History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II, Part 45

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 45
USA > Washington > Kittitas County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II > Part 45
USA > Washington > Yakima County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II > Part 45

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Mr. and Mrs. Lienkaemper have made many friends since coming to Yakima county and are highly esteemed by all who know them because of their high quali- ties of heart and character. They are members of the Presbyterian church, in the work of which they take a helpful interest, and politically Mr. Lienkaemper is affili- ated with the republican party but has never sought public office, preferring to give his whole attention to his private affairs.

KIT CARSON GIFFORD.

Kit Carson Gifford, a member of the firm of Vibber & Gifford, conducting the leading drug store of Kennewick, has thus been identified with the business interests of the town for the past six years. His birth occurred in Elkader, Iowa, on the 16th of July, 1885, his parents being Gideon M. and Frederica Gifford, who were born in Iowa and Connecticut respectively. The father is a banker.

Kit Carson Gifford attended the public schools in the acquirement of an educa- tion and after putting aside his textbooks entered the government service in the

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postoffice at Elkader, Iowa. In 1908, when a young man of twenty-three years, he made his way to Kennewick, Washington, and was here employed in the post office for two years, while subsequently he became identified with the financial interests of the town as assistant cashier of the First National Bank, serving in that capacity until 1912. In that year he purchased the business of the Tullis Drug Company and has since conducted the enterprise under the firm name of Vibber & Gifford, who have the leading establishment of the kind in Kennewick. They carry an extensive and at- tractively arranged stock of goods in their line and their patronage is large and gratifying.

In 1905 Mr. Gifford was united in marriage to Miss Clara Neimeyer, of Elkader, lowa. He gives his political allegiance to the republican party and he is a member of the Commercial Club, cooperating in all of its well defined plans and measures for the advancement of community interests. A young man of enterprise, ambition and ability, it is safe to predict that a bright future lies before him.

PHILIP HENRY SCHNEBLY.

No history of Ellensburg would be complete without extended reference of Philip Henry Schnebly, who has resided in Kittitas county for more than forty-six years and has always made his home in the northwest. He has contributed much toward the upbuilding of this great western empire and has for many years figured as one of the foremost representatives of its ranching and stock raising interests. He was born near Oregon City, Oregon, October 8, 1852, a son of David J. and Margaret (Painter) Schnebly, who were natives of Maryland and of Missouri re- spectively. The father crossed the plains in 1850 and took up his abode at Oregon City. The mother was a daughter of Joseph Painter, who started on the long trip to the far west in 1850 but died while en route, and two of his sons died of cholera on the trip. The mother of Mr. Schnebly of this review, together with the others of the family, continued the journey and they, too, took up their abode in Oregon, set- tling at Linn City, not far from Oregon City. It was in that state that the parents of Philip Henry Schnebly were married. The father was at one time owner and publisher of the Oregon Spectator, the first newspaper established in the northwest, which he purchaser from the founder. In 1861 he removed with his family to Walla Walla, Washington, and there he took up the occupation of farming but always continued to write for the papers. Later he conducted a toll bridge across the Spokane river and in 1871 he removed to Ellensburg, where he took up government land and turned his attention to the live stock business on a small scale. Later, however, he once more became an active factor in journalistic circles, owning the Localizer, which was the first newspaper published at Ellensburg. This he conducted until three years prior to his death, which occurred on the 5th of January, 1901, when he had reached the age of eighty-four years.

In his youthful days Philip Henry Schnebly attended school with Professor W. D. Lyman in the Forest Grove Seminary. Becoming a resident of Ellensburg in 1872, he, too, took up the live stock business in a small way and he had to drive his cattle over the Cascades to Seattle to make sales. He entered land from the govern- ment and in the course of years, as the country became more thickly settled, his busi- ness interests developed and he became one of the prominent stockmen of the state. He and his sons today have over two thousand head of cattle and over two thousand acres of meadow land, together with more than forty thousand acres of range land. This is now owned by Mr. Schnebly and his six sons. For the past ten years, how- ever, Mr. Schnebly has lived in Ellensburg, where he is most comfortably situated. As the years have passed he has built up a fine herd of cattle and is today recognized as one of the most prominent stockmen of the state. He has developed his herds along progressive lines, has exercised the utmost care over his stock and has done much to improve the grade of stock raised in this section of the state. His opinions concerning all problems of stock raising are largely accepted as authority, for it is well known that his long experience in this line enables him to speak with accuracy and sound judgment on all questions relating to the business.

