An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 39

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 39
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 39
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 39

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).

Passed the House of Representatives October 12, 1875. ELWOOD EVANS,

Speaker of the House of Representatives. Passed the Council October 12, 1875. B. F. SHAW, President of the Council.

Thus it will be seen that the early settlers, though their major industry was such as thrives

YAKIMA COUNTY.

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in isolated communities, were somewhat restive under the inconveniences and privations of their lonely life, and occasionally attempted to tear down the barriers which separated them so com- pletely from the rest of mankind. The social instincts were strong within them. They pos- sessed as broad a public spirit as did the residents of any other portion of the territory, and were willing to co-operate with others in an effort to build up a harmonious commonwealth, whose people should be drawn together by the ties of mutual interdependence and trade relationships. Furthermore, the pioneer stockmen were alert to secure from time to time new and more conve- nient markets for the products of their vast herds. During the first decade of the industry their beef found sale in the mines of British Columbia, Idaho and Montana. The annual drives would start from Yakima in the spring and would last for several months, in the course of which the value of each animal would increase from forty dollars at Yakima to from seventy-five to one hundred at the mines, but the danger of loss en route was great, not a few cattle perishing in attempts to cross the swift streams or being ap- propriated by the predacious savages and cattle rustlers. In 1869 the attention of central Wash- ington stockmen was attracted toward the sound country as likely to furnish a promising market. About that time Joseph Borst, of Booth, Foss & Borst, butchers, of Seattle, came to the country

by way of the Snoqualmie pass, purchased a num- ber of steers and drove them over the Cascades. Having found these animals larger, fatter and better than those produced on the west side, they continued to seek a supply of beef in the Yakima valley. Other sound buyers followed their ex- ample, and a trade grew up between the two sec- tions of the state which has continued to increase in importance, though changing in character with the change of conditions.

Notwithstanding the development of new markets, the cattle industry outgrew the require- ments of the country, and the result was a decided slump in prices. For a number of years fine beef animals could be purchased for eighteen and twenty dollars per head, but about the middle seventies, eastern men began stocking the Wyoming ranges, thereby increasing the demand for, and enhancing the value of, neat cattle. However, the impetus thus given to the industry was nullified completely by the severe winter of 1880-81; the business was further curtailed by the introduction of sheep and consequent injury to the range, as also by the development of other antagonistic industries, and in the later eighties it began its long decline. While cattle are still an important factor in the wealth production of Yakima county, the industry is very unlike that of the earlier days, when countless thousands roamed freely over the hills, and the cowboy was a power in the land.

CHAPTER II.

THE PERKINS MURDER AND MOSES DEMONSTRATION.

The years 1877 and 1878 were characterized by not a little Indian difficulty throughout the whole Northwest. During the former twelve months the non-treaty Nez Perces and other disaffected Indians took the warpath under the leadership of Chief Joseph, and during the latter the Piutes and Bannocks started, with Chiefs Buffalo Horn and Egan at their head, on a marauding expedition. The war of 1877 had its seat at too great a distance from the central Washington country to seriously affect this sec- tion, though an Indian war always causes uneasiness and excitement among the tribes any- where within hundreds of miles of the scene of hostilities. There were several leaders among the Columbia river Indians known to be dis-

affected. Naturally, then, some apprehension was felt by the settlers and agency people and a close watch was maintained upon the movements of the Indians, lest some hot-heads among them should start on a career of murder and pillage. But the war of 1877 was fought to a conclusion without bringing any disaster to this part of the country.

Much more direct and important was the influence of the war of 1878. The actual fighting in this conflict was likewise without the territory with which our history purposes to deal, but that the plans of the belligerent red men contem- plated a campaign of slaughter in the Yakima valley there could be no doubt. During the con- tinuance of hostilities, the people were on the

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verge of a volcano that might break forth in furious, destructive eruption at any moment. A brief outline of the hostile expedition which occasioned so inuch apprehension in Yakima and Kittitas counties is necessary to a correct understanding of conditions at this period.

