An illustrated history of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas counties; with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 67

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 67
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 67
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 67


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).


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Kittitas valley residents were given an oppor- tunity, Sunday morning, April 1, 1900, of seeing and hearing the country's great silver apostle, William Jennings Bryan, for on that day the dis- tinguished gentleman passed through the valley enroute westward. At Ellensburg, Governor Rogers introduced his guest to the crowd assem- bled, and after a short speech Mr. Bryan held a reception. The campaign of that year was as mteresting as most presidential campaigns are, nothing of especial local importance marking the contest. National issues predominated. Presi- dent McKinley's administration was indorsed in Washington by a majority of nearly 13,000 aml the re-election of Congressmen Jones and Cush- man by majorities of over 10,000. As had been predicted by many, the year 1900 witnessed the


dissolution of the Populist party, the Demo- cratic party absorbing the greater portion of its strength. However, a fusion convention was held in this county August 25th and a ticket placed in the field under the name Democratic. The Republicans held their county convention August 11th.


From the official returns given below, the vic- tors in the local contest may be seen. It will be noticed that the majorities are small.


For presidential electors, Republican, 1,139, Fusionist, 934, Prohibitionist, 52, Socialist La- bor, 9, Social Democrat, 22; congressmen, Fran- cis W. Cushman, Wesley L. Jones, Republicans, 1,098 and I,II0 votes respectively, F. C. Robert- son, J. T. Ronald, Democrats, 924 and 934 votes respectively, Guy Posson, J. A. Adams, Prohibi- tionists, 45 and 41 votes respectively, Walter Walker, Christian F. Larsen, Socialist Labor- ites, II and 9 votes respectively, William Hagan, Herman F. Titus, Social Democrats, 18 and 20 votes respectively ; justices supreme court, Wal- lace Mount, R. O. Dunbar, Republicans, 1,091, I,IOI respectively, E. C. Million, Richard Win- sor, Democrats, 937 and 918 votes respectively, Everett Smith, Prohibitionist, 48; Thomas Young, Frank Martin, Social Laborites, 13 each, D. M. Angus, J. H. Hay, Social Democrats, 19 and 23 votes respectively ; supreme court justice, unexpired term, William H. White, Democrat, 989, no opposition; governor, J. M. Frink, Re- publican, 946, John R. Rogers, Democrat, I,125 (elected), R. E. Dunlap, Prohibitionist, 34, Wil- liam McCormick, Social Laborite, 10, W. C. B. Randolph, Social Democrat, 13; lieutenant gov- ernor, Henry McBride, Republican, 1,055, Wil- liam E. McCroskey, Democrat, 981, C. I. Hall, Prohibitionist, 40, Matt Matson, Social Laborite, 13, E. S. Remert, Social Democrat, 16; secretary of state, Samuel H. Nichols, Republican, 1,073, James Brady, Democrat, 964, J. W. McCoy, Pro- hibitionist, 40, William J. Hoag, Social Laborite, II, James H. Ross, Social Democrat, 18; treas- urer, C. W. Maynard, Republican, 1,080, W. E. Runner, Democrat, 954, C. C. Gridley, Prohibi- tionist, 42, Eric Norling, Social Laborite, 12, J. J. Fraser, Social Democrat, 18; auditor, John D. Atkinson, Republican, 1,076, L. J. Silverthorn, Democrat, 954, A. W. Steers, Prohibitionist, 42, F. B. Graves, Social Laborite, 24. Charles S. Wallace, Social Democrat, 16; attorney general, W. B. Stratton, Republican, 1,062, Thomas M. Vance, Democrat, 967, Avid A. Byers, Prohibi- tionist, 40, John Ellis, Social Laborite, 14, David W. Phipps, Social Democrat, 18; superintendent of public instruction, R. B. Bryan, Republican, 1,064, Frank J. Browne, Democrat, 969, A. H. Sherwood, Prohibitionist, 47, Raymond Bland, Social Laborite, 13, John A. Kingsbury, Social Democrat, 18; commissioner public lands, Ste- phen A. Callvert, Republican, 1,078, O. R. Hol-


BLIND TOBY AND WIFE, NANCY, YAKIMA INDIANS OVER ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF AGE.