PHILIP H. SCHNEBLY

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On the 12th of November, 1877, Mr. Schnebly was united in marriage to Miss Eliza F. Cooke, who was born in Independence, Oregon, May 1, 1860, a daughter of Charles P. and Susan E. Cooke. The father was born in what is now Sandusky, Erie county, Ohio, February 5, 1824, and was a descendant of Puritans who came to America as passengers on the Mayflower in 1620, Francis Cooke and his son John sailing on that historic vessel. The ancestral line is traced down through Asaph, Asaph and Asaph Cooke to Charles P. Cooke. His great-grandfather, Asaph Cooke, had four sons who were in the Revolutionary war. The second Asaph Cooke wedded Mary Stewart, of New York, who was of Scotch ancestry.

Charles P. Cooke was born and reared in Ohio and in 1846 enlisted for service in the Mexican war, becoming a second lieutenant. He was on active duty for a year, participating in the battles of Monterey, Buena Vista and other engagements. In 1849, attracted by the discovery of gold on the Pacific coast, he crossed the plains to California and made his way northward to Astoria, Oregon, where he arrived in May, 1850. He afterward began merchandising at Independence, Oregon, and con- tinued in the business there until 1867, when he removed to Yakima county, Wash- ington, and took up government land in the Moxee valley. In 1870 he established his home in the Kittitas valley and there resided to the time of his demise, which oc- curred on the 11th of October, 1888. He figured prominently in public affairs. being called to represent his district in the state legislature in 1873 and again in 1876. In 1886 he was elected to represent his district, then comprising Yakima and Kittitas counties, and in 1886 he served as joint councilman for Yakima, Kittitas, Franklin, Douglas, Adams and Lincoln counties. He was the first county auditor elected in Yakima county and he was also superintendent of schools for several terms. He likewise assisted in organizing the counties of Yakima and Kittitas and there is no feature of the substantial development and improvement of this section of the state with which he was not closely, prominently and honorably associated. He left the impress of his individuality for good upon many lines of development and improve- ment and he became a prominent rancher and cattle raiser. On the 29th of October, 1851, he married Susan E. Brewster, a daughter of Abraham and Amelia (Van Der Cook) Brewster, both of whom were representatives of old colonial families of New York and both families were represented in the Revolutionary war. Amelia Van Der Cook was a daughter of Henry S. Van Der Cook, a veteran of the War of 1812. Henry E. Van Der Cook was a son of Simon Van Der Cook, who served as an ensign in the Revolutionary war and also served in Captain Hendrick Van Der Hoof's company of militia in Albany county. Simon Van Der Cook was a son of Michael Van Der Cook, also an active defender of colonial interests in the war for independence, being on duty with Colonel Yates' regiment and also Colonel John Knickerbocker and Lieutenant Colonel John Van Rensselear. There were eight brothers who participated in the Revolutionary war and the same spirit of patriotism has been manifest through succeeding generations.

To Mr. and Mrs. Schnebly were horn ten children. Lillian May, at home, was educated in the Ellensburg schools and the Martha Washington Seminary at Wash- ington, D. C. Fred C., who attended the Washington State College at Pullman, is now a prominent rancher of the Kittitas valley. He married Marguerite Nelson and has four children. Philip D. was also educated at the Washington State College and follows ranching in the Kittitas valley. Joseph J., who is associated with his brother Philip in ranching, was educated at the Washington State College and is now mar- ried and has three children. Jean attended the State Normal School at Ellensburg, and was graduated from the Good Samaritan Hospital at Portland, Oregon. She is now the wife of John Paul, a rancher of Alberta, Canada, by whom she has three children. Frank B., who was educated at the Washington State College and who now follows ranching in Kittitas county, is married and has one child. Edith was graduated from Whitworth College with the degree of B. S. She is now the wife of Chester C. McGranahan, who is serving in the United States army. Edna was also educated at Whitworth College, where she made a special study of music, and is now at home. Rufus Charles and Robert David, twins, were in the service of their country during the World's war and are now students at the Washington State College, at Pullman and are members of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Edith and Edna are members of the Kappa Gamma Society and Lillian and Edith are members (13e)

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of the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Schnebly and the family are all connected with the Episcopal church.

