An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 65

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 65
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 65
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 65

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).

It has pleased me particularly, coming through this mighty state with its extraordinary capacity for industrial development, to see you, men and women, who are de- veloping it, and at the same time that you are taking the fullest advantage of your material resources, are taking care to build upon those as a foundation for a higher life, that you are taking thought for the next generation, taking thought for the country, and for the people that are to come after you.

No men do their duty if they simply think of their own interests, if they do not shape governmental policy, their social policy for the country as a whole, the country that is to come after them. Exactly as every man worth his salt or woman worth her salt, will care even more for their own children's well being. so in this nation we are bound in honor to shape our present policy with a view to the nation's future needs, to do as you did in the Civil war. You went to war. you faced four years of conflict that generations that come after you for cen- turies to come should live in union, in peace within our borders. (Applause). So when you provide for train- ing, upbuilding of children, when you provide for schools -high schools, normal schools, academy, college-you are building firm, wide, deep foundations for right and great- ness of the future; for, after all, important though ma-

terial resources are, important though your wheat, your lumber, your fisheries, your cattle, your mines, your com- merce, your factories are, most important of all is the standard of good citizenship which you produce.

I congratulate Washington upon its school system, upon all its schools from the simplest to the highest; I say a word of special greeting to those engaged in teach- ing. No other body of men or women in time of peace does a more important work than those upon whose teaching the example of sympathy, self abnegation, en- thusiasm, so much for the future generations depends.

Yet men and women must remember that you can- not put off upon teachers the whole duty of educating the next generation. Fathers, mothers, must educate their children in their own homes by precept, by example. Just let me say this, that if your precepts and your ex- amples differ you cannot expect good results for children. There is no use preaching unselfishness if father consist- ently leads a selfish life. There is no use preaching the gospel of work if the father or mother shirks work. There is no use preaching the gospel of duty if there is no attempt to perform duty on the part of those who preach it. A father and mother have a duty in educating their children of which no one can relieve them. Teach- ers can do much, but, after all, it is the help in the home which can do most.

I also want to say a word upon the kinds of quality which we need in citizenship, for we need more than one kind. In the first place you need decency, honesty, the spirit of fair dealing, the spirit that makes a man a good neighbor, a good friend, the spirit that makes a man do his duty by the state. If you have not the foundation for clean living and fair dealing in you, then the greater a man's ability is, the worse he is for the community. It is just as it was in the Civil war; if a man had not the spirit of loyalty, of obedience, of faith to the flag, of faith to the nation, then the stronger, abler, more cun- ning he was, the more dangerous he was. In his regi- ment he was the cause of disturbance; outside the regi- ment he would come very near being a traitor to the nation.

So in civic life, exactly as bodily strength if unac- companied by spirit of self restraint, makes a man a dan- gerous brute, while at the same time if guided in the right, it makes him a most valuable citizen, so mere in- tellectual ability, power that makes a man able to rise in the world, his smartness, his business capacity, his shrewdness, if there is not a backing of moral sense be- hind it, make him more dangerous.

In this country we urgently need to have it estab- lished that weight of public opinion shall be felt just as heavily against the scoundrel who succeeds as against the scoundrel who fails. (Applause). But that is not enough. Exactly as in the Civil war, you need patriot- ism first, but patriotism did not count if the men ran away. So it is in civil life. In addition to the spirit of decency, of fair dealing, of honesty, you must have strong virile virtues; virtues that make a man able to hold his own in the world; to make his weight felt as of moment in the larger life of the nation. It is not enough to mean well when you sit at home. You have to be able to do well when you get out into the actual field. You have to be able to do well in your trade, in business, to keep your family, to make yourself felt; to bring up your children so that they shall go upward a little, to make yourself count, whatever your part.

Virtue that sits at home in its parlor and bemoans how bad the world is never yet benefited anyone. What we need is a type of decent man who can go out, hold his own against all comers; who, without losing his sense of decency, can make himself felt as a man of weight wherever he is put. That applies in the education of children.

Let me come back to that for just one moment. One thing that always makes me feel a little melancholy is to see fathers and mothers who themselves have worked

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hard, led useful lives, but who, in a queer, misguided spirit of foolish affection, try to save their children from trouble by also saving them from being of any earthly use in the world. That is not affection; that is folly.

You all know, among your own neighbors, the man, I am sorry to say, who will say, "Well, I have worked hard: my boys shall enjoy themselves;" or if a woman, she will say, "I have had to work hard; my girls shall be ladies," under the foolish belief that to be a lady means that you are not to work, not to do, not to be of any use in the world. Those parents are preparing for their children a life of misery, a life of uselessness; be- cause of all form of life, that which on the whole is least attractive, which has least real joy in it, is the life con- sciously devoted to nothing but the pursuit of pleasure. It is the meanest type of life that there is to lead.

