History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II, Part 68

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 68
USA > Washington > Kittitas County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II > Part 68
USA > Washington > Yakima County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II > Part 68

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On the 18th of June, 1913, Mr. Cochran was united in marriage to Miss Nora Tweeten, who was born at Battle Lake, Ottertail county, Minnesota, a daughter of Alexander and Emma (Hinkey) Tweeten, the former a native of Wisconsin and the latter of Minnesota. They were pioneer settlers of that state, where the father engaged in ranching.

Mr. Cochran maintains an independent attitude politically. He concentrates his efforts and attention upon his business affairs and is a self-made man who owes his advancement and success entirely to his own efforts.

JOHN GIBSON.

John Gibson, successfully engaged in raising apples, peaches and pears, having fifty acres planted to orchards in Yakima county, was born in Scotland, August 8, 1858, a son of George and Jane (Morrison) Gibson, both of whom are deceased. It was in the year 1883 that John Gibson came to the northwest, making his way to Portland, Oregon, where he was employed in connection with the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad. He assisted in building the line of the road through the Yakima valley in 1885 and his brother, Andrew Gibson, was also employed in the same connection. Both were representatives of the surveying department of rail- way construction and John Gibson remained active in that field for seven years. On the 19th of January, 1892, he and his brother purchased forty acres of land in Fruitvale. It was a wild tract on which not a furrow had been turned nor an im-

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provement made and they began its development, undertaking the task of convert- ing it into a rich and productive farm. The brother is still engaged in railway work with the Northern Pacific, being now located at St. Paul, where he resides, but he owns the ranch in connection with John Gibson. After making their initial purchase they bought still other land and now have fifty acres in apples, peaches and pears. This is one of the leading ranch properties of the district. The work is most thor- oughly, systematically and carefully done, the orchards are clean, the trees whole- some and the most scientific methods are employed in the care and propagation of the fruit.

In 1912 Mr. Gibson was married to Mrs. Eliza (Radbourn) Cubberley, of Yakima, and they are widely and favorably known in this section of the state, the hospitality of many of the best homes being freely accorded them. Mr. Gibson is a republican in his political views and ever keeps in close touch with the trend of modern political thought and action. He is today one of the directors of the Yakima County' Horti- cultural Union and closely studies everything that has to do with the fruit raising and shipping interests of this section. Coming to the new world when a young man of twenty-five years, he has steadily progressed as time has passed on and is today occupying a place in the front rank of the orchardists of Yakima county.

EMIL STENSTROM.

Emil Stenstrom is not only very successful as a rancher in Yakima county but also specializes in baling hay, having during the season of 1918 baled over four thousand tons. Thus he derives a gratifying addition to his income and he promotes his prosperity in every legitimate way, thus purposefully and energetically attaining a substantial position among the agrculturists of his district in Yakima county. A native of Sweden, he was born December 9, 1869, and is a son of Alexander and Clara (Jacobson) Stenstrom, both of whom have passed away. The father was a miller by vocation and thius provided for the needs of the family.

Emil Stenstrom received a public school education in the excellent institutions of his native country but at the age of twenty-two years decided upon emigration to the United States, having heard many favorable reports in regard to conditions maintaining in this country, permitting a young man to more quickly gain an in- dependent position. For a few months he remained in Minneapolis, whither he had made his way, and subsequently resided in Harvest, North Dakota. There he took up railroad work, being for one year in the employ of the Great Northern Railroad, while he also was on the pay roll of the Burlington. The stories of substantial for- tunes to be quickly secured which emanated from Alaska decided him in 1898 to go to that far northern country and there he spent four years, returning at the end of that time to civilization and taking up his residence in Seattle, Washington, in 1902. There he worked in the employ of others for two years and then visited Sweden. Upon his return to this country he took up the millwright's trade in the state of Washington. In 1905 he came to Yakima county, and, having carefully husbanded his resources, was enabled to acquire title to eighty acres of land five miles south- west of Sunnyside. All of the tract was then covered with sagebrush but Mr. Sten- strom energetically set himself to the task of bringing the land under cultivation and as the years passed greatly improved it. Later he sold thirty-nine acres and he now has forty-one acres, on which he raises alfalfa, potatoes and corn. He has modern machinery and every up-to-date farm equipment and has erected good barns and also built a fine residence in 1915. Upon his place he has two hay-baling ma- chines and he does this work for many of his neighbors, baling over four thousand tons in 1918 and thus receiving a gratifying addition to his income.

