USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. II > Part 31
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the improvements it had made; that it had been un- molested in the occupation of them for many years; that it had given its protection, so far as possible, to every person who required it, and had offered every assistance, and was now trying to develop the country. It wished to preserve the good understanding already established, and entertain- ing the highest respect for the provisional government, it hoped and desired to continue to live in the exercise and interchange of good offices with it.
To this letter and address the committee made prompt reply, acknowledging the obligations which the settlers and their government had already incurred for favors extended by the Company, and assuring its agents that they would feel in duty bound to use every exertion in their power to put down every cause of disturbance and promote the amicable intercourse and kindly feeling hitherto existing. Shortly after the exchange of these letters Williamson also abandoned his pretensions and went to the Willamette Valley, where he became an influential and highly respected citizen.
It may be presumed that this incident did not tend to make McLoughlin and Douglas look with more favor than formerly on the inclination of Simmons and others to explore the country north of the river. Yet there is nothing to indicate that it changed their policy in regard to them in any way.
During the winter and spring, Simmons and his friends remained near the fort and at Washougal, occupying them- selves with whatever employment they could get from the Company, but without disclosing, further than there was need to do, in what direction they would make their next effort. The Company's agents lost no opportunity, during
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this time, to impress them with the desirability of going south, and the undesirability of going north, all of which only strengthened their determination to go north rather than south. Bush felt that he at least must do so. The people at the fort watched their movements and deliberations with a jealous eye. They clearly saw their inclinations, and that they were growing stronger day by day, and took other means to change them. Simmons desired to leave his wife and infant child nearer the fort than they were, when he should start on his exploring expedition, and sought to rent a cabin or other quarters from the Company or its employees, for them to live in during his absence, but was persistently refused. The best quarters offered was the use of a single room for one month, and this was offered by one of the Kanaka employees of the Company. This fixed his deter- mination, if it had not already been fixed, and accordingly, in July 1845, after making such arrangements as could be made, he set out from the Columbia for Puget Sound, accompanied by William Shaw, George Wanch, David Parker, David Crawford-who had come to Oregon a year earlier-Ninian Everman, Seyburn Thornton, and two others probably, Michael Moore and John Hunt. They took their way along the route followed by the exploring party of the preceding December, down the Columbia to the Cowlitz, and thence up that stream to its forks, where they left their boat and pushed on through the forest and across the small prairies to the Sound. At Cowlitz Prairie they secured the services of Peter Bercier, an old Hudson's Bay employee, to act as their guide. They also learned there that another Ameri- can settler, John R. Jackson, had preceded them up the river, located a claim on or near the Cowlitz Prairie, and
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had gone back to Oregon City after his stock and other worldly effects .*
John R. Jackson was born in the parish of Steindrop, county of Durham, England, January 13, 1800, and Sep- tember 27, 1823, arrived in New York. Shortly afterwards he went to Illinois, where he made his first settlement, November 5, 1833. In May 1844 he started for Oregon, and arrived at Clackamas Bottom November 5th, on the anni- versary of his settlement in Illinois. During the winter of 1844-5, he heard of the magnificient water-power at the mouth of the Des Chutes River, and with the design of taking it and exploring the adjacent country, in March 1845, he made a trip in which, having arrived at the house of old Simon Plomondon, on Jolly Prairie, the latter accom- panied him as far as Newaukum River, one of the con- fluents of the Chehalis. Just after the fourth of July, accompanied by W. P. Dougherty, subsequently probate judge of Pierce County, Major H. A. G. Lee, speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives under the provisional government, Messrs. Watt, Jacob Haldray and Stewart, he left Oregon City in a ship's yawl, belonging to John Campbell, for Puget Sound. The party traveled in this conveyance down the Willamette and Columbia, and up the Cowlitz to the site of Monticello, where they procured a
* There is some reason for supposing that Jackson was really the first American settler in the territory, though it is not now possible to deter- mine just when he took possession of his claim and remained there, as can be done in Simmons' case. In his application for his patent he claims to have taken possession November 23, 1854, though this may be only an approximate date. The Simmons party arrived at Tumwater "late in October." That Simmons met Jackson while on his second exploring tour is not to be denied, but he had made an earlier exploring tour in the preceding winter, so that both as explorer and settler he appears to have prior claims.
