History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I, Part 93

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1134

USA > Washington > Benton County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 93
USA > Washington > Kittitas County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 93
USA > Washington > Yakima County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 93

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Three hotels.

Large creamery, cheese factory and milk condensing plant.

Three banks with combined deposits exceeding $1,000,000.

All branches of retail trade are strongly represented.

We may add in more detail that the school system contains a total of twenty-five teachers. Of this number seven compose the high school faculty. E. T. Robinson is city superintendent and D. F. Olds is principal of the high school. The complete directory of the teachers appears in the chapter on schools of the county.

In order to preserve a picture of some of the contemporary events in and around Toppenish we are including here an extract from one of the local papers, the "Tribune," about the Fourth Liberty Loan drive and the United War Work campaign.

TOPPENISH DISTRICT EXCEEDS LOAN QUOTA BY $47,600.00

Subscriptions to Fourth Liberty Loan total $208,600. One-third secured during last three days of campaign. Officers are gratified-Complete returns for the Fourth Liberty Loan show total subscriptions of $208,600 for the Top- penish district. The quota assigned this community was $161,400, leaving a surplus of $47,600, or 29 per cent. over the amount asked.

Approximately one-third of the entire amount was subscribed during the last three days of the campaign. Thursday and Friday were the big days, and when the committee met Friday night to make a check of the work, it was found that the district had subscribed at that time slightly over $200,000.

Belated subscriptions received on Saturday and early Monday morning brought the total up to the amount named.

The subscriptions were divided among the three banks as follows:

Traders Bank $ 93,000.00

First National 58,050.00

Central Bank $ 93,000.00

Total

$208,600.00

The total of individual subscribers has not been checked as yet, but the number will be in excess of 1,200, as against 996 in the third loan.

Chairman J. D. Cornett and the other members of the committee are more than satisfied with the outcome of the campaign. They attribute its success to the combined results of far-reaching publicity and the searching canvass of the district made by the various teams and organizations which participated in the drive.

The minute women and boy scouts brought in thousands of dollars and their work was supplemented during the last week of the drive by an organized

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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY

campaign by committees made up of business men and farmers, who left their affairs for several days to give the time needed to make the loan a success.

All of the workers are more than pleased with the heavy support given the bonds in this community.

POTATO GROWERS' ASSOCIATION

It is of interest to note in connection with the region of which Toppenish is the center that J. L. Dumass, federal extension agent of markets, has informed the author that he is organizing an association of potato growers and that the output of potatoes for the season of 1918 in the portion of the county below Union Gap will be from a thousand to twelve hundred carloads. This section is known as the "land of the great big baked potato," from the fact that the dining car service of the Northern Pacific Railroad gets its supplies here.

MABTON

After spending a day in each of the more westerly towns we pass on to the third of the group, Mabton, on the eastern edge of the Indian Reservation. We find here an active, progressive group of business and professional men. Comporting with this type of men we find a somewhat remarkable predominance of substantial brick buildings. We learn from citizens that the town came into existence in 1892, the only previous structures there at that date being the water tank and section house of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. In that year S. P. Flower initiated the community by building a store and ware- house. Edward Flower was appointed postmaster soon after. T. W. Howell became telegraph operator in the railway station erected in 1893. A year later Tobias Beckner equipped another store, and in 1895, a hotel was opened by Frank Martin. The first school was opened in the Fall of 1895, Miss Lima Platt being the first teacher. The first regular townsite was laid out by Joseph A. Humphrey and Mrs. Amy M. Flower. They incorporated the Mabton Townsite Company in May, 1902. Subsequently the Philips addition came upon the market. Mabton lies partly on the reservation and partly off. Several important advances were made in 1904, among which we may name the building of a new brick school building, the establishment of the "Mabton Chronicle" by B. J. Pacius, and the attempt of the townsite company to secure artesian water. The attempt was not successful and the development of the splendid country around the town was retarded until the progress of the Government irrigation systems reached the district.

In 1905 a long step forward was taken by the establishment of a municipal government. Through the kindness of Mr. T. W. Howell, city clerk, we learn that the first officers and council were the following :

Mayor, T. W. Howell; clerk, W. T. Livingston; treasurer, J. C. Sanger ; councilmen, J. A. Humphrey, J. Beaudry, John Schnell, J. C. Phillips, A. M. Creamer : marshal, H. A. Young : police judge, A. M. Nicholas.

