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 95

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 95
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 95

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PERRY POLSON. The history of Skagit county would be incomplete indeed, without mention in a more or less lengthy form of the founder of the Polson Implement and Hardware Company of La Conner ; later founder of the same business in Seat- tle, which latter has grown and expanded until to- day they are admittedly the largest business firm handling implements and hardware in Seattle, a city well to the front in big wholesale and retail business enterprises of all kinds. To outline briefly how all this came about, and give something of the sturdy ancestry from whom the man who accom- plished this drew the sterling characteristics which fitted him for the goal attained, is the purpose of this sketch.

Born in Sweden July 8, 1854, to the union of Olaf and Gunhilda (Nelson), Perry Polson was reared to the age of thirteen on a farm in the fath- erland, and there received the rudimentary educa- tion which was later augmented in both the schools of text-books and broad and varied experience in the land of his adoption. In 1868 his father deter- mined to seek a home for his growing family in the land of promise across the ocean, which held out such flattering inducements to the worthy, indus- trious poor man; and hither young Polson came at the age of fourteen to assist the doughty sire in founding that home. New to the ways of the coun- try and unfamiliar with its strange language, there were many discouraging and disheartening episodes 'in their experiences. After one winter spent in Geneseo, Illinois, the two proceeded to Iowa, and here the father rented a farm near Ottumwa and

sent for the family to join him. Not satisfied with the conditions there, the father and son in 1871 once more set out to seek their fortune. Deciding to cross the continent and enter a new and untried field, they traveled to San Francisco via the Union Pacific, thence to Portland by steamer and from there in company with Paul Polson, C. J. and Jo- seph Chilberg, they walked to Olympia. Here they again took ship, going to Port Townsend, thence in Indian canoes to Whidby island, where they hired a sloop to take them to Swinomish (now La Con- ner), thien a small trading post on the west shore of the main land of Whatcom county. After some time spent in looking for a suitable location, the father took up land on the tide flats on Brown's slough in the Skagit delta; and here begun the heroic struggle in a wild and new country for home and 'competency. How well he wrought, overcom- ing seemingly insurmountable obstacles of wilder- ness and floods, laboring early and late, may be briefly told in the fact that within a few years the Polson ranch was known far and wide as the finest farm stead in all the country round about. Success continued to attend the father until the time of his retirement from active duties to a life of ease in La Conner, where in recognition of his integrity and administrative ability he was thrice elected mayor of that municipality, and at last in 1903 he was gather- ed to his fathers, an honored and esteemed citizen, mourned by a large circle of friends and acquaint- ances. The worthy mother still lives in La Conner at the ripe old age of seventy-three.

Ambitious and industrious, young Polson soon after arriving on the sound, found a job as chain- man for John A. Cornelius, who had the contract for surveying the meander, or shore line, from the head of Port Susan bay, in Snohomish county, to Burrows bay, Fidalgo island. He helped complete this entire survey, working for Mr. Cornelius one year. Two years followed on the home farm, when he engaged in work for W. B. Moore, in his logging camp on the Stillagnamish, until the spring of 1875. At this time the report was rife of a great trans- continental telegraph line to be put in by the British government, extending from occan to ocean, which would afford employment for five years for a vast number of men. He went with the stampede to New Westminster, seeking a job, only to find on his arrival that the undertaking had been abandoned. He then found employment with Meacham & Na- son, who had a government contract for bridge building on the Quesneele river in the Cariboo min- ing country, and continned in this firm's employ for two and one-half years. During the last year of which time, although but twenty years of age, he had full charge of one of the company's saw-mills at an advanced salary. Having received good wages and saved his money, young Polson in the fall of 1877 returned to La Conner and invested his earn- ings in a 190-acre farm. known as the Harvey Wal- lace ranch, and engaged in farming. His payment