Mr. Schnebly has always given his political allegiance to the republican party and his aid and cooperation can at all times be counted upon to further measures and movements for the public good. He is a typical western pioneer, alert, energetic and determined, readily recognizing opportunities and utilizing them to the best possible advantage. Moreover, he is a self-made man and, while he now ranks among the prosperous residents of his section of the state, his success has been won entirely through his own efforts and his record should serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what may be accomplished when there is a will to dare and to do.

LUCULLUS VIRGIL MCWHORTER.

For an extended period Lucullus Virgil McWhorter has been a resident of the northwest and his work here on behalf of the native Indians has been most far- reaching, beneficial and resultant. The story of his life activities is perhaps best told in a biography written by J. P. MacLean, which reads as follows: "Mr. McWhorter is an unassuming man, without scholastic learning, thoroughly honest in purpose and always willing to listen to others. When his mind is decisively made up he acts without any thought of reward or encomium. In the services he rendered the In- dians of the state of Washington he incurred the enmity of one of the most thor- oughly organized gangs of land robbers in the history of this country, whose tent- acles were strongly entrenched in the Indiana Department. Single-handed he coped with them, his only guide being that of simple justice. In every move he outwitted all though some of the shrewdest lawyers were at work. While his movements were silent, he did not disguise the fact he had determined to stand between them and the Indian. However, it is better for the narrative to reveal the truth.

"Lucullus Virgil, son of Rev. J. M. McWhorter, M. D., was born in a log cabin built by his greatuncle, Thomas Mcwhorter, on the ancestral home, on Mckinney's Run, a tributary of Hacker's Creek, in Harrison county, West Virginia, January 29, 1860. The following March his parents moved to Buckhannon Run, an upper branch of Hacker's Creek, in Upshur county. In this isolated little valley, with six brothers and two sisters, he grew to manhood, inheriting all the mountaineer's love of free- dom and clan affinity. Many of his habits were solitary. The hills, woods and limpid streams were inexhaustible sources of pleasure. He lamented the passing of the native forest with its indigent life. His pro-primitive disposition and proneness for the wild precluded the collegiate course and West Point cadetship which were open to him. Four months of dreaded winter schooling until twenty-one years of age was all that his nature could endure. He chafed at restraint; and his distaste for text- books was surpassed only by his infatuation for some of the poets, Indian and pio- neer history, traditions and mountain folklore. He reveled in the legends of the wilderness. The hunter stories of the first settlers which he heard in childhood were never forgotten. The thrilling adventures of Jesse Hughes and his associates with the red warriors of the forest appealed to him as nothing else could. These tales of a past epoch eventually culminated in the pages of Border Settlers.

"Unlike most of our pioneer annals, the reader will find this work strikingly non-partisan. The author has endeavored to give events without discriminating in favor of his own race. To him the aggressors in the Trans-Allegheny wars were too palpable to admit of controversy. Upon this point he is likely to be assailed, for he has crossed some recognized authorities; but his position is strongly entrenched with facts. Justly loyal to his own racial affinities, he has from early childhood been noted for his Indian sympathies. While yet in his early teens he prevailed on his little sister to bore his ears, preparatory to a life with the red men. The culminating set-back to this utopian dream was when, in anticipation of a visit to the parental home of a noted preacher from Ohio, his more 'civilized' brothers forcibly applied the shears to his flowing locks. As he grew older, filial duty alone stayed his nomadic proclivities; but with each recurring flight of the wild geese the inherent longing for the boundless open was almost unendurable. Indian summer affected him inex-

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plicably. The murky haze was from the smoke-fines of the invisible wigwams of the spirit Indians which haunt the Monongahela hills. The autumnal winds songhing in the trees scattering the crimson foliage, was a funeral dirge for the primitive life forever gone.

