History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889, Part 8

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 8
USA > Montana > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 8
USA > Washington > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 8

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In joint convention of both branches of the legis- lature, I. N. Ebey was elected prosecuting attorney for the third judicial district, receiving fourteen votes, and the ubiquitous Chapman two.21 Ebey being pop- ular, energetic, and devoted to the interests of his section, much comfort was derived from this legisla- tive appointment. Meantime congress took no notice apparently of the memorial forwarded by the conven- tion of August, nor did the citizens north of the Co- lumbia assemble in May to frame a state constitution as they had threatened, yet as they could not seriously have contemplated. But as a means to a desired end, The Columbian, a weekly newspaper, was established at Olympia,22 which issued its first number on the 11th of September, 1852; and was untiring in its advocacy of an independent organization. It was wisely sug-

20 Evans says, in his Division of the Territory, 5, that when he came to Puget Sound J. B. Chapman was extremely unpopular, and he doubts if, anxious as the people were for an organization north of the Columbia, they would have accepted it with Chapman as an appointee, which he was aiming at. He did not get an appointment, as he confesses in his Autobiography.

21 The first judges of Thurston county were A. A. Denny, S. S. Ford, and David Shelton. Olympia Columbian, Nov. 6, 1851. See also Or. Jour. Coun- cil, 1851-2, 68.

22 Thr Columbian was published by J. W. Wiley and T. F. McElroy, the latter having been connected with the Spectator. McElroy retired in Scp- tember 1853, and M. K. Smith became publisher.

POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT.

gested that, as many influential citizens would be as- sembled at the house of J. R. Jackson on the 25th of October to attend the sitting of the court, the op- portunity should be seized to make arrangements for another convention, a hint which was adopted. On the 27th of September a meeting was held, and a general convention planned for the 25th of Oc- tober, at Monticello. It was considered certain that all the inhabitants about Puget Sound would vote for a separate organization, but not quite so evident that those living upon the Columbia, and accustomed to act with the people south of it, would do so. By holding the convention at Monticello, it was hoped to influence the doubtful in the direction of their wishes.

At the time appointed, the delegates assembled and organized by electing G. N. McConaha president and R. J. White secretary. After an address by the president, a committee of thirteen 23 was selected to frame another memorial to congress, which contained the following arguments: It was desired to have or- ganized a separate territory, bounded on the south and east by the Columbia; and for these reasons: the terri- tory was too large ever to be embraced within the lim- its of one state, containing as it did 341,000 square miles, with 640 miles of sea-coast, while the proposed terri- tory would embrace about 32,000 square miles, that being believed to be of fair and just extent. Those portions of the undivided territory lying north and south of the Columbia must, from their geographical positions, become rivals in commerce. The southern portion, having now the greatest number of voters, controls legislation, from which fact it was evident that northern Oregon received no benefit from con- gressional appropriations, which were subject to the disposition of the legislature. The seat of govern- ment was, by the nearest practicable route, 500 miles from a large portion of the citizens of the territory.

23 Quincy A. Brooks, D. S. Maynard, William W. Plumb, Alfred Cook, J. R. Jackson, E. L. Finch, A. F. Scott, F. A. Ck. ke, C. S. Hathaway, E. A. Allen, E. H. Winslow, Seth Catlin, and N. Stone constituted the committee.

TERRITORY OF COLUMBIA.

A majority of the legislation of the south was opposed to the interests of the north. Northern Oregon pos- sessed great natural resources and an already large population, which would be greatly increased could they secure the fostering care of congress. Where- fore they humbly petitioned for the early organization of a territory, to be called the Territory of Columbia, north and west of the Columbia River, as described. Then followed forty-four names of the most influen- tial citizens of Lewis and Thurston counties.24

As before, the convention appointed a meeting for May, and adjourned; the memorial was forwarded to Lane, and the proceedings were made as public as the Oregon newspapers could make them.