In '61 there were lots of people in the country who were too fond of ease to go into the war; the easy thing to do was to stay at home and say the country could not be saved; the hard thing to do was to get out and save it. Those men stayed at home; they walked delicately; they lived on the earth's soft places while you had what you could carry on your back, and lay where night over- took you, marched until you were so footsore and weary

that you thought you could not keep up any longer. You found the blanket so heavy that if you were a recruit, you threw it away and at midnight wished you had two. You did that for four years while others lived at ease. Which had the real life-had the life that was worth liv- ing; which is proud now to stand on the heritage of what was done? The man that risked, fought, labored, shed his blood-he is the man who counts; he is the man who had a good time in life.

I do not pity any man because he has had to work at something worth doing and did it well. I admire him; so it is in civil life. Train your children, not how to avoid difficulties, but how to overcome them; train your children not to shirk what is hard, disagreeable, but to do it well. I believe in this country; I believe in you and those like you, because I know that in this country the average citizen has in him or her the power to lead just that kind of a life; has worth in his soul; the spirit that drives him on to work for worthy ends and to win triumph as a result.

My fellow citizens, I have enjoyed to the full coming here to greet you this morning-the men, the women, the children. It has done me good to see you. (Cheers and applause).

CHAPTER III.

POLITICAL.

As told elsewhere in this volume, Kittitas county came into existence late in the fall of 1883, the creating act being approved by the governor November 28th. Upon that memora- ble day in local history Yakima county lost nearly 3,000 square miles or more than a third of its territory, several hundred of its popula- tion, and dominion over one of the largest and fairest valleys in the Northwest. The new po- litical division thus erected was a strong one from the beginning and capable of sustaining a much greater population. So rapid was its development during the first years of its life that it soon attained to a more prominent posi- tion in territorial affairs than did the mother county itself. The two campaigns preceding the organization of the new county were lively ones for the citizens of this region, the overshadow- ing issue being whether or not the people of the Kittitas should be citizens of a new political di- vision or remain citizens of Yakima county. John A. Shoudy, the father of Ellensburg, was elected territorial representative in 1882 and at the next session of the legislature succeeded in securing the passage of his county bill.

By virtue of section two of the creating act, the board of commissioners of Kittitas county,

consisting of Robert N. Canaday, Republican, Samuel T. Packwood and Charles P. Cooke, Democrats, met in called session in Ellensburg, December 17, 1883, for the purpose of organizing the county government. Commissioner Canaday was elected chairman of the board. The board then proceeded to appoint the following officials, all of whom qualified and entered upon the ad- ministration of their offices: Auditor, W. H. Peterson, Democrat; probate judge, Walter A. Bull, Republican; treasurer, Thomas Johnson, Republican ; sheriff and assessor, John C. Good- win, Republican ; superintendent of schools, Miss Irene Cumberlin, Democrat ; surveyor, John R. Wallace, Republican; sheep commissioner, E. W. Lyen, Democrat; and Dr. Newton Henton, Republican, coroner. The following day the board authorized the auditor to purchase the necessary office supplies for county purposes, and adjourned sine die.

The board met in first regular session, Mon- day, February 4. 1884, all being present. B. D. Southern and others presented a petition pray- ing for the resurvey and establishment of the Durr bridge and Tanum creek county road with the following changes, to-wit: "Leaving the line of the county road some forty or fifty rods

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west of the Robinson schoolhouse, to run in a northwesterly course to the north side of a grove on S. T. Packwood's land claim; thence to continue and run due west until it intersects the county road; and that the road be located as it is now traveled through Mr. Hayworth's land claim, B. D. Southern's claim, thence within thirty feet of Seward Southern's pre-emption claim and thence north to the afore- said road." J. H. Stevens and J. L. Vaughn were appointed viewers and J. R. Wallace sur- veyor of the proposed road. The road was offi- cially accepted by the county at the May term. Although not the first road established within the county's boundaries, this road was the first one established by Kittitas county officials.

The same day the board appointed F. M. Thorp and O. Hutchinson as viewers for a new county road to run from George Ellison's place to Mat. Becker's old sawmill site. This road was known as the Watt canyon road; it was duly established in May. On the following day the board acted on still another road petition, one presented by F. Leonhard and others for a road beginning at the south end of Pearl street, Ellensburg, and terminating at or near the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section twenty-two, all in township seventeen north, range eighteen east. E. R. Yocum and B. W. Frisbie were appointed viewers. This road and a relocation of the old Nanum creek road were also established at the May term.

