An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 37

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 37
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 37
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 37

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).

It seems to be a conceded fact that the first permanent settler within the limits of the present Yakima country was F. Mortimer Thorp, who had likewise made journeys into it from Klickitat county and to whom its rich pastures and utter lack of civilization appealed with a peculiar potency. Mr. Thorp belonged to that old school of stockmen who considered solitude and primeval conditions essential to the success of their busi- ness. Utterly indifferent to the advantages of society and the luxuries which can be enjoyed only where a considerable number of people are united together in communities, he wished always to be so situated that his herds might multiply indefinitely and find an abundant pasture. His great desideratum was an unbounded country without farms and fences, where cattle might roam at will, nor ever, by any chance, involve their owner in bickerings and quarrels and litiga- tion. Thus it came to pass that Mr. Thorp had sought earnestly the heart of the wilderness since 1844, when first he had set his face resolutely westward, making the long journey over plain and mountain to the land laved by the Pacific's billows. This desire of solitude and isolation had more than once impelled him to pull up stakes and move on, for the country at the time was being appropriated and subjugated with consid- erable rapidity. In July, 1858, he settled near the site of the present Goldendale; indeed, a part

of the land on which that town is built served him as a calf pasture at this early period. Soon the progress of civilization drove him thence also, as it had driven him just before from Benton county, Oregon, and in his quest for more elbow room he turned naturally to the Yakima country. And so it happened that October, 1860, found him once more on the move. Ben Snelling, John Zumwalt and A. C. Myers accompanied, assisting with the two hundred and fifty head of fine Dur- ham stock. Establishing himself in the now famous Moxee valley, Mr. Thorp spent there the winter of 1860-61, his family remaining at their home in Klickitat county. The season was mild, and those with the cattle were able to make trips between the two places as often as occasion might arise.

In February, 1861, this pioneer stockman brought his family, consisting of his wife, Mar- garet, and a number of children, of whom the oldest was only eighteen, to the new place of abode he had picked out for them. The accom- modations prepared for their use and comfort were necessarily of the rudest kind, consisting mainly of a small cabin with a dirt roof; the furnishings few and of home manufacture. As culinary utensils had to be packed over a long rough trail, it may be assumed that only the most essential articles found their way into Mrs. Thorp's kitchen. Certainly this pioneer lady purchased at a cost of not a little inconvenience, privation and loneliness, the honor of having been the first white woman to make her home in the Yakima country. In company with the fam- ily came the now widely known Charles Splawn, who was engaged in packing to the mines during the winter of 1860.

In the fall of 1861 Mr. Thorp succeeded in get- ting through from his old home in Klickitat county a. wagon, the first to enter the Yakima valley from that direction, and thereafter his worthy helpmate enjoyed the luxury of a cook stove. A supply of vegetables was obtained that fall from a garden of five or six acres planted in the spring.

"At that time," says Leonard L. Thorp, from whom our information concerning the first family to settle in the Yakima country was obtained, "the bottom lands were covered with a dense growth of rye grass twelve feet high in many places, while a luxuriant carpet of nutritious bunch grass made the sage brush hills a veritable paradise to cattle and horses. Within five min- utes after turning loose the animals, they would be completely lost sight of in the tall grass and could be found only by trailing. Fortunately, the Indians were disposed to be friendly, and except by the occasional theft of an animal, never seriously troubled the early settlers. Indeed, they rendered us valuable service during the late fall of 1861, by bringing great quantities of salmon, which could be procured from them at

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trifling cost. A string of beads, costing ten cents, would purchase a thirty-pound fish."

With the Thorp family when they came into the Moxee valley in February, 1861, besides Mr. Splawn, before mentioned, were Alfred Henson and family, George Bearfield and John Grub- sher, en route to the Peshastin mines. As the discovery of this district was an important event of the early days and doubtless exerted some in- fluence upon the history of central Washington, it is thought fitting that a brief account of it should here be given.

