USA > Washington > Thurston County > Early history of Thurston County, Washington : together with biographies and reminiscences of those identified with pioneer days > Part 12
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"This train consisted of fourteen wagons, with a total cf 99 human beings. men, women and children. Among the emigrants were the four Hays brothers, all of whom remained in the West and became identified with Thurston county's early history, four Yantis brothers, Dr. N. Ostrander and twenty-five young men, the latter paying the partners, Hays and Cowen. $125 each for grub and for having their blankets hauled across the continent. They all rode their horses, as did I, myself. Most important of all the train's people to Tom were five (in my eyes), beautiful young ladies, who rode with us every day on their own horses. As I was generally a handy man about the train, I said to myself, 'Well, Tom, here's where you have a pienic,' so I made the charge of these girls my special duty, helping them mount their horses in the morning and to dismount when camp was reached. These girls were Kate Yantis, her cousin, Sarah Yantis, afterwards
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Mrs. G. C. Blankenship, two Ostrander girls, and Jerusha Jane Logan Hays, the beautiful daughter of the captain of the train.
"One other special duty was assigned me by Captain HIays and it was to see that, every morning as camp was broken, that a pair of saddle bags were securely strapped onto a stripped mule, which was always ridden by the oldest Hays boy, and well I should be careful of these saddle bags for in them were $12.000 in $20 gold pieces, which Captain Hays was bringing with him to buy cattle and stock the homestead which he proposed preempting when the Golden West was reached.
"Well, before the train reached The Dalles, which was our destination, I became infatuated with the appearance of the Grande Rounde valley and persuaded the captain to sell me a wagon-load of flour, bacon, sugar and coffee. I set a small 'A' tent up beside the road and soon disposed of the en- tire stock at quite advanced prices to the emigrants who came along the train and were running short of provisions.
"I again joined Captain Hays at The Dalles and helped him drive a drove of cattle, which he had purchased down the Columbia river, to the site of the City of Portland, although then but a settlement of a few log houses.
"In the Spring of 1853, I came to Olympia, which was only a few years old. Did I come in a steam car? Did I come in an automobile, or even did I come in a dead ex wagon ? No. sir. Tom walked every step of the way from the Cowlitz landing, carried his blankets and worldly possessions and thought it but a pleasure jaunt.
"When I got here there was just one white woman in Olympia." (Mr. Prather's memory probably failed him here for there were several women living here at that time, Mrs. George Barnes, Mrs. Alexander, Mrs. Rider, Lucy and Char- lotte Barnes, Mary Wood, Mrs. Pullen, afterward Mrs. R. H. Wood and several others who contemporaneons pioneers were enabled to remember).
"There were about forty-five white men, and three chil- dren. I am sorry, but I have forgotten the woman's name. There was a big band of Indians camped on the west side, coming to this side in canoes for the purpose of bartering fish, oysters and berries for sugar, flour, bacon and calico.
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"I especially remember John Miller Murphy among the white people I found upon my arrival in Olympia. He was then a fat. red-cheeked lad of probably ten years of age, liv- ing with his sister. Mrs. Barnes, and a favorite with everybody.
"The donation claims of Edmund Sylvester, Edwin Marsh and James Swan covered all that portion of the territory which is now known as Olympia, East Bay avenue and the East side. Old timers still refer to Swantown and Marshville in speaking of these seetions.
"Charles Weed was the baker for the settlement and the bread he turned out of shorts was considered a great luxury by me. Of course, when a sailing vessel would come in from San Francisco there would be some white flour, which was eagerly bought up by the storekeeper, George Barnes and Weed, but there was never enough to last till the next ship arrived. However, the store of clams was inexhaustible and the settlers were beginning to raise potatoes and garden truck, and onee in a while a steer was killed, so we had fresh beef occasionally, and there was plenty of the best fish in the world, but elams and hard tack were the staples of life.
