USA > Washington > Asotin County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume I > Part 17
USA > Washington > Columbia County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume I > Part 17
USA > Washington > Garfield County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume I > Part 17
USA > Washington > Walla Walla County > Lyman's history of old Walla Walla County, embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties, Volume I > Part 17
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CHAPTER 11
TIMES OF COWBOYS, MINERS, AND VIGILANTES
The two essentials of a city seem to be : first, a location in a region of such resources as to attract and provide industries for the maintenance of an in- coming and ever increasing population; and, second, such a location as will be a natural point of exchange of commodities with more or less distant centers of production, and as a corollary of this, feasible facilities of transportation. Four towns were started in the "Upper Country" in the early sixties, which were to stand these tests of a city location. They were: Walla Walla, Umatilla, Wallula, and Lewiston. The obvious disadvantage of the first was that it was not on navigable water, and water carriage was then the cheap and convenient way of conveying any large amounts of freight or passengers. Its countervailing advantage, and the reason why by common consent settlers sought it in preference to the river towns was that it was right in the center of resources. While the first settlers had no conception of the future of agriculture and horticulture, it was clear that a region near enough the mountains to be easily accessible to timber, and abounding in streams of the purest water, with infinite grazing resources, was a paradise to the stockman. And while with the first influx of settlers in 1858, 1859, and 1860, there was not yet any knowledge of the event which within a few months was to transform the entire history of the Inland Empire, i. e., the discovery of gold in Idaho, yet the minds of the people of the time were quivering with the feverish anticipations of fortune engendered by the California mining history. Hence the settlers in Walla Walla in 1860 were right on the qui vive for "big things." Such reasons, together with the very important fact that the United States Fort Walla Walla was located there (for the same reasons of grass, water, and timber) were potent in determining the growth of the largest town. Umatilla and Wallula had the very marked ad- vantage of water transportation to a limitless degree, but on the other hand, the arid climate and the barren soil (barren without irrigation, of which nothing was conceived at that time), and distance from the timber counter-balanced the advantage. If it had then been fully realized, what we now know, that Lewis- ton combined nearly all advantages, with no disadvantages, the site at the junc- tion of the Snake and Clearwater would have seemed to possess unequalled at- tractions. But Lewiston was at that time so far up Snake River and so remote from general apprehension as a center of production that Walla Walla had an easy lead in attracting incoming settlers.
In 1859 and 1860 the chief lines of business, as already indicated, were cattle- raising and supplying the Fort. The suitability of this country to stock-raising was obvious to the fur-traders of the Hudson's Bay Company regime, and they had quite a number of cattle at Fort Walla Walla (Wallula), at "Hudson's Bay,"
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near the present Umapine, and at the near vicinity of what is now Touchet. Doctor Whitman brought with him several head of cattle and even two calves across the plains in 1836 and afterwards secured more from Doctor McLoughlin at Vancouver. In the early '50s, Messrs. Brooke, Bumford, and Noble located at Waiilatpu for the same business, while H. M. Chase and W. C. Mckay on the Umatilla in 1851 started in the same kind of enterprise. From these various sources the idea had become disseminated that Walla Walla was the place for the cowboy. Thus was inaugurated the first movement which, interrupted for a period by gold excitement, was resumed with even greater energy as the demands of the mines for provisions became known, and for a number of years was the dominating interest of Old Walla Walla County.
The stock business was, however, interwoven in a curious and interesting way with all the other lines of enterprise. Especially was this true of the mining and transportation interests. The three were dovetailed together by reason of the fact that food and pack trains were vital necessities of the mines.
