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LIBRARY

Purchased from the income
of the bequest of
WILLIAM ROBERTSON COE
Honorary M.A. 1949, for
material in the field
of American Studies.

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A HISTORY

OF

The Puget Sound Country

ITS RESOURCES, ITS COMMERCE AND ITS PEOPLE

With some Reference to Discoveries and Explorations in North America
from the Time of Christopher Columbus Down to that of George ¦
Vancouver in 1792, when the Beauty, Richness and Vast
Commercial Advantages of this Region Were
First Made Known to the World.

BY
Col. William Farrand Prosser
Ex-President of the Washington State Historical Society.

ILLUSTRATED VOLUME I

" Examine History, for it is Philosophy teaching by Experience." — Carlyle.

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York Chicago
1903

INTRODUCTION.

Before the Massachusetts Club of Boston, in the year 1889, the dis
tinguished senator from that state, Hon. George Frisbie Hoar, speaking of
the Puget Sound . country, said, among other things : "It is difficult to
imagine what must be the destiny of that wonderful region, unsurpassed
on this earth for the fertility of its soil, and with a climate where it seems
impossible that human life should come to an end, if the ordinary laws of
health should be observed, with a stimulating atmosphere where brain and
body are at their best. There our children, our brethren and our kinsmen
have carried the principles of New England; there on the shores of that
Pacific sea, they are to repeat on a larger scale, with grander results, this
wonderful drama which we and our fathers have enacted here. There are
to be the streets of a wealthier New York, the homes of a more cultured
Boston, the halls of a more learned Harvard, and the workshops of a busier
Worcester." This language doubtless seems extravagant to the reader who
has never visited this region or made himself familiar with its magnificent
conditions or with its grand possibilities in the future, but to the tourist
and much more so to the actual settler it is recognized as only a simple
statement of facts with reference to this part of our country. From the
time when, in 1792, Vancouver first explored the waters of Puget Sound
and wrote of them, with much more to the same effect, "Nothing can exceed
the beauty and safety of these waters," down to our own day, when General
W. T. Sherman said, "God has done more for Puget Sound than any
other place in the world," the invariable testimony of visitors and permanent
inhabitants has been to the same effect. What is now known as the "Puget
Sound country" occupies the extreme northwestern corner of the United
States, Alaska excepted. The name of Puget Sound was originally applied
to that part of these waters which lies south o<f Admiralty Inlet and Whidby
Island, but in recent years it is applied to all the inland waters entered by
the Straits of Juan de Fuca, south of the forty-ninth parallel of north lati
tude, or the boundary line which separates the United States from British
Columbia. For the purposes of this history the Puget Sound Country will
be. taken to include all that part of western Washington which is topographi
cally, geographically and commercially tributary to Puget Sound, having its
outlet either by the Straits of Juan de Fuca, through Gray's Harbor or

iv INTRODUCTION.
Willapa Bay, to the Pacific Ocean. This area includes the counties of
Lewis, Thurston, Pierce, King, Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom, San Juan,
Island, Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason, Chehalis and Pacific. This dis
trict is about two hundred miles in length from north to south, and
from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles in width from east
to west. The summit of the Cascade Mountains forms its eastern,
and the Pacific Ocean its western boundary. The Cascade range through
the states of Oregon and Washington is a continuation of the Sierra
Nevada range of California. This range is a wild, rugged and mas
sive chain of mountains, having an average height of about five thou
sand feet, whose higher peaks are far above the line of perpetual snow.
Its western slopes are steep, often precipitous, with numerous bold
and dashing steams of water that hasten from the icy caves and gorges
of these mountains to the sea. Some of the highest peaks in the United
States are found within the limits of this chain of mountains. Mt. Baker
near the northern boundary of the state, 10,500 feet in height, presents a
beautiful spectacle from the lower part of the Sound. About two hundred
miles south, Mt. Rainier, 14,520 feet, one of the highest in the United
States, is one of the grandest mountains of the globe, and is visible from
Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia, at the head of Puget Sound, and, indeed,
for a hundred miles in every direction, but the view of this mountain from
the center of the Sound country is particularly fine, because of its sym
metry of outline, and the impression it gives of solidity and majesty, as
it is seen rising from the level of the sea to its glittering summit in the
clouds. Still farther to the south, and nearer the Columbia river, are Mt.
Adams and Mt. St. Helens, which are 13,300 and 9,750 respectively.
About one hundred miles west of and parallel with the Cascade Mountains is
the Olympic range, which extends from the Straits of Fuca south to the
vicinity of Gray's Harbor. This range, though not so high, is yet a bold
and rugged one, having as its highest peaks Mt. Olympus, 8,500 feet in
height, and Mt. Constance, 6,500 feet. The outline of its rocky pinnacles,
as they mount upward to the region of perpetual snow, presents a spectacle
of grandeur and magnificence, not only to all parts of the Sound Country,
but to the mariner far out at sea on his way to the Orient or up and down
the coast. Between these mountain ranges Puget Sound is located, a mar
velous arm of the sea, extending south from its junction with the Straits
of Juan de Fuca one hundred and twenty miles to Olympia, the capital of
the state of Washington, and north, including Bellingham Bay, to the
boundary line separating Washington from British Columbia. Its outlet
into the Pacific Ocean is by the Straits of Juan de Fuca, a magnificent channel
from twenty to forty miles in width, of unknown depth, and leading in a

INTRODUCTION. v
westerly and almost direct line to the Pacific Ocean, a distance of one hun
dred and ten miles. This strait forms an entrance of unrivaled beauty and
safety to the many harbors of Puget Sound, and ships of all kinds very
often sail into port without the aid of tugs or pilots. The commerce of
the world could be accommodated in these waters, such is their extent and
convenience of access. Puget Sound itself is a vast body of water, or arm
of the sea, about two hundred miles in length from north to south, and
from ten to twenty miles in width, with numerous smaller arms, coves,
bays, inlets, ports and harbors sheltered by the mountains already men
tioned, with their spurs, hills and highlands, where a shelving and sandy
beach almost everywhere permits vessels of all sizes, from a canoe to a
first class battleship, to make a landing without danger, and without
wharves, docks or other facilities usually required for such purposes. The
greater part of the land surface of the territory above referred to as the
Puget Sound Country, estimated at about four-fifths, is covered with a
vast forest composed of the most valuable as well as beautiful trees in the
world, growing from two hundred to three hundred feet in height, and
from five to thirty feet in diameter. These trees are chiefly fir, of several
varieties, cedar, spruce, hemlock, larch and other varieties of evergreen;
with many deciduous trees of lesser growth, yet useful for a great variety
of purposes. The vegetation throughout this entire region is almost
tropical in its luxuriance, and these forests are of incalculable value, fur
nishing, as they do, an apparently inexhaustible supply of the finest lumber
in the world for ship and railroad building, and for all domestic purposes.
No lumberman from the states east of the Rocky Mountains, or elsewhere,
for that matter, ever visited these shores and looked upon these primeval
forests without becoming enthusiastic in his admiration for their beauty
and extent, or who did not wish to' acquire some interests in their manu
facture into lumber. The land surface not covered with timber is made
up of small praiijies, lowlands, of inexhaustible fertility when reclaimed,
in river valleys and elsewhere overflowed by the high tides of the Sound,
which rise from twelve to twenty feet at the varying seasons of the year.
The surface of Puget Sound is dotted with innumerable islands, large and
small, from a mere speck upon the water, or an acre of ground, to the
largest, Whidby, which is one hundred and fifty square miles in extent.
It is sometimes called the "Mediterranean of the Pacific," because of the
beauty, variety and productiveness of these islands. They are not only an
important feature of the landscape, but rich in timber, soil, mineral wealth
and other resources, and are well supplied with coves, inlets, harbors and
other conveniences for safe navigation. The waters of Puget Sound are
singularly clear and transparent, reflecting from their blue depths by day

vi INTRODUCTION.
the forest trees that nearly everywhere line their shores, and the stars by
night, and these waters abound in fish of a hundred different varieties.
A sail amongst these islands or through some of the many channels
of Puget Sound, large or small, especially in the summer season, is a per
petual delight, and the scenery, changing almost every moment, a perfect
panorama of beauty. To the weary, dusty and footsore immigrants who
had crossed the plains there was something particularly grateful and
refreshing in the cool shade of the vast and towering forests of this region,
which sheltered game in great variety and of almost every description.
After a journey of six months or more over thousands of miles of prairie,
plain and desert, where a tree was a rarity and shade of any kind was an
unusual luxury, the change to an abundance of clear and sparkling water
and to the deep shade of these forests, where the sun could scarcely pene
trate, was delightful beyond expression. These streams, flowing in peren
nial fullness from mountain recesses and icy glaciers, were in striking
contrast with the wide territory over which they had just passed, where
streams of any kind were few and far between and where thirst was often
endured, and at times it became a terror. Many of these immigrants had
never seen a mountain until they started on this long and painful trip, and
here they had before their eyes towering peaks mantled with perpetual
snow, whose terraced sides and slopes were covered with timber, which
was not only a source of admiration and delight but gave promise of riches
beyond the "dreams of avarice."- On their western border was the shore
of the Pacific Ocean, whose restless waves, seething and dashing surf and
ceaseless motion were an emblem of "man's perpetual toil and endeavor,"
whilst on another border to the eastward, stretching north and south, their
white summits pointing to the skies, were the rock-ribbed and sun-kissed
mountains, grand in their outlines and immovable in their foundations, the
emblems of eternal rest and peace. Between these lay a land of infinite
resources, rich in timber, coal, iron, gold, silver, copper, marble, and almost
every variety of mineral and agricultural wealth which the heart of man
could desire or his hands make use of, for comfort or happiness. This
region enjoyed also a climate genial and salubrious, singularly free from
any extremes of heat or cold, tempered alike in winter and summer with
soft "Chinook" breezes from southern seas, or winds from the west, which
were not only mild and temperate but were at times balmy and delightful
beyond description. To these attractions were added an inland sea, whose
arms, bays, coves and harbors, with two thousand miles of shore line, were
amply protected from winds, storms, tornadoes and cyclones, by mountain
ranges, whose spurs, headlands, and islands sheltered its every part and
made it the delight of every mariner who ever entered its waters. This

INTRODUCTION. vii
sea communicated with the Pacific Ocean by a superb channel wide and
deep, affording an easy outlet to all the commerce of the eastern and western
worlds, no matter how great that might be.
The fabled Straits of Anian, which were supposed to connect the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, around the north coast of North America,
corresponding with the Straits of Magellan of the southern hemisphere,
and which were sought for by the most daring and enterprising of the
Spanish, English, Portuguese and Dutch navigators for more than two
hundred and fifty years, were never found, and we may never know whether
the Straits of Juan de Fuca were first discovered by that adventurous
Spaniard in the year 1592 or not, but his supposed belief that here he had
found the Straits of Anian is a testimony to the wisdom and foresight of
the merchant princes of that day, who wished a line of transportation to
the East Indies on this parallel of latitude. After all that has since been
learned of geography, it is found that the commerce of China, Japan and
India is more easily reached by way of Puget Sound and these straits than
by any other route whatever.
Therefore, in order to secure a share of this commerce, so much sought
after by the western world, nearly all the transcontinental railway lines,
including the Canadian Pacific, the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific,
the Burlington and Quincy and others, have found it necessary or desirable
to establish terminal facilities on Puget Sound. Here nature has lavished
her most precious treasures of earth, air, sea and sky, and, as if she knew
their value and intended they should not be used until the fullness of time
should make them a necessity for man's use and occupation, the Puget
Sound region was not discovered or explored until 1792, when Vancouver
revealed its existence to the world. On the 26th of September, 15 13, Vasco
Nunez Balboa first looked with wonder and admiration upon the blue
waters of the Pacific, or the South Sea, as it was named at that time. On
the 20th of October, 1520, Fernando Magellan, who first circumnavigated
the globe, entered the straits, which have since borne his name', and on the
20th of the following month he sailed westward into' the vast ocean, which
he named the Pacific, to be known as such ever after. Stimulated by these
discoveries and ambitious to explore every nook and corner of the new
world, Cortez and Mendoza, Ulloa and Ferrelo, with many other enter
prising Spaniards, and in later years, Admiral Hoorn of Holland — who
first discovered and named Cape Horn on the 30th day of January, 1616 —
Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to sail around the world, with
many distinguished navigators and explorers, roamed by sea and land over
almost all of North, Central and South America, but prior to the year 1792
all had overlooked or failed to find Puget Sound and the Columbia river,

viii INTRODUCTION.
unless indeed it be true that Juan de Fuca, as claimed, discovered the
straits bearing his name in 1592. The result of all these explorations was
conflicting claims to ownership and control between Spain, France, England,
Portugal and Russia, as to which of these respective powers should exercise
sovereign rights over the fairer portions of the new world, which brought
on wars which were only in part terminated by the American Revolution.
In this as in many other contests, "L'homme propose mats Dieu dispose."
No one of these powers secured permanent and lasting control over these
regions, the most desirable of which were in North America, but these
explorations opened the way for the ultimate settlement and development
of a nation, not in existence, or thought of, when these conflicts began.
This nation, from very small beginnings, "like the stone cut out of
the mountain which grew and increased until it filled the whole earth," has
become a world power, whose influence is felt wherever man has a habita
tion. Shortly after the independence of the United States had been secured
the people of this country, as well as those of Great Britain, began to turn
their attention to the northwest coast of America. In 1792, Captain Gray,
commanding a ship sent out by Boston merchants, discovered and named
the Columbia river. In the same year, Vancouver, an officer of the British
navy, was the first to discover Puget Sound, to examine minutely its
beautiful bays and harbors, with their surrounding mountain peaks, to
which he gave the names which, in the great majority of cases, are still
retained. Even at that late date the resources and advantages of this
region were strangely overlooked and . neglected by both England and the
United States. For more than fifty years thereafter the question of its
ownership was left undecided. The slavery question in the United States,
with other selfish interests, delayed the settlement of the boundary issue
in the northwest, and it was not until 1846 that it was finally determined
that the state of Washington, including the Puget Sound Region, should
belong to and become a part of the United States. By an agreement made
on the 20th of October, 1818, between the United States and Great Britain,
known as the Joint Occupancy Treaty, it -was arranged that all the territory
on the northwest coast of North America, now included in the states of
Oregon, Washington and Idaho, and also the province of British Columbia,
should be free to the "vessels, citizens and subjects of both Powers," for
the term of ten. years. At the end of that term it was agreed that it should
be continued indefinitely, but could be terminated in one year by either
party giving notice to the other to that effect. This notice was given by a
resolution of the Congress of the United States, passed April 27, 1846. By
the treaty of June 15, 1846, the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude was
made the boundary line between the two, on the northwest coast, to the

INTRODUCTION. ix
middle of the Straits of Fuca. In the meantime the Hudson's Bay Com
pany, representing the British Crown, made strenuous efforts to secure, by
the occupation of its servants, by establishing trading posts, and the settle
ment of French voyageurs and couriers de bois, from Canada, the entire
country now occupied by the state of Washington, with the hope and
expectation that the Columbia river would be made the dividing line between
the two countries. For many years, owing to the indifference and neglect
of the government of the United States, but little was done by her people
to counteract these efforts or to secure its actual and final possession. It
was largely owing to the information furnished by the missionaries who
had been sent to this coast by Evangelical Societies of the eastern states
that public attention was first aroused to the importance of the country
jointly held by the two powers on the shores of the Pacific. They also
rendered invaluable assistance to the immigrants who first made a road
into this far off region, through a wilderness never before traveled by
civilized means of conveyance.
These efforts were actively supplemented by the courage, ability and
patriotism of these immigrants themselves, who not only made their way
across trackless prairies, mountains and deserts and through a country
inhabited by treacherous and savage Indians, without any assistance from
their own government, but, in their new homes and under the shadow of
the chief station of the Hudson's Bay Company, they proceeded to organize
their own civil authority until the time should come when the national gov
ernment should supply their wants in that direction.
The early settlers in Oregon and Washington were earnest, God
fearing men and women, who were the worthy successors of the Pilgrims
of Plymouth Rock, and were noble representatives of American ideas,
ready to do all things and to brave all things that were necessary for the
extension of the area of liberty, self-government and universal education.
They planted a church and schoolhouse wherever they made a settlement.
The history of early legislation at Olympia, the capital of the state of
Washington, is full of the evidences of their practical wisdom, their keen
foresight and their patriotic devotion to the best interests of their country.
The first legislative act passed in the United States looking to the acquisi
tion of the Sandwich Islands, was passed in Olympia by the legislature of
Washington Territory. The first act of a similar character with reference
to securing Alaska was passed by the same body. The first charter for the
Northern Pacific Railroad was granted by the same organization.
The Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, which has done so
much for the upbuilding and the development of the northwest coast, was
first chartered by the same official authority. In all the privations, strug-

x INTRODUCTION.
gles, hardships and vicissitudes of the early settlers of the Territory,
whether for existence, or because of the negligence of a distant home gov
ernment, or of Indian wars that brought death and devastation to their
own firesides, or because the national government was for a time engaged
in a desperate effort to maintain its own existence, or in carrying on war
in a distant part of the globe, the pioneers of Puget Sound have borne an
honorable and a conspicuous part. When the building of the Northern
Pacific Railroad was obstructed by the slavery question, they bore the delay
with patience, knowing that time would sooner or later bring the desired
means of transportation. When the American Union was in danger, their
first governor, a prominent and promising general in its army, gave up his
life on the battlefield of Chantilly that the Union might be preserved.
Many of their best beloved sons shed their blood and made a sacrifice of
their lives in the Philippines in sustaining the honor of their country's flag.
In the more peaceful and pleasant contests of civilized life they have also
borne a prominent and successful part.
When Alaska sprang at a bound into fame as a gold-producing terri
tory the cities of Puget Sound were equal to every emergency and every
demand made upon them by the adventurous spirits who wished to make
their way to the frozen regions of the north in search of fortune's favors.
When the government called for transportation to the Philippines,
they were ready to furnish it, and the largest ships in the world were accom
modated at their wharves, docks and warehouses. The finest and best
appointed navy yard in our country is now approaching completion in one
of its many spacious harbors. As our government has become one of the
great powers of the world, the Puget Sound Country, looking out as it
does over the Pacific Ocean, China, Japan, the Philippines, the East Indies,
Australia, the west coast of North, Central and South America, and having
numerous connections eastward by rail, will undoubtedly occupy a prom
inent place, and its citizens be invested with great responsibilities in
the future. The extraordinary growth in wealth and population of this region in
recent years, the struggle in which it is now engaged with some of the great
commercial emporiums of the globe for a large share of the world's traffic,
its interesting early history, all combine to demand an additional contribu
tion to its historical literature. It is believed that such a contribution with
some account of its natural resources and advantages, such as this work is
intended to be, will be found acceptable by those who are interested in its
early settlement, its present progress and its future development. If such
a result shall in some measure be secured, the object of this undertaking
will have been accomplished. WILLIAM F. PROSSER,
Seattle, September 22, 1903. •*¦

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Geological History — Three Physical Divisions — Geological Formation.
CHAPTER II.
FLORA AND CLIMATIC CONDITIONS.
Beauty of Landscape, Serenity of Climate, Fertility of Soil — Forests of Puget
Sound Country — Common Trees — Shrubs and Vines — Causes of the Equable
Climate — The "Chinook" — Temperature and Rainfall — Situation Favorable
to Commerce. CHAPTER III.
FIFTEENTH CENTURY DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS.
Spain and the Moors — Trade seeks an Outlet to the Far East — Prince Henry
of Portugal — Spain and Portugal Rivals — Sebastian Cabot — Fabled Straits
of Anian — Search for Northwest Passage.
CHAPTER IV.
SPANISH DISCOVERIES IN THE NEW WORLD.
Columbus the first of many Explorers and Navigators sent out by Spain —
Magellan — Cortez and the Conquest of Mexico — East Indies the Principal
Goal of Spain's Endeavors — Explorations on the Pacific Coast.
CHAPTER V.
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
Age of Sailors of the Sea — Spain and the Order of Buccaneers — Francis Drake,
and Other English Adventurers — Ponce de Leon and Florida — De Soto
Expedition — Sir Walter Raleigh and Virginia.
CHAPTER VI.
EXPEDITIONS IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES  EARLIEST DIS
COVERIES OF PUGET SOUND.
European Wars hinder Discovery and Colonization — Maritime Supremacy of
Holland — Henry Hudson — Dutch East India Company — Behring's Voy
ages and Discoveries — Spaniards Explore Pacific Coast — First Mention of
Puget Sound. CHAPTER VII.
VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN COOK  RIVAL CLAIMS TO THE NORTHWEST COAST.
Great Britain sends Captain Cook to the Pacific Coast — Results of his Expedi
tion — French Government equips an Exploring Fleet — Great Britain and
Spain in Controversy over Northwest Coast — Vancouver as Commissioner
to carry out Treaty — Final Settlement of Northwest Boundaries adverse to
the United States.

CONTENTS. xiii
CHAPTER VIII.
VOYAGES OF CAPTAINS GRAY AND VANCOUVER  EXPLORATION OF PUGET SOUND
AND DISCOVERY OF COLUMBIA RIVER.
First Discoverers of the Sound — Boston Merchants send the Ships Washington
and Columbia — Spanish Navigators also on the Scene — Vancouver makes
First Systematic Examination of Puget Sound Country — Captain Gray sails
into the Columbia River — His Discovery discredited by Vancouver.
CHAPTER IX.
THE FUR TRADE  ITS IMPORTANCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEST.
Fur Trade affords a Quick and Easy Road to Wealth — Character of the Fur
Hunter — His Wise Policy in Dealing with the Indians in contrast with that
of the American Settler — French Voyageurs and Courier de Bois — New
France surrendered to England — Subsequent Changes of Sovereignty and
Development of the Great West to the Present.
CHAPTER X.
history of Hudson's bay company.
The Company's Charter and Powers and Organization — Early Explorers of the
Western Country — Jonathan Carver — The Company establishes Posts over
the Rocky Mountain Region and Pacific Coast.
* CHAPTER XI.
INDIAN TRIBES OF PUGET SOUND REGION  CUSTOMS, RELIGION, ETC
" Survival of the Fittest " — Physical Development affected by Climate — Puget
Sound Indians of the Salishan or Flathead Family — Origin of Indians —
Character of Indians of Western Washington — Indian Women — Indian
Wealth — Rite of Fasting — " Potlach " — Totemism.
CHAPTER XII.
LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION.
Alexander Mackenzie First White Man to cross the Continent — President Jef
ferson's Message to Congress — Purchase of Louisiana Territory — Eventful
Journey of Lewis and Clark and its Results — Operations of the Northwest
Fur Company and the Missouri Fur Company.
CHAPTER XIII.
ADVERSE OPINIONS ABOUT PUGET SOUND COUNTRY — THE ASTOR EXPEDITION.
Fur Companies oppose Permanent Settlement — Ignorance concerning the West
ern Country — John Jacob Astor — Astoria Surrendered to the British — Dr.
McLaughlin and his Generous Treatment of Homeseekers — Beginnings of
Agriculture in Puget Sound Region.
CHAPTER XIV.
STATISTICS OF PUGET SOUND INDUSTRIES.
United States Pre-eminent in Manufactures — Westward Trend of Population
and Commerce — Puget Sound the Great Pacific Port— Standing Timber of
Washington — Cargo and Rail Shipments of Lumber — Rail Shipments of
Shingles — Coal and Coke Industry — Tons of Coal Exported — Coke Output
— Fishing Industry.

xiv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XV.
FAVORABLE SITUATION OF PUGET SOUND FOR DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCE.
" Commerce the Great Civilizer " — Commercial Supremacy passed from Nation
to Nation — Topography of Puget Sound Region Favorable to Commerce —
Land-locked Waters and Fine Harbors — Phenomenal Increase of Trade
through Puget Sound Ports — Puget Sound Route the Shortest to the
Orient. CHAPTER XVI.
THE INDIANS' QUEST FOR " BOOK OF HEAVEN " RESULTING IN SETTLEMENT OF
MISSIONARIES.
Nez Perces Indians visit St. Louis for Information concerning the Bible — An
Account of their Journey — The Indian's Speech — A Fruitless Embassy —
Missionaries prompted to carry the Word to the Indians — Their Efforts re
sult in Permanent Settlements and Founding of Colleges, Schools and
Churches. CHAPTER XVII.
SUMMARY  EARLY GENERAL HISTORY.
The " Oregon Question " — Washington not a Part of the Louisiana Purchase —
Facts concerning the Louisiana Purchase — Immigration to Puget Sound
Country — General History and First Settlers — Organized Government — A
New Territory. CHAPTER XVIII. *
HARDSHIPS AND INCIDENTS OF TRAVELING ACROSS THE PLAINS.
Hostility of the Indians — Inspiring Nature of the Journey — Some Incidents
from Hancock's " Account of Travels and Adventures Among Indians,"
CHAPTER XIX.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS  A. A. DENNY'S DESCRIPTION OF PIONEER DAYS  EXTRACTS
FROM JOURNAL OF J. M. BRYANT.
The First Settlers at Alki Point, and Beginnings of Seattle — Mr. Bryant's Diary
of Journey from Columbia River to Seattle.
CHAPTER XX.
MR. DENNY'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED.
First Settlers at Various Points on the Sound — Alki Point, Whidby Island, Port
Townsend, Cowlitz and Puyallup Valleys, Shilshole Bay — First Year at
Seattle — Scarcity of Provisions — Sawmills Established — Utsaladdy, Seabeck,
Dungeness, Bellingham Bay — Public Road-building — Division of Counties
— Mail Facilities — Religious Services — Schools.
CHAPTER XXI.
EARLY TERRITORIAL ADMINISTRATjON  BEGINNING OF INDIAN WAR.
Washington Territory is Created — First Legislature — Troubles between Indians
and Whites — The Indian War — Preparations for the Conflict — Massacres
and Murders — Settlers seek Places of Refuge.
CHAPTER XXII.
INDIAN WAR OF 1855-6  ADMIRAL PHELPS' NARRATIVE.
Indians plan Extermination of Whites — Chief Seattle, Curley and " Jim "—
Settlers' Greed responsible for Indian Hostility — Sloop of War Decatur
arrives — Indians fully Aroused — Seattle prepares for Defense.

CONTENTS. xv
CHAPTER XXIII.
narrow escape of seattle from destruction (narrative of admiral phelps
continued).
The Indians lay Siege to Seattle — The Night Attack Betrayed — The Decatur's
Men land and take part — The Battle — Indians defeated and driven back —
Regular and Volunteer Troops effect Peace.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CONDITIONS AT CLOSE OF WAR  THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY AFFAIR.
Effective Service of the Volunteers in the War — Settlements in Wretched Con
dition — Dispute as to Sovereignty on San Juan Island — War threatened —
Conciliatory Policy of United States — A Pig almost causes War — Captain
Pickett defies Governor Douglass and a British Fleet — A Compromise — Joint
Occupation. CHAPTER XXV.
HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.
Henry Villard, Pierpont Morgan and James J. Hill — Phenomenal Development
of Puget Sound Country — Indian and Civil Wars hinder Progress — Rail
road Agitation — Northern Pacific Railroad Company chartered — Delays in
Construction — Tacoma made the Terminus — Railroad the Making of Tacoma
— Mr. Hill's Railroad — His " Community of Interest " Policy — Vast Facili
ties for Commerce and Transportation — Export Statistics — Other Develop
ment Work. CHAPTER XXVI.
INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT.
Progress slow before Advent of Railroads — Olympia and Seattle Principal Towns
of Territory — Cargo of Wives for Seattle Settlers — Development of Lumber
Industry — Local Railroads— Dairying, Stock-raising, Fruit-growing — Fish
ing Industry. CHAPTER XXVII.
INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT (CONTINUED).
Shipbuilding — Hall Brothers — Lumber and Shingle Manufacture — Coal and Iron
Mines — Moran's Shipyard — Official Report of Puget Sound Commerce.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
POLITICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
High Character of Territorial Officers — Governor Stevens — Governor Ferry —
Governor Newell — Governor Squire — Governor Semple — Governor Moore —
Territorial Legislatures — Elwood Evans — Political Complexion of the Ter
ritory — Feeling during the Civil War — Judiciary.
CHAPTER XXIX.
POLITICAL SKETCH OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON.
Admitted to Statehood — Constitutional Convention — Evil Effects of Republican
System of Nomination — Auspicious Beginnings — Tide Land Question — Re
publican Leaders dominated by Powers of Corruption, resulting in Over
throw of Republican Supremacy — Political Grafters come to Grief — Elec
tion of Governor Rogers, the Populist Candidate.

xvi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXX.
RISE AND GROWTH OF SEATTLE.
The City in 1853 — Character of its Founders — Rapid Evolution of Seattle —
Location from Scenic and Commercial Point of View — Improvements, Re
sources, Schools, Churches, Leading Industries, Institutions — Seattle's Com
merce by Sea — Deep Sea Shipping — Growth of Foreign Commerce — Seattle
Coastwise Trade. CHAPTER XXXI.
THE CITY OF TACOMA.
Hanson, Ackerson and Company's Sawmill — Old Tacoma — General McCarver
and other Settlers — Causes of Tacoma's Growth — Coal Supply and Water
Power — Electric and Power Companies — Lumber Mills — Cut of Tacoma
Lumber Mills — Other Industries — Its Ocean Commerce — Facilities for
Handling Grain — Municipal Improvements, Public Institutions, a Residence
Center — Business Statistics. CHAPTER XXXII.
THE CITY OF EVERETT.
A Model Puget Sound City — Manufactures — Favorable Situation as Railroad
Terminus — Its Metal Reduction Works — Statistics of Ten. Years' Growth.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE PUGET SOUND COUNTIES.
Political Organization, Resources, Area, etc. — Lewis, Pacific, Thurston, Jef
ferson.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
PUGET SOUND COUNTIES (CONTINUED).
King, Pierce, Island, Mason, Chehalis, Clallam.
CHAPTER XXXV
PUGET SOUND COUNTIES (CONTINUED).
Whatcom, Kitsap, Snohomish, San Juan, Skagit.
CONCLUSION. APPENDIX.

INDEX.

Abbott, M. D  463
Adams, Frank D  345
Adams, William L  534
Allen, Edwin M  582
Ailing, Frank  605
Allmond, Douglass  422
Altshuler, Samuel  283
Ames, George H  371
Amy, John P  554
Ashton, James M  584
Austin, Louville L  561
Axtell, William H  313
B
Baker, John S  523
Banks, Archie M  467
Barnard, Frank J  483
Barnes, William H. T  575
Bartlett, Chester H  469
Beard, William G  408
Behme, Antone  588
Bell, Walter P  398
Bellingham Bay Brewery  547
Bellingham Bay Improvement Company. . 589
Benson, Edwin F  435
Bihler, Charles S  576
Birmingham, William  516
Black, William W  401
Blomquist, John A  603
Blumberg, Fred L  574
Bollong, John G  367
Boner, William H  287
Boothroyd, William H  421
Brear, Samuel D  467
Bresee, Darius  443
Brewer, Frank P  454
Briggs, Frank A  330
Brodeck, Albert A  456
Brown, Frederick R  526
Browne, George  496
Brownell, Francis H  292
Bruce, Samuel M  306
Burdon, William H  458
Burke, George B  •. . . 431
Burkhart, Henry W  480
Butler, Edward E  478
C
Campbell. Alexander R  562
Copenspire, Frederick H  293

Capital National Bank  461
Case, Ira H  592
Cavanaugh, William T  556
Cavender, Charles A  540
Chaloner, Samuel B  479
Chaplin, John R  • . . 412
Childs, Thomas B  587
Clark, Albert  329
Clark, John J  395
Clifford, Miles L  566
Clothier, Harrison  570
Cochran, George M  490
Cochran, James E  538
Conmey, Thomas S  590
Connor, Samuel P  521
Coombs, Samuel F  518
Cox, William  376
Cromwell, John B  474
Curtis, Melville  407

D

Dahl, Claus J. H  580
Dakin, Paul W  596
Dale, William  593
Darling, James M  r . . 370
Davis, Clark  540
Davis, Rowland E  493
Davis, Rufus J  531
DeBruler, Ellis  547
Decker, Horace P  508
Denney, John C  290
Dibble, Carmi  545
Dickinson. Merville C  322
Dobson, John  442
Donahoe, Francis  416
Donovan, John J  288
Drissler, John H  423
Dunlap, Alexander 1  553
Dunlap. Isaac  579
Durnell. Thomas C  '  321

E

Easton, John L  356
Edwards, David B  539
Egan, D. Daun  377
Eldridge, Hugh  385
Emerson, George H  427
Ericksen, Gerh  485
Everett, Frank  282

INDEX.

Ferry, Clinton P  274
Foster, Edward W  568
Frary, Thomas C  392
Freiday, Jacob A  341
Funk, George H  462
G
Gabel, Joseph A  459
Gale, John P  358
Gove, Herbert H  602
Greene, Charles K  391
Griffin, Clarence E  470
Griffin, Fred L  437
Griggs, Chancey W  310
H
Hadley, Alonzo M  297
Haines, John C  317
Hale, Julius F  551
Hammer, Emerson  513
Harding, Roderick R  445
Hayden, Obadiah B  430
Hayton, Thomas  507
Hayton, Thomas R  '.  508
Hegg, Peter L  379
Heim, Joseph G  368
Henry, William J  555
Hewitt, Henry, Jr  298
Hildebrand, William H  328
Hill, Charles E  560
Holcomb. George  493
Hove, Charles  453
Howard, Willard W  502
Howarth, William  567
Howell, I. M  364
Hunsaker, Jacob  403
Huntoon, Berton W  361
Hurd, Maynard P  572
Hyatt, Glen C  374
Hyde, Charles H  447
I
Irwin, Mason  362
J
Jenkins, David C, Jr  581
Johnston, David S  528
Jones, Charles H  498
Jones, Lewis N  604
Jordan, Alvah H. B  569
Judson, Edward B  476
K
Kershaw, Tunis R  315
Keyes, William C  471
King, W. A. .'  506
Kirkpatrick, John A  352

Kneeland, W. H  448
Kraby, Peter D  396
L
Lamping, George B  549
Lane, George B  339
Lansing, Gulian Ver P  557
Latham, John  438
Lauridsen, G. M  520
Leonard, Albert P  296
Likins, Calvin T  305
Lister, Samuel G  512
Listmann, George J  356
Logsdon, Clarence M  327
Lord, C. J  461
Lytle, Robert F  429
M
MacQuinn, Sutcliffe  482
Mansfield. Francis W  583
March, Hiram A  405
Markley, Lemon R  308
McCush, Daniel  353
McCush, William  379
McGinnis, Emery  301
McGuinness, Michael J  491
Mcllhany, James S  386
McKinnon, Alexander B  384
McLain, Minor  472
McMillan, Christopher C  510
McMillan, Duncan N  357
McRae, John  598
Mead, Fred M  451
Metzger, Eugene M  394
Miles. John  410
Miller, Alexander C  320
Miller Brothers  350
Miller, Fred C  544
Miller, Gustav A  351
Miller, John H  383
Miller, Leonard E  351
Miller, Samuel  338
Miller, William F  350
Miller, William L  302
Million, Elmer C  488
Minton, John C  479
Mitchell, George M  573
Mitchell, William H  280
Montandon, George E  563
Morgan, Jenkins  334
Mottet, Frederic  457
Mottman, George A  432
Myers, John L  294
N
Nobles. Edward T  37=;
Nudd, William H  412
O
Oliver, William F  500
Olney, Clinton E  503

INDEX.

Parker, Jared C  571
Parker, John A  520
Pearson, Hans  378
Pendleton, Frank R  387
Peterson, Hans 0  434
Pettibone, Alfred W  286
Phelps, John E  505
Pincus, Isaac  331
Poison, Alexander  346
Prosser, William F  278
R
Rathvon, Henry A  501
Reed, John B  525
Rice, Thomas  586
Richardson, Charles  336
Richardson, Simon P  335
Richardson, Thomas L  594
Robertson, James  501
Robinson, Alver  543
Roe, James  562
Roehl, Charles F  284
Roehl, William F  284
Romaine, Jerome W  303
Ross, William M  601
Rowell, Fred R  558
Rust, William R  332
S
Sachs & Hale  55°
Sachs, Morris B  55°
Salmson, Edward 1  553
Sayre, Thompson D  486
Schively, John H  366
Shelton, David  346
Sherwood, Elmer E  348
Sill, Jasper  499"
Slater, Thomas  373
Slentz & Parrott  343
Smith, George B  406
Smith. John M  498
Snyder, John  532
Stearns, Josiah 0  426
Sticklin, Louis J  460
Stocking, Fred W  464
Stocklein, Henry J  381
Sutton, Alfred E  386
Swalwell, Joseph A  400
Swim, Arthur L  557
Sybert, William R  349

Taylor, Oliver P  411
Taylor, Zebulon B  323
Teats, Govnor  504
Templin, John  380
Ternes. John B  597
Terrill, William E  389
Tew, Thomas S  4J4
Tilly, Frederick G  363
Timson, William  369
Tracy, Charles H  495
Tunin, E. N..  466
Turner, Gilbert L  599
Turner, Joseph H  295
Tvete, Nels K  495
U
Urquhart, William M  424
V
Van Valkenburg, Luman G  517
Von Boecklin, August  530
W
Wald, Charles  516
Walker, Frank, Sr  565
Watrous. George H  309
Welsh, John T  '400
Westendorf. Thomas P  279
Whidden. Lee M  511
White, Henry M  485
White, Oliver C  419
White. William H  417
Whitfield, William  487
Wickman, Anders G  382
Willard, Fred F  591
Williams, Robert W  577
Williamson, James A  441
Wilson, Anthony S  372
Wilson, Elliott M  527
Wilson, Frank  349
Wing, Frederick A  514
Woodin, Wellington A  354
Wyatt, Charles A  314
Y
Young, Angus W  439
Z
Zimmer, E. R  4-53

HISTORY OF THE
PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.

CHAPTER I.
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
For a better comprehension of the Puget Sound Country in its physical
aspects, and as an introduction to its history since it was first settled by
men of the Anglo-Saxon race, some brief reference to its geological, topo
graphical and botanical features and its climatic conditions will be found
useful and in many respects desirable. But little geological investigation
of this region had been made, until, in recent years, the Geological Bureau
of the United States, chiefly by Bailey Willis, I. C. Russell and George Otis
Smith, has done considerable work, which has, however, been limited to
certain districts, and is largely of a preliminary character. The state of
Washington, in 1901, also created a Board of Geological Survey, which is
already doing good work on the same lines. Owing to the rugged and
heavily timbered nature of the country west of the summits of the Cascade
Mountains and the want of roads and other facilities for transportation,
this work is carried on with difficulty, and further time will be required
to secure accurate and general information on the subject. Some notice
will also be taken of the early navigators who first discovered and explored
the northwest coast of North America, including the Straits of Fuca and
the waters of Puget Sound.
Nor will the aborigines of this country be overlooked. Brief sketches
of its Indian tribes, their origin, habits and customs, and their bloody wars
with the white settlers will be introduced.
The following general outline of the geological history of the forma
tion of western Washington including the Puget Sound region is given by
Professor Thomas Condon of the University of Oregon: "During the

2 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
older geological period, when the Pacific Ocean covered all Washington
west of the Blue, Bitter Root and Coeur D'Alene Mountains, the Cascade
Range, one hundred and fifty miles from the then ocean beach, was being
slowly lifted up from the bottom of the sea, until it formed a barrier exclud
ing the ocean from east Washington and changing the seashore to the west
slope of the Cascades, where conditions favorable to coal deposits existed,
resulting in the laying down of a vast coal field extending almost from the
northern to the southern boundary of the state.
"After ages given to the draining and drying up of the inland sea
while the sediments in the rocks west of the Cascades are marine. As in
and the deposition of rocks and soils east of the Cascades, the Coast Range
was elevated in the same gradual manner, the ocean, however, not being
excluded from the long north and south depression between the two ranges.
This is shown by the fresh water sediment in the later rocks of the interior,
the former instance of upheaval, the conditions again favored the deposit
of coal, but of an inferior quality, being lignites. The glacial period fol
lowing the tertiary, grinding down the mountains and scooping out the
valleys, gave the country its most striking features. As these glaciers
moved down the mountains, much higher then than now, ice floes were
formed in which were imbedded blocks of slate and boulders of granite and
as these floes floated on the waters or melted on the earth where they were
stranded, they deposited these fragments over the future state of Wash
ington, to be found and utilized in our nineteenth century. When the
glacial period was passed the waters distributed their mud, gravel and sand,
forming those deep deposits found on the shores of Puget Sound, Gray's
Harbor and Shoalwater — Willapa — Bay. Then followed another period
during which the waters were drained off and the country assumed its
present general appearance."
There are three prominent and well defined physical features of the
Puget Sound Country. These are the Olympic Mountains, the Puget
Sound Basin and the Cascade Mountains. There are no exact border lines
separating these districts. They merge gradually' and imperceptibly into
each other. The dividing lines are arbitrary and difficult of exact location.
North, east and south, they overlap into adjoining districts of a similar
character. The above described features are capable of subdivision into
smaller sections, which need not be noticed at this time. In describing these
several districts, Professor Henry Landes, of the University of Washing
ton, and state geologist, who has given much study to the subject, says of
the Olympic Mountains : "These mountains should be regarded as merely
a segment of the general coastal range which extends northward and south
ward, beyond the confines of the state. They reach their greatest develop-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 3
ment in Washington in the triangular shaped area bordered by the ocean,
the Straits of Fuca and the arms of Puget Sound. Their highest peak is
Olympus, which has an elevation of about 8,000 feet and is the first point
of land to be recognized by navigators when approaching the coast of Wash
ington from the westward. The Olympics, when seen from any point of
view, exhibit a labyrinth of serrated ridges and sharp peaks. Standing as
they do in the path of the moist westerly winds and rising to a considerable
height above the sea, these mountains are visited by an excessive pre
cipitation. "The Olympics have been but little explored, and reliable information
concerning them is very meager. It is known, however, that they are well-
nigh impassable because of their extremely broken and dissected character.
The divides are exceedingly sharp and difficult to follow. The rivers flow
in deep canyons with walls which in many instances cannot be scaled. On
the whole, the streams of these mountains seem to be approaching the stage
of maturity in their development. The southern extension of the Olympics
consists merely of hills or ridges rising as a rule not more than fifteen hun
dred feet above the sea. In fact, so inconspicuous are they in the topog
raphy of the southwestern part of the state that the term mountains is not
usually applied to them. They have been cut in two by the Chehalis and
Columbia rivers.
"The Puget Sound basin lies between the Olympic and Cascade Moun
tains, its longer axis having a north and south direction. It has the form
of a broad trough, its central area being less than one hundred feet above
sea level, while its eastern and western sides rise gradually until they
coalesce with the mountains. The basin for the most part has a foundation
of sedimentary rocks which have been thrown into folds. The qualities
produced by the folding of the strata have been largely reduced by erosion,
so that the basin at the present time is a plain of low relief. A late episode
in the history of the basin was a subsidence of sufficient extent to cause the
wide valleys of the western portion to sink below sea level, whereby the
rivers became 'drowned,' and Puget Sound was produced. A still later
episode was the advent of great glaciers from the mountains to the north
ward, eastward and westward, whereby the northern part of the basin was
overwhelmed and its rock foundation almost wholly hidden by a mantle
of glacial sediments varying in thickness from 500 to 1,000 feet. The
glacial sediments consist for the most part of plains of till, with local
deposits of stratified clay, sand and gravel. About the southern end of
Puget Sound there are many level barren plains of coarse sand and gravel
which were formed by the great streams of water which the melting glaciers
produced. The southern part of the basin has a somewhat more hilly or

4 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
broken character than the northern part, because of an absence of plains of
glacial materials."
Of the Cascade Mountains he says: "On the southern border of
Washington, where the Cascade Mountains enter the state, they have a
breadth of about fifty miles, which increases to one hundred miles at the
British Columbia line. The general height of the mountains is about 8,000
feet above the sea, although there are some peaks, usually old volcanoes,
which rise to much greater heights. Only one of the volcanoes that are
well known stands on the axis of the range, viz., Glacier Peak. The re
maining volcanoes, Baker, Rainier and St. Helens, stand on the western
flank of the mountains, and Adams on the eastern side. The northern half
of the Cascades in Washington differs much in character from the southern
half. In the southern portion igneous activity has been very great, and
much of the topography is due to the presence of volcanoes with their
attendant lava flows. In the northern Cascades there is such a marked
uniformity in the heights of the loftier peaks and ridges as to suggest very
strongly that they are remnants of a plateau. In other words, the northern
Cascades have seemingly been carved out of a great plateau which was the
result of the uplifting of a peneplain. The ruggedness of the topography,
therefore, is not due primarily to the folding of the rocks, but to erosion.
The streams have been, and are yet, large and well fed, so that the old
plateau is now well dissected and transformed into mountains of extreme
ruggedness. The main streams which flow out from the Cascades all have
valleys noted for their depths so that the flanking mountains stand along
side in great boldness. In ascending the principal mountain valleys,
especially those on the western side of the Cascades, one notices that the
grade is gentle, even into the heart of the mountains, and the ascent is
nearly all made in the last few miles before the summit is attained.
"Very many glaciers, some of large size, occur in the higher portions
of the Cascade Mountains. They once filled the larger mountain valleys,
and eroded and modified these very materially. Amphitheatres, or cirques,
are found at the heads of many streams, and as these basins usually contain
small lakes and parks, they afford some of the most beautiful scenery that
the mountains possess."
Of the geological formation of this region Professor Landes says:
"It is generally believed that the metamorphic rocks are the oldest as far
as known in Washington; while at the same time all efforts to determine
their geological age have so far been unsuccessful. These rocks have been
acted upon by heat and pressure for the most part, and as a result they have
undergone certain changes from their original conditions. These changes
are so great that the rocks are greatly altered in their physical aspects.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 5
Some common examples of metamorphism are the changes of ordinary
limestone into marble, sandstone into quartzite, and clay-rock into slate.
From their marked resemblance to Archaean rocks found in other parts of
the United States, some have been inclined to designate the metamorphic
rocks of Washington as Archaean, but this cannot be done with assurance
until further evidence is obtained. In many places it has been observed
that the metamorphic rocks have sedimentaries lying unconformably upon
them, and, in fact, it has been largely from the erosion of the former that
the latter have been made. It is known that metamorphic rocks occupy a
large portion of the state, being frequently met with throughout the Cas
cades from Stampede Pass northward to the British Columbia boundary.
The ordinary varieties of metamorphic rocks in Washington are gneiss,
schist, marble, slate and quartzite. Gneiss is a rock composed essentially
of the same minerals as granite and as a consequence is often mistaken for
the latter. While a hand specimen of gneiss usually resembles closely a
hand specimen of granite, in a ledge of gneiss a banded or stratified appear
ance is always displayed. Gneiss 'in general is a good building stone, and
in Washington it oftentimes has within it mineral veins of economic im
portance. The gneiss of Washington is generally associated with granite
and schist, usually lying above the former and below the latter. Schists are
of various kinds and are usually classified according to the prominent min
erals found within them. Mica is usually the most abundant mineral, and
mica schists are therefore of the most frequent occurrence. Chlorite, horn
blende and staurolite, with some others, also occur occasionally and give
rise to' chlorite schist, hornblende schist, etc. Large areas of schist occur
on the Skagit river from near Marblemount to Cokedale. Near Hamilton
the schist contains some important veins of magnetic iron. West of Ham
ilton and about Cokedale are two large areas where schist is the enclosing
rock of some • coal basins to be described later on. Upon the eastern and
southern boundaries of the large Blue Canyon coal field mica schist con
stitutes the rim rock. It also occurs on the Great Northern Railway near
Madison and for a number of miles from Berne to the eastward. In the
metamorphic area above described crystalline limestone occurs in a large
number of localities. Originally a common limestone, it has become crys
talline or marbleized through the influences of heat and pressure which were
at some time exerted upon it. On the western slope of the Cascade Moun
tains crystalline limestone occurs at many places from Snoqualmie Pass
northward, notably near the Denny iron mines along the Stillaguamish
river, near Granite Falls, and along the Skagit river between Baker and
Marblemount. Important areas of the same rock occur in the San Juan
Islands, where the limestone is intimately associated with some basic

6 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
eruptive rocks. It occurs here in isolated masses varying in size from a
few feet in diameter to one-fourth of a mile or more. This limestone
doubtless belonged to some sedimentary beds from which fragments were
torn by the eruptive rocks in their ascent from their former position below
the surface. As far as the metamorphic area has been studied quartzite
has been noted in only a few places. The igneous or heat rocks are those
which have solidified from a fused condition. An igneous rock may be
formed by the fusion of a sedimentary rock or it may represent merely the
final stage in metamorphism. Two kinds of igneous rocks may be noted
— the plutonic and the volcanic. The plutonic, or deep seated rocks, are
those which, cooling at a distance beneath the surface and under great pres
sure, solidify slowly, attaining a coarse granular structure except near their
borders, where they come in contact with the cooler rocks. In Washington
the plutonic rocks are well represented by granite, syenite, diorite, etc., but
as detailed studies have not been made in regard to the particular areas
where these different varieties occur, they have all been grouped under the
head of granite. Volcanic rocks are those which are brought to the surface
or near the surface by volcanic action and are either spread out in layers
intruded into fissures as dikes, or accumulated as fragments of lava. On
account of their sudden cooling many volcanic rocks are glassy or only
partly crystalline, others are wholly crystalline, the crystals generally but
not always being of a small size. Examples of volcanic rocks are to- be
found throughout Washington, notably the great lava plains of south
eastern Washington and within and about the great volcanoes of the Cas
cade Mountains. Granite occurs at many places and in very large quan
tities in Washington. Throughout the metamorphic area of the state above
described granite is perhaps the most common rock. ' Serpentine is not an
unusual rock in Washington, especially in the central and northern Cas
cades. The cone of Mount Rainier is said to be composed for the most
part of flows of andisite with occasional layers of basalt, as is also the
summit of Glacier Peak. Sedimentary rocks are those which are made
from the sediments or fragments derived from the older rocks. These
fragments may be produced along the seashore by the work of the waves
or they may be produced upon the land by the forces of air and water.
Sediments are transported usually by water, and deposited upon the ocean
floor, estuaries, or in lakes. Thus we have rocks of marine, brackish water,
and fresh water origin. The sedimentary rocks of Washington cover a
large portion of the state and are of great importance. At the present stage
of knowledge concerning Washington geology the sedimentary rocks are
better known than are the other divisions. From the western flank of the
Cascades they extend continuously to the coast, with the exception of the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 7
higher central portion of the Olympics. As far as known, the Cretaceous
age is but little represented among the sedimentary rocks of the state. The
oldest and probably the best known locality is that of Sucia Island and a
few other small adjoining islands of the San Juan group lying between the
Island of Vancouver and the mainland. These rocks have been designated
the Vancouver formation, because of their splendid development upon
the island of that name. The Tertiary rocks have been studied for a
number of years, and beyond doubt are the best known rocks of the state.
They are of great economic importance because they contain large deposits
of coal and valuable ledges of building stone. As was the case in other
parts of the United States, Tertiary time in Washington was characterized
by the presence of many lakes in which sediments of great thickness were
deposited. In the early part of Tertiary time, or during the Eocene epoch,
vegetation grew with great luxuriance about the lake shores, and upon the
lake floors vegetal matter was deposited in thick beds between the layers
of sand and clay. After an average accumulation in these lakes of several
thousand feet of mechanical sediments and vegetable matter the strata were
folded, elevated and sometimes faulted, the vegetable accumulations were
compressed and metamorphosed and converted into' coal seams. These
lakes had their best development west of the Cascades, along the eastern
side of the present Puget Sound basin, but in this region the Tertiary sedi
mentary rocks have been largely covered by lava flows from the mountains
nearby and by the sediments of the great glaciers which later passed over
them. The Eocene rocks have received more study than those of the Mio
cene and Pliocene epochs because of their economic importance. The
Eocene rocks of Washington are nearly all coal-bearing, and their areas
have been more thoroughly examined in connection with the development
of the coal mines of the state. These areas are in some instances very small
and the thickness of the rocks is not great. In other cases, as in the Blue
Canyon coal field, an area of more than 360 miles is represented, and the
rocks are not less than 10,000 feet in thickness." The coal fields of the
Puget Sound region will be referred to hereafter, as well as its deposits of
precious metals, iron and other resources of a mineral character.
Perhaps a more definite understanding of the topographic or physio-
graphical character of the Puget Sound basin may be obtained by the fol
lowing paragraphs, which are taken from Bailey Willis's Report to the
United States Geological Bureau, upon "Some Coal Fields of Puget
Sound": "The water bodies of Puget Sound occupy deep and steep-sided
channels in an elevated expanse of gravelly deposits, which is further divided
by valleys that were formerly arms of the Sound, but which are now filled
with alluvium. The escarpment of the gravelly plateaus rises from 200 to

8 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
300 feet above the waters of the Sound and the alluvial plains of its former
branches. The surfaces of the plateaus present a great variety of smooth
and hummocky levels, supporting occasional rounded hills one hundred feet
or more in height. All the aspects of the district are characteristic of forms
modeled by extensive glaciers. The individual features assumed their
forms either on top of ice which has melted or as morainic ridges in front
of glaciers, or beneath ice sheets of whose lower surfaces they present the
casts. In the vicinity of the Sound these gravel deposits are deep, extend
ing below sea level probably several hundred feet, and even at distances of
twenty to thirty miles eastward. Along the foothills of the Cascade Range
they are known to cover the older rocks locally to depths of 300 to 400 feet.
They thus determine the topographic aspects of a wide area, almost obliter
ating the configuration of the solid-rock surface upon which they rest.
From the bluffs about the Sound the plateaus rise toward the mountains by
terraces, which are often disposed irregularly with reference to' existing
streams, but in a general way extend about the higher tracts between the
rivers. Within these higher areas the deposit of gravel is thin or locally
wanting above the older rocks. The canyons cut by the principal rivers
flowing from the Cascades and Mount Rainier also expose the underlying
strata, and they may be seen in occasional isolated outcrops in the gravelly
expanse nearer the Sound. Valleys, canyons and hills older than the
present ones lie buried beneath the gravel deposits. They are so concealed
that no clear conception of their distribution can be formed, but their rela
tively bold character is indicated by a few facts.
"In the vicinity of Renton, and between that town and Seattle, sharply
defined hills of hard rock rise like islands from the alluvium of the Duwa-
mish valley. The former canyon, now filled almost to the summits of
buttes along its course, is inferred to have been deep and steep-sided. At
Burnett, twenty miles from tidewater and 335 feet above it, a gangway,
driven on a coal vein two hundred feet below the outcrops, passed into a
channel filled with gravel and tree roots. At Wilkeson a, similar buried
channel was encountered in a water level gangway 2,250 feet from the
entrance and 250 feet below the level of the overlying gravel terrace. This
preglacial topography is of much interest as a phase of the history of the
Sound basin, and it is economically important as a factor which modifies
the amount of coal available above any given level. It sometimes intro
duces difficulties in mining. The topographic surface of the gravel deposits
bears no definite relation to that of the Coal Measures."
What countless ages were required by the forces of Nature, with all
their ceaseless activity, and working under the direction of a beneficent
Providence, to bring this magnificent region to its present state of physical

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. g
perfection for the uses and purposes of man in his high stage of moral,
industrial and intellectual development as reached at the beginning of the
twentieth century! CHAPTER II.
FLORA AND CLIMATIC CONDITIONS.
Of the topography of the Puget Sound Country it is difficult to speak
in terms of moderation. All writers on the subject early or late concur
in this opinion. Of this country, when first discovered and explored by
Vancouver in 1792, he wrote: "To describe the beauties of this region
will on some future occasion be a very grateful task to the pen of the skilful
panegyrist. The serenity of the climate, the innumerable pleasing land
scapes and the abundant fertility that unassisted nature puts forth, require
only to be enriched by the industry of man with villages, mansions, cottages
and other lovely buildings, to render it the most lovely country that can
be imagined, while the labor of the inhabitants must be rewarded in the
bounties which nature seems ready to bestow on cultivation." If this lan
guage may seem extravagant, we may quote from the official report for
1 90 1 of I. C. Russell, of the United States Geological Bureau, who made
a personal and scientific investigation of this region, and among other
things reported as follows : "The mild, equable temperature and the
abundant moisture of the Puget Sound region favor the growth of vegeta
tion, and the entire land area from tidewater to an elevation of about 7,000
feet, except where the slopes are too precipitous, is clothed with a splendid
forest of giant trees. This belt of forest adjacent to- the Pacific begins at
the south, in California, and extends to southern Alaska. It is the most
magnificent forest in North America, and one that demands far more space
from both a geological and geographical point of view than can be given
it at this time. 'The great forest' extends up the western slope of the Cas
cades, through the lower passes and far down the larger valleys on the
eastern or sunny side. Its grandeur, in an artistic sense, is beyond descrip
tion, and can be fully appreciated only by one who abides for weeks or
months in its perpetual twilight. Great fir trees, rising from 150 to 250,
and even 300 feet above the ground, stand in closed ranks, their rugged
trunks from six to eight or ten feet, and even more, in diameter, shaggy
with mosses, lichens of many subdued tints of brown, green and ' yellow.
Mingled with the giant firs are equally massive cedars, although of lower
stature. The cedars are frequently twenty-five or thirty feet in circumfer
ence near the ground, but taper rapidly from a deeply fluted base to a sharp
spinelike top. These great trees do not form groves, or detached clumps,
as in the forested regions of less humid lands, but stand thickly together

io HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
for mile after mile, and as one threads his way along the deeply shaded
roads and trails he soon gets the impression that the forest is of intermin
able extent. Beneath the deep shade of the boughs which, to one looking
upward from beneath them, seem to mingle with the clouds — and during
much of the prevailing misty weather this is literally true — there is a rank
undergrowth, especially in the valleys and along the smaller streams, of
vine-like maples, alders, frequently of the size of what may be termed forest
trees, the devil's club (Fatsia horrida) with its broad, tropical-looking
leaves, and young firs, cedars, hemlocks, yews, etc. Of still more lowly
habits are the ferns, equista, mosses, lichens, which form the luxuriant and
ever varied carpet of the forest. The ground throughout the great forest
is encumbered with fallen trunks, sometimes piled one on another, which,
owing to the continued moisture, remain undecayed for centuries. Not
unfrequently a massive cedar or fir, in size and shape not unlike a prostrate
column, supports three or more trees, each large enough to be cut for
lumber, whose gnarled and twisted roots clasp the sides of their host and
descend to the earth beneath. The beauty of these fallen giants of- the
forest, when overgrown with shaggy mosses and decorated with hundreds
of small hemlocks and a multitude of gracefully bending ferns, always
fresh in color and usually beaded with moisture, is beyond the power of
the most skilful artist to portray. The fascination of the great forest is
such that the explorer, weary with forcing a passage through dense under
growth and climbing over prostrate trunks, is lured by its charms into the
more and more inaccessible retreats, probably never before invaded by man,
or is tempted to rest content on the inviting couches of lichens and study
the varied charms and endless details of the dream-like picture. While
ever a source of interest and a delight, the forest clothes the ground and
even the rocky precipices with so impenetrable a mask that the geologist
has but little hope of being able to read the secrets of the strata that are
buried beneath it. Where the great trees cast their shadows, grasses and
all forage plants are absent, thereby rendering traveling with horses dif
ficult, and thus again impeding the work of the explorer."
The forests that cover so large a portion of the face of this country
furnish the botanist with a most extensive and interesting field of labor.
Whether the immense growths of the larger species of timber or the
numerous and beautiful specimens of vegetable growth of a more lowly
character are considered, there is ample room for a life-long investigation.
Of the larger varieties, the red fir (Abies Douglassii) is one of the most
useful for lumber of all kinds, and is one of the most beautiful in appear
ance. This tree reaches a height of 250 or 300 feet, gradually tapering
from the ground up, and is often found without a limb for 100 or 150 feet.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. n
Another very valuable tree for lumbering purposes and also for masts
and spars, ship-building and similar purposes is the yellow fir (Abies
Grandis), which is tough, elastic and fine-grained.
This is also a beautiful tree, and is one of the delights of the lumber
manufacturer. Immense quantities of lumber from these two varieties of
fir are shipped to every part of the world, including South Africa, the East
Indies, China, Japan, Siberia, etc. Other species of the fir are the white
(Abies Concolor), the Abies Nobilis, sometimes called the larch, growing
in the more elevated districts. The Abies Amabilis, or lovely fir, is the
most beautiful of its species and the Abies Sub-Alpina is a mountain tree
which grows at a greater altitude than any other except some hardy varie
ties of the pine.
A very valuable tree and more abundant on the low lands near the shores
of the Sound and the coast is the spruce, white and yellow, which grows to
a great size, twelve or fifteen feet in diameter, but not so tall as the red and
yellow fir. This tree is available for a variety of purposes because of its
softness and uniformity of texture, and therefore valuable for box lumber,
laths, etc., and is also adapted to the manufacture of wood-pulp for paper.
A very valuable tree which grows to a great size and is used for many
purposes is the Oregon cedar (Thuya-gigantea). This tree is often found
with a diameter of twelve or fifteen feet, but does not reach the height of
the spruce and fir. On account of its durability it is extensively used for
shingles, fencing lumber and other purposes having great weather exposure.
It is used almost universally by the Indians for making canoes, which are
not only durable but light and elegant.
There are two varieties of hemlock, the white and the black. This
tree does not grow to the height and circumference of the fir, spruce and
cedar, but is beautiful in its proportions, not often more than four feet in
diameter or two hundred feet in height. It grows in dense forests very
thick and straight and is often draped with "Druidical moss," which
acquires great length in the moist and humid valleys of the coast where it
is generally found. Its bark is rich in tannin for the manufacture of
leather, and the lumber made from this tree is white and is well adapted
for box-making and flooring. It is coming into more general use in recent
years not only for home consumption, but for export to the Philippines and
elsewhere. A less important, but nevertheless noticeable tree, is the Ridge
pine, which grows at a higher altitude than any other inhabiting the glacier
and wind-swept areas about the snow line of Mt. Baker, Glacier Peak, Mts.
Rainier, St. Helens, etc.
The mountain pine is also found in certain localities on the sides of
the mountains just mentioned, but above the region of the fir, spruce and

12 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
cedar. This is supposed to be equal to the white pine of Maine, but its
inaccessibility has kept it thus far from use by our lumbermen.
Of the less valuable trees there are many varieties, including the
Oregon yew (Taxus brevifolia), the vine maple (A. Circinatum), which
is more a shrub than a tree, the Oregon crab apple (Pyrus rivularis), with
a small but well flavored fruit, good also for grafting upon, as is also the
wild cherry (Cerasus Mollis).
Another tree found in many localities, but yet not utilized extensively,
is the white oak (Quercus Garryana). It does not grow to the size of the
ordinary oak of the eastern states, but is yet valuable for many purposes.
A beautiful tree is the Oregon ash (Fraxinus Oregona). This resembles
the white maple in size, has a graceful and delicate flower, and makes a
fine-grained wood which is useful for manufacturing purposes.
Of the broad-leaved deciduous trees, the white maple is among the
most beautiful. This tree grows near the water courses, matures and
decays rapidly, attaining a height of seventy or eighty feet, but the wood
takes a high polish and has a beautiful grain, making it valuable for manu
facturing purposes. Its foliage is handsome, it bears a beautiful yellow
flower, and is a favorite tree for shade and ornamental purposes.
Another tree of considerable value for cabinet-making purposes is the
Oregon alder (Alnus Oregona), which grows to a height of sixty feet, with
a diameter of two to three feet.
Of the poplar three species are found, the cottonwood (Populus Moni-
lifera), the balsam tree (P. Angustifolia), and the quaking asp (P. Tremu-
loides). These grow on the borders of rivers and streams and by the sides
of ponds and springs.
Another handsome tree growing in the same localities is the Oregon
dog wood (Cormus Nuttalii.) This tree, when in full flower and in suit
able situations, is very handsome, with its large silvery blossoms. Its
white blossoms of spring, its pink leaves of the latter part of summer, and
its scarlet berries in the fall, make it a choice tree for ornamental uses.
Another choice and beautiful tree is the arbutus (A. Menziesii), a
broad-leaved evergreen, commonly called laurel. Its Spanish name is the
Madrona tree. It blooms in the spring, and bears a scarlet berry in the
fall resembling those of the mountain ash. Its leaf is a long oval, bright
green and glossy.
Another favorite among the ornamental trees of this region is the
mountain ash, which inhabits the higher or sub-alpine ranges.
The trees mentioned thus far are only those of larger growth and
greater prominence, because of their abundance and their practical utility.
Space will not permit a more full and elaborate description of these won-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 13
erful gifts of nature to the Puget Sound Country. Nor can anything
more than a brief reference be made in this place to the innumerable varie-
ies of shrubs, willows, vines, lichens, mosses and trees of more modest
growth, the roses, the spiroeas, honeysuckles, ferns and other luxuriant
growths scarcely found elsewhere outside of the tropics.
Notice should be taken, however, of a very peculiar shrub commonly
called the Oregon grape, because of the fruit it bears of acid berries resem
bling a wild grape, from which it takes its name. There is also a holly-
leaved barberry (Berberis Aquifolium) two or three feet in height and a
very ornamental shrub; also the "Yerba Buena," the original name of San
Francisco, which has an aromatic leaf used by the early settlers in place of
tea, whence it was called Oregon tea; also the violets, blue and yellow,
the butter-cups, the larkspur, the blue iris, the red columbine, the lilies, the
pinks, the daisies and numerous other varieties of small flowers that bloom
during several months of the year. Nor should the many varieties of
berries and small fruits in addition to those already mentioned be over
looked. Of these the salal (Gaultheria Shallon) is one of the most
delicious and abundant. The Indians are fond of this berry.
Of huckleberries there are three varieties, one the Vaccinium Ovatum,
an evergreen, bearing berries and blossoms at the same time. The leaves
resemble the myrtle, and the berries are black and very palatable, especially
to a hungry man traveling through the forest. The second has a slender
stalk, small scarlet berries, very palatable, and small deciduous leaves. This
is known as the V. Ovalifolium. The third, V. Parvifolium, is much like
the huckleberry of the eastern states, and bears a rather acid blue berry,
with which the markets of the Sound cities are supplied in their season.
There is also a species of barberry like that found in New England.
There are three kinds of wild gooseberries, the Ribes Laxiflorum, Brac-
teoseum and Lacustre. None of these bears good fruit.
The salmonberry is frequently found in forest openings and resembles
the yellow raspberry. There is a blackberry very abundant in logged-off
lands and forest openings, which is a berry highly prized for domestic use.
Two varieties of the elder grow to the height of twenty to thirty feet, with
red and yellow berries, which present a handsome appearance in summer
and fall seasons.
Of creeping plants and vines including many varieties of roses, wood
bine, and mock-orange (Philadelphus), syringo clematis, and others of the
similar character, there is a great variety and abundance. There are also
many varieties of small, delicate, and at the same time very beautiful field
flowers, so finely formed that they are scarcely perceptible to the naked eye,
yet as lovely and graceful as the flowers of larger growth and more bril
liant coloring.

14 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Nor should the magnificent rhododendron (Fatsia Horrida), now the
state flower of Washington, be omitted in our mention of the principal
shrubs of the Puget Sound Country. Its large and beautiful flowers,
shading from pale carmine to lilac, form a distinct and very, attractive
feature of the botany of this richly endowed region. With a soil and
climate wonderfully adapted to the growth of vegetation of every descrip
tion and with an abundance of moisture borne in upon the land with winds
coming from the warm regions of the Pacific Ocean, it can be readily under
stood what tangled mosses and impenetrable thickets are produced of trees,
shrubs, vines, ferns, mosses, lichens and growths of all descriptions, more
particularly along the streams and water courses that are to- be found in
this favored territory.
Volumes might be devoted alone to the botanical features of the region
we have undertaken so briefly to describe.
In the years 1854-55 the United States exploring expedition, after a
hasty and imperfect examination of Oregon and Washington, collected
three hundred and sixty species of native plants, of which one hundred and
fifty are peculiar to these two states. From a pamphlet published by Thomas
Howell, of Arthur, Oregon, in 1887, it appears that a list of all the species
and varieties known to exist in the territory west of Wyoming and north of
California comprises twenty-one hundred and fifty-two species and two hun
dred and twenty-seven varieties of plants, or twenty-three hundred and sev
enty-nine in all. From the enormous size of the trees in the forests of the
Puget Sound country, and the extent, variety and superabundance of its
vegetable products, it may readily be understood that the soil and climate are
particularly conducive to a prolific development of this character. Here the
conditions are in the highest degree favorable for such production. The
isothermal-lines of this region are those of Virginia and North Carolina,
whilst its parallels of latitude are those of Nova Scotia. The cool summers
and warm winters here are the result of its proximity to the Pacific Ocean,
and of the winds which prevail at the different seasons of the year. The
absorption of heat by this vast body of water, by which its temperature is
raised materially, and the slow process by which that heat is given out in
the winter, causes the surface of the ocean to be warmer in the winter than
the land surface. On the other hand, the water surface does not become as
greatly heated as the land surface. The result is that winds from the ocean
are warm in winter and cool in summer. The prevalent winds in the winter
are from the south and west, and come from warm regions of the Pacific
Ocean, modified also to some extent by the Japan current. Those from the
northeast are cold winds. In the summer the opposite conditions exist, the
southwest winds then prevailing are cool, while north to northeast winds are

HISTORY OF TFIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 15
hot in the daytime but cool at night. These winds, like the trade winds of the
tropics, blow with great regularity. The result is an equable climate, where
there are no extremes of heat or cold, and hurricanes, cyclones or tornadoes
are never known. High winds are unusual, and hail storms are rare. An
other result of the warm winds blowing on the land from the ocean is an
abundant supply of moisture, which is precipitated throughout the Puget
Sound region, its passage across the Cascades being prevented by the alti
tude of those mountains. A wind 'known as the "Chinook," so named from
the Chinook tribe of Indians living near the mouth of the Columbia river,
because the winds come from a southwesterly direction, should also be noticed.
This is a peculiarly balmy, spring-like and pleasant breeze, which blows
from the southwest and west during the winter months, and is particularly
delightful at that season of the year. This wind coming from the direction
of the tropics often extends east as far as the Rocky Mountains, greatly to
the relief of cattle and sheep and men, as it frequently dissolves large bodies
of snow in a very brief time. The result of these conditions is therefore
cool or moderately warm weather in the summer and a winter which is mild
and rainy with very little snow. The temperature rarely exceeds 90 degrees
in the hottest days of summer, and very rarely falls to zero at the coldest
stations. In this region is found an annual mean temperature ranging from
46 degrees in the north to 52 degrees in the south, and from 38 degrees in
January to 64 degrees in July. In Lewis, eastern Chehalis, Thurston, Pierce,
King, Kitsap and eastern Mason county the annual mean is 50 to 52 degrees.
The lower Sound region, bordering on the straits of Juan de Fuca and
Bellingham Bay, is cooler. Its annual mean temperature is 46 to 48 degrees
in the northern and 48 to 50 degrees in its southern part. Along the Straits
and the Pacific coast the temperature is cool and equable the year around,
ranging from 40 degrees in winter to 58 or 59 degrees in summer. Seattle,
the warmest place in the Puget Sound Country, has an annual mean tem
perature of 51.4 degrees, ranging from 40.6 degrees in January to 64.7 degrees
in August. The highest temperature recorded at Seattle was 93 degrees, the
lowest 3 degrees. The average annual precipitation at Seattle was 37.6
inches, varying from 29.28 to 45.16 inches. Tacoma, which has about the
average Puget Sound climate, has an annual mean of 50 degrees, ranging
from 38.4 degrees in January to 64.2 in July and August. The average
annual precipitation in that city is 43.68 inches. Olympia, with the same
temperature, has a greater rainfall, being 52.65 inches annually. Port Town-
send, with an annual temperature of 48.8 degrees, has a rainfall of only 22.42
inches annually. The annual temperature of Whatcom is 49.3 degrees, with
an annual rainfall of 31.91 inches. At Gray's Harbor the annual tempera
ture is 52 degrees, and its rainfall 87 inches. Rain falls on an average of

16 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
158 days in the year over the Puget Sound Country, and about 75 per cent
of this occurs in what is called the wet season, from November to April. July
and August have very little rain, and sometimes none. Practically there
are but two seasons here, the wet and the dry. The rainy season sometimes
begins in September, more frequently in October, and sometimes not until
November. Usually the rains are warm, and outdoor occupations are con
tinued with but little interruption.
From what has been already said the reader will perceive at least some
of the reasons why the Puget Sound Country is remarkably healthful. With
a climate having no extremes of heat or cold, having no malarial conditions
whatever, a soil which is perfectly drained, either on or underneath its surface,
with a proximity to the Pacific Ocean which is itself a guarantee of many
sanitary conditions, there is here everything conducive to the activity, the
enjoyment of life and the longevity of its inhabitants. If, as was once said
by Disraeli, when speaking on matters of state, "The public health is the
foundation on which reposes the happiness of the people, and the power of a
country. The care of public health is the first duty of a statesman," then the
Puget Sound region should become the home of a happy, progressive and
powerful people, because here are to be found all the conditions necessary to
the physical and intellectual development of mankind.
To the physical advantages above mentioned, of soil, climate, and pro
duction in endless variety, many of which will be referred to hereafter, should
be remarked, also, the location of this favored region, which is at the most
desirable and convenient point on the northwest coast of North America, for
the control of the commerce of the Pacific Ocean. The most enterprising and
progressive people of either ancient or modern times have been residents of
the seashore. There is something inspiring and conducive to freedom and
energy in life and business on the water. The most famous marts of com
merce in the world's history such as Tyre and Sidon, Athens and Alexandria,
London and Liverpool, Boston and New York, Yokohama and Hong Kong,
with many others that might be mentioned, have derived their chief, import
ance in trade and population from their conveniences of transportation over
those great highways of communication, the open sea and the wide ocean,
by which access may be had to every part of the inhabited earth. Of the trade
which has already grown up between Puget Sound, Alaska, Japan, China,
Australia, the coast of North and South America, South Africa and else
where, mention will be made in subsequent chapters of this history.
CHAPTER III.
FIFTEENTH CENTURY DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS.
For about eight hundred years wars were carried on between the Spanish
people and 'the Moors to determine which should secure permanent possession

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 17
and control of the Spanish peninsula. The Spaniards were finally successful,
and the Moors were driven from the beautiful country they had occupied for
centuries. Granada, the last of the Moorish strongholds in Spain, was
surrendered and the Alhambra was garrisoned by Spanish troops in January,
1492, the year in which Christopher Columbus discovered America. These
wars, so long continued, formed an admirable training school, in which the
Spanish people learned those high qualities of chivalry, courtesy, courage,
fortitude, patience and endurance which distinguished their soldiers for so
many years, and which made Spain for a long period the most powerful and
influential nation in Europe. In these wars with the Moors, who1 also pos
sessed these qualities in an eminent degree, the Spanish soldiers attained such
a high character for knightly bravery, courtesy and enterprise that they
became the admiration of all Europe, and Spanish knights were not only the
heroes of romance but the patterns for knighthood throughout the civilized
world. Believing that the Church of Rome, by its aid and blessing, had con
tributed largely to the success of their arms in driving the Moors out of
Spain, and consecrated, as the Spanish knights were, to "God and the ladies,"
they were indefatigable in their efforts to convert the world to the faith of
that Church, and numerous geographical names, especially in the new world,
bear silent yet significant testimony to their devotion to the doctrines of that
Church, its sacred names and the saints in its religious calendar. Having
driven the Moors out of Spain, her veteran soldiers were looking for new
worlds to conquer and for new fields in which their ability and energy might
be exercised, when Columbus opportunely brought to their attention a vast
and unknown region which gave to their genius for discovery and exploration
a field for operations more extensive and interesting than any before dreamed
of, in the highest flights of the human imagination. The prospect of opening
up a route to the "Far East" by sailing westward was alike tempting to their
cupidity and their love of adventure. This opportunity was instantly seized
upon by many bold and ambitious spirits who were eager to fill their pockets
with gold, or to lay their discoveries at the feet of Ferdinand and Isabella,
or to carry the news of a "Blessed Saviour" to benighted heathen in those
foreign lands, or to fill the world with the fame of their bold and world-wide
undertakings. In pursuance of these various purposes and designs, animated
by a spirit of romantic adventure which had already been developed by the
Moorish wars, and inspired by a religious enthusiasm which stopped at
nothing short of martyrdom itself, these Spanish soldiers and sailors hastened
to take advantage of the discovery made by Columbus, and the waters of the
new world were soon the scenes of conquest and devastation which became the
admiration and, because of their cruelty to its aborigines, the horror of the
civilized world. Within three years of the discovery made by Columbus, the

18 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
island of Hayti was overrun, ravaged and made a part of the Spanish domin
ions. In 151 1 Cuba suffered the same bloody and inhuman treatment. In
1 5 14 Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the isthmus of Darien and first looked
out upon the Pacific Ocean with wonder and admiration. Its existence had
already been reported by the natives of the isthmus, and a place given it on
the map by the geographers of the day. To the bay on the west side of the
isthmus he gave the name of San Miguel. Here he built small vessels for the
exploration of the coasts and islands north and south, of which he took formal
possession for the sovereign King and Queen of Castile and Aragon.
The discovery of the South Sea, as it was then called, and which was
supposed to be a part of the West Indies, was an additional and an extra
ordinary incentive to further exploration. The great desideratum of all
European nations was a route westward to the East Indies, which all were
anxious to discover. At this time and prior thereto, the trade with the "Far-
off regions of Cathay" was carried on by way of the Persian Gulf and the
Red Sea, or overland by caravans from China across Central Asia to Beyroot
and Alexandria, thence to Venice, Genoa and other European cities.
In the efforts then being made to reach the Orient, the land of gold and
gems, spices and precious jewels "rich and rare," which were so much sought
for by western nations, the kingdom of Portugal took an early and active
part. A pioneer in discoveries by land and sea of that age, who did much to
remove the ignorance that then existed and to encourage exploration in his
clay, was Prince Henry of Portugal (1394-1460), who devoted his life to- this
important work. His intelligence and perseverance resulted in maritime
discoveries covering half of the circumference of the earth. The mariner's
compass, then but recently introduced, was of immense value in making these
explorations. This important aid to navigation is believed to have originated
in China, and was used first on land and then on the sea. The name of its
inventor has not been preserved. The time of its introduction into Europe
is not known. It made its appearance about the year 1250, and soon after
that time it came into general use. The Azores, a group of islands about
three hundred miles west of Portugal, were first discovered and colonized
by that kingdom, in 1432. Her explorations were subsequently extended
along the western coast of Africa in a southerly direction, in an endeavor
to find an eastern route by water to the Indian Ocean and in this way to reach
the East Indies. In 1454 a grant was made to Portugal, by Pope Nicholas V,
of the " exclusive right of navigation, conquest, trade and fishery in seas and
countries which they might find between Cape Bajador and the Indies not
before occupied by a Christian nation." Under the patronage of Spain, Colum
bus pursued his westward way, hoping thus to find a direct route to India,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 19
while the Portuguese navigators continued their efforts to reach the same
destination by sailing south and east. The much desired result was first ac
complished by the Portuguese, who, under the leadership of Vasco da Gama,
rounded tfie Cape of Good Hope in 1497 and reached Calcutta on the 20th of
May, 1498. Thus the first route to the East Indies was discovered by the
Portuguese, but the conflicts which arose between Spain and Portugal as to
their several rights of conquest and discovery east and west were settled by
an appeal of Ferdinand and Isabella to Pope Alexander VI, claiming the same
rights as had been extended to Portugal by his predecessor, Alexander V. This
matter was permanently settled by a decree of Pope Alexander promulgated
on the 20th day of May, 1493, by which the grant to Portugal in 1454 was
modified, and the new world was apportioned to Spain and Portugal, award
ing to the former all west of a line drawn from pole to pole one hundred
leagues west of the Azores, and to the latter all east of that line, and upon this
basis the work of discovery and appropriation proceeded. Subsequently this
line proved unsatisfactory, and, conflicts arising thereunder, a new arrangement
was entered into, and a new partition was made by the treaty of Tordesillas,
June 7, 1494. By this treaty the line of partition was removed two hundred
and seventy leagues west of the line formerly agreed upon. No provision was
made, however, for adjusting claims on the other side of the globe and new
complications arose in the East Indies. Portugal, by way of the Cape of Good
Hope, made settlement on the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, in the Indies and
had acquired the Port of Macao in China. Spain, under the decree of the
Pope, claimed exclusive jurisdiction as to navigation, trade, conquest and
fishery rights westward to the eastern boundary of Molucca. This included
China and all the Moluccas. Portugal asserted territorial rights eastward to
the Ladrone Islands from the partition meridian. By the treaty of Saragossa
of April 22, 1529, these different claims were adjusted, and Spain relin
quished all claim to the Moluccas. In those days the discovery of America
was not deemed of so much importance as the finding of a sea route westward
to the East Indies. A new route for the commerce of the Orient was the great
desideratum of western Europe. When it was ascertained beyond question
that America, North and South, was not a part of the eastern world, but
on the contrary was an obstacle in the way of ships sailing westward, strenu
ous efforts were made not only by Spanish, but also by English, Dutch,
French, and Portuguese navigators, to find a passage through North America
leading in the direction of the Orient. As early as 1497-8 Sebastian Cabota
wrote : "And when my father died in that time news were brought that Don
Christoval Colon, the Genoese, had discovered the coasts of India, of which
there was great talk in all the court of King Henry VII, who then reigned
in so much that all men, with great admiration, affirmed it to be a thing more

20 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
divine than human to saile by the west into the east where spices grow, by a
way that was never known before. By his fame and report there increaseth
in my heart a flame of desire to attempt some notable thing, and understanding
by reason of the sphere that, if I should sail by way of northwest, I should,
by a shorter tract, come into India, I thereupon caused the King to be advertised
of my devise, who immediately commanded two caravels to be furnished with
all things appertaining to the voyage, which was as far as I remember here.
In the year 1496, in the beginning of summer, I began therefore to saile
toward the northwest, not thinking to find any other land than that of Cathay
and from thence to turn toward India," Having discovered the route to
India by way of the Cape of Good Hope, sailing eastward, Portugal next
engaged in the daring enterprise of finding a way to the same destination by
sailing around the northern shores of North America. It is said that as early
as 1463-4 a voyage in this direction was made by John Vaz Cortereal, who
sailed into these northern seas and discovered the Terrade Bac-Calhoas (the
land of codfish), afterward called Newfoundland.
After the voyage of Sebastian Cabota to those northern seas, the next,
as far as known, was that of Gaspar Cortereal, who sailed from the Azores
in 1500. Of this voyage Ramusio says : "In the part of the new world which
runs to the northwest opposite to our habitable continent of .Europe, some
navigators have sailed, the first of whom, as far as can be ascertained, was
Gaspar Cortereal, a Portuguese, who arrived in the year 1500, with two
caravels, thinking that he might discover some strait through which he might
pass, by a shorter voyage than around Africa, to the Spice Islands.
"They prosecuted their voyage in those seas until they arrived at a region
of extreme cold, and in the latitude of sixty degrees north they discovered a
river filled with ice to which they gave the name of Rio Nevado — that is, Snow
River. They had not courage, however, to proceed further." Although this
voyage was not a success in discovering a northwest passage, as was expected,
Gaspar Cortereal still believed that such a passage existed, and in pursuance
of that conviction he sailed again from Lisbon, May 15, 1504, on a second
voyage with two vessels. In the vicinity of Greenland these vessels were
separated by bad weather. Cortereal with his caravel disappeared, and after
long delay in searching for him his consort returned to Lisbon and reported
his loss. In the history of these voyages Cortereal was credited with having dis
covered a strait to which the name of Anian was given. Whether so named
because of two brothers of that name who accompanied the expedition, or
that a province in the northwest corner of America was called Ania, or because
on early maps there was marked an Asiatic province of that name, or that an
island off the coast of China was reported to be named Anian, is still a matter

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 21
of uncertainty. The origin of the name is thus referred to by Hakluyt : "An
excellent learned man of Portingale, of singular gravety, authorite and ex
perience, told me very lately that one Annus Cortereal, captayne of the Yle
Torcera about, the yeare 1574, which is not above eight years past, sent a
shippe to discover the northwest passage of America and that same shippe
arriving on the coast of the saide America, in fiftie-eighte degrees of latitude,
founde a great entrance exceeding deepe and broade without all impediment
of ice, into which they passed about twenty leagues, and found it alwaies to
trende toward the south, the land lying lowe and plaine on eyther side, and
they persuaded themselves surely that there was a way open into the
South Sea."
The origin of the name Anian has therefore never been precisely deter
mined. In like manner the straits of that name existed only in the imagina
tion of the bold navigators who for three centuries wished to find a shorter
route to the East Indies by sailing westward. It was natural that Gaspar
Cortereal, in 1504, should have believed he had found these straits, when,
after sailing around the Coast of Labrador he entered Hudson's Bay and thus
penetrated almost into the heart of North America. The short season in
these northern latitudes and frozen seas did not permit him to make a thorough
investigation of the possibilities of sailing still further to the westward, and
he was more excusable for reporting the discovery of a Northwest passage
than were many others who claimed to have made the same discovery either
by the wilful circulation of reports they knew to be false or by the exercise
of a vivid imagination which led them to believe that the Gulf of California,
or the Bay of San Francisco, or other bodies of water into which they had
entered on the Pacific Coast, or Chesapeake or Delaware Bay on the Atlantic
was the entrance to the much sought for and desired means of water com
munication between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Along with fabu
lous reports of rich cities like Cibolo, sought for by Coronado in New Mexico
and Arizona, the Fountain of Youth, for the discovery of which Ponce de Leon
penetrated the everglades of Florida and Fernando de Soto the swamps of Ala
bama, Mississippi and Arkansas, of mines of gold, silver and precious stones,
for which the Spaniards roamed over all of South and a large part of North
America, many stories were told of the finding of the "Straits of Anian"
which were proved from time to time to be fictitious, yet these stories only
stimulated further efforts in the same direction and for the same purpose.
Whether the reputed discovery of those straits by Juan de Fuca in 1592 be
true or false has long' been a mooted question. In the history of that dis
covery as related by Michael Lok, Senior, British consul at Aleppo, it is stated
that Juan de Fuca, whose real name was Apostolus Valerianus, was at one
time a Greek pilot, and was in the Spanish service forty years. In 1592 the

22 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Viceroy of Mexico sent him on a voyage of discovery to the northwest coast
of America. "Hee followed the coast of California and Oregon, etc., until hee
came to the latitude of forty-seven degrees, and there finding that the land
trended North and North East, with a broad Inlet of Sea between 47 and 48
degrees of latitude, hee entered thereinto, sayling' therein more than twenty
days, and found that land trending still sometimes North West and North
East and North and also East and South East Ward, and very much broader
sea than was at said entrance, and he passed divers islands in that sayling.
"And at the entrance of the said strait there is on the North West coast
thereof a great Headland or Island with an exceeding high Pinnacle or spired
rock like a pillar thereupon.
"Hee went on land in divers places and saw some people on land, clad
in Beasts' skins, and that the land is very fruitful and rich of Gold, Silver,
Pearls, and other things like Nova Spain. And also hee said that hee being-
entered thus farre into said strait, and being come into the North Sea already,
and finding the Sea wide enough everywhere, and to be about thirtie or
fortie leagues wide in the mouth of the strait where he entered, hee thought
hee had now well discharged his office and done the thing hee was sent to doe,
and that hee not being armed to resist the force of the savage people that
might happen, hee therefore set sayle and returned homewards againe towards
Nova Spain, where he arrived at Acapulco, Anno 1592."
Commenting on this passage, the late Rear Admiral T. S. Phelps, of the
United States Navy, in his Reminiscences of Seattle, says: "By this brief
history it appears that Juan de Fuca, in twenty days, sailed from the Pacific
through the strait bearing his name, then by Canal de Haro, through the
Gulf of Georgia and Johnson's Strait, and finally reached the ocean by the
Goleto Channel; when, supposing he had arrived in the Atlantic, through
the long sought Northwest passage, and being satisfied with his discovery,
he retraced his steps, and during a period of one hundred and ninety-seven
years rested under the imputation of having coined the story of his discovery
out of the material found in his own fertile brain, and it was as late as 1789
before his veracity became established in the rediscovery of the strait by Cap
tain Kendrick, on the American sloop Washington. Even the famous Captain
Cook, who went in stays and headed seaward, while his eyes were uncon
sciously resting on the identical passage he was seeking, died in the belief
that it existed only in the imagination of its reputed discoverer.
"To the present day doubts exist in the minds of some writers regarding
De Fuca's credibility, and much adverse criticism has been indulged in by
later navigators concerning his reliability, consequent in a great measure upon
the obscure wording of the paragraph, 'And at the entrance of the said strait
there is on the northwest coast thereof a great headland or island, with an
exceeding high pinnacle or spired rock like a pillar thereupon.'

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 23
"This description apparently applies to the western entrance of the strait
under consideration, and the locality of the 'high Pinnacle or spired rock' is
naturally ascribed to a position on the northwest side of the entrance near>
Vancouver's Island, where to all observers an object of this description never
did exist. "All doubt on this subject is at once removed by applying the paragraph
in question to the western entrance of Johnson's Straits, or rather, to the
Goleto Channel at the northwest end of Vancouver's Island, where it properly
belongs, and then on Mt. Lemon, near the southwest end of Galiano Island,
a remarkable promontory, twelve hundred feet high, we find a solution of
the difficulty, and that 'at the entrance of said strait' — calling the various
bodies of water separating Vancouver from the mainland as one continuous
strait — 'there is on the Northwest coast thereof a great headland or Island
with an exceeding high Pinnacle or spired rock like a pillar thereon,' which
fully answers the description and reconciles the paragraph with the truth as
we find it in nature."
It is sufficient in this place to say that the best efforts of the most dis
tinguished navigators of the Spanish, English, Dutch, French and Portuguese
nations were exerted in the persistent endeavor to find a passage by water
through the North American continent. The long continued search for the
"Strait of Anian" was followed in more recent years by the efforts of modern
seamen, quite as brave, persevering and heroic as were Columbus and his suc
cessors, in sailing into unknown seas and enduring the severities of Arctic
winters in order that they might find a northwest passage from the Atlantic
to the Pacific. The lives of Sir John Franklin and many others have been
sacrificed in the interests of science, discovery and navigation in the frozen
seas around the North Pole, and in fruitless efforts, thus far, to find a new
and nearer route to the sunny shores of "old Japan," and the rich cities of
a civilization which antedates by thousands of years our western or modern
intelligence. Water communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific around the
northern coasts of North America was eventually discovered and traversed
1851-1854 by some of these intrepid explorers, more particularly by Sir
Robert John McClure of the English navy, but because it is obstructed by
fields and mountains of ice and subject to the rigors of a high northern lati
tude, it has never been available for commercial purposes. Later on, in 1878-
1879, an eastern passage around northern Europe and Asia from the west to
the east was effected by the Swedish navigator Nordenskiold after three
centuries of unsuccessful efforts.

24 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
CHAPTER IV.
SPANISH DISCOVERIES IN THE NEW WORLD.
Strange as it may appear, the discovery of America was a disappoint
ment to Christopher Columbus. He had hoped to find, by sailing westward,
a direct route to the East Indies. This was the great object of his ambition.
Instead of this, he found the new world an obstacle in his path. Of its extent,
beauty or immense natural resources, and of its importance to succeeding
generations, he knew nothing whatever.
The envy, malice and jealousy of his associates made the closing years
of his life miserable. At one time he was sent back to Spain in irons by
unworthy men who had been placed, temporarily, over the greatest navigator
of modern times. He suffered from the neglect and ingratitude of the
Spanish government which had been immortalized by his genius and en
terprise. As Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land, though he had
led the Israelites for forty days through the wilderness, so Columbus was
not allowed to see or realize the greatness of the work he had so successfully
accomplished. In like manner Abraham Lincoln was not suffered to see
the blessings and benefits resulting from a reunited country, although he had
conducted it through one of the most bloody and expensive wars ever waged
in human history.
But the discovery of America was the beginning of a long series of ex
ploring expeditions, both by land and water, which were conducted with
extraordinary vigor and enterprise for more than one hundred years after
the initial event took place in 1492. These explorations not only brought
to light the character and extent of the new world, but they resulted in new
discoveries elsewhere, and in penetrating into every part of the globe and
making known seas and islands never before heard of, with tribes and races
of men which, prior to these discoveries, had only existed in the imagination
of the people of the old or civilized world.
These expeditions were sent out by Spain, France, England, Holland
and other European nations, who were all eager to reap some of the rich
harvest expected from the conquest of lands that were the possible or reputed
possessors of fabulous wealth in gold and silver, pearls, precious stones and
gems, spices and other products of labor, or gifts of a beneficent nature that
were supposed to be lavished upon these unknown and undeveloped countries.
These lands and seas were supposed to possess untold wealth, and imagination
ran wild in its efforts to picture the riches that might be derived from their
acquisition and control.
The people of Spain, inspired by their success in overcoming the Moors,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. '25
and naturally of an enthusiastic temperament, full of courage and skill in
navigating the sea or in conducting explorations by land, and claiming the
new world as their own by the right of discovery, were the first in the field,
and for many years the most active and energetic in the prosecution of these
great enterprises. The sailors who returned to Spain with Columbus poured
into the willing and receptive ears of her people extravagant stories of the
wonderful wealth of the new countries they had discovered, and the ease with
which they could be conquered by the stronger arms and the more effective
weapons of war possessed by the men of Castile and Aragon. These mar
velous accounts stimulated the energies of the Spaniards, and within three
years they began the conquest of the islands now known as the West Indies
by the subjugation of Hayti.
In 151 1 the island of Cuba was treated in the same fashion. Two years
later Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Darien and discovered
the Pacific Qcean, then called the "Great South Sea." Its existence had
already been reported by the natives of the isthmus and a place given it on
the maps of the geographers of the day, To the bay on the west shore of
the isthmus he gave the name of San Miguel. Pie took formal possession of
the "land and seas" thus discovered, on the 29th of September, 1513, for the
King and Queen of Spain. At that time they were supposed to be part of
the East Indies. He returned carrying with him many pearls and precious
metals, which were tangible evidence of the wealth of the new countries he
had discovered. The result of his explorations stimulated the desire for
further discoveries in a remarkable degree.
At the gulf of San Miguel he caused small vessels to be built for the
examination of the coasts north and south, with the adjacent islands. In
1 5 17 the shores were explored as far north as Costa Rica. Two years later
the city of Panama was founded by Gaspar de Espinosa, who sent an expedi
tion northward that reached the Gulf of Nicoya, in Nicaragua. A fleet of
four vessels left Panama in January, 1522, commanded by Cil Gonzales Da-
villa, which proceeded northward as far as the Gulf of Nicoya, whence a land
party under his leadership discovered the Lake of Nicaragua. In the mean
time his pilot, Andres Nino, in one of the vessels of his fleet, discovered the
Gulf of Fronseca, and claimed to have entered the Gulf of Tehuantepec.
The chief efforts of the Spanish government, however, during these
years were diverted towards the discovery of a westward route, by water, to
the East Indies. An expedition under Juan de Solis was sent from Spain
in October, 15 15, which discovered the La Plata river. Unfortunately, in
ascending that river he was murdered by the natives, and his fleet returned
to Spain. Shortly afterward Fernando Magellan, or Fernao de Magalhoes,
his correct Portuguese name, laid before Charles V a proposition "to find a

26 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
western route from Spain to the Spice Islands of India." This distinguished
navigator had been for many years in the service of the Portuguese govern
ment in the East Indies. Believing himself unjustly treated by the Portu
guese, he offered his services to the Emperor Charles V of Spain, and they
were accepted. He was given command of five ships with the rank of captain
general. With this fleet he set sail from Lucar in Spain, September 21, 15 19,
upon his memorable voyage. Following the eastern coast of South America,
in his search for a passage that might lead him into the Great South Sea, he
finally reached the straits that have ever since borne his name, and through
these straits he boldly made his way into the grand ocean, which he named
the Pacific, from the placid character of its waters. This ocean he entered
on the 27th of November, 1520, and, sailing in a northwesterly direction,
crossed the equator, February 13, 1521, arriving at the Ladrone Islands on
the 6th of March. Thence he sailed for the Philippines where, unhappily,
he met his death on the 21st of April, 1521, in an engagement with the natives
on the island of Matan. One of his subordinates, Sebastian del Cano, whc
commanded the Vittoria, one of Magellan's fleet, completed the circumnavi
gation of the globe as projected by Magellan, returning to Spain by the way
of the Cape of Good Hope, and arriving at Lucar, September 6, 1522.
For the first time the feat had been accomplished of sailing around the
world, and his return excited intense enthusiasm in Spain. He was received
with great honors by Charles V, who granted him a globe for his crest, with
the motto, "Primus circumdedisti me." Magellan had in reality been the
first to sail around the world, for whilst in the service of the Portuguese gov
ernment he had doubled the Cape of Good Hope, thence sailing to the Laclrone
Islands, and under Charles V he had reached the same islands by sailing
westward. The successful voyage of Magellan and his captains stimulated the ener
gies of Spanish navigators. The rich commerce of the Orient and the control
of the new world were the lofty aims and the proud ambition of Spanish
adventurers. While these voyages were being made, other expeditions were
under way, and were opening up to the world a knowledge of lands and seas
which prior to this time had been a terra incognita in fact as well as in name.
In 1 5 17 Hernando Cortez, at the head of a small but effective invading
army, landed on the coast of Mexico, and in the succeeding four years
achieved the subjugation of that country. In 1522 he reports to the home
government that he has discovered three important ports on the Pacific coast.
These are Tehuantepec, Tultulepec and Zacatula, in eighteen degrees north,
where a garrison and a settlement had been established. Here Cortez began
the construction of three vessels for discovery and exploration on the north
west coast, but owing to difficulties encountered elsewhere, these vessels were

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 27
not completed until 1526. They were then joined by another from Spain
under Guerra, and all were ordered by the Spanish emperor to proceed to
the Moluccas to relieve a Spanish fleet. Before sailing on this voyage the
three vessels built by Cortez had explored the coast in a northerly direction.
Cortez was a man of boundless ambition, great energy, fertile in resources
and indefatigable in his undertakings.
The conquest of Mexico was accomplished in the face of extraordinary
difficulties and dangers by this courageous commander, with only six hundred
or seven hundred men. This conquest was the first step on the continent of
North America in the movements which, ultimately, led to the discovery and
exploration of the northwest coast of America, including Puget Sound and
the country surrounding it. The purposes of Cortez and his contemporaries
are well set forth in one of his letters to the emperor. In this he says : "The
sailing north and then west, and finally south until he should reach India;
this would secure the exploration of the South Sea, with its coasts and islands,
and finding of a northern passage by water from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
In one of three places where I have discovered the sea there shall be built two
caravels of medium size, and two- brigantines, the former for discovery and
the latter for coasting." "In search of the said strait, because if it exists it
cannot be hidden to these in the South Sea, or to those in the North Sea,
since the former will follow the coast until they find the strait or join the land
with that discovered by Magalhaes (India), and the others in the North Sea,
as I have said, until they join it to Bacallaos. Thus on one side or the other
the secret will not fail to be revealed."
Acting upon these ideas Cortez caused five vessels to be built to replace
the fleet which the emperor had ordered to the East Indies. These ships were
never completed, for Cortez had returned to Spain to answer charges that
had been made against him. Having successfully confronted these charges,
the Emperor Charles V appointed him captain general of New Spain, with
the title of Marquis of Oaxaca. New Spain embraced a vast extent of terri
tory, having Tehuantepec as its chief port on the Pacific Ocean.
On his return in 1530 he found himself again involved in difficulties
with some of his associates, which interfered seriously with his exploration
'projects. Nevertheless, before the year 1532 the western coast had been
explored from Panama to Zacatula, a voyage to Colima had been made, land
expeditions had gone as far northward as San Bias; shipbuilding at several
ports had been established, and voyages had been made between Mexico and
the East Indies. Two vessels were sent north by Cortez in 1532 under com
mand of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, with instructions to explore the coast
and to land where suitable ports or' harbors should be found. Latitude
twenty-seven north was reached by Mendoza when a mutiny occurred which

28 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
obliged him to send back one of his vessels, which was abandoned by her crew
at the Culiacan River. In his efforts to reach Acapulco, Mendoza was
wrecked near Cape Gorrientes and killed by the natives.
These exploring expeditions, whether by land or water, were frequently
attended by hardships and suffering that are almost incredible. The follow
ing year two vessels commanded by Hernando Grijalva and Diego Becerra
were despatched in search of the missing ships. Becerra sailed westward
along the coast of Xalisco until murdered by his pilot Ximenas, who with
the remainder of the crew proceeded north until the latitude of twenty-three
degrees was reached, where most of them were murdered by the natives.
Owing to the unsatisfactory results secured by these expeditions and other
difficulties encountered with some of his subordinates, Cortez ordered three
vessels from Tehuantepec, of which he took command in person, and sailing
westward he reached the southern termination of the peninsula of Lower
California, where Ximenas had been murdered. Of this he took formal pos
session on the 3d day of May, 1535, calling it Santa Cruz.
Stimulated by the reports of rich cities in the interior, Cortez determined
to send other expeditions to explore what is now the coast of California. An
expedition consisting of three vessels was organized in 1539, of which Fran
cisco de Ulloa was appointed commander. This little fleet left Acapulco on
July 8, 1539, penetrated the Gulf of California to its head, found that it was
only an arm of the Pacific Ocean and did not extend to the Atlantic, and that
Lower California was only a peninsula. Having doubled this peninsula he
sailed northward to Cape Engana in latitude twenty-nine degrees north.
From this point he sent one of his vessels back to Acapulco, the other sailed
north and was never afterwards heard of. This was the last of the maritime
expeditions sent out by Cortez.
In consequence of the reports which he had from time to time received
of rich cities, mines of gold, silver and precious stones, and other elements of
wealth, either natural or acquired, which were alluring to the Spanish people,
the Viceroy Mendoza organized one land and one naval expedition to proceed
north of thirty-five degrees of north latitude and verify these reports. Two
ships under the command of Fernando de Alargon set sail on the 9th of May,
1540, proceeded to the mouth of the Colorado River, and by means of boats
ascended it about two hundred and fifty miles, when, not hearing of or finding
any such rich cities, he returned. The land expedition was under the com
mand of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, who reached the city of Cibola after
a march of three months. Here he found seven small towns, but none of
them possessing the wealth, resources or population he expected to find.
Although he learned to his disgust that the stories of rich cities, mines etc.
in this part of the country were fabulous and were simply the creations of a

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 29
vivid imagination, he marched into the interior and is supposed to have pene
trated the continent as far as the Great Salt Lake in Utah and to the plains of
Kansas and Nebraska.
However interesting the details of these and many other expeditions by
sea and land, made for purposes of exploration and conquest, may be, we are
only concerned with them at present in so far as they relate to or are con
nected with the discovery and settlement of the northwest coast of America.
It may be remarked in passing, however, that whilst we are shocked at times
beyond measure at the cruelties and barbarities of which the Spaniards were
guilty in their insane avarice and desire for wealth, however obtained, and
which often resulted in the depopulation of extensive and populous regions,
like Cuba and many states on the continent, yet we may see the same methods
with the same results and from the same causes at work to-day on the con
tinent of Africa, and by nationalities far in advance, in so far as the principles
of Christianity and civilization are concerned, of the Spanish people of the
sixteenth century. Is it necessary, in the progress of humanity from a lower
to a higher plane, that inferior races should be wiped out of existence, or is
this only an illustration of the savagery and selfish cupidity still remaining in
the human heart ?
In the furtherance of the plans of his predecessor, and desiring, on his
own account, to continue these explorations to the northward, Mendoza con
tinued his surveys of the California coast. On the 27th of June, 1542, two
vessels under the command of Juan Roderiquez de Cabrillo, a Portuguese,
sailed from Natividad, crossed the Gulf of California, proceeded northward,
and discovered San Diego Bay in September, and anchored at Punta de los
Reyes in thirty-seven degrees and ten minutes of north latitude. Thence he
was driven back by a storm to San Bernardo, where he died January 5, 1543.
The pilot Ferrelo was appointed to succeed him and requested to continue
the voyage northward. This he did and in forty degrees north discovered
and named Cape Mendocino in honor of the viceroy. Continuing his voyage,
he traced the coast line of California to forty-three degrees of north latitude,
when he turned back, passed the Golden Gate March 3, and arrived at the
Island of Santa Cruz on the 5th of March, 1543. This ended for a time
Spanish exploration in North America.
No rich cities on the west coast had been discovered, nor wealthy regions
to gratify the cupidity of the Spaniards. The name of "Coast of California
in the South Sea" was given to the territory north of Cape St. Lucas, and
extending indefinitely in a northerly direction, having no well defined northern
boundaries. New Spain was the name given to Mexico, and north of Mexico
the whole coast was claimed under the name of California.
The commerce of the East Indies was the great desideratum of the prin-

30 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
cipal nations of Europe. The attention of the Spanish government had long
been turned in that direction. Philip II had no sooner ascended the throne
then he began to take steps looking to the acquisition of the Philippine Islands
for purposes of trade and settlement. In pursuance of these purposes the
Viceroy of Mexico was directed to make the necessary preparations for carry
ing them into effect. A fleet consisting of five vessels, carrying about four
hundred men, sailed from Natividad on the 21st of November, 1564, under
the command of Miguel Gomez de Legaspi, who had been appointed governor
with ample powers, both civil and military, for the government of the islands.
He reached the Philippines on the 13th of February, 1565, and at once began
the work of reducing them to submission. The resistance of the natives was
soon overcome. In April, 1565, he took possession of this important group
of islands in the name of the Crown of Spain, and founded the city of Manila.
This city soon became a large and flourishing mart of commerce and re
mained the Spanish metropolis in the East Indies until on the 1st day of May,
1898, the Spanish fleet in eastern waters was completely destroyed by a naval
force of the United States under the command of Commodore Dewey. These
islands, which had constituted a Spanish dependency, subject to all the ra
pacity, cruelty and misgovernment characteristic of Spanish domination for
three hundred and thirty-three years, passed on that day into the possession
of the United States. Prior to the time when Legaspi took possession of the
Philippines a return voyage by sailing eastward to the American coast had
never been accomplished. In consequence of the prevailing trade winds it
was believed to be difficult, if not impossible.
Andreas Urdaneta, an Austin friar, whose reputation as a cosmog-
rapher had been already established, accompanied the Legaspic expedition.
Before leaving Spain he had submitted plans and theories for such a return
voyage, and when the time arrived when he should return from the Philip
pines he was permitted to test his theories and to make such a return voyage
to New Spain. He and a brother priest named Father Aguirre, with a six
teen-year-old nephew of Legaspi as nominal captain, sailed in the San Pedro
from Zebu, June 1, 1565, for Acapulco. She continued east to the Ladrones,
thence to forty-three degrees of north latitude, and thence the trade winds
carried her safely to Acapulco, where she arrived on the 3d of October.
This opened up a new route for the commerce of the Orient, which has been
used with slight variation, ever since, and is known as Urdaneta's passage.
His charts and sailing directions prepared on his first voyage were used for
many years, especially by the Spanish galleons, which sailed at regular in
tervals from Acapulco to Manila and Macao laden with European °oods and
returned with cargoes of silks, teas, spices and other oriental products. This
commerce, which speedily grew to large proportions, was subsequently di-

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 31
rected to other routes, but in later years it has been demonstrated that its
best channel is from Manila and other eastern ports to Puget Sound and
thence by rail to New York and elsewhere, across the continent.
During the remainder of the sixteenth century but little more was done
by the Spaniards in the way of exploration of the northwest coast. Spanish
commerce, however, was increasing on the Pacific Ocean and with the East
Indies, and a new port farther north than Acapulco was desirable for its pro
tection and accommodation. This was sought for on the California coast,
and in 1595 Philip II issued minute instructions to the Count De Monterey,
then Viceroy of Mexico,, to occupy California and to make a thorough and
complete survey of the shores of the Pacific from Acapulco to Cape
Mendocino. Three vessels under the command of Sebastian Vizcaino were sent north
in the spring of 1596 for this purpose. A settlement was made at La Paz, so
named because of the peaceful disposition of the natives, but within the year
the place was abandoned and the expedition returned to Acapulco. Dis
satisfied with the_ results secured thus far by Vizcaino, Philip III, who had
in the meantime ascended the Spanish throne in 1598, renewed orders for a
survey of the coast from Cape St. Lucas northward and sent directions for
its immediate prosecution. These orders were issued on the 27th day of
September, 1599, and preparations on a very complete scale were made as
speedily as practicable for carrying them into execution. Sebastian Vizcaino
was again assigned to the command of the fleet, which consisted of three
ships, which were considered large in those days and which were named the
San Diego, San Tomas and Tres Reyes. The navigation of the fleet was
assigned to Admiral Torrebeo Gomez de Corvan. He sailed from Acapulco
June 2, 1602, surveyed the western shore of Southern California, and arrived
at San Diego on the 10th of November. Proceeding up the coast, the Bay
of Monterey was discovered on the 16th of December, and was so named in
honor of the Mexican viceroy. From this point one of the ships was ordered
back to Acapulco, and a few days later the other two continued their north
ward course. On the 12th of January, 1603, they arrived off Cape Men
docino, and on the 19th they discovered a high snow-covered peak and
headland to which Vizcaino gave the name of Blanco de San Sebastian, now
known as Cape Orford. This headland is in latitude forty-two degrees north,
and from this point Vizcaino returned with his ship to Acapulco-. His crews
had all been sadly afflicted with the scurvy, and their numbers and efficiency
on that account .had been greatly diminished. His consort, commanded by
Antonio Flores, continued north to the mouth of a river in forty-three degrees
of latitude, but his crew being seriously crippled in the same way, he also
returned to the south, and for many years this was the last of the Spanish
voyages of discovery on the northwest coast of America.

32 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
The interests and the navigators of Spain were no longer concerned in the
discovery of the Straits of Anian or the finding of a northwest passage from
the Atlantic to the Pacific. Her policy was already directed to the retention
of the vast realms in North and South America and across the Pacific Ocean,
which she claimed by virtue of a decree of *the Roman pontiff, and by right
of discovery. She wished to exclude, if possible, those enterprising nations
of Europe who were beginning to deny the one and dispute the other, and
whose mariners were making themselves familiar with those distant regions
and preparing to contest the right of Spain to their exclusive possession.
A new era was opening up in the world's history.
CHAPTER V.
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
In the various ages of the world human energies have taken different
directions. The sixteenth century was pre-eminently the era of the sailors of
the sea. The discovery of America at the close of the fifteenth century, to
gether with the increase of general intelligence and enterprise among the
western nations of Europe, stimulated in a remarkable degree the desire for
participation in exploring expeditions and voyages of discovery which prom
ised such rich returns of fame and fortune for a comparatively slight expendi
ture of time, men or material. The revival of learning, the invention of the
printing press and the introduction of gunpowder about that time, and the
love of romance and adventure which had been growing since the age of the
crusades, added still further to the disposition to embark in voyages to un
known seas, and to visit the unknown countries of which they were hearing
such marvelous stories, and which were supposed to contain incalculable
wealth of every description. This feeling was general among all classes of
people, from the highest to the lowest, and the' governments of these western
nations of Europe were not willing that Spain should have a monopoly of
the benefits to be derived from the discovery and possession of the new world.
These governments sent out their best and bravest men to secure if pos
sible some share in these brilliant acquisitions of territory in the seas and
islands which were being discovered and in the new avenues, of a rich and
growing commerce which were rapidly being opened up by Spanish intrepidity
and boldness, not only in the West but in the East Indies. Many bold and
enterprising men fitted out at their own expense exploring expeditions, by
means of which they hoped to win the favor of their respective sovereigns
by the addition of new territory not occupied or possessed by any other
power, or inspired by the expectation that they might establish important
commercial relations or acquire valuable possessions for themselves. No such
incentives had ever before presented themselves to the minds of the ad-

o I— I
jw

o

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 33
venturous spirits of an adventurous age, and they hastened to avail them
selves of the opportunities presented for conquests by sea and land in the
unknown world so recently made available by the genius of Columbus. To
all of these maritime adventurers, whether sailing under charters of their
respective governments or as individual explorers, Spain advanced the claim
of sovereignty and control by right of discovery and by virtue of the bull of
Alexander VI, issued in 1493. This claim applied originally to the whole
of the new world and all the seas, islands and coasts adjacent thereto, and
the Spaniards asserted their monopoly of this immense region with the right
to seize as trespassers therein any and all persons who resisted their claim or
questioned their authority. They went so far as to treat with cruelty and
put to death such intruders, and as the citizens of other countries refused to
recognize this claim or the authority of the Spaniards, except where they
held actual possession, clashes were frequent, and both sides committed acts
which were barbarous and unjustifiable. The result was that a state of war
at an early day was brought about between these contending parties; the
Spaniards on one side and the sailors of all other countries, whether repre
senting their home governments or private enterprise, and regardless of the
fact that their own national authorities might at the time be at peace with
Spain. For the purpose of making their operations more effective, and the
more readily and certainly to secure revenge upon the Spaniards for the
cruelties which their comrades often received at their hands when captured,
these sailors from various countries formed an association offensive and de
fensive, which was known as the order of buccaneers or filibusters, and which
made reprisals upon Spanish shipping, towns, cities and possessions of every
description. This association first made its appearance about the year 1524, but its
existence continued and its ravages upon Spanish commerce and settlements
did not cease until after the English revolution of 1688, when the English
posts in the West Indies were attacked by the French, and the buccaneers
of these two nations became enemies instead of the friends and comrades
they had been prior to that time. Weakened in this manner, they were soon
after suppressed, and the association ceased to exist about 1697 to 1701, and
pirates of the usual type took their places. During the long period of their
existence, however, these freebooters and rovers of the sea made prizes of
numerous Spanish galleons, richly laden with gold and silver from the mines
of America and the choicest productions of the East Indies. They were the
terror of the Spanish Main and of the settlements on the Spanish coasts, upon
which they frequently descended, levying heavy contributions and often treat
ing their unhappy victims with barbarous severity. Their operations will be
referred to hereafter.

