An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 47

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 47
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 47
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 47

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).

But the year brought also some disasters, two of which, both railway accidents, are thought worthy of being briefly set forth here. One took place Sunday morning, the 13th of January, on Selah creek, seven miles north of North Yakima. When the Northern Pacific passenger train left the last named point, it was an hour late, and of course it traveled at a high rate of speed to make up what it could. When it approached the cul- vert at Squaw or Selah creek, the engineer, Charles Wirth, of Ellensburg, noticed that some- thing was wrong ahead. The culvert had been undermined and a wreck was inevitable. The engine passed over in safety, but the tender sank, and Mr. Wirth threw the throttle wide open to prevent the cars from piling one on top of another. His presence of mind doubtless saved many lives. The cars were held up and kept in motion until all were over, though without some of their trucks, except the rear sleeper, which remained safe on the track. A steel rail passed through the body of one coach and penetrated the roof. There were many narrow escapes, but no lives were lost and only three persons were wounded, the unfortunate ones being Hugh P. Ball, knee bruised; P. McEwell, mail clerk, elbow dislocated; G. W. Turner, Seattle, colored porter, knee cap broken. That the damage to passengers was not greater seems miraculous.

The second train wreck, a much more serious one, occurred at 11:30 p. m., December 8th. The scene was the gap about two miles north of North Yakima, and the cause a head-end collision of

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two freights, each running at a high rate of speed. The accident was the result of a misunderstand- ing on the part of the engineer and conductor of the east-bound train, second No. 54, which left Roza with orders to pass No. 1,302 at Wenas. The latter train was sent out of North Yakima in charge of Conductor Anderson and Engineer Dan Smith, with orders to side-track at Wenas until second No. 54 had gone by. Before this, extra No. 164 had been sent out of North Yakima and had taken the siding at Wenas. Of the existence of this special, Conductor Chase and Engineer Cooper, so the former claimed, had no knowledge whatsoever.

The second section of No. 54 consisted of two engines, and one loaded and fifty empty cars. Upon its arrival at Wenas, it slowed down to ascertain whether or not the train on the siding was No. 1,302. Both the engineer and conductor took the extra to be that train, so they resumed their journey at the usual high speed. Their mistake was discovered when at the first sharp curve north of the Naches bridge, they crashed into No. 1,302 with terrific force. The effect is more easily imagined than described. The head engine of the east-bound exploded; the engine behind plowed through its tender, converting it into a mass of splinters and twisted iron, and finally coming to rest with its nose on top of its fellow ahead ; cars were piled on each other in the utmost confusion, the whole occupying a space only about three hundred feet long. The engine of the west-bound was partly telescoped and had its cab smashed into splinters.

The dead were T. R. Cooper, engineer of second No. 54; Fred L. Cantonwine, fireman ; the wounded, Joseph J. Case, conductor, left wrist scalded, head cut and bruised; B. B. Stodd, brakeman, right leg broken in two places, also badly crushed and burned; John J. Peters, brake- man, right arm crushed so as to necessitate amputation; Matthew Darcy, brakeman, burned and scalded about head and hands; Alfred Schanno, fireman, cut about head and bruised; Budd Anderson, cut about head and bruised. Conductor Chase, of the east-bound, was seen by a newspaper reporter and made the following statement: "When we came to Wenas, Engineer Cooper looked out and said, 'That's 1, 302; we're all right,' and then pulled open the throttle and let her go. Train No. 164 signaled us the way was clear and we did not stop. I suppose they meant the way for them was clear. Anyhow, we came on at a thirty-mile gait, and when the col- lision came, I felt myself going through the cab. That is all I remember until I found myself in bed here. Who's to blame, I do not know. We had not been notified that extra 164 was on the siding. If we had, no doubt the collision would have been averted." Conductor Chase died as a result of the accident while en route to Missoula, Montana. At the investigation, responsibility

for the accident was fixed upon him and upon Engineer Cooper.