A PAPOOSE IN FULL REGALIA


A GOLD NUGGET FROM THE SWAUK MINES. Value $1,120.00.


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KITTITAS COUNTY.


comb, Democrat, 951, J. C. Mckinley, Prohibi- tionist, 47, W. L. Noon, Social Laborite, 14, Je- rome S. Austin, Social Democrat, 18; state sen- ator, J. P. Sharp, Republican, 1,207, Samuel T. Packwood, Democrat, 876; state representatives, Eighteenth district, R. B. Wilson, G. E. Dick- son, Republicans, 1,068 and 981 respectively, T. B. Goodwin, J. E. Veach, Democrats, 1,002 and 998 respectively ; superior court judge, Frank H. Rudkin, Republican, 1,009, John B. Davidson, Democrat, 1,066; auditor, Everett E. Southern, Republican, 953, Simon P. Fogarty, Democrat, 1,139; sheriff, Isaac Brown, Republican, 1,242, Charles F. Wurtz, Democrat, 857; clerk, H. W. Hale, Republican, 1,174, J. W. Thomas, Demo- crat, 912 ; treasurer, A. C. Steinman, Republican, 1,004, R. Lee Purdin, Democrat, 1,088; county attorney, C. R. Hovey, Republican, 964, C. V. War- ner, Democrat, 1,137; assessor, John W. Richards, Republican, 1,048, A. J. Dammnon, Democrat, I,- 039; superintendent of schools, C. H. Hinman, Republican, 1,045, W. A. Thomas, Democrat, I,- 053; surveyor, E. I. Anderson, Democrat, 1,447 ; coroner, J. W. Bean, Republican, 1,186, William Dulin, Democrat, 888; commissioners, First dis- trict, James E. Burke, Republican, 1,064, G. C. Poland, Democrat, 974; Second district, W. M. Mack, Republican, 1,001, W. E. Crowley, Demo- crat, 1,045; Third district, Jacob Bowers, Repub- lican, 1,030, F. H. Bradshaw, Democrat, 951.


The election of 1902 is still fresh in the mem- ory of those residing here at that time. It marked the advent into the political life of the state of the present widespread agitation for a railway commission and anti-pass legislation. Aside from this issue and national issues, the cit- izens merely recorded their personal preferences when they went to the polls, November 4th, the election being a comparatively quiet one. The county is divided into eighteen precincts. The largest vote cast in 1902 in this county was that cast for state representative, Wilson receiving 1,021 and Flynn 996, a total of 2,017. This com- pared with the highest vote cast in 1884, 978 votes for district attorney, and considering the fact that in the creation of Chelan county Kitti- tas lost a populous slice of territory, indicates the growth of the county in eighteen years. This year, 1904, a much larger vote will be polled. So evenly is party strength divided that it would be difficult, impossible, to classify the county as either Democratic or Republican, though un- doubtedly there is a slight leaning toward Re- publicanism.


The Republicans were the first to hold a county convention in 1902, theirs taking place August 16th in the convention city, Ellensburg. A notable plank in their platform was one in- dorsing McBride's stand for a railway commis- sion and anti-pass legislation. Fusion was no more, the Populist and Silver Republican parties having been abandoned after 1900 and their mem- bers having attached themselves to other parties. The old fusion party, now completely absorbed by the Democrats, met September 11th and placed an opposition ticket in the field. The nominees of both parties together with the vote each received may be found in the official figures as taken from the records:


For congressmen, Francis W. Cushman, Wes- ley L. Jones, William E. Humphrey, Republi- cans, 1,106, 1,102 and 1,068 votes respectively, George F. Cotterill, O. R. Holcomb, Frank B. Cole, Democrats, 793, 752 and 776 votes respect- ively, Jense C. Martin, William McCormick, Hans P. Jorgensen, Social Laborites, 17, 16 and 17 votes respectively, J. H. C. Scurlock, D. Bur- gess, George W. Scott, Socialists, 35, 33, and 34 votes respectively, A. H. Sherwood, W. J. Mc- Kean, O. L. Fowler, Prohibitionists, 13, 12 and 13 votes respectively ; justice supreme court, Hi- ram E. Hadley, Republican, 1,070, James Bradly Reavis, Democrat, 770, William J. Hoag, Social- ist Laborite, 18, Thomas Neill, Socialist, 34; state representative, Nineteenth district, G. E. Dickson, R. B. Wilson, Republicans, 1,016 and 1,021 votes respectively, Matt. Flynn, Michael McColgan, Democrats, 996 and 842 votes respect- ively ; auditor, Guilford Wilson, Republican, 947, H. M. Baldwin, Democrat, 1,017; sheriff, Wil- liam Freyburger, Republican, 873, Robert L. Thomas, Democrat, 1,132; clerk, A. E. Emerson, Republican, 1,050, John Hoskins, Democrat, 909; treasurer, C. E. Wheeler, Republican, 867, R. Lee Purdin, Democrat, 1,095; attorney, Edward Pruyn, Republican, 798, C. V. Warner, Demo- crat, 1,184; assessor, W. M. Kenney, Republican, 992, W. P. Hiddleson, Democrat, 962; superin- tendent of schools, H. F. Blair, Republican, 1,013, W. A. Thomas, Democrat, 956; surveyor, M. M. Emerson, Republican, 1,162; no opposition ; cor- oner, H. J. Felch, Republican, 1,173, John Catlin, Democrat, 749; commissioners, First district, J. ocrat, 835; Third district, Edgar Pease, Republi- E. Burke, Republican, 1,076, Rufus Cooke, Demi- can, 1,034, John M. Newman, Democrat, 879.


.


J


CHAPTER IV.


TOWNS AND CITIES.


ELLENSBURG.


This thriving business and educational center enjoys an exceedingly happy location on Wilson creek some three miles from its confluence with the Yakima river, west of the center of the magnificent Kittitas valley. "It would be difficult for an artist to picture a more placid, peaceful, homelike city, or imagine more congenial and diversified environ- ments." The beautiful shade trees and the buildings of stone, brick and wood shut off most of the view from persons within the town, but the lover of Na- ture's divinest handiwork may have his passion for the sublime and the picturesque fully satisfied by taking a ten-minute walk to the top of Craig's hill just east of the city. Here he obtains a grand view of that wondrous gem of the Cascades, the Kittitas basin, though its farthest limits are hazy and indis- tinct in the distance. The valley is picturesque in itself considered; with its environing hills and mountains it forms a scenic poem of indescribable sublimity. To the north the majestic Peshastins rear skyward their serrated crest, the highest peak of which is the sharp, towering crag, known as Mount Stuart. On the west are the great Cascades, and Mount Ranier, that magnificent monument of the supreme effort of Nature to pierce the heavens with a tower of Babel; while the rolling hills to the south and east, though less picturesque and inspir- ing, are yet most pleasing to the artistic sense.


One might easily imagine the valley as designed for the habitation of a race of giants. That there are giants in these days, giants in achievement if not in stature, appears from the transformations that have been wrought in the aspect of nature. At your feet, carried by tunnel through the very hill upon which you are standing, are the waters of the famous Ellensburg canal, waters which have fol- lowed this artificial channel for miles and which will continue to flow on for miles more, carrying life and verdure and fertility to the land. Prosperous look- ing rural homes dot the valley under this and other canals and even where the vitalizing water has not yet gone. The prolific acres which surround these homes are the forces which have made possible the building of the thriving little city and upon which its future mainly depends.


The site of Ellensburg was the natural place for cowboys to congregate in early days. Here was


an abundance of water, shelter for their camp and a convenient eminence from which to scan with their field glasses the wide range over which their cattle and horses roamed. It was but natural also that the cowboy camp should become the site of a primitive mercantile establishment, when the settlement of the country should create a demand for such, and that other establishments should spring up in the vicinity as time passed and the country developed. Thus it happened that by purely natural causes the trading center of the valley was located. That its site was decreed as wisely as it could have been by the de- liberate judgment of a company of savants, subse- quent history has abundantly proven.