"In those days the newspapers came from San Francisco about every six months, so we were always a half year be- hind the happenings of the outside world. It was considered quite an event when finally a mail route was established and we got our papers only three months behind date of publica- tion. My first work upon arrival in Olympia was logging for Captain Percival, up the creek, which even then, and still, bears the name of this noted pioneer sea captain. After spend- ing a few weeks at this work winter set in and the camp closed down. George Barnes then offered me $100 for clearing the block of land he had recently acquired, bounded by Fourth, Fifth. Adams and Jefferson Streets, which was for so many years the Barnes home, and which is now, so it is said, to be the site of the new railroad depot. As this piece of ground was then covered with high cedar trees and part of it submerged by the high tides. I refused the offer and spent the winter with a small crew of men slashing thirty-five acres of forest land for Nathan Eaton, nine miles from town, out on Chambers' Prairie.
"As soon as Spring arrived I took a job as axman and
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helped make the first survey of an airline from Portland to Puget Sound. I stayed with this surveying party two years, when the Indian war broke out-in 1855. Then I quit sur- veying to volunteer under Judge Gilmore Hays, who was raising the first volunteer company in the territory.
"The call for volunteers was made by Acting Governor Charles H. Mason, as Governor I. I. Stevens was at that time in the Blackfoot country, trying to make treaties with the Indians there.
"This was in 1855, and our company comprised 80 volun- teers. We were mustered in at Fort Steilacoom, Judge Hays being commissioned captain. Our company was then sent east of the mountains, as it was there that all the trouble with the Indians was reported, the Puget Sound, or "Fish" Indians, as they were called, being apparently friendly to the whites.
"But we had no more than crossed the mountains than along comes Bill Tidd, the pony express rider, with a message from Acting Governor Mason to the effect that Col. Steptoe. in command of the United States troops, was surrounded at Walla Walla by 1,000 Indians and that the Puget Sound In- dians were also on the warpath. We were to hasten back to protect the settlers in the White River country. Returning to this side of the mountains, through the Natchez Pass, we camped for the night at Connell's Prairie, just about where the interurban line traverses the White River valley. In the morning Captain Hays detailed me and four other men to guard the supplies and with the rest of the company, which had now been increased in numbers by the addition of Lieu- tenant Slaughter and twenty soldiers from the United States troops, started to ford the White River to battle with the In- dians. As the men plunged into the river, the Indians. con- cealed along the banks on the far side, opened fire and about a dozen of our men were killed, after which the Indians re- treated through the jungle. As they carried their dead and wounded with them, we had no means of knowing how many of the enemy our men picked off, but from blood prints along the train they certainly met with a considerable loss.
"Captain Hays and his men came back to the camp for the night, and in the morning. each man taking one day's rations with him, we started after the Indians along a trail
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so wild and narrow that we had to go single file most all the way. We could hear the Indians not far ahead of us-their ponies crashing through the brush and dogs yelping. In this way we came to a branch of Stuck river, I think it must have been. The Indians were not in sight, but it was expected they were ambushed on the other side of the river. Captain Hays called for volunteers to wade across the river and draw the Indians' fire, if indeed they were hiding in the brush. After a moment's hard thinking I said: 'Yes, Captain Hays, I'll go.' Then Lieutenant Slaughter, William Billings, Joe Gibson and Joe Brannon joined me.
"When I stepped into the water I went in over my waist into a chuek hole made by the Indian horses. My blunderbuss got wet, but I held it over my head the rest of the way across the river. Every step I expected the next instant would be my last, but we reached the far shore in safety and wore joined by the rest of the company. The boys began firing wildly into the brush, but as I didn't see anything to shoot at. I saved my bullets and waited before firing. So it came about that I was never really in an Indian fight, for after crossing the river the trail grew so bad that Captain Hays decided we had better return to Montgomery's. a Hudson Bay man's place, and wait further orders. Soon after this the entire company was or- dered to Mound Prairie, near Tilley's ranch, for winter quarters.
"At this time Captain Hays was made Major General of the united companies of the volunteers of the territory, but as the time for which I had enlisted had expired and the war was practically in the hands of the regular troops, I was honorably discharged and did not re-enlist.
"My next venture upon returning to Olympia after my discharge was to join Captain J. G. Parker for a trip to Vic- toria, B. C. Captain Parker had sent to San Francisco for a tiny steamboat, which was loaded on a sailing vessel and landed at the Etheridge & Miller sawmill, a mile below Priest's Point, and there fitted up for the sea. This small craft was the very first steamboat on Puget Sound. Captain Parker named her 'The Traveler,' and as soon as she was fitted up put her under charter of the United States government to bring mili- tary supplies from Victoria, for which the government was to pay $50 a day.
