Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington, Part 23

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 23
USA > Washington > Ferry County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 23
USA > Washington > Okanogan County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 23
USA > Washington > Stevens County > Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington > Part 23

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

Kettle Falls-August 14, 1889, Eugene La- framboyse. Eighteen or twenty additions to Kettle Falls were platted in a very short time after this.

Chewelah-March 28, 1884, E. J. Web- ster, J. S. Kaufman, Eugene G. Miller.

Loon Lake-February 18, 1890, Cyrus F. Mathers.

Meyers Falls-September 18, 1890. One townsite by L. W. Meyers, September 18, 1890; one townsite by Jacob A. Meyers Sep- tember 29, 1890, and one townsite by G. B. Ide.

Squire City .- November 29, 1899, Charles O. Squire. This was Springdale, the name being changed later. See account of Spring- dale elsewhere.

Marcus-June 27. 1890, Marcus Open- heimer, James Monaghan.

Columbia-August 14, 1890, Adel Bishop.

East Marcus-August 5, 1890, E. D. Mor- rison, O. B. Nelson.

'Springdale -- December 11, 1890, Thomas D. Schofield.

Loon Lake Park-July 29, 1891, Daniel C. Corbin. This was afterward unplatted and used alone for park purposes.

Valley-July 29, 1891, Daniel C. Corbin.

Donald Townsite-December 5, 1891, Don- ald Mc Donald.

Northport-May 28, 1892, Northport Townsite Company : by E. J. Roberts, presi- dent ; A. T. Herrick, secretary.

Addy-January 23, 1893, G. Fatzer.

Millington-May 1, 1893, Consolidated Bonanza Mining & Smelting Company; by J. E. Foster, president; C. H. Armstrong, secre- tary.

Clayton-July 5, 1894, Washington Brick. Lime & Manufacturing Company ; by H. Brook, president ; Joseph H. Spear, secretary.

Newport-August 14, 1897, Joseph H. Hughes.

Granite Point-September 24. 1900, John R. Stone, John W. Chapman.

Hunters-April 15, 1901, W. H. Latta. Daisy-April 9, 1902, Samuel L. Magee. Cusick-May 24, 1902, J. WV. Cusick. Usk-June 9, 1903, George H. Jones.

COLVILLE.

This is the county seat of Stevens county, which it has been for many years, and at periods when its jurisdiction covered a vast range of territory, nearly the whole of eastern Wash- ington, and at one time Idaho and a portion of Montana. The town is most eligibly located on a slightly plateau, sitting at the base of Mount Colville, yet overlooking the grand per- spective of the famously productive valley that bears its name. The census of 1900 gave Col- ville a population of 594, but during the past three years this has been increased to over 800. The altitude of Colville, as given by the United States Geological Survey, is 1,602 feet ; that of Colville Mountain, by the North Transconti- nental survey, 5,667 feet. It is an incorpo- rated city on the line of the Spokane Falls & Northern Railroad, eighty-eight miles north of Spokane.

In many respects Colville is a most charm- ing place of residence. To the north rises a gentle declevity shaded by handsome groves, known as "Nob Hill," commanding from its picturesque eminence a full view of the beauti- ful Colville valley, through which winds like a silver thread in a cloth of green the Colville river. Clustered among the shade trees of Nob Hill are some of the most elegant, com- fortable and modern residences in the state. To the east rise in successive heights, like mam- moth terraces, a range of imposing mountains, the whole north and east forming an effective background for one of the prettiest townsites in Washington. To the southward trends the Colville river in sinuous convolutions, fringed by low trees and bushes, and winding through the richest and most productive hay land in the country.

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

Although a comparatively virgin region Colville is one of the oldest towns in the state. Much of its earliest history has already been given in the first chapter of the second part of this work, and necessarily so. Therein will be read how the original town, a few miles distant, was named "Pinkney City," and the conditions under which the county seat was removed to its present site, together with the date of the same. The first building erected on the site of the present town of Colville is the brewery which is still in existence and located on Main street. This edifice was erected in 1874 by John U. Hofstetter. For a period of eight years it remained the only building on the pres- ent townsite of Colville.