The question of grazing sheep and cattle on the Ranier Forest Reserve, a question which had recurred for several years with each returning season, was up again in 1902. Locally consid- ered, this agitation might almost be styled a three-cornered fight, the cattle interests, the sheep interests and the agricultural interests being by the nature of the case more or less at variance. In the meeting of the North Yakima Commercial Club on the evening of March 4th, the agricultural interests asserted themselves. A. J. Splawn, chairman of the executive com- mittee of the Yakima Husbandry Association, who is both a cattleman and a farmer, read a lengthy paper, in which he argued that the graz- ing of hundreds of thousands of sheep on the headwaters of the streams was materially affect- ing the water supply, and that this condition of affairs ought not to continue, as the agricultural were ten-fold greater than the stock interests. He offered a resolution asking the department to make a special investigation of the matter and to act in accordance with the report of a competent expert in such matters. But the body of the meeting was prepared for more radical action, and by a vote of eighteen to thirteen it adopted the following resolution :

"Resolved, That the secretary of this club be instructed to address the secretary of the interior, setting forth in his letter that it is the sense of the Commercial Club of North Yakima that the watershed of the Ranier Forest Reserve is being materially and permanently injured by the graz- ing of sheep and other live stock in said reserve; that such injury has had and is having the effect of diminishing the flow of water in the streams which are being used for the purpose of irrigat- ing the arid lands tributary to such streams to the permanent injury of the agricultural inter- ests of this section, and to petition the secretary to prohibit the further grazing of sheep and other live stock in the reserve, and be it resolved that this resolution shall not apply or refer to stock grazing in said reserve for or during the year 1902, which is not protested against."

Probably before knowledge of the action of the Commercial Club reached the department of agriculture, which by act of congress had suc- ceeded the interior department in control of some matters connected with forest reservations, that department sent out notice that the number of sheep to graze on the reserve should not exceed one hundred and seventy-two thousand. Super- intendent D. B. Sheller met the sheepmen of Yakima, Kittitas and Klickitat counties on the 15th and 16th days of May and adjusted with them the apportionment of the grazing priv- ileges.

In the summer of 1902, the county division project once more began to be agitated. July

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30th a mass-meeting was held at Rich's Hall in Prosser for the purpose of considering the new county scheme, at which were delegations from Mabton, Sunnyside, Kiona, Rattlesnake and Prosser, the entire assemblage numbering about a hundred. Hon. Nelson Rich presided. A com- mittee, consisting of one delegate from each pre- cinct, was appointed to define the boundary lines of the proposed new political entity, and after conference, it reported that the said boundaries should be as follows :

Beginning at a point in the middle of the Columbia river, where the range line between twenty-one and twenty-two crosses the river; thence north six miles to the first standard par- allel; west on first standard parallel to the range line; thence north on range line between twenty and twenty-one to the north line of five-twenty ; thence west on said line to Pine creek; thence following Pine creek for a natural boundary to a point where said Pine creek crosses the range line between nineteen and twenty; thence north on said line to the south line of the Yakima Indian reservation ; thence east along said line to the range line between twenty and twenty-one; thence north twelve miles; thence east two miles; thence north eighteen miles to the northwest corner of section four, township eleven, range twenty-one; thence east on township line to sec- tion one, township eleven, range twenty-three east; thence north on said line to the Columbia river; thence down the middle of the main chan- nel of the Columbia to the point of beginning.

The committee's report was adopted with but three dissenting votes.

December 18th another county division meet- ing was held at Odd Fellows Hall, Sunnyside, of which F. H. Gloyd and H. E. Perrin were elected president and secretary, respectively. Forty delegates were present, representing Sunnyside, Prosser, Zillah, Kiona, Mabton, Alder Creek, Rattlesnake, Patterson and Klickitat. A com- mittee of attorneys was appointed to draft a bill creating a new county with boundaries as out- lined at the Prosser convention, and forward the same to the legislature. A committee of five persons was also named to prepare and circulate petitions.