We find the official personnel at the present date (1918) as follows: Mayor, T. E. Ridgway ; clerk, T. W. Howell ; treasurer, Earl Larrison ; councilmen, J. C. Phillips, J. W. Smith, Clara A. Rider, B. F. Preston, H. C. Heise : marshal,

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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY

H. A. Young ; police judge, T. W. Howell; irrigation master, Delbert Ward; water works commissioner, T. C. Anderson; health officer, H. A. Young.

The following churches have been organized and are now in existence, though just at present date all but the Methodist, of which Rev. A. H. Attan- borrough is pastor, have no resident pastors : Methodist Episcopal Church, Epis- copal, Presbyterian, Catholic, Christian, Christian Science.

The fraternal orders are represented as follows: Masons, B. C. Dunn, sec- retary ; Eastern Star, Mrs. J. A. Humphrey, secretary ; Improved Order Odd Fellows, B. F. Preston, secretary; Modern Woodmen of America, C. W. Gil- breath ; Yoeman, R. M. Graham.

An active Commercial Club is a center of promoting the public life, and of this Earl Larrison is secretary and C. D. Donnelly is president. Mabton has an excellent municipal water system, constructed in 1908. A newly con- structed High School building adds distinction to the town in the eyes of passers. Nine teachers are employed, E. F. Hultgrann being city superintendent.

The population is estimated at about 750, but the productive capacity of the region round about is so great that the exports are extraordinarily large. The city clerk estimates the output the present season as follows: Two hundred cars grain, mostly wheat; 500 cars hay; twenty-five cars stock; 100 cars fruit ; ten cars wool.

TOWNS ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE RIVER

From the Reservation and the towns which have grown up on it on the south side of the Yakima River we must cross to the north side into the most highly developed portions of the whole Valley, unless we except the areas im- mediately around the city itself and near it to the north. We may traverse this splendid section by several highways or by the branch line of the Northern Pacific Railroad from Toppenish to Sunnyside or by the O .- W. R. R. and North- ern Pacific Railroad from Yakima to Kennewick. To get the full appreciation of a region which has few rivals in the Inland Empire, the tourist should employ all of these routes.

PARKER BOTTOM

The region named above is famous for many things. It is the first culti- vated region on the north side of the river below Union Gap. It was one of the foremost in settlement. In 1864 William Parker and John Allen drove in a band of stock and there finally made their permanent homes. From Mr. Parker the name was derived. Of him A. J. Splawn says, "* * * who was a noble generous man, very remarkable in appearance, with dark eyes and long black hair hanging down to his shoulders, handsome, not only outwardly, but to the core. If I were called upon to select the best man I ever knew it would be Bill Parker."

We must not fail to see the oldest house now standing in the Yakima Valley. A picture may be seen in this volume. It is upon the fine ranch of W. P. Sawyer, who is himself one of the foremost citizens and builders of the Valley. The old house-a curious contrast to the mansion now occupied by Mr. Sawyer -was built in 1864 by J. P. Mattoon.

Aside from its historic interest, this is one of the leading sections in the

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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY

fruit industry. Just as the traveler is filled with wonder and delight to see the sublime scenery of the upper Yakima or Naches or Ahtanum, and almost rubs his eyes with incredulity in passing the well-nigh countless stacks of hay in the Kittitas or around Wapato and Toppenish, so he wonders what he is getting into when he starts through those miles and miles of apple trees and pear trees, scarlet and yellow with the autumn hnes, which face him on the way from Parker Bottom, through Zillah and Granger to Sunnyside and Grandview.

The apple industry, which this year totals over 7,000 carloads in the Yakima Valley, is worthy of an entire history by itself. Old timers tell us that the first settlers experimented with fruit trees, and that within a dozen years after the initial settlements were made in the Moxee the possibilities of fruit raising were recognized. It is claimed that before the seventies several orchards had been set out. Alfred Henson in 1866; N. T. Goodwin in 1868; George Hinkle in 1868; Messrs. Beck and Vaughn in 1870, and probably others, all in the near vicinity of Yakima City, were among these early fruit raisers. Charles Schanno, the father of Yakima City, had a fine garden and a plantation of blackberries and raspberries in 1872. Parker Bottom was almost as early in the field as the Yakima City settlement. It was not, however, for a number of years that the business of fruit raising became established. One of the typical early fruit raisers on a commercial scale, a true builder of the Yakima country, lived and wrought his main work in the region between Zillah and Parker Bottom. This was Mr. Freeman Walden. One of the interesting remembrances of the author connects Mr. Walden with the Lewis and Clark Fair, at Portland, in 1905.

