USA > Washington > Thurston County > Early history of Thurston County, Washington : together with biographies and reminiscences of those identified with pioneer days > Part 16
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It was while living on this homestead on the Cowlitz River that the baby who had come to the Lemon family on the plains nearly lost his life in a tragic manner. The little fellow had just begun to toddle and was playing around the door step of his father's eabin, when an immense eagle cireled above his head, and was just swooping down to seize the child. when his father caught sight of the bird and shot it. The eagle's body fell into the river, but it was a narrow escape, and one of the mother's favorite tales to her children when they gathered around her knee in the gloaming.
Becoming dissatisfied with the place on the river, Mr. Lemon went to Cowlitz Prairie and took up a donation claim of a half a section of land. Here the family was living during the time of the Indian war, seeking refuge with the other families on this prairie, in the block house on the Parsons' place. The women and children would stay in the block house and the men fare forth during the day to till the soil and gather in the erops, returning to spend the night with their families within the safety of the block house enclosure.
Mr. Millard Lemon has in his possession to this day the gun which his father used to put over his shoulder when it was his turn to stand guard, and to protect himself with, while tilling the land. This was the same gun that ended the life of the eagle I have told about.
Mr. Lemon, senior. in after years, received the pension awarded Indian war veterans. At this time the Cowlitz Prairie was principally settled with French Canadians, servants of the Hudson Bay Company, and a class of people who eared
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but little for educational advantages, so the mother insisted that the family must go somewhere that the children could go to school.
Claquato, the county seat of Lewis County, was selected. Here, for four years, the Lemon children were taught by Miss Peebles, one of the Mercer girls, and who afterwards became Mrs. A. McIntosh, of Seattle. Millard Lemon gives this lady a just due of praise, by affirming that she was the best teacher he ever had, and as he is a college graduate, he must have had many and good ones, too.
While residing on Cowlitz Prairie and Claquato, Mrs. Lemon made many visits to friends in Olympia, and Millard Lemon's early recollections include chasing the cows over what is now Capitol Park, but was then only a wilderness of fallen logs, brush and stumps. His companion in his boyhood days, and favorite chum, was Fred Guyot, then a lad of about nine years, and in Mr. Lemon's own words, "as fine a lad as ever lived."
In 1874, the Lemon family went to live in Los Angeles. California. But after spending several years in that place, decided to return to Washington. Olympia was selected as the place of residence this time, and here Mr. and Mrs. Lemon built the house on Eighth Street that was the family home for years, and where life ended for Mr. Lemon, in 1890. Mrs. Lemon lived on in the old home for another seven years, and then she joined her husband.
To Mr. and Mrs. Lemon were born seven children : Thomas, Millard, Frances, Marion, Alice, Edwin and Ida. Millard and Ida are the only ones of the family still living. Ida is now Mrs. Mann, and lives in the family home. A granddaughter -child of Alice-Mrs. C. Goldstein, who is now Mrs. Garrett, has lived in Olympia the past few years, formerly making her home in Seattle.
The lad, Millard, studied out of the same reader with Fred Guyot, and sat on the same bench in the little old log school house with the little girl who afterwards became Mrs. Charles Talcott, the first wife of one of Olympia's pioneer jewelers. While a student at the State University of Oregon at Salem, Millard Lemon had as classmates, Stephen J. Chad- wick, now Judge of the Supreme Court of Washington; C. S.
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wick, Judge of the Supreme Court, and C. S. Rienhart, who has been clerk of the same court since Washington became a State, and the late Frank M. McCully, who was Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction of Washington at the time of his death, in Olympia, in 1907.
In 1876, Millard entered De Pauw University at Green Castle, Indiana, from which institution he graduated in 1880, taking the degree of A. B. Afterwards he took a classical course and secured his degree of A. M. from the California State University. Following his graduation, Mr. Lemon had a varied career.
Through the suggestion of Bishop Taylor, he went to Santiago, Chile, and was one of the founders of Santiago Col- lege, where he was head of the boys department. Mr. Lemon's stay with this college lasted two years.
At the expiration of this period, Mr. Lemon engaged in railroad engineering in the State of Chile. continuing in this work for the following six years.
