warranted  higher  commodity 
rates  to  Spokane;  but^he  commission  found  that  blanket  class  rates  to  Spokane  were 
unreasonable  in  themselves.  "Defendants  are  ordered,"  said  the  decision,  "to  cease 
and  desist  from  charging  rates  on  property  from  eastern  points  to  Spokane  which 
materially  exceed  82  per  cent  of  the  class  rates  now  in  effect,  both  to  Spokane  and 
Pacific  coast  terminals." 

This  decision  the  railroads  ignored,  contending  that  the  act  of  congress  which 
created  the  commission  and  defined  its  powers  conferred  no  authority  for  it  to 
prescribe  rates.  ^  About  that  time  a  federal  judge  in  Georgia  sustained  this  railroad 
point  of  view,  and  it  was  subsequently  confirmed  by  the  supreme  court  of  the 
United  States.  In  our  search  for  justice^  we  had  traveled  many  years  in  a  circle, 
and  now  found  ourselves  precisely  at  the  1889  starting  point. 

Under  date  of  February  15,  1893,  Robert  Easson,  secretary  of  the  chamber 
of  commerce,  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Review.  "I  will  say  (said  he)  that  the  new 
freight  rates  are  much  higher  than  the  rates  in  Ananias  Hill's  tariff  sheets,  sent 
here  in  December.  The  new  commodity  rates,  in  nearly  every  instance,  in  the  gro- 
cery line,  are  just  double  what  they  were  in  Hill's  tariff,  and  the  class  rates  are 
twenty  per  cent  higher.  It  would  not  be  politic  at  this  time  to  make  public  the 
rates  named  in  Hill's  tariff.  Suffice  it  to  say,  they  are  in  good  keeping,  to  be  used 
when  the  opportune  time  comes." 

The  disappearance  of  these  sheets,  which  Mr.  Hill  had  sent  out  from  St.  Paul 
in  December,  1892,  to  be  shown  by  his  agent  to  certain  shippers  as  evidence  of 
reductions,  he  would  presently  make,  remains  one  of  the  unsolved  mysteries  of  the 
town.  The  secret  of  their  location  seems  to  have  died  with  Mr.  Easson  when,  in 
seeming  health  and  buoyant  spirits,  he  reeled  and  fell  on  a  Lewiston  street  on  the 
occasion  of  a  most  successful  excursion  of  Spokane  business  men  to  that  neighbor- 
ing city. 
•  On  complaint  of  A.  W.  Doland  and  other  shippers.  Judge  Hanford,  in '  Septem- 


600  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

ber,  1894^  entered  an  order  directing  the  receivers  of  the  Northern  Pacific  to  make 
answer  within  twenty  days  to  grievances  set  forth  in  an  extended  petition  for 
justice.  This  complaint  was  the  outgrowth  of  a  suggestion  from  Judge  Hanford 
to  some  of  the  shippers,  that  a  proceeding  of  this  nature  would  be  found  the  better 
and  more  satisfactory  way  of  seeking  justice.  Upon  the  Northern  Pacific  coming 
into  court  as  directed.  Judge  Hanford,  on  November  21,  appointed  Lorenzo  Saw- 
yer of  San  Francisco  to  take  testimony  in  the  case. 

But  the  city's  hopes  of  winning  justice  from  the  hands  of  the  federal  court  "were 
dissipated  when  the  master  in  chancery,  appointed  by  Judge  Hanford  nearly  three 
years  before,  returned  a  crushing  decision  against  the  plaintiffs.  On  every  point 
involved  Sawyer  found  in  favor  of  the  railroads. 

A  month  later.  May  24,  1897,  the  United  States  supreme  court  decided  that  the 
interstate  commerce  commission  had  no  power  under  the  law  to  prescribe  freight 
rates.  After  ten  years  of  brave  hope  and  effort,  the  "joker"  in  the  law  was  fer- 
reted out  by  the  highest  court  in  the  land,  and  the  commission  stood  stripped  of 
authority  and  power. 

Appeal  to  the  interstate  commerce  commission  had  failed,  and  recent  decisions 
in  other  United  States  courts  indicating  that  little  or  no  measure  of  relief  could 
be  expected  from  that  quarter,  some  of  the  more  aggressive  Spokane  business  men 
advocated,  in  1896,  an  organization  of  shippers  to  pool  freight  shipments.  Iq 
support  of  that  plan  the  writer  of  this  volume  wrote,  editoriiAly,  in  January : 

''The  shippers  here  should  organize  and  pool  their  business.  If  they  would 
do  that  with  energy  and  entire  loyalty  to  their  own  interests,  they  would  possess 
a  power  that  could  be  exerted  with  effect.  They  could  fight  the  matter  in  the  courts, 
or  they  could  arrange  for  an  exclusive  delivery  of  their  business  to  a  single  line 
for  one,  two,  three  or  five  years.  As  matters  stand  now  they  are  powerless :  they 
can  not  have  even  a  hearing." 

Leading  shippers  of  the  city  formed  a  new  association  in  March,  with  VV.  D. 
Plant,  president,  and  T.  F.  Spencer  secretary.  The  firm  of  D.  Holzman  &  Co.  had 
adopted  successfully  a  plan  of  replevining  cars,  and  Jacob  Schiller  of  that  firm 
said  he  had  started  out  to  fight  alone.  He  tendered  the  company  terminal  rates, 
which  were  refused,  and  thereupon  he  had  recourse  to  the  replevin  process  in  the 
United  States  court,  and  in  that  way  got  the  goods  and  kept  the  money,  pending 
an  ultimate  decision  of  the  case. 

A  month  later  this  Spokane  Freight  association  raised  a  fund  of  $5,700  to  fight 
a  rate  case  before  Judge  Hanford,  the  city  subscribing  $1,000  and  the  county 
$500.  But  this  effort,  like  others  gone  before,  brought  no  relief  to  shipper  or  con- 
sumer. 

Matters  drifted  until  February,  1904,  when  a  strong  and  aggressive  organiza- 
tion of  shippers  devised  a  plan  to  set  the  traffic  officials  of  the  Northern  Pacafic  and 
the  Great  Northern  to  serious  thinking. 

"Whereas  (the  signed  agreement  ran),  we  know  that  rates  of  freight  to  Spokane 

» 

from  eastern  points  should  never  justly  exceed  the  prevailing  rates  to  terminal 
points,  plus  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  corresponding  prevailing  rates  from  ter- 
minal points  back  to  Spokane. 

"Therefore,  be  it  resolved,  that  until  such  an  adjustment  of  freight  rates  can 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  601 

be  effected,  without  increasing  any  rates  now  in  effect  to  Spokane  from  eastern 
points,  we  agree  to  give  all  our  business  to  the  O.  R.  &  N." 

Signers  were  Child  Bros.  &  Day,  Holley,  Mason,  Marx  &  Co.,  Jones  &  Dilling- 
ham, John  W.  Graham  &  Co.,  B.  L.  Gordon  &  Co.,  F.  B.  Wright  &  Co.,  Grote-Ran- 
Idn  Co.,  Spokane  Drug  Co.,  Spokane  Paper  Co.,  Crane  Shoe  Co.,  Empire  Candy 
Co.,  Shaw  &  Borden  Co.,  Boothe-McClintock  Co.,  Best  Clothing  Co.,  Cohn  Bros., 
Griffith  Heating,  Plumbing  &  Supply  Co.,  Jensen,  King,  Byrd  Co.,  Spokane  Paint 
&  Oil  Co.,  TuU  &  Gibbs,  Miller,  Mower  &  Flynn,  Whitehouse  Dry  Goods  Co., 
Spokane  Implement  Co.,  Washington  Liquor  Co.,  D.  Holzman  &  Co.  These  firms 
paid  the  railroads  annually  $750,000. 

This  drastic  remedy  grew  out  of  a  meeting  at  Chicago  of  the  freight  men  of 
the  western  roads,  where  every  request  of  Spokane  shippers  was  coldly  ignored. 
These  resolutions  attracted  immediate  attention,  and  the  railroads  promptly  offered 
minor  reductions  which  were  promptly  rejected  by  the  Spokane  organization.  To 
emphasize  its  dissatisfaction,  the  association  reaffirmed  its  resolutions.  But  in  April 
it  rescinded  the  resolutions  and  agreed  to  meet  in  Chicago  representatives  of  the 
Northern  Pacific,  Great  Northern  and  O.  R.  &  N.  As  outcome  of  that  conference 
the  railroads  conceded  reductions  and  promised  Spokane  jobbers  control  of  a  terri- 
torial circle  with  a  diameter  of  200  miles.  That  is  to  say,  Spokane  should  command 
the  trade  for  100  miles  in  every  direction.  The  principle  involved  in  this  adjust- 
ment is  theoretically  unsound,  and  the  basis  flatly  arbitrary,  but  failing  to  win 
justice  by  other  means,  the  Spokane  jobbers  felt  justified  in  their  use  of  this 
weapon,  and  public  sentiment  generally  has  sustained  them  throughout  the  Inland 
Empire.  Shippers,  however,  have  always  contended  that  the  railroads  failed  to 
live  up  to  this  agreement. 

Meanwhile  a  nation-wide  demand  had  found  expression,  that  the  law  be  amended 
— ^that  clearly  defined  power  be  conferred  on  the  interstate  commerce  commission 
to  fix  rates  in  cases  where^  upon  proper  hearing,  it  should  appear  that  injustice 
was  suffered  by  shipper  or  shippers.  Congress  heeded  the  demand,  and  enacted 
the  Hepburn  rate  law  in  1906.  Spokane  filed  the  first  complaint  under  the  new 
law.  The  fight  was  renewed,  at  exactly  the  point  where  it  had  started  in  1889. 
The  commission  conducted  hearings  at  Spokane,  Chicago,  Portland,  and  Washington. 

The  chamber  of  commerce  put  itself  behind  the  new  case,  city  and  county  lent 
their  encouragement,  a  fund  was  raised  to  carry  on  the  contest,  and  H.  M.  Stephens 
was  employed  to  make  the  long  and  arduous  legal  fight  before  the  commission,  and 
if  need  be  before  the  courts.  Actively  identified  with  the  bringing  of  the  new  suit 
wtfre  F.  E.  Goodall,  Charles  Hebberd,  A.  W.  Doland,  B.  L.  Gordon,  J.  A.  Schiller, 
J.  M.  Comstock,  R.  B.  Paterson  and  O.  C.  Jensen. 

After  nearly  three  years  more  of  waiting,  the  commission,  March  2,  1909,  ren- 
dered a  tentative  decision  in  favor  of  Spokane.  Reduced  rates  were  ordered  on 
twenty-seven  of  the  thirty-two  commodity  rates  specifically  set  out  in  the  complaint, 
and  the  decision  intimated  that  if  Spokane  should  institute  supplemental  proceed- 
ings, similar  reductions  would  be  granted  throughout  the  entire  commodity  list.  A 
reduction  of  about  sixteen  per  cent  was  ordered  on  class  rates  from  St.  Paul  and 
Chicago.  In  the  preparation  of  its  case  Spokane  had  enumerated  thirty-two  com- 
modity rates  as  illustrative  of  the  general  unjust  discrimination  in  the  entire  range 
of  commodity  rates,  and  the  commission  held  that  it  could  order  reductions  only  on 


602  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

commodities  actually  enmnerated  in  the  complaint.  The  commission  foai^  that 
"the  earnings  of  both  the  Great  Northern  and  Northern  Pacific  in  recent  years 
have  been  excessive." 

"At  this  time  when  the  people  of  Spokane  are  rejoicing  over  their  victory^  after 
years  of  struggling^"  said  Chairman  A.  W.  Doland  of  the  committee^  "the  oldtimers 
should  not  forget  that  we  owe  a  great  deal  to  one  who  is  no  longer  in  our  midst; 
I  refer  to  our  old  friend^  the  late  Robert  Easson.  I  believe  that  more  than  to  any 
other  man  is  due  to  him  the  protest  against  unjust  freight  discriminaion." 

But  the  battle  was  not  yet  ended.  The  decision  was  an  entering  wedge,  and 
little  more.  The  commission  invited  the  railroads  to  submit  revised  rates  in  line 
with  the  principle  of  its  decision.  This  the  railroads  did  in  May,  and  the  commis- 
sion held  a  hearing  June  9  for  the  consideration  of  the  railroad  scheme  of  rate 
revision.  The  rates  proposed  by  the  roads  were  not  satisfactory  to  Spokane,  and 
were  disapproved  by  the  interstate  commerce  committee  of  the  chamber  of  OHn- 
merce — ^A.  W.  Doland,  J.  A.  Schiller,  J.  M.  Comstock,  A.  A.  Kraft,  O.  C.  Jensen, 
J.  M.  Fitzpatrick,  B.  L.  Gordon,  F.  E.  Goodall  and  J.  D.  Sherwood. 

Traffic  Manager  J.  G.  Woodworth  of  the  Northern  Pacific,  and  Assistant  Traffic 
Manager  W.  P.  Kenney  of  the  Great  Northern  came  to  Spokane  to  explain  their 
proposed  schedules,  but  it  developed  that  neither  had  authority  to  treat  with  local 
interests,  and  a  joint  committee  of  the  chamber  of  commerce  and  \he  Spokane 
Merchants'  association  insisted  on  the  rates  ordered  by  the  commission,  and  to 
support  this  demand  sent  a  delegation  to  Washington  which  included  A.  W.  Doland, 
J.  A.  Schiller,  O.  C.  Jensen,  H.  D.  Trunkey,  W.  H.  Cowles,  F.  E.  Goodall  and  R. 
B.  Paterson. 

At  the  hearing  in  Washington  in  June,  H.  M.  Stephens  filed  a  supplemental 
complaint  asking  for  terminal  rates  on  all  commodities.  The  commission  ordered 
in  the  new  class  rates  July  1,  and  the  railroads  accepted  that  order;  but  further 
action  on  the  commodity  list  was  deferred  until  fall.  In  September  Commissioner 
Prouty  came  to  Spokane  and  conducted  a  hearing  on  Spokane's  supplemental  com- 
plaint. One  by  one  Mr.  Prouty  went  through  the  long  commodity  list,  and  the 
railroad  representatives,  who  were  present  in  force,  were  asked  to  explain  their 
reasons  for  enforcing  a  higher  rate  to  the  interior  than  to  the  terminals.  In  numer- 
ous cases  the  railroad  attorneys  and  traffic  agents  were  forced  to  admit  the  unrea- 
sonableness of  the  higher  rates,  and  in  other  commodities  they  knew  of  no  reason, 
but  expressed  the  belief  that  there  must  be  one,  and  promised  to  make  inquiries 
regarding  it.  In  this  detailed  manner  Commissioner  Prouty  covered  297  commodity 
rates  the  first  day  of  the  hearing.     The  hearing  was  concluded  October  5. 

On  the  fourth  anniversary  of  the  passage  of  the  Hepburn  law,  June  29,  1910, 
and  twenty-one  years  after  Spokane  first  took  up  the  fight,  the  commission  handed 
down  its  decision  in  this  famous  case.  It  condemned  the  railroad  system  of  rate- 
making  for  towns  and  cities  in  the  Inland  Empire.  Spokane  rates  were  held  to  be 
unjust  and  unreasonable  in  themselves,  without  regard  to  coast  rates.  The  Mer- 
chants' Association  calculated  that  the  decision  carried  a  twenty-five  per  cent  re- 
duction. "The  committee,"  said  Chairman  Doland,  "feels  great  gratification  at  the 
outcome  of  this  long  fight.  Spokane  is  the  only  city  that  has  steadily  and  con- 
sistently followed  every  development,  not  only  locally  but  in  Washington." 

But  the  new  rates  were  not  ordered  into  imipediate  effect.     Out  of  a  desire  to 


SOUTH  SIDE  OF  RIVEB8IDE  AVENUE  LOOKING  EAST  FROM  POST  STREET,  1911 


r 


T     :    '  : 


V      '  .   '   K 


J 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  603 

show  a  spirit  of  fairness  which  the  railroads  could  not  in  reason  challenge  before 
the  courts,  as  a  test  of  the  new  rates  the  commission  directed  the  railroads  to  keep 
an  account  for  three  months  of  receipts  and  expenditures  both  under  the  old  sched- 
ules and  the  new.  If,  by  October  1  the  new  schedule  should  be  found  fair  and 
reasonable,  it  would  be  made  effectiye  by  order  of  the  commission.  This  test  was 
amended  later  to  cover  October,  1909,  and  January,  April  and  July,  1910 — one 
month  in  each  quarter  of  a  fiscal  year. 

Congress  amended  the  long  and  short  haul  clause  this  summer,  but  the  amend- 
ment did  not  become  effective  •tmtil  February,  1911,  and  the  commission  deemed 
it  desirable  to  consider  the  amended  law  in  connection  with  its  final  decision  of 
the  Spokane  case.  This  carried  the  case  over  to  1911,  and  at  a  hearing  in  March 
the  carriers  submitted  a  statement  of  their  losses  on  the  basis  of  the  tentative  rates 
of  the  commission,  and  also  presente^r^fyid^^^e  in  support  of  their  applications  for 
suspension  of  the  amended  fourth  section,  and  presented  arguments  opposing  the 
constitutionality  of  the  amended  long  and  short  haul  clause. 

At  last  came  the  long  heralded  decision,  July  24,  1911,  a  round  five  years  after 
the  inauguration  of  a  case  which  had  now  become  noted  from  ocean  to  ocean;  and 
which  was  testing,  as  no  other  single  case  had  ever  tested,  the  nation's  adopted 
principle  of  government  regulation  of  the  railroads.  By  unanimous  decree  of  the 
commission,  Spokane  (and  this  practically  applied  the  reductions  to  all  commercial 
centers  in  the  Inland  Empire)  was  granted  terminal  rates  on  all  freight  originat- 
ing in  Missouri  river  territory,  including  Duluth,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis,  Omaha, 
Denver  and  Kansas  City.  Carriers  might  charge,  the  commission  said,  rates  not 
exceeding  seven  per  cent  above  terminal  rates  on  shipments  to  Spokane  originating 
in  Chicago  territory.  Not  exceeding  fifteen  per  cent  above  terminal  rates  on  ship- 
ments originating  in  Cincinnati  territory.  And  not  exceeding  twenty-five  per  cent, 
above  terminal  rates  from  New  York  and  Atlantic  coast  territory  as  far  south  as 
Virginia. 

"It  is  a  great  benefit,"  commented  A.  W.  Doland,  chairman  of  Spokane's  mili- 
tant committee;  "the  decision,  as  I  gather  it,  means  much  cheaper  rates  and  more 
territory.  It  admits  boldly  the  justice  of  Spokane's  stand.  We  are  repaid  for 
the  long  fight.     It's  our  time  to  rejoice,  and  we  must  celebrate." 

"The  decision,"  said  Attorney  H.  M.  Stephens,  who  had  fought  the  long  fight 
over  an  arduous  range  of  ^ve  years,  "is  betifer  than  the  one  rendered  a  year  ago, 
which  set  forth  a  tentative  tariff  and  tentatiV^b  rates." 

And  Spokane  celebrated.  Tuesday,  July  ^6,  is  a  day  that  will  long  be  remem- 
bered in  the  city's  history.  Pandemonium  broke  loose  at  9:80  a.  m.,  with  a  wild 
ringing  of  bells  and  screeching  of  factory  whistles,  a  clangor  which  lasted  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  and  notified  the  city's  population  that  the  celebration  was 
started.  At  10  o'clock  the  parade  moved,  the  longest  and  most  impressive  industrial 
demonstration  that  had  ever  moved  over  the  business  streets  of  the  town.  The 
chamber  of  commerce  signalized  its  gladness  by  holding  a  memorable  noonday  rally 
and  a  huge  night  celebration  in  front  of  Masonic  temple  aroused  the  public  to  a 
high  pitch  of  enthusiasm.  Red  lights  flared  out  their  rosy  illumination,  auto  horns 
contributed  their  quota  of  raucous  sound,  and  dynamite  blasts  sent  their  deep 
reverberations  through  the  city's  encircling  hills  to  an  accompaniment  of  human 
shouts. 


604  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

"Out  of  the  ruins  of  1889  (spoke  President  E.  T.  Coman  of  the  chamber  of 
commerce)^  a  greater  Spokane  arose^  built  by  energy  and  money  and  the  enthusi- 
asm of  many  staunch  citizens.  Ont  of  the  victory  of  a  twenty  year  rate  fight  a 
greater  Spokane  yet  is  to  grow.  You  who  have  read  and  understood  the  decision 
know  the  vast  benefits.  They  are  not  for  the  business  man  alone^  not  for  the  mer- 
chant alone.  They  are  for  the  people^  the  workingman  as  well  as  the  banker." 
Mayor  Hindley  spoke  next^  and  then  the  appearance  of  A.  W.  Doland  and  B.  L. 
Gordon^  the  two  surviving  members  of  the  original  committee^  brought  a  storm  of 
applause.  Another  tumultuous  demonstration  greeted  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Ste- 
phens. T.  S.  Griffith^  another  member  of  the  committee,  spoke  on  "Friendship  With 
the  Railways/'  and  F.  K.  McBroom,  chairman  of  the  board  of  commissioners,  spoke 
for  the  county. 

A  street  dance  followed,  with  R.  L.  Rutter  leading  the  grand  march  on  River- 
side avenue.  Twenty  thousand  people  saw  the  parade  in  the  forenoon,  and  12,000 
joined  in  the  demonstration  at  night. 

Mr.  Doland  sold  his  interest  in  the  Spokane  Drug  company  in  July,  and  took 
an  extended  trip  to  the  Orient.  In  his  absence  the  chairmanship  of  the  joint  rate 
committee  of  the  chamber  of  commerce  and  the  Merchants'  Association  was  con- 
ferred on  Ex-Mayor  J.  M.  Comstock,  another  veteran  rate  fighter. 

Attention  was  now  turned  to  the  railroads.  Would  they  accept  the  commission's 
decision,  or  would  they  appeal  to  the  courts?  They  chose  the  latter  course,  and  on 
their  petition  the  United  States  court  of  commerce  enjoined  the  commission  from 
ordering  the  new  rates  into  effect.  From  that  decision  Spokane  has  appealed  to  the 
United  States  supreme  court,  and  there  the  long  issue  hangs  in  the  balance  as  this 
history  goes  to  press. 


CHAPTER  LXXVI 

ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  NATIONAL  APPLE  SHOW 

BIRTH   AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AN    IDEA FIRST  SHOW   IN    1908 DELIGHTED   THOUSANDS 

VIEW  THE  BEAUTIFUL  EXHIBITS PRESIDENT   TAFT  PRESSES  A  GOLDEN   KEY SPLEN- 
DID    ENTERPRISE      IN      PERIL SAVED     BY     ENTHUIASTIC     WORK GREAT      FUND      OF 

$60^000   RAISED    IN    1911 BRILLIANT    CARNIVAL    FEATURES TWENTY-SEVEN    VISIT- 
ING     BANDS NATIONAL      COUNTRY      LIFE      CONGRESS THIRTY-THREE      PRINCESSES 

ROYALLY  ENTERTAINED. 

THE  National  Apple  Show  has  an  interesting  history.  According  to  Ren 
H.  Rice^  for  three  years  its  secretary  and  manager,  David  Brown  and  a 
few  acquaintances  discussed  a  plan,  early  in  the  spring  of  1908,  to  deter- 
mine the  district  in  the  United  States  growing  the  largest  perfect  apple.  They  were 
confident  that  a  thorough  going  test  by  acknowledged  authorities  would  award  that 
honor  and  distinction  to  the  Pacific  northwest,  and  reasoned  that  the  publicity  grow- 
ing out  of  the  investigation  would  focus  favorable  attention  on  Spokane  and  the 
Inland  Empire. 

The  idea  was  taken  up  by  the  Spokane  Horticultural  society  at  a  meeting  on 
April  4,  1908,  and  it  was  proposed  to  have  a  local  apple  show  the  following  fall. 
The  Washington  State  Horticultural  association  and  the  Spokane  chamber  of  com- 
merce fostered  the  project.  Changes  followed  rapidly  as  the  idea  worked  out,  and 
from  a  county  show  it  passed  to  an  Inland  Empire  exhibit,  and  finally,  by  unani- 
mous agreement  of  the  various  interests,  it  was  decided  to  have  an  exposition  of 
national  scope  and  character. 

Incorporation  of  the  National  Apple  Show  followed,  with  $100,000  capital,  and 
these  officers:  President,  Louis  W.  Hill;  first  vice-president,  L.  F.  Williams;  second 
vice-president,  E.  F.  Cartier  Van  Dissel;  treasurer,  W.  D.  Vincent;  secretary  and 
manager,  Harry  J.  Neely;  trustees,  E.  F.  Cartier  Van  Dissel,  chairman;  F.  W.  Gil- 
bert, St.  Paul,  general  superintendent  of  the  Northern  Pacific  (deceased) ;  William 
McMurray,  general  passenger  agent  of  the  O.  R.  &  N.,  Portland;  D.  C.  Corbin, 
president  Spokane  International;  J.  P.  Graves,  president  Spokane  &  Inland  Empire 
electric  system;  Henry  M.  Richards,  president  Washington  Water  Power  company; 
Nelson  W.  Durham,  editor  Spokesman-Review;  L.  F.  Williams,  capitalist  and  or- 
cbardist;  J.  P.  McGoldrick,  president  McGoldrick  Lumber  company;  F.  L.  Daggett, 
president  Arcadia  Irrigation  association ;  W.  D.  Vincent,  cashier  Old  National  bank ; 
David  Brown,  president  Haselwood  company ;  L.  MacLean,  president  Spokane  Canal 
company ;  F.  E.  Goodall,  president  chamber  of  commerce ;  Phil  T.  Becher,  of  Becher 

605 


606  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

&  Thompson;  Gordon  C.  Corbaley^  manager  real  estate  department  of  A.  D.  Jones 
&  Co.;  and  H.  J.  Neely,  secretary  treasurer  of  Neely  &  Young. 

This  organization  was  continued  in  1909  with  but  two  changes  in  the  executive 
board.  H.  J.  Neely  became  first  vice-president^  and  Ren  H.  Rice  succeeded  Mr. 
Neely  as  secretary  and  manager. 

From  the  beginning  the  enterprise  captivated  the  people  of  the  Inland  Empire, 
and  was  cordially  encouraged  by  property  owners  and  business  men  of  Spokane, 
by  high  officials  of  the  transcontinental  railroads^  and  by  orchardists  in  all  sections 
of  the  Pacific  northwest.  The  armory  was  utilized  as  nucleus  of  the  site,  and  va- 
cant ground  and  public  streets  adjoining  were  put  under  a  huge  frame  and  canvas 
structure  to  house  the  extensive  exhibits  and  provide  space  for  amusement  and  other 
features.  The  formal  opening,  December  7,  1908^  was  attended  by  President  Louis 
W.  Hill  of  the  Great  Northern,  Governor  Albert  E.  Mead,  Lieutenant  Governor- 
Elect  M.  E.  Hay,  and  many  prominent  officials  and  horticulturists  from  all  parts  of 
the  Inland  Empire.  People  came  by  thousands  to  marvel  at  the  magnitude  and 
beauty  of  the  displays,  and  went  home  to  impart  their  enthusiasm  to  neighbors  and 
friends.  Paid  attendance  for  the  six  days  ran  respectively,  14,852,  14,070,  18,000, 
20,070,  19,270,  17,000 — a  grand  total  of  nearly  103,000. 

With  Howard  Elliott,  president  of  the  Northern  Pacific,  at  its  head  in  1909, 
the  National  Apple  show  repeated  the  success  of  1908.  On  the  opening  day,  Novem- 
ber 15,  President  Taft  pressed  the  golden  key  at  Washington  which  signalized  the 
beginning  of  King  Apple's  reign,  and  the  presence  of  President  Elliott,  Cjovemor 
Hay,  Congressman  Poindexter  and  Mayor  Pratt  imparted  additional  official  ap- 
proval and  interest: 

The  people  of  the  Inland  Empire  had  now  come  to  regard  the  apple  show  as  a 
fixed  institution,  and  preparations  in  1910  for  the  third  great  exhibition  were 
carried  forward  with  enthusiastic  interest.  Three  and  a  half  acres  of  space  were 
needed  for  the  twenty-one  carload  exhibits,  thirty-six  district  collections  and  hun- 
dreds of  smaller  displays.  Monday,  November  14,  was  the  opening  day,  and  in  the 
evening  Miss  Mary  Idell  Ide  of  Colville  was  crowned  queen  with  appropriate 
exercises. 

Nineteen  hundred  and  eleven  was  a  year  of  comparative  industrial  and  commer- 
cial lassitude  throu^out  the  United  States,  and  the  seeming  difficulty  of  raising  the 
necessary  fund  led  many  to  believe  that  it  would  not  be  prudent  to  hold  the  fourth 
national  show.  At  one  time  in  early  summer  the  trustees  thought  that  the  splendid 
enterprise  would  have  to  be  abandoned.  The  difficulties  confronting  these  zealous 
and  public-spirited  workers  came  to  the  attention  of  W.  H.  Cowles  and  a  number  of 
other  progressive  citizens,  and  they  promptly  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  trustees 
with  an  offer  to  go  out  and  raise  the  needed  funds.  A  quick  and  enthusiastic  re- 
sponse from  property  owners  and  business  men  prompted  these  energetic  spirits  to 
carry  out  a  greatly  broadened  scheme  of  popular  entertainment,  and  it  was  determined 
to  supplement  the  apple  show  with  a  week  of  brilliant  carnival  attractions,  com- 
memorative of  the  completion  of  the  $500,000  Monroe  street  bridge,  and  to  take 
under  their  cordial  patronage  the  first  National  Country  Life  congress  which  David 
Brown,  Editor  E.  A.  Smith  of  the  Twice-a-Week  Spokesman-Review  and  Dan  Mor- 
gan had  already  fostered  into  an  event  of  national  interest. 