Mr. Walden and his wife had charge of the Yakima exhibit, while the author served in like capacity in the Walla Walla department. Frequent con- ferences and visits to and fro marked the Summer session. Mr. Walden had been a teacher and then a preacher of the Christian Church at several points in eastern and central Washington, Ellensburg among others.

In 1898 he went to Zillah and organized the first church. Prior to that by seven years he had acquired a carefully selected body of land about four miles northwest of Zillah, and there he, with his sons, started in the development of what proved to be a model fruit ranch, the demonstration of the possibilities of the country. It is proper that a work of this kind in a country of this kind should contain a special tribute to this thorough pomologist and useful citizen, Rev. Freeman Walden. The reader can not fail to be interested in Mr. Walden's own account of his experiences and we include here his story as related to the Washington Irrigation Company.

"Zillah, Washington, February 7, 1902.

"Washington Irrigation Company, "Zillah, Washington.

"Gentlemen-Ten years ago last August I bought eighty acres of land under the Sunnyside Canal. I paid $25 per acre for the land with the water right. My purpose was to go into the fruit growing business. Accordingly I set out 1,200 peach trees in the Spring of 1892. I put my sons on the land and fur- nished the capital to start a small nursery. We raised our own trees, except the peach trees mentioned above. Have now 3,000 apple trees, some pears, cherries, phuns, prunes and apricots, in all about 5,000 trees. I would not take $200

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF SUNNYSIDE

GRANDWIEW HEIGHTS, SUNNYSIDE

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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY

an acre for the land now, for the amount, $16,000 at 10 per cent. would not pay as much as the farm.

"Some years are more profitable than others, but the average is high. The past year was one of the most favorable in the history of the Valley. If I knew I could have such a year once in five years, and make expenses the other four years, I should consider the fruit business a profitable one; but I know from experience that I can do far better than that.

"My peach crop was light the past season, but the apple crop heavy. I keep an accurate account of all receipts for fruit sold, and find that I received in cash, so far this year, $5,070.73. I have two cars of apples sent out and not reported upon that will bring at least $1,000; then I have about 7,000 boxes of apples on hand that will bring me about $8,000. The total receipts will be about $14,000. All expenses can be paid for $4,000; leaving me net $10,000. My fruit ranch is not for sale at any price.

"Yours respectfully,

"F. WALDEN."

ZILLAH AND GRANGER

The region along the O .- W. R. R. from Parker Bottom through Zillah and Granger to Sunnyside and Grandview is almost like a continuous village, so numerous are the stations and so frequent the houses. Every year has been signalized by such rapid advances that any description becomes obsolete by the time it is reduced to print. Among the many stations and villages with their huge warehouses, where the fragrant apples and blushing peaches and equally rosy boys and girls are in constant evidence, those that may be considered his- torically the chief towns of the section are Zillah and Granger. Both are singularly attractive towns. The region to the north is somewhat rolling, but irrigated from the great Sunnyside Canal, and the whole region is well-nigh a continuous orchard, with occasional alfalfa and corn fields and well tilled gardens. Tasty cottages, with an occasional veritable mansion and commodious barns and verdant lawns attest both the wealth and esthetic sense of the people.

Zillah is near the rushing river with its groves of cottonwoods and birches, but is elevated upon a bench which breaks off in an abrupt bank down to the bottom land. From this sightly elevation a superb view embraces within its scope the level expanses of the Reservation across the river, edged with the foot hills, azure in the distance, while in clear weather the glistening domes of Adams and Takhoma dominate the west and northwest.

The laying out of the town was due to one of the foremost builders, Wal- ter N. Granger, originator of the Sunnyside Canal, truly one of the greatest works ever wrought. Mr. Granger, then superintendent of the canal company, selected the townsite in 1892. The name was given the town for Zillah Oakes, daughter of President Oakes of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. Mr. Granger was president of the Zillah Townsite Company, of which the other members were Paul Schulze, T. H. Oakes, C. A. Spofford and W. H. Hall. Henry Villard was supposed to have a considerable investment in the townsite.

Beyond any other town of the Valley Zillah might be said to have had the big railroad men and promoters of the period as its sponsors.