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canoe and went on to Cowlitz Landing. There they took horses for the Sound country, but meeting with a mishap were led to abandon the trip after reaching the place of Marcel Bernier. Lee desired to return to be present at the organization of the legislature, but Jackson was not satisfied, and he and the others determined to descend the Chehalis to Gray's Harbor, and procured a canoe and Indian crew for that purpose. They proceeded as far as the forks of the Chehalis, when all of them but Jackson determined to return. Overruled, he went back with them and made an examination of the country in the vicinity of the Cowlitz farms, and took the claim known as "Highlands," situated about ten miles from the old Cowlitz Landing. From this expedition he had set out to return to Oregon City for his goods and chattels, as the Simmons party appeared and continued their journey to Puget Sound.
Arriving at the Sound, probably at the point where they finally fixed their settlement, though this is not definitely known,* the Simmons party procured a canoe and set off to explore the country along its shores. They went north as far as Deception Pass, made their way around the north end of Whidby Island to Skagit Bay, and thence along the eastern shore of the Sound back to the point of depart- ure. They then returned to Vancouver. Of this explor- ing party only Wanch and Simmons finally made their homes in the Puget Sound country.
The British ship Modeste was still in the river when they returned, and the anxiety among the settlers in the Willamette Valley about the meaning of her presence there
* If the Journal of Occurrences kept at Fort Nisqually in the year 1845 could now be found, it might show that this party procured their boat at the old fort.
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had in no way abated. They knew, in a general way at least, that the negotiations for the settlement of the bound- ary question were pending, and they hoped, no doubt, that they would soon be concluded. The presence of a British war ship in the river at such a time seemed ominous, but Simmons and Wanch were satisfied with the result of their explorations and resolved in any event to go north and make their homes on Puget Sound.
There is no record showing how long the party was absent on this tour or when they returned. They seem to have remained for some time after their return, at or near the place where they had spent the winter, although the season was now well advanced, and they must have been anxious to reach their new homes as soon as possible, so as to make preparations for the winter. Possibly the attempt of Wil- liamson and Alderman to locate on part of the Company's property, made it more difficult for them to arrange for the supplies they needed, and which they could obtain only from the Company's store houses, before starting. These supplies were an important, if not an essential, part of their outfit, for without them they could hardly have subsisted during the following winter. This part of their arrangements was completed September 27th, on which date they were given the following letter signed by McLough- lin and addressed to Dr. Tolmie, in charge of the Nis- qually station :
"Dear Sir :- This will be handed to you by Col. Symonds (Simmons) who is going with some of his friends, to settle at the falls at the Chute River. He applied to me to get an order on you for grain and potatoes, but I presume you have not more than you need for your own use. If you have any to spare please let him have what he demands
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and charge it to home .* Col. Symonds and his friends passed the winter in our vicinity. They have been employed by us in making shingles and procuring logs. They have all conducted themselves in a most neighborly, friendly manner, and I beg to recommend them to your kind assist- ance and friendly offices."+
On this order they seem, subsequently, to have procured 200 bushels of wheat at 80 cents, 100 bushels of peas at $100, and 300 bushels of potatoes at 50 cents per bushel, together with ten head of beef cattle at $12.00 per head. It is apparent therefore, that in the end, the Company treated this party with much the same liberality it had shown the settlers on the Willamette.
The party consisted of Simmons and family, Bush and family, James McAllister and family, David Kindred and family, George Jones and family, and Jesse Ferguson and Samuel B. Crockett, two single men. All of these had crossed the plains together, except possibly the two unmarried men.
Mr. George H. Himes of Portland, whose father came to the Sound in 1853, and located a claim near the present village of Lacy, the first railroad station east of Olympia, has compiled the following list of members of this party:
* I. e., to the head office at Vancouver.