The  official  board  of  the  apple  show  was  enlarged  and  strengthened,  and  com- 


ROBERT  COS(JROVK  HKRBEBT  BOLSTER 

Secretary   of   the    Interstate  Mm.aiter  uf  tlie  oUl   Spokane 


F.  E.  OOODALL 


Kir«t  manager  of  the   Xatiorial  Miiiiafier    ot    the    National 

Apple  Show  Apple   Slion-s 


'  I- 


K~.   ^- 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 


607 


prised  the  following  well  known  citizens:  E.  F.  Cartier  Van  Dissel^  W.  D.  Vincent, 
J-  P.  McGoldrick,  Julius  Zittel,  Gordon  C.  Corbaley,  Harry  J.  Neely,  P.  D.  Tull, 
Joseph  A.  Borden,  Waldo  G.  Paine,  W.  H.  Cowles,  H.  A.  Flood,  R.  L.  Rutter, 
Samuel  Galland,  R.  O.  McClintock  and  F.  £.  Goodall. 

R.  L.  Rutter,  W.  D.  Vincent  and  Samuel  Galland  were  appointed  a  committee 
on  finance  and  a  brisk  solicitation  quickly  brought  the  handsome  fund  of  $60,000, 
of  which  $33,000  were  assigned  the  apple  show  and  the  remainder  to  the  carnival 
features  and  the  country  life  congress. 

November  23  to  30  were  the  date&i  chosen  -for  the  triple  attraction,  and  for  the 
apple  show  a  new  site  was  selected,- ^^tlifcjnoitth  side  of  Front  avenue,  between 
Bernard  and  Browne  streets,  and-^a  vast  structure  erected  of  lumber  and  canvas. 
Under  the  efficient  and  enthusiastic  direction  oi.  Ben  Rice  everything  was  ready  on 
opening  day,  and  the  arrangement  of  Uie'eihtbiisf,lntli.  an  attractive  array  of  auxili- 
ary attractions  and  careful  provision  for  the  comfort  of  the  throngs,  combined  to  form 
an  ensemble  which  made  the  fourth  national  apple  show  the  most  pleasing  of  all. 
Total  paid  attendance,  50,607,  as  compared  with  49,554  in  1910. 

The  carnival  features  elicited  universal  expressions  of  admiration.  They  in- 
cluded a  number  of  bewildering  and  beautiful  parades,  by  day  and  by  night;  the 
bringing  in  of  twenty-seven  bands  from  all  parts  of  the  Inland  Empire,  including 
the  famous  mounted  cowboy  band  from  Pendleton,  Oregon,  and  the  elaborate  social 
entertainment  of  thirty-three  princesses  from  as  many  towns  in  Washington,  Idaho, 
Oregon  and  Montana. 

The  identity  of  King  Apple  IV  was  maintained  a  profound  secret  until  the  clos- 
ing night  of  the  carnival.  It  was  then  revealed  that  Judge  George  Turner  had  been 
endowed  with  the  royal  prerogatives. 

The  list  of  princesses,  their  hostesses  and  the  knights  follows: 


HOSTESSES 

PRINCESSES 

KNIGHTS 

TOWN 

• 

Mrs.  Harry  Wraight 

Bertha  Leverich 

H.  L.  Barrett 

Kennewick 

Mrs.  W.  G.  Ramage 

Edna  Conlee 

Clarence  Hammerlund 

Davenport 

Mrs.  Slater 

Carrie  Hanson 

Mac  Rae  Stevenson 

WUbur 

Mrs.  Chas.  Tjarkin 

Margery  Paton 

H.  D.  Zimmerman 

Cashmere 

Mfl^  E.  F.  C.  Van  Dissel 

Effie  Parks 

M.  F.  Middleburg 

Pendleton 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Ude 

Effie  Finrow 

Jos.  Acheson 

Reardan 

Mrs.  J.  H.  Johnson 

Eliza  Gannon 

^Dr.  Harrington 

Pasco 

Mrs.  Walter  P.  Edris 

Sadie  Sellards .       •    •     ^ 

H.  J.  Soessell 

Prosser 

Mrs.  Harry  Neely 

Ethel  Rogers 

Arthur  Hammerlund 

Asotin 

Mrs.  R.  Insinger 

Edith  Nibbler 

Henri  Crommelin 

Uniontown 

Mrs.  R.  Insinger 

Emma  Cornwell 

Harry  Whitehouse 

Sunnyside 

Mrs.  Daniel  Morgan 

Beryl  Crabtree  Gano    " 

J.  W.Boyd 

Kamiah 

Mrs.  Daniel  Morgan 

Beatrice-Volkel 

Gordon  Lamey 

Post  Falls 

Mrs.  W.  D.  Vincent 

Rose  Mills 

VV.  Leuthold 

Krupp 

Mrs.  R.  L.  Ford 

Margery  Monteith 

E.  G.  Pyle 

Republic 

Mrs.  Cyrus  Happy 

Minnie  Spangler 

Russell  Millard 

Lewiston 

Mrs.  H.  W.  Newton 

Winnie  Strain 

Murray  Davenport 

Pomeroy 

Mrs.  Frank  Tebbets 

Anna  Cameron 

Jack  Richards 

Moscow 

Mrs.  Charles  Hebberd 

Mabel  Meuli 

George  Mohr 

Rosalia 

Mrs.  Harry  Hooper 

Alberta  Perry 

Guy  Amsden 

Mullan 

Mrs.  W.  P.  Edris 

Stella  Scott 

Chester  Coulter 

Tekoa 

Mrs.  R.  L.  Rutter 

Virginia  Sparks 

John  Doran 

Soap  Tiake 

608 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 


HOSTESSES 

Mrs.  G.  C.  Corbaley 
Mrs.  G.  C.  Corbaley 
Mrs.  T.  S.  Lane 
Mrs.  T.  S.  Lane 
Mrs.  B.  C.  Dillingham 
Mrs.  C.  W.  Winters 
Mrs  Chas.  Larkin 
Mrs  Chas.  Larkin 
Mrs.  M.  W.  Weeks 
Miss  B.  Sicklespell 
Mrs.  Chas.  Hebberd 


PRINCESSES 

Essie  Chichester 
Edna  Featherstone 
Eliza  Grathwohl 
Zoe  Kent 
Eunice  Krech 
Binda  Salisbury 
Marion  Wylie 
Anna  Hopkins 
Leila  Lavin 
Anna  Bhuby 
Loretta  McCarthy 


KNIGHTS 

Charles  Tierney 
Mr.  Lefferty 
Bichard  Oakley 
B.  H.  Demott 
Bay  Wilson 
Wallace  Fawcett 
Wm.  P.  Bimey 
H.  C.  Sootheran 
W.  M.  Baker 
Walter  May 
George  Sieler 


TOWN 

Ephrata 

Leavenworth 

OroviUe 

Bonners  Ferry 

Spirit  Lake 

Chewelah 

Waterville 

Deer  Park 

Pullman 

Odessa 

Kalispell 


Credit  for  the  brilliant  success  of  the  carnival  was  awarded  to  Charles  Hebberd, 
Roy  Slater,  W.  S.  Yearsley,  Gordon  C.  Corbaley,  W.  P.  Edris,  Seabury  Merritt, 
Earl  Constantine,  C.  H.  Moore,  A.  C.  Ware,  Alex.  Green,  R.  C.  Sweatt,  R.  Insinger 
and  C.  B.  Stoht. 

The  spirit  of  friendship  between  Spokane  and  its  neighbors  was  made  still  more 
cordial  by  the  fourth  national  apple  show  and  its  accompanying  carnival;  and  the 
inspirational  influence  on  the  citizens  of  Spokane,  coming  at  a  time  when  public 
enterprise  seemed  at  a  low  ebb  in  many  other  cities,  east  and  west,  was  of  incalculable 
benefit.  Confidence  was  keyed  anew  in  the  country  and  its  resources,  and  conviction 
deepened  in  the  minds  of  thousands  that  close  cooperation  between  Spokane  and 
its  neighbors  will  always  contribute  greatly  to  their  mutual  prosperity  and  well- 
being. 


CHAPTER  LXXVII 

GENESIS,   GROWTH   AND   ACHIEVEMENTS  OF   THE    150,000   CLUB EXTRAORDINARY   FUND- 
raising  campaign  for  the  y.  m.  c.  a.  and  the  children's  home first  pianos 

in  spokane y,  h.  brown  called  here  in  1883  to  tune  ten  instruments 

Spokane's  first  music  store  and  first  music  teacher — history  of  the  spokes- 
man-review  HOW   THE   RIVAL  MORNING  JOURNALS   WERE   CONSOLIDATED WOMAN 

SUFFRAGE  IN  TERRITORIAL  DAYS WOMEN   SERVE   ON   JURIES. 

THE  150,000  Club  of  Spokane,  possibly  the  pioneer  organization  of  its  kind 
on  the  continent,  was  organized  in  1905  for  the  purpose  primarily  of  inter- 
esting the  general  public  in  organized  effort  for  the  benefit  of  the  com- 
munity.   A  report  by  one  of  its  officers  says : 

The  first  year  the  Club  had  sixteen  hundred  members,  and  second  year  twenty- 
two  hundred. 

Among  the  big  things  attempted  by  the  Club  was  first  the  preservation  of  Fort 
George  Wright  to  the  city,  by  the  fight  waged  to  prevent  the  railroads  crossing  the 
reserve  and  destroying  its  usefulness  and  beauty. 

It  brought  about  the  passage  of  a  charter  amendment  creating  a  non-partisan 
park  commission. 

In  1907  the  Club  raised  a  fund  of  $60,000  to  complete  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  build- 
ing. The  Club  has  always  conducted  an  aggressive  campaign  for  home  industry  and 
has  done  much  to  bring  about  a  liberal  patronage  of  home  manufacturers,  which  has 
resulted  in  great  benefit  to  the  city. 

For  several  years  a  city  beautiful  or  general  cleaning  and  planting  campaign 
was  conducted  with  the  result  that  over  80,000  trees  were  planted  in  four  years. 
The  Playgrounds  association  was  an  incorporated  branch  of  the  Club  and  its  pi- 
oneer work  in  securing  playgrounds  and  equipment  for  the  boys  and  girls  is  much 
appreciated  by  the  citizens. 

The  officers  the  first  year  were:  F.  W.  King,  president;  W.  D.  Vincent,  treasurer; 
Ben  H.  Rice,  secretary;  and  all  were  reelected  for  a  second  term.  Upon  the  resig- 
nation of  Secretary  Rice,  Fred  H.  Gaston  was  elected  treasurer.  The  third  year 
G.  C.  Corbaley  was  elected  president,  M.  H.  Eggleston  treasurer  and  A.  W.  Jones, 
secretary. 

H.  J.  Neely  was  president  in  1909,  W.  D.  Vincent,  treasurer;  A.  W.  Jones, 
secretary,  and  the  following  board  of  managers:  J.  F.  Meagher,  A.  C.  Ware,  F.  W. 
King,  J.  A.  Tormey,  C.  H.  Moore,  W.  H.  Wilcox,  C.  H.  Larkin,  J.  L.  Paine,  P.  D. 
Toll,  J.  C.  Cunningham,  Phil  T.  Becher,  S.  A.  Mann  and  H.  E.  Oswald. 

The  Children's  Home  of  Spokane  owes  its  existence  to  a  most  unique  campaign 

Vol  1—89 

609 


610  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

for  funds.  Late  in  1907  it  became  apparent  to  some  of  our  citizens  that  the  old  home 
was  inadequate  as  well  as  dangerous^  it  being  termed  a  veritable  firetrap^  and  at  a 
meeting  of  the  150^000  Club^  the  question  of  raising  funds  for  a  new  building  was 
proposed  by  A.  V.  Bradrick.  A  committee  headed  by  Mr.  Bradrick  was  appointed 
by  the  club  and  the  subject  given  much  favorable  publicity  by  the  newspapers.  On 
March  20,  1908^  a  committee  of  two  hundred  men  of  all  walks  of  life  met  in  the 
hotel  Spokane  and  after  luncheon  were  divided  into  subcommittees  of  five  and  each 
given  a  territory  to  work.  $40^000  was  the  amount  decided  upon  to  be  raised  that 
day.  At  two  p.  m.  the  committees  went  out  and  at  six  p.  m.  they  reported  back 
the  entire  amount  raised  in  subscriptions  ranging  from  $1.00  to  $2^500. 

John  A.  Finch  contributed  the  site^  and  the  building  labor  unions  came  to  the 
front  with  promises  of  a  day's  labor  per  man  on  the  buildings^  which  promises 
have  been  since  made  good ;  the  laborers^  stone-masons^  bricklayers^  cement  workers 
and  plumbers  donated  much  free  labor.  The  lathers  and  plasterers  and  Mosso-Berry^ 
electricians^  did  all  their  work  entirely  gratis.  The  carpenter's  union  donated 
$1,000  from  their  treasury,  and  many  other  unions  donated  varying  amounts. 

The  150,000  Club  appointed  a  building  committee,  consisting  of  F.  Wallace  King, 
chairman,  H.  M.  Stephens,  J.  M.  Corbet,  Geo.  Mackie  and  Mr.  Rogers,  with  W.  D. 
Vincent,  as  treasurer,  and  in  charge  of  the  collection  of  the  fund.  The  services 
of  R.  C.  Sweatt,  as  architect,  were  secured,  and  to  these  gentlemen^  who  for  several 
months  gave  freely  their  time,  is  due  much  of  the  credit  for  the  splendid  home 
opened  for  the  orphan  children  of  Spokane. 

Including  the  labor  donations,  the  building  is  worth  at  least  $75,000. 

V.  H.  BROWN   TELLS  OF  FIRST  PIANOS  IN    SPOKANE 

Going  to  Portland,  Ore.,  in  November,  1879,  to  reside,  I  began,  in  March,  1881, 
making  regular  semiannual  trips  as  far  east  as  Lewiston,  Idaho  to  tune  pianos,  and 
when  in  Walla  Walla  in  October,  1882,  I  received  a  letter  from  Geo.  Brandt  in 
which  he  said  there  were  several  pianos  in  Spokane  much  in  need  of  tuning,  and  he 
would  like  to  know  what  I  would  charge  to  come  up  and  tune  them.  I  replied  that 
I  would  make  the  trip  for  $75.00  and  tune  all  the  pianos  there.  He  informed  me 
they  could  not  pay  that  much. 

When  I  was  in  Walla  Walla  in  April,  1883,  Mr.  Brandt  wrote  me  he  had  ten 
pianos  for  me  to  ttine  at  $10.00  each  and  I  soon  came  here,  arriving  April  26th  or 
27th.  I  can  now  recall  only  Ave  of  the  names  of  the  owners  whose  pianos  I  tuned 
at  that  first  trip.  They  are  J.J,  Browne,  A.  M.  Cannon,  B.  B.  Bravender,  .  .  . 
Warner,  and   Hotel   Sprague. 

I  am  reasonably  certain  this  was  the  first  piano  tuning  done  in  Spokane. 

I  came  to  Spokane  again  in  October,  1888,  and  continued  making  semiannual 
trips  until  I  came  here  to  reside,  which  was  January  19th,  1888. 

The  first  pianos  sold  in  Spokane  were  freighted  here  with  teams  from  Walla 
Walla  in  the  summer  of  1881  by  A.  L.  Davis  &  Son  and  placed  in  a  small  frame 
building  on  the  ground  now  occupied  by  the  Orpheum  Theater  on  Howard  street. 

Soon  after  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  was  completed  to  Spokane  from  the 
west,  making  shipping  easy  from  Portland,  Davis  &  Son  occupied  a  part  of  the  W. 
L.  Turner  Drug  Store  on  Howard  street  near  Front  avenue  with  some  ten  or  twelve 


ST.   LUKE'S   HOSPITAL 


,  t 


L 


<  •;  .>KA   VORIi 

.•!;,iC  LI  BRAS  If 


A4  \  m*    14  *^X 


*■■  ■     1    Z' 


*^ 


I 

{ 


.,":'/  •'■^>^'  voRc 

^^C  UBRAR 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  611 

pianos.  They  moved  to  Mill  street  into  the  rear  store  in  the  old  Jamieson  Buildings 
comer  of  Riverside  avenue  and  Mill  street^  about  the  beginning  of  1885  and  put  in 
a  general  stock  of  pianos^  organs^  small  musical  instruments  and  sheet  music. 

Snyder  &  Dorsey  bought  out  A.  L.  Davis  &  Son  late  in  1888  or  early  in  188^ 
and  continued  the  business  in  the  Jamieson  Building  until  the  big  fire  in  August 
1889.  As  soon  as  new  stock  c^uld  be  shipped  in  they  opened  up  in  one  room  in  E. 
C.  Dorsey 's  residence^  corner  of  Main  avenue  and  Washington  street^  where  they 
remained  until  new  business  blocks  could  be  occupied  when  they  moved  to  the 
Eagle  Block  into  the  room  now  occupied  by  the  Spokane  Cab  Co. 

E.  C.  Dorsey  succeeded  to  the  business  hi  Snyder  &  Dorsey  in  1892  and  moved 
to  the  corner  of  Sprague  avenue  and  $tevehs  street'  where  he  continued  until  he 
closed  out  in  1898. 

Mrs.  Geo.  Brandt^  who  was  probably  the.fifs^.piaup  teacher  here,  had  two  or 
three  pianos  on  sale  when  I  came  here  in  April  1883  and  continued  as  agent  for  a 
piano  house  in  San  Franscisco  until  the  latter  part  of  1887  when  Mr.  Brandt 
opened  a  store  in  the  Falls  City  Blocks  corner  of  Riverside  avenue  and  Post  street. 

I  had  charge  of  this  store  in  February  and  March^  1888^  while  Mr.  Brandt  was 
in  California  and  he  sold  it  to  Frank  Bracht  about  May  Ist^  1888. 

Mr.  Bracht  moved  to  the  Cascade  Block^  Riverside  avenue,  between  Post  and 
Monroe  streets,  a  few  days  before  the  big  fire  in  1889,  then  to  the  Bracht  Block,  on 
Howard  street,  between  Riverside  and  Sprague  avenues  where  he  continued  until 
he  closed  out  in  May  1901. 

Hemmings  &  Joslyn  opened  a  piano  store  on  Monroe  street  near  Broadway 
avenue,  about  September  1st,  1889,  and  were  succeeded  by  the  D.  C.  Josyln  Music 
Co.  about  September  1st,  1890. 

The  Chant  Music  Co.  bought  out  the  D.  C.  Joslyn  Co.  about  April  1st,  1894-. 

About  October  15th,  1895,  D.  S.  Johnston  came  to  Spokane  with  two  or  three 
car  loads  of  pianos  for  a  "rush  sale"  and  opened  out  in  the  comer  store  of  the 
Jamieson  Block,  corner  of  Riverside  avenue  and  Mill  street. 

He  came  again  in  January,  1896,  for  the  same  kind  of  a  sale  occupying  the 
store  at  the  corner  of  Riverside  avenue  and  Post  street.  April  1  st,  1 896,  he  opened 
a  permanent  store  on  Riverside  avenue,  between  Post  and  Lincoln  streets,  and  con- 
tinued business  until  the  latter  part  of  1 898  'v^hen  he  sold  to  the  Eilers  Piano  House. 

August  Myers  opened  a  piano  store  about  1901  or  1902  and  sold  to  the  Spokane 
Piano  House  in  1905.     They  continued  business  until  about  July,  1909. 

In  September  of  1891,  Geo.  H.  Kimball  &  Co.  (Geo.  H.  Kimball  and  H.  N.  Cock- 
rell)  opened  a  piano  store  on  the  second  floor  of  the  Temple  Court  Building.  In 
November  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Cockrell  bought  out  Mr.  Kimball  and  continued  the 
business  under  the  name  of  H.  N.  Cockrell  &  Co.     In  the  spring  of  1892  Cockrell 

6  Co.  bought  out  E.  H.  Beals  &  Co.,  who  had  been  in  business  but  a  few  months, 
and  moved  to  No.  9  Mill  street  where  they  remained  about  eighteen  months,  when 
they  moved  to  the  corner  of  Mill  and  Sprague.    In  the  fall  of  1 895  they  moved  to  No. 

7  Post  street,  Whitten  Block,  and  remained  there,  doing  a  very  successful  business 
until  they  closed  out  in  1904. 

V.  H.  Brown. 


612  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

HISTORY  OF  THE  SPOKESMAN-REVIEW 

The  Spokane  Falls  Review  was  established  as  a  weekly^  May  15^  1889^  and  the 
first  number  was  printed  on  a  Washington  hand  press  at  Cheney.  It  continued  a 
weekly  to  June  16,  1884^  when  it  was  advanced  to  an  afternoon  daily.  A  year 
later  it  became  a  morning  paper. 

On  July  1^  1886,  Horace  T.  Brown  acquired  an  interest  from  Dallam,  a  "pony" 
Associated  Press  service  was  taken  on,  and  the  paper  was  enlarged.  A  few  days 
later  H.  W.  Greenberg,  a  pioneer  printer,  was  added  to  the  partnership.  Under 
their  control,  the  paper  was  enlarged  or  con^aqfipd  from  time  to  time,  as  exigencies 
demanded.  /  'VS      '    '  i^ 

In  the  summer  of  1887  Brown  and  Greenberg  bought  the  remaining  interest  of 
Dallam,  and  on  April  1,  1888,  they  disposed  of  the  property  to  Patrick  Henry 
Winston,  James  Monaghan,  C.  B.  King  and' Willi^' Sweet,  who  formed  a  joint  stodc 
company.     On  April  12,  1888,  they  incorporated  the  ^Review  Publishing  company. 

October  1,  1888,  the  property  was  again  sold,  this  time  to  Harvey  W.  Scott  and 
Henry  L.  Pittock,  editor  and  manager,  respectively,  of  the  Portland  Oregonian, 
and  A.  M.  Cannon.    At  that  time  there  were  only  eleven  names  on  the  payroll. 

October  12,  1889,  N.  W.  Durham,  coining  from  the  editorial  staff  of  the  Oregon- 
ian, took  editorial  control. 

In  1 898  the  Review  and  its  morning  rival,  the  Spokesman,  were  merged,  and  on 
February  23  of  that  year  W.  H.  Cowles  became  publisher  and  proprietor.  Durham 
continued  as  editorial*  director  of  the  consolidated  property  until  May,  1910.  W. 
H.  Cowles,  under  whose  talented  and  high-minded  direction  the  Spokesman-Review 
has  won  rank  as  one  of  the  most  successful,  able  and  fearless  journals  in  the 
United  States,  was  drawn  to  Spokane  in  the  early  '90s  by  a  comparatively  minor 
investment  in  the  Morning  Spokesman.  Mr.  Cowles'  father  had  been  one  of  the 
chief  owners  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  and  the  young  man  was  given  thorough  train- 
ing in  that  notably  efficient  school  of  American  journalism.  It  soon  developed  that 
the  opposition  venture  of  the  Morning  Spokesman  was  a  losing  investment,  but 
Cowles  hung  to  the  task  with  great  tenacity,  acquired  from  time  to  time  the  inter- 
ests of  his  disappointed  associates,  and  carried  on  the  opposition  with  unflagging 
vigor. 

Unfortunately,  the  financial  depression  that  followed  fast  upon  the  rebuilding 
of  the  burned  city  told  heavily  on  the  incomes  of  the  rival  morning  dailies,  and  both 
suffered  severe  and  increasing  monthly  losses.  At  that  juncture,  in  the  dull  winter 
of  1892-93,  the  conviction  came  dear  to  the  writer  of  this  volume  that  for  many 
years  to  come  the  town  could  not  be  expected  to  support  two  morning  journals,  and 
since  both  papers  had  the  financial  backing  of  powerful  and  wealthy  interests,  there 
seemed  every  prospect  that  the  losses  in  the  Spokane  field  would  continue  in- 
definitely, or  at  least  until  the  combatants,  grown  weary  of  their  unprofitable  proper- 
ties, might  reach  a  tacit  agreement  to  cut  down  expenses  and  find  bottom,  where- 
ever  bottom  might  be.  In  that  event  it  was  dear  that  Spokane  would  suffer  the  mis- 
fortune that  has  been  thrust  upon  many  other  young  cities,  of  having  to  endure  two 
poor  and  uninfluential  dailies,  struggling  for  a  starving  support  in  a  field  barely 
capable  of  maintaining  one  that  would  be  a  credit  to  the  town. 

Under  that  conviction,  the  writer,  sought  an  interview  with  Mr.  Cowles  in  the 


\ 


1>*  -'    — "^ 


THOMAS  HOOKKB 


HKNKY   RIMINCl 


\V.  H.  COWLES 

Piiblislipr  iS|ii)kesmaii-Re4 


CKORGK   \V.    noims 


J.   F.  YOl'XG 

mer  S[MikeRman-Revii 


JIALCOLM   r.LENDiNNJ: 

(.■ily    K.litor    SpiikesmHn 


RORKRT  A.  (ILKN 


rWAXK  DALLAM 

Hiniler   ot   Daily   Hev 


.  MORRIS 
tt   Spi>kp<nn 


KinVTN  A.  8MrTH 

I    Tivii-c-n-Week   Hitokesnmn- 


1 

' 

L>L.l'^ 

1^1  D-i/va 

1 

1 
1 

*„T  w^ 

Ltl*«X 

1 

r 

. ;,  I  f'  -  o 

^NOATlONt 

^■■•^■WM 


'    :hk  nkw  vgkk 

.  ';:;lic  library! 


i  /v     -*',    LI    '&X 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  613 

SpK>kesman  office^  then  published  in  Carson's  Hazel  block^  on  the  east  side  of 
Howard^  between  Riverside  and  Sprague^  and  without  preliminary  fencing  stated 
the  apparent  advisability  of  bringing  about^  if  possible^  a  consolidation  of  the  two 
newspapers.  With  equal  candor  Mr.  Cowles  assented  to  this  view  of  the  situation. 
The  writer  then  sent  Mr.  Scott  and  Mr.  Pittock  a  statement  of  his  conclusions  and 
a  report  of  the  interview  with  Mr.  Cowles,  and  volunteered,  if  they  wished  it,  to 
endeavor  to  arrange  a  meeting  for  them  with  Mr.  Cowles.  This  received  their 
ready  approval  and  the  meeting  was  held  in  the  Review  editorial  rooms,  Mr.  Scott 
and  Mr.  Pittock  coming  up  from  Portland.  After  several  weeks  of  negotiation  the 
merger  was  completed,  having  also  the  approval  of  Mi^*  Cannon,  who  held  a  third 
interest  with  the  Portland  owners.  A  few  months  later  Mr.  Cowles  acquired  Mr. 
Cannon's  interest,  and  a  little  later,  the  panf^ '  hi*  1 898  having  broken  upon  the 
land,  Mr.  Pittock  and  Mr.  Scott  sold  out  theii^  entire  interest  to  Mr.  Cowles,  who 
thus  became  sole  owner  of  the  consolidated  properties. 

Remembrance  of  the  part  he  thus  played  ill  helping  to  bring  order  out  of  Spo- 
kane's journalistic  chaos  has  been  a  source  of  gratification  to  the  writer  of  this 
history.  For  the  results  were  beneficial  alike  to  the  city,  the  former  owners  and 
Mr.  Cowles.  Relieved  of  the  burden  of  a  losing  daily  in  a  distant  town,  Mr.  Pit- 
tock and  Mr.  Scott  rode  out  more  easily  the  storm  that  tossed  the  financial  and 
industrial  craft  of  the  United  States.  Having  the  concentrated  support  of  the 
town,  Mr.  Cowles  was  able  to  press  steadily  forward  with  his  ambitious  plans,  and 
print  a  daily  journal  that  Spokane  could  offer  in  successful  competition  in  the 
surrounding  country  with  the  competing  papers  to  the  east  and  the  west. 

In  1890-91  the  present  Review  building  was  erected,  and  formally  opened  by 
a  public  reception  in  October,  1891. 

WOMEN  .VOTED  IN  TERRITORAL  DAYS 

The  legislature  of  Washington  territory  enfranchised  women  in  1888  and  the  bill 
was  approved  by  Governor  W.  A.  Newell  November  28  of  that  year. 

One  of  the  first  women  to  serve  in  the  territory  still  lives  in  the  Inland  Empire, 
she  is  Mrs.  Lucy  A.  R.  Switzer  of  Cheney.  Speaking  of  her  experiences  nearly 
three  decades  ago  Mrs.  Switzer  said: 

"The  first  women  jurors  to  serve  in  Spokane  county  were  doubtless  Mrs.  Martha 
Bluett,  Mrs.  L.  M.  Kellogg  and  Miss  Mary  R.  Bybie,  who,  as  well  as  I  can  recol- 
lect, served  in  the  justice  court  of  John  W.  Still  in  Cheney.  I  think  it  was  in  the 
latter  part  of  winter.  In  the  case  of  Heifflebower  versus  Heifflebower  these  women 
were  called  upon  to  serve  and  they  did  so.  I  know  them  all.  The  Northwest  Trib- 
une of  October  8,  1884,  then  published  at  Cheney,  stated:  'The  district  court  will 
convene  at  Cheney  Monday,  October  6,  Judg^  S.  C.  Wingard  presiding.' 