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"I was made mate of the crew, and, of course, Parker was captain. Soon after leaving Port Townsend, which then the only port of entry, the engine gave a fearful screech and went dead. There we were, out of sight of land. no canoe or other means of leaving the boat. the waves of the Straits of Juan de Fuca all but rolling over us, helpless, and at the mercy of wind and tide. Then and there I made a vow that if ever I reached land again no more sea life for Tom. But in the morning we were sighted by a sailing vessel, the Potter, and towed into Victoria harbor. There we found that the boiler had split in two places which had allowed all the steam to escape.
"We got the boiler repaired, loaded and was about to start on our return trip when there passed by our boat an Indian brave with a big canoe in which were his squaw and pappooses. I hailed the buck and in Chinook asked him, 'Where go?' 'Townsend,' he replied. So I told him I would tow his canoe and give him and his family passage on our big canoe to Port Townsend. He was tickled at the chance and I was tickled, too. I didn't want to go drifting around those waters again without some kind of a boat on board.
"This ended my steamboating, although Captain Parker made several other trips on the Traveler, which finally sank near Port Townsend, where for years the top of her smoke- stack could be seen at low tide, although she. finally slipped off into deeper waters and the exact spot of her grave is not known at this day.
"I then went back to surveying, and in 1858, helped lo- cate the military road from Fort Steilacoom to Fort Belling- ham. I am the man who drove the first stake in a preliminary survey of the Northern Pacific Railroad, under supervision of Jared S. Hurd. This was near Snoqualmie Falls, in King County. About this time I acquired the lot of land on Wash- ington Street, which for so many years was known as the Prather home.
"For twelve years I was county commissioner, which is the only public office I have ever held. I think I may state, without undue boasting, that it was largely through my ef- forts that Thurston County received the $150,000 from the sale of public lands to build the county court house, the same building which is now the state capitol building, having been purchased by the state about fifteen years ago.
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"In the early seventies I became a guard at the asylum for insane at Steilacoom and took my third trip East in 1876 to attend the Philadelphia exposition. Soon after my return to Washington I was married at Steilacoom to Miss Agnes Winsor, who was also an attendant at the asylum, although for the twelve previous years had been teaching school. To us were born three children, Edith and her twin brother, who died in infancy, and my son Samuel. Edith is now Mrs. Wal- ter C. Thompson, and lives in the Puyallup valley, and my son is in Alaska."
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WM. H. MITCHELL
The following biographical sketch of Mr. Wm. H. Mitchell. one of our most respected citizens, was typewritten by his son, A. B. Mitchell, who is wholly blind, and is so crippled from rheumatism that he cannot walk or care for himself. This is a remarkable verification of the fact often noted that the loss of any one of the five senses renders more acute the others. In this, the sense of touch or feeling has produced a manuscript that is the equal of most experts on the machine. It is, therefore, published verbatim :
"I was born in Chicago, Ill., November 13, 1834, and a few years later moved with my parents to what was then South Port, Wisconsin. The name has, however, since been changed to Kenosha. When I had reached the age of 18, I had contracted a severe case of Oregon fever and had made up my mind to take the long trip across the plains, my ob- jective point being Olympia. My parents objected at first to my going, but later acquiesced and assisted me in preparing for the trip. Accordingly, arrangements were made with Samuel Holmes for me to travel with his family as they were leaving that Spring for the same part of the country to which I wished to go. A horse was also provided for me to ride and on the 9th of April, 1853, we left South Port and traveled about nine miles that day, and on the next day, Sunday. my father and mother, with my sister Eliza, drove out with a horse and buggy and overtook our slower moving ox team. They took dinner with us there at the beginning of our long journey. They then returned home while we once more turned our faces to the setting sun.
