An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 55

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 55
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 55
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 55

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).

From the inception of the leasing regime and the revival of the Sunnyside canal region after the hard times, Toppenish has grown steadily and rapidly, especially as a shipping and receiv- ing point. One by one new business houses have been established, large warehouses erected, old businesses enlarged and trade facilities increased and improved. Among the new institutions may be particularly mentioned the Hotel Toppenish, begun two years ago by Ira Pearsoll, and com- pleted by the present owners, Charles H. Newell and A. N. Sarjent; they opened it for business June 3, 1902. This hotel is three stories high, built of wood, and is quite a pretentious struc- ture for a small town. Another business institu- tion of especial importance is the Washington nursery, established two years ago by former resi - dents of Salem, Oregon. This nursery is one of the best in central Washington and is doing a rapidly increasing business. J. P. McDonald is manager.

As a shipping point Toppenish is one of Yaki- ma county's wonders. Last year (1903) between

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thirteen hundred and fourteen hundred cars were required to ship the immense quantities of hay, fruits, potatoes, hops and live stock raised in the tributary region. To dispose of the 1904 crop a much greater number of cars will be required. Five miles of the new government canal, which is designed to irrigate fully fifty thousand acres, have already been completed, and by the utiliza- tion of its magic life-giving power, more than three thousand acres are this year being converted from sage brush prairie into thrifty farms. Work on the canal was begun last fall. Each year the government will appropriate money for its exten- sion until the proposed twenty miles are finished. The project is of gigantic importance to the county. The government's two canals will place practically all the valley under irrigation, fur- nishing homes for thousands of people, although a general settlement will not be effected so long as the present Indian department rules remain in force. Five commission houses handle the ship- ping interests.

One of the signs of progressiveness at once noticed in this thrifty community is its excellent educational advantages. The fact that every white inhabitant of the district, with the excep- tion of those living upon the railroad's right of way, is there purely by Indian sufferance has not in the least prevented Toppenish from having one of the best schools in the county. Mrs. Powell taught the pioneer school in 1898. In 1901 district No. 49 leased a small tract of land from T. P. Robbins for ten years and erected thereon a two-room building. Last year the capacity of the building was doubled, bringing the aggregate cost up to forty-two hundred dol- lars, which was raised by special tax. The schoolhouse is supplied with the most approved equipment of all kinds, and has been so built that if necessary it may be moved at small cost. The district has purchased a library valued at two hundred and fifty dollars, to which it is constantly adding, and owns two organs. Two high school grades are maintained, and next year a drawing and music teacher will be added to the corps. Last year the one hundred and sixty pupils en- rolled were under the instruction of Principal Halbert Lawrence, Miss Alice Clark and Miss Kate Hitz. The school board of this unusually progressive district is composed of William L. Shearer, William McAuliff and W. R. Laidler.

The town has one church (the Methodist), of which Rev. J. J. CaHaway is resident pastor. This society erected its cozy, substantial house of worship in 1898 upon a tract of leased land which the society has the prior privilege of purchasing when offered for sale.

Toppenish labors under one unfortunate dis- advantage in that it occupies leased land, with the exception of a strip five hundred and ninety feet wide owned by the railroad company. The remainder of the site east of the track is land

leased to the whites by Mrs. S. E. Stone, of Indian and white parentage. Lancaster Spencer, an Indian, owns the rest of the site lying west of the railroad. This land, under the law, cannot be sold at the present time. Should serious trouble arise between lessees and lessors, it is possible that the town would be removed to an eighty-acre tract adjoining the eastern side of the railway grant half a mile above the station, as F. A. Williams purchased this land from the government last December at a price of one hun- dred and one dollars and fifty cents an acre. Mr. Williams is the principal stockholder of the Toppenish Trading Company.