34 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
In the meantime several European nations made preparations to contest
the supremacy of Spain in her new possessions. England, France, Holland
and Portugal all fitted out expeditions for that purpose. Elizabeth, Queen
of England, declared that she "repudiated any title in the Spaniards by dona
tion of the Bishop of Rome to places of which they were not in actual posses
sion; and she did not understand why either her subjects or those of any
European prince should be debarred from traffic in the Indies."
A young Englishman named Francis Drake had already attained prom
inence as one of the buccaneers above referred to. He had taken part in a
number of engagements with the Spaniards in the West Indies, had crossed
the Isthmus of Darien and had looked out upon the "Great South Sea," and
had then and there been inspired with visions of unlimited booty and glory
to be wrested from richly laden Spanish galleons returning from the Philip
pines. Upon his return to England he laid before Queen Elizabeth his plans
for sailing through the Straits of Magellan and over the vast expanse of the
Pacific Ocean. She approved his proposition and furnished him with a fleet
of three vessels and two pinnaces for the expedition. These vessels were the
Pelican, of one hundred tons burthen; the Elizabeth, eighty tons, and the
Marigold, of thirty tons, which, with the pinnaces, were manned by one hun
dred and sixty men, Drake himself sailing in the Pelican. The two pinnaces
were broken up before the Straits of Magellan were reached, which was on
the 20th of August, 1578. Here he changed the name of his ship to the
"Golden Hind." Here also he was deserted by the Elizabeth, which returned
to England. On the 6th day of September the Marigold disappeared and
was never heard of afterwards. From the Straits of Magellan he pursued
his way along the western shores of South and North America, seizing, sack
ing and plundering Spanish ships and settlements on his way north as far as
Mexico. Having a ship filled with plunder and booty, and desiring to avoid
hostile Spanish cruisers, he undertook to sail still further north, hoping to
find the long-sought-for Northwest passage, and not only escape safely to
England but at the same time make an important discovery. In pursuance
of this plan he continued on his northwest course to forty-three degrees of
northern latitude, and it is claimed by some to fifty-eight degrees, but this
claim is not fully established. The discrepancy, however, furnished the
ground for a claim in after years by England to the ownership of this part
of the northwest coast by right of discovery. This contention was made
during the controversy which long afterwards arose between England and
the United States as to the boundary line between the state of Washington
and British Columbia, but the claim was abandoned when the forty-ninth
parallel of north latitude was agreed upon as that boundary. It was not
pressed at the time, however, for Drake was only a buccaneer, filibuster or

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 35
freebooter of the sea, whose acts were not authorized by the British govern
ment, although he sailed under the auspices of Queen Elizabeth. England
at that time was not at war with Spain. Whatever may have been the limit
of his. northward sailing, Drake found the climate severe, and, as is related,
"his men being thus speedily come out of the extreme heat found the air so
cold that being pinched with the same, they complained with the extremity
thereof." Giving up all hope of finding a northwest passage into the Atlantic
Ocean, he sailed south, looking for a harbor, until the 7th of June, "when
it pleased God to send him into a fair and goodly bay within thirty degrees
toward the line." This was probably the bay of San Francisco, possibly what
is now known as Drake's Bay, and here he remained five weeks repairing his
ship. While here he took possession of the country in the name of Queen
Elizabeth and called it New Albion. But no settlement followed this act of
taking possession, and it had no serious or binding effect upon the subsequent
adjustment of titles on this part of the Pacific Coast. It was reserved for
another class of men, differing 1 widely from Drake and his associates, more
than half a century afterwards, to establish another New England which
should become famous throughout the world, and which should introduce
ideas and principles of a political, social, ethical and religious character entirely
at variance with those which at that time governed the world.
This later New England on the bleak shores of the Atlantic was to be
the birthplace of a political system which should set at naught all the plans
and devices of the great powers which were at this time attempting to divide
North and South America among themselves. Speculation is now useless
as to the results which might have followed the settlement of the Pilgrim
Fathers in San Francisco Bay instead of at Plymouth Rock, but it is safe to
say that they would have differed greatly from those which have been real
ized, and the world would not have been .the gainer thereby. Having refitted
his vessel, Drake sailed for England by way of the Cape of Good Hope and
was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. He arrived at Ply
mouth on the 27th of September, 1560, his voyage occupying two years and
ten months. The Queen was slow to recognize Drake's achievements, splen
did though they were from a maritime point of view, fearing trouble with
Spain, but she finally gave them her approval and honored him w'ith
knighthood. The next English expedition of a similar character was commanded by
Thomas Cavendish, and consisted of three small vessels which sailed from
England on the 31st of July, 1586. He sailed through the Straits of Ma
gellan, thence north along the American coast as far as Cape St. Lucas at
the southern extremity of Lower California. In the course of this voyage
Tie is reported to have captured, burnt and sunk nineteen Spanish ships. He

36 HISTORY' OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
then returned to England by way of the Cape of Good Hope, accomplishing
the circumnavigation of the globe in two years and fifty days, arriving Sep
tember 9, 1588. It is said that his sailors on their return were clothed with
silks, his sails were damask and his topmast covered with cloth of gold.
With the close of the sixteenth century an era of marvelous activity on the
ocean came to an end. During this period, beginning with 1492, the world
had beeii explored in all directions. Its boundaries had been greatly extended,
vast regions of land and water had been explored which were before unknown,
and immense additions had been made to the sum total of human knowledge.
While the voyages to which we have made such brief reference were being
made, to say nothing of many others made about the same time which do not
come within the scope of this work, numerous land expeditions were being
organized for the purpose of penetrating the wilds of North America, making
permanent settlements on its rich and productive soil, opening up a fur trade
which was eventually to prove a bonanza to many of those who engaged in
it, and for the purpose of reaching the rich cities and provinces said to be
within its borders.
In this work the English, French, Dutch and Portuguese were all active
competitors with the Spaniards for valuable possessions in this part of the
world. The French were early in the field, and as successful and energetic
explorers they were superior to the English, though the latter, then as now,
maintained their superiority on the water. In the time of Francis I, King
of France, Giovanni Verrazano, a Florentine in the French service, sailed
westward to Carolina and thence surveyed the coast northward to Newfound
land. Twenty years before, the codfish banks in that vicinity had been known
and occupied by the fishermen of Normandy and Brittany. In 1534, nearly
a hundred years before the advent of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts Bay,
Jacques Cartier discovered the St., Lawrence River, which he ascended in
the following year to Montreal. Here a viceroyalty was soon erected under
Jean Francois de la Roque Sieur de Roberval, and for more than two hundred
years La Nouvelle France claimed possession and control by virtue of dis
covery or settlement or occupation, of the larger part of North America.
Her missionaries and fur traders made their way west to the Great Lakes
and south to the mouth of the Mississippi. A party of Huguenots under
Jean Ribault settled in Florida in 1562. Others followed in 1564, but their
settlements were destroyed under circumstances of great cruelty by the
Spaniards, who remained in undisputed possession of that part of the con
tinent. In 1512-13 Ponce de Leon, then governor of Puerto Rico, organized
an expedition to go in search of a spring, reported by the natives to possess
marvelous powers of rejuvenation. During the course of his voyage he dis
covered a number of the Bahama Islands, but could not find the much desired

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 37
spring. Leaving the Bahamas he sailed in a northwesterly direction until
he came in sight of the coast of Florida, near Tampa Bay. Charmed with
its beauty and fragrance, he landed and gave to the country thus discovered
the name of Pascua Florida, because of the luxuriant growth of flowers and
vegetation of all kinds, or because it was discovered on Palm Sunday, April 8,
15 13. A land having the appearance of perpetual spring he believed to be
the proper place to find the secret of perpetual youth, but here again he was
disappointed. Concluding that the story he had heard was fabulous, he re
turned to Puerto Rico, after discovering and naming the Tortugas Islands.
Unwilling, however, to give up his favorite quest, he subsequently obtained
a grant of Florida from the King of Spain, upon condition that he should
establish colonies there, was made its first governor, and returned with
another expedition in 1521. He landed again at the same place, but the
Indians, resenting former ill treatment, attacked his force, and in the engage
ment which followed he was seriously wounded and carried thence to Cuba,
where he died. Let us hope that he found in another country the Fountain
of Youth, which he failed to discover in the Land of Flowers, after all his
painful experiences.
Florida at that time included all the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
An expedition sailed from Havana on the 12th day of July, 1539, under the
command of Fernando de Soto, consisting of nine vessels and six hundred
men. He landed at Tampa Bay and thence proceeded through northern
Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and probably in May, 1541, crossed
the Mississippi at the lower Chickasaw bluffs and followed the river north
ward to the vicinity of St. Louis, Missouri, and thence in a northwesterly
direction he is said to have gone as far as the great plains of Kansas and
Nebraska. He thence returned south and died of a fever near the junction of
the Mississippi and Red rivers, about May, 1542. He lost two hundred and
fifty men by disease, privation and in battles with the Indians. The won
derful success of Cortez in Mexico, 1519-22, and Pizarro in Peru, 1532-35,
in making conquests of rich provinces and in securing vast quantities of gold
and silver, with other precious commodities, stimulated the energies of De
Soto and other explorers in an extraordinary degree.
The adventurous spirits of the maritime nations of that period, whether
Spanish, French, English, Dutch or Portuguese, were chiefly animated by
mercenary motives, and their great desire was the speedy acquisition of great
fortunes, without much regard to the means employed to obtain them. The
fertile lands of the Mississippi valley, its genial climate, and all its wealth of
natural resources and commercial advantages, and the beautiful western plains,
covered with luxuriant grasses and fragrant flowers, were no inducements
in the eyes of De Soto and his followers, because there were no rich cities

38 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
to plunder, and no populous and flourishing provinces to be ravaged by these
ruthless and mercenary invaders. The English, in the meantime, were not
neglecting their opportunities for exploration and settlement in the new world.
Sir Walter Raleigh and his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, first made
an effort to plant a colony on the eastern shores of North America, in 1579.
The venture was not successful. Another attempt was made in 1583. A
fleet of five vessels sailed from Plymouth under the command of Gilbert, in
June of that year, and in August entered the Bay of St. Johns, Newfound
land, and took possession of that island in the name of Queen Elizabeth.
After leaving St. Johns misfortunes overtook the fleet. The commander,
who was in one of the smaller vessels, went to the bottom of the ocean with
his crew. His largest ship had previously been wrecked with a loss of one
hundred men, and the other three ships had returned to England in the earlier
days of the expedition. Sir Walter Raleigh was not discouraged by the
unfortunate termination of these experiments. The Queen assisted him in
making another venture and gave him a new and larger grant of land for
his purposes, and two ships, under the command of Captain Arthur Barlow,
were despatched from England in June, 1584. He took a more southerly
and more favorable course, explored the coast for some distance, and .landed
in what is now known as Pamlico Sound. The Indians were friendly, the
country fertile and inviting, the climate agreeable, and the prospects of the
colony were most flattering. The entire coast for a long distance was named
Virginia, by Sir Walter Raleigh, in honor of Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen of
England, who was enthusiastic over the reports brought by the returning
ships. Dissensions grew up in this colony, however, and it was overtaken
by calamities of various kinds, and finally disappeared altogether. A per
manent and eventually a successful colony was not established in Virginia
until 1607, when the Jamestown settlement was made, which, after many
trials and difficulties, in after years became a prosperous community and the
birthplace of one of the great commonwealths of the American Union. Al
though the expeditions organized during the sixteenth century by various
nationalities and individuals for the exploration of the American continent
and its surrounding waters were numerous and many of them well equipped
for the purpose, of which those above referred to are only a part, it was nearly
two hundred years, or to be more precise, it was not until 1792, that the
Puget Sound Country was discovered and its many advantages of sea and
land were made known to the world.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 39
CHAPTER VI.
EXPEDITIONS IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES  EARLIEST
DISCOVERIES OF PUGET SOUND.
The expeditions sent out for the purpose of exploring the new world
or making settlements on the American continent during the seventeenth cen
tury were few in number and feeble in character, in so far as the maritime
nations of Europe were concerned. They were too much engrossed with
difficulties and clangers at home to make serious efforts abroad in the work
of discovery and colonization. The gigantic struggles on behalf of civil and
religious liberty which began in the early part of that century, and which
continued for nearly two hundred years, absorbed the energies and abilities
of the greatest men amongst the Spanish, French, English, Dutch, Swedish
and German people, to the exclusion of questions of trade expansion or terri
torial aggrandizement in the newly discovered portions of the globe, no
matter how promising the conditions might be in these summer seas or virgin
forests, or in the rich mines of gold, silver and precious minerals which had
been brought to light in the sixteenth century.
The Thirty Years' war, 1 618-1648, which reduced the population of
Germany from thirty millions to twelve millions, and in which nearly every
nation in Europe became involved for various reasons; the war between
France and Spain, continued for ten years longer; the Spanish-Netherlands
war, 1 667- 1 668; the war between France and Holland, 1672- 1678; the civil
war in England, 1642-1649; the wars of the Commonwealth with Ireland,
1649, and with Scotland, 1650; and the English Revolution of 1688, with
many minor conflicts, kept the principal powers of Europe actively engaged
at home in serious struggles which were often for their own existence. Fur
thermore, these struggles were to determine the civil, political and religious
rights of millions of people, not only for the time being; but for generations
to come. They therefore aroused the most bitter and virulent animosities
among those who participated in them, and almost every citizen of the re
spective countries engaged therein felt a direct and personal interest in their
final result. In the meantime, however, several attempts at exploration and
settlement were made by maritime adventurers from various parts of western
Europe. In the early part of the seventeenth century Holland was the greatest
maritime nation in the world. It was no idle boast of Van Tromp and other
Dutch admirals, who carried a broom at their mastheads, that their fleets
swept the seas. When it became evident that a profitable field for trade
could be opened up in the new world, they were ready to take advantage of it,
and were not slow to look for openings in that direction.
The Dutch East India Company was organized about 1600. Captain

40 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Henry Hudson was an enterprising English sailor who had made two unsuc
cessful efforts to discover a northwest passage to the East Indies for certain
London merchants, but they were discouraged and were unwilling to con
tribute for further expenses in that direction. He appealed to- the Dutch
East India Company and readily persuaded its members that a passage around
the north of Europe to the desired destination might be found. He was fur
nished a staunch vessel called the "Half Moon," manned by a good crew, and
sailed from the Texel in April, 1808, for Nova Zembla. His progress was
slow because of seas of ice through which he attempted to make his way, and,
no improvement being perceptible as the season advanced, he retraced his
steps, and sailing westward tried the Northwest passage again, arriving off
the coast of Maine in July, 1609. There he repaired his battered ship and
then continued in a southerly direction as far as the mouth of the James
river, Virginia. He probably learned here that the English were in posses
sion, and turning north he entered the harbor of New York in September.
Proceeding up the beautiful river which has ever since borne his name, and
believing it was a strait leading to the Pacific Ocean, he followed the course
of the river until he became satisfied that it was only a river, when he re
turned to its mouth, trading with the Indians by the way. He was the first
white man to look in upon the charming scenery in and about Manhattan
Island, and, taking possession of the country he had thus discovered for the
States-General of Holland, he gave to that nation its valid claim to the state
of New York. The following year, having become famous in England, and
sailing again under the English flag, he made another effort to find the much
desired Northwest passage. Making his way into the immense bay which
was named after him, and, sanguine in the belief that he had at last found
the strait he had so long sought for, he buffeted with its vast masses of ice,
and with its storms of sleet and snow, in his efforts to find an outlet to the
Pacific, until his crew mutinied and put him, his son and seven men into an
open boat, turned them adrift, and he was never heard of afterwards.
The States-General of Holland in 1613 granted to the Southern Com
pany, an association of Amsterdam citizens, the right to make voyages of
discovery. Isaac LeMaire, a wealthy citizen of Holland, and Captain Wil
liam Schouten, a native of Hoorn in the same country, were members of this
association. These men and their friends fitted out two ships, the Eendracht
and the Hoorn, which sailed from the Texel June 14, 161 5, under the com
mand of Captain Schouten. He reached Port Desire safely, but in careening
the Hoorn was burned, and he continued his voyage in the Eendracht. On
the 20th of January, 1616, he passed the latitude of the Straits of Magellan.
Without going through the straits he continued to sail in a southerly direc
tion and on the 24th he passed the extreme eastern point of Terra Del Fuego,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 41
which he named Statenland. On the 30th, following the shore line, he rounded
the most southern point of South America, which he called Cape Hoorn, or
Horn, after his birthplace. His greatest southern latitude was reached on
February 3, which he determined to be fifty-nine degrees and .thirty minutes.
Sailing thence in a northwesterly direction, he passed the western outlet of
the Straits of Magellan on the 12th of February. He thus discovered a new
route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, safer and better than that pre
viously followed through the straits. A new factor in the work of exploring
the Pacific Ocean had made its appearance.
The Dutch East India Company was chartered in 1621, and its fleet
included thirty-two ships of war, eighteen armed sloops and numerous mer
chant vessels. It had exclusive rights of settlement, colonization and govern
ment in vast regions of unoccupied territory in Africa and in North and
South America. Among its other achievements during the first ten years of its
existence, were the capture of Bahia, 1624, and of Pernambuco, 1630, on the
coast of Brazil, and the seizure of the Spanish treasure fleet, 1628, by Admiral
Peter Heyn. This treasure fleet, not counting those sunk and destroyed in
action, consisted of seventeen galleons, whose cargoes of bullion and merchan
dise, taken home to Holland, were valued at from twelve to fourteen millions
of guilders, the value of a guilder at that time being approximately that of
the present American dollar.
While the various exploring expeditions heretofore alluded to were being
made under the direction of Spanish, French, English and Dutch navigators,
Russia was not altogether idle. If a Northwest passage through North
America or around its northern shores could be found, she believed it possible
that a northeastern passage might be found from the Atlantic to . the East
Indies and the Pacific, by sailing in an easterly direction around the northern
coast of Russia in Europe and Siberia. It was demonstrated by Russian navi
gators that a continuous waterway existed north of Europe and Asia into the
Pacific Ocean. They also demonstrated the fact that North America was
separated from Siberia by water, and the distance between the two points was
determined. In 1647-8 voyages had been made from the town of Yakoutsk on the
river Lena to the northeastward of Siberia. The navigation of the frozen sea
eastward from the mouth of the Lena river had been determined as early as
1636. Successive expeditions in 1646-47-48 penetrated as far as the mouth of
the Anadir and the peninsula of Kamchatka. Before 171 1 Siberia and
Kamchatka had been overrun and made a part of the Russian Empire, then
looming into prominence as a great European power. Peter the Great, in the
later years of his life, gave much attention to the lately acquired provinces of
eastern Siberia. The question of a passage around the northern shores of

42 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Europe and Asia to the East Indies involved the question whether Asia and
America were separate continents. Peter was greatly interested in the solution
of these questions. He personally drew up instructions and delivered them to
Captain Vitus Behring, an officer of Danish birth then serving in the Russian
navy, whom he had selected to command the expedition he was sending to
investigate both problems. Peter died shortly after delivering these instruc
tions to Behring, but they were approved by the Empress Catherine, his
widow and successor, and Behring was directed to proceed overland to
Okhotsk, Siberia, with his officers and crews for two vessels, with workmen
by whom they were to be built. In the summer of 1728 the two vessels were
ready for embarkation. One .vessel was called the Fortuna and the other
Gabriel, and they had accommodations for a crew of forty men and provisions
for a year. Among his instructions, Behring says in his journal, "I was
ordered to inform myself, among other matters, of the limits of Siberia, and
particularly if the eastern corner of Siberia was separated from America."
On the 15th of August, having determined that the coast of Asia and America
were separated by water, and having reached the high latitude of sixty-seven
degrees and eighteen minutes, he deemed it advisable to return to the river of
Kamchatka. Indications of various kinds led him to believe that the Ameri
can coast was not far distant, and indeed it was reported that it could be seen
from the highlands of Kamchatka. In honor of this voyage the channel
separating the two continents was called Behring's Straits. The following
year Behring made another voyage in the same latitude and direction ; but
head winds prevented him from reaching the sought-for land and he returned
to Okhotsk and St. Petersburg, arriving at the latter place March 1, 1729.
A Japanese junk was stranded, and all the crew murdered by the Cossacks
except two men, who subsequently made their way, or were taken, to St.
Petersburg, and were there the occasion. of an effort on the part of the govern
ment to reach Japan, as it was demonstrated that an open sea lay between
Siberia and that country, On the 17th of April, 1732, orders were issued at
St. Petersburg to make voyages as well eastward to the continent of America
as southward to Japan, and to discover, if possible, at the same time, through
the frozen sea, the north passage which had been so frequently attempted by
the English and Dutch. Behring, as commander, and Martin Spangberg and
Alexis Tschirikow, as captains, were designated for the little fleet. A scientific
corps was also assigned it. In 1738 Captain Spangberg discovered the Kurill
Islands. In 1739, in the St. Michael and three small vessels, he made the
voyage to Japan. It was not until 1740 that the two ships built at Okhotsk for
the voyage to the American coast were ready for service. These were the
St. Paul, commanded by Behring, and the St. Peter, by Captain Tschirikow.
They arrived in Awatscha Bay late in the season and there wintered. They

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 43
sailed from that bay June 4, 1741, on what proved to be Behring's last voyage
of discovery. After proceeding in a northerly direction for some time, he
sighted the continent of America on the 18th of July in fifty-eight degrees
and twenty-eight minutes of north latitude. His consort, the St. Peter, had
arrived on the same coast three days earlier. Captain Tschirikow had at
tempted to examine the country and obtain a supply of water, and in further
ance of his plans had sent two boats, one with ten, and subsequently the other
with seven men, but both disappeared entirely, and as the coast was rocky and
precipitous, with but few openings, and he had no more small boats on board,
he resolved to return with the remainder of his crew to Awatscha Bay. After
suffering incredible hardships he arrived there on the 9th day of October.
Of the seventy men sailing in the ship twenty-one had died. M. De Lisle de
La Croyere, the astronomer of the expedition, who had long been ill and was
impatient to be landed, fell dead upon the deck as the ship arrived in port.
Behring in the meantime had also been attempting to make a landing, secure
fresh water, etc., but found great difficulty in doing so because of the rough
character of the coast. On the 20th day of July Foggy Island was discovered.
On the 29th of August he made the continent in fifty-five degrees in the
vicinity of a large number of islands, which they called Schumagin's Islands,
after the man of the ship's crew who had died and was there buried. Unable
to obtain a supply of good water, he sailed westward, but became enveloped
in the throes of a frightful storm, which lasted for seventeen days, during
which time it was impossible to make a landing. All this while many of his
crew were helpless with scurvy and other diseases, he himself was hopelessly
ill, the supply of water and other provisions short, and the lateness of the
season such that all hope of returning to Kamchatka was given up. On the
31st of October they made an island, and on the 5th of .November found an
anchorage. The hardships and sufferings of ' the brave and gallant com
mander, Behring, were more than he could endure. He gradually grew
worse, and on the 9th of November was carried ashore in a litter, and for
protection from the storm was placed in a natural cave or pit which was avail
able for the purpose. He died on the 8th of December. Mtiller, the historian
of the expedition, says : "It is a subject of regret that his life terminated so
miserably. It may be said that he was almost buried while alive, for, the sand
rolling down almost continually from the side of the cave or pit in which he
lay and covering his feet, he at last would not suffer it to be removed, saying
he felt warmth in it when he felt none in other parts of his body ; and the sand
thus gradually increased upon him till he was more than half covered by it,
so that when he was dead it was necessary to unearth him to inter him in a
proper manner." The island where he died was named Behring, and is a
lonely monument to the memory of the brave and gallant commander. There

44 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
is something extremely pathetic in the sorrowful fate of this hero of the
northern seas and of so many of his associates who perished in their efforts
to bring to the knowledge of the world those unexplored regions of the Arctic
circle, which have since proved so rich in wealth and so valuable to mankind.
The records of those days are full of the names of illustrious pathfinders by
sea and land, who never survived the hardships and exposure incident to their
work, or who fell victims to diseases resulting from unwholesome food or
often the lack of any kind of food whatever, to say nothing of those who fell
in battle with their numerous enemies. Shortly after the death of Behring the
St. Paul went to pieces, but the fragments were preserved by the survivors,
put together in the spring, and in the craft so constructed they made their
way back to the Bay of Awatscha. While on the island, thirty of their
number had perished of disease and privation. Out of their sufferings, how
ever, came the traffic in sealskins, which has since proved so valuable, and
the survivors first introduced to the markets of the world one of its most
precious furs. During their stay on the island they subsisted upon seals, and
their skins were used for clothing. These skins they carried back to Siberia,
where they brought high prices and were much sought for by wealthy people.
Few voyages, even in those days of marvelous enterprise, were filled with
more distressing experiences or were more pregnant with important results
than this last voyage of Commander Behring. It led to the ownership by
Russia of Alaska and the northwest coast of America down to the parallel of
fifty-four degrees forty minutes of north latitude. This ownership was con
tinued down to the year 1867, when the entire territory was purchased by the
United States for seven millions of dollars. It led to the establishment of fur
trading posts by Russia in this vast region. It led to the trade in sealskins,
which have been so. valuable an article of commerce from their first intro
duction down to the present time. It contributed, no doubt, very materially
to the friendly feeling which has always existed between the United States
and Russia, and while the controversy between the former and Great Britain
was pending Russia was the firm friend, ally and supporter of the United
States. With the exception of the expeditions herein briefly noted, little more
was done in the way of exploration down to the middle of the eighteenth
century. A revival of interest in the subject then manifested itself throughout
Europe, and voyages on a more scientific scale than ever before were planned
towards the close of that century by England, France, Spain, Holland,
Portugal, Russia and the United States. Between 1680 and 1780 the Spanish
government had established missions in California which occupied that country
almost entirely from San Diego in the south to its boundary line on the north.
These missions were under the control of Fathers Kuhn (called by the Span-

HISTORY OF TFIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 45
iards Kino), Salva Tierra, Junipero Serra and other Jesuit priests, who were
anxious to convert the natives of that country to the Catholic faith. These
missions were furnished with small garrisons of Spanish soldiers to preserve
order and protect various settlements from attack either from foreign or
domestic enemies. Presidios were established at the main harbors, San
Diego, 1769; Monterey, 1770; San Francisco, 1776, and Santa Barbara, 1780.
These were military establishments on a larger scale with a governor for the
surrounding district, and were intended for the protection of Spanish com
merce with the Philippines and the East Indies. California having been
settled and occupied, Spanish exploration of the northwest coast was indus
triously renewed. The sloop of war Santiago, under command of Lieutenant
Juan Perez, was despatched from San Bias on the 25th of January, 1774-
His orders from the Viceroy of Mexico were to sail northward to sixty
degrees north latitude, thence to survey the coast southward to Monterey, to
land at convenient places and take possession in the name of the King of Spain.
From San Bias he went to Monterey, sailing for the north on the 16th of
June. He reached a point which he called Cape Santa Margarita, now known
as Cape North, on the 18th of July, in fifty-four degrees of north latitude.
He rounded the cape and entered what is now called Dixon's Channel. As
usual, scurvy had appeared among his crew, his supply of provisions was
short, and in a small vessel he was poorly prepared for the storms of that
northern region. He therefore deemed it wise to return to the southward,
keeping inshore and trading with the Indians for about one hundred miles,
until driven to sea by a storm. He again made land, discovered and entered
a bay in forty-nine degrees and thirty minutes north, which he called Port
Lorenzo. This bay has long been known as Nootka Sound. Thence he sailed
south, his pilot Este Van Jose Martinez reporting that he saw, between forty-
eight and forty-nine degrees north, a wide opening in the land, and to the
point on its south side he gave the name of Martinez. This is the first definite
and reliable discovery of the entrance to Puget Sound of which the history
of those times makes any mention, and yet very strangely the Spanish
authorities for many years concealed the reports of Perez and his associates
so that the credit due to them for their discoveries was claimed and at times
awarded to the representatives of other nations. In latitude forty-seven
degrees and forty-seven minutes he sighted a snow-covered peak, to which
he gave the name of Sierra de Santa Rosalia, the Mt. Olympus of modern
geographers. On the 21st of August he passed Cape Mendocino, determined
its true latitude, and on the 27th of August he reached Monterey. On the
reports and charts made by Perez were based the Spanish claim to the dis
covery of the strait now called De Fuca. These reports also led to the
ordering of another expedition by Bucarelli, then Viceroy of Mexico-, to con-

46 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
tinue the exploration and survey of the northwest coast. The command of
this expedition was given to Captain Bruno Heceta, with Perez as ensign, and
it consisted of the Santiago and the schooners Sonora, Commander Ayala, and
San Carlos, Lieutenant Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. The San
Carlos was left at San Bias. The Santiago and Sonora, Bodega commanding
the latter, sailed north, and on the ioth of June, 1775, in latitude forty-
one degrees and ten minutes, they anchored in a roadstead to which they gave
the name of Port Trinidad. Going ashore they took possession of the country
in the name of the Spanish crown, and spent nine days in repairing their
ships. The cross which they planted was respected by the natives, and it still
remained there when Vancouver visited the coast in 1793. Their repairs com
pleted, they continued their northward voyage, making land in forty-eight
degrees and twenty-six minutes. The entrance to the straits was laid down
in Bellin's charts between forty-seven and forty-eight degrees north, but
sailing south in search for the "straits" they failed to find them. In latitude
forty-seven degrees and twenty minutes their only boat, containing seven
men, was sent ashore for fresh water, on the 14th of July, but they were
suddenly surrounded by the Indians of the place and all were murdered. The
Sonora herself was seriously threatened by these hostile savages, who made
several attempts to board her, but they were driven off. To this place was
given the name Punta de Martires and to the island near by Isla de Dolores.
A similar occurrence twelve years later, when Captain Berkley of the Imperial
Eagle lost a crew in the same way, led him to give the place its present name,
Destruction Island. The Punta de Martires is now called Point Grenville.
The Sonora and the San Carlos then started north, but they were separated
by a storm, when Heceta turned to the southward and sailed for Monterey,
his crew being seriously crippled by the scurvy and their losses by the Indians.
He made the land on August 10, in latitude forty-nine degrees and thirty
minutes, but did not stop to make any further examination of the land reported
upon the preceding year by Perez. On the 17th he discovered a large bay or
opening in the coast in latitude forty-six degrees and nine minutes north, with
strong currents and eddies, and having the appearance of the mouth of a
great river. In consequence of the disabled condition of his men, he was not
able to enter and make a thorough examination of the bay he had discovered,
but he entered it upon his charts as the Bahia de la Asuncion, its northern
point as Cabo San Roque and its southern headland Cabo Frondoso. The
supposed river he called Rio de San Roque, and had his crew been in good
health he no doubt would have entered and actually discovered the Columbia
river, but this piece of good fortune was reserved for Captain Robert Gray
of the Boston ship Columbia, who sailed into the bay in 1792, which was
passed thus hurriedly by Heceta in 1775. With two-thirds of his crew unfit

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 47
for duty on account of the scurvy, Heceta continued his voyage southward
and arrived at Monterey on the 29th of August. In the meantime Bodega
in the Sonora was pushing northward, making the land August 16, in latitude
fifty-six degrees north, and discovering a mountain in fifty-seven degrees and
two minutes, which they called San Jacinto, Mount Edgecombe by Captain
Cook. The point of land projecting into the sea they called Cape Engano.
On his way north to latitude fifty-eight degrees, in two places he landed and
took possession of all those northern seas, islands, territories and regions in
the name of the King of Spain, by erecting a cross at each place and burying
at its feet a bottle containing the appropriate documents. Bodega then turned
to the south and after surveying various points and bays on the coast, includ
ing the bay of Bodega in California, which was named after this brave navi
gator himself, he reached San Bias on the 20th of November. These voyages
of the Santiago and the Sonora were regarded by the Spanish authorities as
of great importance, and orders were promptly issued to continue the explora
tion of the northwest coast of America by the same officers. A new and
larger ship was ordered built by Viceroy Bucatelli at San Bias, and called the
Princesa, and another at Guayaquil, called the Favorita.
Captain Ignacio Arteaga was put in command of the Princesa, and
Bodega, with Maurelle as pilot, of the Favorita. They sailed from San Bias
on the 17th of February, 1779, directly for Port Bucarelli, a bay on the west
coast of the Prince of Wales Island, which had been discovered and so named
by Bodega on his former voyage in 1775. At this point they arrived early in
May, and for nearly two months they were busily engaged in surveying the
bay, .in refitting their ships, and in trading with the natives. On the 1st of
July they sailed northward and in a few clays Mt. St. Elias became visible.
Early in the same month they came into an archipelago in sixty degrees north,
and named the largest island they discovered Magdalena, subsequently called
Montague's Island by Captain Cook. The bay itself was called Ensanada de
Regla, to which the name of Prince William's Sound was afterwards given.
A good harbor was found on its western side, which was called Port Santiago.
Here they anchored on the 25th of July and took possession of the surround
ing seas and lands, in the usual way, for the Spanish king. Provisions now
began to run short, the scurvy had made its appearance among his crew, and
finding no encouragement in his search for a northern passage he determined
to return to Mexico. Leaving Port Santiago on the 7th of August, the
expedition put into San Francisco on the 15th of October and arrived at San
Bias on the 21st of November. This was the last Spanish effort at exploration
on the northwest for several years.

48 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
CHAPTER VII.
VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN COOK  RIVAL CLAIMS TO THE NORTHWEST COAST.
During the last quarter of the eighteenth century Great Britain, with
other European powers, began to' take a deeper interest in the work of
exploring and developing the northwest coast. Recognizing the claims of
Spain in California, and Russia in Alaska, she was anxious to secure a footing
between the two, partly because the fur trade was becoming valuable, and
partly that she might have an outlet to the Pacific for her Canadian pos
sessions, and that, if possible, she might retain control of the whole of North
America, north of the United States, Alaska excepted, and might offset her
loss of the American colonies, in some degree, by securing territory on the
shores of the Pacific Ocean. She furthermore proposed to set up a claim to
ownership of some portion of this coast by right of discovery, though that
discovery had been made two hundred years before by a buccaneer, Sir Francis
Drake, whose voyages were those of a pirate, and whose depredations and
discoveries were alike unauthorized by the British national authorities. It
suited her purpose at this time, however, to put forward this claim, and in
furtherance of her schemes she sent out her greatest navigator and- most
experienced sailor and geographer, Captain James Cook, who had already
achieved distinction in voyages of discovery in the South Seas and the Indian
Ocean. He was given command of two staunch and well equipped ships,
the Resolution and the Discovery. As far as was known to the world at
large at that time, there remained on the northwest coast, between the forty-
second and the fifty-fifth degrees of north latitude, an unexplored and unsettled
region open to all comers, and the purpose of England was to make the New
Albion of Sir Francis Drake cover as much as possible of that region, supple
menting Drake's discovery by further exploration and by settlement in de
sirable locations, if such should be found. Captain Cook was directed to
proceed by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, thence to New Zealand and
Otaheite, and, having touched at those points and refitted his ships, to sail for
the Pacific Coast of North America. Among other things his instructions
said: "You are to fall in with the coast of New Albion, in latitude forty-five
degrees north. You are to put into the first convenient port to recruit your
wood and water, and then to proceed northward along the coast as far as
to the latitude of sixty-five degrees north or further, if not obstructed by land
or ice, taking care not to lose any time in exploring the rivers or inlets or
upon any other account until you can get into the before mentioned latitude
sixty-five degrees north, where we could wish you to arrive in the month of
June." On his way hither (to New Albion), "Not to touch upon any part
of the Spanish dominion on the western continent of America, unless driven

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HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 49
to it by some unavoidable accident, in which case he was to stay no longer
than was absolutely necessary, and to be very careful not to give any umbrage
or offense to any of the inhabitants of his Catholic majesty (Spain), and if
in his further progress northward he should find any subjects' of any European
prince or state, upon any part of the coast which he might think proper to
visit, he was not to disturb them, or to give them any cause of offense, but on
the contrary to treat them with civility and friendship." His instructions
continued : "You are also, with the consent of the natives, to take possession,
in the name of the King of Great Britain, of convenient situations in such
countries as you may discover, that have not already been discovered or
visited by any other European power, and to distribute among the inhabitants
such things as will remain as traces and testimonies of your having been
there." Captain Cook sailed on this memorable voyage from Plymouth, Eng
land, on the 1 2th day of July, 1776, in the ship Resolution. His consort, the
Discovery, was commanded by Captain Clerke. As a midshipman on board
the Resolution was George Vancouver, who was subsequently identified with
these regions as the first accurate explorer of the Puget Sound country. In
consequence of delays in his voyage he did not reach Owyhee until January,
1 778. This group of islands he named after the Earl of Sandwich, First Lord
of the Admiralty, but, since coming into the possession of the United States,
they are known as the Hawaiian Islands. Thence he sailed on the 18th of
January, 1778, in a northeasterly direction, and on the 7th of March, 1778,
he came in sight of the northwest coast, in latitude forty-four degrees and one
minute. Head winds and foggy weather made his progress to the north slow,
and prevented him from taking accurate observations of the land ; but he saw
and named Cape Foulweather, forty-four degrees and fifty-five minutes north,
and Cape Flattery, forty-eight degrees and fifteen minutes, which names are
still retained. The latter he named Flattery because it had given him some
promise of a harbor which was never realized. On the evening of the 22d
of March he was near this point of land, but during the night a storm came
up which drove his little fleet out to sea, and when he made land again it was
in Nootka Sound on the 22d of March. To this bay Captain Cook gave the
name of King George's Sound, but the native name has been preserved.
Haying missed, in this way, the entrance of the Straits of Fuca, and being
anxious to proceed northward, in accordance with his instructions, he sailed
in that direction on the 26th of April, having obtained supplies of water,
wood, fishy grass and spruce beer, and done some trading with the natives.
During the remainder of the season he made a careful and accurate examina
tion of the coast of Alaska, both sides of Behring Straits, and penetrated north
as far as latitude seventy degrees and forty-four minutes. He made a minute
investigation of the Arctic Sea, sailing both in an easterly and in a westerly

50 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
direction, until his further progress was interrupted by ice. As the English
government had previously offered a reward of twenty thousand pounds to
the officers and crew of any ship discovering a passage to the Atlantic, north
of fifty-two degrees, every effort was made by Captain Cook and his associ
ates to earn the reward, but without success. During the same season the
British Admiralty had sent out Lieutenant Young in the brig Lion to explore
the western coast of Baffin's Bay on the Atlantic side, and find, if possible, a
passage to the westward which might lead to the Pacific Ocean. It was hoped
that lie and Captain Cook might meet at some point on the northern coast of
North America, but in this they were disappointed.
Late in the season Captain Cook left Oonalaska for the Sandwich Islands,
intending there to refit his ships and obtain a supply of fresh provisions for
another season's work, but, unfortunately, this great maritime adventurer
came to the end of his career, being murdered by the natives of those islands
on the 14th of January, 1779.
In the role of illustrious navigators and geographers Captain Cook occu
pies a very high place. It was very well said of him, "No other navigator
extended the bounds of geographical knowledge so widely as he did." "His
surveys and determinations of latitude and longitude," says Elwood Evans,
"are extremely accurate. He introduced and practiced a system of sanitary
. regulations for preserving the health of the crews, and thereafter removed
the dread which had till that time attached to long voyages. Along the north
west coast of- America he effected more in one season than the Spanish had
accomplished in two centuries. Besides rectifying many mistakes' of former
explorers, he ascertained the breadth of the strait which separates Asia from
the new world, a point which Behring had left unsettled. He forever exploded
the theory of the Strait of Anian, or the existence of any northwest passage
across the northern part of the continent of North America. His labors
created a new era in geographic science. Not content with discovering new
continents, islands and seas, he delineated the figure of their coasts and de
termined their latitude and longitude, with an accuracy which appliances of
modern discovery and improvement have only verified."
After the death of Captain Cook the command of the expedition devolved
upon Captain Clerke, who sailed again in the following March for the Arctic
regions to continue the exploration of these northern coasts. Passing through
Behring Straits he reached sixty-nine degrees and twenty minutes north, but,
his further progress being obstructed by floating ice, he turned back and
sailed for Kamchatka on the 27th of July, returning through Behring Straits
on the 30th. On the 23d of August, two days before arriving at Petro-
paulovski, Captain Clerke died, and Lieutenant Gore, a native of Virginia,
succeeded to the command of the ships. They sailed for Canton, China, with

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 51
a small cargo of furs, which were readily disposed of at good prices, and
the fur trade from that time forward became an important element in the
growing commerce between the northwest coast and the East Indies. The
development of this trade brought, very soon afterwards, numerous vessels of
different nationalities to share alike in its dangers and its profits.
In the year 1785 a finely equipped expedition was sent out by the French
government for exploration in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. It consisted
of the frigates L' Astrolabe and La Boussole, and was under the command
of Jean Francois Galoup la Perouse, a distinguished French navigator. He
sailed from Brest, August 1, 1785, by the way of Cape Horn, and arrived on
the northwest coast of America on the 23d of June, 1786. Thence he sailed
in a southerly direction August 9, 1786, making an accurate examination of
the coast from Mount St. Elias to Monterey. When in the latitude of fifty-
eight degrees north he discovered and named Port de Francais, where he
temained about six weeks. His charts and notes were forwarded from
Petropaulovski, but were not published until 1798, by which time his names
and locations were superseded by the work of later explorers. From Botany
Bay on the 7th of February, 1788, La Perouse reported for the last time to
the French minister of marine in regard to his future movements, but no
further information was ever afterward had from him or any of his associ
ates. It is presumed they found a watery grave in those southern seas, and
their loss was a calamity, for the expedition was supplied with a full scientific
corps, and their work, if continued, would no doubt have been of a very
valuable character. A constantly increasing number of vessels, from year to
year, visited the northwest coast for the purpose of engaging in the fur trade.
The principal harbors to which they resorted were Nootka, Norfolk and Prince
William sounds. Nootka was the favorite port of rendezvous and of departure
when a cargo had been secured. At these ports collections of furs were made
to be shipped to China, or the East Indies, where they were exchanged for
teas, spices, silks and other goods of those countries, which constituted the
return cargoes, via Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope to America, or
European cities.
Of the controversies which arose between Great Britain and Spain with
reference to their possession on the northwest coast, of the seizure of English
vessels by Martinez, the Spanish commander, who claimed to hold Nootka
Sound as a port of the Spanish domain, it is not necessary now to speak in
detail. It may be sufficient at this time to say that the East India Company,
an English corporation, had been granted an exclusive right to commerce
and trade in all seas and countries east of the Cape of Good Hope, as the
South Sea Company had been granted similar privileges in the regions west
of Cape Horn. The former company, by the Governor- General of India, had
granted Lieutenant John M. Meares of the British navy, then on leave of

52 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
absence, permission to make a voyage to the northwest coast in the Nootka,
which he himself commanded, and to be accompanied by the Sea Otter, com
manded by Captain Tipping. They sailed 'under the East India Company's
flag from Calcutta, in March, 1786. The Sea Otter was subsequently lost,
with all on board, off the Kamchatkan coast. The Nootka spent the winter
at Prince William's Sound, and Captain Meares returned with her to China
in 1787. In the latter part of the same year, Captain Meares returned to
Nootka Sound, in command of an expedition sent out by British merchants in
India, who wished to push the fur trade on the northwest coast. By special
arrangements, however, with the Governor of Macao, Captain Meares sailed
under the Portuguese flag. This expedition consisted of the Felice and the
Iphigenia, the Felice arriving at Nootka Sound on May 13, 1788. Shortly
after his arrival, Maquinna, the chief of the Indian tribe occupying this
locality, made Captain Meares a grant of a "spot of ground in his territory,
whereupon a house might be built, for the accommodation of the people we
intended to leave there, but had promised us also his assistance in forwarding
our works, and his protection of the party who were destined to remain in
Nootka, during our absence. In return for his kindness, and to insure a
continuance of it, the. chief was presented with a pair of pistols." The house
was finished on the 28th, and the building of the schooner North West
America was commenced. Captain Meares, desiring to proceed down the
coast again, interviewed Maquinna with reference to those who were to
remain on the sound. Maquinna agreed with him to "show every mark of
attention and friendship to the party to be left on shore, and, as a bribe to
secure his attachment, he was promised that, when he finally left the coast,
he should enter into full possession of the house and all the goods and chattels
thereunto belonging." This is the description which is given by Captain
Meares himself of the first establishment or attempt at a settlement, on the
northwest coast between the Russian settlements on the north and those of
ithe Spaniards in California. This was the beginning of the claim of the
British government to territory on the northwest coast. The controversy with
Spain continued until the Nootka treaty was made in Spain on the 28th of
October, 1790. By the terms of this treaty the buildings and tracts of land
on the northwest coast of America of which British subjects had been dis
possessed in 1789, by Martinez, were to be restored, and reparation was to be
made for all acts of hostility or violence committed after April, 1789. British
subjects were to be restored to the possession of property, either on land or
water, of which they had been forcibly dispossessed. Free navigation on the
Pacific Ocean and the South Seas was provided for the subjects of both nations,
with the right to land at places on the coast thereof, not already occupied, to
carry on commerce with the natives and to make settlements subject to the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. ' 53
following restriction. "The king of Great Britain engaged to prevent navi
gation or fishery in those seas being made the pretext for illicit trade with
Spanish settlements. No British subject was to navigate or carry on a fishery
in said oceans within ten sea leagues of any part of the coast occupied by Spain.
When settlements were made by subjects of either power, free access to, and
full privilege to trade, were confirmed without molestation." The British
historian Belsham, commenting upon this treaty and the negotiations con
nected therewith, says: "By the treaty of 1763 the river Mississippi, flowing
from north .to south, in a direct course of one thousand five hundred miles, was
made the perpetual boundary of the two empires ; and the whole country west
of that vast river belonged to his Catholic majesty, by just as valid a tenure
as the country eastward of the river to the King of England. Exclusive of the
recent and decisive line of demarcation, by which the relative and political
rights of both nations were clearly defined, the Spanish court referred to
ancient treaties by which the rights of the crown of Spain were acknowledged
in their full extent by Great Britain." After referring to the refusal of Great
Britain to arbitrate the questions at issue, Belsham continues : "No assistance
being had from France, Spain, yielding to necessity, complied with the harsh
demands for restitution and indemnification, and at length, on the 28th of
October, 1790, a convention was signed at Escurial, by which every point in
dispute was conceded to Spain. The settlement of Nootka was restored, free
navigation and right of fishing in the South Pacific were confirmed to Great
Britain ; a full liberty of trade, and even of settlement, was granted to all the
northwest coast of America, beyond the most northerly of the Spanish settle
ments, unaccompanied, however, by any formal renunciation of their rights of
sovereignty." Captain George Vancouver was appointed the commissioner of
the British government to receive the property referred to in the treaty. He
sailed from England January 6, 1791, in command of the sloop Discovery,
carrying twenty guns and one hundred men, and having for his consort the
brig Chatham, commanded by Lieutenant Robert Broughton, with ten guns
and forty-five men. He arrived at Nootka, August 28, 1792, and found the
Spanish commissioner, Bodega Quadra, in command. They were unable to
reach an agreement as to surrender of territory. Quadra offered to place Van
couver in possession of of the land actually occupied by Captain Meares in his
ship-building enterprise, but this offer Vancouver refused to accept. Quadra
absolutely refused to make any formal surrender of the territory, or of any
claim thereto of Spain. Vancouver says, "He would not entertain an idea of
hoisting the British flag on the spot of land pointed out by Senor Quadra, not
extending more than one hundred yards in any direction." Therefore no
practical result came from these negotiations. The personal relations between
the representatives of the two powers were nevertheless of the most friendly
character.

54- HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
In commemoration of 'their pleasant intercourse the island, now known
as Vancouver, was named the Island of Quadra and Vancouver. For the
purpose of obtaining more specific instructions, Lieutenant Broughton was sent
to England and thence to Madrid, and on his return was assigned to the sloop
Providence and ordered to Nootka to receive the possession due to British
subjects under the Nootka treaty. He arrived at Nootka on the 17th of
March, 1796, but found the place deserted by the Spanish. He was informed
that the restoration had been made March 28, 1795, "agreeably to the mode
settled by the two courts." From all evidence available on the subject it would
appear that Spain never surrendered her claim to sovereignty of the entire
northwest coast as far north as the Russian settlements, that the actual prop
erty of British subjects which had been taken was restored, and the sum of
two hundred and ten thousand dollars was paid as damages to the injured
parties, free trade and occupancy was allowed to both parties, and the question
of absolute title to the territories in question was left in statu quo, to be
decided thereafter, and no such decision was ever arrived at between Spain
and Great Britain. It will readily be seen from this brief statement that the
claim of Great Britain to any part of the northwest coast rests upon a very
flimsy foundation. Captain Meares was sailing under the Portuguese flag,
and only appealed to his home government for support and protection when he
found himself in trouble with the Spanish authorities, who were in possession
of the region wherein he desired to make, according to his own statement,
only a temporary settlement. This, however, was sufficient for the English
government to make the basis of a territorial claim, when territorial rights came
to be adjusted between the United States, the assignee of all Spanish rights
to this region, and Great Britain. These rights were not settled until, by the
Treaty of Limits made on the 15th of June, 1846, it was determined that the
forty-ninth parallel of north latitude should be the boundary line, on the main
land, between the United States and the so-called British Possessions on the
northwest coast of America. A study of the political conditions existing in
the United States, at the time this treaty was made, makes it very plain that
the interests of slavery were not to be promoted by the extension -of territory
in a northerly direction, or the claim of the United States to the southern line
of the Russian possessions, at fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of north
latitude, would never have been abandoned.
CHAPTER VIII.
VOYAGES OF CAPTAINS GRAY AND VANCOUVER  EXPLORATION OF PUGET
SOUND AND DISCOVERY OF COLUMBIA RIVER.
In the meantime, explorations and discoveries were being made which
were shortly to lead to the finding and examination of the Puget Sound

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 55
country. Strange as it may appear, many voyages had been made up and
down the coast for trading and other purposes, and the Straits of Juan de
Fuca and the Columbia river had escaped observation. The chief trading
ports were either north or south of these waters, and navigators continued to
pass them by, until, in 1787, Captain Berkley, commanding the Imperial Eagle,
an Austrian East Indianman, arrived at Nootka Sound. He proceeded to
examine the coast south to forty-seven degrees north latitude. On his way he
discovered the entrance to the Straits of Juan de Fuca, or, rather, rediscov
ered these straits, if it be true that they were first brought to light by the
Spanish navigator whose name they bear, nearly two hundred years before.
On his way south he reached the Isla de Dolores of the Spanish charts, where
he sent a boat ashore for fresh water, whose crew were all murdered by the
Indians as a boat's crew from the Sonora had been murdered twelve years
before, when on a similar errand. To commemorate their misfortune he
named the island opposite the mouth of the stream Destruction Island. He
informed Captain Meares, of Macao, during the following winter, of his dis
covery of the mouth of the straits, but that he had made no further examina
tion and that he had not even attempted an entrance. Captain Meares again
arrived on the coast in 1 788. Leaving a small party at Nootka Sound, to build
the schooner North West America, he sailed southward on the 7th of June in
the Felice, for the purpose of exploring the reported inland passage. Proceed
ing up the straits on the south side of Vancouver Island, he described the
entrance as twelve to fourteen leagues wide, and says : "From the masthead
it was observed to stretch to the east by north, and a clear, unbounded horizon
was seen in that direction as far as the eye could reach. We attempted fre
quent soundings, but could procure no bottom with one hundred fathoms
of line. The strangest curiosity impelled us to enter this strait, which we will
call by the name of its original discoverer, Juan de Fuca." He afterwards
dispatched his first officer, Mr. Duffin, with a party, which explored the straits
some fifty miles, determining the port of San Juan. Captain Meares himself
proceeded south to discover, if possible, the reported mouth of the Rio de San
Roque of Heceta. On the 5th of July he discovered the mouth of the bay
which he named Shoalwater. After searching in vain for the mouth of the
San Roque, he gave up the task, saying : "We can now with safety assert that
no such river as St. Roc exists as laid down on the Spanish charts." He
emphasized his opinion on the subject by naming the point of land on the north
side Cape Disappointment, and the bay itself he called Deception Bay. Well
might he have said, when the truth became known, "So near and yet so far."
Chagrined, disappointed, and believing himself deceived, he continued south
to latitude forty-five degrees north, when, finding nothing of interest, he
turned north and arrived at Nootka on the 27th of August. In 1787 certain

56 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
leading merchants of Boston organized an expedition, in the interests of dis
covery and commerce, to the northwest coast of America. They were Samuel
Brown, Charles Bulfinch, John Derley, Crow ell Hatch, John M. Pintard and
Joseph Barell. They fitted up two vessels, the ship Columbia, Captain John
Kendrick, and the sloop Washington, Captain Robert Gray, equipped them
for a long voyage, and provided them with suitable cargoes for trade with the
natives. They little dreamed when Ffiey fitted out these staunch vessels that
their names would occupy so prominent a place in history, or that they would
be indissolubly associated, the Columbia with one of the great rivers of the
world, and the Washington with one of the great states of the American
Union. Full of hope, grit, fortitude and endurance, they sailed away from
Boston on the first day of October, 1787, on their long voyage around the
Horn to the northwest coast of America. After many delays and some pain
ful experiences they arrived at their destination, Nootka Sound, in September,
1788, having been almost a year in making the passage around the Horn from
Boston. They spent the following winter at Nootka, and the following sum
mer Captain Gray made a voyage in the Washington down the coast, entered
the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and sailed through it fifty miles in the east-south
east direction, and found the passage five miles wide. Returning to Nootka
he met the Columbia in the straits, with her cargo of furs aboard ready for
sea and bound for China. Captains Gray and Kendrick changed places,
Captain Gray taking command of the Columbia and Captain Kendrick of the
Washington. Arriving at Canton, Gray exchanged his furs for a cargo of
tea, spices and other Chinese goods, with which he sailed for Boston via the
Cape of Good Hope, reaching his destination on the 10th of August, 1790.
To him belongs the honor of commanding the first ship to circumnavigate the
globe carrying the flag of the United States. After the departure of the
Columbia, Captain Kendrick made a voyage through the Straits of Juan de
Fuca, and, passing north through the Gulf of Georgia, he entered and came
out again into the Pacific ocean, north of fifty-five degrees of north latitude.
Meanwhile the Spanish navigators continued their explorations in these
northern waters. An expedition fitted out by the Viceroy of Mexico sailed
from San Bias, February 3, 1790, and arrived early in April at Nootka. It
consisted of the ship Conception, under command of Lieutenant Francisco
Elisa, the San Carlos, of Fidalgo, and the Princess Royal, of Manual Juniper.
Fidalgo was sent north of San Juan Island, where he surveyed the strait and
main channel between Vancouver Island and the continent, to which he gave
the name of Canal de Haro, which it still retains, and which is famous as the
boundary line between Great Britain and the United States, as determined by
William I, Emperor of Germany, in the year 1872. The San Carlos, com
manded by Fidalgo, and the schooner Santa Saturnina, by Jose Narvaez,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 57
examined the strait and the Gulf of Georgia and gave to the islands, bays and
straits in their vicinity the Spanish names which they still retain. In August,
1 79 1, the expedition of Alejandro Malaspina reached Nootka Sound and made
some examination of the inland seas in that latitude, discovering Fraser river,
which he called Rio Blanco. During the same year it is said that twenty-eight
vessels under the flags of the United States, England, France, Spain and
Portugal visited Nootka Sound, five of which were national expeditions, the
remainder traders. In May, 1792, the Sutil, commanded by Galiano, and the
Mexicano, by Valdes, arrived in Nootka Sound, whence they proceeded, June
4, to Neah Bay and eastwarclly, surveying the Straits of Juan de Fuca. On
the 2 1 st they met Vancouver, exchanged notes, charts and information, and
agreed to co-operate thereafter in that work, but subsequently they disagreed,
and Galiano sailed north into the Gulf of Georgia, of which he made a thor
ough survey, and passed out into the Pacific on the north side of Vancouver
Island, claiming that he had first established the fact that Vancouver is an
island. This was one of the last of the Spanish exploring expeditions, and as
it sailed from Nootka southwardly to San Bias it passed the mouth of the
Columbia river, and verified the description given of it by Heceta.
When Captain Vancouver of the British navy was sent out as a commis
sioner from his government to complete the arrangements made under the
Nootka treaty, he was also instructed to continue his explorations on the north
west coast. He was ordered, among other things, "to survey the Pacific coast
of the American continent from the thirty-fifth to the sixtieth parallel north;
to report the population, situation and extent of settlements by civilized
nations, within those limits, and especially to seek any water passage between
the British colonies on the Atlantic side and British subjects on the northwest
coast ; to examine the supposed Straits of Juan de Fuca, said to be situated be
tween the forty-eighth and forty-ninth degrees of north latitude, and to lead
to an opening through which the sloop Washington is reported to have passed
in 1789, and to have come out northward of Nootka. Vancouver reached the
Straits of Juan de Fuca on the 30th of April, 1792, and followed the south
shore until he reached a point which he named New Dungeness, after a place
in the English Channel. On May 1 he entered a bay which he called Port
Discovery. The island which lay across its mouth he named Protection
Island. Beginning at Port Discovery, he was the first white man to make a
thorough and systematic examination of the numerous passages, bays, inlets,
coves and harbors included in what is now known as the Puget Sound Country.
The placid nature of the waters of this region was such that he found it
entirely practicable, to make his explorations in the yawls, cutters and small
boats belonging to the two ships. Enclosed, except as to the westward, where
lay the entrance to the Straits, by mountains, hills and highlands, these waters

58 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
were rarely disturbed by the storms that at times were severe on the ocean
outside of Cape Flattery. From the stations, therefore, which he established
in Port Discovery, at Restoration Point, near the present site of Port Blakeley,
and at certain other places where his ships were anchored, he sent out small
parties in different directions under the command of Lieutenants Peter Puget,
Joseph Baker and Joseph Whidby of the Discovery, and Lieutenants W. R.
Broughton, James Hanson and James Johnstone of the Chatham, and of Mr.
Orchard and other noncommissioned officers, who examined the many intri
cate channels and bays included in these waters now generally known as Puget
Sound. When these explorations were about completed, which' were begun
on the 30th of April and continued until the middle of June, 1792, he says:
"A fortnight had now been dedicated to the examination of this inlet,
which I have distinguished by the name of Admiralty Inlet;, we have still to
return about forty miles through this tedious inland navigation, before we
could arrive on a new field of inquiry.
"On Sunday all hands were employed in fishing with tolerably good
success, often taking a little recreation on shore; and on Monday they were
served as good a dinner as we were able to provide them, with double allow
ance of grog to drink the King's health, it being the anniversary of his
Majesty's birthday, on which auspicious day I have long since designed to
take a formal possession of all the countries we had lately been employed in
exploring, in the name of and for his Britannic Majesty, his heirs and suc
cessors. To execute this purpose, accompanied by Mr. Broughton (com
mander of the Chatham) and some of the officers, I went on shore about one
o'clock, pursuing the usual formalities which are generally observed on such
occasions, and, under the discharge of a royal salute from the vessels, took
possession accordingly of the coast, from that part of New Albion in the
latitude of thirty-nine degrees and twenty minutes north, and longitude two
hundred and thirty-six degrees and twenty-six minutes east, to the entrance
of this inlet of the sea, said to be the supposed Straits of Juan de Fuca, as
likewise all the coasts, islands, etc., within the said Straits, as well on the
northern as on the southern shores, together with those situated in the interior
as we had discovered, extending from the said Straits, in various directions,
between the north, west, northeast and southern quarters, which interior sea
I have honored with the name of Gulph of Georgia, and the continent binding
the said gulph and extending southward to the forty-fifth degree of north
latitude, with that of New Georgia, in honor of his present Majesty. This
branch obtained the name of Possession Sound; its western arm, after Vice-
Admiral Sir Alan Gardner, and distinguished by the name of Port Gardner,
and its smaller or eastern one by that of Port Susan."
These formalities could give no valid title to the localities he had thus

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 59
explored, because under the law of nations, as then recognized, they belonged
to Spain by the right of prior discovery; nevertheless England's diplomacy
succeeded in retaining possession of the west coast of North America, from
the 49th to the 54-40th parallel of north latitude, the latter being the southern
boundary of the Russian possessions, until Alaska was purchased, in 1867,
by the United States.
The channel south of Point Wilson he called Admiralty Inlet, arid its
two great arms extending south he named Hood's Canal and Puget Sound.
He traced their various channels, coves, inlets and harbors, and gave them the
names which, with few exceptions, they still retain. These names, with those
of Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood and other mountain peaks, as well as
the numerous water channels, were chiefly given in honor of prominent men in
the naval service of Great Britain, and they serve to commemorate the names
and memories of many men who would otherwise long since have been for
gotten. Many of the names so given were of men connected with Vancouver's
expedition, and under his command. His surveys were unusually accurate
and the charts he made of these waters have required but little in the way of
amendment or correction down to the present time. Of the country which he
thus discovered and explored, including its islands, seas, inlets, bays and
harbors, making up what has been aptly termed the Mediterranean of the
Pacific, he speaks in terms of the highest praise. In his journal of these
explorations he says, among many other expressions of a similar character:
"To describe the beauties of this region will, on some future occasion, be a
very grateful task to the pen of a skilful panegyrist. The serenity of the
climate, the innumerable pleasing landscapes, and the abundant fertility that
unassisted nature puts forth, require only to be enriched by the industry of
men, with villages, mansions, cottages and other buildings, to render it the
most lovely country that can be imagined, whilst the labor of the inhabitants
would be amply rewarded in the bounties which nature seems ready to bestow
on cultivation." It was somewhat remarkable, however, that not only Vancouver, but
other distinguished and able English navigators who examined this part of the
northwest coast, between forty-two and fifty-five degrees of north latitude,
should have entirely missed the discovery of the Columbia, one of the great
rivers of the world. The Spanish Heceta, heretofore referred to, discovered
the outlet of this river, but Meares denied the existence of such a river, and
Captain Cook missed it altogether. It was reserved for Captain Robert
Gray in the good ship Columbia, which sailed from Boston on the 28th of
September, 1790, and arrived at Clayaquot on the '5th of June, 1791, to solve
the mystery which had so long puzzled the sailors on the northwest coast, and
to him belongs the exclusive honor of having first demonstrated its existence,

mm ' f
Si

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 61
and of making the last great discovery on the west coast of North America.
He narrowly missed this discovery in August, 1778, when, in the American
sloop Lady Washington, he made the northwest coast in forty-six degrees
north. Pie perceived the apparent opening in the shore line at that time, but
when he undertook to enter his sloop ran aground, he was surrounded by
savage Indians, who made an effort to capture his vessel, one of his crew was
killed, and one of his mates severely wounded, and when he had succeeded in
beating off the attacking party he withdrew, and gave up the attempt at that
time. Captain Gray, in the Columbia, spent the winter at Clayaquot, trading
with the Indians and repairing his ship. In the spring of 1 792 he sailed south,
and on the 29th of April met Vancouver near Cape Flattery, and informed
him that he had been off the mouth of a river in latitude forty-six degrees and
ten minutes north, where the outset or reflex was so strong as to prevent his
entering it for nine days. But little attention was given to this statement of
Captain Gray. Vancouver continued his voyage to 'the Straits of Fuca, and
on April 30 came to anchor at New Dungeness. In his journal he congratu
lates himself that he "has proceeded further up in this inlet than Mr. Gray, or,
to our knowledge, any other person from the civilized world." Referring to
the statement made by Captain Gray in regard to the mouth of the Columbia,
he says, among other things, "It must be considered as a very singular circum
stance that, in so great an extent of sea coast, we shall not until now (the
Straits of Fuca) have seen the appearance of any opening in its shores which
presented any prospect of affording shelter, the whole coast forming one com
pact, solid and nearly straight barrier against the sea. The river Mr. Gray
mentioned should, from the latitude he assigned to it, have existence in the
bay south of Cape Disappointment. This we passed on the forenoon of the
27th, and I then observed, if any inlet or river should be found, it must be a
very intricate one, and inaccessible to vessels of our burthen, owing to the
reefs and broken water which then appeared in its neighborhood. Mr. Gray
stated that he had been several clays attempting to enter it, which at length
he was unable to effect, in consequence of a very strong outset. This is a
phenomenon difficult to account for, as, in most cases where there are outsets
of such strength on a sea coast, there are corresponding tides setting in. Be
that however as it may, I was thoroughly convinced, as were also most persons
of observation on board, that we could not possibly have passed any safe,
navigable opening, harbor or place of security for shipping on this coast, from
Cape Mendocino to the Promontory of Classet (Flattery), nor had we any rea
sons to alter our opinions, notwithstanding that theoretical geographers have
thought proper to assert, in that space, the existence of arms of the ocean com
municating with a mediterranean sea, and extensive rivers with safe and con
venient ports." Could Vancouver have lived for one hundred years, or could he

62 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
return for a brief period to the scenes of his maritime adventures of those days,
and see the large ships with their immense cargoes going up the river one hun
dred miles to Portland, Oregon, and returning to the Pacific, he might wish that
he had never penned this paragraph. But he goes on to say, in his egotistical
manner, that "these ideas, not derived from any source of substantial infor
mation, have, it is much to be feared, been adopted for the sole purpose of
giving unlimited credit to the traditionary exploits of ancient foreigners, and
to undervalue the laborious and enterprising exertions of our own countrymen
in the noble science of discovery." In this manner he argued himself into the
belief that no such river existed as that reported by Captain Gray, and then he
pushed on into the Straits of Fuca to make an examination of its inland
waters. As he did so Captain Gray sailed to the southward to renew his
investigations at the mouth of the Columbia. On the 7th of May, he says,
"Being within six miles of land, saw an entrance in the same, which had a
very good appearance of harbor; lowered away the jollyboat and went in
search of an anchoring place, the ship standing to and fro, with, a strong
weather current. At one o'clock p. m. the boat returned, having found
no place where the ship could anchor with safety ; made sail on the ship ; stood
in for short. We soon saw from our masthead a passage between the sand bars.
At half-past three, bore away and run in northeast by east, having four to
eight fathoms, sandy bottom, and, as we drew nearer between the bars, had
ten to thirteen fathoms, having a very strong tide of ebb to stem. Many
canoes came alongside. At five p. m. came to five fathoms of water, sandy
bottom, in a safe harbor, well sheltered from the sea by a long sand bar and
spit. Our latitude observed this day was forty-six degrees north." This bay
was named, by Captain Gray, Bulfinch Harbor, after one of the owners of the
ship Columbia, but it is now known as Gray's Harbor, after Captain Gray,
who discovered it. Continuing his account, Captain Gray says : "On the
1 ith, at 4 p. m., saw the entrance of our desired port, bearing east-southeast,
distance six leagues, in steering sails, and hauled our wind inshore. At 8
a. m., being a little to windward of entrance of the harbor, bore away, and
ran east-northeast between the breakers, having from five to seven fathoms of
water. When we came over the bar, we found this to be a very large river of
fresh water, up which we steered." He sailed up the river as far as Tongue
Point, and called it the Columbia, after the name of his ship. Thus Captain
Gray achieved immortality by the discovery of this magnificent river, which
rivals the Father of Waters in the vast extent of territory which it drains,
and which is sufficient in and of itself to constitute an empire in the richness
and variety of its resources and advantages. The patience which could wait
for nine days for an opportunity to effect an entrance was in the end amply
rewarded by an achievement of which the greatest navigators and explorers

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 63
by sea or land might well be proud. From the mouth of the Columbia river
Captain Gray returned to Nootka Sound, where he furnished Bodega de
Quadra with a description of his explorations and discoveries, Quadra
reported the same to Vancouver. Having finished the negotiations connected
with the Nootka treaty in so far as Quadra was concerned, Vancouver, on the
1 2th of October, sailed south along the coast in the Discovery, having as
consorts the Chatham and the Dcedalus, as he says, to re-examine the coast of
New Albion, and particularly a river and a harbor discovered by Mr. Gray in
the Columbia, between the forty-sixth and forty-seventh degrees of north
latitude, of which Senor Quadra favored me with a sketch. The Dcedalus was
ordered to enter and explore Gray's Harbor, while the other vessels proceeded
to the mouth of the Columbia river. The entrance to Shoalwater Bay seems
to have been overlooked by these navigators. Captain Vancouver says : "At
four o'clock on the afternoon of the 19th, when, having nearly reached Cape
Disappointment, which forms the north point of entrance into Columbia river,
so named by Mr. Gray, I directed the Chatham to lead into it, and, on her
arrival at the bar, should no more than four fathoms of water be found, the
signal of danger was to be made, but, if the channel appeared to be navigable,
to proceed. The Discovery followed the Chatham until she found herself in
shoal water, surrounded by breakers, when she hauled off to the eastward and
anchored outside the bar in ten fathoms of water. The Chatham passed over
the bar and rounded Cape Disappointment, when Lieutenant Broughton, her
commander, was surprised to hear the firing of a gun from a schooner at
anchor in the bay on the north side of the Columbia river. This schooner was
found to be the Jenny, from Bristol, Rhode Island, commanded by Captain
James Baker, whose name was given to the bay as a result of this incident.
Still disposed to discredit Captain Gray's discovery and unwilling to believe
that a river of any considerable size had been found here, Captain Vancouver
goes on to say : "My former opinion of this port being inaccessible to vessels
of our burthen was now fully confirmed, with this exception, that, in very
fine weather, with moderate winds and smooth sea, vessels not exceeding four
hundred tons might, so far as we are able to judge, gain an admittance."
Time at last, however, rectified the mistakes of shortsighted men, and Captain
Gray was subsequently awarded full credit for his achievement. Lieutenant
Broughton, in the Chatham, sailed up as far as Gray's Bay, where he left his
ship and with a cutter and launch, proceeded up the river, as he estimated,
about one hundred miles, to a landing which fie named Point Vancouver.
This is the location afterwards selected by the Hudson's Bay Company as the
site of its headquarters, and upon which the present beautiful city of Vancouver
is built. Broughton spent twelve days in making his survey of the river to
Vancouver, going and returning, during which time he says he took possession

64 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
of the river and the country in its vicinity, in his Britannic Majesty's name,
having every reason to believe that the subjects of no other civilized nation or
state had ever entered this river before. Then he recrossed the bar, following
the schooner Jenny, and sailed south to join the Discovery. The only apology
that can be offered for ignoring Captain Gray in this matter was the possible
belief, on the part of Broughton, that Gray had only discovered the bay at its
mouth and not the river itself. The truth was, however, that another factor
had entered into the controversy which had been going on so long between the
great powers of Europe for the possession of territory on the American conti
nent, and that England, Spain, France, Russia and Holland were not the only
nations whose claims had to be taken into consideration. The representatives
of these nations were yet unwilling to believe that on the 4th day of July,
1776, there was born a new Power, which would not only have much to say
about this disputed territory, but would eventually have to be taken into
account, in matters of trade and commerce, and in ideas pertaining to govern
ment, throughout the whole world.
CHAPTER IX.
THE FUR TRADE  ITS IMPORTANCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEST.
With the exception of a few men like Las Casas in the West Indies,
or at a later date, Father Junipero and others in California, who were
sincere and earnest in their desire to convert the aborigines of America to
the Christian religion, and who were indefatigable in their efforts to bring
about that grand result, the great majority of the Spaniards who came to
the new world were intent only upon the acquisition of gold, and in its
pursuit they were tireless in their explorations and remorseless in the means
employed to secure the great object of their ambition. The success which
attended their adventures in Mexico and Peru led them to overrun a large
part of the American continent, in the hope that other provinces equally rich
and as easily conquered might be made to yield similar stores of wealth to
these ruthless invaders. They failed to find any such rich localities, how
ever, north of the northern borders of Mexico, but there was incidentally
discovered in those regions a mine of wealth more profitable and more
lasting than the gold mines of Peru, and its discoverers were not slow to
take advantage of this newly-developed method of securing opulence with
out pursuing the ordinary occupations of labor.
This was the fur trade, and, from small beginnings in the closing years of
the sixteenth century, it grew, under the patronage of royal bounty and pro
tection, into enormous proportions, and in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries the furs of North America became one of the great articles of a
world-wide commerce. The fishing banks of Newfoundland were discov-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 65
ered about 1500, and soon became the resort of European fishermen in large
numbers. It is said that in 1578 there were one hundred Spanish, fifty
English, one hundred and fifty French, fifty Portuguese and twenty-five
Biscayan whalers engaged in fishing in those waters. The St. Lawrence
river had been discovered and named by Jacques Cartier in 1535. The fish
ermen from the codfish banks soon found their way up the St. Lawrence,
and began to combine the trade in furs with their fishing enterprises. For
more than one thousand years fur garments had been fashionable, exten
sively used and in great demand among the wealthy people of Europe, and
for a much longer period in China and the East Indies. When it was learned
that a great variety of valuable furs could be had in North America; includ
ing beaver, mink, fox, with many others, and on the coast of Alaska the
most precious of all furs, that of the sea-otter, the search for, and the trade
in these important articles of commerce, became a great industry, which has
continued, with only such fluctuations as are incident to any and all lines
of business, down to the present time. In 1605 George Weymouth began
a trade in furs on the Kennebec river in Maine, and Captain John Smith,
so prominently identified with the Jamestown colony in Virginia, shortly
after assists in its development, making, it is said, fifteen hundred pounds
profit in three months of the year 1614 out of his ventures in the same locality.
As the value of this trade became more fully known, exploring expeditions
were sent in all directions, more particularly north, west and south for the
purpose, not of settlement or of home-building, but to foster and develop
the fur trade with the Indians. It may be said without exaggeration that
nearly all of North America was explored, its mountains, lakes, rivers and
inland seas examined, and their areas determined, by men who were more
interested in the fur trade than in anything else. Every hardship and priva
tion that could be imagined or described was endured by the persevering and
heroic men who undertook these explorations. No mountains, plains or
rivers were too difficult to cross, no deserts too barren and forbidding, no
Arctic regions too cold to be penetrated by these brave and hardy pathfinders,
whose principal object was to find furs for the European or the Chinese
markets, to establish trading posts among the various Indian tribes with
which they came in contact, and to cultivate amicable and friendly relations
with these children of the forest, whom they hoped to make their useful
and profitable servants in the work of collecting and transporting the skins
and peltries, which were as much the objects of their ambition as gold was
the great incentive to the Spaniards, who so quickly overran all of South,
and the southern part of North America.
These fur hunters and traders often braved the hostility of these savage
Indians, and many lives were sacrificed, before friendly relations could be

66 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
established between them, and before these Indians could be made to under
stand that they came as friends and not as enemies, that they did not desire
their land, but wished to protect them in their homes and hunting grounds
and only desired to build up a trade with them, which would be agreeable
and profitable to both parties. When the Indians understood the animus or
the purpose of these traders, they usually received their advances in the
most friendly manner, made them welcome guests to their villages and wig
wams and entered into their plans not only with approbation but with enthu
siasm and delight. The establishment of a fort was looked upon as a piece
of great good fortune for them, as it made a convenient place for trade, and
it brought to their vicinity the goods and articles of various kinds which
they usually exchanged for the furs they wished to dispose of, and in this
way they obtained the guns, ammunition and clothing they needed, and
too often the supplies of firewater for which they had an inordinate craving.
It can be readily understood that the interest of the fur trader led him to
cultivate the most friendly and intimate relations with the Indian, who in
return looked upon the trader as his protector and the trading post as a con
venience for the supply of all his most pressing necessities. The interest of
the trader also led him to preserve the peace between the various tribes with
which he came in contact, and when this could not be done he was prepared
to act as a mediator at the proper time and bring about a cessation of hos
tilities, when warring tribes were ready, through exhaustion or otherwise,
to listen to terms of peace or to an arrangement for the peaceful settlement
of their difficulties. In this manner the fur trader became a most powerful
factor among the Indians, both in peace and war, and his influence was almost
unbounded wherever his operations extended.
The policy of the fur trader was the direct antithesis of the American
settler, who came as a homeseeker and homebuilder, who took away from
the Indian the land he and his forefathers had occupied for centuries, and
crowded him back by degrees from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the
Pacific, and eventually deprived him alike of his land, his burial places
and every means he had for subsistence. This cruel policy was too often
supplemented by acts of barbarity, on the part of unscrupulous white men,
which were in many instances needless, and perpetrated alike upon the inno
cent and the guilty. It was not strange that the Indians should retaliate in
their blind fury with horrible massacres of men, women and children, of the
innocent and the guilty, or that almost every step of the onward march of
the American settler from east to west should be stained with blood, or
the air darkened with the smoke of ruined homes and burning dwellings.
It is not strange that the Indian should have learned to look upon the Amer
ican as his bitter and unrelenting enemy, with whom friendship was only

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 67
temporary, and permanent peace was impossible. It is the universal testi
mony of all those familiar with the facts from the time when Columbus
first landed on the shores of the new world, down to the time, three hundred
years later, when Vancouver explored the recesses of Puget Sound, that,
upon their first appearance, white men were greeted with cordiality and
friendship by the native tribes of both North and South America. They
looked upon the white men, when they first came among them, as a superior
race of beings, who were wise, and good, and powerful beyond any human
beings they had ever known before, and they wished and expected to be
benefited by association with their new acquaintances. In consequence, how
ever, of the misconduct of unprincipled and selfish white men, the cruelties
often practiced by them, their utter disregard of the principles of right or
truth or justice in their business relations with the aborigines, the ad
miration first felt by the Indians soon changed to a feeling of undying
hatred and animosity. This feeling was only the natural result of the treat
ment he too often received, and it was intensified by the constant and greedy
absorption of his land by the white man, the destruction of the forests, the
fishing, game and hunting grounds upon which he ordinarily subsisted, and
by the gradual fading away and extinction of the Indian tribes, as though
contact between the two races brought with it death and destruction to the
Indian race altogether.
The contrast, therefore, between the policy pursued by the fur traders
and the American settlers soon became a vivid one in the mind of the Indians,
and it was by no means favorable to the settlers. The fur trader he looked
upon as his friend, ally and protector, the settler as his mortal and irreconcil
able enemy. The fur trader not only favored the occupation of the lands
and hunting grounds of his ancestors by the Indian, but, as a matter of
business, he favored the protection of the wild animals of the forest, ex
pecting to reap a harvest in the future, from the skins of these animals, and
the trade in these skins and peltries was his preferred as well as profitable
occupation. The Indian has a feeling of profound respect for two well
defined principles, which he never fails to recognize when presented to his
mind. These are power and justice, and these he appreciates in his dealings
with his own people, or with the white race, or mankind generally. It
has ever been the policy of the fur trader, as a matter of self-interest, to
keep these principles in view in all of his transactions with the Indians.
In order to make as strong an impression as possible upon the Indian mind,
the fur trader, whether as governor of a district, over which he has been
appointed to preside, or as chief factor, or chief trader or whatever his
position might be, in- the company he served, invested his position and
authority, as the representative of his Britannic Majesty, the King of Eng-

68 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
land or of his Catholic Majesty, the King of France, with all the formality,
the dignity, and the gravity that circumstances would permit. The result
was that the Indian looked upon these traders as superior beings, whose
power and influence it was impossible to resist, and whose favor he must
secure, in order that his best interests might be conserved and promoted.
At the same time it was the usual, as it was the true policy of the trader,
to see that, as far as possible, the Indian should be treated with justice, as
in no other way could the power, the influence and the interests of the fur
companies be so thoroughly, effectually and permanently maintained. As
a result of this policy, there were never any Indian wars in Canada, or in any
of that vast region of North America controlled by the British government
between the Atlantic and the Pacific, whilst these wars were perpetual in the
United States, until the Indian tribes within its borders were either exter
minated or completely subdued.
In the prosecution of the fur trade in North America, the French people
were the earliest, the most energetic and the most successful of explorers
in the beginning, as they have been the most adroit and skillful traders of
later times. Prior to 1763 by far the greater part of North America was
claimed, and to a certain extent occupied, by the French nation. When the
English, Dutch, Swede and other settlers of the seventeenth century, were
confined to a narrow strip along the Atlantic coast, the French were making
their way up the St. Lawrence river, around the Great Lakes, and down
the Mississippi to Louisiana, and taking possession of all that vast and fair
region for the King of France. As explorers they displayed remarkable
energy, and in their treatment of the Indians they were much more successful
than the English or other settlers within the present limits of the United
States. There is something in the versatility of the French character which
would appear to render it much easier for the Frenchman to associate with
the Indian, obtain his confidence and assimilate with his race, than for the
citizen of any other European country. He enjoys the wild, free and roving
life of the fur trader or explorer, intermarries with his Indian associates,
endures the hardships and dangers of this life for years, and, like the miner
or prospector, after a few months of dissipation or recreation in a civilized
community, he is willing and anxious to return to his solitude of the moun
tains, the forests, the rivers and the lakes, where the Indian is his sole compan
ion, and the beaver, the bear and the fox are the favorite objects of his pursuit.
As a voyageur in his birch-bark canoe or a courier de bois, traversing the for
ests, he is as indefatigable, as he is well adapted to, and qualified for, the lonely
and dangerous occupation. Nor should the fact be overlooked or forgotten
that in his early explorations, the Frenchman was materially assisted in his
work by the pious and self-sacrificing missionaries ' who accompanied, or

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 69
preceded, the bands of explorers who first penetrated the wilds of North
America, and, as in many other parts of the world, and at various times since
the beginning of the Christian era, they first blazed the way for the advance
guards of a higher civilization and for more progressive ideas in the world
of humanity. From the days of Pere Marquette, who with M. Joliet, in 1673, first
found a way from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi river, down to our
own times, when Father De Smet devoted his energies to' the conversion
of the Indians west and north of the sources of that river, there have been
numerous French missionaries, who were full of religious zeal, and whose
primary and laudable purpose was to make Christians of these Indians, but
whose services as explorers and pathfinders were also of inestimable value to
those who have followed them, whether as fur traders or actual settlers, or
homebuilders, across the continent. Whether under the French, Spanish,
English or American rule, they pursued their honorable and praiseworthy
undertaking, with constant and unremitting energy, endured hardships and
danger of every description without a murmur, and spent their lives in the
service of their Divine Master, without regard to present success or future
results. These were left to be determined by the Master, whose servants
they were, and who alone could foresee the final effect of their indefatigable
labors. As early as 1541-42 Fernando de Soto had discovered the Missis
sippi river, about the thirty-third parallel of north latitude, but it was not
until 1673 that Pere Marquette and M. Joliet explored that rich, extensive
and productive valley. These men, in two small canoes, floated down the
Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers to the vicinity of the ground traversed by
De Soto, but, their provisions being exhausted, they proceeded no further,
and returned to their northern posts. In 1682, Robert de La Salle, a fur
trader, having a post at La Chine, near Montreal, who hoped to find a route
by water westward to China, made his way to the Mississippi and thence to
the mouth of that river, taking possession of the country drained by it for
the King of France and calling it Louisiana. This was made a province
of New France, as the French possessions were called, which at that time
included all of North America, north of the original thirteen colonies and
west of the Alleghany mountains.
By far the largest part of North America was at this period claimed by
France. By the treaty of Ryswick, signed in September, 1697, it was agreed
or admitted that all the Hudson's Bay, Canadian territory and Mississippi
valley belonged to France. Fresh wars breaking out between them, however,
made a new treaty necessary, which was signed at Utrecht, on the 30th of
March, 173 1, by which much of this territory was ceded by France to England,
including Newfoundland, Acadia or Nova Scotia, and the Hudson's Bay

70 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
region. The treaty of Paris, in 1763, finally confirmed these territories to
Great Britain. In the meantime, however, the voyage of La Salle down to
the mouth of the Mississippi led to the establishment of a line of trading
posts, extending from Quebec to New Orleans, having for its chief purpose
the building up of the fur trade, and incidentally the holding of this entire
region as French territory. However interesting it might be to notice the
various conflicts which arose between France, Spain and England, for the
possession of these vast regions, it is impossible to do so at this time, further
than to chronicle the fact that by the treaty of Paris, made February 10, 1763,
France surrendered to Spain all that part of Louisiana lying west of the
Mississippi river, and ceded to England all that part of Louisiana lying east
of that river. Twenty years later, or to be more precise, by the treaty of
Paris made September 3, 1783, Florida was returned to Spain by Great
Britain, and all English territory south of the Great Lakes and east of the
Mississippi river was ceded to the United States, whose independence was
recognized by the same treaty. The territory known as Louisiana, which
included the region west of the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean, except
New Mexico and California, remained a Spanish possession until 1801,
when Napoleon caused it to be secretly conveyed to France, intending to
make it a French province. But, objections being made by the United
States and serious troubles arising at home, he consented to a sale of this
vast region to the United States upon terms which were agreed upon, April
30, 1803, for $15,000,000.
Thus it came about that, in the providence of the Almighty, a province,
which, as a colony, had failed financially and otherwise, in the hands of both
France and Spain and had been a bill of expense to both of these govern
ments all the time it remained under their control, became a vast, rich, pn>
ductive and populous region under the control of the United States. The city
of St. Louis, once a trading post for Spanish and French fur traders, became
under the new regime a large and beautiful city, which, in 1903, expends
for the purposes of an industrial and artistic exhibition, a sum equal to that
which was paid one hundred years ago for the entire territory between the
Mississippi river and the Pacific ocean, less New Mexico and California.
The powerful fur companies which then controlled this immense region, and
which proposed to keep it as a breeding ground for fur-producing animals
and for the use of its aboriginal inhabitants, have all disappeared and in
their places are numerous states and territories, having within their limits
numberless cities, towns, villages, agricultural, industrial, mining, commer
cial and other prosperous communities, making up a large proportion of the
population of the United States. The Spanish territory west of the Mis
sissippi river was as essential to the growth of American ideas of liberty,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 71
progress and independence, as it was for homes for the millions of people
now living within its limits, or the many millions to occupy it in the years
to come. The purchase of Louisiana in 1803, by Thomas Jefferson, was
an act of the highest statesmanship, whose deep meaning has not yet been
realized, and whose far-reaching effects have been felt, not only in our own
country, but throughout the world.
The acquisition of this vast territory, of whose hidden riches and great
possibilities no one in those days had the slightest conception, was followed
by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804-5, tne Astor attempt at settle
ment near the mouth of the Columbia river in 18 10, the opening of the
Oregon trail by hunters and trappers in 1828, the expedition of Nathaniel
J. Wyeth with the first missionaries to Oregon in 1832, the great overland
emigration to Oregon in 1842, the Mexican war in 1846, which resulted in
the acquisition of California, the discovery of gold in 1848, without which
the Civil war of 1861-65 could not have been successfully carried out, the
organization of civil government in Oregon in 1847, which did so much
to secure the title of the United States to the immense area then known
as the Oregon Territory, the enormous growth of the interests of the United
States in the Pacific ocean, and the acquisition of the Sandwich Islands and
the Philippines, — all are directly or indirectly connected with, and are suc
cessive historical events growing out of the Louisiana Purchase.
To these may be added the development of the fact that Puget Sound
is the natural, logical and inevitable mart for the commerce of the East
Indies, which has been the "desire of all nations" for two thousand years,
and that Henry Villard, James J. Hill and their associates are the legitimate
successors of Captain James Cook, John Jacob Astor and other masters of
transportation, whose schemes contemplated nothing less than a system which
should encompass the world with the cheapest and the most approved facili
ties for the shipment of goods, whether east or west, by land or water. These
modern captains of industry have also been enabled to profit immensely by
the experience of their predecessors, to avoid their mistakes, and to be bene
fited by increased climatic and geographic, knowledge, as well as by the
innumerable discoveries in the field of mechanical skill and invention, which
have made the transformations of Alladin's lamp seem tame in comparison.
All desirable conditions of sea and land, of climate, latitude, natural resources
and productions are combined on Puget Sound in such manner that no
element seems lacking to make it the seat of a vast commerce that should ac
commodate not only the east and west, but should dominate the Pacific
ocean and largely influence the trade and business of the entire world. These
conclusions have been reached by the greatest navigators of modern times,
after a thorough exploration of the globe, and particularly of those waters

72 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
where navigation is practicable at all seasons of the year. These facts were
all developed in the prosecution of the fur trade, and were the result of
various efforts made by fur traders to extend and control that trade during
the last one hundred years. The Lewis and Clark Expedition was sent out
ostensibly, by Thomas Jefferson, for the purpose of establishing a line of
trading posts in the interests of the citizens of the United States between the
Mississippi river and the Pacific ocean, although unquestionably he had other
and more important objects in view at that time. John Jacob Astor wished
to establish such a line also, but intended to continue his fur trading opera
tions, not only across the continent, but to China, and then, with cargoes of
tea, spices, silks and oriental goods return to New York by the way of the
Cape of Good Hope. This, however, was only one of the many lines of.
exploration thrown out by the fur traders, in the prosecution of their profitable
undertakings. After the establishment of a line of trading posts from Quebec
to New Orleans, by the French, of which St. Louis was the chief station,
they became involved in wars with the English which resulted in the acquisi
tion of Canada, the Hudson's Bay territory and practically all of North
America north of the thirty-third parallel of north latitude. Of the many
struggles which took place between these two nations for the control of this
vast territory and of the organization of various and rival companies, French
and English, which were organized for the purpose of carrying on the fur
trade, it is not necessary now to speak excepting in so far as they may relate
to, or effect either directly or indirectly the Puget Sound region. The story
of these struggles is of intense interest, but otherwise it does not come within
the scope and compass of this history.
CHAPTER X.
history of Hudson's bay company.
As early as 1626, Louis XIII, King of France, granted a charter to the
Compagnie de la Nouvelle France, for trading purposes in and around Hud
son's Bay. The possession of this territory was then in dispute between
England and France. The severity of the climate and the inhospitable nature
of that region, however, were discouraging to the promoters of that com
pany, and they made but slow progress in the work they had undertaken.
In the meantime the English were pushing their fur trading enterprises in
the same direction, and on May 2, 1670, Charles II, then King of England,
granted "the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into
the Hudson's Bay," a charter conferring upon the earls, lords, knights and
gentlemen composing it, and their successors, the exclusive right to the trade
of Hudson's Bay and its tributary territory. This charter recites among other
things as follows: "And to the end the said ' Governor and Company of Ad-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 73
venturers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay, may be encouraged to
undertake and effectually to prosecute the said design of our more especial
grace, certain knowledge and mere motion, we have given, granted and con
firmed, and by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, do give, grant
and confirm, unto the said governor and company and their successors, the
sole trade and commerce of all those seas, straits, bays, rivers, lakes, creeks
and sounds, in whatsoever latitude they shall be, that lie within the entrance
of the straits commonly called Hudson's Straits, together with all the lands
and territories upon the countries, coasts and confines of the seas, bays, rivers,
creeks and sounds aforesaid, that are not already actually possessed by the
subjects of any other Christian prince or state, with the fishing of all sorts
of fish, whales, sturgeons, and all other royal fishes, in the seas, bays, inlets
and rivers within the said premises, and the fish therein taken, together with
the royalty of the sea upon the coasts within the limits aforesaid, and all
mines royal, as well discovered as not discovered, of gold, silver, gems and
precious stones, to be found or discovered within the territories, limits and
places aforesaid, and that the land be, from henceforth, reckoned and re
puted as one of our plantations or colonies in America, called Rupert's
Land." These and similar provisions conferred upon this company auto
cratic powers in the region referred to, and excluded all persons whatsoever
from trading or settling in the same, without permission first had and
obtained from this company. This was the beginning of a company which
exercised despotic power and authority over the northern part of the con
tinent of North America for nearly two hundred years. It was constituted,
"The true and absolute lords and proprietors of the territories, limits and
places, saving always the faith, allegiance and sovereign dominion due to
us (the crown), our heirs and successors, for the same, to hold as tenants
in fee and common socage, and not by knight's service, reserving, as a yearly
rent, two elks and two black beavers whensoever and as often as we, our
heirs and -successors shall happen to enter into said countries, territories and
regions, hereby granted." No persons were allowed to visit, traffic or trade
in these regions, without a license from the company. The King contracted
and agreed that he would never grant a license to any other person or per
sons, to visit or trade therein. The company had full power to appoint gov
ernors and other necessary officers, who were authorized to try persons
employed by the company according to the laws of Great Britain. It was
authorized to send ships of war, men or ammunition to any port, post or
place for- the defense thereof, to raise military companies and appoint their
officers, to make war or conclude peace with any prince or people (not
Christian) in any of their territories, "Also to seize the goods, estate or
people of those countries for damage to the company's interest, or for the

74 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
interruption of trade: to erect and build forts, garrison towns and villages,
to establish colonies and maintain them, to seize all British subjects not con
nected with the company, etc." The power of the company was absolute
over all its officers, agents, factors, traders, and servants of every descrip
tion, and in case of negligence or disobedience of orders, to fix the measure
of punishment therefor. Having granted all these autocratic powers to the
company it enjoins upon all, "admirals, vice admirals, justices, mayors, sheriffs,
constables, bailiffs, and all and singular other our officers, ministers, liege
men and subjects whatsoever, to aid, favor, help and assist the said governor
and company to enjoy, as well on the land as on the seas, all the premises in
the said charter contained, whensoever required." It can be readily perceived
that with powers so extensive, and with a governor and council made up
of influential noblemen in England, and exercising such unlimited authority
in a distant and unknown part of the world, there was practically no check
upon its actions, or interference with its management. As its power was
practically unlimited, so its system was admirably adapted to the purposes
of its organization. Its officers, servants and employes were appointed,
drilled, trained and educated in military style, to promote the best interests'
of the company, which were all centered in the building up of the fur trade,
and its collateral lines of business. The men in its service were classified as
chief factors, chief traders, clerks and servants. Promotion was open to
all, but efficiency in the company's service was the test of merit. Nothing
was allowed to interfere with its interests or the extension of its trade, or the
development of the fur-producing capacity of the enormous territory which
it controlled and governed.
In the prosecution of their missionary labors the French priests first
explored the Great Lakes, the Mississippi river and a great part of North
America, north and west of these magnificent water systems. In 1640 Pere
Brebceuf discovered the falls of Niagara, and Pere Allouez, twenty years
later, obtained from the Indians around them much valuable information in
regard to western regions. In 1680 Pere Hennepin, under instructions from
La Salle, followed the Illinois river to its junction with the Mississippi, and
thence up the latter to the falls of St. Anthony. These, and others on the
same mission of grace to the Indians, were pathfinders, in many instances
for the fur traders, who, profiting by the information thus obtained, rapidly
followed in their wake, and established trading posts, so that the two move
ments co-operated in their several enterprises, and were often joined in the
same expedition. Fifty years before the French were obliged to relinquish
their vast possessions they had learned something of the Shining, or Stony, or
Rocky Mountains, as they were variously designated, although it was not
until 1 73 1 that a systematic and definite attempt was made to explore these

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 75
mountainous and unknown regions, and the country westward to the South
Sea. In that year a fur trader of unusual energy, sagacity and intelligence
named Pierre Gauthier de Varennes, Sieur de la Verendrye, who- had been
trading with the Indians around Lake Nepigon for several years, laid before
the governor general of New France his plans for exploring these western
regions. The Marquis de Beauharnais was at that time governor general,
and, being a man who had already distinguished himself, both in the old
world and the new, for his ambition and enterprise, he heartily favored
Verendrye's proposition, and assisted him in carrying it into execution.
When the necessary preparations were completed, Verendrye embarked for
Lake Superior, with a small fleet of canoes, accompanied by Pere Messager,
a missionary. He was instructed by the governor general to take possession
in the King's name of the countries he should discover, and examine them
carefully in order that the best route for connecting New France, including
Louisiana, which meant the whole Mississippi valley, with the sea coast
on the Pacific ocean. Having reached the head of Lake Superior, he pro
ceeded to Rainy Lake, where he built Fort Pierre; thence he made his way
to the Lake of the Woods, where he built Fort St. Charles, and, in 1734,
Fort Maurepas, on the Winnipeg river. Space will not permit any detailed
account of his many expeditions, northward and westward, as he made his
way to the Saskatchewan, and thence to the eastern slopes of the Rocky
Mountains. His travels were not without suffering, danger and consid
erable loss from hostile savages, through whose country he and his party
were the first white men to penetrate. In 1736 Verendrye's youngest son,
with a priest named Anneau and twenty men, was massacred by hostile
Sioux. Turning to the south, and still in pursuit of the South Sea or the
Pacific, he entered the Mandan country, where he built Fort La Reine on
the Assiniboine river. Thence he followed up the Missouri, reaching the
Yellowstone in 1742. Taking the Mouse river trail, he continued his west
erly course until January 1, 1743, when such difficulties were encountered
that he determined to return for further aid and assistance from the gov
ernment. These were refused him on various pretexts, though the °reat
value of his explorations was acknowledged. His encouraging reports stim
ulated a desire for a continuance of the work he had so successfully begun
and carried on, but disagreements .amongst the promoters of the enterprise,
the death of Verendrye in 1749, and the mercenary conduct of government
officials, delayed matters so that nothing more of importance was done in
that direction.A noted explorer of those days was Jonathan Carver, a captain in the
British provincial army, who traveled over a considerable part of the terri
tory traversed by Verendrye, and who reported the result of his investiga-

76 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
tions in a book published in 1790. Carver left Boston in June, 1766, for
Fort Michilimackinac, from which point he made excursions north and west
around the sources of the Mississippi river. In the course of his travels he
found certain Indians from the west with whom he tarried several months,
learning their language and obtaining from them much valuable information
in regard to the geography of the western country. He learned from them
that from the high table lands of the Rocky Mountains four great rivers
flowed in different directions. These, he says, were the Mississippi, - the
Bourbon, or Saskatchewan, the Oregon, or River of the West, and the St,
Lawrence, for which the Colorado should probably be substituted. This is
the first time the word Oregon, or Origan, makes it appearance. Carver
refers to it as " the river which falls into the Pacific ocean at the straits of
Anian." They also told him of the Shining Mountains, which extended
north from Mexico, dividing the waters flowing west into the Pacific ocean,
from those which flowed east into the Gulf of Mexico.
In the meantime, however, important events were taking place in
Europe and on the Atlantic slope which should change the map of North
America. The battle fought on the Plains of Abraham, in which Wolfe and
Montcalm gave up their lives, but won an immortality of fame, did much
to settle the destinies of the world. The troubles between England, France
and Spain came to an end, temporarily, by the treaty of 1763, by which all
of the French possessions in North America, except three small islands off
the coast of Newfoundland, became English territory. This change in pro
prietorship having been accomplished, the control of this vast region, larger
than the whole of Europe, passed by easy gradations into the hands of the
Hudson's Bay Company, which exercised all its great powers, first to over
come, or drive out of the fur business, or absorb all rival companies, and
secondly, to devote this immense territory to- the fur trade exclusively. All
other interests were made subservient to this, and its policy was to protect
and control the Indian, because he was a convenient and successful trapper,
and to allow no settlement or business of. any kind to be carried on that
would interfere with the fur-producing animals which thrived here, espe
cially north of the fortieth degree of north latitude. Having acquired con
trol of all of British North America to the Pacific ocean, it was an easy
matter to extend its operations over the Puget Sound Country, by virtue of
the "Joint, Occupancy" treaty of 1818, which provided that the territory in
dispute, including the Puget Sound region, should be. open and free to the
citizens of each country for ten years.
This gave to the Hudson's Bay Company an early opportunity to seize
upon this part of the northern coast, and they hastened to take advantage of
it, by establishing posts at convenient points for the conduct of their opera-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 77
tions and for eventually securing its full and perpetual ownership and con
trol to Great Britain. The " Joint Occupation " continued until the boundary
line between the two nationalities was permanently established, on the forty-
ninth parallel of north latitude, by the treaty of 1846. According to a
report made to Parliament 'in 1857, the company had at that time within the
limits of the present state of Oregon four posts, in Idaho five posts, and in
Washington six posts for the transaction of its trading operations. Of these,
Fort Vancouver on the Columbia river, where the town of Vancouver,
Washington, now stands, was the headquarters or central post for the entire
district. In the year 1869, the Hudson's Bay Company transferred to the
Dominion of Canada all its territorial rights, except a small tract around
each fort, for the sum of $1,500,000. Its claims against the United States
for property rights surrendered in this country were adjusted by a commis
sion appointed for that purpose, in 1870, at the sum of six hundred thousand
dollars.
CHAPTER XL
INDIAN TRIBES OF PUGET SOUND COUNTRY  CUSTOMS, RELIGION, ETC.
There is, apparently, something harsh and cruel in the law of evolution
which decrees " the survival of the fittest," and consequently the disappear
ance or the extinction of inferior products of the natural, and we may well
believe, of the spiritual world, yet there is a kindness in that Providence
which takes away those products when the struggle for existence becomes
too hard to bear, or the conditions under which it must be carried on are
too difficult for their weak natures. As the physical world with all its beauty
and productiveness was made for man's use and benefit, so the larger use that
is made of that world by man, the more fully are accomplished the purposes
of the divine Creator of all these things. We may be sensible of some fleet
ing pangs of regret, that the aborigines of our country should be so rapidly
melting away before the brighter light of modern civilization, and that
already many tribes, clans, communities and families have become extinct,
yet this is only in accordance with the laws of nature, or the purposes of
Providence, which bring about man's progressive development. It is not in
accordance with those laws or purposes, that a vast continent like that of
North America, so rich in its marvelous capacity to supply human needs,
should be perpetually given over to predatory bands of roving savages,
whose moral and intellectual development was not many degrees above that
of the wild animals who were their partners, in the possession of the forests
and streams they both frequented, in their efforts to obtain subsistence.
From all the data available, it is not believed that the entire Indian popula
tion of the territory now occupied by theUnited States and home territories,
when settlements were first made by white men on the Atlantic coast, ex-

78 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ceeded 300,000, or about one half of the number of white people at present
residing within the limits of the state of Washington. The white population
of the entire country is now presumably in excess of 80,000,000, all of whom
are pursuing peaceful vocations of industry, and bringing to their use the
bountiful resources of nature, in a manner never before dreamed of in the
history of the world. As to the usefulness of the two races in developing
these resources for the benefit of humanity, there is, of course, no room for
comparison. It is true we might wish that an inferior race like the Indian
might live to enjoy some of the benefits to be derived from contact with a
superior one, but here again we meet with the inexorable law of evolution,
which ordains " the survival of the fittest " and we bow to the inevitable, and
reason as well as experience tells us, it is best. When we remember the
hundreds, even thousands of years, required to bring the Anglo-Saxon race
to its present state of advancement, we may in some degree comprehend how
much the Indian has to learn in order that he may meet the requirements of
our present high state of civilization.
The Puget Sound Indians in no wise differed materially from the great
body of Indians found on the continent of North America, either in their
moral or intellectual development. Physically they were somewhat inferior to
their neighbors east of the Cascades and in the interior, because their environ
ment was not such as to develop manly vigor, energy and muscular strength.
The inland tribes rode horses constantly, lived much of the time in the open
air, were accustomed to constant physical exertion, and were obliged to live
strenuous lives in order to procure subsistence, and to ward off the fre
quently impending attacks of their warlike and hostile neighbors. To obtain
clothing to enable them to withstand the more rigorous climate in which
they lived, also called forth more continued exertion. The result was that in
the interior the natives developed a higher degree of physical perfection, and
often attained a -manly grace and beauty which commanded the admiration
of white men, and might have challenged the figure of the Apollo Belvidere
himself. Conditions were different in the Puget Sound Country. Here the
mild and equable climate and the ease with which subsistence was obtained,
were conducive to a more placid and peaceful disposition. As there were no
extremes of heat or cold the matter of clothing and fuel was of a less press
ing nature, and as no great amount of exertion was necessary, and their wants
were few, they never developed aggressive tendencies and but rarely engaged
in war with each other. The waters upon which they lived, whether salt or
fresh, were alive with fish, of many varieties, large and small, some of them
among the best in the world for food, and the forests abounded in game,
including elk, deer, bear, beaver, hares and many kinds of smaller game^
whilst the marshes, sloughs and other water channels, at certain seasons of the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 79
year, were plentifully supplied with ducks, geese, and water fowl of every
description. Clams were also abundant on the beach, and afforded a large
share of their subsistence, and these were usually procured by the female
members of the family. Spending much of his time in a canoe, in a squat
ting position, as he paddled from place to place, was a habit of life not cal
culated to develop a manly form or a handsome personal presence. For
these reasons his habits were sluggish, and he lacked the erect bearing and
the alert expression of the Indians of the mountains and the plains. Yet
his mental power and his intelligence were quite equal to most of those
inland tribes, which have furnished some of the most famous names of
Indian history.
With but few and unimportant exceptions, the Puget Sound Indians
belonged to the Salishan or Flathead family, and were divided into nu
merous tribes, -each having its own dialect or language. Whilst there is some
affinity in these dialects or languages, and they have many points of resem
blance, they are often mutually unintelligible. There is also a considerable
diversity of habits, manners and customs. The tribes in this region, which
do not belong to the Salishan group, are the Makahs at Neah Bay, and frag
ments of Chimakuan tribes at Port Townsend and on Shoalwater Bay. The
more important of the Salishan tribes were the Semmiahmoos near the Brit
ish boundary line; thence south and on the eastern shores of Puget Sound,
were the Nooksacks, Lummies, Skagits, Snoqualmies, Dwamish, Puyallups,
Nisquallies, and the Chehalis. On the west side of the Sound were the Sko-
komish or Twanas, Chinook and Clallam tribes, whilst among the lesser
bands were the Sumas, Suquamps, Swinomish, Stillacooms, Squaxons, Sam-
mamish and Satsops. According to recent census returns these Indians now
number less than half of those returned when Governor Stevens made his
treaties with them in 1856, whilst many smaller tribes, like the Shilsholes,
have entirely disappeared.
The origin of the Indian tribes of North America is still a mystery.
Whether Asia was the birthplace of the whole human race, or whether the
natives of the American continent were the result of a special creation, is a
question still discussed by ethnologists and scientific men. Recent investi
gations in the northeastern parts of Asia or Siberia would seem to strengthen
the theory of those who believe that the ancestors of the Aborigines of
America originally came from that quarter of the globe. In that region
there are tribes now living whose manners, habits and customs, language
and religion, strongly resemble those of the Indians of the northwest coast.
Recently published accounts and photographs of the Chukchees, who inhabit
a large part of Kamschatka and the Arctic shores of Siberia, for hundreds of
miles, indicate a marked resemblance to the Indians of Puget Sound. The

80 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
passage across Behrings straits is easily made, and in our own times there
have been instances where men in small vessels have been carried several
hundred miles, by strong westerly winds, before they could make a landing,
control their movements, or alter their course. There are traditions among
the Chinook and other tribes, of Japanese junks having been wrecked on
the shores of Oregon and Washington many years ago. There is no serious
difficulty in making the passage from Kamschatka to Alaska, and the great
similarity which has been observed between the Chukchees of Siberia, for
example, and the Puget Sound Indians would suggest a strong probability
that the natives of the northwest coast had their origin in the northeastern
part of Asia. If these Indians came from Asia, then there is a possibility
that all the Indians of North America originally came from the same quarter
of the world. The differences found to exist between the various tribes of
North .America are only such as might be caused by differences of climate,
soil, means of subsistence and natural conditions or surroundings. The
devotion of the Puget Sound Indians to their ancestors might have orig
inated in China, where regard and esteem for ancestry are carried to greater
lengths than anywhere else in the world.
Judge James G. Swan, who spent more than forty years of his life among
the Indians of Western Washington, much of the time in an official capacity,
and who studied their habits and customs very closely, says, "Of the coast
Indians that I have seen, there seems to be so little difference in their style
of living that a description of one family will answer for the whole." His
remarks, with very few exceptions, will apply to all the Indians of the
Puget Sound country. He continues, "The Indian is naturally reserved
before strangers and very suspicious. He is full of superstitious beliefs,
and distrustful, deeming every man his enemy till he has proved to the
contrary. At all times and places he is under the influence of hopes and
fears, and it is fear that makes him suspicious and his ignorance that makes
him superstitious. But let the Indian once get acquainted, and feel that he is
in the presence of a friend and one who feels an interest in his welfare, and
he then throws off his reserve, and then it is seen that he can talk and laugh
like the rest of the human family. His reserve is most completely thrown off
when at home in the midst of his lodge circle, or in seasons of leisure and
retirement, in the depths of the forest. Then the stranger who may have
gained his confidence, - not only has the opportunity to learn his methods of
domestic economy, but can hear the relation of those tales and legends which
have been handed down from generation to generation, and which the casual
visitor is never permitted to listen to. The Indians north of the Columbia
are, for the most part, good-looking, robust men, some of them having fine
symmetrical forms. They have been represented as diminutive, with crooked

WAITIHG FOR THE TRAIH.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 81
legs and uncouth features. This is not correct; but, as a general rule, the
direct reverse is the truth. Their complexion is that of the usual copper color
of the North American Indians, but their color is much lighter than the
Indians of California, or those of Missouri, Alabama, or Florida. The hair
of both sexes is long and very black, that of the men hanging loose over the
shoulders, while the women, as a usual thing, tie theirs up behind in a sort of
queue, and the young girls braid theirs into two tails, with the ends tied with
ribbons or twine. Both sexes part the hair on the top of the head, and take
great pains to keep it well combed, although their combs have usually very
coarse teeth, not well adapted to remove either dirt or insects. They are
very fond of dress, and are apt and excellent imitators. The women are
expert with the needle, and fashion and make their dresses with great rapidity,
imitating as near as they can the dresses of white women they may have
seen. Before the introduction of blankets and calicoes among them they used
the dressed skins of the deer, bear and sea otter. The women wore a sort of
skirt or tunic, made from the inner bark of the young cedar, prepared by
beating until it was soft, and then spun into a yarn like thread, which was
woven thickly on a string, that passed around the body, the ends hanging
down like a thick fringe to the knees. This garment is still used by old
women, and by all the females when they are at work in the water, and is
called by them their siwash coat or Indian gown. The young men dress in
clothes procured from the whites, and some of them, when dressed up, look
well enough to appear in almost any company. The ornaments worn by
these Indians are not very various, the men being contented with a black
ostrich plume, tied like a band around their hats, though some will occasionally
stick an eagle's feather in their hair, or add a few of the tail feathers of the
blue jay to their cap ornament. The women are fond of dark blue cut-glass
beads, which are highly prized. Light blue ones are only worn by the slaves,
but the most valued ornament is a species of small shell, of a cylindrical shape,
and is found by the northern Indians somewhere north of Vancouver Island.
It passes as money among them and is called Siwash dollars."
The position of women among these Indians is better than it is with the
Indians of the interior. This was noticed by Lewis and Clark, who- remarked
the difference as they journeyed across the continent, saying, "The treat
ment of women is often considered as the standard by which the moral
qualities of savages are to be estimated. Our own observation, however,
induces us to think that the position of the female in savage life has no
necessary relation to the virtues of the men, but is regulated wholly by their
capacity to be useful. Where the women can aid in procuring sustenance
for the tribe, they are treated with more equality and their importance is
proportioned to the share which they take in that labor, while in countries

82 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
where the sustenance is chiefly procured by the exertions of the men, the
women are considered and treated as burdens. Thus among the Clatsops
and Chinooks, who' live chiefly upon fish and roots, which the women are
equally expert with the men in procuring, the former have a rank and
influence very rarely found among the Indians. The females are permitted
to speak freely before men, to whom, indeed, they sometimes address them
selves in a tone of authority. On many subjects their judgments and opinions
are respected, and in matters of trade their advice is generally asked and
pursued. The labors of the family, too, are shared most equally. The men
collect the wood and make fires, assist in cleaning fish, make the houses,
canoes and wooden utensils, and whenever a stranger is entertained, or a
feast is to be prepared, the meats are cooked and served up by the men."
Judge Swan continues : "The peculiar province of the women is to
prepare and take care of the fish and berries for the winter's use; to collect
roots, make the mats, which are made from rushes, and to manufacture the
various articles which are made of rushes, flags, cedar bark and bear grass.
But the management of the canoes, and many of the occupations which else
where devolve on the female, are here common to both sexes.
"Their wealth consists in movable or personal property. They never
considered land of any value, till they were taught so by the whites. All
the value they set upon their ground is for hunting and fishing, and the only
bounds are such as they set between themselves and neighboring tribes. All
such property is common stock, each member of the tribe owning as much
interest in it as the chiefs, although, when dealing with the whites, the chiefs
assume they own the whole. They were glad to have us settle on and
improve their lands. They knew they could not do so themselves, and they
were content to be paid for the land so used by what the settlers saw fit to
give them of the potatoes or wheat raised. What they consider property, is
anything they can exchange or barter away for articles they desire to possess.
This consists of Chinese chests, blue beads, blankets, calico, and brass kettles
and other culinary articles, guns, fishing apparatus, canoes, and slaves or
horses. Their slaves are purchased from the northern Indians, and are either
stolen or captives of war, and were regularly brought down and sold to
southern tribes. The price is from one to five hundred dollars, or from twenty
to one hundred blankets, valued at five dollars each. In their domestic
relations they seem very fond of each other, and the parents seem de
votedly affectionate to their children. I have never known of an instance,
during their wildest drunken freaks of fury or rage, where one of their own
children was hurt or badly treated, although at such times they are very
apt to treat their slaves with barbarity. Like most of the Indian tribes west
of the Rocky Mountains, they practiced compressing or flattening the heads of

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 83
their infants, like the Flatheads on the headwaters of the Columbia river.
This practice does not seem to affect the mental power, or the brain develop
ment of these Indians injuriously. They are addicted to gambling and to the
use of fire water. In fact they are passionately fond of both of these vices.
Marriage usually is a matter of little formality, arranged between the parents
of the bride and groom, and consists in the payment, to the parents of the
bride, of such articles as may be agreed upon, either slaves, canoes, blankets,
horses, guns or anything that may be available. The higher the social
scale of the bride, as in the case of the daughter of a chief, the higher is the
price paid for her, and the more formal the ceremonies connected with the
marriage. Polygamy has been practiced among them, but only to a limited
extent, as but few were able to support more than one wife."
The following remarks of the noted Indian scholar and writer School
craft, on the fasts of the Algonquins, who- occupied so large a portion of
the northeastern part of the United States, are specially applicable to the
Puget Sound Indian : "The rite of fasting is one of the most deep-seated and
universal in the Indian ritual. It is practiced among all the American tribes,
and is deemed by them essential to their success in life in every situation. No
young man is fitted and prepared to begin the career of life, until he has
accomplished the great fast. Seven days appear to have been the ancient
maximum limit of endurance, and the success of the devotee is inferred from
the length of continued abstinence to which he is known to have attained.
These fasts are anticipated by youth as one of the most important events of
life. They are awaited with interest, prepared for with solemnity, and
endured with a self-devotion bordering upon the heroic. Character is thought
to be fixed from this period, and the primary fast thus prepared for and
successfully established, seems to hold that relative importance to subsequent
years that is attached to a public profession of religious faith in civilized
communities. It is at this period that the young men and the young women
'see visions and dream dreams,' and fortune or misfortune is predicted from
the guardian spirit chosen during this, to them, religious ordeal. The hallu
cinations of the mind are taken for divine inspiration. The effect is deeply
felt and strongly impressed on the mind : too deeply, indeed, to be ever
obliterated in after life. The father in the- circle of his lodge, the hunter in
the pursuit of the chase, and the warrior on the field of battle, think of the
guardian genius which they fancy to accompany them, and trust to his power
and benign influence under every circumstance. This genius is the absorbing
theme of their silent meditations, and stands to them in all respects in place
of the Christian's hope, with the single difference that, however deeply mused
upon, the name is never uttered, and every circumstance connected with its
selection, and the devotion paid to it, is most studiously and professedly con-

S4 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
cealed even from their nearest friends. Fasts in subsequent life appear to
have for their object a renewal of the powers and virtues which they attribute
to the rite: and they are observed more frequently by those who strive to
preserve unaltered the ancient state of society among them, or by men who
assume austere habits for the purpose of acquiring influence in the tribe, or as
preparatives for war or some extraordinary feat. It will be inferred from these
facts that the Indians believe fasts to be very meritorious. They are deemed
most acceptable to the manitous or spirits whose influence and protection
they wish to engage or preserve. And it is thus clearly deducible that a
very large portion of the time devoted by the Indians to secret worship, so
to say, is devoted to these guardians or intermediate spirits, and not to the
Great Spirit or Creator."
The Indians north of the Columbia river and west of the Cascade
Mountains had some habits and customs not common to those south of that
river, or to the inland tribes. One of these was the " potlach," or giving-
away custom, which prevailed among the Puget Sound Indians. From some
unknown source they had long ago learned the beautiful lesson that "it is
more blessed to give than to receive." It has been one of the great objects of
the ambition of many members of these tribes, whether chiefs or not, at
some time in their lives, to give a grand potlach, for which they would
prepare years beforehand, by collecting all sorts of goods, useful or desirable
among Indians, and they would utterly bankrupt themselves in order to
give the greatest possible number of presents to their Indian friends and
neighbors. These presents usually consisted of blankets, calicoes, knives,
guns, canoes, clothing, skins of animals, and money in the form of silver
dollars. Sometimes two or more Indians would combine their collections
and join in giving one of these potlaches, by which they hoped to acquire
power and political influence, perhaps secure a chieftainship in the tribe to
which they belonged. The day appointed for the ceremony would be an
nounced sometimes months in advance, and when the time came all the
Indians invited would arrive in their canoes and remain until it was over.
The method of distributing the gifts is in many respects like the ceremony
usually attending the Christmas tree allotments at Sunday schools in Christ
ian lands, where the name of each scholar is called out, and his present is
thereupon delivered to him in person.
The potlach exercises very often last several days, during which time
the Indian, who may be giving away the accumulations of a lifetime, furnishes
the visitors with provisions while they remain. After they are concluded he
may have nothing left in the world but the proud consciousness that he has
given the potlach, and thereby acquired a reputation among his neighbors
and friends for generosity and enterprise, not otherwise to be secured.

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 85
Another custom, more generally recognized throughout the Indian tribes
of North America, is Totemism, which is a complex religious and social system
not yet fully understood.
The full significance of totemic carvings, legends, myths, and folklore
has not as yet been determined. Fraser, in his work on Totemism, says :
" A totem is a class of material objects, which a savage regards with super
stitious respect, believing that there exists between him and every member
of the class an intimate and altogether special relation. * * * The con
nection between a man and his totem is mutually beneficent, the totem pro
tects the man, and the man shows his respect for the totem in various ways,
by not killing it, if it be an animal, and not cutting it if it be a plant. Con
sidered in relation to man, totems are of at least three kinds : ( i ) the clan
totem, common to a whole clan, and passing from generation to generation;
(2) the sex totem; * * * (3) the individual totem, belonging to a
single individual and not passing to his descendants. The clan totem is
reverenced by a body of men and women who call themselves by the name
of the totem and believe themselves to be of one blood, descendants of a
common ancestor, and are bound together by common obligations to each
other, and by a common faith in the totem. In its religious aspect it con
sists of the relations of mutual respect and protection between a man and his
totem, and in its social aspect it consists of the relations of the clansmen to
each other, and to men of other clans."
In the Indian mind there is and always has been a close relationship
between the Indian race and the wild animals by which he has been sur
rounded and with which he is familiar. According to' Indian tradition, his
race was originally descended from, or was made by certain members of the
animal creation, when they were supposed to have been much more powerful
and intelligent than they are now, or have been in modern times. There is
still a strong disposition among Indians to believe that these animals can
assist them in their struggles for existence, or for supremacy, or for success
in any of their undertakings. In some tribes it is the custom for a young
man, on reaching his maturity and before taking upon himself the duties
and responsibilities of membership in his clan or band, to go out into some
lonely spot in the mountains, and there by fasting and prayer supplicate the
favor and assistance of some supposed friend in the animal or in the spiritual
world. He did this under the advice of the old men of the tribe, who directed
him to continue his fasting and prayer for several days, or until his physical
system became exhausted, when he was to lie down and sleep, and whatever
he should dream of, whether eagle, bear, beaver, elk, should become his totem
or his friend, to whom he should look, in time of need, for help and succor. In
the course of his supplications he was instructed to ask, not for any special

86 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
thing, but to confess his need of assistance and if he dreamed of a bear, he was
convinced that the bear came, or was sent in answer to his prayers to aid him
in his undertakings, and ever after he looked upon the bear as his special
friend and assistant, who would strengthen him when he needed strength or
would assist him in overcoming his enemies, in any struggle in which he
might be engaged. Thenceforth the bear became his totem, and he looked
upon that animal as a friend and partner in all his undertakings. It became
his totem, to be carved upon a pillar to be placed in front of his house, and
a number of totems representing the different families of the tribe might be
carved on one pillar, the totem of the chief placed at the head or on the top.
All the men having the bear, for example, for their totem, were supposed to
belong to one clan or band, and the social relation between them was in some
respects a sacred one, fully as strong as any blood relationship.
As families rose and fell in distinction, wealth or importance, so the totem
became, like a family crest, of more or less importance, becoming sub-totems,
phratry or sub-phratry, according to the prominence of the head of the clan
or gens, having a common totem. Judge Swan says, " The Indians can see
but little or no difference between their system of Tomanawos (or guardian
spirits) and our own' views as taught them. For instance, the talipus, or fox,
is their emblem of the creative power ; the smispee, or duck, that of wisdom.
And they say that the Boston people, or Americans, have for their Tomana
wos, the wheurk, or eagle, and that the King George, or English people, have
a lion for their Tomanawos."
An experience similar to that above described, for ascertaining the totem
of each individual, was gone through in the preparation or education of the
medicine men, who were thereby supposed to secure control of the spirits, good
and evil, which was necessary in the practice of their profession. As all dis
eases were supposed to be the work of evil spirits, or to indicate their presence,
it was necessary to drive them out before health could be restored.
Association with white men and the extension of the white man's laws
over them, have ended slavery, polygamy, and war between the several tribes,
but the influences of ignorance and superstition are hard to eradicate, and it
will be many years before they are entirely overcome. The education of Indian
children in the habits of industry and in the principles of Christianity is the
only way to remove the incubus which weighs down the Indian character,
debases his imagination and shortens his life.
Volumes might be written with reference to the ideas, habits and customs
of these primitive people, but only a few suggestions can be offered here,
which may lead to further investigation of the subject. Reference to them will
be made later on, when the Indian war of 1855-56 will receive some notice.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 87
CHAPTER XII.
LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION.
The closing years of the eighteenth century formed a period of unusual
activity in the work of discovery and development on the northwest coast of
America. Spain and France were slowly surrendering their rights and claims
in that region to Great Britain and the United States. A long struggle be
tween these two powers, for supremacy, or possession, or control, began when
Captain Robert Gray discovered and entered the Columbia river. In the
same year Vancouver made his surveys and explorations of the Puget Sound
Country. While these events were taking place, a distinguished explorer,
traveler and fur trader was making his slow and toilsome way, by land, in
the same direction. This was Alexander Mackenzie, the first white man to
cross the continent, including the Rocky Mountains, and to reach the shores of
the Pacific ocean, through the territory westward of the Stony Mountains to
the South Sea. He was the agent and representative of the Northwest Fur
Company, the most powerful rival which the Hudson's Bay Company ever
had in its fur-trading and fur-dealing operations. This company was organ
ized at Montreal in 1784 by some of its enterprising merchants, for the pur
pose of meeting and overcoming the arbitrary methods of the Hudson's Bay
Company in its dealings with the individual traders who had ventured into
its vast domains. The headquarters of this company were at " Fort Chip-
pewyan " on Lake Athabasca, and were under the charge of Alexander Mac
kenzie, a bold, resolute and able man, whose explorations stamped his name
on the geography of all the west and north. In 1791 he organized a small
party for western exploration, intending to prosecute his journey until he
reached the Pacific ocean. Two years before, he had discovered the river
which has ever since borne his name, and had followed it nine hundred miles
north to its mouth in the Arctic ocean, in latitude sixty-nine degrees north,
longitude one hundred and thirty-six degrees west of Greenwich. Deter
mined, on his return, to find his way to- the Pacific ocean, he left Fort Chip-
pewyan on the 10th of October, 1791, and ascended the Peace river to the
foot of the Rocky Mountains, where he encamped for the winter.
The following June he resumed his journey, tracing that river to its
source near the fifty-fourth parallel of latitude, and distant about one thou
sand miles from its mouth. After making a short portage with his party of
ten men and three thousand pounds of provisions and trading goods, he came
upon the waters of a stream flowing westward, which he followed for two
hundred and fifty miles. Thence he proceeded westward by land, and on the
22nd of July, 1.792, reached the Pacific ocean, at the mouth of an inlet, in lati
tude fifty-two degrees ten minutes. This inlet had only a few weeks before

88 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
been surveyed by Vancouver, and thus the land and water explorations of
Great Britain had been connected on the Pacific coast by Mackenzie.
In this same memorable year of 1792, in which Captain Gray had dis
covered the Columbia river, Vancouver had explored Puget Sound and Mac
kenzie had crossed the continent, Thomas Jefferson, then minister to France
from the United States, was taking a deep interest in this region. As an
American he could not feel otherwise, but there was something in him of the
seer or prophet in the matter, beyond doubt, and he even then had visions of
what his country might do in this far-off region at some time in the near or
distant future. As early as 1786 he met, in Paris, John Ledyard, of Connec
ticut, who had been with Captain Cook on his last voyage, and arranged with
him to go overland, by way of Russia and Siberia, to Kamschatka, thence to
Nootka Sound and the latitude of the Missouri, whence he was to make his
way by land to the United States. This project was not successfully accom
plished because Ledyard was arrested at Irkootsk and compelled to return to
Europe in 1787. Jefferson's thoughts continued, evidently, to take the same
direction, for in 1792 he proposed to the American Philosophical Society that
a subscription be raised to defray the expenses of an exploring party and that
a competent person be employed as its leader. He suggested that it ascend
the Missouri river, cross the Stony Mountains, and descend the nearest river
to the Pacific. His recommendation was favorably considered by the society,
and Captain Meriwether Lewis, at the suggestion of Jefferson, was selected
to lead the expedition, and Andre Micheaux, a distinguished French botanist,
was selected to accompany him. They proceeded as far as Kentucky, when
Micheaux was recalled by the French minister at Washington, and the project,
for the time being, was abandoned. Subsequently, after Mr. Jefferson became
president and while the treaty with Napoleon for the purchase of Louisiana
was pending, he sent a special message to Congress in which he recommended
that an official expedition be dispatched in the same direction and for the same
purpose. In view of the important results attending the Louisiana purchase,
the great commercial developments which have taken place in recent years in
this northwest territory, the diplomatic manner in which Jefferson placed the
matter before Congress, that no offence might be given " the nation claiming
the territory," the following extracts from this confidential message are par
ticularly interesting at the present time. This message is dated January 18,
1803, and is addressed to the " Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of
Representatives." ******* The rIver Missouri and the In_
dians inhabiting it are not as well known as is rendered desirable by their con
nection with the Mississippi and consequently with us. It is, however, under
stood that the country on that river is inhabited by numerous tribes who fur
nish great supplies of furs and peltry to the trade of another nation, carried on

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 89
in a high latitude through an infinite number of portages and lakes, shut up by
ice through a long season. The commerce on that line could bear no com
petition with that of the Missouri, traversing a moderate climate, offering,
according to the best accounts, a continued navigation from its source, and
possibly with a single portage from the Western ocean, and finding to the
Atlantic a choice of channels through the Illinois or Wabash, the lakes and
Hudson, through the Ohio and the Susquehanna, or Potomac or James rivers,
and through the Tennessee and Savannah rivers.
" An intelligent officer, with ten or twelve chosen men, fit for the enter
prise and willing to undertake it, taken from our posts, where they may be
spared without inconvenience, might explore the whole line, even to the West
ern ocean, have conferences with the natives on the subject of commercial
intercourse, get admission among them for our traders, as others are admitted,
agree on convenient deposits for an interchange of articles, and return with
the information acquired in the course of two summers. Their arms and
accoutrements, some instruments of observation, and light and cheap presents
for the Indians, would be all the apparatus they could carry, and with an
expectation of a soldier's portion of land on their return, would constitute the
whole expense. Their pay would be going on whether here or there.
" While other civilized nations have encountered great expense to enlarge
the boundaries of knowledge by undertaking voyages of discovery, and for
other literary purposes, in various parts and directions, our nation seems to
owe to the same object, as well as to its own interests, to explore this, the only
line of easy communication across the continent, and so directly traversing
our own part of it. The interests of commerce place the principal object
within the constitutional powers and care of Congress, and that it should inci
dentally advance the geographical knowledge of our own continent cannot
but be an additional gratification. The nation claiming the territory, regard
ing this as a literary pursuit, which it is in the habit of permitting within its
dominions, would not be disposed to view it with jealousy, even if the expiring
state of its interests there did not render it a matter of indifference.
" The appropriation of $2,500 ' for the purpose of extending the external
commerce of the United States,' while understood and considered by the exec
utive as giving the legislative sanction, would cover the undertaking from
notice and prevent the obstructions which interested individuals might other
wise previously prepare in its way. Th. Jefferson."
This message was the first official step taken in connection with the Lewis
and Clark Expedition. The president's instructions to Captain Lewis were
signed June 20, 1803. The British, French and Spanish governments were
informed of the expedition and its purposes, and passports for the party were
received from the English and French ministers. Prior to the year 1763 the

90 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
whole of North America, except the Russian Possessions, were claimed by
Great Britain, France and Spain. A long struggle had been going on be
tween those powers, prior to that time, for colonial advantages and territorial
supremacy. On the 23d of November, 1762, France ceded to Spain the prov
ince of Louisiana, including New Orleans and the island on which it is situ
ated. On the 10th of February, 1763, a treaty was made by and between
Spain, France, Great Britain and Portugal, whereby France ceded to Great
Britain all the Canadas and Louisiana east of the Mississippi, that river being
made the boundary between the British and Spanish possessions in North
America. Great Britain surrendered all claims to territory west of that river.
'The United States, on recognition of independence, acquired all territory east
of the Mississippi except Florida. Thus the new nation which grew up out of
the English colonies on the Atlantic coast was limited on the west by that
river, and this boundary was recognized by the treaty of 1763. For valuable
considerations, Spain, in 1800, retroceded to France " the colony or province
of Louisiana, with the same extent it now has in the hands of Spain, and which
it had when France possessed it." The Spanish King signed the order for its
delivery to France, on the 15th of October, 1802. By the treaty of April 30,
1803, with Napoleon, the United States acquired, by purchase, the province
of Louisiana, whatever might be its boundaries or territorial limits. Those
limits at once became a matter of controversy between the United States and
Great Britain.
The negotiations for the purchase of Louisiana had been successfully
concluded on the 30th day of April, 1803, but the news of that fact did not
reach Washington until the first of July following. Captain Lewis left Wash
ington on the 5th of April to take command of the expedition and to make
preparations for its departure. It will be readily understood from the fore
going statement, that it was not known, when Captain Lewis left Washington,
whether the territory which he was about to explore belonged to Spain, France,
the United States, or possibly in part to Great Britain. Circumspection was
therefore necessary to avoid a clash with any or all of these diverse interests.
The Spanish governor was still acting, not having been advised of the transfer
of his province to France.
Delays of various kinds occurred, and Captain Lewis wintered at the
mouth of Wood river on the east side of the Mississippi, near St. Louis,
making ready at that point for an early start in the spring of 1804. His party
consisted of nine young men from Kentucky, fourteen volunteer soldiers of
the United States army, two French voyageurs, one as interpreter, the other
as hunter, and a negro servant of Captain Clark. An additional force, con
sisting of a corporal, six soldiers and nine watermen, went with the expedition
as far as the country of the Mandan Indians,— forty-three in all, including
Captains Lewis and Clark.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 91
The party crossed the Mississippi river and began their long journey on
the 14th of May, 1804. On the first of the following November they arrived
at the Mandan villages, having journeyed sixteen hundred miles. Here they
wintered, and on the 8th of April, 1805, they resumed their westward march,
and reached the head of navigation on the Missouri river, three thousand
miles from its mouth, on the 18th of August.
Passing the mouth of the Yellowstone, or Roche Jaune of the French
Canadian trappers and voyageurs, who had already visited it, they continued
up the Missouri, passed its great falls and cascades, made their way through
its grand canyon, crossed the summit of the Rocky Mountains, and descended
their western slope to the stream now known, at different points on its course,
as Deer Lodge, Hellgate, Bitter Root, Clarke's Fork, and Pend Oreille.
From this river they crossed the Bitter Root Mountains by what is now known
as the Lolo trail, suffering greatly from cold and hunger. On the 20th day
of September, they reached a village of the Nez Perces Indians, near the south
fork of the Clearwater, where they were received with great kindness and
hospitality. Having been short of supplies, they were nearly famished when
they reached the Indian village, where they ate so- heartily of the food liberally
provided for them by the Indians, that many of them became too ill to proceed
until the second day, Captain Clark himself being one of that number. They
soon recovered, however, and proceeded to the village of Twisted Hair, a
noted chief, located on an island in the stream. To this river they gave the
name of Kooskooskee, and this they followed until they reached a point navi
gable for canoes. Here they left their horses and equipage in charge of
Twisted Hair, who proved himself a faithful and trusty friend, and proceeded
down the river in boats constructed for the purpose, following the Clearwater
to its junction with the Snake, thence down the Snake to the Columbia, and
down the Columbia to its mouth, which they reached on the 14th of Novem
ber. They had thus effected the object or purpose of their grand undertaking,
and had successfully crossed the continent, and paved the way for the hun
dreds of thousands of people who have since practically followed in their foot
steps and have made homes for themselves on the shores of the Pacific. Bal
boa himself did not look out for the first time with more pride and admiration
upon this great ocean than did this weary and travel-stained band of explorers
who had been a year and a half making their way from a point near St.
Louis, Missouri, to the terminus of their journey, the mouth of the Columbia
river. Few exploring expeditions have ever been followed by more important
consequences, or have led to more stupendous results, than this undertaking,
organized by Jefferson, approved by Congress and successfully carried out
by Captains Lewis and Clark, at so little cost and expenditure of blood and
treasure.

