USA > Washington > Benton County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 58
USA > Washington > Kittitas County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 58
USA > Washington > Yakima County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 58
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Canaday's Mill Near Ellensburgh, W. T. Milton & Robt. N. Canaday, Pro- prietors. The proprietors beg leave to an- nounce that they are now prepared to furnish a first-class article in Flour. Custom work promptly attended to.
Humboldt's Saloon Ellensburgh, W. T.
Is the Place Where You Can Get the Best Beer. Wines and Liquor Call and Sample. Also the Best Brands of Cigars Kept on Hand. W. H. Packwood. Prop'r
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
The Yakima Planing Mills!
Welch & Millican, Proprietors Is ready to do all kinds of work in their line of business, such as con- tracting and building houses of all de- scription, sizes and styles, by contract or otherwise.
Planing wide lumber, tongue and grooving, flooring, making rustic or siding and moulding of all sizes and descriptions.
Door and window frames, and joh work to suit the times.
Finishing lumber and moulding of all kinds kept for sale.
Repairing done at short notice and at low figures.
L. F. Gardener & Sons, Blacksmiths and Horseshoers, Cor. Broadway and Garden Row Goldendale, W. T.
Custom and logging work promptly done. The making of fine spurs a specialty. Orders from abroad promptly filled.
The New Restaurant & Hotel Louis Adams, Proprietor.
The above hotel is kept on the European plan. The beds are neat and clean and clear of vermin. Terms :
Meals and Beds, 25 cts. and Upwards Travellers can be Assured of Every Attention.
City Hotel
Main Street, Yakima City, W. T. David Guilland, Proprietor
The above well-known hotel is al- ways open to the traveling public. The cuisine department is under the im- mediate supervision of the landlady, who keeps its tables supplied with the best the market affords.
Prices Moderate to Suit the Times
Patrons can rely upon being treated with courtesy, and securing a quiet and respectable resort.
Gem Saloon
Main Street, Yakima City. Al. Churchill, Proprietor.
The above popular place of resort has recently been refitted and refur- nished throughout, and none but the best brands of Wines, Liquors and Cigars are furnished to patrons. Call and sample.
Yakima City Brewery! First Street, Yakima City.
The undersigned would respectful- ly inform the citizens of Yakima City and vicinity that he will always keep on hand a superior quality of Lager Beer.
A Share of Public Patronage is Solicited. Chas. Schanno, Prop'r.
In 1883 Mr. Chadd sold the "Record" to Capt. C. M. Holton, who adopted for the paper the name of "Yakima Republican." Captain Holton was a news- paper man of great energy and of somewhat strong likes and dislikes which he did not scruple to express. The policy of the "Republican" under his man- agement was to support the Northern Pacific Railroad in the somewhat bitter controversy in regard to its land grant and the removal of the city to the new site of North Yakima.
The "Republican" was conducted on that historic migration from Yakima City in 1885 and located in the new town, by Captain Holton, who disposed of the paper to L. E. Sperry. In the meantime, in 1889, the name " Yakima
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
Republic" was adopted. In 1898 Col. W. W. Robertson became owner and editor, and of his conspicuous ability and success in the management no Yakima reader needs to be told. In October, 1903, the "Daily Republic" was established, the first permanent daily in the valley. While the "Republic" has been known from the beginning as a republican paper, it has been quite inde- pendent, and its editor is in the habit of using strong and expressive language in which to embody his convictions on all lines, political, social, literary, and religious. The "Republic" is recognized throughout the Northwest as one of the leading journalistic factors of the state.
THE "SIGNAL"
The "Record" naturally could not monopolize so inviting a field for any long time, and in 1883 a rival appeared.
This was the "Yakima Signal.' Here, too, Mr. Bagley's invaluable col- lection comes to our assistance, and we have before us Number 1 of Volume I of the "Signal." The editors and proprietors were J. M. and Mrs. P. D. Adams.