But matters were already slowly mending north of the Columbia. There had been some valuable acces- sions to the population, as the reader of the previous chapter is aware; a good many vessels were coming to the Sound for timber,25 which gave employment to men without capital, and brought money into the country, and the influence of United States laws were

2+G. N. McConaha, Seth Catlin, R. J. White, J. N. Law, Q. A. Brooks, C. C. Terry, C. S. Hathaway, A. J. Simmons, E. H. Winslow, S. Plomondon, A. Cook, H. A. Goldsborough, A. F. Scott, G. Drew, W. N. Bell, M. T. Sim- mons, A. A. Denny, H. C. Wilson, L. M. Collins, L. B. Hastings, G. B. Roberts, S. S. Ford, Sen., N. Stone, B. C. Armstrong, L. H. Davis, J. Fowler, C. H. Hale, A. Crawford, S. D. Rundell, H. D. Huntington, E. J. Allen, W. A. L. McCorkle, A. B. Dillenbaugh, N. Ostrander, J. R. Jackson, C. F. Por- ter, D. S. Maynard, E. L. Finch, F. A. Clarke, H. Miles, Wm W. Plumb, P. WV. Crawford, A. Wylie, S. P. Moses. Cong. Globe, 1852-3, 541; Columbian, Dec. 11, 1852; Or. Statesman, Jan. 1, 1853; Olympia Standard, May 9, 1868.

25 No list of vessels was kept previous to .he arrival of a collector in Nov. 1851; but between the 15th of that month and the last of June following there were 38 arrivals and departures from Olympia, as follows: Brigs, George Emory, Orbit, G. W. Kendall, John Davis, Franklin Adams, Daniel, Leonesa, Jane, Eagle; brigantine, Mary Dare; schooners, Exact, Demaris Core, Susan Sturges, Alice, Franklin, Mary Taylor, Cynosure, Honolulu Packet, Mexican, Cecil; bark, Brontes; steamer, Beaver. The memoranda made by the collector was as follows: Brigantine Mary Dare and steamer Beaver seized for infractions of the U. S. revenue laws. U. S. sloop of war Vincennes, W. L. Hudson commander, visited the Sound, obtained supplies and exercised her batteries. Sloop Georgiana wrecked on Queen Charlotte Island, her passen- gers and crew taken prisoners by the Indians. Schooner Demaris C'ove promptly sent to their relief by the collector. Schooner Harriet, from the Co- lumbia, bonnd to S. F. with passengers and freight, blown to abont lat. 55°, lost sails, etc .; came into port in distress. Brig Una totally wrecked at Cape Flattery. Olympia Columbian, Sept. 11, 1852.

POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT.

beginning to be felt in the presence of a customs office as well as a district court. In May 1851 President Fillmore commissioned Simpson P. Moses of Ohio col- lector of customs, and W. W. Miller of Illinois surveyor of the port of Nisqually, on Puget Sound. These offi- cials arrived in the months of October and November, Miller overland and Moses by the Nicaragua route, then newly opened.26 With the latter came the family of the collector, two unmarried women named Relyea,27 A. B. Moses, brother of the collector, and Deputy Col- lector Elwood Evans, who later became so well known in connection with the history of Washington and its preservation in a written form.28 There came also, as passengers from San Francisco, Theodore Dubosq, J. M. Bachelder and family, and John Hamilton.29

I have already in a previous volume related with what ardor Collector Moses adopted the anti-Hudson's Bay Company tone of the early settlers, and how he brought the government into debt many thousand dollars by seizures of British vessels 30 after the re- moval of the port of entry to Olympia. The seizure of the Beaver and the Mary Dare31 occurred about

26 Evans says the collector sailed frem N. Y. August 14th in the steamship Prometheus, which connected with the Independence at San Juan del Sur, ar- riving at S. F. Sept. 17th. The remainder of the voyage to Puget Sound was performed in the brig George Emory, owned by Lafayette Balch of Port Steil- acoom, which left Oct. 24th, and arrived off Port Townsend Nov. 10th, where the collector and his deputy were sworn in by Henry C. Wilson, justice of the peace of Lewis county. Notes on Settlement, 15; N. W. Coast, MS., 1.

