An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 59

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 59
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 59
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 59

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KITTITAS COUNTY.,

ship in extent and its greatest depth is one hundred feet.

"Gold bearing quartz, assaying from $10 to $300 and remarkably free in character, has been discovered in the Swauk district. Considerable money has been expended in an effort to develop the Homestake Company's property, but here, as in fact in almost every other mining enterprise un- dertaken in this rgion, the amateur mania for tun- neling upon undeveloped quartz prospects pre- vailed and in consequence nothing beyond the value and extent of highly promising top croppings is known."

But the precious metals and copper do not con- stitute the only minerals of Kittitas county. Even in 1884 the existence was known of a mineral which has since surpassed all others in importance and wealth producing power, namely coal. The discov- ery of "float" had caused some desultory prospect- ing at a very early period and its presence was responsible for the interest taken in the Lake Cle- Elum country by the Northern Pacific Company, long before the rails were laid through Kittitas valley. At any rate about the year 1881, they sent into the region a prospecting party in charge of a man named Taylor. The party failed to discover the desired commodity, and had the assurance to report the utter absence of it in the country.

· Two years later the Lake Cle-Elum region be- gan to settle up. April 28, 1883, Thomas L. Gamble came and staked off as a homestead the southeast quarter of section twenty-six, township twenty north, range fifteen east, which is now a portion of the townsite of Cle-Elum. By him Walter J. Reed was induced to come in and take the claim adjoining on the west, These two men were the first permanent settlers in the township, but later that same summer came C. P. Brosious, a pros- pector, and located on a claim between Cle-Elum lake and the site of Roslyn. He was soon followed by Chris. Anderson, John East and John Stone and perhaps one or two others. The land proved very productive, yielding as a reward for the labor and faith of Mr. Gamble a large crop of potatoes and other vegetables the first season. Another arrival of the year 1883 was H. Witters, who built a saw- niill at the mouth of Teanaway creek, operating the same by a turbine water wheel.

Hardly had Mr. Gamble completed his cabin when his attention was called by Mr. Brosious to the float coal found in the vicinity. As he had for- merly been a resident of the Pennsylvania coal fields, Mr. Gamble was familiar with the mineral and competent to judge of its quality. The speci- mens exhibited by Brosious he found to be good, but he nevertheless took but little interest, giving his energies rather to the task of building a home in the wilderness. There were others, however, who gave the matter more attention, among them George D. Virden and William Branam, the former of whom, it is claimed, opened up what was prob-

ably the first deposit of any size found in the county, a portion of what afterward became Mine No. 3, situated at Ronald. But little development work was done the first summer. The discoveries, or supposed discoveries of the year were summed up in a newspaper of the time as follows:

"In reference to the recent coal discoveries in this county, we learn from Messrs. Gamble and Masterson that the present limits of the coal field are the Masterson gulch, left fork of the Teanaway and Lake Cle-Elum. Thirteen locations have been made by Seattle and Renton people and six quarter sections by Messrs. Schnebly, Smith, Bull, Walters and others of this place (Ellensburg). Mr. Gamble an experienced operator, states that three likely discoveries have been made, one a five-foot vein of bituminous coal of excellent quality being undoubt- edly in place. Coming upon the heels of the suc- cessful season's campaign among the copper, silver, iron and other smelting ores of the Cle-Elum and lying upon the proposed line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, in the very gateway of the Cle- Elum district, these coal discoveries are of great importance to our whole people."

The same publication in its issue of November 17th says: "Now comes John Stone forward with tidings of the finding of no less than four well defined veins, though from what is told us we are of the opinion that this latest find is on the same helt as those of the Teanaway. Mr. Stone's find is four miles and a half northwest of the Preston ranch, and on the east side of the Yakima river. Among those who have located are: John Stone. C. P. Brosious, J. R. Tucker, William and K. Branam and 'Auntie' Maynard."

To George D. Virden and "Nez" Jensen belong the honor of exporting the first coal from the Roslyn mines. The former took his out in a sack and tried it in a blacksmith shop in Ellensburg. June 24, 1884, Jensen started with his first load, and throughout the whole summer he made fort- nightly trips with team and wagon, supplying the Ellensburg blacksmithis. This ore was taken front what became known as the "Dirty" vein, opened by Jensen, Brosious, Branam and others.

