An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 59

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1172

USA > Washington > Skagit County > An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 59
USA > Washington > Snohomish County > An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 59

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Mining also was in progress. An arrangement was made between the Forty-five Mining Company and the Puget Sound Reduction Company by which the railroad to Silverton was to be rebuilt and the Forty-five was to supply three thousand tons of ore a month.

Of the railroad changes chronicled by the cur- rent newspapers of the year, the most important

was the purchase by the Northern Pacific of the track and right of way of that part of the Everett and Monte Cristo road between Everett and Sno- homish. The reason for the purchase, as given by President Mellen in a dispatch to the Seattle Post- Intelligencer was "to secure more terminals for its growing Pacific Coast business." It was expected that the Northern Pacific would do a great deal toward building up the county, and these expecta- tions have been largely realized.

The criminal calendar had its customary entry during the period of 1900. One of the most cow- ardly crimes in the history of the county was com- mitted on the night of May 19th of that year. Frank Whited, a laborer from Idaho, was waiting for the train at Monroe when he was accosted by three men, and he had talked to them a while when suddenly they ordered him to throw up his hands. He complied and they robbed him of all his valu- ables, then shot him in the back and left him in an empty box car to die. After a time Whited man- aged to crawl ont and reached a nearby store, where his wound was taken care of. He was afterward taken to the Monroe hotel.

Sheriff Zimmerman immediately set out in pur- suit of the highwaymen and in a few days succeeded in capturing them near Winlock. He took them to Monroc, where they were positively identified by their victim. The names of the men were W. F. Howard, Charles Stewart, and George Wilson. They were placed under five thousand dollar bonds, in default of which they were put in the county jail at Everett to await their trial, which came off on the 9th of July. The evidence was absolutely conclusive and the men were convicted of highway robbery and sentenced to twenty years at hard labor in the state penitentiary at Walla Walla.

Snohomish county at this time was growing rapidly in population, the United States census of that year giving it 23,950, which was exceeded by only five other counties namely, King, Spokane, Pierce, Whitman and Whatcom. The gratifying fact was heralded in the Tribune of February 22d that immigration was beginning in, real earnest. This was the logical result of the preceding years of great activity and it in turn caused the waves of prosperity to roll on with added power. In one day the Northern Pacific and Great Northern brought over fifteen hundred homeseekers to Puget sound.

Our old friends, the miners, come in for a large share of attention at this period. The St. Louis mine, which had been suspended since the washout on the Everett & Monte Cristo railroad three years before, which road had only recently been rebuilt, was sold to a new company which incorporated un- der the name of the Conservative Mining Company. This mine was situated near the Silverton on Deer Creek. The president, Frank M. Evans, at once put

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a force of men at work in charge of H. W. Horton, of Snohomishi.

In the Mining Record of February, John Tow- ers, a mining expert, had a long article descriptive of the Index district. He says in part, "The cop- per ores of the district, and held in these lodes or veins, are varied-chalcocite, chalcopyrite and hor- ite, the three important ores of commerce pre- dominating and being pretty evenly distributed. The gangue, more or less mineralized, is either quartz or an altered or metamorphosed granite. The rich sulphides are in the form of pay streaks. Chalcopyrite occurs in massive chutes, and as the gangue also carries values, concentration is neces- sary for economic reasons." He also says, "There are more properties of merit in this camp than in any other camp of similar size and equal age. Quite a number are being actively developed, the usual element of mining uncertainty being elimin- ated in some of them and entirely so in a few."

In the fall the Ethel mine built a concentrator with tram-ways and automatic filling and dumping cars, so that the cost of delivering a hundred tons a day to the concentrator was reduced to four cents a ton or less.

In October the famous Bonanza Queen copper mine was sold to D. F. Morgan, of Minneapolis, re- presenting the Bell Telephone Company, for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The mine had been located some ten years before by J. F. Bender, Angus Sutherland and L. W. Lockwood, who re- ceived a large share of the purchase price. One of the conditions of the transaction was that a five- drill compressor plant be immediately installed and not less than forty men employed continuously.

