USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. I > Part 25
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METCALFE, JAMES B., of Seattle, one of the most prominent attorneys of the State of Washington, was born in Adams County, Miss., January 15th, 1846. His father, Oren Metcalfe, was of English ancestry, while his mother was of Irish descent. His early education was received under the direction of a private tutor up to the age of ten years, after which he attended the public school. At the age of fifteen he left school to enlist in the Confederate service, joining the Tenth Mississippi Cavalry. His first active service was in the defence of Mobile, where he acted as a commissioned officer of his company. He afterward served under the gallant cavalry officer, General N. B. Forrest, participating in many important engagements. He served with distinguished bravery until the close of the great struggle, sharing in the dangers and privations which befell the Confed- erate forces during the last two years of the war. In 1865 he was paroled at Jackson, Miss., by General Canby.
Returning to his old home, he bravely began the battle of life on his own ac- count, supporting himself by his own exertions, and gaining that strength and self-reliance which comes only to those who are compelled to make their own way in the world. For eight years he worked most industriously, a part of the time in mercantile pursuits and later as a clerk in a banking house at Natchez. In response to the promptings of a laudable ambition, he determined to prepare him- self for the legal profession, and with this purpose in view began reading law in the office of Hon. Ralph North, at Natchez, still retaining his position in the bank, and devoting his leisure hours to the acquirement of legal knowledge. Desiring a wider scope for his abilities and greater opportunities for advance- ment, he removed to San Francisco in 1873, where he obtained employment in the
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Pacific Bank. In 1874 he entered the law office of Bartlett & Pratt, and after a year's hard study was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of California. Forming a copartnership with the junior member of the firm of Bartlett & Pratt, he began practice under the firm style of Pratt & Metcalfe. His success from the start was most gratifying, and year by year his practice and reputation increased and his abilities and legal attainments were rapidly pushing him forward to the front ranks of the San Francisco Bar, when in January, 1883, his business called him to Seattle, at which time he became so favorably impressed with the city that he determined to link his fortunes with its destiny, and in May of the same year located here. At this early period of his career he had already attained considerable prominence in California politics, having been one of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention at Cincinnati in 1880. With the reputa- tion he had already earned, General Metcalfe at once took a high place at the Seattle Bar, and his success here has been conspicuous in all the branches of legal litigation. For some three or four years he practised alone, after which he was for about two years associated with Junius Rochester, under the firm name of Met- calfe & Rochester. In 1887 he was appointed by Governor Semple the first At- torney-General of Washington Territory, which position he filled with marked industry, integrity, and ability until the admission of Washington as a State. In the great Seattle fire of June, 1889, he lost his entire law library, at that time one of the most valuable private collections of law books in the city. While the ruins were still burning he secured the lease of a lot on Third Street, where he has since erected a fine three-story block known as Temple Court. In partner- ship with C. W. Turner and Andrew F. Burleighi, under the firm name of Met- calfe, Turner & Burleigh, he opened offices in this building, equipped with one of the largest and most complete law libraries in the Northwest. Mr. Burleigh after- ward retired, and the firm continued as Metcalfe & Turner until January 1st, 1892. Subsequent to this date he associated with him in his practice Hon. Gil- bert F. Little, of the State of Kansas, and Mr. John S. Jurey, Jr., who had been the managing clerk in his office for three years, and the new partnership became the firm of Metcalfe, Little & Jurey, Mr. Turner having retired. The practice of this firm, which has grown to be very extensive, pertains largely to corporation business and general commercial law, and among its principal clients are many of the largest corporations in the State. As a lawyer General Metcalfe is earnest and honest in the assertion of the rights of his clients, careful in the preparation of cases, well versed in the principles of his profession, discriminating in the ap- plication of precedents and in the citation of authorities and skilful in the con- duct of his causes. To these elements are combined those mental and moral qualifications requisite for an accomplished and successful advocate and coun- sellor.
In politics General Metcalfe has always been a Democrat, and his unflinching adherence to and able defence of party principles endeared him to his party asso- ciates, while his keen practical sense, honesty and integrity and strong person- ality naturally made him a leader.
