History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II, Part 4

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1138

USA > Washington > Benton County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II > Part 4
USA > Washington > Kittitas County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II > Part 4
USA > Washington > Yakima County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II > Part 4

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On the 8th of February, 1894, Mr. Morgan was married to Miss Anna Dunn, a daughter of Captain Robert Dunn, one of the pioneers of Yakima county, and their children are: Mabel, who attended Washington State College at Pullman for two years; and Harold and Ethel, both of whom are now pursuing a college course. Mr. Morgan is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America and the family are loyal members of the First Christian church of Yakima. In politics he is a re- publican and has served as road supervisor, while for five years he was one of the school directors. For almost a third of a century he has resided in the valley, wit- nessing the greater part of its development and upbuilding. Associated with his father he became one of the pioneers in horticulture in this section of the state. His progressive spirit has led to the attainment of most gratifying results and a visit to his orchards in bearing season is always one of great delight.

JOHN ANDISON BALMER.

John Andison Balmer has for two years been mayor of Cle Elum and his ad- ministration of public affairs has been most beneficial to the town. He is perhaps cven more widely known as a florist, for his reputation in this connection has brought him an extensive acquaintance throughout the northwest. He has the distinction of being the only florist devoting his attention exclusively to roses in Washington. A native of Northumberland county, England, he was born on the 10th of April, 1856, a son of Thomas and Margaret (Andison) Balmer, both of whom passed away in England, where the father had carried on business as a horticultulist.

John A. Balmer acquired a grammar school education in his native country and

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in 1879, when twenty-three years of age, came to the new world, settling at South Amboy, New Jersey, where he became orchid grower for George Such, owner of the finest orchids, palms and flowering plants in America at that time. In November, 1879, Mr. Balmer removed to Watertown, New York, where he became manager for Charles Hart, florist. In 1881 he established his home in Pekin, Illinois, where he began business on his own account as a florist, but the enterprise did not prove profitable. He then returned to England and while in that country was married. Not long afterward he once more made his way to the new world and took up his abode in Danville, Illinois, where he conducted business as a florist for a year and a half. Later he went to Paris, Illinois, where he again engaged in business as a florist, and a year later he removed to Vincennes, Indiana, where he resided for eight and a half years, continuing in the same line. At the end of that time he was offered the position of horticulturist at the Washington State College and accepted in May, 1894. He held that position until February, 1900, when he removed to Cle Elum and established a big rose hothouse. He has forty thousand square feet of glass, with eighteen thousand square feet of actually planted area. His plants include eighteen thousand rose bushes under glass. He burns over eight hundred tons of coal per year to keep his greenhouses at an even temperature. He is the only exclusive rose grower in Washington and is the second largest producer of this "queen of flowers" in the state. He ships extensively to Butte, Spokane, Seattle, Tacoma, Grays Harbor and all intermediate points, making daily shipments and selling almost exclusively to the wholesade trade. He employs four men constantly besides having additional help from time to time. He has closely studied everything that has to do with the successful propagation and growing of beautiful roses and his business is conducted along the most scientific lines. In 1919, owing to a dis- ease of roses, he temporarily changed to the raising of hothouse tomatoes and ex- pects to place forty thousand pounds on the market.

On the 28th of October, 1882, Mr. Balmer was united in marriage to Miss Alice Jane Atkinson, a daughter of John and Margaret (Scarth) Atkinson, both of whom have passed away. To Mr. and Mrs. Balmer have been born five children. John Atkinson, who is residing in Tacoma, where he is employed in the shipyards, is mar- ried and has four sons. The next three children of the family died in infancy. Jes- mond Dean is a lieutenant with the artillery forces in France, having been a student in the University of Washington up to the time of his enlistment for service with the American army. He is still in Germany and has been in several engagements, being gassed twice.

Mr. Balmer and his family are members of the Episcopal church and his politi- cal allegience is given to the republican party, which elected him to the office of mayor of Cle Elum in 1916. In this connection he has done most important work. He has cleaned up the police department and has instituted various needed reforms and improvements which have resulted greatly to the benefit of the city. He has also served on the school board and was very active in promoting the interests of the schools. He has been a very successful man in business, a most creditable public official and is a man of interesting personality whose genuine worth commands for him the respect, confidence and admiration of all with whom he has been brought in contact.

