An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 56

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 56
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 56
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 56

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).

State Senator A. J. Splawn, in describing a trip with cattle to the British Columbia mines, made by himself and others in August, 1861, says :

"It was the fourth day out that we came to the beautiful Kittitas valley. This valley as it looked that day to me, a boy of sixteen, was the loveliest spot I had ever seen. To the west stood the great Cascade range; to the north rose the snow capped peaks of the Peshastin, standing as mighty sentinels to guard the beautiful valley below, where the Yakima river wound its way full length, while from the mountains on the north flowed numerous small streams, and the whole plain was covered with a thick coat of grass. Sage hens and prairie chickens and jack rabbits were on all sides. The song birds were singing a sweet lullaby to the departing day and the howl of the coyote was borne on the evening breeze. As we gazed on this lovely sight, I wondered how long it would be before the smoke would be curling from pioneer homes. for here the settler would find a paradise."

Mr. Splawn tells us that he visited the valley again in May, 1863, with a pack train of forty horses, enroute to the Caribou mines, and that he found the whole flat covered with Indian lodges. The red men were there that their women might gather the kous for winter provision. while the warriors of the different tribes should hold councils, and engage in sports of all kinds, gambling, danc- .ing, horse racing, etc. It was a grand gala occa-

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sion, and the savage shouts, the barking of dogs, the neighing of horses, the noise of the drums and the dance produced a medley of sounds such as not many at the present time are privileged to hear.

A. J. Splawn says that for a few months during 1860, Hald & Meigs, of The Dalles, Oregon, main- tained a trading post at Manastash ford, Kittitas county, for the accommodation of travel to the Similkameen mines. In the fall of 1865, John Rozelle, with his wife and three sons, and his son- in-law, William Harrington and wife, entered Kittitas valley with intent to form a permanent settlement, but that winter they ran out of provi- sions and the cold being very severe, their suffer- ings were great. Hearing of their distress, F. Mortimer Thorp, of the Moxee valley, sent Andrew Gervais to the rescue. The latter persuaded them to return to Moxee with him, so the Kittitas valley was again left without a white resident. There may have been a few in the mining region of what is now Chelan county.

The first actual settler in the valley was a Swiss named Frederick Ludi, who, in company with John Goller, better known as "Dutch John," came in from Montana in the summer of 1867. Mr. Ludi says that while mining in Montana he fell in with an old German sailor who talked incessantly of the Sound country. So eloquent were this man's descriptions, that he and Goller were finally per- suaded to seek their fortunes in the supposed earthly paradise. Ludi had a thousand dollars, his com- panion nothing. They came via the Mullan road to Walla Walla, thence to Wallula and up the Yakima river, traveling with a saddle horse each and a pack animal. They bore notes of introduction to F. M. Thorp, James Allen and Alfred Henson, the first mentioned of whom advised them to go to the Kittitas valley, which they did. When Ludi got his first view of the country to the northward of the Umptanum divide, the beautiful valley, with its tree-bordered streams, appealed to him so power- fully that he resolved to go no further, but to seek within its confines the home he so ardently desired. It was now September. Descending into the valley, he found a pleasant place in a well watered basin half a mile above the mouth of the Manastash, and there he decided to make his home. The Indians raised no objection to the building of his little cottonwood cabin; indeed they said they rather desired the presence of one or two white men among them, but they asked Ludi to discourage his white brethren from coming. "Snow fall Injun deep ; awful cold; whites can't stand it," they said. There were two principal bands of red men in the valley, one under Shushuskin and one under Alex, the latter occupying territory near where Thorp now is. Besides these there were numerous parties pass- ing through, berry picking and hunting and fishing at certain seasons of the year, or gathering kous and camas. All were very friendly to the two pioneer settlers, and Mr. Ludi says he found them

quite trustworthy. He says there was one white man among these Indians, a worthless fellow named Wilson, who probably came to the valley in 1866 or the spring of the following year. He lived with Chief Shushuskin near the mouth of a stream which Mr. Ludi named Wilson creek.

Finding that the snow was much deeper on the west side of the Yakima river, where he was, than on the east side, and that it stayed on much later, Mr. Ludi determined to change his place of abode. Accordingly, the last of April found him on a claim in the southern part of the site of the present Ellens- burg. Here he began farming in a small way, raising peas, beans, cabbage and other vegetables and in a measure demonstrating the incorrectness of the general impression that the valley was too cold for garden products or fruit.

