USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. III > Part 7
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for a representative from a place so far away to get to Wash- ington and return home, and still have some time left to serve his constituents.
General Adair, the new collector of customs, established his authority more at leisure, and yet not without some spectacular effects. He was a Kentuckian by birth and had been a slaveowner. He had emancipated his slaves and moved with them to Indiana, from which State he was ap- pointed collector by President Polk. He came to the coast by way of the isthmus, going to Panama via New Orleans. The overcrowded steamer by which he came from Panama to San Francisco was out of fuel twice, and on fire twice, on the way up. Arriving at San Francisco he was urged to remain there for a time, and report that there was far more need of a custom house at that place than at Astoria, but feeling that it was clearly his duty to proceed to his des- tination, he took passage with his family by the first vessel offering, which was the brig Valadora, Captain Nathaniel Crosby, and after a voyage of twenty-eight days, during twenty-four of which the passengers worked with the crew at the pumps to keep the vessel from sinking, arrived at Astoria early in April 1849.
During the succeeding ten months the new collector seems to have found little to do. By the organic act the president was authorized to designate two ports of delivery in the district, and this was done by proclamation of January 10th, 1850, designating Portland and Nisqually.
In those days the mail for Oregon came by way of Panama, and under the contract with the carriers, Howland & Aspinwall, was to be carried in steam vessels "via some port in California" though north of it, it might be carried in sailing ships, but mails must be received and delivered as
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often as once a month "at or near Kalamath River." This arrangement continued for nearly a year and a half after Collector Adair reached Astoria, when Delegate Thurs- ton, Oregon's first representative in Congress, secured an improvement in the service, by which the mails north of San Francisco were carried in steam vessels. Under this new arrangement the steamer Carolina of the Pacific Mail Steamship Line, arrived at Portland early in June 1850, with mails and passengers, and on June 13th came to the Sound and her officers paid a visit to Dr. Tolmie at Nis- qually. She was succeeded at irregular intervals by the California, the Sea Gull, the Panama and the Oregon, until March 1851, when, by the arrival of the Columbia, a regular steam mail service was established between Portland and San Francisco.
As soon therefore as news of the proclamation designating the two ports of delivery could have been received at the custom house at Astoria, the new collector began to exercise his authority with vigor. Since his arrival, as before, the Hudson's Bay Company and the Puget Sound Agricultural Company had carried on their business as they had done for many years, their ships coming and going between Van- couver and Nisqually and Victoria with no customs officers to annoy them. Every year a new stock of goods, suited to the uses of the settlers and the Indians, had been brought from England, and after June 15th, 1846, when the boundary question was settled, all these should have been entered at the custom house, if there had been one where they could enter. No charge was made then, nor has any been made since, that the Company sought to avoid paying duties on these goods. There was no representative of the United States there to receive
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them, and therefore they were not entered or the duties paid.
Great was the surprise, therefore, of the good Dr. Tolmie to receive on the evening of April 13th, 1850, news that the Company's ship Cadborough was to be seized for violating the revenue laws. The Cadborough was a small vessel of seventy or eighty tons register, which had for many years been in the Company's service. She had made frequent trips to the Sandwich Islands in earlier times, on which she carried letters for the missionaries and earlier settlers to their friends in the Eastern States. She had also carried the officers and crew of the United States Schooner Shark from Fort Vancouver to San Francisco, after she was wrecked at the mouth of the Columbia in 1846. In later years, she had been in service between Victoria and Nisqually, and frequently made trips to Forts Langley and McLoughlin. She frequently made as many as two and three trips a month, when the weather was favorable, between Victoria and Nisqually, bringing in goods for the Company store from the former, and taking out cattle and sheep and furs from the latter.
She arrived at Fort Nisqually on the evening of April 13th, 1850, and dropped anchor not far from the Company's store on the beach as usual. She had on board a few pas- sengers, among whom was a young man named Edward Huggins, who had just arrived from England, with the inten- tion of remaining one year as a clerk in the Company's service. He was destined to remain through a long and useful life, to be the last chief factor of the Puget Sound Company, to serve Pierce County faithfully in offices of trust and responsibility, and finally to die respected and regretted by all who knew him.
