USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. IV > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34
SELUCIUS GARFIELDE.
One of the early lawyers of the territory. He defeated General Stevens for the nomination for delegate in Congress in 1861, but was himself defeated at the election. Was again nominated and clected in 1869, and reelected in 1870. Was surveyor-general of the territory from 1866 to 1869. He also served as collector of customs for one term.
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
at from $3 to wyers had only incomplete sets Hand eleget ladt to rales with most famous care. Even tot norenimon gift tot an9 /912 Istono bots919b
difficultte bas formimo pedags grilo theitpolo But the preceding codification commission, and oder of dder moil VIOTTISt Sny TO T I Landet Elwohnst ban rolihadn't toldennison had been appomited to do the work. Their report, chiefly the work of N. Lyxne, was presented w the legislature, and referred to & dlest simanistee, composed of the lawyers in both houses, for rewww.and for such amendments as should seem desirable. The committee reported from time to time. The changes it suggested were, for the most part, merely verbal, but to make them in legal form the acts in which they occurred were reenacted. This made it necessary, or at least permissible, to have them reprinted for the use of the legislature, and chus greatly to mcrease the work and profits of the public printer To this the governor objected, and vetoed the amended measures in batches. His messages announcing these vetont were very much alike, differing only in the Erinsavo af udes of the measures vetoed. The reasons gute. bwwwvi the fanc. The bills were simply reenact- www.ws vathey already stood on the statute books; the din marmono was simply to have them printed, as our; their publication would cost the Whom som without any corresponding benefit; pour would have the bill to pay. But whether ali x ddd be paid by the national or territorial governniem, be exp oHture was unwarranted, especially in view of the hans and imperfect manner in which the code, of which the bills werd wo be a part, had been acted upon, for the governor thought i doubtful whether one of them had been read in ciber house during the session.
حرب
185
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
It was at this session that the community property law, which still stands on the statute books, was enacted.
Selucius Garfielde was elected delegate to Congress in 1869, defeating Ex-Governor Marshal F. Moore. Though Garfielde had defeated Stevens for the Democratic nomina- tion in 1861, he had since acted with the Republicans. He had been surveyor-general from 1866 to 1869, having been appointed to that office sometime after the death of A. G. Henry. He was a brilliant public speaker, and had ranked as a leading lawyer almost from the day of his arrival in the territory. His intellectual acquirements were always something of a mystery to those who knew him best. He was generally well informed on all current topics, and yet he seemed to give but little time to the reading of books or newspapers. He was apparently equally inattentive as a lawyer to the preparation of his cases, and yet he always came into court well prepared, and few other lawyers of his time were more frequently successful in their practice.
Until after he was elected the first time, delegates from this territory had been chosen in the odd-numbered years, and a change. in the law, made in 1869, shortened his first term to one year. He was renominated and reëlected in 1870, and again renominated in 1872, but defeated by Judge O. B. McFadden. He afterwards served a term as collector of customs for the Puget Sound district.
It was charged during his campaigns for delegate, that he was to be, peculiarly, the representative of the interests opposed to the Hudson's Bay and Puget Sound Agricultural companies. At any rate, the representatives of these two concerns bitterly opposed him. He had been the attorney for Pierce County in a suit brought in 1859 to compel the latter company to pay taxes on all the land it claimed in the
186
THE RISE AND PORGRESS
county. The trial of this suit had been long and expensive. It had been three times appealed to the supreme court of the territory, and once to the supreme court of the United States. The latter court had dismissed it for informality in the record, and after ten years of litigation, matters still stood apparently about as they were at the beginning. But Garfielde had led the fighting aggressively, and confidently claimed that he would ultimately win.