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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY

The "first inhabitants," aside from the officers and employes of the canal and townsite companies, were the proprietor of the first hotel, Reuben Hatch; George Harvey and E. J. Jaeger the first merchants; R. C. Walker, the post- master ; Arthur Knowles of the Yakima Hardware Company, and Blacksmith Blagdon, the first disciple of Tubal-Cain on the ground. The first school was started in 1894 and Edna Haines was the first teacher. Three churches, Episco- pal, Christian and Methodist, came into existence during the first decade. In 1901 the Episcopal organization, under the leadership of Rev. E. J. Baird, erected a stone house of worship which can not fail to arrest the attention of all visitors.

During a dozen years or more, while the canal system was in control of the Washington Irrigation Company and Mr. Granger was superintendent, the com- pany headquarters were at Zillah and there was a general centering there of both business and social interests very unusual for a place of the size of Zillah. A weekly newspaper, the "Free Press," was founded in 1910 .. Zillah is an in- corporated town and the present officers and councilmen are these: Walter N. Granger, mayor ; W. G. Loewe, Clerk and also attorney; E. P. Follansbee, treasurer : W. J. Hillyer, marshal and also police judge; the councilmen are W. H. Alsbury, C. A. Anderson, C. E. Durr, F. L. Allen, H. A. Harlen. The population of the town is estimated in Polk's directory as 600. No one in- terested in the history of the big enterprises of the Yakima Valley can fail to note the fact that Walter N. Granger is a resident of the town. Unfortunately his health has been infirm for some years. But the same activity which made him one of the early builders keeps him still alert and active minded in the affairs of the community. As we noted, he is now the mayor of the town. As an association worthy of record connected with the name of Mr. Granger we include here some land advertisements gleaned from the Northwest Magazine.

From "The Northwest Magazine," February, 1894.

IRRIGATED LANDS

For Fruit Growing, Hop Raising and General Farming in the "Sunnyside Coun- try" of the

FERTILE AND BEAUTIFUL YAKIMA VALLEY IN THE NEW STATE OF WASHINGTON

The Northern Pacific, Yakima and Kittitas Irrigation Company has con- structed a canal 60 miles long, with a depth of 8 feet, a width at the bottom of 30 feet and a width at the top of the banks of 621/2 feet. It covers 80,000 acres of valley land nowhere surpassed for fertility on the globe. The water is taken from the Yakima River and the supply is abundant for all possible demands. The solidity of construction in the dam, headgates and canal insures a regular and permanent supply of water and is a safeguard against breaks and other accidents.

Climate-The Summer climate of the Yakima Valley resembles that of the California valleys, in the length of the growing season, the number of sunny days, the absence of late Spring frosts and early Fall frosts and the immunity from destructive storms. The Winters are short and not at all severe.

Soil-The soil of the valley is a rich brown loam and is of phenomenal

POSTOFFICE, GRANDVIEW, BUILT BY MRS. ANNA E. SYKES, 1906

J. M. FLEMING'S STORE, GRANDVIEW, 1907

FIRST HOME OF A. C. FRY, NEAR GRANDVIEW, 1911

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HISTORY OF YAKIMA VALLEY

depth. In places where a vertical surface has been exposed along the brink of the second bench, the depth is over eighty feet, and the soil at the bottom is just as rich as that near the top.

Productions-This is beyond question the best fruit country in the United States for the raising of apples, grapes, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, prunes, berries and melons. It is also a better hop country than the famous hop valleys on Puget Sound, for the reason that the hop louse can not endure the Summer heats and dies before doing any damage to the vines. Old hop yards in the neighborhood of the town of North Yakima have given large and almost uni- form yields for ten years. Alfalfa is the forage crop and yields five or six crops a year. Garden vegetables give enormous returns and are profitably grown for the markets of Tacoma and Seattle.

Special Advantages for Fruit Culture-All the lands under the Sunnyside Canal lie within a few miles of stations on the main line of the Northern Pacific Railroad; refrigerator cars are furnished and fresh fruit can be put in good condition into the Sound cities on the west and Spokane on the east, and can be sold in competition with California fruit in all the mining towns and camps of Montana and Idaho, in the towns of North Dakota, South Dakota and Mani- toba and in the cities of St. Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth, Superior and Chicago. The Washington growers will monopolize these markets as soon as they can supply them, for the reason that Washington fruit is much better flavored than that of California.

Ten Acres Enough-A settler who cultivates well, in fruit, vegetables and alfalfa, ten acres of this wonderfully productive Yakima Valley soil, will have all the land he can attend to and will make a good support for a family. With twenty acres he can make a net income of from $2,000 to $3,000 a year.

Farming by Irrigation-Irrigation makes the farmer independent of the weather. He applies just the right amount of moisture to his land to secure the largest possible crop returns. No failure of crop is possible. The process is not laborious or expensive. The water is turned on the land two or three times during the growing season.