At the last session of the legislature, that of 1903, Representative S. A. Wells, of Spokane county, chairman of the house committee on county organization, introduced a bill whose object was the creation of Mckinley county out of the eastern portion of Yakima and Klickitat counties. The western boundary line of the new

county passed within three miles of Zillah, an arrangement that did not meet the universal approval of those in the Sunnyside country, who wished to see that section preserved intact. Therefore, a serious dissension among the new county builders occurred, which aided the old county in its struggle against division at this time. The bill was defeated in the house.

The year 1902 was one of unqualified prosper- ity and progress for all classes. The hop crop especially was excellent, the prices were high, and, on the whole, the season was more favorable for this species of agriculture than any in a great number of years. The succeeding twelvemonth has also been one freighted with blessings for the people of Yakima county, but it is not necessary to narrate its story in any detail. Already the current of this review has been followed until it has led us out of the realm of history and into that of current events, and the happenings of recent months are too fresh in the memory to require narration here. From the time when the first adventurous cattle drovers entered its broad valleys until the present moment, the county's people have moved with unresting feet in the direction of progress. Misfortunes, hard times and isolation have been encountered, but their effect has been only to retard the speed of the forward march, never to call a halt. The suc- cess of the past gives earnest of the future, and the conviction can hardly be escaped that the Yakima county historian of a quarter of a century hence will have a tale to tell immeasurably more marvelous than can be written with truth at this date. Great as have been the achievements of the irrigation promoter and "intensive" farmer, the ambitions of the people have not yet begun to be satisfied. Splendid canals, miles in length and carrying fertility and verdure to thousands of acres of the quondam sun-scorched and sage- clad desert, are already accomplished facts, but they are small compared with those which the ambitions of the people have led them to project; the railroad is here, but it has not completely overcome the primeval isolation, and schemes for networking this and neighboring counties with electric and steam railways are in the air. The people have proven that they possess the ability to perform as well as to plan, and we may rea- sonably expect that a sufficient numer of their bold projects will materialize to insure to the most populous county of central Washington and to its neighbors on every side a development com- prehensive in scope, many-sided in character and high indeed in degree.

CHAPTER V.

POLITICAL.

The early political history of Yakima county is in a great degree veiled in obscurity, owing to the total loss of the county records for the years preceding 1882 through fire in that year. Con- sequently a table of election returns, nearly com- plete, compiled at the secretary of state's office, together with a few notes relating to early polit- ical events, is all that can be here given of the political history of that period. The vote in all instances has been copied directly from the records or published official proceedings.

Yakima county was called into existence as a political body by an act of the territorial legisla- ture approved January 21, 1865. By this act, Charles Splawn, William Parker and J. H. Wil- bur were appointed county commissioners; Gil- bert Pell, sheriff; William Wright, auditor, and F. M. Thorp, treasurer. The county seat was temporarily located at the home of Auditor Wright. For judicial and legislative purposes the new county was attached to Stevens county. There is hardly a precinct to-day that does not contain more voters than did the county in 1865, at the time it was organized, but so isolated was the little Yakima river settlement from its seat of local government that the formation of a new and more convenient government was impera- tive. So far as can be learned, the officers named in the creating act accomplished little or nothing, being succeeded almost immediately by a new set of officers appointed by the governor, who visited Yakima in person. Charles A. Splawn became sheriff; J. W. Grant, auditor; E. W. Lyons, treasurer, and F. M. Thorp, C. P. Cooke and Alfred Henson, commissioners. All were Democrats, as were in fact a majority of the population. The county was too poor to erect a courthouse, so all official business was transacted at the home of Mr. Thorp in the Moxee. When it was necessary to hold court, the judge sat in the little log schoolhouse on the Thorp place.