Mr. Adams is recalled by every one that knew him as a man of great force and ability, one of the most accomplished newspaper men of the state. We have had occasion in several places in this work to refer to Mr. Adams and his attitude in the railroad war. He founded his paper at a pivotal time both in the history of Yakima and the state (Territory) as well as of the coun- try at large. Locally, it was just the beginning of the "Big Boom" and of the first connection by rail between the Territory and the east. Nationally it was the era both of tremendous internal development and of the alignment of anti-monopoly and populistic forces against the aggressions of corporate wealth. Mr. Adams was the champion of these anti-monopoly forces. Al- though he had been a republican and continued for some time to attend con- ventions of that party, he was known as an independent leader and as time passed he broke loose from his party moorings and became the acknowledged leader of the fusion elements which in 1884 and 1886 seated C. S. Voorhees as delegate to Congress.
The "Signal" was an eight-page paper and contained much news from home and abroad. Its editorial page has much matter worthy of preserva- tion here. We accordingly make liberal extracts. It will be seen that some of these editorials bear upon the railroad question.
"Upon this the first Saturday of the new year we place before the public the first number of the "Yakima Signal." It has now been several months since our primary steps were taken in this direction and although we have studiously avoided making any public announcement of an intention to begin its publication at an earlier date the public of this vicinity have nevertheless been for some time expecting the "Signal" to make its appearance. Unfor- tunately, and without any fault or omission on our part, we have encountered several vexatious obstacles which have occasioned unavoidable delay. We re- solved at the outset that before calling upon the public for support; or, in. other words, that before attempting to publish a newspaper we would first
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
supply our establishment with all of the mechanical appliances necessary for publishing a paper large enough and in other respects good enough to merit respect at home and reflect credit abroad upon the intelligent and gencrous people from whose county it shall emanate and upon whom it must mainly rely for support. Remotely and unfavorably situated as we are with refer- ence to transportation facilities, the gathering together of a large stock of printing office appurtenances is no light undertaking at best. Our delay has been occasioned in the main, however, by certain unpardonable blunders on the part of certain careless type-foundrymen of San Francisco, to whom we reserve the privilege of paying our respects at some future time.
"As to the 'Signal's' merits as a journal we shall leave it to the public to judge for themselves. It is at least not our purpose to put forth in this con- nection any extravagant promises. We shall only agree to take the fullest possible advantage of our opportunities and do at all times the very best that circumstances will permit. However well or poorly we may succeed, our read- ers may rely upon it that an earnest, patient effort will be made to make the 'Signal' in every respect a readable, reliable newspaper-not only one of the largest but also one of the best published in the Northwest. Each issue, in addition to local news, will contain a synopsis of the news of the week, gath- ered together from all parts of Washington Territory, from all parts of the Pacific Coast, and from all parts of the United States-thus making it, in effect,
'A faithful map of busy life, Its fluctuations and its vast concerns.'
"Editorially the 'Signal' will be an independent exponent of whatever it may conceive to be right and an uncompromising antagonist of whatever it may conceive to be wrong; and in forming its conceptions of right and wrong it will be governed by the interests of no party, sect, combination, corpora- tion or clique. Having once placed upon our subscription books the names of confiding citizens and received their money in payment for an honest news- paper, it will not feel at liberty to afterwards enter into any agreement with third parties by which its utterances upon any subject may be hampered or controlled. Believing that the obligations of a newspaper to its readers are no less sacred than are the obligations of a lawyer to his clients, it will be editorially true to its readers and will subsist upon the legitimate profits of journalism or perish for want of support.
"Are the people ready for such a journal? Will they step forward and aid us in our undertaking? We shall await their answer."
