History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889, Part 45

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Frances Fuller, 1826-1902
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: San Francisco : History Co.
Number of Pages: 880

USA > Idaho > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 45
USA > Montana > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 45
USA > Washington > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 45

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

An act was passed in Jan. 1862 incorporating the Puget Sound and Colum- bia River Railroad Co., which was empowered to operate a road from Stcila- coom to Vancouver within ten years from the date of their charter, but which never availed itself of its privileges, the Northern Pacific railroad soon after promising to supply the needed communication with the Columbia. Its charter was, however, so amended in 1864 that the road might be extended to a point on the Columbia opposite Celilo, and the legislature of 1857-S went through the form of memorializing congress for aid in constructing it, though it had no antecedent to justify a belief that its prayer would be granted.

In Jan. 1864 the Seattle and Squak Railroad Co. was incorporated, being authorized to locate, construct, and mantain a railroad with one or more tracks, commencing at or near the south end of Squak Lake, in King co., and running thence to a point in or near Seattle. It was required to begin work within two and complete the road within six years. The Oregon Railway and Navigation Co. was incorporated June 13, 1879. It was a consolidation of the interests of the Oregon and Cal. Railroad Co., the Oregon Steamship Co., and the Oregon Steam Nav. Co, all of which was brought about by negotiations between Henry Villard, of the Union Pacific, and J. C. Ains- worth, president of the O. S. N. Co. The O. R. & N. Co. built rapidly, and besides purchasing the Walla Walla and Columbia river railroad, extended its lines south of the Snake river from Walla Walla to Waitsburg, Dayton, Grange City, and Pomeroy, and to Pendleton in Or .; and north of Snake river from the Northern Pacific at Connell to Moscow in Idaho, with branches north to Oakesdale, in Whitman co., and south to Genessee, Idaho, near the Clearwater river. The Northern Pacific also built several branches in east- ern Wash., opening up the wheat lands to market, and constructed the Puyallup branch in western Wash. An organization, known as tho Or. Transcontinental R. R., constructed in 1883 a railroad fron Stuck river to Black river junction, 20 miles, which connected Seattle and Tacoma by rail, under the name of Puget Sound Shore R. R., which has recently been pur- chased by the N. P. R. R., which gives that company an entrance to Seattle. The Seattle, Lake Shore, and Eastern railway is completed from Seattle around the head of lakes Washington and Union, aud south along the cast shore of Lake Union to Gilman, whence it will be extended eastward via

389

PROJECTED ROADS.

North Yakima and Spokane Falls. It has a branch to Earle and Snohomish, which is being pushed north to a connection with the Canadian Pacific. The Seattle and Northern railroad, incorporated Nov. 19, 1888, lias for its object the construction of a road from Seattle northerly via Whatconi to a point on the northern boundary of Wash., at or near Blaine, 100 miles; also from where it crosses the Skagit up to the mouth of the Sauk, and thence in an casterly course to Spokane Falls, 300 miles; also from the Skagit crossing westerly via Hidalgo island and Deception pass to Admiralty lIead, on Whidbey island. Elijah Smith is president, and H. W. McNeil vice-presi- dent of the company. The Columbia and Puget Sound railroad, which is partially constructed, is intended to run to Walla Walla and the Columbia river. The Seattle and West Coast railroad runs only from Snohomish to Woodenville at present. Satsop railroad runs from Shelton in Mason co. to Gray's Harhor. The Puget Sound and Gray's Harhor railroad is being huilt from Little Skookum to Gray's Harbor. The Vancouver, Klickitat, and Yakima is in process of construction from Vancouver to North Yakima. The Oregon and Washington Territory railroad belongs to what is known as the Hunt system of roads in Or. and Wash. It runs from Wallula Junction to Walla Walla hy a circuitous route, nearly paralleling Snake river, but branching off at Eureka Junction and going down the other side of a triangle to Walla Walla, and thence to Pendleton and Athens in Or. In 1887 some business men of Pendleton organized the above corporation for the purpose of securing an independent road from Wallula, with a branch to Centerville, now Athens. They contracted with G. W. Hunt, an experienced railroad builder, then residing at Corvallis, Or., who began the work. He discovered when he had graded 30 miles that the company had not the money to carry it on, and purchased the concern to save his outlay. Going east he ob- tained the necessary aid from C. B. Wright of Philadelphia. From this time on he made and carried out his own plans, having only one subsidy of $100,000 from Walla Walla. He is building lines into all the rich farming districts, and competing successfully with the O. R. & N. Hunt was born near Mayville, Chautauqua co., N. Y., May 4, 1842, educated at Ellington academy, went to Denver in 1859, his first interest in transportation being in the ownership of wagons and ox-teams which he earned in Cal. His first railroad contract was on the Oregon Short line, for 10 miles in Idaho; and subsequently on the O. R. & N.'s Blue Mountain line, and in Wash. from Farmington to Colfax, and its Pomeroy hranch; on the Oregon Pacific, and on the Cascade division of the N. P. ou both sides of the Stampede tunnel, and 10 miles of the Seattle, L. S., & E. R. R. In 1866 he married Miss Leonora Gaylord of Boise City, and has a handsome residence in Walla Walla.