92 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Our space will not permit of any more extended notice of the details of
this memorable journey of three thousand five hundred and fifty-five miles,
from the mouth of the Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia river, however
interesting it might be. It may be sufficient, at this time, to say that the party
wintered at Fort Clatsop, named after the Indians of the vicinity, on the south
side of the Columbia and near its mouth. Here they remained until March 23,
1806, when they started on their homeward journey. With some modifica
tions, the same route they had followed in their westward travels was taken
on their return. They journeyed up the Columbia river in canoes as far as the
mouth of the John Day river, called by them the Lapage, where, owing to
rapids, cascades and other obstructions to navigation, they left the river,
packed their baggage on a few horses purchased from the Indians and pro
ceeded up the river on foot, arriving at the mouth of the Walla Walla on the
27th of April. Here they met with one of the most powerful of the Indian
chiefs of the Pacific coast. His name was Yellept, and his kindness and hos
pitality towards these strangers and travelers through his country deserve per
petual remembrance. Their journal records, among many similar acknowl
edgments, that " we may indeed justly affirm that of all the Indians that we
have seen since leaving the United States, the Walla Wallas were the most
hospitable, honest and sincere." The Nez Perces were almost equally friendly,
and the property they had left with Twisted Hair, one of their principal chiefs,
on the Clearwater, was all returned to them in good order upon their arrival.
They arrived in St. Louis on the 25th of September, after an absence of
nearly two and one-half years. Their return was a matter of national interest
and rejoicing, and an extensive land grant was made them as some recompense
for the great services they had rendered the country. During that time the
vast country they had traversed was incorporated into and had become a part
of the United States.
Captain Lewis was appointed governor of the Territory of Louisiana,
which then included the whole region north of Mexico and west of the Mis
sissippi river, with St. Louis as its capital. Captain Clark was put in com
mand of its militia, and shortly after was appointed agent of the United States
for its Indian affairs.
While the events above referred to were taking place, the fur companies
were not idle. The Northwest Company of Montreal had sent its agents into
the territory lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific ocean, and in
the year 1805 they had established a post called Fort McLeod, afterwards
known as Fort Fraser, on McLeod's lake. In 1806 Simon Fras'er and Tohn
Stuart followed Fraser river down to Stuart river, and on Stuart lake, Fort
James was erected, and in 1807 Fort George was established at the junction
of the Stuart and Fraser rivers. In 1808 Fraser and Stuart madfe their way

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 93
to the mouth of Fraser river, thus completing a chain of posts from Canada to
the Pacific ocean.
The expeditions across the continent of Lewis and Clark, of Alexander
Mackenzie and other agents of the Northwest Fur Company, had thus opened
the way through British territory and through that of the United States, across
the continent, for the successive waves of emigration which have continued,
with ever-increasing magnitude for one hundred years, from the Atlantic to
the Pacific ocean.
In the meantime American commercial interests were growing with great
rapidity by water on the northwest coast. Owing to- the Napoleonic and other
wars in Europe during the closing years of the eighteenth, and the early years
of the nineteenth century, the trade of this coast was carried on almost exclu
sively in American ships. Judge Swan, in his interesting volume on the
Northwest Coast, furnishes an approximate list of sixty-three visits paid to
this coast by American vessels, for trading purposes, between the years 1787
and 1807, a term of twenty-one years. A partial list of sea-otter skins shipped
from the northwest coast to Canton, China, in the following years, may be
interesting. In 1799, 11,000; 1800, 9,500; 1801, 14,000, and in 1802, 14,000.
making a total of 48,500, besides other skins and peltries. It is an interesting
fact that some of the first furs ever carried direct to- Canton, from this coast,
were taken by an American, Lieutenant John Gore, a native of Virginia, who
was with Captain Cook in his expedition, at the time of the latter's death at
Karakoor Bay, Sandwich Islands, and took charge of the expedition on the
death of Captain Clerke, who had succeeded Captain Cook.
While on the northwest coast, its officers and men had purchased a quan
tity of furs from the natives in exchange for knives, old clothes, buttons and
other trifles. These furs were intended for, and were used as clothes and
bedding, but were considered very valuable in China, where they were sold
for more than ten thousand dollars. This was in the year 1779, and from
that time forward the fur trade rapidly increased in magnitude, particularly
with China and the East Indies. In 1808, the Missouri Fur Company was
organized in St-. Louis. This company employed about three hundred men,
principally French, and established a number of posts east of the Rocky
Mountains in 1809, and one on the headwaters of Lewis Fork of the Columbia
river. In consequence, however, of hostile Indians and difficult communi
cation, the latter was abandoned in 1810.
A party of about forty Americans, on their own account, left St. Louis
in 1809, for the purpose of trading for furs in the same region. In this party
was William Weir, the grandfather of Allen Weir, Esq., now a prominent
attorney of Olympia, and a lifelong resident of the Puget Sound country,
who was born near Port Townsend and who has many relatives in that

94 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
locality. In the same year, Weir, with nine others, crossed the Rocky
Mountains and trapped down the Columbia river, wintering a short distance
above the cascades of that river. He and his party, with others, trapped down
the Columbia to its mouth in 1810, returning the same year to the Missouri.
They found the Indians all friendly on the Columbia, and subsisted chiefly
on fish, which came up the river in large quantities. On his return, Weir was
enthusiastic in his praises of the country bordering on the lower Columbia,
and frequently referred to its large timber, fertile soil, genial climate, abund
ance of game, fish and other natural resources, with the beautiful appearance
of the land, soil, etc., and freely expressed the opinion that " some day it
would be one of the finest countries in the world."
CHAPTER XIII.
ADVERSE OPINIONS ABOUT PUGET SOUND COUNTRY  THE ASTOR EXPEDITION.
Although the way into the heart of the Oregon country had been opened
up, by water, through the discovery by Captain Gray of the Columbia river,
and overland by Captains Lewis and Clark in 1804-05-06, yet many years
must come and go before there was any actual settlement in this country,
according to American ideas. The fur companies, English and American,
during these years were its only occupants. All these companies looked upon
American settlers as intruders, whose presence was not desired and whose
attempts at home seeking should be discouraged in every possible way. It
was a part of their policy to report the whole country then included under the
name of Oregon as a barren waste, as an inhospitable desert, and, where the
timber grew, that the trees were of such size and numbers as to form an insup
erable obstacle to cultivation. Reports of this character were industriously
circulated throughout the United States, and were implicitly believed by even
intelligent men on other subjects, and were repeatedly urged in the halls of
Congress as an argument, ad hominem, which constituted an all sufficient
reply to the petitions of Hall J. Kelly and others, who persistently advocated
active measures to secure this territory to the American Union. The ignor
ance which prevailed throughout the United States on these subjects, during
the first half of the nineteenth century, and within the memory of many men
now living, is surprising. As late as 1850, many disparaging and incorrect
statements were published as to the fertility of the soil, the salubrity of the
climate, the accessibility of the country and its natural resources. These
accounts would have been ridiculous had they not been untruthful, unjust
and injurious to the interests of the country at large, and to those emigrants
who desired to make homes for themselves and their children in this, at that
time, far off region. Members of Congress asserted in their respective Houses,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 95
that the country was not worth fighting for, that its possession, if secured,
would entail needless, useless and large expenditures for its retention and
government, and that the expansion of the Republic in that distant and inac
cessible region would endanger its very existence. In some instances, " the
wish was father to the thought " and many of the men in and out of Congress
who opposed any action on the part of the United States government looking
to the acquisition of Oregon, did so because they knew that slavery never
could exist in that country and they were opposed to the further increase of
the number of " Free States " in northern latitudes. But the march of events
continues, and those who place obstacles in its way, men and obstacles together,
are brushed aside by its onward and irresistible sweep. In this place space
will not permit of any detailed account of the conflicts and competition of
fur companies for the trade of the northwest coast, and the extensive region,
lying thence in an easterly direction to the summits of the Rocky Mountains.
A few, only, of the more prominent events can be noticed. Prior to the year
1818, this wide expanse of valuable fur-bearing territory was occupied by the
Northwestern Fur Company of Montreal, which for many years was a power
ful rival of the Hudson's Bay Company. The strife and competition between
these two companies entailed serious losses to both, and after negotiations
had been carried on for some time, a harmonious arrangement was entered
into, for the consolidation of the two under the name of the Hudson's Bay
Company, that being the older of the two and controlling the greater amount
of territory. This consolidation was effected in the year 182 1, and thereafter
the Hudson's Bay Company occupied and controlled all the trading posts in
the Oregon country. In the meantime several companies were organized in the
United States to participate in the dangers, explorations and profits of the
fur trading business.
Prominent among men organizing these companies, was John Jacob
Astor, one of the world's great masters of trade and transportation, who
came from Germany to America in the winter of 1783-4, and, while yet a
young man, saw the great possibilities of the fur trade, and engaged in it with
almost immediate and long continued success. In the year 1809, he caused
to be incorporated, by the state of New York, the American Fur Company
with a capital of $1,000,000, which he himself furnished. In spite of the
competition of St. Louis and Canadian companies, he very nearly succeeded in
monopolizing the fur trade in that part of the then Northwest Territory
lying south of the Great Lakes. The successful return of the Lewis and Clark
expedition revealed to him the possibilities of a chain of trading posts west
ward to the mouth of the Columbia river, thence to China and the East Indies,
and thence with cargoes of tea, silks, spices, etc., in exchange for his furs back
to London and New York, thus tracing in his operations the circumference of

96 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
the globe. This fascinating scheme would no doubt have been successful, had
it not been interfered with by the war of 1812, between England and the
United States. However, for the purpose of carrying out his plans in this
direction, he and his associates, some of whom were unfortunately connected
with the Northwestern Fur Company of Montreal, organized in 1810, the
Pacific Fur Company. One party, with some of the partners, was sent on
board a sailing vessel to the mouth of the Columbia river around the Horn,
and another overland, and the two were to establish a post at that point to be
called Astoria. During the war of 18 12, the resident partners sold the post
with all goods and chattels for $80,500 to the Northwest Fur Company
of Montreal. The name of the place was changed to Fort George, and it
remained in possession of the British until 18 18, at which time, in accordance
with the terms of the Treaty of 1814, by which all places taken during the
war were to be restored, Astoria was at last returned to its rightful owners.
This was not done, however, until the United States government had insisted
upon its rights in the premises, when the place was given up. In consequence
of the consolidation effected between the Hudson's Bay Company and the
Northwest Company, the former assumed control of all the trading posts on
the northwest coast that had been formerly held or established by the rival
company. In 1823 Dr. John McLaughlin was appointed to take charge of
the Columbia river district, which then included what was known as the
Oregon country, and all the posts within its limits. The Hudson's Bay Com
pany was still doing business at Fort George, or Astoria, at the mouth of the
Columbia, but a new and more convenient station for the headquarters of the
district was deemed desirable or necessary. The hope was strongly entertained
at that time by the company, that the Columbia river would eventually be
made the boundary line between the possessions of Great Britain and the
United States on the northwest coast and all operations were conducted with
that end in view, and everything was done that could be done to brin°- about
that result. The north bank of the Columbia was carefully surveyed from
Astoria to the Cascades, a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles, to
find an eligible location. It was finally determined that the present site of the
city of Vancouver, Washington, or its vicinity, would be suitable, for the
new post, and it was accordingly erected there and named after Admiral Van
couver, who had explored the waters of Puget Sound some thirty-three years
before. Here the necessary buildings, fortifications, block-houses, warehouses
for goods, with shops and all the other structures required for the transaction
of a large business, and for the care of all the various officers and employes
who were required for the conduct of its operations, were erected. This post
was established in 1825, and to it came the numerous bands of trappers,
hunters, halfbreeds and Indians employed by the company west of the Rocky

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 97
Mountains. Here, also, once a year, came a ship from England laden with
supplies, which carried back a return cargo of furs, peltries, and, later on,
lumber, fish and other products of this extensive region. Here Dr. John
McLaughlin presided over the affairs of the company, and conducted its
operations with singular ability and success, notwithstanding the trying and
difficult circumstances under which he was placed, until the year 1846, when
he retired to his chosen home in the Willamette valley. He was one of
nature's noblemen. Entering the service of the Northwest Company early
in the century, he had made his way westward as far as Fort Chipwjan, the
principal post of the Athabasca district, in 1808, and during those years, he
had mastered, with Scotch industry and perseverance, all the details of the
fur trading business. When the Northwestern and the Hudson's Bay com
panies were consolidated, he was continued in the employ of the latter, and
in 1823 was assigned to the charge of its posts west of the Rocky Mountains,
of which the chief was Vancouver, after its establishment. He was great in
heart, in mind and body, and combined with the elements of a remarkably
strong character, a kindly disposition which enabled him to temper mercy
with justice, and to administer his trust in such a way that he won, as he
deserved, the respect and regard of all parties, friends and enemies, whites
and Indians and all with whom he came in contact. Probably no man in
America having business or official relations with the Indians ever secured
their confidence and trust more fully, or inspired them more thoroughly with
fear of his power, or respect for his administration of justice than did Dr.
McLaughlin, among the Indian tribes throughout his jurisdiction. Prior to
his assignment to the control of this district, the lives of the company's
employes and others were not safe anywhere within its limits, but after he
had been in charge for a short time, men could travel with impunity through
out its length and breadth, and the Indians quickly learned that if a crime
of any kind were committed the perpetrator would be hunted out of the most
remote fastnesses in the mountains or elsewhere and brought to the bar of
justice for trial, and, if convicted, to swift and severe punishment. Hundreds
of immigrants coming to the country in a destitute condition, were supplied
with provisions, clothing, cows, horses and farming implements, and given
their own time in which to pay for these advances. Some were never paid
for, but this generous treatment was continued by Dr. McLaughlin as long
as he was in charge of the district. Even settlers going north of the Colum
bia river against the wishes of the company and its agents, were given orders
on Fort Nisqually for supplies on the same terms. Farming operations on
quite an extensive scale were begun at Fort Vancouver for the first time in
the history of fur trading in the northwest. Prior to this time supplies of all
kinds were imported from England and California, or the Sandwich Islands,

98 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
but the thrifty genius of Dr. McLaughlin saw, at an early date, the capacity
of the country agriculturally and horticulturally, and deemed it the part of
prudence to engage in farming and stock-raising to secure supplies for his'
large army of employes instead of importing them. Cattle, sheep, horses and
hogs were brought from California to stock the farms at Vancouver, on the
Cowlitz, and at Fort Nisqually. The last named place was established in
l833> by Archibald McDonald. It was on the line of travel between Forts
Vancouver and Langley, and near the head of navigation on Puget Sound.
It was located on a piece of table-land about three-quarters of a mile from the
Sound, some four miles northeast of the Nisqually river. Near it were
extensive tracts of open prairie land, gravel plains, etc., which were well
adapted for raising sheep and other kinds of stock. It proved to be a conven
ient place for supplying several posts along the coast and in the Russian
possessions, where they had contracts for furnishing supplies of beef, mutton,
pork, etc. Hence Fort Nisqually became more of a commercial than a fur
trading establishment.
In the year 1837 Simon Plomondeau and Fanicant, two old employes of
the Hudson's Bay Company, went to the Cowlitz prairie, by the advice of Dr.
McLaughlin, and engaged in farming. McLaughlin furnished them with
animals for work and instructed the Indians not to disturb them.
In 1839 Douglass, Work and Ross, also employes of the company, went
to the same locality on the Cowlitz river, and measured off four thousand
acres of land, made a map of it, and a farm was opened up very soon after.
A number of people were employed, the amount under cultivation was
increased from year to year, until in 1846 there were fifteen hundred acres
under cultivation. On this land were eleven barns and about one thousand
cattle, two thousand sheep, two hundred horses, and one hundred hogs. A
sawmill was begun, but burned before it was finished. This farm was occu
pied by the English until 1853-4, when American settlers came in such
numbers that they virtually took possession of the land with its improvements,
and finally the English were crowded out altogether. The farm in 1845 was
in charge of Charles Forrest, who was succeeded in 1847 by George R.
Roberts, and he by H. N. Peers and William Sinclair. E. L. Finch, J. H.
Pierson, William Lemon, George Holsapple, and Jackson Barton among
others settled upon the English company's land, claiming under the donation
law of Congress. These men were ordered off by the agent in charge, but
they refused to go. At both the Cowlitz and the Nisqually farms many
cattle, sheep, hogs and horses were kept by the proprietors, for local and
commercial uses, before the country was finally evacuated by the Hudson's
Bay Company. For a variety of reasons, it was deemed advisable by certain
stockholders of the Hudson's Bay Company to organize what was called the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 99
Puget Sound Agricultural Company, in 1838, for the purpose of conducting
these farming and stock-growing operations separate and apart from its fur
trading business. Dr. John McLaughlin was the first manager of the latter
company, James Douglass was his successor. The Cowlitz farm and the
Nisqually post, with all their stocks of cattle, sheep, horses, etc., were trans
ferred, about 1840, to the Puget Sound Agricultural Company. About
5,000 additional sheep were purchased in California by permission of the
Mexican government, of which 3,000 were driven up overland and 2,000
sent by sailing vessels. Further supplies of cattle were also driven overland
from California, and sheep as well as hogs of fine breed were brought from
England and Canada. Dr. William F. Tolmie, a prominent character in the
early history of the Puget Sound Country and one of the originators of the
Puget Sound Agricultural Company, was its superintendent from 1843 to
1859, when he removed to Victoria and was made a member of the board of
managers of the Hudson's Bay Company. After Tolmie's removal to Victo
ria the affairs of the Puget Sound Company were left in charge of Edward
Huggins, and they remained in his care until Nisqually was abandoned.
When that event took place Huggins became an American citizen, entered land
upon which Fort Nisqually stood. under the Donation act of Congress, and
purchased from the Puget Sound Company such of its goods and live stock
as he required. When this company was organized, it was hoped or expected
by its stockholders and directors that Great Britain would secure the territory
lying north of the Columbia river, and that when the boundary line should be
settled on that basis, the company would secure a grant of land occupied by
its farming and stock-raising operations, but as the forty-ninth parallel was
made the dividing line between the two countries, it could secure no
title whatever. The result was that the country north of the Columbia
river became settled by Americans. During the Indian war of
1855-6 the losses of the company were very great. Their horses, cattle sheep
and hogs were stolen, killed or driven off, but they were enabled to maintain
a claim against the United States government for six thousand head of stock,
which were found to have been destroyed. The claims of this and the
Hudson's Bay Company were finally settled and paid as heretofore stated in
1867, when the Puget Sound country was abandoned by both companies.
CHAPTER XIV.
STATISTICS OF PUGET SOUND INDUSTRIES.
The statistics of its manufacturing industry are the best evidences of a
nation's progress, its industrial position, or its political power. The ex
traordinary efforts now being made by the leading nations of the world to
foster their several manufacturing activities and to extend their commercial
interests indicate the esteem in which these interests are universally held.

100 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
In recent years the United States has become the largest producer of
manufactured goods in the world. Its capacity in that regard has developed
with marvelous rapidity. The probabilities now are that its advance will not
only be maintained, but that before many years it will practically be without
a competitor. Reports recently published show that the product of manu
factures in the United States to-day exceeds that of any other nation, and
also exceeds in value that of any other industry in the United States. Formerly
our agricultural products exceeded in value those of the factory and workshop,
but as attention was directed more and more to the development of mines and
forests, and, more especially, as the inventive genius of the country was turned
to improvements in machinery, and as transportation was cheapened, so the
manufacturing industries passed those of agriculture in the value of their
products, and also passed those of other nations in the same line. The
distinguished statistician, Mr. Mulhall, shortly before his death published a
statement showing that in i860 the United States produced manufactured
products of less value than Germany, France or Great Britain, his estimates
for the United States being $1,907,000,000, Germany, $1,995,000,000, France
$2,092,000,000, Great Britain $2,808,000,000. In 1894 the increased product
amounted to the following aggregates : France $2,900,000,000, Germany
$3,367,000,000, Great Britain $4,263,000,000, whilst in the United States
manufactured products had reached the enormous sum of $9,498,000,000.
This immense growth has taken place chiefly within the last twenty years.
The census returns give the gross values of the manufactures in the
United States in round numbers as follows : in 1850, one billion dollars ; i860,
two billions; 1870, four billions; 1880, five billions; 1890, nine billions;
1900, thirteen billions. The increase between 1890 and 1900 was much
greater than during the century preceding 1880. If we consider the value
of manufactures exported from the United States, we find the same ex
traordinary increase, especially in recent years. Taking these values again in
round numbers we find the total value of manufactures exported from the
United States has grown from a little over one million dollars in 1790 to
seventeen millions in 1850; forty millions in i860; sixty-eight millions in
1870; one hundred and two millions in 1880; one hundred and fifty-one
millions in 1890; and four hundred and thirty-three millions in 1900, since
which time the annual total has not fallen below the four hundred million
dollar line. It will be seen that the growth in exports of manufactures in the
decade following 1890 was more than that of the full century preceding that
year. Mr. Mulhall also shows that this supremacy of the United States among
nations as a manufacturer had been reached by a process of growth which
assures us that her rank as a manufacturing nation is permanently fixed at the
head of the list. This position is the result of favorable conditions and circum-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 101
stances which cannot be overcome, and he showed that hereafter the world
might expect this leadership to be maintained in spite of all competitors. This
is in part the result of the immigration into the United States of such vast
numbers of the brain, bone and sinew of the most active, progressive and
energetic people in Europe. Between the years 1820 and 1890, inclusive, the
volume of this immigration amounted to the enormous sum of 20,052,137
people. In this statement are not included the large numbers who came to
the United States before 1820 or since 1893. This supremacy in manufact
uring is also the result in part of the general freedom of personal action and
ambition allowed to every individual, and to our system of universal education,
which permits all citizens of the Republic to enjoy a condition of political
equality. To freedom, education and great natural advantages are largely
due the rapid advance of the United States in its manufacturing industries
since that time. Its supremacy is the natural and inevitable result of causes
which have long been in operation. These causes are still at work, and the
flow of immigration continues with constantly increasing force and volume.
For eleven months of the current fiscal year, 758,225 aliens were admitted.
During the last twenty years they amounted, according to the official reports
of the commissioner of immigration, to the enormous total of 8,624,415, and
there is no evidence of a decrease in this westward movement of population
in the near future. The laws that govern this movement are applicable to its
overland features as well as to the current across the Atlantic. The most
active, enterprising and energetic of the people of the Atlantic states move
westward in the direction of the Pacific. Two generations usually make the
journey across the continent. The first, in the early part of the nineteenth
century, moved to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois or Wisconsin. In the latter part
of the same century, their children in many instances transferred their homes
thence to the Pacific. It can be readily understood, therefore, from what has
been already said, that for intelligence and enterprise the people of the
Puget Sound Country, and indeed of the whole Pacific coast, are naturally of
a very high character.
Here, for the time being, at least, the movement stops and its accumulating
forces are brought face to face with the Pacific, and across that mighty ocean,
in China and the East Indies, is half the population of the globe, waiting for
our ships with their rich cargoes of manufactured goods and ready to exchange
for them their own numerous and valuable productions.
It can readily be seen that with this enormous development of the manu
facturing and commercial interests of the country at large, the peculiar and
unusual advantages of the Puget Sound region must of necessity attract the
attention of the leading men in these lines of industry, and that it would
inevitably take a place of world-wide importance as well as of local pre-emi-

102 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
nence in our own country. Its advantages of a commercial character cannot
be exaggerated. Its shipping facilities are unsurpassed. Its climate is admir
ably adapted to manufacturing enterprises, and its enormous forests of timber
furnish inexhaustible supplies of the finest lumber in the world for ship
building and all other purposes for which lumber is required. That it is
rapidly taking prominence as a commercial emporium on the Pacific coast
may be understood when it is stated that in the year 1900 San Francisco
exported goods to the orient to the value of $40,001,000, whilst those from
Puget Sound amounted only to $10,000,000. The following year the exports
from San Francisco declined to $35,000,000, while those of the Puget Sound
ports increased to $20,000,000. In 1902 San Francisco's exports amounted
to $36,000,000, while those of Puget Sound were $37,000,000. During the
present year it is estimated that the exports of San Francisco will reach
$38,000,000, those of Puget Sound $50,000,000. Four transcontinental
railway lines, equipped with every modern device known or invented for the
benefit of transportation, already have terminal points and facilities of the
best construction for handling the commerce which is growing up with
marvelous speed in the harbors of Puget Sound. Other transcontinental lines
are also striving to secure terminal facilities in these harbors. Cotton from the
southern states, manufactured goods and machinery from 'the eastern, wheat
from the western, fish from Alaska, lumber from Puget Sound, and a thousand
and one articles of different kinds, called for by the orientals, are being
shipped from these busy ports to the millions of Japan, China and the popu
lous marts of eastern Asia. The largest steam freighters in the world are
now engaged in this trade across the Pacific, and larger freighters than were
ever before constructed are now being built to accommodate a trade which to
all appearances is now only in its infancy. Each of these vessels will carry
14,000 long tons of coal and 140,000 barrels of flour, or their equivalent. To
load these ships will require 1,000 cars of 60,000 pounds each, loaded to their
full capacity. Perhaps a clearer and more distinct idea of the resources of the
Puget Sound Country may be obtained by a reference to the official reports
in regard to some of the products of this favored region. For convenience
the figures are given for the whole state of Washington, but the lumber
business is chiefly confined to the Sound region, where the large mills are
located, and whence cargoes are shipped by water to almost every port of the
world, and by rail all over the United States. Nine-tenths of all the timber
in the state is tributary to Puget Sound.
STANDING TIMBER OF WASHINGTON.
The amount of standing timber in the state of Washington was esti
mated by the United States department of the interior during the year 1902,
showing the distribution according to the kinds of timber, as follows :

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 103
Red fir  90,593,600,000
Hemlock  40,571,000,000
Cedar  22,646,000,000
Yellow pine  13,082,000,000
Amabalis fir  8,788,000,000
Spruce  8,221,000,000
Larch  4,776,000,000
White fir  1,780,000,000
Other species  4,780,000,000
Total  195,237,000,000
The following shows the quantity of timber in each county, with the
distributed areas of timber, logged and burned land :
Total stand, Timber, Cut, Burned.
County— Ft. B. M. Sq. Mi. Sq. Mi. Sq. Mi.
Adams   .... .... ....
Asotin  80,000,000 105 6 ....
Chehalis  27,633,000,000 1,714 140 60
Chelan  3,095,000,000 2,665 2^ 97
Clallam  25,743,000,000 1,370 113 236
Clarke  712,000,000 1 19 20 498
Columbia  183,000,000 164 182 ....
Cowlitz  7,493,000,000 646 82 385
Douglas  31 ,000,000 49 6 ....
Ferry  1,667,000,000 2,270 .... 5
Franklin   .... .... ....
Garfield  150,000,000 128 70 ....
Island  430,000,000 .... 283 ....
Jefferson  20,691,000,000 1,211 81 158
King  11,857,000,000 1,289 3^1 393
Kitsap  1,141,000,000 210 175 22
Kittitas  3,171,000,000 941 94 118
Klickitat  743,000,000 825 26 31
Lewis  11,376,000,000 1,396 71 813
Lincoln  12,000,000 63 200 ....
Mason  7,029,000,000 729 199 31
Okanogan  3,381,000,000 4,468 .... ....
Pacific  7,813,000,000 764 56 65
Pierce  10,868,000,000 1,079 2°° 7^
San Juan   .... .... ....
Skagit  11,098,000,000 1,576 196 12
Skamania  11,871,000,000 1,209 31 459

104 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Snohomish  10,892,000,000
Spokane  716,000,000
Stevens  2,702,000,000
Thurston  2,787,000,000
Wahkiakum  2,974,000,000
Walla Walla  6,000,000
Whatcom  2,109,000,000
Whitman  35,000,000
Yakima  4,148,000,000

1,252

252

119

530

585

8

3,643

23

r59

430

161

66

173

38

40

33

14

1,387

170

636

19

109

1,788

117

139

Totals  195,237,000,000 34,245 4,042 4,620
The quantity of timber used by the mills during the year 1902 aggre
gated about 1,800,000,000 feet. At the present rate of consumption the
standing timber will keep the mills running at their present capacity for more
than one hundred years.
The shipments of lumber and shingles from the state of Washington
during the past four years were as follows :
CARGO AND RAIL SHIPMENTS OF LUMBER.
Year. Cargo. Rail. Total.
1899  422,211,262 225,625,000 647,836,262
T9°o  492,765,447 284,280,000 777,045,447
r901  504,970,046 364,530,000 869,500,046
J9°2  571,542,226 562,605,000 1,134,147,226
RAIL SHIPMENTS OF SHINGLES.
Year. Number. Year. Number.
1899  3,476,900,000 1901  4,485,600,000
i900  3,560,100,000 1902  5,128,480,000
CARLOAD SHIPMENTS BY YEARS.
Lumber,
Year. Cars.
1892  6,750
l893  5,365
l894  4,283
l895  7,039
1896  6,486
l897  7,737
T898  10,460
l899  15,035
1900  18,952
I901  24,302
:902  37,507

Shingles,

Total

Cars.

Cars.

6,341

I3.091

6,053

11,418

io,975

15,258

12,710

J9,749

!4,i95

20,681

17,873

25,610

19,663

30,123

23,246

38,281

23,734

42,686

28,035

52,337

32,053

69,560

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 105
THE COAL AND COKE INDUSTRY.
Early settlers in the Puget Sound region looked upon timber as their
chief reliance for export, but it was soon discovered that coal deposits of
an excellent and an extensive character existed here convenient to tide water.
These coal fields cover an area of several thousand square miles and some
twenty-four mines are now in operation. These are mainly in Pierce, King,
Skagit, Whatcom and in Kittitas counties, immediately east of King. Valu
able deposits are also being opened up on the headwaters of the Cowlitz, in
the vicinity of the Cowlitz Pass, of coal which is claimed to be a good quality
of anthracite or semi-anthracite. The mines now in operation produce a
bituminous or semi-bituminous coal of fine quality for manufacturing, steam
and domestic use. Some of these mines turn out a fine coking coal, of which
considerable quantities are being made in Pierce and in Skagit counties.
These various mines give employment to about five thousand men at wages
averaging $2.50 per day. The following are the official figures taken from
the report of the state mining inspector, C. F. Owens, for the years 1900, 1901
and 1902. Several additional mines will be opened up and operated as
soon as transportation facilities are provided, some of which are now in the
course of construction. This coal is exported to California and many other
points on the coast, including Alaska, to Honolulu, and many other points on
the waters of the Pacific Ocean:
TONS OF COAL EXPORTED. Seattle. Tacoma.
1900  568,617 624,564
1901  492,419 636,106
1902  490,082 37°,434
OUTPUT BY COUNTIES. 1901. 1902.
Kittitas  1,005,017 1,252,454
King  863,229 1,012,217
Pierce  575,091 401,091
Skagit  12,643 I9,oi7
Whatcom  8,200 6,010

Totals  2,464,190 2,690,789
COKE OUTPUT, 1902, BY MINES.
Name — County. Tons.
Wilkeson  Pierce  22,800
Fairfax  Pierce  17,168
Cok'edale  Skagit  601
Totals  40,569

106 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
THE FISHING INDUSTRY.
In recent years the fisheries of Puget Sound and on the coast tributary
to its ports have assumed immense proportions, and are taking a high place
among our leading industries. They employ about eight thousand men and
their earnings average $1,500,000 annually. Puget Sound has many large
canneries in operation, and from five to ten millions of capital are invested
in the business. It employs a fleet of more than one hundred tugs and
thousands of fish boats of every description.
The recent report of State Fish Commissioner Kershaw shows that
in the Puget Sound district there were twenty-one salmon canneries, one
crab, one clam, and two sardine and herring canneries in operation; in the
Willipa Harbor district three salmon canneries, one clam cannery; and in
Gray's Harbor district one salmon cannery, in the year 1902.
The commissioner gives the "catch" of the various districts as follows :
For the Puget Sound district, value  $3,238,945
Columbia river district  492,372
Willapa Harbor district  167,368
Grays Harbor district  135,000

Total value of salmon pack  $4,034,685
The Puget Sound district also produced 43,633,000 pounds of fresh, salt
and smoked fish, which were shipped or consumed locally, valued at $1,789,-
900; 30,500 sacks of clams, 40,000 dozen crabs, 50,000 pounds of shrimps,
valued at $225,650; 50,000 gallons of guano and oil valued at $25,000;
10 cases of herring and smelt; 10,000 cases of crabs and 8,000 cases of
clams (canned). The total value of the output of the district was $5,528,-
595. The following table is taken from the official report of the cases of
salmon packed on the coast during the past five years :
Puget Wash'gton British Columbia Oregon Sacramento
Year— Sound. Coast. Columbia. River. Coast. River. Alaska. Total.
1002  565,708 70,105 625,982 348,139 49,o8o 16,550 2,635,578 4,311,142
1001  i,4io,444 60,016 1,236,156 240,600 60,569 17,500 2,022,704 5,056,989
1000  505,687 57,100 585,413 358,772 73,8oo 38,000 1,597,746 3,216,518
i8q9  892,324 33,600 732,437 340,125 74,930 33,550 1,094,207 3,201,175
1898 ........ 423,000 22,000 484,161 481,461 85,309 27,150 1,028,317 2,551,398
In addition to the Puget Sound fisheries, Seattle is the headquarters
and base of supplies of a number of companies engaged in packing salmon
on the Alaskan coast and elsewhere. The value of the pack of these com
panies is about $20,000,000 per annum. In addition to the salmon, these
fisheries produce large quantities of halibut, cod, smelt, herring, oysters,
clams, crabs and other varieties of salt water fish.
The cod fisheries of Behring Sea are growing every year in importance,
and their product is cured and marketed on Puget Sound. The product of

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 107
these various canneries and fishing enterprises is sent by water and rail to
all parts of the world. Although the supply would appear to be unlimited
owing to the extent of the waters in which these fish are taken, yet the state
of Washington maintains a number of hatcheries for the propagation of
salmon, and their value is attested by increased runs of that fish. Large
shipments, in recent years, have been made of cheap dried salmon from
Puget Sound and elsewhere on the coast to Japan, but of these no figures
are at present available.
There are. many deposits of iron ore in the Puget Sound region and
elsewhere in the state, but as yet they are undeveloped. One furnace was
established several years ago at Irondale, near Port Townsend, but its prin
cipal supply of ore was brought from Texada and Vancouver Islands, which
contain some mines of high grade ore. Limestone of excellent quality is
found in abundance on San Juan and other islands of the lower Sound.
Granite of fine quality is found in many places. Valuable mines of lead and
copper and numerous deposits of gold and silver have been found in many
places in the Cascade Mountains, particularly in Snohomish, Skagit and
Whatcom counties. Large numbers of men are now engaged in develop
ment work, and much machinery is being installed for working the ores.
An extensive smelting plant has been in successful operation at Tacoma
for many years. Another on a large scale has been established at Everett.
Ores are brought to these smelters not only from many mines in the state
of Washington, but from numerous points along the entire coast of North
America, more particularly from Mexico and Alaska. The development
of the above mentioned industries has been very largely brought about within
the last few years. Others will be referred to elsewhere in the course of
this history. They are mentioned here that some idea may be formed of the
capacity of the Puget Sound region and of its possibilities in the future.
The fairy godmothers who presided over the destinies of this last and best
of the Creator's handiwork would seem to have determined to hide it from
mankind until a -race should appear, capable of making the most of these
possibilities, and it would seem that such a race is now in full possession.
CHAPTER XV.
FAVORABLE SITUATION OF PUGET SOUND FOR DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCE.
It has been well said that "Commerce is the great civilizer of nations,
the parent of liberty, of the arts, of refinement."
In all ages of the world commerce has been the chief agent for the
building up of rich and populous cities. Tyre and Sidon, Athens and Alex
andria, Rome and Carthage, Venice and Genoa, Cadiz and Lisbon, Antwerp
and London, with many other cities famous in their day and time for their

108 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
merchant princes and for their opulence and wealth, attained their distinc
tion principally by means of their immense commercial development. For
more than four thousand years the great highway for commerce has been
from India, by land or water to the Mediterranean Sea, thence through
the Straits of Gibraltar to western Europe and England, and thence to
North America across the Atlantic. This movement has always, since we
have any historical record, been in a westerly direction and chiefly confined
to the temperate zone, north of the equator, where the fullest development
of man's physical, moral and intellectual nature has been realized. Along
this route, which commerce has steadily followed, great cities, nations and
empires have grown up in wealth, power and influence, declined and passed,
in many instances, out of existence only to give way to others farther west,
which pursued or are now pursuing the same course of growth, activity
and decay, if the past is a true criterion of the future. These cities, nations
and empires have been the great bankers, manufacturers, capitalists and dis
tributors of minerals, raw materials and manufactured goods and by their
industry and ability have controlled the commerce of the world. This control
has passed from one nation and one race to another, but always from east
to west and approximately on the same parallels of latitude. The Romans,
more than any other people of ancient times, built roads throughout all their
vast empire, and it became a proverb that "all roads lead to Rome," but
even this precaution could not retain to that proud city either the control of
the world's commerce, or the political control of her once numerous prov
inces. From the time when Joseph was sold by his brethren, for twenty
pieces of silver, to "the company of Ishmaelites which came from Gilead,
with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it
down to Egypt," to the present time, the course of this commerce, "like the
star of empire," has been continually westward.
Caravans brought spices and rich products of India to the eastern
shores of the Mediterranean, whence they were distributed to the nations
of Europe and northern Africa. Later, King Solomon had at sea a navy
of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram, king of Tyre, of which it is recorded
that they brought, "once in three years, gold and silver, ivory and apes and
peacocks," and elsewhere it is recorded that the same navies brought from
Ophir to King Solomon four hundred and twenty talents of gold. It is a pecu
liarity of this western trend of commerce from one race or nation to another,
that the best blood of each nation in its turn emigrated westward and became
the nucleus for the future growth of other cities, nations and kingdoms.
The enterprising men and women of Tyre and Sidon founded and built up
the city of Carthage, which in its day was one of the great cities of the world,
sending its ships by the Pillars of Hercules to the British Isles, and many

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 109
other important places on the western shores of Europe, into- the Baltic
Sea, and southerly along the western coast of Africa, possibly as far as the
Cape of Good Plope. They founded Cadiz and compelled the Spaniards
to work in the mines of gold and silver they discovered in Spain, as the
Spaniards, two thousand years later, enslaved the aborigines of North and
South America, making them work in the mines in those continents which
were opened up after the discovery of America by Columbus. In the six
teenth century Portugal was the greatest maritime power in Europe, having
possessions extending from Japan, the Spice Islands and India by the way of
the Red Sea, to the Cape of Good Hope, on the eastern and western shores of
the Atlantic, including Brazil on one side and much of the western coast of
Africa on the other. • During the period of her supremacy in maritime affairs,
it was not unusual for a single fleet of one hundred and fifty to two hundred
and fifty vessels to sail from Goa to Lisbon, whilst at this time there is
scarcely one ship a year sails from all India.
Her best men emigrated to Brazil or were drained off to fight the
Moors or to go to the East Indies and elsewhere for commercial purposes,
until in later days she has been unable to maintain at all times even a separate
national existence. The sixteenth century saw the end of her maritime
supremacy. In like manner the seventeenth century saw the end of
Spanish dominion and supremacy in Europe, because her best blood was in
North or South America, or had been shed in driving the Moors out of
Spain or in a vain effort to secure, in an arrogant and presumptuous way,
a leadership in European affairs which she was not qualified to fill, or suffi
ciently powerful to maintain. Yet for more than one hundred years she
robbed and plundered the new world which she had discovered and the
East Indies of the old world into which she made her entrance very soon
after that discovery. Innumerable ships poured their rich cargoes of gold
and silver, gems, spices, silks and other valuable products into her ports,
until she became the most wealthy nation in Europe, and the most famous
for commercial enterprise. But her Armada was destroyed on the shores
of England, her influence in Europe declined, her colonies one by one revolted
and established their independence, until in 1898 Cuba and the Philippines
were freed from the Spanish yoke, and to-day Spain is no longer numbered
among the powers of Europe or of the world. In the eighteenth century France
aspired to the position which Spain had undertaken to fill, but she also was
found wanting, after an ample opportunity had been afforded her to prove
worthy of the place. Her leadership in European affairs under Louis XIV
was unquestioned. In military skill, in the arts and sciences, in literature
and language she was pre-eminent. Her colonies for a time covered a large
part of North America. Her enterprising commanders had obtained a footing

110 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
in India and elsewhere among the rich nations of the east, whose barbaric
splendor had captivated the imagination and stirred the cupidity alike of
her rulers and her people. But she lost practically everything in North
America. She was driven out of India by the English, her armies were
exhausted by the wars instigated and carried on by her ambitious soldiers,
princes and rulers. Her power gradually declined or was consumed in the
fires of the revolution or the wars of Napoleon, until in 1871 the Germans
before the walls of Paris permitted her to- continue her national existence,
but she is no longer one of the great powers of the world. ..
The Latin race had been tried but found incompetent to lead the grand
march of progress, which is ever moving forward in the general interests
of our common humanity. The sceptre was tranferred to the Anglo-Saxon
race, and Great Britain took the place which neither Spain nor France could
permanently hold, and for which they were manifestly disqualified. How
long the Anglo-Saxon race will be able to hold the advanced position it now
occupies, remains to be seen. It is evident that the British Empire reached
the maximum of its power and influence during the nineteenth century. It
is manifestly impossible for any nation to maintain a position such as that
now under discussion, when its vitality and energy are being slowly but
surely reduced by a constant flow of emigration, especially when that emi
gration is made up of its most active and enterprising citizens. To say nothing
of the large number emigrating before 1820, and since 1893, the records
show that between those years from six to seven millions of people left
Great Britain for the United States alone, not to mention the large number
who left for Australia, Canada and other parts of the world. Nor does
this take any account of the immense losses suffered by that empire in its
constant wars in all parts of the globe, from those of Napoleon down to the
destructive war recently waged with the Boers in South Africa.
Included in this estimate of failing powers and possibilities should be.
considered that conservative and sluggish disposition which favors old methods
and habits of thought, which looks with suspicion upon new inventions, which
is slow to adapt itself to progressive ideas and modern institutions, and it
will be readily seen how difficult is the task to compete with the United States
in the world of business, trade, commerce or the industrial arts and occupations.
Germany is handicapped in the same manner, and her losses by emi
gration and by wars in which she has been engaged, some of them extremely
destructive, have done much to make her weak where she should be strong
and her influence feeble where it should be powerful. To her losses by
emigration and wars are to be added the burden of an immense standing
army, which not only requires the annual expenditure of an enormous sum
of money, but it takes out of the ranks of industrial producers a very large

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. Ill
number of men in the prime of life who are consumers and not producers.
Within the years above mentioned, nearly five million Germans emi
grated to the United States alone, whilst the emigration to other parts of
the world has also been very large. The results of these movements of popu
lation, added to the immense losses of life in modern warfare, is that, where
as there were not many years ago five great powers in Europe, there are now
but three great powers in the world, and they are Russia, Great Britain and
the United States.
The same emigration movement from east to west continues in the
United States. For the last century it has been in progress from the At
lantic to the Pacific Ocean. The experience of the early settlers on the At
lantic coast, the lessons that were learned in the thirteen colonies of fortitude,
courage, patience under difficulties, hardships and dangers, and the lessons
learned subsequently in the common schools of the country, enabled them
and their children to endure the trials and brave the sufferings incident to
frontier life and to undertake a six months' journey across an unknown
desert or wilderness, confronted from one end to the other by savages, some
times in the form of men, sometimes in that of beasts.
Had it not been for the training received by the early settlers of the
Atlantic states, and their children, it is not probable that their descendants
would ever have undertaken the long and painful journeys necessary to
reach their destination in the far west. This training was admirable for the
cultivation of those virtues of self-reliance, energy and independence, to
gether with adaptability to circumstances which are indispensable character
istics of men who aspire to places in the vanguard of civilization.
Of the Puget Sound Country as referred to in this history, Professor
W. B. Lyman, the distinguished Oregon historian, wrote fifteen years ago,
" there are two large bays immediately north of the Columbia river — Shoal-
water (now called Willapa) and Gray's Harbor. The former is exceedingly
shallow, but intersected by deep channels, the greater part of it being a mud
flat at low tide. It is the emporium of the oyster and clam crops; and the
amount of the succulent bivalves which congregate there beggars belief.
The head of Shoalwater Bay is within five miles of the Columbia; and
there are some indications that the river formerly discharged part of its
contents through the bay. Between the head of the bay and its mouth is
a strip of beach a mile or two wide and twenty miles long, which, commonly
called Long Beach, is one of the most superb places of the kind in the coun
try. There is an unbroken carriage drive on the hard beach of twenty
miles. Being so easy of access by steamers from Portland and by rail from
Ilwaco, this beach has become the chief seaside resort of Oregon and Wash
ington. Gray's Harbor is much more of a port than Shoalwater Bay, but

112 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
it is not deep enough to admit the largest class of ships. There are immense
resources of lumber and fish, and something of agriculture, about this bay.
It has regular steamboat communication with Astoria. It now has railway
connections with Tacoma and Seattle. Its chief towns are Hoquiam, Aber
deen, Cosmopolis and Westport."
The Chehalis is a large stream entering this bay, coming from the spurs
of the Cascades. It is crossed by the Northern Pacific Railroad's line from
Portland to the Sound. " And now, Gray's Harbor past, we approach the
greatest series of inland waters on the entire coast of America. Washing
ton, we may here remark, has more coast line than any other state in the
Union. It amounts to one thousand nine hundred and ninety-two miles.
Nine-tenths of this follows the intricate lines of Puget Sound and the waters
adjoining. As the sailor approaches the entrance of the Straits of Fuca,
he sees that the mountains are becoming loftier and more rugged. They
attain at last the towering altitude of Mount Olympus, crowned with snow
and encircled with forests, into whose sunless depths, thick with the lairs
of wild beasts, few have penetrated. The Olympic range terminates in the
stormy promontory, usually wrapped in clouds and fringed with the dan
gerous reefs of Cape Flattery. Here the Pacific northwest corner of our na
tional domain seems to be split in two ; and approaching, like a gigantic wedge,
is the rugged southwest extremity of Vancouver Island. The legend of
old Juan de Fuca and his discovery of this inland sea and of his divers
islands passed in that sailing, comes to the mind of every one who looks at
the map, or the majestic reality of the strait which has preserved his name.
A volume might be written on the subject of this most important of the
waters of the Pacific northwest. But our space permits us only to give its
general features.
" As you glance at the map, you see that there are four large natural
divisions of these waters. The first is the Strait of Fuca, which has an
average width of about fifteen miles and a length of about one hundred.
The second is the Archipelago de Haro, immediately joining the strait on
the east and north. The third is Admiralty Inlet and the inlets of Hood's
Canal and Puget Sound, extending southward therefrom. The fourth is
the Gulf of Georgia, extending far beyond our national domain to the north.
Of the Strait of Fuca little need be said, aside from the fact that its great
depth, its directness, and the steadiness of the winds, make it accessible
at all times to all kinds of vessels. The same grandeur and beauty are not
lost on the heart of the modern traveler, which so captivated the usually
phlegmatic and taciturn Vancouver as to lead him to break forth into the
most enthusiastic description. He says that they could not conceive that
anything more beautiful could exist.

PIISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 113
" If the most experienced sailor and the most practiced pilot and the
shrewdest merchant had put their heads together and contrived an ideal
sea, with every conceivable advantage and every danger and unpleasantness
lacking, they could not have outdone what the elemental forces have made
out of Puget Sound and its approaches and adjuncts. The archipelago
which, with the lower part of the Gulf of Georgia, is sometimes called
Washington Sound, constitutes a body of waters and islands and channels
about fifty miles each way. Good harbors abound in this region, but of
pre-eminent excellence and importance among them is Bellingham Bay and
its adjuncts. The inlets on the mainland are here so under the lee of Fidal
go and (farther on) of Whidby Island, that they have almost perfect pro
tection from the weather. Harbors here are so numerous, such as Ship
Harbor, Port Gardner, Utsalady, that it is needful only to- sum them -up in
one general statement, and say that the entire archipelago is a succession of
natural ports. No blasting, no dyking, no jettying is required in these deep
and spacious bays. Passing the southern extremity of Whidby Island, we
find ourselves at the bold promontory of Foulweather Bluff, which parts the
entrance of Hood's Canal on the west from that of Admiralty Inlet on the
east. A dozen or fifteen miles below the mouth of the former is the mag
nificent harbor of Port Townsend. Aside from its being on the wrong side
of the Sound, and being in a position to' get occasional very heavy winds,
this is perhaps the finest port (if one might say finest where all are fine)
on the Sound. Just at the entrance of Hood's Canal are the ports of Ludlow
and Gamble. Here are immense sawmills. Hood's Canal has an average
width of about a mile, and is exceedingly deep and clear, with bold and
rugged shores, densely covered with the finest kind of timber. It extends
in a southwesterly direction about fifty miles, and then is bowed around in
fishhook shape to- the northeast for a distance of about fifteen miles. It is
a case of manifest destiny that this wonderful sheet of water be used for
lumbering and commerce; for anything more perfectly suited to such pur
poses cannot be conceived. Returning to the mouth of Admiralty Inlet
we find ourselves approaching the great city of the Sound, Seattle. Its
maritime advantages are almost ideal. A large and beautiful bay in front
and the two superb fresh water lakes in the rear (Lakes Washington and
Union), coal, lumber, copper, and gypsum in the near vicinity, abundant
railway communication with every part of the country, — such are the oppor
tunities of every kind gathered here that it is not surprising that the city has
septupled itself in the last decade. Beyond Seattle, the Sound continues in
almost an exact southerly direction at an average width in the main part,
of about four miles, besides a large channel on the west side of the fertile
and beautiful Vashon Island, till it reaches Commencement Bay. At this

114 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
angle in the Sound is Tacoma. Suffice it is to say of this harbor, that it has
no" superior even on the Sound. It is especially remarkable for its depth;
for in many places it is too deep for ships to anchor. The depth is so great,
in fact, as to become an impediment to navigation, rather than a help. The
distance from Tacoma to the point of Whidby Island is about fifty miles.
From Tacoma the Sound extends in a southwesterly direction some thirty
miles farther. It becomes broken up into numerous branches, all deep,
abounding in fine points for landings, and still bordered with the majestic
forests, which it seems to be its mission to offer to the world. There are
seven of these arms spread out in the rugged forest land like the fingers of
a hand. The most southerly of all is known as Budd's Inlet; and beyond
the tide flats which border its southern extremity is Olympia, the capital of
Washington. There are many little rivers entering the Sound and the Gulf
north of it, from the snowy heights of the Cascade Mountains. Of these,
the Skagit, Nooksack, Stillaquamish and Snohomish, are navigable short
distances. The others are small and afford little or no opportunity for navi
gation. Of the Sound itself and its adjacent waters, it is scarcely necessary
to say that they furnish the finest possible opportunities for steam-boating
and the movements of all kinds of craft. So deep and spacious are these
waters and so regular are the winds, that sailing vessels can and generally
do enter the straits and go to their usual destination at Seattle or Tacoma
without tugs."
For commercial and manufacturing purposes, for conveniences of traffic
by land and water, for safety, for salubrity of climate, for abundance of
valuable timber, coal and other varities of mineral wealth, and other natural
resources desirable for the speedy and profitable interchange of the products
of mankind, the above described Puget Sound Country presents more facil
ities and attractions than any other locality in the known world. This
wonderful collection of natural advantages is so placed, that three-fourths
of the population of the globe is accessible from the wharves and docks of
Puget Sound, either by land or water, by rail, or steam, or sail, at all sea
sons of the year. The eight hundred millions of China and the East Indies
are simply on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. These millions and the
thriving inhabitants of Australia and South Africa look to Puget Sound
for lumber, wheat and other products of the United States, brought to Puget
Sound by several transcontinental lines to be shipped at its wharves and
warehouses. Nature never does anything in vain, or without some specific
object in view. She has not assembled a marvelous multitude of advantages
at this point at random, or by mere chance. That she has had a fixed and
wise purpose in so doing cannot be questioned. That she intended these
advantages to be used by man, and for the benefit of mankind, needs no argu-

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HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 115
ment or demonstration; that here shall be the seat of a world-wide com
merce, corresponding with the facilities which have been provided, and be
side which the great commercial cities of the world in the past will be as the
age of the stage coach and the Conestoga wagon compared with the age of
the telegraph, the railroad, the telephone, steam and electricity. That the
facilities for doing business here are becoming understood will appear when
it is stated that the exports from Puget Sound have increased in ten years
from $6,567,000 per annum to $33,900,000, an increase of over four hun
dred per cent, while the imports into Puget Sound have, in the same period,
increased from $572,000 to $11,970,000, an increase of one thousand nine
hundred per cent. The first cotton that passed through Pacific ports was ex
ported in 1895 from San Francisco. In 1902, of a total 89,000,000 pounds
of cotton exported from this country to Japan, 64,000,000 pounds were
shipped by rail to Puget Sound, and thence by steamer across the Pacific.
Puget Sound now exports more cotton than Charleston, South Carolina, or
Mobile, Alabama. In like manner the exports of flour from the ports of the
Pacific have rapidly increased in ten years, from 51,000 to 446,000 barrels
a year, and to Hongkong from 550,000 to 1,398,000 barrels per annum.
The exports of flour from Puget Sound have grown from 19,250 barrels in
1882 to 103,596 in 1892, and to 1,295,000 in 1902, making Puget Sound the
largest flour exporting port on the Pacific and fifth largest in the United
States. In 1902, 34,000 tons of hemp were imported from the Philippines
into the United States valued at $6,318,000, the greater part of which was
carried by the Suez Canal to Atlantic ports, but it is altogether probable
that the hemp from these Islands will hereafter come by way of Puget
Sound, and thence by rail to Chicago, where it is largely manufactured into
harvest twine for the grainfields of the country. The same course is also
probable in regard to the 127,000 tons of jute imported from India and the
43,723,000 pounds of block tin imported from Java, also the 35,000,000
pounds of low-grade carpet wools from China, India and Australia. It is
now being done on a large scale with tea, rice, silks, matting, curios and
many other products of the East Indies, and, being the shortest, easiest, best
and safest route, it must eventually secure a very large proportion of this
traffic. Not only the captains of industry but the laborers in every line of
human endeavor, all over the world, are looking with interest upon these
struggles for commercial supremacy, because their personal fortunes are
concerned in the outcome, as cheap transportation means for all of them in
creased comfort in living, a broader intelligence the result of better wages,
and many steps of progress in the onward march of civilization and enlight
enment. In this way men who bring about cheap transportation by either
land or water, or both, are public benefactors. The prize at issue is one of

116 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
tremendous proportions. The trade between the United States and the coun
tries across the Pacific including Australia amounted in 1902 to the enor
mous sum of $242,000,000. This trade is rapidly increasing. It is esti
mated that it will double every ten years. If it can be shown as it undoubt
edly will be, that this trade, for a variety of reasons, can be carried on more
cheaply and more expeditiously by the way of Puget Sound than by the
Suez Canal, then it is certain to come this way, for in trade and commerce
there is no sentiment. They are conducted only on practical and common
sense principles, such as are applicable to lines of business of every descrip
tion. Puget Sound is the natural and logical gateway of the United States
to the Orient by reason of its geographical position, and because it has been
provided by nature with all the advantages of land and water, timber, coal
and numerous other products for the uses and conveniences of commerce
and transportation.
The Puget Sound route for American commerce with the Orient is
about one-half the length of the New York route via the Suez Canal, 11,575
miles against 5,830 miles from Puget Sound. The distance from New York
via Suez Canal to Yokohama is 13,000 miles. From Seattle to Yokohoma
it is 4,240 miles. Commerce via the Suez Canal is taxed two dollars per
ton canal charges. No such charge is incurred on Puget Sound. Steel rails
are shipped from the Mississippi valley via Puget Sound to Yokohama,
Manila and Hongkong at eight dollars per ton. Lumber is shipped from the
Puget Sound to the same ports for about eight dollars per thousand. Be
tween 1895 and 1903, the export volume of Puget Sound business has mul
tiplied sixfold. For steamship tonnage, Puget Sound is the leading Pacific
port, with seventy-five per cent American tonnage. On the Atlantic ninety-
two per cent of the tonnage is foreign. On the Pacific Ocean the United
States owns a total coast line of 12,425 miles, not including Hawaii and the
Philippines. Throughout this entire line, although it has many beautiful
harbors, there is not one that compares with Puget Sound for beauty, safety
and convenience. If we include Hawaii and the Philippines the United
States owns a greater extent of shore line than all other nations combined
on the Pacific, and all will be valuable in time to come for commercial pur
poses.
CHAPTER XVI.
the Indians' quest for " book of heaven " resulting in settlement
OF missionaries.
In the year 1832, before any American settlements had been made of
a permanent character in all the region then known as Oregon, the first of
a series of striking and important events occurred, which had a decided
bearing upon its future destiny. This was the visit to St. Louis of four Flat-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 117
head or Nez Perces Indians, who were sent by the tribe to which they be
longed, for the purpose of obtaining the White Man's Book of Heaven and
learning the details of his religion. These Indians were sent from the coun
try west of the Rocky Mountains, a region never before that time penetrated
by any white man, except an occasional hunter or trapper clad in the pictur
esque garb of a French voyageur or courier de bois, made of dressed deer
skins fringed and decorated to please the taste of both French and Indian
children of the forest.
The circumstances connected with this strange incident are so peculiar,
and its subsequent effects were so far-reaching in their effects, that the details
may be considered worthy of record. From whom these Indians first re
ceived their information in regard to the Bible and the Christian religion
may never be known, but the news they had heard, no matter from whence
it came, produced a profound impression upon them, and they determined
to send a delegation to St. Louis to learn the truth of the matter. Of these
messengers sent on such a worthy mission, one was an old chief distinguished
for his bravery and judgment; another for his skill in war, and two young
braves were selected with special reference to the long and dangerous jour
ney they were about to undertake. The two older braves died in St. Louis,
one on the return journey and one only lived to see his people again. Un
fortunately he went back without " the Book," disappointing the expecta^
tions of his people, and looking upon his journey as a sad failure and the
undertaking as a great misfortune, because of that failure, and because
of the death of his three companions, but of the tremendous consequences
of their effort in the end, of course he could know nothing.
Few more pathetic stories have ever been written, and few events of a
similar character have been followed by more important consequences.
According to Rev. Dr. Myron Eells, whose father came as a missionary
to these Indians in 1838, three years after their arrival in St. Louis, in an
swer to their appeal, and who has spent a lifetime amongst the Indians of
Washington, the first published account " of their trip was given in The
Christian Advocate of New York of March 1, 1833." It was written by
William Walker, an interpreter and member of the Wyandotte nation,
who was sent by that tribe to examine a region west of the Mississippi which
was offered them, etc. It was contained in a letter dated January 19,
1833. After describing the land referred to, he says, " I will here relate
an anecdote, if I may so call it. Immediately after we landed in St. Louis,
on our way to the west, I proceeded to General Clark's, superintendent of
Indian affairs, to present our letters of introduction from the secretary of
war, and to receive the same from him to the different Indian agents in the
upper country. While in his office and transacting business with him, he

118 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
informed me that three chiefs from the Flathead nation were in his house
and were quite sick; and that one, the fourth, had died a few days ago.
They were from the west of the Rocky Mountains. Curiosity prompted me
to step into the adjoining room to see them, having never seen any, but often
heard of them. I was struck with their appearance. They differ in appear
ance from any tribe I have ever seen : small in size, delicately formed, small
limbs and the most exact symmetry throughout. The distance they had
traveled on foot was nearly three thousand miles to see General Clark, their
Great Father, as they called him, he being the first American officer they ever
became acquainted with, and having much confidence in him they had come
to consult him, as they said, upon very important matters (General Clark
was the Captain Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition, which had passed
through their country twenty-seven years before.) General Clark related to
me the object of their mission, and, my dear friend, it is impossible for me
to describe to you my feelings while listening to his narrative.
" I will here relate it as briefly as I can. It appears that some white
man had penetrated into their country and happened to be a spectator at one
of their religious ceremonies, which they scrupulously perform at stated
periods. He informed them that their mode of worshiping the Supreme
Being was radically wrong, and instead of being acceptable and pleasing it
was displeasing to him; he also informed them that the white people away
toward the rising of the sun, had been put into possession of the true mode
of worshiping the Great Spirit. They had a book containing directions how
to conduct themselves in order to enjoy his favor and hold converse with
him ; and with this guide no one need go astray, but everyone that would
follow the directions laid down there, could enjoy in this life his favor, and
after death would be received into the country where the Great Spirit re
sides and live forever with him. Upon receiving this information from him
they called a national council to take this subject into- consideration. Some
said, if this be true, it is certainly high time we were put into possession of
this mode, and if our mode of worshiping be wrong and displeasing to the
Great Spirit, it is high time we laid it aside; we must know something more
about this. It is a matter that cannot be put off, the sooner we know the
better. They accordingly deputed four of their chiefs to proceed to St. Louis
to see their Great Father, General Clark, to inquire of him, having no doubt
but that he would tell them the whole truth about it. They arrived at St.
Louis and presented themselves to General Clark. The latter was somewhat
puzzled, being sensible of the responsibility that rested on him. He, how
ever, proceeded by informing them that what they had been told by the white
man in their own country was true. He then went into a succinct history
of man from his creation, down to the advent of the Savior, his life, precepts,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 119
his death, resurrection, ascension and the relation he now stands to man as
a mediator — that he will judge the world, etc.
" Poor fellows, they were not all permitted to return home to their
people with the intelligence. Two died in St. Louis, and the remaining two,
though somewhat indisposed, set out for their native land. Whether they
reached home or not is not known. The change of climate and diet operated
severely upon their health. Their diet when at home is chiefly vegetables
and fish. If they died on their way home, peace be to their names. They
died inquirers after the truth. I was informed that the Flatheads as a nation,
have the fewest vices of any tribe of Indians on the continent of America.
You are at liberty to make what use of this account you please.
" Yours in haste,
" William Walker.
" G. P Disosway, Esq."
Dr. Eells quotes also from Lee and Frost, who* published " Ten Years
in Oregon," from 1834 to 1844, who give substantially the same account.
One of them saw General Clark and learned from- him the particulars in
regard to this event. They were both missionaries to Oregon of the Meth
odist Episcopal church. Mr. Lee came to Oregon in 1834, inspired by this
appeal from the Indians of the far west. General Clark was anxious to com
ply with the wishes of his Indian guests, but his efforts in that direction
were not successful. Being a Romanist he took them to the Roman Catholic
church in St. Louis, but what they saw and heard there did not satisfy their
longings. To amuse them he took them to the theatre, but they were not in
St. Louis to- be amused. They wished the " Book " and to learn the way to
" eternal life," but there was no translation available and the principles of
religion which they so much wished to learn could not be taught them in
the brief time they cared to remain. General Clark promised that mission
aries should be sent among them- to teach them the " way of life," and with
this they were obliged to be content. In taking a formal leave of General
Clark, one of them delivered a speech that for pathos and eloquence has
rarely been equaled and never surpassed. He said, " I came to you over a
trail of many moons from the setting of the sun. You were the friend
of my fathers, who- have all gone the long way. I came with one eye
opened, for more light for my people, who sit in darkness. I go back with
both eyes closed. How can I go back blind, to my blind people? I made
my way to you with strong arms, through many enemies and strange lands,
that I might carry back much to them-. I go back with both arms broken
and empty. The two fathers who came with us — the braves of many winters
and wars — we leave asleep here by your great water and wigwam: They
were tired in many moons, and their moccasins wore out. My people sent

120 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
me to get the white man's Book of Heaven. You took me where you allow
your women to dance, as we do not ours, and the Book was not there. You
took me where they .worship the Great Spirit with candles, and the Book
was not there. You showed me images of the good spirits and pictures of
the good land beyond, but the Book was not among them to tell us the way.
I am going back the long, sad trail to my people of the dark land. You
make my feet heavy with burdens of gifts, and my moccasins will grow old
in carrying them, but the Book is not among them. When I tell my poor,
blind people, after one more snow in the big council, that I did not bring the
Book, no word will be spoken by our old men or by our young braves. One
by one they will rise up and go out in silence. My people will die in dark
ness, and they will go on their long path to the other hunting grounds. No
white man will go with them and no white man's Book, to make the way
plain. I have no more words."
Thus these unhappy and disappointed Indian messengers took their de
parture, over vast plains, rugged mountains, scorching deserts and through
many tribes of hostile savages for their distant homes on the waters of the
Columbia river. But one of the party ever reached his destination. The
circumstances connected with this extraordinary embassy were not, how
ever, to be concealed from the public. A clerk in the office of General Clark,
who knew the facts and heard the final interview with that officer, wrote to
a friend in Pittsburg detailing them as they had passed under his own obser
vation. He showed the account to Catlin, of Indian portrait fame, who had
just come from the Rocky Mountains. He said, " It cannot be, wait until
I write to General Clark before you publish it." He wrote. The response
was, " It is true, that was the sole object of their visit, to get the Bible."
Then Catlin said, " Give it to the world."
In his "Indian Letters" Mr. Catlin says: "When I first heard the
report of this extraordinary mission across the mountains, I could scarcely
believe it; but on consulting General Clark I was fully convinced of the
fact." As may be readily imagined, the publication of the letter relating
these incidents and particularly the pathetic speech of the departing and
disappointed Indians made a deep and lasting impression upon the religious
elements of the country. Dr. Eells continues, " Subsequent events prove also
that it was an epoch of tremendous importance in the history of the Pacific
Coast. Rev. Samuel Parker, of Ithaca, New York, saw the account, it be
came a fire in his bones and he offered himself as a missionary to the Amer
ican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The result was that
this society established a mission east of the Cascade Mountains, among the
Cayuses, Nez Perces and Spokanes, which existed from 1836 to 1848, and
in which H. H. Spalding, Marcus Whitman, Cushing Eells (the father
of Rev. Dr. Myron Eells), Elkanah Walker, W. H. Gray, A. B. Smith

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.

121

HEE-OH-KS-TE-KIN.— The Rabbit's Skin Leggins.
(DRAWN BY GEORGE CATLIN.)
The only one of'five Nez Perce Chiefs (some say there were only four) who visited Saint Louis in
1832, that lived to return to his people to tell the story.

J&

Kftf^iiK^iinK^

jiiL^yiivk.

/\ll^^^»s^H^^^i

III
HCO-A-HCO-A-HCOTES-MIN.— No Horns on his Head.
This one died on his return journey near the mouth of Yellowstone River.
This is what Catlin says himself. "These two men when I painted them, were in beautiful Sioux dresses
which had been presented to them in a talk with the Sioux, who treated them very kindly, while passing through the
Sioux country. These two men were part of a delegation that came across the Rocky mountains to St. Louis, a few
years since, to inquire for the truth of a representation which they said some white man had made among them,
"that our religion was better than theirs, and that they would be all lost if they did not embrace it." Two old and
venerable men of this party died in St. Louis, and I traveled two thousand miles, companions with these two fellows,
toward their own country, and became much pleased with their manners and dispositions. When I first heard the
report of the object of this extraordinary mission across the mountains, I could scarcely believe it; but, on con
versing with General Clark, on a future occasion, I was fully convinced of the fact."
See Catlin's Eight Years, and Smithsonian Report for 1885, 2nd part,
(Taken from J. Edwards, Life of Marcus Whitman.)
122 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
and a few others labored. The Methodist Board of Missions was also
aroused, thrilled, as Rev. H. K. Hines says, as it had never been thrilled
before, because the heathen were seeking the church, instead of the church
seeking the heathen. In 1834 they establishd a mission west of the Cascades,
in which such men as Jason Lee, Daniel Lee, Elijah White, A. F. Walker,
Gustavus Hines, George Abernethy, David Leslie and others labored. Har
vey Clarke and others followed as independent missionaries to the Indians.
The results of their labors on the Indians, on the whites, on the relation and
intercourse between the two, especially with reference to treaties and wars ;
on the early emigration to the Coast; on the early government of Oregon
and on the United States in obtaining her Pacific Coast possessions; on
Oregon literature and books; on the founding of three of her most success
ful colleges, the Willamette University, Pacific University and Whitman
College, — cannot be told. They have already filled many volumes and the
end is not yet, by any means. They will endure as long as the United States
shall last, they will endure through all eternity."
These and other missionaries who were sent out by their respective de
nominations to carry the gospel to this part of the world, in 1834, 1835,
1836 and subsequent years, were the first persons to make settlement " on the
American plan " in all the vast region then known as the Oregon country.
They were the first to furnish reliable information in regard to- its charac
ter, the dangers attending the long and painful journey to be made before
it could be reached, the difficulties to be encountered after reaching it, partly
from hostile Indians, partly from the unfriendly disposition of the Hudson's
Bay Company which controlled it, and partly because of the long distances
intervening between their locations and their home societies, to whom they
must look for aid, comfort and maintenance. These missionaries blazed the
way to this distant field of labor, and were the first to prove that wagons
could be taken from the Missouri to the Columbia river. The same influ
ences that, coming from the visit of these Flathead Indians to St. Louis in
1832, inspired church organizations to respond to this Macedonian appeal
by sending their agents to Oregon, prompted numerous laymen to undertake
the same journey for the purposes of making themselves homes in a region
which they believed full of promise for the future, notwithstanding all re
ports to the contrary. The fact that the Hudson's Bay Company discour
aged their coming and desired to retain this country as an English posses
sion, and as a preserve for Indians and for fur-producing animals, only
strengthened their determination to "beard the lion in his den," and to
brave all the hardships necessary to meet the issue and save this region to
the American Union. The long-continued efforts of Hall J. Kelley, begin
ning in 1815, and lasting forty years, his fruitless visit to Oregon in 1834,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 123
his numerous pamphlets on the subject, his petitions to Congress, were all
of no avail except to furnish valuable information to leading men at the seat
of government and to direct public attention to a subject which was strangely
neglected, and in regard to which there was a vast amount of ignorance and
misrepresentation. Nor was the expedition organized in Boston in 1832,
by Nathaniel J. Wyeth, who started with twenty-one men and arrived at
Vancouver after a perilous journey across the plains, with eleven weary, foot
sore and destitute men, who are glad to accept the hospitality and assistance
of Dr. John McLaughlin, then the representative of the Hudson's Bay Com
pany, any more successful in establishing a permanent settlement. One
of the party, John Ball by name, is given a place as a schoolmaster at Fort
Vancouver, and on the 1st day of January, 1833, the first school in all this
wild domain is opened by this young man from Massachusetts, by permis
sion or rather by the appointment of Dr. McLaughlin. His successor was
Solomon H. Smith, who conducted a school at the same place for eighteen
months, and afterwards became a prosperous farmer at Clatsop near the
mouth of the Columbia, where he died. Nor did the picturesque Bonneville,
who visited the Columbia river in 1834, with a party of hunters, trappers,
half-breeds and Indians, accomplish anything in the way of assisting emi
grants or making settlements. Pie doubtless furnished additional informa
tion in regard to the country, but otherwise his services in that direction
were not important. He resumed his place in the United States army, was
retired in 1861, and died in Fort Smith, Arkansas, in 1878, the oldest officer
in the army, eighty-three years of age.
But the men and women who came as missionaries were sincere and
earnest in their conceptions of duty, and were not to be swerved from the
line they had. marked out for themselves, by any obstacles or difficulties
in their way. They were intent not only on carrying the gospel to the In
dians, but on saving to American uses and institutions the wide and rich ex
panse- of territory which stretched away to the Pacific, from the summits
of the Rocky Mountains, and which was drained by the Columbia river.
They were practical men, who very soon after their arrival comprehended
the value of this promising region, and they were prompt to advise their
friends in the east of the vast issues then at stake, and which were await
ing settlement between the United States and Great Britain. The services
of Dr. Marcus Whitman, who established a Presbyterian mission about
twenty-five miles east of Fort Walla Walla in 1836, and was massacred in
1847 by tne Indians amongst whom he labored, with twelve other persons,
under circumstances of the rnost atrocious character, must always be held in
grateful remembrance by every loyal American citizen. There may be a dif
ference of opinion as to the full extent of these services, but that they were

124 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
of inestimable value in assisting emigrants to Oregon, in furnishing informa
tion in regard to that country and in directing the public mind to the import
ance of acquiring and holding it in perpetuity, there can be no question
whatever. His midwinter ride to further these purposes must always re
main a marvel of patriotic effort, of patience, endurance, and heroic forti
tude. For this and other services to the territory, now known as the state of
Washington, he is justly entitled to the place in the Hall of Fame in the city
of New York to which he was assigned by Governor John R. Rogers in
1900, along with Governor Isaac I. Stevens, the first governor of Washing
ton territory. Between 1832 and 1840, sixty-one men and women of high
moral, intellectual and religious character were sent to Oregon by various
missionary boards in the United States. They represented about thirty fam
ilies and one hundred children, who constituted an American colony or a
series of colonies in a vast scope of country, otherwise occupied and con
trolled by the Hudson's Bay Company, its agents, servants and employes.
There were a few others, American citizens, who were there for trading
and other purposes, but they were not homeseekers or homebuilders. But
these missionaries were true and worthy representatives of American ideas,
and their entry upon this stage of action marked the beginning of a new era
on the northwest coast of America. In the meantime, during those six years,
the representatives of British interests in Oregon were not idle and indif
ferent spectators of the events which were taking place around them. They
were sensible of the fact that the issue was upon them and must be met.
if they would hold the country they valued so highly, for many reasons.
They brought, in 1838, two Roman Catholic priests, who were devoted to
British interests, and placed one of them in the Willamette Valley, and the
other was given a roving commission to visit all settlements or posts where
his ministrations would be received. In 1840 they brought a colony of one
hundred and twenty-five persons from Winnipeg intended for settlement
on Puget Sound. These people were taken to the valley of the Cowlitz "river,
north of the Columbia river in order, if possible, to make that river the
boundary between the two countries when a dividing line should be per
manently located. This colony was not a success, however, and most of its
members removed to the Willamette Valley or engaged in hunting or trap
ping for the Hudson's Bay Company. The first regular emigration move
ment across the plains began in 1841. This consisted of one hundred and
eleven persons who came in that year, and their arrival nearly doubled the
number of Americans in the territory. It was deemed impracticable at that
time to bring wagons across the mountains to Oregon. So the long journey
of two thousand miles was made on horseback. In 1842 another important
addition was made to the Oregon settlements. This consisted of only one

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 125
hundred and nine persons, but a large proportion of these were adults, and
many of them became prominent in later years in the political history of
the country. The supremacy of the Hudson's Bay Company was now term
inated, to all practical intents and purposes, and very shortly afterwards
the country became thoroughly Americanized.
CHAPTER XVII.
SUMMARY  EARLY GENERAL HISTORY.
To properly appreciate the motives of, and the external influences sur
rounding the first settlers north of the Columbia river and particularly in
the region of Puget Sound, it may be desirable again to refer briefly to that
event known in American history as the " Oregon Question," to recapitulate
some points already touched upon, and to show how the Sound country came
to be a part of the United States instead of a part of British America. It
has been frequently stated in many public prints and addresses, that the
present state of Washington was acquired from France as a part of the
Louisiana purchase in 1803. The weight of authority is against that
proposition. Nations acquire title to territory in one of four ways : ( 1 ) By im
memorial occupation; (2) by conquest; (3) by purchase or gift; and
(4) by discovery followed by occupation. The discovery of the mouth of
a river and the occupation of the territory give title, by the law of nations,
to the territory drained by the river and its tributaries.
Applying the facts of history to these principles of international -law,
as the same bears upon the Puget Sound settlement, we find :
First. — In 1792, Vancouver, an English navigator, entered and took
possession of the Sound country in the name of his sovereign.
Second. — In the same year Captain Robert Gray of the ship " Colum
bia," sent out by a company of Boston merchants, entered the mouth of the
great river on the western coast of the United States and gave it the name of
his ship. Neither discovery was followed by occupation and no attention
was paid to them until 1804.
Third. — In 1804, President Jefferson sent out two surveyors, Captains
Merriwether Lewis and William Clark, who in 1804-5-6 explored the coun
try west of the Rocky Mountains and down the Columbia river.
Fourth. — In 181 1 John Jacob Astor, an American merchant, estab
lished a trading post at Astoria.
Fifth. — In 181 3, by the treachery or weakness of the manager of this
post, the valuable property was transferred to an English company during
the war then being waged between the United States and Great Britain, and
a British war sloop took possession, hoisted the British flag and changed the
name to Fort George.

126 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Sixth. — In 1814, by the treaty which concluded the war of 18 12, this
property was ceded back to the United States. British fur and trading com
panies, however, continued to operate in this region and lost no opportunity
to so shape matters that they could regain possession of the territory.
Thus after the United States, through Captain Gray, had discovered
the country in 1792; after it had been explored by the authority of the pres
ident; after a citizen of the United States had established a trading post
there; after it had been acknowledged as belonging to the United States
by a treaty which terminated a war, yet the United States acknowledged that
it did not know whether it owned Oregon or not.
Seventh.— In 18 18 the United States agreed with Great Britain upon
a joint occupancy of the territory west of the Rocky Mountains in the fol
lowing terms : " That any country claimed by either party on the north
west coast of America, together with its harbors, bays and creeks and the
navigation of all rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of
ten years to the subjects, citizens and vessels of the two powers."
This opened the country to the free movements of the British fur and
trading companies, and England thus gained by diplomacy, what belonged
to the United States through discovery and occupation.
Eighth. — At the expiration of the ten years, or in 1828, the treaty was
renewed for an indefinite period of time, terminable however on a year's
notice by either party to the other. It is not necessary here to go into details
of events that transpired during the succeeding years. There were operating
in this country the Hudson's Bay Company; there were speculators, Indians,
priests, explorers, and adventurers of all kinds. Troubles were growing and
in many instances murders were committed. But in spite of these discour
agements, immigration was moving westward.
Ninth. — In 1844 the United States gave notice to England that it de
sired to terminate the treaty of 1818, and, in 1846, the forty-ninth parallel
of latitude was made the international boundary from the summit of the
Rocky Mountains to the middle of the channel which separates the con
tinent from Vancouver's Island ; thence through the middle of said channel
and of Fuca's straits to the Pacific. The free navigation of the Columbia
river was given to the Hudson's Bay Company and other British subjects.
If the British government had any claim to the Puget Sound basin through
the discovery of Vancouver in 1792, it was surrendered by this treaty of
1846. Tenth. — Subsequent to the convention of 1846, England claimed that
Rosario's Straits was the channel intended where the United States insisted
upon the Canal De Haro. Both are deep-sea channels and between them lies
the Island of San Juan, then occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company. In

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 127
1858 the two governments agreed upon a joint occupancy of the disputed
island. By the convention of 1872 which was called to settle the Alabama
claims, the northwest boundary question was referred to Emperor William
I of Germany for arbitration. The decision was in favor of the United States,
and in November, 1872, the British garrison was withdrawn. The disputed
island is the present county of San Juan in the state of Washington.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE.
Reference has been made to the Louisiana Purchase and a few facts
concerning that event are here stated :
Four nations were concerned in the boundaries to Louisiana : The
United States, who was making the purchase; France, who was making
the sale; England, who owned the country to the north; and Spain, who
owned the Floridas on the southeast and Texas and California on the south
west. The southwestern limit in the treaty was defined as " along the main
channel of the Sabine river from its mouth to the thirty-first parallel of
latitude; thence due north to Red river; thence up that stream to the one
hundredth meridian of longitude; thence due north to the Arkansas river;
thence up that river to its source ; thence north along the crest of the Rocky
Mountains to the forty-second parallel of latitude."
The United States and France, the parties to the contract, were willing
the southern boundary should then extend along that parallel to the Pacific.
This was satisfactory to England, but Spain, who owned California, ob
jected and the matter rested until 1819. In a convention of that year, Spain
made a concession relating to Texas and at the same time yielded Florida
and Oregon. Opinions may differ as to whether the Louisiana Purchase
included the Oregon Territory or was bounded on the west by the summit
of the Rocky Mountains, but there is no question as to the fact that the
acquisition of this territory was facilitated by that purchase and was the more
readily made because of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
That Spain had good grounds for claiming the entire northwest coast
to 54 degrees, 40 minutes of north latitude, or the southern boundary of
the Russian Possessions, by virtue of prior discovery and settlement, had she
chosen, or been in a position to assert her rights in the premises, there is no
question. But European or Napoleonic wars, and more especially the war
between England and Spain which began in 1796, left her in no position to
maintain her legitimate claims, against that country. Whatever may have
been lacking however, as far as the Spanish title was concerned in the Louis
iana Purchase to the Oregon territory, was made up in the treaty of 18 19,
wherein Spain transferred Florida to the United States, and also all her
right, title and interest in and to the Oregon territory. With reference to
the Louisiana Purchase, James G. Blaine, in his " Twenty Years in Con-

128 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
gress," very clearly and succinctly says, " Texas was also included in the
transfer, but Oregon was not. The Louisiana Purchase did not extend be
yond the range of the Rocky Mountains, and our title to that large area,
which is included in the state of Oregon and in the territories of Washing
ton and Idaho-, rests upon a different foundation, or, rather, upon a series
of claims, each of which was strong under the law of nations. We claimed
it first by right of original discovery of the Columbia river by an American
navigator in 1792; second, by original exploration in 1805; third, by orig
inal settlement in 1810, by the enterprising company of which John Jacob
Astor was the head; and lastly and principally, by the transfer of the Span
ish title in 1819, many years after the Louisiana purchase was accom
plished." IMMIGRATION.
The decade of the '40s witnessed a tremendous immigration to the north
west. The country was occupied by the servants and employes of the Hud
son's Bay Company. The latter established forts and trading posts in dif
ferent parts of the country, all tending to establish an occupation of the
country that would ultimately save it to the British flag. They had twenty-
three forts and five trading stations. At the mouth of the Cowlitz they had
a farm and small post and a more extensive farm twenty-five miles up the
river. At Vancouver they built a stockade, and this fort was the general
depot for the southwestern branch of their system. Several of their insti
tutions were established east of the mountains. On Puget Sound was Fort
Nisqually, formerly a stockade. They also had two steamers with which
they entered the bays and rivers along the coast from Mexico to Russian
America, now Alaska, to subserve their interests. They had thoroughly
explored the country and knew well its topography. There was little like
lihood of immigration setting in toward the Sound country except that
which entered by the way of Vancouver and the Cowlitz river. By strategy
and deception the occupants at Vancouver and Cowlitz sought to turn the
tide of immigration to the Willamette valley and to deter it from entering
the Puget Sound basin. The Hudson's Bay people relied upon diplomacy
in the near future to fix the Columbia river as the boundary line between
the United States and Great Britain, and looked jealously upon all efforts
to found homes north of that stream.
GENERAL HISTORY.
In the immigration of 1844, was a company from Missouri destined for
the Rogue River valley in southern Oregon. They. came down the Columbia
and camped at Washougal near Fort Vancouver. In the party were Michael
T. Simmons and George Bush and their families. They had been neighbors
in Missouri. George Bush was a mulatto, but a man of true merit and ster-

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 129
ling manhood. The efforts of the Hudson's Bay people at Vancouver to
keep immigrants from going to the Sound country had its effect upon Sim
mons, and with his true Americanism and inherent combativeness he pro
posed to resent the interference of these people and to fight his way to Puget
Sound. The provisional government of Oregon had passed a law excluding
from the territory all free negroes and mulattoes. George Bush concluded
that the Rogue River valley was no place for him, and that, should the Sound
country ultimately become British or American, so long as the British claim
prevailed, his color would not prevent him from asserting his manhood nor
deprive him of the protection Of her institutions.
In December, Colonel Simmons, who had been detailed by the company
as the one to make a reconnoissance of the Sound country, started with a
small party up' the Cowlitz. At " The Forks," a junction of two streams
near where the present town of Toledo in Lewis county is located, their pro
visions became short and the navigation of the stream discouraging; they
then turned back. In explaining the incident afterwards, Colonel Simmons,
who it seems had a fair share of superstition in his makeup, said that he
really turned his face homewards because of a vision he had before leaving
Missouri; indicating that he would find just such a place as the forks of the
Cowlitz and be compelled to abandon his enterprise. In that place he saw
mapped out the spot which appeared to him in his dream. Colonel Simmons,
however, determined to resume his explorations at a more fitting season.
This he did, but the others never attemped the trip again.
It is worthy of note that while Mr. Simmons and family were camped
at Washougal, Mrs. Simmons, in April, 1845, gave birth to a son, Christo
pher C, the first white American child born north and west of the Columbia
river, and the first white male child in the confines of the present state of
Washington. The first American child born in Washington was a daughter
of Mrs. Marcus Whitman, at Wailatpu, in the present county of Walla
Walla, several miles east of the Columbia river.
In July, 1845, Colonel Simmons again started for Puget Sound, ac
companied by George Wanch, William Shaw and seven others, none of
whom settled in the Sound country except Simmons and Wanch. William
Shaw was the father of Colonel B. F. Shaw, of Vancouver, the famous
Indian fighter who has since become prominent in the legislative councils
of the territory and state.
Colonel Simmons and party, upon reaching the Cowlitz prairie, pro
cured the services of Peter Bercier, as guide,- and started for the Sound.
At this point they learned that John R. Jackson had been in the vicinity
just before and, being pleased with the country, had made a location and re-

130 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
turned to Oregon City for his stock and effects. This incident is mentioned
from the fact that the claim of " Pioneer " has been asserted in favor of
both of these early explorers and settlers. It will be observed that while
Colonel Simmons had entered the country in the fall of 1844, thereby mak
ing the first exploration with a view to settlement, Mr. Jackson had made
the first location.
Colonel Simmons and party reached the shores of Puget Sound in Au
gust, and obtaining canoes went down the Sound examining the various
points of interest. They passed around the north end of Whidby Island,
and, returning through Deception Pass, came back to the east side of that
island. The party then returned to the Columbia river, where Colonel Simmons
and his family were joined by James McAllister and family, David Kindred
and family, Gabriel Jones and family, George Bush and family and Messrs.
Jesse Ferguson and Samuel B. Crockett, and a return trip was made to the
Sound. Peter Bercier again acted as guide, and to him is due the distinction
of conducting the first American colony to Puget Sound.
These hardy frontiersmen were fifteen days cutting out the road from
Cowlitz Landing to Tumwater, a distance of fifty-eight miles, where they
arrived late in October, 1845. Mr. Simmons took the claim at Tumwater,
calling it New Market, while all who accompanied him made settlement in
the vicinity, principally on what has ever since been known as Bush Prairie,
situated about five miles from the headwaters of the Sound.
Tumwater is the Indian name for the falls in the Pacalups river, which
empties into tide water at this picturesque point. Colonel Simmons changed
the name of the river to Deschutes and the name of the settlement to New
Market, as stated. The name Deschutes became a fixture, but the settlers
found Tumwater a more euphonious name for the city that, in their imagi
nation, they had pictured for that commanding position in the future com
merce of the northwest.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Hudson's Bay people at Fort Van
couver made strenuous efforts to discourage American colonization north of
the Columbia river, yet in September, 1845, when the little band of pioneers
under Simmons started for the Sound country, Dr. McLaughlin and Gov
ernor Douglas gave an order on Messrs. Forest and Tolmie — the former in
charge of the Cowlitz station and the latter at Fort Nisqually — to furnish
the party, on credit, with two hundred bushels of wheat at eighty cents;
one hundred bushels of peas at one dollar; three hundred bushels of pota
toes at fifty cents; and ten or twelve head of beef cattle at twelve dollars
per head.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 131
An important event in any new settlement is the appearance of the
first born, and is one that should never go unrecorded. On March 15, 1846,
James Benton McAllister was born to Mr. and Mrs. James McAllister, the
first native born in the Puget Sound settlement. The first American girl
born in the settlement was a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Sydney S. Ford,
who arrived at New Market in the summer of 1846. Their daughter, born
June 10, 1847, afterwards became Mrs. John Shelton.
Another item as indicative of the progress the new settlement was making
is the brief item which read : " Married at New Market, Puget Sound, at
the house of Mr. Davis, on the 6th of July, 1847, by Judge Simmons, Mr.
Daniel F. Kinsey to Miss Ruth Brock, of the former place."
ORGANIZED GOVERNMENT.
Immigration to the country lying between the Columbia river and Puget
Sound had brought this vast region sufficiently to the front to make impera
tive some effort at organizing a government.
In July, 1845, the provisional government of Oregon had formed the
territory lying north of the Columbia river into a single county. Sir James
Douglas, M. T. Simmons and James Forrest were the first county commis
sioners or judges. Lewis county was organized by act of the Oregon
legislature, approved December 25, 1845, to S° mto effect after the June
election of 1846, and embraced all of the territory lying north of the Colum
bia and west of the Cowlitz rivers. At the June election Dr. W. F. Tolmie,
of Nisqually, was elected the first representative.
On August 14, 1848, the act of Congress establishing a territorial
government for Oregon was approved by the president and included all of
the Pacific possessions north of the forty-second parallel of latitude, the
northern boundary being the line fixed by the convention of 1846, to-wit:
the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, which then became the international
boundary line between Great Britain's American possessions and the United
States. Contemporaneous with the passage of the Oregon organic act, General
Joseph Lane had been appointed governor and ex-ofncio superintendent of
Indian affairs. On May 13, 1849, he divided the territory into judicial
districts and assigned the judges. Vancouver, with several counties south of
the Columbia, constituted the first district, to which was assigned Chief
Justice William P. Bryant; the second district was wholly south of the
Columbia, and Lewis county constituted the third district, but to it no judge
was assigned.
By proclamation of Governor Lane the country north of the Columbia
river, together with Clatsop county, south of that stream, constituted a
council and representative district. At the election provided for by the

132 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
proclamation, Samuel T. McKean, of Clatsop, was elected councilman and
Michael T. Simmons, of Lewis county, representative.
A NEW TERRITORY.
During the few years following, the influx of settlers to the country
north of the Columbia river had far exceeded the expectations of the little
band of pioneers who first located their homes in the gigantic forests. It
became apparent that steps toward a separate territorial government could
not be taken any too soon. At the session in the winter of 1852, the legis
lature of Oregon created the county of Thurston out of the northern por
tion of Lewis county. The new county embraced all of the Puget Sound
Country, and its northern limit was the international boundary.
Levi L. Smith, of New York, and Edmund Sylvester, of Maine, were the
first settlers of Olympia, coming there in 1846. They settled as squatters upon
the present site of that city. They proposed to lay out a town at that place,
which they believed would become an important place in the future as it
was at the head of navigation on Puget Sound. They agreed to call the place
Smithter, which name was formed by a combination of Smith and "ter," the
last syllable of Sylvester's name, although this was not altogether satisfactory
to Sylvester. Smith was elected a member of the Oregon legislature in 1848,
but did not live to take his seat, having been drowned in August of that
year, while on his way in his canoe from his cabin to Tumwater. Subse
quently, Sylvester acquired by purchase such interest as Smith had as a squat
ter on the land, and afterward entered, under the donation act, a claim which
covered both of their original locations. The statement heretofore frequently
published that the town was to be called Smithfield is not correct. It was first
surveyed in 1850 and was given the name of Olympia, which it has since
retained. When the bill to create a new county for the Puget Sound Country was
first presented to the Oregon legislature, it was proposed to name it Simmons,
but the sad death of Congressman Samuel R. Thurston, which occurred the
spring before, and a general disposition among the people of Oregon to
perpetuate his memory, suggested his name for the new county.
During the summer of 1852 the talk in favor of a new territory to be
formed out of that part of Oregon lying north of the Columbia river, became
general and met with favor from all of the rapidly growing settlements.
The suggestion received its first public expression in a Fourth of July speech
at a celebration in Olympia. A few weeks later, at a term of the district
court held at the residence of John R. Jackson in Lewis county, a convention
was called to meet at Monticello on the last Thursday in November, to
memorialize Congress for a new territory. Monticello, then an important
town, was located near the mouth of the Cowlitz river on the direct route
from the Columbia to the Sound.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 133
The Monticello convention was held November 25, 1852, and was
attended by delegates from each county in that portion of Oregon that was
asking for a sqsarate government. A memorial to Congress was prepared,
setting forth existing conditions and asking that there be created the terri
tory of Columbia out of that portion of Oregon lying north and west of the
Columbia river. No opposition to the move was manifest on the part of the
people residing in the other portions of Oregon.
On December 6, 1852, Plon. Jos. Lane, delegate to Congress from
Oregon, introduced the subject of a new territory. The committee on terri
tories reported a bill to create the territory of Columbia, which came up for
consideration on February 8, 1853. Congressman Stanton, of Kentucky,
suggested the name of " Washington," saying that there was already a
district of Columbia, while the name of the Father of his Country had not
been given to any territory in the Union. With the name of " Washington "
substituted the bill became a law on March 3.
The act created a territory more than twice the size asked for in the
memorial, being " All that portion of Oregon territory lying and being
south of the forty-ninth degree of north latitude and north of the middle
channel of the Columbia river from its mouth to where the forty-sixth
degree of north latitude crosses said river near Fort Walla Walla, thence
with said forty-sixth parallel of latitude to the summit of the Rocky
Mountains." This included all of Washington as it now stands, together
with portions of Idaho and Montana.
CHAPTER XVIII.
HARDSHIPS AND INCIDENTS OF TRAVELING ACROSS THE PLAINS.
A large proportion of the settlers in the Puget Sound Country
came from the Mississippi valley, crossing the plains with ox-teams, after
they learned that wagons could be taken across the Rocky and Cascade
mountains. This journey was not only tedious and toilsome but full of
danger, and from the time these emigrants passed the western borders of
Iowa and Missouri, constant watchfulness was required by day and by night;
for they were surrounded by hostile savages and wild beasts, who were the
terror of horses and cattle, as well as the emigrants themselves. To stam
pede the former and massacre the latter was the ambition of most of the Indian.
tribes through which they passed, and all their cunning and ingenuity were
made use of, to compass these ends. For self-preservation and mutual
protection, the emigrants traveled in large companies, corralled their wagons,
and within the circle so formed they enclosed their families and, if possible,
all of their horses and cattle. Thus they traveled day after day, week after

134 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
week, month after month, until their destination was reached, which was
usually six months, sometimes more, after leaving the borders of civiliza
tion. Occasionally, an epidemic would break out amongst these pilgrim
bands, as the cholera did in 1852, and for the want of care, proper medical
attention and nursing, the mortality would be great, and their numbers much
reduced before they came to their journey's end. It was not strange, there
fore, that the road they traveled, which eventually became a broad highway,
should be frequently bordered by lonely graves, which marked the last resting
places of the victims of disease, of Indian hostility, or of accident, or by
drowning in some of the many cold and swift rivers they were obliged to
cross, particularly, in the Rocky Mountain region, the Cascades, and other
ranges over which they were obliged to pass.
The hostility of the Indians was further intensified by the wanton and
cruel acts of lawless and unprincipled white adventurers, who were too fre
quently to be found in these emigrant trains, and who were not restrained
by the ordinary laws, rules and regulations of organized society. It was not
strange, therefore, that these Indians, conscious of the tide of civilization
advancing with apparently irresistible force from the Atlantic, in the direc
tion of the Pacific, crowding out and destroying the aborigines of the
country, should undertake in their wild and ungovernable passion, to wreak
vengeance upon any members of the hated race with whom they came in
contact and should slaughter men, women and children indiscriminately
whenever an opportunity to do so presented itself. Yet there was some
thing grand and inspiring in this long journey of two thousand miles, over
plains whose billowy roll extended in every direction as far as the eye could
reach, or over mountains whose snowy peaks seemed to touch the clouds
throughout the entire year. Many of these emigrants had never before seen
a mountain, and to them it was like the first view of the ocean, or of Niagara
Falls. In the wonderfully clear and exhilarating atmosphere of the plains
and mountains, the stars looked down upon their lonely encampments with
peculiar and unusual brilliancy; and it would have been strange indeed, if
the watchful sentinels and the wakeful travelers, whose bed was the earth
and the sky their covering, brought, as they were, into such intimate com
munion with nature, should have been led to inquire with Napoleon, Who
made all these? or should have realized more fully than ever before, the
constant and all-prevailing presence of God himself. There were many who
sailed away from New England, New York and elsewhere on the Atlantic,
for the northwest coast, who had similar experiences. Their long voyage
of fifteen thousand miles, traversing day after day, week after week, month
after month, for from three to six months, a barren waste of waters, bounded
only by the horizon in every direction, enabled them to form larger concep-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 135
tions of the great world in which we live, and must have made them feel the
immensity of the heritage given to man for his use and benefit, more thor
oughly than they ever did before. These long journeys or voyages were
calculated in the highest degree to broaden the view, to increase the mental
scope of vision, and to serve as a stimulus to the intellectual capacity of
every man, woman and child making either the one or the other. No such
lessons in patience, fortitude, courage and endurance could be learned in
any of the books, or from any of the professors in the schools, colleges or
universities of the country. The ordinary troubles of life would have but
few terrors for those who had made such a journey across the plains in
the years intervening between 1840 and 1870, or a voyage around the
Horn before the age of steam had superseded sailing vessels. A few extracts
from original documents may be of interest in this connection.
The following paragraphs are taken from a manuscript volume by
Samuel Hancock, long a respected citizen of Whidby Island, and who was
engaged in business at various points in the Puget Sound Country for many
years. It is entitled "Thirteen Years' Residence on the Northwest Coast,
1847 to i860, An Account of Travels and Adventures Among the Indians,
etc :" " In the spring of 1845, the author of this book took his departure from
Independence, Missouri, in company with two hundred others, their wagons
and necessary teams, for the long and at that time uncertain journey across
the plains. The destination of the party was Oregon, which at the time
might be considered somewhat indefinite, the whole of the possessions of
the United States on the . northwest coast of the Pacific embracing an
immense area of country beginning at the forty-second degree of north lati
tude, and extending to forty-nine degrees north, or to the British possessions,
east to the summit of the Rocky Mountains, and from there to the line sepa
rating this territory on the seashore from California. At the time referred
to, the now state of Oregon and the present existing and flourishing terri
tory of Washington constituted this far off and attractive part of
the wilds, known as "Oregon," and which seemed to possess the induce
ments for our adventurous citizens to go to, and undertake its settlement,
to build up new homes and, if possible, new everything, and in undertaking
this the reader can well imagine it was no trifling task to separate one's self
from all the old associations of early life and start upon such an enterprise
at such a time, for at that time little was known of the northwest from the
Atlantic to the Pacific seaboard. It is true a small emigration did cross the
year before, but little information was derived from these early pioneers
other than that they reached Oregon after a long and hazardous journey.
" Our party, after leaving Independence, proceeded up the Missouri

136 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
river for four days, when it was thought best to halt and here remain for a
week, there being good grass at this encampment, and to recruit our animals
and get everything in proper readiness for the progress of our long journey.
Our company at this encampment, having all got together, embraced forty
wagons. Soon after our arrival at this point, we discovered fresh signs of
Indians, which caused us to keep a pretty close guard upon our animals, and,
indeed, ourselves too, for we were disposed to regard these Indians suspi
ciously from the accounts we had heard of them before leaving the settle
ments. During the second day at this place Indians could be seen on the hills
adjoining, to all appearances taking a survey of the position of our encamp
ment, doubtless for the purpose of making a descent upon either us or our
cattle, either of which we did not particularly desire, so we detailed a double
guard to provide against a surprise. The Indians could see this movement,
and doubtless did, for in two or three hours after this extra guard was
instituted they left, seemingly, but were evidently still about, for in the
night of the third day it was discovered the cattle were very restless and
apparently frightened at the Indians, and we immediately took the precau
tion of staking our horses near the corral, formed by placing our wagons
around in a circle. This formed a kind of fortification besides being a place
of comparative safety for our stock. In addition to the guard already on
duty, we detailed a special horse guard, the night being very dark, indeed so
dark it was almost impossible to distinguish any object a little remote. Just
about daylight the cattle made another demonstration of uneasiness, and one
of the guards, perceiving an Indian rise from his place of concealment and
run, discharged his rifle immediately at him, but without effect. Notwith
standing all the. vigilance on our part in the establishment of guards so
as to keep a good watch upon the movements of these wily Indians, yet they
succeeded in stealing quite a number of our cattle. This being ascertained,
a party of twenty-five men immediately struck out from camp in the direction
of where we could hear a bell that was around the neck of a trusty animal
that the Indians had driven off amongst the others they had stolen. This
animal, being frightened at the appearance of these unfamiliar masters,
would not allow them to approach tier to get this bell off, and by this means
we were enabled to pursue our stock. The Indians, after finding it impossi
ble to get near this ' bell cow,' endeavored to kill her, for we found a number
of arrow heads had pierced the poor animal. It seemed to be an effort on
the part of the Indians, to get this animal out of hearing, for she was in
advance of all the rest of the animals. In our pursuit after the cattle and
Indians we passed pretty much all of our stock save this one and perhaps
two or three others that were hurried along by the Indians. By means of
this bell we were enabled to follow them up. When daylight fairly opened

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 137
upon us we were enabled to see perhaps a dozen Indians on horseback and
others on foot, forcing the cattle along. As soon as they discovered us in
quick pursuit after them, they abandoned the cattle and fled. We, taking
possession of them and driving them back in the direction of the camp,
found others belonging to' us on the way, that had broken from the Indians
in the stampede, and these we also drove back. After getting back to camp
and counting up our stock, we found that three were missing. A party imme
diately started out in search of the missing ones, and found where our
troublesome visitors the night before had butchered one of them, so we
gave up any further search and returned to camp, where the ' bell animal '
was butchered in consequence of the many wounds she had received from
the bows of the Indians. This job being completed and our breakfasts over,
we yoked up our teams and left the encampment, making a short day's drive,
where we encamped in fine grass and where we enjoyed a quiet night's rest
without any interruption. About sunrise the next morning at this encamp
ment, one of the party heard a noise a short distance from camp and sup
posed it to be game of some kind and went out to secure it, when ' lo and
behold ' he discovered an Indian perched up in a tree, probably taking an
observation of us for the purpose it may be of facilitating some subsequent
movement against us, and the gentleman on discovering him, having no very
kind feelings towards all ' Red Kings ' for the annoyance they had caused
us two nights previous, thought he would make one less of their number.
so leveling his rifle brought Mr. Indian to- the ground to be taken care of by
his friends, should they chance that way. Soon after this affair we broke up
this camp, and after a long day's drive, encamped for the night on what is
called the Big Blue. Here we saw indications of the encampment of the
little party called the ' First Emigration,' who preceded us in the year 1844.
From these indications we supposed they must have had rather an unpleas
ant time of it. Just here, in fact, I have since learned that they were obliged,
in consequence of high waters, to remain for, I believe, three weeks or more,
the whole country anywhere contiguous to the river being completely inun
dated at that time. Our party, here being more fortunate than our prede
cessors, had no trouble in making thfe crossing of this river, it being in a
very good stage for fording. From this encampment on Big Blue we
journeyed on this day, encountering Indians who did not seem to be badly
disposed. At night when we camped, however, we kept a pretty strict watch
upon them. Nothing occurring at this encampment particularly worthy of
note, the next day we yoked up and started on our way and camped for the
night on the Little Blue. There we established, for the time being, a sort
of ferry, converting our wagon beds into boats for transportation purposes,
having, before starting on this journey, provided ourselves with wagon beds

138 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
that would answer the double purpose of both land and water craft. At
this encampment on Little Blue there were more wolves than I ever saw, or,
I might say, ever heard, before, for they made the night hideous with their
yelling. To persons unaccustomed to- such sounds, and in this strange
country, it is anything but musical. At least, to me it seemed as though
all the wolves for a thousand miles around had congregated at this parti
cular place for the purpose of entertaining us. In the morning they could
be seen disappearing in droves in different directions, and be assured we
were no way loth to part company with these ' Traveling Musicians.'
" From Little Blue we passed on west from day to day without seeing
or hearing anything particularly worthy of note, other than is the case in
a journey of this kind, always seeing a variety of game, which imparts some
little interest and relieves the monotony of our mode of travel.
" We are now fairly in the Platte river country, the rain for the past
twenty-four hours pouring down, I might say, in torrents. At the end of
this day we stop and encamp for the night, when smoke can be seen at some
distance off. Fearing we may be annoyed again by the Indians, the guard
is immediately placed on duty, but whether they have discharged their duties
diligently or not the reader can decide when he is informed that in the
morning several of our horses were missing. Upon this fact being ascer
tained in camp, the train got under way in the progress of the journey up
the valley of the Platte river, whilst myself, accompanied by nine others
of the party well armed and mounted on fine horses, started in pursuit of
the stolen horses and the party having them in charge. We had, at times,
some difficulty in keeping on their track, for the Indians displayed consid
erable ingenuity, as, in their retreat with our animals, we discovered they
were traveling, at times, in the creek, for a considerable distance, for the
purpose of avoiding detection or of being tracked. We traveled that day
perhaps fifty miles in hot pursuit, when at last, the sun not being more than
one hour high, we espied our horses standing in close proximity to some
Indians, who were engaged, apparently, in preparing some food for them
selves. We commenced the charge when perhaps a half mile distant. They
did not discover us until we were within two hundred yards of them, when
they sprang for the horses, but anticipating this movement on their part,
we commenced a tremendous yelling, and, urging our horses on to the top
of their speed, succeeded in deterring them from again getting possession of
our horses. In this charge we not only got our own horses, but seven addi
tional ones belonging to the retreating Indians, all of which we captured
and took possession of. The Indians, numbering, it was thought, about
thirty strong, retreated into a thicket that we deemed it advisable not to
undertake to penetrate, feeling very well satisfied with the result of this little

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 139
expedition, as we got all of our stolen horses and seven others, making in
all sixteen head of horses, so we concluded to make our way in the direction
of our company or train. We traveled about twenty miles in this direction
and encamped for the night, very noiselessly and without fires, and on the
evening of the next day we came up with the company, where we had a
good rest that night.
" The next morning we all started off in good health and spirits. During
our travel this day a porcupine was killed by one of the party, and this
little incident afforded some sport, as the animal evidenced some of his
fretful propensities, to the amusement of some, whilst to some it was not
quite so amusing. None of us having seen a live porcupine before, this was
a gratification. Towards evening we came in sight of quite a large Indian
village, and it being camping time, and no probability of our getting to
water until after dark, we concluded to camp here for the night, and we did
so. The Indians soon visited our camp and seemed disposed to cultivate
a friendly intercourse with us and behave themselves well towards us. This
we gave them to understand we appreciated. They brought to us, supposing
that we stood in need of some eatables, a few dead prairie dogs, and also
a few screech owls. Doubtless these are considered delicacies among them,
but fortunately at that time we had plenty of other food more familar and
palatable to our tastes, and we declined partaking of these rare dishes,
although they were strongly recommended, as near as we could understand
the language of our visitors. They also brought deer skins and buffalo
robes, and many other kinds of pretty things, all of which they were desirous
of trading and some of which we purchased of them. We then visited their
camp and- discovered many things curious to us. They gave us to under
stand that they wanted any and everything in the clothing line, for which
they wanted to give us anything they had in return. After spending some
time with them, and it was growing dark, we thought it perhaps advisable
to return to our own camp, not knowing but that all this intimacy might
result in a ' flare up,' for we all know that there is that uncertainty about
the character of an Indian that renders them unreliable."
CHAPTER XIX.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS— A. A. DENNY'S DESCRIPTION OF PIONEER DAYS 
EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL OF J. M. BRYANT.
The history of the actual and permanent settlement of the Puget Sound
Country began in the year 1845, with the arrival of Colonel M. T. Simmons
and his associates. at the head of the Sound, where Olympia and Tumwater
are now located. The first settlements farther down the Sound were not
made until 185 1, and thereafter. The tardy beginnings and slow progress

140 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
of these settlements in their earlier years, were due to a variety of causes.
The discovery of gold in California in 1848 turned the tide of emigration
in that direction, and many settlers in Oregon and Washington, as well as
emigrants crossing the plains, were attracted to those gold fields by the
marvelous reports of their richness, and the stories told of their wealth lost
nothing by repetition. Following the excitement produced by those discov
eries, came the Indian war of 1855-6, with its massacres of many families
and individuals, the destruction of numerous homes and improvements, the
loss of stock, horses, cattle, etc., which were only procured with much diffi
culty, labor and expense. Following these troubles came the Civil war of
1 86 1 -5, which deranged the business of the country, turned the attention of
its citizens in other directions, and left the few and scattered inhabitants of
the Puget Sound Country in the midst of a wilderness, surrounded by hostile
savages and neglected by the government to which they naturally looked
for protection, whose officers were three thousand miles away, and whose
attention for several years was almost entirely devoted to the nearly super
human task of preserving the Union itself. The hopes of these brave
settlers, left so much to their own resources for protection and defence, that
a trans-continental railroad would soon afford them speedy connection with
their friends, brothers and government officials on the other side of the conti
nent, were doomed to many years of delay and disappointment. Although
their first governor, General Isaac I. Stevens, had conducted with extraor
dinary courage, skill and ability, a most successful survey for such a rail
road in the year 1853, the Northern Pacific Railroad, substantially con
structed on the lines he had then marked out, was not completed for more
than thirty years. The delay was caused chiefly by the slavery interests,
which controlled the country for many years prior to the beginning of the
Civil war, and which did not wish a railroad constructed in northern lati
tudes, and which brought on that war, in 1861, which made its construction
impossible for many years afterwards. All these difficulties conspired to
retard and prevent the growth and improvement of this section of the country,
which otherwise might have been expected. One of the most distinguished
of the early settlers of the Puget Sound Country .was Hon. A. A. Denny,
who was prominent in its political and business circles for more than forty
years, and who was always highly respected for his goodness of heart, his
kindly and agreeable manner to <all with whom he came in contact, and his
thorough and unflinching integrity of character. His " Pioneer Days on
Puget Sound " is a plain unvarnished statement of facts, and his personal
knowledge of these facts makes his narrative one of great value. Some
extracts therefrom will be found interesting.
" On leaving home for what we called the Pacific coast on April 10,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 141
185 1, we had no other purpose or expectation than to settle in the Willam
ette valley, but we met a man on Burnt river by the name of Brock, who lived
near Oregon City and had come out expecting to meet some friends, failing
in which he turned and came back with us to The Dalles. He gave
us information in regard to Puget Sound, and called attention to the fact
that it was about as near to the Sound from where we first struck the Col
umbia river, now known as Umatilla Landing, as it was to Portland, but
as yet there was no road over the mountains by which it could be reached.
My attention was thus turned to the Sound, and I formed the purpose of
looking in that direction, but soon after our arrival in Portland my wife,
one child and myself were taken with ague, which held us until late in
the fall, most effectually defeating all my plans for examination of the country.
In the month of September, J. N. Low and my brother, D. T. Denny, drove
Low's cattle over to Judge Ford's, on the Chehalis river, for winter range,
with the purpose also of examining the country, and while waiting a report
from them, I received a visit from Thomas Chambers, father of David and
A. J. Chambers, who gave me information which greatly increased my
interest in the Sound country. At Olympia they fell in with Lee Terry, and
the three there joined Captain Robert C. Fay, and came down to the Duwam-
ish river exploring. On the 25th of September they went up as far as where
H. Van Asselt, L. M. Collins and Jacob Maple and Samuel Maple, had
shortly before determined to locate.
" While looking around, Low and Terry concluded to locate a townsite.
and with that view made a joint location on Alki Point, and Low hired my
brother to remain on the claim with Terry, while he returned to Portland
for his family, and on the 28th clay of September, Terry and my brother
laid the foundation for the first cabin. When Low returned to Portland, the
schooner Exact, Captain Folger, was fitting out for a voyage to Queen Char
lotte Island with gold prospectors, and to touch at the Sound with emi
grants, and we determined to take passage on her. She sailed on the 5th
of November, 185 1, and cleared at Astoria, as shown by the custom house
records, on the 7th. We crossed out on the same day, and on Thursday the
13th, our party, consisting of myself and family, John N. Low and family,
C. D. Boren and family, William N. Bell and family, and Charles C. Terry,
landed at Alki Point, added to whom were my brother David T. Denny and
Lee Terry, making in all twenty-four persons, twelve adults and twelve
children. " Our first work was to provide shelter for the winter, and we finished
the house begun by my brother and Lee Terry for J. N. Low, and all took
shelter in it from the rain, which was falling more or less every day, but we
did not regard it with much concern, and seldom lost any time on that

142 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
account. We next built a log house for myself which increased our room
very materially, and made all more comfortable. We had now used up all
the timber suitable for log houses which we could get without a team, and
we split cedar and built houses for Bell and Boren, which we considered
quite fancy, but not so substantial as the log houses. About the time we had
completed our winter quarters the brig Leonesa, Captain Daniel S. Howard,
came to anchor in the bay. Seeing that the place was inhabited by whites
the captain came on shore seeking a cargo of piles, and we readily made a
contract to load his vessel. We had no team at the time, but some of us
went to work cutting the timber nearest to the water, and rolled and hauled
it in by hand, while Lee Terry went up the Sound and obtained a yoke of
oxen, which he drove on the beach from Puyallup, with which to complete
the cargo, but we had made very considerable progress by hand before his
arrival with the cattle. Alki Point had not been a general camping place
for the Indians, but soon after we landed and began clearing the ground for
our buildings they commenced to congregate, and continued coming until
we had over a thousand there, and most of them remained all winter. Some
of them built their houses very near ours, even on the ground we had cleared,
and although they seemed very friendly toward us, we did not feel safe in
objecting to their building thus near to us for fear of offending them, and
it was very noticeable that they regarded their proximity to us as a protec
tion against other Indians. On one occasion during the winter Nelson came
with a party of Green River and Muckelshoote Indians, and got into an
altercation with John Kanim and the Snoqualmies. They met, and the
opposing forces, amounting to thirty or forty on a side, drew up directly in
front of Low's house, armed with Hudson's Bay muskets, the two parties near
enough together for powder to have burnt each other, and were apparently
in the act of opening fire, when we interposed, and restored peace without
bloodshed by my taking John Kanim away, and keeping them apart until
Nelson and his party left, and Nelson still lives, but John Kanim was killed
years ago in a similar feud in Tulalip ; it, however, was not unusual for them
to have a great war of words and no one hurt.
"Low and Lee Terry, as before stated, had located with a view of hold
ing donation claims and laying off a town, which they did towards spring.
The Terrys being New Yorkers, first named the place New York, but after
wards changed it to Alki, which all old settlers know signifies 'by and by,'
'before long.'
"Toward spring Bell, Boren and myself began to look for claims. We
had looked up the coast toward Puyallup during the winter and did not like
the prospect. In the month of February we began exploring round Elliott
Bay, taking soundings and examining the timber. Piles and timber being the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 143
only dependence for support in the beginning, it was well to look to the
facilities for the business. After a careful examination of the harbor, timber
and feed for stock, we, on the 15th of February, 1852, located and marked
three claims in one body. The southern boundary we fixed on the point at
which is now the head of Commercial street, now corner of King street and
First avenue South, and on the north where Bell and D. T. Denny, who soon
after located his claim, now join. We had left our stock in the Willamette
valley to winter, and our plans were to get the stock over, and then divide
and move onto our claims. On the 23rd of March, the Exact came in on her
return from the gold expedition, having failed to find anything of interest.
Boren and my brother took passage on her to Olympia, on their way to the
valley for the stock, leaving Bell and myself in charge of the claims and <
families. I am under the unpleasant necessity of again speaking of the incon
venience of illness, situated as we were. During the winter we did not shake
with ague, but had not fully recovered, and before the return of the boys with
the stock, we were all down again shaking every other clay, and so continued
until August, which was a very embarrassing situation for me, but I do not
remember that I ever felt particularly despondent or like giving up the struggle,
for struggle it surely was. On the 31st of March Dr. D. S. Maynard arrived
at Alki, in company with Seattle and a number of his tribe who had been
staying at Olympia during the winter. Their object was to establish a camp
for fishing, and the Doctor was intending to pack salmon when the season for
them came. After an examination of the point, no-w called Milton (West
Seattle) and other places on the bay, they selected the southern point on our
claims. Maynard at first declined to take a claim, stating that he only wanted
a temporary location to pack fish for the season, but on further consideration
he concluded to accept our offer and make a permanent location, and we ac
cordingly moved our boundary north to what is now the south line of Mill
street (Yesler Way) in order to accommodate him with a claim. On April
3, 1852, Bell, Boren's family and Maynard moved over, leaving myself and
family too unwell to move until a house could be built. Bell camped on the
north and Boren on the south side of our territory, until they could build
cabins for themselves, and they then built one for me on the bluff at the mouth
of the gulch which runs to the bay in front of where the Bell Hotel now
stands, and moved us over. The front of our territory was so- rough and
broken as to render it almost uninhabitable at that early time. I dug a well
forty feet deep in the bottom of the gulch and only got quicksand with a very
limited amount of water. Direct communication with the bay, by which we
received all our supplies at that time, was next to impossible, owing to the
height of the bluff, and I next built where Frye's Opera House now stands
(corner of First avenue and Marion street), and we divided the territory

144. HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
so that each could have access to the water and make claims as nearly equal
as possible. "In October, 1852, H. L. Yesler arrived from Portland, looking for a
location for a steam sawmill. He was pleased with the situation where Boren
and Maynard joined, and as there had not yet been any claims filed in the
land office, which at this time was in Oregon City, they each agreed to give
him a portion of their territory in order that he might also obtain a claim.
These several adjustments were all amicably made, as all were anxious to
enlarge the settlement as much as possible. The policy of laying off a town,
and the name, had been discussed and agreed upon by us before Yesler came,
which accounts for the fact that he does not appear as one of the proprietors
in the first plat which was filed for record. Consequently Boren and I, on
the 23d day of May, 1853, filed the first plat of the town of Seattle. When,
in the evening of the same day, the fever from which he was suffering had
subsided sufficiently, Doctor Maynard filed his also. Thus it will be seen that
the ground had been occupied for more than a year before the town was laid
off. "Early in 1853 J. N. Low sold his interest at Alki Point to Charles C.
Terry, and moved to the neighborhood of Olympia. Terry's" brother having
previously returned east, he thus became sole owner at the point. On the 18th
of April, 1855, .he and Edward Lander bought the front half of the Boren
claim, and he soon after opened business in and became a resident of Seattle,
and on July 11, 1857, exchanged his Alki property for a portion of the May
nard claim, and Maynard took up his residence at Alki."
In addition to the many difficulties already mentioned under which the
country labored in those early days there were minor obstacles which inter
fered seriously with its material progress. One of these was the inaccessibility
of the country and the want of wagon roads and facilities of transportation,
except by water. The heavy and almost impenetrable forests made road-
building a matter of great labor and expense. There were no roads across
the mountains, and for many years no means available for their construction.
The difficulties in the way of proceeding on foot by men, to say nothing
of women and children, as late as even 1854, from the Columbia river, at the
mouth of the Cowlitz, to the White river valley in the vicinity of Seattle,
a distance of some one hundred and fifty miles, are incidentally but graphi
cally set forth in the following extracts from the manuscript journal of
Josiah M. Bryant, for many years a respected citizen of that valley. Mr.
Bryant came from California to visit his brother, Abraham, who had settled
near Seattle in 1853.
"Friday, July 21, 1854.— Reached the mouth of the Oregon, or better
known as the Columbia, waves and breakers somewhat heavy. Cross the bar

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 145
at noon and at Ranier landing, cross over the Columbia in a canoe, and land
at the mouth of the Cowlitz river at dark. In walking along the path, the
trees seem to rock and sway as if rolled by the waves of the sea, caused by
being rocked on the vessel, and making my head swim and myself to hardly
be able to keep the trail for staggering from side to side. Traveled up the
Cowlitz after dark to some distance above Monticello.
"Saturday, July 22. — Mostly through a deep forest and but little trail
to be seen part of the time. Passed a small church in an opening or paririe.
Reached a man's place by the name of Smalls.
"Sunday, July 23. — Passed some very small prairies with Indian trails
winding through them. Lost my way or the right trail to Olympia in one of
these, and passed the rest of the day without knowing much where to go.
Deep forest and underbrush, plenty of wild berries. Reached Chehalis river,
or supposed to be that stream from my map. Still somewhat lost, more than
I know that the Cascade Mountains are on the right and the Pacific on the
left, and the river runs to the west from the mountains. Have not seen an
Indian on the road, although there seems to be many fresh and well-beaten
trails in many directions, and the bushes broken and bent as if there were
many somewhere not far away.
"Monday, July 24. — Roads or Indian trails still crossing in many direc
tions. Still through a deep forest, with now and then a glimpse of the
Cascade Mountains on the east. Saw a wild animal of some kind, to 'all
appearances a wild ox. It was about seventy-five yards off, when first seen.
Its head was down, and as it raised it got sight of me and went off in a kind
of a trot something like an ox, and about as large and of a dark color. (This
was one of the Hudson's Bay Company's cattle.) Kept on at a very rapid rate
until out of sight. Reached the house owned and occupied by a man named
Edgar, who was living with an Indian woman.
"Tuesday, July 25. — All day again without any continuous trail. Tall
fir trees on every side; now and then catch sight of the mountains. Some
wild berries. Saw one Indian, or just got a glimpse of one as he went, or
passed by a large fir tree about seventy-five yards away. He did not appear
to see me. Saw several Indian women and children at one time to-day. They
seemed terribly frightened, and in a few moments were all .fled. Reached the
Puyallup, or suppose it to be, from the map. Reached it at dark, and waded
over and lay behind a log all night. Can hear the Indian dogs as if alarmed
by something. A faint light from their campfires reflected up against the
sky. "Wednesday, July 26. — Started out at the first signs of daylight to make
distance between myself and the Indians as fast as possible. Have had but
very little to eat but wild berries for two or three days, not one single morsel
10

146 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
last night or this morning. Traveling all day through the woods ; at about
one hour and a half before sunset met an Indian on a pony. He turned his
pony around and rode along by the side of me and seemed to be very much
excited about something, and kept talking all along in some unknown
language. At last, after satisfying himself, he whirled his pony around and
went the way he had been going at first. Feeling somewhat alarmed at the
situation, I first determined to leave the trail I had been following; yet, after
thinking a moment, thought it would be of little use, as I well knew that,
with these dogs, they could easily find me, and besides there would be some
loss of time, and, night approaching, I determined to take my course and
make headway as fast as possibble, hoping in some way that something favor
able might happen yet. I began to feel very much dejected from being lost
and hungry and but little hope of help. There were many large logs lying
across the trail, making it very difficult to proceed with much speed. After
a half or three-quarters of an hour the first sound of their approaching could
be heard in confused voices and the trampling of their ponies' feet; this
was the turning point of my anxiety. I slackened my gait and thought no
more of escape. And for a few moments my situation was truly, to me, very
sad; and many thoughts rushed through my mind, that otherwise would
never have occurred. I thought of how near I might be to my brother, yet I
had not written to him that I was coming, nor to my parents in the States
that I had left California. Not a soul of all the world that I ever knew could
tell within hundreds of miles of where I died, or what my fate would be, and
for a moment this was the only thought that troubled me; and at last a kind
of tranquility came over me, when I almost felt inclined to turn around and
await my captors, yet kept slowly walking on with pensive thought. The
moment they saw me they seemed to somewhat slacken their gate, and in a
loud and imperious tone and with motions of the hands thrown forwards and
up and back towards their faces in an undeniable or unmistakable manner
indicated their desire for me to stop. I turned around facing them and
waited for them to approach, and as they came up I stepped back out of the
trail, allowing them to pass in line in front of me. I could see their long
knives hanging down over their shot pouches, but could see no guns. I waited
their actions a moment with my face towards them, but as they seemed to be
hesitating about something, I faced forwards and walked past the three that
had passed me, leaving the whole five standing there in the trail. I thought
that I did not want to stand there and be shot down. They stood there
until I got some fifty yards along, when all of a sudden they whipped up and
came on as before, ordering me, as before, to stop. I did nof like, at least,
to have them think I had it to do. There was a loose pony, and when they
came up I made signs that I would like to ride. This seemed to suit their

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 147
plans. A couple of them got off their ponies, and one of them took the bridle
off his pony and put it on the loose pony and let me get on the one that
he was riding, but just as I was about getting on, the Indian then spoke
in broken English, "You pay hap dollar." A lucky thought came into my
mind. I had learned, July 24th, from Edgar, that a man by the name of
Thomas lived on a river on the edge of the settlement that I was going to.
I said to the Indian, in the hope that Thomas might be known tq them,
"Thomas pay you." It seemed that a sullen murmur passed among them,
and I saw I had gained a point, and was going to get on, when the Indian,
still not satisfied, caught hold of the small bundle under my arm and looked
me in the eyes, saying, "Mika hiu chickamin?"- — meaning, "Plave you lots
of money?" This, with his action and his words, I perfectly understood
although I never knew a word of the jargon that he was talking. I made
signs that this was clothing that I was carrying. He made one more move
in the way of trying to get hold of a small sailor's knife. I shoved him
back and was not further molested in mounting the pony, after which we
rode in Indian file for a mile or so. When crossing a small creek I alighted to
get a drink of water. Two of them dismounted under the pretense to take a
drink also. One of them, as a last resort to still further see if I carried any
money, pulled out a begging paper which he had obtained from some white
man. I glanced at it, knowing well what it contained, and made reply, "Thomas
pay you," when he said, "Thomas, hell." I saw that I had gained a strong point
with them, and ending further trouble, we mounted and rode along as before,
reaching William Brennan's, the first house in the settlement, and much to
my relief. I think I shall never be so glad to see one of my race again as
I was to see William Brennan. They lingered long after dark to learn some
thing about me and to see if I communicated anything that had passed. I
was very careful not to whisper a thing of what had happened until after they
had gone. Thus ended my wanderings of five days in one of the heaviest
forests that I ever saw, without knowing much of where I was going, and
with but little to eat.
"Thursday, July 27. — Went down in a canoe with an Indian woman and
two children on the White river to the forks, or where it is joined by the
Black river, and where I found my brother, Abraham F. Bryant. Oh, how
much relief to be united once more, after so many difficulties and dangers !
This is the first time I have seen my brother since the Spring of 1852, in
Iowa." The journey, which required six days at that time, is now made in as
many hours on railway trains.