Returning to the United States in 1888. Mr. Lemon so- journed long enough at Long Beach, California, to become united in marriage to his boyhood's sweetheart, Marabelle Cook. The young couple then came to Olympia to visit Millard's father and mother. The business prospects of the Capitol City were bright, so they decided to make this city their home.
Mr. Lemon has been successful in financial affairs and is today rated as one of the most solidly successful business men, not only in Olympia, but the entire State of Washing- ton ; a man who takes pride in the description, "His word is as good as his bond."
Three children brighten the Lemon home, Edith, Mildred and Gerry.
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I. HARRIS & SONS
The name of Harris, father and sons, has been so prom- inently identified with the commercial and social life of Olympia for the past forty-five years that a history of Thurston County would be incomplete, indeed, without a sketch of this family. Although Mr. I. Harris located in Olympia as late as 1870. he may well be counted among the actual pioneers of the Coast, for with his bride, then a young girl of nineteen years of age, he arrived in Oregon in 1853. The voyage from their New York home was made by the way of Panama to San Francisco, then on up to Portland. The first stop was made in Salem, Oregon. At this place, Mr. Harris engaged in a general merchandise business, but later concluded to try his fortune in Walla Walla. The family made the trip to the latter place by stage, from The Dalles.
Mr. Harris was one of the leading merchants in Walla Walla for the next four years, but the wanderlust was not yet satisfied, so another move was made into the wilds of Montana. Mrs. Harris, with her two small sons, Mitchel and Gus, visited relatives in the Eastern States while Mr. Harris was trying his fortune in Montana.
The climate of this section of the West not agreeing with Mr. Harris, he decided to try Puget Sound. Olympia was at that time beginning to attract attention, and the tide of emigration seemed to be setting in strong for the Northwest. so this settlement was chosen as the next field of activities. That Mr. Harris was pleased with his selection, is manifest from the fact that Olympia was his home from that date, 1870, to the day of his death.
When her husband was finally located in Olympia, Mrs. Harris and little sons joined him.
A third son, Henry, was born after Mr. and Mrs. Harris had lived here a few years.
The first store building occupied by Mr. Harris. was in the Tilley block, corner of Third and Main Streets, and a line of general merchandise was carried, although the Indian trade was largely catered to and a brisk business was carried
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on with the natives, who bartered skins for gaudy blankets and bright colored beads.
For several years the Harris family lived in a neat little home on the corner of Fourth and Washington Streets, the land now being used for business purposes, and the house long since demolished.
At that time the home of T. F. McElroy was by all odds the finest in the town, and was considered quite in the sub- urbs, surrounded, as it was, by the almost untouched forest. Mr. Harris, in about the year 1880, became the possessor of the half block of land between Main and Washington Streets, and built the substantial house which still continues to be the family residence. The Harris boys attended the schools of Olympia, at one time, being students in the little school taught by Miss Mary O'Neal.
Later, the two elder sons, Mitchel and Gus, were sent to Portland, Oregon, to take special courses in German and music. Upon the completion of their education, they assisted their father in his business, and the firm name was changed from I. Harris, to Harris & Sons.
In the year 1896, Mr. Harris, senior, while on an Eastern trip, contracted pneumonia and died before his sons could reach his bedside.
The sons continued the business, which had developed into one of the leading dry goods stores on the Sound, for several years.
With the exception of a short time spent in San Francisco. where he was engaged in business, Mitchel Harris has success- fully carried on the business founded by his father forty-five years ago.
In about 1900, the second son, Gus, decided to locate in . California, and is now at the head of a large dry goods estab- lishment in Los Angeles, his partner being Felix Lightner, a native of Olympia, and son of a pioneer merchant of this place.
The youngest son, Henry, decided to devote himself to the medical profession. Consequently, after completing a course at the Leland Stanford University, he graduated from the John Hopkins Institute.
Dr. Harris also spent a year as interne in this institution. He then put in two years in the hospitals of Berlin and Vienna,
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taking special courses in medicine. Upon his return to the United States, he located in San Francisco, where he has built up a large practice. He is married and has three children.