In 1883 the town was platted by Major Hooker and John Still, of Cheney, Spokane county. Two adjoining ranches were owned at that time by Mr. Hofstetter and John Wynn. From these ranches land was taken for the townsite. But it was not until 1882 that the present town of Colville began to evolve into a material existence and the old town of Pink- ney City fade to a melancholy landmark. In that year the military post at Fort Colville, which had been established in 1859, was aban- doned. The greater portion of the business of Pinkney City had been supported by the garri- son at the fort. When the soldiers departed the business men gathered their lares and pen- ates; their stocks of goods and household ef- fects, and hied themselves to the new town of Colville. Aside from the abandonment of the fort there were other cogent reasons why Col- ville should flourish and the old town deterior- ate. Pinkney City was an out-of-the-way place and far from being so convenient and accessi- ble as the present site of the county seat. The first man to change his location from the old town to Colville was C. H. Montgomery. He moved his store and goods in 1882 to a point which is now the north end of Main street.

Of the new town Mr. Montgomery was the pioneer merchant. The same year Mr. F.

Wolff removed his saloon and billiard hall from Pinkney City, and he was the second person to establish business relations with Colville. He located on Main street, on the corner now occu- pied by Goetter's drug store. He also erected a residence for himself and family near his place of business. The disintegration of the old town was rapid. The same year Oppen- heimer Brothers, the last remaining business men in Pinkney City, capitulated to the stern logic of events, struck their commercial tents in the old town, came in to Colville, and Pink- ney City for all practicable purposes was a thing of the past-a tale that is told. It remained but a country of reminiscences ; a historic ruin ; a veritable "Deserted Village."

Following the departure of the troops from Fort Colville in 1882, new settlers coming into the new town appeared to consider the aban- doned fort and barracks as public property. They literally tore the government's build- ings to pieces, utilizing the lumber for the pur- pose of building shacks for themselves. Not only did they wantonly remove the lumber and brick which were of use to them, but their van- dalism extended to the abstraction of the flag- staff and other articles for which they had no need. The few private buildings which re- mained in the town also suffered a like fate, al- though the greater number of them had been removed. In this connection Mr. Wolff says :

"I wish to say that not one of the old set- tlers were guilty of this vandalism. Colonel Merriam came up from the fort at the mouth of the Spokane river and took back with him the doors and windows of the government building and these were about the only articles saved from the wreckage of the plant."

For seven years the town of Colville re- mained a country village with nothing other- wise than a merely nominal organization. In 1889 John U. Hofstetter and other citizens of Colville, by their attorney. H. G. Kirkpatrick, petitioned the judge of the district court, then holding a session in Colville, to incorporate the

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

town of Colville. The signers of this petition which brought about the first incorporation of the town were: John U. Hofstetter, Oliver Peone, L. Flugel, M. Cherette, Frank Habein, E. Oppenheimer, Joseph Luckenbel, J. M. Bew- ley, Frank B. Goetter, J. H. Young, Fred Hoss, A. A. Barnett, F. Barman, T. M. McClure, S. H. Manly, F. Wolff, John Brook, George C. Schneider, John Leipp, W. H. Kearney, W. H. Wright, S. F. Sherwood, Carl Flugel, Thomas L. Savage, Louis F. Scheifele, M. Seylor, W. M. Varker, Louis Perras, C. H. Thompson, E. L. Swain, W. S. Prindle, David T. Stewart, S. Douglas, Court Lousie, J. H. Mckenzie.

Following is the decree of the court which is taken from volume "A" on page 167 :

"It is ordered and declared that said town is hereby duly incorporated, and the metes and bounds thereof are hereby designated and de- clared to be as follows; Commencing at the northwest corner of section 9, in township 35, N. R. 39, E. W. M., thence running south along the west line of said section to the south- west corner thereof ; thence east along the south line of said section to the southeast corner there- of; thence north along the east line of said sec- tion to the northeast corner thereof ; thence west along the north line of said section to the point of beginning.

"And the name of said town is hereby or- dered and declared to be Colville. It is further ordered that the following named persons be appointed and that they shall constitute the board of trustees of said town until their suc- cessors are elected and qualified, viz : John U. Hofstetter, W. H. Wright, Wm. Varker, T. M. McClure, Thomas L. Savage.

"It is further ordered that petitioners pay the cost of this proceeding."

On the 14th day of June, 1889, these gen- tlemen took the oath of office and entered upon the discharge of their duties. John U. Hof- stetter was elected chairman of the council and William Varker temporary clerk. Samuel Douglas was elected town counselor. At the

next meeting of the council W. L. Davis was appointed town clerk and A. A. Barnett town marshal, city assessor and street commissioner. F. B. Goetter was appointed town treasurer.