148 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
CHAPTER XX. /.';
mr. denny's narrative continued.
Further extracts from Mr. Denny's work, in regard to early settle
ments on Puget Sound, are as follows :
"When our party landed at Alki, Olympia was quite a village, hav
ing been settled in 1847 by E. Sylvester. In 185 1 Captain Lafayette Balch
located at Lower Steilacoom and J. B. and John M. Chapman at the upper
town. Of our emigrant party who came by the Exact, James Hews and
family settled at Steilacoom; H. H. Pinto and family and D. R. Bigelow at
Olympia. John Alexander and family landed at Olympia, where they
wintered, and in the spring of 1852 located on Whidby Island. Alfred M.
Miller, who was one of the Exact's party of gold prospectors, also located
on Whidby Island, and H. H. Pinto crossed back and settled at Cowlitz
landing. "On the 1 6th of September, 1851, Henry Van Asselt, L. M. Collins,
Jacob Maple and Samuel A. Maple selected claims on Duwamish river, and
on the 27th of the month moved onto them from Nesqually river, where
Collins had previously settled and where also William Packwood and George
Shaser at one time were living, but I have not the exact date of their settle
ment on the Nesqually. There were of this party in all seven persons, all
now dead but Van Asselt (1888). In the spring of 1851, A. A. Plummer
and Charles Bachelor located at Port Townsend. A few days after our party
landed at Alki Point, F. W. Petty grove and L. B. Hastings came across
from Portland and camped over night with us on their way to Port Town-
send, where they had made arrangements to locate, returned and brought
their families around on the schooner Mary Taylor, arriving, as I have been
informed, on the 19th day of February, 1852. Of the other early settlers in
the vicinity of Port Townsend now recalled, were Albert Briggs, A. B.
Robinson, J. G. Clinger, E. C. Fowler, John F. Tukey, J. J. H. Van Bok-
kelin, Thomas Hammond, R. Ross, H. C. Wilson, Henry Webber and James
Kaymes. "T. W. Glascow told me of a settlement he made on Whidby Island in
1848, or possibly not till 1849, but owing to the threats made by the Indians
he determined to vacate his claim, and in the fall of 1850 Colonel Ebey
located on or very near the place he had vacated. Recently I received a letter
from R. H. Lansdale, who came to Oregon in October, 1849, hi which he
gives a narrative of his early experience on the Sound, which I think worthy
of preservation, and I shall give it in his own language:
" 'Reached Tumwater in January, 185 1. Found Major Goldsborough
at Simmon's and Colonel Ebey at Olympia. Being advised by Ebey, started

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 149
down Sound February 5th for Whidby Island, with King George, Duke of
York, and Duke of Clarence, Indian chiefs of the Clallam tribe. Steilacoom
was just then being settled, a vessel unloading there at the time. Reached
Port Townsend, saw immense Indian houses, but no settlers yet. Plummer
not long after took his claim there. Crossed to Whidby Island and settled
at Oak Harbor, February 10th. Made a good garden that year. Colonel
Ebey told me of Snoqualmie Falls, and I had Indians take me. Saw the
falls; prepared and walked — one Indian carrying baggage — to top of divide
in Snoqualmie Pass. In the summer, Asher Sargent landed horses at Oak
Plarbor for William Wallace and family, who settled at Crescent Harbor —
so named by myself. I had now been many months alone, the few men
being off helping to load piles for San Francisco wharves, so I fastened up
cabin, potatoes, etc., and left to spend the winter in Olympia. As I
approached Alki Point I saw a white man standing on the beach with a sur
veyor's staff in his hand, looking to see who the white man approaching
might be, and the man on the beach introduced himself as Arthur A. Denny.
In March, 1852, helped to build a scow to take Crockett and Ebey's stock to
Whidby Island. As soon as we landed I abandoned my claim on Oak
Harbor on account of the mud flats, and took my claim at Penn's Cove. In
185 1 there were three settlers at Oak Harbor, Martin Taftson, Clement W.
Sumner and Ulric Friend.'
" In the spring of 1853 the brig Cabott, Captain Dryden, came from
Portland with a number of settlers for the island. She made Penn's .Cove by
way of Deception Pass. Of these now recalled who came by her were James
Buzby and family, Mrs. Maddox and family, R. L. Doyle and wife, Mrs.
Dr. J. C. Kellogg and family, the Doctor having crossed by way of the
Cowlitz, and Mrs. Smith and daughter, mother and sister of Dr. H. A.
Smith. " It may be said with propriety that the settlement of the Sound below
the Olympia, or Budd's Inlet, by American citizens, began substantially in
185 1. This remark, of course, does not include the Puget Sound Agri
cultural Company's station at Fort Nesqually, and the Hudson's Bay men
connected with it, or even a few American citizens in the vicinity. At the
time all white men were supposed to know each other and their location and
occupation, between the mouth of the Cowlitz river and Cape Flattery.
"In 1853 we had quite an accession to our population on the Sound,
from, the immigration of that season, a number of whom came over the
mountain by the Naches Pass.
"In the fall of 1853 A. L. Porter located a claim on the prairie which
takes its name from him, and Dominick Corcoran and James Riley located
on Muckleshoot prairie, the three being at the time the furthest out in that

150 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
direction. Lower down the valley were William H. Brennan, George
King, Harvey Jones, Enos Cooper, Moses Kirkland, William Cox, Joe and
Arnold Lake, John M. Thomas, R. H. Beaty and D. A. Neely. At and near
the junction of White and Black rivers were William H. Gilliam, Joseph
Foster, Stephen Foster, A. F. Bryant, Charles E. Brownell, and further up
Black river, O. M. Eaton, Joseph Fanjoy, H. H. Tobin and Dr. R. M. Bige-
low. On the Dawampish river, of those now remembered who have not
already been mentioned, we have John Buckley, August Hograve, George
Holt, Dr. S. L. Grow, G. T. Grow, J. C. Avery, Eli B. Maple, C. C. Lewis,
Bennet L. Johns. On the lake, John Harvey, E. A. Clark, T. D. Hinckley,
Lemuel J. Holgate; on the bay south of town, John C. Holgate, Edward
Hanford, John J. Moss, and at the mouth of the river, Charles Walker.
" On the Puyallup were R. A. Finnel, Abiel Morrison and family, John
Carson and family, J. W. McCarty and family, Isaac Woolery and family,
Willis Boatman and family, Adam Benson, Daniel F. Lane, William Kin-
caid and family, and others not now remembered. Nichols Delin was located
at the mouth of the river.
" When we selected our claims we had fears that the range for our
stock would not afford them sufficient feed in the winter, and it was not
possible at that time to provide feed for them, which caused us a great deal
of anxiety. From statements made by the Indians, which we could then but
imperfectly understand, we were led to believe that there were prairie or
grass lands to the northwest, where we might find feed in case of. necessity,
but we were too busy to explore until in December, 1852, when Bell, my
brother and myself determined to look for the prairie. It was slow and tedi
ous traveling through the unbroken forest, and before we had gone far
Bell gave out and returned home, leaving us to proceed alone. In the
afternoon we unexpectedly came to a body of water, and at first thought we
had inclined too far eastward and struck the lake, but on examination we
found it to be tide water. From our point of observation we could not see
the outlet to the Sound, and our anxiety to learn more about it caused us
to spend so much time that when we turned homeward it soon became so
dark that we were compelled to camp for the night without dinner, supper
or blankets, and we came near being without fire also, as it had rained on us
nearly all day and wet our matches, so that we could only get a fire by the
flash of a rifle, which was exceedingly difficult to do under the circum
stances. Our camp was about midway between the mouth of the bay and
the cove, and in the morning we made our way to the cove and took the
beach for home. Of course our failing to return at night caused great
anxiety at home, and soon after we got on the beath we met Bell coming on
a hunt of us, and the thing most interesting to us just then was that he had his
pockets filled with hard bread.

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HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 151
" This was our first knowledge of Shilshole bay, which we soon after
fully explored and were ready to point newcomers in that direction for loca
tions. The first to locate were Dr. H. A. Smith, Edmund Carr, E. M.
Smithers, David Stanley, John Ross, F. McNatt, Joseph Overholts, Henry
R. Pearce, Burley Pearce and William A. Strickler. McNatt and the
Pearces afterward changed their location, and Ira W. Utter and Mr. Hall
came and occupied the ground at first held by them. Some of them had the
impression that the bay must be a great resort for salmon in their season,
and therefore named it Salmon Bay, but time proved it not to be a very appro
priate name. The narrative of our travels and discovery in this case will
doubtless sound strange to some now, but it was not uncommon for inex
perienced persons then to get lost between the bay and the lake, and in some
cases it was necessary to look after them to prevent their suffering. In April,
1853, Dexter Horton and Thomas Mercer arrived, and Mercer settled on
the claim where he still lives (1888). He brought the first wagon to Seattle,
and at the time there was not a rod of road on which to run it, but we
improved the trail so that the wagon could pass as far northward as his
claim. Of the early settlers in Seattle and vicinity now remembered who
have not been mentioned as locating claims, were Hilory Butler and wife,
S. W. Russell and family, Robert Russell, T. S. Russell, George F. Frye,
George N. McConnaha and family, David Phillips, L. V. Wyckoff, S. Wet-
more and family, M. D. Wooden, Ira Wooden, Walter Graham, John A.
Chase, William G. Latimer, Charles Plummer, Dr. J. Williamson, William
Heffner, S. M. Holderness, David Maurer, Robert Gardner, Jacob Wibens,
Gideon Hubbard, Thomas Stewart, N. H. Oglesbee, John Margrave, J. W.
Margrave, Mrs. Conklin, George Bowker, Franklin Matthias, Henry Adams
and William P. Smith and family.
" Of those on Whidby Island not otherwise mentioned were Robert
Bailey, Captain William Robertson and family, Walter Crockett, Sr., and
family, John Crockett and family, Samuel Crockett, Walter Crockett, Jr.,
Charles Crockett, Hugh Crockett, Samuel Hancock and family, Henry Mc-
Clurg, William and Benjamin Welcher, John Kinneth and family, J. S. Smith
and family, Captain Coupe and family, C. H. Ivins and family, John,
Thomas and James Davis, Jacob Ebey and family, George W. Beam, Na
thaniel D. Hill, Robert Hill, Humphrey Hill, William B. Engle, C. T. Terry
and mother, Grove Terry and wife, George Kingsbury, Captain Barstow,
Samuel Libby, Robert Hathaway, Thomas Cranney, Lawrence Grennan,
Major Show and family, Isaac Power and family, S. D. Howe, R. B. Hol-
brook, G. W. L. Allen, Thomas Hasty and family, John Condry, J. Y.
Sewell, Edward Barrington, Charles C. Phillips, Robert C. Fay, Thomas and

152 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Samuel Maylor, Caleb Miller and family, A. M. Miller, John M. Izett, James
and Milton Mounts.
" Our first year on our claims (1852) was spent in building houses and
getting out piles and timber as a means of support. That year we were
visited several times by the brig Franklin Adams, Captain L. M. Fender,
and about as regularly by the brig John Davis, owned and commanded by
Capt. George Plummer and next by Capt. A. W. Pray. Each lumber vessel
carried a stock of general merchandise, and upon them we depended
largely for our supplies. In the winter of 1852-53 but few vessels visited
the Sound for several months, and as a consequence it was a time of great
scarcity, amounting to almost distress. Our pork and butter came around
Cape Horn, and flour in barrels from Chili, sugar mostly from China in mats.
That fall I paid ninety dollars for two barrels of pork and twenty dollars a
barrel for flour. I left one barrel of the pork on the beach in front of my
cabin, as I supposed above high tide, until it was needed. Just about the
time to roll it up and open it there came a high tide and heavy wind at
night, and like the house that was built upon the sand, it fell, or anyway it
disappeared. It was the first barrel of pork in King county, and the loss
of it was felt by the whole community to be a very serious matter. There
were different theories about it. Some said it would float and had gone out
to sea. Others said it had rolled down by the action of the waves into the
deep water. We all turned out at low tide in the night with torches and
searched the beach from the head of the bay to Smith's Cove, but the pork
has not yet been heard from. After the loss of the pork our flour and hard
bread gave out, but fortunately we had a good supply of sugar, syrup, tea
and coffee, and with fish and venison we got along quite well while we had
potatoes, but finally they gave out. We then had to make a canoe voyage to
the Indian settlement on Black river to get a fresh supply of potatoes. Flour
sold as high as forty dollars a barrel, but finally the stock was exhausted
so that it could not be had on the Sound at any price until the arrival of a
vessel, which did not occur for six weeks or more. This was the hardest
experience our people ever had, but it demonstrated the fact that some sub
stantial life-supporting food can always be obtained on Puget Sound, though
it is hard for a civilized man to live without bread.
" Yesler's was the first steam sawmill on the Sound, and when he began
to cut lumber we built frame houses and vacated our log cabins as speedily
as possible, and I believe his cook-house for the mill was the last log house
in use in the place. In the spring of 1853, J. J. Felt located at Appletree
Cove and built a mill, which, after the first winter, was moved to Port Madi
son and afterward bought, enlarged and improved by G. A. Meigs. Isaac
Parker, Delos Watterman and S. B. Hinds came up on the brig John Davis

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 153
to assist Felt in building at Appletree Cove, arriving in Seattle February
9, 1853. Capt. William Renton, also in the spring of 1853, came to Alki
Point and built a mill which, early in 1854, he moved to Port Orchard. It
now seems strange that men of such marked intelligence and experience as
they possessed could have overlooked and passed by such superior locations
as Madison and Blakely, but I suppose it was upon the theory that Puget
Sound is all a harbor, and it was not necessary to be particular, a mistake
that has been made in many other cases on the Sound.
" In July, 1853, Captain William C. Talbot came to the Sound in com
mand of the schooner Julius Pringle, to select a site for a sawmill, in the
interest of William C. Talbot & Company, the firm being composed of him
self and A. J. Pope, of San Francisco, and Charles Foster and Captain J. P.
Keller, of East Machias, Maine. Among others on the schooner were Cyrus
Walker, present manager of the Puget Mill Company, E. S. Brown,
millwright, Nathaniel Harmon, Hillman Harmon, David Foster and James
White, all of the state of Maine. The cargo of the Pringle consisted of lum
ber, tools and supplies necessary for beginning the proposed enterprise. They
first anchored in Port Discovery Bay, from whence they made explorations
around the Sound as far south as Commencement Bay, and finally deter
mined to locate at Port Gamble, to which point the schooner was brought and
discharged as soon as possible, and building commenced. On the 5th day of
September, 1853, the schooner L. P Foster, commanded by Captain J. P.
Keller, arrived, one hundred and fifty- four days from Boston, having on board
his wife and daughter, who were the first white women to land at Port
Gamble. " The Foster brought the mill machinery and general outfit, and after
loading with piles at the head of the bay, was taken to San Francisco by
Captain Talbot, Captain Keller remaining in charge at the mill, where he
continued as resident partner and manager until his death.
" This trio of noble pioneers, Pope, Talbot and Keller, being now all
dead, I think I can with propriety speak of their high character for business
integrity and enterprise. They belong to that class of men who
do not idly wait for something to turn up, but were full of energy and push,
and not only helped themselves, but were ever ready to lend a helping hand
to the needy and unfortunate.
" When Captain Talbot and party were looking for a location they
found Captain William P Sayward and J. K. Thorndyke busily engaged in
building a mill at Port Ludlow, which in time became one of the principal
mills on the Sound, and has finally become the property of the Port Gamble
or Puget Mill Company. Sayward, one of the founders, died suddenly
in California, and Thorndyke, I think, is still living.

154 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
t
" In 1853 Utsalady was located by Laurence Grennan and two partners,
Thompson and Campbell, and in 1858 Thomas Cranney bought an interest,
and under the firm name of Grennan & Cranney, they built a sawmill and
operated it in connection with the shipment of spars to Europe, which was
for a time their principal business. This mill has also become the property
of the Puget Mill Company, and is now one of the largest mills on the
Sound. Mr. Grennan, one of the founders, died in 1869.
" Seabeck was located in 1856 by a company composed of Messrs. S.
Adams and Marshall Blinn, of San Francisco, and J. R. Williamson, Hill
Harmon and W. B. Sinclair, of the Sound. Work was commenced by Will
iamson in the fall of that year, and Blinn also came up. in the fall with the
bark Brontes, and in July, 1857, they began to cut lumber.
" The first settler at Dungeness was Daniel F. Brownfield, in 1852, fol
lowed by B. J. Madison, J. C. Brown, Charles M. Bradshaw, Elliott Cline,
John Thornton, Captain E. H. McAlmon, Thomas Abernethy, John Bell,
S. S. Erwin, John W. Donnell, G. H. Gerrish, Daniel Smalley and some
others not now remembered.
" The first settlement on Bellingham Bay was in 1852, and those I now
remember were Captain Pattle, Henry Roeder, R. V. Peabody, Edward El-
dridge, Daniel Harris, Captain William Utter, A. M. Poe, John Bennett and
E. C. Fitzhugh. The first settlement was made on the Snoqualmie river, on
the prairie above the falls, by the Kellogg brothers, in the spring of 1858,
followed in the summer by J. W. Borst. Their only, means of transportation
at that time was by canoe from Seattle, by way of the Sound and Snohomish
river, and there was not then a house to be seen on the whole voyage between
Salmon Bay and their little settlement on the Snoqualmie. In 1863 the first
settlement was made in Squak valley by John Casto and wife, John Halsted,
Fred Johnston, James Bush and family, William Dennis, J. P. Adams,
Thomas Cherry, Nes Jacob Ohm and L. B. Andrews and family. Casto and
his wife and Halsted were murdered by Snoqualmie Indians in revenge for
the murder of some two or three of their people by a white man, and, as
usual in such cases, the whites who lost their lives were in no way connected
with the murder of the Indians. This circumstance, though not indicating a
general hostile outbreak, had the effect to break up the settlement for a time.
The name Squak, or Squawk, as I should spell it, is a corruption of the
Indian name Squowh, or, as some would think to hear the Indians speak it,
might more properly be written Isaquowh. The tribe or band of Indians
inhabiting Squak Lake and its outlet, probably numbering not more than
two hundred when we settled on the bay, and now almost extinct, were
Simumps, and not as some call them, Samamish. Duwamish, Snohomish
and Suquamish are also all corruptions, and would more properly terminate
in psh, as Dewampsh, Suquampsh, etc.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 155
" Our first effort in anything like public road-making was a county
road from Steilacoom City to Seattle. William N. Bell, L. M. Collins, and
John M. Chapman were appointed by the county commissioners' court of
Thurston county, Oregon territory, as viewers, and reported on March 23,
1853, from which I quote as follows : From Seattle to Collins', on Dewanpish
river; thence on the dividing ridge most of the way, striking the Puyallup
river one mile above Adam Benson's claim; thence to Steilacoom, the
terminus. At the time this report was made Thurston county had no longer
jurisdiction of the case, having been divided. The commissioners' court at
the time of the division was composed of Sidney S. Ford, Sr., David Shelton
and myself, and I retained and have since preserved this rather curious and
now ancient document. We, however, did not abandon the effort to get
the road, but proceeded to open it by volunteer work, and also a road from
•Alki to intersect it near Collins, but these roads were traveled but little, and
after the first year were allowed to go out of use for want of work to keep
them open.
" By act of Congress, approved January 7, 1853, an appropriation of
twenty thousand dollars was made for a military road from Steilacoom to
Walla Walla. This money was expended under the superintendence of Cap
tain George B. McClellan, of the regular army, afterward major general, in
the year 1853, by the way of Nachess Pass, and, as elsewhere stated, a num
ber of emigrants came over in that season.
" Our people at once turned their attention to opening a road from
Seattle to intersect this military road, and practically accomplished it, but
by the next season it was found that the military road was not a success
as a wagon road 'across the mountains, and we next turned in the direction
of the Snoqualmie Pass, so called at the time, but it was what in later times
has been called Cedar River Pass. It was in early times used by the Indians
and Hudson's Bay men as a pack trail, and was sometimes called by them
the Green River Pass. This trail came over from Nesqually and crossed
Cedar river, well up that stream, and was intersected by another from Sno
qualmie prairie, and thence over the mountains to the foot of Lake Kitchelos,
and thence down the Yakima.
" The party here again divided, some following the old trail over to
Green river and others down the Cedar. As" a result of this exploration we
proceeded to cut a trail out by way of Meridian prairie, and thence crossing
Cedar river at the old Green river trail and out by the Rattlesnake prairie;
but this trail was never traveled to any extent.
"The Oregon legislature, session of 1853, divided ' Thurston county,
forming on the north Pierce, King, Island and Jefferson, and appointed as

156 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
a county board for King, J. N. Low, L. M. Collins and myself, county com
missioners ; H. L. Yesler, sheriff. We all qualified except J. N. Low, and held
the first commissioner's court March 5, 1853.
" We obtained our mail from Olympia, the nearest postoffice, by a
canoe express, for which service we hired Robert Moxlie to make weekly
trips between Seattle and Olympia. All were required to pay twenty-five
cents a letter, and nearly all subscribed something in addition to support the
express. For this service I gave the lot formerly owned by M. R. Maddox
upon which the City Drug Store now stands. Our last express was received
August 15, 1853, and brought us twenty-two letters and fourteen news
papers. August 27th, having been appointed postmaster, I received the
first United States mail ever delivered in Seattle, and opened the office in a
log cabin, where Frye's Opera House now stands.
" In early times we occasionally saw the Hudson's Bay steamers Beaver
and Otter, passing to and from the station at Nesqually, but as yet no Amer
ican steamer had ever navigated these waters. The first American steam
boat was brought to the Sound by her owners, A. B., David and Warren
Gove, on the deck of the bark Sarah Warren, in October, 1853. She was a
sidewheeler called the Fairy, and made several trips to Seattle, and occa
sionally lower down the Sound, taking the place of our canoe express in car
rying the mail, but she proved to be insufficient as a sea boat on the lower
Sound, and a small sloop called the Sarah Stone was for a time put on the
line by Slater & Webber. In the fall of 1854 James M. Hunt and John N.
Scranton brought up the Major Tompkins and contracted to carry the mail
on the Sound, running through to Victoria, and in March, 1855, she was
wrecked in entering Victoria harbor. The next steamer was the iron pro
peller Traveler, which came in the summer of 1855, and was commanded
by Captain J. G. Parker. Next was the Water Lilly, a small sidewheel
boat, brought up by Captain William Webster. The fifth and last one I shall
mention was the Constitution, put on by Hunt and Scranton to fill the place
of the Major Tompkins.
" The first religious service in Seattle was by Bishop Demers, a Catholic,
in 1852. The next was by Rev. Benjamin F. Close, a Methodist, who came
to Olympia in the spring or early summer of 1853, and made several visits
to Seattle during the summer and fall, and the same season Rev. J. F. De-
Vore located at Steilacoom. C. D. Boren donated two lots for a Methodist
Episcopal Church, and in November, 1853, Rev. D. R. Blaine and wife
arrived, and Mr. Blaine at once engaged in the work of building a church on
the lots donated by Boren. This was the first and only church in the place
until 1864, when Rev. Daniel Bagley built the Methodist Protestant church,
which he painted brown, and the other being white, they were ever afterward
designated as the 'White' church and 'Brown' church.

PIISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 157
" Mrs. Blaine taught the first school, Miss Dorcas Phillips the second,
and E. A. Clark the third. These were not free schools, in fine and well-
furnished houses, such as the youth of the place is now favored with. We
were then glad to get schools at any cost, and paid the expense without a
murmur; but there is a vast difference now. I am proud of the schools of
Seattle to-day, where a high school education is furnished free to every child
who chooses to take it, and I regret that it is in many cases so little apprecia
ted by both parents and children, that it almost justifies the expectation that
the next step will be to pay the children for going to school, and allow them
to strike for higher wages and shorter days, with the privilege of arbitrating
the matter in the end.
" The first Fourth of July celebration north of the Columbia river, of
which I have any knowledge, was held at Olympia, July 4, 1852, on the hill
where the old schoolhouse stood, but I do not now think it was finished at
that time. D. R. Bigelow was orator and B. F. Shaw marshal, but I do not
now remember who read the Declaration.
" It was quite a respectable celebration, and was attended by most of the
population within a day's travel, and quite a number, like myself, from a
greater distance. Those times we traveled almost entirely by canoe, and
never expected to make the trip from Sattle to Olympia in less than two
days. In the winter I have frequently been three days, and camped on the
beach at night, and one trip — I well remember — in December, 1852, the
weather was so stormy I had to camp two nights before reaching Steilacoom.
" In after years I have paid as high as ten dollars' steamer fare to
Olympia, and when it got down to six dollars we thought it very reasonable.
It always cost me more than that amount by canoe, when traveling alone
with an Indian crew, to say nothing of the comfort and time saved by
steamer, and time was quite as much of an object with us capitalists then as
now."
CHAPTER XXI.
EARLY TERRITORIAL ADMINISTRATION  BEGINNING OF INDIAN WAR.
The territory of Washington was created by an act of Congress ap
proved March 2, 1853. It included all that part of Oregon which lay north
of the Columbia river, the forty-sixth parallel of north latitude, and west
of the Rocky Mountains. The Puget Sound Country consisted of the prin
cipal part of the territory west of the Cascade Mountains.
Brevet Major Isaac I. Stevens, United States engineers, of Massa
chusetts, was appointed governor and ex-officio superintendent of Indian
affairs; Charles H. Mason, of Rhode Island, secretary; John Clendennin, of

158 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Mississippi, attorney; James Patton Anderson, of Tennessee, marshal; Ed
ward Lander, of Indiana, chief justice; Victor Monroe, of Kentucky, and
Obadiah McFadden, of Pennsylvania, associate justices of the supreme court of
Washington territory. Isaac N. Ebey, an old and respected citizen, of the
territory, was appointed collector of the Puget Sound district, and, shortly
after, the port of entry for the district was removed from Olympia to Port
Townsend. On the 3d day of March, 1853, an appropriation of $150,000
was made by Congress for surveys between the Mississippi and the Pacific
Ocean, for a trans-continental railroad, and Governor Stevens was charged
with the duty of conducting the survey over what was known as the northern
route, beginning near the headwaters of the Mississippi and ending on Puget
Sound. Governor Stevens was singularly well qualified for the arduous,
responsible and complicated duties entrusted to his charge. He was a man
of extraordinary courage, firmness and ability, and untiring in his efforts
to discharge promptly and faithfully every task that was imposed upon him,
He successfully conducted a survey through a new and unexplored region,
and examined the passes through the Rocky, the Bitter Root and the Coeur
d'Alene mountains, leaving Fort Snelling on the 6th day of June, 1853, and
arriving at Fort Colville on the 18th day of October, where he met Captain
George B. McClellan, who had been detailed to conduct a survey eastward
from Puget Sound to connect with that made by Major Stevens. Captain
McClellan arrived at Fort Colville on the 17th of October.
Major Stevens left his wagon train to follow, and proceeded by pack
train as speedily as circumstances would permit, to Olympia, the designated
capital of the territory, where he arrived on the 25th of November, 1853.
Three days after, or on the 28th, he issued a proclamation establishing the
territorial government at Washington, as required- by the act of Congress
relating thereto. The day appointed for the election of the members of the
first legislature of the territory, and for the first delegate to Congress, was
the 30th day of January, 1854. The three judicial districts were organized,
Clark and Pacific counties forming the first, Lewis and Thurston the second,
and Pierce, King, Island and Jefferson the third. All these, except the first
mentioned, were west of the Cascade Mountains.
The 27th day of February, 1854, was appointed as the time and
Olympia as the place for the meeting of the first territorial legislature. In
the meantime Marshal Anderson had arrived, during the summer of 1853,
and had taken a census of the inhabitants of the territory, as required by
law, and found the number to be 3,965 white persons, of whom 1,682 were
voters. In the month of April, 1857, Governor Stevens reported the number
of Indians west of the Cascade Mountains, chiefly in the Puget Sound region,
as 9,712, the names of the tribes with their respective numbers being given.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 159
This was after treaties had been made by him with all or nearly all of these
several tribes. On his arrival in the territory, recognizing the importance of
obtaining from these Indians such title to the lands they occupied as might
enable the government to transfer to the settlers a perfect title to the lands
which they required for use, improvements or cultivation, he had hastened
to make treaties with them, by which they agreed to cede to the United States
government, for a stated price, such lands as they claimed, except the reser
vations which were confirmed to them for their exclusive use and benefit.
It was fortunate for the little settlement at New Market, made by
Simmons, Bush and others, that it recognized a code of rules governing its
intercourse with the Indians, and that the latter should be protected in their
rights. A complaint of injustice at the hands of a white man was investi
gated. A uniform price was established for everything in trade and labor,
and it was generally understood among the citizens that a white man was to
respect his contract with an Indian in the same manner that he did a contract
with one of his white neighbors.
As an illustration of the vigilance with which the settlers insisted upon
justice to the Indians, there is mentioned the case of an immigrant of 1847.
Accompanied by his family he arrived at the mouth of the Cowlitz river
destitute of funds. An Indian named Tenas Tyee, who was then engaged in
forwarding emigrants up that stream, brought the family up to the landing,
agreeing to take the man's paper for the passage money and wait twelve
moons for payment. Tenas Tyee held the note until it fell due, when he
waited upon the white man for payment. The man did not have the money,
and the Indian agreed to take a heifer in discharge of the debt, which offer
was declined. The disappointed Indian went over to the Sound and com
plained to the settlers. A meeting was called and a committee appointed to
return with him to the delinquent debtor, and they compelled the white man
to liquidate the debt by turning over the stock.
In the latter part of April, or during the first days of May, 1849, an
event occurred that hastened the advent of United States troops, owing to
an attack on the Hudson's Bay Company's post at Fort Nesqually by a party
of Snoqualmie Indians.
The tribe was in the habit of visiting the fort in small numbers for the
purpose of trade, but upon this occasion they were there in force with the
avowed intention of settling a dispute with the Indians of the Nesqually
tribe. Their number was variously estimated as being between one hundred
and one hundred and fifty.
At the time of the outbreak, Patkanim, head chief of the Snoqualmies,
was within the fort engaged with Dr. Tolmie, the agent in charge. The
gates had been closed and all of the other Indians had been excluded. Out-

100 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
side the stockades were Leander C. Wallace, Mr. Lewis and Mr. Walker,
three Americans, who were on a visit to the fort, and Charles Wren, who
had just come in from an Indian camp. The Snoqualmies were led by Kus-
sass, a brother of Patkanim. He and Quallahwowt, another sub-chief, were
armed and painted as a war party, and made several hostile demonstrations.
Wallace and his companions, seeing their danger, kept their faces toward the
advancing Indians while they retreated hastily toward the gates. Wren
reached the gate first and stood with his back against it trying to edge him
self in. Walter Ross, clerk of the fort, with two Indians, guarded the gate
on the inside, and refused to open it. The Indian guard, about this time,
discharged his gun for the purpose of emptying it before reloading, which
act the Snoqualmies pretended to interpret as an act of defiance. Kussass
advanced hastily, fired and killed Wallace on the spot. The remaining white
men in the party made another effort to get within the gate and, as they
passed through, another volley rang forth, wounding both Lewis and
Walker, also an Indian boy who stood within. The latter survived but a
short time. The bastions were then manned, a volley fired and the Indians
hastily retreated.
When the tidings of this outbreak reached him, Governor Lane visited
Puget Sound, arriving at New Market, May 17. He was there informed
that two companies of the First Artillery, United States Army, had arrived
at Fort Vancouver, and he immediately returned to that post. In June,
Fort Vancouver was occupied as a permanent military camp, with Major J.
S. Hathaway commanding. In July, Company M, under. Captain Bennet H.
Hill, was dispatched to the Sound, and on August 27, Captain Hill estab
lished a military post at Fort Steilacoom, not far from the Hudson's Bay
post of Fort Nesqually.
Toward the end of August, Hon. J. Quinn Thornton, sub-Indian-agent
for the district of Oregon lying north of the Columbia river, visited the Indian
tribes on the Sound and held an interview with Patkanim. After his re
turn, on September 7, 1849, he authorized Captain Hill to pay eighty blankets
for the delivery of the murderers of Wallace within three weeks; if de
livery was not made within that time the reward might be doubled. When
Governor Lane, who was ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs, heard
of the offer of his sub-agent he took strong exceptions to it, construing such
a course as being too much like offering a premium, instead of meting out
punishment to those who might be induced to betray their chiefs. But be
fore Governor Lane could countermand the offer or initiate the proper steps
to punish the tribe in the event of their refusal to surrender the guilty parties,
Patkanim had delivered up six Snoqualmie Indians, charged to be the mur
derers, to Captain Hill, who had duly paid the reward, purchasing the blan
kets from Fort Nesqually at the price of $480,

FORT BOIST OH CHEHALIS RIYER HEAR OEHTRALIA.
BUILT TO PROTECT THE WHITES FROM THE IHDIANS DURING THE WAR OF 1830-6.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 161
When the news of the surrender of the murderers reached Oregon City
the legislative assembly, the first under the territorial government, was in
session. A bill was at once passed attaching Lewis county to the first judi
cial district and providing for a special term of court at Steilacoom to be
held by Chief Justice Bryant on the first Monday in October. This was
the first session of a United States court held north of the Columbia river.
Captain Hill delivered to the United States marshal the six Indians
who had been surrendered by their chief as the participants in the attack
on Fort Nesqually. All of them had been formally indicted for the murder
of Leander C. Wallace. The prosecution was conducted by Judge Alonzo
A. Skinner, and the court assigned David Stone, then prosecuting attorney
for the third judicial district, to defend the accused. The six Indians on
trial were named Kussass, Quallahwowt, Sterhawai, Tatam, Whyeek, and
Quarlthumkyne. The first two named were convicted and sentenced to be
executed; the remaining four were acquitted.
The punishment was prompt, for the execution took place the next day,
October 3. The whole tribe was present, besides a vast gathering of other
Indians, and the occasion was embraced to teach the natives that the law
would be rigorously enforced against those who committed outrages upon
the whites or their property.
So far as there is any record, Mr. Wallace was the first American to
meet death at the hands of the Indians on Puget Sound.
THE INDIAN WAR.
Early in 1854 a member of one of the northern tribes of Indians, the
Kake, had worked for H. L. Butler at Butler's Cove, about two miles down
the bay from Olympia, and a dispute arose over the wages to be paid. As
a result of the controversy, one Burke, who was working for Mr. Butler,
killed the Indian. About the time this murder was committed, it was cus
tomary for the northern Indians to make trips up the Sound in search of
work, and to commit depredations on the settlements on their return. Their
periodic visits increasing in number and boldness, alarmed the settlers, and
Commander Swartout of the United States navy, who was then on duty in
Puget Sound waters, in charge of the steamer Massachusetts, determined
to drive them out and punish them. On November 20 he made an attack
on their camp at Port Gamble. Twenty-seven were killed and twenty-one
wounded, while their huts and canoes were destroyed. The remainder he
carried to Victoria on Vancouver Island, and flattered himself that the Puget
Sound settlements were rid of them, but his attack only increased the hostile
spirit of the savages. The murder at Butler's Cove was also a great outrage,
and grievously the settlers answered for it afterwards.

102 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
At this time the fighting strength of the hostile Indians west of the
Cascade Mountains was estimated at 1,500 warriors, chiefly representing
the following tribes : Nisquallies and Puyallups under Leshi and Quin-
muth; Green and White river Indians under Nelson and Kitsap; Klickitats
and their relatives under Kanascut, and the upper Puyallups under Coquil-
ton. There were also hostiles from the northern coast and across the moun
tains. The most active worker in organizing the Indians was Leshi of
the Nesquallies, and he had succeeded in forming a combination of these
tribes to engage in a war against the white settlements in the Green and
White river valleys.
On October 14, 1855, Acting Governor Charles H. Mason issued a
proclamation in which he cited the fact that information had been received
showing a state of hostility between the Yakima Indians and the United
States government in the territory, and called for two companies of volun
teers, each to consist of eighty-six officers and men. Vancouver and Olym
pia were designated as places of enrollment.
Governor Mason was expecting 1,890 muskets, 100 accoutrements,
thirty cavalry sabers, 280,000 rifle caps, etc., by the steamer Willarnantic,
and the arrival of the vessel was anxiously awaited, but when it arrived at
Olympia, to the great disappointment of everyone, it brought no arms. Sur
veyor General James A. Tilton then went to Seattle to visit the sloop of
war Decatur and the revenue cutter Jeff Davis for the purpose of securing
arms for the volunteers. In this he was partially successful, obtaining from
the Decatur thirty muskets, with bayonets, belts, etc. ; forty carbines ; fifty
holster pistols; fifty sabers with belts, and 3,500 ball cartridges. From the
revenue cutter he obtained six musketoons and six sabers; in all, sufficient
to arm seventy infantry and fifty light horse cavalry.
After the organization of the volunteers, Governor Mason commis
sioned Charles Eaton, a resident of the coast since 1843, and familiar with
the Indians and their methods of fighting, to organize a company of rangers,
to consist of thirty privates and eleven officers. The order was instantly com
plied with, the men joining the company from Olympia and the immediate
vicinity. Both of the Olympia companies were presented with flags by the
ladies of the settlement, and left on October 20, 1855, f°r the seat of war
in the White river valley.
Much doubt existed as to the hostile feeling among the natives. Cap
tain Bolen of the Willarnantic said that there were more Indians at the lower
Sound than he ever saw before. It was well known that the Yakimas were
well united in a feeling of hostility, while the Klickitats were known to be
divided. It was considered by the troops and the authorities that it was
very essential that the first battle be won; otherwise the neutral Indians

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 163
might join their hostile neighbors. Several smaller companies were or
ganized among' the farmer boys on the prairies around Olympia and New
Market. Owing to the difficulties of communication it was deemed prudent by
the authorities to have a force in reserve to be called to action in case of
an emergency. By a proclamation issued by Governor Mason of October
22, the counties of Walla Walla, Skamania and Clarke were to furnish one
company to be enrolled at Vancouver; the counties of Waukiakum, Cowlitz,
Pacific and Chehalis, one company to be enrolled at Cathlamet; Lewis,
Pierce, Thurston and Sanamish, one company to be enrolled at Olympia;
and King, Island, Jefferson, Clallam and Whatcom, one company to be
enrolled at Seattle. These companies were expected to take the field only in
case of necessity.
Governor Mason officially appointed James A. Tilton to be adjutant
general of the volunteer forces of the territory during the war, and desig
nated Charles Eaton, of Thurston county, as captain of the Puget Sound
Rangers. To protect the families located on claims, forts or stockades
were built in different parts of the Sound country.
The first work planned for the troops was to capture Leshi, the chief
of the Nesquallies, who had been preparing his band for hostilities. He
was an Indian of more than ordinary wealth and power, and was in posses
sion of a considerable amount of farming land on the Nesqually bottoms.
On October 24, the Rangers left Olympia and proceeded direct to
Leshi's headquarters, but found that he had fled to the White river valley
and the troops immediately started in pursuit. At Puyallup Crossing the
main body of the company halted, and Captain Eaton, Lieutenant McAllister
and a Mr. Cornell, with two friendly Indians, proceeded to have a conference
with the hostiles, Lieutenant McAllister acting as interpreter. The Indians
professed friendship and promised not to engage in a war against the set
tlement, but on returning to the command the little company was fired upon
from ambush and Lieutenant McAllister and Mr. Cornell killed. This oc
curred on the 28th of October, 1855. One of the friendly Indians then
rode to the McAllister claim, a short distance east of Olympia, and told the
family of Mr. McAllister's death and helped them to the fort that had been
built on Chamber's prairie.
When the news of Lieutenant McAllister's death reached the authori
ties at Olympia it aroused the people to the horrors of the situation. The
number of fighting warriors was grossly exaggerated in the fears of the
people. This and the defenseless condition of the community aroused the
populace to the highest pitch of excitement. Straggling Indians were going
through the country committing depredations upon the small herds. Claims

164 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
were abandoned and families were seeking protection and safety in the
nearby villages. Olympia, the territorial capital, was the general place of
refuge. A town meeting was held and the situation thoroughly discussed.
The village of Olympia stood on a tongue of land extending into the water,
and there were, therefore, bays on both sides of the settlement about a quarter
of a mile apart. It was decided to build a stockade from bay to bay, with
a block house near the center, on which was placed a cannon. In case of an
attack the people were expected to seek safety inside the stockade.
In the White river valley on the 28th of October, 1855, many settlers
were massacred in the most barbarous manner. Among them were H. H.
Jones and wife, George E. King and wife, W. H. Brennan, wife and child,
and Simon Cooper. Several escaped to Seattle. Settlers on the Puyallup
river were warned of their danger by Kitsap, the elder, for whom Kitsap
county was afterwards named, and they escaped in the night, whilst the
Indians were waiting for daylight to attack and destroy them. The attack
upon Seattle followed soon after, and upon this the Indians concentrated all
their efforts. Their failure to accomplish its capture was a signal for dis
persion, the return of the northern Indians to their homes and the Yakimas
and Klickitats to the other side of the mountains.
Chief Leshi and his brother Queimal were induced to give themselves
up to the authorities under the promise of pardon. Leshi surrendered to
Colonel Casey, of the United States Army, at Fort Steilacoom, but he was
subsequently indicted for murder and after three trials sentenced to be hanged.
Queimal gave himself up to Governor Stevens, and while waiting in the
anteroom of the Governor's office was murdered by unknown parties.
The case of Leshi was appealed to the supreme court, where it was
considered for seven days. The judgment of the lower court was affirmed,
but, notwithstanding, delays prolonged the Indian's life, and he did not pay
the death penalty until February 19, 1858, when he was executed at Fort
Steilacoom'.
CHAPTER XXII.
INDIAN WAR OF 1855-6  ADMIRAL PHELPS' NARRATIVE.
The Indian war of 1855-6 on Puget Sound was simply a part of the pre
concerted or prearranged plan of the Indians of the northwest to exterminate
the white settlers in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. This plan was chiefly
the work of the more warlike Indian tribes east of the Cascade Mountains,
but they induced many of the Indians in the Puget Sound region to join
them in their murderous conspiracy. This they did the more easily because
the settlers in this region were few in numbers, scattered throughout a
broken, hilly and heavily wooded country, without roads of facilities for

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 165
easy communication except by water, and, with the exception of a single
company of soldiers stationed at Fort Steilacoom, and the occasional visit
of a revenue cutter or sloop of war, were without government protection.
The long distance intervening between this section of country and any avail
able means of succor at San Francisco or in the eastern states, made the task
they undertook apparently an easy one, and many Indians were led into it
by these specious arguments, who under ordinary circumstances would have
remained friendly, but the prospect of plunder and the hope of retaining
their hunting and fishing grounds without intrusion of the " Bostons," as
American settlers were called, were temptations too strong to be resisted.
Having determined, therefore, to go to war, they made a strong effort to
capture Seattle, not only because of the supplies, arms and ammunitions they
were much in need of, and which they hoped to secure at that point, but
for the further reason that by its capture they believed that settlers in other
localities would easily be driven out or murdered. Seattle, therefore, bore
the brunt of the battle, and when the attack upon that place proved a failure,
they were disheartened and the war thereafter was continued in a spiritless
manner. Nor had they expected the white people of the Sound to receive,
as they did, material aid from the Hudson's Bay people at Victoria, but Sir
James Douglas promptly forwarded supplies, arms and ammunition, and
the arrival soon afterwards of additional war vessels, together with rein
forcements of the troops on the land, reduced the Indians' prospect for suc
cess to a minimum, and they were soon willing to give up the struggle. The
northern Indians returned to their homes and those from the eastern side of
the Cascades soon found their way back to their own ranges. Before the
close of the year they were willing to make peace, and hostilities were never
afterwards resumed. The following extracts from Admiral T. S. Phelps'
" Reminiscences of Seattle," in the United- Service for November, 1902,
presents a vivid picture of some incidents in connection with the .siege of
Seattle, when it so narrowly escaped destruction. Admiral Phelps was at
that time an officer serving on board of the Decatur, a United States sloop
of war which took part in its defense.
" The town of Seattle, in October, 1855, numbered fifty souls and
about thirty houses, including a church, hotel, boarding-house, five or six
stores, and a blacksmith and carpenter shop. Within a radius of thirty
miles the white population amounted to about one hundred and twenty, mak
ing a total of one hundred and seventy men, women and children in Seattle
and vicinity. " Seattle was an intelligent Flathead Indian of medium height and
prominent features, chief of the nation occupying the western shore of Ad
miralty Inlet contiguous to Port Madison, and, coveting the rich lands and

166 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
fishing grounds of the opposite bay, waged war incessantly against the Du-
wamish tribe, who occupied this land of promise, until, exhausted in resources
and warriors, the latter finally succumbed and acknowledged him as their
master. " Suc-quardle, better known as Curley, the hereditary chief, accepted
the fortune of war and quietly submitted to his rule, and both chiefs appeared
to live on friendly terms with the ' Bostons,' as Americans were called in
contradistinction to King George's men, which included all of English ori
gin. Beyond furnishing a name for the new settlement, Seattle does not
appear to have figured in the subsequent history of the territory, while
Curley and members of his family became important factors in the annals of
the colony, especially a young Indian bearing the name of Yark-eke-e-man,
commonly called Jim. This native by some inexplicable instinct attached
himself to the white settlers, and served their interests with unswerving
fidelity until near the close of the war, when, unfortunately, he lost his life from
a wound received by the accidental discharge of his gun while hunting.
" The advent of the whites was a pleasant episode in the lives of these
savage people; their arms opened to receive them as superior beings, and
the lands they possessed were freely offered for their acceptance, reserving
for themselves only potato patches and the right to fish in the waters of the
Sound. " The early settlers, I believe, were always kind, just and considerate
in dealing with the natives, and so far as I know retained to the last their
friendship and good will; but as the country filled with new arrivals many
rough characters, so called ' pioneers of civilization,' from the western fron
tier and other states, appeared, who, regardless of the rights appertaining
to the natives, seized their reserved lands, drove them from the fisheries,
deprived them of their just dues, surreptitiously shot some, hung others,
and became ingenious in their methods of oppression, until their victims,
roused from the lethargy enshrouding their faculties, began to exhibit signs
of discontent, yet endured patiently, hoping for a beneficial change in their
conditions, till the final blow to their anticipations came in 1854, with the
delivery of some two hundred thousand dollars in presents, a preliminary
measure on the part of the government to treaty stipulations with the tribes,
which, being distributed by the agents in such fraudulent, unjust, and out
rageous manner finally forced their eyes open to the certainties of the future,
and from that moment they resolutely determined to be rid of the detestable
pests fastening upon them.
" The first real symptoms of a change appeared soon after Governor
I. I. Stevens became the executive; not that he had offended them, but the
spirit of vengeance was abroad, and the oppressed tribes were bent upon

PIISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 107
exterminating every white inhabitant in the territory, irrespective of age,
sex or condition. The governor and people residing around the head-waters
of the Sound were blind to the signs of the times, and would not, nor could
they be made to see the impending dangers threatening both lives and prop
erty. And at a most inappropriate moment, early in the summer of 1855,
that official departed for the country of the Nez Perces and Cceur d'Alenes,
in order to negotiate treaties with these tribes, leaving his secretary, Charles
H. Mason, Esq., in charge of the executive chair.
" At this period, bordering on the Puget Sound and adjacent waters
were small settlements at Bellingham Bay, Port Townsend, Seattle, Steila
coom, Nesqually and Olympia, besides sawmills established at Ports Madi
son, Ludlow, Gamble, and other places in Admiralty Inlet and Hoods Canal.
Away from the water, clearings had been made, and numerous flourishing
homes dotted the forests, and the total white population of the territory was
estimated at two thousand souls.
" With this brief outline of history, we reach the month of June, 1855,
at which. time the United States sloop of war Decatur, Commander I. S.
Starrett, then at anchor in the harbor of Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, received
orders to cruise on the coast of Oregon and California for the protection of
settlers, and by the 2nd inst. she was on the ocean, bound on a mission of in
calculable importance to the inhabitants of our remote territory in the north
west. The orders being special, necessitated our steering for that point where
the force at our command could be displayed to the best interests of the people
requiring protection.
" Columbia river naturally suggested itself as being pre-eminent in this
respect, but after carefully considering the subject, Captain Starrett decided
upon the inland waters of Washington for the scene of immediate operations,
and the course was accordingly laid for the Strait of Fuca.
" This apparent deviation from the letter of our instructions proved, in
the end, to be the salvation of every white inhabitant in the territory. Seventy-
five days after leaving Honolulu the Strait of Fuca was reached, and an Eng
lish trader at Port San Juan, Vancouver's Island, gave information of a medi
tated attack of many thousands of the northern Indians upon those of Van
couver's Island and Washington territory. We proceeded immediately to Port
Townsend, where, casting anchor on the evening of July 19, the foregoing
proved to be unfounded, but news of a more stratling nature greeted us, inas
much as it appeared that the natives of our own soil were developing a state
of inquietude which led the whites to anticipate a rupture within a few months.
" Satisfied as to the impending danger threatening the settlers and being
in need of provisions and ammunition, Captain Starrett, with the ship under
his command, repaired to the California navy yard, for supplies, having ob-

168 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
tained which, he returned to his station, and the afternoon of October 4, 1855,
found the Decatur at anchor in Duwanish Bay, near the town of Seattle.
" The Decatur was only a few hours in port before we had a fair under
standing of existing affairs. During the interval between that ship's departure
in July and her return, the passive attitude of the Indians had changed to an
active one. The Klickitat and Spokane Indians first united with hostile inten
tions, and soon were joined by the Palouses, Walla- Walla, Yakima, Klickitat,
Nesqually, Puyallup, Lake, and other tribes, estimated at six thousand war
riors, marshaled under the three generals-in-chief, Coquilton (The uncertainty
regarding the leading spirit of this hostile organization was remarkable, no
one being positive as to the individual chief, the majority conceding the honor
to either Ow-hi the elder, Ow-hi the younger, or Kamiaken; some to Leshi,
and others to Le-ash or Qui-e-muth. The name given to me by the Indians
was Coquilton, — probably Kamiaken, — and I have retained that name through
out these pages.), Ow-hi and Leshi, assisted by many subordinate chiefs. En
voys were dispatched across the Sound to the country bordering on the Strait
of Fuca to enlist the services of the Classet and Clallam Indians, but fortunate
ly for their future the wise counsels of the Duke of York, the Clallam chief,
prevailed on the side of peace and neutrality.
" In the valley watered by the Snoqualmie river resided an important
tribe, whose alliance the belligerents eagerly sought, and for two months suc
cess seemed evenly balanced, but policy at last decided in favor of the. whites,
and of all the tribes in the territory the Snoqualmie Indians alone drew the
sword in favor of the enemies of their race, notwithstanding Patkanim, their
chief, most cordially abominated the ' Bostons,' and unhesitatingly proclaimed
his desire for their destruction.
" But possessing a large fund of common sense and traits seldom found
in the Indian character, and rising above prejudice and hatred, he subordinated
personal enmity to the good of his people, for whose welfare he held himself
responsible, and being conscious that, however disastrous the war might prove
to the settlers, the ' Bostons,' who were ' like the trees in the forests,' would
recuperate and sweep them from the earth ; and while he would gladly extermi
nate them, root and branch, policy dictated prudence, and to save his people
from final destruction he accepted in good faith the proffered alliance.
" The rancor existing in the heart of the savage was caused by inhuman
treatment, perpetrated during his childhood by certain whites at Nesqually
against himself, father and brother, in retaliation for a murder subsequently
proved to have been committed by a white renegade. After enduring torture
for eighteen months in a thousand ways they were released, but the bitter feel
ings engendered by this cruelty never slumbered, and, as before mentioned,
' policy ' alone prevented his retaliating whenever objects for his vengeance
could be found.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 169
" Excepting the three tribes mentioned, and a few of the Duwamish race
residing in and around Seattle, the entire body of Indians in the territory were
united against the colonists, who were poor, without military resources, save
a few rifles and old fowling-pieces, and beyond themselves their only hope
rested upon the two companies of the Third United States Artillery, acting as
infantry, commanded by Captain E. D. Keyes, United States Army, and
stationed at Fort Steilacoom, situated about a mile east of the town bearing
that name. Unfortunately, at this time their prospects of assistance were les
sened by the absence of one company, under Lieutenant Slaughter, upon a
reconnoitering expedition to the Naches Pass, and of whose safety serious
doubts were entertained. Various extravagant rumors were in circulation,
and the minds of the people naturally became unsettled and prepared to credit
any report however marvelous, and when, about October ist, a man by the
name of Porter was attacked by a few Indians (but who succeeded in escaping
to Steilacoom), a panic was created.
" The farmers of King county abandoned their homes and fled with their
families to. Seattle, where, uniting with the townspeople, they lost no time in
constructing a block-house on the mound, of sufficient capacity to protect them
against the incursion of the savage horde momentarily expected ; and at this
juncture, when all hope of assistance from the outside world was given up,
the appearance of the Decatur rounding West Point was such an unexpected
acquisition of good fortune to the anxious and despondent settlers that they
seemed to feel as if a reprieve from sudden death had been granted, and the
transition from despair to unrestrained joy may be imagined but not described.
A few days completed the block-house, and with ample protection at hand a
sense of security reigned to which this community had long been a stranger,
and when, on October 18, Acting Governor Mason arrived from an observa
tion tour towards the mountains, reporting a pacific condition of the country,
the panic disappeared, and the farmers gradually returned to their homesteads
to secure the crops ready for harvesting.
" From this period, notwithstanding the pacific news brought by Governor
Mason, the excitement continued, conflicting rumors multiplied, and to sepa
rate truth from fiction taxed the ingenuity of all who attempted it; but after
an experience of two or three months the officers of the Decatur became satis
fied that no information from any source could be relied upon excepting that
furnished by Jim (Yark-eke-e-man) through Dr. Williamson, which in time
was received with implicit confidence. The uneasiness of the people became
sensibly increased on the morning of October 15, by the arrival of Surveyor
General James Tilton, on the part of the acting governor, to solicit a loan of
muskets and ammunition to enable the citizens of Olympia to arm against an
apprehended attack. As the danger appeared imminent, the ship was nearly
denuded of small arms in order to satisfy the demand.

170 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
" On the 18th the alarm of the citizens was seriously augmented by the
arrival from Fort Colville of six Frenchmen, who were positive of the union of
the Klickitat, Spokane, Palouse, Walla Walla, and Yakima Indians for hostile
purposes, and had been assured by the chief of the latter tribe that on October
6th he had attacked and destroyed a company of soldiers, thereby securing a
good supply of arms and ammunition, enabling him to assume the offensive
and also secure all the mountain passes and rivers.
" This probably was the Indian version of a report received through
another channel the next day that on the 6th Major Haller's command had
charged and^ routed a body of Indians, with severe loss on both sides, the
soldiers remaining in possession of the field.
" Following this came the news of Lieutenant Slaughter's return from
the mountains, where, finding the enemy numbering between three and four
thousand, he deemed it expedient to fall back, first to White river and after
wards to Steilacoom.
" On the first day of December, while meditating a visit to Nesqually and
Olympia, alarming news from Seattle came by express, and the ship imme
diately repaired to that place, when an urgent request was received from Port
Madison for the vessel to come immediately and save the people from a band
of northern Indians who were threatening the lives of the entire settlement.
In a few hours the ship was in that harbor, and Captain Starrett, believing in
the possible settlement of a probable misunderstanding by a conference re
quested the principal men to assemble on board for that purpose; but the
Indians, doubting the propriety of subjecting their persons to the tender mer
cies of the ' Bostons ' without proper guarantees, which Captain Starrett
declined to give, sent a decided negative, but after many promises and much
persuasion he succeeded in gathering a deliberative board of the savages com
posed of Scowell, the most popular chief of all the territories of north
western America, and eighteen minor chiefs, or Tyees, and after giving them
an exhibition of the power of heavy guns, the explosive nature of iron shells,
and destructive qualities of grape and canister, he explained the situation,
the excited state of the settlers, and, in the war already inaugurated, the im
possibility of distinguishing friends from foes, and concluded by urging them
to return to their own country and remain there until the close of hostilities ;
to which Scowell immediately responded, ' In eighteen hours we will leave
and not return until the war is over.' Within twelve hours the entire encamp
ment had departed from the waters.
"The march of the Slaughter expedition after leaving Steilacoom to
Muckleshoot was devoid of interest, and after a brief rest at that prairie it
proceeded down the valley of the White river, every precaution being taken

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 171
against surprise, and, notwithstanding the constant fall of rain, neither tents
nor fires were permitted until after the arrival at the Pup-shulk Prairie, near
the forks, where on December 4, meeting with Captain Hewett, and being as
sured by that officer of the absence of the Indians, his company having thor
oughly scoured the neighborhood during the day, Lieutenant Slaughter ordered
his men to encamp for the night. Tents were erected, fires kindled, and for
the first time in three days the tired and drenched command enjoyed rest and
dry clothing. " A deserted log hut was found on the ground, which the officers ap
propriated for headquarters, and with a rousing fire before the door made
themselves as comfortable as the circumstances would admit. About ten
o'clock p. m., while Lieutenant Slaughter and Captain Hewett were convers
ing together inside the hut, and exposed to the open door, with Dr. Taylor
and Lieutenant Harrison also in the room, the Indians, who had passed the
sentinels unperceived, poured a heavy volley into the encampment, instantly
killing Lieutenant Slaughter and wounding others. The awakened garrison
were quickly in position, and a fierce fusillade was kept up on both sides until
towards dawn, when the Indians retired, leaving on the ground Lieutenant
Slaughter, Corporal Berry, and one private of the army, and Corporal Lang-
den, Washington Territory Volunteers, killed, and five men wounded. The
intense darkness of the night probably saved the command from annihilation.
On December 6, the expedition, with the remains of Lieutenant Slaughter,
arrived in Seattle, and returned to Fort Steilacoom by water.
" Subsequently it transpired that during the two days and nights previous
to the arrival of the command at the forks it had been constantly surrounded
by a band of Indians capable of mastering it at any moment, but owing to the
inability of the chiefs to distinguish the officers, they preferred to wait until
they could be sure of them, believing that without a head the soldiers would
become demoralized and yield without a struggle.
" On the 24th the Active came into the harbor, bearing Governor Stevens
and staff, accompanied by Captain Keyes and Indian Agent Simmons. The
governor, recently returned from visiting the Cceur d'Alenes and other trans-
mountain tribes, scoffed at the idea of Indian troubles, and on the evening
of the 25th concluded a speech addressed to the settlers with these emphatic
words : ' I have just returned from the countries of the Nez Perces and of
the Cceur d'Alenes; I have visited many tribes on the way, both going and
coming, and I tell you there are not fifty hostile Indians in the territory, and
I believe that the. cities of New York and San Francisco will as soon be at
tacked by Indians as the town of Seattle.' The effect of this declaration upon
his hearers was disheartening in the extreme, for within an hour before their
utterance intelligence had been received that ' Coquilton with his army was

172 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
approaching by the way of Lake Duwamish, and had been crossing since
early in the morning;' and many then resolved to leave the country, which
they afterwards did, causing much annoyance to the governor, who attributed
their defection to the ' improper influence of the officers of the Decatur ' ! Im
mediately upon closing, the gubernatorial party re-embarked, and continued
the inspecting tour of the reservations in the lower waters of the inlet.
" Owing to a singular idiosyncrasy on the part of the people residing in
the upper regions of the Sound, only a few apparently believed in the danger
near at hand, and laughed to scorn the ' officers of the ship at Seattle ' for their
absurd apprehensions of any difficulty with a race too cowardly to resist any
aggressions, however serious they might be."
CHAPTER XXIII.
NARROW ESCAPE OF SEATTLE FROM DESTRUCTION. (NARRATIVE OF ADMIRAL
PHELPS CONTINUED.)
" During the afternoon of the 25th, Tecumseh, chief of the Lake Indians,
came in with his whole tribe and claimed protection against the hostiles, who
designed their destruction in consequence of their adhering to the whites,
and they were assigned to a part of the unoccupied ground in the southern
portion of the town, with the injunction to keep within their camp and not to
stray beyond its limits.
" At midnight, commencing January 26, Tecumseh, Owhi, Leshi, Curley,
Yark-eke-e-man, and chiefs of lesser note, were assembled in the lodge of
the former to decide upon a plan of battle and the necessary details to har
monize the movements of the Indians both in and out of town. Preliminary
to more important business, the council decided upon an indiscriminate
slaughter of all the people found in Seattle, including those belonging to the
ship. Curley requested an exemption in favor of Mr. Yesler, — always a kind
friend to his race, — but being overruled, finally consented that he also should
be consigned to destruction with the others. Next, after serious deliberation,
they decided that their stranger guests should immediately return to Coquil
ton by water, and arrange for a simultaneous assault of all the forces under
his command ; the Indians within the town to provide against a retreat in the
direction of the bay, and thus insure the destruction of both people and town,
and secure a retreat to the forests before the heavy guns of the ship would
be able to open fire; the attack was to be made about 2 o'clock a. m., instead of
the hour immediately preceding dawn, as is usual with the Indians ; and the
inadequate garrison being taken by surprise, would, they argued, offer only a
feeble resistance to the overwhelming number of determined Indians launched
suddenly upon them, and an easy victory be gained with little loss to them
selves. Soon after the departure of the envoy chiefs, ' Jim,' eluding the vig-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 173
ilance of Curley, succeeded in gaining the back-room of Dr. Williamson's
house, and scarcely had time to signify his desire for an immediate interview
before Curley stalked in from the street and insolently demanded to know
what had become of ' Jim," when, placing his hand on the intruder, the doctor
violently thrust him through the door and turned the key ; and a few moments
placed that gentleman in possession of the occurrences in the Indian camp,
and no sooner had its vital import been grasped than he dispatched messengers
to Mr. Yesler, urging him without a moment's delay to notify Captain
Gansevoort of the presence of the Indians and the imminence of an immediate
attack, with which demand that gentleman quickly complied.
" Meanwhile the Decatur people had gotten themselves ready to par
take of their morning meal, and were on the eve of satisfying their appetites,
rendered keen by a night's vigils, when the long-roll summoned them to the
deck, and ten minutes later found them breakfastless, under arms at the sta
tions vacated by them a short time before.
" The third division was the last in order to leave the ship, and the
captain accompanied it to the shore, where the non-combatants of the friendly
tribes were hurrying their chattels into canoes and pushing out into the bay.
Ki-cu-mu-low (Nancy), Curley's sister, and mother of Yark-eke-e-man, short,
stout and incapable of running, apparently crazed with fright, came waddling
past us, and to my query of ' What's the matter, Nancy ? ' pointing one hand
towards the forest, while using the other to accelerate her speech, she shrieked
back, ' Hi-u Klickitat copa Tom Pepper's house! hi-hi hiu Klickitat!' (an
immense number of Klickitats near Tom Pepper's house.), and, before com
pleting the sentence, plunged headforemost into a canoe, and when last seen
was vigorously paddling towards the inlet.
" ' They are undoubtedly here at last,' I remarked to the captain, ' but
probably will not show themselves until night.'
"'No;' he replied; 'but get your men under cover and to sleep, so
they can be rested and ready when the Indians appear, and I will have their
meals sent to them on shore; first, however, I will go to the south end
and have the howitzer lodge a shell in Tom Pepper's house to see if they are
there.' " The third division, while dashing forward to the rendezvous, caught
sight of the Indians massed in the Lake trail, and, contrary to orders, charged
and drove them to the ridge of the hill before they could be arrested and
turned back, and the ambushed Indians, too much astonished at the unex
pected retreat to improve the critical moment, suffered their enemies to regain
their stations unmolested, when the latter, finding a few sapling stumps for
rifle-rests, soon cooled down to their work, while the disappointed foes vainly
endeavored to regain the ground they had lost.

174 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
" The costumes of the officers and men being similar, the puzzled In
dians were unable to distinguish one from the other, but the initial move
ment revealing to them the officer in charge of that command rendered his
position an unenviable one during the next five hours of the fight.
" Early in the action Klakum, secreted in easy range behind a tree, ob
serving Mr. Peixotto standing on the block-house steps with young Milton G.
Holgate two or three steps above and immediately behind, carefully leveled his
rifle at the former and fired ; the ball missing its mark penetrated the brain of
the latter, and the boy fell backward dead upon the floor.
" Leaving the third division and marines to hold the Indians in check
at the head of the swamp, we turn to the south end of the peninsula, where
the contestants being separated by the slough, the battle assumed the nature
of a long-range duel, where large numbers were engaged and neither party
could approach the other without incurring certain destruction, and any at
tempt at crossing by the sand-bar would have resulted in instant death to
any one foolhardy enough to undertake it. The Indians possessed the ad
vantage of position, overwhelmning numbers, and in being screened by trees,
logs and bushes, while the whites in the field south of the neck, including
citizens who came forward to assist in protecting their families and property,
did not number over one hundred men under arms, and, except the protection
afforded by a few scattering stumps, the entire party was openly exposed to
the storm of bullets constantly sweeping over the slope and ridge.
" The roaring of an occasional gun from the ship belching forth its
shrieking shell and its explosion in the woods, the sharp report of the howit
zer, the incessant rattle of small arms, and an uninterrupted whistling of
bullets, mingled with the furious yells of the Indians, transpiring beneath an
overcast and lowering sky, pictured a scene long to be remembered by those
who were upon the ground to witness it. A young man having benefited by
the protection afforded by a stump for an hour or more, lost his life by the
severance of the spinal column with an Indian bullet, while in the act of run
ning to the rear for the purpose of procuring water to quench his thirst.
" Loud above the din of battle could be heard the shrill screaming of
the Indian women urging the delinquent warriors to the front, nor were they
sparing of their expressions of contempt to the laggards in the fight; and
when not caring for the wounded or secreting the dead beyond all chance
of discovery, any signs of wavering in the ranks brought them like furies to
their midst, and woe to the lordly Indian who failed to follow their frenzied
lead. " Returning to the neck, where the firing had assumed a terrific form on
the part of a thousand disappointed Indians assembled on the hillsides and in
the valley near the swamp, and made desperate by the blunder committed

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 175
early in the action, the Indians now seemed bent upon remedying their error
by raining bullets upon the little band of men holding them at bay.
" The initial movement of my division betrayed my identity to Klakum,
the Lake chief, and for five tedious hours that savage, safely ensconced behind
a barrier of trees, rocks and bushes, diligently devoted his energies to my
removal from the scene; the sharp crack of his western rifle, a frequent jet
of blue smoke, and the fierce ' ping ' a moment after plainly described the
ardor of his work, and after half a dozen replying shots aimed at a column of
vanishing smoke, he was left to indulge freely in the amusement he had on
hand. "The firing continued until 11:45 a- m-> when it suddenly ceased in
our immediate front, and the deep gutteral voice of Coquilton was heard in
the center issuing undistinguishable orders to his responsive lieutenants on
the right and left.
" At this moment the fate of Seattle hung by a thread. With two
bounds, or three at the most, the third division would have gone down like
grass before a mower's scythe, and in^a few moments the battle have been
won, the people given up to indiscriminate slaughter, and the village in
flames; but failing to make these bounds, the town remained in our pos
session, and the Indian cause was forever lost.
" The Indians, ignoring their fatal error, now appeared bent on over
whelming us with bullets, and from their front and enfilading fire no avenue
of escape seemed open, yet throughout those wearying hours of exposure to
that ceaseless flow of deadly missiles, no one of that little band was harmed.
Dr. Taylor, Mr. Smifhers and Tom Russel, together with four young men,
volunteers from Meigs' mill across the Sound, now appeared upon the ground,
adding seven excellent marksmen to the squad, which continued to hold their
own until two o'clock, when the howitzer came to their assistance, and her
crew increased the force of the Sawdust to thirty-one, with the important
addition of a field-gun throwing a 12-pound projectile, and when the latter
was in position, I directed Morris to land a 2-second shrapnel in Klakum's
ambuscade. That savage, observing my conference with the officer, and sus
pecting the object of the interview, withdrew behind a tree, and, as he sup
posed, beyond reach of any missile approaching his direction; but when an
instant later a well directed shrapnel, exploding at the proper time and place,
cut away a heavy lock of hair just above his ear, he was unable to compre
hend the philosophy of a gun ' shooting around a corner,' and his well se
cured retreat became vacant for the occupancy of any Indian whose ambition
might lead in that direction; whether it was taken possession of I am un
able to say, but I am certain of experiencing no more trouble from that quar
ter during the remainder of the day.

176 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
" Three o'clock came, and also exhaustion for the men, induced by more
than twenty-three hours' abstinence from both food and rest, and, wearying
of drawing the Indians from their cover, another method was deemed ex
pedient for bringing matters to a close.
" The non-combatants having been disposed of early in the day, — fifty-
two women and children having found refuge on the Decatur and the re
mainder on board the bark Brontes, waiting for a cargo in the stream, and
the adult males being safely housed in the block-house guarded by the marines,
at 3 130 p. m., escorted by Indian bullets, the divisions repaired on board ship,
and, manning the battery, the enemy were soon driven beyond the reach of
our great guns, and kept at bay until after nightfall, when, under cover of
the darkness, many efforts were made to set fire to and rob the buildings,
but a well directed shell sent them hurrying away to rejoin their companions
in the woods.
" At 10 p. m. the last gun was fired, and the battle of Seattle was a
thing of the past; her enemies had been defeated and turned back into the
wilderness from whence they came, never again to rally for the destruction
of the people of Washington.
" The number of Indians assembled before Seattle is not known ; the
natives themselves being ignorant of or declining to give any reliable infor
mation on the subject, the matter naturally becomes one of conjecture. But
if we consider the preparations made, the number of tribes represented, their
confidence in being able to conquer Seattle and Steilacoom with a divided
army, and by comparing the amount of noise made by their simultaneous
shouts with the well remembered cheers of a line-of-battle's crew of a thou
sand or eleven hundred men, in addition to the length of time they occupied,
a pretty fair estimate may be made, and they could not have fallen far short
of two thousand souls; also of the number of killed and wounded we have
no means of knowing, the most that the Indians would admit being twenty-
eight of the former and eighty of the latter.
" I now learned from Yark-eke-e-man that the hostile chiefs, confident
of an easy victory at Seattle and also at Steilacoom, where well-stored depots
of provisions were to be found, gave little thought to their commissary depart
ment, and, being provided with a deficient quantity of food for prosecuting
a protracted campaign, their unexpected repulse at the former place left them
without resources for supplying their immediate wants. Therefore it became
necessary to form into small bands and scour the country to secure the means
for continuing the war. From three to four weeks were deemed sufficient
for the accomplishment of this object, and considering that time ample for
perfecting his plans, Coquilton, on the 28th, sent word by a Lake Indian
' that within one moon he would return with twenty thousand warriors, and,

IilSTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY, 177
attacking by land and water, destroy the place in spite of all the warship could
do to pervent.'
" On the morning of February 15, the barricades and block-houses having
been completed, the finishing touches given to the roads, and the town placed
in condition to welcome the enemy whenever it might suit its pleasure to
appear, and after detailing Lieutenant Drake, with ten men and six marines,
to guard the northern end of town, and myself with the same number, to
gether with Lieutenant Johnson and ten men from the Active, to protect
South Seattle, the remaining officers and their commands returned to the
ship, with the exception of Dr. Taylor, directed to act as surgeon for both
detachments. " Early in March four companies of the Fourth United States^ Artillery
and the Ninth Regiment of Infantry arrived at Steilacoom, where they im
mediately organized by companies for a vigorous prosecution of the war,
and in this connection the Massachusetts, on the 20th, brought to Seattle
Company B, Ninth Infantry, Captain F. T. Dent, en route for the Duwamish
and White rivers.
" The Indians, as we subsequently learned, notwithstanding their fre
quent threats of attacking our lines, had been so sompletely broken and dis
persed' after their defeat at Seattle that they were incapable of again concen
trating their forces, and at this time were scattered in comparatively small
bands over the country in search of food and ammunition, when the army
reinforcements arrived, and were soon in hot pursuit, with a prospect of speed
ily terminating the war.
" On March 28, we were agreeably surprised by the appearance of the
United States steamer John Hancock, Lieutenant David McDougall com
manding, increasing the naval force to three substantial fighting ships, and
two of the number, being steamers, greatly exercised the Indians, who, pos
sessing a wholesome dread of pyre-ships (fire-ships), as they termed them,
now began to realize the hopelessness of their cause. The Hancock,
but recently returned from the Behring Sea explorations, had been hurriedly
fitted at Mare Island by Commander David G. Farragut for the suppression
of Indian hostilities, and proved a serviceable auxiliary to the forces operating
in the territory.
" On the 6th of April we received on board and confined in irons an
Indian named Qui-as-kut, reported by his brethren to be the one who threw
Mrs.- Brennan and infant into the well during the White river massacre in
October, and a few days later the John Hancock conveyed him to Olympia,
where soon afterwards he was shot and killed in the street by a Mr. Brennan,
a brother-in-law to the above lady; and on a subsequent date Mowitch,
another Indian, said to have been engaged in the same massacre, was also

178 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
killed at Olympia by the same man, assisted by one Lake. Mowitch was shot
in the head while embarking in a canoe.
" During the months of April and May the United States forces and
volunteer companies in the field had succeeded so well with the enemy that
the ist of June found a delegation of Indians crossing the mountains on their
way to Olympia to sue for peace. The Decatur, having accomplished her
mission in the territory, was now ready for sea, and at six o'clock a. m.,
June 2, she took her final departure for Seattle, towed by the John Hancock
and accompanied by all the northern Indians then on Puget Sound, with
whom she seemed to be an especial favorite. Touching at Port Townsend
for the night, an early hour the next morning saw the ship out in the straits
towing towards the Pacific Ocean ninety miles away, still escorted by our
Indian friends, representatives from the Tongas, Haidas, Stickene and Shin-
eshean tribes, and when abreast of Victoria, waving us a last farewell, they
paddled towards Vancouver's Island, and soon disappeared."
CHAPTER XXIV.
CONDITIONS AT CLOSE OF WAR  THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY AFFAIR.
Promptly upon the return of blessed peace, the volunteer force called
into the service of the territory by Governor Stevens was disbanded, and the
surplus and captured property were faithfully turned over to the several
quartermasters to be accounted for in the final settlement of accounts. It
speaks well for the efficiency and integrity of the governor and the officers
selected by him, that the expenses incurred should have been kept at a
minimum, and that so large a proportion should have been liquidated by the
sales of this surplus and captured property. More particularly was great
credit due to General W. W. Miller, who had been appointed quartermaster
general by Governor Stevens, for his careful and economical administration
of the complicated duties of his office. For the long delay which occurred
in the payment of these expenses by the National Government, there was ab
solutely no excuse. The number of volunteers mustered into the service of
the territory, chiefly in the Puget Sound Country, was 1,896, of whom 215
came from Oregon. They were about equally divided between mounted and
infantry troops As the number of able-bodied males in the territory at that
time did not exceed 1,700, it will be seen that nearly every one of them did
a soldier's part in the defence of the territory. At no one time, however,
were there more than one thousand men in active service, or on duty. Dur
ing the progress of the war thirty-five stockades, forts and block-houses were
built by the volunteers, many of them quite extensive works, twenty-three
by the settlers, and seven by the regular troops. In addition to the large

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 179
amount of work required for their construction, many roads and trails were
opened up, in order to facilitate military operations. The high character of
these volunteers is shown by their exemplary conduct, both during and after
the war. Often under the most exasperating circumstances the Indians
were treated with scrupulous good faith, and to this circumstance is largely
owing the fact that hostilities were never renewed and that the two races
have ever since lived in peace and harmony and will probably continue to do
so as long as " grass grows and water runs." It is to be regretted that the
limits of this history do not permit a full record in this place of the names and
deeds of these volunteers, who rendered the territory, during the continuance
of the war, services of inestimable value. They were rendered, also, under
circumstances of unusual hardship, peril and privation owing to a frequent
lack of provisions, supplies, arms and ammunition, and to the fact that their
operations were largely conducted in a country covered with dense forests,
through which there were no roads, or facilities of communication away from
the water. The close of the war found most of the settlements in a wretched and
pitiable condition. Houses, crops and improvements had been burned, de
stroyed or abandoned, stock killed by the Indians, and those settlers who had
not been driven off or murdered were without the most ordinary means of
subsistence. The future looked dark and discouraging in the highest degree.
No one could tell whether the promised peace was to be permanent or not,
or whether the professed friendship of the Indians could be relied on, after
the bitter heartburnings created by death and bereavement on one side, or
death and disappointment on the other, as the results of the war in which they
had recently been engaged. No one could tell at what moment hostilities
might be renewed and the lonely cabin of some brave settler be made food
for the flames, or he himself the victim of an unseen bullet or the scalping
knife of treacherous and barbarous savages. Under the circumstances, there
fore, it was not surprising that the country recuperated slowly from the effects
of a disastrous Indian war. Time was necessary to heal its wounds and to
restore confidence to both races and to all settlers, whether in the country or
in towns and villages, before an era of permanent prosperity could be ushered
in. Many settlers did not return to their homes in the country until after
the treaties made with the Indians were ratified by the United States senate
in 1859. Courage, however, was the watchword in both town and country,
and gradually industrial occupations were resumed and the presence of addi
tional land and naval forces of the United States lent additional encourage
ment to settlers already on the ground, as well as to immigrants, who began
to make their way in small and slowly increasing numbers to western Wash
ington,

ISO HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
But before the Indian troubles were over, a speck of war appeared in
the northwest which threatened not only to involve the territory, but two
great nations, the United States and Great Britain, in a bloody conflict. As
early as 1853 there were mutterings of disagreement as to the interpretation
of the treaty of 1846, which defined the boundary lines between the posses
sions of these two powers on the Pacific coast. The forty-ninth parallel was
agreed upon until the waters of the Pacific Ocean were reached in the Gulf of
Georgia, thence, according to the treaty, by the main ship channel which
separated the continent from the Island of Vancouver, it having been agreed
that, although this parallel of latitude intersects that island, it should be con
ceded to Great Britain. There are two channels, however, which under a
strained construction, might be made to answer that description. The first
and principal channel, according to the usual rules of interpretation, is the
Canal de Haro, which flows to the northwest of the Island of San Juan and
a number of adjacent islands of great beauty and value, and the other is
Rosario Straits, which flows to the southwest of these islands. Seeing the
value of San Juan and these other islands for grazing, fishing and other pur
poses, the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company under the leadership of Sir
James Douglass, set up a claim to the Archipelago and attempted to establish
Rosario Straits as the national boundary. They further undertook to occupy
San Juan Island, placing thereon several thousand sheep, for which the
island is particularly well adapted, with a subordinate official in charge.
This island, by an act of the Washington legislature, was included in What
com county and the property on it, real and personal, subject to taxation. In
default of the payment of the taxes imposed the sheriff of Whatcom county
levied upon, seized and sold March 18, 1855, a number of sheep.
This action of the sheriff led to a sharp correspondence between Sir James
Douglass and Governor Stevens, of Washington territory, in the course of
which the governor wrote, May 12, 1855, firmly and unhesitatingly asserting
the rights of the United States to the possession of the island, and supported
the sheriff in his course of action. After reciting the acts of Oregon and
Washington assuming jurisdiction over the islands, including San Juan, he
goes on to say, " The sheriff, in proceeding to collect taxes, acts under a law
directing him to do so. Should he be resisted in such an attempt, it would
be the duty of the governor to sustain him to the full force of the authority
vested in him. The ownership remains now as it did at the execution of the
treaty of June 11, 1846, and can in no wise be affected by the alleged pos
session of the British subjects." This correspondence was communicated to
the secretary of state at Washington, D. C, who discouraged any action by
the territorial authorities until a settlement of the question at issue could be
made by the respective governments. Had the firm, decided and patriotic

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 181
stand then taken by Governor Stevens been supported by the national govern
ment, the matter would undoubtedly have been settled at that time as it should
have been, but it was held in abeyance until further acts of British aggres
sion made a final settlement indispensable. The following letter written by
William L. Marcy, then secretary of state, to Governor Stevens will explain
the position taken by the government.
Department of State,
Washington City, July 14, 1855.
He (the president) has instructed me to say to you that the officers of
the territory should abstain from all acts on the disputed grounds calculated
to promote any conflicts, so far as it can be done without implying the con
cession to the authority of Great Britain of an exclusive right over the
premises. The title ought to be settled before either party should exclude the other
by force, or exercise complete and sovereign rights within the fairly disputed
limits. Application will be made to the British government to interpose with
the local authorities on the northern borders of our territory to abstain from
like, acts of exclusive ownership, with the explicit understanding that any
forbearance on either side to assert the rights, respectively, shall not be con
strued into any concession to the adverse party.
By a conciliatory and moderate course on both sides it is sincerely hoped
that all difficulties will be avoided until an adjustment of the boundary line
can be made in a manner mutually satisfactory. The government of the
United States will do what it can to have the line established at an early
period. W. L. Marcy.
On July 17, 1855, Mr. Marcy, in a note to Mr. Crompton, of the British
legation, suggested that, pending negotiations and settlement of the conflict
ing claims in Oregon, means should be found to prevent a conflict between the
citizens of the two governments.
By this letter it will be seen that the national administration favored a
policy of " Joint Occupation " such as had prevailed in regard to the original
Oregon territory for so many years, until the boundary lines could be finally
determined, rather than insist upon its rights in the premises.
Although Mr. Marcy promised to have the line established at an early
period, nothing definite was done until 1859, when Archibald Campbell was
appointed United States commissioner to establish the northwest boundary
line between the United States and the British possessions. Captain Prevost,
Royal Navy, commanding her Majesty's corvette, the Satellite, was com
missioned to establish the water boundary from the forty-ninth parallel to the
middle of the Straits of Fuca, assisted by Captain Richards, Royal Navy,
commanding her Majesty's steamer Plumper, and Major Hawkins, Royal

182 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Engineers, to determine and mark the forty-ninth parallel. The credentials
of the British commissioners were not satisfactory and much time was lost
in adjusting them, nor were they ever entirely clear and satisfactorily definite.
Prior to this time Henry Webber, an American, was first appointed a
deputy collector of customs for San Juan Island. He was succeeded by
Oscar Olney, and in 1859 by Colonel Paul K. Hubbs, a well known resident,
at that time, of Port Townsend, and still a highly respected citizen of San
Juan Island. In the life of Governor Stevens, written by his son General
Hazard Stevens, appear the following paragraphs :
" A row over a pig precipitated a crisis in the San Juan dispute. An
American settler, Lyman A. Cutlar, shot a Hudson's Bay Company's porker
found rooting in his garden, whereupon Governor Douglass promptly dis
patched a steamer to the scene, bearing his son-in-law, who was a high official
of the company and also of the colony, and two members of the colonial coun
cil. Landing, they loudly claimed the island as British soil, and ordered the
settler to pay one hundred dollars for the slain pig, on penalty of being taken
to Victoria for trial if he refused. But the settler, who had already offered
to pay the reasonable value of the pig, did refuse, and boldly defied arrest,
revolver in hand. The British officials retired, baffled for the time, but de
claring that the settler was a trespasser on British soil, and must submit to
trial by a British court for his offense. A few days after this episode Gen
eral Harney, returning from a visit to Governor Douglass, stopped at San
Juan, and the American settlers there invoked his protection against British
aggression, relating the story of the pig. They also begged protection
against the raids of -the northern Indians, who had committed many depre
dations on Americans, while they never molested the English or Hudson's
Bay Company people, whom they regarded as friends. The old soldier
realized the defenseless condition of the settlers. His blood was stirred at
the attempted outrage. On his way back to Vancouver he stopped at Olym
pia and dined with Governor Stevens, and discussed with him what action
the emergency required. Immediately upon reaching his headquarters at'
Vancouver, General Harney ordered Captain George E. Pickett — the same
who, a Confederate general, led the famous charge at Gettysburg — to proceed
with his company of the Ninth Infantry from Bellingham Bay to San Juan
Island, occupy it, and afford protection to American settlers. Pickett landed
on the island, July 27, and at once issued a proclamation declaring that, in
compliance with the orders of the commanding general (Harney), he came
to establish a military post on the island, notifying the inhabitants to call on
him for protection against northern Indians, and stating that ' this being
United States territory, no laws other than those of the United States, nor
courts except such as are held by virtue of said laws, will be recognized or

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 183
allowed on this island.' This was throwing down the gauntlet at the feet
of the British lion with a vengeance ; and Governor Douglass, a bold, haughty
and determined man, hurried three warships to the island, with positive or
ders to prevent the landing of any more United States troops; but Pickett
took up a position on high ground, threw up intrenchments, and notified the
British that he would fire upon them if they attempted to land.
" Governor Douglass now issued his proclamation, protesting against
the ' invasion,' and reasserting that the island was British soil ; and, armed
with this document, his three naval commanders waited on Pickett, and for
mally demanded his withdrawal. On his refusal, they proposed a joint occu
pation. But the dare-devil American officer was equally obdurate in reject
ing this compromise, and repeated his warning to them not to land. Noth
ing remained for them but to report their mortifying failure to Governor
Douglass. It happened that Admiral Baynes, commanding the British
Pacific fleet, had just put into Esquimalt Harbor, the naval station on Van
couver Island, four miles from Victoria, with a strong naval force. Sir
James, his indignation at white-heat, and fiercely determined to expel the
Yankees from the coveted island, now ordered the Admiral to take his whole
force and drive them from it. As governor of a British colony, Sir James
was authorized to give the order, and it was the Admiral's duty to obey it.
But Admiral Baynes took the responsibility of not obeying it. It would be
ridiculous, he declared, to involve the two great nations in war over a squab
ble about a pig. But he reinforced the ships blockading San Juan, and re
newed the orders to prevent the landing of any more American troops. Five
British ships of war, carrying 167 guns and 2,140 men, closely beset the
southeastern end of the island, charged with the execution of these orders.
" Governor Stevens visited San Juan soon after Pickett landed, and on
August 4, left it in the steamer Julia. Captain Jack Scranton, with dis
patches from Captain Pickett to General Harney, reached Olympia the next
day, and at once forwarded the dispatches by special messenger to General
Harney at Vancouver. In return, Harney's orders reached Olympia on the
8th, were forwarded immediately by the Julia to Steilacoom, and in pur
suance of them Colonel Casey embarked on the steamer with three companies,
hastened down the Sound, silently stole through the blockading fleet in a
dense fog, and effected a landing on San Juan on the 10th. The sight of
the empty steamer anchored close to the shore in the gray of the morning,
and the cheers of the reinforcements as they marched into Pickett's fort on
the hill above, first apprised the British navy of the successful landing. Soon
afterwards Admiral Baynes withdrew his ships and relinquished the blockade,
leaving the American forces in undisputed possession.

184 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
" While the British were omnipotent on the water, they were ill pre
pared to sustain a contest on land, and undoubtedly the knowledge of this
fact influenced Admiral Baynes, and Governor Douglass, too, after his first
indignation, in their forbearing attitude. Victoria and all the points on Frazer
and Thompson rivers and other places on the mainland were thronged with
American miners, attracted by the recently discovered gold fields. The Brit
ish were but a handful. The brave and adventurous pioneers of Washington
and Oregon, the Indian war volunteers, were close at hand. The first clash
of arms on San Juan would have signaled the downfall of every vestige
of British authority in northwest America, except on the decks of their war
ships. There is no doubt that Governor Stevens and the American com
mander intended to press their advantage to the utmost in case of conflict."
On August i, 1855, Colonel, then Major Granville O. Haller, proceeded,
under orders from Lieutenant Colonel Silas Casey, from Steilacoom with a
company of United States troops to reinforce Captain Pickett on San Juan
Island. On his arrival, however, his assistance was not considered neces
sary, and, without landing his soldiers, who were conveyed on the United
States steamer Massachusetts, he continued his voyage to Semiahmo, where
they were employed as a guard for the party of United States commissioner,
Archibald Campbell, which was encamped at that place, and in some danger
from the hostile incursions of northern Indians. For nearly half a century
Colonel Haller was a prominent and highly esteemed 'soldier, citizen and
pioneer of the Puget Sound Country, dying at Seattle May 2, 1897.
" Alarmed at the risk of war, and the scarcely veiled threats of the
British minister, the government hastened to send General Scott to the seat
of war, big with compromise. He withdrew Captain Pickett and all the
troops save one company from the island. Admiral Baynes established a
post of an equal number of marines on the opposite or western end, and
the joint occupation was maintained thirteen years, or until terminated by
the Emperor William's award in favor of the United States."
CHAPTER XXV.
history of the development of transportation facilities.
In the earlier ages of the world men of unusual genius and enterprise
devoted their energies to the concentration of great armies, to the conquest
and subjugation of adjoining provinces or nations, or to the building up of
what they called a great world power, which ordinarily ended in a military
despotism. All this was only accomplished by the destruction of the blood
and treasure of unnumbered thousands of people, and brought distress, poverty
and woe to other countless thousands of widows and orphans, while the
benefits derived therefrom were few in number and enjoyed by comparatively
few people.

PART OF SEATTLE WATER FROHT.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 185
In modern times things are done differently, and such men operate on
different lines altogether. Now men of this character turn their attention
to business enterprises, to schemes of trade, transportation and manufacture,
which are directly beneficial to their own people, and indirectly they serve
to promote the welfare and happiness of the entire world. For the change
that has thus taken place, America is entitled to the credit. Her men of enter
prise are patterns for the world. The Emperor of Germany, one of the bright
est men of the present age, with all his inherited ambition and love of military
glory, and with an immense army at his command, finds his greatest pleasure
and the highest good of his people in following the lines laid down by the
meteoric Henry Villard, the sagacious J. Pierpont Morgan and the practical
and thoroughgoing James J. Hill.
To multiply the utilities of modern civilization, to extend in all direc
tions facilities for trade and commerce, to cheapen transportation for all
manner of products and to all parts of the world, is the ambition of the fore
most men of the present age. No locality on earth presents a more striking il
lustration of these facts and of the world-wide development going on in this
direction to-uay than Puget Sound. Forty years ago this region was almost
unknown to the great majority of intelligent people. Its placid, deep and
transparent waters were rarely vexed by anything more than the light Indian
canoes, which scarcely disturbed its beautiful surface as they glided from one
shaded harbor to another, and it was only occasionally the silence of the forest
was broken by some lonely settler whose axe, resounding through the intermin
able woods, was at work on their margin carving out a home for himself or
clearing a site for some future great commercial city that should make use of all
the grand opportunities provided in this region for the exercise of human in
dustry and enterprise. The history of railroad and steamship development
here reads like a romance, or a chapter from the Arabian Nights Enter
tainments. Forty years ago they were the dream of the enthusiast. To-day
they are a full-fledged reality. Forty years ago there was not a railroad
within two thousand miles. To-day the freight and passenger cars from one
hundred thousand miles of railway find their way to its massive wharves,
docks and warehouses. In 1863 an occasional steamer or sailing vessel of
a few hundred tons was a welcome visitor, but now single cargoes of ten
thousand tons arrive from the Occident or the Orient, and they elicit nothing
more than a passing notice. Yet this marvelous transformation was only
brought about after many years of delay, discouragement and disappointment,
during which time many hearts grew weary with waiting and eyes grew tired
watching for its coming.
In 1856 the Indian war was closed, but it left the country desolate and
almost depopulated. In 1859 the San Juan difficulty was temporarily ar-

186 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ranged, but even then the political tempest was raging, soon to be followed
by the reverberations of the Civil war, which drew the attention of public
men everywhere to the paramount duty of saving the Union from destruc
tion. When this was accomplished in 1865, the country was in a state of
political and financial exhaustion, and in no condition to undertake any great
work of national importance or of industrial improvement, no matter how
meritorious or desirable it might be. Yet a transcontinental railroad had
been the desire by day, and the dream by night, of the settlers in the Puget
Sound Country, from their earliest entrance into it or first knowledge of its
advantages. However appalling might be the engineering and other diffi
culties in the way of its construction, they believed that eventually these
would be successfully overcome. There were mountains and rivers to be
crossed, and a way to be hewn out of these magnificent forests, but human
industry and ingenuity could grapple with these problems and finally solve
them in a satisfactory manner. When, March 3, 1853, Congress made an
appropriation of $150,000 for surveys on three different lines for a railroad
across the continent, they were greatly encouraged, and believed their long
cherished hopes for such a road would soon be realized, but the obstacles
heretofore referred to prevented anything more > than a survey at that time.
Although the explorations and surveys made by Governor Stevens were emi
nently successful, yet more than a quarter of a century elapsed before any
material progress was made on the lines marked out by him and eventually
followed by the Northern Pacific Railroad. When in 1853 an appropriation
of $20,000 was made for the construction of a military road from Fort Steila
coom to Fort Walla Walla, they were still more confident that their expecta
tions would soon be realized, but even this sum, though expended under the
direction of Captain George B. McClellan, never proved of any material
benefit to the country.
The legislature of the territory of Washington granted a charter on
the 28th of January, 1857, to fifty-eight incorporators, therein named, who
were to constitute the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, with a cap
ital stock of $15,000,000, the road to be begun within three and finished
within ten years, but owing to various causes nothing ever came of it. The
Northern route was never treated with the same liberality by the general
government that it extended to the more southern lines. Large donations
or subsidies in land and money were granted to those lines in i860, but not
to the Northern Pacific. However, July 2, 1864, the Northern Pacific Rail
road Company was chartered by Congress and given an immense land sub
sidy, and it was then thought that it was on the highroad to immediate and
permanent success. Construction was to be begun within two years, but
these two years were lost in an unsuccessful effort to raise money. Congress

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 187
extended the time for beginning until 1870, but required completion by 1877.
Jay Cooke & Company, who had successfully financed hundreds of millions
of dollars for the government, undertook to provide the necessary funds.
In the year 1869, Congress authorized the company to issue mortgage
bonds on its railroad and telegraph lines. It was also allowed to extend
its Portland branch to Puget Sound, but required twenty-five miles of this
section to be built in 1871. This requirement was complied with, and the
twenty-five miles northward from the Columbia and up the Cowlitz valley
were completed, and the entire line, from Kalama on the Columbia to
Tacoma on the Sound, was finished in 1873. In the meantime Jay Cooke
& Company failed. No money was available and construction along the
entire line was suspended. The company was forced into bankruptcy, was
reorganized, but construction was not again resumed until in 1875. From
this time forward it proceeded with only occasional interruptions until Sep
tember, 1883, when it was completed to Portland by a connection at Wallula
with the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company's road, under the ad
ministration of Henry Villard. The main line via the Stampede Pass, across
the Cascade Mountains, was not completed until 1887. The limits of this
history will not permit any extended notice of the various fortunes and mis
fortunes, the heart-breaking experiences, and the sore trials to individuals
and communities that attended the construction of the Northern Pacific Rail
road from the time when surveys were made for it in 1853, until it was finally
completed to the Sound in 1887. It did not seem to be necessary that more
than a third of a century should have been required to finish this work, yet
that much time was taken for its construction. During that time, however,
many personal fortunes were wrecked and lives apparently wasted, in the
vain effort to complete the herculean task of building a railroad for nearly
two thousand miles through an uninhabited region occupied chiefly by roam
ing savages. In addition to many other difficulties to be surmounted^ private
and personal interests, land and townsite speculations were allowed, until in
more recent years, to interfere too much with the legitimate work of build
ing and operating a railroad, which was badly needed by the northwest for
its development, and which had been liberally assisted by the national govern
ment, in order that this development might proceed as the pioneers of that
vast and rich territory had a right to expect. Nor will it permit of any ex
tended notice of the heart-burnings and disappointments created in the minds
of individuals and communities by the final location at Tacoma of the ter
minus on Puget Sound. The people of both Olympia and Seattle had looked
forward for more than twenty years to the time when each place would be
favored as a terminus of that road, but both, in the end, were wofully dis
appointed. The Snoqualmie is the best pass over the Cascades for railroad

188 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
purposes, and Seattle was the best location as far as convenience of naviga
tion to the Pacific Ocean was concerned, according to Captain George B.
McClellan, who made the first surveys for the road in the Puget Sound
Country. In his judgment Seattle was the natural location for that ter
minus, but other considerations prevailed and another point was selected.
Promises, were also made to the people of Olympia on the subject, which
never were fulfilled, and all doubts on the subject were finally set at rest
when a telegram was published, sent by R. D. Rice and J. C. Ainsworth,
commissioners appointed to determine the matter, dated Kalama, July i, 1873,
saying, " We have located the terminus on Commencement Bay," which
meant Tacoma, then a straggling sawmill village containing about two hun
dred inhabitants. This telegram was sent to General Morton M. McCarver,
who had settled at this point with the expectation that it would eventually
be chosen as the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad on Puget Sound.
His judgment in locating townsites in this instance proved good, as it had
done in several instances before, and he would have reaped a rich reward in a
pecuniary way, had he lived a few years longer to see the marvelous growth
and beauty of the city with whose founding he was so closely identified. He
died in 1875, before the city had fairly started on its prosperous career. The
location of this terminal point, however, where freight and passengers could
be readily transferred from land to water, from railroad cars to ships, with
all the facilities which modern invention and machinery could devise, was
immediately followed by the organization of the Tacoma Land Company,
an organization subsidiary to and controlled by the Northern Pacific Rail
road Company, which purchased from the latter company about sixteen thou
sand acres of land, being the odd sections granted to it by the government
for the construction of the road, and began the building of docks, wharves,
shops and warehouses for the transaction of the enormous business which
since has been developed at that point. This was the beginning of Tacoma,
whose wonderful growth during the next twenty years, under the fostering
care and with the assistance of the Railroad and Land Company, was jus
tified by the extraordinary development of the commercial, manufacturing
and other resources of Puget Sound. The construction and operation of
this railroad at the same time brought to Tacoma, and other points in the
Sound Country, many active and enterprising men of first-class character and
ability whose genius and industry found an ample field for the exercise of
their respective business qualifications in the conduct and management of the
thousand and one industries which were the natural outgrowth of the de
velopment of the country. Of the men of this character who made a permanent
impression upon the community were General John W. Sprague, the first man
ager and superintendent of the western division of the Northern Pacific

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 189
Railroad; William Milnor Roberts, Colonel Isaac W. Smith, Charles A.
White, D. D. Clarke, J. Tilton Sheets, and V. G. Bogwe amongst its en
gineers; Colonel C. P. Ferry, the son-in-law of General M. M. McCarver,
already mentioned, who had been already identified with the upbuilding of
Tacoma from its earliest beginnings, and who has done much to cultivate
that spirit of beauty and artistic taste in its public and private life which
have always marked its progress. Ferry's Museum is an interesting monu
ment of his zeal and energy in that direction. Many other deserving names
might be mentioned in the same category did space permit.
While the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, under different phases
of management, receivers and courts, and finally under its own legitimate
officers and agents, was struggling to complete its great work with the as
sistance of an enormous land grant of alternate sections for forty miles on
each side of its roadbed, another one of those giants in the capacity for great
undertakings who make their appearance occasionally, was coming to the
front in the person of James J. Hill, whose extraordinary ability in the con
struction and operation of lines of transportation, both on land and water,
and who has been equally distinguished as a great financier, was engaged
in the building of another railway line from Lake Superior to Puget Sound.
As the great advantages of the latter point and its surroundings became known
to the masters of trade and transportation, they at once made it the objective
point for most of the railway lines terminating on the Pacific coast. With
out a subsidy, a land grant or any other assistance from the government,
Mr. Hill and his able associates constructed a line which reached Seattle in
1893, and which since that time has taken a leading part in the settlement
of the country, in the building up its commercial interests and developing its
vast mineral and other resources.
From small beginnings in 1882 they have built up a railway system
which now aggregates 5,562 miles, and which has important and convenient
connections with most of the railway and steamship systems of the country.
Following the " community of interest " policy first inaugurated in the
northwest by Henry Villard, Mr. Hill has effected a combination between
his own road the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, with its 5,475, and
the Burlington with its 8,433 miles of road, and has thus practically combined
19,470 miles of railroad under one management for the protection of their
mutual interests and for the benefit of the public by furnishing the best and
cheapest service to be had under economical management and with due regard
to the interests of all concerned. This combination of roads penetrates
directly into all parts of the Mississippi Valley, by its connections with eastern
lines, and at Seattle with lines of steamships to the East Indies and elsewhere,
thus furnishing facilities for travel and transportation on a larger, cheaper

190 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
and more extensive scale than has ever before been seen in the history of
the world.
To still further cheapen and simplify these already convenient and widely
extended means of communication, Mr. Hill is building, and will soon have
in commission, two enormous ships to operate between Seattle and East
India ports, of 28,000 tons each, and which are larger than any other ships
ever built for such a purpose. When completed he expects to carry freight
to and from the Orient at such low rates as to defy all competition. In addi
tion to the facilities heretofore provided at Seattle for the transaction of its
already large and rapidly growing business, this railroad combination is
expending some five millions of dollars in the construction of wharves, docks,
warehouses, depots, freight and passenger, a tunnel under the city for the
more expeditious handling of cars which alone will cost some two and one-
half million dollars. Its facilities for providing fuel are, in themselves, of
immense advantage over other cities or possible rivals in business. It owns
its own coal mines within a radius of fifty miles, and with its modern methods
of mining and handling coal it can place this important article in the bunkers
of its ships at $1.50 per ton. When present plans now in the course of con
struction are completed it will be able to transfer the corn, wheat and cotton
which it brings from the Mississippi Valley, or the machinery, iron and other
products of the eastern states, to the holds of its vessels without transfer to a
warehouse, making but a single transfer between New Orleans or New York
and Hongkong or Manila. This alone would serve to cheapen the cost of
transportation immensely in these days of swift and close competition when
every item is of importance.
This vast scheme of improvement for the transaction of business at
Seattle, which has heretofore grown faster than the means for its accomplish
ment could be supplied, is now being carried on by the Northern Pacific
Railroad Company, which found it necessary to establish terminal facilities
at Seattle of the most ample dimensions in order to secure its share of this
business, with its subsidiary lines, the Northern Pacific Steamship Company,
the Great Northern Railroad Company, with its subsidiaries, the Seattle &
Montana Railroad Company and the Great Northern Steamship Company,
the Pacific Coast Company and the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad
Company, under agreements made by these various companies. On the
" community of interest " plan these improvements are for the joint use and
benefit of all these companies, which enables them to construct and operate
them upon the most modern principles and in the most economical manner.
Within the past two years the Pacific Coast Company has constructed seven
new docks and warehouses, with a storage capacity of 58,652 tons; the
Northern Pacific five new docks and warehouses with a capacity of 52,690

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 191
tons ; and the Great Northern docks are being increased in size and capacity.
Those built six years ago are now entirely inadequate for their intended
purposes. An extensive system of docks and warehouses is also necessary
for the immense number of local vessels known as the " mosquito fleet." Its
immense wheat elevator is also being increased in capacity. The Pacific
Coast Company, besides owning and operating railroads and steamship lines,
also owns extensive coal mines which it operates, and also coal bunkers and
machinery by which it can load coal into vessels at the rate of six thousand
tons per day. The Roslyn Coal Company, a subsidiary of the Northern
Pacific Railroad Company, has bunkers with a capacity of three thousand
tons per day. The Pacific Coast Company has recently commenced the con
struction of new bunkers which will double the capacity of those now in
use, and which will be furnished with the best appliances that modern in
genuity has yet devised. These companies are also engaged in filling in two
hundred and fifty acres of tide flats in the southern part of the city of Seattle,
for additional and more extensive terminal grounds, upon which they will
erect a passenger station at an expense of $250,000, and also ample freight
sheds and warehouses with fifty more miles of switching and yard tracks.
Outside of the city limits, the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific Rail
road companies, along the Duwamish and the Snohomish rivers, are each
laying from seventy-five to one hundred additional miles of side tracks for
the accommodation of the immense trains required in the transaction of busi
ness, which hitherto has grown faster than all their immense equipage could
supply. For the past two years the supply of cars for the transportation of cotton,
grain, machinery and every other description of outbound goods has not been
sufficient to meet the demand, while at the same time more cars than the com
panies could furnish have been called for to transport eastward the lumber,
shingles, coal, fish and other eastbound products, at the same time cargoes
aggregating thousands of tons of silk, teas, spices and other goods from the
Orient are frequently arriving which require prompt transit to their several
points of destination. In the fiscal year ending June 30-, 1903, the eastbound
rail shipments of lumber and shingles aggregated more than 75,000 carloads,
and probably 5,000 more would have been added could cars have been had
for that purpose. The cotton exports to Japan alone from the United States
were, ten years ago, 793,000 pounds. For the fiscal year ending June 30,
1903, they amounted to 89,252,000 pounds, of which aggregate 64,354,000
pounds were shipped via Puget Sound, in competition with other ports on
the Pacific coast, and with water transportation from Gulf ports via Cape
Horn. The large and practically unlimited quanties of profitable eastbound
freight from Puget Sound allows the northern transcontinental roads to

192 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
outbid all competitors. The items above mentioned are only samples of what
is doing and may be done in the future in the matter of commerce on Puget
Sound. There are, at the present time, thirty-nine large steamers regularly
engaged in the trans-Pacific trade, aside from the government transports,
which numbered thirteen vessels, having an aggregate capacity of 60,238
tons. Twelve of these ships, aggregating 96,615 gross tons, sail from San
Francisco, three, with a combined capacity of 14,700 gross tons, sail from
Portland, and twenty-four ships, having an aggregate gross capacity of 131,
557 tons, sail from Puget Sound, including five vessels of 27,400 tons which
sail from Vancouver, British Columbia, connecting with the Canadian Pacific
Railway. The remaining nineteen, aggregating 104,157 gross tons, sail
from Seattle and Tacoma.
In addition to the above mentioned companies having terminal facilities
at Seattle, and engaged in a joint scheme of vast, comprehensive improve
ments, the Canadian Pacific Railroad Company has also trackage arrange
ments by which its cars enter Seattle and which enables it to secure a share
of its commercial advantages. This company controls a system of 8,646
miles of railway in Canada and the United States, and the enormous territory
it traverses is thus made tributary to Puget Sound. These various railway
systems own and operate in all 28,116 miles of railway, and reach by their
connections very nearly all the railroads in the United States. In addition
to the railway lines now in operation in the Puget Sound Country, branches
and extensions are being made in various localities, which will open up to
settlement and to the development of their rich resources of an agricultural,
lumbering and mining character, a large scope of hitherto unoccupied terri
tory. The Northern Pacific is extending its line from Aberdeen and Hoquiam
on Gray's Harbor, in a northwesterly direction for the purpose of connecting
with the waters of the Straits of Fuca, and penetrating a section of country
encircling the Olympic range of mountains which has hitherto been practi
cally inaccessible. Much of this undeveloped territory is known to be rich
in timber, with much good farming land, and is supposed to be rich in minerals
of various kinds. The same company is also making surveys down the
Columbia river, to connect Kalama on its Portland line with the beautiful
country around Willapa Harbor and its present terminus at South Bend in
Pacific county.
CHAPTER XXVI.
industrial progress and development.
For a variety of reasons, some of which have already been mentioned,
the progress of settlement and improvement in the Puget Sound Country
after the close of the Indian war, and before the railroads referred to in

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 193
the preceding chapter were completed, was exceedingly slow. Immigration
by land had been seriously interrupted by Indian troubles, particularly on
the plains, both during and after the Civil war. The Indians, disposed
on general principles to be hostile, and being only too well informed as
to the conflict in which the nation was then engaged, took advantage of
the fact that many troops among them had been withdrawn for service else
where, and were, during that war and for several years afterwards, unusu
ally active in their unfriendly demonstrations. Yet there were arrivals by
sea and land, and in time confidence was generally restored as to the per
manency of peace with the Indians, and the Sound country in a few years
assumed an air of peace and prosperity. Industrial enterprises that had been
interrupted were resumed, and new enterprises were undertaken. The dis
covery of gold on Fraser river in British Columbia, in 1857-8, brought many
miners from California, some of whom remained on Puget Sound, attracted
by its beauty and promise for the future, and many more whose hopes were
not realized in the gold mines became settlers in the Sound region when they
returned. The tardy growth of the country, however, will be more clearly under
stood when it is stated that, by the federal census of 1870, the population
of Olympia was only 1,203, and of Thurston county 2,246, whilst in Seattle
in that year there were but 1,142, in King county 2,164 people, and Tacoma
was not then in existence. The town of Olympia was incorporated January
29, 1859, and the act of incorporation designated George A. Barnes, T. F.
McElroy, James Tilton, Joseph Cushman and Elwood Evans as its first board
of trustees. During the same year an effort was made to remove the capital
to Vancouver, and the act failed in the legislature by only one vote.
Governor Stevens, on his arrival in 1853, designated, as he was author
ized to do by Congress, Olympia as the capital. Subsequently the legis
lature confirmed his action, and the capital has ever since remained in that
city. On the adoption of the present state constitution in 1889, the location of
a capital was submitted to a vote of the people of the state, and they, on two
separate occasions, determined that Olympia should be its seat of govern
ment, and the question now may be considered as finally settled.
During all of its earlier years Olympia and Seattle were the principal
towns of the territory, and they led only a primitive and monotonous exist
ence. Their opportunities for mental and intellectual cultivation or recre
ation were few, but they gave their best efforts to the establishment of schools,
churches, colleges and a university, recognizing these as necessary for the
proper training of the rising generation to become useful American citizens.
Olympia, being the capital and the residence for many years of the
territorial and later of the state officials, had many social advantages over the

194 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
other towns in the territory. It was looked upon as a place of delightful
homes by cultured people. Aside from its beautiful location topographically
considered and its mild, genial and pleasant climate, located at the head of
navigation on Puget Sound, it has long been a favorite place of residence
because of its opportunities and advantages of a literary and intellectual
character. The monotony of everyday life in Seattle in its early days was happily
varied by an incident of great importance to the frontier settlement, which
at that time contained many more men than women, and that was the im
portation by A. S. Mercer, then president of the Washington Territorial
University, of three hundred young women from Massachusetts. In 1864
Mr. Mercer, then much interested in educational matters, had imported
thirty young ladies from the same state as teachers in the public schools.
Their arrival in this frontier region, where women were so much in the
minority, was a source of delight to the entire community as well as to the
people of Seattle. In a short time they were married off, and Mr. Mercer
believed it would be a praiseworthy scheme to bring in five hundred, at once,
and he undertook the task in 1865, about the close of the Civil war. He first
went to Washington, D. C, for the purpose of enlisting the aid and sympathy
of President Lincoln, but just as he reached that city Lincoln was assassin
ated. Taking his credentials as to the honorable character of his mission
and his own standing in the community which he represented, he went to
Boston and called on Governor John A. Andrew, who tendered his cordial
co-operation. He also enlisted the sympathy and good will of Rev. Everett
Hale and other men of influence in Massachusetts. Returning to Washing
ton, he conferred with President Johnson, Secretary of War Stanton, Senator
George A. Williams of Oregon, and others, but his best friend in the enter
prise he found in the person of General Grant. He arranged for trans
portation, went back to Boston for his cargo, and, after many difficulties
and delays occasioned by unfounded charges as to the character of the whole
business, he finally succeeded, with the help of William Cullen Bryant, Peter
Cooper and others, in making an arrangement with Ben Holliday for the
purchase of the war steamer Continental and for the transportation of his
valuable cargo. This arrangement did not prove entirely satisfactory, and
the result of the attacks upon his enterprise was the withdrawal of some
of the young ladies who had agreed to join the expedition. However, three
hundred were shipped from New York and arrived safely in Seattle, where
they, with Mr. Mercer, were received with such an ovation as had never
before been seen on Puget Sound. They not only received a warm welcome
on the part of the people of Seattle, but these young women became the
wives and mothers of many men and women now prominent in the business,

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 195
political and social circles of the Sound, and the patriotic efforts of Mr. Mer
cer were moderately successful, but the experiment was never repeated.
The lumber industry was the first and has ever since been the leading
industry on Puget Sound, and, at an early period in its settlement, active
and enterprising men came from California and elsewhere to engage in the
manufacture of lumber.
Many of the leading sawmills on the Sound were established between
1852 and 1858, most of which are still doing a large and profitable business.
Their early operations were carried on in a crude and slow fashion com
pared with methods now in use.
First they cut the trees convenient to the shore, often rolling the logs
into the water by hand,, and floated them in rafts to the mill. Later on and
for many years, oxen were used to haul the logs to the edge of the water,
and thence they were towed to their destination. Now the logs, after they
are cut in the forest, are drawn by portable engines with wire cables to a
railroad built for the purpose, and thence they are taken by rail to the nearest
navigable water, and thence towed to the sawmill. These operations are
expensive, requiring a capital of thousands and even millions of dollars to
carry them on successfully. For example, the Port Blakely Mill Company,
whose mill is located across the Sound from Seattle, in 1900 cut 95,370,457
feet of lumber, paid out in wages $221,482 and for logs over $500,000. It is
the owner of over 80,000 acres of timber land, 60,000 of which are still
heavily timbered. Its mill has a capacity of 300,000 feet a day, but 400,000
could be cut in an emergency. It has its own railroad, about forty miles in
length, with the necessary equipment for hauling logs to the water from
its own and adjacent lands. This company has its own planing mill, sash
and door factory, dry kilns, electric light plants, ships and all the other
adjuncts of a first-class lumber manufacturing company. It was owned
and operated by Captain William Renton, one of the pioneer mill men of the
Sound, until his death in 1891. Extensive mills at an early date were also
established in Port Discovery Bay, at Seabeck on Hood's Canal, at Utsalady,
Tacoma, Bellingham Bay and elsewhere.
Another organization which has been successfully engaged in the manu
facture of lumber for fifty years is the Puget Mill Company. In the
year 1850 the site of the Port Gamble Mill was selected by A. J. Talbot,
of the firm of Pope & Talbot of San Francisco, for many years in the lumber
business in California and extensive operators in the same line in the state
of Maine. The mill was built during that year, and has been in constant
operation ever since. This company subsequently acquired the Port Ludlow
and the Utsalady mills, but the latter is not now in operation. It has also
purchased extensive tracts of fine timber, which are now very valuable. This

196 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
company owns and operates everything required in the lumbering business,
including its own fleet of ships for carrying lumber to all the principal ports
of the world. Cyrus Walker, its manager for many years, George H. Emer
son, of Hoquiam on Gray's harbor, and many other prominent men in the
Puget Sound Country have devoted their long and useful lives to the profit
able work of transforming the giants of the forest in this region into the
material so generally used in the construction of man's habitations and the
other innumerable uses for which lumber is required.
In addition to the trans-continental railroads referred to in the preced
ing chapter, there have been several local railroads built or are now building
in various parts of the Puget Sound Country, which have assisted and are
of great service in developing the numerous resources of this region.
Among these should be mentioned the Bellingham Bay and British Colum
bia Railroad, built originally to connect Bellingham Bay with the Canadian
Pacific at Sumas, also into the gold mining districts in the Mt. Baker region,
and into a newly developed country on the North Fork of the Nooksack,
and is said to be extending its main line across the Cascades to Spokane.
This railroad is chiefly owned in San Francisco by P. B. Cornwall, D. O.
Mills and other capitalists of that city and is sometimes called the Cornwall
road. Its manager and superintendent is J. J. Donavan, one of the younger
generation of active and enterprising railroad men, whose ability in this
direction will, no doubt, eventually secure for his name a high place among
the masters of transportation in the country.
The Great Northern Railroad follows the shore line of the Sound via
Fairhaven, Whatcom and Blaine to New Westminster in British Columbia.
Farther inland the Fairhaven and Southern was built from Fairhaven eighty
miles to Sedro on the Skagit river, where it met the Seattle and International,
both of which are now subsidiary lines of the Northern Pacific Railroad
Company, and thence to Seattle, traversing a country rich in timber, miner
als and agricultural wealth. These railway lines have done much to develop
the natural resources of the country east of the Sound, but this work of
development would seem to be yet only in its infancy.
Another local railroad which should be mentioned in this connection is
the Ilwaco Railroad and Navigation Company's road connecting Nahcotta,
on Shoalwater Bay, now known as Willapa Harbor, and Ilwaco, on Baker's
Bay at the mouth of the Columbia river. This is a narrow-gauge railroad
about twenty miles long, running parallel with the shore of the Pacific and,
most of the way, within a quarter or half a mile from the surf, which is
often in plain view. This road now belongs to the Oregon Railroad and
Navigation Company, but for many years its president and general manager
was L. A. Loomis, a well known pioneer of Pacific county, whose stage line

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 197
from Oysterville to Ilwaco in early days is pleasantly remembered by all
travelers of those days in that part of the country. This line of railway,
though short, has been of great benefit in building up the oyster trade between
Willapa Harbor and San Francisco, Portland and other points via Astoria.
This trade has been carried on with some fluctuations for the past fifty years,
and is now of large proportions and still increasing. The cultivation of
oysters in this extensive harbor, which is well adapted for that purpose, is
now on a better basis than ever before, owing to recent legislation for the
encouragement and protection of the oyster industry. About one hundred
boats and five hundred men are now employed in its operation in Willapa
Bay. The importation of young oysters from the eastern shores of the
United States, in large quantities, for planting in the waters of this bay, is
at present a growing and successful feature of this industry. When ready
for market they are said to be better in size" and flavor than the Blue Points
and others grown on Chesapeake Bay.
This railroad also affords access from the Columbia river on the south
and from the Willapa Harbor on the north, to Long Beach, a popular sum
mer resort, visited by fifteen or twenty thousand people annually in the sum
mer months, who come to this locality from interior points of Oregon and
Washington to enjoy the sea breezes and to bathe in the surf of the Pacific
Ocean. There are at this place about twenty miles of sea beach, not sur
passed anywhere in the world for beauty or comfort, for riding, driving,
wheeling or bathing purposes. About six hundred cottages, hotels and board
ing houses have already been built on the beach for the use of their owners
and occupants during the season. The climate is particularly delightful, tem
pered by sea breezes, having a soft serenity and equability that is especially
gratifying to residents of the country east of the Cascades, where the dry
ness of the atmosphere is in marked contrast with the humidity caused by
the salt water.
This railroad has also done much to assist in the development of the
beautiful country around Willapa Harbor, which has a number of rich and
productive valleys opening out into it, and the surrounding country is also
well supplied with fine timber. There are several sawmills in Pacific county
which are manufacturing this timber into lumber of all kinds, and many logs
are shipped to Portland via Ilwaco by this railroad.
The forests around Gray's Harbor and Willapa Harbor contain large
quantities of hemlock timber, the bark of which is valuable for tanning pur
poses. The lumber made from these trees is also coming into more extensive
use for several purposes than has been made of it heretofore.
The Puget Sound Country is remarkably well adapted to the business of
dairying, stock-raising, gardening, fruit-raising, and other similar or collat-

198 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
eral enterprises. The valleys, tide and marsh lands in this region are very
fertile, and produce wonderful crops of fruits, vegetables, hay and grain.
The dairying industry is becoming one of no little importance. There are
three hundred and thirty-nine creameries in western Washington, chiefly
in the Puget Sound Country. In the same region there were also fourteen
cheese factories in 1902, as officially reported, the product of which was
5,883,251 pounds of butter and 1,128,735 pounds of cheese.
The number of milch cows in the state is estimated at 125,000. The
increase of the products of butter and cheese from 1900 to 1901 was 1,150,141
pounds of butter and 89,860 pounds of cheese, and the increase from 1901
to 1902 was 979,665 pounds of butter and 22,912 pounds of cheese. There
is a condensed milk factory located at Kent, a few miles south of Seattle,
which, during the past year, used on an average about 40,000 pounds
of milk a day. Similar enterprises are now under consideration, and a great
increase in dairying interests is in immediate prospect.
Puget Sound is the best market on the Pacific coast for fruit and vege
tables, owing to the fact that it is the base of supplies for the railroad and
logging camps, the lumber mills and the mining operations of Washington,
Alaska and the Northwest Territories.
In the industrial development of the Puget Sound Country, the fishing
interest is one which has in recent years attained enormous proportions.
The waters of the Pacific Ocean, on the northwest coast particularly, from
the mouth of the Columbia river to and including Alaska, abound in food
fishes of many varieties, and some of these, especially the salmon, are amongst
the finest in the world for table use and as a substitute for the flesh of cattle,
sheep and hogs. The salmon "runs," or migrations to the spawning grounds,
occur during the spring, summer and fall months of each year. Immense
schools of salmon then enter Puget Sound from the Pacific Ocean and make
their way up the rivers and creeks to spawn near the heads of fresh-water
streams. The taking of these salmon as they make their way to the spawning
grounds and the work of canning them ready for market is an elaborate
process, in which large numbers of men find profitable employment. As
early as 1877, primitive traps were operated at Point Roberts and a few
other localities, the fish being salted or cured in other ways on a small scale.
The Indians from time immemorial have subsisted largely upon salmon, which
they dry in the smoke of their tepees, wigwams or houses. Now, within the
counties of Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan alone, there are not less than
one hundred and fifty traps in operation, put in at an expense of from five
hundred to five thousand dollars each, employing on an average about eight
men each and catching as high as 400,000 or more salmon, weighing an
average of nine pounds each, in a single season. Hundreds of gill-net boats

60,000 SALMOH CAUGHT AT OHE TIME, AYERAGB 9 LBS. EACH.