The harvest of 1901 showed gratifying results of the industry of the rancher, the year having been a good one for the agriculturist as well as for the miner and the lumberman. The weather had been exceptionally fine and as a result the erops were above the average. Hay yielded from three to five tons per acre and was worth from eight to ten dollars per ton: oats averaged about a hundred bushels to the acre. some going over a hundred and fifty bushels, and it sold for about twenty-five dollars per ton ; potatoes yielded from eight to twelve tons, in some cases going consider- ably higher, and they were worth something over twenty dollars a ton. Farm products, such as but- ter, eggs, etc., were in good demand and sold at a fair price, the demand for all kinds of produce being generally greater than the supply.

There was hardly as extensive work in railroad- ing as in some of the previous years, but we find, as one important event, that tracklaying on the Arlington-Darrington branch of the Northern Pa- cific was completed about the last of May. Trains began running on schedule time on June 10th.

Several peculiar accidents marked the year of 1901, one of which occurred at the Cascade lumber

and shingle mill on July 13th. The mill was run- ning at full speed, when suddenly, with a tremen- dons explosion, the great ten-foot fly wheel burst and scattered wood and iron a distance of a hun- dred feet. There were forty men in the mill at the time but by a miracle no one was injured. The damage to the mill was about two thousand dollars.

In Angust an accident occurred on the Northern Pacific road at Snohomish. A freight train and a work train were standing on the bridge, when a number of loaded freight ears up the track broke loose and smashed into them. Two of the bridge crew, Walter Dense and Arthur Palmer, were on one of the standing cars, and when they were struck were thrown a distance of fifty feet, sustain- ing very severe injuries, each breaking both his legs and Palmer also crushing his elbow. The injured men, after having their hurts attended to, were taken to Seattle, where they were placed in the hospital.

One of the events which most occupied the minds of the people of Snohomish during the early part of 1902 was the famous Malvern murder case. The body of Mrs. Malvern was discovered in a building occupied by the Snohomish hand laundry, and her husband. Joe Malvern, otherwise known as Glessing Payne, was arrested on suspicion of being himself the criminal. The coroner's jury, consist- ing of Messrs. Whitfield, Wilbur, Spurrell, Andrus, WV. D. Harlan, and Lysons, brought in a verdict to the effect that the woman had come to her death by a bullet wound from the hand of Malvern himself. His own testimony had established the conviction in the minds of the jury which resulted in that verdiet. According to Malvern's statement his wife was temporarily insane and. without cause or action on his part, had shot herself while standing beside the bed on which he himself was lying. The damaging part of his testimony was in trying to account for the fact that the pistol was found just where him- self claimed to have been lying, for he asserted that his wife, after shooting herself, had thrown the weapon into that position. When the verdict of the coroner's jury was brought in Malvern was very much perturbed and upon a elose examination after- ward by Deputy Sheriff Brewer he endeavored to change his story. He was bound over for trial.

The trial began on May 2d and was opened by Prosecuting Attorney Cooley on the part of the state. Attorney Cooley admitted to the jury that his evidence would be entirely circumstantial, but declared that he was able to prove Malvern's guilt. The chief witnesses for the prosecution were Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Johnson, Willie Thierson, a thirteen- year-old boy, and Dr. MeCready.

Additional testimony was edneed to show that twice before Malvern had made attempts upon the woman's life. The defense brought a number of witnesses to try to show that there had been no difficulty between the husband and wife and that

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there was no reason to suppose that Malvern was in possession of any kind of a deadly weapon im- mediately prior to the occurrence.

After voluminous testimony had been given and extended pleas made by both the prosecution and the defense, the jury deliberated for twelve hours upon the case, at the end of which time they brought in a verdiet of murder in the second degrec. It was stated that at first eight of the jurors favored a verdict of murder in the first degree and the result was finally secured as a compromise. Malvern's lawyers took an appeal to the supreme court, but the court affirmed the verdict and Malvern was sentenced to a term of twenty years in the state penitentiary at Walla Walla.

