Full text of "An illustrated history of Walla Walla County, state of Washington"

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GENEALOGY

COUUECmON

4ii «^

^ %•.

AN ILLUSTRATED

HISTORY

Walla Walla Countn

STATE or WASHINGTON

Pl?()ri:S5()I^ \V. I). LVMAM

W. II. LEVER, Piiu.isiiKu
lUUl

11G9838

DEDICATED

PIONEERS OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY

Tin: P.KAVH Mi;X AND DEVOTHD WOMEN

THOSE WHO HAVE GONE AND

THOSE WHO REMAIN

"?"(•/ never a doubt, nay. never a fear
Of old, or noxc, i/icxv the fioneer.''''

PREFACE.

The volume herewith presented speaks for itself, and extended preface is unneces-
sary. It is fitting, however, that special thanks be given here by the author of the
historical portion of the work to those who have so kindly assisted, by information,
suggestion, and encouragement, in its preparation.

Among these may be named the committee of endorsement, Messrs. Frank Paine,
Lewis McMorris, and W. S. Gilliam, to whose patient attention and invaluable
corrections the author is especially indebted.

Particular mention should be made of the assistance given by Prof. J. A. Keener, of
Waitsburg Academy, in the elaborate account of that institution.

Prof. O. A. Hauerbach, of Whitman College, should be credited with the author-
ship of the greater part of chapter twenty-three, and Mr. W. M. Proctor with that of
chapter twenty-two.

Many citizens of Walla Walla have given important information and have evinced
an interest in the work, and a spirit of local patriotism which is one of the best auguries
for a noble future in the historic county of Walla Walla.

To these and all the hearty thanks of both publisher and author are due and are
hereby most cordially tendered.

AN ENDORSEMENT.

We, the undersigned, after listening to the reading of the manuscript containing the
" History of Walla Walla County," written by W. D. Lyman, bear testimony that it
gives evidence of extensive reading and conscientious research, and presents to our best
knowledge, an accurate, comprehensive and impartial record of events, and as such we
endorse and commend it.

I-EWIS McMoRRis, \

W. S. Gilliam, \

T- iTr Ti \ of Citizens.

F. W. Paine, ) ■'

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.
Discoveries on the North Pacific Coast.

Strait of Anian— Sir Francis Drake— Juan de Fuca— Admiral de Fonte — Russian Exploration— Captain
James Cook — Beginning of the Fur-trade — Troubles at Nootka^The " River of the West " — Captain
Gray's Discovery — Explorations by land — Purchase of Louisiana — Lewis and Clark Expedition — Hunt's
Expedition — The Tonquin Tragedy — Dawning = f the Present 1

CHAPTER I.
The Oregon Question.

Great Britain's Claims — Hudson's Bay Company— Opinions of American Statesmen — Joint Occupation —
Treaty of 1S46 :«

CHAPTER H.
The Inception of American History in Washington.

Michael T. Simmons — Founding of Seattle — Division of Territory — Appointment of Isaac I. Stevens as
Governor — Boundaries of Washington Territory 37

CHAPTER HI.
Missions of W.\ll.\ Walla anli Wmit.man Massacre.

The Missionary Impulse — Parker, Whitman, Spalding — Mission at Waiilatpu^Whitman's Ride — The
Massacre — Mr. Osborne's Reminiscences — " The Christmas Dinner " — Cayuse War — Reminiscences
of L. T, Boyd 40

CHAPTER IV.

Atte.mi'ts to Organize Wali.a Walla Coi'ntv.

The Original County Boundaries — First Appointment of Officers — First Settlements— Gold Discoveries. . . 55

CHAPTER V.

Indian Wars of the 'Fifties.

Troubles of 1853-54— Council at Walla Walla— Looking Glass vs. Lawyer — Treaty Ratified— Its Provisions
— Kamiakin and Peupeumoxmox— Outbreak of War— Battle of Walla Walla— Colonel Kelly's Report
— Governor Stevens' Report — Stevens and Wool '"'

CHAPTER VI.

Indian Wars kf the 'Fifties— Continued.

Campaign of '56— Battle of Grande Ronde— Colonel Shaw's Report— Second Walla Walla Council — Battle
near Walla Walla — Trouble Between Stevens and the Re^julars — Steptoe's Defeat — Its Avenging —
Wool's Policy Reversed T7

viii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VII.
Definite Organization of Walla Walla and Political History, 1859-63.

Early Settlers — First Appointments of Officers — Walla Walla Christened — Election of 1860-i-E£fects of
Gold Excitement — Sergeant Smith's Gold Discoveries — Beginnings of Business — Hard Winter of 1861-
62 — Famine Prices — Rush of Gold Seekers in '62 — Election of 1862 — Development of the Wheat
Industry 86

CHAPTER VIII.
Political History of Walla Walla County, 1863-66.

Gold Discoveries in Boise — Stage Lines — O. S. N. Co. — Election of 1863 — George E. Cole, Delegate — Effect
of Rebellion on Politics — Founding of Waitsburg — Election of 1866 95

CHAPTER IX.

General and Political History of Walla Walla County, 1866-74.

New Routes to Idaho — Attempts at Annexation to Oregon — Exportations of Flour — Election of Alvin
Flanders to Congress — First Court House — Philip Ritz's Flour Trade — Starting of Railroad Projects —
Selucius Garfielde — Election of 1868 — Investigating County Officials — Ambitions of Waitsburg —
Census of 1870 — Election of 1870 — Renewal of Attempts at Annexation — Railroad Projects — Founding
of Dayton — Election of 1872 — New Court House — Election of 1874 99

CHAPTER X.
Annals of the Years 1875-1881.

Completion of Walla Walla & Columbia River Railroad — Division of County — Industrial Statistics —
Election of 1876 — Finances — Constitutional Convention — Election of 1878 — Efforts at Statehood —
Election of 1880 110

CHAPTER -XL
Walla Walla County Elections, 1882-1900.

Thomas H. Brents—" Bassism " — Election Statistics to 1900 — The Voting Precincts — Statehood— Walla

Walla Men in Congress — Penitentiary Politics — Present Situation — .Auditor's Report 115

CHAPTER XII.

The Land We Live In.

Variety of Resources — Selection from Post-Intelligencer — Inland Empire — Legend of the Walla Walla
Valley — " Beautiful Walla Walla " — Selection from Hawthorne's History 120

CHAPTER XIII.

A Journey Through Walla Walla County.

Enter County from the North — Waitsburg — Wait's Mill — Town Government in 1881 — Churches of Waits-
burg — Fraternities of Waitsburg — Schools and Public Improvements of the Town — Farming Region
Adjoining — Dixie — Farming Region Adjoining Dixie — Farms Between Mill Creek and Russell Creek —
Eureka Junction — "Wheat Kings" — Wallula — Fort Walla Walla of Hudson's Bay Times — McKinley
and Pambrun — Abandonment of Fort Walla Walla by the English — Establishment of Steamboats on
the River — Touchet — Frenchtown — The Garden and Orchard Lands — Dry Creek Ranches — Prescott
— The New Farming Lands — The Alto Hill 138

CHAPTER XIV.

The Industries of Walla Walla County.

View From Pike's Peak — Physical Characteristics of the County — Story of Wishpoosh — The Stock Business
— Statistics — Agriculture — Beginnings of Wheat and Flour Exportations — Dr. Blalock's Big Crop —
Horticulture and Fruit Raising — Nurseries and Orchards — Fruit Fairs — Markets for Fruit — The Flour-

CONTENTS. ix

ing Mills — Their Output— The Gilbert Hunt Factory — Roberts' Foundry — Whitehouse & Crimmins'
Factory — Other Lumbering Establishments— The Weber Tannery — Creameries — The Cox & Bailey
Manufactory — Ringhofer Bros.' Saddle-tree Factory — Marble Works — Summary of Other Business
Establishments 145

CHAPTER XV.
The Transportation Lines of Walla Walla County.

Voyageurs and Bateaus — Early Steamboat Lines— Oregon Steam Navigation Company — Dr. D. S. Baker —
— First Railroad Agitation — Grading at Wallula — Paper Railroads — Completion of Dr. Baker's Rail-
road — Bought out by O. S. N.Co. — Stage Lines — Transcontinental Railroads — Northern Pacific — The
Hunt Road— The O. R. & N. System 105

CHAPTER -WI.
Educational Institutions of Walla Walla County.

Education in the West — Public Schools of Walla Walla County and City at Present — The High School —
The Public School System in Early Days — Its Development— Whitman College — St. Paul's School —
La Salle Institute — St. Vincent's Academy— Walla Walla College — Business College — Waitsburg
Academy 174

CHAPTER XVII.
Earlier History of Walla Walla County, 1862-83.

Establishment of Fort Walla Walla — Beginnings of Business — Steptoeville, Waiilatpu, Walla Walla —
First Election — Successive Elections — City Indebtedness — Division into Wards — First Efforts at Munic-
ipal System of Water Works 187

CHAPTER XVIII.

Later History of City Government of Walla Walla, 1883-1900.

Charter of 1883 — City Wards— Apportionment of Councilmen — Election Statistics to Present Time I!i4

CHAPTER XIX.

The Churches of Walla Walla.

Ancient Churches — Catholic Church— First Methodist Church— St. Paul's Episcopal Church— First Con-
gregational Church — Cumberland Presbyterian Church — Christian Church— Baptist Church — Method-
ist Episcopal Church, South — German Methodist Episcopal Church— First Presbyterian Church 1H8

CHAPTER XX.

Fraternal and Other Organizations of the City of Walla Walla.

Freemasonry— Odd Fellowrs— Odd Fellows' Home of Washington — Young Men's Institute— United Arti-
sans—National Union— Pioneers of the Pacific — United Workmen — Degree of Honor— Women of
Woodcraft— Woodmen of the World— Foresters of America — Knights of Pythias — Rathbone Sisters-
Ladies of the Maccabees— Modern Woodmen of America — Improved Order of Red Men— Degree of
Pocahontas — Royal Arcanum— Good Templars — Grand Army of the Republic— A. Lincoln Relief
Corps — Sons of Herman— Order of Washington — Spanish-American War Veterans — Fraternal Order
of Eagles— Building Association— Walla Walla Gun Club— Walla Walla Club— Walla Walla City
Library— Women's Reading Club— The Ladies' Relief Society— Walla Walla's Part in the Philippine
War— Welcome Home 208

CHAPTER XXI.

Journalism in Walla Wall* County.

The Pioneer Printing Press— The Walla Walla Press— The Washington Statesman— The Walla Walla
Statesman — The Union— The Journal— The Garden City Gazette, the Watchman and the Walla Walla
Record — The Argus— The Inland Empire— The Waitsburg Times— The Waitsburg Gazette 227

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXII.
The Bench and Bar of Walla Walla.

Old Times in the Circuit — The Days of Six-shooters in Court — Judge Strong's Court — Judge Wyche — Judge
Oliphant and the Court " Getting Roused " — Judge Kennedy — Judge Lewis and his Peculiar Resigna-
tion — Judge Wingard and his Lengthy Term — Judge Langford, Last of the Territorial Judges — Law-
yers of the Olden Times — Superior Judges Since Statehood — Judge Upton — Judge Brents — Some
Important Cases — The Thomas Murder Case — The Elfers Murder Case — Mrs. Pyle and J. T. Hurn —
The Royse Murder Trial — The Case of Isaacs vs. Barber — The Case of Denny vs. Parker — The Walla
Walla Water Case 233

CHAPTER XXIII.
Walla Walla in the Olden Times.

Richness of Material — Joe Lewis — The Vigilantes — .Story of " Slim Jim" — The Story of Furth Patterson —
Disunion Sentiment During the War — Union Flag at Milton — Political Business Men — Dr. Baker and
his Railroad — " Wabash," and his flag — " Gentle Eells — " Portuguese Joe " — Allen's Knowlege of Faro
— Colonel George and his Plug Hat — Ditto with the Water Bottle — His Bet with the Priest — Floods in
Walla Walla — Fires — Ancient Barrenness and Present Verdure 241

CHAPTER XXIV.
Walla Walla City in 190L

By Way of Pasco — The State Penitentiary— The Sewerage System — Water Works— Law Suit Between
Company and City— Establishment of Municipal Ownership of Water Works— The Hotels— The Banks
— The Stores — The Residence Section — Suburban Homes— Visit to the Schools — The Telephone
System— The Lighting System— Telegraphic Reminiscences— The Defunct Street Car System— Public
Benefactions— Amusements and Entertainments— Condition of the Churches — The Postal Business —
The City Fire Department— The Question of a New Charter— Opposing Opinions of the Press— Fort
Walla Walla — Adjoining Attractions , 252

GENERAL ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

County Court House and Hall of Records 56

Combined Harvester 144

Main Street, Walla Walla, in 1877 '264

Main Street, Walla Walla, in 1901 264

Odd Fellows' Home, Walla Vk'alla 216

Walla Walla City Hall, Pohce and Fire Station 216

Walla Walla College 184

State Penitentiary and Warden's Residence, Walla Walla 252

Waitsburg Academy 136

Waitsburg Public School 136

PORTRAIT INDEX.

PAGE
A.

Abbey, Henry J 384

Abbott, John F 472

Aldrich, Ncwum 480

Kaker, Dorsey S 288

Berryman, J. E 4W

Blalock, N.G 472

Bowers, C. J o(J2

Bowers. Mrs. C. J .502

Boyer, John Franklin 29H

Bradbury, George \V i'-W

Brents, Thomas Hurley 304

Castleman, Nelson 432

Dncres, George 4.V2

IJelany, George 424

Denney, Nathaniel B 488

Denney, Mrs. Nathaniel B 4i*>'

Dewar, James .M 476

Dinges, Solomon 496

Ellingsworth, William 392

Harbert, Joseph W 448

Hardman, Sol 492

Hardman, .Mrs. S 492

Harmen, Charles T 472

Harmen. Mrs. Charles T 472

Hoffmann, John :ki)

Hoffmann, Mrs. John 360

Hood, John K 408

Isaacs, Henry Ferry 312

J-

Johnson, Alexander 496

Johnson, Samuel 502

Johnson, William C 496

Kershaw, James S 480

Kirkman, William 376

Painter, William C 328

Parker, Hollon Frontispiece

Pettyjohn, Jonathan 464

Picard, John 496

Preston,' Piatt A 46K

Preston, Mrs. Piatt A 468

Preston, William G 468

Preston, Mrs. William G 468

Quinn, Thomas 368

Loney, Samuel K.
Lyman, W. 1)

Reynolds, Rasselas P 416

Ritz, Philip 496

496 Rohn, J. 1 476

344 Russel, Thomas A 496

Manion, John .
Masterson. Andrew C.

Seeke, Marshall C.

502

McEvoy. Joseph 472 bmgleton John 4hO

McMorns Lewis 320 1"^' ^ J' ^ " ' j ■, I^f,

Miller, Joseph L .502 |""«h, >,-.muel J 440

Miller. Mrs. loseph L .i02 S''^"'^'- ■ P='"'«' ^

Mix, James U. . 4.58 Swan, John M 488

Mix, .Mrs. Annie McC 458

Nelson, Cyrus T 480

Nelson, Hiram 480

Norman, Nelson R 492

Taylor, John .A 476

Taylor, .Mrs. John A 476

Osborn, Obadiah.

Ward, Michael B :m

Wellman, Alfred C 444

4.^6 Williams, Edward J 4M8

BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.

Abbey, Henry J 384

Abbott, John F 478

Achermann, Charles 366

Aldrich, Mihon 49U

Aldrich, Newton 481

Ash, Samuel A 441

Babcock, E. F gS'i

Babcock, Geor^'e W 2^9

Bachtold, Alfred 362

Bachtold, John '. 368

Baker, Dorsey S 288

Baldwin, J. M g80

Barnett, Carrick H 475

Barnett, George E 308

Barrett, James S 348

Bauer, Robert E 4!<'2

Baumeister, Max 34I

Beard, John A 466

Becker, Oswald 347

Becker, Philip A 308

Berney, Ulysses H 4II

Berryman, J. E 5OO

Berryman, Richard J 5O6

Bingham, John E 9il6

Blalock, N. G 474

Blalock, Y. C 856

Blanchard, Mrs. Elizabeth J 399

Blandford, Henry S 326

Bogle, Richard A 345

Boston, Alvin 369

Bourgeois, Eugene 493

Bowers, C. J 5O5

Boyer, Eugene H 304

Boyer, John E 369

Boyer, John F 996

Bradbury, George \V 486

Bratton, Walter A 4O8

Brents, Thomas Hurley 3O4

Brewer, B. F 4O6

Brewer, John F 374

Brewer, John W 398

Brewer, Alerton E 4O2

Brown, Alvah 281

Bruce, James W 37g

Bryan, Milton E 403

Brzezowsky, Frank 342

Burns, Robert 372

Buroker, J 45O

Buroker, William H 487

Burr, Daniel 3O7

Burrows, Charles E 303

Bush, John 428

Cain, Oscar 300

Callahan, William 439

Cameron, Alex 452

Cameron, John A 305

Caris, Matthias A 427

Carnes, William H 442

Castleman, Nelson 432

Cation, James - 479

Cauvel, Austin Lynn 435

Chamberlain, P. B 462

Chamberlin, George Harris 445

Clancy, R. G 407

Clapp, Rufus 411

Clark, William A 366

Cochran. John G 403

Coffin, Delos H 338

Copeland, Thomas 471

Copeland, Wallace R 466

Corkrum, Francis M 421

Cox, Anderson 509

Cox, Fred O 382

Crocker, Benjamin D 341

Croup, Eli W 444

Crowe, George R 431

Crowell, Heriry A 298

Cummmgs, Amos 447

Cummings, Charles F 433

Cummins, James 361

Cummins, Jesse 363

Cummins, Woodson 457

Dacres, George 452

Daniels, John H 800

Daulton, John W S25

Davin, Hippolvte 842

Davis, John A.' 479

Davis, Lorenzo A 308

Debus, Harry 8.57

Delanv, George 424

Dement, Frank S 290

Denney, Nathaniel B 488

Dewer, James M 477

Dewitt, Oliver 461

Dickinson, A. S 422

Dinges, Solomon 497

Dooley, lohn 818

Dorris, Edgai- A 463

Drumheller, Jesse 333

Dunlap. John K 8e6

Edgerley, Elron 412

Eichler, Charles H 346

PAGE

Eldridge, Harlan D 422

Ellingsworth, William 392

Ennis, Christopher 803

Estes, Hugh P 885

Evans, Andrew J 349

Evans, Emmett 493

Evans, Alark A 507

Evans, Milton 482

Faucette, John ' 327 ■

Ferguson, Walter S 443

Ferrel, Brewster 465

Ferrel, Joseph W 434

Ferrel, Seth A 442

Ferrel, Thomas J 432

Fix, A. J 459

Flohr, Michael 822

Foster, Frank 332

Foster, John H 851

Fuller, John H 413

Gaston, John 441

Genevay, Lucien 292

Gholson, Charles E 867

Gilkerson, Charles 429

Gilkerson, Harry 427

Gilkerson, Thomas 429

Gillham, Alonzo 356

Gilliam, Washmgton Smith 283

Ginn, Richard 438

Glasford, Wm 289

Goodhue, James P 280

Goodman, William S 349

Griffith, Robert i\I 428

Guichard, Ralph E 321

Guthridge, Benjamin G 334

Haggist, Fred 391

Hall, Jay H 314

Harbert, Joseph W 448

Hardman, Sol 492

Harer, John H 371

Harman, Urias S 448

Harmen, Charles T 472

Harper, Joseph L 361

Hart, Francis G 374

Hart, Thomas D. S 377

Hartness, Orlander W 825

Hastings, Henry W 897

Hauber, Martin H 881

Haynes, Oscar 3.55

INDEX.

PAGE

Hays, William H 419

HiRhlc-y, D. K 389

Hifl, J. M 340

Hodgis, John H 367

Hoffmann, John 3(50

Hood. Charles Edward 508

Hood. John A 608

Hood, John R 408

Howard, Joshua A 495

Ingalis, Henry 494

Ingle, Elijah 376

Isaacs, Henry Perry 312

J-

Jackson. Otis C 386

Jacobs, Charles A 450

jaussaud, Leon F. C 290

Jennings. Jefferson 335

iessup, Theadore H 308
ohnson Rrotht-rs 498
ohnson, Robert H 383
ohnson. Samuel 504
ones, \Villiam K 385

Kauffman. John Jacob 316

Keefe, Dion 317

Kellough, George E 388

Kelly, .Martin I' 507

Kennedy. Robert 323

Kershaw. J. Frederick 403

Kershaw. James S 482

Kek-shaw. John H 411

Kirkman, William 376

Koger. Marion 409

Koontz. William A 327

Kralman. William 355

Kuhl, Henry 4*5

Kydd, John 285

Kyger, Daniel T 294

Lafortune, Joseph 449

LaGrave, Dennis 379

Lamb, James M 416

Lamb, John D 475

Lasater, Harry 4'i<)

Lasater, James H 4<J4

Lee, Henry 495

Lewis, George F 429

Linn, Eathan A 437

Logan Edward .31*8

Loney, Samuel K 497

Loundagin, George W 387

Lovewcll, Samuel Harrison 362

Lowden, Francis .M 324

Lowden, Francis M., Jr 318

Lowden, Marshall J 318

Lyman, William D ;<44

Lynch, P. M ifl

Lynrh, Robert E 418

Lyons, Thomas 494

Mabry. Mrs. Enu-line J 309

Magallon, Adrien 3.58

PAGE

.Malloy, William S 486

Mangan. Edward H 417

.Mangan. Joseph | 415

Manion. John .503

Mann, William H 405

Marcy, Benjamin W ■ .365

Martin, Michael 390

Martin, Patrick 491

Xfasterson. Andrew C 400

Mathew, William L 432

Maxson. Samuel R 485

McAuliff, James :jl.i

McCann, Etlwin W 424

McCool. Robert 414

McCoy, John D 395

McCoy, Joseph H 401

McDonald, John B 425

McDonnell, Edward 363

McEvoy, Joseph 472

.McGhee, John W., Jr 292

Mclnroe, Charles 483

McKinney, Thompson M 370

McKinney, William 393

McKinney, William E., Jr 390

McLean, Clark N 299

Mc.Morris, Lewis 320

Meiners. Martin 426

.Michel. Justus 399

Middleton. George H 449

Miller, Joseph L .502

Mills, Edward D 396

Mix. .Mrs. Annie McC 4.58

Molkin-, Iwa S 373

Moore, Miles C 282

.Moore. Thomas .346

Morrow, J. H 420

Morse, Franklin B 339

Murphy, Horace J 364

Nelson, Cyrus T 480

Nelson. Hiram 481

•Nicholas. Amander M 451

Noble. William A 396

Norman, Nelson R 493

O'Donn.-ll. William

. 284

Offner, Winfield S

. 311

Osborn. ( Jbadiah ...

. 4.5(i

Osborn. Robert H

. ,394

Owens, S. A

. 391

Painter, William C 328

Parker, HoILm 273

Peek. Fbeni-.zer M 387

Perkins, Perry C 379

Perry. Alfred F 423

Peterson, William 35(i

Pettvjohn. Jonathan 464

Phillips, Charles VV 4.55

Picar<l. John . . . .' 499

I'rest^in, Charles B 375

Preston. Dale 485

Preston. Plait A 470

Preston, William G 468

Quinn, Thomas 368

Rchorn, John 413

Reid, Albert E 439

Reser, John L 463

Reser, William P 4.57

Reynolds, Allen H ;i07

Reynolds. Almos H 310

Reynolds. Rasselas P 416

Roedel, Charles Ottmar :M)2

Rohn. J. Fred 451

Rohn. J. J 477

Richardson. Charles B 4.54

Ritile. Elihu G 3.54

Ritz, Philip 496

Rudd, Irby H 389

Rulaford, George A :d80

Russel, Thomas A 499

Russell, Chai les 293

Russell, E. Shepard '.ibO

Russell, Patrick 484

Russell, Waller E 412

Sanderson, Henry 285

Scholl. Louis 319

Schumacher, Carl 317

Seeke, Marshall C .503

Sell, Nicholas 419

Seitz, John P 4.54

Sellaiid, Severt O 487

Sharpstein, Benjamin L .364

Shaw, Ellsworth E 314

Shaw, Le F. A 'Ml

Shelton, William M 446

.Simpson, Francis 1 410

Singleton, John 460

Smails, George 311

Smith, Ezekiel 343

Smith, John C 464

Smith, Samuel J 440

Smith, William S *«

Smith, Wintield D..... 359

Stetson, Clinton 393

Stewart, Charles B 286

Stewart, Daniel IV>'2

Stewart, Meredith E Xil

Storev, John C 420

Strah'. , John U 4<J2

Strahm, Peter ... 394

."straight, Zebulon K .'526

Stringer, Robert J 322

Sirulhers, William A 397

Sturgis, Willi.im P .♦484

Swaiin, Moses 4;J0

Swan, John M 489

Sweeney, Samuel B 414

Sweetser, Charles T 445

Swezea, Thomas J 601

Tash, An.Irew J 426

Tavlor, Charles M 371

Taylor. John A 476

Taylor. Thomas 306

Thompson, James B 609

INDEX.

PAGE PAGE PAGE

Thompson, Robert 463 Wallace, Herbert F 348 Wilson, Valentine 369

Townsend, William C 347 Ward, Michael B 336 Wiseman, fonathan T 409

Truax, Henry C 343 Weaver, Jacob F 3»5 Wiseman, William N 407

444 Woods, Joel
373

Tyson, Charles A 446 Wellman, Alfred C

Wheeler, Emerson L

V Whitehouse, Cieorije W 295

Whitman, E. B. . ." 287

Whitman, E. S 287

Whitman, Stephen G 291

Wickersham, James 365 Yenney, L O....

Wickersham, John. ... 440 Yenney, Philip. . .

Wild, Hhihp A 383 Yenney, W. H . . .

Walker, Robert F 392 Williams, Edward J 488 Young, Samuel P.

Villa, Frank 417

Yeend, James A.
Yeend, William .

396

491
486
501
506
495
340

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA mm.

INTRODUCTION.

The opening of a new century is a fitting
time to cast a backward glance in our local
history, reconstruct to the eye of the present
the interesting and heroic events of the past,
and by comparison between past and present
forecast something of the future.

Old Oregon Territory, of which this coun-
ty and this state were once parts, with its isola-
tion, its pathos, its hospitality, has passed away.
It had a strange history. It was the ignis
fatinis of successive generations of explorers,
luring them on with that indescribable fascina-
tion which seems always to have drawn men
tc the ever-receding circle of the "Westmost
West," and yet for years and years veiling
itself in the mists of uncertainty and misap-
prehension.

We do not usually realize how soon after
the time of Columbus there began to be at-
tempts to reach the western ocean and to solve
the mystery of the various passages, north-
west, southwest, and west, which were sup-
posed to lead through the Americas to Asia.
The old navigators had little conception of the
breadth of this continent. They thought it
to be but a few leagues across, and took for
granted that some of the many arms of the

sea would lead them through to another ocean
that would wash the Asiatic shores.

In 1500, only eight years after Columbus,
Gasper Cortereal, the Portuguese, conceived
the idea of entering what afterwards became
known as Hudson's Bay and proceeding
thence westward through what he called the
Strait of Anian. That mythical Strait of
Anian seems to have had a strange charm for
the old navigators. One of them, Maldonado,
a good many years later, gave a very con-
nected and apparently veracious account of his
journey through that strait, averring that
through it he reached another ocean in lati-
tude 75. But by means of Magellan's Straits
and the doubling of stormy Cape Horn, a
connection between the two oceans was actu-
ally discovered in 15 19.

In 1543 Ferrelo, a Spaniard, coasted along
the shores of California, and was doubtless
the first white man to gaze on the coast of
Oregon, probaljly somewhere in the vicinity
of the mouth of the Umpqua river.

In 1577 that boldest and most picturesque
of all English sailors and freebooters, Francis
Drake, started on the marvellous voyage by
which he plundered the treasures of the Span-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

ish Main, cut the golden girdle of Manila,
queen of the treasuries of the Spanish orient,
skirted the coast of California, Oregon and
Washington, and at last circumnavigated the
globe.

But in 1592, just one hundred years after
'Coluinbus. comes the most picturesque of all
those misty stories which enwrap the early
liistory of Oregon. This is the story of Juan
de Fuca, whose name is now preserved in our
northwest boundary strait. According to this
romantic tale of the seas, Juan de Fuca was
a Greek of Cephalonia, whose real name was
Apostolos Valerianos, and under commission
of the king of Spain, he sailed to find that
Strait of Anian. whose entrance the Spaniards
wanted to fortify and guard so as to prevent
ingress or egress by the English freebooters
who were preying on their commerce. Ac-
<:ording to the account given by Michael Lock,
"he followed his course in that voyage, west
.and northwest in the South Sea. all along the
<:oast of Nova Spania, and California and the
Indies, now called North America (all which
Toyage he signified to me in a great map, and
a sea-card of my own. which I laid before
him), until he came to the latitude of 47 de-
grees; and that, there finding that the land
trended north and northwest, with a broad
inlet of sea, between 47 and 48 degrees of
latitude, he entered thereinto, sailing more than
twenty days, and found that land still trending
northwest, and northeast, and north, and also
■east and southeastward, and very much
broader sea than was at the said entrance, and
that he passed by divers islands in that sailing ;
and that, at the entrance of the said strait,
there is. on the northwest coast thereof, a great
headland or island, with an exceedingly high
pinnacle or spired rock, like a pillar, thereupon.
Also he said that he went on land in divers

places, and that he saw some people on the
land clad in beasts' skins;, and that the land
was very fruitful and rich of gold, silver and
pearls, and other things, like Nova Spania.
Also he said that he being entered thus far
into the said strait, and being come into the
North Sea already, and finding the sea wide
enough everywhere, and to be about thirty or
forty leagues wide in the mouth of the straits
where he entered, he thought he had now well
discharged his office : and that, not being armed
to resist the force of savage people that might
happen, he therefore set sail and turned home-
ward again toward Nova Spania, where he ar-
rived at Acapulco, Anno 1593, hoping to be re-
warded by the Mceroy for this service done
in the said voyage."

This curious bit of past record has been
interpreted by some as pure myth, and by
others as veritable history. It is at any rate
a generally accurate outline description of the
Straits of Fuca, the Gulf of Georgia and the
shores of Vancouver Island and the mainland
adjoining. And whether or not the eld Greek
pilot did actually exist and first look on our
'■^Mediterranean of the Pacific," it is pleasant
to imagine that he did, and that his name
fittingly preserves the memory of the grand
old myth of Anian and the northwest passage.

There is one other more obviously myth-
ical tale concerning our northwest coast. It
is said that in the year 1640 Admiral Pedro
de Fonte. of the Spanish marine, made the
journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific and
return, through a system of rivers and straits,
entering the coast at about latitude 53.
Coming from Callao in April. 1640, and after
having sailed for a long distance through an
archipelago, he entered the mouth of a vast
river, which he named Rio de Los Reyes.
Ascending this for a Ions: distance northeast-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

>erly, he reached an immense lake, on whose
shores he found a weahhy and civihzed nation,
who had a capital city of great splendor called
Conasset, and who welcomed the strangers
with lavish hospitality. From this lake flowed
another river easterly, and down this Fonte
descended until he reached another great lake,
from which a narrow strait led into the At^
lantic ocean.

There is one curious thing about these leg-
endary voyages, and that is the general accu-
racy of their descriptions of the coast. Al-
though these accounts are unquestionably
mythical, it is not impossible that their authors
had actually visited the coast or had seen those
who had, and thus gathered the material from
which they fabricated, with such an appear-
ance of plausibility, their Munchausen tales.

We are briefly referring to these fascinat-
ing old legends, not for the purpose of discuss-
ing them here at any length, but rather to re-
mind the reader of the long period of romance
and myth which enveloped the early history of
our state. Many years passed after the age
of myth before there were authentic voyages.
During the seventeenth centurj' practically
nothing was done in the way of Pacific coast
exploration. But in the eighteenth, as by
common consent, all the nations of Europe
became suddenly infatuated again with the
thought that on the western shores of Amer-
ica might be found the gold and silver and
gems and furs and precious woods, for which
they had been striving so desperately upon the
eastern coast. English, French, Spanish,
Portuguese, Dutch, Russian and American,
er^tered their bold and hardy sailors into the
race for the possession of the land of the Oc-
cident. The Russians were the first in the
field. That gigantic power, which the genius
of Peter the Great had suddenl}- transformed.

like one of the fabled genii, from the propor-
tions of a grain of sand to a figure overtop-
ping the whole earth, had stretched its arms
from the Baltic to the Aleutian Archipelago,
and had looked southward across the frozen
seas of Siberia to the open Pacific as offering
them another opportunity of expansion. Many
years passed, however, before Peter's designs
could be executed. It was 1728 when Vitus
Behring entered upon his marvellous life of
exploration. Not until 1741, however, did he
thread the thousand islands of Alaska and
gaze upon the glaciated summit of Mt. St.
Elias. And it was not until thirty years later
that it was known that the Bay of Avatscha,
in Siberia, was connected by open sea with
China. In 1771 the first cargo of furs was
taken directly from Avatscha, the chief port
of eastern Siberia, to Canton. Then first
Europe realized the vastness of the Pacific
ocean. Then it understood that the same
waters which frowned against the frozen bul-
warks of Kamtchatka washed the tropic isl-
ands of the South Seas and foamed against
the storm-swept rocks of Cape Horn. Mean-
time, while Russia was thus becoming estab-
lished upon the shores of Alaska, Spain was
getting entire possession of California. These
two great nations began to overlap each other.
Russians became established near San Fran-
cisco. To offset this movement of Russia, a
group of Spanish explorers, Perez, Martinez,
Heceta, Bodega, and Maurelle, swarmed up the
coast beyond the present site of Sitka.

England, in alarm at the progress made by
Spain and Russia, sent out the Columbus
of the eighteenth century, in the person of
Captain James Cook, and he sailed up and
down the coast of Alaska and of \\'ashington,
but failed to discover either the Columbia river
or the Straits of Fuca.

HISTORY OF \\'ALLA \\'ALLA COUNTY.

Nevertheless his labors did more to estab-
lish true geographical notions than had the
combined efforts of all the Spanish navigators
who had preceded him. His voyages mate-
rially strengthened England's claim to Oregon,
and added greatly to the luster of her name.
The great captain, while temporarily on shore,
■was killed by Indians in 1778, and the com-
mand devolved upon Captain Clerke, who
sailed northward, passing through Behring
Strait to the Arctic ocean. The new com-
mander died before the expedition had pro-
ceeded far on its return journey. Lieutenant
Gore, a Virginian, assumed control and sailed
to Canton, China, arriving late in the year.
The main purpose of this expedition had
been the discovery of a northern waterway be-
tween the two oceans aiid the extending of
British territory, but, as is so often the case in
human affairs, one of the most important re-
sults of the voyage was entirely unsuspected by
the navigators and practically the outcome of
an accident. It so happened that the two vessels
of the expedition, the Resolution and the Dis-
covery, took with them to China a small col-
lection of furs from the northwest coast of
America. These were purchased by the Chin-
ese with great avidity, the people exhibiting a
Avillingness to barter commodities of much
value for them and endea\'oring to secure them
at almost any sacritice. The sailors were not
backward in communicating their discovery of
a new and promising market for peltries, and
the impetus imparted to the fur trade was al-
most immeasurable in its ultimate effects. An
entirely new regime was inaugurated in Chi-
nese and East India commerce. The north-
west coast of America assumed a new import-
ance in the eyes of Em-opeans and especially
of the British. The "struggle for possession"
soon began to be foreshadowed.

One of the principal harbors resorted to
by fur-trading vessels was Nootka, used as a
rendezvous and principal port of departure.
This port became the scene of a clash between
Spanish authorities and certain British vessels
which greatly strained the friendly relations
existing between the two governments repre-
sented. In 1779, the viceroy of ^lexico sent
two ships, the Princesa and San Carlos, to
convey ^lartinez and De Haro to the vicinity
for the purpose of anticipating and preventing
the occupancy of Nootka sound by fur-traders
of other nations and that the Spanish title to
the territory might be maintained and con-
firmed. r^Iartinez was to base his claim upon
the discovery by Perez in 1774. Courtesy
was to be extended to foreign vessels, but the
establishment of any claim prejudicial to the
rights of the Spanish crown was to be vigor-
ously resisted.

Upon the arrival of Martinez in the harbor,
it was discovered that the American vessel
Columbia, and the Iphigenia, a British ship,
under a Portuguese flag, were lying in the har-
bor. Martinez at once demanded the papers
of both vessels and an explanation of their
presence, vigorously asserting the claim of
Spain that the port and contiguous territory
were hers. The captain of the Iphigenia
pleaded stress of weather. On finding that the
•/essers papers commanded the capture, under
certain conditions, of Russian, Spanish or
English vessels, JMartinez seized the ship, but
on being advised that the orders relating to
captures were intended only to apply to the
defense of the vessel, the Spaniard released the
Iphigenia and her cargo. The Northwest
America, another vessel of the same expedition,
was, however, seized by Martinez a little later.

It should be remembered that these British
vessels had in the inception of the enterprise

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

divested themselves of their true national char-
acter and donned the insignia of Portugal,
their reasons being: first, to defraud the Chi-
nese government, which made special harbor
rates to the Portuguese, and second, to defraud
the East Lidia Company, to whom had been
granted the right of trading in furs in north-
west America to the exclusion of all other
British subjects, except such as should obtain
the permission of the company. To maintain
their Portuguese nationality, they had placed
the expedition nominally under the control of
Juan Cavalho, a Portuguese trader. Prior to
the time of the trouble in Nootka, however,
Cavalho had become a bankrupt and new ar-
rangements had become necessary. The Eng-
lish traders were compelled to unite their in-
terests with those of King George's Sound
Company, a mercantile association operating
under license from the South Sea and East
India Companies, the Portuguese colors had
been laid aside and the true national character
of the expedition assumed. Captain Colnutt
was placed in command of the enterprise as
constituted under the new regime with instruc-
tions among other things "to establish a fac-
tory to be called Fort Pitt, for the purpose of
permanent settlement, and as a center of trade
around which other stations may be estab-
lished."

One vessel of the expedition, the Princess
Royal, entered Nootka harbor without mo-
lestation, but when the Argonaut, under com-
niand of Captain Colnutt, arri\-ed, it was
thought best by the master not to attempt an
entrance to the bay lest his vessel should meet
the same fate which had befallen the Iphige-
nia and the Northwest America. Later, Col-
nutt called on Martinez and informed the Span-
ish governor of his intention to take pos-
session of the country in the name of Great

Britain and to erect a fort. The governor re-
plied that possession had already been taken
in the name of his Catholic majesty and that
such acts as he (Colnutt) contemplated could
not be allowed. An altercation followed and
the next day the Argonaut was seized and her
captain and crew placed under arrest. The
Princess Royal .was also seized, though the
American vessels in the harbor were in no way
molested.

After an extended and at times heated con-
troversy between Spain and Great Britain
touching these seizures, the former govern-
ment consented to make reparation and offered
a suitable apology for the indignity to the
honor of the flag. The feature of this corre-
spondence of greatest import in the future his-
tory of the territory affected is that through-
out the entire controversy and in all the royal
messages and the debates of parliament, no
word was spoken asserting a claim of Great
Britain to any territorial rights or denying the
claim of sovereignty so positively and persist-
ently avowed by Spain, neither was Spanish
sovereignty denied or in any way alienated by
the treaty which followed. Certain real prop-
erty was restored to British subjects, but a
transfer of realty is not a transfer of sover-
eignty.

We pass over the voyage of the illustrious
French navigator, La Perouse, as of more im-
portance from a scientific than from a political
standpoint, neither can we dwell upon the ex-
plorations of Captain Berkley, to whom be-
longs the honor of having ascertained the ex-
istence of the strait afterward denominated
Juan de Fuca. Of somewhat greater moment
in the later history of the northwest are the
A'oyages of Meares, who entered and described
the above mentioned strait, and who, in 1788,
explored the coast at the point where the great

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Columbia mingles its crystal current with the
waters of the sea. In the diplomatic battle
of later days, it was even claimed by some
that he was the discoverer of that great "River
ot the West." Howbeit, nothing can be surer
than that the existence of such a river was ut-
terly unknown to him at the time. Indeed his
conviction of its non-existence was thus started
in his own account of the voyage : "We can
now with safety assert that there is no such
river as St. Roc (of the Spaniard, Heceta)
exists, as laid down in the Spanish charts,"
and he gave a further unequivocal expression
of his opinion by naming the bay in that
vicinity Deception Bay and the promontory
north of it Cape Disappointment. "Disap-
pointed and deceived," remarks Evans face-
tiously, "he continued his cruise southward to
latitude forty-five degrees north."

It is not without sentiments of patriotic
pride, that we now turn our attention to a
period of discovery in which the vessels of our
own nation played a prominent part. The
northern mystery, which had been partially
resolved by the Spanish, English, French and
Portuguese explorations, was new to be com-
pletely robbed of its mystic charm, speculation
and myth must now give place to exact knowl-
edge, the game of discovery must hereafter be
played principally between the two branches
of the Anglo-Saxon race, and Anglo-Saxon
energy, thoroughness and zeal are henceforth
to characterize operations on ths shores of
the Pacific northwest. The L^nited States had
but recently won their independence from the
British Crown and their energies were find-
ing a fit field of activity in the titanic task of
national organization. Before the constitu-
tion had become the supreme law of the land,
however, the alert mind of the American had
begun projecting voyages of discovery and

trade to the northwest, and in September. 1788,.
two vessels with the stars and stripes at their
mastheads arrived at Nootka sound. Their
presence in the harbor while the events culmi-
nating in the Nootka treaty were transpiring
has already been alluded to. The vessels
were the ship Columbia, Captain John Ken-
drick, and the sloop Washington, Captain
Robert Gray, and the honor of having sent
them to our shores belongs to one Joseph Bar-
rel, a prominent merchant of Boston, and a
man of high social standing and great influ-
ence. While one of the impelling motives of
this enterprise had been the desire of commer-
cial profit, the element of patriotism was not
wholly lacking, and the vessels were instructed
t'l make what explorations and discoveries
they might.

After remaining a time on the coast. Cap'
tain Kendrick transferred his ship's property to
the Washington, with the intention of taking
a cruise in that vessel. He placed Captain Gray
in command of the Columbia, with instruc-
tions to return to Boston by way of the Sand-
wich Islands and China. This commission
was successfully carried out. The vessel ar-
rived in Boston in September, 1790. was re-
ceived with great eclat, refitted by her owners
and again dispatched to the shores of the
Pacific, with Captain Gray in command. In
July, 1 79 1, the Columbia from Boston and the
Washington from China met not far from the
spot wliere they had separated nearly two years
before. They were not to remain long in
company, however, for Captain Gray soon
started on a cruise southward. On April 29,
1792, Gray met A^ancouver just below Cape
Flattery and an interesting colloquy took place.
Vancouver communicated to the American
skipper the fact that he had not yet made any
important discoveries, and Gray, with equal

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

frankness, gave the eminent British explorer
an account of his past discoveries, "inchiding,"
says Bancroft, "the fact that he had not sailed
through Fuca Strait in the Lady Washington,
as had been supposed from Meares' narrative
and map." He also informed Captain Van-
couver that he had been "off the mouth of a
river in latitude forty-six degrees, ten minutes,
where the outset, or reflux, was so strong as
to prevent his entering for nine days."

The important information conveyed by
Gray seems to have greatly disturbed the ec|ui-
poise of Vancouver's mind. The entries in
his log show that he did not entirely credit
the statement of the American, but that he
was considerably perturbed is evidenced by
the fact that he tried to convince himself by
argument that Gray's statement could not have
been correct. The latitude assigned by the
American was that of Cape Disappointment,
and the existence of a river mouth there,
though affirmed by Heceta, had been deniecl
by Meares ; Captain Cook also had failed to
find it, besides had he not himself passed that
point two days before and had he not observed
that "if any inlet or river should be found it
must be a very intricate one, and inaccessible
to vessels of our burden, owing to the reefs
and broken water which then appeared in its
neighborhood." With such reasoning, he dis-
missed the matter from his mind for the time
being. He continued his journey northward,
passed through the strait of Fuca, and engaged
in a tliorough and minute exploration of that
mighty inland sea, to a portion of which he
gave the name of Puget Sound.

Meanwhile Gray was proceeding south-
ward "in the track of destiny and glory." On
May /th he entered the harbor which now
bears his name and four days later he passed
through the breakers over the bar, and his ves-

sel's prow plowed the waters of that famous
"River of the West." whose existence had been
so long suspected. The storied "Oregon" for
the first time heard other sound than "its own
dashing."

Shortly afterward Vancouver came to
Cape Disappointment to explore the Colum-
bia, of which he had heard indirectly from
Captain Gray. Lieutenant Broughton of Van-
couver's expedition sailed over the bar, as-
cended the river a distance of more than one
hundred miles to the site of the present Van-
couver, and with a modesty truly remarkable,
"takes possession of the river and the country
in its vicinity in his Britannic Majesty's name,
having every reason to believe that the sub-
jects of no other civilized nation or state had
ever entered it before." This, too, though he
had received a salute of one gun from an
American vessel, the Jennie, on his entrance to
the bay. The lieutenant's claim was not to
remain fore\-er unchallenged, as will appear
presently.

With the exploration of Puget sound and
the discovery of the Columbia, history-making
maritime adventure practically ceased. But as
the fabled Strait of Anian had drawn explorers
to the Pacific shores in cjuest of the mythical
passage to the treasures of the Ind, so likewise
did the faii'y tales of La Hontan and others
stimulate inland exploration. Furthermore the
mystic charm always possessed by a terra in-
cognita was becoming irresistible to aih'cntur-
ous spirits, and the possibilities of discovering
untold wealth in the vaults of its "Shining
mountains" and in the sands of its crystal rivers
were exceedingly fascinating to the lover of
gain.

The honor of pioneership in o\-erland ex-
ploration belongs to Verendrye, who under
authority of the governor-general of New

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

France. In 1773, set out on an expedition to the
Rocky mountains from Canada. This explorer
and his brother and sons made many important
explorations, but as they failed to find a pass
th.rough the Rocky mountains by which they
could come to the Pacific side, their adventures
do not fall within the purview of our volume.
They are said to have reached the present vicin-
ity of Helena.

If, as seems highly probable, the events
chronicled by La Page in his charming "His-
toire de la Louisiane," published in 1758,
should be taken as authentic, the first man to
scale the Rocky mountains from the east and to
make his way overland to the shores of the
Pacific was a Yazoo Indian, Moncacht-ape or
Montcachabe by name. But "the first traveler
to lead a party of cl\'ilized men through the
territorv of the Stony mountains to the South
Sea" was Alexander Mackenzie, who, in 1793,
reached the coast at fifty-two degrees, twenty-
four minutes, forty-eight seconds north, leav-
ing as a memorial of his visit, inscribed on a
rock with vermilion and grease the words.
"Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada by land.
July 22, 1793." His field of discovery was
also without the scope of our purpose, being
too far north to figure prominently in the in-
ternational complications of later years.

Western exploration by land, had, how-
ever,- elicited the interest of one whose energy
and force were sufificient to bring to a success-
ful issue almost any undertaking worth the
eft'ort. ^^'hile the other statesmen and legis-
lators of his time were fully engaged with the
problems of the moment, the great mind of
Thomas Jefferson, endowed as it was with a
wider range of vision and more comprehensive
grasp of the true situation, was projecting ex-
ploring expeditions into the northwest. In
1786, while serving as minister to Paris, he

had fallen in with the ardent Ledyard, who
was on fire with the idea of opening a large
and profitable fur-trade in the north Pacific
region. To this young man, he had suggested
the idea of journeying to Kamchatka, then in
a Russian vessel to Nootka sound, from which,
as a starting point, he should make an explor-
ir.g expedition easterly to the United States.
Ledyard acted on the suggestion, but was ar-
rested as a spy in the spring of 1787, by Rus-
sian officials, and so severely treated as to cause
a failure of his health, and a consequent fail-
ure of his enterprise.

The next eft'ort of Jefiferson was made in
1792, when he proposed to the American Phil-
osophical Society that it should engage a com-
petent scientist "to explore northwest America
from the eastward by ascending the Missouri,
crossing the Rocky mountains, and descending
the nearest river to the Pacific ocean." The
idea was favorably received. Captain Meri-
wether Lewis, who afterwards distinguished
himself as one of the leaders of the Lewis
and Clark expedition, offered his services,
but for some reason Andre Michaux. a French
botanist, was given the preference. Michaux
proceeded as far as Kentucky, but there re-
ceived an order from the French minister, to
whom, it seems, he also owed obedience, that
he should relinquish his appointment and en-
gage upon the duties of another commission.

It was not until after the opening of the
new century that another opportunity for fur-
thering his favorite project presented itself.
An act of congress, under which trading-
houses had been established for facilitating
commerce with the Indians, was about to ex-
pire by limitation, and President Jefferson, in
recommending its continuance, seized the op-
portunity to urge upon congress the advisabil-
ity of fitting out an expedition the object of

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

wliich sliould be "to explore the ^Missouri river
and such principal streams of it as, by its course
of communication with the waters of the Pacific
ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colo-
rado, or an}- other river, may offer the most
direct and practical water communication
across the continent, for the purposes of com-
merce."

Congress voted an appropriation for the
purpose, and the expedition was placed in
charge of Captains Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark (or Clarke). President Jeffer-
son gave the explorers minute and particular
instructions as to investigations to be made by
them. They were to inform themselves should
they reach the Pacific ocean, "of the circum-
siances which may decide whether the furs of
thnse parts may be collected as advantage-
ously at the head of the Missouri (convenient
as is supposed to the Colorado and Oregon or
Columbia) as at Nootka sound or any other
part of that coast; and the trade be constantly
conducted through the Missouri and United
States more beneficially than b)- the circum-
navigation now practiced." Li addition to the
instructions already cjuoted, these explorers
were directed to ascertain if possible on arriv-
ing at the seaboard if there were any ports
within their reach frecjuented by the sea-vessels
of any nation and to send, if practicable, two
of their most trusted people back by sea with
copies of their notes. They were also, if they
deemed a return by the way they had come
imminently hazardous, to ship the entire party
and return via Good Hope or Cape Horn as
they might be able.

A few days before the initial steps were
taken in discharge of the instructions of Presi-
dent Jefferson, news reached the seat of gov-
ernment of a transaction which added materi-
ally to the significance of the enterprise. Nego-

tiations had been successfully consummated for
the purchase of Louisiana on April 30, 1803,
but the authorities at Washington did not hear
of the important transfer until the ist of July.
Of such transcendent import to the future of
our country was this transaction and of such
vital moment to the section with which our
volume is primarily concerned, that we must
here interrupt the trend of our narrative to
give the reader an idea of the extent of terri-
tory involved and if possible, to enable him to
appreciate the influence of the purchase.
France, by her land explorations and the estab-
lishment of trading posts and forts, first ac-
quired title to the territory west of the Miss-
issippi and east of the Rocky mountains, though
Great Britain claimed the territory in accord-
ance with her doctrine of continuity and con-
tiguity, most of her colonial grants extending
i:i express terms to the Pacific ocean. Spain
also claimed the country by grant of Pope
Alexander VI. A constant warfare had been
waged between France and Great Britain for
supremacy in America. The latter was the
winner in the contest, and, in 1762, France,
apparently discouraged, ceded to Spain the
province of Louisiana. By the treaty of Feb-
ruary 10, 1763, which gave Great Britain the
Canadas, it was agreed that the western boun-
dary between English and Spanish possessions
in America should be the Mississippi river.
Great Britain renouncing all claim to the terri-
tory west of that boundary. In 1800, Spain
retroceded Louisiana to France "with the same
extent it has now in the hands of Spain, and
which it had when France possessed it, and
such as it should be according to the treaties
subsec[u'ently made between Spain and other
states."

The order for the formal delivery of the
province to France was issued by the Spanish

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

had not been established at that time, but some
king on October 15, 1802, and, as above stated,
the United States succeeded to the title by
treaty of April 30, 1803. Exact boundaries
idea of the extent of this purchase may be had
when we remember that it extended from the
present British line to the Gulf of Mexico and
included what are now the states of Minnesota,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa,
Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana, the
territory of Oklahoma, Indian Territory, more
than three-fourths of Montana and Wyoming,
also parts of Colorado and New Mexico.

Thus an enterprise which had its inception
for its chief object to advance tlie commerical
interests of the United States acquired a new
purpose, namely, the extending of the geo-
graphical and scientific knowledge concerning
our ozi'ii domain. Upon Lewis and Clark a
further duty devolved, that of informing the
natives that obedience was now due to a new
great father.

The world-old wizard of "Out West"
stretched his wand over them, and under its
magic sway they began, by mountain trail and
river and open highway of -the prairie, to follow
it into the wilderness. That same impulse led
them which drew the camel-drivers of Syria to
the shores of the Mediterranean, which filled
the sails of Roman galleys, which beckoned the
Norse Viking to the desolate grandeur of
Greenland, and which lit a signal fire in the
tropic verdure of the Bahamas for the far-
reaching vision of Columbus. So our great-
grandfathers were chasing toward the sunset
the shadow of their own coming greatness, a
shadow gigantic but always growing, crossing
the great plains with seven-league boots and
stepping across the ridge-pole of the continent
like a Colossus.

It is not surprising that to minds just ad-

mitted to this atmosphere of boundless expecta-
tion, even this plain and common-place narra-
tive of Lewis and Clark should have had the
fascination of a novel.

This historic expedition had been pro-
jected and even partially fitted out by Jefferson
before the purchase of Louisiana. But imme-
diately upon the completion of that most saga-
cious investment, the lingering preparations
were hastened, and on the 14th of May, 1804,
the party left St. Louis by boat, upon the muddy
current of the Missouri, to search for the un-
known mountains and rivers between there and
the Pacific. Their plan was to ascend the Mis-
souri to its source, cross the divide, strike the
headwaters of the Columljia, and, descending
it, reach the sea.

And what manner of men were undertak-
ing this voyage, fraught with both interest and
peril ? Meriwether Lewis, the leader of the
party, was a captain in the United States army,
and in Jefferson's judgment was, by reason of
endurance, boldness, and energy, the fittest man
within his knowledge for the responsible duties
of commander. His whole life had been one
of reckless adventure.

It appears that at the tender age of eight
he was already illustrious for successful mid-
night forays vipon the festive coon ani the
meditative possum. He was lacking in scienti-
fic knowledge, but. when appointed captain of
the expedition, had, with characteristic pluck,
spent a few spare weeks in study of some of the
branches most essential to his new work. Will-
iam Clark, second in command, was also a
L^nited States officer, and seems to have been
equally fitted with Lewis for his work. The
party consisted of fourteen United States regu-
lars, nine Kentucky volunteers, two French
voyageurs, a hunter, an interpreter, and a ne-
gn^. To each of the common soldiers the gov-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

ernment offered the munificent reward of retire-
ment upon full pay with a recommendation for
a soldier's grant of land. Special pains were
taken to encourage the party to keep complete
records of all they saw and heard and did.
This was done with a vengeance, insomuch that
seven journals besides those of the leaders were
carefully kept, and in them was recorded nearly
every event from the most important discov-
eries down to the ingredients of their meals
and doses of medicine. They were abundantly
provided with beads, mirrors, knives, etc., etc.,
wherewith to woo the savage hearts of the
natives.

After an interesting and easy journey of
five months they reached the country of the
Mandans, and here they determined to winter.
The winter having been profitably spent in
making the acquaintance of the Indians and in
collecting specimens of the natural history of
the plains — which they now sent back to the
president with great care — they again embarked
in a squadron of six canoes and two pirogues.
On June 13th they reached the great falls of the
Missouri.

A month was spent within sound of the
thunder and in sight of the perpetual mist-
cloud rising from the abyss, before they could
accomplish the difficult portage of eighteen
miles, make new canoes, mend their clothes, and
lay in a new stock of provisions. Of material
for this last there was no end. The air was
filled with migratory birds, and the party was
almost in danger of being overrun by the enor-
mous herds of buffalo.

The long, bright days, the tingling air of
the mountains, the pleasant swish of the water
as their canoes breasted the swift current — the
vast camp fires and the nightly buffalo roasts —
all these must have made this the pleasantest
section of their long journey.

The party seems to have pretty nearly ex-
hausted its supply of names, and after having
made heavy draughts en their own with various
permutatory combinations, they were reduced
to the extremity of loading innocent creeks with
tlie ponderous names of Wisdom, Philosophy,
and Philanthropy. Succeeding generations
have relieved the unjust pressure in two of
these cases with the sounding appellations of
Big Hole and Stinking Water.

On the 1 2th of August the explorers crossed
the great divide, the birthplace of mighty rivers,
and descending the sunset slope found them-
selves in the land of the Shoshones. They
had brought with them a Shoshone woman,
rejoicing in the pleasant name of Sacajawea,
for the express purpose of becoming acquainted
with this tribe, through whom they hoped tO'
get horses and valuable information as to their
proper route to the ocean. But four days were
consumed in enticing the suspicious savages
near enough to hear the words of their own
tongue proceeding from the camp of the strang-
ers. When, however, the fair interpretress had
been granted a hearing, she speedily won for
the party the faithful allegiance of her kinsmen.
They innocently accepted the rather general in-
timation of the explorers that this journey had
for its primary object the happiness and pros-
perity of the Shoshone nation, and to these
evidences of benevolence on the part of their
newly adopted great father at Washington,
they quickly responded by bringing plenty of
horses and all the information in their poor
power.

It appears that the expedition was at that
time on the headwaters of the Salmon river,
near where Fort Lemhi afterward stood. With
twenty-nine horses to carry their abundant bur-
dens they bade farewell to the friendly Sho-
shones on the last day of August, and com-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

mitted themselves to tlie dreaiy and desolate
solitudes to the westward. They soon became
entangled in the savage ridges and defiles, al-
read}^ spotted with snow, of the Bitter Root
mountains.

Having crossed several branches of the
great river named in honor of Captain Clark,
and becoming distressed at the increasing
dangers and delays, they turned to the left, and,
having punished a brawling creek for its in-
hospitalit}^ by inflicting on it the name of Colt-
killed, commemorative of their extremity for
food, they came upon a wild and beautiful
stream, inquiring the name of which from the
Indians the\' received the answer, "Kooskons-
kie." This in reality meant simply that this
was not the stream for which they were search-
ing. But not understanding, they named the
river Kooskooskie. This Avas afterwards called
the Clearwater, and is the most beautiful tribu-
tary of the Snake.

The country still frowned on them with the
same forbiddmg rocky heights and blinding
snow storms as before. It began to seem as
though famine would ere long stare them in
the face, and the shaggy precipices were marked
with almost daily accidents to men and beasts.
Their only meat was the flesh of their precious
horses.

Under these circumstances Clark decided
to take six of the most active men and push
■ ahead in search of game and a more hospit-
able country. A hard march of twenty miles
rewarded him with a view of a vast open plain
in front of the broken mountain chain across
W'hich they had been struggling. It was three
days, however, before they fairly cleared the
edge of the mountains and emerged on the
great prairie north and east of where Lewis-
ton now is. They found no game except a
stray horse, which they speedily dispatched.

Here the ad\-ance guard waited for the main
body to come up, and then all together they
went down to the Clearwater where a large
number of Nez Perce Indians gathered to see
and trade with them. Receiving from these
Indians, who, like all that they had met, seemed
\-ery amicably disposed, the cheering news that
the great river was not very distant, and seeing
the Clearwater to be a fine, navigable stream,
they determined to abandon the weary land
march and make canoes. Five of these having
been constructed, they laid in a stock of dog
meat, and then committed themselves to the
sweeping current with which all the tributaries
of the Columbia hasten to their destined place.
They left their horses with the Nez Perces,
and it is worthy of special notice that these
were remarkably faithful to their trust. In-
deed, it may be safely asserted that the first
explorers of this country almost uniformly met
with the kindest reception. The cruelty and
deceit afterward characteristic of the Indians
were learned partly of the whites.

On the loth of October, having traveled
sixty miles on the Clearwater, its pellucid
waters delivered them to the turbid, angry,
sullen, and lava-banked Snake. This great
stream they called the Kimooenim. its Indian
name. It was in its low season, and it seems
fiom their account that it, as well as all the
other streams, must have been uncommonly
low that year.

Thus they say that on October 13th they
descended a very bad rapid fovu' miles in
length, at the lower part of which the whole
river was compressed into a channel only twen-
five yards wide. Immediately below the}^
passed a large stream on the right, which they
called Drew\'er's river, from one of their men.
This must have been the Palouse river and
rapid, and certainly it is very rare that the

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

mighty Snake becomes attenuated at that point
to a width of twenty-five yards. The next
day, descending the w'orst rapids they had yet
seen (probably the Monumental rapid) it re-
pelled their affrontery by upsetting" one of the
boats. No lives were lost, but the cargo of
the boat was badly wetted. For the purpose
of drying it they stopped a day, and finding
no other timber, they were compelled to use
a very appropriate pile which some Indians
had very carefully stored away and cov-
ered with stone. This trifling circumstance is
noticed because of the explorers speaking in
connection with it of their customary scrupu-
lousness in never taking any property of the
Indians, and of their determination to repay
the owner if they could find him, on their re-
turn. If all explorers had been as particular,
m.uch is the distress and loss that would have
been avoided.

They found almost continuous rapids from
this point to the mouth of the Snake, which
they reached on October i6th. Here they were
met by a regular procession of nearly two
hundred Indians. They had a grand pow-
wow and both parties displayed great affec-
tion for each other, the whites bestowing
medals, shirts, trinkets, etc., in accordance with
the rank of the recipient, and the Indians re-
paying the kindness with abundant and pro-
longed visits and accompanying gifts of wood
and fish. On the next day they measured the
rivers, finding the Columbia to be 960 yards
wide, and the Snake 575. They indulge in no
poetic reveries as they stand by the river which
had been one principal object of their search,
but they seem to have seen pretty much every-
thing of practical value. In the glimmering
haze of the pleasant October morning they no-
tice tlie \-ast bare prairie stretching southward

until broken by the rounded summits of the
Blue mountains. They find the Sohulks, who
lived at the junction of the rivers, a mild and
happy people, the men being content with one
wife, whom they actually assist in the family
work.

Captain Clark ascended the Columbia to the
mouth of a large river coming from the west,
which the Indians called the Tapteal. This
was, of course, the Yakima. The people living
at its mouth rejoiced in the liquid name of
Chimnapum. Here Captain Clark shot what
he called a prairie cock, the first he had seen,
li: was the sage hen, no doubt, a handsome bird
nearly as large as a turkey and very common
along the river at the present time.

After two days' rest, being well supplied
with fish, dog, roots, etc., and at peace with
their own consciences and all the world, with
satisfaction at the prospect of soon completing
their journey, they re-embarked. Sixteen
miles below the mouth of the Kimooenim,
which they now began to call the Lewis river,
they described, cut clear against the dim hor-
izon line of the southwest, a pyramidal moun-
tain, covered with snow — their first view of
Mount Hood.

The next day, being in the vicinity of
Umatilla, they saw another snowy peak at a
conjectured distance of one hundred and fifty
miles. This they supposed to be Mount St.
Helens, but it was, in reality. Mount Adams.
Near here Captain Clark, having landed, shot
a crane and a duck. Some Indians near were
almost paralyzed with terror. At last they re-
covered enough to make the best possible use
of their legs. Following them Captain Clark
found a little cluster of huts. Pushing aside
the mat door of one of them, he entered, and
in the brioht light of the unroofed hut discov-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

-ered thirty-two persons, all of whom were in the
greatest terror, some wailing and wringing
their hands.

Having by kind looks and gestures soothed
their grief, he held up his burning glass to
•catch a stray sunbeam with which to light his
pipe. Thereat the consternation of the In-
dians revived, and they refused to be com-
forted. But when the rest of the party arrived
with the two Indian guides w'ho had come with
them from the Clearwater, terror gave way to
curiosity and pleasure. These Pishquitpaws —
such was their name — explained to the guides
their fear of Captain Clark by saying that he
■came from the sky accompanied by a terrible
noise, and they knew that there was a bad
medicine in it.

Being convinced now that he was a mortal
after all, they became very affectionate, and
having heard the music of two violins they be-
came so enamoured of the strangers that they
stayed up all night with them and collected
to the number of two hundred to bid them
good bye in the morning. The principal busi-
ness of these Indians seemed to be catching and
■curing salmon, which, in the clear water of the
Columbia, the explorers could see swimming
.about in incredible numbers. Continuing with
no extraordinary occurrence, they passed the
river now called the John Day, to which they
applied the name Lapage. Mt. Hood w^as now
almost constantly in view, and since the In-
dians told them it was near the great falls of
the Columbia, they called it the Timm (this
seems to be the Indian word for falls) moun-
tain.

On the next day they reached a large river
on the left, which came thundering through a
narrow channel into the equally turbulent Co-
lumbia. This river, which Captain Lewis
judged to contain one-fourth as much water

as the Columbia (an enormous over estimate)
answered to the Indian name of Towahna-
hiooks. It afterwards received from the
French the name now used — Des Chutes.

They now perceived that they were near
the place hinted at by nearly every Indian that
they had talked with since crossing the divide
— the great falls. And a weird, savage place
it proved to be. Here the clenched hands of
trachyte and basalt, thrust through the soil
from the buried realm of the volcanoes,
almost clutch the rushing river. Only here
and there between the parted fingers can he
make his escape.

After making several portages they reached
tb.at extraordinary place (now called The
Dalles) Avhere all the waters gathered from half
a million square miles of earth are squeezed
into a crack forty-five yards wide. The desola-
tion on either side of this frightful chasm is a
fitting margin. As one crawls to the edge and
peeps over he sees the water to be of inky
blackness. Streaks of foam gridiron the
blackness. There is little noise compared with
the shallow rapids above, but rather a dismal
sough, as though the rocks below were rub-
bing their black sides together in the \-ain
eft"ort to close over the escaping river. The
river is here "turned on edge." In fact, its
depth has not been found to this day. Some
suppose that there was once a natural tunnel
here through which the river flowed, and that
in consequence of a volcanic convulsion the
top of the tunnel fell in. If there be any truth
in this, the width of the channel is no doubt
much greater at the bottom than at the top.
Lewis and Clark, finding that the roughness
of the shore made it almost impossible to carry
their boats over, and seeing no evidence of
rocks in the channel, boldly steered right
throu2-h this Witches' Cauldron, Though no

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

doubt whirled along with frightful rapidity
and flung like foam flakes on the crests of the
boiling surges, they reached the end of the
"chute" without accident, to the amazement
of the Indians who had collected on the bluff
to witness the daring experiment. After two
more portages the party safely entered the
broad, still flood beginning where the town
of The Dalles now stands. Here they paused
for two days to hunt and caulk their boats.
They here began to see evidences of the white
traders below, in blankets, axes, brass kettles,
and other articles of civilized manufacture.
The Indians, too, were more inclined to be
saucy and suspicious.

The dalles seemed to be a dividing line be-
tween the Indian tribes. Those living at the
falls, where Celilo now is, called the Enee-
shurs, understood and "fellowshipped" with all
the up-river tribes. But at the narrows and
thence to the dalles was a tribe called the Es-
cheloots. These were entirely alien to the
Indians above, but on intimate terms with those
below to the cascades. Among the Esche-
loots the explorers first noticed the peculiar
"cluck" in speech common to all down-river
tribes. The flattening of the head, which above
belonged to the females only, was now the
common thing.

The place where Lewis and Clark camped
while at the dalles was just below Mill creek
(called by the natives Ouenett), on a point of
rocks near the present location of the car
shops.

The next Indian tril^e, extending appar-
ently from the \-icinity of Crate's point to the
cascades, capped the climax of tongue-twist-
ing names b}^ calling themselves Chilluckitte-
quaws.

Xothing of an extraordinary character
seems to have been encountered between the

dalles and the cascades. But the explorers had
their eyes wide open, and the calm majesty of
the river and the savage grandeur of its shores
received due notice. They observed and named
most of the streams on the route, the first of
importance being the Cataract river (now the
Klickitat), then Labieshe's river (Hood river),
Canoe creek (White Salmon) and Crusatte's
river. This last must have been the Little
\Vhite Salmon, though they were greatly de-
ceived as to its size, stating it to be sixty yards
wide. In this vicinity they were much struck
with the sunken forest, which at that low stage
of the water was very conspicuous. They
correctly inferred that this indicated a dam-
ming up of the river at a very recent time. In
deed they judged that it must have occurred
within twenty years. It is well known, how-
ever, that submerged trees or piles, as indicated
by remains of the old Roman wharfs in Britain,
may remain intact for hundreds of years. It
is, nevertheless, evident that the closing of the
ri\-er at the cascades was a \-ery recent event.
It is also evident from the sliding, sinking, and
grinding constantly seen there now that a sim-
ilar event is liable to happen at any time.

The cascades having been reached more
portages were required. Slow and tedious
though the}- were, the explorers seem to have
endured them with unfailing patience. They
were cheered by the prospect of soon putting
all the rapids behind and launching their ca-
noes on the unobstructed vastness of the lower
river.

This was successfully accomplished on the
2d of Xovember. They were greatly delight-
ed with the verdure which now robed the gaunt
nakedness of the rocks. The island formed at
the lower cascades by Columbia slough also
pleased them great]}- by its fertility and its
dense growth of grass and strawberrv vines.

HISTORY OF WALLA W^-VLLA COUNTY.

From this last circumstance they named it
Strawberry island. At the lower part of that
cluster of islands, that spired and turreted
relic of the old feudal age of the river, when
the volcano kings stormed each other's castles
with earthquakes and spouts of lava, riveted
their attention. They named it Beacon rock,
but it is now called Castle rock. They esti-
mated its height at eight hundred feet and its
circumference at four hundred yards, the lat-
ter being only a fourth of the reality.

The tides were now noticeable. This fact
must have struck a new chord of reflection in
the minds of these hardy adventurers; this
first-felt pulse beat of the dim vast of waters
which grasps half the circumference of the
earth. And so, as this mighty heart-throb of
the ocean, rising and falling in harmony with
all *nature, celestial and terrestrial, pulsated
through a hundred and eighty miles of river,
it might have seemed one of the ocean's mul-
tiplied fingers outstretched to welcome them,
the first organized expedition of the new re-
public to this westmost west. It might have
betokened to them the harmony and unity of
future nations, as exemplified in the vast ex-
tent, the liberty, the human sympathies, the
diversified interests, industries and purposes
of that republic, whose motto yet remains,
one from many.

The rest of their journey was a calm float-
ing between, meadows and islands from whose
shallow' ponds they obtained ducks and geese
in great numbers.

They thought the "quick-sand river" —
Sandy — to be a large and important stream.
They noticed the \\'ashougal creek, which
from the great number of seals around its
mouth they called Seal river. But strange to
say they missed the Willamette entirely on
their down trip. The Indians in this part of

the river called themselves Skilloots. Drop-
ping rapidly down the calm but misty stream,
past a large river called by the Indians the
Cowaliske — Cowlitz — through the country of
the Wahkiacums, at last, on the 7th of No-
vember, the dense fog with which the morn-
ing had enshrouded all objects, suddenly broke
away, and they saw the bold mountainous
shores on either side to vanish away in front,
and through the parted headlands they looked
into the infinite expanse of the ocean.

Overjoyed at the successful termination
of their journey, they sought the first pleas-
ant camping ground and made haste to land.
The rain, which is sometimes even now ob-
served to characterize that part of our fair
state, greatly marred the joy of their first
night's rest within sound of the Pacific's
billows.

Six days passed in mouldy and dripping-
inactivity at a point a little above the present
Chinook. They then spent nine much pleas-
anter days at Chinook Point. This, however,
not proving what they wanted for a perma-
nent camp, they devoted themselves to explo-
rations with a view to discovering a more
suitable location.

After many adventures of which lack of
space forbids us to speak, they became settled.
The party wintered in a log building at a point
named by them Fort Clatsop, on the Lewis
and Clark river, south side of the Columbia.
On the 23d of ]\Iarch, 1806, they turned their
faces homeward, first, however, having given
to the chiefs of the Clatsops and Chinooks
certificates of hospitable treatment, and posted
on the fort the following notice: "The object
of this last is. that, through the medium of
some ci\-ilized person who may see the same, it
may be made known to the world, that the
party consisting of the persons whose names

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

are hereunto annexed and who were sent out
by the go\-ernment of the United States to ex-
plore the interior of the continent of North
America, did penetrate the same by way of the
Missouri and Columbia rivers, to the discharge
of the latter into the Pacific ocean, at which
they arrived on the 14th day of November,
1805, and departed on their return to the
United States by the same route by which they
had come."

Of this notice several copies were left
among the Lidians, one of which fell into the
hands of Captain Hall of the brig Lydia and
was conveyed to the United States.

The expedition made its way with no little
difficulty up the Columbia river. They dis-
covered on their return a large tributary of
tb.at river (the Willamette) which had escaped
their notice on their downward journey, and
made careful inquiries of the Indians concern-
ing it, the results of which were embodied in
their map of the expedition.

At the mouth of the John Day river their
canoes were abandoned, their baggage was
packed on the backs of a few horses they had
purchased from the Indians, and traveling in
tliis manner, they continued their homeward
march, arriving at the mouth of the Walla
\\'alla river on April 27th. The great chief
\ellept was then the leader of the Walla Walla
nation, and by him the explorers were received
with such generous hospitality that they yield-
ed to the temptation to linger a couple of days
before undertaking further journeyings among
the mountain fastnesses. Such was the treat-
ment given them by these Indians, that the
journal of the expedition makes this apprecia-
. tive notation concerning them : "We may in-
deed justly affirm that of all the Indians that
we have seen since leaving the United States,

the Walla Wallas were the most hospitable,
honest and sincere."

Of the return journey for the next hun-
dred and fifty miles, that venerable pioneer
missionary. Dr. H. K. Hines, writes as fol-
lows :

"Leaving these hospitable people on the
29tli of April, the party passed eastward on the
great 'Nez Perce trail.' This trail was the
great highway of the Walla Wallas, Cayuses
and Nez Perces eastward to the buffalo ranges,
to which they annually resorted for game sup-
plies. It passed up the \-alley of the Touchet,
called by Lewis and Clark the AVlfite Stal-
lion,' thence over the high prairie ridges and
down the Alpowa to the crossing of the Snake
ri\-er, then up the north bank of Clearwater
to the village of Twisted Hair, where the ex-
ploring party had left their horses on the way
down the previous autumn. It was worn deep
and broad, and On many stretches on the open
plains and over the smooth hills twenty horse-
men could ride abreast in parallel paths worn
by the constant rush of the Indian generations
from time immemorial. The writer has often
passed over it when it lay exactly as it did when
the tribes of Yellept and Twisted Hair traced
its sinuous courses, or when Lewis and Clark
and their companions first marked it \vith the
heel of civilization. But the plow has long
since obliterated it, and where the monotonous
song of the Indian march was droningly
chanted for so many barbaric ages the song
of the reaper thrills the clear air as he comes
to his garner bringing in the sheaves. A more
delightful ride of a hundred and fifty miles than
this that the company of Lewis and Clark made
over the swelling prairie upland and along the
crystal streams between Walla Walla and the
village of Twisted Hair, in the soft ]\Iay days

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUXTY.

of 1806, can scarcely be found anywhere on
earth.

To trace the explorations of these trav-
elers further is not within the province of this
work, but in order to convey a general idea
of the labors and extent of the voyage we
quote the brief summary made by Captain
Lewis himself :

"The road by which we went out by the
^^■ay of the I^Iissouri to its head is 3,096 miles;
thence by land by wa)- of Lewis river over to
Clark's river and down that to the entrance of
Traveler's Rest creek, where all the roads from
different routes meet ; thence across the rugged
jjart of the Rocky mountains to the navigable
Avaters of the Columbia 398 miles, thence
down the ri\'er 640 miles to the Pacific ocean —
making a total distance of 4,134 miles. On
our return in 1806 we came from Traveler's
Rest directly to the falls of the [Missouri river,
v.hich shortens the distance about 579 miles,
antl is a much better route, reducing the dis-
tance from the INIississippi to the Pacific ocean
to 3.555 miles. Of this distance 2.575 miles
is up the ]\Iissouri to the falls of that river;
thence passing through the plains and across
the Rocky mountains to the navigable waters
of the Kooskooskie river, a branch of the Co-
lumbia. 340 miles, 200 of which is good road,
140 miles over a tremendous mountain, steep
and broken, sixty miles of which is covered
several feet deep with snow, on which we
passed on the last of June ; from the navigable
part of the Kooskooskie we descended that
rapid river seventy-three miles to its entrance
into the Lewis river, and down that river 154
miles to the Columbia, and thence 413 miles
to its entrance into the Pacific ocean. About
180 miles of this distance is tide water. We
passed several bad rapids and narrows, and
one considerable fall, 268 miles above the en-

trance of this river, thirty-seven feet, eight
inches; the total distance descending the Co-
lumbia Avaters 640 miles — making a total of
3,55s miles, on the most direct route from the
[Mississippi, at the mouth of the [Missouri, to
the Pacific ocean."

The safe return of the explorers to their
homes in the United States naturally created
a sensation throughout this country and the
world. Leaders and men were suitably re-
warded, and the fame of the former will live
while the rivers to which their names have
been given continue to pour their waters into
the sea. President Jefferson, the great patron
of the expedition, paying a tribute to Captain
Lewis in 1813. said: "Xever did a similar
event excite more joy throughout the United
States. The humblest of its citizens have taken
a lively interest in the issue of this journe}-,
and looked with impatience for the information
it would furnish. Nothing short of the of-
ficial journals of this extraordinary and in-
teresting journey will exhibit the importance
of the service, tlie courage, devotion, zeal and
perseverance under circumstances calculated to
discourage, which animated this little band of
heroes, throughout the long, dangerous and
tedious travel."

Among many journeys of discovery by
land which followed that of Lewis and Clark
we select as the most interesting and typical
tl:at of the Hunt party, which was the land
division of the great Astor movement to estab-
lish the Pacific Fur Company. That com-
pany was established by John Jacob Astor for
the purpose of making a bold and far-reach-
ing attempt to control the vast fur trade of the
Pacific coast in the interest of the L'nited
States. The sea division set sail from X^ew
York in 18 10 in the ship Tonquin. In the
meantime ^^'ilson Price Hunt, the second part-

HISTORY OF \\'ALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Tier in the concern, was at St. Louis organizing
a land party, which was to cross the plains and
co-operate with the division by sea. Hunt had
"been merchandising for some j'cars at St. Louis.
His principal trade being with trappers and
Indians, he had become very familiar with the
recjuirements of the business. In addition to
this primary requisite he possessed a character,
native and acquired, worthy of more frequent
mention in our early annals and of more fre-
quent emulation by his associates and suc-
cessors. Brave, humane, patient, cheerful and
resolute, he rises from the mists of history and
reminiscence as the highest type of the Jasons
who vied with those of ancient story in their
search for the fleeces (this time of seal and
beaver instead of gold) of the far west. To
a powerful physique and iron nerve Hunt added
a refinement and culture rare indeed among the
bold, free spirits of the frontier.

In company with Hunt from the outset was
another partner, Donald McKenzie by name.
He was a man insensible of fear, inured by
years of hardship to the ups and downs of the
trapper's life, and renowned even on the border
for his marvelous accuracy with the rifle. The
first thing for them was to get their men. To
do this all the tact and patience of Hunt were
brought into full play. For a proper under-
standing of his position it will be necessary
to describe briefly the classes from whom he
was obliged to fill his ranks.

There were at this time two great classes
ol trappers. The first and most numerous were
the Canadian voyageurs. These men were
mainly of French descent. IMany of them were
half-breeds. They were the legacj- of the old
French domination over Canada. Cradled in
the canoe or batteau, their earliest remem-
brance being the cold blue lake or foaming
river, almost amphibious by nature and train-

ing, gay and amiable in disposition, with true
French vivacity and ingenuity, gilding every
harsh and bitter experience with laugh and
song, with their quick sympathies and humane
instincts easily getting on the best side of the
sa\-ages, not broad in designing but not the
less patient, courageous and indomitable in
executing, these French voyageurs were the
n:ain dependence of traffic in the wilderness.
The second class were free trappers;
Eooshaways they were sometimes called. These
men were mainly Americans. Virginia and
Kentucky were the original homes of many of
them. They were the perfect antipodes of the
voyageurs. Often with gigantic frames built
up on prairie dew and mountain breeze, with
bufi^alo steak and wild birds' flesh wrought into
their iron sinews ; with nerves of steel, on
which it seemed might harmlessly play even
the lightnings of Missouri storms, the drift-
ing snows of winter but a downy coverlid to
them, and the furnace blasts of summer but
balmy zephyrs ; gorging themselves in the midst
of plenty, but mocking the power of hunger and
thirst when in want ; mighty braggarts, 3'et
quick as lightning to make good their boasts;
patient and indefatigable in their work of trap-
ping, but when on their annual trips to the
towns given to wild dissipations and savage
rcvelings, "sudden and rash in quarrel," care-
less of each other's sympathy or company;
harsh and cruel to the Indians wlien in power
over them, but bold and recklessly defiant when
weaker than they ; seizing without compunction
the prettiest Indian women and the best horses
as their rightful booty; with blood always in
th.eir eyes, thunder in their voices, and pistols
in. their hands, yet underneath it all many of
thicm having hearts as big as buffaloes, could
they but be reached, — this now vanished race of
Eooshaways has gone to a place in histor}- be-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

side the old Spartans, whose greatest boast u
was that the city had no walls, their army
being the wall and every man therein a brick,
or beside the Spanish conquerors of Mexico
and Peru, like Orellana, who descended the
Amazon on a raft and then put to sea with
such a climax of audacity that even the stormy
Atlantic was frightened into acquiescence and
let him pass in safety.

This old streak of brutality and tyranny,
originally cast into the Anglo-Saxon nature and
manifested in its best form in the savage
grandeur of the Norse Valhalla, and in the
overpowering energy of the Vikings, and at
every emergency breaking with volcanic fury
tlirough the thin crust of modern culture, has
shown itself in no way more notably than in
the whole Lidian management of the American
Government. These free trappers executed
with a vengeance the unspoken, but not less
real, policy of our government. Humanity,
and even shrewd policy, had little place in the
thoughts and actions of most of them. The
Indians were simply to be stamped on like so
many rattlesnakes. In the trapper's code, for
an Indian to look longingly at a white man's
horse, or even to be seen in the vicinity of a
beaver trap, was sufficient warrant to send a
rifle ball ploughing its way through his heart.
The Gallic gentleness and sociabilitv which
enabled the Canadian voyageurs to go almost
anywhere imharmed among the Indians, found
no counterpart in the sterner composition of the
great majority of American trappers and
traders.

Such were the men from whom Hunt had to
make up his little army, and a vexatious job it
was, too. The rivalries of opposing companies
were the opportunity of the trappers. Big
wages were demanded. Old whisky bills had
to be paid off. The clutch of the sheriff had

to be loosened by the golden lever of wages
in advance. Worst of all, Hunt found at
nearly every station where he tried to engage
men that the agents of the Missouri Fur Com-
pany, chief of whom was a Spaniard named
flannel Lisa, were neutralizing his efforts by
representing the dangers from the hostile
tribes and barren wastes intervening between
the ^Missouri plains and the Pacific. But
Hunt's patience and perseverance, backed by
Astor's unstinted purse, overcame all obstacles,
and in April, 1811, the winter rendezvous at
the mouth of the Nodowa (four hundred and
eighty miles above St. Louis) was abandoned,
and in four boats, one of large size, and mount-
ing a swivel and two howitzers, the party of
sixty set forth up the almost untraveled Mis-
souri. Of the party five were partners. Hunt,
Crooks, McKenzie, Miller and McLellan. One
was a clerk, Reed by name. There were two
English naturalists, Bradbury and Nuttall.
Forty of the party were Canadian voyageurs.
They were to do the rowing, transporting,
carrying, cooking, and all the drudgery in gen-
eral. The remainder were American hunters
and trappers. These were the fellows to hunt
and fight and plan and explore, and, when the
proper place was reached, to cast themselves
upon the mercy of the savages and wild beasts,
endure hunger and thirst and establish trading-
posts. The chief of these hunters was a Vir-
ginian named John Day. \\'e shall meet him
frequently. The party was in all respects
most bountifully ec]uipped. They designed
following as nearly as possible the route of
Lewis and Clark.

Many interesting and some thrilling and
exciting scenes were encountered on the pas-
sage up the ^Missouri, especially on their way
through the country of the Sioux Tetons. But
thev met with no serious hindrance, and on

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

the nth of June they reached a large village
of the Arickaras, fourteen hundred and thirty-
miles above the mouth of the JMissouri. It
had been determined before this, on the advice
of several hunters who joined the party in the
wilderness, after they had left the Nodowa,
to abandon their canoes at this point and, se-
curing horses, strike across the country south
of Lewis and Clark's route, so as to avoid
the dreadful Blackfeet, who, alike the terror
of the other Indians as well as of the whites,
dominated all the region of the upper Mis-
souri. So with eighty-two horses heavily
loaded — the partners only, together with the
family of Pierre Dorion, being mounted — on
the 1 8th of July they set out hopefully, though
with many gloomy prognostications from
trappers remaining at the Arickara village, on
their march across the Great American Des-
ert and through the volcanic defiles of the
great divide.

On the wide monotony of the sky-bordered
prairie they seemed to make no progress. Day
succeeded day, and every morning's sun shot
up, hot and dry, on apparently the very land-
scape of the day before. They did not seem
in fact, though taking a more direct route,
to make so good time as did Lewis and Clark.
Guided by the Crow Indians, they penetrated
range after range of the stepping stones to
the final ridge, supposing each to be the last,
only to find when it was surmounted that one
yet higher succeeded, and at last on the 15th
of September — the summer already gone —
they mounted a lofty peak whence the bound-
less wilderness over which they had come as
well as that which they must yet traverse, lay
like a map at their feet. Gazing attentively
westward their guide finally pointed out three
shining peaks ridging the western sky, whose
bases he assured them were washed by a trib-

utary of the Columbia. These peaks are now
known as the Tetons from their peculiar
shape. A Inmdred miles evidently lay between
the weary travelers and that goal. When
there, they felt that the}- would be almost at
the end of their journey, little realizing the
character of the thousand miles of travel yet
awaiting them.

Passing the green banks of Spanish river,
a tributar}' of the Colorado, they laid in a
large stock of the plentiful buffalo, gave their
horses five days' rest and grazing on the
abundant grass, and on the 24th of September,
crossing a narrow ridge, found themselves on
the banks of a turbulent stream, recognized
by their guide as one of the sources of the
Snake. From the name of the guide the
stream was called Hoback's river. Down the
rugged promontories which flanked this
stream the party descended, often in danger
of fatal falls, to its junction with a much
larger one, which so much exceeded the first
in fury of current as to receive the name of
Mad ri\'er. This seemed to issue from the
midst of the Tetons, whose glacial and snowy
immensity overtopped the camp of the trav-
elers at the junction of the two streams. The
all important C|uestion now arose, should they
abandon the horses and make canoes with
which to descend the river. It was evident
that, though containing abundant water for
large boats, it was so impetuous as to render
navigating a dangerous business. But the
Canadians insisted on making the attempt.
^Veary of the toilsome and rocky foot-paths
of the mountains, and having all confidence
in their well-tried ability in handling boats in
any kind of water, they longed to betake them-
selves once more to their favorite element,
and, paddle in hand, their gay French songs
beating time to the music of the paddles, they

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

would be ready to shoot another Niagara, if
it came in their way. The partners finally
gave their consent to make canoes. Forthwith
the voyageurs repaired with joyful hearts to
the adjacent woods, which soon began to yield
up its best timber for the projected boats.
JNIeanwhile a party of three, of whom the re-
doubtable John Day was one, went down Mad
river on a two days' journey. They returned
declaring that neither in boats nor with horses
along the banks could the party possibly go.
Disappointed in this plan they now took
the advice of Hoback to go to a trapping post
Avhich had been established the year before
by Mr. Henry, of the Missouri Fur Company.
This post Hoback knew to be on one of the
tipper waters of the Snake and he thought
that it cuuld not be far distant. A violent
storm of sleet, arising in the midst of their
deliberations, admonished them that winter
was near at hand and that they must hasten
on one way or the other. The Snake Lidians
who had come to their camp before tlie storm
and had professed to know the location of
Henry's post, now agreed to guide them
thither. Accordingly on the 4th of October,
the hills all around being spotted with snow,
they resumed their horse'jack march. Four
days of cold and difficult journeying took
them to a cluster of deserted log huts. This
had been Henry's trading station, but was
now entirely abandoned. Beside the huts
flowed a beautiful river a hundred yards wide.
It was to all appearance a fine navigable
stream. Two weeks of industrious work pro-
Added fifteen canoes, and in these, hastily em-
barking, they pushed out into the stream.
Their horses were left in charge of the two
Snake Lidians. Nine men also, including
Miller, one of the partners, had been detached
irom the party at points between Mad river

and Henry's river, as the new stream was
called. These men were to divide up in squads
and trap on the streams thereabout. Well pro-
vided Avith traps, clothes, horses and ammuni-
tion, they set out cheerfully into the unknown
and wintry recesses of the mountins, expect-
ing to issue thence in the spring with a great
stock of valuable peltries. With these they
could make their best way to Astoria.

\Mth the rapid current aiding the skillful
paddles of the voyageurs, Avhose spirits rose
to an unwonted height, even for them, as soon
as they found themselves on the water, the
canoes swept swiftly on toward the sunset.
They soon came to the mouth of a stream
which they took to be their old friend, the ]\Iad
river. They now considered themselves fairly
embarked on the main body of the Snake, and
already, in imagination, they began to toss on
the \-ast current of the Columbia, and even to
smell the salt breeze of the mild Pacific. Oc-
casional rocky points abutting on the river
made rapids which alternated with calm
stretches of water, whose banks, shallow and
grassy, were enlivened with perfect clouds of
wild geese and ducks. For nine days they
swept gaily on, with comparatively slight in-
terruptions, making over three hundred miles-
from the place where they had first embarked.

Then they met with a most lamentable dis-
aster. Li the second canoe of the squadron
were Air. Crooks as bowman and Antoine
Clappine as steersman. The first canoe hav-
ing safely passed a dangerous rapid, the sec-
'ond essayed to follow. \\'ith a sudden lurch
she missed her course and the next instant
split upon a rock. Crooks and three of his
companions succeeded, after a hard struggle,
in reaching the land, but Clappine, one of the
most popular and useful men in the company,
was lost amid the boiling surges. Thev had

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

2 J,

now arrived at an unboatable chain of rapids
and frightful bhiffs, among which neither
boats nor horses, nothing, in sliort, but wings,
were of use. At the beginning of this strait
was one of those volcanic cracks peculiar to
the rivers of this coast, in which the whole
volume of the Snake is squeezed into a place
thirty feet wide. This miniature maelstrom
received from the disheartened voyagers the
name of "The Caldron Linn."

The whole squadron now came to a halt.
It was evident that a portage at least would
be needed. And from the shaggy volcanic ap-
pearance about and below them, they had great
fear that the obstructions extended a long dis-
tance. This fear was realized when, after a
forty-mile tramp down the river, Mr. Hunt
discovered no prospect of successful naviga-
tion. Returning to the main body, therefore,
and discovering that they had but five days'
food and no prospect of getting more, he de-
termined to divide the party into four parts,
hoping that some one of them might find aliund-
ant game and a way out of the lifeless, vol-
canic waste in which they were. One party,
under McLellan, was to descend the river;
another under Crooks was to ascend it, hoping
to find game or Indian guides on the way,
but, if not, to keep on to the place .where they
had left their horses. Still another detach-
ment, under McKenzie, struck northward
across the plains, having in view to reach the
main Columbia.

Air. Hunt, left in charge of the main body,
proceeded at once to cache a large part of their
goods. Nine caches having been made to hold
the large deposit, they took careful notice of
the landmarks of the neighborhood for future
return, and then got themselves in readiness
to move just as soon as the word should come
from any of the scouting parties. Within

three days Crooks and his party returned.-
Despairing of success on their doleful, retro-
grade march, they had determined to share
with their companions whatever might await
them on the onward trip. Five days later, the
party meanwhile beginning to see the ghastly
face of famine staring at them, two of j\Ic-
Lellan's party returned, bidding them aban-
don all thought of descending the river. For
many miles the river ran through volcanic
sluice-ways, roaring and raging, at many
places almost lost from sight underneath im-
pending crags, generally inaccessible from it3
desert bank, so that, tlKJUgh within sound of
its angry ravings, they had often lain down
to their insufficient rest with parched and
swollen tongues.

To manifest their anger at the hateful
stream they named this long volcanic chute
the "Devil's Scuttle Hole." What now re-
mained ? Nothing, evidently, but to hasten
with all speed, their lives being at issue, to
some more hospitable place. 1 he party was,
therefore, divided in two. One division,- un-
der Hunt, went down the north side of the
river, and the other, under Crooks, took the
opposite side. This was done in order to in-
crease the chances of finding food and of
meeting Indians. It was on the ninth of No-
vember that they started on this dismal and
heart-sickening march. Lentil December they
urged on their course, cold, hungry, often
near starvation. At occasional wretched In-
dian camps they managed to secure dogs for
food, and once they got a few horseg. These
were loaded down with their baggage, but,
through scarcity of food, began soon to be too
v.'eak to be of much service, and so their attenu-
ated carcasses, one by one, were devoted to ap-
pease the hunger of the famished explorers.

1 he country through which they were pass-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

ing presented an almost unvarying aspect of
volcanic and snowy desolation. The few
frightened and half-starved Snake Lidians that
they encountered could give no information
as to the route. They signified, however, that
the great river was yet a long way off. Hunt
estimated that they had now put about four
hundred and seventy miles between them and
Caldron Linn. They were evidently approach-
ing something, for gigantic snowy mountains,
lifeless and almost treeless, seemed to bar their
further way. Nevertheless they persisted with
the energy of despair and clambered painfully
up the snowy heights until at a sufficient ele-
vation to command a vast view. Then, with
a waste of mountains in front and bitter winds
whirling the snow and sleet in their faces,
they first began to despair of forcing their
way. The short winter's day shut in upon
their despair, and they were compelled to
camp in the snow. Timber was found in suf-
ficient cjuantity to prevent freezing, but dur-
ing the night another snow storm burst on
them furiously, and daylight, sluggishly steal-
ing through the snow-clogged atmosphere,
found them in a perfect cloud. The roaring
river far below them was their only guide to
further progress. Down the slippery and wind-
swept mountain side they picked their way to
the river bank. Here the temperature was
much milder. Devouring one of their skin-
and-bone horses, they crept a few miles along
the rocky brink of the brawling flood and made
a cheerless camp. On the following morning
(December 6) they were startled by seeing, on
the opposite bank of the stream, a party of white
men more forlorn and desolate than them-
selves. A little observation convinced Hunt
that these men were Crooks and party. Shout-
ing across the stream at last he made himself
heard above the raging river. As soon as the

men discovered him they screamed for food.
From the skin of the horse killed the night
before Mr. Hunt at once constructed a canoe.
Li this crazy craft one of the Canadians dar-
ingly and successfully crossed the fearful look-
ing river, taking with him part of the horse
and bringing back with him Mr. Crooks and
Le Clere.

Appalled at the wasted forms and despond-
ent looks of these two men, and still further
disheartened at the account they gave of the
insurmountable obstacles to continuing down
the river, Hunt determined to retrace his steps
to the last Indian camp they had passed, there
t(; make a more determined effort to obtain
guides and horses. \\'ith dismal forebodings,
therefore, on the following morning they took
the back track. Crooks and Le Clere were so
weak as to greatly retard the rest of the party.
In this extremity the men besought Hunt to
leave those two to their fate while they hast-
ened on to the Indian camp. But Hunt reso-
lutely refused to abandon his weakened partner.
The men began to push ahead until by night
but five remained to bear him company. No
provisions were left them except four beaver
skins. After a night of freezing coldness, one
of them being badly frost-bitten. Hunt, finding
Crooks entirely unable to travel, concluded
that his duty to the main company demanded
his presence with them. Accordingly, having
made the exhausted men as comfortable as
possible and leaving two of the men and all
but one of the beaver skins with them. Hunt
and the remaining three men hastened on.
A day and night of famine and freezing
brought them up with their companions. The
pangs of hunger were beginning to tell in va-
cant looks and tottering steps. Some of them
had not eaten for three days. Toward evening
of that distressing day they saw with surprise

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

and profound gratitude a lodge of Shoshones
with a number of horses around it.

Hunger knew no law. They descended
on the camp, and seizing five horses, at once
dispatched one of them. After a ravenous
meal had satisfied their immediate necessities,
they bethought them of their deserted compan-
ions. A man was at once sent on horse-
back to carry food to them and to aid them in
coming up. In the morning Crooks and the
remaining three men made their appearance.
Food must now be got to the men on the op-
posite bank. But a superstitious terror seemed
to have seized their companions as they looked
across the sullen river at them. Ghastly and
haggard, the poor wretches beckoning across
with bony fingers, looked more like spectres
than men. Unable to get any of the Cana-
dians, overwhelmed as they were with ghostly
fancies, to cross, one of the Kentucky hunters
at last ventured the dangerous undertaking.
Putting forth all his strength he at last suc-
ceeded in landing a large piece of horse meat.
Encouraged by this, one of the Canadians
ventured over.

One of the starving crew, frantic by his
long deprivations, insisted on returning in the
canoe. Before they had got across, the pleas-
ant savor of the boiling meat so inspired him
that he leaped to his feet and began to sing
and dance. In the midst of this untimely
festivity the canoe was overturned and the
poor fellow was swept away in the icy cur-
rent and lost.

John Day, considered when they started
the strongest man in the company, also crossed .
the river. His cavernous eyes and meager
frame showed well how intense had been the
suffering of the detachment on the west bank
of the river. Often the wild cherries, dried

on the trees, together with their moccasins,
were their only food.

The mountains which thus turned tack
this adventurous band were no doubt that
desolate and rather unnecessary range border-
ing the Wallowa country and the mouth of
Salmon river. The detachments under Mc-
Kenzie and McLellan, having reached these
mountains before the heavy snows, and hav-
ing found each other there, had stuck to that
route until they had concjuered it. After
twenty-one days of extreme suffering and
peril they reached the Snake at a point ap-
parently not far from the site of Lewiston,
and building canoes there, descended the river
with no great trouble, reaching Astoria about
the middle of January.

Hunt and his men, saved from starvation
by the discovery of the horses, hastened on
to find Indian guides. But first Hunt, with
his usual honesty, left at the lodge (for the
occupants had fled at their coming) an amount
of trinkets sufficient to pay for the horses he
had taken. A few days later they reached a
small village of Snakes. This, the largest vil-
lage that they had seen on this side of the
mountains, they had observed on their down
trip, but had not been able to get any assist-
ance from the inhabitants. Now, however,
with a persistence born of their necessities,
they insisted on a guide. The Indians de-
murred, representing that the distance to the
river was so great as to recjuire from seven-
teen to twenty-one days of hard traveling.
They said that the snow was waist deep and
that they would freeze. They very hospitably
urged the party to stay with them. But as
they also said that on the west side of the
mountains was a large and wealthy tribe called
the Sciatogas, from whom they might get

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

food and horses, Hunt determined to push on,
if he could find a single Lidian to accompany
him. By a most bountiful offer this desid-
eratum was finally met. They were informed
that they must cross to the west bank of the
river, and enter the mountains to the west.
With infinite tact and patience Hunt sustained
the drooping spirits of the party. Many of
them wanted to cast their lot for the winter
with the vagabond troop of Snakes. They
shrunk from crossing the chilly flood of
Snake river with its huge ice blocks grind-
ing other with a dismal sound. Then to
commit themselves again to the mount-
ains inspired them with terror. In fact,
four of the Canadians, together with
Crooks and John Day, were unable to go at
all. But at last, in spite of doubt and weakness,
everything was got together (though they
were obliged to desert their six sick com-
panions) and in the bitter cold of the early
evening (December 23) they crossed the river
and at once struck for the mountains. They
could only make about fourteen miles a day.
Their five jaded horses floundered painfully
through the snow. Their only food was one
meal of horse meat daily. On the fourth day
of their journey the mountains gave way to
a beautiful valley, across which they journeyed
twenty miles. This must have been Powder
river valley. Leaving this valley and turn-
ing again into the mountains, a short but toil-
some march brought them to a lofty height
whence they looked down into a fair and
snowless prairie, basking in the sunlight and
looking to the winter-worn travelers like a
dream of summer. Soon, best of all, they dis-
cerned six lodges of Shoshones, well supplied
with horses and dogs. Thither hastening
eagerly, their hungry mouths were soon filled
with roasted dog. This vallev, which looked

so much like a paradise, must have been
the Grande Ronde. Beautiful at all times,
it must have seemed trebly so to these
ragged and famished wanderers. The next
morning the new year (1812) burst in upon
them, bright and cheerful, as if to make amends
for the relentless severity of its predecessor.
The Canadians must now have their holiday.
Not even famine and death could rob them of
their festivals. So with dance and song and
dog meat roasted, boiled, fried and fricasseed,,
they met the friendly overtures of the newly
crowned potentate of time. Rested and re-
freshed, they now addressed themselves to
what their guides assured them was to be but
a three days' journey to the plains of the great
river. The time was mult 'plied by two,
however, ere the cloudy canopy, which so
enswathed the snowy waste as to hide both
earth and sk}^ from sight, parted itself be-
fore a genial breath from some warmer clime.
And then, wide below their snowy eyrie, lay
stretched the limitless and sunny plains of
the Columbia. Not more gladly did Cortez
and his steel-clad veterans look from their
post of observation upon the glittering halls
of the Montezumas. They swiftly descended
the slopes of the mountains and emerged upon
that diamond of the Pacific coast, the Uma-
tilla plains.

Here a tribe of Sciatogas or Tushepaws
were camped, thirty-four lodges and two hun-
dred horses strong. Well clad, active and hos-
pitable, these Indians thawed out, almost as
would have a civilized community, the well
nigh frozen energies of the strangers. Re-
joiced above all was ^Ir. Hunt to see in the
lodges axes, kettles, etc., indicating that these
Indians were in communication with the whites
below. In answer to his eager questionings
the Indians said that the great river was only

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

two days distant and that a party of white
men had just descended it. ConckuUng that
these were McKenzie and party, Hunt felt re-
heved of one great anxiety.

After a thorough rest the now joyful way-
farers set forth across the fertile plains and
after a pleasant ride of two days on the horses
obtained of the Tushepaws, lifting their eyes
they beheld a mighty stream, a mile wide, deep,
blue, majestic, sweeping through the treeless
plain, the Columbia. The hard and dangerous
part of the journey was now at an end. In
the absence of timber, however, and because
of the unwillingness of any Indians that they
met to sell canoes, they were obliged to wait
till reaching the dalles before launching upon
the stream. In the vicinity of the present
Rockland (they had come from Umatilla on
the north bank of the river) they had a "hyas
wa wa" with the redoubtable Wishram In-
dians. Sharpened by their location at the coni
lluence of all the ways down stream, these In>
dians had clearly grasped the fundamental
doctrine of civilized trade, to-wit : Get the
greatest possible return with the least possible
outlay. To this end they levied a heavy toll
on all unwary passers. These levies were usu-
ally collected while the eyes of the taxed were
otherwise engaged. In short, these Wishram
Indians were professional thieves.

Endeavoring at first to frighten Mr. Hunt
into a liberal "potlatch," then to beg of him
by representing their great services in pro-
tecting him from the rapacity of other Indians,
but finding no recognition of their claims ex-
cept abundant whiffs at the pipe of peace, they
gave up in disgust and contented themselves
with picking up whatever little articles might
be lying around handy. After considerable
haggling several finely made canoes were pro-
cured of these people and in these the last stage

of the journey was begun. Nothing extraor-
dinary marked the two hundred mile boat ride
down the river.

On the 15th of February, rounding the
bluffs of Tongue Point, they beheld with full
hearts the stars and stripes floating over the
first civilized abode this side of St. Louis.
Right beyond the parted headlands and the
water bordering horizon, they recognized the
gateway to the illimitable ocean. As they
drew near the shore the whole population of
Astoria came pouring down to the cove (near
the modern site of "Dad's" saw-mill, now
wharved over) to meet them. First in the
crowd came the party of McKenzie and Mc-
Lellan. Having no hope that Hunt and his
men could escape from the winter and the fam-
ine they were the more rejoiced to see them.
Their joy in reuniting was proportioned to
the darkness of the shadow of death which
had so long enshrouded them. The Cana-
dians, with French abandon, rushed into each
other's arms, crying and hugging like so many
school girls. And even the hard-visaged
Scotchmen and nonchalant Americans gave
themselves up to the unstinted gladness of the
occasion. The next day was devoted to feast-
ing and story telling. No doubt, like the feast-
ing mariners of the .Eneid, they discussed
with prolonged speech the "aiiiissos socios."
These, as the reader will remember, were
Crooks and John Day, with four Canadians,
who had been left sick on the banks of the
Snake. Little hope was entertained of ever
seeing them again. But as their story is a
natural sec|uel to that just ended, it shall be
given now. The next summer a party under
Stuart and McLellan, on their way from
Okanagan to Astoria, saw wandering on the
river bank near Umatilla two wretclietl beings,
naked and haggard. Stopping their canoes to

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

investigate, they discovered to their glad sur-
prise that these beings were Day and Crooks.

Tlieir forlorn plight was quickly relieved
with abundant food and clothes, and while
the canoes went flying down the stream with
speed accelerated in the joy of deliverance,
the two men related their pitiful tale. Left
in destitution of food and clothing, they had
sustained life by an occasional beaver or a piece
of horse meat given by the Ilidians, who,
seemingly possessed of a superstitious fear,
dared not molest them. With rare heroism
and self-abnegation, Crooks remained by the
side of John Day until he was sufficiently re-
cuperated to travel. Then, abandoned by
three of the Canadians, they had plodded on
amid Blue mountain snows, subsisting on
roots and skins. In the last of March, hav-
ing left the other Canadian exhausted at a
Shoshone lodge, Crooks and Day pressed on
through a last mountain ridge and found them-
selves in the fair and fertile plain of the Walla
Wallas.

Here they were relieved by the kindness
which marked the intercourse of those Indians
with the whites. Fed and clothed they contin-
ued down the river with lightened hearts, only
to find at the dalles that there are differences
in Indians as well as whites, for there the
Eneeshurs, or \\'ishrams. as Irving calls them,
first disarming suspicion by a friendly exterior,
perfidiously robbed them of the faithful rifles
which thus far in all their distress they had
never yet lost sight oi. and, stripping them,
drove them out. More wretched than ever
they now turned toward friendlv \\'alla \\'alla.
And just as they were striking inland they
saw the rescuing boats. So with added grati-
tude they all paddled away for Astoria. But
poor Day never recovered. In an insane frenzy

he tried to kill himself. Prevented from this
he soon pined away and died. The barren
and bluffy shores of John Day river possess
an added interest as we recall the melancholy
story of the brave hunter who first explored
them. The four Canadians were afterward
found alive, though destitute, among the Sho-
shones.

The limits of this work forbid us to en-
large upon the subsequent fortunes of the
great Pacific Fur Company's enterprise. We
could hardly do justice, however, to the heroic
age of Oregon history without a few addi-
tional words about the fur business and a
brief description of that most dramatic event
in all our early history, the destruction of the
Tonquin.

Astor seems to have designed that Astoria
should be the central depot of trade and sup-
plies; that from it parties should radiate by
land and river, and trade with the Indians for
furs as well as fit out trapping parties of their
own; that from Astoria, as headquarters,
should proceed the annual supply ship (from
Xew York) on fur trading trips to the bays
and ports north of the Columbia ; and that
those supply ships having filled up partially
on those trips should complete their lading at
Astoria. Then away for China, the great
market for furs at that time. In China the
emptied vessel should reload with nankeens
and teas and silks wherewith to clothe and
exhilarate the fair inhabitants of New York.
Two years would pass in completing this vast
commercial "rounding up." For the still fur-
ther enlargement of his business, Mr. Astor
had also made arrangements to supply the
Russian posts at New Archangel. He wished
to do this partly for the profits accruing
therein and partly to shut off competition in

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

his own territory. This last he could accom-
plish through that semi-partnership with the
Russians in furnishing" them supplies.

There were at that time three especially
valuable fur-producing animals found in vast
numbers in this country. The first, the bea-
ver, was found in all the interior valleys, the
Willamette country, as was afterward found,
being pre-eminent in this respect. The two
others, the sea otter and seal, were found on
the coast. The sea otter fur was the most
valuable. Its velvety smoothness and glossy
blackness rendered it first in the markets of
the world of all furs from the temperate zones
of North America, and inferior only to the
ermine and sable and possibly the fiery fox
of the far north.