Throughout the season of 1884 much prospect- ing was done. Among the seekers for hidden treas- ure were Brosious and Reed, who together had the previous year discovered the vein on which Mine No. 3 was later located. They met with lit- tle success in 1884, finding only occasional speci- mens or broken ledges of poor quality, but during the spring of 1885, in company with Judge I. A. Navarre, of Lake Chelan, they discovered the famous Roslyn vein in upper Smith creek canyon. The original prospect was a large cropping on a hillside a little west of Mine No. 3. It was covered with earth originally, but this the prospectors scraped away, bringing to light a considerable body of coal. Smith creek is a small stream draining

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into the Yakima, a narrow, short, irregular and densely timbered canyon heading above Roslyn.

Judge Navarre called the Northern Pacific Rail- road Company's attention to the discovery of the Roslyn vein, which promised better than any pros- pect previously found, and he succeeded in induc- ing the company to send experts to locate the prop- erty and look over the field. None of the original discoverers were ever directly recompensed for the valuable information furnished the railway officials. They could not locate the find themselves as it was upon railroad land.

In May, 1886, the Northern Pacific Company's party made its appearance in Kittitas county. Its personnel was H. E. Graham, Harry Cottle, Thomas Flemming, Archibald Patrick, William Thompson, Archie Anderson and William Anderson, and it was equipped with diamond drills and everything else that could facilitate the search. At Masterson's ranch, four miles east of Cle-Elum, it sank its first prospect hole, and found the mineral of which it was in search, after which the drill was moved to a point north of Cle-Elum. In a comparatively short time a number of splendid mines were discovered and located.

August 12, 1886, active development work was begun by a force· of eighteen men under the super- vision of James Anderson. Simultaneously with the prospecting party came also a company of en- gineers, surveying for a practicable route from the main line at Cle-Elum to the coal fields, and in June construction crews reached Cle-Elum and be- gan work on the Roslyn branch. By November or December the road to the mines was completed. The shipment of coal commenced at once and the rapid development of the region began. It is claimed that the discovery of the Roslyn coal beds was what definitely decided the railway company in favor of the Stampede pass, rather than the Naches or any other.

Unfortunately, the opening of the mines gave rise to much litigation between the railroad com- pany and the settlers. The company began at once an effort to secure possession of the entire district, buying the claims of settlers and carrying them for- ward to patent as rapidly as the law would allow. Many persons took advantage of the situation by acquiring an inchoative right to land, in order to sell to the railway at a good price. Some claims netted their owners as high as $3,000. Many bona fide settlers were forced to sell as they could not prove up under either the homestead or pre-emption laws, when the land was shown to be mineral in character, and to patent the claims under the stat- utes governing the disposal of such lands cost $20 an acre in cash, besides a specified amount of devel- opment work.

Of course, the railway company could not ac- quire the whole district peaceably, and in Aingust, 1886, it contested the claims of twenty-six settlers on the ground that the land was mineral and not

agricultural in character, offering as evidence to sustain its contention the affidavits of H. E. Gra- ham and Archie Anderson, two of the prospecting party sent out the previous spring. In order to oust. the settlers the coal company must prove that at the time of filing on the claims the settler-knew of the existence of mineral thereon, certainly a difficult task. The case was taken directly to the General Land office and two years later was decided by the secretary of the interior in favor of the settlers.

