USA > Washington > Thurston County > Early history of Thurston County, Washington : together with biographies and reminiscences of those identified with pioneer days > Part 14
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After school closed I stayed with my brother. James, and helped in the harvest. The barns were built of logs. two houses and a space of thirty feet between them, the roof including the three. The center was used for a threshing floor, and ten or twelve horses were used to tramp out the wheat. The farmers would furnish us horses and board and give us one bushel in ten to thresh out and fan the wheat, and. sometimes. they allowed us a team to take the wheat to market. While I was helping my brother that harvest. I did the threshing and my brother and Young Scoggins hauled in the sheaves. We threshed eighty or ninety bushels a day.
One of the oldest settlers came to my brother and wanted help. James told him I could go and wanted to know how much he would pay me per day. The old settler said he would
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give me three pecks of wheat a day. James told him I might remain at home and play, before I should work at that price. I told my brother to make a contract with him to cut and shock his wheat, and Scoggins and I would do the work as soon as we finished James' crop. He made the contract at three bushels an acre and board.
We went, and put in thirty acres for him. We put up three acres a day, and the old gentleman was highly pleased with our work. Ilis wheat was getting very ripe and shattering out so that he proposed for us to cut and bind in the fore- noon and haul in the afternoon, and he would pay just the same per day for the hauling. That was nine bushels a day.
It was hard for him to keep help. One harvest was all that help would stay with him. Some of his help told that he recommended to them to eat the peelings off of baked potatoes. He said it was healthy and helped to fill up. I think he was correct about its being good for the health, if he followed his own advise, for he lived to be 104 years old.
The Winter of 1846 we spent in looking for a new location. thinking to better ourselves. We went to the mouth of the Columbia River and looked over Clatsop Plains, then south to the Umpqua country. but we did not find anything to suit us.
Father said he had started for salt water, and so in the Spring of 1847, after we had put in the crops. we came over. to Puget Sound to look at that portion of the country. We spent two months looking around. At Newmarket, the present site of Tumwater. at the falls of the Des Chutes River, we found M. T. Simmons and family, and five or six other families and nine or ten young men. They had settled here in June. 1845. They were putting up a sawmill. They already had a flour mill, a very small concern. The burrs were only eighteen inches in diameter and no bolting cloth was in use. Some of the families had sieves that were used to take out the coarse bran.
At the present site of Olympia there was was only one man, by the name of Smith. His log cabin stood on the ground where the Huggins hotel is now. We finally staked out claims on what is now known as "Chambers Prairie." Then we returned to our homes in Oregon to make preparations to move to the Puget Sound region in the Fall.
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Early in the Fall of 1847, we hired two boats of Dr. McLoughlin, and four Kanaka boat men. We loaded our effects, wagons, ox yokes and bedding, on the boats at Oregon City. We went down the Willamette to the Columbia River, down the Columbia to the mouth of the Cowlitz and up the Cowlitz to Cowlitz Landing-thirty miles.
It was fine boating until we came to the rapids on the Cowlitz River. That was hard work and slow travelling. We had to use the tow line a great deal and go from one side of the river to the other to take advantage of the eddies and shallow waters, so that we could use the long poles and push the boats up the stream. Our boats were heavily laden and for about fifteen miles we used the poles and tow line, the water being too swift to use the oars.
There was a great quantity of salmon in the river. We had all we wanted, and cooked it Indian fashion. This was to dress the fish, run a stick through it and place the stick in the ground close to the fire, and as the fish cooked. turn it so that it would bake evenly. We always left the scales on till it was cooked. After working hard all day, it was fine-we thought, delicious.
We arrived at Cowlitz Landing after twenty days of travel, the only accident on the trip being the loss of a rifle, a considerable loss in those days. too. In making the trip to Cowlitz Landing, we started the hands with the stock. horses and cattle. to cross the Columbia. All were ferried over at Fort Vancouver; then they were driven down the river to Lewis River, where they were ferried over this stream, follow- ing down the Columbia to the mouth of the Cowlitz. They were then driven up the Cowlitz and swam across the south fork. When they reached the Cowlitz Landing. they swam the stock to the north side of the river and waited for the boats. This landing is at the lower end of Cowlitz Prairie, which prairie was settled by the Canadian French and is a fine farming country. The Hudson Bay Company and the Catholic Mission each had fine farms there. We rented twenty acres of land from the Catholic Mission and a like number of acres from John R. Jackson, and put in a crop of winter wheat.
