USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. III > Part 16
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When the "Columbian" was started in September 1852, it became an aggressive advocate of separation. In its third issue, on September 25th, a letter signed Elis appears, in which the creation of a separate territory north of the river is discussed as "a subject of paramount importance." Four weeks later the editor suggested that "the citizens who are about to assemble at the house of John R. Jackson to attend Court, take steps to have meetings held in every community in northern Oregon to appoint delegates to a general conference, to ask Congress for a separate terri- torial government."
The citizens who assembled at Jackson's were in excellent humor to follow this advice, and in its very next issue the
* Bancroft gives the names of those who attended this convention as follows: From Monticello, near the mouth of the Cowlitz, Seth Catlin, Jonathan Burpee, Robert Huntress; from Cowlitz Landing, E. D. War- bass, John R. Jackson, W. L. Frazer, Simon Plomondon; from Newau- kum, S. S. Saunders, A. B. Dillenbaugh, Marcel Bernier, Sidney S. Ford, James Cochran, Joseph Borst; from Tumwater, M. T. Simmons, Clan- rick Crosby, Joseph Broshears, A. J. Simmons; from Olympia, A. M. Poe, D. S. Maynard, D. F. Brownfield; from Steilacoom, T. M. Chambers, John Bradley, J. B. Chapman, H. C. Wilson, John Edgar, and F. S. Balch.
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"Columbian" announces, in an editorial headed "Prepare! Prepare!" and printed in type of various sizes, to properly emphasize what it had to say, that such a meeting as had been recommended had been held, and an address adopted recommending that delegates be appointed by every com- munity, to a convention to be held at Monticello on the last Thursday in November. "Let us hold meetings in every precinct and settlement," the editor says, "and appoint men who will be sure to attend. Let all be appointed who can possibly attend."
The fact that the meeting place proposed was rather inconvenient for most of those who would represent the Sound settlements was noted, but it was explained that the choice had doubtless been made so as to secure a larger attendance from the river settlements, which were much less deeply interested in what was to be done. It was of all things desirable to secure a general representation from all the settlements, and this was more likely to be got at Monticello than at almost any other point. It could be conveniently reached by delegates from all points on the Columbia and the Cowlitz, where some of the largest settle- ments were, and it would be inconvenient only for those on the Sound and Shoalwater Bay, and these were most vitally interested, and therefore most certain to attend. The place of meeting had therefore been wisely chosen.
Delegates to this, the most important assembly thus far held in the new territory, were elected in due course, and assembled at Monticello on the appointed day. They were forty-four in number, and after listening to a speech by G. N. McConaha, who had but recently arrived in the territory, but who, in the short span of life that yet remained to him, was to win the admiration and confidence of all with whom
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he came in contact, proceeded to organize and perform the work for which they had been appointed. McConaha was chosen chairman, and R. V. White secretary, and then a'committee of thirteen was named to draft the memorial .* This committee performed its work with rare discretion and sound judgment. Like another and far more famous committee, to which a work of similar kind had been entrusted, they looked upon the occasion as one in which a decent respect for the opinions of mankind required that they should declare the causes which impelled them to ask for separation, and submit facts to candid minds.
The facts which they submitted were nine in number, and they were stated in temperate but forceful language, the whole concluding with a prayer that Congress would, at an early day, pass a law organizing the district of country north of the Columbia and west of its great northern branch, under a territorial government, to be named "the Territory of Columbia."+ The memorial thus completed was reported to the convention whose members promptly adopted it without amendment and subscribed it with their names.
Colonel Edward J. Allen, the Cascade roadbuilder, has written an account of his part in this convention,# which well describes the temper of the settlers at that time, the lightness with which they endured the hardships and priva- tions which they were compelled to encounter, and the readiness with which they turned from matters of serious
* The members of the committee were Quincy A. Brooks, D. S. May- nard, William W. Plumb, Alfred Cook, J. R. Jackson, E. L. Finch, A. F. Scott, F. A. Clarke, C. S. Hathaway, E. J. Allen, E. H. Winslow, Seth Catlin, and N. Stone.
t For this memorial in full see Appendix I, Vol. III.
Į E. J. Allen MSS.