The board next directed its attention to a division of the county into twelve road districts, the names of the first supervisors, in the numer- ical order of the districts, being as follows: Till- man Houser, T. T. Wilson, Thomas Haley, Ja- cob Bowers, W. H. Stoddard (elected), J. J. Su- ver, David Freer, Elmer Lockwood, Joseph Ste- vens, J. Jostes, William Briggs (elected), and W. A. Stevens.

On February 7th the board divided the county into three commissioners' districts :

"No. I. Commencing on the Yakima river at the mouth of the Nanum creek; thence up said creek to the head of same; thence in a northerly direction to the mouth of Nigger creek on the Wenachie river; thence down the Columbia river to the south line of Kittitas county; thence west on said line to the Yakima river; thence up said river to the. place of beginning.

"No. 2. Commencing on the Yakima river at the mouth of Nannm creek; thence up said creek to its head; thence northerly to the mouth of Nigger creek on the Wenachie river; thence up the Wenachie river to the summit of the Cascade mountains; thence westerly to the headwaters of the Yakima river; thence down said river to the place of beginning.

"No. 3. Shall be and comprise all that part

of Kittitas county on the west side of Yakima river."

At the May term the board authorized Au- ditor Peterson to enter into a contract with A. W. Engle, cashier of the First National Bank of Ellensburg, for the rent of rooms adjoining the office room and vault of that bank as offices for the auditor and sheriff ; the auditor was also au- thorized to rent a portion of the bank's vault. Accordingly a six months' lease at $25 a month was entered into between the bank and the county and the latter's officials at once occupied their temporary courthouse.

The August term was a busy and an impor- tant one. The first business of consequence to come before the board was the laying out of six election precincts, which was done August 5th as follows: Whitson or East Kittitas, with voting place at the Grange schoolhouse; Ellensburg ; Wenas, with voting place at Henson's sawmill; West Kittitas, with voting place at the Bond school; Swauk, voting place at the Virden schoolhouse; and Wenatchee, voting place in Miller & Greer's store. Then grand and petit jurors were drawn for service at the county's first term of court, and principally that the names of as many pioneers as possible may be preserved we give the list of those drawn: Grand jury, A. Burge, William Briggs, C. C. Coleman, G. W. Carver, H. M. Cooper, John Davis, B. W. Fris- bie, J. F. LeClerc, David Freer, R. F. Mont- gomery, J. L. Mills, and J. H. Stevens; petit jurors, John Amlin, John Catlin, J. S. Dysart, William Grim, O. Hutchinson, Henry Knight, T. D. Quinn, T. O. Stepp, Braxton D. Southern, J. P. Sharp, David Wheaton, J. L. Vaughn, Jacob Bowers, James Curtis, Tom Doke, James Ferguson, E. G. Grindrod, John Haley, William J. McCausland, B. S. Pease, S. T. Sterling, Wil- liam Taylor, V. C. Wynegar, and J. R. Van Al- stine. The contract for county printing was awarded D. J. Schnebly, proprietor of the Lo- calizer. The application of the Seattle and Walla Walla Trail and Wagon Road Company for the privilege of maintaining a toll road from the summit of the Cascades down to Tanum creek over their old route was favorably acted upon at this same session. Before adjourning the board rented, for $15 a day, Elliott's hall, in the First National Bank building, for use as a courtroom ; agreed upon and levied the following tax assess- ment: territorial two and a half mills, peniten- tiary one-quarter mill, county eight mills, school three mills, road and bridge one mill, property road one mill and poll four dollars; and author- ized the issuance of warrants to the amount of $15,407.62, payable to Yakima county as Kit- titas county's share of the mother county's in- debtedness, agreed upon by the respective auditors.

Sheriff Goodwin presented his resignation to

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the board November 7, 1884, whereupon Com- missioner Packwood, having also resigned, was appointed to fill the unexpired term of the former.