+ In September, 1846, Peter Skeen Ogden and James Douglas, then in charge at Fort Vancouver, sent an order to Dr. Tolmie to supply Sim- mons and his friends with thirty barrels of flour, for which he was to take shingles in payment. They also enclosed notes given by Simmons, Kindred, Jones and McAllister, probably for supplies furnished them during the previous winter, on which they had been "making payments for many months past," and on which balances remained due as follows: Kindred, $6.74; Gabriel Jones, $82.93; M. L. Simmons, $53.43; James McAllister, $24.31. On these balances he was to charge no interest.
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Simmons,
Michael Thomas, Mrs. Elizabeth Kindred, George Washington, David Crockett, Francis Marion DeKalb, McDonald, Christopher Columbus, born on the north bank of the Columbia River near Washougal, April IO, 1845.
McAllister
James, Mrs. Martha Smith, George, America, afterwards the wife of Thomas Chambers, an uncle of A. H. Chambers, of Olympia, Martha, afterwards the wife of Joseph Bunton. John, James, born on the Washougal, on Sept. 23, 1845.
Kindred
David, Mrs. Talitha, John Karrick.
Jones
Gabriel, Mrs. Keziah Brice, Lewis, Morris, Elizabeth, who married Joseph Broshears in 1852.
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Bush
George,
Mrs. Isabell James,
William Owen,
Joseph Talbot,
Reily Bailey,
Henry Sandford,
Jackson January.
Crockett, Samuel,
Ferguson, Jesse.
This list, Mr. Himes says, was submitted to Mr. W. O. Bush before it was published, and he pronounced it correct. Mrs. Lizzie Hawk, however, a daughter of the McAllisters, says, in a letter printed in July 1892, that her brother James was born in 1846, after the family had reached their new home, and Mrs. Hartman, another sister, gives the exact day as March 13th .* The party therefore consisted of thirty persons, one of whom was an infant in arms.
* Christopher C. Simmons was undoubtedly the first child born of American parents who were permanent settlers north of the Columbia. James McAllister, whose full name seems to have been James Benton McAllister, was the second.
Francis Richmond, son of Rev. John P. Richmond, the missionary, was born at the Methodist mission near Fort Nisqually, February 28, 1842, but his parents left the territory that year and returned to Illinois.
The first white child born in the territory was Marcel Bercier, son of the old guide above mentioned. This boy was born November 10, 1819, near Spokane Falls. When eleven years of age, he was sent to school at St. Boniface, Red River, Manitoba, where he remained until he grew to manhood. When he was twenty-three years of age, he came to Puget Sound, with one of the old French missionaries, and in 1844, when twenty-five years of age, he married, and took up a donation claim on Newaukum Prairie, where he died December 27, 1899, leaving three sons, Julian, Isadore, and Pierre.
The first white child of American parents born in 'what is now Wash- ington, was Alice Clarissa Whitman, daughter of Marcus and Narcissa
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They followed the route which the July party had taken. At Cowlitz Prairie, they again employed Bercier as their guide. From this point it was necessary to cut a road to the Sound through the forest, a distance of fifty-eight miles, and they were fifteen days in making this part of their jour- ney. They arrived at the head of Budd's Inlet late in Octo- ber, and here the first permanent settlement north of the Columbia was made. Simmons located a claim at the falls of the Des Chutes* River, which the Indians called Tum- water. He laid out a town and called it New Market, a name by which it was known until long after. Bush and the others went back to what is now known as Bush's Prairie, a short distance to the south, and made their claims there. Kindred immediately built a cabin on his claim, just south of the present city of Olympia, on the edge of the prairie. It was the first claim on which any improvements were made in Washington, unless Jackson, who, as above mentioned, had located his claim on the Cowlitz before the arrival of the first exploring party, had returned to it and commenced his improvements earlier. He returned some time in the fall, probably in November or December, but at what time
Whitman. She was born March 4, 1837, and was accidentally drowned, as previously mentioned, while at play on the river bank near the mis- sion, June 23, 1839, when she was two years and three months old.
The second was Eliza Spalding, daughter of Rev. H. H. Spalding and wife, who was born at the Lapwai mission, now in Idaho, in 1837.