CARL P. SUTORIUS.

Carl P. Sutorius is one of the founders of the Selah Mercantile Company and as such figures prominently in the commercial circles not only of Selah but of the valley. In this connecaion, in a period of ten years he has developed a business of extensive and gratifying proportions. He was a young man of twenty-seven years when he founded the business, for he was born in Lawrence, Kansas, on the 9th of February, 1882, a son of Charles A. and Carrie ( Walruff) Sutorius, the former a native of Germany, while the latter was born in Kansas and was a daughter of John Walruff, who was likewise born in Germany and became one of the pioneer settlers of the Sunflower state. Charles A. Sutorius arrived in Kansas during his boyhood

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days and was there reared and married. He was a jeweler and watchmaker by trade and carried. on business along those lines for many years. He has now departed this life, while his wife resides in Chicago.

Carl P. Sutorius acquired a public school education in Kansas City and during his youthful days had a newspaper route there. It was in that way that he earned the money necessary to enable him to continue his course in the Kansas City schools. He left home when a boy of fifteen years and has since been dependent entirely upon his own resources and labors. For three years he was employed by the Armour Packing Company in Kansas City and subsequently removed to Omaha, Nebraska, where he engaged in the retail sheet music business. Later he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he successfully conducted business along the same line, and later he started in the sash and door business in that city. He eventually became a city salesman and was later with the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company. The year 1905 witnessed his arrival in the northwest, at which time he made his way to Tacoma and was with the same lumber company in that city for five years. He afterward became purchasing agent and auditor for the yards of the company in the Yakima valley and was thus engaged until 1909, when, desiring that his labors should more directly benefit himself, he became one of the organizers of the Selah Mercantile Company. In this undertaking he was associated with H. R. Blackwell and the business was established on the 15th of August, 1909, succeeding the Selah Trading Company, which had been instituted in 1907. The Selah Mercantile Company was incorporated in 1914 and in 1915 Mr. Blackwell sold his interest to Frank W. Clark, who was the president of the company and resided in Yakima until his death, Decem- ber 7, 1918. Mr. Sutorius is the executive treasurer. The company began business with a stock worth eighteen hundred dollars and had a very small store. Something of the rapid and substanital growth of their trade is indicated in the fact that they now carry a stock of general merchandise valued at twenty-five thousand dollars, dealing in everything that a rancher needs. The growth of their business is due to their thoroughly reliable methods, their enterprise and their earnest desire to please their customers and today theirs is the leading store in Selah.

On the 28th of August, 1908, Mr. Sutorius was married to Miss Josephine Clark, a daughter of Frank W. and Kate A. Clark. Her father was born in Lawrence, Kan- sas, while his parents were en route to Colorado, and later he became a pioneer resident of Tacoma, Washington, and occupied the position of general manager for the Tacoma Smelting Company. In 1913 he removed to Yakima and was the execu- tive secretary of the Red Cross of the Yakima valley at the time of his death. To Mr. and Mrs. Sutorius have been born two children, Clark and Helen.

Fraternally Mr. Sutorius is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. He also belongs to the Selah Commercial Club, of which he was secretary and treasurer for three years. In politics he maintains an independent course, con- centrating his efforts and attention upon his business affairs, which, wisely directed, have placed him in the front rank among the representatives of commercial inter- ests in Selah.

CHESTER ADGATE CONGDON.

Chester Adgate Congdon, lawyer and capitalist, who first visited the Yakima valley in 1887 and made investment here in 1889, was born in Rochester, New York, on the 12th of June, 1853, his parents being Sylvester Laurentius and Laura Jane (Adgate) Congdon. He was descended in the paternal line from James Congdon, a Quaker, who came from England about 1640 and settled in Rhode Island, becoming the founder of the family in the new world. The line of descent comes on down through his son John, John (II), John (III), and his second wife, Dorcas Huntley, and through Hannibal and Mary (Satchwell) Congdon, who were the grandparents of Chester A. Congdon. The latter's father was a minister of the Methodist church.