He possesses many qualifications which are essential to an effective public speaker. He is a man of fine presence, has a strong and flexible voice, and is impressive and dignified in manner. He has a fluent command of language and
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a fertile imagination, which, accompanied with an earnest and impassioned deliv- ery, never fails to arrest and hold the attention of his hearers. His style is ornate, but nothing in force is lost by his evident purpose to make every sentence pleasing in its effect. In many public addresses outside the lines of his profes- sion he has thoroughly established a reputation as a speaker of unusual power and grace.
Outside of his profession General Metcalfe has been an active factor in Seattle's prosperity, and takes a lively interest in everything calculated to advance the public good. He is a friend of every public enterprise, a man of large liber- ality, using his prosperity for the growth and improvement of the city. During the memorable anti-Chinese excitement in Seattle he was Lieutenant of Company D, National Guard, and at that critical period of the city's history performed the duties imposed upon him with gratifying success.
It should here be stated that General Metcalfe is a man of great personal brav- ery. This was strikingly shown on an unusually cold night in February, 1887, when he and a companion, Hon. D. M. Drumheller, then attending the Territorial Legislature from Spokane Falls, were about to take the steamer at the Olympia wharf. The deck of the steamer was covered with ice, which in the darkness was not perceived, and Mr. Drumheller slipped and fell into the water. Without a moment's hesitation General Metcalfe plunged in after his friend, and at the risk of his own life saved that of his companion.
He was one of the organizers of the first cable line in Seattle, and his efforts in a large measure contributed to the success of that project. He was one of the delegates from the Seattle Chamber of Commerce to the Pacific Board of Commerce, which met in San Francisco in September, 1890. He is a man of fine business attainments, and in all of his enterprises has achieved a high degree of success, while as a citizen he deservedly holds an honorable position in the com- munity.
General Metcalfe was married in 1877 to Miss Louise Boarman, of San Fran- cisco, by whom he has two sons. His unselfish devotion, appreciative nature, generous kindness and supreme loyalty make him an idol in his household, over which his charming wife presides with exquisite grace and dignity, assuring to her husband a life of happiness and to all friends a hospitable welcome.
MUNKS, WILLIAM .- In reviewing the names of those who have been promi- nently identified with the pioneer history of Washington, that of Munks is one not to be last mentioned. No name is more intimately blended with the history of Puget Sound than his, and the measure of his influence upon the development and growth of the sound country can hardly be overestimated. Mr. Munks was the first white man to locate within the present bounds of Skagit County, then a part of Whatcom. He was born in Canton, O., and at the early age of six years he suffered the loss by death of his father. Upon the breaking out of the war with Mexico, in 1846, he enlisted in the Fifteenth United States Volunteer In- fantry, under Colonel George W. Morgan, and he followed the fortunes of that regiment until the termination of hostilities. His grandfather served in the Revo- lution, his father in the War of 1812, and his only brother in the war of the Re- bellion.
John a Parken
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In 1849, moved by the migratory spirit which was then becoming especially strong, he determined to follow the course of the empire to the Far West. Mak- ing the toilsome journey across the plains, he spent a season in hunting and trap- ping on the western slope of the Rockies, and then came on to Oregon. Glowing descriptions of the fortunate finds of the gold hunters drew him to the mines of Northern California, where he followed mining with fair success until 1855. During this time he took part in two Indian wars, and had many skirmishes with the savages. In the fall of 1855 he returned to Oregon and entered the service of the Indian Department. He was one of the nine men sent by the department to gather and bring in the hostile Rogue River Indians and place them on the coast reservation, and during this trip he had many exciting adventures and hairbreadth escapes. Afterward he served for a time as express messenger for the Indian Department.
Severing his connections with the Department, he started on a trading and prospecting trip to the headwaters of the Columbia. This was a perilous under- taking, but his intimate knowledge of the character of the Indians and his ready faculty of obtaining their friendship enabled him to pass through the hostile region from The Dalles to Pend d'Oreille in safety. After making this trip he came to the sound country and served one season on the United States Boundary Commission, then locating the line between Washington Territory and British Columbia. At the breaking out of the great Frazer River gold excitement he established the first trading post above Fort Yale, and also successfully engaged in mining operations.
