An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 35

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate publishing company
Number of Pages: 1146

USA > Washington > Kittitas County > An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 35
USA > Washington > Yakima County > An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 35
USA > Washington > Klickitat County > An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 35

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).

M. Graham: M. C., P. Matsen: M. A., J. N. Jen- sen ; guard, Dule Shattuck; watchman, R. Peter- son. The lodge has twenty-three members.

Simcoe Lodge No. 113, Knights of Pythias, with fourteen charter members, was instituted by Nelson B. Brooks, D. D. G. C., January 2, 1899, and the following chosen as its first officers: Richard Buckley, P. P. C .; E. Clanton, C. C .; S. Cooley, V. C .; E. Demond, P .; Isaac Van Nos- tern, M. of W .: J. Noblet, K. R. S .: T. H. Hooker, M. of E .: George Van Nostern, M. of F .; F. W. Sanders, M. of A .; E. Hooker, I. G .; J. Hooker, O. G. The roll of past chancellors includes Richard Buckley, Edward Clanton, S. Cooley, T. H. Hooker, Joseph Noblet, F. W. Sanders, A. F. Brockman, George Van Nostern and H. H. Faulkner. At present Simcoe Lodge has twenty-seven members, and its officers are as follows: C. C., A. F. Brockman; V. C., J. G. Hoisington; P., J. E. Shoveland; M. of W., Isaac Van Nostern: K. R. S., Richard Buckley ; M. of E., T. H. Hooker; M. of F., F. W. San- ders; M. of A., George Van Nostern; I. G., O. J. Wommack; O. G., C. A. Zyph; trustees, Richard Buckley, O. J. Wommack, C. A. Zyph; D. D. G. C., F. W. Sanders.

Bunchgrass Lodge No. 81, Ancient Order of United Workmen, was established in February, 1897, with a charter membership of twenty-four. J. W. Rogers became the lodge's first master workman : James Nelson, its second. The lodge now has twenty-six members. Its officers are: Past master workman, James Story; master workman, Stephen Matsen: foreman, T. H. Hooker: financier, E. F. Flower; recorder, J. W. Rogers; overseer, Chris. Larsen; receiver, J. N. Jensen.

Wheatland Union No. 175, Order of Wash- ington, was instituted January 14, 1903, by Cap- tain Leonard, its charter roll containing the names of eighteen members. The lodge has twenty-three members at present. Its first and present corps of officers is as follows: Presi- dent, A. F. Brockman ; vice-president, J. Piendl; treasurer, Anna E. Brockman; secretary, S. G. Dorris; chaplain, Emma Piendl; escort, F. Markel; guard, Paul Sholtz; examiner, Dr. A. F. Brockman.

It is estimated by reliable authorities that in 1903 the region within a radius of ten miles of Bickleton raised five hundred thousand bushels of wheat, besides a large amount of barley and oats and some hay. The wheat sold at an aver- age price of between sixty-five and seventy cents a bushel, from which it will be seen that the grain product alone brought the farmers of the wheat region more than three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The crop was only an average one. Fully fifty thousand head of sheep are owned by Bickleton residents and grazed in this region; also hundreds of neat cattle.

The business men of Bickleton may feel

secure in the knowledge that, with a surround- ing country of such capabilities, their town will never lack an abundant support. Its growth in future may be slow, as it has been in the past, but it can hardly fail to be steady and substan- tial. Although the town will probably never gain, unless something unforeseen happens, a rank among the larger cities of the state, it will, at no distant day, hold a place among the best of the secondary cities of Washington. Let us hope that as its wealth and its population increase, it will lose none of the geniality and good-fellow- ship which to-day appeal so strongly to the sojourner within its bounds.

CLEVELAND.

The second town founded in eastern Klickitat and one of that section's present important trad- ing centers is Cleveland, situated near the head of Wood gulch. Bickleton lies three miles east; Goldendale, thirty miles southwest. With both these places Cleveland has stage connections, as also with Arlington, Oregon. Arthur Hale operates the tri-weekly stage to Goldendale; George Van Nostern, the daily stage between Bickleton and Cleveland and between Cleveland and Arlington.

Cleveland has a pretty location in a sort of basin on the lower border of the pine forest of the Simcoe mountains, with an open plateau stretching to the southward. Comfortable farm buildings and well-cultivated fields cover the prairie, evincing the presence of a -thrifty farm- ing population, the source of Cleveland's pros- perity. As elsewhere in the eastern end of the county, wheat-growing is the principal industry, stock-raising coming next in importance.