CAHHERY.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 100
are also operated, each boat carrying from two to four men. The canning
business has become one of great importance in the fishing world, and in
recent years the Puget Sound pack has been about one-third of the entire
pack of the Pacific Coast. In order to keep the salmon supply from becom
ing exhausted, hatcheries are now operated by both the state and the national
governments, which produce immense quantities of young salmon at various
points on the banks of streams supplied by pure, cold water coming from
mountains covered with perpetual snow. These fish invariably return from
the ocean to the stream in which they were hatched. Many other varieties
of valuable fish are also taken in these and the adjoining waters of the Pacific,
such as sturgeon, halibut, several varieties of cod, mackerel, herring, ancho
vies, shad, flounders, perch, bass, sole, and the mountain streams and lakes
are bountifully supplied with trout, salmon-trout and other useful varieties.
Crabs, clams and other shell-fish are abundant in the waters of the Sound
and the Pacific Ocean, and in many localities native oysters are found in
large quantities. The development of the fishing industry brings with it
the manufacture of fish-netting in all its various lines, which is now being
successfully carried on in Seattle by Andrew Weber and his associates, con
stituting the Seattle Net and Twine Manufacturing Company. To supply
the demands of the fishing industry on the northwest coast, from four to five
millions of pounds of netting made from cotton thread are required every
year, and the demand is constantly increasing.
CHAPTER XXVII.
INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT.
(Continued.)
Among the numerous industrial enterprises which have been successfully
inaugurated in the Puget Sound country are the ship-building establishments,
of which a reference to that of Hall Brothers may be made by way of illus
tration. Across Puget Sound, nine miles to the westward from Seattle on the
northern shore of Eagle Harbor, lies the yard and plant of the Hall Brothers'
Marine Railway and Shipbuilding Company, one of the largest institutions
in the state of Washington. As a ship-building concern it is one of the
largest on the Pacific coast. For the construction of wooden vessels the
Hall Brothers' Company probably holds the record for the coast, and cer
tainly for Puget Sound. During its existence of thirty years the company
has constructed one hundred and eight wooden vessels. Its growth and
enterprise have been in keeping with, indeed in advance of, the remarkable
development of Puget Sound commerce. In three decades the Hall Brothers

200 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
have laid the keels for sound, coast and deep-sea craft aggregating a total
of about 75,500 gross tonnage. Their specialty has been in schooner building.
In 1873 they launched the first vessel of their fashioning and construc
tion. This was a two-master, the Annie Gee, of one hundred and twenty-
five tons burden. Numerous vessels followed, embracing nearly all classes
of sailing craft. The last vessel of the one hundred and eight built by the
company, was the George E. Billings. From two to three, to four and lastly
to five-masted schooners the company, step by step, has made its progress
in ship-building. The greatest product of the Hall yards was
the five-masted schooner George E. Billings, 1,230 tons gross register and
with a dead-weight carrying capacity of 2,400 tons. She is the one hundred
and eighth as to numerical construction, and carries 1,500,000 feet of lum
ber. She is a sister ship of the H. K. Hall. These vessels have been inspected
and greatly admired by the masters of sailing vessels from nearly every port
of the world. They are regarded as models of modern wooden ship-building.
While the present plant is on Eagle Harbor, the business was founded at
Port Ludlow in 1873, DY Isaac and Winslow Hall. Two years later they
were joined by their brother, Henry K. Hall, the present head of the firm.
Mr. Hall is president and general manager of the company, also a trustee.
He is a native of Cohasset, Massachusetts, as were his brothers, Isaac and
Winslow, both now deceased. The surviving brother, though seventy-seven
years of age, is hale and hearty and as active as many men two decades his
junior. He has direct personal supervision of the business, aided by his only
son, James W. Hall, and a corps of able assistants.
In 1 88 1 the Hall Brothers' plant and business were transferred from
Port Ludlow to Port Blakeley, where by far the larger number of the vessels
of their construction was built. Indeed, the last one, the schooner George E.
Billings, turned out by the company, was launched from the Blakeley yards
on March 12, 1903. Desiring larger quarters and a more suitable ship
building site, the directorate of the company early in 1902 decided upon Eagle
Harbor as the place, and, on July 6 of last year, ground for the present enor
mous plant was broken. Meanwhile a large amount of money has been
expended in transferring and erecting the present yards. The total invest
ment represents about $300,000. The property of the company consists of
ninety acres of land, a portion of which is dedicated to townsite purposes
and a fully equipped, modern ship-building and repairing plant.
It is an incorporated company, with a capitalization of $150,000. The
ship-building plant proper covers nearly fifteen acres of ground, over which
are spread and are being built a marine railway, machine shops, power house,
sawmill and joiner loft for cutting ship timbers, a large gridiron, warehouse
and various other buildings and shipyard equipment. The new shipyards

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 201
are now practically completed. In the operation of the marine railway
both wooden and steel vessels may be handled, the latter, however, only
repaired and overhauled.
Mr. Hall, in discussing the plans of his company, said it was his inten
tion, in time, to build steel as well as wooden vessels. Mr. Hall talked mod
estly of his career as a ship-builder, and the great business he and his brothers
founded. " We were all ship carpenters by trade," he said, " and that is how we
drifted into the business. We had no great ambition at first, but we were
proud of the first two-master. Then when we built a three-master schooner
on Puget Sound, that was regarded as a wonder in those days. That was
a long time ago. And we were the pioneers in ship-building on Puget
Sound. " There is no reason why Puget Sound should not become great in ship
building. We have all of the material here, everything. Our timber is the
very best. There is no place in the world where they can get timber for
ship-building purposes as good as our yellow fir. It makes, too, the best spars
in the world. For durability it will compare well with oak. It is much
better for the preservation of iron fastenings than oak, because the balsam
in the fir preserves the iron, while the sap of the oak has a tendency to
destroy it. Here, for ship-building purposes, we can get fir in any length
from twenty-four to one hundred and fifty feet, and longer if desired. And
our cedar makes a fine finish for cabin and stateroom work."
The officers of the Hall Brothers' Marine Railway and Shipbuilding
Company are: H. K. Hall, president; John L. Hubbard, vice-president;
E. H. Lincoln, secretary; James W. Hall, treasurer. Cyrus Walker, of Port
Ludlow ; George E. Billings, of San Francisco ; E. A. Ames, of Port Gamble ;
H. K. Hall, of Port Blakeley, and John L. Hubbard, of Seattle, constitute
the board of trustees.
The one hundred and eight vessels built by the Hall Brothers are only a
small part of the ship-building which has been done and is now in process
on Puget Sound. Many more have been built and are now being constructed
at Whatcom, Everett, Port Townsend, Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, at Aber
deen and Hoquiam on Gray's Harbor, and at South Bend on Willapa Harbor.
The greatest industry of western Washington is the manufacture of
lumber and shingles. There are in the state 746 sawmills and shingle mills
and 461 logging and bolt camps. These camps employ more than thirty
thousand men. The annual pay roll amounts to nearly twenty million dol
lars, and the value of the product is about thirty million dollars annually.
Along with the industrial development of the Puget Sound region in
the matter of its timber resources, came the discovery of coal and the open-

202 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ing up of numerous coal mines, whose product has been, and is still, increas
ing with the growing demand for that important article. It was first dis
covered in 1852, on Bellingham Bay, and the first mine was opened up in
1854. Large quantities of coal were shipped from this mine to San Francisco
and elsewhere prior to 1870, when exportation commenced at Seattle, from
the Seattle, Renton and Talbot mines. Seattle and Tacoma are now the
chief shipping points.
A prominent writer says, "Washington is the Pennsylvania of the Pacific
Coast." It is more. It can supply the entire Pacific Coast with coal for
centuries. It can supply all the wants for iron of our great nation for an
equally long period. How important all this is, can best be realized when
we consider the fact, long well established, that the richest mines in the world,
and those best calculated to increase the national wealth are those of coal and
iron. It is a significant fact that almost the only locality in the wide world,
which resembles England in soil, climate and natural resources and produc
tions, including inexhaustible deposits of iron and coal, is to be found in the
Puget Sound country. Washington possesses what is probably the largest
coal area oi any state in the Union. Coal exists in eighteen of its thirty-
four counties, and the estimated area of these coal fields is over one million
acres. The character of the coal ranges from lignite to anthracite, although
the anthracite deposits have not been sufficiently developed to enable us to
speak with certainty as to the quantity. The mines now in operation are,
with one exception, in the Puget Sound region. Most of these coal fields
are within forty miles of tide-water, and the cost of mining and transporta
tion to shipboard varies from $1.50 to $2.50 per ton.
Extensive deposits of iron have also been located in various parts of the
Sound country and in the Cascade mountains. As soon as facilities for
transportation can be provided, they will, it is confidently expected, be opened
upon a large scale. Preparations are now going forward at Seattle for the
erection of furnaces and the manufacture of iron in all its many forms in
very large quantities. The first railroad to reach the rich coal fields east of
Tacoma was built in 1877, under the supervision of General George Stark,
vice president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. This " branch "
was built from Tacoma to Wilkeson, and a portion of it subsequently became
a part of the main line across the Cascade mountains.
It is altogether probable that within a few years the entire Puget Sound
country will be penetrated in every direction with railway lines or their
branches in order that its wealth of timber, coal, iron and minerals of all
descriptions may be utilized.
Intimately connected with the railroad undertakings at Seattle, for the
more efficient transaction of a maritime and commercial business, are a num-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 203
her of collateral enterprises which are doing much to forward the interests
of Puget Sound. One of these is Moran's shipyard, which is now one of the
best in the United States. Plere the United States battleship Nebraska, of
15,000 tons' displacement, is being built at a cost of $3,800,000, thus far in
the most satisfactory manner to the government officials. Here also steel
ships may not only be built, but repaired promptly and thoroughly in every
particular and requirement. Robert Moran, the senior member of the firm,
is not only a genius as a mechanic, but as an organizer he deserves a high
place among the captains of industry now doing so much to build up the
manufacturing interests of the United States. He and his brothers have
established a ship-building and repairing plant here, in connection with a
lumbering industry, which has scarcely a superior in the United States, and
which is amply provided with modern machinery and conveniences of all
kinds required for speedy and thorough work. The Puget Sound country
is fortunate in having at home so complete an establishment, which is not
only important but indispensable to the development of an extensive mer
chant and naval marine. From small beginnings in 1880, seven brothers have,
by industry and honest work, built up a plant of which any state in the Union
might be proud, and whose record of vessels constructed and repaired, both
of wood and steel, is a long and most honorable one.
A variety of other industries have been built up in like manner on Puget
Sound of a commercial and manufacturing character, many of which have re
moved to this part of the state of Washington from other points on the Pacific
coast or elsewhere, attracted by its manifold advantages of location, its great
commercial interests, with the agricultural, fishing and mining industries of
the northwest and Alaska, which, with its vast lumbering interests, are tribu
tary to this enterprising region.
The maritime advantages possessed by the enterprising people of Hol
land contributed in no small degree to the naval and commercial supremacy
which that small state maintained for more than one hundred years, and which
justified the brave Admiral Van Tromp in carrying a broom at his mast
head as a token to the world that the navy he commanded swept the seas.
The same advantages on a vastly larger and better scale are possessed by the
people of the Puget Sound country, to which are to be added natural resources
of incalculable value from a commercial and manufacturing standpoint, and
a climate unsurpassed for salubrity and adaptability for continuous and unin
terrupted industry.
The following official report of the commerce of Puget Sound for the
past two years illustrates its growing importance:

too

EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF MERCHANDISE OF THE CUSTOMS DISTRICT OF PUGET SOUND DURING THE
CALENDAR YEAR 1902.

Exports.

Imports.

Imports

for Transportation.

MONTHS.

Seattle.
Tacoma.
All other
ports.
Total.
Seattle.
Tacoma.
All other.
ports.
Total.
Seattle.
Tacoma.
Puget
Sound.
January . .
$ 1,646,138
$ 3,153,348
$ 341,601
$ 5,I4I,o87
$ 879,847
$ 203,564
$ 108,286
$ 1,191,6971
$ 510,606
$ 98,049
$ 600,311
February .
984,361
2,098,660
168,515
3,251,536
1,118,609
108,409
126,395
1,353,413
218,989
57,684
276,275
¦March . . .
941,717
2,215,131
306,240
3,463,088
889,803
I7M77
175,775
1,237,055
725,800
l6l,34I
881,153
April ....
746,037
1,270,080
400,310
2,416,427
319,620
144,750
166,293
630,663
379,746
160,287
539,537
May 
694,437
970,220
500,325
2,164,982
757,754
292,880
134,096
1,184,730
359,218
85,066
444,324
June 
423,922
I,I05,6oo
386,940
1,916,462
757,591
86,291
150,559
994,441
466,01 1
239,659
694,169
July 
360,729
I,0I7,2O2
369,747
1,747,678
137,966
63,642
138,543
340,151
830,390
1,074
811,842
August . . .
347,263
505,084
433,584
1,285,931
501,689
249,209
102,743
853,641
301,252
343,590
1,285,931
September
1,211,133
917,749
645,972
2,774,854
581,011
335,715
199,389
I,Il6,II5
408,915
215,601
6i7,578
October . .
1,306,490
2,253,757
324,787
3,885,034
1,055,723
277,091
131,375
1,464,189
525,338
229,682
746,978
November
1,323,187
2,058,146
362,917
3,744,250
959,193
269,01 1
121,642
1,349,846
441,211
182,066
611,160
December 1
1,001,571
1,526,514
361,609
2,889,694
826,437
1 10,282
70,105
1,006,824
542,615
340,081
1
872,752
Totals 1902
$10,991,985
$19,091,491
$4,602,547
$34,686,023
$8,785,243
$2,312,321
$1,625,201
$12,722,765
$5,710,091
$2,II4,l8o
$8,382,010
Totals 1901
8,712,814
11,575,750
4,352,820
25,041,384
4,156,755
2,393,492
1,635,988
8,186,235
8,785,243
2,312,321
4,979,446
CHARACTER AND VALUE OF LEADING EXPORTS.
MONTHS.
Wheat
bushels.
Value.
Flour
barrels.
Value.
Lumber feet.
Value.
Shingles
Value.
Miscella neous
Value.
Total.
12,949,48410,913,316
$8,761,501 6,416,538
1,630,564 1,220,374
$4,821,957 3,323,462
155,762,000 186,114,000
$1,683,176 I,926,DIO
5,496,0006,667,000
$15,468 9,921
$19,403,921 13,375,453
$34,686,023 25,041,384
Totals 1901 
I — I
w H
O <
O HW>-d
a
o wH
mOa on
Oa H
First Governor of Washington Territory

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 205
CHAPTER XXVIII.
POLITICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
As the early settlers of the Puget Sound country were chiefly men of
high character and noble purposes, whose ideas had been broadened by the
long journeys or voyages that were necessary to reach this part of the north
west coast, and whose patriotism had been deepened by practical knowledge
of the extent of their country and the certainty of its future greatness, so the
political history of this region is of more than ordinary interest. Even in
those exceptional cases, where men of prominence were found whose devo
tion to correct moral principles did not correspond with their intellectual
capacity or their personal endowments, they were yet men of unusual ability,
who made their mark not only at home but elsewhere, and their influence
was felt in many parts of the country. During the long period of thirty-six
years which elapsed between the time in 1853, when the territory of Wash
ington was organized, until in 1889 it was admitted as a state, of course all
of its principal officers were appointed by the national government, but the
great majority of those appointees were men of excellent character and were
well fitted in a variety of ways for the several positions in which they were
placed, and usually gave entire satisfaction to all concerned, in the territory
as well as at the seat of the national government. As a matter of fact some
of these appointees, as for example Governor Isaac I. Stevens, the first
governor of the territory, was singularly well qualified by education, by tem
perament, by experience and natural ability to discharge the responsible and
multifarious duties imposed upon him, in a most creditable, patriotic and
honorable manner. He was not only made the first governor of the territory, but
was charged with the work of superintending the surveys for a transconti
nental railroad over what was then known as the Northern route, extending
for two thousand miles through an unknown and uninhabited wilderness,
full of savages who looked with suspicion upon every stranger not connected
with the Hudson's Bay Company, and in addition thereto, he was appointed
superintendent of Indian affairs for all the tribes in the territory of Wash
ington and in northern Idaho. Yet such were his extraordinary skill and
energy and such were his powers of endurance that he made the surveys
required, organized and put in operation the territorial government, made
treaties with nearly all of the numerous Indian tribes within his jurisdiction,
representing more than thirty thousand Indians, conducted a wide-spread and
general Indian war to a successful issue, extinguished the Indian title to
more than one hundred and fifty million acres of land, was twice elected
a delegate to Congress, where his labors were of inestimable value to the
territory, the first time July 13, 1857, the second, July 11, 1859, offered his

206 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
services to President Lincoln in behalf of the Union in March, 1861, and gave
up his life in its defense on the battlefield of Chantilly, August 30, 1862.
Few men- are permitted to make such a record of brilliant achievements in
the short space of nine years and six months, but this is only a brief state
ment of the leading facts in Governor Stevens' busy life during the years
from 1853 to 1862. Much of the work he accomplished in that time must
of course be omitted, but a study of his life and character only deepens the
impression that he was most admirably qualified as a soldier, a civilian and
an engineer for the many positions he was called upon to fill. If at any
time he erred in judgment or gave occasion for criticism, it was because his
impulsive nature was impatient for the beneficial and patriotic results he de
sired to see brought about, and could brook no unnecessary delay in their
accomplishment. If he erred at all it was an error of the head and not of the
heart, for his motives were always of the best and purest character.
At the time of the organization of the territory of Washington and for
eight years thereafter, the national government was in the hands of the Demo
cratic party, and the territorial appointees were members of that political
organization. The first appointees were Brevet Major Isaac I. Stevens,
United States Engineers of Massachusetts, governor and ex-officio superin
tendent of Indian affairs; Charles H. Mason, of Rhode Island, secretary;
John S. Clendenin, of Mississippi, attorney; James Patton Anderson, of
Tennessee, marshal; Edward Lander, of Indiana, chief justice; Victor Mun-
roe, of Kentucky, and Obadiah B. McFadden, of Pennsylvania, associate
justices of the supreme court of Washington territory; James Tilton, of
Indiana, was appointed surveyor general, and Isaac N. Ebey, an old resident
of the territory, who was afterwards brutally murdered by the Indians on
Whidby Island, was appointed collector of customs for the district of Puget
Sound. In the spring of 1854 Victor Munroe was superseded by Francis A.
Chenoweth, an early pioneer of Oregon, residing in Clark county. Henry
C. Mosely, of Steilacoom, was appointed registrar, and Elias Galee. of In
diana, receiver of a land office which had been located at Olympia. Charles
H. Mason, the secretary of the territory, and at various times — some of
them very critical — acting governor, owing to the absence, for the time
being, of the governor, died on July 25, 1859, universally lamented by the
people of the territory. He was a man faithful to every trust, and, without
brilliancy, was nevertheless a man who inspired confidence by his native good
sense and by the sterling integrity of his character. The county of Mason,
elsewhere referred to, was subsequently named in his honor by the legislature
of the territory.
Here, as elsewhere, in accordance with the custom of the country, which
would be " more honored in its breach than its observance," territorial officers

PIISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 207
were appointed more as a reward for personal or political services than be
cause of their fitness for the places to which they were assigned, yet the
governors of the territory were, in the main, honorable men who discharged
their responsible duties faithfully and efficiently. Fayette McMullen, R. D.
Gholson, William Pickering, George E. Cole, Marshall F. Moore, Alvin Flan
ders and Edward S. Saloman occupied the gubernatorial chair from time to
time down to the year 1872, when the beginning of railroad construction and
increasing commerce on the Sound gave an impetus to development which
has continued with some intervals down to the present time. These im
proved conditions gave to the position of governor more of importance and
responsibility than had usually attached to it prior to that time, and, fortu
nately for the interests of the territory, Hon. Elisha P. Ferry, who had
been its surveyor general in 1869-71, was appointed governor in 1872, and
served in that capacity until 1880.
Governor Ferry received his appointments for both positions from Gen
eral U. S. Grant, then president of the United States. A lawyer by profession,
having had large experience in public affairs, a man of unusual ability and
unblemished integrity, he was admirably qualified to fill the place of governor
not only as a man of rare capacity for business but as a statesman, who dis
charged every duty connected with this office for eight years, and subsequently
those of first governor of the state of Washington for three years, and,
indeed, various other places of honor and trust during his long and useful
life, to the entire satisfaction of all good citizens. Gov. Ferry was a life
long Republican in politics and was a member of the first Republican conven
tion ever held in the United States, but in all his official and personal rela
tions with his fellowmen he so conducted himself that he merited and received
the esteem and confidence of men of all parties and all sections of the territory
and state. Upon the award by Emperor William I, of Germany, of the Archi
pelago de Haro to the United States, Governor Ferry made it a part of What
com county for the purposes of civil government, until the legislature could
take appropriate action, and during his term or terms the Hudson's Bay
Company ceased the occupation of its claims in the territory through its sub
sidiary agent, the Puget Sound Agricultural Company.
In 1880 William A. Newell, of New Jersey, was appointed by President
Hayes to succeed Ferry as governor, and for four years he labored zealously
to promote the interests of the territory in that office. He had been twice
elected to Congress from New Jersey, and once its governor, and was a man
ripe in years, in experience in public affairs, and his activity on patriotic lines
was continual throughout his term. After its expiration he established his
permanent residence in Washington, where for many years thereafter he
lived an honored and useful life, as a physician, always taking, as well, a

208 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
lively interest in public affairs. He was succeeded in 1884 by Watson C.
Squire, of Ohio and New York, who had large property interests in the
territory. Governor Squire had served with credit in the Civil war, was
a man of varied business experience which proved valuable in his admin
istration of the affairs of the territory as governor from 1884 to 1887.
The elaborate reports made by Governor Squire to the secretary of the
interior, describing in detail the advantages, resources and opportunities to
be found in the state of Washington, did much to attract attention to this
region both at home and abroad. Many thousands of copies of these reports
were published and circulated, not only by the national government and the
territorial authorities, but also by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company,
then constructing its road across the territory. This company was then, as it is
now, interested in the settlement and cultivation of the country and the devel
opment of its resources in order that the business of its various lines might
be increased and its immense land grants disposed of. During his terms as
governor the Chinese riots took place at Seattle, Tacoma and other towns
in the territory, when a concerted effort was made by certain labor organi
zations to drive the Chinese out of the country. These riots occasioned the
loss of several lives and for a short time unusual disorder, but Governor
Squire's course throughout these troubles was prudent as well as energetic,
and was cordially approved by the great mass of intelligent and law-abiding
citizens, as well as the national government. The Chinese were driven out
of Tacoma and have not since been permitted to return to that city, although
the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, in order to secure laborers for
railway construction, had been the chief agent in bringing them into the ter
ritory. Elsewhere they have since not been molested.
The Democratic party having secured control of the executive depart
ment of the general government at Washington, D. C, by the election of
Grover Cleveland, the territorial officials were correspondingly changed, and
after some delay Eugene Semple, of Oregon, was appointed, in 1887, to
succeed Governor Squire. Governor Semple's administration of two years,
although obliged to deal with a variety of complicated and difficult questions,
such as that of woman suffrage, the removal of the capital from Olympia
and others growing out of the rapidly changing conditions in the territory
and the desire for statehood, was nevertheless eminently satisfactory, when
the personal feeling growing out of these mooted questions had subsided.
To the discharge of the duties of his high office he brought studious habits,
pure and patriotic motives inherited from illustrious ancestors, and unim
peachable integrity of character. His efforts to promote the interests of the
territory were indefatigable, and he left a record of which any man might
be proud to his successor, Miles C. Moore, of Walla Walla, who was ap-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 209
pointed in 1889. Mr. Moore had been for many years a resident of the
territory where he had been well and favorably known as a prominent banker
and a leading and active Republican. His term of seven months expired
upon the admission of the territory as one of the United States, on the nth
of November, 1889. It was too short for a display of statesmanship, but it
was entirely creditable to himself and satisfactory to the people. His long
residence in the territory had made him familiar with its needs, its conditions
and its inhabitants. The limits of this history do not permit of anything
more than a brief resume of the legislative branch of the territorial govern
ment. The first legislature met in accordance with the proclamation of Gov
ernor Stevens on the 27th day of February, 1854. Its members made their
way as best they could, by trails through the forest or by canoes, from the
various parts of western Washington that could be reached by water. This
first legislative assembly was composed of a council of nine and a house of
representatives of seventeen members. The members of the council were
Daniel B. Bradford and William H. Tappen of Clarke county, William T.
Sayward of Island and Jefferson, Seth Catlin and Henry Miles of Lewis
and Pacific, Lafayette V. Balch and G. N. McConaha of Pierce and King,
D. R. Bigelow and B. F. Yantes of Thurston, H. M. Frost of Pierce, chief
clerk, and W. E. Hicks of Thurston, assistant clerk.
Elwood Evans, long and honorably identified with the history of the
territory, came with Governor Stevens in his surveying party across the
continent and served it in a great variety of positions, was elected chief clerk
and served from March 8 to May 1, after the resignation of Frost had been
accepted. From the time, in 185 1, when Evans first arrived in the territory,
until his death at Tacoma, January 28, 1898, he was indefatigable in his
efforts to promote, in every honorable way, its manifold interests, and seemed
to have at all times a prophetic vision of its future greatness. The people
of the entire northwest coast as well as those of the territory are deeply
indebted to him for his historical labors, which are a lasting monument of his
zeal and industry in the work of collecting material and publishing a history
of the discovery, growth and settlement of Oregon, Washington and the
entire north Pacific coast. His services in that regard cannot be overestimated,
and otherwise in all the relations of life he did well his part as a true patriot
and good citizen. The members of the first house of representatives were as
follows : Island county, S. D. Howe ; Clarke, J. D. Biles, F. A. Chenoweth,
A. J. Bolan, Henry R. Croslin, A. Lee Lewis and D. H. Huntington ; Jeffer
son, D. F. Brownfield; King, A. A. Denny; Pierce, L. F. Thompson, John
M. Chapman and H. C. Mosely; Thurston, Leonard D. Durgin, David Shel-
ton, Ira Ward and C. H. Hale ; Pacific, John Sauter, who died before taking
14

210 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
his seat, and another election being ordered, James C. Strong was chosen,
who was sworn in April 14, 1854; B. F. Kendall was elected chief clerk;
J. Phillips, assistant;' Jacob Smith, of Whidby Island, sergeant-at-arms; and
J. P. Roundtree, doorkeeper.
The work of territorial legislatures is usually unimportant and confined
to the consideration of but few subjects, because their more important legis
lation is provided by Congress. The legislature of Washington was no excep
tion to the general rule. The work it accomplished consisted largely of
memorials to Congress asking for much needed assistance in the construction
of roads, for additional mail facilities, for lighthouses, for the payment of
expenses incurred in their Indian war, and other items of relief and assistance
for which the territory was obliged to look to the general government. Sev
eral acts, however, passed by the first legislature, deserve special mention.
The first was an act passed March 1, 1854, creating a code commission,
consisting of Judges Edward Lander, Victor Munroe and William Strong,
which prepared a highly creditable code of laws, chiefly the work of Judges
Lander and Strong, which practically answered the needs of the territory
until its admission as a state. Other important acts were for the creation of
the counties of Whatcom, Clallam, Chehalis, Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, Skamania
and Walla Walla, all of which were organized by this legislature. At the
second term of the general assembly held in December, 1854, and January,
1855, laws were enacted establishing the State University at Seattle, the peni
tentiary at Vancouver and the capital at Olympia. In later years, when rail
road construction and other attractions of the territory had caused a large
influx of settlers, the work of the legislature became more complicated and
important. The question of woman suffrage was a mooted one for several
years. The territorial legislature of 1883-4 passed an act granting the right of
suffrage to women at all elections. For two years they were accordingly
allowed to vote, they served on juries and held a variety of offices, when the
act was pronounced unconstitutional and they were disfranchised. It remained
for some years thereafter a question much discussed in the newspapers and
in social and political circles, and was not finally decided until it was voted
upon in 1889, at the time of the adoption of the state constitution.
The political complexion of the territory between the years 1853 and
1903, has varied materially, never remaining the same for any considerable
length of time. The first delegate elected to Congress in 1854 was Columbia
Laucester, a Democrat, who left no record worthy of special mention. In
1855 another election for delegate took place, which resulted in the election
of J. Patton Anderson, the United States marshal for the territory, who
was a secession Democrat, subsequently joining the Confederate army. In

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 211
1857 and again in 1859, Governor Isaac I. Stevens, a Union and War Demo
crat, was elected, whose services in Congress were extremely valuable and
are referred to elsewhere. In 1861 William H. Wallace, then a Republican,
formerly a Whig, was elected. In 1863 George E. Cole, a Democrat, was
elected, and in 1865 A. A. Denny, a Republican, whose eminent character
and services are mentioned elsewhere. In 1867, Alvin Flanders and in 1869-
70 Selucious Garfield were elected as Republicans. Garfield had been a
Democrat, but became a convert to the Republican party. He was a man
of unusual ability, as an orator had few if any equals, and, had his loyalty
to correct principles corresponded with his talents in other directions, he
might have achieved much for the territory and for his own reputation, but
unfortunately he did neither, because his moral failings were allowed to
destroy his capacity for usefulness. In 1872, as the Republican nominee,
he was defeated by O. B. McFadden, a Democratic nominee whose high
character as a lawyer and a jurist and whose unimpeachable integrity as a
man commended him to the good will of all classes of people. In 1874 and
1876 Orange Jacobs was elected as a Republican to serve two terms, which he
did to the satisfaction of all concerned. During these terms Judge Jacobs
made special efforts to provide for the admission of the territory as a state,
but Congress did not favor the proposition at that time. Full of years and
honors he still lives to grace the bench and bar with his wide range of judicial
knowledge, having but recently served a term in Seattle as one of the superior
judges of King county. He was followed by Thomas H. Brents, also a
Republican, who was elected for three terms in 1878- 1880, and in 1882, and
whose services as delegate were universally commended. Pie is now serving
very acceptably as one of the superior judges of Walla Walla. In 1884 and
again in 1886, Charles S. Voorhees, a Democrat, was elected for two terms.
In 1888 John B. Allen, a popular lawyer, who had served acceptably as
United States district attorney for the territory for eleven years, was elected
as a Republican. Before his term expired the territory -was admitted as a
state, and he was elected as one of its first United States senators.
During the Civil war and for several years thereafter political feeling
ran high in the territory, including the Puget Sound country, because of the
number of secession Democrats, either private citizens or holding official
positions, but the Union men were at all times in the majority. In later
years the Republican party could usually command a majority of the votes
at the polls, but factional divisions frequently enabled the Democrats to
succeed in electing their candidates. Prior to the admission of the territory
as a state, the nominees of both parties were, in the main, men of high char
acter, and the opportunities for the corrupt use of patronage and political power
were few in number compared with those which were in evidence after the
territory became a state.

212 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
The record of the judiciary of the territory during the entire period of
its existence is one which, with few exceptions, merits unqualified praise.
From the time when Judges Lander, Strong and McFadden first presided
over its courts, until Hon. C. H. Hanford filled the place of chief justice
in 1889, there was a long line of illustrious men occupying places on the
bench of the territory. The names of those first mentioned, with those of
Orange Jacobs, J. R. Lewis, S. C. Wingard, Roger S. Greene, Richard A.
Jones, John P Hoyt, George Turner, L. B. Nash, Frank Allyn, William H.
Calkins, Thomas Burke, and other territorial judges who might be included
in this list, would be an honor to any state in the Union. They rendered
the people of the Puget Sound country, and elsewhere in the territory, invalu
able services as able, upright and impartial judges, learned in the law and
having the courage to administer it without fear, favor or affection. The
primitive conditions existing in the early days of the territory made the posi
tion of judge no sinecure, but justice was probably meted out to litigants
and criminals, in those days, more speedily than in recent years, when legal
processes are more complicated, delays more frequent, and the refinements
of legislation and jurisprudence often favor formal technicalities at the expense
of rightful conclusions.
The first term of the federal court ever held on Puget Sound was that
which convened at Steilacoom on the first Monday of October, 1849, f°r
the trial of certain Snoqualmie Indians for the murder of Leander C. Wal
lace and the attack upon Fort Nisqually, about the first of May preceding.
In this attack two other Americans, Walker and Lewis, were wounded and
only prompt action on the part of those present prevented the capture of the
fort, and perhaps the massacre of all those within it.
Chief Justice W. C. Bryant of the territory of Oregon, to which the
Puget Sound country then belonged, presided, A. A. Skinner conducted the
prosecution, and David Stone the defense of the Indians. The jurymen, at
torneys and officers of the court traveled on horseback and in canoes, some
of them two hundred miles, to reach Steilacoom.
Two of the Indians, Quallawort and Kassass, were found guilty and
were hanged the next day. The remainder, four in number, were acquitted
and discharged. The costs of the trial amounted to $1,899.54, in addition
to $480, which were expended for blankets paid to Patkanim, the chief of
the tribe, for the delivery of those charged with the murder to the proper
authorities. The jurors and attorneys were each paid $250 cash for their
services. The first court ever held at Olympia met in January, 1853, and was
presided over by Judge William Strong, at that time in charge of one of the
Oregon judicial districts to which the Puget Sound country was attached.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 213
The principal business of this court was the trial of certain cases growing
out of the seizure of the Beaver and the Mary Dare, vessels belonging to the
Hudson's Bay Company, for a violation of the revenue laws of the United
States. Quincy A. Brooks served as clerk and A. M. Poe as deputy marshal,
Simon B. Mayre and David Logan, of Portland, Oregon, represented the
Hudson's Bay Company and the United States, respectively. At this time,
S. P. Moses, I. N. Ebey and Elwood Evans were admitted as members of
the bar. Volumes as interesting as they would be instructive might be written in
regard to the courts of the territory and state, from that date down to the
present time. These annals would be almost uniformly creditable and hon
orable to the judges who presided over them, to the district attorneys who
represented the government, to their other officers, and to the people whom
they served in the administration of justice. Since the admission of the
state, Judge C. H. Hanford, the last chief justice of the territory, has occu
pied the position of United States district judge for the state of Washing
ton, and, as the son of an honored pioneer, he has been the worthy repre
sentative of the sturdy and unflinching integrity which characterized the
great majority of the pioneers of Washington territory.
CHAPTER XXIX.
POLITICAL SKETCH OF STATE OF WASHINGTON.
( Continued. )
The long minority of the territory came to an end in 1889. On Febru
ary 22 of that year an act of Congress was approved by the president to
enable the people of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washing
ton to form constitutions and state governments and to be admitted into the
Union on an equal footing with the original states, and to make donations
of the public lands to these states when admitted. It provided for the elec
tion of seventy-five delegates, who should meet in Olympia on the 4th day of
July, 1889, and form a constitution to be submitted to the people of the
territory for adoption or rejection. These delegates were elected accordingly,
met on that day and organized a convention, which in its session of fifty days
framed a constitution which was adopted by the people on the first day of
October by a vote of 40,152 for and 11,789 against it. On other questions
submitted to the people the vote stood as follows : For woman suffrage
16,527, against 34,515; for prohibition 19,546, against 31,487; for the state
capital, Olympia 25,490, North Yakima 14,718, Ellensburg 12,883, scatter
ing 1,088, leaving the seat of government where it had been since the organi
zation of the territory, at Olympia. At the next general election the question

214 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
was again submitted, and Olympia was chosen by a handsome majority as
the capital of the state. The constitutional convention was composed of
able, intelligent and patriotic men, whose efficient work at that time has been
tested by fourteen years of subsequent experience and found eminently sat
isfactory. While these preliminary steps were being taken the political parties in
the state were aroused to unusual activity. The large number of offices to be
filled by election and the many material interests involved or to be disposed
" of, were incentives that had never before been so largely in evidence. The
new state was full of active, energetic and ambitious young men, who were
anxious to push' their fortunes, politically and otherwise, and the openings
thus presented were of a very seductive character. A Republican convention
at Walla Walla in September was largely attended. At this convention an
unusual spectacle was presented. The county of King, including Seattle,
and having the largest delegation on the floor of the convention, opposed
the nomination for governor of Elisha P. Ferry, one of its most honored
citizens, which had been proposed by the delegation of Pierce county. Yet
Ferry was nominated in spite of the opposition of his own county and tri
umphantly elected by a majority of 8,979 votes out of a total vote of 58,443.
At this convention a policy was inaugurated which has since been con
tinued, unfortunately for the best interests of the state, and which is at the same
time un-American and not in accordance with Republican ideas, methods,
or precedents. This was the surrender to one man, usually the leader of
a delegation or of any number of delegations, whose votes he could secure,
of the power to cast the votes of the delegation or delegations for any nom
inee he might choose to support, the claim of the nominee for support not
usually being based on merit, or fitness, or ability, but the influence he might
be able to exercise in controlling elections. For the introduction of this
vicious system Colonel John C. Haines, of Seattle, was largely responsible.
Colonel Haines was one of the leading lawyers of the state, a man of pleas
ing and at times of captivating address, of fine legal and literary attainments,
was the colonel of the First Regiment of the Washington National Guard,
and in his military capacity had rendered special and important services to
the territory on more than one occasion. Politically ambitious, he was looked
upon as one of the rising young men of the state, who might in the future
fill its highest positions, and it was a matter of regret that his devotion to
high moral principles did not equal his masterly abilities in other directions.
Had a purer tone of political morality prevailed, or a higher plane of
public policy been followed by the leaders of the Republican party in this
convention and subsequently, it would not so soon thereafter have been
repudiated by the people of the state, and a fewer number of the United

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 215
States senators elected to represent it would probably have juggled with the
silver question as though the people of the state could be deceived by a sleight-
of-hand performance, and possibly, too, they might have had higher ideals
of statesmanship than to plan successfully for a re-election or for an appro
priation. Other state officials of prominence might also have had a higher
regard for the material interests committed to their charge, and displayed
a more patriotic zeal in the discharge of their public and official duties.
History records with profound regret the shortcomings of public officials,
no matter whether those shortcomings are occasioned by a want of capacity
or of integrity, for in both cases public interests suffer the consequences, and
both serve to illustrate the unfortunate results of human frailty.
Nevertheless at the following election, by an average majority of about
8,000 votes, Elisha P. Ferry was elected governor, Charles E. Laughton
lieutenant governor, Allen Weir secretary of state, A. A. Lindsley treasurer,
T. M. Reed auditor, Robert B. Bryan superintendent of public instruction,
and W. T. Forest commissioner of public lands. The supreme judges elected
were: R. O. Dunbar, T. L. Stiles, J. P. Hoyt, T. J. Anders and Elmer Scott;
John L. Wilson, of Spokane, to Congress. All were Republicans. The state
officers thus elected were enthusiastically inaugurated November 18, 1889,
with appropriate ceremonies at the state capital, the legislature, which was
also Republican by a large majority, being in session at the same time. On
the 19th of November the legislature elected John B. Allen and Watson
C. Squire, the first United States senators for the state of Washington. Mr.
Allen drew the term ending March 3, 1893, and Colonel Squire that expiring
on March 3, 1891.
Thus the state began its career of magnificent development under very
auspicious circumstances. Its growth and prosperity, which had been won
derful in the decade beginning in 1880 and ending in 1889, was greatly stimu
lated and accelerated by its admission into the Union as an independent
state. The attention given it because of its resources and advantages was
vastly increased by its elevation to statehood. It was liberally endowed by
Congress with grants of public lands for educational and other purposes, in
addition to the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, which were set apart for
the support of common schools. The wise and conservative course adopted
by the constitutional convention with reference to the disposition of these
school lands and the management of the school funds of the state almost
absolutely insures a fund in the future which shall constitute a magnificent
endowment for educational purposes, far in excess cf that possessed by any
other state in the Union. The tide lands of the state alone, if properly
cared for, were of incalculable value. No state at the beginning of its career
was ever more richly endowed by the priceless treasures provided by nature,

216 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
or the splendid gifts of a liberal government, than was the state of Wash
ington when admitted into the Union. In 1890, in accordance with the
requirements of the constitution, Governor Ferry appointed a commission to
locate the harbor lines of the state in its navigable waters within, or in front
of the corporate limits of its cities or within one mile thereof on either side.
The constitution of the state required and commanded that the tide lands
upon which these harbor lines were located and upon which wharves, docks
and other conveniences of commerce should be located, should never be sold,
but reserved as the property of the state, to the end that its commerce might
be protected from the excessive tolls and charges which might otherwise be
levied thereon. The members of the commission were: Orange Jacobs, of
Seattle; H. F. Garretson, of Tacoma; D. C. Guernsey, of Dayton; William
F. Prosser, of Yakima, and Frank H. Richards, of Whatcom. This com
mission began its labors at Seattle, as the most important commercial city
in the state. It organized by the election of William F. Prosser as chairman
and Alfred Martin as secretary. Owing to the pressure of professional busi
ness, Judge Jacobs declined the appointment, and his place was filled by
Eugene Semple, ex-governor of the territory.
The tide lands below the line of high water, or the meander line of the
United States government surveys, were absolutely the property of the state
and could only be disposed of by the proper state authorities. The lands
occupied by docks, wharves, warehouses and other conveniences of commerce
were reserved by the constitution as the permanent property of the state, in
order that charges for wharfage and tolls upon the commerce of the country
might be regulated by the state, extortion prevented and those charges made
moderate and reasonable for export and import trade of all descriptions. This
harbor line commission undertook to follow the mandates of the constitution,
and in consultation and co-operation with United States engineers of large
experience, who were familiar with the laws of the United States with refer
ence to navigable waters where the United States government is supreme
in authority, it proposed to locate these lines so that the interests of the state
and of all those doing business on the water front in any manner whatever
should be fully protected. During the territorial days, however, large commer
cial interests, corporate and individual, had grown up on these tide lands, be
ing suffered to occupy them without interference during those days, and, seeing
the vast opportunities they afforded for collecting tolls, wharfage and other
charges for handling the goods passing through their hands, they resisted the
location of these lines as proposed, and insisted that they be so located that
their unlawful and immensely profitable methods should not be disturbed.
All their efforts to swerve the commission from the line of its duty failing,
these interests, chiefly at Seattle and Tacoma, brought suits in the supreme

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 217
court of the state and of the United States, fourteen in all, to prevent the
location as pro-posed by the commission, the manifest purpose of these suits
being to delay action until the life of the commission should expire by limi
tation of law. In this they succeeded, and, although all these suits and ail
the points involved therein were decided in favor' of the commission, yet
decisions in some cases were not had until the time allowed it, two and one-
half years, had expired. In the meantime, in 1892, John H. McGraw had
been elected governor, and, in utter disregard of the interests of the state,
which in this matter were of incalculable value, and of the requirements of
its constitution, which were plain and unmistakable, he exerted his powerful
influence to promote the interests of the corporations and individuals who
were seeking the possession and control of these tide lands, and so used that
influence that for nominal sums they were enabled to purchase tide lands
of priceless value because of the opportunities their possession affords, to
levy tolls without restriction or restraint for all time to come upon the com
merce of the country. For these and other high-handed measures carried
out by McGraw and his associates, with other causes of popular discontent,
the entire Republican ticket of the state was defeated in 1896, by majorities
ranging from 13,000 to 15,000 votes.
A political combination at Seattle, which assumed control of the state
and undertook to exercise that control in the most overbearing and despotic
manner, was responsible for the nomination and election of Mr. McGraw
in 1892. From its earliest inception this combination was looked upon by
many of the Republicans of the state with suspicion and distrust. At the
general election that year the party lost more than twenty thousand votes,
and Governor McGraw himself was only saved from defeat by a superhuman
effort, on the part of his friends and associates, to impress upon the voters
of Seattle and King county the belief that the success of the Lake Washington
canal depended upon his election. In this enterprise these voters were inter
ested without regard to party affiliations. In this manner and because his
opponent, Henry J. Snively,- for a variety of reasons, was not able to secure
the support of the entire Democratic vote, Governor McGraw barely secured
a plurality of 4,280 votes. At the following election, however, the dis
pleasure of the people of the state was manifested in a still more emphatic
manner, and the entire Republican state ticket was defeated by Democratic
majorities ranging from 12,000 to 15,000 votes. The Republican congres
sional, judicial, county and municipal tickets were all defeated by majorities
correspondingly large. The Republican party was thus utterly repudiated
by the people of the state because of its wanton abuse of authority and disre
gard of the vast public interests intrusted to its care, with such implicit con
fidence, when the state was admitted into the Union. Although the combina-

218 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
tion above referred to at Seattle had gone to pieces years before, yet in 1900
the Republican candidate, Mr. J. M. Frink, a most estimable and worthy
gentleman, held in high regard by men of all parties, was defeated by a ma
jority of 8,596 votes, whilst at the same time the Republican candidate for
president carried the state by a majority of over twelve thousand votes, show
ing that Mr. Frink lost more than twenty thousand Republican votes. This
was not because of any personal unpopularity of Mr. Frink, but because he
was supposed to be the candidate of a remnant of the cabal in Seattle which
had made itself so utterly obnoxious to the Republicans of the state. Perhaps
no combination ever banded together for political purposes ever came to
grief more quickly or completely than did this one, but the disastrous conse
quences of its iniquitous acts could not be so speedily disposed of. In Janu
ary, 1892, Colonel John C. Haines, one of its most active and influential
members, a young and brilliant lawyer, in the prime of life and apparently
at the beginning of a long and successful career, died in Seattle from an
attack of fever. Between 1891 and 1895, Lieutenant Governor Laughton,
L. C. Grimes, state auditor, and George Shannon, a member of Governor
McGraw's state land commission, all supporters of, and active workers for,
this combination, were removed by death from the scenes of their political
activity. In 1894 Frederick J. Grant, the able and gifted editor of the Post-Intel
ligencer, while that paper was owned by Mr. L. S. J. Hunt, and who after
Colonel Haines was one of the most skilful and adroit of party managers,
sailed away from Seattle in the ship Ivanhoe and was never heard of after
wards. In the same year Mr. Hunt, the controlling spirit of this combina
tion, supposed to be wealthy, became a bankrupt, lost control of the Post-
Intelligencer, and later on went to China and Korea to retrieve his broken
fortunes. In the latter country, where he obtained valuable mining conces
sions, he was successful, and it should be said to his credit that some years
thereafter he returned to Seattle and paid all his debts, to the amount of
about one million dollars, including several thousands for the payment of
which he was under no legal obligation. In 1895 George Heilbron, the suc
cessor of Grant as the editor of the Post-Intelligencer, was found dead in
his bathroom, under somewhat peculiar circumstances. Other men more or
less prominent as active supporters of this combination came to an untimely
end, and from the beginning of its career it was followed by misfortunes in
ever increasing numbers. Like Mr. Hunt, Governor McGraw became bank
rupt, and for a time went to Alaska in the hope of recuperating his shattered
fortunes in the Arctic regions. The election of John R. Rogers, the populist
candidate for governor in 1896, was looked upon, at that time, with some
feeling of apprehension by conservative people, but he gave the state a wise,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 219
prudent and satisfactory administration, and his re-election in 1900 was the
occasion of no alarm whatever in business or political circles. That re-election,
however, was not due to his personal popularity but to feelings of distrust
and hostility in Republican ranks because of the men and methods employed
in securing the nomination of P. C. Sullivan, the Republican candidate. All
the remaining nominees on the state ticket of the Republican party were
elected by handsome majorities. These officials were as follows : Lieutenant
Governor, Henry McBride ; Secretary of State, Sam H. Nichols ; Treasurer,
C. W. Maynard; Auditor, John D. Atkinson; Attorney General W. B. Strat-
ton; Superintendent of Public Instruction, R. B. Bryan; Commissioner of
Public Lands, S. A. Callvert; justices of the supreme court, T. J. Anders
and Mark A. Fullerton. On the death of Governor Rogers in 1900
Henry McBride, the lieutenant governor, became governor for the remainder
of the term. Governor McBride was formerly a judge of the superior court
in Skagit county, and is a man whose ability and integrity are unquestioned.
His administration thus far has been marked by an effort to secure the cre
ation by the legislature of a railroad commission to adjust matters of traffic
and taxation between the state and the railroad companies doing business
therein, on a more equitable and satisfactory basis; but although the legis
lature is Republican by a large majority, the desired result has not yet been
accomplished. In the meantime the whole state of Washington and particu
larly the Puget Sound country, with all its cities, towns, villages and rural
districts, and with all its mining, manufacturing, commercial and other di
versified industries, has been enjoying for the past seven years a period of
unexampled prosperity.
CHAPTER XXX.
RISE AND GROWTH OF SEATTLE.
The history of Seattle is practically the history of the Puget Sound
country. Although some settlements had been made around the headwaters
of the Sound as early as 1845, tney were few in number and sparsely dis
tributed over that section of the country. The first settlers of Seattle arrived
on the site of that city in 1852. The first plats of the city were filed May 23,
1853, Dy A. A. Denny, C. D. Boren and D. S. Maynard. The semi-centennial
of the founding of the city was celebrated in Seattle in 1903. The year
1853 was a notable one in the annals of Seattle, of the Puget Sound region,
and of the territory of Washington. That year marked also the beginning
of territorial government north of the Columbia river. It marked the arrival
in the territory of Governor Isaac I. Stevens and the completion of the pre
liminary surveys of the Northern Pacific Railroad, though many years were to
come and go before that great enterprise, which meant so much to the territory,

220 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
to Puget Sound and, with other transcontinental lines, to the commerce of
the world at large, the Occident and the orient and to Europe, the United
States, to Japan, China and the East Indies, should be completed.
While these events were taking place on the northwest coast, another
important event quietly took place in the same noted year of grace, 1853, and
that was the presentation of the Mikado of Japan, on the 14th of July,
by Commodore Perry of the United States exploring expedition, of a
letter from President Millard Fillmore to that potentate, asking him to open
the ports of Japan to the trade and commerce of the United States, and the
other nations of the earth. Prior to that time no intercourse between the
people of Japan and the outside world had been allowed. The remarkable
change which in the last fifty years has taken place in that country and in its
relations to other countries is the result of the presentation of that letter.
The extraordinary transformation of Japan from an obscure and unknown
people to- the position of a power with whom all modern nations having
business in the east must take account, is one of the wonders of the nine
teenth century. At the expiration of fifty years from the time when the
first steps were taken to open up Japan to- the influences and the benefits of
modern civilization, the current of events would seem to indicate that the
United States must, in like manner in the near future, take a leading and
active part in the regeneration of China and in the important work of bringing
her teeming millions under the progressive, ameliorating and refining in
fluences of Christianity and civilization. With all of these events of world
wide importance the Puget Sound country is intimately connected, because
it is the natural and logical gateway for the trade and commerce of the western
world with the East, and therefore with three-fourths of the population of
the earth. The acquisition of the Philippines by the United States very con
siderably increases the interest of the Puget Sound region in the Far East and
in the millions of people there, whose productions and requirements will form
an important part of the commerce of our country, hereafter to be largely
carried on through Seattle and other ports of Puget Sound.
The character of every city or community, like that of an individual, is
largely influenced by its moral qualities, its early experiences and its material
surroundings. The fortitude, patience and courage of Seattle's early settlers
are reflected in her sturdy and substantial growth, and in her patience under
difficulties and trials of no ordinary character. Their high moral character
and their strict integrity are exemplified in her municipal government, which
has never defaulted in any of its engagements, and whose excellent credit has
always been maintained at high-water mark and enabled her, for example,
to borrow $590,000 in 1903, at a time of considerable financial stringency,
at the low rate of three and three-quarters per cent per annum. Seattle's

OLD CHIEF SEALTH. (SEATTLE.)

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 221
early experiences were not of the most pleasant description. Her founders
were men and women in very limited circumstances, who were exhausted in
mind, body and estate by a painful and dangerous journey of two thousand
miles with ox teams, and it is related of the women in the party that when
they saw the gloomy surroundings of their final camping place, in the begin
ning of winter, they sat down and cried. No wonder they were depressed
by their untoward and hapless condition, . few in numbers and in the midst
of savages who might in a moment, had they so desired, wipe the whole
camp out of existence. Yet there was something inspiring in their courage,
and there would seem to have been some strange vision of the future in
their minds as they mournfully went to work to lay out a town, when there
were scarcely at that time more than five hundred white American settlers
in all the sixty-six thousand square miles of the northwest which shortly was
to become the territory of Washington.
This town, laid out on Alki Point, within the present limits of the city
of Seattle, they called New York, as though they foresaw, in this lonely
wilderness about them, that in the not very distant future a city should
grow up at this place which should rival New York, in the extent of its busi
ness and in the glory of its surroundings. Some of those settlers are still
living, and they have witnessed the building of a city here which has been
vastly rqore rapid, notwithstanding the hardships of its early years, than
was the evolution of the city of New York, though the growth of that city
in wealth and population has been the wonder of the world. One hundred
and fifty years after its founding that city had but seventy thousand inhabitants,
beginning with one thousand people. Seattle, beginning with thirty persons
on the 23d day of May, 1853, when the first plats of the city were filed by
Messrs. A. A. Denny, C. D. Boren and D. S. Maynard, had on the 23d day
of May, 1903, including its suburbs in the immediate vicinity, not less than
one hundred and fifty thousand people, who were supplied at that date with
all the modern appointments, conveniences, appurtenances, residences and
business blocks, hotels, telephones, wires, schools, churches, railway and steam
ship connections with the world at large, whether by land or water, per
taining to any city in the world, though occupying the vanguard of civilization.
Yet this city, in its infancy, buffeted by the storms of adversity, barely escaping
complete destruction- by the Indians in January, 1856, rejected by the Northern
Pacific Railroad Company in 1873 as its western terminus, although so
eminent authority as Captain George B. McClellan had reported her site as
the proper place for this terminus, left entirely to her own resources by gov
ernment and corporations, her entire business section of one hundred and
twenty acres destroyed by fire in 1889, — is now without a rival north of San
Francisco in its rapid but solid growth during the past twenty years, in the

222 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
volume of its present business either by land or water, and in its promise of fu
ture development. Her past achievements, the character of her people for enter
prise, fair dealing and unity of purpose in all their undertakings, with her
magnificent natural advantages, fully justify her expectations for the future,
though they may seem to be extravagant beyond measure, to those who are
not familiar with the conditions or the circumstances by which she is sur
rounded. Without considering her location with reference to business purposes,
which are all that could be desired, it is one of incomparable beauty. In her
front, or rather at her feet, lie Elliott Bay and Puget Sound, bodies of water
broad, deep and clear as though made to order for purposes of unlimited but
safe navigation, whilst beyond Hood's Canal and stretched to the westward
in splendor across her vision is the Olympic range of mountains, seventy-five
miles distant, yet in the clear and transparent atmosphere they scarcely seem,
with their serrated tops and snow-crowned peaks, to-be across the Sound or
twenty miles away. Two miles behind her lies Lake Washington, twenty miles
in length, from one to three miles wide, and from sixty to six hundred feet
in depth, waiting for the time when a canal shall be completed, connecting it
with the Sound and affording ample room for a thousand ships, merchant or
battle, to bathe in her fresh, clear and beautiful water. Within her limits are
Green Lake of three hundred and Lake Union of nine hundred acres, the
former an adjunct of beauty and the latter of usefulness in the future life and
growth of the city. East of the city are the Cascade mountains in full view,
from Mt. Ranier to Mt. Baker, which are nearly one hundred miles apart,
with intervening peaks from four thousand to eight thousand feet in height,
covered with perpetual snow, altogether forming a panoramic view of un
rivaled splendor, such as is rarely seen in any part of the world. Like Rome,
Seattle sits upon her seven hills of ample dimensions surrounded by grand
visions of natural beauty which, once seen by the stranger, are never for
gotten, and which are a source of perpetual delight to her fortunate citizens.
Beyond question such grand spectacles of nature's handiwork must have
an inspiring effect upon all who witness them and must result in broader
views, larger conceptions, and greater energies amongst people who live in
a location having such surroundings. Such views are common on Puget
Sound, and many other places are highly favored in this regard, but nowhere
else is there to be found a combination of natural attractions of such a varied
and splendid character. It is not strange, therefore, that, in spite of delays and
drawbacks of the most disheartening character continued for so many years,
its citizens should never have wavered for a moment in loyalty to their chosen
city, and should never have given up their hope and confidence in the build
ing of its future, or in the greatness of its ultimate development. Situated.
as it is on the east side of Puget Sound, almost in the exact center of the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 223
"Sound" country and of western Washington, about one hundred and thirty
miles from the Pacific Ocean, on a magnificent arm of the sea from five to ten
miles wide and from one hundred to nine hundred feet deep, it is admirably
located for all purposes of ocean and sea coast navigation. It was incorporated
by the territorial legislature in 1865, and re-incorporated in 1869. Yet it was
only a struggling sawmill village for many years and was long without a
schoolhouse, courthouse or a jail and it was only about 1880 that it began
that wonderful growth and expansion that have since continued without inter
ruption, except during the period of financial depression from which the whole
country suffered so much in the years of 1893 to 1897. During the past
twenty years, the frontier village, without paved streets, sewers or other city
requisites, has been transformed into a splendid city and has become the lead
ing railroad center and the chief commercial, manufacturing and financial
headquarters of the entire Pacific northwest. Its progress during the past
six years may be more fully understood by a reference to the following statis
tics, which are taken from official reports.
Seattle has 120 miles of improved streets, 45 miles of public sewers, 143
miles of water mains, 50 miles gas mains, 30 miles improved bicycle paths,
7,000 bicycles, 15,069 telephones, 40 wharves and docks. The street railways
of the city have been largely extended and improved and the transfer system
inaugurated. Her street railway system is equal to that of any city of its size
in the land.
The city will expend over $1,500,000 in public improvements in the
next year, and will also reap the immediate benefit of the expenditure of
several millions of dollars in terminal improvements by the great trans-conti
nental lines, including a tunnel under the city and a new union depot to be
constructed immediately. It has a complete sewerage system; its sanitary
condition is good, drainage being facilitated by its topography, and its death
rate is as low as any other city of its size in the United States.
The assessed valuation of the property in Seattle for 1903 is $56,674,885.
The rate of taxation for state, county and city is 30.1 mills in the old city
limits and 29.6 mills in the new. Its rate of taxation is lower than many
other cities of its size in the Union.
The following statement in regard to the city schools of Seattle for 1903
has been furnished by Professor F. B. Cooper, superintendent :
Value of school buildings in Seattle  $ 1,500,000
Assessed value of school property  $52,000,000
Pupils enrolled during the year  IS>421
Pupils enrolled previous year  12,075
Gain for 1902-3  3>4o6
Teachers employed  3r5
High school teachers  37

224 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Number of high school pupils  1,125
Night school teachers  5
Night school pupils  414
Number of persons of school age  20,844
Average salary of male teachers. .. .$116.88 Average salary of female teachers. .. .$ 77.44
Seating capacity of the schoolrooms in the district will accommodate 14,449 pupils.
There are 99,500 text books available. Books are furnished pupils free of charge. The
receipts are officially reported as $812,651.05, and the expenditure $747,450, leaving a balance
of $65,201.05. A comparison of the above report with the following official statement
in regard to the public schools of Seattle made in 1884 will serve to illustrate,
in some degree at least, the growth of the city during the last twenty years :
No. of teachers employed in 1884 . . 17 No. of buildings  2
School population  1,193 Value of school property  $75,000
School registration  1,478 Yearly expenditure  22,768
Attendance  984 Monthly pay-roll  1,530
As a valuable adjunct to the public school system, the city has an excellent
free public library containing about 40,000 volumes, besides a great number
of magazines, periodicals and pamphlets. Hon. Andrew Carnegie has donated
the sum of $200,000 to erect a new building for the library. The city has
purchased a site at a cost of $100,000, and the building is now in the course
of construction. The city provides $50,000 per annum as a library mainte
nance fund.
There are about one hundred and twenty churches and church societies
in Seattle and adjoining suburbs, representing a greater number of religious
beliefs than is generally found in a city of its size. Almost every known
denomination of the Christian religion has its representatives, and nearly all
of them have regular organizations and church buildings. This is owing to
the fact that the population of the city is cosmopolitan in its character and
represents almost every civilized country on the globe.
There are a number of business, social, educational, literary and musical
clubs in the city. The leading business men's associations are the Seattle
Chamber of Commerce, the Merchants' Association and the Manufacturers'
Association. The leading social clubs are the Rainier, the University, the
Seattle Athletic, the Golf and Country and the Firloch clubs.
The city is well lighted by gas and electricity. There are two gas com
panies in the field, one of which has been operating for many years, and
another which commenced operations January 1, 1903. The electric power is
obtained from Snoqualmie Falls, twenty-five miles distant in a direct line
from the city. This waterfall is 268 feet high, and is capable of generating
50,000 horse power at the lowest stages of the river.
The city owns its water system, which to date has cost $2,500,000, with
i/( 3 miles of mains. The water is brought from the Cedar river, in the foot
hills of the Cascade mountains, by gravitation. The distance from the head

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 225
waters to the city is something over forty miles, through more than twenty-
eight miles of which the water is carried in wooden or steel pipes. The daily
capacity of the plant is 25,000,000 gallons, and the daily consumption averages
about 12,000,000 gallons; annual revenue, $225,000.
The city is also engaged in the construction of an electric lighting plant,
to furnish light for municipal purposes ; the power for this plant is to be fur
nished from the falls of Cedar river.
Seattle is the chief manufacturing city of the Pacific northwest. There
are more than 1,200 distinct manufacturing establishments which give em
ployment to about 18,000 operatives, with a pay-roll of $1,200,000 per month,
and an output of products amounting to upwards of $55,000,000 per year.
The leading industries of the city are shipyards, sawmills, flour, feed and
cereal mills, brick yards, terra cotta works, foundries, machine shops, breweries,
factories for the manufacture of sash, doors, blinds, wooden ware, excelsior,
barrels, boots, shoes, clothing, cars, wagons, carriages, furniture, tinware,
soap, crackers, candy, pickles, brooms, baking powder, drugs, jewelry, saws,
fish nets, woolen goods, trunks, stoves, etc.
Great as is the volume of her manufactured products to-day, and notwith
standing the efforts of her manufacturers to keep pace with the increasing
demand, they are unable to fill all their orders, although many of them have
more than doubled their plants within the past two years.
There are many reasons for the unexampled prosperity of her manu
facturing enterprises, among the principal of which are favorable climate,
cheap fuel, cheap power, cheapness of raw material, nearness to the market
for her products, cheap transportation on account of water and rail facilities,
an active market on account of her rapidly increasing population at home, and
a greatly increased demand for her goods abroad.
The United States Assay office at Seattle was established July 15, 1898.
At that time the policy of establishing this office was questioned, as there was
no certainty that a sufficient amount of business could be secured. From the
time when its doors were opened on the above date, down to September 1,
1903, the enormous sum of $73,475,609.05 in gold has been deposited here
from the neighboring mines of Alaska, British Columbia, Yukon territory,
Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, etc. This is chiefly gold dust, and
is a larger amount than was deposited, fresh from the mines, at any other
assay office in the United States, in that period. This is an aggregate of more
than 146 tons of precious metal and the deposits are increasing from year
to year. The University of Washington is located in the city, and provides the
means for a liberal education. It is free to the youth of the state of both sexes.
The faculty consists of nearly fifty of the best educators who can be procured.
15

226 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
The buildings are modern and up to date There are thoroughly equipped
laboratories for chemical, biological and mineralogical study. The museum
contains an extensive collection of specimens of natural history. The gym
nasiums are thoroughly fitted with the very latest appliances for the physical
training of young men and women. The university is supported by appro
priations made by the state legislature and by the revenues derived from its
endowment of 100,000 acres of selected lands, and from its valuable property
located in the city.
The Puget Sound navy yard is just across the Sound from Seattle, and
its supplies are purchased here. The expenditure for supplies exceeds $100,000
per month. It has the only dry dock on the Pacific coast large enough to
dock a battleship. It gives steady employment to about 600 mechanics and is
growing in importance yearly.
Fort Lawton is situated within the city limits. Extensive improvements
are now in progress and provision is being made to increase the garrison to a
full regimental post.
' The progress of the city for the past seven years is illustrated, in part,
by the following statement of its business in 1896 and in 1902, in the lines
therein mentioned : 1896. 1902.
Building permits, number  580 6,384
Brick manufactured, number  2,000,000 43,000,000
Wheat exports, bushels  603,100 1,575,983
Flour exports, barrels  1  96,000 414,003
Cotton exports, bales  19,160 101,023
Deep sea tonnage, tons  270,028 1,020,518
Lumber shipments, feet  24,274,000 34,258,743
Bank deposits  $ 2,710,371 $ 28,242,805
Bank clearances  28,157,065 191,885,973
Water revenues  1 14,578 304,687
Building permits, value  .'  201,081 6,385,178
Postoffice receipts  82,594 276,983
Custom house receipts  66,794 507,760
Internal revenue receipts  97,997 308,794
Exports to Japan  l  402,335 9,869,308
Foreign imports  395,239 14,495,282
Foreign exports  1,816,577 10,991,985
Coal shipments  194,282 463,409
The extraordinary activity manifested by the transcontinental railway
companies in securing and promoting terminal facilities at Seattle may be
accounted for, in part, by a reference to the following official statistics of its
seagoing commerce. SEATTLE'S COMMERCE BY SEA.
The tonnage of the vessels engaged in the deep sea commerce of this port during the
past year reached the grand total of more than two million tons, and the value of the com
merce exceeded $80,000,000.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 227
The reports of the Seattle harbor master made to the mayor and city council each
month, show the arrival and departure of deep sea vessels during the past two years as
follows : DEEP SEA SHIPPING.  1901   1902 
Arrived— No. Net Tons. No. Net Tons.
Steam  668 861,301 656 868,759
Sail  109 75,366 163 165,461
Total  yyy 936,667 819 1,034,220
Departed— No. Net Tons. No. Net Tons.
Steam  658 847,232 640 854,208
Sail  in 81,178 133 134,530
Total  °  769 928,410 773 988,730
The foreign commerce of the city for the year 1902 was as follows :
Imports  $16,657,132
Exports  ,  15,097,396
Total  $31,754,528
From these reports we find that the greater part of our foreign commerce is with the
countries of the Orient; with the United Kingdom, second; and British Columbia, third.
The imports are not segregated in the reports, excepting in a general way. In the
following table the items set forth as "For transportation to interior," "Transportation to
British Columbia,'' and "Transportation in bond," represent imports, principally from the
Orient, which are forwarded in bond to the interior and eastern cities of the United States.
The exports are segregated to show the countries to which they have been shipped
The foreign imports and exports are shown as follows :
Imports Value.
From Europe and the Orient  $ 7,519,847
British Columbia  846,643
For transportation to interior  7,719,757
For transportation to British Columbia  504,929
For transpprtation in bond  66,956
Total  $16,657,132
Exports — Value.
To the Orient  $ 9,995,966
British Columbia  1,571,245
United Kingdom  2,469,737
Siberia  .'  63,124
Germany  6,479
South Africa  532,273
Cape Verde Islands  117,300
Central America  n,44i
South America  46,481
Mexico  2,197
Fiji Islands  1,983
Korea  1,620
Philippine Islands  185,392
Australia  39,044
!n bond  53,114
Tbtal  $15,097,396

228 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
GROWTH OF FOREIGN COMMERCE.
The growth of the foreign commerce of Seattle is well illustrated by the following
figures, taken from the reports of the collector of customs at Port Townsend, showing the
imports and exports of Seattle for the past six years, as follows :
Year  Imports. Exports.
1896  $ 395,239 $ i,8i6,577
1898  2,409,768 3,9",4I4
1900  4,57i,S3i 6,954,749
1901  5,030,110 9.6i3,i59
1902  8,785,243 10,991,985
In this statement no credit is given for goods imported for transportation to interior
points, or in bond to foreign countries, which amounted to $5,710,039 in 1902, making the
total imports $14,495,282. SEATTLE COASTWISE TRADE.
The coastwise trade exceeds the foreign commerce by a very large amount, aggregating
the sum of nearly fifty millions of dollars, as follows :
Coastwise receipts  $22,492,920
Coastwise shipments  26,346,313
Total  $48,839,233
The coastwise business includes the trade of Alaska and Hawaii, and is segregated as
follows :
Coastwise receipts —
Pacific coast and Alaska  $17,474,524
Local ports  5,018,396
Total  $22,492,920
Coastwise shipments —
Pacific coast and Alaska  $18,950,569
New York  1,379,720
Hawaii  r,379,3H
Local ports  ¦  5,697,713
Total  $26,346,313
From the above table it will be seen that the total business — that is, the business done
by the mosquito fleet — aggregates $10,716,109.
If we add all these items of commerce together, it gives us the following result :
Foreign commerce  $31,754,528
Coastwise trade  48,839,233
Total commerce by the sea  $80,593,761
No accurate record can be obtained of the number of passengers carried on the Sound
steamers, but a conservative estimate shows that the number is considerably in excess of
one million.
The total commerce by sea, shown by the reports of 1901, amounted to $50,298,944.
Compared with these figures, the business of 1902 shows an enormous gain, as follows :
Commerce of 1902  $80,589,781
Commerce of 1901  50,298,944

Gain  $30,290,837
This represents a gain of 60 per cent over the business of the year 1901.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 229
The discoveries of gold in the Klondike region of the Northwest Terri
tory in 1897, and in many parts of Alaska later on, has enormously increased
the business of Seattle, which is the chief shipping port for all of that immense
territory. The Alaska trade amounts to more than $20,000,000 per annum
and is rapidly increasing, as the vast natural resources of that territory in
gold, copper, tin, oil, coal, iron, and other minerals, its fisheries and agri
cultural possibilities are being developed.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE CITY OF TACOMA.
The history of the birth, rise and growth of the city of Tacoma reads
like the story of Aladdin's lamp. On the 1st day of July, 1873, the Doarcl
of directors of the Northern Pacific Railway Company waved its wand over
the site of that city, then an almost unbroken forest of giant firs and cedars
overlooking a beautiful bay of Puget Sound, and since that time a mag
nificent city of about 60,000 enterprising and progressive people has sprung
into existence, having splendid business blocks, wide and beautiful streets,
schools, churches, charitable institutions, railway and steamship connections
with all parts of the world, and, in general, all the adjuncts of a city of the
first class, according to our modern ideas of the most advanced civilization.
At that time the settlers in the locality were few in number, and they were
chiefly employed in and residing in the vicinity of a sawmill which had re
cently been constructed by Hanson, Ackerson & Company, and which looked
lonely and almost helpless in the vast wilderness of unoccupied sea and land
by which it was surrounded.
Charles Hanson was born in Elsinore, Denmark, but was not a dreamer
like his fellow-townsman Hamlet, but, like the enterprising Vikings of
Scandinavia, from whom he was descended, was one of those energetic
Norsemen who in these later years roam over the sea and land in their efforts
to find congenial and profitable undertakings of an industrial and not of a
piratical character. John W. Ackerson and Samuel Hadlock were Argo
nauts of California, who with Mr. Hanson constituted the firm of Hanson,
Ackerson & Company. These men saw at an early day the possibilities for
the manufacture of lumber on Puget Sound and, resolving to take advantage
of the opportunity thus presented, located their sawmill on the margin of
the bay within the present limits of the city of Tacoma. To Mr. Ackerson
is due the honor . of naming the struggling hamlet which was to become
known in the near future as one of the greatest commercial ports of the
world. Mr. Hadlock retired from the firm in 1870, and going down the
Sound, founded Port Hadlock, where he built a sawmill which has since that
time done an enormous business in the making and shipping of lumber.

230 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
The town of Old Tacoma was originally laid out by General M. M.
McCarver, L. M. Starr and James Steele. They purchased the land from
Job Carr, who made the first settlement at this point. New Tacoma was
laid out principally on the donation claim of Peter Judson, who arrived there
in 1853. Its rapid growth was due to the fact that it was made the terminus
of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Its first survey was made by ex-Surveyor
General James Tilton and Theodore Hosmer. Subsequently the two places
were consolidated under the name of Tacoma. The first municipal election
in New Tacoma was held on the 8th day of June, 1874. Job Carr, A. C.
Campbell, J. W. Chambers, A. Walters and S. C. Howes were elected its
first board of trustees. Tacoma became the county seat of Pierce county
in 1880. The selection of Tacoma in 1873 as the terminus of the Northern
Pacific Railway was the chief factor in its rapid growth and development.
During the same year a section of the road was completed and opened', ex
tending from the north bank of the Columbia river at Kalama to Tacoma.
The largest towns at that time in the Pacific northwest were Portland and
Victoria. The route between the two was by river steamers from Portland
to Kalama, thence by rail to Tacoma, and thence by Sound steamers to Vic
toria and intermediate points, Seattle being the largest town on the route.
But fourteen years elapsed before the transcontinental line of the Northern
Pacific crossed the Cascades and entered Tacoma from the east. Its growth
was slow from 1873 to 1887. In 1880 its population was 1,098. In 1900
the federal census credited Tacoma with a population of 37,714. According
to reasonable estimates made from the city directory and the school census,
the population in 1903 is not less than 60,000.
Tacoma's rapid growth is attributed to two principal causes : first, the
industrial, and second, the commercial development of the city. Tacoma
possesses unusual facilities for manufacturing in several important fields of
industry. The first superior advantage is abundance of cheap power; the
second is the possession ^r command of the materials, and the third is direct
transportation by rail, steam or sail with all the principal markets of the
world. Washington has incalculable supplies of coal of excellent quality for
producing heat and generating steam. The coal is stored in the Cascade
mountains, and the mines of Pierce, Kittitas, and King counties are in close
and direct railway communication with Tacoma. It is said that cars loaded
with coal at fifty mine openings in western Washington would run by gravity
into Tacoma by simply loosening the brakes. Tacoma has huge bunkers for
coaling steamships, and a line of colliers plies constantly between this port
and San Francisco. The best coking coal yet mined in Washington is found

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HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 231
in abundance in Pierce county within thirty miles of Tacoma. But fuel from
the waste of the great lumber mills is so abundant and cheap in Tacoma that
the tremendous advantage of her proximity to the rich coal fields of Wash
ington is not as yet fully realized.
Of even greater importance than her coal as a factor in the industrial
development of Tacoma is the utilization of the enormous water power
which has its origin and source in the snow-capped and glacier-buttressed
dome of Mount Rainier. This furnishes an inexhaustible reservoir of power,
whose efficiency is immeasurable. Tacoma lies at -its feet and is the natural
outlet and market for its harnessed energies. The Snoqualmie Falls power
plant is forty-four miles from Tacoma. It was installed at an expenditure
of $1,750,000, but its product is in use up to the limit, and its owner, Mr.
Charles H. Baker, is now engaged in a far more important and gigantic
undertaking. He and his associates have begun the construction of the larg
est power plant in the United States, which will be capable of developing
100,000 horse power within ten miles of Tacoma.
The plan, which is being carried out by what is known as the White
River Power Company, is to divert White river about half a mile above the
town of Buckley into a canal, beginning at this point and extending a dis
tance of about five miles across the tableland to Lake Tapps, which will be
made an immense reservoir, which when filled may be drawn down
thirty feet. This reservoir will be supplied by the flood waters of White
river and will be drawn out through the water wheels during the season of
low water, and by thus equalizing the flow of the river will make the power
plant capable of continuous development of 100,000 horse power, or double
the present capacity of the plant at Niagara Falls.
The water from this enlarged lake reservoir will be led through a channel
into a masonry penstock, whence pressure pipes will conduct it down a de
clivity to the site of the power house, within ten miles of Tacoma, giving a
fall of 485 feet. At the foot of these pipes the power house, 105x250 feet,
will be constructed and the water will thence be released into Stuck river.
A short transmission line will conduct the power to the Cataract Company's
building in this city, whence a large share of the present output of the Sno
qualmie Falls power plant is now distributed to consumers, public and pri
vate, in Tacoma.
Another colossal undertaking for the development of other water-power
resources tributary to Tacoma is this year being hurried to completion with
all the energy and skill which abundant capital can command. This is the
installation by the Puget Sound Power Company of Tacoma of a 30,000
horse-power electric generating plant at Electron, twenty-eight miles south
east of Tacoma, near Lake Kapowsin on the Tacoma Eastern Railroad.

232 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
This enterprise involves the expenditure of three million dollars, and owes its
inception to the discernment and energy of Mr. S. Z. Mitchell, for several
years general manager of the Tacoma Railway & Power Company, and its
execution to the capital and enterprise of his principals, Messrs. Stone &
Webster, of Bo'ston, Massachusetts. This street railway company, together
with the Seatle Electric Railway Company's lines in that city and the Inter-
urban Electric Railway connecting the two cities, are controlled and operated
by Messrs. Stone and Webster, who were readily convinced by Mr. Mitchell
of the desirability of utilizing, in their extensive electric railway operations
at Tacoma and Seattle, the water power of the South Fork of the Puyallup
river, a stream which also has its source in the glaciers of Mount Rainier
and empties into Commencement Bay at Tacoma, and disposing of the sur
plus to other power consumers. The work of installing the power plant at
Electron was begun under the personal direction of Mr. Mitchell in 1903.
and will be completed early in 1904.
The Puget Sound Power Company, at Tacoma, will have a surplus of
from 10,000 to 20,000 horsepower above the requirements of its own
electric railways, which will be supplied for use in industrial purposes. The
company announces that it will furnish power to manufacturers at Tacoma
at a lower price than' that at which power can be obtained at any other tide
water port in the United States.
There are many other rivers or streams fed by the glaciers and snows
of Mount Rainier which may and will be utilized as rapidly as required for
generating electrical power. The Tacoma Industrial Company is making
preparations to install a 15,000 horsepower plant on White river, twelve
miles from Tacoma. The Nisqually river, which flows into the Sound south
of Tacoma, has enormous undeveloped power resources. The Tacoma East
ern Railroad has now passed Eatonville and is being extended along the
Nisqually canyon toward Paradise valley, near the snow line on the southerly
slope of Mount Rainier. Near Eatonville, and within thirty miles of Ta
coma is an available and accessible water power capable of generating 30,000
horsepower. The opening of the railway beyond Eatonville will facilitate
the development of this power. It thus appears that Tacoma commands the
use of from 150,000 to 200,000 horsepower as soon as required. No other
seaport in the world has more abundant resources of cheap power for manu
facturing purposes.
The manufacture of lumber is the most important industry in the state
of Washington. Tacoma is the leading city of the state in this industry.
She has now upwards of twenty-five lumber and shingle mills, besides a
large number of planing mills, sash and door factories and other establish
ments for the manufacture of articles made chiefly of wood.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 233
The largest lumber manufacturing plant in Tacoma, probably, the larg
est sawmill in the United States, and perhaps in the world, is the St. Paul &
Tacoma Lumber Company's plant located on the flats between the city water
way and the Puyallup river, within ten minutes' walk from the business
center of the city. This plant was established in 1888. Its original capacity
was 300,000 feet of lumber per diem, but that has been largely increased by
the erection of a second mill, and during the year 1902 the company cut
100,000,000 feet of fir timber and 21,000,000 feet of spruce, hemlock and
cedar, and in addition sawed, dried and packed 62,000,000 shingles and
13,000,000 lath, the value of its output for the year being not less than
$1,500,000. The company operates five logging camps on' the lines of the
Northern Pacific and Tacoma Eastern railways, and employs 1,500 men in
its operations. It ships thousands of cars of lumber to eastern markets by
rail and has an extensive cargo trade in coastwise and foreign ports.
The St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company is one of the most success
ful of its kind in the world. Its principal stockholders and managers are or
have been Colonel Chauncey W. Griggs, Henry Hewitt, Jr., Addison G.
Foster, at present one of the United States senators from the state of Wash
ington, Captain George Brown, and other prominent men of Tacoma and
St. Paul, Minnesota. Colonel Griggs is a worthy descendant of the nobility
of both England and New England, and has distinguished himself on the
Pacific coast as the head of a great industrial undertaking. In 1888 Colonel
Griggs and Mr. Hewitt purchased from the Northern Pacific Railroad Com
pany 80,000 acres, near Tacoma, of what was considered the finest timber
land in the United States. Many additional purchases of timber land have
since been made from time to time. Soon after their first purchase the
St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company was organized, and has ever since
been in successful operation. Colonel Griggs and his associates are entitled
to a very high place among the captains of industry who have done so much
in recent years to build up large industrial and commercial enterprises.
There is hardly a corner of the civilized world that is not reached and bene
fited by their skill, energy and business ability.
The Tacoma Mill Company's plant on the water front at "Old Town"
is the second lumber manufacturing plant at Tacoma in capacity, number of
men employed and the value of its output. The Tacoma Mill Company was
incorporated in 1878, by Hanson and Ackerson. The capacity of the plant
has been increased from 40,000 feet per diem to 300,000 feet. In 1902 the
mill cut 78,987,557 feet of lumber, 40,000,000 shingles and 23,000,000 lath,
the output being valued at $1,000,000. A large fleet of lumber carriers is
always to be found at its wharf, where from ten to fifteen vessels may obtain
their cargoes simultaneously.

23i HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
The cut of the Tacoma lumber and shingle mills has enormously in
creased since 1900, as the following figures will show:
CUT OF TACOMA LUMBER MILLS.
Lumber, ft. Shingles.
1900  185,414,130 178,386,000
1901  219,150,000 251,000,000
!9°2  303,654,557 347,565,000
The average number of wage earners employed in the Tacoma lumber
and shingle mills in 1902 was 2,483, and the value of the products for the
year was $4,079,000. The number and capacity of the lumber mills of
Tacoma in 1903 is considerably in excess of previous years. Six large new
plants have begun •operations within a year, and the cut of Tacoma mills for
1904 will considerably exceed 400,000,000 feet.
Cargo shipments from the Tacoma mills for the first six months of
1903 amount to 60,922,124 feet, as compared with 52,625,296 feet, during
the first six months of 1902, while 3,191 cars of lumber and shingles have
been shipped by rail during the first half of 1903, an increase of 230 cars
over the rail shipments for the corresponding months of 1901, and of 1,428
cars over 1900. The demands of the local market at Tacoma were never so
heavy as at present, for both industrial and building purposes. The rapid
increase in the manufacture and sale of lumber in this city is evidenced by
the fact that the Tacoma city directory for 1900 gave a list of twenty-eight
lumber manufacturers and dealers in the city, while the city directory for
1903 mentions sixty-two firms and corporations engaged in the business.
A long list of industries has developed at Tacoma as a consequence of
its pre-eminence as the lumber mart of the state. Among them are planing
mills, sash, door and blind factories, notably the largest plant of this descrip
tion in the state, that of the Wheeler-Osgood Company, enlarged and rebuilt
since its destruction by fire in September, 1902; shipyards, household furni
ture factories, one of which, that of the Carman Manufacturing Company,
covers six acres; three car construction plants, and factories for coffins and
caskets, wooden stave, water pipes, incubators, ladders, wood-split pulleys,
and a great variety of other manufactures of wood.
The second largest manufacturing plant in Tacoma, which is also the
largest plant of its description in the Pacific northwest, is the car construction
and repair plant of the Northern Pacific Railway at South Tacoma. This
enormous plant furnishes employment for eight hundred men and manufac
tures and repairs everything in the line of motive power or rolling stock for
railroad use. Adjoining is a large plant of the Griffin Car Wheel Works,
and not far distant from South Tacoma is the largest rolling mill in the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 235
state, the plant of the Western Iron & Steel Works at Lakeview. Allied to
this class of industrial enterprises are numerous foundries and machine shops
for the manufacture of stationary and marine engines, boilers, machinery,
saws, architectural iron bridges, and other products of brass, tin, copper,
and steel. Still another line of industry in which Tacoma takes the lead is in the
reduction of ores of gold, silver, lead, copper and other metals. The Tacoma
Smelting Company's plant on the water front at the north end of the city
is the largest smelter on the Pacific coast. In 1902 the plant was enlarged by
the addition of huge copper reduction works which began operations in Sep
tember, 1902. The smelter treated 45,780 tons of ore in 1902, and the
value of its product for that year was $4,765,941.42. An average of 300
men found employment at the smelter last year, and the force was increased
to 450, July 1, 1903. Sixty-six thousand tons of merchandise were received
or shipped by water in 1902, from the smelter's wharves, the value of which
was $6,473,633.48.
Tacoma is the chief flour milling city of the Pacific northwest. The
product of her flour mills last year was valued at $3,500,000. The Tacoma
Grain Company's mill was erected in 1902. The mill of the Cascade Cereal
Company was destroyed by fire in July, 1903, but is to be immediately rebuilt
on a larger scale. Allied to- the manufacture of flour is a new industry for
this city in the plant of the Pacific Starch Company, for the manufacture of
non-chemical wheat starch, erected at a cost of $108,000 and opened in
August, 1903. This plant is the largest and finest wheat starch factory in
the United States ; is a branch of a smaller plant at Jackson, Michigan, and
was located at Tacoma in 1902, after a careful investigation of the merits
of this and other cities on the Pacific coast.
Puget Sound is 300 miles nearer Japan, Manila and the Orient than
San Francisco. It is 800 miles nearer Alaska than the Golden Gate. Ores
from the Tacoma smelter are brought by rail from eastern Washington and
by water from Alaska; from the islands along the coast of British North
America; from British Columbia, Korea, Straits Settlements, Mexico and
Central America. The rail and water transportation facilities which unite
at Tacoma, coupled with its command of raw materials and its wonderful
resources of power and coal, make this city a most exceptionally favored
point for manufacturing.
Tacoma has also large breweries, malt houses, bottling establishments,
mineral and soda water works, slaughtering and meat packing houses, fish
canneries, brick and tile works, broom and brush factories, candy factories,
pickling and preserving works, coffee and spice mills, flavoring extract and
chemical works, artificial ice factories, soap factories, a tannery, harness,

236 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
trunk and leather goods factories, shoe-upper and boot and shoe factories,
clothing and garment factories, shirt factories, stocking factories, knitting
mills, cigar factories, oil-skin factories, tent, awning and sail factories, ship-
plumbers' and chandlers' shops, fish basket factories, furs and fur goods fac
tories, and a great variety of industries of which no special mention can be
made. Tacoma has an imposing array of large manufacturing establish
ments, and the number is constantly increasing. More than seventy-five
new mills and factories have begun operations at Tacoma during the last
three years. That is an average of more than two factories every month.
Tacoma's ocean commerce, foreign coastwise shipments and receipts,
increased from $20,803,111 in 1899 to $23,916,822 in 1900, $34,400,736 in
1901, and $40,431,665 in 1902. These figures cover the calendar years.
The deep-sea arrivals in 1902 numbered .888, and departures 893, the out
ward registered tonnage amounting to 1,063,078 tons and the cargoes loaded
at this port amounting in bulk to 1,013,609 tons.
Tacoma's ocean commerce may be classified as foreign and coastwise.
The latter includes chiefly shipments and receipts by water from Alaska,
Hawaii and California. The foreign trade of Tacoma extends to every
continent on the globe and to the islands of the sea. The coastwise receipts
are chiefly ores, salmon and furs from Alaska, and fruits, general mer
chandise and manufactures from California. The coastwise shipments con
sist chiefly of merchandise sold by Tacoma jobbers to customers in Alaska,
provisions, machinery, lumber, feed, etc. ; bullion, coal, lumber and flour to
California, and coal, lumber and merchandise to Hawaii. The foreign com
merce of the port consists of imports of silk, tea, mattings, and other Oriental
products, ores for the Tacoma smelter, grain bags for Washington wheat,
cement and fire-bricks for building purposes, iron and steel and other foreign
commodities imported into the United States ; and exports, the most valuable
of which are Washington products, wheat, flour, canned and salted salmon,
lumber, bottled beer, barley, hay and oats, besides cotton, domestics, bicycles,
tobacco and other products and manufactures of eastern and southern states.
But by far the greater part of Tacoma's exports are native products of the
state of Washington, and of these many are products of her manufactories.
Tacoma is the home of the Northern Pacific Steamship Company, which
operates its three American steamships, Victoria, Olympia and Tacoma, in
the Tacoma-Oriental trade, and Messrs. Dodwell & Company, agents for
the line at Tacoma, also represent at this port the China Mutual Steamship
Company, Limited, which maintain a joint service between Tacoma and
Liverpool and Glasgow, by way of the Orient and Suez Canal route, a large
steamship sailing every twenty-eight days. Tacoma is also one of the Puget
Sound terminals of the Kosmos Line, operating between Puget Sound, San

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 237
Francisco and Hamburg by way of Mexican, Central and South American
ports. This line was established in 1901, and from one to three vessels have
been dispatched every month for two years.
From fifteen to forty ocean carriers are to be found discharging or
loading cargoes at Tacoma according to the season. The lumber and wheat
traffic brings hundreds of sailing vessels to this port every year. Tacoma's
harbor is large enough to shelter all the shipping of the Pacific.
FOREIGN COMMERCE OF TACOMA FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, I903.
Customs
Exports. Imports. Receipts.
Total . . :  $15,623,238 $2,527,974 $360,363.90
Year ending June 30 —
1902  $17,516,942 $2,232,136 $322,589.24
1901  9,854,786 2,360,364 165,564.00
1900  7,296,821 2,887,926 121,257.00
1895  2,857,444 1,816,517 103,670.00
In June, 1892, the first steamship for the Orient was dispatched from
Tacoma. Now four steamship lines are operated between Tacoma and
Oriental ports. In 1902 forty-seven sailings were made from this port by
regular liners engaged in the Oriental trade, which carried cargoes loaded
at Tacoma to the value of $9,582,247, and additional cargoes from Seattle
valued at $1,236,085.
The Boston Steamship Company, a new line of large steamships of
American build and registry, entered the Puget Sound-Oriental trade in July,
1902. This line recently secured the contract for transporting government
stores and troops to and from the Philippines.
Tacoma's facilities for the handling of wheat are first-class in every
respect. The new wheat warehouses erected in 1900 and 1901, on the city
waterway, are the longest in the world, being 2,300 feet in length and 148
feet in width. They doubled the warehouse capacity for grain at this port,
and afford admirable facilities for receiving wheat from the cars, cleaning
and sacking it, and loading it on ocean carriers. There are also two enor
mous grain elevators and two large flour mills on the water front. Tacoma's
facilities for exporting wheat and flour are so extensive that in October,
1902, no less than twenty-five wheat carriers were loaded and dispatched,
and the exports of the month included upwards of 2,000,000 bushels of wheat
and 200,000 barrels of flour. Tacoma's exports of wheat and wheat flour
for the calendar years 1899, 1900, 1901, and 1902, were as follows:
Wheat, Flour, Total
Bushels. Barrels. Bushels.
1899  3,913,780 500,979 6,168,185
1900  4,244,804 738,937 7,570,020
1901  10,713,826 924,744 i4,875,I74
1902  11,829,093 1,351,224 17,909,601

238 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Tacoma is now the leading wheat and flour shipping port on the Pacific
coast, and the customs district of Puget Sound now ranks fourth in the United
States in both wheat and flour exports, and fourth also in the combined
exports of wheat and wheat flour reduced to wheat measure, each barrel of
flour being equivalent to four and one-half bushels of wheat.
The federal government has purchased a site for a much-needed public
building at Tacoma, and Congress has appropriated $400,000 for its erec
tion. Tacoma is the headquarters of the new internal revenue collection dis
trict of Washington and Alaska. Customs receipts, internal revenue collec
tions and postoffice receipts at Tacoma now exceed $1,000,000 annually.
Extensive municipal improvements are in progress. Among the more
important are thirty-five miles of new sidewalks, largely of cement; pave
ments, sewers, water mains and bridges. Tacoma owns and operates its own
water and electric lighting plants, supplying both water and light to private
consumers. The revenue from its operation is rapidly increasing, notwith
standing recent reductions in rates to consumers. The city procures current
for the electric lighting plant from Snoqualmie Falls, through the Tacoma
Cataract Company, at 8.4 mills per kilowatt hour. Rates to private con
sumers are as low as in any city in the United States, and the cost of arc light
ing is unquestionably the lowest paid by any municipality in the country.
The assessed valuation of taxable property in Tacoma in 1902 was
$21,743,515. The bonded indebtedness of the city, exclusive of the water
and light debt, is $1,743,000. The city has no floating indebtedness, and
the sinking fund amounts to about $100,000. The city owns property valued
at $3,250,000. The light and water debt of $2,080,000 represents the capital
invested in a profitable business which will take care of itself.
Tacoma has twenty public schools of the primary and grammar school
grades and a high school. The enrollment in the public schools was 8,455
in June, 1903, and the average daily attendance for the year 1902-3, 6,740.
The value of the school property in the district is $950,000, while the total
liabilities of the school district, including bond and warrant indebtedness,
amounted to $493,961.53, on June 30, 1903.
Tacoma has upwards of eighty church organizations, representing all
the leading religious denominations. Tacoma is the see city of the Episcopal
jurisdiction of Olympia.
Tacoma has a new public library completed and opened in 1903, the
gift to the city of Andrew Carnegie, who gave $75,ooo«for the building, the
city providing the site. The library contains 30,000 volumes.
Tacoma has a company of infantry and a troop of cavalry of the Na
tional Guard of Washington. The state has made an appropriation toward
the erection of an armory at Tacoma. American Lake, fourteen miles from

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 239
Tacoma, has been selected as the site for a joint encampment of regular army
troops and the National Guard of Washington and neighboring states.
Tacoma has 800 acres of beautiful parks. Point Defiance Park occu
pies the northerly extremity of the peninsula on which Tacoma is built. It
has about three miles of shore line on the Sound, and most of it is covered
with giant firs. It is a park of unusual natural beauties and attractions.
Wright Park is a garden, twenty-eight acres in extent in the heart of the
city, with a great variety of shrubs, trees, and flowers. New parks have
recently been opened in the east and south quarters of the city.
Tacoma is a city of homes. It is one of the very finest summer resi
dence cities in the United States. Its scenic attractions and delightful cli
mate are charming alike to visitors and residents. The grandeur of the
mountains and the beauty of the waters baffle description. The climate is
mild and salubrious. In the last three Julys, 1901, 1902, and 1903, the
thermometer rose above 80 degrees in the shade on only five days out of
ninety-three. The lowest temperature in the last three winters was 15 de
grees above zero. The mean annual temperature for 1902 was 50.9 degrees,
ranging from a monthly mean of 38.4 degrees in January to 62.9 degrees
in August. The rainfall in 1902 was 54.7 inches. Nearly forty per cent of
this total fell in November and December. The climate is healthful. The
annual death rate is about eight per 1,000, as low as that of any city in the
world and less than one-half the average mortality in eastern cities.
The following official statements represent the business transacted in
Tacoma in the year 1902 :
Total foreign imports, $4,695,554. Jobbing trade, $21,233,000; increase, $4,-
Coastwise imports, $5,581,369. 437,000.
Aggregate ocean commerce, $37,926,515. Manufactured output, $22,869,975; in-
Silk imports, $1,671,454. crease, $5,912,375-
Tea imports, 5,466,247 pounds; value, $851,- Factories, 280; capital stock, $13,420,000.
850. Factory employes, 7,209 ; monthly pay roll,
Matting imports, 13,234,206 yards; value, $403,170.
$1,079,508. Lumber shipments by water, 100,741,670
Car shops output, $2,000,000. feet.
Smelter output, $4,766,000. Total lumber cut, 270,500,000 feet.
Flour mills product, $2,930,000. Shingles manufactured, 333,635,000.
Number vessels cleared, 877; increase, 38. Value of lumber output, $3,847,500.
Outward registered tonnage, 1,038,119. Other manufactures of wood, $2,387,075.
Outward cargo tonnage, 964,415. Flour exports, foreign, 1,128,530 bbls. ; in-
Bank clearings, $74,568,336.22; increase, crease, 3I5,°75 bbls.
$14,945,787.47. Wheat shipments, foreign, 11,363,896
Real estate transfers, $4,463,820; increase, bushels.
$670,071. Total breadstuffs, exports, $10,978,750.
Building improvements, $1,105,761; in- Coal shipped, 335,o8l tons; value, $1,000,-
crease, $273,745. 852.
Public schools, 21; teachers, 206; enum- Cotton exports, 38,363 bales; value, $2,143,-
eration, 11,261. 697.

240 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Grain warehouse capacity, 5,152,000 bushels. Cotton manufactures, exported, $3,303,248.
Coal bunker capacity, 22,000 tons. Total Oriental exports, $8,901,521.
Wholesale firms, 142. Total exports, foreign, $19,611,950.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE CITY OF EVERETT.
The immense possibilities and advantages of the Puget Sound region
are well illustrated in the magic growth and development of the city of
Everett. When these rich and varied resources and conditions are grasped
by a man of genius, like Henry Hewitt, Jr., and this comprehension is fol
lowed by appropriate action having the financial support of such wideawake
men as Charles L. Colby, John D. Rockefeller, Colgate Hoyt, E. H. Abbott
and other capitalists, important results may be expected. Ten years ago the
site of Everett was a peninsula having on one side Everett Bay and on the
other Snohomish river, covered with the primeval forest and occupied by
Indians and half-breeds, and whose shores were the resort of fishermen and
its wooded slopes of hunters after grouse, deer and other wild game in their
season. This peninsula had been passed hundreds of times by men looking
after opportunities, but the advantages of this beautiful location were over
looked until Mr. Hewitt came, in 1892, saw and realized what might be ac
complished here, and since that time a handsome, progressive and modern
city of more than 20,000 people, with nutherous and diversified industries,
has sprung into a prosperous existence. Its broad and busy streets, well
supplied with water, gas, sewer, electric light and power systems, indicate
the energy and thorough-going character of its inhabitants. Its banks,
schools, business houses, hotels, newspapers, hospitals, and theaters still
further illustrate their industry and intelligence. Its expansive deep water
front of forty-two miles affords ample scope and opportunity for the con
struction of wharves, docks, factories and other facilities required by com
merce and manufactures in a great city. Already there are nine sawmills,
twelve shingle mills, one paper mill, one flour mill, four foundries and ma
chine shops, six planing mills, smelter, arsenic plant (only one in the United
States), timber preserving works, three sash and door factories, three brick
yards, two wagon factories, two bottling works, brewery, two feed mills, two
candy factories, ice and cold storage plant, creamery, emery wheel factory,
syrup refinery, trunk and lumber implement manufactories, stove works, and
numerous smaller concerns. Many of these plants run double time.
The annual output of the city in wood products alone (lumber, singles,
lath, sash and doors, paper, ships, and preserved timber) is valued at $7,307,-
392. Adjacent to the city and of great industrial significance is immense
water power, only waiting for development.

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 241
Its fine geographical location and the immense volume and variety of
its tributary resources make it possible, and the energy and public spirit of
its citizens make it probable that Everett will become one of the leading in
dustrial cities of the Pacific coast. More than 3,000 men are now employed
in its diversified industries, whose annual wages amount to about $2,250,000.
The plan of a fresh water harbor at Everett, involving a total expendi
ture of $3,000,000, has been accepted, and $450,000 of this amount has
already been expended by the United States government. The work is now
progressing on an appropriation of $117,000, made available by the last Con
gress. The project, having been placed by Congress on the continuing con
tract list, is insured of speedy completion.
Everett Bay, already perfect as a salt water anchorage, is so eminently
favored by nature that this fresh water harbor is being built by a compara
tively small amount of dredging and jetty work at the mouth of the Sno
homish river, two miles north of the city proper. The action of the fresh
water cleanses the bottom of a vessel of the foulness accumulated on a long
ocean voyage, and when a vessel can lie in fresh water while loading and dis
charging cargo much dry-docking expense is thus saved. This harbor is the
only one of the kind on the Pacific coast, and is four and one-half miles long,
and fashioned after that at Queenstown, Ireland.
The far-seeing railroad men of the northwest were not slow to grasp
the advantages of Puget Sound, and the result has been the building of the
Great Northern, Northern Pacific and Canadian Pacific systems, and within
the past ten years these roads have each acquired terminals in Everett.
The Great Northern passes through one of the most picturesque sections
of the Cascade mountains in climbing Stevens pass. It reaches tidewater
first at Everett, and its Pacific coast freight terminals are here. They in
clude machine shops, round house, bunkers, general offices, city yard and
freight houses and freight yards, now containing some twenty miles of track
age and which, when completed, will have from sixty to seventy miles, and
will be the greatest and most complete terminals on the Pacific coast. The
company controls a half mile of the choicest ocean clock room on the bay.
The C.oast line, owned by the Great Northern, runs thirty-three miles south
from Everett to- Seattle, and one hundred miles north to connect with Van
couver, British Columbia.
The Northern .Pacific is equipped with a city depot and terminal facili
ties, including also an ocean dock site and thirty-three acres for terminal
yards. Their more important improvements have been the building of an
industrial track down the east bank of the Snohomish river, and the building
of a branch line from Arlington fifty miles through a rich timber belt, into
the mines at Darrington. The Monte Christo, a fifty-mile line recently pur-
16

242 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
chased by the Northern Pacific, is the scenic line of the state, and runs east
ward from Everett into the Cascade mountains to the famous Monte Christo
mines, tapping en route a rich timber and farming region. The Snoqualmie
branch, also Northern Pacific, traverses a region equally rich in timber and
farming lands, and connects Everett with the far-famed Snoqualmie Falls.
The Canadian Pacific holds valuable concessions and trackage whereby
it enters the city and quotes terminal rates on a par with the other roads.
By the shortest possible routes of rail and water it is 558 miles, or two
days' sail, farther from Chicago to the Orient* by San Francisco than by
Puget Sound; and for all purposes of trans-shipment Everett is in turn 52
miles nearer both points than any other port in the United States.
With all America behind her, Alaska and British Columbia on her
right, Central and South America on her left, and the Orient, with over
half the population of the world, in front, Puget Sound is the nearest and
cheapest exchange point for all these countries, and must in the nature of
things become the world's greatest commercial center.
There are some features which make this city the most desirable mill-
site on Puget Sound. Among them is the protected harbor, with good
anchorage and light cost of wharves for all export and vessel trade, and
safe boom ground for logs. As the water shipments of lumber to Hawaii,
the Philippines, South Africa, the Orient, Alaska, California and South
America will amount this year to over one billion feet, the value of a good
harbor will at once be seen. As to rail facilities, Everett has the Great
Northern, Northern Pacific and Canadian Pacific making it a terminal point,
and for this reason its millmen always enjoy the lowest rates east, and
seldom have to deal with a scarcity of cars, which so often delays the ship
ments of millmen less advantageously located.
Everett is a supply point for an important mining region, and the oper
ation here of one of the largest smelters in the west is evidence of the rich
ness of the mines close at hand. The mineral belt extends across the country
36 miles, is 30 miles wide, and includes the well known Monte Christo, Goat
Lake, Silverton, Silver Creek, Darrington, Troublesome, Sultan, Stillaguam
ish, Index .and North Fork districts. The ores carry gold, silver, copper,
lead and arsenic, and for the most part are treated at the Everett smelter,
which has a capacity of 650 tons a day. The railroad rates range from $1.25
to $2.50 per ton to Everett. The average treatment charge of about $6
makes it practical to handle ores of a very low grade.
The Monte Christo, Ethel and Copper-Independent concentrators will
have a total daily capacity of 650 tons; and the Index-Independent will
probably have still another in operation by the end of the year. Among
companies having done the most development are the Monte Christo, Goat

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 243
Lake, "45" Consolidated, Haber, Copper-Independent, Ethel, Sunset, Non
pareil, Wilbur, Packard, Bonanza, Vandalia, Copper Bell, Bonanza Queen,
Silver Creek, Index-Independent, Blue Bird, America-Brittania, and O & B.
The present total investment of these and the numerous other properties, in
tunnels, tramways, machinery, etc., is conservatively estimated at $7,500,000.
The development done all goes to show very large veins of low-grade
ore ; and as the veins hold their size and grade as the depth increases, it means
the steadiest kind of mining operations, and the safest and surest returns
on investments. Besides the precious metals there are large deposits of building stone,
limestone, brick and pottery clay, quartz and silica suitable for glass-making,
and prospects in iron and coal.
Of great significance in the development of all these is the mildness
of the climate, cheapness of fuel, accessibility and the proximity of a water
power to nearly every property.
There are practically inexhaustible supplies of excellent soft coal in the
Cascades, both north and south of Everett, at distances varying from thirty
to fifty miles. Much of it is suitable for coke, and all of it furnishes ex
cellent cheap fuel for commerce and manufacturing. This fact has contributed
largely to the winning for Puget Sound of the shipping supremacy of the
coast. Over 1,000,000 tons were exported last year to California, Mexico,
Hawaii, Alaska and the Philippines.
The following official reports briefly indicate the growth of Everett dur
ing the past ten years, and some items of its business for 1902 :
CENSUS.
,1890  0,000 1901 (September)  14,715
1899 (September)  6,900 1902 (official city census)  20,217
SCHOOL CHILDREN.
1896  1,019 1901  2,943
I9OO  1,520 1902  3,800
TELEPHONES.
1899  207 1901  665
I9OO  362 1902  1,151
STREETS GRADED OR PAVED.
1901  9 miles 1902  6 miles
BANK DEPOSITS.
1890  $ 0,000 1901  $1,500,000
1900  850,000 1902  2,000,000
POSTOFFICE RECEIPTS.
1899  $9,194-75 1901  $18,443.90
1900  12,133.83 1902  24,169.44
DAILY LUMBER CUT.
Lumber (feet)  1,250,000 Shingles  1,500,000
IMPROVEMENTS, 1902, NEARLY TWO MILLION DOLLARS.
Residences built  $ 560,000 City improvements  $ 100,000
Business houses built  206,000 
"Schools and other public buildings 86,000 Total  $1,839,607
Docks, railroads, etc., built  887,607

244 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE PUGET SOUND COUNTIES.
A brief description of the several counties in the Puget Sound Country
may lead to a better comprehension of this region as a whole as well as of its
respective parts. These counties are taken up in the order in which they
were created and organized. The county of Lewis was established by the
provisional government of Oregon in 1845. The county of Pacific in 1851,
Thurston, Jefferson, King and Pierce in 1852, and Island in 1853, were
created by the territorial ligislature of Oregon. The counties of Chehalis and
Whatcom in 1854, Kitsap in 1857, Snohomish in 1861, San Juan in 1873,
and Skagit in 1883, were established by the territorial legislature of Wash
ington. LEWIS COUNTY.
The county of Lewis was created on the 19th of December, 1845, " out
of all that territory lying north of the Columbia river and west of the Cowlitz
up to 54 degrees and 40 minutes north latitude," and was authorized to elect
the same officers as other counties, except that the sheriff of Vancouver coun
ty was required to assess and collect the revenue for the year 1846. In that
year W. F. Tolmie was elected the representative of Lewis county in the
Oregon legislature, and Henry N. Peers, also of the Hudson's Bay Company,
was elected to represent Vancouver. At the session of the legislature for
1846 the people of the several counties were authorized to elect their county
judges or justices of the peace for two years. Under this law, in 1847, Lewis
county elected Jacob Wooley, J. B. Crockett and K. J. Jackson, justices and
Simon Plomondon, a Hudson's Bay Company man, for representative; M.
Brock, assessor, James Birnie, treasurer, and Alexander M. Poe, sheriff.
Subsequent elections were held under the organization act provided by Con
gress for Oregon territory.
The county was named after Captain Merriwether Lewis, , of the. Lewis
and Clark expedition.
Although in the interior, and depending largely for its great prosperity
upon its agricultural interests, Lewis county is one of the most progressive and
one of the richest in the state of Washington. Its first settlement on the
Cowlitz river was made nearly sixty years ago by the servants and employes
of the Hudson's Bay Company. Prior to the building of the Portland branch
of the Northern Pacific Railroad through the county, its progress was slow
owing to the want of roads and of communication with either the waters of
Puget Sound or of the Columbia river. It is located between Puget Sound
and Columbia river, distant from each about twenty miles. It lies between
the Cascades and coast ranges of mountains. It extends to the summits of

PIISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY, 245
the Cascades on the east and across the summit of the Coast range on the
west. Near the northeast boundary rises in majestic beauty the snow-capped
peak of Mt. Rainier to the height of 14,520 feet. Just across the southern
boundary of the county, on the opposite side, Mt. St. Helens rises in sublime
and stately grandeur to the height of 9,750 feet, also into the regions of per
petual snow. Among the spurs and foot-hills of these mountain ranges there
are numerous rich and fertile valleys that in early days attracted the attention
of intending settlers and have since become the home of many of the most en
terprising and successful farmers in the state. The Cowlitz river flows from
the eternal snows of Mt. Ranier for more than one hundred miles from east
to west through this county. In its course it traverses some of the finest
agricultural lands in the state. The Chehalis river rises in the Coast range,
flows east until it joins the Newaukum, thence north until it meets the Skook-
umchuck, thence westward until it is lost in the ebb and flow of tide and salt
water in Gray's Harbor. The valleys of all these streams are among the
richest and most beautiful in the state, and with a mild and genial climate
they have become favorite locations for stock-raising, dairying, hop and fruit
growing, and similar purposes. They have been occupied by a thrifty, intelli
gent and industrious class of settlers.
The timber resources of the county are also a very important element of
wealth. The county contains a large number of saw and shingle, as well as
several flouring mills. In its eastern part, on the slopes and near the summit
of the Cascade Mountains, extensive deposits of coal and iron are being
opened up, and when the facilities of transportation shall have been provided
it is expected that very valuable mines will be developed. The coal is said
to be of a superior quality of anthracite. A number of coal mines are now
in operation along the line of the Northern Pacific Railway. Ledges of
quartz-carrying gold and silver have also been discovered, but are not yet
developed to any great extent. The Northern Pacific Railway traverses the
county from north to south, and the South Bend Branch from Chehalis to
South Bend or Willapa Harbor from east to west, thus affording transporta
tion facilities especially in the western part of the county. '
Its area is two thousand square miles; population, 17,500. Chehalis, a
beautiful and growing town of two thousand progressive people, is the coun
ty seat. It is well supplied with churches, schools, banks, water and electric
light plants, and is an important shipping point. It is also the location of the
State Reform School. There were in the county in 1900 thirteen dairies
manufacturing 87,623 pounds of butter and 29,107 pounds of cheese. There
is said to be yet remaining some desirable government land available for set
tlers wishing such locations. The assessed value of property in the county is
$5,651,649. Of the other towns in the county outside of Chehalis, Centralia

246 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
is the most important, being an enterprising and handsome town of 1,600 in
habitants. From this point on its main line the Gray's Harbor branch of the
Northern Pacific Railway has been constructed westward to Aberdeen and
Hoquiam, and is now being extended through the valley of the Humptulips
to the Pacific Ocean and thence, on the west side of the Olympic range, in a
northerly direction to the Straits of Fuca. Winlock, Toledo, Pe-ell and Napa-
vine are all growing and thriving towns in this prosperous county.
PACIFIC COUNTY.
This county occupies the extreme southwestern . corner of the state of
Washington and is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the
south by the Columbia river. Within its limits there is a large body of
water formerly known as Shoalwater Bay, because much of it is bare at low
tide, though there are deep water' channels running through it which are
available for vessels of large size. It is now called Willapa Harbor, after
one of the principal rivers flowing into it. A number of other streams find
their way into it, through valleys containing immense quantities of fine tim
ber and much good farming land. Hop and cranberry culture and dairying
are now flourishing industries. A large lumber trade is carried on in the
county, and several sawmills are extensive shippers to California and else
where. The county was settled as far back as 1848, but for many years its
progress was slow, chiefly because of its inaccessibility, but since railroad'
communication has been secured its increase in wealth and population has been
rapid and substantial. Oystering was for many years the chief occupation
of its settlers, and this business, referred to elsewhere, gives employment to
many people. Shipbuilding and fishing are also important industries. The
climate is particularly mild, pleasant and equable, without extremes of heat
or cold, the air in the winter season being tempered by the warm southwest
winds coming from the Pacific Ocean. These are the Chinook winds so often
welcomed by residents in the interior of the state, where the winters are
more severe.
In 1850 Elijah White settled on the shore of Baker's Bay and undertook
to found a town which he called Pacific City, but the effort was not a success.
The first members of the board of county commissioners of Pacific county
were George T. Eastabrook, P. J. McEwen and Daniel Wilson, probate
judge George P. Newell, justice of the peace Ezra Weston, constable William
Edwards. Oysterville was for many years the county seat, but upon the ex
tension of the Northern Pacific Railway to South Bend, that place became an
important shipping and commercial point, and its rapid increase in wealth
and population led to the transfer of the county seat to that city, where it has
since remained. It is located at the mouth of the Willapa river, has a good
harbor and excellent facilities for trade and manufacture. It is eighteen miles

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 247
from the Pacific Ocean, and has regular communication by sail and steam
with San Francisco, Portland and other points on the coast. It is well sup
plied with banks, schools, churches, newspapers, several sawmills, a sash and
door factory and other industries. Other principal towns not already men
tioned are Bay Center, Fort Canby, Ilwaco, Nahcotta and Willapa. Property
valuation is $2,488,820; present population, estimated, 7,500; area, 900
square miles.
At the extreme southwestern corner of the county and state, on the north
side of the Columbia river at its mouth, is located Fort Canby, where a gar
rison has long been maintained by the United States government. A life-
saving station is also kept up by the national government about sixteen miles
north of Fort Canby, on the weather beach, for the rescue of shipwrecked
sailors. Many ships have been driven ashore on this coast by the deceptive
currents north of the entrance to the Columbia river, and by occasional storms
of great violence. THURSTON COUNTY.
The organization of Thurston county in the summer of 1852, by the
Oregon territorial legislature, marks the beginning of governmental opera
tions on Puget Sound. The act of the legislature which created the county
provided for holding an election to be held in June to choose county officers.
At this election A. J. Simmons was elected sheriff; A. M. Poe, county
clerk; D. R. Bigelow, treasurer; R. S. Bailey, assessor; Edmund Sylvester,
coroner; A. A. Denny, S. S. Ford, Sr., and David Shelton, county commis
sioners. An important matter that came before the board of county commissioners
at its first session, which convened in Olympia on July 5, was the division
of the county into election precincts. Five were created : Skagit, to include
Whidby's Island and other islands north to the international boundary; Port
Townsend, including the territory north of Hood's Canal on the west side of
the Sound; Dewamps, including the territory on the east side of the Sound
and north of the Puyallup river and a small scope of territory on the west
side of the Sound south of Hood's Canal; Steilacoom, embracing the terri
tory north of the Nisqually river to the Puyallup on the east side of the
Sound, and westward to the mouth of the Nisqually; Olympia precinct, in
cluding the southwestern portion of the county.
For many years the history of Thurston county consisted of the growth
of the different settlements that were made on the edges of the prairies and
in the fertile valleys that lie between the mountains and the Sound. The first
of these was on Bush Prairie, a few miles south of Tumwater or New Mar
ket. The next year, 1847, several families located on Chamber's Prairie to
the east of New Market.

248 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
To the southwest of Tumwater is Grand Mound prairie, the largest tract
of natural clearing in the county. The pioneer settlement here was made
by Samuel James in 1852. In 1855 a schoolhouse was built, and the growth
of the settlement was similar to that of other agricultural communities.
In 185 1 a settlement was made on the shores of Black Lake, a small but
beautiful body of water about four miles from Tumwater.
In 1852 William McLane was the pioneer settler on Mud Bay, a deep
water inlet about three miles west of Olympia.
Tenalquot prairie, southeast of Olympia, early atracted the attention
of the pioneers, and settlements were made there as early as 1847, Dut. not un
til after the organization of the county in 1852 did the settlement assume a
noteworthy importance.
In 1850 settlements were made on Yelm prairie, in the southeastern
part of the county.
A year later the first settlement was made in the locality of South Bay,
by a Dr. Johnson, and his claim has since become a fixture in the steamboat
nomenclature of the Upper Sound under the name of Johnson's Point.
Outside of Olympia and Tumwater few settlements in the county have
achieved commercial importance. Of these the most important are Tenino
and Bucoda, with Gate City as a prominent railroad junction for passenger
and freight traffic in connection with the Gray's Harbor country.
In 1852 Stephen Hodgson took a donation claim on a prairie about
fifteen miles south of Olympia, and was followed by Samuel Davenport, who
took the claim adjoining. The settlement grew in much the same way as
others in any pioneer community. The first marriage solemnized in the set
tlement was in 1853, that of Mr. Samuel Coulter and Miss Lizzie Tillie.
In 1872 the Northern Pacific Railway extended its Portland and Tacoma line
through this portion of the county and located a station in this community,
naming it Tenino — an Indian word signifying "Junction." The junction re
ferred to was that of the old military roads. During the Indian war a military
road was constructed from Port Vancouver up the Cowlitz valley, then over
to Fort Steilacoom. Near the farms of Hodgson and Davenport it forked,
and a branch ran into Olympia. In the Chinook jargon this fork was called
a "tenino." Later the citizens of Olympia projected and built a narrow-
gauge railroad and connected their city with the Northern Pacific at that
place. Tenino's commercial importance began in 1888, when its magnificent
stone quarries became known. Outcroppings of a good grade of sandstone
were found in the hills south of the prairie on land owned by C. A. Billings,
and as it was uncovered and examined it was found to be a superior building
stone. In 1890 Mr. Billings associated with him S. W. Fenton and George

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 249
Vantine, and an extensive stone-quarrying plant was installed. With the
opening of the stone quarry began the growth of a lively and flourishing vil
lage. Since then the quarries have become well known throughout the north
west. In the immediate vicinity are a number of lumber and shingle mills ;
also several creamery companies.
The first settler on a small prairie four miles south of Tenino was Aaron
Webster, who came to the Sound country from Oregon in 1854. In the
Indian vernacular the stream flowing across the Webster claim was called
" Skookumchuck." In 1857 Mr. Webster built a sawmill on the river, which
supplied a local demand for several years. The first marriage in the set
tlement was in April, 1861, that of Aaron Webster to Miss Sarah M. Yantis,
the ceremony being performed by Rev. Mr. Harper, a Baptist minister. The
first birth was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Webster, born February 2, 1862.
About the time Mr. Webster built his sawmill he sold his farm to Oliver
Shead, who gave the name of " Seatco " to the small community that had
grown up around the mill. " Seatco " is a Chinook word meaning ghost or
devil. As early as 1852, a promising outcropping of coal was discovered across
the river from the Webster residence, and later this came into the possession of
Mr. Samuel Coulter, who associated with him Mr. J. B. David, a Portland
capitalist. In 1873 Messrs. Coulter and David and William Buckley, a
Northern Pacific man, met to select a name for the railway station. Mr.
Shead's name of Seatco was not satisfactory, and they coined a new word
by taking the first two letters of each of their own names : Bu-Co-Da. But
Mr. Shead did not accept the new name, and when he platted a town site in
1887 he named the town Seatco. This name it retained until 1890, when, by
act of the legislature, it was changed to Bucoda.
In 1874 Seatco became a town of more than local importance. Prior to
that time there had been no territorial penitentiary, and but few counties had
jails; only Clarke, Jefferson, Pierce, Thurston and Walla Walla. When a
person was convicted of a felony the trial judge directed in what jail he should
be incarcerated. In 1874 William Billings, sheriff of Thurston county, and
Jerry Smith, sheriff of Pierce county, each had a proposition before the legis
lature to take the prisoners and use their labor. To avoid a contest Mr.
Smith withdrew his proposition and took a half interest with Mr. Billings,
who was awarded the contract. Both parties were then in need of a capitalist
to assist in the construction of the prison. The party was found in Oliver
Shead, who furnished the money for a one-third interest in the enterprise.
A mill was built on the Skookumchuck, near the old Webster mill, and
lumber sawed for a penitentiary.

250 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
The building was made of three by twelve fir planks piled up and thor
oughly spiked together making walls twelve inches thick and well filled with
spikes. Partitions for the cells were made of three by sixes in the same way.
The entrance was by a stairway from the outside to the second story, then by
stairs to the ground floor, where the cells were located. In the second story
were the kitchen, dining room and rooms for the guards. This was continued
as the territorial prison until 1888, when one was built at Walla Walla and
the convicts removed thereto.
Soon after the penitentiary was built, a sash and door factory was added
to the sawmill. In 1888 the plant passed to the possession of a company of
Wisconsin capitalists under the name of the Seatco Manufacturing Com
pany. The capacity of the plant was greatly increased, and it became one of
the best equipped milling plants in the Sound country.
Though coal was known to lie imbedded in the hills east of Seatco noth
ing was done to develop it until 1886, the first work having been done by
Thomas Ismay. A company was formed soon thereafter. Though a fair
quality of coal was found, dissensions arose among the owners and the works
were shut down and have been operated only irregularly since.
During the early seventies Thurston county was agitated " from center
to circumference " over the advent of railroad facilities, and it was confident
ly hoped and expected that the Northern Pacific Railroad Company would
make Olympia its Puget Sound terminus. On Christmas Day, 1871, the rep
resentatives of the railway company, who were then at Kalama on the Col
umbia river, advised the business interests of Olympia that the Sound term
inus of the road would be in Olympia, which greatly stimulated the real es
tate market throughout the county. But notwithstanding this written agree
ment on the part of the railway people the controlling influence in the direc-
orate of the road selected a site on Commencement Bay and platted the city
of Tacoma. The nearest the road came to Olympia was at Tenino, fourteen
miles distant.
As soon as the people recovered from their disappointment the project of
running a branch road from tidewater to Tenino was agitated and on
August 8, 1874, a special election was held and the county commissioners
were authorized to issue bonds to the amount of $75,000 in aid of such an
enterprise. Amid many discouragements the bonds were finally sold and a
narrow-gauge road constructed, being completed in 1878. The road was op
erated until the year 1890, when it passed under the control of the Port Town-
send Southern, and was widened to a standard gauge track, it being the pur
pose of the new owners to make it a part of a transcontinental system. The
financial panic coming on soon after, the road between Olympia and Port
Townsend was not completed. In 1903 the entire road was purchased by

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 251
the Northern Pacific. In 1890 the Northern Pacific constructed a -road from
Tacoma to Gray's Plarbor, passing through Olympia.
The growth of the county during the few years immediately following
the Indian war made imperative the building of a court house and thus pro
viding for proper care of the public records. The agitation of the question
brought to the front the matter of a county seat and the question was submitted
to a vote of the people at the election in July, 1861, when Olympia was chosen,
the active competitor being Tumwater. Several different buildings were used
for court house purposes during the succeeding thirty years, and in 1890 the
people voted to issue bonds to the amount of $100,000 for the purpose of erect
ing a modern building for court house purposes. The work of construction
began the following year.
Thurston county is one of the best agricultural and manufacturing com
munities in the Puget Sound Country, and its many fertile valleys are well
adapted to dairying and fruit-growing and the operation of creameries, can
neries and cheese factories. The abundance of many kinds of wood furnishes
material for several kinds of manufacturing enterprises. Many of the inlets
contain hundreds of acres of good oyster lands, and the Olympia oyster has
already achieved a world-wide reputation.
In 1893 the legislature took steps toward the erection of a magnificent
capital, but the financial panic, which soon paralyzed all plans for raising
money, defeated the efforts of the state to dispose of its securities. In 1897
a proposition was brought forward to modify the elaborate plans that had
been prepared by the capitol commission, but the executive vetoed the ap
propriation made by the legislature for the completion of the building. A
like fate met an appropriation bill that passed the legislature of 1899. In
1901 Governor Rogers recommended that steps be taken toward purchasing
the Thurston county court house and the erection of an annex for capitol
purposes. At the same session of the legislature an organized effort was
made by certain influences in Tacoma to again submit the question of capitol
location to popular vote, but the proposition to purchase the court house pre
vailed and the capitol question is thus undoubtedly settled for all time.
The location of Olympia at the head of navigation on Puget Sound
gives it a commanding position as a commercial factor when the development
of the southwestern portion of the state reaches a more advanced stage. If
one will take a glance over either an ancient or a modern map he will not fail
to note that the great marts of commerce are thus situated. Sitting at Olym
pia, the proud mistress of this western Mediterranean Sea can have poured
into .her lap the products of the mines, mills, forests and fields of the great
Olympic peninsula, extending northwesterly to the Straits of Fuca, and the
traffic on the east between the Cascade Mountains and the Sound will be large
ly under her control.

252 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
JEFFERSON COUNTY.
This county lies at the head of the Straits of Juan de Fuca and at the
entrance of Puget Sound. It is composed mainly of densely timbered, un
inhabited and unexplored mountains. Its northeastern corner, however, is
an important section of the Puget Sound Country, including Port Townsend,
the county seat, and one. of the most interesting towns in the state historically,
politically, and commercially. The custom house for the Puget Sound district
is located here as well as the United States Marine Hospital. Besides being
the port of entry the city has a number of manufacturing establishments, saw
mills, foundries, electric lights, street car service, telephone systems and a
variety of church and fraternal organizations. Located near the entrance to
Puget Sound, it is in the immediate vicinity of Forts Worden, Flagler and
Casey, all of which have recently been constructed by the United States gov
ernment for the protection of the Puget Sound cities. These forts are all
supplied with the most modern and effective artillery. Their guns are of the
disappearing type, and intended to afford complete protection to American
•interests in these waters. The county has an area of about two thousand
square miles, and it extends westward from Hood's Canal to the Pacific
Ocean across the Olympic range of mountains. It contains much valuable
timber, and lumbering is thus far its principal industry. Its fishing interests
are also important, and its mineral wealth of iron and the precious metals
is supposed to be the great, but as yet undeveloped, resource. The dairies
and cheese factories produce 124,840 pounds of butter and 53,706 pounds of
cheese. Certain portions of the county are admirably adapted to this industry.
It has also a cannery with an annual output of 40,000 cases of canned fish.
The population of the county is 7,000, of Port Townsend, 4,000; assessed
valuation of property real and personal, 2,130,178. The other chief towns are
Irondale, Port Hadlock, Center, Port Discovery, Port Ludlow, and Pleasant
Harbor. At Irondale a furnace for the manufacture of iron was in success
ful operation for several years. It is now being repaired with the view of in
creasing its capacity and making it modern in its methods of operation. The
iron manufactured there was of very fine quality and was used at the Union
Iron Works of San Francisco in the building of battleships for the govern
ment. Immense sawmills have been in operation at Ports Ludlow and Had
lock for many years. The county was named after Thomas Jefferson, the
third president of the United States, and was originally created by the Oregon
legislature in 1892, before the organization of Washington territory.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 253
CPIAPTER XXXIV.
PUGET SOUND COUNTIES.
( Continued. )
KING COUNTY.
The county of King is not only the most important in the Puget Sound
Country, but it is one of the great counties of the northwest coast. It oc
cupies the central part of the Puget Sound region and extends from the sum
mit of the Cascade Mountains westward to the Sound, including also the beau
tiful island of Vashon. Its admirable location, natural resources, and its
numerous advantages for all purposes of navigation make it eminently
suited to become the seat of vast commercial and manufacturing interests.
Outside of the city of Seattle, its county seat and chief city, which is referred
to elsewhere, it has enormous deposits of iron, coal, timber, stone, glass-mak
ing material, etc., and in its mountains are numerous ledges of copper, gold,
silver and other precious metals, now in the course of successful development.
The Duwamish, White, Snoqualmie and other rich valleys contain large bodies
of land which is unusually fertile, and where many productive farms and
handsome towns and villages are to be found occupied by a thoroughly in
telligent and progressive people. The valley lands are admirably adapted
to the cultivation of hops, hay and almost every variety of vegetables and
farm produce, while the uplands, after the timber is removed, are valuable
for fruit of many different kinds and especially for grazing purposes. The
chief industries are lumbering, coal mining, hop-raising, diversified farming,
ship-building, etc., combined with an infinite variety of manufacturing es
tablishments. For all these diversified industries its mild, genial and equable
climate has been found highly advantageous. Coal mining has been a lead
ing industry in the county since i860. The output is given in another
chapter. No other county in the northwest is so well supplied with means and facil
ities for transportation. Four transcontinental lines have terminal facilities
at Seattle. These and its local lines have an aggregate mileage in the county
of more than three hundred miles. The area of the county is approximately
two thousand square miles; assessed valuation of property for 1903, $73,276,-
137; population (estimated), 200,000.
The city of Ballard, adjoining Seattle on the north, is a busy and thriv
ing place on Salmon Bay, which is largely devoted to manufactories. It has
many saw and shingle mills, and is noted as the city which produces more
cedar shingles than any other locality in the state if not in the world. It is
connected with Seattle by electric lines of street cars as well as by the lines
of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific. Other flourishing towns are

254 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Kent, Auburn, Issaquah, Kirkland, Renton, Franklin, New Castle, Bothell,
Black Diamond, Enumclaw, Fall City, Snoqualmie, Tolt, North Bend, South
Seattle, Columbia, Georgetown and West Seattle.
When the county was created in December, 1852, by the territorial legis
lature of Oregon, the following officers were appointed : County commis
sioners, Thomas Mercer, G. W. W. Loomis, L. M. Collins; judge of probate,
William Strickler; sheriff, C. D. Bowen; auditor, H. L. Yesler; treasurer,
William P. Smith; superintendent of schools, Henry A. Smith; assessor,
John C. Holgate; justices of the peace, John A. Chase, S. L. Grow and S.
W. Russell; constables, B. L. Johns, S. B. Simmons and James W. Roberts.
PIERCE COUNTY.
This is one of the Puget Sound counties which is large in area, rich in
mineral and other natural resources and provided by nature with ample facil
ities of navigation. It occupies a mountainous district, for the most part,
lying between the summit of the Cascade Mountains and Puget Sound. It
was created by the territorial legislature of Oregon, in December, 1852. Its
first board of county commissioners consisted of William P. Dougherty, L.
A. Smith, William N. Savage; treasurer, H. C. Perkins; sheriff, C. Dun
ham ; assessor, Hugh Patterson ; coroner, Anthony Loughlin ; justices of the
peace, H. M. Frost, George Brown, Samuel McCaw; auditor, G. Bowlin;
judge of the probate, H. C. Moseley ; constables, William McLucas, William
Sherwood. The county is rich in timber and coal, which constitute the foundation
of its leading industries. A limited area of land of the finest quality is found
in the Puyallup and Stuck valleys. Here the hop crop has been a leading
feature for many years. One of the first men to introduce the cultivation of
hops — which has since become so important an industry in the state of Wash
ington — was John Valentine Meeker, a prominent member of the Meeker fam
ily and for many years a leading citizen of Pierce county, who carried on
his back from Steilacoom certain hop roots which had been imported from
abroad by a brewer named Wood. These roots he planted, about 1862, on
the land where the town of Sumner now stands. Ezra Meeker, also a prom
inent member of the Meeker family and a well known citizen of Pierce county
for half a century, was engaged in the hop-growing business for more than
thirty years in the Puyallup, Stuck and White River valleys. The uplands
are well adapted to the production of fruits, vegetables and grasses.
The county is well supplied with railroad transportation. It is traversed
from its eastern border to Tacoma, thence to its southern limit, by the North
ern Pacific Railroad, which also has several branches leading to coal mines,
logging camps, etc. The Interurban electric line connecting Tacoma and
Seattle has been recently completed and is doing a large business.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 255
The Hospital for the Insane is located at Steilacoom, and the Soldiers'
Home at Orting. Tacoma, its principal city and the county seat, is elsewhere
referred to. Other chief towns are Puyallup, Wilkeson, Carbonado, Sumner,
Buckley and several small coal-mining towns. Area, 1,800 square miles;
population, estimated, 90,000; assessed valuation of property for 1903, $29,-
573-4o6. ISLAND COUNTY.
This county was created by the Oregon legislature in January, 1853, and
is located across the head of the Straits of Juan de Fuca. It includes the
islands of Whidby and Camano, both famous for their agricultural, horticul
tural, lumbering and other advantages. The Island of Whidby, named after
one of Vancouver's lieutenants, contains about 115,000 acres. The Island of
Camano, named after a noted Spanish navigator, contains about 30,000 acres,
making a total area for the county of 145,000 acres. The first county com
missioners of the Island were Samuel B. Howe, John Alexander and John
Crocket; sheriff, George W. L. Allen; and probate clerk, R. H. Lansdale.
Coupeville, on the east side of Whidby Island, is the county seat. Area, 220
square miles; population, 2,500; assessed valuation of property, $1,099,544.
Utsalady was for many yea£s a place of considerable importance as the
location of one of the large sawmills^of the Puget Mill Company, from which
immense quantities of lumber were shipped to all parts of the world. Other
towns are Langley, Oak Harbor, Useless. Whidby Island is forty miles long
and from one to ten miles wide, and separates the two principal channels of the
lower Sound. Camano is twelve miles long and from one to six miles wide.
The climate of these islands is particularly salubrious, mild and equable, and
in summer is especially delightful. They were formerly covered with a heavy
growth of fir, cedar, hemlock, spruce and alder, but in recent years, because
of its nearness to the water, much of this timber has been removed by the
lumbermen of the Sound. There are considerable areas of prairie and swamp
lands, which, when reduced to cultivation, produce large crops of hay, wheat,
barley, oats, fruit and vegetables. The logged-off lands are excellent for
fruit, small fruits, etc. Here are to be found some of the oldest orchards
in the state. Many young orchards have been planted in recent years, and
the fruit-growing industry is receiving much attention. Sheep and wool
have long been successfully grown on Whidby Island. Easy access to the
Sound markets makes lands in this county desirable for a great variety of
purposes. MASON COUNTY."
A county closely allied to Thurston in industrial growth and historical
"importance is Mason. On March 8, 1854, David Shelton, a member of the

256 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
legislature from Thurston county, introduced a bill to create and organize the
county of Sawamish, and on the 15th of the month the bill became a law.
The new county embraces the western part of Thurston county and reaches
northward to Hood's Canal.
By the law, the county seat was fixed at the residence of H. A. Golds-
borough. The officers appointed on its organization were Wesley Gosnell,
Charles Graham and Lee Hancock, county commissioners; F. K. Simmons,
sheriff; V. P. Morrow, auditor; Orington Cushman, treasurer; Alfred Hall,
probate judge; and Aaron Collins, justice of the peace.
The name given the county was adopted from that of an Indian tribe
that occupied the territory lying between the headwaters of Budd's Inlet west
toward the Pacific Ocean.
The first settlers located in the territory thus cut off from Thurston,
in the year 1851, although prospectors were through the country a few years
prior to that time.
Though the first board of county commissioners met at the residence
of Mr. Goldsborough, the county seat was subsequently fixed at Oakland,
but was moved to Shelton in 1888.
When the Indian war broke out in 1855, the community was fairly pros
perous, but the people became panic-stricken and abandoned their homes
to seek places of safety. A stockade was built at a point called Arcadia,
and a number of families took refuge there. Though the settlers returned
to their homes after hostilities were over, many years passed before farming
operations recovered from the disasters caused by the war.
The leading industry of the county is lumbering, and it really consti
tutes the pioneer logging section of the Puget Sound Country. The county
contains a large area of good agricultural land located in the fertile valleys
that extend back between the hills from the number of bays and inlets. Veg
etables yield abundantly, while fruit-growing is a paying industry.
The bays and inlets in Mason county are the natural home of the Puget
Sound or Olympia oyster. Recent efforts have succeeded in bringing this
industry to a stage of development that makes it one of considerable commer
cial importance. The first oysters were shipped from Oyster Bay, in 1859,
by Adam Korter. Twenty years later J. A. Gale, A. J. Smith and David
Helser settled there and established themselves in the oyster business. Cap
tain S. K. Y. Taylor agreed with them to run a boat from Olympia to take
the product of their oyster beds to market. Under the legislation of terri
torial days the oyster beds were depleted through the lack of efficient legisla
tion for their protection, but, when the territory became a state in 1889, laws
were passed by which oystermen could acquire title to their lands, and the
industry is now on a more secure footing.