The settlers had taken the keenest interest in this litiga- tion. Many of them had selected and sought to take claims within the area which the Company claimed under the treaty of 1846. This comprised all the land lying between the Puyallup and the Nisqually rivers, from the Sound to the summit of the Cascades, amounting to something more than 167,000 acres, and 3,562 acres at the Cowlitz Farms in Lewis County. But little of this land, comparatively, was under cultivation, or ever had been-about 1,500 acres on the Cowlitz, and two or three hundred at Nisqually. The remainder had been used, so far as it had been used at all, simply as a range for cattle, sheep and horses, and these had roamed over only a small part of it, for most of it was so heavily timbered that even the Indians had never set foot on it. To assert ownership in this vast area, under that provision of a treaty, which provided that "the farms, lands and other property of every description, belonging to the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, on the north side of the Columbia, shall be confirmed to said company," seemed preposterous to the settlers, who knew that it never had owned, or could own it, and that the greater part of it had never even been seen by its agents or animals. They knew that this grasping monopoly was an alien concern. They believed that it had been more friendly than need be to
187
OF AN AMERCIAN STATE
the Indians during the Indian war. They knew that some of its old-time employees had given them aid and comfort. The correspondence submitted to, and the testimony taken by the legislature, during the winter following the proclama- tion of martial law, showed that they had left food in places where the Indian marauders could easily find it, and that the murderers of White and Northcraft had visited some of them, while their hands were still red with these crimes. While it was not believed, or perhaps suspected that the Company encouraged these criminal acts, it was not for- gotten that it had at one time helped these people to take claims on the land where it had always arrogantly forbidden Americans to make their homes, and that it was friendly to these aliens, while it continued to harass and annoy all the native-born citizens with threats of eviction.
None of the settlers who had made locations on the lands claimed by the Company, in either Pierce or Lewis counties, could get title of any sort. They could not even get their claims surveyed, for the surveyors were instructed by the government to stop their work at the borders of the lands claimed by the Company. They could file no notice or claim at the land office. As native-born citizens in their own country, which they had helped to win from a foreign claimant and the savages, they seemed to have no rights except such as they could enforce by their own presence.
In his first message to the legislature, Governor Stevens had pointed out the desirability of getting rid of these alien concerns. Under the treaty, the government might purchase their property if it should be considered "of public and politi- cal importance" to do so, "at a proper valuation, to be agreed upon between the parties." As a means of inducing Congress to take early action in the matter, he recommended
188
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
that a careful official estimate of the value of the property should be made, so that an idea might be formed as to what the purchase would probably cost. But no action of this kind was taken by that or any succeeding legislature, and as a consequence the purchase was not made until nearly seventeen years later.
Meantime the grievances of the settlers against the com- panies became a factor in every political campaign. They did not become an issue, because all the people except the few representatives of the companies were of one mind in regard to them, but every candidate for office had some more or less futile suggestions to make in regard to them. Some contended that the treaty ought to be abrogated, and some that it ought to be disregarded altogether and set at defiance. Of course these vehement orators, or some of them at least, had no very clear comprehension of the binding character of treaties, or of the results that would certainly follow, if their views should be accepted, and the settlers, looking only for some means of escape from the embarrassments which so persistently beset them, would have been glad to see anything tried that could give a promise of any sort of relief.
Finally the commissioners of Pierce County, in May 1859, ordered the lands claimed to be assessed, and in this they appear to have been joined by those of Lewis County. The Company refused to pay, as it was doubtless expected it would do, since no taxes were levied on the claims of the settlers until they received their patents from the government, and the Company not only had no patent, but no certain prospect that it would ever receive any. There was there- fore no very encouraging prospect that it could ever be com- pelled to pay.
189
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
Several prominent lawyers in the territory were employed in arguing the several appeals, but Garfielde appears to have been the leading counsel for the county, while B. F. Kendall was the principal attorney for the defendant com- pany. The case led to or was the cause of a tragedy which at the time caused more excitement and aroused more feeling than any event since Governor Stevens had declared martial law and caused the arrest of Judge Lander.