June 3, 1867, was the date of the first election held in the county. It is interesting to note that the highest vote cast, that for delegate, was only forty-four, while the average was inuch lower. John P. Mattoon, then employed at the Yakima agency at Fort Simcoe, says that in 1867 he and seven others came down from the agency to James H. Henderson's place on the Ahtanum to vote. There were only nine or ten voters in the

precinct. However, at the polls the reservation men were stopped by the election officers, who refused to allow them to vote for any officer ex- cept delegate on the ground that the reservation was in Klickitat county. Subsequently, says Mr. Mattoon, the sheriff-assessor attempted to collect taxes at the agency, whereupon those who were refused the privilege of voting for county officers refused the county their assistance in a financial way.

The vote was as follows: For delegate to congress, Frank Clark, Democrat, 25, Alvin Flanders, Republican, 19; joint councilman, A. G. Tripp, Republican, 17; joint representative, with Klickitat, F. M. Thorp, Democrat, 21, William Taylor, Republican, 17; district attorney, Frank Dugan, Democrat, 21, Sheldon Fargo, Republi- can, 8; probate judge, John Davis, Democrat, 27; county commissioners, Alfred Henson, G. W. L. Allen and Thomas Goodwin, Democrats, 23, 24 and 26 votes respectively; auditor, J. W. Grant, Democrat, 24; sheriff, Charles A. Splawn, Dem- ocrat, 22, Joseph Bowser, Independent, 2; as- sessor, John Lindsey, Democrat, 24; treasurer, E. W. Lyons, Democrat, 23; school superintend- ent, S. C. Taylor, Democrat, 23; coroner, Henry Davis, Democrat, 23.

The Democrats retained their control at the succeeding election, placing in office whomsoever they chose. Unfortunately, not a written record concerning this election can be found in either the county or state archives, except the canvass of the votes cast for delegate, which shows that Yakima county gave M. F. Moore, Democrat, 45 votes, and S. Garfield, Republican, 25 votes.

In the spring of 1868 F. M. Thorp and his family followed C. A. Splawn into the Kittitas valley. One of the results of Mr. Thorp's change of residence was the removal of the county seat to the home of C. P. Cooke, also living in the Moxee. There it remained until the election of 1870, when it was permanently located, at least for sixteen years, at Yakima City. There were four aspirants for the honor, namely, Selah, Flint's store, Kittitas valley and a place desig- nated in the state records as "Mount Ottawa.' How this name got into the records is unknown, as the oldest pioneers do not remember that Yakima City or any other point was ever known by this appellation. Mount Ottawa, or Yakima

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City, received 89 votes, Flint's store 20, Selah 18 and Kittitas valley 3. That residents of this county were not favorably disposed toward early statehood for the territory may be inferred from the fact that the proposition to hold a constitu- tional convention received only 5 votes, while 97 were cast against it.

The vote cast at the election held June 6, IS70, is given below:

Delegate to congress, James D. Mix, Demo- crat, 71, S. Garfield, Republican, 60; prosecuting attorney, N. T. Caton, Democrat, 69; joint coun- cilman, S. B. Curtis, Republican, 64, E. S. Joslyn, Democrat, 56; joint representative, with Klickitat, H. V. Harper, Democrat, 69, Henry D. Cock, Republican, 55; probate judge, Alfred Henson, Democrat, 65, A. M. Miller, Republican, 57; county commissioners, John Beck, George Taylor, C. P. Cooke, Democrats, 57, 68 and 75 votes respectively, P. S. Flint, A. W. Bull, J. B. Nelson, Republicans, 59, 64 and 48 votes respect- ively; auditor, G. W. Parish, Democrat, 58, H. M. Benton, Republican, 64; sheriff, G. W. Goodwin, Democrat, 58, Thomas Pierce, Repub- lican 67; treasurer, E. W. Lyons, Democrat, 65, J. P. Mattoon, Republican, 52; assessor, William Lindsey, Democrat, 65, Charles Harper, Repub- lican, 60; surveyor, C. S. Irby, Democrat, 63; school superintendent, C. P. Cooke, Democrat, 66, Charles Reed, Republican, 55; coroner, P. Crosno, Democrat, 64, David Heaton, Republi- can, 56.