One Captain Ingalls, the discoverer of the Coos Bay mines, in Oregon, and a typical repre- sentative of the nomadic prospecting class which formed so important a part of the early popula- tion of the West, may perhaps be considered the original discoverer of the Peshastin district. During the Indian war of 1855-6 he served as a scout, and in company with other scouts from the ranks of the friendly Indians, reconnoitered the eastern slope of the Cascade range. While on the Wenatchee river, so the story is told, he and an Indian named Colawash found, in one of the tributary canyons, several gold nuggets and other substantial indications of the existence of placer deposits. They dare not tarry for close investi- gation, however, for should they be discovered by the hostiles, their lives would not be a worth a copper cent. Ingalls was, therefore, compelled to abandon his find for the time being.

When at length the Indian troubles were at an end and the intrepid prospector might with safety attempt a further reconnoissance of the gold-bearing region, he again entered the coun- try, but with all his experience in finding his way in the wilderness by landmarks, he was unable to rediscover the gold-bearing gravels or the creek whose bed and banks they formed. Eventually, in 1860, he went to the home of Colawash in the Klickitat valley, hoping to induce the red man to guide him to the spot. Vain were his efforts. Colawash could not be induced by the most tempting offer to make the journey, and all hope of help from this source had to be abandoned.

Nothing daunted, Ingalls associated himself with Levi and Andrew Jackson Knott, Robert Ladd and one or two others, with intent to make a more extended and thorough search for the lost placers. Their expedition was destined to be brought to an abrupt and melancholy termina- tion. While the company was in camp in the upper country, Ingalls was accidentally shot and killed by A. J. Knott, so the rest of the party, left without a guide, were compelled to return with sad hearts to the settlements.

The next effort to discover the lost placer ground was made by Charles A. Splawn, then living near the site of Goldendale. In the spring of 1860 he had gone to try his fortunes in the Similkameen mines, having first talked with Colawash, with whom he was on friendly terms,

regarding the Ingalls discovery. Colawash refused to guide him or anybody else to the spot, but told Mr. Splawn that the name of the creek was Peshastin; also drew a rough map for his further information.

While returning from the Similkameen district in the fall of 1860, Mr. Splawn fell in with four other returning miners, whom he readily induced to join him in a search for the Peshastin prospect. The party proceeded forthwith to the mouth of the Wenatchee river, where an Indian guide was procured. As they proceeded up the Wenatchee, the Indian named the different tributary streams as he came to them. When the prospectors had reached a place between fifteen and twenty miles from the river's mouth, the guide pointed out a considerable creek flowing in from the south and stated that it was the Peshastin, of which they were in search.

Mr. Splawn, who is our authority for the story, states that he himself started up the stream while the rest of the party took a hill trail, the agree- ment being that all should meet at the summit of the divide. In the first narrow canyon after leav- ing the mouth of the creek, Mr. Splawn dug out a promising crevice and panned from its contents a dollar in gold. The bed-rock was slate.

With the evidence of his find safe in his pocket, Mr. Splawn eagerly pushed on to the appointed rendezvous, where he found his com- panions in waiting. They had accidentally fallen in with a young man named Russell, who joined their ranks. Russell was the messenger who had been entrusted to carry the news of Lincoln's election to the northern mines, and was on his return to the sound when he met Splawn's party. He became enthusiastic over the discovery, and having begged the gold from its rightful owner, proceeded with it to Seattle. Its exhibition there caused not a little excitement. The few news- papers then in the Northwest published exagger- ated accounts of the discovery, and some of them indulged in useless prophesying as to the future extensive development of the region. Numerous parties at once outfitted and started for the new diggings, and Mr. Splawn estimated that seventy- five miners spent the winter on the Peshastin. But the gold fields, though they produced nuggets weighing as high as twelve dollars, were of small extent. They were soon overshadowed in public interest by the more important discoveries made in Idaho and British Columbia about this time, and eventually ceased entirely to be the center of ex- citement, though gold was found there for several years, and in later days quartz ledges have been uncovered in the district. The principal branch of Peshastin creek is known today as Ingalls creek, having been so named in honor of the man who first discovered, but did not live to open the mines.