The profits of the fur trade were such as
might well entice daring and avarice to run
the gauntlet of icebergs, starvation, ferocious
savages and stormy seas. The profits of a
single voyage might lic^uidate even the enor-
mous cost of the outfit. For instance, Ross,
one of the clerks of Astor's company, and
located at Okanogan, relates that one morn-
ing before breakfast he bought of Indians one
hundred and ten beaver skins at the rate of
five leaves of tobacco per skin. Afterward a
yard of cotton cloth, worth, say, ten cents,
purchased twenty-five beaver skins, worth in
New York $5 apiece. For four fathoms of
blue beads, worth, perhaps, a dollar, Lewis
and Clark obtained a sea otter skin, the mar-
ket price of which varied from $45 to $60.
Ross notes in another place that for $165 in
trinkets, cloth, etc., he purchased peltries
worth in the Canton market $11,250. In-
deed, even the ill-fated voyages of Mr. As-i
tor's partners proved that a cargo worth
$25,000 in New York might be expected to
be replaced in two years by one worth a quar-

ter of a million, a profit of a thousand per
cent. We cannot wonder, then, at the eager
enterprise and fierce, sometimes bloody, com-
petition of the fur traders.

With this outline of the business awaiting
the Toncpiin, let us pursue her fortunes to
their terrible conclusion.

A Frenchman, Franchere by name, one of
the Astoria clerks, is the chief authority for
the story. Irving seems to have taken some
poetic license with this account. According
to him, with a total force of twenty-three and
an Indian of the Chehalis tribe called Lama-
zee, for interpreter, the Tonquin entered the
harbor of Neweetee. Franchere calls the In-
dian Lamanse, and the harbor, he says, the
Indian called Newity. We shall probably be
safe in following Bancroft and suppose the
place to have been Nootka. Nootka sound,
on the west side of Vancouver's island, has
been referred to on a previous page as a bad
place for the traders. In 1803 the ship Bos-
ton and all her crew but two had been de-
stroyed there.

But it is well worth noting that these In-
dians, like all others on the coast, were dis-
posed at first to be friendly, and only the in-
dignities and violence of traders transformed
their pacific disposition to one of sullen treach-
ery. Captain Thorn had been repeatedly and
urgently warned by Mr. Astor and his asso-
ciates against trusting to the Indians. One
standing rule was that not more than four
•or five should be allowed on the deck at once.
But the choleric Thorn treated with equal con-
tempt the suggestions of caution and savage
hucksters. A great quantity of the finest kind
of sea otter skins had been brought on deck
and to all appearance a most lucrative and am-
icable trade was before them. But twenty
years of traffic with the whites and a long

HISTORY OF ^\"ALLA WALLA COUNTY.

•course of instruction from the diplomatic and
.successful chief Maquinna had rendered the
Nootka Indians less pliable and less innocent
than Thorn expected. His small stock of pa-
lience was soon exhausted. At one cunning
.and leering old chief, who seemed to be urg-
ing the others to hold out for higher prices,
the captain soon began to scowl with special
rage.- But the oily visage was scowl-proof,
and the impatient sailor had the mortification
to see that he was likely to be out-Jewed by
one of those dirty and despised redskins. He
■could stand it no longer. In his most impres-
sive and naval manner he bids the Indians to
leave. But the obnoxious chieftain stands mo-
tionless, a perfect statue of savage impudence.
All sense and judgment vanished from the
captain's mind. Seizing him by the hair he
jpropelled him rapidly toward the ship-ladder.
Then, with a convenient bundle of furs,
snatched up furiously, he emphasized the
chieftain's exit. Nor is it likely that he spared
a liberal application of boot leather to the most
-accessible part of the savage trader's anatomy.
Instantly, as if by magic, the Indians left the
.ship. In place of the babel of jabbering
traffickers were only the hair-brained captain
and his astonished and silent crew. ^Nlr. ]\Ic-
Kay, the partner on board, was very indignant
when, on returning from a short trip ashore,
he learned of the untimely cessation of trade.
He assured Captain Thorn that he had not
only spoiled their business but had endangered
all their lives. He therefore urged making
sail from the place at once. The Chehalis In-
dian, Lamanse, also enforced McKay's wish,
asserting that further intercourse with the In-
dians could result only in disaster. But the
stubborn captain would listen to no advice.
So long as he had a knife or a handspike they
needn't try to scare him into running before a

lot of naked redskins. The night passed in
quiet. Early the next morning a number of
Indians, demure and peaceable as can be imag-
ined, paddled alongside. Bundles of furs held
aloft signified their wish to trade. In great
triumph Captain Thorn pointed out to AIcKa}'
the successful issue of his discipline. "That
is the way to treat them," he said; "just show
them that you are not afraid and they will
behave themelves." The Indians were very
respectful and exchanged their furs for what-
ever was offered.

Pretty soon another large boat load, well
supplied with the choicest peltries, asked per-
mission to go aboard. The now good natured
and self-satisfied skipper gladly complied.
Then another canoe, and a fourth, and a fifth
disgorged a perfect horde on board. But some
of the more watchful sailors noticed with alarm
that contrary to custom, no women left the
canoes, and that certain of the fur bundles the
savages would not sell at any price, while as
to others they were perfectly indifferent. Pret-
ty soon it was noticed that, moving as if b)^ ac-
cident, the Indians had somehow become
massed at all the assailable points of the vessel.
Even Captain Thorn was startled when this
fact became unmistakable. But putting a bold
front upon his sudden fear, he gave the order
to up anchor and man the top-mast, preparatory
to sailing. He then ordered the Indians to re-
turn to their boats. With a scarce perceptible
flush darkening their listless faces, they picked
up their remaining bundles and started for the
ladder. As they went, their cat-like tread
scarce audible even in the oppressive stillness
their knotted fingers stole into their bundles.
Out again like a flash and in them long knives
and cruel bludgeons !

In an instant the wild war-yell broke the
awful silence. And then the peaceful Ton-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

■quin's deck saw a slaughter grim and pitiless.
Lewis, the clerk, and McKay were almost
instantly dispatched. Then a crowd with
fiendish triumph set upon the captain, bent
on evening up at once the old score.
The brawny frame and iron will of the
brave, though foolhardy old salt, made him
a dangerous object of attack. And not until
a half dozen of his assailants had measured
th.eir bleeding lengths on the slippery deck did
he succumb. Then he was hacked to pieces
Avith savage glee. Meanwhile four sailors, the
onl)' survivors, besides the interpreter, Lamanse,
from whom the whole story is told, having
gained access to the hold, began firing on the
triumphant Indians. And with such effect did
they work that the whole throng left the ship
in haste and sought the shore. Lamanse, mean-
while, was spared, but held in captivity for
two years. The next day the four surviving
sailors attempted to put to sea in a small boat,
but were pursued and probably murdered by the
Indians. And then, like a band of buzzards
circling around a carcass, the Indian canoes
began to cluster around the deserted ship.

The night had been spent in savage mirth,
and now in prospect of the rifling of an en-
tire ship their joy knew no bounds. All was
silent. The hideous tumult of the day before
was succeeded by an ecjually hideous calm.
Cautiously at first, then emboldened by the
utter lifelessness, in throngs the Indians clamb-
ered to the deck. Their instinctive fears of
strategem were soon lost in gloating over the
disfigured forms of their vanciuished foes, and
in rifling the store-houses of the ship. Arrayed
in gaudy blankets and adorned with multiplied
strands of beads, they strutted proudly over
tlie deck. Five hundred men, women and chil-
dren now swarmed the ship.

Suddenly, with an awful crack, crash and

boom, the luckless Tonquin with all its load
of li\'ing and dead is flung in fragments around
the sea. Her powder magazine had imitated
Samson among the Phillistines, and she had
made one common ruin of herself and her ene-
mies in the very scene of their triumph. Dis-
membered bodies, fragments of legs and arms,
and spattered brains, stained and darkened the
peaceful water far and wide. According to
Lamanse, as quoted by Franchere, two hundred
Indians were thus destroyed. Franchere also
says that no one knows who blew up the ship
though he thinks it most likely that the four
sailors left a slow train on board when they
abandoned her. Irving most thrillingly de-
scribes Lewis as having been wounded, and
remaining on board after the four survivors
had gone, for the purpose of enticing the sav-
ages on board and then letting off the train so
as to destroy himself and them in one final and
awful retribution. Bancroft, however, find-
ing no warrant for this in the narrative of
Franchere, the only known authority, does not
hesitate to accuse Irving of fabricating it.

^^'hatever may have been the details, the
general fact, with its horrible results to both
whites and natives, rapidly spread abroad. Ere
long it began to be whispered with bated breath
among the Chinooks around Astoria. Then it
reached the ears of the traders there. At first
entirely disbelieved, it began to be painfully
sure, after the lapse of months, and no Ton-
quin in sight, that there must be something in
it. The floating fragments of story finally as-
sumed an accepted form, though not until the
reappearance of Lamanse, two years after the
event, was it fully understood.

A more extended narration of that absorb-
ingly interesting era of discovery, exploration,
and beginnings of trade, would lead us beyond
the purpose of this work. We desire rather to

HISTORY OF WALLA ^^'ALLA COUNTY.

present a picture of our heroic age suiiiciently
full to make plain the steps of our subsequent
evolution. The glimpses into our earliest his-
tory already given indicate to us something of
the stages of our progress as a civilized Ameri-
can state. Exploration followed discovery;
trade, exploration; settlement, trade. Develop-
ment is now treading on the pathway of settle-
ment. We have seen before our very eyes in
the close of the nineteenth century, this devel-
opment assume a new form. The genius of our
railroad age has realized the dream of the old
navigators, and has created from rails of steel
the Strait of Anian. The northwest passage
has been found, but it is dry land instead of
water. And not alone have we put a north-
west passage through our own land, but we
have extended our hands into the Pacific ocean
for more land. Great already, our territory,
by the events of the past few years, has become
larger, and our international influence vastly
wider. Our nation is entering now, with this
new century, upon an epoch of international
power which will transcend the previous eix)ch
as much as that transcends the era of our old
colonialism.

In this new age of world development, our
good state of Washington seems surely des-
tined to bear a conspicuous part. The treasures
of the Orient and of tropic islands, the golden
sands of Alaska, and the industries of the
great states of our own Union, find their ex-
change point on Puget sound. Our queen city,
Seattle, holds the keys to the golden caskets
of Asia and of the north.

In variety and quality of resources, in the
thrift and energy of her iwpulation, and in the
excellence of her system of education and social
life, the state of Washington gives promise
that she will prove adequate to the vast oppor-

tunities which her situation has placed within
lier grasp.

Standing thus on the threshold of a ma-
terial development whose possibilities dazzle
the imagination, we are in some danger of for-
getting the small and feeble advances of the
first era of Ameu'ican settlement in this land,
we are apt to forget the heroic striving which
planted homes here and there in the wilder-
ness.

In that epoch of the making of a state the
county of Walla Walla bore no inconspicuous
part. Containing the first settlement between
the Cascades and the Rocky mountains, being
the scene of more tragic and stirring events
than any other community in this portion of
Old Oregon, having for many years the largest
population anywhere within the state, and in its
later development possessing, in some respects,
the highest results of industry and production
to be found within the inland empire, Walla
Walla county may justly be regarded as one
of the foremost counties of the state, both from
a historical and a present point of view.

In the early history of Walla Walla county
we find much of the pathos and tragedy which
have marked the settlement of most pioneer
American communities. In its present, with
its unfolding industrial activity, we see a part
of that great movement which we have already
pointed out as marking the present epoch of
our state. In its future we plainly read the
fulfillment of the promise of growth which
will outrun even the most eager imaginations
of the present.

A\'e invite therefore to the perusal of this
history both the old-timer and the new-timer.
The old-timer will traverse again some of the
difficult or dangerous or amusing experiences of
the past, and by opening his eyes now upon one

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

scene, now upon another, he will comprehend before, and by contrasting what he reads with

again something of the distance that he has what he sees about him will more clearly un-

traversed. The new-timer will learn by the derstand what it has taken to make Walla

perusal of these pages things unknown to him Walla county.

CHAPTER I.

THE OREGON QUESTION.

AMiile it is not within the distinct province
of this compilation to enter into a detailed
consideration of the early history of the Pa-
cific northwest, nor even of that section now in-
cluded within the boundaries of the present
state of Washington, it is still but consistent
that brief resume he given of the more salient
points which marked the opening of this now
fruitful and opulent section of our national
domain to the march of civilization, — an ad-
vancement made under conditions and circum-
stances which bespeak the restless energy, the
fortitude and the inflexible determination of
those who constituted the forerunners of the
star of empire.

To the "Oregon question" Dr. Barrows re-
fers as the "struggle for possession," and cer-
tain it is that diplomacy never met a severer
test without recourse to arms than was repre-
sented in the long drawn out disputations, the
ambiguous concessions and the alert watchful-
ness which marked the history of that epoch.
Fortunate, indeed, was it that the independence
of the republic, the genius of the true Amer-
ican spirit, were eventually brought into high
relief, saving to our national commonwealth
the great and valuable territory which was at
that time practically a terra incognita.

As has already been intimated, there has,

perhaps, no question ever arisen that so nearly
precipitated a war between the United States
and Great Britain without the actual conflict
of arms. The Oregon question was one that
included all points of international diplomacy
and negotiations between the United States and
Great Britain regarding title to the northwest
country, and pertaining particularly to the ter-
ritory now included in the state of AVashington,
for the country north of the Columbia river
was what the English crown particularly
coveted.

Prior to 1818 the Hudson's Bay Company,
a powerful corporation holding charter from
the British crown, the same having been
granted by Charles H, in 1670, invaded
the Oregon territory, including what are
now the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho,
and western Montana. The personnel of the
invading force included hunters, traders
and trappers, who proceeded to fortify their
possessions with commercial and military
establishments. While these aggressive move-^
nients were under way a few persons from
the United States found their way into the
territory, and their interposition eventually led
to the discussion as to the ownership of the
country. Our great statesmen of the day
naturally had very inadecjuate conceptions of

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUXTY.

the value and importance of the territory in-
volved in the discussion, and this fact was un-
mistakablv indicated in their expressions.

In the early '40s the National Intelligencer
/ gave utterance to the following statements,
which will strike the reader of the present day
as ludicrous in the extreme : "Of all the coun-
tries upon the face of the earth Oregon is one
of the least favored by heaven. It is almost as
barren as Sahara, and quite as unhealthy as the
Campagna of Italy." Contemplating even the
productive wealth of Walla Walla county alone
at the present time, it seems almost impossible
that official and popular judgment could even
at that time have been so flagrantly in error.
Further. Senator Dayton, of New Jersey, from
the depths of his conviction and high order of
intelligence, did not hesitate to speak as fol-
lows: "God forbid that the time should ever
come when a state on the shores of the Pa-
cific, with its interests and tendencies of trade
all looking toward the Asiatic nations of the
east, shall add its jarring claims to our already
distracted and overburdened confederacy." It
is bevond peradventure that the continental
idea had not as yet pervaded the judicial body
of the national government.

As farther indicating the attitude main-
tained by the leaders of American thought and
action at the time, we can not do better than
to offer an excerpt from statements made by
that gifted and venerated statesman, Daniel
Webster, who said : "What do we want of this
vast, worthless area, this region of savages
and wild beasts, of deserts, of shifting sands
and whirlwinds of dust, of cactus and prairie
dogs ? To what use could we ever hope to put
these great deserts or these great mountain
ranges, impenetrable and covered to their base
with eternal snow? What can we ever hope

to do with the western coast, a coast of three
thousand miles, rock-bound, cheerless and un-
inviting, and not a harbor on it? What use
have we for such a country? ]Mr. President,
I will never vote one cent from the public treas-
ury to place the Pacific coast one inch nearer
Boston than it is now."

One other opinion, voiced by Senator Ben-
ton, in 1825, may be, with undoubted propriety,
incorporated at this juncture. What the re-
sult of the advice of this astute man might
have been if followed is difiicult to conjecture
at this end of the century period : "The ridge
of the Rocky mountains may be named as a
convenient, natural and everlasting boundary.
Along this ridge the western limit of the Re-
public should be drav.'n, and the statue of
the fabled god. Terminus, should be erected
on its highest peak, never to be thrown
down."

The significance of these expressions is un-
mistakable, and still we can scarcely wonder-
that they were uttered and promulgated, when
we take into consideration the fact that nearly
all information in regard to the country — and
that of a most fragmentary and unreliable
character — had been received through repre-
sentatives of the Hudson's Ba}- Company or
through persons influenced by them, either
voluntarily or otherwise. The emissaries of
the Hudson's Bay Company had advisedly, and
for selfish purposes, looking to the aggrandize-
ment of the corporation, represented the region
as a "Miasmatic wilderness, uninhabitable ex-
cept by savage beasts and more savage men."
This action was taken in order to discourage
the settlement of white people in the country,
which accomplished thev realized would ulti-
mately interfere seriously with their lucrative
fur traffic with the aborigines of the land.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

1169838

JOINT OCCUPANCY TREATY A PRACTICAL FI-
ASCO.

Both Great Britain and the United States
being apparently unprepared for definite action,
in i8iS a treaty of joint occupation was en-
tered into, by the terms and provisions of
which "The northwest coast of America west-
ward of the Stony mountains shaU l)e open
to the subjects of the two contracting powers,
not to be construed to the prejudice of any
claim which either of the high contracting
parties may have to any part of said country."
This treaty was extended indefinitely in 1827,
with the provision that after 1838 either party
could abrogate it by giving to the other one
year's notice. Under this somewhat equivocal
treaty the shrewd representatives of the Hud-
son's Bay Company resorted to every conceiv-
able strategy to prevent immigration from the
United States, and they succeeded in effecting
their designs to a large extent for a consider-
able period of time. However, an increasing
knowledge of the value of the country stim-
ulated the indomitable frontiersmen to move
westward, and, despite the despicable efforts
and questionable methods of the Hudson's
Bay Company to arrest wagons, break
plowshares, freeze out settlers, and by a
system of overland forts and seaport surveil-
lance prevent every movement that tended to-
ward the actual occupancy of the country, a
sufficient number of Americans had effected
settlement prior to 1844 to force upon the
Lmited States the c[uestion of title. Li the
3'ear mentioned Mr. Calhoun, then secretary of
state, demanded of the British government a
specific statement of its claims to the Oregon
territory. This overture elicited from Great
Britain a reiteration of a claim already made
in 1824, namely: "That the boundary line be-

tween the possessions of the two countries
should be the fortj^-ninth parallel of north
latitude to where it intersects the northeast-
ern branch of the Columbia river, then down
the middle channel of that river to the sea."
This claim, if allowed, would have given Great
Britain not only British Columbia but also the
greater portion of the state of Washington.
Great Britain based its claim upon the explora-
tion of the Columbia by Vancouver after Gray
had discovered it, and upon the occupancy of
the country by the Hudson's Baj^ Company for
traffic in furs.

The United States rested its claim on Cap-
tain Gray's discovery of the Columbia river,
on the Louisiana purchase, on the explorations
of Lewis and Clark, tracing the Columbia
from its source to its mouth, on the settlement
of Astoria, on the treaty with Spain in 1819
and on the treat}^ with Mexico in 1828. Mr.
Calhoun rejected the claim of Great Britain and
proposed the forty-ninth parallel from the
Rockies to the sea as the division between the
two countries. The Democratic convention
of 1844 declared for the annexation of Texas
and also "that our title to the Oregon territory
was clear and unquestionable, and that no part
of the same should be ceded to Great Britain."
The shibboleth of the Democratic party during
that campaign, relative to the Oregon question,
was "fifty-four forty, or fight." An effort was
made to abrogate the treaty of 1827, and it
seemed for a time that war between Great
Britain and the United States was inevitable.
The proposal of the British minister, Mr. Pack-
enham, to submit the question in dispute to
arbitration was respectfully declined, and the
ultimate result of the negotiations was the
treaty of 1846, whereby the forty-ninth paral-
lel originally proposed by Mr. Calhoun was ac-
cepted by Great Britain as the boundary

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

between the two countries. By the terms of
the treaty provision was made that when the
boundary hue reached the waters of the Pa-
cific coast it should run down the middle of
the channel which separates the. continent from
Vancouver island, and thence southerly through
the same channel and Fuca straits to the sea.
No map or chart being attached to the treaty,
according to which the line could be drawn, a
vexatious controversy arose which came very
near involving the two countries in war. The
contention related to the location of the middle
of the channel which separates the continent
from Vancouver island. Great Britain insist-
ed that it was in the Rosario straits or chan-
nel, while the L'nited States contended that it
was in the Canal de Haro. Each party ad-
hered to its position through a protracted and
vehement correspondence upon the subject.
Between these channels was an area of about
four hundred square miles, including several
j)rominent islands, comprising land area of
about one hundred and seventy square miles,
which was the bone of contention on the part
of the two nations involved.

After a prolonged debate of the question,
each party determined to have its own way ;
by the treaty of Washington in 1871 it was
agreed that Emperor \\'illiam of Germany, as
arbitrator, should decide which of the two
claims was most in accord with the treaty of

1846. He decided in favor of our claim, thus
giving to the United States an undisputed
claim to the island of San Juan and the other
islands around it. Although the Hudson's
Bay Company took possession of all the coun-
try west of the Rocky mountains and on both
sides of the Columbia river, yet Great Britain
did not assert possession of that part of the
country now constituting the state of Oregon.
It is evident, however, that if the title was
good north, it was equally good south of the
river. Furthermore, if the title of the United
States was good as to what is now Washing-
ton and Oregon, why not equally good for all
the territory, including British Columbia.
Careful and candid students of the situation
have contended that the proposition of Calhoun
in 1844 to surrender to Great Britain all the ter-
ritory north of the forty-ninth parallel of north
latitude was made in the interest of slavery.
The less there was of this territory, the less
would lie the number of free states to be admit-
ted to the Union. If he had not committed our
government to such an unfortunate, and what
some have designated as "disgraceful," offer,
it is quite probable that British Columbia would
be to-day an integral part of the United States,
a condition that many would consider desirable
in view of the growing importance of that
section.

CHAPTER U.

THE INCEPTION OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN WASHINGTON.

It is a well authenticated fact that, aside
from missionaries, the first American to set-
tle north of the Columbia river, or in any of
the territory now comprising the state of Wash-
ington, was Michael T. Simmons, who emi-
grated to Oregon in 1844 and spent the first
winter at Fort Vancouver. He is described as
a stalwart Kentuckian, of splendid physique,
great endurance and resolute mind, possessing
all the qualifications of a successful pioneer.
His stay at the fort enabled him to understand
the disposition of the officials of the Hudson's
Bay Company relative to American occupation
of the northern country. He was doubtless
convinced that it was their purpose to prevent,
if possible, American settlement in that region.
The desire to exclude American settlement
was an evidence of the value of the country.
This, with his patriotic spirit, prompted Mr.
Simmons to make an investigation and dis-
cover all he could about the region and its pros-
pects. An attempt to explore the dense wilder-
ness between the Columbia river and Puget
sound was made by him and a few of his com-
panions during the winter. In the summer of
1845 ^I''- Simmons made an extensive explora-
tion of Puget sound, and was deeply impressed
with the commercial value of the country. He
selected a site for his future home at the head
of Budd's Inlet, which is the most southern
extension, at the falls of the Des Chutes river.
In the fall, he and others, seven in all, located
on that spot, beginning the history of the per-

manent settlement of \\'ashington by Ameri-
cans. It was an heroic attempt, and they were
brave men who made it.

They were among savages who gave no
special evidence of hospitality, and they were
separated from the nearest white settlers by
one hundred and fifty miles of dense forests.
But few were added to their number during
the first year. Within two years a sawmill was
built at the falls of'the Des Chutes. In 1848
a few immigrants settled along the Cowlitz
river. Thomas W. Glasgow explored Puget
sound as far north as Whidby island, where
he took a claim, being soon joined by several
families. But the unfriendly attitude of the
Indians necessitated the abandonment of their
claims.

Several things retarded the progress of the
occupation of this region, among them being
its isolation, the discovery of gold in California,
and the brutal massacre of Dr. Whitman and
others at Waiilatpu. The scattered families
spent several years amid great perils, which
could not have been endured by people of less
bravery. They found the Indians, as a rule,
hostile and even threatening their extermina-
tion, but they met the insolence of the red men
with heroic defiance. This, with the timely
and decisive measures of Governor Lane, and
the building of Fort Steilacoom, with the aid
of some friendly Indians, sa\-ed them during
these critical years and made American occu-
pation permanent.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

About the year 1850 many who had left
for CaHfornia at the outset of the gold ex-
citement returned. ]\Ir. Simmons had been in
San Francisco and had brought with him a
cargo of merchandise, ^^'ith this basis he
opened a store at Olympia, which was the be-
ginning of the first town in \\'ashington. Set-
tlements began to extend, and Steilacoom came
into existence, and soon Port Townsend. In
1 85 1 a company of resolute pioneers, after
much exploration, selected claims on Elliott
bay. Among these hardy men were some who
exerted a potent influence during the formative
periods of territory and state, — Terry, Denny
and others.

The first attempt to establish a city on
Elliott bay was at Alki Point. The ambition
and expectation of the founders are indicated
in the name which they gave to their embryonic
municipality, — Xew York. Some of them
soon removed to the east side of the Ijay, and
the information which they received from the
Indians regarding the country, especially rela-
tive to the accessibility of the region east of
the Cascades, led them to establish a rival city.
They gave it the name of the chief, Seattle.
Thus the name of an honored, true and dig-
nified Indian chieftain has been perpetuated.

After this settlements extended with in-
creasing rapidity. Many people of extraor-
dinary intelligence and enterprise and of ster-
ling character came into the countrv.

\\'e soon find milhng and coal-mining op-
erations beginning and within a few years
the former develops to immense proportions.
At the same time the country to the south
is developing — the lower Cliehahs vallev. and
the Cowlitz valley down as far as the Colum-
bia river. Attempts were made to establish
great cities. So, at the close of 1852. we find
in what was then known as northern Oreoon,

settlements from the Columbia river to British
Columbia and from the Cascade mountains to
the Pacific coast. In this territory we find the
towns of Olympia, Vancouver. Steilacoom, Se-
attle and Port Townsend, with an aggregate
population of three thousand.

A resume of historical facts will lead us
to consider Ijriefly the circumstances and events
leading to and connected with the

DIVISION OF TERRITORY.

Some of the earliest settlers north of the
Columbia probably cherished the laudable am-
bition of being the founders of a state. They
were men of vision, and planned great things.
We find that active measures looking toward
separate political existence from Oregon were
inaugurated as early as the 4th of July, 185 1.
Independence day was celebrated at Olympia
l5y those who had settled around the head of
Puget sound. ^Ir. J. B. Chapman, who was
the orator of the day, took for his theme "The
Future State of Columbia," and treated it in
an eloquent and stirring manner. The orator
struck a sympathetic chord in the hearts of his
hearers, and the appeal for prompt action found
a ready response. During the day a committee
on resolutions was appointed, and in rendering
tlieir report they recommended that representa-
tives of all the districts north of the Colum-
l)ia river meet in convention at Cowlitz Land-
ing, for the purpose, as expressed, "of taking-
mto careful consideration the peculiar position
of the northern portion of the territory of Ore-
gon, its wants, the best method of supplying
tliese wants, and the propriety of an earlv ap-
peal to congress for a division of the terri-
tory."

The recommendation being in accordance
with the will of the people, the various districts

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

responded and a convention was held on the
day appointed, with twenty-six delegates pres-
ent. As a result of the deliberations of said
convention, a memorial to congress on the sub-
ject of division was adopted. The Oregon
delegate to the United States congress was
instructed to act in accordance with the memo-
rial, and congress was petitioned to construct
certain roads necessary for the public good,
also to extend to the new territory the bene-
fits of the Oregon land law. For some reason
congress took no action on the memorial, and
consequently the enthusiasm for territorial
segregation lost its ardor for a season. But
the agitation did not cease, for at Olympia was
established a paper which had that for its ob-
ject.

L'nder the lead of this paper, called the
Columbian, another convention was planned,
the same being held at Monticello, on the 25th
of October, 1852. There were present forty-
four representative citizens, and the action was
in harmony with that of the previous conven-
tion. Cogent reasons were prepared and sub-
mitted to General Lane, the delegate to con-
gress, for the organization of a new territory.
The Oregon legislature, meeting a few days
afterward, exhibited an unusually magnani-
mous spirit by acting in harmony with the de-
sires of the convention. General Lane acted
without delay in introducing the measure to
congress, and on February 10, 1853, it passed
by a vote of one hundred and twenty-eight
to twenty-nine. The name Washington was,
however, substituted for Columbia. The bill
passed the senate on the second day of March,
at which time the population of the new ter-
ritory was somewhat less than four thousand.
President Pierce appointed Isaac Ingalls Ste-
vens, of ^Massachusetts, as governor. He was
a man eminently fitted for the position. Other

ofiicial appointments were as follows : C. H.
Mason, of Rhode Island, secretary ; Edward
Lander, of Indiana, chief justice; John R.
Miller, of Ohio, and Victor ]\Ionroe, of Ken-
tucky, associate justices; and J. S. Clendenin,
of Louisiana, United States district at-
torney.

The act which created the territory gave
to it an area more than twice as great as was
asked for in the memorial, its boundaries be-
ing defined as follows : "All that portion of
Oregon territory lying and being south of the
forty-ninth degree of north latitude, and north
of the middle of the main channel of the. Co-
lumbia ri\-er, from its mouth to where the
forty-sixth degree of north latitude crosses
said river near Fort Walla \\'alla, thence with
said forty-sixth degree of latitude to the sum-
mit of the Rocky mountains." This included
all of the state of Washington as it now stands
and also a portion of the present states of Idaho
and Montana.

About the last of November Governor
Stevens arrived, and issued a proclamation or-
ganizing the government of the territory and
designating the 30th for the election of a dele-
gate to cong-ress and of members of the ter-
ritorial legislature, and February for the con-
vening of said legislature.. Good material for
the offices was not wanting, nor a sufficient
number ambitious to fill them. Columl)us Lan-
caster, of Clarke county, was elected tielegate
to congress. Although a worthy man in many
respects, he did not prove to be qualified for the
position at such a critical time. Men of fair
abilities were elected as legislators, and ac-
complished their mission creditably. The ma-
terial progress of the territory was slow for
several years. The Cascade mountains were a
great barrier to the extension of settlements
eastward.

CHAPTER III.

THE MISSIONS OF WALLA WALLA AND THE WHITMAN MASSACRE.

Few of the pioneer lands of the west have
lacked their heroes. Few have lacked their
martyrs. It has been the work of some to find
the passes of the mountains, .to blaze trails
through the wilderness, to find the river cross-
ings. Others have found it their task to dis-
cover the materials and the routes of industry
and commerce. Others yet again have had the
grim destiu)' of meeting, fighting, killing, or
being killed by the unfortunate nati\'es. Still
others, very few ill comparison, assumed the
yet harder, and, in most minds, the thankless
duty of imparting the ideas of Christianity and
civilization to those poor remnants of a doomed
race. Most important of all, on yet others has
been laid the weightiest task, that of forming
national political policies and managing the in-
ternational questions arising out of the struggle
for possession.

Any one of the various lines of duty would
ha\-e been thought hard enough. We find the
strange spectacle in the annals of \\'alla Walla
of one man performing them all.

This man was Marcus Whitman. The pre-
eminent services of this man have begun to
receive a tardy recognition, and in the west
at least he is now acknowledged as without
a peer in the importance of his work as the
foundation builder of Americanism in Oregon.

Properly to understand the history of the
\Miitman mission and the massacre, and the
events growing out of these in their bearing on
the history of Walla Walla and the Oregon

country, we must turn back the pages of history
and take our station in the year 1832. In that
year a strange thing occurred. Four Flathead
Indians came from what is now Idaho to St.
Louis, seeking the ^\'hite ]Man's "Book of
Life," of which they had heard some vague
report from some trappers or explorers in their
own land. Two years were spent by them on
their strange cpest, years of suffering, danger
and doubt.

When at last they reached St. Louis they
could not find words with which to make
known their wants, and for a long time they
wandered, tongue-tied, through the streets.
Finally coming vmder the notice of Governor
Clark, they were sent to a Catholic priest, and
from him the story reached the country. It pro-
duced a profound interest among the churches;
seeming to them a veritable Macedonian cry.
Two missions were organized for the Oregon
Indians, one by the Methodists under Jason
Lee in the W'illamette valley in 1834. The fol-
lowing year the American Board sent Dr.
Marcus Whitman of Rushville, New York,
and Dr. Samuel Parker of Ithaca, New York,
to examine the field and report on the condi-
tions for missionary work.

Having reached Green river, the general
rendezvous of the trappers, it was decided that
Dr, Parker should continue his journey to the
Pacific and Dr. Whitman should return east
and make ready to come back and locate some-
where in Oregon Territory. Accordingly in

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

the early spring of 1836, in company with his
newly made bride, Narcissa (Prentice) Whit-
man, and Rev. H. H. Spalding and wife, Dr.
Whitman started across the plains. From the
Loup Fork of Platte ri\'er to Green river the
missionary party traveled with the fur com-
pany's annual detachment, but at the latter
point they committed their fortunes and lives
to a body of Nez Perce Indians who had come
to meet them. The letters and journals of Mrs.
Whitman and Mrs. Spalding- give us some
conception of the heroic fortitude with which
they met the hardships and dangers of that
unprecedented bridal journey of three thousand
miles across the American wilderness. Reach-
ing Fort Walla Walla, now Wallula, on Sep-
tember I, 1836. and being in the general vi-
cinity of the region where they had expected
to labor, it became apparent that they would
need to establish friendly relations with the
Hudson's Bay Company, the great autocrats of
the Columbia valley. Accordingly they made
the additional journey by boat to Vancouver,
Avhere Dr. McLoughlin, a true-born king of
men, received them with the kindly courtesy
which always characterized his treatment of
those who came to him. By his advice Whit-
man was established at Waiilatpu, six miles
west of the present Walla ^^'alla.

We must pass rapidly over the events of the
next few years. Suffice it to say that they
Avere years of great activity on the part of the
missionaries. Travelers who visited the sta-
tion expressed their wonder at the amount ac-
complished by Dr. \Miitman.

He had brought o\-er two hundred acres
of land under cultivation, had built se\'eral
large buildings, had put into running order a
small grist mill run by a water power from
Mill creek, had also a small saw-mill on Mill
■creek about fourteen miles above the present

site of Walla Walla, had gathered together a
large number of Indian children for instruction,
and with all this Avas acting as physician to all
the whites in the country and to many of the
Indians.

He was a keen observer of the international
politics which gathered about Oregon and could
not fail to see that his plans were necessarily
antagonistic to those of the great English fur
company, whose Briarean arms reached to all
parts of the land and whose evident and in fact
necessary purpose was to keep the countrj' in
a state of savagery. Although the personal re-
lations between Dr. Whitman and Dr. Mc-
Loughlin were of the pleasantest sort, each was
keen enough to see that success for the one
meant defeat for the other.

Busy as Whitman was with the multifari-
ous duties which he had loaded upon himself,
he became more and more absorbed in the vital
question as to who w^as going to own this coun-
try. Among a number of Americans coming
to Oregon in 1842, was A. L. Lovejoy, a man
of intelligence and force, who informed Whit-
man of the pending Webster-Ashburton treaty
between England and this country, the effect
of which many Americans thought would be
detrimental to their country.

The more Whitman thought of it the more
he became possessed of the idea that it was his
patriotic duty to go to Washington and inform
the authorities of the nature of this country
and its value, and assist the emigrants of the
next year to cross the plains and mountains on
their way to Oregon. That was the primary
idea of that great winter ride in 1S42-3, made
by \\'hitman, Lovejoy accompanying as far as
Fort Bent. The details of that grand, heroic
ride, with the momentous results hinging upon
it and the magnificent success achieved, have
been manv times narrated, have been discussed,

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

hotly disputed, exaggerated and belittled, and
3-et out of the general turmoil certain historical
facts may be regarded as definitely established.
First, it is now conceded by all that \Miitman's
idea was "to save Oregon to the L'nited
States."

^lan}" writers have questioned this in the
past.^ One writer (we are glad to say but
one), Mrs. F. V. Fuller, has the unenviable
distinction of ha\-ing attributed low and sordid
motives to the hero, believing that his object
mainly was to secure the continuance of the
mission as a source of profit to himself. She
even at one time went so far as to suggest
a doubt whether Whitman was ever in ^\'ash-
ington at all. Although those to whom Whit-
man had related his experiences, as well as men
who actually recalled seeing him in Washing-
ton, had given their testimony, yet these per-
sistent efforts to depreciate him had produced
a good deal of effect in the public mind. It
was therefore a matter of profound interest
when in i8gi there was made in the archives
of the \\'ar department an extraordinary dis-
covery. This was a letter from Dr. Whitman
himself to the department, proposing a bill for
the establishment of a line of forts from the
Kansas river to the Willamette This entire
letter and proposed bill appeared in the Walla
Walla Union-Journal of August 15, 1891. A
perusal of it will convince any one that Whit-
man's aim in his tremendous exertions was
political, as well as that he had all the essential
elements of statesmanship. His aspersers have
scarcely "peeped" since the discovery of this
letter. The question of "Why Whitman went
east" has ceased to be debatable. \\'e incor-
porate here the beginning and closing of this
letter, adding only that reference to the L'nion-
Journal referred to, or to Dr. O. W. Xixon's
book, "How Alarcus Whitman Saved Oregon,"

will give to historical students this final word
on the controversy.

To the Hon. James ]\I. Porter, Secretary of
\\'ar.

Sir : — In compliance with the request you
did me the honor to make last winter while at
Washington, I herewith transmit to you the
sj-nopsis of a bill, which, if it could be adopted,
would according to my experience and observa-
tion prove highly conducive to the best in-
terests of the United States generally; to Ore-
gon, where I have resided for more than seven
years as a missionary, and to the Indian tribes
that inhabit the intermediate country.

The government will now doubtless for the
first time be apprised through you, and by
means of this communication, of the immense
migration of families to Oregon, which has
taken place this year. I have since our inter-
view been instrumental in piloting across the
route described in the accompanying bill, and
which is the only eligible wagon road, no less

than families, consisting of one thousand

persons of both sexes, with their wagons,
amounting in all to more than one hundred
and twenty, six hundred and ninety-four oxen,
and seven hundred and seventy-three loose
cattle. * * * *

Your familiarit}^ with the government pol-
icy, duties and interest, renders it unnecessary
for me to more than hint at the several objects
intended by the inclosed bill, and any enlarge-
ment upon the topics here suggested as in-
ducements to its adoption would be quite su-
perfluous, if not impertinent. The verv ex-
istence of such a system as the one above
recommended suggests the utility of postoffices
and mail arrangements, which it is the wish of
all who now live in Oregon to have granted
them, and I need only add that contracts for
this purpose will be readily taken at reasonable
rates for transporting the mail across from
^Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia in forty
daj-s, with fresh horses at each of the con-
templated posts. The ruling policy proposed,
regards the Indians as the police of the coun-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

try, who are to be relied upon to keep the
peace, not only for themselves, but to repel
lawless white men and prevent banditti, under
the solitary guidance of the superintendent of
the several posts, aided by a well directed sys-
tem to induce the punishment of crime. It will
only be after the failure of these means to
procure the delivery or punishment of violent,
lawless and savage acts of aggression, that a
band or tribe should be regarded as conspira-
tors against the peace, or punished accordingly
by force of arms.

Hoping that these suggestions may meet
your approbation, and conduce to the future
interests of our growing country, I have the
honor to be, Honorable Sir, your obedient
servant,

AIarcus Whitmax.

The second fact established in regard to
Whitman's work is that he did produce a pro-
found influence on the minds of President
Tyler and Secretary Webster and others in
authority, and as a result, other influences,
perhaps, also reaching them, our government
took an entirely new stand and began to raise
the demand of "Fifty- four forty."

A third fact is that he published broadcast
in the spring of 1843, his intention to return
and pilot the train across the mountains. It
is also true that many immigrants, though by
no means all, were induced to come by his pres-
ence and representations.

A fourth fact is that he triumphantly suc-
ceeded in conducting a thousand people, with
wagons and cattle, to the promised land of
Oregon. The immigration of '43 was the
deciding contest in the struggle for pos-
session between England and the L^nited
States. The American home vanquished the
English fur-trader.

A fifth fact may be added to the effect
that Whitman's station on the Walla Walla
became the rallying point for Americans, with

all their interests, between the Rocky JMoun-
tains and the Cascades. Waiilatpu was the
eastern frontier of American settlement in Ore-
gon. For though the mission posts of Lapwai
and Tchimakain were actuall}- farther east,
they had no bearing on the political question of
the time.

Such briefly summarizes the acknowledged
facts in regard to Dr. Whitman and his work.
As to the comparative value of his services,
as to the controverted questions of what some
have styled the "Whitman Alyth." this is not
the place to speak. Suffice it to say that by
the uniform testimony of his contemporaries,
as well as of the students of history, \Miitman
was one of the heroes of America and the chief
factor in giving this "Valley of I\Iany ^^'ater5"
its high rank among the sacred places of our
land.

But AMiitman's destiny was not vet ful-
filled. The missionary had become the patriot,
the patriot had become the hero, the hero had
become the statesman. Now the statesman
must become the martyr.

THE WHlTM.JiN MASSACRE.

After \\' hitman's return in 1843 the In-
dians had become restive and ugly. They
could form no conception of the exalted sen-
timents which actuated the missionaries. They
began to see in a rude way the logic of Amer-
ican occupation. It meant a change in their
whole method of life. It implied farming,
cattle-raising, houses, fixed and narrowed do-
mains, instead of the hunting and wild life of
their ancestral habits. They saw also the an-
tagonism between the Americans and the Brit-
ish, and inasmuch as the latter were the more
disposed to maintain the existing condition of
savagery, the Indians generally inclined to

HISTORY OF \\'ALLA ^^'ALLA COUXTY.

sympathize with them. Dr. Whitman per-
ceived the danger and during the summer cif
1847 he had in contemplation a removal to
The Dalles. He had arranged to purchase the
Methodist mission there and was planning to
remove thither in the spring. In the meantime
sinister influences were gathering around his
devoted head, all unknown to him. His two
principal enemies were Tamsuk}', a Cayuse
chief, and Joe Lewis, a renegade half-breed
who had wandered to the mission, had been
befriended by \A'hitman. and, then with the
inequity which seemed to be inherent in his
detestable nature, became a prime mover in
the murderous plot.

During the summer of 1S47, measles, in-
troduced bv immigrants, became epidemic
among the Cayuses. Their native method of
treating anj-thing of a feverous nature was to
enter into a sweat house, stripped of clothing,
and remain there until thoroughly steamed,
and then plunge naked and perspiring into a
cold stream. Death was the almost ine\"itable
result. \Miitman was faithful and unremitting
in his ministrations, l]ut many died. At this
critical moment the wretch Lewis perceived
that his oportunity had come. He made the
Indians think that Whitman was poisoning
them. He went so far as to affirm that he had
heard a conversation between Spalding and
\Miitman as to what they would do when they
had got possession of the country.

The Indians determined to make a test case
of a sick woman, giving her some of \\'hit-
man's medicine, and agreeing that if she died
they would kill the missionaries. The woman
died, and the plot came to a focus.

Istickus of Umatilla, who had alwavs been
a warm friend of Whitman, had felt some ink-
ling of the plot, and suggested to him his
danger. He had never realized it before, but

with his daring spirit had laughed off thoughts
of harm. At the warning of Istickus, Mrs.
Whitman, noble, intrepid soul that she was,
felt the darkening of the approaching tragedy,
and was found bv the children in tears for the
onjv time since the death of her beloved little
girl eight years before. The doctor told her
that if possible he would arrange to remove
down the river at once.

But the next day, the fatal 29th of No-
veml^er, 1847. dawned. Great numbers of
Tamsuky's adherents were in the vicinity.
Survivors of the massacre say that on the day'
before, the little hill on which the monument
is now situated, was black with Indians look-
ing down upon the scene. Their presence and
their unfriendly looks added to the alarm felt
by j\lrs. \Miitman.

At about I o'clock on the 29th, as Dr. AMiit-
man was sitting reading, a number of Indians
entered and having attracted his attention by
the accustomed request for medicine, one of
them, said afterwards by the Indians to have
been Tamahas, drew forth a hatchet and buried
it in the head of his benefactor. Another
named Telaukait, who had received many fa-
vors from AMiitman. then came up and pro-
ceeded to beat and hack the noble face that had
never expressed any sentiment but kindness
toward those children of darkness. The work
of murder, thus begun, was followed with
fiendish energy. None of the white men, scat-
tered and unsuspecting, could offer any ef-
fective resistance. They were quickly shot
down, with the exception of such as were in
places sufficiently remote to elude observation
and glide away at night. Five men in that
manner escaped and after incredible suft'ering
reached places of safety. 3ilrs. \M:itman was
the onh" woman who suffered death. The
other women were shamefullv outrasjed, and

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

the children, both boys and girls, were held
in captivity several days. William McBean,
the Hudson Bay agent at Fort Walla Walla,
displayed a dastardly spirit when he learned
of the massacre, for instead of rescuing, he
refused to harbor one man, jNIr. Hall, who had
escaped as far as the fort, but shut the door
on him, with the result that he perished. A
courier was sent by McBean to Vancouver, but
he did not even warn the people at The Dalles
of their danger, though happily they were not
molested. As soon as James Douglas, then
chief factor in the place of Dr. ]\IcLoughlin,
heard of the massacre, he dispatched Peter
Skeen Ogden with a force to rescue the sur-
vivors. Ogden showed a commendable zeal
and efficienc}', and by the expenditure of sev-
eral hundred dollars, ransomed forty-seven
women and children. The names of the mur-
dered were Marcus Whitman, Narcissa Whit-
man, John Sager, Francis Sager, Crocket Bew-
ley, Isaac Gillen, James Young, and Rogers,
Kimball, Sales, Marsh, Saunders, Hoffman
and Hall. A lock of long, fair hair was subse-
quently found on the site of the massacre
which was undoubtedly taken from the head of
Mrs. Whitman. It is now preserved among
the precious relics in Whitman College.

Such was this dreadful event which at the
now peaceful site of the Waiil.atpu desecrated
all the sanctities of life and left a tragic stain
on the heroic pages of Walla Walla's history.

As one stands now upon the monument hill
and views that entrancing rural scene, the sil-
very bend of the Walla Walla, the dark green
belts of birch and Cottonwood, the bright fields
of alfalfa, the continuous wdieat-fields, green
or gold with changing seasons, the gullied Um-
atilla highlands to the west, the roofs and spires
of Walla Walla, near at hand to the east, with
the many-hued Blue mountains filling the back

ground of the east and south, it is hard to
realize how Waiilatpu was once torn and beaten
with the relentless cruelty of savage warfare.
Still harder is it to realize that the momentous
world question of the ownership of Oregon
came nearer its focus of settlement in this quiet
spot than anywhere else. The people of Walla
Walla are not greatly given to imagining or
idealizing, and hence do not generally realize
the historical significance of the old mission
ground. The time will surely come when they
will perceive that the richest products of field
and orchard have played but a small part in
making Walla Walla known compared with
that tale of heroism and patriotism.

Among many reminiscences of that time
those of some of the hapless children are the
most vivid and doubtless the most reliable, for
a child's memory for details, ■ as well as in-
genuousness and freedom from prejudices,
gives such testimony the greatest value. Among
the children was [Mrs. Jacobs, now matron of
Billing's Hall, Whitman College. Her re-
membrances of the horrors of the massacre,
and the ecjually dreadful details of the escape
of the Osborne family, of which she was a
member, have the intensity of fire even after
the lapse of these fifty-three years. Mr. Os-
borne' gave to ]Mr. Spalding many years ago
for publication an account of his escape, from
which we take the following extracts. ]Mr.
Osborne says : "As the guns fired and the yells
commenced I leaned my head upon the bed anil
committed myself and family to my ilaker.
My wife removed the loose floor. I dropped
under the floor with my sick family in their
night clothes, taking only two woolen sheets,
a piece of bread and some cold mush, and pulled
the floor over us. In fi\-e minutes the room
was full of Indians, but they did not discover
us. The roar of guns, the yell of the savages

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

.and the crash of clubs and knives and the
.groans of the dying continued till dark, ^^'e
distinctly heard the dying groans of ^^Irs.
Whitman, Mr. Rogers and Francis, till they
■died away one after the other. We heard the
last words of Mr. Rogers in a slow voice call-
ing 'Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.' Soon
after this I removed the floor and we went out.
We saw the white face of Francis by the door.
It was warm as we laid our hand upon it, but
he was dead. I carried mj^ two youngest chil-
dren, who were sick, and mjr wife held on to
my clothes in her great weakness, \^'e had
all been sick with measles. Two infants had
died. She had not left her bed for six weeks
till that day, when she stood up a few minutes.
The naked, painted Indians were dancing the
scalp dance around a large fire at a little dis-
tance. There seemed no hope for us and we
knew not which way to go, but bent our steps
toward Fort ^^'aUa Walla. A dense cold fog
shut out every star and the darkness was com-
plete. We could see no trail and not even the
hand before the face. We had to feel out the
trail with our feet. My wife almost fainted
but staggered along. ■Mill creek, which we
had to wade, was high with late rains and came
up to the waist. My wife in her great weakness
came nigh washing dovfu, but held to ni}-
-clothes. I braced myself with a stick, holding
a child in one arm. I had to cross five times
for the children. The water was icy cold and
the air freezing some. Staggering along about
two miles, Mrs. Osborne fainted and could go
no further, and we hid ourselves in the brush
of the Walla Walla river, not far below Tam-
sukey's (a chief) lodges, who was very active
at the commencement of the butcher}-. ^Ye
were thoroughly wet and the cold fog like snow
was about us. The cold mud was partially
frozen as we crawled, feeling our way. into the

dark brush, '\^'e could see nothing the dark-
ness was so extreme. I spread one wet sheet
down on the frozen ground ; wife and children
crouched upon it. I covered the other over
them. I thought they must soon perish as they
were shaking and their teeth rattling with
cold. I kneeled down and commended us to
my JNIaker. The day finally dawned and we
could see the Indians riding furiousl)- up and
down the trail. Sometimes they would come
close to the brush and our blood would warm
and the shaking would stop from fear for a
moment. The day seemed a week. Expected
every moment my wife would breathe her
last. Tuesday night, felt our way to the
trail and staggered along to Sutucksnina
(Dog creek), which we waded as we did
the other creek, and kept on about two
miles when my wife fainted and could
go no farther. Crawled into the brush and
frozen mud to shake and suft'er on from j
hunger and cold, and without sleep. The chil- I
dren, too, wet and cold, called incessantly for
food, but the shock of groans and yells at first
so frightened them that the}- did not speak loud.
Wednesday night my wife was too weak to
stand. I took our second child and started for
Walla Walla ; had to wade the Touchet ;
stopped frequently in the brush from weakness ;
had not recovered from measles. Heard a
horseman pass and repass as I lay concealed
in the willows. Have since learned it was Mr.
Spalding. Reached Fort Walla Walla after
daylight ; begged I\Ir. McBean for horses to get
my family, for food, blankets and clothing to
take to them, and to take care of my child till
I could bring my family in, should I live to
find them alive. JMr. McBean told me I could
not bring my family to his fort.

"Mr. Hall came in on Monday night, but he
could not have an American in his fort, and

HISTORY OF ^A'ALLA WALLA COUXTY.

lie had put him over the Cokunbia river ; that he
could not let me have horses or anything for
my wife and children, and I must go to Uma-
tilla. I insisted on bringing my family to the
fort, but he refused ; said he would not let us
in. I next begged the priests to show pity, as
my wife and children must perish and the Li-
dians undoubtedly would kill me, but with no
success. I then begged to leave my child who
was not safe in the fort, but they refused.

"There were many priests in the fort. Mr.
McBean ga\'e me breakfast, but I saved most
of it for my family. Pro\ndentially Mr. Stan-
le}', an artist, came in from Colville, narrowly
escaped the Cayuse Indians by telling them he
was 'Alain' H. B. He let me have his two
horses, some food he had left from Rev. Eells
and Walker's mission; also a cap. a pair of
seeks, a shirt and handkerchief, and Mr. AIc-
Bean furnished an Indian who proved most
faithful, and Thursday night we started back,
taking my child, but with a sad heart that I
could not find mercy at the hands of the priests
of God. The Indian guided me in the thick
darkness to where I supposed I had left my
dear wife and children. We could see nothing"
and dared not call aloud. Daylight came and
I was exposed to Indians, but we continued to
search till I was about to give up in despair
when the Indian discovered one of the twigs
I had broken as a guide in coming out to the
trail. Following these he soon found my wife
and children still alive. I distributed what
little food and clothing I had, and we started
for the Umatilla, the guide leading the way
to a ford.

"]Mr. ^McBean came and asked who was
there. I replied. He said he could not let us
in ; we must go to Umatilla or he would put
us over the river, as he had Mr. Hall. ^I}^
wife replied she would die at the gate but she

would not leave. He finally opened and -took
us into a secret room and sent an allowance
of food for us every day. Next day I asked
him for blankets for my sick wife to lie on.
He had nothing. Next day I urged again.
He had nothing to give but would sell a blanket
out of the store. I told him I had lost every-
thing, and had nothing to pay ; but if I should
live to get to the Willamette I would pay. He
consented. But the hip-bones of mv dear wife
wore through the skin on the hard floor.
Stickus, the chief, came in one day and took
the cap from his head and gave it to me, and
a handkerchief to my child."

Mr. Osborne and his family finally went to
the ^^'illamette valley, where they lived many
years as honored members of the community,
though Mrs. Osborne never entirely regained
her health from the dreadful experiences of the
massacre and the escape.

A less distressing case of a few weeks later
is presented in the following extract from some
reminiscences of Mrs. Catherine Pringle of
Colfax. Mrs. Pringle was one of the Sager
children adopted by Dr. and Mrs. Whitman.

The story of a Christmas dinner which fol-
lows was given by Mrs. Pringle to the Com-
moner of Colfax in 1893:

"The Christmas of 1847," said ]\Irs. Prin-
gle, "was celebrated in the midst of an Indian
village, where the American families who kept
the day were hostages, whose lives were in
constant danger. There is something tragic-
ally humorous about that Christmas, and I
laugh when I think of some of the things
tliat I cried over on that day.

"When the survivors moved to the Indian
village, a set of guards was placed over us,
and those guards were vagabond savages, in
whose charge nobody was safe. Many times
we thought our final hour had come. They

HISTORY OF WALLA \\"ALLA COUNTY,

ordered us around like slaves, and kept us
busy cooking for them. Whenever we made
a dish, they compelled us to eat of it first, for
fear there was poison in it. They kept up a
din and noise that deprived us of peace by
day and sleep at night. Some days before
Christmas we complained to the chief of the
village, who was supposed to be a little gener-
ous in our regard, and he gave us a guard of
good Indians, under command of one whom
w-e knew as 'Beardy.' The latter had been
friendly to Dr. ^Vhitman; he had taken no
part in the massacre, and it was claimed to be
through his intercession that our lives were
spared.

"We hailed the coming of Beardy as a
providential thing, and so when the holiday
dawned the elder folks resolved to make the
children as happy as the means at hand would
allow.

■■]\Irs. Sanders had brought across the
plains with her some white Hour and some
dried peaches, and these had been brought to
our abode in \\'illiam Gray's mission. White
flour was a luxury, and so were dried peaches
then. Airs. Sanders made white bread on
Christmas morning, and then she made peach
pie. Beardy had been so kind to us that we
had to invite him to our Christmas dinner.
We had ever so many pies, it seemed, and
Beardy thought he had tasted nothing so good
in all his life. He sat in one corner of the
kitchen and crammed piece after piece of that
dried peach pie into his mouth. We were de-
termined that he should have all the pie he
wanted, even if some of us went hungry, be-
cause Beardy was a friend on whose fidelity
probably our lives depended.

"And so we had our Christmas festival,
and we sang songs and thanked heaven that
we were still alive. After dinner and about

an hour after Beardy went away, we were
thrown into alarm by a series of mad yells,
and we heard Indian cries of 'Kill them !
Tomahawk them !' A band of savages started
to attack the Gray residence, and we saw them
from the windows. Our time had come and
some of us began to pray. The day that
opened with fair promises was about to close
in despair.

"To our amazement and horror, the Indian
band was led by Beardy himself, the Indian
we counted on to protect us in just such emer-
gencies. He was clamoring for the death of
all the white women.

"Fortune favored us at this critical junc-
ture, for just as the Indians were entering
the house messengers arrived from Fort
Walla Walla. The messengers knew Beardy
well, and they advanced on him and inc^uired
the reason of his wild language.

" '^ile poisoned,' cried Beardy; 'me killed.
White squaw poison me. Me always white
man's friend; now me enemy. White squaw
must die.'

"That would be a liberal translation of the
Indian words. Then followed a colloquy be-
tween Beardy and the messengers, and from
the language used we gleaned that Beardy had
suft'ered from an overdose of American pie,
and not knowing about the pains that lie in
wait after intemperate indulgence even in pie,
he rushed to the conclusion that the pie had
been poisoned.

"It required a long time for the messen-
gers to convince Beardy that the women were
innocent of any intention to cause him pain,
but that he was simply suflrering from the
effects of inordinate indulgence in an indiges-<
tible luxury.

"The messengers talked Beardy into a
reasonable frame of mind; he called off his

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

horde of savages, and peace once more spread
her wings over the WilHam Gray mission.

"We were all happy that night — happy
that j\Irs. Sanders' pie had not been the means
of a wholesale slaughter of white families on
Christmas day.

"The messengers I speak of brought good
news from the fort. Succor was at hand, and
on December 2gth we were moved to the fort,
and started down the river to The Dalles,
January 3, 1848. The Christmas of the year
1847, 'IS it was celebrated in this territory,
offers somewhat of a contrast to the Yule-
tide merriment in all the churches and homes
to-day."

We have now described the Whitman mis-
sion, Whitman's midwinter journey, his work
for Oregon, and the massacre. It now re-
mains to speak of the Cayuse war, which fol-
lowed as a natural sequence.

THE CAYUSE WAR.

The ransomed missionaries from Waiil-
atpu, Lapwai and Tchimakain reached the
Willamette valley in safety. Concerning
those from Lapwai and Tchimakain, it may
be said here to the credit of the Indians, that
though one band, the Cayuses, were murder-
ers, two bands, the Nez Perces and Spokanes,
were saviors. Few things more thrilling ever
came under the observation of the writer
than the narrations by Fathers Eells and
Walker of the circuit of the Spokanes at
Tchimakain to decide whether or not to join
the Cayuses.

The lives of the missionaries hung on the
decision. Imagine their emotions as they
waited with bated breath in their mission house
to know the result. After hours of excited
discussion with the Cavuse emissaries, the

Spokanes announced their conclusion : "Go
and tell the- Cayuses that the missionaries are
our friends and we will defend them with our
lives." The Xez Perces made the same de-
cision. Bold though those Cayuses were — ■
the fiercest warriors of the Inland Empire —
their hearts must have sunk within them as
they saw that the Umatillas, the Nez Perces
and the Spokanes, and even the Hudson's Bay
Company, were all against them and that they
must meet the infuriated whites from the Wil-
lamette. For as soon as tidings reached the
Willamette the provincial government at once
entered upon the work of equipping fourteen
companies of volunteers by an act of Decem-
ber 9. These volunteers mainly provided their
own horses, arms and ammunition, without a
thought of pecuniary gain or even reimburse-
ment.

Cornelius Gilliam, father of W. S. Gilliam,
of Walla Walla, was chosen colonel of the
regiment, and with great energy pushing all
necessary arrangements, he set forth from the
rendezvous at The Dalles on February 27th,
1848. Several battles occurred on the way,
the most severe being at Sand Hollows, in the
Umatilla country. Five Crows and War
Eagle, the great fighters of the Cayuse tribe,
had gathered their braves to dispute the cross-
ing of the Umatilla river. The former claimed
that by his wizard powers he could stop all
bullets, and the latter agreed to swallow all
that were fired at him. But at the first onset
the "Swallow Ball" was killed, and the wizard
was so severely wounded as to be obliged to
retire from the war. Nevertheless the Indians
maintained a plucky fight and the whites suf-
fered several casualties. The Indians broke
at last and the way to Waiilatpu Vvas clear.
Gilliam's command reached it on March 4th.
They paused several days to recuperate and

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUXTY.

give a reverent burial to the remains of the
martyrs, which had been hastily 'covered with
earth when Ogden ransomed the captives, but
were afterwards partially exhumed by coyotes.
The Indians had now fallen back to Snake
river. Following them thither the whites
were somewhat outgeneraled. They surprised
and captured a camp of Indians, among whom
were, as afterwards discovered, some of the
murderers themselves. But the wily Cayuses
professed great friendship, and pointing to a
large band of horses on the hill, said that the
hostiles had abandoned them and crossed the
river. Completely deluded, the whites sur-
rendered the camp and rounding up the horses
started on their return. And now the released
captives, mounting at once, began a furious
attack which proved so harrassing that the
volunteers were obliged to retreat to the
Touchet, and finally, although they repelled
the Indians, they let loose the captured horses.
These the Indians seized, vanishing with them
o\t\- the plains.

But the Indians in general had no wish
to fight, and finding that the whites insisted
on a surrender of the murderers, the tribe
scattered in various directions ; Tamsuky with
his friends going to the head waters of the
John Day. There they remained for two
years. In 1S50 a band of Umatillas under-
took to capture them, and after a fierce fight
killed Tamsuky and captured a number. Of
the capti\-es fi^'e were hanged at Oregon City
on June 3d, 1S50. The Cayuse Indians assert,
however, that only one of those condemned
was really guilty. That was Tamahas, who
struck Dr. ^^l^itman the first fatal blow. The
claim that the others were innocent is very
likely true, and if so is but another instance
of the lamentable failure to apply either pun-
ishment or mercv accurately, which has char-

acterized all Indian wars on both sides. The
innocent have borne the sins of the guilty in
more ways than one.

i\Iany men afterwards famous in Oregon
and Washington history took part in the Cay-
use war. Among those we may name James
Nesmith, afterwards L'nited States senator,
and father of Mrs. Ankeny, of \\''alla Walla.
William Martin, of Pendleton, was a captain
in that war. Joel Palmer, Tom ]\IcKay, J.
M. Garrison and many others bore their part
in that beginning, as later in the maturer de-
velopment of the country. Colonel Gilliam,
who had shown himself a brave and capable
commander, was accidentally killed on the re-
turn, a most melancholy end of a career which
was full of promise to this country.

In taking our leave of this great epoch in
the varied history of \\'alla Walla, we can
only say in the way of reflection, that, griev-
ous as this end of Whitman's career was, it
will no doubt ultimately be seen to have pro-
duced greater results for this region and tha
world than if he had survived to enjoy a well-
merited rest. For the subsecjuent development
of this section, the founding of ^\'hitman Col-
lege, and the whole train of circumstances
arising from American occupation may be seen
in some measure to have grown out of the
tragedy of Waiilatpu. Here, as elsewhere,
martyrdom seems a necessary accompaniment
of the profoundest progress, ^^'hile the ofifenses
of the Indians cannot be condoned, 3'et charity
compels the admission that the poor creatures
were hardly more responsible than the wild
beasts who also disputed the ground with civ-
ilized man, and though the progress of the
world demanded the removal of both as ob-
stacles, yet the disposition of many people to
indiscriminate hate and to hold savages to a
higher standard of responsibility than we

HISTORY OF W^-VLLA WALLA COUNTY.

Avould allow even for the best of ourselves,
does little credit to our boasted civilization
and Christianity.

The following interview casts so vivid a
light on our earlier time, and bears so directly
on the \Vhitman epoch, that we preserve it
here entire.

INTERVIEW WITH L. T. BOYD.

Mr. Boyd is a well-known pioneer of Walla
Walla. He came to Oregon in 1843 ^^'ith the
famous wagon train led by Dr. Marcus Whit-
man. He drove Dr. ^Vhitman's cart part of
the way and was well acc^uainted with him.
On October 5, 1900, he gave the following
account of his experience at that time and of
his subsequent" life :

"The way I came to get started was some-
what peculiar. My uncle with whom I was
living gave me a tremendous thrashing one
day, which riled me so that I gathered to-
gether my clothes and struck out afoot and
alone. I came up into Jackson county, Mis-
souri, and got in with an old farmer and lived
with him a couple of years. One day the
farmer's daughter told me that my uncle had
got wind of where I was and was coming after
me, so I skipped out from there and in the
spring, having heard that an immigration was
going to start from this country, I joined it. We
started from Irjdependence, Missouri, in the
spring of '43 with about one hundred and
fifty wagons which averaged about ten people
to the wagon. It was commonly believed by
the people in the wagon train that it was Dr.
Whitman's influence that brought them to-
gether.

'T was a lad of about nineteen years of age

■ at that time and was assigned to drive Dr.

^Vhitman's cart. The Doctor himself rode

ahead with the captain of the immigration,
Applegate, in a light wagon. They took with
them when they started out each morning, a
bundle of long sharp stakes with white rags
tied to their tops. Every half mile or so they
would set up one of these stakes and the driver
of the lead teams of the wagon train took
these as his guide posts. When they struck
a good place to camp with plenty of grass and
water, they would stop and the train when it
came up would stay there for the night. I
drove the Doctor's cart every other day until
we reached Fort Boise and from there I drove
it all the way.

"We had a good deal of rough weather
along through the country near the Missouri
river, but* after we got to the Platte we had
good weather all the way out. The first bad
luck we had was in crossing the Platte. The
water was so deep that it would get into the
beds of the wagons and we were afraid that we
would lose all our provisions. We had to stop
and figure out a way of getting the provisions
and things that water would spoil, across in
some way. At last we hit upon the scheme of
building buffalo boats. So we struck out and
killed a lot of bufi^alo and made boats out of
their hides in which to take the stuff across.
To get the boats across was no small trick in
itself. We made long ropes of hide, and when
a boat was filled a man would swim his horse
to the nearest island, taking the loose end of
the rope with him. When he was securely on
the island the boat would be swung from the
shore and the current would help to put it
over to the island. Then the man would go
from that island to the next until the boat and
its cargo were ferried across. This process
took a lot of time l.nit was the best we could do.
There were some cattle lost by getting mired
in the sand and two women came near getting

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

drowned. They had passed one island in safe-
ty and were just being swung to another when
their raft sunk and they were left floundering
in the water. They would certainly have per-
ished had it not been for the bravery of Char-
ley Applegate and Mr. Gilliam, who swam out
from shore and rescued them just as they
were being carried into the swift water above
the rapids.

"The wagons went in single file until we
saw signs of Indians. Then they would form
in a column of twos, and if Indians actually
came in sight we drove four and four. At
night we made a round corral by running the
tongue of one wagon up on the hind wheel of
the next wagon in front, and then camped in-
side of that. One wagon would take the lead
one day and the next day the wagon behind
it would take the lead and the first wagon
would fall back to the rear. W't had to break
the sage brush and it would ha\-e been too
hard for one team to break the road all the
time. All along the Platte there was heavy
sand.

"\\'e crossed the North Platte at the Cot-
tonwood grove and took across and struck
the South Platte nearly one hundred miles be-
low Independent Rock, which is right in the
gap of the Rocky mountains. We never saw
an Indian on the plains except at Cottonwood
grove. There we met a war party, and when
they saw us coming they all formed in line be-
side the Indian trail and got off their horses.
We came up to them four abreast and formed
a corral and put the women and children in-
side of that. Then we made motions to the
Indians to come down as we wanted to know
what they were going to do. They made signs
that they wanted to be friendly, so they came
down and we gave them bacon, flour and meat
and such things as we could spare. When

they got ready to go they got up and raised a
war whoop, got on their horses and away they
went. This was the only party of Indians
that we saw except the Indians at the forts.
"We had hunting parties out nearly all
the time. We laid over at Sweetwater gap
for about a week and all the men went out
and killed buffalo and antelope and laid in a
stock of dried meat. There was plenty of
game and we had no trouble in getting a big
supply. One day when we were about forty
miles this side of Sweetwater gap we saw a
big cloud of dust rising away out to the south.
Pretty soon we saw that it was a great herd
of buffalo heading our way. We hurried up
and drove as fast as we could, but the herd
struck us about mid-way of the train. Dr.
Whitnian gave us orders to make a gap for
them, for if we didn't they would make one
for themselves and mash cattle, men and
wagons into the dust. We made a gap about
two hundred yards wide for them and killed a
lot of them as they went through. The cattle
of the front wagons got scared and ran for
about a mile before they could be stopped.
They turned one wagon right over on top of a
family of three little children, but fortunately
no one was hurt. Another time some buft'alo
came near camp and scared a team so that it
ran away and ran over a woman and broke a
little child's arm.

"Not long after starting -we held an elec-
tion and elected Dr. Whitman guide, or pilot,
as you might say, because he knew the route so
well, and especially from Fort Hall down he
knew it perfectly. Jesse Applegate was
elected captain until we got to Fort Hall.
There some of the wagons got to lagging be-
hind and we broke up into two trains. Lind-
say Applegate took charge of the head train
and Charley Applegate took charge of the hind

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

train. The trains arrived abont a week
apart. After we got this side of the Black
Hills the wagons took their own gait, staying
in companies of four or five wagons, and were
scattered from that time until we reached the
valley. Whitman stayed in the first train all
the time. When his team fagged the com-
pany would furnish cattle and he would go on.

"Dr. Whitman would give us family
prayer every night and morning and preach
once in a while, probably two sermons a week;
nearly every Sunday evening he would have a
sermon. He would give out word every morn^
ing that he would have family prayers, and
as regular as the night came he would come
out to the guard tent and have prayer out
there. Everyone thought a great deal of hmi.
They thought that what he said was about
right. Of course there were some that didn't
like him, but that was only natural because
there were so many of them.

'T have heard him say that he went back
to Washington on business, but he never talked
much about it, or told what particular busi-
ness he went back on.

"He was sandy complexioned, a man that
would stand about five feet seven or eight, and
when he talked he talked fast. His eyes, I
think, were blue, his mouth tolerably small and
his teeth very white and even. As well as I
can recollect, his forehead was rather square
and his temples came out full and his brows
were shaggy. He had a heavy beard. He
was raw-boned, broad shouldered and stood as
straight as an Indian. He was a good horse-
man and had splendid powers of endurance.
He could stand almost anything and was al-
ways ready to take the lead in danger or work.
If any one was out longer than usual, he was
the first one to say : 'Come, boys, let's go and
hunt for him.' Sometimes thev would find

the lost one and sometimes he would get back
to the train before they did. He did most of
the doctoring. There was not much sickness
in the immigration, only two deaths ; a little
child died on the way and a man named Rich-
ardson died at Fort Hall.

"They looked to Whitman for everything;
for orders and for directions to travel. When
we came to the Black Hills he told us he would
have to stop and make roads across the swamp.
He superintended the making of the corduroy
roads in person. It took us two weeks to cut
poles and carr)- them in. We laid down three
long poles or strings of poles for stringers and
then laid other poles across them. There was
about a mile of road in one place and a quarter
of a mile in another that we had to Ijuild, but
there were so many of us that it did not take
long. Dr. Whitman did the managing of it
and stayed right with the company till they got
it done, working right along with the rest of
the men. I do not think a more willmg man
to do work ever drew breath, and if there was
anything that needed attention anywhere in
the camp, he would get up at any time of
night to attend to it. He was always in the
place where there was tlie greatest need of
some one to take hold and do things.

"At Fort Hall the Hudson's Bay officials
and trappers tried to get us to turn and go to
California. They were going in that waj^
trapping and they did not want us in their
hunting grounds : but we had our heads set on
Oregon and we made up our minds to go
through. Then they tried their best to get us
to leave our wagons and pack our stuff the
rest of the way on horses. They said that we
couldn't cross the rivers, that the Indians
would scalp us and drive our stock off, and
that even with pack-horses the trail was
difficult, but with wagons it was impossible.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Dr. Whitman got up and told the men that
they could get their wagons the rest of the way
just as easily as they had gotten them to Fort
Hall, and he told us that he had already taken
his wagon there, ^^'e told the Hudson's Bay
l^eople that we had made up our minds to fol-
low Dr. A\'hitman and wherever he went or
said we could go we were going.

"We thought that Oregon belonged to the
Indians and in the long run would belong to
the L'nited States unless the English got hold
of it, and they were trying mighty hard to get
hold of it. The settlers made no difference
between the land north of the Columbia river
and south of it ; it was all Oregon to the Sis-
kiyou mountains. It was the treaty of 1846
that really settled the Oregon question, and we
all felt that it was our settling in Oregon in
1843 that saved the country to the United
States.

"Along in the winter of 1842 Whitman
made a speech at Independence, Missouri, and
it was published and they got hold of it down
in Franklin county and St. Louis. He made
this speech at Independence on his way to
Washington, D. C. It got spread around
that there was to be an immigration the next
spring, and a rendezvous was appointed at a
place about ten miles from Independence.
When Whitman came back from Washington
in April, he made another speech that he was
going to take this immigration through to
Oregon and that he would go all the way with
them.

"When we got to the Snake river an amus-
ing incident occurred that came well nigh
being fatal in its outcome. At the first cross-
ing a Dutchman named Stemmerman tried to
dri\-e a cow across, as she would nut lead.
When the cow got to swimming water, he
took hold of her tail to help himself along.

The cow did not like this performance, and
turning around gave him a jab in the ribs with
her horns. He let go the cow's tail and sank.
As he did not come up some of the men
jumped in and brought him out, and then we
liad to roll him over a cottonwood log until he
came to.

"When we got to the Grande Ronde valley
the Doctor was called up to the Clearwater to
attend ]\Irs. Spalding, so he left us and we
went on. \\'e came right through Union and
LaGrande and up past where Baker City now
is. Coming through the Blue mountains we
had a pretty hard time building corduroy
roads in many places, and in general experi-
enced about the hardest part of the whole trip
almost at its end.

"If I recollect right it was about the mid-
dle of September when we struck the A\liit-
man mission. We found an adobe house
aljout 30x40, some out-buildings and a corral
maile of willow brush. The flour mill had
been burned by tlie Indians during the Doc-
tor's absence.

"I believe that tliere were ten wagons that
stopped at the station during the winter and
the rest of the wagons went on down into the
valley. \\'hen the cattle got rested up they
came to The Dalles and came down in boats
from there.

'■\A'e settled in Yamhill county, Oregon,
and I stayed there until a month or two be-
fore the massacre.

"\\'e got news that the Indians were get-
ting bad and we came up to kind of corral
them. They all appeared to be friendly and
we took a notion to take a little scout up around
the Snake and Clearwater. A\'e roved around
until the news came that the Indians had killed
Whitman and all the family. We gathered
together and came back again and staved for

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

about eighteen months, ransacking the coun-
try all over. The Indians got word that we
were hunting them and they brought the girls
that they had captured to Wallula, then Fort
Walla \A'alla. We had one skirmish up here
about four miles this side of the mouth of the
Clearwater. We killed about forty of them
and threw them in the river. While we were
counting how many we had killed, we ran
across one old Indian whose horse had fallen
on him and pinned him to the ground. As
we came along he pulled his bow and arrow
on us. but he only shot a couple of his shafts
liefore we fixed him and threw him in the
river with the rest. Only two of our boys
were wounded and they not enough to make
them stay behind.

"We got a lot of them corralled in the Big
Bend about ten o'clock one night and waited
until daybreak to pick our ground to fight.
1 he next morning at daybreak we opened fire
on them, and, as the saying is, 'the river ran
red.' A\'e didn't show any mercy on them
and when the fight was over we took some
scalps in regular Indian style and strung them
to our saddle bows. The Indians fought with
bows and arrows and old flint locks, but they
were pretty good fighters. This was our last
big fight and it occurred about eighteen
months after the massacre. A\'hen we got
back to Wallula they tried to get us to go
back with the regulars to the valley, but we
said we hadn't followed the regulars up here
and weren't o'oins: to follow them back."

CHAPTER IV.

INITI.\L ATTEMPT TO ORGANIZE WALLA WALLA COUNTY — ORIGINAL BOUNDARIES — OFFICIAL
APPOINTMENTS PROGRESS IMPEDED BY INDIAN OUTBREAK.

Reference has already been incidentally
made to the organization of Walla Walla coun-
tv. but it is clearly incumbent that further de-
tails be given in regard to the vicissitudes and
circumstances which attended the efforts made
to erect the county. At the first session of the
legislature of the territory after its organization
si.xteen counties were created, among the num-
ber being Walla Walla, whose boundaries were
described as follows : "Commencing its line on
the north bank of the Columbia river, opposite
the mouth of the Des Chutes river, and running
thence north to the forty-ninth parallel of north
latitude;" and it took in all of Washington Ter-
ritory between this line and the Rocky mount-
ains. Thus it will be seen that- the original

county included what are now northern Idaho
and northern IMontana, the greater portion of
Klickitat and Yakima counties, and all of the
territory comprised within the present counties
of Spokane, Stevens, Whitman, Columbia,
Garfield and Walla Walla. Of the counties of
our great state \\'alla \\'alla may be most
consistently designated as the "mother of coun-
ties."

The population of this monster county was
very small and widely scattered, so that it be-
came expedient to attach it to Skamania county,
contiguous on the west, for judicial purposes.
The county thus had assignment to the
first judicial district, over which Judge Obadiah
B. iMcFadden presided. The counties of Walla

HISTORY OF ^^'ALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Walla. Skamania and Clarke were jointly al-
lowedone member in the legislative assembly,
and the county-seat was by enactment located
on the land claim of Lloyd Brooke, who had,
as previously noted, established himself at the
old Whitman mission. This first legislature,
that of 1854. duly reinforced the political and
official dignity of the new county, as is shown
in the following extract from the proceedings
of the session: "That George C. Bumford.
John Owens and A. Dominique Pambrun be,
and they are hereby constituted and appointed,
the board of county commissioners; and that
Narcises Redmond be, and is hereby appointed
sheriff ; and that Lloyd Brooke be. and is hereby
appointed, judge of probate, and shall have
jurisdiction as justice of the peace: all in and
for the county of Walla Walla."' Of these ap-
pointments Gilbert's history speaks somewhat
facetiously, as follows: "Some of these offi-
cials never knew of the honor that had been
cast at their feet: and ^Ir. Pambrun, in 1882.
insisted to the writer that hitherto he had been
ignorant of this early application to himself of
Shakespeare's fancy, when he wrote that, 'Some
are born great, some acliieve greatness, and
some have greatness thrust upon them.' None
of these parties acted officially in the positions
to which they were chosen ; and their appoint-
ment, in a region including less than a dozen
American citizens, was a legislative absurdity."
It will be readily inferred that the Indians
yet held practical dominion in the county, and
there had as yet been no enactment for the ex-
tinguishment of their title to the land within
its environments. When this enactment was
finally made, it may be said in passing, it gave
slight evidence of the application of justice and
was a veritable travesty. It must be admitted
that tliere was but little to attract settlers to
this section at that time, for land could be easily

secured nearer the centers of civilization,
where the hardships to be endured were far less
and where the menace from the Indians was
eliminated. Indeed, it is a matter of fact that
the federal government as yet had no right to
give title to any claim for lands in the region
iying between the Rocky and Cascade mount-
ains. Yet such were the opulent resources but
waiting proper development, that the settle-
ment of the country could not be long de-
ferred. -

The next session of the territorial legisla-
ture was held in January, 1855, at which time
a second attempt was made to bring about a
genuine organization of the county. A statute
was adopted on the 24th of January, and by the
provisions of the same the following officers
were chosen: Probate judge, Lloyd Brooke;
county auditor, Lloyd Brooke; county treasur-
er. Lloyd Brooke: county sheriff, Shirley En-
sign: justice of the peace. George C. Bumford;
county commissioners. John Owens, George C.
Bumford, John F. Noble. The county was
further authorized to elect two representatives
to the territorial legislature. It is interesting
to relate that none of the gentlemen mentioned
seemed to desire the honors or emoluments of
public office, since none of them cjualified for
the duties of the respective positions, thus leav-
ing the count)' organization one of merely nom-
inal character, as before. Thus it may be seen
that Walla Walla county was born of sore
tra\'ail and that her infant days were regarded
with most apathetic interest. But the day of
better things was even now dawning, for soon
indisputable inducements were ofifered to the
white settlers.

But before the day was fairly to break it
was necessary that there should precede, as
there has in nearly every American settlement,
that hour of darkness before the dawn, an In-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

dian war. Fully to narrate this, with its causes
and results, will require two long chapters.

A few brief statements, however, as to the
first attempts at settlement may be fittingly
connected with this chapter, though in chro-
nology they carry us somewhat beyond the
Lidian wars of the succeeding chapters.

BEGINNING OF SETTLEMENT OF EASTERN WASH-
INGTON.

Subsequent to the Whitman massacre, con-
cerning which special mention has been made
on other pages of this volume, the country
east of the Cascade mountains, in area the
larger portion of the territory of Washington,
had been without any white settlers, excepting
a few here and there. Therefore it had no part
in the initiatory steps toward territorial organi-
zation. Prior to the "605 it had scarcely any
history except that connected with the early ex-
plorations, the labors of the early missionaries,
the Indians and Indian wars. The first settler
in eastern Washington after the missionaries
was Henry M. Chase, who entered the Walla
Walla valley in 185 1. He was soon followed
by Lloyd Brooke, George C. Bumford and
John F. Noble, the three for a time occupying
the Whitman mission. They had to leave be-
tween 1855 ^n*^^ 1858. After the Indians had
been thoroughly subjugated through the vigor-
ous campaign of Colonel George Wright, the
interdictof Major-General Wool against the oc-
cupancy of eastern Washington b}'- white people
was rescinded by his successor in command,
General N. G. Clarke. Accordingly the whole
country was thrown open to settlement in 1858.
Soon we find a considerable number of families,
farmers and stockmen in the A\'alla Walla val-
ley, and also along and adjacent to the streams
flowino- from the Blue mountains. Thus the

development of the Inland Empire became as-
sured. In January, 1859, the territorial legis-
lature organized the county of AA^alla Walla,
and a small village began to grow around Mill
creek, about five miles from the Whitman mis-
sion. Its first name was Steptoeville, then
Waiilatpu. It was selected as the county-seat,
and when the commissioners assembled they
gave it the name of W^alla Walla. The county
was so large that one of the commissioners
lived only about sixty miles from the present
site of Missoula, Montana. It would have taken
him six weeks to reach his county-seat on
horseback and return. He never qualified.

In i860 the Salmon river gold discovery
gave a wonderful impetus to inmiigration and
settlement north of the Snake river, and by the
opening of the year 1861 the mining excitement
in that region was at its height. Adventurous
mining prospectors flocked in from all direc-
tions. It was a veritable and typical rush for
the precious metal, and, as usual in such cases,
misfortunes were more in evidence than suc-
cesses. The winter of 186 1-2 was an excep-
tionally severe one, and the gold-seekers on their
way to the Salmon river country suffered great
hardships, as did, indeed, the settlers of eastern
Washington, also. But the influx of population
was stopped for but a short time. In the spring
of 1862 the people flowed in in a tide, estimated
at from five to fifteen thousand, while some
say they were twenty thousand strong.

\\'ith all the misfortunes concomitant with
this almost unparalleled gold excitement, it
served as the means of ushering in a new civili-
zation, , for it initiated the marvelous develop-
ment which has taken place in the upper Colum-
bia country. Lewiston, at the confluence of the
Snake and Clearwater rivers, was laid out early
in 1862. The territorial legislature of 1859
created Spokane county, lying north of Snake

HISTORY OF WALLA ^^-ALLA COUNTY.

river to the British line. ^larch 3, 1863. con-
gress passed an act organizing the territory of
Idaho out of the eastern part of Washington,
incUiding nearly all the mining region. There
were at that time in eastern Washington the
counties of Walla Walla, Klickitat and
Spokane. The increase in population north of
the Snake river during the next decade was
slow. This region had but few scattered set-

tlers, not including the United States soldiers.
The limits of this work preclude the addition
of details with respect to settlements other than
those of ^^'alla \\'alla. It may be sufficient to
say here, that ^^'alla \\'alla contained the only
settlement Avorth mention in what is now
^^'ashington for some years after the opening
of the country in 1859.

CHAPTER V.

THE INDI.'VN W.\RS OF THE ' FIFTIES.

We have seen in the previous chapter the
struggle for possession with England. Ameri-
ca won. Her home-builders outmatched the
fur-traders. But there was. as there always has
been in our national history, another inevitable
struggle for possession. This was with the In-
dians. The so-called Christian nations ha\'e
never stopped to consider much the rights of
the native claimants of the land. This, too,
though accompanied bv needless cruelty, de-
ceit and treachery, is one of the necessary
though seemingly hard and bitter laws of life.
The thing greatly to be deplored in all Indian
wars, Iiowever, has been the general practice
on both sides of inflicting punishment upon any
innocent person that might happen along.
Some drunken and ferocious savages, as devoid
of humanity as the wild beasts about them,
would plunder, outrage and kill some family of
immigrants or settlers, and forthwith, a band of
the brave, manly, yet harsh and intolerant
frontiersman, who have made our early history,
v.'ould rush forth impetuously and kill some

poor Indian wretches who had never heard of
the outrage and had not the remotest concep-
tion of having committed any offense. In like
manner, when some avaricious white had
swindled the ignorant Indians out of land or
some other valuable property, or some lustful
and conscienceless white desperado had out-
raged Indian women or murdered unoffending
braves, a band of Indians, inflamed with whisky
purchased of some post-trader, and armed with
weapons from the same source, would go on
the war path and torture, mutilate and murder
some innocent, helpless women and children,
who had never had a thought of injur'ng a liv-
ing thing. Xo one who has ever lived on the
frontier can wonder at the bitter and intolerant
hatred of whites for Indians. But if we, the
civilized and the victors, could put ourselves
in the place of the natives and view life with
their eyes, none of us would wonder that they
had hated us with the fury and frenzy of wild
beasts. For it is safe to say that for every pang
suffered bv whites, a score have been suffered

HISTORY OF \\'ALLA WALLA COUNTY.

59-

by Indians. And we, the higher race, must
admit that we know better than they, and have
less excuse for inhumanity and intolerance.

Yet in the final summary there can be no
other conclusion than that the extermination of
the majority of the Indians and the total de-
struction of their claims as owners of this coun-
try, was "writ down in the book of fate." It
was simply part of the irrepressible conflict of
life. ^loreover by reason of the necessities of
existence the early settlers could not wait to
argue abstract questions of rights. They had
obeyed the fundamental Jaw to subdue and re-
plenish the earth, and in pursuance of that con-
dition of all progress they could not stop to
philosophize on the principles of human broth-
erhood. They had to live and with a tomahawk
just leveled over their heads they had to repel.
And if the right to repel existed, the right to
counter attack followed as a matter of course ;
for extermination of their enemies was, gen-
erally speaking, the only effectual means of re-
pelling. It was sad but inevitable. And
though we have lived a "Century of Dishonor,"
ii is much easier now to condemn them than it
would have been then to improve.

By reason of the conditions just noted, we
find the history of our Indian wars the subject
of bitter controversy. Hardly any two writers
or witnesses give the same version of supposed
facts. One has a bias in favor of the volun-
teers and makes his facts conform to his opin-
ions, and hence represents the volunteers as al-
ways justifiable and the Indians as always to
blame. Another gives the reverse impression.
Nor are pioneers generally much disposed to
Cjualify or smooth either their opinions or ex-
pressions. It is all one thing or all the other
with them. The other fellow is a fool or a liar
and that ends it. Compromise does not flourish

in pioneer conditions. AI.l are angels on one
side and all devils on the other.

We shall use our best endeavor in these
pages to present the facts without bias, ac-
knowledging the probable impossibility of sat-
isfying all readers, but believing that at this
distance from the time, though not far from
the scenes of the struggle, we can calmly \-iew
it and clearly see that its good or evil are not
to be found exclusively on one side or the
other, but, as with all human affairs, the tex-
ture of each is of a mingled warp and woof.

After the Cayuse war had ended in 1850.
by the execution of the supposed murderers of
Dr. Whitman, there was a lull along the bunch-
grass plains and sage-brush banks of the Col-
lumbia and Snake rivers, and a few adventur-
ous explorers and ranchers began to seek lo-
cations on the streams hallowed b}^ martyr-
doms. The most considerable settlement was
at Frenchtown, ten miles below Walla Walla.
According to the best information obtainable,
there were eighty-five persons, the men entirely
of French origin and former Hudson's Bay
Company employes, v.ith Indian wives and a
good stock of half-breed children, living there
and in the vicinity. There were a few men at
what is now Wallula. There were some fifteen
men living at various separated points. Among
them were Henrv M. Chase, well kiiown for
many years in \\^alla ^^'alla, and Dr. W. C.
McKay, the most famous man of mixed white
and Indian blood that ever lived in Oregon.
There were three men, Brooke, Bumford and
Noble, at A\'hitman station.

On the 3d of March 1853, W^ashington
became a separate territory. Major Isaac I.
Stevens was appointed governor, and in the
following summer he set out for his domain.
Gold had been discovered in the Colville coun-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUXTY.

try and there were many adventurers moving
across the plains in that direction. The In-
dians were very restive. Tliese explorations
thev regarded with well grounded suspicion
as the entering wedge of the establishment of
white sovereignt}-.

There were at that time two remarkable In-
dian chiefs, chiefs who belong to that line of
remarkable Red Men of which' Philip, Pontiac,
Red Jacket, and Tecumseh were more illus-
trious specimens : whose qualities of mind and
character contain a hint of what Indians might
have been had they had any wide or long con-
tinued opportunity. These two Columbia val-
ley chiefs were Kamiakin of the Yakimas and
Peupeumoxmox of the \\'alla ^^'allas. Like all
the Indian chiefs, he perceived the handwriting
on the wall revealed by the entrance of the
whites, and they determined to make a des-
perate effort to burst their tightening bonds
while there was vet a chance of success.

There was a general outburst of all the
tribes of Oregon and Washington in i8"3 and
1854, which led into the great war centering in
Walla Walla in 1855. This series of troubles
began in the summer of 1853 in the Rogue river
\'alley, in" southern Oregon. The usual bitter
controversy raged as to who was to blame for
this. It looks as though whites and Indians
were both equally so. In 1854 occurred the
horrible "Snake River Massacre," in which a
number of immigrants who had offered no
provocation whatever, were butchered in the
most brutal manner. Norman ^^'ard, of Pen-
dleton, then a boy of thirteen, was the only slu--
vivor. That massacre occurred on the Boise, a
few miles above Fort Boise. Great excitement
ensued in the \\'illamette valley when this
atrocity was known, and INIajor Haller was
sent by General ^^'ool, tlien commanding the
Department of the Pacific, to the scene. Ha\-ing

partially punished the supposed perpetrators of
the outrage, the command returned to The
Dalles. All these things, with many smoulder-
ing causes of discontent, prepared the Indians
for war.

THE GRE.\T WAR OF 1855.

This war had three fields of operation.
One was southern Oregon, another Puget
sound, a third the Yakima and Walla Walla
\alley5. In all there were probably four thous-
and Indians under arms, and many have be-
lieved that nothing but lack of intelligent co-
operation among these prevented the annihi-
lation of all the smaller settlements. But the
\virious petty feuds and conflicting purposes,
always characteristic of barbaric wars, pre-
vented such co-operation. Indian fought
against Indian, and whites profited thereby.

In May, 1855, Governor Stevens and Gen-
eral Joel Palmer met the representatives of
seventeen tribes at \\'alla Walla, to endeavor to
make treaties for the cession of their lands.
The council ground was on and around the
identical place now occupied by Whitman Col-
lege. The immemorial council ground of the
Walla ^^'alla and other tribes of this country,
lay between the college brook and the one north
of it, and around the place now known as
Council Grove. A fair, entrancing spot it
must have been in its primeval luxury and
wildness. The tents of the great chiefs were
pitched, as nearly as can be ascertained, on the
spot now occupied by the house of Mrs. E. H.
Baker.

FIRST COUXCIL OF WALLA WALLA.

Lieutenant Kipp has preserved a graphic
account of this important meeting. Governor
Stevens and General Palmer had an escort of
onlv about fifty men. The Indians gathered in

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

great numbers. Old Chief Lawyer led an army
of Xez Perces, twenty-five hundred strong,
and, as the sequel proved, it was well for the
whites he did so.

Two days later three hundred Cayuses,
those worst and most dangerous Lidians, the
"Spartans of the Columbia," reached the
ground, surly and scowling as usual, led by
several chiefs, of whom none was friendly ex-
cept Stechus. Two days later came over two
thousand Yakimas, Umatillas and Walla Wal-
las. Governor Stevens and his small squad
must have been somewhat startled to see that
in case of treachery their lives were not worth
a dime. But with his characteristic nerve he
maintained perfect dignity and composure.
That was a meeting worthy of the pen of Irv-
ing or the brush of Bierstadt. Along the banks
of Mill creek and on either side of those rip-
pling spring branches, whose clear cold waters
lend beauty and freshness to the pleasant homes ,
of Walla Walla, were stretched the camps of
the flower of the warriors of the Inland Empire.
The "Valley of many Waters" must have
seemed blessed indeed to the tribes of the plains,
after they had ridden across the arid wastes be-
tween Yakima and Walla Walla and emerged
fioni the Touchet hills upon the fresh and
grassy dales now consecrated to the memory of
that very missionary whom the Cayuses slew.
It seems poetic justice that Whitman College-
should now hold the self-same spot which fifty
years ago was the capitol of the confederated
tribes. Poetic justice, and yet melancholy and
pitiable, if we could by some magic wand ren-
der again visible and audible the savage mag-
nificence which was there out-stretched on the
banks of Mills creek, and contrast it with the
wretched remnant which now shambles aimless-
ly through this heritage of their fathers and

look with inscrutable eyes toward their own
certain fate.

Governor Stevens opened the council on
May 29th by a short speech setting forth his
desire to purchase the lands of the Indians, leav-
ing to them in perpetuity certain reservations.
On the 30th and 31st both Governor Stevens
and General Palmer addressed the council in
lengthy speeches. These had to be translated
into both the Xez Perce and Walla Walla
tongues and from these they gradually filtered
down among the mass of Indians. The In-
dians were entirely unresponsive. Attempts
were resumed unsuccessfully to get some sign
of committal by the chiefs. On June 4th Law-
yer broke the ice by an address favoring the
treaty. ]\Iany of the Xez Perces followed
Lawyer, but Joseph swung a large faction in
the other direction. All the eloquent portray-
al of Stevens and Palmer of the blessings of
civilization was received by the Indians with
gutteral grunts, an Indian's sign of attention,
but no token of approval followed, aside from
the faction represented by Lawyer.

Several days passed. The Cayuses bitterly
opposed the treaty. Peupeumoxmox, the great
Walla Walla chief, departed from his usual
policy of taciturnity and openly opposed it.
Peupeumoxmox had sufficient cause of griev-
ance. He had been a friend of the whites. His
son had been educated at Whitman's mission.
He had been friendly to Whitman. Then his
son was taken by Sutter, of gold-discovery
fame, to California. There the innocent and
well-meaning boy was murdered by a crowd
of those low, coarse, brutal white men, who
have caused so large a part of Indian troubles.
The father swore vengeance and bided his time.

On June 9th came another great "Wa Wa."
Governor Stevens was pitted against Looking

HISTORY OF WAIA.A \^'ALLA COUXTY.

G!ass, the great Xez Perce war chief, who had
ai rived late to the council, with a Blackfoot
scalp dangling beside him as a tropy of a re-
cent foray. The governor had decided to offer
them three reservations, one for the Yakimas.
one for the Xez Perces. and one for the Cay-
iises, \\'alla ^^'allas and Umatillas. He made
a great speech, and aided as he was by the in-
fluence of Lawyer, felt sure that he had at-
tained his end. But the magnificent war chief
Looking Glass leaped to his feet and poured
forth a speech that soon had the tribes shout-
ing and applauding around him. He was the
Demosthenes of the occasion and the gov-
ernor found all his work undone. But with
the patience and skill which made him such a
great figure in our annals, he again gathered
up the broken threads of his wxirk. and by
private manipulations and persuasions, Lawyer
being his right-hand man, he secured the assent
of the chiefs to the signing of the treaties on
the nth of June, and his work was complete.
Lieutenant Kip asserts that the}- afterwards
discovered that they had been all the time on
the very verge of a volcano, for the Indians
were spending most of their time discussing
the question of whether they should massacre
the whole detachment. The Cayuses, as usual,
were the active originators of this plot. The
firm opposition of the Xez Perces was the only
thing that prevented its consutnmation. An un-
told debt of gratitude is due the Xez Perces.
Xo white man with a spark of humanitv in
him should forget these noblest of the red
men. Had the plot been executed, the Indians
would next have wiped out the soldiers at The
Dalles, and after that the extermination of all
the whites in the country east of Portland
would have followed.

The treaties negotiated at \\'alla Walla,
June 12, 1S55 (though dated June 9th). pro-

vided for the surrender by the Yakimas of the
vast area of twenty-nine thousand square miles,
being substantially Chelan, Yakima, Kittitass,
Franklin, Adams, and the most of Douglas
and Klickitat counties. From that cession
was to be excepted the princely domain, one
of the finest bodies of land in the world, now
known as the Yakima reservation. The Yaki-
mas, it may be said, constituted a "nation"
composed of fourteen tribes, extending from
the Cascade summits to the Palouse river.
The Xez Perces agreed to relincpiish almost
as large an area, embracing what is now a good
part of Whitman, Garfield, Columbia and Aso-
tin counties in Washington; L'nion and Wal-
lowa counties in Oregon ; and \\'ashington,
Idaho and X'ez Perces counties in Idaho. A
very large reservation was provided by the
treaty for the Xez Perces ; being, in addition to
that now embraced in the Xez Perce reserva-
tion, large tracts between the , Alpowa and
Snake ri\-ers and the AVallowa valle}^ The
retention of the ^^'allowa was insisted on by
Chief Joseph, and seems to have been the key
to the ratification of the entire plan; and it
is the more to be deplored that the modification
of the treaty in 1863 afterward precipitated
the Xez Perce war of 1877. That change in
1863 involved the surrender of the ^^'allowa
and the reduction of the Xez Perce reservation
to what it was prior to its recent opening. But
few Indians seem to have been consulted, and
3-oung Joseph, son of the Joseph who took part
in the treaty of 1855. insisted on their claim
to the country, and the difficulty led to the
memorable war of 1877. This is not the place
to discuss the event, but we refer to it here in
order to illustrate the lamentable results which
follow a failure to adhere to a given agree-
ment from one administration to another. The
treaty of 1855 should have been faithfully ob-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

served unless abrogated by the clear and gen-
eral agreement of both parties. And there
was the deeper obligation on the government
to do it in case of the Nez Perces, for to them
Governor Stevens and his party owed their
lives, and the settlers owed a debt of thankful-
ness not to be computed. Instead of remem-
bering this, the land-grabbers goaded those
steadfast friends of the whites into a cruel and
causeless war. In connection 'with this ^^'al-
lowa matter, an interesting reminiscence was
given the writer by John McBean, son of the
Hudson's Bay employe of that name. Young
JNIcBean was at that time a boy of twelve, and
being a half-breed and knowing the Indian
language perfectly, could pass at an}^ time for
an Indian. He related that while acting as a
spy on the grounds, he heard the discussion
about the treaties. And the whole matter de-
pended upon wdiether the Xez Perces would ac-
cept it. This they finally did on the distinct
agreement that Joseph and his band should have
permanent possession of the Wallowa. That
point assured, the Nez Perces agreed. The
others followed. That settled the whole mat-
ter. Otherwise the treaties would never nave
been accepted. Yet eight years after, without
general agreement by the trilje, the vital point
was violated and the cherished Wallowa valley
left out of the reservation to be demanded in
later years by white settlers. It should be
added that those immediate settlers were in no
way personally guilty. Government was to
blame. That is a sample of one kind of reason
for Indian wars. So much for the Nez Perce
part of the agreement.

The Umatillas, Cayuses and Walla Wallas,
under the terms of this treaty, relinquished
their right to another magnificent territory,
embraced substantially in the present limits of
A\'alla \\^alla countv in Washington, and Uma-

tilla, Morrow, and part of Union and Gilliam
counties in Oregon. Their reservation was es-
sentially that now known as the Umatilla reser-
vation. ^Vhich of these three superb domains
v.^as the best would puzzle a good judge to de-
cide. Any one of them is larger than most
of the Atlantic states, and in point of opu-
lence of natural resources surpasses equal areas
in most parts of the world.

For their concessions the Indians were to
receive what seems a just and even liberal
compensation; though to the mind of civilized
man ridiculously small; for the whole vast
area of probably thirty million acres outside of
reservations, was relinquished for about six
hundred and fifty thousand dollars in all ; per-
haps, roughly estimated, two cents per acre. It
is probably worth to-day, with its improve-
ments, nearljf a quarter of a billion dollars.

The compensation of the Yakima Nation
was two hundred thousand dollars, paid in an-
nuities, with salaries for the head chief of five
hundred dollars for twent}^ years, also some
special agreement in regard to houses, tools,
etc. The compensation of the Nez Perces was
the same. The Umatillas, Caj'uses and Walla
Wallas were to receive one hundred thousand
dollars ; each of the head chiefs to have an an-
nuity of five hundred dollars for twenty years,
and also to have the usual special donations
for houses, tools, etc. Peupeunioxmo.x, whose
favor was especially courted, was granted the
unique privilege of beginning to draw his salary
ac once, without waiting for the formal ratifi-
cation of congress. His remaining son was to
receive an annuity of one hundred dollars a
year, a house and five acres of land, plowed
and enclosed. Peupeumoxmox was also to be
given three yoke of oxen, three yokes and
chains, one wagon, two plows, tweh'e hoes,
twelve axes, two shovels, a saddle and bridle, a

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

set of wagon harness and one set of plow har-
ness.

Having completed this great work, Governor
Stevens passed on to the north and east to con-
tinue the same line of negotiations with the
Indians there. \\'e may say in brief, that he
succeeded in making a treaty with the Black-
feet, but was unsuccessful with the Spokanes.
:Meanwhile. during his absence, the great Walla
Walla and Yakima war had burst with the sud-
denness of a cyclone upon the Columbia plains.
Aaid not only here but throughout the Sound
country the storm of war had burst on all
sides.

W.AR BEGINS.

That the outbreak of hostilities should have
occurred almost simultaneously at places so re-
mote from each other as ^^'alla Walla, Puget
sound and Rogue river has led many to sup-
pose that there was a definite and wide-spread
conspiracy. Others have believed that there
was simply an identity of causes, and that these
produced like results at like times. While it is
altogether likely that there may have been hints
oi outbreak in the air which spread from tribe
to tribe, it is likely that the second is the true
solution.

Kamiakin, the Yakima chief, and Peupeu-
moxmox, the Walla Walla chief, were the ani-
mating force of the movement on this side of
the mountains. Kamiakin was a natural gen-
eral and diplomat. He seems to have signed
the treaty at Walla Walla only under great
pressure and with the mental reservation that
he would break it at the first opportunity.
Llardly had the ink dried on the treaty when
he was rounding up the warriors over the wide
domain of the Yakima nation. These chiefs
seem to have seen, as did Philip and Pontiac,

that the coming of the whites, if not checked,
meant the destruction of Indian rule. If they
struggled against fate at all they must do it
then. From their standpoint they were adopt-
ing the only possible policy. As some of the
Xez Perces told Governor Stevens, they were
not afraid of explorers, or trappers or soldiers,
Init they were afraid of men with wagons and
axes. They had now been watching for fifteen
years a steady, stream of immigrants passing
down to the Willamette. Steamboats were
running on the Columbia and Willamette rivers.
Towns were springing up. It was now or never
for them. One Indian only, and that was
Lawyer, the Xez Perce, perceived the impos-
sibility of the Indians ever coping with the
whites, and that therefore the only wise course
for them was to yield to the inevitable as easily
as possible and adopt the white man's mode of
Ufe and live on terms of amity with him.
Though Looking Glass and Eagle-from-the-
light had dissented very strongly from the first,
they had finally yielded to Lawyer's powerful
influence and the treaty had resulted. Now in
the midst of the fury of war they remained true
tu their agreement.

Kamiakin had gathered together a great
council of tlie disaffected at a point north of
Snake river. The fierce. and intractable Cay-
uses were the most active in the movement of
any except Kamiakin himself and his imme-
diate friends. Young Chief and Five Crows
w ere the Cayuse chiefs leading the war, Stechus
alone, with a very small following, holding
aloof.

The war broke out rather prematurely in
September by the murder of miners who were
traversing the Yakima valley. Agent Bolon
having gone courageously into the valley to in-
vestigate the matter, was murdered and burned
to ashes on September 23d. It is said that

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Ouelchen, son of Owhi and nephew of Kamia-
kin, committed this crime.

Tidings of the outbreak of hostilities hav-
ing reached The Dalles, Major Haller with a
hundred men started north at once and Lieu-
tenant Slaughter went from Steilacoom across
the Natches pass to the Yakima to co-operate
with Haller. But on October 6th, the Indians
burst upon Haller with such energy that he was
obliged to retreat with the loss of a fourth of
his men, besides his howitzer and baggage.
At this stage of affairs Peupeumoxmox fell
upon old Fort Walla Walla, now Wallula, and
though it had no garrison the Indians plundered
the fort of a considerable quantity of stores.
The Walla Walla valley was swept of settlers.
The regions also bordering Puget sound were
ravaged by the Indians. At this time General
Wool was the commander of the Department
of the Pacific. It is not possible here to enter
into any examination of the bitter and ran-
corous dispute that has arisen as to General
Wool's conduct of this war. It was intensely
unsatisfactory to the settlers. Wool seems to
have decided that the whites in southern Oregon
were more to blame than the Indians, and he
felt disposed in consequence to let them meet
the results of their own acts.

Discovering from experience that there
was little to be hoped for from the regulars,
Governor Curry and the Oregon legislature
speedily equipped a strong force under Colonel
J. W. Nesmith. Colonel Nesmith having
gone to the Yakima country with four com-
panies under general charge of Major Rains
of the regulars, on what proved to be a fruit-
less expedition, Lieutenant-Colonel J. K. Kelly,
in command of five hundred men, marched to
Walla Walla.
5

BATTLE OF WALLA W.A.LLA.

There occurred the famous battle of the
Walla Walla, on the 7th, 8th, 9th and loth of
December, 1855. The force of Oregon vol-
unteers having reached Wallula on December
2nd, found that the Indians who they had
hoped to meet there had eluded them, leaving
the fort in ruins. Setting forth in two divi-
sions on December 5th, the volunteers pro-
ceeded up the Walla Walla river to the Tou-
chet. Turning up the latter stream they had
gone about ten miles when there suddenly ap-
peared, with a flag of truce, no less a personage
than Peupeumoxmox himself. Captain Con-
noyer, who was in the vanguard, entered into
a parley with the Walla Walla chieftain, in
which the chief stated that he and his people
were anxious to make peace. He told Nathan
Olney, the Indian agent with whom he con-
versed, that he had at first intended to make
war on the whites, but on reflection had de-
cided that it would not be good policy.

While the conference was in progress, the
troops as well as the' Indians had gradually
gathered around in considerable numbers and
finally passed on in the direction of an Indian
village near at hand.

Seeing that they were approaching a dan-
gerous canjron. Colonel Kelly became suspi-
cious that the Indians were meditating treach-
ery, and he determined to return a short dis-
tance back upon the trail and camp without
supper for the night. It was a cold, wretched
night. Snow began to fall. Colonel Kelly,
in his anxiety to make a forced march, had
given orders to travel light, and they were so
very light that they had no supplies.

Much difference of opinion developed as to

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

\%^'-

the wisdom of pausing and camping on the
trail. Captain Connoyer held the opinion,
which he afterwards stated to Colonel Gilbert,
that Penpemnoxmox was acting in good faith
and that if the army had gone on with him,
he being entirely in their power, they would
have reached the village in safety and would
have found plenty of food, passed a comforta-
ble night, and that the war would have ended
then and there. Colonel Kelly believed other-
wise and has left on record the following rea-
sons for his opinion :

Colonel Kelly writes that Peupeumoxmox
"stated that he did not wish to fighi and that
on the following day he would come and have
a talk and make a treaty of peace. On con-
sultation with Honorable Nathan Olney, In-
dian agent, we concluded that this was simply
a ruse to gain time for removing his village and
preparing for battle. I stated to him that we
had come to chastise him for the wrongs he
had done to our people, and that we would
not defer making an attack on his people un-
less he and his five followers would consent
to accompany and remain with us until all
difficulties were settled. I told him that he
might go away under his flag of truce if he
chose, but that if he did so we would forth-
with attack his village. ■ The alternative was
distinctly made known to him. and to save his
people he chose to remain with us, a hostage
for the fulfillment of his promises, as did also
those who accompanied him. He at the same
time said that on the following day he would
accompany us to his village ; that we would
then assemble his people and make them deliver
up their arms and ammunition, restore the
property which had been taken from the
white settlers, or pay the full value of that
which could not be restored, and that he would
furnish fresh horses to remount mv command

and cattle, to supply them with provisions to
enable us to wage war against other hostile
tribes who were leagued with him. Having
made these promises, we refrained from mak-
ing the attack, thinking we had him in our
power, that on the next day his promises would
be fulfilled. I also permitted him to send one
of the men who accompanied him, to his vil-
lage to apprise the tribes of the terms of the
expected treaty, so that they might be prepared
to fulfill it.

