USA > Washington > Spokane County > Spokane > History of the city of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume II > Part 56
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Mr. Dunphy, in his professional career has made progress and back of his work is a comprehensive understanding of the law with correct application of its points to the work in hand.
On October 30, 1909, Mr. Dunphy married Miss Ethel Frances Ross, a girl possessing all the qualities that make for a well balanced home. She is a woman of energy and ability and takes great interest and pride in her home and in the work of her husband. They have one child, a boy, H. Ross Dunphy, possessing unusual health and strength who promises to reflect great credit on his parents in later years.
DANIEL CHASE CORBIN.
The specific and distinctive office of biography is not to give voice to a man's modest estimate of himself and his accomplishments, but rather to leave the per- petual record establishing his characteristics by the consensus of opinion on the part of his fellowmen. Daniel Chase Corbin is a typical man of the present age, alert and enterprising, with an aptitude for successful management and his life has been so varied in its activities, so far-reaching and beneficial in its effects that it has become an integral part of the history of the northwest. With keen insight into situations and with clear understanding of possibilities he has utilized these in such a manner that success in large measure has crowned his efforts and at the same time his labors have been a potent element in the development and prosperity of the section in which he has operated. He now makes his home in Spokane, from which point he directs his railway interests and other business affairs.
Mr. Corbin is numbered among the progressive citizens that New England has furnished to the Pacific coast. His birth occurred in Newport, New Hampshire, on the Ist of October, 1836, his parents being Austin and Mary (Chase) Corbin, both representatives of old New England families. His paternal grandfather, Dr. James Corbin, served in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war and was recompensed therefore with a grant of land in New Hampshire near the Con- necticut river. It was upon the farm which Dr. Corbin there developed that Austin Corbin spent his entire life. He became the owner of a valuable farm property and also made considerable investment in timberlands. His wife was a daughter of Daniel Chase, likewise of New Hampshire, and a cousin of Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, who was secretary of the treasury under President Lincoln and afterward chief justice of the United States supreme court. Mr. Corbin is a younger brother of the late Austin Corbin, of New York, noted for his extensive and successful finan-
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cial and railway enterprises, especially in connection with the organization and administration of the Long Island Railroad Company, of which he was the president.
While spending his youthful days upon the old home farm in New England, Daniel C. Corbin attended the country schools. His home training developed in him qualities of industry, integrity and ambition and with the hope of gaining at least a comfortable competence in the west, he left New England at the age of nine- teen years and made his way beyond the Mississippi. For three years thereafter he was engaged in surveying lands under government contract in the state of Iowa. Subsequently he made his home in Omaha and in Nebraska City, where he was similarly occupied and also became interested in various land transactions. In 1862 he removed to Denver, Colorado, and during his two years' residence there ex- ecuted contracts with the government for supplying quartermaster's stores to Fort Laramie. He also engaged in transporting freight by wagon train from the Mis- souri river to Denver and Salt Lake City. He was for a brief period a resident of the Mormon metropolis and then took up his abode in Helena, Montana, where he became closely associated with commercial and financial interests. He has ever been recognized as a man of ready resource and his watchfulness of opportunity has led to his steady advancement throughout the period of his residence in the west. In Helena he served as cashier of the First National Bank and then re- turned to the east, spending the succeeding six years in New York city. He ob- tained, however, substantial interests in Montana and in 1882 again became a resi- dent of that state, which, however, at the time, was under territorial rule. He has ever been a close student of the west and its natural resources and its possibilities, and with remarkable sagacity has foreseen the growth and development of the country, and in his business has met conditions which he recognized were arising. Upon the discovery of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mine at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, he became associated with three or four others in erecting the first concentrator, its capacity being seventy-five tons daily. He saw that the rich mineral resources would draw a large population to that section, that transportation facilities would be needed and therefore placed steamboats on the lake and operated them to the old mission, at the head of the Coeur d'Alene river. He likewise built a railway to Wardner, Wallace and Burke, and made connection with the Northern Pacific Rail- way by a short line from Coeur d'Alene city. He thus met the need of the hour and in 1888 he disposed of his property to the Northern Pacific.