Mitchel Harris, loyal to the home of his boyhood, with his wife and children, Selwyn and Irene, has been twice chosen to the office of Mayor of the city by the vote of the people, and at all times has stood strong for the best interests of the community, and the development and advancement of Olympia. His family are prominent in the best society of the city, and in many ways his lot is cast in pleasant places.
The widow and mother, Madame Harris, as she is now called, is spending her declining years in happiness and con- tentment, idolized by her sons and her grandchildren. Some- times visiting Gus and his charming family in Los Angeles, for a few months in the year. coming to Olympia for the hot weather months, and then back to the home of her youngest born, in San Francisco.
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ALEXANDER YANTIS
The history of Alex Yantis and his family, while, per- haps, not more filled with adventure and trials than that of contemporaneous pioneer settlers, is so characteristic and vivid, as related by the sons and daughters still living. that their experiences merit a prominent place in this collection of reminiscences.
Hailing from Brownsville, Missouri, the Yantis family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Yantis and nine sturdy sons and daughters, joined a train of ox teams for the overland trip to California. Mr. Yantis was elected captain of the train and the trip was made without any direct disturbance from the Indians, the attacks of whom was the emigrants' constant dread and terror all through the long, hot, dusty journey over the old Oregon Trail. Although the trip was unavoidably tedious. as the oxen were tired and footsore, still many of the re- membrances of the younger ones of that trainload are pleasant and full of interest. The big camp fires at night, when all gathered around telling and listening to tales of home and adventure, the novel experiences each day would bring forth. the laying by for one day's rest each week to allow the women to wash the clothes and bake up a supply of bread, while the children played around the wagons and picked the many-hued flowers which grew by the side of the road. These were among the simple pleasures which made the trip endurable and almost enjoyable. The Yantis sons and daughters still tell with glee of the fun and play of the trip. whenever a family reunion is held. They were a happy family. with the family ties tender and close to this day, among the children who survive.
The nearest to a tragedy encountered was when the Snake River country was reached. At a certain point in the trail the road diverged and a sign post was set up by some previous traveller indicating that by following one of the roads a nearer cut-off would be found, although through a wilder
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country. One family decided to take this nearer trail although earnestly remonstrated with by Mr. Yantis and other men of the train, whose counsel was that all should stick together. But the man was obstinate and by this time had grown care- less of the danger from Indians, so persisted in following the short trail. The rest of the party proceeded on to Snake River fort, where there were a small company of soldiers to protect the emigrants. It was known that the Indians were near and acting ugly. Indeed, the night before the fort was reached, the emigrants of Mr. Yantis' party could see a band of the enemy dancing a war dance in a bottom of land close to the camp. Their horrid yells and vehement brandishing of their guns and bows filled the whites with terror, which was not abated when an Indian buck came dashing up to Mr. Yantis' wagon and asked him to sell his little daughter, Sarah, to him. The Indian offered his horse for the child. and when refused by the parents, rode off in a rage. The night was spent in anxious watchfulness, but the Indians evidently con- cluded that the party was too strong for them to risk an attack on, so left them unmolested.
When Snake River fort was reached and it was learned that the two wagons, whose drivers had taken the short cut, had not arrived, it was known that they had met with dis- aster. Mr. Yantis and several men of the train went back over the trail their friends should have arrived from. Before they reached the wagons they heard shots and screams. Dash- ing up, their worst fears were confirmed. The Indians had raided the wagons, shot and killed the man and his wife, and all the rest of the party, with the exception of two boys. One of these boys was lying on his face when the relief party came up, his body shot with a number of Indian arrows. He was not dead, however, and upon hearing Mr. Yantis' exclamations of horror over the fate of the rest of the family, called: "Is that you. Uncle Alex." The other boy was carried off by the Indians, when they stampeded. upon hearing the relief party charging up. The lad was afterwards brought back to the train by a Nez Perce Indian, another tribe than the one which had committed the massacre of the rest of the party. With a redskin's customary reticence, the deliverer refused to
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give particulars of how he came to have the lad in his possession.