"T ha\-e since learned from a Nez Perce
boy who was taken at the same time with
Peupeumoxmox, that instead of sending word
to his people to make a treaty of peace, he sent
an order to them to remo\-e their women and
children and prepare for battle. From all I
have since learned, I am well persuaded that he
was acting with duplicity and that he expected
to entrap my command in the deep ravine in
which his camp was situated, and make his
escape from us."

We will not now undertake to say who
was correct, but all seem to have agreed in
one thing, and that is that the men had a most
wretched night and became exceedingly im-
patient, and rather blindly feeling that Peu-
peumoxmox was to blame for all their discom-
fort, they were in the mood for the tragedy
that followed.

This move of the "Yellow Serpent" was
hard to explain in any way. It seemed very
strange that he would have put himself right
in the hands of his enemies unless he really
meant to act in good faith. ]\Ioreover, it is
not easy to see how he could have expected
to gain anything by leading the whites to his
^"illage, so long as his own life was sure to be
the instant forfeit of any treachery. But on the
other hand, it is very strange that if he was
perfectly honest the Indians should have made

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

the attack on the next day. However it may
have been, it was plain that things were not
going just according to program, for during
the night Indians had gathered in great num-
bers about on tlie hills, and were evidently
watching in great anxiety to see what might
be the fate of Peupeumoxmox.

The subsequent events made it seem likely
that the Indians had made a change of policy
during the night. They shouted words in the
Cayuse language evidently intended for the
captive chief alone.

When morning of that bleak December
day dawned, Peupeumoxmox was very anxious
to get some stay of proceedings. He said that
his people needed time to prepare provisions,
etc., in order to give the whites a fitting recep-
tion. It was nearly noon before the cold, hun-
gry, disgusted command got started, and after
passing through the canyon in safety they
reached the Indian village, but alas! no
warmth or food, or welcome awaited them.
The village was deserted. Scouts were seen
on the surrounding hills, and finally after much
shouting and gesticulating one Indian was in-
duced to come to the camp. He proved to be
the son of Peupeumo.xmox. Having entered
into conversation with his son, the old chief
finally directed him to notify the people to
come in and make peace. 1 he son told him
that they were only awaiting the arrival of
Five Crows to do so. But they waited a long
time and the famished and exhausted volun-
teers saw that they must return to the mouth
of the Touchet to join those there left with
provisions and baggage. Doing so, night
found them at the Touchet.

In the morning early the force was under
way with baggage and all available resources,
moving toward Whitman mission where Col-
onel Kelly planned to make a winter camp.

Peupeumoxmox with several companions were
still with them. Soon after the volunteers had
crossed the Touchet, the ball opened. Who
first fired is still a matter of dispute. Gilbert
quotes A. P. Woodward as asserting that the
whites fired first; a member of Company B,
named Jont, being the one that fired the first
shot. A running fight up the Walla Walla val-
ley ensued. At the mouth of Dry Creek, near
the present Loudon place, the Indians made a
brief stand, but being forced from their posi-
tion they broke again and pressed on hastily
toward Frenchtown. There spreading across
the valley they made a determined stand. Here
Lieutenant J. AI. Burrows, of Company H,
was killed and a number of men were wound-
ed. Giving way again, the savages retreated
to the location of the Tillier ranch, and there,
near the present site of the Frenchtown church,
the fight was renewed. There Captain Ben-
nett, of Company F, and Private Kelso, of
Company A, were killed.

The soldiers had found an abandoned how-
itzer at Wallula and this, under charge of Cap-
tain Wilson, was now brought to bear on the
enemy. At the fourth discharge the piece
burst, severe!}' wounding Captain \\'ilson.
But the Indians now broke again and fled.
The fight was over for the time and the soldiers
camped that night on the field of battle. The
spot where the severest contest occurred here
was marked a few years ago by a gathering,
with appropriate exercises and the raising of a
flag provided by Mrs. Levi Ankeny ; a deeply
interesting occasion in which veterans of that
war took great joy. Prominent among these
were General AIcAulifT, William Painter, Louis
McMorris and A. G. Lloyd, all known to
everyone in Walla Walla.

During that first day's battle, at about the
hottest part of the action, Peupeumoxmox and

HISTORY OF ^^^\LLA WALLA COUNTY.

his four companions in captivity liecame des-
perately excited and seemed to be attempting
to escape. Tlieir guards, by a sort of common
consent, without agreement or orders, began
firing incHscriminately upon tliem. Li a minute
or two all was over and the great "Yellow
Serpent" with all his companions but one was
lying dead. The one that was spared was a
Nez Perce. Only one made resistance. This
v.-as a powerful \\'illamette Indian called ■■\\'olf
Skin," who fought desperately with a knife,
crtting one of the guards severely, until he was
dispatched by a blow from the butt of a gun.
It is asserted by some that the body of Peu-
peumoxmox was mutilated shamefully. It
should be said that all the testimony shows that
the volunteers as a body were in no sense re-
sponsible for any atrocities, but treated the In-
dians in an entirely humane manner.

This massacre of the Indian captives (if it
is to be considered as such) has been the sub-
ject of the most bitter dispute. Some, as Gil-
bert, have most strongly censured the troops,
especially on account of the mutilation, as guilty
of the "infamous acts of soulless men." Others
have regarded the killing as necessary, on the
ground that the Indians were trying to escape
and rejoin their companions; that the battle
was at a critical point and that self preserva-
tion justified the killing of the chief whom they
believed to have been meditating treachery and
making all the trouble from the beginning.
Lewis jVIcMorris, who is the only one living
here who witnessed the event, tells the writer
that he believes that "it was either kill them or
let them escape," and they were apparently just
on the point of doing the latter. Mr. McMorris
is confident that no one would have touched
tl'.em if they had not tried to escape. Nobody
n(jw, however, justifies the mutilation of the
body of the old Walla \\'alla chief, if it was

really mutilated as asserted. Even Elwood
Evans, in the "History of the Pacific North-
west," written for the express purpose of white-
Avashing everything that any volunteer or other
white man ever did, admits that it was "in bad
taste" for the troops to mutilate the body of the
chief. We will not undertake here and now
to decide the vexed question of the rights and
wrongs of the Walla Walla chief. The likeli-
hood is that he or his people did meditate
treachery, but whateA-er the plot may have been
it failed to materialize. It is also probably true
that some of the volunteers were bitter, intoler-
ant, excited and very willing for an excuse to
get rid of the captives.

On the next day the battle was renewed.
Colonel Kelly thus describes the events of the
next two days, and inasmuch as his oiificial re-
port thus embraces the essential features of the
case, we quote it at length.

" Early on the morning of the 8th, the Indians ap-
peared with increased forces, amounting to fully si.\
hundred warriors. They were posted as usual in the
thick brush by the river, among the sage brushes and
sand knolls, and on the surrounding hills. This day
Lieutenant Pillow, with Company A, and Lieutenant
Hannon, with Company H, were ordered to take and
hold the brush skirting the river and the sage bushes on
the plain. Lieutenant Fellows, with Company F, was
directed to take and keep the possession of the point at
the foot of the hill. Lieutenant Jeffries, with Company
B, Lieutenant Hand, with Company I, and Captain Cor-
noyer, with Company K, were posted on three several
points on the hills, with orders to maintain them and to
assail the enemy on other points of the same hills. As
usual the Indians were driven from their position, al-
though they fought with skill and bravery.

" On the 9ih they did not make their appearance un-
til about ten o'clock in the morning and then in somewhat
diminished numbers. As I had sent to Fort Henrietta
for Companies D and E and expected them on the 10th,
I thought it best to act on the defensive and hold our
positions.which were the same as on the 8th, until we could
get an accession to our forces sufficient to enable us to
assail their rear and cut off their retreat. An attack was
made during the day on Companies A and H in the
brushwood, and upon B on the hill, both of which were
repulsed with great gallantry by those companies and
with considerable loss to the enemy. Companies F, land

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

K also did great honor to themselves in repelling all ap-
proaches to their positions, although in domg so one man
in Company F and one in Company I were severely
wounded. Darkness as usual closed the combat by the
enemy withdrawing from the field. Owing to the inclem-
ency of the night, the companies on the hill were with-
drawn from their several positions. Company B abandon-
ing its rifle pits, which were made by the men of that
company for its protection. At early dawn of the next
day the Indians were observed from our camp to be in
possession of all points held by us on the preceding day.
Upon seeing them. Lieutenant McAuliff, of Company B,
gallantly observed that his company had dug those holes
and after breakfast they would have them again ; and well
was his declaration fulfilled, for in less than an hour the
enemy was driven from the pits and fled to an adjoining
hill which they had occupied the day before. This posi-
tion was at once assailed. Captain Cornoyer, with Com-
pany K and a portion of Company I, being mounted,
gallantly charged the enemy on his right flank, while
Lieutenant McAuliff, with Company B, dismounted,
rushed up the hill in the face of a heavy fire and scattered
them in all directions. They at once fled to return to
this battle field no more, and thus ended our long con-
tested fight.

" In making my report I cannot say too much in praise
of the conduct of the officers of the several companies
and most of the soldiers under their command. They
did their duty bravely and well during those four trying
days of battle. To Second Major Chinn, who took charge
of the companies in the brush by the river, credit is due
for bravery and skill; also to assistant Adjutant Monroe
Atkinson, for his efficiency and zeal as well in the field
as in the camp. And here, while giving to the officers
and men of the regmient the praise that is justly due, I
cannot omit the name of Hon. Nathan Olney, although
he is not one of the volunteers. Having accompanied me
in the capacity of Indian agent, I requested him to act a^
my aid on account of his admitted skill in Indian warfare,
and to his wisdom in council and daring courage on the
battle field, I am much indebted and shall ever appreci-
ate his worth.

"Companies D and E having arrived from Fort
Henrietta on the evening of the 10th, the next morning I
followed with all the available troops along the Nez
Perces' trail in pursuit of the Indians. On Mill creek,
about twelve miles from here, we passed through their
village, numbering one hundred and ninety-six fires,
which had been deserted the night before. Much of their
provisions was scattered by the wayside, indicating that
they had fled in great haste to the north. We pursued
them until it was too dark to follow the track of their
horses, when we camped on Coppei creek. On the I2th
we continued the pursuit until we passed some distance
beyond the stations of Brooke, Noble and Bumford on the
Touchet, when we found the chase was m vain as many
of our horses were completely broken down and the men

on foot. We therefore returned and arrived in camp on
yesterday evening with about one hundred head of cattle
which the Indians had left scattered along the trail in
their flight.

" On the 11th, while in pursuit of the enemy, I re-
ceived a letter from Narcisse Raymond, by the hands of
Tintinmetzy, a friendly chief (which I enclose), asking
our protection of the French and friendly Indians under
his charge.

" On the morning of the 12th, I dispatched Captain
Cornoyer, with his command, to their relief. Mr. Olney,
who accompanied them, returned to camp this evening
and reports that Captain Cornoyer will return to-morrow
with Mr. Raymond and his people, who now feel greatly
relieved from their critical situation. Mr. Olney learned
from these friendly Indians what before we strongly be-
lieved, that the Palouses, Walla Wallas, Umatillas, Cay-
uses and Stock Whitley's band of Des Chutes Indians
were all engaged in the battle on the Walla Walla. These
Indians also informed Mr. Olney that after the battle the
Palouses, Walla Wallas and Umatillas have gone partly
to the Grande Ronde and partly to the country of the
Nez Perces; and Stock Whitley, disgusted with the
manner in which the Cayuses fought in the battle, has
abandoned them and gone to the Yakima country to join
his forces with those of Kamiakin. We have now the
undisputed possession of the country south of Snake river
and I would suggest the propriety of retaining this
possession until such time as it can be occupied by the
regular troops. The Indians have left mu:h of their
stock behind, which will doubtless be lost to us if we go
away. The troops here will not be in a situation for some
time logo to the Palouse country, as our horses at present
are too much jaded to endure the journey, and we have
no boats to cross Snake river, no timber to make them
nearer than this place; but I would suggest the propriety
of following up the Indians with all possible speed, now
that their hopes are blighted and their spirits broken.
Unless this is done, they will perhaps rally again.

"To-day (December 14, 1865| I received a letter
from Governor Stevens, dated yesterday, which I en-
close. You will perceive that he is in favor of a vigorous
prosecution of the war. With his views I fully concur.

" I must earnestly ask that supplies be sent forward
to us without delay. For the last three days none of the
volunteers, except the two companies from Fort Henri-
etta, have had any flour. None is here and but little at
that post. We are now living on beef and potatoes,
which are found en cache., and the men are becoming
much discontented with this mode of living. Clothing
for the men is much needed as the winter approaches.
To-morrow we will remove to a more suitable point,
where grass can be obtained in greater abundance for
our worn-out horses. A place has been selected about
two miles above Whitman station, on the same (north)
side of the Walla Walla, consequently I will abandon
this fort, named in honor of Captain Bennett, of Com-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

pany F, who now sleeps beneath its stockade, and whose
career of usefulness and bravery was here so sadly, but
nobly, closed.

"Very respectfully your obedient servant,
"JAMES K. KELLY,
" Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding Left Column.
" W. H. FARRAR,
" Adjutant of Regiment, O. M. V'."

The winter following the battle of the
Walla Walla was one of the coldest and most
trying ever known in this country. The vet-
erans among the volunteers have left on record
accounts of their sufferings, which show that
war in an Lidian country was not a picnic in
those times. The writer has heard the late
W. C. Painter describe vividly the experience
of sleeping, or trying to, with scarcely any cov-
ering and the mercury at twenty below zero.

jMeantime, while these events were occur-
ring in the Walla Walla and Yakima coun-
tries, what was Governor Stevens doing? As
already noted, after having negotiated the
treaty at Walla Walla in June, 1855, he passed
on to the Blackfoot country where he also ne-
gotiated a successful treaty. Having reached
Hellgate, in the present Montana, on his return,
he was met by a detachment O'f Nez Perce In-
dians who informed him of the war and of the
fact that he was thus cut off from any direct
communication with his government. His own
official report to the Secretary of War gives so
clear and vivid an account of what followed
that we reproduce it here.

"The result of our conference was most
satisfactory. The wlnile party, numbering
fourteen men, among whom were Spotted
Eagle, Looking Glass and Three Feathers,
principal chiefs among the Nez Perces, ex-
pressed their determination to accompany me
and share any danger to ha encountered. They
expressed a desire that after crossing the moun-
tains I should go to their countrv where a lara:e

force of their young men would accompany
me to The Dalles and protect us witli their
lives against any enemy.

"Having replenished my train with all the
animals to be had, on November 14th we pushed
forward, crossed the Bitter Root mountains the
twentieth, in snow twii and a half to three
feet deep, and reached the Cceur clWlene mis-
sion the twenty-fifth, taking the Cceur d'Alenes
entirely by surprise. They had not thought it
possible that we could cross the mountains so
late in the season.

"With the Cceur d"Alenes I held a council,
ar.d found them much excited, on a balance for
peace or war, and a chance word might turn
them either way. Rumors of all kinds met us
here : that the troops had fought a battle with
the Yakimas and dri\-en them across the Colum-
l)ia towards the Spokane, and that the Walla
Wallas, Cayuses and Umatillas were in arms,
and that they had been joined by a party of
Nez Perces. The accounts were of so con-
tradictory a nature that nothing certain could
be ascertained from them, excepting that the
several tribes below w^ere in arms, blocking up
our road, and had threatened to cut off my
part)- in any event. However, I determined to
push to the Spokane.

"The Spokanes were even more surprised
th,r.n the Cceur d'Alenes on seeing us. Three
hours before my arrival they had heard that
I was going to the settlements by way of New
\ ork. I immediately called a council: sent to
Fort Colville for ]Mr. McDonald in charge of
that post of the Hudson's Bay Company ; sent
also for the Jesuit fathers at that point. They
arrived. A council was held, at which the
whole Spokane nation was represented. The
Cceur d'Alenes and Colville Indians also were
present.

"The Spokanes and Colville Indians evinced

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

extreme hostility of feeling; spoke of the war
below ; wanted it stopped ; said the whites were
\\rong. The belief was current that Peupeu-
nioxmox would cut off my party, as he had re-
peatedly threatened. They had not joined in
the war, but yet would make no promise to
remain neutral. If the Indians now at war
were driven into their country they would not
answer for the consequences ; probably many
of the Spokanes would join them. After a
stormy council of several days the Spokanes,
Coeur dAlenes and Colvilles were entirely
conciliated and promised they would reject all
overtures of the hostile Indians and continue
the firm friends of the whites.

"Having added to my party and organized,
etc., we thence made a forced march to the
Nez Perce country. Mr. Craig had received
letters which informed me that the whole Walla
Walla \-alley was blocked up with hostile In-
dians, and the Nez Perce said it would be im-
possible 'to go through.

"I called a council and proposed to them
that one hundred and fifty of their young men
should accompany me to The Dalles. Without
hesitation they agreed to go. Whilst in the
council making arrangements for our move-
ments news came that a force of gallant Oregon
\-olunteers, four hundred strong, had met the
Indians in the Walla Walla valley and after
four days hard fighting, having a number of
officers and men killed and wounded, had com-
pletely routed the enemy, driving them across
Snake river and toward the Nez Perce country.
The next da}^ I pushed forward, accompanied
by sixty-nine Nez Perces, well armed, and
reached Walla Walla without encountering any
hostile Indians. They had all been driven
across Snake river below us by the Oregon
troops.

"It is now proper to inquire what would

have been the condition of my party had not
the Oregon troops vigorously pushed into the
field and gallantly defeated the enemy.

"The country between the Blue moun-
tains and the Columbia was overrun with In-
dians, numbering one thousand to twelve hun-
dred warriors, including the force at Priest
Rapids under Kamaiakun, who had sworn to
cut me off; it was completely blocked up. One
effect of the campaign of the regulars and
volunteers in the Yakima country under Brig-
adier General Rains, was to drive Kamaiakun
and his people on our side of the Columbia
ri\-er, and thus endanger our movement from
the Spokane to the Xez Perce country. Thus
we had been hemmed in by a body of hostile
Indians through whom we could have only
forced our way with extreme difficulty and at
great loss of life. We might all have been
sacrificed in the attempt. To the opening the
way to my party, I am solely indebted to the
Oregon volunteers. Peupeumoxmox, the cel-
ebrated chief of the Walla Wallas, entertained
an extreme hostility toward myself and party,
owing to imaginary wrongs he supposed to
have been inflicted upon him in the treaty con-
cluded with the Cayuses and Walla Wallas last
June, and had been known repeatedly to
threaten that I never should reach The Dalles.
He .was the first to commence hostilities by
plundering Fort Walla Walla and destroying
a large amount of property belonging to the
L'nited States Indian Department. * * *

"At W'alla Walla I found some twenty-five
settlers — the remainder having fled to The
Dalles for protection. With these were one
hundred friendly Indians. Special Indian
i\gent B. F. Shaw, colonel in the Washington
Territory militia, was on the ground, and I at
once organized the district, placed him in com-
mand and directed him. if necessary, to fortify,

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

at all events, to maintain his ground should the
Oregon troops be disbanded before another
force could take the field. The Nez Perce
auxiliaries were disbanded and returned home."

CHARGES PREFERRED AGAINST GENERAL WOOL.

"Thus we had reached a place of safety un-
aided, 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 mountains
about a certain time, and arrive at \\'alla
^^"alla about the time we did. Why was this?
Arrangements had been made with Major
Raines by Acting Governor Mason, to push
forward a force under Colonel Shaw to meet
me at Spokane about the time of my arrival
there. A company had been enlisted, organized
ard marched to Fort Vancouver to obtain
equipments, rations and transportation, wdtich
Major Raines had promised both Governor
Mason and Colonel Shaw should be promptly
frrnished them. Some little delay ensued, and
in the meantime Major General Wool arrived
who immediately declined equipping the com-
pany, as promised by Major Raines, and stated
that he could not in any manner recognize vol-
unteers or furnish them equipments or trans-
portation, and declined to supply their place
with regular troops, of whom, at Vancouver
alone, were some three hundred and fifty men."

Following this description of his journey
Governor Stevens went on to prefer charges
of gross negligence on the part of General
A\'ool. All history abounds in instances of in-
tense personal feuds and disagreements, but
our Pacific coast history seems to have been
especially fruitful in them. That between Gen-
eral Wool, with some of the officers who echoed
his opinions, the regulars in short on one side,

and Governor Stevens supported by the vol-
unteers and the nearly united people of the ter-
ritory on the other, was peculiarly acrimoni-
ous. We insert the following extract from
the report by Governor Stevens to the Secre-
tary of \\'ar :

"When remonstrated with by Captain Will-
iam McKay, in command of the company, to
push forward to my assistance, when informed
of the object for which the company was en-
listed, and that if it was not pushed forward
a; once, or if some other force was not sent.
Governor Stevens and his party would be in
the most imminent danger, the general replied
that in his opinion the danger was greatly
exaggerated; that probably Governor Stevens
would be able to protect himself, but if he could
not, then Governor Stevens could obtain an
escort from General Harney.

"What a reply was that! A moiety of the
L:dians now in arms had defeated a detach-
nient of one hundred United States regulars.
}ilajor Raines had placed on record his opinion
that an insufiicient force would be defeated by
these Indians, and my party was supposed to
number no more than twenty-five men. Yet
!Major General Wool very coolly says, 'Gov-
ernor Stevens can take care of himself." So,
too, in the remark that I could obtain aid from
General Harney. Did General Wool know that
the distance from Fort Benton to the supposed
position of General Harney was greater than
the distance from Fort Benton to The Dalles
and that to obtain aid from him would require
not less than six months, and that an express
to reach him must pass through the entire
breadth of the Sioux? Such ignorance shows
great incapacity and is inexcusable.

"]Mr. Secretar}' — ^lajor General Wool,
commanding the Pacific Division, neglected
and refused to send a force to the relief of my-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

sel'f and pai"ty, when known to be in imminent
danger, and believed by those who were less
capable of judging, to be coming on to certain
death, and this when he had at his command
an efficient force of regular troops. He re-
fused to sanction the agreement made between
Governor Mason and Major Raines for troops
to be sent to my assistance, and ordered them
to disband. It was reserved for the Oregon
troops to rescue us.

"The only demonstration made by Major
Raines resulted in showing his utter incapacity
to command in the field. As has heretofore been
said, his expedition against the Yakimas ef-
fected nothing but driving the Indians into the
very country through -which I must pass to
reach the settlements.

"I therefore prefer charges against General
Wool. I accuse him of utter and signal in-
capacity, of criminal neglect of my safety. I
ask for an investigation into the matter, and
for his removal from command."

And now that we have allowed the gov-
ernor to tell his own story of the final struggle
in the Walla W^alla, every reader asks, "And
how did it come out ?" Gilbert pronounces that
the Indians got all they wanted, and that so,
the great Walla Walla war of '55 and '56 must
go down in history as an Indian victory. After
Stevens had reached The Dalles, Wright went
back again for a short time to Walla Walla,
with a force increased by one company. But
having reached the scene of the council and the
farewell fight, he held an amicable meeting
with the hostile chiefs and assured them that
"The bloody cloth shall be washed, past dif-
ferences thrown behind us, and perpetual peace
must exist between us." He even went so far
as to recommend that the Walla Walla treaties
should never be confirmed. Steptoe, by Wool's
orders, issued a proclamation that no whites

should return to Walla Walla, except Hud-
son's Bay People and missionaries. Wool, in
general orders of October 19th, expresses the
hope that Wright, "warned by what has oc-
curred, will be on his guard against the whites,
and prevent further trouble by keeping the
whites out of the Indian country." But Step-
toe had got his eyes partly open by the events
of the season, and a little later he ventured
tJ suggest that a good, industrious colony be
permitted to settle in the Walla Walla valley.
Wool promptly stepped on the suggestion by de-
claring that "The Cascade range formed, if not
an impassable barrier, an excellent line of do-
fence, a most excellent line of separation be-
tween two races always at war when in contact.
To permit settlers to pass The Dalles and occu-
py the natural reserve is to give up this advan-
tage, throw down the wall, and advance the
frontier hundreds of miles to the east, and add
to the protective labor of the army."

Governor Stevens did not mince matters in
summarizing this war and its results. His let-
ters, both to Wool directly and to the War
Department, might, without putting too fine a
point on it, be styled "vitriolic." To the
fiontiersmen of the country it seemed shameful
surrender. After the bitter struggle of those
frigid winters, after all the tedious traversing
of dusty plains and snowy and precipitous
mountains, after the lives lost and the many
wounds received, and especially after the bril-
liant and well-deserved victories w^on, then to
have the regulars step in and rob them of all the
fruits of victory by a practical capitulation to
the hostiles — that was a pretty hard dose for
Stevens and his constituents. We need not
blame the governor for some rather strong
talk.

Thus at the close of 1856 the Walla Walla
valley was, by military order, remanded to bar-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

barism. In 1857 the present Fort Walla Walla
\\'as established, and a force in charge of Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Steptoe lay inactive at the fort.

One thing interesting to note in connection
with mustering out of the volunteers is that
the horses which they had captured on the
Grande Rontle were sold at such a good price
as to pay the entire cost of the expedition.
Sales were for scrip issued by the territory,
v.diich depreciated but little. The total amount
of script issued was $1,481,475.45. The gen-
eral testimony of witnesses of those times is
that there was a remarkably high morale on
the part of all the volunteer forces, and that
this was due very largely to the character, abil-
ity, and magnetic influence of Washington's
first governor, certainly the greatest man in the
official history of those times. And so there
was "quiet in the land by the space of a year."
L'i 1858 the Yakimas became so troublesome
that \\'right began to conclude that they were
not such desirable citizens after all. Major
Garnett was accordingly sent into their country
with a strong force, and he seized and executed
a number of their chiefs and braves, killed seven
hundred of their ponies, and secured quiet at
last in the land of the sage-brush.

And now, though no battle was to be fought
again on \\'alla \\'alla soil, it was the outfitting
point for the most remarkable disaster in the
history of the territory, one which, if it had
not been for the ever faithful Nez Perces, would
piobably have anticipated the Custer massacre
in completeness and horror. This was the

STEPTOE DEFEAT OF 1 858.

Steptoe set out in May, 1858, to go with
two hundred cavalry to the Spokane country,
though those powerful and independent Indians
had warned the troops to keep out. alleging that

tl:ev were neutral and would not allow either
\akimas or whites in their country. Steptoe,
or more strictly speaking his subordinates, com-
mitted a most egregious and incomprehensible
blunder in starting from Walla Walla. On
account of the great weight of provisions and
baggage, a brilliant quartermaster (said to have
been Lieutenant Fleming ) conceived the idea
of omitting the greater part of the amimuii-
tion, by way of lightening the load. As Joseph
INIcEvoy expresses it, the force was beaten be-
fore it left \\3.\\3. Walla.

The expedition was made in May. The
wild torrent of Snake river was running bank-
full from the floods of summer as the com-
mand crossed. Timothy, a chief of the Xez
Perces, with a few followers, was li\'ing then
at the mouth of the Alpowa, and by his efficient
aid the soldiers crossed the wicked looking
stream in good order and good time, and con-
tinued on their way. the brave old Nez Perce
accompanying them.

On ^lay i6th the force reached a point near
four lakes, probably the group of which jNIedical
Lake is one, though there seems to be a rather
curious difference among the survivors as to
where all this happened. But wherever it was,
here the Indians gathered in strong force and
evitlently with hostile intentions. Steptoe. re-
alizing the dangerous odds, decided to return,
the chief Salteese assuring him that if he would
retire they would not attack. It is said that
one of the friendl}- Nez Perces struck Salteese,
telling him that he was speaking ''two tongues."

On the next day at nine o'clock as the sol-
diers were descending a canyon to Pine creek,
just about where Rosalia is now located, the
attack was suddenly made. Throughout the
forenoon the retreat and fight continued. The
ghastly consequences of the blunder about the
ammunition began to stare them in the face as

HISTORY OF WALLA \\^\LLA COUNTY.

man after man had to cease firing. Captain
O. H. P. Taylor and Lieutenant William Gas-
ton were in command of the rear guard, and
Avith amazing courage and devotion they kept
the line intact and foiled all efforts of the In-
dians to rush through. They sent word to
Steptoe to halt the line and give them a chance
to load. But Steptoe deemed it safer to make
no pause, and soon after those gallant heroes
fell. A fierce fight raged for possession of
'their bodies. The Indians secured that of
Gaston, but a small band of heroes fighting
like demons got the body of the noble Taylor.
One notable figure in this death grapple was
De May, a Frenchman, who had been trained
in the Crimea and in Algeria, and who made
havoc among the savages with his gun barrel
used as a sabre. But at last he, too, went down
before numbers, crying, "Oh, my God, for a
sabre."

At night fall they had reached a point said
to be somewhere on the east flanks of Steptoe
Eutte, though there is a difference of opinion
as to the exact location. Here the disorganized
and suffering force made camp, threw out a
picket line for defense, and buried such dead as
they had not been forced to leave. In order to
divert the Indians they determined to bury their
howitzers and leave the balance of their stores,
hoping that if the Indians made an attack in
the night they might succeed in stealing away.
The Indians, however, feeling sure that they
had the' soldiere at their mercy, made no effort
a: a night attack. There was but one chance
of salvation, and this was by means of a dif-
ficult trail through a canyon, which the Indians
supposed to he entirely unknown to the whites.
But by the good favor of fortune or Providence
the Nez Perce chief Timothy knew this pass.
Without him that next day would doubtless
have seen a grim and ghastly massacre. Dur-

ing the dark and cloudy night the soldiers
mounted and in silence followed Timothy over
the unwatched trail. Michael Kinney, well
known in Walla \Valla, was in charge of the
rear guard, and is our chief authority for this
narration.

The horrors of that night retreat were
probably never surpassed in the history of In-
dian warfare in this state. Several of the
wounded were lashed to pack animals, and were
thus led away on that dreadful ride. Their
sufferings were intense, and two of them, Mc-
C rossen and Williams, suffered so unendurably
that they writhed themselves loose from their
lashings and fell to the ground, begging their
comrades to leave some weapon witli which
they might kill themselves. But the poor
\vretches were left lying there in the darkness.
During that night they followed, generally at
a gallop, the faithful Timothy, on whose keen
eyes and mind their lives depended. The
wounded and a few whose horses gave out
were scattered at intervals along the trail.
Some of these finally reappeared, but most
were lost. After twenty-four hours they found
that they had ridden sex'enty miles, for the yel-
low flood of Snake ri\-er suddenly broke lie-
fore them between its desolate banks. Here
the unwearied Timothy threw cut his own peo-
ple as guards against the pursuing enemy and
set the women of his tribe to ferrying the force
across the turbulent ri\-er. This was safely ac-
complished, and thus the greater portion of
th.e command reached Walla Walla in satety
from that ill-starred expedition.

Individual narratives of experiences on that
expedition have Iieen given by men long after
living in Walla Walla. Among these was John
Singleton, Sr., now deceased, who told the
writer that being without a horse, he crawled
on his hands and knees during the greater part

HISTORY OF WALLA \\'ALLA COUNTY.

of two days, running at night, until he at last
reached Snake river and was put across the
stream by the Nez Perces. His knees and hands
were worn to the bone. A soldier named
Snickster reported that he and Williams, rid-
ing one horse, had reached Snake river, when
the Indians overtook them and in a spirit of
grim pleasantry told them that if they could
swim the river they might escape. Plunging
into the river with 'their horse, they soon found
the Indian bullets boiling around them. \\'ill-
iams and the horse were almost immediately
killed and Snickster. v.ith an arm already
broken, swam the rest of the way across Snake
river. This story is told in several ways, and
]\Iichael Kinney considers it a fabrication. ^Ir.
Singleton, however, told the writer that he con-
sidered it as true. Joseph ]\IcEvoy also regards
it true, though he claims that Williams was
killed in the battle. It was generally accepted
as true in early times. But we would doubt the
possibility of any one, even under the most
favorable circumstances, swimming Snake
river in flood time with a broken arm.

WRIGHTS EXPEDITION.

The sequel to the Steptoe defeat furnishes
a more creditable chapter in the history of our
Indian warfare. General Clark at once ordered
Colonel Wright to ec|uip a force of six hundred
men, proceed to the Spokane country and casti-
gate the Indians with sufficient severity to set-
tle the question of sovereignty fore\-er. On
August 15th Colonel \\'right left Walla Walla
on his northern campaign. In the battle of
Four Lakes on September ist, and in the bat-
tle of Spokane Plains on September 5th, Col-
oi:el Wright broke forever the power and spirits
of the northern Indians. The severest blow
which he struck them was the killing of nearlv

a thousand horses. In his report Colonel
Wright thus summarized the results of this
campaign: "i. Two battles were fought by
the troops under my command against the com-
bined 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. One thousand horses and a large number
of cattle were captured from the hostile In-
dians, all of which were either killed or ap-
propriated to the service of the L'nited States ;

3. JMany barns filled with wheat or oats, also
several fields of grain with numerous caches of
vegetables, dried berries and camas, were de-
stroyed or used by the troops ; 4. The Yakima
chief, Owhi, is in irons ; and the notorious
war chief, Oualchen, was hanged ; the mur-
derers of the miners, the cattle stealers, etc.
(in all, eleven Indians), were hanged; 5. The
Spokanes, Coeur d'Alenes and Palouses have
been entirely subdued, and have sued most ab-
jectly for peace on any terms; 6. Treaties
have been made with the above named nations.
They have restored all property which was in
tlieir possession, belonging either to the United
States or to individuals. They have promised
tliat all white people can travel through their
country unmolested, and that no hostile Indians
shall be allowed to pass through or remain
among them ; 7. The Indians who commenced
the battle with Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe con-
trary to the orders of their chiefs have been
delivered to the officer in command of the Uni-
ted States troops; 8. One chief and four men,
with their families, from each of the above
named tribes, have been delivered to the officer
ill command of the L'nited States troops, to be
taken to fort Walla ^^'alla and held as hostages
for the future good conduct of their respective
nations ; 9. The two mounted howitzers aban-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

cloned by the troops under Lieutenant-Colonel
Steptoe have been recovered."

The following words from General Clark's
report show how completely the policy of Wool
had been reversed. "Some time since I was
persuaded that the treaties made by Governor
Stevens, superintendent of Indian affairs for
Washington Territory, with the Indian tribes
east of the Cascade range, should not be con-
firmed. Since then circumstances have chansfed

and with them my views. The Indians made
war and were subdued. By the former act
they lost some of their claims to considera-
tion; and by the latter the government is en-
abled and justified in taking such steps as may
give the best security for the future."

Thus the land rested at last from strife,
and no general Indian war thereafter disturbed
the "Valley of Many Waters."

CHAPTER VI.

INDIAN WARS OF THE FIFTIES CONTINUED.

Governor Stevens reached Olympia early
in January, 1856, and found that the storm of
war was in full blast from east to west. The
Sound Indians, aided by the Yakimas, had
ranged over the grea^ter part of the region
adjacent to the sound and had killed
many settlers. Governor Stevens, full of
courage and resources, roused the dis-
heartened settlers and set on foot measures
for saving the territory by the equipment of an
army of one thousand volunteers, organizing
forces of friendly Indians, issuing script for
meeting expenses, seizing necessary stores and
implements, inducing the settlers to get back
again upon their farms and plant their crops,
and sending Secretary Mason to Washington
to acquaint the government with their plight
and needs. In the very midst of his appeal
the Indians by a sudden attack seized Seattle
and destroyed the most of it. Nevertheless
the brave words an^ acts of the governor
roused the faint-hearted and the territory speed-
ily got itself into a better posture of defense
and finally of attack. The Washington volun-

teers were equipped and the Second Regiment,
under command of Colonel B. F. Shaw, started
m the summer of 1856 for Walla Walla.

Meanwhile the Oregon volunteers had been
spending that dismal winter and spring at
Vvalla Walla and vicinity. The first American
fort of the regular army at Walla Walla was
laid out on the location of McBride's stable,
one of the old log buildings remaining there
until a few years ago. The volunteers camped
at a later time higher up the creek near the
present location of the ranch of Patrick Lyons.

During the spring Colonel Kelly returned
to Portland, leaving Colonel T. R. Cornelius in
command. The detachment set forth from
their camp on Mill creek on March loth and
proceeded to the Yakima country, meeting and
dispersing the Indians whom they met there,
and then passing on to the Columbia : they re-
turned to Oregon and disbanded. They had
rendered signal service, having broken up the
Indian forces of both the Walla Walla and
\akima countries.

While tliev were doing this one of the most

HISTORY OF A\'ALLA WALLA COUNTY.

daring blows struck by any of the Lidians fell
upon the settlers up and down the Columbia,
near the Cascades. The famous old block
house there is a souvenir of that epoch. As-
sociated with it also is the memory of the fact
that Phil Sheridan fought there one of his first
battles, distinguished, as he later was, for dare-
devil courage and impetuosity. That Cascades
disaster was one of the most cruel and severe
that the settlements had suffered.

The United States troops at that time made
The Dalles their chief headquarters and the
force there had their hands full with wars and
rumors of wars from Walla Walla, Yakima
and the Cascades. The officers more especially
concerned with the campaign on the east side
of the mountains were Colonel Wright, Colonel
Steptoe and Major Raines. It is to be remem-
bered that there were three distinct forces op-
erating in the country, ^-iz. — L'nited States
regulars. Oregon volunteers and Washington
volunteers. Governor Curry, of Oregon, and
Governor Stevens, of Washington, were in en-
tire harmony, believing alike in a vigorous
prosecution of the war, but the United States
forces were entirely aloof from them in svm-
pathy of aim and action.

^Ve have already outlined the achie\-ements
of the Oregon volunteers. In May Colonel
Wright moved from The Dalles to Yakima.
There he found a force of twelve hundred or
more defiant Indians, whose evident strength
seems to have led Colonel Wright to crave
peace without a battle. He shaped his policies
in the direction of acceding to the demand of
the Indians that he withdraw from the country
and exclude settlers therefrom.

In July the Second Regiment of Washing-
ton volunteers, under Colonel B. F. Shaw,
miived up the river and on July Sth camped on
tlie place now owned bv tlie heirs of Alfred

Thomas, about two miles above ^^'alla Walla.
Learning that the hostiles were in force in the
Grande Ronde valley. Colonel Shaw determined
to move thither and strike. Pushing rapidly
over the mountains he encountered the savages
on July 17th, and in the most decisive battle
tlms far fought he scattered them in all direc-
tions. The excellent Life of Governor Stevens,
by his son. Hazard Stevens, contains a pictur-
esque account -of how Colonel Shaw, with his
long, red beard and hair streaming in the wind,
swept down like a hurricane upon the foe and
drove them fifteen miles, clear across the valley.
Colonel Shaw's own version is so clear and
\ivid that we belie\'e our readers will enjoy its
perusal. ]More clearly than any present de-
scription could, this account preserves the flavor
of the time in which it happened ; that time,
which, only forty-fi\-e years ago, seems so re-
mote from our own.

BATTLE OF GRANDE ROXDE, JULY 1 7, 1856.

"We arri\ed in the Grande Ronde valley on
the evening of the sixteenth, and camped on
n branch of the Grande Ronde river in the tim-
ber, sending spies in advance who returned and
reported no fresh sign. On the morning of the
seventeenth, leaving ^Major Blankenship. of the
Central, and Captain JNIiller, of the Southern
battalions, assisted by Captain DeLacy, to take
up the line of march for the main valley, I pro-
ceeded ahead to reconnoitre, accompanied by
JNIajor Maxon, Michael Marchmean, Captain
John and Dr. Burns. After proceeding about
five miles we ascended a knoll in the valley from
which we discovered dust rising along the tim-
ber of the river. I immediately sent Major
jNIaxon and Captain John forward to recon-
noitre and returned to hurry up the command
w hich was not far distant. The command was

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

ii'Stantly formed in order; Captain Miller's
company in advance, supported by Maxon,
Henness and Powell's companies ; leaving the
pack train in charge of the guard under Lieu-
tenant Goodwin, with a detachment of Goff's
company under Lieutenant Wait, and Lieuten-
ant Williams' company in reserve with orders
tu follow on after the command.

"The whole command moved on quietly to
this order until within half a mile of th? Indian
village, when we discovered that the pack train
had moved to the left, down the Grande Ronde
river. At this moment a large body of war-
riors came forward, singing and whooping, and
one of them waxing a white man's scalp on a
pole. One of them signified a desire to speak,
whereupon I sent Captain John to meet him
and formed the command in line of battle.
AVhen Captain John came up to the Indians
they cried out to one another to shoot him,
when he retreated to the command and I or-
dered the four companies to charge.

"The design of the enemy evidently was to
draw us into the brush along the river, where
from our exposed position the}- would have the
advantage — the)- no doubt having placed an
ambush there. To avoid this, I charged down
the river towards the pack train. The war-
riors then split, part going across the river
and part down toward the pack train. These'
were soon overtaken and engaged. The charge
was vigorous and so well sustained that they
were broken, dispersed and slain before us.
After a short time I sent Captain Aliller to
the left and ]\Iajor Ma.xon to the right, the
latter to cross the stream and cut them off from
a. point near which a large body of warriors
had collected, apparently to fight, while I moved
forward with the commands of Captain Hen-
ness and Lieutenant Powell to attack them in
front. The Major could not cross the river.

and on our moving forward the enemy fled after
firing a few guns, part taking to the left and
part continuing forward.

"Those who took to the left fell in with
Capitain Miller's company, who killed five on
the spot and the rest were not less successful
in the pursuit, which was continued to the
crossing of the river, where the enemy had
ti'ken a stand to defend the ford. Being here
rejoined by Captain Miller and by Lieutenant
Curtis with part of Maxon's company, we fired
a volley and I ordered a charge across the river,
\x'hich was gallantly executed. In doing this
Private Shirley, ensign of Henness' company,
Avho was in front, was wounded in the face.
Several of the enemy were killed at this point.
We continued the pursuit until the enemy had
reached the rocky canyons leading towards
Powder river, and commenced scattering in
every direction, when finding that I had but fi\-e
men with me, and the rest of the command
scattered in the rear, most of the horses being
completely exhausted — I called a halt and fell
back, calculating to remount the men on the
captured horses and continue the pursuit after
night.

"I found the pack train, guard and re-
serve encamped on a small creek not far from
the crossing, as I had previously ordered them
to do, and learned that a body of the enemy
had followed them up all day and annoyed
them, but had inflicted no damage beyond cap-
turing many of the animals which we had taken
in charge and left behind.

"I learned also that INIajor Maxon had
crossed the river with a small party and w-as
engaged with the enemy and wanted assist-
ance. I immediately dispatched a detachment
under Lieutenants Williams and W'ait, sending
the man who brought the information back
with them as a guide. Thev returned after

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

dark without finding the major, but brought in
one of his men whom they found in the brush,
and who stated that one of the major's men
was killed and that the last he saw of them
they were fighting with the Indians. At day-
light I sent out Captain Miller with seventy
men, who scouted around the whole valley with-
out finding him, but who unfortunately had
one man killed and another wounded whilst
pursuing some Indians. I resolved to remove
camp the next day to the head of the valley,
where the emigrant trail crosses it and con-
tinue the search until we became certain of
their fate. The same evening I took sixty men
under Captain Henness and struck upon the
mountains and crossed the heads of the canyons
to see if I could not strike his trail. Finding
no sign, I returned to the place where the major
had last been seen, and there made search in
different directions and finally found the body
of one of his men (Tooley) and where the
major had encamped in the brush. From other
signs it became evident to me that the major
had returned to this post by the same trail by
which we first entered the valley.

"Being nearly out of provisions, and unable
to follow the Indians from this delay, I con-
cluded to return to camp, recruit for another
expedition in conjunction with Captain Goff,
who had, I presumed, returned from his ex-
pedition to the John Day's river.

"I should have mentioned previously that
in the charge the command captured and after-
wards destroyed about one hundred and fifty
liorse loads lacamas, dried beef, tents, some
flour, coffee, sugar, and about one hundred
pounds of ammunition and a great quantity of
tools and kitchen furniture. We took also
about two hundred horses, most of which were
shot, there being but about one hundred ser-
viceable animals.

"There were present on the ground from
what I saw, and from information received
from two squaws taken prisoners, about three
liundred warriors of the Cayuse, Walla Walla,
Umatilla, Tyh. John Day and Des Chutes
tribes, commanded by the following chiefs:
Stock Whitley and Simmistastas, Des Chutes
and Tyh ; Chickiah, Plyon, Wicecai, Watah-
stuartih, Winimiswoot, Cayuses, Tahkin, Cay-
use, the son of Peupeumoxmox, Walla Walla
and other chiefs of less note.

"The whole command, officers and men, be-
lia\ed well. The enemy was run on the gallop
fifteen miles, and most of those who fell were
sh.ot with the revolver. It is impossible to
state how many of the enemy were killed.
Twenty-seven bodies were counted by one in-
dividual, and many others were known to have
fallen and been left, but were so scattered
about that it was impossible to get count of
them, ^^'hen to these we added those killed by
]\iajor Alaxon's command on the other side of
tl-.e river, we may safely conclude that at least
forty of the enemy were slain and many went
off wounded. When we left the valley there
was not an Indian in it, and all the signs went
to show that they had gone a great distance
from it.

"On the twenty-first instant we left the val-
ley by the emigrant road and commenced our
return to camp. During the night Lieutenant
Hunter, of the Washington Territory volun-
teers, came into camp with an express from
Captain Goff". I learned to my surprise that
the captain and iNIajor Layton had seen Indians
on John Day's river, had followed them over
to Burnt river and had a fight with them, in
which Lieutenant Eustus and one private were
killed, and some seven Indians. They were
sliaping their course for the Grande Ronde
valley and had sent for provisions and fresh

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

horses. I immediately sent Lieutenant Will-
iams back with all my spare provisions and
horses and continued my march. On Wild
Horse creek I came across 'Sir. Fites, a pack
master who had been left in camp, who in-
formed me, to my extreme satisfaction, that
Major IVIaxon and his command had arrived
safe in camp and were then near us with pro-
visions and ammunition. These I sent on im-
mediately to Captain Goff.

"I learned that Major Maxon had been at-
tacked in the valley by a large force of Indians
on the day of the fight; had gained the brush
and killed many of them; that at night he
tried to find our camp and hearing a noise like
a child crying, probably one of the captured
squaws, had concluded that my_ command had
gone on to Powder river and that the Indians
had returned to the valley by another canyon.
He moved his position that night and the next
day saw the scout looking for him, but in the
distance thought that it was a band of Indians
hunting his trail. Conceiving himself cut off
from the command, he thought it best to re-
turn to this camp, thinking that we would be
on our way back to Grande Ronde with pro-
visions and ammunition."

While Shaw was winning this very import-
ant victory. Governor Stevens was making
every effort to sustain the friendly faction of
the Nez Perces under Lawyer, aided by Will-
iam Craig, a white man who had been adopted
b)' the Nez Perce tribe and who had been one
of the greatest factors in sustaining Governor
Stevens. To hold the Walla Walla country
seemed to the governor the key of the situation,
because thus only could he come in touch with
these faithful Nez Perces. The moral effect
of Shaw's victory proved so great that the gov-
ernor decided to go in person to \Valla Walla
to hold another great council of the friendly

and neutral tribes and to get as many as possible
of the hostiles to attend the same. He seems
to have had the double aim of giving the hos-
tiles every reasonable chance to make peace and
also of refuting the slanderous charges of
Wool to the efl:ect that he was treating the
hostiles cruelly and dishonestly. On August
3d he urgently advised Colonel Wright to es-
tablish a permanent garrison in the Walla
Walla valley and requested also that he meet
him in conference at The Dalles on September
14th. He also called out two hundred more
volunteers to take the place of Shaw's force,
whose term had expired.

And so Governor Stevens set forth again
on another of those harrassing, exhaustive and
dangerous expeditions to which fate seemed to
have appointed him. Reaching Vancouver on
August 13th, he met Colonel Wright, who in-
formed him that he could not attend the pro-
posed council, but would dispatch Lieutenant
Colonel Steptoe with four companies of regu-
lars to reach Walla ^^'alla in season for the
meeting.

Ascending the river to The Dalles in com-
pany with Colonel Wright, and while there
meeting the chief officers of the command. Gov-
ernor Stevens, with the ardor and enthusiasm
of his nature, and with his personal ascendency
over men, so influenced them that for the time
being he seemed to have won them over entirely
to hearty co-operation with him in his plans.
In reality, however, they were at that very
time under orders from General Wool to dis-
band the volunteers and expel them from the
country and to forbid white settlers to remain
anywhere in the upper country, and to allow
the Hudson's Bay people only to occupy it.
Wool's idea was to make the Cascade moun-
tains the eastern frontier of American settle-
ment; a very wooly idea, if one may be par-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

doned such a decrepit pleasantry, ^^"right and
Steptoe were almost guilty of dishonesty in
allowing the gallant governor to proceed into
the heart of the Indian country with such an
erroneous impression of their real orders.
Leaving The Dalles on August 19th the in-
defatigable little governor pushed on ahead of
Steptoe, attended only by Pearson, a trusty
scout, and with no escort except the "Bull-
punchers" of his ox train, he reached Shaw's
camp, two miles abo\-e ^^'alla Walla, on the
23d. On September 5th. Steptoe reached
Walla \\'alla and established himself at a point
four miles below Shaw's camp, said by Lewis
Mc]\Iorris to have lieen at the present garri-
son. The next day came Lawyer with a large
force of Xez Perces, faithful still.

Governor Stevens was exceedingly anxious
to have perfect harmony of action with the reg-
ulars and thereby present a united front to the
enemy, many of whom had drawn the con-
clusion that the regulars and volunteers were
entirely different sets of people. He therefore
rccjuested Steptoe to move camp to a point near
his own. On the next morning Steptoe got un-
der way and paused at the governor's tent,
v.'ho supposed of course that he was going to
make camp there. He was dumfounded, as
he well may have been, to discover that Step-
toe was passing on from sight up the valley.
This was the more startling, for on account
of a report that volunteers below were being
attacked, Shaw had gone down leaving Stevens
with but ten men. However, it had now be-
come necessary for Shaw and his force to leave
permanently, and with this in view the gov-
ernor requested Steptoe to return to his near
vicinity; incredible as it may seem, Steptoe de-
clined to do so, alleging that General Wool's
orders did not authorize him to make any such
arrangements. The governor, though it must

have made his hot blood boil, had to retain
a detachment of sixty-nine men and left Steptoe
to his own devices, at a camp which was on
the island on the present Gilkerson place.
And now opens

THE SECOND GREAT W ALhA WALLA COUXCIL.

Space does not permit us to give the de-
tails of this remarkable meeting, fully as re-
markable as the one of the year before. The
Nez Perces were in large force at first, and the
faction under Lawyer was fully committed to
the support of the whites. But a large num- .

ber, even of the Xez Perces, led by Looking I

Glass, Speaking Owl, Joseph, Red \\'olf and
Eagle-from-the-Light, were plainly at the verge
of outbreak. Kamiakain, the redoubtable chief
of the Yakimas, was coming out with a strong
force. The scrowling Cayuses and the brawny
L'matillas came whooping, yelling and firing
the prairie grass. Murder was in the air. Gov-
ernor Stevens sent an urgent request to Step-
toe to come to the council with at least one
company. Steptoe returned an answer to the
effect that if the Indians were really meditating
an outbreak he had not enough force to defend
both camps, and therefore he deemed it neces-
sary for Stevens to move to him. instead of he
to Stevens. The heart of the fiery governor
was almost broken at this humiliation, but he
had to yield to necessity, and he adjourned the
council to Steptoe's camp. On the march
Kamiakain and Owhi, with one hundred and
five warriors under the immediate command of
Cualchen, the murderer of Bolon, met them.
The fierce and threatening looks of these Yaki-
ma braves did not reassure the little force and
things looked exceedingly squally. On every
day of the council but the first, Indians, armed
to the teeth, took places near the governor,

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Avith the evident design of murdering him and
then attacking the force, but the nerve and
vigilance of the governor and those around him
prevented. The faithful Nez Perces kept their
drums beating all night and maintained a guard
around Stevens' camp. As remarked before,
the debt of gratitude to these Nez Perces is be-
yond computation. One of the remarkable
features of the last daj-s of the council was the
speech of Spotted Eagle, a Nez Perce, and one
of the warm adherents of the whites. Gov-
ernor Stevens mentioned this speech as one
which, for feeling, courage and truth, he had
never seen surpassed.

And now the council was ended, and what
liad been accomplished ? Nothing. They stood
just where they were at first. Half the Nez
Perces were determined to stand by the treaty,
the other half not. All the other tribes were
hostile. The governor repeated to them the
terms of peace alone possible : "They must
throw aside their guns and submit to the justice
and mercy of the government, but as they were
invited under safe conduct, they were safe in
coming, safe in council, and safe in going."

Governor Stevens naturally felt disap-
pointed at the failure of his hopes, but hav-
ing done all that man could do he had no cause
to reproach himself. Whatever impediments
diad fallen in his way were due to the position
of General Wool and the officers who felt com-
pelled to echo his opinions. It may very prop-
erly be said here that Wright and Steptoe dis-
covered their errors soon and modified their
policy. Wool never did and in the early part
of 1857 he was relieved of his command and
was succeeded b}' General N. G. Clarke, who
gave, as we shall learn later, a "new deal" to
the impatient pioneers of Walla \\'alla and
■either parts of the Inland Empire.

And now the governor and his retinue must

move again westward. It must needs be that
another battle be fought. Governor Stevens'
own official report is the best summary of his
return and of this last battle in Walla Walla:

"So satisfied was I that the Indians would
carry into effect their determination avowed in
the councils in their own camps for several
nights previously to attack me, that in starting
I formed my whole party and moved in order
ot battle. I moved on under fire one mile to
water, when forming a corral of the wagons
and holding the adjacent hills and the brush
on the stream by pickets, I made my arrange-
ments to defend my position and fight the In-
dians. Our position in a low open basin five
or six hundred yards across (he was attacked
on what is now known as Charles Russell's
ranch) was good, and with the aid of our corral
we could defend ourselves against a vastly su-
perior force of the enemy.

"The fight continued till late in the night.
Two charges were made to disperse the Indians,
the last led by Lieutenant-Colonel Shaw in per-
son with twenty- four men; but, whilst driving
before him some one hundred and fifty Indians,
an equal number pushed into his rear, and he
\\as compelled to cut his way through them
towards camp, when drawing up his men, and
aided by the teamsters and pickets who gal-
lantly sprang forward, he drove the Indians
back in full charge upon the corral. Just be-
fore the charge the friendly Nez Perces, fifty
i.i number, who had been assigned to hold the
ridge on the south side of the corral, were told
by the enemy they came not to fight the Nez
Perces but the whites. 'Go to your camp,'
said they, 'or we will wipe it out." Their camp,
\\itli the women and children, was on a stream
about a mile distant and I directed them to re-
tire as I did not require their assistance and
was fearful that mv men might not be able to

HISTORY OF WALLA \\'ALL.\ COUNTY.

distinguish them from hostiles, and thus friend-
ly Indians be killed.

"Towards night I notified Lieutenant-Col-
onel Steptoe that I was fighting the Indians;
that I shouU move the next morning and ex-
pressed the opinion that a company of his troops
would be of service. In his reply he stated that
the Indians had burned up his grass and sug-
gested that I should return to his camp, and
place at his disposal my wagons, in order that
he might move his whole command and his
supplies to the Umatilla or some other point,
where sustenance could be found for his ani-
mals. To this arrangement I assented and
Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe sent to my camp
Lieutenant Davidson, with detachments from
the companies of dragoons and artillery with
a mounted howitzer. They reached my camp
about two o'clock in the morning, everything
in good order and most of the men at the corral
asleep. A picket had been driven in an hour
and a half before by the enemy, that on the hdl
south of the corral, but the enemy was im-
mediately dislodged and ground pits being dug,
all the points were held. The howitzer hax'ing
been fired on the way out, it was believed noth-
ing would be gained by waiting till morning
and the whole force immediately returned to
Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe's camp.

■'Soon after sunrise the enemy attacked the
camp, but was soon dislodged by the howitzer
and a charge by detachment from Steptoe's
command. On my arri\-al at the camp I urged
Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe to build a block
house immediately; to lea\e one company to
defend it with all his supplies, then to march
below and return with an additional force and
additional supplies, and by a vigorous winter
campaign to whip the Indians into submission.
I placed at his disposal for the building my

teams and Indian employes. The block house
and stockade were built in a little more than
ten days. ^ly Indian store room was rebuilt
at one corner of the stockade.

"On the 23d day of September we started
for The Dalles, which we reached on the 2d of
October. Nothing of interest occurred on the
road.

"In the action of the 19th, my whole
force consisted of Goff's company of sixty-
nine, rank and file, the teamsters, herders and
Indian employes, numbering about fifty men.
Our train consisted of about five hundred ani-
mals, not one of which was captured by the
enemy, ^^'e fought four hundred and fifty
Indians and had one man mortally, one dan-
gerously and two slightly wounded. We
killed and wounded thirteen Indians. One-
half the Nez Perces, one hundred and twenty
warriors, all of the Yakimas and Palouses,
two hundred warriors ; the great bulk of the
Cayuses and Umatillas and an unknown num-
ber of the Walla Wallas and Indians from
other bands were in the fight. The principal
war chiefs were the son of Ouhi, Isle de
Pere and Chief Ouoltomee; the latter of
whom had two horses shot under him, and
who showed me a letter from Colonel Wright
acknowledging his valuable services in bring-
ing about the peace of the Yakimas.

"I have failed, therefore, in making the
desired arrangements with the Indians in the
Walla Walla, and the failure, to be attrib-
uted in part to the want of co-operation with
me as superintendent of Indian affairs on the
part of the regular troops, has its causes also
in the whole plan of operations of the troops
since Colonel Wright assumed command.

"The Nez Perces, entirely friendly last
December and January, became first disaf-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

fected in consequence of the then chief of the
Cayuses, UmehowHsh, and the friendly Cay-
uses going into the Nez Perce country con-
trary to my positive orders. I refused to
allow them to go there in December last, say-i
ing to them : T have ordered the Nez Percer.
to keep hostiles out of the country. If you
go there your friends in the war party will
come; they cannot be kept out. Through
them disai¥ection will spread among a portion
of the Nez Perces.' Umehowlish, my pris-
oner, was sent into the Nez Perce country
by Colonel Wright, and from the time of his
arrival there all the efforts made by Agent
Craig to prevent the spread of disaffection
were abortive. What I apprehended and
predicted had already come to pass. Look-
ing Glass, the prominent man of the lower
Nez Perces, endeavored to betray me on the
Spokane as I was coming in from the Black-
foot council, and I was satisfied from that
time that he was only awaiting a favorable
moment to join bands with Kamaiakun in a
war upon the whites, and Colonel Wright's
management of affairs in the Yakima fur-
nished the opportunity.

"The war was commenced in the Yakima
on our part in consecpence of the attempt
first to seize the murderers of the agent Bo-
lon and the miners who had passed through
their country; and, second, to punish the tribe
for making common cause with them and
driving Major Haller out of the country. It
is greatly to be deplored that Colonel Wright
had not first severely chastised the Indians,
and insisted not only upon the rendition of
the nuu-derers, but upon the absolute and un-
conditional submission of the whole tribe to
the justice and mercy of the government.
The long delavs which occurred in the Ya-

kimas, the talking and not fighting, this at-
tempt to pacify the Indians and not reducing
them to submission, thus giving safe conduct
to murderers and assassins and not seizing
them for summary and exemplary punish-
ment, gave to Kamaiakun the whole field of
the interior, and by threats, lies and prom-
ises he has brought into the combination one-
half of the Nez Perce nation, and the least
thing may cause the Spokanes, Cceur d'Alenes,
Colvilles and Okanogans to join them.

"I state boldly that the cause of the Nez
Perces becoming disaffected and finally going
into war, is the operations of Colonel Wright
east of the Cascades — operations ,so feeljle,
so procrastinating, so entirely unecjual to the
emergency, that not only has a most severe
blow been struck at the credit of the gov-
ernment and the prosperity and character of
this remote section of the country, but the
impression has been made upon the Indians
that the people and the soldiers were a dif-
ferent peopljc. I repeat to you officially that
when the Indians attacked me, they expected
Colonel Steptoe would not assist me, and
when they awoke from their delusion, Kama-
iakun said, T will now let these people know
who Kamaiakun is.' One of the good effects
of the fight is, that the Indians have learned
that we are one people, a fact which had not
previously been made apparent to them by
the operations of the regular troops.

"Is, sir, the army sent here to protect our
people and punish Indian tribes, who without
cause and in cold blood, and in spite of sol-
emn treaties, murder our people, burn our
houses and wipe out entire settlements? If.
it the duty of General Wool and his officers
to refuse to co-operate with me in my appro-
priate duties as superintendent of Indian af-

HISTORY OF ^^■ALI,A WALLA COUNTY.

fairs, and thus practically to assume those issue edicts prohibiting settlers returning to

duties themselves? Is it the duty of General their claims, and thus for at least one county

Wool, in his schemes of pacifying the Indians, —the Walla \\"alla— make himself dictator of

to trample down the laws of Congress; to the country .-'"

CHAPTER VII.

DEFINITE ORGANIZATION OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY AND POLITICAL HISTORY,

1859 TO 1863.

It was not until the autumn of the year
1858 that the Walla Walla country was for-
mally opened to permanent settlement or oc-
cupation by white men, and even yet it was
not until the following spring that Congress
ratified the Indian treaties made through the
efforts of Governor Stevens in 1855. The
Indians were, however, in a state of subjec-
tion and fear, owing to the successful work
of Colonel George Wright in his recent ex-
pedition directed against the hostile savages
in this section of the territory. This circum-
stance made it practicable for the white set-
tlers to come in and occupy the lands. A
number of ranchers and cattle men soon es-
tablished themselves along the streams run-
ning forth from the western base of the Blue
mountains. Among those who thus located
in this section during the closing months of
1858 may be mentioned Thomas P. Page,
James Foster, Charles Russell, J. C. Smith,
Christopher Alaier, John Singleton, John A.
Simms and Joseph McAvoy, all of whom
long continued their residence there, being
well-known pioneers. ]\Ir. Simms subse-
quently became Indian agent at the Col\-ille
reservation, where he served acceptably. The
year 1859 showed a material influx of per-
manent settlers, ranchers filing claims to

lands along the various streams as far north-
east as the present site of Dayton, located
on the Touchet river, in Columbia county.
Walla \\'alla county was as yet hobbling
along with essentially no political organiza-
tion, as has been noted in a preceding chap-
ter. The legislature, however, made another
effort to look after the destinies of this ter-
ritorial offspring, and in 1859, under an act
bearing date of January 19th of that year,
once more appointed officers to serve the
county, the incumbents to retain their posi-
tions until the election and qualification of
their successors. The officers thus appointed
were as follows : County commissioners,
John INIahan, Walter R. Davis, John C. Smith ;
sheriff, Edward D. Pearce ; auditor, R. H.
Reighart ; probate judge, Samuel D. Smith;
justice of the peace, J. A. Simms. Commis-
sioners Alahan and Davis met at Walla W'alla
on the 15th of ^March, 1859, and. as author-
ized by the general law of the territory, ap-
pointed James Galbreath auditor and Lycur-
gus Jackson sheriff', after which they ad-
journed. I. T. Reese was elected recorder
in the following July, and upon him devolved
the duty of properly entering upon the rec-
ords the minutes of the proceedings of this
first, as well as subsequent meetings, of the

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

commissioners. The second meeting of the
board was held on the 26th of March, when
E. H. Brown was appointed probate judge;
Lycurgus Jackson, assessor; Neil ^IcGlin-
chey, county treasurer; and William B. Kelly,
superintendent of public schools. At this
session of the board was also made provision
for a general election, to be held in July, for
which purpose the county was divided into
two voting precincts. — known respectively as
Dry Creek precinct and Steptoeville precinct.
In the former the polling place designated
was the residence of J. C. Smith, the judges
being E. Bonner, J. M. Craigie and William
Fink. Many were advocating the name of
Steptoeville as the appellation for the county-
seat, and for this precinct the balloting was
to be done at the church in "Steptoeville."
The election judges for this latter precinct
were J. A. Simons, William B. Kel'y and
William McWhirk, while to Thomas Hughes
were assigned the duties of clerk, and under
such official supervision was duly held the sec-
ond election in Walla Walla county, the first
having been held in 1855.

The original board of commissioners met
again prior to the election, their session hav-
ing been held on the 6th of June, at Steptoe-
ville. At this time were arrangements made
for the renting of a court-house, for whic!'(
accommodations the stupendous sum of
twenty dollars per month was to be paid,
while a tax levy of seven mills on the dollar
was also made. At a meeting held on the
2d of July, the commissioners accepted the
resignation of James Galbreath, county audi-
tor, appointing as his successor in the office
Augustus Von Hinkle. At this meeting the
name of Steptoeville was changed to Waii-
latpu.

Of the election held in July, 1859, "° ^^^'

ords are extant, but that it occurred in due
order is evident, for on the 5th of September
following the new board of commissioners
assembled and b}- ballot determined their re-
spective terms of service, — Charles Russell,
one year; John Mahan, two years; and Will-
liam McWhirk, three years. The records
of this meeting give the essential data in re-
gard to the election, which, as above noted,
had occurred, though no definite record of
the same can now be found. The county offi-
cers, therefore, whose bonds were approved
at this session of the board were as follows:
.\uditor, I. T. Reese; sheriff, Lycurgus Jack-
son; treasurer, Ne 1 ^IcGlinchey; assessor,
Thomas P. Page; surveyor, H. H. Case; jus-i
tice of the peace, J. ^l. Canaday. To Mr.
Reese was voted the sum of fcrty dollars per
month for the rent of court-house.

THE COUNTY SEAT VILLAGE OF WALLA W.\LLA

RECEIVES ITS NAME.

The village of Walla \\'alla was so desig-
nated by the county commissioners at their
meeting on November 7, 1859, and there was
simultaneously granted to it a town govern-
ment. Here also was formally established the
county-seat, — a due quota of glory and honor
for one day. The great fire which occurred
in 1865 destroyed many valuable records touch-
ing the early political aft'airs of the county,
such as election returns, assessment rolls, etc.

THE ELECTION OF 1860.

At a meeting held on the 7th of May,
i860, the county commissioners placed the tax
le\y for the year at seven mills on the dollar,
and preparatory for the election in July fol-
lowing divided the county into five voting

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

districts. — Walla Walla, Dry Creek. Snake
River. East Touchet and West Touchet. At
this election there was submitted to the peo-
jdIc the question as to whether or not a tax
should be levied for the erection of a court-
house and jail, and while the records, as pre-
viously mentioned, do not give the returns
for said election in any respect, the fact that
the two buildings were not built at that time
offers adecjuate evidence as to the negative
character of the vote of the ciualified electors
of the county. Prisoners of the county still
continued to be sent to Fort Vancouver to
languish in durance vile. The officers elected
in July, i860, were as follows: Auditor and
recorder, James Galbreath; sheriff, James A.
Buckley; surve3'or, M. J. Xoyse; assessor.
C. Langley; coroner, Almiron Daggett; jus-
tices of the peace, William J. Horton, John
Sheets, Horace Strong, Elisha Everetts and
William B. Ivelly. Of the transactions of
this official corps no trace of record can be
found, but at the county election held in July,
1 86 1, the board of county commissioners con-
sisted of ^^'. H. Patton, S. Maxon and John
Sheets. On the 5th of November Sheriff
Buckley was appointed county assessor, S.
Owens, who had been elected to the office in
1861, having failed to qualify. The sheriff
had been, by virtue of his office, tax collector,
and his appointment as assessor was a con-
sistent action on the part of the board. That
the citizens of the county still had certain
yearnings for a bastile in which to confine
malefactors, is shown in the fact that, on the
8th of November the commissioners awarded
to Charles Russell the contract to build a
county jail, at a cost of three thousand three
hundred and fifty dollars. The building was
duly completed in the year 1862, the con-
tractor receiving in payment for his services

six thousand se\-en hundred dollars in scrip.
It is worthy of note in the connection that,
in 1 88 1, JNIr. Russell purchased from the
county this historic old building, which had
been the scene and center of many thrilling
events, demolished it, and removed the debris
to his ranch. For the building which he had
thus erected at the behest of the county ha
paid the sum of one hundred and twenty dol-
lars, and it was not criminal salvage at that.

THE EFFECT OF THE GOLD EXCITEMENT
IN i860.

In a preceding chapter we have had occa-
sion to incidentally mention the gold e.xcite-
ment of i860, which eventually had so pro-
nounced an effect upon the growth and de-
\-elopment of the eastern portion of the ter-
ritory of Washington. Prior to 1861 there
had been but little to encourage permanent
settlements by emigrants in the vicinity of the
Blue mountains, where now stretch far and
wide some of the most productive and valua-
ble farming and fruit lands in the Union.
In fact, it may be said 'that even as late as
1 86 1 there was obtained a very slight concep-
tion of the great intrinsic value of this sec-
tion as an agricultural district, land available
for cultivation being considered as of limited
extent. What a revelation has been made in
less than a half century! Even had the art
of agriculture been forced forward here at
the time mentioned, there was practically no
market for products, no shipping facilities be-
ing available, and aside from those connected
with the garrison at Fort Walla Walla there
were no purchasers to be found for the prod-
ucts of the soil. Those who had come hither
and taken up ranches along the various water
courses devoted the same to grazing purposes.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

their plan being to utilize the lands for cattle-
raising for an interval of a few years, rais-
ing small crops of grain for their own use in
the meantime, and, perhaps, having a small
residuum to sell. A well-known historian
has said in regard to the conditions existing,
that "had the military post been abandoned
in i860 but few whites would have remained
east of the Cascades, and stock-raising would
have been the only inducement for anyone to
remain there."

But Ithrough an unexpected source there
was to be given an impetus to the settlement
and development of this region. That metal
which men hold as the basis of all values
was destined to draw its devotees to eastern
Washington and to absolutely transform the
character of the country. One of the most
notable gold excitements known to history
was soon to come. It is related that a Nez
Perce Indian made his way to California at
the time of the gold excitement there, form-
ing the accjuaintance of some miners, whom
he impressed by his intelligence and dignity
of bearing. Among these miners was a some-
what visionary and enthusiastic man, E. D.
Pearce, to whom the Nez Perce brave gave
information as to his home in the far distant
mountain fastnesses of what is now Idaho.
He told a fantastic and romantic tale of the
accidental discovery which had been made by
himself and two companions while encamped
for the night among the mountains which
had been his haunt from childhood. A light
of surpassing brightness was suddenly re-
vealed to them among the cliffs, having the
appearance of a refulgent star. The super-
stitious Indians regarded the shining object
with awe, deeming it to be the eye of the
Great Spirit, but at daybreak they summoned
sufficient courage to investigate, eventually

finding "a glittering ball that looked like
glass," the same being imbedded in the solid
rock. They were unable to dislodge the ob-
ject, which they believed to be ''great medi-
cine." Pearce became imbued with the idea
that the red men had discovered a wonder-
ful diamond, and he determined to secure the
same if possible. Upon this seemingly trivial
circumstance hinged the discovery of gold in
what was eastern W'ashington, in i860.
Pearce eventually made his way to the dalles
of the Columbia and thence came to \Valla
Walla, where he took up his abode. He
scouted through the mountains east of Snake
river and finally associated himself with a
party, who were animated by the hope of
finding gold, by reason of his representations,
while he himself had ever in mind the won-
derful diamond.

The little exploring party comprised seven
men, but they were eventual!}- ordered out
of the Nez Perce country by the Indians, who
were suspicious of their plans. Pearce finally
induced a Nez Perce sc[uaw to lead them
through to the Lolo trail by a route which the
members of her tribe seldom utilized. They
proceeded to the north fork of the Clearwater
river, through the Palouse country, and even-
tually camped on a meadow among the moun-
tains. There one of the compan}-, W. F.
Bassett, tried for gold in the soil of a little
stream which traversed the gulch. He found
about three cents' worth of gold in his first
pan, this being the original discovery of the
precious metal in those mountains, and the
place being the site of the famous Ora Fino
mines, in the present state of Idaho.

After washing out about eighty dollars in
gold the party returned to Walla W^alla, mak-
ing their headquarters at the home of J. C.
Smith, on Dry creek, and finally so thor-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

oughly enlisting his interest and co-operation
that he fitted out a party of about fifteen
men, largely at his own expense, to return to
the new gold fields for the winter. Sergeant
Smith's party reached the mines in November,
i860, arousing the antipathy and distrust of
the Lidians, who appealed to the government
officers for the protection of their reserve
from such encroachments. A body of sol-
diers from Fort Walla Walla started out for
the mines, with the intention of removing the
interlopers, but the heavy snowfall in the
mountains rendered the little party of miners
inaccessible, so they were not molested. Dur-
ing the winter the isolated miners devoted
their time to building five log cabins, the first
habitations erected in Oro Fino, sawing the
lumber by hand. They also continued to
work for gold under the snow, and alaout the
first of January, 1861, two of the men made
a successful trip to the settlements, by the
utilizing of snow-shoes, while in March Ser-
geant Smith made a similar trip, taking with
him eight hundred dollars in gold dust. From
this reserve he was able to pay Kyger & Reese,
of Walla Walla, the balance due them on the
prospecting outfit which had been supplied to
the adventurous little party in the snowy
mountains. The gold dust was sent to Port-
land, Oregon, and soon the new mines were
the subject of maximum interest, the ultimate
result being a "gold excitement" quite equal
to that of California in 1849, si'^d within a
few months the rush to the new diggings was
on in earnest, thousands starting forth for the
favored region.

WALL.\ WALL.\ BENEFITED BY THE RUSH
FOR GOLD.

The budding city of Walla Walla profited
materially by the influx of gold-seekers, who

made their way up the Columbia river and
tlience moved forward to Walla \\'alla, which
became the great outfitting headquarters for
those en route to the gold country. At this
point were purchased provisions, tools, camp
accoutrements and the horses or mules re-
quired to pack the outfits to the mines.
Through this unforeseen circumstance there
was now a distinctive local market afforded
for the products of the \\'alla \^'alla country,,
and the farmer who had produce of any sort
to sell might esteem himself fortunate, for
good prices were freely offered. Nearly all
the grain that had been produced in the cinm-
try was held, in the spring of 1861. in the
mill owned and operated by Simms, Reynolds
& Dent, the total amount not amounting to
twenty thousand bushels. This surplus com-
manded a high price, the farmers receiving
two and one-half dollars per bushel for their
wheat, while at the mines the operators were
compelled to pay one d9llar a pound for the
flour manufactured therefrom. The inade-
quacy of the local supply of food products
was such that, had not additional provender
been transported from Oregon, starvation
would have stared the miners in the face.
This fact gave rise to the almost unprece-
dented prices demanded for the products essen-
tial to the maintenance of life. New mining
districts were discovered by the eager pros-
pectors and all was bustle and activity in the
mining region until the fall of 1861. In No-
vember of that year many of the miners came
to \\'alla Walla for the winter, bringing their
hard-earned treasure with them and often
spending it with the prodigality so typical of
the mining fraternity in the early days.

Although many of the diggings yielded
from six to ten dollars per day, many of the
operators feared the ravages of a severe win-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

ter and fully realized the animus of the mer-
chants at Oro Fino, who refused to sell their
goods, believing that starvation would ulti-
mately face the miners and that they could
then secure any price they might see fit to
demand. Li November of the year noted the
prices at Oro Fino were quoted as follows
on certain of the necessaries of life: Flour,
twenty-live dollars per one hundred pounds;
beef, thirty cents per pound; coffee, not to be
had; candles, not for sale; and bacon and
beans, exceedingly scarce. That the pros-
pectors and miners should seek to hibernate
nearer civilization and take refuge in Walla
Walla was but naltural under the circum-
stances.

During the rush to the mining districts,
both in 1 86 1 and 1862, Walla Walla was the
scene of the greatest activity : streets were
crowded ; the merchants were doing a thriv-
ing business; and pack trains moved in a
seemingly endless procession toward the gold
fields. The excitement was fed by the glow-
ing reports that came frum the mining dis-
tricts, and the natural result was to augment
the flood of gold-seekers pouring into the
mining districts in the spring of 1862, as will
be noted later on. As an example of the allur-
ing reports entered in the latter part of 1861,
we may appropriately quote from the Wash-
ington Statesman of that period, said paper
being published in Walla Walla, and being
the precursor of the Walla ^Valla Statesman
of the present day. From an editorial in said
publication we make the following extract :

S. F. Ledyard arrived last evening from the Salmon
river mines, and from him it is learned that some six
hundred miners would winter there; that some two hun-
dred had gone to the south side of the river, where two
streams head that empty into the Salmon, some thirty
miles southeast of present mining camp. Coarse gold is
found, and as high as one hundred dollars per day to the

man has been taken out. The big mining claim of the
old locality belongs to Mr. Wiser, of Oregon, from where
two thousand, six hundred and eighty dollars were taken
on the 20th, with two rockers. On the 21st, three thous-
and, three hundred and sixty dollars were taken out with
the same machines. Other claims were paying from two
to five pounds per day. Flour has fallen to fifty cents
per pound, and beef, at from fifteen to twenty-five cents,
is to be had in abundance. Most of the mines supplied
until first of June. Mr. L. met between Slate Creek and
Walla Walla, en route for the mines, three hundred and
ninety four packs and two hundred and fifty head of beef
cattle.

Li the issue of the Statesman for Decem-
ber 13, 1 86 1, appears the following interest-
ing information concerning the mines and the
inducements there offered :

The tide of emigration to Salmon river flows steadily
onward. During the week past, not less than two hundred
and twenty-five pack animals, heavily laden with provis-
ions, have left this city for the mines. If the mines are
one-half so rich as they are said to be, we may safely calcu-
late that many of these trains will return as heavily laden
with gold dust as they now are with provisions.

The late news from Salmon river seems to have
given the gold fever to everybody in this immediate
neighborhood. A number of persons from Florence City
have arrived in this place, during the week, and all bring
the most extravagant reports as to the richness of the
mines. A report, in relation to a rich strike made by Mr.
Bridges, of Oregon City, seems to come well authenticated.
The first day he worked on his claim (near Baboon gulch)
he took out fifty-seven ounces; the second day he took
out one hundred and fifty-seven ounces; third day, two
hundred and fourteen ounces, and the fourth day, two
hundred ounces in two hours. One gentleman informs
us that diggings have been found on the bars of Salmon
river which yield from twenty-five cents to two dollars
and fifty cents to the pan, and that on claims in the Sal-
mon river, diggings have been found where " ounces "
won't describe them, and where they say the gulches are
full of gold. The discoverer of Baboon gulch arrived in
this city yesterday, bringing with him sixty pounds of
gold dust, and Mr. Jacob Weiser is on his way with a
mule loaded with gold dust.

Within the year more than one and one-
half millions of dollars in gold dust had been
shipped from the mining districts, — a circum-
stance which of itself was enough to create
a wide-spread and infectious gold-fever. An-
ticipating the rush for the mines in the vear

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

1862. a great deal of live-stock had been
brought to the \\"alla Walla country in the
latter part of 1861, while the demands for
food products led many ranchers to make
provisions for raising greatly increased crops
of grain and other produce to meet the de-
mands of the coming season.

The winter of 186 1-2 was one of utmost
severity, and its rigors entailed a gigantic loss
to residents throughout the eastern por-
tion of ^^'ashington territory, — a section
practically isolated from all other portions of
the world for many weeks. It has been said
that this "was the se\-erest winter known to
the whites on the Pacific coast." The stock
in the Walla \\'alla country perished by the
thousands, the animals being unable to secure
feed and thus absolutely starving to death.
From December to March the entire country
here was effectually hedged in by the v^st
quantities of snow and the se\-erely cold
weather. Xot until ^Nlarch 22d do we find
the statement in the local newspaper that
warm rains had set in and that the snow had
commenced to disappear. One result is shown
in the further remark, that "Occasionally the
sun shines out, when the sunny side of the
street is lined with men." The loss of stock
in this section during that memorable winter
was estimated at fully one million dollars, hay
having reached the phenomenal price of one
hundred and twenty-five dollars per ton, while
flour commanded twenty-five dollars per bar-
rel in \\'alla \\'alla. It may not be malapro-
pos to quote a list of prices which obtained
in the Oro Fino mining region in December-,
1861 : Bacon, fifty to sixty cents per pound;
flour, twenty-five to thirty dollars per hun-
dred weight; beans, twenty-five to thirty
cents per pound; rice, forty to fifty cents per
pound; butter, seventy-five cents to one dol-

lar: sugar, forty to fifty cents: candles, eighty
cents to one dollar per pound : tea, one dollar
and a quarter to one and a half per pound ;
tobacco, one dollar to one and a half; coffee,
fifty cents.

RUSH OF GOLD-SEEKERS IX 1862.

In view of the recent gold excitement in
Alaska, how familiarly will read the follow-
ing statements from the \\'ashington States-^
man of i\Iarch 22, 1862: "From persons who
have arri\-ed here from The Dalles during
the week, we learn that there were some four
thousand miners in Portland fifteen days ago,
awaiting the opening of navigation to thq
upper country. Hundreds were arriving by
every steamer, and the town was literally filled
to overflowing." L'nder date of April 5th,
the same paper gives the following pertinent
information : "From one hundred and thirty
to one hundred and fort)^ passengers, on their
way to the mines, come up to Wallula on every
steamer, and the majority of them foot it
through to this place (^^'alla Walla)." By
the last of ilNIay it was estimated by some
that between twenty-five and thirty thousand
persons had reached or were en route to the
mining regions east of the Cascades, but con-
servative men now in \\'alla Walla regard
that a great overestimate. The merchants of
\A'alla Walla profited largely through the pat-
ronage of the ever advancing column of pros-
pectors and miners, but the farmers did not
fare so well, owing to the extreme devasta-
tions of the severe winter just passed. Enough
has been said to indicate the causes which
led to the rapid settlement and development
of eastern Washington and Oregon, — an ad-
vancement that might have taken many years
to accomplish had it not been for the discov-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

ery of gold, in so romantic a manner. The
yield of gold reported through regular chan-
nels for the year 1862 aggregated fully seven
million dollars, and it is certain that several
millions were also sent out through mediums
which gave no record.

In February, 1862, food products and
merchandise commanded the following prices
at Florence: Flour, one dollar per pound; ba-
con, one dollar and a quarter; butter, three
dollars; cheese, one dollar and a half; lard,
one dollar and a quarter ; sugar, one dollar and
a quarter; coffee, two dollars; tea, two dollars
and a half; gum boots per pair, thirty dollars;
shovels, from twelve to sixteen dollars.

POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE YEAR.

The status of affairs in Walla Walla
county at the opening of the year 1862 was
radically different from what it had been at
the time of the last county election, and the
matter of choosing incumbents for the vari-
ous official positions had become one of no little
importance. The rapid increase in popula-
tion and the varying character of those who
had taken up their abode, for a greater or
less time, within the boundaries of the county
rendered it imperative that men of ability and
sterling worth should be selected to adminis-
ter the aft'airs of the county, where lawless-
ness and crime walked side by side with vir-
tue and rectitude. Many rough characters
were attracted to the mining districts, and a
large proportion of these had slight regard
for the value of human life or for personal
probity. Political affiliations had but little
weight, under the circumstances, with the
better element of the county's population; it
was recognized as essential that good men
should be chosen for office, rather than that
the party lines should be strenuously drawn.

A call for a mass convention was issued
prior to the July election, the same bearing the
signatures of the following named represent-
ative citizens : R. H. Archer, J. D. Agnew,
Ouin. A. Brooks, C. S. Bush, D. S. Baker,
W. A. Ball, J. Buckley, O. L. Bridges, S.
Buckley, A. J. Cain, H. J. Cady, E. P. Crans-
ton, F. A. Chenoweth, W. W. De Lacy, J. P.
Goodhive, H. M. Hodges, W. P. Horton,
J. Hellmuth, H. Howard, J. B. Ingersoll, W.
W. Johnson, R. Jacobs, Kohlhauff & Guich-
ard, E. E. Kelly, A. Kyger, S. Linkton, M.
Lazarus, N. Northrop, E. Nugent, J. 'SL
Norton, W. Phillips, W. H. Patton, R. R.
Rees, I. T. Reese, A. B. Roberts, B. Sheede-
man, J. A. Simms, A. Schwabacker, John
Sheets, D. J. Schnebly, J. Van Dyke and D.
Young.

For some unknown cause the convention,
which assembled in "Walla Walla on the 21st
of June, 1862, failed to place candidates in
nomination, but that various candidates were
put forward is shown by the records. The
election occurred on the 14th of Jul}-, the re-
sult being as follows : For representative in
the territorial legislature N. Northrop received
355 votes; S. D. Smith 317, H. M. Chase
302, and F. A. Chenoweth 132; other officers
elected being: Edward Nugent, district at-
torney; James McAuliff, treasurer; H. M.
Hodgis, assessor; \\'. W. Johnson, surveyor;
J. F. Wood, superintendent of schools ; L. C.
Kinney, coroner; and James Van Dyke, John
Sheets and S. S. Galbreath, county commis-
sioners. James Buckley was appointed sheriff,
serving until February, 1863, on the 7th of
which month Isaac L. Roberts was appointed
as his successor, holding the office only to the
17th of March, when he resigned, E. B. Whit-
man being appointed to fill the vacancy.
James Van Dyke resigned the office of com-i

HISTORY OF \\'ALLA ^^'ALLA COUNTY.

missioner in August, 1863, and on the 5th
of September of that year H. D. 0"Bryan
was appointed to the office. S. S. Galbreath
failed to quahfy as commissioner at the time
of his election, but held the office by appoint-
ment, the same having been made on the 5th
of August, 1862.

1I.\TERI.\L PROGRESS OF WALLA WALLA
COUNTY IN 1862.

The onspeeding tide of gold-seekers did
not fail to bring in its wake a due quota of
permanent settlers, for the resources of the
Walla Walla valley began to receive a more
grateful appreciation. Quite a large number
of emigrants settled along the creeks and
rivers skirting the base of the Blue mount-
ains at the north and west. Farmers pro-
duced little to sell, and prices continued to be
high. Sufficient grain had, however, been
raised to warrant the erection of another
flouring mill, the same having been built by
A. H. Reynolds, on Yellow Hawk creek.
This was originally known as the Frontier
mill, later as the Star. Captain INIedoreni
Crawford, who was in command of the emi-
grant escort of about eighty men, crossing
the plains in 1862, and whose statements may
be considered as authoritative as any data
available, estimated the number of wagons on
the road for Washington territory and Ore-
gon at sixteen hundred, and the number of
persons at ten thousand. A large number of
emigrants, principally from Iowa, settled in
the Grande Ronde valley, being people of ster-
ling worth and invincible courage, — the true

basic elements of a prosperous commonwealth.
A saw-mill was erected at the head of the val-
ley, and the town of LaGrande sprung into
being, having about fifteen houses in the fall
of 1862. Flour sold there at fifteen dollars
per hundredweight.

In Xovember, 1862, we have the authority
of the Washington Statesman to maintain
that the town of LaGrande had a population
of one hundred, two stores, one hotel and a
blacksmith shop. In March, 1862, Lewiston,
at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater
rivers, had been laid out as a town, Wallula
gaining a similar' prestige in the following
month, being located on the Columbia river.
At the close of the year 1862 \\'alla Walla,
a city of less than one hundred houses, nest-
ling at the base of the Blue mountains; La-
Grande, in the mountain valley, as noted ; the
military trading post at The Dalles ; Pinkney
City (Colville), in Spokane county, consti-
tuted, with the two previously mentioned, the
^•illage settlements established between the
Rocky and Cascade ranges. Besides these
there were, of course, the primitive mining
towns in the mountains, the same being, how-
ever, little more than camps.

It was e.xceedingly gratifying to the in-
habitants of this section to find that the win-
ter of 1862-3 proved as mild and equable as
had the previous one been austere and rig-
orous. Up to the beginning of February,
1863, there had been practicall)^ no winter,
and a grateful Chinook wind cleared the val-
ley of snow, on the i6th of that month, the
snow having, in fact, been in evidence for but
a week. This represented the end of the win-
ter.

CHAPTER VIII.

POLITICAL HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY, 1863-1866.

The legislature of 1858, by the erection
of Spokane county, made the Snake river con-
stitute the north and east boundary line of
Walla Walla county, which still included all
the territory between the Cascade range and
the Columbia river, with the exception of
Klickitat county. In January, 1863, the legis-
lature of the territory created the county of
Stevens, the same being taken from AValla
Walla count)^ and located west of the Colum-
bia, along the borders of the British posses-
sions and north of the Wenatchee river. The
new county was attached to Spokane for ju-
dicial purposes.

The little city of Walla Walla had thus
far been on the direct route to the mines and
had grown and prospered through the influ-
ence of the pack trains which were fitted out
within her gates and through the flocking of
the miners to the place to spend their gold
in various ways. But in the latter part of
1862 gold had been discovered in the famous
Boise basin, in what is now the state of Idaho.
This discovery deflected the line of gold-
seekers from Walla Walla, which was now to
one side of the most direct line for the trans-
portation to the new region of the passengers
and freight coming up the Columbia river.
The tide of emigration to the new mines set
in in the spring of 1863, and this led to the
establishment of a new town at the confluence
of the Columbia and Umatilla rivers, the name
of the latter being given to the new village.

From that point a line of stages was put in
operation over the emigrant road to the Boise
basin, and though Walla Walla sufl^ered
somewhat from the deflection of travel and
traffic, yet the energy and progressiveness of
her merchants and citizens proved adequate
to maintain to a large extent her trade
prestige, which attracted many over from the
slightly more direct route to the mines. Two
stage lines gave a daily service between W'alla
Walla and Wallula, and these were taxed to
accommodate passengers, who paid five dol-
lars fare, while the transportation of freight
between the two points was eft'ected by the
pa}-ment of twenty dollars per ton. After July
I a tri-weekly mail was received from and
dispatched to The Dalles, this service proving
of great value. Some idea of the amount of
freight passing through the country may be
gleaned from the fact that, upon the comple-
tion of their thirteen-mile Dalles and Celilo
railway, the Oregon Steam Navigation Com-
pany sold to the government for the sum of
forty-three thousand dollars the teams they
had been utilizing for the transportation of
freight.

POLITICAL MATTERS IX 1863.

At the time of the county election in 1863
a delegate to congress was to be chosen, and
owing- to the diverging opinions in regard to
the Civil war, then in progress, party alle-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

giance came to the front in the territory to a
much greater extent than at an}^ previous time.
This led to a spirited campaign, the prime ob-
ject of each party being, of course, to secure
the election of their congressional candidate.
George E. Cole, of Walla Walla, was the can-
didate of the Democratic party, and the Re-
ptiblican party spared no effort to reduce to
the greatest extent possible his home majority.
The Radical vote of the county in the year
1863 constituted only a little over one-third
of its voting population, but a ticket was placed
in the field for the sole purpose of maintain-
ing a party organization, for the influence it
might have in a territorial election. The re-
sult of the election in the county, on July 13,
1863, was as follows, the total vote cast hav-
ing been a trifle less than six hundred : George
E. Cole, the Democratic candidate for dele-
gate to Congress, received 398 votes, while
the Republican candidate, J. O. Raynor, re-
ceived 146. Mr. Cole was ultimately elected
by the vote of the territory. The only Re-
publican elected on the county ticket was S.

B. Fargo, prosecuting attorney, and that the
greater portion of the voters must have re-
frained from balloting on this candidate is
evident when we revert to the fact that only
forty-seven vottes were cast, of which Mr.
Fargo secured all but two. The other officers
elected were as follows : Joint councilman,
Daniel Stewart; representatives, S. W. Bab-
cock, F. P. Dugan and L. S. Rogers; sheriff',
W. S. Gilliam; auditor, L. J. Rector; assessor,

C. Leyde, who removed from the county later
on, J. H. Blewett being appointed to succeed
him, February i, 1864; coroner, L. Danforth;
and county commissioner, Thomas P. Page.

The finances of the county at the close of
the year 1863 were somewhat suspiciously in-
volved, and the investigation made by the grand

jury resulted in various charges of official mal-
feasance, negligence and even peculation. The
situation may be briefly summed up by the com-
parison of the figures representing the avail-
able assets and the total indebtedness of the
county on October 10, 1863, the report of the
jury having been rendered on the 22d of that
month. The total in the treasury at the date
noted aggregated only $2,199.14, while the
total amount due on county orders presented
was $21,286.00, and on those not presented
an additional $2,294.42, making a total of $2^,-
580.42. The jury caustically remarked in its
report that '"The county officers' books, pre-
vious to the present incumbents, have been so
imperfectly kept that it is impossible to derive
a correct conclusion from them."

THE RECORD OF THE YEAR 1864.

The early spring of 1864, ushered in after
aii exceptionally mild winter, seemed to give a
spontaneous revival to the trade and mining
activities east of the Cascades. Walla Walla
showed herself capable of holding her own,
and though not a city that vaunted herself, no
one could den}^ that her precedence was still
assured. The first line of stages between Walla
Walla and the Boise basin was put in operation
in the spring of this year by George F. Thomas
& Company, though within the preceding year
tliree different companies had been operating
express business over the route in question.
\\'a]la Walla became, or continued, a central
point for outfitting between the Columbia and
the mining districts, notwithstanding the op-
position offered by Umatilla, as already men-
tioned. Near the headwaters of the Columbia
river, in the British possessions, the Kootenai
mines had been discovered, and this soon di-
verted much of the emigration from Boise to

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

the new mines. All this tended to beget a
greater confidence in the future of the Walla
Walla \-alIey, which was growing to be re-
garded as a most favorable place for permanent
settlement.

The progress of the war of the Rebellion
brought about an enrollment for a draft in the
county, in 1864, and this indicated that there
were 1,133 men in the county eligible for and
subject to military duty, but the Democrats
n.ade the claim at the time that fully three
hundred of this number had been improperly
er.umerated, being simply transient residents,
ei'. route to the mines. This enumeration, how-
ex er, taken in connection with the ballot list
of the last election, offers the only available
data relative to the population of the county
in 1864.

The Statesman was authority for the infor-
mation that the debt of the county at the close
of the year 1864 aggregated seventeen thou-
sand dollars, of which three thousand should
be charged to defaulting officials, and four
thousand five hundred dollars to loss by de-
preciation in the value of the county script,
which was issued to pay for the county jail.
The assessment rolls of the year give the
property valuation of the county at $1,545,056,
— an increase of more than four hundred thou-
sand dollars over that of the preceding year.

^Vhat was, perhaps, the most important
e\-ent of the year, as bearing upon the develop-
ment and substantial growth of this section of
the country, was the fortunate discovery to
which another writer refers as follows: "It
was also found in 1864 that the uplands of the
V\'alla Walla country would produce grain, one
of the farmers having gathered thirty-three
bushels to the acre from a field c/f fifty acres,
sowed the previous fall, on the hills that here-

tofore had been considered useless for agri-
cultural purposes. This was a more itnportant
discovery than that of the mountain gold-fields,
for it was a bread mine, opened for millions
that are yet to come. The drouth of 1864 did
not prevent a bounteous wheat harvest, and a
larger surplus of grain than ever before in the
valley, much of which was sold at from one
and a half to two cents per pound."

ELECTION OF 1 864 LOYALTY TO THE UNION.

The Democrats of Walla Walla county held
a convention in the city of Walla Walla on the
1 8th of May, at which time resolutions were
aoopted which indicated that at least the ma-
jority of those assembled were loyal to the
Union cause. That there was a percentage of
voters in the county in sympathy with the cause
of the Confederacy was but natural, but these
were not so rabid as to withdraw their al-
legiance from their party by reason of the reso-
lutions which signified the animus of the con-
vention mentioned. Under title of the "Reg-
ular Democratic Ticket" the Democrats of the
county placed a county and legislative ticket
in the field, the opposition being represented by
a ticket whose caption was "Unconditional
Union Ticket."

The total number of votes cast was six hun-
dred and twenty-eight, — a gain of only twenty-
six over the number polled in 1863. It was
claimed that fully one hundred legal voters
failed to avail themselves of the franchise.
James McAuliff, who was later, and for many
years, mayor of the city of Walla Walla, of
which he is still an honored resident, was candi-
date for the office of treasurer on both tickets,
and the result of the election was as follows:

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Office. Name. Politics. \'ote.

Prosecuting Attorney.]. H. Lasater Dem 357

Prosecuting Attorney. S. B. Fargo Rep 219

Councilman W. G. Langford. . . . Dem .... 344

Representative A. L. Brown Dem 373

Representative F. P. Dugan Dem 324

Representative E. L. Bridges Dem 337

Representative O. P. Lacy Dem 325

Representative B. N. Sexton Rep 280

Jomt Representative.. Alvin Flanders Rep 269

Probate Judge J. H. Blewett .....Dem 346

Treasurer James McAuliff Dem 581

Assessor William H. Patton..Dem 323

Surveyor Charles White Dem 352

Coroner .A. J. Thibodo Dem 341

County Commissioner. H. D. O'Bryan Dem 345

For special ta.\, 230; against special ta.x, 365.

The early spring of 1865 was marked by a
renewed rush of emigrants to the mining dis-
tricts in the north. As early as February it
was reported that there were more than a thou-
sand miners congregated in Portland, where
they a\vaited the opening of navigation on the
Columbia that they might make their way on-
v.-ard to the mines of the "upper country."
They were followed by many other eager
searchers for the hidden aurific deposits. Ag-
riculture was gradually advancing in extent and
importance in the ^^"alla Walla country, and
prices still continued high. In June eggs were
selling in Walla \\'alla for forty cents per
dozen and in Septemljer wheat commanded one
dollar and a cjuarter per bushel. The city of
^^'alla Walla was visited by a disastrous fire
on the 3d of August, and many ^•aluable docu-
' ments were destroyed, including the county as-
sessment rolls, town plats and city records. In
this year the town of \\'aitsburg, on the
Touchet river, had its inception, the nucleus
of the now prosperous municipality being a
school-house and a flouring mill.

had hitherto been evidenced. The Democratic
party girded its loins and claimed to have
gained in numerical strength through the later
immigration; while the Republican party per-
fected a thorough organization. The delegates
of the latter to the territorial convention were
instructed to support Elwood Evans for con-
gressional delegate, but the successful candi-
date for nomination was Arthur A. Denny,
who had been for four years register of the
land ofiice at Olympia.

\Miile the Democratic convention of W^alla
^^'al!a county conceded that political expe-
diency authorized the selection of a congres-
sional delegate resident west of the Cascades,
thev instructed their delegates to present the
name of James H. Lasater for the office in case
ot disagreement as to choice of a candidate from
the coast country. James Tilton was, however,
the nominee of the territorial convention. The
result of the election in \\'alla Walla county
was as follo'ws, the election taking place on the
5th of June :

Office.

Name.

Politics. \'ote.

Delegate Arthur A. Denny. Rep 386

Delegate James Tilton Dem 4U6

Prosecuting Attorney. .S. B. Fargo Rep .... ..345

Joint Councilman Anderson Cox Rep 364

Representative J. D. Mi.x Dem 396

Representative James ]\IcAuh'ff. ...Dem 392

Representative A. G. Lloyd Dem 368

Representative T. G. Lee Dem 362

Representative B. N. Sexton Kep 354

Joint Representative. .J. M. A'ansyckle. . .Dem , 367

Sheriff A. Seitel Rep 407

Auditor J. H. Blevveu Dem 399

Assessor H. M. Hodgis Dem 393

Surveyor T. F. Berry 359

School Superintendent. J. L. Reeser Dem .... 386

Coroner A. J. Miner Dem 384

County Commissioner. .D. M. Jessee Dem 396

POLITICS IN 1865. A,t tijis election the total vote cast in the

The political situation in 1865 was such as county was 749, a gain of 122 over the num-

to arouse a more determined party interest than ber of ballots cast at the election of the preced-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

ii,g year. The se\-eral precincts in the county
were respectively represented in this total as
follows : Walla Walla, 539 ; Wallula, 54 : L'pper
Touchet, 96 ; Lower Touchet, 39 ; Pataha,
16; Snake River, 5. The average Democratic
vote of Walla Walla city was 291 and the
Republican 238. It is to be noted that in all
the other precincts majorities were given to the
Republican candidates, Init the Democratic
ticket was victorious, with the exception of

two candidates, as is shown by the returns en-
tered above. The Republican candidate for
ccngressional delegate was elected by a ma-
jority of over one thousand. Anderson Cox
was elected joint councilman to fill a vacancy
caused by the removal of Daniel Stewart from
the territory, but the latter returned and claimed
the seat when he was advised that a Republican
had been elected. Singularly enough, he did
not occupy the seat.

CHAPTER IX.

GENER.AL AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY, 1S66-1874.

In the winter of 1865-6 much snow fell 'a\
the Walja Walla country, the same having
reached a depth of eighteen inches in December,
1865. This unusual precipitation worked
great hardships to the stock-raisers and to
teamsters on their way from the mountains.
On January 16, 1866, began another snow
storm, which continued three days, leaving to
its credit fully eighteen inches of snow in the
valley. This was practically obliterated by a
Chinook wind which swept the valley in the
•opening days of February. Navigation on the
Columbia was opened on the 22d of the same
month, and the spring opened early and fav-
orably, though cloudy weather of unusual per-
sistency cast its gloom over a portion of the
month of March. The rush of gold-seekers to
Montana mines was inaugurated in the early
spring, this having been pronounced "the cul-
mination of the prosperous mining epoch that
placed Walla W^alla upon a basis of perma-
nence." Apropos of this, the A\'ashington
Statesman of April 13, 1866, speaks as follows :

In the history of mining excitements, we doubt
whether there ever has been a rush equal to that now
going on to Montana. From every point of the compass,
they drift by hundreds and thousands, and the cry is, " still
they come." The excitement promises to depopulate
portions of California, and from our own territory, as well
as Oregon, the rush is unprecedented. The stages that
leave here go out loaded down with passengers, all bound
for Blackfoot. In addition to the usual conveyances, men
of enterprise have placed passenger trains on the route
between Walla Walla and Blackfoot, and those trains go
out daily, with full passenger lists. Fare, with provisions
furnished, eighty dollars.

^Vith the ever increasing population in the
mining districts the problem of supplying the
camps became one of great importance, and the
cjuestion of transportation was one of utmost
significance, since supplies would natural!}- be
secured through the medium affording the
minimum rates. Goods could be drawn from
two sources of supply, San Francisco or Chi-
cago, and the rate war was on. The price per
ton for the transportation of supplies from San
Francisco to Helena, Montana, by way of
Owyhee and Snake rivers, in 1865, was three
hundred and forty-five dollars ; by way of Port-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

land and the Snake river to Lewiston, thence
by land to Helena, three hundred and twenty
dollars : by way of Portland to Wallula, thence
by land to Helena, two hundred and seventy-
five dollars ; and by way of Portland to White
Biufifs, thence by land to same destination,
two hundred and seventy dollars. This data
if derived from information collected and pub-
lished by the San Francisco chamber of com-
merce.

During- the summer of 1865, according to
reliable authority, more than one hundred pack
trains, averaging fifty animals each, with three
hundred pounds to the animal, thus aggregat-
irig seven hundred and fifty tons, were sent
forth from different points on the Columbia
river to Montana. The cost of transportation
was fully two hundred and forty thousand
dollars, and the value of the goods aggregated
about one million, two hundred thousand dol-
lars. These data will afford an idea as to the
vast amount of freight which was transported
through the Walla Walla valley in 1865, and
at the opening of the succeeding year the White
Bluffs route was enabled to oft'er a rate of five
dollars less per ton than was Walla Walla.
The Oregon Steam Navigation Company fav-
ored the former route, as they were desirous of
building up a town at White Bluffs, but this
aroused the protest of the teamsters of Walla
\\'alla, twenty-six of whom appended their
signatures to a card .which stated that in prefer-
ence to any other point on the Columbia river,
they preferred \\'allula as the point from which
to transport freight to Montana. This protest
had due influence, and thus Walla Walla was
enabled to hold her own.

\\'ithin the year 1866 an unsuccessful at-
tempt was made to annex \\'alla Walla county
to Oregon, a memorial being presented to the
Oregon legislature advocating such assimila-

tion. This mo\-ement was inaugurated by
Anderson Cox, to whom reference has been
made in connection with the election of 1865.
He succeeded in pushing the enterprise through
the Oregon legislature, and held it in the back-
ground in that of Washington. The scheme
^\•as headed off in large part through the efforts
of Hollon Parker, who visited Washington
City for the special purpose. It is a fact
worthy of great interest that if the region south
of Snake ri\'er had been annexed to Oregon
its vote in presidential elections would have
been sufficient to turn the scale in favor of the
Democratic candidates, and the election of 1876
would ha\e gone to Tilden instead of Hayes.
The Democratic party elected every candi-
date at the annual county election held June 4,
1866, the result being as follows: Joint coun-
cihnan (for \\'alla \\'alla and Stevens coun-
ties), B. L. Sharpstein; representatives, D. M.
Jessee, R. Jacobs, R. R. Rees, H. D. O'Bryan
and Thomas P. Page ; treasurer, James Mc-
Auliff: assessor, H. M. Hodgis; school super-
intendent, W. G. Langford ; county com-
missioners, T. G. Lee and H. A. Livingston.
\\'. L. Gaston was appointed county surveyor
in the following December. Commissioner
Livingston met an accidental death, on the 24th
oi August, and on the 3d of December Elisha
Pmg was appointed to fill the vacancy. The
county had as yet provided practically no ac-
commodations for the several officials, who la-
bored under great disadvantages by reason of
their inadequate quarters, which were indif-
ferently shifted from place to place, with no
provisions for propert}^ filing records and docu-
ments. The countv jail, used jointly by the
city, was a disgrace to the county and afforded
so little surety against the escape of prisoners,
who were occasionally placed in irons on this
account. — a thing that should have not been

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

required. In the year 1866 an abortive attempt
was made to patch up the old building, the
city enclosing the structure with a high board
fence, for the privilege of using it, and the
county magnanimously contributing a paltry
sum, which was utilized in reinforcing the
apertures made by escaping prisoners, and in
fitting up, over the cells, a room for the jailor
tc^ occupy.

INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY IN 1 867.

The productive energies of the Walla Walla
valley, along the lines which have in the full-
ness of time contributed most largely to the
precedence and substantial prosperity of the
section, began to be more self-assertive during
the year 1867, since this year marked the in-
ception of exporting flour to the coast, this rep-
resenting at the time the sole manufactured
product of Walla Walla county. A few bar-
rels were shipped in an experimental way, and
after the adjustment of freight rates by the
Oregon Steam Navigation Company, which
appeared to have discriminated against such
shipments at one time, the enterprise graciously
expanded. The amount of flour shipped to
The Dalles and Portland from April 19 to June
2, 1867, aggregated four thousand, seven hun-
dred and thirty-five barrels, the transportation
rates being six dollars per ton to either point.
The shipment of flour to the mining districts
W'ithin the year was approximately the same
in amount as that of preceding years. Later
in the season a firm of Walla Walla merchants
made the further experiment of shipping wheat
to the coast, forwarding fifteen thousand bush-
els, and proving unquestionably that grain
could be thus transported down the Columbia
to tlie coast markets at a profit. It will be
readily understcod that tiiese two experiments,

a so the}' may be designated, were, with their
legitimate and normal results, of transcendent
importance to the rapidly developing Walla
Walla valley. .\s has been justly said in a pre-
vious historical publication: "This was the
beginning of the outward movement of the
products of the county, made as a experiment,
under circumstances that proved the practi-
cability of a steady exportation of flour by the
millers of this valley, and a consequent market
for the vast quantities of grain it was capable
of producing."

POLITICAL.

A review of the political situation in 1867
shows that there was an extraordinary interest
and activity in the ranks of both the Demo-
crats and the Republicans. The principal point
of contest and interest was in the selection of a
delegate to congress, each party having a num-
ber of aspirants for the important office. The
people east of the Cascades felt that they were
entitled to have a candidate selected from their
section of the territory, inasmuch as the honor
had hitherto gone to a resident of the sound
country. From the eastern section of the ter-
ritory were five Democrats and two Republic-
ans whose names were prominently mentioned
in this connection, and while the Republican
convention for Walla Walla crjunty sent an
un instructed delegate to the territorial conven-
tion, a vigorous effort had been made in favor
of the candidacy of Judge J. E. Wyche. At
the county Democratic convention the delegates
chosen were instructed to give their support to
W. G. Langford, of Walla Walla, so long as
seemed expedient. They were also instructed
to deny their support to any candidate who
endorsed in any degree the project of annex-
ing Walla Walla countv to Oregon. In the

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

territorial convention Frank Clark, of Pierce
connt)', received the nomination of the Democ-
racy for the office of congressional delegate,
the balloting in the convention having been close
and spirited. The Republican territorial con-
vention succeeded in running in the proverbial
"dark horse," in the person of Alvan Flanders,
a Walla Walla merchant, who was made the
nominee, defeating three very strong candi-
dates.