June 16, 1868, the white population of the valley was increased by the arrival from Renton, Wash- ington, of Tillman Houser, a stockman. He took as a pre-emption, the place now known as the Bull ranch, ten miles northeast of Ellensburg on Cole- man creek. He states that the settlers at the time of his arrival were as heretofore named, that is to say, Ludi, Goller and William Wilson. The last mentioned, Mr. Houser tells us, was drowned in the Snake river in 1869 while endeavoring to escape with a band of stolen horses.

After erecting a little cabin on his pre-emption, Mr. Houser returned to the Sound, from which, with the aid of a man named Stewart, he brought a band of some fifteen head of cattle. Having put up a quantity of wild hay for winter feed, and erected a more commodious cabin, he went to the Sound once more; but October 22d found him again in the Kittitas country, this time with his wife and three children, Sarah, Harrison and Clar- ence; so Mrs. Houser gained the distinction of being the second white lady to effect a permanent settlement in Kittitas valley, Mrs. Charles Splawu being the first, though Mrs. Rozelle and Mrs. Har- rington had come in before them with the intention of making homes there. Mr. Splawn had come in August and settled on what is now the Thorp estate on Tanum creek. His family soon joined him and wintered there that season. The white population of the valley was now two families and three bache- lors. The valley also had a small trading post, one having been established by Mr. Splawn on his ranch, primarily to trade with the Indians.

· The first part of the winter was mild, but later considerable snow fell and toward spring the ground was covered to a depth of fourteen inches. But though there was a heavy crust on the snow, cattle ranged all winter; nor was the death rate among them high. Mr. Houser lost quite a number of his three hundred sheep, however, butt owing to the fact that disease. had got among them and not because of cold and snow, for they were well cared for and fed.

The first survey of land in what is now Kittitas

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county was made in 1867 by Page Beach, but was not accepted. In 1868 he resurveyed it, this time with more success ; and so townships seventeen and eighteen in range nineteen and townships seventeen and eighteen in range twenty east of the Willamette meridian, were prepared for entry under the United States land laws. The first filing was made by Tillman Houser at Seattle in the spring of 1869.

The time had now arrived for the Kittitas valley to experience a comparatively rapid development. It was during the year 1868 that the Union Pacific was completed, leaving a great many without em- ployment. Large numbers of these started to seek homes and fortunes on Puget sound, and some of them, on beholding the Kittitas valley in its pri- meval luxuriance, resolved to go no further, but to cast in their lot with the few pioneers already there. Some also came from the Sound, and not a few with cattle from the Yakima country. The latter, however, had no intention of establishing permanent homes, wishing to remain only during the summer, then return with their herds to the lower and warmer levels.

Among the arrivals of the year 1869 were the following: Walter A. Bull, a bachelor, who located on the old Bull ranch on the Nanum not far from its confluence with the Yakima; Thomas Haley, a bachelor, who came with Bull and took a place adjoining him; Patrick Lynch, likewise a bachelor, who settled on what is now the Geddis ranch east of Bull's place; Charles Reed, who brought his family from Deer Lodge, Montana, and made his home on what later became known as the McEwen ranch on Cooke creek in the southeastern part of the valley ; he subsequently located on the Manas- tash; Martin Davern and family, who came with the Reeds, and who located on the present Carver place, three miles southeast of Ellensburg ; William (or as he was more frequently styled "Windy") Johnson, a bachelor, who took up his abode on Wilson creek, near the river; George Hull, who set- tled on Warm 'Spring creek in the eastern part of the valley ; F. Mortimer Thorp, a Yakima stockman ; George Gillespie, who settled below Bull's place and engaged in stockraising: Matthias Becker and fam- ilv, who settled on the Fogarty ranch on the west side of the river; John Schmidt, a bachelor, who settled on the east side of the river two miles east of Ellensburg on the place now owned by Andrew Olson (he was drowned in the winter of 1869-70, in an attempt to ford the river, and his body was never recovered) ; William H. Kiester, a bachelor, who had come in with Christian Clymer's sheep to Houser's in 1868, but had gone away again leaving the sheep with Houser on shares; S. R. Geddis, a married man, who settled on the present Widow Prater place; John L. Vaughn, also married, who settled at Pleasant Grove, two miles southwest of Ellensburg : George and Jefferson Smith, the former a bachelor, the latter a squaw man, who took a ranch six miles northeast of Ellensburg; William H.