The Fairhaven and Southern railway company, Nelson Bennett, prest, with a capital stock of from one to six millions, is making arrangements to build from Vancouver, B. C., to Vancouver, Wash., via Fairhaven and Tacoma. The Manitoba R. R. is selecting a route through Wash. to Puget Sound. Besides the unverified rumors of the intentions of transcontinental roads, there are in 1889 thirty-six different railways in progress of construc- tion or ahout to he commenced in Wash. The total mileage of railroads in Wash. in Jan. ISSS was 1,060 miles, to which has been added ahout 200 miles. The complaint against high fares and freights was considered hy the legisla- ture of 1887-8, and several hills were offered to correct the evil; hut the boards of trade of Seattle and Vancouver remonstrated, saying that legisla- tion at that time would drive away capital, and crush out the new local roads which they depended upon to compete with the great railroads. In- stead of restrictive acts, the legislature at their suggestion changed the existing railroad assessment law from a tax on the gross receipts to a tax on all railroad property, in the same manner as on that of individuals, except in cases where otherwise provided. The state constitution lays down the same principle, but gives the legislature power to establish 'reasonable maximum rates ' for transportation services.

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EXPLORATIONS, ROADS, AND RAILROADS.

Mention has been made of the rapid development of Washington in the years between 1880 and ISSS. Some account of this change and the cause of it may be fairly considered essential to this history. It was necessary when the construction of the N. P. R. R. was decided upon to fix a point upon Puget Sound which should be its terminus, and where its freight might be transferred to foreign and coastwise vessels. The agents chosen by the company to make the selection were Judge R. D. Rice of Maine, vice-president, and Capt. J. C. Ainsworth of Portland, Or., the managing director for the Pacific coast, who reported after a careful examination in favor of Commencement bay and the town of Tacoma, meaning the village at that time containing about 200 inhabitants employed at the saw-mill. The report was accepted, and the R. R. co. sold the 3,000 acres constituting the site of the present city to the Tacoma land company, except enough land for shops, side-tracks, depot, and wharves. The land co. also pur- chased of the R. R. co. 13,000 acres, being the odd-numbered sections within 6 miles of the water front. This company was organized under the laws of Penn., and its corporators were large preferred stockholders of the R. R. co .; its capital stock was $1,000,000, divided into 20,000 shares at $50 per share, of which the N. P. R. R. owned a majority, and put brain and money into it, but as long as the railroad reached Tacoma only from the Columbia the growth of the town was slow. As soon as the direct line was established, the situation was changed, and the event was duly celebrated. To-day in place of the straggling village of 1877, there is a beautiful city of 30,000 inhabitants, with miles of streets 80 feet wide, and avenues 100 feet wide, many handsome edifices and residences, the most inspiring views of Mount Tacoma and the Sound, with street railways, banks, public and pri- vate schools, and all the accessories of modern civilization. The coal-fields tributary to Tacoma create a large amount of business. The lumber-mills in the immediate vicinity cut 1, 100,000 feet per day, removing the timber from 12 square miles annually. Many manufactures are suggested by the wealth of iron, coal, and timber in this region, which it is yet too soon to expect. According to the Seattle Journal, the name Tacoma first appeared in Theodore Winthrop's book Canoe and Saddle, being applied to the moun- tain known to the English as Rainier.