Owing to the agitation of the Vigilance
question, referring to diverging opinions of the
citizens as to the proper metliod of administer-
ing justice, the politics of the county were in
a peculiarly disrupted and disorganized condi-
tion, and the Vigilance issue had an unmistak-
able influence on the election, as was shown
by the many peculiarities which were brought
to light when the returns were fullv in. The
Democrats of the county were particularly de-
sirous of electing certain of their county can-
didates, and it is stated that the Republicans
"vvere able to di\-ert manv Democratic votes to
their candidate for delegate to congress by trad-
ing votes with Democrats and pledging their
support to local Democratic candidates. The
fact that such bartering took place is assured,
for while the returns gave a Democratic ma-
jority of about two hundred and fifty in Walla
Walla county for all other officers, the delegate
received a majority of only one hundred and
twenty-four. This action un the part of the
Walla Walla Democrats secured the election of
the Republican candidate, whose majority in
the territory was only ninetv-six.

The result of the election in the county,
held on tlie 3d of June, was as follows : Frank
Clark, the Democratic candidate for delegate,
received 606 votes, and Alvan Flanders, Re-
publican, 482. The other officers elected were
as follows: Prosecuting attorney, F. P. Du-

gan ; councilman, W. H. Newell ; joint council-
man (Walla Walla and Stevens counties), J.
M. Vansyckle : representatives, W. P. Horton,

E. Ping, J. yi. Lamb, P. B. Johnson and B.

F. Regan; probate judge, H. M. Chase; sher-
ifi", A. Seitel; auditor, J. H. Blewett; treasurer,
J. D. Cook; assessor, C. Ireland; surveyor,
W. L. Gaston ; superintendent of schools, C.
Fells; coroner, L. H. Goodwin; county com-
missioners, S. ]\I. Wait, D. M. Jessee (evidently
an error in returns, as W. T. Barnes, a Demo-
crat, was elected), and A. H. Reynolds.

The sheriff resigned on the 7th of Novem-
ber, 1868, and on the same day James AIc-
Auliff was appointed to fill the vacancy. A.
H. Reynolds resigned as commissioner, in May,
1869, Dr. D. S. Baker being appointed as his
successor. Of the successful candidates noted
in the above list, all were Democrats except
P- B. Johnson, J. D. Cook, C. Fells, S. AL
\\'ait and A. H. Reynolds.

THE FIRST COURT HOUSE.

As the county dedicated its first Court house
in the year 1867, it is incumbent that we make
a brief reference to the same at this juncture.
As early as 1864, the grand jury had made a
report on this matter, and from said document
we make the following pertinent extracts :
■■\\'e, the grand jury, find that it is the duty of
the county commissioners to furnish offices for
the dift'erent count}- officers. This we find
they have not done. To-day the offices of the
officers are in one place, to-morrow in another,
and we hope at the next meeting of the board
of county commissioners that they will, for the
sake of the integrity of Walla Walla county,
furnish the different county officers with good
offices." Notwithstanding this merited re-
proof, no action of a definite character was

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

103

taken by tiie board of commissioners until the
meeting of March 11, 1867, when it was voted
to purchase, of S. Linkton, a building on the
corner of Alder and Third streets, the same to
bt paid for in thirty monthly installments of
one hundred dollars each. A further expendi-
ture of five hundred dollars was made in fitting
up the building for the use of the county, and
thus Walla Walla county was able to hold up
a dignified head and note with approval her
first court-house. That the structure was al-
together unpretentious, and devoid of all archi-
tectural beauty, it is, perhaps, needless to say.
The executives of the county were at least pro-
vided with a local habitation.

RFA'IEW OF THE YE.^R 1 868.

Within this year began the first logical and
active agitation of the transportation ciuestion,
and this problem involved the future of Walla
Walla county and city to a greater degree than
any other. Within the year an organized
eftort was made to provide for railroad facili-
ties for shipping the products of the country to
the markets of consumption. Philip Ritz, ap-
preciative of the results of the experiments of
the previous year, consigned fifty barrels of
flour to New York city, where he disposed of
the same at the rate of ten dollars per barrel,
netting him a profit of one dollar and fifty cents
a barrel. This flour was the product of the old
Phoenix mill. At the time, the cost of flour in
^^'alla Walla was three dollars and seventy-
five cents per barrel, and the transportation
charges to New York, with commissions, ag-
gregated four dollars and seventy cents a barrel.
The cost of shipping wheat to San Francisco
was too great to render it profitable to make
shipments from Walla Walla, where the prod-
uct commanded only forty cents per bushel,

and the same must be sold for one dollar and
twenty cents per bushel in San Francisco in
order to cover the expenses of shipment, made
at the rate of t\\'enty-eight dollars per ton, of
w hich amount six dollars per ton represented
the transportation charges between Walla
\\'alla and Wallula.

Thus the project of constructing a railway
line between these two points became the topic
of much discussion and consideration. After
several enthusiastic public meetings had been
held, the business men of this section manifest-
ing a live interest, the Walla Walla & Colum-
bia River Railroad was organized. Hon. Al-
van Flanders, the delegate in congress, secured
from that body the right of way for the pro-
posed line and also permission fiir the county
to subscribe three hundred thousand dollars
for the support of the enterprise, with the pro-
vision that this should be done only upon sub-
mitting the cjuestion to the electors of the coun-
ty and securing a fa\-orable result at tlie elec-
tion. N(T definite progress was made in the
matter for a term of several years, and the
progress of the count}' was materially retarded
on this account. A fuller description of the
transportation facilities of the county, and the
history of the various enterprises involved, may
be found on other pages of this work.

A BRIEF RECORD OF THE YE.\R 1 869.

Again in this year was there to be chosen
a delegate to congress, and the Democracy of
Walla Walla county instructed their delegates
to the territorial convention to insist upon the
nomination of a candidate resident east of the
Cascade range, — the same desideratum that had
been sought at the last preceding election. In
the convention F. P. Dugan, J. D. Mix, B. L.
Sharpstein and W. H. Newell, of Walla Walla,

I04

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

were balloted for, but the nomination went to
JNIarsliall F. Moore, ex-governor of the terri-
tory.

The Republican nomination was secured by
Selucius Garfielde, surveyor-general of the ter-
ritorv. The names of two of Walla Walla
countv's citizens were presented 'before the
convention. Dr. D. S. Baker and Anderson
Cox. The nomination of Gariielde proved
unsatisfactory to many of the party adherents,
ard dissension was rampant. The disaffec-
tion became so intense in nature that a num-
ber of the most prominent men in the party
ranks did not hesitate to append their signatures
to a circular addressed to the "Downfallen Re-
publican Party," said document bearing fifty
signatures in all. On the list appeared the
name of the delegate in congress and the chief
justice of the territory. The circular called
for a radical reorganization of the party,
charged fraudulent action in the convention
and made many sweeping assertions. This
action provoked a strong protest, and the dis-
aiTected contingent did not nominate a ticket
of their own, and ^Ir. Garfielde was elected by
a majority of one hundred and thirty-two.
He received in Walla Walla county three
hundred and eighty-four votes, while his op-
ponent, Mr. Moore, received seven hundred
and forty.

La the county election the Democrats elect-
ed their entire ticket, by an average majority
of three hundred. The county had at this
time the privilege of electing six representa-
tives to the lower house of the territorial legis-
lature, which body had, in 1868, granted one
more representative to the county. The re-
sult of the election was as follows : Pros-
ecuting attorney, A. J. Cain; representa-
tives, N. T. Caton, Fred Stine, H. D.
0"Bryan, J. D. Mix, J. H. Lasater, Thomas

P. Page; probate judge, R. Guichard;
sheriff, James McAuliff; auditor, H. M.
Chase; treasurer. A. Kyger; assessor, M. C.
]\k-Bride: surveyor, J. Arrison; superin-
tendent of schols, William McMicken; cor-
oner, L. H. Goodwin; county commission-
ers, ^\'. T. Barnes, Daniel Stewart, C. C.
Cram. The county ga\-e two hundred and
eighty-six votes in favor of a constitutional
con\'ention and only twenty-four in opposition,

CONDITIONS -AND EVENTS OF THE YE.\R.

The year 1869 found the ^^'aIla Walla .

valley in about the same status as the preced- I

ing year, though a severe drouth, extending
over the entire coast country, had caused in
this section a partial failure of crops, so that
there was no surplus of grain or flour to ship
out, save what was sent into the mining dis-
tricts. . Wheat brought from seventy-five to
eighty cents per bushel, and flour reached as
high a figure as six dollars per barrel. The
increased prices made the returning revenue
practically as great as the year before, not-
withstanding shortage of crops.

As has been mentioned previously, the
financial affairs of the county were badly in-
volved at the time of the investigation inci-
dentally made in 1863, and an indebtedness of
from five to twenty thousand dollars had been
in evidence continuously up to the year of
which we are now writing. The last board of
county commissioners realized that the finan-
cial integrity of the county was in jeopardy,
and they determined that of the officers of the
county must be exacted a more careful and
efficient discharge of their respective duties,
while the)^ also set vigorously to the task of
placing the treasury department of the county
upon a better basis — insisting that its business

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

los

should be handled according to true business
principles. The board were fortunately ena-
bled to effect a radical improvement along the
lines mentioned, the evidence of this being-
conclusive when we revert to the fact that on
the 1st of May. 1869, the obligations of the
county amounted to $9,569.13, while in the
treasury the cash deposit was represented by
$9,209.18. Li view of the fact that the
sheriff' who resigned in November, 1868, was
indebted to the county, according to the re-
port of the board, to the amount of more than
three thousand dollars, for delinquent taxes
collected, the financial showing at this tune
was all the more creditable to the board and
to the various count}- officials.

waitsburg's ambition.

The now thriving town of Waitsburg be-'
gan to cast about for new dignities and hqnors,
its ambition leading it to agitate the question
of dividing Walla Walla county and giving
to the town mentioned the coveted boon of
being the official center of the new county.
Walla Walla county at this time had an area
of three thousand four hundred and twenty
square miles, including what are Columbia
and Garfield counties, and had the region been
more thickly populated it would have been too
large and unwieldy for effective official control
and management. In regard to the claims of
Waitsburg and the matter of erecting a new
county from Walla AValla. Gilljert's history
speaks as follows :

The seat of justice was in one corner far from the
geographical center, though located in the midst of the
most thickly settled district. Waitsburg at that time had
a grist mill, saw mill, hotel, several stores and a good
school. It was both enterprising and ambitious; and hav-
ing no paper of its own, ventilated its opinions in the
Walla Walla journals. Had the upper position of the
county been settled as it was a few years later, a division

would have been desirable, but even in that event, Waits-
burg was too near Walla Walla to become an acceptable
county-seat, being necessarily located in the extreme
corner of the proposed county. That this was true and
that it would be but a few years before the seat of justice
would be moved to another place in a more central loca-
tion, were facts recognized by many of the business men
of that village, nevertheless a petition was signed by one
hundred and fifty residents, and was presented to the
legislature in October, 1869, a delegation of citizens of the
aspiring town accompanying it to Olympia. The county
was to be divided so that about one-half the area and one-
third the population and assessment valuation would be
segregated. The fact that Waitsburg was not a natural
center, together with the additional facts that no other
existing town was, and the upper portion of the county
was not thickly enough settled to demand a separate
government, caused the legislature to decline to take any
action in the matter. Waitsburg's dream of official
honors was over, and the springing up of Dayton a few
years later served to convince them that had they been
conferred they would have been of a transitory character.

THE YEAR 187O AND ITS RECORD.

This year in Walla Walla county was
marked by no events or conditions of special
importance. Favorable climatic conditions
having prevailed, the harvests were bounteous
again, and the surplus of grain and flour was
so large as to justify large shipments of these
products, much of the same being transported
down the Columbia river. The transportation
charges were so heavy, however, that the
prices on the commodities in Walla Walla
were exceedingly low, particularly in compar-'
ison with the prices ultimately paid at tho
various points of destination.

In the month of August the city council of
Walla Walla deeded to the county commis-
sioners the present courthouse square, on
Main street, the same having been set aside
for such purpose at the time the town was
platted. The matter of erecting a courthouse
had been under consideration, and not a little
public interest was manifested in the question,
The commissioners did not, as a matter of
course, feel justified in making any expendi-

io6

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

tares of county funds or credit in this line un-
til the county had secured a clear title to the
land upon which the proposed building was to
be erected. But when the deed to the land
was finally in their possession the question of
building the court house remained in statu
quo, the matter having been indefinitely post-
poned ty the commissioners.

A census of the county was taken in the
year 1870, and certain data resulting there-
from will be worthy of perpetuation in this
connection. The number of houses in the
county was placed at 1,149; number of families,
1,150; white male inhabitants, 2,999: white
female inhabitants, 2,111 ; colored male inhab-
itants, hi; colored female inhabitants, 81.
According to these figures the total population
of the county aggregated 5,102. The follow-
ing statistics will indicate to a degree
the condition of the county at the close of
the year 1870, and is worthy of reproduc-
tion :

Average wages of farm hands, with board,
$35.00; average wages of laborers, without
board, $2.50; average wages of laborers, with
board, $1.50; average wages of carpenters,
$4.00; average wages of female domestics per
week, $7.00 ; average price of board for labor-
er per week, $5.00; number of farms in coun-
ty, 654 ; acres of improved land, 52.620 :
bushels of spring wheat, 190,256; bushels of
winter wheat, 2,667; bushels of corn, 25,487;
bushels of oats, 114,813; bushels of barley.
21,654; pounds of butter, 99.780; pounds of
cheese, 1,000; tons of hay, 6,815; number of
horses, 5,650; number of mules, 627; number
of milch cows, 4,772; number of work oxen,
292; number of other cattle, 8,046; number
of sheep. 5,745 : number of hogs, 4,768.

It will be recalled that the history of
growth and development in the county had

covered at this time practically only one dec-
ade, in view of wdiich fact the people of the lo-
cality had ample reason to congratulate them-
selves on the showing made.

POLITIC.-VL AFF.\IRS IN 187O.

According to all data available, the polit-
ical pot boiled furiously throughout the terri*
tory as the hour of election approached. Lack
of harmony was manifest in both parties, and,
as before, the chief interest centered in the
election of a delegate to represent the territory
in the federal congress. Those office-holders
who were most vigorously protestent and vis-
ibly disaffected, were summarily removed from
office in January of this year, by the president
(if the United States, this action having been
recommended by the congressional delegate,
^Ir. Garfielde, who thus drew upon himself
still greater opposition and dislike. A change
in the existing laws made it necessary to. elect
a delegate again this year, and a strong at-
tempt was made to defeat Mr. Garfielde, who
was confident of being returned to the office,
There could be no reconciliation of the war-
ring elements in the Republican party. The
Republican territorial convention of 1869 had
appointed an executive committee, whose pen
soiiihi was as follows: Edward Eldridge, M.
S. Drew, L. Farnsworth, P. D. Moore. B. F,
Stone, Henry Cock and J. D. Cook. In Feb-
ruary a circular was issued by Messrs. S. D.
Flowe, A. A. Manning, Ezra Meeker, G. A.
Aleigs, A. A. Denny and John E. Burns,
who claimed to have been constituted the ex-
ecuti\-e committee. The convention as called
by the regular committee met in April and re-
nominated Mr.. Garfielde. The recalcitrant
faction presented the name of Marshall Blinn in
the convention, the bolters not being strong

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

107

enough to hold a separate convention, but
hoping to gain sufficient votes to prevent the
nomination of Garfielde.

The Democratic convention was far more
liarmonious, the nomination going to Judge
J. D. Mix, one of the most honored citizens
of Waha W^alla, and one enjoying a wide ac-
quaintance throughout the territory. The
campaign developed considerable acrimony
between the factions of the Republican party,
but the results of the election showed that the
disaffected wing gained but slight popular en-
dorsement. Six thousand three hundred and
fifty-seven votes were cast in this election, rep-
resenting a gain of thirteen hundred over the
preceding year. Garfielde was elected, secur-
ing a majority of seven hundred and thirty-six
over Mix, the total vote for Blinn being only
one hundred and fifty-five. Upon the ques-
tion of holding a constitutional convention
there were one thousand one hundred and
nine votes cast in opposition, and nine hundred
and seventy-four in favor.

By reason of the change in the law the
county election also was held a year earlier
than usual, occurring June 6, 1870. The
Democracy were victorious in the county,
electing their entire ticket with the exception of
superintendent of schools. For delegate
James D. Mix received in his home county
670 votes, while Selucius Garfielde had 527.
The officers elected in the county were as fol-
lows : Prosecuting attorney, N. T. Caton ;
councilman, Daniel Stewart; joint council-
man (Walla Walla, Stevens and Yakima coun-
ties), N. T. Bryant; representatives, David
Ashpaugh, James H. Lasater, John Scott, A.
G. Lloyd, Elisha Ping and T. W. Whetstone;
probate judge, R. Guichard ; sheriff, James Mc-
Auliff; auditor, H. M. Chase; treasurer, A.
Kyger; assessor, A. C. Wellman; surveyor. A,

H. Simmons ( he was succeeded by Charles A.
^A'hite, who was appointed to the office May
I, 1871); school superintendent, J. L. Reser;.
coroner, L. H. Goodwin; county commission-
ers, C. C. Cram, I". Louden and L T. Reese.

The officials elected in the county this year
did not assume their respective positions until
the succeeding year. The officers elected in
the preceding year had been chosen for a term
of two years, and they contended that the
change in the law of the territory which made
it necessary to hold the election in 1870, in-
stead of 1 87 1, did not invalidate their right
to hold office until the expiration of their reg-
ular term. The matter was brought into the
courts for adjudication, a test case being made
in the contest between the prosecuting attor-
ney-elect against the incumbent of tlie office at
the time of the last election. In July James
W. Kennedy, judge of the first district, reu
dered a decision in favor of the defendant,
holding that officers elected in 1869 retained
their positions until 1871, thus reducing the
term of the officials last elected to one year.

Oregon still cast co\'etous eyes upon the
Walla Walla \'alley region, and in 1870 its
legislature forv^-arded to congress another
memorial, asking that there be annexed to
Oregon such portion of Washington Terri-
tory as lay south of the Snake river. The res-
idents of the section indicated were not in-
formed of the action until after the memorial
had been presented to congress, and the prop-
osition met with determined opposition here.

R.\ILR0AD PROJECT.S TOWN OF D.WTON

FOUNDED 1 87 I -2.

The problem of transportation facilitie.'f
still continued the one which had most potent
significance as determining the further growth

io8

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

and permanent industrial prosperity of the
county. In 1871 the matter of raih'oad facil
ities was taken under consideration in an
earnest way. some action having been taken.
but httle having been accompHshed in a prac-
tical way. At this time the Northern Pacific
Railroad Company made a proposition to sur-
vev a route from \\'allula to \\'alla \\'alla.
contingent upon there being raised by the cit-
izens of the county a subscription of two thou-
sand dollars to assist in defraying the expenses
of the survey. After the completion of the
survey, in case the Northern Pacific decided
not to build the road in accordance therewith,
the plats and notes were to be turned over to
the Walla Walla & Columbia River Railroad
Company. The required subscription was
raised, the survey was made, and a report
and estimate of cost was given to the latter
company in ]May, 1871. the Northern Pacific
having deemed it expedient not to run its line
to \\'alla Walla. A call for a special election,
to vote on the question of subscription in
county 'bonds, was called by the county com-
missioners, but in view of the fact that it
■would be a needless expense to hold the elec-
tion, the order was revoked. Later on they
again called an election, under the act of Sep-
tember 18, 1 87 1, the former having been
called under the act of 1869, but the proposi-
tion to bond the county was adversely met at
the polls. In March, 1872, the railroad com-
pany began work at ^^'allula, grading several
miles of the road within that year. A rail-
road from Walla Walla to La Grande was
surveyed as far as Umatilla, when the proj-
ect was abandoned.

In the fall of 1871 S. AI. Wait and Will-
iam [Nlatzger had begun the erection of a
large flouring mill on the Touchet river, near
the mouth of the Patit, and this served as the

nucleus of a town, which began to blossom
forth in the spring of 1872, and grew so rap-
idly that by fall it had a population of five
hundred people, with facilities in accordance.
This, town was Dayton, the present county-
seat of Columbia county.

The Republican territorial convention of
1872 again nominated ^Ir. Garfielde for dele-
gate to congress, the Democrats and Liberals
placing the name of O. B. McFadden on their
ticket, he being the candidate of the Democ-
racy, who had coalesced with the Liberals,
this being the year of the memorable "green-
l:>ack" campaign in national politics. ^^Ir.
AIcFadden was elected by a majority nearly
as great as Mr. Garfielde had received two
years before. The holding of a constitutional
convention was again voted on and defeated,
Walla \\'alla county giving an adverse ma-
jority of seven hundred and fifty-two on the
proposition. In the county election there
were three candidates for some offices, and
four for that of auditor. The Democrats
elected their ticket, with the exception of one
commissioner. At this election also the peo-
ple of the county voted in favor of the erec-
tion of a county court-house and jail, the ma-
jority in favor being two hundred and twelve.
The officers elected in the county were as
follows : Prosecuting attorney, T. J. Anders ;
councilman, Fred Stine ; joint councilman
( W'alla \\'alla, Stevens, Yakima and Whitman
counties), C. H. Montgomery; representa-
tives, N. T. Caton, O. P. Lacy, E. Ping, C.
L. Bush, John Bryant and H. M. Hodgis;
probate judge, I. Hargrove: sheriff, B. \\'.
Griffin ; auditor, R. Jacobs ; treasurer, R. R.
Rees; assessor, William F. Gwynn; surveyor,
A. L. Knowlton ; school superintendent, A.
\\'. Sweeney: coroner, A. J. Thibodo; county
commissioners, D. M. Jessee, W. P. Bruce

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

109

and S. L. King. The last named commis-
sioner resigned his position on the 4th of May,
1874, W. T. Barnes being appointed to fill
the vacancy.

THE YEARS 1873 AND 1874 IX WALLA WALLA
COUNTY.

The vote on the question of building the
court house and jail had been taken for the
express purpose of securing a definite expres-
sion of the opinion of the tax-payers rela-
tive to the much-needed improvement.
Though the minority vote on the proposition
was large, the commissioners felt justified in
obeying the will of the majority, in harmony
with which they caused plans and specifica-
tions to be prepared and presented, finally
adopting those of F. P. Allen, in February,
1873, which provided for a brick court house
on a stone foundation. Concerning this im-
portant matter another historical compilation
speaks as follows : "The design was for a
main building, with an ell that would give
ample accommodations to all the county offi-
cers, court and jury rooms, and in the base-
ment a jail with twelve cells. There were
two stories above the basement, and the whole
was surmounted by a dome, making a struc-
ture of considerable beauty. Although the
county now had a clear title to the court-
house square, on Alain street, there were sev-
eral parties who desired to enhance the value
of their property in the outskirts of the city,
and therefore offered to donate land to the
county upon which to erect the new building.
These offers were considered and rejected,
and the court-house square was selected as the
building site. Two weeks later the commis-
sioners- saw fit to rescind their former action
and accept the offer of four blocks of land

between Second and Fourth streets, and one-
fourth mile north of Main street, much to the
displeasure of the citizens who desired the
building erected on the court-house square,
where it would not take a Sabbath day's jour-
ney to reach it. The next step by the board
was to alter the plans and reduce the size of
the building, take off the dome, and prune the
structure of all its ornamental features, leav-
ing it the appearance of a huge barn. The
last act, and under the circumstances the most
judicious one, was a conclusion not to erect
the building at all."

POLITICAL.

\\'ithiu the year 1874 there was much dis-
cussion in regard to the annexation of a por-
tion of Idaho to ^^'ashington and the admis-
sion of the entire territory into the Union.
Mass meetings were held in Walla Walla
county and in Idaho, this section favoring the
project with unmistakable tenacity^ and me-
morials were presented to congress. The
question of a constitutional convention was
again defeated when submitted to popular
vote. In ^^'alla \\'alla county the total num-
ber of votes cast on this proposition was only
two hundred and sixty, and of these only
twentv-four were in favor of the convention.
Two candidates for delegate to congress were
nominated, one being a resident east and the
other west of the Cascades, which mountains
had long represented the line separating and
individualizing the interests of the two sec-
tions of the territory. The nominee of the
Republicans was Orange Jacol)s, and the Dem-
ocrats presented as their candidate B. L.
Sharpstein, of Walla ^^'alla. Judge Jacobs
was elected by a majority of twelve hundred
and sixtv. This was the era of the independ-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

ent or "Grange" movement, which liad an
unmistakable effect upon national poHtics, its
influence being felt in this section of the
Union. In the local election of Walla Walla
county, held November 3, 1874, there were
three tickets in the field, and three candidates
were in line for nearly every office. The re-
sult gave the Democrats the victory in offices
purely local in character, w'hile the Republi-
cans elected their candidate for prosecuting
attorney and a few members of the legisla-
ture. The officers elected were as follows :
Prosecuting attorney, T. J. Anders; council-
man, E. Ping; joint councilman, W. \\'.
Boon; representatives, R. G. Newland, J. B.
Shrum, P. ^1. Lvnch, John Scott, H. M.

Hodgis and A. G. Lloyd; probate judge, R.
Guichard; sheriff, George F. Thomas; audi-
tor, R. Jacobs; treasurer, R. R. Rees; assessor,
Samuel Jacobs; surveyor, A. L. Knowlton
(who resigned in November, being succeeded
by P. Zahner) ; schools superintendent, A. W.
Sweeney; coroner, A. J. Thibodo; county
commissioners, Charles \\'hite, C. S. Brush
and C. C. Cram. The coroner resigned in
November, being succeeded by O. P. Lacy,
who in turn resigned the office, in Novem-
ber, 1875, V. D. Lambert being appointed to
fill the \-acancy. Commissioner Charles
\Miite resigned in November, 1875, his suc-
cessor being Frank Louden.

CHAPTER X.

ANNALS OF THE YEARS 1 875 TO 1 88 1.

The year 1875 was an important one in
the annals of the city of Walla Walla, since
it marked the completion of the line of the
\\'alla Walla & Columbia River Railroad
fron: ^^■aIlula to Walla Walla, the work of
the energetic and far-seeing Dr. D. S. Baker,
thus affording to the county-seat its first rail-
way connection with the outside world, and
also affording shipping facilities far ahead of
the primitive methods heretofore employed.
The road had been slowly advanced toward
completion by the intervention of private
capital, the citizens generously coming to the
rescue of the enterprise and subscribing near-
ly twenty-seven thousand dollars. In October
of this year were made the first shipments of
grain by railroad out of \'\'alla ^\'alla, and it
juay well be imagined that the completion of

the road was the cause of marked satisfaction
to the merchants and farmers of this locality.
Other railroad projects were brought up and
thoroughly discussed, Dayton and Waitsburg
having held mass meetings to consider the
matter of securing railway connection with
the county-seat, while other and mofe preten-
tious projects were agitated. In the fall of
the year 1875 Walla Walla was connected
with Baker City, Oregon, by telegraph line.

DIVISION OF THE COUNTY.

Reference has already been made to the
attempt of ^\'aitsburg to eft'ect a division of
the county in 1869, the effort being unsuccess-
ful. But the increase in settlement, the rapid
development in agricultural and other Indus-

HISTORY OF \\'ALLA WALLA COUXTY.

trial lines, made the proposition to form a
new county not an unreasonable one in 1875.
From a previousl}' published history of Co-
lumbia county we make the following ex-
tracts, which will show clearly how the di-
vision of the county, by the erection of Co-
lumbia county, was effected :

The springing up of Dayton and great increase in
wealth and population of the country surrounding it, led
the minds of people to the idea that a new county should
be created. They were a portion of Walla Walla coun-
ty, but were so far from the county-seat that it was a
matter of great inconvenience and expense to transact
official business. Especially were the citizens of Uayton
in favor of a new county, and the location of a seat of
justice in their midst, as such a step would help the
town. Dayton was the only town in the proposed new
county, yet, as it was near the western verge, those who
could see into the future recognized the fact that settle-
ment of the Pataha, Alpowa and Asotin country would
result in taking the county-seat away from Dayton in
time, or in creating another county to accommodate the
people of that region. This served only to spur them
on in their effort to secure the prize for Dayton, hoping
to retain it when the conflict came in the future, by creat-
ing a new county, thus leaving Dayton in permanent
possession of what it had gamed. The Democrats had
elected Elisha Ping to the territorial council in 1874, and
as this gentleman was a resident and property-holder of
Dayton his services were assured in securing the desired
legislation. Apetition was circulated and largely signed, in
187.5, asking the legislature to divide Walla Walla county
by a line running directly south from the Palouse ferry,
on Snake river, to the Oregon line, thus leaving Waits-
burg just within the limits of the new county. The peo-
ple of Waitsburg objected. If they had to be the tail to
any kite, they preferred Walla Walla to Dayton. They
delegated Mr. Preston to visit Walla Walla and consult
with the people there on this subject. He addressed a
large meeting in that city in September, and a remon-
strance was prepared, which received many signatures,
and was forwarded to the legislature. Representatives
Hodgis, Lloyd, Lynch and Scott, of Walla Walla coun-
ty, opposed a division with earnestness. The cause of
^ Dayton was in the hands of A. J. Cain, who managed it
in Olympia, with the assistance of Mr. Ping. The
remonstrance sent in by the people of Walla Walla and
Waitsburg called the attention of the legislature to the
fact that the proposed line of division cut off two-thirds
of the county, including the bulk of the agricultural
land and all the timber, and suggested that if it was
necessary to create a new county at all, that a line run-
ning from Snake river to the Touchet on the line between
ranges 38 and 39, thence up the south fork of the Touchet
to the Oregon line, be selected. This was twelve miles east

of the other proposed line, and would leave Waitsburg in
Walla Walla county, as well as a large belt of agricultural
and timber land that otherwise would be set off to the
new county. Walla Walla found herself helpless in the
matter in the legislature. The members from the west-
ern side of the mountains were in the majority, and they
were in favor of a division as desired by the people of
Dayton. A bill to create Ping county was introduced
and passed both branches, only to meet with a veto at
the hands of Governor Ferry, who objected to certain
features of it. Another bill was prepared, in accordance
with his objections, to create the county of Columbia,
and was hurried through the legislature in the last days
of the session, receiving the governor's signature on the
Uth of November, 1875. The line was a compromise
between the two proposed, and struck the Touchet two
miles above Waitsburg, then went south six miles, east
six miles, and th;n south to the Oregon line.

Though the opening of the centennial
year, 1876, found Walla Walla county de-
prived of near two-thirds of its original ter-
ritory, still prosperity smiled upon the locality,
and the prospects for the future were most
flattering. That the county had not suffered
appreciably in the amount of real valuations
by reason of the segregation of the new
county of Columbia, is clearly shown by a
comparison of the assessed valuations of the
years 1875 and 1876. In the former year the
property in the county (then undivided) was
assessed at $2,792,065, while in 1876 the total
was nearly as great, being $2,296,870. Sta-
tistics gleaned by the assessor in this year
afford the following data : In the count}- were
reported 239 mules, 5,281 horses, 11. 147 cat-
tle, iTi,222 sheep, 4,000 hogs, 1,774 acres of
timothy, 700 of corn, 2,600 of oats, 6,000 of
barley, 21,000 of wheat, and 700 of fruit
trees. The new railway was handling a large
amount of the produce of the county, flour
being now manufactured in six mills in full
operation in the county. Prosperity was in-
dicated in divers ways, and the condition of
the county treasury was gratifying. On the
1st of j\Iay the treasury had a balance on hand
of $5,271.61, and the amount due on out-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

standing warrants aggregated only $2,816.56.
The roof of the court house was raised five
feet in this year, and a two-story addition
was made to the building, the dimensions of
this annex being twenty by twenty-four feet.
Another much-needed improvement was ef-
fected, in that the commissioners constructed
three vaults of brick to be used for the filing
and preservation of the county records.

The division of the county much dis-
pleased the citizens of Walla Walla county,
who felt that their interests were not properly
considered by the people of the sound, who
seemed to discriminate against the territory
east of the mountains and to have no concern
about this section save in the matter of deriv-
ing therefrom as great a revenue as possible.
Thus it came about that the matter of asking
once more for annexation of this section of
the territory to Oregon was taken up and vig-
orously supported by many who had hitherto
strongly opposed the measure. James K.
Kelly, United States senator from Oregon,
introduced in the senate a bill which provided
for the submission to the voters of Walla
Walla and Columbia counties the question of
their annexation to Oregon, the territory thus
including all south of the Snake river. The
annexation scheme was bitterly opposed by
the citizens of the Puget sound district, by the
territory of Idaho and particularly by the
citizens of Dayton, who could see no reason
for the change, maintaining that by reason
of the rapid settlement of the country it would
soon be possible to secure the admission of
Washington to statehood according to the
plans originally outlined. Dayton accord-
ingly sent to congress a memorial objecting
to the bill introduced by Senator Kelly, where-
upon ^^'alla \\"alla took a definite action also,
holding a mass meeting and also sending, in

turn, a memorial to congress, favoring the
l)ill in question. The bill failed to pass, as
did also the house bill, of similar character,
introduced by Representative Lane, of Ore-
gon, and providing that the question should
be voted on at the Xovember election. Al-
though this latter bill was favorably voted
upon by the committee on territories, it met
the same fate as had the senate bill. The an-
nexation idea being thus adversely considered,
and realizing that nothing further could be
done along the line noted, Walla Walla county
finally accepted the situation gracefully and
concluded to act in harmony with other sec-
tions of the territory in the matter of work-
ing to secure the admission of Washington
to the sisterhood of states.

COUNTY ELECTION OF 18/6.

The Republican nominee for delegate to
congress was Judge Orange Jacobs, who was
the incumbent of the ofiice at the time. The
Democrats nominated John P. Judson, who
was defeated by a small majority, Walla
Walla county having given him a majority.
of one hundred and fifty-two votes. The
county election, held November "th, gave a
distinct \-ictory to the Democracy, all its can-
didates being elected. The one Republican
elected was the county surveyor, whose name
appeared on both tickets. The result of the
election was as follows : Prosecuting attor-
ney. T. J. Anders; councilman, Daniel Stew-
art; representatives, W. T. Barnes, William
JNIartin, A. J. Gregory and H. A. Vansyckle;
probate judge, R. Guichard; sheriff, George
F. Thomas; auditor, Thomas P. Page; treas-
urer, \\'illiani O'Donnell ; assessor, Samuel
Jacobs ; surveyor, P. Zahner ; school superin-
tendent, A. ^^^ Sweeney (who resigned in the

HISTORY OF WALLA Wx-VLLA COUNTY.

113

following ^lay, being succeeded by L. K.
Grim); coroner, L. H. Goodwin; commis-
sioners, D. J. Storms, James Braden and Dion
Keefe. Li the county eighty-tive votes were
cast in favor of the constitutional convention
and two hundred and ninety-two in opposi-
tion. The territory gave, however, a very
satisfactory majority in favor of the holding
of the territorial convention.

The finances of the county were held in
excellent condition during the succeeding two
years, the report of the fiscal year ending
April 30, 1877, showing the receipts to have
been $46,657.11 and the expenditures $-^3,-
797.99. The cash on hand aggregated $8,-
130.73, while'less than eight hundred dollars
was due on outstanding county warrants.
The advances made in the shipping of the
products of the county is distinctly indicated
by the following statistics in regard to the
amount of freight handled by the Walla
Walla & Columbia River Railroad in the year
1877. There were received eight thousand
tons, of which thirty-five hundred were agri-
cultural implements. There were forwarded
19,884 tons of wheat, 4,653 of flour, 917 of
oats and barley, 326 of flaxseed, 81 of wool,
172 of bacon and lard, and 280 of miscella-
neous freight, — a gratifying total of 26,313
tons shipped out from the territory tributary
to Walla Walla.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.

Judge Jacobs, the territorial delegate to
congress, urged upon that body, during the
session of 1877-8, the passage of a bill admit-
ting Washington to statehood, its territory
to include the three northern counties of Ida-
ho. Once again the old and dejected annexa-
tion scheme raised its weary head. Senator

Mitchell, of Oregon, presenting to congress
another memorial advocating the annexation.
Congress took no action on the memorial. In
November, 1877, the legislature of the terri-
tory passed a bill providing for a special elec-
tion, to be held April 9, 1878, to choose dele-
gates to a constitutional convention, which
was to be held in Walla Walla the second
Tuesday in June. Fifteen delegates were to
be chosen from Washington and one from
Idaho, the latter to have no vote. The elec-
tion called out about one-half the popular
vote of the territory. In the meantime the
work of framing a constitution had been
pushed forward. The delegates to the con-
stitutional convention were as follows : W.
A. George, of Walla Walla ; Edward Eldridge,
Whatcom; S. M. Gilmore, Klickitat; S. M.
Wait, Columbia; B. F. Dennison, representing
the second judicial district; C. H. Larrabee,
third judicial district; C. M. Bradshaw, Jef-
ferson; Henry B. Emery, Kitsap; L. B. An-
drews, King; D. B. Hannah, Pierce; Frank
Henry, Thurston; A. S. Abernethy, Cowlitz;
G. H. Steward, Clark; O. P. Lacy, Walla
Walla; G. V. O'Dell, Whitman; and Alonzo
Lei and, of Nez Perce county, Idaho.

On June 11, 1878, these delegates assem-
bled at Science Hall, in the city of Walla
Walla, and were called to order b}' W. A.
George. A temporary organization waS ef-
fected by the election of A. S. Abernethy as
president of the convention. The committee
on credentials made its report, after which the
convention was permanently organized, with
the following officers : A. S. Abernethy, pres-
ident; W. B. Daniels and William Clark, sec-
retaries ; and Henry D. Cock, sergeant-at-
arms. The convention continued in session
for a period of forty days, and within this
time had framed a constitution to be submit-

114

HISTORY OF WALLA \A'ALLA COUNTY.

ted to the people for ratification or rejection
at the next general election, to be held in No-
vember. 1878. It is recorded that but little
enthusiasm was manifested in the subject of
the constitution, the vote on this issue falling
fully three thousand short of that cast for dele-
gate to congress. In favor of the adoption
of the constitution 6,462 votes were cast, and
against the same 3,231. INIany were apa-
thetic in the matter by reason of the fact
that they considered the. adoption of the con-
stitution somewhat premature and felt that no
genuine results could be attained at this time.
The Democratic territorial convention of 1878
placed N. T. Cation in nomination for dele-
gate to congress, and Thomas H. Brents was
the nominee of the Republicans. Both the
gentlemen were prominent lawyers of Walla
Walla, so it will be seen that the people east
of the mountains received due recognition at
this time. Judge Brents is at the time of this
writing judge of the superior court in Walla
^^'alla county, and a specific sketch of his life
appears on another page of this work. The
vote cast in the territory was nearly three
thousand greater than that of the last elec-
tion, two years previous, the total being
12,647. Judge Brents received a majority of
1,301, and in his home county his majority
w-as 146, the fact being particularly flattering
to the successful candidate, since this was the
first time that the county had ever given a ma-
jority to a Republican candidate for delegate
to congress. The Republicans captured a
share of the county offices at this election,
held November 5th, electing the councilman,
three representatives in the legislature, the
auditor and treasurer, surveyor, school super-
intendent and one of the commissioners. The
result of the election was as follows : Prose-
cuting attorney, R. F. Sturdevant; council-

man, J. H. Day; representatives, John A.
Taylor, D. J. Storms, J. jSI. Dewar and Mark
F. Colt; probate judge, R. Guichard; sheriff,
J. B. Thompson; auditor, W. C. Painter;
treasurer, J. F. Boyer; assessor, Samuel Ja-
cobs; surveyor, P. Zahner (who resigned in
February, 1880, F. F. Loeher being appointed
to fill the vacancy) ; school superintendent,
C. W. Wheeler; coroner, J. M. Boyd; com-
missioners, M. B. A\'ard, Amos Cummings and
Samuel H. Erwin. The vote in the county in
favor of the adoption of the constitution was
eighty-nine, against the proposition eight
hundred and forty-seven.

The years 1879 and 1880 gave to \\'alla
Walla an improvement in shipp'ing facilities,
since the Walla Walla & Columbia River
Railroad was sold to the Oregon Railway &
Navigation Company, who changed the line
to a broad gauge and otherwise so improved
the equipment as to give the Walla \\'alla
valley far superior transportation facilities to
those hitherto enjoyed, thus tending to vitalize
the industrial life of this section in a marked
degree.

Delegate Brents introduced in the national
house of representatives a bill for the admis-
sion of Washington into the Union, and
though the matter was pushed forward with
as much insistency as possible, 3"et congress
refused to give it consideration, so that the
agitation had to be abandoned until the next
session of congress. Judge Brents was again
nominated for delegate by the Republicans in
1880, the candidate of the Democracy being
Thomas Burke. The former was successful
at the polls, his majorit}' in \\^alla Walla
county being one hundred and eighteen votes.
By the county election of November 2, 1880,
the various official positions were again di-
vided, the Repiiblicans gaining a majority of

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

the offices. The result was as follows : Mem-
ber of the board of equalization, T. C. Frary;
councilman, B. L. Sharpstein; joint council-
man, Jacob Hoover; representatives, R. R.
Rees and W. G. Preston; joint representa-
tive, J. M. Cornwell ; probate judge, R. Guich-
ard; prosecuting attorney, George T. Thomp-
son; sheriff, James B. Thompson; auditor,
W. C. Painter ; treasurer, J. F. Boyer ; assessor,
Samuel Jacobs; surveyor, Francis F. Loehr;
school superintendent, C. W. Wheeler; coro-
ner. Dr. H. G. Mauzey; commissioners, M. B.

Ward, Amos Cummings and S. H. Erwin;
sheep commissioner, Asa L. LeGrow.

At this election the question of levying a
tax for the purpose of building a suitable
court house and jail, compatible with the
wealth and dignity of the county, came up
for decision, and it is gratifying to know that
the voters of the county gave to the proposi-
tion an almost unanimous endorsement, 1,468
votes being cast in favor of the levy and only
158 against it. The fence law was also en-
dorsed at this election.

CHAPTER XL

W.\LL.\ WALLA COUNTY ELECTIONS 1882-I9OO.

At the election of 1882 the following offi-
cers were elected : Representatives, H. H.
Hungate, A. G. Lloyd and Milton Evans;
attorney, George Thompson; auditor, William
C. Painter; sheriff, J. B. Thompson; treas-
urer, J. F. Boyer; assessor, William Hark-
ness; surveyor, F. H. Loehr; superintendent
of public schools, J. W. Brock; judge of pro-
bate, R. Guichard; commissioners, Amos
Cummings, M. B. Ward and S. H. Erwin;
sheep commissioner, A. S. LeGrow ; coroner,
W. B. Wells.

At the election of 1882 Judge Thomas- H.
Brents, of Walla Walla, was the Republican
candidate for delegate to congress, and he was
elected by a flattering majority. Of his serv-
ices in this capacity due record is made on
other pages of this work, in which connection
we are also pleased to direct particular atten-
tion to the sketch of his life, appearing on
another page. He received in Walla Walla

county at this election eleven hundred and
thirty-one votes. It is to be noted that this
election showed many "scratched" tickets, the
reason assigned by the Walla Walla Daily
Statesman being to "give 'bossism' its death
blow," and to thus file a definite objection to
what was pronounced a "giant evil."

Touching this election the Statesman
(Democratic) o-f November 11, 1882, speaks
as follows : "Last Tuesday the tolerant spirit
of the people gave out, and it became a fight
between right and wrong, between honest
government and dishonest government, be-
tween bossism and the people. It was a ques-
tion whether the people or the bosses were to
rule. The watchword was, 'The right thing
must come to pass,' and it did come to pass.
The people dropped their expressed wishes
into the ballot boxes on Tuesday, and when
they were counted 'bossism' died, as it should."

The election of 1884 gave the following

ii6

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

results: Representatives, J. F. Brewer. \\'ill-
iam Fudge and J. M, Dewar; attorney, E. K.
Hanna; auditor, William C. Painter: sheriff,
A. S. Bowles ; treasurer, J. F. Boyer ; assessor,
L. H. Bowman; surveyor, J. B. Wilson: su-
perintendent of public schools, J. ^^'. Mor-
gan; judge of probate, R. Guichard; commis-
sioners, Amos Cummings, W. P. Reser and
\\'. G. Babcock; sheep commissioner, A. S.
LeGrow; coroner, H. R. Keylor.

The record of the election of 1886 is here
noted : Representatives, P. A. Preston and
AV. ]\L Clark; auditor, L. R. Hawley; sheriff,
A. S. Bowles; treasurer, J- F. Boyer; assessor,
M. H. Paxton; surveyor, J. iL Allen; super-
intendent of public schools, Ellen Gilliam;
judge of probate, R. Guicliard ; commission-
ers, T. C. Taylor, Joseph Paul and Edwin
Weary; sheep commissioner, Timothy Barry;
coroner, H. R. Keylor.

Li 1888 the following officers were elected
in the county : Representatives, E. L. Powell
and L. T. Parker; auditor, L. R. Hawley;
sheriff, J- ^L jNIcFarland ; treasurer, John F.
Boyer; assessor, M. H. Paxton; superintend-
ent of public schools, J. B. Gehr ; surveyor,
L. W. Loehr; coroner, Y. C. Blalock; justice
of the peace, John A. Taylor; probate judge,
H. W. Eagan; commissioners', James ^IcAu-
liff, Frank McGown and C. J. Laman; con-
stable, James A. Messenger.

At the election of 1890 the following in-
cumbents of the county offices were chosen :
Representatives, J. L. Sharpstein and J. C.
Painter; attorney, H. S. Blandford; clerk, H.
W. Eagan; auditor, W. B. Hawley; sheriff, J.
M. McFarland ; treasurer, R. Guichard ; assess-
or, AL H. Paxton ; superintendent of public
schools, J. B. Gehr; surveyor, L. W. Loehr;
justice of the peace, J. \\'. Cole; commission-

ers, J. ^L Hill, :\Iilton Aldrich and Frank
Lowden.

The results of the election of .1892 were
as follows : Representatives, A. Cameron and
Joseph ^lerchant; senators, David Aliller and
John L. Roberts; superior judge, W. H. Up-
ton; clerk, H. \\\ Eagan; attorney. Miles
Poindexter; auditor, \\'. B. Hawley; sheriff,
C. C. Gose; treasurer, H. H. Hungate; super-
intendent of public schools, E. L. Brunton;
assessor, T. H. Jessup: surveyor, J. B. Wil-
son; coroner. C. B. Stewart; justice of the
peace, \\'. T. Arberry; constable, ^l. C. Gus-
tin ; commissioners, Edward McDonnell. J. B.
Caldwell and Frank ^L Lowden.

Li 1894 the following officers were elected
in the county : Representatives, Joseph Mer-
chant and J. W. [Morgan; attorney. R. H.
Ormsbee; clerk, Le F. A. Shaw; auditor, A.
H. Crocker: sheriff, William Ellingsworth ;
treasurer. ]\[. H. Paxton; superintendent of
public schools, E. L. Brunton ; assessor. J. B.
^^'ilson : surveyor, E. S. Clark ; coroner, S. ]\L
\\'hite; justice of the peace, E. H. Nixon;
constables, M. C. Gustin and Ben T. \\'olf.

The election of 1896 resulted as follows:
Representatives, J. H. ^Marshall and A. Ma-
thoit : senators, David INIiller and John I.
Yeend; superior judge, Thomas H. Brents;
attorney, F. B. Sharpstein; auditor. A. H.
Crocker: clerk, J. E. IMullinix; sheriff, Will-
iam Ellingsworth; treasurer, M. H. Paxton;
surveyor. E. S. Clark; assessor, J. B. Wilson:
superintendent of the public schools. Grant S.
Bond; coroner, W. D. Smith; justice of the
peace, \Y. T. Arberry; constable, Ben T.
Wolf; commissioners, Milton Evans and Os-
car Drumheller.

The following were elected to the various
offices in 1898: Representatives, C. C. Gose

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY,

117

and Grant Copeland ; sheriff, A. Frank Kees ;
clerk, Schuyler Arnold; auditor, C. N. Mc-
Lean ; treasurer, John W. McGhee, Jr. ; attor-
ney, Oscar Cain; assessor, Walter L. Cad-
man ; superintendent of public schools. Grant
S. Bond; surveyor, W. G. Sayles; coroner,
Y. C. Blalock; justice of the peace, William
Glasford; constable, Emil Sanderson; com-
missioners, Delos Coffin and D. C. Eaton.

The election of 1900 gave the following
results : Representatives, Grant Copeland and
John Geyer; senators, W. P. Reser and O. T.
Cornwell; superior judge, Thomas H. Brents;
prosecuting attorney, Oscar Cain ; auditor, C.
N. IMcLean; clerk, Schuyler Arnold; sheriff,
A. Frank Kees; treasurer, W. B. Hawley;
assessor, Walter L. Cadman; surveyor, W. G.
Sayles; superintendent of public schools, J.
Elmer Myers; coroner, S. A. Oavcus; justice
of the peace, William Glasford; constable, J.
C. Hillman; commissioners, Edward Corn-
well and Amos Cummings.

At this election Judge Brents received the
largest majority ever accorded a candidate in
Walla Walla county, 2,324 votes being cast
in his favor and 1,295 i" favor of the oppos-
ing candidate.

At the present time the county is divided
into twenty-six voting precincts. A list of
these precincts, with the vote cast in each for
the elections of 1896 and 1900 will be found
interesting for comparison.

1896.

Baker 93

Clarke 160

Clyde 103

Coppei 78

Dixie 167

Eureka 97

Fremont 28^

1900.

lOI

192

152

79
162

251

Frenchtown 64 97

Hadley 59 47

Hill 59 80

Lewis 244 287

Lower Dry Creek 54 55

Lower Touchet 20 26

Mill Creek -j-j 66

Mullan 93 91

Prescott 155 170

Ritz 235 262

Russell Creek 55 49

Sims 124 168

Steptoe 123 127

Stevens 259 334

Small 207 216

Waitsburg 198 269

Wallula 105 94

Washington . . • 123 112

Whitman 199 220

Total vote 3434 3785

Total vote in the city 1485 1670

It may be of interest to readers desiring
an accurate conception of the financial con-
dition of the county to have here presented a
few statistics from auditor's report for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1900. By this
statement it is shown that the number of acres *
of improved land in the county is 252,159.90;
of unimproved land, 351,256.42; total num-
ber of acres assessed, 603,414.32; that the
value of lands exclusive of improvements is
$2,812,505; improvements on lands, $492,-
805 : total value of lands and improve-
ments, $3,305,310: that the total value of
railroad tracks within the county is $911,685;
and of personal property, $2,126,945; that the
total value of all taxable property as assessed
is $8,245,852. These figures were so modi-
fied by state and county boards of eciualization

ii8

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

and corrections by auditor as to make the total
valuation of property $8,247,952. The report
is authority also for the statement that the
total county indebtedness in 1900 was $90,-
460.64, and that the cash in the county funds
was $12,437.60, leaving a net indebtedness of
$78,023.04.

STATEHOOD.

The statistical summary of elections just
given makes no mention of the great event in
the history of Washington state, to-wit, its
birth. In 1889 Washington became a state.
Some of the efforts to attain this consummation
have already been noted in these pages. The
government in general did not realize the rapid
growth of this region. After 1883. with the
completion of the Xorihern Pacific Railroad,
jDOpulation increased very rapidly. The am-
bitious and energetic inhabitants of the terri-
tory felt eager to don the garb of statehood.
The national administration, in 1888-9, began
to see that it would be a suitable time to admit
the largest group of states ever admitted at one
time. The pressure from Washington, 'Slon-
tana and Dakota had been unceasing. The
government became satisfied that- these three
great territories fulfilled all the requisites nec-
essary for statehood. Accordingly a bill was
pEssed in 1889 providing for the creation of
Washington, Montana, North Dakota and
South Dakota. This great change in the his-
tory of the territory stimulated all manner of
enterprises, and turned the attention of home-
seekers throughout the L'nited States to Wash-
ington as a region where they might well cast
their lot. It is a matter of interest and pride
to Walla Walla to note that the last territorial
delegate, John B. Allen, and the last territorial
governor, [Miles C. ]\Ioore, were citizens of this
place. In the constitutional con\'ention which

was summoned to meet in 1890 for the purpose
of framing a constitution for the new state,
Judge B. L. Sharpstein. Dr. N. G. Blalock and

D. T- Crowley represented Walla ^^'alla.

In glancing back over the political history
of this state and territory it may be observed
that Walla Walla county has been largely rep-
resented in state affairs. Of the congressional
delegates from 1857 to 1888 four were citizens
(if Walla Walla county. These were George

E. Cole, elected in 1863, Alvin Flanders, in
1867, Thomas H. Brents, in 1878, i82o and
1S82. and John B. Allen, in 1888. Three other
citizens of Walla Walla. J. D. Alix, B. L.
Sharpstein and N. T. Caton, were nominees by
the Democrats, but not elected.

Miles C. Moore, for many years an honored
citizen of Walla Walla, was appointed by Presi-
dent Harrison to the governorship of \\'ash-
ington in 1889. Upon him, therefore, devoh'ed
the bowing out of the territory and the usher-
ing in of the state. Men of all parlies united
in testifying that both duties were performed
with conspicuous ability. The political history
since admission to statehood has been of a
somewhat checkered character. The state has
been in general strongly Republican, and yet
all parties have been distracted with factional
struggle--. Tlie first state legislature was
strongly Republican and chose as the first sena-
tors \y. G. Squire, of Seattle, and John B.
Allen, of Walla Walla. The first Republican
state convention met in Walla Walla, and nomi-
nated E. P. Ferry for governor and John L.
\\'ilson for representative to congress. The Re-
publican candidates were elected by a large
majority. Of the subsequent bitter strife
between the Allen and the Turner factions
we will not here speak. Nor will we speak
of the failure by reason of that strife
to elect a senator in the year 1893, nor

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

119

of the appointment by Governor McGraw
of John B. Allen to fill the vacant place
and his subsequent rejection by the sen-
ate. These things belong rather to the his-
tory of the state than the county, although
these conditions dominated the political affairs
of the county. It was during this portion of
the county history that the management of the
state penitentiary became such a potent factor
in both county and state politics. One ring
after another got control of penitentiary affairs,
and candidates for state or national offices
found it wise to exercise great caution in deal-
ing with those penitentiary rings. The ap-
pointment by Go\'ernor McGraw of J- H. Cob-
kntz to the wardenship of the penitentiary, th.e
slashing manner in which the latter undertook
ti run the politics of the county, as well as
the meekness with which the majority of the
cmmtv statesmen suliiuitted to the yoke, the
frequent spreads and entertainments, some of a
highly moral and religious character, the sub-
sequent defalcation, and at last the .tragic sui-
cide of Warden Coblentz, — of these we need
not speak at length, for are they not all written
i'l the chronicles of the tax payers of \\'alla
Walla ?

During the past five year's the most intimate
c< nnection between the politics of Walla Walla
cnunty and the state has been through the
candidacy of Levi Ankeny for the senatorship.
Although the \\'ilson ring and allied influences
have thus far been able to prevent the election
of Mr. Ankeny, yet be has the hearty support

of almost all the different parties in his own
county.

In the presidential election of 1896 the
usual Republican majority was overcome by the
fusion of the DeuKjcratic and Populist parties
ir.to the organization known as the Peoples'
party. The vote was 1,596 Republican, 1,652
Peoples' party, 37 Prohibition, 64 Gold Demo-
crat. The presidential election of 1900 saw the
tide turned the other way.

In spite of the agr'cultural occupation of
the people of this county the Populist party is
not so strong as in other portions of eastern
Washington. A generally conservative impulse
has kept the independent elements from making
ar.y large accessions from the ranks of orthodox
\'0ters. Apparently financial and personal
motives possess greater influence than political
and independent ones. It is plain that the great
desideratum in both county and state politics
is some large general interest, which is capable
of creating a genuine patriotism and true pub-
lic spirit. Such influences, though rare, and be-
lieved by some cynics not to act at all. ne\-er-
theless do come into existence at times, and are
ill reality the only salvation of republican in-
stitutions.

It may well be expected that a region so
highly favored by nature as Walla Walla, with
sn many influences tending to the creation of
an intelligent, patriotic and liberty-loving pop-
ulation, will in due season create a high stand-
ard of patriotism and political rectitude.

CHAPTER XII

THE LAND WE LIVE IN.

The preceding chapters have been mainly
historical. Those remaining will be mainly de-
scriptive.

In this chapter we propose to view some of
the general physical aspects of this great state
in which \\'alla Walla county is located. After
such a view of the state as a whole we shall
find it the more interesting to traverse in
imagination our own county, and arrive at a
due conception of its rich resources. _ Of all
peculiarities of the "Evergreen state," none is
so impressive as its infinite variety. From the
rolling grass plains of the eastern part to the
arid flats of Yakima, from the aiguilletted and
glacier-crested uplifts of Chelan or Okanogan
to the smiling vales of \\'alla Walla, from the
fog-shrouded shores of Puget sound to the
drifting sands and perpetual sunshine of Ken-
newick, with all the variety of products which
conform to such differences of nature, — coal,
gold, silver, wheat, cattle, fruit, wool, hay, lum-
ber, fish, hops, etc., ad infinitum, — we note that
one predominant fact of variety. To stranger
and resident alike this presents an indescrib-
able charm. In one sense \\'ashington has no
characteristics, for it is both dry and wet, both
clear and cloudy, both timbered and prairie,
lioth mountainous and level, both barren and
luxuriant, both beautiful and dismal. Equally
contrasted are its products. All characters,
then, may be said to belong to it.

This grand and varied character of our
great state has received its tribute of admira-

tion from both visitors and citizens. We can-
not render this chapter attractive in any better
way than by quoting some of the best of these
beautiful tributes.

For a brief review of the progress and pres-
ent conditions of the great state of Washington
there can perhaps be found no more reliable and
incisive account than the following, which ap-
peared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of Sun-
day, December 30, 1900:

"It is not too much to claim for the state
of Washington that it is at least the equal of
any state in the Union for diversity of resources
and magnificence of opportunity, and far sur-
passes most. Its location on the Pacific coast
is, shared by only two other states, neither of
which contains within its boundaries all of the
advantages possessed by the most northwestern
of the states of the Union. Its great inland
sea of Puget sounci forms a harbor unrivaled
by any other in the world. Its mountains are
full of mineral, its forests will yield lumber for
■many years, its wheat fields produce as fine a
quality of grain as any in the United States,
its orchards are infinite in their variety, its
meadows are richer than can be found any-
where else, and as a dairy state it has no equal.
Of no less importance is the fact that its climate
is the most conducive to sustained energy.
The temperature runs to neither extreme, and
is absolutely free from blizzard, drouth, tornado
or flood.

"The state of Washington owes its name.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

to a Kentucky member of congress named
Stanton. The petition to be set off as a separate
territory from Oregon "vvas before congress as
early as 1852, and the territory was created
March 2, 1853. The name proposed was Co-
kimbia, but Stanton said : 'We have already a
territory of Columbia. This district was called
Columbia, but we never yet have dignified a
territory with the name of Washington. I de-
sire to see a sovereign state bearing the name
of the father of this country. I therefore move
to strike out the work Columbia wherever it
occurs in the bill and insert instead thereof the
Avord Washington.'

"It remained a territory until 1889. Acting
under an enabling act passed by congress, the
constitution of the state of Washington was
framed by a convention of seventy-five dele-
gates chosen by the people of the territory, at
an election held May 14, 1889, under the act of
congress approved February 22, 1889. The
convention met at Olympia July 4, 1889, and
adjourned August 22, 1889. The constitution
was ratified at an election held October i, 1889,
and on November 11, 1889, the president of the
United States proclaimed the admission of the
state of Washington into the Union. It is
worthy of note that the act of congress provid-
ing for the state of Washington was approved
on Washington's birthday.

"The state lies l>etween the 46th and 49th
parallels of north latitude and the ri/th and
125th meridians of longitude west from Green-
wich. It has an area of 69,994 square miles,
and is, therefore, greater in area than any state
east of the Mississippi, and is greater than all
si-x New England states combined. In i860 it
had a population of 11,594; in 1870, 23.955;
in 1880, 75,116; in 1885, 130,465; in 1890
its population was 349.390 ; and now it is
518,103.

"The first settlements were trading posts of
the Hudson's Bay and Northwestern fur com-
panies. There was a settlement of farmers
from the Red river valley, who located at Nis-
qually in 1841. There were also early mis-
sionary settlements at Walla Walla in 1835,
and Spokane, then Fort Spokane, in 1838. The
first American settlement on Puget sound was
made in October, 1845, at New Market, now
Tum water. In 1880 the largest body of urban
population in the state of W^ashington was
found at Walla Walla, which had a population
of 3,588. The next largest body was in Seattle,
with its population of 3,533.

"The early historical accounts of what is
now the state of Washington are very meager.
Most of the expeditions had some other object
than possession of this part of the country.
E.xpeditions by Juan de Fuca, Captain George
A'ancouver, Captain Robert Gray, by sea, and
by Captain \\^illiam Clark and Captain Meri-
wether Lewis, by land, have left their marks
ir now familiar names. There was also one
unfortunate expedition undertaken in 1832,
under Captain Bonneville, numbering one hun-
dred and ten men and twenty wagons, which,
starting from Fort Osage, reached as far west
as Fort Walla Walla.

"Captain Nathaniel J. A\'yeth, of ilassachu-
setts, also in 1832, got as far west as Fort
X^ancouver. John Ball, a member of his party,
opened a school — the first known — at that
place. One of his teachers describes it as a
primitive Babel. 'The scholars,' he says,
'came in talking in their respective languages — ■
Cree, Nez Perce, ,Chinook, Klickitat,' and
others whose names he did not know. Dr.
Marcus Whitman is another of the heroic pio-
neers who has impressed his personality upon
the early history of the state.

"President Pierce, whose vice-president was

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

named King, appointed Major Isaac I. Stevens
the first go\'ernor, and all of these are remem-
bered in the names of counties. A subdivision
of Stevens county was, in 1899, created a sep-
arate county under the name of the first gov-
ernor of the state, Elisha P. Ferry. By proc-
lamation, September 29, 1853, from the sum-
mit of the Rocky mountains, Governor Stevens
announced his assumption of his executive
duties, and soon after he arrived at Olympia,
the selected capital.

"The remoteness of the new territory made
its development very slow. The construction
of the Xorthern Pacific Railroad, which it was
intended to terminate at Olympia, but which
was extended to Tacoma in 1880, is one of the
great historical incidents in the development of
the state. Even then it was supposed that
Portland would be the real terminus, but work
was pushed on, and on September 7, 1883, the
last spike was driven. On Monday, the 5th dav
of July, 1887, the people of Washington com-
memorated the arrival the day before of the
first overland train direct from Duluth to Ta-
coma. From that time the growth of the state
has been rapid. The building of the Great
Northern has placed the state on the line of
another great transcontinental road, and many
branches have since been added.

"The surface of the state is separated into
two great natural di\-isions by the Cascade
range of mountains, extending from north to
south, placing about two-thirds of the total
area of the state in the eastern division. This
division makes a great dift'erence in climate,
and the t^vo portions differ very much also in
soil and resources. The western side is much
more thickly populated, and its climate is moist
and far less var"able than that on the east,
where winter and summer are more distinctly
marked. Eastern Washington is the valley of

the Columbia, while western Washington is the
valley of Puget sound, lying between the Cas-
cades and the Olympics.

"In western Washington the strip of land
bordering on the Pacific coast and extending
back as far as the summit of the first mountain
ranges has a wet climate; the region between
the coast range and the Cascades has a moist
climate, varying in the amount of annual pre-
cipitation from twenty to sixty inches; in east-
ern Washington the annual precipitation varys
only from fifteen to sixteen inches, although
there is an irregular ring within which the
rainfall varys from fifteen to twenty-five inches
annuall)', and these diversities affect the char-
acter of the native productions.

"The moisture of western Washington re-
sults in wonderful richness of meadow prod-
ucts. Hay, oats and hops are the principal field
crops, Ijut the valleys are splendidly adapted to
culture of fruits, vegetables and flax, and to
the pursuit of the dairy industry. The drier
climate of eastern W'ashington has made the
cultivation of wheat the principal source of
wealth, but irrigation of the volcanic soil has
resulted in a marvelous production of apples,
pears, peaches, apricots, cherries and all small
fruit.

"The mountains of the state of ^^'ashing-
ton are entitled to special mention on account
of their grandeur of scenery and their timber
lands. Beautiful though many of its mountains
are. there is none anywhere which can com-
pare with Alount Rainier. With an altitude
officially given as 14,444 feet, althougli it is
actually nearer 15,000, it is smaller fruits grow in the great-
est profusion. Strawberries are an immense
crop; certainly none of finer flavor or of greater
size are grown anywhere in the world. They
are superb, and cherries, they are perfect, large,
luscious, finely colored, deliciously flavored.
From the time the trees are in bloom until the
last cherry is gone they are a source of pleas-
ure, satisfaction and profit.

"As to grapes, the soil of this valley is per-
fectly adapted to their culture. Western Wash-
ington has no grapes practically, the climate

is too cool to ripen them. But in the Walla
\\'alla valley the vines groan with their weight
ot perfect fruit. Grapes from this valley rival
the California product in all the eastern mar-
kets.

"This is true of all the fruits except the
purely tropical kinds. Whether it is pears or
apples, plums or prunes, or any of the smaller
berries, the soil fairly abandons itself to the
growth of fruit, and the result is a perfection
of development rarely excelled.

"Vegetables Of all kinds may be said to
run riot. The}' mature early ; lettuce, radishes,
asparagus, cauliflower and all of the green
grocer's stock of edibles, which charm the eye
and tempt the appetite, are mai-ketable very
early in the season. They seem to grow all the
year round, for the markets are never without
this supply of home grown green things. [Mar-
ket gardening pays well. There is always a
ready sale for fine vegetables and prices rule
generally higher than in eastern markets.

"The climate of this valley is almost ideal.
The rainfall is not heavy. There is some snow
for a few weeks, perhaps — and sometimes the
mercury drops rather low, but never for long.
In the valley it is rarely too cold for comfort.
Farmers plough until Christmas time and the
crops are all sown in the fall of the year. By
March usually, often as early as February,
work is again resumed and from then on there
is mild, delightful weather with occasional
rains. During the summer for a month or two.
or perhaps three, the weather is warm and there
is no rain. This season, owing to the dry
weather, is a bit disagreeable on account of
dust. This of course is obviated in the city,
but out in the farm districts along the country
roads it is so disagreeable as to occasion no
little discomfort. But where mav be found

128

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

a climate AAitliout even one defect? This one
i-> but slight at the most, for the rest of the
year the weather is without reproach.

"Historically the valley is interestmg. It
was once the home of powerful tribes of In-
dians whose tepees dotted the green slopes, and
whose ponies roamed at will over the beautiful
undulating ground. Far and near rode the
hunters in search of game, while the patient
squaws remained in the valley gathering the
fruits which grew almost without culture, dry-
ing roots and herbs and herding the vast num-
ber of ponies which made up a large part of
the Indian's wealth. They were happy here
and content.

"But the white man came, as he always
does, bringing with him energy and ambition
and civilization, attributes which the Indian
holds in supreme disdain. For years the few
trading companies tried to gain a permanent
fcothold among the tribes, but the Indians •
were wary until the Hudson's Bay Company's
men came on. then for the first time a treaty
v\-as effected and a permanent trading post es-
tablished. This was in 1828. A year or two
later the old Fort Walla ^^^alla, whose ruins
are yet in evidence, was built.

"Closely following the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany came Dr. Whitman, to whom, perhaps,
more than to any other single agency belongs
the credit of opening up this marvelous valley
to civilization. He saw the wonderful natural
advantages the valley offered to the home-
seeker and it was not long before a tide of im-
migation set in which has not yet begun to ebb.

"Fremont also visited the Walla Walla
country. His published statements regarding
this mountain-girt Eden were widely read, in-
teresting thousands and inducing many to find
liere home and health and wealth.

"So the fame of Walla Walla grew. As the

years haxx come and gone, the valley has grown
fairer and richer and more desirable, and the
end is not yet. It already is one of the wealth-
iest sections of country of the great Pacific
northwest. With the hands of commerce now
reaching out to grasp new fields and to make
new gains : with markets constantly opening,
the wealth of Walla Walla valley will one day
surpass even the dreams of wealth which dazzle
the imagination of men. If the state of ^^^ash-
ir.gton fufills its manifest destiny, and takes
its rightful place among the most important of
these Lnited States, certainly ranking fore-
most in the Pacific group, a prediction like the
alx)ve comes quite within the limits of prob-
ability.

"There is no valley in the world which
promises more to the home-seeker. Here is
beauty, for nothing in nature could be fairer
than this valley, stretching away for miles and
miles, its green slopes reaching the summits of
its mountain wall, its rivers making music as
they ripple over the undulating ground.

"On a midsummer day when the fields are
bright with their wealth of grain, when the
trees hang heavy with fruit, then it is that
the valley seems fairly to exult in her beauty,
and nature smiles at so rich a harvest. Here
also is fertility of soil in a degree almost mar-
velous; there seems a magic in the ground,
which year after year yields its bounty so free-
ly ; there are no barren lands, every foot of the
millicMis of acres is productive. So generous
lias been the hand of nature in this regard that
even the slopes of the mountains are available
for cultivation. Even here may the farmer sow
seed and reap his harvest.

"Flere also is a climate than which it were
hard to find a better. To the farmer of the
east, weary with the heat of many summers,
prostrating alike to brain and body, or worn

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

129

with the rigors of succeeding winters, whose
bitter, biting cold seems to numl) his very
vitals, the climate of this valley is the next
thing to paradise. It gives him a raritied at-
n:osphere, which keeps him young. It gives
him an equable temperature, which permits
hnn to be comfortable at least for nine months
of the year. During the other three, which
comprise the few weeks of weather too hot
and the few weeks of weather too cold, he may
have refuge from the one by flight to the
mountains, a few miles distant, where blankets
and fire-wood are much in demand. From the
other he may have release by the light of his
own fireside, from whose warmth and comfort
he may view with indifference the snows which
briefly fly about its w-alls, and may listen with
complacency to the winds which beat against
them.

"It is a significant fact that those who come
to the Walla Walla valley to build a home re-
main here, and more, they grow rich. This
valley is noted for its prosperous farms, its
v,'ell-to-do people. The whole valley has a look
of thrift; prosperity is written all over its broad
acres. To the man of money seeking new
fields of investment where profit and sure re-
turns are promised, the ^^'alla \\'alla country
offers opix3rtunities unequalled. To the man
who seeks a home, to the one whose only cap-
ital is his brain or his good right hand, it of-
fers a fair chance in the pursuit of all that men
find dear. Industry, energy and ambition are
all the capital a man need have ; the valley will
do the rest."

The following tribute to the "beautiful
Walla Walla valley" is reproduced from the
edition of the Inland Empire of August, 1900:

"When the unerring hand of nature made
the fertile hills and beautiful valleys which com-
prise the territory now known as the Walla

\\'alla valley, and the All-Seeing eye looked
upon them and said they were good, nothing
short of infinite wisdom could have made an
attempt at telling any thing of the greatness
and value to the world which future genera-
tions would bring to the seemingly insignificant
part of creation. And, even to-day when we
look out upon a well developed country, when
we see thousands of happy homes and pros-
perous farmers and business men, when we
behold about us a rising generation of patriotic
and energetic young people, and looking toward
the setting sun we note the opening of a new
era of expansion in commerce and new avenues
of industry, we have as little real idea of how
future years will develop it as had our an-
cestors of hundreds of years ago. The past we
have seen and heard of, the future is all hidden
in myster}' and expectation.

"Centuries passed and man in all his wis-
dom and enterprising exploration pressed from
the banks of Plymouth Rock to the westward
across a country peopled by wild men, endur-
' ing all the hardships of pioneer experience,
before the hand of fortune pointed the way to
the section of country of which we speak, and
almost discouraged with the wilds of the west,
the earlv pioneer could not make up his mind
to cast his lot in so lonely a place. But when
once he had tested nature and found the fer-
tility of the soil, the abundant supply of pure
and wholesome water, the balmy climate and
beautiful natural surroundings, he changed his
mind and remained for a season. Imbued with
the fact that he had made no mistake, at the
end of the year the sturdy pioneer found him-
self more content and the future looked brighter
and more promising. Others, of like sturdy
natures, came and made friends with him, and
— behold the change! Where but yesterday
was a vast expanse of hills and valleys, un-

130

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

productive and worthless, to-day were seen the
foundations of homes, of firesides and of for-
tunes.

"The constant and untiring tread of prog-
ress was westward and northward. Yet nature
had so set apart from the other portion of the
country the httle \-alley that it was not found
as readily as some other places, and when
found was more isolated and difficult of ap-
proach. Surrounded by high mountain ranges,
tra\-ersed by rivers which, with the means at
hand, could not be crossed, the valley was so
set apart that its neighbors were beyond the
mountains, and must be ever so. Rugged nat-
ural conditions made the construction of high-
ways and railroads a difficult matter, and at
first the progress of the new country was slow
and made under great tribulation. But the
people came, they saw, they conquered.

"Fifty years ago a band of sturdy soldiers
pitched their tents where to-day is the city
of Walla \^'alla. They were sent by the gov-
ernment to protect the few white inhabitants
from the incursions of the Indians, who
abounded in all parts of the valley. The sol-
diers were good judges of conditions, and
when they found an ideal camping spot there
they stopped and waited. The go\-ernment or-
dered erected a garrison, and soon the busy
mechanic was placing together the rough tim-
bers which. were to constitute the first Fort
\\'alla \\'alla. The signs of life brought to the
place by the new order of things induced men
of enterprise and foresight to come and es-
tablish themselves in the trade thev saw
in the new territory. Men came and began
to build a city. Year after year they
worked, and each recurring twelve-month
made great improvements in conditii ns and
in business. The little band of pioneers
was strengthened and it grew into a commu-

nity. The community became a village, and
the \'illage developed into a town. Then the
town became the leading trading place in the
whole section of country from which it drew
its business, and for hundreds of miles the
name of Walla ^^'alla meant the hub of com-
merce to the people as fully as Xew York does
to us of this generation.

"Success always brings decadence or
lethargy in its wake. And for years after suc-
cess had come to ^^'alla Walla the tinge of
lethargy fastened itself upon the community,
and it ceased to grow and expand as it had
in days past. Then a new era of progress and
development came, and of that we of to-day
know about all there is to be told. Xew life
was infused into the city and growth took the
place of dormant energies. Xew people came
and made new homes, new industries took the
places then vacant. After a few years of this
energetic development we ha\e the Walla
Walla of to-day.

"Great-hearted nature has done a great deal
' for the places which man has tried to build
up. In fact, nature always lays the founda-
tion and man comes along and erects the super-
structure. New York was given a harbor.
New Orleans a great river opening to the gulf,
San Francisco was given the Golden Gate to
the Pacific, Seattle and Tacoma were pre-
sented with a Puget Sound, Spokane, the queen
of the northwest, was tendered by nature a
wonderful cataract, yet W^alla Walla was not
neglected. The gifts were not parcelled out
parsimoniously, yet in the distribution Walla
Walla was given her share. No spot in all
the broad land, no city within the borders of
our country has received from a kind nature
more smiles than has our citv. Surrounded
by a most fertile section of country, stretch-
ing scores of miles in everv direction, at the

HISTORY OF \\^\LLA WALLA COUNTY.

131

•ccnfluence of. sparkling mountain streams af-
fording a bountiful supply of water for do-
mestic, irrigation and industrial purposes, the
location is ideal. The Blue mountains frown
down upon the city in grim sturdiness, remind-
ing one of the great sturdy men and women
who have taken such an active pare in the
progress and development of the valley. With
mountain and stream, the rugged hills and
pleasant valleys present a landscape which for
real beauty and picturesqueness of effect, is
rarely equalled and never excelled.

"In the early development of the valley the
live-stock industry was an important factor,
as stock fed all the year upon th; luxuriant
growth of bunch-grass which covered the hill-
sides from Snake river to the southward for a
hundred miles or more. Great droves of
horses, cattle and sheep were raised and from
the sales of stock came fortunes easily and
quickly. As the settlement became more gen-
eral the pasture disappeared and the produc-
tion of wheat began. The grain grew well and
the yields reported in an early day were gen-
erallv large. When transportation facilities
were secured good money was made year in
and year out by farmers and the business of
the country was very good. The foundations
for the successful men and the many fortunes
v.diich are to be found now were laid in the
early days of wheat raising in the valley of
many waters.

"As the years went by the lack of fruit was
noted and men were led to consider the neces-
sity of planting orchards- for the production of
fruits for local consumption. The market was
limited and the territory which could be drawn
on was necessarily circumscribed. But orchards
were planted, and from them has sprung the
great horticultural interests of the section of
to-dav. The little tract of fruit trees has given

way to the large orchards where hundreds of
acres of land and scores of men and boys are
employed in the production and packing of
fruits for the markets which have now widened
and broadened until the supply is not equal to
the demand. Hundreds of carloads of fruits
and berries are shipped from the city every
years to points in Montana, Idaho, British Co-
lumbia and Sound cities, where Walla Walla
fruits are in demand over the article sent in
from California.

"The Walla \Valla \-alley proper is a large
belt of agricultural land lying south of Snake
ri\-er and west of the Blue mountains, extend-
ing across the Oregon line on the south. It
comprises the valley lands, the Eureka Flat
country, a high plateau where wheat grows as
naturally as weeds, the upper or footh.ill lands
near the mountains and all of the lower bottom
lands, used mostly for gardening. A great
rich belt of land producing millions of bushels
of wheat and barley and hundreds of carloads
of fruit and vegetables annual))-, ca];able of
maintaining a population of a million souls, is
a Ijrief description of the valley as it is to-day.

"Fortunate is that community so favored
b\- the gifts of nature that its descriptive story
plainly told attracts and interests the wanderer
in less favored climes. Strained efforts by
fleft penmen to show conditions which do not
exist ; elaborate effusions and exaggerations to
draw attention to cities and districts possessing
no particular advantages or charms, have long
since ceased to attract the home-seeker or in-
vestor. A simple rehearsal of what a commu-
nity possesses in natural and acquired wealth,
like the sayings of the plain, blunt man, elicits
more attention that the grandiloquent effort
where boom propensities are all too apparent.

"That section of the \\'alla \Valla -s-alley ad-
jacent to W^alla Walla is indeed a favored sec-

132

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

tion. It is a vast expanse of fertile tiekls. bur-
dened orchards and prolific nature. To one
even partially acquainted with its natural wealth
there is an inspiration in the subject. Imagina-
tion does not have to be called into play, as
the \-aried topics which the subject suggests
give the writer a sufficient range upon which
to dwell indefinitely.

"Think! Orchards of luscious fruit and
fields of waving grain ; hills of precious metals
and dales of fertile soil ; rain and sunshine ;
running brooks; pleasant nooks in hidden dales,
and busy marts of trade; swift rushing trains
over transcontinental rail, — all these, and many
more topics, are suggested to the mind when
Walla Walla is mentioned. It is easy to begin
but hard to end.

"This growing city is yet in its infanc}', —
just beginning to assume metropolitan propor-
tions. The view of the city to the stranger,
particularly in the summer season, is most in-
viting. A panorama of wide and beautiful
streets, lined with shade trees. The scene is one
that never fails to inspire the weary traveler,
after his dusty journey across the continent.
On every hand he cannot but observe the evi-
dence of thrift and commercialism. He Avill
find that nearly every person he meets is busy
or intent on doing something. When the
stranger shall have pursued his investigations
further he will discover that this bustling little
city is built for all time and is the natural trad-
ing center for a \-ery rich and extensive country.

"A mistaken idea prevails that societv in the
northwest is difi'erent from what it is in the
older commonwealths of the country. This
was partially true in times gone by, but happily
it is no longer the case, only in the particular
that it is only those of an enterprising turn
of mind who seek homes in a new countrv: con-
sequently, the general spirit of the new west

is more active and liberal than the staid old
commonwealths of the east."

The following excerpt from the history of
Washington, edited by Julian Hawthorne and
Colonel G. Douglas Brewerton, and issued in
1893, is worthy of reproduction in this con-
nection :

"Walla Walla county, still Indian, and,
alas, but too suggesti\'e, as we turn the pages
of Washington's blood-stained history, of the
war-whoop ajid the scalping-knife, comes next
under our review. Its Astoria, Walla Walla
and \'anc(iu\-er are household words in the
story of territorial strife and struggle and in-
delibly associated with the darkest of her early
ciavs. They are to the nati\-e of Washington
'to the manor burn' what the tower of London
is to the Englishman. — the repository of dread-
ful deeds and by-gone sorrows, — for we make
history more rapidly in our days than in those
\aunted 'good old times.' As we breathe the
name, the syllables of Walla Walla trip glid-
ingh- o\'er the tongue with the musical step of
n'.any another Indian appellation, as, for in-
stance, ^Minnehaha; it is appropriate, withal, for
a.- the latter means 'laughing water,' so Walla
Walla signifies 'valley of waters,' which is even
better, for we have seen ]\Iinnehaha in the arid
season when it laughed not at all. It is de-
rived from 'Walatsa,' meaning 'running' — for
it carries both the interpretations, — but this is
the less mellifluous Nez Perce, the \\'alla Walla
or Wallula meaning tlie same thing, being taken
from the language of the tribe whose name it
bears. — the \\'alla ^^'allas. This region is, in-
deed, well named the 'valley of waters.' From
whence, we wonder, does the 'Siwash' get his
poetical inspiration, for it would ofttimes puzzle
the paleface to better either the beauty or ap-
propriateness of his nomenclature. It can not
I)c inherent, still less inherited. It is, we fancv.

]IISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

133

■unconsciously absorbed from the surroundings
(natural, we mean, not artificial) of his every-
day life. However he gets it, it may not be
denied that the divine afflatus is held in most
repulsive vessels, the filthy, unwashed jar of
the red man's human clay. Of a surety poor
Pegasus was never prisoned in a filthier stall.
"To return to more prosaic themes, Walla
Walla county was admitted in 1854, the only
one of the southeastern Washington counties
created with the establishment of the terruory.
It then embraced all the valley of the Columbia
east of the Cascades, an area of nearl)' two
hundred thousand square miles, — an imperial
domain, as it has very properly been called. It
has, however, suffered successive curtailments
till reduced to its present dimensions of thirteen
hundred square miles. 'What is left," says
Evans, 'is the oldest, best cultivated, and in
every respect the most advanced part of Wash-
ington.' Yet this grand expanse of exceedingly
desirable country, in all its original fullness and
fertility, was shut out from settlement for an
extended season, throusfh the foolish or vin-

dictive actions of General Wool, who endorsed
the equally short-sighted policy of his sub-
ordinate. Colonel \\'right, — a policy that pro-
tected the Indian, neglected the white, and prac-
tically relegated to its pi-imitive savagery this
mighty and most productive domain. The
original empire of Walla Walla, we are told,
was recognized as a garden spot even long
before some other regions, where the soil was
eciually good, were deemed eminently desirable.
It is said to produce more money's worth of
grown products than any other county of the
slate. Walla \\'alla derives its wealth from the
ground. So enriched is this county by nature
that it is not improl^iable that her recorded pop-
ulation of the last census (1890) — 12,224 —
will be doubled within the next decade. It is
v/ell watered, being bounded on the north and
east b}- the Snake and Columbia rivers, while
its southern boundary is irrigated by the \\'alla
Walla and its tributary streams. * * * *
Take it all in all, it is a lively, progressive
region, an example to all good counties in the
state, prospering and likely to prosper."

CHAPTER XIII.

A JOURXEY THROUGH WALLA WALLA COUNTY,

In this chapter Ave propose to invite the
reader to accompany us upon a journey
throughout Walla Walla county. In the prog-
ress of this journey we shall take time to drop
in at every town or village in the county, as
well as view in a general way the country
tln^ough which we pass. We shall omit the
city of \\'alla Walla from this chapter, inas-

much as we intend to make it the subject of a
special visit. It is fitting that we should visit
first the place next in size to the capital, and
tl'iis is Waitsburg. In order to see Waitsburg
first of all we must enter the county from the
northeast, and we will therefore suppose, if
you please, that we have come from Spokane by
the O. R. c^' X. Railroad.

134

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

WAITSBURG.

Leaving the main line at Bolles Junction, we
proceed by the ^^'aitsburg and Dayton branch,
and after riding about two miles find ourselves
approaching a beautiful little city occupying a
level tract of land along the junction of the
Touchet and Coppei creeks. But before pro-
ceeding to speak of the attractive and beauti-
ful surroundings of the place and adjoining
country, let us remember that our quest is not
only descriptive but historical, and that we
shall therefore desire to turn our glass back-
ward for a few moments upon the period of
earliest settlement in this part of Walla Walla
county. Claims were made substantially as
early in the present vicinity of \\'aitsburg as of
AA'alla \\'alla. In 1859 Robert Kennedy set-
tied at the junction of the Touchet and the
Coppei. .\bove him on the creek were Abner
T. Lloyd, George Pollard, Joseph Star and
Samuel Galbreath. A string of claims were
laid out up the Coppei by [Messrs. Patten, Mor-
gan, J'aine, Doolittle, Bateman and Cox. On
the Touchet below the mouth of the Coppei
were James Woodrufif, Edward Kenton, Jona-
than Kenny, Martin Hober, Luke Henshaw,
Andrew \\'arren and John Foster.

The universal imjjression throughout the
ccamtry at that time was that none but the bot-
tom lands were worth cultivating, and inas-
much as the area of b;nt::im land i i that por-
tion of the county is very small the popula-
tion remained scanty. A faint attempt at a
town was started on the Coppei about five miles
from the present site of Waitsburg. In Jan-
uar}-, 1863, this became a postoffice by the
name of Coppei. Luke Henshaw lieing the first
postmaster. Coppei apparently was in a fair
v;ay to become a town, when in 1S6; the start-

ing of \\'aitsburg undermined it, and the pros-
pective city of Coppei died a natural death.

The founder of Waitsburg was Sylvester
jNI. \\'ait. Air. Wait was a pioneer of the pio-
neers in this countr}-, ha\'ing lived for some
years in southern Oregon and then at Lewis-
ton. Having learned in 1864 that a quantity
of wheat could be purchased for one dollar
and a half per bushel on the Touchet, he
formed the project of putting up a grist mill
and transforming this wheat into flour. This
would evidently be good business, as flour was
worth fourteen dollars per barrel. The farm-
ers \'ery enthusiastically accepted ]Mr. ^^'ait's
plans, yir. Bruce and Mr. \\'illard, who then
owned most of what became the town site of
Waitsburg, ga\-e ten acres of ground for a mill
and a residence and a right of way for the mill-
race. The farmers 'contracted to sell all their
grain to the mill at the rate of one dollar and
a half per bushel. \\'ith this basis of opera-
tions Mr. Wait proceeded to get machinery
from San Francisco and lumber from whatever
source he might obtain it, mainly at a very high
price. The mill cost about fourteen thousand
dollars, which was a heavy debt to carry in that
cf'ndition of the country. But it proved an ex-
cellent investment, as 'Sir. \\'ait rapidly dis-
charged the debt and laid the foundation of
quite a fortune.

William X. Smith, a teacher by profes-
sion, came to the new town in the spring of
1S65 and decided' to open a school on the
Touchet. This was the first school ever held in
that portion of ^^■alla Walla county, being
opened on the first Monday in April, 1865.
School district Number 3 was organized in the
fall of that year.

In the fall of 1866 a postofirce was estab-
lished, with 'Sh. Smith as postmaster. Up to

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

135

this time the place had l^een variously known
as Wait's Mill, Waitsburg and Horsehead
City, but when it became a postoffice it was
necessary to select some definite name. Mr.
Smith suggested the name of Delta, by which
the place was known until 1868, when by vote
of the people the name was changed to Waits-
burg.

L'p to th.is time there had been no attempt
to lay out a town. Mr. W. P. Bruce, the chief
owner of the location, had seemed disinclined
to encourage the building of a town on his
farm. But as it had become evident that the
place was destined to become a business center,
he made a survey and a plat of the beginning of
the town, which was recorded on the 23d of
February, 1869.

The town grew slowly but steadily during
the years that followed. The census of 1870
gave a population of 109. In that same year
a notable event occurred in the arrival in
Waitsburg of P. A. and W. G. Preston. They,
in connection with Paine Brothers and Moore,
bought out Mr. Wait's mill, of which they be-
came and are still the sole owners. The first
newspaper of Waitsburg, the Weekly Times,
was first published in ^Nlarch, 1878.

The year 1881 was a notable one in the
history of Waitsburg. For in that year a
city government was organized, the railroad
was constructed, and the greater portion of the
business part of the town was destroyed by
fire. The first town government was organ-
ized in Feljruary of that year. The first elec-
tion resulted in the choice of George ^^^ Kel-
licut, William Fudge, Alfred Brouillet, M. J.
Harkness and E. L. Powell for trustees ; W.
PL George for marshal ; J. W. Morgan for
treasurer; and J. C. Swash for clerk. Accord-
ing to the census of 1880, Waitsburg had a
population of 248. It will give the traveler

of the present time some impression of the
growth of the town to be informed that it
then contained two hotels, four saloons, four
general merchandise stores, one furniture
store, two drug stores, one hardware store,
one \-ariety store, one brewery, one harness
and saddlery shop, two livery stables, two
blacksmith shops, one jewelry store, one meat
market, one flour mill, one planing mill, one
castor mill, one corn meal mill, besides a ]Ma-
sonic hall, postoffice, telegraph office, express
oflice, railway station, school house and two
churches.

The first pioneer church of \\'aitsburg was
of the Methodist denomination. This was
established in 1859 by Rev. George M. Berry.
Like most pioneer churches it held its meet-
ings in school houses for some time, but an
excellent church edifice was built in 1871. A
Presljyterian church was established by Rev.
T. M. Boyd in 1877. The Christian church
established itself in Spring Valley, four miles
from Waitsburg, in 1876. The first pastor
was Rev. Xeil Cheatham, who has since be-
come c|uite noted in connection with Populist
politics. In 1880 a Christian church was es-
tablished in Waitsburg itself. Still later a
United Presbyterian church was founded, so
that there are now four churches.

Waitsburg, like most of our pioneer towns,
has been well ec^uipped with fraternal organi-
zations. The pioneer fraternities were Waits-
burg Lodge, Xo. 16, A. F. «S: A. ]\I., organ-
ized March 2^, 1870; Touchet Lodge, Xo. 5,
I. O. O. F., organized September 12, 1871;
Pioneer Lodge, No. 16, I. O. G. T., organized
July 20, 1867; and Occidental Lodge, X"o. 46,
A. O. U. W.

The pioneer newspaper of Waitsburg was
the Times, established in 1878. The very im- .
portant educational institution, Waitsburg

136

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Academy, was esta'blished in 1886, though the
name was first emplo3'ed in 1869. Of many
of these features of Waitsburg thus briefly
referred to we speak at length elsewhere.

Such is a general view of the pioneer life
of Waitsburg. Having it in mind we are
prepared to compare the present city with the
past. We find as we stroll through the pleas-
ant town that it has become an exceptionally
well-built and well-e(]uipped place of (accord-
ing to United States census of 1900) 1,059
inhabitants. We discover a $16,000 public
school building of brick, in which seven teach-
ers are employed, and there is an enrollment
of 345 students. There is a high school de-
partment in connection with the common
school work. The school also possesses a
library of over two hundred volumes and an
excellent equipment of physical apparatus.

We visit Waitsburg Academy and find it
equipped with an elegant new building, erect-
ed in 1899 at a cost of $20,000. The acad-
emy is provided with an efiicient and devoted
faculty. We discover also four commodious
and well-furnished churches, and these organi-
zations are usually influential in ^^'aitsburg
and vicinity.

We discover the fraternal orders to have
developed at equal pace with the rest of the
town, the Masons and Odd Fellows each own-
ing a fine two-story brick building.

We see also an excellent system of water
works owned by the town, which derives its
supply of water from the Coppei creek, and
which, being a gravity system, furnishes the
town perfect protection against fire and a
bountiful supply for domestic use.

Telephones and electric lights are among
the more recent acquisitions of Waitsburg.

\\'aitsburg, for its population, is a very
hea\y railroad shipper. During a period of

six months in 1895 there were shipped from
the town 10,168 tons of freight, and there
were shipped in 637 tons. This shows a far
more remarkable disparity between exports
and imports even than in the case of Walla
Walla itself.

We find in ^^'aitsburg the following list
of stores and other business establishments :
Three general merchandise stores, two gro-
cer}' stores, two hardware stores, one furni-
ture store, two jewelry stores, two drug stores,
two saloons, two newspapers, one bank, a
planing mill, two lumber yards, one bakery,
two livery stables, three blacksmith shops, and
two hotels.

The city government of Waitsburg con-
sists of a mayor and five councilmen, who are
elected annually on the first Monday in April.
The present incumbents of these positions are
as follows : Mayor, J. H. Morrow ; council-
men, J. L. Harper, B. M. Kent, J. B. Caldwell,
\\'. J. Honeycutt, C. M. Taylor; attorney and
city clerk, R. H. Ormsbee ; treasurer, L. E.
Johnson.

One especially attracti\-e feature of Waits-
burg is the profusion of flowers and trees
throughout the town. Especially to one hav-
ing come across the dry and treeless plains to
the north, the freshness and luxuriance of the
town on the Coppei presents a striking and at-
tractive contrast.

We may leave Waitsburg by either one
of two railroads, the Oregon & Columbia
River Railroad by way of Dixie or the O. R.
& N. R. R. by way of Prescott. We will,
however, take our journey by way of Dixie.
This route follows Coppei creek for several
miles south and then climbs a high ridge
which lies between that and Dry creek. This
region contains some of the most magnificent
farms in the state* of Washington. Although

WAITSBURG PUBLIC SCHOOL

WAITSBURG ACADEMY.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

137

somewhat high and rolling and at first sight
inconvenient to farm, the soil is of the most
fertile quality, and the rainfall is heavier than
in any other part of the county. Among the
notable farms in this section may be men-
tioned those of Messrs. Cornwell, Phillips,
Minnick and Connick. The Royce farm,
which in 1900 had an undesirable notoriety
by reason of the murder of the venerable
owner by his grandson, is also in this general
neighborhood.

From Summit station a magnificent view
can be obtained looking down the winding
valley of the Coppei to the north, and the
hazy plains of the Walla Walla to the west.
At our feet we see a pleasant little village
situated in the narrow and fertile \'alley of
Dry creek.

DIXIE.

The first settler in Dixie was Herman C.
Act(.ir, who located a hdmestead at this point.
The name was derived from the following
circumstance : Three brothers of the name of
Kershaw had become noted as musicians in
the emigrant train with which they crossed
the plains. A great favorite among the peo-
ple of the train was the song of "Dixie."
Almost every night the Kershaw boys ren-
dered this song, to the delight of the immi-
grants. As a consequence the boys became
known as the Dixie boys. Having subse-
quently settled in the vicinity of where Dixie
now is, the crossing of the creek first became
known as Dixie crossing, then a school-house
was built and styled as Dixie school-house,
then a cemetery was laid out which was des-
ignated as the Dixie cemetery, then a post-
office was established which was called the
Dixie postoffice, and finally Dr. Baker's rail-
road established Dixie station, and thus such
has become its accepted name.

Dixie became a genuine American frontier
\-illage, true to the ideal of an early establish-
ment of school, churches, postoffice and other
elements of an American community. Among
the pioneer preachers were Messrs. Granville
Gholson, W. H. Robbins, Bailey, Hamilton
and Hastings. There are at the present time
three churches, Christian, Methodist and Bap-
tist. The pioneer school-teacher was John
Ross. Mr. Storey, now one of the substan-
tial farmers of Dixie, was one of the stand-
bys in the Dixie school-room. At the time of
this publication the corps of teachers consists
of J. E. Myers, Elmer Chase and Mrs. F. B.
Faris. That Dixie also has an excellent spirit
of fraternalism is shown by the fact that they
have a number of lodges. The Odd Fellows'
lodge is the strongest, having fifty-seven mem-
bers. There are two well-equipped stores in
Dixie, one conducted by C. L. Cochran and
J. F. Jackson, and the other by M. E. Demaris
& Company. The population of the place is
about 250.

Leaving Dixie, we find immediately below
it in the valley one of the largest fruit ranches
in the county. It contains about sixty acres
of trees, the great majority of which are
prunes and apples. Mr. Clancy, one of the
pioneer orchardists of the county, is the owner
of this fine orchard. Unlike the large orchards
in the near vicinity of Walla Walla, the
Clancy orchard uses no water for irrigation.
It is planted on a north hill slope of the rich-
est, deepest soil, and thus far its development
seems to justify the opinion held by manj^ that
the finest fruits of the valle}' will be found in
the foot-hills, where there is a sufficient amount
of rainfall to dispense with irrigation.

Below the Clancy place on Dry creek there
extends a series of the finest farms of the
count}', among which ma}- be named the Corn-

138

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

well, the Gillian, the Aldrich, the Yeend, and
the Xelson places. As stated in another chap-
ter, the place of Milton Aldrich has the distinc-
tion of producing the largest known crop of
any place in Washington. One of the finest
farms in the vicinity of Dixie is that of Hollon
Parker, south of the town.

Between the line of railroad which we are
following westward and the flanks of the Blue
mountains, lies a magnificent body of farm-
ing land, in a belt of about seven miles wide
by ten long, lying along Mill creek and Rus-
sell creek. This is the oldest, wealthiest and
most highly cultivated of the farming lands
of the county or indeed of the state. In this
belt may be found the places of the following
well known farmers : Messrs. Thomas, P.
Lyons, Kennedy. Kigler. Gilkerson, Patterson,
Fields, Harbert, Riffle. Tash, Evans, Farrel,
Yenney, Barnett, Maxson, McGuire, Russell,
Maier, Copeland, Shelton, Reser, Toner, Fer-
guson, Delaney, and a number of others. It is
safe to say that few bodies of grain land have
yielded as much money to their owners as this
extraordinary body of about seventy or eighty
miles square.

Leaving this fair spot, in which days might
be pleasantly and profitably spent, we proceed
to Walla Walla city ; but leaving this for the
present, we retain our seats in the cars and
pass on bound for the great wheat country of
Eureka flat. This is a \'ery large body of
farming land coming into profitable cultiva-
tion between Walla Walla and Eureka flat.
Though at first sight not so attractive in ap-
pearance as the region east and south of \\'alla
Walla, it has surpassed all expectation within
the past few years by the wheat yield of its fat
acres.

EUREK.A. JUNCTION.

^Ve reach Eureka Junction, thirty miles
from Walla Walla, and here we pause for more
careful observation of this most extensive
grain region of the county. Eureka flat con-
sists of a body of nearly level farming land,
from two to five miles in width and about
twenty-five miles in length. There are no
towns in this region, though there are a number
of stations, which are the home of consider-
able communities, and from which immense
quantities of grain are shipped. The most im-
portant stations are Eureka Junction, Clyde,
and Pleasant \'iew. E\-en a cursory glance at
Eureka flat will show the traveller that its
history has been that of a canyon filled up with
soil blown or washed from the surrounding vol-
canic hills. At some points soil has been
found to extend unchanged to a depth of
two hundred feet. It is of the most fer-
tile description, but on account of the dry-
ness of tlie climate and the frequent winds,
together with the excessi\-e dust, it bears
a poor comparison as a home land to the \'er-
dant and well watered tract in the southern
part of the county. Nevertheless the most ex-
tensive wheat ranches in the state are found in
Eureka flat. Here is found the ten-thousand-
acre ranch of W. H. Babcock, the "wheat
king" of Walla Walla county. Here also may
be seen a number of other ranches whose sepa-
rate areas run into the thousands of acres^
among which may be mentioned, the Puffer,
the Blanchard, the Struthers. the Atkins, the
L'pton, the Fall, the Painter, and many other
ranches. Lack of water has been a serious
impediment in times past in carrying on farm-
ing operations in this region. Water was for-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

139

merly hauled in wagon tanks from the Touchet
creek, an expensive and troublesome process.
But latterly it has been discovered that abund-
ance of water of the best quality can be found
by boring to a depth of from one hundred and
fifty to two hundred feet. During the past
year the area of grain raising has been ex-
tended from the level lands of the flat to the
adjoining hills. If the present amount of
moisture shall become a permanent climatic
rule, thousands upon thousands of acres in the
northern part of the county now used only for
pasturage will become transformed into wheat
fields.

A student of the farming business, or any
one interested in the development of industry,
would find an object lesson in the great Bab-
cock ranch. From fifty to a hundred men are
employed, and from one hundred to three hun-
dred horses. The yield of the ranch has been
as high as a hundred and fifty thousand bushels
in a year. Mr. Babcock has sufficiently got
the start of the world to be free from the neces-
sity of selling at once upon harvesting, and it is
in fact stated that he now has on hand the
greater portion of two years' crops.

But we shall find it necessary, without fur-
ther prolonging our stay upon Eureka flat, to
turn our faces toward the Columbia river.
After leaving Eureka Junction, we find that we
are entering upon a heavy down grade, which
rapidly takes us out of the fertile domain of the
wheat belt into the barren and sandy tract bor-
dering the river. Hunt's Junction is the only
station. The road connects at this point with
a short branch leading to Pasco, where it joins
the Northern Pacific. A mile below Hunt's
Junction we reach the oldest and, aside from
Waiilatpu, the most historic locality in the
county.

WALLULA.

This musically sounding name signifies the
same, though in a different dialect, as Walla
Walla ; that is, "abundance of water." \\'allula
was founded by the Northwest Fur Company.
It was one of nine forts established or accjuired
by the English fur companies at various points
in their vast domain. An examination of a
map would show that these forts were
established with great regard to their stra-
tegic and commercial importance. The en-
tire list of forts is as follows : Vancouver, Col-
ville, Okanogan, Kootenai, Walla Walla. Hall,
Boise, Umpcjua, and Nisqually.

Fort Walla Walla, which was the original
of Wallula, was at first named Fort Nez Perce.
It was established in 1818, by Peter Skeen
Ogden, who was at that time a membA" of the
Northwest Fur Company, but after the union
of that company with the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany he became, and lor many years continued
to be, the chief factor of the company in this
part of their territory. From the first this
location seems to have been of a warlike and
violent character. The original fort was estab-
lished upon the bank of the river, near the house
formerly occupied by Joseph Merchant, now
of Walla Walla. Some of the remains of the
buildings existed to within a few years, but
were subsequently swept away by the great
flood of 1894. It seems never to have been
of great consequence as a trading post, but was
very important as a stopping place for trains,
and a point of defense against the Ind an^.
The original fort consisted of an enclosure of
pickets encompassing about an acre, with a
platform inside, from which all the approaches
could be commanded. At the northeast and
southwest corners bastions were built, ^\'ithin

140

HISTORY OF \\'ALLA WALLA COUXTY.

the enclosure there were four buildings, built
of logs and adobe brick, one stor_v high. As
a means of subsistence for this fort there was
established about twenty miles up the \\'alla
\A"alla river a dairy farm of about twenty
acres. This was in the region now known.
from that farm, as Hudson's Bay.

Soon after the establishment of Fort Walla
"\\'alla, ^Ir. Ogden and his men were attacked
by the Indians of the Walla \\'alla tribe, driven
from the fort and compelled to retreat to the
island in the Columbia river nearly opposite.
Here the trappers completely defeated the In-
dians, and for some time there were no new
attempts upon the fort. This point, howe\-er,
was subseciuently the scene of many thrilling
Indian encounters. Among others, Arcliibakl
McKinley had an experience which shows
something of the nerve necessarv for maintain-
ing a post in Indian times. ^NIcKinley hap-
pened to be entirely alone at one time in the
store, which was connected with the ammuni-
tion room. The Indians, finding but one man,
were upon the point uf making a rush upon
him and looting the store. Mr. IMcKinley,
perceiving their design, seized a lighted candle
and held it directly over an open keg of pow-
der, assuring the Indians that if they did not
pause he would drop it in and blow both them
and himself to the four winds. The Indians
knew enough about powder to understand what
would happen. They quailed before the de-
termined eye of the fur trader and rapidly slunk
from the room.

L'nder the joint occupation treaty of 1818
between England and the L'nited States, many
Americans as well as Englishmen had occa-
sion to visit Fort Walla Walla. Among these
were Captain Bonneville and Nathaniel J.
\\'veth. It was in 1834 that Bonneville, after
a midwinter journey of excessi\-e hardships,

rode into Fort Walla Walla. Here he was
kindly recei\-ed by ]\Ir. P. C. Pambrun. who
at that time was in charge of the post. As il-
lustrative of the Hudson's Bay Company's
methods, it may be said that, although the
agent received Bonneville with the utmost
courtesy, he flatly refused to sell him provis-
ions b}- which he might equip himself for a
further journey. All the agents of the com-
pany had been instructed to do nothing which
would facilitate the entrance of rival traders.
Later in that same year of 1834 came the ad-
vance guard of American missionaries, in the
persons of the Methodist missionaries, Jason
Lee. Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepherd and P. L.
Edwards. In the next year a guest at Fort
Walla Walla was Dr. Samuel Parker, and in
1S36 there were received also at the Fort Dr.
\"\hitman and :\Ir. Spalding with their wives.
In general it may be said that the Americans
were treated by the authorities at Fort Walla
\\ alia with great courtesy and consideration.
\ et it was contrary to the policy of the com-
pany that Americans, either missionaries or
traders, should make permanent establishments,
lest in so doing American settlement should fol-
low, and thus interfere with the business opera-
tions of the company. Of the part played dur-
ing the year of the Whitman massacre by Will-
iam ^McBean, then in charge of Fort Walla
^\ alia, we have already spoken in the chapter
on the \\'hitman massacre.

The treaty between England and the United
States by which Oregon became the territory of
the latter, was ratified June 15, 1846. The
Hudson's Bay Company, however, was allowed
to retain possession of its forts until such time
as they could make a proper disposition of their
property and conclude their business. In con-
sequence of this Fort Walla Walla remained
in possession of the Hudson's Bay Company

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

141

until some time after the Whitman massacre.
It was abandoned about the year 1853.

After the abandonment of Fort Walla
Walla by the fur company it remained prac-
tically a desert until the beginning of settle-
ment of the country in 1860-61. It then be-
gan to be known as Wallula and became the
landing place of the Columbia river steamers.
The Oregon Steam Navigation Company's
steamboats ran regularly to Wallula in 1861,
and in the spring of 1862 lines of stages
began to run from that place to Walla Walla.
During the same year a town site covering
thirty-eight blocks was laid out by \\\ W.
Johnson. Alany believed at that time that
Wallula would be a great city, but it never be-
came more than a transfer point. \\'ith its
burning heat and drifting sand, Wallula was
not the most attractive place in the world, and
at times during its early history its inhabi-
tants had the reputation of being about as hard
as the natural features of the locality. A de-
scription by Bill Nye of his experiences in
Wallula, and especially his attempt to sleep in
the hotel provided for the delectation of
strangers, gave Wallula a wide though perhaps
not enviable notoriety throughout the United
States.

In 1872 the \\'alla Walla & Columbia
River Railroad was begun and in 1875 great
quantities of freight began to pass by this road
from Walla Walla to Wallula, to be shipped
thence down the Columbia. The junction of
the Northern Pacific and the Oregon Railway
& Navigation line in 1882 was the next great
e\-ent in the history of Wallula. It has, how-
ever, never developed into anything more than
a transfer and railway station, and has at the
present time a population of probably not more
than one hundred and fifty people. The chief
business men are S. Ashe, A. E. Reed, and C.

F. Cummings. There are a number of most
excellent, intelligent people in ^^'allula.

The principal event in AA'allula in recent
years has been the building of the cut-off line of
the O. R. & N. R. R., up the Snake river to
Riparia. and it is over this line that the main
business of the railroad from Spokane to Port-
land now passes, leaving Walla ^^'alla out in
the cold.

Although the country around Walhila has
the appearance of a barren desert, it is, when
irrigated, of a fertile character and susceptible
of high cultivation. Perhaps the earliest and
finest peaches raised in the entire state come
from the ranch of ]\Ir. Thrasher, at the mouth
of the Walla Walla river. If any one desires
to see what this desert can do in the way of
production, let him visit the orchard of B. S.
Simmons, about twenty miles above Wallula,
on the south bank of the Snake river. From this
place were taken grapes which won the first
award at the Chicago Exposition.

We will not follow the Hunt line from
Hunt's Junction westward to its terminus at
Pendleton, inasmuch as the greater part of
this distance is within Umatilla county, Ore-
gon. We will therefore transfer ourselves
at Wallula to the cars of the Oregon Railway
& Na\-igation Company, and turn our faces
again toward Walla Walla.