In 1910 Mr. Stenstrom was married to Miss Elizabeth Jones, a native of Wash- ington and a daughter of Joseph and Mary Ann Jones, pioneers of this state. The father is now a prosperous farmer of Yakima county. To Mr. and Mrs. Stenstrom have been born two children, Clara and Marshall. The parents are ever ready to give their support to worthy movements undertaken on behalf of the moral, intel-

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lectual and material upbuilding of their district and are highly respected citizens and loyal Americans.

Politically Mr. Stenstrom has never allied himself with any party, following his judgment in voting, based upon a careful study of the issues of the day. He is not only well versed in local affairs but gives close attention to questions pertain- ing to the growth and expansion of state interests as well as national and world problems. Fraternally he is a Mason, having joined the blue lodge at Mabton, Wash- ington, and for three years he has served on the school board, of which for two years he has been clerk. There is great credit due him for what he has achieved, for he is a self-made man who has to thank no one for the position he has attained. It has been acquired solely through his own energy and industry and his enterprising spirit, which has led him to take advantage of the opportunities that are here pre- sented to anyone who is willing to dare and to do.

JOHN W. SUDWEEKS.

John W. Sudweeks, one of the younger agriculturists of the Mabton district, has already attained a degree of prosperity. He was born in Wabaunsee county, Kansas, April 12, 1884, a son of John and Sarah M. (Pratt) Sudweeks, the former a native of Canada and the latter of Indiana, more extended mention of whom is made on another page of this work.

John W. Sudweeks was reared in a refined household, attended the public schools and the high school. After laying aside his textbooks he turned his atten- tion to mercantile pursuits, being for three years engaged as a clerk in a store at Eskridge, Kansas. In 1904, at the age of twenty, he came with his father to Yakima county and farmed in conjunction with him but also clerked in stores. Having care- fully saved his earnings, he was then enabled to rent land near Outlook for one year, but now owns a farm three miles north and one mile west of Mabton, com- prising twenty-seven acres of land. Although this tract was in a wild state when he acquired it, it is now all under cultivation and has been developed into a good prop- erty. He raises grain, potatoes and hay and also conducts a dairy to good purpose. Mr. Sudweeks has always been an ardent irrigationist, having done a great deal of valuable work in ditch and drainage construction. He is a progressive young man of agreeable social qualities, completely up-to-date in regard to modern business transactions and affairs, and, moreover, he has studied deeply farming problems here and is thus numbered among the leaders of agricultural development in his section of the state.

On the 27th of September, 1905, Mr. Sudweeks was united in marriage to Gertie May Simmons, who was born in Eskridge, Kansas, and is a daughter of P. P. and Mary (Huvendahl) Simmons, the former a native of Platte county, Missouri, and one of the early pioneers of Kansas. Mrs. Simmons was also born in Missouri.

Mr. and Mrs. Sudweeks have ever taken a helpful interest in the community and are devoted members of the Methodist church. In politics he is a republican and has steadfastly supported the candidates and measures of that party although he is in no sense a politician but on the contrary prefers to devote his whole time and attention to his private affairs. He is a valued member of the Grange, in which organization he is very popular, and he has many friends in the vicinity of Mabton, all of whom speak highly of him.

JAMES A. MAJOR, D. D. S.

Dr. James A. Major, a successful practicing dentist of Yakima, was born in Schuyler, Nebraska, April 16, 1879, a son of Oliver M. and Elizabeth (Armitage) Major, who were early residents of Nebraska, where the father engaged in ranch- ing. He has now departed this life, but the mother still resides in the east.

