An illustrated history of the state of Washington, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 39

Author: Hines, Harvey K., 1828-1902
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1056

USA > Washington > An illustrated history of the state of Washington, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 39

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in various channels of commerce, operating a supply store, contracting, speculating in real estate, etc.

The breaking out of the late war aroused his youthful patriotism, and induced him to lay aside his own business interests and nnre- servedly give his services to his country. He im- mediately set about organizing a company, re- cruiting it in connection with other officers, in various portions of the State, into which, when organized, he was mustered a private with Com- pany B, of the Third Minnesota Infantry. The regiment proceeded to Kentucky, where for six or eight months it was stationed, operating near Louisville and in Central Kentucky, looking after the pushing ahead of supplies, etc. Sub- sequently the command was advanced into Ten- nessee, the subject of this sketch having been in the meantime promoted to Major and event- nally to Lientenant-Colonel of the regiment. He was placed in charge of the regiment at Murfrees- borough, but soon afterward his Colonel being succeeded by General Crittenden, Colonel Griggs was returned to his former position. The regi- ment was attacked by General Forrest, whose command outnumbered the Federals three to one, and the latter, after maintaining for several hours an nnequal combat, were forced to sur- render, but against the vigorous protest of Lieutenant-Colonel Griggs. The Colonel had been in several minor engagements previous to this one, and by his brave, soldierly conduct, had earned the promotion mentioned. After the surrender, the regiment was paroled and sent to Missouri, and later participated in the Indian campaign in Minnesota. The officers, however, went forward as prisoners of war, and were held for three months at Madisonville, Georgia, and thenee were forwarded via South Carolina and Libby Prison, to be exchanged. After full re- ports of the engagement at Murfreesborough had been made, the Colonel and those who had voted for surrender were dismissed, and Lieutenant- Colonel Griggs was promoted to the Colonecy of the Third Minnesota. The regiment had by this time been through the Indian campaign and

returned to the South via Cairo, proceeding to Columbus, Kentucky, then under command of General A. Smith. From the latter place, Col- onel Griggs was sent with his own and three other regiments and a battery to Forts Henry and Hindman, to drive out a squad of rebels, and the Colonel was placed in command of a military district comprising five counties. While here in command, he captured Colonel Dawson, Ma- jor Magie and about 1,000 men, as well as some- thing like $5,000,000 worth of cotton and salt. After remaining there three or four months, he asked to be sent forward to the front at Vicks- burg, which request was complied with, and his command was placed facing Johnston's army, near Oak Ridge, where it remained until the capture of Vicksburg. At this time his health was very poor, and believing that with the fall of the great stronghold of the Mississippi and the defeat of Gettysburg, occurring simultane- ously, the war to be virtually over, he accepted the suggestion of the surgeon of the regiment and resigned from the service, as all officers of depleted regiments, who had not asked to resign before Vieksburg, were freely accommodated by General Grant. Had not the state of his health impelled his resignation, it is certain he would have received a General's commission.

He returned to Minnesota, and was for some years situated at Chaska, a little town some thirty miles west of St. Paul, at which place he engaged in brick-making, dealing in wood, eon- tracting Government supplies, railroad build- ing, etc., and while there he also represented his county in the State Legislature. In 1869, he returned to St. Paul, where his progress in poli- ties and business was rapid. Until 1887, he was extensively engaged in the wood and coal busi- ness, at first in partnership with J. J. Hill, now president of the Great Northern Railroad, and later with General R. W. Johnson, and finally with A. G. Foster. Ile organized, and was for some time president of the Lehigh Coal & Iron Company, but in the spring of 1887 he sold ont his entire interests in the coal, iron and wood business. While, perhaps, better known there

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in connection with his large fuel interests, he has been identified with numerous other ven- tures-in faet, anything which promised good returns from energy and good management. He yet remains the head of the largest wholesale grocery house in St. Panl. In 1883, with others the firm of Glidden, Griggs & Co. was organ- ized, and in 1884 Glidden retired and the firm became Yanz, Griggs & Howes. In 1890 the interest of Howes was bought out and the death of Mr. Yanz occurring, the present fim of Griggs, Cooper & Co. was formed, constituting the largest wholesale house west of Chicago. Colonel C. W. Griggs and D. C. Shepherd, of St. Paul, are the leading members of the firm, but the business is managed by C. M. Griggs and Mr. Cooper.