In addition to his law practice Kendall had become interested in the "Overland Press," a weekly paper which had been started at Olympia, in July 1861, and because of its enterprise shown in getting and publishing war news, had soon become one of the most widely read and influential publications in the territory. Sometime in 1862, one of the buildings at the Cowlitz Farms owned by the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, had been burned, and it was strongly suspected that the fire was of incendiary origin. In its report of this fire, the "Press" intimated that Horace Howe was more or less directly responsible for the conflagration. On December 20th, Howe met Kendall on the street in Olympia, and an exciting controversy followed, during which Howe struck Kendall with a switch he happened to have in his hand. Kendall turned and ran, or walked hurriedly away, with Howe pursuing, but after running a short dis- tance Kendall drew a revolver, turned and fired four shots at his pursuer, one of which inflicted what was at the time supposed to be a severe wound.
The shooting caused a great deal of excitement and much angry comment. Kendall published his version of the encounter in the next issue of the "Press," and this still further excited and enbittered Howe's friends. A day or two later, on January 8, 1863, Howe's son entered the "Press"
190
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
office, and asked to see Kendall alone. The two entered Kendall's room together. A few minutes later a shot was heard by those in the outer office, and Howe emerged from the room, saying: "I shot him in self-defense." The shot had been well aimed. Kendall had been instantly killed by it, and Howe was accordingly arrested.
The inquest was most exciting. It was found that the pistol Howe had used strikingly resembled one of a pair owned by Frank Clark, with whom Howe was known to be acquainted. Clark did not deny the acquaintance, nor that the pistol was his, nor would he answer any question that could in any way connect him with the tragedy. Being a lawyer, and knowing the law, he would say nothing that could be used to incriminate him, and yet reading the reports of the inquest at this distance of time, some of his answers seem to have been framed to indicate that he knew as much about the tragedy as people thought, or perhaps to deepen the mystery surrounding it.
Howe's plea that he had shot in self-defense was so far accepted by the coroner's jury, that he was admitted to bail, and he immediately disappeared. From that moment no- body who had previously known him, so far as the public learned, ever saw him again. It was reported that he com- mitted suicide, or was accidently drowned, but no proof of it was ever produced.
The tax case was dismissed by the supreme court on December 23, 1867. As it had been dismissed solely because of an irregularity in the service of some of the papers per- taining to it, the contest stood now practically where it had stood in the beginning. None of the questions raised had been determined. Nevertheless when the news reached Steilacoom, then the county seat of Pierce County, Garfielde
191
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
and his associates applied for an order authorizing seizure of enough of the Company's property to satisfy the demands of the counties, with interests and costs, which now amounted to more than $60,000, but while argument on this application was being made, an order arrived from Washington, for- bidding seizure for the time being.
The full meaning of this order was not understood at the time, but it was ultimately learned that the government was at last, after the lapse of nearly a quarter of a century, taking the steps necessary to remove these foreign corporations out of the country. Governor Simpson had early begun to press to have the matter taken up at Washington, but the civil war and the embarrassments of the Johnson administra- tion had prevented. But now negotiations had been resumed and it was arranged that a commission should be appointed to ascertain the amount to be paid the companies for the property they claimed. Governor Simpson had estimated this property to be worth $5,000,000, but the settlers and others, who were more or less familiar with it, knew it to be worth only a mere fraction of that amount. The companies really owned no land, and could acquire none. They had cleared and improved several thousand acres at Vancouver, about 1,500 acres at Cowlitz Farms, and two or three hundred at Nisqually, previous to June 15, 1846, the date of the boundary treaty. They had been using this land, and as much pasture land as their vast herds required in addition, for a quarter of a century since that date, and had paid no rent for it. More than that, the government itself had leased from them, and paid an annual rental for the ground and buildings at Fort Steilacoom, for nearly twenty years. The claim which Peter Skeen Ogden had made at Cape Disappointment in 1848, under instruction from the British
192
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
government, to be used, as is supposed, for a British fort, was estimated to be worth $14,600. It was probably worth about one-hundredth part of that sum.