The impetus given to the Sound country by the N. P. R. R. also affected Seattle, for so many years the chief city of the Sound. It increased rapidly in population, and achieved a population of 30,000, with real estate trans- fers of $12,000,000 in the year which preceded its great catastrophe by fire in the summer of 1889, by which $10,000,000 of property was destroyed, and thousands of people rendered temporarily homeless. From this heavy misfortune will arise a certain amount of good, in an improved style of con- struction of business houses. The hope is entertained that the govt will establish a navy-yard on Lake Washington, connecting it by a canal with the Sound.

Spokane Falls was first settled by L. R. Scranton, J. J. Downing, and a Mr. Benjamin, in 1872, they erecting a saw-mill in anticipation of the advent of the N. P. R. R. The failure of Jay Cooke & Co. blighted their expectations, along with the company's, causing them to sell out their squatter rights and property in 1873 to James W. Glover of Salem, Or., for $4,000. Glover formed a partnership with J. N. Matheny of Salem, and Cyrus F. Yeaton of Portland, to carry on milling and merchandising. The population was scattered, the whole of Stevens co., which then embraced Spokane, Lincoln, and Douglas, containing no more than 350 inhabitants, aside from the garrison at Fort Colville; but the firm hoped on, and Yeaton was appointed post-master, the Lewiston mail passing that way. In 1874 they were joined by H. T. Cowley and a Mr. Poole and their families. Cowley, who seems to have been a minister, started an Indian school and farm. A school district, embracing all that territory between Colville and Spangle, and between Idaho and the Columbia, was organized into a school district for the white settlers, and Swift, who lived near the Falls and was a

391

MATERIAL GROWTH.