Colonel Griggs has been particularly suecess- ful and prominent as an investor in lands, hav- ing handled much property in the Twin Cities, and throughout Minnesota, Dakota and Wis- consin, but later his investments were in the pine lands in Wisconsin and in Washington property, while now it may reasonably be said he is giving most of his personal attention to his large interests in Washington.

In May, 1888, Colonel Griggs and Ilenry Hewitt, Jr., formerly of Menasha, Wisconsin, bought from the Northern Pacific Railroad eon- traets for the sale of some 80,000 acres of land and timber lying near the city of Tacoma, which is said to be the finest body of timber land in the United States, and will ent from 8,000,000,000 to 10,000,000,000 feet.

Associated with other prominent men of the East and West, a company was organized which was known as the St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company, with Colonel Griggs as president, which began business as lumber manufacturers in 1888, and the product of their mills in Ta- coma is now shipped over the entire globe, em- ploying from 1,000 to 8,000 men daily during portions of the time.

When it is remembered that Colonel Griggs had already made his millions, and at the time of the preceding purchase was fifty-six years of

age, the energy and ambition which impelled him to embark in these enterprises and become a pioneer in a new home and new industry may be better appreciated.

Colonel Griggs has been for years prominent in banking circles, being stoekholder and di- rector of three banks and president of one. He is a director in the First and Second National Banks of St. Paul, and was vice-president of the St. Paul National while he lived there, and a di- rector in the Traders' Bank and Fidelity Trust Company of Tacoma. He is a director of the Bitumions Paving Company, vice-president of the Tacoma Fishing Company, and a member of the Crescent Creamery Company. Ile is presi- dent of the Pacific & Chehalis Land Company, which now owns 20,000 acres in the counties whose names are borne by the company, and is besides this interested in a number of other im- portant corporations.

Colonel Griggs was married April 14, 1859, to Miss Martha Ann Gallup, a native of Led- yard, Connecticut, and a daughter of Christopher M. and Anna (Billings) Gallup, both of whom were born at Ledyard, and both belonging to old New England families, which furnished their quotas of patriots during the Revolutionary struggle. A portion of Mr. Gallup's farm is a portion of the old Pequod grant. Mrs. Griggs is a lady of culture and education and is en- titled to a share of credit for her husband's sne- cess in life. She has been active in woman's work all her life and is known in her old home at St. Paul, as well as in Tacoma, as a leader in church and charitable work. In St. Paul she was a leading spirit in the management in the Protestant Orphan's Asylum, and was for many years the honored president of its governing board. To Mrs. Griggs no call upon her time, energy and purse was was ever made in vain, when the canse was one worthy the support of a noble, high-minded woman. To Mr. and Mrs. Griggs have been born the following children : Chauncey Milton, Herbert Stanton, Heartie Dimoek, Everett Gallup, Theodore Wright and Anna Billings.

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In closing the brief sketch of Colonel Griggs, a reference to his political affiliations is fitting. Ile has always been a strong. supporter of the Democratic party and its principles, but withal conservative, never upholding a corrupt official. While residing in Minnesota, he was twice a member of the House of Representatives and three times Senator, was a member of the City Council of St. Paul seven times, besides holding many other positions of honor and trust. In Washington, he at once took front rank as a representative of the Democratic party and be- came its candidate for United States Senator in 1889 and again in 1893.

In his varions enterprises, Colonel Griggs has employed more labor than any man in the State of Washington, and it is universally conceded that his employes have been among the best paid and best treated men in the State. That the consideration shown them has been appre- ciated, is shown by the fact that in all the vast work performed for him by others there has never been a hint of trouble about pay or treatment, a really remarkable treatment when compared with many other employing bodies. Every man who exhibits such care for the laborer is a laborer himself.

CHAPTER XXXV.

PRINCIPAL CITIES, CONTINUED.

SEATTLE.

THE HISTORICAL CITY -- PHENOMENAL GROWTH-ADVANTAGEOUS LOCATION-INDUSTRIES-SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES GREAT FIRE-SCENERY SKETCH OF HENRY L. YESLER -- SKETCH OF COLONEL G. O. HALLER -- SKETCH OF G. F. WHITWORTH, D. D.