The causes of the Bannock and Piute outbreak of 1878 are not definitely known. Gilbert, in his "Historical Sketches," says: "Buffalo Horn was a celebrated warrior who had the year before aided the government against Chief Joseph and his hostile band of Nez Perces. His reward for such service was not in keeping with his estimate of its value and importance. He saw Chief Joseph honored and made the recipient of presents and flattering attentions, while the great Buffalo Horn was practically ignored. His philosophical mind at once led him to the conclu- sion that more favors could be wrung from the government by hostility than by fighting its battles."

Colonel William Parsons, of Pendleton, who has given the subject considerable study, thinks this surmise very wide of the truth. "From time immemorial," says he, "the Bannocks have been hereditary enemies of the Oregon and Idaho Indians, including the Cayuses, Umatillas, Walla Wallas and Nez Perces, and more than once they crossed the Blue mountains and inflicted bitter injuries upon the Cayuses and their allies. Therefore, when Chief Joseph and his band of non-treaty Nez Perces took up arms in 1877, and began their famous retreat through the Lolo pass and the Yellowstone park to the British possessions, the Bannocks furnished nearly a hundred warriors to harass the fleeing Nez Perces. They saw the whole of that remarkable campaign; they saw Joseph, with less than four hundred warriors and encumbered with one thousand women and children, carry on a run- ning fight for fourteen hundred miles, eluding Howard again and again, recapturing his camp at Big Hole Basin from General Gibbon and pursuing the latter so fiercely that nothing but his reserve artillery saved him from annihilation, and finally surrendering with the honors of war to General Miles at Bear Paw mountain, near the British line. He saw Joseph captured, but not dishonored, and became jealous of the Nez Perce chieftain's military fame; he also realized, when it was too late, that he had made a serious mistake in joining his forces to those of the whites in the pursuit and capture of the brave Nez Perces, and that in gratifying a tribal grudge, he had dealt a deadly blow at the Indian race; he saw the whites crowding into Montana and Idaho, his people ordered within the confines of the Fort Hall reservation, and it finally dawned upon his benighted mind that the same chains which had been fastened to the ankles of Joseph were already forged for his and were about to be riveted upon them. Buffalo Horn

was something of a statesman but no general. He came to the conclusion that if he could unite all the Indians west of the Missouri into a con- federacy, the whites could be wiped out. There- fore he visited the various bands of the Utes, Shoshones, Umatillas, Cayuses and Walla Wallas and sent runners to the Columbias, Spokanes, Chief Moses' band and other northern Indians, requesting them to unite with him in a final effort to drive the whites out of the Inland Empire."

There can be no doubt that Buffalo Horn's acts of hostility were inspired by jealousy and ambition. His · schemes were comprehensive, well conceived, seemingly feasible, and could he have combined Joseph's ability to execute with his own ability to plan, the result would have been serious indeed for the whites. But no Joseph arose to lead on the Indian hordes, and the scheme failed.

Buffalo Horn's overtures to the other bands of Indians being received with favor, he set out from Fort Hall on his marauding and pillaging expedition early in June, 1878. The Bannocks and a number of Shoshones were joined by large bands of Piutes under the command of their war chief, Egan. The confederated force numbered perhaps five hundred warriors and about fifteen hundred women and children. Their plan was to move west and north from Pocatello, past Boise, until a junction was formed with the Umatillas, Cayuses, Walla Wallas and Colum- bias, on the Umatilla reservation ; then, devastat- ing the country, to move north, uniting with the Spokanes and other Indians in northern Wash- ington, there to make a stand, but if hard pressed to retire across the British line.

Going around Boise, where there was a con- siderable military force, and keeping in the lava beds, timber and thinly settled portions of the country, they encountered during the first part of their march but little opposition. But they could not desist from murdering the few whites or Chinamen whom they met, and the result was that alarm was taken and opposing forces were put into the field before the execution of their plans could be well begun. They received at Silver creek, Idaho, a severe check from Colonels Robbins and Bernard, the former of whom had a fierce hand-to-hand encounter with Egan, which resulted in some very bad wounds for the red man.