yours had

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX MILDEN FOUNDATIONS

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on the land lacked several thousand dollars of meet- ing the purchase price, and he was forced to pay the exorbitant rate of fifteen per cent. interest on four thousand dollars, but with that indomitable courage which has won for him the success in later life, he set his face to overcome all obstacles and gain ownership to the fine ranch he had invested his earnings in; and as dame fortune invariably suc- cumbs to the persistent wooing of valor, this case was not an exception and at last his years of unre- mitting labor and economy were rewarded with un- disputable title to the place. But success had been bought with broken health, and he was advised by his physician that he must take a much-needed rest, or seek a less strenuous life. Then it was that good fortune brought him in contact with F. S. Poole, with whom he formed a partnership in 1885 and be- gan handling farm implements, establishing them- selves at La Conner. After one year he bought out Mr. Poole's interest, and the next year took his brother Nels in as partner in the business, and still two years later, another brother, John, was added to the firm, when the business was changed from Perry Polson & Bro., and incorporated as the Pol- son Hardware Company. In 1891 the Wilton brothers, Albert and Robert, purchased an interest in the business, which was incorporated as the Pol- son-Wilton Hardware Company, and a branch house was opened in Seattle. The branch soon grew to such proportions that in 1896 Mr. Polson moved to Seattle to take charge of the business, and one year later bought out his partners, the Wilton brothers, incorporating the Polson Implement and Hardware Company, of which he is the present head. In ad- dition to the Seattle and La Conner business Mr. Polson is also interested in the Wenatchee Hard- ware Company, in Chelan county.

In 1881 at Seattle, the union of Mr. Polson and Miss Kate H. Hinckley, daughter of Jacob C. and Margaret (Dunn) Hinckley, was celebrated. The father of Mrs. Polson, a native of Illinois, crossed the plains to California in 1849, at the beginning of that great westward tidal wave to the newly discov- ered gold-fields. Mr. Hinckley, who was a lawyer by profession, has the distinction of having estab- lished the pioneer newspaper of Shasta county, Cal- ifornia, and was a man of prominence and influence up to the time of his death in that state. The mother, a native of Ireland, was married to Mr. Hinckley in California, to which state her parents went with the early influx of gold seekers, and she is at present living in Seattle. Mrs. Polson was born in Shasta City, California, August 2, 1857. Her father dying, she and her mother removed to Seattle in 1870, where she was educated in Terri- torial University and took up the profession of teacher, which she followed for several years. She is the mother of four children, all born in La Con- ner as follows: Minnic E., 1882; Helen G., 1884: Olaf H .. 1888. and Harold L., 1896, all living at home. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Polson arc mem-

bers of the Methodist Church, while fraternally he is a Blue Lodge Mason, and a member of the An- cient Order of United Workmen, and politically is a staunch and unwavering Republican. He also holds membership in the Rainer club and the Seat- tle Athletic club.

As a lad, mastering the intricacies of a strange tongue, or chaining the shoreline of the sound; as a young man managing the saw-mill business, or wip- ing from his land a large usurious mortgage; as business man and manager of a large wholesale trade, Mr. Polson has ever displayed that remark- able aptitude for details and firm grasp of business principles which have brought to him unvarying suc- cess in all his ventures. Among his old time friends and acquaintances, his successful life is viewed with personal pride and they claim him as a strictly Skagit county production, accrediting his business inspirations to his connection with the fertile soil of the famous La Conner flats, and to the invigorating, aroma-laden breezes from the wild tangled hillsides.

HARRISON CLOTHIER is one of the pio- neers of Skagit county and one of the early men who contributed much toward the development of her resources. Whether as merchant, logging oper- ator, promoter of a town site or as public official, he has been one of the very foremost men of the community ; and now in his retirement from the ac- tivities of life occupies a place high in the regard and esteem of his fellow citizens. MIr. Clothier was born in Saratoga County, New York, in the sum- mer of July 9, 1840, when the famous "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too" campaign was on. The father Ebenezer K. Clothier, being a strong adherent to the principles of the Whig party and an ardent ad- mirer of General William Henry Harrison, named his son in honor of his campaign hero. Ebenezer K. was born on the Saratoga farm, to which his father moved from Connecticut shortly after the close of the Revolutionary War, becoming one of the early settlers in that county. The elder Clothier was of English extraction. He was a very success- ful farmer and business man. Mrs. Lucy (Clothier) Clothier, was also born in New York State in 1840. On her maternal side she was of English descent, tracing back to the Smiths of Plymouth Rock fame, while on her paternal side she was connected with the family of Kings of New York, prominent in Dutch society in the early days of the Empire State. To Mr. and Mrs. Clothier were born five children: Webster, now on the old homestead in the upper Hudson valley ; Harrison ; Mahlon, now living in Nebraska; Lydia J. ; and IIeman living on the old homestead. Harrison Clothier passed his early days on the home farm, attending the com- mon schools and later the high school. At the age of twenty-four he taught school for several winters. In 1886 he rented his father's estate, operating it for several years. He then left home and has never