Mr. Corbin's residence in Spokane dates from the spring of 1889, in which year he continued his railway operations in the building of the Spokane Falls & Northern Railway from this place to British Columbia, a distance of one hundred and forty miles. Later he extended the line for sixty miles to Nelson on Kootenay Lake and also built a branch twenty miles from Northport to Rossland, crossing the Co- lumbia river. He remained active in the operation of the road until 1898, when he disposed of it to the Northern Pacific Company. In 1905, having secured a long time traffic agreement with the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, he began the building of one hundred and forty miles of the Spokane International Railway, con- necting this city with the Canadian Pacific at Eastport-King's Gate, on the Inter- national boundary line. This was completed in 1896 and Mr. Corbin still remains the president. It is a widely recognized fact that railway building is the most potent element in the development of a new and unsettled country and through his opera- tions Mr. Corbin has effectively aided in opening up a vast section of the northwest
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to settlement and trade. He has also extended his efforts into other fields of activity and his labors have at all times been of a character that have contributed to public prosperity as well as to individual success. In 1897 he organized the Washington State Sugar Company of Spokane, which has since operated the extensive beet sugar factory at Waverly, with an average annual product of sixty thousand bags of sugar, and of this company he has always been the president. He was likewise the promoter and is the most prominent figure in the Spokane Valley Land & Water Company, owning six thousand acres and a water supply sufficient for the irriga- tion of eighteen thousand acres. He has extensive holdings in coal lands as the presi- dent of the Corbin Coal & Coke Company, owning nearly fifteen thousand acres of coal bearing lands in British Columbia, which he has recently connected with the Canadian Pacific by a Railway fourteen miles in length. In financial interests in Spokane Mr. Corbin figures as a trustee of the Union Trust Company.
The family of Mr. Corbin includes an only son, Austin, who is associated with his father in his enterprises. A daughter, Louise, who died in May, 1909, married the earl of Orford of the historic Walpole family in the British peerage, and an- other daughter, Mary, is the wife of Edward Balgny, of London, England. Such in brief is the history of Daniel Chase Corbin, who stands among the foremost of those who have contributed to the upbuilding and development of the northwest. History is no longer a record of wars but the records of conquests of mind over matter, and the men who are foremost in the life of the day are those to whom natural resources afford opportunity, their keen vision enabling them to see beyond the needs and conditions of the hour and anticipate the possibilities of the future. Possessing broad, enlightened and liberal minded views, faith in himself and in the vast potentialities for development inherent in his country's wide domain and spe- cific needs along the distinctive lines chosen for his life's work, the active career of Mr. Corbin has been one in which he has accomplished important and far-reach- ing results, contributing in no small degree to the expansion and material growth of the Pacific coast country and from which he himself has derived substantial benefits.
ROLLO S. CLASON, M. D.
The medical fraternity of Spokane has an able representative in Dr. Rollo S. Clason, who has been a practicing physician and surgeon of this city for twenty years. His birth occurred on the 1st of March, 1847, at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, his parents being George W. and Naomi (Seward) Clason. The Clason family traces its ancestry back to the clan MacClay, of Scotland, who were active in the wars between Scotland and England. The family name was changed from the Son of Clay to Clason when its first representative came to America. He arrived in this country in 1640 and settled at Stamford, Connecticut, where he was married. His wife was of French extraction and during her lifetime was accused of being a witch, this being the age of witchchaft, but was subsequently acquitted on trial.
Dr. Clason received his education in the public schools and in the Wayland Academy of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. In 1870 he removed to California, where he engaged in teaching in the various colleges of that state, but, finding that teaching
DR. R. S. CLASON
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was not the profession which he desired to follow throughout his life, he took up the study of medicine at the Cooper Medical College of San Francisco and was graduated from that institution in 1889, with the degree of M. D. He immediately began the practice of medicine at Oakland, California, and remained in that city until he removed to Spokane in 1892, where he has since been one of the prominent practicing physicians. The Doctor has made a specialty of children's diseases and as such has gained a wide reputation. By giving conscientious attention to his patients and by the careful study which he continually engages in, he has won the regard and esteem of all who have employed his services. He seems to possess an intuitive knowledge of the details of his profession and is seldom, if ever, at fault in the diagnosis of a case.
