An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 58

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 58
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 58
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 58

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Section 6. That all taxes levied and assessed by the board of county commissioners of the county of Yakima for the year A. D. 1883, upon persons or property within the boundaries of the said county of Kittitass, and all de- linquent taxes heretofore due said county of Yakima shall be collected by its proper officers and paid into the treas- ury of said Yakima county, for the use of said county of Yakima; Provided, That the said county of Yakima shall pay all the just indebtedness of said Yakima county; and Provided further, That the county of Kittitass shall pay to the county of Yakima a just proportion of the net indebtedness of said Yakima county, the same to be de- termined as hereinafter provided.

Section 7. That the auditors of the counties of Kit- titass and Yakima are hereby constituted a board of ap- praisers and adjusters of the real estate and other property of Yakima county, and if they cannot agree, the auditor of Klickitat county shall act as umpire, and for this pur- pose shall meet at Yakima City on the second Tuesday in January, A. D. 1884; then and there they shall appraise the value of all public property, both real and personal, belonging to the county of Yakima, and said board of appraisers and adjusters shall then proceed to ascertain the net indebtedness of said county of Yakima, which shall be done as follows, viz .: Ascertain all the county justly owes in warrants, scrip or other just debts, which amount shall constitute the gross indebtedness of said county, from which deduct the amount of the unpaid portion of the assessment roll of 1883 and the amount of all delinquent assessment rolls which are considered collectible up to that date, and the amount of all moneys and other credits due the county, also the value of all public property be- longing to the said county of Yakima, and the balance so found shall constitute the net indebtedness of said county of Yakima ; Provided, The real estate and personal property thus deducted shall be the property of Yakima county after division.

Section 8. That the net indebtedness of the said county of Yakima as found above, be divided equally be- tween the counties of Yakima and Kittitass in proportion to the taxable property of said counties as it legally ap- pears on the assessment roll for the year 1883, and the said county of Kittitass shall cause a warrant or warrants to be drawn upon its treasurer, payable to the county of Yakima out of any funds not otherwise appropriated, for its full share of such indebtedness; Provided, That if from any cause either or both of the above mentioned adjusters and appraisers fail or refuse to act as such, then, and in that case, the county auditors of the respective counties shall constitute a board of arbitrators and appraisers, and shall proceed as herein directed.

Section 9. That if the board of appraisers and adjust- ers as herein appointed shall not agree on any subject of value or settlement as herein stated, they shall choose a third man from an adjoining county to settle their differ- ences, and their decision shall be final.

Section 10. That the compensation of the said board of appraisers and adjusters shall be four dollars per day each, for each and every day necessarily employed therein, and the counties of Yakima and Kittitass shall pay the same equally.

Section II. That the county auditor of Kittitass county shall have access to the records of Yakima county, without cost, for the purpose of transcribing and indexing such portion of the records of property as belongs to the county of Kittitass, and his certificate of the correctness thereof shall have the same force and effect as if made by the auditor of Yakima county; it is hereby provided, how- ever, that nothing in this section shall permit the record books of Yakima county to be removed from the office of its auditor.

Section 12. That the county auditor, for transcribing and indexing the records of Kittitass county, shall receive the sum of three dollars per day for each and every day so employed, to be paid by the county of Kittitass, and in addition to his yearly salary as hereinafter provided.

Section 13. That the county of Kittitass shall be at- tached to the county of Yakima for legislative purposes and to the second judicial district for judicial purposes.

Section 14. That the county commissioners of the county of Kittitass shall receive the sum of four dollars per day each for each and every day necessarily employed in the service of said county, and ten cents per mile for each mile necessarily traveled to attend said county business. The auditor shall receive a yearly salary of three hundred dollars per year, payable quarterly. The treasurer shall receive a yearly salary of $150 a year, payable quarterly. The sheriff shall receive the same fees as are allowed to sheriffs of other counties by the statutes of Washington Territory. The probate judge shall receive the regular fees of his office as prescribed by the laws of Washington Territory. The superintendent of public schools shall re- ceive a yearly salary of forty dollars per annum, payable quarterly, and all other officers of the county shall receive the regular fees of their respective offices as prescribed by statute.

Section 15. That nothing in this act shall be so con- strued as to effect the just proportion of the school fund of the said county of Kittitass.

Section 16. That all acts or parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

Section 17. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the governor. Approved November 24, 1883.