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The people about the fort, Indians and white men, were set to work as usual, to transfer the cargo from the ship to the warehouse, but early next morning their work was interrupted by the appearance of Lieutenant Dement and a file of soldiers from Fort Steilacoom, who took possession of the ship, lowered her British ensign, and ran up the Stars and Stripes in its stead, and sent Captain Sangster and his crew on shore. When Dr. Tolmie asked for an explanation of this procedure on the part of his tenants- the soldiers were then occupying grounds and buildings at Fort Steilacoom leased from the Company, as they did for a long time afterwards-he was told that it was done by order of the collector of customs, whose representative would soon arrive and make formal seizure. The doctor protested that the Company had never sought to evade payment of duties, but was ready, and always had been, to pay whenever a custom house was established, or a duly authorized officer sent to receive them, but he protested in vain. Lieutenant Dement could do nothing but obey orders, and obey orders he did, taking the ship down the bay toward Steilacoom in the afternoon, by the aid of some of his soldiers who had once been sailors.
So matters remained until the 19th, nearly a week later, when Inspector Eben May Dorr arrived from the Columbia, and in company with Captain Hill from Fort Steilacoom called at Nisqually early in the afternoon. "After having some wine and cake," says Dr. Tolmie, in the fort journal, as if he felt that his hospitality was but poorly requited, "they proceeded toward the beach store, where in presence of myself, Mr. Dixon,* and Captain Hill, and calling Glas- gow the squatter as a witness, he seized on all the imported
* Dixon was mate of the Cadborough.
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goods in the store," and even on some that he was not quite sure that he ought to seize .* The doctor protested at every step of the proceeding, but to no purpose. Mr. Dorr was not at all particular about exceeding his authority; his chief concern seemed to be lest he might not do enough. The following day an inventory of everything in the store was made, the doctor, Mr. Huggins, Ross, a clerk, and Captain Sangster assisting, and then Glasgow, "the squatter," was placed in charge as custodian.
This appointment of Glasgow was almost as distasteful to Dr. Tolmie as the seizure itself. Glasgow had recently taken a claim between the fort and the beach, on land claimed and used by the Company in its business. He had served formal notice on Dr. Tolmie to make no further improve- ments on this ground, and the doctor had given him equally formal notice to leave. But neither in the slightest degree obeyed the mandate of the other. The doctor continued to receive and dispose of goods at his store, and Glasgow built a cabin in which he kept a little store, and started to build a mill at the mouth of the Sequalichew Creek, where there was a considerable waterfall, which he had been careful to include within the limits of his claim. The doctor charged him also with living with an Indian woman, and with selling liquor to the Indians, making them ugly, noisy and causing a great deal of confusion about the place, which had usually been quiet and orderly enough before he appeared there, and much ill feeling had resulted.
After making the seizure and installing Glasgow, Inspec- tor Dorr disappeared for a time, going down the Sound on other urgent business, and for the next few days Dr. Tolmie was left to arrange matters as best he could with Captain
* See Appendix for full details of the seizure as given in the fort journal.
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Hill and the exceedingly technical and authorative Glas- gow. It was only with the utmost difficulty that he could arrange to secure sufficient supplies from the store, which had not been sealed up before Mr. Dorr's departure, to furnish his table and feed his numerous employees. On the evening of the 20th, Dr. Tolmie started for Victoria, to confer with Chief Factor Douglas about the seizure, and the measures to be taken to secure a release of the seized goods, and during his absence the fort journal was kept by Captain Sangster, who, careful mariner that he was, made painstaking entry in it three times a day, morning, noon and night, of the direction of the wind and condition of the weather, and, between times, of his troubles with Glasgow in securing something to live upon. Dr. Tolmie returned on May 2d, and immediately began a correspondence with Vancouver, with Captain Hill at Fort Steilacoom, and with Inspector Dorr, who arrived back from his business down Sound on the 12th, in regard to the release of the seized ship and goods, as the result of which he learned that noth- ing could be done until the inventories, which Dorr still had with him, could be inspected at Astoria and the col- lector's instructions received. A month later General Adair himself arrived at the fort, and on June 19th, the duties claimed were paid and the ship and goods released, Glasgow insisting that every package of which he had charge should be specially examined and turned over in his presence, which was done.