Upon Egan, however, wounded though he was and incompetent at best, soon devolved the command of the united forces, for Buffalo Horn was killed in a skirmish before reaching the Blue mountains. The consternation in eastern Oregon, on the approach of the hostiles, can hardly be imagined. "In wagons, on horseback and on foot, the settlers hastened to the nearest towns for protection. Pendleton, Umatilla, Wallula, Milton and Walla Walla were crowded

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with refugees. Homes were abandoned so hastily that neither provisions nor extra clothing were provided. All settlements within reach of the warning voice were deserted in a day. Cattle and sheep men in the mountains were in a pre- carious situation, and many were killed before they could reach places of safety. Major Corn- oyer, the Indian agent, gathered in all the Indians possible, including the Columbia river and Warm Spring Indians, amounting to about two thousand, the loyalty of many of whom was seriously doubted. But while most of the settlers escaped to towns, it must not be forgotten that the towns themselves were scarcely able to make any defense. Pendleton had not more than one hundred and fifty inhabitants. Heppner,

Wallula, Weston and Milton were mere hamlets. They were widely separated-too far for mutual support-and fifteen hundred savage warriors were supposed to be about to fall upon them. Pendleton was to receive the first assault."

Had Egan marched upon Pendleton without delay during the early days of July, he could have captured the town almost without an effort. But instead of striking a decisive blow before the troops from Walla Walla and the volunteers from Weston, Milton and other points could con- centrate, he frittered away the time in killing a few sheep herders and skirmishing with Captain Wilson's handful of thirty men. "So small was the force of the whites at Pendleton," says Parsons, "and so badly was it provided with arms and competent officers, to say nothing of its utter demoralization through rumors and reports of the overwhelming strength of the Indians, that men who were present affirm that if one hundred Indians had made a sharp attack on the 4th, 5th or 6th of July, the town would have fallen. If Egan's whole force of five hundred warriors had made the assault the valley of the Umatilla from the Blue mountains to the Columbia would have been swept clear of the whites. The Umatilla reservation Indians would have been forced to unite with the hostiles; the Columbias and the Washington Indians would have followed their example and Buffalo Horn's confederacy would have been consummated, to the enormous damage of white interests throughout the whole Inland Empire."

But Egan hesitated until the forces of Howard and Throckmorton had formed a junction to oppose their progress. The Umatilla reservation Indians were confirmed in their loyalty, even converted into allies of the whites, and some of their number decoyed Egan into a trap and killed him. The triumphal advance of the Indian hordes was rapidly changed into a dis- orderly retreat. Eventually, in Harney county, Oregon, they were captured by the United States forces, who placed them under guard on the Yakima reservation.

Had the Indians achieved the success which

might easily have been theirs had they been led by able chieftains, the conditions in the Yakima country would have been indeed appalling. Many of the Indians in this locality were undoubt- edly hostile in feeling. Their unfriendliness had been noticed early in the spring of 1878. They were quarrelsome and sulky; camp fires and signal lights blazed at night upon the hill tops, and small bands rode rapidly through the valleys without the usual friendly demonstra- tions or visits. In May the Deatons and Nelsons learned that the Piutes had despatched runners to the Yakimas and had made arrangements in accordance with which the latter were to sweep down the valley, form a junction with the other hostiles at the Columbia and proceed northward with them on a career of devastation and slaughter.

George Nelson tells us that one day in the early summer while the men were at work on his father's farm on the Naches, Yallup, a well- known young Indian, came along and suggested to the proprietor of the place that he need make no preparations for cutting his wheat. "Why?" asked the man addressed, in astonishment. "Because the Indians will attend to that for you." This reply so incensed Judge Nelson that he ordered the immediate arrest of the brazen- faced redskin. Procuring his gun, he made demonstrations as if about to hang and shoot Yallup, but eventually released the thoroughly frightened Indian, protesting, however, that he was guilty of dereliction to duty in so doing.