At its first meeting, held in December, 1883, the board of county commissioners, in harmony with the provisions of the creating act, named the follow- ing officers for the county: Probate judge, W. A. Bull; sheriff, J. C. Goodwin ; auditor, W. H. Peter- son ; treasurer, Thomas Johnson ; surveyor, John R. Wallace; superintendent of schools, Irene Cumber- lin; coroner, M. V. Amen, M. D .; sheep commis- sioner, E. W. Lyen.

"The act creating the county," says Auditor Peterson, "provided that the auditor of Kittitas county should make a copy. of all that part of the Yakima records required to be kept in Kittitas county. It also provided that the settlement bc- tween the counties should be made by the auditors of the same and went on to designate how it should be made. In case they failed to agree they were to call to their assistance the auditor of Klickitat county.

"For his services in transcribing the records and making the settlement the auditor was to receive three dollars a day. After paying stage fare back and forth from Yakima several times in the dead of winter through fierce snow storms (one of which I think my old friend, M. M. Dammon, has not yet

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forgotten ) and paying my hotel bills, I had, as may readily be inferred, not much of my per diem left to pay for cocktails and cigars. Fortunately for me, however, I could do without these luxuries, and buoyed up by the knowledge that I was entering upon the discharge of the onerous duties of an office for which I was to receive the princely salary of three hundred dollars a year, I faced the stormis and rushed my work. .

"The first instrument filed for record in Kittitas county was filed on the 22d of December, 1883. The first marriage license was issued on the 9th of January, 1884, to John C. Ellison, now deceased, and Amy A. Childs ; Dr. I. N. Power, now residing at Cle-Elum, was the first physician who registered in the county.

"When a Republican legislature, at the instance of Mr. Shoudy, himself a Republican, created the county of Kittitas and appointed a county board consisting of two Democrats and one Republican, and vested in it the power to appoint all the county officers, who were to hold their offices until after the next general election, the Democrats had the laugh' on the Republicans, but when the same board ap- pointed more Republicans to office than Democrats. the laugh was on the Democrats. When, at the first general election, held in November, 1884, there was only one Republican elected in the county, it was the Democrats' turn to laugh."

The local government was not maintained with- out some inconvenience and sacrifice on the part of the early officers, who were of necessity very poorly paid. The county had no courthouse or other suit- able building for the keeping of its records and for offices, etc., neither was it deemed expedient at first to erect such a building, so that for several years the machinery of government was moved from one rented place to another, bank vaults being used as receptacles for the record books and valua- bles. But the local political power was in good hands during the earliest years, and the result was that the county's warrants did not fall so far below their face value as did those of the mother county, nor did they go begging in the market as some prophesied that they would. The officials practiced due economy in the expenditure of public moneys, thereby maintaining the credit of the county and enabling it to pay off, with reasonable rapidity, the sum it was adjudged to owe to Yakima. It may he safely asserted that notwithstanding the sparse- ness of its population, Kittitas county got a very fair start as one of the political divisions of the territory.

The year that the county of Kittitas was created was one of great activity in the territory which was included in its confines. While not much money was in circulation, an abundance was enjoyed by all the people, who traded much with each other by direct barter of commodities, thus obviating the necessity for a large circulating medium. The rail- way was in course of construction, and the cer-

tainty that it would soon traverse the valley, caused an influx of homeseekers. The necessity of coal for the consumption of the railway had given an impetus to prospecting, and it was during this year that discoveries were made which led to the opening of the Roslyn mines. The Seattle & Walla Walla Trail & Wagon Road Company, of which Walter A. Bull was president and George H. Smith, secre- tary, were at work on a road over the mountains and everywhere the wheels of industry were in motion.

June 16th of this year appeared the initial issue of the Kittitas Standard, a weekly newspaper, with headquarters at Ellensburg. This pioneer journal tells of numerous parties of land hunters seeking homes in the Kittitas valley in anticipation of the railroad, of a bright outlook for abundant crops, and of the fact that one hundred men had just been added to the railroad force in the canyon of the Yakima. It states that a mail route would be opened July Ist from Ellensburg to Wenatchee via Peshastin ; that J. Blomquist had opened a brewery on his place on Wilson creek and that George H. Smith had completed thirteen miles of his Cascade wagon road between Ellensburg and the summit. A few quotations from some of its later numbers will illustrate the spirit of this strategic period in the county's history as no pen of the present could. In its issue of June 30, 1883, it said :

Cattle are now as good as gold, and owners, in our opinion, need not fear a decline in prices. A variety of causes has operated to bring about this state of affairs, but probably the greatest cause for advance in prices lies in the rapid development of the Northwest. The thou- sands now pouring into our territory require to be fed. Eastern buyers have also in a measure depleted our large herds and hence a scarcity of good marketable cattle exists and those we do have for sale are bringing from $50 to $60 a head in many instances.