Two years before the Yantis family, which is the subject of these reminiscences, decided to leave their home, a brother of Mr. Yantis, B. F. Yantis, and sister of these men, Mrs. N. Ostrander. had preceded them, coming to the Cowlitz country. and a little later Mr. Yantis coming on to Olympia. The prospects in the undeveloped Northwest looked so good to this advance guard that they wished their brother's family to come West also and locate near them. Alex Yantis had written his brother and sister that he intended going to California that summer, starting at a certain time. B. F. Yantis thought nis brother would miss a golden opportunity if he failed to locate in this section of the country, so hired a man to ride horse- back back along the trail his brother must come, to intercept him with a letter setting forth the advantages of Thurston County. The man rode along the trail to where it branched off and led to California. Learning from other emigrants that the ones sought for had probably not reached this inter- section yet, the courier waited till the brother's train arrived.
When Mr. Yantis read his brother's message. a longing to see his kinsfolks came over him, and as all places in the West were alike to the adventurers, they decided to come on to Oregon-now Washington.
After carefully considering the two trails then commonly followed by emigrant trains, the Natchez Pass. or to The Dalles and on down the Columbia River, Mr. Yantis decided on the Natchez Pass. With almost incredible hardship and danger. the cattle were driven through this pass, and the wagons fre- quently having to be lowered down declivities with ropes, but finally the train got out on the White River plains and so on to the Sound country. Soon after their arrival on Bush Prairie Mr. Yantis located on 320 acres of fine timber land on the Skookumchuck, four miles from where Tenino now stands, the eldest son, John Yantis, residing on this homestead after the death of his father and mother.
The first home was the typical settlers' log cabin, which was built during the winter of 1854. During the building of this cabin, the Yantis family lived with Wm. and Phillip Northcraft, bachelors, and the nearest neighbors. Soon after
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moving into the new house, the entire country was startled by the Indian outbreak. The stories that came pouring in of homes devastated, men and women and children killed and general havoc, filled the settlers with alarm. A tract of land on Grand Mound Prairie was donated and there the men assembled and built a stockade. or fort, which was known as Fort Henness. This enclosure was twelve feet high, built of solid lumber and so arranged that each family could have their little house within the safe precincts. In the center of the enclosure stood the guard house, where the men who were not on picket duty would assemble to warm themselves, swap stories and gossip. At two of the corners were block houses built with special reference to defense. in the event of an at- tack. These houses were only a few feet square at the base with steps leading to the upper part. Here the logs were longer and the upper story extended out several feet. There were port holes through the log wall, to shoot through, and these houses were of sufficient size to hold all the people in the event of the natives rushing the stockade.
The Yantis family lived in this way for a year, Mr. Yantis and his sons going forth mornings to cultivate their fields, and returning to their cabin in the enclosure at night.
While Fort Henness was never attacked by the Indians, the elder of the Yantis brothers are enabled to recall one ex- citing incident which occurred during their occupancy of the fort. One day an Indian woman came dashing up on her cayuse, with her face streaming with blood. She was closely pursued by an Indian buck, the latter wild with drink. When the fort was reached, the woman threw herself from her horse and ran into one of the cabins, crawling under the bed. The Indian, who proved to be her husband, stopped when within the enclosure and Mr. Yantis stepped up to his pony and demanded to know what was the trouble. The Indian reached behind him, as Mr. Yantis thought to get a gun, when the white man pulled him off his horse by the hair of his head. It afterward transpired that the Indian was reaching for a bottle of whiskey he had in the holster, with the intention of treating.
The woman in the meantime made her escape and rode off across the clearing. When the husband was a little sobered
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down he started after his wife, threatening dire acts when he should overtake her. He had not gone far from the stockade when a shot was heard and, upon the men going out to inves- tigate, the Indian was found lying beside the trail with a bullet hole in his head. The men took a wagon box and covered the body until the Indian agent could be notified. It was commonly reported that the band, of which the dead Indian was a member, tortured the unfortunate wife to death. as an example to the other squaws of the tribe never to thwart their lords. It was never known definitely who fired the shot which made at least one good Indian, but at this late day it is shrewdly suspected that the man's name could be recalled by the surviving inhabitants of the fort.
Before the Indian war Mr. Yantis had accumulated a large band of cattle, but he was obliged to sell and dispose of nearly ail the animals to support his family during these hard times.