As before stated, Mr. Henson and family were among those who went into the Peshastin

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country in February, 1861. During the ensuing October they returned disgusted to the Moxee valley. Mr. Henson took a claim in that region, intending to plant there his vine and fig tree, but after a residence of two weeks, he decided that the danger to himself and family from Indians was too great and that prudence required him to give up the idea of establishing a home in the Yakima country just then.

The Thorps were, therefore, left the sole permanent settlers of the valley with none to bear them company except the savages and such travelers, packers and stockmen as might occa- sionally pass their way. Neither did they have a large force of employees to help beguile the lonely hours. The work of caring for the cattle was done entirely by Mr. Thorp, his sons and Charles A. Splawn, who had married the oldest girl.

But during the winter of 1861-2 the men at least had no time to think of their loneliness and isolation. That winter is known in local history as the severest ever experienced by white men in the Northwest, and the Yakima country was not more favored than were other parts. On the roth of November, Mr. Thorp informs us, snow began falling, and it did not cease until it had attained a depth of eight inches. This settled down to four inches of hard, icy snow, upon which came successive falls, until by December 20th, the earth had a compact blanket two feet thick. Through- out the whole of the 22d and the succeeding night rain came down in torrents, settling the snow to a depth of eighteen inches. A hard frost on the night of the 23d converted this into a vast sheet of ice, the last of which did not disappear from the face of the country until after the middle of the following March. There was no thermome- ter in the valley at the time, but some idea of the cold may be obtained from the fact that the Yakima and Naches rivers very early froze to the bottom, swift mountain streams though they were. Their waters covered a large scope of low- lands, which, with the beds of the rivers, were supplied all winter with a thick, unyielding coat of mail. In the spring the ice marks were eight feet high on the trees in Moxee bottom, and when the center of the vast glacier began to move out, side walls of ice in some places more than twelve feet high were left.

Strange to say, the stock loss of the one fam- ily in the country was slight, notwithstanding this extreme cold. Their three hundred cattle and sixty horses were in prime condition when the cold weather set in, an important point in their favor, and those in charge of the animals made heroic efforts to secure forage for them. An unlimited range of nutritious bunch grass, cured while standing, after the manner of this peculiar plant of the desert, was concealed under the ice and snow. The only chance of saving the herds lay in breaking the crusts so that the cattle and

horses might reach this excellent fodder, and for forty successive days the Thorps wrought with great energy, despite the extreme cold, assisting the animals to dig down for sustenance. The legs and arms of the men were at times so badly cut and frozen as almost to incapacitate them for further work, but still they toiled on and their labors and sacrifices were rewarded, for only seven of the neat cattle perished, while the horse band remained entire. About the 15th of Febru- ary a Chinook began blowing, and soon the snow on the south hillsides cleared away, making it possible for the animals to take care of them- selves. During the summer of 1861 several out- buildings were erected for the shelter of stock and the next summer Mr. Thorp built a perma- nent home for his family at the lower spring in the Moxee valley, a two-story hewed-log struc- ture, much superior to the pioneer cabin of round cottonwood logs. The original home was, how- ever, allowed to stand for many years as a monu- ment of the early days.

The year 1862 brought a few additions to the population of Yakima county, perhaps the first of whom was William Parker, a Columbia river packer who had passed through the valley in 1861. He took a homestead on the bottom that has ever since borne his name, but being not yet ready to give up the trail, he left the place in charge of another arrival of the year, Andrew C. Gervais, who had heard of the Thorp settlement and had come over from Walla Walla to visit it. Mr. Gervais says John Allen and John Jeffrey, the former of whom, like Parker, was married to an Indian wife, were partners in this homestead venture. Gervais harvested a small crop of veg- etables and cereals for his employers, then left the place in charge of its proprietors and entered the service of Mr. Thorp, with whom he re- mained that winter. Albert Haines also came to the country in 1862, locating with his wife and little daughter in the Moxee, a mile and a half north of the Thorp place.

An event of the winter of 1862 deserving of at least a passing notice was the establishment of the first school in the valley, a private one. The home of this pioneer institution was the upper story of Mr. Thorp's house; the teacher was Lutitia, wife of Albert Haines, a well educated young woman, equipped for her duties by a little former experience in teaching, and the pupils were the Thorp children, the only ones in the valley at the time save the little Haines girl. It is said that Mrs. Haines proved very efficient and accomplished not a little in her three-month term, despite the many difficulties she had to encounter in the way of dissimilar text-books, lack of equip- ment, etc.