In 1869 Dr. Clason was married to Miss Alla Sylvester, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Sylvester. She is a native of Maine but resided in Wisconsin at the time of her marriage. To their union three children have been born: George W., who is now engaged in the real-estate business in Spokane; Mrs. Della Sperling, who is a resident of Elizabeth, New Jersey; and Mrs. Elsa Preston, who is living in Spokane.
Dr. Clason has always been greatly interested in the welfare of Spokane and as a member of the celebrated 150,000 Club was active in promoting many of the measures which were instituted for the development and improvement of the city. Owing to ill health, however, he has been compelled to live quietly and refrain from becoming affiliated with clubs and fraternal orders. Since his residence here he has built two homes, the last one being at No. 1012 Shannon avenue, where he is now residing. He is a man who has won the regard and confidence of his fellow citizens because of his integrity, his industry and his unfailing courtesy.
WALTER PERRY EDRIS.
Walter Perry Edris, who since 1909 has filled the position of postmaster at Spokane, was born at Harrisburg, Oregon, August 30, 1870, his parents being William and Mary Edris. The father was a native of Berks county, Pennsyl- vania, born in 1832, and in 1853, when a young man of twenty-one years he em- igrated to the northwest, settling in Lane county, Oregon. He was married in Monroe, Benton county, that state, in 1861, and engaged in the flour business, erecting one of the first mills in the far northwest. The undertaking prospered and for a long period he was a prominent representative of flour manufacture in this section of the country. Moreover, he had the distinction of introducing the first self-binder on the Pacific coast. In 1872 he removed with his family to Eugene, Oregon, where he again engaged in the operation of a flour mill up to the time of his retirement from business life. His last days were spent in Port- land, Oregon, where he passed away in 1906.
Walter Perry Edris enjoyed the benefit of instruction in the public schools of Eugene and afterward attended Bishop Scott's Military Academy and also Holy Angels College, at Vancouver, Washington. On the completion of his education he returned home and joined his father in the milling business, learning the trade in all of its departments and familiarizing himself with every detail of flour manu-
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facture. He has been a resident of Spokane since 1896, at which time he secured a position in a flour mill. Later he went upon the road, traveling all over the northwest for different houses and subsequently for a period of seven years he was connected with the Spokane Flour Mills. His reliability and worth in busi- ness circles were widely recognized and gained for him the confidence and good- will of all with whom he met in trade transactions. He was called to public life in 1909, when, on the 26th of July of that year, he received the appointment of postmaster of Spokane. Up to that time he had never taken an active part in politics although he had always been a stanch advocate of republican principles and had supported the party at the polls. He is a man of good executive ability and since engaging upon the duties of his present position has greatly improved the service here.
Mr. Edris was united in marriage to Miss Anna Groat, of Oswego county, New York, and they now have three children: Ned C., Georgia W. and William. The family residence is at South 1303 Walnut street. Mr. Edris holds membership with the United Commercial Travelers and at the present writing is an officer of the grand council. His friends, and they are many, find him a most congenial companion because of his genuine personal worth, his cordiality and his recog- nition of good qualities in others. While upon the road he learned to make the best of every condition and to place people at ease in his presence and these qual- ities, combined with an entire absence of ostentation or display, have made him popular with a large circle of friends.
JOHN McMAHON.
John McMahon, the proprietor of the McMahon Hotel which he is conducting in connection with his grocery business, was one of the first settlers of Spirit Lake having located here the fall the town was opened for settlement. He was born in Toronto, Ontario, on the 3d of May, 1856, and is a son of John and Ann (Quin- lan) McMahon.