27 Louisa Relyca married Frederick Myers, and her sister John Bradley. Evans' Notes on Settlement, 16.

28 Evans was bern in Philadelphia, Dec. 29, 1828. Wishing to come to the Pacific coast, he was tendered the appointment of deputy clerk to the col- lector of Puget Sound, and accepted. He returned to Philadelphia in 1852, and came out again in 1853 as private secretary to Gov. Stevens. From that time he carefully observed and noted the progress of events, in which he took no insignificant personal interest. By profession a lawyer, he resided at Olyni- pia from 1851 to 1879, when he removed to New Tacema. He married Elzira Z. Gove of Olympia, formerly of Bath, Maine, on the Ist of January, 1856.

29 Hamilton was a brother-in-law of Bachelder. He was drowned March 27, 1854, on the ill-fated expedition of Major Larned, U. S. A. Evans' Notes on Settlement, 16.

30 Hist. Or., ii. 105-8, this series.

B1 Moses appointed I. N. Ehey and A. J. Simmons temporary inspectors, and on the Ist of December directed Ebey to make a strict examination, which resulted in finding $500 worth of Indian goods on board the Beaver, and on the Mary Dare a coutraband package of refined sugar weighing 230 pounds. By the 103d section of the act of March 2, 1799, refined sugar could not he

OLYMPIA IN EARLY DAYS.

the last of November, and on the 20th of January a special term of court was held at Olympia to try these cases, this being the first term of the federal court in Thurston county, Judge Strong presiding, Simon B. Mayre of Portland being attorney for the Hudson's Bay Company, and David Logan of the same place acting for the United States district attorney, Ebey, in these cases. Quincy A. Brooks acted as clerk of the court, and A. M. Poe as deputy marshal. At this term were admitted to practice Brooks, S. P. Moses, Ebey, and Evans.

Evans describes, in a journal kept by him at that time, and incorporated in his Historical Notes on Settlement, the appearance of Olympia in the winter of 1851-2. There were "about a dozen one-story frame cabins of primitive architecture, covered with split-cedar siding, well ventilated, but healthy. There were about twice that number of Indian huts a short distance from the custom-house, which was in the second story of Simmons' building, before described, on the first floor of which was his store, with a small room partitioned off for a post-office."

It was during the month of November that the Exact arrived at Olympia with the gold-seekers for Queen Charlotte Island, after leaving the Alki Point settlers. The Exact brought, as settlers to Olympia, Daniel B. Bigelow, a lawyer and a Massachusetts man who crossed the continent that summer. His first case was a suit between Crosby and M. T. Simmons, growing out of a question of title to the Tumwater claim, Bigelow representing Simmons and J. B. Chapman being Crosby's attorney. James Hughes and family also arrived by the Exact.

The rumor which led the Portland company to charter this vessel to take them to Queen Charlotte

imported in packages of less than 600 pounds, under penalty of forfeiture of the sugar and the vessel in which it was imported. It was also shown that the Beaver had anchored at Nisqually and sent boats ashore. These were the infractions of the revenue law on which the seizures were made.

POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT.

Island was first brought to Puget Sound by one McEwen, mate of the sloop Georgiana from Australia. McEwen exhibited gold in chunks which had been chiselled out of quartz-veins in rock on the island, and created thereby such an excitement that a company was immediately raised to visit the new gold region, Goldsborough at the head. On the 3d of November the adventurers sailed from Olympia in the Georgiana, with tools and provisions, and arrived on the 18th in the harbor on the east side of the island, called Kom- shewah by the natives, though their true destination was Gold Harbor on the west side. On the following day the sloop was blown ashore and wrecked, when the Haidahs, a numerous and cruel tribe, plundered the vessel, took the company prisoners, and reduced them to slavery. Their final fate would probably have been death by starvation and ill treatment, but for a fortunate incident of their voyage.

On coming opposite Cape Flattery, the sloop was boarded by Captain Balch of the Demaris Cove, who on learning her destination promised to follow as soon as he should have met the George Emory, then due, with the collector of Puget Sound on board. In pursuance of this engagement, the Demaris Cove ran up to the island in December, where she learned from the Indians of the wreck of the Georgiana, and being in danger from the natives, Balch at once returned to the Sound to procure arms and goods for the ransom of the prisoners.