lawyer by cducation, became clerk of the district, Yeaton, Poole, and M. M. Cowley, trader at Spokane Bridge, directors, while Mrs Swift was teacher. At the territorial election of 1874 the polls opened at Glover's house, and R. H. Winepy was elected to represent Stevens co. in the legislature. D. F. Percival of Four Lakes, and L. W. Myers, were chosen co. commissioners, and Glover justice of the peace. In mid-December Cowley journeyed to Colville, the co. seat, 85 miles, to carry the clection returns, to secure a teacher's certificate, and incidentally to perform the marriage service for Captain Evan Miles and Miss Stitzel. There was little improvement before 1876, when Frederick Post removed his mill from Trent to Spokane Falls, which had been laid out in a town plat by Matheny, Yeaton, and Glover, who gave him water power and 40 acres of land to locate in the place. Next came Downer, Evans, and Smith. Evans set up a cabinet-shop. Downer opened a farm, and Smith returned to Spangle. Still the few settlers held on until June 1877, when the Nez Perce war caused them the most intense anxiety and alarm. Soon after the war ended there came Herbert and Myron Percival, L. W. Rims, Dr Masterton, and a few oth- ers; and in the spring of 1878, with the revived hope of the coming of the N. P. R. R., came also the merchant firm of Cannon, Warner, & Co., who purchased an interest in the town-site, and gave a fresh impetus to the place. Then came J. M. Nosler, W. C. Gray, Dr L. P. Waterhouse, A. E. Ellis, and Platt Corbaley. Gray built a hotel, in which an entertainment was held for the benefit of a public school-house being erected in town. In 1879 there was a re-survey of the N. P. line, and the Spokane Times was estab- lished by Hon. Francis S. Cook, member of the territorial legislature from Pierce co. Population began now to flow in, and the following persons be- gan business in Spokane Falls: F. R. Moore & Co., J. F. Graham, Frieden- rich & Berg, Arthur & Shaner, J. N. Squier, McCammon & Whitman, R. W. Forrest, Louis Zeigler, Clark & Richard, Percival & Corbalay, Davis & Cornelius. A. M. Cannon established the first bank-bank of Spokane Falls- churches were organized, the methodist by J. H. Leard and the congrega- tionalist by G. H. Atkinson. The legislature that winter authorized the organization of Spokane co., and removed the county seat to Spokane Falls. In ISSO the town of Cheney was laid out, and through railroad influence took the county seat away from the Falls, and for two years the town lan- guished, although in July 1881 the Spokane Chronicle was established by C. B. Carlisle, and the methodist and congregational churches were erected, also the first brick building, and steps were taken to found protestant and catholic schools-the Spokane and Gonzaga universities. The city was in- corporated in ISSI, R. W. Forrest being the first mayor, A. M. Cannon, L. H. Whitehouse, L. W. Rims, F. R. Moore, George A. Davis, and W. C. Gray, councilmen, and J. K. Stout, city attorney, the population being at this time about 1,000. To follow this history further would be to take up too much space. From 1882 to 1889 the growth of Spokane Falls was re- markable, helped on by the wonderful agricultural resources of the country, and mines of the Cœur d'Alene region, and in 1888 it was the third city in Washington. In June 1889 a great fire consumed 22 whole squares of buildings in the business portion of the city, at a loss of many millions of dollars, but it is rapidly rebuilding more solidly than before. The situation of Spokane Falls is not only beautiful as to location, but is in the midst of the great wheat-fields, rivalled in productiveness by few portions of the globe, and near the Cœur d'Alene mines.

Ellensburg is another thriving town, which suffered great losses by fire in July 1889, but which is being rebuilt. It has on one hand an agricul- tural country, and on the other gold and silver, coal and iron, superior grase lands and timbered mountain-sides.

Cle-Elum and Roslyn are two new towns in the mineral region of Klick- itat co., situated among the higher foothills of the Cascades, on the line of the N. P. R. R. Extensive iron-works are located at Cle-Elum, aud coal- mines at Roslyn.

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EXPLORATIONS, ROADS. AND RAILROADS.

Mount Vernon, on the swift and beautiful Skagit river, was taken up as a land claim in 1871 by Jaspar Gates, the first house on the river having been ereeted in 1861 by Owin Kincaid. There is a cranberry marsh here, owned by a California company. From 80 acres of vines, 5,000 bushels of cranberries were gathered in 1889. Port Townsend, Whatcom, and Sehome, long apparently lifeless, have blossomed out with elegant homes, stately hotels, and bauking-houses. Fairhaven, also on Bellingham bay, has a charming situation, and is rapidly growing.

Centralia, Aberdeen, and all the towns in the fertile Chehalis valley are sharing the results of agricultural and milling enterprises. The following is the history of Aberdeen, by Samuel Benn, its founder, born in New York in 1832, coming to Cal. in 1856; worked in Tuolumne mines until 1859. when be came to Puget Sound, and purchasing a boat explored Black river, and took up a pre-emption claim. In 1868 he removed to Chehalis valley, where he pur- chased 592 acres of land, raising cattle and dairying until 1884, when he laid out the town of Aberdeen, devoting in all 240 acres to the town-site, giving away 49 aeres in mill-sites to promote business, and also donated 50 acres to J. M. Weatherwax, in alternate blocks, for the same purpose. He is prin- cipal owner in the Washingtonian cannery; has been sheriff and county com- missioner, and built the first boat to run on the Chehalis river. He married Martha A. Redmond in 1862, and has 5 daughters and 2 sons.

Gray's Harbor is attracting much attention, but whether some settled or some newly selected site will be the port of the future is not yet apparent.