''There  was  a  long  list^oi  casesi, .  nearly  70.  Five  women  served  on  the  jury 
that  term:  Mrs.  J.  C.  Davenport,  Mrs.  Jennie  M.  Mount,  Mrs.  H.  A.  Range,  Miss 
Mary  R.  Bybie  and  myself.  The  fall  term  lasted  10  days  and  a  half,  I  think. 
The  same  ^Ye  women  served  at  the  adjourned  term  of  over  10  days  the  following 
February.  Three  of  them  were  chosen  a  clerk  of  the  jury  in  different  cases,  one, 
myself,  acting  as  foreman  in  two  cases,  and  one  was  appointed  bailiff.  Mrs.  Dav- 
enport and  Mrs.  Mount  are  now  dead,  Mrs.  Range  lives  in  Seattle  and  Miss  Bybie 
in  Portland." 


CHAPTER  LXXVIII 

D.  C.  CORBIJJ'S  CAREER  IN  SPOKANE  COUNTRY 

VISITS  THE  COEUR  d'aLENES  IN   1886 MEETS  JIM  WARDNER,  PHIL  o'rOURKE  AND  HARRY 

BAER ALARMING    MIXTURE    OF    ORE    SAMPLES    AND    DYNAMITE BUILDS    A    RAILROAD 

AND   SELLS    IT    TO    THE    NORTHERN    PACIFIC COMES   TO    SPOKANE    AND    BUILDS    THE 

SPOKANE   FALLS  &   NORTHERN TRYING   TIMES   AFTER   PANIC    OF    1893 LOYALTY  OF 

HIS    EMPLOYES BUILDS    THE    SPOKANE    INTERNATIONAL ESTABLISHES    THE    SUGAR 

BEET    INDUSTRY. 

BY  D.   C.    CORBIN 

IN  THE  spring  of  1886^  having  some  leisure  time  on  my  hands^  I  came  from 
New  York  to  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  and  the  state  of  Washington,  with  no  other 
purpose  than  to  see  something  of  the  extreme  northwest.  I  was  familiar  with 
nearly  all  the  states  and  territories  west  of  the  Missouri  river,  having  come  out  to 
the  west  when  a  very  young  man,  and  had  spent  most  of  my  life  on  the  frontier 
west  of  the  Mississippi  river. 

I  had  crossed  the  plains  to  Denver  and  Salt  Lake,  on  mule  back  and  by  over- 
land stage,  several  times  before  the  Union  Pacific  was  built.  I  had  enjoyed  the 
exciting  sport  of  chasing  buffalo  and  being  chased  by  Indians,  and  had  contracted 
a  love  for  the  west  which  will  last  as  long  as  I  live.. 

By  invitation  of  Henry  Villard  and  T.  F.  Oakes,  I  had  been  present  at  the 
driving  of  the  last  spike,  near  Gold  Creek,  Montana,  that  completed  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad,  and  had  not  then,  nor  until  my  visit  in  1886, 
been  further  west  on  the  northern  route  than  that  point.  I  knew  something  of 
Washington,  especially  the  Puget  Sound  country,  a  little  about  Spokane  and  the 
Inland  Empire,  and  had  a  desire  to  see  it. 

I  stopped  short  of  Spokane  on  my  way  west,  leaving  the  Northern  Pacific  at 
Rathdrum,  and  taking  the  stage  from  there  to  Coeur  d'Alene  City — city  by  courtesy, 
for  it  was  then  a  very  small  place,  its  principal  feature  being  the  military  post. 
After  spending  a  day  there,  I  took  the  steamer  Coeur  d'Alene,  owned  by  James 
Monaghan,  Clem  King  and  Captain  Sanborn,  for  Old  Mission  at  the  head  of  navi- 
gation on  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river,  and  upon  arriving  at  that  point  changed  con- 
veyance to  a  mud  wagon  stage  that  ran  between  Old  Mission  and  Wardner.  It 
was  in  April,  and  the  roads  were  at  their  worst,  and  that,  as  anybody  will  testify 
who  traveled  them  at  that  time,  either  on  foot,  horseback,  or  by  stage,  meant  about 
the  worst  that  anybody  ever  saw.  It  was  not  like  the  old  time  roads  on  the  Illinois 
prairies,  that  had  no  bottom,  when  stage  passengers  were  required  to  walk  and 

615 


616  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

carry  rails  on  their  shoulders  to  pry  the  coaches  out  of  the  mud;  there  was  bottom 
to  the  road  between  Old  Mission  and  Wardner^  but  it  was  from  two  to  three  feet 
below  the  surface. 

At  the  town  of  Wardner  I  found  James  Wardner^  Phil.  O'Rourke^  Con  Sulliyan^ 
Harry  Baer  and  Kellogg^  who  owned  the  donkey  that  discovered  the  Bunker  Hill 
mine.  The  gentlemen  named^  excepting  Jim  Wardner^  were  the  owners  of  the 
Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan  mines^  at  that  time  nothing  more  than  exceedingly  good 
prospects^  and  they  very  courteously  invited  me  to  inspect  what  little  there  was 
to  be  seen^  and  afterwards  to  have  dinner  with  them  at  the  miners'  boarding  house^ 
both  of  which  invitations  I  accepted  and  enjoyed. 

In  our  examination  of  the  prospects^  Jim  Wardner  had  secured  a  gunny  sadL^ 
in  which  he  deposited  various  samples  of  the  ore^  and  upon  our  return  to  his  cabin^ 
dumped  them  in  a  pile  upon  the  floor.  Among  the  samples  was  one  that  would 
not  have  assayed  much  in  silver  and  lead^  but  which  would  have  given  exceedingly 
high  values  in  dynamite.  In  other  words^  Jim  had  picked  up  an  empty  sack — appar- 
ently empty — in  which  to  deposit  his  samples^  and  had  been  dropping  occasional 
chunks  of  lead  ore  on  a  stick  of  dynamite  during  the  day.  We  were  both  speechless 
for  a  moment^  and  then  some  brief  remarks  were  made  which  are  not  necessary 
to  repeat  here. 

From  Wardner  I  proceeded  to  the  town  of  Wallace,  which  then  consisted  of 
three  log  houses,  occupied  by  Colonel  Wallace  and  his  wife,  another  man  and  wife, 
and  a  single  man.  Mr.  S.  S.  Glidden,  who  then  owned  the  Tiger  mine  at  what 
is  now  the  town  of  Burke,  had  accompanied  me  from  Wardner,  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  me  the  mines,  but  we  were  obliged  to  lie  over  two  days  at  Wallace,  while 
men  were  clearing  fallen  tree*  from  the  trail — there  was  no  wagon  road  between 
Wallace  and  Burke  at  that  time — when  we  proceeded  to  the  Tiger  camp.  There 
was  not  much  development  on  the  Tiger  and  Poorman  mines  at  that  time,  but 
what  there  was  looked  good,  and  after  a  day  there  I  returned  to  Wardner  for  a 
further  examination  of  that  camp,  and  to  gain  what  information  I  could  respecting 
other  discoveries. 

It  all  impressed  me  so  forcibly  that  I  concluded  a  transportation  line,  connecting 
the  district  with  the  Northern  Pacific,  the  only  railroad  then  in  sight,  would  pay, 
and  within  a  short  time  had  arranged  to  build  a  branch  from  that  road  to  Coeur 
d'Alene  City,  had  purchased  the  transportation  line  on  the  lake  and  river,  and 
commenced  the  construction  of  a  road  from  Old  Mission  to  Wardner,  and  during 
the  following  winter  was  transporting  ore,  merchandise  and  passengers  over  it 
The  business  grew  rapidly  and  proved  very  profitable,  becoming  so  attractive  that 
two  years  later  the  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation  company,  then  under  the  man- 
agement of  Elijah  Smith,,  commenced  to  look  that  way  with  longing  eyes.  This 
did  not  suit  Mr.  T.  F.  Oakes,  then  president  of  the  Northern  Pacific,  who  claimed 
that  the  territory  belonged  to  his  company,  and  he  proposed  to  buy  me  out.  Our 
negotiations  were  short,  but  satisfactory  to  both  parties,  and  I  sold  the  line  to  the 
Northern  Pacific  company  in  the  iaXl  of  1888. 

The  following  winter  I  spent  in  New  York,  but  early  in  the  spring  of  1889,  at 
the  invitation  of  James  Monaghan,  James  Glover,  Frank  Moore  and  others,  who  had 
some  time  previously  organized  the  Spokane  Falls  &  Northern  Railway  company, 
I  came  to  Spokane,  and  after  a  short  time  arranged  to  take  the  company  over. 


DE  SMKT,  IDAHO,  ON  COKI'R  D'ALEXE     ST'BVIVORS   OF   INDIAN    WAR   OF   1S58 
INIHAX    RKSERVATION  ON  STEPTOK  RATTLEFTF.LD  AT 

BOSAT.IA.  \VA8HlN{iT0N 


VIEW  OF  roi.FAX   ni'RINIi  THE   FLOOD  OF  19111 


r};t:  nkw  iopk 
iPUiiUC  UBKARY 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  617 

finance  it,  and  build  the  road ;  and  in  October  of  the  same  season  was  running  trains 
to  Colville,  ninety  miles  north  of  Spokane.  During  the  following  three  years  I 
extended  the  road  to  Northport  and  the  international  boundary  line,  and  early  in 
the  spring  of  1898,  having  obtained  a  charter  from  the  Canadian  government,  com- 
menced the  construction  of  the  Nelson  &  Fort  Sheppard  railway,  from  the  interna- 
tional boundary  line  to  Nelson  on  Kootenai  lake. 

Later  during  that  season,  with  the  road  half  completed,  the  great  panic  of  1 893 
broke  upon  the  country,  like  a  thunderclap  out  of  a  clear  sky,  and  within  a  few 
mcmths  nearly  half  the  railroads, in  the  west,  including  the  Northern  Pacific,  were 
in  the  hands  of  receivers. 

The  following  year  of  1 894  brought  the  great  flood  in  the  Columbia  river,  which 
washed  out  some  miles  of  my  road  between  Marcus  and  the  boundary  line,  causing 
very  heavy  damage.  However,  it  was  not  a  time  to  give  up,  and  I  went  on  with  the 
determination  to  see  it  through,  but  with  many  misgivings  as  to  what  would  happen 
next,  and  feeling  a  little  like  the  old  man  who  fired  off  a  gun  containing  thirteen 
loads,  and  was  knocked  over  by  the  concussion,  when  his  son  called  out:  "Lay 
still,  dad,  there  are  twelve  more  loads  in  her."  It  was  a  time  when  a  man  had 
either  to  brace  up  and  fight  for  his  life,  or  lie  down  and  be  wiped  out.  I  was  for- 
tunate in  having  associates  in  the  enterprise  who  had  known  me  long,  and  who 
trusted  me,  and  in  the  loyalty  of  my  employes  who  refused,  at  the  order  of  the 
Anarchist  Eugene  Debs,  and  his  Spokane  lieutenants,  to  go  out  on  a  strike,  along 
with  the  employes  of  the  Great  Northern  and  Northern  Pacific  roads ;  and  so,  after 
a  long  and  anxious  spirit,  I  managed  to  sail  my  ship  into  calm  waters,  out  of  the 
reach  of  receivers. 

A  year  or  two  afterwards  I  had  the  road  on  a  paying  basis,  and  in  Jime,  1898, 
through  negotiations  with  Mr.  C.  S.  Mellen,  then  president  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railway  company,  sold  it  to  that  company. 

I  had  no  thought  at  that  time  of  engaging  in  further  railroad  construction,  but 
in  1904  I  was  strongly  impressed  with  the  belief  that  a  connection  with  the  Cana- 
dian Pacific  railroad  system  would  be  of  very  great  benefit  to  Spokane  and  the 
Inland  Empire,  and  proceeded  with  a  few  friends  to  finance  the  enterprise  (the 
Spokane  International),  having  the  friendly  cooperation,  through  its  very  able  presi- 
dent. Sir  Thomas  G.  Shaughnessy,  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  company. 

This  may  complete  my  railroad  construction — and  it  may  not.  I  am  on  the 
sunset  side  of  life,  but  still  vigorous,  and  willing  to  be  of  use  to  the  community  in 
which  I  live,  and  work  agrees  with  me.  I  have  always  felt  great  interest  in  the 
development  of  the  country,  and  have  unlimited  faith  in  it.  Washington  has  great 
possibilities,  and  will  be  one  of  the  great,  rich  states  of  the  Union. — D.  C.  Corbin. 

When  Mr.  Corbin,  in  1890,  extended  the  Spokane  Falls  &  Northern  to  the  inter- 
national boundary,  he  established  a  line  of  boats  to  Revelstoke,  connecting  there 
with  the  Canadian  Pacific.  Subsequently  he  bridged  the  Columbia  river  at  North- 
port  and  built  the  Red  Mountain  railway  to  the  Rossland  mines.  This  railroad 
system,  when  sold  to  the  Northern  Pacific  (it  passed  later  to  the  Great  Northern), 
comprised  220  miles  of  road.  It  has  been  one  of  the  chief  foundations  of  Spokane's 
greatness  and  prosperity.  Development  of  the  rich  mines  of  the  Rossland  district, 
the  Slocan,  of  Republic  and  the  Granby  and  other  ^properties  along  the  international 
boundary,  would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  impossible  if  the  Corbin  system  had 


618  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

never  been  constructed.  Beyond  all  question  that  development  would  have  been 
many  years  retarded. 

Mr.  Corbin  organized  in  1900  the  Washington  State  Sugar  company  and  built 
the  beet  sugar  factory  at  Waverly^  in  the  southern  end  of  Spokane  county.  He 
purchased,  in  1905,  the  property  of  the  Spdcane  Valley  Land  &  Water  Company, 
then  badly  involved,  raised  money  to  lift  its  debts,  developed  its  irrigating  system, 
and  purchased  several  thousand  acres  of  land  in  the  Spokane  valley,  at  an  outlay 
of  $850,000. 

In  1910  he  built  branch  lines  of  the  Spokane  International  to  Lakes  Coeur 
d'Alene  and  Pend  d'Oreille. 


CHAPTER  LXXIX 

CITY  OFFICIALS    OF   SPOKANE^   FROM    1881    TO   DATE.       COMPILED    BY    CITY    CLERK    C.    A. 

FLEMING. 

MAYOR  R.  W.  FORREST,  appointed  by  special  act  of  legislature  incorporat- 
ing the  City  of  Spokane  Falls.     November  25th,  1881. 
Mayor  J.  N.  Glover,  April  7th,  1884,  to  April  15,  1885. 

City  Clerk  Chas.  E.  Crellin  April  7th,  1884  to  July  16th,  1884. 

City  Clerk  George  Brandt,  July  16th,  1884  to  April  15th,  1885. 

City  Marshal  Eugene  Hyde. 

Mayor  A.  M.  Cannon,  April  15th,  1885  to  April  18th,  1887. 

City  Clerk  J.  C.  Hanna,  April  15th,  1885  to  April  6th,  1887. 

City  Clerk  J.  F.  Piggott,  April  6th,  1887  to  April  18th,  1887. 

Chief  of  Police  James  Glispin,  April  15th,  1885  to  January  11th,  1887. 

Acting  Chief  of  Police  S.  B.  Leininger,  January  11th,  1887  to  April  5th,  1887. 

Mayor  W.  H.  Taylor,  April  18th,  1887  to  April  18th,  1888. 

City  Clerk  W.  F.  Edwards,  April  18th,  1887  to  April  18th,  1888. 

Chief  of  Police  J.  F.  Warren,  April  5th,  1887  to  April  15th,  1890. 

Mayor  Jacob  Hoover,  April  18th,  1888  to  March  7th,  1889.     Resigned  on  ac- 
count of  moving  out  of  the  city  limits. 

Mayor  I.  S.  Kaufman,  elected  by  the  council  to  serve  unexpired  term  of  Jacob 
Hoover,  to  April  17th,  1889. 

City  Clerk  J.  J.  White,  April  18,  1888  to  April  16th,  1890. 

Chief  of  Fire  Dept.  W.  W.  Witherspoon,  June  6th,  1888  to  Dec.  2nd,  1889. 

Mayor  Fred  Furth,  April  17,  1889  to  April  16th,  1890. 

Chief  of  Fire  Dept.  E.  P.  Gillette,  Dec.  2nd,  1889  to  April  16th,  1890. 

Mayor  Chas.  F.  Clough,  April  16th,  1890  to  April  4th,  1891. 

City  Clerk  C.  O.  Downing,  April  16th,  1890  to  May  18th,  1892. 

Chief  of  Fire  Dept.  F.  B.  Weinbrenner,  April  16,  1890  to  Nov.  27th,  1896. 

Chief  of  Police  Dept.  M.  G.  Harbord,  April  16,  1890  to  April  28,  1891. 

Mayor  D.  B.  Fotheringham,  April  4th,  1891  to  May  18th,  1892.- 

City  Clerk  C.  O.  Downing. 

Chief  of  Police  Dept.  Peter  Mertz,  April  28th,  1891  to  Sept  10th,  1895. 

Mayor  D.  M.  Drumheller,  May  18th,  1892  to  May  12th,  1898. 

City  Clerk  J.  B.  Rasmusson,  May  18th,  1892  to  May  12th,  1898. 

Mayor  E.  L.  Powell,  May  12th,  1898  to  May  11th,  1894. 

City  Clerk  William  Morse,  May  12th,  1898  to  May  19th,  1896. 

Chief  of  Police,  Peter  Mertz  to  Sept.  10th,  1905. 

619 


620  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Mayor  Horatio  N.  Belt,  May  11th,  1894  to  May  14th,  1897. 

City  Clerk  L.  F.  Boyd,  May  19th,  1896  to  May  16th,  1902. 

Chief  of  Fire  Dept.  F.  B.  Weinbrenner  to  Nov.  27th,  1896  and  A.  H.  Myers 
from  November  27th,  1896  to  date. 

Chief  of  Police  Dept  Wm.  Hawthorne,  March  17th,  1896  to  June  11th,  1897. 

Mayor  E.  D.  Olmsted,  May  14th,  1897  to  May  12th,  1899. 

Chief  of  Police  Dept.  J.  F.  Warren,  July  6th,  1897  to  July  11th,  1899. 

Mayor  J.  M.  Comstock,  May  12th,  1899  to  May  17th,  1901. 

Chief  of  Police  Dept.  W.  W.  Witherspoon,  July  11th,  1899  to  June  17th,  1902. 

Mayor  P.  S.  Byrne,  May  17th,  190y  to^May  15th,  1908. 

City  Clerk  H.  J.  Gibbon,  May  16til^'j>po'2!  to  February  28th,  1908. 

Chief  of  Police  Dept  John  F.  Redfly  August  5th^  1902  to  May  6th,  1908. 

Mayor  L.  F.  Boyd,  May  15th,  1908  to  May  12th,  1905. 

City  Clerk  C.  A.  Fleming  February  e8{^,;  1908  to  date. 

Chief  of  Police  Dept.  E.  M.  Woydt,  May'l^th,  1908  to  March  8th,  1904. 

Mayor  Floyd  L.  Daggett,  May  12th,  1905  to  May  17th,  1907. 

Chief  of  Police  Dept  Leroy  Waller,  August  16th,  1904  to  May  17th,  1907. 

Mayor  C.  Herbert  Moore,  May  17th,  1907  to  May  14th,  1909. 

Chief  of  Police  Dept  Ren  H.  Rice,  May  17th,  1907  to  March  15th,  1909. 

Mayor  N.  S.  Pratt,  May  14th,  1909  to  March  14th,  1911. 

Chief  of  Police  Dept.  John  T.  Sullivan  Acting,  May  14th,  1909  to  Oct  25th, 
1910. 

Chief  of  Police  Dept.  W.  J.  Doust,  October  25th,  1910  to  date. 

Mayor  William  J.  Hindley,  March  14th,  1911  to  date. 

Chief  of  Police  Dept  W.  J.  Doust 


■'i- ... 


i-Wr, 


r'... 


w 


.lames  N.  Glovpr  w;  H.  Tsvlor 


R.  W.  Forrest 
il   Mayor  of  Spokmie 


C.  F.  Clougli  1).  B.  FotlierinKham  Dr.  E.  D.  Olmsted 

EARLY  DAY  MAYORS  OF  SPOKAXE 


E.   I..   I'(.HCll  H.    X.   Belt 

fiROUP  OF  SPOKANE  .MAYORS* 


I 


*•▼•".    LI  •♦•X 


Tr,-   NEW  YORK 

jPU.-uC  LIBRAR' 


-*f  ?<*••     L*  '♦•X 


1 


CHAPTER  LXXX 

BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIG  BBN1>  d^fe^TRY 


FUR  TRADERS   RANGE    OVER   THIS    BROAD    REGION ARRIvkL    O^  ^flkt   Vm*T    STOCKMEN 

TRAGIC  END  OF  '  WILD  GOOSE  BILL*' ARRIVAL  OP  THr  SOLDIERS FIRST  SETTLER  AT 

DAVENPORT CRICKET   SCOURGE   OF   1882-83 CREATION   OP    LINCOLN   AND   DOUGLAS 

COUNTIES HOT  AND   FURIOUS   COUNTY   SEAT   CONTEST ^DAVENPORT   ARMS   TO   HOLD 

THE    RECORDS INVADING    ''arMy"    FROM    SPRAGUE    TAKES    THEM    WITHOUT    BLOOD- 
SHED  A     COUNTY     WITHOUT     A     TOWN COMING     OF     THE     RAILROADS ^WHITMAN 

COUNTY    REDUCED    TO     MAKE    ADAMS    AND    FRANKLIN     COUNTIES FIRST    HOUSE    IN 

RITZVILLE HISTORIC      OLD      AINSWORTH PASCO's      EXPENSIVE      BANQUET ADVENT 

OF  THE   GREAT   NORTHERN. 

DAVID  THOMPSON,  engineer  and  explorer  of  the  Northwest  Fur  company 
of  Canada,  was  probably  the  first  white  man  to  look  upon  the  elevated 
prairie  lands  of  the  Big  Bend  country.  Thompson's  party  crossed  the 
Canadian  Rockies  in  the  spring  of  1809,  and  in  1811  descended  the  Columbia  river 
from  Kettle  Falls  to  Astoria. 

A  few  weeks  later  an  expedition  from  Astor's  establishment  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Columbia  located  a  rival  post  at  the  confluence  of  the  Okanogan  e^d  Columbia^ 
and  a  year  later  a  competing  post  at  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Spokane.  Communica- 
tion between  the  Astor  depots  at  Okanogan  and  Spokane  House  was  opened  in  1812^ 
and  the  party  in  charge  of  the  packtrain  between  these  paints  were  the  first  white 
men  to  traverse  the  Big  Bend  region. 

Hunting  and  exploring  parties  from  Spokane  House  scouted  widely  over  this 
broad  region,  and  their  old  chronicles  describe  the  Grand  Coulee,  lakes  of  mineral- 
ized waters  and  other  topographical  featiqres. 

Some  thirty  years  later  Protestant  and .  Catholic  missionaries  became  familiar 
with  the  geography  of  tlie  country,  and  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  Spragne 
served  as  a  camping  spot  for  Father  Eells,  Rev.  Elkanah  Walker  and  their  families 
en  route  from  Walla  Walla  to  Xslumak^iii. 

Detachments  from  GoVCfiior  Stevens'  exploring  expedition  of  1858  studied  the 
lofty  plateau,  and  four  or  five  years  thereafter,  adventurous  gold  miners  rocked  out 
considerable  placer  gold  from  bars  in  the  Columbia  near  Wenatchee  and  north 
into  British  Columbia.  They  were  followed  in  the  '60s  by  Chinese  miners  who 
worked  over  the  old  diggings  of  the  white  men,  and  about  that  time  a  few  ad- 
venturous cattlemen  drove  their  herds  into  the  country  and  took  up  stodc  ranges 
where  cattle  and  horses  thrived  well  on  the  nutritious  bunch-grass. 

621 


622  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

It  is  thought  that  John  Marlin^  who  came  in  1871^  with  his  wife  and  ten  children, 
to  the  spot  where  now  stands  the  town  of  Kmpp,  was  the  first  white  settler  within 
the  borders  of  the  present  day  counties  of  Douglas  and  Grant.  Marlin  built  a  log 
house  and  engaged  in  stodc-raising  until  1876,  when  he  sold  his  interests  to  George 
Urquhart,  who  was  followed  in  1877  by  his  brother  Donald.  At  that  time  a  stock- 
man named  Irby,  the  Walter  Brothers,  R.  M.  Bacon  and  John  Enos^  more  widely 
known  as  "Portuguese  Joe/'  had  stock  ranches  along  Crab  creek,  east  of  the  Mar- 
lin place.  Mr.  Bacon  served  as  the  first  postmaster  in  Lincoln  county,  when  Crab 
Creek  postoffice  was  established,  with  a  weekly  mail  service  by  stage. 

One  of  the  best  known  frontier  characters  in  the  country,  was  Wm.  Conden,  more 
familiarly  known  as  "Wild  Goose  Bill."  **)^Tien  I  was  Indian  Agent  from  1887  to 
1889,"  says  Major  Gwydir,  "I  became  intimately  acquainted  with  Bill  and  found 
him,  as  the  Indians  expressed  it,  a  skookum  Indian.  Conden  came  to  the  northwest 
in  1856.  He  began  packing  between  Walla  Walla  and  Fort  Colville.  He  afterwards 
built  and  operated  a  ferry  on  the  Columbia,  which  is  still  known  as  'Wild  Goose 
Bill's  ferry*.     He  also  had  a  trading  establishment  at  that  point. 

"Conden  won  his  sobriquet  by  firing  into  a  large  flock  of  tame  geese  owned  by 
a  settler  between  Walla  Walla  and  Colville,  under  the  impression  that  they  were 
wild.  The  owner  of  the  flock  had  brought  the  eggs  all  the  way  from  Oregon  and 
was  so  indignant  over  their  loss  that  she  followed  Bill  to  his  home,  delivering  all 
the  way  a  scathing  tirade  against  the  stupidity  of  a  man  who  pretended  to  be  a 
frontiersman  and  didn't  know  the  di£ference  between  a  wild  goose  and  a  tame  one. 

"Bill  had  considerable  trouble  with  his  first  squaw  wife,  Julia;  she  was  a  Coeur 
d'Alene  Indian  and  had  had  her  ears  trimmed  by  the  Indian  Court,  that  being  the 
penalty  among  that  tribe  for  immorality  in  women.  Humiliated  by  the  indignity 
and  shame  inflicted  upon  her,  and  disgusted  with  her  tribe,  she  eloped  with  Bill. 
The  Indians  soon  got  on  their  trail,  which  Bill  had  taken  no  trouble  to  hide,  for  as 
he  afterwards .  expressed  it,  he  sort  of  thought  he  would  be  followed.  A  few  days 
later  he  observed  four  mounted  Indians  coming  down  the  trail  toward  his  camp. 
Recognizing  the  Indians  as  Coeur  d'Alenes  he  prepared  for  action.  What  the 
Indians  thought  or  said  upon  meeting  Bill  has  never  been  recorded,  but  after  the 
meeting.  Bill  was  the  possessor  of  four  ponies  and  their  equipment,  their  former 
owners  having  no  further  use  for  them.  Conden  met  his  death  in  a  tragic  way, 
January  24,  1895.  He  and  a  man  named  Parks  had  some  trouble  and  there  was  a 
woman  mixed  up  with  it.    Bill's  last  words  were  'I  got  him  and  I  guess  he's  got  me/  " 

Grown  weary  of  the  nomadic  life  of  the  packer,  Conden  took  a  squatter's  claim 
on  which  the  town  of  Wilbur  was  subsequently  platted,  and  when  the  country  was 
surveyed,  filed  a  homestead  and  completed  his  title. 

Settlement  of  the  Big  Bend  country  showed  little  progress  in  the  '70s.  Discovery 
had  not  been  made  of  the  grain  and  fruit-growing  possibilities  of  the  uplands,  and 
stock-raising  continued  the  sole  industry.  The  first  settlements  in  the  vicinity  of 
Davenport  were  made  in  1878  and  1879.  O.  B.  Parks  came  up  from  California 
in  '78  and  took  a  claim  one  mile  north  of  the  present  county  seat;  J.  G.  Kethroc 
located  near  Reardan,  and  Barney  Fitzpatridc  engaged  in  the  stock-raising  busi- 
ness, and  after  the  establishment  of  old  Fort  Spokane  at  the  mouth  of  the  Spokane 
river,  took  a  government  contract  to  supply  the  troops  with  beef.    Otliers  who  came 


-^ 


T^'E  ^Ew  iruKK 
iPUBLlC  L13KAKT 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  623 

in  1879  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  D.  Strout^  Joseph  M.  Nichols,  C.  C.  May,  A.  G. 
Courtright,  L.  A.  Kennedy,  T.  M.  Cooper,  Byron  Richards,  James  Hurlburt,  Hor- 
ace Parker  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Oakley. 

"The  site  for  Fort  Spokane,"  says  a  "History  of  the  Big  Bend  Country,**  "was 
selected  in  September,  1880,  by  General  O.  O.  Howard,  department  commander, 
and  Lieutenant  Colonel  Merriam  of  the  Second  U.  S.  Infantry.  It  was  one  of  the 
prettiest  among  the  frontier  posts,  and  was  selected  because  it  was  in  easy  striking 
distance  of  the  Colville  Indian  reservation  just  across  the  Columbia  river.  To  this 
newly  selected  post  were  brought  five  companies  of  the  Second  infantry  and  one 
troop  of  the  Second  cavalry  under  command  of  Lieutenant  Coloilel  Merriam.  These 
troops  were  brought  from  the  foot  of  Lake  Chelan,  where  they  had  been  for  some  time 
exerting  a  wholesome  influence  upon  the  Chelan  Indians.  This  post  was  officially 
abandoned  in  1899.** 

The  presence  of  so  larg^  a  body  of  troops  stimulated  immigration,  both  by  re- 
assuring the  timid  and  cautious  and  by  a£fording  an  inviting  market  for  agricul- 
tural products  and  live  stock. 

