Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington, Part 18

Author:
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Spokane, Wash. : Western History
Number of Pages: 992

USA > Washington > Chelan County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 18
USA > Washington > Ferry County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 18
USA > Washington > Okanogan County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 18
USA > Washington > Stevens County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 18

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The initiatory efforts in the way of a county fair association were made in May, 1902. With the many and varied industries in this county and the recognized enterprise of her residents, it is a matter of surprise that the project so long lay dormant. The unqualified success of the fair held during the closing days of September, 1903. addressed by Governor Henry McBride, accentuate the truth of this proposition. But the original "fair meeting" which imparted an impetus to these agricul- tural, stock and industrial expositions was held at Colville in May, 1902. Jacob Stitzel was made temporary chairman and W. H. Sparks secretary. To incorporate the association and act as trustees until a permanent organization could be effected Messrs. Oakes, Knapp and Teeple were named as a committee. It was the

sense of this meeting, subsequently carried into execution, to incorporate the association with a capital stock of $20,000, with shares at $2 each. The organization was named the "Stev- ens County Producers Association," and the trustees were authorized to receive bids from the different towns in the county for the place of holding the fair. Thus the matter remained until August 9, when it was decided to hold the initial exposition at Meyers Falls, September 26, 27, 28, which was accordingly done, and the first annual fair of the Stevens County Pro- ducers Association passed into history. Ex- hibits of every description were above the aver- age in quality, the fruit display being especially fine. Throughout the three days' continuation of the fair the attendance was fully up to the expectations of the most sanguine.

In August of this year, 1902, one of the most important industries of the county met with a great disaster. The story is graphically told in the columns of the Stevens County Reveille :

As a result of fire which suddenly engulfed the big saw and planing mill of the Winslow Lumber Manu- facturing Company, situated three miles south of Col- ville, last Tuesday, August 12, all that is left of the largest lumbering plant in eastern Washington is a pile of smouldering ruins-a chaos of iron and steel ma- chinery warped beyond repair.

The origin of the fire is not known, but it is be- lieved to have been due to spontaneous combustion. The mill had been shut down for the noon hour and the men had had scarcely time to comfortably seat themselves at dinner when the alarm of fire was sounded. The employees are thoroughly organized into a very efficient fire department, but before they could reach their posts the flames had enveloped the entire machinery building. Access to the engine room was cut off and pumps dis- abled, leaving the men helpless to combat the terrible heat. The sun was intensely hot, and it seemed im- possible to stay the tide of impending conflagration. Less than two hundred feet away, piled over acres of ground to the westward was nearly three million feet of lumber. The men rushed into a veritable firery furn- ace, without water and other protection, and by sheer force and determination tore away the broad wooden tramways of lumber upon the yards. Within one hun- dred and fifty feet of the burning mills stood the dry kiln which was, also, saved from destruction. There is no telephonic communication between the mill and Col-

HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

ville, and the first known of the fire were reports brought in by passengers on the northbound train. Immediately every available conveyance hurriedly carried people from the city to the scene of the fire, but help from this source came too late. Within twenty minutes from the time of the first alarm of fire the building was in ruins.

The mill is owned by the Winslow Lumber Manu- facturing Company, a corporation capitalized at $50,000, and was built about two years ago at a cost of $25,000. It had a capacity of 75,000 feet of lumber per diem. Insurance on the machinery is said to have been less than 25 per cent. of the cost, but a larger portion covered the lumber in the yards which was uninjured. -

This mill was subsequently rebuilt.

Since the admission of Washington as a state the subject of a Pioneers organization in Stevens county has been agitated throughout the successive years, but without result. As there were no annual county fairs there were, consequently, no meetings of any great number of the earliest settlers at one time and at one place. Concerted action could not be taken. At the fair at Meyers Falls, unquestionably, the subject was rejuvenated, and this is the testi- mony of a number of the oldest residents of the county. Enthusiasm begets enthusiasm, and the attrition of a number of the more prominent pioneers of the county awakened an interest that finally found expression in practical re-