Crockett, who settled on the Mission ranch, Manas- tash creek; and Andrew Jackson Splawn and his brother Moses, formerly of the Moxee.

Other early pioneers of Kittitas valley who settled during that year or within a year or two afterward were: Thomas and Benton Goodwin; W. H. Beck, six miles east of Ellensburg; F. M. Frisbee, bachelor, on the Manastash; A. B. Whitson and sons, Edward and Albert, stockmen, East Kit- titas; John A. Shoudy and family, at Ellensburg ; John Brush, married, Cooke creek ; J. D. Olmstead, married, on what became known as the Newland ranch in the southeastern part of the valley (he afterward established a store and conducted it sev- eral years) , Charles P. Cooke and family, includ- ing Edward, Mode, Rufus and George, sons; Wil- liam Taylor, bachelor, six miles northeast of Ellensburg; Jacob Becker, a blacksmith, at Ellens- burg ; Elias Messerly, bachelor, eleven miles north- east of Ellensburg; Harry M. Bryant, also a bach- elor, who settled near Messerly ; George W. Parrish, a bachelor stockman, who located in the eastern part of the valley in the "Park," so named by "Windy" Johnson in early days; D. J. Schnebly, sons Henry and Charles and their cousin, Frederick Dorsey Schnebly, all of whom settled about twelve miles north of Ellensburg and engaged in the stock busi- ness; E. E. Erickson, married, a stockman, who located just north of the Smith ranch in East Kittitas; George Wheeler, eight miles northeast of Ellensburg; August Nesselhouse, Cooke creek ; "Nigger" Johnson, a bachelor, who came over from the Sound and made his home on the Tjossem ranch, just south of Ellensburg; J. G. Olding and family, East Kittitas ; William Lewis, J. M. Perry. Hugh Perry, Charles A. Sanders and family, two miles northeast of Ellensburg; William Dennis, a partner of John A. Shoudy; Robert Wallace; J. D. Dysart; M. M. Dammon : James H. McDonald; C. B. Walker; Fenton McDonald; J. H. McEwen ; David Murray, a nomadic stockman; Humboldt Packwood, who remained but a few weeks, although a few years later he returned to Ellensburg and became a permanent settler ; Jesse W. McDonald, East Kittitas ; Anthony A. Meade.

Practically all of those named engaged in the stock business. They sought a market for their cattle on the Sound, where, it is said, a two-year- old steer would bring from $35 to $40; a cow, $40 to $50; and a yearling, $20. The cattle were driven over the Snoqualmie trail to Seattle, which, though a town of small population, was even then an important shipping point.

Another event of the year 1869 was the birth. late in March, of Viola V., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Splawn, the first white child born in the valley. In August of the same year, twin children, a son and a daughter, were born of Mrs. Martin Davern, under a thorn bush in South Ellens- burg, and on the 24th of the following December,

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Mrs. Houser gave birth to a daughter, who is now Mrs. William German.

During the spring of 1869 several bands of cattle from the Yakima country were driven into Kittitas valley for the summer, giving inception to a custom which remained in vogue for a few years afterward. While there with cattle during the sum- mer of 1870, A. J. Splawn noticed the rapidity with which the region was settling up and concluded to start a store right on the camping ground. "After making arrangements for a huge log house," says he, "I went to The Dalles and bought my goods, and on November 20, 1870, my outfit of two four- horse teams and thirty pack animals was unloaded and I had my stock in order and was ready to do business with all comers. One evening my friend, John Gillespie, rode by and remarked, 'Jack, you want a sign; I will make one for you.' A few mornings after that I looked up over the door and there was a sign, sure enough; it read 'Robbers' Roost.'

"I settled down for the winter, which was a lone- some one, with my brother Moses as a companion, who found employment in quarreling with old Joe Ferrier and Fred Bennett over a certain passage in the Bible. I had bought three hundred steel traps and given them out to the Indians in various parts of the country, thinking by that means they could be induced to trap for furs. It proved a wise move as the fur trade was my principal business. Indians would bring furs for hundreds of miles, and I was always ready to entertain them at any kind of games they were looking for. I kept race horses to run them from one jump to ten miles ; had a race track of my own and here the Indians would come for their jubilee. Having never dealt in furs I knew nothing of their value, so I just traded by guess, but I never overlooked the price on my goods. One thing in favor of the Indian that traded with me, he never needed a pack horse to carry away what his furs brought."