Caleb Cushing, who had been attorney-general in Pierce's cabinet, was employed to represent the companies before the commission, and Frank Clark and several other lawyers looked after their interest in the territory. A vast amount of testimony was taken. Witnesses were examined at Van- couver, the Cowlitz Farms, Nisqually and Victoria, and several, including W. H. Gray, who had come to the terri- tory with Whitman, were called to Washington for examina- tion. The whole history of the Hudson's Bay Company, from the time it succeeded the Northwest Company on the coast, including its treatment of the early missionaries and the settlers, was inquired into.
The commissioners concluded their labors on September 10, 1869, by finding that $325,000 should be paid to each of the companies, a total of $650,000 to both, and they were not required to pay the $61,305.22 claimed by Pierce and Lewis counties for taxes, although Congress had provided, in consenting to the creation of the commission, that "all taxes legally assessed" upon any of the property of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, and still unpaid, should be withheld from the amount awarded it.
As soon as possible after the award was made, the two companies removed their live stock and other moveable property to British Columbia. Edward Huggins, their last chief factor in the territory, was directed to remove to Kam- loops, but he chose rather to give up his connection with the Company and became an American citizen. He took a claim which included the old fort and the Company's buildings at Nisqually, where he had resided for more than
193
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
twenty years, and continued to reside there during the remainder of his long and honorable life. Many of the other employees of the Company followed his example.
And so the long history of the Hudson's Bay Company in Oregon and Washington ended.
During the dozen years preceding their exit from the territory, it had advanced but slowly. Its people were hardly well recovered from the effects of the Indian war, when the civil war began, and for several years but few settlers found their way to western Washington. The gold discoveries hastened the settlement of the southeastern part of the territory during these years, but so little of the gold brought from the mines found its way west of the moun- tains, that money was always scarce in that region, so scarce that the periodical disbursement made by the army pay- masters at Fort Steilacoom would perceptably relieve the financial situation in the whole Sound country.
The progress of settlement was slow. The population of the territory, which had been 11,594 in 1860, had increased to only 23,955 in 1870, and a large proportion of the new arrivals had settled east of the mountains, so that the west- ern part seemed hardly to progress at all. The governors usually gave a summary of the reports of land sales made by the land offices at Olympia and Vancouver, in their messages to the legislature, and these show, as well perhaps as any other record of the time, how settlement was advan- cing. In his last message as acting governor, in December 1859, Secretary Mason reported that 24 claims had been taken under the donation, and 49 under the preemption laws, during the preceding year, a total of 11,277 acres. McGill, in 1860, reported that 14,964 acres had been taken. Turney, and Pickering in his first message, said nothing
194
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
of what the sales were in 1861 and 1862, but in 1863 they were 142,581 acres; in 1864, 79,337; 1865, 91,306; 1866, 59,289; and 1867, 62,267. For the twenty months, from January 1868 to September 1, 1869, they were 253, 723 acres, and for the two full years 1870-71, they were 552,914 acres.
But progress while still unsatisfactory was perceptible and proportionately gratifying. When the courts were first established after Governor Stevens came in 1853, the sheriffs had not been able to find enough voters in some of the counties to fill the panels of grand and petit jurors, without summoning some of the "good and lawful men" to serve on both, but where this was necessary they took care to rearrange the lists of names, so that the court and public need not be too much impressed with their resemblance. But this, at least, was no longer necessary. Those who had made occasional trips about the Sound on the Eliza Anderson, soon after her arrival, or along the Columbia on the boats of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, which had now been established, and was doing a thriving business, were sure they would know every person they would see at each landing, and equally confident that every resident of each place, except possibly the women, would be waiting to greet them. But this was no longer so. New faces were seen on every trip, and new towns were springing up as well. Among these Commencement City, on the west shore of Commence- ment Bay, had now become Tacoma, and would shortly be the envy of all its competitors, for a time, because of its railroad advantages.
Several newspapers had now been established in the territory, most of which were still thriving. The "Colum- bian," which later became the "Pioneer and Democrat,"
FIRST POST OFFICE IN TACOMA.
This was in Job Carr's house at Old Town, the first house built on the Townsite.