Thus municipal matters remained until Feb- ruary, 1890, when the discovery was made that the incorporation under which the city of Col- ville had been transacting business was void. The process of incorporation had been under the territorial laws. Concerning this matter Mr. John B. Slater says :

"The present town of Colville was incorpo- rated in 1889 under the territorial law. This was done through the agency of the district court. In February, 1890, shortly after Wash- ington had been admitted as a state, the state supreme court held that under the state law the court's incorporation of towns was void. The town immediately proceeded to reincorporate in accordance with the requirements of the state law. The reincorporation of the town of Colville brought up a fine point of law, which was not decided until some few years afterward. The city government under the territorial in- corporation had contracted a number of debts. One of them, an item of indebtedness, was an account of $600 due Mr. A. A. Barnett for ser- vices as town marshal. Under the ruling of the supreme court in 1890 the former incorpo- ration was held to be null and void and to have no legal existence. With this decision staring them in the face the new town authorities did not feel like assuming the responsibility of pay- ing the debts. The matter was allowed to drag along for several years, and the case finally was decided in the supreme court, having been taken up by M. M. Cowley for the Traders' National Bank of Spokane, which held some of the warrants. The court decided that while the old corporation had no legal connection with the new corporation, the debts were contracted in good faith by practically the same organiza- tion, and Colville was ordered to pay the indebt- edness contracted by the former city govern- ment."

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

A brief resume of the reincorporation of the county seat made necessary by the decision of the state supreme court will not be out of place here, as it is valuable historical data. When the people of Colville were rudely awakened to the fact that instead of being a full-fledged city they were not a corporate body at all, a petition was presented to the board of county commis- sioners asking for incorporation of the town of Colville under the laws of the state. This petition was granted and Monday, May 26, 1890, was set for holding a special election to name five trustees and one town treasurer. June 2 the vote at this special election was canvassed by the commissioners. It was found that the total number of votes cast was 76, of which 76 were in favor of incorporation and none against it. The trustees elected were A. A. Barnett, Benjamin P. Moore, John B. Sla- ter, O. Peone and Lewis Schifile. Frank B. Goetter was elected town treasurer. Colville was declared to be a town of the fourth class.

June 12, 1890, the new council convened in its initial session, and proceeded to organize. A. A. Barnett was chosen mayor ; John U. Hof- stetter, street commissioner; F. Wolff, town marshall ; J. H. Moyle, town clerk ; H. G. Kirk- patrick, town attorney ; R. B. Thomas, engineer. J. H. Moyle declined to serve as town clerk, and F. H. Fish was selected for that position. Colville was now on a firm municipal basis and the matter of indebtedness contracted by the organization under the territorial law drifted along, got into court, and was finally adjusted as previously stated.

May 26, 1891, a special election was held for the purpose of deciding whether or not to bond the town. Seventy votes were cast and all of them in favor of bonding. These bonds were voted for the purpose of establishing a municipal system of water works, but they were never issued. At a meeting of the town coun- cil held February 3, 1891, a motion prevailed to instruct the town attorney to draft a memorial to the legislature of the state of Washington.

asking for an enabling act authorizing the pres- ent incorporation of the town of Colville to assume all indebtedness contracted by the orig- inal territorial incorporation, which had been declared void by the state supreme court. Ac- cordingly the memorial was drawn up, a few days later, and a copy forwarded to the state legislature then in session at Olympia. It does not appear that the legislature acted upon this petition, as we find the case subsequently in the state supreme court, the Traders' National Bank of Spokane, plaintiff. The court's decis- ion was favorable to the sentiments of the signers of this memorial.

Sunday, March 1, 1891, the First Congre- gational Church, of Colville, was dedicated. Of these services the Republican, under date of March 7, says :

"The sermon of Rev. Walters was one of the ablest ever enjoyed by a Colville audience. After the sermon, and other exercises, includ- ing hymns and anthems excellently rendered, Mr. Walters made an appeal for contributions to finish paying for the church. His words were so well chosen and his manner so winning that the whole amount was made up in a short time, the donors seeming to feel it a privilege to contribute. One of the special features of the occasion was the presentation of an elegant pulpit Bible by Mrs. Fannie Barman. The gift was highly appreciated. The church is a beautiful edifice, well appointed and convenient. The church was dedicated free of debt, $530.50 being raised by Mr. Walters and Mr. Clark."