Kelso, in Cowlitz valley, 6 miles from the Columbia, has hopes of future greatness, ealling itself the ' gate of Cowlitz,' and claims superior advantages and eminent intelligence, either of which are no mean recommendations.

The assessed value of taxable property in Wash. has increased fromn $18,922,922 in 1878, to $84,641,548 in 1888, according to the report of Sec- retary Owings-a gain of $65,718,626 in ten years. The richest co. is King. the second Pieree, the third Spokane, the fourth Whitman, the fifth Walla Walla, then Lincoln, Clarke, Columbia, each valued at nearly $3,000,000, after which the other counties range from $2,000,000 down to $300,000. The area of the state is 69,994 sq. miles; area of tide-water inside, 1,258 sq. miles; of shore-line inside, 1,992 miles; area of Lake Washington, 41 sq. miles. Estimated population, by Owings, 432,600.

Among the more prominent citizens of Spokane Falls are the following:

Herbert Bolster came in ISS5 with an established reputation as a lawyer and real estate agent. He enjoys the confidenee of the community, and has been intrusted with much valuable city property, together with the laying out of numerous additions. He is a director of the Washington Water Power Co., the Spokane Cable Ry. Co., and other leading corporations.

A. M. Cannon, a native of Monmouth, Ill., came to this coast in 1858, and to Spokane Falls in 1878, now ranks among the millionaires of that city, his wealth being acquired solely by his own industry and business judgment. To him is mainly due the building of the Spokane aud Palouse railroad, Spokane Mill Co., the Bank of Spokane Falls, and other prominent enter- prises. As mayor, and in other publie offices, he has gained the esteem and good-will of all classes of the people.

In 1878 J. J. Browne, a native of Grenville, O., settled at Spokane Falls, soon acquired an extensive law practice, and became one of the leaders of the democratie party, bis serviees as a school director being especially valuable. In 1889 he was chosen a delegate to the constitutional convention, serving with marked ability. He has aided largely in building up the eity.

W. H. Taylor, a native of Mieh., has also contributed largely to the development of his adopted city, in 1887 as mayor, as president of the Spokane Nat. Bank and of the board of trade, and in other positions.

Others worthy of note are F. R. Moore, a director of the Washington Water Power Co., of the eable line company, and of several banks, and B. F. Burch, M. D., one of the oldest residents of the city. Both these gen- tlemen are among the wealthiest and most respected citizens of Spokane.

HISTORY OF IDAHO.

CHAPTER I.

PHYSICAL FEATURES AND NATURAL WEALTH.

TERRITORIAL LIMITS-THE WORLD'S WONDER-LAND-RIVERS, MOUNTAINS, AND VALLEYS - PHENOMENAL FEATURES - LAVA - FIELDS - MINERAL SPRINGS-CLIMATE-SCORES OF LIMPID LAKES-ORIGIN OF THE NAME 'IDAHO'-INDIFFERENCE OF EARLY IMMIGRANTS-NATURAL PRODUCTIONS -GAME - FOOD SUPPLY - FUR-BEARING ANIMALS - FIRST MORMON SETTLEMENT-COUNTY DIVISIONS OF IDAHO AS PART OF WASHINGTON.

THE territory of Idaho was set off by congress March 3, 1863. It was erected out of the eastern portion of Washington with portions of Dakotah and Nebraska, and contained 326,373 square miles, lying between the 104th and 117th meridians of longitude, and the 42d and 49th parallels of latitude. It em- braced the country east of the summits of the Rocky Mountains to within fifty miles of the great bend of the Missouri below the mouth of the Yellowstone, including the Milk River, White Earth, Big Horn, Powder River, and a portion of the Platte region on the North Fork and Sweetwater. Taken all together, it is the most grand, wonderful, romantic, and mys- terious part of the domain enclosed within the federal union.