Meantime the cause of Inspector Dorr's hurried departure down Sound, after the seizure of the Cadborough, had become known, for he had returned to Steilacoom on the British ship Albion, which he had seized at New Dungeness, for a far more serious offence than the Cadborough had been
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guilty of. This ship had been sent out from England, the year before, to Vancouver Island for a cargo of mast timbers for the British navy. She was in command of Captain Richard O. Hinderwell, with Captain William Brotchie as supercargo. Brotchie had been in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company on the Sound some years before, as commander of the Beaver and other vessels, and knew all its bays and inlets, as well as the country along its shores, thoroughly. He had discovered the reef just off Victoria Harbor, that is now known as Brotchie's Ledge. After leaving the service of the Company he had returned to Eng- land, where he had no doubt been instrumental in inducing the owners of the Albion, who had a contract with the British admiralty to furnish spars, to seek them in the Sound region. The written instructions from the owner, given both himself and Captain Hinderwell, indicate this very clearly. They were to seek their cargo on Vancouver Island, where permission to cut timber at a cost of ten pounds sterling per load, and to traffic with the Indians for their labor, but not for furs, had been obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company. Capt. Brotchie was furnished with goods to the value of £720 for the latter purpose. After finding a safe harbor on the north side of the strait, Brotchie was to "proceed with a boat, well armed and manned, up to Port Discovery, and examine the harbor and wood well there, and if suitable timber, and easily got out, use your own discretion whether you load your spars there or not." If he could buy forest land there cheap, "and with a good title," he was authorized to buy a square mile of it, and leave some one on it to hold possession. Captain Hinder- well's instructions contained this paragraph: "On the south side of the straits is Port Discovery, a very good harbor,
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and I believe plenty of spars, that now belong to the Americans, and if they are the best spars, I have authorized Captain Brotchie to arrange and purchase forest suitable for your purpose, provided he can purchase it very cheap- I mean on the American side of the straits."
Whether the Albion ever sought any harbor on Vancouver Island is not known. The instructions above quoted indicate pretty clearly that the owner knew the best spars were to be had on the American side, and that he expected his ship to load there. Captain Brotchie told Mr. Huggins,* after the seizure, that they arrived at Port Discovery about December 21st, 1849, and began at once to cut and take their cargo on board. This was not very easy to do. There were no oxen nor horses then in that region to do the hauling required. The timbers needed were to be from seventy to ninety feet long, clear of sap, and from twenty-four to thirty inches square at the butt and not much smaller in the middle. These timbers were cut and squared under the direction of William Bolton, the ship's carpenter, after- wards for many years a resident of Steilacoom. Then they were dragged to the water by the Clallam Indians, who were paid in the "shop clothing, tobacco, female ornaments, clasp knives, fishhooks, files and needles" with which Brotchie had seen supplied for this purpose. A four-inch hemp hawser was fastened to each log, when ready, and then as many Indians as possible would get hold of it, and with many a "Naw! Skookum Kanowah!" drag it to the ship. When Inspector Dorr and his file of soldiers from Fort Steilacoom appeared and took possession of the ship, only seventeen of these timbers had been got on board,
* This entire account of the seizure of the Albion is taken from a manu- script left by the late Edward Huggins.