February 13, 1892, Colville suffered its first severe loss by fire. Although the total of losses was not great, yet they were severe when the size of the town is taken into consideration. This conflagration was quite a sensational event, moreover, as it developed a certain sturdy heroism in the handling of so deadly an explosive as dynamite. The fire broke out at 7:30 p. m., in the Dominion hotel. Nearly the entire population of Colville, at that time, were gathered at Meyers' Opera House witnessing a

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

play presented by the Ladies' Aid Society, of Colville. At that period the only fire depart- ment possessed by the municipality was a bucket brigade. But it proved surprisingly effi- cient and accomplished yeoman service. A ro- tary pump belonging to Joseph Luckenbel was, also, brought into requisition and immediate action by attaching to it the hose of the Meyers' block. This line of hose was laid across the street and within a remarkably brief space of time a good stream was brought to bear on the Witham building. At the time the window frames and sash of this edifice were already smoking and about to be fanned into flames. Across the windows were placed blankets and pieces of carpet, and these were saturated with water. But so intense was the heat that this proved useless. All glass on the south side of the Witham block cracked into flinders and fell to the ground. It now looked as though the Rickey store building, Charette's saloon and the Hofstetter barn, and a place called the "Ark" would be destroyed. It was also plain that unless some immediate and effective action could be taken the saloon of James Durkin, Habrin's stable, the postoffice and, possibly Perras & Lemery's store would soon burst into flames.

At this critical juncture was heard the cry of "dynamite and giant powder!" rising above the tumult of the crowd and the roar of devour- ing flames rapidly eating up the hotel. Almost simultaneously a man was observed running toward the Rickey building with a box of giant powder on his shoulder. At once an order rang out for everyone to fall back and watch for fly- ing timbers. The crowd required no urging to act upon such a sensible suggestion, and a deaf- ening explosion immediately followed; the Rickey building could be seen in the air flying in all directions ; it was plainly evident that the courageous parties who handled the powder were experts in the business. This was heroic treatment but effective, although other buildings in the vicinity did not escape damage

consequent upon the force of the explosion. All the glass in Durkin's saloon and Habein's stable was broken, as were several windows in the postoffice, and one large plate glass in the Hotel Colville, besides several smaller ones in various parts of the building. William Hof- stetter sustained quite severe bruises caused by a portion of the roof of the Rickey building falling upon him.

The Dominion hotel was built in the fall of the year 1885 at a cost of about $5,000. It was erected when material was very high, and was composed entirely of wood. The Rickey build- ing was built about the same period and cost about $1,500, but was valued at $1,000. It was a total loss to Mr. Rickey as it was absolutely necessary to blow up the building to save adja- cent property. The losses were about as fol- lows : Benoyse estate, $3,000: John Rickey, (no insurance) $1,000; J. J. Cascadden, furni- ture, $500; F. Barman, $250; C. W. Witham, $250 ; Mattie Charette, $100; I. Luft, $100; A. Chandler, $150; D. T. Daniels, $50; James Durkin, $150; Frank Habein, $25; Charles Fluegle, $15; John U. Hofstetter, $15; Court House, $10; postoffice, $5.

It is necessary to revert to the year 1887 for the purpose of calling attention to the fact that Colville at one time had a smelter. It was erected in 1887 by the Mutual Mining & Smelt- ing Company and conducted at a profit for two years, being located on the hill north and adja- cent to the city. The company was an organi- zation of New York capitalists, the stock being $100,000, in shares of $1 each. The cost of the plant was $25,000. Ore was hauled by teams from various parts of the county, principally Chewelah, there being no railway line to Col- ville at that period. It was necessary to haul the coke from Spokane by team. The smelter finally passed into the hands of Receiver John B. Slater, and was disposed of by him.

Following the disastrous fire of February, 1892, steps were taken in the following March for the organization of the Colville Hook and

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Ladder Company. This organization was per- fected at a meeting held March 5th, at the office of J. C. Luckenbel. The following officers were elected: S. F. Sherwood, foreman; F. C. Hammond, assistant foreman ; J. B. D. Meeds, Jr., secretary ; W. H. Kearney, treasurer ; J. C. Luckenbel, truckman.