The story of Andrew Jackson Splawn's log cabin store has been heretofore told. It passed in 1871 into the hands of John A. Shoudy and William Dennis, the former of whom was the real author and founder of Ellensburg. Splawn's place had in some way come to be called "Robbers' Roost ;" just how is uncertain as the stories told differ wide- ly. Mr. Shoudy named it Ellensburgh in honor of his wife, but in the year 1894 the final h was dropped, through action of the postal department.


All the energy and ability of this unusually en- ergetic and able pioneer were devoted to the up- building of Ellensburg. Its growth was neverthe- less exceedingly slow at first. About 1872, the sec- ond log cabin, a two-story structure, was erected by Mr. Shoudy, and that year a blacksmith shop was started by Jacob Becker. The store and shop, ac- cording to the statement of William B. Price, who came through Ellensburg in 1875, constituted the only business establishments of the town at that time. There were, perhaps, a half dozen resi- dences.


July 20, 1875, the first plat of Ellensburg was recorded, at the instance of John A. and Mary Ellen Shoudy, the townsite proprietors. It cov- ered twenty-four blocks in the west half of the northeast quarter of section two, township seven- teen north, range eighteen east of the Willamette meridian. Block eight was reserved for courthouse purposes and block fourteen for a public square. The streets running north and south were Water, Main, Pearl and Pine, and those running east and west were numbered one to seven. Mr. and Mrs. Shoudy's first addition was recorded January 13, 1882, and October 3, 1883, an addition was record-


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ed at the instance of George F. Smith and wife and Jefferson Smith. Later additions to the original townsite are: Shoudy's second addition, recorded August 11, 1885; Homestead, recorded December 22, 1887; Hick's, March 22, 1888; Elliott's, 1888; Shoudy's third, June 13, 1888; Sunnyside, June 13, 1888; South Ellensburg, June 21, 1888; Ta- coma, June 24, 1888; Depot, July 27, 1888; Rail- road second, October 5, 1888; Railroad first, No- vember 21, 1888; Sunny Slope, January 7, 1889; Grand View, January 15, 1889; Michell's first, February 14, 1889; Michell's second, February 23, 1889; Santa Ana, February 6, 1889; Smithson's, February 27, 1889; Central, March 21, 1889; Elec- tric, April 10, 1889; Shoudy's Subdivision, April 15, 1889; Columbia, June 3, 1889; Becker's, Au- gust 31, 1889; Lapointe's first, April 9, 1890; Ames, May 26, 1890; Knox & McIntyre's, No- vember 12, 1890; Lee's Subdivision, August 28, 1891 ; Iron Works Annex, October 3, 1891.


An idea of the growth of the town in the three years subsequent to 1875 may be gathered from Dr. Middleton Amen's description of it as he saw it in 1878, the date of his location in the town as its first permanent physician. He states that, to the best of his recollection, Ellensburg then consisted of one store, kept by Shoudy & Stewart, J. W. Jewett's saloon across the street from Shoudy's; Jacob P. Becker's blacksmith shop; an assembly hall in Shoudy's new frame building, over the store ; a post-office, also in Shoudy's store ; a small, two-story frame hotel, kept by Mrs. James Master- son, and possibly one or two other establishments. These buildings were grouped at and near the cor- ner of Main and Third streets.


In 1879, Henry M. Bryant and Austin A. Bell opened the second trading post in Ellensburg. It was located in the old stockade building, erected during the Indian trouble of 1878, hence was called the Stockade store. The same year, Leopold Blu- mauer started a general store, on the southwest corner of Main and Fourth streets and Thomas F. Meagher and John H. Smithson a butcher shop. Blumauer's building still stands, being one of the few business structures which escaped the great fire of 1889.