In 1859 Mr. Munks decided to retire from the life of a mountaineer, and in the latter part of that year settled on Fidalgo Island, his nearest white neighbor being twenty-five miles distant. The Indians were numerous in the vicinity at that time, but he was never molested. In the following spring he again caught the trading fever, and going to The Dalles, he purchased pack horses, loaded them with goods, and took them to the Similkameen mines, where he sold horses and goods at a handsome profit. , Returning to The Dalles, he joined a govern- ment exploring expedition under Major Stein, for the purpose of exploring the Harney Lake region. In the fall of 1860 he returned to Fidalgo Island, where he has since resided.
Mr. Munks has one of the finest farms on the sound, and has been extensively engaged in the general merchandise business for the past twenty-two years, also in breeding heavy Percheron draught horses for market. He has taken an active interest in political matters, and has filled various offices of public trust. He has been Postinaster at Fidalgo for twenty-five years. The influence of the Fidalgo City Land Company led to the change of the post-office name to East Anacortes ; but Mr. Munks made a trip to Washington, D. C., and through his efforts the name of Fidalgo was restored. Mr. Munks has large property inter- ests in Skagit, Whatcom, and King counties. His investments have been made with rare judgment, and have placed him in affluent circumstances. When the first railroad was projected from the East to Puget Sound, Mr. Munks believed it would be built to Anacortes ; and if Jay Cooke & Co. had not failed, his prophecy would undoubtedly have been fulfilled, and Tacoma would not have been built. In August, 1888, he gave to the Seattle and Northern Railroad a tract of fifty
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acres in the heart of Anacortes and the right of way through his property. Ana- cortes is now built upon a portion of this property, which is valued at $200,000. He also bonded fifty acres to the Anacortes and Fidalgo City Electric Motor Line, and deeded ten acres to the Northern Pacific to induce them to come to Anacortes in 1891. Northern Pacific trains are now running to this place. He has also bonded twenty acres to the Union Pacific. He has plotted twenty acres in Cen- tral Anacortes, known as Munks's First Queen Anne Addition, and sixty acres at Fidalgo Station, on the Seattle and Northern Railroad, and has made application to purchase three hundred acres of tide land at Fidalgo Bay. The life of Mr. Munks furnishes a notable example of men who by enterprise, diligence, and in- tegrity have risen from poverty to honor and wealth. A man of great originality, intensely practical in his ideas, and possessed of that rare good sense so essential to the highest success, he has been quick to perceive and turn to account the opportunities for advancement which this portion of the Northwest so plentifully offers.
LOOMIS, EDWIN G., was born in Lansing, Tompkins County, N. Y., December 30th, 1825. After working several years at the carpenter's trade, he started for Oregon in the spring of 1849 with the Elijah White Company. This company, consisting of about fifty persons, arrived in the California mines, after a weary march of nine months across the plains. It was not until the latter part of 1850 that he reached his destination at the mouth of the Columbia River. Here White developed the germ of the modern boom theory, which, theoretically, was to make the primeval solitudes blossom into the glory of great populations, and he named the place Pacific City. The typical saw-mill was immediately com- menced, which Mr. Loomis became identified with and worked upon until its completion. Like some later enterprises, the scheme failed and was abandoned. He then took up a portion of the claim, upon which he lived five years. During this time he was summoned to serve upon the jury of the first federal court held in the now State of Washington, after the territorial organization in March, 1853. This court was held at Chinook, Pacific County, in the early sum- mer of 1853, and was presided over by Judge Victor Monroe, on his first arrival in the territory, to which he had been appointed by President Pierce as one of the first acts of his administration.
Being an ingenious workman in wood and in iron, Mr. Loomis's services were sought by oystermen who were starting a new industry in Shoalwater Bay, now Willapa Harbor. Consequently, he removed to Oysterville in 1856, and by the improvements which he introduced in boats and implements helped greatly to develop the lucrativeness of that industry. He was a builder, and with his own hands constructed and sailed the yacht Artemisia, which took the Centennial Cup, contributed by Portland to the Shoalwater Bay Yacht Club for the winner of the centennial yacht race.