However, despite the unfortunate condition of the townsite, the inhabitants of Toppenisli appear to regard the matter as merely an impedi- ment and not a menace to their town's growth. Substantial buildings are constantly going up, including the new stone warehouse of Richey & Gilbert. When finished, this structure will have a total length of two hundred and fifty feet and a width of eighty feet. A directory of the town's business houses would include the following :

General merchandise, Toppenish Trading Company, Coffin Brothers; lumber, the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company, carrying approxi- mately nine hundred thousand feet of lumber, besides lime, cement, laths, shingles, etc., W. H. Holt, manager; commission firms, Richey & Gil- bert, Coffin Brothers, Toppenish Trading Com- pany, John L. Craib, J. M. Perry & Company; hotels, The Toppenish, Charles H. Newell and A. M. Sarjent, proprietors, The Staten, Frank Snipes, proprietor; nursery, Washington Nursery Company, J. D. McDonald, manager; bakery, confectionery, Adolphus blacksmith shops, Cantrell & Gibson, Lancaster Spencer; meat markets, T. P. Robbins (established in 1901), Casey & Bond; barber shop, Adolphus Gaunt; cigars and confectionery, Stephenson Brothers; station agent, express agent and post- master, W. L. Shearer.

Toppenish is well located and is fortunate in possessing broad-minded, progressive business men who will make the most of the advantages which their town possesses in situation and nat- ural resources.

ZILLAH.

The town that bears this pretty name lies on the high northern bluff of the Yakima river four miles northeast of Toppenish, the nearest railway point, in the very heart of the fruit-growing sec- tion of the Yakima valley irrigated by the Sunny- side canal. Fully one hundred and fifty people make their homes in the village.

Nature has dealt most generously with the region surrounding and tributary to Zillah. Its beauty is truly surpassing. The swift waters of the Yakima course noisily through their wood- fringed channels eighty feet below the level of

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the town, then wind prettily down the valley, presenting an entrancing water scene. Off to the south and west, across the Indian reservation, the horizon is converted into a broken line by the Cascade and Simcoe ranges, from which the whitened dome of Mount Adams and the sharp peaksof Mount Ranier rise into conspicuous prom- inence. To the north lies the high rocky divide separating the Columbia and Yakima watersheds; but by far the most fascinating sight, for many reasons, is that of the country reclaimed by the great life-giving canal and its hundreds of miles of small arteries. The course of the Sunnyside canal is plainly marked upon the dull gray land- scape by a wide strip of verdant hay and grain fields, innumerable orchard tracts, pretty farm buildings and rows of stately, waving poplars. Dale and hillside alike have responded to the efforts of the husbandman. The verdure and luxuriance of their new life are fairly dazzling. The object-lesson of irrigation is here over- whelming in its vividness and force. If ever the desert has "blossomed as the rose," it is in the region around Zillah. What is of probably greater importance in this commercial age, this quondam desert is now producing the necessities and luxuries of life in quantities that are rapidly enriching the fortunate owners of the land.

The head-gates of the canal are twelve miles above the town, but, owing to the topography of the country, the cultivated strip between the aqueduct and river is quite narrow for the entire distance, and even a few miles farther; but the region is all intensively farmed and supports a large population, most of whom are engaged in fruit-growing. The soil consists of decomposed lava, volcanic ash and alluvial wash from the sur- rounding mountains, from twenty-five to one hundred and twenty-five feet in depth and won- derfully rich in all the elements of fertility. The rolling topography of the region watered by the upper portion of the canal adapts it particularly to horticulture; hence it is that we find that industry the principal one, apples being the chief fruit raised. The next crop of importance is alfalfa. Just what amount the Zillah region pro- duces it is impossible to estimate with any degree of accuracy, but the region furnished most of the twelve hundred cars of produce shipped from Toppenish last year. The climate is very favor- able, and an altitude of eight hundred feet and good drainage contribute to the healthfulness of the locality. With such a region from which to draw its support, Zillah can hardly fail to prove a permanent commercial center, and when the Yakima reservation, embracing the rich lowlands across the river, is placed under cultivation, the town will draw support from it also.

As might be supposed, Zillah came into being with the construction of the Sunnyside canal in the early nineties, and its growth has been con- temporaneous with that of the surrounding coun-

try. Walter N. Granger, the promoter of the great canal and its only general superintendent, selected the townsite in the spring of 1892, acting for the Zillah Townsite Company. Of this cor- poration he was president, while Paul Schultze, Thomas F. Oakes, William Hamilton Hall and C. A. Spofford, the last named acting for Henry Villard, were trustees. Seventy acres of railroad and state land were platted for the new town.

Some time in April, shortly after the selection of the townsite, a party of railroad and canal officials, including President Oakes, his wife and daughter, visited the place in charge of Mr. Granger. The question of naming the town arose, and, after some discussion, Mr. Schultze suggested Zillah, in honor of Miss Zillah Oakes. Then and there the party adopted this pleasing and rather striking name, and by it the town has ever since been known.