This  year  a  man  named  Harker  took  a  claim  at  Cottonwood  Springs,  the  historic 
camping  spot  which  subsequently  became  Davenport,  and  a  postoffice  named  Cotton- 
wood was  established  there  with  Harker  as  postmaster  and  owner  of  a  small  stock 
of  merchandise.  The  first  real  business  house  was  erected  in  1881,  when  John  H^ 
Nicholls  built  a  combination  store,  dwelling,  postoffice  and  hotel.  Mr.  Nicholls 
freighted  his  goods  from  SpK)kane  Falls  and  Cheney,  the  Northern  Pacific  having 
reached  those  towns  from  the  wost^  but  prior  to  tills  year,  goods  needed  by  the 
scattered  settlement  were  hauled  Inom  Colfax  and  Walla  Walla. 

Many  were  the  hardships  and  privations  encountered  by  the  first  settlers  of  the 
Big  Bend  country.  Necessarily  th^„e§^rly  day  habitations  were  rough  and  primi- 
tive— a  poor  shelter  for  delicate  wbmen  and  children  against  the  cold  blasts  of 
winter.  Towns,  schools  and  churches  had  been  left  behind,  and  supplies  had  to  be 
freighted  long  distances  over  poor  roads  or  no  roads  at  all.  Medical  attention  in 
case  of  illness  was  hardly  to  be  thought  of;  and  solitude  left  its  depressing  influ- 
ence. In  some  instances  flour  could  be  had  only  by  grinding  wheat  in  co£fee  mills. 
These  pioneer  conditions  were  intensified  by  the  severity  of  the  winter  of  1881-82, 
and  to  cap  the  climax  of  their  troubles,  the  pioneers  suffered  in  the  summers  of 
1882  and  1888  from  an  appalling  visitation  of  crickets. 

"Myriads  of  large  blade  crickets,"  to  quote  the  "History  of  the  Big  Bend 
Country,*'  "measuring  from  one  to  two  inches  long,  swarmed  out  of  the  earth  and 
up  through  the  snow,  and  devastated  the  fields  for  two  seasons.  Settlers  combined 
their  forces  and  dug  ditches,  surrounding  their  farms  with  pits  five  rods  apart,  and 
men,  women  and  children  worked  day  and  night  with  brooms,  sweeping  the  pests 
into  pits  and  destroying  them.  The  bulk  of  their  crops  destroyed,  families  sub- 
sisted on  peas  and  fish  throughout  the  season.  If  people  could  have  obtained  the 
means  to  escape,  the  country  would  have  been  depopulated.  Great  was  the  re- 
joicing when  it  became  known  that  the  cricket  pest  was  completely  exterminated." 

At  this  period  Spokane  county  swept  westward  to  the  Columbia  river,  and  the 
pioneers  50  and  1 00  miles  distant  from  the  county  seat  began  an  agitation  for  a  new 
county.     They  found  a  responsive  friend  in  Judge  N.  T.  Caton,  then  a  member  of 


624  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

the  territorial  legislature  from  Walla  Walla  county^  who  framed  and  introduced 
a  bill  creating  the  proposed  new  county  of  Sprague^  which  he  afterwards  amended 
to  Lincoln^  and  naming  the  town  of  Sprague  as  temporary  county  seat.  In  com- 
mittee the  bill  was  amended  to  make  Davenport  the  temporary  seat  of  government^ 
a  change  which  excited  a  protesting  petition  from  420  persons,  "as  there  are  only 
two  houses  in  that  locality,  and  it  is  forty  miles  from  any  railroad  line."  Notwith- 
standing this  opposition,  the  bill  passed  and  was  approved  by  the  Grovemor  Novem- 
ber 24,  1888. 

"At  the  general  election  of  1 884,"  to  quote  from  the  Lincoln  County  Times, 
"the  people  were  called  upon  to  vote  upon  the  location  of  the  county  seat.  There 
were  three  candidates  for  the  honor,  Davenport,  Harrington  and  Sprague.  The 
campaign  preceding  the  election  was  hot  and  furious.  At  that  time  women  were 
entitled  to  the  ballot.  Few  voters  entitled  to  a  vote  failed  to  exercise  that  privilege, 
while  considering  the  extent  of  the  population,  the  figures  would  indicate  that 
purity  of  the  ballot  was  not  a  feature  of  the  election.  The  total  vote  polled  was 
2,227.  Of  this  number  Sprague  received  1,256,  Davenport  819,  and  Harrington  202. 
Sprague  cast  1,028  votes." 

Davenport  contested  the  election  on  grounds  of  fraudulent  voting  and  refused 
to  surrender  the  county  records.  "The  roads  leading  into  the  town  from  all  direc- 
tions were  lined  with  men  carrying  muskets,  revolvers,  Winchesters  and  other 
weapons  of  warfare,  all  determined  to  hold  the  fort  at  Davenport,"  says  the  his- 
tory previously  quoted.  "For  three  long  weeks,  night  and  day,  did  they  guard  and 
garrison  the  town.  A  ditch  on  the  hillside  and  a  ridge  mark  the  place  where 
breastworks  were  thrown  up.  They  are  pointed  out  to  the  visitor  to  this  day — me- 
morials of  that  perilous  period." 

Then  the  defending  army,  grown  weary  of  this  irksome  guard  duty,  returned  to 
their  homes,  and  "suddenly  a  force  swept  down  upon  Davenport  from  60  to  100 
strong  and  armed  to  the  teeth,  and  no  resistance  was  made.  Davenport  surren- 
dered the  county  records.  Sheriflf  Cody  and  Martin  J.  Maloney  were  at  the  head  of 
the  army  of  deputies  who  came  up  from  Sprague  and  removed  the  records  from  Dav- 
enport When  the  sheriff  drove  across  the  creek  and  his  errand  became  known,  Dick 
Hutchinson  stepped  forward  with  a  pistol  as  long  as  his  arm  and  dared  Cody  to 
shoot  it  out  with  him  at  twenty  paces.  But  Cody  had  business  to  attend  to  and  re- 
fused to  accommodate  the  warlike  Dick  with  an  exchange  of  shots." 

Twelve  years  after,  at  the  general  election  in  November,  1896,  Davenport  re- 
newed the  contest  and  won  the  county  seat  with  a  vote  of  1,582 ;  against  removal, 
587;  for  Harrington,  240. 

Scarcely  was  the  ink  dry  on  the  act  which  cut  Lincoln  county  away  from  Spo- 
kane than  adroit  pressure  was  brought  on  the  territorial  legislature  to  carve  again 
and  create  a  county  of  Douglas  from  western  Lincoln.  Notwithstanding  that  the 
confines  of  the  proposed  new  county  held  a  sparse  and  wide  scattered  population, 
but  little  if  any  in  excess  of  100,  the  lawmakers  yielded,  and  on  November  28,  1888, 
only  four  days  after  his  approval  of  the  act  creating  Lincoln  county,  the  governor 
signed  the  bill  which  called  l)ouglas  county  into  being.  Within  the  entire  county 
there  was  not  a  town  of  any  description.  The  law  gave  "Okanogan  City"  the  tem- 
porary county  seat,  a  place  that  had  been  platted  expressly  for  that  purpose. 
Okanogan  had  one  habitation,  no  more,  and  that  a  tent  to  shelter  its  ambitious  popn- 


CHTKF  JOSKI'l 


nii,n  fioosK  BiiJ/s  historic  kkrhy  ox  thk  cou'mbia.  north  of  wrr.BUB 


t.**         Vr 


f  H^K 


V    -  ■       ■ 


3 

>-   -r 


Ac  '*-    li  '•on: 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  625 

Ution  of  one,  Walter  Mann.  "There  was  not  a  store,  postoffice,  saloon  or  black- 
smith shop,  a  railway  train  or  a  stage  line  in  the  whole  territory  to  be  subsequently 
known  as  Douglas  county,  a  territory  as  large  as  the  state  of  Connecticut,"  says 
the  author  of  a  local  history,  who  adds  that  "in  that  portion  of  the  county  west 
of  the  Grand  Coulee  we  find  that  before  1 888  there  had  never  been  a  white  settler. 
To  Piatt  Corbaley  belongs  the  honor  of  being  the  first  to  locate  west  of  the  Coulee. 
He  came  in  April,  1888,  and  took  up  his  residence  just  west  of  Badger  mountain, 
two  miles  southwest  of  the  present  town  of  Waterville." 

A  census  taken  by  F.  M.  Alexander  in  December,  1888,  of  those  who  passed 
that  winter  in  the  Badger  mountain  country,  whieb  practically  meant  everybody 
living  in  the  western  portion  of  the  county,  disclosed  fewer  than  80  persons. 

Okanogan's  townsite  boomers  did  their  best  to>«iak&Jthfi  place  a  "metropolis," 
but  all  to  no  avail.  The  first  meeting  of  the^«o5ity  cbtflM^ohers  was  held  in  the 
tent,  with  H.  A.  Meyers  and  J.  W.  Adams  present,  P.  M.  Corbaley  absent;  and  a  few 
weeks  later  B.  L.  Martin  put  up  a  store  building,  24x86,  and  this  served  as  a  court- 
house until  the  county  seat  was  transferred  to  Waterville,  in  1887.  Three  or  four 
buildings  constituted  the  pretentious  town  of  Okanogan  in  the  heyday  of  its  pros- 
perity. The  townsite  was  inviting;  the  surrounding  soil  excellent;  and  Okanogan 
started  with  the  "bulge"  on  every  possible  rival.  But  it  lacked  one  essential;  it 
had  no  water  and  could  procure  none,  although  its  promoters  in  their  desperation 
drilled  down  285  feet. 

When  Okanogan's  dilemma  became  apparent.  Judge  Lucian  B.  Nash,  who  had 
invested  in  a  sawmill  on  Badger  moimtain,  platted  the  rival  town  of  Nashland,  so- 
called  in  honor  of  Major  E.  D.  Nash,  a  pioneer  of  the  county.  E.  D.  Nash  started 
there  a  store,  the  Badger  postoffice  was  transferred  from  Mr.  Corbaley's  place,  some 
one  started  a  blacksmith  shop,  and  the  surrounding  settlers  resolved  to  contest  with 
Okanogan  for  permanent  county  seat  honors.  At  the  election  in  November,  1884, 
Okanogan  won  by  a  single  vote.  Two  years  later  Waterville  captured  tlie  county 
seat. 

From  1888  to  1890  immigration  moved  into  the  Big  Bend  country  in  constantly 
increasing  streams.  The  fame  of  its  rich  soil,  its  invigorating  climate  and  the  hos- 
pitable spirit  of  its  people  spread  afar,  and  settlers  moved  in  from  the  west  and  the 
east.  Never  again,  so  long  as  time  endures,  will  be  witnessed  in  the  United 
States  such  scenes  as  attended  the  occupation  of  these  broad  expanses  of  fertile 
government  lands.  For  prairie  soil  of  that  quality  can  be  found  no  more  within 
the  public  domain.  Brave  and  industrious  hom^teaders  went  into  the  Big  Bend 
region  and  made  good  with  little  or  no  capital  at  all  to  sustain  them.  The  men 
were  hardy,  the  women  patient  and  ielf-denying,  the  children  eager  for  the  ad- 
ventures that  go  with  the  settlement  qf  a  new  country.  The  neighborly  spirit  ran 
high,  And  people  were  content  and  happy,  when  fortunate  enough  to  have  the  sim- 
ple necessaries  of  life  and  the  plainest  of  attire.  For  ostentatious  wealth  had  not 
yet  entered  in  to  arouse  discontent  and  excite  envy.  "Lack  of  desire,"  saith  Seneca, 
"is  the  greatest  of  riches." 

While  the  pioneers  of  the  Big  Bend  country  were  happy  with  the  denials  and 
hardships  incident  to  the  reclamation  of  a  new  domain,  yet  were  they  progressive 
and  ambitious  in  the  better  meaning  of  the  word.  Schools,  churches  and  other  re- 
fining influences  were  fostered,  the  building  of  better  dwellings  followed  temporary 

Vot   I— 4t 


626  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

residence  in  cabins  and  shades ;  newspapers  were  encouraged  in  even  the  small 
towns;  and  all  awaited  eagerly  the  coming  of  railroads  to  stimulate  further  settle- 
ment and  justify  \he  planting  of  a  larger  acreage  in  grain. 

With  the  new  year,  1887,  the  country  was  stirred  by  rumors  of  railroad  exten- 
sions from  the  main  line  of  the  Northern  Pacific.  One  of  the  first  projects  sur- 
veyed this  year  was  the  Sprag^e  &  Big  Bend  railroad,  from  Sprague  to  "Wild  Goose 
Bill's  ranch"  at  Wilbur,  with  a  proposed  branch  line  to  serve  the  Mondovi,  Fair- 
view  and  Davenport  sections.  This  enterprise  failed  to  materialize,  but  it  stirred 
the  Northern  Pacific  to  action,  and  that  company  sent  engineers  into  Lincoln 
county  and  ran  surveys  for  a  branch  line  from  Cheney  west.  A.  M.  Cannon,  Paul 
Mohr  and  others  were  active,  too,  with  their  projected  Seattle,  Lake  Shore  &  Eastern 
project,  to  cross  the  state  from  Puget  Sound  to  SpK)kane.  Spokane  citizens  sub- 
scribed $175,000  to  this  ambitious  undertaking,  and  in  the  spring  of  1888  a  con- 
tract was  let  for  the  construction  of  the  first  sixty  miles  west  from  Spokane.  This 
road  was  actually  built  from  Spokane  to  a  point  near  Davenport,  but  the  company 
subsequently  lost  its  entity,  its  completed  road  was  picked  up  by  the  Northern  Pa- 
cific, and  a  few  years  later  the  steel  was  taken  up  and  only  an  abandoned  grade 
remained  as  a  memorial  to  disappointed  hopes. 

Meanwhile  the  Northern  Pacific  went  forward  with  vigorous  construction  of 
its  Central  Washington  branch,  and  by  February,  1889,  had  laid  steel  into  Daven- 
port. The  line  was  extended  this  year  to  Almira,  and  in  1890  to  Coulee  City  in 
the  Grand  coulee,  and  was  graded  eight  miles  beyond,  in  an  ambitious  effort  to 
climb  out  of  the  coulee  and  continue  on  "to  an  eligible  point  on  the  Columbia,  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Wenatchee  river."  Surveys  were  also  made  northwesterly  towards 
the  Okanogan  country.  After  the  lapse  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  Cen- 
tral Washington  still  has  its  terminus  at  Coulee  City. 

Whether  Adams  and  Franklin  counties  should  be  classified  as  a  part  of  the  Big 
Bend  country  has  long  been  a  dose  question.  Prior  to  the  agricultural  development 
of  the  extensive  wheat-growing  areas  in  Adams  county,  when  stockmen  ranged 
their  large  herds  far  and  wide  in  search  of  fresh  pasturage,  the  term  "Big  Bend 
country"  was  used  with  wider  latitude  than  in  recent  years;  and  with  the  country's 
fuller  development,  and  attendant  growth  of  such  fine  towns  as  Ritzville,  Lind, 
Washtucna  and  Pasco,  we  have  seen  an  increasing  tendency  to  look  upon  these  two 
counties  as  a  great  district  unto  themselves ;  and  more  recently  still,  to  regard  Adams 
county  as  an  empire  within  itself,  and  to  dassify  Pasco  and  Kennewick  as  Twin 
Cities  with  a  future  peculiarly  thdr  own  by  reason  of  identity  of  interest  in  irri- 
gation, transportation  lines  and  location  at  the  junction  of  the  Columbia  and  the 
Snake. 

The  first  settlers  within  the  area  that  now  forms  Adams  county  located  in  the 
Cow  Creek  section.  George  Lucas,  the  earliest  arrival,  engaged  in  the  stock  in- 
dustry there  in  the  latter  '60s;  his  place  was  on  the  old  military  road  from  Walla 
Walla  to  old  Fort  Colville.  Reporting  this  pioneer's  departure  for  a  pleasure  trip 
to  California,  ten  years  ago,  the  Adams  County  News  said:  "His  presence  in  town 
last  Saturday,  clad  in  blanket  breeches,  leathern  belt,  army  shirt,  canvas  coat  and 
wide  sombrero,  recalled  incidents  which  will  be  remembered  by  some  of  the  pioneers 
of  the  '70s,  when  Lucas  and  some  of  his  followers  donned  Indian  costume,  and  with 
painted  faces  appeared  upon  the  high  hills  in  a  hostile  manner  intended  to  frighten 


J.   D.  LABRIE  ANDREW  LE   FEVHE 


8TATE  HOSPITAL  FOR  THE  INSANE  AT  MEDICAL  LAKE 


r 

^L  >L^A    lOKK 

1   ' 

:5LJC  LIBKARY 

Af     !»«■      LJ  »**■  K 

^* 

T 

t 
f 

1 


•?>  tf< 


'  '  **♦< 


^::^'^*rioNi 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  627 

the  scattered  immigrants  across  the  border  and  out  of  the  country.  But  the  sturdy 
adventurers  were  made  of  sterner  stuff,  and  when  their  rifles  began  to  crack  on  the 
clear  morning  air^  the  confederate  redskins  hiked  for  tall  timber." 

The  decade  between  1870  and  1880  brought  other  settlers,  all  to  follow  the 
stock  industry;  but  with  the  approach  of  tlie  main  line  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
came  an  influx  of  wheat  farmers,  and  year  by  year  the  agricultural  possibilities  of 
the  soil  were  given  increasing  demonstration. 

Philip  Ritz,  the  first  settler  in  the  northern  part  of  the  county,  located  a  home- 
stead in  1878  immediately  south  of  the  site  of  Ritzville,  and  the  following  year  a 
number  of  settlers  came  up  from  the  Walla  Walla  valley. 

S.  A.  Wells,  who  subsequently  came  to  Spokane  and  held  here  official  positions, 
was  the  leading  spirit  in  the  movement  in  1 888  to  create  Adams  and  Franklin  coun- 
ties from  territory  cut  off  from  Whitman.  '^In- looking  over  the  map  it  one  day 
occurred  to  me  that  Ritzville  might  be  converted  into  a  county  capital,"  said  Mr. 
Wells,  many  years  thereafter.  "Impressed  with«ibis  idea*  I  went  to  the  railroad 
station  and  broached  the  subject.  The  pei)ipte.^*^tttb*  "wbdWi  I  conversed  pronounced 
the  scheme  impracticable.  They  said,  'It  can't  be  done.'  I  replied,  'Can't  is  a  word 
I  do  not  recognize  in  my  vocabulary.'  On  this  line  I  proceeded,  and  against  great 
obstacles  and  numerous  discouragements  succeeded  in  securing  the  formation  of  the 
two  counties  and  the  location  of  the  county  seat  at  Ritzville." 

The  first  building  in  Ritzville  was  constructed  in  1881.  "This  was  an  eight 
room  house  built  by  William  McKay,"  quoting  from  a  local  history.  "At  that  period 
the  railroad  graders  on  the  Northern  Pacific  were  working  in  this  vicinity.  McKay's 
place  was  utilized  as  an  improvised  hotel  for  the  accommodation  of  these  laborers 
and  the  transient  trade  connected  with  them.  The  arrival  of  the  railroad  in  the 
summer  of  1881  brought  more  people  to  the  country.  About  the  same  time  Mr. 
McKay  erected  the  second  building  in  the  extremely  youthful  town  and  put  in  a 
small  stock  of  dry  goods  and  groceries.  The  third  building  on  the  townsite  was  the 
depot,  erected  in  the  autumn  of  1881.  O.  H.  Greene,  who  came  with  his  family  to 
Ritzville  in  1882,  has  said  that  at  the  time  of  his  arrival  there  were  scarcely  fifty 
people  in  the  place.  School  was  conducted  in  a  'lean-to'  on  some  generous  man's 
house.  Every  one  drew  water  from  the  same  fountain — ^the  railroad  tank — ^and  it 
was  not  thought  that  water  could  be  obtained  by  digging.  The  only  meeting  house 
was  the  dining  room  of  the  hotel,  and  the  hotel  was  the  depot.  This  apartment 
also  served  as  a  dancehall,  and  occasional  theatrical  exhibitions  were  given  therein." 

Dr.  G.  H.  Atkinson,  home  missionary  for  the  Congregational  churches  of  Ore- 
gon and  Washington,  held  the  first  public  religious  services  in  the  town,  April  2, 
1882,  twenty-three  persons  attending;  andttie  same  day  organized  the  First  Con- 
gregational church  with  six  members — Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Sinclair,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
William  McKay  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J*.  G.'^ft^nett. 

The  act  creating  Franklin  county  designated  Ainsworth  as  the  temporary  county 
seat,  and  named  J.  W.  Schull,  C.  M.  McBride  and  D.  W.  Owen  county  commission- 
ers, with  authority  to  appoint  other  county  officials.  The  old  construction  town  of 
Ainsworth  is  now  a  memory  and  nothing  more,  but  when  Villard  was  the  railroad 
king  of  the  Pacific  northwest,  and  with  driving  energy  was  rushing  construction 
work  on  the  Northern  Pacific  and  the  O.  R.  &  N.,  for  a  connection  at  old  Wallula, 
Ainsworth  was  the  most  talked  of  town  in  the  whole  "ujjper  country."     Two  years 


628  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

later,  when  railroad  constmction  was  over,  the  steel  bridge  across  the  river  com- 
pleted, and  Ains worth's  payroll  had  scattered  afar,  the  county  seat  was  transferred 
to  Pasco. 

Captain  W.  P.  Gray,  a  veteran  pilot  and  river  captain  who  navigated  the  upper 
Columbia  and  Snake  in  the  placer  rush  of  the  early  '60s,  became  impressed  with  the 
conviction  that  some  day  an  important  city  would  rise  at  the  point  where  the 
waters  of  these  great  rivers  commingle.  After  the  decadence  of  river  navigation 
in  the  early  '80s,  Captain  Gray  claimed  a  homestead  adjacent  to  the  present  town- 
site,  and  he  and  a  number  of  other  aggressive  spirits  "boomed"  Pasco  in  the  latter 
'808  with  a  vigor  and  individuality  that  excited  widespread  interest.  They  coined 
the  phrase,  "Keep  your  eye  on  Pasco,"  and  through  all  the  intervening  years,  in 
the  dark  and  discouraging  days  when  it  almost  seemed  that  Pasco  had  forever 
faded  from  the  map,  a  few  faithful  spirits  clung  bravely  to  the  old  slogan.  In 
these  later  times  of  rapid  growth  and  prosperity,  when  Pasco  is  ambitiously  reach- 
ing out  for  jobbing  territory,  the  old  motto  is  made  to  do  renewed  service. 

Distinctly  the  writer  recalls  a  banquet,  given  in  Pasco's  early  booming  days, 
by  the  townsite  proprietors  to  a  company  of  newspaper  men  and  other  guests  from 
towns  in  Oregon  and  Washington.  Their  hospitality  was  dispensed  at  Freeman's 
restaurant  in  Portland,  and  Freeman  had  a  slogan  too,  as  well  as  Pasco.  His 
catcbphrase  was  "Leave  it  to  Freeman."  They  left  it  to  him,  and  sat  erect  when 
the  bill  was  presented  for  $1,800.  As  there  were  fewer  than  forty  guests,  it  fig^ 
ured  out  that  the  average  consumption  was  five  quarts  of  champagne,  two  of 
whisky  and  100  cigars  for  each  guest.  It  was  a  convivial  evening,  but  not  so  bad 
as  that.     The  townsite  owners  compromised  with  Freeman  for  $900. 

Construction  of  the  Great  Northern  across  the  Big  Bend  country  in  1892  led 
to  the  development  of  extensive  new  areas  of  grain  lands  and  the  building  of  a 
number  of  prosperous  and  progressive  towns;  but  these  developments  were  not 
immediate.  The  panic  of  1893  and  resulting  depression  retarded  immigration, 
and  an  erroneous  belief  that  the  new  line  penetrated  a  grazing  rather  than  farming 
region  was  another  retarding  influence.  In  time,  though,  it  was  seen  that  large 
areas  formerly  given  over  to  the  stock  industry,  and  partly  abandoned  even  by 
stockmen  as  the  bunch-grass  was  eaten  away,  would  yield  boimtiful  grain  crops^ 
and  as  homebuilders  bought  the  cheap  lands  and  put  them  under  cultivation,  numer- 
ous places  that  had  been  but  flag  stations  quickly  developed  into  thriving  trading 
centers. 

The  author  regrets  that  limitations  of  space  prohibit  a  more  extended  review  of 
the  rapid  rise  of  these  various  towns,  with  all  their  attendant  interest  and  stirring 
incidents.  Entertaining  chapters  could  be  written  on  the  beginning  and  growth 
of  towns  like  Wilbur,  Sprague,  Harrington,  Odessa,  Almira,  Creston,  Downs,  Ed- 
wall  and  Reardan  in  Lincoln  county;  Ephrata,  Coulee  City,  Hartline,  Krupp, 
Quincy,  Wilson  Creek  and  Winchester  in  Grant;  Lind,  Othello,  Washtucna,  Hat- 
ton  and  Cunningham  in  Adams;  and  Council,  Eltopia  and  Kahlotus  in  Franklin. 

Central  Washington  alone  has  rich  historic  interest  to  fill  a  volume;  and  the 
stirring  story  of  Okanogan  and  Chelan  should  have  adequate  expression  in  other 
volumes. 


CHAPTER  LXXXI 

THE  PALOUSE  COUNTRY— ITS  SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT 

ORIGIN   AND  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE   NAME GRAZING  REGION   FOR  INDIAN   HERDS FIRST 

EXTENSIVE    SETTLEMENT    IN     1869 BITE    OF    COLFAX    LOCATED    IN     1870 COUNTY 

CREATED   IN    1872 FIRST  STORE   AND  8CHOOLHOUSE EARLY  DAY   GRAIN   SHIPMENTS 

PIONEERS  ALARMED  BY  NEZ  PERCE  WAR SETTLERS  SEEK  REFUGE  IN  BLOCKHOUSE 

AT  PALOUSE FIRST  NEWSPAPER  AND  TELEPHONE  LINES STAGE  LINES  AND  STEAM- 
BOATS  THE  FIRST  RAILROAD MRS.  CHASERS  REMINISCENCES ^STATE  COLLEGE  LO- 
CATED   AT    PULLMAN ITS    START    AND    DEVELOPMENT. 

FOR  a  grassy  expanse,  the  French  have  the  word  pelouse;  and,  a  century 
ago,  when  French-Canadian  voyageurs  of  the  fur  companies  beheld  in  spring- 
time the  wide  tumult  of  bunch-grass  hills  north  of  Snake  river,  they  called 
it  the  pelouse  country — the  grass  lands — and  with  a  slight  alteration  in  spelling, 
the  Palouse  country  it  remains  today;  and  the  Palouse  country  it  will  be  for- 
evermore. 

When  Clark's  expedition  penetrated  the  interior  in  1812,  to  establish  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Little  Spokane  a  branch  trading  post  of  John  Jacob  Astor's  estab- 
lishment at  Astoria,  they  left  the  Snake  river  at  the  mouth  of  the  Palouse  (the 
Pavilion  the  French  named  it),  and  putting  their  canoes  and  bateau]^  in  custody 
of  the  chief  of  the  Indian  village  at  that  point,  purchased  horses  from  the  natives, 
and  packing  their  supplies  and  merchandise,  traversed  Idsurely  tliis  beautiful  open 
region,  which  then  lay  wild  and  unpeopled,  for  even  the  Indian  tribes  utilized  it 
as  open  range  for  their  larg^  herds  of  cayuses,  preferring  to  pitch  their  tepees 
within  the  shelter  of  adjacent  forests. 

Recognition  of  the  country's  rich  agricultural  possibilities  came  slowly.  The 
bunch-grass  hills  were  regarded  as  grazing  lands,  and  neither  the  fur  traders,  the 
missionaries,  the  miners,  nor  even  the  first  settlers  who  came  north  of  Snake  river, 
thought  it  worth  their  while  even  to  test  the  hillsides  for  agriculture.  Their  feeble 
beginnings  they  confined  to  the  lowlands. 

W.  D.  Muir  of  Winona  informs  the  News  that  George  Pangbum  was  the  first 
settler  in  Whitman  county,  and  that  Ben  Scissom,  perhaps  the  second  settler,  con- 
ceded Pangbum's  priority.  Pangburn  rode  out  of  Walla  Walla  in  1862  in  search 
of  land,  and  took  a  squatter's  claim  on  unsurveyed  public  land  that  is  now  a  part 
of  the  Mansfield  farm  eight  miles  southeast  of  Winona.  He  returned  to  Walla 
Walla  for  the  winter,  and  in  the  spring  of  1868  came  back  with  a  packhorse  to  his 
claim.     In  his  pack  were  six  apple  trees,  ^vt  of  which  grew.     Mr.  Muir  says  Uiat 

629 


630  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

some  of  these  trees  were  still  bearing  a  few  years  ago,  and  he  believes  that  they 
are  alive  today.  Pangbum  farmed  a  little  and  raised  chickens  and  hogs,  which 
he  sold  in  Lewiston;  and  he  cured  bacon  and  marketed  it  in  the  placer  camps  of 
Idaho.  He  was  unmarried  and  long  solitude  made  him  eccentric.  It  is  related 
that  he  buried  his  money  about  the  place,  and  contracted  the  habit  of  conversing 
with  inanimate  objects.  On  one  occasion  he  became  angry  with  a  neighbor,  and 
naming  a  fence  post  for  his  enemy,  extracted  satisfaction  by  roundly  abusing  it 
In  a  great  rage  one  day  he  struck  the  post  and  broke  a  knuckle  bone.  His  death 
occurred  about  nine  years  ago. 