When the crop was in, we left the stock needed to haul our wagons to the prairie (Chambers), which we had selected
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for our future home, and started to drive the remainder of the stock through. We drove them over Mud Mountain, or Mud Hill-all the first settlers travelled this way, and we crossed the Des Chutes about two miles above Tumwater. There was an Indian trail from Bush Prairie to Chambers Prairie.
Then we went back to Saunder's Bottom and com- pleted the wagon road around Mud Hill. This hill is east of Chehalis. There was one family living there at that time. We prospected and blazed out a road. We found trees on the banks of a creek that suited us for making a bridge. We built the bridge and eut out the wagon road through Saunder's Bottom- a distance of three miles. The creek's source was from Mud Mountain and the banks were steep and muddy and could not be crossed without a bridge. We then came to New Market, one of the first settlements at Tumwater. The men of this settlement turned out and all helped to cut a wagon road to Chambers' Prairie, a distance of three and a half miles. The old settlers here were glad to see new comers and they were ready and willing to help us. What they had they were will- ing to share with us. They were much pleased when they learned that we had sieve wire, for they had no bolting cloth for their small grist mill. They thought it a fine thing to have sieve wire so they could take the bran out of their flour. On the prairie we built a log house of two rooms, the smaller we used for a kitchen and the larger was curtained off into bed rooms. We then went for the family and brought them over. We stayed a few days, visiting Mr. Simmons' family.
We crossed our wagons on boats, when the tide was in, below the lower falls of the Des Chutes. When the tide was out we drove our work cattle across Budd's Inlet and then drove out five miles to our future home. The fifteenth of De- cember, 1847, we took our first dinner at our home on Cham- bers' Prairie.
Here our stock had plenty of grass and wintered well, so they were fat in February. We butchered a fine beef and had plenty of tallow to make candles. Mother had brought enough candle wicking to do several years. The candles were a great improvement on the old iron lamp in which we had to burn hog's lard. This lamp was made with a short spout for
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the wick to lie in and one end of the wick came out of this spout to burn. The handle at the other end of the lamp was so arranged that it came up over the center of the lamp, so as to hold the lamp level. A cotton cloth, twisted, served as a wick. Father put up a milk house, and. in March, commenced to make butter, and in April, to make cheese.
Brother Thomas and I took up claims adjoining, and we milked the cows, morning and evening. for our board. We built a log house of one room on our claim. We made it a five-cornered house, the fifth corner being for the fireplace. In May we dug two troughs and started a tan yard, on a small scale. We used the troughs for vats, and alder and hemlock bark, for tanning purposes. We dried the bark and pounded it fine. We burned oyster and clam shell and used the lime to take the hair off the skins. We made sole leather out of beef hides, and for the upper leather we used deer and cougar hides. By the first of November we had our leather ready to make shoes. We brought a kit of shoemakers' tools with us and father and I marle the shoes. We brought with us a num- ber of lasts of different sizes. For sewing we put a number of strands of shoe thread together -- the length we wanted-and we twisted and waxed this string. tapered the ends and put a hog bristle on each end for needles. It was a nice piece of work to put the bristles on so they would stay. This we could do to perfection. If they came off they could not be put on again.
We made our shoe pegs of maple and dog wood, well seasoned, sawed the length and size we wanted the pegs to be. We split off slabs the thickness to make square pegs. and shaved the slabs to make the pegs sharp at one end. We used a stick with a notch against which we held the slabs and sharpened first one side and then the other. A strip of leather with a slit in it was fastened to the shoe board. We took two or three of the sharpened slabs and held them with the left hand against the leather which served as a lever for the knife. and, with the point of the knife, held to place by running it in the slit in the leather, we split off the pegs.