In the public schools of Elmira and Corning, New York, Chester A. Congdon acquired his preliminary education, which was supplemented by study in the East Genesee Conference Seminary at Ovid, New York. His collegiate work was done

CHESTER A. CONGDON

FORMER RESIDENCE OF CHESTER A. CONGDON

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at Syracuse University, from which he was graduated in 1875 with the degreec of Bachelor of Arts. He studied law under the preceptorship of Hiscock, Gifford & Doheny at Syracuse, New York, and in 1877 was admitted to the bar of that state. After admission to the bar in New York state, Mr. Congdon taught school for about a year in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, before he went to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1879, where he was admitted to the bar of that state and and there established himself in the practice of law. In 1892 he removed from St. Paul to Duluth, becoming a member of the law firm of Billson & Congdon as the partner of William W. Billson. In 1893 they were joined by Judge Danicl A. Dickinson and the firm style of Billson, Corgdon & Dickinson was adopted. On the death of the judge in 1902 the surviving partners resumed their original firm title and thus continued until 1904, when both retired from active practice.

In the meantime Mr. Congdon had extended his efforts to various lines of com- mercial, industrial and financial enterprise in his adopted city. He became a prom- inent figure in connection with the development of the iron and copper mining resources of the Lake Superior country and at the same time his advice and as- sistance were sought hy many business and financial institutions on the directorate of which his name never appeared. He was general counsel of the Oliver Mining Company before its consolidation with other companies, now forming the United States Steel Corporation. He was also the president of the Chemung Iron Company and the Canisteo Mining Company, the vice-president of the American Exchange National Bank of Duluth and a director in the Calumet & Arizona Mining Company, the Hedley Gold Mining Company, the Greene Cananea Copper Company, the Mar- shall-Wells Hardware Company, the Gowan-Lenning-Brown Company and various other banking, mining and jobbing enterprises which claimed his attention and prof- ited by his cooperation and direction. He also became interested in agricultural pur- stiits, making extensive investments in farm lands in the northwest. He first came to the Yakima valley on a tour of inspection in 1887 and in 1889, in association with several old friends, formed a syndicate which in connection with the Ontario Land Company made investment in land adjoining North Yakima, afterward platting the Capitol addition and also lands to the south of it. This syndicate, of which Mr. Congdon was a member, and the Ontario Land Company also furnished the money for the construction of the Yakima Valley canal. The first investment amounted to thirty-five thousand dollars, which was used in the acquirement of the aforemen- tioned property, while seventy-five thousand dollars were invested in dry lands, at Wide Hollow and Nob Hill. The Yakima Valley canal aforementioned was built in 1894 for irrigating all of Nob Hill, and in 1898 or 1899 Albert S. Congdon, a brother of our subject, took charge of this undertaking, which was the second large irriga- tion project of the valley. The Sunnyside Canal project had been launched before Mr. Congdon's first visit to Yakima but had encountered difficulties and was idle at the time he became interested in Yakami Valley projects. After carefully inves- tigating its affairs Mr. Congdon decided not to take hold of this enterprise because in his opinion there were better lands available for development than those under the Sunnyside and also for the reason that he was not entirely satisfied with the suffi- ciency and validity of the Sunnyside water right. It is a fact anyhow that the Sun- nyside Canal project has gone through reorganization since 1889 and that the Yakima Valley Canal Company is, if not the only one, one of the very few that has never had to be reorganized. The Northern Pacific Railroad urged him to undertake the Sun- nyside project, but he gave his attention to the irrigation of the upper valley on Nob Hill. This system irrigated three thousand acres at first and later was extended to irrigate thirteen hundred acres additional. It was built to irrigate the land owned by the syndicate and the Ontario Land Company, most of which land, in which he had an interest, had been sold by 1905, in which year Mr. Congdon began to buy the land which became his ranch. A large part of the present ranch consists of property which he and his associates sold some years before, after the completion of the canal, and which he later bought back. Mr. Congdon was so fond of the Yakima Valley that he wanted to have some interest here which would require his attention once or twice a year, and with the sale of the last of the land which he and his associates

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had originally acquired, his excuse for visits here was more or less worn out. There- fore he personally acquired properties which now constitute one of the fine ranches of the valley.