HIE history of Seattle comes nearer being the history of the growth and develop- ment of Washington, of which it is un- doubtedly the chief city, than does that of any other city of the State. The names of its pioneers, and the incidents attending its settle- ment, have necessarily entered into the warp and woof of our entire history. Very few of the thrilling experiences of real pioneer life en- tered into the settlement or growth of the cities that sprung up with, or subsequent to, the era of railroads. Around Seattle clusters the mem- ories of a quarter of a century of the real pio- neer history before Tacoma or Spokane or twenty of the other thriving cities east and west of the Cascade mountains had a name upon the map. Its history dates further back than does that of Omaha, Topeka or Denver. The world has been so long accustomed to read its name on commercial :ists, and for so many decades have

the census reports recorded its progress that the romance of newness and suddenness does not eling to it. Its place is fixed, like that of fixed stars that never change nor cease to shine, and all the world knows where to look for Seattle. Still, we cannot satisty the justice of history without some more particular exhibition of what this wonderful and progressive city has been in the past, is now, and is to be in the future.

The growth of Seattle has been phenomenal for the last decade. While it kept full pace with the Territory for the first quarter of a century of its existence, it never realized the strength of the giant life within it until after 1880 had come and gone. Then, in ten years it leaped at once from three and a half thousand people up to the splendid figure of 45,000-over eleven- fold increase in ten years. At this writing, in midsummer of 1893, the population of the city must have reached 50,000 at the least,

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Commercially, a writer very conservatively says of it :--

Owing to advantageous harbor location, the proximity of coal and timber, it being the cen- ter and point of distribution for milling points and logging camps, the larger portion of steam- boats engaged in the Sound trade made it their starting point, and to such fact may be attrib- uted its commercial supremacy. Over thirty steamboats, of every size, run from here to every point on the Sound and upon the navigable waters tributary to it. Ocean steamships and large steam colliers regularly communicate with San Francisco. A fleet of sailing vessels trans- port its eoal, lumber, grain and other products. Its industries inelude sawmills, shingle mills, sash and door factories, breweries, furniture factories, iron works, brick yards, electric light and gas works, car shops, boiler works; crackers, soap, ice, candy and tile are manufactured. There are also canneries, meat-packing, box- making, wood-working of all descriptions, ship and boat building, flouring mills, bottling works, cigar-making, brass foundries and eur- nice factories. The water supply is pumped from Lake Washington into elevated reservoirs, the highest being 330 feet. There are fire hy- drants and steam fire engines, with an efficient paid fire department.

Terms of United States Circuit and District Court are held. A United States land office, the Board of United States Inspectors of Steam Vessels for this State and Alaska, and a branch of the Customs House and Marine Hopital are located here. Every religious denomination has its organization. There are fifty-six churches, two hospitals, an orphans' home, the Sisters' convent and academy, and other denom- inational schools. All the fraternities and so- cieties are represented. The State University is also here; recent appropriations of land and money must be a guarantee of its future useful- ness as an institution of learning.

Over sixty miles of electrie and cable car lines, newspapers and magazines without rest, of every denomination, nationality and degree,

in daily, weekly and monthly issues, and eleven public-school edifices attest the condition of the city.

On June 6, 1889, the city of Seattle was vis- ited by a conflagration that has no equal in the history of fires on the Pacific Coast; and this great waste of flames has frequently been li- kened to the great Chicago fire. The entire business portion of Seattle was destroyed, the total loss being estimated at $15,000,000. In- side of four years, however, the city has been re- built with finer structures, wider streets, and in many ways the great fire has proved a blessing in disguise.

Seattle has been described so often and so much has been written as to the beauty of its scenery both near and distant, that it would ap- pear a superfluity to attempt another description here. Yet, as in some respects its surroundings are unlike those of any other of the principal cities of the Sound, we may venture a para- graph or two concerning it.