"Early in life Mr. McWhorter read MacLean's The Mound Builders, published in serial form in The Star in the West, which found its way into his mountain home. The reading of this work had a very marked effect on his future career. Those old Stars were treasured for years and from their perusal a new world was unfolded, and there came a longing for delving into the past. Other archaeological authors were studied, which in time led to a practical examination of the various Indian remains in the Hacker's Creek valley, with a correct tabulation of all data obtained. Graves, mounds, stone-heaps and village sites were explored and their history revealed. No antiquities in the valley that he did not visit and note. Caves and aboriginal rock- shelters in other localities were investigated and their secrets wrested from them. But in all these excavations his veneration for the ancient was such that even the most lowly grave was invariably left restored to its former state. None could accuse him of undne desecration or vandalism. He became an expert on flint and stone im- plements. Thousands of relics were collected with accurate history of their finding, constituting the finest aggregation of antiquarian objects ever secured in central West Virginia, a region not rich in ancient remains. These in later years were placed intact and permanently in the museum of The West Virginia Historical and Anti- quarian Society, Charleston, since created The Department of State Archives and History. In 1893 he was one of three who originated and published The Archaeolo- gist, an illustrated journal intended to meet the primary needs of the archaeological student. This publication was suspended three years later.

"In 1897 the home farm was disposed of and the author soon after settled near the historic Fort Jefferson, in Darke county, Ohio. In the spring of 1903 he con- summated his lifelong desire to 'go west,' by moving with his family to North Yakima, Washington, where he continued for a time in the live stock business, which he had previously been following. His delight was Devon cattle. His father and himself brought the first of this active breed into central West Virginia. He held them in Ohio and selected the cream of seven different herds and took them to Washington. He and his two sons had, when they disposed of their business, the nucleus of the best herd in the United States. They exhibited throughout the northwest and the Pacific slope.

"In his new home, situated only a few miles from the Yakima Indian Reserva- tion, he found opportunity for the field study of ethnology, which he had combined with archaeology. He soon won the friendship of the tribe. He joined in their social gatherings and festivities. He camped with them in the mountains, participat- ing in their feats of strength and testing the splendid efficiency of the sweat-house and the icy river bath. He mingled with them in their primitive worship, for which he has inherent respect. He has been instructed in the mystic rites of the 'medicine dance,' and the touching simplicity of the 'feast of the new food,' a ceremony of invocation and thanksgiving to Me-yay-wah, the Supreme. He has been welcomed at the 'funeral feast,' where the grief and respect for the memory of the dead is attested by wailing and the distribution of presents. Looked upon as one of their number, they have sought his counsel. As one aged warrior expressed it, 'He has ears and he hears straight. He has but one tongue and he talks from his heart.' So great was their confidence in him that Yoom-tee-bee, 'bitten by a grizzly bear,' a strong clan chieftain, adopted him into his tribe, conferring upon him all the honors of a councilman, under the name of a deceased sub-chief: He-mene-Ka-wan, 'Old Wolf.' This name in Klickitat, a tribe amalgamated with the Yakimas, is Hal-ish Ho-sat. At a later day, Too-skas-Pot-thah-nook, 'Seven Mountains,' the last surviving son of the great war chief, Owhi, adopted him in lien of a deceased brother, Ko-tah-wi-nat, 'rain falling from a passing cloud,' a noted warrior of his day.

"Chief Yoomteebee's newly made clansman soon became aware that his people were being systematically looted, that their right to the reservation strams for irri- gation purposes, withont which their lands are worthless, had been appropriated by white setlers; and that later this wrong had been arbitrarily sanctioned by an unfair

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ruling of the secretary of the interior, leaving the Indians entirely unprovided for. Also that through congressional legislation, steered by local 'promoters' and land grabbers, three-fourths of all allotments within a large area were to be sold under a law that was equivalent to confiscation, permitting the allottees to hold twenty acres each, only, for which they were to pay for a water right on such terms and at such price as the secretary of the interior might provide. This appalling robbery, which if consummated meant ruin for the victims, he saw hanging over the Yakimas. Acting upon his own volition and without legal advice, he went secretly into the fight with the determination that if the game could not be defeated, he would in any event expose the conspiracy which he surmised to be far-reaching and powerful. His conjecture proved true and the odds against him were heavy. But casting his lot with that of Yoomteebee, the 'leader of the hostiles,' and enjoying the full con- fidence of that determined primitive-minded chieftain, he well knew what danger lurked ahead should he fail to break the mighty combine and the tribesmen be driven to the 'last ditch.' He kept his own counsel, but when the time came for the Indians to be approached by the government officials for the purpose of secur- ing the contracts necessary for the consummation of the crime, he acted promptly. Mounted on Wild Eye, 'The Grey Cayuse,' he struck the Reservation trails night and day, warning his red brothers against signing any papers that might be pre- sented to them. Chief Yoomteebee sent out other runners and soon the entire tribe was awake to the impending danger. They refused to sign, and the pet scheme to ensnare the Yakimas was foiled, nor did the despoilers know for a time from whence came the blow.