The next step in the town's growth was the establishment some weeks later of its first busi- ness house, the Zillah Hotel, built by Reuben Hatch. This commodious building is still in use. At the same time the Northern Pacific & Yakima Irrigation Company erected its present hand- some, substantial offices. A little later E. J. Jaeger and George Harvey, partners, opened a general store opposite the irrigation company's building, and Col. R. C. Walker was appointed postmaster. Then came the Puyallup Drug Company's store, in charge of C. H. Williams; a hardware store, owned by the present stockhold- ers of the Yakima Hardware Company, and man- aged by Arthur Knowles, and Blagdon's black- smith shop. By the first of the year 1893 Zillah had a population of perhaps fifty people.

The year 1893 was an important one in the town's history. The mercantile firm of Jaeger & Harvey was dissolved and a new one formed by Jaeger and J. B. George. J. P. Fox succeeded Blagdon in the blacksmith shop; C. S. Hale opened a livery barn and a meat market; Dr. Andrew McCracken and Harry Armitage pur- chased the drug store, and a few new business enterprises were started. An unusually heavy spring flood of the river washed out fully ten acres of the townsite, resulting, however, only in the loss of the land. The town has suffered one further loss of this kind, the spring flood of 1904 having been attended by similar consequences; but it is thought that the channel is now perma- nently fixed, as it is straight. In 1893 also the hardware and drug stores were burned. Both were rebuilt. E. W. Dooley opened a saloon about this time which was subsequently destroyed by fire.

School district No. 32 was organized in 1894 and a comfortable frame schoolhouse built. With improvements since added, this building has cost twenty-two hundred dollars. It is indeed one in which the district has reason to take pride. Edna Haines taught the first two terms in it,

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and Fred Haines, Joseph Lucas and -- Gale comprised the first school board. At present this school is taught by Principal S. S. Busch, assisted by Grace and Ossie Laughlin.

Zillah has grown steadily, though slowly, since its establishment, always keeping pace with the surrounding country, but never experiencing a convulsive boom. It is now on a more substan- tial basis than ever before. Until a railroad reaches it, Zillah cannot excel as a business point, but as a residence town and country commercial center, it stands high.

The Episcopal, Christian and Methodist churches have organized in Zillah, and three years ago the first named society erected a fine stone church, costing twenty-five hundred dollars. Rev. E. J. Baird is the present rector. The two other societies occupy the Modern Woodmen hall, a substantial frame building erected by Zillah Lodge, No. 5577, M. W. A., which has a large membership. The lodge also has a thriving auxiliary, the local organization of the Royal Neighbors. The community has three other lodges-Zillah Lodge, No. 175, 1. O. O. F., and its auxiliary, and a lodge of the Order of Wash- ington.

The most important business institution of the place is the headquarters of the Washington Irri- gation Company, in charge of Superintendent Walter N. Granger and a large staff of other canal company officials The offices are in a handsome frame building, erected upon a beau- tiful site and so situated as to at once attract the attention of the passing visitor.

Two stage lines and two telephone (local and long distance) lines give Zillah intimate connec- tion with the outside world. A twice-a-day stage is operated by C. H. Furman between Zillah and Toppenish, while Allen & Mathieson run a daily stage between Zillah and Sunnyside.

Zillah's other business men and establishments are: The Zillah Hotel, Cornelius H. Furman, proprietor; general store, Edward J. Jaeger; hardware, groceries, undertaking, Edward L. Lawrence; meats and groceries, Henry Ran- dolph; bakery and feed store, Mrs. M. Jennie McCleery; drug stores, Dr. Andrew McCracken and Dr. James H. Barthley, the proprietors being general practitioners of medicine; jewelry, John Bergman; blacksmiths, Archie J. Elliott, W. R. Newell & Bro. (David A. ); millinery, Mrs Ida E. Clute; real estate, Dell A. Fox, C. H. Fur- man; postmaster, John P. Fox; barber shop, Frank J. Sprague ; a saloon.

Zillah is as yet unincorporated.

YAKIMA CITY.