"A new railroad land office has recently been started at Sprague for the sale of Northern Pacific lands. The agent located there has been instructed to sell no first-class agricultural lands for less than four dollars per acre. Some of it is sold for prices considerably higher than four dollars per acre, thus making the average charge four and a half dollars. One-eighth of each tract purchased is required to be broken the first year, one-fifth of the purchase money being required in advance, the balance within five years at seven per
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
cent. interest. Some people consider these terms very generous on the part of the company. Let us see: Putting the average price paid for the land at four dollars (and this is no doubt one or two dollars lower than the average actually is) the company receives for each 640 acre section the snug little sum of $2,560. Immediately opposite each mile of the company's railroad they receive from the government forty sections of land-twenty sections on each side. Multiplying the amount received for each section by forty we get the amount of land donated by the government (in the shape of public lands) 'to aid' in building each mile of this road. It amounts to $102,400. For gen- erosity's sake we will knock off the $2,400, leaving an even $100,000 worth of land opposite each mile of road. It may be pleaded that a great portion of the land will not sell for as much as four dollars an acre, owing to its being mountainous and unfit for farming. This is true. But all such portions of the grant that are not agricultural in character may be classed either as timber lands or as grazing lands and as such will not likely be valued by the company at less than from one to two and a half dollars an acre. The government tim- ber land is not purchasable for less than $2.50 per acre and there is no law under which grazing land can be purchased from the government for less. than $1.25 per acre. It is not likely that the company would place a valuation upon its lands lower than these figures, if as low. But in order to make abund- ant allowance for all such lands we will make a further reduction of one-half of the above amount, leaving the valuation of the grant for each mile $50,000 instead of $100,000. Railroads may be built through almost any part of the United States for $25,000 a mile, and most roads cost even less than that.
"If these figures are correct (and they are surely not wanting in liberality to the company) the land grant will not only pay for constructing the road but will leave a surplus of $25,000 per mile! Considering that this immense sum of money will be mostly drawn from the scanty earnings of poor, hard- working settlers we can not help thinking of the old adage which declares that the chief instrument which operates to keep poor people poor is their pov- erty ; for it is indeed too true that 'to those who have much, much is given.'
"The high price charged by the company for the land is not, however. the worst feature in the case. The announcement is made of a sale of nearly all the land of the N. P. R. R. in Minnesota and Dakota, east of the Missouri River, amounting to nearly three million acres, to English and Boston capi- talists. The price agreed on is four dollars per acre, to be paid in preferred stock of the company, which will be retired.
"It would seem from this and from numerous announcements of similar purchasers in different parts of the United States that the English landlord is not satisfied with having his brawny foot upon the necks of the Irish peasantry but that he is also finding room there under the American settler upon what ought to be the public domain. Over in Uncle Sam's 'land of the free' the. English land shark will find a broad field for the exercise of his relentless cupidity. He will find in connection with the public lands one set of laws for the rich and another for the poor. He will find that the settler's claim is made forfeitable upon slight technicalities while a railroad company is permitted 'to- have and to hold' land enough to found an empire regardless of the fact that.
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
under its contract with the government all of its claim thereto has been clearly forfeited."
"Just south of Yakima City lies a large section of country in which is in- cluded what most people would at once concede to be the very finest body of agricultural land in Washington Territory. Some of this land is covered with a heavy growth of sagebrush and the remainder by tall, luxuriant ryegrass. Properly speaking it is the Toppenish Valley, the one in which our town is sit- uated being the valley of the Ahtanum. The Toppenish Valley is not only traversed by a large unfailing stream of that name but also by the Satus, a clear, sparkling river which flows from the Simcoe Mountains across the valley and empties into the Yakima some eight miles above the valley's southern boundary. On the whole of this vast and magnificent valley there is not to be found a single white settler. In fact one may travel over thousands of acres of it without seeing a single living being save here and there a jack-rabbit scamp- ering through the tall grass, a badger burrowing in the mellow loam, a wild curlew screaming its lonely blast high up in the warm sunshine, or perhaps a drowsy little owl that sits nodding its useless life away or haply complaining to the moon, like the owl in the Elegy, for being occasionally molested in its ancient solitary reign.
"But why has not this delightful country been made the home of thousands of happy, industrious people? Why is it left as an abode for the owl and the badger? Why has the great throng of home-seekers passed over it and located in less favored places? It is because this beautiful valley is included in the reservation of the Yakima Indians. But where are the Indians? Why are they not cultivating it and growing prosperous and wealthy from its products? Simply because it is not in the nature of most Indians to do these things ; because most of them, clad in blankets and with painted faces, would rather rove among the far-off mountains or loaf around some town where they can stand and gaze in listless stupidity upon the varied industrial operations of white men. Once in a while, however, we find among them a worthy individual who is making a commendable effort to overcome the wild promptings of his original nature and act like a white man. Such individuals are deserving of praise and en- couragement. Even the most worthless member of the tribe is not deserving of blame or abuse for being what he is. He is precisely what a combination of circumstances over which he had no control have resulted in making him. He is an Indian; and being an Indian he is the legitimate heir, of savage life while the white man is the heir of a remote line of civilized ancestry. Hence it is that when we come across a white man possessed of no better sense of man- ners than an Indian we think much less of him than we do of the Indian. It seems to us the very height of senselessness to bemean the Indian for not being a white man. The part of wisdom is to take the Indian as we find him and do all in our power to make him what he should be.