In general its scenery has the same expanse and mingling of Sound and mountains that has all the cities of the Sound. Rising up the ter- raced slopes of the inside of an amphitheatre of lofty hills that sweep about Elliott's bay, on the east side of I'nget Sound, the city stands row above row, clear from the tide on the beach to the summits of the ridge. Then it stretches away eastward across a rather level plateau, three miles or more, clear to the shores of Lake Washington. A more beautiful body of water never mirrored back the stars than this. It stretches miles away eastward, northward, south- ward, swinging its crystal brightness about the feet of the evergreen hills that margin its wil- lowed shores, and catching and refleeting all their beauty of bough and leaf, with the over- arching greenness of the hemlock and the fir upon the vision of the beholder. North and west of this, almost linking it with the waters of the Sound, is Lake Union, smaller, thongh not less beautiful than itself. From every point and place within the area thus enclosed, looking westward across the blue leagues of the

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Sound, the beautiful Olympic range divides be- tween the waters and the sky. Sharply pin- nacled, some peaks touching the zone of per- petnal snow, this is the ideal mountain range of the Pacific coast. Probably the vision of over a hundred miles of its ever-changing grandeur can be gathered at once within the focus of the eye. It holds the vision in thrall alike when its pinnacles flame with the earliest touch of the morning, or at high noon, when its deep gorges and the worn and rent paths of its old glaciers are illumined with the flood of day, or at even- ing after the sun has gone down behind its ser- rated summits and the last arrows of his light are shooting up front behind their sombre heights; in the calm of the motionless air of a summer repose, or in the whirl and ch rge and thunder of a winter's storm-always this won- derfnl scene holds the soul of the beholder with a strange, sweet, weird, bewildering attraction. A poet might here cateh transcendent images for a thousand "Songs of the Sierras," though he could not breathe in measures all that sung within him. With its soft and beautiful name, which itself is an idyl heroic with the memory of a departed people who once dwelt upon its site; with its splendid architecture, its rushing pares, its fleets coming and going on every tide, its past story of achievement and its prophecy of greater future progress, our pen must take a reluctant farewell of this city that " sits like a queen" on her templed hills by this "Mediterra- nean of the West."

The history and life of Seattle, like those of all other cities or countries, are best illustrated by the men who made such history and life. Three men, typical of the forces and character that have wrought the Seattle of 1893 out of the rough Seattle of 1853, in addition to some whose lives have been sketched elsewhere in this book, will serve as our illustrations. The first on our list is

HENRY LEITER YESLER .-. Mr. Yesler was born in Leitersburg, Maryland, December 4, 1810. His parents, Henry and Catherine (Leiter) Yesler, were natives of Pennsylvania

and Leitersburg, respectively, the latter town having been founded by the Leiter family. Henry L. was educated in the little, old, log schoolhouse of the town, and was reared upon his father's farm. At the age of seventeen he entered upon a three years' apprenticeship to the trade of house joiner, compensation for his services being his board, twenty-five dollars in cash each year for clothes, and two weeks' holi- day each year during harvesting, when he worked in the field with the sickle and earned good wages. After completing his apprenticeship, he worked as journeyman until 1832, when he started out in life, his trade and a few tools being his capital stock. Going to Massillou, Ohio, he worked one year. Then he went to Cincinnati and later to Natchez, Mississippi. In April, 1835, he went down the river to New Orleans, thence by railroad -- the first he had ever ridden upon-to Mobile, thenee by packet ship to New York, arriving just after the big fire and hoping to find plenty of work; but help was plentiful and wages low, and after a few months he decided to return to Leitersburg, which he did, going via Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington city. Remaining until Sep- tember, 1837, he again visited Natchez, but, meeting with an accident, he returned to Mas- sillon, Ohio, and there, in partnership with Thomas Richmond, he opened a shop and en- gaged in general honse carpentering. He con- tinued work at honse and mill building until 1851, when he decided to make a prospecting tour of the Pacific coast.

Arranging matters for the comfort of his family, he having been married several years previous to this time, he went to New York and there took steamer, via the Isthmus ronte, for San Francisco, whence, after a short stop, he continued his journey to Portland, landing at that place in April, 1851. Portland was then a hard-looking town, but wages were higli, and at six dollars per day he immediately be- gan work as millwright. Being a good mechanic and hard worker, he was a favorite hand and was steadily employed. As squared lumber was

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then bringing a large price in San Francisco, he ordered a sawmill outfit from Ohio to come by water around Cape Horn, and he started for California in April, 1852, to look for a place to locate his mill. Finding, however, that trans- portation to the mountains was very expensive, he decided to visit Puget Sound. At San Fran- cisco lie met a sea captain who had visited the Sound for piling, and he advised Mr. Yesler to go above New York on Alki Point, and described to him the adjacent river and large inland lakes.