The early years in the life of John McMahon were spent in his native province, whose schools he attended until he was fifteen years of age. Feeling that he had gained sufficient knowledge to shoulder life's heavier responsibilities he began to work as farm hand, and for eight years thereafter was employed in that capacity. In 1879 he came to the United States, settling on a farm in the vicinity of Grand Forks, North Dakota. For twelve years he followed agricultural pursuits and on his land then engaged in the lumber business, being identified with commercial activities until 1904. Disposing of his interests he came to Idaho locating in Princeton, where he engaged in the hotel business until the fall of 1907. When it was announced that a town was to be located on the present site of Spirit Lake, Mr. McMahon with rare foresight recognized its opportunities and determined to be one of the first settlers. He immediately bought land and commenced the erec- tion of his hotel which he has ever since managed, at the same time engaging in the grocery business. He has met with excellent success in both and is rapidly becoming one of the affluent citizens of the town.
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Mr. McMahon was united in marriage on the 8th of February, 1888, to Miss Mary Phalen, a daughter of John Phalen of Ardoch, North Dakota. Four chil- dren have been born unto Mr. and Mrs. McMahon, two of whom are living: Harry, who was born in 1893; and Roy, whose birth occurred in 1896.
Both Mr. and Mrs. McMahon are communicants of the Roman Catholic church. He belongs to the Independent Order of Foresters of Ardoch, North Dakota, and is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, belonging to the Spirit Lake Camp. Mr. McMahon is a capable business man, resourceful and energetic who has won such success and prosperity as has been accorded him through tireless ef- fort and determination of spirit, the qualities that invariably win for their pos- sessor the reward for which he strives.
SAMUEL S. BASSETT.
One of the potential elements in the rapid and marvelous development of the northwest is the enthusiastic belief of the citizens in the future of this section of the country. Samuel S. Bassett is numbered among those who are at all times zealous in behalf of Spokane, her opportunities and her advantages. There are few who can boast as he can of having visited the site of the city in 1871. In that year, however, he encamped with his parents on the district that is now in- cluded within the corporation limits of Spokane and in 1900 he returned here to make his permanent residence. He has always resided west of the Mississippi and early became imbued with the spirit of enterprise and progress which has been the dominant element in the upbuilding of the great empire west of the "Father of Waters." His birth occurred in Delhi, Iowa, January 31, 1853 his parents being Gilbert B. O. and Mary (Smith) Bassett. Of English descent, the family was founded in New England at a period antedating the Revolutionary war as he is a descendant of William Bassett who came over on the ship, Fortune in 1621. He traces his ancestry from him down through Nathaniel Bassett I, Nathaniel Bassett II, Elnathan Bassett and Gilbert Bingham Oscar Bassett, father of our subject.
Gilbert B. O. Bassett was born in Middlebury, Vermont, February 19, 1817. Following his removal to Iowa he became a prominent citizen of his adopted county and was called to serve in public office. He was also connected at different times with merchandising and with farming and lived a life of usefulness and activity. He died June 8, 1878, being long survived by his wife, who passed away July 29, 1910. She reached the remarkable old age of almost ninety-four years, her birth having occurred August 1, 1816, in Lancaster county, Canada. The family comes of English ancestry and her grandfather was a soldier in the Rev- olutionary war. Four daughters and six sons were born unto Mr. and Mrs. Gil- bert B. O. Bassett, of whom the sons, Francis Marion and Hoka and the four daugh- ters have now passed away. Francis Marion enlisted in a Minnesota regiment during the Civil war, became ill through exposure and hardships, and his health was so undermined that he passed away several years later. Of the surviving sons of the family Henry S. Bassett is now a lawyer of Preston, Minnesota. Hc, too, was a soldier of the Civil war, enlisting in the Sixth Minnesota Regiment, and
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after engaging in active duty for a time in the north participated in some of the battles which marked the contest of arms in the south. When discharged he was holding the rank of first lieutenant. George W. Bassett is now engaged in farmi- ing and stock-raising in Washtucna, Washington, and has been somewhat promi- nent in the public life of the state, representing Adams county in the general assembly of 1908. A son, Gilbert, is now a resident of Helena, Montana.