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returned to the scenes of his childhood and youth. He first located at Trempeleau, on the Mississippi river in Wisconsin, where for two years he taught school in winter and worked at farming during the summer seasons. The next four years Mr. Clothier passed at Farmhill, near Rochester, Minnesota, where he taught school and did farm work. In May of 1875 he crossed the continent to California, remaining en route for a short time at Reno, Ne- vada. He tarried in San Francisco but a short time before determining to come to the Puget sound country, making the trip from the California me- tropolis in September on the steamer Pacific, which two months later sank off Cape Flattery, carrying down several hundred souls. Mr. Clothier lingered in Seattle but a short time, and on hearing of the La Conner flats came here with Samuel Calhoun on his schooner. He worked for Mr. Calhoun dur- ing the early part of that autumn. Settlements were sparse then and the Beaver and Olympia marshes presented no form of attraction and gave no promise of the richness which was later to flow from them. Mr. Clothier did not like the outlook for farming those rich flats even after the timber was cleared, so in November he went to Oregon and taught a term of winter school in the Willamette valley. He passed the succeeding summer at Walla WValla and returned to the sound late in August of 1876, working during harvest on the flats: Novem- ber of that year found Mr. Clothier opening a three-months term of school on the Skagit river in the pioneer school-house standing on the old Kim- ble place. In February in 1877, deciding that there was a good opening for a store on the river, and perhaps even a town, he joined with an old Wis- consin pupil, E. G. English, and together they pur- chased ten acres of land of Jasper Gates for $100 and erected thereon a small store. They also laid out the first plat of the town site of Mount Vernon, which included then only four blocks. The post- office was secured in September and Mr. Clothier appointed the first postmaster.

From this time on the firm of Clothier & Eng- lish were closely identified with the growth of the community. They continued in the mercantile busi- ness until in 1891 Mr. Clothier withdrew. In 1881 the firm had commenced to undertake logging operations. This venture grew to be the principal business of the firm, which for a number of years operated two camps with a most extensive business. At one time the firm owned between 4,000 and 5,000 acres of timber land and was widely known because of its enterprise. In 1880 Mr. Clothier participated in the Ruby Creek gold mining excitement. He opened a branch of the Clothier & English store at Goodell's Landing and bought half of the gold taken out of the diggings, amounting to about $2,800 worth. In the fall of 1880 Mr. Clothier be- came auditor of Whatcom county and for two years resided at the county seat, leaving Mr. English in charge of the firm's varied interests. In 1882 Mr.

Clothier was defeated by Orrin Kincaid, Repub- lican, for representative, the vote being very close. Two years later he was named by the bill erecting Skagit county as one of the county commissioners, and was chosen by the people to the same office at the special election, serving one year. Mr. Clothier naturally participated in the contest for the selec- tion of the county seat which after a memorable campaign was won by Mount Vernon, where Mr. Clothier's interests were largest and which he had founded. In 1886, while on a visit to California. Mr. Clothier was nominated and elected probate judge of Skagit county, his home precinct accord- ing him the handsome vote of 176 out of a total of 186 ballots cast. In 1889, while the people of Washington were preparing for statehood and plan- ning for the adoption of the new constitution, Mr. Clothier was selected by Skagit county to repre- sent it in the historic body of lawmakers. He at- tended the sessions at Olympia and was active and influential in the formulation of the state's funda- mental laws. On the death of County Treasurer Davis in May in 1891, Mr. Clothier was appointed to succeed him and served until January of 1893. Two years later he went to Anacortes and operated a saw-mill for a couple of years, during that time cutting the lumber for two large canneries on Fi- dalgo island. One season he passed in the mines in the Kootenai county of British Columbia. Mr. Clothier was chosen deputy county assessor in 1898, on the election of Assessor Dale in that year, be- coming chief deputy. He served four years under Mr. Dale and during the first term of Fred F. Wil- lard as assessor passed two years as deputy. In politics Mr. Clothier had been a consistent Demo- crat up to the campaign of 1898, when the fusion of his party with the Populists did not receive his support. Since that year he has been identified with the Republicans. He has always been active in the political field and as a man of prominence has been influential in political affairs in Skagit county. He served as mayor of Mt. Vernon in 1891, resigning at the expiration of one year, and was a candidate for state treasurer on the Demo- cratic ticket in 1892. He is a Mason, having joined that order at Utsalady in 1880. Ill health and other unfortunate circumstances have made great inroads into Mr. Clothier's financial interests, but he re- mains one of the respected men of his community and of the whole country, interested in all public affairs, though unable to take as active a part as in former years.