The third was Cyrus Walker, son of Elkanah Walker; the fourth a son of W. H. Gray, and the fifth Edwin, eldest son of Rev. Cushing and Myra Eells. He was born at Tshimakain, July 27, 1841.
* The Hudson's Bay people had for many years called this stream the Chute River, and it is frequently mentioned by that name in the daily record of happenings which was carefully kept at Fort Nisqually.
t The Indians probably called it Tum Chuck, tum meaning throb, as tumtum, the heart, and chuck being their word for water. Tum- water is therefore half Indian, and half English.
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he had his cabin built is not now known. Simmons did not get his cabin at New Market completed until the following summer. It was late in the season when the party arrived, and they were obliged to depend on the supplies they had arranged to procure by their labor, supplemented by the game and fish they could obtain from the woods and the Sound, for their subsistance. They seem to have suffered for noth- ing. The woods abounded with game, and the Sound and all the streams flowing into it were filled with fish, most of which were of excellent quality. There being as yet no mills of any sort north of Fort Vancouver, they were com- pelled to do without flour, and the corn meal, which as Ken- tuckians and Missourians they had been accustomed to all their lives, and so they ate their wheat and their dried peas, boiled, as they did their potatoes and fern roots, and found them all very nourishing, if not as palatable as they could wish. By observing the Indians also, they soon found that the gravelly shore of the Sound, at low tide, yielded a bounti- ful supply of clams, and other very wholesome shellfish that were easily taken. The discovery no doubt filled their hearts with joy, as it did their stomachs with satisfaction, and the saying, "when the tide is out, the table is set" took form, and passed into an adage.
The men found ready employment in riving and shaving shingles, after they had split shakes enough to cover their own rooftrees, and lumber enough to make doors for their cabins, and the few articles of furniture they required, from the cedar logs lying everywhere about them. The shingles they sold to the Hudson's Bay people, at satisfactory prices, taking their pay in blankets, provisions and material for clothing. And so the little colony passed its first winter on Puget Sound.
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Sometime late in 1845 George Wanch, who had been with the exploring party that made the first tour of the Sound, returned north to a point near the present city of Centralia, where he located his claim. He was a bachelor, German born and a gunsmith by trade. Five years later he made a visit to some friends in Oregon, where he met Mary Hager, who had recently come to the territory with her family from Missouri, and after a brief courtship they were married. Her father's family located in Pacific County, on the banks of the Willapa. Wanch and his wife had for their neighbors, Sidney S. Ford and wife and Joseph Borst, who crossed the plains in 1845, came north and selected their claims some time after Wanch had chosen his. Charles H. Eaton, a native of New York State, and who had come to Oregon in 1843, and his brother Nathan, Edmund Sylvester and his partner Levi L. Smith, Alonzo Marion Poe, Daniel D. Kinsey and Antonio B. Rabbeson, came to the Sound in 1846, and selected claims in the neighborhood of New Market. Nathan Eaton made the first location on Chambers Prairie, and Edmund Sylvester subsequently chose a claim in the same neighborhood. His partner, Smith, fixed his claim, a half section, on the ground where Olympia now stands, the agreement between him and Sylvester being that each should own a half interest in the land selected by the other, and in case of the death of either the survivor should own the whole of both claims. They planned to lay out a town on Smith's claim, to be called Smithfield, as some authorities say, though there is reason to believe it was to be Smithter,*
* If this was the name chosen for the new town, it was the first of those town names made by combining parts of two or more names of the owners of the town site. The most successful combination of this
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a combination of Smith's name with the last syllable of that of Sylvester's.
Smith was a bachelor. He was subject to attacks of epilepsy, which made him despondent. He would remain alone in his cabin for days together overwhelmed with melancholy, during which miserable and unhappy periods he committed his gloomy forebodings to his diary. This diary also contained some details of his agreement with his partner, and after his death helped materially to establish Sylvester's right to his claim. Notwithstanding his melan- choly disposition he was much respected by his neighbors and in 1848 he was elected a representative for Lewis County in the Oregon legislature, but was found dead in his boat, just before the legislature assembled.