The  first  considerable  settlement  within  the  area  of  present-day  Whitman 
county  came  in  1869,  when  several  families  located  on  Union  Flat.  A  year  later, 
in  July,  1870,  James  A.  Perkins  and  Thomas  J.  Smith  took  claims  at  the  forks  of 
the  Palouse,  site  of  the  present  Colfax,  and  promptly  set  about  the  task  of  cutting 
bunch-grass  hay  for  the  winter  and  assembling  logs  for  the  first  house;  but  Mr. 
Smith  decided  to  move  to  Union  Flat,  and  Mr.  Perkins  was  left  alone  to  complete 
it.  A.  C.  Harris  occupied  for  a  little  while  the  abandoned  Smith  claim,  but  he 
moved  away  and  Mr.  Perkins  was  again  without  a  neighbor,  until  the  spring  of 
1871,  when  he  persuaded  H.  S.  HoUingsworth  of  Waitsburg  to  take  up  the  twice 
abandoned  claim. 

Settlers  were  now  entering  the  country  in  a  thin  stream,  and  a  demand  arose 
for  lumber  which  Perkins,  HoUingsworth  and  Anderson  Cox  of  Waitsburg  met 
by  erecting  a  small  "muley"  saw.  The  following  year,  in  February,  1872,  they 
employed  A.  L.  Knowlton  to  survey  a  townsite,  and  a  few  months  later  Belcher 
&  Whitcher  of  Waitsburg  opened  the  first  general  merchandise  store. 

James  A.  Perkins,  J.  H.  Logsden  and  Mr.  Lucas,  a  committee  authorized  by 
the  legislature  to  locate  the  county  seat  of  the  new  county  of  Whitman,  reported 
in  February,  1872,  that  they  had  selected  the  "Forks  of  the  Palouse."  The  lands 
were  still  unsurveyed,  but  a  town  was  platted  and  called  Colfax,  in  honor  of  the 
vice-president  of  the  United  States.  Walla  Walla,  80  miles  away,  was  the  nearest 
trading  point,  and  Waitsburg  the  nearest  postoffice.  The  first  stock  of  general 
merchandise  was  stored  in  a  cave  cut  in  the  hillside,  with  hewn  logs  for  shelves, 
A  dry  goods  box  for  a  counter,  and  canvas  for  a  store  front.  Then  came  the  post- 
office,  with  mail  once  in  two  weeks,  and  in  the  fall  a  hotel  was  built  by  Captain 
Nosier.  In  1878  a  livery  stable  was  added,  two  store  buildings  constructed,  and 
several  residences  erected.  Main  street  was  partly  graded,  and  the  town  lighted  by 
two  street  lamps. 

Meanwhile  the  needs  of  education  had  not  been  overlooked,  for  a  schoolhouse 
was  built  in  1872,  a  primitive  frame  structure,  20  by  S6  feet  The  site  was  cho- 
sen by  D.  S.  Bowman,  George  Hall  and  James  Cooper,  and  E.  H.  Orcutt  was  the 
first  teacher.  The  district  comprised  all  of  Whitman  and  Franklin  counties  and 
a  part  of  Adams. 

The  first  marriage  ceremony  j>erformed  in  Colfax,  and  the  second  or  third  in 
the  county,  says  Lever's  History  of  Whitman  county,  was  on  April  6,  1 873,  and 
united  James  A.  Perkins  and  Miss  Jennie  Ewart  Rev.  A.  W.  Sweeney  of  Walla 
Walla  was  the  officiating  clergyman.  The  first  white  girl  bom  in  the  county  is 
said  to  be  Miss  Nina  Keith,  who  afterward  became  Mrs.  W.   S.   Thompson,  on 


C.  B.  KEGLEY  E.  A.  BRYAN'  STEPHEN  J.  CKADWICK 


-¥    •■^r^ 


'     TKf   NEW   VOMC 
IpubLlC   LlnkAHf 


A<;1#»',   Li  •••« 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  631 

Union   Flat,  May  28,  1872.     Miss  Minnie  Perkins   (Mrs.   L.  L.  Tower)   was  the 
first  white  child  born  in  Colfax,  AprU  18,  1874. 

Mrs.  C.  G.  White,  still  a  resident  of  the  town,  was  the  first  white  woman  in 
Colfax,  arriving  in  1870.     August  Paulsen  married  her  daughter. 

The  adaptability  of  the  hills  to  wheat  growing  had  slow  demonstration,  but 
shipments  of  about  10,000  bushels  were  made  to  Portland  in  1876,  from  the  steam- 
boat landing  of  Almota  on  Snake  river.  The  late  H.  H.  Spalding,  son  of  the 
noted  missionary,  is  authority  that  there  were  shipped  from  Almota  this  year  800 
tons  of  produce,  and  that  four  threshers,  three  sulky  plows,  three  reapers,  three 
headers,  fifteen  new  wagons  and  100  tons  of  merchandise  were  unloaded  there. 
Thirty  passengers  came  from  down  the  river  to  Almota, 

Gilbert  estimates  Whitman  county's  population  at  the  date  of  organization  at 
about  200,  and  says  that  in  1875  it  had  increased  to  1,465,  and  in  1877  to  2,247. 
But  these  2,200  settlers  were  scattered  over  a  wide  area,  and  the  Nez  Perce  upris- 
ing brought  alarm  to  all  and  wild  terror  to  many.  Unfounded  rumors  ran  over 
the  country  that  the  Palouses,  Spokanes  and  Coeur  d'AIenes  had  taken  to  the  war- 
path, and  that  Chief  Moses  was  marching  south  to  join  Joseph's  warriors  on  Camas 
prairie.  "Reason  seemed  to  have  temporarily  surrendered  her  citadel  and  wild 
fancy  ruled,"  says  Lever.  "Farms  were  deserted)  and'  the  stock  which  happened 
to  be  in  corrals  at  the  time  was  left  without  food  or  drink.  A  camp  meeting  was 
in  progress  on  the  banks  of  the  river  near  Palouse,  when  a  messenger  arrived  an- 
nouncing that  the  hostiles  were  coming.  The  meeting  broke  up  in  disorder,  and 
the  peopie  rushed  pellmell  for  Colfax.  Wagons  were  driven  down  the  steep  hilla 
leading  to  the  county  seat  at  a  gallop.  Many  of  the  fugitives  dared  not  trust  even 
Colfax  or  Palouse  for  protection,  but  pushed  on  to  Walla  Walla  or  Dayton.  A 
blockhouse  was  built  near  Palouse  City,  125  feet  square,  and  this  served  200  people 
for  several  days  as  a  protection  against  imaginary  dangers.  Gilbert  says  that  480 
loads  of  poles  entered  into  the  construction  of  this  fortification." 

Scouting  parties  sent  north  and  south  to  gather  trustworthy  information  re- 
turned with  reassuring  reports.  They  found  no  evidence  anywhere  of  massacre 
or  pillage,  and  in  the  Spokane  valley  the  Indians  themselves  were  alarmed  over 
the  feverish  activity  of  the  settlers,  their  hasty  arming  and  building  of  fortifica- 
tions, and  in  turn  were  apprehensive  that  the  white  people  were  preparing  to 
march  upon  them  with  hostile  intent. 

Rev.  H.  T.  Cowley,  protestant  missionary  at  Spokane,  wrote  under  date  of 
June  30  to  James' Ewart  and  J.  C.  Davenport:  "I  hasten  to  give  assurance  of  the 
pacific  disposition  of  the  Spokanes;  also  of  the  Snake  river,  Palouse  and  Nez  Perce 
Indians  camped  here.  In  public  council  held  last  Monday  at  the  Falls,  they  unani- 
mously declared  their  friendliness  towards  the  whites,  and  we  have  found  them 
thus  far  unusually  careful  to  avoid  giving  oflFense.  The  Spokanes  have,  of  course, 
been  'somewhat  alarmed,  both  of  the  gathering  of  whites  at  Colfax  and  at  the 
Falls,  but  now  that  all  have  returned  to  their  homes  everything  has  quieted  down." 

D.  S.  Bowman  and  James  Tipton,  hearing  that  Father  Cataldo,  the  Catholic 
missionary,  was  held  a  prisoner  at  Coeur  d'Alene  mission,  went  there  to  investigate, 
and  found  the  Indians  alarmed  by  fears  of  an  attack  by  the  white  people.  They 
explained  the  pacific  attitude  of  the  settlers,  and  in  turn  bore  back  to  Colfax  cer- 
tificates of   peaceful  intentions   from  the  chiefs   which  were  procured  by   Father 


632  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Cataldo.     Thus  reassured  the  settlers  regained  their  composure  and  the  memorable 
Indian  scare  of  1877  passed  into  history. 

The  period  immediately  following  the  Nez  Perce  war  was  one  of  rapid  growth. 
A  census  taken  by  F.  Duff  in  June,  1 879,  gave  Whitman  county  5,243  population ; 
Colfax  nearly  600. 

The  year  of  the  Nez  Perce  war  brought  the  first  newspaper  into  the  broad 
region  north  of  Snake  river,  the  Palouse  Gazette,  whose  initial  number  was  printed 
in  Colfax,  September  29,  1877,  by  Charles  B.  Hopkins  and  £.  L.  Kellogg.  Mr. 
Kellogg  subsequently  withdrew  from  the  firm  and  was  succeeded  by  Ivan  Chase. 

To  Mr.  Hopkins  belongs  the  chief  credit  as  pioneer  builder  of  telej^one  lines 
in  the  Inland  Empire.  In  1884  he  and  his  associates  bought  the  old  government 
telegraph  lines  between  Almota  and  Colfax,  and  this,  says  Lever's  history,  "formed 
the  beginning  of  a  system  which  was  extended  with  great  rapidity,  its  phenomenal 
growth  being  largely  due  to  the  wonderful  energy  of  Mr.  Hopkins."  Extensions 
followed  to  Palouse,  Pullman,  Moscow,  Garfield  and  Farmington.  "In  1886  W.  S. 
Norman  built  an  exchange  at  Spokane,  ^bought  the  government  line  between  Spo- 
kane and  Fort  Sherman,  and  established  exchanges  at  Coeur  d'Alene  City,  Wallace, 
Mullan,  Murray  and  Burice.  In  the  fall  of  1888  Hopkins  and  Norman  bought 
the  government  telegraph  line  connecting  Spokane  Falls  and  Fort  Spokane,  touch- 
ing all  the  principal  points  in  the  Big  Bend  region." 

After  the  Spokane  fire  in  1889,  Norman  and  Hopkins  consolidated  th^r  inter- 
ests into  the  Inland  Telephone  &  Telegraph  company  and  built  a  line  to  The 
Dalles,  where  connection  with  the  Oregon  line  of  the  American  Bell  company  gave 
them  an  entry  into  Portland.  Up  to  this  period  they  had  been  operating  with 
instruments  leased  from  the  American  Bell,  but  on  completion  of  the  Portland  line 
they  formed  a  combination  with  that  company,  and  later  sold  their  interests  to  it. 
"The  Bell  company,"  Mr.  Norman  informs  me,  "operated  for  several  years  under 
the  name  of  the  Inland  company,  and  subsequently  changed  to  the  Pacific  States." 

The  first  barbed  wire  telephone  line  in  the  Palouse  country  was  completed  at 
Pullman,  February  25,  1901.  It  connected  True's  hotel  with  the  farms  of  J.  S. 
Klemgard,  John  Metsker  and  J.  M.  Ellemgard,  and  was  nine  miles  in  length,  and 
including  instruments,  cost  only  $100.  Mr.  Metsker  caught  the  idea  from  a  similar 
line  operated  out  of  Heppner,  in  eastern  Oregon.  The  system  became  instantane- 
ously popular,  spreading  to  all  parts  of  the  Palouse  country,  the  farming  sections 
of  northern  Idaho  and  the  Big  Bend  region.  Some  of  these  primitive  systems  de- 
veloped later  into  strong  independent  telephone  lines,  strung  regularly  on  poles 
and  owned  by  groups  of  progressive  farmers. 

For  fifteen  years  after  the  earliest  agricultural  settlement  of  the  Palouse  coun- 
try the  pioneers  were  without  railroad  connection,  and  were  dependent  on  the  water- 
ways and  stage  lines.  "In  1871,"  says  the  authority  previously  quoted,  "an  extensive 
stage  line  began  to  operate  throughout  this  region.  This  was  the  Northwestern  Stage 
company.  It  connected  the  Central  Pacific  railroad  at  Kelton,  Utah,  with  The 
Dalles,  Pendleton,  Walla  Walla,  Colfax,  Dayton,  Lewiston  and  Pomeroy.  It  used 
800  horses,  twenty-two  stages,  150  employes,  and  annually  fed  out  S65  tons  of 
grain  and  412  tons  of  hay.  Local  stage  lines  also  operated  in  all  directions,  con- 
necting with  each  other  all  the  principal  points  of  the  county,  and  transporting 
passengers  and  freight  to  Snake  river  landings,  to  be  there  loaded  on  the  boats. 


STREET   SCENE,  CITY   OF   MOSCOW,   IDAHO 


r 


JFUBLIC  LiPKARf 


:-/:  -NEW  YORK 


i 


*»T  9«*        i_jr  j,^j^ 


,I-L^"1"^:„J- •'•"'"•'• 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  633 

"The  first  railway  to  enter  the  county  was  in  part  constructed  in  188S.  It  was 
built  by  the  Oregon  Transcontinental  Railway  company  (the  Villard  holding  com- 
pany which  then  controlled  the  Northern  Pacific  and  the  O.  R.  &  N.),  was  known 
as  the  Columbia  &  Palouse  Railway,  with  which  it  connected  at  Palouse  Junction. 
Its  construction  was  temporarily  suspended  after  the  Villard  crash,  and  the  ensu- 
ing two  years  were  a  period  of  relative  inactivity  in  the  Palouse  country.  In  1885, 
however,  work  was  resumed  on  the  road,  and  the  Palouse  section  again  took  up  the 
forward  march  with  renewed  vigor." 

The  Rev.  W.  S.  Turner  came  to  Colfax  in  1879,  then  a  village  of  about  200 
population.  His  Methodist  Episcopal  church  started  with  seven  members.  In  the 
second  year  of  his  pastorate  it  ambitiously  and  successfully  entertained  a  confer- 
ence of  sixty  members.  So  generous  was  the  hospitality  of  the  frontier  villagers, 
so  well  spread  their  tables,  that  the  day  after  th^ir^j^ournment  the  little  weekly 
ran  an  amusing  cartoon  of  the  notable  gatheri|}g^  jotf ;  ministers.  Two  roosters  stuck 
tlieir  heads  through  the  fence  on  opposite  sides  of  an  alley,  and  beneath  the  picture 
these  lines  were  printed : 

"And  are  we  yet  alive. 
And  see  each  other's  face.^" 

Mrs.  Ivan  Chase  of  Colfax  has  recorded  a  pleasing  sketch  of  the  town  and  its 
pioneer  environment,  as  she  found  them  some  thirty  years  ago.  "When  there  was 
a  snowfall  the  whole  town  went  sleigh-riding.  The  country  home  of  James  S. 
('Cashup')  Davis  was  a  favorite  resort.  There  was  a  fine  floor  in  the  large  room 
above  his  store  and  stage  station,  where  the  merry-makers  could  dance  all  night 
if  they  wished,  being  served  at  midnight,  not  with  dainty  refreshments,  but  a  square 
meal — oyster  soup,  chicken,  cakes,  pies,  hot  biscuits.  'Cashup'  Davis  was  a  famous 
character  in  the  old  days.  He  was  as  active  as  the  youngest  of  the  dancers,  although 
his  hair  was  snow  white,  and  he  could  dance  the  sailor's  hornpipe  with  perfect 
precision  of  step  and  with  many  a  nautical  flourish.  An  evening  spent  at  his  place, 
then  called  Steptoe  station,  always  brought  him  to  the  front  with  one  or  more  of 
these  dances,  and  then  he  would  form  the  guests  for  old  Money  Musk  and  the 
Virginia  Reel,  in  which  the  older  members  of  the  party  would  shine.     .     .     . 

"Let  me  bring  from  my  memory  the  picture  of  the  Ewart  House  as  it  was  S5 
years  ago.  Like  all  the  buildings  in  town  at  that  time,  it  was  made  of  rough  lum- 
ber— a  box  house  battened.  There  wert?''{y^  gables  toward  Main  street,  connected 
by  a  long  room  running  parallel  wit^  tiheV?tre^t,'>the  whole  front  being  protected 
by  a  wide  porch.  The  structure  was  a  story  and  a  lialf  high  and  was  whitewashed, 
the  house  and  its  surroundings  being,  scrupulously  well  kept.  Three  doors  opened 
onto  the  street,  the  first  one  to  the  south  into  the  parlor,  the  second  into  the  dining 
room,  and  the  third  into  the  office.  The  dining  room,  which  was  spacious  for  those 
days,  was  always  dainty  with  the  whitest  of  table  linen,  the  cleanest  of  bare  floors, 
and  the  brightest  of  table  ware.  White  muslin  curtains  swayed  at  the  low  win- 
dows, and  all  was  homelike  and  beautiful.  This  pioneer  hotel  was  the  social  center 
of  the  town  and  surrounding  country,  and  its  well  loved  host  and  hostess  were  an 
inspiration  to  all  who  came  to  their  hospitable  home.  It  stood  where  the  Fraternal 
block  is  now,  and  was  soon  replaced  by  a  new  Ewart  house,  a  handsome  three  story 
building  which  was  burned  at  the  time  of  the  great  fire." 


634  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Temptation  is  strong  to  linger  with  the  many  interesting  details  associated  with 
the  pioneers'  task  of  developing  the  beautiful  and  rich  region  which  we  term  the 
Palouse  country;  for  it  constitutes  a  stirring  story — their  quick  conversion  of  a 
wild  and  savage  region  into  a  land  of  pleasant  homes,  of  schools  and  institutions 
of  higher  learning,  of  churches,  towns  and  cities,  with  all  the  refinements  that 
grace  an  older  land  over  which  history  has  slowly  penned  a  story  that  runs  into 
the  centuries  or  the  ages.  Lamentably,  however,  the  limitations  of  a  comprehensiYe 
history  of  the  Inland  Empire  forbid  extended  treatment  of  a  single  county,  and  I 
must  hasten  to  a  close.  Volumes  could  be  written  on  the  rise  from  homesteads  of 
such  flourishing  towns  as  Palouse,  Pullman,  Elberton,  Oakesdale,  Farmington,  Gar- 
field, Rosalia,  Albion,  Colton,  Uniontown,  Endicott,  Thornton  and  a  dozen  others. 
Another  volume  would  be  needed  for  a  history  of  the  Whitman  county  press^  and 
yet  other  volumes  to  tell  in  adequate  way  of  schools  and  churches. 

A  history,  however,  of  the  Inland  Empire  that  failed  to  touch  the  State  College 
of  Washington  would  be  singularly  incomplete.  For  while,  by  reason  of  location^ 
the  fine  little  city  of  Pullman  may  claim  this  superb  institution  as  peculiariy  its 
own,  it  belongs  in  a  broader  sense  to  the  State  and  the  Inland  Empire,  for  it  has 
exerted  a  profound  influence  on  the  culture  of  this  broad  region,  and  has  been  a 
potent  factor  in  the  development  of  the  material  resources  of  all  Washington  and 
parts  of  Idaho,  Montana  and  Oregon. 

The  college  was  instituted,  by  an  act  approved  March  28,  1890,  as  the  State 
Agricultural  College,  Experiment  Station  and  School  of  Science,  but  its  title  was 
subsequently  changed  to  "the  State  College  of  Washington."  Selection  of  the  site 
was  entrusted  to  a  commission  of  three,  and  keen  competition  instantly  developed 
between  eastern  Washington  towns  and  cities,  notably  North  Yakima,  Walla  Walla^ 
Spokane,  Colfax,  Palouse  and  Pullman.  As  the  institution  was  the  beneficiary  by 
grant  of  the  United  States  government  of  190,000  acres  of  land,  and  an  annual 
appropriation  from  the  United  States  government  of  $40,000,  aspiring  towns 
realized  that  the  prize  was  a  great  one,  and  the  liveliest  political  rivalry  arose  be- 
tween them.  Deep  disappointment  was  felt  by  the  losers  when  the  award  went 
to  Pullman. 

The  school  opened  in  January,  1892,  in  temporary  buildings,  with  George  Lille 
its  first  president  and  a  small  faculty  of  four  or  five  members.  It  passed  through 
a  stormy  period  of  political  manipulation,  and  for  the  first  five  years  grew  but 
slowly;  but  with  the  elimination  of  politics  and  the  calling  to  the  presidency  of  E. 
A.  Bryan,  an  educator  admirably  fitted  by  scholarship,  character  and  versatile 
ability  to  develop  a  western  institution,  it  quickly  ^nerged  into  the  sunshine  of 
prosperity.  In  1900  the  total  enrollment,  including  the  summer  school,  had  grown 
to  638,  and  the  faculty  to  forty  professors  and  instructors.  At  this  writing,  Janu- 
ary, 1912,  the  enrollment  is  about  1,600,  and  the  faculty  numbers  about  125  pro- 
fessors and  instructors. 


TWO  BUILDIXGS  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  IDAHO,  MOSCOW 


GROUP  OF  BUILDIXGS,  WA8HIN0T0X  STATE  COLLEGE,  PULLMAN 


: .-.•:  .NEW  v'^  'K 


I 


/ 


AHYl 


i 


>*# 


CHAPTER  LXXXII 

PIONEER  WHEAT-GROWING  AND  FLOUR  MILLING 

FIRST    MILL    BUILT    AT    FALLS    ON    COLVILLE    RIYER^    NiNS'f%;*il'EARS    AGO MISSIONARIES 

AND   INDIANS   WENT   THERE   WITH   THEIR  GRIST £|RST   PATENT   FLOUR   AND   FARINA 

IN  THE   U.  S. HISTORIC  OLD  MILLSTONES  PRESERYVD i^Sf '  AMERICAN  MILL  BUILT 


BY    "judge"    YANTIS OLD-TIME    MILLER   WORKS    OW    A   FLYING  MACHINE INVENTS 

A   MACHINE    CALLED    **HELL    ON    THE    GRAB*' TRIP   THROUGH    COLYILLB    VALLEY   IN 

1882. 

WHEAT  growing  and  flour  milling  had  their  faint  beginnings  in  the  Col- 
ville  valley,  about  ninety  years  ago.  At  the  falls  on  the  ColviUe  river, 
four  miles  from  the  Columbia,  a  flour  mill  was  built,  probably  by  the 
Northwest  Fur  company,  prior  to  the  advent  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  in 
1821,  or  at  least  by  the  latter  company  soon  after  that  date.  "This  first  mill," 
says  W.  P.  Winans,  "had  probably  gone  to  decay  before  the  second  mill  was  built 
by  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  in  1848.  The  present  mill,  the  third,  built  in  1872 
by  L.  W.  Meyers,  occupies  the  site  of  the  Goudy  mill." 

To  this  old  mill  the  missionaries  Eells  and  Walker  packed  their  grain  on  cay- 
uses,  from  Tshimakain,  now  Walker's  prairie,  and  there,  too,  such  Indians  as  took 
up  grain  growing  in  this  region  for  a  hundred  miles  about  carried  their  grist  and 
returned  with  the  precious  flour. 

"When  I  first  saw  the  mill  in  1861,"  adds  Mr.  Winans,  "it  was  a  hewn  log 
building,  about  30x50,  two  stories,  with  an  attic,^  covered  with  cedar  bark.  It  had 
a  single  pair  of  stones,  made  of  the  ]^atiite  of  the  neighborhood ;  a  home-made  fan- 
ning mill  was  the  only  wheat-cleaiting  machinery,  and  the  bolt  to  separate  the 
flour  from  the  bran  was  a  wire  scrien.  stfitionary,  with  a  revolving  brush  on  the 
inside.  On  November  19,  1866,  L.  Wr"Meyers  and  George  B.  Wannicott,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Meyers  &  Co.,  leased  the  property.  That  fall  a  number  of  men  came 
down  the  Columbia  from  the  French  creek  mines,  among  them  John  Houser,  a 
practical  miUer,  who  was  employed  by  Mr.  Meyers  in  December,  1866."  In  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Winans,  Houser  says:  "I  came  to  ColviUe  in  the  fall  of  1866,  and 
went  to  work  for  Mr.  Meyers,  and  we  remodeled  the  Old  Hudson's  Bay  mill  and 
made  the  first  patent  flour  in  1867,  and  the  first  farina  in  the  United  States."  Fa- 
rina made  by  this  mill  was  freighted  to  Walla  Walla  long  before  patent  breakfast 
food  entered  the  general  markets  of  the  United  States,  and  took  first  prize  at  the 
Oregon  state  fair  at  Salem  about  1868. 

"I  have  the  millstones  of  the  old  mill,"  writes  Mr.  Meyers  in  a  letter  to  Mr. 

635 


636  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Winans;  "also  those  from  the  Goudy  mill^  with  some  of  the  original  irons.  The 
oldest  set  of  stones  were  never  nsed  in  the  Goudy  mill." 

Mr.  Meyers  retained  the  property  when  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  withdrew 
from  the  United  States.  He  rebuilt  the  mill  in  1872,  but  it  has  not  been  run  now 
for  several  years. 

B.  Y.  Yantis,  generally  known  as  "Judge"  Yantis,  built  the  first  American  mill 
in  the  Colville  valley.  "He  started  from  Olympia  for  Spokane/'  says  Mr.  Winans, 
"with  the  grinding  machinery  of  a  small  flour  mill,  intending  to  build  on  the  Little 
Spokane  for  the  Indians.  The  Judge  told  me  that  after  he  commenced  the  build- 
ing, Spokane  Garry,  the  chief,  thinking  he  could  not  carry  the  mill  machinery  fur- 
ther, repudiated  his  contract.  The  Judge  then  took  the  grinding  machinery  to 
Colville  valley,  and  located  on  the  Little  Pend  d'Oreille,  where  in  1859,  with  the 
assistance  of  Michael  Lafleur,  he  put  in  a  dam  and  built  a  log  house  12x14,  with- 
out nails,  using  only  wooden  pins,  Thomas  Brown  doing  the  carpenter  work.  The 
stones  were  about  eight  or  ten  inches  in  diameter  and  set  to  run  vertically." 

Speaking  of  this  mill  C.  H.  Montgomery  said:  "I  went  one  day  to  get  some 
bran,  and  found  the  Judge  bolting  the  product  as  it  came  from  the  stones.  He  was 
shaking  a  small  box  over  a  larger  one;  the  bottom  of  the  small  box  was  covered 
with  cotton  cloth  like  mosquito  bar,  and  the  larger  box  was  receiving  what  went 
through.  He  asked  me  how  much  bran  I  wanted.  I  said  half  a  bushel,  and  be 
replied,  'I  can't  get  that  much  today.'  I  watched  him  a  short  time  and  began  to 
think  so  myself,  for  the  cloth  was  so  coarse  that  all  went  into  the  larger  box." 

Yantis  sold  the  mill  in  1861  to  a  Canadian  named  Hoag,  and  he  in  turn  ctm- 
veyed  it  the  following  year  to  D.  H.  Ferguson  &  Co.,  who  made  improvements  from 
time  to  time,  putting  in  French  burrs  in  1868,  and  building  an  addition  in  1865. 
Their  miller,  Thomas  Martin,  chiseled  a  set  of  stones  from  native  granite,  added 
cleaning  machinery,  and  made  a  good  grade  of  flour. 

In  the  summer  of  1868  Ferguson  sold  his  interest  in  the  mill  and  mercantile 
business  to  his  partners,  Joseph  and  Samuel  Oppenheimer,  who  employed  John 
Houser  to  enlarge  and  remodel  the  mill.  They  then  put  out  an  excellent  pateni 
flour  and  farina,  and  used  the  old  granite  stones  for  chopping  grain.  Mr.  Winans 
says  that  S.  Oppenheimer  filed  a  homestead  on  this  property,  April  15,  1870,  and 
commuted  Septemben  5,  1872,  "which  was  the  first  filing  on  government  land  in 
Stevens  county."  It  may  have  been  the  first  under  the  homestead  act,  but  the  first 
filings  were  made  under  the  donation  land  act,  prior  to  the  Indian  wars  in  the  '50s; 
and  these  filings,  made  by  French  Canadian  settlers  who  had  taken  the  oath  of 
allegiance  soon  after  the  arrival  of  Governor  Stevens,  constituted  one  of  the  griev- 
ances which  brought  on  the  Indian  outbreak. 

Quoting  again  from  Winans'  manuscript: 

The  first  sawmill  in  the  country  was  built  in  1856-57,  at  the  falls  on  Mill  creek, 
about  three  miles  below  where  the  United  States  Fort  Colville  was  afterwards  lo- 
cated in  1859.  The  money  necessary  was  furnished  by  Francis  Wolff,  and  the 
work  of  building  by  R.  H.  Douglass  and  John  Nelson. 

The  partners  in  the  sawmill  did  not  work  in  harmony;  there  was  some  litiga- 
tion. Mr.  Douglass  claimed  the  water  right  and  froze  the  others  out.  He  after- 
wards, about  1860  or  1861,  built  a  flour  Itiill  adjoining  the  sawmill,  the  power  being 
buckets  on  a  fifty- foot  endless  chain  over  a  three- foot  pulley.     He  called  the  mill 


OPPEXHETMEB      MILL      OX      THE  MILL  STONES  USED  BY  HUDSON'S 

LITTLE  PEXD   D'OREILLE,  SIX  BAY  COMPANY  IN  MARCUS 

MILES   SOUTH   OP  COL-  FLATS,  WASHINGTON 

VILLE.  WASHINGTON  ,,       ,    . 