The same number contains the following :

We learn that matters in general throughout the Peshastin mining district are lively and encouraging. The Summit, Pocket, Polepick, Bobtail. old Polepick, Schaffer, Tiptop and other mines are being worked. Upon the creek two arrastres and the Schaffer Mining Company's six-stamp mill are busily engaged in crushing quartz; and the prevailing complaint is lack of sufficient crushing machinery to meet the demands of the camp. This want will be filled in a measure by the erection of a mill upon the old Polepick property, recently purchased by Thomas Johnson, Esq. Upon a recent run of twenty-one days, upon culled hard quartz, the Schaffer Company's little mill yielded $1,800 in free gold, while the new concentra- tor saved four tons of sulphurets worth $300 per ton and upwards. During the past six years, the Schaffer Com- pany property has yielded $36,000, the Tiptop mine over $1,100 in thirty days and other mines in like proportion. As yet the mines are still in the grass roots. Twenty-five men are working in the camp, many of whom are prospect- ing or developing upon their own account ..

The issue of August 18th contains the follow- ing :

Sheep raising is ever a large as well as an increasing industry in our section. There are large portions of our

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county which are not fit for agricultural purposes, but as grazing grounds for sheep and cattle they cannot be ex- celled. Among those who have profitably followed this industry in this section we may note: Messrs. Coleman, Meade, Lyons, Schnebly, McCleary, McDonald and Hanna. Of the above, Meade and . McCleary, Lyons and Schnebly and McDonald and Hanna are partners, while Mr. Cole- man is alone. The latter has about 1,800 head, McDonald & Hanna, 1,000; Meade & McCleary, 1,500, and Lyons & Schnebly, 700. The summer range of these flocks extends from the east dividing ridge of the valley to the Columbia. In winter they are taken to more sheltered localities-John- son's gulch and Whiskey creek. We learn that the clip this season was unusually good, and as far as sold has averaged fair prices. Lyons sold in San Francisco and cleared 19 cents a pound over all expenses. McDonald sold at The Dalles for 151/2 cents. From the others we have no report. The sheep of this section are healthy, free from scab and thrifty.

A quotation from the writings of one of its cor- respondents follows :

LAKE CLE-ELUM, August 22, 1883.

EDITOR STANDARD :-

For a pleasant and profitable mountain excursion commend us to the section of country in and about the headwaters of the Wenatchee, Peshastin, Cle-Elum and Teanaway rivers. Three years ago, by panning gravel in and along the Cle-Elum, S. S. Hawkins was enabled to discover gold and silver bearing ledges, well up on the west slope of the mountain which bears his name and marks the divide between the south fork of the Teanaway and Fortune creek (since named Good Fortune creek). Being pleased with the character of the quartz found, as also with a description of the locality given by Mr. Haw- kins, Messrs. Boyls, Stevenson, P. J. Flint, Morrison, Wil- son, Splawn and others subsequently visited the new camp and made locations covering the claims known as the I-I-yas, Cle-Elum, Hawk, Foster, Ida Elmore, Red Jacket, Madeline and Silver King, all of which by numerous reliable assays yield from $17 to $400 per ton. From the presence of copper and the fact that in almost every case the amount of gold and silver yielded by assays is equal, and from the general appearance of the formation in which serpentine, horn blende and slate predominate, the general impression prevalent is that with depth the mines in ques- tion will yield large returns in silver bearing ore. Several desirable claims have been grouped and sold to Tacoma mining people, who are making preparations to prospect their property thoroughly during the coming winter.

East of the Cle-Elum mining camp, and upon the Teanaway slope of the Hawkins mountain, lies the greater part of the recently discovered copper mines. The honor of this discovery lies between Messrs. E. P. Boyls, York, Hawkins and A. J. Splawn, but to share in the profit there- of come with the discoverers, Messrs. Wilson, Flint, Mor- rison, Stevenson, Foster and others of Yakima City and Walter A. Bull & Company of this place. The property located is about 180 acres by each party or 360 acres in all, which is about the known extent of what is known as the Copperhead and Copper King lodes, which assay seventy-six to eighty per cent. copper with several dollars of silver to the ton ; also a little gold. .