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import, when their part in them had been concluded, to things of less concern. He had only recently arrived in the territory, having crossed the plains that year. After reaching Portland he had worked, for a time, at cutting logs for the saw mills, and had left his oxen, of which he had two or three teams, on the north bank of the Columbia, near Fort Vancouver, where they found pasture for them- selves in the woods and along the river. Having replenished his purse, he concluded to examine the Sound country, of which he had heard many favorable reports since his arrival, particularly from Governor Gaines, to whom he had brought letters of introduction. So after several weeks of hard labor, he started northward. His cattle were hunted up and collected with some difficulty. The rainy season had begun, and he was drenched to the skin from early morning until late at night. When it was not raining he was kept as wet by the long grass and dripping bushes, through which he was obliged to search for his cattle, as if he had been in the midst of a continual downpour. But the oxen were found at last, and with the help of an Indian boy, he started northward. The rain continued to fall incessantly, and after reaching the Cowlitz, he was compelled to ford it many times. But he was then a healthy youth of 22, and already well seasoned to exposure by his long trip across the plains. Like most other people he found the rain far preferable to snow and the severer winter weather to which he had been accustomed, and he found traveling by day in his drenched garments, and sleeping in them at night, under the hospitable shelter of a young fir or cedar tree, but a trifling discomfort. "One can sleep," he says, "if previous conditions demand it, even if wet through, and with the rain still beating down on you, but not if it is beating
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in your face. Take my word for it and waste no time in experimenting, but spread your slouch hat to its fullest, and with a deft use of twigs, platform it over your countenance and sleep like an infant."
He had been several days on the trail, and had reached Warbassport, when he met Quincy A. Brooks with whom he had been acquainted in Pittsburg. By him he was intro- duced to some other delegates who were then on their way to the convention at Monticello. After a short acquaint- ance some of them invited him to return with them, and take part in the proceedings. He demurred at first, because he had only just arrived in the territory and really repre- sented no constituency. "But they assured me," he says, "that my tenure was as good as some of theirs," and he was easily persuaded. He went back to Monticello with the party, and took such an active part in the proceedings that he was made one of the committee that drafted the memorial.
"Monticello did not offer much in the way of hotel accom- modations," says Mr. Allen, "and the delegates quartered themselves as they best could. As everyone brought his own blanket, going to bed meant simply finding a dry place big enough to spread it on. Some fifteen or more of us found happy lodgment in an attic, where we camped down miscellaneously on the floor. Smoking was objectionable to no one; possibly some of the more provident had a flask or two that was not kept selfishly for their own use. There was no disposition to go suddenly to the land of dreams, and if any felt so inclined he was reminded it was not in good form, and jest and song and story filled up the genial hours.
"Long after midnight the entertainment began to flag somewhat; then some of the delegates boisterously maintained
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that I had done little toward the entertainment, and, being a tenderfoot, I ought to make good in some way. They were nearly all middle-aged men, or seemed to me to be such, and as they had told stories from their own experi- ences that I had no match for, I was glad to compromise on a song. As the mood of the party had become reminiscent I thought nothing could be more appropriate than to once more test the memory of Mr. Benjamin Bolt. Something in the air and the memories it recalled gave me voice, and I sang it with a vim that met a cordial response, and caused two of the delegates to rise up from their blankets, and shake hands across their intervening companions, with a fervency that I cannot describe. Then they demanded additional verses, or such repetitions as might be ventured, only so I kept the air. I think after the 'motif' was defined, the words did not matter much. The air conveyed certain meanings to them, and they joined in at times with a volume of sound, that increased the general hilarity of the occasion.
"This incident gave a new turn to affairs, and an exciting discussion sprang up between two of the most sedate members of the party, respecting a particular feature in the ancient game of 'mumble-peg,' to settle which they simultaneously jumped out of bed, accoutered as they were, to decide it by going through the game 'regular.' At it they went, the jack- knife flying around the room during the performance, now projected from tip of nose, top of head, chin, all in regular orthodox fashion; correcting each other's mistakes with all the enthusiasm of boys, while we raised on our elbows, and watched the progress of the game with intense delight, shouting approbation for each scientific and skilful throw."
So it was that these men who had now laid the foundation of a State could turn to lighter things, and for the time be
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boys again. They were familiar with privation and exposure, and with the severest trials. They were accustomed to be prepared to meet sudden and unforeseen danger. They were ready at all times to face the gravest responsibilities, and yet when the business that was in hand was done, the long years that had intervened since boyhood, and all the hardships and trials they had brought with them, faded away and became as though they had not been.
The memorial which the convention had adopted was promptly sent to Washington with a letter to Governor Lane, who was now territorial delegate from Oregon at the national capital, asking that he would give it his cordial approval and support. It was soon followed by a similar memorial from the Oregon legislature, approving and recom- mending the separation, the adoption of which Colonel Ebey had easily secured. These were laid before Congress by Delegate Lane, who gave them his hearty and vigorous support. There was now no slavery question to provoke discussion or opposition. Nobody called attention to, or seems to have thought of, the fact that the census, taken scarcely more than two years earlier, had shown only 1,049 people residing in the territory, or that the number now was scarcely more than three thousand. The bill met scarcely any opposition. During its consideration in the House, Representative Stanton of Kentucky had proposed to change the name of the new territory from Columbia to Washington, and this was immediately approved. No one cared to withhold this honor from the Father of His Country, and on the second of March, just as the thirty-second Congress, and Mr. Fillmore's administration, were drawing to a close, the bill passed and was immediately approved by the presi- dent.