Meanwhile the main line of the Northern Pacific was in course of construction througlı Kit- titas county, giving employment to all who wished it, furnishing a market for the products of the agri- culturists, distributing thousands of dollars in a county that had theretofore suffered through lack of a sufficient circulating medium and otherwise contributing almost immeasurably to the develop- ment and settlement of the whole of south central Washington. Throughout the entire year, 1886, the company was active in the Kittitas country and the mountains to westward, pushing to completion the- connection between the two parts of the Cascade division. During the fall of that year, the efforts to fill in the gap become especially strenuous. Says the Yakima Signal of October 13, 1886: "A recent trip along the road from Tacoma to Ellensburg demonstrates to the satisfaction of a Signal repre- sentative that, if the present favorable weather does not break, through trains will be running early in January. On the west side (of the Cascade moun- tains) the track is laid nearly to Hot Springs, a distance of thirteen miles east of Eagle Gorge, and on this side the track has reached McGinnis's, twelve miles from the mail tunnel. The grade is nearly if not quite completed to the east face of the main tunnel, barring the trestles and the minor tunnels, which will be finished in time to allow of the track's reaching the switchback by the Ist of December. Hunt's grade work on the east side will be completed to-day and between five and six hun- dred laborers will be let out, some of whom have been secured to push the work on the west side. The grading on the switchback is approaching the finish, and will be delayed only for the trestling. Leonhard's mill, having exhausted the suitable tim- ber at Tunnel City, has moved to a point two miles west of Cle-Elum, where it will be utilized in saw- ing trestle timbers, which will be fitted at the mill and moved by car to the switchback, ready to be swung into place and bolted. On the west side the work is not so far forward. A reduction of wages on October 6th to two dollars a day lessened the forces considerably, but the old wages are to be reinstated and the work hurried forward. Engineer Bogue is desirous of having the connection made by the Ist day of January, 1887, and is exerting every energy to that end, and should the weather hold good his desires will be fulfilled."

When at last the gap was bridged and trains began laboriously working their way back and

System of Farm Corrals.

Upper yakima River _

Housed for the night.

THREE FEATURES OF KITTITAS COUNTY RURAL LIFE.

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KITTITAS COUNTY.

forth over the interminable windings of the switch- back, the country enjoyed not only the blessings of a transcontinental railway but likewise a continua- tion of the period of construction, for the great Cascade tunnel kept men at work constantly for years. The impetus given to the territory at large, by the completion of the iron pathway connecting it with the east, soon enabled it to knock successfully at the doors of the federal union, and Kittitas county, by reason of the fact that the bars of its isolation were broken forever and owing to the de- velopment of its mineral as well as its agricultural and timber resources, was ready to take a promi- nent place among the political divisions of the larger Washington.

It is necessary to record but a few more events happening in the countv during its life as a part of the territory. In 1885 was incorporated the Ellens- burg Water Company with a capital stock of $40,000, subscribed by the farmers and real estate owners of the Kittitas valley. It proposed to itself the task of constructing the first large ditch ever undertaken in the county. The canal took its water out of the Yakima river and carried it in a south- easterly direction across the valley, covering at first several thousand acres, and subsequently a much larger territory. The people were rather slow in carrying forward the enterprise and after about ten miles of the ditch were completed, work was sus- pended until 1891, when it was extended seven miles further. One of the moving spirits in this in:portant enterprise, which gave a great impetus to Ellensburg, was S. T. Packwood. For several terms he served as president of the company of which he was the largest stockholder at the time he disposed of his interests.

The territorial legislature of 1885-6 passed an act slightly changing the boundary between Yakima and Kittitas counties and correcting an error in the wording of the act creating the latter. By this change of boundaries, Yakima county gained nearly four townships on the upper Wenas, while Kittitas gained a township embracing in part the Yakima canyon. The language of section one of the bill follows :

"That the boundary line between Kittitass and Yakima counties, in Washington Territory, be and the same is hereby changed and shall hereafter be as follows, viz .: Commencing at a point where the main channel of the Columbia river crosses the township line between townships fourteen (14) and fifteen (15) north, of range number twenty-three (23) east of the Willamette meridian, and running thence west on the said township line to the range line between ranges eighteen and nine- teen east, thence north on said range line six miles, or to the township line between the townships fifteen (15) and sixteen (16) north, thence west on the said township line to the range line between ranges seventeen (17) and eighteen (18) east, thence north to the town-

ship line between townships sixteen (16) and sev- enteen (17) north, thence west along said town- ship line and a line prolonged due west to the Nachess river, and thence northerly along the main channel of the Nachess river to the summit of the Cascade mountains, or the eastern boundary of Pierce county." Governor Squire approved the bill February 4, 1886. No further changes have since been made in the county's boundary lines.