Another correspondent in the issue of Septem- ber Ist says:

Going up Dry creek with a feeling that you have passed the edge of civilization and that nothing but dense forest, unbroken, save by an occasional mining camp, lies beyond until the settlements upon the west side of the Cascades shall have been reached, it is quite a relief when the foundations of several pretty homes are first

sighted in Horse canyon, and later the picturesque farm of Mr. Virden is found nestling down on the Swauk, while a great and agreeable surprise is felt when a continuous line of settlement, in every degree of development, from the well fenced and otherwise well improved farms of Messrs. Giles, Seaton Senior, and Masterson, to the "tomahawk improvements" of the last comer, is found all along the Teanaway and skirting the southern margin of Lake Cle-Elum. Several thousand acres of agricultural lands have been located in this region during the present season and thousands of acres of mixed timber and open lands yet remain open for settlement. A large mill race has been taken out of the Teanaway and two sawmills and a gristmill are now under construction. The principal settlement lies along and one to four miles away from the Seattle and Walla Walla wagon road, as also of the pro- posed Cascade division of the Northern Pacific railroad, the 100-mile tree from salt water being located at a point just opposite the mount of Teanaway creek. At no distant day this must be a large and prosperous settlement, and will add not a little to the traffic of both wagon road and rail- road. The heavy snowfall, averaging perhaps three and a half feet, and the supposed prevalence of destructive frosts, have done much to retard the settlement of the Teanaway country, but hardy Minnesotans are filling up the region and are well satisfied.

Passing through miles of open country in which berry and hazel nut bushes occasionally vie with each other in blocking the way, the whirr, whirr of the grouse, and the deer and bear signs seen quite often, very quickly explain the great attachment onr dusky population feel toward this section. Sighting the magnificent waters of Lake Cle- Elum, bounded upon one side by high, craggy, treeless peaks and upon the other by gently sloping, forest-covered hills, free from underbrush, one can readily understand what a magnificent sight must have been presented when, in days agone, the lake was dotted with gandily decked Indian canoes, or its ice-environed surface was illuminated by hundreds of torches of the piscatorially inclined chil- dren of the forest. Nor is any great stretch of the imagi- nation required to enable one to see that at no distant day the waters of this beautiful lake must attract to its shores many persons upon health or pleasure bent.

Again on December 8th the Standard quotes from a communication of Charles B. Reed, in the following language :

We are not ashamed of the following statement con- cerning our town, valley and surroundings, sent by Post- master Reed to Charles S. Fee, Assistant Superintendent of Traffic, Northern Pacific Railroad Company, in response to a request :

"First, Ellensburg is located about one mile north of the Yakima river; second, population, 450, an increase in two years of 400; third, water power abundant; fourth, has two hotels, capacity 150 guests; one National bank, capital $50,000; two public halls, also an Odd Fellows and A. O. U. W. hall combined and a Masonic hall; four general merchandise stores, carrying $50,000 in stocks; six retail stores and sundry minor establishments, shops, etc .; two newspapers, two livery stables, and a fine two-story pub- lic school building erected entirely by public subscription ; fifth. in the immediate vicinity are five gristmills of from ten to twenty barrels capacity, and excellent equipment ; also three sawmills with capacities of from eight to twenty thousand feet per day : sixth, in adjacent mountains $75,000 in placer and $100,000 in quartz gold have been taken out hy primitive processes and during the past season an ex- tensive field bearing copper ore assaying from fifty to eighty per cent. copper and carrying $15 to $1,000 in silver per ton, has been discovered; also a belt of bituminous coal lying in veins of from five to eight feet adjoining the copper and iron fields ; ninth, our shipments are .

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live stock to the amount of $500,000 per annum, driven chiefly over the Snoqualmie Pass wagon road to Puget Sound markets, and wool hauled 150 miles by wagon and shipped to Portland, Oregon : tenth, in game we have deer, bear, grouse, prairie and sage chickens, ducks and geese, while in fish, every stream carries fine salmon and speckled trout ; eleventh, our neighboring towns are Yakima City, fifty miles, stage fare, $5; Ainsworth, 125 miles, $15 fare ; The Dalles, 150 miles, $15, daily stages, and. Seattle, 125 miles. To reach the later the Snoqualmie Pass wagon road is being constructed, upon which mail service has been ordered and by which stage fare will be $12."