sults. On Wednesday, September 30, 1903, the pioneers of Stevens county assembled at the fair grounds in Colville and organized the "Stevens County Pioneer Society." Jacob Stit- zel was selected chairman of the meeting and S. F. Sherwood, secretary. A temporary or- ganization was formed and a committee ap- pointed to draft a constitution and by-laws to be submitted at a later date, when the organiza- tion should be made permanent. It was de- cided that all persons were eligible to member- ship who were residents of Washington at the time of its admission to statehood and who were at present residents of Stevens county. The committee on constitution and by-laws selected were C. H. Montgomery, Chewelah; Fay Ledgerwood, Columbia River; Mrs. C. B. Ide, Colville; John Rickey, Colville; Mrs. Ida Fedder, Meyers Falls; G. W. Harvey, Harvey; John Keough, White Lake; John B. Slater, Colville.

At a subsequent meeting the organiza- tion was made permanent, and the county now has a society which will contribute greatly to the preservation of historical data of this most fertile and productive succession of valleys.

CHAPTER III.

DESCRIPTIVE.

It is to the Stevens county of to-day, and to the resources lying within its modern limits, that we wish to direct the attention of the reader. The mutations of time and the exi- gencies of various periods have gradually re- duced her original territory, at one time em- bracing many of the principal counties of east- ern Washington, to a present area of 3.945

square miles, or 2,524,800 acres. Yet within this area, still generous and expansive, will be found a greater variety of natural resources than will be exploited in any other county division west of the Mississippi river, if not in the United States. To recapitulate them here would prove a work of supererogation for nearly all of them are treated elsewhere in their

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proper order and in volume commensurate with their importance.

Stevens county occupies the extreme north- eastern portion of the state. The average width from east to west is about fifty-five miles. The extreme length north and south is about eighty miles. This includes the Spokane Indian reser- vation. Topographically the county is moun- tainous, divided into three distinct sections, or more properly valleys, separated by low moun- tain ranges, the general trend of which is north and south. These three districts are known as the Calispell country, to the eastward; the Col- ville valley, the central portion of the county, and the Columbia river country, lying west of the Huckleberry mountains and forming, with the Columbia river, the division between Stev- ens and Ferry counties. The average altitude of the county is about nineteen hundred feet, Loon Lake being the highest, 2,440 feet, and Northport the lowest with an altitude of 1,350 feet. Springdale has an altitude of 2,100, and Colville of 1,602 feet.

It is not from abstract facts and figures that an adequate idea of the superlative attractive- ness of Stevens county can be obtained. The natural scenery lying along the three principal valleys mentioned will amply reward the busi- ness visitor or pleasure tourist. And it must be seen, traversed and investigated to be duly appreciated. It is not alone the scenery or the bountiful productiveness of this region that will attract attention, but the eye of the ex- pectant settler will readily grasp the full sig- nificance of its accessibility to the best local markets in the west. To the north and north- west are the great mining districts which are today attracting the attention of the entire union, from the Atlantic seaboard, from the Gulf coast and from the Pacific. Innumerable supplies for these Canadian camps must, per- force, pass through Stevens county, and it at once becomes evident to the traveler in this favored locality that the farmer can find himself in no more substantial location.

Extending through the county, longitudi- nally, is the beautiful Colville valley, historic ground of eastern Washington. It is from three to five miles in width. Although its principal industries are confined to grain, fruit, hay and stock raising, it contains a number of valuable mines and the richest marble quarries in the world. Along the Columbia river, to the west, in a valley varying from three to fif- teen miles in width, is found a profusion of the finest orchard products known to the west; it is the glorious horticultural domain of eastern Washington. Over in the eastern portion of the county, in the Pend d'Oreille valley, lies a country famous for its production of fine stock and enormous crops of hay. It is also, emphatically, the dairy region of the county. Here are some of the finest natural meadows in the state.