After attending the public schools of Minnesota and Washington Samuel S. Bassett continued his education in Northfield College in the former state. He had accompanied his parents on their removal to the northwest crossing the plains in 1866 to Montana and in 1871, as previously stated, they encamped on the pres- ent site of Spokane, there being then but two shacks. Later they went to Walla Walla, where Samuel S. Bassett attended school, after which he sought the higher educational opportunities in Northfield College, completing his studies there in June, 1878. During the succeeding winter he engaged in teaching school in Iowa, after which he accepted a position as clerk of the probate conrt under his brother, H. S. Bassett, who was then probate judge in Fillmore county, Minnesota. Sam- uel S. Bassett continued in that position until 1883 and in the meantime, in partnership with his brother Gilbert had purchased four hundred acres of land there. However, he disposed of his property in 1883 and went to South Dakota where, with eight others, he scripped forty acres and established the town of La Grace, in what is now Campbell county. This was a pioneer district in which the work of development had scarcely begun and it was not until 1887 that the county was organized, at which time Mr. Bassett became the first registrar of deeds. He was also admitted to the bar, September 25, 1888, and was elected pros- ecuting attorney of Campbell county in the same year. The duties of his position were discharged so acceptably that at the end of the first term he was reelected in 1890, but resigned in 1891 and again established his home in the west. Going to Moscow, Idaho, he there practiced law until he came to Spokane, in 1900. He was admitted to practice before the bars of both Washington and Idaho in 1891 and has since been successfully following his profession. He first formed a part- nership with George M. Nethercutt, with whom he was associated for a year, and later entered into partnership relations with W. W. Saunders, with whom he con- tinued for a brief period. Since that time he has practiced alone and his ability is manifest in the large clientage accorded him. He represents several corpora- tions, among them the Lorenzo Mining and Mill Company of Idaho; the Patent Holding Manufacturing Company; the Diamond Carriage Company; the Inter- national Crayon Company and others, owning a large interest in each. He has a wide knowledge of corporation law, yet he is well versed in all departments of the profession. With the countless opportunities for profitable investment that are to be found in the northwest it is unusual for a man to concentrate his energies upon a single line and Mr. Bassett, in keeping with the tendency of the times, has extended his activities into other fields and beyond the strict path of his profes- sion. He has interests in Oregon and is a trustee of several companies besides those which he represents as an attorney. In his vocabulary "there is no such word as fail." His plans are carefully formed and executed and bring to him the measure of success which crowns unfaltering effort, intelligently directed.
On the 23d of June, 1883, at Preston, Minnesota, Mr. Bassett was married to Miss Katharina Hopp, a daughter of Michael Hopp who was one of the pioneer
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residents of Minnesota and comes of German ancestry. The only child of this marriage is Claude O. Bassett, who was graduated from the United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Maryland, but resigned his position in 1909, on account of eye trouble. He was graduated nearly a year ahead of his class and won honors at fencing. He now concentrates his attention upon business affairs in Spokane, being president of the Patent Holding Manufacturing Company and a director and secretary of the Diamond Carriage Company.
Mr. Bassett's study of the political questions and issues of the day has led him to give active and earnest support to the republican party. While residing in La Grace, South Dakota, he represented his party on the central committee, served as delegate to county conventions in Fillmore county, Minnesota, and was also a dele- gate to both county and state conventions in La Grace, South Dakota. He is in thorough sympathy with the beneficient and benevolent spirit of the Masonic fra- ternity and is an exemplary member of the blue lodge. He also has membership relations with the Independent Order of Foresters and with the Royal Highlanders. During much of his life he has lived in frontier districts and has taken an active part in the upbuilding of the sections in which he has made his home. In all of his public work he has looked beyond the exigencies of the moment to the oppor- tunities and needs of the future and has labored for later progress as well as for present prosperity. Spokane has no more enthusiastic champion of her interests or one whose efforts in her behalf are of a more practical and resultant character.
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