There is but one tuwn to speak of between
Wallula and Walla Walla, and this is

This place occupies a very fertile section of
land at the junction of the Touchet and Walla
Walla rivers. Its development has been en-
tirely the result of the irrigation system estab-
lished upon the Touchet during the past four
or five years. The soil is of fine quality and

142

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

needs only water to make it highly productive.
Fruits and \egetables mature at least two weeks
earlier than at Walla ^^■alla and this gives
the region a very important advantage. There
is a population of about two hundred people,
equipped with school house, church, store and
shops. Among the industrious and energetic
men who have made Touchet what it is may be
mentioned Mr. A. Zaring, John Zaring, Wood-
son Cummings, James Cummings, Will Cum-
mings. and Messrs. Gardener, Burnap and Cun-
ningham.

The portion of Walla \\'alla county from
Touchet to \\'alla \\'alla and extending south-
ward from the line of railroad up the Walla
\\"alla river to the town of Milton in Oregon,
is entirely different from anything we have
seen in our journey through the county
hitherto. A level valley of from half a mile
to two miles in width, covered more or less
with timber and luxuriant grass, though with
occasional spots of strong alkali, and with a
great abundance of running water — it is pecu-
liarly adapted to orchard, garden, and haying
purposes.

About four miles above Touchet we pass
the famous Louden dairy ranch. It is one of
the finest and most extensive ranches of this
kind in the state. Two miles beyond Mr.
Louden's we pass Frenchtown, marked by a
large Catholic church and a number of closely
connected ranches. These were established by
Hudson's Bay employes, who, upon breaking
up of that company, took up places at various
points throughout the valley. Frenchtown is
noted from a historical standpoint as being the
site of the great Indian battle of 1856, else-
where described at length. Two miles east
of Frenchtown, we pass a granite monument
crowning a steep hill, and this we may recog-
nize to be the Whitman monument. If we have

time to leave the railroad and climb the monu-
ment hill, we shall find ourselves looking down
upon a historic spot. Xot only history, but
present beauty surrounds us, for a fairer scene
rarely meets the eye of the traveler. To the
west the sinuous course of the Walla Walla is
lost among the rolling uplands and the barren
looking steppes of the L'matilla highlands. To
the south the luxuriant valley stretches its
vivid green across the golden slopes and azure
heights of the Blue mountains. Toward the
east the spires and roofs of Walla Walla are
framed against a background of farm land,
checkered with alternate gold and black, which
far beyond the line of ranches may be seen, at
most seasons of the year, to break against the
eternal frost of the highest peaks of the Blue
mountains.

If we should still further extend our side
journey to the extent of taking a buggy drive
from Whitman Mission up the valley of the
Walla Walla, we should find ourselves pass-
ing through a line of beautiful gardens and
orchards, which extend almost without a break
to Milton. Here reside many well known old-
timers, among whom we might name Messrs.
Willis Reser, Cuskar, Newcomb, Harrer, Ben-
son, while just over the Oregon line is found
the jewel of all the places, that belonging to
'Slv. O. R. Ballou, one of the foremost fruit
men and promoters of all public enterprises to
be found in this country. The country be-
tween Whitman station and Walla Walla, and
for a number of miles south of the road joining
the two, is rapidly becoming the garden of
Walla Walla. In this region, which is about
six miles in width by ten in length, may be
found most of the large orchards, gardens, and
nurseries of the county. Here are found, in
addition to the places already mentioned, the
great fruit ranch of Dr. N. G. Blalock. There

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY,

are also found here the beautiful places of Mr.
Ritz and Mr. Offner. Besides these may be
mentioned the smaller though not less fertile
farms belonging to Messrs. J. M. Goe, T. Ly-
ons, M. McCarthy, Dunham, Villa Whitney,
Campbell, and many others worthy of more
particular mention did space permit. A number
of productive places around College Place
should be named. About five miles west of
Walla \Valla the Oregon Railway & Naviga-
tion Compan\' started an experiment station,
which is now the property of the United States
government. Hundreds of different plants, es-
pecially of the grasses, have been tested on this
place, and found to be adapted to various
special regions of this country.

Again passing through Walla Walla with-
out stay, we find ourselves journeying swiftly
over the Dry creek plains and hills toward the
northern portion of the county. The country
immediately north of Walla Walla consists of
a magnificent bench of the finest farming land,
a considerable portion of which is owned by
the Baker estate, Thomas Moore, Chris Ennis,
and George Dacres.

Eight miles north of Walla Walla we reach
Valley Grove on Dry creek. Up and down this
valley stretches a beautiful scene of verdure,
in contrast with the bare hills on either side.
We say bare hills, but it must be observed that
these bare hills are almost an unbroken wheat
field. North and east of Valley Grove are found
some of the most substantial farms in the coun-
ty. The Berryman, Hadley and Thomas
ranches lie to the north, the Nelson place to the
south, the Drumheller, Burr, Robinson, Bowers,
Loney, Paul and Paine ranches to the west.
Several miles to the northeast, if we should
journey over the rolling hills, we should reach
the Hungate and Rondema ranches. This re-
gion, like most of the northern and western

portions of Walla Walla county, was for many
years supposed not to be fit for cultivation. The
developments of the past few years have been
a matter of great surprise. During the harvest
of 1900, the region betwixt Valley Grove and
Prescott far suq^assed the supposed more fer-
tile foot-hill belt south and east of Walla Walla.
Eighteen miles from Walla Walla we reach
the only remaining town of the county. This
is

PRESCOTT.

Prescott was founded in the year 1882, at
the time of the extension of the O. R. & N.
Railroad from Walla Walla northward. It
v.as founded on land owned partly by Charles
Buck, and partly by Mr. Eleanor. The town
site was first occupied by Rev. H. H. Spalding
in 1859. There he lived until 1862, when he
went as Lidian agent to Lapwai. The most
important e\-ent in the history of Prescott was
the erection in the year 1883, by H. P. Isaacs,
(jf the great North Pacific Elouring Mills, at
that time the most extensive flouring null in
the state.

Prescott has become a well built and attrac-
tive village of three hundred inhabitants. There
are four stores in the place, of which the pro-
prietors are Mr. Ibberson, Messrs. Watkins and
Holmes, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. McSherry.
These stores do an amount of business entirely
disproportionate to the size of the town, for
the surrounding country is prctsperous and
fairly well settled, and its trade is very hea\'y.

There are two churches in Prescott, a
Methodist and a Presbyterian. The schools of
Prescott have deservedly been a source of pride
to the people of the place. The school is under
the charge of Prof. John Woods, and his assist-
ants at the time of this publicaion are Mr.
Rogers and Miss Malone.

Prescott contains also a hotel, liverj' stable

144

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

and the various shops necessary to the ongoing
of such a town. "The village blacksmith" is
also notable as one of the leading politicians.
This is Air. James Haviland. Another notable
character is Mr. John Geyer, elected in 1900 as
a member of the Washington legislature.
Still another of the most famous inhabitants
of the vicinity of Prescott, as well as one of the
most honored of the old-timers, is Mr. Petty-
john, who lives on a farm six miles west of the
town. He is distinguished as being not only
one of the genuine, whole-souled pioneers of
the epoch, but as being the father of more
human avoirdupois than any other man in
Walla Walla county. The average weight of
the male members of the Pettyjohn family is
said to be about two hundred and sixty pounds,
and of the female members about two hundred
pounds.

A vast and fertile wheat belt extends on all
sides of Prescott. Perhaps the most fertile of
all the tracts in the immediate vicinity is Whet-
stone Hollow, northeast of the town.

A very extensive belt of land lying north-
west of Prescott and including the somewhat
broken hill country as far as Eureka flat, was
large!)-, until within two or three years, gov-
ernment land. The impression up to that time
was that it was too dry for successful grain
raising. The generally heavy rains of recent
seasons turned the attention of settlers to the
possibilities of this great region. It has now
become settled, thousands of acres have been
broken up, and thousands of bushels of wheat
have been produced. Farther to the east, upon
the road extending from Prescott to Lyons
ferry on Snake ri\-er, are a number of old es-
tablished places which have long been noted for
their large grain production. In the center of
the great area lies the :\Ialloy ranch. Both
up and down the Touchet river from Pres-

cott are man}- well known and progressive
places. Among these may be named the fol-
lowing : Those of [Messrs. Brown, Hanson,
Hayes, Flathers, Bowe, Romines, Sharp, Bar-
nett. Pettyjohn, Utter and Hart.

After this examination of Prescott and its
vicinity, we will resume our places in the cars
and bv a journey of a few miles find ourselves
at Bolles Junction. From this point a branch
road of the Oregon Railway & Navigation
Company extends to Waitsburg and Dayton.

Continuing on upon the main line we find
ourseh'es ascending the Alto hill. This tract
uf country, although c^uite elevated and some-
what broken, is of the most fertile soil, and
produces immense quantities of grain. The
grade from the summit of this hill down to
Starbuck has long been a "terror" to railroad
men. It averages over a hundred feet to the
nnle. Several serious accidents have occurred
upon this portion of the road. It was largely
the danger and expense of this hill which led
the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company
to build their line from Riparia directly down
Snake river to \\"allula. Having reached Star-
buck, we find ourselves within the confines of
Garfield county, and hence our journey
through Walla W'alla county is ended.

If we should examine our journey with a
map, we would find that the two railroads cross
each other at Walla Walla, and between them
cover pretty completely the different portions
of the county. We shall see evidence of the
idea elsewhere expressed that Walla Walla is
essentially an agricultural county. Many in-
teresting features of agricultural work would
appear to the traveler, should he make his jour-
ney in the harvest season. Among other com-
paratively recent harvesting machines, is the
immense combined harvester and thresher.
This was formerly used largely in California,

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

145

but the general impression was t'hat the rolHng
hills of Washington would be unfavorable to
its use. Recently side hill harvesters have been
devised, which are apparently adaptable to al-
most any region. It has been found moreover
that even the common harvesters, like the Holt,
can be worked advantageously on moderately
rolling land. The Holt Company are now
making one especially for side hill work. One
of these great harvesters presents a strange ap-
pearance to one unaccustomed to them, with its
thirty-two horses, its driver elevated upon a

seat twelve feet above the ground, and its grain
sacks filled to be thrown ofif and picked up by
the wagons which follow. In favorable places
the harvesters have cut and threshed as much
as seventy acres of grain in a day, at considera-
bly less cost than would result from using a
separate header and thresher.

In completing this journey through Walla
Walla county we can see that although it has
not had extraordinary rapidity of growth, it
has advanced steadily to an enviable place
amono- the counties of this sfreat state.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE INDUSTRIES OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

A favorite point for picnic parties in Walla
Walla is Pike's Peak. This is the most con-
spicuous peak in that part of the Blue mount-
ains which overlooks our valley. From it may
be seen every acre of land in the Walla Walla
valley. Let us take our station on that pictur-
esque summit and from it view the fair pros-
pect spread out like a map below us. We shall
see in one glance the tokens of the chief in-
dustrial resources of Walla Walla county.

To the north and west, farthest in the dis-
tance, melting into the haze and dimly edged
by some of the gigantic peaks of the Cascades,
and if the light be just right, girded with the
shining band of the Columbia, lies a vast strip
of rolling prairie. This is what used to be the
great catth range, stock raising being the first
industry in time of this region. This same
region is now rapidly becoming the great wheat
belt, though for a long time thought to be so

arid as to be unsafe for wheat culture. And in
10

wheat raising we have our second great inr
dustry.

■ Then looking again here and there, more
nearly in the center of the picture^ and espe-
cially around the point which with a glass we
can see to have clusters of tree-embowered
houses, and wdiich we therefore know to be
Walla Walla itself, we may observe dark bands
of foliage beautifully contrasting with the dul-
ler hues of the plain, and these we know to be
the orchards and gardens, the sign of the third
great industry, horticulture. Then having
looked across the distant prairie belt of stock
and wheat, and the middle zone of fruits and
vegetables, our eyes now fall upon the foot-
hill belt at our feet, rolling hills, cut with deep
canons, girt with swift mountain streams, of
the deepest, richest soil anywhere to be found,
and with much greater rainfall than is found in
any other parts of the country. This foot-hill
zone was the earliest settled part of Walla Wal-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

la county, and it has probably made more men
rich than has any equal area of farming coun-
try in this state, and possibly has not been sur-
passed by any in the entire country. In it are to
be found all three of the types of industry
named, besides which it is beginning to be a
region for the development of dairying, poultry,
and fine stock, having for these purposes great
natural adaptability, superior, perhaps, to any
of the others.

As we survey the rich expanse outstretched
below our lofty eyrie, we can see the possibili-
ties of manufacturing industry, still latent, in
the swift and abundant streams, in the obvious
plenty and cheapness of all the essentials of
Hie.

In general terms it may be said that thus
far the main industries which are revealed be-
fore us are those of stock, agriculture, and
fruit-raising. \\'alla Walla is essentially a
farming country. As we view the "lay of the
land" and as we learn by examination some-
thing of the geological history of the country,
we see that it was fore-ordained to be one of the
food-supplying regions of the world. Like
nearly all of the Columbia valley the Walla
Walla countr}- is of volcanic origin. At some
time, thousands of years ago indeed, yet recent
in geological history, probably in the Miocene
or Pleiocene ages, there were prodigious over-
flows of lava, with the Cascade and Blue moun-
tains as the centers of outflow. After the era
of fire was one of flood, or more probably there
were successive eras of volcanic outflow and
mountain elevation, alternating with successive
floods. Many curious Lidian legends indicate
the traditional condition of this country.
Among these is the flood legend of the Yaki-
mas. They say that ages ago, in the times of
the "Wateetash," before the Indians existed,
there was a beaver named Wishpoosh that in-

habited Lake Kichelas or Lake Cleelum at the
head of the Yakima river. Wishpoosh was of
enormous size, half a mile long, his scales glit-
tered like gold, and he was so rapacious that
he devoured animals and plants indiscriminate-
ly, and even the rocks of the lake shore. Speel-
yei, the great Coyote god, perceiving the des-
tructiveness of the beaver, determined to kill
him in order to save the rest of creation. So
he harpooned him, or some say, caused him to
swallow a coal of fire, which made him very
"hot." In his fury Wishpoosh tore his way
through the banks of the lake, and let the water
down into what is now the Kittitass valley,
which was then a great lake. In like manner
he tore out the banks of that lake, then he tore
out the gap where Yakima City is now situated,
and so the waters of all that upper chain of
lakes became united with the vast lake which
covered pretty much all that now constitutes
the Walla Walla country. But Wishpoosh was
not content to leave that inland sea undisturbed,
and so the Umatilla highlands below Wallula
were severed and the waters of this upper re-
gion went on down to the sea, and so the
beaver found himself in the ocean, and, accord-
ing to the old methods, he began to devour
whales and other denizens of the deep. Speel-
yei, perceiving that all creation was threatened
l")y the monster, entered the sea and after a
dreadful struggle slew him. The huge car-
cass was cast up on Clatsop beach, and from
it Speelyei proceeded to form' the various In-
dian tribes. Thus this legend accounts for the
existence of the Indians and for the obvious
fact that Walla Walla county, like the famous
^IcGinty of a few years ago, was once under
the sea.

It was, then, a combination of volcano and
flood that created this wonderful soil where a
yield of fifty or sixty bushels of wheat to the

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

147

acre is not unknown. The volcanic dust is as
fine as flour and b}' the action of wind and
water it has been deposited to depths almost
unheard of in other parts of the world. There
.are places in Walla Walla county where over
two hundred feet of soil have been found.
From this enormous depth of soil it can readily
be seen that vegetation in this region has al-
most inexhaustible nutrition. Moreover it is
well known that this volcanic dust, overlaid
with vegetable loam, furnishes the ingredients
for wheat formation in greater fullness than
does any other known soil.

In addition to the peculiar adaptibility of
this soil to farming, the climate is very nearly
perfect for the great cereal crops. The rainfall
is not heavy, ranging from about ten inches
a year at the northwestern extremity of the
county to probably forty inches a year in the
most elevated part of the mountain section,
while at Walla Walla city it is about eighteen
or twenty. But this rather scanty rainfall is
distributed with such general good judgment
and adaptation to the needs of the growing
crops that it is abundant. November, Jan-
uary, and May are usually the months of heav-
iest rainfall, and these are precisely the ones
that need it most.

IMany believe the experience of the last few
j'ears to indicate that the arid part of the coun-
try is going to surpass the wetter and more
fertile foothill belt for wheat production. Dur-
ing the summer of 1900 in particular the wheat
in the foothills, though magnificent in appear-
ance, "went to straw," to an unusual degree,
yielding only from twenty to thirty bushels to
the acre, whereas the "dry belt," though not
equalling the other in appearance, "went"' from
five to fifteen bushels to the acre better. INIore-
■over the cost of raising a bushel of wheat is not

more than half to two-thirds as great on the
plains as in the foothills.

With this glance at the industrial resources
in general of this favored land, let us present
a view of the special industries, following them
somewhat in the order of their de\'elopment in
tune.

First in order comes the

STOCK BUSINESS.

The first cattle in the \\'alla \\'alla valley
were brought in by Hudson's Bay employees
in the vicinity of Fort Walla \\^alla, now Wal-
lula, and in the region now known as Hudson's
Bay. Dr. Whitman brought several cows with
him in 1836. Messrs. Brooke, Bumford, and
Noble, who occupied the Whitman mission
property in 185 1, and thence onward until ex-
I'clled by the Indian war of 1855, had a large
number of cattle. After the whites began to
settle in the country in 1859, and especially
alter the discovery of the mines in i860 and
1 86 1, the stock business received a great im-
petus and many cattle were driven in from the
\Villamette country. Most of them perished
in the famous hard winter of '61 -'62, but the
luisiness was at once resumed with such energy
tliat by the summer of 1863 it was repor*:ed
tliat there were 1,455 horses, 438 mules, 1,864
slieep, 3,957 cattle, and 712 hogs. The States-
man reported that 15,000 pounds of wool had
been shipped out that year. It is said that
there were 200,000 sheep in the \-alley in the
winter of '65-'66. Sheep were worth at that
time only a dollar per head. Stock of every
sort increased rapidly from 1866 to 1875, when
the country had become so well filled up that
shipping to California and the east began on a
lars'e scale.

148

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

There seem no separate statistics available
for the amount of stock driven out of what is
now \\'alla \\'alla county. We find, however,
in Gilbert's history a very valuable table pre-
senting statistics of the amount of cattle driven
from the "Liland Empire" from 1875 to 1880,
which shows an aggregate of 259,100 head.

"Between 1874 and 1880 William Kirkman
drove 2.000 cattle to California from eastern
Oregon, and he informs us that in 1873 he pur-
chased cattle for ten dollars per head that own-
ers had refused thirty dollars for the year be-
fore, and ten dollars became the ruling price for
stock cattle until 1879. Steers would bring
from sixteen dollars to twenty dollars during
this time. Prices now range fifty per cent,
higher; or yearlings nine dollars, two-year-olds
and cows fourteen dollars, three-year-old steers
twenty dollars, four-year-old steers and up
twenty-five dollars. The winter that closed the
year 1880, witnessed the sad spectacle of these
poor brutes starving to death by the tens of
thousands. A heavy snow fell upon the valley
country, upon the top of which a crust was
formed that prevented the stock from traveling.
Gathered in little bands, in large ones, or singly,
they were corraled by illimitable fields of ice,
where the snow in -coming had found them, and
the great plains for hundreds of miles were
found dotted in the spring with their bleaching
bones. This country will generally furnish
winter grazing for stock; but it is not safe to
rely wholly upon nature's fickle moods for such
a result, as the foregoing has thoroughly dem-
onstrated liy a destruction of eighty per cent,
of the horned cattle in that region. The loss
in Walla Walla county was a much smaller per
cent., owing to better preparation by owners
for feeding. The facts are that, as there is
I'lsually so little need for feeding stock in the
winter, manv make no calculation for doing

so, consecjuently the heavy loss when such neces-
sity arises."

The following paragraph gives the statis-
tics of increase in both human and stock popu-
lation for the decade of the seventies, for the
entire territory :

Population, 75,120, increase 214 per cent.;
mules and asses, 626, decrease 34 per cent. ;
milch cows, 27,622, increase 63 per cent. ; sheep,
292,883, increase 565 per cent. ; horses, 45,848,
increase 312 per cent.; working oxen, 3.821,
increase 75 per cent.; other cattle, 103,111, in-
crease 266 per cent. ; swine, 46,828, increase
168 per cent.

Tlie following table derived from the as-
sessor's rolls for the years 1863 to 1879 gives
a complete view of the stock in Walla Walla
county during that period. The years 1869,
1872, and 1873, are lacking.

1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1870 1871 1874 1875

Horses .... 1455 222:i 2459 2748 3788 4763 6787 6674 8807 8863

Mules tW 826 »25 1098 1726 1058 1727 1013 690 401

Cattle 3957 4374 4807 7089 751; 1.3439 14114 15730 22960 17756

Sheep 1864 697 3601 7819 .... 4421 8767 126.39 21368 32986

Hogs 712 1486 2650 4377 7068 1983 6067 7769 8150 6920

In 1875 Columbia county with 2,160 scjuare
miles having been set off^, the statistics of Walla
Walla county shows quite a diminution.

1876

Horses . - .5376

Mules 239

Cattle. ..11227
Sheep... 1313.*
Hogs 4000

12117 :126C
26066 20256
4964 4264

Since 1879 the demand for agricultural
land has steadily increased until the stock range
has been so lessened that few range cattle or
horses are longer produced. The number of
stall-fed cattle has increased, and according to
the assessor's rolls the total in 1900 is 7.407.
The number of hogs has also decreased, until
the number is now 3.680. The most marked
increase is in the number of horses, which now,

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

149

according to the assessor's rolls, number 10,-
616. Sheep number 31,035.

There is a very great increase in the poultry
of Walla Walla county, the number now con-
tained within its limits having probably doubled
within three years, though there are no reliable
data available.

There is a very active poultry association in
the city, and there have been several poultry
exhibitions in the place, the excellence of which
was a matter of astonishment to such as had not
yet investigated our capabilities in that respect.
Thousands of turkeys were shipped from
Walla Walla to other parts of the state and to
British Columbia during Thanksgiving, 1900.
Walla Walla seemed in fact to be the only re-
gion with a surplus. There is also the same
interest felt in Belgain hares as swept over the
country at large during the last few years.

The next great industry in order of develop-
ment is that of

AGRICULTURE.

To one contemplating the many beautiful
farms of Walla Walla county, and observing
the millions of bushels of grain shipped hence,
it seems very curious, but it is nevertheless a
fact, that for years after immigration had be-
giui to enter it was not supposed that the up-
lands of this region were capable of producing
grain. The reason is plain. The first immi-
grants, coming in the fall when the long dry
summer had robbed the land of moisture, saw
a seeming desert of rolling prairie, with only a
few narrow belts of bottom land which pre-
sented any appearance of fertility. Those bot-
tom lands they accordingly believed to be the
only lands capable of agriculture. These lands
had been tested at various points by Hudson's
Bay people, and Dr. Whitman at Waiilatpu had
already raised considerable quantities of prod-

uce more than sixty years ago. Dr. Whitman
made many agricultural improvements within
a few years after reaching Waiilatpu. T. J.
Furnham, visiting the mission in 1839, reports
finding two hundred and fifty acres of land en-
closed and two hundred acres in good cultiva-
tion. A small grist-mill was then in operation.
Ir may be remarked that the mill-stones of the
old mill are now in the possession of Governor
Moore of Walla Walla. Li 1841 Joseph Dray-
ton of the Wilkes exploring expedition visited
the mission and discovered a very fine garden,
with vegetables and melons in great variety.
"The wheat in the field was seven feet high and
nearly ripe, and the corn nine feet in the tassel."
By 1 84 1 the indefatigable Whitman had suc-
ceeded in leading some of the Indians to culti-
vate land and tend a few cattle and sheep. The
Cayuses, however, never took kindly to agri-
culture and the amount of land subdued by
Indian labor was small.

Little in the way of grain raising was done
anywhere in Walla Walla county after the
Whitman massacre until the close of the great
wars of 1855-56. In 1857, after the estab-
lishment of the present fort, a garden was
planted by direction of Captain W. R. Kirk-
ham. This was such a success as to make it
plain that the soil and climate were adapted to
gardening.

Charles Russell, afterwards well known
throughout Walla Walla, was at that time con-
nected with the post and seeing the labor and ex-
pense of transporting from the Willamette the
large amounts of grain necessary for the horses,
he proposed trying the valley lands with barley
and oats. Accordingly in 1858 eighty acres of
land on what is now the Drumheller place were
sowed to barley. It yielded fifty bushels to the
acre. During the same season Mr. Russell
sowed one hundred acres of oats on the land

ISO

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

■which he afterwards took up as the Russell
place. The Lidians were so threatening that
he left it, and the cattle ranging in the country
grazed it so closely that there was apparently
no hope of a crop. But in June, the Lidians
having withdrawn, INIr. Russell went out and
fenced in the field with the result that he se-
cured a Adeld of fifty bushels of oats to the acre.
During that same season one hundred and fifty
acres of oats was sowed on Dry creek by a
man named A\'alter Davis. He, too, was
■warned away by the Lidians. but a detail of
soldiers from the fort went out and cut the
oats for hay. In i860 Stephen Maxon raised
a fine crop of wheat on Russell creek, farther
from the bottom than any one else then thought
Avorth trying.

There were few people in the country at
that time, and the few there had thought little
as yet of agriculture. There was no market,
except at the fort. But the discoveries of the
Idaho mines in i860 and 1861 suddenly created
a fine market. Farmers had little excuse for
not making a "raise" in that year, though the
lamentable winter of 1861-62 caused most of
them more loss in cattle than they could make
up in agricultural products.

As a sample of the prevailing prices of that
time, we may quote figures presented in the
newspapers of that period as to the market
prices of the following articles :

Beans, from 12 to 15 cents per pound ; dried
apples, from 20 to 24 cents per pound; sugar,
from iS to 26 cents per pound; soap, from 16
to 20 cents per pound; butter, from 50 cents
to $1 per pound; eggs, $1 per dozen; flour,
$5 to S6 per hundred; wheat, $1.25 to Si. 50
per bushel.

In 1864 the very important discovery was
made that grain could be produced on the hill
land. ]\Iessrs. Stevenson, Evans and others
experimented about that time in a small way,

some successfully and some unsuccessfully.
But in 1867 a considerable field of oats was put
in by John INIontague on the "bench," north-
east of Walla Walla, not far from the Delaney
place, which yielded over fifty bushels to the
acre. Even this seems to have been little heeded
at first. As some of the old settlers now ex-
press it, they were determined that the upland
should not produce grain. While the bottom
land and some of the foothill land was already
recognized as the ver}' best quality of wheat
lands, the majority of the settlers believed that
tlie great body of up-lands north of Mill creek
was adapted only to a stock range. In the
meantime, however, there w-as a steady inflow
i.f immigration, and the wheat acreage was
rapidly increasing. In November, of 1864,
the Statesman noted the fact that the -wheat
and flour of this region was superior to
much of that grown in the Willamette
valley. In 1866 there were already five flour-
ings mills in the valley. These had improved
n:achinery and turned out a really excellent
quality of flour. In 1865 seven thousand bar-
rels of flour w^ere exported from the \\'alla
A\'alla valley.

The wheat yield of 1866. for the entire
'upper country," was estimated at half a million
bushels, about half from the Walla Walla val-
ley. It is recorded that in that year threshing
rates were : wheat, eight cents, oats, six cents,
and barley, ten cents per bushel.

AA'e find in Gilbert's history the following

data with regard to shipments and prices which

are of permanent value, and hence we incor-

lX)rate them at this point.

An agricultural society was organized in July of this
year, by an assemblage of citizens at the court house, on
the 9th of that month, when laws and regulations were
adopted, and the following officers chosen: H. P. Isaacs,
president; A. Cox and W. H. Newell, vice-presidents; J.
D. Cook, treasurer; E. R. Rees, secretary; and Charles
Russell, T. G. Lee and A. A. Blanch, executive commit-
tee. For the fair to be held on the 4th, 5th and 6th of

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

151

the ensuing October, the last three gentlemen became
managers, and the following the executive committee:
H. P. Isaacs, J. D. Cook, J. H. Blewett and W. H. Ne-
well.

In 1867 the grain yield of the Blue mountain region
exceeded the demand, and prices that had been falling
for several years, left that crop a drug. It was sought to
prevent an entire stagnation of agricultural industries, by
shipping the surplus down the Columbia river to the sea-
board. Freights on flour at that time were: From Wal-
lula per ton to Lewiston, S15; to the Dalles, f6; to Port-
land, $6, and the following amounts were shipped:

To Portland between May 27 and June lo, 4,156 bar-
rels; to The Dalles, between April 19 and June '2, 578 bar-
rels; to Lewiston, between April 18 and May 14, 577 bar-
rels; total to June 13 by O. S. N. Company, 5,311 barrels.

The same year Frank & Wertheimer shipped from
Walla Walla 15,000 bushels of wheat down the Columbia,
thus starting the great outflow of bread products from the
interior.

In 1868 Philip Ritz shipped fifty barrels of flour from
the Phoenix mills in Walla Walla to New York, with the
following results: (It was the first of Washington Terri-
tory products seen in the east).

First cost of flour, S187.50; sacks for same, 827.00;
transportation to San Francisco, SI 00.00; freight thence
to New York, 8107.80; total cost in gold, 8422.30; profit
realized on the transaction, 877.46, or 81.55 per barrel.

Wheat had fallen to 40 cents per bushel in vValla
Walla, because of the following scale of expenses of ship-
ping to San Francisco:

Freight per ton to Wallula, $6.00; thence to
Portland, 86.00; thence to San Francisco, 87.00; drayage
S1.50, commission 82.00, 83.50; primage and leakage 81.00,
bagging S4.50, 55.50; total expense to San Francisco,
$28.00.

In 1869 there was a short crop, due to the drough and
want of encouragement for farmers to raise grain. June
14, a storm occurred of tropical fierceness, during which
a waterspout burst in the mountains, and sent a flood
down Cottonwood canyon that washed away houses in the
valley. In consequence of the short crop, wheat rose to
80 cents per bushel in Walla Walla, and flour to 85.50 per
barrel. In November, hay brought $17 per ton, oats and
barley 2 cents per pound, and butter 37^ cents.

Having traced agricultural development from its start
and through its years of encouragement, till quantity ex-
ceeding the home demand, has rendered it a profitless
industry in 1868 and 1869, let us glance at the causes
leading to a revival of inducements for tilling the soil in
the Walla VValla country. It should be borne in mind
that the farmers in little valleys and along creeks nearer
the mines than this locality, were supplying the principal
mountain demand, and the only hope left was to send prod-
uce to tide water and thus to the world's market. What
it cost to do this had been tried with practical failure as a
result. This shipping to the seaboard was an experi-
mental enterprise, and there was not sufficient assurance

of its paying to justify farmers in producing quantities
for that purpose, consequently not freight enough of this
kind to warrant the Oregon Steam Navigation Company
in putting extra steamers or facilities on the river to en-
courage it. The outlook was therefore gloomy. This was
a state of things which caused an agitation of the railway
question, resulting in the construction of what is more
familiarly known as Baker's railroad, connecting Walla
Walla with navigable waters. The building of this road
encouraged the farmers to raise a surplus, it encouraged
the Oregon Steam Navigation Company to increase the
facilities for grain shipment, it caused a reduction of
freight tariffs all along the line, and made it possible for
a farmer to cultivate the soil at a profit. Something of an
idea of the results may be gathered from an inspection of
the following exhibit of increase from year to year, of
freights shipped on Baker's road to Wallula en route for
Portland. Between 1870 and 1874, down freights shipped
yearly at Wallula did not exceed 2,500 tons. In 1874
Baker's road had been completed to the Touchet, and
carried freight from that point to Wallula at 81.50 per
ton. In 1875, it was completed to Frenchtown and
charged 82.50. Walla Walla rates ave'-aged 84.50.

Freight tonnage from Touchet in 1874 to Wallula ag-
gregated 4,021 tons; in back freight, 1,126 tons; from
Frenchtown in 18;5 to Wallula, 9,155 tons; back freight,
2,192 tons; from Walla Walla in 1876 to Wallula, 1.5,266;
back freight, 4,034; from Walla Walla in 1877 to Wallula.
28,806 tons; back freight, 8,368 tons; from Walla Walla in
1878 to Wallula, 35,014 tons; back freight, 10,4.54 tons,

The great development of all fonrs of in-
dustry in this country resulting from the build-
ing of railroads in the "eighties was especially
marked in the v/heat business. Wheat became
recognized as the staple product of this valley.
\\'alla Walla wheat began to seek the markets
of the world, and every year marked a vast
increase in the output from these rich Blue
mountain foothills and from the great rolling
plains adjoining. But this had already oc-
curred even before the railroad era. The in-
crease in acreage in the staple crops in "early
times" is indicated in the following records
from the assessor's books :

1S63

Acres of wheat 4782

Acres of corn 1515

Acres of oats 4515

Acres of barley 1486

1868

1874

1879

9249 20760 46557

2136 3640

5086 4786 2995

985 3896 11271

15:

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY,

There are some interesting facts to be
gleaned from the foregoing figures. It should
be remembered that between 1874 and 1879
the erection of Columbia county had diminished
Walla Walla to less than half its former pro-
portions. It is safe to add at least a half more
to the figures of 1879 to get a true view of the
growth in that period. It will be seen that corn
was quite extensively raised in early times.
Then it decreased to a trifling amount. The
climate was thought to be too dry and the
summer nights too cool for the best results.
Within the last three or four years it has again
become quite a crop, fields of forty, eighty or a
hundred acres in various parts of Walla Walla
and L'matilla counties being of common oc-
currence. It appears, too. that oats were at
first a much greater crop than barley, but by
1879 barley was largely in the lead, and the gap
has greatly widened since. The reason for
oats being so largely cultivated at first was that
it was, and still is, the staple horse food in the
V\'illamette valley, being peculiarly adapted to
that climate. Experience finally showed that
barley was a better crop in this dry climate than
oats, and moreover the establishment of brewer-
ies created a growing demand for barley.

In 1883 the Northern Pacific Railroad was
completed to Wallula and there joined the O.
R. & N., making a continuous line to Portland.
In 1888 the Northern Pacific was carried over
the Cascade mountains to the sound. In 1884
the Oregon Short Line was completed. This
enlargement of shipping facilities acted like
magic on the industries of the valley. It was
known by that time that almost any land in
Walla Walla county, except the arid tract in the
vicinity of Wallula and the timbered portion in
the extreme eastern part of the county, could be
made to yield profitable returns. Probably the
greatest "eye-opener" to the people of Walla
Walla, as to the latent resources of their section

and the greatest influence inaugurating wheat
raising on a large scale here was the bold under-
taking of Dr. N. G. Blalock on the tract of land
known as the "Blalock Ranch," now owned
mainly by George Delaney, six miles south of
Walla Walla. Dr. Blalock has been a pioneer
in a number of the most important enterprises
in \\'alla Walla, and not the least of his great
services to this country was his inauguration
of wheat raising on an extensive scale. Com-
ing to Walla W^alla in 1872 and soon Iseing
actively engaged in medical practice, he was
keenly alive to the industrial possibilities of the
country around him. It was not at that time
generally believed that wheat raising would
amount to much at any great distance from the
water courses. Dr. Blalock bargained for two
thousand, two hundred acres of land, at a price
of ten bushels of wheat per acre. After hav-
ing gotten it into cultivation he received a yield
of thirty-one bushels to the acre, a sufficient
demonstration of the producing qualities of
this land. In 1881 Dr. Blalock's ranch yielded
an average of thirty-five and one-fourth bush-
els per acre on the entire tract of two thousand,
two hundred acres. One body of one thousand
acres yielded fifty-one thousand bushels, prob-
ably the largest wheat crop ever produced on
an equal area in the United States. But a
more remarkable yield, though on a smaller
body of land, was secured by Milton Aldrich,
on his Dry creek ranch. The yield on four
hundred acres was an average of sixty-six bush-
el? per acre. IMore remarkable yet, there was
a vohmteer crop the next year on the same land
of forty bushels per acre. One hundred and
si.x bushels of wheat from one sowing! This
probably "holds the championship" for wheat
yield. Thomas Gilkerson has raised one hun-
dred and ten bushels of barley per acre. Ex-
amples might be multiplied of extraordinary
yields both on small selected tracts and through

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

153

the country at large. It may be said that from
twenty to forty bushels is the ordinary yield
of Avheat in W^alla Walla county.

The "Great Depression" of 1893 ^i^*^ on-
ward temporarily paralyzed agriculture in
Walla Walla as elsewhere, but this section was
in better condition to stand a "scjueeze" than
almost any other, and it recovered sooner.
■ Nevertheless many of the largest farmers in
the country, as Messrs. Babcock:,Reser, Thomas,
Delaney, Upton, and many others, were severe-
ly pressed by that succession of lean years. In
1897, as all inhabitants of this region will
easily recall, the country began to emerge from
the dark cloud. The two great crops of '97
and '98, and the prevailing good prices, relieved
the pressure on the farming community. Al-
though prices in '99 and 1900 dropped seriously,
the yields of those two years were good, and the
great majority of farmers are now in a posi-
tion to hold their crops for better prices.

Evidences are multiplied on all sides that
farming in the Walla Walla valley is a paying
proposition. The beautiful city stands as a
monument to the wealth that has been dug out
of the ground by means of wheat. The many
elegant farm houses, fine horses and buggies,
the organs and pianos in the homes, the heavy
annual purchases of groceries, clothing, and
books and papers, as well as outlays for edu-
cation and travel, — all these expenditures by
the farmers of Walla Walla valley are practic-
ally paid for in wheat money. The millions
of dollars' worth of assessable property in our
city and county are simply the manifestation of
so much natural wealth, sucked out of the fer-
tile soil of these hills and vales by the millions
of grain stalks which have grown upon them
during the last twenty-five years.

In connection with the wheat industry, it
will be found of interest to see the estimate
made by an experienced farmer of the cost of

raising wheat. Mr. Joseph Harbert, one of
the most successful farmers of Walla Walla
county, made for the special number of the
^^'alla Walla Union some years ago, the fol-
lowing estimate of the cost of a crop of four
hundred acres, which yielded ten thousand
bushels of blue-stem wheat. At fifty cents per
bushel for the crop, this will be seen to rep-
resent a profit of about two thousand, three
hundred dollars from land worth twelve thou-
sand dollars or nearly twenty per cent., from
which, however, should come wages of man-
agement.

The land was summer fallowed in 1894
and valued at thirty dollars per acre. The
estimate is in a locality where water and ma-
terial to work with are reasonably convenient.
The land is not very hilly and comparatively
easy to work. The report is as follows ;

ITEMIZED EX-
PENSES.

COST.

MOS.
IN. PD.

INST.

TOTAL.

Planting, 90c per

$ 360 00
44 00
360 00
44 00

250 00
9 00

7 50

8 00
60 00
44 00

400 00
215 60
10 00
450 00
110 00
120 00

18
16

$ 60 00

7 33

54 00

5 87

8 420 00

Harrowing, lie per

51 33

Plowing, 2nd time,
June, 1894

Harrowing before
sowing, lie

500 bushels seed
wheat, highest
market priee. . . .

C leaning seed

414 00

49 87

250 00

1 12

1 00

7 00

5 14

13 33

7 18

15 00

3 66

10 12

125 lbs. vitriol at
6e

8 44

Using vitriol on

9 00

Sowing Oct., 1894,
15c per acre

Harrowing after
sowing, llf

Cutting, Sl.OO per

67 00
49 14
413 33

4,400 sacks, 849.00

per M

Thirty pounds of

twine, 33>^c

Threshing 10,000

bushels, 4'<^c

Hauling to R. R.,

2j^c per sack. . .
Warehouse charg's

to Jan, 1, 1896....

222 78
10 33
465 00
113 66
120 00

Total cost

S 2,492 10

S 181 90

^2.674 00

154

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

We have presented in previous pages of
this chapter figures sliowing the wheat yield
in j-ears past. The reader will appreciate the
vast gain in production when he is told that
the jaeld of the year 1900 is estimated as
follows : Wheat, four million bushels ; hay,
five thousand, five hundred tons.

The next of the great productive industries
of Walla Walla county is that of

HORTICULTURE AND FRUIT-RAISIXG.

Li fruit culture, as in other respects. ]\Iar-
cus \Mnitman was the pioneer of \\'ara Walla.
"Whitman brought with him in 1836 apple
seeds, which he planted in the following spring.
Three of those ancient trees are still standing,
objects of curiosity and veneration to the many
pilgrims who visit that sacred spot. Some of
the citizens of Walla Walla will remember that
in 1S96, a beautiful cane, made from a limb
of one of those ancient apple trees, was pre-
sented by the city of ^^'alla \\'alla to Dr. D. K.
Pearsons, by whose philanthropy \\'hitman
College so materially benefited.

Rev. H. H. Spalding started apple trees
also in 1837 on the Clearwater river, and at the
same time, or perhaps the next year. Air.
Spalding assisted Red Wolf, a Nez Perce chief,
to plant apple trees at the mouth of the Alpowa,
in what is now Garfield county. These trees
are still standing in a fine state of preservation.

The first attempt to start a nursery :n the
present limits of ^^'alla Walla county was
made by Mr. Ransom Clark, in 1859. In the
fall of the same year Mr. J. W. Foster brought
trees from the Willamette valley and planted
them on his present place. The orchard on
what is now the Ward place, in the city limits,
was set out in i860 by A. B. Roberts. In

1 86 1 the greatest step in the progress of the
fruit industry was taken by the coming of
Philip Ritz from Oregon. He brought with
him a number of fruit trees, which he sold to
Messrs. Gilliam, Erwin, Dobson, McKay,
Drumheller, Moore, and Short, all of whom
succeeded soon in raising fine orchards. The
next year Mr. Ritz started a nursery of about
sixty thousand trees on the place now renowned ■
as one of the most beautiful in Walla Walla.
Mr. Ritz's stock of nursery trees reached one
m.illion in 1872, and continued at about that
number so long as he remained in business.
The gold.' excitement of the 'sixties created
a great incentive to fruit and garden culture.
Apples brought almost incredible prices in
Oro Fino, Florence, and other mining camps.
We have heard old-timers tell about big. red-
cheeked Webfoot apples, each one nicely
polished and wrapped in tissue paper, being
sold for a dollar apiece. That was a great
time for the fruit-raisers and nurserymen of
the Willamette valley. iMany of them laid
the foundations of fortunes. It became plain
to the first settlers of Walla Walla that on ac-
count of location and evident adaptability ta
raising fruit and "truck," they could hope to
command that market. Accordingly many
trees were set out, and though the bonanza
prices of the early mining times did not long
continue, the Walla Walla farmers were not
disappointed in controlling the markets. Walla
A\'alla became the great outfitting point for the
mines. Probably no better fruit has ever been
raised than that in those first orchards. No
pests as yet affected the trees. It was found
that apples, pears, cherries, plums and prunes
were peculiarly adapted to this country.
Peaches, apricots, nectarines, and grapes were
found also to do well, but were not so reliable
as the first named. One of the best of those

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

155

early orchards was that of W. S. Gilham, on
Dry creek. He had about twenty-five acres of
assorted varieties of trees.

Those early orchards succeeded excellently
until that famous "cold drfy" of 1883, when the
thermometer dropped to twenty-nine degrees
below zero, by far the lowest temperature ever
known in Walla Walla. The result was very
disastrous. Many of the farmers lost all or
nearly all their trees. Some who had hitherto
taken great pride in their orchards, concluded
that the danger of severe cold was so great
that it was not worth while to reset trees. So
for a number of years following the cold snap
the fruit industry languished. It may be re-
marked in passing that never but once since the
disaster of 1883 has there been any repetition,
and that was in November, 1896, when the
mercury descended to nine degrees below zero.
The loss of trees was not then, however, so
great as before.

Early in the 'eighties began a new era in
fruit-raising, cotemporary with the general in-
dustrial awakening inaugurated by the com-
pletion of the transcontinental railways.
Shrewd men then began to build for the fu-
ture. Among many men whose energy and in-
dustry laid the foundation of the fruit industry
a? at present developing, may be especially
named : Dr. N. G. Blalock, O. R. Ballou, W.
A. Ritz, Charles Whitney, W. S. Oft'ner, H.
C Chew, John Thoney, and U. H. Berney.

Dr. Blalock began the development of his
magnificent fruit ranch in 1885. The place
originally contained an entire section of land.
A donation of forty acres on the east end was
made to the Walla Walla College, and around
that quite a village has grown up. Of the
remainder, the western part is still comparative-
ly undeveloped. The major portion of the place,
some four hundred acres, now contains about

sixty thousand trees, of which half are prunes,
a fourth apples, and the remainder pears, cher-
ries, plums, peaches, nectarines, and apricots.
Among other great public enterprises imder-
taken by Dr. Blalock in connection with his
fruit ranch is his contract to receive and dis-
pose of the sewage from the city of Walla
Walla. This is worthy of special note, both as
being an interesting experiment in land enrich-
ment, also as being historically connected with
this great step in the progress of the city by the
inauguration in 1900 of a sanitary and scien-
tific method of sewerage.

In connection with Dr. Blalock's under-
takings it is fitting to mention here his vast
enterprise on Blalock's Island, in the Columbia.
There he has sixteen thousand acres which he
proposes to put into trees. Ten thousand trees
are already out. The soil and climate are es-
pecially well adapted to peaches and apricots.
The season there is so early that trees blossom
ii: February, and yet on account of the prox-
imity of the river and the constant movement
of the air, there has never been a destructive ^
frost. Though not in Walla Walla county,
this is essentially a Walla Walla enterprise,
and hence worthy of mention here.

Of all the various beautiful, successful, and
lucrative fruit ranches of Walla Walla county,
time fails to speak in detail. No enterprises,
perhaps, in the entire valley are so much ob-
jects of pride to residents and of curiosity to
visitors. Nearly every one who visits Walla
Walla is taken on a "little ride" in such a way
as to pass the Ballou, \\'hitney, Ritz. Blalock,
and Offner ranches. The position of J\Ir. O.
R. Ballou in the history of fruit-raising is sec-
ond to none in our entire county. His ranch
is one of exceeding beauty, about six miles
south of the city in a rich section, abounding in
springs. Mr. Ballou has been intimately con-

156

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

nected with all the fruit fairs of \\'alla ^^'alla,
and to his unselfish devotion much of the suc-
cess of the fairs has been due.

The Whitney and Ritz places are near to-
gether about two miles southwest of town, on
one of the richest bodies of land out-doors.
The Whitney nursery was established in 1884,
now occupies a hundred acres of land, and
gives employment to twenty or more men. The
Ritz place is the most beautiful suburban place
in this county and is of great historical in-
terest. The name of Philip Ritz is connected
with almost every important event in the his-
tory of this region, farming, fruit-raising, rail-
roading and general improvement. The active
and useful life of INIr. Ritz was ended in 1889,
since which time the place has been in charge
of William A. Ritz, who has been intimately
connected with every feature of the fruit busi-
ness of this county. He has been for two
v-ears president of the Fruit Fair Association.

The Offner place, of ninety acres, is lo-
cated about a mile west of town, and has been
famous for its enormous productiveness, as well
as for the beauty and convenience of the build-
ings and all the improvements. The dis-
tinguishing feature of i\Ir. Offner's connection
Avith the fruit industry, however, has been his
business as a shipper.

The Thoney, Chew and Berney places are
east of town on another rich spot of land. In-
deed all the spots of land on which these or-
chards and nurseries are located are so fertile
that every one seems richer than the others.
I\Jr. Thoney and ]\Ir. Berney have for several
years devoted their main energies to the busi-
ness of the \\''alla Walla Produce Company.
jMr. Chew has for the past two years been
conducting the \\'alla Walla nursery, and has
made large sales of trees in all directions.

Besides these places which have received

this special mention there are many others
\\ hich are equally worthy of notice, though not
lia\ing yet come so conspicuously into public
notice. No small amount of fruit is pro-
duced right in the corporate limits of Walla
Walla itself. Part of its beautiful shade is
rich and fragrant with blossoms in spring, and
weighted with luscious fruits in summer and
autumn. The growth of the acreage of trees
can be seen from the fact that in 1880 there
v.ere estimated to be but about four hundred
acres of trees, while in 1895 there were 2,810
acres, of which 1,830 were in bearing, pre-
sumably about 325,000 trees in all. There has
been no reliable estimate since 1895. Some
good observers think the acreage to be some-
thing over three thousand acres.

We have not given here any detailed ac-
count of the garden business of Walla Walla.
Suffice it to say that many of the rich spots
of land in the near vicinity of Walla Walla are
worked by Chinamen and Italians, both of
whom seem to have greater ability than Amer-
icans in that line of work, and that they pro-
duce a prodigious quantity of all the common
vegetables, both for supplying the town and
for shipping in all directions. The vegetables,
like the fruits, of the "garden city" are re-
nowned for excellence, as well as quantity.

The following brief summary of statistics
gives a conception of the present extent of the
industry of fruit and vegetable-raising:

The business of the ^^'alla Walla Produce
Company for 1900, about $150,000; of W. S.
Ofifner, $150,000; of other dealers and ship-
pers, about $150,000; total, $450,000.

The total number of car-loads shipped from
Walla Walla in 1900 was about six hundred,
and of this eighty-five per cent, was fruit.

There are consumed at home probably the
ecuivalent of about two hundred and fiftv car-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

157

loads. Some have estimated the total yield of
the county at nearly one thousand car-loads.

The Walla Walla Produce Company
shipped in 1900 about fifty thousand hoxes of
apples. The Blalock Company, which handle
only their own fruit, shipped in 1903 about
five hundred tons of prunes, two hundred tons
of apples, and one hundred tons of mixed
fruits.

The most notable recent event in tlie fruit
industry is the consolidation of the Walla
Walla Produce Company and W. S. Offner,
and their engagement of the large warehouse
erected in the first part of 1901 on Main
street, adjoining the Washington & Columbia
River Railroad depot. The consolidation of
the two largest shipping houses of the place
and the establishment of their business in such
commodious and convenient quarters will mark
an epoch in the history of this very important
business.

This review of the fruit and garden indus-
try of Walla \\'alla would be incomplete with-
out reference to the fruit fairs which have now
become an established feature of the autumn's
enterprises. There have now been six of these
fairs under various auspices, the first one
being held at the court house in connection
with the meeting of the fruit-growers associa-
tion, of which Dr. Blalock was then presi-
dent.

The next two fairs were held in Armory
hall. The display was so magnificent and the
crowds so great that it became evident tliat
larger quarters must be provided. Accordingly
for three years the fairs have been held in a
pavilion on Second street. Every one has more
than paid for itself, and every one has had a
display of a character which has astonished
visitors. Concerning the fair of 1900, the
fourth in order under the management of the

Fruit Fair Association, we find the following
excellent account in the Inland Empire of Oc-
tober, 1900:

'"The fourth Annual Fruit Fair of the
Walla Walla valley was held in the city of
Walla Walla October i to 7 inclusive, and was
in every way the most successful and satis-
factory exposition ever attempted in south-
eastern Washington. This was true as to the
financial aspect of the fair, as to the attendance
and as to the quality of fruit on display.

"Nature was responsible for the latter
feature of the success of the fair, as she is re-
sponsible for much that goes to make up the
category of the \-irtues of the Walla Walla
valley. Give our agriculturists and horticult-
urists a year with a well regulated rainfall, and
frost which considerately stays away when not
wanted, and they will with diligence and care-
ful culture produce grapes, pears, apples and al-
most every kind of fruits and vegetables of
such quality and size as are seen in no other
part of the Union.

"In 1899 the fair continued six days, Ijut
this year a full week was given, and the at-
tendance exceeded that of previous years by
over three thousand paid admissions. The vis-
itors were not restricted to Walla Walla and
the immediate \-icinity : fully one thousand came
from \Vaitsburg, Dayton and other neighlior-
ing towns, and five hundred from Pendleton,
Milton, Athena, and various points in our
sister state. The scope of the fruit fair is
broadening and exhibits are received from an
ever increasing extent of territory.

"From a financial point of view, the officers
of the exposition have every reason to be con-
gratulated. .The gross proceeds of the fair
were sometiiing over seven thousand dollars,
and about eleven hundred dollars of this is
profit, and is deposited as a nestegg for the

158

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

fair of 1 90 1. This is the first year in the his-
tory of the fairs that any material profit has
resulted in dollars and cents. Last year eighty
dollars was taken in over and above expenses,
and the year before nothing. Better manage-
ment is responsible for this result, and a more
thorough appreciation of the rec[uirements of
the fair.

'"T. H. AA'agner's military band, of Seattle,
furnished music for the fair, giving concerts
every afternoon and evening.

"INIrs. Jennie Houghton Edmunds was the
vocal soloist, and Herr Rodenkirchen, who is
known to fame in the east and west, was their
cornet soloist.

"One of the special features of the pro-
gramme of the fair was an Indian war dance.
A score of bucks and a half dozen squaws from
the Umatilla reservation were the performers,
and their presence recalled to many of the vis-
itors the days when the proximity of redskins
Avas a consummation devoutly to be dreaded.

"The woman's department was this year
under the direction of Mrs. John B. Catron,
and formed the most interesting and tasteful
display at the fair. A part was devoted to
collections of Indian curios and relics, and this
department was always crowded with visitors.
Lee Aloorehouse, of Pendleton, had on exhibi-
tion many of his photographs of Indians and
scenes on the Umatilla reservation, pictures
which even now are of interest, and which
fifty years hence, when the development of the
country has crowded the redskins further to
the wall, will be of great historical value.

'■^lore than ever before have the people of
this valley appreciated the value of fruit fairs
and industrial expositions. Here the farmers
and those interested in the various lines of
agriculture and horticulture have an opportu-
nity to see the results of each others' labors.

and profit by their experience. They are en-
couraged by the success of others, and obtain
suggestions which are invaluable in their work.
Tiiey learn in what direction the efforts of
their neighbors are being exerted, and keep in
touch with the development of the various ag-
ricultural pursuits.

"The Belgian hare exhibit, prepared by S.
C. Wingard and E. A. Coull, was a feature
not before seen at these fairs. This exhibi-
tion, with its hundreds of dollars worth of
\alual)Ie imported specimens of Belgian hare.s
and fancy stock, was perhaps the most valu-
able at the fair, and of the greatest in-
terest because of its novelty. Belgian hare
culture is yet in its infancy, and the gentle
long-eared creature was the center of at-
traction for those who wished to know more
of these animals which are monopolizing so
much attention among breeders of pet stock.

"Tlie railroads doing business in Walla
\\'alla took a most active interest in the fair.
Two pretty and uniciue booths were erected and
they proved among the attractive features of
the event.

"The Northern Pacific and Washington &
Columbia River Railways took the cue of the
Boxers and a pretty fashoda was designed.
The structure was erected near the band pa-
\ilion and was provided with seats and accom-
modations for the ladies and children. The
fashoda was built of native woods and finished
with moss brought froni' Taconia for the pur-
pose. The work was artistically done. At
night a number of colored electric lights gave
a finishing touch to the scene. The design was
largely the idea of Manager McCabe and Pas-
senger Agent Calderhead, of the ^^'ashington
& Columlaia River Railway.

"The booth of the Oregon Railway & Nav-
igation Company was located near the main

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

159

entrance and it was neatly planned. A com-
modious square booth was finished and trimmed
with grains and fruits taken from the com-
pany's experimental farm near this city. The
ceiling was made of a variety of handsomely
colored wools in the unwoven state, blended
together with artistic effect. The walls of the
booth were hung with pictures, and chairs and
reading ofifered rest and entertainment to all.
The booth was in charge of General Agent
Burns and C. F. Van De Water."

The officers of the association for 1900
were as follows : W. A. Ritz, president ; C. F.
Van De Water, secretary ; O. R. Ballon, super-
intendent; iNIrs. J. B. Catron, superintendent
of the woman's department.

One final item of interest concerning which
the reader is likely to desire information, and
that is the location and character of the market
for fruit. JNIr. W. S. OiTner, who is probably
better qualified than any one else here to report,
prepared a statement for the Walla Walla
Lhiion some time ago, which we insert here :

"The markets for Walla Walla valley fruits
and produce are world wide, as the past sea-
son has proven. Our market in days gone by
has been confined to a small scope of country,
owing to a lack of proper transportation fa-
cilities ; the fruit industry being in its infancy,
we were known only to our local markets in
our own state and portions of Idaho and Mon-
tana. However, as our orchards and gardens
have increased, so have our transportation fa-
cilities, and to-day we practicalh' have four
through or transcontinental lines, viz. : the
Union Pacific, Northern Pacific, Great North-
ern and the Burlington route, carrying our
fruits into other states. This gives us a choice
of the above named routes to all eastern mar-
kets. All these roads make every effort pos-

sible to supply us with suitable cars and accom-
modations for handling our fruits.

"Our early fruits and vegetables are mar-
keted principally in what we, term our local
market — Washington, Idaho and Montana, the
latter two being a good market the entire sea-
son. As stated before, we furnish a large por-
tion of our own state with early fruits and
vegetables. As is well known of our valley,
owing to its mild climate and early springs,
we are able to bring our produce into the mar-
ket from two to three weeks earlier than other
parts of the state. This gives us a great ad-
vantage, especially with strawberries, allow-
ing us to ship the bulk of the berry crop be-
ft:re they are in market elsewhere in the state.
AVe have, until the past season, marketed most
of our berries and cherries in the local mar-
ket, but experience has shown us that we have
a market for berries in car-load lots in Denver,
Omaha, Kansas City, St. Paul, Minneapolis
and other eastern cities. Our berries ripening
at the time they do, do not come in competi-
tion with the home-grown berries of Kansas;
Missouri, Nebraska and Minnesota.

"When we come to our larger fruits, espe-
cially the prune, pear and apple, for which
our valley is particularly adapted, I repeat the
foregoing assertion that 'our market is the
world,' having demonstrated the fact by ship-
ping a number of cars of prunes and pears to
Si. Paul, Minnesota, Chicago, Kansas City,
liidianapolis, Philadelphia and New York. We
ha\'e had calls from many other eastern cities
for our fruits that we cannot supply as yet,
our output being too limited to supply the de-
mand. Another market unknown to us until
the last season is British Columbia. They
ha\-e been calling upon us for our fruits, and
a great many cars of apples found their way

i6o

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

to these markets the past year, which only made
the purchasers give us orders which we were
unable to fill. Right here I will state that the
greatest trouble the fruit or commission men
have is to get sufficient quantities of fruit to
fill their orders. While the past season's fruit
shipments from this valley have been numbered
by the hundred cars, had we had a sufficient
quantity of the right kind of fruits our car
shipments would have been numbered by the
thousands. With increased production and bet-
ter facilities for transportation to the eastern
markets, we will soon be shipping our fruits
by the train-load instead of car-loads, for it is
a fact wherever our fruits have been tested
they have met Avith favor and have created a
demand which we have been unable to supply.

"Another market opened to us is Texas,
Arizona and Mexico, for it is a well-known
fact that warm countries to not grow good
apples, and e\'en California, with all her wealth
of fruit, orange groves, famous vineyards and
big orchards in other fruits, comes to us in
the spring for our fancy, well-kept winter
apples. While California and Mexico may send
us their gold, oranges and lemons, we will send
them in return the famous winter apples of the
Walla Walla valley.

"Last, but not least, comes our market in
England for apples, some having already been
shipped there. When our apples are once well
known we will have a market for more than
can probably be raised in the state, as our win-
ter apples we would be glad to compare with
the fruit of the most favored parts of the
United States.

"As to our fruit drying, it is yet in its in-
fancy, we having been able so far to dispose
of our fruit in a green state. There were
several cars of prunes dried here last season
and thev were eagerlv sought for in our eastern

markets. Our Italian prune (which is mostly
raised here) commands a higher price than
the famous California French or Petit prune,
as it grows much larger and is of superior
(juality. An interview with any of the com-
mission men of this city will undoubtedly verify
the facts that I have heretofore set forth and
there is no question that we will find a mar-
ket for all the fruit we can possibly raise in
the Walla Walla valley."

We have now spoken at length in regard
to the three fundamental industries of this
region. It remains to note more briefly the
other lines of business which have l^ecome
evolved from the necessities and opportunities
of the country. It may be said that though it
is yet too early to find extensive manufactur-
ing here, yet Walla Walla county has many
of the natural facilities in abundance. Rapid
and abundant streams may be made to furnish
water-power in unlimited quantities. All the
fruits of the earth and the products of animal
life can be secured cheaply and of the finest
qualities. The greatest drawback to manu-
facturing is that iron and lumber must be
shipped in for every kind of work.

The chief industries of a manufacturing
nature in Walla Walla are the flouring mills,
tlie Gilbert Hunt separator manufactory, the
\\'eber tannery, the various creameries, the
sash and door factory, and other wood work
factories, the saddle-tree factory, and the
marble works.

First in order of time and capital come

THE FLOURING MILLS.

The first flouring mill in this county was
l)uilt in 1859 by A. H. Reynolds, in partner-
ship with Dent and Simms, on the place owned
now bv Charles AA'hitnev. The building was

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

i6i

afterwards used as a distillery. It is still stand-
ing, being used by Mr. Whitney as a store-
house. In 1862 Mr. Reynolds built a second
mill on the Yellowhawk, known as the Star
mill. In 1862 H. P. Isaacs erected the mill in
the eastern part of what is now Walla Walla,
named it the North Pacific flouring mills, and
thereby entered upon his long and successful
career as the leading miller of this county. In
1883 he erected the mill at Prescott, then the
largest in eastern Washington. Andrew Mc-
Calley was another pioneer mill man, coming
here in 1872, for some time superintending the
North Pacific mills, then purchasing a mill
west of town, erected by I. T. Reese in 1866.
Mr. McCalley was burned out, but rebuilt, and
the business was maintained by himself, and,
after his death in 1891, by his sons, until the
property was sold to W. H. Gilbert, who lost
it by fire in 1897. The Eureka (first known as
the Agate) mills were built by Ritz and
Schnebly and conducted by W. C. Painter.
Eventually they were sold to Welch and
Schwabacher, who in turn sold them to Dement
Brothers the date of the latter transfer being
1880. The grades of flour manufactured by
this mill have become famous wherever used,
and in fact they have found their markets in
all parts of the world. The Washington Roller
mill of Waitsburg was established in 1865 by
S. M. Wait, the founder of that "burg," but
was sold by him to Preston Brothers, who en-
larged and improved it, and now do a business
in all quarters of the globe. Paine Brothers
and Moore bought Mr. Wait's stock, and after-
wards owned an interest in the mill, but sold
out to Preston Brothers. It will give one an
added sense of the largeness of this industry,
as well as of the commercial closeness of the
rest of the world, to learn that flour from these
various Walla Walla mills goes to England,

Italy, China, Japan, Philippine Islands, South
Africa, Alaska and British Columbia. The
City mills were erected by SchoU Brothers
on Paluose street in Walla Walla in 1898.
There is also a mill on the Yellowhawk, known
as the Rising Star, erected by H. S. Kinzie,
but now owned by Mrs. Rattlemiller. . Several
chop mills are also in operation in different
parts of the valley.

Such is a very brief summary of the flour-
ing mills of this county. As to their capacity
it may be said that the North Pacific mills of
Prescott can grind five hundred barrels per day.
Its average output, however, is about three
hundred, and it ordinarily runs about three
hundred days in the year, thus representing
about ninety thousand barrels per year. The
Washington Roller mills of Waitsburg and
the Eureka mills of Walla Walla have each a
capacity of two hundred and fifty barrels per
day, aggregating in the year about sixty thou-
sands barrels each. The City mills and the
Rising Star mills turn out about seventy-five
barrels each per day, or a yearly output of
about twenty thousand barrels. Their total
output may thus be seen to amount to about
two hundred and fifty thousand barrels an-
nually, or a business in flour alone of over
three quarters of a million dollars. In addi-
tion to this it should be noted that for every
barrel of flour there is, on an average, seventy
pounds of bran and chop, or an aggregate of
perhaps eighty-seven hundred and fifty tons.
In addition to this, large quantities of break-
fast food, as farina, germea, whole wheat and
graham, in addition to the ordinary standard
brands, enumerated above, are sold at home
and shipped abroad. It may doubtless be
stated in round numbers that the annual out-
put of mill products in Walla Walla exceeds a
million dollars.

I62

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Next in magnitude of the manufacturing
industries of Walla Walla county is the

"pride of Washington"

factory of Gilbert Hunt & Company. This
great industry originated in machine shops
owned by Byron Jackson. Gilbert Hunt and
Christopher Ennis bought the establishment in
1888. Its work at that time was little more
than that of a repair shop. In 1891 Mr. Hunt
bought out his partner and conducted the busi-
ness alone until 1893, when the business was
leorganized under the firm name of Gilbert
Hunt & Company, with ]\Ir. Hunt as president
and manager, and Walter McCalley as sec-
retary and treasurer. Associated also in the
business are Frank Hunt and Jay Williams.
The business was conducted in wooden build-
ings, seeming rather to invite disaster by fire,
v\'hich was realized in 1898, when the entire
works on the north side of Main street, to-
gether with the foundry of J. L. Roberts, were
swept from the earth. Undismayed by the
hea\'y loss the company at once proceeded to
the establishment of a far more complete and
elaborate plant than before. Large brick build-
ings were erected and every department of the
enterprise was reorganized on a vastly larger
scale than before. While the company makes
the "Pride of Washington" separator their
specialty, they do a vast business in engines,
pumps, wind-mills, hose, leather and rubber
belting, water-tanks, and in fact pretty much
everything concerned in farming, harvesting
and irrigating machinery. Their business ex-
tends all over Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
During the year 1900 they manufactured fifty
threshers and employed an average of seventy-
five men throughout the year. They now make
all their castings, as well as every sort of wood

work which enters into the construction of their
various machines.

It is fitting to mention here the Walla Walla
foundry, conducted in 1879 by Messrs. Mar-
shall and Jones. J. L. Roberts, for many years
prominent in business and political circles in
Walla Walla, became a partner in the enter-
prise in 1879, and the entire owner in 1887.
The business became extensive and lucrative,
but the disastrous fire in 1898 destroyed it, and
on account of inadequate insurance proved very
unfortunate to Mr. Roberts. The foundry was
not replaced, but the assumption of the same
kind of work by Hunt & Company has filled
the demand for that class of manufacture.

Of the

OTHER MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS

of Walla Walla the sash and door factory of
Whitehouse and Crimmins occupies a very im-
portant place. This extensive industry was
founded in 1 880 by Messrs. Cooper and Smuck.
In 1888 George Whitehouse and D. J. Crim-
mins became chief owners of the establish-
ment, although Mr. Cooper has continued to
be a partner to the present time. The mill is
equipped with all the most recent and improved
machinery, and turns out annually an immense
amount of finished lumber, sash and doors,
mouldings, lath, besides large supplies of cup-
boards, desks and other house furnishings.
There is handled annually from two to four
million feet of lumber. The number of men
employed varies from twenty to thirty, accord-
ing to the season.

Two other extensive lumbering houses in
^Valla Walla, the Chamberlin Lumber Com-
pany and the Oregon Lumber Company, deal
in lumber, although not engaged in its manu-
facture. The supply of the former comes in part

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

163

irom Gray's Harbor, that of the latter in part
from Bridal Veil Mills in Oregon. It is esti-
mated, however, that ninety per cent, of the
lumber used in Walla Walla comes from Puget
Sound, although these last named lumber com-
panies of the count}'. The lumber business of
the amount of the lumber used in a commu-
nity is so large an index to its progress that
we shall find it of interest to note the volume
■of bvisiness performed by the various com-
panies of the county. The lumber business of
the city and county are performed substan-
tially by the three companies named in the city,
together with two establishments at Waits-
burg, one at Prescott, and one at Eureka Junc-
tion. The entire amount of business is esti-
mated to amount to about ten million feet of
lumber, five million shingles, fifty thousand
cedar fence posts, and six thousand doors and
windows annually.

The Weber tannery was established by
Frank Weber, Sr., in 1871. In 1879 it suf-
fered destruction by fire, but was at once re-
built on a larger scale, and since that time has
continually broadened its business. An im-
portant part of the leather, as well as other of
the harness-makers' and shoe-makers' supplies
of all kinds for this entire upper country, come
from the Weber tannery.

There are three creameries in the county
a1 the present time, and their products in round
numbers is estimated at 133,189 pounds of but-
ter, besides considerable cheese, representing a
total value of probably over thirty thousand
dollars.

One of the most interesting and prospect-
ively important enterprises of recent establish-
ment is the Cox and Bailey Manufacturing
Company. This company has been established
by the purchase of the building and plant of
the Walla Walla Fanning Mill Manufactory,

which was started by Messrs, Carnahan and.
Fuller in 1898. Cox and Bailey acquired the
property in the beginning of the year 1901 and
are, at the present writing, actively engaged in
equipping their factory with the best machinery
and material. Their design is to do a general
nianufacturing- and repair business, especially
in the line of agricultural implements. They
will also have a first-class sawing department,
and will be prepared to furnish all kinds of
scroll and bracket work of the best sort. They
expect to ship logs directly from the Cascades.
When fully equipped they will employ from
twenty-five to thirty men.

The inauguration of this enterprise at this
time is not only of importance in itself, but
is one among many indications of the broaden-
ing and ever enlarging business activity of this
section.

Another home manufacturing establish-
ment worthy of more extended notice than we
can here give is the saddle-tree factory of
Ringhofer Brothers. This was founded by
Steve Ringhofer in 1880, his brother joining
him in a few years. Few people in Walla
W^alla realize the amount of work done by these
two industrious men with their assistants. Nor
do they realize the wideness of the market
reached by these Walla Walla saddle-trees. It
is nearly as large as the market for Walla
Walla fruits. In Calgary, Caribou, Montana,
Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and southern Oregon,
to say nothing of points near at hand, cowbo3's,
vaqueroes, prospectors and packers sit astride
saddles whose frames were shaped right here
in Walla Walla. This business is about as near-
ly a home enterprise as any here, for though
wood must mainly be shipped in, the hides,
which are an equally essential feature, are se-
cured from the Weber tannery in Walla Walla.

The extensive marble and granite works of

164

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

two different firms here, those of Niles & \^in-
son, and Roberts & Son, are deserving of an
elaborate description did space permit. The
extent of the supply, as well as of the market
of both these establishments, is as much of a
revelation as are similar facts in regard to
some of the other lines of business described.
In a review necessarily limited as this is
in space, it is not possible to present an ex-
haustive account of every worthy and interest-
ing industry. We have endeavored to present
in the preceding pages a clear picture of the
essential lines of constructive industry, to de-
scribe the basis of those agencies by which the
people of this country actually create products
A rough estimate would probably show the ag-
gregate value of the material thus made by the
people of the county in 1900 at somewhere in
the vicinity of four million dollars; certainly
a very large amount to be produced by less than
twenty thousand people.

In addition to the true productive indus-
tries hitherto described, Walla Walla city has
a correspondingly active list of mercantile and
miscellaneous establishments, which may be
summarized as follows : Three banks, of which
two are national banks and one a savings bank ;
three hotels, beside five lodging houses and a
large number of boarding houses, and eight
restaurants; eleven general merchandise stores;
six hardware stores ; two furniture stores ; four
house decorating and painting establishments;
five watch and jewelry stores; seven drug
stores; three shoe stores; thirteen grocery
stores; five regular meat markets, besides four
fish and poultry markets ; four plumbing estab-
lishments ; four bakeries, besides a dozen con-
fectionery and fruit stands; four dressmaking
and millinery establishments ; five agricultural
implement houses, and these, it may be added,

do extensive business not only in this but also
in adjoining counties; two saddlery stores;
tliree toy stores ; thirty-four saloons ; five cloth-
ing stores; three wood-yards; two bicycle and
sporting goods stores ; three music stores ; four
book stores; two bi'eweries; ten barber shops,
of which six have bath rooms connected; four
photograph galleries ; and seven livery stables.
In addition to these, which may be called the
standard lines of business, there are a large
number of work shops and repair shops of
various kinds, laimdries, of which one is a large
steam laundry, and various small, miscellaneous
establishments.

As an interesting evidence of the steady
increase of manufacturing industries in this
county, we may add the following statement
with respect to a factory at Waitsburg, which
appeared in a paper of that city, while this work
was in preparation :

"The Evans Harvester Alanufacturing
Company is the name of a new company or-
ganized in Waitsburg. The new company will
erect a factory in that city in the near future
for the manufacture of the combined harvester
patented by J. G. Evans. The incorporators
are J. G. Evans, Frank McCown, A. Storie,
Arthur Roberts, J. W. Morgan, G. M. Lloyd
and J. L. Harper.

"The board of trustees for the first six
months will be G. ]\I. Lloyd, J. L. Harper,
Arthur Roberts and Andrew Storie. ]\Ir.
Frank McCown is mentioned for president
with J. G. Evans as secretary and Arthur Rob-
erts as manager. The arrangements will all
be perfected within a few days.

"Mr. \\'. E. Singer will have charge of the
mechanical department, assisted by ^Ir. J. G.
Evans.

"The object is to perfect one machine this

1-IISTORY OF ^^^\LLA WALLA COUNTY.

165

season and get a perfect pattern from which it has been operated quite frequently of late

to construct more. The machine has been set and gives every promise of being a complete

up in Mr. Cox's wagon shop, and will con- success."
vince the most skeptical that it will thresh, as

CHAPTER XV.

THE TRANSPORTATION LINES OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

As sufficiently developed already in prior
pages, Walla Walla county was long isolated
from other portions of Oregon territory. Yet
even in the days of the fur-traders there were
regular lines of transportation by which goods
from vessels at Vancouver were distributed to
all the posts of the Hudson's Bay Company
throughout the Columbia valley, and by which
the furs gathered along the thousand brawling
streams of the interior, were transported to
ship-board, and thence to the markets of the
Old World. The transportation lines of the
fur-traders consisted of bateaus, with frecjuent
portages on cayuse back or Indian back. That
was the true age of romance in the history
of traffic. No braver and more enduring
knights of the wilderness ever existed than
those French Canadian voyageurs. Bold, res-
olute, indefatigable, always ready for privation
with laugh, and jest, and song, those Canadian
boatmen were the very beau ideal of explorers.
From the blue waters of the Athabasca they
would enter the lake on the crest of the Rocky
mountains from which the Columbia issues,
and descend the mighty stream, through its
succession of cataracts, lakes, and broad ex-
panses, until they whiffed the salt spray of the
Pacific.

When American immia:ration beean to en-

ter Oregon, the bateaus were still a frec[uent
means of transportation from The Dalles to
the Willamette valley. Far-seeing men, like
Whitman and others, even it) the earliest period
of settlement, plainly grasped the conception
of the great steamboat lines along the rivers,
and the railroad lines across the prairies and
through the mountain passes, which would
some time bring that majestic wilderness into
communication with the rest of the world.

STEAMBOAT LINES.

The first steamship that ever ploughed the
waters of Washington state was the Beaver,
a Hudson's Bay steamboat, which entered the
Columbia river in 1836 and afterwards went
to Puget sound. She is still afloat somewhere
on the waters of the gulf of Georgia. The
first American steamship on the Columbia was
the Carolina, in 1850. The first river steamer
was a little double ender called the Columbia,
also in 1850. On Christmas day, 1850, was
launched the first river steamboat of any size.
This was the Lot Whitcomb. It is interest-
ing for Walla Walla people to remember that
tlie purser of this boat was Dr. O. \\". Nixon,
who has been such a steadfast friend of Whit-
man College. In 1851 a movement to estab-

1 66

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

lish traffic with the "Inland Empire"' was in-
augurated by the building of the James T.
Flint at the Cascades. The builders of this
boat were Dan Bradford and B. B. Bishop,
the latter of whom lived many years at Pendle-
ton and was well known at \\'alla Walla. In
1853 Allen McKinley brought the steamer
Eagle to the cascades, where he had her taken
to pieces to be carried by portage to the upper
cascades, there to be put together again and
relaunched. She was the first steamer to cut
the sublime waters of the mid-Columbia. The
year 1854 saw the launching of the Mary above
the cascades. 1855 saw the \\'asco. In 1856
the Hassalo was built. In 1857 the first steam-
boat was built above The Dalles. This was the
Colonel \\'right, built at Celilo by R. R.
Thompson and Laurence Coe.

Thus, as we see, the steamboat lines worked
their way at an early day, while Indian wars
Avere yet raging, toward Walla Walla.

In 1859 the famous old Oregon Steam
Kavigation Company was organized. B)- 1861
its steamboats were running as far as Lewis-
ton. The first steam railway lines in the north-
Avest were the portage lines of this company.
The first of six miles was on the north side of
the river at the cascades, and the second of
fifteen miles was on the south side between
The Dalles and Celilo. These enterprising
steamboat men got into business just in time
to reap the rich harvest of the mining trade of
i860, '6r, '62. Though something of a mo-
nopoly the Oregon Steam Navigation Com-
pany was a great affair, and old settlers enjoy
pleasant recollections when they call to memory
the owners, captains, pursers, and even some
of the deck hands. Alemory easily conjures
up the polite and yet determined Ainsworth,
the brusc|ue and rotund Reed, the bluff and
hearty Knaggs, the frolicsome and never dis-

concerted Ingalls, the dark and powerful Coe,
the patriarchal beard of Stump, the loquacious
"Commodore" \Yo\i. who used to point out
the "diabolical strata" of the Columbia banks-
to astonished tourists, the massive figure of
Strang, the genial Dan O'Neil, the suave and
graceful Snow, the handsome Sampson, Mc-
Nulty, with his rich Scotch brogue, "Little
Billy," the bold and much experienced Baugh-
man, and especially two of the "kid captains"'
of that early epoch, now still comparati\
young men, and even then, though boys, con-
sidered the best pilots on the river. Will Gray
and Jim Troup.

After the inauguration of the steamboat
lines to Wallula and Lewiston, in 1861, traffic
liy prairie schooners began between W'alla
Walla and Wallula. In 1862 and '63 there
bia and Snake rivers, while the opposition line
the river. But the completion of the portage
railroads gave the Oregon Steam Navigation
Company such an advantage that they were
enabled to make a compromise by which they
were given the exclusive right to the Colum-
bia and Snake rivers, while the opposition line
was to have a monopoly of the Willamette.
After this compromise had been effected the
following schedule of charges was established :

Freight from Portland to Wallula, per ton,
$50.00; freight from Portland to Lewiston,
per ton, $90.00; fare from Portland to Wal-
lula, $18.00; fare from Portland to Lewiston,
$28.00.

Freight from Wallula to Walla Walla was
$10, or $12, per ton, by wagon.

In i860 there came to AValla \\'alla a man
who was destined to become the greatest figure
in both pioneer railroading and other business
in the history of Walla Walla. This was Dr.
D. S. Baker. Almost from his first landing in
Walla ^^'alla Dr. Baker, more fully than any

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

1671

one else, formed a conception of the vast latent
resources of the Walla Walla valley, and began
to form plans of connection between it and the
steamboat line, but after opposition had been
destroyed on the river Dr. Baker determined
to establish a portage road at the Cascades,
with the expectation that this would encourage
independent steamboats. But the O. S. N. Co.,
having secured a charter and right of way
from Congress, Dr. Baker, for the only time
in his life, found him.self checkmated and had
to sell out at a sacrifice.

Agitation for the building of a railroad be-
came very active in Walla Walla between 1863
and 1868. On March 23, 1868, the citizens
of Walla Walla gathered at the court house to
discuss this question. As a result of the in-
vestigations which followed the Walla Walla
and Columb'a River Railroad Company was
incorporated. Its incorporators were D. S.
Baker, A. H. Reynolds, I. T. Reese, A. Kyger,
J. H. Lasater, J. D. Mix, B. Scheideman and
W. H. Newell. Their plan was to get the
Oregon Steam Navigation Company to take
one hundred thousand dollars of stock, Walla
Walla county two hundred thousand dollars,
and the city fifty thousand dollars. An act
of Congress of March 3, 1869, granted the
right of way and authorized the county com-
missioners to issue three hundred thousand dol-
lars in aid of the road, provided the people
approved it at a special election. After some
delay the time of this election was set for June
26, 1 87 1. But it having become evident by the
expression of public opinion that the subsidy
would be defeated, the order for the election
was revoked. The company then made a prop-
osition to the people of Walla Walla. They
proposed, in case the people of the county would
authorize the issuance of three thousand dol-
lars in bonds, to build a strap iron railroad

within a year; to place in the hands of the
county commissioners the money received from
down freights as a sinking fund, and to allow
the board to fix the rate on such freights pro-
vided it was not placed at less than two dollars
per ton, nor so high as to exclude freight
from the road ; to give a first mortgage on the
road, to secure the county ; and to give security
that the bonds would be used in constructing
the road. An election was authorized by the
board on September 18, 187 1. As a result of
the election, out of a total vote of nine hundred
and thirty-five, a majority of eighteen was cast
against the measure and it was therefore lost.
The people of Walla Walla of that time seemed
to have been mightily afraid of some monopoly
control. Inasmuch as under the terms of the
proposition they could have fixed down freights
at two dollars a ton when they Avere at that
time as a matter of fact paying over eight dol-
lars a ton by wagon, it would seem that they
performed the feat sometimes described as "bit-
ing off one"s nose to spite his face." At any
rate it was a long time before they got a two
dollar schedule.

DR. baker's railroad.

This project being thus defeated so far as
Walla Walla county was concerned. Dr. Baker
with a number of men prominent in Walla
Walla then determined to build and ecjuip the
road themselves. A new company was organ-
ized, with the following directors : D. S.
Baker, W. Stephens, I. T. Reese, L. McMorris,
PL M. Chase, H. P. Isaacs, B. L. Sharpstein,
O. Hull and J. F. Boyer. In IVlarch, 1872,
he began grading at Wallula. Meantime
many railroad projects were in the air. Among
these were the Northern Pacific, with a branch
southward through the ^\^^lla Walla and

i68

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Grande Ronde countries. In 1873 the Seattle
and \\'alla Walla Railroad Company was or-
ganized. In 1874 the Portland. Dalles and
Salt Lake Railroad Company, which had been
organized some years before, was revi\-ed amid
great enthusiasm on the part of the people
of ^^'alla Walla and other points in eastern
Oregon and Washington. In the same year
the Dayton and Columbia River Transporta-
tion Company was incorporated. This com-
pany proposed to build a narrow gauge road
from Dayton to Wallula by way of Waitsburg
and Walla Walla; thence by steamers and
portage railroads to Astoria. These enter-
prises were stronger on paper than on the
ground. On ]\Iarch 13. 1875, the report was
circulated throughout the "Inland Empire"
that arrangements had been made with English
capitalists to advance money for building the
Portland, Dalles and Salt Lake Railroad and
that it was to be completed in five years. There
was a general period of jubilees throughout
the country until it was learned that this an-
nouncement was premature, and that the ar-
rangements had collapsed, like many other rail-
road gas-bags.

In the meantime Dr. Baker was working
away cjuietly and effectively upon the Walla
Walla and Columbia River Railroad. Fifteen
miles of track had been completed from Wal-
lula to the Touchet by March, 1874. Wooden
rails were at first used, upon which strap iron
was afterwards laid. Major Sewell Truax was
the engineer in charge. In 1874 this little road
carried from the Touchet to Wallula over four
thousand tons of wheat and brought back in
return over eleven hundred tons of merchandise.
After much pulling and hauling over the ques-
tion of subscriptions by the people of the city,
it was provided that if the railroads were im-
mediately completed to Walla Walla the people

should give the company three acres of land
for depot and side tracks, secure the right of
way for nine miles west of the city, and a cash
subsidy of twenty-five thousand dollars. At
last the great day of completion came. On Oc-
tober 23, 1875, \Ya\\a \\'alla was connected by
rail with the Columbia river.

The building of Dr. Baker's railroad had
involved a vast deal of work and enterprise.
As an illustration of the peculiar expense of
this road might be mentioned the difficulty of
securing ties for its construction. These were
first gotten out on the Grande Ronde river,
floated down the Grande Ronde, Snake and
Columbia rivers to \A"allula, at an average cost
of about a dollar apiece, from three to four
times the ordinary expense of ties. But the
supply from the Grande Ronde proved inad-
equate, and the projectors were compelled to
have recourse to the Yakima river. In the
year 1875 this railroad hauled 9,155 tons of
wheat to \\'allula.

In 1876 contention broke out between Dr.
Baker's railroad and the people of Walla Walla.
Dr. Baker, apparently feeling — whether cor-
rectly or not we will not undertake to decide —
that the people of Walla Walla had done very
little to advance the interest of his road, had
fixed the freight rate at $5.50 per ton. Though
this was much less than had been paid to team-
sters before, it seemed extortion to some of
the people, and a committee of citizens was ap-
pointed to request a reduction. The request
was not granted. There was discussion by the
Grange Council as to the possibility of making
a canal from \Miitman Mission to Wallula.
A number of merchants tried the wagon route
again, freight being reduced to five dollars per
ton, at one time even to four dollars and fifty
cents. At the same time there began to be
heavy shipments of grain by team from Day-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

ton and vicinity to "Grange City" at the mouth
of the Tukannon, Avhence it was transported
to Portland by the Oregon Steam Navigation
Company's boats for eight dollars per ton. An
opposition boat, the Northwest, was run for
two years from Lewiston to Celilo by Captain
Stump and Small Brothers, the chief owners
being Paine Brothers & jMoore.

It proved to be impossible for the teams
to compete with the railroad, even at five dol-
lars and a half per ton. The amount of freight
steadily increased all that time. In 1876 there
were hauled from Walla Walla to Wallula
16,766 tons, of which teams hauled 1,500 tons,
the railroad the residue. The return freight
amounted to 4,034 tons, showing a very heavy
balance of trade in favor of Walla Walla. It
is, in fact, a remarkable feature of our county
to-day that the exports exceed imports by prob-
ably three to one.

Other railway projects were in the air in
that same centennial year of 1876. Among
them was the Walla Walla & Dayton Railroad,
but it never got beyond the map stage.

In 1877 the first steps were taken in the
great government enterprise of the Cascade
locks, an undertaking which should have vast
influence on the industrial development of the
Inland Empire, though it evidently will not
until the dalles are overcome. It was nearly
twenty years before the great canal and locks
were finished.

In 1877 there were 28.806 tons* of freight
shipped from Walla Walla by way of Wallula.
The rate had then been reduced to four dollars
and a half per ton. It is noticeable that in the
same year 8,368 tons of freight were shipped
in, and of this nearly half consisted of agri-
cultural implements, showing something of
the great development of the industry of
farmine.

In 1877 Dr. Baker had preliminary sur-
veys and estimates on a branch from Whitman
Mission to Weston, and this was ultimately
completed as far as Blue Mountain station.
But, as is nearly always the case with the pio-
neer railway enterprises which pay, the Walla
Walla & Columbia River Railroad was destined
to be absorbed by a larger. It had become a
well paying property under Dr. Baker's skill-
ful and energetic management, and the Oregon
Steam Navigation Company cast envious eyes
upon it. They contemplated at that time mak-
ing a regular system of narrow-gauge roads
through the Inland Empire, connecting with
the boats on the- Columbia and Snake rivers.
After long continued negotiations Dr. Baker
sold the larger part of his stock in 1879 to
the chief stockholders of the Oregon Steam
Navigation Company, Messrs. Ladd, Ains-
worth. Reed and Tilton. As we shall see later
on, the Oregon Steam Navigation Company
was in turn swallowed by the Oregon Railway
& Navigation Company, and that in succession
became a part of the great Union Pacific sys-
tem. Dr. Baker's road, though thus temporary,
performed an incalculable part in the trans-
portation developments of Walla Walla county.

STAGE LINES.

While considering the pioneer steamboat
and railroad lines, our survey would be incom-
plete if we did not notice the great pioneer
stage lines, which for many years were the
chief means of mail and passenger transporta-
tion. J- F. Abbott, whose family are still liv-
ing in Walla Walla, was the pioneer stage
manager of this valley. In 1859 he put on
the first stages between \\'allula and Walla
Walla. In the next year he eft'ected a part-
nership with Rickey and Thatcher on the same

I/O

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

line. Stage lines, carrying the mails, were es-
tablished by ]\Iiller and Blackmore between
The Dalles and \A'alla Walla in 1861. In the
following year Rickey & Thatcher established
a line from Walla Walla to Lewiston, and in
the same year Blackmore & Chase operated
lines between Wallula and Walla Walla. There
were a number of independent stage lines run-
ning between all the points named during the
years that followed. George F. Thomas, whose
family are now well known in Walla Walla,
ran a line from Wallula to Boise by way of
Walla Walla and the Woodward toll road. The
great transcontinental stage lines of Ben Holli-
day were operating on the plains in 1864, and
partly through them Walla Walla began to
ccme into communication with the world.
That was the age of stages, hold-ups, Indians,
and prairie-schooners, an age of romance and
adventure which can never be repeated. The
amount of business done by team in those times
was something astonishing. A Washington
Statesman of the year 1862 estimated the
amount of freight landed at Wallula from the
steamers, to be thence distributed by wheel
throughout the upper country at one hun-
dred and fifty tons weekly, and the number
of passengers from fifty to six hundred weekly.

In 1 871 an extensive stage line began to
operate throughout this region. This Avas the
Northwestern Stage Company. It connected
the Central Pacific Railroad at Kelton, Utah,
with The Dalles, Pendleton, Walla Walla, Col-
fax, Dayton, Lewiston, Pomeroy, "and all
points north and w'est." To illustrate the ex-
tent of its operations it may be said that it
used three hundred horses, twenty-two stages,
one hundred and fifty employes, and annually
fed out three hundred and sixty-five tons of
grain and four hundred and twelve tons of hay.

Such were what may be styled the pioneer

transportation lines, — boats, railroads and
stages, — of the Walla \Valla country. We now
turn to those of a maturer growth, the great
transcontinental lines, which now connect us
with all parts of the world.

TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROADS.

The state of Washington has been singu-
larly fortunate in the number and character
of its transportation lines. Unlike California,
it has never become the prey of one rapacious,
never satiated transportation devourer, like the
Southern Pacific Railroad. Three competing
lines, lines, too, which may be said to be guided
in general by broad policies and an intelligent
public spirit, the Northern Pacific, the Union
Pacific and the Great Northern, connect this
state with all parts of the w'of Id. Besides these
the Canadian Pacific on the north and the
Southern Pacific on the south as near as Port-
land, add to our already generous railroad con-
nections. This system of railroads, unequalled
in the Union for a new state, is an index of
what may be anticipated in industrial develop-
ment here in the near future. Freight rates
and passenger rates, under the influence of this
wholesome competition have steadily declined,
the incoming of immigration has been en-
couraged, the establishment of new industries
has been fostered, and all phases of the activity
of the state quickened. True, many farmers
in the eastern part of the state feel that freight
rates are too high, and every legislature writhes
and struggles with one or more railroad rate
bills. Some inland cities have had long con-
tinued fights with the railroads on "long haul"
conditions, etc. Yet when we come to balance
up the general situation for the state we find
our lot an enviable one as compared with most
other western states, and especially California.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

171

And it may be added, the sure prospect is of
continued betterment.

It is a noteworthy fact that the project of
Pacific railroads was scouted at as visionary
and preposterous by the most eminent men of
the United States, such as Webster, Benton and
others, though, as well known, Benton speedily
discovered his mistake and became one of the
foremost friends of the Pacific coast acquisi-
tion. But the pioneers of the Pacific coast un-
derstood better the resources and the possibil-
ities of communication. Governor Isaac I.
Stevens performed one of his greatest achieve-
ments in the great exploration of the year
1853, which had in view the establishment of
some practicable railroad line to Puget sound.
It is interesting to note that Captain George
B. jMcClellan was placed in .charge of the
western party in this Northern Pacific railroad
survey. In the letter of April 5, 1853, from
Stevens to McClellan we find the following gen-
eral outline of the proposed work : "The route
is from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Puget sound
by the great bend of the Missouri river, through
a pass in the mountains near the forty-ninth
parallel. A strong party will operate west-
ward from St. Paul ; a second but smaller party
will go up the Missouri to the Yellowstone,
and there make arrangements, reconnoitre the
country, etc., and on the junction of the main
party they will push through the Blackfoot
country, and reaching the Rocky mountains will
keep at work there during the summer months.
The third party, under your command, will be
organized in the Puget sound region, you and
your scientific corps going over the isthmus,
and will operate in the Cascade range and
meet the part)^ coming from the Rocky moun-
tains. * * * The amount of work in the
Cascade range and eastward, say to the prob-
able junction of the parties at the great bend

of the north fork of the Columbia river, will
be immense. Recollect, the main object is a
railroad survey from the head waters of the
Mississippi river to Puget sound. * * * *
We must not be frightened by long tunnels or
enormous snows, but set ourselves to work to
overcome them." It is a curious historical fact
that McClellan, although an engineer of the
highest skill and ability, showed the same lack
of daring and originality which during the
Civil war ten years later obscured his conspic-
uous talents and caused such lamentable chap-
ters in the history of the Northern armies. For
he quailed from the winter explorations neces-
sary to determine the depth of snow in the
Cascade mountains.

Such was the first elaborate attempt at the
establishing of a railroad route across the con-
tinent. Though a long time elapsed, in the end
it bore abundant fruit. In the 'sixties the en-
tire country became interested in the project
of railway connection between the Atlantic and
Pacific. It was customary for political plat-
forms to demand government action toward
that end. This sentiment Avas the foundation
of the subsequent immense land grant subsidies
given to the transcontinental railroads.

After the war was over and the country free
to turn its pent up energies to industrial pur-
suits the grand popular dream of Pacific rail-
ways began rapidly to be realized. California
naturally had the first through line, and the
golden spike that joined the' Central and Union
Pacific Railroads was driven on the lOth of
May, 1869. ^Meanwhile the Northern Pacific
had been incorporated and granted the right
of way by congress on the 2d of July, 1864.
In 1870 a contract was made with Jay Cooke
& Company to act as financial agent for the
road and procure means for its construction.
In all that agitation which resulted in this first

172

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

definite step toward building the northern road,
a well known citizen of Walla Walla was one
of the most influential factors. This was
Philip Ritz. Messrs. Cass and Ogden, two of
the most important of the early directors of the
road, afterwards stated that it was a letter of
Mr. Ritz that first called their attention to the
enterprise.

Work was actually begun on the Northern
Pacific Railroad in 1870. The division be-
tween Portland and Puget sound was the first
to receive attention in this state. It was nearly
wrecked by the financial panic of 1873, which
carried down Jay Cooke & Company and many
other great houses. It was, however, reor-
ganized two years later, and in 1879 construc-
tion was resumed not to be suspended until the
iron horse had drunk both out of Lake Supe-
rior and the Columbia river. In 1881 Henry
Villard, president of the Oregon Railway &
Navigation Company, by means of his famous
"blind pool," obtained a majority of the stock
of the Northern Pacific Railroad and became
its president. In 1883 he pushed the con-
struction of the road from Duluth to Wallula,
and there it was connected by the O. R. & N.
with Portland. The gorgeous pageantry of
the \'illard excursion, the great boom in Port-
land which followed, together with the finan-
cial downfall of Villard, the re-establishment
of the Wright interest in the Northern Pacific,
and the general collapse at Portland, are still
no doubt vi\'id in the minds of all persons who
were living in the country at that time. Not
tnitil the summer of 1888 was the gigantic
task of crossing the Cascade mountains by way
■of the Yakima valley and the Stampede pass
fully accomplished. A year prior to that time,
however, trains ascended and descended the
Cascades by the dizzy zigzags of the Switch-
back, drawn by those gladiators of steel and

steam, the mighty "decapods," which ground
their way resistlessly up three-hundred-foot
grades.

Since the completion of the main line of
the Northern Pacific, it has sprouted with
branches in all directions. The most import-
ant of these to us of Walla Walla is the Wash-
ington & Columbia River Railroad, familiarly
known as the Hunt line. This road was or-
ganized as the Oregon & Washington Terri-
tory Railroad by Pendleton parties in 1887.
G. W. Hunt contracted to build the road in
that year. The original projectors having
failed in their means, Mr. Hunt took posses-
sion of the road and in 1888 he built from
Hunt's Junction to Helix and Athena, in Uma-
tilla county, and to Walla Walla. The branch
up Eureka flat to Pleasant View was construct-
ed also in 1888. During the next year the road
was extended to Dayton and in 1890 to Pen-
dleton. Then Mr. Hunt, having shown such
conspicuous energy and ability, and Jiaving
thus far apparently been favored by fortune,
found himself embarrassed by the tightening
grasp of the hard times, and sold the road to
C. B. Wright, of the Northern Pacific, in
February, 1891. In December of that year
the road was placed in the hands of a receiver.
In 1892 it was reorganized under the name
which it now bears.

The present mileage of the Washington &
Columbia River Railroad is 162.73 miles. Of
this the main line from Pendleton to Dayton
covers 128.41 miles, the Athena branch 14.59
and the Eureka Flat branch 19.73; ^'^7-7^
miles are in Washington and 44.95 in Ore-
gon. Considering the population of the coun-
try which it supplies, the amount of freight
handled by this road is extraordinary. The
amount of freight carried out for the year end-
ing June, 1900. was, in round numbers, about

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

173

one hundred and thirty thousand tons of grain
and about twenty thousand tons of other
freight. Of this amount 62,776 tons were
shipped from Walla Walla county. The
amount of freight brought in was, in round
numbers, forty thousand tons, of which about
half consisted of lumber, wood and posts, and
the other half miscellaneous merchandise. A
little over half of this amount was discharged
in Walla Walla county. By its connection with
the Northern Pacific at Hunt's Junction, this
line is the natural route from Walla Walla to
Puget sound.

The other transcontinental railroad upon
which Walla Walla county is specially depend-
ent is the Union Pacific system, through the
Oregon Railway & Navigation line. This line
was the successor upon the river of the old
Oregon Steam Navigation line, having pur-
chased that property in 1879. Henry Villard
was its animating genius. He came to this
country first in the interest of the German
bondholders of the Oregon & California Rail-
road. With the quick grasp of a statesman
Air. Villard perceived here the opportunity of
a lifetime. He saw that a railroad up the
Columbia river with branches north, east and
southeast, might be thrust like a wedge be-
tween the Northern Pacific and the Union
Pacific and control both. He made three great
steps in quick succession. The first was the
incorporation of the Oregon Railway &
Navigation Company. The second was the
formation of the "blind pool," and the Oregon
& Transcontinental Company. The third was
the acquisition of a controlling interest in the
Northern Pacific Railroad.

The years of building the railroad from
Portland to Wallula, '8o-'83, were never sur-
passed in activity and in results in the history
of railroad building in this country. To the

untiring and sometimes destructive energy of
Contractor Hallett, the speedy execution of the
difficult and expensive line along the Columbia
river was due. In 1883, as already noted, the
gap betwixt the Oregon line and the Northern
Pacific was joined at Wallula, and the Pacific
Northwest had its first through line to the east.
Although Villard's financial downfall en-
sued almost at the moment of his triumph,
and the Oregon & Transcontinental Company
failed, and as a natural consequence the O. R.
& N. lost permanent control of the Northern
Pacific Railroad, Villard's scheme is fulfilling
its destiny in part, by the fact that the O. R.
& N. has become an essential portion of the
Union Pacific system.

As now constituted, the O. R. & N. sys-
tem is a vast and comprehensive combination
of steamboat and railroad lines. It runs a
magnificent group of ocean steamships from
Portland both north and south, and it has a
fleet of superb river steamers on the Columbia,
Snake and Willamette rivers. It also, has a line
of steamers" on Puget sound.

The genesis of the railway division of the
Oregon Railway & Navigation Company has
already been described. With Portland as a
starting point, it radiates in all directions
throughout the Inland Empire. The main line
extends from Portland to Huntington, a dis-
tance of four hundred and four miles. At that
point it connects with the Oregon Short Line,
which extends five hundred and forty miles
further to Granger, Wyoming, on the main line
of the LTnion Pacific. The chief branch of the
road diverging from the main road at Umatilla
extends to Spokane. From this, as from the
main line, branch out numerous important short
lines. Those in Walla Walla county are the
lines from Pendleton to Walla Walla, from
Walla Walla to Riparia, from Walla Walla

174

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

to W'allula, and from Wallula by river to Ri-
paria. There are also the narrow gauge lines
from Walla Walla to Dudley and Dixie. The
aggregate mileage, not counting the side tracks,
is one hundred and sixty-four miles.

The amount of freight shipped out of
Walla Walla county by the Oregon Railway
& Navigation Company during the past year
was about thirty thousand tons, and the amount
of freight shipped in was about thirty-five
thousand tons. The "in-freight" included an
immense quantity of wood and lumber, and
hence exceeds "out-freight."

This survey of the railroad connections
of Walla Walla county would be incomplete
without reference to the Great Northern line.
Although this line does not touch Walla Walla
county, yet by means of its traffic arrangements

with the Oregon Railway & Navigation Com-
pany it gives us practically the benefit of an-
other transcontinental line. And it must be
stated that the Great Northern line, by the
phenomenal energy, foresight and broad pol-
icy of its management, has brought benefits
to all the regions it has touched, and its pres-
ence in this county is a proper subject of grati-
fication.

Though Walla Walla has at times been
embarrassed by not being on either one of the
main lines, and though the connections have
not at all times in the past been the most con-
venient, there has been a steady improvement
during the past two years and we may look
forward with confidence to a future of cheaper,
more convenient and entirely satisfactory
transportation service.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE EDUCATIOXAL IXSTITUTIOXS OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

The larger portion of this work is occu-
pied with facts in respect to the political and
industrial and military history of the county.
But although these in the nature of the case
are the most obvious and apparently import-
ant, it does not follow that there may not be
other agencies of deeper import. One of the
great foundation ideas of American states, an
idea which underlies all that we have and are
as a people to distinguish us from others, is
the great thought of popular education. Amid
all the eager bustle of business and experiment
which have characterized the west, there has
ever been the eager determination that facili-
ties for education should be aftorded the chil-

dren of the state. It need not therefore sur-
prise us to find that the western states in gen-
eral surpass older ones in provision for schools.
Some of the people of the Atlantic states, ac-
cutomed to look with something of a patron-
izing disdain upon the supposedly uncultured
communities of the west, are greatly surprised
when they discover from statistics that the
average of freedom from illiteracy is greater
in the west than in the east. The three states
with the least percentage of illiterates are
Iowa, Nebraska and Washington. While we
thus claim a verj^ high standard for our state
and for the west in general, we should not
arrogate to ourselves an equality with some of

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

175

the picked communities of the eastern states
in the organization and equipment of our
schools. It takes time to accomphsh the great
results of a complete educational system. It
is not yet possible that Washington should
have schools equal in all respects to those of
Ohio, Massachusetts or Michigan.

But this we of the state of Washington
can claim, that the people of no state surpass
ours in general intelligence or in a disposition
to accord the highest opportunities for edu-
cation for their children. We have been lay-
ing, broad and deep, the foundations for pop-
ular education. Our schools, while not yet
fully developed, contain within themselves the
latent resources of a life and power equal to
the best.

What is true of the schools of the state in
general is also true of those of this county.
Considering the time that they have had, the
schools of this county are a just source of
pride to the citizens. Walla Walla city has
become within the last few years an educa-
tional center, perhaps beyond any other place
in the state. Aside from the excellent public
school system, at the head of which stands the
high school, we have here Whitman College,
Walla Walla College, St. Paul's Academy, St.
Vincent's Academy, La Salle Institute, the
Walla Walla Business College, and a privately
conducted kindergarten.

THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.

The following brief sketch, prepared by
Superintendent G. S. Bond, gives an accurate
impression of the public schools as now organ-
ized:

It is the primary object of the writer, in preparing this
statement, to present to the public a brief recital of the
present condition of the educational facilities of \Yalla
Walla county, rather than attempt to give any account of

the history and growth of those facilities. Were it even
desirable to do so, it would, for two reasons, prove a
somewhat difficult undertaking. The records compiled
by the earlier school officers are quite incomplete, if com-
pared with present requirements, and the subdivision of
the original county into the present counties of Columbia,
Garfield, Asotm and Walla .Walla, occasioned many
changes in the various school districts, and led to a com-
plete re-districting and re-numbering. This, the records
in the county superintendent's office show, was done be-
tween the years 1879 and 1886.

In 1891, the county superintendent, by order of the
county commissioners, brought together in one book the
plats and boundaries of the various districts, numbered
consecutively from 1 to 5.3. Since that date, to meet
the requirements of the constant increase in population,
many changes in boundaries have been made and 13 new
districts have been formed, making a total of 66. Six of
these are joint with Columbia county.

The subdivision of the county into 66 school districts
brings nearly every section within easy range of school fa-
cilities. Especially is this true of the eastern and southern
portions where the county is most densely populated. With
but few exceptions these districts have good, comfortable
school houses, furnished with modern patent desks, and
fairly well supplied with apparatus. Six new school
hoases were built, and a considerable amount of furniture
was purchased last year.

A movement which is receiving considerable atten-
tion and which is proving of "great service to the county
is the establishment by private enterprise, entertainment
or subscription, of district libraries. About twenty have
received their books, which are eagerly read by both
pupils and parents. Others are preparing entertainments
to raise -a library fund. It is greatly to be hoped that our
legislature may pass some law at this session to encour-
age the district library. It is one of the measures most
needed to improve our rural schools.

Another feature that is proving of benefit to the
country schools is common school graduation. An op-
portunity to take an examination for graduation is given
at various times, to eighth-grade pupils in any of the.
schools. The diplomas admit to high school without
further examination. Many take pride in having finished
the common school course, and are induced to remain m
school much longer than they otherwise would.

Eight districts are at present maintaining graded
schools. There seems to be a growing sentiment in some
of the more densely populated sections to gather together
their pupils for the superior advantages of the graded
school. Walla Walla, No. 1, provides an excellent four
year high school course. No. 3 (Waitsburg) also has a
high school department.

Were all the schools in session at the sanip time there
would be required a force of 116 teachers. The districts'
employing more than one teacher are: Walla Walla 30^
Waitsburg 7, Prescott 3, Seeber 3, and Dixie, Wallula
Harrer and Touchet 2 each. Of those employed at this

1/6

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

time, seven hold life diplomas or state certificates, 18
normal diplomas, 25 first grade certificates, 21 second
grade, and 15 third grade. Twenty applicants failed last
year. If the present crowded condition of the Walla
Walla and Waitsburg schools continues next year it will
necessitate an increase in the teaching force of five or six
at the former place and of one at the latter.

The Teachers' Reading Circle was reorganized in
January, and meetings have been arranged for the more
central points throughout the county. The sessions are
well attended, the exercises carefully prepared. About
50 teachers have purchased one or more of the books and
enrolled as members. All teachers have free access to a
library of about 75 volumes, treating principally on theory
and practice, or the history and philosophy of educa-
tion.

Our school districts never began a year on a more
solid financial basis than they did the present one. Fifty-
one of the sixty-six had a good balance to their credit in
the hands of the county treasurer. A comparison of the
last financial statement with that of previous years is
given to mark the increase.

RECEIPTS. 1897. 1898. 1900.

Balance in the hands

of county treasurer. S 9,521 43 S 9,297 24 S 25,838 81
Amount apportioned

to districts by coun-
ty superintendent.. 32,104 54 56,210 81 58,574 66
Amount received from

special tax 11,76162 26,346 81 26,503 99

Amount from sale of

school bonds. 500 00 1,410 00 500 00

Amount transferred

from othT districts -

Amounts from other

sources 13154 82 69 2,212 15

Total $54,019 13 $93,847 05 gll3,629 61

EXPENDITURES. 1897. 1898. 1900.

Amount paid for

teachers' wages S S 47,278 95 § 38,691 71

Amount paid for rents

fuel, etc 38,027 39 10,697 78 13,653 06

Amount paid for sites,

buildings, etc 2,902 68 32,152 61

Amount paid for m-

terest on bonds 2,578 00 2,645 55 4,30100

Amount paid for in-.

terest on warrants. 4,113 75 5,649 78 1,650 94

Amount reverting to

general school fund 2 75

For redemption of

bonds 500 00

Amount for other dis-
tricts 12 86

Total 844,721 89 $69,173 94 190,962 18

Balance on hand.. 9,297 24 24,178 11 22,667 43

The hard times experienced two or three years ago
materially affected teachers' wages in this county. The
average amount paid male teachers, according to the
annual report of the county superintendent in 1898, was
$56.57; for female teachers, 839.54. For 1900, male
teachers, 862.50; female teachers, S52.40. There seems,
however, to be dawning a brighter future for the consci-
entious teacher. Rigid examinations for two years have
lessened the competition from those who entered the work
only because they had no other employment; the districts
are able to hold longer terms and pay larger salaries
now. The minimum salary this year is 810.00; other
rural districts pay $45 and S50. Salaries in the graded
schools are from f55 to 8100 per month. The average
length of term in 1898 was six and one-half months; the
average for 1900 is seven and three-fourths months.

The estimate in the county superintendent's annual
report for 1898 places the total value of school houses and
grounds at $162,080; of school furniture, 815,317; of ap-
paratus, etc., 83,871; of libraries, 81,690. Amount of in-
surance on school property, $79,605; of bonds outstand-
ing, 545,300; warrants outstanding, $41,274. The last
enumeration of children of school age shows 4,275 resided
in the county June 1; of these 8,621 were enrolled in the
public schools, and made an average daily attendance of
2,076.