But the agricultural lands of this county are, by no means, confined to these three principal valleys. Many of the smaller streams and can- yons which lead upward into the higher alti- tudes broaden into expansive bench lands and some of the choicest stock, fruit and agricul- tural locations are to be found among them. Along the Pend d'Oreille river lie extensive bench lands whose possibilities, appreciated by the speculative mind, gladden the eye of the prospective settler. At present the larger por- tions of these locations are covered with val- uable timber. Once cleared they become among the most productive lands in the country. The timber is abundant and of excellent commercial varieties, such as yellow pine, the prevailing growth, fir, tamarack and cedar. To the mind of the practical lumberman these facts will appeal with great weight. From the experience of the past he can reason of the future; he knows the rapidly increasing limitations of forest reserves and the steadily advancing price at which timber lands are held. The diurnal, and in busy seasons the nocturnal whirr of hundreds of saw mills are heard throughout the county. Yet these great machines are but the

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

pathfinders for advancing tides of agricultural immigrants who will soon follow with the seeder, the harrow and the header. For several years past these suggestions have been amply and practically illustrated by established facts. As an old agricultural district in eastern Wash- ington, Stevens ranks next to Walla Walla county. It is no theoretical question that lies before the pioneers of this section. Behind them are years of actual demonstration.

The excellence of its roads and highways is a predominating feature of this county. In this there has been wonderful advancement since the days when Lieutenant Mullan was labori- ously cutting a military road between Forts Walla Walla and Benton, in 1858. Probably there is not one man in Stevens county who ever sat in a "good roads" convention. And yet, considered as purely public highways for com- mercial purposes the roads here are unsurpassed by those of any other section. Money has been expended upon them lavishly, and the in- terest taken in such enterprises has been keen and earnest. The taxpayers have been far- sighted and financially acute to such advan- tages. The question of transportation has ever been a live one with the people, and serious. And wherever the cost of hauling a ton of produce to the railway station for the purpose of delivering it F. O. B. could be reduced it has been done, and done cheerfully. It is the testi- mony of Francis Wolff, one of the earliest of Stevens county pioneers, who came across the Rocky Mountains in 1853, with Governor Stevens, that in those days when the people wanted a road they haggled not with county commissioners but forthwith proceeded to shoulder their axes and make it. Such is the predominating spirit to this day. And on every hand, east, west, north and south, it is exempli- fied in excellent public highways to a gratifying extent.

Along these roads, where one can enjoy the pleasantest drives imaginable, a most satisfying idea of the manifold beauties of Stevens county

can be obtained. It is not from car windows that the actualities and possibilities of any pro- ductive locality can be seen to the best advan- tage. The exigencies of railroad-making often compel a line to be run through the most deso- late sections of such a country. The fairer portions are usually "just over the hill, the bluff or the mountain." But in quiet, reflective drives through peaceful valleys, by tinkling brooks, or in silent, sombre woodlands, one can thoroughly assimilate the beauties of the scenery, acquire local color, and come in touch with the heart-throbs of the people with whom he desires to mingle on an equal foot- ing and with equal facilities to learn their true conditions. It is in such drives through the Stevens county valleys that a glorious panorama of ever changing beauties unfolds before him. It is a series of pastoral pictures that greet the traveler's eye, varying with the seasons. From seed time to harvest, and from harvest to spring the aspect of this agricultural country continually presents a new and inspir- ing view. And the traveler realizes that eachı month the country is growing richer; richer in material products; richer in thought, experi- ence and substantiality.

Should the tourist's road lead through the majestic forests the ring of the swamper's axe will alternate with the flute-note of some wild bird, or the stirring, exhilirating drum of the partridge. Then silence for a distance, and then the whirr of a lumber mill will sharply ac- centuate the difference between solitude in the "forests primeval," and the restless industry of man. For it is not in the broil and moil of city life that the actual producing industries of our country are carried on. Far from it. There they are simply living one upon the other; a vast throng of non-producing bumble-bees, more remarkable for their ceaseless hum than for honey. It is here, back in the mountains, the woodlands, the meadows and the harvest fields that the farmer, the miner, the stockman and the fruit grower are supporting them all.