FREDERICK LEWIS BLUMBERG. Well to the front among the leaders in Skagit county's com- mercial. political and social life is the esteemed citizen now serving as auditor, whose name forms the caption of this sketch. For eighteen years he has been closely identified with the growth of the community experiencing during that period the full

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force of its depressions as well as participating in its prosperity.

He was born July 8, 1864, in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, the son of John and Dorothy (O'Neal) Blumberg. Upon the paternal side his ancestry is German. John Blumberg was born in 1825. After acquiring an education, he left the fatherland in 1839 to establish a home in the new world. In Wisconsin he finally cast his lot, married, and en- gaged in the saw-mill business. This line of com- inercial activity he followed with marked success until his death in 1898, while still a resident of the Badger state. When the call to arms came in 1861, he proffered his services to the country of his adop- tion, and as a member of the Seventeenth Wiscon- sin Volunteers went to the front and served con- tinuously with the exception of a short time in the fall of 1863, when severe wounds necessitated a furlough. In yet another line did this German- American manifest his activity, namely, in publie life. He represented his distriet several times in the legislature and was always found sincerely en- deavoring to discharge his official duties faithfully. Dorothy O'Neal Blumberg was born in Galway County, Ireland, and was the mother of seven chil- dren, of whom five survive her.

With such an ancestry, it is not surprising to find that the subject of this biography sought the broad highway of individual responsibility while yet a lad of sixteen. Going to Milwaukee, he secured em- ployment in a wholesale house with which he re- mained a year and a half. From Milwaukee he then began his journey westward, little thinking perhaps that he would eventually reach and make his permanent home on the shores of the Pacific. His first stopping point was Iowa, where he farmed and attended school in Bremer county. As soon as he had completed the work of the public schools, the ambitious young man entered the Upper Iowa University at Fayette and in that institution com- pleted a course which fitted him to take up the teaching profession. He was thus engaged in Iowa until 1887, in that year coming to Puget sound and resuming his profession in Skagit county. How- ever, the extraordinary industrial activity which swept over the Northwest in 1889 and 1890 proved too tempting to permit Mr. Blumberg's continuance in his profession, and in the latter named year he entered the mercantile business at Avon, on the Skagit river just above Mount Vernon. Avon throve for a time, but the financial panic of 1893 destroyed its prosperity for the time being and in the crash the Blumberg store went to the wall. Again the young school teacher took up the text book and the pointer as a means of livelihood, but the struggle was hard and bitter. Brave hearts and iron wills alone carried honest men through those terrible times and no man in Skagit county better appreciates this statement than Mr. Blumberg. In 1895 he accepted the position of agent and ware- house manager of the Oregon Improvement Com-

pany at Anacortes in which he remained until his appointment as deputy county auditor under Grant Neal in January, 1899. When Auditor Neal be- came a member of the board of control under Gov- ernor McBride in 1902, the county commissioners tendered the appointment of county auditor to Mr. Bluniberg and it was accepted by him. His party, the Republican, carried him back to this important position at the 1904 election and this term he is now serving with credit to himself and friends. An important public action taken by Mr. Blumberg in recent years was the platting of the Garden Addi- tion to Mount Vernon in 1903, all the lots of which have been sold.