For 1900, school houses and grounds, 8194,060; fur-
niture, 816,350; apparatus, 84,000; libraries, $2,450; insur-
ance, 3100,650; bonds outstanding, $75,300; warrants out-
standing, 882,721.16; children of school age, 4,767; children
enrolled, 4,102; average daily attendance, 2,322.

Special mention should be made of the in-
stitution which is the crowning feature of the
public school system, that is, the high school.

THE W.\LL.\ WALLA HIGH SCHOOL

\\'as inaugurated in the year 1889, under the
superintendency of Professor R. C. Kerr, who
also acts as city superintendent. The high
school was located at the first in the Baker
school, but in 1890 was quartered in the Paine
school, and there it still continues. Its first
class was graduated in 1893. The total num-
ber of graduates to 1900 was eighty. The
course, which at first required three years, now
gives- four years of thorough study, which en-
ables its graduates to enter Whitman College
or any of the first-class colleges of the state.
The number of students has increased rapidly

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

177

until at the present time there are enrolled about
one hundred and sixty pupils. The present
faculty of the high school consists of Professor
R. C. Kerr, Miss Rose Dovell and Professor
J. W. Shepherd. Miss Amy B. Richards, Miss
Blair and Mrs. Minnie Cohn were at different
times on the faculty. The school is acquiring
a considerable c|uantity of apparatus, and a
well-selected, though not large, library. The
high school is a just cause of satisfaction to
the people of the town, and it plainly contains
within it elements of growth and improvement
which will make it in time one of the best in-
stitutions of the kind in the state.

As we consider our present excellent pub-
lic school system, our minds are naturally
turned toward the schools and. the school build-
ings of the old days. It is said that the first
school-house was within the present limits of
the garrison reserve, and the teacher was Harry
Freeman, of troop E, first dragoons. The year
has been said to have been '56, though it must
have been '57, inasmuch as the fort was not
provided with any buildings until that year.
This school was attended by several persons
afterwards well known in Walla Walla.
Among these were James and Hugh McCool,
and their sister Maggie, afterward Mrs. James
Monaghan, mother of the gallant Lieutenant
Monaghan, who perished recently in the Sa-
moan islands. Robert Smith, Mrs. Mike
Kenny, John Kell)^ and the Sickler girls, are
also said to have attended this school. The
next school was started by Mrs. A. J. Miner.
Her school was at first a private one, conducted
in 1861-62 in a house on Alder street near
the corner of First street, about where Mr.
G. \^'. Babcock's house now stands. J. H.
Blewett was also one of those early private
teachers.

Up to this time there had been no public

schools. A school clerk had, however, been
appointed, together with other officers, on
March 26, 1859, "^ the person of William B.
Kelly. J. F. Wood was elected superintendent
of schools at the election of July 14, 1862.
In that year district No. i, embracing the
whole city, was organized, a room rented and
a teacher employed. No building was put up
for school purposes, and little attention seems
to have been paid to education until the fall
of 1864. At that time there were two hundred
and three children in the district, of whom but
ninety-three were enrolled. On December 12,
1864, a school meeting was held, in which it
was determined to levy a tax of two and one-
half mills for the erection of a school house.
The block of land upon which the Baker
school house now stands was donated by Dr.

D. S. Baker, and a building costing about two
thousand dollars was erected.

The new building proved inadequate for
its purpose, and a new district was organized
in 1868 in the southwestern part of the town.
A site having been secured on the corner of
Willow and Eighth streets, a building was
erected, which, with some additions, served
its purpose until 1879. In that year the pres-
ent Park street school was erected at a cost
of two thousand dollars. In 1881 the two
school districts were consolidated by act of
the legislature. The members of the consoli-
dated board of directors, consisting of the di-
rectors of the two separate districts, were H.

E. Johnson, D. M. Jesse, B. L. Sharpstein,
N. T. Caton, William O'Donnell and F. W.
Paine. E. B. Whitman was clerk.

By a vote at a school election of April 29,
1882, it was decided to levy a tax of seven-
teen thousand dollars for the purpose of erect-
ing a brick building upon the block occupied
by the first public school building. This build-

178

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

ing was accordingly constructed in 1882, and
very appropriately, from the name of the donor
of the land, became known as the Baker school
building. The elegant Paine school building
appeared in 1888, the College Place public
school house was added in 1897, and the Sharp-
stein school building was erected in 1899.

Among the citizens of Walla Walla who
have contributed much of their time and
thought to the burdensome duties of school
directors may be found some of the busiest
and most active men. The names of two
.especial veterans in the service, Paine and
.Sharpstein, are . fittingly preserved in two of
Ihe public school buildings.

District No. i is now organized under the
new system of cities of the second class. This
provides for five directors. These tive directors
are at present N. G. Blalock, Frank Dement,
W. R. Criftreld, J. B. Wilson and John Mun-
tinga.

A perusal of the facts given in the preced-
ing paragraphs will convince any one that the
public schools of Walla \\"alla are in a highly
satisfactory condition.

WHITMAN COLLEGE.

AVe have followed in an earlier chapter the
thrilling and tragic events which made Waii-
latpu memorable in the history of this state;
the Whitman mission, the struggle for posses-
sion, the planting of industry, the rallying
place of the slowly incoming American immi-
gration, the midwinter ride of the hero Whit-
man, and then the yielding up before Indian
tomahawks of those noble lives, the massacre,
the war, and then the long period of desolation
and loneliness.

During the era of danger the whites, with
the exception of an occasional daring adven-

turer, disappeared from the \\'alla Walla
country.

Silence at last rested on the fair valleys
which had for ten years resounded with sav-
age warfare. The Cayuses, the Walla Wallas,
the Umatillas and the Yakimas yielded the
scepter, and the stars and stripes waved from
the Pacific to the Bitter Roots.

As it became safe to venture into the land
of battle, there came back land-hunters, cattle
men, miners, explorers and adventurers gen-
erally, eager to seize some advantage among
the bountiful resources which had been seen
by the immigrants of the 'forties and the sol-
diers of the Indian wars. But among the
crowd of money-seekers there was at least one
soul-seeker, and that was Father Eells.

From the time when in the tragic year of
1847, hs, with the rest of the missionary band,
had fled from the murderous natives, he had
cherished the purpose to return. When twelve
years had passed the time seemed ripe. In
1859 Father Eells stood beside the grave at
Waiilatpu in which the dust of the fourteen
martyrs was mingled indistinguishably, and as
he there contemplated the past, with its sad-
ness and apparent failure, his mind turned to-
ward the future with its hopefulness and cer-
tain triumph. He made then a solemn vow
that he would found a school of higher learn-
ing for the youth of both sexes, a memorial
which he was sure his martyred friend Whit-
man would prefer, if he could speak, to a mon-
ument of marble.

In pursuance of his plan Father Eells pur-
chased the section of land on which the mis-
sionary tragedy had been enacted and there
he prepared to erect the building and start
Whitman Seminary. It soon became evident,
however, that the town was going to grow
about the fort, six miles east, and there. Father

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

179

Eells" decided, would be the proper place for
his cherished enterprise. Father Eels was en-
tirely alone in his work, except for the equally
devoted and faithful efforts of his wife and
his two sons. They plowed and reaped, cut
wood, raised chickens, made butter, and de-
voted the proceeds, aside from that necessary
to the essentials of life, to accumulating a
fund for starting the seminary. It was a slow,
disheartening task, with every external circum-
stance against them. It is hard to conceive
of a more pathetic history than that of Father
Eells and his family, slowly, patiently, saving
every scrap secured by their wearisome toil,
in order to give it away for this purely un-
selfish purpose.

In about five years they had accumulated
four thousand dollars, and then the seminary
was located on ground donated by Dr. D. S.
Baker. It was two years later, however, be-
fore the building was completed. That first
building was dedicated on October 13, 1866.
Though the few people of Walla Walla did
not then realize it, that was the greatest event
in the history of the place up to that time.

Space is not .sufficient to describe here the
seminary. It did a sort of work necessary,
but very trying to teachers, being ungraded,
irregular, and without support, aside from the
tuition. During that period Father Eells, Rev.
P. B. Chamberlain, Professor William Mar-
iner and Professor W. K. Grim were the chief
teachers, though there were many others who
taught for short periods. Among these may
be named as principals Professor Crawford,
Mrs. Jennings, Miss Simpson, Professor J.
W. Brock, Professor Horace Lyman, Professor
W. D. Lyman, Professor Rogers and Rev. Mr.
Beach. Of assistants may be named Mr. Sam-
uel Sweeney, now a well-known business man
of Walla Walla; Miss Mary Hodgden, Miss

Sylvester, Miss S. I. Lyman, Horace S. Ly-
man, Miss Clara Bergold, Mrs. M. A. Gustin,
Mrs. Beach and W. A. Jones. It was a hard
struggle to keep the life in the institution dur-
ing that period, but devotion and patience,
such as has seldom been seen, triumphed, and
in 1883 the next great step was taken; for in
that year the seminary was made a college.
Dr. A. J. Anderson, who had been one of the
foremost educators of the northwest and had
been for several years president of the State
University, was elected to the head of Whit-
man College, and entered upon his nine years
of faithful and efficient work.

In 1883 the main building, now used as
the conservatory of music, was erected, and
Father Eells made a journey to the east to
canvass for funds. He succeeded in raising
sixteen thousand dollars. During the next
year Mrs. N. F. Cobleigh, who gave several
years of most effective service in charge of
the girls' boarding hall, raised eight thousand
dollars by canvassing in the east. During the
presidency of Dr. Anderson there was a con-
siderable number of graduates, and the col-
lege took a high stand among the institutions
of the northwest. A number of the present
leading men in the city of Walla Walla grad-
uated during that period. But the resources
of the college were then scanty and its work
one of trial and hardship for the president
and faculty. In 1891 Dr. Anderson resigned,
having accomplished the most that had been
done up to that time in the work of the insti-
tution. Then J. F. Eaton was appointed presi-
dent. The next three years were the severest
and least satisfactory which had yet occurred
in the history of Whitman. Owing to unfor-
tunate policies and management the college
lost greatly in efficiency and public esteem,
and the support so fell off that in the summer

r8o

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

of 1894 it was seriously anticipated by many
that it would never open again. It was saved
by the devotion and efficiency of several of the
trustees and faculty and by the election to
the presidency in 1894 of Rev. S. B. L. Pen-
rose. President Penrose entered at once with
tremendous and never-flagging energy upon
his great task of raising money and placing
the college upon a solid foundation. Dr. D.
K. Pearsons, of Chicago, whose philanthropy
had already wrought wonders for several col-
leges in the country, became interested in the
heroic stor}^ of \\'hitman, and offered fifty
thousand dollars as an endowment fund, in
case one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
were raised besides. Though that was in the
very blackest part of the "hard times." the
town of \\'alla Walla responded nobly, and
the money was secured. Subsequently Dr.
Pearsons made the offer of fifty thousand dol-
lars for a main hall, in case there were twenty-
five thousand dollars raised for a young men's
dormitory. This also was mainly secured,
Mrs. Billings, of New York, being the largest
contributor. As a result there arose upon the
college campus in the eastern part of Walla
Walla the stately Whitman memorial building,
the most beautiful structure in this part of the
state, and Billings hall, a comfortable, con-
venient and commodious building, capable of
accommodating seventy or seventy-five per-
sons.

During these building years of 1899 and
1900 there was also a great growth in all other
departments of the college. A great addi-
tion was made to the physical and chemical
appliances. The library was greatly increased,
having reached on January i, 1901, nearly
ten .■i._,.-.^'-:: ■ ...nes. The number of stu-
dents increased from about fifty in 1S94 to
about t\\-o hundred and sixty in 1900. The

faculty increased during the same period from
eight 'to sixteen. Although the resources of
the college are yet limited in comparison with
its needs and the ambitions and hopes of its
faculty and friends, yet they have increased
so much beyond any former mark as to place
Whitman in the front rank of educational in-
stitutions in the state.

In connection with Whitman College it is
fitting to narrate the steps taken to mark the
grave of Whitman and his associate martyrs.
As already noted. Father Fells decided that
Whitman would have preferred a memorial
school to a monument of marble. And for
many years it looked as though Walla Walla
and the state of Washington meant to take him
at his word, and leave that grave with its sad,
pathetic, tragic associations unmarked and un-
noticed. For years the grave was the burrow-
ing ground of badgers, and the dry west wind
swept the dust of summer and the snow of
winter around it, and cattle trampled it, while
aside from a white picket fence, which was
soon broken, there was no distinguishing mark
of the heroic spot. But there were those in
both Oregon and Washington, as well as else-
where, who felt that the community's or the
nation's self-respect required some due com-
memoration of that grave. In 1897 the mat-
ter was pushed in earnest by the college fac-
ulty and by the Historical Society of Oregon,
with the result that funds were pledged and a
contract made to erect a worthy memorial on
the neglected but hallowed ground. Accord-
ingly, on November 29, 1897, the fiftieth an-
niversary of the massacre, in the presence of
a vast throng, the dedication services were
duly performed. The monument consists of
a beautiful, though plain and stately, granite
shaft, erected on the hill overlooking the grave
and all the surrounding countrv. The grave

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

itself is marked by a marble crypt in which
are enclosed such human remains as the exca-
vation of the grave disclosed. And in con-
nection with these remains it is of interest to
remember that among them, being mainly dis-
ordered and confused, there were several hu-
man skulls, one of which was pronounced by
anatomists that of a female, doubtless that of
Mrs. Whitman, and another was deemed to be
without question that of Dr. Whitman. It was
of the right age, and contained a gold-filled
tooth. It was said by Perrine Whitman, a
nephew of the doctor, that the latter had such
a filling, a rare thing in those days. The most
curious thing about these two skulls was that
they were both sawed transversely from the
forehead backward. This was thought by
some familiar with Indian customs to have
been done by the savages in order to let the
"brave" out of the principal martyrs, which
they thought might enter into the warriors
and augment their power.

So, though for long years the chief heroes
and martyrs of Walla Walla seemed to be for-
gotten, their recognition came. And though
their physical substance was the prey to sav-
ages and wild beasts and the waste of the ele-
ments, their lives live again in the lives of the
youth whom they permanently influence.
Whitman College has become their monument, .
one more lasting, it is to be hoped, than even
the granite shaft or marble crypt of the grave.

In completing this brief sketch of Whit-
m.an College it is proper to name here the
present faculty : Rev. S. B. L. Penrose, presi-
dent and professor of philosophy; W. D. Ly-
man, professor of history and civics; Helen
A. Pepoon, professor of Latin ; L. F. Ander-
son, professor of Greek; B. H. Brown, pro-
fessor of physics and chemistry; H. S. Erode,
professor of natural history; O. A. Hauer-

bach, professor of English literature and ora-
tory; W. A. Bratton, professor of mathematics;
J. W. Cooper, professor of modern languages;
Louise R. Loomis, instructor in Greek and
Latin; W. L. Worthington, instructor in
Greek and Latin; S. H. Lovewell, musical di-
rector ; Clarice Winship Colton, instructor in
voice culture ; Edgar S. Fischer, instructor on
the violin; Mrs. Crayne, matron of girls' dor-
mitory; and Mrs. Jacobs, matron of the young
men's dormitory. With this force and with
the facilities and resources for work such as
they are, the prospects of Whitman for the
opening century are bright indeed.

SAINT Paul's school.

The history of Saint Paul's School is
crowded with struggles and brilliant with suc-
cess. No educational institution of the north-
west can show a similar record. Some thirty
years ago Bishop Wells planned to erect a first-
class boarding school for girls on a picturesque
piece of land donated for that purpose. The
mason began his work. Three thousand dol-
lars worth of stone was laid into the founda-
tion of the coming edifice. The citizens of
Walla Walla had pledged another three thou-
sand dollars to aid the enterprise. Success
seemed inevitable. But Tacoma, at that time
the leading city of the sound, offered large
inducements if the Walla Walla project would
be abandoned in favor of a girls' seminary in
Tacoma. Money proved too great a tempta-
tion and Walla Walla had to leave its cher-
ished dream unrealized.

But the Garden city of the northAvest was
not altogether ready to lose one of its noblest
features. Dr. Lathrop, then rector of St.
Paul's church, was a man of faith. He would
not give up. And while he failed to build the

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

magnificent edifice, he used to greatest advan-
tage the old buildings, which were soon crowd-
ed with boarders from the surrounding coun-
try. At that time I\Irs. Appleton made a do-
nation of three thousand dollars to be used
as a foundation for an endowment fund. The
outlook grew brighter, but at the departure
of Dr. Lathrop, who had been the soul of the
enterprise, the doors of Saint Paul's had to
be closed.

For almost two years the school remained
inactive. People had lost heart. The uncer-
tainty of affairs discouraged not only those who
might consider the principalship, but parents
would hesitate to send their daughters. If the
diocese had sold the school property, none
would have been surprised. But Aliss Imogen
Boyer, who was herself a graduate of the
school, fully comprehended the high mission
of a girls' seminary in tliis part of the coun-
try and bravely took hold of the situation.
Since that time Saint Paul's has gone steadily
forward. Rev. Andreas Bard advocated the
sale of the old buildings and the purchase of
some excellent property on Catherine street.
This motion was carried and followed by an-
other which suggested the sale of the original
school grounds and the erection of first-class
buildings. The day school doubled the number
of its attendants; a boarding department was
added. To-day Saint Paul's is one of the finest
educational institutions of the northwest. It
is located on the most beautiful spot in the
heart of the city, has all modern conveniences
and offers to the young women of our state
the highest advantages of culture. Among the
members of its faculty are graduates of Smith
College, Berkeley and Stanford Universities,
and the most prominent citizens of Walla Walla
constitute its board of trustees or give to their

daughters the advantages of its broad and lib-
eral culture.

If Saint Paul's school could find a wealthy
patron, such as Whitman College found in Dr.
Pearsons, its work for good could be infinitely
expanded. The past has been a history of
struggle and success — a continuous record of
self-help and self-sacrifice. What the future
would be with an endowment fund behind the
spirit of heroic enterprise, can only be imag-
ined. But there is reason to think that finan-
cial aid would place Saint Paul's School on a
par with the old established institutions of the-
east. Walla \\'alla is to be congratulated on
having in its midst such grand educational
possibilities.

THE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS.

The Catholics of Walla Walla, through the
zealous endeavors of their pastors and their
own generous co-operation, have, for the last
thirty-five years, been enabled to procure for
their children the advantages of a Christian
education. In 1S64 was opened, where St.
Alary's hospital now stands, by the Very Rev.
J. B. A. Brouillet, a Catholic school for girls.
This was conducted by the Sisters of Provi-
dence. One year later St. Patrick's Academy
■for boys flung wide its portals. This educa-
tional establishment stood near the present site
of the Catholic church. The first teacher was
j\Ir. H. L. Lamarche. This excellent precep-
tor presided over the destinies of the academy
for fifteen years. Among the other teachers
were Air. J. J. Donovan, Air. A. M. Sommers,
Aliss Tina Johnson and Miss Eliza Sexton.
Air. J. J. Donovan organized a company of
cadets among the pupils. Later a brass band
was established in connection with the school.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

185

The positions of honor held by former stu-
dents of the academy and the creditable manner
in which they have acquitted themselves of
their responsible duties are convincing evidence
of the superiority of their moral and intellec-
tual training.

A new building had to be erected to ac-
commodate the ever increasing numbers that
applied for admission to the academy. Assist-
ed by the generous contributions of his par-
ishioners, especially by the magnificent bequest
of Miss Maria O'Rourke, the Very Rev. M.
Flohr was enabled to erect the elegant school
building that stands on Alder street near Sev-
enth. Right Rev. E. J. O'Dea blessed the edi-
fice in May, 1899. August 15, 1899, three
brothers of the Christian schools arrived in
Walla Walla from San Francisco to manage
the new school, henceforth to be known as
De La Salle Institute. It was so named in
honor of St. J. B. De La Salle, founder of
the congregation of which the brothers are
members. De La Salle Institute opened Sep-
tember 4, 1899, with one hundred pupils; the
second year commenced with one hundred and
thirty in attendance.

St. Vincent's Academy is the Catholic
school for girls. This noble institution was
founded in 1864 by the sisters of charity from
Montreal. The little band which undertook
the arduous task of opening an educational
establishment in the newly established terri-
tory was composed of Sisters Columbay, Paul
Miki and Nativity, whose names are held in
veneration by all who had the happiness of
knowing them. Many and great were the
difficulties to be overcome in the new and un-
civilized country, in which resources are few
and customs and manners strange. But the
zealous laborers, aided by their devoted pas-
tors. Vicar General Brouillet, Father Duffy,

Father Flohr and kind friends, struggled on.
With years the work grew, and now many of
the representative women of the northwest
prove their gratitude to their alma mater by
lives of highest Christian purpose ; they found
that St. Vincent's had been for them an inspi-
ration.

The present building, erected in 1879-80^
is pronounced by all who visit it to be one of
the finest structures in the state. It is spacious,
well ventilated, convenient, and furnished witli
all modern improvements. The extensive
grounds surrounding the institution offer every
inducement to the young ladies to engage in
healthful exercise.

The plan of instruction is systematic and
thorough, embracing all that could be desired
for the highest culture. Besides the graduat-
ing department, a special course meets the
wants of the young ladies who, not wishing
to go through the course of graduation, are
anxious to obtain a good practical education.

Every facility is afforded for attaining pro-
ficiency in vocal and instrumental music.
Stenography and typewriting are specialties.
Plain and fancy needle work are taught free
of charge.

Two hundred and fifty day pupils and
thirty-six boarders have been enrolled since
September i, 1900. Nine sisters are teaching.

Parents and guardians wishing to secure
for young ladies the benefits of a solid and re-
fined education, with maternal supervision over
their health, morals and manners, will have no
reason to regret their choice of St. Vincent's
Academy.

WALLA WALLA COLLEGE.

This institution is the center of a flourish-
ing communitv, the college itself owning one

HISTORY OF WALI.A WALLA COUNTY.

hundred acres of the town-site of College
Place. It was founded in 1892, and has gained
a reputable place among the educational insti-
tutions of the west. It is the only college of
its kind in the northwest ; and that it is rightly
located, is demonstrated by its liberal patron-
age, which has been enjoyed since its opening
nine years ago.

It is owned and operated by the Seventh-
Day Adventists, and though denominational in
character, its doors are open to all young peo-
ple of good moral character. On account of
its high standard of morality, its Christian
faculty, its atmosphere of culture and refine-
n:ent, its full and complete curriculum, it is
certainly a safe place for parents to send their
children, as well as an institution where a lib-
eral education can be received.

The building is a substantial brick struc-
ture, four stories in height, of modern design
and architecture. Two brick dormitories are
connected with the main building where non-
resident students reside. These buildings are
surrounded by a beautiful campus, and the
whole by orchards and gardens which appear
on every side. Spring water of the best quality
is supplied to the building and also for irriga-
tion purposes in the college garden, consisting
of several acres.

As the managers aim to make the college a
place where young people of limited means may
get their education, they have spared no pains
to reduce all necessary expenses to a minimum.
In fact the industrious student, by a wise use of
his vacation and the assistance of the college,
is enabled to meet his own expenses. The man-
agers have learned that the self-sustaining stu-
dents are its best.

^^'alla ^^'alla College is so located that it is
the most conspicuous building in the Walla
"Walla valley, and in it a thriving city has

grown up with the college, known as College
Place. It has two merchandise stores, which
do considerable business with the farmers for
several miles around. The college has become
to be closely associated with the economic in-
stitutions of the community in which it is lo-
cated.

But Walla \\'alla College has a far more
important influence. The world needs educated
men and women, who are truly educated. True
education is the power of doing. Every faculty
of the being is to be educated and trained
for usefulness. One writer has truthfully de-
fined education as the '"harmonious develop-
ment of all our powers, both physical, mental,
and moral." Such an education will expand
and define. Without it, the individual is more
or less crippled. Correct education makes the
essential difference in mental capacity, char-
acter and destiny between the simple child of
nature and the man of giant intellect.

Board of Managers — G. W. Reaser, H. W.
Decker, T. H. Starbuck, Greenville Holbrook,
T. L. Ragsdale, S. A. Tvliller and G. A. Nichols.
Officers — President, G. W. Reaser; Secretary,
T. H. Starbuck; Treasurer, G. A. Nichols.
Faculty — E. L. Stewart, President ; J. A. Hol-
brook, ^Ministerial Department; Bible, I. A.
Dunlap, M. D., Medical Missionary; Nursing,
T. H. Starbuck, General Bible Language;
Higher Alathematics, J. L. Kay, Preceptor,
Mathematics, Language ; Francis Ireland, Nor-
mal Department, English Language ; Luther J.
Hughes, Science Department; H. E. Hoyt,
Commercial Department; Mrs. Helen C. Con-
rad, Preceptress, Bible and History; George
W. IMiller, Superintendent Music Department;
Mrs. Emma Nichols. Art and Preparatory De-
partment; Laura L. Fisk, Assistant Prepara-
tory Department, Stenography; Mrs. Emma
E. Cracker, Matron; George Nichols, business

.>*•

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

i8s

manager; Verah McPherson, Accountant"; Rose
Ginther, Secretary; Church School Depart-
ment, Mrs. J. L. Kay. There are two hundred
students in attendance at the present time.

BUSINESS COLLEGE.

Walla Walla has had also for a number of
years a flourishing business college. It was
founded in 1887, by A. M. and J. L. Cation
and J. R. Stubblefield. After conducting this
with great success for four years, the projectors
sold out in 1891 to Merwin Pugh. He con-
ducted the school for another period of four
years, and in 1895 J. W. Brewer became the
owner and manager. In spite of the crippling
effects of the hard times, the college was in the
main well patronized through all those years.

WAITSBURG ACADEMY.

The founding of the Waitsburg Academy
is a simple story, inseparably connected with
the establishing of the United Presbyterian
church of North America in eastern Washing-
ton.

Early in the 'eighties there was an active
movement among all the religious bodies of
the eastern states for the evangelization of
Washington territory. Rumors* of vast re-
sources, and genial clime had made a deep im-
pression on the popular mind. It was felt by
all religious denominations that this vast, pros-
pective state must be saved for Christ and the
church — a work too heavy for the colonists
alone, hence needing the support of friends
every where, in order that necessary church and
school buildings might be erected and pastors
and teachers adecjuately supplied.

In response to the general call for mission-
ary and educational work in the region, the

United Presbyterian church in the fall of 1884
sent out the Rev. Joseph Alter as general mis-
sionary to eastern Washington. He was suc-
cessful in organizing church work in different
locations, one of which was Waitsburg. Here
he established a congregation, now known as
the United Presbyterian church, W^aitsburg.
To this congregation the Rev. W. G. M. Hays,
now Dr. Hays of the United Presbyterian
church at Pullman, Washington, was sent in
the early spring of 1886, by appointment of the
Home Mission Board of the church. During
the first months of Dr. Hays in this field, the
conviction was forced upon him, that Waits-
burg needed a high grade Christian school of
secondary instruction — not a college ; but a
school distinctively Christian in methods, aims,
and discipline, and of such a grade as would
afford suitable training for the ordinary walks
in life, or fit students for advanced work in
colleges.

Dr. Hays lent himself to this work. From
a short historical article written by himself we
copy the following :

"We counseled with friends; some shook the
head doubtfully, others of a more sanguine
temperament said that they would like to see
it tried, for they believed that such a school,
properly managed, would succeed. We re-
solved to put the matter to a practical test and
laid our plans accordingly."

The plans were well laid, the Board of Edu-
cation of the church, upon request, made an
appropriation of six hundred dollars for the
first year, and sent Professor J. G. Thompson,
A. B., to take charge of the work. The business
men of the city guaranteed two hundred dollars
to be paid in case of need. With this for a
basis, and without any formal organization of
either Board of Directors or Trustees, the
Waitsburg Academy opened its doors to the

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

public, September 14, 1886, the first year's ses-
sion being held in the church building.

Success attended the effort. The presby-
tery of Oregon adopted the infant, and later it
was taken under the care of the synod of the
Columbia of the United Presbyterian church
of North America; and at length became a
corporate body under the laws of the terri-
tory of Washington. The incorporators were,
the Revs. Hugh F. Wallace, W. G. Irvine, W.
A. Spalding, W. G. M. Hays, J. H. Niblock,
and Messrs. A. W. Philips, David Roberts,
Edward F. Sox, T. J. Hollowell, and John E.
Evans.

In May, 1887, a joint stock company was
organized whose object is expressed in the fol-
lowing preamble to its constitution :

"We, citizens of Waitsburg and vicinity,
do hereby form ourselves into a joint stock
company for the purpose of erecting an acad-
emy building, assisting in the maintenance of
the school for three years, beginning September
I, 1887; and effecting an organization with the
United Presbyterian church of North America
for the permanent establishment of said acad-
emy."

This company raised nearly six thousand
dollars, four thousand dollars of which was
used in the erection of a frame building, and the
remainder going for the support of the school,
during the three following years.

Dr. Hays undertook to raise an endowment
fund equivalent to the amount raised by the
citizens for the erection of a building, and, as
the result of a visit to the east, he succeeded
in raising two thousand dollars. In the fall
of 1889 the Rev. W. R. Stevenson at the in-
stance of the presbytery of Oregon was sent
east and succeeded in raising the endowment
to four thousand dollars. In the spring of
1892, Miss Ina F. Robertson, then principal of

the academy, went east and raised the remain-
ing" one thousand dollars, together with six hun-
dred dollars for the .improvement of the build-
ing. In 1894, Miss Robertson again went east
and succeeded in raising the funds necessary
for the erection of a new building. This build-
ing is of brick, very commodious, and suitable
for the work of the school. Its erection was
completed before the end of 1896.

The work done by the academy is grouped
under the following heads or courses : Acad-
emic, normal, business, preparatory and music.
Each of these courses is complete in itself and
eminently practical. The time required for
completing any of these courses varies from
two to four years, depending upon the course,
the previous schooling, and natural ability of
the student. The academic is the highest
course, and upon completion of this course the
graduate receives a diploma.

The first class to graduate from the aca-
demic department was the class of 1890, con-
sisting of Misses Mary A. Dixon, Anna Flinn,
Emma McKinney, and Mr. Robert Jones.
Since that time there have been graduated from
this course, including the class of 1901, a total
of thirty-two. This does not include graduates
from the other departments. The graduates
are found in all the principal walks of life —
business, medicine, law, teaching, the army and
the ministry — many of them having completed
a course at some higher or more technical
school.

The following is a list of the principals with
their respective terms of service : J. Given
Thompson, A. B., 1886-89; T.M. McKinney,A.
B., 1889-90; W. G. M. Hays, A. M., 1890-91;
Ina F. Robertson, B. S., 1891-94. Rev. J. A.
Keener has been principal since 1894.

The academy looks forward with hope into
the future. It now has an offer of ten thousand

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

187

dollars for endowment and five thousand dol-
lars for a dormitory, provided it raises five thou-
sand dollars. An effort will be made during
the year to complete this amount. With the
increased facilities which will come from the
possession of this much needed money the
faculty will make such a school as was con-
templated by the founders, and ab^ve all such a
school as will, by its influence, help mightily
in bringing in the kingdom of the Master.

This sketch must not close without men-
tioning the names of the friends in the east
who have so generously assisted in the work
here. These are : Mr. James Law, of Shushan,

New York, and his sister. Miss Mary Law.
Mr. Law has lately gone to his reward, but his
sister still continues to be the good angel of the
school, for to her generosity is due the afore
m.entioned offer of money to the endowment
fund. Neither must we close without recall-
ing to the mind of the reader that to the energy,
enthusiasm and faith of Dr. Hays and Miss
Ina L. Robertson, generously assisted by the
citizens of Waitsburg, is due all that the acad-
emy has accomplished as an institution for the
bettering of mankind. May it long live to ful-
fil] its mission.

CHAPTER XVII.

EARLIER HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA CITY 1862-1883.

Li the preceding pages of this work we
have been considering Walla Walla county as
a whole. We shall now present matter belong-
ing more exclusively to the city. The civic life
of the town has, to an unusual degree, con-
trolled the life of the county. With the excep-
tion of Waitsburg, no town of much size has
risen in the county. At the present time the
population of the county, as shown by the
United States census of 1900, is 18,630. That
of the city is 10,049. Many of the farmers
having interests in various portions of the
county live in the city. The business of the
county has, therefore, to a greater degree than
in most of our agricultural counties, gathered
at the city. Reference has been made at vari-
ous points in previous pages to the first estab-
lishment of settlements in what is now the city.
We have not, however, given the consecutive

story of the founding and incorporation of the
town, and this we will here undertake to out-
line.

Fort Walla Walla was established in its
present location in 1857. The first business of
the region grew up in connection with supply-
ing goods and produce to the post. William
McWhirk was the first trader in the place. He
came here in the spring of 1857 and set up a
tent for a store near the present corner of Main
and Second streets. During the fall of 1S57
Charles Bellman set up another tent store near
the present Jack Daniels saloon. There seems
to be some difference of opinion as to who put
up the first actual building. It is affirmed by
some that William McWhirk erected a cabin
on the north side of what is now Main street
and Second, in the summer of 1857. In the
fall of '-,"/ Charles Bellman put up a structure

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

of poles and mud a little farther to the east,
near Ludwig's grocery store of the present. In.
April of the next year. Louis McMorris put up
a slab and shake structure for Neil McGlinchey,
on the southwest corner of Main street near the
present corner of Third. Li the fall of 1850
also various rude structures, some for residence
and some for saloons, were put up by James
Galbreath, W. A. Ball, Harry Howard, Mich-
ael Kinney, William Terry, Mahan & Harcum,
James Buckley, and Thomas Riley. The
first building that contained a floor, doors and
glass windows stood on what is now the north-
west corner of Main and Third streets. This
was built by R. Guichard and William Kohl-
hauff, and the location is still owned by the
heirs of Mr. Guichard.

There were two rival sites for the budding
town. One was the point on the creek started
by ]\IcWhirk, McGlinchey and Bellman, the
other was at the cabin built by Harry Howard
half way between Mill creek and the fort and
known as the Halfway House. Different opin-
ions arose as to the proper name for the town.
It was first called Steptoeville, then Waiilatpu.
The first step toward a definite christening of
the town was a petition to the county com-
missioners asking that a town be laid out to be
known bj' the name of Waiilatpu. This peti-
tion was signed by the following names'.
Charles H. Case, W. A. Ball, B. F. Stone, Jo-
seph Hellmuth.E. B.Whitman, J. Foresythe, F.
L. Worden, Baldwin & Bro., D. D. Baldwin,
John M. Silcott, Francis Pierrie, R. H. Regart,
I. T. Reese, P. J. Boltie, Dr. Thos. Wolf, Dr.
D. S. Baker, N. B. Dutro, N. Eastman, A. G.
P. ^^'ardle, Neil McGlinchey, James Buckley,
Frank Stone, Robert Oldham, Chas. Albright,
William Stephens, R. G. JNloffit, D. D. Bran-
nan, Pat Markey, R. \\'armack, John M. Can-

nady, William M. Elray, J. Clark. John May,
James JMcAuliff, A. D. Pambrun.

A protest was filed, asking that the name
of Walla Walla be given to the place and to
this the following names were attached : Sam-
uel F. Legart, H. H. Hill, S. T. Moffit, John
Cain, F. M. Archer, R. Powel, Louis A. Mul-
lan, William B. Kelly.

The protest prevailed and the commission-
ers, on the 17th of November, 1859, fixed the
name of \\'alla Walla and laid out the town
with the following boundaries : Commencing
in the center of Main street at Mill creek, thence
running north four hundred and forty yards
(440), thence running west one half mile to a
stake, thence running south four hundred and
forty yards to a stake, thence running east one
half mile to a stake, thence running north to the
place of commencement ; eighty acres in all.

The town government was organized, by
the appointment of a recorder, I. T. Reese, and
three trustees, F. C. Worden, Samuel Baldwin,
and Xeil McGlinchey. The town was surveyed
by C. H. Case, providing streets eighty feet
wide running north and south, and one hundred
feet wide running east and west. The lots were
laid out with a si.xty-foot front and a depth of
one hundred and twent}' feet. They were to
be sold for five dollars each with the addition
of one dollar for recording, and no one person
could buy more than two of them. Ten acres
also were set aside for a town square and the
erection of public buildings, but this was re-
duced to one acre.

The first lots sold were those taken by I. T.
Reese and Edward Evarts, both in block 13, the
sale being recorded November 30, 1859. On De-
cember 22. of the same year, one hundred and
fifty acres of land was surveyed into town prop-
erty for Thomas \\'olf and L. C. Kinney, the

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

189

former soon selling his interest to the lat-
ter.

The original plat of the town is not now in
existence, having been destroyed, probably by
the fire of 1865. The earliest survey on record
is a plat made in October, 1861, by W. W.
Johnson, which purports to be a correction of
the work of C. H. Case.

On November 5, 1861, the board declared
the survey made by W. W. Johnson to be offi-
cial, and W. A. George was employed' as an
attorney to secure for the county a pre-emption
title to the land on which Walla Walla was
built. W. W. Johnson was appointed to take
steps to secure the title at the Vancouver land
office, but he did not do so, and thus the effort
of the county to secure the site failed. This
ended what might be called the embryonic stage
in the municipal life of Walla Walla, and we
find the next stage to be actual incorporation.

The city of Walla Walla was originally in-
corporated by an act of the territorial legisla-
ture, passed on the i ith of January, 1862. By
the provisions of said act the city embraced
within its limits the south half of the south-
west quarter of section 20, township 7 north,
range 36, east, of the Willamette meridian. The
charter made provision also for the "election,
on the first Tuesday in April, of each year, of
a mayor, recorder, five councilmen, marshal,
assessor, treasurer and surveyor, all vacancies,
save in the offices of mayor and recorder, to
be filled by appointment by the council, which
was also given the power of appointing a clerk
and city attorney. No salary was to attach to
the offices of mayor or councilman until the
population of the city had reached one thou-
sand individuals, when the stipend awarded
these officers was to be fixed by an ordinance
enacted by the council. The charter designated
the following officers to serve until the first reg-

ular election under said charter : Mayor, B. P.
Standeferd; recorder, James Galbreath; coun-
cilmen, H. C. Coulson, B. F. Stone, E. B. Whit-
man, D. S. Baker, and M. Schwabacher; mar-
shal, George H. Porter. The council assembled
on the 1st of March to perfect its organization,
when it developed that Mr. Schwabacher was
ineligible for office, as was also Mr. Coulson,
who proved to be a non-resident. Mr. Stone
presiding, the council proceeded to fill the two
vacancies by balloting, and James McAuliff and
George E. Cole thus became members of the
council, S. F. Ledyard being appointed clerk.
The council again met, pursuant to adjourn-
ment, on the 4th of the same month, when ^Ir.
Cole was chosen chairman; Edward Nugent,
city attorney ; and Messrs. McAuliff, Whitman
and Stone were appointed to prepare a code of
rules for the government of the council.

Four hundred and twenty-two votes were
cast at the first election, held April i, 1862,
the following being the result : ]\Iayor, E. B.
W'hitman ; councilmen, J. F. Abbott, R. Jacobs,
L T. Reese, B. F. Stone and B. Sheideman ;
recorder, W. P. Horton; marshal, George H.
Porter; attorney, Edward Nugent; assessor,
L. W. Greenwell; treasurer, E. E. Kelly; sur-
veyor, A. L Chapman ; clerk, S. F. Ledyard.
On the nth of April, W. Phillips was ap-
pointed councilman in place of J. F. Abbott,
while in the succeeding year it appears that J.
Hellmuth had been appointed in place of B. F.
Stone. The recorder resigned in January,
1863, his successor, J. ^V. Barry, being chosen
at a special election held on the last day of that
month. H. B. Lane succeeded Mr. Greenwall
as assessor; on the nth of April, 1862, Henry
Howard was appointed treasurer, and W. W.
DeLacy, surveyor, while in January, 1863, H.
B. Lane was noted as clerk. The city revenue
for the first six months aggregated $4,283.25,

igo

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

of which sum Hquor and gaming licenses con-
tributed Si. 875. Whtn it is remembered that
this was at the height of the gold excitement,
this last item may be well understood.

During the last quarter of the year the
revenue of the new city was $2,714.19, but so
large were the expenditures that the opening
of the 3'ear 1863 found in the treasury a balance
•of less than five dollars. The value of property
in the city was assessed in 1862 at three hun-
dred thousand dollars, the succeeding year wit-
nessing the increase of the same to five hun-
dred thousand dollars.

The vote at the election of 1863 was light,
there being but one ticket in the field. The
following officers were elected for the next
fiscal year: Mayor, J. S. Craig; councilmen,
R. Guichard, A. Kyger, E. E. Kelly, W. J.
Terry (who was succeeded by A. J. Thibodo,
appointed in November), and G. Linkton; re-
corder, E. L. Massy (who resigned, his suc-
cessor, \\'. P. Horton, being chosen at a special
election, held November 21); marshal, A.
Seitel; assessor, H. B. Lane; treasurer, J. W.
Cady; surveyor, W. W. Johnson. The council
appointed E. L. Bridges city attorney, and H.
B. Lane city clerk, the latter being later suc-
ceeded by A. L. Brown.

Again in 1864 but one ticket was in evi-
dence at the municipal election, the result of
which was as follows : Mayor, Otis L. Bridges ;
councilmen, George Thomas, Dr. A. J. Thi-
bodo, J. F. Abbott, George McCully and P.
]\L Lynch; recorder, W. P. Horton; marshal,
A. Seitel; assessor, A. L. Brown; treasurer,
J. AV. Cady; surveyor, W. W. Johnson. A.
L. Brown received the appointment as city
clerk. At the close of the municipal year the
city was free from indebtedness.

The election of April 4, 1865, developed
somewhat of a contest on the offices of recorder

and marshal, there being two candidates for
the former and three for the latter, while there
was only one for each of the other offices. The
officials elected were as follows : Mayor, George
Thomas ; councilmen, Fred Stine, S. G. Rees
(who resigned and was succeeded by John
Dovell, in February, 1866), William Kohl-
hauff, W. A. Ball and E. H. Massam, the last
two mentioned being later succeeded by O. P.
Lacy and B. Sheideman ; recorder, S. B. Fargo ;
marshal, E. Ryan; assessor, A. L. Brown;
treasurer, H. E. Johnson ; surveyor, • W. AV.
Johnson ; clerk ( appointed ) , A. L. Brown.

The end of the fiscal year showed a balance
of $93.10 in the city treasury, a small amount
in comparison with the revenue for the year,
which had reached the very considerable total
of $15,135.13, more than half of which had
been derived from licenses. It is to be recalled,
however, that the sources from which emanated
these license fees were of such order as to en-
courage lawlessness and great resulting expense
to the city through its police and jail depart-
ments and the administration of justice.

The municipal election of April 2, 1866,
gave the following results, there being at this
time three candidates for the mayoralty :
jMayor, E. B. Whitman; councilmen, Colonel
P. \Mnsett, J. J. Ryan, J. W. McKee, George
Baggs and Fred Stine; recorder, AV. P. Hor-
ton; marshal, AV. J. Tompkins; assessor, O.
P. Lacy; treasurer, H. E. Johnson; clerk (by
appointment), I. L. Roberts. The personnel
of this official list had changed radically before
the close of the fiscal year. Councilman Ryan
was killed and was succeeded by B. N. Sexton,
whose death occurred shortly after his appoint-
ment, whereupon J. D. Cook was chosen to fill
the vacancy. Councilman McKee resigned and
was succeeded by AA'illiam Phillips ; B. F. Stone
\yas chosen the successor of Councilman Baggs,

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

191

in February, 1867; Mr. Stine resigned in the
latter part of 1866, being succeeded by R.
Guichard ; while in September of that year H.
M. Chase succeeded to the office of clerk.

Owing to the fact that the city had been
steadily increasing its indebtedness for the past
two years, there came a demand for retrench-
ment, and the election of 1867, therefore,
aroused more interest among the voters than
had any previous one. In 1867 the municipal
debt had reached nearly five thousand dollars,
the receipts for the fiscal year 1866-7 having
been $19,137.90, of which amount somewhat
more than eight thousand dollars had been ex-
pended in street improvements and about
thirty-two hundred in police services. A larger
vote than usual was polled by reason of the
issue mentioned, and the following officers were
elected : Mayor, James McAuliff ; councilmen,
C. P. Winsett, William Kohlhauff, N. Brown,
I. T. Reese and J. F. Abbott; recorder, O. P.
Lacy ; marshal, E. Delaney ; assessor, M. Leidy ;
treasurer, H. E. Johnson ; surveyor, W. L. Gas-
ton; city clerk (appointed), H. M. Chase.
The office of city attorney had been temporarily
abolished in 1863, but in January, 1868, Frank
P. Dugan was appointed to this office by the
council.

The election of 1868 was held in July, in
accordance with the provisions made in a re-
vision of the charter, which also made the re-
corder ex-officio clerk and provided other
minor changes in the conduct of the municipal
affairs. The election was held on the 6th of
July, the result being as follows : Mayor,
James McAuliff; councilmen, A. Kyger, J. F.
Abbott, Fred Stine, William Kohlhauff and H.
Howard; recorder and clerk, L. Day; marshal,
E. Delaney; assessor, C. Leidy; treasurer, H.
M. Chase; surveyor, Charles Frush.

The debt of the citv still continued to in-

crease, having nearly doubled at the close of the
year ending June 30, 1869, the receipts for
licenses having been reduced fully one-half,
while taxes returned a revenue of slightly less
than two thousand dollars. The expenditures
of the year, though undoubtedly wisely made,
largely exceeded the receipts. The election of
July 12, 1869, gave the following results:
Mayor, Frank Stone; councilmen, James
Jones, W. S. Mineer, Thomas Tierney, P. M.
Lynch and Thomas Quinn ; recorder and clerk,
O. P. Lacy; marshal, Ed. Delaney; attorney
(appointed), Frank P. Dugan; assessor, J. E.
Bourn; treasurer, H. E. Johnson; surveyor,
A. H. Simons.

The result of the election held on the nth
of July, 1870, was as follows: ]\Iayor, Dr.
E. Shell; councilmen, J. F. Abbott, N. T.
Caton, H. M. Chase, William Kohlhauff and
G. P. Foor; recorder and clerk, W. P; Hor-
ton; marshal, Ji. Delaney; assessor, James
Rittenhouse; treasurer, H. E. Johnson; sur-
veyor, A. H. Simons.

At the city election of July 10, 1871, the
following officers were elected : Mayor, E. B.
Whitman ; councilmen, R. Jacobs, P. M. Lynch,
N. T. Caton, G. P. Foor and F. Orselli; re-
corder and clerk, W. P. Horton; marshal, E.
Delaney; assessor, M. W. Davis; treasurer, H.
E. Johnson; surveyor, A. L. Knowlton. F. P.
Dugan was appointed city attorney by the
council.

The election of July 8, 1872, was somewhat
more spirited, there being contests for all of-
fices save those of mayor, treasurer and sur-
veyor, to which positions each of the former
incumbents ■ was re-elected. Other successful
candidates were as follows : Councilmen, Sig.
Schwabacher, M. C. ]\Ioore, N. T. Caton, J.
H. Foster and John Stahl; recorder and clerk,
O. P. Lacy ; marshal, John G. Justice ; attorney

192

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

(appointed), Thomas H. Brents: assessor, M.
W. Davis ; treasurer, H. E. Johnson ; surveyor,
A. L. Knowlton.

At the opening of the fiscal year in 1872 the
indebtedness of the city was nearly eleven thou-
sand dollars, but this disconcerting total was by
timely and far-sighted economy reduced to con-
siderably less than one-half within the year
mentioned. The receipts had been $24,995.70,
and the assessment valuation of property, near-
ly equaly divided between real and personal, in
the spring of 1873 amounted to $988,682.00.
Though the election of July 14, 1873, was one
of lively contest, except for the offices of sur-
veyor and treasurer, it resulted in the re-elec-
tion of nearly all the officers incumbent the pre-
ceding year, the result being noted as follows :
JNIayor, E. B. \\'hitman; councilmen, N. T.
Caton, William Neal, J. H. Foster, J. N. Fall
and M. C. Moore; recorder and clerk, J. D.
Laman; marshal, J. G. Justiqf ; attorney (ap-
pointed), Ed. C. Ross; assessor, M. W. Davis;
treasurer, H. E. Johnson; surveyor, A. L.
Knowlton. The treasurer resigned in April,
1874, F. Kimmerly being appointed to fill the
vacancy. Under the council thus elected the
city debt was again materially reduced, being
only $2,243.07 at the end of the fiscal year.
By a change in the charter the city was divided
into four wards, each of which was given one
representative in the council, while the offices
of clerk and recorder were again segregated
and the council was empowered to appoint a
clerk, who should also, by virtue of his office,
serve as auditor.

The city election of July 13, 1874. brought
about a complete change in the official person-
nel, with the exception of the marshal, who was
re-elected without opposition. The result of
the election was as follows : ]Mayor, James
AIcAulift': councilmen. first ward. F. P. Allen:

second ward, Z. K. Straight : third ward, Will-
iam Kohlhauft'; fourth ward, Ed. C. Ross; re-
corder, O. P. Lacy; marshal, J. G. Justice; at-
torney (appointed), W. A. George; assessor,
James B. Thompson; treasurer, C. T. Thomp-
son : surveyor, P. Zahner ; clerk and auditor,
C E. ^Vhitney.

The election of July 12, 1875, resulted as
follows : Mayor, James McAuliff ; councilmen,
first ward, O. P. Lacy; second ward, D. C.
Belshee; third ward, William Kohlhauff;
fourth ward, Ed. C. Ross (resigned in spring
of following year, A. H. Reynolds being ap-
pointed his successor) ; recorder, J. D. Laman;
marshal, J. G. Justice; attorney (appointed),
W. A. George; assessor, S. Jacobs; treasurer,
F. Kimmerly; surveyor, P. Zahner; clerk (ap-
pointed), C. E. Whitney.

The result of the election of July 10, 1876,
was as follows, the changes being few in num-
ber: Mayor, James McAulifif; councilmen,
first ward, O. P. Lacy; second ward, G. P.
Foor; third ward. William Kohlhauff; fourth
ward, A. H. Reynolds; marshal, J. G. Justice;
attorney (appointed), W. A. George; assessor,
S. Jacobs ; treasurer, H. E. Holmes ; surveyor,
P. Zahner; clerk, C. E. Whitney (appointed).
The office of recorder had been abolished and
the duties of the office relegated to a justice of
the peace.

Result of the election of 1877 : Mayor, ^I.
C. j\Ioore; councilmen, first ward, W. P.
Winans : second ward, W. P. Adams ; third
ward, J. A. Taylor: fourth ward, A. H. Rey-
nolds; marshal. J. G. Justice; attorney (ap-
pointed), \\'. A. George; assessor, Samuel
Jacobs: treasurer, H. E. Holmes; surveyor, P.
Zahner: clerk (appointed). C. E. Whitney.

The city council called a special election
for June 7. 1878, to decide upon the cjuestion
of rejecting the old city charter and reorganiz-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

193

ing under the provisions of an act entitled "An
act to provide for the incorporation of cities,"
which had been passed by the territorial legis-
lature the preceding year. By the provisions of
the new law the council would be composed of
seven members beside the mayor, while in-
creased governmental powers would be given
to the body, including permission to extend the
city credit to the amount of fifteen thousand
dollars, and no more, and to appoint all minor
ofBcers except marshal. One hundred and six-
ty-three votes were cast in favor of the measure
and one hundred and twenty-one against. The
regular city election of July 8, 1878, gave the
following results, vmder the new law : Mayor,
James McAuliff; councilmen, first ward, Fred
Stine and W. P. Winans ; second ward, F. W.
Paine and Z. K. Straight; third ward, John
Taylor and William Kohlhauff; fourth ward,
M. F. Colt; marshal, J. G. Justice. Officers
appointed by the council were : Justice of the
peace, J. D. Laman; attorney, J. D. Mix; as-
sessor, Samuel Jacobs; treasiu'er, H. E.
Holmes; surveyor, P. Zahner; clerk, C. E.
Whitney; street commissioner, J. E. Berry-
m.an ; health officer. Dr. J. M. Boyd.

For the sake of convenience and the con-
servation of space, the appointed officers will
in the following lists be incorporated directly
with the elective, without special reference
thereto.

Prior to the annual city election of 1879
the city had been divided into three wards, in-
stead of four, each of the first two wards being
given two councilmen and three to the third,
while four of the incumbents were elected to
serve one year and three for two years. Another
change in this regard was made by ordinance
in 1884, and the same is reproduced in a suc-
ceeding chapter, which has to do with the char-
ter under which the city is operating at the

time of this writing. The explanation is made
so that the results of the elections may be un-
derstood as recorded.

City officers elected or appointed at the an-
nual election held July 14, 1879: Mayor,
James McAuliff; councilmen, first ward, A. S.
Legrow and H. M. Chase; second ward, J. M.
Welsh and A. Jacobs; third ward, William
Kohlhauff, William Harkness (succeeded by
William Kirkman July 6, 1880) and George
T. Thomas ; marshal, John McNeil ; justice of
the peace, E. B. Whitman ; attorney, J. D. Mix ;.
assessor, Samuel Jacobs ; treasurer, H. E.
Holmes; surveyor, H. D. Chapman; clerk, C.
E. Whitney ; street commissioner, J. B. Brooks ;
health officer, J. E. Bingham.

The election of July 12, 1880, called out
the largest vote that had ever thus far been
cast in the city, the contest being principally
on the office of marshal. The result was as
follows : Mayor, James McAuliff ; councilmen,
first ward, L. Ankeny ; second ward, R. Jacobs ;
third ward, William Kohlhauff and John
Dovell; marshal, J. G. Justice; justice of the
peace, O. P. Lacy; attorney, J. T. Anders (re-
signed in October, 1880, W. G. Langford suc-
ceeding him) ; assessor, Samuel Jacobs ; treas-
urer, H. E. Holmes; surveyor, H. D. Chap-
man; clerk, J. L. Sharpstein (resigned Feb-
ruary I, 1881, Le F. A. Shaw being appointed
to the vacancy) ; street commissioner, J. B.
Brooks; health officer, J. E. Bingham.

At the election held July 11, 1881, the
question of creating a municipal system of
water-works was submitted to the people, the
result being an adverse majority of sixty-five.
The officers chosen were as follows : Mayor.
James McAuliff; councilman, first ward, Will-
iam Glassford; second ward, Ed. Baumeister;
third ward, A. H. Reynolds; marshal, J. G.
Justice; justice of the peace, O. P. Lacy; at-

194

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

torney, \\'. G. Langford ; assessor, Samuel
Jacobs ; treasurer, H. E. Holmes ; surveyor, H.
D. Chapman; clerk, Le F. A. Shaw; street
commissioner, J. B. Brooks; health officer, A.
N. Marion.

At the election of July lo, 1882, there was
another vigorous contest for the office of mar-
fchal, and a large vote was polled, the of-
ficers severally elected or appointed being as

follows: x^Iayor, James J^IcAulift'; councilmen,
first ward, W. P. Winans; second ward,
Thomas J. Fletcher; third ward, N. T. Caton
and John Dovell; marshal, John G. Justice;
justice of the peace, O. P. Lacy; attorney. W.
G. Langford; assessor, Samuel Jacobs; treas-
urer, Richard Jacobs ; surveyor, John B. Wil-
son ; clerk, Le F. A. Shaw ; street commissioner,
J. B. Brooks ; health officer, Dr. T. \\'. Sloan.

CHAPTER XVIII

LATER HISTORY OF CITY GOVERNMENT OF WALLA WALLA, 1883-I9OO.

The city of W^alla ^^'alla was reincorporated
b> an act of the legislative assembly of the ter-
ritory of Washington during the session of
1883, the same receiving the approval of the
governor on the 28th of November, that year,
and bearing title as follows: "An act to in-
corporate the city of ^^^alla \\^alla, and to par-
ticularly define the powers thereof."

This charter is of special interest for the
reasons that it is the only one of the kind in
the state, and that Walla Walla having by the
last census become a city of the second class is
now considering the question of reincorpora-
tion under a new charter, using in that case
the general form designated by the legislature
for all cities of that class.

CITY WARDS AND APPORTIONMENT OF COUN-
CILMEN.

Ordinance No. 185 passed the council of
the city of Walla Walla February 22, 1884,
receiving the approval of the mayor on the
same day, and being entitled as follows : "An
ordinance to divide the city of ^^'alla Walla

into wards, and apportionment of councilmen."
The text of the ordinance is as follows :

Section i. The city of ^^'alla Walla shall
be and is hereby divided into four wards, to be
known as the first, second, third, and fourth
wards.

Sec. 2. The first ward shall be bounded
an follows : Commencing at a point where the
center of Main street intersects the center of
Third street, thence southerly along the center
of Third street to the center of Birch street;
thence easterly along the center of Birch street
to the center of Second street : thence southerly
along the center of Second street to the south
boundary of the city; thence along the south
boundary of the city easterly to the southeast
corner of the city; thence northerly along the
east boundary of the city to the center of Mill
creek; thence down Mill creek to the center of
East Main street; thence along the center of
East Main and Main streets in a westerly di-
rection to the place of beginning.

Sec. 3. The second ward shall be bounded
as follows : Beginning at the intersection of
^Nlain and Third streets: thence southwesterlv

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

195

along the center of Main street to the west
boundary line of the city ; thence south along the
west boundary line of the city to the south-
west corner of the city ; thence easterly along
the south boundary of the city to the center of
Second street ; thence northerly along the center
of Second street to the center of Birch street;
thence west along the center of Birch street
to the center of Third street ; thence northerly
along Third street to the place of beginning.

Sf.c. 4. The third ward shall be bounded
as follows : Beginning at the center of Main
and North Third streets where they intersect,
thence running northerly on the center line of
North Third street to the center of Elm street ;
thence northeasterly on the center line of Elm
street to the center of North Second street;
thence northerly on the center line of North
Second street to the northern boundary line
of the city; thence east along said northern
boundary line of said city to the northeast cor-
ner of the northwest quarter of the northeast
quarter of section twenty (20)/ in township
seven (7) north, range thirty-six (36) east;
thence south to the northeast corner of the
southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of
said section twenty (20) ; thence east to the
northeast corner of the city; thence south to
the center of Mill creek ; thence down the cen-
ter of Mill creek to the center of East Main
street ; thence westerly along the center of East
Main and Main streets to the place of begin-
ning.

Sec. 5. The fourth ward shall be bounded
as follows : Commencing at the center of Main
and North Third streets where they intersect,
thence running northerly on the center line of
said North Third street to the center of Elm
street; thence northeasterly on the center line
of Elm street to the center of North Second
street; thence northerly on the center line of

North Second street to the northern boundary-
line of the city; thence west on said northern
boundary line to the northwest corner of said
city ; thence south along said west boundary
line to the United States military reservation;
thence easterly and then southerly on the line
of said military reservation to the center of
Main street ; thence easterly on the center line
of Main street to the place of beginning.

Sec. 6. The number of councilmen to
which each ward is entitled shall be as follows :
First ward, two councilmen; second ward, two
councilmen; third ward, two councilmen;
fourth ward, one councilman. And they shall
be elected as is provided in section 7 of this
ordinance.

Sec. 7. There shall be elected from the
first, second and third wards each at the next
general election and at every general election
thereafter, one councilman, and in the fourth
ward at the next general election and thereafter
biennially, one councilman.

Sec. 8. All ordinances and parts of
ordinances, so far as they conflict herewith,
are hereby repealed.

ELECTION PRECINCTS.

The city is divided into eight election pre-
cincts, designated as follows : Lewis, Clarke,
Whitman, Steptoe, Mullan, Fremont, Stevens
and Sims.

CITY ELECTIONS 1883-I9OO.

The results of the annual city elections from
1883 to 1900, both dates inclusive, are noted
in the following paragraphs, said elections, ex-
cept the first, being held under the provisions
of the charter of the year first mentioned :

1883. — Mayor, T. R. Tannatt; councilmen,
first ward, William Glasford; second ward, H.

196

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Wintler: third ward. A. S. Bowles; marshal,
T. J. Robinson; attorney, W. G. Langford;
treasurer, F. \\'. Paine; health officer. Dr. A.
M. Marion ; surveyor, J. B. Wilson ; street com-
missioner, J. B. Brooks; assessor, William
Harkness; clerk, Le F. A. Shaw.

1884. — Mayor, T. R. Tannatt; councilmen,
first ward, A. M. Porter; second ward, Will-
iam O'Donnell ; third ward, Thomas Ouinn ;
fourth ward, \^^ H. Kent ; marshal, T. J. Rob-
inson : clerk, Le F. A. Shaw ; attorney, W. G.
Langford ; treasurer, O. P. Lacy ; justice of
the peace, E. B. Whitman ; health officer, W. G.
Alban ; surveyor, J. B. \\'ilson ; street commis-
sioner. J. B. Brooks; sexton, J. S. McXeil.

1885. — ;Mayor. J. 'SI. Boyd; councilmen.
first ward. J. ^^^ Esteb ; second ward, J. Picard :
third ward. L. H. Bowman ; marshal, T. J.
Robinson ; clerk, Le F. A. Shaw ; justice of
the peace, J. D. Laman ; attorney, W. G. Lang-
ford ; treasurer, Joel Chitwood ; surveyor, J.
B. Wilson ; street commissioner, J. B.- Brooks ;
assessor, J. B. Wilson; health officer, W. G.
Alban; sexton, J. A. McNeil.

1886. — Mayor. J. ^L Boyd; councilmen,
first ward, AMlliam Stine ; second ward, John
jManion ; third ward, J. ^l. Hill ; fourth ward,
H. G. Tobin; marshal. T. J. Robinson; clerk,
Henry Kelling; treasurer, R. G. Parks; at-
torney, J. L. Sharpstein; surveyor, L. A. \\'il-
son; justice of the peace, J. D. Laman; street
commissioner, Charles Berg; assessor, \\'ill-
iam Harkness; health officer, H. R. Keylor;
sexton, J. A. McNeil.

1887. — Mayor, James ^IcAuliff; council-
men, first ward. D. \\'. Small ; second ward,
John Picard ; third ward, George Dacres ; mar-
shal, T. J. Robinson; clerk, Henry Kelling;
attorney. J. L. Sharpstein ; treasurer, R. G.
Parks; justice of the peace, A. J. Gregory;
assessor, 'SI. H. Paxton ; surveyor, J. B. ^^■il-

son ; street commissioner, Charles Berg ; health
officer, H. R. Keylor ; sexton. Henry Sander-
son.

1888. — Mayor, G. T. Thompson; council-
men, first ward, \\'. H. L'pton ; second ward,
John IManion; third ward, J. ]\L Hill; fourth
v/ard, R. 'M. iMcCalley; marshal, T. J. Robin-
son; clerk, Henry Kelling; attorney, J. L.
Sharpstein ; treasurer, R. G. Parks ; justice of
the peace, A. J. Gregory; assessor, M. H. Pax-
ton ; surveyor, A. J. Anderson ; health officer,
Dr. Y. C. Blalock; sexton, Henry Sanderson.
1889. — ^layor. Dr. N. G. Blalock; council-
men, first ward. D. W. Small and J. H. Stock-
well (unexpired term) ; second ward. Z. K.
Straight: third ward, J. L. Roberts and J. F.
Brewer (unexpired term) ; marshal, T. J. Rob-
inson; treasurer, R. G. Parks; clerk, Henry
Kelling; attorney, J. L. Sharpstein; justice of
the peace, John A. Taylor; assessor, M. H.
Paxton ; surveyor, \^■. G. Sayles ; health officer,
Y. C. Blalock; sexton, Henry Sanderson.

1890. — Mayor, N. G. Blalock; councilmen,
first ward. J. H. Stockwell ; second ward, John
Picard; third ward, H. A. Reynolds; fourth
ward, R. M. McCalley; marshal, T. J. Robin-
son; clerk, Henry Kelling; attorney, J. L.
Sharpstein; treasurer, R. G. Parks; justice of
the peace, V. D. Lambert; assessor, M. H.
Paxton ; surveyor, L. A. Wilson ; health officer.
Dr. Y. C. Blalock; street commissioner, D. A.
]McLeod ; sexton, Pardon Bentley.

1891. — Mayor, John L. Roberts; council-
men, first ward, H. S. Young; second ward.
Jacob Betz; third ward. A. J. Evans; marshal,
T. J. Robinson ; treasurer, R. G. Parks ; clerk,
Henry Kelling; attorney, W. T. Dovell; justice
of the peace, John A. Taylor; assessor, 'SI. H.
Paxton ; surveyor. L. W. Loehr ; health officer.
Dr. Y. C. Blalock; street commissioner, D. A.
AIcLeod; sexton. P. D. Bentley.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

197

1892. — Mayor, John L. Roberts; council-
men, first ward, B. D. Crocker; second ward,
J. G. Muntinga ; tliird ward, E. H. Massman ;
fourth ward, J. L. Jones ; marshal, T. J. Rob-
inson; clerl:, Henry Kelling; attorney, W. T.
Dovell; treasurer, R. G. Parks; justice of the
peace, T. T. Burgess ; assessor, M. H. Paxton ;
surveyor, L. W. Loehr; health officer, W. G.
Alban; street commissioner, W. H. Brown;
sexton, P. D. Bentley.

1893. — Mayor, John L. Roberts; council-
men, first ward, Daniel Stewart; second ward,
Jacob Betz ; third ward, N. F. Butler ; marshal,
T. J. Robinson; clerk, Henry Kelling; attorney,
W. T. Dovell; treasurer, R. G. Parks; justice
of the peace, W. T. Arberry; assessor, J. B.
Wilson ; surveyor, E. S. Clark ; health ofiicer,
W. M. Ely; street commissioner, W. H.
Brown; sexton, P. D. Bentley.

1894. — Mayor, John L. Roberts; council-
men, first ward, Milton Evans; second ward,
M. Martin ; third ward, E. H. Massam ; fourth
ward, Stephen Ringhofer; marshal, W. S.
Halley; clerk, Henry Kelling; attorney, W. T.
Dovell; treasurer, R. G. Parks; justice of the
peace, W. T. Arberry; assessor, T. H. Jessup;
surveyor, E. S. Clark ; health officer, W. G.
Alban ; street commissioner, W. H. Brown ;
sexton, P. D. Bentley.

1895. — Mayor, John L. Roberts; council-
inen, first ward, A. K. Dice; second ward, Jacob
Betz; third ward, J. D. Lamb; marshal, M.
Ames; clerk, Alex. McKay; attorney, W. T.
Dovell; treasurer, R. G. Parks; justice of the
peace, H. W. Eagan ; surveyor, E. S. Clark ;
street commissioner, D. A. McLeod ; health of-
ficer, W. G. Alban ; sexton, P. D. Bentley.

1896. — Mayor, Jacob Betz; councilmen,
first ward, Milton Evans; second ward, J. P.
Kent ; third ward, E. H. Massam ; fourth ward,
V. D. Lambert; marshal, J\L Ames; clerk, J.

E. \\'illiams ; attorney, C. M. Rader ; treasurer,
John W. McGhee, Jr.; surve3fOr, E. S. Clark;
street commissioner, W. H. Brown; health of-
ficer, W. G. Alban; sexton, P. D. Bentley.

1897. — Mayor, Jacob Betz; councilmen,
first ward, A. K. Dice; second ward, F. M.
Pauley; third ward, Oliver Cornwell; marshal,
J. J. Kauffman; clerk, C. N. McLean; attorney,
H. S. Blandford ; treasurer, J. W. McGhee, Jr. ;
justice of the peace, J. J. Huffman; surveyor,
E. S. Clark ; street commissioner, W. H.
Brown; health officer, W. G. Alban; sexton,
P, D. Bentley.

1898. — Mayor, Jacob Betz; councilmen,
first ward, E. H. Nixon; second ward, Marshall
Martin; third ward, J. F. Brewer; fourth ward,
Albert Niebergall ; marshal, J. J. Kauft'man;
clerk, C. N. McLean; attorney, H. S. Bland-
ford; treasurer, John W. McGhee, Jr.; justice
of the peace, J. J. Huffman ; assessor, Fred A.
Colt; surveyor, E. S. Clark; street commis-
sioner, D. A. McLeod ; sexton, P. D. Bentley.

1899. — Mayor, Jacob Betz; councilmen,
first ward, G. W. Babcock ; second ward, Fred
M. Pauly; third ward, E. S. Isaacs; marshal,
J. J. Kauffman ; clerk, P. P. Reynolds ; at-
torney, H. S. Blandford; treasurer, Le F. A.
Shaw; justice of the peace, William Glasford ;
assessor, W. L. Cadman; street commissioner,
W. H. Brown; surveyor, E. S. Clark; health
officer, W. G. Alban ; sexton, P. D. Bentley.

1900. — Mayor. Jacob Betz; councilmen,
first ward, J. F. McLean; second ward. Mar-
shall Martin ; third ward, J. F. Brewer ; fourth
ward, Albert Niebergall; marshal, J. J. Kauff-
man ; clerk, R. P. Reynolds ; treasurer. Le F.
A. Shaw; attorney, H. S. Blandford; justice
of the peace, William Glasford; assessor, W.
L. Cadman; surveyor, E.S. Clark; street com-
missioner, H. H. Crampton ; health officer, W.
E. Russell ; sexton, P. D. Bentlev.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE CHURCHES OF WALLA WALLA.

Walla Walla is sometimes called a city of
homes. It may also fittingly be called a city of
churches. There are nine strong churches in
this place of something over ten thousand in-
habitants, besides six other religious societies
of less strength. Of the first may be named
the Methodist Episcopal church, Methodist
church, south. First Presbyterian, Cumberland
Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, Cath-
olic, Episcopal, Christian. Of the smaller or-
ganizations, there are the Lutheran, German
Congregational, German Methodist, Seventh
Day Adventists, Christian Science, and Salva-
tion Army.

As to the first church building in Walla
Walla, we find some reminiscences from one
of the oldest of the old-timers, from which it
appears that the first church was a Catholic
church built in '59. The location of this was
the old McGillivary place, where Jacob Betz
now lives. The church was built of poles,
stuck in the ground, and covered with shakes.
It was without a floor, and its seating facilities
consisted of one long bench.

The next church was built on the corner
of Fifth and Alder, just back from the present
location of the Odd Fellows' building. This
•was a INIethodist church and was built by
Father Berry. It subsecjuently was moved to
where Bryan's stable now is, and was used as
a house for the hose-cart of the fire department.
Afterwards, having been enlarged bv a second

story, it became the celebrated "Blue Front,"
which was burned a few years ago.

First among the permanent churches we
will name the

CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK CATHOLIC.

A second Catholic church was built in '61.
Its location was near the present St. Vincent's
Academy. This was erected under the general
supervision of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Blanchet
and Rev. A. Younger was the first resident
parish priest. A sketch of the Catholic church
may fittingly be continued at this point by ref-
erence to the fact that Father Younger was
succeeded by Rev. J. B. Brouillet. Father
Erouillet had been in the A\'alla Walla country
a considerable part of the time from 1847. I"
1S64 he established St. Vincent's Academy,
which at first was an institution for both sexes,
but the boys were within a few years provided
with a new academy of their own, known as
St. Patrick's Academy. In the year 1870 St.
!\Iary's hospital was added to the already large
interests of the Catholic church. Father
Erouillet conducted with great energy and suc-
cess these allied and growing interests of his
parish, and after having been relieved at in-
tervals by Revs. Halde and Manz, he resigned
his position in the year 1875 to take charge
of the Indian bureau at Washington. Rev.
Thomas Duflfy became his successor. The
congregation had in the meantime expand-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

199

ed beyond the limits of the existing church,
and a larger one had become a necessity.
Therefore in the summer of 1881 the pres-
ent magnificent structure was erected. Two
years later there was a commodious addi-
tion made to St. Vincent's Academy, and
large and needed improvements were made
in the hospital. Owing to a failure of health
Father Duffy resigned and went to Cali-
fornia, where he died. He was succeeded by
the present parish priest, Rev. Father Flohr.
The Catholic church is especially distinguished
for its fine organ and superb musical services.
Its programs for Christmas and Easter are
events which always attract great throngs, both
of music lovers and devout worshipers.

We append herewith brief sketches of the
history and organization of each of the other
principal churches in the city.

THE FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF
WALLA WALLA.

As to the early history of Methodism in
Walla Walla county, we can not do better than
to reproduce in full a brochure issued in the
year 1900 and entitled "Historical Report of
the First Methodist Episcopal Church at
Walla Walla, Washington : Its Organization
and Work as Reported and Adopted by the
Second Quarterly Conference held at Walla
Walla February 7, 1900; by J. M. Hill and E.
Smith, Committee."

On page seventy-four of Rev. H. K. Hine's Mission-
ary History of the Pacific Northwest, we iind that the
first sermon preached west of the Rocky mountains was
dehvered by Rev. Jason Lee at Fort Hall, on Sunday,
July 27, 1834. And in a book entitled Wild Life in Ore-
gon, on pages 176-7, we will find that the first Methodist
sermon preached at or near Walla Walla was by the
Rev. Gustavus Hines, on May 21, 1843, at Dr. Whitman's
mission, six miles west of this city. Rev. Gustavus
Hines also preached at Rev. H. H. Spalding's Lapwai
mission, on Sunday, May 14, 1843.

We find that the first Methodist Episcopal church
organization that was perfected in Walla Walla, or in
that part of the country known as eastern Oregon or east-
ern Washington, was in 1859, and at that time the Walla
Walla valley was just commencing to be settled up with
stock raisers and traders. The town of Walla Walla was
the principal or most important point, the United States
military post being located here, and this place having
become the wintering place for miners, packers and
freighters from the mines north and east of this country.

The Oregon conference of the Methodist Episcopal
church, having jurisdiction over the church work in this
section, took up the matter of supplying it with the gos-
pel, and at the annual conference held at Albany in
August, 1859, appointed Rev. J. H. Wilber as presiding
elder of this field, calling it the Walla Walla circuit
which took in most of that part of the country east of
The Dalles, Oregon, comprising the Grande Ronde, Walla
Walla, Snake river and Columbia river valleys as far
north as the British line and east to the Rocky mountains,
and appointed Rev. G. M. Berry as pastor for Walla
Walla circuit.

Brother Wilber and Brother Berry at once started
for their field of labor. They came to Walla Walla and
commenced the work by holding meetings at different
places, at the homes of some of the people and at times
in the old log court house at the corner of Main and Fifth
streets. Soon after taking up the work Brother Wilber
and Brother Berry decided to organize a class at Walla
Walla, and on Monday, October 11, 1859, met and organ-
ized the first class in the district; also held their first
quarterly conference. The quarterly conference was
called to order by the presiding elder. Rev. J. H. Wilber,
and opened with singing and prayer. The pastor, Rev-
G. M. Berry, was appointed secretary of the meeting.
The following .named brothers were elected as the first
board of stewards: S. M. Titus, William B. Kelly, John
Moar, A. B. Roberts and T. P. Denney. A. B. Roberts
was elected as the recording steward.

In January, 1860, the class decided to build a church
in the town of Walla Walla, and appointed a building
committee to undertake the work, consisting of the pas-
tor. Rev. G. M. Berry, Brother Thomas Martin and
Brother John Moar. At a meeting held in April, 1860.
the committee reported that they had selected for a
church site lots 6 and 7, block 10, at the corner of Alder
and Fifth streets, and that Rev. G. M. Berry had made
application to the board of county commissioners asking
them to donate the lots to the church. At a meeting
held on May 21, 1860, the first board of trustees of the
church at Walla Walla was appointed, being Brothers
T. P. Denney, S. M. Titus, John Moar, Thomas Martin
and William B. Kelly; and on May 22, 1860, lots 6 and 7
of block 10 of the original town of Walla Walla were trans
ferred to the above named trustees for the church by the
board of county co;iimissioners of Walla Walla county.

The building committee — the pastor. Rev. G. M
Berry, as its chairman — with the few members, at once

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

took up the work of building the church, which was com-
pleted in the fall of 1860. It was the first church of any
•denomination built in Walla Walla, and was built at a
cost of §1,046.52, with unpaid bills to the amount of 8131.02.
These items are taken from the report of the auditor of
the accounts of the building committee as reported at the
third quarterly conference, held at Walla Walla on June
24, 1861, by Andrew Keys, auditor. The pastor. Rev. G-
M. Berry, had practically been Sunday-school superin-
tendent, as well as pastor, ever since the organization of
the class until the church was completed. We fail to
find any record of the dedication of this church.

The Oregon annual conference of 1861 created the
Walla Walla district and appointed Rev. John Flinn as
presiding elder and pastor at Walla Walla. At the
Oregon annual conference held in 1867, the Walla Walla
district was divided into one station and four circuits,
viz: Walla Walla station; Walla Walla, Waitsburg,
■Grande Ronde and Umatilla circuits.

In 1868 the class having become strong, and desiring
a new location for their church building, the board of
" trustees procured lots on the corner of Poplar and Second
streets. Bought on May 30, 1868, from W. J. and Abell
Arner for §250.00, and deeded to the following named
trustees: H. Parker, T. P. Denney, J. L. Reser, Joseph
Paul and John W. McGhee. The old church was moved
to the new location, repaired and enlarged, and a parson-
age was fitted up just east of the church, facing on Poplar
street.

At the Oregon annual conference held at Eugene,
August 5 to 9, 1869, all the membership and appoint-
ments formally denominated Walla Walla station, Walla
"Walla circuit and Dry Creek were formed as one charge
and called Walla Walla circuit, to which Rev. John T.
Wolf was appointed as pastor and Rev. Charles H.
Hoxie as assistant pastor.

Rev. James B. Callaway was presiding elder of the
district, and on September 18, 1869, called together at
Walla Walla all of the official members of the new cir-
cuit and organized the first quarterly conference, electing
the following board of trustees: Charles Moore, T. P.
Denney, D. M. Jessee, M. Emerick, Benjamin Hayward,
A. H. Simmons, M. McEverly, William Holbrook and
Oliver Gallaher. At the Oregon annual conference held
at Vancouver, on August 25, 1870, Walla Walla city was
again made a station, separating it from the Walla Walla
circuit, and Rev. H. C. Jenkins was appointed as pastor.

Early in the spring of 1878, under the leadership of
the pastor. Rev. D. G. Strong, the class undertook the
erection of a new church building. The old church was
sold to Mr. J. F. Abbott, for two hundred and fifty dol-
lars and moved off of the lots, and through the efforts of
the pastor and his board of trustees, consisting of B. F.
Burch, J. E. Berryman, H. Middough, John Berry and
O. P. Lacy, together with the faithful members and
friends, the new church was completed at a cost of about
ten thousand dollars, receiving from the church extension
society of the church a donation of one thousand dollars

and a loan of five hundred dollars. The loan in due time
was paid back. After the completion of the new church
Rev. W. G. Simpson was the first pastor and Brother E.
Smith was the first Sunday-school superintendent. For
some reason not on record, the church was not dedicated
until August, 1879. The collection and services at the
dedication were in charge of Bishop Haven, he being the
bishop for the annual conference held at Walla Walla
August 7 to 12, 1879.

It having been discovered in 1883 that the board of
trustees had never been incorporated under the laws of
the territory of Washington, the quarterly conference di-
rected that articles of incorporation should be prepared.

B. L. and J. L. Sharpstein, attorneys, were employed to
prepare incorporation papers, and on February 9, 1883,
they were signed and acknowledged by the following
board of trustees: Donald Ross, C. P. Headley, S. F.
Henderson, J. M. Hill, H. C. Sniff, H. C. Chew, E. Smith
and G. H. Randall, and filed with the territorial auditor
and the auditor of Walla Walla county. At the first
meeting of this board of trustees they elected the follow-
ing officers: J. M. Hill, president; Donald Ross, secre-
tary; C. P. Headley, treasurer.

During the summer of 1887, the class, under the
leadership of the pastor. Rev. Henry Brown, with the
ladies of the church and the trustees, consisting of J. H.
Parker, C. P. Headley, S. F. Henderson, J. M. Hill, H.

C. Sniff, H. C. Chew, G. H. Randall and E. Smith, under-
took the building of a new parsonage, and with the
bequest of five hundred dollars from the estate of our
departed brother, E. Sherman, designated by him to
be used for a new parsonage and S596.47 raised princi-
pally by the efforts of the ladies' parsonage com-
mittee, a two-story, seven-room parsonage was erected
on the grounds of the old parsonage, facing Poplar
street, and this was turned over to the board of trustees
free of debt and fairly well furnished.

During 1887, through the efforts of Rev. J. H. Wil-
ber, a small church was built in the eastern part of the
city and called Wilber Chapel. Brother W.J. White dona-
ted a lot for that purpose, three hundred dollars being
received from the church extension society, part of the
balance being subscriptions from friends ; but the
greater part being given by Rev. J. H. Wilber him,
self. The church cost one thousand five hundred dollars,
and was deeded to the trustees of the First Methodist
Episcopal church of Walla Walla: viz: J. H. Parker, J.
M. Hill, C. P. Headley, S. F. Henderson, H. C. Sniff, H.
C. Chew, G. H. Randall and E. Smith. The church was
sold to the German Lutheran society for the sum of one
thousand six hundred dollars, on September 6, 1892
returning to the board of the church extension about
four hundred dollars due them in principal and inter-
est. The dedication of Wilber chapel was by Rev. N.
E. Parsons, presiding eider, assisted by Rev. J. H. Wilber
and Rev. Henry Brown. During 1894, the church under
the leadership of Rev. V. C. Evers, the pastor, with the
trustees, enlarged the present church by extending it to

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

the north line of the property, increasing the seating
capacity of the church with lecture room to five hundred
and twenty-five persons.

Our church property at this time is free from debt
and consists of:

One church building and lot, value, $11,500.00; one
parsonage and fraction of lot, value, $2,000.00 ; total,
$13,500.00.

The following are the names of the pastors at Walla
Walla and time of service: 1859 to 1861, Rev. George
M. Berry; 1861 to 1863, Rev. John Flinn; 1863 to 1865,
Rev. William Franklin; 1865 to 1866, Rev. James Dear-
doff; 1866 to 1867, Rev. John L. Reser; 1867 to 1869, Rev.
John T. Wolfe; 1869 to 1870, Rev. C. H. Hoxie; 1870 to
1872, Rev. H.C. Jenkins; 1872 to 1873, Rev. J. W. Miller;
1873 to 1874, Rev. S. G. Havermale; 1874 to 1875, Rev.
G. W. Grannis; 1875 to 1876, Rev. S. L. Burrell; 1876 to
1878, Rev. D. G. Strong; 1878 to 1880, Rev. W. G Simp-
son; 1880 to 1882, Rev. G. M. Irwin; 1882 to 1883, Rev.
A. J. Joslyn; 1883 to 1884, Rev. W. C. Gray; 1884 to 1885,
Rev. J. D. Flenner; 1885 to 1886, Rev. D. G. Strong; 1886
to 1889, Rev. Henry Brown; 18S9 to 1892, Rev. W. W.
VanDusen; 1892 to 1896, Rev. V. C. Evers; 1896 to
1899, Rev. W. C. Renter; 1899 to 1900, Rev. Lee A.
Johnson.

The following are the names of the presiding elders
of Walla Walla district, and time of service: l859 to
1861, Rev. J. H. Wilber; 1861 to 1864, Rev. John Flinn;
1864 to 1866, Rev. Isaac Dillon; 1866 to 1869, Rev. J. B.
Calloway; 1869 to 1870, Rev. W. H. Lewis; 1870 to 1874,
Rev. H. K. Hines; 1874 to 1878, Rev. S.G. Havermale;
1878 to 1882, Rev. D. G. Strong; 1882 to 1885, Rev. W.
S. Turner; 1885 to 1886, Rev. Levi L. Tarr; 1886 to 1888,
Rev. N. E. Parsons; 1888 to 1892, Rev. D. G. Strong;
1892 to 1898, Rev.T. A. Towner; 1898 to 1900, Rev. M.
H. Marvin.

At this writing Rev. Lee A. Johnson is
pastor and Rev. M. H. Marvin is presiding
elder. The membership of the church is now
over three hundred.

ST. PAUL S EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

This church was organized January 17,
1872, with Rev. Lemuel H. Wells, now bishop
of the diocese of eastern Washington, first
rector.

Services of the Episcopal church were held
in Walla Walla as early as 1864 in churches
of other denominations by Bishop Scott, of
Portland, and Rev. T. A. Hayland. For a

year Rev. Lemuel H. Wells conducted services
in the old court house, now the Star Brewery,
corner of Alder and Third streets, when the
present edifice was completed on the corner of
Third and Poplar streets, at a cost of fifty-four
hundred dollars. It is a cozy, comfortable
building; a happy exchange for the barren, un-
attractive room occupied at first.

Rev. Mr. Wells' first congregations did not
number more than a dozen persons, with not
more than half of these Episcopalians, but the
great-souled qualities of this pioneer disciple
of St. Paul were as a magnet to the church,
and that most appalling of all sights to a min-
ister, "empty benches," was a state of affairs of
short duration.

The court room in a short time was inad-
equate to the wants of the church, and the com-
fort of a church building was not a fact of as
great importance as the necessity of more room.
The seating capacity of the church is nearly
three hundred and in its earliest days was often
crowded to overflowing.

The Sunday-school, .beginning with three
or four children, increased in an equal ratio to
the church congregation. These little Christian
soldiers were phenomenal workers and aided
in many ways in furnishing the church, espe-
cially did they contribute generously to the
fund for buying the bell. Their Easter offer-
ings sometimes exceeded one hundred dollars.
Most of this was earned by the giver or was
the result of some sacrifice on the part of the
donor. Mr. Wells was rector for ten years,
with the exception of one and one-half years,
which time was supplied by Rev. J. D. McCon-
key. Rev. Wells was succeeded by Rev. Dr.
Lathrop, a gentleman well adapted to continue
the good work his predecessor had so heroically
taken up.

Those who ha\'e succeeded since then are

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Revs. McEwan, Tichnor, Dr. Nevins White,
Goss, Dr. Law, Palmer, and Bard, the present
rector.

The church has never enjoyed greater pros-
perity than at the present time. Its financial
condition is good, the vestry is composed of
enterprising men, whose management of the
church affairs is most satisfactory. The rector,
Rev. Andreas Bard, is young and enthusiastic,
earnest in his work, of pleasing personality and
high order of intellectuality, eminently fitted to
increase the good work of the church. St.
Paul's church considers itself the fortunate pos-
sessor of the most able minister in the state.

The present building is uncomfortably
crowded, and the erection of a large stone
church is contemplated in the near future.

THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

The following excerpt from a publication
issued in 1894, entitled Manual of the First
Congregational Church of Walla Walla, Wash-
ington, gives a very complete history of this
church from the earliest times to the date of
its issue :

The story of the life of the First Congregational
church of Walla Walla is not a story of uninterrupted
ease on the part of its members, or of continuous suc-
cess and steady advancement on the part of the organi-
zation itself. It came into existence as the logical result
of the most extraordinary efforts by its founders and it
has lived only by the sacrifice and earnest prayer and
labor of its members.

The first resident Congregational minister to settle
in the state was Rev. Cashing Eells, better known to us
as Father Eells, who entered the valley August 29, 1838,
as a missionary to the Indians, and on that date the his-
tory of our church commences, though no church organ-
ization was formed for nearly twenty-seven years later.
The history of the time between those dates is the his-
tory of struggle, trial, privation, apparent failure, and
abandonment of the field till 18G0, when Father Eells
returned to the valley and took possession of the Mission
farm, where he lived for a number of years, working on
the farm, preaching, teaching and spreading the gospel in
various ways.

In May, 1864, Rev. P. B. Chamberlain settled in
Walla Walla for the purpose of occupying the field.
This purpose he fulfilled by preaching occasionally in
the Methodist church and by conducting a school. The
growth of the school and the need of a place of worship
led Mr. Chamberlain to buy ground and erect thereon a
building for a school and for religious worship, a little
west of the house now occupied by our good Deaconess
Chamberlain. In this Congregational cradle the Con-
gregational infant of Washington, rocked by Congrega-
tional hands and fed on wholesome Congregational food,
thrived until July 11, 1868, when the little church, which
represented such great sacrifice on the part of its build-
er, was destroyed by fire.

On January 1, 1865, the First Congregational church
of Walla Walla, and the first in the state of Washington,
was organized by Rev. Cushing Eells and wife. Rev. P.
B. Chamberlain and wife, J. W. McKee and wife, and
Edwin Eells, and the " Sacrament of the Lord's Supper
was administered to the new church and to the other
Christians present." The church grew slowly but stead-
ily in numbers and strength, and when its place of wor-
ship was destroyed had sufficient energy to immediately
undertake the task of building a new structure. The
result of its labors, augmented by generous contribu-
tions from the citizens, we are now enjoying.

The society was incorporated January 16, 1869, by
Cushing Eells, John B. Stowell, G. W. Somerindyke,
Robert Thompson, P. B. Chamberlain and Edwin Eells,
the first board of trustees being composed of G. W.
Somerindyke, J. B. Stowell and Robert Thompson. Edwin
Eells was the first church clerk. The church flourished
for a year or two, till from the removal of members and
other causes, its fortunes changed, and from ISiTO its cause
waned and weakened, and in 1880 its doors were closed,
to remain so until the arrival of Rev. N. F. Cobleigh in
the spring of 1882.

Interest was somewhat restored and the church
prospered under his leadership for several years, until
he was called to the missionary field of Eastern Wash-
ington. The most notable official event during his pas-
torate was the election of the first deacon of the church,.
Dr. A. J. Anderson, who was chosen to fill the office for
three months.

Rev. Ezra Haskell succeeded to the pastorate July
8, 1894, soon after which the church seemed to receive a
new inspiration and a new life, every member working
vigorously and successfully for its interests. During this
pastorate the amount subscribed for the pastor's salary
by the church was raised from $40.0; to $60.00 per month,
the amount asked from the missionary society being
correspondingly reduced. It was during this pastorate,-
too, that the Christian Endeavor Society was formed,
that valuable auxiliary to the church work being the
result of special effort on the part of the pastor and the
then few young people of the church. By reason of dis-
agreement between the pastor and the church the spirit-
ual health of the latter became impaired and the rela-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

203

lion of pastor and people ceased at the end of the second
year.

On September 8, 1886, Rev. H. R. Foster, one of
God's most giited and consecrated servants, was called
to the pulpit, but was compelled to resign because of ill
health on June 20th of the next year. During this short
pastorate the spiritual power of the church was increased
most marvelously and it seemed to the members that
God was indeed smiling on their efforts. However, this
was but God's preparation for the future conditions.

. In the early years of the pastorate of Rev. E. R.
Loomis, who was ne.xt called to be our leader, the cause
flourished to the great satisfaction of the members. Many
important modifications were adopted during this period,
notable among which were the adoption of the new con-
stitution by the church; a reincorporation by which the
women were given the privilege of becoming members
of the corporate body; the relief of the missionary soci-
ety from the burden it had so long, generously, and faith-
fully borne; the formation of a Junior Endeavor Society;
and the closer union of the church and Sunday-school.
After the resignation of Mr. Loomis the pulpit was sup-
plied by him for some time, and afterwards, for a few
months, by Rev. Mr. Hague, of Maine.

The church was fortunate enough to have among its
members several preachers who conducted the services
until we were blessed by the arrival among us of our
present pastor. Rev. E. L. Smith, whose labors speak
for him and require no comments.

Here we are in the year 1894, as a strong man to run
a race, well equipped for the work, earnest to do the Mas-
ter's bidding, laboring for the salvation of souls and
desirous of building up the Christian sentiment of the
community in every way possible, but especially in the
way of building a solid foundation and superstructure of
Congregationalism in this part of the great Northwest.

It is only necessary to add that the hopes
above expressed have been quite fuhy reahzed
in the subsequent work of the church. Rev.
E. L. Smith continued to minister unto the
society until November, 1898, when he was suc-
ceeded by Rev. Austin Rice, the present pastor.
In 1899 an elegant new church edifice was
erected on the corner of Palouse and Alder
streets, and the same has been occupied as a
place of worship since January i, 1900. The
present structure, by reason of its convenient
and commodious basement, is peculiarly well
fitted for building up the social life of the
church. The Sunday-school, under the super-
intendency of President S. B. L. Penrose, has

become one of the strongest in the town, having
an average attendance of about one hundred
and fifty. The present officers of the church
are : Standing Cornmittee, Daniel Burr, A. H.
Reynolds, John Baker, Mrs. Isabel Kirkman,
Mrs. Eva Williams and Miss Anna Hill;
Trustees, W. D. Lyman, H. A. Reynolds, F.
J. McGougan; Clerk, W. S. Clark; Treasurer,
Jay Williams. The present total meinbership
of the church is two hundred and twenty-three.

THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAiSr CHURCH.

On the 5th of January, 1873, was effected
the organization of the First Cumberland
Presbyterian church of Walla Walla, those
primarily concerned in such organization being
the Rev. Harrison W. Eagan and seven mem-
bers, the original elders of the church being
Joel Hargrove, J. M. Reed and W. B. Simon-
ton. Mr. Eagan became pastor of the new so-
ciety and ministered to the church continuously
until the ist of January, 1882. During the
decade of his pastorate more than two hundred
members were received into the church, in
whose afi^airs he continued to maintain a deep
and lively interest long after the conclusion of
his pastoral functions. He was succeeded by
Rev. J. N. Crawford, who was in turn suc-
ceeded by Rev. J. C. Van Patten. The Rev.
W. W. Beck presided over the destinies of the
society for two years, his pastorate having its
inception in 1886, after which Rev. E. G. Mc-
Lean, D. D., was pastor for five years, being
succeeded by Rev. R. F. Powell, who retained
the position two years, after which the church
was placed under the pastoral direction of Rev.
Duncan Wallace, who resigned the charge in
September, 1900, removing to California. The
present pastor of the church is Rev. G. A.
Blair. The present membership of the church

204

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

is about two hundred. From the time of its
organization the church has steadily grown not
only in numbers but also in its influence for
good. It has been signally awake to every
moral and spiritual interest and its collateral
organizations are active and beneficent, the
same including the Young Peoples' Society of
Christian Endeavor, the Junior Endeavor and
the Pilgrim and Missionary societies. The
officers of the church at the present time are
as follows : Elders, W. P. ^^'inans, N. F.
Butler, J. \\^ Armstrong, W. S. Offner, Dr.
N. G. Blalock, G. H. Sutherland and A. YL
Cation: deacons, H. E. Johnson, George Star-
rett, J. F. McLean, A. J. Evans, A. J. Beard,
P. ]\I. ^^'inans, Sam ]\IcBride, Marvin Evans
and ^I. E. Brewer.

Recapitulating the history of this prosperous
organization, we may say that services were
originally held in the old court house, which,
at the expiration of a year, proved inadequate to
accommodate the society, and the city hall was
therefore brought into requisition. Recogniz-
ing the exigent demand for a permanent house
of worship, the society purchased a lot on the
southwest corner of Third and Poplar streets
and erected thereon, in 1876, the present church
edifice at a cost of six thousand dollars. The
building was dedicated on the 4th of January,
1880, being at the time free from indebtedness.
It is worthy of note at this juncture, as in-
dicative of the liberal and broad-minded at-
titude of the citizens of Walla Walla, that the
sum demanded for the erection of the church
building was secured by general subscriptions
in the city and tha-t these contributions were
made without reference to religious affiliations,
no aid from the missionary fund of the de-
nomination being called for.

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

In the fall of 1878 the Christian church
of this city had its beginning in the temporary
organization of eight people, for the purpose
of worshiping and teaching according to their
belief. Then on March 31st of the following
year a permanent organization of eleven mem-
bers was effected. Judge N. T. Caton was
chosen clerk of the congregation and within
a year the number of members was increased
tc thirty-two persons. For some years the
church had no regular minister, but was vis-
ited occasionally by the Waitsburg pastor and
bv other ministers who by chance came this
way. Brother Neal Cheetem was frequently
here and was very helpful to the struggling
little band of disciples. For some years after
the organization the meetings were held from
time to time in several of the older church
liuiklings, which were very kindly tendered by
their congregations. Then the old opera house
was used for a short period. Later Baumeis-
ter's hall was secured and used until the church
m.oved into its own building, situated on Third
street between Birch street and Stahl avenue.
The organization was incorporated July 31,
1 89 1, under the name of the First Christian
church of Walla Walla, Washington, with S.
C, Calvert, F. N. Bowinan and William Pres-
ton as the first trustees. Previous to the build-
ing of the new church Neal Cheetem, J. H.
Hollis, A. H. Foster, J. B. Johnson and R. H.
Lotz served the congregation as pastors. After
preaching his regular sermon on Lord's Day
morning, September 20, 1891, Pastor Lotz an-
nounced that Judge J. H. Lasater offered the
congregation a lot suitable for a church build-
ing, providing the congregation would at once

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

205

erect such a building. Steps were immediately
taken to accept this liberal offer. A building
committee composed of S. C. Calvert, chair-
man, and F. M. Bowman, E. W. Thornton,
B. W. Schell and William Preston, was ap-
pointed, who were instructed to enter at once
upon the work of raising funds and securing
plans for the new church building.

A. C. Dickinson, of the Waitsburg congre-
gation, very generously gave five hundred dol-
lars in cash toward the fund, and the Church
Extension Society of the Christian church gave
a loan of one thousand dollars. These amounts
with the liberal contributions of the members
and friends of the church enabled the commit-
tee to commence the building soon after the
offer made by Judge Lasater. The plans were
successfully carried out and the building com-
pleted, and on April 2d of the following
spring William F. Cowden, missionary in the
northwest for the American Home Board of
the Christian church, dedicated the commodious
building now occupied by the congregation.
Then with much enthusiasm the congregation
began to increase its membership and repay the
loan against its building. Again its friends
and members were true to it and liberal in
their gifts, so at this time the debt has all been
paid and the building in a good state of re-
pair. The membership has steadily increased
until there are now over two hundred and sev-
enty-five members in good standing and full
fellowship. J. B. Daisley, C. P. Smith, J. F.
Ghormley and O. J. Gist served as pastors in
the order named since the dedication of the
new building until January i, 1897. Since
that date the pulpit has been occupied by L.
O. Herrold. The present board of trustees is
composed of Messrs. C. L Hall, Harry Lasater
and D. W. Coward.

The church in its early years has endured

the usual struggles incident to starting and
building a new work, but out of it all God has
brought a strong and united church which
looks forward with great hope for the future.

THE B.VPTIST CHURCH.

Services according to the forms of the
Baptist church were held in Walla Walla as
early as 1870, by Rev. W. H. Pruett, but
nearly a decade passed before a formal organ-
ization was effected. Of the genesis and
growth of the First Baptist church of this city
the historical edition of the Walla Walla L'nion
of August, 1896, speaks as follows:

'"To attempt to write a history of a church
now in the zenith of its glory is like trying
tc write the biography of a great and good
mian while he is still alive and in the prime of
his usefulness. The history of the First Bap-
tist church of \\^alla Walla is a history of
trials and triumphs. This church, like most
of the western churches in early days, had a
hard struggle for existence. The Baptists
were late in effecting an organization in this
city, which caused a great deal of hard work
and patience to obtain a foothold. Jilany of
the prominent families of the city were Baptists
and had belonged to Baptist churches in the
east, but on coming to Walla Walla found no
Baptist church organization, so joined churches
of other denominations.

"On May 11, 1879, the First Baptist church
of Walla Walla was organized, with five mem-
bers, and Rev. J. L. Blitch, of Dixon, Cali-
fornia, became the first pastor and served the
church for a year and a half. After remaining
pastorless for several months the church ex-
tended a call to Rev. D. J. Pierce, of Laramie,
Wyoming, which was accepted. Mr. Pierce
was well known on the coast, having served

206

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

the First Baptist church of Portland, Oregon,
previous to this. It was during the two years
of Mr. Pierce's pastorate that the present
church edifice was erected, at a cost of four
thousand five hundred dollars, not including
the lot, which cost about two thousand dollars.
With but twenty-seven members, Mr. Pierce
commenced the work of building, and carried
it throug'h to completion. After leaving Walla
Walla Mr. Pierce became pastor of the First
Baptist church of Seattle. Rev. A. B. Banks,
pastor of the First Baptist church of Laramie,
Wyoming, succeeded Mr. Pierce as pastor.
During the two years of JMr. Banks' pastorate
the church continued to increase in member-
ship and influence. At the close of his pastorate
the church extended a call to Rev. S. W.
Beavan, during whose pastorate of a year and
-a half the church was greatly strengthened.
Mr. Beavan was succeeded in his pastorate by
his brother. Rev. J. H. Beavan, who served as
pastor for five and a half years with great suc-
cess. The church then extended a call to Rev.
J. ^^^ Xe}-man, but at that time it was not
accepted. A call was then given to Rev. M. C.
Cole, of Xew Orleans, which he accepted. ^Mr.
Cole served the church as pastor for nearly
three and a half years. This church has made
a steady growth from the first. The church
has always been liberal in its gifts to carry on
mission work at home and in foreign lands.
The property of the church is valued at about
nine thousand dollars, including the parson-
age."

At the beginning of the year 1896 the
church again extended a call to the Rev. J. W.
Neyman, who accepted. Under his pastorate,
which terminated in 189S, the church showed
a healthful growth in all branches of work,
as well as in membership, and this has been
signally true also during the regime of his

successors. Rev. J. F. Huckleberry, who had
pastoral charge for seven months, and Rev. H.
B. Turner, the present pastor. The church
maintains a mission chapel at the corner of
Ninth and Rees streets, and its w^ork in a
spiritual way and in the matter of various
benevolences is proving a cumulative power for
good. The various subordinate organizations
maintained in the society are thoroughly vital
and discharge their various functions with a
high degree of efficiency.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH.

This church was organized by F. W. D.
Mays in October or November, 1875, with a
small class, chief among whom were the old
pioneers, D. M. Jesse and J. M. Gose and their
wives. F. W. D. Mays used for some time
the United Brethren church building for his
religious services, as their class was then with-
out a pastor. Their property was offered for
sale and JNIr. Mays made arrangements to pur-
chase the same. Money was appropriated by
his general Board of Missions in Nashville to
m.ake the purchase. The authorities of the
United Brethren church concluded, however,
not to sell their property, and the money do-
nated by the Nashville Board was used to buy
two lots at the present location on Fourth and
Sumach streets. On one of these lots was a
dwelling house, still standing, the lower front
of which was turned into a hall for church
services by removal of partitions. Here serv-
ices were held for two years.

In 1876 Mr. IMays was returned, by ap-
pointment of conference, to the charge for the
second year. In September, 1877, the Annual
Conference met in \A^alla Walla in said hall.
Bishop H. N. McTyiere presiding. J. W.
Compton was appointed as pastor for the en-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

207

suing year. In 1878 F. W. D. Mays was
again appointed pastor of the charge, and in
the sinnmer of 1879 ^^^ sold the lot on which
the dwelling house stood and erected the pres-
ent church edifice. This was not entirely com-
pleted until several years later.

For several years subsequent to the last
date the charge was without pastoral oversight
except such as could be given by the presiding
elder of the district. During the succeeding
twenty years a number of pastors served the
charge, among whom were J. S. Burnett, W.
T. Haggard, P. M. Bell, M. V. Howard, E.
G. Michael, W. M. Fancher, A. Y. Skee, C. T.
McPherson and E. P. Greene. In September,
1900, J. W. Compton was again appointed
pastor of the charge. The board of trustees
consists of T. F. Ladd, J. B. Cash and J. M.
Keeler.

THE GERMAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The first religious denomination to provide
for the maintenance of German preaching in
Walla Walla was the Methodist Episcopal, and
for a number of years it was alone in its en-
deavor to maintain religious services in the
language which constitutes the vernacular of
so large a proportion of our citizens. The Ger-
man Methodist Episcopal church of this city
was organized in the year 1884, Rev. William
Esslinger being the first pastor and Rev. F.
Baum the first presiding elder. At that time
the membership was so small as to preclude
the possibilit}' of erecting a church edifice of
their own, so that services were held in the
First Methodist Episcopal church. During
the two years following 1884, however, the
German population increased rapidly, and the
necessity of a building for worship began to
be urgently felt, as the membership of the so-
ciety was also rapidly growing. Accordingly

an effort to raise the required funds was in-
augurated and persistently maintained until the
society was the owner of a neat and commo-
dious edifice, entirely free of debt. This build-
ing, with the ground on which it stands, is
now valued at about five thousand dollars.

The church is in a prosperous condition,
although, on account of changes in residence
and other causes, the membership is not large.
The Sunday-school is attended by about thirty
children, who are instructed in German. Rev.
C. A. Wentsch is the pastor in charge at
present.

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

Revs. E. N. Condit, F. M. Boyd and Robert
Boyd, graduates of Princeton Theological
Seminary of the class of 1877 and commis-
sioned as Home Missionaries by the Presby-
terian Board of Home Missions, arrived in
Walla Walla, Washington Territory, on June
24, 1877. Rsv- M^J"- Condit immediately com-
menced work, with the view of organizing a
church, but after preaching six weeks with
good prospects of success crowning his efforts
he was called to another field of labor. The
work so well begun was continued by Robert
Boyd, who preached for the first time in Walla
Walla in the court house on Sabbath, August
12, 1877. Rev. H. W. Stratton, synodical
missionary for the Synod of the Columbia, with
the assistance of the Rev. Robert Boyd, effected
an organization in Walla AValla which con-
stituted the First Presbyterian church of Walla
Walla. The organization was composed of
nineteen members. Services were held in the
court house from November, 1877, until Jan-
uarjr, 1882, then in the United Brethren church
until November, 1884, when the First Presby-
terian church was completed.

From the organization of the church until

208

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

March, 1886, Rev. Robert Boyd acted as pastor.
He was succeeded by Rev. T. M. Gunn,
March, 1886, to June, 1888, Rev. E. U. Sharp
from June, 1888, until March, 1891, Rev. L.
M. Belden from March, 1891, until Novem-
ber, 1894. From that time until January, 1897,
the church was without a pastor. The pulpit

was supplied from time to time as the session
could find supply. In January, 1897, the Rev.
E. N. Condit accepted a call from the con-
gregation, which position he held until his
death, in June, 1900. Since that time the
church has been supplied by dififerent ministers
as the session could arrange.

CHAPTER XX.

FRATERNAL AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS IN THE CIT OF WALLA WALLA.

\\'alla Walla is pre-eminently a city of
fraternal orders, and with very few exceptions
the affairs of each are to be found in a flour-
ishing condition. The various social and be-
nevolent organizations in the city exercise
their several functions and are numerically in
harmony with the population of the "Garden
City."

FREEMASONRY.

The time-honored order of Free and Ac-
cepted Masons is represented in Walla Walla by
two lodges, one chapter, a commandery and
a chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star.

Walla Walla Lodge, No. 7, F. & A. M.,
was brought into existence October 19, 1859,
when the newly organized grand lodge of the
territory of Washington granted a dispensa-
tion to the following named citizens : C. R.
Allen, Braziel Grounds, A. B. Roberts, H. N.
Bruning, Thomas P. Page, Jonas Whitney,
Charles Silverman, J. Freedman and R. H.
Reigert. On the 3d of September, i860, a
regular charter was granted to the lodge, the
first officers to serve under the same being as
follows : A. B. Roberts, worshipful master ;
y. ]\I. Kennedv, senior warden; B. Sheidman,

junior warden; T. P. Page, treasurer; W. B.
Kelly, secretary; C. A. Brooks, senior deacon;
J. Caughran, junior deacon; W. H. Babcock,
tyler.

In the summer of 1864 the lodge built a
two-story frame structure on the corner of
Third and Alder streets. Two years later the
building was destroyed by fire and it became
necessary for the lodge to hold its sessions in
the assembly room of the Odd Fellows' Tem-
ple. At a later date rooms were fitted in the
Dooley Block, in East Main street, where the
lodge has since had its headquarters, the same
being known as the Knights Templar hall.

At the present time the lodge has a mem-
bership of seventy-five, and its financial aft'airs
are in excellent condition. The officers of the
lodge at the time of this writing are as fol-
lows : T. S. Steel, worshipful master; Wel-
lington Clark, senior warden; L. S. Wilson,
junior warden; Rev. Duncan Wallace, chap-
lain; Joel Chitwood, treasurer; R. C. Gaston,
secretary; H. J. Jones, senior deacon; Frank
Jarvis, junior deacon; S. E. King, senior
steward; J. D. Jones, junior steward; Mau-
rice Murphy, tyler. The regular meetings of

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

209

the Walla Walla Lodge are held at the ALi-
sonic hall on the first and third Mondays in
each month.

Blue Mountain Lodge, No. 13, F. & A. M.,
was organized April 20, 1868, by a number of
members who withdrew from Walla Walla
Lodge for this purpose. The first ofificers were
as follows: Fred Stine, worshipful master;
Lewis Day, senior warden; William O'Donnell,
junior warden ; A. Kyger, treasurer ; R. Guich-
ard, secretary; J. D. Laman, senior deacon;
E. S. Crockett, junior deacon; C. Herzog,
tyler. The lodge is financially strong and at
the present time it has a membership of one
hundred, its ofificers being: F. M. Pauly, wor-
shipful master; J. S. Schrock, senior warden;
J. H. Stockwell, junior warden; H. E. John-
son, treasurer; Y. C. Blalock, secretary; Rich-
ard McLean, senior deacon; C. N. McLean,
junior deacon; William Van Patten, senior
steward; R. A. Horn, junior steward; James
Dorr, tyler. The regular meetings of the lodge
are held at the Masonic Hall on the first and
third Mondays of each month.