CHARLES H. MASON
First Secretary of Washington Territory

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 257
The county seat of Mason county is Shelton, named after the pioneer
settler in the county, David Shelton, for many years one of its leading and
most highly esteemed citizens. In 1884 he platted the town which bears
his name. It at once became the center of a prosperous logging business,
and has since come to be one of the important logging centers of the state.
An important industrial enterprise intimately associated with the growth
of Mason county is the Peninsular Railway, built in 1884, by the Satsop Rail
way Company for logging purposes. Mr. A. PL Anderson was president,
R. R. Spencer, vice president, and Lester Turner, secretary and treasurer,
with George B. Lovelace as general manager.
Other prosperous trading points in the county which promise to become
of commercial importance as the southwestern part of the state develops, are
Hoodsport, Union City, Kamilche, Matlock, Potlach and Arcadia.
By an act of the territorial legislature of January, 1864, the name of the
county was changed from Sawamish to Mason, as a mark of respect and es
teem for the manor of Charles H. Mason, the first secretary of the territory,
and, much of his term, acting governor, in the absence of George Stevens.
Mr. Mason was a man who had in a -very high degree the confidence of men
of all parties.
The assessed valuation of property in Mason county is $1,327,196. The
Skokomish Indian Reservation is located in this county, on the Skokomish
river. The word Skokomish means " river people," the termination " mish "
meaning people. CHEHALIS COUNTY.
At the first session of the Washington territorial legislature in 1854, a
number of propositions were brought forward for the creation of new coun
ties, and, on March 10, Representative John D. Biles, of Clarke county,
introduced a bill to create the county of Chehalis out of the southwestern por
tion of Thurston county, which became a law in April following.
The first board of county commissioners was composed of George Wat-
kins, John Vail and John Brady, and their first session was held at the resi
dence of D. K. Welden. The other county officers chosen at the first- election
were: A. O. Houston, auditor; D. K. Welden, treasurer; James H. Round-
tree, probate judge; W. A. Fairfield, sheriff.
The name of the county is derived from an Indian word meaning "sand,"
and has undergone a variety of spellings during the past fifty years or since
it first appeared in the white man's vocabulary.
Chehalis is one of the sections of the Puget Sound Country that is eligi
bly located for becoming the seat of a great commercial -and manufacturing
centre. Gray's Harbor, at the mouth of the Chehalis river, can be made a
17

258 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
port for deep water shipping and is already the site of the lumber shipping
ports of Aberdeen and Hoquiam.
Like other Puget Sound communities, its leading article of export is
lumber, though its large valleys, containing great areas of fertile agricultural
lands, admirably adapt the county to dairying and stock-raising.
The county seat is Montesano, situated near the Chehalis river not far
from its entrance into Gray's Harbor. It is surrounded by a rich agricultural
section and is the shipping point of lumber, fruit and vegetables.
In 1 89 1 the Northern Pacific Railway Company extended its Gray's
Harbor branch down the Chehalis valley to the ocean, and thereby contributed
to the growth of that section of the state.
Besides the places already named, Elma, Cosmopolis, Oakville, Satsop
and Westport are flourishing communities. The latter place is on the beach
and is one of the favorite summer resorts of the upper Pacific Coast. It has
an area of 2,600 square miles. The Chehalis river runs from east to west
through the county, and its branches, together with the streams running into
Gray's Harbor, water fertile valleys, that, when the timber has been removed,
are extremely valuable for farming purposes. The eastern part of the coun
ty is well settled, and here may be found one of the most flourishing farm
ing communities as well as one of the oldest in the state. The Portland branch
of the Northern Pacific Railroad crosses the county from north to south, and
its Gray's Harbor branch extends from east to west, affording convenient and
ample means for access and development. The Gray's Harbor country has
made remarkable progress in wealth, in business and in population, in recent
years. Its cities have regular and frequent communication by steamer and
sailing vessels with San Francisco, Astoria, Portland and other points on the
coast. These cities, particularly Aberdeen, Hoquiam and Cosmopolis, have
large sawmills, shingle mills, ship yards, a salmon cannery and other local
industries. Few counties are growing in a more substantial way than Che
halis. Its cities are well supplied with banks, schools, churches and civic
and fraternal societies.
With its rich soil, varied industries, of which fishing is not the least,
it offers special inducements to intending settlers. Its population, in 1903,
is 18,000; assessed valuation of property, real and personal, $7,793,695.
CLALLAM COUNTY.
This county occupies the extreme northwestern corner of the Puget Sound
region of the state of Washington and of the United States, not including
Alaska. It is bounded on the north by the Straits of Fuca, on the west by the
Pacific Ocean and On the south and east by Jefferson county. It has an area
of about two thousand square miles, is generally mountainous, and much of

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 259
it covered with timber, fir, spruce, cedar and hemlock with some larch, Alaska
cedar and white pine on the slopes of the Olynipic Mountains. These forests
grow upon a rich alluvial soil, making, when cleared, good agricultural, pas
ture and fruit land. The county seat is Port Angeles ; population, 7,000.
It has many streams flowing north and west from the Olympic Mountains,
through fertile valleys, and from Port Angeles east there is a fine belt of
agricultural land. There are now many fine farms in the county, and when
railroad lines now in the course of construction are completed, a large area
rich in timber, minerals and other products will be available for settlement.
The fishing industry is extensively carried on. Large quantities of
halibut are caught on the Cape Flattery banks. Shell fish are also abundant.
A good, quality of coal has been discovered, and indications of oil are plenti
ful. Boring is now going on but no flowing wells have been located. The
geographical position of Clallam county is such that it must before many years
become one of the best commercial localities on the North Pacific coast. Port
Angeles is situated on a beautiful land-locked harbor about sixty miles from
the ocean on the Straits of Juan de Fuca. It has a population of about 3,500.
The region occupied by the Olympic Mountains has never yet been thorough
ly explored. It is one of the finest hunting and fishing districts in the United
States. It is not precisely known as to whom is due the honor of being the first
white settler on the south side of the Straits of Juan de Fuca. A settlement
was made in the year 1859, and the most accepted authorities accord the dis
tinction to Joseph Fraser, but he was soon followed by a group of prospectors
who constituted the pioneers of that section of the Puget Sound region.
On April 25, 1854, the law creating the county of Clallam went into
effect, the new county being carved out of the western part of Jefferson county.
The northeast corner was fixed about midway between Port Townsend and
Port Discovery, the eastern boundary then extending southerly to the sum
mit of the Olympic Mountains ; thence northwesterly along the summit to
the Pacific Ocean.
- The first county officers chosen were : E. H. McAlmond, E. Price and
Daniel F. Brownfield, county commissioners; Charles Bradshaw, sheriff; J.
C. Brown, assessor; G. B. Moore, auditor; Mr. Fitzgerald, treasurer; John
Margrave, probate judge.
The name of the county was taken from that of a tribe of Indians that
inhabited a strip of country along the coast, and means "clam people" from
the word "clolub," clam, and "cht," people.
The important place in the county is Port Angeles, the present county
seat. This particular locality was first created a voting precinct in 1859,
under the name of Old Dungeness. In 1861 it was changed to Cherburg,

260 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
and in 1861 the present name was applied, being derived from the remark
of Lieutenant Quimper in 1792, when he first beheld the beautiful haven.
In a thrill of admiration he exclaimed : "The port of the angels."
As a townsite, Port Angeles was originally platted by the federal gov
ernment in 1862. Accordingly, the survey was properly filed and a public
sale of lots made in May, 1864, and the place became the port of entry for
Puget Sound.
Influences were at work to secure its removal to Port Townsend, and
toward the end of 1864 the friends of that city succeeded in their removal
scheme, much to the disgust of Victor Smith, the father of Port Angeles.
His son, Norman H. Smith, is now actively engaged in carrying out his
father's projects in regard to the place with every prospect of success.
The real-estate boom during the days of the later eighties had its ex
hilarating effects in the Strait settlements, and Port Angeles profited thereby,
In 1890 it donned the municipal garb with John Dyke as the first mayor of
the city. Being advantageously situated on deep water and in close proximity to
the ocean, all that has been lacking to make Port Angeles an important com
mercial center is facilities of rail transportation. These have been secured
through the incorporation of the Port Angeles and Eastern Railway Com
pany and a project of the Northern Pacific. The former contemplates run
ning a road on the east side of the Olympic Mountains to Olympia, while
the latter will reach Port Angeles by running a shore line along the ocean
on the west side of the mountains.
Besides Port Angeles, there are other towns, chiefly Dungeness, the
former county seat, Port Williams, Clallam, Crescent, Pysht, Quillayute, Ta-
toosh and Gettysburg. There are two- Indian reservations in this county,
one at Neah Bay for the Makah tribe, and one at Quillayute for the Quilla
yute and allied tribes.
The assessed valuation of property, real and personal, 1903, is $2,277,186.
CHAPTER XXXV.
PUGET SOUND COUNTIES.
( Continued. )
WHATCOM COUNTY.
Few localities anywhere are more highly favored that Whatcom county
in the matters of soil, climate, rich and varied natural resources and in com
mercial opportunities. It occupies the extreme northern part of the Puget
Sound Country, was organized in 1854, and is joined on the north by British
Columbia and includes all of the mainland lying between the summit of the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 261
Cascades and the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and between British Columbia
on the north and Skagit county on the south. In its eastern part it is rugged
and mountainous, having within its limits Mt. Baker, whose snow-capped
summit may be seen for more than one hundred miles in almost every direc
tion. These rugged and rock-bound ranges are proving rich in gold and
silver, and several districts — the Slate Creek and Mt. Baker among them —
are developing some valuable properties. Nearer the seashore there are belts
and valleys of rich agricultural land well adapted to fruit, hay, grain and a
variety of farming products. The Nooksack flows westward from its sources
near the summit of Mt. Baker, and its valley land, is among the most pro
ductive in the state. The Skagit also has its sources in the same region,
and on its headwaters are said to be some very profitable mines. Besides
its wealth of precious metals, it contains large deposits of iron, coal, copper,
lead and other mineral resources. Its coal mines are the oldest in the state.
Ever since the first Spanish explorers looked in upon this point of the
northwest coast, Bellingham Bay, the chief seaport of the county, has been
considered one of the very best harbors in the Puget Sound region and, in
deed, on the northwest coast. This bay has an area of about eighty square
miles of water surface from five to fifteen fathoms deep, an average depth
of about ten fathoms, and ships sail into it from the ocean without tugs.
It is entirely free from the ravages of the teredo, because of the fresh water
which flows into it from the Nooksack river and from Squalicum, Whatcom
and Padden creeks. Whatcom is the county seat, and its admirable supply
of water is taken from Lake Whatcom, a beautiful sheet of water twelve
miles long, 316 feet above the sea level and only two and one-half miles dis
tant. This water is pure, cold and clear, affording an inexhaustible supply
of the very best quality.
The chief industry of the county is the manufacture of lumber and
shingles. Its timber resources are enormous and of the best quality. It is
now the greatest shingle producing county in the world, having within its
limits sixty shingle mills with an aggregate daily capacity of six million
shingles. There are twenty-two sawmills in the county, the largest of which
has a capacity of 250,000 feet in ten hours. Even more wonderful has been
the development of the fishing industry in this county. Fishing and can
ning operations are now conducted on Bellingham Bay with large invest
ments of capital and on a gigantic scale. About 2,500 men are employed in
the canneries alone, and the expenses involved in these operations, including
boats, scows, nets, pile-drivers, shipbuilding and other allied industries,
amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars per annum and require invest
ments of capital reaching into millions of dollars. Yet so rich are the waters
of the Pacific in food fishes of various kinds that the business has been

262 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
found abundantly profitable. The area of the county is 2,448 square miles,
and it would be hard to find anywhere in the world an equal area so richly
endowed with advantages in such great variety and with so many oppor
tunities for commercial and industrial development. Since its first settle
ment in 1852, its growth has been constant, and during the past ten years
unusually rapid even for a western community.
In addition to the natural resources already mentioned, its stone quar
ries near Fairhaven have long been famous. From the Chuckanut quarries
near Fairhaven stone has been supplied for the construction of numerous
public and private buildings on the Pacific Coast, including the Portland
postoffice. There is no finer sandstone anywhere for building purposes than
the output of these quarries. The Fairhaven coal mines and coke ovens were
recently- purchased by the Great Northern Railway Company, and the coke
industry is being very considerably enlarged.
For shipbuilding purposes the timber of Whatcom county is unex
celled. Hundreds of small vessels have been built on Bellingham Bay, and
the value of its spars and masts is attested by their use in the best and strong
est vessels for special service in Polar seas, in yacht and cup races, and sim
ilar purposes all over the world. The population of this county, 36,000, is
made up of bright, intelligent and enterprising people. Their character
and the magnificent resources of their county are a sufficient guarantee of
the future wealth and importance of this locality.
The assessed valuation of its property is now $10,735,278. After What
com, Fairhaven is the most important town in the county. These two cities
are connected by an electric railway and will probably be consolidated as one
city in the near future. Other towns are : Blaine, Nooksack, Sumas, Enter
prise, Wickersham, and Lynden. The county is well supplied with railroads.
The Great Northern, the Northern Pacific and the Bellingham Bay and
British Columbia, all have terminal facilities at Whatcom and Fairhaven.
The latter road is extending its lines eastwardly, and is expected to cross
the water front of the county from its southern limit to Blaine on the boundary
line. Connections are made by these roads with the Canadian Pacific at
New Westminster and Sumas. One of the state normal schools is located at
Whatcom. KITSAP COUNTY.
In January, 1857, the county of Slaughter was created by an act of the
legislature of Washington territory. It was named in honor of a brave and
gallant soldier, Lieutenant Slaughter, who was killed by the Indians at Bren-
nan's prairie, at the forks of White and Green rivers, on the 3rd day of De
cember, 1855, while engaged in protecting the houses of the settlers during
the Indian war. The first county commissioners were Daniel S. Howard,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 263
G. A. Meigs and Cyrus Walker; sheriff, G. A. Page; auditor, Delos Water
man; assessor, S. B. Hines; treasurer, S. B. Wilson; justices of the peace,
William Hubner, William Renton and M. S. Drew. A supplementary act
authorized the legal voters of Slaughter county to decide upon a name for
the county, which they did at the next annual election. At this election they
decided to change the name to Kitsap, in memory of an old and distinguished
Indian chief of that name who had always lived within the limits of the
county and had been a life-long friend of the white race. Kitsap had, so
it was claimed, been Vancouver's pilot in the summer of 1792, around the
head of Puget Sound as far as the site of the present city of Olympia and
thence by North Bay as far as Deception Pass, in a northerly direction.
Whilst making these explorations Vancouver's good ship "Discovery" re
mained at anchor off Blakely rocks, near Kitsap's place of residence. This
chief was a man of noble presence, of great dignity and force of character,
and was regarded by all the white men who knew him as the greatest chief
that ever lived in the Puget Sound Country. He was also a warm friend of
Dr. Tolmie and furnished the Hudson's Bay people with much valuable infor
mation in regard to the Sound when they made their first settlement at Fort
Nisqually, 1833-40.
Kitsap county is located on the peninsula that sqDarates Hood's Canal
from Admiralty Inlet. It comprises an area of only 400 square miles. It
includes within its limits, however, two sawmills which are among the largest
in the world in their production and shipments of lumber. These are the
Port Blakely and the Port Gamble mills, referred to elsewhere. There are
also several other large mills which make it one of the principal lumbering
counties in the state. The county is penetrated by a number of bays, inlets
and harbors, which are excellent and commodious locations for shipping
and manufacturing purposes. One of these is Port Orchard, which was
among the first mill sites in the state and which has since been taken by the
United States Government, and is now occupied by the Puget Sound navy
yard, which, owing to its many advantages, is becoming one of the finest
in the United States, and when improvements now in the course of con
struction are completed, it will be one of the best in the world. Some of the
largest battle ships in the United States navy, including the Oregon, which
holds the record for a voyage of 15,000 miles during the Spanish war, and
which, on reaching her destination in the West Indies, was ready to go into
action, within an hour of her arrival, was repaired and fitted for sea at this
navy yard just before starting on her long and eventful trip.
The main business of its population is lumbering, but the soil, when
cleared of its heavy timber, is excellent for horticultural and agricultural pur
poses. There are also valuable beds of native oysters and favorable oppor-

264 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
tunities for engaging in their profitable cultivation. Sidney is the county
seat, and among the industries located there are three sawmills, a terra-cotta
and sewer-pipe works and several shingle mills. Other towns are Bremer
ton, Colby, Port Madison, for many years the site of one of the largest saw
mills on the Sound, owned and operated by Captain G. A. Meigs ; Port Blake
ly, Port Gamble and Tracyton. The assessed valuation of its property is
$2,057,617; population 9,000. SNOHOMISH COUNTY.
Few counties in the Puget Sound region, or anywhere else for that mat
ter, can compare with Snohomish in area or in the extent, richness, and
variety of its natural resources. It has also unsurpassed advantages of lo
cation, combined with an ample supply of navigable waters — salt and fresh, —
that afford unlimited facilities for all required purposes of commerce and
manufactures. In contains within its limits enormous quantities of the finest
of fir, spruce and cedar timber, and the valleys of its principal rivers are of
great fertility. Lumbering and agriculture have been heretofore its chief
industries, but the development of its mining resources promises to be re
munerative and profitable, and the manufacture of its raw material into
valuable products of various kinds is attracting the attention- of capitalists
looking for investments.
Its transportation facilities have been vastly increased in recent years,
both by land and water. The Great Northern Railroad enters the countv
through its mammoth tunnel at Stevens pass, near the summit of the Cas
cade Mountains, and traverses the county westward to the Sound, which it
reaches at the city of Everett. Its shore line also traverses the county from
north to south, closely following the beach in both directions. The North
ern Pacific, formerly the Seattle and International, also used by the Canadian
Pacific, extends across the central portion of the county from north to
south. The Northern Pacific Company has recently built a branch from
Arlington to Darrington, twenty-two miles in length, and also from Sno
homish to Everett, and has acquired the Monte Cristo road, extending into
the Monte Cristo mines, a distance of about forty miles. In addition to
these railroad facilities, the county has two navigable rivers, the Stillaguamish
in its northern, and the Snohomish, made up of the Skykomish and the Sno
qualmie, in its southern part. The Snohomish and its tributaries are navig
able for about sixty miles. No county in the Puget Sound district is better
supplied with transportation facilities.
The fertile valleys of this county have been improved to a considerable
extent, and some of the finest farms in the state are to be found here pro
ducing very large crops of oats, hay, hops and vegetables. The logged-off

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 265
timber lands have proved valuable for fruit, small fruits, and grasses for pas
turage. The growth of clover, white and red, on these lands is often lux
uriant, making the dairy business a growing and profitable one. There were
fourteen dairies in the county in 1900, which manufactured 214,126 pounds
of butter and 19,300 pounds of cheese. In the development of its mining
resources more money has been expended than in any other county in western
Washington. Further references to these mining, and to its manufacturing
industries, are made in the chapter on the city of Everett.
At Lowell is located the mill of the Everett Pulp and Paper Company,
which is one of the largest mills of the kind in the United States. This
plant was established about the year 1892, and has been in almost continuous
operation since that time. It manufactures all kinds of wrapping, book
and some excellent grades of writing paper from wood pulp. In the year
1900 it consumed 12,000 cords of wood, for steam-making purposes 35,000
cords, and its product was 5,500 tons of paper valued at $440,000. About
250 people are employed at this mill, whose wages amounted to $221,250.
It supplies not only a good local market but ships to all of the Pacific Coast
states, to Hawaii, Australia, China and Japan, to which in 1900 about 2,000
tons were exported. Other important towns not already mentioned are Sno
homish, the former county seat, a prosperous town on the Snohomish river,
nine miles from Everett, Stanwood, Monroe, Arlington, Marysville, and
Edmonds, all of which are points of growing importance, industrially and
commercially. The area of the county is 2,500 square miles; population 36,700; as
sessed valuation of property in 1903, $11,989,512. The canning of fish is
also an industry of growing importance. A cannery at Stanwood on the
Stillaguamish river has a capacity of 2,500 cases per day. The indentations
of the Sound in the western part of this county afford desirable locations
for many purposes, whether for fishing, lumbering, trading, shipbuilding or
manufacturing. SAN JUAN COUNTY.
It would be hard indeed to find more enchanting scenes, topographically
or historically, than are furnished by San Juan county, which is made up of
the islands of San Juan, Lopez, Orcas, Waldron, Decatur, John's, Stewart,
Blakely, and thirty-five others, it is said, which make up the group of islands
sometimes known as the Archipelago de Haro. There is here a most charm
ing diversity and combination of land and water, and it is hard to decide
which presents the more beautiful or the more interesting features. On San
Juan Island the visitor is shown the site of the camp occupied by the brave
Pickett, who with a single company -of United States troops defied a British

266 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
fleet with an admiral in command and held his ground in spite of the wrath
of Sir James Douglas and the haughty threats of numerous English offi
cers, who were not accustomed, at least in this part of the world, to the
sight of orders disobeyed and commands treated with contempt. In this
instance they deemed discretion the better part of valor and left the valiant
captain to the quiet possession of his camping ground and that part of the
island which he occupied.
This county was created in October, 1873. Friday Harbor is the coun
ty seat. It has an area of 500 square miles; population, 3,500; assessed
valuation of property, $998,924. The name was given to the island of San
Juan by the Spanish navigators who first explored the beautiful waters sur
rounding it, and left the name, at least, as a souvenir of their courage and
skill as " toilers of the sea." This and neighboring islands are noted for
the mildness, serenity and equability of their climate, as well as the charm
ing beauty of their scenery. Sheep and wool have long been successfully
produced. Indeed, these islands are famous for their excellent fruit of many
varieties, their dairy and live-stock productions, and they are becoming
favorite summer resorts from all parts of the coast. San Juan Island is also
famed as the location of the most extensive lime quarries on the northwest
coast, from which lime of very fine quality is shipped in every direction.
Coal has been found on Waldron Island. This archipelago- is in the center
of a vast fishing industry, where salmon, cod, halibut and many other vari
eties of fine food fishes are to be had and are being taken by the great fish
ing companies having their headquarters on Bellingham Bay. This part of
the Puget Sound Country, the counties of San Juan, Island, Whatcom and
Skagit, has beyond question a brilliant future because of its many advantages.
SKAGIT COUNTY.
This county lies immediately south of Whatcom county, and in like
manner extends from the waters of the Sound to the summit of the Cas
cades. It has a frontage of twenty-four miles on Puget Sound, and through
it from east to west runs the Skagit river, navigable for about sixty miles,
and one of the largest in western Washington. It has an area of 1,800
square miles, made up of some exceedingly rich valleys, tide lands and river
bottoms, rugged mountains full of mineral wealth of all kinds, and a vast
supply of fine timber. Its chief industries are farming, lumbering and coal
mining, which give profitable employment to its rapidly growing popula
tion. Its tide-marsh lands produce the finest crops of oats in the state, from
90 to 120 bushels to the acre, that of 1900 amounting to 1,526,000 bushels.
The lowlands, marshes and valleys of this country have long been noted
for their immense crops of hay and other products, including hops, fruit

LACOHHER AHD TIDE LAHDS IH THE DISTAHCE. THEY PRODUCE FROM 100 TO
120 BUSHELS OF OATS TO THE ACRE.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 267
and vegetables. Flax of fine quality is also produced. In the central part
of the county extensive deposits of coal, iron and fire clay are said to be
found, and in the eastern part, in the higher ranges of the Cascades, min
eral ledges bearing gold, silver and lead are reported and being prospected.
The fishing industry is also important, and there are several canneries at
Anacortes. The population is 16,500. Mt. Vernon is the county seat. This pros
perous town is located on the Skagit river. Laconner, the oldest town in
the county, is located on Swinomish Slough, and is an important shipping
point. Sedro Woolley, situated at the junction of the Seattle and Inter
national and Seattle and Northern roads, now controlled and operated by the
Northern Pacific, is also a shipping point of considerable importance. Ana
cortes, on Fidalgo Island, is the center of a large fishing industry, whilst
Hamilton is a coal-mining town. This county was organized by the terri
torial legislature of Washington in 1883. The assessed valuation of its
property in 1903 is $6,200,751. This county presents many and varied in
ducements to intending settlers.
CONCLUSION.
In the brief limits prescribed for this history it is impossible to do
justice to a subject so varied and so extensive in its character. There are
many incidents and events more or less interesting and important which
can only be referred to in the briefest possible manner, and in too many
instances they must be overlooked altogether. The story of the explorations
and discoveries which continued for three hundred years and finally culmi
nated in the finding and in the survey or examination of the Puget Sound
Country by Vancouver in 1792, is one of surpassing interest, but volumes
would be required to recite it in all its merited completeness. The settlement
of this region but little more than fifty years ago, the character of the men
and women who made that settlement and opened the way for the extraor
dinary development which has taken place in a period very short in the his
tory of states and communities, merit other volumes, if the difficulties, trials
and dangers its settlers encountered in doing their great work should be given
the time and space to- which they are entitled. The services rendered to
these white settlers by friendly Indians under the stress of hostile and warlike
conditions have never yet received the historical record and the grateful
acknowledgment to which they were entitled, as a matter not only of
simple justice to those Indians, but as a duty owed to them by the settlers
and their descendants, many of whom would not have survived the Indian
war of 1855-56, had it not been for the kindly aid and assistance thus re
ceived at a time when they were sorely needed by a handful of settlers in a

268 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
vast wilderness, three thousand miles away from the government to which
they owed allegiance and to which alone they could look for protection.
These annals are full of tragedy and romance, of thrilling experiences and
dramatic incidents, many of which must be passed by unnoticed in this short
recital of so important a period in human history. They deal with many
sturdy and heroic characters whose achievements are worthy of a more .par
ticular history than is permitted in this imperfect record. They relate to
important movements of population which have been going on for many years,
which are still in progress and which may continue for many years in the
future. Nor can this history take note of the numerous educational institutions
already established in the Puget Sound Country, whether public or denomina
tional, many of which are of a very high character, and entirely worthy of
the intelligent, cultivated and progressive people by whom they were organ
ized and through whom they have reached their present state of efficiency
and usefulness. These institutions are to be found in Seattle, Tacoma, Olym
pia and elsewhere, and include academies, colleges and universities that would
be a credit to a state much older than is the state of Washington. The social
and religious advancement of this region is also well worthy of mature con
sideration, as well as its material resources and practical development. This
alone is entitled to a volume which might be made one of absorbing interest.
It would relate to a very important feature in the growth and the upbuilding
of a region which in the short space of half a century has made extraordinary
strides in all directions. There is scarcely a city or a county in the Puget
Sound Country which is not deserving of a volume devoted to its local and
particular history. It is hoped that as the facts pertaining to these annals,
whether local or general, are more fully investigated they may lead to studies
in this line which in the future may bring rich returns of biographical knowl
edge and historical literature.
The generation that braved the dangers of unknown deserts and scaled
mountain ranges that might be classed with the " Roof of the World " in
another continent, which fought with wild beasts and subdued a savage race
that the glories, the beauties, the resources and advantages of the Puget
Sound region might be made available for a world-wide commerce, has
passed away. In its stead another generation has come forward, made up
of giants in intellect, in force and energy, and as brave and untiring in
their efforts to make use of these advantages as their predecessors were to
discover and hold them for worthy successors. The snow-crowned peaks
of its mountains, for untold ages, have looked down in solitary grandeur
upon the deep, clear and undisturbed waters of Puget Sound, but, since the
advent of the pioneers of fifty years ago, they see its vast and silent forests
the helpless victims of the axe and saw of the settler, the logger and the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 269
lumberman. They see these placid waters bearing upon their ruffled surface
unnumbered ships, from the pleasure yacht to the mammoth freighter of
twenty thousand tons. They see titanic men and machines dragging from
their resting place of centuries the wealth of its mines of coal, precious
metals, granite, limestone and other minerals, together with its wealth of
forests and fisheries, all of incalculable value, while its commercial advant
ages are the wonder and delight of all who " go down to the sea in ships."
They see. its shores resounding with the remorseless din and the continuous
hum of human industry in a great variety of manifestations.
The captains of industry and the masters of transportation find here a
worthy field for the execution of plans of world-wide importance. They
find here an opportunity for the exhibition of the highest skill and talent in
the conduct of these immense business operations. Some of these men sur
pass their fellows in courage and foresight, in ability and enterprise, as the
mountain tops tower above the hills, valleys and plains by which they are
surrounded. The far-reaching effects and the final results of their indus
trial schemes and enterprises can neither be questioned nor foretold, but
that they are of immense consequence will be acknowledged by all men of
average intelligence. Making history and not recording or studying it is the
prevailing characteristic of the present generation, but the time will come
when the annals of this region, whether relating to its romantic incidents
or its more important events, will be found of surpassing interest.
APPENDIX.
In the preparation of this history the works of Hubert Howe Bancroft,
especially those volumes relating to the history of the northwest coast, in
cluding California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, have been
found invaluable. These works constitute an inexhaustible fund of infor
mation on all the various branches of the subject, and go into details in a
manner which is simply out of the question in a brief and general outline,
which is all that this history claims to be, in a field so extensive and so inter
esting as a History of the Puget Sound Country from the discovery of Amer
ica to the present time.
Another valuable work in this connection is the History of the Pacific
Northwest, Oregon and Washington, by the North Pacific History Com
pany, of Portland, Oregon. The contributions to this work by Elwood Evans,
Professor W. B. Lyman and others are faithful, conscientious and reliable
descriptions of historical scenes and incidents, of natural resources and ad
vantages of the localities referred to, and of early pioneers which are well
worthy of the careful study of all those who wish to make a more minute in
vestigation of those matters. Their work will be found of great value and

270 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
importance by future historians and by all lovers and students of the annals
of this country.
"The Northwest Coast, or Three Years' Residence in Washington Terri
tory," by James G. Swan, contains much useful information in regard to the
Indians and on other subjects pertaining to this region. Judge Swan's long
life was largely devoted to an investigation of these subjects, and his work
on these lines, particularly for the Smithsonian Institute, is of a very high
character on account of his personal acquaintance with the scenes-, incidents
and persons he describes, and because of his well known veracity and integ
rity. I have been glad to avail myself of the privilege of making liberal quota
tions from "Pioneer Days on Puget Sound," by Hon. A. A. Denny, which
give in simple and direct language, without any affectation or egotism, some
account of the early settlement of Seattle and the Puget Sound Country.
I wish to make the same statement in regard to the quotations from the
"Reminiscences of Seattle and the U. S. Sloop-o-f-War Decatur," by Admiral
T. S. Phelps, U. S. N., taken from the United Service for November, 1902.
It has been a matter of pleasure to make use of this article not only because
Admiral Phelps was largely and personally instrumental in saving Seattle
from destruction by the Indians during the war of 1855-6, but because he
was an unbiased and competent observer of what took place during the siege
of that city, and his narrative is therefore all the more interesting.
Professor Henry Landes of the University of Washington is doing good
work in his investigation of the geology of the state. His volumes already
published contain a large amount of valuable information for the general
reader, and I have made such use of it as my limited space would permit.
The Reports of the Smithsonian Institute also contain many useful ar
ticles in regard to the Indians and other subjects pertaining to the Puget
Sound Country from which I have made quotations. Some of the original
manuscripts which I have been permitted to make use of are, "The Four Nez
Perces Indians of 1832," by Rev. M. Eells, D. D., and "Thirteen Years'
Residence on the Northwest Coast, 1847 to i860," by Samuel Hancock, of
Whidby Island, and "The Journals of Abraham F. Bryant and Isaiah W.
Bryant, 1852-55," for which I am indebted to the courtesy of Judge Orange
Jacobs. From these manuscripts I have made liberal quotations. They con
tain much interesting and reliable matter in regard to the early history of
this region and its first settlements. Dr. Eells is the son of Rev. Cushing
Eells, who came as a missionary to the Indians of eastern Washington in
1838. I am also indebted to Charles W. Smith, in charge of the Seattle Public
Library, for many courtesies. This library has a very valuable collection of

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 271
historical works, relating to the northwest coast and the discovery and early
settlement of the Puget Sound Country, including Vancouver's Journals and
other rare and costly works of great interest to the student of American his
tory. I have been allowed the use of certain documents by Samuel F. Coombs,
an old pioneer of Seattle, for which I desire to make suitable acknowledg
ments. I am under obligations also to J. C. Rathbun, who is the author of
a history of Thurston county, to J. B. Meikle, the secretary of the Seattle
chamber of commerce, to Ed. N. Fuller, secretary of the Washington State
Historical Society, to J. S. Whitehouse and Lewis W. Pratt, of the Tacoma
chamber of commerce, to the secretary of the chamber of commerce of Everett,
to the secretary of the chamber of commerce of Port Townsend, to Allen
Weir, of Olympia, Commercial Club of Whatcom, and to many other citizens
of the Puget Sound Country for valuable assistance in the work of collect
ing information. To Sam H. Nichols and A. W. Frater, respectively com
missioner and deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Statistics, Agriculture
and Immigration, my thanks are also due for the use I have made of their
publications. But scant and tardy justice has been done to the Indian tribes around
Puget Sound, who remained faithful and friendly to the white settlers, in
spite of the hostile influences by which they were surrounded, during the
Indian war of 1855-6. One of the most powerful and influential chiefs
among the tribes were Sealth, or Seattle, as he was known to the white man
of that day. He was a man of imposing presence, of unusual ability, and of
noble and generous impulses, always true and steadfast in loyalty to his white
neighbors, exercised a wide influence over his own and surrounding tribes
in favor of friendly relations with the whites, but like many of his race before
and since, when the danger was over and peace restored, his claims for recog
nition and compensation were overlooked and neglected. There is something
pathetic in his speech to Colonel M. T. Simmons, then Indian agent, who
met the Duwamish and other Indian tribes under Chief Seattle, at Alki Point,
by appointment, on the 15th day of May, 1858, to- the number of one thou
sand or more, for the purpose of presenting their grievances. He said, in
the Chinook language, "I am not a bad man ; I want you to understand what
I say; I do not drink rum; neither does New. E. Chis (another chief present),
and we continually advise our people not to do so. I am and always have
been a friend to the whites. I listen to what Mr. Page (the resident agent)
says to me, and I don't steal, nor do any of my people steal from the whites.
O, Mr. Simmons, why do not our papers come back to us ? You always say they
will come back, but they do not come. I fear that we are forgotten or that
we are to be cheated out of our land. I have been very poor and hungry
all winter, and am very sick now. In a little while I will die. I should like
to be paid for my lands before I die. Many of my people died during the cold

272 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
winter without getting their pay. When I die my people will be very poor —
they will have no property, no chief and no one to talk for them, Mr. Sim
mons, when I am gone. We are ashamed when we think of the Puyallups,
as they have now got their papers. They fought against the whites, while
we, who have never been angry with them, get nothing. When we get our
pay we want it in money. The Indians are not bad. It is the mean white
men that are bad to them. If any person writes that we do not want our
papers they tell lies. O, Mr. Simmons, you see I am sick. I want you to
write quickly to the Great Chief what I say. I am done."
On the evening of the same clay Colonel Simmons and his party pro
ceeded to Skagit Head, where he met some eight hundred Indians of the
Skagit, Snohomish, Snoqualmie and other tribes. In reply to his speech to
them, Hetty-Kanim, a sub-chief of the Snoqualmies, said, "I am but a sub-
chief, but I am chosen by my people to speak for them to-day. I will speak
what I think and I want any of the drinking Indians to contradict me if they
can. Liquor is killing our people off fast. Our young men spend their money
and their work for it. Then they get angry and kill each other aiid sometimes
kill their wives and children. We old men do not drink and we beg our boys
not to trade with cultus (bad) Boston men for liquor. We have all agreed
to tell our agent when any liquor boats are about and help to- arrest the man
who sells it. I will now talk about our treaties. When is the Great Father
who lives across the mountains going to send us our papers back? Four
summers have passed since you and Governor Stevens told us we would get
our pay for lands. We remember well what you said to us over there (point
ing to Elliott Bay) and our hearts are very sick because you did not do as
you promised. We saw the Puyallups and the Nesquallys get their annual
pay, and our hearts were sick because we could get nothing. We never fought
with the whites. We considered it good to have good white people among
us. Our young women can gather berries and clams and our young men can
fish and hunt and sell what they get to the whites. We are willing that the
whites shall take the timber, but we want the game and the fish, and we want
our homes, where there is plenty of game and fish and good lands for potatoes.
We want our Great Father to know what our hearts are, and we want you
to send our talk to him at once. I have clone." Speeches by other Indians
were made to the same effect. After a meeting of the same character with
Indians who had collected at Point-No-Point, Colonel Simmons and his party
returned to Olympia.
In 1859 tne treaties referred to were ratified by the senate, and subse
quently the surviving Indians received their long expected and long delayed
annuities. For further information in regard to these and other treaties with
the Puget Sound Indians see the reports of the Indian bureau of Washington,

HOUHT RAIHIER.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.

273

D. C. The life of Governor I. I. Stevens, written by his son, George Hazard
Stevens, also recites many important facts in regard to these treaties, most
of which were negotiated by Governor Stevens, as well as other matters of
interest in connection with early Puget Sound history.
Mount Rainier, the highest peak of the Cascade range and next to the
highest mountain in the United States, 14,526 feet, was named after a dis
tinguished admiral of the English navy by Vancouver in 1792. A persistent
effort has been made in certain quarters to change the name to Mount Tacoma,
but as Rainier is the only name that has ever been recognized by the United
States government, and is the only name which has ever appeared upon the
government maps or the maps of the general land office, there does not appear
to be any authority or justification for the attempted change in the designa
tion of this grand and beautiful mountain. This towering monument of
nature's skill, in its majestic proportions, its solemn, silent and symmetrical
outline and superb surroundings, presents a brilliant illustration of the fact
that "a thing of beauty is a joy forever."

^¦"t

Ml

18

274 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
COLONEL CLINTON PEYRE FERRY.
The French, as all students of colonial history well know, were the
first explorers of the country bordering on the great lakes. Long before
the English appeared, the heroic La Salle, the self-sacrificing Marquette,
and the daring Hennepin had pushed their fragile pirogues or still lighter
canoes in bayous, rivers and bays bordering Lakes Ontario, Erie and Mich
igan. The nomenclature all through this region still attests the presence
of these early navigators, and many places settled as far back as the later
decades of the seventeenth century still bear French names. Detroit and
nearby localities in Ohio and Indiana were at an early period favorite scenes
of operation for French traders, who had a method of conciliation and
natural suavity of address that enabled them to keep on good terms with
the Indians. Even after the French had lost their possessions in America,
as the result of prolonged wars with England, French communities lingered
here and there, and the musical voice of the voyageur or courier de bois still
resounded along the rivers or through the depths of the forest. Emigrants
from France, therefore, who sought asylum or settlement in the northern
states of the west, naturally gravitated to those localities where French people,
the French language, or French customs still prevailed, and it was the
coming of a man of this class that marks the beginning of the pleasant bio
graphical narrative here unfolded.
Peter Peyre Ferry, who was born at Marseilles, the famous seaport on
the Mediterranean, rose to prominence during the Napoleonic wars as one
of the young officers under Bonaparte. In 1814, just a year before the final
fall of his hero at Waterloo, when "the meteor of conquest allured him too
far," Colonel Ferry decided to leave his disturbed native land and seek a
new home in North America. In that year he landed on Long Island, and
some time later succeeded in securing an appointment as collector at the
port of Sandusky, which at that period was the entry port for the entire
western country. The young Frenchman was, however, eventually driven
away from his post by the hostile Indians of the vicinity, and this led to his
becoming one of the earliest settlers of Monroe, which afterward grew into
one of the important lake towns of eastern Michigan. At this place were
born his two sons, one of whom was the late Governor Ferry of the state of
Washington, and the other Lucien Peyre Ferry.
A number of years before this period a French emigrant by the name
of Louis Bourie had settled at Detroit, and later accumulated considerable
wealth by his dealings with the natives. He carried on the first banking
business between Fort Wayne and Detroit by fur and merchandise between
his trading posts. Louis Bourie had a daughter named Caroline, born at
Detroit in 1812, whose varied accomplishments and personal charms made
her a popular belle in this frontier settlement of the western wilderness.
Lucien Peyre Ferry, who had established himself in business at Fort Wayne
and attracted attention as a lawyer and politician, and who served in the first
Indiana legislature, proved the accepted lover of this beauty, and they were
married at the pioneer residence of Colonel Bourie in Fort Wayne. They

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 275
lived together in marital harmony for some years, meantime becoming the
parents of four promising children, until the happy family circle was broken
by the death of the father in the thirty-second year of his age. Mrs. Ferry
is still living at this writing (1902), and is a most interesting link between
the pioneer past and the progressive present. She is vice president of the
pioneer society of Fort Wayne, a position conferred upon her with entire
propriety, inasmuch as she is the oldest surviving female settler of that
town. Upon the arrival of her eighty-eighth birthday Mrs. Ferry invited
twenty-eight young ladies of Fort Wayne to help her in the celebration of
the event, and the rising generation had an opportunity of seeing a fine
sample of the pioneer mother who fought the battles of civilization in "the
brave days of old."
Clinton Peyre Ferry, who is one of the three living children of this noble
mother, was born at Fort Wayne, Indiana, May 24, 1836, and attended school
both at home and in Indianapolis. He worked some months in a printing
office. He became proficient in the art of telegraphy shortly after that great
invention was given to the world by Morse, and gained a reputation as being
one of the most rapid operators in the world. In 185 1-2 he had charge
of the telegraph office at Fort Wayne, which was followed by a short ex
perience as a clerk in a mercantile house, his aim all the time being to ac
cumulate sufficient money to complete his education. He graduated from a
commercial school at Indianapolis, which was one of the first of its kind
established in the United States, after which he went to live with an uncle in
Illinois. While there he devoted some time to the study of law, but, not
liking this profession, he returned to Fort Wayne and became cashier in
the office of the Toledo & Western Railroad.
About this time occurred what may be termed the crucial point in his
career, that "tide in the affairs of men which," as the great Shakespeare
tells us, "if taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." Colonel William G.
Ewing, his uncle by marriage, one of the most prominent pioneers of the
then northwest, was a firm believer in the destiny of the far away great north
west, and from this shrewd man of affairs young Ferry imbibed an enthu
siasm on the subject which led him in 1858 to make a tour of inspection to
distant Washington. He had in view a search for a site on which to build
a city which would in time become the metropolis of the vast territory tribu
tary to the Puget Sound country. His rosy anticipations were somewhat
chilled when, "upon arriving at Portland, he found it an insignificant hamlet
surrounded by a primeval wilderness. Olympia, situated on the southern
extremity of Puget Sound, about one hundred miles north, gave little better
promise of becoming an emporium, as at that time its population consisted
of a few straggling trappers and traders, with here and there an Indian tepee
to add picturesqueness to the scene. Though somewhat disappointed, the
adventurous pioneer from the east determined to tarry awhile at Portland,
and this temporary location was extended to 1873 before he departed from
the place. Meantime he was employed first in the wholesale store of Harry
Corbet as bookkeeper, and later became a partner in the brokerage and
banking business of Hummiston & Company. While thus engaged he was

276 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
elected treasurer of Portland, which by that time had begun to grow and
take on something of the appearance of a city, and he had charge for four
years of its financial affairs. After laying aside these official duties Colonel
Ferry began to deal as well as invest in real estate, and also acted as general
agent for a number of life, fire, marine and accident insurance companies.
In 1868, ten years after his arrival on this coast, Colonel Ferry had bought
two hundred acres of land on the east shore of Puget Sound about twenty-
five miles northeast of Olympia, and this purchase was made with a prophetic
belief that sometime or other it would be the site of a great city. At the
time of this real estate transaction, however, only two cabins were in existence
on the spot to give grounds for this confidence in future developments, and
when Colonel Ferry arrived in 1873 to assume possession there was little in
the prospect that could be regarded as assuring. Prophecies sometimes bring
about their own fulfillment, and prophets may be potential factors in so
directing events that what they predicted as a possibility, may, by their own
agency, become an established fact. Colonel Ferry named the city of Tacoma
after the grand mountain of that name.
Just at this juncture events were occurring which, if properly controlled,
were sure to lead to something of importance. A great railroad was building
from the shores of Lake Superior to tidewater on or near the Pacific ocean,
and Colonel Ferry readily saw that if the company in charge could be in
duced to make its western terminus at the point on Puget Sound where his
land lay, there would be a certainty not only of his hoped-for city, but a
prospective fortune for himself. Largely through the efforts of himself and
his father-in-law this effort succeeded, and the termination of the Northern
Pacific Railroad at the point designated was undoubtedly the prime factor
in the making of Tacoma. The disastrous panic of 1873 f°r a time dashed
these hopes, and it seemed for awhile that all was over, not only with the
embryonic city, but with the railroad enterprise itself. The company stopped
work, discharged its employes, and left things in that overdone condition
known as a "collapsed boom."
But Colonel Ferry was one of those who did not abandon hope, but
still labored for the realization of his dream. For awhile he was practically
the "whole thing'' both in the land department of the Northern Pacific Rail
road Company and the Tacoma Land Company, which owned the townsite,
acting as cashier, salesman, bookkeeper and in other capacities, the duties all
told requiring sixteen hours' work a day for fulfillment. After doing what
he could to unravel the tangled web, Colonel Ferry concluded to retire to
San Francisco for awhile and await the business revival which he felt sure
would come in time, and which would put new life into things at the scene
of his late labors. Pie remained in the California metropolis until 1888, by
which time matters had righted themselves at Tacoma, and Colonel Ferry
took advantage of the improved situation to make a tour of the world.
During his travels he made collections of many valuable works of art
and curios of all kinds, which he intended as the nucleus of a museum which
he contemplated presenting to the city on the Sound which he had clone so
much to found and develop. His dream of a museum was eventually fully
realized, as, after his return from abroad, he continued his efforts until he

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 277
had a collection sufficiently numerous and varied to justify the inauguration
of the enterprise. Accordingly, on the 25th of June, 1895, the Ferry Museum
was dedicated and with all due ceremonies presented to the city of Tacoma,
and this superb gift will ever remain an object of gratification to the recipi
ents, while constituting a lasting monument in honor of the donor. Others,
stimulated by his noble example, have contributed many collections and articles
of value, with the result that in both quantity and quality of contents this
beautiful museum on the Sound yields precedence to no other west of Chi
cago. Thus, in most practical form, has Colonel Ferry attested at once his
love for his adopted city as well as his appreciation of the beautiful in art
and science. It is pleasing to be able to record that Colonel Ferry's enterprise and
foresight have redounded to his own material advantage while yielding so
much benefit to others. Long before any city was in sight he had become
the owner of a large tract of land which, by the growth of the place in busi
ness and population, has greatly increased in value. Much of this was platted
and sold in lots, which are now covered with fine buildings and constitute
the handsomest part of the city's residential section. Colonel Ferry, how
ever, still owns much valuable city real estate and other property, and a liberal
share of the fortune of this generous-hearted man is always at the service
of any cause which promises to benefit his beloved city of Tacoma.
In 1862 Colonel Ferry was united in marriage with Miss Mary Ann
Buckalew, of Virginia, who died in 1874, leaving an only daughter, May.
By a second marriage, with Mrs. Eveline Trafton, he has an only son, Clinton
Trafton Peyre Ferry, who is engaged in business in the east.
In 1861, as a result of the rebellious conduct of the south, Colonel Ferry
changed his politics from Democracy to Republicanism, and since then has
been an earnest supporter of the party of Lincoln. He has, however, avoided
office-seeking, and would under no circumstances accept office. For some
years past he has been consular agent for France at Tacoma. Many years
ago, when the fraternity was young, he became a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, and he is also a Mason of high standing, having
reached the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite and is a Knight Templar
and member of the Shrine. Colonel Ferry owes his title to the fact that
during the administration of his uncle as governor of the state of Wash
ington he served on his staff with the rank indicated.
It might be added in conclusion that if Colonel Ferry has a hobby it
is to see Tacoma not only prosper, but become beautiful in every way. This
desire has led him to take much interest in the laying off of the city and
in the establishment of a system of parks in the residence portion. In this
direction he has brought to bear some of the ideas acquired by studying the
subject in the old world, and, as a kind of object lesson for imitation, has
platted one park on his own account. By persistent effort with the city
council he has obtained legislation permitting parking of all the residence
streets in the city. The width of the streets permit this beautifying feature
which can be found to the same extent in no other city in the United States.
As president of the City Art Association, an honor wisely as well as de
servedly bestowed, Colonel Ferry never ceases to inculcate that love of the

278 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
'beautiful which, in combination with the useful, is the groundwork of the
highest civilization.
COLONEL WILLIAM F. PROSSER.
Colonel William Farrand Prosser, of Seattle, in the state of Washington,
was born March 16, 1834, in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, though most
of his early years were spent in Cambria county of the same state. His
father, David Prosser, was a prominent citizen of the latter county for nearly
half a century. He died in Johnstown, the chief city of that county, where he
had been a resident for many years, in 1883. Colonel Prosser had the mis
fortune, when only eight years old, to lose his mother, Rachel Williams Pros
ser, a woman of great beauty, most exemplary piety and strong mental char
acteristics, her death occurring at Johnstown in 1842. This loss has ever
since been deeply deplored.
He was educated in the common schools of Pennsylvania, including an
attendance of three terms at the Johnstown Academy; engaged in teaching
school, studying law, and surveying until twenty years of age, when he em
igrated, in 1854, across the plains to California; the trip was made with ox-
teams, requiring four months of constant traveling, much of the way through
a hostile Indian country. He engaged in mining, chiefly in Trinity county;
was second lieutenant of the Trinity Rangers, a volunteer company of the
state, organized to assist the regular troops in the Indian war of 1858-59,
then going on about Humboldt Bay; was mustered out at Big Bar of the
Trinity river in April, 1859; was the first candidate of the Republican party
in Trinity county in i860 for the legislature of California. He went east
at the breaking out of the Civil war in 1861 ; was tendered a commission in
the regular army by President Lincoln, which he declined; enlisted as a pri
vate from Cambria county, Pennsylvania, in the Anderson Troop; later on
served as quartermaster of the - Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry ; shortly
after the battle of Stone River was transferred to the Second Tennessee Cav
alry, of which regiment he was commissioned major, in March, 1863, lieu
tenant colonel in March, 1864, and colonel in June, 1865 ; took part in the
battles of Shiloh, Stone River, Chickamauga, siege of Knoxville, and numer
ous minor engagements; was in command of the cavalry in the district of
North Alabama in the fall of 1864, and was mustered out of the service with
his regiment at Nashville, Tennessee, July 6, 1865.
After the war he located on a farm seven miles from Nashville; was
elected a member of the house of representatives of the Tennessee legislature
from Davidson county, in 1867; was elected a member of the Forty-first Con
gress from the Nashville district in 1868; was appointed postmaster at Nash
ville in 1872, which place he filled for three years ; was appointed by the gov
ernor of Tennessee, in 1872, as one of the commissioners from the state of
Tennessee to the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, which was held in
1876; attended the meetings of that commission in Philadelphia in connection
with its management, at stated times for seven years ; was appointed one of a
committee to visit the World's Fair at Vienna in 1873, t0 take notes of its

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 279
preparation, details, etc., with reference to the Centennial Exhibition, at
which time he visited the principal European cities. He published a news
paper for several years at Nashville, Tennessee, called the Nashville Repub
lican. He was appointed special agent of the general land office at Washington,
D. C, for the territories of Oregon, Washington and Idaho ; served in that
capacity for six years ; was elected auditor of Yakima county for two years
in 1886; was a member of the constitutional convention of the state of
Washington which met at Olympia, July 4, 1889, elected thereto from the
district composed of Yakima and Klickitat counties; served on some of its
most important committees, and took a prominent and active part in its de
liberations; accepted an appointment as a member of the harbor line com
mission of the state of Washington, made by Governor Elisha P. Ferry, and
served as chairman of that board from the time of its organization in July,
1890, until January 15, 1893, when it expired by limitation of law; was
elected mayor of the city of North Yakima, where he then resided, in May,
1893, f°r two years.
Colonel Prosser was married April 6, 1880, to Miss Flora L. Thornton,
at Seattle, in the state of Washington. She is a daughter of Henry G. Thorn
ton, a pioneer who came across the plains to Oregon in 1853, but who was for
many years a well known resident of Seattle, where he held several official
positions of trust and responsibility. Mr. Thornton died in Seattle in Janu
ary, 1903. Colonel and Mrs. Prosser have three children, William Thornton,
Margaret Helen and Mildred Cyrenia Prosser.
In 1882 he located a homestead in Yakima county, where a postoffice was
established in 1883, and where he subsequently founded the town of Prosser,
a growing place at the falls of the Yakima river and surrounded by a rich
agricultural and grazing country. It was incorporated in 1890. In politics
Colonel Prosser has been a life-long Republican. He has written numerous
articles for current magazines, principally on historical and military topics.
and a History of the Puget Sound Country. For four years, 1898 to 1902,
he served as president of the Washington State Historical Society, and as
editor of the Washington Historian, a quarterly publication devoted to the
' history of the state of Washington. For several years he has been engaged
in the real estate business at Seattle; has taken a life-long interest in educa
tional matters, and has served a number of terms as school director in the
state of Tennessee and in the territory of Washington.
PROFESSOR THOMAS P. WESTENDORF.
Nothing is more remarkable in the development of modern social insti
tutions than the change that has come over the conduct of the various reforma
tory and criminal institutions. The efforts of many of our wealthy and edu
cated citizens are being directed to methods by which good citizenship may
be instilled in the inmates, and the youth may go back to the world willing to
work and perform their part as public-spirited men and women. The office
of the superintendent of the Washington State Reform School has been
who is not only a trained educator, but thoroughly understands the care and

280 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
development of his charges. The school is located in Chehalis and was first
opened on June 10, 1891. Within its walls are now (1902) one hundred and
thirty-two boys and forty-three girls, the latter being under the supervision
of Mrs. Westendorf, who was a teacher of ability before her marriage. The
boys make their own shoes and clothing, and also supply these articles to the
other state institutions; on the one hundred and thirty-two acres of land
belonging to the school the boys raise all the fruit, vegetables and grain for
their own sustenance, and they keep the grounds in perfect order. The
Professor is a musician and has organized those of the boys who are musically
inclined into a band, and there is also daily military drill, in which the boys
officer themselves. The text-books in use are the same as those used by the
public schools. As one considers the well-trained boys and girls, the orderly
grounds and the general air of neatness and thrift which pervades the whole
institution, it is easy to see that the Professor and his wife are in their right
spheres and are thoroughly capable of managing the school which is such a
credit to the state.
Thomas P. Westendorf is of German stock, his father was born and
educated in Germany and when a young man settled in Caroline county, Vir
ginia, where he married Margaret Parham, a native of that state and a mem
ber of the noted Allen family, who were among the Virginia pioneers. He
followed merchandising most of his life, was a member of the Universalist
church, and died in the fifty-fourth year of his life, in 1870; his wife, who
holds to the faith of the Baptist church, still survives and resides in Chicago,
aged seventy-one years. Of the eight children, four are living.
Thomas, who is the only member of the family in Washington, was born
in Caroline county, Virginia, November 23, 1848, and was educated in Chi
cago. He early evinced much talent for music, and he became a teacher of
that art, and to him belongs the credit of organizing the first juvenile band
in Chicago and the first in the west. He has always been interested in the
young and has shown remarkable qualities as an educator. He was superin
tendent of a reform school in Kentucky and later in Illinois, and from that
state was called to take his present position, which he has held for eleven
years, having taken charge two months after the school was opened. On May
21, 1873, Professor Westendorf was married to Miss Jane Morrow, a native
of Ogdensburg, New York; only one of their two children is living, Jennie
M., who is now the wife of Joseph A. Gabel, state librarian of Washington.
WILLIAM H. MITCHELL.
The full history will never be written of the trials and sufferings of those
early pioneers who braved the dangers of death by starvation in crossing the
great western plains before the day of railroads. And the country can never
honor too highly the men who thus opened up the great region of the west
for cultivation. Among these pioneers is William Henry Mitchell, who came to Olympia
in 1853. His father, Henry Mitchell, was a. native of Aberdeen, Scotland,
where he learned the trade of wagon-maker. Pie emigrated to Chicago and
became the manufacturer of the celebrated Mitchell wagon, known and made

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 281
in every state of the Union ; it has derived its reputation from the high qual
ity of workmanship and material, and reflects credit upon its original maker.
From Chicago Mr. Mitchell went to South Port, Wisconsin, then to
Racine, Wisconsin, where he built his huge wagon works. Pie was married
'in Scotland, before coming to America, to Miss Margaret Mitchell, a dis
tant relative of his family, and eight children were born to them, six of whom
are yet living. He died in 1884, aged eighty-tl'ree years, and his wife in
1895, when she was eighty-six years old. They were communicants of the
Baptist church, and enjoyed a very high reputation for reliability and true
worth. William Henry Mitchell was born November 13, 1834, in Chicago, when
that now great city was in its infancy. The public schools and Beloit (Wis
consin) College afforded him his education. Then in 1853, in his eighteenth
year, he joined an emigrant band and crossed the plains. He paid Mr. Sam
uel Holmes for his passage, but drove the oxen nearly all the way, Mr. Holmes
afterwards saying that he could not have got along without him; with his
gun he also supplied the train with most of the buffalo meat which it con
sumed on the way. The journey was begun on the 9th of April, and Olympia
was reached in November.
William's first employment was in a blacksmith shop, and later he drove
a team. During the Indian war, 1855-56, he was a member of a company of
rangers, and took part in the skirmish at White river; in this fight John
Edgar was killed, but the whites finally forced the Indians to retire and
brought the body of Edgar back for burial. They then built a stockade at
Olympia, and into this the women and children were brought from the sur
rounding country. After the war Mr. Mitchell, with John Stewart as part
ner, engaged in the bakery and butcher business at Olympia, with a branch
house at Seattle. This firm they carried on jointly for eleven years, when
the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Stewart taking the Seattle branch and
Mr. Mitchell retaining the other. In 1867 Mr. Mitchell sold out his business
and opened a grocery store. In connection with Ira Ward and S. M. Cooper,
in 1868 he invested twenty thousand dollars in a sawmill, making use of the
Tumwater falls for this purpose; Mr. Mitchell retained his interest until 188 1,
when, disposing of it, he went east to accept the agency for the Pacific coast
of the Mitchell-Lewis Wagon Manufactory. On his return he established a
branch firm in Portland, Oregon, and was elected president of the company
on the coast, which place he still holds. The business grew so rapidly that
another house was established at Seattle, and both branches now carry on an
immense trade.
In 1859 Mr. Mitchell married Martha Johns, of Olympia; she had
crossed the plains in the same train that he did, with her father, B. L. Johns.
Five children were born to them, four of whom are living. Frank W. is
vice-president and manager of the Seattle house ; Harry W. is manager of the
branch at Portland; and A. B. is also connected with the business, but is
unfortunately afflicted with blindness. The daughter, Cora, is now Mrs.
MacCorgnadale, and is the mother of two children, Hellen and Lassey; her
husband is in the service of the O. R. & W. Railroad at Portland. Mr. Mitch
ell's wife died in 1896, and he has never again married.

282 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Mr. Mitchell has never lost his interest in Olympia, the town of his first
settlement, and the scene of a large part of his successful career, and he
has bought one hundred acres of land near by, upon which he has erected
a nice residence, and now enjoys himself in his fruit-raising and farming.
And here, with his housekeeper and granddaughter, Hellen, who is his con
stant comfort, he is passing the declining years of his successful life, still
retaining his great vitality,* and revered and loved by all on account of his
genial hospitality and worthy life.
FRANK EVERETT.
One of the largest hardware firms in southwestern Washington is that
of Frank Everett & Company, located in the thriving city of Chehalis, Lewis
county, Washington. And the subject of this brief biography is also the
president of the Chehalis Furniture & Manufacturing Company, one of the
prominent enterprises of that city. The fact that these firms have attained
such a degree of success is ample proof of Mr. Everett's status in the business
world. The ancestors of Mr. Everett were English, belonging to the society of
Quakers, and are known to have settled in New England early in the history
of the country. John Everett, the father, was born in Peru, Clinton county,
New York, in 182 1, and throughout the greater portion of his life followed
the occupation of a merchant. He came to Allegan, Michigan, in 1856, and
was in business there until 1871, in which year he moved to Lyons, Kansas,
where he was successfully engaged in farming for a number of years. In
1882, joining the ever-moving tide of westward civilization, he brought his
faimly to Tacoma, Washington, where he remained till the following spring,
and then came to Chehalis; here he opened a grocery store and continued it
until near the time of his death, which occurred in his seventy-sixth year,
January 3, 1897. For many years he was an official member of the Methodist
church, he belonged to the Democratic party, and was a Mason. His wife
was Miss Charlotte Root, a native of the state of Ohio, and she died when
her only child, the subject of this sketch, was but an infant.
Frank Everett came into this world in Allegan county, Michigan, on
the 28th of August, 1 86 1, and was reared to manhood in the city of Allegan,
where he enjoyed the advantages of the public schools. In 1873 he removed
to Kansas and followed farming until 1883, when he followed his father
to Chehalis. He there started his hardware business, but later sold to Dev-
eresse & Maynard, and spent eighteen months in California; on his return
he bought the store again, and the firm became Everett & Power; later he
purchased his partner's interest and soon admitted Mr. Maynard as a partner,
the firm being Maynard & Everett; this continued till January, 1900, when,
at the election of Mr. Maynard to state treasurer, Mr. Everett again became
the sole owner ; afterward A. C. St. John, who is treasurer of Lewis county,
purchased an interest, and the business is now known as Frank Everett &
Company. With the exception of the time he spent in California, Mr. Everett
has been at the head of the firm, and to him is due the larger share of the
credit for its capable and successful management. The store is now by far

PIISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 283
the largest in the county; the building is sixty by one hundred feet, and
there is an annex and warehouse, fifty by one hundred and ten feet, in which
is kept a large stock of wagons, carriages and farm machinery; they have a
full stock of stoves, shelf and heavy hardware, and also do a plumbing busi
ness. The honorable and liberal methods have brought the house to such a
degree of prosperity that it is a credit to the city and county.
The Chehalis Furniture & Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. Everett
is a stockholder and president, manufactures bedroom suites, tables, and
kitchen furniture; they have a large factory, drying houses and all the ma
chinery and appliances for turning out the best work. The factory is a valu
able addition to the business interests of Chehalis, employing about .one hun
dred and seventy-five men at the present time in factory and at the mills.
In 1887 Mr. Eyerett was married to Miss Josephine Fesenfeld, who is
of German and English ancestry, and was born in Melbourne, Australia, the
daughter of W. Fesenfeld. They are worthy members of the Episcopal
church, and he holds the position of vestryman. In politics he is a Republican,
is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Knights of
Pythias, — in all respects an honorable, energetic and upright citizen, and
well deserving of mention in this history.
SAMUEL ALTSHULER.
Samuel Altshuler is a western man by birth and training and now by
choice, and in Whatcom, where he makes his home, is regarded as one of the
leading and valued representatives of business interests. " Success." said
Napoleon, " depends upon three things — energy, system and perseverance,"
and it is upon these qualities that Mr. Altshuler has builded his prosperity.
Born in San Francisco, September 16, 1864, he is a son of Levi Altshuler,
who was born in Germany and made the voyage across the Atlantic to New
Orleans. From the Crescent City he started across the plains in 1852, join
ing the travelers who came to the Pacific coast for gold. He staked a claim,
engaged in mining with a fair degree of success, and later 'turned his attention
to merchandising. At one time he owned a part of the site of the famous
Baldwin Hotel. Having made judicious investments in real estate, he added
to the competency which he had otherwise acquired and which now enables
him to live in retirement from further business cares. His home is in San
Francisco. He married Henrietta Alpern, a native of Germany, who died in
August, 1887. To them were born three sons and three daughters. Cass
is associated with his brother Samuel in the Whatcom store, and Sol is a
lithographer of San Francisco. The three sisters are Milie, the widow of
Joseph Herspring, of San Francisco ; Ida, the wife of Jacob Marcuse, a
cigar dealer of Seattle, Washington; and Annette, who is residing with her
father. At the usual age Samuel Altshuler entered the public schools of his
native city, and there continued his studies until 1879, when he put aside his
text-books and entered upon his business career in a clothing store with his
father. In 1889 he came to Whatcom and entered one hundred and twenty
acres of land twelve miles from the city. He also opened a clothing store

284 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
here, and erected a fine brick building at the corner of Holly and Canal
streets, three stories and basement. The first floor and basement are utilized
by him for his large stock of goods. He has built up the largest clothing
business north of Seattle, and carries a stock which would do credit to a city
of twice the size of Whatcom. His business methods are commendable and
awaken public confidence, and his earnest desire to please his customers has
brought to him a large patronage.
In matters pertaining to public progress and improvement Mr. Altshuler
is deeply interested and gives his hearty co-operation to such. He was a
charter member of the first company of the National Guard organized in
Whatcom. When it passed out of existence it was followed by Company M,
which went to Manila. Mr. Altshuler was also one of the organizers of the
Whatcom fire department, and was secretary of the board of fire delegates for
five years, while in 1892 and 1893 he served as foreman of hose company
No. 2. With firm faith in the principles of the Republican party, he does all
in his power to promote its growth and insure its success, but has never
consented to become a candidate for office, although many times solicited to
do so. He is largely interested in industrial companies of the city, county
and state and has been a helpful factor in many such which have proved of
value in Washington. He has just finished the construction of the Irving
block for business purposes. It is two stories in height, with a frontage of
one hundred and ten feet, and cost twenty thousand dollars.
On the 2 1 st of February, 1897, Mr. Altshuler was married to Miss
Josephine Jacobs, of San Francisco, a daughter of Henry Jacobs, now de
ceased. He was engaged in merchandising and served as postmaster of Fol-
som, California, under President Lincoln. Mrs. Altshuler is a niece of
Junius Jacobs, the United States sub-treasurer of San Francisco. By her
marriage she has become the mother of two sons : Henry Irving and Samuel.
In Whatcom Mr. Altshuler and his wife have gained many friends, and he
is a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Native
Sons of the Golden West and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
CHARLES F. AND WILLIAM F. ROEHL.
The rapid development and progress of Whatcom, Washington, rest, as
a foundation, upon the labors and energy of such men as the Roehl Brothers,
who have been prominently identified with the industrial growth and progress
of Whatcom, where they are well known as leading business men. They
now own considerable property here, and their success has followed, as a
logical sequence, their well directed labors. These brothers have always
been associated in business, the partnership being one of mutual pleasure and
profit. Charles F. Roehl was born in the province of Brandenburg, Germany,
His father, John Casper Roehl, was a representative of an old family of
that country. Coming to America, he spent his last days in Texas, where he
died in 1896. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Kublanc,
was also a member of an old family of the fatherland, and died in the Lone
Star state in 1902. In addition to the sons whose names head this review,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 285
their children are August, Lottie and Alvina. The son is now a stock-raiser
of Texas. Lottie is the wife of Peter Winter, a contractor of Bryan, Texas,
and Alvina is the wife of Max Kiesewetter, a barber of Beaumont, Texas.
In his native country Charles F. Roehl attended school until 1873, when
he put aside his text-books and began learning the practical lessons of the
school of experience. lie remained at home until 1878, and then went to the
western part of Texas and was there employed in a store until the fall of 1882,
and in 1883 he came to the northwest, settling in Washington. Pie landed
at Bellingham Bay on the 31st of December, with the intention of going to
Tacoma, but was persuaded by Mayor Kalloch, of San Francisco, to go to
Whatcom. He remained, however, on Bellingham Bay until 1886 and secured
a tract of land from the government. Not relishing the prospect of isolation
of this character, as soon as he could leave his farm Mr. Roehl telegraphed
his people to send him some money that he had previously saved, and he
then purchased a lot on Elk street in Whatcom and built a house in this city.
He also sent for his brother, and they entered upon what has proved a very
successful business career here.
The Roehl Brothers purchased a stock of goods in San Francisco, and in
the summer of 1884 began business here. It was then promised that a rail
road would be built through this place to Sumas, and for a period of six or
seven months the new town enjoyed great growth, but at the end of that
time word was received that the Canadian government would not allow the
American line to connect with its road, and this was followed by business de
pression in Whatcom. The brothers then closed up their business and removed
to San Diego, which was then enjoying much prosperity, but its growth was
an unnatural one, and the brothers lost the money which they invested there.
Returning to Whatcom in 1889, they again went into business here and
continued as leading merchants of this place until 1902, when they retired.
In the meantime they had made judicious investments in real estate, and they
now own some of the best property in the town, and have also built some
of the best brick business blocks, from the rental of which they derive a good
annual income.
In December, 1889, Charles F. Roehl was united in marriage to Miss
Emma Hull, a daughter of Nathan Hull, a fruit grower who lived in the
suburbs of Los Angeles, California. He was one of the early settlers of
eastern Oregon and died in the Golden state in December, 1894. To Mr. and
Mrs. Roehl has been born a son, Willie F., who is now twelve years of age
and is attending school.
The history of William F. Roehl differs but little from that of his
brother Charles. When Charles came to Whatcom, William remained in
Texas until his brother sent for him. In 1886 he went to Vancouver, British
Columbia, where he worked for some time, and in 1887 he joined his brother
in San Diego, California. In 1889 they began merchandising in Whatcom,
and he has since given his attention to the supervision of his real estate invest
ments. The brothers are men of keen foresight and undaunted energy, and
although obstacles and difficulties have arisen in their path, they have made
these to serve as an impetus for renewed effort, and have worked their way
steadily upward to success.

286 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ALFRED W. PETTIBONE.
Alfred W. Pettibone, one of the successful and esteemed business men
of Whatcom, Washington, was born at Waldo, Ohio, March 14, 1835, and
is a son of Hiram R. Pettibone, a native of Grand Bay, Connecticut. The
Pettibone family came from Wales in 1635, to which country they had gone
from France during the Huguenot troubles, and the great-great-grandfather
of our subject was a colonel in the war of the Revolution, on the American
side. Hiram R. Pettibone was a lawyer, and practiced his profession in Hart
ford, Connecticut, and in Fremont, Ohio. His death occurred in 1884, when
he was eighty-eight years of age. His wife was Jane (Curtis) Pettibone,
a native of Grand Bay, Connecticut, who came of an old American family,
and she died in 1848, aged forty- four years. Members of the family are
still living on the old homestead in Connecticut. One daughter of Hiram
R. Pettibone, Jennie A. Kramer, who is the wife of Dr. D. T. Kramer, of
Chinook, Kansas, is still living.
The education of A. W. Pettibone was received in the public schools of
Fremont, Ohio, and at Beloit College, Wisconsin, and, after a six years'
course, in 1856 he went to Portage, Wisconsin, and after acting as a clerk
for some time, he went into a mercantile business for himself. In 1858 he
started for Whatcom, Washington, via steamer to the Isthmus of Panama.
His steamer was the John L. Stevens from the Isthmus to San Francisco,
and the Oregon from San Francisco to Whatcom. When he reached this
latter point, he found from one thousand to fifteen hundred people making
ready to go to the Frazer river district by land. Later the trail through
Whatcom was abandoned, and all communication with the gold fields carried
on by water. Realizing the golden opportunity offered, Mr. Pettibone im
mediately erected a building on the present site of the old Whatcom Hotel,
and in five weeks sold forty-two thousand dollars worth of goods, which
were disposed of before they could be hauled to the store after being lightered.
His brother, W. C. Pettibone, who died in Wisconsin in 1898, was associated
with him in this enterprise. They continued the store for five months, from
May to December, when they were forced to take everything, including the
building, to Victoria, as the city was under the government of the Hudson's
Bay Company, with Governor Douglass in charge. After remaining in
Victoria for a time, they started a branch at Langley on the Frazer river, and
supplied those making the international surveys. This business was con
tinued until i860, when they closed out everything and returned to Wis
consin by the same route. Mr. Pettibone went into business at Lodi, Wis
consin, upon his return, and remained there during the Civil war, becoming
one of the largest merchants of that locality. About 1864 he located at Ripon,
Wisconsin, and until the fall of 1883 he continued his successful career as
a merchant. In the fall of 1883 he returned to Whatcom and went into the real estate
business, in which he has since continued. He was one of the Peabody heirs.
One of the interesting stories Mr. Pettibone tells of those early days is
regarding some of the dangers of 1858. Captain Pickett, of Confederate

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 287
fame, was in charge of Fort Bellingham, adjoining the city, and had it gar
risoned. People ran great danger of being killed by the Indians, and Lieu
tenant Hopkins of the vigilantes hanged two Indians who were guilty of
many crimes. Ned McGowan was one of the most prominent anti-vigilantes,
and he later became very wealthy on the Frazer river, and at one time What
com was in the hands of the anti-vigilantes, but they were finally conquered.
In June, 1861, Mr. Pettibone was married to Lucy B. Peabody, of
Cleveland, Ohio, a daughter of Dr. Peabody of that city, and a sister of
Russel P. Peabody, who located in Whatcom in 1852, and she died at Ripon,
Wisconsin, in 1882. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Pettibone: Alice, who married T. H. Bacon, a railroad contractor of St.
Paul; Fred Curtis, of Whatcom; Will E., of Seattle; and Louis A., of
St. Paul. Mr. Pettibone is a strong Republican, and takes an active interest
in local affairs. He belongs to the Episcopal Lutheran church, of which he
is a liberal supporter, and is connected with the Masonic fraternity, to Ripon
Commandery No. 10, K. T., of Berlin, Wisconsin, and to the Hoo Hoos.
Fred Curtis Pettibone was born in Lodi, Wisconsin, March 5, 1863, and
when he was three years of age he was taken by his parents to Ripon, Wiscon
sin. He was educated at private schools and at Ripon College, from which
he was graduated in 1879, when he started to work for his father in his
mercantile business. Later he went to Appleton, Wisconsin, where he was
engaged in the mercantile establishment of his uncle, C. J. Pettibone, but in
the spring of 1884 he went to Whatcom, and looked after his father's large
real estate holdings until 1889, when he started an abstract office, and is
now thus engaged. In 1893 he incorporated Pettibone Brothers Abstract
Company, which firm is one of the largest realty holders in Whatcom, their
possessions being principally tide lands. Like his father, he is a prominent
Republican. On March 21, 1890, he was married to Elizabeth E. Crockett, a daugh
ter of John and Ann Crockett, who settled on Whidby Island in 1850, where
there were only two or three white families, and engaged in farming. One
son, Dwight C. Pettibone, was born March 18, 1891. Mr. Pettibone is a
member of the Episcopal church, is connected with the Elks, Royal Arcanum,
National Union, and the Cougar and Commercial Clubs, and he is very popular
in both his business and social relations, while the name of Pettibone is
highly honored throughout the entire country^
WILLIAM H. BONER.
William H. Boner, manager of the Simpson Lumber Company at South
Bend, Washington, was born in 1863, at Milan, Sullivan county, Missouri,
and is a son of Henry and Mary (Smith) Boner. Henry Boner was born in
Indiana and emigrated to Milan in the early days. For a number of years he
was postmaster of that village, where he died some years ago. The mother
of our subject still resides at Milan, Missouri.
William H. Boner was born on a farm, but he was reared in town, and
thus obtained good educational advantages. He served as his father's assist
ant in the postoffice, and later took a business course in a commercial college

288 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
at Burlington, Iowa. Upon his return home he engaged in a lumber business,
and has continued in this line ever since. Starting in as a bookkeeper, he
became manager of branch yards at different places in Nebraska and neigh
boring states, mainly in the employ of the Excelsior Lumber Company. In
1890 Mr. Boner came to Hoquiam, Washington, to take a position with the
Northwestern Lumber Company at that place, owned by Captain A. M. Simp
son and associates. After a few months at that point he was transferred to
South Bend to take charge of the office of the company's large plant here.
In 1900 the two plants, at Hoquiam and South Bend, were separated as to
ownership and management, the former retaining the name of the North
western Lumber Company, and the latter became known as the Simpson
Lumber Company. When this change took place our subject was made man
ager of the Simpson Lumber Company at South Bend. This is a very large
mill, with an enormous outfit, and is one of the most widely known on
the coast, and is also a pioneer mill.
In 1885 Mr. Boner was married at Milan, Missouri, to Miss Tennessee
Winters, and they have one daughter, Beatrice. Mr. Boner is a man of
great public spirit, and has become not only a representative business man,
but also a leading Republican politician. During six years he faithfully
served the municipality as councilman and was honored by an election and
a re-election to the position of mayor. He is widely known through this
section as an experienced lumberman.
JOHN JOSEPH DONOVAN.
Patrick Donovan and Julia O' Sullivan were both born in Ireland and
came to America when young. They settled in New Hampshire, where they
were married and spent their lives in useful activity. Mr. Donovan was
foreman on a railroad in New Hampshire and lived to the age of seventy-
three years, while his wife died when forty-two. Of their children, Daniel
P. is with the Northwestern Life Insurance Company at Boston, while the
daughters, Kate E., Margaret and Julia, are living in the New England
states. John Joseph Donovan was born to these parents at Rumney, New
Hampshire, September 8, 1858. He enjoyed an elementary training in the
common schools of the state and in 1877 graduated from the State Normal
School, after which he taught in the public schools of New Hampshire and
Massachusetts. But the latter occupation was only a means to an end, and
we soon find him a student in the polytechnic school at Worcester, Massa
chusetts, where he graduated in the civil engineering department in 1882,
valedictorian of a class of thirty-one. In July of the same year he came
west and obtained employment with the Northern Pacific Railroad, con
struction work on which was then going on in Montana. His advancement
was rapid ; he began as a rodman, then leveler, and in six months was made
assistant engineer. J. Q. Barlow, a classmate of Mr. Donovan, was assistant
engineer in charge of adjacent work. In September, 1883, occurred the not
able event of the connection of the main line of the Northern Pacific at Gold
Creek, Montana, and in order to be present at the celebration of the driving

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 289
of the golden spike, Mr. Donovan rode nearly all night. Henry Villard,
the president of the Northern Pacific, had gathered a number of prominent
men to witness this event, among them being General Grant and William
M. Evarts, besides a number of Indian chiefs and several companies of sol
diers, altogether a party which filled five long Pullman trains. After the
completion of the celebration the trains moved on to Puget Sound, crossing
the Snake river on ferry boats at Ainsworth, thence to Portland and around
to Tacoma on the line as it now exists. Two months later, having completed
the construction work on a number of truss bridges, Mr. Donovan came to
Washington and began work on the Cascade division of the Northern Pacific,
at a point fifteen miles east of the town of Prosser, whose founder was
Colonel Prosser, on the Yakima river. He was at work on this division as
engineer of track and bridges, locating engineer and engineer-in-charge, until
July, 1887. During this time he was also engineer on the Cascade tunnel,
and was the engineer in charge of the Cascade division west when, on June 1,
1887, the final connection of the Northern Pacific switchback across the
mountains was made, by which it was no longer necessary to send trains
around by the way of Portland. The month following this important work
he took the first vacation he had allowed himself since his graduation, making
a trip to Alaska and then to New England. About this time the Northern
Pacific was building a large number of branch lines to the various mining
camps of Montana, and in September, 1887, he was given charge of these
lines, which were completed in the spring of the following year.
Mr. Donovan then returned east to get his life-companion, and on his
return to headquarters at Helena, Montana, was offered a position as chief
engineer of several enterprises centering on Bellingham Bay in Washington,
upon which he severed his connections with the Northern Pacific Railroad
and has since been identified with Bellingham Bay. Up to this time he had
his residence in Tacoma, but in December, 1888, he brought his wife to
the incipient village of Fairhaven and built a house in what was' then almost
a wilderness. There was no store of any description or a graded street, and
for the commonest necessity they had to take a rowboat for Whatcom, the
connecting road through the forest, where Front stf-eet now runs, being al
most impassable. The companies for which Mr. Donovan was engineer set
to work with a vim to develop this new town, building a railroad, opening a
coal mine on Skagit river, platting the townsite, constructing wharves and
pushing forward other necessary enterprises. Fairhaven was organized as
a city in 1890, Mr. Donovan being a member of the first and second city
councils; as chairman of the sewerage committee he called in Benezette
Williams, the sanitary expert of Chicago, to plan the sewer system. Mr.
Donovan was the chief engineer for the Fairhaven Land Company, for the
Skagit Coal & Transportation Company, and for the Fairhaven & Southern
Railroad. In 1890 the Fairhaven & Southern Railroad made plans for a
line from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Portland, Oregon, and east to
Spokane, and when eighty miles were complete and in operation and the
rest surveyed, J. J. Hill purchased the road for the Great Northern. Mr.
Donovan then retired from this enterprise, and after a short trip to the At
lantic coast returned to act as engineer for the tide land appraisers and for
19

290 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
two new companies formed by Montana capital in 1891, the Blue Canyon
Coal Mining Company and the Bellingham Bay & Eastern Railroad Com
pany, the latter company gradually extending its lines until they reached
from Fairhaven, through Whatcom, Lake Whatcom, and thence to Wicker-
sham, where it connected with the Northern Pacific Railway, and in 1902
it was purchased by the last named company. In 1898 Mr. Donovan was
made general superintendent and chief engineer of the Bellingham Bay &
British Columbia Railroad, and immediately began surveys for the exten
sion of the road eastward; it now has forty miles in operation, fifteen under
construction, and nearly three hundred miles under survey. The district
about Bellingham Bay is being rapidly developed, and companies under Mr.
Donovan's direction are prospecting for coal and other minerals, and also
developing a great water power. In addition to these varied and important
interests, Mr. Donovan is vice president of the Lake Whatcom Logging
Company and the Larson Lumber Company, and is an officer in the Fair
haven Water Company, the Copper River Oil & Mining Company, and the
Bellingham Bay Transportation Company.
Mr. Donovan is not connected with any secret organizations, but is a
member of the American Society of Engineers and the Montana Society
of Engineers; also of the Cougar Club, the Fairhaven Commercial Club, and
is president of the Whatcom Commercial Club. He has been actively inter
ested in hospital work, and was on the building committee of the new St.
Joseph's Hospital on Elk street. He has been a resident of Whatcom since
1900, and his home is on Garden street. In 1888 he was married to Miss
Clara I. Nichols, of Melrose, Massachusetts, and a daughter of J. S. and
Elizabeth Nichols, of Haverhill, New Hampshire. Their three children are
Helen, aged thirteen; Jack, aged eleven, and Phil, aged nine. Mr. Donovan
votes with the Republican party, and is a member of the Catholic church,
JOHN C. DENNEY.
John C. Denney, judge of the superior court of Snohomish county and
a resident of Everett, has for a number of years been recognized as an
eminent member of the bar of this part of the state, and is well qualified to
administer impartially and judicially the important duties of the office to
which life, property, right and liberty must look for protection. That popular
suffrage has called him to the office for a second term is unmistakable evidence
of his ability in office and the confidence reposed in him.
Judge Denney was born in Delaware county, Ohio, November 18, 1852.
His great-grandfather, John Denney, came to America at the time of the
Revolutionary war and served in the army for about three years. He later
located in Pennsylvania, and for a short period followed the tailor's trade,
which he had learned in his native land, but afterward he devoted his energies
almost entirely to the tanning business and to the conduct of flouring mills.
His fitness for leadership being recognized, he was called upon to represent
Green county in the state legislature for eighteen years and took an active
part in framing the laws and shaping the early policy of the state. His son,
the grandfather of the Judge, also- bore the name of John Denney and fol-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 291
lowed farming and stock-raising. He married a Miss Richardson, whose
brother was killed by McFarland, an incident of the early days well remem
bered in that state. Another brother had charge of a surgical department in
the Civil war, and all were professional men. The third John Denney was
the father of our subject. He was born in Green county, and engaged in
general merchandising, in farming and the shipping of stock. When but
a small boy he accompanied his parents on their removal to Ohio and ac
quired his education in Carroll county, that state. He became one of the
pioneers of Delaware county, and, while carrying on mercantile pursuits,
he was also largely engaged in the buying and shipping of stock, and during
the war he furnished horses' to the government. He owned several farms
and in his business undertakings he prospered. He was a Whig in politics,
and, though taking an active interest in public affairs, would never consent
to hold office. He married Sarah Taylor, who was born in England, and
when fourteen years of age became a resident of Troy, New York. In their
family were twelve children, but only five are now living, the Judge; Mrs.
Splindler, of Lowell, Indiana; Mrs. Mary Johnson, of Scott City, Kansas;
Mrs. Banks, of Everett; Mrs. Leonard, of Valparaiso, Indiana. The father
died at the age of seventy-seven years, and the mother passed away in Sep
tember, 1901, at the age of eighty-six years.
. In the public schools John C. Denney obtained his early education, and
then spent three years in the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso,
pursuing his studies with the idea of entering the legal profession. He read
law with James Brown, of Newcastle, Indiana, and in 1878 was admitted to
the bar. From there he went to Stockton, Kansas, where he practiced for
ten years, and then came to Snohomish, in July, 1888. Snohomish was then
the county seat. He formed a partnership with W. T. Bell, and they were
together but two months, when he entered into partnership relations with F.
M. Headley. In March, 1891, he was appointed judge of the superior court by
Governor Ferry and continued on the bench until January, 1897. He then re
sumed the private practice of law in Everett, the county seat having in the
meantime been removed to this place, and soon secured a large and distinctively
representative clientage, which connected him with much of the important liti
gation tried in the courts of his district. In 1901, however, he was elected
superior court judge, and again took his place upon that bench, where he is now
serving with marked ability. The Judge has also to some extent been inter
ested in the development of the mineral resources of the state.
On the 31st of December, 1879, Judge Denney was married to Harriet
M. McNeely, and to them have been born three children : J. A., who is in
his twenty-first year and is attending school in Chicago ; Robert, twelve years
of age ; and Charles, a little lad of two summers. Both Mr. and Mrs. Denney
are connected with the Masonic fraternity, the Judge having taken the
degrees of the lodge and chapter, while both are connected with the Order
of the Eastern Star. He is also connected with the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, and she belongs to the Ladies' Club, the Book Club and the
Methodist church, while the Judge is identified with the Chamber of Com
merce. Their residence was erected in 1892, and is one of the hospitable
homes of Everett, Judge Denney's attention, however, is chiefly directed in

292^ HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
professional lines. His varied legal learning and wide experience in the
courts, the patient care with which he ascertains all the facts bearing upon
every case which comes before him, give his decisions a solidity and an
exhaustiveness from which few exceptions are ever taken.
FRANCIS H. BROWNELL.
Francis H. Brownell was the first lawyer to locate in Everett. His
residence in the state dates from 1890, in Everett from 1891. He is a native
of Little Compton, Rhode Island, born April 21, 1867, and he traces his
ancestry back to the year 1636. It was in that year that George Brownell,
leaving his home in England, crossed the Atlantic to America, locating in
Massachusetts. His great-grandson, Sylvester Brownell, was the great-grand
father of our subject, and served as a captain in the Eighth Massachusetts
Regiment of continental troops in the Revolutionary war, taking part in the
battle of Bunker Hill and fighting all through the Massachusetts and New
York campaigns. His son, Bishop Brownell, was the founder of Trinity
College, and his statue is now in th.e building of Hartford. His brother,
Jonathan Brownell, the grandfather of our subject, was also a man of distinc
tion and served in the Rhode Island legislature.
Frederick Brownell, the father of Francis H, is a native of Rhode
Island, and for twenty-four years has served as town clerk. He also filled the
position of town treasurer, and has been a member of the state legislature.
Throughout his business career he has carried on agricultural pursuits, and
his entire life has been in harmony with his professions as a member of the
Congregational church. He married Annie Coggshall, a direct descendant
of John Coggshall, who was the founder and the first governor of the New
port colony.
Francis H. Brownell is the eldest of the four children born to his parents,
and the only one living on the Pacific coast. He pursued his education in the
public schools until he had mastered the branches therein taught, after which
he prepared for college in the Friends' School, in which he was graduated
in 1884. He next entered Brown University, in which he was graduated
with the class of 1888, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He next entered
the Columbia Law School, and was admitted to the bar in New York city,
in June, 1890. In August of the same year he came to Washington, believ
ing that there were better business opportunities in the far west, where com
petition was not so great as in the older states of the east. He had made
his own way through college. He first entered into partnership with George
A. Brown, who has recently been nominated for a position on the supreme
bench of Nevada.
When Everett was founded, believing that it would be a good field of
labor, they removed to this city and continued to practice in partnership until
1895, when Mr. Brown removed to Nevada, after which Mr. Brownell was
alone in business until the beginning of 1902, when he formed a partnership
with J. A. Coleman, and the firm of Brownell & Coleman now has a dis
tinctively representative clientage. Mr. Brownell has served as attorney for
the leading business firms and companies of this place, including the Everett

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 293
Improvement Company, the successor of the Everett Land Company, the
Everett Street Railway & Light Company, the Everett Pulp & Paper Com
pany, the Puget Sound Reduction Company, the Monte Cristo Railroad
Company, the Monte Cristo Mines, the First National Bank, the American
National Bank and for several mining companies, so that his business has
largely been in the line of commercial and corporation law.
In 1894 Mr. Brownell was married to Josephine Noble, a daughter of
H. A. Noble, of Seattle, and they have one son, Francis H. In 1902 he
erected his home on the southwest corner of Twenty-third and Rucker streets.
They attend the Episcopalian church, of which Mrs. Brownell is a member,
and in politics he is a stalwart Republican. He is a member of Peninsular
Lodge No. 95, F. & A. M., the Knights of Pythias fraternity and the Benevo
lent and Protective Order of Elks. He was one of the organizers of the Sno
homish County Agricultural Society, and is a member of the hospital board
and a trustee of the city library.
FREDERICK H. COPENSPIRE.
Frederick H. Copenspire, cigar manufacturer at South Bend, Washing
ton, was born in 1868, on a farm in Erie county, New York, within eighteen
miles of Buffalo. He is a son of Frederick and Katherine (Rittman) Copen
spire, both natives of Erie county, and the mother was born on the same
farm which witnessed the birth of our subject. The grandparents on both
sides came to America from Germany in 1835, and settled in Erie county,
near Hamburg, which was founded by a number of German families, who
settled there about that time. The paternal grandmother, Mrs. Michael Haas,
is still living on the old homestead, which has remained in the family to
this day. The farm adjoins the little village of East Eden, eighteen miles
from Buffalo, and many of our subject's relatives are in that vicinity, occu
pying farms which the family has owned for seventy years.
Frederick Copenspire and wife grew up together in that neighborhood
and married there. They now live at Titusville, Pennsylvania, the father
having moved to northwestern Pennsylvania in our subject's childhood. At
tracted by the great oil boom of 1869, he located in the oil regions as a pros
pector for about a year, and then settled .permanently at Titusville in the
center of the oil region.
Frederick H. Copenspire was reared amid the stirring scenes and times
of the oil district in its prosperous days, although by the time he had become
old enough to appreciate the situation the boom had partially died out. He
received his education in the second ward school at Titusyille, and was a
student at the same time as was Miss Ida M. Tarbell, whose father was closely
identified in the early history of that oil country. Miss Tarbell is well known
from her writings in a leading magazine concerning the operations of the
Standard Oil Company.
Frederick H, from an early age, had to depend upon his own resources.
He accepted all kinds of work which did not interfere with his schooling,
and, as he was naturally energetic and resourceful, he managed to acquire
and also to provide for his material needs. After he became a little older

294 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
he started to learn the harness-making trade, and later went into a cigar store
and learned the cigar-making trade. In the spring of 1890 he located at
Tacoma, Washington, and engaged in work at his trade until December
of that year, when he removed to South Bend. Here he started a cigar
factory, and soon was doing a flourishing business. In 1893 his business
suffered from the general stagnation, and it was during this time that he
took the local agency for the American Oil Works, an independent refinery
at Titusville, owned by parties whom he had known in his old home. He
had an expert knowledge of petroleum oil through his early connection
with the business, and was in a position to capably take this agency.
By showing the local stores that the "Sunlight" oil was vastly superior
to the oil at that time being furnished by the Standard, and selling
it at the same price, he succeeded in getting it introduced at South Bend, and
for several years enjoyed a profitable business. Finally, however, the Stan
dard's " competition " made the handling of this very superior oil unprofitable,
and Mr. Copenspire discontinued the agency and returned exclusively to the
cigar business. Mr. Copenspire is now one of the representative men of this
section, and owns valuable property. He is one of a syndicate of five mem
bers, with the firm of Leonard & Myers, which owns the most valuable por
tion of the South Bend water front, and continues his investments here, hav
ing an abiding faith in the future growth and prosperity of Willapa Harbor
and South Bend.
In 1898 Mr. Copenspire ran for county assessor on the Democratic
ticket, and was the only Democrat elected, and in 1900 was re-elected and
served another two years' term. His popularity is indicated by the fact that
Pacific county is so strongly Republican that it remained with that party
even during the Populist upheaval of 1896, and our subject is one of the
very few Democrats who have ever been elected to office. In December,
1901, he was elected mayor of South Bend, and served one year.
In 1900 Mr. Copenspire erected the fine two-story business block which
is the home of the cigar factory. A large number of skilled employes are
engaged, and his brands have gained a permanent hold in the commercial
world, and by many consumers are much preferred to foreign products. Mr.
Copenspire has fitted up the upper story of his commodious new building for
the use of the order of Knights of Pythias, of which he is an active member.
Mr. Copenspire is recognized as one of the active workers who have done
much to promote the commercial prosperity of this town, and there are few
more highly valued citizens. He is unmarried.
JOHN L. MYERS.
John L. Myers, druggist and successful business man of South Bend,
Washington, was born at Montezuma, Iowa, in 1866, and is a son of John
A. and Mary (Rookdeschell) Myers, both natives of Germany, but who now
reside at Montezuma. They were married in Wisconsin, to which state their
families had emigrated. In 1852 John A. Myers and his family removed to
Montezuma, Iowa, where he embarked in a hardware business, and became
a prominent and successful merchant. He is now retired, having been one
of the leading merchants in his line for a number of years.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 295
John L. Myers received a good education in the schools of Montezuma,
and did not go into his father's business, he always having had an inclina
tion toward the profession of a druggist. Having made up his mind, Mr.
Myers first studied in a drug store at Montezuma, and later had a private tutor
who was a graduate of the Chicago College of Pharmacy. He was registered
as a pharmacist under the very stringent laws of Iowa, at Audubon, Iowa,
January 3, 1889, although he had passed the necessary examinations at the
age of eighteen years, but was only allowed to act as an assistant until he
attained his majority. After registering, Mr. Myers had charge of a store in
western Iowa for a couple of years, and his first business venture for him
self was in 1891, when he came to South Bend, Washington, and established
the Myers drug store. By constant industry, crowding as much into each
day as possible, he succeeded in building up a fine business, and while he
is now a wealthy man, he still works as hard as ever. Among other gifts
within the power of the people to bestow, Mr. Myers has held the positions
of city clerk, health officer and school clerk, and still retains the last named
office, of which he has been incumbent for the past five years. He has also
been volunteer weather observer here for the past ten years, furnishing regular
reports to the weather department. Mr. Myers is also a member of the real
estate firm of Myers & Leonard, which pays the largest taxes of any concern
in Pacific county, it owning very valuable land at South Bend, Washington,
the most valuable of which is along the water front. However, the firm also
owns other city property and timber lands as well. The city property is con
stantly increasing in value.
Mr. Myers belongs to the local Knights of Pythias, the Masonic lodge
at Audubon, Iowa, and is very popular in both organizations. Mr. Myers is
one, of the prominent men of the town, and his success is but the natural
result of well directed effort along legitimate lines.
JOSEPH H. TURNER.
Joseph H. Turner, postmaster of South Bend, Washington, and one of
the prominent men of that city, was born at Bowling Green, Clay county,
Indiana, March 20, 1843, an^ is a son of John T. and Katharine (Shane)
Turner. John T. Turner was born in New Jersey and settled in Clay county,
Indiana, in the early days of that state. He was a blacksmith by trade, but
always owned a farm, and was engaged in farming as well as blacksmithing
the greater portion of his life. In 1854 he removed with his family to Cum
berland county, Illinois, where he died in January, 1861. His mother was
born in Pennsylvania, of Dutch stock, in 1800, and died in 1876.
Joseph H. Turner was reared upon a farm and received the greater por
tion of his education in Cumberland county, Illinois. When the war broke
out, he went to Springfield, and enlisted in September, 1861, in Company H,
Forty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was immediately sent south,
and throughout the war he was with Grant and Sherman, re-enlisting after
his first three years expired. His first important battle was Fort Henry,
after which he was engaged at Fort Donaldson, Shiloh, siege of Vicksburg,
and the taking of Lookout Mountain (Missionary Ridge). His next engage-

296 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ments were with Sherman's campaign against Atlanta, and while he was
thus occupied he was taken prisoner and confined in Andersonville prison
four months, suffering all the privations and terrors that are matters of
history. At the end of the four months he was exchanged and rejoined
Sherman on his march to the sea. When that was accomplished, he went
north through the Carolinas, and participated at the capture of Raleigh and
the surrender of Johnston's army. He was also present when Lee surren
dered. Finally he took part in the grand review at Washington. Later in
the season he was sent with his regiment toward Mexico to subdue troubles
there, but when the regiment reached Little Rock, Arkansas, news awaited
them that there was no further necessity for troops, and Mr. Turner was
mustered out in that city in September, 1865.
After the war Mr. Turner went home, and was there and in Indiana
until 1 87 1, when he decided to come to the northwest Pacific coast. That
same year he arrived, and first located on Lewis river in Clark county, Wash
ington, where he took up a homestead, and remained there until 1877, when
he settled in Pacific county, at Bay Center. In that locality he went into
the oyster business, also carried on dairying, and achieved success in both
lines. He was thus engaged in 1884, when he was elected sheriff of Pacific
county on the Republican ticket, to which office he was re-elected, and served
four terms altogether, and when he was first elected Oysterville was the
county seat. When he retired from the office of sheriff, Mr. Turner resumed
his old occupations in a general way, but in June, 1902, he was appointed
postmaster of South Bend, which office he now holds.
On February 3, 1864, Mr. Turner was married at Stilesville, Indiana,
to Martha Brownfield, while on a veteran's furlough. The following chil
dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Turner, namely : Mrs. W. A. Kennedy, of
Index, Washington ; Mrs. Rev. L. H. Peterson, of Silverton, Oregon ; Charles
H, of Index, Washington; Mrs. Dan G. Malarkey, Astoria, Oregon; Will
iam H, of Index, Oregon; Frank L., assistant postmaster; Robert; Cora,
and Jessie. Mr. Turner is chaplain of Post No. 63, G. A. R., South Bend,
and both he and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist church.
Mr. Turner is one of the most highly respected residents of the city, and the
success which has attended him through life is well merited.
ALBERT P. LEONARD.
Albert P. Leonard, county auditor and one of the leading men of Pacific
county, Washington, now residing at South Bend, was born at New Lebanon,
New York, July 24, 1870, and is a son of Philander E. and Mary Train
(James) Leonard. P. E. Leonard was born at North Adams, Massachusetts,
and after completing his education became a lawyer. He established him
self at New Lebanon, and later in life, in the year 1877, he removed to Shell
Lake, Wisconsin, which is still his home, he being a prominent man, a loyal
Republican, and has served as county clerk of Washburn county, Wisconsin,
since 1884. His ancestors served gallantly in the Revolutionary war. His
wife was born at Stevenstown, Westchester county, New York, and is still
living. Her great-grandfather, Amos James, was a soldier in the Revolu-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 297
tionary war, while her maternal great-grandfather, Joseph Easton, was in
the navy during that same year. Her mother, Lucy (Dunham) James is still
living, at the age of eighty-eight years, and can recall personal recollections
of the Revolution as told by the above named parties.
Our subject received an excellent education at Shell Lake, but in 1888,
after leaving school, he removed to California and worked in a sawmill in
Mendocino county for two years. In November, 1890, he settled in South
Bend, Washington, and obtained employment tallying lumber at the mill of
the Northwestern Lumber Company, now the Simpson Lumber Company.
In March, 1891, he organized, with J. L. Myers, an abstract company under
the firm name of Myers & Leonard, and they control the greater portion
of the abstract business in the county. Although Mr. Leonard still retains
his interest in the business his time is well occupied with the duties of the
office of county auditor, to which he was elected in 1894; re-elected in 1896
for four years, and in 1902 he was again re-elected for another term of
two years upon the Republican ticket, he always having been an ardent sup
porter of that party. Mr. Leonard is a member of the city council, and is
a very active and enterprising man, public-spirited and devoted in his efforts
to build up the city.
On February 1, 1897, he was married in South Bend to Miss Ida R.
Dalton, a sister of C. C. Dalton, who is assistant attorney general of the
state. In addition to other interests, Myers & Leonard own a large tract
along the water front, in addition to other valuable city property, and do
a large real estate business in connection with the abstract work.
ALONZO M. HADLEY.
Alonzo M. Hadley, one of the leading representatives of the legal fra
ternity in Whatcom, Washington, and an absolute authority upon all matters
pertaining to his profession, was born October 4, 1867, at Sylvania, Indiana,
a son of Jonathan and Martha (McCoy) Hadley, the former of whom was
a farmer of Sylvania and died in 1892, and the latter was a native of southern
Indiana, of Scotch-Irish descent, now residing at Bloomingdale, Indiana.
Alonzo M. Hadley has two brothers, Hiram E. Pladley, of the supreme
bench of the state of Washington; Lin H. Hadley, member of the law firm
of Dorr & Hadley, of Whatcom, the other members being C. W Dorr and
A. M. Hadley. The latter was educated in the public schools, the Blooming-
dale Academy and Earlham College. Two years intervened between his
completion of the public school course and his entering the academy, which
he employed teaching in the public schools of Indiana. Leaving the academy
in 1887, he again taught school for one year, when he entered college at
Richmond, Indiana, remaining two years. For one year more he taught
school, and then commenced his legal studies in the law office of Elwood
Hunt of Rockville, Indiana, being admitted to the bar in 1891 at that place.
In September of that same year Mr. Hadley formed a partnership with
Elwood Hunt, and continued the connection until June, 1894, when he with
drew, and went to Indianapolis and practiced until October, 1898. In No
vember, 1898, Mr. Hadley removed to Whatcom, and entered the firm of

298 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Dorr & Hadley, which is one of the leading firms in the city, and is attorney
for the largest corporation in the northwest of Washington.
Mr. Hadley has always been a Republican and has taken an active part
in politics in Whatcom, as well as in other localities. In 1896 he was a
candidate for the secretaryship of the state central committee of Indiana and
was allied with the Harrison constituency, and was defeated by one vote.
Upon numerous occasions he has been called upon to attend both county
and state conventions in Indiana, and county conventions in Whatcom.
June 12, 1901, Mr. Hadley was married to Edna Beebe, a daughter of
Almon M. Beebe, of Kankakee, Illinois, a retired farmer. She was born
at Kankakee, and hers is an old American family of English descent. Mr.
Hadley was born into membership in the Friends' Society, and has never
withdrawn his name, while his wife is a Presbyterian. Fraternally Mr. Had
ley is a blue lodge Mason. Mr. Hadley is one of the best posted men in
his profession to be found in the entire state, and he is recognized as one of its
most logical and successful attorneys.
HENRY HEWITT, JR.
Deeply engraved on the pages of history of Pierce county is the name
of Henry Hewitt, Jr., and during his long residence in this section of the
state he has borne an important part in the substantial development and ma
terial improvement of the county. A native of England, his birth there
occurred in Lancashire, in 1840. He is a son of Henry and Mary (Proctor)
Hewitt. In England the father was engaged in agricultural pursuits, but
in 1 84 1 he bade farewell to home and native land and came to the United
States, taking up his abode in Racine, Wisconsin, where he turned his atten
tion to contracting. From that city he made his way to Chicago and became
one of the original contractors on the Illinois & Mississippi canal out of
Chicago. Later, however, he removed to Milwaukee, and, becoming asso
ciated with the late Alexander Mitchell, then president of the Chicago, Mil
waukee & St. Paul Railroad Company, engaged in contracting on that road,
but after a time went to Kaukauna, Wisconsin, and for twenty years made
that city his headquarters v/hile engaged in large construction enterprises,
among them being the dam and combined locks for the Fox & Wisconsin
canal at Little Chute. In later life he removed to Menasha, Wisconsin, where
he built the lock and dam, and where his life's labors were ended in death in
1899, being at that time a very wealthy man. His widow died many years
ago. Henry Hewitt, Jr., was but an infant when he was brought by his
parents to the United States, and the educational privileges which he was
permitted to enjoy in his youth were extremely limited, being confined to a
short attendance at the schools of Kaukauna and Menasha, Wisconsin. In
early boyhood he longed to get out into the woods and into the timber busi
ness, and as his father received, in payment for a great deal of his canal con
struction work in Wisconsin, large bodies of valuable timber land, and in
the late fifties and the sixties engaged in the lumber milling business, the
son was permitted to follow his bent in that direction and became interested

\

\

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 299
with his father in those operations. At the age of sixteen years he began
cruising timber lands, becoming an expert cruiser and timber estimator, and
two years later, when but eighteen years old, he was the owner of a lumber
camp, with thirty men in his employ. Following in the footsteps of his
father, he, too, engaged in contracting and built a lock and dam for the
Fox River Canal Company at Portage City, receiving most of his pay in
timber lands, which were at that time not generally considered of great value,
but Mr. Hewitt's keen foresight enabled him to see far into the future and
he thus laid the foundation upon which he has erected the superstructure of
his brilliant success in later life. Continuing in the lumber business and as
a cruiser until 1866, he was at that time accidentally shot in the leg, which
disabled him for further work of that character, and in company with his
father he then organized the First National Bank of Menasha, of which
he was made the cashier. For ten years he continued to fill the duties in
cumbent upon him in that position, while for twenty years he was one of its
owners, and the bank is still in existence, but is now a state bank. During
his business operations Mn Hewitt accumulated a vast amount of mining and
timber lands in Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona, consisting of one hun
dred thousand acres in northern Michigan and forty thousand acres in Ar
kansas, while in Wisconsin he owned about one hundred and fifty million
feet of timber, fifty million feet of which, costing him originally twenty-
five cents per thousand feet he sold to the Weyerhauser Lumber Company
for three dollars and eighty cents a thousand feet.
During the years of 1887 and 1888 Mr. Hewitt made an extensive tour
of investigation throughout the western states, Arizona, California, Oregon,
Washington and British Columbia, with a view to selecting the- best location
for lumbering operations on an extensive scale, and after six months of
careful exploring and cruising he was so favorably impressed with the Puget
Sound country that he decided to locate in Tacoma. He accordingly sold a
part of his vast possessions in Wisconsin, and in 1889, with Charles Jones,
Colonel C. W. Griggs* and* A. D. Foster, organized the St. Paul & Tacoma
Lumber Company, securing a one-fourth interest and becoming treasurer of
the corporation, which interest he still retains.- The company purchased
eighty thousand acres of timber land from the Northern Pacific Railroad
Company and built a lumber mill on the tide flats in Tacoma, and this com
pany is now distinguished for having the largest output of lumber of any
sawmill in the world. Mr. Hewitt is also known as the father of the city
of Everett, having practically built that town from a settlement of three or
four white men to one. of sixteen thousand inhabitants, and this was accom
plished in the short space of ten years. His operations there began about
1890, when with his associates he established three lumber mills, five shingle
mills and the large paper and pulp mill, as well as two national banks, besides
investing large sums of money in city lots and in timber lands on the Sno
homish river. The panic of 1893 was a time of great strain on the banking
institutions, many of them being forced to the wall, but Mr. Hewitt brought
all the resources of his wonderful ability to his command to stem the tide
as far as his two banks at Everett were concerned, with the result that they
successfully weathered the financial storm. Instead of letting go of every-

300 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
thing and selling at panic prices, as was the rule at that time, Mr. Hewitt
reversed the order and bought all the city property and timber land he could
pay for with long-time paper, knowing that a reaction in favor of prosperity
was bound to ensue, and subsequent events have shown how wise was his
judgment. He made his headquarters at Everett for about four years, and
is still interested in the industries there to some extent, owning about twenty-
five acres of land on the townsite and about two hundred million feet of
timber on the Snohomish river. His lumber and industrial interests in the
Puget Sound country are enormous, and it may be truthfully said that no
other one man is or has been so largely interested and so active in the de
velopment of this section as he. He owns two billion and a half feet of
timber scattered all the way from British Columbia to Oregon and five or
six thousand acres of coal lands, mostly in Pierce county, while the following
is a list of the principal companies in which he is an officer and stockholder :
treasurer of the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company; president of the Ta
coma Steel Company, a steel corporation organized to develop iron lands and
build iron and steel works, they having purchased seventeen hundred acres
of land, and a large industrial plant will soon be in the course of construc
tion at or near Tacoma; trustee of the Fidelity Trust company; president
and largest individual stockholder of the Wilkeson Coal & Coke Company,
which owns large mines at Wilkeson; principal stockholder of the Connells-
ville Coal & Coke Company; president and owner of the Climax Land Com
pany; president of the Hewitt Land Company, which deals in coal and
timber lands and town sites ; director and one of the principal owners of the
Chehalis & Pacific Land Company; director of the Tacoma Coal & Coke
Company, which owns coal mines and lands at Fairfax, and director of the
Pacific Coal & Lumber Company. He is president and controlling owner
of a large lumbering and milling plant in Sumpter, Oregon, and contem
plates building a large mill in California, near Mt. Shasta, where he con
trols two- hundred million feet of pine and fir. He controls one hundred
thousand acres for paper manufacture, and all arrangements have been made
for building a paper and pulp mill, with business associates in Victoria,
British Columbia, and China and Japan. He has even been an exceedingly
enterprising and public-spirited citizen, and has contributed large sums of
money to many of the enterprises intended to benefit his community. He is
a fine organizer and promoter, and one of his most distinguished character
istics is that he has a world-wide view of the wonderful possibilities of the
Puget Sound country, in which he has unbounded faith. A few years ago
he made a trip to Honolulu, the South Sea Islands, Australia, the Philip
pines, China, Japan and Siberia, noted the great opportunities in those coun
tries for the introduction of American products, and returned more than
ever convinced that the industrial advantages of Tacoma and the Puget
Sound country are almost unlimited and that there is no danger of over
production. The marriage of Mr. Hewitt was celebrated in 1870, at Menasha, when
Roceva L. Jones became his wife. Their union has been blessed with five
children, namely: William, engaged in the lumber business at Everett;
Mary; John, assistant treasurer of the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Com-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 301
pany; Mrs. Clara Lee; and Plenry, a student at Ann Arbor. The family
reside in a beautiful home at 501 North Fourth street. Mr. Hewitt has
long been prominent in Republican politics, exerting a wide influence in the
election campaigns, but he has never been an aspirant for political honors.
For many years he has been accorded a high place among the leading men
of the Evergreen state, and his business career is an honor to the state of
his adoption.
EMERY McGINNIS.
When Whatcom was a little village containing only a permanent popu
lation of five hundred Emery McGinnis came to this section of the state, and
through the past twenty years his efforts have been directed into channels
through which flow the greatest good to the greatest number and at the same
time have advanced his individual prosperity. Pie is now a real estate and
insurance agent of Whatcom, and the recognized leader in the latter depart
ment of business in the city.
It was on the 23d of June, 1858, in Owen county, Indiana, that Emery
McGinnis was born, a son of Elisha R. and Rhoda (Cummings) McGinnis,
both of whom were natives of Indiana and represented old American fam
ilies. The father was a farmer by occupation, and followed that pursuit in
support of his family until called to his final rest in 1894. Plis widow still
survives him and is yet living in her native state. In the family were two
sons and five daughters who are yet living, the brother of our subject being
Elisha, who carries on agricultural pursuits in the Hoosier state.
In the public schools near his boyhood home, Emery McGinnis mastered
the branches of learning usually taught in such institutions, and later he
entered the University of Michigan, in which he was graduated in the class
of 1881, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He remained at home through
the two succeeding years and then came to Whatcom, Washington, in 1883.
This was but a small place at the time, containing not more than five hundred
permanent inhabitants, and the country round about was but sparsely settled..
Mr. McGinnis secured a homestead claim upon which he lived until the fall
of 1889, devoting his energies to agricultural pursuits with fair success. He
then went to Fairhaven, this state, where he turned his attention to the real
estate and insurance business, continuing his operations there until February,
1893, when he took up his abode in Whatcom, where he has since made his
home. Here he has conducted a similar business, and has handled consider
able property. He has also written much insurance, in fact, is regarded as
the leading representative of this business here, and is agent for a number of
the old and reliable companies, including the New York Life, the North
British Mercantile Company, the Royal of Liverpool, the St. Paul Fire &
Marine and the Fidelity & Casualty of New York.
Mr. McGinnis exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and
measures of the Republican party. He served as road supervisor in What
com county for six years, from 1884 until 1890, and assisted materially in
opening up good roads. During the same time he was a member of the
school board, and was instrumental in the building of the first schoolhouse

302 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
in the Rome precinct. He served as deputy United States marshal under
President Cleveland during the second administration, and was chairman
of the Democratic county central committee from 1886 until 1891 inclusive.
He also attended many county and state conventions, and was the candidate
for representative to the constitutional convention in 1889 on the Demo
cratic ticket, but was defeated by eleven votes. In matters of citizenship,
however, he is ever loyal and progressive and endorses every measure which
he believes will contribute to the public good.
In Indiana, September 21, 1880, was celebrated the marriage of Mr.
McGinnis and Miss Maggie Belle Smith, a native of that state and a daughter
of Noah Smith, who was of German descent, although the family was estab
lished on American soil at an early day in the history of this country. Three
sons have been born to our subject and his wife : Sanford Everett, nineteen
years of age; John, aged twelve; and Frank, aged ten. There are also two
daughters, Myrtle L. and Bessie. Mr. McGinnis is a popular and esteemed
member of various social organizations, including the Knights of Pythias
fraternity, the Woodmen and the Knights of the Golden Eagle. Coming to
this section of the country in pioneer times, he has watched with interest its
development and has proved a worthy citizen because he has labored effectively
and unselfishly for the welfare of his adopted city and state.
WILLIAM L. MILLER.
William L. Miller, a successful real estate dealer and prominent citizen
of Whatcom, Washington, was born June 6, 1847, m Berlin, Germany, and
is a son of Gottlieb and Henrietta (Baker) Miller, natives of Germany and
England respectively. The father came of an old German family, and he
was burgomaster and collector of revenue for the district of Piritz in Pome-
rania, but resigned to come to America and engage in a flour mill business
in Wisconsin, where he died in 189 1. The mother came of excellent English
stock, and she passed away in 1896, having borne her husband four children,
namely: William L., who is our subject; Henry, who is a merchant of Gor
don, Nebraska ; John, who is a merchant of Wenatchee, Washington ; Mina,
the wife of Ernest Schlip, of Omaha.
The early education of William L. Miller was obtained in Germany,
but when he was nine years of age he was brought by his parents to Wiscon
sin, and he continued his studies in the public schools of Dodge county, that
state, being graduated from the high school of Mayville, Wisconsin, in 1861.
When only fifteen years of age he enlisted in the Thirty-sixth Wisconsin
Volunteer Infantry and served until the close of the war, being present at
the surrender of Lee. Among other engagements he participated in the
battle of the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, the siege and surrender of Petersburg,
Ream's Station and many others. Upon returning from the war he settled
on a farm in Wisconsin, but later removed to Iowa, where for four years
he was a farmer and stock dealer, but then sold his interests and removed
to Nebraska. In this state he had many interests, conducting a mercantile
establishment, a grist mill and a flourishing lumber business. In February,
1883, having great confidence in the future of Whatcom, Washington, he

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 303
located in that city, when he was one of its twenty residents. Realizing that
property was bound to advance in value, he purchased heavily, and embarked
in a real estate business which prospered and which he still continues. At one
time he also owned a sawmill in Whatcom, and operated it for six or seven
years in connection with his real estate interests. Mr. Miller was one of the
incorporators of the Seattle, Whatcom & New Westminster Railroad, better
known as the Canfield line, in 1883. Pie was the first vice-president and
superintendent of the company, acquired the right of way, cut the right of way
forty miles, and finally sold part of it to J. B. Bennett, of Tacoma, who
afterwards transferred it to the Great Northern Railroad, that company taking
a portion of it as their right of way. Mr. Milieu was also a promoter of the
Nooksack River Boom & Logging Company in 1891, and was made its presi
dent, the company having a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. This
company was afterwards incorporated with the Bellingham Bay Boom Com
pany. Another organization which owes its life to Mr. Miller is the What
com Lumber Company, of which he was incorporator and president, it hav
ing a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, and this he sold. He also
incorporated the Whatcom Cedar Lumber Company, capital stock of fifty
thousand dollars, was its president, but this concern lost its plant by fire and
never rebuilt. Mr. Miller started the Whatcom Land Company, which is now
doing a flourishing business with him as its secretary.
In politics Mr. Miller is an intelligent, active and enthusiastic Democrat,
and from 1878 until 1882 he was county treasurer of Madison county, Ne
braska; in the fall of 1891 he was elected mayor of Whatcom and served most
acceptably until 1893, and was again nominated, but was defeated by only
nine votes, he running far ahead of his ticket owing to his personal popu
larity and the clean and satisfactory administration he had given the people.
Upon many occasions he has been sent to county and state conventions, and
served upon the county central committee. Fraternally he is a member of the
Order of Elks and the Grand Army of the Republic, and takes an active part
in both organizations, as he does in anything to which he directs his interest.
On March 29, 1866, he was married to Emilie Wolf, and she is a daugh
ter of Frederick Wolf, of Waterloo, Iowa, a member of an old American
family of German descent. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Miller, namely: William F., Gustave A. and Leonard, all in the real estate
business at Whatcom; Nora is the wife of Samuel Thompson, a lumber
merchant of Fairhaven; Albert Harrison, who is fourteen years of age, is
attending the State Normal School.
JEROME W. ROMAINE.
Jerome W. Romaine, a leading attorney of Whatcom, Washington, and
a prominent politician of Whatcom county, was born May 15, 1859, in Fond
du Lac county, Wisconsin. He is a son of Garrett and Martha L. (Har-
baugh) Romaine, the former of whom was of Dutch extraction, his ances
tors emigrating from Holland, and the latter of German-English-French
ancestry. The Romaine family was established in the state of New York
in 1679. The father of Jerome W. Romaine was a farmer and stockman in

304 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
that state until his death, on October 22, 1899. All of his kindred lived in
New York or New Jersey. The mother of our subject was a native of Ohio
and now resides at Dayton, Washington. Our subject's brothers and sisters
are: William B., who has been a farmer at Dayton, is now a resident of
Portland, Oregon; John Henry is a farmer and stock-raiser at Dayton;
Frantz S. is a rancher and stockman at Dayton; Freeman C. is engaged in
the same business; Charity A. is the wife of Newton James, a farmer of
Dayton; and Rachel J. is the wife of Henry James, who is also engaged in
farming at Dayton.
Jerome W. Romaine was educated in the public schools of Dayton and
graduated at the high school in 1881. His law reading was done with Judge
R. F. Sturdevant, at Dayton, and he was admitted to the bar in 1887, before
Judge Langford, . judge of the United States district court. Prior to this,
however, in 1882, he went to Big Timber, Montana, near the Yellowstone,
and spent seven months on the range as a cowboy. Returning to Dayton,
in the spring of 1883 he was appointed deputy assessor three years, and deputy
sheriff for seven months, at the same time filling the position of clerk of the
city schools. With this practical experience of men and affairs, Mr. Romaine
commenced his law practice, and for six months in 1888 officiated .as the
editor and publisher of the Okanogan Outlook. He encountered many diffi
culties in this enterprise, but with wonderful ingenuity managed to issue his
paper regularly, although at one time it had to be printed on wall paper,
exhausting the town's supply of this article. His services on this paper were
terminated by his election as county superintendent of schools, in which posi
tion he efficiently served for two years, until 1890.
Mr. Romaine then went to Olympia, where he was made assistant secre
tary in the state senate during the first state legislature, in 1889-90, when he
returned to Okanogan, closed up his business affairs and removed to What
com, where, on July 1, 1890, he opened his law office, in 1891 forming a
partnership with Major A. S. Cole. When he was appointed secretary of the
Whatcom tide land appraisers, he gave his attention to the duties of that
office during the existence of the board, which appraised all the tide lands in
the county. After dissolving partnership with Major Cole, he became asso
ciated with Frank H. Richards, and later with Judge I. N. Maxwell. In
the fall of 1896 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Whatcom county.
In October, 1898, his health became impaired, and he made a trip to Hono
lulu, where he remained recuperating for seven months, during which time
he was admitted to practice in the supreme court of Hawaii. Returning to
the United States, he practiced law for nine months at Oakland, California.
In the spring of 1900 he returned to Whatcom, and in August, 1901, he
formed a partnership with Judge John R. Crites.
During the past ten years Mr. Romaine has been considerably inter
ested in mining properties, and owns a one-third interest in the Whistler
Group mines on Slate creek in Washington, and has other interests here and
in the Mt. Baker district. He is one of the stockholders and a promoter of
the Bellingham Oyster Company, and is serving as its secretary — an organi
zation which has acquired seven hundred acres on Samish flats, in which
have been found a choice variety of oyster. He is also one of the members