The marriage of Mr. Blumberg to Miss Allie Bartholomew, the daughter of William and Cyn- thia (\\dams) Bartholomew, was celebrated at Seattle in October, 1890. Her parents, both of whom are still living, are natives of Indiana. The father enlisted in the army at the beginning of the Civil War and served throughout the struggle. From private he advanced steadily and, having taken up religious work, was mustered out as chap- lain of the regiment. Shortly afterward he married and in 1870 became one of the earliest settlers upon Fidalgo island. Subsequently he returned to Indi- ana, where he now resides. Mrs. Bartholomew is of Pennsylvania-Dutch deseent. Allie Bartholomew was born in Indiana also, in 1868, but two years later was taken by her parents to Washington, where she was reared and educated. Her public school education was supplemented by a course in the Seattle high school, and after graduation, she taught for some time in Skagit, Snohomish and King counties. Mr. and Mrs. Blumberg are blessed with five sons: Irvine, born at Avon, December 6, 1891; Frank E., at La Conner, January 23, 1894; Judson A., at Anacortes, January 24, 1896 ; George, at Anacortes, September 19, 1898 ; and Edward F., at Mount Vernon, July 18, 1901. Mr. Blumberg is affiliated with the Masons, Odd Fellows and Elks, in the first of which he has attained the Royal Areh degree. Both he and his wife are members of the Episcopal church, and in fraternal and social work have especially endeared themselves to all. Com- ment upon Mr. Blumberg's political activity is hard- ly necessary in view of what has already been said.

In bringing this sketch to a close, mention of his activity along an entirely different line must not be omitted. As a breeder and importer of the Shetland pony Mr. Blumberg has brought himself into prominence among the fancy stock owners of the Northwest, owning perhaps the finest band of this species in this part of the Northwest. In this line he is, moreover, a pioneer breeder in Wash- ington. Jersey cattle also command his especial attention. In the career of this farmer, sehoof teacher, business man, publie official, faney stock breeder and publie-spirited citizen is to be seen one illustrative of the true Western type, a life diversi- fied, aggressive and tenacious in the face of any

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obstacle. Upon these qualities in this instance has been builded a life of usefulness, honest, purpose and influence among its fellows.

CHARLES HARMON, the efficient sheriff of Skagit county, has been actively connected with the development of Washington since his advent into its borders in its territorial days in 1877, and is numbered among the pioneer lumbermen of the Skagit river country. He is a native of Maine, as were also his parents, Hiram and Mary (Gardner) Harmon, and their ancestors. The father and moth- er, to whom the home ties were very dear, clung to their native state until their death, giving their best energies to the rearing of their family of fifteen children. Charles, the youngest of the family, re- mained under the parental roof, assisting his father at farming and at tending the schools of the home community, until he had arrived at the age of twenty, at which time, 1874, having heard of the superior advantages offered young and ambitious men in the Golden State, he crossed the continent and entered the famous redwood forests of Hum- boldt County, California, finding here his first open- ing in the business that was henceforth to claim so much of his attention and energy. Three years he spent in the vicinity of Eureka, giving his un- divided attention to logging and lumbering, until in 1877, he came up the coast to Port Gamble, Washington, where he continued to follow logging for two years. In April, 1879, he came to the site of Mount Vernon and opened a logging camp for W. S. Jameson, and has continued to follow log- ging and lumbering the principal part of the time since. At the time of the Ruby Creek mining ex- citement he was among the many who participated in the stampede, and like all the other victims, came away empty handed. Always an ardent Republican, and an energetic worker for the furtherance of the party principles, he was called to the position of deputy under Sheriff Wells in 1899, and served with him for four years, filling a like position for two years with Sheriff Risbell, his successor. His faith- ful service as deputy so commended him to the gen- eral public, that his party proffered him the nomi- nation for sheriff in 1904, and the choice was rati- fied by the voters at the fall election by a hand- some majority in his favor.

Mr. Harmon was united in marriage in Seattle, in 1888, to Ollie M. Carter, a native of Indiana, born in 1860, of German extraction. Mrs. Harmon was educated in Indiana, qualifying herself as a teacher, and on coming to Washington prior to its receiving statehood, she took up the profession of her choice, teaching for several years in King coun- ty, until her marriage to Mr. Harmon at the age of twenty-eight. To this union have been born three children, Ray, Abby and Don, all natives of Skagit county. Mr. Harmon owns a fine farm of twenty-five acres, situated within two miles of

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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 95

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