The town of Cleveland had its first feeble beginnings in 1880 or 1881 (the date cannot be certainly determined), when S. Lowenberg, a Goldendale merchant, established a branch store upon the site of the present town. The land was then held as a homestead by a man named Ripley Dodge, who settled upon it about the year 1879. It is officially described as the south- east quarter of section thirty, township six north, range twenty east. Mr. Dodge opened a hotel soon after, and later, in the same year, Frank Remington opened another store near Lowenberg's, but he abandoned the field the fol- lowing fall, going to Arlington. In the spring of 1881, if Edward Morris' memory of the date is correct, a blacksmith shop was opened on Dodge's farm by William Twitchell.

Mr. Lowenberg had not been long in the town before he had secured the establishment of a postoffice and an appointment as the first post- master. But he stayed in Cleveland only a year, selling out at the end of that time to James L. Chamberlain, who also succeeded to the office of postmaster.

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About this time Mr. Dodge formally laid out the town, naming it Cleveland, in honor of Ohio's great city, Mr. Dodge having been a native of that state. Before this time the settle- ment had been called Dodgetown. In 1895, just previous to his death, Mr. Dodge sold the site to William A. McCredy, who still owns it. Mr. Chamberlain remained at Cleveland a short time, then sold out his interests, moved to Prosser, and became the pioneer merchant of that town. Another of Cleveland's early business men was David Mason, who kept a drug store there for a short time during the eighties; still another was George Merton, the founder of a small general store. The latter sold out subsequently to Millard Hackley, who in turn sold to Hiram Bloome. Archibald Dodge, whose store was opened about 1882; J. J. Purviance, who erected a furniture store in 1883, and Charles McLean, who started the blacksmith shop that subse- quently became the property of George Merton, are also to be mentioned among Cleveland's pio- neer business men.

The thrifty little town suffered a disastrous misfortune, Thursday morning, September 24, 1896, when fire swept nearly the whole business portion out of existence. About daybreak the fire started in Bloome's livery barn, and, fanned by a strong wind, it was soon beyond control. The business houses destroyed were: Hiram Bloome's general store, livery barn, warehouse and blacksmith shop, loss five thousand dollars; Will G. Faulkner's furniture store, loss five hun- dred dollars; Paul Beck's hall, and Sherman Cooley's blacksmith shop. Little insurance was carried. A general belief prevails that this. appalling fire was of incendiary origin. Court- nay's store was saved; also the grist-mill, which had been built by Henry C. Hackley in 1890 and had added greatly to the town's prosperity.

Many fires of less magnitude have visited the place at different times, the last one, which occurred April 9, 1904, destroying W. A. Mc- Credy's hotel. John Van Nostern, a boy asleep in the hotel when the fire started, had a narrow escape from the flames. So rapidly did the fire progress that within thirty minutes from the beginning the building and its contents were a mass of ruins. The loss was twenty-five hundred dollars, covered by five hundred and fifty dollars insurance.

Notwithstanding the terrible blow received by the town in 1896, Cleveland was quickly rebuilt and soon regained its former prosperity. Since then its progress has been steady, though slow. At present its business enterprises are as follows: The Cleveland roller mills, owned by Samuel St. Clair, a new thirty-barrel, roller sys- tem plant, operated by steam, manufacturing several brands of flour, feed. etc. ; general stores, Van Nostern Brothers, James and Isaac; drugs, T. Z. Dodson ; harness and groceries, Charles M.

Beck & Son (C. A.); meat market, Charles A. Beck ; hotels, The McCredy, William A. McCredy, proprietor, The Cottage, Mrs. Ida Eddy, propri- etress; hardware, furniture, Will G. Faulkner; livery, William A. McCredy; blacksmith shop, S. A. Jory; jewelry store, Leonard Jenkins; physician, Dr. T. Z. Dodson; contractor, George Faulkner; James Van Nostern ; United States commissioner, Will G. Faulkner; two public halls.

The town possesses an excellent school taught at present by Theodore Rolf. Next winter the district expects to employ two teach- ers, as more than fifty pupils are enrolled. The pioneers of Cleveland organized district No. 30 in the year 1882, erecting a commodious frame schoolhouse, in which Miss Sadie Murphy taught the first school that fall. This old building was replaced in 1898 by a fine structure costing twelve hundred dollars. The site chosen is a pretty and commanding one upon the pine-clad hillside north of the business district. The officers of Cleveland school district are Thomas N. Talbert, J. W. Weer, Will G. Faulkner, directors; Will G. Faulkner, clerk.