The details of the plan the Indians were endeavoring to execute were revealed to General Howard by a friendly squaw named Sarah Winnemucca. The information received from this woman enabled the troops to checkmate the hostiles and bring them to submission much more rapidly and effectually than could have been done otherwise. It was understood by the citizens of the Yakima valley that according to Indian plans, Moses was to occupy a position between the Wenatchee and Kittitas valleys; Smohollah was to station himself on the upper Naches and all were to await the crossing of the Columbia by the Fort Hall Indians. When

signal fires should announce that the Piutes and their allies were safely over the big river, a general slaughter was to commence. Moses was to clean out the Kittitas valley, cross the Umptanum mountains and sweep the Wenas: Smohollah was to murder the settlers in the Naches and Cowiche valleys; the Piutes were to raid the lower Yakima country and Parker bottom, and all were to unite for a grand car- nival of slaughter at Yakima City and the Ahta- numn valley. Fortunately, the Piutes and Ban- nocks never got across the Columbia in force ; the dreadful signal fires were never lighted and the hands of the lecherous, blood-thirsty savages were stayed.

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But the settlers of central Washington could not foresee that the Indian campaign would mis- carry as it did, and their condition of mind in the summer of 1878 was one of extreme anxiety, sometimes of terror. War, especially war with Indians, is a game always played in the dark, and in the dark strange terrors possess the imagina- tive which can never exist in the garish day. Uncertainty as to the position of the Indians, uncertainty as to the state of mind of those in their own midst, wild rumors flying everywhere and losing nothing in their flight, the knowledge of their lack of arms and ammunition, author- ized leaders and concert of action, and the sicken- ing certainty of their fate if they should be over- come by the savages-all these made the hearts and minds of the settlers a perfect maelstrom of anxiety. There was no supineness among them, however. They had been habitnated by long practice to make the best of the situation, and they did so in this instance.

Though not a little alarm had existed among the people from the outbreak of the war, its terrors were not brought home to them directly until the Fourth of July. Then came a runner, carrying the dreadful intelligence that the Indians had at last arrived. Other runners started out in other directions with the message, and soon the whole country was in the throes of a wild excitement. Nearly all in the lower Yakima valley flocked to Yakima City, taking refuge in the Centennial and Schanno halls there. Later a sod fort was built on the J. B. Dickerson meadow about a mile southeast of the spot now occupied by Woodcock Academy. The walls were of mud, piled up to a height of eight feet, and were three feet thick on the average. A trench was dug around the fortification on the outside, the plan being that supplies and other property and all non-combatants should find protection within this structure, while the men should defend it from the shelter of the intrench- ments. Tunnels were dug at intervals to provide communication between the trench and interior of the fort, and wells were sunk at convenient places, that the refugees might be able to with- stand a long siege. A report that a number of hostiles had crossed the Columbia sent most of the farmers for many miles around from their harvesting to the protection of this fortification. For more than a week they remained in the fort or its vicinity, but their scouting parties failed to find any hostile bands, and in time they ventured back to their deserted crops. A few Indians had indeed succeeded in crossing the Columbia, despite the vigilance of the two armed boats which were patrolling it, but, as the scouts learned, they had gone toward White Bluffs.

After the return of these settlers to their homes, a petition was sent to the governor for arms and ammunition, and the chief executive responded with three hundred stand of Reming-

ton needle-guns and a supply of cartridges. These were shipped by river to The Dalles, where they were secured by a party of thirty volunteers, among them William Wylie. The rifles were brought over the old military road to Yakima City, and there distributed among the citizens. These arms have never been collected, and it is presumed that they are still in the homes of the old residents of Yakima and Kittitas counties.

When the Indian scare of the Fourth of July reached the people of the Selah and Wenas valleys, they built a fortification on the homestead of John Cleman. It consisted of a dirt breastwork two or three feet high surround- ing Mr. Cleman's cabin and of a trench outside the wall. Settlers from the upper Naches, the Selah and the Wenas valleys congregated here to the number of eighty, a quarter of whom were able-bodied men, fairly well armed and equipped for military operations. Among the families gathered here were those of Leonard Thorp, George S. Taylor, Alfred Miller, Thomas Taylor, Thomas Kelly, Doc. Mclaughlin, Robert Kandle, David Longmire, Richard and Hiram Perkins, brothers of the Lorenzo D. Perkins who later perished at the hands of Indians; Anson and William White, Clifford Cleman, John Cleman, Charles Longmire, John Brice, Allen Rice, Elijah Denton, - Kincaid and a clergy- man named Capps. There were also two bache- lors, James Henson and Thomas Pierce.