Moved   in    182/    to   Meyers   FallB,   where 

tliej-  were  aiiccesififnllf  used  for 

four  years 


••Mab>^«««M 


I 


'    ,  '   '    '  -/  h  K      f 


UBftAKr 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  637 

"Love  Defeat."  He  also  built  at  the  foot  of  the  falls  a  distillery,  and  generously 
sampled  its  product.  His  inventive  genius  was  shown  in  a  water  pipe  boring  ma- 
chine that  was  fairly  successful.  He  also  worked  many  years  on  a  flying  machine 
and  a  saw  to  cut  mahogany  veneering.  He  also  invented  a  machine  to  remove 
boulders  from  sluice  boxes,  which  he  called  "Hell  on  the  Grab,"  and  sent  it  to  the 
United  States  patent  office  under  that  name,  but  was  refused  a  patent  on  account 
of  its  name.  Mr.  Douglass  may  have  been  noted  for  his  industry,  enterprise  and 
inventive  powers,  but  not  for  his  financial  success,  for  he  made  none  of  his  enter- 
prises paying  investments. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Portland  Oregonian,  who  rode  horseback  from  Spokane 
to  Colville  in  May,  1882,  in  company  "^th  "V^..  C.  .Jones,  was  informed  by  James 
O'Neill  of  Chewelah  that  there  wefe  ^hpKK  4^°8  ^^.  ^®  Colville  valley  about  1 25 
families,  most  of  them  French  and)  Indians.  Only  four  townships  had  been  sur- 
veyed in  the  entire  valley.  BetuJben  C^pwelah  and  Colville  the  correspondent 
stopped  at  "a  nicely  furnished  fann^lC^S^^toed- by  Jasper  Roberts,"  who  had  been 
there  since  1860  and  had  100  acres  under  cultivation.  The  writer  visited  that 
afternoon  the  old  Oppenheimer  mill  on  the  Little  Pend  d'Oreille,  which  "even 
the  Chicago  (?)  of  the  Pacific  coast,  Spokane  Falls,  gives  credit  with  turning  out 
better  flour  than  can  be  purchased  in  Walla  Walla."  The  mill  was  described  as 
"a  quaint  old  structure,  made  principally  of  logs,  and  standing  in  a  little  comer 
against  the  mountain  on  the  bank  of  the  Calispel  river.  Going  inside,"  added  the 
correspondent,  "the  first  thing  that  attracts  one's  attention  is  the  total  absence  of 
that  creaking  noise  and  jarring  peculiar  to  all  other  mills.  Not  a  single  piece  of 
iron  shafting,  no  pulleys,  connecting  rods  or  gearing  of  any  kind  can  be  seen. 
Everything  is  made  of  wood.  The  shafts  and  pulleys  are  large,  cumbrous-looking 
things,  but  run  easily  and  without  the  least  noise,  and,  with  an  old  turbine  water 
wheel,  were  all  made  by  hand  from  timber  cut  on  the  hillside.  Even  one  of  the 
millstones  was  taken  from  a  bed  of  granite  on  the  neighboring  hilL  It  has  a 
capacity  of  about  thirty  barrels  per  day,  although  it  is  seldom  called  upon  to 
turn  out  that  amount." 

At  "the  new  town  of  Colville"  the  correspondent  found  a  brewery,  a  store,  and 
two  or  three  residences.  The  only  person  found  at  Fort  Colville  was  J.  Stitzel, 
clerk  of  the  Stevens  county  court,  who  had  a  fine  ranch  a  few  miles  from  the  fort 
and  "seemed  perfectly  contented." 


.  -      -.         •    •        •■     •    - 


CHAPTER  LXXXIII 

RAILWAY  CONSTRUCTION   IN   THE    INLAND   EMPIRE 

« 

PACIFIC    RAILROAD    FIRST   ADVOCATED    PUBLICLT   IN    1884 FORECAST   OF   TEN    MILES    AN 

HOUR,  AND   ROUND   TRIP   IN   THIRTY  DATS PORTAGE   ROAD   AT   CASCADES   FIRST   LINE 

IN  WASHINGTON NORTHERN  PACIFIC  STARTS  CONSTRUCTION   IN   1870 DR.   BAKER's 

FAMOUS    ROAD    FROM    WALLA    WALLA    TO    THE     COLUMBIA LATTER-DAT    CONSTRUC- 
TION  OF  MAIN   AND  BRANCH  LINES.  , 

IN  THE  first  annual  report  of  the  Washington  state  railroad  commission  is 
given  a  concise  review  of  the  railroad  history  of  this  section.  The  first  pub- 
lic discussion  of  railroad  construction  affecting  what  is  now  the  state  of 
Washington  is  credited  to  Dr.  Samuel  B.  Barlow,  of  Granville,  Mass.,  in  an 
article  published  in  the  Intelligencer,  a  weekly  paper  of  Westport,  Mass.,  in 
about  1884.  He  proposed  a  government  railroad  from  New  York  to  the  Pacific, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river.  Its  length  was  estimated  at  8,000  miles, 
and  the  cost  at  $10,000  a  mile,  a  total  of  $80,000,000.  At  an  average  speed  of 
ten  miles  an  hour  it  was  estimated  that  a  passenger  could  take  the  trip  from  New 
York  to  the  Pacific  ocean  and  return  in  thirty  days.  "What  a  glorious  undertaking 
for  the  United  States,"  exclaimed  the  writer.  "The  greatest  public  work — I  mean 
the  greatest  in  its  end  and  utilities — ^that  mortal  man  has  ever  yet  accomplished." 

Ten  years  later,  continues  the  commissioners'  report,  Asa  Whitney  of  New  York 
took  up  the  subject  and  advocated  the  building  of  a  railway  from  Lake  Michigan 
to  Puget  Sound.  He  advocated  a  grant  of  land  by  congress  of  thirty  miles  on 
each  side  of  the  track,  the  proceeds  to  be  used  to  build  the  road.  This  was  the 
first  definite  attempt  to  secure  the  building  of  such  a  road. 

About  ten  years  later,  in  the  early  '50s,  Edwin  F.  Johnson,  an  eminent  civil 
engineer  of  Vermont,  took  up  the  project  and  succeeded  in  securing  the  appoint- 
ment of  two  ofiicers  of  the  army  to  make  an  exploration  for  a  railroad  to  Puget 
Sound.  These  two  officers  were  Isaac  I.  Stevens,  afterward  first  governor  of 
Washington  territory,  and  George  B.  McClellan,  afterward  commander  of  the 
army  of  the  Potomac. 

Ten  years  later,  by  an  act  approved  by  President  Lincoln,  July  2,  1864,  the 
Northern  Pacific  Railroad  company  was  incorporated  and  given  a  grant  of  land 
to  aid  in  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from  Lake  Superior  to  Puget  Sound. 

First  actual  construction  in  the  state  of  Washington  was  done  by  another  com- 
pany, a  portage  railroad  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Columbia  around  the  cascades. 
This  company  was  incorporated  by  an  act  of  the  legislative  assembly  of  Washing- 

639 


640  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

ton  territory,  January  81,  1859,  to  be  known  as  the  Cascade  Railroad  company. 
The  act  provided  that  a  good  railroad  of  wood  should  be  constructed  within  three 
years,  and  iron  tracks  within  five  years.  The  road  was  surveyed  in  1861  and 
built  the  following  year.  It  was  afterwards  acquired  by  the  Oregon  Steam  Navi- 
gation company.  In  1879  the  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation  cpmpany  succeeded 
to  ownership  of  the  road,  which  was  never  extended  beyond  the  portage  for  which 
it  was  constructed.  It  is  a  narrow  gauge,  and  has  been  put  to  but  little  use  in 
recent  years. 

It  was  not  until  1870  that  actual  construction  of  the  Northern  Pacific  was 
begun.  This  was  a  twenty-five  mile  section  between  Kalama,  on  the  Columbia, 
toward  Puget  Sound.     This  was  extended  and  completed  to  Tacoma  in  1873. 

Then  followed  a  period  of  financial  depression,  and  no  further  construction 
was  done  until  1879,  when  work  was  started  at  the  junction  of  Snake  river  and 
the  Columbia,  now  Pasco.  The  line  was  built  to  Wallula,  and  extended  to  a 
transcontinental  connection,  which  was  made  in  1888.  The  Une  from  Pasco  to 
Tacoma  was  completed  in  1887. 

The  Northern  Pacific,  by  purchase  or  otherwise,  has  acquired  ownership  or 
control  of  several  local  companies,  among  them  the  following: 

Seattle,  Lake  Shore  &  Eastern,  in  1892.  This  company  was  incorporated  in 
1885,  and  afterwards  constructed  a  line  from  Seattle  to  Snoqualmie  falls.  It 
also  constructed  a  line  from  Spokane  westward  as  far  as  Davenport,  intended  to 
connect  with  the  line  from  Seattle  through  Snoqualmie  pass.  Pending  efforts  to 
raise  money  for  the  completion  of  the  road,  eastern  capitalists  interested  in  the 
Northern  Pacific  purchased  from  New  York  stockholders  control  of  the  stock,  and 
the  road  passed  to  the  ownership  of  the  Northern  Pacific. 

The  Spokane  &  Palouse,  operated  from  Spokane  southerly.  Construction  of 
this  line  was  begun  in  1886,  and  completed  the  following  year.  Later  extended 
from  Pullman  to  Moscow,  Idaho. 

Washington  Central,  operated  from  Spokane  to  Coulee  City.  Construction 
was  begun  in  1888,  and  completed  in  1891.  It  was  extended  to  connect  with  the 
Great  Northern  in  1908. 

The  Washington  &  Columbia  River  railroad,  originally  organized  as  the  Oregon 
&  Washington  Territory  railroad  in  1887,  and  locally  known  as  the  Hunt  road. 
Its  first  construction  was  in  1887,  the  road  being  completed  to  Hunt's  Junction, 
near  Wallula,  in  1888,  with  a  line  to  Walla  Walla  and  Eureka  Flat  The  follow- 
ing year  the  line  was  extended  from  Walla  Walla  to  Dayton.  The  Washington 
&  Columbia  River  railroad,  a  subsidiary  company  of  the  Northern  Pacific,  acquired 
ownership  in  1892. 

The  Oregon  Railroad  &  Navigation  company  acquired  ownership  of  a  road 
from  Wallula  to  Walla  Walla,  known  as  the  Dr.  Baker  road.  The  company  whidi 
built  this  road  was  incorporated  in  1868;  construction  began  in  1872  and  was 
completed  in  1878.  The  first  ten  miles  were  built  entirely  of  wood.  Fir  stringers, 
4x6,  were  laid  on  cross  ties.  Subsequently  strap  iron  was  placed  on  the  stringjers, 
and  later  a  light  26  pound  rail  was  laid  the  entire  distance.  Dr.  Baker  built  the 
road  practically  with  his  own  money.  No  bonds  were  placed  on  it  during  his 
ownership.  It  was  a  money-maker  from  the  beginning,  a  rate  of  $4.50  per  ton 
being  charged  for  the  haul  of  81  miles.     The  road  was  originally  a  narrow  gauge. 


HENEY  TILLABD 
Presideot  of  the  Nortbern  Pacific  when  the  roils  were  laid  into  Spokane 


!.>:-:  ,Nf  ■•■■  »ORK 
.i-J.-Li:  LIBRART 

3>  n™    I  .  .1  II  I.  . 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  641 

It  was  widened  to   a  standard  gauge  in  1882^  when  turned  over  to  the  Oregon 
Railway  &  Navigation  company. 

This  latter  company  in  1881  completed  a  line  from  Portland  to  Wallula^  which^ 
with  the  Baker  road^  reached  Walla  Walla.  The  same  year  the  line  was  extended 
from  Walla  Walla  to  Riparia^  and  from  Bolles  to  Dayton^  and  in  1888^  under 
the  name  of  the  Columbia  &  Palouse,  from  Connelly  then  Palouse  Junction^  on  the 
Northern  Pacific^  to  Colfax^  and  in  1885  to  Pullman  and  Moscow^  Idaho. 

The  company,  the  same  year,  extended  its  line  from  Starbuck  to  Pomeroy;  in 
1886,  as  the  Columbia  &  Palouse,  from  Colfax  to  Farmington;  in  1888,  as  the 
Washington  &  Idaho,  from  Farmington  to  Rockford,  and  in  its  own  name  from 
Riparia  to  LaCrosse;  in  1889,  as  the  Washington  &  Idaho,  from  Rockford  to 
Spokane,  and  from  Tekoa  to  Mullan,  Idaho,  in  the  Coeur  d'Alenes ,'  the  same  year, 
as  the  Oregon  Extension  company,  from  Winona  to  Seltice;  as  the  Snake  River 
Valley  railroad,  from  Wallula  to  Grange  City  in  1899,  and  in  its  own  name  from 
Dayton  to  Turner,  and  from  Fairfield  to  Waverly. 

In  1906  a  line  was  completed  from  Lewiston,  Idaho,  along  the  north  bank  of 
Snake  river  to  Riparia. 

The  work  of  construction  of  the  main  line  of  the  Great  Northern  was  begun 
April  9,  1892,  and  completed  January  6,  1898.  This  was  from  the  Idaho  line 
to  Lowell.  The  Washington  &  Gredt  Nqtthern,  Curley  to  Midway,  was  com- 
menced August  19,  1905,  and  completed-  November  28,  1905.  Marcus  to  Repub- 
lic, commenced  October  3,  1901,  and  qompleted  July  29,  1902. 

1        * 


Vol.    1-4! 


CHAPTER  LXXXIV 

NATIVE  RACES  IN  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

ORIGIN  AND  MEANING  OF  "SPOKANE** INDIAN   LANGUAGES LEGENDS  OP  THE   SPOKANE 

RIVER HOW    CHIEF    GARRY   WAS   NAMED INDIAN    ROCK    PICTURES GAMBLING   AND 

GHOST  DANCING GRAPHIC  DESCRIPTION  BT  FATHER  DIOMEDI STRANGE  LEGEND  OF 

THE    COEUR    d'aLENES CRUDE    RELIGIOUS    BELIEFS HABITS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF    THE 

NEZ  PERCES A  RICH  AND  BEAUTIFUL  LANGUAGE ELOQUENT  SPEECH  BT  AN  INDIAN 

ORATOR. 

They  waste  us — ay — like  April  snow 

In  the  warm  noon,   we   shrink   away; 
And  fast  they  follow,  as  we  go 

Toward  the  setting  day, — 
Till  they  shall  fill  the  land,  and  we 
Are  driven  into  the  western  sea. 

— William  Cullen  Bryant, 

SPOKANE"  is  a  word  of  Indian  origin,  signifying  the  sun,  though  slightly 
altered  by  the  usage  of  civilization.  M.  M.  Cowley  says  the  native  sun  word 
was  *'Spo-kan-ee."  H.  T.  Cowley  recalls  it  as  "Puk-ka-nee."  The  Rev.  Sam- 
uel Parker,  who  traveled  through  this  country  in  1835,  learned  that  the  chief  of  the 
Spokanes  was  called  "Illum-Spokanee,"  meaning  "Son  of  the  Sun,"  and  the  tribe 
called  themselves  "Children  of  the  Sun." 

"I  always  thought  that  the  fur  traders  must  have  named  these  Kootenai  Siwashes, 
'The  Spokanes,'  "  said  M.  M.  Cowley,  who  settled  on  the  Kootenai  river  near  Bon- 
ner's Ferry,  Idaho,  in  1867,  and  moved  to  the  Spokane  Valley  in  1872.  "The  In- 
dians called  themselves  the  'Sinkomahnahs.'  If  the  Indians  had  wanted  to  call 
themselves  'Children  of  the  Sun,'  they  would  have  made  it  *Spo-kan-ee,'  that  means 
sun,  and  the  ordinary  Indian  greeting,  instead  of  good  morning,  is  *Hust-Spokanee,' 
which  merely  means  'good  sun.'  " 

Colonel  Thomas  W.  Symons,  who  made  a  report  on  the  upper  Columbia  river 
in  1881,  for  the  engineer  corps  of  the  U.  S.  army,  says,  "It  is  fair  to  infer  that  the 
tribe  name  meant  something  like  'Children  of  the  Sun.'  I  have  been  told  by  men 
long  resident  in  the  country,  that  the  aboriginal  word  was  pronounced  with  a  slight 
vowel  syllable  *e'  at  the  end.  This  vowel  syllable,  indistinct  at  best,  was  socm 
dropped  by  the  busy  whites." 

Bancroft,  in  "Native  Races,"  says,  "The  Spokanes  live  on  the  Spokane  river  and 

643 


644  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

plateau^  along  the  banks  of  the  Columbia  from  below  Kettle  Falls  nearly  to  the 
Okanogan.  The  Spokanish  or  Spokanes  live  south  of  the  'Schroolyelpi'  and  chiefly 
upon  or  near  the  Spokane  river.  The  name  given  to  a  number  of  small  bands  is 
that  given  by  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  to  the  ones  living  at  the  Forks.  They  are  also 
called  the  'Sinkoman*  by  the  Kootenaies." 

Father  Desmet,  the  Jesuit  priest,  refers  to  the  Spokanes  as  the  "Zingomenes/* 
obviously  a  varied  spelling  for  Mr.  Cowley's  "Sinkomahnahs"  and  the  "Sinkoman" 
of  Bancroft. 

With  minor  variations  the  Spokanes  spoke  the  Selish  or  Flathead  lan^oage^  as 
also  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  the  Upper  and  Lower  Calispels^  and  the  tribes  in  the 
Colville  country.  "Their  language/'  says  Father  Palladino  ("Indian  and  White  in 
the  Northwest"),  "is  in  many  points  original  and  difficult  to  master.  Its  utterance 
is  slow,  tolerably  clear  and  distinct,  thou^  some  of  its  sounds  are  aspirated  and 
others  intensely  guttural.  Five  of  the  consonants  commonly  heard  in  other  tongues, 
that  is  b,  d,  f ,  r  and  v,  are  wanting  in  theirs  and  are  supplied  by  p,  t,  I  and  m ;  thus 
Adolph  with  them  is  Atol;  Ambrose,  Amelo;  Raphael,  Apel;  Mary,  Malee;  Rosalie, 
Usalee ;  Victor,  Mitt' to,  etc.,  the  accent  in  all  these  names  falling  on  the  last  syllable." 

H.  T.  Cowley,  who  came  among  the  Spokanes  as  a  missionary  in  1874*,  recalls 
the  following  specimen  words  from  their  language: 

Man    skul-ta-meehu    Cat    poos 

Woman    sim-a-am    Hand   : . . .  .  chels 

People    skal-ihu     Head    spel-kain 

Boy    tit-a- weet     Heart,  mind    spo-oas 

Girl    shy-shu-tum    Tomorrow    na-ha-lup 

Day - hul-hult    Yesterday spees-stah 

Night sko-qua-ats    Today   yitl-wha-s-hulhult 

Morning    ha-leep     When.^ specs  stamh 

Evening    tche-luh    Already,  now    Uam-me 

House,  dwelling sheethu    Many,  much   wfaai-eet 

Fire    so-ro-sheets    Few,  little   fle-thuwat 

Water    saulkhu    Great,  big   qae-toont 

World,  region   stoluh    Chief    eel-a-me-hoom 

Soil,  earth muhl    Horse    sintl-chas-kah 

Sun puk-ka-nee     Cold    tsar-rat 

Good    hasht    Bad taya 

Dog    hah-tle-seen 

Father  Diomedi,  who  labored  many  years  as  a  missionary  among  the  Coeur 
d'Alenes  and  other  tribes  who  speak  this  comm<m  language,  believed  it  to  be  of 
Semitic  origin,  and  that  these  tribes  are  descendants  of  Asiatics  who  probably 
found  their  way  across  frozen  Bering  sea,  and  slowly  drifted  down  the  Alaskan 
coast  and  out  into  the  interior. 

A  strange  fact,  baffling  to  philologists  who  have  inquired  into  the  characteristics 
of  the  Indian  tongues  of  this  section,  is  presented  in  the  total  dissimilarity  between 
the  language  of  the  Spokanes  and  that  spoken  by  the  Nez  Perces.  Close  students 
have  searched  in  vain  for  one  common  word  in  the  two  tongues,  a  mystery  which 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  645 

deepens  when  one  considers  the  close  similarity  of  European  Unguages,  and  the 
large  number  of  identical  root  forms  relating  them  to  many  Asiatic  tongues. 

In  their  folk-lore  of  the  river,  the  Spokanes  carried  a  tradition  which  resembled 
the  English  myth  of  the  dragon  and  St.  George.  Ages  ago  (so  ran  this  myth)  the 
land  was  devastated  by  a  monstrous  dragon  of  fetid,  reeking  breath  and  claws 
that  uprooted  in  a  single  stroke  the  largest  pine  tree.  The  people  everywhere 
stood  in  constant  dread  and  awe  of  it.  An  Indian  girl,  gathering  berries  on  a  sum- 
mer day,  discovered  the  monster,  sleeping  in  the  sunshine,  on  a  hillside  near  the 
present  mouth  of  the  Spokane.  Slipping  away,  she  ran  to  the  village  of  her  tribe 
and  reported  the  scene  that  had  burst  upon  her  astonished  vision.  Instantly  the 
chief  assembled  his  warriors,  and  gathering  up  every  cord  and  thong  in  the  vil- 
lage, they  stole  upon  the  sleeping  dragon  and  stealthily  bound  it  to  many  an 
adjacent  tree  and  crag.  This  accomplished,  the  whole  tribe  fell  upon  the  drowsy 
mammoth  with  all  their  implements  of  chase  and  war.  Under  this  rude  reveille 
the  dragon  bestirred  himself,  by  a  single  mighty  lunge  broke  all  his  bonds,  and 
vanished  like  the  wind,  tearing  as  he  went  a  deep  gorge  and  channel  to  Lake  Coeur 
d'Alene.  The  imprisoned  waters  of  the  lake  rolled  down  the  dragon's  course,  and 
ever  since  the  pleasant  Spokane  has  gone  fretting  to  the  sea. 

In  a  paper  prepared  for  the  Inland  Empire  Historical  Association,  Major  R. 
D.  Gwydir,  former  Indian  agent  on  the  Colville  reservation,  narrates  a  legend,  as 
told  to  him  by  Chief  Lot  of  one  of  the  three  bands  of  the  Spokanes.  "Lot  or 
Whistleposum,  his  Indian  name,"  says  Mr.  Gwydir,  "was  one  of  the  best  and  most 
truthful  Indians  I  ever  knew.  He  gave  me  a  traditional  history  of  Spokane  and 
the  country  surrounding  it,  which  as  I  recall  it,  ran  as  follows:  Centuries  ago 
and  long  before  the  pale  face  was  known  on  this  continent,  the  region  where  Spo- 
kane is  now  situated  and  for  many  days'  travel  east  of  it,  was  an  immense  and 
beautiful  lake,  with  many  islands  rising  from  its  surface.  The  country  swarmed 
with  game,  the  lakes  abounded  with  fish,  and  it  was  a  hunter's  paradise.  Many 
well  populated  villages  lay  along  the  shores  of  the  lake.  One  summer  morning 
the  entire  population  was  startled  by  a  rumbling  and  shaking  of  the  earth.  The 
waters  of  the  lake  began  rising  and  were  tossed  into  mountainous  waves  which 
threatened  to  engulf  the  entire  country.  To  add  to  the  horror,  the  sun  became 
obscured  by  an  eclipse  and  darkness  enveloped  the  frightful  scene.  The  terror 
stricken  inhabitants  fled  to  the  hills  for  safety.  The  quaking  of  the  earth  contin- 
ued for  two  days,  when  a  rain  of  ashes  began  to  fall  so  heavy  that  there  was  little 
difference  between  day  and  night.  This  downpour  of  ashes  continued  for  several 
weeks.  The  game  abandoned  the  country,  the  waters  of  the  lake  receded,  dry 
land  appeared  and  desolation  spread  over  the  entire  country.  The  Indians  died 
by  thousands  from  starvation.  The  remnants  that  escaped  followed  the  course 
of  the  receding  waters  and  arrived  at  the  falls  of  the  Spokane.  Here  they  founded 
their  first  village,  which  was  located  nearly  where  the  Galland-Burke  Brewery 
now  stands.  The  place  north  of  Bridge  avenue  and  between  Post  and  Monroe 
streets  was  their  swimming  pool.  The  tradition  further  states  that  the  devil  in 
the  form  of  a  coyote  gave  them  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  but  finally  they  snared  him 
and  all  the  Indians  were  in  at  the  killing,  after  which  they  divided  the  carcass 
among  the  different  tribes. 

"From  that  time  on  prosperity  smiled  upon  them  until  the  coming  of  the  white 


646  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

man^  who  could  not  be  snared.  The  Indians  often  declared  that  the  pale  face  was 
the  worse  devil  of  the  two  for  he  left  them  nothing  and  that  is  their  present  condi- 
tion." 

George  Gibbs,  who  accompanied^  in  1858^  the  government  expedition  which 
surveyed  the  country  between  St.  Paul  and  Puget  Sound  in  search  of  feasible  routes 
for  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific,  was  charged  with  the  duty  of  making  a  first-hand  study 
of  the  Indian  tribes  of  Washington  territory.  His  conclusions  are  set  forth  in 
an  interesting  and  informative  report  to  his  superior,  Captain  George  B.  McClel- 
Ian,  and  from  it  we  extract  the  following  particulars: 

"The  Spokehnish,  or  Spokanes,  lie  south  of  the  Schwoyelpi,  and  chiefly  upon 
or  near  the  Spokane  river.  The  name  applied  by  the  whites  to  a  number  of  small 
bands,  is  that  given  by  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  to  the  one  living  at  the  forks  (mouth 
of  the  Little  Spokane).  They  are  also  called  Sinkoman  by  the  Kootenaies.  These 
bands  are  eight  in  number:  the  Sin-slik-hoo-ish,  on  the  great  plain  above  the 
crossings  of  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river;  the  Sin-too-too-lish,  on  the  river  above  the 
forks;  the  Sma-hoo-men-a-ish  (Spokehnish)  at  the  forks;  the  Skai-schil-t'nish,  at 
the  old  Chemakane  mission;  the  Ske-chei-a-mouse,  above  them  on  the  Colville  trail; 
the  Schu-el-stish ;  the  Sin-poil-schne,  and  Sin-spee-lish,  on  the  Columbia  river; 
the  last  named  band  nearly  extinct.  The  three  bands  on  the  Columbia  all  speak 
a  different  language  from  the  rest,  but  are  claimed  by  the  Spokanes.  .  .  .  They 
were  a  wilder  looking  race  than  the  tribes  to  the  westward.  The  men  are  gener- 
ally spare,  even  when  young,  and  soon  become  withered. 

"Their  principal  chief  is  Spokane  Garry,  whose  name  was  bestowed  upon  him 
by  Governor  Sir  George  Simpson,  by  whom  he  was  sent,  when  about  twelve  years 
old,  to  the  Red  River  for  education,  where  he  spent  &ye  years.  Garry  is  now 
(in  1853)  about  42  years  of  age,  is  very  intelligent,  and  speaks  English  fluently. 
He  bears  an  excellent  character,  and  is  what  he  claims  to  be,  and  what  few  are 
among  these  tribes,  a  chief.  Of  petty  chiefs  there  are,  besides,  an  abundance,  each 
band  having  two  or  three.  Garry  himself  accompanied  us  to  the  forks  of  the 
Spokane,  where  his  band  usually  reside.  A  few  lodges,  chiefly  of  old  men  and 
women,  were  there  at  the  time.  His  own,  in  neatness  and  comfort,  was  far  be- 
yond any  we  had  seen.  His  family  were  dressed  in  the  costume  of  the  whites, 
which  in  fact  now  prevails  over  their  own.  Many  of  the  Spokanes,  besides  their 
intercourse  with  the  fort,  visit  the  American  settlements,  where  they  earn  money 
by  occasional  work,  most  of  which  is  spent  in  clothing,  blankets,  etc.  The  chief 
offered  us  the  hospitality  of  his  house  with  much  cordiality — a  cup  of  tea  or  coffee, 
and  bread.  The  'Spokane  House,'  which  is  a  landmark  upon  all  the  maps  of  this 
country,  was  an  old  Hudson's  Bay  fort,  situated  at  his  village,  but  has  long  since 
been  destroyed. 

"This  tribe  claims  as  their  territory  the  country  commencing  on  the  large  plain 
at  the  head  of  the  Slawntehus — the  stream  entering  the  Columbia  at  Fort  Colville; 
thence  down  the  Spokane  to  the  Columbia,  down  the  Columbia  half-way  to  Fort 
Okinakane,  and  up  the  Spokane  and  Coeur  d'Alene  to  some  point  between  the 
falls  and  the  lake,  on  the  latter.  There  is  in  this  direction  a  question  of  boundary 
between  them  and  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  which  appears  to  be  as  complicated  as 
some  of  those  between  civilized  nations.  No  resort  to  arms  has,  however,  occurred, 
and  the  territory  continues  under  joint  occupation.     An  additional  source  of  cool- 


STREET   SCENE,  CITY   OP  PAL0U8E,   WASHINGTON 


'..  >f:w  vokk 

r 

4 
1 

.im:  LIBRARY 

I 
1 

Aa  »  U*.    L»»*«X 

■^  „.  I  ''I  Tw-Nn*  r  i^Nt 

ONI 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  647 

ness  between  them  arises  from  a  difference  in  religion — ^the  Spokanes  being  Pro- 
testants^ or  of  the  'American  religion/  and  the  Coeur  d'Alenes  Catholics.  The 
latter  taunt  the  former  as  heretics^  whose  faith  is  worthless.  Garry  narrated  to 
Qs  the  evils  arising  from  this  state  of  feelings  with  a  forbearance  and  Christian  spirit 
of  toleration  which  would  have  honored  any  one.  The  tribe  at  present  have  no 
missionary  among  them^  but  they  seem  to  have  been  consistent  to  what  they  learned 
under  the  tuition  of  Messrs.  Walker  and  Eells^  of  the  Chemakane  mission.  The 
country  of  the  Spokanes^  though  in  most  respects  unattractive  to  settlement  by  the 
whites^  is  well  suited  to  the  pursuits  of  the  Indian.     .     .     . 