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 305
and an organizer of the Bellingham Lumber & Shingle Company of Fair
haven, which has a paid-in capital of fifty thousand dollars. The capacity of
its plant is thirty-five thousand feet of lumber per day, and the company is
engaged in building a box factory in connection with it.
Mr. Romaine has been an active and is a very influential member of the
Republican party, and for two years was the secretary of the Republican
county convention in Okanogan and its secretary in Whatcom county for
four years. In 1902 he was nominated for the state senate in the forty-second
district, but was defeated. He has been regular in his attendance at the
different state and county conventions, and is regarded by his party as one of
its leaders. On July 21, 1897, Mr. Romaine was married at Whatcom to Marion
Alma Cole, daughter of Converse G. Cole, formerly postmaster at Whatcom.
Mr. Cole was of English descent, but was born in New Hampshire, his wife
being a native of Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Mrs. Romaine died
June 3, 1898, leaving an infant daughter, Lecil Alma, born June 1, 1898.
Mr. Romaine belongs to the various branches of the Masonic fraternity, and
is also a Modern Woodman. His religious connection is with the Episcopal
church.
CALVIN T. LIKINS.
Calvin T. Likins, a successful real estate dealer and leading citizen of
Whatcom, Washington, was born November 3, 1854, at Newton, Iowa, and
is a son of Leonard E. and Elizabeth (Hammack) Likins. The father was
a native of Virginia, and on the maternal side descended from the Carters,
who located in America about 1650, from England. On the paternal side
Leonard Likins came of Revolutionary stock, and his father was a soldier
in the war of 1812. Leonard had two brothers who were killed in the Civil
war, while he died in 1885, being murdered in the office of the Keystone
Consolidated Mining Company, of Amador City, California, where he had
been employed ten years. Although there was $65,000 in currency in the safe
at the- time, it was not secured, but Mr. Likins saved it by giving up his
life. The mother was a native of Tennessee, and traces her ancestry back to
Revolutionary heroes. She is still living, making her home in Whatcom,
Washington. Mrs. Likins had two brothers, both of whom were killed dur
ing the Civil war. There were five children in the family born to Mr. and
Mrs. Leonard Likins, namely: John L., a contractor and deputy sheriff in
Whatcom; William E., a contractor of the same city; Sarah A., wife of
John Armstrong, a hotel man of Greenwood, British Columbia ; May, widow
of William Eaton of Spokane, Washington, who died in 1900, leaving her
the Redpath Hotel in that city, which she still owns.
Calvin R. Likins was educated in the public schools of Iowa, and in 1870
he went to southeastern Kansas (Montgomery county) and completed his
course, being graduated from the University of Kansas, at Lawrence, in
1876, with the degree of B. A. Later he took up the study of law in San
Francisco and was admitted to practice in the territory of Washington in
1887, during the times that Jones was chief justice of the territory. During
2Q

306 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
the time he was in San Francisco he studied under John C. Hall until 1883,
when he made a trip to Whatcom, but returned to California to finish his
law course. The following year, however, he came once more to Whatcom,
and entering the office of Attorney H. A. Fairchild continued to study law.
As soon as he was admitted to practice he opened an office, and for two
years was actively engaged in an excellent law business, but, his health
failing, he went to California for eighteen months and engaged in dealing
in horses. Coming back to Whatcom in 1892, he went to farming and was
thus engaged for two years, when, in 1897, he spent one year more in Cali
fornia, returning in 1898 to engage in real estate transactions and convey
ancing, under the firm name of Powell & Likins. At the end of two years this
partnership was dissolved and a new association formed under the style of
Wyatt & Likins, C. A. Wyatt being the other member of the firm. In politics
he has always been a Republican, casting his first vote for President Hayes.
During his residence in Whatcom he was elected city councilman in 1887,
and has served as delegate to county conventions upon many occasions. Among
his other interests, Mr. Likins, with George H. Butlers and C. A. Wyatt,
holds a franchise for building an electric railway from Whatcom to Lynden.
a distance of fifteen miles, which will cost $120,000, and is to be completed
within the next eighteen months. He was also instrumental in platting a
large portion of Whatcom, and has always lent his aid toward all measures
he deemed likely to result in benefit to the city and general public.
On April 20, 189 1, he married Dora M. Hansen in Oakland, California.
She is a daughter of Nicholas Hansen, a miner of Plymouth, California, who
died in 1884. Mrs. Likins was born in Calaveras county, that state, of Dan
ish-Irish parentage. One daughter has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Likins,
Corinne, aged four years. SAMUEL M. BRUCE.
There are few names in history that are more familiar to the student
than that of Bruce, and Attorney Samuel M. Bruce, of Whatcom, Washing
ton, can claim an ancestral line which reaches back to the first chief justice of
England, Robert De Buis, a noble who came over with William the Con
queror and fought in the decisive battle of Hastings. The name is illustrious
in Scottish history. Members of this family came to America from the north
of England, and from Scotland, as early as 1690, and became prominently
identified with the early settlement and development of the colonies. They
were noted for their patriotism, and our subject's great-grandfather was
wounded during the Revolutionary struggle, at the battle of Monmouth,
from the effects of which he died about the close of the war.
In 1806 the grandfather of Attorney Bruce emigrated from Virginia
to the state of Ohio, and settled in what is now Hillsboro, Highland county.
He had a family of five sons, James, John, Thomas, Christopher and William.
They scattered through the west, and practically all the Bruces in the west
belong to the same family.
Samuel M. Bruce was born April 12, 1856, in Clarksburg, Ross county,
Ohio, and is a son of Thomas and Sarah (Norris) Bruce, Thomas Bruce

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 307
was an Ohio farmer. During the Civil war his loyalty made him anxious
to serve his country in the ranks, but his age prevented his enlistment. How
ever he found a useful sphere of activity in acting as a volunteer nurse, and
spent his time in looking after his acquaintances who were able to do the
fighting. Surely this was a noble trait of character. His death took place
in 1878. The mother of our subject was of Welsh and English descent, and
she was born north of Chillicothe, Ohio, where members of her family still
reside. Exclusive of our subject, the family was as follows : Thomas, a
farmer in Missouri ; Albert, a physician in Kansas ; Charles, a rancher in
New Mexico ; Marshall, a large lumberman and property owner at Whatcom ;
and Eva, the wife of U. W. Davidson, a merchant at Eureka, Illinois.
Samuel M. Bruce was educated in the public schools of his native county
and in those of the state of Missouri, where his father located in 1868. After
completing his schooling, in 1870, he began to farm and also learned the trade
of plasterer. His ambition, however, was to enter the legal profession, al
though his father encouraged him to study medicine. In order to please his
parent, he applied himself during his evenings, his only spare time, to the
study of medical works, but after six months' application he found that his
inclinations led more strongly in the direction of law. In the spring of 1877
he entered the law office of A. W. Anthony, of Versailles, Missouri, and in
the following October he passed his examination and was admitted to prac
tice. In the following spring he opened a law office at Sedalia, Missouri,
and remained there until December, 1879.
Mr. Bruce made a visit of two years in Ohio, and during this time
worked at his trade, and in January, 1882, located at Quincy, Illinois, and
formed a partnership with Hon. George A. Anderson. Owing to ill health,
he was obliged to withdraw soon after, and then went to Indiana, and on
March 1, 1882, opened there a law office and soon built up a lucrative prac
tice, making this state his home until November 1, 1889, when he came to
Whatcom. Here he opened up an office, December 1, 1889, and on August 1,
1890, formed a partnership with O P. Brown, which continued until Septem
ber, 1895. Mr. Bruce practiced alone until May, 1896, when he formed a
partnership with H. A. Fairchild under the firm name of Fairchild & Bruce.
Mr. Bruce has long been prominent in politics, and in every locality in
which he has resided has been one of the leading citizens. He was com
mitteeman of his precinct and of the county central organization at Indian
apolis for four years, as an ardent Republican, during both the Harrison and
Cleveland administrations, but he was no office-seeker. He was president of
the Citizens National Bank at Fairhaven in 1900, and he has been interested
in various companies but not as an organizer. He is public-spirited and has
assisted in many of the progressive movements which have resulted in the
growth and development of this section. In his profession he has been con
stantly engaged in important litigation ever since the organization of the
city. Before entirely leaving the political career of Mr. Bruce, an interesting
bit of political history may be recorded. In 1888 General Harrison and also
Hon. Walter Gresham were aspirants for the office of president of the United
States, and the race was close for the nomination, One man of the delega-

308 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
tion to the national convention never swerved from his allegiance to Gresham,
and the result was a factional fight. After Harrison was nominated, as a
condition to secure the nomination, his friends pledged the electoral vote of
the state. Harrison did not create any personal enthusiasm, and when the
campaign was well under way the Gresham men were not zealous in his sup
port. A conference was called at which the late Major W. H. Calkins, for
merly a member of Congress from Indiana, was called in as a leader of the
Gresham forces. There were present at this caucus General Harrison and
five others, of whom S. M. Bruce was one. General Harrison stated that he
was confronted with a condition that unless Gresham followers gave support,
there would be no possibility of securing the electoral vote of Indiana, and
he stated that he would rather lose the presidency than the support of his own
state. He appealed to Calkins as head of the Gresham faction, for their sup
port, stating that if elected, anything Calkins should ask for, he would receive.
Calkins said: "General Harrison, in 1883, when a vacancy occurred in the
office of postmaster general, you came from the Senate chamber to my chair
in the house, went with me to President Arthur, and asked him to appoint me
to that position, and President Arthur said he would gladly do so if I could be
spared from the house. If you should be elected president, I should expect
you to offer as much as you would ask for, of another."
To this General Harrison replied : " It shall be as you wish." The
conference ended. After General Harrison was elected, Mr. Bruce met Major
Calkins on the street and asked him if he recalled the conference. It then
developed that Major Calkins had been asked to relinquish his claim for any
position on the cabinet and to accept a foreign appointment. This was refused,
and Major Calkins later decided to locate in Washington territory. Mr.
Bruce had the matter recalled to him in the fall of 1891, when, in Tacoma,
he visited Major Calkins, who said he was under sentence of death from his
physicians. A vacancy had occurred in the supreme court, and Calkins and
Bruce were discussing the matter, when Calkins suddenly called his stenog
rapher and dictated a letter to President Harrison stating that his blighted
hopes and ambitions had left no rancor, but that it would be a gracious and
magnanimous act to appoint Judge Gresham to this vacant position. Some
two weeks later, when Mr. Bruce again called upon Major Calkins, he was
shown a letter from President Harrison in which the latter announced that
he was sufficiently acquainted with lawyers of the United States to enable him
to make proper nominations. That closed the incident. It remains but a bit
of political history, and Mr. Bruce is the only survivor of the original mem
bers of the committee.
On September 19, 1883, Mr. Bruce was married to Mary S. Babcock,
who is a daughter of a prominent resident of Troy, New York. Mr. Bruce
is a member of the Tribe of Ben Hur, and is an apprentice both in Masonry
and the order of Knights of Pythias. He took the early rites in Indiana but
never has renewed his connections. He also belongs to the Eagles.
DR. LEMON R. MARKLEY.
Dr. Lemon R. Markley, a leading physician of Whatcom, Washington,
as well as a prominent and influential citizen of that city, was born in Jackson

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 309
county, Michigan, September 12, 1859, and is a son of Urias and Caroline
(Lutz) Markley. The father was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania,
and was a mechanic. He came of a substantial Pennsylvania family, of
German descent, and died in 1901, a highly respected gentleman. The
mother was born in Pennsylvania, also coming of German descent, and is
now living at Juniata, Nebraska. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Markley, namely : Dr. Markley ; Lennie, who married Thomas Saddler, a
farmer and grower of fancy stock at Juniata, Nebraska ; and Melvin, a dentist
of Juniata, Nebraska.
Dr. Lemon R. Markley was an attendant at 'the public schools in northern
Indiana, later went to Omaha and attended the medical department of the
University of Omaha, which has since then become affiliated with the state
university. From this institution he was graduated in 1883 with the degree
of M. D. Until 1890 he remained in active practice in Nebraska, but at that
date he removed to Whatcom and laid the foundations of his present large
practice. In 1896 and 1902 he took post-graduate courses at the University
of California at San Francisco, and was made acting assistant surgeon in
Marine Hospital Service, port of Whatcom, his commission being signed by
Secretary Shaw, January 12, 1900. While residing in Nebraska he was
United States pension examiner for the western district of Nebraska, and
was county physician and county coroner of Kimball county, Nebraska, from
1886 to 1890. During his early residence in Whatcom he was acting county
physician for several years, and has always been considered a very able
physician. On August 20, 1884, Dr. Markley married Mary J. LeFevre, a daughter
of J. R. LeFevre, a farmer of Juniata, Nebraska, who comes of an American
family of French descent. Two children have been born of this marriage,
namely : Nina, sixteen years of age ; Alton, six years of age. Fraternally,
Dr. Markley is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Royal Arcanum and
the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. In addition to his other
interests, Dr. Markley is the examiner for eight or ten of the best insurance
companies of Whatcom. Dr. Markley is the first physician in the city to do
thorough microscopic work, and he is recognized as a representative of the
best interests of the county as well as a physician of skill who commands the
entire confidence of the community and enjoys a very large practice.
GEORGE H. WATROUS.
George H. Watrous, who is engaged' in an extensive real estate and
insurance business at Fairhaven, Washington, and is one of the prominent
and substantial citizens of this section, was born January 3, 1862, at Naples,
New York. His father was Henry H. Watrous, who was born in Connecti
cut, of an old colonial family which came to America from England in 1630.
In England the name was spelled Waterhouse, but in the western world has
been contracted to its present orthography. Henry Watrous was for forty
years a merchant at Naples, New York. His wife was Caroline A. Brownell,
who was also born and married in Connecticut. The Brownell family is one
of the old and honorable ones of that state, dating beyond Revolutionary

310 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
days. She still resides in Genesee county, New York, but her husband died
in 1 89 1. The surviving members of their family, exclusive of our subject,
are: Henry A., a farmer in California; Florence, wife of Frank Flansburgh,
a farmer of Genesee county, New York; Effie, a resident of Genesee county;
and Fannie C, a trained nurse in New York city.
George H. Watrous was educated in the public schools of Naples; New
York, and graduated from the high school, concluding his education in 1880.
He was then employed for nine years in, the Naples postoffice. In November,
1889, he came to Whatcom county, Washington, and located in the real estate
and insurance business at Fairhaven, and continued to successfully conduct
it until in December, 1893, he was appointed postmaster by President Cleve
land. He filled the office in a capable and popular manner until 1898, and
then resumed his former business, in which he handles some of the most
valuable property of all kinds in this vicinity, and represents in insurance such
companies as the North British and Mercantile, the New York Life and
others. Mr. Watrous has been a prominent member of the Fairhaven Commer
cial Club, and for two years was its second vice-president. In politics he is a
Democrat, and takes a very active interest in the movements of his party, and
has been delegate and member of many important committees at various con
ventions ever since locating in the state. During 190 1-2 he was a member
of the Whatcom county state central committee, and is in the confidence of
the leading men of the party through Washington. He has been honored
with a number of city positions, has been a member of the city council, and
in 1 90 1 was councilman-at-large.
On August 26, 1885, Mr. Watrous was married to Cara R. Buck, who
was born at Naples, New York, and is a daughter of E. W. Buck. One son
and two daughters have been born to this marriage, namely : Willis H,
Mary F. and Genie J., all students. Fraternally Mr. Watrous is prominent
in the order of Knights of Pythias, in which he has held all the offices in the
subordinate lodge. Many times he has been in attendance on the Grand
Lodge as a delegate, has been keeper of the records of Fairhaven Lodge No.
56, and is also district deputy. Mr. Watrous during the past ten years has
become largely interested in mining, and owns promising properties in Mt.
Baker district and some rich ones in the Kamloops, British Columbia, district.
COLONEL CHANCEY W. GRIGGS.
The record of Colonel Griggs is that of a man who has worked his way
upward to a position among the substantial men of the community in which
he lives. He is a native of the far-off state of Connecticut, his birth occur
ring there in Tolland on the 31st of December, 1832, and he is of English
and Scotch descent. The founders of this family in America emigrated to
this country from England, one settling in New York, another in New
Hampshire and the third in Connecticut, and from the latter our subject
is descended. His grandfather, Stephen Griggs, was born in Tolland, Con
necticut, was a farmer by occupation, a prominent member of the Congre
gational church, and attained to the ripe old age of ninety years. His son,

Er-ipi&y Her

-y fc^L

C.W GRIGGS

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 311
Chauncy Griggs, was born in Tolland, Connecticut, in 1810, and for his
wife he chose Miss Harte Dimock. Later in life he sold his possessions in
Connecticut and removed to Detroit, Michigan, where he spent the re
mainder of his days, living retired from the active cares of a business life.
He had accumulated considerable wealth, owning several farms and also
interested in a banking institution, was at one time a member of the Con
necticut legislature, was a judge of the probate court and served as captain
of a cavalry company during the Dod war. Both he and his wife were
valued members of the Congregational church, and both attained a ripe old
age in the enjoyment of the respect of all who had the pleasure of their ac
quaintance. Three sons and two daughters were born to this worthy couple,
of whom the Colonel and his sister are now the only survivors, and the
latter is the widow of G. O. Williams. She has reached the age of seventy-
eight, and is a member of her brother's household.
Colonel C. W. Griggs received his elementary education in the public
schools of Tolland, Connecticut, and later entered the academy, in which in
stitution he was graduated at the age of eighteen years. Pie was then made
principal of a school, with one assistant, and the scholars in his department
were over ten years of age. About this time he and his brother received
from their father the sum of fifteen hundred dollars with which to open
a country store in Willarnantic, Connecticut, but as their first year's sales
only netted them one hundred dollars each our subject sold his interest to his
brother and removed to Detroit, Michigan, where he took a commercial
course in bookkeeping, and for a time thereafter was employed in the bank
ing house of B. B. Morris at a small salary. From here he removed to Ohio,
purchased an interest in a livery business, but later traded the same for a
small store in Kent, that state. This venture not proving sufficiently re
munerative, Mr. Griggs sold his interest a year and a half later and then
started with a load of goods and two teams across the states to Montezuma,
Iowa, where he disposed of his merchandise, and also another lot which he
had later purchased at Keokuk, that state. Returning thence to Detroit,
Michigan, he embarked in the wholesale furniture business with his brother,
G. W. Griggs, that relationship continuing for nearly two years, when the
Colonel sold his interest and removed to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he en
gaged in contracting, merchandising and the real estate business, thus con
tinuing until the call of President Lincoln for volunteers to aid in the preser
vation of the Union. Mr. Griggs at once offered his services to his country,
enlisting in Company B, Third Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, being soon
afterward promoted colonel of the regiment, and had command of a brigade
in the western department, serving under General Grant at Vicksburg. Fail
ing health, however, compelled him to resign his command, which he did
with much reluctance, and he returned to St. Paul, Minnesota, to recuperate.
In that city he was engaged in various business ventures with James J. Hill,
there remaining for thirty-three years, during which time he proved a prom
inent factor in the upbuilding of that city. During his residence he was
intimately connected in a business way with Senator Foster, who is now the
vice president of the large manufactory at Tacoma.

312 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
As in St. Paul so in Tacoma, Mr. Griggs has been a prominent factor
in the growth and development of this city. He is the president of the St.
Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company, president of the Puget Sound Dry Dock
and Machinery Company, president of the Pacific Meat Company, president
of the Chehalis & Pacific Land Company, president of the Pacific Coal &
Lumber Company and is also connected with several other corporations doing
an extensive business. The St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company was or
ganized and incorporated in 1888 by Colonel Griggs, Senator A. G. Foster,
Henry Hewitt, Jr., C. H. Jones, P. D. Morton and George Browne, all being
men of the highest business ability. The company began operations with a
small plant, but under the able management of these gentlemen it has grown
until it is now the largest lumber manufactory in the United States, turning
out from four to five hundred thousand feet of lumber a day and four hun
dred thousand shingles. Its product is sent to all parts of the United States,
fifty per cent going to the east, twenty-five per cent to foreign countries, and
the remainder is consumed by the local trade. In this mammoth concern
employment is furnished to eleven hundred men, while the company OAvn
eighty thousand acres of timber land, and they have branch lines of railroad
to their timber claims at different places, all connecting with the Northern
Pacific Railroad system, and they are also the owners of coal mines, from
which they mine the coal used in their vast operations. Near the office and
lumber plant they have a wholesale mercantile establishment, where they
furnish ship and logging camps with goods at wholesale prices. Thus it
will be seen that for many years Colonel Griggs has been an active factor in
the industrial interests in this section of the Evergreen state, and through
his diligence, perseverance and business ability has acquired a handsome com
petence, but at the same time has contributed to the general prosperity
through the conduct of enterprises which furnish employment to many.
He was happily married in 1859, when Miss Martha A. Gallop became
his wife. She, too, claims Connecticut as the commonwealth of her nativity,
is of English ancestry and is a member of one of the early and prominent
families of that state. Her grandfather was a participant in the Revolu
tionary struggle, as was also a granduncle. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs.
Griggs has been Messed with four sons and two daughters, the former being
graduates of Yale College, and the children are all proving an honor to the
honored family name. The eldest son, Chauncy Milton, is a resident of
St. Paul, where he is acting as manager of the Griggs Cooper Company;
Theodore D. is also connected with that company in St. Paul; Herbert S.
is a prominent lawyer in Tacoma and is also interested in business with
his father; Everett G. is second vice president of the St. Paul Lumber Com
pany ; Harty D. is the wife of Dr. George C. Wagner, of Tacoma ; and Anna
B. is at home with her parents. Mrs. Griggs is a valued member of the Con
gregational church, in which both she and her husband are very liberal con
tributors. In political matters the Colonel has been a life-long Democrat,
but, being a strong believer in gold standard, supported President McKinley
in his race for the presidency. While a resident of the state of Minnesota
he was thrice elected to the state senate, and in 1892 was the candidate of
his party for United States senator, but in that year the legislature failed to

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 313
elect a senator. Since the Civil war Colonel Griggs has been a member of
the Masonic fraternity, his daily life being in harmony with its beneficent
teachings. He possesses a social nature and jovial disposition, and the circle
of his friends is only limited by that of his acquaintance.
WILLIAM PIENRY AXTELL, M. D.
Among the successful physicians of Whatcom county is Dr. William
Henry Axtell, who is now practicing in the county seat. He was born April
1 8, 1863, in Tipton, Indiana. His father, Henry Axtell, was a native of
Pennsylvania. His ancestors located in the United States when this country
was numbered among the colonial possessions of England. Representatives
of the name joined the American army at the time of the Revolutionary war
and fought for the independence of the colonies. The father of our subject
was a farmer by occupation and carried on agricultural pursuits until the
outbreak of the Civil war, when he offered his services to the government,
enlisting in the Union army. He died while in the service, on the 26th of
February, 1863. His brother, William, and his brother-in-law, Jesse Whis
tler, were killed in the battle of Memphis, near Baton Rouge, while he himself
died at Young's Point, Louisiana. The mother bore the maiden name of
Harriet Ann Lewis, and was born in Indiana. She, too, came of Revolu
tionary stock and was of English descent. She still survives her husband,
and is now living at the old home in Tipton, Indiana. In the family were
two sons, one of whom, Marion Vickery Axtell, is a contractor of Tipton.
Dr. Axtell, of Whatcom, obtained his education in the public schools
and was graduated from DePauw University, then known as Asbury Uni
versity, of Greencastle, Indiana. He completed his course in 1889 and won
the degrees of Bachelor of Philosophy and Master of Arts. Long prior to
this time, however, he entered upon his business career. When only eleven
years of age he left the public schools and went to work in a stave factory,
driving a team and doing railroad work in that connection. In 1883 he
joined his brother and purchased the business of the Tipton Transfer Com
pany, changing the name to the Axtell Brothers' bus and dray line. In
this way the Doctor earned enough to pay his college expenses. He was also
express and transfer agent for the United States Express Company. After
acquiring a good literary education to serve as the foundation upon which
to rear the superstructure of his professional learning, he entered the Medical
College of Ohio, at Cincinnati, where he remained from 1889 until the time
of his graduation in April, 1891, with the degree of M. D.
Dr. Axtell located at once in Tipton, Indiana, where he began practice
as a. member of the firm of Newcomer, Dickey & Axtell. This relation was
maintained until 1894, when he came to Whatcom, having since made his
home in this city. He is a member of the American Medical Association and
was one of the organizers of the Whatcom County Medical Society, of which
he served as the president for one year. He also belongs to the Washington
State Medical Association, and is interested in whatever tends to bring to
man the key to that complex mystery which we call life. His reading has
covered a wide scope and his investigations in his line have made him a par-

314 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ticularly capable physician. He is now medical examiner for a number of
fraternal organizations and for several life insurance companies, including
the Massachusetts Mutual, the Prudential, the Connecticut Mutual, the
Aetna, the National Life, the Bankers' Life, the State Life, the Pacific Mutual
and the Provident Life Insurance Company. He is likewise surgeon for the
Northern Railway & Improvement Company and Northern Pacific Railway
and for other corporations, and in addition to all these he has an extensive
private practice.
On the nth of June, 1891, Dr. Axtell wedded Miss Frances Sevilla
Cleveland, of Sterling, Illinois, a daughter of William A. Cleveland, a farmer
and stock-raiser of that state. This marriage has been blessed with two
daughters, Ruth and Helen Frances. The father exercises his right of
franchise in support of the men and measures of the Republican party, and
served as city health officer of Tipton for three years. He has, however,
never been an office-seeker nor sought, reward for his party fealty. He
belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, and is an enthusiastic worker in
behalf of any movement for the benefit of his community. His time and
attention are naturally most largely given to his professional duties, and
therein he shows himself ably qualified to perform the arduous task which
continually confronts the physician in his attempt to alleviate human suffering
and prolong life. He has, moreover, a genial, kindly nature which is mani
fested in his ready and helpful sympathy.
CHARLES A. WYATT.
Charles A. Wyatt, who is engaged in real estate dealing in Whatcom,
was born July 22, 1870, in Talladega, Alabama, and is a son of James I. and
Polly (Lackey) Wyatt. The father was born on the Emerald Isle of an old
family of Ireland. After coming to America he took up his abode in the south
and became interested in the Clifton Iron Works near Talladega, in which
city he makes his home. His wife was born in Alabama and is descended
from good old Revolutionary stock. Her ancestors have resided in this
country for much more than a century. She had a brother who was shot
during the Civil war. Mrs. Wyatt passed away in 1872, leaving two sons,
the brother of our subject being George W., who is now a mine-owner in
Alabama. Charles A. Wyatt obtained his early education in the public schools of
his native state, and when thirteen years of age he went to Texas in the
employ of a cattle breeder named W. Lane, for whom he worked four years.
On the expiration of that period he removed to Arizona, where he was en
gaged in the same business for more than a year. His next place of residence
was Los Angeles, California, and in that locality he had charge of the Sen-
tinela ranch for W. L. Vail, with whom he remained until 1889, when he
came to Whatcom. Here he secured employment in the sawmill of Hill &
Wilbur, setting blocks. At the same time he took up some land, and later
purchased the tug Reggie on Lake Whatcom. He ran that until it was
destroyed by fire in 1894. Mr. Wyatt then went to the Midwinter Fair in
San Francisco and after a short stay in that city proceeded to Los Angeles,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 315
where he established a grocery store, conducting it until 1899. In that year
he sold out and went to Ontario, California, where he again engaged in the
grocery business in partnership with A. C. Grube. He next located at Cripple
Creek, Colorado, going there at the time of the big boom, but he could not
stand the climate, and removed to Enid, Oklahoma, and afterward to Kansas
City, Missouri. When he had spent a few weeks in the latter place he
returned to this place and secured a position in the department store owned
by A. Mansfield, with whom he remained for a year. His next connection
was with Tom Reed in the grocery business, and he then made a prospecting
trip to Mount Baker. Mr. Wyatt established the first saloon at Deming, but
after a year disposed of that. business and again went to Los Angeles, where
he conducted a cigar store until the 15th of March, 1901. He then sold out
and purchased a merry-go-round, which he brought to Whatcom. After con
ducting it for a time he became a real estate operator, forming a partnership
with C. T. Likins.
On the 7th of March, 1894, Mr. Wyatt was united in marriage to Miss
Maggie L. Brisbin, a daughter of Jeremiah Brisbin, one of the pioneer settlers
of Whatcom. She was born in Franklin, Nebraska, and her ancestry has
been closely connected with this country for many generations, but was of
Irish descent. Her father served throughout the Civil war as a loyal defender
of the Union. To Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt has been born a son, Willie Wynn.
In his political views Mr. Wyatt is a Republican and keeps well informed
on the issues of the day and takes an active interest in the work of the party.
He is now connected with the Whatcom-Lynden Electric Railroad Company,
of which he was one of the organizers. This company formed in order to
build an electric railroad which will, when completed, be twenty-five miles in
length, extending from Whatcom through Lynden to Blaine, and will cost
three hundred thousand dollars. TUNIS R. KERSHAW.
Among the state officers of Washington is numbered Tunis R. Kershaw,
one of the prominent citizens of Whatcom, who is now serving as fish com
missioner. He has long figured actively in political interests of the north
west, and the Republican party finds in him a stalwart supporter whose efforts
in its behalf have been effective and far-reaching. In the discharge of his
duties he shows that he has the best interests of the state at heart, and has
done not a little for the promotion of what is fast becoming one of the most
important industries of this section of the country.
Almost the width of the continent separates Mr. Kershaw from his birth
place, for he is a native of Genesee county, New York, his natal day being
February 26, 1853. His parents were George S. and Susan (Van Ness)
Kershaw, who were also natives of the Empire state, and there passed away,
the father in 1886 and the mother in 1889. Their children are: Peter F.,
a farmer of Missouri; Carrie E., who is employed in the United States
treasury department in Washington, D. C. ; Sarah, the widow of George
Weyman, of Sycamore, Illinois; and Tunis R.

316 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
The last named acquired his preliminary education in the public schools
of Rochelle, Illinois, and later attended Blackburn University at Carlinville,
that state, being graduated in that institution in 1872, with the degree of
Bachelor of Arts. He then took up the study of law in Rochelle, in the office
of P. J. Carter, and was admitted to the bar at Ottawa, Illinois, in June, .1874.
He then began practice in Rochelle, and the following year was elected city
attorney. In the spring of 1876, however, Mr. Kershaw went to Dakota, locating
at Rockport, where he remained until 1877, when he removed to Sioux Falls,
South Dakota, being there engaged in the practice of his chosen profession
until 1882, and during the greater part of that time was a partner of ex-Sen
ator Pettigrew. On the expiration of that period Mr. Kershaw removed to
North Dakota and laid out the town of Carrington. When the capital was
removed to Bismark he took up his abode in that place, but in January, 1884,
came to Washington, settling at Seattle, where he was engaged in the abstract
business until after the disastrous fire which swept over that city in 1889.
Mr. Kershaw then came to Whatcom and once more resumed the practice of
law. He has since made his home here and was also engaged in the real
estate business with Hugh Eldridge from 1898 until 1902, when he was
appointed state fish commissioner by Governor McBride, entering upon the
duties of the office in March, 1902, for a term of four years. His appoint
ment came in recognition of his faithful service in behalf of the party and
of the great fishing industries of Whatcom. As fish commissioner he has
already done effective work and is putting forth every effort in his power to
preserve and propagate food fish and to enlarge the industry, which is already
a source of much income to Washington. He is now giving special attention
to the building up of the oyster business. Since Mr. Kershaw assumed the
duties of fish commissioner he has been very persistent in establishing a
hatchery on the Frazer river in British Columbia for the purpose of propagat
ing sockeye fish. There being no streams in the state of Washington that
the sockeye fish ascend for propagating, and this being the best variety of
fish, he deems it essential to the perpetuating of the industry on Puget Sound
that there should be a good system of hatcheries established on the Frazer
river. In politics Mr. Kershaw has ever been an active Republican, with firm
faith in the principles of the party and in their ultimate triumph. He at
tended every state convention of his party in Dakota during his residence
there, and has also been a delegate to the county and state conventions in
Washington, his opinions carrying weight in the party councils.
On the 30th of April, 1899, Mr. Kershaw wedded Miss Mattie Bowen,
a daughter of Hiram Bowen, who was the original editor and founder of the
Milwaukee Sentinel and who afterward conducted the Janesville Gazette, of
Janesville, Wisconsin. In 1885 he retired from the journalistic field and
established a large, stock farm in South Dakota. Mrs. Kershaw is also a
sister of W. S. Bowen, the editor of the Sioux Falls Press, a paper estab
lished by Senator Pettigrew, who sold out to the present proprietor. Mr.
and Mrs. Kershaw had one child that died in infancy. They now have an
adopted daughter, Bessie Colburn, a niece of Mrs. Kershaw and now a student

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 317
in Pratt's Art Institute of Brooklyn, New York. Their friends in Whatcom
are many, and Mr. Kershaw is well known throughout the state, especially in
political circles. His genial manner, unfailing courtesy and stalwart advo
cacy of whatever cause he espouses have gained for him the admiration and
regard of all with whom he has been brought in contact.
JOHN CHARLES HAINES.
In the death of Colonel John Charles Haines, Seattle and the whole coun
try were deprived of a good citizen, a public-spirited statesman, a soldier, and a
lawyer of remarkable acumen and breadth of intellect, and it is the purpose
of this brief biography to catch the spirit of the man and portray his most
striking characteristics, and pass this on as a memorial to his many friends,
and offer it as an example for emulation to those unacquainted with his history.
It is no disparagement of the career of Colonel Haines to say that he
inherited much from his distinguished father. The late Plon. E. M. Haines
was a leading member at the Chicago bar, was three times speaker of the
lower house of the state legislature, and for a short period acting governor
of Illinois. He served for years in the legislature, and in 1885, when John
A. Logan was elected to the United States senate for the last time, he held
the balance of the power in the house. He was also author of many treatises
and an able man in every department of life. His brother, J. C. Haines, was
twice mayor of the city of Chicago and a well known banker of that place.
It was after this last named gentleman that John Charles Haines was
named. He was born in the village of Hainesville, Lake county, Illinois,
February 14, 1849. He was educated in the common schools of his state,
graduated from Lake Forest Military Academy at Lake Forest, Illinois, and
then entered Williams College, from which he graduated with the class of
'70, taking third honors in a class of fifty. In the following year he gradu
ated from the law department of a university in Chicago and was at once
admitted to the bar. As a boy he had been page in the legislature of which
his father was a member, and there he laid the foundation for his striking
knowledge of parliamentary law; while page he also made the acquaintance
of Abraham Lincoln and Elihu B. Washburne, both of whom took great
interest in the young and precocious lad.
The year following his admittance to the bar Governor Palmer appointed
young Haines city justice of Chicago, on application of the supreme court
judges, and four years later he was reappointed by Governor Beveridge. In
1876 the Democrats claimed that the vote of one of the Republican electors
from Illinois should be thrown out because the name had been misprinted ; the
result of this would have been the giving of an extra vote of Tilden for presi
dent, thus electing him in that close contest. Mr. Haines and Robert Todd
Lincoln, afterwards minister to England, were on the board of three can
vassers for the returns from Cook county, and they counted the ballot of the
Republican elector and gave him his certificate. Mr. Haines was at once
recognized as one of the ablest and brightest men of the city, and he did a
larger business in the justice courts than any other justice. Some important
cases were tried before him, and several of Chicago's best lawyers appeared

318 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
before him, men who had never been willing to plead before any other justice.
He was noted for his rapid and business-like methods, and was very popular
both with his clients and his legal brethren. In 1877, when the office of
probate judge was created in Cook county, he ran on an independent ticket,
and, securing three thousand more votes than the rest of the ticket, he was
nearly elected to the office.
In 1879 Mr. Haines lost everything in the real estate panic, and in the
following year he came with his family to Seattle, Washington. He was an
entire stranger and he first resided in a little house at the corner of James and
Fourth streets, but in three years he was recognized as the leader at the bar
of Washington, which is next to that of San Francisco in the west. He was
a fine trial lawyer, ready and quick in wit and repartee, eloquent and polished
in speech, lucid and convincing in argument, and gifted with a rich vocabu
lary, a fine voice, strong imagination, and rhetorical finish and brilliancy. His
first appearance as a speaker was on Decoration day in 1880, when he read an
original poem, and after that he was in constant demand from every part of
the state for addresses and orations, in 1884 delivering the memorial address
at Tacoma. He first had his office with W. H. White, then accepted a partner
ship with Struve & Leary, which lasted until 1883, when John Leary retired,
and a year later Maurice McMicken was taken in. This firm has control of
nearly all the corporation business of the city, and trials of cases were usually
conducted by Colonel Haines. At the time of the big fire the firm lost a large
and valuable law library. In 1890 Mr. Haines became general counsel for
the Oregon Improvement Company, but still retained a large private practice.
At the time of his death he was counsel for this and its sub-companies, the
Pacific Coast Steamship Company, Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad, the
Seattle & Northern Railroad, Port Townsend & Southern Railroad, and local
attorney for the Union Pacific, the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company,
Seattle General Electric Company, Front Street Cable Car Company, Madison
Street Car Company, etc.
But Colonel Haines did not live to reap all the success that was in store
for him, and the many interests and friends which depended upon his strength
were suddenly deprived of their support. He died in Seattle, January 2, 1892,
from peritonitis. He died as he had wished, while in the heat of the struggle
and strife of life; his physicians, law partners and his wife were present at
the death bed, and just as the rector of St. Mark's Episcopal church spoke the
last word of the prayer for the dying, he passed away. His death was felt
as an irreparable loss to the entire state, and the city was draped in black, and
thousands attended the final ceremonies, the First Regiment, the King County
Bar Association, the Pierce County Bar Association and Tacoma business
men, the Knights of Pythias, and other organizations forming a cortege over
a mile long.
Colonel Haines was a familiar figure on the streets of Seattle, and his
fine and commanding person is thus described in the issue of the Post Intel
ligencer of January 3, 1892 : " His personal appearance was striking, and none
who saw him, either uniformed and on horseback at the head of his regiment,
or on foot as a civilian, ever forgot him. He stood over six feet, and was
splendidly proportioned, with strong limbs, and shoulders well thrown back.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 319
* * * A neck like a column supported a massive head crowned with thick
brown hair, just streaked with gray. Deep-set eyes under bushy brows, a
clear-cut nose, firm chin, and heavy mustache, were the most notable features
of his face. He was a fine horseman and an enthusiast over boating and all
outdoor sports, which he followed with the active zeal of a boy."
He was too frank and too impetuous to be an ideal politician, but he was
an ardent Republican and a hard worker in the interests of his party. He
was chairman of the King county Republican convention, of the county dele
gation to the territorial convention in Tacoma, and in 1886 nominated Watson
C. Squire to Congress. He could have been United States senator, but to lull
the factional strife in his own county he generously withdrew from the race,
and it is his record that he was always loyal to his friends, never broke faith
with his enemies, or sulked under defeat. In the early eighties he was
prominent in the fire department, was captain of the hook and ladder com
pany and always at the front in fires. He was commandant of the uniformed
rank of Queen City Lodge No. 10, K. of P. When the militia was organized
in 1884, he joined a company, was made sergeant, later captain. In Novem
ber, 1885, the company was called out because of the anti-Chinese riots, and
on several other occasions was called into service, and he proved an excellent
soldier and disciplinarian. In April, 1887, he was elected colonel of the First
Regiment and was re-elected. During the two weeks after the Seattle fire the
city was under martial law, and, thanks to Colonel Haines' perfect discipline,
not a case of lawlessness occurred.
Colonel Haines was very talented, and devoted to literature for its own
sake. He was the author of many poems, and the legend of " The Saxon
Rose," delivered before the alumni of Lake Forest Academy, June 26, 1877,
was printed in book form by Jansen, McClurg & Company of Chicago. There
were also a number of tender poems to his wife. The name of this estimable
lady was Isabel Burton, and they were married at Waukegan, Illinois, Janu
ary 17, 1872. She was the daughter of Horace and Alice Burton, and the
former, who came to Chicago in 1840, was in the grain business there and a
charter member of the board of trade. Burton Charles Haines, the only son of
this union, was born in Seattle, September 13, 1883, attended the high school
and later the University of Washington for one year, and is now with the
American Steel & Wire Company. The repeal of the law granting suffrage
to women in the state of Washington is due mainly to Colonel Haines and
Judge Jones. Colonel Haines was connected with the Trinity Episcopal
parish and took a prominent part in the discussions in the convocations, his
knowledge of church history and ecclesiastical law astonishing all and giving
Trinity parish great prestige. Colonel Haines was one of the promotors of
the parish of St. Mark's, and was one of the first people to advocate it.
This brief and imperfect record of the life of Colonel Haines shows how
broad was the scope of his endeavor, how thoroughly familiar he was with
the various interests of the world, how sympathetic he was with the chords
of the stirrings and movements of men, and above all indicates the privation
which the state of Washington felt in the taking off of one " who all the world
might stand up and say was a man."

320 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ALEXANDER CYRUS MILLER.
Alexander Cyrus Miller, one of the leading representatives of the com
mercial activity of Fairhaven, Washington, was born August 4, 1858, at
Freeport, Illinois, and is a son of Christian Miller, a native of Berlin, Germany,
who by occupation was a school teacher and stood very high in his community.
He was a distinguished man of letters, born of an old German family, and in
1843 came to America and became a merchant and farmer and owned a farm
near Freeport, Illinois. When he first went to that locality he purchased a
farm, now a suburb of Chicago, and at that time only one railroad connected
Chicago with the outside world and only ran about fifty miles to Cherry Val
ley, and from there the trip was continued in an ox team to Freeport, Illinois.
This sturdy pioneer died in 1892, aged seventy-seven years. His wife bore
the maiden name of Dorothy Oberdieck, and she was born near Berlin, Ger
many, and died in 1897, aged seventy-seven years. Our subject has one
brother, Gustave, a railroad man in Wyoming, on the Union Pacific Railroad.
The other brother, Otto, was division superintendent of the Chicago & North
western Railroad, but died in 1897. The sisters in the family were as follows :
Theresa married John Koehler, a retired capitalist of Freeport ; Nettie married
John Erbert, a grocer of Freeport, Illinois ; Helen married Charles Boedecker,
a railroad man on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway at Chicago, Illinois;
Lottie married Frank Lohr, proprietor of a saddlery and harness shop of Free-
port, Illinois.
A. C. Miller was educated in the public schools of Freeport and gradu
ated from the high school of that city in 1872. For two years the young man
worked on his father's farm and during that time learned telegraphy in the
station at Freeport, so that on April 10, 1874, he was able to accept a position
as night telegraph operator at Morrison, Illinois. After being transferred
from one station to another he was promoted to be one of the train dispatchers
in Chicago, being at the time only twenty-one years of age. He remained in
Chicago until 1885, engaged in the same line, and then was transferred to the
Sante Fe, which company he served in New Mexico and Arizona, and in 1893
he went with the Rock Island road in Indian Territory, remaining until April
10, 1899. During his term of service he acted as chief train dispatcher at
Winslow and Williams, Arizona, for the Sante Fe. Poor health finally caused
him to abandon what had been his life work, and he secured a leave of absence
for three months and journeyed to Fairhaven, Washington, with the idea of
recuperating. So pleased was he, however, with this locality that he decided
to remain, and soon after making up his mind on that subject he started the
Fairhaven Times, which is still in existence. Mr. Miller's associate in the
establishment of this paper was H. J. Strickfaden, to whom he sold his interest
seven or eight months after the birth of the paper, and being then offered a
chief clerkship in the United States census department of 1900, under J, B.
McMillan as supervisor, he accepted. This work lasted for some six months,
and when he concluded his duties he purchased an interest in the business of
J. L. Easton, agent of the California Powder Works and an insurance and
real estate agent, and he has been actively engaged in this line ever since.
This firm has handled the greater portion of the powder used in the northwest.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 321
Mr. Easton is one of the county commissioners. In addition to the agency,
Mr. Miller has charge of the electric light department of the Northern Rail
way & Improvement Company, recently changed to the Whatcom County
Railway & Light Company, and has had this contract for the past two years.
In politics Mr. Miller is a Republican and takes an active part in local affairs.
In 1902 he was elected to the city council of Fairhaven from the fifth ward
for the year 1903.
®n April 12, 1890, Mr. Miller married, in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
Miss Christiana Schricker, a native of Germany and a daughter of John
Schricker, who participated in the war of 1846 and the Franco-Prussian war
of 1870-1. John Schricker had a very honorable record, and held the rank of
general in the German army. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Miller, namely : Dorris, aged ten years, attending school ; Otto, six years old ;
and George, two years old. One daughter, Rena, died in 1899, aged six years.
Mr. and Mrs. Miller attend the Presbyterian church and take an active part in
its good work. Fraternally Mr. Miller is a Knight of Pythias and a member
of the Order of United Workmen. His social affiliations are with the Com
mercial Club of Fairhaven. Mr. Miller was given the middle name of Cyrus
after Cyrus W. Field, who laid the first strand of the first Atlantic cable on or
about August 4, 1858, the date of Mr. Miller's birth.
THOMAS C. DURNELL.
It needs no special introduction to present this gentleman to the readers
of this volume, for he has been known in Whatcom county for some years as
one of its enterprising and highly regarded citizens, and his career contains
many points of interest to everyone. He is the son of eastern people; his
father, Louis Durnell, was a native of North Carolina, and was a farmer and
one of the old pioneers of Marion county, Indiana, where he died at the age
of eighty-seven years ; he married Mary Chill, a native of Virginia.
The son of these parents, who received the name of Thomas C, was
born at Indianapolis, Indiana, April 7, 1845. To this day he has a vivid recol
lection of the old log schoolhouse in Marion county, where he was privileged to
attend school in the winter season only, all the rest of the year being spent in
the work of the farm. This existence was interrupted when the Civil war
came on, and he was a member of the Eleventh Indiana Zouaves under the
command of the author-colonel, Lew Wallace. At the age of twenty-two he
went to Indianapolis and learned the carpenter's trade, and he worked at that
awhile, but in 1870 went to East St. Louis, where he began truck gardening
on an extensive scale, supplying a large part of the vegetables to the city.
During the cholera plague at St. Louis about that time the only product which
the board of health would permit to cross the river was the tomatoes raised
on his place, and he supplied forty bushels every day, for which he received
a very good price. In 1878 he gave up gardening and began the shipping of
cattle from the old Pacific stockyards at East St. Louis, but ten years later
he went back to Indianapolis and served seven years on the fire department
and then took up the trade which he had first learned. For two years he was
in the civil engineer's department, and was then appointed inspector of the first
natural gas lines which were brought into Indianapolis.
21

322 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
He soon resigned this position, and in 1889 came west and settled in
Whatcom county, Washington, where he was at first engaged in carpentering
and prospecting. In 1891 he homesteaded a one hundred and sixty acre tract
about five miles from Whatcom. Besides the work connected with the im
provement of this land, in 1892 and 1893 he held the office of street com
missioner of Whatcom, and in that capacity did much to make the streets a
matter of pride to the municipality. In 1894 he was in Los Angeles, Cali
fornia, but in the following year returned and opened a business in general
trading and real estate. In 1897 the Alaska gold excitement was the chief
topic of interest all over the country, and he was the first man to cross the
White Horse pass to Lake Bennett on the road to Dawson City, arriving in
Skagway, July 27, 1897, and at Lake Bennett on September 23, where he
built two boats to convey the supplies of his party. He arrived in Dawson
City on October 20, and there conducted a general commission business. He
was very successful during the time he remained in that new and primitive
locality, but in 1898 he disposed of his business and set out for St. Michaels
in a row boat, where he arrived on July 4th, whence he immediately left for
Seattle. Since that time he has been established in the general contracting
and building business in Whatcom, and has met with success that is truly
gratifying to a man of his restless energy and ambition.
In 1862 Mr. Durnell was married to Miss Hattie Salinger, a native of
Indiana, and she died in St. Louis in 1878, leaving three children: Hattie is
the wife of T. Sullivan, a merchant of Leadville, Colorado; Clarence B., who
is thirty-five years old, is a bookbinder in Whatcom ; Viola died in Indiana at
the age of nineteen. Mr. Durnell is now living with his second wife, whose
maiden name was Miss Maggie, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Hart, and
they are very popular citizens of Whatcom.
MERVILLE C. DICKINSON.
Perhaps no one business enterprise or industry indicates more clearly the
commercial and social status of a town than its hotels. The wide-awake,
enterprising villages and cities must have pleasant accommodations for vis
itors and traveling men, and the foreign public judges of a community by
the entertainment afforded to the strangers. In this regard Hotel Byron, of
which Mr. Dickinson is manager and one of the proprietors, is an index of the
character and advantages of Whatcom, for the hostelry will rank favorably
with those of many a larger place, and its genial proprietors neglect nothing
that can add to the comfort of his guests.
Mr. Dickinson was born on the 15th of October, 1870, in Rose, New
York. His father, Robert Darwin Dickinson, was a native of the Empire
state and was of English descent, but the family was founded in America in
colonial days, the first representatives of the name in this country having come
to the new world as early as 1700. When, the country became involved in war
with England, there were Dickinsons who joined the continental army and
fought for independence. Robert D. Dickinson was engaged in the commis
sion business in New York for many years. He wedded Harriet Ferris, also
a native of that state, and who came of good old Revolutionary stock. Her

tjng &y Hemry To-v-b^ Ij— ! j-in-i— i rpi-^

f ^ cb^/Ctr-^

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 323
ancestors sought a home in the new world prior to the time that the Dickin
sons came. They were of Welsh-PIolland origin. The father of our subject
died in 1881 and his wife passed away in 1892. They were the parents of
three children: H. L., who is engaged in the real estate business in Whatcom;
Carrie J., who also resides in this town; and Merville C, whose name intro
duces this review.
In the public schools of his native state the last named obtained his educa
tion, continuing his studies until 1885. He afterward engaged in teaching
for one year in Rose, New York, and in May, 1887, he arrived in the north
west, making his way to the Wood River valley in Idaho. For three years
he was employed as a salesman in a general mercantile store, and in the year
1890 came to Washington, settling in Fairhaven, where he turned his atten
tion to the general brokerage business. In June, 1902, he joined Mr. Wright
and purchased the Byron Hotel of Whatcom. Mr. Dickinson is the secretary
and manager of the company, while Mr. Wright is its president. This is the
most complete and modern hotel north of Seattle. Its present proprietors
have practically entirely rebuilt the place, and it is tastefully furnished and
supplied with all modern equipments for carrying on the business and pro
moting the comfort of their guests.
Mr. Dickinson is a stanch Republican in politics, and takes an active part
in promoting the growth and insuring the success of the party. He never
fails to attend the county conventions, having always been a delegate since
the time he became a voter. He cast his first vote in Fairhaven, and the
same j^ear was sent as a delegate to the county convention. He has assisted
materially in promoting many industrial enterprises in Whatcom and in this
section of the country, and is now interested in a number of business affairs
of importance bearing on the industrial and commercial development of the
northwest. Fraternally he is equally prominent and popular and is now
connected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in which he is
serving as secretary. He also belongs to the Hoo Hoos and to the Cougar
Club. Mr. Dickinson is a young man possessed of the enterprising, progres
sive spirit so characteristic of the west, and his labors have already made him
an important factor in Whatcom and have brought him a creditable degree of
success.
ZEBULON BRYANT TAYLOR.
Zebulon B. Taylor, one of Tacoma's most prominent and well known
citizens, was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, in 1828, and is of English
descent, his ancestors having emigrated from Yarmouth, England, to the
United States, where they took up their abode in Yarmouth, Massachusetts.
The great-grandfather of our subject, Captain Isaac Taylor, was born in
the latter city in 171 5, served as a captain during the Revolutionary war,
and in 1780 moved to Ashfield, Massachusetts, where he died in 1786, his
wife having passed away in Yarmouth in 1779. Isaiah Taylor, a son of that
worthy old couple, was born in the last named city in 1766, followed the
life of a seaman until his twenty-sixth year, and in 1793, in Ashfield, was
united in marriage to Miss Ruth Bryant, a daughter of Zebulon Bryant,

324 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
also of that city, and who served as lieutenant of a company of minute-men
during the Revolutionary war. Isaiah Taylor was summoned into eternal
rest in 1819, and his wife survived him for a number of years, reaching the
ripe old age of ninety-nine years and nine months, and she retained all her
mental faculties until the last. She was the first white child born in Ashfield,
Massachusetts. Zebulon Taylor, a son of this couple and the father of our
subject, was born in the city of Ashfield in 1796, where he was reared to
maturity, and married Miss Nabby Vincent, who was born in Yarmouth,
Massachusetts, in 1798, a daughter of Joseph Vincent, also a native of that
city and a descendant of one of the earliest families of that locality. Zebulon
Taylor was called to his final rest in 1829, his death resulting from the kick
of a horse, and his wife survived until 1846, when she joined him in the
spirit world.
After the death of her husband Mrs. Taylor returned to the home of
her father, giving her children into the care of her brother, with the agree
ment that Zebulon B. should remain with him until his nineteenth year and
receive the privileges of the district schools during the winter. After serv
ing the time agreed upon Mr. Taylor learned the trade of broom manufac
turing, following that occupation in connection with farming at Hadley,
Massachusetts, until 1855, when he removed to Roscoe, Winnebago county,
Illinois, investing his money in farming property there, which, however, was
mortgaged, but the former owner agreed to pay the indebtedness with the
money paid to him by Mr. Taylor, which was placed in the bank to the fanner's
credit. This was soon attached by other creditors, and our subject thereby
lost both his money and the property. Going thence to Cherry Valley,
Illinois, he there followed his trade of broom-making until 1856, when he
removed to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and carried on the same line of work both
in that city and Illinois until 1861. His next place of residence was Chicago,
Illinois, where he joined the Board of Trade as a commission merchant in
the manufacture of broom machinery and dealer in wholesale broomcorn,
but the large property which he thus accumulated was swept away in the
great Chicago fire. During the intervening period between 1855 and i860
Mr. Taylor frequently made the trip from Milwaukee to Chicago during the
winters, there being then but one passenger train, consisting of two coaches,
each way daily, with usually less than ten through passengers, and on one
occasion he was the only passenger on the train.
During the Pike's Peak excitement in 1859-60 he was employed by a
large stock company to take charge of a train across the plains to Boulder,
Colorado, a place twenty-five miles northwest of Denver, the train consisting
of forty yoke of oxen and forty men, and they were to carry a steam engine,
the material for a stamp mill and a large amount of supplies. Obtaining
their supplies at Nebraska City, they proceeded due west to Fort Kearney,
thence following the Platte river, and usually on reaching a creek or river
they crossed in the afternoon and camped on the opposite side. On one
occasion, however, they found a ravine, deep, narrow and muddy, and they
decided to camp before crossing, but during the night there was a heavy rain
and in the morning the ravine was a rapid river, full to its banks. This
seemed an unsurmountable obstacle to the travelers, but Mr. Taylor, observ-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 325 j
ing some tall, straight Cottonwood trees on the opposite bank, decided to
bridge the stream. A call for a volunteer to swim the rushing waters was
responded to by three men, one of whom was chosen, and a light rope was
placed around his body to pull him out if he failed in the attempt. Pie also
carried with him a heavy rope and tools in order to proceed with the work
and also with which to help the other men over. After this was accom
plished it was necessary to get a yoke of oxen across the stream, they being
driven as near to the edge of the water as possible, a rope from the men on
the opposite bank was attached to a ring in the yoke, and by pushing and
pulling they were speedily transported to the opposite bank. More oxen
were crossed in the same manner, and at ten o'clock the bridge was com
pleted, thus enabling the entire train to pass in safety. A man and a horse
was sent back at noon to recover an axe which had been left at the camp, and
on his return he found that a man who had watched the construction had
taken possession of the bridge and was taking toll from those wishing to
cross. Upon returning to camp one night after the oxen had been taken
care of, Mr. Taylor found five Indians waiting to see the chief, as they called
the man in charge of the train. The red men asked for something to eat,
and although supper had already, been served Mr. Taylor had not partaken
of his, and, seating himself with them,, a platter of food and a cup of tea
were brought to each. After partaking of a little food the chief suddenly
threw his knife and fork at Mr. Taylor, then his plate and contents and his
cup and a part of the tea soon followed. Putting his cup and plate aside
Mr. Taylor walked over to the chief, took him by the arm and neck and
hurled him from the camp, kicking him as he went, and for this act he was
severely criticised by his fellow travelers. Fearing an attack, he ordered the
wagons placed around the camp, fires were built on the outside so that any
approach could be discovered and the cattle were brought inside the corral,
they preparing to sell their lives as dearly as possible. The Indians, how
ever, did not trouble them, but it was related afterward by an old frontiers
man that it was owing to Mr. Taylor's brave deed that they were saved from
an attack. The train reached its destination in good shape, they having lost but
one ox during the journey. At that time the city of Denver contained but
one log house, and a sawmill was also erected and was operated by George
M. Pullman until he had accumulated a small fortune, when he returned
to Chicago and soon afterward engaged in the manufacture of the Pullman
sleeping cars. The quartz mill for which the machinery was taken proved
a failure, and all who had placed money in the enterprise lost heavily. Upon
their return from the mountains in September a few miles west of Fort
Kearney they came upon a vast herd of buffalo, which were going south but
were then taking a rest. They seemed as tame as domestic cattle, but while
in camp the party was obliged to build large fires, fearing a stampede, and
to keep from being trampled to death by the animals.
On the 23d of May, 1882, Mr. Taylor left Chicago for New Tacoma,
Washington, where he arrived on the 7th of June following, the journey
being made via San Francisco and Portland, Oregon. His first impression
of this city was very unfavorable, for at that time the now prosperous Ta-

326 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
coma consisted principally of stumps, logs, swamps and mud holes. A hotel,
conducted by W. B. Blackwell, had been erected on the dock, it being built
of rough boards, and was two stories in height, the upper floor being laid
off into sleeping rooms, while the first floor consisted of the office, dining
room, kitchen, passenger waiting room and trunk room, and from there the
trains and steamboats departed and arrived. Another hotel was known as
the St. Charles, while the Halstead House was conducted by a Mr. Halstead,
who died the same year of our subject's arrival, and another cheap building
was known as the American House. The latter was located on the south
west corner of Seventh and Pacific avenue, but this was later destroyed by
fire. The block between Ninth, Eleventh, C and Railroad streets, the latter
now known as Commerce street, was intended for depot grounds, Railroad
street having been graded by the company, and the ties were on the ground,
but the track had not yet been laid. Mr. Taylor took a careful survey of both
the old and new town, and the memorandum which he then made of all the
buildings and which he still has in his possession gives the following data :
Pacific avenue contained in all sixty-two buildings; Railroad street, forty;
C street, sixty-five; D street, fifty-four; E street, thirty-one; and Tacoma
avenue and all west of it, thirty-nine. The Methodist church stood on the
southwest corner of Seventh and C streets, while a small Catholic church
was located on the southwest corner of Division street and Tacoma avenue,
and a little railroad shop, David Lister's foundry and a schoolhouse stood on
block 208. On D street, now known as St. Helen's avenue, was another
schoolhouse, and, all told, in New Tacoma there were three hundred and
twenty-one buildings, while in the old town the buildings were more scattered,
consisting of one hundred and thirty dwellings, one school building, an Epis
copal church and Hanson's mill, making in all four hundred and fifty-five
buildings in both towns. In 1882 Mr. Taylor became financially interested
in the Pierce County News, now the Tacoma Evening Nezvs, and at the time
of purchase its property consisted of a small hand press and a small supply of
old type, and it was entirely without financial backing. Mr. Taylor succeed
ed in placing this journal upon a solid financial basis, and its history will be
found in another place in this work. In 1885 he engaged in carrying the
mail on a route established around Henderson's Bay. For this purpose he
had built in the early summer of 1885 the first steamboat in Tacoma, known
as the Estella, which was licensed to carry twenty-five passengers. The
wood work was made in the old town by Dwyer & Delfino, while the boiler
and engine were constructed by David Lister, the whole costing three thousand
dollars. This boat is still doing service on the lower Sound. At that time
there was but one other steamboat owned in Tacoma, the Bob Erwin, be
longing to T. R. Brown. This was in 1886, and Seattle could then boast
of thirty-two steamboats.
While Mr. Taylor has ever proved himself an intelligent and active sup
porter of the Republican party and a public-spirited man, he has never held
or desired office, with the exception that before leaving Hadley, Massachu
setts, he served for two years as one of the school commissioners, and while
in Chicago, after the great fire, he was one of the committee of safety, com
posed of one hundred men to preserve order and property. In Tacoma he

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 327
has become the owner of valuable real estate, on which he has three build
ings, and his time is employed in looking after his property interests.
In Hadley, Massachusetts, on the 3d of April, 185 1, Mr. Taylor was
united in marriage to Miss Harriet W. Hawley, who was born in that city
in 1826, being a daughter of Levi Hawley, also of Hadley. This union was
blessed with three children, namely : Julia Abby, who was born in Hadley,
Massachusetts, August 6, 1853, and died in Chicago in January, 1863;
William Henry, who was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, August 16, 1856,
graduated at Yale College in 1878, at Rush Medical College, of Chicago, in
1881, and now resides in Los Angeles, California; and Carrie Maria, who
was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, December 2, 1859, died in Chicago in
April, 1862. The mother of these children passed away in death in Massa
chusetts, and now lies buried near her early girlhood home. Both the pater
nal and maternal ancestry of our subject were orthodox Congregationalists,
and Mr. Taylor adheres to the faith of his Puritan ancestors. He is now
one of Tacoma's oldest and best citizens, has always had faith in the great
future of the city of his adoption, and still believes that this present large,
beautiful and progressive business center is but a forecast of what it will
yet become.
CLARENCE M. LOGSDON.
Clarence M. Logsdon is the popular representative of the forces of order
and law in the city of Whatcom, Washington, and this quiet and law-abiding
community owes much to its chief police officer. Occupying such an im
portant place in his city's affairs, it is quite proper that he should find a place
in the history of the men of affairs in this part of the state. His parents were
Dennis and Lydia A. (Ash) Logsdon, the former of whom was a native and
a farmer of Kentucky, and the latter, also a native of that state, was the
daughter of Elias Ash, a farmer of the Bluegrass state. Clarence had four
brothers and one sister, and a list of them is as follows : Elzy T., aged thirty-
eight; Simon Peter, thirty-six; Paul S., thirty-two; Frederick E., twenty-six;
and the sister Mary E., who is forty-three years of age, is the wife of Gran
ville Albert, a native of Missouri and residing in Indian Territory.
Clarence was born to the above named parents at Munfordville, Ken
tucky, on May 29, 1861, and spent the first eight or nine years of his life
in that locality, attending the country school. In 1870 the family moved to
southern Kansas, where the father took up a homestead, but in 1886 he sold
out and moved into the Panhandle of Texas, called " no man's land." Two
years later the mother of the family died and the father then moved with
some of his children to eastern Oklahoma and settled there permanently. Of
course Clarence accompanied his family until he was of age. In 1884 he went
to Mead county, Kansas, and took up a homestead, but two years later went
into the Panhandle. In 1887 he returned to Kansas and settled in Pratt
county, where in January of the following year his first wife died ; in March
he took his young son, Marion, to his sister in South Dakota and then came
west and took up his residence in Whatcom. He returned to South Dakota
in 1890 and brought his son to Whatcom, leaving him with a family on
Nooksack river by the name of Collins, who reared him as their own son.

328 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
On coming to Whatcom county Mr. Logsdon first drove a team for the
Stinger Transfer Company, later worked in a sawmill near Ten Mile, and in
the spring of 1889 ran an engine in a shingle mill of Henry & Son at Lummi;
in 1890-91 he worked on a farm near Ten Mile and in 1892 returned to What
com and drove a truck for a Mr. Smalley for two years, later driving a wagon
for Purdy & Nelson. It was in 1895 that he first became a conservator of the
peace, being appointed a member of the police force as patrolman, which he
held till 1897, when he became an officer in the Walla Walla state penitentiary.
Resigning this position in 1900, he accepted a place with the hardware firm of
Monroe, Blake & Haskell in Whatcom. In 1902 the city council appointed
him city marshal, and he was reappointed in 1903 for a term of two years;
he has a force of eight men under him, and has proved very efficient in this
responsible position.
Mr. Logsdon was first married in 1881 in Elk county, Kansas, to Eva
A. Randall, a daughter of Wesley Randall, a miller of that county. The son
Marion who has been mentioned above was the only issue of this union, being
born in June, 1886. Mrs. Logsdon died in January, 1888, and in 1894 Mr.
Logsdon was married at Whatcom to Miss Katherine E. Austin, a native of
Illinois and a daughter of Robert Austin. Their daughter Nadene is now
seven years old; Ralph is five; Floyd is three; and Norman was born about
a year ago. Mr. Logsdon is a Republican in politics.
WILLIAM H. HILDEBRAND.
The Hildebrand family, with both branches long resident in the United
States, may be counted among the old-timers of Whatcom county, Washing
ton, as that term would be current in such a new country as this, one of the
latest of created states of the Union. Charles W. Hildebrand was a native of
Pennsylvania, and later in life moved out further west and became a farmer
in Exeter, Clay county, Kansas. His wife, whose maiden name was Hannah
Mary Harless, and whose descendants had taken part in the American war for
independence, was a native of Muscatine, Iowa. Besides the above named
gentleman there are seven children in this family, whose names and ages are
as follows: Albert, aged twenty-seven; Clarence J., aged twenty-five; Lloyd,
twenty-one; Leta, eighteen; Charles E., sixteen; Alma E., fourteen; and
Irvine, aged six. In February, 1883, the family came to Whatcom county,
the last four named being born in Whatcom county, and settled on a ranch
near Lake Whatcom, about seven miles from the town of that name, where
they reside at the present time, having lived there during the period of
greatest development of this section of the state.
William H. Hildebrand was born in Exeter, Kansas, on June 4, 1874,
and as he was only nine years old when the family came to Whatcom, most
of his education was obtained in the public schools of this county. Whatcom
was then a small oasis in the wilderness, and one of the reminiscences of Mr.
Hildebrand's youth is a graphic illustration of the size of the town. He once
worked for a man by the name of Victor A. Roeder, the son of Captain Henry
Roeder, who platted the townsite of Whatcom, and the former conducted a
dairy of four cows with a daily capacity of four gallons, which was dis-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 329
tributed to the customers in the town by William, who carried it around in
buckets. One day on one of his rounds, he met with an accident which is
the common lot of an awkward boy, stumped his toe and fell, but worst of all
the milk was a total loss. The result of this mishap was greater than might
be supposed, for the town of Whatcom was compelled to go without its supply
of the lacteal fluid until the next milking time, four gallons having been the
entire milk consumption in those days.
Mr. Hildebrand is one of the most popular young men of the town, and
has been very prominent in different departments of activity. He enlisted in
the National Guards under Captain J. J. Weisenburger, Company F, First
Infantry, was made sergeant of Company B, Independent Battalion, and
during the Spanish war was stationed at Vancouver for four months, doing
garrison duty. Since September, 1901, he has been captain of Company M,
First Infantry. He has been elected city clerk of Whatcom every year since
1899, and is now filling that position for the fourth term very efficiently. He
is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Red Men,
and the Eagles, belongs to the Methodist church, and has always voted the
Republican ticket. On April 9, 1902, he was united in marriage to Miss
Bernice M. Wood, who is a native of St. Thomas, Canada, and is a daughter
of Hazen Wood, and she came to Whatcom with her parents in 1900. This
happy couple are numbered with the popular young society of the town, and
are both most estimable and worthy people.
ALBERT CLARK.
This gentleman is the efficient water superintendent at Whatcom and has
filled this position for five years. The water works system of Whatcom is
the especial pride of the citizens, abundance of the purest water being fur
nished at a high pressure all over the city. The works were established in
1892 ; the source of supply is at Lake Whatcom, and this cold, clear water is
piped in thirty, twenty-four and sixteen foot mains for four and a half miles;
there is a three hundred foot head, and the pressure is so great that no engines
are needed to give Whatcom adequate protection against fire.
The biography of Mr. Clark begins in Logan county, Illinois, where he
was born on April 9, 1857. His father Isaac was a native of Ohio and a
farmer and stockman, and died in 1872 at the age of fifty-four. His mother
was Emma Jewell, a native of Vermont and a daughter of William Jewell,
and she died in 1870 at the age of forty-six. Albert was educated in the
public schools of Bloomington, Illinois, but at the age of twenty-two he began
farming in Logan county, which he continued till 1890. It was in this year
that he came west to Whatcom, and for the first two years he was employed
in a shingle mill at Lake Whatcom. Following this he worked for the street
railway company of Whatcom up to 1898, and he only gave this up to accept
the position which he now holds, and in which he has served to the satisfac
tion of all concerned.
Mr. Clark's home life began on April 15, 1884, when he was married to
Miss Adelaide Whitney, who is a native of New York and the daughter of
W. G. Whitney. Four charming girls have been born of this union; Mabel

330 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
is now fifteen, Ethel is thirteen, Ollie is eleven, and the youngest is Georgie
Anna. The family are Methodists, and he is a stanch Republican, and a
public-spirited and highly esteemed citizen.
FRANK A. BRIGGS.
Frank A. Briggs, who now occupies a leading position in business circles
in Whatcom, and whose success is attributable entirely to his own efforts, is
a native of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, his birth having occurred on the 7th
of March, 1873. His father, J. L. Briggs, was born in New York and be
came a contractor and builder. After arriving at years of maturity he
wedded Ellen M. Howe, who was born in Vermont. They became the
parents of three sons : Frank A. ; Edward L., who is thirty-four years of
age and is living in Oakland, California; and Bert H, who, at the age of
thirty-two years, is living in Reno, Nevada. The father passed away at the
age of fifty-three years, but the mother is now living in California at the age
of seventy-two years.
To the public school system of Wisconsin, Frank A. Briggs owes the
educational advantages which he enjoyed in his youth. He was also a student
in the high school of Aberdeen, South Dakota, but at the age of sixteen
years put aside his textbooks and came to Whatcom, where he entered upon
his business career in the employ of R. I. Morse, a hardware merchant, for
whom he acted as a salesman until 1901. He then turned his attention to the
piano business, entering into partnership with E. I. Wilson, under the firm
name of the Wilson & Briggs Music Company. They established their store
at 1 146 Elk street and entered upon a successful career. The following year
Mr. Briggs purchased his partner's business, and has since continued the busi
ness under the name of the Briggs Piano Company. He now has a well
equipped establishment, carrying a fine line of pianos and other musical instru
ments, together with musical specialties, and his patronage has increased
until it has now assumed profitable proportions. While in the employ of Mr.
Morse Mr. Briggs saved his earnings and made investments in real estate in
Whatcom and also in Everett. He erected three modern residences in this
place, and has thus contributed to the improvement of the city as well as to
his individual prosperity. In business circles he is held in the highest esteem
by all with whom he has come in contact, and he maintains a high credit
standing with the eastern manufacturers, among whom he is known as a
large buyer and an entirely reliable business man. He also holds extensive
interests in mining prospects at Mount Baker, at Stalie creek and in the
Mathew country districts.
On the 20th of June, 1900, Mr. Briggs was united in marriage to Miss
Pearl E. Coleman, a daughter of S. J. Coleman, a native of Minnesota. After
being graduated in Allenburg, Washington, in 1897, she came to Whatcom
and engaged in teaching school up to the time of her marriage, and is thus a
lady of culture and refinement. She has now two children : Andre Coleman,
who is two years of age; and Charles Stephen, the baby of the household.
In his political views Mr. Briggs is an earnest Republican, and believes
it the duty of every citizen to keep well informed on the questions of the day

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 331
and to indicate his preference for forms of government by his ballot. He
belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, and is a strictly temperate man
and throughout his entire life has never tasted liquor. Pie is, indeed, a strong
advocate of prohibition, and is found as the supporter of all measures which
are calculated to uplift humanity and prove of benefit to the race. He has
a very large circle of friends and acquaintances throughout the county, and
his high character and sturdy integrity have gained for him the confidence
and good will of all. Moreover, he is a gentleman of genial manner and
unfailing courtesy, and one who has risen to his present creditable position in
the business world through his own labors, his life record proving conclusively
that success is not a matter of genius, but is the outcome of sound judgment,
experience and close application. (
ISAAC PINCUS.
The fair land of Poland has been generous in her contributions to Amer
ican citizenship. Since the days when she sent her valiant military com
manders to aid in the establishment of the republic, her sons have proven
loyal citizens of the United States whenever they have established homes in
this country. Isaac Pincus is a representative of that country and in the long
years of his residence on the Pacific coast has been closely connected with
business movements resulting in the substantial development of this portion of
the United States. He was born at Grodno, Poland, in 1833, a son °f Selig
and Bessie Pincus, who were also natives of the same country. The father
was engaged in the lumber and timber business and died in his native land
a number of years ago. His wife has also passed away.
Isaac Pincus spent the first twenty years of his life in Poland, and then,
attracted by this free country and its business possibilities,, he sailed for the
new world. After making a trip through the south and spending a short
period at Nashville, Tennessee, he embarked at New Orleans for California,
by way of the Isthmus of Panama, arriving at San Francisco in the fall of
1853. From there he went to the mines at Nevada City, California, and he
is therefore familiar with early mining experiences in the Golden state,
when California was largely a collection of mining camps and of kindred
industries which had sprung up to meet the demands of those engaged in the
search for gold. In 1857 he was attracted to the Fraser River gold mines, in
British Columbia, following the stampede into that country, but while in his
mining ventures he met with some success, his fortune did not come to him
through that channel. In 1858 he took up his abode at Steilacoom, on Puget
Sound, in what is now Pierce county, Washington. This is one of the oldest
settlements in the state and a place of much historic interest. For a number
of years Fort Steilacoom was an important military post with a garrison of
United States soldiers under Colonel Casey, for the protection of the north
west against Indian uprisings. At the time Mr. Pincus located there the
Hudson's Bay Company was still operating in that vicinity.
At Steilacoom Mr. Pincus established a general merchandise and
shipping business and soon became prosperous and prominent. He also estab
lished a sawmill and gristmill, and his varied business interests extended far

332 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
and wide, bringing into scope his excellent executive force and business
ability and proving of benefit to the community through the founding of
enterprises leading to the growth and improvement of that part of the state.
Mr. Pincus continued in business at Steilacoom until 1881, when, believing
that there were better prospects for the development of a large city on Com
mencement bay, he removed to Tacoma, which was then a small and struggling
village, but with promise of rapid and substantial growth. Mr. Pincus early
had the prescience to discern what the future held in store for this town and
became a factor in its commercial life. He first built a general mercantile
store at the corner of Pacific avenue and Eleventh street, then in the midst of
a region but erstwhile heavily timbered, the stumps of the trees 'being still
in the ground, but now the heart of the business center of the city.
In 1882 there was a great boom in the hop business, the price of hops
that year going up to a dollar per pound. Mr. Pincus decided to engage in
the production and sale of the commodity and has since continued in this
line of activity with good success. His sons, James and H. H. Pincus, are
now his partners and the active business managers of the business, which is
carried on under the firm name of Isaac Pincus & Sons. Their main offices
are at Nos. 522-3 California Building, Tacoma, with branch offices at Puy
allup and North Yakima. At the latter place they own and operate seventy
acres of hop gardens and in addition to the product of their own fields they
buy extensively throughout the hop districts, so that the total amount of their
exports represents a large sum annually. They are also buyers and exporters
of wool and do a large business in that line.
In 1864 Mr. Pincus was married to Miss Saraphina P'ackscher, the
wedding taking place in Victoria, British Columbia. They now have six
children : James, Marcus, Isabelle, Julius, Bessie and Carrie. In his political
views Mr. Pincus is a Democrat and in 1883 and again in 1895 was elected
to the Tacoma city council. Tacoma's interests are his own, its welfare is
dear to his heart and his co-operation has been a potent factor in its develop
ment and improvement. His prosperity has been shared by the city and his
business interests have proven of benefit to Tacoma as well as to himself.
He is known as one of the most prominent hop producers and exporters in this
part of the country and has controlled with marked ability a business of ever
increasing importance and magnitude. WILLIAM R. RUST.
Firm of purpose and unfaltering in the accomplishment of his plans,
William R. Rust has gained a position of prestige in business circles in
Tacoma, and has moreover enjoyed the unqualified confidence of his fellow
men by reason of his adherence to commercial ethics. He is the vice-president,
treasurer and general manager of the Tacoma Smelting Company, and to his
efforts may be attributed the successful upbuilding of this important enterprise.
William R. Rust is a native of Philadelphia, his birth having occurred in
that city in 1852, his parents being L. C. and Hettie (Niles) Rust. His
father was born in Delaware and for a number of years was engaged in busi
ness in Philadelphia, but about 1858 he went to the Mississippi valley, en-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 333
gaging first in the grain trade in Bourbon, Illinois. In i860 he removed to
Areola, Illinois, in order to be upon the line of the Illinois Central Railroad,
which was then being builded. There he erected a grain elevator and was
very successful in his grain operations, handling large amounts of that cereal.
He continued to reside in Areola until his death, and was a leading and influ
ential citizen there, whose efforts were effective and far-reaching for the
benefit of the town. His fellow citizens called him to the office of mayor for
one or two terms. His wife also passed away in Areola. She was a native
of Maryland and a daughter of the well known and distinguished journalist,
Hezekiah Niles, of Baltimore, who was a great friend and advocate of Henry
Clay and whose paper, the Niles Register, was a prominent supporter of Clay
in his presidential and other political ambitions.
William R. Rust acquired his preliminary education in the schools of
Areola and supplemented his early studies by a course in the University of
Kentucky, at Lexington. Leaving college in 1869, he returned home and
became his father's assistant in the grain trade, remaining in Areola until
1876, when he left home and went to Colorado. He took up his residence
at Black Hawk. The mining fever was then at its height and naturally Mr.
Rust became connected with the industry which was claiming the attention
of the great majority of citizens in that part of the country. He became a
factor in the operation of the Black Hawk Stamping Mills, and this was the
beginning of his connection with the ore industry, in which he has since
remained. He continued in the stamping mills at Black Hawk for seven
years and then removed to Denver, where he became the proprietor of the
Denver Public Sampling Works and also engaged in the buying and selling
of ore. For five years he remained in that city, and in 1888 he located in
Aspen, at that time the greatest silver camp in Colorado. There he estab
lished the Rust's Sampling Works and dealt in ore; in fact he practically
handled all the ore from that camp from 1888 until 1890. In the latter year
he was solicited to come to Tacoma and accept the position of general manager
of the Tacoma Smelting & Refining Company, whose plant was then being
erected. Deciding to do this, he arrived in Tacoma in 1890 and for thirteen
years -has been in charge of the business, which under his capable control has
grown into a very important enterprise — a valued adjunct to the mining in
terests of the northwest. Dennis Ryan, the well known capitalist of St.
Paul, Minnesota, was the original promoter of this enterprise and the first
president of the company was Captain George Browne, long a well known
citizen of Tacoma. He remained as president until the 1st of January, 1899,
when the company was reorganized and the name changed to the Tacoma
Smelting Company. At that time F. W. Bradley became the president and
Mr. Rust was elected vice-president and treasurer, which offices he still
retains in connection with that of general manager. Since the reorganization
many great improvements have been made, and the plant has been enlarged
until it is now one of the most extensive smelters of the country, doing the
work in the most satisfactory manner. The latest improved machinery has
been secured and two separate smelters are maintained, one in which gold
and silver are smelted with lead and the other in which the same metals are
used with copper. The lead department has a capacity of four hundred tons

334 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
per day and the copper department a capacity of three hundred and fifty tons
per day. The plant is located on the water front between the city limits and
Point Defiance park and constitutes one of the largest industries of Tacoma,
four hundred and fifty men being employed. The ore which this company
reduces comes not only in car loads from all the mining regions of the west
and British Columbia, but also in cargoes from Alaska, Mexico, South
America and Korea. The Tacoma Smelting Company is an independent
corporation and is not connected with the American Smelting & Refining
Company. Local newspaper articles give to Mr. Rust all the credit for build
ing up this industry in Tacoma, and all acknowledge its importance to the city.
In 1884, in Denver, Mr. Rust was married to Miss Helen M. Smith, and
they now have two sons, Howard L. and Henry Arthur. Socially Mr. Rust
is an Elk and a prominent Mason. He has taken nearly all of the degrees
of the latter and is now a Knight Templar and a Shriner. In politics he is a
Democrat and while in Gilpin county, Colorado, he received the Democratic
nomination for the legislature and came within twelve votes of being elected,
although the district has a usual Republican majority of twelve hundred.
This showed in unmistakable terms his popularity with the people among
whom he lived and their belief and confidence in him. Since coming to
Tacoma he has had no time for political work, his energies being demanded
by the development of his constantly growing business interests, his effort
being the stimulus that has brought prosperity to the company and to himself.
JENKINS MORGAN.
Jenkins Morgan, a successful grocer and prominent citizen of Whatcom,
Washington, was born December 16, 1850, at Glamorganshire county, South
Wales, and is a son of William and Cecilia (Thomas) Morgan, the former
of whom was born in Wales and came of a good old Welsh family. He
was a miner and farmer and died in November, 1882. His wife was a native
of Wales, and she died in 1887. Our subject had a sister Elizabeth, who
became the wife of John Jones, a miner of Wales.
Jenkins Morgan received his early education in the common schools of
Wales, concluding his studies in i860, after which he commenced work in
the coal mines there, and continued until 188 1, when he emigrated to America,
locating in Colorado. After working for two years in the silver mines of
that state, in Clear Creek, he removed to Newcastle, King county, Washing
ton, and remained until 1888, working in the coal mines. In that year he
settled in Whatcom, and opened a grocery in conjunction with Henry George,
under the style of George & Morgan. This partnership continued until
October, 1897, when it was discontinued, and Mr. Morgan formed a partner
ship with Otto Matthes, under the name of Morgan & Matthes, which still
continues. The firm is doing a flourishing business and giving entire satis
faction, for the goods carried are excellent in quality and low in price, while
the service rendered is very good indeed.
In political matters Mr. Morgan is a Socialist, and, while never seeking
office, is one of the leading men of his party in Whatcom, and has attended
both county and state conventions, as well as served on the county central

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 335
committee. On June 17, 1877, he married Mary Lloyd, a daughter of John
Lloyd, a brick-maker of Wales. Four boys have been born of this union,
namely : Emoys M., twenty-three years of age, is cashier of the Home
Security Savings Bank of Whatcom; Gweirydd L., twenty-one years of age,
is in Culver & White's printing house; Adrian I., eighteen years of age, is
manager of the Western Union office; Byron M. is at school. Mr. Morgan
is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is very
popular. He has always been a live, energetic business man, and the success
which has attended his efforts has come through honorably directed efforts
along lines best suited to his capabilities.
REV. SIMON PETER RICHARDSON.
Rev. Simon Peter Richardson, father of Charles Richardson, president
of the Pacific Cold Storage Company, was one of the most noted ministers
of the south. After his death an exhaustive biography was compiled and
printed in book form, at the instigation of the Georgia conference of the
Methodist Episcopal church, South, of which he was a member. Besides
this book there was published in the American Illustrated Methodist Maga
zine, for June, 1899, a long and copiously illustrated article, by Rev. George
W. Yarbrough, giving a most interesting account of the life and work of
this distinguished clergyman. We are permitted to- copy as follows :
"In one of the years gone by, as I returned home through the college
campus, at Oxford, Georgia, I saw a stranger, in company with several
gentlemen I knew, making his way, quite leisurely, to the chapel. At the
supper table that evening I enquired about the stranger of some young gentle
men of the college. After listening to the minute description I gave, a smile
passed over their faces, and one of them replied, 'He was the gentleman who
preached for us last night, and you should have heard him.' That kind of
remark from an Emory College boy always meant something, for they were
accustomed to the best in the pulpit.
"The stranger was Rev. Simon Peter Richardson, whom Bishop Pierce
had transferred to the North Georgia conference and who was serving his
first year as presiding elder of the Rome district. Already his star had quite
naturally swum into the constellation of first magnitude in our heavens, and
the telescopes were bearing on him to detect his excellences. He and my
father were associa'ted together in the Florida conference in 1846, Rev. Rich
ardson being the pastor at Key West. All through my childhood I heard
the name of Rev. Simon Peter Richardson spoken of with great reverence
and affection. I remember when I first saw him, I was impressed by his
iron-like inflexibility of frame and the vigilant sagacity of his eye. Subse
quently he was a frequent and ever welcome visitor at our home.
"Dr. Richardson in those days, as he has done since, preached with
great clearness and power. From the very beginning of his connection with
the Rome district, as presiding elder, the people realized that a new dis
pensation had been inaugurated. They had never heard such a preacher
before. Great crowds flocked to his meetings. He was a great success
at camp meetings. In his composition there were to be found, in happy

336 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
union, fearlessness and tenderness. Dr. Richardson drew my family closer
to him the longer he was with us. In the pulpit and in the social gatherings
he was a universal favorite. In the sixties he served as major of the First
Battalion of Florida troops. He was sixty years a Methodist preacher, be
ginning in 1839, starting as a circuit rider, in which work he was engaged
eight years; then sixteen years as a stationed preacher; twenty-two years
as a presiding elder; ten years agent for the American Bible Society; dele
gate to the general conference of the church three times ; president of the
annual conference three times, and held other honorable positions in his
church. "Rev. Richardson founded and nurtured into successful life some of the
now most successful churches in Georgia and Florida, and was pastor of
some fine congregations, among which may be mentioned : the church at
Key West, 1846-7; church at Tallahassee, Florida, 1851; St. James church
at Augusta, Georgia, one of the leading churches in the state, 1881-2; church
at Dalton, Georgia, 1884-5; church at Cartersville, Georgia, 1891; church
at Covington, Georgia, 1893-4."
CHARLES RICHARDSON.
Charles Richardson, president of the Pacific Cold Storage Company at
Tacoma, Washington, was born at Bainbridge, Georgia, in 1857, and is a
son of the Rev. Simon Peter and Mary Elizabeth (Arlidge) Richardson.
Rev. Richardson was born in South Carolina and died at Macon, Georgia,
in June, 1899, at the age of eighty- four years.
The Richardsons are a very old-time and prominent family of South
Carolina, and among the ancestors, and even down to the present day, the
family is represented on the bench, in Congress, and in other high and
honorable positions. The ancestry is originally English, but was established
in South Carolina in early colonial days, and has long been a factor in social,
political and professional life in that state.
The mother of Charles Richardson was born in 1832, at Key West,
Florida, and was married at that place to Mr. Richardson, who was located
as a minister there. She resides at Macon, Georgia, which has been the
family home for the past several years. One sister of our subject is Mrs.
W. M. Legg, who is the wife of one of the managers of the Southern Rail
road. One brother is Judge J. C. Richardson, of Montgomery, Alabama.
The family consisted of ten children, four sons and six daughters, and all
are surviving except one.
The name Peter is strikingly prominent in the Richardson family, be
ginning in the earliest times, and is traditionally preserved. Our subject's
father, grandfather and great-grandfather had Peter in their names, while
in the family of each of the Rev. Peter's children, the name is perpetuated.
Charles Richardson received a careful early training and education,
finishing at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. He then studied
law with Judge George N. Lester at Marietta, Georgia, and was by him ad
mitted to the bar, in that city, in 1878. He practiced there for a time and
then removed to Louisville, Mississippi, in 188 1, and later to Aberdeen, Mis-

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I HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 337
sissippi, where he engaged in practice for six years, associated with Judge
E. 0. Sykes, the firm being Sykes & Richardson. The former is now judge
of that district. Mr. Richardson was eminently successful in practice and
became also prominent in politics. In 1884 he was one of the Cleveland
electors from the state of Mississippi, being a member of the Democratic
party by inheritance as well as personal opinion.
In 1892 Mr. Richardson came to Tacoma to make this city his home,
and he was successfully and prominently engaged in the practice of law
until 1898, when he put aside his profession in order to give his attention to
commercial enterprises which, promised more remuneration and a wider field
for his business ability and ambitions. Seeing the possibility of applying
cold storage to the needs of Alaska by shipping meats and other perishable
products during the short summer season and holding them in cold storage
until the winter, he started into the business with one small cargo, valued
at less than twenty thousand dollars, in 1898. This business has expanded
until now he is the president of a company doing a business of a million and
a half, and which operates three refrigerator steamers, besides tugs and
barges; owns cold storage plants, canneries and salmon salting establish
ments; a saltery at Bristol Bay; a cannery at Taku; and a mild-curing plant
at Anacortes. The latter during the past year has alone put up one million
pounds of mild-cured salmon for the German market.
To have established all this required energy and powers of organiza
tion of a superior kind, and these it must be acknowledged Mr. Richardson
possesses. He is actively preparing to extend the trade in frozen salmon
all over the United States. To use his own words : "Cold storage has be
come an absolute necessity for the proper preservation and interchange of
perishable food products of every kind throughout the year, and at stable
prices." It would be an impossibility in a sketch of this kind to do anything'
like justice either to Mr. Richardson's successful business enterprises or to
do more than to indicate a few of the great results he has accomplished.
"When Mr. Richardson took charge of the Pacific Cold Storage Com
pany, its affairs were in anything but a prosperous condition; but he soon
put the business on a different basis, until to-day he has the largest plant of
its kind on the Pacific coast. Besides the main plant in Tacoma, the com
pany has branches at St. Michaels, Nome, Valdez, Fort Egbert, Taku and
Bristol Bay, Alaska; and at Dawson City, Northwest Territory. The ocean
steamer Elihu Thompson and ship Dashing Wave are operated by the com
pany, as well as the ships Robert Kerr and Lotta Talbot, which are used on
the Yukon river. A tug and barge line between Tacpma and Skagway is
operated, and a large export fish business is done. Besides being president
of the Pacific Cold Storage Company, Mr. Richardson is president of the
Tacoma Ice Company, of the Seattle Ice Company, of the Alaska Fish and
Packing Company, and president of several mining companies. He is a
director of the National Bank of Commerce of Tacoma, Washington, and
a member of the Union Club."
In 1882 Mr. Richardson was married at West Point, Mississippi, to
Miss Fannie Critz, daughter of Peter Critz, who was a Confederate soldier,
and, in November, 1864, was killed at the battle of Franklin, Tennessee.
22

338 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Mrs. Richardson is also a niece of Chancellor Critz, of the state of Missis
sippi, who will probably be the next governor of that state. Four children
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Richardson : Letha, Peter, Anna and
Charles. The Richardson residence is located at 620 South First street,
Tacoma, and the family is prominent in social circles and in all respects is
most highly esteemed.
SAMUEL MILLER.
Samuel Miller, chief of police of Fairhaven and a man of great fitness
for so responsible a position, was born December 8, 1842, in county Armagh,
north of Ireland, and is a son of David and Elizabeth (Hogg) Miller, the
former of whom was a native of Ireland and died in 1853, having been a
farmer and a member of a good Irish family. The mother was a native of
Scotland, and died in Iowa in 1874. These children were born to Mr. and
Mrs. David Miller, namely : James, who emigrated with the firm of Harvey,
Carson & McKnight, in 1850, became a slaveowner in Virginia, and died in
i860; William went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and died in 1900; John
went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and is now a farmer of Kansas ; Elexander
went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and is now warden of the penitentiary at
Topeka, Kansas ; Dr. Robert also went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and is now
a Methodist preacher of Iowa; Samuel; and a sister now deceased.
Samuel Miller received his education in the schools of Ireland, and in
i860 joined the Irish constabulary, and was with them for nine months in
county Kildare, but, leaving them, passed his examinations for the Queens'
Life Guards. Although he passed, as his mother objected he did not join,
but entered the police force of Glasgow, and there remained eighteen months.
At that time he emigrated to America and engaged in farming in Illinois, but
soon operated a livery stable with a brother in Mason county, Illinois. Busi
ness calling him to Ireland, he returned for a year, but came back to Mason
county and again entered the livery business in Mason City. After a year
he went to Iowa and Nebraska, and was engaged throughout those states
shipping horses, continuing thus for six years. In 1885 he removed to Ore
gon, settling in Portland, and was foreman of a gang of Chinamen for the
O. & C. Railroad, but in nine months he engaged with the O. T. Transfer
Company, after which he joined the police force, and for five years served the
city faithfully. His next change was made to Reedsville, where he took
charge of seven hundred and fifty acres of land and operated the farm for
two years. In 1898 fee settled in Fairhaven, coming with the Aberdeen Pack
ing Company, and acted as its night superintendent for two seasons. The
plant burned down, and Mr. Miller was placed on the police force of that
city, and after three years of faithful and efficient service he was rewarded
by election, January 1, 1903, to city marshal on the Republican ticket.
In 1863 Mr. Miller married Margaret Hall, a daughter of George Hall,
a farmer of Ireland, where Mrs. Miller was also born. The following chil
dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Miller, namely : David William, steamer
engineer on Puget Sound; James Alexander, deputy recorder in Whatcom
county court house; John Henry, steamboat engineer on Puget Sound; Her-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 339
bert Samuel, attending school; Edith Elizabeth, wife of C. H. Schubbe, super
intendent of Seburg creamery in Fairhaven; Maggie May, wife of Boyd
Johnson, a farmer of Beaverton, Oregon. Fraternally Mr. Miller is a member
of the Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World and the Masonic lodge,
and very popular in all. The citizens of Fairhaven point with pride to their
municipality and recognize the fact that the order which prevails is due to
their chief of police, Samuel Miller.
HON. GEORGE B. LANE.
The great northwest, with its pulsing industrial and commercial activities
and its opportunities for advancement in all legitimate lines of business or
professional life, is continually attracting to this section of the country men
of worth and enterprise, who recognize in the signs of the times the prophecy
of a splendid future for this and other states on the Pacific coast. Among
the number who in recent years have left the impress of their individuality
upon financial circles of Washington is the Hon. George B. Lane, and yet
not this state alone has benefited by his labors, for as an educator he has been
a potent factor in the intellectual development of Nebraska and of Ohio.
Well fitted for leadership, his personality and ability have been factors for
good in every community where he has remained for any length of time.
He is now living a retired life in Seattle, and his rest from further labor is
richly deserved.
A native of New Hampshire, Mr. Lane was born in Epping, Rockingham
county, April 2, 1843, a son of Winthrop M. and Frances (Morrison) Lane.
The family was founded in America by three brothers who came to this
country at an early epoch in our colonial history and settled on Massachusetts
bay. One of these, Ralph Lane, was the direct ancestor of our subject. Rep
resentatives of the name in the different generations and in different parts of
the country have taken an active part in political and public affairs. The
father of George B. Lane was born in New Hampshire, the mother in Maine.
He was a carpenter and builder through the period of his active business
career, but is now living retired in the old Granite state, at the advanced age
of eighty-four years.
George Byron Lane, the third of a family of ten children, five sons and
five daughters, is the only one living west of Chicago. He was educated in
the common schools, and in early youth learned the carpenter's trade, at which
he worked until after the breaking out of the Civil war, which momentous
event in the country's history occurred when he was only eighteen years of
age. He was one of the first to respond to the president's call for volunteers,
enlisting in the spring of 1861, together with two brothers. Joshua, the
elder, was killed in the battle of Fredericksburg. Marcena, on attempting to
enlist, was rejected on account of his youth, but he managed to join the army
and was mustered in as a member of Company I, Eleventh New Hampshire
Regiment. He performed valuable service in many hard fought battles and
in the second battle of the Wilderness had a part of his hand shot off. George
B. Lane became a member of Company E, Eleventh New Hampshire Regi
ment, but was afterward transferred to the Fifteenth New Hampshire Regi-

340 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ment and assigned to the Department of the Gulf under General Banks. When
he entered the army his regiment rendezvoused at Long Island, and from
there was sent to New Orleans by transports, spending the winter in camp
at Carrollton, Louisiana. The command was then ordered up the Mississippi
river to Port Pludson and took an active part in the siege of that place until
the surrender of the fort, on the 5th of July, 1863. The regiment was then
sent to Vicksburg and on to Cairo, Illinois, where they were honorably dis
charged. Mr. Lane was twice wounded, once in the neck when in the charge
on Port Hudson, and another time in the foot by a spent cannon ball.
Returning to his old home, Mr. Lane then continued his education,
matriculating in Dartmouth College, where he was graduated with the class
of 1867, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His collegiate course
being completed, he removed to Wisconsin and entered upon his career as
an educator, accepting the principalship of the schools at Burlington. A year
and a half later he went to Van Wert, Ohio, to assume the superintendency
of the schools in that place, which position he retained until 1872, when he
was offered and accepted the position of principal of the city schools of St.
Louis, Missouri. He introduced superior methods of instruction there, and
his fame as an educator spread throughout the west, causing his services to
be sought in a number of places. In 1880 he was called to Omaha, Nebraska,
as superintendent of the city schools, and filled that position with marked
ability until 1882. In 1885 he was appointed superintendent of the state
census, and filled the duties of that office until the fall of 1886, when he was
elected state superintendent of public instruction of Nebraska. He devoted
the best years of his life to the accomplishment of his work in connection
with that office, which he filled for two terms, covering four years, during
which time he reorganized the school system and introduced a uniform course
of study and many other needed reforms and improvements, which placed the
educational advantages of the state on a par with those afforded by the states
of the older east.
Professor Lane remained in Nebraska until 1891, when he came to Wash
ington, and was one of the organizers of the Olympia State Bank, in which he
was chosen to the office of vice-president. The institution was afterward
converted into a national bank under the name of the Olympia National Bank,
and to its successful conduct he gave his entire attention for some time. The
successful conduct of the bank and its continued prosperity were due in large
measure to his efforts and ability as a financier, but in November, 1901, he
resigned his position to come to Seattle to make his home, and since that time
he has disposed of part of his interests in Olympia.
On the 24th of August, 1882, Professor Lane was united in marriage to
Miss Nellie P. Wood, a daughter of E. B. and Nellie (Parmenter) Wood, of
Omaha. She was educated in the schools of that city, and is a lady of superior
culture and refinement as well as social graces, and was heartily in sympathy
with her husband in his educational work. She is a member of the Congre
gational church. To Mr. and Mrs. Lane have been born two children, Frances
and Jean. Mr. Lane holds membership relations with the Grand Army of the
Republic, and his study of the political situation of the country and the policy
of the two great parties has led him to ally his strength with the Republicans.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 341
It was upon that ticket that he was elected mayor of Olympia, but now he
takes no active part either in politics or in business. It would be almost
tautological in this connection to enter into any series of statements as show
ing Professor Lane to be a man of scholarly attainments, of broad general
culture or of deep human sympathy and progressive spirit, for these have been
shadowed forth between the lines of this review, but it is just to say in a
history that will descend to future generations that his influence, in whatever
community he has lived, has been an impetus to advancement along lines pro
moting the best development of the race, and that his efforts have always been
practical and resultant in good.
JACOB A. FREIDAY.
An eventful and interesting career is that of Jacob A. Freiday, and,
while space forbids an extended account of his life, the salient features in his
history cannot fail to prove of interest to many of our readers, for he has
a large circle of friends in Tacoma and this part of the state. He has lived
here continuously since 1887, with faith in the city and its ultimate prosperity,
even through the times of wide-spread financial depression, and recent years,
with their growth, development and progress, have demonstrated the correct
ness of his foresight. He is to-day president of the Fidelity Investment Com
pany of Tacoma, a business organization of considerable importance to the
city. Mr. Freiday was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1846, a son of Jacob
and Jean (Cox) Freiday. The father was born in the state of New York,
but when a young man removed to Newark, where he became a prominent
hat manufacturer. After a busy, useful and successful life he died in Newark,
New Jersey, in 1892. He came of German ancestry. His father, Jacob A.
Freiday, was born at Trieste, Austria, the ancestral home of the Freidays.
The name was originally Freitag before being translated into English by
Jacob A. Freiday, who became the founder of the family in the new world.
A direct ancestor of our subject was Gustavus Freitag, the noted German
novelist. Mrs. Jean Freiday, the mother of Jacob A., was born in London,
but was married in the United States, and died in New Jersey.
The family lived either in Orange or in Newark during the boyhood of
Jacob A. .Freiday, in which cities, under private instructors, he acquired his
education, his teachers being graduates of Yale, Harvard and Princeton Col
leges. In 1862, at the age of sixteen years, he determined to enter the army
as a defender of the Union, although he was under the required age and
also was an inch and a half shorter than the required stature. However, he
succeeded in becoming a soldier, enlisting at Orange, New Jersey, as a mem
ber of Company E, Thirteenth New Jersey Infantry, which regiment was
attached to the Army of the Potomac. He fired his gun at an enemy for the
first time at the battle of Antietam, only seventeen days after his enlistment.
This was the beginning of an eventful war record. Later he participated in
the engagements at Chancellorsville and at Gettysburg, and after the signal
victory at the last named place his regiment was sent to join Sherman's army
in Tennessee. Soon after his arrival there Mr. Freiday took part in the battle

342 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
of Lookout Mountain and later in the battles of Dallas, Reseca, Kenesaw
Mountain, and the siege and capture of Atlanta. He was in nine of the hard
est fought battles of that long sanguinary struggle, and in others of lesser
importance. After the capitulation of Atlanta, because of disability, occa
sioned by his hard service, he was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps
and assigned to special duty at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was mus
tered out in 1865, after three years of faithful and helpful military service,
being then but a boy of nineteen years.
After returning home Mr. Freiday resumed his preparation for college
and matriculated in the Rochester University, of New York, where he was
graduated in 1871 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He subsequently
graduated from the Rochester Theological Seminary. About the time of his
graduation in 1875 he was married to Miss Sarah M. Gates, of Gates, New
York. From that time until 1876, about a year and a half, he was pastor of
the Baptist church at Calais, Maine, and in 1876 he received an appointment
from the American Baptist Missionary Board to go as a missionary to Bur
ma, in India, with headquarters at Bhamo, Burma, although during a part of
his sojourn in that country he made his home in Rangoon. He remained as a
missionary in India from 1876 until 1885, and many were the interesting
experiences which came to him as he labored for the reclamation of the dark-
skinned Hindoos for the cause of Christianity. Mr. Freiday was accompanied
by his wife, and they made the trip by way of Europe, visiting England,
France, Germany, Italy and " the land of Goshen," on their way to Egypt,
whence they embarked for their destination.
While engaged in his missionary labors in India Mr. Freiday was selected
by the British commissioner of Burma to act as interpreter for the British
army in Burma under Sir Harry Prendergast, who dethroned and deported
the last king of Burma, the barbarous Theebaw, and Mr. Freiday was filling
that position at the time of the annexation of Burma to the British Empire.
While in that country Mr. Freiday and his wife made a missionary trip to
the province of Yunnan on the frontier of China, adjoining Thibet. Mrs.
Freiday was the first woman to enter the province, and its wildness may be
judged from the fact that while located there their house was destroyed by
fire and they were twice driven out by marauders. Their lives were con
stantly endangered.
Mr. and Mrs. Freiday lost two of their children by death while in India.
Their surviving daughter, Grace Ward, was born in Rangoon, and with her
mother has traveled twice around the world. They left India before Mr.
Freiday had finished his labors there and traveled home alone by way of
China and Japan. When Mr. Freiday returned in 1885 he came by way
of Europe and visited every capital there except Madrid. He was all through
Norway, Sweden, Finland, Turkey and eastern^Europe, traveling over three
thousand miles in Russia alone, and becoming especially familiar with the
vast domain between the Baltic and the Black seas.
Returning to the United States, Mr. Freiday was located for a short
time in Boston, and then carried out a long cherished desire to see his own
country, having never previously traveled over the United States. He made
an extensive trip through the southern and western states, and continued on

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 343
to the Pacific coast with the intention of going to South America, but upon
reaching Tacoma he was so favorably impressed with this city and the sur
rounding district, especially with its climatic conditions, that he decided to
remain and go into business here. Accordingly he took up his abode in Ta
coma in 1887, and here he has since remained. Tacoma was then enjoying
an era of wonderful growth and prosperity, and Mr. Freiday invested quite
largely for himself and for eastern friends, but the financial panic of 1893
came on and real estate depreciated greatly in value. For some time it was
difficult to maintain a financial foothold, but at last there came a change for
the better and Mr. Freiday is again recognized as one of the prominent busi
ness men of this city. He has continued in the real estate business, and
is now the president of the Fidelity Investment Company, a close corporation,
engaged in general financial and real estate business.
Mr. Freiday is associated with the Congregational church. His resi
dence is at 316 South I street, and his office at 501 Berlin building. There he
superintends the placing of investments and the purchase and sale of property,
and in the real estate operations of the city he is largely concerned. Reared
on the Atlantic coast, a participant in one of the most sanguinary wars that
history has known, sojourning for nine years in the orient, and now making
his home near the Pacific waters, — he has certainly had a varied career. He
has gained that knowledge and culture which only travel can bring, and is a
most entertaining companion because of his reminiscences of foreign lands,
both in Europe and Asia.
SLENTZ & PARROTT.
The partners in the law firm of Slentz & Parrott are young men who are
rapidly working their way to a place in the ranks of the leading members of
the Whatcom bar, and their enterprise and energy have also been felt as prom
inent factors in the successful control of enterprises of importance, which are
proving of value in the development of the northwest.
Samuel D. Slentz was born in Baraboo, Wisconsin, April 3, 1877, a son
of Samuel and Amelia (Johnson) Slentz. The father was a native of Ohio,
but represented an old Pennsylvania family of German lineage. By occupa
tion he was a farmer, but following the discovery of gold in California he
crossed the plains in a wagon and staked a claim at Yreka, Humboldt county,
where he engaged in mining for some time. He continued on the Pacific
coast until 1862, and then returned to Wisconsin, where he continued to carry
on agricultural pursuits until his life's labors were ended in death in 1900.
His widow, who is a native of Pennsylvania and is of English descent, is
still living in Wisconsin. There were three sons in the family, and Corwin
and Marion are now in the railroad service in Wisconsin and make their
home in Baraboo.
At the usual age Samuel D. Slentz entered school, and pursued his studies
in his native city until he had completed the high school course by graduation
with the class of 1897. He then went to the Northern Illinois College of
Law, in which he was graduated in May, 1901, with the degree of Bachelor
of Law, and immediately afterward he came to Whatcom, where he opened

344 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
a law office in connection with Henry W. Parrott. This relation has since
been maintained, and the firm has gained a liberal share of the public patron
age, for the partners are young men of broad learning, who prepare their
cases with great thoroughness and are strong in their presentation of a cause
before judge or jury. They have not, however, confined their attention en
tirely to their practice, but have extended their efforts into other fields of
usfulness and business activity. They incorporated the Bay City Furniture
Company of Whatcom, with a capital stock of sixteen thousand dollars, Mr.
Slentz being the president and H. W. Parrott secretary, while M. J. Connor
is treasurer and general manager. They do a wholesale business.. Messrs.
Slentz and Parrott also assisted in organizing the Princess Royal Copper &
Gold Mining Company, owning large and valuable property interests on Prin
cess Royal Island, British Columbia. Their capital is one million dollars, and
they are now shipping ore, the mines being in active operation. Of this com- (
pany Mr. Slentz is the secretary and Mr. Parrott the treasurer.
Fraternally Mr. Slentz is an Odd Fellow, and politically is a Democrat,
and takes an active part in the local work of the. organization. In matters of
citizenship he is public-spirited and progressive, and has been a helpful co-
operant in many measures for the general good.
Henry W. Parrott was born in Rockford, Illinois, April 4] 1880. His
father, William Parrott, was a native of St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, and
was of English descent. He devoted his energies to farming and died May
24, 1896. His wife, who in her maidenhood was Emily Chapman, is a native
of Putnam county, New York, and her ancestors were among the first Dutch
settlers of the Empire state. She is now living in Rockford, Illinois. She has
two daughters, Mrs. Mamie Price, the wife of Andrew Price, a machinist
of Rockford, and Lillian, who is with her mother.
The only son, Henry W. Parrott, attended the country schools at Owen,
Winnebago county, Illinois, and was afterward a student in the normal de
partment of Rockford College, where he remained until 1898. He spent one
year in the law office of the firm of Frost & McEvoy, of Rockford, Illinois,
and then went to the Northern Illinois College of Law, at Dixon, Illinois,
where he remained for two and a half years, and was 'graduated in June, 1901,
with the degree of Bachelor of Law. Going to Helena, Montana, he was
admitted to practice in the Montana courts, but decided to locate in the north
west, and on the 1st of January arrived in Whatcom, where he entered into
a law partnership with his former classmate, S. D. Slentz, under the firm
style of Slentz & Parrott. Mr. Parrott is the youngest practicing attorney in
the county of Whatcom, but his ability does not seem limited by his years,
and he has already attained success that many an older practitioner might well
envy. March 1, 1903, he was appointed referee in bankruptcy for the northern
district of Washington for two years. In his political views he is an active
Republican, and his social relations connect him with the Fraternal Brother
hood and the Woodmen of the World. The northwest with its pulsing indus
trial conditions is continually attracting to this section of the country men
of ability and enterprise and Messrs. Slentz & Parrott are among those who
have come to take advantage of the opportunities- of this country,, and the
section in turn is profiting by their labors and enterprise.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 345
DR. FRANK D. ADAMS.
Dr. Frank D. Adams, one of the successful exponents of the dental pro
fession in Whatcom, Washington, was born November n, 1854, at Pratts-
burg, Steuben county, New York, and is a son of Thomas J. and Margaret
(Montgomery) Adams, both natives of New York. The father descended
from Welsh ancestors who early settled in America, while the ancestry of the
mother came originally from Ireland. The former died in 1881, but his wife
is living and makes her home in Steuben county, New York, with her
daughter. Three children were born to these parents, namely : Dr. Frank ;
C. M., county surveyor of Whatcom county, Washington; and Harriet, who
is the widow of James Shannon, a farmer of Bath, New York, who was
killed by lightning in 1901.
Frank D. Adams was educated in Franklin Academy, Prattsburg, New
York, after which he engaged in various pursuits, acting a portion of the time
as surveyor. Later he took up music as a profession, making a specialty of
the cornet and violin, but in 1879 he began the study of dentistry, towards
which he always had a strong inclination. His studies along the lines of his
chosen profession were pursued in Dansville, New York, under Dr. A. P.
Burkhardt. Later he went to Lockport, New York, and studied under Dr.
Dickinsen, and from there he went to Avon Springs and engaged with a Dr.
Belden. Plis next change was when he removed to Cleveland, Ohio, and
engaged with Dr. Plurd, but later he returned to New York and passed his
examinations before the New York state board, from which he obtained his
diploma and degree of M. D. S., on May 11, 1887. This board was then
composed of N. R. Kingsley, president; Edward Line, secretary; William
Carr; William Jarvie; S. D. French; W. H. Colgroove; S. B. Palmer;
N. M. Holmes; Frank French; and A. P. Southwick, the majority of whom
were numbered among the leading dentists of the country, and Dr. Kingsley
enjoys a reputation which is world-wide.
Dr. Adams at once opened an office at Avon Springs, after passing his
examinations, and continued there in active practice until 1890, when he
located at Whatcom, and immediately began to establish himself and built up
a desirable list of patrons. His success has been very marked, and in addi
tion to his prominence as a dentist, he has also made many friends through
his musical attainments. He was the organizer of the Burgess Brass Band,
now the Adams Military Band, which is known all over the Sound as one
of the most complete organizations of its kind in the state, it being under the
Doctor's able management. He is also president of the Bellingham Bay Mu
sicians' Union, which affiliates with all the federations, he being its leading
member. Politically he is an active Republican and has represented his party
upon many occasions at county conventions.
Dr. Adams was married to Florence M. Hill, a daughter of H. Hill, a
painter of Prattsburg, New York, who came of an old Revolutionary fam
ily, whose ancestors were originally Welsh. Dr. Adams is connected fra
ternally with the Masonic order and with the Order of Eagles, and is one of
the most popular as well as successful men in Whatcom.

346 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
HON. DAVID SHELTON.
In the history of Mason county, Washington, one name will be remem
bered as foremost in the work of development and opening up to civilization
its once wild forests and as the founder of a prosperous town that now bears
his name, David Shelton. This pioneer and eminent citizen was born in the
state of North Carolina in Buncombe county, on the 15th of September, 1812,
and in 1819 came west with his parents to Missouri. And in the latter state
he was married in 1837 to Miss Frances Wilson, a native of Kentucky. In
1847 tney crossed the plains with an ox team and settled in Oregon, where
they remained for five years. On April 15, 1853, they came to where the town
of Shelton now stands and took a donation claim of six hundred and forty
acres. Mr. Shelton and two other white men were the only settlers in what
is now Mason county, and he and his family were the first white family
settled west of Olympia. He was a member of the first Washington territorial
legislature, which met February 27, 1854, and he had the honor of naming
the county; his name was Sawamish, but in 1857 it was changed in honor
of Hon. Charles Mason. On his land he platted the future town of Shelton,
and throughout his life he was foremost in all undertakings intended to ad
vance the interests of the town. He was very generous, often selling his
property very cheap to actual settlers and donating valuable lots as sites for
churches and schools. On the incorporation of the town he was chosen its
first mayor, and he held this office for many years ; he was especially active in
promoting the educational interests of the community, and served as director
from the time of the organization of the school district until his death.
Mr. and Mrs. Shelton became the parents of eleven children, six of
whom are now living: Lewis D. W., J. S. W., both natives of Missouri; Levi
and Mary are natives of Oregon; and J. B. and Joycie A. were born- in Shel
ton. In 1887 the death of Mrs. Shelton occurred, when she was seventy
years of age, and on the 15th of February, 1897, he passed away in the fulness
of years, having seen eighty-five winters come and go, and having lived to see
the country which he had been among the first to develop become a center of
industry and trade, and blossom with the fruits of toil ; honored and revered,
his venerable age received due appreciation from the hearts of his Tellow
citizens, who owed him so much, and he and his wife still live in the perennial
influence which they cast about their children, who honor and revere the
memory of their noble character.
ALEXANDER POLSON.
The west contains some remarkable men from many standpoints, but
the type which is most admired is that of the strong, vigorous man of affairs,
who has been connected with every department of his present successful busi
ness or industry, and has the power to act readily and energetically, and has
developed a strength of character and a resourceful ability that are manifest
in his every action. Of such a type would one find the leading logger and
lumber man of this section of Washington, Alexander Poison, to be, as will
appear in the course of the following brief record of his life.

^1

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 347
His parents, Peter and Catherine (McLean) Poison, are of Scotch par
entage, and were themselves born in Old Scotia, and came to Nova Scotia
when they were children; they are still residing in the latter province, where
the former was a successful farmer during his working years. Their son
Alexander was born in Nova Scotia in 1853, and -was reared and educated in
the schools there until 1876, when, filled with the western fever, he joined in
the rush to Deadwood, Dakota, thus identifying himself with the west and
giving his career its present course. He remained in Deadwood but three
months, and then went to Carson City, Nevada, where he engaged in mining
and lumbering. In 1879 he made a trip to Tucson, Arizona, remaining a
few months, and then undertook a remarkable horseback ride, journeying
alone, after the fashion of the knight errant of old, all the way from Tucson
to Goldendale in Washington territory, near the Columbia river. It was
here that he first became prominently interested in the logging business, and
he worked on the first drive of logs got out for the construction of the west
ern end of the Northern Pacific Railroad from Tacoma; these logs were
floated down the Yakima into the Columbia river.
In the winter of 1880 Mr. Poison came to Olympia, and for the next
year and a half was employed in logging by Ames Brown, now of Seattle,
the first lumberman in the territory and a noted old-timer, being now a man
of wealth and prominence. Mr. Poison himself, it should be stated, brought
the first steel felling-saw and steel wedges into the territory. From Olympia
Mr. Poison went to Shoalwater Bay, now called Willapa Harbor, and there
built the first dam used in log-driving in Pacific county. In 1882 he made
his permanent location at Hoquiam, and on Hoquiam river erected the first
dam in Chehalis county. But it was not till four years later that the present
extensive lumber, logging and mercantile enterprises of Mr. Poison had
their inception. In 1886, with his brother Robert, he established the Poison
Brothers Logging Company, which is now the foremost concern of the kind
in the northwest; the number of logs which they annually harvest from the
forests and bring to the mills is enormous, and they also carry on a general
merchandise' business, being the largest dealers in loggers' supplies, ma
chinery and equipments in this section. The Poison Shingle Company, also
emanating from the enterprise of the Poison brothers, is building a shingle
mill at Hoquiam whose daily output will be two hundred and fifty thousand,
and the same gentlemen own the Hoquiam Timber Company, which makes
a specialty of buying timber lands. The brothers have heavy interests in
valuable silver, lead and copper mines in British Columbia, for Mr. Poison
has a practical experience in mining as well as in lumbering.
Mr. Poison is a member of Olympia Lodge No. 1, I. O. O. F., one of
the oldest lodges of the order in the state, and he is a charter member of sev
eral other lodges. He belongs to Hoquiam Lodge No. 64, F. & A. M., to
the Knights Templar commandery at Aberdeen, and to the Afifi Temple,
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Tacoma. In politics he is a Republican, and
was elected the first assessor of Chehalis county after that office was made
separate from the sheriff's functions ; his term was for two years. On Feb
ruary 18, 1893, Mr. Poison was married at Hoquiam to Miss Ella M. Arnold,
of Des Moines, Iowa; they have three children, whose names are Franklin
Arnold, Charles Stuart and Dorothy Adelaide Catharine.

348 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ELMER ELLSWORTH SHERWOOD.
In a history of the representative citizens of Whatcom mention should
certainly be made of Elmer Ellsworth Sherwood, who is the present efficient
chief of the fire department. He was born December 7, 1861, in Juneau
county, Wisconsin, a son of Richard and Mary (Gulvin) Sherwood, both
of whom were natives of England. In that country they reached mature
years and were married, and in 1852 they sailed for the United States, set
tling first at Rochester, New York. In 1859 they again started westward
and took up their abode in Wisconsin. The father passed away in 1889 at
the age of fifty-eight years, and the mother in 1866. To them were born the
following children: Elmer E., of this review; William R., who is now forty-
four years of age; Samuel, who is twenty-eight years of age; Clara, now
Mrs. William Pautsch; Grace, the wife of Chester C. Doud; Marian, the
wife of Edward Plummer; Esther, the deceased wife of Al Husker; Susan,
the deceased wife of Arthur Pratt; and John, deceased.
Elmer E. Sherwood pursued his education in the common schools of
Glendale, Wisconsin, and when sixteen years of age began working on a farm,
being thus employed until he reached the age of twenty. He was afterward
connected with the lumber camp, and also did work in the lumber mills until
1887, when he went to North Dakota, where he was engaged in farming for
two years. In July, 1890, he came to Whatcom and was employed as fore
man by local contractors for three years. He next spent three years in British
Columbia as foreman for the British Columbia Gold Mining & Dredging
Company, and in 1896 returned to this city, where he secured a position as
foreman on a pile driver. In 1898 he was made foreman in the car shops
of the Bellingham Bay & British Columbia. Railroad Company, and has since
acted in this capacity. He is well qualified for the important and responsible
duties which devolve upon hirri, and capably superintends the labors of the
men so as to produce good results for the company and also maintain harmony
among the employes.
In September, 1898, Mr. Sherwood was appointed to the position of
chief of the fire department, and has been re-apponited each succeeding year
up to the present time. This is a volunteer department consisting of one
hundred and thirty men divided into six companies, four hose companies and
two hook and ladder companies. There are three different engine houses,
a fire hall on Forest street, another on Holly street west, and the third on
Bay street. That Mr. Sherwood has been again and again appointed to this
position is indicative of his efficiency and of the confidence reposed in him
by his fellow townsmen.
In July, 1885, occurred the marriage of Elmer E. Sherwood and Miss
Anna B. Doud, a native of New York, and a daughter of Alonzo C. and
Annette Doud, who were also natives of the Empire state. Mr. and Mrs.
Sherwood are well known in Whatcom, and their own pleasant home is cele
brated for its gracious and cordial hospitality. Fraternally Mr. Sherwood
is connected with the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and his political support is
given to the Republican party. Perhaps one of his strongest characteristics
is his fidelity to any trust reposed in him, whether it be of a public or private

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 349
nature. This is certainly a most commendable trait, and has gained for him
the confidence and esteem of all with whom he has been brought in contact,
either in business or social relations. FRANK WILSON.
Frank Wilson, city treasurer of the city of Whatcom, Washington, and
one of the enterprising and successful young business men of that locality,
was born May 30, 1872, at Sedalia, Pettis county, Missouri, and is a son of
Caleb Taylor and Isidore (Van Treese) Wilson. The former was a native
of Kentucky, coming of an old and aristocratic family of English descent.
By trade he was a carpenter, but is now living retired on his farm near
Sedalia. His wife was born in Ohio, and her family, has long lived in Amer
ica, being of Dutch descent. The following children were born to these
parents, viz. : Augustus, proprietor of the Northwest Business College of
Whatcom; Franklin, street car conductor of Whatcom; Edward, a farmer
with his father ; Rosa, who married G. A. Bremner, Indian school instructor
at Marietta, Washington ; Mary, who married Fred P. Easterbrook, a farmer
of Kees, Washington; Ella, who married Willis S. Liston, of Lenore, Idaho;
Emma, who died January 9, 1902, at Marietta, Washington; Olive, a teacher
of Sedalia; and Frank.
Frank Wilson was educated in .the public schools of his native place,
which he left in 1892 for Whatcom, Washington. After three years spent
in the Northwest Business College, he went to Vancouver, British Columbia,
and for three years engaged in farming, but returned to Whatcom in 1898
and was employed by the Bennett National Bank for one year. In 1899 and
1900 he was successfully engaged in a grocery business, and during the latter
year was elected city auditor by the Whatcom city council. He served three
years, being re-appointed in 1901 and 1902, and so ably did he discharge the
duties of this important office that in 1902 he was elected city treasurer on the
citizens' ticket, assuming charge of that office January 6, 1903.
On June 30, 1899, he was married to Miss Edith B. Whittaker, a native
of Wyoming, and she is a daughter of A. Whittaker, a retired business man
of Whatcom. One daughter has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, Clairece
Gertrude. The religious affiliations of the Wilson family are with the Meth
odist church, in which they take an active part. Fraternally Mr. Wilson is a
member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is very prominent in
that organization. Few young men of this section of the state have a more
promising future than Mr. Wilson, and his many friends rejoice in his suc
cess and point with pride to him as an excellent example of the enterprising
western man of to-day. WILLIAM R. SYBERT.
William R. Sybert, county auditor and recorder, and one of the best
known men in this section of country, was born September 14, 1864, at
Greenville, Illinois, and is a son of Morgan J. and Ellen (McCullough)
Sybert, the former of whom was born in Indiana, of German descent, and he

350 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
died in 1874, while his wife, whose descent was from Scotch ancestors, died
in 1878. These children were born to Morgan and Ellen Sybert: James A.
and Henry, who both reside in California; and William R.
William R. Sybert was educated in the common and high schools of
Greenville, and had the further advantage of a course at the Jacksonville-
(Illinois) Business College, concluding his studies in 1884. In 1888 he left
home for California, and engaged in a real estate and insurance business at
Selma, Fresno county, California, being associated with George J. Nees.
After a year he went to Whatcom, and continued the same business until
November, 1892, when he was made deputy county auditor and deputy
recorder of Whatcom county. In 1895 he received appointment to the office
of deputy postmaster, but after a service of one year he returned to the office
of the auditor and recorder. His services in this office were so satisfactory
that in 1900 he was elected auditor and recorder on the Republican ticket for
two years, and re-elected in 1902.
On February 26, 1888, he was married to Sina King, a daughter of
William King, of Greenville, Illinois, a farmer who comes of Tennessee
stock. Mr. and Mrs. Sybert are the parents of one son, Ramel King Sybert,
a very bright little fellow of six years. Mr. and Mrs. Sybert are consistent
and influential members of the Methodist church, in whose work they take
an active part. The fraternal relations of Mr. Sybert are very congenial; he
belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United Workmen
and Woodmen of the World. His political influence is widely felt not only
in Whatcom, but throughout that section of country, while socially he and
his wife are very important factors in Whatcom, where they both have many
friends.
MILLER BROTHERS.
WILLIAM FREDERICK MILLER, of the firm of Miller Brothers,
real estate dealers of the city of Whatcom, Washington, and a man who has
been closely identified with the development of that locality, was born Janu
ary 31, 1869, at Ackley, Hardin county, Iowa, and is a product of the public
schools of Whatcom and the normal school of Lynden, from which he was
graduated in 1891.
After his graduation Mr. Miller was associated with Nooksack River
Boom Company as superintendent and partner for one year, at which time
he embarked in a sawmill business with his father and brothers at Whatcom
and made a success of it for five years, when he went to eastern Washington
and British Columbia and engaged in mining. For eighteen months he served
as superintendent of the Republic (Washington) Milling Company, and in
all of his enterprises he met with unqualified success. Returning to Whatcom
in 1902, he engaged in a real estate and insurance business with his brothers,
G. A. and L. E. Miller. Politically he is now a Democrat, although formerly
a Republican, and has been associated with his father in political work, and
has been a delegate to county conventions upon several occasions.
The real estate firm of Miller Brothers is one of the most prosperous in
Whatcom, and through the energy and business acumen of the partners a
large patronage has been built up, and the concern has been instrumental in

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 351
developing not only Whatcom itself but the surrounding country. Mr.
William F. Miller is a live young business man of considerable experience,
and one who has made many friends throughout the county, as well as in
the various localities in which he has resided, and all interests entrusted to his
care will be looked after with conscientious fidelity.
GUSTAV ADOLPHUS MILLER, of the firm of Miller Brothers, real
estate dealers and prominent business men of Whatcom, Washington, was
born April 7, 1872, in Madison county, Nebraska, where he commenced a
public school education and completed it at Whatcom, Washington, in 1891.
As a first business venture he embarked in the lumber business in Whatcom
as a member of the Washington Cedar Lumber Company, manufacturers of
shingles. This plant was destroyed in March, 1896, and Mr. Miller met with
a heavy loss, but nothing dismayed he worked in the streets of Sandon, New
Denver and Greenwood to gain a slight start once more in the business world.
For the following two years he engaged in mining, and then in 1900 returned
to Whatcom, and seeing a favorable opportunity embarked in a real estate
and insurance business, which later became Miller Brothers, the present suc
cessful firm doing business along these lines in Whatcom and vicinity. Mr.
Gustav A. Miller now devotes all his attention to the real estate and insurance
business, although while he was residing in the city of Gleenwood he was in a
shingle business for one year with his brother Will.
In politics Mr. Miller has been very active, especially in Whatcom, and
cast his first vote for Bryan. Like his brothers he has been sent to county
conventions, and he and his brother W. F. were instrumental in securing the
election of Will D. Jenkins to the office of secretary of state. Among business
men Mr. Gustav A. Miller, as the other members of the firm, is regarded as
an excellent exponent of the new west, and the future before him is a very
promising one.
LEONARD EMILE MILLER, the junior member of the well known
real estate firm of Miller Brothers, of Whatcom, Washington, where it is
recognized as one of the leading concerns in these fields, was born May 17,
1876, in Madison county, Nebraska. His early education was commenced
in the common schools of Whatcom and completed in the high school of the
same city, and he was graduated in the class of 1894. In the spring of 1897
he began fishing and thus continued until the fall of 1899.
With his father and brothers he embarked in the Cedar Lumber Com
pany, but lost everything in the unfortunate fire of 1896. However, the
Miller family is not one to be easily dismayed and he worked for a time at
shingle sawing in Whatcom, after which he attended normal school, intending
to take a three years' course, but left in the junior year to embark in the real
estate and insurance business with his other brothers, and with them has been
eminently successful.
While still very young in the councils of the party, Mr. Miller has already
made his influence felt, having represented his party twice in county conven
tions, and is now a delegate to the state convention. With energy and grit,
as leading characteristics of his nature, Mr. Miller is destined to become
known outside of his immediate vicinity, and, when he is, Whatcom will have
reason to feel proud of this product of the new west.