Walla Walla Chapter, No. i, R. A. M.—
A chapter of the Royal Arch Masons, known
as Walla Walla Chapter, No. i, was organ-
ized September 20, 1871, with the following
charter members : E. S. Kearney, J. H. Blew-
ett, A. B. Elmer, Z. K. Straight, P. A. Pres-
ton, T. J. Peabody, A. B. Carter, J. B. Dexter,
Alfred Thomas and H. C. Paige. The first
officers of this capitular body were : E. S.
Kearney, high priest; E. B. Whitman, king;
W. P. Adams, scribe; E. S. Crockett, captain
of the host; A. B. Carter, principal sojourner;
R. P. Olds, royal arch captain; Fred Stencil,
master of the third veil; J. Shepherd, master
of the second veil; W. S. Mineer, master of
the first veil; Z. K. Straight, guide; W. P.
Adams, treasurer; R. Guichard, secretary.

The chapter now has a membership of one hun-
dred, and owns considerable property. Regu-
lar convocations are held at the Templar Hall
on the second and fourth Thursdays of each
month. The present officers of the chapter are
as follows : J. H. Stockwell, high priest ; Levi
Ankeny, king; F. W. Rees, scribe; W. P.
Winans, treasurer; W. E. Russell, secretary;
Y. C. Blalock, principal sojourner; Henry
Osterman, captain of the host; D. T. Kyger,
royal arch captain; J. S. Schrock, master of
the third veil ; F. M. Pauly, master of the first
veil; Maurice Murphy, tyler..

Washington Commandery, No. i, K. T. —
By a dispensation granted April 19, 1882, and
issued by M. E. Grand Master Benjamin Dean,
of Massachusetts, authority was granted for
the formation of a commandery of Knights
Templar among the Templars in good stand-
ing in Walla Walla and vicinity. A short time
afterward the commandery was instituted with
a good charter membership. The present offi-
cers of the commandery (December, 1900)
are as follows : J. L. Jones, eminent com-
mander ; Henry Osterman, generalissimo ; F.
M. Pauly, captain of the guard; G. W. Bab-
cock, treasurer; Y. C. Blalock, secretary; G.
H. Chamberlin, senior warden; W. E. Rus-
sell, junior warden; D. T. Kyger, standard
bearer; Levi Ankeny, sword bearer; G. H.
Sneil, warder; Maurice Murphy, sentinel. The
commandery meets on the first and third
Wednesdays of each month at Knights Tem-
plar hall.

Alki Chapter, No. 23, O. E. 5.— Alki Chap-
ter, No. 25, Order of the Eastern Star, was
organized in Walla Walla May 21, 1892, with
the following charter members : Le F. A.
Shaw, Emma E. Shaw, C. L. Whitney, Lizzie
E. Whitney, J. L. Roberts, OIlie Roberts. G.
H. Snell, Clara J. Snell, D. T. Kyger, Addie

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Kyger, F. U. Paiily, Alary Pauly, E. R.
Parkes, Laura B. Parkes, Mary Masterson,
Sadie R. McLean, J. C. Lewis, Mary E. Lewis,
and H. E. Yannatta. At the present time the
chapter has one hundred and one members,
and is in an excellent condition financially.
The regular convocations of the chapter are
on the first and third Thursdays of each month
at Knights Templar Hall. The officers (De-
cember, 1900) are: Nettie M. Gibson, W. M. ;
F. M. Pauly, \\\ P.; Ida M. :\IcLean, A. M.;
Stella ]\I. Hawley, conductor; Nora S. Rus-
sell, A. S.; D. T. Kyger,. treasurer; W. E.
Russell, secretary; Laura B. Parkes, chaplain;
Ferdinanda Horn, Adah; Clara J. Snell, Ruth;
Gertrude Parmela, Esther; Elizabeth Hill,
Martha; Lutie M. Stiles, Electa; Sarah J.
Smith, warder ; W. E. Graham, sentinel ; Ad-
die Kyger, marshal; Flora C. Stockwell, or-
ganist.

THE IXDEPENDEXT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS.

Odd Fellowship has a very strong and en-
thusiastic following in Walla Walla, where
the order is held in high estimation and its
standard well upborne. In this city is located
the Odd Fellows' Home of the state, a finely
equipped and well-managed institution, and
here also are maintained three lodges of the
order, one encampment, one canton and two
lodges of the Daughters of Rebekah.

The second lodge of Odd Fellows in the
territory of Washington was established in
Walla Walla nearly forty years ago and has
enjoyed uninterrupted prosperity from the be-
ginning to the present time, while from this
mother lodge have sprung other organizations
equally representative in nature. Indeed, it
may be said that this lodge first instituted in
Walla Walla really merits the distinction of
being designated as No. i, instead of No. 2,

inasmuch as the first lodge in the territory,
Olympia, No. i, had surrendered its charter
in 1861 and did not resume it until 1865.

Enterprise Lodge, No. 2. — On the 24th
of January, 1863, A. G. Hovey, grand master
of the grand lodge of Oregon, pursuant to an
application, granted and signed a dispensation
authorizing and empowering Messrs. A. H.
Purdy, James McAulift'. \\'illiani B. Kelly, L.
A. Burthey and Meyer Lazarus to organize a
lodge of Odd Fellows in the city of Walla
Walla, the same to be hailed and known as
Enterprise Lodge, No. 2. The lodge was duly
instituted on the 23d of February, 1863, with
the gentlemen abo\'e named as charter mem-
bers. The officers who first presided over the
destinies of the new lodge were as follows :
James McAuliff, noble grand; William B.
Kelly, vice grand; and A. H. Purdy, secre-
tary and treasurer. E. B. Whitman was the
first district deputy grand master and the first
representative to the grand lodge. The fol-
lowing interesting record concerning the lodge
is taken from an article written by Alex.
Mackay, in 1897:

"As above stated, the first charter was
issued by the grand master of Oregon, but the
sovereign grand lodge subsequently decided
that Oregon had no rights in a territory, so,
on September 26, 1865, granted a new charter,
under which the lodge worked until Washing-
ton became a state, when a new charter was
issued from our own grand lodge, while H.
E. Holmes was grand master and Le F. A.
Shaw grand secretary.

"When Enterprise Lodge was ushered into
existence Odd Fellowship was a comparative
stranger in the great northwest. Our first
meeting was held in James Conlan's building
on Alain street near Fourth. Here we were
burned out in 1864. without serious loss. \\'e

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

then removed to what was then known as
Roberts' Grove, where we rented a building
jointly with the Masons, but this being remote
from the city, Brother J. F. Abbott fixed us
up a lodge room on the premises now known
as the Cayuse stable. Here the lodge was very
prosperous for a time. Candidates were nu-
merous and our sick few. Everybody had
money then, and if perchance we found one
poor and destitute, he was usually so from
choice.' Since that time things have changed.
In 1865 the Masons built a fine hall on the
•corner of Third and Alder streets, and as our
quarters were becoming too small, we moved
to this new hall, and again for a short season
were prosperous and happy, until on the 4th
of July, 1865, a fire broke out, which swept
away that hall, together with our records, par-
aphernalia, and all we possessed, except our
written constitution, signed by the members
as they were initiated. We then secured new
quarters over Brechtel's bakery, procured a
new outfit, and the good work continued. We
husbanded our means, put our money where it
did the most good, and finally, in 1880, were
enabled to build our present fine Temple, on
the corner of Main and Fifth streets, at a cost
of about twenty thousand dollars, .which is at
present worth at least twenty-six thousand
dollars. But it is not for sale, for it is a
monument which Enterprise Lodge has raised
with its own hands and everv Odd Fellow lias
cause to feel proud of it. The erection of the
building was commenced in July, 1880 (the
corner-stone was laid July 4th), under the su-
pervision of the committee from the lodge con-
sisting of E. W. Eversz, Samuel Jacobs, D. J.
Coleman and Julius Wiesick, assisted by the
trustees of the lodge, H. Wintler, Edward
Baumeister and Charles Able. The building
Avas completed in December, 1880, and in Jan-

uary, 1 88 1, we held our first meeting in our
new hall, Brother H. E. Holmes, N. G., pre-
siding. The lodge then had one hundred mem-
bers, and the present membership is one hun^
dred and fifty-three. Since the organization
of Enterprise Lodge four hundred and five
members have signed the roll. Of the pioneer
members few are now left, viz. : E. B. Whit-
man, Charles Besserer, Charles Able, Edward
Baumeister, John Reborn, H. Wintler and W.
H. Brown. The pioneers and past grands,
who took a prominent part in the early his-
tory of the lodge, and who have died since
1890, are: A. Schumacher, November 7, 1890;
Peter Erickson, August 10, 1891 ; E. W. Ev-
ersz, January 3, 1892; D. J. Coleman, June
19, 1893; John Goudy, June 20, 1895; John
F. Abbott, March 13, 1896.

"Among those who may be classed as pio-
neer Odd Fellows, who have been initiated or
joined Enterprise Lodge by card, and are still
active members, are : E. B. Whitman, Charles
Besserer, Henry Kaseberg, H. E. Holmes, S.
F. Henderson, Alex. Mackay, C. C. McCoy,
Jacob Betz, Charles Able, W. H. Brown, John
Reborn, H. Wintler, Charles Cooper, James
jMcInroe, Thomas Taylor, John H. Stahl and
James Bryan.

"At present the lodge has a number of
young members who joined the order since
1880, many of whom are past grands, and all
of whom take an active part in the workings of
the lodge."

The lodge convenes regularly every Wed-
nesday evening. Its present officers (De-
cember, 1900) are: W. Jessup, noble grand;
Thomas Taylor, vice grand; Levi Ankeny,
treasurer; Burt Moore, secretary; and John
Cauvel, permanent secretary.

Washington Lodge, No. 19. — On the 7tli
of March, 1881, a dispensation was granted

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

for the organization of this lodge in Waha
Walla, and on the 19th of the same month
the lodge was formally instituted, the follow-
ing being the charter members: Le F. A.
Shaw, James McAuliff, Christian Sturm, Jo-
seph Cherry, W. G. Alban, A. AIcAllister and
L. J. Shell. The first officers were James Mc-
Auliff, noble grand; Christian Sturm, vice
grand ; and Joseph Cherry, secretary. A regu-
lar charter was granted to the lodge on the
nth of May, 1882. Its present membership
numbers one hundred and twenty, and its af-
fairs are in a most prosperous condition. Those
incumbent of the official positions at the pres-
ent time (December, 1900) are: G. E. Bar-
nett, noble grand; C. W. Scott, vice grand:
J. W. McGhee, Jr., recording secretary; and
Le F. A. Shaw, financial secretary. The lodge
meets on Thursday evening of each week, at
the Odd Fellows' Temple.

The following facetious description of the
institution of Washington Lodge was com-
posed by Dr. Belcher and read by him on the
twelfth anniversary of the institution of the
lodge.

On March 19, in '81,

At close of day, or set of sun,

A band of seven determined men.

And one old goat assembled then.

When all were there, the door was shut.

The goat prepared his hardest butt.

The men were bound his butts to dodge,

That all might live to form a lodge.

The N. G., which is " Noble Grand,"

And not " no good, " you understand,

Was James McAuliff, and his Vice,

That is Vice Grand (now that sounds nice

To speak of vice as being grand.

In any place in Christian land)

Was one Chris Sturm, who filled the place.

And met the goat with smiling face.

The next, I'm told, was Joseph Cherry,

Our first recording secretary,

And one you all know well, I ween

Within these walls he's oft been seen.

Le F. A. Shaw the goat then tried.

And around the room he went astride.

The hearts of all were in a flutter
To see the strength of this old butter.
Stronger than any ever seen.
Stronger than oleomargerine.
And also here, the truth to tell.
This goat could butt as hard as — well
As any goat of solemn face.
Who knows his business in this place.
William G. Alban to the front,
A butt, a yell, a groan, a grunt.
Then James McAuliff took his turn.
The name of Odd-Fellow to earn.
He stepped out quick, he felt so glad.
He met that goat and then felt sad.
Alexander, not he called the Great,
But McAllister, came to meet his fate.
The last to meet the goat and yell.
Was one all know, Larkin J. Shell.
That old goat knew his business well.
He'd served his time the truth to tell.
This little band, this honored few,
Joined hands, a noble work to do,
And also then ihey swore, forsooth.
To live in friendship, love and truth.
Were called Odd Fellows, every one.
And named their lodge for Washington,
The father of our country, great.
Likewise our great and growing state:
A name I think appropriate.
For Washington, like all great men,
Was made the butt of tories then.
But all we think, as time goes past,
"That he laughs longest who laughs last."
My muse is tired, likewise my throat,
I'll stop before you bring the goat.

Trinity Lodge, A^o. 121. — This lodge was
instituted on the 30th of April. 1892, when
W. G. Alban, then special deputy grand mas-
ter, assumed the chair, and with the aid of Le
F. A. Shaw, grand secretary, and past grands
from Enterprise Lodge, No. 2, and Washing-
ton Lodge, No. 19, conducted the work of
institution. The charter members of the lodge
were Past Grand James P. Goodhue (who was
a member of the jurisdiction of British Co-
lumbia), C. C. Gose, W. H. Flagg, F. W.
Kaser, F. D. Kimmerly, M. H. Gilliam, P. B.
Hawley, C. W. Fredericks and J. Carter
Smith. After the new officers had taken their
stations fifty-one propositions for membership
by initiation and two by card were received

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

213

and acted upon. Forty-seven candidates were
initiated and given all the degrees and two
were admitted by card. The first officers of
the lodge were : W. H. Flagg, noble grand ;

F. D. Kimmerly, vice grand; J. Carter Smith,
secretary; and P. B. Hawley, treasurer. The
lodge has flourished from the beginning, both
numerically and financially, having eighty
names upon its membership roll at the present
time. The officers for the term ending De-
cember 31, 1900, are as follows: Alvin Bos-
ton, noble grand; W. A. Koontz, vice grand;
J. Carter Smith, secretary; and Victor Hun-
ziker, treasurer. The regular meetings are
held on Monday evening of each week, and
are very interesting and instructing. The lodge
is composed to a very large extent of young
men, and they show an enthusiastic interest
in its work.

Walla Walla Eucaiiipuicnt, No. 3. — The
local camp of this branch of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows was organized on the
28th of March, 1881, by W. D. Plants, the
following named being the charter members :
H. E. Holmes, E. W. Eversz, Edward Bau-
meister, W. H. Brown, Samuel Jacobs, Charles
Abel, John Goudy and J. O. Osborn. Since
the organization of this encampment it has
grown rapidly, and is now in a flourishing-
condition, having one hundred and thirty bona
fide members. The regular meetings are held
on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each
month, at the Odd Fellows' Temple. The
present officers of the encampment are : O. T.
Cornwell, C. P. ; J. A. Riffley, H. P. ; T. N.
Bryan, S. W. ; Alvin Boston, J. W. ; Le F. A.
Shaw, scribe; and W. A. Koontz, treasurer.

Canton Walla Walla, No. i, Patriarchs
Militant, was instituted April 12, 1886, by H.
E. Holmes, grand patriarch, assisted by W.

G. Alban, grand representative, and Le F. A.

Shaw, past grand representative and grand
scribe. The charter members were W. G. Al-
ban, captain; F. D. Beyer, accountant; N. Cas-
tleman, sentinel ; and C. H. Kaseberg, picket.
The principal officers in charge at present are :
W. H. Meyer, (acting) captain; Charles L.
Whitney, clerk; Le F. A. Shaw, accountant.

Narcissa Rcbckah Lodge, No. 2, was in-
stituted October 31, 1885, by H. E. Holmes,
then deputy grand master, the charter mem-
bership numbering thirty-five. The present
membership is about one hundred and five, and
the officers now in change are : Mrs. Ratie
McClees, noble grand; Mrs. Mary McKean,
vice grand; Mrs. Lizzie Bellingham, record-
ing secretary; Herbert Osgood, financial sec-
retary; Mrs. Sarah Gray, treasurer.

Bcc Hive Rcbckah Lodge, No. Jo, was in-
stituted March i, 1895, by Mrs. Emma E.
Shaw, past president of the Rebekah assembly,
with twenty-three charter members. The
present membership is about one hundred and
twenty. The officers in charge at present are:
Mrs. Alma L. Krack, noble grand; Mrs. Mar-
guerite MuUinix, vice grand; Mrs. Mary G.
Vinson, recording secretarj?; Mrs. May Bos-
ton, treasurer.

WELCOME LODGE, I. O. O. F., OF DIXIE.

It is fitting to include here a sketch of the
Odd Fellows Lodge of Dixie. The names of
members who compose the chartering of Wel-
come Lodge, No. 117, I. O. O. F., of Dixie,
\\'ashington, on March 26, 1892, were as fol-
lows : Officers — W. J. Cantonwine, N. G. ;
R. G. Clancy, V. G. ; Marion Koger, R. Sec. ;
Charles Cochran, Per. Sec. ; Adelbert Coch-
ran, treasurer ; R. A. Stockdale, warden ; J. E.
Mj-ers, conductor; Joseph Reed, R. S. N. G. ;
J. M. Sanders, L. S. N. G.; N. J. Walters,
R. S. V. G.; A. A. Magrunn, L. S. V. G. ;

214

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

B. C. Roff, inside guard; G. W. Sanders, O.
G. ; L. Lanning, R. S. S.; Isadore Cochran,
L. S. S. ^Members— P. Demaris, J. \Y. Davis,
Samuel Brooks, ^^^ H. Johnson, Orin De-
maris and Orlando Demaris.

The order of L O. O. F. at this place has
prospered, having added since organization
fifty-nine members, and has now in good stand-
ing fifty-three members. A larger hall had to
be built for the accommodation of its mem-
bers, which was completed in 1893, size 30X
65, two stories, the upper being used exclu-
sively for lodge purposes, the lower for a gen-
eral merchandise store and doctor's office. The
building cost about thirty-five hundred dollars
complete, including" furnishings.

The Rebekah branch of Dixie, Washing-
ton, was instituted March 24, 1893, with a
membership of about eighteen, having added
since about forty members. They are doing a
grand work, giving their time, talent and
means in fitting up a room in the Odd Fel-
lows' Home at Walla Walla, furnishings to
cost about one hundred dollars.

ODD fellows' home OF WASHINGTON.

Crowning the system of Odd Fellowship
in the state of Washington is the noble insti-
tution which we now take briefly under re-
view, Walla Walla being signally favored by
having the home located within her corporate
limits. At a session of the grand lodge of the
state, held in 1S93, a special committee was
appointed to consider the advisability of estab-
lishing an Odd Fellows' home in this jurisdic-
tion, and to determine, so far as possible in
an incidental way, some appropriate method
for its establishment and maintenance. The
committee rendered its report at the annual
session of the grand lodge in 1894, recom-
mending the establishment of such a home and

offering suggestions as to the most expedient
way of establishing and maintaining the in-
stitution. The report of the committee, with
slight modifications, was adopted, whereby the
rule was established that to secure funds for
the establishment and maintenance of the
home a semi-annual per capita tax on subor-
dinate lodges be levied, and recommending
that encampments, lodges and individuals
make such voluntary contributions in aid ef the
home as their means and benevolence might
prompt. At this session of the grand lodge
that body elected a board of managers, con-
sisting of five of its members, the same to be
known as the "Board of Trustees of the Odd
Fellows' Home," and to whom are entrusted
the supervision and management of all mat-
ters pertaining to the home, under the direc-
tion of the grand lodge, to which the board
is required to make an annual report. Definite
plans for the securing of necessary funds for
carrying forward the work were formulated,
and the grand lodge also adopted a series of
ten resolutions "defining the mode of proceed-
ings to the establishment of the home," from
which we quote as follows :

First — Resolved, That there is hereby authorized to
be established and maintained in this jurisdiction an Odd
Fellows' Home for the care and support of the aged, in-
firm and indigent members of the Order, who shall be in
good standing in their respective subordinate lodges in.
this jurisdiction, and the dependent widows and orphans
of Odd Fellow's in good standing of this jurisdiction.

Ninth — Resolved, That any member of a subordi-
nate lodge domiciled in the Odd Fellows' Home as a
beneficiary thereof, shall not be entitled to receive from
his lodge the usual benefits paid by his lodge to sick and
disabled members; neither shall he be required, while re-
maining at the home, to pay dues to his lodge. When a
beneficiary member withdraws from the home, he shall,,
equally as other active membt rs, be subject to all provi-
sions of the constitutions and by-laws of his lodge.

Tenth — Resolved, That while a member of a subor-
dinate lodge remains a beneficiary inmate of the home,,
he shall continue to be a silent or honorary member of
his lodge, unless suspended or expelled for cause, under

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

215

the laws of the order, and his lodge shall be exerfipt from
the payment of dues on his account for grand lodge
revenue.

Resolved, That for a beginning of the establishment
of a fund for an Odd Fellows' Home, there be and herebj
is levied a special semi-annual tax of ten cents per capita
on each subordinate lodge in this jurisdiction, ihe first
payment being due and payable December 31, 1894, on
its membership for the preceding term ending June 30,
1894.

The members of the board of directors
were as follows : J. AL Swan, F. A. Twichell,
Z. M. Beebe, W. P. Harris and E. L. Powell,
and upon their organization Mr. Swan was
chosen president and Mr. TAvichell secretary.

At the session of the grand lodge in 1896
the board of trustees submitted its report, rec-
ommending, among other things, that the
grand lodge should at that session select, or
authorize to be selected, a site-location for the
home and also "authorize such proceedings as
may be necessary to establish and prepare the
home for the reception and care of inmates."
The report of the board was referred to a spe-
cial committee of five members, who, in sub-
mitting their report to the grand lodge, rec-
ommended that the board of trustees of the
home be authorized and empowered to receive
and accept the best proposition, in their judg-
ment, that may be offered them for the loca-
tion of the home. The committee also recom-
mended that one trustee be chosen from the
Rebekah assembly, in place of the officer whose
term expired that year. Later it was reported
to the grand lodge that the Rebekah assembly
had elected Emma E. Shaw, past president,
as such trustee, her term to cover five years.

The propositions for home sites tendered
within the time prescribed by the grand lodge
were from the Odd Fellows of Tacoma, Cen-
tralia and Walla Walla, and as the last men-
tioned was eventually accepted, it is appro-
priate that we incorporate a description of the

same, as quoted from the first annual report
of the board of trustees, issued in 189S:

This consisted of five acres of land (in what is known
as the H. P. Isaacs' tract, and is within the city limits)
and four thousand dollars in cash, or six and one-hal6
acres with three thousand dollars in cash. The land m
this tract, although limited in area, is superior in quality
of soil. A stream known as Mill creek runs across it
toward the rear end of the tract, with conditions favorable
to placing there a hydraulic ram and elevating water to
any part of the premises for irrigating or other purposes.
This tract of land fronts (4B5 feet) north on Buyer avenue,
from which it has a gentle and even slope southward
toward the creek at the south end.

The Walla Walla Water Company agreed to furnish
the home with a permanent supply of four hundrird gal-
lons of water free, provided the buildings were located on
the Isaacs tract of land. '1 his supply was supposed suffi-
cient to meet domestic requirements.

At a meeting of the board of trustees, held
in Tacoma September 5, 1896, the Walla
Walla proposition was accepted by a vote of
four to one. Plans and specifications for the
building were soon secured and the work was
pushed vigorously forward, the contract for
the erection of the home being eventually
awarded to N. F. Butler, of Walla Walla.
At a meeting of the board held in June, 1897,
J. M. Swan, then president of the board, was
selected "to have the charge and care of the
home and premises connected therewith, and to
enter upon his duties as such as soon as conven-
ient after the home building, under present
contract, shall be completed." The building
was completed in the suminer of 1897, accord-
ing to the terms of the contract, and was duly
accepted by the board of trustees. The home
was opened for the reception of inmates on
December i, 1897.

The home premises and building are thus
described in the first annual report of the
board of trustees (1898), but since the issuing
of the same many improvements have been
made about the place :

2l6

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

The premises are located well within the city limits,
fronting northward on Boyer avenue, with a frontage of
four hundred and sixty-five feet, and extending south-
ward to include six and one-half acres of ground. Mill
creek crosses the property about two-thirds distance
from front to rear. The grading that has been done
lately on the grounds renders the surface now quite even,
with a gentle slope from front towards the rear, as far as
the creek. It lays well for irrigating when water is applied.
The soil here is said to be moderately rich and product-
ive: it is permeated with more or less alkali, is of a very
light texture, leaching moisture rapidly, and frequent
rains or artificial irrigation is necessary to make it yield
fairly of vegetables, or of any plants that do not root
deeply. We have one No. 6 hydraulic ram now in use,
sending water to a tank in the top of the home building
and to the barn also. This furnishes an ample supply
for domestic purposes. We are now placing a No. 10
hydraulic ram and pipes to supply water for irrigating
purposes. In this dry soil and climate this is necessary,
as no amount of labor will produce abundantly — espe-
cially of vegetables — without a fair supply of water. A
good sidewalk, six feet wide, and a neat fence are laid
and built across the entire front, with a row of shade trees
planted outside the walk. A good walk, six feet wide,
extending from the building to the avenue, with a gate
in front, is also placed. A front lawn, 80x150 feet area,
on the space from the building to the avenue. Two
gates suitable for carriage entrances, one at each end of
the lawn, with drives to and around in front and rear of
the building. A carriage entering at one gate may drive
to the building at either front or rear, and by moving for-
ward depart by the other gate, or by making the full
circuit of the building, depart by the same gate where it
entered. These gates and drives are deemed as very
convenient and appropriately laid out.

The area of the home building is 42x90 feet, the
basement is 8 feet 6 inches clear, floor to ceiling, the
superstructure is two full stories and an attic story, which
over its entire area is very suitable for dormitories, mak-
ing it practically a four-story building. Its construction
was, by contract, let to Mr. Norman F. Butler for the
sum of S5,609. The specifications for its construction
(under the contract) called for the setting off of two
rooms in the basement (one for kitchen and one for store
room or any purpose desired), the complete finishing of
the first story in accordance with specifications and plan
of rooms, etc., flights of stairs from bottom to top story
of the building, all windows put in place, the laying of
under (or first) floor in the two upper stories, and setting
the hall studding and some cross or partition stud-
ding; also that the building throughout should be wired
for electricity and piped for water and gas, and a 460-gal-
lon tank be placed in the upper part of the building
ready for water connection. The contract for the con-
struction of the building excepted the inside finishing of
the two upper stories, which was left to be done at a sub-
sequent time.

The first story of the building is suitably divided
into convenient rooms and apartments as follows: Seven
bed rooms, a spacious room for dining hall, a reception
room, a well lighted and spacious room for general use
of inmates as library, card room, smoking room and gen-
eral sitting rooin.

■ A section is conveniently set off in one corner of
the building, where there are two bath rooms, a recess
with two fixed marble wash basins, a closet for storing
linen, etc., and two toilet closets. The water system in
its connections and distribution is very good and the
supply for domestic purposes is more than ample for
present needs.

The original superintendent of the home,
as has already been noted, was J. j\L Swan,
and during his regime Mrs. Dora Busbridge
officiated as matron. The present superintend-
ent is E. J. Colvin and Mrs. Colvin is matron.
The home has from the start been admirably
conducted and is a distinctive honor to the
Odd Fellows of the state. From the time of
the opening of the institution to the present
date (December, 1900) there have been ad-
mitted as inmates eleven brothers of the order,
one widow and thirteen orphans. Within
this period three brothers, one widow and six
orphans have left the' home, and four brothers
have died there.

In conclusion we find it apropos to define
the general object of the home, and this is
succinctly given in Rule i, adopted by the
board of trustees. We also append Rule 2,
which defines the cjualifications for admission :

Rule 1. This home is not founded, and is not to be
used, as a hospital for the care of persons temporarily
disabled by sickness or accident. It is established for the
care and maintenance of members of the order who are
unable to earn a livelihood, by reason of infirmities of
age and the chronic afilictions incident thereto: and are
in indigent circumstances, without other means of sup-
port, and of the infirm and helpless wives or widows of
brothers: and of helpless orphans of members of the
order, who are without other and proper provision for
their care and education.

A member of the order who is in standing and has
maintained membership for two consecutive years in
some lodge in the jurisdiction of Washington, and who
from protracted disease or accidental injury has become

Odd-Fellows' Home, Walla Walla.

imm^amtm

Walla Walla City Hall, Police Headquarters and Fire Station.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

217

so enfeebled as to be incapacitated to earn a livelihood
(and being without proper means of support), such inca-
pacity being seemingly permanent, and being certified to
by a reputable physician, may be admitted tn the home
as a member thereof, on due application and recommend-
ation of the lodge wherein such membership is held.
Such persons upon being admitted to the home will be
cared for in sickness and in health, while they remain
members thereof, and will be required to relinquish all
claims upon their respective lodges for benefits, as a con-
dition of their admission to and support in the home.
The funeral expenses required by the constitution and
by-laws shall be paid to the home on the death of a mem-
ber of the order who is a member thereof; unless the
lodge wherein the deceased held membership shall im-
mediately upon the death of such member remove the
remains and conduct the funeral, or cause the same tu
be done.

Rule 2. Members of the order to be entitled to ad-
mission and become members of the home, as of right
must be infirm and indigent as herein above set forth.
Each must be at the time of admission, and for at least
two years previous to. such admission, a member of the
order in standing within the jurisdiction of the grand
lodge of Washington, I. O. O. F., and such member 'must
present to the board of trustees, or to its authorized com-
mittee on admission, a proper application to be admitted
to, and become a member of the home, showing the fact
of such membership in the order, date of admission to the
lodge, rank therein, age of the applicant, and the fact of in-
ability for self-support by reason of infirmitv and being
without other means of support; requesting with the
recommendation of his or her lodge to be admitted to the
home, and that as a condition of being admitted, all
claims for benefits while there are relinquished by the
applicant. All such applications for admission must be
recommended by the lodge, certified by the signatures of
the noble grand and secretary, and be attested with the
seal of the lodge wherein the applicant holds member-
ship; and if admitted the application shall be preserved
among the records of the home.

Aged, infirm and indigent wives of aged, infirm and
indigent Odd Fellows in standing in this jurisdiction, and
the aged, infirm and indigent widows of Odd Fellows
who, at the time of their death, were members in standing
of lodges in this jurisdiction, may be admitted to the
home upon satisfactory proof of the facts, by due appli-
cation as above required, and subject to the same condi-
tions as above provided for brothers.

Orphans or half-orphan children of members of the
order who are, or who, at the time of their death, were
members in standing in some lodge in the jurisdiction of
the grand lodge, I. O. O. F. , of Washington, such children
being under fourteen years of age, and without other
suitable homes or means of proper care and support, may
be admitted and cared for in the Odd Fellows' Home
upon such proofs as shall be required by the board of
trustees, to be furnished by either subordinate or Rebekah

lodge. It is provided that all adult applicants for admis-
sion to the home shall be of good, moral and temperate
habits. Blank applications for admission to the home,
appropriate for the respective classes above named, may
be obtained upon application to the secretary of the
board of trustees or to the grand secretary.

YOUNG men's institute.

The local council of this fraternal order
was organized on the 15th of January, 1896,
with a charter membership of thirty-two. The
first officers were : D. J. Morton, president ;
N. S. Sullivan, first vice-president; J. Mc-
Ouade, second vice-president; T. S. Scally,
recording secretary; Byron Lutcher, financial
secretary; Adolph Bischoff", corresponding sec-
retary; John Kremer, treasurer; Joseph Mc-
Bride, inside sentinel; Alonzo Murphy, out-
side sentinel; W. H. Weber, John Dunnigan
and M. J. Brennan, executive committee. The
present officers of the organization are as fol-
lows : T. E. Mason, president ; Leo Ferguson,
first vice-president; Joe LaFortune, second
vice-president; Joseph McGrath, recording sec-
retary; William Ryan, financial secretary;
John Wagner, marshal ; George Massam, treas-
urer; Matthew Mooney, inside sentinel; Dr.
Y. C. Blalock, medical examiner; Rev. M.
Flohr, chaplain; and Joseph Charrier, J. F.
McAndrews and John Dunnigan, executive
committee.

UNITED ARTISANS.

The branch of United Artisans known as
Crescent Assembly, No. 66, was organized in
Walla Walla July 20, 1896, by Dr. Farnham,
with twenty charter members. The assembly
at the present time has a membership of fifty
and is steadily growing. Following are the
officers: J. E. Ireland, D. G.' M.; Mrs. Etta
Macy, P. M. A.; W. A. Williams, M. A.;
Delia Johnson, S. ; G. F. McGhee, I.; J. C.

2l8

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Jones, secretary; J. F. Stack, treasurer; Mrs.
Lena White, S. C. ; A. S. McDaniels, J. C. ;
Ralph White, M. C; Dr. W. E. Russell, M.
E. The lodge holds its meetings regularly
on the first and third Tuesdays of each month.

THE NATIONAL UNION.

This fraternal insurance organization es-
tablished itself in the city of Walla Walla in
March, 1897, the organizer being Mr. A. H.
Fowle, and the name by which the local body
is known being Marcus Whitman Council, No.
730. At the present writing the membership
numbers about forty, and the principal officers
in charge of the council are : Fred Forrest,
president; T. N. Bryan, vice-president; Her-
bert Osgood, secretary; C. E. Gilbert, treas-
urer. Like most of the orders in this city,
the council is well supported, has plenty of
money for expenses, and possesses a goodly
supply of regalia and equipment.

THE PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC.

This flourishing young order, whose su-
preme lodge is located in Pendleton, Oregon,
has firmly established itself in Walla Walla, the
local organization being known as Valley En-
campment, No. 22. While membership is not
con-fined to the first settlers of the Pacific
coast, its degree work is commemorative of
life on the plains during pioneer days, and
one of its most important incidental advantages
will be its keeping alive the memory of those
stirring times. The charter under which the
encampment exercises its authority bears date
February 23, 1900, and was issued by H. K.
Hines as supreme commander to the following
persons, namely: Lillie J\L Cox, commander;
Edwin G. Cox, captain; Candace C. Bishop,
chaplain; A. A. King, treasurer; Herbert Os-
good, scribe; Emiline J. Mabry, north scout;

A. M. Pence, south scout; Nelson D. Cox,
ancient guide; Addie Rasmus, messenger;
Wesley Bailey, sentinel; Mary F. Tett, picket;
Nelson I. Blalock, Walter M. Ely, W. B. Mor-
gan, Ruth Hales, Carrie Rudd, Charles Ea-
gan, Milton B. Johnson, J. N. Jensen, Orsen
R. Smith and others. The membership of the
encampment at the present time numbers about
forty, and the four principal officers now in
charge are : E. G. Cox, commander ; Mrs.
Lillie M. Cox, captain; Herbert Osgood,
scribe; A. A. King, treasurer. The organiza-
tion is in a flourishing condition financially,
and possesses an abundant supply of regalia
and equipment.

UNITED WORKMEN.

Integrity Lodge, No. 26, Ancient Order of
United Workmen, was organized in Walla
Walla March 17, 1880, the charter bearing the
same date. The following were the first officers
and charter members : Le F. A. Shaw, P. M.
W. ; H. H. Brodeck, M. W. ; H. D. Chapman,
F. ; J. F. McLean, O. ; C. E. Whitney, Rec. ; C.
T. Thompson, Rec'r ; C. S. Boyer, financial sec-
retary; M. Wagner, G. ; F. J. Starke, L W. ;
C. Sturm, O. W.; A. S. Nichols, A. L. Lor-
enzen, W. B. Clowe, Charles Abel, E. S. Kel-
log, J. C. Painter, William Jones, E. H. Mor-
rison, M. Ryan, E. L. Herifif, P. B. Johnson,
R. P. Reynolds, R. W. Mitchell, C. M. John-
son, H. M. Porter, H. G. Mauzey, R. Stoot,
Thomas Taylor, J. B. Welch, B. L. Baker,

B. W. Taliaferro, J. W. Gray, A. Brodeck,
J. H. Smith, W. C. Painter, J. N. Fall, Will-
iam Vawter. The lodge is in a prosperous
condition and has a membership of two hun-
dred and seven. The regular convocations of
the lodge are on the second and fourth Mon-
days of each month. The present officers (De-
cember, 1900) are: A. J. Gillis, G. R. ; D.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

219'

Wertheimer, Fin.; H. A. Blackman, master;
J. W. Feilder, P. M. ; Samuel Maxon, Fore. ;
P. P. Pearson, Rec.

DEGREE OF HONOR.

Ida Lodge, No. p, D. of H., derives its
right to exist and perform its functions from
a cliarter bearing date April 12, 1893, and
signed by Oliver Hall, grand master workman,
and J. M. Pickens, grand recorder. The per-
sons to whom the charter was originally grant-
ed are: Amelia Brodeck, P. C. of H. ; R.
Wertheimer, L. of H. ; Allie E. Sloan, record-
er; Jennie Sampson, receiver; K. B. Webber,
L W. ; Ida K. Parks, C. of H. ; Mary B. Eich-
ler, C. of C. ; D. Deane, financier; Agnes Vin-
son, S. U. ; and Mary Stern, O. W. Under
its authority they and their successors in office
and the members who have fallen in line with
them have maintained a prosperous and flour-
ishing organization ever since. The place of
m.eeting of this sorority is Knights Templar
Hall, and the time the second and fourth
Tuesdays of the month.

WOMEN OF WOODCRAFT.

The local circle of this sorority, known as
Woody Glen Circle, No. 176, had its incep-
tion on the 4th of February, 1898, Mrs. Carrie
Van Orsdell, of Pendleton, Oregon, grand
guardian, being the organizer. On the char-
ter are twenty-four names. The lodge has
continued to prosper since its first meeting,
and its membership has increased until it now
numbers about forty-two. The order has re-
cently installed its officers for the year 1901,
the personnel of whom is as follows : Mrs.
EHza McDonald, past guardian; Mrs. Cath-
erine Munson, guardian neighbor; Mrs. Nancy
Koontz, banker; Mrs. Lutie M. Stiles, clerk;
Mrs. Ollie Burke, advisor; Mrs. Virgie Bacon,

magician; Mrs. May Vinson, musician; Mrs.
Katie Hall, attendant; Mrs. Elizabeth Cooper,
inside sentinel; Z. Dimmick, outside sentinel;
H. M. Hedrick, captain of the guard. The
regular meetings of the circle are held in K.
of P. hall on the first and third Saturdays of
each month.

WOODMEN OF THE WORLD.

The W^alla Walla Lodge of the Woodmen
of the World was instituted in October, 1891,
with the following officers : C. B. Stewart,
C. C; Victor Wilson, A. L. ; R. T, Madrell,
B.; S. W. White, C; W. C. Durham, E. ;
T. S. Flowers, G. Since its organization the
lodge has grown very rapidly and at the pres-
ent time has over one hundred members in
good standing. The regular meetings of the
lodge are held on the first and third Tuesdays
of each month. The officers (December,
1900) are : D. J. Fry, C. C. ; J. R. Street, A.
L.; H. N. Hedrick, B. ; C. I. Hall, C. ; M.
Stiles, E.; J. Vinson, W.; J. W. Cookerly, S.;
board of managers, G. C. Harris, W. T. Kirk-
man and M. Stiles.

FORRESTERS OF AMERICA.

Court Evening Star, No. j?5, was organ-
ized in Walla Walla in January, 1896, with
twenty-five charter members. Those who
served as first officers were : J. W. Cookerly,
C. R.; Marvin Evans, S. C. R. ; A. Mellin,
treasurer ; J. E. Thomas, F. S. ; Herman
Krack, R. S. Though quite young, the lodge
is in excellent condition financially, and its
membership has grown to about one hundred
and forty. The lodge owns property valued
at twelve hundred dollars. The officers are :
A. K. Durant, C. R. ; J. H. McDonnell, S. C.
R. ; Henry Sampson, treasurer; J. C. Cauvel,
F. S. ; H. Oso-ood, R. S. The lodge is honored

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

by the position of one of its members, J. \Y.
Cookerly, who is at present grand chief ranger
of the order for the state. Regular convoca-
tions of the members are held on Friday of
each week at Odd Fellows' Temple.

THE KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS.

Walla Walla was the first city north of
San Francisco to be favored by the establish-
ment of a subordinate lodge of the Knights
of Pythias. Of the organization and early his-
tory of this lodge, which was known as Ivan-
hoe Lodge, No. I, but little can be said, as
the same has long since surrendered its char-
ter and the records are not accessible to the
compiler of this \-oIume. Certain it is that it
grew and flourished for many years and did
not go out of existence until another lodge
had been established to which the interests of
Pythian Knighthood in this locality could
safely be entrusted. This is known as Colum-
bia Lodge, No. 8, and was instituted on the
23d of October, 1882, by authority of a dis-
pensation granted by the grand lodge of Ore-
gon, the organizer being Past Chancellor Jo-
seph Weitz, of Friendship Lodge, No. 9, of
The Dalles, who was assisted in the work by
members of the old Ivanhoe Lodge, No. i.
On the charter are forty- four names. The
lodge has continued to prosper ever since its
incipiency, and now has more than one hun-
dred members in good standing. It is one of
the richest K. of P. lodges in the jurisdiction.
The first officers were : Past chancellor, S. A.
Deckard; chancellor commander, W. M.
Geddes ; vice commander, H. S. Young ; prel-
ate, Robert Gerry; master of finance, P. P.
Pearson; master of exchequer, Robert G.
Parks; keeper of records and seal, E. P. Ed-
sen; master at arms, William Leslie. The
present officers are: C. C, Robert G. Parks,

P. S. R. ; V. C, Joseph Lenderman ; P., Jacob
Schubert; M. of W., C. A. Walter, P. C;
M. of Ex., A. P. Pearson, P. C; M. of F.,
H. E. Johnson, P. C. ; K. of R. and S., T. D.
S. Hart, P. C. ; M. at A., W. R. Beattie ; inner'
guard, N. P. Miller; Outer guard, F. M. Up-
dike ; trustees, Hans Romer, P. P. Pearson
and T. J. Rose.

RATHBONE SISTERS.

Mistletoe Temple, A^o. 2^, Rathhone Sis-
ters, was organized and instituted April 6,
1900, by Mrs. Mary Baker, of Colfax, M. Ex.
G. C. of the state of Washington, assisted by
members of Waitsburg Temple. The first and
present officers are : Most excellent past chief,
Sarah Lambert; most excellent chief, Lizzie
Games ; most excellent senior, Susan Kees ;
most excellent junior, Annie Clement; M. of
T., Gilliam Bartness; M. of R. and S., Agnes
Halter; M. of F., Bertha Hart; G. of I. T.,
Maggie Mclnroe; G. of O. T., Elizabeth Schu-
bert. The membership of the order at the
time of its inception numbered twenty-five.

LADIES OF THE MACCABEES.

Garden City Hive, No. 48, was organized
Fe]:)ruary i, 1899, by Mrs. Catherine Powers,
state deputy. The original membership num-
bered twenty-eight persons, but the hive has
increased numerically until there are now
fort3'-five names on its roll. The officers in
charge at present are: Mrs. Lizzie Crowe, lady
commander ; Mrs. Mary Rogers, past lady com-
mander; Mrs. Mary Evans, lieutenant com-
mander; Mrs. Viola Harding, record keeper;
Mrs. Lida Bentley, finance keeper; Mrs. Sally
Smith, chaplain; ]\Irs. Abbie Caldwell, ser-
geant ; Mrs. Maden, mistress at arms ; Mrs.
Martha Ebert, sentinel; Mrs. Abbie Thomp-
son, picket. The hive exercises its authority

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

at the present time under charter bearing date
November 5, 1900, and granted to the follow-
ing officers, namely: Mary M. Woodworth,
past commander; Amy A. Rogers, lady com-
mander; Ellen M. Augustavo, record keeper;
Lida Bentley, finance keeper; Sallie H. Smith.,
chaplain; j\Iay Evans, sergeant; Evie John-
son, mistress at arms; Martha Ebert, senti-
nel; Nancy Baker, picket. This sorority is in
a prosperous condition financially, and pos-
sesses an abundant supply of regalia and equip-
ment.

THE MODERN WOODMEN OF AMERICA.

This largest of all fraternal insurance or-
ganizations first established itself in Walla
Walla on October 29, 1897, when Mountain
View Camp, No. 5,096 was instituted under
dispensation of the head camp of the United
States, granted to J. L Brown, one of its dis-
trict deputies. Forty-three persons were ini-
tiated into the mysteries of woodcraft on the
first meeting night, and before all preliminar-
ies had been arranged ten more were induced
to join the order, so that there are in all fifty-
three names on the charter. The camp has
grown steadily since its inception, its mem-
bership now numbering about one hundred
and sixty-five neighbors in good standing.
There are also at this writing perhaps twenty
persons awaiting initiation and adoption. The
personnel of the officers elected for the ensu-
ing year as follows : J. Jennings, venerable
consul; B. S. Wadsworth, worthy advisor;
G. S. Bond, clerk; C. S. Buffum, banker;
Charles G. Shumway, escort; Drs. Russell,
Owen% and Stiles, camp physicians ; A. C. T.
Shelden, watchman; John E. Johnson, sentry;
L. L. Reynolds, delegate to head camp. Under
the efficient leadership of this able corps of

officers the camp will undoubtedly continue to
prosper, and a healthy growth in membership
and influence may be confidently predicted.

IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN.

This fraternity established itself in Walla
Walla on May 18, 1898, when Walla Walla
Tribe, No. 23, was instituted and initiated into
the mysteries of the order, the organizer being
J. L. McMurray, deputy great incohonee. On
the charter are sixty-eight names, and the
membership has steadily increased until it
now exceeds one hundred and forty. The per-
sonnel of the first officers was as follows : J.
M. Hill, sachem; John R. Stockton,' senior
sagamore; A. W. Bennett, junior sagamore;
Le F. A. Shaw, P. G. S., prophet; J. Carter
Smith, chief of records; John Bachtold, keeper
of wampum. Those 'presiding at present are:
J. O. Snyder, sachem; J. M. Smith, senior
sagamore; E. P. Palmer, junior sagamore;
J. J. Schiffner, prophet; J. Carter Smith, chief
of records; John Bachtold, keeper of wampum.
The tribe is in a very flourishing condition
financially and has regalia and equipment ga-
lore. Its membership continues to increase
rapidly.

DEGREE OF POCAHONTAS.

loka Council, No. 10, D. of P., was insti-
tuted on April 14, 1900, by John M. Hill, great
sachem of the great reservation of Washing-
ton, the charter membership numbering thirty
four. The first and present officers are : Emma
E. Shaw, prophetess ; Elizabeth B. Hill, Poca-
hontas; Flora C. Stockwell, Wenonah; Lula
M. Schwarz, keeper of records; Fannie Bach-
told, keeper of wampum. This council is, not-
withstanding its youth, in a very prosperous
and flourishing condition.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

THE ROYAL ARCANUM.

Jl'alla Walla Lodge, No. 1594, was insti-
tuted on the 4th of May, 1896, and its char-
ter was issued on the 26th day of the same
month, granting to John N. McGhee, Jr.,
Allen H. Reynolds, Joseph C. Scott, Albert
L. ^^' illis, William R. Criffield, Edwin S. Clark,
Oliver T. Cornwell, William H. Kirkman,
Ernest R. Stending, Walter ]\L Ely, John A.
Beard, Osias P. Jaycox, ^Villiam C. Diljblee,
Harry O. Kelso, Herbert C. Gregg, Charles
E. Burrows, Bazil W. Schell, Amos K. Dice,
Thomas L. H. Bowman, Lewis L. Tallman,
Arthur C. Cornwell and Charles E. Nye the
right to initiate persons who may be accepted
for membership by ballot of the fraternity,
and to do all other acts and things which a law-
fully constituted lodge of the Royal Arcanum
may of right do. Under authority of this
charter the lodge has been exercising its func-
tions ever since, and at present it is in a duly
prosperous condition. It meets on the second
and fourth Tuesdays of each month in the
S. of V. hall. The officers for the year 1901
are as follows : Regent, Edgar Lemman ; vice
regent, W. C. Dibblee; orator, W. D. Lyman;
past regents. J. W. McGhee, J. C. Scott and
Edgar Lemman ; secretary, J. C. Scott ; col-
lector, J. W. McGhee; treasurer, B. W. Schell;
guide, R. L. Brittain; warden, E. A. Knight;
sentry, A. F. Kees.

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF GOOD TEMPLARS.

Morning Star Lodge, No. 236, L 0. G. T.,
had its inception in the fall of 1899, and for
some time thereafter a flourishing lodge was
maintained. Latterly, however, no meetings
have been held, but a movement is on foot to
revive the organization, and it is hoped that
before many days have elapsed the lodge will

again be vigorously at work. Its charter,
which is dated September 14, 1899, was issued
to the following persons, namely : M. E
Brewer, Duncan Wallace, Eva Westfall, Nancy
\\'allace, J. C. Cornwell, Burt Owens, Mrs. A.
M. Hannaman, W. J. White, F. Warren Jes-
sup, J. L. Bauldwin, Mrs. A. C. Guinn, Victor
Wilson, Hattie Chew, Maude Brewer, J. W.
Brewer, Jennie M. Brewer, Fannie Gholson,
Josephine Parker, George Hausman, Allen L.
Winans, E. L. Waldron, Corwin Waldron,
J. Kissler, Joseph Wallace and Emma May
Bauldwin. The officers who had charge of the
organization for the first quarter were: Mer-
ton E. Brewer, chief templar; Nancy Wallace,
vice templar; Duncan Wallace, chaplain; F.
^Varren Jessup, secretary; George Hausman,
assistant secretary; J. Kissler, treasurer; E.
L. Waldron, marshal; Joseph Wallace, deputy
marshal ; J. L. Bauldwin, guard ; J. W. White,
lodge deputy; Mrs. A. M. Hannaman, super-
intendent juvenile temple; Burt Owens, past
chief templar.

GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.

A. Lincoln Post, No. 4, G. A. R., was or-
ganized in Walla Walla on the 8th of Febru-
ary, 1 88 1, by J. H. Smith, to whom a special
dispensation had been granted. The following
names appear on the charter : John H. Smith,
John F. INIcLean, Parish B. Johnson, James
M. Coolidge, R. P. Reynolds, Abram Ellis,
James Howe, John A. Neill, O. F. Wilson, H.
O. Simonds, Samuel Nulph, Charles Heim,
Isaac Chilberg, A. D. Rockafellow, William
Lesslie, F. F. Adams, F. B. Morse, R. M. Com-

stock and Ambrose Oldaker, and the officers

it
to whom authority was first entrusted were : J.

H. Smith, commander; P. B. Johnson, senior

vice commander; J. F. McLean, junior vice

commander; O. F. W^ilson, quartermaster; H.

HISTORY OF WALLx\ WALLA COUNTY.

223

O. Simonds, officer of the day ; Isaac Chilberg,
officer of the guiird; R. P. Reynolds, adjutant.
The post has been in a flourishing condition
throughout the entire nineteen years of its his-
tory, and is at present well supplied with regalia
and equipment. Though the rules for determin-
ing eligibility are such as to practically preclude
an increase of membership, A. Lincoln Post,
No. 4, has held its own well, the names on
the muster roll at this date (January, 1901)
numbering fifty-six. The officers installed for
service during the year just opening are : B. C.
Bedell, commander ; S. Baker, senior vice com-
mander; Andrew Johnson, junior vice com-
mander ; R. P. Reynolds, chaplain ; Robert Jen-
kins, surgeon; E. W. Elliott, quartermaster;
M. G. Parr, officer of the day; R. G. Coyle,
officer of the guard; E. H. Nixon, adjutant;
D. E. Earp, sergeant major.

A LINCOLN RELIEF CORPS, NO. 5,

Was instituted in April, 1886, with twenty-
five charter members, the officer in charge of
the organization and initiatory ceremonies
being Mr. H. Carnes, commander of A. Lin-
coln Post, No. 4, G. A. R. Some of the prin-
cipal officers in charge of the corps during the
first year of its existence were: Mrs. Jane
Erickson, president; Mrs. Nancy Gregg, secre-
tary; Mrs. Lizzie Crowe, treasurer. The
lodge has flourished from the date of its incep-
tion to the present, though the necessarily lim-
ited number of eligibles for membership for-
bid a rapid numerical growth. The persons
constituting the present corps number about
thirty-three, twenty-eight of whom are in good
standing, and the officers who have been elected
for the ensuing year are : Mrs. Abbie Caldwell,
presddent; Mrs. Mary Baker, senior vice pres-
ident; Mrs. Susan Clark, junior vice president;
Mrs. Frank Bedell, treasurer; Mrs. Lizzie

Crowe, secretary; Miss Cora France, chaplain;
Mrs. Edith Birdsill, conductor; and Mrs. Lida
Brock, guard.

THE SONS OF HERMAN.

Schiller Lodge, No. is, O. D. H. S., de-
rives its authority to exist and perform its
distinctive functions from a charter dated June
5, 1900, issued to thirty-three persons. The
organization has flourished since its inception,
and has enjoyed a healthy growth in member-
ship.

ORDER OF WASHINGTON.

Whitman Union, No. 19, 0. of W., was in-
stituted in Walla Walla in December, 1899,
the date of its charter being December 26, of
that year. The persons to whom the same was
issued are the following, namely: Nancy
Koontz, past president; Walter B. Brook, presi-
dent; Daniel Macy, vice-president; Jaihes Z.
Smith, secretary; William Koontz, treasurer;
William Powell, chaplain; Emma E. Rogers,
Mary ; Mrs. Margaret Mullinix, Martha ; John
H. Wallace, conductor ; Donna L. Thomas, as-
sistant conductor; Eva Magumm, assistant
guard ; Thomas D. Foster, sentinel ; Dr. Walter
M. Ely, medical examiner; John H. Bruer-
statte, Matthew Wilkinson and John W. Foster,
trustees. The lodge has been in active opera-
tion ever since its inception, meeting regularly
twice per month. The present membership
numbers about fifty.

SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR VETERANS.

On Thursday evening, May 24, 1900, the
resident members of Company I, N. G. W., met
at Armory Hall and organized General Law-
ton Post, S. A. W. v., with the following as
officers: Commander, W. B. Buffum; senior
vice commander, T. D. S. Hart; junior vice
commander, D. H. Roche; adjutant, L. P. Con-

!24

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

way; quartermaster, Benjamin Goldman; chap-
lain, Kennith McDowell; officer of the day,
G. \y. O'Neil ; officer of the guard, C. S. Pres-
ton; trustees, C. F. Buffum and C. S. Timmons.
At the present time the order in \\'alla Walla
has sixty-two members.

FR.\TERN.\L ORDER OF EAGLES.

The Walla Walla Acric, No. 26, was or-
ganized June 18, 1899, with a membership of
fifty and in less than a year's time it had nearly
three hundred members. The rapid growth
of the order was due to the popularity of its
enthusiastic supporters and the pleasant Sun-
day evening convocations. The lodge at the
present time has three hundred and fort}- mem-
bers. The officers are : Oscar Cain, W. P.
P. ; John Smails, W. P. ; Adolph Swartz, W.
T.; W. G. Campbell, W. S. ; H. S. Blandford,
W. C. '

BUILDING .\SS0CIATI0N.

The Inter-State Building, Loan and Trust
Association was formed in \\'alla \\"alla, in
1890, the main object being the mutual con-
venience of both borrowers and lenders. The
present officers of the association are: F. W.
Paine, president; William O'Donnell, vice-
president; J. ]\I. Hill, treasurer; A. K. Dice,
secretary; J. L. Sharpstein, attorney.

THE W^■\LLA WALLA GUN CLUB.

The Walla Walla Gun Club was organized
in March, 1900, with a large membership. Im-
mediately after the organization of the club
grounds were procured at Fort ^^'alla Walla
and a gun house and targets were erected. The
site is a typical one for the work of thee lub and
is often frequented by visiting gun teams. The
club holds shoots regularly on each Friday
afternoon. On February 20, 1901, the annual

election was held and other business done, as
indicated in the appended newspaper excerpt.

The Walla Walla Gun Club held its annual election
of officers last evening. The meeting was well attended
and much interest was taken in the election. The new
officers are: Z. K. Straight, president; John Justice, vice
president; Will G. Campbell, secretary; Fred Martin,
treasurer; John L. Sharpstein, captain. The executive
committee is composed of the following members: Z. K.
Straight, W. G. Campbell, J. L. Sharpstein, H. S. Balder-
sone, and Wellington Clark.

The club was organized a year ago this month with a
healthy membership and during that time has grown
rapidly. The names of sixty-seven sportsman are now on
the membership roll. The club is considered one of the
best in the state and boasts of a number of excellent
marksmen.

To-morrow afternoon the rifle and shotgun teams,
which will represent Walla Walla in the match shoot
with Dayton next Sunday, will hold their last practice,
and it is desired that all the members of the two teams be
in attendance. The teams are confident of winning both
events from Dayton.

THE WALLA WALLA CLUB.

On June 25, 1890, fifty of the enterprising
citizens of Walla Walla assembled in the coun-
cil chamber for the purpose of organizing a
club, the object of which should be the promo-
tion of sociability and good fellowship among
its members. Air. F. W. Paine was chosen
chairman of the meeting and Mr. Henry Kel-
ling, secretary. A carefully prepared consti-
tution was offered for the consideration of the
proposed club, and after due deliberation the
same was adopted. In accordance with its
provisions the following officers were elected,
namely, William Kirkman, president; F. D.
Boyer, treasurer; J. L. Sharpstein, vice-presi-
dent; Henry Kelling. secretary; Messrs. J. G.
Paine, H. H. Turner, C. D. Bahou, J. L. Sharp-
stein, T. R. Eastman, R. G. Parks, Frank
Foster and Henry Kelling, governing commit-
tee. Club rooms were opened on the third floor
of the Rees-Winans building, and fitted up with
billiard, pool and card tables, reading room.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

225

etc. These have been maintained continuously
since. The rooms are comfortably and taste-
fully furnished, and would be a credit to a
similar club in a much larger city than Walla
Walla. At present the membership numbers
about sixty-five gentlemen, and the officers
now in charge are : Levi Ankeny, president ; L.
S. Wilson, vice-president; W. P. Winans,
treasurer; Dr. W. E. Russell, secretary; R. C.
Kerr, J. G. Paine, Dr. F. W. Rees, Dr. Y. C.
Blalock, F. S. Dement, A. S. LeGrow, J. H.
Stockwell, L. S. Wilson and Dr. W. E. Rus-
sell, governing committee.

THE WALL.\ WALLA CITY LIBRARY.

There are few institutions which can be
more potent for good in any community than
a well-chosen public library, the effect of which
naturally is to enable one to employ for his
own elevation the hour which might otherwise
be scjuandered in frivolities or worse than
wasted in the mischief which idle hands will
always find to do. The city of Walla Walla
is especially fortunate in the possession of a
very good library, comprising about three thou-
sand five hundred volumes, and covering a
wide range of subjects. As indicating the ex-
tent to which the library is patronized, we may
say that there are at present over nine hundred
cards in circulation and that about forty vol-
umes per day, on an average, are drawn out by
the book-loving people of Walla Walla. One
valuable feature of the library is its comforta-
ble and commodious reading room, upon the
tables of which all the leading magazines and
many newspapers and other publications are
to be found. For this splendid educational
force the city is indebted largely to the Ladies'
Reading Club, through whose exertions the
major part of the initial thousand dollars'

worth of property was secured. The library
15

first opened its doors to the public in November,
1897, offering the free use of its 776 volumes
to all residents of the city who would exe-
cute an agreement to make good all books bor-
rowed and not returned, to pay promptly any
fines for over-detention or injuries, and to com-
ply with the rules. The library was and still
is also available to those residing without the
city limits upon payment of a nominal fee. The
officers now in charge in the premises are
Mrs. Margaret Center, librarian ; A. K. Dice,
Dr. E. E. Shaw and J. L. Sharpstein, directors.

THE woman's reading CLUB.

This prosperous and efficient organization
had its inception in 1894, and it has ever since
proved a forceful factor in the intellectual life
and development of the city. To it more than
to all other agencies combined Walla Walla
is indebted for its already very respectable and
rapidly improving free public library, for,
though a start toward the establishment of a
library had been before made, it was through
tlie exertions of this club that the thousand
dollars' worth of books and equipments was
secured, which was required by law as a con-
dition precedent to its receiving municipal aid,
The club has always fostered among its mem-
bers a taste for the best literary productions of
the best authors. Its announcement for the
year 1901 outlines a thorough course of read-
ing in French history and literature. It shows
a membership of twenty-nine, including many
of the most intehectual and cultured ladies of
the city. The officers now presiding are:
Mrs. William E. Ritz, president; Miss Grace
Greenwood Isaacs, vice-president; Mrs. Alvah
Brown, recording secretary; Miss Mary Gil-
liam, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Joseph
Moore, treasurer.

226

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

THE LADIES RELIEF SOCIETY.

The Ladies' Relief Society was organized
in July, 1 88 1, with Mrs. A. H. Reynolds, presi-
dent; Mrs. J. H. Bauer, vice-president; Miss
Martina Johnston, secretary; and Mrs. Rose
Bingham, treasurer. The membership at the
time of organization numbered sixty, and it
has neither increased nor diminished since. Li
1885, the society was duly incorporated under
the laws of the territory of Washington, and
it has remained a corporate body ever since.
During these long years of work, the society
has furnished relief to many persons and fam-
ilies, who, from some unfortunate circum-
stances have found themseh'es without the
necessities of life and temporarily without the
opportunity to obtain the same. The society's
finances are maintained by yearly dues in part,
though money is also raised in various other
ways, the most successful being the annual
•charity ball.

The officers in charge of the society at pres-
ent are: ]\Irs. Thomas H. Brents, president;
Mrs. E. H. Smith, vice-president; i\Irs. George
Thompson, treasurer; Mrs. Levi Ankeny, Mrs.
Thomas Moore, Mrs. Williams, Mrs. W. P.
Winans and ^Irs. H. Kershaw, trustees.

WALLA walla's PART IN THE PHILIPPINE
WAR.

\Mien the call was made in the spring of
the year of 1898 by the United States for vol-
unteers many young Americans responded to
their duty without the least hesitation, thou-
sands leaving their homes of comfort and social
ties to defend the flag that was more dear to
them than a mother's love. This fact was no
more thoroughly felt than in Walla Walla
when not only Company C, N. G. A^^. was
mustered into service but as many as fifty

young men enlisted in companies of other
towns.

Compan}' C, which had been organized a
number of years and had its full quota of men,
was mustered into the service of the United
States at Tacoma, May 7, 1898. The com-
pany was officered as follows : Captain, \M11-
iam B. Buffum; first lieutenant, M. C. Gustin;
second lieutenant, T. D. S. Hart. Prior to
April 30, 1898, the date when the company de-
parted for Camp Rogers at Tacoma, great
preparations were made for the event. In
speaking of the occasion the \\'alla Walla
L'nion in its issue of J^Iay i, 1898, said:

'"The boys are ofif for the war. 'Old Glory'
waved in the breezes from every business house
in the city and the spirit of patriotism pervaded
the heart of every citizen of Walla Walla when
the people turned out en masse to bid the vol-
unteers God speed. Either side of Main street
was a mass of people and cheer after cheer
went up as the soldiers proceeded. At the
Washington & Columbia River Railway depot
the regulars from Fort Walla Walla came to
a present arms and the volunteers passed up
the line to the platform. There was hardly a
dry eye in the multitude of people when the
train pulled away. Women sobbed at the de-
parture of a son or brother and gray haired
men buried their faces and wept."

After the company had arrived at Tacoma
its name was changed from C to I and was
known as Company I throughout the service.

THE WELCOME HOME.

On the morning of November 8, 1899, the
city was wild with enthusiasm and anxious to
welcome home the brave heroes. In reference
to the day the Morning Union said: "Five
thousand people assembled at the W. & C. R.
depot to greet the volunteers and welcome them

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

227

to the home which eighteen months ago they
left at their country's call, during which time
they had served so nobly and gallantly. In
recognition of their herioc services the citizens
of Walla Walla prepared for them a reception
on a gigantic scale never before attempted in
this city, and every detail of the demonstration
passed off successfully. The special train of
six coaches pulled into the city promptly at eight
o'clock and as the volunteers set foot on Walla
Walla soil they received loud hurrahs from
thousands of voices which echoed far and wide.
After the hearty greetings had been exchanged
a parade was formed and followed the course
mapped out by the reception committee. Cap-
tain Cheever, of the Sixth Cavalry, was grand
marshal of the procession, assisted by Ralph
Guichard, W. A. Bratton, W. A. Ritz, J. W.
Langdon, Zeno Straight, John Albeit, Jr., and
A. B. Hughes, as aides. The Walla Walla
band came next in order, playing appropriate

selections, and was followed by representatives
of the Grand Army of the Republic, Army and
Navy Union and veterans of the Indian wars.
As these honored old men went plodding along
trying to keep in step with the music they
presented an impressive spectacle.

"In direct contrast with these white haired
veterans were the young volunteers who, so
recently returned from the scenes of war,
marched with quick, determined step and were
received with a great demonstration.

"Then came the most novel feature of the
parade, the Chinese squad. Attired in rich
colored costumes and bearing silk banners and
big umbrellas thirty Celestials marched in the
triumphial procession. The Chinamen ex-
pended several hundred dollars towards their
demonstration, which was voluntarily done not
only as an evidence of their appreciation for the
gallant heroes but the action was prompted by
a spirit of loyalty to their adopted country."

CHAPTER XXI.

THE JOURNALISM OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Journalism is an especially strong American
idea. Free speech, free press, and free men
usually go together. Some glaring evils of
American journalism are plainly to be seen.
The sensationalism, the advertising dodges,
the policy-mongering, the partisanship, the
slippery ethics, — all these are easily seen and
justly criticized, but where is the American
who would exchange the universal floods of
light assured by a free press, in spite of tran-
sient abuses, for the censored papers of Russia
or the lethargic calm of Turkey. Democratic

America would not be, without her free press.
The journalistic history of Walla ^^'alla
has been essentially like that of other frontier
American communities. Hardly had the first
settlers secured the necessities of existence, be-
fore some of them began to consider the advis-
ability of starting a newspaper. It should be
remembered indeed that a printing press was
not an unknown thing even long prior to the
beginnings of permanent settlement. In fact
the first printing press ever used upon the Pa-
cific coast found service in Walla Walla. This

228

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

printing press was of the kind known as a
Ramage printing, copying, and seal press, No.
14. This press was sent from Boston by the
American board of commissioners for foreign
missions, to their missionaries at Honolulu in
1819. After nearly twenty years service in the
Hawaiian islands, the press, with type and
paper, was sent by the missionary board to
the Whitman mission. After a short period of
service at the mission, it was moved again,
this time to Lapwai, the mission in charge of
Rev. H. H. Spalding. Mr. Spalding used it
for nine years, and a remarkable use, too, he
made of it. For he employed it to print trans-
lations of portions of the Bible and other re-
ligious literature in the Nez Perce tongue. Li
1848 this printing press was moved to Hills-
boro, Oregon. After use for some time in
Oregon it found a permanent resting place in
the museum of the Oregon State University,
and there after its unique and adventurous ca-
reer, it remains on exhibition for the amusement
of later generations. Such was the pioneer
printing press of the Liland Empire. No others
were introduced into the country until after
the beginning of settlements in i860.

The pioneer newspaper of \\'alla Walla
and eastern Washington was

THE WALLA WALLA PRESS.

This was inaugurated by W'illiam N. and
R. B. Smith. Smith Brothers had purchased
a newspaper outfit of Asahel Bush, among the
material being the old press of the Oregon
Statesman, a paper published by Bush.
Rather curiously, at that very time another old
press, this one having belonged to the Orego-
nian, was brought to Walla \\'alla by N. Nor-
thrup and R. R. Rees. The two outfits arrived
within two days of each other, but neither firm
had had anv knowledge of the other's inten-

tions. As soon as they recovered from their
surprise they decided to unite and form what
in modern times would be called a newspaper
trust. As a result of the combination the first
issue of the Washington Statesman ap-
peared November 29, 1861. This was a week-
ly paper, independent in politics, although
Union in sentiment during the Civil war. One
interesting thing to remember in regard to the
launching of this paper is that in December of
1 86 1 W. N. Smith made a horseback tour
throughout Umatilla and Walla Walla coun-
ties, and secured two hundred subscriptions at
five dollars a piece, this number constituting
nearly all the adult residents of this region.
Smith brothers seemed to have made a success
of their enterprise, considering the condition of
the country. Li July, 1862, S. G. Rees became
a partner in the enterprise. The greatest step
in the history of the paper was taken Novem-
ber 10, 1865, when \\'illiani H. Newell became
editor and proprietor of the paper. The name
was changed at that time to

wall.\ walla statesman.

yir. Newell was in many respects a remark-
able man. Although a Union man in politics,
he supported President Johnson in the great
struggle with Congress. The paper became
from that time Democratic in politics. Quite
early in the history of his connection with the
Statesman, Mr. Newell undertook the policy,
so often afterwards renewed, of establishing
something more than a weekly paper. On Sep-
tember 7, 1869, he began to issue a tri- weekly.
It proved to be somewhat in advance of the
times, however, and he was obliged to return
to a weekly issue. In October, 1878, ^Mr,
Newell started the daily Statesman, the first
daily paper published in eastern Washington.
This proved, however, to be the last act in the

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY,

229

busy life of William H. Newell. He died sud-
denly on the 13th of November following.

Mr. Newell was probably the strongest
journalist in the early history of eastern Wash-
ington. He was a man of very strong, pos-
itive character, with warm friends and bitter
enemies. He was not in the habit of mincing
matters or wearing soft gloves when he un-
dertook to reform an abuse or ventilate what
he considered to be fraud or trickery on the
part of his political or journalistic opponents.
It is related by old-timers that on one occasion
when he was stumping the country against
Judge Caton he began his speech in this wise :
"Fellow citizens, it is always a disagreeable
task to skin a skunk. But sometimes this has
to be done, and when the duty devolves on me
I do not flinch, hard as the job may be. Fel-
low citizens, I have got to skin a skunk here to-
night. I propose to skin N. J. Caton." Caton,
who was sitting on the platform, began to
reach for his hip pocket, and the meeting broke
up in general confusion.

Following Mr. Newell in charge of the
Statesman came one who was his match in
unique and original qualities, and long recog-
nized as one of the foremost journalists of the
state. This was Colonel Frank J. Parker.
Colonel Parker was born in England, and has
had about as varied an experience as miner,
scout, soldier, correspondent, and politician, as
often falls to the lot of man.

The daily edition of the Statesman was
continued for a short time afer Colonel Parker
became proprietor, but was found to be too ex-
pensive for the patronage of the sparsely set-
tled region of that time, and was discontinued.
But in February, 1880, Colonel Parker again
<letermined to attempt a daily. At that time he
obtained the first steam-power printing press
«ver used in Walla Walla.

Colonel Parker was in control of the daily
and weekly Statesman, with short intervals of
absence, until June, 1900. At that time the
paper passed into the hands of the Statesman
Publishing Company, Dr. E. E. Fall being the
chief owner. The paper was increased to an
eight-page size, and is now the largest daily in
the eastern part of the state or east of the
mountains outside of Spokane. The present
editor is Frederick R. Marvin, formerly of
Spokane. The enterprise of the Statesman,
in doubling its daily matter and in securing the
complete Associated Press dispatches, and in
providing in general a complete modern news-
paper, has been rewarded by a great increase
in both its subscriptions and advertisements.
It has long been felt by citizens of Walla Walla
that the time had arrived for a first class
paper in this portion of the Inland Empire.
Various attempts have been made hitherto to
reach this desirable end, but, by reason of the
proximity of Spokane, Portland, and the Sound
cities, it has not hitherto been possible for an
ambitious modern newspaper to gain financial
support in Walla Walla. The present effort
of the Statesman bids fair to meet with perma-
nent success, and is hailed with satisfaction
by the citizens of this county.

WALLA WALLA UNION.

This paper has been the opponent and rival
of the Statesman throughout its career. A
number of able newspaper men have been con-
nected with the Union, but the one name
which is at once suggested in connection with
it is that of Captain P. B. Johnson. What
Horace Greeley was to the Tribune, that Cap-
tain Johnson has been to the Union.

The Union was founded by a company of
Republicans, in November, 1868. The first
number appeared on April 17, 1869. H. M.

230

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Judson was editor, though the paper was un-
der the control of a general committee com-
posed of P. B. Johnson, E. C. Ross and J. D.
Cook. R. M. Smith and E. L. Herriff be-
came the owners soon after the inauguration of
the paper and retained their ownership for ten
years. E. C. Ross succeeded ]Mr. Judson as
editor, which position he held for some six or
seven years, when, in 1876, Captain Johnson
became editor. A few later Captain Johnson
purchased ^Ir. Smith's interest, and a few
years later still became sole owner and pro-
prietor.

As a journalist Captain Johnson became
noted for his vigor and energy and uncom-
promising position on most questions of pub-
lic concern. He was a Republican of the
stalwart order. Under his energetic leader-
ship, Republicanism in the county became ag-
gressive and well organized, and the heavy
Democratic majorities which had marked the
earlier history were succeeded by equally em-
phatic Republican majorities during the last
two decades. In iSgo Captain Johnson disposed
of his interest in the Union to Charles Besserer,
Avho was then conducting the Walla \\'alla
Journal, and for some time it was published
under the name of the Union-Journal. \\'alla
Walla has had the satisfaction of possessing
newspaper men of uinque and strongly marked
traits, but of all the peculiar and original char-
acters that ever appeared in Walla Walla jour-
nalism, it is safe to say that Mr. Besserer heads
the list. Nature broke the mould after making
him, and never created another such. A Ger-
man by birth, of Spanish descent, well educated
in his native country, a soldier in the Crimean
Avar, as also in the American Civil war and in
Indian warfare afterwards, acting as manager
at various times for a bakery, a distillery, a
hotel, postmaster, justice of the peace, a sheep

man, a farmer, and lastly an editor, Mr. Bess-
erer preserved his own unique personality
throughout all his changes in circumstances.
He was a writer of marked ability, and under-
stood well the requirements of the newspaper
business. No one could ever tell, however,
what he might produce, especially if it was a
notice of a death. It used to be said that death
had a double terror in Walla \\'alla, lest Mr.
Besserer should write an obituary of the de-
parted.

^Ir. Besserer retained control of the Union
until 1896, when he sold out to Herbert Gregg
and Harry Kelso. These gentlemen conducted
the Union with vigor and success, as a bed-
rock, simon-pure Republican paper, having
strong opinions of its own, and yet amenable
to reason when party necessity seemed to ren-
der it judicious. In 1899 Messrs. J. G. Frank-
land, Loyd Armstrong and Bert La Due pur-
chased the Union and conducted it successfully
for a year. In 1900 it again changed hands,
Le\i Ankeny being the purchaser this time. J.
Howard Watson, noted all over the state as.
the brilliant correspondent of the Seattle Post-
Intelligencer, became editor during the political
campaign of 1900, and he is still acting in that
capacity. Mr. W'atson is an editorial writer of
exceptional vigor and intelligence, and has
"made things hum" since he took up his abode
in Walla Walla.

Since the Union is a morning paper and
the Statesman an evening, their rivalry is not
quite so intense as it might otherwise be. The
very great improvements in both papers during
the past year or two have caused a marked
falling off in the number of subscribers to the
papers in the large towns of this state and of
" Oregon. The Union and Statesman have both
profited in like ratio. At the present time their
good natured rivalry and occasional editorial

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

231

"scorchers" on each other, have afforded en-
tertainment to their readers, and have increased
business for themselves.

Although the Statesman and the Union
have been emphatically the papers of Walla
\\'alla, there have been a number of others of
shorter life, but which, in their own field are
deserving of notice and commendation.
Among these was the

SPIRIT OF THE WEST.

Founded in 1872 by J. W. Ragsdale.
Charles H. Humphries was one of the editors,
followed by L. K. Grim and Charles Besserer.
Li 1877 Mr. Besserer became proprietor of this
paper, and changed its name to the Walla
Walla Watchman. A few years later the name
was again changed to that of the Walla Walla
Journal, which ultimately became merged into
the Union-Journal, as has already been stated.

Among other newspaper ventures of the
earlier time we may mention the Morning Jour-
nal, of 1881, and the Daily Events, of 1882,
both published by M. C. Harris. In 1882 also
appeared the Washingtonian, edited and pub-
lished by W. L. Black.

Among the papers of a later period may
be mentioned the Garden City Gazette, es-
tablished in April, 1894, by W. F. Brock, and
the Watchman, which was developed out of it,
by J. J. Schick, both of which were conducted
with much vigor and general success. During
this period there were several short lived cam-
paign papers, which produced no permanent
effect on the journalistic history of the place.
We present a more extended notice of the pa-
pers published at the present writing, in addi-
tion to those already described.

THE SATURDAY RECORD.

Among the newspapers the Saturday Rec-
ord stands apart as being the only distinctive-

ly local and society publication in the city of
Walla Walla. Established in April, 1894, by
Wilbur Fisk Brock, under the name of the
Garden City Gazette, it was two years later
sold to J. J. Schick, who changed the name to
the Watchman, and watched over the destinies
of the paper until the early fall of 1900, w'hen
Bert Eugene La Due and J. G. Frankland, late
owners of the Union, came into possession o£
the plant. The name of the publication was
changed to The Saturday Record and material
improvements were made. The plant was at
once moved to commodious c^uarters in the
Bingham building, Alder street, and the old
Watchman merged into an eight-page weekly;
a typesetting machine was installed, and a
complete job plant, besides other requisites to
make an up-to-date office, purchased. The
plant is equipped with one of the most modern
dynamos, and every piece of machinery in the
establishment is run by electricity.

The Record enjoys a large circulation, both
in the city and also in the country, the subscrip-
tion list having doubled inside of a few months
under the new management. The paper is ag-
gressive in the interests of home and home
upbuilding, seldom touching upon other than
local issues. The owners and publishers have-
in view, in addition to the many improvements
already made, the bettering and enlarging of
the paper and plant from time to time as con-
ditions warrant.

THE WEEKLY ARGUS.

The latest aspirant for journalistic distinc-
tion is the Argus. This was founded on Sep-
tember 22. 1898, by Walter Lingerfelder and
C. H. Goddard. The active and aggressive
policy of the Argus, its fearlessness in
attacking anybody and everybody whom it
believes to be abusing the confidence of

232

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

the people, soon made it a marked force
in the county. In February, 1899, J. E.
2\Iulhnix acquired the interest of Air. Goddard,
and he in turn sold out to ^^'alter Lingen-
felder, who thereby became sole proprietor.
The Argus is published weekly and is inde-
pendently Democratic in politics. The Argus
has been edited with marked literary ability,
and in pursuance of its avowed policy has not
scrupled to attack evils both high and low,
thus incurring the enmity of many politicians
as well as gaining the interest of the general
reading public.

THE INLAND EMPIRE.

Among the very creditable productions of
the past 3"ear, published jointly at Walla Walla
and Spokane, is a monthly magazine, known as
the Inland Empire. This is published by A.
H. Harris. It is a magazine of twenty-four
pages, and is a publication of which any com-
munity might well be proud. It contains elab-
orate articles, of both historic value and high
literary merit, upon the great resources and
educational and other institutions of those por-
tions of Oregon and \\'ashington east of the
Cascade mountains, together with the great
state of Idaho.

The papers of Walla Walla county, outside
of the city, have of course not been numerous,
inasmuch as Waitsburg is the only newspaper
town in the county, outside of Walla Walla
itself.

THE WAITSBURG WEEKLY TIMES.

This has been the leading and most of
the time the only paper of Waitsburg for a
period of twenty-four years. This paper orig-
inated in a joint stock company formed in 1878,
for the purpose of "booming" that part of the
county. The first publisher was B. K. Land,

and the first issue appeared in jMarch, 1878.
It was leased for a short term to D. G. Ed-
wards, and later to J. C. Swash. In 1880 it be-
came the propert}' of C. W. Wheeler. Mr.
\Vheeler has been for many years one of the
marked characters of the county. He was first
a teacher by profession, and served as superin-
tendent of schools in Walla Walla county, and
also as territorial superintendent. After enter-
ing upon the management of the Waitsburg
Times he devoted himself unremittingly to
journalism. In 1900 his two sons, E. L. and
Guy Wheeler, assumed entire charge of the
paper, giving their father a much needed rest.
The Times is provided with an excellent brick
building, excellent modern presses,^ gasoline
engine, and all the other conveniences of pres-
ent day journalism. In politics it is uncom-
promisingly Republican.

As is necessary to the life of newspapers,
the Times has a Democratic rival, in the form
of the

WAITSBURG GAZETTE.

This newspaper was founded in 1899, the
first issue appearing on the 29th of June, of that
year. R. V. Hutchins was editor and propri-
etor. On the 7th of March, 1900, the paper
passed into the hands of C. W. McCoy. On
January i, 1901, he in turn sold out to J. E.
Houtchins, who is conducting the Gazette at
this writing as an up-to-date paper in an up-
to-date town. As already indicated, this paper
is Democratic in politics. It has already ac-
quired a large circulation throughout Walla
^^'aIIa and Columbia counties.

In concluding this survey of the newspapers
of Walla Walla, we may say that in no feature
of the life of the county has there been a more
marked elevation of standards, within the past
few years, than in journalism.

CHAPTER XXII.

BENCH AND BAR OF WALLA WALLA.

In going over the county records in search
of data for this summary of the most import-
ant events in the legal history of Walla Walla
county one is struck with the many changes
that have taken place in the style and manner
of pleadings and the form in which they are
now and were then presented. Just as in the
appointments of the court room with its con-
venient arrangement and commodious apart-
ments there has been a remarkable advancement
in forty years, so in the manner of preparing
and conducting a case and keeping the records
there has been great progress. In the time
of the old District court, when the First Dis-
trict comprised practically all of eastern Wash-
ington, holding sessions at Colville, Colfax,
Yakima and Walla Walla, about all the lawyers
made their homes in Walla Walla as did the
Associate Justice of the Territorial Supreme
•court. It was customary in those days for the
judge to take a light wagon and a camping
outfit and start out in company with the lawyers
to hold sessions in the other parts of his district.
Each county or sub-division of the district
had its own local officers, as sheriff, clerk and
prosecuting attorney, who in matters of im-
portance were assisted by the district attorney
for the territory. Those who took part in
these legal journeys tell many amusing stories
of the times they used to have. Though par-
taking of the nature of an outing they were by
no means pleasure trips, as at each town where

a session was held, business had been accumu-
lating for from four to six months, and the
train of lawyers who followed in the wake of
the judge were under the necessity of getting
up their pleadings and bringing the causes to
issue in the short time alloted for that term of
court. There was no time for dilatory meas-
ures, demurrers, and motions to delay pro-
ceedings, but every one had to get down to
business. Sometimes as high as thirty or
forty cases were disposed of, most of them be-
ing actually tried. This necessitated night and
day labor on the part of the attorneys and they
had to swim hard or sink under the loads im-
posed upon them.

In ^^'alla Walla the court used to be held in
the building where Betz's Brewery now is and
the site of the present court house was a pub-
lic square where executions took place. When
we go into the offices of the lawyers now prac-
ticing in Walla Walla and see their well fur-
nished rooms, large law libraries with com-
plete sets of State and United States reports,
encyclopedias and digests ; with their stenog-
raphers and typewriters and other modern con-
veniences ; when we see all these appliances for
doing accurate and expeditious work, we can-
not help contrasting them with the days when
Frank Dugan was wont to read citations to fit
any case out of the sole book that comprised
his library, and Colonel George carried his
briefs in the top of his silk hat, and all the legal

234

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

knowledge he needed in his spacious head.
Then. too. as we Hsten to the orderly carrying
forward of a trial in the presence of Judge
Brents we are reminded of the contrast pre-
sented by a tumult of jangling attorneys, and
Judge Oliphant vainly endeavoring to main-
tain order by shouting: "Gentlemen, the row
must stop ! This court is getting roused, and
when this court is roused, it's roused, and
there's an end on't." Or we may be reminded
of a scene in Judge Strong's court, where the
attorneys are sitting with their feet cocked up
on chairs and benches and the air is dense with
smoke. Suddenly the court becomes aware
that proper decorum is not being observed and
he declares : "There is too much smoke in this
room. If you lawyers want to smoke you can
go outside, but since the court has got to stay
here it can smoke." Xor has there been in
recent years such an exciting event as the run-
ning fight with six-shooters between Judge
Langford and the Mullen Brothers, attorneys
who practiced in Walla Walla fifteen or twenty
3'ears ago.

The good old times when everyone wore
red-flannel shirts and long six-shooters have
passed away, and with them have gone the days
when all legal documents were written with
pen and ink on foolscap paper, when pleadings
were short and formalities were more honored
in the breach than in the observance. But
there was a sturdy manliness in those days,
bred of the rough surroundings, that atoned
for many shortcomings, and was distinguished
by a sense of justice, untrammeled by prece-
dents and hairsplitting legal distinctions. This
trait was strikingly illustrated in one of the
familiar sayings of Judge Wyche. 'Whenever
the distinction was between a close adherence
to precedent and ethical right, he would decide
in favor of the latter bv the remark : "If I am

not technically correct, I think I am giving you
substantial justice." So while we are rejoicing-
in the vastly improved general conditions, we
must not sneer at the primitive methods of
those who went before, nor overlook their ster-
ling virtues.

Court was opened in the First Judicial dis-
trict of the territory of Washington, and the
first order was signed on the ist day of June,
i860, with Associate Justice William Strong
on the bench. The first order was one admit-
ting Edward L. and Otis L. Bridges to prac-
tice before the court. Edward L. Bridges was
appointed first prosecuting attorney for Walla
Walla county, and James Galbreath was the
first clerk of the court. Judge Strong held the
position until the 21st of October, 1861, when
Judge J. E. Wyche was appointed. Under
Wyche, Galbreath still continued as clerk, and
J. J. TilcGilvra was appointed prosecuting at-
torney. Wyche was succeeded on April 4,

1864, by Judge Oliphant, who appointed B.
N. Sexton as clerk and B. Fargo, prosecuting-
attorney. Oliphant only held until April 10,

1865. when Judge \\'yche came back to the
First Judicial district. In May, 1867. P. B.
Johnson was appointed clerk and Frank Dugan
prosecuting attorney. J. K. Kennedy was ap-
pointed judge in 1869, on August 14th of that
year. Lender him R. P. Reynolds was clerk
of the court and A. J. Cain held the office of
prosecuting attorney. On April 29, 1872, J.
R. Lewis was appointed to succeed James K.
Kennedy. Judge Lewis's appointment to
Washington Territory was the result of a pe-
culiar circumstance. He had been on the su-
preme bench of the territory of Idaho without
any expectation of making a change. Some
of his political enemies put up a job on him
to oust him from his position. They made out
a resignation, forged his name to it and sent

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

23S

it on to Washington, D.C. Thinking that it was
genuine the officials there accepted the resigna-
tion and President Grant appointed another
man in Judge Lewis's place. When later it
was discovered that a forgery had been com-
mitted and that Judge Lewis had not resigned
at all, the president did not know what to do.
It was at last straightened out by allowing the
new man to take Lewis's place in Idaho and
transferring him to the First Judicial district
of Washington Territory. W. H. Andrews
was chosen clerk and N. T. Caton, prosecuting
attorney. S. C. Wingard was appointed on
May 10, 1875, and held the office for ten years.
During his term of office he sentenced twelve
men to be hanged, and all of them were exe-
cuted, either legally or by the mob. Two of
these legal executions took place in Walla Wal-
la, the remainder being divided up among the
other towns where Judge Wingard held ses-
sions of his court. T. J. Anders was prosecut-
ing attorney under Judge Wingard and A.
Reeves Ayres clerk of the court. T. J. Anders
has since distinguished himself as a jurist, hav-
ing been on the Supreme bench of the state of
Washington for nearly twelve years, and be-
ing at the present time chief justice. A. Reeves
Ayres held the position of clerk for ten years,
the longest of any incumbent since the organi-
zation of the county, and his handwriting as it
appears on the records is superb. George T.
Thompson, who is still living in Walla Walla,
was also prosecuting attorney for several years
under Judge Wingard. W. G. Langford was
appointed judge and took up his work on De-
cember II, 1885. Judge Langford was the
last of the district juJges and held his office
until November 18, 1889, when Washington
became a state and the superior court took the
place of the district court. Under Langford

E. K. Hanna was prosecuting attorney and A..
N. Marion clerk of the court.

Turning from judges to lawyers, we find
among the attorneys of the county many of
brilliant minds, distinguished throughout the
state and in some instances of national repute.
W. A. George, E. L. Bridges, O. L. Bridges,
J G. Sparks, and J. D. Mix, the most noted.
The first named. Colonel George, was one of
the greatest characters in his way in the states.

Among the attorneys practicing in a little
later time before the old territorial court who
have since attained distinction the name of
Honorable John B. Allen is most conspicuous.
For a long time he was district attorney for
the territory and upon the admission of the ter-
ritory to statehood he was elected as one of
the first United States senators. In 1893 he
came up for re-election, but the Turner forces
caused a dead-lock and no senator was elected
at that session. Since that time Mr. Allen has
been connected with the firm of Struve. Allen
and McMicken in Seattle.

D. J. Crowley, now of the firm of Crowley,
Sullivan & Grosscup of Tacoma, began his
legal career before the district court in Walla
Walla. Mr. Crowley now holds a leading
position among the members of the bar of the
state of Washington and enjoys a wide prac-
tice.

Supreme Judge T. J. Anders has already
been mentioned as having made his start in
Walla Walla. Judges Kennedy and Wingard
are both living in Walla Walla at the present
time, enjoying a well earned retirement from
active life. Judge Lewis moved to California
and has since become quite wealthy.

The first Judge of the Superior court of
Walla Walla county was William H. Upton,
who held the position from November i8th.

^36

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

1889, until January 14th, 1897. The clerks
of the court under Judge Upton were E. B.
Whitman, H. W. Eagan (four years), and Le
F. A. Shaw. The prosecuting attorneys under
Upton were WelHngton Clark, H. S. Blanford,
Miles Poindexter, and R. H. Ormsbee. On
January 14th. 1897, Judge Thomas H. Brents
assumed the duties of judge of the Superior
court, and in November last was re-elected to a
second term of four years. The clerks of the
court under Brents have been J. E. MuUinix
and Schuyler Arnold, and the prosecuting at-
torneys, F. B. Sharpstein and Oscar Cain.

It will be found of interest to briefly outline
here some

IMPORTANT CRIMINAL CASES.

A case that attracted wide spread attention
at the time of its trial was the Thomas murder
case, which was tried at the April term of the
district court in 1880 during Judge Wingard's
term of office.

Thomas and his wife, together with S. \\^
Brumfield and his wife, passed through Walla
Walla early in the year 1880. on their way to
the upper country. They went up by way of
Texas Ferry and had not been gone very long
when Thomas and his wife returned alone,
saying that they had decided to go back to
Kansas, and that Brumfield and his wife had
gone on up to the upper country. Nothing was
thought of it at the time although Brumfield
was known to have had considerable money
when he left Walla Walla. Early in April the
bodies of Brumfield and his wife were found
near Texas Ferry, and suspicion at once rested
on Thomas and his wife as the murderers.
They were arrested in Kansas and brought to
Walla Walla for trial. N. T. Caton and D.
J. Crowley defended them and R. F. Stur-

devant and T. J. Anders conducted the
case for the prosecution. The case was
hotly contested on both sides and the de-
fense produced a witness who swore point
blank that he had seen Brumfield alive and back
in Kansas since the time when he was alleged to
have been murdered. The evidence was so
o\-erwhelmingly against Thomas and his wife
that Judge Wingard called the prosecuting at-
torney to him before' the witness had finished
his testimony and told him to make out a charge
of perjury against him, and not to let him get
out of the court house. The witness seemed
very nervous while testifying and was in con-
siderable of a hurry to get out of the court
room when he had finished, but the sheriff
met him at the door of the court room with a
warrant and he was subsequently tried and sen-
tenced to five years in the penitentiary for per-
jury. Thomas and his wife had demanded
separate trials. In Thomas's case the jury
brought in a verdict of murder in the first de-
gree .and he was sentenced to be hanged on
January 4th, 188 1. The scaffold was erected
in the present court house yard and the public
schools were given a holiday to witness the
execution. Before the fatal drop Thomas con-
fessed the crime and took all the blame of the
murder upon himself, exonerating his wife.
In view of his confession and assumption of
the blame the case against Mrs. Thomas was
dismissed. Sheriff James B. Thompson per-
formed the execution.

THE ELFERS MURDER CASE.

The next criminal case resulting in an ex-
ecution was that of John Elfers for the murder
of Dan Haggarty. Haggarty owned a saloon
■ near Waitsburg. John Elfers, on October 27th,
1883, created a disturbance and got into an al-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

237

tercation with Haggarty's bar keeper. As he
would not be quiet they put him out. He came
back a second time in an ugly mood and was
again ejected. Nothing more was heard of him
for half an hour when without any warning
a shot was fired from' without and Haggarty
fell forward dead. Although no one saw
Elfers at the time of the shooting, yet he had
been seen looking in at one of the windows
just before the shot was fired. He was found
in Walla Walla and put under arrest. He was
defended by Ormsbee and Hanson, and the
prosecution was conducted by George T.
Thompson. He was convicted of murder in the
first degree and hanged by Sheriff James B.
Thompson on January 15th, 1884. Judge Win-
gard was the presiding judge. There is some-
thing gruesome about these old death warrants
with their black border and sable seal when we
think of the chill which they caused to pass over
the condemned man's soul as he listened to the
sheriff read the fatal words : "hanged by the
neck until dead," and realized that his last hope
was gone. As we look through the court
records now we see these gloomy evidences of
man's effort to mete our punishment to his fel-
low man for wicked deeds, and they stand out
as dark birds of ill omen to warn the would
be criminal from his dangerous path. The ex-
ecution of Elfers was the last legal execution
to take place in Walla Walla county.

THE TRIAL OF MRS. MARY PYLE AND JOHN
HURN.

lodging houses, one the Aurora hotel, on the
corner of Rose and Fourth streets, and the
other over near the Sisters' hospital. On the
night of March 13th, 1888, both of these
lodging houses were burned down under very
suspicious circumstances. A number of fires
had happened about the same time that were
believed to be of incendiary origin, and an in-
vestigation was instituted to discover the cause
of the burning of the Aurora hotel, since the
life of a young man named Harrold had been
lost in consequence. It developed that the fire
had been purposely set and Mrs. Pyle and her
son, John Hurn, were arrested on the charge
of murder and arson. Mrs. Pyle stoutly main-
tained her innocence but the evidence was too
strong and both she and her son were found
guilty of murder in the first degree and sen-
tenced to be hanged. A strong effort was made
to save them by some parties who believed them
innocent, but without avail, until Mrs. Pyle
got the endorsement of the prosecuting officers
by making a confession in which slie owned up
to entering into a conspiracy to burn the build-
ing for the insurance. A stay of execution was
subsequently granted and later Governor Sem-
ple commuted the sentence of both prisoners to
life imprisonment. J. L. Sharpstein and George
T. Thompson conducted the case for the de-
fense and T. J. Anders for the prosecution. In
January of this year (1901) Governor Rogers
granted Mrs. Pyle a full pardon and she was
set at liberty, but died soon after her release.

Another case that resulted in a conviction
and death sentence was that of Mrs. Mary J.
Pyle and J. T. Hurn, her son, for murder and
arson.

THE ROYSE MURDER TRIAL.

The trial of Frank Royse for the murder
of his grandfather is still fresh in the minds of

Mrs. Pyle and a man named Clink, who Walla Walla people. The farm of Benjamin
was paying court to her at the time, owned two F. Royse, deceased, is about ten miles from

238

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Walla Walla and situated near Dixie. On the
Stli of February, 1900, the house was burned
and the old gentleman's body was burned with
it. At first it was thought to be an accident
that the old man had been caught in the flames,
but the coroner's inquest developed the fact
that the charred remains bore evidence of
having sustained a gun-shot wound. Frank
Royse and his grandfather had had some trou-
ble about financial matters and Frank had been
seen around the house before it was burned.
He was arrested on the charge of murder in
the first degree. Royse was defended by Grif-
fits, Dovell, Ormsbee and McKinney, and the
prosecution was conducted by Oscar Cain. The
evidence that Royse had murdered his grand-
father when drunk and then to hide the crime
had burned down the house was too strong to
be successfully opposed, so the defense con-
fined themselves to proving insanity, and en-
deavoring to at least secure a verdict in a
less degree. Evidence was produced to show
that James Saylor, a great uncle of the defend-
ant, was then in an asylum for the insane in
Iowa, and that his mania was of a homicidal
nature. Expert testimony was also produced
as to Royse's mental condition at the time of
the killing and subsequent thereto, tending to
show that he was afihcted with the homicidal
mania hereditary in the family. The jury
brought in a verdict of murder in the second
degree, stating that the crime was committed
while Royse was in a sufficiently sane condi-
tion to know what he was doing, but was with-
out premeditation or deliberation.. Judge
Brents sentenced him to twenty years in the
penitentiary. An appeal was taken to the su-
preme court of the state, and pending a final
decision granted the defendant the privilege of
bail, which was set at the sum of ten thousand
dollars. Royse was able to secure the required

amount and is now at liberty. His case was
argued before the court in February, 1901,
but a decision has not yet been handed down.

IMPORTANT CIVIL CASES.

Isaacs I's. Barber. This was a case involv-
ing the rights of the prior appropriator of
water upon public lands. The action was
brought by H. P. Isaacs to restrain George H.
Barber from interfering with a dam which had
been erected for the purpose of diverting water
from ]\Iill creek into a race, or flume, which
led to the Isaacs flouring mill. The defendant
justified his action under the claim of the right
to have the waters flow past his place situated
on said creek between the point where the
water was diverted and plaintiff's mill. Isaacs
in the year 1862 had diverted the waters of
Mill creek into his race and used it for the
propelling power of his mill. At the time of
the diversion the point at which his flume be-
gan was on the public domain. Later when a
man named Dodge purchased the land over
which his flume ran he secured a ninety-nine
year lease of the privilege of so conducting
the water across the premises. He contended
that he had the right to make the diversion by
reason of his prior appropriation, and also
from having secured the permission of the
owners of the land to construct his flume and
finally that there had been such open and noto-
rious and continuous use as to give title by pre-
scription. Barber claimed that the right of
prior appropriation did not exist as a part of
the law or custom of the locality, and next that
the grantor, Dodge, acquired the title prior to
the act of congress of July, 1866, under which
Isaacs claimed his right by priority of appro-
priation.

Isaacs won in the Superior court and it was

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

239

appealed to the Supreme Court of the state,
where it was tried in the No\'ember term
in 1894.

The Supreme court held that the right of
prior appropriation existed prior to the act of
1866, and that congress in that act simply rec-
ognized it. It was a part of the laws and cus-
toms of the locality when the diversion was
made. To the second proposition of the appel-
lant (that the land having passed by absolute
grant before the passage of the act of 1866,
the title held for such riparian rights as were
recognized by the common law of England),
the court held that since the tract of land owned
by appellant had come to him through a con-
veyance from Dodge, who had for more than
twenty years acquiesced in the appropriation
made by Isaacs at a point upon his land, the
appellant could not interfere with the appro-
priation. The lower court was upheld in its
decision.

THE CASE OF DENNEY VS. PARKER.

This was a case involving the right of at-
torneys to compromise a suit without the con-
sent of the parties thereto, provided their action
is afterward ratified ; and also the right of an
administrator to compromise a lawsuit involv-
ing title to realty, without submitting the mat-
ter to the probate court for approval.

Nathaniel B. Denney, administrator of the
estate of Timothy P. Denney, deceased, was
plaintiff and Hollon Parker, defendant. In the
life time of Timothy P. Denney he conveyed
the property in question, together with several
other tracts to the defendant. Later on an ac-
tion was brought by Denney to have it declared
that the defendant Parker held these tracts
of land in trust for him. The district court of
the territory decreed as the plaintiff had asked

and directed the defendant to make a deed of
the property to plaintiff within a certain time.
An appeal to the supreme court of the terri-
tory was taken and the judgment of the dis-
trict court affirmed. An appeal was then taken
by Parker to the Supreme court of the United
States.

While the cause was still pending in the
supreme court of the territory, Timothy P.
Denney died, and his wife, Elizabeth Denney,
the executrix of his will, was substituted as
plaintiff. Before the matter came to a decision
in the Supreme court of the United States a
compromise was agreed upon whereby one
tract of land was to be deeded to Parker and the
rest was to be deeded to Denney. The terms of
the agreement were complied with and an order
made by the Supreme court of the United
States dismissing the appeal.

In 1894 Natlhaniel B. Denney, as adminis-
trator of the estate of Timothy P. Denney,
deceased, brought suit to recover title to the
property that had been deeded to Parker under
the terms of the stipulation above referred to.
He claimed. First, That the attorneys who
signed the stipulation were not authorized by
their clients to do so. Second, that under the
statutes an administrator or executor has no
right to compromise a suit without authority
from the probate court; and Third, that even if
such a compromise could be made in a suit not
involving realty, it could not be done when the
eft'ect of the compromise is to pass title to real
estc.te.

The superior court of \\"alla Walla decided
in favor of Parker in this instance and an appeal
was taken to the supreme court of the state. The
supreme court held that attorneys did have a
right to make compromises affecting title to
realty, provided their clients subsequently rati-
fied their actions; and in the case in

240

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

question the clients had so ratified the ac-
tions of the attorneys. As to the second
proposition the court made a distinction be-
tween the compromise of claims by an ad-
ministrator which had not yet come into
court for settlement, and those which prior to
the compromise had become involved in a case
in court, holding that in the latter event a com-
promise could be effected without reference to
the probate court for ratification. The third
contention of appellant was met by the court's
holding that such power of compromising mat-
ters already in litigation was not necessarily
limited to cases which did not involve the pass-
ing of title to realty.

The decision of the superior court was af-
firmed and Parker retained possession of the
tract that had been deeded to him in conse-
quence of the compromise.

THE CASE OF THE CITY OF WALLA WALLA VS.
THE WALLA WALLA WATER COMPANY.

This was a bitterly contested case and at-
tracted wide-spread attention on account of its
public character and the large interests in-
volved.

On March 15, 1887, the City Council of
Walla AValla passed an ordinance to secure a
supply of water, and granted, under certain re-
strictions, to the Water Company, for a
period of twenty-five years, "the right to lay,
place, and maintain all necessary water mains,
pipes, connections and fittings in all the high-
ways, streets and alleys of said city, for the pur-
pose of furnishing the inhabitants thereof with
water." The city also agreed not to erect water
works of its own during that period of twenty-
five years.

After this contract had been in force for
about six years and on June 20, 1893, ^" ordi-

nance was passed "to provide for the construc-
tion of a system of water works" for the pur-
pose of supplying water to the city and its in-
habitants ; to authorize the purchase and con-
demnation of land for that purpose, and to au-
thorize the issuance of bonds to the amount of
one hundred and sixty thousand dollars to pro-
vide the necessary funds. This proposition was
submitted to the freeholders and carried by a
sufficient number of votes.

The Water Company made application to
the circuit court of the United States for the
district of Washington for an injunction
against the city to keep it from expending
money or selling bonds to erect such a system
of water works. The company won its case in
the circuit court and the city appealed to the
supreme court of the United States.

The supreme court of the United States
held that the case depended largely upon the
power of the city under its charter. The ordi-
nance authorizing the contract, Avhich was
passed in pursuance of the charter, stated that
the contract could only be declared void by a
court of competent jurisdiction, and that until it
should be so voided the city could not erect,
maintain or become interested in any water
works except the one established by the com-
pany, while the ordinance of June 20, 1893, pro-
^'ided for the immediate construction of a sys-
tem of water works by the city. Upon the face
of the two ordinances there was a plain conflict,
— the latter clearly impaired the obligation of
the former. The court therefore held that the
original contract of the city should hold and
that the city had no right to construct water
works of its own until the twenty-five years
were up. The decision of the circuit court
was upheld.

This decision made it necessary for the
city to adopt other tactics in regard to the

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

241

Water Company. The only thing left for the
city to do was to buy out the interests of the
Water Company under a provision of the con-
tract, and in 1899 a proposition was presented
to the voters to bond the city for a sufficient
amount to buy out the Water Company and put
the control of the water system in the hands of
the city. The proposition was carried and the

city now owns its own system of water
works.

There have been many cases involving
greater amounts than those we have mentioned,
but we believe that we have given a summary
of the most important cases from a legal point
of view; cases which involved far-reaching
legal principles.

CHAPTER XXIII.

WALLA WALLA IN THE OLDEN TIMES.

Early history in Walla Walla county is
rich in materials for the story teller. It abounds
in incidents, striking, humorous, tragic, and
in characters ranging from the religious fa-
natic to the missionary hero, from the wander-
ing vagabond and highwayman to the upholder
of honor and law who might well fill the hero's
place in any romantic novel. Many eyewit-
nesses of those stirring times are still living,
and it is from the lips of such men that the
material for this chapter has been collected.

The earliest history of Walla Walla coun-
ty, as of the whole northwest, centers about the
names of the old explorers, fur traders and mis-
sionaries. Of their lives and achievements we
have already spoken at length in previous
pages. But of one notorious character in our
early tragic annals, we find an interesting rem-
iniscence, worthy of preservation here, given
us by the kindness of Mr. John Seek, of Walla
Walla. This pertains to the infamous Delaware
half-breed, Joe Lewis, who was the chief in-
stigator in the Whitman massacre. It appears

that this wretch had a place at one time on
board a man-of-war, and for some reason had
been put in irons. Having managed to escape,
he landed, after many wanderings, in Califor-
nia, whence he came and made his home among
the Indians of Walla Walla. He acquired an
extraordinary influence over these Indians^
and was the direct agent in the Whitman mas-
sacre, apparently impelled thereto by no other
motive than pure villainy. After the massacre,,
Lewis told the Indians that he had been at
Salt Lake City, and that the Mormons had
promised to com© and drive the whites from the
Oregon territory. He said that he would go
and bring the Mormons on this mission, if
he were provided with the necessary number of
horses. Accordingly the Indians gave him three
hundred ponies. With three of four men to aid,
he set out for Utah. While camping at Ameri-
can falls, on Snake river, in Idaho, he shot every
one of his companions and alone made his way
to Salt Lake City, where he sold the ponies.
Such is the story of the doings of Joe Lewis,

242

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

as gathered by ]\Ir. Seek from one ^IcDofa,
who had come to this country in 1834, in the
employ of the Hudson's Bay Company.

No period in the early history of Walla
Walla is more thrilling in character and inci-
dent than the time when the Vigilantes were
in their glory. Like every other city of the
northwest in those days, ^Valla Walla had its
quota of gamblers, th'ieves and general toughs.
The courts soon became powerless to cope
with the evil doers. There were regular gangs
of cattle thieves organized, who would operate
much in this manner : Some one of the gang
would start a bunch of cattle away to a certain
point, where another lay in wait, who would
drive them on to still another relay, and so
they would keep them in motion until they
were clear out of the country. It became ?1-
most impossible to run down the thieves, and
when caught, there were so many of their own
number to witness in their favor that it was
next to impossible to secure conviction. In
1864 and 1865 the Vigilantes organized, and
then came a reign of terror to the evil doer.
It suddenly seemed as though nature had
granted trees a new and startling fruit, for it
became a very common thing to see dead
men's bodies dangling from limbs. In one
month during the busy season thirty-two men
were reported as having been mysteriously
hanged. The common expression as men met
on the streets on a morning was, "\\'ell, whom
have we for bixakfast this morning?" And
it was a very rare thing when some unfortu-
nate's name was not served up for discussion
as having suffered the vengeance of the dread
society. There was no escaping its clutches
when once it set its seal upon a man. As one
old-timer expresses it, "There was only one
way to get out of their hands, when once they

had started for you, and that was to literally
fly."

Probably no one knows and remembers
more concerning those tragic days than Mr.
Richard Bogle, who is to-day living in Walla
\Yalla. In the early days he kept a barber
shop on Maine street, where Miss Beine's mil-
linery store is now located. In those days the
citizens of the place made it rather hard for
men of African descent. A negro could not
get a room at a hotel. He was not allowed
to eat in a public dining room. He could not
buy a cigar or a drink in a gin room without
tirst taking off his hat and showing due rev-
erence to the august vendor of the booze.
Consequently it was customary for 2\Ir. Bogle,
out of the kindness of his heart, to allow col-
ored strangers who happened to be in the
town to occupy the rear of his shop, where
they could keep warm and sometimes cook
a meal.