The mining history of the "Upper Country" began in the spectacular way usual with discoveries of the precious metals. Colonel Gilbert tells a fantastic tale of the train of circumstances which led to the first prospecting tour into what became the great gold field of Central Idaho. This tale involves E. D. Pearce, wlio, as we have seen, was one of the early office-holders of Walla Walla County. He is described as a man of somewhat imaginative and enthusiastic character, quick to respond to the calls of opportunity. He had been in the gold mines of California before coming to Walla Walla, and while there had become ac- quainted with a Nez Perce Indian who in some way had drifted into that region. This Indian impressed Mr. Pearce with his dignity and intelligence and excited his interest in a romantic story of his home in the mountan fastnesses of Idaho. He declared that he, with two companions, while encamped in the mountains had seen in the night a light of surpassing brilliance, like a refulgent star. The Indians regarded the distant glow with awe, deeming it the eye of the Great Spirit. In the morning, however, plucking up sufficient courage to investigate, they discovered a glittering ball like glass embedded in the rock. They could not dislodge it from its setting and left it, thinking it a "great tomanowas." Pearce became impressed with the thought that the Indians had found an enor- mous diamond of incalculable value, and he determined that, if ever the oppor- tunity was afforded, he would seek its hiding place. Accordingly, having reached Walla Walla after many wanderings, he bethought himself of the diamond and organized a company of seven men, whose names with the exception of that of WV. F. Bassett, do not seem to be recorded in the account. They made their way in 1860 into the wild tangle of mountains on the sources of the Clearwater. The party were looking for gold, but Pearce had the diamond in mind. Indians com- ing in contact with the party became suspicious and ordered them out. Pearce, however, pretending to obey orders, induced a Nez Perce squaw to guide the party into the heart of the mountains of the north fork of the Clearwater. There, Bassett, while prodding around in the soil of a small creek, discovered shining particles. Gold! It was only a few cents worth, but it was enough. That was the first discovery of gold in Idaho. The place was the site of the Oro Fino mines. Extracts from a former account written by the author, in which are incorporated items from the Washington Statesman will indicate the
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progress of the discovery and the effects on the newly-started town of Walla Walla.
"After washing out about eighty dollars in gold, the party returned to Walla Walla, making their headquarters at the home of J. C. Smith on Dry Creek, and finally so thoroughly enlisting his interest and cooperation that he fitted out a party of about fifteen men, largely at his own expense, to return to the new gold fields for the winter. Sergeant Smith's party reached the mines in Novem- ber, 1860, arousing the antipathy and distrust of the Indians, who appealed to the Government officers for the protection of their reserve from such encroach- ments. A body of soldiers from Fort Walla Walla started out for the mines, with the intention of removing the interlopers, but the heavy snowfall in the mountains rendered the little party of miners inaccessible, so they were not mo- lested. During the winter the isolated miners devoted their time to building five log cabins, the first habitations erected in Oro Fino. sawing the lumber by hand. They also continued to work for gold under the snow, and about the first of January, 1861, two of the men made a successful trip to the settlements, by the utilizing of snow-shoes, while in March Sergeant Smith made a similar trip, taking with him $800 in gold dust. From this reserve he was able to pay Kyger & Reese of Walla Walla the balance due them on the prospect- ing outfit which had been supplied to the adventurous little party in the snowy mountains. The gold dust was sent to Portland, Ore., and soon the new mines were the subject of maximum interest, the ultimate result being a "gold excitement" quite equal to that of California in 1849, and within a few months the rush to the new diggings was on in earnest, thousands starting forth for the favored region.
The budding City of Walla Walla profited materially by the influx of gold- seekers, who made their way up the Columbia River and thence moved forward to Walla Walla, which became the great outfitting headquarters for those en route to the gold country. At this point were purchased provisions, tools, camp accoutrements and the horses or mules required to pack the outfits to the mines. Through this unforeseen circumstance there was now a distinctive local market afforded for the products of the Walla Walla country, and the farmer who had produce of any sort to sell might esteem himself fortunate, for good prices were freely offered. Nearly all the grain that had been produced in the country was held, in the spring of 1861, in the mill owned and operated by Simms, Reynolds & Dent, the total amount being less than twenty thousand bushels. This surplus commanded a high price, the farmers receiving $2.50 per bushel for their wheat, while at the mines the operators were compelled to pay ȘI a pound for flour manufactured therefrom. The inadequacy of the local supply of food products was such that, had not additional provender been transported from Oregon, starva- tion would have stared the miners in the face. This fact gave rise to the almost unprecedented prices demanded for the products essential to the maintenance of life. New mining districts were discovered by the eager prospectors and all was hustle and activity in the mining region until the fall of 1861. In November of that year many of the miners came to Walla Walla for the winter, bringing their hard-earned treasure with them and often spending it with the prodigality so typical of the mining fraternity in the early days.