"The trail across Iowa was a slow and tiresome one on account of the soft condition of the roads, the wagons often going down to the hubs in the mud. There were plenty of others, however, like ourselves, making for Council Bluffs, and there would often be quite a train of us. We were generally
WM. H. MITCHELL
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
AUTOR, LENUX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONE
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delayed in the mornings. I remember Mrs. Holmes, who would still insist on bathing her children every morning. She found this to be impossible later on, however. Council Bluffs was at that time a central point, where the emigrants got to- gether and formed their wagons into trains for the trip across the plains, and here could be found all types of the frontier life mingled together. It was here that a three-card monte man relieved me of nearly all the money that I had. This was a serious loss to me, but I think I profited by the experience. "We crossed the Missouri River, June the third. Our train, consisting of about twenty wagons, was well organized. having a captain and train master. Our course now led up the north bank of the Platte River and there was no sign of hu- man habitation to be seen anywhere. We met a trader occa- sionally, sometimes on horseback and sometimes they would have a tent stretched beside the road with their goods dis- played in front, but as they charged so much for everything they had to sell no one purchased of them until compelled to do so by sheer necessity. There were also bridges built over some of the rivers and at such places there would be one of these men to collect a toll before allowing you to pass over the bridge. There were a few Indians also, but they were not hostile at that time and never attacked us. We also saw quite a few buffalo and at one time it was necessary for us to open up our train that a herd of them might go through, oth- erwise they would have run right over us. I presume there must have been a thousand buffalo in that herd. It was in this section of the country that we encountered a severe thun- der storm in which the tent where Mr. and Mrs. Holmes were sleeping was blown down and they were forced to come into the wagon where I was, to get away from the rain. We ar- rived at Fort Kearney on July 4th, having traveled a little over a thousand miles since crossing the Missouri River.
"We now began to see more signs of the hardships to which those that had preceded us had been subjected, as the trail was strewn with deserted wagons and stoves, in fact. with everything that could be spared to make the load lighter and everywhere was to be seen the bleached bones of cattle that had either died or had been killed for food. The Indians were also more watchful. On one occasion two young men of our train. thinking they could get along faster on foot, started
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on ahead one morning and that afternoon we came upon them. The Indians had killed one and the other was so badly wounded that he died soon after. We buried him in his blankets beside the trail on the bank of the Snake River and the next day we were overtaken by another train and they told us that the Indians had dug him up and taken his blankets and left his body on top of the ground. I have often wondered since, though I thought nothing of it at the time, why they never picked me off, as I was in the habit of riding ahead of the train and after fastening my horse to my wrist, I would lie down and wait for the train to come up. The only time that I was shot, however. was accidental. I was stooping down to get a drink from a river when my revolver slipped from its holster and was discharged, the ball lodging in my right forearm. It was removed by one of the men with his pocket knife, this being the best medical instrument to be had. The Indians were around us and we would often see their camp fires at night in the foothills surrounding our camp.
"We crossed the Snake River by caulking our wagon boxes with rags and using them to ferry the women and chil- dren across while the cattle were made to swim. Our stock of provisions becoming depleted, Mr. Holmes was compelled to buy from a trader at La Grande. Oregon. It was at this place that one of the men of our train had his wife stolen by the trader. I remember hearing him calling through the camp for her, but she had gone and taken the youngest child with her and he did not find her.
"At Fort Walla Walla our train divided, part going down the Columbia River while the rest of us went on north and through the Natchez pass in the Cascade mountains. When we arrived at the foot of the mountains we sent two men for- ward to see if we could get over and they returned. reporting too much snow for the wagons, so it was decided to leave our outfits at a Catholic mission that was there and proceed on foot, letting the women ride whatever there was to ride.
"Mr. Wooden and myself were the first to start over the pass and we found the way not nearly as bad as had been represented and by taking advantage of cut-offs, we made very good progress and without misadventure until the last night in the mountains we became separated. Mr. Wooden took what he thought to be a cut-off while I stayed on the
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trail, and, at night. as he did not rejoin me. I called him but received no answer. So I went to sleep at the foot of a tree and the next morning when I awoke I found that I had rolled several feet down the mountain from where I went to sleep and it was raining hard. so after stretching a piece of canvas over some brush to keep the rain off, I built a fire and was cooking the last of my store of rice when Mr. Wooden came into my camp. We ate the rice that I had prepared and started on our way again. and that afternoon met a Mr. Connel, who gave us a little flour which we cooked on the end of sticks and ate. Mr. Connel was a very good friend to the emigrants and often helped them with provisions, as he had a cabin on the west side of the mountains, on what is now Connel's prairie. He was killed by the Indians in the uprising of 1855-6. We took supper at his house and then, after hiring horses from some friendly Indians, pushed on to Fort Steilacoom. I remained there but a short time, however, but went in a canoe with a Mr. Skidmore to Mud Bay, where I expected to go to work in his logging camp. but this I did not do. but went with him the next day in a canoe to Olympia, arriving there on the 6th of October.