Terms of Sale-The lands of the Northern Pacific, Yakima and Kittitas Irrigation Company are sold with a perpetual water right guaranteeing an ample supply of water for all crops. Prices range from $45 to $65 an acre. One- fifth of the purchase price is payable in cash on the signing of the contract. The second payment is not due for two years. Thus the settler has time to make his improvements and realize on his first crop before being called on for the next installment on his land. The remaining payments run through four years. One good crop will pay for the land. The company prefers to sell to actual settlers only in order that the country may be densely settled and brought under a high state of cultivation as rapidly as possible.

NORTHERN PACIFIC, YAKIMA & KITTITAS IRRIGATION COMPANY,

Tacoma, Washington, or Walter N. Granger, General Manager, Zillah, Washington.

As is to be expected in this region there are first-class schools, well housed and equipped. The superintendent is J. F. Hargreaves, with seven assistants.

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GRANGER

A distance of but a few miles down the valley from Zillah brings us to Granger, the name of which is derived from that of the distinguished citizen of Zillah already noted.

From the present clerk, C. W. Chamberlin, we derive the following data about the town :

The town of Granger was incorporated September 28, 1909.

The first officers were, mayor, C. W. Mentzer ; councilmen, A. P. Peter- son, E. B. Johnson, George Oldfield, E. N. Meloy and A. Rodgers; clerk, Fred R. Hawn; treasurer, A. C. Snowden. Population, 1910, 500. The present officers are, mayor, A. R. Badger ; councilmen, L. C. Snyder, A. R. Auld, M. S. Tyler, A. E. Flint and C. E. Dodd; treasurer, A. C. Snowden; clerk, C. W. Chamberlin. Estimated population, 550.

The town has its own water system, put in at a cost of $20,000.

It has the Pacific Power & Light system of lighting.

Output of products for year, 1,250 carloads.

The town has a public library, high school, bank, first-class hotel, four churches, Presbyterian, Mennonite, Christian Science and Episcopal; several well equipped stores ; the Granger Cannery Company; the Granger Tile and Brick Company, and the Yakima Valley Cider Mill establishment. It is on the line of all the railroads in that part of the Valley. There is a weekly paper, the "Granger Enterprise," founded in 1905 by George P. Eaton.

SUNNYSIDE AND GRANDVIEW

From Granger to Sunnyside, a distance of nine miles, the country presents a similar aspect to that from Parker Bottom to Granger, excepting for two marked features, one of topography and one of products. The first is the long, narrow, curious, and as far as one can reason on such a matter, the superfluous Snipes' Mountain. From one point of view this peculiar elevation, about eight miles long, and from a quarter to a half mile thick, is a blemish, for it mars the grand totality of what would otherwise be the majestic sweep of the Valley at its widest point, near forty miles from southern to northern margin. From another point of view, this interposing strip of uplift, like pillars between two rooms, breaks the angular distance and imparts a pleasing diversity to the other- wise monotonous prairie. Moreover, if future builders proceed to improve along the lines already started at the eastern end and along the southern flanks of the mountain, and especially if water is supplied in sufficient quantity to transform the arid summits and ridges into the orchards and gardens and rose yards which now so adorn those lower levels, the traveler of a few years hence will pause to behold one of the most unique and attractive spots in all the Valley. Hence we mentally decide that Snipes' Mountain is an asset and not a liability to the Sunnyside country.

The point as to change of products as we pass on to Sunnyside from the west is that we get out of the almost exclusively fruit country around Zillah

Courtesy of J. T. Baird

SUNNYSIDE IN 1900

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and Granger and get into an alfalfa and corn country. There are places here where the Kansas farmer might almost think that he was back in the Sunflower state. That is especially true around the fine little town of Outlook on the north side of Snipes' Mountain, four miles northwest of Sunnyside. The traveler must pause here to get the feel of this typical small village of the region, one of the sort that make the Yakima country what it is. Here we find perhaps 250 people with almost a continuous village on the slightly rolling prairie extending many miles on all sides. A bank, a well-stocked general store, a hotel and two churches, a Methodist and a Union Church, minister to the various needs of the large community centering at Outlook. Though so com- paratively small a place, Outlook has a high school and well-equipped grade schools, Marius Hansome being superintendent, with a force of nine teachers.

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History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I, Part 93

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920 Publication date: 1919 Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke Number of Pages: 1134

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1134