On hearing what had happened, Collector Moses, after conferring with the army officers at Fort Steil- acoom, chartered the Demaris Cove and despatched her December 19th for Queen Charlotte Island, Lieu- tenant John Dement of the 1st artillery, with a few soldiers, A. B. Moses, Dubosq, Poe, Sylvester, and other volunteers, accompanying Captain Balch. On the 31st the schooner returned with the ransomed captives, to the great joy of their friends, who held a public meeting to express their satisfaction, giving

CAPTIVE GOLD-SEEKERS.

unstinted praise to the collector for his prompt action in the matter.$2

32 The details of the Georgiana affair are interesting and dramatic. The Indians took possession of every article that could be saved from the vessel, which they then burned for the iron. They swooped down upon the shivering and half-drowned white men as fast as they came ashore through the surf- some able to help themselves, and others unconscious, but all finally surviv- ing-to strip them of their only possessions, their seanty clothing. This last injury, however, was averted on making the chief understand that he should be paid a ransom if their safety and comfort were secured until such time as rescue came. They escaped the worst slavery by affecting to be chiefs and ignorant of labor. Their sufferings from cold and the want of bedding, etc., were extreme, and their captivity lasted 54 days. The pay demanded for each person was 5 four-point blankets, 1 shirt, I bolt of muslin, and 2 pounds of tobacco, besides all the plunder of the vessel. S. D. Howe and three others were permitted by the savages take a eanoe and go to Fort Simpson for relief, but their efforts were a partial failure.

The names of the rescued captives were, of the vessel's crew, William Row- land, captain; Duncan McEwen, mate; Benjamin and Richard Gibbs, sailors; Tamaree, an Hawaiian cook; passengers, Asher Sargent, E. N. Sargent, Sam- uel D. Howe, Ambrose Jewell, Charles Weed, Daniel Show, Samuel H. Wil- liams, James McAllister, John Thornton, Charles Hendricks, George A. Paige, John Remley, Jesse Ferguson, Ignatius Colvin, James K. Hurd, William Ma- hard, Solomon S. Gideon, George Moore, B. F. McDonald, Sidney S. Ford, Jr, Isaac M. Brownc, and Mr. Seidner. I find, besides the reports made at the time by S. D. Howe, George Moore, Capt. Rowland, and subsequently by Charles E. Weed, an account by the latter among my manuscripts, under the title of Weed's Charlotte Island Expedition, from all of which I have drawn the chief facts. Weed was 27 years of age, a native of Ct, and had just come to Olympia by way of the Willamette from Cal. George A. Paige, a native of N. H., had served in the Mexican war, and had been but a short time in Or. He remained on the Sound, serving in the Indian wars, and receiving an appointment as Indian agent at Port Madison. He died at Fort Colville in 1868. See references to the Georgiana affair, in Or. Statesman, Feb. 15 and 24, and March 9, 1852; Or. Spectator, Jan. 27, 1852; New Tacoma Ledger, July 9, 1880.

While the Olympia gold-seekers were experiencing so great ill fortune, the Exact's company, which left the Sound somewhat later, succeeded in landing, and spent the winter exploring the island, which they found to be a rocky formation, not susceptible in the higher parts of being cultivated, though the natives at Gold Harbor raised excellent potatoes and turnips. The climate was severe, and no gold was found except in quartz veins, which required blasting. The Indians had some lumps of pure gold and fine specimens of quartz stolen from a blast made by the crew of the H. B. Co.'s brigantine Una a short time previous. This vessel was stranded on Cape Flattery, Dec. 26th, the passengers getting ashore with their baggage, when they were attacked by the Indians, who would have killed them to get possession of their goods had they not fled, leaving everything iu the hands of the savages, who burned the vessel. The crew and passengers, among whom were three women, were so fortunate as to signal the Demaris Core on her way to rescue the Olympia company, which took them on board and carried them to Fort Victoria. The Indians of Gold Harbor, though they did not prevent the Exact's company from prospecting, represented that they had sold the island to the H. B. Co., and were to defend it from occupation by Americans. The prospectors re- remained until March, when they returned to Puget Sound, bringing a few specimens obtained from the natives. The Exact refitted and returned in March. Three other vessels, the Topic, Glencoe, and Vancouver, advertised to take passengers to the island, but nothing like success followed the expedi-

POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT.