The early history of Yakima City, the first town to be established in the Yakima country, is so intimately interwoven with the general history of Yakima county that it has been treated of in

that connection. To tell again the story of the founding of this business center, to trace its growth from a mere hamlet to a thriving county seat of nearly two thousand population, to de- scribe the numerous stirring events of which it was the scene, to detail the interesting story of its struggle against the rise of North Yakima, its loss of the county seat to the rival town and its subsequent decline for many years, would be use- less repetition. Yakima City has experienced its share of the vicissitudes of fickle fortune, but to- day its people rejoice in the stability and pros- perity of their town and are firm in their belief that a bright future is before them.

Yakima City is situated on the western bank of the Yakima river, four miles south of North Yakima, on the line of the Northern Pacific Rail- way. Its location is both pleasing and conve- nient. The presence of an abundance of shade trees and other foliage and the fine view of the

river and the surrounding country give their charm to the place. Two passenger trains stop daily to accommodate the traffic, while a mail stage operates daily (except Sunday) between the town and Fort Simcoe. A mile south of the town is Union Gap, which is the northern gate- way into the rich Toppenish valley and Parker bottom region, much of whose trade comes to Yakima City.

The town has always been an important trad- ing post, and to-day the business interests are well represented by prosperous establishments. Edwin H. Taylor, who is also postmaster, Mrs. Elizabeth Carmichael and Herman Kampmeier have general stores; W. Z. York has a feed, sec- ond-hand, saddlery and notion store combined with a wood yard; Albert Piche and Milton Hil- dreth own meat markets; Charles Campbell and Joseph Brownlow maintain hotels; Charles Campbell has a livery stable; Captain J. H. Thomas, owner of most of the townsite, and Cowles & Butler are in the real estate business; there are two saloons; B. H. McNeel is station agent, and there are a telephone exchange, ex- press office and a telegraph station in the town. Besides these establishments, Yakima City pos- sesses two important manufacturing concerns-a flouring mill and a creamery. The mill, which is the old Schanno property, has a capacity of thirty barrels a day and is operated most of the year by its owner, Edward Goins. Mrs. Eliza- beth Carmichael owns the Yakima City creamery, a fair-sized plant, built two years ago, while Thomas H. Wheeler is the proprietor of the Yaki- ma dairy, a large concern. Three church soci- eties are established in the town-the Roman Catholic, the Methodist Episcopal and the Chris- tian, the last two occupying a union church. Rev. A. C. Williamson, of the Methodist church, is the only resident pastor. A four-room school is taught by C. M. Beardsley, principal, W. A. Bowers and Miss Ruby Vertner. There are two

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secret organizations-Yakima Camp, No. 10,228, M. W. A., and its auxiliary.

It is not at all improbable that Yakima City will in the near future possess a fine beet sugar factory. The whole Yakima valley is supporting the town in its efforts to secure this concern, which seems sure to locate somewhere in the Yakima country. It is said that one man alone has guaranteed half the necessary capital for a four-hundred-thousand-dollar plant, and the deal is now being closed for the granting of an eighty- acre tract of land requested by the company. Such a manufactory, together with the opening of the Indian reservation, the boundary of which is only a mile distant from Yakima City, cannot fail to give the pioneer town a great impetus.

The town is incorporated under the general state laws, its present corps of officers being: Mayor, John L. Baker; councilmen, John L. Druse, Marshall Oliver, William Loudon, Reuben U. Underwood, Edward Goins; clerk, Edwin H. Taylor; treasurer, James A. Loudon; mar- shal, Walter Lindsey.

KIONA.

This thriving little hamlet is situated sixty-six miles southeast of North Yakima, on the Yakima river; also on the main line of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Like all the business points in the lower Yakima valley, it depends for its exist- ence and growth upon the development by irri- gation of the rich sage brush land surrounding it. The country immediately tributary is under the recently completed Northern Pacific canal, while the northern boundary of the famed Horse Heaven prairie is only two miles south of Kiona. Experience has demonstrated that tender fruits, such as strawberries, apricots, peaches and nec- tarines, grown in the lower Yakima valley can be placed on the market from ten days to two weeks earlier than those produced in any other portion of the entire Northwest, all of which tends to the rapid development of the region, and gives the towns their hope for future development. One acre of melons on the Kennedy ranch netted the grower one hundred and fifty dollars; Ezra Hill harvested fifty-five tons of potatoes from four acres, selling the entire crop at twenty-two dollars per ton; raspberries on the Ralph fruit farm yielded at the rate of four hundred dollars per acre, while equally valuable crops of other small fruits and berries are reported from the district immediately surrounding Kiona.