Returning to Portland, he came thence, by the Columbia and Cowlitz rivers and pack- horses, to Olympia in the fall of 1852. The only hotel there was kept by Gallagher Brothers, and the beds in this rnde hotel were bunks around the wall, filled with straw, and each man was expected to furnish his own blanket. Con- tinning his journey np the Sound Mr. Yesler dnly arrived at New York, and, after looking over the shore front and country, first located his elaim at the head of the bay; but the few settlers located upon the present site of what is now Seattle, learning of his attention to ereet a sawmill, indneed him to settle with them, and by readjusting their claims he was allowed a strip about thirty rods wide, extending from the water front back over the hills where was lo- eated the bulk of his claim. He then erected his little mill on what is now known as Pioncer Square, it being the first steam sawmill built upon Puget Sound; and he commenced oper- ations in Marelı, 1853. The only available help being Indians, he employed a large num- ber of them. By kind treatment to them he gained their confidence and friendship, and du- ring the troublons days of 1855 and 1856, through his relation with them he was enabled to render great service to the Territory, saving the settlement from massacre by timely warn- ing sent to the naval authorities upon the sloop Decatur, then lying at anchor in the har- bor. His own Indians remained neutral dur- ing the trouble. After peace was declared, Mr. Yesler continued his lumbering interests, and, by offering inducements to new settlers,

and by attracting the older merchants to his locality, he gradually entered about himself the business portion of the city. Ile was ever ready to erect buildings to accommodate the would-be settler, thus developing the city and increasing his own property values and rentals. He was one of the heaviest losers by the great fire of June 6, 1889, which reduced his monthly rentals from $6,000 to $50 per month; but, with that indomitable energy which char- acterized the citizens of Seattle at that time, ere the embers had ceased to smolder, his plans were made to rebuild upon a more magnificent scale than ever before, and the Pioneer Build- ing on " Pioneer Place " -erected upon the site of his first humble dwelling in Seattle, which he occupied for twenty-five years - is charac- terized by solidity and elegance, and would do credit to any of the great cities. The Yesler Building, another monument to his industry and enterprise, and numerous other buildings of less pretention, bring him large monthly rentals. In 1885 he built his present spacious and magnificent residence, which is handsomely and substantially finished in the native woods of the Pacific coast.

With the organization of the territory of Washington, Mr. Yesler was appointed the first Anditor, and held the office several years. He has been Commissioner of King county for several terms and has twice served as Mayor of Seattle. He was formerly a Democrat in poli- ties, but since the Buchanan campaign and the Civil war he has been allied with the Republi- can party. He is not, however, an intense partisan and never had any desire for political distinction, his time having been too closely occupied with his business affairs. With the great tide of emigration to the Sound, his property has increased in value. Much of it has been sold, but he still retains a large part of his original elaim in the very heart of the city. 1839, to Miss Sarah Burgert, a native of Ohio,

Mr. Yesler was married at Massillion, in who shared with him the privations and trials of pioneer life and also the prosperity of later

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years, ever proving herself an amiable and no- ble woman. She was greatly beloved and re- spected for her charitable and genial disposition. They had two children, both of whom died at an early age, and in August, 1887, she followed the little ones to their last resting place. Mr. Yesler was again married, in Philadelphia, in 1890, to Miss Minnie Gagle, a native of Leiters- burg, Maryland, and she died December 16,1892.

It is impossible to fittingly portray so event- tul a life in the confines of a brief biography. Mr. Yesler has heen foremost in every enter- prise, with financial aid and physical support, in building up the great Northwest. Many struggling industries date their growth to his nurturing care and support. Though now in his eighty-second year, Mr. Yesler is buoyant in spirit, and, physically and mentally, displays an interest in life and affairs usually found in men when in the prime of their usefulness. He will leave upon his time the impress of a strong personality and will ever be noted as one of the founders of the great Northwest.

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An illustrated history of the state of Washington, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 39

Author: Hines, Harvey K., 1828-1902 Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 1056

Author: Hines, Harvey K., 1828-1902
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1056