Among the sojourners in the rear of Bo-
gle's barber shop was a young negro about
twenty years of age, very tall and slender, but
with muscles like steel. He had been dubbed
with the appropriate title of "Slim Jim." He
was a sort of pet among the gamblers and
sporting men of the community, having been
brought up as a general roustabout for the
horse men, jockeys and sports.

Two men had just garroted a man in the
lot back of Charles Roe's saloon. This means
that when that man was walking along he
suddenly felt himself seized from behind and
his arms securely pinioned, while in front his
startled gaze fell upon a man with a long
knife, ready to slit him open if he offered
resistance. Thus at the pleasure of the rob-
bers he was soon relieved of any gold dust or
other valuables that he possessed. The two gar-
roters in the case just mentioned were "Six-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

243

toed Pete" and a pal. After being robbed
the victim gave the alarm and officers were
50on in pursuit. The criminals were finally-
captured and brought back and lodged in the
jail, which was a small, weak structure stand-
ing on the present site of the court house
Now the brother of one of the prisoners was
a well-to-do saloon-keeper. Calling Slim Jim
to him, he explained the predicament in which
he was situated, and offered the negro a lib-
eral reward if he would secure and deliver
to the prisoners tools with which they could
saw their way out. Slim Jim, with probably
no knowledge of the seriousness of his crime,
readily assented. "Jim," said the briber, as
the young negro was leaving, "swear to me
that you will never tell who hired you to do
this."

"Yes, sail ! Yo can 'pend 'pon me, sah."
And away he went, his eyes growing big as
he thought of the treasure that would soon
be his.

He made his way down Main street to
Dan Weston's blacksmith shop, which stood
where now is Pauly's cigar store. Here he
secured a file, a hammer and other tools that
might aid in sawing iron, and soon had them
in the cells of the two prisoners. That night
Six-toed Pete and his partner cut out and got
away. They were traced to Wallula and re-
captured. L'pon being locked up the sheriff
took them aside and said, "Now, you fellows
probably realize ye're in a pretty bad fix. Ef
ye want to save yer necks ye'd better 'fess
up who give ye them tools. An' ye might as
well do it now as any time."

"Slim Jim," was the response that came
with perhaps more alacrity than magnanimity.

That afternoon the sheriff appeared at the
barber shop. "I'm lookin' fer a feller named
Slim Jim."

"Dat's me," responded the negro promptly.
"Well, I want ye to come along with me."
Jim, without any sign of surprise or hesi-
tation, took his belt containing his pistol and
"Arkansas toothpick" and handed it to the
barber, saying as he did so, "Here, Dick, jes'
keep these till I come back."

At the jail he was confronted with the
charge of having aided in the escape of pris-
oners. He promptly confessed, pleading for
his excuse that he "didn't know as it wo when they saw the mur-
derous nature of the flag-pole, they thought
discretion the better part of valor and let the
Union enthusiast alone. Yet old-timers say
that scarcely another man had dared do the
same thing.

No one realized the lawlessness and spirit
of rebellion against Uncle Sam's authority
more than Edwin Eells, sometimes called
•"Gentle Eells," a son of Gushing Eells, who
attempted to get the first census roll. Men
played all manner of tricks upon him. It was

not enough to give him all sorts of ridiculous
and sometimes vile pseudonyms, but they even
went so far as to take his enrollment book and
use it for a football, arranged buckets of water
on the eaves of the porch so as to give him a
free bath, etc. Eells never lost his temper.
He always remonstrated in a gentle way until
finally his patience won the day and he gained
for himself the epithet "Gentle Eells."

We must not get the impression that
\\'alla Walla in the 'sixties was composed en-
tirely of toughs and gamblers. There were
many men of sterling character, keen business
sagacity ; men who made money, not at the
gaming table, but by careful investments and
skillful business management. We have al-
ready spoken of Dr. D. S. Baker as promi-
nent among these. He was a man of unicpie
personal appearance, slender, wiry and stooped
in frame, a face deeply furrowed by thought
and care, a peculiar expression of his mouth
in conversation, and an impressive deliberate-
ness in his speech. \\'ith all his eccentricities
he was a man of the highest integrity, the
keenest intellect, and a genius in the world of
financial affairs.

Many stories are told of the little railroad
which he built and managed between Walla
Walla and Wallula. People have recalled
many times over the little cigar-box cars, the
dumpy engine, the wooden rails and the strap
iron with its everlasting tendency to turn up at
ends and threaten to wreck the train ; the
dog which some say was kept aboard to drive
off the cows from the track. But the little
railroad was a marvel in its own day and
meant more to the \^^alla Walla valley than
any one thing that has happened since that
time.

Another character who could almost hold

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

249

liis own with anybody, both in worldly pos-
sessions and eccentricities, was Joe Freeman,
generally known as "Portuguese Joe," since
he was supposed to have hailed from Portu-
guese stock. In about 1872 he made his ap-
pearance in Walla Walla with some sixty
thousand dollars which he had got in the Oro
Fino mines in Idaho. He was then a short,
heavy-set man, of very dark complexion, black
beard and hair just turning grav. He seemed
to have been gifted with some powers of ex-
pression and at times tried his hand at ora-
tory. The most remarkable characteristic of
his efforts in speech was a well-developed
habit of circumlocution, coupled with the ner-
vous impetuosity of his southern blood.

On one occasion he announced himself as
a candidate for congressman, and gave notice
of the fact that he would express his views
on political matters on a certain afternoon on
the corner of Third and Rose streets.

Quite a crowd assembled, and when Por-
tuguese Joe mounted the bed of the wagon
which was to serve as a rostrum, he was
greeted with deafening applause.

Flattered and excited, he was soon sailing
along on the tempestuous flood of his oratory,
and making a genuine impression. But alas
for the aspirant after political powers. There
was a Cassius in the crowd, who had bribed
the driver of the team which was hitched to
Joe's grandstand. At a most interesting and
exciting period in the orator's address, a sig-
nal was given and the driver whipped up his
horses, and the astonished audience was left
standing watching the receding Demosthenes
still spouting patriotism and madly gesticulat-
ing until a corner hid him from view.

The story of Portuguese Joe reminds us
of another joke with which he was connected.

and which involved two of Walla Walla's
prominent lawyers.

Joe had lost fifteen hundred dollars at a
game of faro. He brought suit against the
proprietor of the gaming house, James Chaun-
cey, alleging that he had been cheated. Allen
and Crowley were employed by the defendant.
It was an interesting trial and the court room
was crowded. Allen was then a young law-
yer and withal of a naturally gentle and inno-
cent character. He was trying to show that
if luck had gone the other way, Joe would
have had no complaint to make as to the fair-
ness of the game; in fact, that he was playing
the baby act.

Mr. Allen had asked several cjuestions
which showed that he did not have an artistic
conception of the fine points of the game,
much to the amusement of the audience and
to the consternation of his partner, Crowley.
The climax was reached when Allen asked,
"Didn't you hold good hands part of the
time?" This was too much for Joe, who
jumped from his seat and in great excitement
began to draw diagrams on the floor and ex-
plain that "hands" had nothing: to do with it.

Finally Allen, whose face had assumed the
hue of a poppy, was relieved and the audience
was convulsed when Crowley drjdy remarked,
"John, you had better let me examine this
witness."

Speaking of lawyers reminds us of one of
the most interesting characters at the bar at
that time, — Colonel Wyatt A. George. He
was a southerner, with all that implies of grace,
polish and gallantry. He was tall, slender, and
erect even in his old age. He was alwa3's
dressed in black and was never seen without
his tall black silk hat. In this he alwavs car-

250

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

ried his papers and briefs, a thing which once
saved his life.

Li company with ]\Ir. Ankeny, he was trav-
ehng on horseback, on his way toward Flor-
ence. Suddenly the horse he was riding be-
gan to buck and the colonel was thrown head-
long down the side of a hill, lighting squarely
upon his head. His hat was crushed down
over his ears, but the pad of papers proved
such a good cushion that he came out of his
difficulty unscathed.

This recalls another incident when the
colonel probably wished for his old friend and
protector. It seems he had become enamored
of a w-oman whose husband was sick unto
death. He had paid many visits to the place
during the sick man's illness. One day the
invalid asked his wife for a bottle full of hot
water for his back. It was one of those old-
time beer bottles, thick and solid as a brick.
In the course of the evening in came the colo-
nel. After chatting a little while very pleas-
antly the sick man said : "Colonel, I wish you'd
come close. I'm tired and can't talk loud.
I want to whisper to you." The colonel, noth-
ing loath, bent his head over the man and pre-
pared to hear his parting words. The man
aftectionately put his arm around the colonel's
neck, and having got a firm grip, reached for
his bottle and before the astonished lawyer
could break away he felt as thovigh his head
was a mass of shaking jelly. We must not
treasure up this incident against the good colo-
nel, for his intentions were really good. He
aftei'ward married the widow.

The colonel was an enthusiast at billiards.
Indeed he had a very original way of spending
his nights. He would begin to play at nine
or ten o'clock, keep at it until three or four,
then eat a meal such as would task the diges-
tive powers of two ordinary men, and then

settle down in his chair for his night's rest.
At daybreak he would take a long walk into
the country, and on his return be bright, wide
awake and ready for business. He was by no
means all eccentricities. He had a fine mind;
was possessed of real literary culture, being
perfectly familiar with the works of the great
masters and able to quote them bv the hour,
while as to his legal training and acumen, par-
ticularly as to his knowledge of common law,
he has never had a rival in this northwest
country. For many years he was one of the
well-known characters accompanying the court
in its circuits. He was finally taken ill, and
died in the Walla ^^'alla hospital.

On one occasion he was riding in a stage
coach. On the seat next to him sat a Cath-
olic priest, and the two had gotten into a
heated argument as to mortals' chances of en-
tering Heaven. The colonel argued that many
a man not known for his sanctity while on
earth would stand a chance at the Pearly
Gates.

"You will never see Heaven," responded
the priest.

"I'll bet you fifty cents I will," promptly
responded the colonel.

Let us hope that long ere this the priest
has had to pay the bet.

\\'alla Walla has had her full share of
floods and fires and other calamities. It is
said by old-timers that formerly a larger por-
tion of jMill creek flowed through the town
than at present. The bed of the creek also
was much nearer the bank than at present.
In consequence of this it was much more lia-
ble to disastrous overflow. A large stream
flowed out at high water in nearly the pres-
ent location of the flume on Alder street. The
greatest flood in the history of the town was

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

251

in November, 1861, immediately preceding the
famous hard winter. Tliat was a period of
floods all over the Columbia valley. At that
time George E. Cole had a log building nearly
in the present location of the Model bakery.
The creek then flowed farther east, nearly in
the present position of Leroux's blacksmith
shop. When the immense volume of water
poured out of the mountains it cut right
through the bank, undermining Cole's building
and discharging an enormous flood right down
IMain street, causing about as much damage
as was possible, considering the little that
there then was to damage. There have been
frequent floods since, but the diversion of so
large a portion of the water into the Yellow-
hawk and Garrison creeks, together with the
fact that Mill creek has cut its channel
several feet deeper, has rendered its overflows
less violent and destructive.

Walla Walla has had many fires also.
Soon after the organization of the city there
began to be efforts to form a fire company.
. The first fire company is said to have been
the Washington, organized in 1863, Mr. Fred
Stine being the leader in its formation. Their
engine was an old "Hunneman tub." as it was
called. The first fire worthy of mention was
on the 4th of July. The celebration of the
day was just fairly under way when Smith
& Allen's store, nearly where the Salvation
Army is now located, caught fire. There was
great excitement, for the fire company had
been disbanded before this and there was no
organization whatever. However, a number
of men, led by John Justice, rushed out the
old Hunneman tub, got it into a stream of
water which flowed' near there, and succeeded
in preventing any very disastrous spreading.
The greatest fire in the history of Walla Walla
was in March, 1887, when almost the entire

business portion of Walla Walla between Third
'and Fourth streets was destroyed. Since that
time the fires, though numerous, have not
been very extensive, those of the Stine
House, the Hunt & Robert works, the States-
man building, the Farmers' Alliance building,
and the Elevator having, been the worst. Al-
though fires have been so numerous in Walla
Walla, there have been only two cases of loss
of life. One was in that of the Aurora Hotel,
and the other in the Farmers' Alliance ware-
house.

The greatest contrast between the Walla
Walla of the past and that of the present is
found in the condition of the yards and lawns.
Aside from the verdure which fringed the
creek and the various spring branches, the
most of ancient Walla Walla was as bare and
desolate as the Wallula of the present time.
The streets, trodden by the feet of hundreds-
of Indian ponies and torn up by the rearing
steeds of inebriated cow-boys, contributed
clouds of dust to every passing breeze, and a
universal grayish brown wrapped all objects,
animate and inanimate. No fragrant locust
trees or blushing roses or nodding snowballs
or fresh, green grass relieved the dismal mo-
notony of" dust. Yet the wild rose bushes
bloomed along the banks of the rivulets which
then as now gladdened the waste, and the cot-
tonwoods which skirted the creek shed their
sweet perfume upon the zephyrs of May the
same as now. It was plain even then that
Walla Walla had the making of a beautiful
place. A person of imagination could look
forward to the stately trees and verdant lawns
which now make Walla Walla the pleasantest
home city of the Inland Empire. One could
then anticipate the yards full of tulips and
lilacs, roses and chrysanthemums, and the yard

252

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

after yard of peaches, apricots, cherries, pears
and apples, whose flowery treasures in spring
attract the buzzing bees by myriads, and whose
branches bow in summer with the nectareous
distillations of the matchless soil and sunshine
of the Valley of Many Waters. In short, it

was possible thirty years ago for one of not
even a very prophetic soul to foresee some-
thing of the \'erdure and brightness and lux-
ury which these years of industry and growth
have created upon the old-time desert.

CHAPTER XXIV

WALLA WALLA CITY IN I9OI.

We have presented in the preceding pages
of this history the essential features of both
the past and present of Walla Walla county
and Walla \\^alla city. We have shown the
evolution of the wild Lidian country of forty
years ago into the productive and orderly
homes of civilized men. We have exhibited
the present industries and the intellectual and
moral instrumentalities of the region. ^Ve
have taken a journey throughout the length
and breadth of the county, viewing its towns,
its villages and its farms. To complete the
picture it remains only to visit \\'alla Walla
city and examine it as a stranger might, seek-
ing a permanent home for himself and family.
In doing this we do not propose a repetition
of facts already stated, but rather a series of
such pictures of the town and such facts of its
life as would present themselves to the eye of
the traveler and investigator.

A traveler approaching Walla Walla by
the Northern Pacific and Hunt line encounters
some risk of that strange and dreadful expe-
rience sometimes known as being "pascoed."
It occasionally happens that the trains east or
west are behind time, and as the Hunt line
trains run on schedule time, the belated trav-

eler finds himself left. He then has no re-
course but to remain in Pasco until the train
lea\-es for Walla Walla on the following day.
It is said that some have walked rather than
pass through that, ordeal. But though Pasco
lias become in the minds of Walla Walla peo-
ple a synonym for all that is "weary, stale,
flat and unprofitable," it would not be sur-
prising if some time in the near future is should
become a beautiful and attractive place. It is
admirably situated at the conflux of the two
great rivers, the Snake and the Columbia, the
soil in the vicinity is fertile, there is an area
of prairie land of thousands upon thousands
of acres adjacent to the place, and all that is
necessary to make a town is water. Many
schemes have been proposed for getting water
upon these great Pasco plains. The magnitude
of the undertaking has thus far staggered pri-
vate enterprise, but when the United States
government undertakes the work of irriga-
tion on a great scale, as it doubtless will, the
Pasco plains will furnish one of the most hope-
ful fields for development. A widespread
scene of verdure will then greet the eyes of
the traveler bound to or from Walla Walla,
and he may then find a day or more spent at

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

253

Pasco a pleasurable experience. Franklin
county is at present having a boom of land-
filings, and some time there will be a town.

Walla Walla is unfortunate at the present
time in not being on the main line of either
road. There are, however, sleeping-cars upon
both lines which convey the traveler directly
to or from Walla Walla without change.

If we come to Walla Walla by the O. R.
& N. line, we find ourselves disembarked at
a station in the northern part of the town.
If it be daytime when we leave the train, we
shall see on all sides around a level plain so
thickly covered with trees that the city is
hardly visible. This dense foliage is the most
noticeable characteristic of Walla Walla to the
stranger who has been making his way over
the vast treeless prairies which lie between the
Cascade and the Blue mountains. Our eyes
are speedily attracted to a large group of
brick buildings immediately north of the sta-
tion, and these we learn constitute the Wash-
ington State Penitentiary. The author once
observed a party of strangers viewing the peni-
tentiary from the car windows and remark-
ing, "They have fine school buildings in Walla
Walla, don't they?"

As one of the most prominent public in-
stitutions the penitentiary must be accorded a
visit by every one who would thoroughly "do"
the Garden City.

The penitentiary became a Walla Walla
institution in 1887, having been removed to
this place from Seatco. It was largely due to
the persistent interest of Mr. Frank Paine that
this step was taken. Walla Walla people
raised five thousand dollars toward expenses
of removal. Governor Squire was favorable
to it. The various wardens in charge in their
order of service, are as follows : John Justice,

F. L. Edmiston, John McClees, J. H. Coblentz,
Thomas Mosgrove and J. B. Catron.

We meet a most courteous reception from
Warden Catron, and from him and from an
inspection of the ground and the buildings we
soon gather more matter than our present
space admits of presentation. We find in the
first place that the state has made a generous
appropriation of space to the uses of the peni-
tentiary. A farm of one hundred and fifty-five
acres, with forty acres additional to be deeded
to the state by the federal government, is now
devoted to the uses of the institution. On this
farm is raised a considerable part of the food
supply of the penitentiary. The value of the
products raised during the last year was $6,-
646.20. Had it not been for an unfortunate
attack of hog cholera, it is estimated that the
income of the farm would have amounted to
about $9,000.

We find within the enclosure of the peni-
tentiary a large number of well-equipped and
well-furnished buildings, together with a jute
mill and brick yard, the output of which con-
stitutes a great item in the income of the peni-
tentiary.

The approximate valuation of the state's
property here is $447,215.75, divided as fol-
lows: Farm real estate, $8,225.00; farm for-
age, stock and implements, $3,768.55; perma-
nent improvements, buildings, etc., $241,-
578.68; engine, boilers, light, etc., $9,497.28;
jute mill, $144,704.00; brick yard, $5,-
930.23; store house, $2,569.19; steward's
department, $11,556.46; hospital, $1,072.40;
armory, $676.95 ; office furniture, $603.25 ;
warehouse, $15,375.35; furniture, etc., war-
den's residence, $1,658.41.

We discover the population of the prison
on February 21, 1901, to be four hundred and

254

HISTORY OF \\-ALLA WALLA COUXTY.

fifty. About three-fourths of the entire num-
ber are white males. During the past two
3-ears there have been but five females con-
signed to the penitentiary. Nearly half of the
convicts are between the ages of twenty and
thirty. Of four hundred and five convicts on
September 30, 1900, thirty-two only were illit-
erates. There were two college graduates and
one graduate of a theological seminary. Of
the same four hundred and five two hundred
and five were temperate, one hundred and
ninety-six intemperate, and four were moder-
ate drinkers. Li view of the fact that the great
majority of the convicts are less than forty
years old. it is a somewhat melancholy fact
that, of but one hundred both parents are liv-
ing. Of the four hundred and five tabulated
on September 30, 1900, a hundred and five
are farmers and laborers, twenty-four are min-
ers, and twenty-nine are sailors. This seems
to disprove the somewhat common idea that
contact with nature and the physical occupa-
tions is conducive to an upright and honest life.
So far as we can judge, the whole ten-
dency of the prison discipline and manage-
ment is humane and sympathetic. Discipline
is of necessity firm, and, when occasion de-
mands, severe. The state has been liberal in
appropriations for comfort's and conveniences
in the penitentiary. The most important struc-
ture made during the past year was the new
dining hall and kitchen. This cost but six
thousand dollars, and the results are truly sur-
prising. ^^'e find a brick building, first-class
in every respect, one hundred and sixty-one
feet long and forty-three feet wide, with a ceil-
ing of panelled steel, both substantial and ar-
tistic. This same building is also emplo3-ed
as a prison chapel. On January 7, 1900, it
was dedicated to this purpose, with appro-
priate religious and musical services. \Y& find

an excellent hospital and a prison library of
seven hundred and seventeen volumes. The
convicts also have the conveniences of bath-
rooms and suitable lighting and heating.

One of the most interesting features of
the penitentiary is the parole system. This
system, now of two years existence, consists
in the temporary and experimental setting at
liberty of convicts whose record seems to offer
hope that they are thoroughly reformed.
While under parole each convict is obliged to
have some person of standing in the state
named as his first friend and advisor. The
paroled prisoner is required to be at all times
under the knowledge of tnis first friend and ad-
visor, and to be at any time subject to the
call of the prison authorities. As a disciplin-
ary measure this system has yielded good re-
ults. The governor has paroled, under the
terms of the law, fifteen prisoners. Two of
these ran away, of whom one has been recap-
tured and will be compelled to serve out his
full time. The remaining thirteen have care-
fully observed the requirements of the law
and have in the main been steadily employed
with good wages.

The most important industrial feature of
the penitentiary is the jute mill. This is the
result of the thoughtful observation of Messrs.
F. Paine and W. K. Kirkman, wdio observed
the evil eft'ects on the prisoners of lack of
exercise and occupation. Messrs. F. Paine, P.
Preston and Loudon were the commissioners
at that time, and to them is due the jute mill.
This is one of the most completely equipped
manufactories of grain bags and other jute
fabrics in the country. When operated to its
full capacity the jute mill employed two hun-
dred and fifty-five hands. The output of the
mill averages about one hundred and forty
thousand grain bags per month, at the same

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

2SS

time considerable quantities of hop cloth, mat-
ting, special bags, twine, etc. For the period
of two years ending September 30, 1900, the
sales of jute fabrics, together with stock on
hand, amounted to a total of $142,195.07, be-
ing a profit of $10,548.37.

The output of the brick-yard was for the
same two years $3,854.39, representing a net
profit of $647.64. The state has now discon-
tinued making brick for public sale. One kiln
of four hundred thousand brick \vas burned
last year for the use of the penitentiary itself.

The penitentiary is justly regarded as one
of the best managed public institutions of the
state.

Having visited the penitentiary first of all
(a certain proportion of the citizens of Wash-
ington register first in this institution and
never visit any other), we will, if you please,
proceed "up town." It is bterally up town
in this case, for, although ^^'alla Walla seems
to be upon a level plain, it is in reality upon a
slope of about fifty feet to the mile.

One of the advantages of this sloping site
becomes apparent even to a stranger, for he sees
evidences from workmen and from accumula-
tions of material that Walla Walla is build-
ing a sewerage system, and the natural slope
of the town site gives it a special advantage
in the construction of such a system. Among
many improvements which have marked the
growth of W^alla Walla during the past two
years we find none so great as that of the city
ownership of the water works, and the con-
struction of a sewer S3'stem. The question
of this great step in the history of the city
was for several years the burning subject of
Walla Walla city politics. While we are mak-
ing our way to a hotel we may very properly
notice a few of the interesting facts leading
to this important consummation.

In the year 1867 Mr. H. P. Isaacs, J. C.
Isaacs and J. D. Cook undertook what seemed
to most of the inhabitants of Walla Walla the
extraordinary project of building waterworks.
Their works were located on the present site
of Armory Hall. The "outfit" consisted of
a large pump, a huge wooden tank, and a
quantity of wooden pipe. The water supply
came out of Mill creek. The pipe consisted
of logs, bored lengthwise by hand with augers.
This water system seems not to have been
altogether satisfactory, through its habit of
working only occasionally when it felt like it.
Mr. Isaacs, with his usual energy, soon be-
came dissatisfied with such an inadequate
equipment, and abandoned the Mill creek en-
terprise, turned his attention to the higher
land on his own place east of town. He saw
that on account of the rapid slope, a gravity
system would be entirely feasible. Accord-
ingly, in 1877 he constructed reservoir No. i
on his property, the same which now supplies
the part of the town north of Mill creek. The
water supply was derived from some of the
large springs which abound in that region.
Mr. Isaacs also built on the south side of
Mill creek reservoir No. 2, which was in ex-
istence until 1898, when it was succeeded by
the present large reservoir in the same place.
Thus it will be seen that the general plan of
the waterworks of Walla Walla was designed'
by Mr. Isaacs and has remained essentially
unchanged, except for enlargement, to this
day.

In 1S87 Mr. Isaacs sold out his interes*:
in the waterworks to the \\'alla Walla Water
Company. The company at once made great
enlargement and improvement in the works,
and in that same year made a contract with the
city, by which they were to have exclusive
right under certain conditions, to provide the

256

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

city with water for twenty-five years. As'
time passed on and the city grew, there de-
veloped a strong popular desire that the city
own the waterworks and establish in connec-
tion with them a suitable system of sewerage.
The pressure for this plant grew to overwhelm-
ing strength in the year 1893. On July 10
of that year, under the mayoralty of John L.
Roberts, a special election was held upon the
question of issuing bonds by the city for the
purpose of constructing a city system. The
result was an overwhelming majority in favor
of city ownership of water. Plans were at
once inaugurated by the mayor and city coun-
cil to enter upon the construction of a new
system. Negotiations between the city and the
Water Company for the purchase of the ex-
isting system having failed, the Water Com-
pany brought suit to restrain the city from
building a new system. Their ground of action
was the contract previously made, giving them
exclusive rights for twenty-five years. After
long litigation in the state courts, the case
finally reached the supreme court of the United
States. The Water Company won the suit.
This left the city in a demoralized condition.
It had failed in its purpose and had moreover
expended several thousand dollars in the main-
tenance of a losing suit. Nevertheless, the
purpose to secure possession of the water-
works and to carry out the plan of the sevi'er-
age system did not tiag. By public meetings,
frequent articles in newspapers, and general
agitation, the necessity of municipal owner-
ship of these vital instrumentalities of a whole-
some and prosperous town, was kept impressed
upon the public mind. And at last in 1899
a proposition was submitted by the water com-
pany for the sal.e of their entire property, land
and waterworks. Accordingly on the twen-
tieth of June, 1899, a special election was held

to determine the question of the purchase of
the water system and the issuance of bonds
for the establishment of a sewerage system.
The affirmative won by an overwhelming ma-
jority. The purchase price of the water works
was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
In part payment the city issued municipal
bonds to the value of one hundred and thirty-
three thousand dollars. These bonds are to
run for twenty years and bear four and a half
per cent interest. It is a fine evidence of the
standing of Walla Walla in the money mar-
kets that these bonds were taken at a premium
of one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars
on the issue. In addition to those municipal
bonds, bonds for the construction of a sewer-
age system, secured by the income of the water
works, bearing five per cent interest and sub-
ject to be called in by the city, were issued. It
was a source of satisfaction to Walla Wallans
that a number of responsible bidders appeared
to make offers for these bonds. Both series
of bonds were disposed of to Morris & White-
head, of Portland, Oregon. These indispensable
prerequisites having been attended to, the city
proceeded at once to advertise for bids for
the construction of the sewerage system. A
large number of bids were received from vari-
ous places, and it was decided by the council
that the offer of G. H. Sutherland & Company
of Walla Walla was most advantageous.
Accordingly articles of agreement were en-
tered into, and in the spring of 1900 the con-
tractors began active work. The contract calls
for twenty-three and one-third miles of sewers.
A large part of the task is now completed, and
it is expected that the entire work will be ac-
complished by August, 1901. This will be
considerably ahead of the contract time, which
is October 15th. The sewer system is being-
constructed of first class material, and the work

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

257

is being done in a manner to command the con-
fidence of the city. One of the important
featm-es of the system is the disposal of the
sewage. This has been settled by a contract
with the Blalock Fruit Company, by which they
agree to receive and dispose of the sewage in
such a manner as to render it innocuous, and
free from further expense to the city. The Bla-
lock company have given heavy bonds for the
faithful discharge of their agreement, and in
consideration thereof have the privilege of the
exclusive use of the sewage for a period of
fifty years.

It is appropriate that we complete this
part of our observation of the city by reference
to the condition of the water works under
municipal ownership. ' An extract from the
Walla Walla Union of December i8, 1900,
presents, in a better way than can otlierwise
be done, the condition of the system at that
time. It may be added that there has been a
steady gain since that time.

"H. H. Turner, registrar of the Walla
Walla ^vaterworks, has submitted his first
report for the fiscal year ending November
30, 1900. This report being the first since
the city acquired possession of the property
it is of considerable interest as it shows how
the business of this department has been con-
ducted and its present financial condition.
From all appearances the property is in an ex-
cellent condition. The report will be submitted
to the council for its approval tonight.

"The report shows that from all sources
the revenue has been $34,443.77, which in-
cludes water rents, rents of water power, prop-
erty and the profit on material. Miscellaneous
rents brought in $20,339.08; irrigation $5,-
665.10 and metered water $4,370.90.

"The operating expenses and repairs
amounted to $1,304.78, and general expenses

$619.69. The net gain for the year is
given as $30,301.74. The expenditures of
the distributing system amounted to $709.50
and $17,787.73 has been paid in to the
city treasurer. The cash statement shows
receipts of $34,169.78, and disbursements of
$31,072.32, leaving a cash balance of $3,-
097.46.

"A total distance of 25 miles, 3,500 feet of
water mains are shown to be laid in the city,
being an extension since the beginning of the
year of 5,701 >^ feet. A total of 95 meters^
are in operation which have been maintained
at the rate of 41 cents per meter for the entire
year, and the amount of water metered at
16,512,625 gallons.

"The report goes on to state that the stand
pipe formerly connecting with reservoir No.
2 near the Odd Fellows' home has been moved
to the reservoir near Whitman street and lo-
cated on the hill. 'Your committee,' the re-
port says, 'has wisely adopted the policy of
declining to extend mains unless sufficient
business is in sight to pay a liberal return on
the cost. Several applications have been re-
jected on this ground.

" 'Some of our water rates are considerably
higher than the neighboring cities of larger
size, but our schedules compare favorably
with those of cities in the northwest whose
population is about the same as ours.' It
is then recommended that as soon as busi-
ness will warrant that the schedule be revised.
On the other hand it is suggested that exten-
sions of mains will have to be made to out-
lying districts, notably Bryant's addition, so
as to supply families living there."

We have been proceeding in a very leisure-
ly manner to our hotel, while taking notes
upon the water and sewerage systems of the
city. But at last we reach the business part

258

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

■of town and between the three principal hotels,
the State, the Palace, and the Dacres, we re-
pair to the last named. This well equipped
and comfortable hotel occupies the historic
spot held for many years by the Stine House.
The Stine House was one of the fixed insti-
tutions of Walla Walla. It had held its po-
sition for so many years that no one had
dreamed of the possibility of its being de-
-stroyed by flood, fire, pestilence, or any other
agency. When therefore on July 22, 1892,
the Stine House deliberately went to work and
burned up, the people of Walla ^^'alla rubbed
their eyes in astonishment, thinking it quite
possible that the next event would be the
burning of Pike's Peak. This unfortunate
fire being in the very midst of the hard times,
the owners felt little encouragement to re-
build, and hence the unsightly ruins of the
historic old Stine House remained for years
an eye-sore to the aesthetic and a menace to the
.timid. For the former could not look at it
without danger of strabismus, and the lat-
ter could not pass it, especially at night, with-
out suspicion of foot-pads lurking within.
Finally in the year 1899, w'hich thus far may
be considered the champion year for building,
George Dacres, one of the moneyed men of
Walla Walla, purchased the property and by
-erecting an elegant, first-class hotel, with all
the modern improvements, supplied one of the
greatest needs of the town.

Having satisfied the inner man with the
excellent menu provided at the table of the
Dacres, and having rid the external man of
5ome of the surplus dust which is sure to
_gather upon the traveler from Wallula to Walla
^^'alla, we sally forth in search of further ex-
perience.

The streets of \\^alla \\"alla give the
stranger the impression of business solidity and

activity, but it must also be confessed that
they give the impression of a plentiful lack of
cleanliness. For, during the greater portion
of the year, the streets of the otherwise fair
city are in such a condition from mud, dust,
or other defilement, that sales of blacking are
said to have ceased except to superlative dudes,
and only the leisure classes make a regular
practice of keeping their hands and faces
clean. It should in justice, however, be noted
that the past two years have seen a consider-
able improvement in the condition of the
streets.

For a city of a little over ten thousand in-
habitants, Walla W'alla shows evidence of a
very large amount of business. This is due to
the fact that it gathers to itself the trade of
a comparatively well settled region, over an
area of probably a thousand square miles.
The streets are therefore thronged with coun-
try people and those from adjoining towns.

This concentration of business has made
\\'alla Walla a very wealthy cit}'. It is said
to be surpassed in per capita wealth by only
three cities in the United states. These are
Hartford, Connecticut, Helena, IMontana, and
Portland, Oregon. It is therefore without
surprise that we see evidence of the stability
and largeness of transactions of the banks.
There are three banking institutions in the
place. Two of these, the First National and
the Baker-Boyer bank, may justly be called
pioneer banks. The third, the Farmers' Sav-
ings bank, is of later origin. The first of these
banks was the Baker-Boyer, established in
1870. At first a private bank, it became re-
established as a national bank. Dr. D. S.
Baker and J. F. Boyer for many years con-
stituted its management. At tlie present time
ex-Governor Miles C. Moore is president,
\^^ ^^^ Baker, vice-president, H. E. Johnson,

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

259

cashier, and John M. Hill, assistant cashier.
The deposits of the Baker-Boyer bank on Sep-
tember 5, 1900, were $670,090.83. The First
National bank was estabhshed in 1872 as a
private bank by A. H. Reynolds, Sr. The
management was known at that time under
the firm name of Reynolds & Day. It subse-
quently became a national bank and became
largely the property of Levi Ankeny. At the
present time Levi Ankeny is president, A. H.
Reynolds, Jr., vice-president, A. R. Bur ford,
cashier, and P. M. Winans, assistant cashier.
The deposits of this bank on September 5,
1900, were $791,378.89. The Farmers' Sav-
ing bank was founded in 1889 and has contin-
ued to be a savings bank to the present time.
Its president is W. P. Winans ; vice-president,
G. W. Babcock, and cashier, Joel Chitwood.
The average deposits of this bank at the pres-
ent time may be stated in round numbers at
$300,000.00. Thus it may be seen that the
average deposits of the banks of Walla Walla
are about one and three-quarter million dol-
lars, an immense showing for a place of the
size of Walla Walla.

Leaving the banks, duly impressed with
the idea that where there is so much money
there certainly ought to be a large amount of
trade, we find our expectations confirmed by an
examination of the mercantile establishments.
We find these in general heavily stocked with
all kinds of new and standard goods. Some
of the existing stores of Walla Walla are of
peculiar interest on account of their antiquity.
The Schwabacher store was founded in the
'sixties. The same is true of the hardware
store of William O'Donnell, the merchandise
store of Kyger & Foster, and the bakery of O.
Brechtel. Some of the largest stores of the
present time, however, are of recent origin,
as the hardware and furniture store of Davis

& Kasar, the dry goods and clothing store
of O. P. Jaycox, and the agricultural imple-
ment houses of Criffield & Smitten and John
Smith. The various grocery stores likewise
do an immense business, both in purchasing
supplies from the farmers and in disposing
of their standard merchandise.

We have spoken so fully in the preceding
chapter of the fruit dealers, the millers, and
the manufacturers, that it is not necessary to
consider them again here. Leaving these there-
fore we will saunter more leisurely through
the rest of the business section, and then
through the residence section of the city. We
find among the other semi-public institutions
two excellent and well ecjuipped hospitals.
These are, first, the St. Mary's hospital, under
control of the Catholic Sisters, which was es-
tablished in 1870, and was extensively enlarged
in 1899. The other hospital was built in 1899,
and is owned and conducted by Dr. J. F. Cropp.
Both these hospitals are equipped for the best
surgical work and scientific nursing. Among
recent acquisitions of the Walla Walla hos-
pital is an X-ray instrument, which has proved
of great service in some recent cases.

A ride through the residence portion of
Walla Walla, especially if it be the leafy month
of May, will convince the visitor that here
is one of the most homelike of Washington
cities. The suburbs of the place are peculiarly
attractive. Without entering into invidious
comparisons, it may be said the homes of Ex-
Governor Moore, W. A. Ritz, Dr. Fall, W.
W. Baker, Mrs. Stone, Max Baumeister, and
the heirs of H. P.Isaacs, are of themselves suffi-
cient to give distinction to the outer circuit
of the town. We have spoken of the pro-
fusion of trees which decorate the streets and
yards of the city. It may be added that it
i:. also fairly embowered in shrubbery and

26o

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

flowers of all sorts. Of these, roses predom-
inate, though there are at proper seasons per-
fect banks of crysanthemums. To the old-
timer who recalls the dismal and sun-parched
desert which from i860 to 1875 constituted
the site of the town, and then views the pres-
ent verdure and glow of color, flowers, shrub-
bery, and fruit trees, redolent with the fra-
grance of spring, the change seems almost too
striking for belief.

Turning again from the solid comforts of
the residence portion of the town to the public
institutions, -we shall find the schools worthy
of an extended visit. The historic facts of
these institutions ha\e been presented else-
■where, but we desire to observe here the hous-
ing and equipment provided for the young
students of Walla Walla. The three public
school buildings, the Baker, the Paine, and
the Sharpstein, are admirably built and
equipped. The Baker school is the oldest of
the three and less attractive and convenient
than the others. The Paine school is the largest
of the three, and in addition to the ordinary
jDtimarv and grammar grades, contains also
the high-school department. The Sharp-
stein school is the most recent of the three
and the most thoroughly provided with all
modern conveniences. We find Prof. R.
C. Kerr, the city superintendent, ]\Iiss L. L.
'\\'est, the principal of the Baker school.
Prof. F. ]\L Burke, the principal of the
Paine school. Prof. G. S. Bond, the prin-
cipal of the Sharpstein school, and Prof. J.
A\\ Shepherd and j\Iiss Rose Dovell, of the
high-school, to be teachers of thorough train-
ing, large experience, and high ambition in
their important profession. One excellent
means of attaining their high standard has
been the regular county and city teachers' in-
stitutes.

The visitor having already become inter-
ested in the educational system of the town
will desire to visit the other institutions of
learning. He will very naturally make his
wajr to the largest of these institutions, Whit-
man College. He Avill find this college es-
tablished in five buildings. The oldest of these
and one of the historical landmarks of the
town is the rear portion of the Ladies" Hall.
This building, subsequently enlarged, has be-
come a comfortable home for about thirty of
the college girls. Adjoining this is the Con-
servatory of Music, formerly the main recita-
tion hall. A small building upon the left of
this is used as a Y. M. C. A. hall. Upon the
north side of the street we find the two, prin-
cipal buildings of the college, Memorial Hall
and Billings Hall. The former of these, the
gift of Dr. D. K. Pearsons of Chicago, was
erected at a cost of $50,000.00, in 1899. It
is without question the finest school building
in the Inland Empire, with the exception of
the Idaho University and the Washington
Agricultural College buildings and the Spo-
kane high school. Billings Hall received its
name from the sons of Mrs. Frederick Bill-
ings, who was the largest individual donor,
though many gifts, both in Walla Walla and
in the east, were received for this noble pur-
pose. The most interesting contribution, how-
ever, was one of nearly a thousnnd dollars by
the students of the college. The faculty them-
selves, though ill qualified to make such a con-
tribution, added to this another thousand, and
these subscriptions together may be said to
have insured the completion of both buildings,
since subscriptions in the town had practically
come to a standstill, and in order to secure the
gifts of eastern benefactors it had become
necessary to raise the entire sum for both
buildings before commencement of 1899. The

HISTORY OF WALLA \YALU\ COUNTY.

261

jubilee in the college and among its friends
everywhere, when it was known that this de-
cisive step in advancement had been taken, can
never be forgotten by those who knew of it.
We find Whitman College to have at the pres-
ent time in all departments about two hun-
dred and sixty students, with a faculty of
fourteen capable and enthusiastic teachers, an
excellent library of nearly eight thousand vol-
umes, and a well equipped physical laboratory.

Walla Walla is evidently destined to take
on more and more the character of an educa-
tional center. For we have only to pass a
dozen blocks south from Whitman College to
find ourselves in front of the beautiful grounds
and buildings of St. Paul's school. Inasmuch
as we have already learned in another chapter
the facts in the history of this institution, we
need not here do more than enter into the com-
modious and beautiful building erected in
1900, and see the excellent work that is being
done by Miss Boyer and her assistants. We
shall probably meet in this visit Rev. Andreas
Bard, the rector of the Episcopal church, who
has been a most important factor in the build-
ing up of this institution, as well as one of
the brilliant lights of the W^alla Walla pulpit.

It would not do for the visitor to Walla
Walla interested in educational matters to fail
of a visit to W'alla Walla College, whose line
brick building towers conspicuously upon
the plain, two miles west of the city. This
also has been elsewhere described, and it may
suffice to say here that a considerable village
of honest and industrious people of the Sev-
enth Day Adventist faith has gathered around
this college as a nucleus. Although devoted
to the peculiar tenets of their faith, there is
no question as to the excellence of the instruc-
tion along the lines of study provided. And
^vhatever may be thought of the peculiar doc-

trinal views of this sect, no one around Walla
W^alla doubts their sincerity of. purpose and
all heartily endorse their ideas of hygiene,
cleanliness, and wholesome food.

In our peregrinations throughout the ir-
regular and picturesque streets of the Garden
city, we discover that although, as already in-
timated, there is much to be desired in the way
of improving those streets, yet that the town
is well provided with telephone and electric
service. It is said in fact that Walla Walla
has more telephones according to its popula-
tion than any other town in the state. By a
visit to Mr. F. J. McGougan, the present man-
ager of the city telephones, we gather the fol-
lowing interesting matter in respect to the tele-
phone system :

Telephones were established in eastern
^^^ashington in 1886. There were at that time
a mere handful of subscribers in ^^'alla Walla,
Colfax and Spokane. Upon the organization
of the Inland Telegraph and Telephone Com-
pany in May, 1890, three long distance lines
were established. One extended from Spokane
to Davenport, another to the Cceur d'Alene,
and one to Walla Walla by way of Colfax.
The hard times affected the telephone business
like others, but with the revival of 1896 the
business of both local and long distance lines
received an immense growth. At the present
time there are six hundred and sixty telephone
subscribers in Walla Walla. Any one of
these can be placed in immediate communica-
tion with ninety thousand subscribers of the
Pacific States' Telegraph and Telephone Com-
pany, besides many others in the territory of
the Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone Company,
which comprises Idaho, Utah and Montana.
There are also seventeen hundred public sta-
tions in the territory of the first named com-
pany which can be reached by telephone.

262

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

Every city, town, and even village in the west
is now reached by telephone. The equipment
has been constantly improved, and conversa-
tions can now be carried on at a thousand miles
distance more easily than at a hundred miles
ten years ago. The increase of subscribers
during the year 1900, in the territory of the
Pacific State Telegraph and Telephone Com-
pany was 21,206.

The lighting system is at the present time
under the management of the Walla Walla
Gas and Electric Company. The ancestor of
this company was the Walla Walla Gas Com-
pany, founded in 1881 by A. Pierce and C.
M. Patterson. In 1887 Messrs. Wadsworth and
Bromwell, of San Francisco, and ]\Ir. C. E.
Burrows, of Walla Walla, became the owners
of the gas plant. In 1888 the Walla Walla
Electric Light and Power Company was incor-
porated. The business does not seem to have
been a financial success until the city agreed to
adopt the arc lamp for public lighting. In
1889, accordingly, the Walla Walla Gas and
Electric Company was incorporated by a union
of the two companies with a capital stock of
one hundred thousand dollars. At that time
a substantial stone and brick building was
erected, and a 140-horse power engine was in-
stalled. This proved inadequate for the grow-
ing needs of the city, and in 1892 the com-
pany established a water power on Mill creek,
upon the place of E. G. Riffle. After the es-
tablishment of this power excellent service
was provided, but during the past two years
it has been found that the great increase in
demand for lights has necessitated another in-
crease in power. The company is, therefore,
planning to erect a stand pipe upon their prop-
erty on Mill creek, which will greatly increase
the capacity of the plant. The number of arc
lights now provided in the city is "jj.

The immensely augmented demand for
electric lights and the apparent financial suc-
cess of the present company has encouraged
other capitalists to consider the advisability
of a new system. The city has passed an
ordinance granting a general form of franchise
with certain privileges and certain recjuirements
of any company which may choose to enter into
the electric business. Under this general op-
portunity a plan for a very extensive electrical
apparatus at the forks of the Walla Walla river
has been framed b}^ several of the moneyed men
of Umatilla county and of Walla \\^alla. This
company has already secured a franchise for
the purpose of bringing light and electric
power to the city. Gustavus X. Miller, the
company's engineer, has recently given the fol-
lowing information in regard to the enterprise :

"The plant is to be situated at the forks
of the Walla Walla river, about twelve miles
almost due south of this city and the buildings
and machinery there to erected will cost in the
neighborhood of two hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars. The power is almost unlimited
and is by far the easiest acquired that I have
ever seen where so great a head could be ob-
tained. It will be necessary to pipe the water
a distance of fourteen thousand, five hundred
feet in a barrel flume and at the place of
dumping a head of two hundred feet will be
easily obtained. This will mean at least four
thousand horsepower and the advantages of
such a giant force when chained and turned to-
the uses of the hands of man are too great to
be reaUzed at a single thinking.

"The flume will be 54 inches in diameter
and will be constructed of wooden staves, laid
lengthwise. The minimum flow of water at
the dry season will be fifteen thousand gallons
per minute and during the other portions of
the year much greater. The electricity gen-

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

263,

erated will be conveyed to this city by means
of four wires and the energy lost in transmis-
sion will, be practically nothing. There will
be required in the city of Walla Walla a dis-
tributing station in order that the fluid can be
sent out to the different portions of the city
and transferred into light or power which ever
the case might be.

"It is also the intention of the company
to run lines of wire to both Athena and Weston
and I think to Pendleton, also. Also, it is high-
ly probable that a large amount will be used
by the farmers both for the purpose of operat-
ing their farm machinery and to light their
homes. Take for example during the harvest
season. Any farmer can own an electric
motor. When harvest comes around he will
cut his grain and haul it all to one point in the
field where his separator has been established
and connected with his motor. It does away
not only with the necessity of having an en-
gine for this work but also with salaries which
would have to be paid to both an engineer and
a fireman.

"An electrical line to Milton, Waitsburg,
and other points would also pay, I think, and
will probably be built within a comparatively
short time. There is a fine chance for Walla
Walla to improve along this line and it will
undoubtedly be taken advantage of by some-
one within the next few years."

It is hardly necessary to say that in ad-
dition to its other means of communication
with the rest of the world, Walla Walla has
complete telegraphic communication, but as a
historical item of interest we are reminded by
an old-timer with whom we converse that it
was on June i, 1870, that Walla Walla was
first connected by lightning with the outside
world. This pioneer telegraph line was built
by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company.

James Henderson was the first operator in
Walla Walla, and the office was located on the
southwest corner of Main and Third streets.
The passage of the iirst messages was made
a great occasion in the little city. A minute
gun was fired and there was band music of a
joyful nature. The first message transmitted
was from Mayor Stone to Mayor Goldsmith,
of Portland, and read :

To the Mayor of Portland — Greeting : Al-
low me to congratulate you on the completiort
of the telegraph that places the first city of
Oregon in connection with the metropolis of
Washington, and to express the hope that it
is but the precursor of the iron rail that is to
unite us still more indissolubly in the bonds-
of interest and affections.

Fr.\nk Stone,
Mayor of the City of Walla Walla.

To which came back the following re-
sponse :

Portland, June i, 1870, Mayor Frank.
Stone, Walla Walla — Your sentiments are re-
ciprocated. May the completion of the tele-
graph between Walla Walla and Portland tend
to still further the prospects and good feelings
of both cities, and your territory and our state.
B. Goldsmith, Mayor.

While observing the lighting systems ancE
the various communication systems of the city,,
our attention is called to the fact that there are
no street-car lines in Walla Walla. Conversation
again with an old-timer discloses the fact that
during the boom year of 1889 a car line was
built from the O. R. & N. station to Second
street, where it divided, one branch going to-
Whitman College, the other branch to the city

264

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

cemetery. After the disastrous collapse which
followed so closely upon the heels of the boom
(although it is proper to say that the collapse
affected Walla Walla less than any other city
on the Pacific coast), it became obvious that
the street-car line was premature. Neverthe-
less the company continued operating it for
several years, although at a loss, and then
granted to a local company the privilege of
using the line without other expense than its
maintenance for several years longer. Even
tmder these conditions the company did not
find the line sufficiently patronized to make it
profitable. Accordingly in 1898 the line was
entirely abandoned and the roadbed taken
up. This pioneer street-car line would doubt-
less have paid, even in spite of the hard times,
had it not been for the great number of horses
and carriages and bicycles in the town. On
account of its having been for years a center
of stock and agricultural interests, Walla
Walla has abounded in horses. The people,
moreover, have had the habit of both riding
and driving to such an extent as not to "take"
naturally to street-cars. By reason also of
the large number of well equipped livery
stables, carriage hire is very low. Visitors
from the sea-board towns, where from a dol-
lar to a dollar and a half is the ordinary hack
fare, are much astonished to discover that in
Walla Walla hack fare anywhere within the
city limits is only "two bits." Furthermore,
on account of the level site and wide streets of
the town, it is an ideal bicycle town. And in
spite of the fact, as we learn, that bicyclists
have had much tribulation from city ordi-
nances in regard to the use of sidewalks, Walla
AValla is said to contain more bicycles per
capita than any other town in the state. The
number of bicycle tags issued by the city mar-
shal to date is eleven hundred and fifty. These

tags were issued in pursuance of an ordinance
by the city council, imposing a tax of a dollar
upon each bicycle. The announced purpose
of this tax was to make a system of bicycle
paths throughout the town. Thus far this
laudable plan has languished, and many and
violent are the anathemas which bicyclists of
all ages and sexes pronounce upon the heads
of the "town dads."

Our observations thus far have extended
over the business, educational, and communi-
cation phases of the life of the city. We can
not do justice to our subject without learning
something of the social, intellectual, and moral
life of the place. Walla Walla is often called
a "moss-back" town, and it is apparently true
that the controlling influences are conservative
and disinclined to venture into new schemes
in either business or society. It appears also
that the general spirit of the place is rather
individualistic than co-operative, and that pub-
lic enterprises, looking to municipal betterment,
are not readily adopted. The people therefore
"abuse" each other for their supposed lack of
public spirit. In spite of this Walla Walla
is conspicuous for its simplicity, hospitality,
and general sociableness of its people. As
noted elsewhere, there are numerous strong
lodges of all the standard fraternities. The
frec|uent entertainments arid celebrations of
these fraternities make occasions of interest
and profit for all the people of the place. All
manner of social gatherings are frequent and
influential for good. One of the most potent
public benefactions is the public library and
reading room, where strangers may find en-
tertainment, and young people of the place,
who might otherwise acquire indolent and
vicious habits, can gain solid benefit.

The chief center of public entertainments
and amusements in the place is of course the

MAIN STREET, WALLA WALLA, IN 1877.

MAIN STREET, WALLA WALLA, IN 1901.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

265

Walla Walla opera house. This very im-
poTtant feature of a town was erected by D.
W. Small in the year 1884. In the next year,
on account of a defect in the construction of
the roof, a great weight of snow caused the
building to collapse. It was but by the nar-
rowest margin that a great number of people
escaped being crushed within the ruins, as
the collapse occurred but an hour or two be-
fore a large fair was to have been opened.
In the year 1894 the opera house came into the
possession of Paine brothers, who made great
improvements in it and equipped it in a first
class manner. At the present time C. F. Van
de \Vater is the lessee and manager of the
opera house. There is an almost constant
series of operatic and theatrical entertainments,
mostly of a standard quality. We find a
sentiment among the more cultured people of
the place that the Shakesperian drama and
other high class performances might be en-
couraged to a larger degree, with both greater
benefit to the public and greater profit to the
manager.

For a comparatively new city, the church
life of Walla Walla is active and efficient.
A liberal stranger, however, is impressed with
the idea that there is too large a number of
Aveak churches, and that therefore the moral
and religious energy of the place is not utilized
to the best advantage. We are told that a
religious census by the pastors of the city pro-
duced the following general result : Number
of families visited, 1,622; number of persons
reported, 6,042 ; number of church attendants,
3,733; number of church members, 2,146;
number of Sunday school attendants, 1,677.

A reliable index to the intellectual condi-
tion of a place is its amount of postoffice busi-
ness. A visit to this institution and an inter-
view with Postmaster E. L. Brunton reveals

a number of interesting facts. It is estimated
that over fifteen thousand people receive their
mail through the Walla Walla postoffice.
About thirty-five hundred receive their mail
through the boxes. There are four carriers
at present on the city routes, with great need
of another. There were two new clerks added
during the past year, and the business of the
office warrants another. The gross receipts
of the office for 1899 were $16,378.36. Those
for 1898 were $15,178.29 and those for 1896
were $12,717.19. This record shows a
steady and remarkable increase, and that for
the year 1900 shows the same ratio of gain,
being $17,437.17. There is reason to expect
that, in the near future there will be established
in Walla Walla a system of free rural delivery,
and when this is done it will add for the
farmers of Walla Walla one more reason for
an affirmative answer to the question, "Is life
worth living?"

From the postoffice we proceed to the City
Hall, and here by an interview with city clerk
R. P. Reynolds we gather a number of in-
teresting facts in regard to the city work and
finances, in addition to those already given un-
der the head of the water works and sewerage
systems. Among them we learn that the gen-
eral receipts of the city for the year 1900 were
$45,268.04, and the expenses $32,629.38. There
is a floating indebtedness upon the city of $27-
806.41. In connection with the City Hall is
the ■ City Fire Department. And concerning
this we find a very complete summary in a spe-
cial number of the Daily Statesman, which we
quote.

"In addition to a paid fire department,
Walla Walla has what might be considered the
most efficient volunteer fire service of any state
in the country. It has a complete apparatus,
consisting of two of the latest steam fire en-

266

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

gines and a modern chemical engine, one hose
wagon, and one Watrous aerial truck, and five
paid men.

"The city has a volunteer force of over
125 men who respond to every alarm. There
are three volunteer companies in Walla Walla,
each of which is limited to a membership of
40 men. The entire department is under the
direction of a chief, who, at the present time is
Dr. Y. C. Blalock, one of the veterans of the
volunteer service. Dr. Blalock is ably assisted
by W. H. Weber, as first assistant, and Frank
Ennis, as second assistant. The several offi-
cers of the organization are :

"J. W. Mackay, president; John Smith,
vice-president; Harry Debus, secretary, and
J. F. Krepps, treasurer.

"One of the oldest of the three volunteer
companies is the Tiger No. i, which has 40
members. Many of Walla Walla's oldest citi-
zens have at different times served with this
company. The officers at present are :

"Peter Werner, president; John Kramer,
vice-president; W. H. Weber, secretary; Al-
bert Neibergall, treasurer; James Corliss, fore-
man; William Ritter, assistant foreman; Ru-
dolph Seifke, second assistant foreman. Tiger
No. I was organized February 22, 1877.

"Rescue No. i is. another efficient com-
pany, with a membership of 40, which was
organized in March, 1894. The officers are:
Harry Riffle, president; J. P. Scalley, vice-
president; Frank Ennis, secretary; George
Retzer, treasurer ; William O'Rorke, foreman ;
R. M. White, assistant foreman.

"The third company is known as 'Our
Boys No. 3,' which was organized in July,
1895, and has a membership of 40. Its officers
are : J. W. Mackay, president ; William Foster,
vice-president; Al Kelling, secretary; J. F.
Krepps, treasurer; John Bachtold, foreman.

James W. Mackay is one of the oldest members
in the volunteer fire service, having joined in
1895, ^nd served continuously since that time.
He has been the president of 'Our Boys No.
3' company, since 1893, and was president
of the Eastern Oregon and Washington Fire-
man's Association in 1898.

"Harry Debus, the present secretary of the
local organization, started as a torch-boy with
Tiger No. i, in 1879, and has served contin-
uously ever since that time. He has, at vari-
ous times, held the offices of president, secre-
tary and treasurer of his company. Mr. De-
bus was a prominent member of one of the
early hose teams and has been on several of
the teams which have won the state champion-
ship in the various contests of the Eastern Ore-
gon and Washington Fireman's Association.

"Many of the oldest resident citizens of
Walla Walla have served a full term in one
of the three volunteer companies and are
now on the retired list. Among them are :
John Aheit, Sr., Jacob Betz, John P. Kent,
A. Swartz, Emil Sanderson, J. J. Kauffman
and J. P. Justice.

"The term of service in the volunteer fire
department is seven years, during which time
and thereafter the members are exempt from
the payment of poll tax and service as jury-
men. About one hundred are now on what is
termed the retired list, having completed seven
years of service and received honorable dis-
charges. Every member of each company is
expected to respond to the alarm of fire, day
or night, and if an employe of any firm in the
city, he is permitted to leave his work, without
a deduction of his salary.

"The aim and object of the volunteer fire
department is, in addition to providing a force
for protection against fire, to hold annual
tournaments, annual competitions and picnics

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

267

and to render assistance to any disabled per-
sons who have received injuries while on duty.

"The next meeting and tournament of the
Eastern Oregon and Washington Fireman's
Association will be held in Walla Walla, on
June 13 and 14. During this meeting there will
be various contests, and Walla Walla's cele-
brated hose team will again be a competitor
in one of the competitions. This team under
the captaincy of Emil Sanderson, has won the
championship in all the contests since 1885,
and there is but little doubt that it will carry
off the laurels at the coming tournament.

"Walla Walla has the distinction of having
the first steam apparatus in the state of Wash-
ington. The volunteer fire department was or-
ganized in 1868, the Tigers being the first
company, and operating an old-time hand en-
gine when the company was first organized,
and for some time thereafter."

Questions of sewerage and water-works
having been satisfactorily settled, the greatest
subject now looming up in municipal politics
is that of a new charter. Walla Walla has
existed under a unique charter, the only one
of the kind in the state, bestowed upon the city
in territorial clays. As it appears that Walla
Walla has now surpassed the population of ten
thousand people, and become a city of the sec-
ond class, the question is being agitated as to
reincorporation. It will be an interesting thing
to future readers and historians to find here a
statement of the requirements for such reincor-
poration, together with something of current
public opinion in regard to it. An examination
of the laws with respect to this elicits the fol-
f owing facts :

To become a city of the second c'ass there
must be a petition signed by two hundred or
more freeholders of Walla Walla presented to
the council, and that body must call a special

election to designate that at the next regular
election this question will be submitted to the
voters of the city. In voting for this the mark-
ing on the ballot will be "For Advancement"
or "Against Advancement." After it has been
decided to become a second class city, there
n:ust be an election held at which the following
officers are to be chosen by the people : Mayor,
twelve councilmen, collector and street com-
n:issioner (combined), assessor, police judge,
and city attorney.

The changes resulting from passing into
the second class would be many. The increase
in the council would be followed by an in-
crease in the permissible expenses of the city
government. There would be no necessary in-
crease in the expenses, but some of the salaries
might be made higher if the board of aldermen
saw fit.

One of the most important changes would
be in the schools inside the city limits which,
according to the law, have already ceased to
exist as district schools and have entered the
class of city schools. This form of school re-
quires a board of education consisting of five
m.embers instead of a school board of three
members as at present. The members of this
board are elected for a term of three years,
the election occurring the first Saturday in the
month of November. The board of directors
of the public library is also changed from three
to five, which are appointed by the mayor with
the consent of the council.

The other officers of the city shall be ap-
pointed by the mayor with the consent of the
council and shall be : Chief of police, treas-
urer, clerk, surveyor, poundmaster, and, if so
desired, superintendent of irrigation. For
these officers the salaries of only the chief of
police, clerk and treasurer are stipulated. The
chief of police cannot receive more than one

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

thousand dollars per year, the treasurer fifteen
himdred dollars, and the city clerk the sum of
one hundred and fifty dollars per month.

The salaries of the city attorney and the
city justice are not stipulated and may be fixed
at whatever the council may see fit. The as-
sessor will be paid the sum of five hundred dol-
lars per year and the collector and street com-
missioner cannot draw more than fifteen hun-
dred dollars per year. No other salaries are
stipulated. The chief of the fire department
Avill be elected by the council and not by the
volunteer firemen as at the present time. There
m.ay also be, if the council sees fit, a city jailor,
to be appointed by the mayor.

The city election is fixed for the first Alon-
daj' after the first Tuesday in December and six
councilmen shall be elected each year after the
first election. at which time the entire tweive will
be chosen, the hold-overs to be decided by lot.
The council must choose one of its number to
act as president during the absence of the mayor
and there shall be a board of three councilmen,
whose duty it shall be to try all cases of com-
plaint against policemen or other city officers
for neglect of duty, exceeding their authority
and similar crimes whenever such charges shall
bave been preferred. The mayor shall have a
vote in case of a tie in the council.

Any officer shall have the power to select
and appoint, subject to the approval of the
council, such deputies as he may .deem neces-
sary for the proper performance of the duties
of his office. The salaries of these deputies
must not exceed the sum of one hundred dol-
lars per month in any case.

In connection with the question of a new
charter a difference of opinion has developed,
the central point of which seems to be the
powers of the mayor. The conflicting opinions
have been represented by the Union and the

Statesman, the former maintaining the con-
centration of power in the hands of the mayor,
and the latter advocating a popular election for
every officer and a consequent distribution of
power, and consequently it favors the retention
of the present charter. We present extracts
from the two papers, in the belief that such a
preservation of current opinion will prove of
permanent interest :

From Walla Walla Union of February i6,
igoi :

Spokane is discussing the propriety of giving the
mayor more authority on appointments. It is believed
that in this way the expenditures can be kept under bet-
ter control. The idea is that the mayor is the general
manager of a business, and that to be successful he should
be given the widest scope in his management of affairs,
and then be held responsible for results.

There is something in this that should appeal to the
people of Walla Walla. In Spokane the mayor is rec-
ognized as the head of the city government, but there is
also a board of county commissioners, a board of public
works and a board of fire commissioners. The individu-
als appointed by the mayor constitute these boards, one
member being the head of each board and these boards
select the appointees. By this act the mayor loses actual
control and vests it in his appointees. In a measure this
IS a success, but it is not as successful as it would be in
case the appointments were directly in the hands of the
mayor. There is a chance for the mayor to evade the
responsibility for errors, which should not be.

If the control of the city government is placed in the
hands of the mayor, then the people can hold him re-
sponsible for the errors and by the same token he is en-
titled to the credit for a successful administration. The
people should not divide the responsibility. For good
work or bad it should be placed as nearly as possible in
the head of the city government.

It is proper and right that the mayor, the treasurer,
the councilmen, the assessor, the police judge or city jus-
tice and the street commissioner should be elected by the
people, and there would be no great harm done if the
clerk and the attorney were also elected, though there is
no doubt but the better government would be secured if
the clerk and the attorney were appointed. This is not a
new suggestion. It is the method which applies in a major-
ity of the cities, large and small, in all the cities of the
United States. It is found to be good law in Spokane
Seattle and Tacoma: why is it not good law here to ap-
point the head of the police department, and have him
responsible to the mayor? As has been pointed out
before, if the mayor is to be the bead of the city govern-
ment and is to be held responsible for the success of his

HISTORY OF \Vx\LLA WALLA COUNTY.

269

administration, he should have the police force under,
not equal with, him. The attorney is largely counsel for
the mayor and the council; thence he should be appoint-
ed and confirmed, for in this manner an attorney is
always secured who is acceptable and in whom all parties
have confidence. The clerk is very close to the council
and could be appointed, as he should be chosen for his
clerical ability rather than anything else, though as other
duties are placed upon him it is largely a technical ques-
tion whether he is elected or appointed.

From Statesman of February 18, 1901 :

It is proposed to make for Walla Walla a new charter.
There are not many reasons apparent for this change,
but since we have reached the dignity of a city of the
second class in point of population there are those who
think we should cast aside our former official clothing
and wear something different.

There is a plot in this proposed program. One not
seen by the people at a glance, and yet one which in
future years may seem a great deal to everyone here. It
is suggested by " some," and argued by the Union, the
organ of these " some," that the offices of chief of police,
attorney and clerk be appointed; that they be named by
the mayor and held at his will. There is no reason in the
world for such a move save a desire to build up a politi-
cal machine.

And there is exactly the plot at this time.

If the mayor can name the chief of police, the chief of
the fire department, the attorney and the clerk, will he
not name those who have used their pull to get him in
office, and who, when they are once in, will use their offi-
cial positions to continue the machine of which they are
then a part? Has this not been the history of all cities?
Is it not the very thing which is causing trouble and scan-
dal in more than one city at this time? Is not this build-
ing of political machines the cause of forcing honest
citizens in many cities to take the work of reform in their
own hands.

The city of Walla Walla may be metropolitan, but it
is not metropolitan to the extent that it desires a corrupt
machine in the city hall and a public scandal in the
papers. Elect the officers. Bring every man who is
connected with the management of city affairs as close to
the people as possible. Have the people say whom they
may want for chief of police, for clerk and for attorney
In county affairs are certain officers appointed that better
men may be secured? More efficient men are secured
by appointment than by election, argues the Union. Then
why not, in county affairs, appoint the clerk and the at-
torney and the sheriff instead of electing them?

The giving of too much power to the mayor is danger-
ous. It has so proven in every city in which it has been
done, and Walla Walla ought to recognize the fact that
she can gain much by the experience of others.

One of the most important and historic in-
stitutions in or around the city is Fort Walla

Walla. It is sometimes necessary to remind a
stranger that Fort Walla Walla, under the
Hudson's Bay regime, meant the old fort at
the present site of Wallula. As elsewhere
narrated, that was abandoned about the year
1853. In the winter of 1856-7 rude barracks
were established by the soldiers within the
present limits of Walla Walla city. During
the fall of 1856 a considerable number of
soldiers occupied huts constructed of poles and
slabs set on end and roofed with dirt, brush,
and rye grass. Several log cabins for the of-
ficers were put up in the same vicinity, which
was the present location of McBride's 1'^ ■
stable. One of those buildings was standing
until about six years ago. In October of 1856
General Wool directed Colonel Wright to es-
tablish a permanent military post at some point
in the Walla Walla valley. In pursuance of
these directions Colonel Wright issued orders
from his post at The Dalles to Colonel Step-
toe to locate the post. The present location of
the post (and a more beautiful and convenient
one it would be hard to imagine) is due to
Colonel Steptoe, assisted by Charles Russell and
Joseph ]\IcEvoy. In the spring of 1857 per-
manent buildings were erected and Lieutenant-
Colonel Steptoe took charge of the fort. By
i860 the buildings were substantial!}^ as at
present.

Our space is insufficient to give any his-
torical narrative of Fort Walla Walla. Suffice
it to say that it has been a proininent financial
and social, as well as military, feature of the
place. There have been usually about two him-
dred soldiers established here. There has been
m.uch talk at times of abandonment of the fort,
but it seems now that there is no reason to ap-
prehend such a step in the near future. Thou-
sands of dollars are spent yearly in the county
for the purchase of provisions and equipment

270

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

for the fort. The gallant officers, together with
the accomplished ladies of the fort, have be-
come almost indespensable to the ongoings of
society in the town. For these and allied
reasons the people of Walla Walla greatly de-
precate any talk of abandonment.

We have mentioned but a small part of the
interesting features, historical and descriptive,
which an extended visit to the Garden city
would reveal. Every visitor to Walla Walla
niust see the Whitman monument and old mis-
sion grounds. He must spend at least part of
the day upon Dr. Blalock's great fruit ranch.
It is equally incumbent upon him to go to the
magnificent wheat ranch of W. P. Reser and

"see the elk." Nor could any one truthfully
consider that he had seen Walla Walla unless
he had ridden behind one of the spanking teams
for which the town is noted up the wild and
picturesque canyon of Mill creek to the points
which are favorite resorts for camping parties
during the hot Walla Walla summers. These
and many more things must be deferred to a
later visit.

In concluding this chapter, and with it thi?
history, we will only add : — If a period of forty
years since the termination of bloody Indian
wars can effect all the changes which greet our
eyes on all sides, what will be accomplished by
the next forty years?

BIOGRAPHICAL

RECORDS

BIOGRAPHICAL RECORDS

HOLLON PARKER.— Not all men order
their lives to their own liking; nor yet are all
men true to their ideals and their potentiality
for individual accomplishment. It is, therefore,
ever gratifying to take under review the life
history of one who has wrought earnestly and
faithfully and has proved a power for good in
various relations of human existence, maintain-
ing a high sense of his stewardship and having
a constant recognition of the extraneous re-
\sponsibilities concomitant with personal suc-
cess. Such a man is he whose name initiates
this paragraph, and no compilation having to
do with the annals of Walla Walla county or
the present state of Washington would be con-
sistent with itself were there a failure to incor-
porate a summary of his active and signally
useful career.

The subject of this' review is a native of
the old Empire state, having been born in Ar-
cada, near Palmyra, Wayne county. New York,
October 2, 1832. His father, Preston R. Par-
ker, was numbered among the early settlers in
the northwestern part of New York state, hav-
ing located his farm about thirty miles east
of the city of Rochester. He rendered yeoman
service in the war of 181 2, after which he de-
voted his attention to the clearing and cultiva-
tion of his farmstead, which was as yet prac-
tically a primitive forest. With his own hands
he felled the heavy timber, laboring assiduously
to establish a home for his family. He was

united in marriage to Miss Lana Sanford, and
they became the parents of six sons and four
daughters, Hollon Parker being the sixth in
order of birth. The father was a man of spot-
less character and marked intellectual strength,,
and for about half a century he rendered de-
voted and efficient service in the ministry of
the divine Master.

The preliminary educational discipline of
our subject was attained through the somewhat
m.eagre sources afforded in the early days, and
through which so many of our most eminent
men have risen to exalted station and high
preferment. He attended the primitive log
schoolhouse, where he laid the foundation for
that broad general information and ripe intel-
lectuality which have marked his later years.
His later successes in life are doubtless due not
less to his own indomitable spirit and firmness
of character than to the atmosphere of his early-
youth and the worthy example of his honored
father and most estimable mother, the latter
being a representative of one of the foremost
families of the old Empire state. Endowed
with sturdy independence of spirit and with a
courage born of his recognition of his owrt
powers to will and to do, Hollon Parker severed
home ties at the early age of nineteen years
and started for the far west, intending to re-
turn at the expiration of two years and to fit
himself for college. Crossing the isthmus of
Panama, part of the distance on foot, he ar-

274

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

rived in San Francisco on May 22, 1852, fol-
lowing the rush into the mines in the northern
part of the state. Although fatigued from his
long journey and emaciated by the fevers of
the swamps of Panama, he finally succeeded
in reaching the mines alive. It was here that
the true grain and fiber of his most commend-
able nature manifested themselves to the best
advantage. Fully seven thousand miles from
home, by the isthmus route, five hundred dol-
lars in debt, a veritable walking skeleton, alone
and among strangers, with not a dollar in his
pocket and with a hard, cold winter at hand, —
the prospects were assuredly not alluring.
After various efforts he finally secured an in-
door position for the winter, at fifty dollars
per month. This stipend seems all the more
diminutive when we take into consideration
the circumstance that in the more remote min-
ing districts flour was at this time worth one
dollar and twenty-five cents per pound, salt six-
teen dollars per pound, and other necessities in
proportion. This was in the winter of 1852-3.
Mr. Parker afterward taught school in the
northern part of the state, saving his earnings,
and finally, on October 28, 1853, engaged in
business with a partner, under the firm name
of Parker & Roman, in Yreka, Siskiyou coun-
ty, California, handling a line of books, sta-
tioneiy and notions. He continued in this line
for over seven years, within which time he had
accumulated about forty thousand dollars'
worth of real estate and other property. These
investments, mostly brick stores and merchan-
dise, were lost during the dry winters which
proved so disastrous to that country at that
time, and by his being deceived in those in
whom he trusted and had confidence.

In August. 1855, Mr. Parker, accompany-
ing several others on an exploring expedition,
made the ascent of Mount Shasta, a feat that

had been declared impossible by Fremont. In
the party were three physicians, two of whom
were overcome with the gases and sulphurous
vapors emanating from the boiling springs of
the old crater at the summit of the mountain,
several weeks elapsing before they were fully
recovered from the effects of this ordeal.

In 1856 Mr. Parker returned to his home
in New York state, and while there was an
active member of the Wayne county convention
which supported James Buchanan for the presi-
dency. After the election Mr. Parker attended
the inaugural ceremonies at the federal capital,
and while there was one of over four hundred
victims who, with President Buchanan, were
poisoned at one of the leading hotels in the
city, and of whom forty or more died, while
man}' were left injured for life, Mr. Parker
hmiself not recovering from the effects for
many years.

In the spring of 1862. after having closed
his stores at Yreka, California, and Jackson-
ville, Oregon, Mr. Parker started north for
the then celebrated Oro Fino mining camp in
northern Idaho, arriving at Portland, Oregon,
the following April. Continuing his journey
northward, he arrived at \\'alla Walla about
the middle of July, 1862, and here he has ever
since maintained his home. His intention had
been to visit his brother, Esbon B. Parker,
who owned some valuable mining property at
Oro Fino, and then to return to San Francisco,
where he had his dental instruments and stock,
intending to go to Lima, South America, for
the purpose of entering upon the practice of
dentistry in that place, for he had become
an expert in this profession. However, after
looking about in Wall \\'alla, he decided to
again enter the mercantile business, handling
his old line of books, stationery, etc.

In 1863, having procured the requisite

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

275

papers, Mr. Parker effected in Walla Walla
the organization of the Union League, whose
object was the promotion of a spirit of patriot-
ism among the citizens of the community, and
he was an active and zealous worker in the
Union cause throughout the entire period of
the war of the Rebellion. Although it met
with some opposition, the league proved a suc-
cess and gave to the country the impetus then
necessary to clear it of the blacklegs and thieves
who had secured such a vital hold upon the
community that it had become necessary to
organize a vigilance committee to protect the
lives and property of the citizens. During this
time Mr. Parker, with the able co-operation of
Messrs. Thomas K. McCoy and Anderson Cox,
worked incessantly to secure for the people hon-
est and just government and a more favorable
condition of judicial affairs.

Li the summer of 1863 Mr. Parker was
elected a delegate to the Republican territorial
convention, held at Vancouver. W'hile there
he entered into a contract with the registrar
and the receiver of the United States land of-
fice, and agreed to pay their expenses, which
the United States refused to do, in order that
they might come to Walla Walla and give set-
tlers an opportunity to secure titles to their land
before the same could be bought by speculators,
as there was to be a government sale of the
same lands the following month. In this praise-
worthy undertaking he was successful and
thereby saved for the community over fifteen
thousand dollars which would have been lost
had the settlers been obliged to go to the land
office. In 1864 Mr. Parker, in connection with
his other business, and at an outlay of sev-
eral thousand dollars, opened a private land of-
fice in Walla Walla, the object being to enable
the new settlers to file on their land claims
without going to Vancouver and Oregon City

land offices. Simultaneously he engaged in the
practice of law. Although his business had now
assumed such proportions as to require almost
his entire time, he practiced one year in the
United States district court, and became in-
terested very successfully in politics, so con-
tinuing until 1869.

During this time there was vigorous agita-
tion of the question of annexing southeast-
ern Washington to Oregon, the territory in
question lying south of the Snake river and
including what are now the counties of
Walla Walla, Columbia, Asotin and Gar-
field. The measure was favored by An-
derson Cox and many other prominent men
in both Washington and Oregon. Mr. Cox
having been elected to the Washington legis-
lature, instead of approaching that body, ap-
peared at Salem, Oregon, and helped to secure
the passage by the legislature of that state of
a memorial praying congress that the territory
mentioned might be annexed to the state of
Oregon. Upon learning of this action Mr.
Parker forthwith brought strong but secret
forces to bear in opposition to the proposed
scheme of annexation, and by his influence with
the political leaders of Washington succeeded
ir' preventing this consummation. The direct
import of this movement may not have been
evident to those of less foresight, but had this
portion of Washington been annexed to Ore-
gon, strongly Democratic in its political com-
plexion as it then was, it would have thrown
Oregon into the Democratic fold, in which case
the entire political status of the nation would
have been changed, as the Democratic vote of
Oregon, with such supplemental territory,
would have elected Tilden to the presidency of
the United States. For his services and zeal
in behalf of the country and his party Mr. Par-
ker received the consideration and confidence

276

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

of the government, and it may safely be said
that through such influence he could have pro-
cured almost any office or position pertaining
tc the territory of Washington, had he so de-
sired.

On the 4th of February, 1869, 'Mr. Parker
started to attend the inauguration of Presi-
dent Grant. By means of a stage coach, a sled
and a mud wagon he succeeded in traversing a
distance of eight hundred miles, reaching the
western terminus of the Union Pacific Rail-
road, at a little town called Wasatch, where he
discovered that the railroad was blocked by
snow. After a short delay the railroad com-
pany transferred the party to Rawlins, where
they found about two hundred other delayed
passengers, many without provisions or money.
From Rawlins they telegraphed to the Con-
gressional committee on railroads at Washing-
ton a repeated message for aid, the cost of
transmission being forty dollars. The pas-
sengers selected Mr. Parker as leader and as
one of a committee of three to devise ways
and means of transportation and relief. After
an unsatisfactory interview, the railroad of-
ficials proposed that if the passengers would
provide themselves with food for three days
they themselves would furnish a carload of
shovels for digging out the snow, and would
thus send them on. This proved to be a gross
deceit, for the engine was run into a snow-
filled cut and the passengers were left without
the implements for digging the snow, at the
little coal mining place and station of Carbon.
Realizing the danger of distress and even star-
vation with their scanty provisions, the able
bodied men left the bulk of the food for the
women, children and old men and set out afoot
for Cheyenne, a distance of over a hundred
miles. After much distress (some having feet
and hands frozen) they reached Cheyenne and

an open railroad and proceeded thence to Oma-
ha. One passenger died from exposure before
reaching Omaha. From Omaha they proceeded
to Washington, where they arrived three dayd
after the inauguration.

Mr. Parker was introduced by Horace
Greeley, May 18, 1869, to the Farmers' Club
American Institute, New York city, and before
this body was given a hearing as to the Walla
Walla valley and its various resources. The
report which he thus entered was published in
many of the leading papers throughout the east,
in a circulation of over half a million (see
report of said meeting in the New York Herald,
Tribune, Sun, World, Times, Scientific Amer-
ican, Independent, Rural New Yorker and
many other papers), and this constituted the
first legitimate advertising of the Walla Walla
valley. As a result of this Mr. Parker re-
ceived a great many letters from various parts
of the United States, and these were faithfully
answered. For two months or more he worked
at Washington city, serving the public in his
efiforts to secure better mail facilities and to
further other important measures. Realizing
the immense value of such work to them, Le-
land Stanford, president of the Central Pa-
cific Railroad, the authorities of the Union Pa-
cific Railroad and John Haley, Sr., of the
stage lines, placed their transportation at the
disposal of Mr. Parker, gratis. In the same
year, in the month of May, Mr. Parker was an
active member of the first national woman's
suffrage convention, the same being held in
New York city.

It was through Mr. Parker's efforts while
in W^ashington, in 1869, that the commissioner
of the general land office so changed the rules
of the department for all the United States
land offices that the settlers on government
land could prove up by deposition instead of

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

277

the personal appearance of witnesses, thus sav-
ing the cost of their journey to the land office,
which was over one hundred dohars for each,
witness. Mr. Parker also succeeded, by the
aid of Senator Wilson of Massachusetts, after-
wards vice-president of the United States, in
securing the enactment of a provision of law
whereby veteran soldiers could receive the hun-
dred dollars bounty to be paid to each by draft
on the United States treasury without the ex-
pense of a journey to Oregon City, where the
paymaster was located.

For nearl}^ two years the judges of the
supreme court of Washington Territory, the
delegate to congress and others of unmistak-
able influence had made efforts to have ap-
pointed for the territory registrars in bank-
ruptcy, under the United States bankrupt law.
All these efforts had resulted in failure, but
Mr. Parker, through his private influence with
Chief Justice Chase, succeeded in having three
lawyers of his own selection appointed to fill
the positions noted. For five consecutive years
the Walla Walla Board of Trade elected Mr.
Parker delegate to the Columbia river water-
way conventions, which were held at various
places, the object in view being to aid and en-
courage the movement to open the Columbia
river to navigation, and it was through his
efiforts that much was done toward agitating
this important question. Its importance may
be understood when we revert to the fact that
the people now living in the great Columbia
basin, which is drained by the Columbia river,
and whose area is more than two hundred and
fifty thousand square miles, — equal in extent
to the whole area of New England, New York
and Ohio, and a portion of Pennsylvania, — ■
could not but receive untold benefit by the
opening up of the river to navigation, as this

area is opulent with the wealth of mines of
gold, silver, copper, iron and other metals, also
of timber and other products — an area capable
of supporting many millions of people. (See
Smalley's Magazine, St. Paul, Minnesota, Au-
gust, 1887, for information in regard to this.)
In this connection Mr. Parker was on the com-
mittee for memorial to congress, the most im-
portant committee, and in October, 1890, he
was unanimously elected its president, whicHi
incumbency he has since retained.

After nearly a quarter of a century of close
application to sedentary business Mr. Parker
fovmd it necessary to seek employment in the
open air, accordingly taking to the saddle and
for four years superintending the fencing and
cultivation of several thousand acres of land
which he had acquired in various counties. His
diligence rewarded him by a return of from
thirty to forty bushels of wheat to the acre on
land upon which ten years before he would not
have paid the taxes. Wheat at this time was
bringing only thirty cents per bushel, owing to
exorbitant transportation charges, and eight-
een per cent, interest paid on money secured
from the banks. Mr. Parker has since con-
tinued to devote his attention to the superin-
tending of his farming and various other prop-
erties, his success in temporal affairs being ex-
ceptional and entirely the result of his own
well directed efforts. After his arrival in the
beautiful Walla Walla valley, although he had
traveled extensively throughout the L^nited
States, in almost every latitude, the various
and wonderful attractions of the valley, the
mild, healthful, invigorating climate, the
\'arious prolific resources, implying- the produc-
tion of almost every kind of vegetable, fruit
and grain, — have kept him so charmed since
first he found the Eureka of his travels that

278

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

no place on Paget sound, or in Oregon or Cali-
fornia, or in any part of the United States,
has induced him to change his home.

Among the tourist experiences of ^Ir. Par-
ker's life that which he recalls with the keenest
pleasure is his tour to Alaska in August, 1899,
in what was known as the "Presbyterian ex-
cursion." There were some two hundred ex-
cursionists, and when they reached that marvel
of marvels. ]\Iuir glacier, only fifteen of the
number dared to scale its icy cliffs and cross
its treacherous crevasses. Mr. Parker, active
in spite of his years, was one of the fifteen to
accomplish this feat. He regards the 'Slmv
glacier and its surroundings as the most sub-
lime and awe-inspiring of all the scenes that
he has witnessed.

]Mr. Parker is now in the ripe fullness of a
perfectly matured life and has reached that
point along the journey where he may pause
and glance with calm retrospection upon the
labors and vicissitudes of his past life, noting
the obstacles he has surmounted, the efforts
which it has been his to render in the cause of
humanity, the successes which have been worth-
ily gained and the manifold blessings which
have been his portion, feeling in the meanwhile
the satisfaction which ever comes to one who
has striven to do his duty to his fellow men.
To him has come the tranquil leisure which is
the crown of a well spent life, and in the com-
munity where he has lived and labored he is
held in high esteem by all who have apprecia-
tion of honest, sterling worth and character.
His life has been exemplary, — his charity broad
but discriminating, his benefactions to the pub-
lic of wide scope and importance and his in-
fluence ever arrayed in support of the right.
He has lived a strictly temperate life, even
through the years of early settlement, while in-
temperance has hurried many of his acquaint-

ances and companions into untimely graves.
He has ever kept in touch with the questions
and topics of the hour, bringing to bear a ma-
ture judgment and rare discrimination in con-
sidering all matters of public polity, and his
opinions as expressed through the press or by
personal dictum, carry weight under all cir-
cumstances.

Thoroughly convinced of the justice and
value of the single tax principles as advocated
by Henry George, ]\Ir. Parker has given to
the same the strongest indorsement, having
given the matter careful and discriminating
study and having become confirmed in the be-
lief that through the operation of these prin-
ciples, as practically applied, will result the
greatest good to the greatest number. Never
lacking the courage of his convictions, be made
a very vigorous eft'ort, in 1899, to secure a
popular indorsement of this measure by the
people of the state, and to provide for a better
comprehension of it. His princely offers of
financial contributions to the cause are a mat-
ter of history, and he is still hopeful that his
own state may be enabled to introduce the meas-
ure in which he so earnestly believes. Mr.
Parker, after forty years of actual litigation
in the courts of the land, from the lowest ta
the highest, gives as his admonition to all the
statement that it is far better if possible for
all disputes to be settled by arbitration rather
than in the courts. He has, however, been com-
pelled in his extensive practice, to secure two
mandamuses from the supreme court of the
United States.

While residing in the east Mr. Parker
identified himself, with the time-honored fra-
ternity of Free and Accepted Masons. He rose
to the degree of INIaster Mason in Palmyra
Lodge, No. 248, in Wayne county. New York.
He also took three degrees in Lodge No. 463,.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

27S>

I, O. O. F., in East Palmyra. Some years
afterward he secured a dimit and traveling card
from each of these lodges, but so pressing have
been the demands upon his time and attention
that he has not maintained an active affiliation
with these bodies during his residence in the
west.

On the 13th of January, 1872, was solem-
nized the marriage of Mr. Parker and Miss
Laura Glenn, of New Lisbon, Columbiana
county, Ohio, she being a sister of the late
Dr. J. G. Glenn, of Portland, Oregon. Of the
three children of this union only one is living,
Orrin Glenn Parker, who was born June 2,
1S76, and who is now assisting his father in
the management of their large interests. The
beautiful twin daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Par-
ker died of diphtheria in the winter of 1878-9,
aged six years.

Among the mental characteristics of the
subject of this review may be mentioned keen
discernment of the meaning and measure of
things about him, determination to accomplish
whatever he undertakes, self-reliance, and in-
dependence of thought and action, and an
imagination fervid and yet signally tempered
by good judgment. In religion he has a deep
and abiding reverence for those fundamental
principles which are the conservators of the
welfare of men and the favor of the Deity.
His faith in the Divine Master is fixed and un-
wavering and in the declining years of his long
and useful life he will have the solace and con-
solation of the "faith that makes faithful."

GEORGE W. BABCOCK.— It is with
marked gratification that we accord representa-
tion in this work to one who has been so prom-
inently identified with the afi^airs of the Pa-

cific coast region and who has so materially
aided in its development as has the gentle-
man whose name introduces this paragTaph.
A native of the far east, he is yet a pioneer of
the far west, and his life has been one of cease-
less endeavor in varied fields of activity, w^hile
his sterling worth has retained to him an un-
wavering respect and confidence. As one of
the leading citizens' of Waha Waha, where
he holds high prestige as an architect and
builder, it is clearly consistent that a review of
his life should be entered in this compilation.

Mr. Babcock, whose pleasant home is lo-
cated at 109 Alder street, was born in the his-
toric old city of Providence, Rhode Island,
in the year 1832, and that place continued to
be his home until he was a lad of six years,
when he accompanied his parents on their re-
moval to the Empire state, where he receivect
his preliminary educational discipline in the
public schools, attending the same until the
age of fourteen. His parents then made a
second removal, this time locating in the state
of Illinois, where the young man again took
up his school work, completing the same by
one year's attendance at Hillsboro College.

In that town also he gave inception to his
business career, early proving his distinctive
capacity for successful individual effort. For
about five years he engaged in selling clocks,
pumps, lightning rods, etc., at the expiration
of which period he yielded to the western fever
which animated him and in 1S50 emigrated
to California, making the long and weary
journey across the plains with a team and
wagon, the trip being of six months and nine
days duration. ,

Arriving in the Golden state, he was there
engaged in mining pursuits for a decade, his
headcjuarters being at Hangtown, now known
as Placerville. From this point he proceeded

28o

HISTORY OF \\' AllLA WALLA COUNTY.

to San Francisco, where he devoted his atten-
tion to Avork as an architect and builder for
some time, meeting with success and eventual-
ly curtaihng his operations to the functions of
an architect only.

From "Frisco" JMr. Backcock came for-
Avard to identify his interests with those of
the famed "Liland Empire," remaining in Spo-
Icane for six months and coming thence, in
1885, to Walla Walla for the purpose of lo-
■cating the Washington state penitentiary, for
the buildings of which he furnished the plans
and specifications and personally superintend-
•ed the erection thereof. He has ever since been
a resident of this city, where he has erected
Tnany of the most important public and pri-
vate buildings and where he has been contin-
uously engaged as an architect.

Mr. Babcock has ever maintained a lively
and discriminating interest in public affairs of
a local nature, having been a member of the
city council in Oakland, California, prior to
his removal to Washington, while in 1899 he
was chosen to a similar incumbency in Walla
Walla, being chairman of the finance commit-
tee of the council at the time of this writing.
Fraternally he is very prominently identified
Avith the Masonic order, in which he has at-
tained the Knights Templar degrees in the York
rite and has advanced to the thirty-second de-
gree, as a sublime prince of the royal secret
in the Scottish rite. He is also a noble of the
Mystic Shrine, the social adjunct of Free-
masonry. In connection with other business
associations he is vice-president of the Farmers'
•Savings bank, of Walla Walla.

In Eldorado county, California, in the
year 1856, Mr. Babcock married Miss Annie
-Shirley, whose demise occurred in 1864. In
1867, in San Francisco, he consummated a
-second marriage, being then united to Mrs.

Anna J. Crosby. By the first marriage there
was one child, Camilla, who is now at home
with her father.

JAMES P. GOODHUE.— The man whose
life history it is now our task to briefly out-
line is one whose connection with the Pacific
coast dates back to the earliest times, so he'
has naturally witnessed a great deal of the pio-
neer development of this section, and has had
an opportunity such as falls to the lot of com-
paratively few men of assisting in the work of
expelling the darkness of barbarism and usher-
ing in the light of civilization.

Born in Salem, Massachusetts, on March
II, 1834, he was early taken thence to New
York, from which city, at the age of eighteen
years he came to California, making the trip
b} the Cape Horn route, on the clipper ship
Siren, Capt. Ed. Silsbee. After a short stay
in the Golden state and a residence of a year
in the Sandwich islands, he returned to his
native city to visit his parents. In 1855, he
crossed the Columbia river bar as mate of the
brig Kingsbury, soon after going to Corval-
lis, Oregon, where he remained until the out-
break of the Rogue river war, during the con-
tinuance of which he served as an employe
of the quartermaster's department, of the Ore-
gon Volunteers. During a portion of the year
1856 he served as purser of the steamer Belle,
and he subsequently spent some time with
Captain Ingalls in the quartermaster's depart-
ment of the regular army at Vancouver bar-
racks. In 1857 he was sent by the govern-
ment to the Cascades as transfer agent, and
in i860 he came to Walla Walla to become
wagon master at the fort.

After his discharge from connection with
the LTnited States army he spent some years in

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

the mining districts of Idaho and Montana,
but between the years 1868 and 1874, he served
at different times as purser on the steamers
Active, California, Idaho, George S. W^^ight
and Gussie Telfair, plying between Oregon and
British Columbia points and Sitka, Alaska.
For the ensuing seven years he was agent at
Victoria, British Columbia, for the Oregon
Steamship Company, and between the years
1 88 1 and 1891 he held the position of ma-
terial and transfer agent for the N. P. R. R.
Company.

In the latter year he came to Walla Walla,
where his home had been since i860, though-
his work was such as to keep him absent most
of the time. His purpose was to establish an
express office in this city for the Northern Pa-
cific Express Company, which he did and he
has remained in charge of the same ever since.

Mr. Goodhue has been twice married. On
April 29, i860, he became the husband of Miss
Anna Turnbull, a niece of Captain James
Turnbull, the pioneer captain of the Columbia
river. This lady died in Walla Walla in July,
1868, leaving three children, Frank, chief
clerk in the quartermaster's department at
Seattle, Washington ; James ; and Edith, widoAv
of Lieutenant William Moffat, Second United
States Infantry. His second marriage was
solemnized in Victoria, British Columbia, when
Miss Fannie Cooper became his wife. To this
union three children were born, namely :
Charlotte H., Ada Putnam and Claude How-
ard, the last-named of whom is ticket agent
for the N. P. R. R. Company in Walla Walla.

Mr. Goodhue has the proud distinction of
being a lineal descendant of the noted Israel
Putnam, he being a grandson of Colonel Pur-
ley Putnam of the war of 181 2. who was a
near relative of the man whose name is so well
known in historv.

ALVAH BROWN.— The esteemed and
courteous gentleman whose name forms the
caption of this article has been a resident of
the Walla Walla valley for nearly twenty years,
and during that time has held various positions
both public and private which have brought
him into personal relations with a great num-
ber of men, and it is safe to say that he is one
of the most widely acquainted of all the citi-
zens of the county. His unfailing faithfulness
in the discharge of every duty entrusted to him
has won the respect of those who know of his
record, while his uniform kindliness and af-
fability have made him a universal favorite.

Mr. Brown, popularly known as "Jerry"
Brown, is a native of Silverton, Marion coun-
ty, Oregon, born October 20, 1855. His
mental discipline was acquired in the public
schools established in the vicinity of his home,
while his physical man was developed to the
fullest by vigorous early and late exercise on
his father's farm. When his majority was
attained, he received an appointment, signed
by President U. S. Grant, to the office of post-
master at Silverton, and the duties of that in-
cumbency were discharged by him faithfully
and well for a period of four years. When
his successor, Mr. T. R. Hibbard, took charge,
OUT subject was appointed assistant postmater,
continuing in the same position for three years
thereafter.

In May, 1883, he retired from the postal
service and came to Walla Walla, where he en-
tered the employ of J. Jones, whose place of
business was on the corner of Third and ]Main
streets, serving him in the capacity of a clerk
for about eighteen months. He then took
service as secretary of the Walla Walla Water
Company, from which position he retired two
3'ears later to accept an appointment on the
city police force under Chief T. J. Robinson.

282

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

During the five years of his service as a police
officer he made a record of which he has just
cause to feel proud. When Chief Robinson
died he resigned his appointment and became
clerk and bookkeeper in the employ of H. !Mc-
Arthur, a cigar and tobacco merchant, and
with him has remained uninterruptedly since,
his personal magnetism and affability of man-
ner making him an especially successful man in
that business.

]\Ir. Brown's marriage was solemnized in
Silverton, Oregon, on ]\Iarch 14. 1878, when
Lliss Viola Davis, a schoolmate and childhood
friend of his, became his wife. They have
two children living, Gertrude and Gladys, both
in the public school, also had one, Stanley D.,
who was accidentally killed while hunting, his
demise occurrin'g August i, 1899. Air.
Brown's father, James M., came to Oregon in
1846, and died at Woodburn in that state,
January 8, 1SS6. His mother passed awav in
Silverton, on September 20, 1876. Mrs.
Brown's father. Dr. P. A. Davis, arrived in
Oregon in 1852, and still resides in Silverton.
Her mother also died in Silverton, in April,
1866.

EX-GOVERXOR MILES C. MOORE,
president of the Baker-Boyer National bank,
the oldest institution of its kind in the state
of \\'ashington, is a native of Muskingum
county, Ohio, born April 17, 1845. When
twelve years old he accompanied the rest of the
family to Point Bluff, Wisconsin, and he was
educated in the Alethodist Episcopal Institute,
there located. In 1863 he came to \\'alla
Walla, \\'ashington. He was first emploj-ed
as a clerk in the store of Kyger and Rees.
Thereafter, at the age of nineteen, he embarked

in business on his own account in Blackfoot
City, a mining town in ^Montana. He returned
to Walla Walla in the fall of 1866 and became
postmaster and a partner in the book store of
H. E. Johnson & Company. In 1869 he
opened a general store in company with Paine
Bros., the firm name being Paine Bros. &
Moore. This establishment was later convert-
ed into an agricultural implement house, the
first in eastern W'ashington.

yir. Moore subsequently became associat-
ed with his father-in-law. Dr. D. S. Baker, in
the grain business and in various other enter-
prises, and this connection was maintained
until 1888, when Doctor Baker died. Mr.
Moore then became one of the administrators
of the estate. For many years he was an acti\-2
participant and a leading spirit in the politics
of Washington, but of late years he has given
less attention to public and more to his own
private affairs. He was elected mayor of the
city in 1877, and in 1889 he was appointed
to fill the gubernatorial chair, during that
period of our history when the territory was
donning the dignity of statehood. Comment-
ing upon his administration the Tacoma
Ledger said, "Of all the able governors the
territory has had, beginning with Isaac I.
Stevens, who was a distinguished soldier, en-
gineer and political leader, no one has brought
to the office more intelligence, dignity and
grace than Governor Miles C. Moore."

In 1889, when the Baker-Boyer X^ational
bank was organized. Governor !Moore became
a stockholder and vice-president, and on the
death of Mr. Boyer, in 1898, he was promoted
to the presidency. He is also a stockholder in
the First Xational bank of Walla Walla, and
senior member of the firm known as M. C.
]Moore & Sons, loans and investments. He is,
moreover, extensivelv interested in real estate

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

285

in various parts of Washington, Oregon and
Idaho.

Mr. Moore was married in Walla Walla,
in March, 1873, to Mary E. Baker, a native
of East Portland, Oregon, and to them have
been born three sons, Frank A. and Walter
B., assistants in the bank, and Robert L., a
student at Whitman College. The family live
in a beautiful home on the southeast edge of
the city, surrounded by beautiful grounds, and
adorned with everything which good taste
could suggest.

Governor Moore's father, Amos L., was
a native of Delaware, of English extraction,
and his mother, nee Monroe, was a scion of
the famous Virginia family to which President
Monroe belonged.

WASHINGTON SAIITH GILLIAM, a
retired farmer and well known citizen of Walla
M^alla, residing in a pleasant home at 315
Newell street, is a native of Clay county, jNIis-
souri, Avhere he was born on the 24th of Feb-
ruary, 1829. He continued to reside in his na-
tive state until he attained the age of fifteen
years. His parents were General Cornelius and
Mary (Crawford) Gilliam, his father having
attained distinction in connection with the
militia and through effective service in the In-
dian wars. The subject of this sketch ac-
companied his parents on their journey over-
land from Missouri to Oregon, the transporta-
tion facilities being those afforded by an ox-
team and the trip being protracted over a
period of six months. They settled where
Dalles, Polk county, Oregon, is now located,
the family being the first to settle south of
Rickreall creek. Our subject attended school
for a brief interval prior to the removal of the

family from Missouri and completed his edu-
cational discipline in the schools of Oregon,
which Avere of somewhat primitive character,
owing to the exigencies of place and period.

Upon beginning a life of personal responsi-
bility Mr. Gilliam directed his attention to the
basic industry of agriculture in varied phases,
continuing to retain his abode in Oregon un-
til 1859, W'hen he cast in his lot with the pio-
neer settlers of Walla Walla county, where
he has ever since resided, being now recognized
as one of the venerable and honored pioneers
of this section. Upon coming to this county
he secured land by both pre-emption and pur-
chase, and much of this land has since contin-
ued in his possession, — a period of more than
forty years. Careful and discriminating in
his methods, success attended his efforts and
he became one of the extensive agriculturists
of the county. In this connection it is grati-
fying to recall the fact that he has never
swerved in his allegiance to husbandry, having
been a farmer all his life and being at the
present time identified with this line of in-
dustry through the leasing of his land to good
tenants.

Mr. Gilliam has been a man of marked pub-
lic spirit and has never failed to discharge the
duties devolving upon him as a citizen, hav-
ing been called upon to serve in positions of
distinctive trust and responsibility. He was
sheriff of Polk county, Oregon, in 185 1-2, was
a member of its territorial legislature in 1853-4;
held a similar incumbency in the Washington
legislature in 1861, while in 1863 he served with
marked efficiency as sheriff of Walla Walla
county. Mr. Gilliam is a man of marked in-
tellectual and executive force and has left an
unmistakable impress upon the annals of this
county, where he has lived and labored to such
goodly ends.

284

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

On the 23d of February. 1854. in Polk
county, Oregon, was solemnized the marriage
of ]\Ir. Gilliam and ]\Iiss Esther A. Taylor,
who came to the Pacific coast region in 1852.
To them have been born six children, of whom
we make brief record, as follows : Ellen, widow
of Jesse N. Day, is a resident of Walla \\'alla ;
Lane C, a mining expert, resides in the city
of Spokane; JMitchell is a resident of Seattle;
J. Benjamin is one of the successful farmers
of Walla Walla county; Mary remains at the
parental home; and Marcus H. is a miner in
British Columbia. Of the children three were
born in Oregon and three in Washington.

In conclusion we are pleased to record an
interesting historical fact recalled by Mr.
Gilliam, to the effect that the first settlers in
this section came hither to secure pasture for
their cattle, little imagining the great agri-
cultural wealth and productiveness which were
eventually to give the locality its greatest
precedence.

^\TLLIA.M O'DOXXELL, retired hard-
ware merchant of Walla Walla, a pioneer of
1862, is a native of Ireland, born January 16,
1836. ^^"hen a boy of eight he came with his
father to America, landing in Xew Orleans.
He thence proceeded to St. Louis, Missouri,
where in 1845 he was left an orphan by the
death of his father, his mother having passed
away in 1837. For the ensuing se\-en years he
remained in St. Louis, solving the difficult
jDroblem of existence as best he could. In 1852,
however, he went to Jacksonville, Illinois,
where he learned the trade of a tinner, and
where he lived until 1857. He then removed
to Atchison, Kansas, and thence, two years
later, to Georgetown, ]\Iissouri. which was his
place of abode until 1861.

In that year he set out with an ox-team
for Salt Lake City, but upon arrival he and
his party purchased a new outfit and proceeded
to Carson City, Nevada. Here Mr. O'Donnell
followed his trade for a short time, but soon
came on to Placerville, California. He did not
remain, however, but soon went to San Fran-
cisco, then by steamer to Portland, Oregon,
where he and three other persons built a small
boat. In this they proceeded to Lewiston,
Idaho.

After a residence of onl)^ fourteen days,
"Slv. O'Donnell returned to Portland, and en-
tered the employ of Messrs. A. M. and L. ]\I.
Starr, working for them as a tinner until Au-
gust, 1863, when he came to W^alla W^alla.
In this city he has resided continuously since,
except for a brief period during vi-hich he was
on a mining expedition in British Columbia.
He was employed by Mr. Phillips almost con-
stantly until 1872, in which year he engaged
in business for himself, eventually becoming
the owner of the old stand where his former
emplo3'er started. He disposed of his hard-
ware establishment October i, 1900, and re-
tired from active business.

Mr. O'Donnell has been known as one of
the most successful business men of Walla
Walla, and he also ranks among its most high-
ly esteemed citizens. He has long taken a
leading part in the municipal affairs of his
home city, having served as county treasurer
as early as 1880, and having since been a mem-
ber of the city council. Fraternally, he affil-
iates with the F. & A. M., the B. P. O. E.. and
the Catholic Knights.

On May 7, 1869, ]Mr. O'Donnell married
]\Iiss Margaret Flaherty, a native of Ireland,
who died in Walla Walla September 25, 1889.
They became parents of one daughter. Grace,
born February 4, 1871, now deceased.

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

285

JOHN KYDD. — Perhaps no other coun-
try on the face of the earth of equal size and
population produces so many men who dis-
tinguish themselves for thrift, progressiveness
and sterling character as does old Scotland.
Her sons have won renown the world over for
all those traits which go to make up true
manliness and to win esteem and respect. Not
the least worthy of those who claim for their
fatherland fair Caledonia is the man whose
name forms the caption of this brief article.
He was born in Kincardine county, Parish of
Fordoun, on February 9, i860, and there he
resided until twelve years of age, attending
the public schools. His father having died, he
then removed with the rest of the family to
Arbroath, where he received a high school
training. Upon retiring from school he fol-
lowed farming with his brother until twenty-
two years old, but the desire to try his fortunes
in America had taken hold of him and in 1882
he set sail for the new world, coming alone.
He took up a temporary residence in the Red
river valley in Minnesota, but not being satis-
fied with the rigorous climate, he soon came on
to Walla Walla.

He purchased a quarter section of land on
the Touchet river, from Dr. Dorsey Baker,
also homesteaded another quarter adjoining,
and he has been increasing his realty hold-
ings from time to time since until he is now
the owner of a magnificent farm of nine thou-
sand acres. He raises about one hundred and
sixty acres of wheat annually and about sixty
acres of alfalfa, retaining the remainder for
pasture. He keeps four thousand head of
sheep, forty head of cattle and horses enough
for his own work. His annual wool clip aver-
ages about fifty thousand pounds.

Mr. Kydd is essentially a self-made man,
having arrived in America without much cap-

ital, and having acquired by dint of energy and
good management, a rank among the moderate-
ly wealthy. The same qualities of mind which
have enabled him to accomplish his industrial
success have secured for him the esteem and
respect of the community in which he lives,
while his many good and neighborly charac-
teristics have won all hearts. Fraternally, he
i? identified with Washington Lodge, Xo. 19,
L O. O. F., of Walla Walla, also with Walla
Walla Tribe, Xo. 2t,, Improved Order of Red
Men.

On July 12, 1900, Mr. Kydd left his place
in charge of a foreman and visited the Paris
Exposition, visiting also his old home in Scot-
land where his mother and one of his brothers
reside. He found his mother in excellent
health though past seventy-five years of age.
His other brother, William, is a farmer near
the town of Harris Smith, Orange Free State,
Africa. From him he recently received a let-
ter saying that the Boers had just recently
made a raid on his farm and taken all his crops
and stock, depriving him of the accumulations
resulting from the assiduous efforts of twenty-
one years and compelling a new start in life.

HENRY SANDERSON, deceased, a pio-
neer of i860, was a native of Paris, France,
where his early years were passed, and where
he was married. He came to America about
1845, and located in San Francisco. He was
engaged in the hotel business there and in
Napa City for a number of years, but at length
removed to Corvallis, Oregon, whence, in i860,
he came to Walla Walla. He opened here
what was known as the Walla Walla hotel,
the first in the city. In 1870, he went to
Alaska, opened a bakery and restaurant there.

286

HISTORY OF WALLA WALLA COUNTY.

and operated the business for many years
afterwards. He returned to Walla Walla in
1897, but died the following year. He was an
industrious, energetic man, successful in busi-
ness, and highly respected by all his neighbors.
His wife died in 1887. Emil Sanderson, their
son, was born in Napa City, California,
July 4, 1857. He was reared in Walla Walla,
having been brought here by his parents when
he was about three years old. He has lived
in the city almost continuously since, engaged
in the restaurant business and in various other
enterprises. He has always taken a lively
interest in the city's welfare, manifesting his
desire to promote the pulslic good in many
ways, but especially by his activity in the fire
department, in which he was for two years
first assistant chief. In politics he is a Demo-
crat. He was elected a constable in 1896, and
the duties of that office are still being dis-
charged by him. In Denver, Colorado, he
married Miss Mabel O. Crawford, a native of
California, and they have become parents of
one daughter, Grace. Mr. Sanderson is quite
prominent in fraternal circles, being identified
with the Odd Fellows, Elks, Eagles and Red
Men.

CHARLES B. STEWART, M. D.— The
vocation of the physician and surgeon is one
of the most exacting and responsible in the
entire category of human undertakings, de-
manding of its votaries a most discriminating
preliminary discipline and an alert human
sympathy and unflinching nerve, since it
touches most closely the ultimate issues of life
and death. Walla Walla has been signally
favored in the character and ability of her med-
ical practitioners, and among those who have
Avon precedence through sterling professional

and personal worth must certainly be men-
tioned the subject of this brief review, whose
otifices are located in rooms i and 2, post-
office block.

Dr. Stewart is a native of the Pacific north-
west, having been born in Jackson county, Ore-
gon, in 1858, a representative of one of the
early pioneer families of this now opulent sec-
tion of the Union. He has passed practically
his entire life in Walla Walla, having been
brought hither when but four years of age,
and here he received his preliminary educa-
tional discipline, attending the public schools
and later Whitman College. Having deter-
mined to prepare himself for the profession
of medicine, he matriculated in the time-hon-
ored Jefferson Medical College, at Philadel-
phia, Pennsylvania, where he completed the
required curriculum of studies, with the in-
cidental clinical and surgical work; but so
earnest was his desire to thoroughly reinforce
himself for his life work that immediately after
his graduation he took two post-graduate
courses, fortifying himself by the most care-
ful study and investigation.

Thus well equipped for his work, the Doc-
tor returned to Walla Walla, where he forth-
with opened an office, in 1888, and prepared
to enter upon the active practice of his pro-
fession. No dreary novitiate awaited him, and
he soon gained a position as one of the suc-
cessful and able physicians of the city, devot-
ing hi