In the same article from which the above is quoted, Mr. Splawn tells an amusing story of the early days, which is here reproduced in his own language :

"In November of that year I was passing from Yakima to Kittitas, and fell in about noon at Matthias Becker's, whose wife was a jewel, with a heart full of goodness. Riding up near the door I dismounted and went in thinking they would be glad to see me. There sat the whole family and my friend, John Gillespie, and the young lady sister, Miss Caroline Gerlick. We all called her Linnie. They gave me a cold stare for which I could not account. I wondered what I had done to lose their friendship and made up my mind to vacate the premises as soon as possible and ride on, which I proceeded to do. When I got outside my boy friend, Willie, was standing by my horse, and he said : 'Mr. Splawn, don't go; John and Linnie is going to get married and don't want anybody to know

it.' I said, 'All right, Willie, I'll stay,' and returned to the house. I remarked that the atmosphere seemed chilly, as if pointing to some catastrophe that hovered over the premises. 'It surely bodes no good to this family,' said I, 'and I have con- cluded to remain and see if I can do anything to bring a ray of light from out the gloom.'

"Mrs. Becker began to laugh, saying: 'We can't fool Jack and might as well tell him that there is going to be a wedding here as soon as the justice of peace can arrive.' Just then the Hon. Frederick Bennett showed up, dressed to a finish. He had on Ben Burch's old pants, the legs of which reached to just below the knee, and it must have cost him a great effort to get into my coat which fit him as well as the pants did. My shirt, with a large striped paper collar, set him off in shape for most any kind of ceremony. John and Linnie were on their feet and Frederick Bennett, J. P., proceeded at once to tie the knot. These were his words: 'Shoin your right hands. By this you signify you love one anuder. By de laws of our country and de power in me, I pronounce you vife und vife.' He was almost exhausted. Catching his eye, I shook my head and he recalled the mistake and said: I don't mean dot, I means 'usband und vife.' Thus was the first marriage ceremony in Kittitas valley ended, and John and Linnie were one. They were both the salt of the earth and I count them as among my early friends."

During all the earliest years, the pioneers of Kittitas valley had many hardships to endure. The few residents were almost completely isolated, and as they had not much to sell, there was little money in circulation. Mr. Houser tells of using roasted peas for coffee and drinking the infusion with little or no sugar, also of living throughout the winter of 1869-70 on eight bushels of corn that he had carried up from old Yakima City and ground into meal in a coffee mill. Other pioneers subsisted themselves and families in much the same way until they could take small ditches out of the streams and get little patches of land under cultivation and irrigation. Of course beef was plentiful, that being the chief product of the valley. At first these pioneers were almost cut off from mail communica- tion with the outside world. Charles Splawn tells us that he and Mortimer Thorp established the first postal and express system, a private one, late in 1868, employing a friendly Indian named Waslı- ington to make weekly trips to Seattle. For this service they paid him ten dollars a trip. Mr. Splawn says that this service was the only regularly estab- lished one in the valley until thev created Tanum postoffice at F. M. Thorp's place on Tanum creek in the fall of 1869, Mr. Thorp becoming the first postmaster. The mails came in and went out through Yakima City, weekly at first, then oftener. The next postoffice was established at Walter A. Bull's place ; then a little later moved to J. D. Olm :- stead's ranch, near the Bull place in the southeastern

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part of the valley, where also Mr. Olmstead early opened a small store. The name this postoffice bore is not recalled. About 1870 the Tanum post- office was discontinued and in its stead, one was established at Pleasant Grove, West Kittitas, with John L. Vaughn in charge. Finally, along in the early 'seventies, the Olmstead office was abandoned and one established at Ellensburg, with John A. Shoudy as postmaster. Pleasant Grove postoffice remained in existence many years. As might be expected, during the first few years the Kittitas inail service was an irregular one, ofttimes many weeks of the winter passing without any mail what- ever, except wliat some one who was forced to travel might bring up from Yakima City. Elisha Pell was one of the early carriers. The mail came in and went out by way of Yakima City and Umatilla, Henry D. Cock having the contract for its convey- ance between the two points. In time the stage coach succeeded the saddle horse or mule in the important service of carrying the United States mail between the different points in central Wash- ington.