Kittitas county's first general election was held in November, 1884, and was an event of great importance in local history. There were no local issues of special importance involved, the contest being overshadowed by the presiden- tial struggle, though Washington as a territory could take no deciding part in the greater cam- paign. The Republicans gathered in county con- vention at Elliott's hall, Saturday afternoon, August 23d. Dr. I. N. Power was chosen chair- man; R. Price, secretary. The following dele- gates were seated: Nanum, B. W. Lewis, Thomas Haley, James Dysart and S. T. Sterling ; Wenas, Charles Pressey; West Kittitas, J. P. Sharp, R. G. Hawn, B. D. Southern and W. A. Stevens; Ellensburg, Austin Mires, I. N. Power, Thomas Johnson and S. C. Davidson ; Swauk, M. C. Giles, R. Price and T. Caster ; Wenatchee, unrepresented. The convention adopted the short but strong platform given below :

"Resolved, That we indorse the platform of the National Republican convention, adopted at Chicago in 1884, and the nominees thereof for president and vice-president, James G. Blaine and John A. Logan.

"Resolved, That we demand an economical administration of all public offices, both terri- torial and county.

"Resolved, That we favor the speedy admis- sion of our territory into the union."

Dr. I. N. Power, S. T. Sterling, R. Price and Thomas Haley were chosen as delegates to the territorial convention, while the county ticket was selected as follows: Probate judge, W. A. Bull; auditor, J. R. Wallace; sheriff-assessor, J. J. Imbrie; treasurer, E. Dickson; commis- sioners, W. A. Stevens, Thomas Haley and J. S. Dysart ; surveyor, B. E. Craig ; superintendent of schools, Rev. J. A. Laurie; coroner, Dr. T. J. Newland; sheep commissioner, Mat. Becker.

The Democrats met in the same hall, Au- gust 30th, the officers of the convention being John Amlin, chairman, and G. W. Seaton, secre- tary. The delegates present were: Ellensburg, James J. Hart, Nick Rollinger, John Cato, Harry Simpson, M. C. Sprague, L. Pool, G. W. Seaton ; Whitson, A. A. Meade, John Davis, R. F. Mont- gomery, W. Taylor, John Thompson, Daniel Gaby, Jesse McDonald; West Kittitas, S. T. Packwood, J. M. Shelton, O. Hutchinson, John Amlin, P. Barnes, John Neuman, James Brooks; Wenas, Jacob Somers; Teanaway, S. S. Bates, James Stevens, B. K. May, Peter McCallum. The platform adopted read :

"Resolved, That we approve the platform of the Democratic National convention and indorse

the nomination of Grover Cleveland and Thomas A. Hendricks for president and vice-president.

"Resolved, That to insure an economical ad- ministration of public affairs in all public offices it is necessary to put Democrats into office.

"Resolved, That we favor the regulation of railroad traffic to avoid discrimination in favor of Portland, and against the people east of the Cascades."

The county ticket placed in the field by this convention consisted of John Davis for probate judge; W. H. Peterson for auditor; Samuel T. Packwood for sheriff ; J. J. Mueller for treasurer ; Miss Irene Cumberlin for superintendent of schools; George W. Seaton for surveyor; C. C. Coleman for sheep commissioner; Dr. M. V. Amen for coroner; and C. P. Cooke, J. R. Van Alstine and J. M. Shelton for county commis- sioners.

There were some dissatisfied Democrats and Independents, however, and these met Septem- ber 29th in Elliott's hall. They nominated E. N. Cooke for sheriff; A. Whitson for commis- sioner from district No. 1; and B. E. Craig for surveyor ; the Democratic nominees for the other offices were indorsed.

From the official vote, given below, the rest of the story may be read :

Delegate to congress, Voorhees, Democrat, 551, Armstrong, Republican, 345; adjutant gen- eral, Anderson, Democrat, 485, O'Brien, Repub- lican, 412; brigadier general, McAuliff, Demo- crat, 485, Peel, Republican, 411; commissary general, Berg, Democrat, 466, Livingston, Re- publican, 410; quartermaster general, Hand, Democrat, 485, Jackson, Republican, 411 ; prose- cuting attorney, Dustin, Democrat, 520, Smith, Republican, 458; joint councilman, J. B. Reavis (elected), Democrat, 451, John A. Shoudy, Re- publican, 410; joint representative, Yakima and Kittitas, C. P. Cooke (elected), Democrat, 639, W. L. Stabler, Republican, 336; sheriff, Samuel T. Packwood, Democrat, 441, J. J. Imbrie, Re- publican, 318, Ed. Cooke, Independent, 52, Till- man, also an Independent, 50; auditor, W. H. Peterson, Democrat, 722, J. R. Wallace, Repub- lican, 145; treasurer, J. J. Mueller, Democrat, 604, E. Dickson, Republican, 267; probate judge, John Davis, Democrat, 482, W. A. Bull, Repub- lican, 382; commissioners, R. F. Montgomery, Democrat, 466, J. S. Dysart, Republican, 505, J. R. VanAlstine, Democrat, 498, Thomas Haley, Republican, 405, J. M. Shelton, Democrat, 475, W. A. Stevens, Republican, 397; surveyor, G. W. Seaton, Democrat, 339, B. E. Craig, Republican, 240, J. R. Wallace, Independent, 278; superin- tendent public schools, Miss Irene Cumberlin, Democrat, 606, J. A. Laurie, Republican, 265; coroner, Dr. M. V. Amen, Democrat, 479, T. J. Newland, Republican, 397; sheep commissioner, C. C. Coleman, Democrat, 477, Mat. Becker, 379;