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

Albeit our Stevens county traveler-by pri- vate conveyance-would fain forget for a while the rush, roar and hustle of conflicting com- mercial interests, and turn to sports afield. They abound on every hand. Mr. S. Fred Sherwood, of Colville, an ardent and true sportsman, one who has hunted from the Catskills to the Olympics, in Central and South America and other countries, ranks as one of the leading authorities in the country on fauna. He says that Stevens county stands peerless in the profusion of bear, deer and lesser game. On the Columbia mountains and in many other portions of the county range the beautiful black-tail, or Columbia deer, as well as Virginia or mule-deer ; black, brown and silver-tip bears are the easy prey of the skillful sportsman in all the mountains and valleys. Caribou is also found, but principally in the Metaline district and the Calispell country. Smaller game abounds represented by the blue grouse, sharp- tail grouse, or prairie chicken, ruff grouse, commonly called pheasant, and spruce partridge or fool hen. All of these birds of the gallina- ceous species are found in abundance through- out the valleys of the rivers and the creeks of the canyons. And a bird not indigenous to all localities in the state appears in small num- bers in Stevens county, a bird that has been removed by Tennyson from its humble coverts into the classic niche of fame.

'Tis the place, and all around it, as of old the curlews call, Dreary gleams about the moorland flying over Locksley Hall.

There are, also, the upland plover, and in the bottoms the rail and rare and gamey jack- snipe. The latter is the true sportsman's de- light, for it is an exceedingly active bird, diffi- cult to capture and must, invariably, be shot on the wing. While the jacksnipe is a migra- tory bird, it has been known to nest and winter in Stevens county. Throughout the swampy portions of the valleys and in the lakes abound

many varieties of wild geese and ducks. Here are found in the spring and autumn months the Canadian, spot-breasted gray goose, white goose, or brant, sand-hill crane and swan. The evening flight of wild ducks, together with the appropriate mise en scene, recall Bryant's pastoral --

Vain might the fowler mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong.

Not in vain, however, in this section of the country. It is popular opinion that every fish- erman should carry a gun, so plentiful are wild ducks. To the skillful sportsman the canvas- back, redhead, mallard, blue-wingteal, green- wingteal, widgeon and other varieties of ducks are easy prey and gamey sport. Trout fishing throughout the county is unexcelled. All of the numerous streams abound in this variety of the finny tribe peculiar to the region of the Rockies. The principal species, however, is the rainbow trout, although other varieties of brook and mountain trout are often among a good day's catch.

Concerning the resources of the lower Pend d'Oreille river, Stevens county, the following article from the pen of a well-known writer and correspondent conveys an adequate and con- servative view of that picturesque country :

"A great country with a great future;" such is the expression from every one who gives himself the pleas- ure of the journey from Newport, Washington, by steamboat on the lovely and incomparable river, the Pend d'Oreille, to Box Canyon, a distance of about fifty-four miles. The river for the first thirty miles runs through a country now well-known and partly settled, and is the highway to the mining districts of Bead and Marshall Lakes, the open and fertile Calispell Valley, famous for its hay and butter, and Usk, the chief center of supply for this region.

At Parker the stretches of the lower river com- mence and the country on both banks is being rapidly settled. Some three miles below Parker Mountain, on the east bank, and situated in an immense forest of splendid timber, a large sawmill of 50,000 capacity per day is being erected. About two miles below this is another large sawmill in process of erection, while just below we pass through a large granite belt, con- tiguous to the coal measures, and which is found to con-

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tain several varieties of structural granite, from the gray to the red.

Next we sight the well-known landmark, The Blue Slide, (a large landslide from the side of the mountain into the river of decomposed porphyry). From here the country widens out in extensive flats, well timbered and watered, and where cultivated, is found to yield abundant crops of hay, vegetables and fruit. Here are to be seen some of the finest ranches in the northwest, well sheltered and watered, and from whence starts the trail for Sullivan Lake, distant to the northwest some twelve miles, where game of all kinds abound, with caribou in the higher ranges beyond. At this point the river seemes to be obstructed by a high mountain with rugged and picturesque faces, bluffs and slopes. The river at this point is very wide and deep, and affords a natural harbor with easy anchorage. The mountain, known as Mount Jordan, is one vast and inexhaustible deposit of cement material and upon near approach we see active progress of construction under way of a large Portland and natural cement plant. The buildings are so located that all the material proceeds from one de- partment of the plant to another by gravity, thus re- ducing the cost of manufacture, and all the power is generated from the water of a side stream conducted in a ditch so as to give a fall of one hundred and ten feet, generating a power of two hundred horse power. The deposits of material are suited to the manufacture of very high grades of Portland cement and two grades of hydraulic natural cement. The cements being now made in the model plant, when compared with the imported cement, are at least forty per cent. in favor of the local article produced. It is safe to assert that here is being erected a plant that will supply the trade and be in operation so long as cement is used. The works and town site are prettily situated on a flat bench over- looking the river, and one can forsee a soon-to-be loca- tion of a prosperous, thriving city to be known as Portland.