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The bill defined the boundaries of the new territory as including all of the present State of Washington, and all that part of Idaho and Montana which lie north of the forty-sixth parallel and west of the summit of the Rock Mountains.
Probably no territory was ever organized with a popu- lation so small as that of Washington at that time. The cen- sus taken by United States Marshal Anderson immediately after his arrival, showed a total of only 3,965 white persons. Minnesota, which was organized in 1849, was found to have a population of 6,077, by the census of the following year, and New Mexico, organized a few weeks later, had, in 1860, 61,547 inhabitants.
Soon after his inauguration, President Pierce nominated the officers for the territory. They were Major Isaac I. Stevens of Massachusetts, governor; J. Patton Anderson of Mississippi, United States marshal; Edward Lander of Indiana, chief justice, and John R. Miller of Ohio and Vic- tor Monroe of Kentucky, associate justices; J. S. Clendenin of Louisiana, district attorney, and Major Farquarson of Texas, secretary. The latter did not accept the appoint- ment, and Charles H. Mason of Rhode Island, who had been recommended by his admirers as a candidate for district attorney, was named. Justice Miller fell ill soon after his appointment and did not qualify, and O. B. McFadden of Pennsylvania, who had previously been appointed, through some mistake or misapprehension, to the judgeship in Ore- gon that Judge M. P. Deady was already filling ably and to the satisfaction of everybody, was assigned to the place.
The people along the Cowlitz, at Olympia and in the other settlements along the Sound, had hardly ceased to rejoice over the action of the Monticello convention, when
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they began to be anxious about the fate of their territorial bill. Various letters had been received from Delegate Lane giving information in regard to its progress, and express- ing confidence that it would become law, as there was but little opposition to it, but nevertheless the people were impatient. The end of the session was drawing near, and it might fail for want of time, or be thrust aside by the press of other legislation. The "Columbian" began to suggest the reassembling of the Monticello convention, or possibly a new convention, and recommended that people begin to think about the delegates they would send to it. In its issue of April 9th, a letter from Delegate Lane to Quincy A. Brooks is mentioned, in which confidence was expressed that the bill would soon pass the House. Since this infor- mation was in type a report had reached Olympia that the bill had passed and the territory was named Washington. A week later this news had been confirmed. The editor approves the name, but says public opinion on the subject is divided, some approving and some disapproving, "but all are gratified with the progress made." The next issue, on April 23d, contained the discouraging report, which "a solitary horseman" had brought to Olympia, that Congress had adjourned and the bill had failed for want of time. But again later and more reliable informa- tion had been received. The bill had passed and been approved by the president, and "a Mr. - Stevens had been appointed governor." A hundred guns were fired in honor of the occasion.
By May 14th the full name of the new governor had been received, and letters from him soon followed, giving notice of his appointment, and the equally gratifying information that he was to make an exploration and survey for a Pacific
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railroad, "from the headwaters of the Mississippi to Puget Sound," while on his way westward. One of these letters, addressed to Mr. A. A. Denny, contained assurance that this survey would not delay the organization of the territorial government, since a census must be taken before much else could be done, and the new marshal would go forward immediately to begin that work. This letter contained a copy of the new governor's instructions from the secretary of war, for making the railroad survey, and also this further information that was scarcely less cheering and assuring : "A military road is to be built from Fort Walla Walla to Puget Sound. Captain McClellan, an officer distinguished for his gallantry in Mexico, has command of the party who will make the exploration of the Cascade Range, and the construction of the military road. His undertaking the task is a sure guaranty of its accomplishment. I expect to pierce the Rocky Mountains, and this road is to be done in time for the fall's immigration, so that an open line of communication between the States and Sound will be made this year."
All this indicated that the new governor was a man of spirit and enterprise, and gave assurance that the develop- ment of what until now had been northern Oregon, would be urged forward by every impulse that a government and name of its own could give it. Still other letters, received by other prominent residents of the Sound country, con- tained information to the same effect, and all asked for the cooperation of those who received them.
The settlers were quite willing to endure any delay that might result from the important work to which the new governor had been assigned, in addition to those of chief executive of the new territory. A transcontinental railroad
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was of all things most desirable, and they wished that everything that would hasten its construction might be done, however much other matters might be delayed in conse- quence. Besides there were now other things to occupy their attention. Some new offices had been or would soon be created, and as free American citizens they were to decide who should fill them.