During 1873* occurred an event of great mo- ment in the settlement of the future Kittitas county, namely, the discovery of gold in the Swauk region. As early as 1867 a prospecting party, of which N. Thomas Goodwin, Benton Goodwin and Edward Towner were members, had passed through this country, and while following one of the many In- dian trails, namely, that leading to the Peshastin district, had made a discovery, the importance of which they did not realize at the time. While camped for their midday mcal near Swauk creek, Benton Goodwin busied himself in panning one of the bars of the stream. He was ignorant of the appearance of native gold, but suspecting that some yellow particles he found in the bottom of his pan might be the precious metal, he showed them to Towner, the only experienced prospector in the party. The latter pronounced the find gold. His statements were received with considerable doubt by the party in general, which passed on, having first jocularly named the place where the gold was found Discovery bar.

During the ensuing two or three years the region was prospected occasionally, but no one found enough gold to warrant the establishment of a camp. In the fall of 1873, however, a party of men met with better success than had any of their predecessors. In this fortunate company were Newton Thomas Goodwin and Benton Goodwin, who had been in the party that made the discovery six years previous, also W. H. Beck, George Mycock, whose name was later changed by the leg- islature to Starr, and a young Kentuckian named D. Y. Borden. The men were very much dispirited,

*Some difference of opinion exists as to the date of the discovery of gold in the Swauk, a few claiming that 1871 is correct.

having been unsuccessful in their quest of fortune and being exhausted and nearly out of provisions, but Benton and N. T. Goodwin accepted the pro- posal of the Kentuckian to prospect Swauk creek. Benton Goodwin soon discovered a small nugget. He called the others to him, who soon found a pot hole in the center of the stream. To dig down to bedrock was the work of but a short time, as there was nothing in the cavity but wash gravel. From a panful of dirt taken out of the bottom of the hole, Borden washed a small nugget worth about fiftcen cents. The rest of the men were summoned. Leav- ing their sizzling supper to take care of itself, they set to work panning the gravel from the pot hole, and within an hour they had over five dollars' wortli of coarse dust and nuggets, one of the latter weiglı- ing a dollar.

Next day the party divided its forces, Starr and Beck going below and the rest above the camp. Those who ascended the creek found a spot where, as evidenced by the protruding roots of a large fir tree, the bedrock was close to the surface. Digging here, Borden took out a nugget weighing over an ounce, and worth about $16. He also found gravel that yielded thirty to forty cents to the pan.

The five prospectors now prepared for system- atic work, staking out claims in the regular way and sending to John L. Vaughn's place for provisions. Great pains were taken to keep the discovery a secret, but in about two weeks, rumors of it reached the outside world through the Indians. In that time, however, the party had secured between $500 and $600, even with the crude equipments at hand. One day, it is said, they dug out $150 with a butcher' knife.

News of the discovery soon precipitated a ruslı of miners and others and ere long there were many hundreds on the ground. That fall the Swauk creek mining district was organized with D. Y. Borden as the first recorder. It was agreed that claims should be 200 feet long and from rimrock to rimrock. Soon the creek was located from its mouth, five miles below Discovery bar, to the forks fifteen miles up the stream, but the miners werc unable to find gold in paying quantities except 011 and in the immediate vicinity of the bar. As a result most of the people left as speedily as they had come, and that winter less than fifty were there. These consisted of the Discovery Company (then increased to twelve by the addition of John P. Beck, G. W. Goodwin, Al. Churchill, David Munn, James and Samuel Bates and another), and three other companies, namely Walter A. Bull & Com- pany, on Starr bar, a French association led by Joseph Superneau, operating on Williams creek, and a co-operative company at the mouth of that stream. The Williams creek miners met with little success that winter, though subsequently some rich ground was discovered there. Indeed the explora- tions and operations of the first three years failed to bring to light the wealth of the region, except

CASTLE ROCK. INDIAN AND CIVILIZATION. ARRASTRE-Old-Time Mining Method

HYDRAULIC PLACER MINING. WAPTUS FALLS

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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 56

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