Although many of the diggings yielded from six to ten dollars per day, many
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of the operators feared the ravages of a severe winter and fully realized the animus of the merchants at Oro Fino, who refused to sell their goods, believing that starvation would ultimately face the miners and that they could then secure any price they might see fit to demand. In November of the year noted, the prices at Oro Fino were quoted as follows on certain of the necessaries of life : flour, $25 per 100 pounds ; beef, 30 cents per pound; coffee, not to be had ; candles, not for sale; and bacon and beans, exceedingly scarce. That the pros- pectors and miners should seek to hibernate nearer civilization and take refuge in Walla Walla was but natural under the circumstances.
During the rush to the mining districts, both in 1861 and 1862, Walla Walla was the scene of the greatest activity; streets were crowded; the merchants were doing a thriving business, and pack trains moved in a seemingly endless procession toward the gold fields. The excitement was fed by the glowing reports that came from the mining districts, and the natural result was to augment the flood of gold-seekers pouring into the mining districts in the spring of 1862, as will be noted later on. As an example of the alluring reports circulated in the latter part of 1861, we may appropriately quote from the Washington Statesman of that period. From an editorial in said publication we make the following extract :
"S. F. Ledyard arrived last evening from the Salmon River mines, and from him it is learned that some six hundred miners would winter there; that some two hundred had gone to the south side of the river, where two streams head that empty into the Salmon, some thirty miles southeast of present mining camp. Coarse gold is found, and as high as one hundred dollars per day to the man has been taken out. The big mining claim of the old locality belongs to Mr. Weiser, of Oregon, from where $2,680 were taken on the 20th, with two rockers. On the 21st. $3,360 were taken out with the same machines. Other claims were paying from two to five pounds per day. Flour has fallen to 50 cents per pound, and beef, at from 15 to 25 cents, is to be had in abundance. Most of the mines supplied until first of June. Mr. L. met between Slate Creek and Walla Walla, en route for the mines, 394 packs and 250 head of beef cattle."
In the issue of the Statesman for December 13, 1861, appears the following interesting information concerning the mines and the inducements there offered :
"The tide of emigration to Salmon River flows steadily onward. During the week past, not less than two hundred and twenty-five pack animals, heavily laden with provisions, have left this city for the mines. If the mines are one-half so rich as they are said to be, we may safely calculate that many of these trains will return as heavily laden with gold dust as they now are with provisions.
"The late news from Salmon River seems to have given the gold fever to everybody in this immediate neighborhood. A number of persons from Florence City have arrived in this place during the week, and all bring the most extrava- gant reports as to the richness of the mines. A report, in relation to a rich strike made by Mr. Bridges of Oregon City, seems to come well authenticated. The first day he worked on his claim ( near Baboon gulch) he took out fifty-seven onuces ; the second day he took out 157 ounces ; third day, 214 ounces, and the fourth day, 200 ounces in two hours. One gentleman informs us that diggings have been found on the bars of Salmon River which yield from twenty-five cents to two dollars and fifty cents to the pan, and that on claims in the Salmon River,
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diggings have been found where "ounces" won't describe them, and where they say the gulches are full of gold. The discoverer of Baboon gulch arrived in this city yesterday, bringing with him sixty pounds of gold dust, and Mr. Jacob Weiser is on his way with a mule loaded with gold dust."
Within the year more than one and one-half millions of dollars in gold dust had been shipped from the mining districts-a circumstance which of itself was enough to create a wide-spread and infectious gold-fever. Anticipating the rush for the mines in the year 1862, a great deal of livestock had been brought to the Walla Walla country in the latter part of 1861, while the demands for food products led many ranchers to make provisions for raising greatly increased crops of grain and other produce to meet the demands of the coming season.