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church property tax, yes 438, no 256. Of course, the electors were asked to permanently locate the county seat. Ellensburg, being practically the only candidate in the field, easily carried off the prize, receiving 630 votes out of a total of 760. The proposition submitted by the commis- sioners to spend $4,000 in the erection of a small county building and vault was received with gen- eral disfavor, the vote standing only 133 affirm- atively, while 489 voted negatively. So the county remained without a courthouse three years longer.

During the ensuing two years Kittitas county enjoyed a wonderful growth, which resulted in a general shaking up of county affairs. In March, 1886, Miss Cumberlin and J. J. Mueller resigned their respective offices. The board appointed D. G. C. Baker as superintendent of schools and Henry Rehmke to succeed Mueller as treasurer. June 28th local option elections were held in sev- eral precincts. Whitson precinct alone refused the saloon admittance to its territory, Ellens- burg, West Kittitas and Swauk defeating the prohibition movement by large majorities. J. R. Wallace, who had become surveyor in the mean- time, resigned his office in November, 1886, and the office remained vacant until the first of the year 1887. The general election was held No- vember 2, 1886, seven precincts participating, Whitson, Ellensburg, West Kittitas, Tunnel City, Wenatchee, Mission Creek and Teanaway. No local issues of special importance distin- guished the campaign. As a thorough search through the records fails to discover those re- lating to the election of 1886, we are unable to present other than a list of the county officers elected :

Joint councilman, Charles P. Cooke, Demo- crat ; representative, T. J. V. Clark, Republican ; county commissioners, James S. Dysart, A. T. Mason, Republicans, S. L. Bates, Democrat ; sheriff-assessor, Samuel T. Packwood, Demo- crat; treasurer, Henry Rehmke, Democrat; sur- veyor, E. J. Rector, who failed to qualify and was succeeded by C. R. Smith, appointed in March, 1887; auditor, W. H. Peterson, Demo- crat; probate judge, John Davis, Democrat; superintendent of schools, Clara V. Peterson, Democrat; sheep inspector, E. W. Lyen, Demo- crat ; coroner, Dr. N. Henton, Republican. Thus it will be seen that the county was still in the Democratic column. The unofficial returns from Kittitas on territorial officers shows that Charles S. Voorhees, the Democratic candidate for dele- gate, received 888, while his Republican oppo- nent, C. M. Bradshaw, received 567 votes. These figures give us some idea of the enormous gain in population that the county experienced in the years 1885 and 1886.

National issues predominated in 1888 in view of the fact that early statehood was expected by

Washingtonians and each party in the territory wished to make as imposing a showing as pos- sible. The territory went Republican by a large majority. "Tuesday, November 6th, election day," says the Ellensburg Localizer in its issue of November 10, 1888, "opened fine, but a light rain set in and made the weather disagreeable for a short time, after which it cleared up. Voting commenced as soon as the polls opened. The election was a very quiet one, there being no fighting, no boisterous talking, everybody being on his good behavior. There was considerable scratching done. The vote in the Ellensburg precinct reached 648. Considerable money was staked on the results of the election this year. C. S. Voorhees, Democrat, was beaten in this county by a majority of sixteen, and Allen car- ried almost every other county in the territory, being elected by a majority of between 5,000 and 7,000. In Kittitas the Republicans elected the auditor, sheriff, and two commissioners, and gave a majority for Snow as joint councilman, as did Yakima and Douglas also. Fruit carried Franklin, but Lincoln will have to give him a plurality or he is defeated. Dr. Power is elected joint representative of Yakima and Kittitas coun- ties." Saturday night, the 17th, the Republicans ·of Ellensburg and surrounding country made a memorable one for that city. The demonstra- tion was in honor of the election of General Har- rison and Levi P. Morton. The torch light pro- cession was introduced for the first time to the people of this region, while the blowing of horns, cheering and the firing of anvils intermittently gave the city a sensation that it had never before witnessed. Speeches followed the parading. The official vote cast in this county follows:

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An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 65

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