The first serious railroad accident in the county occurred, according to Thomas L. Gamble's valu- able diary of events, on March 31, 1887. A loco- motive working on the divide above Easton became unmanageable and started down the track at a ter- rific speed. The fireman jumped early and escaped injury. As the engine rounded a sharp curve, the engineer also jumped. He struck against a high bank, rebounded onto the track and was seriously though not fatally bruised. A little below this point and beyond another sharp curve, four men were at work on a high trestle, spanning a canyon. One of these men was struck and killed instantly ; another jumped to the ground, seventy feet below, and was badly injured, though he recovered; a third threw himself flat between the rails and es- caped owing to the fact that the engine was run- ning on one rail at that point in its mad career, while the engine left the tracks before it reached the fourth man, who watched the steel monster leap through the air, down to a snow bank many feet below. It was hauled out of its resting place, re- paired and placed in service again. The inquest over the body of the unfortunate man killed by this accident was held by Mr. Gamble.

April 21, 1887, less than a month later, another and more serious accident occurred, the scene this time being the vicinity of Cle-Elum. A large con- struction crew was being taken back from dinner on a flat car pushed by an engine. A drunken engi- neer was in charge, a man who took great delight in throwing the throttle wide open whenever he felt so disposed. On the flat car were twenty men, sitting in front and on the sides with their legs dangling over the edges, when the train pulled out from Cle-Elum to a place were the men were employed some dis- tance up the line. A mile and a half above town the train rounded a curve at a rapid rate of speed and crashed into the tender of a disabled engine int front, which was slowly descending the grade, flat car and tender coming together. Five men were killed instantly, their remains being frightfully mangled ; three more were mortally wounded and all the rest were injured more or less seriously.

At an inquest held before Justice Gamble at Cle- Elum, the crews of both engines were bound over to appear before the grand jury at its next session. Before the next term of court the train crews de- parted for parts unknown, and as the grand jury failed to find true bills against any of them, no attempt was made to mete out punishment to those

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guilty of this awful disregard of human safety and life.

An event, long to be remembered by those who were residents of Kittitas county at the time was the great Roslyn strike commencing in August, 1888. It was instigated, so it is claimed, by the Knights of Labor, then a new organization. The strikers · demanded that the hours of labor be reduced from ten to eight and that other concessions be granted, but their principal contention, and the one which was most strenuously objected to by the adverse party, was that all employees not affiliated with the Knights of Labor should be summarily dismissed. Upon the refusal of the superintendent to accede to their demands, the strike was ordered at once, the strikers calling upon all workingmen to give them a moral support. Indeed, Mr. Gamble tells us that a virtual reign of terror was inaugurated, and that the chief victims were those toilers who refused to go out in sympathetic strike when so ordered. He states that about the middle of August, the em- ployees of Thomas Johnson's mill at Cle-Elum were directed to cease work forthwith; that upon hearing of it, Mr. Johnson called his men together and asked if they had any grievances ; that on their re- plying in the negative he asked them if they would remain at work and they said yes; that the men were armed and placed in a position to defy the strikers, when at length the latter appeared. Upon being told to go about their own business, he says, the strikers threatened to burn the sawmill. They failed, however, to carry their threats into execu- tion, as the mill was vigilantly and efficiently guarded.

It is also related that Superintendent Alexander Ronald was captured by the mob, severely beaten and then placed between the Roslyn branch railway tracks to meet death from an oncoming train. For- tunately, the train crew saw the man in time. They did not dare to stop, but slowed down considerably that the fireman might pick Mr. Ronald up, a feat which he successfully accomplished, the angry mob hooting and jeering the while. The train brought the outraged man to Cle-Elum and placed him in