One mile farther down the river and just above the Box Canyon on the east side of the river are ex- tensive quarries of marble, now being operated by a company that are producing marbles of many shades and colors, from pure white statuary to the jet black monu- mental, with grays and indescribable cloudings. The quarries are being opened up with steam drills and the prospects are that the marble will be highly suited for statuary, decorative and monumental purposes.

Leaving the steamboat here we take the trail on the west bank for the old mining camp of the Metaline. Before we have gone quite one half a mile we come upon the great sandstone quarries, which are of the fine grain, blue varieties and classed as free stone. This sandstone is easily worked, having the property of hardening when exposed to the air. The beds are level and blocks of monolith size can be quarried. Below the sandstone is a deposit of fire-clay in vast quantities that has the same. property of the clays of Europe, noted for making fire brick. Seven miles from here is the

camp of the old Metaline, where progress is stagnated from the lack of transportation. It will be seen that there are resources on the lower Pend d'Oreille river which for quality and abundance it would be hard to equal and which will give employment and support for a very large population.

Perhaps no other county in the state of Washington possesses greater available water power than Stevens. Nor is this valuable auxiliary to successful manufacturing indus- tries confined to one locality within the limits of the county. The most important in volume and power are the Kettle Falls of the Columbia river, near the town of that name. Here the river makes a precipitous descent of thirty-five feet. This immense volume of water accumu- lates force sufficient to warrant the assertion that it is the most extensive hydraulic power in the west ; a force capable of supplying electric energy throughout the entire territory em- braced by many contiguous counties. Another magnificent water power is that of Meyers Falls, in the Colville river. One-half mile from this is located the town of Meyers Falls, an- cient in history and reminiscent of the old Hudson's Bay Company. Here is a succession of falls that would be easily developed and are capable of furnishing thousands of horsepower. Within the limits of three-eights of a mile the total fall is one hundred and thirty-five feet. The main fall is eighty feet high. Aside from these are the Albany falls, two miles east of Newport, on the Idaho line, and the falls of the lower Pend d'Oreille river. At present these great water powers are practically undeveloped. There are flour and saw mills at Meyers Falls, and an electric light plant supplying a number of towns, but otherwise little advantage has been taken, so far, of the vast possibilities of these mighty and economical forces of generous nature.

Considered as a fruit producing section Stevens county is unsurpassed. It has been claimed that her prolific qualities in this line challenge the world. To those who have deli- cately implied that this was rather a sweeping

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assertion, reply has been made that it was abso- lutely true, and a number of fruit exhibitors have very nearly approached verification. It is quite certain, however, that a vital and most advantageous consideration to the Stevens county fruit grower lies in a lucrative market at its doors. The bane of the western fruit grower has ever been exhorbitant and, at times, prohibitive cost of transportation. But so omniverous is the demand of the mining towns of the northern country for Colville and Colum- bia valley fruits that prices have invariably ruled high. The horticultural industry is in- creasing in a most gratifying ratio with each successive year. In the Columbia river valley, from the town of Marcus, extending along the Columbia a distance of one hundred miles, lies a belt from five to fifteen miles in width. This is the remunerative habitat of the deciduous fruit grower. Many varieties of the tenderest fruits thrive here and yield profusely, as the magnificent Morrison, Sparks, Clinton, Harvey and other orchards, laden in season with lucious, sweetly flavored fruits glowingly testify. Fully three-fourths of the area men- tioned is well adapted to fruit growths. With equal care and intelligent cultivation all this territory can be made fully as productive as the orchards named above. Two of the leading horticulturists of Stevens county have testified from the view point of experts concerning this industry. Mr. W. H. Oakes says :

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Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington, Part 18

Author: Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Spokane, Wash. : Western History Number of Pages: 992

Author:
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Spokane, Wash. : Western History
Number of Pages: 992