The. Doctor acquired a public school education in Nebraska and New York

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and afterward prepared for his professional career as a student in the Georgetown University of Washington, D. C., from which he was graduated on the completion of a course in dentistry as a member of the class of 1908. He then opened an office in the capital city, there remaining until 1911, when believing that he might have still broader and better opportunities in the northwest he came to Yakima, where he has since remained. In the intervening period of seven years he has built up a large practice which is most gratifying and which is indicative of his ability in his chosen field.

Dr. Major belongs to the Masonic fraternity, having membership in the lodge, chapter. commandery and in the Mystic Shrine. He is also identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and in club circles he is well known as a mem- ber of the Country Club and of the Commercial Club, being in hearty sympathy with the latter organization in all of its plans and purposes for the upbuilding of Yakima. Along strictly professional lines he has connection with the Washington State Dental Society and served for four years on its executive board. He holds to professional standards and requirements and his ability is manifest in the liberal practice that has been accorded him.

IRA D. CARDIFF.

Ira D. Cardiff has established and is conducting a most important business at Yakima under the name of the Washington Dehydrated Food Company. His enter- prise is of value to the community in that it furnishes a market to many producers as well as furnishing work to many employes in the city. His plans have been most carefully formulated and his enterprise and initiative have carried him steadily for- ward in the conduct of his business interests.

Mr. Cardiff was born in Galva, Illinois, in 1873, a son of E. A. and Latrobe (Sellon) Cardiff. The father, a farmer by occupation, has now passed away. while the mother is still living. The son, Ira D. Cardiff, after mastering the branches of learning taught in the public schools of Galva, Illinois, continued his education in Knox College at Galesburg, from which he was graduated, and then became a student in the University of Chicago. Later he entered Columbia University and won his Ph. D. degree on graduating with the class of 1906. At that time he took up educational work and in 1913 he came to Washington as head of the department of botany in the State College. In 1914 he was made head of the Washington Agri- cultural Experiment Station and organized the county agricultural agent work of this state and also the Boys and Girls Club work of Washington. He also established a station for experiments in dry land problems at Lind, Washington, and one for the study of animal diseases at Methow, Washington. He raised the money for these institutions by private subscription. In other words, he entered upon an educational campaign of great scope and of untold value. He was made a member of the governing board of the first state department of agriculture but in June, 1917, he left the State Experiment Station and came to Yakima, where he organ- ized the company) now operating under the firm style of the Washington De- hydrated Food Company. They are engaged in the cvaporation of fruit and vege- tables, using both dehydrating and evaporating processes. They treat all kinds of vegetables and fruits, preserving all the food values, the appearance, taste and other desirable qualities. Thus are preserved food products that could not otherwise be shipped. Mr. Cardiff recognized the opportunity to make very high grade foods and his factories are characterized hy the utmost cleanliness and sanitary condi- tions. His products are sold to the government and all over the United States and the plant handles over three carloads of fruit and vegetables per day. The fac- tory, a two-story and basement structure, built of concrete, is one hundred and eighty by one hundred and seventy feet. The company has also leased two cold storage plants and in the spring of 1917 they handled two hundred and fifty car- loads of potatoes, used for potato flour. They bought more potatoes than all the other dealers in the valley together. In the factory employment is furnished to from forty to one hundred people. They have sidings of both Northern Pacific and

IRA D. CARDIFF

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Union Pacific Railways to the factory, thus facilitating shipments. The business has grown with remarkable rapidity owing to the excellence of the products sent out and the success of the enterprise has been assured from the beginning.

In 1902 Mr. Cardiff was married to Miss Myrtle Sherman, of Galesburg, Illi- nois. and they have a son, Edward Sherman, now nine years of age. Mr. Cardiff is identified with various scientific organizations. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and he was a charter member and the first president of the Utah Academy of Sciences. He also belongs to the Na- tional Agricultural Society and he is a frequent and valued contributor to many scientific journals.