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although nearly four months had elapsed since she had commenced loading. The Albion was taken to Steilacoom where her captain and supercargo protested against the seizure, declaring that they did not know that any custom house had been established on the coast, where they could make entry or get clearance, or that they were not proceed- ing in a perfectly lawful and proper way in purchasing timber from the Indians, as they declared they had done. But their protests were of no avail. On November 2d, District Attorney Holbrook advised the solicitor of the treasury that a decree of forfeiture had been entered at the last term of the district court, held in Clarke County, against the British ship Albion, her tackle, apparel and furniture, and also the goods and merchandise she had on board, for a violation of the revenue law. She was accordingly ordered sold, and the sale was held at Steilacoom, Marshal Meek offi- ciating. Though the ship was of 500 tons register, and was valued by her owners at £10,000, or nearly $50,000, she was sold for only $1,450. John McLeod, the old engineer of the Beaver, but who had now taken a claim near Muck, was one of the bidders and was much disappointed when a party of Olympia capitalists outbid him. He was obliged to stop when the bidding passed $1,400. The nominal purchaser was Major H. A. Goldsborough. The new purchaser loaded the ship with piles, potatoes and fresh beef and sent her, under command of Captain Fay, to San Francisco, where the cargo was readily sold at a good profit; but the ship was not so easily disposed of. The harbor was then full of ships which had been deserted by their crews, and left to rot idly in the harbor. It is reported that she was subsequently used for some time as a lodging house, and finally filled with stones and sand, like many other
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hulks, and sunk to help fill in that part of the bay, on which the busiest part of San Francisco now rests.
The seizure and condemnation of the ship subsequently became the subject of some diplomatic correspondence and negotiations between Great Britain and the United States. Honorable Thomas Corwin, then secretary of the treasury, sent an order to Collector Adair to release the ship and her cargo, upon payment of costs, if she had not already been condemned, but it did not arrive until she had been sold and turned over to her new owners.
By these several acts was the authority of the United States, and the new territorial government of Oregon, established north of the Columbia, and the majesty of the law vindicated in the fruitful region that was soon to become Washington.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT.
T HE discovery of gold in California turned the tide of emigration, which was setting strongly toward Oregon in 1847, to the southward. But for that discovery, Oregon and Washington would have been peopled far more rapidly than they were, and one or both might have jumped to statehood almost as quickly as California did. No unsettled territory belonging to the United States, at that time, was so well known or so much talked about. The debates in Congress from 1820 to 1828, on the measures proposed by Floyd and Baylies, had awakened interest in it. This interest was very greatly increased by Senator Linn's proposal, in 1839, to give each settler a whole section of land, if he would go with his family and select it, and live on it for five years. There were many landless people in that day, and the prospect of securing a home on such sure and easy terms was pleasing to them.
That England disputed our claim to the country was well understood, but our title to it, though questioned, was not doubted. That we had discovered it, explored and settled it, lost it by war and had it restored to us by treaty, had been repeated in so many reports and declared in so many speeches that every schoolboy knew the story. The joint occupation arrangement was regarded with growing dis- favor, for after the time of Bonneville and Wyeth it was apparent enough that, while the country might be as free and open to the citizens of the United States as to the sub- jects of Great Britain, the British monopoly was so strongly intrenched in it that no American could remain in it without the monopoly's consent.
This condition of things was not likely to be tolerated for a great length of time after it began to be understood. The thirty thousand settlers with their thirty thousand
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rifles, that Senators Tappan and Benton had spoken of, were waiting only for a leader. Some of them had already started with Farnham, and more would go with White, and Burnett and Applegate and Whitman and Gilliam.
The donation act, commonly known as the Oregon Land Law, did not become law until September 27, 1850, when it was approved by President Fillmore. Previous to that time all the settlers who had made the long and toilsome journey to Oregon, had made it in the confident expectation that the act would become law, but with no certainty that it would do so. But now there was no longer any doubt. After long deliberation it had finally been decreed that every citizen above the age of twenty-one years, who will go to Oregon, two thousand miles away, select a half section of land, live upon and cultivate it for a full period of five years, shall, upon proof duly made, receive a patent for it, as the free gift of a generous nation : if he be a married man and will take his family with him on this perilous journey, he may choose a full section of six hundred and forty acres. But he must go within three years and a few months from the date of the act, viz., before December Ist, 1853. The public lands are a valuable asset of the nation, and cannot be thus generously distributed for a very long period. In those days the annual revenue derived from land sales was about one-twelfth of the government's entire income, and in the opinion of the most enlightened statesmanship of the time, it would not do to imperil this source of revenue for a longer period. Subsequently, on February 14th, 1853, the act was extended for two years, though the amount of land the settlers might take during those years was reduced to one-half of that allowed by the original act. December Ist, 1855, was therefore the utmost limit within which homes
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might be secured by the homeless at that time, at the trifling cost of making a journey of two thousand miles with wife and family and an ox team to secure it. The homeless must therefore make haste if they would avail themselves of the bounty of a generous government.