At this time it was believed by the settlers that they were entrapped and must prepare to fight their way through the ranks of the hostiles. Rumor had it that Chief Colawash, with his Klickitats, was encamped in the Naches pass; that Smohollah, with his band of Columbia Rivers, was guarding the Snoqualmie pass, while the advancing Bannocks and the Okanogans would prevent egress toward the eastward or southward. The situation, if as believed, would have been indeed serions.

Upon the return of a party from Cottonwood gulch bringing the information that no Indians were to be seen in that direction, Leonard Thorp proposed an expedition to the Naches pass to ascertain the truth concerning its reported blockade. To many of the settlers it seemed like un warranted temerity to thus ride into a camp of hostiles, but there were those among them who shrank not from the dangerous undertaking. The personnel of the company, as finally made up, was Leonard Thorp, David Longmire, Thomas Pierce and James Henson. They set out at daylight, all well mounted and armed, with a professedly friendly Indian as scout. Ascending the Wenas to the old sawmill, they followed the trail thence over the high divide between that stream and the Naches to a position just above the mouth of Nile creek. The party determined to make a reconnoissance of this

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locality, and proceeded to the banks of the Nile. At its junction with the Naches they found many tracks of Indian women and children. They noticed also that their Indian scout displayed signs of uneasiness. Finally he tried to separate himself from the whites, giving as an excuse that he wished to look for lost horses, but his companions would not permit his departure. Mr. Longmire took upon himself the duty of keeping an eye on the Indian, of whose good faith doubts were beginning to be seriously enter- tained.

In time the party came upon a company of old squaws; also caught a glimpse of a young buck in war regalia riding through the brush at full speed. The attention of the men was attracted by the beating of a tom-tom drum lower down the Naches, and proceeding in the direction whence the sound came, they soon discovered several tepees and tents across the river. There was now no retreat. Their presence was known to the savages, and to escape them by fliglit, if they chose to pursue, was an impossibility. Anyhow, the party had come for information, and was determined to get it if possible, at whatever personal risk, so they crossed the river and boldly rode into the midst of the camp. Mr. Thorp walked up to the largest tent, the one whence the tom-tom noise was issuing, and boldly entered it, gun in hand. Inquiring of old Sharlow, the first Indian he encountered, what the Indians were doing on the Naches, he received no reply except a grunt. Other questions elicited like responses, the ancient redskin being in too ill a humor to bear catechising graciously. Mean- while the other savages continued to pound the logs, which they were using as drums, leading the whites to believe that a war dance was in progress.

At last Sharlow demanded what the white men were doing in the Indian camp and why they had guns. He was told that a few days previously four government horses had been stolen from the reservation either by whites or Indians; that the party was in search of the prop- erty and that the guns were for use in case the thieves, when found, resisted arrest. Sharlow, apparently mollified by this explanation, assured the white men that there were no stolen horses in the camp, and continued to talk while they reconnoitered the situation, making cautious inquiries betimes as to whether the red men were disposed to be friendly or hostile. Sharlow pro- tested that not only he but all the Indians there encamped were most cordial in their feelings of amity toward the "Bostons."

The object of the scouting party's mission accomplished, and expressions of mutual good- will interchanged, the whites withdrew from the Indian camp, glad to get away unscathed, yet having seen no cause of alarm. A long, hard ride brought them back to the fort by dark.

Their report so far restored the confidence of the people that many returned to their homes next day, though the majority were still apprehensive of danger. These moved seven miles farther up the creek and built a rude plank fortification, known as Fort Union, on the Allen Rice place. It was, however, never much used, as the settlers, their fears quieted by the fact that no depreda- tions of Indians were reported, soon resumed their usual vocations.

But it does not follow from the fact that the main body of the settlers escaped so well that their apprehensions were wholly unfounded and that the local Indians were unanimous in their sentiments toward the whites. Indeed, the val- leys of central Washington were by no means safe places for small parties during the troublous summer of 1878. The Indians led by Moses and the old dreamer, Smohollah, were undoubtedly hostile in feeling, and some of them, excited by reports of the war which were constantly reach- ing them from the scene of action, were ready to commit depredations should opportunity offer. Opportunity did offer before the summer was over, and Lorenzo D. Perkins and his wife lost their lives as a result.

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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 39

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