An event of the year 1883 deserving, perhaps, of a passing notice, was the expulsion of a family named Wilson from the valley as a result of a sen- sational criminal trial in which one of them ap- peared as prosecuting witness. It seems that about 1881, the Wilsons settled on the school section, along the Nanum creek, eight miles northeast of Ellensburg. Two years later, Elsie Wilson, one of the young women of the family, laid a complaint against one William Clark, a cowboy, charging him with the crime of seduction. Clark was arrested and placed under bond, but later the case was com- promised in some way. The defendant was re- arrested, however, and a sensational hearing before Justice Ford, who resided a mile and a half south- east of Ellensburg, resulted in his discharge.

The young man had many staunch friends who made open accusations against the Wilson girl, and who expressed their indignation, at the time of the hearing, by repairing to Ford's court in force, load- ing the family into a wagon and taking them down the canyon to Squaw creek, where they were re- leased with a warning that they should never again set foot on Kittitas soil.

Upon reaching Yakima City, Mrs. Angie Wil- son immediately commenced civil proceedings against George O'Hare and others, retaining Allen & Whitson and Reavis & Pruyn as her attorneys. The defendants employed Mires & Hill and Hiram Dus- tin, so that both parties to the battle were well rep- resented by legal talent. After a hard contest in Judge Turner's court in Yakima City, the case was concluded June 2, 1885, by a verdict of $5,000 dam- ages against five or six of the leading defendants. The collection of the judgments greatly crippled several well known Kittitas citizens and caused quite a number to leave the valley.

Great activity continued throughout the year 1884, notwithstanding the scarcity of money which no doubt operated as a brake upon the wheels of industry. The mountains were scoured by pros- pectors, though, it is said, the already discovered properties were not developed so energetically and persistently as during the previous twelvemonth. There was, however, much activity in the Swauk district, which was reorganized and had new laws enacted for it at a meeting held at John Black's cabin, May 7, 1884. The limits of the district were described as follows: "Beginning at the mouth of the Teanaway and running along the east bank of

the same to the Swauk trail; thence to and along the summit of the Swauk and Teanaway divide; thence to and along the summit to the Peshastin and Swauk divide; thence to and along the summit of Wilson creek and Swauk divide; thence along and down the same to the 'Nineteen-mile post' on Dry creek; thence westerly to and across the Yak- ima river; thence up the same to a point opposite the mouth of Teanaway river and across the Yakima river to place of beginning." A feature of the laws enacted was that by them all Chinamen were forbidden to come into, mine or hold property in the camp. The notice to the Chinese by this legislation was signed by the following: Luke McDermott, T. Lloyd Williams, S. Bandy, James A. Gilmour, Zeb. Keller, Moses M. Emerson, James Boall, Daniel May, J. C. Pike, W. H. Elliott, T. F. Meagher, L. McClure, A. J. Wintz, Louis Quietsch, John Black, G. S. Howard and D. L. Evans.

In an article in the Northwest Magazine bear- ing date of September 29, 1884, H. C. Walters spoke of this mining district as follows:

"Fifteen miles south of Peshastin and twenty- five miles from Ellensburg is located the Swauk district, chiefly noted for its placer deposits front which $50,000 to $75,000 have been extracted in nugget gold. The pay is found in an old channel which cannot be traced above the mouth of Becker creek, yet much of the gold has the appearance of having been washed a long distance. Nuggets have been found weighing from $100 to upwards of $750 each; and a perplexing feature in the matter of arriving at a satisfactory conclusion as to the source of the placer deposits is found in the fact that many of the nuggets, mixed with a sort of porphy- ritic quartz or 'spar,' appear to have been freshly broken from veins of that character occurring in the mountain beyond which the older channel is not. higher traceable. The gravel deposit in and about the discovery is deep, the pay spotted and water for extensive working difficult to procure. Hence placer mining has thus far been confined to drifting and ground sluicing in a limited way simply for the bedrock gold. Beautiful wire gold specimens in every imaginable shape and design are found in these placers. As much as $1,100 in spiral and other curious wires have been taken from a single crevice. The bedrock, alternately slate and sand- stone, occasionally carries small seams of coal, and here the strange anomaly has been presented of bituminous coal and native gold in the same crevice. Hydraulic mining has recently been undertaken upon a small scale and it is highly probable that in the near future water sufficient for extensive work- ing will be carried by ditch and flume upon an immense auriferous gravel deposit, appearing to mark the point at which the ancient stream empties into the lake or other body of water once covering Kittitas valley. This deposit is fully one-half town -.

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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 58

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