But the homeless did not make haste, as their conduct previous to the adoption of the act gave promise they would. They no longer came by three thousand and five thousand a year as in 1845 and 1847. The land offices were estab- lished and open, the surveyer general had been appointed and was at work, but their offices were not thronged as was expected, and there was no very urgent demand for their services. In 1851, as the records show, only fifty-eight entries were made in Washington, and in the following year only one hundred and seventeen.
Many of the settlers appear to have made a tour of the Sound before selecting their claims. We have seen that Simmons and his party did so in 1845, and John C. Holgate in 1850, while Ezra Meeker has told, with some detail, the story of his trip around it with his brother in 1853. Very many others made a similar journey soon after their arrival. Coming as most of them did from the inland States, they were curious to know what tide water was like, for they had heard much about it, and its value to commerce, and they were anxious to make their new homes as near it as possible. It was for this reason that the attractions of Whidby Island so early came to be known and appreciated.
This island is about thirty-five miles long and generally very narrow. Its shore line is very irregular, and even in its broadest part it is difficult for the traveler to find a spot where he is more than two miles from salt water in some direction. Through a great part of its length it is not more
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than three miles wide, and in some places scarcely more than one. It lies immediately abreast of the Strait of Fuca, and there is scarcely a point on it that does not command a view of that magnificent channel, or its tributary waters, as well as of the symmetrical snow-covered peaks of the Cascade Range toward the east. Its surface is generally level, and its soil extremely fertile. Only a small part of it was heavily timbered; the remainder bore in summer a luxuriant growth of tall grass, which afforded excellent pasturage for herds of deer and elk, and the whole presented a most attractive prospect to the claim seekers. It was a favorite hunting ground for the Indians, particularly for the Snoqualmies and the Skagits, who dwelt on the mainland to the eastward, because the island was too much exposed to the raids of the marauding Haidahs, whose home was far to the north on the shore of Queen Charlotte's Sound, and who frequently swept down along the coast in their huge war canoes, spreading desolation in every part of the country they visited. From it they could watch for the approach of these murderous raiders and, upon their appearance, retreat to the mainland with little danger of pursuit.
Affording them, as it did, a prolific hunting ground and a safe defense against their enemies, it is not surprising that these Indians regarded the efforts of the earliest settlers to make homes there with extreme disfavor. They compelled Glasgow and Rabbeson to leave it in 1847. Some time later Samuel Hancock, the trader, sought to make a location there, but found his presence so unwelcome that he, too, determined to go elsewhere.
On October 15th, 1850, Colonel Isaac N. Ebey located a claim on the west shore of the island nearly opposite Port Townsend, at a place which is still known as Ebey's Landing.
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Although he probably did not immediately begin his per- manent residence there, he must undoubtedly be regarded as the first settler in this favored locality. A few weeks later Clement W. Sumner, Martin Taftson and Ulric Friend selected neighboring claims on the north shore of Crescent Harbor, where the village of Oak Harbor now stands. Their applications, subsequently made at the land office in Olympia, show that they entered upon these claims on the fourth day of January 1851. In February, Dr. R. H. Lansdale visited the island, making the trip from Olympia in a canoe. He chose a claim near those selected by Sumner, Taftson and Friend, though he did not enter upon it, as the record shows, until March 1852. He was at the time justice of the peace for Lewis County, which still included all that part of Oregon lying north of the Columbia and west of the Cowlitz River, and Oregon was at the time believed by many to extend as far north as the Russian boundary. Although his jurisdiction was extensive for a justice of the peace, his duties were not numerous, and yet they seem to have been sufficiently important to detain him at Olympia for more than a year after he had resolved to remove to the island. In August William Wallace and his family joined the little colony. They brought with them a number of horses, which were probably the first on the island.
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