No serious trouble with Indians was experi- enced by the earliest settlers, though occasion- ally the thievish red men would appropriate to their own use some animal belonging to the

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whites. During the summer of 1862 a very fine horse disappeared from Mr. Thorp's band. The owner took up the trail of the animal, and after a long, hard chase, succeeded in overtaking him and the Indian who had appropriated him. The thief was captured, treated to a sound rib-roast- ing, and turned loose with the injunction to spread the news of his misfortunes among his brethren. Whether or not the miscreant obeyed Mr. Thorp's instructions and held himself up to his tribesmen as an example of the ills that are likely to befall the horse-thief, we are unable to state.

During the summer of 1863, Mr. Thorp and his family were given reason to believe that a serious difficulty with Indians was about to be experienced. One day the father and his son Leonard descried a band of Indians, mounted and in full war paint, approaching their home. Seized with a sudden alarm, they, with Charles Splawn, and Mr. Thorp's other sons, Willis and Bayless, hastily hid the women and children and prepared to make as stubborn a defense as pos- sible, taking their stand behind a yard fence. The Indians rode up rapidly without sign of enmity or hatred. The white men saw when the advancing band came near enough that they were no other than Smohollah, the dreamer, and his following.

Just as the head of the column reached the fence, the older Thorp sprang over, revolver in hand, seized the chief's horse by the bridle and demanded the reason for such a warlike approach. The dreamer smiled affably, proffering his hand, and stated as the reason for his conduct that he had heard of a report current among the whites to the effect that he was about to overwhelm their settlements with a thousand warriors and had come to reassure them by exhibiting the smallness of his following. After a friendly talk, the chief rode away, bowing and smiling, but Mr. Thorp always believed that the ugly-looking revolver was really responsible for his apparent friendliness.

There being no newspapers or other printed or written records of general events during the earliest days, it is practically impossible to write with certainty regarding the pioneer settlers and the dates of their settlements. The average memory is hardly equal to the task of accurately retaining such minutiæ of forty years ago as initials, the correct orthography of proper names, dates of personal incidents, etc., and a work treating of events which occurred prior to the advent of the printing press must needs be more or less inaccurate and deficient in detail. For these reasons it may be impossible to enumerate all those who settled in the county before 1865 or during that year, but a list would include, besides those already mentioned, William Ish, John Hailey and a man named King, who had formed themselves into a copartnership to cut wild hay

from the Columbia plains near the mouth of the Yakima and ship it down the former river. Mr. Hailey later entered into the stage business and became very widely known throughout the Northwest. He was one of the organizers of the celebrated Northwest Stage Company, whose operations extended from Washington to Utah. Then there was J. T. Hicklin, to whom, on Jan- uary 13, 1863, the legislature granted the right to operate a ferry across the Yakima at a location somewhere between the mouth of the Wenas river and a point three miles below the debouch- ment of the Naches, the tolls fixed by the act being: For a wagon drawn by two animals, $2; hack or sulkey, one horse, $1.50; man and horse, 75 cents; animal packed, 50 cents; footman, 25 cents; horses, mules or cattle, loose, 25 cents each ; sheep, goats or hogs, 8 cents. There were also in the valley Gilbert Pell, appointed sheriff by the act organizing the county; and William Wright, appointed county auditor; and Elisha McDaniel, who settled on a place near the Jock Morgan home; and J. B. Nelson, who later served as probate judge of the county; and Augustan Cleman, who settled first on the south fork of the Cowiche, but moved a year later to the Wenas, becoming the first permanent settler there ; and McAllister and George Taylor, the pioneers of the Selah valley; and Walter Lindsey, with his sons, except William, who was in the Civil war, daughters and daughter-in-law, and Dr. L. H. Goodwin, with his brothers Thomas and Benton, his sons, George W., Christopher Columbus and Flavius, and his stepdaughter; also John Rozelle, wife and three sons, and his son-in-law, William Harrington, and wife. The Rozelles and Har- ringtons soon moved to and settled in the Kittitas valley, then a part of Yakima county, where they suffered much the first winter from want and cold until brought back to the Yakima valley in Feb- ruary by the benevolent F. M. Thorp, who sent Andrew Gervais to their rescue. Here, also, was J. W. Copeland, who settled on the Ahtanum ; Nathan Olney, Perry and Jacob Cleman, and, no doubt, others. According to John Mattoon, who entered the employ of the government in March, 1864, as an attache of the Indian agency at Fort Simcoe, the persons living in the vicinity of the fort besides himself, or as many of them as he can recall, were: Indian Agent Bancroft, Rev. James H. Wilbur, school superintendent and Methodist missionary ; James McGue, blacksmith ; Foster, wagon-maker: Praspex, gunsmith; Hall, carpenter: Wright, harness-maker; Carman, miller; Thompson, superintendent of farming; Dr. Miller, physician, and Sumner Barker, post trader.