With the advent of Mr. Congdon in the business circles of the northwest he became a very active supporter of all those interests which he believed of value and benefit to the state. He was very active in the state capital fight in 1889 and gave land for the capitol site. When it was decided that Olympia should be the capital of Washington, he, with others, gave the park site to the city of Yakima, but upon the refusal of the city to improve the park, the land reverted to the Ontario Land Company, which had made the donation at the beginning. The large landed inter- ests of Mr. Congdon were developed and much of the property sold, but he kept or bought back enough so that he was owner of more than nine hundred acres. He had more than three hundred and seventy-five acres in fruit, while the balance was farm land. He developed one of the largest Aberdeen-Angus cattle herds in Amer- ica, his stock being shown all over the United States at the various cattle exhibits, winning prizes everywhere.

In 1914 Mr. Congdon erected a beautiful home, built all of native stone. It is the largest private residence in the valley and regarded one of the show places in Washington. While it is not consciously patterned after any special style of building, its design largely resembles that of the large Mexican houses. It is a story and a half, built around a court, and is erected on the edge of a bluff, requiring a good deal of retaining wall and thus to some extent having the appearance of an old war castle. Mr. Congdon was a great traveler and considered the Yakima Valley the best agri- cultural district of the world. He spent much of his time here and did as much as any cther man for the development and upbuilding of this section of the state. He contributed quietly and unostentatiously but most generously to all public projects for good, including churches, nor did he confine his efforts alone to the Yakima Val- ley. He became a heavy investor at Tacoma, Grays Harbor, South Bend, Raymond and other points in Washington. He was a personal friend of the officials of the Northern Pacific Railway, including President Hannaford, and he cooperated with the railroad company in the improvement of many localities. In 1913 he built a seventy-thousand-dollar storage and packing plant in order to house the fruit raised in the district and he developed one of the largest orchards under individual owner- ship in the northwest.

On the 29th of September, 1881, at Syracuse, New York, Mr. Congdon was mar- ried to Miss Clara Hesperia, a daughter of the Rev. Edward Bannister, a clergyman of San Francisco, California, and to them were born seven children: Walter Ban- nister, Edward Chester, Marjorie, Helen Clara, John, Elisabeth Mannering and Robert Congdon. The family circle was broken in the death of Mr. Congdon in St. Paul, Minnesota, on the 21st of November, 1916. His life had been one of great activity and usefulness. He had been called to various offices of trust and responsi- bility, serving from 1881 until 1886 as assistant United States attorney for the dis- trict of Minnesota, as a member of the Minnesota house of representatives from 1909 until 1913, and from 1903 until his death he was a member of the Duluth charter commission. Minnesota in 1916 made him a member of the republican national cen- tral committee and his opinions carried weight in the councils of the party. He was a member of various professional, historical, scientific, social and fraternal societies and associations. He had membership with the Kitchi Gammi, Northland Country, Commercial and Duluth Boat Clubs, all of Duluth; the Minnesota Club of St. Paul; the Minneapolis Club of Minneapolis; the University Club of Chicago; the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the Bankers Club of New York; the Commercial Club of North Yakima; and with various college fraternities, including the Upsilon Kappa, Psi Upsilon, Theta Nu Epsilon and Phi Beta Kappa. A contemporary biog- rapher has said of him: "Those who really knew Mr. Congdon found in him a man of tender heart and warm, human sympathies. His philanthropy was general and quite well known, although he sought to keep it under cover and shrank from pub- licity in this regard. He was a close student of government and state policies, a foe of waste and inefficiency, a friend of political progress as he saw it, a champion of

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clean public life and sound government. He was always the good citizen, eager to have his part in every forward movement in directions that he judged to be wise." The northwest has reason to be grateful to him for what he accomplished in connec- tion with her upbuilding. He was acquainted with most of the old-time men of prominence in this section of the country. The Yakima Valley-its growth, its development and its beautification-it is said was his hobby; yet it was more than that because he always expected to derive profit as well as pleasure from his activi- ties horc. Unfortunately, he did not see his ranch return a profit to him, but this was largely for the reason that at the time of his demise many of the trees were yet too young. Though an idealist, there was yet sufficient business man in him to expect interest on his investments here and undoubtedly the fine ranch, in spite of the large investment in improvements, will turn out to be a successful enterprise even from a monetary standpoint. Mr. Congdon was known nationally in financial circles, being recognized as a man of wonderful business judgment, but there were also qualities which endeared him to those who came within the circle of his com- panionship. knowing and loving him not for what he accomplished but for what he was.