Having an eye to the future value of ocean beach property, he secured some hundreds of acres, and then he passed the last years of his life with his brother, L. A. Loomis, whom he tenderly loved. He died in Portland, where he had gone for medical advice, of gastric trouble, which terminated in heart disease Novem- ber 5th, 1889. His remains were brought to Oysterville for burial. There the
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sea moans a perpetual requiem, and where surviving friends cherish the memory of a useful and a kindly life.
" Out on the sea, whose other shore Lies in the land of Evermore- His yacht has sailed.
" The skies are blue, the waves are still, There are no clouds portending ill- His yacht has sailed.
" Rest to his tired head and hands, Peace in the unknown, untried lands- His yacht has sailed.
" After him over the purple sea The loved and the left gaze wistfully -- His yacht has sailed.
" They would not call him back, and yet Their eyes with bitter tears are wet- His yacht has sailed."
There is a pathos about doing even the simplest thing for the last time. Mr. Loomis's love for doing well what was done and his fondness for yachting turns our attention once more to the Artemisia. He had disposed of the beautiful and fleet craft, which was taken to Gray's Harbor, remodelled, and made into a steam- er, in which capacity she sailed until 1889, when she was wrecked, and the bull came floating home, as it were, and was cast by the waves of the ocean upon the beach in front of Mr. Loomis's residence. In conversation with the writer about this accident, a short time before his death, Mr. Loomis said he could never look upon that wreck without a feeling of strange pain.
LOOMIS, HON. L. A., the subject of this sketch, is a man to whom, perhaps more than to any other, the people of Pacific County, Wash., are indebted for the prosperity surrounding them. History will sustain this statement. Old in years, yet young in the stage of development, Pacific County stands to-day as one of the most productive and attractive counties of Southwestern Washington. Bordering south upon the Columbia River, the waves of the Pacific Ocean lash her western shores, while the northern and eastern limits join with regions in which are found natural resources equally as noted as, but by no means superior to, those which have made Pacific famous. Pacific has a stretch of sea-coast thirty miles north from Cape Hancock, at the mouth of the Columbia River, which has been designat- ed and is known as North Beach, the finest summer resort in the world. Besides all this, Pacific County has within her limits numerous salt-water bays and har- bors and fresh-water streams, which not only figure conspicuously in the com- mercial sense, but aggregate the value of the locality as an inviting spot for sum- mer visitors. The flats of Willapa Harbor are deep with oysters, and the delicious exotic clams abound in numerous places along the shores of sea and bay.
But it was not the purpose of the writer to give a description of this bountiful
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region as it appears to-day, nor compare it to what it was when Mr. Loomis took up his home here, but more to furnish the reader with a sketch of him as he has been and may now be found in the midst of the busy scenes of 1893. As Mr. Loomis was, we may say, thie very first to conceive the best methods of rendering this delightful region accessible to the people of the interior, and as his efforts have been crowned with success in spite of those obstacles which always beset the pathway of progress, we shall endeavor to give the facts in as concise lan- guage as possible. In 1874, as President of the Ilwaco Wharf Company, Mr. Loomis built up the first wharf in the county adequate to the necessities of land- ing freight and passengers from a steamer. In 1875 he put a stage line on the route from Ilwaco to Oysterville, and organized the Ilwaco Steam Navigation Company, which immediately built the steamer General Canby to connect with Ilwaco and Astoria. This stanch little craft was built at South Bend, on the Willapa River, at a cost of $22,000. Of this amount all but a few hundred dol- lars was subscribed by the citizens of the county, and the boat was constructed almost entirely by home labor. Afterward the company built the General Miles, a larger and finer steamer, and, still later, purchased the Dolphin, to meet the re- quirements of the constantly increasing trade between Astoria and Ilwaco and different points on Willapa and Gray's harbors.