"My first job, after arriving in Olympia, was to split and carry in a load of wood for J. J. Westbrook, who ran a saloon on the east side of Main street between Second and Third. After that I worked at whatever I could get to do. I joined the volunteers to fight the Indians in the uprising of 1855-6. serving but twenty-one days, when we mustered out. After this I was deputy sheriff under Isaac Hays.
"In 1856 I went into business with John Stewart. I was tending bar at the time for Mr. Westbrook and Stewart asked me if I wanted to go into business, to which I replied that I did. but that I had very little money. John, however. said he would speak to Mr. Hurd, who wanted to sell his baker shop. and Mr. Hurd agreed to give us time to pay for the business. so we bought him out and John, being a baker, took charge of that part of the business. while I did the best I could by tend- ing the butcher shop, which we had also. The first year we cleared enough to pay what we owed and also to buy the two- story building which is still standing on the southwest corner of Third and Main streets.
"Perhaps it would be well for me to say a word about the
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rest of those who were in our train when we crossed the Cas- cade mountains. Mr. Holmes and his family settled near Olympia. Bird Wright and his two brothers, with their fam- ilies, located in the Puyallup valley, as did a Mr. Morrison, who was a minister. Mr. Wooden went first to the Nisqually, but later moved to Seattle, where he started the first tannery. His son-in-law, a Mr. Schock, also settled a few miles out from Seattle. Mr. B. L. Johns, with his eight children, one of whom afterward became my wife, located a claim on White River, near Seattle. Mr. Livingston settled in Seattle, while his two daughters, one of whom married Will H. Brannon, located near White River. Mr. and Mrs. Brannon, with their children, were killed by the Indians, and Joe Brannon, Will's brother, after the war, came to Olympia.
"On the 13th of April, 1859, I was married to Martha T. Johns, in Olympia. To this union, five children were born, William Walter was born Feb. 29, 1860, and died about eight months later. Frank Wellington was born July 4, 1862, Henry William, July 30, 1865, Cora Edith born July 7, 1867. and Albert Bennett, born Aug. 7, 1870. There are also living nine grandchildren.
"My son, Frank W., died on March 19, 1914, in Portland. Oregon. My daughter, Cora Edith, is now Mrs. A. L. Young. of San Francisco, California."
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ANDREW CHAMBERS
Had the pioneers who built up this country, and through whose labor and enterprise Washington has grown from a beautiful wilderness into a land of homes and cultural ad- vantages, only taken the time and trouble to write down the history of their early trials, adventures and hardships, and- in many instances-final success, as did Andrew Chambers and his wife, Margaret White Chambers, the work of com- piling these reminiscences would have been reduced to the mere collection of the sketches and presenting them in book form. But too often, although these men and women realized their experiences were unique in the history of the world, and the days they might tell of were a closed chapter in history which could never be repeated, owing to the march of civilization, the task of actually writing down any record of events seemed too formidable or were put off to a later time-which time never came.
But the children of the honored couple whose stories are given in connection with this article, were insistent with their parents, and aided them in every way possible to put their reminiscences in lasting form. Well they did so, too, for now both Mr. and Mrs. Chambers are gone to their last rest, leav- ing only cherished memories.
The histories give a completer and more vivid descrip- tion of the life of those days than would be possible to ob- tain in any other way. Of a high order of intelligence and with a natural eloquence, the writers of the sketches were en- abled to resent the pictures of those wild days with a charm and clearness that no words of the writer could add to, so the reminiscences of Mr. and Mrs. Chambers are given word for word as they have written them.
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