THE YAKIMA VALLEY BANK.

The Yakima Valley Bank, one of the strong moneyed institutions of the city of Yakima, was established in June, 1902, by Miles Cannon, who became the presi- dent, Arthur Coffin, vice-president, and Stanley Coffin, cashier, with E. E. Streitz as assistant cashier. A change in the personnel of the officers occurred in 1904, when O. A. Fechter was elected to the presidency. The following year Charles Heath be- came the cashier, with Charles S. Mead as the vice-president. The bank occupies a building at the corner of First street and Yakima avenue and owns a property that it will soon occupy on Yakima avenue between First and Second streets, where stands a two-story stone building with a fifty foot frontage. The bank was estab- lished with a capital stock of seventy-five thousand dollars, sixty per cent of which was paid in. This was increased to one hundred thousand dollars in 1908 and the entire stock was paid in. The directors are Charles Heath, O. A. Fechter, J. E. Shannon, C. S. Mead and L. O. Janeck, who became a director in 1906. The bank enjoyed a splendid growth in 1917 and in 1918 its capital and surplus amounted to one hundred and eighteen thousand dollars and its deposits to one million, four hundred and seventy-one thousand, three hundred and ninety-two dollars and seven- ty-nine cents. In 1915 the bank's statement showed deposits of five hundred and eighty-eight thousand dollars, with a capital and surplus of one hundred and thirteen thousand dollars. The increase in deposits is indicative of the growth of the busi- ness and of the substantial policy followed by the institution-a policy which com- mands the respect and confidence of the general public.

WALTER R. ROWE.

Among the younger agriculturists of the Yakima valley is Walter R. Rowe, of Naches, who now devotes his attention to orcharding, being successful along this line. A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, he was born May 21, 1884, a son of William and Linnie (McCormick) Rowe, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Indianapolis. The mother comes of a pioneer family there, her people being among the first settlers of that city, and a monument to a member of the family was recently erected in Indianapolis. The father of our subject was for many years con- nected with the rolling mill business in that city and later in life also with banking. In 1893, however, he sold out and came to Yakima, where Mrs. Rowe had in 1889 taken up a ranch on the lower Naches and proved up on the property. There the family settled in 1893, the ranch comprising two hundred acres, but one hundred acres of this was given in exchange for water rights. The father developed his ranch and there passed his remaining days, his death occurring in 1900. His widow survives and now resides in Yakima.

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Being nine years of age when the family removed to Washington, Walter R. Rowe received his early education in Indianapolis and subsequently attended public school in this state. He then attended Washington State University at Pullman for two years and at the end of that time returned to the ranch, which he bought in 1906. Fifty acres of the ranch are in apples and ten acres are devoted to pears, peaches, cherries and other small fruits. Mr. Rowe has erected modern buildings upon the ranch and has his own packing house with a storage capacity for twenty thousand boxes.

On the 19th of December, 1906, Mr. Rowe was married to Miss Jessie Mead, a native of Iowa and a daughter of Charles Mead, who about 1898 removed to the Yakima valley, taking up the occupation of ranching. Mr. and Mrs. Rowe have a daughter and a son: Helen, eight years of age; and Charles, aged six.

Mr. Rowe is a Mason, being a member of Naches Lodge No. 211, F. & A. M., and also having passed the chapter and Scottish Rite degrees. He is also a member of Yakima Lodge No. 318, B. P. O. E. In his political affiliations Mr. Rowe is a republican. He is also a member of the Yakima County Horticultural Union.

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History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II, Part 4

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920 Publication date: 1919 Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke Number of Pages: 1138

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1138