Mr. Cardiff has a military record covering service in the Spanish-American war, for which he raised a company at Kewanee, Illinois, becoming captain of this organization, which, however, was not called upon for active duty. Later he en- listed as a private and served throughout the period of hostilities with Spain, being in active duty in Cuba and Porto Rico. Mr. Cardiff belongs to the Commercial Club of Yakima. In politics he maintains an independent course, not allying himself witlı any party. It was he who secured the passage of a bill through the state legislature giving the Yakima valley a state experiment station for irrigation purposes that has been established near Prosser, Washington. He stands for all improvements of agricultural conditions and of kindred interests and his life work has been of great educational value, not only when he was directly connected with colleges and ex- perimental stations, but also since entering upon his present business connection. He has given practical demonstration of theories and beliefs which he held, prov- ing his ideas to be of real worth in the preservation of food, making shipments possible to all sections of the world. At all times he has held to the highest standards of production until the name of the Washington Dehydrated Food Company is everywhere recognized as a synonym for excellence in the processes of dehydrating and evaporating fruits and vegetables.

WILLIAM SAMPLE.

William Sample, postmaster of Roslyn, was born in England, March 2, 1862, a son of William and Thomasine (Dickinson) Sample. The father went to the gold fields in the Cariboo during the period of pioneer development and mining excite- ment there and about the year 1864 became a resident of Illinois, to which state he took his family in 1869. He operated a coal mine at Streator, Illinois , and later became mine manager for Colonel Plumb of California. His wife died in Illinois, and after residing for a time in California, Mr. Sample returned to the former state, where his last days were spent. He was a mining man of wide experience, promi- nently known in that connection in various sections of the country.

William Sample is indebted to the public school system of Illinois for the educa- tional opportunities which he enjoyed. In 1884 he went to Utah, where he worked in the mines, and later he was employed in the mines of Wyoming. In 1887 he made his way to California, where he spent a year as a mine worker, and for twoyears he was a resident of Wyoming. He next removed to Utah and in 1892 took up his abode in Roslyn, Washington, where he followed mining until March, 1916, when he was appointed to the position of postmaster, in which office he has served since, making a creditable record by the systematic and thorough manner in which he discharges the duties of the position.

In 1889 Mr. Sample was married to Miss Ellen McDonald, a native of Pennsyl- vania and of English parentage. She is a daughter of James and Susan (Iles) Mc- Donald and by her marriage she has become the mother of seven chidren: Robert, deceased; Earl, a newspaper editor residing in Montana; William, a member of the United States army; Mary, the wife of Gerald Beck, who is now with the United State navy, while his wife is at home with her parents; Joseph, James and Sarah, who are also under the parental roof.

In his political views Mr. Sample was a republican until President Cleveland's first administration and has since been a democrat. He has served on the board of examiners for mine inspectors but has never been a politician in the sense of

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office seeking. In his present position, however, he is making a creditable record. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and also to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in the latter has filled all of the chairs. He enjoys the respect and good will of his brethren of these fraternities, and in Roslyn, where he has now long made his home, he has a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance.

GUST A. JOHNSON.

It seems that in the majority of cases men's lives are very much alike, yct an analyzation brings forth man's individuality not only in matters of temperament but in business methods as well. There has been manifest in Gust A. Johnson a resolute spirit that enabled him to sever home ties and courageously face changed conditions. in the new world when coming as a young man of twenty years to America from his native Sweden. He was born February 4, 1862, a son of Johan Anderson and Sarah Johnson, both of whom spent their entire lives in Sweden. Gust A. John- son was educated there and in 1882 bade adieu to friends and native country and sailed for the United States, attracted by the favorable opportunities which he heard were to be enjoyed on this side of the Atlantic. After reaching American shores he crossed the continent to Willmar, Minnesota, and in 1886 he bought one hundred and sixty acres of farm land, having in the meantime earned the capital enabling him to make this investment. For six years he lived upon that land. Later he became a resident of Grant county, South Dakota, and bought four hundred and twenty acres of farm land, which he carefully and successfully cultivated until 1911. In that year he disposed of his farm in South Dakota and made his way to the northwest. After reaching Yakima county he bought a five-acre orchard in the Selah valley and upon his place built a fine home. He now has one of the modern orchard properties of the district, carefully developed and cultivated, and in his fruit raising is meeting with success.

In 1893 Mr. Johnson was married to Miss Annie Alice Halm, of Minnesota, who died in 1894. In 1906 he wedded Gustava Redal, of South Dakota. By his first marriage he had a son, Arthur J., who is now twenty-four years of age and is serv- ing with the United States army.