The crop we put in on Cowlitz Prairie turned out well. and we hauled it over early in the Fall. or enough of it to plant and to keep us until we grew our first crop on Chambers' Prairie.
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The winters of 1845-6 and 1846-7 were very mild and pleasant. We made rails to fence in land to protect our erops. We raised plenty of wheat, potatoes, peas and other vegetables. We had wheat coffee, and pea coffee, and we could always change from one to the other. Boiled wheat and milk made an extra dish for supper.
Father and mother were highly pleased with this country and they thought there was no place like it; fat beef off the range in February, and plenty of oysters and clams for the digging. One beef would give us sixty pounds of tallow, and in those days tallow was an important item.
That same spring of 1848, we built the log barn which stood over half a century and finally had to be burned on ac- count of its being unsafe for the stock. It was built similar to those already described, except that this barn had five apartments, two for hay and grain, one for stalls, one for wagons, and one for threshing. It was a long, narrow barn, and all under one roof. The clapboards were put on with wrought nails from England, the sheeting was of logs, put on the right distance apart to use four-foot boards.
Thomas and I had been looking forward and calenlating to return to Missouri in two years to see our girls that we had left behind us. In 1848 mother received a letter from our old home, telling about what had taken place since we left and among the news was the marriage of a certain young lady, and this had the effect of making me contented to remain on Puget Sound.
This was a sensible decision, for, during the winter of 1847, Indians broke out and massacred Dr. and Mrs. Whitman and many others at the Mission, near Walla Walla. The people of Oregon raised a company of Volunteers to subdue the Cayuse tribe, the only hostiles. They succeeded in bringing the leaders to justice. We, on Puget Sound, did not know about the trouble until it was all settled. The Indians here were friendly and they were glad to have the Bostons-as they called the Americans-come. About this time gold was discovered in California, and Thomas and I got the fever to go, as Brother James was there.
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MRS. CHAMBERS' STORY AS TOLD BY HER DAUGHTER NORA
I left my childhood home in company with my three brothers. my sister-in-law, two nephews, and a niece, on April 1st, 1851, to cross the continent with ox teams.
My only sister took the road leading to Louisville the same morning, having been married to Presly M. Hoskins one week before. I can see the wagon yet that carried her goods. as it slowly turned down a hill that we used to travel so much to school and church together. Oh, how sorrowful a day that was! We crossed the Wabash River at Terre Haute. about 25 miles from our home in Sullivan County, Indiana, travelling across Illinois to Missouri, landing at St. Joe on the Missouri River on the 9th day of May. Here we stayed a few days to rest our jaded teams. The roads were frightful, the poor oxen would almost mire down in many places.
When we crossed the river into the Indian Territory, I felt as if we had left all civilization behind us. My sister- in-law was sick, my niece much younger than I, consequently all the cooking and planning fell on my shoulders. None but those who have cooked for a family of eight, crossing the plains, can have any idea of the amount of food consumed.
There isn't much fun cooking with sage brush almost as dry as straw. Sometimes the cakes-flapjacks-were black with the ashes blown over them. To throw them away and bake others was out of the question, for the next lot would have been the same, besides we had to be very saving of pro- visions. When we were all well we had jolly times, but my sister-in-law was sick almost all the time, which was a great source of anxiety to us. At times we almost despaired of her life.
I used to think, when travelling over those rocky roads. often seeing the skulls and bones of fellowmen bleaching in the hot sun, so far from home and loved ones, that if we were spared to reach a land of civilization, I could see my dearest loved ones laid away with a tear. Oh, the thought of leaving a loved one so far away was perfectly agonizing.
Often we would see parts of quilts that had been wrapped around the form of some dear one laid away, but both body and
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quilts had been dug out by the wild animals and the bones laid bare before the gaze of the pitiless sun. We saw some graves that had been made secure by heavy stones that had been placed upon them so that the wild beasts could not roll them off. We had one funeral in our train, a little boy, and how sad it was to drive away and leave the new-made grave!