the Reed hotel where he and others who had in- curred the enmity of the strikers were closely guarded by citizens. An attempt to capture certain persons within this place of refuge on August 28th was frustrated by the courageous opposition of Sheriff Packwood, Judge Gamble, Walter J. Reed, Theodore Steiner and a number of other defenders. The next day there came at the request of the miners Governor Semple and staff. The chief executive went to Roslyn, accompanied by Sheriff Packwood and addresscd the citizens of that place. He de- clined to interfere in the situation, stating that such action could not be taken unless at the request of the sheriff, who had as yet said nothing to indicate that he and his deputies were unable to cope with matters. So Governor Semple returned to Olym- pia without having interfered with the county's affairs. The trouble continued in a desultory way, however, although Sheriff Packwood and his large force of deputies in the mining region warded off serious complications, and Governor Semple, Janu- ary 22, 1889, again visited Cle-Elum in an effort to settle the strike. Sheriff Packwood remained in office until the following March, keeping such a firm hand upon the situation that the operation of the mines was continued uninterruptedly and after the first few outbreaks, there was no more trouble of a serious nature, though some few indulged in petty acts of a malignant and contemptible kind. Mr. Gamble claims that to his personal knowledge, three different men were beaten into helplessness and then permanently maimed by having each an eye kicked out.

The company filled the places of its striking employees with negroes . imported from Illinois. Two shipments were brought out, special trains guarded by deputies being run to convey them to their new homes in the west. For two years after- ward the black population of the district outnum- bered the white, but the first negroes imported were a corrupt lot, and the company filled their places by whites as rapidly as possible. There are, however, still quite a large number of negroes at Roslyn.

CHAPTER II.

CURRENT EVENTS .- 1889-1904.

The early months of the first year of statehood were not specially prosperous ones in Kittitas county. There was a great scarcity of snow in the mountains throughout the winter of 1888-9, and the result was a shortage of water for agricultural purposes. The grass also was affected by the drouth and cattle were left in poor condition to withstand the hardships of the following winter. The farmers having very little produce to sell ex- perienced a scarcity of ready cash that was in many instances embarrassing. They, of course, contracted as few debts as possible, doing without everything they could and unloading nearly all their surplus produce right after the Ellensburg fire when the demand was extraordinary. They did compara- tively little business with the merchants and the result was dull times.

The fall of snow in the winter of 1889-90 made the farmers jubilant over the prospect of good crops and plenty of water the following season. But the snow lay on the ground so long that much hardship was experienced, especially among the stockmen. Even as late as February 26th, the mercury recorded thirty-four degrees below zero.

"The winter of 1889-90," says the Capital in its issue of April Ioth, "has been one long to be re- membered by the people of Ellensburg and Kittitas valley. It followed on the heels of a dry summer which had caused short crops, and although the heavy snowfall brought joy to the hearts of the farmers, it lay so long on the ground that it brought dismav to stockmen, for the ranges were covered to a depth which made it difficult for stock, espe- cially cattle and sheep, to reach the bunch grass underneath. As a consequence the loss was tin- usually great, and for a while a feeling of discour- agement was plainly visible. Now, however, spir- its are rising and both farmers and business men are putting their shoulders to the wheel."

The dry season had at least one beneficial result- for it led the people of the valley to redouble their efforts to provide a sufficient supply of water, so that by August of the year 1889 they had almost completed the ditch known as the West Side canal, which would furnish water for about ten thousand acres of arid land besides supplying the shortage on farms theretofore partially irrigated. They thus added many thousands to the value of property on the west side of the river, augmenting very mater- ially the productive capacity of the land.

During the year 1890 a petition was presented to the legislature, asking for a division of Kitti- tas county and for the formation of a new county to be known as Grant. The boundaries of the pro- posed new political entity were to be as follows: Commencing at a point where the township line be- tween townships twenty-three and twenty-four crosses the range line between eighteen and nine- teen east, Willamette meridian, and extending thence south on said line to the township line be- tween townships nineteen and twenty; thence west on said line between townships nineteen and twen- ty to the range line between ranges seventeen and eighteen : thence south on said range line to the township line between townships sixteen and seven- teen ; thence west along said line to the Naches river ; thence northerly along the main channel of said river to the summit of the Cascade mountains or south- west corner of Pierce county ; thence north along the eastern boundaries of Pierce, King and Snohomish counties to the main channel of the Wenatchee river : thence down said river to where said river crosses the township line between townships twenty- three and twenty-four; thence south on said town- ship line to the point of beginning.

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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 59

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