The growth of Ellensburg during the early 'eighties was steady and substantial, a considerable number of business houses being established. In the first three or four numbers of the Standard, a newspaper which made its appearance June 16, 1883, the following individuals and firms inserted advertisements : Harness and saddles, E. F. Church ; general merchandise, The San Francisco, L. Blu- mauer, proprietor; Smith Brothers & Company ; the Pioneer store, Shoudy & Stewart, proprietors; hotel, the Valley (which had succeeded the Master- son house), Smith Brothers & Company, propri- etors; meat market, Smithson & Meagher; the Post-office drug store, Charles B. Reed, proprietor ; the Blue restaurant, William B. Price, proprietor ;


hardware, W. S. Crouch; blacksmith shops, Beck- er & Seaton, successors to J. Becker & Son, James G. McGrath, (J. T.) Gilmour & (George) Johnson; saloons, Board of Trade, H. D. Merwin, proprietor; Our Corner, J. T. McDonald, proprietor, the Hum- boldt, Smith & Shaser, proprietors; barber shop, the Ellensburg, Alfred Woods, proprietor, A. E. Dietzel's; jewelry, Henry Rehmke & Brothers; manufacturers doors, sash, etc., Pressey & Sprague ; real estate, Naylor, Mires & Company; millinery, Mrs. W. D. Ogden; flour mills, C. A. Sanders, a mile and a half northeast of town, Canady Bros., three miles northeast of town, R. P. Tjossem, three miles southeast; brewery, Theodore Hess, proprietor, situated three miles west of town; pho- tograph gallery, B. W. Frisbie; John Hegle's brickyard; livery, M. Barnett; furniture, Thomas Howe; attorneys, Daniel Gaby, (J. H.) Naylor & (Austin) Mires, Samuel C. Davidson, F. S. Thorp; physicians, Drs. Newton Henton, M. V. Amen and George Stuart; newspaper, the Standard, Richard V. Chadd, editor and proprietor.


The year 1883 was an especially prosperous one for Ellensburg. In real estate there was quite a boom. It was the year in which the First National Bank was established, Ellensburg Hook & Ladder Company No. I organized, and the town made the temporary county seat of Kittitas county, which was created that year. Ellensburg was also incorporated in 1883, though the act did not come into effect un- til January 1, 1884. Upon A, Lawrence was be- stowed the honor of first serving as mayor, and upon John T. McDonald, C. B. Reed, S. C. David- son and S. L. Blumauer that of constituting the first city council.


But there is one misfortune chargeable to the account of 1883. August 29th of that year, early in the morning, the fire fiend made his first serious assault upon the town. The alarm was sounded at one A. M., and the crowds that responded soon perceived that Thomas Johnson's store was on fire. Seeing that the building was doomed, the people gave their best efforts to preventing the spread of the fire, and their energy and toil, aided by favor- able weather conditions, resulted in the averting of a general conflagration, though Johnson's and Couch's stores and a house belonging to Mrs. Da- vidson, but occupied at the time by Jacob Becker, were completely destroyed. Johnson's loss was $45,000, partly covered by insurance; Couch's not less than $6,000, with about $1,800 insurance ; Mrs. Davidson's, $600; Becker's, $200; Dr. N. Hen- ton's, $200; that of I. Burnett, agent for the Sin- ger Sewing Machine Company, $580. The fire was thought to be of incendiary origin.


Late in 1884, General C. B. Lamborn, Land Commissioner for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, accompanied by Engineers Bogue & Huson, visited Kittitas county for the purpose of deciding upon the location of a railway center and shipping point for the valley. After some investi-


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gation of Ellensburg and its surroundings, Mr. Lamborn decided that it would not be necessary to build a new town, as was done in the Yakima valley, but that Ellensburg was in the important matter of situation and in all other respects suited to the pur- pose. Amicable arrangements were made with John A. Shondy, F. D. Schnebly, Mrs. McDonald, Smith Brothers and other large property owners by which a very substantial subsidy of real estate was to be given the company in consideration of its building a depot on an extension of Third street, within half a mile of Main. The town, already prosperous, gained materially through the certainty that the railway was coming and was sure not to pass it by on the other side.