The following were elected as charter mem- bers: S. F. Sherwood, Joseph C. Luckenbel, J. B. D. Meeds, Jr .; F. B. Goetter ; C. S. In- galls; F. C. Hammond; N. J. Klass; H. W. Sacher; F. H. Fish; S. Dilsheimer; E S. Miller ; C. D. Coleman ; W. S. Prindle; James Thomas : Ole Olson; W. Miller; W. H. Kear- ney ; S. Walsh ; A. H. Sperry ; J. Sacher ; C. W. Witham.

March 15 the town council appropriated $500 for the support of the newly organized fire company, having rescinded a former appro- priation of $300 which had never been used.

The material prosperity and social condi- tions of Colville can best be described by the following extracts from local journals. Jan- uary 29, 1892, the Republican said :

"There are now in contemplation five hand- some business houses, the building of which will commence in the early spring. The smelter is certain to become the property of some individual or company who will run it for all it is worth, after making a few changes in construction. The cause of its lying idle was its unfortunate ownership by men lacking cap- ital and devoid of business ability. There have been more transfers of Colville lots within the last three months-genuine transactions on a business basis-than have been made during the same time by all the rest of the towns in the county combined. Do not misunderstand us; we are not crowing: we only wish that every town in the county, as well as this place, had been blessed with a brisk trade in town prop- erty.

"There have been in the past. and we pre- sume there are still some people in the county who have an unaccountable prejudice against

the county seat. We will say to those people that while the whole county is growing, Col- ville is also developing, that new, modern and artistic residences are being built, that it has been a long time since you have been here; that you should come and see these substantial ini- provements that you may realize the fact that the town of Colville stands on the ground that will be covered by the City of this portion of the country within five years.

Work on the mines in this vicinity has more than doubled within the last six months ; fifty men are at work building the Old Dominion concentrator, and the promise is that so soon as it is at work a large number of mines whose ores will assay from $60 to $500 a ton will be opened up in good shape. Make no mistake; things are coming our way, and business is picking up; spring will open with an activity that will take the wind out of the sails of the chronic kicker."

February 28, 1895, the Index said :

"Notwithstanding the prevailing hard times and general depression, Colville does not pro- pose to fold her hands and, like Micawber, wait for 'something to turn up.' She is not built that way. The season will open in Colville by the erection of several buildings, business houses and residences. C. W. Winter, of the Bank of Colville, has purchased ground on East Still street upon which he will erect a fine residence to be ready for occupancy this summer. Charles Thompson will also build a residence in the eastern part of the town. W. H. Wright will soon begin the erection of a business house on the corner of Still and Main streets, on the site of his old store which was burned. Other improvements will be made in the near future which are not yet sufficiently developed to be mentioned."

September 3, 1897, the Index said :

"Colville is a larger town that even in the days of the boom of many years ago. At pres- ent there is not a vacant house in town and many families are occupying rooms in blocks

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HISTORY OF NORTH WASHINGTON.

simply because there are not enough residence buildings adequate to the demand. Real estate is held at normal value and considered cheap. Numerous cottages are being built at present, and it is safe to presume that besides these many more will find tenants, especially during the school terms, at good rental returns. The steady growth of Colville is largely due to its being the natural educational center of a large radius of agricultural land. At present Col- ville has an academy which accommodates fully two hundred students. The capacity of our public school is being doubled, giving room for two hundred more pupils than heretofore."

Commenting upon the new improvements made by Colville up to 1899 the Statesman-In- der of August 18, of that year, said :

"Colville continues to enjoy a period of healthy growth which, however, is in no way to be classed as a building boom. This period of growth dates from 1897 when three or four citizens concluded that Colville was a pretty good place after all and forthwith built them- selves elegant and comfortable homes. Last year their excellent example was patterned by others who likewise built homes. The court house was also completed last year.

"With the opening of spring this year the good work was resumed, some building new residences, others remodeling and enlarging their buildings. None of the structures of this year equal in cost the best building erected last season, but there are more of them so that the aggregate this season will exceed that of last year. The buildings, or improvements already completed this season or now in progress, will amount approximately to $16,000, and there is more than a possibility that at least three or four more good residences will be commenced during the fall season. Below is a list of the building improvements now complete or in progress at the present time, with the approx- imate cost of each :

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Illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties, state of Washington, Part 23

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