One of our sorrows was the loss of our faithful dog. which had accompanied us from home. The poor beast perished when we were crossing the desert. My sister-in-law was very ill -- we did not know that she would live through the day. We had hauled water enough to last for two days, but had to use it very sparingly. I remembered, after we missed the dog. of seeing him coming along behind the wagon with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Poor fellow, if he had been taken in and given a little water he would have been saved. Except for the sickness in our family, we had an excellent trip, com. pared with some. We had no trouble with Indians-only some scares. One night the guards came in and reported the Indians had frightened all the stock and they had run off. Of course, we prepared to defend ourselves as best we could. The wagons were put around to form a circle, the tongue of one wagon resting on the back of another. Then the women and children were put into as few wagons as possible and one man sat in front of each wagon with his gun ready to shoot if an Indian put in an appearance. We were greatly rejoiced when morn- ing came and no sight of an Indian anywhere.
Sometimes we would lay by all day to give the oxen a little rest when the weather was so warm. Then we would start out just at night-fall and travel all night. In this way I missed the sight of Court House Rock, although we had seen it in the distance for several days, rearing up like an immense old building. Chimney Rock. too, was quite a curiosity. We could see it for days and it looked so close at hand that three or four days before we reached it some of the company started to go to it but came into camp in the evening. tired out with walking a whole afternoon carrying their guns. The shape of the rock was very much like a chimney standing alone, way out on the plains with no other rock near it.
We passed some very beautiful rocks very much like the ones in Yellowstone Park. On some of the smooth ones there
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were hundreds of names, each one higher than the last, the writers having climbed up to see who could write their name the highest.
The Devil's Gate is a queer freak of nature and quite a curiosity. There is just room for a wagon road between the high rocks on either side.
We passed what was then called Steamboat Springs. The water was thrown up into the air several feet high. Then there were the hot springs, some beautiful waterfalls and many, many other strange and beautiful things that I do not recall at this late day.
The most unpleasant part of the journey was through the alkali district. It was white as far as you could see. In some places a thick crust or scum was on the top of the earth. Our hands and lips were sore from the alkali in the air. We would be so covered with dust as we travelled along that at night-fall we could not tell our nearest neighbor, as all looked alike.
Cows, as a general rule, stood the trip much better than oxen. We brought one yoke of young cows that we milked at the home place, and more faithful creatures I never saw. They worked every day until August. Coming through the Blue Mountains, one of the poor creatures gave out, laid down and refused to get up, so we had to leave her and travel on. Our hearts were sad when we took a last look at one so faithful. We learned afterwards that a party coming along after us found her quite refreshened after her rest and brought her on through with them, which we were very glad to know. These two cows gave us plenty of milk until we reached the alkali country, when the feed was so poor that they had no milk for us.
Besides losing our cow in the Blue Mountains, we had another remarkable event-the birth of a son to Mr. and Mrs. Ross. (They and their son now reside in the Puyallup valley.) We laid by for half a day and then travelled on as if nothing had happened. Mrs. Ross and the child got along nicely.
The next event of importance was the crossing of the Rocky Mountains. It was a tiresome, tedious journey, and our cattle, after travelling so far, were very much fatigued. For days it was up, up all the time and the road was often very winding. The five girls that were in our train would some-
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times take what we called a "cutoff" and come out on the road a long distance ahead of the wagon. These five girls were Elizabeth White, now Mrs. D. R. Bigelow of Olympia ; Jerusha White, now Mrs. A. W. Stewart of Puyallup; Millie Stewart, now Mrs. Dr. Spinning of Puyallup; Margaret White. now Mrs. Andrew Chambers of Olympia, and Mrs. Durgan of Olympia, whose maiden name I have forgotten.
One day, as we could see the road quite a distance off, we set out on one of our trips, which proved to be much longer than we had any idea of. We were climbing hills. tramping over rocks, through deep ravines and scattering timber, all the afternoon.
About as blue a time as we had was when our cattle were poisoned-every one lying down and groaning like sick people. Luckily for us, my brother had taken along a much greater amount of bacon than was needed, so we had enough fat meat to let the entire company have some. The men sat up all night and cut the meat into such sized pieces as they could put down the throats of the animals. Consequently, our teams were saved and we were able to resume our journey the next afternoon.