A very serious accident happened on the Snoho- mish Logging Company's road on the 8th of May, 1902. The engine, hauling a load of logs, broke through the trestle near Owen Williams' place. The engineer. M. J. Riley, was instantly killed ; the head brakeman, A. L. Kittle, was so seriously injured that he died within two hours, and Frank Tomlin- son, scaler for the Seattle Cedar Company, was also badly hurt.

As soon as the train had plunged into the gap of the broken bridge word was sent to the camp and an engine was despatched with several men to bear relief, but by a curious fatality the relief engine became uncontrollable on account of the slippery condition of the track and was piled up upon the ruins of the preceding train.

One of the most important events in railway circles in the autumn of 1902 was a transfer of the Everett & Monte Cristo railway to the Northern Pacific Railway Company.

A very extensive mining transaction took place in December of the same year, namely, the con- solidation of the Helena and Bornite groups of thirty claims at the head of Clear creek near Silverton. and their transfer to the American Mining and Milling Company, which had been organized a short time previous by Seattle and English capitalists, among whom were J. W. Chise and John Pierce. These two gentlemen had had much experience in mining. and Mr. Chise, as the representative of an English syndicate, invested several million dollars in Washington mining property. The property cov- ered by this transaction was a high grade copper proposition said by experts to be equal to the famous United Verd mine in Arizona.

The mining interests were active during the ensuing year and we find record in the Tribune of August 21st to the effect that Charles Sweeney of Spokane had purchased the Everett smelter and the Monte Cristo mines. It was stated that the company represented by Mr. Sweeney had a capital of thirty million dollars and was hacked by the Goulds and Rockefellers. The company at the same time made extensive purchases in mining regions adjoining Spokane and in the Coeur d' Alene district of Idaho.

The value of the purchase in Snohomish county was estimated at more than two million dollars. Some- what to the surprise of the people of Snohomish the smelter and Monte Cristo mines were sold by Mr. Sweeney in October following to the American Smelting and Refining Company.

The years 1903 and thence following were fruit- ful in all manner of trolley car rumors and enter- prises. A public meeting was called in the early part of 1903 at Snohomish to discuss the formation of a company for building a people's trolley line from Snohomish to Cherry Valley. As a result of the plans and discussions there Messrs. Crippen, Snyder, Hall, Gorham, Foster and Clemens asked the city for a franchise through Snohomish. The plan of this company was that it should be under community control and carried out in the interests of the public.

The franchise was accordingly granted by the city of Snohomish and the county soon after granted a similar franchise over certain county roads and crossings. The city council of Monroe granted also a franchise through the streets of that place. Some trouble seems to have arisen from the fact that the city attorney of Monroe tried to introduce a provi- sion that if any other company should begin laying rails inside the city limits of Monroe prior to the company just organized that the latter company would be compelled to purchase the rights of the other company or surrender its own franchise. The committee from Snohomish, however, presented the matter in such a light that the Monroe attorney failed of his efforts. Mr. Colburn was in charge of the survey of the line between Snohomish and Monroe. He found the farmers in the direction of Cherry Valley to be quite enthusiastically favorable to the creation of the proposed line.

While this enterprise was in progress the trolley between Snohomish and Everett had been com- pleted and during the final days of November, 1903, the cars ran for the first time on the line. J. T. McChesney was one of the most active promoters of this enterprise. . An arrangement was made with the Northern Pacific Company by which the trolley cars were run on the old Everett & Monte Cristo track, which had been acquired a short time pre- viously by the Northern Pacific. The Northern Pacific also turned over all passenger and express traffic except the Monte Cristo to the trolley com- pany.

During the spring of 1904 trolley enterprises continued unabated. Franchises were being se- cured for lines from Seattle to Everett, thence to Snohomish, Cherry Valley. Falls City. Issaquah, Renton, and around the south end of Lake Wash- ington to Seattle again, thus forming a complete loop. The franchises were granted on condition that the work be completed in three years. The Snohomish-Cherry Valley Trolley Company, which was but a part of this extensive undertaking, was

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incorporated in April with a capital of one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Among the most active supporters of this line were Messrs. Colburn, Hall, Brown and Snyder. This year also saw the organization of companies for the con- struction of other parts of the same system, in- cluding the Everett-Scattle route and the Seattle. Renton & Tolt road. More recently a number of other schemes have been advanced. including the construction of a trolley line from Bellingham and also one from Snohomish to Monroe. While only a small proportion of the trolley enterprises of the last few years have materialized thus far the talk still continues and there is no doubt that in the near future much greater developments along those lines will be carried out.