But if the persons concerned approved of the action of the collector, the government did not, and refused to, pay the expenses of the rescue, which Moses in a letter to Secretary Corwin of the treasury as- sumed that it would do; and the collector of Puget Sound was reminded somewhat sharply that it was not his business to fit out military expeditions at the expense of the United States, the first cost of which in this case was seven or eight thousand dollars. 33 But congress, when memorialized by the legislature of Washington at its first session, did appropriate fifteen thousand dollars, out of which to pay the claims of Captain Balch and others, as in justice it was bound to do. Had the collector waited for the gov- ernor to act, another month would necessarily have been consumed, during which the captives might have perished.

On the meeting of the Oregon legislature, ten days

tions. According to the S. F. Alta of April 1, 1859, a nugget weighing $250 was obtained from the natives by the captain of the H. B. Co.'s str Labou- chere. The Indians refused to reveal the location of the gold mine, but offered to procure more of it for sale; and it is certain that the company did buy a large amount of gold from them about this time. A third vessel, the brig Eagle, was fitted out at Portland for prosecuting gold discovery on the north coast, and for trading with the Indians. On the 9th of August, while attempt- ing to enter a harbor on V. I., the brig was wrecked, the crew and passengers reaching the shore with only a few articles of food and clothing. No sooner had they landed than they were stripped and their lives threatened. On the 11th the party contrived to escape in a whale-boat, coasting along the island for five days, subsisting on shell-fish, being treated barbarously by the natives, who attacked them in Nootka Sound, taking two of them prisoners. The re- mainder of the company escaped to sea and were picked up by a trading ves- sel soon after. On board the rescuing vessel were some friendly Indians, who volunteered to undertake the ransom of the captives, which they succeeded in doing, aud all arrived safely in Puget Sound in Sept. Olympia Columbian, Sept. 11, 1852. Report of Ind. Agent Starling, in U. S. Sen. Ex. Doc., ), v. i. pt i. 464, 32d cong. 2d sess. Some of the gold-seekers being left on Queen Charlotte Island, wishing to return home, and not having a vessel to bring them, four men set out in an open boat, 14 fect long by 4} wide, carrying one small sail, and neither chart nor compass. After many dangers from the sea and savages, they reached Whidbey Island in an exhausted condition, after being 15 days at sea. Their names were Ellis Barnes, James C. Hedges, Clement W. Sumner, and Thomas Tobias. The Indians of the north-west coast were at this time, and for a number of years later, troublesome to the daring pioneers of the northern coast. During the summer of 1832 the north- crn Indians committed depredations on the schr Franklin, Capt. Pinkham, and at different times many murders on Puget Sound. Olympia Columbian, Sept. 18, 1852.

33 For the papers in the case, see Ilouse Ex. Doc., 130. 32d cong. Ist sess.

NEW COUNTIES.

after the Cowlitz convention, Lancaster, the council- man whose term held over, did not appear to take his seat, but resigned his office at so late a moment, that although an election was held, Seth Catlin being chosen against A. A. Denny, it was too late to be of use to the region he represented; but F. A. Chen- oweth and I. N. Ebey being members of the lower house in addition to Anderson of Clatsop and Pacific, there was a perceptible change from the neglect of former legislatures, and it is probable, if no action had been taken looking to a separate territory, that the Puget Sound country would have obtained recogni- tion in the future. But the Oregon legislators were not averse to the division, the counties south of the Columbia having, as the northern counties alleged, diverse commercial interests, and being at too great a distance from each other to be much in sympathy. But the legislature adopted without demur a reso- lution of Ebey's that congress should appropriate thirty thousand dollars to construct a military road from Steilacoom to Walla Walla. Four new counties were established, Jefferson, King. Pierce, and Island. Two joint representatives were allowed, one for Island and Jefferson, and one for King and Pierce. Pacific county was also separated from Clatsop for judicial purposes, and the judge of the 3d district required to hold two terms of court annually in the former.34