"The first skirmish had been won and the lines of the enemy thrown into con- fusion. This, however, only augmented the ominous menace of an actual tragedy should the tribe turn. On March IO, 1910, Chief Yoomteebee died of pneumonia, leaving the tribe in mourning and the 'hostiles' without an aggressive leader. New measures, covert and subtle, were launched by the opposition and the fight con- tinued. Wild Eye, an integral factor in the battle, covered hundreds of miles, trav- ersing obscure trails in the darkness of night and on one such occasion crossing a swollen reservation stream on a rude Indian bridge of round poles, the loose timbers half floating on the flood, giving at every step of the faithful steed. Often for days and nights the rider did not remove his clothes, eating when he could and sleeping when and wherever weariness demanded a rest. He was always welcomed at the Indian's lowly home, but many times his bed was a blanket and a pile of straw in the open or the bare ground. The haunting appeal of Chief Yoomteebee, 'You are now my brother. You must always stand by my people and help them.' ever urged him on. During the thickest gloom of the trouble, Rev. Stwire G. Waters. who had been elected head chief of the tribe, said, 'I have been praying that the Lord would send a good man to help us, and he has heard me.'

"For three years, single-handed he kept up the struggle, balking every effort of the 'system.' He then successfully invoked the aid of the Indian Rights Association. Mr. Brosius, the agent for this powerful, philanthropic body, entered the contest with spirit. He looked to the legal and strategic feature at the national capitol, while Mr. McWhorter kept guard on the Reservation. Judge Carroll B. Graves, an eminent attorney of Seattle, was employed, and in the end a victory was won, insofar as re- covering free water for one-half of the land involved and preventing the jeopardizing of any part of the allotments in question. Mr. Brosius said that if it had not been for 'The Grey Cayuse' and rider, the Yakimas would have been despoiled of water rights to the value of several millions of dollars. The most effective and character- istic of the tribal petitions were drafted by Mr. McWhorter.

"The white owners of twenty thousand acres of deeded Indian lands shared equally with the tribesmen in the fruits of this triumph, but strange to say, they blindly stood in with the opposition, or held aloof until the last stages of the struggle. Mr. McWhorter did this work, ignoring alike intimidating threats and warnings of social ostracism; spending months of time and considerable money without any ex- pectation of compensation or reward; nor did he ever solicit or receive a dollar for the sacrifice which left him financially crippled.

"In 1913, Mr. McWhorter published his 'Crime Against the Yakimas,' a strongly written pamphlet of fifty-six pages, illustrated, setting forth the flagrant wrongs

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heaped upon this tribe and the strenuous fight made by the chief men for tardy justice. It is a fearful exposure of an attempt at despoiling the nation's wards; wherein government officials, speculators and political cohorts under the cloak of philanthropic motives were combined to deliver the final coup de maitre to a help- less remnant of a race upon whose neck the heel of the conqueror has ground for the last four centuries. In the introduction, Mr. William E. Johnson, known and dreaded by the lawless whiskey vendors who haunt the western Indian reservations as 'Pussie Foot,' in part, says :

"'Years ago McWhorter began mingling with the Yakima Indians. He earned their confidence. He fought their battles. He aired their wrongs in public. He spent his time and money in efforts to secure for them a square deal. He was for- mally adopted into their tribe by Chief Yoom-tee-bee, and is known among them as He-mene Ka-wan (Old Wolf). And, while he is an adopted member of their tribe and has participated in tribal affairs as a member of their council, he has never sought or received one dollar of benefit from such membership.

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History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II, Part 45

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