During the first few years of the opening up of Pacific County to the travel of the surrounding counties, the mail service was so inefficient that five days were required for all communications by post between Astoria and Olympia. Through the efforts of Mr. Loomis, whose influence and labors accomplished what at that time to others seemed an impossible thing, this time was reduced to less than one half, and a daily mail was established between Astoria and Oysterville, and be- tween Montesano and Olympia, thus effecting a complete change in mail and transportation facilities along the whole route.
In 1881 Mr. Loomis organized the Shoalwater Bay (now Willapa Harbor) Transportation Company, which built the Montesano, the first steamer of im- portance put on Gray's Harbor. They afterward built the Garfield and the Gov- ernor Newell. This company, however, dissolved in 1886 and sold off their steamers. From Astoria to the head of Gray's Harbor was now a steam route, with the exception of the stage from Ilwaco to Oysterville. From five to ten thousand visitors were coming to the beach every summer, and the whole circuit bad quite a respectable permanent traffic. The next step was to supply this missing link with steam. The Ilwaco Steam Navigation Company, therefore, enlarged its powers, becoming the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company. A stretch of sixteen miles of rails north of Ilwaco was projected, and in 1888 five miles were completed. The rest is now also in running order, and the line is well equipped with rolling stock, providing amply for the enormous summer traffic along the beach. Mr. Loomis has been the leading spirit in this enter- prise ; and it is a fact, established by the records, that lands in the vicinity of these improvements, worth then from but $8 to $10 per acre, have advanced to $200 per acre and more.
Mr. Loomis is a pioneer of the West. He first came to the Pacific Coast in 1852 and joined the army of gold miners in California. Three years later we find him at what was then known as Pacific City, a point between Fort Canby
Frances E. Madigan
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and Ilwaco, where had been begun the city which was to rival San Francisco. Here he met his brother, E. G. Loomis, who had arrived five years before and had become identified with the place. Soon after this news of rich discoveries of gold in the region of Lake Pend d'Oreille reached Pacific City, and took away nearly all of its enterprising and leading citizens, the Loomises and a man named Caruthers. This move led them into a world of adventures. Putting themselves and their goods into a boat, known in that part as a dingey, they took the path- way of the waters up the Columbia, camping by night on the shore. Ten days of hard rowing brought them to The Dalles, and there buying ponies, they pushed on across the great plains as far as Spokane Falls. Here word came to them simultaneously that the mines were a failure, and that the Indians were begin- ning a promiscuous killing of settlers and travellers.
This turned Mr. Loomis and his companions about, and their trip back to the Des Chutes was amid sullen savages, whose only reason for not massacring them seemed to be the fact that they were unarmed and had plenty of Indian trinkets, which they offered for sale. The soldiers guarding the fords of the river in- formed them upon their arrival that they had been lucky to get through safely. At The Dalles Mr. Loomis joined the mounted volunteers, just then organizing, and served through the war, participating in the battle at Walla Walla, which lasted four days, and being present at the capture and death of Peu peu-mox- mox, or Yellow Bird, of the Walla Wallas. It was just after this battle that Mr. Loomis received his commission as an officer in the army, being elected Second Lieutenant of Company B of the First Regiment of Oregon Volunteers, serving with Captain O. Humason, Colonel James W. Nesmith, and Lieutenant-Colonel James K. Kelley until the close of the war, when the company disbanded, after which Mr. Loomis was employed by the Quartermaster in work on Forts Dalles and Simcoe. In 1857 the death of his elder brother in New York laid upon him the filial obligation of returning to the East to care for his mother. In 1864, during the war of the Rebellion, he went South and had charge of a construction car in building and repairing railroads for army movements. After the war he went to Michigan from his New York home. He remained in that State till 1872 engaged in business. But the spell of life on the Pacific Coast had never with- drawn its influence, and in that year he returned to his home near Ilwaco, on the ocean beach of Washington, improving his farm and building a handsome resi- dence-deemed the finest in the county-and entered upon the enterprises that have made him influential and wealthy. He is a wide-awake man of sterling qualities and one who could not live long in a place without his presence being known.
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