"Of  the  larger  game  there  is  but  little  in  their  own  country.  The  buffalo^  it 
would  seem^  in  former  times  penetrated,  at  least  occasionally  thus  far  to  the  west- 
ward, though  now  they  never  come  through  the  northern  passes.  We  were  in- 
formed by  an  old  Iroquois  hunter*  at  Fort  Colville,  who  has  been  some  forty-eight 
years  in  the  company's  service,  that  the  last  bull  was  killed  some  twenty-five  years 
ago  in  the  Grand  coulee. 

"The  Skitwich,  or  Coeur  d'Alenes;  live  upon  the  upper  part  of  the  Coeur 
d'Alene  river  (the  Spokane  of  the  present  day),  above  the  Spokanes,  and  around 
the  lake  of  the  same  name.  They  are  estimated  by  Dr.  Dart  as  only  200  in  num- 
ber, which  is  believed,  however,  to  be  too  low  an  estimate.  Father  Mengarini,  for- 
merly missionary  among  the  Flatheads,  gives  as  his  opinion,  that  they  reach  450. 

"The  Kalispdms,  or  Pend  d'Oreilles  of  the  lower  lake,  inhabit  the  country  north 
of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  and  around  the  Kalispelm  lake  (the  Pend  d'Oreille  of  the 
present  day).  Dr.  Dart  gives  their  population  as  520,  which  is  but  little  short  of 
Father  Mengarini's." 

When  in  the  Yakima  valley.  Captain  McClellan's  party  received  a  visit  from 
Owhi — that  Owhi  who,  two  years  later,  was  to  play  an  active  part  in  the  outbreak 
of  the  Yakimas,  Cayuses,  Walla  Wallas  and  other  hostiles,  have  a  hand  in  the 
murder  of  several  miners  in  the  Colville  country,  and  who,  at  the  end  of  the  Wright 
campaign  was  to  be  taken  prisoner,  see  his  son  hanged  in  a  camp  on  Hangman 
creek,  and,  himself  attempting  to  break  away  from  his  guards  a  few  days  later, 
find  death  in  his  desperate  dash  for  liberty. 

"Owhi's  two  sons,"  says  Gibbs,  "both  tall,  handsome  men,  had  their  blankets 
and  dress  profusely  ornamented,  and  the  wife  of  one  of  them,  a  very  pretty  woman, 
wore  a  dress  stiff  with  beadwork  find  porcupine  quills.  Owhi  himself,  on  the 
other  hand,  appeared  in  full  American  suit,  and  touched  his  hat  by  way  of  saluta- 
tion— a  compliment  which  he  clearly  expected  to  be  noticed  and  returned.  He, 
like  Kamiaken,  has  adopted  some  of  the  forms  of  Catholicism,  and  professes  to 
pray  habitually,  but  there  seemed  to  be  a  shadow  of  hypocrisy  in  his  devotion.  He 
is,  however,  a  man  of  very  considerable  understanding  and  policy,  and  inclined  to 
profit  by  the  example  of  the  whites." 

As  McClellan's  party  traveled  north  along  the  west  bank  of  the  Columbia,  Owhi 
pointed  out  two  landmarks  near  the  mouth  of  the  Wenatchee,  and  related  the  In- 
dian tradition  associated  with  them.  Two  columns  of  sandstone  stand  apart  from 
a  bluff  of  similar  material.  "Once  upon  a  time,"  he  said,  "two  women  of  the  race 
of  Elip  Tilicum  lived  here  and  were  very  bad,  being  in  the  habit  of  killing  those 
who  passed  by.  The  Indians  prayed  the  Great  Spirit  to  destroy  them,  and  He, 
granting  their  petition,  sent  an  enormous  bird  which  picked  out  their  brains,  and 


648  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

then  turned  them  into  stone."  In  proof  of  which^  says  Gibbs^  the  narrator  pointed 
out  a  hole  in  the  top  of  one  of  the  columns^  from  which  a  boulder  had  fallen^  as 
the  aperture  broken  by  the  bird  in  extracting  his  meal. 

"A  short  distance  beyond/'  adds  Gibbs,  "he  turned  a  little  off  the  trail  to  point 
out  to  us  another  curiosity.  It  was  a  perpendicular  rock^  on  the  face  of  which 
were  carved  sundry  figures^  most  of  them  intended  for  men.  They  were  slightly 
sunk  into  the  sandstone^  and  colored^  some  blacky  others  red^  and  traces  of  paint 
remained  more  or  less  distinctly  on  all  of  them.  These  also^  according  to  their 
report,  were  the  work  of  the  ancient  race;  but  from  the  soft  nature  of  the  rock,  and 
the  freshness  of  some  of  the  paint,  they  were  probably  not  of  extreme  antiquity. 
Nothing  could,  in  this  connection,  be  ascertained  from  the  Indians,  whether  they 
had  any  traditions  of  their  own  migration  from  another  country." 

Gambling  and  incantation  dancing  were  passionate  vices  of  the  pagan  or  non- 
Christianized  Indians  of  the  Inland  Empire.  Father  A.  Diomedi,  who  condensed 
in  his  "Sketches  of  Modern  Indian  Life**  ten  years  of  close  observation  and  experi- 
ence, gives  a  lively  description  of  the  favorite  gambling  game,  called  nzelalkom, 
or  the  stick  game.  "The  people  assemble  in  a  lodge,  arrange  themselves  in  a  circle, 
and  then  begin  to  sing  the  Indian  tune  which  is  a  prelude  to  the  game.  This  done, 
one  of  the  gamblers  takes  two  small  sticks,  about  one-fourth  of  an  inch  thick  and 
two  inches  long,  to  one  of  which  a  long  thread  is  attached,  and  holds  them,  one 
in  each  hand,  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  the  thread  passing  through  the  fingers  of 
both  hands.  The  others  must  then  guess  in  which  hand  is  the  stick  to  which  the 
thread  is  fastened.  Excitement  reaches  a  high  pitch  before  the  guessing  begins, 
and  singing  and  yelling  will  go  on  for  several  minutes  before  any  one  will  venture 
to  guess.  The  man  who  guesses  right  gains  one  point,  and  loses  one  if  wrong,  and 
when  the  number  agreed  upon  is  reached,  the  game  is  over." 

Before  the  Spokane  Indians  were  closely  confined  to  the  reservation,  the  writer 
chanced  occasionally  upon  little  groups,  seated  in  grassy  glades  beneath  the  shad- 
ing pines,  within  the  present  city  limits,  gambling  at  this  game  with  an  absorption 
so  intense  that  they  would  scarcely  look  up  at  the  approach  of  a  spectator.  In 
their  desperate  infatuation  players  would  frequently  gamble  away  their  last  re- 
maining article  of  personal  property — ^the  bedding  and  household  utensils  of  their 
families,  the  very  clothing  upon  their  backs.  Father  Diomedi  narrates  a  case 
which  fell  under  his  observation,  wherein  a  player  gambled  away  his  wife's  wear- 
ing apparel,  and  the  impoverished  pair  were  left  in  an  abandoned  hut  for  two 
days,  naked  and  exposed  to  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  miserable  laughing 
stocks  of  the  community. 

"In  horse  gambling,"  says  Father  Diomedi,  "they  have  the  very  peculiar  cus- 
tom of  staking  a  part  of  the  animal;  for  instance,  they  will  begin  with  one  foot, 
then  with  another,  and  so  on  to  the  neck  and  head,  which  will  transfer  the  whole 
animal  to  the  winner.  This  occupation  is  continued  throughout  the  night,  and  is 
such  a  disturbance  to  the  camp,  on  account  of  the  screaming  and  yelling  accompany- 
ing it,  that  those  engaged  in  it  are  frequently  sent  off  in  disgust  to  a  distance 
where  thev  can  not  be  heard."  * 

Indulgence  in  this  vice,  however,  lowered  the  respectability  of  the  players,  even 
among  the  pagan  Indians.  Youths  aspiring  to  matrimony  found  it  advisable  to 
abstain,  or  gamble  surreptitiously;  and  widowers  who  were  known  to  possess  the 


SPOKAxVE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  649 

weakness  before  bereavement  found  it  necessary  to  refrain  from  the  vice,  often 
over  a  period  of  several  years  if  they  would  again  enter  the  wedded  state. 

Father  Diomedi  gives  a  graphic  description  of  ghost-dancing,  as  witnessed  by 
him  in  a  great  winter  encampment  at  the  mouth  of  the  Okanogan.  The  dancing 
tent  had  been  constructed  by  driving  poles  into  the  ground,  and  stretching  around 
them  skins  or  canvas,  about  the  height  of  a  man's  head;  the  top  was  left  entirely 
open.  In  a  row  down  the  center  were  three  places  prepared  for  fires,  and  the 
space  on  each  side  of  these  was  covered  with  pine  branches  upon  which  were 
spread  blankets  and  buffalo  robes.  This  constituted  the  dancing  floor.  These  win- 
ter dances  were  usually  conducted  in  the  severest  weather,  as  one  purpose  of  the 
incantation  was  to  make  "medicine"  for  a  chinook  wind.  Although  the  temperature 
was  around  twenty  below,  many  of  the  dancers  were  clothed  about  the  waist  only, 
"the  rest  of  the  body  being  painted  either  red  or  in  stripes.  Their  necks  and  wrists 
were  adorned  with  strings  of  beads,  whilst  their  heads  were  encircled  with  eagles' 
feathers,  or  sometimes  a  tall  hat  made  of  the  skin  of  a  coyote  or  a  polecat  towered 
above  them." 

Within  the  large,  open  lodge,  some  80  by  20  feet,  men  and  women  crowded  in- 
discriminately, only  the  children  and  the  very  aged  were  excluded.  "They  were  so 
closely  packed,"  adds  Father  Diomedi,  "that  it  seemed  to  me  impossible  for  anybody 
to  move.  I  then  learned  that  their  dance  did  not  mean  movement,  or  turning  around ; 
they  stood  with  their  arms  raised,  and  their  thumbs  touching  their  shoulders,  the  only 
motion  being  the  moving  of  the  upper  part  of  the  body,  up  and  down  from  the  knees. 

"While  this  was  going  on,  and  all  eyes  were  watching  with  intense  anxiety  for 
the  entrance  of  the  'medicine  man,'  a  voice  was  heard  in  the  distance  humming  an 
Indian  tune.  As  the  spirit  man  approached,  thus  singing,  those  inside  endeavored 
to  catch  up  the  same  tune.  This  lasted  a  short  time  until  the  song  had  been  learned 
by  all  the  people,  who,  in  wild  confusion,  and  with  most  uncouth  sounds,  were 
screaming  at  the  top  of  their  voices.  While  all  were  singing,  and  the  'medicine 
man'  was  going  around  the  outside  of  the  lodge,  pretending  to  be  a  spirit  in  search 
of  an  entrance,  another  man  was  telling  the  people  what  the  'medicine  man'  had  re- 
ceived from  the  world  of  spirits.  When  he  at  last  entered,  the  scene  at  once  changed ; 
ail  turned  towards  him  as  hungry  wolves  upon  their  prey,  extending  their  necks 
towards  him  and  imitating  the  snapping  of  Indian  dogs.  The  'medicine  man'  stood 
in  the  midst  of  that  pack  of  human  hounds  and  took  out  the  little  bag  in  which  he 
kept  his  sacred  charm,  and  shaking  it,  as  if  to  stir  up  the  spirit  which  it  represented, 
commanded  silence.  Then  he  began  to  experiment  with  his  superstitious  perform- 
ances. A  sick  man  was  slipped  into  the  tent  among  the  people,  so  that  they  might 
witness  the  power  of  the  'spirit  man,'  and  see  for  themselves  whether  or  not  he  was 
able  to  effect  an  instantaneous  cure.  The  'medicine  man'  then  began  to  shake  his 
charm,  or,  as  the  Indians  called  it,  somesh,  and  to  sing  a  song  in  order  to  invoke  the 
power  of  the  spirit.  He  spat  all  over  the  sick  man,  and  then,  beginning  to  grow 
excited  and  wild,  he  rushed  at  him,  seized  him  by  the  head  with  one  hand  and  by 
the  throat  with  the  other  as  if  to  choke  him,  and  finally  approaching  his  mouth  to 
that  of  the  patient,  he  blew  powerfully  into  it.  By  this  time  the  sick  man  was  worked 
up  to  the  most  excited  condition ;  his  hair  stood  on  end  as  though  charged  with  elec- 
tricity, and  with  the  strength  imparted  by  the  excitement,  he  began  to  throw  dirt 


650  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

at  the  spectators  and  to  make  use  of  the  foulest  language^  until  at  length  he  fell 
back  exhausted  upon  his  buffalo  robe." 

What  was  apparently  a  remarkable  cure  accomplished  by  one  of  these  "medi- 
cine men"  is  narrated  by  the  same  authority.  A  young  Indian  was  brought  before 
hira^  bleeding  from  an  ugly  arrow  wound  over  the  hearty  and  with  the  iron  arrow 
point  embedded  in  the  flesh.  A  "medicine  man"  was  called  in  to  treat  the  patient, 
"The  second  day  after  the  occurrence,  I  saw  young  Theodore  sitting  on  a  fence  and 
walking  about  as  well  as  if  he  had  never  been  hurt.  I  did  not  see,  however,  whether 
the  wound  had  disappeared,  nor  whether  the  iron  point  had  been  extracted;  neither 
did  I  see  whether  the  cure  had  been  effected  by  sucking  the  blood,  as  an  Indian  told 
me,  or  by  the  use  of^  some  instrument." 

According  to  a  myth  of  the  Coeur  d'Alenes,  a  spirit  named  Amotkan  ruled  over 
the  waters  of  the  earth,  and  singularly  they  bestowed  this  same  name  upon  the 
president  of  the  United  States.  Once  he  grew  angry  with  all  the  Indians,  and  with- 
held from  the  people  the  last  drop  of  water,  so  that  they  all  perished  of  thirst. 
One  day  while  Father  Diomedi  was  floating  down  the  Coeur  d'Alene  river  between 
the  Mission  and  the  lake,  his  Coeur  d'Alene  guide  narrated  this  interesting  tradition: 

One  day  a  little  wolf  (the  favorite  hero  of  Indian  stories),  was  going  around  in 
search  of  water,  and  seeing  a  little  bird  carrying  a  drop  to  his  young  ones,  asked 
hira  where  he  fdtod  it.  The  bird  answered,  "I  found  it  where  Amotkan  dwells, 
but  I  had  to  wait  until  he  was  asleep  to  take  away  this  little  drop,  because  he  was 
so  angry  with  the  people  that  he  has  refused  to  give  them  any." 

"Then,"  said  the  little  wolf,  "show  me  the  way  and  I  will  go  and  kill  him,  be- 
cause otherwise  all  creatures  will  be  destroyed." 

So  they  went,  and  the  wolf  killed  Amotkan  while  he  was  asleep,  and  then  the 
water  began  to  flow,  and  kept  on  so  powerfully  that  it  flooded  the  whole  country 
and  covered  everything. 

"But,"  asked  the  priest,  "how  does  it  happen  that  there  are  any  men  on  earth 
now,  if  they  were  all  destroyed,  either  by  thirst  or  by  flood?" 

"Well,"  replied  the  guide,  "Amotkan's  body  was  carried  down  by  the  waters, 
and  when  they  dried  up,  the  little  wolf,  which  was  always  strolling  around,  dis- 
covered it  on  the  shore  in  this  very  place.  Then  he  cut  it  into  pieces,  and  threw  the 
heart  into  our  land,  and  from  this  sprung  our  people,  called  'pointed  hearts'  or  Coeur 
d'Alene.  From  the  other  parts  sprang  other  people,  such  as  the  Nez  Perces  and  the 
Sgoielpi  (the  Indians  around  Kettle  Falls).  The  Spokanes,  though,  came  into  ex- 
istence in  this  way :  After  the  little  wolf  had  finished  this  work  he  cleaned  his  paws 
with  some  straw,  which  he  then  threw  into  the  Spokane  land,  and  from  this  came 
those  people,  whom  we  call  derisively  *Men  of  Straw.'  " 

Father  Diomedi  asked  the  guide  if  they  believed  that  man's  soul  lived  after 
death. 

"We  had  very  little  knowledge  about  that,"  replied  the  guide,  "but  still  we 
thought  that  it  did  live,  and  now  and  then  some  of  the  old  people  would  say,  'I 
saw  such  and  such  a  one,  some  one  who  had  been  dead  a  long  time.'  Our  people 
believed  in  spirits  a  good  deal,  and  thought  they  dwelt  in  everything — trees,  stones, 
mountains  and  animals.  When  any  one  went  out  hunting,  he  would  embrace  what- 
ever he  met  in  his  way,  praying  to  the  spirit  and  saying,  'let  me  find  game.'  Each 
one  tried  to  make  friends  with  some  spirit.     A  girl,  when  she  reached  the  age  of 


i 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  651 

about  twelve  j'^ears,  would  leave  her  home  and  go  into  the  woods;  boys  would  do 
the  same  at  about  fourteen;  they  would  walk  on  in  search  of  the  spirit,  and  not 
drink  water  or  taste  fruit  and  roots  until  they  found  him.  After  a  day  or  two  they 
would  fall  asleep,  and  then  they  would  see  the  spirit,  who  taught  them  a  song,  and 
gave  them  something  to  keep  sacred.  Then  they  would  come  home,  persuaded  that 
they  had  found  a  friend  who  would  always  protect  them  during  life.  Sometimes  we 
would  see  a  bear,  and  then  he  would  give  us  one  of  his  claws  to  keep;  sometimes  a 
deer,  and  he  would  give  a  hoof;  again  a  bird,  and  then  we  would  kill  another  just 
like  it,  and  keep  either  its  feathers  or  its  head;  sometimes  a  snake,  and  then  we 
would  keep  a  snake  skin  or  rattle  always  with  us.  Wherever  we  went  we  always 
kept  our  somesh,  but  never  showed  it." 

Clair  Hunt,  allotting  agent  on  the  ColviUe  reservation,  thus  describes  a  cere- 
monial war  dance :  "A^  group  of  old  men  sit  in  a  circle  in  a  big  tent,  doing  nothing ; 
just  sitting  there.  By  and  by  one  drops  out  and  brings  in  a  big  stone  pipe  a  foot 
long.  First  the  leader  takes  two  or  three  puffs  and  hands  it  to  the  man  on  his  left, 
and  so  on  around  the  group  for  quite  a  while.  By  and  by  the  drummer  begins  play- 
ing, so  lightly  one  can  hardly  hear  it;  but  he  gradually  increases  the  sound,  and  at 
last  they  begin  to  sing.  They  keep  this  up  for  an  indefinite  time,  and  then  they  be- 
gin their  dance.  When  they  are  warmed  up  and  dancing  good,  an  Indian  rushes  in 
with  news  of  an  attack  by  another  tribe.  Then  a  number  of  the  dancers  mimic  what 
they  think  of  it.  They  keep  this  dancing  up  all  night.  When  the  leader  notes  that 
they  are  tired,  he  makes  three  big  flourishes,  which  means  that  they  may  rest.  The 
Indians  take  care  to  train  their  children  in  the  war  dance. 

"I  drove  up  to  a  group  of  Indians  one  day  and  they  did  not  hear  me,  and  I  asked 
what  was  the  matter.  My  interpreter  said  it  was  a  gambling  game.  There  were 
about  twenty  Indians  in  all,  sitting  in  two  rows.  I  saw  between  the  two  rows  a  pot 
of  money,  silver  dollars  and  bills.  If  they  bet  a  horse  there  was  a  stick  in  the  pot ; 
if  a  blanket,  another  stick  of  different  size  or  shape.  They  play  the  game  with  two 
bone  sticks.  On  one  of  these  is  tied  a  black  cord.  The  opposing  side  will  try  to 
guess  in  which  hand  is  the  stick  with  the  black  cord,  and  if  they  guess  right  they 
win.  When  the  game  is  over  the  chief  takes  the  money  and  distributes  it  among 
the  group.  Every  one  seems  satisfied,  and  disputes  almost  never  occur.  That  game 
lasted  two  nights  and  a  day. 

"In  my  labors  among  the  Indians  the  past  twelve  years  I  have  never  seen  them 
steal  anything.  Back  on  the  reservation,  away  from  civilization,  there  is  no  need 
of  ray  hiding  anything.  My  goods  and  also  my  family  would  be  safer  in  the  middle 
of  the  reservation,  without  any  protection  than  in  any  outside  settlement. 

"WTien  an  Indian  dies  it  is  customary  for  a  near  relative  to  invite  all  the  rela- 
tives  and  friends  to  a  feast  in  honor  of  the  deceased.  Acquaintances  for  fifty  miles 
or  more  come  and  remain  till  the  food  supply  is  gone.    The  time  is  occupied  in  talk." 

The  Nez  Perces  were  the  largest  and  most  powerful  tribe  of  the  interior.  They 
called  themselves  Chipunish,  but  were  termed  Nez  Perce,  or  pierced  nose,  by  French 
Canadian  trappers  and  traders,  and  that  designation  they  bear  to  the  present  day. 

Lieutenant  Lawrence  Kip,  who  accompanied  the  Wright  expedition  and  after- 
ward wrote  a  little  classic,  "Army  Life  on  the  Pacific,"  was  a  dose  observer  of  the 
traits  and  customs  of  this  tribe,  and  we  are  indebted  to  that  work  for  an  interesting 
description.     Their  habitat  then  extended  from  the  great  plains  of  Montana,  where 


652  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

they  hunted  the  buffalo,  to  the  Rocky  mountains  and  the  rivers  in  the  country  that 
we  now  term  the  Inland  Empire.  They  were  expert  hunters  of  the  elk,  the  bear, 
the  buffalo  and  the  moimtain  sheep,  and  trapped  beaver  for  the  trading  posts.  They 
were  celebrated  for  their  large  droves  of  horses,  which  they  branded  and  turned 
loose  to  graze  upon  the  fertile  plains  till  needed  by  their  owners.  Everything  save 
war,  gambling  and  the  perils  of  the  chase  was  held  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  men 
and  all  menial  tasks  were  laid  u]>on  the  women. 

"When  at  home  and  not  occupied  in  preparing  their  arms,  or  in  feats  of  horse- 
manship," says  Kip,  "they  are  gambling,  lounging  in  groups,  or  listening  to  some 
story  teller  who  recounts  the  exploits  of  the  old  warriors  of  the  tribe." 

And  yet  they  had  a  devout  side,  and  as  Kip  said,  a  strictness  in  some  religious 
rites  which  might  shame  those  "who  profess  and  call  themselves  Christians." 
They  took  readily  to  the  religious  instruction  of  the  Presbyterian  missionaries,  nota- 
bly Spalding  of  the  Lapwai  mission  in  the  Clearwater  country,  and  adhered  zeal- 
ously to  their  Christian  services  long  after  the  missionaries,  alarmed  by  the  Whit- 
man massacre,  had  retreated  to  the  Willamette  valley  in  Oregon.  Some  of  them  came 
under  the  teachings  of  the  Catholic  missionaries,  and  Kip  quaintly  remarked  that 
"the  theological  creed  of  the  Nez  Perces,  if  now  investigated,  would  probably  be  an 
odd  system  which  would  startle  an  ordinary  D.  D."     That  author  continues: 

"Still  it  exerted  a  very  perceptible  influence  over  their  system  of  morality  and 
daily  life.  When,  with  Lieutenant  Gracie  at  the  council  on  this  spot  (Walla  W^alla) 
in  IS55,  2,500  of  the  Nez  Perce  tribe  were  present,  and  as  we  were  camped  among 
them  for  three  weeks,  I  had  an  opportunity  of  learning  something  of  their  habits. 
I  found  they  had  prayers  in  their  lodges  every  morning  and  evening,  service  several 
times  on  Sunday — and  nothing  could  induce  them  on  that  day  to  engage  in  any 
trading. 

"On  one  occasion  at  that  time,  visiting  the  old  chief  Lawyer  in  his  lodge,  on 
some  evening  in  the  middle  of  the  week,  I  found  him  surrounded  by  his  family  and 
reading  a  portion  of  the  new  testament.  On  another  occasion,  on  a  Saturday  even- 
ing, he  was  employed  with  a  number  of  his  tribe  in  singing  sacred  music  to  prepare 
for  the  worship  of  the  morrow.  The  next  day,  therefore,  we  rode  over  to  the  Nez 
Perce  camp,  where  we  found  they  were  holding  service  in  one  of  the  largest  lodges. 
Two  of  the  chiefs  were  officiating — one  of  them  delivering  an  address  (taking  the 
ten  commandments  for  his  text),  and  at  the  end  of  each  sentence  the  other  chief 
would  repeat  it  in  a  louder  tone  of  voice.  This  is  their  invariable  custom  with  all 
their  speeches.  Everything  was  conducted  with  the  greatest  propriety,  and  the 
singing,  in  which  they  all  joined,  had  an  exceedingly  musical  effect." 

Kip  "found  an  odd  mixture  of  this  world  and  the  next  in  some  of  the  Nez  Perces 
— an  equal  love  of  flghting  and  devotion."  It  will  scarcely  escape  the  reader's  ob- 
servation that  this  mixture  is  not  peculiar  to  our  old  friends  the  Nez  Perces.  One 
encounters  it,  indeed,  through  all  history  and  among  all  peoples,  and  even  the  white 
man  today,  with  all  his  superior  civilization  and  education,  retcuns  a  strong  penchant 
to  that  self-same  mixture. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  add,  in  this  connection,  that  our  Nez  Perce  allies  have  pros- 
pered with  the  flight  of  time,  and  less,  perhaps,  than  any  ether  western  tribe,  have 
suffered  from  contact  with  the  white  man  and  the  white  man's  civilization.  Their 
reservation,  near  Lewiston,  Idaho,  is  a  region  of  great  beauty  and  natural  wealth. 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 


653 


and  they  have  taken  kindly,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  arts  of  peace.  Many  of  them 
are  well  to  do  and  even  wealthy,  and  they  have  good  houses  that  are  comfortably 
and  even  showily  furnished.  Physically  they  are  a  rugged  type,  their  fine  forms 
and  massive  necks  and  heads  suggesting  unusual  strength  and  vigor.  They  are 
truly  a  superior  people,  possessing  many  kindly  virtues,  and  adhering  faithfully  to 
the  religious  training  imparted  them  some  seventy  years  ago  by  devout  and  self- 
sacrificing  missionaries. 

They  possess  a  rich  and  beautiful  language,  having  varied  and  carefully  ex- 
pressive verb  forms,  and  a  grammar  inferior  only  to  that  of  the  more  highly  de- 
veloped tongues  of  civilization.  Perrin  Whitman,  a  nephew  of  the  martyr  mission- 
ary, who  enjoyed,  perhaps,  a  more  intimate  knowledge  of  these  Indians  than  that 
acquired  by  any  other  white  man,  frequently  said  that  the  Nez  Perce  tongue  bore 
close  resemblance  to  the  Greek,  and  he  had  found  it  so  rich  and  expressive  that  it 
had  largely  displaced  English  in  his  thoughts,  and  he  did  most  of  his  thinking  in  it. 
Whitman,  when  a  boy,  was  brought  to  the  Walla  Walla  mission  by  Dr.  Whitman, 
and  grew  to  manhood  among  Indian  associations.  He  served  often  as  interpreter 
for  the  government,  and  held  to  the  last  the  implicit  confidence  of  his  Nez  Perce 
friends. 


WORDS  FROM  THE   NEZ  PERCE  LANGUAGE* 


God   hemakis  Tota 

Father    tota 

Woman    iat 

Child   meaits 

Sister    • axsip 

Wife waipna 

Heaven    accompenaka 

Water coos 

Snow    maika 

Wood    haitsu 

Hell  or  bad  spirit koonapa  kapseish 

Grizzly  bear hahats 

Beaver    taxpull 

Moose   taissheep 

Wolf    siyah 

Trout wowalthum 

Stone    pishwa 

Hair    hookoo 

Leg waiu 

Cloth tahea 

Beads coUowin 

Bad    kapseis 

Yes    ai 

Small   coots 

Well    penamina 


Yesterday   watish 

Black   cinmo  dmmeo 

Vermilion    ailish 

Spirit   koonapa 

Man    hama 

Mother    peka 

Brother    uskeep 

Husband    hama 

People    tetokan 

Earth    waitush 

Fire aula 

Rain    waikit 

Grass   pax 

Horse    shecum 

Black  bear eakat 

Deer    enishnim 

Buffalo    cocoil 

Salmon    natso 

Gun temoon 

Head hooshus 

Arm    artum 

Foot    akkoa 

Saddle   supen  sapoos 

Good    tois 

No    waiitu 


^As  compiled  by  Bev.  Samuel  Parker  in  1835. 