The election records for 1872 are also incom- plete, the only returns found being as follows: Delegate to congress, S. Garfield, Republican, 129, O. B. McFadden, Democrat, 122; joint coun- cilman, R. O. Dunbar, Republican, 154, B. F. Shaw, Democrat, 74, G. Wyche, 9; joint repre- sentative, with Klickitat, C. P. Cooke, Democrat, 170, R. Whitney, Republican, 73, Cooke being elected; district attorney, T. J. Anders, Republi- can, 139, J. D. Mix, Democrat, 108. Of the county officers elected, it is reasonably certain that Charles Eaton, George S. Taylor and A. W. Bull were chosen commissioners, Thomas Pierce, sheriff, and J. P. Marks, school superintendent.

The first campaign of more than ordinary interest in Yakima county was that of 1874. that year the struggle centered around the office

In of auditor, for which there were two candidates, H. M. Benton and Edward Whitson. Both were Republicans, Benton being the regular party nominee. The other faction of the Republican party, at the county convention held at Yakima City, avowed that segregation was the only means of escaping ring domination, and accord- ingly nominated a partial ticket, including Edward Whitson, a rising young lawyer whose home was in the Kittitas valley, for auditor. The new party called itself the People's party, which, however, is not to be confounded with the Pop- ulist organization of later years. Many Demo-

crats allied themselves with the People's party during this election. The vote was as follows:

For delegate to congress, Orange Jacobs, Republican, 203, B. L. Sharpstein, Democrat, 82; joint councilman, B. F. Shaw, Democrat, 127, S. P. McDonald, Republican, 84, J. V. Odell, 1 ; representative, C. P. Cooke, Democrat, 186, D. J. Schnebly, Republican, 100; district attorney, J. V. Odell, Democrat, 129, T. J. An- ders, Republican, 109; county commissioners, J. A. Flint, R. Wallace, People's party, 24 and 72 votes respecively, James Simmons, J. B. Dic- kerson, Republicans, 95 and 181 respectively, Charles Walker, P. J. Flint and C. H. Eaton, Democrats, 224, 209 and 38 votes respectively ; sheriff, William Lewis, Republican, 127, L. L. Thorp, Democrat, 119; assessor, J. J. Burch, Democrat, 154: treasurer, T. M. Anslan, Repub- lican, 89, E. P. Boyls, Democrat, 199; auditor, Edward Whitson, People's party, 179, H. M. Benton, Republican, 109; school superintendent, J. O. Clark, Republican, 167, T. S. Meade, Dem- ocrat, 113 ; probate judge, J. R. Filkin, Democrat, 187, J. W. Stevenson, People's party, 45, J. B. Nelson, Republican, 45; coroner, J. W. Allen, Republican, 271 ; surveyor, C. A. Wilcox, Demo- crat, 195; for constitutional convention, 22 ; against, 41.

From the following official summary of the election returns in 1876, the date of the election being Novemer 7th, the candidates successful in the county may be determined:

For delegate to congress, Orange Jacobs, Republican, 169, John P. Judson, Democrat, 109; joint councilinan, Levi Farnsworth, Repub- lican, 212, H. Knapp, Democrat, 21, M. R. Hath- away, 10; prosecuting attorney, T. J. Anders, Republican, 140, N. T. Caton, Democrat, 83; representative, Edward Whitson, Republican, 133, S. T. Sterling, Democrat, 114, T. B. Barnes, 22 ; county commissioners, J. P. Sharp, S. Chap- pell, J. E. Bates, J. J. Lewis, Republicans, 146, 127, 88 and 124 votes respectively, David Long- mire, Charles Eaton, A. J. McDaniel and C. P. Cooke, Democrats, 122, 42, 23 and 45 votes respectively, E. Bird, 94, scattering, 7; sheriff and assessor, J. J. Burch, Democrat, 119, George Carpenter, Republican, 9, J. K. Milligan, Inde- pendent, 133; auditor, J. W. Masters, Republi- can, 151, G. W. Parish, Democrat, 110, J. A. Splawn, 17; treasurer, A. J. Pratt, Republican, 125, G. W. Carey, Democrat, 117, W. Lyons, 13; probate judge, James Kesling, Republican, 126, I. H. Brooks, Democrat, 100, Charles Splawn, 39; school superintendent, J. P. Marks, Republi- can, 133, J. W. Beck, Democrat, 104, Charles O'Neal, 28; surveyor, C. A. Wilcox, Democrat, 149, R. Beck, Republican, 115; coroner, James W. Allen, Republican, 224; for the constitution, 44; against, 1. At this election C. P. Headley, Joseph Schanno, John R. Filkin, James Bates and J. B. Brush were elected justices of the

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peace, and W. P. Crosno, John Tigard, G. W. McGlothlen, David Roland and J. Houser, con- stables.

November 5th was the date of the 1878 elec- tion, the vote being as follows:

For delegate to congress, Thomas H. Brents, Republican, 212, N. T. Caton, Democrat, 208, showing that in national politics the county's population was quite evenly divided; brigadier- general, John H. Smith, Republican, 201, George . Hunter, Democrat, 100; adjutant-general, A. Glovah, Republican, 201, J. R. Odell, Democrat, 99; commissary-general, D. W. Smith, Republi- can, 198, J. S. Walker, Democrat, 101 ; quarter- master-general, F. W. Sparling, Repulican, 201, C. D. Emery, Democrat, 49, O. F. Gerrish, 27; prosecuting attorney, W. G. Langford, Republi- can, 220, R. F. Sturdevant, Democrat, 192; joint councilman, R. O. Dunbar, Republican, 209, Hiram Dustin, Democrat, 201 (elected); repre- sentative, Captain Levi Farnsworth, Republican, 222, C. P. Cooke, Democrat, 183; probate judge, James Kesling, Republican, 99, L. H. Brooks, Democrat, 160, Joseph Schanno, Independent, 149; auditor, J. W. Masters, Republican, 245, G. J. Gervais, Democrat, 160; sheriff and assessor; J. O. Clark, Republican, 119, F. D. Schnebly, Democrat, 221, Moses Splawn, 70; commission- ers, first district, J. R. Filkin, Republican, 131, David Longmire, Democrat, 276, second district, R. N. Cannady, Republican, 168, A. A. Meade, Democrat, 244, third district, S. Chappell, Repub- lican, 186, A. J. McDaniel, Democrat, 215; treas- urer, A. J. Pratt, Republican, 237, J. A. Splawn, Democrat, 172; school superintendent, William Caps, Republican, 198, G. W. Parish, Democrat, 205; coroner, C. J. Taft, Republican, 194, A. J. McKinsey, Democrat, 210; surveyor, Levi Farns- worth, Republican, 302, scattering, 8; for consti- tution, 210, against, 90. J. W. Beck was elected justice of the peace in Yakima precinct, G. W. McGlothlen in Selah precinct, George Parish in West Kittitas, and F. M. Streamer in East Kit -. titas.

Beginning with 1878 the growth of the coun- ty's population was very rapid, as will be seen from the votes cast. In 1878 there were 420 votes cast for delegate : in 1880 there were 595, a gain of nearly 30 per cent. in two years. No unusual incidents marked the latter election, national issues overshadowing, even though the voters were denied a voice in national govern- ment. November 5th, the election was held, the vote cast on that day being as follows:

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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 47

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