'The townsite is now owned by Kelso Brothers and, Mrs. Kennedy. The former conduct a hotel and livery stable, and Mrs. Tina Scott has a gen-

eral store, besides which there are a blacksmith shop and a lumber yard. The Episcopalians, Methodists and Presbyterians maintain church organizations, though as yet there are no build- ings especially dedicated to public worship. Rev. E. H. Rubicam, of the Methodist church, is the only resident pastor. There is a two-room school- house in the village, presided over by Mrs. H. H. Nagle and Miss N. N. Williams, and the town also has a flourishing Modern Woodmen lodge, a Western Union telegraph office, a postoffice in charge of J. Giezentanner, and one physician, Dr. F. S. Hedger.

FORT SIMCOE.

Thirty-one miles southwest of North Yakima is Fort Simcoe, the oldest permanent settlement in the county, and for several decades the head- quarters of the Yakima Indian agency. At that point are situated the agency buildings, schools, etc., occupying one of the prettiest nooks in the whole Yakima region. A postoffice, of which Mrs. J. D. Coburn is postmistress, and Cline & Coburn's general store constitute the business portion of the village, aside from the agency and the school. Fort Simcoe was established immedi- ately after the Indian wars of 1855-56. When- ever the surrounding country is all placed under cultivation it is quite probable that the village will be converted into a large town, its location being so favorable.

Other business points in Yakima county are: Ahtanum, in the Ahtanum valley, which is the home of Woodcock Academy, and has, besides a general store kept by A. J. Chambers, a creamery and a public hall; Belma, consisting of a post- office, of which O. Bergeron is postmaster, a general store kept by O. Bergeron, and a black- smith shop, owned by O. Brunette; Bluelight, a settlement midway between Mabton and Bickle- ton ; Cowiche, a trading point and postoffice of the Cowiche valley, sixteen miles northwest of North Yakima, with which it is connected by tri-weekly stage, W. H. Schenck, postmaster; Nile, a post- office on the Naches river, thirty-four miles northwest of North Yakima, James Beck, post- master; Outlook, a postoffice in the Sunnyside region; Tampico, a postoffice and trading point on the upper Ahtanum, twenty miles south west of North Yakima, H. J. Knox, postmaster; Wenas, a station on the Northern Pacific Railway in the Selah valley; Wenas, the postoffice, on Wenas creek, Ida R. Kandle, postmistress; and Wapato, formerly Simcoe, a flag station and trad- ing point on the Yakima Indian reservation. Alexander E. McCredy has a general store there, and Mrs. McCredy is postmistress.

PART IV.

KITTITAS COUNTY

PART IV. HISTORY OF KITTITAS COUNTY

CHAPTER I.

CURRENT EVENTS .- 1861-1889.

To determine who first discovered the Kittitas valley would be a difficult problem. No doubt some of the emissaries of the great fur companies, the real pathfinders of the northwest, were the first to feast their eyes upon this beautiful gem of the Cascades. These strange merchants pushed their operations in all directions, following every high- way of Indian migration and especially every stream in their trapping and fur purchasing excur- sions. It is therefore likely that, by ascending the Yakima, they were led into Kittitas valley at a very early date, possibly during the regime of Astor's Pacific Fur Company, or soon after that of its successor, the Northwest Company, began. One man, who is now a resident of Kittitas valley, passed through it in 1855. This man is Charles A. Splawn. He tells us that he found a small Catholic mission on what is now the Pet Barnes place, known as the Mission farm, situated on the Man- astash. There was a priest in charge whose name he does not remember. The mission was probably abandoned during the Indian war and never repos- sessed.

It is certain, however, that when the actual settlement of south central Washington commenced, there were practically no traces of previous settle- ments in the valley and that the reign of savagery showed few signs of having ever been disturbed, except by the operations of troops and volunteers in the Indian war of 1855-6. The occupation of this region by whites began in Klickitat county in 1858, reached Moxee hasin in 1860 and the Kittitas a few years later. Of course, after the first settle- ments were established in the country near by, Kittitas valley, which for years had been seldom

visited by whites, was more frequently traversed and the day when it, too, should be appropriated by the dominant race and made to yield up its wealth for the support and comfort of civilized man was not far distant.

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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 55

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