The winter of 1861-2 was one of utmost severity, and its rigors entailed a gigantic loss to residents throughout the eastern portion of Washington Territory -a section practically isolated from all other portions of the world for many weeks. It has been said that this "was the severest winter known to the whites on the Pacific Coast." The stock in the Walla Walla country perished by the thousands, the animals being unable to secure feed and thus absolutely starving to death. From December to March the entire country here was effectually hedged in by the vast quantities of snow and the severely cold weather. Not until March 22d do we find the statement in the local newspaper that warm rains had set in and that the snow had commenced to disappear. One result is shown in the further remark that "Occasionally the sun shines out, when the sunny side of the street is lined with men." The loss of stock in this section during that memorable winter was estimated at fully one million dollars, hay having reached the phenomenal price of $125 per ton, while flour commanded $25 per barrel in Walla Walla. It may not be malapropos to quote a list of prices which obtained in the Oro Fino mining region in December, 1861 : bacon, fifty to sixty cents per pound ; flour, twenty-five to thirty dollars per 100 weight ; beans, twenty-five to thirty cents per pound; rice, forty to fifty cents per pound; butter, seventy- five cents to one dollar; sugar, forty to fifty cents ; candles, eighty cents to one dollar per pound; tea, one dollar and a quarter to one and a half per pound ; tobacco, one dollar to one and a half ; coffee, 50 cents.
In view of subsequent gold excitements in Alaska, how familiarly will read the following statements from the Washington Statesman of March 22, 1862: "From persons who have arrived here from The Dalles during the week, we learn that there were some four thousand miners in Portland fifteen days ago, awaiting the opening of navigation to the upper country. Hundreds were arriv- ing by every steamer, and the town was literally filled to overflowing." Under date of April 5th, the same paper gives the following pertinent information : "From one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty passengers, on their way to the mines, come up to Wallula on every steamer, and the majority of them foot it through to this place (Walla Walla)." By the last of May it was estimated by some that between twenty-five and thirty thousand persons had reached or were en route to the mining regions east of the Cascades, but con- servative men now in Walla Walla regard that a great overestimate. The mer- chants of Walla Walla profited largely through the patronage of the ever advanc- ing column of prospectors and miners, but the farmers did not fare so well, owing to the extreme devastations of the severe winter just passed. Enough has been
MULKEY APARTMENTS, WALLA WALLA
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said to indicate the causes which led to the rapid settlement and development of Eastern Washington and Oregon-an advancement that might have taken many years to accomplish had it not been for the discovery of gold in so romantic a manner. The yield of gold reported through regular channels for the year 1862 aggregated fully seven million dollars, and it is certain that several millions were also sent out through mediums which gave no record.
In February, 1862, food products and merchandise commanded the following prices at Florence : flour, $1 per pound; bacon, $1.25; butter, $3; cheese, $1.50; lard, $1.25; sugar, $1.25; coffee, $2.00; tea, $2.50; gum boots per pair, $30; shovels, from twelve to sixteen dollars.
That year of 1861 was a great year in the annals of Walla Walla County. Cattle drives, gold discovery, hard winter, Civil war! The last named stupendous event was shared by the pioneer communities on the Walla Walla and its tribu- tary streams, but it affected them in a unique manner. This was nothing less than the period of the Vigilantes. While this organization was due to a variety of conditions, the state of affairs which led to its existence grew out of the con- flict of opinions about the war. Yet it must be said that the character of popula- tion that flowed into Walla Walla after the gold discoveries and the establishment of the town as the leading outfitting place for the mines was a suitable seed-bed for the growth of conditions which at sundry times and places in the West have produced vigilance committees. This peaceful and law-abiding "Garden City" of 1917, a center of homes and educational institutions, conspicuous for morality, intelligence, and comfort, was in the '6os about as "tough" a collection of human beings as could be found. It was indeed a motley throng that poured in as the mining excitement grew and spread. The best and worst jostled each other on the dusty and unsightly streets with their shacks and tent's and saloons and dance halls. Philanthropists and missionaries and educators were represented by Revs. Eells, Spalding, Chamberlain, Berry and Flinn, Father Wilbur, Bishop Scott, Father Yunger, and Bishop Brouillet. Some of the noblest and most