Among the accidents recorded for the year 1903 was a wreck on the Great Northern trestle a mile east of Lowell, in which engineer Archie Connelly was killed and fireman A. M. Sparks wounded. The accident occurred in March. The trestle was being repaired and the train, which was a freight, was flagged, but was not stopped in time and the engine . went through. Fireman Sparks escaped death by jumping, but Connelly was caught in some way and scalded to death. The train was moving at a slow rate and none of the cars left the track.

The annals of this year are blackened by a number of crimes, the most serious being the mur- der of Fred Alderson by Angus J. McPhail. These men were rival saloon keepers of Darrington. A renewal of McPhail's license was denied by the commissioners on the ground that his place was disorderly. McPhail held Alderson responsible for this and on the 11th of May walked into Alderson's saloon and while the latter was stooping down shot him in the head. Alderson fell, and after firing another shot into the body, McPhail fled to the woods but later returned and gave himself up. Alderson was known as a peaceful citizen, while McPhail had a bad record.

The trial occurred in the latter part of October and occupied nearly two weeks, the defense at- tempted to establish the insanity of the accused. The jury was out all night and on the seventh bal- lot agreed on a verdict of murder in the first degree. McPhail afterward made an attempt on his own life with a pair of shears, and succeeded in mak- ing a flesh wound in his neck which. however, did not prove fatal. An appeal to the Supreme court was taken by Colonel Hathaway, counsel for the defense. and the judgment of the lower court was affirmed, Judge Black pronounced the death sent- ence and subsequently, December 8, 1905, McPhail was executed.

Another serious crime was the murder of Henry Hots in December, 1903, near his home on Black- man's lake. Hots and a neighbor, P. L. Shubert, had been having trouble with chicken thieves, and

had made an agreement to keep a close lookout for them. On the night of December 22d August Shubert discovered one of the thieves just as he was taking flight, and immediately shouted out to Hots who rushed out of his house with his gun. In a few moments Shubert heard two revolver shots and shortly after Mrs. Hots crying out that her husband was shot. The thief had evidently run upon Hlots and when ordered to stop had fired his revolver with the result that Hots was instantly killed. The victim of this crime was forty-five years old and had been a resident of Snohomish for three years, having come thither from Arkan- sas. Hle left a wife and four children. His mur- derer was never apprehended.

The rapid growth in material wealth at this time is shown by a glance at the assessor's books, which indicate an increase of taxable lands for 1903 over 1902 of over a quarter of a million dollars. Twenty thousand acres of land appeared on the books which were not there before.

One melancholy event occurred in 1903. On the 4th of April, Joe Boggio and Mike Gray, two miners, were attempting to make their way from the Bornite mine to Darrington, a distance of about twelve miles. They thought that the tramway had been completed for about six miles, but as a mat- ter of fact there was nothing more than a blazed trail for nearly the whole distance. The snow was deep and after going about seven miles Boggio became so exhausted that he was unable to pro- ceed ; then they turned back, but Boggio was unable to go more than half a mile. so Gray left him, after giving him his coat, and started back to camp alone. When night overtook him, he could only keep from freezing to death by walking around a tree till daylight. The following day he reached camp, and at once sent a miner named Fred Peterson out after Boggio. The latter had wandered away, however, and his tracks being covered by snow Peterson could not find him. When the news reached Darrington a party con- sisting of B. Gallagher. Elmer Burns. T. Gibson, L. Barnett, Thomas Dorgan, E. Tamhill and two miners went in search of the unfortunate man, and after enduring hardships which prostrated most of the searchers they finally succeeded in finding the body of Boggio where he had perished in a pool of shallow water. It was with great difficulty that the body was taken to Darrington, where it was buried.

A railroad disaster occurred on the 2d of May about a mile and a half west of Index. A Great Northern freight train left the track on account of the rails being spread by the heat of the sun. and twelve cars, loaded with steel rails, were piled up. some of them being smashed to pieces. The engineer was seriously injured.