The Cleveland Presbyterian church society was organized in 1884, through the efforts of Rev. L. J. Thompson, with the following orig- inal members: Rev. L. J. Thompson, Mrs. Nettie Twitchell, Mrs. A. A. Faulkner, Mrs. Isaac Clark, Mrs. Mary Baker, Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Purviance, and one or two others whose names could not be learned. The manse was immediately built, and two years later a church was erected at a cost of perhaps eight hundred dollars, Ripley Dodge donating a block to the society for building purposes. Revs. Samuel Meyer, B. F. Harper, A. J. Adams, J. C. Tem- pleton, John Day, R. B. Hodge, J. G. Hodges, and the present pastor, Rev. William Douglass, who came April 1, 1904, have successively served the church. There are eighteen members con- nected with the Cleveland church. The Bickle- ton and Dot churches are also presided over by Mr. Douglass.

Two fraternal orders have lodges at Cleve- land, the Order of Washington and Knights of the Loyal Guard. Klickitat Union No. 185, O. of W., was organized in December, 1902, with sixteen charter members. Its principal officers are: Past president, Henry Hackley ; president, Will G. Faulkner; recording secretary, Joseph Noblet, and treasurer, James Van Nostern. The Knights of the Loyal Guard lodge is three years old and has a large membership. Both lodges are in a flourishing condition.

CENTERVILLE.

Situated in the richest section of the rich Klickitat valley and encompassed by picturesque scenes of grandeur is the little town of Center-

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ville. It is located on a slight elevation along- side of what is known as the Swale, a tract of rich bottom land about five by ten miles in area, and for miles in every direction it is surrounded by the rolling farm lands of the Klickitat valley. Centerville is on the line of the Columbia River & Northern railroad, about thirty-two miles from the terminus at Lyle and seven miles from Goldendale. A stranger in this town is first attracted by the beauty of its surroundings. The low-lying valley with its fields of golden grain, the rugged Columbia hills to the south- ward, the timber-covered Simcoe range to the north, away to the west the Cascades with their giant snow-capped peaks, all unite to form a picture of marvelous beauty.

The site of the present town was taken as a pre-emption by Albert J. Brown in 1877. Two years later Charles Pomeroy built a blacksmith shop there, and in 1882 Mr. Brown secured the location of a postoffice at that point and named the place Centerville. During the fall of the next year J. B. Golden and W. T. Wallace each built a general merchandise store there, and Levi Clanton started a blacksmith shop. In 1884 Albert J. Brown sold out the town site to J. B. Golden. As early as 1878 a Methodist church' was erected on the town site, and in 1884 the Catholics built a small chapel. A livery stable and a small shoe store were also added that year, then for more than half a decade there was little change in the town.

In 1890, however, Curtis, Buford & Company added another general merchandise store, and on August 3d of the same year, Frank Lee started an independent weekly newspaper, the Klickitat Leader.

About this time the town began to take on a thrifty appearance, as a short extract from the newly-founded Leader shows: "Centerville, in the central part of the county, is a prosperous, thriving little city, whose citizens are noted for their enterprise and push. They now have three churches, a large schoolhouse, several stores, blacksmith shops and other places neces- sary to draw a large share of trade to the city. The sales of several merchants have run as high as seven hundred dollars a day."

A few years ago a disastrous fire broke out in J. R. Harvey's blacksmith shop and destroyed most of the business houses on the south side of the main street. Besides the shop, two hotels and two stores were consumed in the flames, and only the brave fight of the townsmen pre- vented the destruction of the entire town, as there was no water supply in the place. But the town soon recovered from the fire, and it has enjoyed a steady growth ever since.

The necessity of a water supply has been con- tinually upon the minds of the people. To pro- vide a water system in an unincorporated town is a rather difficult thing, as there is no provision

by which taxes can be levied to secure the funds necessary to defray the expense. Few towns have been so fortunate in this respect as was the little city of Centerville. By a combination of circumstances, a forty-acre tract of government land was left unclaimed, although it lay on the very borders of the town. The tract naturally became valuable. Finally, the government sold it at auction to the highest bidder and turned the money over to the town, in all one thousand seven hundred and forty dollars. It was decided at a meeting of citizens that this money could not be expended for a better purpose than for providing a water supply, and work upon a sys- tein was in due time commenced. The plant is not completed at this writing, but a well has been dug, a tank built and the necessary pump- ing outfit provided. All that now remains to be done is the laying of water mains and the neces- sary plumbing.

Before the establishment of the town there was a school in the community, and as early as 1884 the census enumeration for the district showed eighty-two children, with a school attend- ance of sixty-four. There is now a large, two- room, graded school in the district, and two teachers are employed. The directors are T. N. Crofton, Kelly Loe and U. F. Abshier. The schoolhouse was erected about thirteen years ago.