Aspirants for these places appeared without hesitation. The redoubtable Michael T. Simmons was one of the first to announce himself as a candidate for delegate, and later James P. Johnson, Columbia Lancaster-"old Basaltic Formation"-G. N. McConaha, and still others appeared. A call for a Democratic mass meeting, signed by forty resi- dents of Olympia and its neighborhood, was printed in the "Columbian," calling upon members of the party to meet and organize, and similar preparations were made by the Whigs, who, although realizing that they were likely to be in the minority, laid their plans to make a contest for every place to be filled.
In his letter to Mr. Denny, and perhaps in others, Gover- nor Stevens had indicated that "a proper location for the territorial capitol" would need to be selected very soon after his arrival, and the inhabitants of several aspiring towns began to lay their plans to secure it. As the summer advanced this contest became rather sharp and interesting. It was particularly spirited between Olympia and Steila- coom, both of which were growing thriftily, and neither was much in advance of the other. The politicians of the time had not yet learned how to use this question to divide the votes of various localities on other, and sometimes less im- portant, issues, and Olympia, being the center of the older community, won.
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As soon as Governor Stevens could be assured that his appointment would be confirmed by the Senate, he began to make his arrangements to enter upon his new and varied duties. As governor of Washington he would also be super- intendent of Indian affairs, and would be required to make treaties with an unknown number of tribes, about whom the government then knew but little. On his way to his new post he was to explore the northern route for a Pacific railroad.
No one could well have been better fitted or prepared than he was for what he now had to do. Born at Andover, Mass., March 28, 1818, he had been graduated, first in his class, at West Point in 1839, and was immediately assigned to the engineers, with the rank of second lieutenant. He had won distinction in the Mexican war, both for his ability and courage. He had been severely wounded at the taking of the city of Mexico, and at the close of the war had attained the brevet rank of major. He had then superintended the fortifications on the coast of New England until Sep- tember 1849, when he was given charge of the coast survey office in Washington, a position which he held at the time of his nomination to be governor. In addition to the educa- tion and experience which was so well calculated to prepare him for the duties of organization and administration which he was about to assume, he had ability of a high order, and above all he had enterprise and an almost unlimited capacity for work.
He entered upon the preparation for his varied under- takings with the enthusiasm which distinguished all his after years. So far as he was able to do so, he selected the army officers who were to assist him in his railroad survey, and secured their assignment to that work. He also supervised
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the preparation of his instructions, both for the survey, for the work he was to do for the Indian office, and as governor. These were to be prepared in the three depart- ments of war, the interior and of state, to the three heads of which he would be required to report. He had been long enough in Washington to know that the new secretary of war, Jefferson Davis, and most other Southern men of influence, in the cabinet and in Congress, were not favorable to the northern route for a railroad, and would be likely to do what they could to render his exploration work of as little value as possible, and so far as possible he prepared to meet that opposition. He was to find very early in his experience that his preparation had been made none too carefully.
In order to complete the railroad survey in a single season, he arranged to send a party to the coast, by way of Panama, to begin work at the western end, while he himself with another party would begin at the Mississippi. To command the western party he chose Captain George B. McClellan, who like himself had graduated with high honors from West Point, and distinguished himself in Mexico. With his own party were Captain H. W. Gardner, Lieutenants F. W. Lander-afterwards a major general during the civil war- A. J. Donelson, John Mullen, Beekman du Barry and Cuvier Grover, besides a competent corps of scientists, artists and draughtsmen.
The eastern party left Fort Snelling early in June and, under the inspiration of the governor's own activity, pushed rapidly westward, exploring a wide range of country, across what is now Minnesota and the Dakotas, and thence up the Missouri to Fort Benton, which was reached on the first of September. Here the wagons were abandoned and
EARLY OLYMPIA.
The date of this early picture of the capital city is not definitely known, but it was probably made some time between 1860 and 1865.
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
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the exploration was continued with a pack train only, to carry its supplies. The Rocky Mountains were crossed by following the course which had led Lewis and Clark over them forty-eight years earlier, and Fort Colvile was reached on October 18th. Near this place Captain McClel- lan met them. That "vigorous and energetic" officer, after a leisurely trip to the coast, and making most elaborate preparations, according to his habit in after life, had found his way over the Cascade Range by a road which the settlers had opened with their own hands, while he was getting ready to expend the $20,000 which Congress had appropriated for the purpose, and advanced some two hundred miles through a country which offered little resistence to travel except by its sagebrush, while the governor's party had been coming sixteen or seventeen hundred miles, and a large part of the way through a mountainous and difficult country. It may be added here that during the winter McClellan was assigned, at his own suggestion, to explore the Snoqualmie Pass, but without going to the summit he returned with the information that he had learned from the Indians that the snowfall was so great there, during the winter months, as to make it entirely impracticable for a railroad.
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