The wheat which Mr. Yantis raised on his place was taken "o the mill in Tumwater, then a two days' journey over rough, muddy roads, from the home place on the Skookumchuck. The grain was then ground into flour. paying the miller a toll of one-eighth for the milling. The farmer was allowed to keep the bran and shorts.
With a family of fourteen children to sew for, a number of whom were girls, it was an eventful day in the Yantis family when the mother had her first sewing machine, one of those little affairs which are screwed onto the table and run by hand. The elder girls can not remember when they first learned to knit. Their mother would spin the yarn and the girls knit mittens and socks, which they had no trouble in disposing of to the bachelors living on ranches in the vicinity. Sometimes a pair of hand-made mittens would bring a dollar, and the girls were enabled to add quite a little to the family finances in this way.
Mr. Yantis was a member of the legislatures of 1860-63, county commissioner several terms, and was justice of the peace for his neighborhood for many years, holding the latter office at the time of his death, which occurred when he was 72 years of age. The wife and mother, who had endured with unparalleled cheerfulness and fortitude, trials and vicissitudes
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enough to appall one less strong and brave of heart, ceased her labors in the year of 1877.
The sons and daughters of this branch of the Yantis family were : Margaret, afterwards Mrs. E. K. Sears; Ann E., afterwards Mrs. Wm. Martin; Mary L., afterwards Mrs. John F. Damon, of Seattle; Sarah E., afterwards Mrs. A. Webster ; John L .; Katherine T., afterwards Mrs. Jesse Martin ; William F .; Alexander M .; Sophia Belle, now Mrs. L. Willey, of Olympia ; Eliza B., afterwards Mrs. S. Hanaford, of Hanaford Valley; Martha M., afterwards Mrs. N. Cary, of Tenino; James E .; Virginia T., afterwards Mrs. H. A. Davis, of Centralia, and Fannie G.
James E. and Fanny G. died in infancy.
The donation claim on the Skookumchuck. started in an unbroken wilderness, has become one of the finest and most valuable farms in Thurston County. It has always been owned by a Yantis, Mr. John Yantis succeeding his father as owner and manager. Here, surrounded by an interesting family of sons and daughters, in company of his wife, who has done her share towards building up the home, Mr. Yantis loves to recall once again the strenuous and exciting experiences of his boy- hood days.
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GUSTAVE ROSENTHAL
The following sketch, by Olympia's pioneer merchant, gives so true and life-like a picture of early business conditions. that it is presented word for word as written by Mr. Rosenthal himself, in compliance with a request that he furnish some of his experiences for this volume :
To comply with your request, I most respectfully submit the following :
I arrived in Olympia on June 19th, 1863, fifty-one years ago this date ; made first acquaintance by being introduced to Governor Pickering, then chief executive of Washington Terri- tory. At that time the trip from San Francisco to Victoria cost sixty dollars, and from Victoria to Olympia cost twenty dollars.
I commenced business on the corner of Second and Main Streets, selling general merchandise, dry goods, clothing, gro- ceries, hardware. crockery and glassware, boots and shoes, rubber goods, farm implements, etc.
In the summer of 1869 I brought the first mowing machine, a Buckeye, to Olympia, and sold it to Thomas Rutledge; also the first water ram for Nathan Eaton, which to my knowledge was in operation of late years, on the creek, the farm now being owned by Mrs. Bushnell.
In those early days the farmers were not rich, and needed assistance. In 1866. I furnished some of them with hatchets and drawing knives with which to cut the hazel brush off their land, and by advancing supplies through the winter, they con- verted the sticks into barrel and keg hoops, with which I supplied the San Francisco sugar refineries for over twelve years.
In those early days land was not being so closely fenced, and farmers kept large flocks of sheep. I bought their wool after shearing time and shipped annually from forty to sixty
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tons; in fact, handled and shipped and sold a good many of their farm products.
At that time, it was hard for settlers to reach this county. Emigrants crossing the continent had to follow the Columbia River, which landed them at or near Portland, so in 1869, I collected a subscription-about four hundred dollars. This I handed to Mr. James Longmire. of Yelm Prairie, and he super- intended the construction of a wagon road through the Natchez Pass, over the Cascade Mountains. The first use of the road was made by Mr. Sam Coulter, bringing a band of cattle, which produced very choice beef.
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