"To this end it is generally conceded by Western people that there should be a radical departure from the present Indian policy; that these nondescript wards of the nation should be given lands in severalty and made self-support-
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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY
ing ; that to encourage cultivation of the soil, the soil should belong to the cul- tivator instead of to the tribe in general ; and that such reservation lands as may be left after each Indian shall have been supplied should be made subject to acquisition by white settlers.
"A movement has recently been inaugurated by our citizens looking to the opening up, on this principle, of that portion of the Yakima Reservation which includes the fine agricultural land above alluded to. This movement, if wisely and judiciously carried forward, might result in hastening desired action on the part of Congress and the "Signal" will watch its progress with interest, believing it to be a matter of paramount importance to Yakima County."
The "Signal" was opposed, of course, to the removal of the town to North Yakima, but perforce had to go along with the rest of the reluctant citizens of the "Old Town."
Mr. Adams had made a deal with James R. Coe for the transfer of the "Signal" and was just on the eve of moving in 1886 to the new town, when some evil-minded enemy blew up the "Signal" Building.
Mr. Coe is a resident of Yakima at the present time and he detailed to the author most interestingly the event of the blowing up of the building and the hopeless scattering of the type. However, what was left of the paper was moved according to plan, and Mr. Coe became established there in 1889 as the second newspaper man in North Yakima. In 1888 he had a transient paper, the "Democrat." In 1889 he joined with E. M. Reed in the union of his former enterprise with the "Yakima Herald." In 1893 Mr. Coe sold his interest in the "Herald" to his partner, Mr. Reed, who in turn, in September, 1897, sold to George F. Tuesley and C. F. Bailey. In 1898 Mr. Bailey disposed of his share of the business to Robert McComb. In February, 1904, E. L. Boardman bought out Mr. McComb. Messrs. Tuesley and Boardman published the "Her- ald" for a few months, when Mr. Boardman retired. Mr. Tuesley conducted the paper until April 1, 1912, when W. W. Robertson acquired the paper and has continued the management in conjunction with the "Republic." The "Herald" became a morning paper in 1905. At present date it holds the morn- ing field and the "Republic" the field of the afternoon. Thus we find the lead- ing newspaper interest and influence in Yakima the resultant of two lines of succession blending at last in the person of Mr. Robertson. The "Weekly Herald" was merged with the "Weekly Republic" in 1912.
The former of these lines was the Record-Republican-Republic line, un- der the successive management of Messrs. Chadd, Holton, Sperry, Robertson. the latter was the Signal-Democrat-Herald line of succession, with the man- agement in Messrs. Adams, Coe, Coe and Reed, Tuesley and Bailey, Tuesley and McComb, Tuesley and Boardman, and Robertson. It makes a most inter- esting history.
We learned from Mr. Coe the character of the sudden and tragic death of the brilliant and influential first editor of the "Signal," J. M. Adams. After disposing of his paper he went to Spokane to live. In 1893 he was in North Yakima, and while in Mr. Coe's office, was taken with a sudden hemorrhage, fell to the floor and almost immediately expired. He was in the prime of life
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and his death was a great loss to the journalistic profession. It was rather a singular coincidence that Mr. Chadd, the pioneer of all the journalists, had previously been called with an equal suddenness. He died in his office at Ellens- burg, stricken with a cerebral attack on September 10, 1885, just following the great demonstration connected with the presence in the town of Delegate Charles Voorhees.