654  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

Great hemakis     White    hihi 

Sick    comitsa     Red     ilpelp 

Today    tax    Paint   penasuet 

When  Wright's  command  was  resting  at  the  camp  of  the  Four  Lakes^  Lieutenant 
John  Mullan,  moved  by  a  strong  sense  of  justice^  penned  an  earnest  appeal  to  the 
commissioner  of  Indian  affairs  at  Washington  on  behalf  of  this  people.  "Alloir  me, 
my  dear  sir,"  said  MuUan^  "while  this  general  war  is  going  on^  to  point  you  to  at 
least  a  few  green  spots  where  the  ravages  of  war  do  not  as  yet  extend,  and  which 
thus  far  are  untainted  and  unaffected,  with  a  view  of  so  retaining  them  that  we  may 
hereafter  point  to  them  as  oases  in  this  desert  of  war.  These  green  spots  are  the 
Nez  Perces,  the  Flatheads  and  Pend  d'Oreilles.  .  .  .  This  is  the  same  people, 
who,  meeting  the  flying  column  of  Colonel  Steptoe  in  hot  night  retreat,  having  aban- 
doned animals,  provisions  and  guns  behind  them,  received  him  with  open  arms,  sue 
cored  his  wounded  men,  and  crossed  in  safety  his  whole  command  over  the  difficult 
and  dangerous  south  fork  of  the  Columbia,  at  a  time  when  no  other  means  whatever 
to  outreach  a  foe,  who,  already  triumphant  with  success,  had  determined  his  com- 
plete destruction.  Here,  then,  is  an  instance  in  Indian  history  that  must  and  will 
stand  long  on  record,  not  to  be  forgotten.  Colonel  Wright,  on  entering  their  country, 
was  not  unmindful  of  this  noble  act  when  we  might — aye,  justly,  too — have  antici- 
pated a  lurking  foe  in  that  same  tribe,  and  he  took  such  measures  as  to  keep  their 
friendship.     It  is  now  for  you  to  say  whether  this  shall  be  inviolable.     .     . 

"They  have  no  agent  who  lives  among  them.  They  are  far  advanced,  already 
raise  wheat,  corn  and  vegetables,  with  the  rudest  of  means.  When  asked  by  Colonel 
Wright  what  they  wanted,  their  reply  was  well  worthy  of  a  npble  race:  'Peace, 
ploughs  and  schools.'  ...  I  point  you,  commencing  with  Lewis  and  Clark,  in 
1804,  to  the  present  day,  to  the  accounts  of  all  travelers  across  the  continent;  and 
with  one  accord  they  point  to  the  Nez  Perces  and  Flatheads  as  two  bright,  shining 
points  in  a  long  weary  pilgrimage  across  a  prairie  desert  and  rugged  mountain  bar- 
rier, alive  with  savage  hordes  of  Indians,  where  they  have  been  relieved  and  aided 
when  most  in  need."  Oregon  came  into  the  union  in  1859,  a  year  after  the  penning 
of  this  appeal. 

Ex-President  Roosevelt  has  justly  said  that  our  subsequent  treatment  of  the  Nez 
Perces,  when  Joseph's  band  were  pleading  eloquently  for  the  retention  of  the  homes 
of  their  ancestors  in  the  Wallowa  valley,  constitutes  an  enduring  reproach  to  our 
national  sense  of  justice  and  gratitude.  At  another  place  in  this  volume  we  shall 
touch  upon  the  incidents  of  that  affair  and  the  Nez  Perce  war  of  1877,  fought  by  our 
long-time  friends  and  allies  only  after  the  severest  provocation. 

The  speech  of  Chief  George  Moses  of  the  Nez  Perces  at  the  conclusion  of  a  war 
dance  at  Lewiston  in  1907  was  a  model  of  Indian  eloquence.  Prefacing  his  remarks 
by  stating  that  the  war  dance  just  concluded  had  been  given  with  a  desire  to  assist 
in  the  entertainment  of  the  guests  of  the  Lewiston  Interstate  Fair  association,  Moses 
said: 

"In  the  circle  of  warriors  back  of  me,  who  have  just  given  a  war  dance  for  your 
pleasure,  are  the  sons  of  those  chiefs  and  warriors  of  the  tribe  who  ninety-eight 
years  ago  welcomed  the  intrepid  explorers.  Captains  Lewis  and  Clark,  when  they  had 
crossed  the  Bitter  Root  mountains  and  entered  the  land  of  the  Nez  Perces.     Their 


SPOKAlNE  and  the  inland  empire  655 

forefathers  then  received  the  white  man  as  friends.  Of  their  few  goods  they  gave 
largely.  The  Indians'  slender  stock  of  camas  and  couse^  of  dried  roots^  berries^ 
yenison,  elk  meat  and  fish  was  depleted  that  the  starving  party  of  whites  might  be 
fed.  The  party  was  guided  to  safe  camping  places.  The  Indians  assisted  in  the 
construction  of  canoes  in  which  the  party  of  white  men  made  the  voyage  down  the 
Clearwater^  Snake  and  Columbia  rivers  to  the  sea.  All  this  was  done  in  loving 
friendship. 

"All  through  the  intervening  years  the  Nez  Perces  as  a  race  have  held  the  white 
man  in  blood  brotherhood.  At  all  times  have  the  great  majority  of  the  tribe  been 
as  willing  to  protect  and  defend  the  family  of  the  white  man  as  their  own.  With  this 
undisputed  history  of  the  Nez  Perces'  peaceful  and  friendly  association  with  the 
white  race  before  you,  we  ask  that  you  look  upon  our  fading  race  with  respect.  We 
ask  your  friendship  and  assistance  in  fitting  ourselves  for  the  duties  of  American 
citizenship.  Help  us  to  the  benefits  of  free  schools  and  churches  and  other  good 
gifts  that  white  men  enjoy  and  profit  by.  We  are  ready  to  appreciate  the  benefits  of 
citizenship  and  would  willingly  exercise  the  voting  privilege  in  assisting  in  securing 
good  government.  But  we  are  still  children  in  comprehension.  The  complex  objects 
and  aims  of  the  white  man's  government  are  to  us  mysteries.  We  only  know  the  rule 
of  the  chiefs  and  patriarchs — the  law  making  of  the  council  fires,  with  the  execution 
of  its  decrees  on  the  warpath,  marked  with  the  bodies  of  the  scalped  and  slain. 

"Oh,  white  man!"  continued  the  orator,  standing  with  outstretched  right  arm, 
the  hand  grasping  an  eagle  feather,  while  with  the  other  arm  he  folded  about  him 
his  blanket  robe  of  somber  color,  "look  at  these  warriors,  the  few  feeble  remnants  of 
our  once  all  powerful  armed  array.  You  see  in  them  only  the  faded  shadow  of  a 
once  all-pervading  power  among  the  savage  nations  of  the  northwest.  Time  was 
when  we  ruled  these  hills  and  valleys  and  no  man  came  or  went  save  by  the  consent 
and  desire  of  the  tribe.  This  point  where  now  stands  a  prosperous  city,  trading  and 
trafficking  for  wealth,  was  once  the  meeting  place  of  all  the  scattered  branches  of 
our  people.  Here  we  assembled  on  each  recurring  autumn  to  offer  thanks  to  the 
Great  Spirit  for  his  watchful  help  and  to  supplicate  the  continuance  of  his  favoring 
smile. 

"Then  the  Nez  Perce  was  a  king — free  as  the  bird  whose  winged  flight  the  river 
mirrored.  His  thought  was  of  the  highest  of  which  he  knew.  Kind  to  his  friends, 
severe  to  his  enemies,  he  gave  the  best  to  the  Great  Spirit  ungrudgingly.  And  yet 
the  white  man  came,  was  received  as  a  brother  and  the  glory  of  the  Nez  Perce  de- 
parted, never  to  return.  The  sun  no  longer  gilds  the  deerskin  tepees  on  a  thousand 
hillsides;  the  warrior  does  not  count  the  scalps  he  has  taken  in  battle  and  ambush 
by  the  eagle  feathers  in  his  war  bonnet ;  the  modest  Indian  maiden  no  longer  prays 
to  the  Great  Spirit  for  a  brave  husband,  nor  the  young  wife  make  offerings  for 
handsome  boys.  With  the  conquest  of  the  white  man  has  apparently  come  to  the 
Indian  only  the  vices  of  his  conqueror.  And  yet  I  see  the  light  of  better  days  to 
come.  The  remnants  of  the  race  will  know  and  appreciate  the  good  ambitions  of 
the  white  man,  and  will  follow  them.  When  this  comes,  there  will  be  the  dawning 
of  a  new  and  better  day.  The  old  glories  of  our  race  will  not  return,  but  better 
glories  will  have  taken  their  place.  The  boast  of  the  Nez  Perces  a  hundred  years 
ago:  *We  conquered  our  enemies,*  will  be  changed  to  the  happy  cry,  'We  have  con- 
quered ourselves.' 


> » 


656  SPOKAlNE  and  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

The  manner  of  the  orator  throu^out  was  dignified  and  impressive.  More  than 
5^000  {>eople  crowded  the  grandstand  and  listened  in  silence  and  with  close  atten- 
tion to  the  Indian's  address^  and  its  interpretation  by  Albert  Moore^  a  full-blooded 
Nez  Perce  graduate  of  Carlisle  Indian  school  and  former  undergraduate  of  Idaho 
university. 


CHAPTER  LXXXV 

ORIGIN    OF    CERTAIN    INDIAN    NAMES JOAQUIN    MILLER's    ROMANTIC    EXPLANATION    OF 

THE    MEANING    OF    IDAHO LAKE    PEND    d'oREILLE    ONCE    KNOWN    A8    KALI8PELM, 

AND  PRIEST  LAKE  AS  ROOTHAN AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  A  NOTED  PIONEER  WHO  SERVED 

WITH     GOVERNOR    STEVENS ^DEDICATION    OF    MONUMENT    AT     CAMP    WASHINGTON, 

NEAR  SPOKANE — KETTLE  FALLS  INDIANS  SUFFER  FROM  FAMINE  AND  BAT  PINE  MOSS 
HOW   PRIEST  RAPIDS  WERE   NAMED. 

HENRY  GANNETT  (in  a  publication  of  the  United  States  government, 
"Origin  of  Certain  Place  Names  in  the  United  States"),  says  that  the 
word  "Idaho"  is  an  Indian  name  of  unknown  meaning.  But  the  poet 
Joaquin  Miller,  who  was  an  express  rider  in  the  early  '60s  between  Walla  Walla 
and  the  placer  camps,  rhapsodizes  over  a  poetical  meaning.  Miller's  statement, 
which  the  reader  will  take  with  some  salt,  awards  to  his  old  friend  Colonel  Craig, 
of  Craig's  Moimtain,  Nez  Perce  county,  "the  distinction  of  naming  Idaho.  The 
facts  are  these,"  says  Miller:  "I  was  riding  pony  express  at  the  time  rumors 
reached  us,  through  the  Nez  Perce  Indians,  that  gold  was  to  be  found  on  the 
headwaters  and  tributaries  of  the  Salmon  river.  I  had  lived  with  the  Indians; 
and  Colonel  Craig,  who  had  spent  most  of  his  life  with  them,  often  talked  with 
me  about  possible  discoveries  in  the  mountains  to  the  right,  as  we  rode  to  Orofino, 
and  of  what  the  Indians  said  of  the  then  unknown  region.  Gallop  your  horse, 
as  I  have  a  hundred  times,  against  the  rising  sun.  As  you  dimb  the  Sweetwater 
mountains,  far  away  to  your  right,  you  will  see  the  name  of  Idaho  written  on  the 
mountain-top — at  least  you  will  see  a  peculiar  and  beautiful  light  at  sunrise,  a 
sort  of  diadem  on  two  grand  clusters  of  mountains  that  bear  away  under  the  clouds, 
fifty  miles  distant.  'That,'  he  said,  'is  what  the  Indians  called  E-dah-hoe,  which 
means  the  light  or  diadem  on  the  line  of  the  mountains.'  That  was  the  first  time 
I  ever  heard  the  name.  Later,  in  September,  '61,  when  I  rode  into  the  newly 
discovered  camp  to  establish  an  express  office,  I  took  with  me  an  Indian  from 
Lapwai.  We  followed  an  Indian  trail,  crossed  Craig's  mountain  and  Camas  prai- 
rie, and  had  all  the  time  E-dah-hoe  moimt  for  an  object  point. 

"On  my  return  to  Lewiston,  I  wrote  a  letter  containing  a  brief  account  of  our 
trip  and  of  the  mines,  and  it  was  published  in  one  of  the  Oregon  papers.  In  that 
account  I  oftened  mentioned  E-dah-hoe,  but  spelled  it  Idaho.  So  that,  perhaps, 
I  may  have  been  the  first  to  give  it  its  present  spelling,  but  I  certainly  did  not 
originate  the  word." 

According  to  Ex-Senator  Nesmith  of  Oregon,  "the  bill  first  passed  the  house 
of  representatives  designating  the  present  territory  of  Idaho  as  'Montana.*     When 

Vol    1—42 

657 


^ 


658  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

it  came  up  for  consideration  in  the  senate^  on  the  Sd  of  March^  1S6S,  Senator  Wil- 
son of  Massachusetts  moved  to  strike  out  the  word  'Montana'  and  insert  'Idaho.' 
Mr.  Harding  of  Oregon  said^  'I  think  the  name  Idi^o  is  preferable  to  M<mtana. 
Idaho^  in  English^  signifies  ''The  Gem  of  the  Mountains."  '  I  heard  others  sug- 
gest that  it  meant  in  the  Indian  tongue^  'Shining  Mountains/  all  of  whidi  are 
synonymous.  I  do  not  know  from  which  of  the  Indian  tongues  the  two  words 
Ida-ho  come.  I  think^  however^  if  you  will  pursue  the  inquiry  among  those  familiar 
with  the  Nez  Perce^  Shoshone  and  Flathead  tribes^  you  will  find  the  origin  of 
the  two  words  as  I  have  given  it  above." 

It  is  also  said  that  William  H.  Wallace^  the  delegate  to  congress  who  intro- 
duced the  bill  making  a  new  territory  out  of  the  eastern  portion  of  Washington, 
pleased  with  the  beauty  of  the  name  Idaho^  suggested  it  as  an  appropriate  one. 

Other  Indian  names  in  the  Inland  Empire  are  given  by  Mr.  Gannett  as  follow^: 

Spokane — Named  for  an  Indian  tribe,  the  name  meaning  "Children  of  the  Sun." 

Okanogan — An  Indian  word  and  tribal  name,  signif3dng  rendezvous,  and  so 
applied  first  to  the  river  on  account  of  the  assembling  of  Indians  to  lay  in  supplies 
of  fish  and  game. 

Lapwai — Place  of  division,  or  boundary. 

Latah — Said  by  one  authority  (not  given)  to  be  an  Indian  word  meaning 
"succession." 

Chelan — An  Indian  word  meaning  deep  water,  or  big  water. 

Yakima — Said  to  have  been  named  for  a  tribe  of  Indians,  the  name  nieaning 
"Black  Bear,"  or,  according  to  other  authorities,  "coward." 

Wallowa — An  Indian  word  meaning  a  tripod  for  holding  a  fishtrap  in  the 
water. 

Walla  Walla — From  a  Nez  Perce  Indian  word  used  to  designate  a  rapid  stream. 

Missoula — The  name  is  said  to  have  the  same  meaning  as  Missouri,  "nmddy 

water." 

Kittitas — The  word  means  "shoal"  in  the  Yakima  language. 

When  Governor  Stevens  passed  through  this  region  in  1853,  and  again  in 
1855,  Lake  Pend  d'Oreille  was  called  Lake  Kalispelm,  and  the  Priest  lake  of  the 
present  day  was  Lake  Roothan.  Dr.  George  Suckley,  who  as  a  member  of  Gover- 
nor Stevens'  exploring  expedition,  voyaged  down  the  Clark's  fork  to  the  lake, 
down  the  lake  and  Pend  d'Oreille  river  to  the  Columbia,  and  thence  down  the 
greater  stream  to  Fort  Vancouver,  near  the  present  city  of  Portland,  recorded  in 
his  journal  the  following  interesting  entry: 

"November  6,  1858. — Thirty-two  miles  below  Lake  Kalispelm.  Today,  after 
paddling  ten  miles  along  the  river,  which  is  her^s  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile 
wide,  we  got  into  swift  water  and  a  quick  succession  of  rapids.  The  nineteenth 
mile  brought  us  to  our  last  portage,  tliis  side  of  the  mission  of  St.  Ignatius  (Al- 
bani  falls,  near  the  present  town  of  Newport).  Here  an  island  blocks  up  and 
dams  the  river,  which  relieves  itself  on  both  sides  of  the  island  by  a  cascade  of 
about  six  and  a  half  feet  perpendicular  fall.  In  the  middle  of  the  island  is  a 
cleft,  now  dry,  which  becomes  a  third  channel  in  high  water.  Below  the  island  a 
bay  makes  in  to  within  thirty  feet  of  the  water  on  its  upper  side.  Over  this  thirty 
feet  of  rock  we  made  a  portage  of  our  stuff,  and  dragged  our  boat  across.  I  learn 
that  about  thirty-five  miles  to  the  north  there  is  a  beautiful  sheet  of  water  called 


RIVERSIDE  AVENUE  AM)  STEVENS  STREET,  LOOKINd  NORTH  ON  STEVENS 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  659 

Lake  Roothan.  It  is  about  the  same  size  as  Lake  Kalispelm^  and  like  it,  beautifully 
clear,  and  surrounded  by  lofty  mountains,  but  surpasses  the  latter  in  beauty  by 
the  great  number  of  small  islands  it  contains.  The  outlet  of  the  lake  (Priest  river) 
enters  Clark  river  (the  Pend  d'Oreille)  about  ^ye  miles  above  the  fall.  From  Lake 
Roothan  a  moimtain  ridge  rxms  southwest  to  the  Spokane  country,  a  distance  of 
about  seventy  miles.  The  river  and  ridge  intersect  at  the  fall,  the  island  between 
being  wrought  into  its  present  shape  by  the  continual  action  of  the  water." 

ADVENTUROUS  CAREER  OP  FRANCIS  WOLFF 

One  of  the  noted  pioneers  of  the  Spokane  country  was  Francis  Wolff,  who  lived 
for  more  than  fifty  years  in  the  Colville  valley,  and  died  June  24,  1909.  He  en- 
listed in  the  regular  army  in  1849,  and  was  sent  to  the  Pacific  coast  in  1852,  by 
way  of  Panama,  to  take  station  at  The  Dalles.  In  1853  he  was  one  of  the  command 
sent  to  meet  Governor  LI.  Stevens  at  Fort  Benton.  I  quote  now  from  Mr.  Wolff's 
autobiography : 

"In  1854  we  went  by  the  Lolo  fork  trail  over  the  mountains  and  down  the 
Clearwater,  and  I  was  discharged  at  The  Dalles  in  July,  1854,  where  I  located. 
In  the  spring  of  1855  I  went  into  partnership  with  H.  P.  Isaacs,  merchandising 
at  The  Dalles;  remained  at  The  Dalles  about  six  months,  and  during  the  mining 
excitement  started  for  the  Pend  d'OreiTle  mines.  I  met  the  miners  returning  on 
the  Umatilla,  where  in  September  I  stopped  at  Fort  Henrietta. 

"Led  by  Kamiaken,  the  Indians  had  commenced  a  war  in  the  Yakima  country, 
and  Major  Haller  had  been  defeated.  The  four, men  I  had  employed  got  on  their 
horses  in  the  night  and  went  to  The  Dalles.  I  stayed  with  my  goods,  and  traded 
one  day  for  thirty  horses,  which  were  let  out  of  the  corral  during  that  night  and 
returned  to  their  range  on  the  mountains.  I  locked  up  my  store,  went  after  them, 
was  gone  two  days,  and  when  I  returned  my  goods  were  all  gone.  I  traced  the 
goods  to  one  branch  of  the  Umatillas.  Winnumsnute,  the  head  chief,  was  my  friend, 
and  wherever  I  could  find  an  Indian  with  my  goods  he  would  compel  him  to  give 
them  up.  I  then  gave  them  to  Winnumsnute's  people,  who  had  no  hand  in  the 
stealing.  About  that  time  Indian  Agent  Olney  came  along,  gathering  up  the  set- 
tlers by  order  of  Governor  Curry  of  Oregon,  and  I  was  glad  to  get  out  of  the  country, 
having  lost  all  my  goods,  wagons,  oxen,  etc.,  valued  at  about  $4,000.  This  was  in 
October,  1855. 

"When  we  reached  The  Dalles,  I  found  Captain  Humason  organizing  a  com- 
pany of  volunteers,  which  I  gladly  joined,  and  next  day  was  on  my  return  for  the 
seat  of  war  at  Walla  Walla,  and  was  in  the  three  days'  fight  near  Whitman's  sta- 
tion, had  my  horse  shot,  and  had  a  talk  with  Winnumsnute.  I  was  in  this  service 
122  days.  Lieutenant  James  McAuliff,  afterwards  mayor  of  Walla  Walla  for  ten 
years,  said  to  me  'that  Wolff  used  to  sit  on  a  hill  during  a  lull  in  the  fight  and  read 
a  novel;  he  was  the  most  fearless  man  I  ever  saw.' 

"I  returned  in  the  spring  of  1856  to  The  Dalles  and  was  discharged;  sold  my 
house  to  Major  Lougenbeel  for  $1,100,  and  put  that,  with  $2,000  more,  into  goods, 
with  Vic.  Trevett  as  a  partner,  bought  the  goods  of  H.  P.  Isaacs,  and  started  with 
them  by  ox  teams  for  Colville.  This  was  the  first  time  goods  were  carried  to  Col- 
ville by  wagons.     The  winter  of  1856-57  I  stopped  about  ^ve  miles  north  of  the 


660  SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE 

present  town  of  Colville,  but  in  the  spring  of  1857  I  moved  to  the  John  Wynn 
ranch^  on  which  the  town  of  Colville  is  now  located.  I  had  miners'  and  Indian 
supplies  and  goods^  and  was  in  direct  competition  with  the  Hudson's  Bay  company, 
and  as  they  claimed  and  exercised  exclusive  control  of  the  trade,  they  claimed  I 
was  trespassing  on  their  territory,  and  forbade  me  building  or  trading  thereon,  and 
I  believe  encouraged  the  Indians  to  steal  from  and  otherwise  annoy  me.  This 
continued  until  the  United  States  fort  was  established. 

"In  the  spring  of  1858,  with  eighteen  miners  whom  I  had  fitted  out,  and  with 
some  goods,  I  started  for  Eraser  river.  I  sold  the  goods,  and  with  what  had  been 
collected  for  goods  sent  the  previous  year,  I  took  out  $5,000  in  gold  dust,  going  to 
The  Dalles  and  purchasing  more  goods  of  H.  P.  Isaacs. 

"I  went  to  Walla  Walla,  and  in  July,  1858,  joined  the  McLaughlin  party  bound 
for  Fraser  river.  On  reaching  the  Eraser  mines  I  traded  off  what  goods  the  In- 
dians had  not  stolen,  and  started  to  Yale  for  more,  and  learning  that  there  was 
war  between  the  Indians  and  miners,  we  joined  the  volunteers  and  helped  clean  out 
the  Indians,  seeing  at  one  place  in  a  cave  sixteen  mutilated  dead  miners. 

"After  the  war  I  returned  to  the  mines  with  supplies,  and  from  there  went  to 
San  Erancisco  in  the  fall  of  1858,  wintering  there  and  returing  to  The  Dalles  in 
the  spring  of  1859.  Joining  Major  Lougenbeel's  command,  I  came  to  Colville  in 
June,  1859,  and  was  employed  by  him  to  ride  express  to  Walla  Walla,  which  I  did 
for  seven  months.  After  that  I  engaged  in  farming,  first  turning  over  to  H.  P. 
Isaacs  the  Jacques  Demers  ranch  and  my  interest  in  the  sawmill  built  by  Douglass, 
to  satisfy  my  indebtedness  to  him. 

"I  have  resided  in  Colville  valley  nearly  fifty  years ;  have  been  sheriff  two  terms, 
probate  judge  four  years,  county  commissioner  several  times,  served  as  justice  of 
the  peace,  and  was  deputy  collector  of  U.  S.  customs.  Have  lived  under  the 
dominating  influence  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company,  have  fought  with  the  Indians 
from  Walla  Walla  to  Fraser  river,  and  have  seen  the  savage  give  way  before  the 
pushing  civilization  of  the  western  pioneer." 

DEDICATION   OP   CAMP   WASHINGTON 

In  an  address  delivered  on  the  occasion  of  the  dedication  of  the  monument  mark- 
ing the  historic  site  of  Camp  Washington,  on  Four  Mound  prairie,  Wednesday, 
October  28,  1908,  Secretary''  W.  H.  Gilstrap  of  the  State  Historical  society,  said: 

"According  to  Indian  traditions,  this  has  been  a  camping  place  for  many  genera- 
tions. Lieutenant  Johnson's  party  of  the  Wilkes  expedition  in  1841,  either  camped 
here  or  passed  within  a  few  rods  of  this  spot,  on  the  way  from  Fort  Col- 
ville to  Lapwai.  He  says  of  this  place:  'After  traveling  Rve  miles  from  the 
Spokane  river,  we  reached  a  camp  of  Spokane  Indians,  numbering  about  800,  at 
the  entrance  of  a  fine  meadow,  where  they  had  a  number  of  horses  feeding,  while 
they  were  digging  camas  roots.'  The  old  Indian  trails  either  crossed  or  branched 
out  from  here.  Where  the  rough  ground  has  not  been  cultivated,  the  trails  may 
vet  be  seen. 

"Here  on  this  ground  culminated  that  great  engineering  expedition.  Here, 
fifty-five  years  ago  today,  two  divisions,  one  from  the  east  and  the  other  from  the 
west,  met  and  recounted  their  achievements.     Although  Governor  Stevens  halted 


SPOKANE  AND  THE  INLAND  EMPIRE  661 

in  his  onward  march  back  in  the  Rocky  mountains  and  formally  assmned  the  office 
of  governor^  it  was  on  this  spot  that  he  really  began  his  work  as  governor.  This 
is  where  he  was  really  inaugurated.  His  aids  and  assistants  were  all  here  with  him. 
It  was  a  great  meetings  one  of  the  greatest  of  our  state. 

"This  stone  that  we  place  here  today  fitly  represents  the  character  of  the  men 
and  their  times.  It  is  rugged  and  pointed^  but  it  is  solid  and  granite.  It  cannot 
be  pushed  over  on  one  side.  The  same  was  true  of  Governor  Stevens;  he  stood 
for  something.  He  may  have  been  a  little  rugged  and  pointed^  but  he  was  a  true 
patriot^  and  stood  four  square  to  the  world." 

An  audience  of  500  was  drawn  together  by  the  ceremonies.  Five  nearby  schools 
were  dismissed  for  the  day^  to  enable  the  pupils  to  attend^  and  farmers  drove  to 
the  scene  from  twenty  miles  around.  A  survivor  of  the  expedition,  Francis  J.  D. 
Wolff,  was  present.  Rev.  C.  S.  Pringle,  a  pioneer  minister  of  Spokane,  delivered 
the  invocation.  An  address  of  welcome  followed  by  Owen  B.  Gilstrap,  who  home- 
steaded  the  site,  and  this  was  responded  to  by  Judge  C.  H.  Hanford.  Governor 
A.  E.  Mead  eulogized  Stevens,  and  L.  B.  Nash  spoke  on  "Stevens  the  Governor." 
Reminiscences  of  the  first  governor,  by  John  Miller  Murphy,  pioneer  editor  of 
Olympia,  were  read  by  Francis  H.  Cook.  A  military  aspect  was  imparted  by  the 
presence  of  240  soldiers  from  Fort  George  Wright,  and  when  the  flag  fell  away 
from  the  stone,  these  presented  arms,  and  the  buglers  of  the  Third  regiment  played 
"America." 

INDIANS   REDUCED    TO    PINE    MOSS 

Gabriel  Franchere,  who -came  to  the  northwest  in  1811  with  the  Astor  party, 
found  at  the  Kettle  falls  of  the  Columbia,  a  number  of  Indians  who  were  reduced, 
by  springtime  famine,  to  subsisting  on  a  product  made  from  pine  moss:  "They  had 
been  fasting,  they  assured  us,  for  several  days.  They  appeared,  in  fact,  reduced 
to  the  most  pitiable  state,  having  nothing  left  but  skin  and  bones,  and  scarcely 
able  to  drag  themselves  along,  so  that  not  without  difiiculty  could  they  even  reach 
the  margin  of  the  river,  to  get  a  little  water  to  wet  their  parched  lips.  It  is  a  thing 
that  often  happens  to  these  poor  people,  when  their  chase  has  not  been  productive; 
their  principal  nourishment  consisting,  in  that  case,  of  the  pine  moss,  which  they 
boil  till  it  is  reduced  to  a  sort  of  glue  or  black  paste,  of  sufficient  consistence  to  take 
the  form  of  biscuit.  I  had  the  curiosity  to  taste  this  bread,  and  I  thought  I  had 
got  in  my  mouth  a  bit  of  soap.  Yet  some  of  our  people,  who  had  been  reduced 
to  eat  this  glue,  assured  me  that  when  fresh  made  it  had  a  very  good  taste,  seasoned 
with  meat.    We  partly  relieved  these  wretched  natives  from  our  scanty  store." 

Franchere's  Narratives  give  the  following  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  term 
"Priests'  Rapids:" 

"On  the  18th  we  passed  Priests'  rapids,  so  named  by  Mr.  Stuart  and  his  people, 
who  saw  at  this  spot,  in  1811,  as  they  were  ascending  the  river,  a  nmnber  of  sav- 
ages, one  of  whom  was  performing  on  the  rest  certain  aspersions  and  other  cere- 
monies, which  had  the  air  of  being  coarse  imitations  of  the  Catholic  worship." 


s-c 


A. 


> 


"*^^ 


JAN 


f^    - 


- 


■         1 

■ 


^ 


i 

i 


./■-