PROGRES stianwoT odt no find sensor Khi and Tobe, bir in 1863 the 4: 79-8376 1805. 01,306; 1866 For the twenty months. ron ... (8og, They were 253, 723 acres 1 1870-71, they were 552,91
ill umar lictory was perceptible undring. When the courts were fir Wwwver Stetem same in 1853, the sheriff find mough voters in some of th poels af greid ami petit jurors, withou Til "good wool lawful men " to serve on theos aly They took care to rearrange shod cho 9001 and public need not be No der resemblance. But this, a **** Those who had made com on the Fliza Anderson the Columbia on the boat Company, which had now chriving business, were yon they would see at each hoy every resident of each we would be waiting to greet xxx cbr New faces were seen on dig up as well. Among mommen Low m the wou shore of Commence- Ta ma, and would shortly be , for + time, because of its
w been established in the MI thriving. The "Colum- "Pioneer and Democrat,"
hbto " which lay
195
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
by consolidation with a rival, had been first in the field. There were now published at Olympia the " Pacific Tribune," which had succeeded the "Overland Press," the "Washing- ton Standard," established early in 1860, the Olympia "Transcript" and the "Echo." Vancouver already had the "Register" and Kalama would soon have the " Beacon." At Walla Walla the "Statesman" was publishing news from the mines from week to week, that was eagerly read beyond the limits of the territory, and it now had a competitor in the "Union." At Port Townsend, the "Register" and the "Northwest" had given place to the" Message," and Seattle had the "Gazette," which had been established in 1863, and on October 26, 1864, had printed the first telegraphic news received by the line which was completed to Seattle that day. It gave war news of interest as late as October 24th, which had come by way of Kansas City, the most interesting part of which pertained to the operations of Sherman's army in the Atlanta campaign. A weekly paper called the "Intelligencer" had also been established there in 1867 and would in time prosper greatly.
The reaper whose name is Death had begun to deplete the ranks of the earliest pioneers. David Kindred, whose house had been the first built by the Simmons party, was among the first to go. George W. Bush had died in 1863, and H. Martin, whose home was on the Columbia, and who had planted eight orchards and eaten fruit from all of them, had died in 1862. Sidney S. Ford, whose hospitable home, near the present city of Centralia, had ever been open to the immigrants, and whose son, Sidney S., Jr., had rendered distinguished services to the territory during the Indian war, died at Olympia, October 26, 1866, while serving as a mem- ber of the Council.
196
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
Michael T. Simmons, who had led the first exploring party of American settlers up the Cowlitz, and subsequently selected the site of the first settlement on the Sound, died at his home in Lewis County, on November 15, 1867, univer- sally regretted. He had been unfortunate in business during the later years of his life, and died comparatively poor. He had been a leader in all the arduous activities of pioneer life. He had not only explored the way for his associates, but he had been foremost in all their earlier enterprises. He had built the first sawmill and the first flourmill, had been one of the earliest merchants, and one of the first shipowners, and at one time had been considered rich. After Gov- ernor Stevens arrived, he became one of his most active lieutenants, and as Indian agent, during the treaty- making period and the Indian war, as well as in other capacities, had rendered the territory services of great value.
John R. Jackson, who arrived in the territory about the same time, and perhaps selected his claim a few days earlier than Simmons did, survived him nearly six years, dying May 15, 1873. He, too, was widely known for his integrity and his hospitality. Hundreds of the earlier settlers had been made welcome on their arrival at his home, "The High- lands," not far from Cowlitz Landing, and he had served the territory also in various capacities and always with fidelity.
Seth Catlin of Monticello, who was Jackson's neighbor, as things went in early days, who had been a member of the convention which adopted the Monticello memorial, and secured the separation of the territory from Oregon, was drowned in crossing the Arkansas River, while on his way to Texas in 1871.
197
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
While the progress of the territory had been slow up to the present time, it was now about to enter upon a period of great prosperity. The coming of the first railroad, for which the settlers had long looked so hopefully and anxiously, was at hand.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.