In December, 1884, the Standard fired the first gun in Ellensburg's campaign for the location with- in its limits, when the territory should have gained admission to the Federal union, of the state capi- tal. The editor argued vehemently the city's claim to this honor, basing it chiefly on the healthy, ceri- tral location of Ellensburg in the "most strikingly beautiful, unsurpassedly healthy, admirably watered and immeasurably fertile, compact body of agricul- tural land of any extent on the North Pacific slope." The campaign begun then was maintained with great spirit and ability, as the people thought their location, with all the other advantages possessed by them ought to give them the prize. Had it not been for the opposition of North Yakima, they might have won in the fall of 1889, but local rivalry and the great fire ruined their chances of success.


During 1884, also, Ellensburg took an impor- tant step in the direction of becoming an educational center, by sustaining Rev. James A. Laurie and Presbyterians generally in their efforts to establish an academy here. The cause of education was young in the town at this time. The first public school had been taught by William O. Ames in the winter of 1881-2 in an old dwelling house, though at least one private school had been maintained in the district previously, that of D. G. C. Baker. Mr. Ames says he found pupils in need of instruction in everything from the alphabet to algebra, and sup- plied the demand the best he could, teaching the higher branches out of school hours. About 1882, the district built a 30 by 70 schoolhouse at a cost of $2,500. It seems, however, that money for the payment of teachers, etc., was scarce; that the pub- lic instruction even after the building of this school was insufficient for the needs of the people and that private schools were organized occasionally.


Such being the conditions, it may be assumed that the Presbyterian academy was welcomed by the citizens. At a mass meeting held June 23. 1884, thirteen hundred dollars were subscribed for the new enterprise, eight hundred of this sum coming, however, from the Presbyterian board. With the money, the Presbyterians purchased the public school building and equipped it for their own pur- poses, allowing the district to retain for a time the


free use of the upper story. The first term of aca- demic instruction commenced September 10, 1884. For some years Ellensburg Academy was a force in the education of the youth of town and county, but the development of the public school system event- ually rendered it unnecessary, and the building was remodeled for a church.


The spring of 1885 brought one disaster to the thriving town of Ellensburg. At one o'clock A. M., March 13th, fire broke out in the kitchen of the Val- ley hotel on the corner of Main and Third streets. Before the flames could be conquered that building, Walter Keys' saloon, Blomquist's beer hall, the New England hotel building and John Lyon's saloon and dwelling were totally destroyed. The city was without water works and without a fire department at the time, and it was with difficulty that the de- stroying element was confined to the buildings men- tioned. The loss was probably between $12,000 and $15,000, with slight insurance. It is supposed that the fire was of incendiary origin. The fire resulted in the loss of one human life, that of John Harbin, who was seen the evening previous in an intoxicated condition and taken to the hotel. Several small fires occurred later, one of them destroying the Oriental hotel, but no general conflagration until the great one of 1889.


The year 1885 was a period of great activity in Ellensburg and vicinity, as the railroad was being constructed westward from North Yakima, thou- sands of dollars were being expended daily in wages and the entire country was feeling the impulse al- ways given by large pay rolls and coming railways. The first train of cars, it is said, pulled into Ellens- burg, March 31, 1886, conveying both passengers and freight. Its advent marked the beginning of a career of phenomenal development for the town, which did not end until after the big fire of 1889.


The momentum of this progressive movement increased rapidly as time went by. In October, 1885, the population was estimated at 600; in Oc- tober, 1886, 800; in October, 1887, 1,200, and one year later, 3,000. Perhaps the year 1887 was the first one during which the growth was really re- markable: In it, according to Mayor Austin Mires' report, there were erected seventy-three dwelling houses, one three-story flouring mill with manufac- turing capacity of 100 barrels a day. one two-story brick bank building. the Northern Pacific, round- house and machine shops, besides some half dozen frame business buildings.


"To be specific," continues the report, "our city contains the following: One hundred and ninety- five dwelling houses, forty-five private barns, three livery stables, one feed stable, three hotels, five res- taurants, three lodging houses, two boarding and lodging houses, twelve saloons, seven breweries, seven general merchandise stores, five dry goods and variety stores, one second hand and variety store, six fruit and candy stores, one candy fac- tory, one bakery, three grocery stores, three hard-




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