The trials and troubles of such a journey can never be realized. I think if the people had realized the dangers and privations attendant upon such a trip they would never have undertaken it.
I shall never forget the first herd of buffalo I saw. Such a number of them-perhaps a hundred. We often saw smaller herds travelling towards water. The first meat was a great treat, we had been so many months without fresh meat. The boys in our company killed three in one day and we laid by a day and a half and dried some. We made a scaffold of sticks and hung the strips of meat on the sticks, then built a fire under the meat.
After this, when we wished to have a change from the dried meat. we would put grease in the pan and fry the meat slightly. I can tell you it tasted good after having lived for months on salted meat.
I shall never forget how good the first new potatoes tasted. We got them in Powder River Valley.
One sees the most beautiful wild flowers in crossing the plains-flowers of every hue and shade and acres of them.
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How I regret not having pressed and keeping some of the beauties, but that is a little thing to regret doing, compared with the many things we look back and see as we journey on through life. So much occurs to us that we wish we had done.
Glad, indeed, was I when we reached The Dalles, on the Columbia River, for I knew we were nearing our journey's end and nearing civilization once more, where we could have the privilege of church and schools.
While getting supper that night I suffered a burn, the scars of which I will carry to my grave. As it was very sandy here, and high winds prevailing, we dug a trench to build our fire in. As I was putting something over the fire to cook, the sand gave way under my foot and I came down with my hand in the hot sand and ashes, burning it to a crisp. I could act the lady for several weeks after that.
On the morning of September 16, we took passage on a little steamer that plied between The Dalles and the Cascades. It had just been built and this was its first trip.
We remained over night at the Cascades, and there my brother purchased a flat boat and we loaded into it and started for the mouth of Sandy River, quite a distance from the Cas- cades. My two brothers, with two nephews and the rest of the men, drove the cattle down the trail along the Columbia, and a hard old time they had of it, too.
When we reached Sandy we found quite a nice farm house and a good garden of vegetables, which looked inviting after our six months' diet of dried beans, rice, bacon, dried apples and peaches. Although we had so much to be thankful for, as we had an ample supply, and some to spare, which was more than some could say. Some were very scarce of provisions, but none were in want in our train.
Here (at Sandy) we camped on the banks of the Columbia, while my brothers took a contract for building a ferry boat for the man who lived there-a man named Parker.
It was perhaps two weeks before our men with the cattle arrived, and we were very glad to see them once more.
The boat being finished, we ferried across the Columbia and found a very nice settlement on the river bottom after crossing over. My brother and his wife stopped here to take
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care of the stock, as there was an abundance of good pasturage to be had very reasonably. My other brothers and two nephews, my niece and myself went to a little town between Portland and Oregon City-Milwaukee. There we rented a house and went to school for the winter.
We soon made some pleasant acquaintances, as all were newcomers and it was a small town. We attended singing school and some few dancing parties, only to look on. I had never seen nor heard a violin before, nor seen any dancing. My people were all very strict Presbyterians and we were never allowed to indulge in such amusements.
In September of the same year my brothers decided to come to Puget Sound to see if they liked the country better, as we were not favorably impressed with Oregon. As they were pleased, they returned for us and we all came to this part of the country-Chambers' Prairie, Thurston County, in October, 1852.
We spent the winter at the eastern extremity of the prairie, on the place where the widow Collins now lives, but which was owned by Mr. Nathan Eaton at that time. My brothers did the first fencing he had done on the prairie. They put in grain on shares and looked around for claims. My two brothers and a nephew took donation claims adjoining each other.
The latter part of the winter of 1853 my brothers split and sawed all the lumber for their houses, as saw mills were unknown in this section in those days. We had puncheon floors. For fear you will not know what that is, I will tell you. It is a floor laid with split logs, the flat side being uppermost. The logs were of cedar and the floor was nice and white when serubbed with sand and cold water. We girls used to be very proud of our white floors. I think it was in April, 1853, that we moved into our new home. We girls were the housekeepers for my brothers and nephews. My married brother lived a mile from us, on the place where Mr. Stralehm now lives.
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