This seems to have been a period replete with railroad accidents in Snohomish county. On the

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5th of February. 1905, a serious accident occurred to a work train on the Monte Cristo branch of the Northern Pacific. The train was derailed at a point about one and a half miles beyond Robe, and the engine whistle being broken, escaping steam scalded six men. The engineer, Robert E. Love, and the fireman, C. Carstensen, lived only a few hours after receiving the injury. The survivors, John Carhon, John Potts and Guy Bartlett, who were bridgemen, and William Ilestor, who was the engine watchman, were taken to Seattle and placed in the hospital. William Hestor subsequently died. but the others. after much suffering, slowly recovered. Deputy Coroner Bakeman. in reporting upon this accident. avoids attributing fault to anyone and states that this was one of those mysterious accidents that can not be explained.

And still there were more to follow. Only fifteen days later a loaded logging train on the Canon Lumber Company's new road near Robe ran away, jumped the track, and was speedily trans- formed into a mass of twisted iron and broken splinters. The cause of this seems to have been the clogging of the sand box and the consequent sliding of the train while descending a steep grade. The train passed successfully around several curves, but when near the foot of the hill upon a sharper curve than any yet passed the train jumped the track. The crew having been notified by signals from the engine that the train was beyond control began jumping off, the engineer being last to leave his post. No one of the crew was injured, although the speed of the train at the moment that it left the track was so great that the engine, striking a hemlock tree nearly three feet in diameter, broke it squarely off. The loss in this case fortunately was not of men but

of materials, the value of the equipment destroyed being not less than ten thousand dollars, and un- fortunately for the company this was uninsured.

One more tragedy in this portion of the history remains to be recorded, one which occurred on the 12th of January, 1905. Pete Hansen, the fourteen- year-old son of Fritz Hansen, was out with another boy named Claude Johnston near the trolley turn table in Snohomish, engaged in hunting a knife. Johnston had in his possession a gun which Hansen asked to take, and in some way the gun was dis- charged while being passed from the one to the other and the ball passed through Hansen's neck. Dr. Munn of Marysville, the coroner of the county, came to hold an inquest, but the testimony of wit- nesses who were present so clearly proved that the shooting was accidental that an inquest was deemed unnecessary. The unfortunate boy, as well as the family to which he belonged, had borne an excellent reputation and the tragedy was a great shock to the community in which they lived.

We complete herewith the view which we have been endeavoring to give throughout the preceding pages of the magnificent county of Snohomish. From the superb islands of Whidby and Camano on its western border to the glistening erests of Glacier Peak, ten thousand, four hundred and thirty-six feet above sea level, it is one succession of sublime and beautiful seenes, of overflowing resources adapted to every species of human activity, and con- taining a population not easily matched for intel- ligence, enterprise and patriotism. With all of these advantages of location, of resources, and of the character of its fifty thousand people, Snohomish county enters upon the twentieth century with un- bounded hopes and prospects for a great future.

CHAPTER V

POLITICAL

The political history of Snohomish county is replete with interest. There is enough of the per- sonal clement in it and enough of sensation to en- chain the attention. Rarely has the game of local politics been played anywhere with greater earnest- ness or greater skill than have been exhibited at times in this county and rarely have personal con- tests been characterized by greater bitterness. The writer, however, feels constrained to touch some of the most sensational incidents but lightly, as this game, like war, is played in the dark, and it is well nigh impossible to come into possession of all the facts so completely as to make detailed nar- ration safe. The conscientious writer will take no chances where a possible misunderstanding of facts might do some innocent person irreparable injury. For this reason little will be attempted here, further than to present, as fully as the state of the county records will permit, the results of the different elections.

By the creating act, heretofore quoted, the officers appointed until the election were as follows : Sheriff, Jacob Summers; county commissioners, E. C. Ferguson, Henry McClurg, John Harvey ; auditor, J. D. Fowler ; probate judge, Charles Short ; treasurer, John Harvey.

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An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 59

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.) Publication date: 1906 Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1172

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1172