Within its boundaries fell the Black Hills, Fort Laramie, Long's Peak, the South Pass, Green River, Fort Hall, Fort Boisé, with all that wearisome stretch of road along Snake River made by the annual trains

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PHYSICAL FEATURES AND NATURAL WEALTH.

of Pacific-bound immigrants since 1843, and earlier. Beyond these well-known stations and landmarks no information had been furnished to the public concern- ing that vast wilderness of mountains interspersed with apparently sterile sand deserts, and remarkable, so far as understood, only for the strangeness of its rugged scenery, which no one seemed curious to ex- plore.

The Snake River,1 the principal feature known to travellers, is a sullen stream, generally impracticable, and here and there wild and swift, navigable only for short distances, above the mouth of the Clearwater, broken by rapids and falls, or coursing dark and dan- gerous between high walls of rock. Four times between Fort Hall and the mouth of the Bruneau, a distance of 150 miles, the steady flow of water is broken by falls. The first plunge at American Falls,2 twenty-five miles from Fort Hall, is over a preci- pice 60 feet or more in height, after which it flows between walls of trap-rock for a distance of 70 miles, when it enters a deeper cañon several miles in length and from 800 to 1,000 feet in width, emerging from which it divides and passes around a lofty pinnacle of rock standing in the bed of the stream, the main por- tion of the river rushing over a ledge and falling 180 feet without a break, while the smaller stream de- scends by successive plunges in a series of rapids for some distance before it takes its final leap to the pool below. These are called the Twin Falls, and some- times the Little Falls to distinguish them from the Great Shoshone Falls, four miles below, where the entire volume of water plunges down 210 feet after a preliminary descent of 30 feet by rapids. Forty miles west, at the Salmon or Fishing falls, the river makes its last great downward jump of forty feet, after which

1 The name of this stream was taken from the natives inhabiting its banks, and has been variously called Snake, Shoshone, and Les Serpents. Lewis and Clarke named it after the former-Lewis River. See Native Races of the Pacific States, and Hist. Northwest Coast, passim, this series.

2 So named from the loss of a party of Americans who attempted to navi- gate the river in canoes. Palmer's Jour., 44.

395

TOPOGRAPHY OF IDAHO.

it flows, with frequent rapids and cañons, onward to the Columbia,3 in some places bright, pure, and spar- kling with imprisoned sunshine, in others noiseless, cold, and dark, eddying like a brown serpent among fringes of willows, or hiding itself in shadowy ravines untrodden by the footsteps of the all-dominating white man.

This 500 feet of descent by cataracts is made on the lower levels of the great basin, where the altitude above the sea is from 2,130 feet, at the mouth of the Owyhee, to 4,240 at the American Falls. The de- scent of 2,110 feet in a distance of 250 miles is suf- ficient explanation of the unnavigable character of the Serpent River. Other altitudes furnish the key to the characteristics of the Snake Basin. The eastern gate- way to this region, the South Pass, is nearly 7,500 feet high, and the mountain peaks in the Rocky range from 10,000 to 13,570 feet, the height of Frémont Peak. The pass to the north through the Blackfoot country is 6,000 feet above the sea, which is the general level of that region,4 while various peaks in the Bitter Root range rise to elevations between 7,000 and 10,000 feet. Florence mines, where the dis- coverers were rash enough to winter, has an altitude of 8,000 feet, while Fort Boisé is 6,000 feet lower, being in the lowest part of the valley of Snake River. Yet within a day's travel on horseback are rugged mountains where the snow lies until late in the spring, topped by others where it never melts, as the miners soon ascertained by actual experience. The largest body of level land furnished with grass instead of ar- temesia is Big Camas prairie, on the head waters of Malade or Wood river, containing about 200 square miles, but at an altitude of 4,700 feet, which seemed to render it unfit for any agricultural purposes,

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History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889, Part 45

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Frances Fuller, 1826-1902 Publication date: 1890 Publisher: San Francisco : History Co. Number of Pages: 880

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Frances Fuller, 1826-1902
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: San Francisco : History Co.
Number of Pages: 880