On the 10th of January Chenoweth introduced a resolution in the house in regard to organizing a ter- ritory north of the Columbia. On the 14th Ebey reported a memorial to congress as a substitute for

34 The county seat of Jefferson was fixed at Port Townsend; of King at Seattle; and Olympia was made the county seat of Thurston. The commis- sioners appointed for Jefferson co., to serve until their successors were elected, were L. B. Hastings, D. F. Brownfield, and Albert Briggs; H. C. Wilson sheriff, and A. A. Plummer probate clerk. For Island co., Samuel B. Howe, John Alexander, and John Crockett; George W. L. Allen sheriff, aud R. H. Lansdale probate clerk. For King co., A. A. Denny, John N. Lowe, and Luther N. Collins; David C. Boren sheriff, and H. D. Yesler pro- bate clerk. For Pieree co., Thos M. Chambers, William Dougherty, Alexander Smith; John Bradley sheriff, and John M. Chapman probate clerk. Or. Statesman, Jan. 22, 1853; Columbian, Jan. 29 and Feb. 19, 1853; North Pacific Coast, vol. i., no. 1, p. 16.

POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT.

the resolution, which he asked the assembly to adopt, and which passed without opposition or amendment, the only question raised in connection with the sub- ject being the division by an east and west line, some members contending that Oregon should include Puget Sound and all the country west of the Cas- cade Mountains, while the country east of that range should form a new territory-an opinion long held by a minority in view of the admission of Washington as a state. Such a division at that time would have made Portland the capital.35

But Lane had not waited to hear from the Oregon legislative assembly concerning the division of the territory. Immediately on receiving the memorial

35 Olympia Columbian, May 9, 1868. The memorial was as follows: 'Your memorialists, the legislative assembly of Oregon, legally assembled upon the first Monday in December, A. D. 1852, would respectfully represent unto your honorable body that a period of four years and six months has elapsed since the establishment of the present territorial government over the territory of Oregon; and that in the mean time the population of the said territory has spread from the banks of the Columbia River north along Puget Sound, Ad- miralty Inlet, and Possession Sound, and the surrounding country to the Canal de Haro; and that the people of that territory labor under great incon- venience and hardship by reason of the great distance to which they are re- moved from the centre of the present territorial organization. Those portions of Oregon territory lying north and south of the Columbia River must, from their geographical position, difference in climate, and internal resources, remain in a great legree distinct communities, with different interests and policies in all that appertains to their domestic legislation, and the various interests that are to be regulated, nourished, and cherished by it. The communication be- tween these two portions of the territory is difficult, casual, and uncertain. Although time and improvement would in some measure remove this obstacle, yet it would for a long period in the future form a serious barrier to the pros- perity and well-being of each, so long as they remain under one government. The territory north of the Columbia, and west of the great northern branch of that stream, contains a sufficient number of square miles to form a state, which in point of resources and capacity to maintain a population will com- pare favorably with most of the states of the union. Experience has proven that when marked geographical boundaries which have been traced by the hand of nature have been disregarded in the formation of local governments, that sectional jealonsies and local strifes have seriously embarrassed their pros- perity and characterized their domestic legislation. Yourmemorialists, forthese reasons, and for the benefit of Oregon both north and south of the Columbia River, and believing from the reservation of power in the first section of the organicact that congress then anticipated that at some future time it would be necessary to establish other territorial organizations west of the Rocky Moun- tains, and believing that that time bas come, would respectfully pray your honorable body to establish a separate territorial government for all that por- tion of Oregon territory lying north of the Columbia River and west of the great northern branch of the same, to be known as the Territory of Columbia.' Or. Statesman, Jan. 29, 1833; Columbian, Feb. 12, 1853.

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History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889, Part 8

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