The entire population of what are now Yakima and Kittitas counties probably did not exceed two hundred in 1865. Almost all except the agency people were in the cattle business. This seems like a small number indeed to bear the burdens

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of county organization, nevertheless in that year they were intrusted with the responsibilities and granted the benefits of a local government. In- deed, as early as 1863, the territorial legislature had showed its willingness to bestow upon the people of central Washington as large a degree of autonomy as possible by creating the county of Ferguson. The extent of this political subdivi- sion of the territory was thus described by sec- tion one of the act: "All that portion of Wash- ington territory lying north of the summit of the Simcoe range of mountains, bounded on the west by the summit of the Cascade range, and the counties of Walla Walla and Spokane on the east, and the Wenatchee river on the north." Section two enacted that James H. Wilbur, Alfred Hall and -- Place be appointed county commission- ers; W. Shaugh, justice of the peace, and Thorp, sheriff. The act was passed January 23, 1863. But the few families then in the district took no interest in the new county ; the appointees were so little elated over the honors bestowed upon them that they never performed their respective duties, probably never qualified, and, in brief, the county gained no existence except on the statute book. The creating act was re- pealed January 18, 1865.

This step was, however, taken by the legisla- ture only for the purpose of clearing the way for other and more appropriate legislation. January 21, 1865, another act was passed directly affecting the section with which this work is concerned. Its text in full is as follows:

AN ACT Establishing and Organizing the County of Yakima.

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Ter- ritory of Washington:

Section I. That the territory heretofore embraced in the county of Ferguson, lying and being south of a line running due west from a point two miles above the lower steamboat landing at Priest's rapids, on the Columbia river, to the summit of the Cascade mountains, be, and the same is hereby, constituted and organized into a separate county, to be known as and called Yakima county.

Section 2. That said territory shall compose a county for civil and military purposes, and be subject to all the laws relating to counties, and be entitled to elect the same officers as other counties are entitled to elect.

Section 3. That, until the next general election. William Parker, J. H. Wilbur and Charles Splawn be and are hereby appointed county commissioners; that William Wright be and is hereby appointed county auditor; that - Thorp be and is hereby appointed county treasurer, and Gilbert Pell be and is hereby appointed sheriff, who shall, before entering upon the discharge of the duties of their respective offices, qualify in the manner as is now required by law for county officers.

Section 4. The county seat of said county of Yakima is temporarily located at the house of William Wright.

Section 5. That the said county of Yakima is attached for judicial purposes and for the election of members of the legislative assembly, to the county of Stevens.

Section 6. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved January 21, 1865.

In 1866 the county seat was removed to the home of F. Mortimer Thorp. For three years,

or until that worthy pioneer moved away, it found lodgment in his house; then, it is thought, the officers met for a short time at Charles P. Cooke's, but about 1870, Yakima City, a small village at the mouth of the Ahtanum, became the seat of local government. The courthouse stood on a block of ground donated by the Barker Brothers, near their store. We are informed by Andrew C. Gervais that it was a story and a half box structure, and that the lower floor was used for a jail and sheriff's office, while the upper floor served as a court room and recorder's office. The records were moved to another building in 1880.

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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 37

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