As we have seen, Mr. Chadd went from Yakima to Ellensburgh in 1883, and on June 16th, issued the first number of the "Kittitas Standard." We have copious extracts from the "Standard," editorials, news, and advertise- ments, in the chapters on Kittitas County and Ellensburg, in Part III. We present here, however, the Salutatory, as it may be called, in Number 2, on June 23, 1883. The first number of the "Standard" was fragmentary on ac- count of some untoward circumstances, and hence the issue of June 23d was practically the first. The announcement is as follows :
"We want correspondents from every nook and dale of this section. We want the 'Standard' to take the lead in advertising the resources of this section, and we mean it shall. Our friends can aid us materially if they only will. Send along every item you can think of, no matter what it is. We will put it in shape for publication. Now then let us all put our shoulders to the wheel, and see what can be done for this section. You now have a paper to aid your efforts- one which will be for this section FIRST, LAST AND ALL THE TIME. This will be our programme for the future, and one to which we will strictly adhere. Wc realize that this section of our Territory is second to none in capability of de- velopment. In the past we have sought to make known its resources, and now that we are here propose to devote our whole time and attention to this sub- ject. Friends can contribute material aid. Write for the paper. Take it, and then send it abroad to friends."
"Today we present the 'Standard' entire, and we hope in a week or two to have things running smoothly. We have worked night and day upon the present issue, and labored under a series of vexations which would make a parson swear but we DID keep our temper. We trust the people will welcome the 'Standard' with warm and open hearts. It shall be our aim to make it a welcome visitor to every fireside in the valley."
THE "LOCALIZER."
Next in point of time and first in many respects of the newspapers was the "Kittitas Localizer." In the same station among newspaper men was its man- ager and editor, David J. Schnebly.
Mr. Schnebly was one of the truly great pioneers of the Northwest. He was already in elderly life when he entered upon his journalistic career in Ellensburgh. But his life had been devoted to the newspaper profession. He had gone to Oregon in 1850 and became the editor of the "Oregon Spectator," tice first paper on the Pacific Coast. Mr. Schnebly was an editorial writer of great power and discrimination. He was more scholarly and dignified than
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was the case with a good many of his professional brethren. That fact, how- ever, did not in any degree lessen the vigor of his opinions or the sting of his criticisms.
The first number of the "Localizer" appeared on July 12, 1883. Thus it was less than a month younger than the "Standard."
A quaint story is told in the little History of Kittitas Valley by the children of the sixth grade of the Edison school. It is to this effect: "Mr. Schnebly owned the 'Localizer' and Mr. Chadd the 'Standard.' Each man said that his paper was first. Mr. J. R. Wallace wrote for both papers. He would write an item for one paper against the other, then would go to the other and write something against the one he had written just before. It was a long time before Mr. Schnebly or Mr. Chadd knew this."
The great fire of July 4, 1889, destroyed almost the entire property of the "Localizer," including the files. Though Mr. Schnebly made every possible effort to replace them from miscellaneous sources, he never got a perfect file. Most of the issues, though not the first, are in possession of his daughter, Mrs. J. B. Davidson.
We have made extracts from some of the numbers which appear in the chapter on Ellensburg.
After the fire the name of the paper was changed to "Ellensburg Local- izer."
In 1898, the management passed into the hands of F. D. Schnebly. In 1903 the paper became the property of A. S. and U. M. Randall, who were also the publishers of the "Cascade Miner" at Roslyn. In 1905 Randall Brothers estab- lished a daily, the "Evening Localizer."
On July I, 1909, there was still another transfer and the "Localizer" was acquired by the managers of the "Record-Press" and continued as the weekly issue of that paper and the "Evening Record" till October 1, 1918.
We have given thus in bare outline the important history of the "Localizer."
On account of inability to secure the first numbers from which to procure extracts of editorial matter, we incorporate here Mr. Schnebly's valedictory and some data relative to the life of Mr. Schnebly and his wife, herself one of the choicest products of the pioneer age, together with a sketch of that unique pub- lication, the "Oregon Spectator." Mr. and Mrs. Schnebly were so identified with pioneer history in all its phases, as well as specifically with the newspaper history, that these articles cast light upon the entire course of the upbuilding of the Northwest.
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