A Methodist church was built in the commu- nity as early as 1878, and a Catholic church in 1884. Since that time the Christian denomina- tion has been organized and has erected a church building. The only organization that has a resi- dent pastor is the Methodist, of which Rev. Ira E. Webster is in charge. The pulpits of the other churches are filled by outside ministers.

Not quite two years ago a weekly newspaper was established in the town. As previously stated, a paper had been published in Centerville as early as 1890, but it suspended publication after a few years. When it became evident that the railroad through the valley was a certainty, Kelly Loe was induced to undertake the publica- tion of a newspaper, the Journal. There is also a race-track association organized, and grounds have been laid out adjoining the town on the south side with a half-mile track and a baseball ground. There is a large public hall in the town, owned by an incorporated company, known as the A. O. U. W. Company. Previous to the suspension of the militia company in 1895, this was used as a drill room; now it is utilized as a meeting-place for the fraternal organizations and as a public hall.

There are five fraternities represented in Centerville, of which Klickitat Lodge No. 34, A. O. U. W., established in January, 1891, is the oldest. The following are the names of its charter members:

F. L. Hulery, D. B. Gaunt, Ed. Judy, E. S.

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Smith, John Shoemaker, A. G. Ward, G. B. St. Lawrence, C. M. Curtis, Sherman Cooley, Peter Shoemaker, G. F. Martin, G. M. Smith, E. E. Brooks, R. M. Merryman, James Wheelhouse, N. M. Brownlie, George E. Stoughton, Henry Layman, James Douphney and J. H. Wilder.

The Knights of Pythias have a local organiza- tion known as Mt. Adams Lodge No. 95, estab- lished May, 1893, with the following charter members: Will H. Hodson, A. R. Graham, Fred V. Vunk, W. T. Rhodes, Otis Campbell, A. L. Bunnell, Charles F. Jackal, Ed. Clanton, Fred Lucas, Fred T. Axtell, Charles S. Baker, A. C. Short, W. Smith, Thomas Crofton, J. H. Smith, C. McKillip, William B. Campbell, Milo Moser, J. H. Wagner, G. W. Billington, Robert McKillip, George Crofton, Cyrus Guy.

The Modern Woodmen of America, Bonanza Camp No. 9,374, was established March 14, 1901, with the following charter members: Peter Ahola, Fred W. Bold, J. T. Carpenter, John W. Hagan, Frank W. Johnson, John C. Kidra, Henry Lauhouse, August L. Matsen, John M. Mulligan, Singleton D. Smith, John F. Thomp- son, Edward M. Tobin, John B. Watson, William Wallman, Charles Wiedaner, I. A. Gilmore, Elias Hamlin, H. H. Hartley.

The Woodmen of the World order is repre- sented by Centerville Camp No. 143. Jacob Crocker, C. C .; W. B. Hayden, clerk. This. lodge has an auxiliary, Woodmen of Woodcraft, Ambera Circle No. 156. Cora Smith, G. N .; WV. B. Hayden, clerk.

The following is a list of the business houses and business men of the town:

General merchandise, T. N. Crofton, W. B. Hayden ; hardware, U. F. Abshier; hotels, Klon- dyke, T. N. Crofton, proprietor, Royal, T. A. Finch, proprietor; feed store, C. B. Runyan; clothing store, Joseph Cohen ; butcher shop, D. C. Smith; livery stables, T. N. Crofton, Elias Hamlin; blacksmith shops, Levi Clanton, J. R. Harvey; planing mill, Peter Ahola; telegraph and express office.

Surrounded as it is by a rich and prosperous farming district, and now enjoying a line of rapid transportation to the coast, Centerville seems to possess certain sure elements of growth. It already has a population of about two hundred and fifty inhabitants, and as the surrounding valley is built up, the town cannot help but increase in population. Much of the wheat that once went to The Dalles is now hauled to the railroad at Centerville, whose warehouses con- tained at one time as much as eighty thousand bushels awaiting shipment. It will always be an important shipping point of the Klickitat valley.

WHITE SALMON.

The most striking features of Klickitat's extreme western river settlement, White Sal-

mon, are its surpassing beauty of location, its healthfulness and the special adaptability of its soil and climate to horticulture. Although the oldest settlement in the county is at this point, the district's development has been very slow, and only in recent years have its rich natural advantages been really appreciated by home- seekers. However, White Salmon is now rapidly forging to the front. It is the county's banner fruit district, and is rapidly winning a reputa- tion as at least the equal of Hood River, Oregon, in the high quality of its horticultural products.