In January, 1847, the little colony was further increased by the arrival of Samuel Cool, A. J. Moore, Benjamin Gordon, Leander C. Wallace, Thomas W. Glasgow, Samuel Hancock, and three brothers named Davis, one of whom had a family. In March Elisha and William Packwood arrived with their families. Elisha settled on land which was subsequently owned by David Chambers, but he aban- doned the claim in August and returned to the Willamette. William Packwood chose a claim in the Nisqually bottoms, near where the railway station of Sherlock now is, and settled there with his family. Later in the season John Kindred, J. B. Logan, and A. D. Carnefix still further rein- forced the new settlement at and near Budd's Inlet. Still later Thomas M. Chambers arrived, accompanied by his four sons, David, Andrew, Thomas J. and McLean, two of whom
kind is in the name of Bucoda, which is formed from the first two letters of each of the three names of the original owners of the ground on which it was built-Buckley, Colter and David.
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had families, and George Shazer and David Brail. Shazer selected for his claim the land long afterward famous as George Shannon's ranch, near the mouth of the Nisqually. McAllister and family that same fall removed from the location they had first made on Bush Prairie, to a new claim of 640 acres, which he had selected on the banks of a small stream flowing into the Sound about a mile west of the mouth of the Nisqually, and known as Medicine Creek. It was on this claim that Governor Stevens held his first coun- cil with the Indian tribes, to treat for the cession of their lands, and the treaty was called the Medicine Creek treaty. The name of the stream was subsequently changed to McAllister's Creek. These settlers, who had families, built small log cabins for them and took immediate possession of their claims. They made small clearings and planted crops of wheat and vegetables. McAllister's family lived in one cedar stump and stored their first crop in another during the first year they lived on this claim.
During the winter of 1846-7 Simmons built a small mill on his claim at New Market, in which he ground wheat, but did not bolt it. The building, like all others so far, was of logs, and the millstones were roughly made from flat boulders, found in the river near the falls which furnished power for the mill. From the unbolted flour produced by this rude mill, the settlers made the first bread from their own grain. It was coarse bread no doubt, but it was better than boiled wheat. It was also better than the bread they had been able to make from such flour as they could obtain at Nisqually. For this they had to pay a high price, and it was of very poor quality. It had been brought many thousand miles in sailing ships; some of it had been wet,
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and all of it was musty and practically unusable. It was in fact true that the first wholesome bread these settlers tasted after their arrival on the Sound was made from the flour made at this mill.
The next undertaking of this little colony was to build a saw mill. In August Colonel Simmons, Frank Shaw, E. Sylvester, Jesse Ferguson, A. B. Rabbeson, Gabriel Jones, A. D. Carnefix, and John Kindred formed a partnership, which they called the Puget Sound Milling Company, and built at New Market, near the lower falls, the first saw mill on the Sound. This mill for a time was a source of great wonder to the Indians. Rabbeson was the active manager and operator of it, and he has told how they crowded about the saw so thickly as to seriously interfere with its opera- tions. They could not understand how the "Boston man" could make it go up and down simply by looking at it, as it seemed to them he did. After he had cut the first log, and was ready for the second, he ordered them to clear out of the way, or else help him roll the log on the carriage. Some eight or ten of them quickly offered to do this, but they were unable to move it. He then drove them back, and with a kant-hook easily rolled the log into place himself. This was another surprising thing. They wondered at the white man's marvelous strength, and he told them that with that instrument he could easily throw any of them across the river, but none of them volunteered to make the experi- ment. The machinery for this mill was obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company, at Fort Vancouver, and had been used for a considerable time in a mill which the Company owned at that place. They were charged 20 cents a pound for it .*
* Letter of Sept. 26, 1846, from Ogden and Douglas to Tolmie.
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On August 24th the trail between Olympia, which was still known as Smithfield, or Smithter, and New Market was blazed out.
On the 6th of July 1846, the first wedding in the new settlement was solemnized, when Daniel F. Kinsey and Miss Ruth Brock were married by Colonel Simmons, who, with James Douglas and James Forrest, had been made county commissioners of the Vancouver district, with the authority of judges.
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