Mr. Johnson is a member of the Swedish Mission church and in politics he is a prohibitionist. In these associations is indicated much concerning the rules that govern his life and guide him in his relations with his fellowmen. He has always been honorable and upright, straightforward in his dealings, and is a stanch advo- cate of temperance and of all those forces which make for the moral welfare and progress of community and country.

ARTHUR JOSEPH RABIE.

Arthur Joseph Rabie has the reputation of raising some of the finest vegetables ever produced not only in Washington but throughout the entire west. His activi- ties have been directed by a spirit of enterprise and progressiveness that has pro- ducd wonderful results and in all that he undertakes he is most thorough, while his keen discrimination enables him to quickly decide between the essential and the non-essential in all that he does.

A native of Quebec, Canada, Mr. Rabie was born October 24, 1880, a son of Philomen and Angelina (La Fave) Rabie, more extended mention of whom is made on another page of this work in connection with the sketch of Elzard Rabie, a brother of Arthur J. Rabie. He engaged in farming with his father until 1905 and then pur- chased fifty acres of his father's land. Upon this tract he built a house, also good barns and sheds and began the further development and improvement of the place, devoting his attention largely to the raising of alfalfa, beets, potatoes, wheat and!

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barley. That he has won notable success is indicated in the wide reputation which he bears in this connection. He has raised many car loads of fine potatoes, which he has sold to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company for dining car service. He is known to have raised the finest car load of potatoes ever used by the road and the Northern Pacific presented him with a beautiful engraved certificate, making him a member of their "Booster Club" in recognition of his efficient work. He had three potatoes that weighed seven pounds. No finer farm products could be found than those he has produced upon his ranch. He has closely studied the conditions of the soil, the best methods of fertilizing and knows thoroughly what can be undertaken and successfully accomplished. He employs the most scientific methods in the de- velopment of his crops and through persistent effort he has steadily advanced in his business career and is now numbered among the prominent farmers of the Moxee valley. At the time he made purchase of his present place he had only two hundred dollars with which to make a partial payment thereon. Within ten years he had cleared the place of all indebtedness and added many modern improvements in the way of good buildings, well kept fences, fine farm machinery, and in fact there is no accessory or convenience of the model farm of the twentieth century that is not to be found upon his place.

On the 22d of February, 1909, Mr. Rabie was married to Miss Hosanna Huard, a native of North Dakota and a daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Goulet) Huard, who in 1905 removed to the Moxee valley, where the father is still engaged in farming. To Mr. and Mrs. Rabie have been born seven children but three of the number died in infancy. Those living are Evaline, Thelma, Raymond and Verna.

The parents and children are members of the Holy Rosary Catholic church at Moxee City and Mr. Rabie gives his political endorsement to the republican party. He has never cared for public office or sought to figure in any public light aside from business. In all that he has undertaken along agricultural lines he has held to the highest standards and what he has accomplished has set a pace for other farmers of the locality. His years of intelligently directed effort have brought him to a place in the front ranks of the agriculturists of the Moxee valley.

FRED A. SHADBOLT.

The reclamation of the once arid west for the purposes of cultivation has con- stituted one of the wonders of the business development of this country. There were many who believed that the great broad stretches of land covered with sagebrush could never produce anything else, but men recognized that the one need was water and proceeded to apply this by bringing from hills and streams into the arid regions the needed supply. Then began the cultivation of great crops of hay and grain and the raising of immense crops of fruit as well. It is to the orcharding interests of the northwest that Fred A. Shadbolt has largely given his attention. He was born in Oakland county, Michigan, September 6, 1872, a son of Alvin D. and Selina (Milli- gan) Shadbolt, the former a native of Dutchess county, New York, while the latter was born in Pennsylvania. They became pioneer residents of Michigan. The father had previously operated a tugboat on the Erie canal and it was in New York state that he was married. Soon afterward he took his wife to Michigan and both spent their remaining days in that state where the father, who was a wagonmaker by trade, turned his attention to farming and the live stock business, becoming one of the successful stock buyers of the state.

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History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. II, Part 68

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