Nowhere along the great river is the scenery more strikingly impressive than at White Salmon, almost directly north of Mount Hood and oppo- site Hood River. It is said by those acquainted with Balch, that he drew much of his inspiration while writing the "Bridge of the Gods" from the region surrounding White Salmon and Hood River, in which settlements he served several years as a Congregational minister. At any rate, it is generally conceded that the scenery at this point surpasses that at any other along the Columbia.

The town of White Salmon is situated upon the high basaltic bluff that leaves the river bot- tom a few rods from the water's edge and reaches upward almost perpendicularly six hundred feet. From the river these gently-sloping timbered heights to the southward are indeed picturesque. The village nestles among the oaks near the edge of the bluff, and numerous farm buildings are to be seen around it, while lower down, upon the lowlands bordering the shore, the extensive strawberry and orchard tracts are a no less pleas- ing sight.

At the boat landing one is perhaps a mile east of the mouth of White Salmon river, the county's western boundary. Leaving the land- ing, one may follow the road back a quarter of a mile to the foot of the towering cliff, then up a long though easy ascent to the plateau above, or, if he choose, he may save a considerable walk, or ride, by climbing a flight of four hundred and fifty steps, built recently by the citizens of the town. By either route, however, the hill is soon scaled and the little village reached.

As he mounts upward and looks out upon the grand panorama spread before him, the climber is recompensed a hundred-fold for his unusual physical exertion, for the Columbia at this point in the month of June, when the green of earth, the blue of cloudless sky and the white of snow-clad mountain peaks appear to best advantage, forms, with its environs, one of the grandest scenes in America. Here the famed banks of the Hudson are equaled in their quiet, restful beauty, and greatly surpassed in grandeur. Hundreds of feet below the view-point flows the majestic river through its wide canyon-for a valley can scarcely be said to exist. The blue-green tinted waters under the rays of the sun appear at times like a

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great lake of molten glass, at times they sparkle like gems or quiver in the wind, or are lashed into white-capped billows by the stiffening breeze, but they are ever majestic, ever beauti- ful. More than twenty-five miles of shore line may be seen, from historic Mimaluse island above one's view-point to the Cascade locks, twenty miles below.

Just across the river lies the noted town of Hood River, Oregon, and behind it upon much higher ground the valley which bears the same name, dotted with homes and farm buildings. A dozen river towns may be seen along the line of the O. R. & N. railroad on the Oregon bank, while the hillsides on either shore, both up and down the river, are sprinkled with smaller settle- ments and individual homes. To the west the forest-covered summit of the Cascades rises in ragged lines, dividing two states, each into two distinct physical divisions. But the crowning glory of the region is Mount Hood, thirty miles southeast of White Salmon, yet appearing almost at hand, so vividly does it loom up against the sky. Its magnificent proportions are awe-inspir- ing, its coloring is grand, its glistening, change- less peak, eleven thousand one hundred and fifty feet above the Columbia, never loses its power to enthrall.

Directly north of White Salmon, shut out from sight by the foothills, is Mount Adams, fifty miles away. Between it and the river is a con- siderable farming and stock-raising country, all of which is reached most conveniently from White Salmon. These settlements include Camas Prairie, Glenwood, Trout Lake, Fulda, Gilmer and Pine Flat. Two lines of stages are operated between White Salmon and these points; in fact, White Salmon is the gateway to the whole interior region. The Bingen settle- ment lies on the river just east of White Salmon and is closely affiliated with the latter commer- cially and socially.

Practically all the cultivated region in and around the town is devoted to horticulture, prin- cipally to the production of strawberries. A careful estimate places the number of acres in the White Salmon district devoted to strawber- ries at nearly two hundred, while as great an area is producing apples, cherries, peaches, grapes and other fruits. Steamboat Agent Gladden estimates that White Salmon ships annually 10,000 crates of strawberries, 10,000 cases of tomatoes, full half as many boxes of apples, between 2,000 and 3,000 sacks of pota- toes, and 1,000 boxes of peaches, besides large amounts of other products. Trout Lake is at present shipping through White Salmon 1, 800 pounds of cheese and 1,000 pounds of butter a week. In December, 1903, the freight receipts at this point were $160; in May, 1904, the amount reached $900. These figures are more elo- quent than a volume of description in show-

ing the wealth and productiveness of the region, which is a comparatively small one in tillable area.

Because of its location in the mountains amid groves of pine and oak and beside the great stream of swiftly-moving water, the region is one of the healthiest that can be imagined. Pure water, pure air, sunshine and cooling breezes and a comparatively even temperature are all characteristic of the place and really fit it for a health resort. The winters are mild and short, owing to the low altitude; the summers delight- ful in every respect.

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An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 35

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1904 Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate publishing company Number of Pages: 1146

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate publishing company
Number of Pages: 1146