liberal- minded and honest of business men, some of whom continue to this day, gave character and standing to the commnuity and laid foundations upon which the goodly superstructure of the present has been reared. We have but to call up the names of Baker, Rees, Moore, Paine, O'Donnell, Whitman, Guichard, Reynolds, Stone, Jacobs, Johnson, Isaacs, Sharpstein, Abbott, Reese, Boyer, McMorris, Stine, Thomas, Drumheller, Painter, Ritz, Kyger, Cole, and others too numerous to mention, among thie business men of that time, to know that the best was then in existence. Old timers delight to tell how John F. Boyer was intrusted by miners with sacks of gold-dust while they were gathering supplies and packing for new ventures, with never a receipt or stroke of pen to bind him, yet never a dream that he would fail to restore every ounce just as he received it. But the men of this type, some with wives of the same high type (though most of them were young men without families), were daily and nightly jostled by the mis- cellaneous throng of gamblers, pickpockets, highway robbers, hold-ups, and pros- titutes who ordinarily fatten on the gold-dust bags and belts of the miners assembled at their yearly supply stations. Strange stories are told about the number and variety and unique names and characters of the various "joints" in the Walla Walla of the decade of the '60s. In some newspaper a few years ago appeared an alleged reminiscence of a visitor to Walla Walla, in which he tells
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of going to a saloon, in which the floor was covered with sawdust. That was usual enough, but the odd thing was that each patron received with his drink a whiskbroom. Puzzled as to the purpose of the latter, the visitor waited for developments. Ile soon discovered that the whiskey was so strenuous as to be pretty sure to induce a fit, and the use of the broom was to sweep off a place on the dirty floor to have a fit on, after which the refreshed and enlightened ( ?) patron of the place would return the broom and proceed on his way.
Such were the mongrel conditions of life during the first years of the Civil war. It is not surprising therefore, that such a juxtaposition of forces should have caused a perfect carnival of crime, and that out of it as a defence by the decent elements of the community should have arisen the organization of the Vigilance Committee.
Two incidents prior to the formation of the Vigilantes indicate the uneasy condition induced by the presence of the soldiers at the fort and the considerable number of southern sympathizers in the community. In the Washington States- man of April 19, 1862, we find an account of a riot at the theater out of which a correspondence arose between Mayor E. D. Whitman of Walla Walla and Col. Henry Lee, commander of the post. This is also made the subject of editorial comment and from this comment we glean the following paragraphs as showing the state of mind at that time.
"We publish today an interesting correspondence between Mayor Whitman and Lieut. Colonel Lee, growing out of the recent unfortunate affray at the theater and the conduct of some of the soldiery since that event * On the * * part of the citizens who were engaged in the affray, notwithstanding the fact that officers of the law had been suffered to be stricken down and their authority con- temned and boldly set at defiance, we are satisfied they cherished no disposition to aggravate the difficulty either by word or deed. Remaining within the limits of the city, they have peaceably and quietly pursued their accustomed business. Not so the soldiers. Cherishing unjustifiably an excited and hostile disposition, they imitated the unwarrantable conduct of their fellows on the night in ques- tion, by parading our streets with an armed force, thus exhibiting a total and wanton disregard for law and civil authorities. The mildest terms that can be applied to this procedure must characterize it as a high-handed outrage upon the rights of the people of this city, and a gross insult to the dignity and authority of their laws."
The editorial proceeds to score Colonel Lee severely for his answer to the protestations of Mayor Whitman. It appears in brief that a group of soldiers had gone to the theater and made so much disturbance as to nearly break up the program and in an attempt to put them out one of the soldiers was killed. The next morning a band of from seventy-five to one hundred soldiers came armed into the town and seized the sheriff and took possession of the street. Colonel Lee, in his statement of the case, disclaimed all responsibility and declared that the man who killed the soldier was a notorious criminal named "Cherokee Bob." The colonel sarcastically expresses surprise that the citizens of Walla Walla did not take interest enough in the matter to have Cherokee Bob arrested, and he states that he himself would heartily co-operate in any attempt to enforce law and order. He says that he will answer for the good conduct of the men under his command if the mayor will do the same for the citizens of the town. He
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