352 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
JOHN A. KIRKPATRICK.
Business connections form the greater part of the life history of most
men, and it is their application and ability therein, resulting in failure or
success, that constitute the salient features of their work. Credit is clue and
should be given when an individual successfully encounters the complex busi
ness conditions of the present and wins a fair measure of success. John
Alexander Kirkpatrick has led an active life, and is to-day occupying the
responsible position of secretary and auditor with the Blue Canyon Coal
Mining Company, making his home in Fairhaven.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 28, 1856, he is a son of
Alexander and Adelaide (Hodges) Kirkpatrick, both of whom traced their
ancestry back to heroes of the Revolutionary war. They were also natives of
the Keystone state, and the father of our subject was a book publisher of
Philadelphia, where he carried on business successfully for a number of years.
He died in 1880, at the age of fifty-five years, but the mother is now living
in Auburn, New York. John A. Kirkpatrick has three brothers and four
sisters, as follows : Dudley Tyng, who is living in Chicago, Illinois ; Henry
Ashmead, of Seattle; Edward Strickland, of Auburn, New York; Frances
Elizabeth, also of Auburn; Rebecca, the wife of George D. Farwell, of
Seattle; Adelaide, the wife of W. T. Pearce, of Seattle; and Florence, the
wife of H. R. Evans, of Washington, D. C.
At the usual age John A. Kirkpatrick entered the public schools of Phila
delphia, and later attended the Central High School there, but when fifteen
years of age he left the school-room and was apprenticed to learn the printer's
trade, which he followed continuously for seven years. In 1878 he left his
native city and made his way westward, locating in Omaha, Nebraska, as the
representative of the land department of the Union Pacific Railroad. He
served in that capacity for three years, and then went for the same company
to Cheyenne, Wyoming. He afterward spent one year as chief clerk for
superintendent of the mountain division of the Union Pacific Railroad Com
pany, and was then transferred to Ogden, Utah, and subsequently to Poca-
tello, Idaho, as chief clerk for general superintendent of the Idaho division,
in which position he also was connected with the supervision of the building
of the Oregon' Short Line. He continued with the Union Pacific road in
various capacities until 1888, and then became identified with the Northern
Pacific Railroad Company as chief clerk for superintendent of the Rocky
Mountain division, with headquarters at Missoula, Montana, and later at
Helena. In 1889 he severed his connection with that company and came to
the Pacific coast with the idea of making a settlement in this part of the
country. After visiting various places he took up his abode in Fairhaven in
the fall of that year.
In January, 1890, Mr. Kirkpatrick took charge of the books of the
Fairhaven Land Company and in the sarne year he was connected with the
Fairhaven & Southern Railroad Company, as accountant, but in 189 1 that
road was merged into the Great Northern Railway system. Upon the organi
zation of the Blue Canyon Coal Mining Company, in July, 1891, Mr. Kirk
patrick was chosen auditor and was afterward elected secretary, and has
occupied the latter position up to the present time, his labors being effective in

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 353
promoting its success and the extent of its business. Upon the organization
of the Bellingham Bay & Eastern Railroad, in 1891, he was appointed auditor
and afterward elected secretary in addition to his duties as auditor, and acted
in those capacities until the road was merged into that of the Northern Pacific
Railroad Company, October 10, 1902. It will thus be seen that he has been
closely connected with railroad interests, and he has the reputation of being
one of the expert accountants of this portion of the country.
May 30, 1882, is another important date in the life record of Mr. Kirk
patrick, for it was on that day that he was married, in Cheyenne, Wyoming,
to Miss Elizabeth Davis, a native of Waukesha, Wisconsin, and a daughter
of John E. and Elizabeth Davis, both of whom are natives of Wales and
are now residents of Fairhaven.
In politics Mr. Kirkpatrick takes an active interest, and since attaining
his majority he has given his support to the Republican party. He is quite
prominent in public and social affairs of his city, is the first vice-president
of the Commercial Club of Fairhaven, is president of the board of directors
of the public library, and is a member and was one of the incorporators of
the Cougar Club of Whatcom. His interest centers in the city of his adop
tion and he is deeply interested in its promotion and upbuilding, as a resident
and property owner, having been a co-operant factor along many lines of
general improvement.
DANIEL McCUSH.
It is the young men who are controlling trade, managing the great in
dustrial concerns of the country and ranking first in the professions, and
especially in the west are the young men controlling the business interests
which are developing this section of the country until its growth and progress
seems almost marvelous. Although but thirty-one years of age, Daniel
McCush, as proprietor of the Globe Clothing Company, is accounted one
of the leading and enterprising merchants of Whatcom, and is, as well, a
most popular citizen.
A native of Michigan, Mr. McCush was born near Bay City on the
10th of March, 1872, a son of Murdock and Mary (Holmes) McCush,
both of whom were natives of Scotland. The father died in 1872, but the
mother is living in Whatcom at the age of sixty years. In the family were
three sons and two daughters : Daniel, John, William, Lizzie and Sarah.
Lizzie is now the wife of J. S. Jameson, of this city.
Daniel McCush was educated in the public schools of Otsego Lake,
Michigan, and at the age of fifteen years began earning his own livelihood,
being employed as a salesman in a general store for three years. In 1891
he arrived on the Pacific coast. Locating in Whatcom, he secured a position
in a mercantile house, with which he remained continuously until 190 1, a
most trusted and faithful employe of the house, and won the entire confi
dence of the proprietors and the friendship and favor of many patrons of
the store. With the capital he acquired through his own industry he then
engaged in business on his own account, establishing the Globe Clothing
Company at 106 East Holly street. He has since conducted this with good
success, having a growing patronage, which has already returned to him a
good income from his investment.
23

351 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
On the 20th of March, 1900, Mr. McCush was united in marriage to
Miss Eva A. Thomas, a native of Indiana and a daughter of C. E. and
Rebecca Thomas, who were also born in that state. Mr. and Mrs. McCush
now have a little daughter, Marian Elizabeth. They hold membership in
the Presbyterian church and are active in its work. Mr. McCush votes
with the Republican party. He is very prominent in the Odd Fellows society,
and has held all of the offices in the subordinate lodge and has been district
deputy of District No. 31, of the state of Washington. He is connected
through membership relations with the Rebekahs of Bay City Encampment,
and was the youngest member of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows of
Washington in 1893. Mr. McCush is likewise a valued representative of
the blue lodge of Masons and the Modern Woodmen camp of Whatcom.
These fraternities inculcate humanitarian principles and upright living and
to the teachings and tenets of the orders Mr. McCush is very loyal.
WELLINGTON ALFRED WOODIN.
One of the early residents of the Puget Sound country is Wellington
Alfred Woodin, and throughout the entire period of his residence here no
one has been more thoroughly interested in everything which pertains to
the progress of the communities in which he has dwelt. His life has been
strictly honorable, upright and just, being in accord with the highest prin
ciples of human conduct, and he has therefore gained and retained the friend
ship of all with whom he has come in contact. Mr. Woodin was born in
Picton, Nova Scotia, on the 18th of June, 1850, and is a son of John J. and
Maria (Frazier) Woodin, also natives of Nova Scotia. The father, who is
of English descent, is now a retired sea captain living at Fairhaven, and has
reached the good old age of ninety years. The mother, who was of Scottish
ancestry, passed away in death in 1862, at the age of thirty-eight years. In
the family of this worthy couple were six children, five sons and one daughter,
as follows : Edward ; Eleanor, the wife of A. Delaire, living in San Fran
cisco, California; James; Wellington, of this review; William, who served
as sheriff of Bingham county, Idaho, and died in that state in 1902; and
Walter, who makes his home in San Francisco. By a second marriage Mr.
Woodin became the father of six children, four sons and two daughters :
Harry, Frank and Eugene, who are engaged in merchandising at Colfax,
Washington; Mina, the wife of Rev. J. Lowry, of Fairhaven, and Tom and
Lilly, deceased.
Wellington Alfred Woodin received extremely limited educational ad
vantages during his youth, and when but nine years of age went to sea on
his father's ship, sailing before the mast for nine years, during which time
he was engaged in the West India trade. In February, 1870, he abandoned
the life of a sailor and took up his residence in Nebraska, there securing land,
and in April of the same year was joined by his parents, that commonwealth
continuing to be his home until 1875, and during two years of that time
he was engaged in driving cattle from Texas to the Yankton agency in
Dakota. In 1874 he was married, and in the following spring went to Cali
fornia, where he was engaged in operating a schooner in the general traffic

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 355
service on Humboldt Bay, and for four years Iiumboldt county of the Golden
state continued to be the place of his residence. Returning thence to Ne
braska, he spent one year at his old home there, after which he made his
way to Eagle Rock, Idaho, where he spent thirteen months in the car shops
of that place, and on the expiration of that period, in the spring of 1882,
located on Guemes Island, the journey hither being made by way of San
Francisco and Seattle. One year later Mr. Woodin removed to Fairhaven,
Washington, where he was among the early pioneers, and he opened the
first grocery store at that pomt. After a residence of one year at that place
he took up his abode at Bellingham, where he was appointed the first post
master, and in connection with the duties of that office also conducted a
general store. In 1887 he rented the Bellingham saw-mill, where he manu
factured about one million feet of lumber. He sent the first foreign cargo
of lumber from Fairhaven, shipping to New Caledonia, a French possession
in the South Sea, about one thousand miles southwest of Australia. In 1888
Mr. Woodin started a logging camp at Fairhaven and cleared the present
town site of that city, while in the following year, 1889, he purchased the
Fairhaven Lumber and Planing Mill from R. Frankenburg, continuing its
operation until 1895, and on the 17th of March of that year the mill was
destroyed by fire. Reconstruction, however, was immediately commenced,
operations being resumed on the 31st of May following, but in 1897 our
subject sold the mill plant and in the spring of the following year organized
the Northern Transportation Company. Purchasing the bark Theobold, he
came to Seattle and loaded for Skagway, and after disposing of his cargo
there returned to the former city and loaded the vessel with coal for San
Francisco. After the return trip this bark was sold to San Francisco parties,
after which Mr. Woodin continued in the Alaska Transportation trade until
1901, and during that time he was quite successful in his operations. In
the spring of 1902 he came to Anacortes and engaged in general merchan
dising, and after his arrival in this city he also erected a shingle-mill at Lake
Campbell. Thus it will be seen that his business connections on the Pacific
coast have been many and varied, and in the many communities in which
he has made his home he has used his influence and means in the advance
ment of whatever has been for the general good.
Mr. Woodin was first married in Nebraska, in August, 1874, when
Miss Elizabeth Woods became his wife. She was a native of the state of
Ohio and a daughter of H. P. and Jane Woods, who were farming people in
the Buckeye state. Three children were born of this union: Eugene Mel
ville, Eugenia Maude and1 Lilian Eloise, the last named having died at the
age of seven years. In June, 1887, the mother of these children passed into
eternal rest, and in February, 1890, Mr. Woodin was united in marriage to
Vennie Wells, a native of Wisconsin. Our subject's fraternal connections
are with the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient
Order of United Workmen, and in political matters he upholds the principles
of the Republican party. He was a member of the first city council at Fair
haven and there paid the first city tax receipt. He is a man of well rounded
character, his varied interests having produced a symmetrical development,
and while his energies are chiefly given to his business he is a valued factor

356 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
in fraternal and social circles, where his upright life and genial temperament
make him a general favorite.
JOHN LOUDEN EASTON.
John Louden Easton, county commissioner of Whatcom county
and one of the leading business men of Fairhaven, was born December 18,
1862, at Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and is a son of Rev. James
C. and Mary (Louden) Easton. The Rev. Mr. Easton was minister of the
parish of Old Meldrum, Scotland, and died in 1876, aged fifty-four years,
while his wife was killed in the great Tay bridge accident in December,
1879, and both she and her husband were born in Forfarshire, Scotland.
The family born to these parents was as follows : George T., of Melbourne,
Australia; James R., deceased; John L. ; Harry, of Edinburgh, Scotland;
Mary M., widow of Thomas Rogers, of Bombay, India.
John L. Easton was educated in the public schools of his native land,
finishing at the West End Academy at Aberdeen. Leaving school at the
age of fifteen years, he entered the employ of the British Liner Company
Bank, Aberdeen, as an apprentice, , and served four years. In 1881 he re
signed and went to Ontario, Canada, took up a homestead and remained
there until January, 1889, when he came to Tacoma and engaged in a fire
insurance business. After one year, in March, 1890, he removed to Fair
haven, opened an insurance office and was appointed general agent for the
California Powder Works, which position he still retains. In 1896 he was
elected a member of the council at large, and re-elected in 1897 for Fair
haven, during which time he also acted as secretary of the Fairhaven Com
mercial Club. Other honors were in store for him, as in 1898 he was
elected county commissioner for a term of four years, and re-elected in 1902
for his present term of two years, and he has served as chairman of the board
during his term of office.
In June, 1897, Mr. Easton was married to Gertrude Elizabeth Mason,
a native of San Leandro, California, and only daughter of J. R. and Mary
Mason, residents of the city of Whatcom. One daughter has been born of
this union, namely : Mary Elizabeth, now aged four years. Fraternally Mr.
Easton is a member of the Order of Elks, while his social affiliations are
with the Fairhaven Commercial Club. In politics he has always been a.
stanch Republican, and is recognized as one of the leaders in his party. He
is a member of the Presbyterian church. A thorough man of business, a
conscientious public official, possessing ability and energy,' Mr. Easton has
rapidly forged to the front, and is one of the leading men of this locality,
among many others who are destined to make their names known throughout
the length and breadth of the land.
GEORGE JOHN LISTMANN.
George John Listmann, one of the prominent business citizens of What
com, Washington, was born December 20, 1870, in New York city, a son
of Henry and Susan (Wetzell) Listmann, the former of whom is engaged

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 357
in furniture manufacturing in Portland, Oregon. Both he and wife are
natives of Frankfort, Germany, and both came to America in 1863 and
were married in New York city. The two brothers of our subject are:
Henry and Conrad F., the former of whom is deceased, the latter being a
resident of Portland, Oregon.
George J. Listmann was educated in the common schools at Portland,
and later attended school in New York, leaving there at the age of thirteen
years and returning to Portland. Here he enjoyed two years more of public
school training, and then began a business career. During this time he
attended a business and finishing school at night, and attended to his
duties during the day with the firm of G. Shindler Furniture
Company. He was apprenticed to the Upholstery business, and served out
the prescribed time of four years, after which, in 1899, he went to Walla
Walla as a salesman for Claussen & Company. Here he continued about a
year and a half, and in September, 1891, came to Whatcom for D. N. & E.
Walter, wholesale carpet dealers, to take charge of the C. G. Coles stock
of furniture and carpets, which they had acquired. He was appointed re
ceiver to close out the business. After completing this he went with the
Bellingham Bay Furniture Company, of Whatcom, and remained with that
house until 1901. Mr. Listmann then accepted a position with the Standard
Furniture Company of Seattle, and continued with them until April 3, 1902,
when he was sent to Whatcom to open a branch store as general manager.
Mr. Listmann first located the business on Railroad avenue, but the expansion
of trade soon required larger quarters, and he has constructed the present
commodious warerooms at 1312-1314 Canoe street, three stories in height
and fifty-five by one hundred and twenty-five feet in dimensions. He handles
furniture, carpets, draperies and general house furnishing goods, and his
business takes a leading position with any in Whatcom.
In August, 1901, Mr. Listmann was married to Sadie Sevier, who was
born in Kansas, and is a daughter of Frank and Martha Sevier, who came
to Whatcom in the early eighties and is one of the earliest pioneer families
of the county. They took up a homestead near -Custer. Mr. Listmann be
longs to the leading secret societies, is a member of the Elks, the Woodmen
of the World and the Eagles. He is also a valued and useful member of the
Whatcom Commercial Club.
DUNCAN NEIL McMILLAN.
Duncan Neil McMillan, superintendent of all the trap construction and
fishing business in general on Puget Sound, in the interests of the Pacific
Packing & Navigation Company, and one of the respected and substantial
citizens of Fairhaven, Washington, was born November 12, 1854, at Mani
towoc, Wisconsin. He is a son of the late Neil McMillan, who was born
in' Scotland and came to America in 1836, settling in Wisconsin, where he
followed the business of fishing. He died in 1888, aged seventy-seven years.
The mother of our subject was Mary E. Rowley, who was born in the state
of New York, her ancestors dating back to Revolutionary patriots. She has
reached the age of eighty-two years, and resides in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

358 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
The family, excepting our subject, are as follows : Catherine, wife of E. H.
Pfunder, of Wisconsin; Peter, living on the homestead in Wisconsin; Mal
colm, living in Fairhaven; Myra, wife of E. A. Benedict, of Oshkosh, Wis
consin, and Martha, wife of John O'Hara, county judge of Florence, Wis
consin. Duncan Neil McMillan was educated in the country schools, attending
during the winter seasons and assisting his father with the fishing during the
summers, the latter being one of the pioneers in this business on Lake Michi
gan. From the age of fourteen he devoted his entire time to fishing in the
season and teaming in the winters. In 1880 he went to Chicago and engaged
in the United States life saving service at the Chicago life-boat station at
South pier, and remained three year's in that work.
In the spring of 1884 he came to Tacoma to engage in a fishing business,
and in company with his brother, Malcolm and H. B. Kirby, put in and
operated one of the first fish traps on Puget Sound, but, as the market proved
poor during that season, they abandoned the industry for a time. During
the following year Mr. McMillan went prospecting over the country east of
the Cascades, and in the winter of 1886-7 built a shingle-mill at Tacoma, in
company with T. A. Malony, and shipped the first car load of shingles to
the east that ever left Tacoma. He continued in -'.the -shingle business a year
and a half and then sold out his interests at Tacoma and lived in Sumner
until 1894, where he had built a home.
In the spring of 1894 he engaged with the Alaska Packing Company at
Point Robert, Washington, as pile-driver foreman, for two seasons. In
the fall of 1895 he severed this connection and went to work for H. Bell
Irving, of Vancouver, British Columbia, as superintendent of traps, and
located and operated fifteen traps for three years, up to the fall of 1898. He
then started operations for himself, when R. Ornfroy, who had promoted
the Pacific American Fisheries Company, made him a proposition to work
for his company. In the spring of 1899 he took command of the operations
for that company as superintendent of traps, and continued with the com
pany until it was absorbed by the Pacific Packing & Navigation Company, in
1901. He was then appointed, under E. E. Ainsworth, general manager,
as superintendent of the work on Puget Sound. Mr. McMillan is thoroughly
qualified for this vast work. He builds forty-one traps each year at different
points on the Sound.
In March, 1888, Mr. McMillan was married to Lizzie E. Froney, who
was born in Ohio, and is a daughter of George and Rachel Froney. They
have three manly sons : George, aged fourteen ; Joe, aged twelve, and Archie,
aged ten years. Mr. McMillan belongs to the Masons, the Odd Fellows and
the Order of United Workmen. In politics he is a Republican.
JOHN P. GALE.
It is always interesting as well as instructive to talk with men who
have seen much of life in its different phases, gone through important his
toric epochs as one of the active participants, and who have achieved success
as the result of activities in varied lines of business. A man of this kind

/^_

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 359
will be found living in a cozy brick residence at 1123 South E street, in
Tacoma, and the following pages shall be devoted to describing a career
which, after a busy period covering half a century, has thus serenely cul
minated. The family is of English origin, Henry Gale having been a native
of London, who emigrated to the United States during the earlier decades
of the nineteenth century. Pie located in Maryland, where he made a liveli
hood by the practice of veterinary surgery, but at a later period he removed
to Wisconsin, in which state three years were spent, followed by another
change of base, this time to the city of New Orleans. The latter portion
of his life was spent in Louisiana and Texas, without incident worthy of
special mention, and he passed from the scenes of earth many years ago.
John P. Gale was the only child of this emigrant, and his birth occurred
in England while his parents were on a visit to their native land. He was
about six years of age when the settlement in Wisconsin took place, and
his schooling was received after the subsequent removal to New Orleans.
He was fortunate at this period to learn the trades of shipsmith and black-
smithing, which proved of great value to him in after years when thrown
on his own resources in a strange land. In 1847 Mr. Gale secured a position
as engineer on a steamship engaged in carrying soldiers and munitions to
Matamoras for the Mexican war, then in progress, but this furnished him
occupation only a few months, after which he spent a short time in Texas.
This brought him to the year 1849, famous in the history of the United
States and the world on account of that epoch-making event, the discovery
of gold in California. Young Gale was not slow to take advantage of this
opportunity for adventure and fortune-seeking, and soon we find him on
board a vessel sailing from New Orleans, bound by way of the Isthmus for
the distant shores of the Pacific. Pie arrived at San Francisco in November,
1849, when the gold fever was at its height, and lost no time in making his
way to the north fork of American river, where, in company with thousands
of others, he was soon busy in placer mining. He did well for a while,
succeeded in averaging about forty dollars a day in gold dust, and in course
of time had laid up a little capital. With the restless spirit characteristic of
those times, however, he was not content to remain long in one place, and
next we find our adventurous friend in Calaveras county, busily engaged in
a new pursuit. Like some others who observed closely, Mr. Gale had dis
covered that more gold was to be found above than below ground, as money
was abundant but supplies and skilled workmen comparatively scarce.
Drawing oji the knowledge obtained before leaving "the States," he opened
a blacksmith shop at Mokelumne Hill, and was soon doing what the west
erners describe as a "land office business." Miners' picks were in such
demand as to be less than the supply, and Mr. Gale readily obtained sixteen
dollars for every one he made, besides fifty cents a point for sharpening these
tools. As a side line he put shoes on the patient mules used in the hauling
operations, and did all the other odd jobs connected with blacksmithing, for
which he received prices that would be regarded as princely anywhere but
in a mining camp. Everything was working well and would have resulted
well but for one of those unlooked for calamities, which it is difficult for
the most cautious to guard against. In an evil hour Mr. Gale had taken in

360 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
a partner, and this partner being sent to San Francisco to lay in supplies
took advantage of the occasion to get on a drunk and run away with all the
firm's money. The only thing left to Mr. Gale was the privilege of paying
the bills, which he did with as good grace as possible, and not wasting time
in useless regrets speedily turned his attention to other sources of income.
Ceasing for a while to be a proprietor he secured employment as a journey
man in San Francisco, where he remained until 1852, when he departed for
the northwest and resumed his trade at Portland, Oregon. At a later period
he established a shop at Wapato Lake, in Yamhill county, and from that
time for several years was an active participant in some of the stirring events
then occurring in Oregon. He was with General Palmer when he made his
treaty with the Indians, and in 1855 volunteered to take part in the border
war then raging. He served under Captain Emery during his campaign in
eastern Oregon and Washington, participating in various skirmishes with
the marauding redskins, all of which terminated disastrously for the Indians.
At this time the government had established a reservation for some of the
tribes in the -valley of the Grand Round, and there Mr. Gale's skill as a
mechanic again stood him in good stead. A blacksmith was needed by the
government agents to do various kinds of work, and this job was attended
to by Mr. Gale until he made up his mind as to his next move. Locating at
Tillamook, then one of the promising county seats of Oregon, he was en
gaged in the combined occupations of farming and blacksmithing until 1859,
when he decided to seek a new scene of operation.
The first appearance of Mr. Gale as a pioneer in the territory of Wash
ington was at Dominec Prairie, in Pierce county, where he settled on a wild
tract of land that had not even been surveyed. Not satisfied with the results
of three years' residence at this place, he returned to Oregon and repurchased
his old place at Wapato Lake, where he remained until 1867. During that
year he definitely determined to cast his lot with the territory of Washington,
and made his appearance on the site of what is now Tacoma, but where there
was nothing at that time at all resembling a town. Jacob Carr, Mr. Steel
and a few others had settled on land in the vicinity, but as yet there were
no signs that on this spot within a few years would be seen a populous and
thriving city, with immense possibilities for the future. With his usual
promptness and energy Mr. Gale took a pre-emption claim upon a tract of
land, which he immediately set about improving and cultivating. This area
is now included in what is called the Commencement Bay addition to the city
of Tacoma, and with its busy streets and handsome buildings bears little
resemblance to the condition in which it was found by its original owner.
Later on, however, desiring a better range for his cattle, Mr. Gale took up
a homestead on the other side of the river, which property was improved
and sold, partly in 1870 and partly at a later date, at a good profit over
original investments. Aside from these transactions Mr. Gale became the
owner of a farm near the mission school, consisting of two hundred acres,
which he has improved with a good residence and brace of barns, together
with other useful additions that make it a valuable estate. Part of his time
is spent here in the pleasing task of looking after his crops and stock, and
part is spent in Tacoma, where he owns a commodious brick residence, fitted

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 361
up and furnished in modern • style. Plere Mr. Gale is spending the evening
of his days in repose, amid surroundings which afford a fitting close to a
life which has not been without those trials and risks inseparable from
strenuous effort.
It is pleasing to be able to record that the domestic life of Mr. Gale has
been of that happy character which lends to existence its chief est charm.
During his Oregonian days he became acquainted with Miss Elizabeth Flett,.
an attractive Canadian lady, to whom he was happily wedded in 1856, and
who proved an invaluable adviser and comforter in all his subsequent ex
periences. Georgie, the eldest of their children, died in the third year of her
age, but the other four grew up and have done well in the world. George
W., the eldest son, is a sea captain and has charge of a schooner belonging
to his father, which he is employing at Manila in the internal trade of the
Philippine Islands. Tilly, the second daughter, married Henry Russell and
resides at Tacoma. Guy C, the youngest child, is in Alaska, while Made
line, the third and widowed daughter, is acting as her father's housekeeper
in the absence of the beloved mother, who closed her earthly career in 1872.
Since this great affliction, the severity of which can only be known to the
inner circle and others acquainted with her rare virtues, Mr. Gale has found
consolation in the affection of his children and the society of a few choice
friends. Until 1896 his political support was given to the Democracy, but
his party's radical departure that year from its traditional policy on the money
question caused Mr. Gale to break away, and he has since been voting with
the Republicans. His tastes do not run in the direction of clubs or other
away-from-home gatherings, and hence his name has never been enrolled
with any secret society, nor is he a member of any sectarian denomination.
His religious creed may be summed up as belief in the practice of the Golden
Rule; his business guide is embodied in the maxim "pay as you go"; and
his general rule of action has always been to attend strictly to his own affairs
while letting those of others alone.
BERTON WALDRON HUNTOON.
Berton Waldron Huntoon, superintendent of the Pacific Packing &
Navigation Company, at Fairhaven, Washington, was born February 6,
1869, at Sacramento, California. He is a son of D. R. and Laura Ellen
(Waldron) Huntoon, the former of whom was a native of Vermont, who
came to California in 1850 and engaged in mining and freighting. The
latter was born in New Hampshire and was educated at the Berwick Acad
emy in Maine.
Berton W. Huntoon began his business career at the age of eighteen
years by spending two years in the employment of the city engineer at
Seattle and one year on the Fairhaven Southern Railroad, now the Great
Northern Railway. He then spent two years at the Rennselaer Polytechnic
Institute, at Troy, New York, and during 1894-5 was a state road engineer
of Washington. For three years prior to 1899 he was surveyor of Whatcom
county, and then resigned in order to become civil engineer for the Pacific
American Fisheries Company. When this company was absorbed in 1901

362 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
by the Pacific Packing & Navigation Company, he was made superintendent
of the operations in the Sound fisheries and of the salmon canneries at Fair
haven and Friday Harbor.
This great company was formed in 1899 by Chicago capitalists, Charles
Counselman and John Cudahy being two of the principal stockholders. It
began with the purchase of a large number of fish sites, paying as much as
a million dollars for them, and built the largest salmon cannery in the world
at Fairhaven. It also purchased and built a large fleet of steamers, pile-
drivers and scows, and all things required for successful fishing operators.
It also established machine shops at Fairhaven for repairs and a ship yard
at Eliza Island, in Bellingham Bay, for the building and repairing of their
floating property. In August, 1901, the Pacific Packing & Navigation Com
pany was organized with New York capital and took control of twenty-five
of the largest salmon canneries in Alaska and Puget Sound, including the
property and canneries of the Pacific American Fisheries Company. It now
, operates about forty fish traps on the Sound, together with many seine
outfits, using fifteen steam tugs, ten pile-drivers for building fish-traps, the
piles of which have to be renewed each season. About sixty scows are used
in towing fish to the canneries. The company employs during the season
about thirteen hundred people, about six hundred being employed in and
about the canneries, fifty in the ship yard, thirty in the machine shop, two
hundred on Eliza Island making up web seines and trap gear, one hundred
and twenty on the steamboats, one hundred on the pile-drivers, one hundred
and twenty seine fishermen and about four hundred trap fishermen. The
company is now enlarging its capacity in the cannery, - and will soon be able
to have an output of about ten thousand cases of salmon per day, or nearly
five hundred thousand cans a day, or about three hundred and fifty thousand
cases a season. The employes of the Fairhaven cannery consist of two hun
dred Chinese, fifty Japanese, three hundred women and girls and fifty white
men. Preparations begin March 1st by the driving of the piles which form
the outline of the traps, and by July 1 fishing and canning begins.
In November, 1901, Mr. Huntoon was married to Marguerite Wilcox,
who was born in Michigan. Mr. Huntoon, although so actively employed
in looking after the interests of the above great corporation, finds time to
take an active part in public matters, and is interested in local politics. He
is a stanch Republican. He is fraternally connected with the Order of Odd
Fellows and the Society of Civil Engineers, and belongs to the Commercial
Club at Fairhaven. MASON IRWIN.
The present judge of the superior court of Washington district of
Chehalis county, is the son of J. H. and Jane Harris (Bell) Irwin. His
father was a physician, and was a practitioner in Juniata county, Penn
sylvania, until a short time before the birth of his son Mason, when he
moved to a farm near Mifflintown, and spent the few remaining years of his
life there. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and the Irwins were an old
family in Juniata county. Mrs. Irwin, who was a descendant of the ancient
Douglas clan of Scots, was a native of Pennsylvania, and her people were

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 363
among the first settlers who laid out Mifflintown, where she died in 1890.
Her mother was a Harris, daughter of John Plarris, who was a Revolutionary
soldier and was wounded in that struggle, as is related in the inscription on
his tombstone in the churchyard at Mifflintown.
Mason Irwin was born on the farm near Mifflintown, Juniata county,
Pennsylvania, in 1850, and had the rearing of a farmer's boy, and received
first a common school education and finished at Airy view Academy at Port
Royal, Juniata county. At the age of twenty he went to work as a clerk in
a store at Port Royal, but after three years his fortunes took a rise and he
went into a bank in the same town, in which he soon became cashier, holding
that position for four years. Having an ambition, at the end of this period,
for the profession of law, he began his reading with Ezra D. Parker at
Mifflintown, and was admitted to the bar at that place in 1879. After a
short period of practice he was elected prosecuting attorney of Juniata county,
and served for three years. In the meanwhile he had formed the determina
tion to come west, and in 1884 arrived in Washington territory and located
at Yakima; he remained here only three or four months, and in 1885 took
up his permanent residence in Montesano. For several years he was en
gaged in private practice, having a good and profitable clientage, and in
1889 was elected judge of the superior court of the state, with jurisdiction
in Chehalis, Thurston, Lewis and Mason counties. With the exception of
the four years following the Populist upheaval of 1896, — during which time
he practiced at Aberdeen, still retaining, however, his home at Montesano, —
he has been on the bench, by election, ever since, and has proved a very pop
ular and capable judge. Within the past year the judicial districts have been
rearranged, and Judge Irwin's territory is now confined to Chehalis county,
since the growth of legal business, keeping pace with the development of the
country, now requires all the time of one judge.
Among the brothers of Judge Irwin were two, T. V. and J. H,
who were soldiers in the Civil war. Judge Irwin was for a time curator of
the Washington State Plistorical Society, and he is a Mason, and in politics
a Republican. In 1894 he was married at Montesano to Lucile Hepfinger,
a member of an old and well known family; the five children of this union
are: Emma Louise, Florence Douglas, Mason, Helen and Elizabeth.
FREDERICK G. TILLY.
For a young man of twenty-nine years to have had a successful career
as a newspaper man, as an incumbent of several important city offices, and
as a merchant, seems rather unusual, but in a new country like the great
state of Washington the exhibition of such enterprise and resourcefulness
is in entire consonance with the spirit that pervades all matters of business
activity. Frederick G. Tilly is the fortunate gentleman referred to in the
preceding sentence, and a brief record of his life will form an interesting
chapter of this volume.
He is the son of John and Mariah (Ferguson) Tilly. The former is
a. native of Canada, being of Scotch descent, and while the greater part of
his life was spent in farming, he is now living in Hoquiam with his son,

364 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
having reached the age of seventy-four; his wife, also a native of Canada,
and of Scotch parentage, is living here at the age of seventy-two.
Frederick G. Tilly was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1875, and three
years later his parents located on a farm in Fremont, Waupaca county, Wis
consin, where they remained ten years. He received a good common school
education, then entered a job printing office at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where
he became acquainted with the various details of the printer's art. In 1891
he came out west to Hoquiam and held the position of foreman and job
printer in the office of the Washingtonian here until 1896; he then purchased
a half interest in the paper with J. D. Dean, who is now the owner and editor
of this leading Hoquiam paper. Mr. Tilly helped in the successful conduct of
this enterprise for several years, but in 1899 his Republican partisans elected
him to the office of city clerk, at which time he relinquished his control in
the Washingtonian. He was re-elected to the same office in 1900, and in
1901 was elected city treasurer, and through his re-election in December,
1902, is filling that office at the present time, and with entire satisfaction to
the citizens. The other venture mentioned above, merchandising, was begun in
August, 1901, when he became the proprietor of a retail furniture store in
Hoquiam, and he has shown his versatility by making a success in this line
also. He has a splendid modern store on J street, and conducts an under
taking business. In March, 1898, Mr. Tilly was married at Vancouver,
Washington, to Miss Agnes Acteson.
CAPTAIN I. M. HOWELL.
Among the prominent men of Pierce county, Washington, who have
become well known through good citizenship and efficient public service, is
Captain Ithamar M. Howell, the present deputy county auditor of Tacoma.
He was born at Waukon, Allamakee county, Iowa, in 1866, and is a son
of Josephus S. and Abigail Jane (Noyes) Howell. The father, who was
a native of the commonwealth of Ohio, moved at an early day to the north
western part of Illinois, and a short time afterward took up his abode in
Allamakee county, Iowa. He was a farmer by occupation, but later in life
took up the occupation of freighting, and before the days of railroads made
fifteen trips across the great American desert, during which time he served
as a newspaper correspondent. He subsequently removed to northwestern
Iowa, purchased and platted a half interest in the town of Rock Rapids, and
in addition, engaged in farming and cattle-raising on an extensive scale.
The grasshopper plague in those days, however, caused him to leave that
section and come to the Puget Sound country, and accordingly, in 1877,
with his family, consisting of his wife, two daughters and one son, he went
by rail to San Francisco and thence by water to Tacoma, arriving here April
26 of the same year. Purchasing property on an extensive scale, he em
barked in the real estate business, at first individually, but later as a member
of the firm of Howell, Nixon & Steele, and still later in partnership with
his son Ithamar. During this reltaionship his life's labors were ended -in
death, in 1894. He was a man of wonderful energy and enterprise, and

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 365
possessed that far-seeing vision which enabled him to forecast the great
movement of emigration and wonderful development of the Puget Sound
country, in the splendid future of which he had implicit confidence, never
hesitating to contribute of his means to any worthy enterprise. Plis widow,
who was born in Vermont, now makes her home with out subject in Tacoma,
for the latter has never wedded. One sister, Miss Josie L., also makes her
home here, while the other sister, Winnie Ethel, is the wife of John Chandler,
of Tacoma. Ithamar M. Howell was one of the earliest students in the Tacoma public
schools, the town at that time being a wild, western community, but his
studies therein were supplemented by attendance at the Monmouth College,
of Oregon, after which he secured a partnership interest in his father's real
estate business. This occupation was continued for some time after the
father's death, but in the meantime he had engaged in other business opera
tions, the principal one being the World Printing Company, which he assisted
in organizing, and of which he was made the secretary and treasurer. This
company built up a large and extensive business, but after a time they decided
to discontinue operations, as none of the members of the firm were practical
printers. For the succeeding two years , Mr. Plowell was employed in the
land department office of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, having
previously made a prospecting trip through the mining regions of British
Columbia, and in January, 1900, was appointed chief deputy county auditor
under James H. Davis, which responsible position he is now filling to the
utmost satisfaction of all concerned. In his political affiliations he is a
stalwart Republican, and has served as a delegate to nearly every county
convention since arriving at the age of maturity. In his fraternal relations
he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Red Men, the Woodmen
and the National Union.
In addition to his other connections, Mr. Howell is also financially in
terested in mines, and is secretary and treasurer of the Peco Free Milling &
Mining Company, which owns ten valuable gold claims near Lake Kitchelos, in
Kittitas county, in which a four hundred foot tunnel has already been drilled,
and expensive machinery will soon be put in. He is also manager of the
Hanover Investment Company, dealing in Tacoma real estate. Mr. Howell
received his title of captain from his long connection with the National Guard
of Washington. During his boyhood and even before the territorial militia
had been organized he joined a private company of militia, and when the Na
tional Guard for the territory was organized, in the early eighties,, he was one
of the first to enlist, becoming a private in Company C, First Regiment In
fantry, National Guard of Washington. During his connection therewith he
served as corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, and finally took command of his com
pany, being three times elected captain of Company C. He served gallantly
during the King county riots, which were caused by the striking miners in
1 89 1, occupying three different stations during that time, and his was the
largest company in the field. He also served during the troubles following
the great fire at Seattle, when there was much attempted looting by the throngs
who flocked there at that time. Captain Howell resides in a pleasant home at

366 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
2018 South Twelfth street. His friends are many, and by all with whom he
has become acquainted he is held in high esteem.
HON. JOHN H. SCHIVELY.
Hon. John H. Schively is widely recognized as a Republican leader in
this section of the Evergreen state, and his name stands conspicuously forth
on the pages of Washington's political history. He is a native of the state
of Pennsylvania, his birth occurring in the city of Philadelphia on the 28th of
September, 1858, and he is of German and Welsh descent, his ancestors having
located in Pennsylvania many generations ago. He is also a member of the
Trego family of Pennsylvania. Eli Trego Schively, the father of our subject,
was born in Pottsville, that state, in 18 17, and became a moulder by trade.
Subsequently removing to Washington, D. C, he was employed in the govern
ment navy yard until he retired from the active duties of life. For his wife
he chose Miss Martha Vaughan Gibbon, a native of Monmouthshire, Wales,
but she was brought to America when but nine years of age. This marriage
was blessed with nine children, four of whom died in infancy, and four sons
and two daughters grew to years of maturity. The father nobly served his
country as a Union soldier during the Civil war, and took part in the great
decisive battle of Gettysburg, in which sanguinary struggle his son David, a
young volunteer in the defense of his country, suffered the loss of an eye and
also had his right arm dislocated, while another son, William Harrison, re
ceived a gunshot wound in the shoulder at the battle of the Wilderness. An
other member of this family, Eli Franklin Schively, proved his loyalty to his
country in that struggle, serving as a drummer boy in a Philadelphia regiment.
The father attained the ripe old age of eighty-two years, departing this life
in 1899, while his wife was called to her final rest in 1895, when she had
reached the age of seventy-five years. She was a most devout Christian, and
was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Hon. John H. Schively, the only representative of his father's family in
Washington, is indebted to the public schools of Philadelphia for the educa
tional advantages which he was permitted to enjoy in his youth, and after
completing his studies he entered a printing office in Bucks county, Pennsyl
vania, becoming a journeyman printer at the age of seventeen years. He was
the youngest journeyman printer ever employed in the government printing
office where he worked on the Congressional Record, while later he was made
assistant foreman and proofreader of the public records office in the war de
partment. Subsequently Mr. Schively established a printing office at Santiago,
Chili, where he remained for two years, and while there he was with General
Kilpatrick during his last illness and death, and gave to him the best care and
attention which lay in his power. Returning to Pennsylvania, Mr. Schively
matriculated in Dickinson College, of Carlisle, in which he was graduated
with the class of 1886, and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. After
leaving that institution he went immediately to Lucknow, India, where he
took charge of a printing office of the Methodist mission, and remained there
for four years. Returning thence to the United States, he located at Seattle,
Washington, in August, 1890, and from that time until the spring of 1891

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 367
was a member of the Post Intelligence force, after which he removed to Ana-
cortes, Washington, to become editor of the Anacortes American. From that
city he went to Bellingham Bay and took charge of the Fairhaven Herald, and
while there he was elected a member of the state legislature, representing the
Bellingham Bay district. For three years he also served as grand organizer of
the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Returning to Seattle in 1896, he
has since made his home in this city, and in 1898 was elected secretary of the
Chamber of Commerce of Seattle, filling that important position until the fol
lowing September, when he was elected chairman of the Republican state cen
tral committee of Washington. The duties pi that office continued to occupy
his time until January, 1901, when he received the appointment of deputy in
surance commissioner for the state of Washington by Hon. Sam H. Nichols,
secretary of state, and is now the incumbent of that responsible position.
In September, 1886, Mr. Schively was happily married to Miss Caroline
Dixon, a native of Caroline county, Maryland, and a daughter of James Ames
Dixon, a descendent of the original Dixon of Mason and Dixon line fame.
She is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and her paternal grandfather was a cousin
of President William Henry Harrison. Five children have blessed the union
of our subject and wife, the three eldest being born in Lucknow, India, the
others in Washington. In order of birth their names are Hugh Pitcairn, Flora
Izset, Annie Cunningham, Edward Dixon and Charles Stocklein. In his social
relations Mr. Schively is a member of the Ancient Order of United Work
men, Woodmen of the World, Order of Washington, the Foresters, the Be
nevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Eagles, the Knights of Pythias,
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Masons. His application to Sons
of Veterans has been voted upon favorably, but he is not yet initiated. Both
he and his wife are valued members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and
they enjoy the hospitality of the best homes of Seattle.
JOHN G. BOLLONG.
John G. Bollong, one of the successful business men of Fairhaven, Wash
ington, was born April 2, 1846, at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is a son of Neil
Bollong, a native of Nova Scotia, who in his younger days was a sea captain
and is now residing at Fairhaven, aged eighty-five years. The mother, Eliza
(Shelnut) Bollong, was also a native of Nova Scotia, and she is living at
Fairhaven, aged eighty-three years. The following children were born to
these parents, namely: Neil; William; Hector, deceased; Catherine, who
married Samuel Curry; Lucinda, deceased, who married Thomas Palmer;
Annie; Eva, deceased, who married William Dobson, of California; Grace,
deceased, who married Charles Tourtelott, of Kansas; and John G.
John G. Bollong was educated in the district schools at Halifax Nova
Scotia, until he was fourteen years of age, when he went to sea and served
an apprenticeship with his father. At the age of twenty years he was captain
of a sailing vessel on the Atlantic, and followed a seafaring life for twenty
years. In 1882 he gave up the sea and moved to Nebraska, engaging in stock
and cattle-raising, and remained until 1890. From 1889 to 1890 he was
deputy sheriff for Colfax county, Nebraska, and served very acceptably, but

368 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
in July, 1890, he came to Fairhaven and embarked in the grocery business,
which he still operates very successfully under the title of Bollong Grocery
Company, 1705 Eleventh street.
On August 29', 1887, Mr. Bollong was married to Lavina Hawes, a native
of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Murphy)
Hawes, both natives of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The children born to Mr. and
Mrs. Bollong are : Clifton, Ethel, Catharine, Edward and Bessie living, and
Richard, Frank, St. Clair and Nathan, who died in infancy. Mr. Bollong is
a popular member of the Masonic order and of the Ancient Order of United
Workmen, and in politics is a stanch Democrat. His success in life is but
the just reward of efforts intelligently directed, and he has not only prospered
finely, but made many friends for himself in the several localities in which he
has resided.
JOSEPH G. HEIM.
Joseph G. Heim, president of the South Bend Banking Company, was
born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1855, and is a son of Konrad and Victoria
(Korn) Heim. When our subject was one year of age Konrad Heim emi
grated to America with his family, and for a few years lived at different
places in the new world. After residing in Buffalo and St. Paul, in 1863
he moved to Wyoming, in Chisago county, Minnesota, about twenty-five
miles from St. Paul, and purchased a farm. Here he became a large land
owner and wealthy man, and Heim's Lake, of this same county, on which
his land bordered, was named for him. In this beautiful home Konrad
Heim passed away in 1887, and his wife is also deceased. Our subject re
ceived his early education in St. Paul, but, developing an unusual capacity
for business when still a boy, he began selling stock and farming, and after
the family moved to Wyoming he operated as a stock buyer in northern Min
nesota with marked success. Some of his operations were carried on in the
vicinity of Duluth. He later went into the mercantile business in the town
of Wyoming, and was also very successful in this line. While acting as a
merchant he was also postmaster under the Democratic administration of
President Cleveland, and was a director of the local bank. He also became
proprietor of some fine farm land, and still owns lands at Heim's Lake as
well as other real estate interests in that vicinity.
In 1 89 1, on account of asthmatic troubles, Mr. Heim concluded to sell
his mercantile interests and go farther west. His new home was located at
South Bend, Washington, and he began once more to make his presence felt
as he immediately purchased real estate and the Albee Hotel, which is a fine,
large, modern, three-story building, the best in this part of the state. For
eight years Mr. Heim conducted the hotel himself, and then turned the man
agement of it over to his two brothers, George J. and Christopher M., who
are at present conducting it under a lease. During these eight years, how
ever, Mr. Heim did not confine his operations to the hotel business, and he
has always been liberal and enterprising in promoting the city's interest, in
vesting in local realty and timber lands, and is now a very large property
owner. He was appointed receiver of the First National Bank of South

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 369
Bend in 1895 in connection with which he remembers with some degree of
pride that Colonel C. W. Griggs, president of the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber
Company at _ Tacoma, offered to go on his bond for any amount. Colonel
Griggs was in former years a member of the large wholesale establishment
of Griggs, Cooper & Company of St. Paul, and it was as a large customer
of this house while a merchant at Wyoming that Mr. Heim established him
self so firmly in the confidence, esteem and friendship of Colonel Griggs.
In August, 1899, Mr. Heim wound up the affairs of the First National Bank,
and in November of the same year organized the South Bend Banking Com
pany, of which he is president, which succeeded the old one and is the only
banking house of the city. It is a first-class institution in every respect, and
controls a large business and substantial patronage.
In addition to his other interests, Mr. Heim is secretary of the Pacific
.Empire Lumber Company, which owns extensive tracts of timber land and
will later build a fine new mill at South Bend, the ground for which has
already been purchased on the water front. During a long and useful life
Mr. Heim has met with unusual successes, and in the financial institution of
which he is the founder and head he has made it a rule that none of its
officers should run for public preferment. Mr. Heim is not a man to make
one rule for his subordinates and another for himself, and hence it is that
none of his associates in the Democratic party can induce him to accept nomi
nations, although almost any office within the gift of the people of his locality
would be his were he to run for it, no matter on what ticket. Beyond any
doubt Mr. Heim is the most prominent man in the city and no one here has
done more towards advancing its material prosperity and developing its
natural resources. Mr. Heim is not married, and resides at the Albee Hotel.
WILLIAM TIMSON.
William Timson, manager of the American Can Company, of Fairhaven,
Washington, was born August 29, 1869, at Folsom, California, and is a son
of William Timson, a native of New York city, who came to California in
1849 and was largely identified with the mining interests of that state and
Nevada. He became prominent in politics, and served as recorder and treasurer
of White Pine county, Nevada, for about fourteen years, and died in 1885.
In Masonic circles he was also prominent, and at the time of his death was
grand high priest of the grand chapter of Nevada. His wife bore the maiden
name of Cecilia J. Clarken, and she was a native of Charleston, South Caro
lina, and is now residing in Salt Lake City. The following children were born
to the parents, viz. : John, deceased ; Arthur, deceased ; Mark ; William ;
Agnes, who married William "Quick, of Salt Lake City ; Cecilia, who married
J. F. Beck, of Nevada.
William Timson was educated in the public schools at Hamilton, Nevada,
until he was fifteen years of age, when his father died and the boy was forced
to earn his own living. His first employment was obtained in an assay office
at Seligman, Nevada, where he remained two years, and in 1889 he went to
San Francisco and was in that city six months. In the spring of 1890, he
went to Cook's Inlet, Alaska, with an Arctic fishing company, and worked
24

370 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
there during the summer season for four years, and in the can factory shops
in the winter, and in this way he learned the canning business thoroughly. In
addition to his other duties, Mr. Timson studied bookkeeping and shorthand
in his leisure moments, and when, in 1894, he returned to the United States
it was to take a position at Astoria, Oregon, as bookkeeper and stenographer
for F P. Kendall, who opened a branch of the Pacific Can Company at that
place. Mr. Timson continued there until 1898, when the Pacific Sheet Metal
Works, of San Francisco, which had succeeded the Pacific Can Company, de
cided to build a plant on the Sound and finally located at Fairhaven, it being
the center of the fishing industry on the Sound. Mr. Timson was sent to
Fairhaven as manager and agent of this corporation, and under his direction
a factory was built in 1898 with a capacity of fifteen million cans per season.
In 1899 the capacity of the plant was doubled, and in 1901 the American Can
Company, of New York, bought out the Pacific Sheet Metal Works, which.
prior to that had made arrangements for enlarging the capacity of the plant to
fifty million per annum. During 1903, new and improved machinery will
be installed, which will still further increase the capacity, and employment is
now given to three hundred men about nine months of the season. The yearly
product now approximates one million dollars, with a pay roll of two hundred
thousand dollars. About eight thousand tons of tin plate and two hundred
and fifty tons of solder are used.
In November, 1895, Mr. Timson was married to Ella M. Rucker, a native
of Missouri, and a daughter of George and Alice Rucker. Mr. Timson is a
member of the Masonic order, the Order of Elks and the Ancient Order of
United Workmen, as well as of the Commercial Club of Fairhaven and the
Cougar Club of Whatcom. In politics he is a Republican, and is universally
recognized as a sound, wide-awake, enterprising business man, and an impor
tant factor in the commercial and social life of Fairhaven.
JAMES MASTEN DARLING.
James Masten Darling, one of the political leaders and prominent citizens
of Fairhaven, Washington, was born January 12, 1838, in Sullivan county,
New York, and is a son of Adolphus and Rachel (Masten) Darling. The
father was born in Vermont, to which state his grandparents came during
colonial days, and were identified with the Revolution. His wife was a native
of New York, of Holland extraction. Four children were born to these
parents, namely: Adeline E., Sarah J., Mary E. and our subject.
James Masten Darling received his early education in the public schools
of New York, and later was graduated from the Collegiate Institute of To-
wanda, Pennsylvania, in 1855. For the succeeding three winters he taught
in the district schools in various parts of Pennsylvania, but in the spring of
1858 went to New York city and was employed by Buckley Sheldon & Com
pany, wholesale dry goods merchants, having charge of the white goods depart
ment. He remained with this company until 1861, when he returned to To-
wanda, Pennsylvania, and enlisted in Company G, Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania
Volunteer Infantry, under Colonel Maxwell. During the next three years he
was engaged in twenty-four battles and skirmishes under General McClellan,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 371
General Hooker and General Grant, serving at Fair Oaks, Chancellorsville,
Gettysburg, and all the battles of the Wilderness under General Grant. He en
tered the war as a private, but rose successively to be sergeant, first lieutenant,
second lieutenant and captain of his company. After the battle of Gettysburg
and the forming of the inspector general's department, he was appointed assist
ant inspector-general for the First Brigade of the First Division, Third Corps,
under General Daniel E. Sides. Until the close of the war Mr. Darling served
in this capacity, and was mustered out with his regiment at Washington, D. C.
Returning home, Mr. Darling was married and went to Portage, Wisconsin,
where he engaged in a mercantile line for five years, but in 1873 he emigrated
to Salt Lake City, where he conducted a similar business until January, 1889,
and then came to Fairhaven to take charge of the Fairhaven Land Company's
store as manager, which position he retained until 1892. In the spring of 1892
he was appointed clerk of the Fairhaven City Water & Power Company. About
this time Mr. Darling began to be politically inclined, and in 1891 was elected
councilman for a term of one year. In 1894 he was elected city treasurer and
served until 1899, when he was re-elected, his term closing January 1, 1903.
In August, 1866, Mr. Darling was married to Clara Caswell Kellum, a
native of Connecticut and a daughter of Samuel and Maria Kellum, both na
tives of Connecticut, who descended from ancestors that came over in the
Mayflower. Owing to the fact that members of both sides of her family par
ticipated in the Revolutionary war, Mrs. Darling is a member of the Daughters
of the American Revolution. Two children have been born of this union :
Dwight Kellum, a druggist at Everett, Washington, aged thirty-six; arid
Charles Adolphus, a dentist at Whatcom, Washington, aged thirty-four. Fra
ternally Mr. Darling is a member of the order of Odd Fellows, and has been
connected with it for over thirty years. His political convictions make of him
a Democrat, and he has always taken an active interest in local affairs. He is
a member of the Episcopal church, in which he takes a prominent part, and he
has served as senior warden since 1890. Mr. Darling is justly considered one
of the representative men of the city and his success is undoubtedly the result
of industry, thrift and good management.
GEORGE PI. AMES.
George H. Ames, one of the leading citizens of Fairhaven, Washington,
was born February 9, 1843, in New Hampshire, and is a son of Ezra, a native
of Massachusetts, and Phoebe (Metcalf) Ames, a native of New Hampshire.
The following children were born to> Ezra Ames and wife : Stephen Hartland,
deceased, his death occurring in prison during the war at the battle of Tupelo,
Mississippi, while he was on the Union side ; David J. ; Ezra J. ; Charles F. ;
and our subject.
George H. Ames was educated in the country schools during the winter
in Indiana and Iowa, and at the early age of thirteen years he left school and
worked upon the farm for five years. On June 25, 1861, he enlisted at Austin,
Minnesota, as a volunteer in Company C, Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry,
under Colonel Van Cleave. He served in twenty-four regular battles and fifty
skirmishes, the principal battles being as follows : battle of Mill Springs, Ken-

372 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
tucky, Stone River, Perryville, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge,
Shiloh and Corinth. During his term of service he was successively promoted
to corporal and then sergeant, was wounded twice in the battle of Chickamauga,
hit seven times with shell and musket balls, and was finally mustered out July
n, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky, and his company was disbanded at Fort
Snelling, Minnesota.
After he returned from his army experiences Mr. Ames engaged in
farming until March, 1871, when he removed to North Dakota, and until 1889
remained there working for the government on contracts and steamboats. In
1889, however, he removed to Washington, and settled in Fairhaven in October
of that same year. After his arrival he worked for the Fairhaven Land Com
pany, then for three years was clerk in the Fairhaven Hotel, and was also
engaged in the wood business for seven years. He then went to Seattle, in
1899, and operated a hotel for two years, when he returned to Fairhaven. Mr.
Ames has always been a stanch Republican, and in December, 1902, he was
elected city treasurer of Fairhaven for a term of one year.
On April 8, 1875, Mr. Ames was married to Lydia Hurd, a native of Ver
mont, and one son has been born to them, George Walcott Ames, aged twenty-
one years, who lives at Seattle and is a graduate of the University of Washing
ton, but is now engaged as draughtsman in the shipyards of Moran Brothers.
Mr. Ames is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and is commander
of C. R. Apperson Post No. 59. Energetic, a good business man, and one who
thoroughly understands the requirements of his locality, Mr. Ames is one of its
representative men and highly respected by all who know him.
ANTHONY S. WILSON.
Anthony S. Wilson was born November 1, 1864, in Grantville, Kansas, a
son of Samuel and Nancy (Latimer) Wilson, both of whom were natives of
Kentucky. The father, a farmer by occupation, has followed agricultural pur
suits throughout his entire business career. He is still living, at the age of
sixty-seven years, but the mother of our subject passed away in 1869, leaving
two sons, Anthony S. and George P., the latter a resident of Hoisington,
Kansas. Anthony S. Wilson, when six years of age, started to school in his native
town, and when he had mastered the curriculum of the public schools there
he became a student in Baker University, at Baldwin, Kansas, where he re
mained until twenty years of age. He then followed civil engineering with
his uncle, J. H. Jones, on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, being thus employed
for about four years, after which, in September, 1888, he came to the north
west, his destination being Seattle. He spent the winter in that city, and in
March, 1889, took up his abode in Whatcom, entering the employ of A. R.
Campbell, then city engineer. He worked with him as a civil engineer until
the following September, and then, in the fall of 1889, he became connected
with commercial interests of the city as a grocer, forming a partnership with
W. A. Bolinger, under the firm name of Wilson & Bolinger, proprietors of
the Blue Front grocery. In 1892 Edward T. Nobles purchased Mr. Bolinger's
interest, and the firm of Wilson & Nobles then successfully conducted the store

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 373
until 1901, when an addition was made to the firm name by the admission of
R. L. Barr to a partnership, under the style of the Wilson-Nobles-Barr Com
pany. Their business has grown to large proportions, and the methods of the
house are such as command confidence and public trust.
In addition to his grocery business Mr. Wilson is extensively interested in
the manufacture of shingles, and is now financially interested in the Nehr-
Ross Company, the Whatcom County Shingle Company, the Winner Shingle
Company, the Washington Shingle Company, the Arlington Shingle Company,
the Arlington Company No. 2, and the Marietta Shingle Company. The busi
ness of these various concerns aggregates a very large amount, and Mr. Wilson
is thus an active factor in an enterprise of importance in the northwest.
On the 2 1 st of June, 1893, was celebrated the marriage of Anthony S.
Wilson and Miss Blanche Aitken, a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, and a
daughter of John and Anna Aitken, who were natives of Scotland. Their
marriage has been blessed with one son, Ross Samuel, who was nine years of
age on the 29th of March, 1903. The parents are well known in Whatcom,
where the hospitality of the best homes is freely accorded them, and their own
residence is noted for its good cheer and cordial courtesy.
Mr. Wilson gives his political support to Democracy, and he belongs
to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and to the Commercial Club.
He is yet a young man, but has already attained a high degree of success,
which cannot be attributed to a fortunate combination of circumstances or to
the aid of influential friends. It has resulted from unremitting labor, careful
study of business plans and methods, and the execution of the ideas which he
believes to contain the principles of prosperity. Pie has made his investments
judiciously, and, moreover, has been an adherent of the strictest commer
cial ethics.
THOMAS SLATER.
Thomas Slater, of Ferndale, was born July 9, 1870, in Whatcom, and has
spent his entire life in this part of Washington. His father, George Slater,
was born in England, and 1858 came to the United States. He took up his
abode in Ferndale, Washington, and has always followed farming as a life
work. He married Miss Elizabeth Metcalf, whose death occurred in Ferndale
in the year 1897. In the family were the following children : Henry and John,
who are now residents of Ferndale; George and William, deceased; Annie,
the wife of John X. Jones, a farmer of Marietta, Washington ; Annie, Margaret
and Elizabeth, all of whom have passed away; and Thomas.
The last named is indebted to the public school system for the early educa
tional privileges he enjoyed. His preliminary instruction was supplemented by
study in the Lynden Normal School, and when he had attained his majority
he put aside his textbooks. It had not been his privilege to attend school con
tinuously, for only through the winter season had he pursued his studies, the
summer months having been spent at labor in the fields upon his father's farm.
For two years after leaving school he continued to work with his father, and
at the age of twenty-three years he removed to his own farm, which he had
purchased while still at home. To the further development and improvement
of this property he has since devoted his energies, placing his fields under a
high state of cultivation and adding all modern equipments to his place.

374 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
In 1899 Mr. Slater was elected road supervisor of district No. 20, and in
1902 he was appointed deputy assessor for the Ferndale district. The same
year he was elected one of the county commissioners of Whatcom county for a
term of four years, so that his incumbency will continue until January, 1907.
His fellow-citizens have thus given proof of the confidence and trust they repo'se
in him, and he has ever proved faithful to the obligations devolving upon him.
He votes with the Republican party and has firm faith in its principles, as con
taining the best elements of good government.
On the 5th of November, 1893, Mr. Slater was united in marriage to Miss
Etta Morsman, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of William H. and Man-
dani Morsman, both of whom were natives of Vermont and represented old
American families. The marriage of our subject and his wife has been blessed
with one daughter, Wila Margaret, now six years of age.
GLEN C. HYATT.
Glen C. Hyatt, land agent for the Bellingham Bay Improvement Company,
was born in New Orleans, February 22, 1874, and is the only surviving son of
Akin D. and Olive (Walker) Hyatt. The father was born in Indiana, and
going to the south he wedded Miss Walker, a native of Mississippi. She died
in New Orleans in 1877, when our subject was but three years old, and when
he was a lad of nine summers he was brought to the northwest by his father,
who settled on Bellingham Bay. Three years later the father's death occurred
in this city, and our subject was thus left an orphan. He attended the district
schools, and afterward became a student in the Northwest College at Lynden,
but when fourteen years of age he began to earn his own living, and since that
time has depended upon his own exertions and management for what he has
enjoyed. For two years he was employed as a clerk in a general store, and in
1890 he was appointed to a clerical position in the office of the county auditor,
where he remained through the year 1893. He was then, until 1896, a con
fidential secretary of the Eldridge estate, and from 1896 until 1900 he held the
position of accountant with the street railway company of Whatcom and Fair
haven. Since 1900 he has held his present position, that of land agent with
the Bellingham Bay Improvement Company, with an office in the depot of the
Bellingham Bay & British Columbia Railroad Company. He has thoroughly
informed himself concerning the landed possessions of the corporation, and in
his management of its affairs in this department is displaying marked enter
prise and executive ability.
Mr. Hyatt is one of the charter members of Bellingham Bay Lodge No.
542, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and became its first
secretary. He was also one of the organizers of the Commercial Club of What
com, which was organized in the winter of 1900, and during the first two years
he served as one of its directors. He is likewise a charter member of the
Cougar Club, the most prominent social organization of Bellingham Bay, and
in his political affiliations is a Republican. A young man of enterprise, energy
and laudable ambition, he has steadily worked his way upward in the business
world and will undoubtedly gain desirable success in the future.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 375
EDWARD T. NOBLES.
Edward T. Nobles, a well known shingle manufacturer of Whatcom
and secretary of the Wilson-Nobles-Barr Company, was born in Perry, New
York, October 20, 1866. His father, James S. Nobles, was also a native
of the Empire state, as was his mother, who bore the maiden name of
Emerette L. Cheney. She lived for only a few weeks after the birth of her
son Edward, passing away in 1866 at the age of twenty-three years. She
also left a daughter, Lillie, who is now the wife of Grant D. Hutchinson, a
commission merchant residing in Pavilion, New York. The father is also
deceased, having died in 1882, at the age of fifty-four years.
Edward T. Nobles acquired his preliminary education in the common
schools of Pavilion, and later attended the academy at Leroy, New York,
and also took a course in Eastman's Business College of Poughkeepsie, New
York. His school life ended at the age of twenty years, and he then engaged
in conducting a grocery and clothing store for two years. During his child
hood and youth, following his mother's death, he made his home with his.
maternal grandparents, Edward and Amanda Cheney. In September, 1888,
Mr. Nobles came to the west, taking up his abode in Whatcom, where he
entered into partnership with Daniel Lowery under the firm name of Lowery
& Nobles. They established a clothing store which they conducted until
1891, and then Mr. Nobles disposed of his interests in that enterprise and
purchased an interest in the grocery . store, becoming the successor of W. G.
Bolinger, of the firm of Wilson & Bolinger. The new firm assumed the
style of Wilson & Nobles, and the business was continued until 1901, in
which year the Wilson-Nobles-Barr Company was incorporated, Mr. Nobles
becoming the secretary. Their store is located at 120 East Holly street,
and is one of the leading commercial enterprises of the city. The business
methods inaugurated by the firm at the outset of their career have ever been
maintained and command the highest degree of confidence from the public.
Their earnest desire to please, combined with their reliable methods and
the excellent goods which they carry, has secured to them a constantly
growing trade, which has now reached large proportions. Mr. Nobles is
also extensively interested in the manufacturing of shingles, and in this
connection is associated with the Neher-Ross Company and the Winner
Shingle Company, of both of which he is secretary. He is also a stock
holder in the Washington Shingle Company, the Whatcom County Shingle
Company, the Arlington Shingle Company and the Marietta Shingle Com
pany. The aggregate output of the plants of these companies is about five
hundred thousand shingles per day, and employment is furnished to more
than two hundred and fifty men, the payroll amounting to more than two
hundred" thousand dollars per year. This large amount is mostly given
to the employes in Whatcom county, so that the prosperity of this section
of the state is materially increased by the conduct of these enterprises.
In July, 1890, Mr. Nobles was united in marriage to Miss Cornelia A.
Heddon, a daughter of Thomas P. and Emily M. Heddon, who were natives
of Leroy, New York. Four children have graced this marriage : Theodore,
Dorothy, Edward and Cornelia, aged respectively ten, eight, six and three

376 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
years. Mr. and Mrs. Nobles hold membership in the Episcopal church, and
in his political views he is a Republican. Socially he is connected with the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the World, the
Commercial Club and to the Cougar Club, and is a popular representative of
these various organizations. He is quick of apprehension, and intricate
business affairs he comprehends in a moment. His sagacity and foresight
have enabled him to make judicious investments, while his diligence, in
domitable energy and undaunted perseverence have won him prosperity
which enables him to be numbered among Whatcom's most substantial
citizens.
WILLIAM COX.
William Cox, one of the successful architects of Whatcom, Washing
ton, and a man of influence in the community, was born February 27, 1843,
in Lincoln county, England, and is a son of George and Martha (Birket)
Cox. George Cox was a native of Lincoln, England, who died in 1901 at
the age of eighty years, having been a successful farmer all his life. His
wife was a native of Lincoln county, England, and she as well as her husband
belonged to good English stock. Her death occurred in 1902, when she was
eighty-five years of age. The maternal grandmother lived to be eighty-five
years of age. Mr. William Cox has two sisters, namely : Emma, widow
of Charles Metham, a boiler-maker of Lincoln, England; Lucy, wife of
Samuel Hayes, a merchant of Ingham, England.
William Cox attended the common schools of England, but commenced
working when fourteen years of age on a farm in his native land. After
two years he commenced to learn the trade of wagon-building, and for five
years continued in that line, when he branched out and took up house car
pentering and building in the city of Lincoln. In the beginning of his career
he cut down his own lumber and cut it with a whip saw, and so learned every
detail. Gradually he included designing among his other lines of business,
and built up an extensive business in Lincoln and Nottingham counties. He
continued there until 1887, when he emigrated to America, and for two
years was in New York, where he followed the profession of an architect, he
having started in business within two weeks of his landing. In 1889 he
left New York city and came to Bellingham Bay, where he has been actively
engaged ever since. In addition to his profession, Mr. Cox has been ex
tensively interested in other enterprises, having purchased the Bellingham
Bay Guerney Cab & Transfer Company in 1895, and, after thoroughly over
hauling all the conveyances and buildings, he reorganized it under the name
of Cox Brothers, his sons operating the concern. He also purchased a big
interest in the Canadian-American Mining Company, which owns large prop
erties in Gribbell Island, British Columbia. Mr. Cox has been president of
this corporation for a number of years and still holds that office. The com
pany is incorporated under the laws of the state of Washington and registered
in British Columbia, capital stock $2,500,000. The property is being
worked, and results indicate that the mines have developed into the greatest
copper properties of the northwest. As an architect, Mr. Cox has built some
of the finest structures in the neighborhood, and he is regarded as one of the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 377
best in his profession in the entire locality. While he takes an active interest
in politics and supports the candidates of the Republican party, Mr. Cox does
not desire public office.
January 19, 1868, Mr. Cox was married to Annie Rouston Johnson, a
daughter of Thomas Johnson, an oil mill man of Lincoln, England, and the
Johnson family comes of old, conservative English stock. The following
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cox : Albert Thomas, who is aged
thirty-three years; Arthur William, who is aged thirty years, both in the
transfer business at Whatcom; Walter James, who is aged twenty-eight
years, in the wholesale liquor business at Whatcom; Charles Henry, who is
twenty-five years old and is also engaged in the transfer business at What
com; Lucy G., who is the wife of M. P. Sailors, a commercial traveler of
Seattle; Florence Annie, at home. Fraternally Mr. Cox is a member of the
Knights of Pythias and is one of the leading spirits in this organization;
also a member of the Woodmen of the World and the Elks.
D. DAUN EGAN.
D. Daun Egan, who since January, 1892, has been identified with the
Bellingham Bay & British Columbia Railroad Company, is chief clerk and
auditor at the present time, and makes his home in Whatcom. His father,
William F. Egan, was a native of the state of New York and was formerly
engaged in the importation of plate glass, but now, at the age of seventy-five
years, he is living a retired life. He wedded Emma Schmelzel, who was also
a native of the Empire state and was of Dutch parentage. She died in 1884,
at the age of forty-five years.
In New York city, on the 16th of April, 1864, D. Daun Egan was born.
He attended the Holbrook Military Academy, at Ossining, on the Hudson, and
was graduated in the class of 1877. Later he attended Dan Rydre's Prepara
tory School, and when fifteen years of age he left school and went into the
foreign fruit commission business. In the summer of 1889 Mr. Egan came
to the Puget Sound country and after looking around for a time settled in Fair
haven, although there was little on the site of the town save the natural forest.
A rough trail led between Fairhaven and Whatcom, and the latter place con
sisted of only a few houses. Mr. Egan embarked in the real estate business
and continued his operations in that line until January, 1892. In 1891 he
served as city clerk of Fairhaven. In January of the following year he became
identified with the Bellingham Bay & British Columbia Railroad Company,
and has been advanced from one position to another as he has manifested
adaptability until he is now the chief clerk and auditor. He has the entire con
fidence of those whom he represents, being one of the trusted employes of the
corporation. On the 12th of October, 1892, Mr. Egan was married to Miss Mabel
Stangroom, a native of California and a daughter of Marc L. and Emily
(Stuart) Stangroom. They have two children, Dorothy, aged eight years, and
Edward Mildeberger, a little lad of three summers. Mr. Egan is connected
with various civic societies, including the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Royal Arcanum. Politically

378 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
he is a Republican, and religiously an Episcopalian. He contributes to its sup
port and does all in his power to promote the growth of the church and extend
its influence. State and local politics have also elicited his earnest attention
and co-operation, and he is a stanch advocate of whatever he thinks will benefit
the community along social, intellectual, material or moral lines. He is a
member of the Commercial Club, and in whatever circle or position in life he
is found he is respected and honored because of his fearless defense of what he
believes to be right and his sturdy adherence to principle.
HANS PEARSON.
The business interests of Whatcom find a worthy representative in
Hans Pearson, who in his active connection with the mercantile interests
displays the energy, integrity and perseverance so characteristic of the
Swedish people. Mr. Pearson was born in Sweden on the 30th of March,
i860, and is a son of Olaf and Hannah Pearson, who were likewise natives
of that country, but are now deceased. They had a large family, namely :
Nels, who is now sixty-five years of age; John, who has reached the age of
sixty-three; Olaf, who is sixty -one years of age; Andrew, aged fifty-seven;
Peter; Ake; Ellen, the wife of Swan Anderson; Hannah; and Anna, the
wife of Nels Liljenberg, who is living in Everett.
In the public schools of Sweden, Hans Pearson pursued the studies
usually taught in such institutions, but he put aside his textbooks at the
age of fifteen to enter upon his business career, and has since earned his own
living and has achieved the success which now crowns his efforts. He began
by clerking in a store, and later he conducted a grocery store. When twenty-
one years of age he crossed the Atlantic to America, for he had heard much
of the opportunities and privileges afforded to young men in this country,
and resolved to test the proof of these reports by trying his fortune in the
United States. He took up his abode in Pentwater, Michigan, where he
was employed in shingle mills and lumber camps for eight years. The far
west attracted him, and in 1889 he came to Washington, spending one year
in Tacoma. In the fall of 1890 he came to Whatcom, where he established
bottling works, being one of the first in Whatcom to engage in that industry.
He was quite successful, and later he became agent for the Seattle Brewing
& Malting Company. In 1898 he opened a saloon, and in 1900 established
his grocery business on Elk street, there remaining until 1902, when he
removed to his present quarters. His business has steadily increased, and
he is now enjoying a large wholesale and retail trade at 102 1 Elk street. He
carries an extensive and well selected stock of staple and fancy groceries,
and his annual sales have reached a figure which makes his profits very
gratifying. He also handles feed and hay, and these departments of his
business add not a little to his income.
In June, 1887, Mr. Pearson was joined in wedlock to Miss Clara Mun-
son, also a native of Sweden and a daughter of Andrew and Rebecca Mun-
son, who came to America about 1882 and established their home in Mears,
Michigan. Two children have been born to our subject and his wife: Oscar,
who, at the age of fourteen, is assisting his father in the store, has attended

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 379
business college and will enter the high school at the coming session; and
Agnes, who is twelve years of age, is attending normal school. In 1898
Mr. Pearson erected a fine residence for his family in one of the most desir
able locations on the bay. It commands an unobstructed view of the Sound,
and is most delightfully situated. He belongs to the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows and is true to the tenets and teachings of the society. In
politics he endorses the Republican party, his study of the questions con
cerning America and its political situation leading him to the belief that
the grand old party contains the best elements of good government. Plis
church relationship is with the Lutheran denomination. Mr. Pearson has
never had occasion to regret his determination to seek a home in the new
world, for in this land where opportunity is not hampered by caste or class
and where only labor is king, he has worked his way steadily forward until
he now occupies a foremost position in mercantile circles in his adopted state.
WILLIAM McCLJSH.
William McCush, one of the successful business men of Whatcom,
Washington, was born April 21, 1865, at Port Hope, Canada, and came to
Michigan with his parents while an infant. He was educated at Otsego
Lake, Michigan, but left school when he was but fifteen years of age. At
that early age he began working in lumber mills and lumber camps, and in
1890 established himself at Whatcom.
Upon first settling in that city he did some contracting, but in 1892 he
went into the lumber business, operating a logging camp at Whatcom for
some time, but later transferred it to Maple Falls. Mr. McCush is president
of the Standard Manufacturing Company! which operates two shingle mills
with a capacity of one hundred and fifty thousand shingles per day. The
capital stock is twenty thousand dollars, and employment is given to sixty-
five men. Another concern in which Mr. McCush is interested is the Globe
Clothing Company, at 106 East Holly street, of which he is vice-president.
All of the companies of which he is an official or stockholder show the effect
of his wise management and progressive policy, and they are numbered
among the sound business houses of Whatcom and that vicinity.
In July, 1900, Mr. McCush was married to Alwina, daughter of George
W. Korthaur, a native of Illinois. One son, George W., has been born to
Mr. and Mrs. McCush. Mr. McCush is a member of the Masonic fraternity,
the Odd Fellows lodge, and in politics is a Republican, although his numer
ous duties prevent his taking an active part in local matters. Energetic, pos
sessed of an unusual amount of executive ability, Mr. McCush is numbered
among the progressive business men of Whatcom, and one who enjoys in
unlimited degree the confidence and respect of a wide circle of acquaintances
and friends.
PETER L. HEGG.
Peter L. Hegg, one of the leading photographers and successful busi
ness men of Whatcom, Washington, was born in Sweden, September 17,
1865, and is a son of John and Bertha (Ericksdotter) Hegg, both natives

380 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
of Sweden, who emigrated to America in 1881, settling in Wisconsin, where
he now resides at the age of sixty-five years, a carpenter by occupation, and
a man of influence in his community. Seven children were born to John
Hegg and wife, namely : Eric, aged thirty-five years, is at Seattle, Wash
ington; Charles T., aged twenty-four years, is at Cedar Wooley, Washing
ton ; John died at the age of twenty-six years in the Philippines, while serving
as civil egineer for the United States government; Mattie, at El Paso, Texas,
married a Mr. Sevening; Bertha, at Chemainus, British Columbia, married
Mr. Calder ; Eva, of San Francisco, married a Mr. Cristy.
Peter L. Hegg received his early education in the common schools of
his native land, and later completed it in the Northwest Business College
at Whatcom. He was only thirteen years of age when he arrived in the
United States and settled at Wonewoc, Wisconsin, where he remained one
year and then moved to Cumberland, Wisconsin, where he soon found em
ployment in the sawmills of that locality. Remaining in these mills until
1890, he removed to Whatcom and entered a photographic studio with his
brother Eric, who had preceded him by a year, and the two continued to
gether until 1897, when our subject purchased Eric's interest and now con
ducts an excellent business, painting portraits and doing all kinds of outdoor
commercial photographing, as well as carrying a full line of frames and
photographic supplies. He also does some of the finest portrait photography
in the city, and makes a specialty of copying and enlarging photographs.
Not only does his trade come from the city and surrounding territory, but
some from British Columbia.
Fraternally Mr. Hegg is a member of the Order of Red Men, Lummi
Tribe No. 6, in which he has passed all the chairs and is now keeper of
wampum. He is also a member of the hook and ladder company, volunteer
service, and of the Commercial Club. Politically he is a socialist, but de
votes the major portion of his time to his business. Mr. Hegg is an indus
trious, enterprising young man, and one who thoroughly understands every
detail of his business.
JOHN TEMPLIN.
John Templin, harbor master of Whatcom and one of the leading feed
and grain merchants of that city, doing business under the style of the
Templin Feed Company, was born at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, March 6,
1869, and is a son of Hugh and Mary E. (Kilpatrick) Templin. Hugh
Templin is a native of Indiana and now residing at East Sound, Washing
ton, aged sixty-four years, engaged in a general merchandise business. The
mother was born at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and is a daughter of Judge E.
Kilpatrick, of Iowa, who was appointed under President Lincoln to the
land department at Washington. The following children were born to Mr.
and Mrs. Hugh Templin, namely: Edgar, of East Sound, aged thirty-six
years; Harry, with the Pacific C. S. S. Company, aged twenty-six years;
Karl, East Sound, aged twenty-one years; Ralph, East Sound, aged sixteen
years; Jessie; and our subject.- All but Harry and John are at home and
engaged in business with their father.
John Templin was educated in the public schools of Mount Pleasant,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 381
being graduated from high school at the age of eighteen years. After gradu
ating he worked as assistant storekeeper at Keokuk, Iowa, for the Burling
ton company branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad for two
years. In 1889 he went to Kansas City and worked in a wholesale lumber
office as a clerk for one year. At that time he returned to Mount Pleasant,
and there remained until 1891, when he came west to Fairhaven, reaching
the city April 15th. His family followed later that same year. After arriv
ing in Fairhaven he began contracting and street grading with his brother
Edgar, who had been in the city for a year, continuing this connection until
1894. His next connection was with the Gage Clothing Company, and he
remained in that establishment about two years. An opening was then of
fered, and he and Charles Cissna embarked in "The Fair," a department
store, he acting as head bookkeeper, and continuing in this position for three
years. In 1899 he opened a wholesale grain and feed business at the city
dock, and November 1 he was forced to open another, warehouse on Elk
street to accommodate the volume of his trade, which extends throughout
the county. The business is conducted under the name of Templin Feed
Company, and it is fast becoming one of the leaders in its line. On January
1, 1900, Mr. Templin was appointed harbor master by the council, the duties
of which office he is still satisfactorily discharging.
On May 23, 1898, he was married to Jessie Pettibone, a daughter of
A. W. Pettibone, an abstractor of Whatcom, and a native of Ripon, Wis
consin. One child, Grace, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Templin, but died in
infancy. In politics Mr. Templin is a Republican, and always takes an
interest in local affairs. The success which is attending the efforts of Mr.
Templin is but the just reward for his years of conscientious and painstak
ing labor, and he has not only firmly established himself in the confidence of
the community, but also in the good will of the people, and made many
friends on account of his excellent traits of character.
HENRY J. STOCKLEIN.
Henry J. Stocklein, one of the influential business men of Whatcom,
Washington, was born April 2, 1863, at Faribault, Minnesota, and is a son
of Joseph and Margaret (Gardner) Stocklein. Joseph Stocklein was born
in Germany and came to America in 1856, settling in Faribault, Minnesota,
now aged seventy-one years, a retired merchant, who was closely identified
with Minnesota during its early history, he erecting the first business block
in Faribault. Retiring with a good competency, he came west with his wife
on a visit, and, being so pleased with the country, he made it his home.
The mother, now aged sixty-four years, bore her husband two children,
namely: Our subject, and a brother Charles, born in 1866, who now resides
in Whatcom. Mr. Stocklein was educated in the public schools as well as the Shat-
tuck Military School during childhood, in Faribault, Minnesota. When
sixteen years of age he left school and engaged in a dry goods store in
St. Paul. In 1886 Mr. Stocklein embarked in a dry goods business in Fari
bault, and thus continued three years. However, in 1889, he closed out his
stock and removed to Sehome with his brother, and the two opened a dry
goods establishment under the style of Stocklein Brothers, and prospered in

3S2 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
the same until November, 1902, when they disposed of the business in order
to devote their whole time to their real estate interests. This business was
the pioneer dry goods house of Whatcom, and one of the oldest commercial
concerns -on Bellingham Bay. He was one of the organizers of the Com
mercial Club of Whatcom; one of the oragnizers of the fire department in
1889, when Whatcom was known as Sehome; he is also a charter member
of the Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 62, now No. 109, it having been con
solidated with the old Sunset Lodge; and he was one of the promotors and
first large subscribers to the Agricultural Association of Whatcom county.
Mr. Stocklein has always taken an active interest in the advancement of
Whatcom both commercially and socially, and has never hesitated to put
his hand in his pocket when occasion demanded for the advancement of
the city in which he took so deep an interest. Through Mr. Stocklein and
his family connections, much eastern capital has been invested in this locality,
and probably he and his brother Charles have personally done as much for
Whatcom county as any other resident of northwestern Washington.
Charles Stocklein was born July 9, 1866, and was educated with his
brother Henry and also at Shattuck Military School during the years 1879,
1880 and 1881, and belonged to the state militia, but received his honorable
discharge upon leaving the state. Both young men are members of the Epis
copal church, and Charles is a vestryman of St. Paul's church, while Henry
is a trustee of St. Luke's Hospital of Whatcom. Charles is also a member
of the Knights of Pythias, No. 109.
ANDERS G. WICKMAN.
Anders G. Wickman, one of the leading tailors of Whatcom, and an
enterprising business man of that city, was born September 1, i860, at Tore-
boda, Sweden, and is a son of Johannes and Anna C. (Swanson) Wickman,
both natives of Sweden. Anders G. Wickman was educated in the public
schools of Sweden, and when sixteen years of age was apprenticed to the
tailoring trade. After serving five years, a portion of the time in Norway,
in 188 1 he went to Denmark and until the fall of the year worked at his
trade, but at that time he emigrated to America and settled in Omaha.
There he worked on the bench until 1883, when he pushed on to San Fran
cisco and found employment at his trade until 1887 with the firm of Bine
& George, leading tailors of San Francisco. During this time Mr. Wick
man also learned to cut, and his evenings were spent at public night school
for the young man was ambitious to master the language of his adopted
country. Having by this time earned and saved a sufficient amount to estab
lish himself, he looked the ground over thoroughly, traveling about until he
came to Tacoma, which city seemed to suit him, and he located there as a
merchant tailor with P Holmeren as a partner. Continuing successfully
until 1889, he made a change to Whatcom, and located at 210 East Holly
street, where he now conducts one of the leading merchant tailoring estab
lishments in the county. Since settling in Whatcom Mr. Wickman has made
a host of friends, and is well and favorably known throughout the county.
He carries a full line of seasonable and fashionable fabrics, both imported
and domestic, and enjoys a very desirable trade.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 383
In September, 1896, he was married to Hulda Martenson, a native of
Sweden. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Sehome Lodge, now
affiliated with the Whatcom Lodge No. 109. From 1890 until 1897 he
served as a volunteer fireman. Socially he is. a member of the Commercial
Club of Whatcom, politically he is a stanch Democrat and takes an active
part in local affairs, while his religious affiliations are with the Lutheran
church. Genial, enterprising and accommodating, Mr. Wickman has firmly
established himself in the confidence of the people and his business is con
stantly increasing.
JOHN H. MILLER.
John H. Miller, a prominent brick manufacturer and successful business
man of Whatcom, Washington, was born August 16, 1839, near Menden,
Germany, and is a son of Plenry and Annie (Cammermon) Miller, both
natives of Germany. There was one other child in the family beside our
subject, and that was a brother, Fred, who conducts a brickyard at El
Paso, Texas.
After studying in the public schools until he was fourteen, Mr. Miller
was brought to America and worked in the brickyards of his father at Spring
field, Illinois, the latter having been established in this country for about
eight years at that time. The mother died at Baltimore, Maryland, on the
way to join her husband. After three years in Springfield, he went to Pike
county, Illinois, and while living there married, and, returning to Spring
field, started a brickyard of his own. There he remained fourteen years,
during which time he made six million brick for the new capitol of Illinois,
one million brick for the national Lincoln monument at Springfield. At
the expiration of the fourteen years he went to Labette county, Kansas, and
opened a brickyard at Parsons, and in conjunction with it operated a farm
for twelve years more. Jn 1890 he brought his family to Whatcom, and
once more started a brickyard, and from then on he has almost controlled
the brick industry in Whatcom county, among other contracts furnishing all
the brick for the city hall and the three public schools of Whatcom. The
same year he also started a shingle mill, and operated it until 1902, when
he disposed of it to his sons John F. and Thomas W. The capacity of his
brickyards is forty thousand per day, and he gives employment to fifty men.
In 1 86 1 Mr. Miller was married to Nancy Jane Tolond, a native of
Illinois, and their children were as follows: John F., aged forty-one years;
Thomas William, aged thirty-nine years; George Washington; James B. ;
Lizzie, wife of Thomas Carter, of Walla Walla, a farmer; Benjamin and
Martha died young; David; Charles; and Samuel. All of the sons reside
in Whatcom county and are numbered among the enterprising young men
of that locality. The youngest child is Mrs. Annie, wife of Edward Day, of
Whatcom. Mrs. Miller died soon after settling in Whatcom. In 1901 Mr.
Miller married Annie Durkey, a native of Canada, and her parents were both
Americans. Mr. Miller has always had the best interests of Whatcom at
heart, and is highly regarded by all who know him. In politics he is a
Populist, and in religion a Free Thinker.

384 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ALEXANDER BALONE McKINNON, M. D.
Alexander Balone McKinnon, a leading representative of the medical
profession of Fairhaven, Washington, was born August 31, 1850, at Cape
Breton, Canada, and he is a son of Henry and Alexanderina (McDonald)
McKinnon. Henry McKinnon was born in Cape Breton, of Scotch parent
age, his father being Ronald McKinnon, a captain in the British army and
a member of an old Scotch family. Henry McKinnon was a farmer and
died in 1886. His wife was a member of a substantial Scotch family, and
her father, Alexander McDonald, was also a captain in the British army,
and our subject was named after the father's home, Balone. The mother
is still living, -making her home in Sydney, Cape Breton, Canada. The fol
lowing children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Henry McKinnon : Peter Grant,
a ranchman at Mt. Vernon, Washington; William, sheriff of Carleton
county, Minnesota; Edward, a farmer on the old homestead at Sydney;
our subject; Mary Ann, who married L. Watson, a farmer of Sydney; Mar
garet, who- married Edward McLeod, a mechanic of St. Paul; Miss Josie,
at home in Sydney.
Alexander B. McKinnon was educated in the common schools of Cape
Breton and the academy of that place, and was graduated from the latter
institution in 1870. He then went to work in a general store and continued
in several lines until 1876, when he went to Halifax Medical College, but
at the end of his first term he served with the Dominion government in the
northwest mounted police force in the Northwest Territory of Canada, where
he served three years and had a number of interesting experiences with the
Indians. His next work was in the Dominion land office at Birtle, Mani
toba, when that country was being settled. After two years he was elected
treasurer of the united counties of Shoal Lake and Russell. At the follow
ing session of the legislature these two counties were divided into munici
palities. In 1883 he went to the Medical University of the City of New
York, now known as Bellevue College, from which he was graduated in
1886 with the degree of M. D. Dr. McKinnon is also a graduate of the
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba. After attaining his degree
Dr. McKinnon practiced for four years in Shoal Lake county, and then came
to Washington in September, 1890, where he entered into active practice at
Fairhaven. While residing in Manitoba he was appointed coroner of- the
province by Governor Shultz in 1887, and was appointed school director of
Birtle, Manitoba, in 1888, for a term of three years. Upon locating in the
United States, Dr. McKinnon espoused the cause of Republicanism and was
elected on the ticket of that party city health officer of Fairhaven in 1895.
Since that time he has been re-elected each year, and continues to discharge
the duties of the office. He is also a member of the Whatcom Medical
Society, and fraternally is a Mason, blue lodge, chapter, Knights Templar,
and Order of Eastern Star ; Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Re-
bekahs ; Knight of Pythias ; Yeoman ; United Woodmen ; Ancient Order of
Foresters ; and his social affiliations are with the Commercial Club of Fair
haven. Dr. McKinnon is senior warden in the blue lodge at Fairhaven. His
medical experience has been a long and practical one, and his standing in the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 385
community in which he now resides makes of him one of its leading citizens.
Not only is he a skilful physician, but he is also- a man who wins friends
and keeps them. HUGH ELDRIDGE.
Hugh Eldridge, postmaster of Whatcom, Washington, and one of the
leading citizens of the place, was born December 14, i860, at Whatcom, and
is a son of Edward. Eldridge. The latter, was born at St. Andrew, Scotland,
and emigrated to the United States, landing in San Francisco in 1849, and
in Whatcom, May 5, 1853. Edward Eldridge was a sailor by occupation,
but worked in the sawmills of Captain Henry Roeder and R. V. Peabody,
and also in the mines, and after a useful life died October 12, 1892, aged
sixty-three years. His wife, Theresa Lappin, a native of Armagh, north
Ireland, is still living, making her home in Whatcom, and she is now
seventy-two years of age. ' These two were among the very earliest pioneers
of Whatcom county. Our subject has one sister, now Mrs. J. J. Eden, who
came to Whatcom in 1871 among the early pioneers of the place.
Hugh Eldridge was educated in the public schools of Whatcom during
the summer months, and worked upon his father's ranch in the winter. In
1876 he attended the university then conducted by the Rev. Whiteworth,
now the University of Washington, and in 1884 he took a course in the
San Francisco Business College, returning to Whatcom the same year, and
has since then made that city his home. In 1886 Mr. Eldridge was honored
by election to the office of county auditor, and re-elected in 1888, but, his
health giving out in 1889, he was forced to place the business of the office
in the hands of E. L. Collier, while he went to M. A. Hammond's sanitarium
at Washington, D. C, from which he returned in 1891. After his return
he, with J. E. Baker, Edmund Cosgrove, J. A. Cook and Maurice McCarthy,
constructed the Fairhaven & New Whatcom Street Railroad system, which
is an electric road covering thirteen miles, and constructed at a cost of
$202,000. Mr. Eldridge succeeded Mr. J. E. Baker as president of the road
in the spring of 1893, at which time, in company with Edmund Cosgrove,
he purchased the outstanding interests, and operated it until the spring of
1896, when, owing to the after effects of the panic of 1893, the road was
forced into liquidation by the General Electric Company of Schenectady,
New York, which acquired their interests.
On July 1, 1898, Mr. Eldridge was appointed postmaster under Presi
dent McKinley, which position he still holds. In the fall of 1899 he formed
a partnership with T. R. Kershaw, present state fish commissioner, in a real
estate business, and they opened an office in the Pike block in 1902. Later
Mr. Kershaw sold his interest to R. L. Kline (county commissioner), and
the style is now Eldridge & Kline, with offices in the same location. Mr.
Eldridge has always been active in politics, supporting the principles of the
Republican party.
The marriage of Mr. Eldridge and Delisca J. Bowers took place in
1893. She is a daughter of Lieutenant Bowers, who was killed in the battle
of the Wilderness on the Union side during the Civil war. Fraternally Mr.
Eldridge is a Knight of Pythias, Eagle and Redman. At present Mr. and
25

386 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Mrs. Eldridge are living on their beautiful home, the Eldridge homestead,
just outside the city limits, which consists of three hundred and twenty
acres, and was secured under the "Donation Act." The social and business
standing of Mr. Eldridge is very high, and he enjoys the fullest confidence
of all who know him and appreciate his sterling worth of character.
ALFRED E. SUTTON.
This prominent ycung business man of Tacoma, the local manager of
one of the largest shipping firms in the world, is the son of Thomas and
Ann (Campbell) Sutton, both natives of England. The former was in the
shipping business during most of his active career, at North Shields, Eng
land, was a ship-owner, and for a number of years was in partnership with
Chevalier Henry Brightman. He died several years ago, but his wife has
recently come to America and resides at Portland, Oregon.
Alfred E. Sutton was born at Tynemouth, England. After passing the
examination of the College of Preceptors, he studied for some time at the
Metropolitan School of Shorthand and Languages, in London, and has since
been engaged in marine and shipping enterprises. Before he was sixteen he
became office boy for the North of England Indemnity Association and then
entered the head office in London of the Shipping Federation, but as his
father wished him to learn French as a further means of business success he
secured a position as clerk with the Government Ship Brokers and Interpreters
at le Havre. France, where he remained five years and in connection with his
work there made a special study of maritime jurisprudence. At the conclusion
of this service and his father having died, he came to Portland, Oregon,
where he was employed by the shipping firm of Eppinger & Co. and where
his ability soon won him an important place. In October, 1900, the great
exporting and importing firms of G. W. McNear, Girvin & Eyre and Eppinger
& Co. consolidated their interests and established and incorporated the North
western Warehouse Company, with offices at San Francisco, Portland and
Tacoma, and shipping docks at the two latter ports. Mr. Sutton was then
appointed manager of the Tacoma office and dock and has made his home
here since that time. The Northwestern Warehouse Company is one of the
wealthiest and most extensive corporations of its kind and is known all over
the world. They do an immense business in the buying and exporting of
wheat, barley and flour, and also import cement, coke, etc. The company's
dock at Tacoma is six hundred feet long and is one of the great grain shipping
docks that have made this city famous. While living in Portland, Mr. Sutton
was married to Miss Martha Sherman Tracy, the daughter of the late C. W.
Tracy of Minneapolis, who came out to the coast as the representative of the
grain firm of Peavev & Company of Minneapolis, and who became a promi
nent man in Portland. JAMES S. McILHANY, M. D.
Dr. James S. Mcllhany, who for eleven years has been engaged in the
practice of medicine in Everett, was born on the 7th of August, 185 1, in

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 387
Loudoun county, Virginia, and in both the paternal and maternal lines is
descended from old southern families. His parents, James and Elizabeth
(Johnston) Mcllhany, were also natives of the Old Dominian, and the father
was a prominent planter and lawyer of Loudoun county. His death occurred
when he was seventy-four years of age. The only daughter of the family
is Elizabeth, who is the wife of A. P. Thomson, of Summit Point, West
Virginia. Under the parental roof Dr. Mcllhany remained until he left home in
order to pursue a collegiate education, becoming a student in the Randolph-
Macon College at Richmond. Later he matriculated in the University of
Virginia, and subsequently continued his studies in the University of Mary
land, in which he was graduated, on the completion of a course in medicine,
with the class of 1884. The following year he located in Frostburg, western
Maryland, where he opened an office and entered upon the discharge of his
professional duties. When three years had passed he sought a broader field
of labor and removed to Washington, D. C, where he remained until 1889,
when, attracted by the opportunities of the growing west, he came to the
Pacific coast. He spent a short time in Puyallup, Washington, and in 1892
he came to Everett, which had been established only the year previous. With
the rapid growth of the town his practice has kept apace, and he is to-day
one of the foremost physicians of this part of the state. He has read exten
sively, thought broadly and studied deeply, and has thus continually added
to the knowledge which enables him to cope successfully with the intricate
problems which continually confront the physician in his efforts to check
the ravages of disease and prolong life. He has been appointed county
health officer of Snohomish county, serving during the years of 1897 and
1898. The following year he was appointed by Governor Rogers a member
of the state board of health for a term of five years, so he is still the incum
bent of the position.
In November, 1887, Dr. Mcllhany was united in marriage to Miss
Georgiana Devecmon, a native of Cumberland, Maryland. In his social
relations he is a Mason, and he also holds membership relations with the
Improved Order of Red Men and the Knights of the Maccabees. He is a
member of the Snohomish County Medical Society, and through the inter
change of thought, ideas and experiences there he keeps in touch with the
work that his fellow-practitioners are doing, and he also contributes to the
sum of knowledge there disseminated for the good of the profession. His
deep interest in his chosen calling, combined with his thorough preparation,
has made him a physician of skill and won him prominence in his chosen
calling.
FRANK R. PENDLETON.
The industrial history of northern Washington would be incomplete
and unsatisfactory without a personal and somewhat extended mention of
those whose lives are interwoven so closely with the development of the state.
When a man or a select number of men have set in motion the occult ma
chinery of business which materializes into a thousand forms of practical
utility, or where they have carved out a fortune or a name from the common

388 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
possibilities, open for competition to all, there is a public desire, so nearly as
a portrait and a word artist can paint them, to examine the elements of mind
and the circumstances by which such results have been achieved.
The subject of this sketch finds an appropriate place in the history of
those men of business and enterprise in the state of Washington whose force
of character, whose sterling integrity, whose fortitude amid discourage
ments; whose good sense in the management of complicated affairs, have
contributed in an eminent degree to the development of the best resources of
this noble commonwealth. His career has not been helped by accident or
luck, by wealth or family or powerful friends. He is, in its broadest sense,
a self-made man, being both the architect and builder of his own fortunes.
Mr. Pendleton was born on the 29th of July, 1864, in Oconto, Wiscon
sin, and is a son of Charles T. Pendleton, a native of Maine and a repre
sentative of an old New England family that was planted on American soil
prior to the establishment of this republic. He went to Wisconsin in 1849,
becoming one of its pioneer settlers, and for a number of years was identified
with its lumber interests. He is, however, now living retired at Everett,
being seventy-four years of age. He wedded Almeda Lindsay, a native of
Maine and also belonging to an old New England family. With her parents
she went to Wisconsin in 1847, and the family cast in their lot with the
early settlers who shaped the pioneer history of that state. Mr. Pendleton
is also living and has reached the age of seventy years. In the family are
five sons and three daughters : Ira B., who is a lumber cruiser in Snohomish
county; Charles Irvine, who is engaged in mining in Alaska; Nettie, the
wife of John Sheridan; Curtis A., who is also mining in Alaska; Harley J.,
who is engaged in the lumber business at Blaine, Washington; Frank R.,
of this review; Clara, the wife of C. M. Schooley; and Almeda, the wife
of L. L. Crosby, who is assistant cashier of the First National Bank of
Everett. Frank Ryerson Pendleton pursued his education in the public schools
of Oconto, Wisconsin, and later took a business course in Daggett's Business
College at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. At the age of seventeen years he put aside
his textbooks and worked with his father in the lumber camps until he was
twenty-one years of age. In this way he gained a practical experience and
comprehensive knowledge of the business, and on attaining his majority he
started out in life for himself, and in the logging business operated at dif
ferent points in northeastern Wisconsin. There he continued until 1892,
meeting with fair success. In that year he formed a partnership with H. S.
Gilkey, in the wholesale lumber business, and this connection has since been
maintained between them. They established headquarters at Janesville,
Wisconsin, and the business is still being continued in the east, his partner
having charge of the eastern patronage. On the 1st of January, 1902, the
headquarters in the Mississippi valley were removed from Janesville, Wis
consin, to Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1894 Mr. Pendleton came to Wash
ington to look over the field in this state with the view to further operations,
and made investments in a number of timber properties. He then returned
to the east, and in 1899 moved with his family to this state, where he began
active connection with the logging business in Snohomish county with head-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 389
quarters at Everett. Since coming here he has been very successful, owing
to the increase of values and to his judicial investments and to his careful
management. Pie is the treasurer of the Sauk Lumber Company and is
the vice-president of the Mulkilteo Lumber Company. The different inter
ests with which he is connected employ about five hundred men in the various
camps and mills, and the companies manufacture all kinds of dressed lumber
and shingles for the eastern trade. The business has now assumed mam
moth proportions, and the success of the western department is attributable
to the enterprise, marked capability and keen foresight of Mr. Pendleton.
On the 15th of August, 1888, in Gillett, Wisconsin, was celebrated the
marriage of Frank R. Pendleton and Miss Ella G. Runkel, a native of Wis
consin and a daughter of Louis and Christina (Weber) Runkel, who were
early pioneer settlers in Wisconsin, establishing their home there in the
early fifties. To Mr. and Mrs. Pendleton have been born four sons and two
daughters : Ross L., Verna, Wayne R., Brooks L., Norma and Francis S.
Mr. and Mrs. Pendleton have formed a wide acquaintance in Everett during
their residence here, and the hospitality of the best homes is extended to
them, for they occupy an enviable position in social circles where true worth
and intelligence are received as the passports into good society.
Socially Mr. Pendleton is connected with the Masonic fraternity and
with the Knights of Pythias. His political support is given to the Repub
lican party, and he is deeply interested in its growth and success, doing
everything in his power to promote its welfare. He is a member of the city
council, his term of service extending from 1902 to 1904, and he is now
president of the Chamber of Commerce, through which organization the in
dustrial and commercial interests of Everett have been largely augmented
and the permanent improvement of the city greatly advanced. Plis is a busy
life, one of concentrated energy, of close application and unfaltering pur
pose. He is also a man of unswerving integrity and honor, and, having a
perfect appreciation of the higher ethics of life, he has gained and retained
the respect of his fellow-men, being distinctively one of the leading citizens
of northern Washington.

^t,1-

WILLIAM E. TERRILL.
An errand boy at thirteen years, now general manager of one of the
largest mercantile establishments north of Seattle — such is the life record of
William E. Terrill, a leading citizen of Everett. While this is the bare out
line of his business career, those who read between the lines will learn of
his enterprise, close application, strong determination and trustworthiness.
Such have been the qualities which have won him continued advancement
and made him one of the influential and representative merchants of this
part of his adopted state.
A native of Vermont, Mr. Terrill was born on the 18th of June, 1858,
and far back into the annals of America can his ancestral history be traced.
In 1640 the family was established on Long Island, living on a grant of
land given them by the British crown, for the Terrills were of English birth.
As the years passed representatives of the name removed to. other sections

390 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
of the country. Edgar J. Terrill, the father of our subject, was born in the
Green Mountain state and for many years engaged in farming, but is now
interested in mining. He married Adeline Parmenter, a native of Connecti
cut, who also came of an old American family of English origin. Mrs.
Terrill died when only thirty-eight years of age, but the father of our sub
ject is still living at the age of seventy- four years. In the family were five
daughters and two sons, but all are now deceased with the exception of
William E. Terrill and his sister, Adella, who is now the wife of Charles P.
McKay, a resident of Michigan.
William E. Terrill pursued his education in a country log schoolhouse
amid the sugar woods in Lamoille county, Vermont. After the Civil war
he accompanied his parents on their removal to Canada, where he again
attended the public schools, but his educational privileges were limited, as he
left school when only thirteen years of age to earn his own living. He
secured a position as errand boy in a dry goods store, where he was employed
until 1875, when he went to Michigan, clerking in different places in that
state until the spring of 1882, when he went to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan,
and took charge of the dry goods department of the store of Prenzlauer
Brothers, the leading general merchants of that place. For nine years he
occupied that important position to the satisfaction of his employers, the
department under his capable management proving profitable. In the spring
of 1892 Mr. Terrill became identified with J. J. Clark, now of Everett, but
then of Racine, Wisconsin, and in the latter city he took charge of Mr.
Clark's dry goods business. A few months passed, and Mr. Clark made
arrangements whereby Mr. Terrill arrived in Everett, on the 12th of October,
1892, to take charge of Mr. Clark's dry goods interests in this city. He
occupied that position until the summer of 1894, when he severed his con
nection with Mr. Clark for the purpose of engaging in business on his own
account, which he did until 1896. In June of that year he concluded a
business arrangement with the well known firm of Stone, Fisher & Lane,
whereby he became the general manager of their store in Everett. They
also own extensive stores in Seattle and Tacoma, and their house in Everett
is one of the largest dry goods establishments north of Seattle. For seven
years Mr. Terrill has occupied this position, having the entire confidence of
those whom he represents, and his capable control of the store is evidence of
his excellent business qualifications and marked ability. Under his manage
ment the trade has grown to extensive and profitable proportions, and Mr.
Terrill is justly regarded as one of the leading business men of Everett.
In August, 1882, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Terrill and Miss
Edith L. Bullock, a native of Dickinson's Landing, Ontario, and a daughter
of Robert and Sarah Bullock. They have two children: Edith L. and
William J. In his social relations Mr. Terrill is a Knight of Pythias, and
likewise belongs to the Improved Order of Red Men, the Woodmen of the
World and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member
of the Chamber of Commerce, and is deeply interested in everything per
taining to the welfare and progress of the community. He is interested in
state and local politics to the extent that he has put forth earnest and effective
effort in behalf of the Republican party, but he has never been an office-

PIISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 391
seeker, feeling that the claims of his business are too great for him to spare
the time for political work on his own behalf. He was elected, however, in
the fall of 1901, to the office of mayor on the Republican ticket, to serve
during the following year. He certainly deserves great credit for what he
has accomplished, and is a self-educated as well as a self-made man. Practi
cal experience, reading and observation have constantly broadened his
knowledge as the years have advanced, and he is now numbered among the
intelligent and progressive citizens of Everett.
CHARLES KENNEDY GREENE.
There is ever a degree of satisfaction and profit in scanning the life
history of one who has attained an eminent degree of success as the result
of his own efforts, who has had the mentality to direct his endeavors toward
the desired ends with a singleness of purpose which has given due value to
each consecutive detail. As a distinctive type of a self-made man we can
refer with signal propriety to the subject of this review, whose business
career is crowned with success as the result of his own efforts. He is now
general manager of the Everett & Snohomish Rapid Transit Company,
which is constructing an electric railroad between Everett and Snohomish.
This will prove of signal benefit to the two cities, and Mr. Greene is there
fore deserving of the gratitude of the people of this locality because of his
connection with an interest that will be generally appreciated.
Mr. Greene was born on the 23d of December, 1859, in Columbiana
county, Ohio, and is a son of Charles M. Greene, who was likewise a native
of the Buckeye state. The family, however, is of English lineage, and the
ancestors of our subject came to the new world before the colonies severed
their connection with the mother country. Representatives of the name took
an active part in the war of independence, and the grandfather of our sub
ject was a major in the war of 1812. He lived to an advanced age, dying
when he had reached the age of ninety-four years. Charles M. Greene, the
father of Charles K, was a lieutenant of cavalry in the Mexican war in 1846.
Throughout his business career he carried on merchandising, and he died
in 1895 at the age of seventy-five years. His wife bore the maiden name of
Anna McGrew and was a native of Pennsylvania. She came of Scotch
lineage, although at an early epoch in American history her ancestors estab
lished a home in the new world. Mrs. Greene passed away in 1892 at the
age of sixty-eight years. In the family were two daughters and four sons :
Jesse; Thomas; John; Mary, who is the wife of N. E. Mandaville; Caroline,
the wife of J. R. Trotter; and Charles K.
In the district schools of Columbiana county, Ohio, Charles Kennedy
Greene obtained his early education, and later pursued his studies in a private
school until he reached the age of fourteen years. He afterward became a
student in the high school at New Lisbon, Ohio, and when seventeen years
of age he put aside his textbooks. He then engaged in teaching in Ohio,
Pennsylvania and Indiana, following that calling for seven consecutive years.
He taught his first school when only fifteen years of age, and in this work
he was very successful, owing to his excellent qualifications and capability.

392 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
In 1882 Mr. Greene turned his attention to merchandising, which he fol
lowed at Albion in the northern part of Indiana, this being the county seat
of Noble county. For nine years he conducted a store with good success
and was one of the leading and valued residents of the locality. For four
years he filled the position of county treasurer, and was also special agent for
the Union Central Life Insurance Company of Cincinnati in their loan de
partment. In the fall of 1891 Mr. Greene went to Chicago, Illinois, where
he was engaged in the real estate business, and in 1893 was made cashier
in the department of collections for the World's Columbian Exposition.
When the fair was over and the business terminated, Mr. Greene resolved
to seek a home in the northwest, and in November, 1893, he arrived in
Everett to accept the position of traveling auditor for the Everett & Monte
Cristo Railroad Company. He acted in that capacity until 1898, when he
engaged as an accountant with the Rice Lumber Company, which he repre
sented until July, 1899. He was then made cashier in the Bank of Commerce
and filled that position until 1902, when he resigned to engage in the con
struction of an electric railroad between Everett and Snohomish under the
corporated name of the Everett & Snohomish Rapid Transit Company. Of
this company Dr. DeSoto is the president, while H. D. Cooley is vice-presi
dent and attorney, and Charles K. Greene general manager. The road will
be completed and open for travel by the fall of 1903.
In May, 1876, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Charles Kennedy
Greene and Miss Louise Caston, a native of Indiana and a daughter of John
Caston, whose birth occurred in Pennsylvania. They now have two chil
dren : Raymond V. and Ethel. In his social relations Mr. Greene is a
Knight of Pythias, and is also connected with the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks. He has relations with the military interests of the country,
being now captain of Company K, Second Regiment, National Guard of
Washington. In 1901 he was elected secretary of the board of education
for the city of Everett, and entered upon the duties of the position on the
16th of December, 1902. In 1899 he was elected mayor of Everett and
served in that office during the succeeding year, his administration being
practical and progressive. In his political views he has ever been a Demo
crat, and, though he has never sought public office, several times positions
of trust have been conferred upon him by his fellow-townsmen, who recog
nize his ability. His manner is genial and entirely free from ostentation,
and without pretense or display he commands the respect of his fellow-men.
He has been true and faithful in every relation of life in which he has been
placed, and as a highly respected citizen of Everett he is certainly deserving
of honorable mention in the history of his adopted county.
THOMAS CORWIN FRARY, M. D.
The great-grandfather of Dr. Frary, Justus de Frary, was a Frenchman,
who came to America with Lafayette to help in the winning of independence.
After the war he remained in this country and settled in Connecticut, which
was the beginning of the family in this country, and many descendants of
the Revolutionary patriot are living in Connecticut at the present time, the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 393
large cutlery works of Frary, Clark & Company representing some of the
name. Grandfather Frary held a commission in the war of 1812 under
Governor Wright of New York. Justus Frary, the father of the Doctor,
was a native of Vermont and located at Milan, Ohio, in 1838, where he was
' a manufacturer of woolen goods. In 1875 he came to the territory of Wash
ington and located at Dayton, where he died in 1877. Iiis wife was Char
lotte Reynolds, who was a first cousin of the Governor Silas Wright men
tioned above; she was a native of New York, and died at Dayton one year
after her husband. Four of the sons of these parents were soldiers in the
Civil war: Franklin was a member of the Fifteenth Ohio; Albert, of the
Fifty-ninth New York ; Edrick, of the Second Minnesota ; and Henry A. was
second lieutenant in an Ohio artillery company.
Thomas Corwin Frary, who received his prffinomen in honor of the
governor of Ohio at the time of his birth, Hon. Thomas Corwin, was born
at Milan, Erie county, Ohio, in 1840. He attended the graded and high
school in Belleville, Ohio, and then took up the study of medicine at that
place with Dr. Whitcomb as his preceptor. He completed his studies at the
University of Michigan, where he was graduated in 1864. The first office
of the young doctor was at Pierceton, Indiana, where he remained about five
years, and then for a similar time at Pleasant Lake, Indiana. In 1876 he
came to Washington, whither his father had preceded him, and for the fol
lowing two years he was engaged in practice at Dayton. He then moved to
Pomeroy, in Columbia (now Garfield) county, and built up a large practice
in the twelve years of his residence there. In 1879 he was elected to repre
sent Columbia county in the territorial legislature, and in 1881 was chosen a
member of the territorial board of equalization from the first judicial dis
trict; he was the candidate of the Republican party, whose cause he has
always advocated, and was elected by a majority of 636 — very large consid
ering the total number of votes. In April, 1890, Dr. Frary came to Ho
quiam, where he has resided ever since and has been engaged in a profitable
practice. His prominence in the city may be inferred from the fact that he
has been elected mayor six different times and is now serving in that office.
A few years ago he was appointed sanitary inspector in the government quar
antine service for the Gray's Harbor district. Later he was made acting
assistant surgeon of the public health and marine hospital service for the same
district, and, in addition to other duties, he has charge of the treatment of the
marine patients in St. David's Hospital at Hoquiam.
Dr. Frary has been married twice. His first wife, to whom he was
married in Belleville, Ohio, was Lourana S. Markey, who died at Pomeroy,
Washington, in 1886, after becoming the mother of four children, whose
names are Louis, John, Emma and Levina. In 1889 Dr. Frary was married
at Fairfield, Ohio, to Mrs. Caroline Simmons, nee Stevens, whose father was
a prominent abolitionist at Sandusky, Ohio, before the war, and was active
in maintaining the underground railroad through that part of the state. Dr.
Frary is a Mason and is past master of Hoquiam Lodge No. 64.

394 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
EUGENE M. METZGER.
It is a noticeable fact that it is young men who are at the head of the
leading enterprises of the northwest, and they bring to bear upon the work
they undertake marked enterprise, hopefulness and laudable ambition, nor
are they without the sound practical judgment which is so often thought
to be a characteristic of more mature years. Their success proves that this
element is not lacking, and certainly if success is any criterion, Mr. Metzger
has his full share of this very desirable attribute to prosperity.
Eugene Myley Metzger is a native of southeastern Pennsylvania, born
on the ist of February, 1870. His father, Henry Clay Metzger, was a
native of the Keystone state and was of German descent. He belonged, how
ever, to an old American family, dating back in this country through five
generations, prior to which time the line is traceable in the fatherland.
Henry C. Metzger was a hardware merchant, and followed that business for
a number of years, but died in 1877, at the comparatively early age of
thirty-nine. He married Cora Myley, a native of Maryland, and she, too,
has an ancestry of long connection with this country. She is descended from
the Shindle family of western Maryland, where representatives of the name
have lived through six generations. Mrs. Metzger now makes her home in
Hagerstown, Maryland, at the age of fifty-five years. By her marriage she
became the mother of four children: Frederick E. ; Eugene; Morris C, who
is engaged in the grocery business in Everett; and Grace, who is the wife of
Edwin Davis, of Pennsylvania.
Eugene M. Metzger is indebted to the public school system of Hagers
town, Maryland, for the early educational privileges he enjoyed. Later he
was a student in the Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and
at the age of seventeen he put aside his textbooks and engaged in the grocery
business in Hagerstown, where he continued until 1889. In the spring of
1890 he came to Washington, establishing his home in Port Angeles, where
he conducted a grocery store for a short time, and in the fall of 189 1 he
came to Everett, after disposing of his interests in the former place. Here
he also opened a grocery store, under the firm name of Metzger & Company,
at the place where he is now conducting business, at the corner of Maple
street and Hewitt avenue. This is to-day the pioneer grocery house of
Everett, but to this alone Mr. Metzger has not confined his energies. In
1898 he opened a new store, which was incorporated under the name of the
People's Grocery Company. Later this was consolidated with the business
of the Wilds Grocery Company under the firm name of Wilds, Metzger &
Requa. In 1897, in company with William W. Black and William G. Swal-
well, he incorporated the Sunnyside Land Company, and was elected its
vice-president and treasurer. This has since been considered one of the
foremost real estate firms in Everett, doing business upon the modern local
principle "Nothing down, the balance on time." Their clientage is large,
and they handle much valuable property.
In November, 1897, Mr. Metzger was united in marriage to Mrs. Delia
Andrews, nee Smith, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of an old
resident of that state. Mr. and Mrs. Metzger have three children: Harry,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 395
Ethel and Clare, aged respectively ten, eight and five years. In his fra
ternal relations Mr. Metzger is connected with the Knights of Pythias, the
Red Men, the Woodmen of the World, the Ropal Arcanum, the National
Union and the Fraternal Mystic Circle. He is also a member of the Everett
Chamber of Commerce. Politically a Republican, he has always taken an
active interest in the success of the party, but has refused to become a candi
date for office, preferring to direct his efforts into commercial channels. He
carries forward to the goal of success whatever he undertakes, and his
business methods are such as neither seek nor require disguise.
JOHN JUDSON CLARK.
In commercial circles in Everett, John Judson Clark is well known and
has developed a business of considerable extent, adding to the general pros
perity of the community as well as to his individual success. He has a
strong, self-reliant nature and determined will, guided by sound judgment
and honorable principles, and his business career has been in many respects
worthy of emulation.
Mr. Clark was born on the 14th of December, 1843, at Niagara Falls,
Canada, his father's home being near one of the greatest natural wonders
of the world. John Clark, the father, was a native of Scotland, and when
about thirty years of age left the land of the hills and heather, crossing
the broad Atlantic to Canada, where he engaged in business as a clothing
merchant. He died at the age of seventy-six years. The mother of our
subject bore the name of Catharine McDonald before she gave her hand in
marriage to John Clark, and she, too, was a native of Scotland. They were
married while still in the land of their nativity, and with her husband she
came to the new world. Her death occurred when she was sixty years of
age She became the mother of six sons and one daughter. One brother
of our subject, F. A. Clark, is now living in Everett. The others are James,
William, Daniel, Robert and Margaret, all in Wisconsin.
In the public schools of Canada, John Judson Clark gained a knowledge
of those branches of English learning which are necessary to a business
career. Later he continued his studies in the public schools of Buffalo, New
York, and in the Commercial College of that city. He left college at the age
of nineteen years, preparatory to entering upon his business career, and
whatever success he has since achieved is due entirely to his own well-
directed efforts. He started out for himself in the humble capacity of a
clerk in a general store at Niagara Falls and was thus employed for three
years. In 1865 he engaged in general merchandising on his own account at
Niagara Falls, conducting the store until 1868, and in the fall of that year
he removed to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he continued his connection with
mercantile pursuits as a member of the well-known firm of Clark & Forbes.
They were in partnership there until 1878, at which time Mr. Clark removed
to Racine, where he again carried on general merchandising until 1890.
Throughout these years he was extending the scope of his activity, and
success attended his well-directed efforts.
Attracted by the possibilities of the rapidly growing west, Mr. Clark

396 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
came to the Puget Sound country in the spring of 1891, settling in Everett,
where he again established a general mercantile store, which he has since
conducted. Certainly one element in his success has been his persistency of
purpose. He embarked in one line, and thoroughly mastered the business,
and he has continued in this with ever increasing success. It is said that
ninety-five per cent of the men who engage in business for themselves meet
with failure, and this is undoubtedly largely due to the fact that change
allures them with hopes of bettering their conditions. They do not "let well
enough alone," but Mr. Clark has always engaged in merchandising and
has studied closely the conditions of trade, the wants of his customers and
the signs of the times. He has thus been able to meet the public demands in
his line, and by fair and honorable dealing and courteous treatment he has
secured a very liberal and constantly growing patronage. He is one of the
pioneer merchants of Everett, and has built one of the best business blocks
of the city, a three-story brick structure, which is a" credit to the city and a
monument to the enterprise and success of Mr. Clark. With the progress
and industrial affairs of Everett he has been closely identified for more than
twelve years, and he is justly- regarded as one of the solid business men here.
In November, 1878, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Mr. Clark wedded Miss
Amelia Robertson, a daughter of Rev. Thomas Robertson, who was a native
of Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have four children, Margaret, Dora,
Everett and Esther. The family are well known in this city, and the mem
bers of' the household occupy an enviable position in social circles. In his
political views Mr. Clark is a Republican, and, while he keeps well informed
on political topics, he has never sought or desired office. Since the incep
tion of the Chamber of Commerce of Everett he has been one of its members,
and through this channel and in other ways he has labored effectively and
earnestly for the promotion of the business interests of the city and its devel
opment along commercial and industrial lines. He looks beyond the
exigencies of the moment to the- possibilities of the future, and with firm
faith in Everett and its continued growth, he has allied his interests with
hers, and is to-day accounted one of its most valued business men.
1
PETER D. KRABY.
Peter Darre Kraby, who is now serving as chief of police in Everett,
was born in Neenah, Wisconsin, on the 2d of April, 1859. His parents,
Carl J. and Pernelle Kraby, were of ancient Norwegian stock, and both
came to America in childhood, but were unacquainted until after their arrival
in the new world. The families of both settled in Neenah in the days of
its early history, and as they grew to mature years the acquaintance of the
young people ripened into love, and they were married in the town of
Clayton, not far from Neenah, on the 14th of February, 1852. Mr: Kraby
then devoted his attention to farming for several years, after which he
accepted the position of turnkey at the prison in Waupun, Wisconsin. In
1 86 1, however, after the inauguration of the Civil war, he put aside all
business and personal considerations and joined the Union army. He went
to the front, but when a few months had passed he was withdrawn from

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 397
active military service and sent to Norway as consul from the United States
to the Scandinavian kingdom. He filled that position from 1862 until 1869
and ably represented his adopted country in the land of his birth. His love,
however, for the United States was too great for him to wish to remain in
the land of the midnight sun, and he returned to America, once more taking
up his abode in Neenah. He was afterward elected city clerk, and held that
office until 1880, in which year he died. He was also chosen registrar of
Winnebago county in 1878, and in that capacity acted until the time of his
demise. Thus much of his life was spent in public service, and over the
record of his public career there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil.
The education of his son, Peter D. Kraby, was obtained in the public
schools of Norway up to his tenth year, when the father returned to America.
He then continued his studies in the public schools of Neenah, Wisconsin,
and left school at the age of sixteen years. Becoming his father's assistant,
he aided him in his official duties and after the father's death in 1880, Peter
D. Kraby entered a celebrated milling establishment of Wisconsin and
learned the miller's trade. His worth and ability, however, were recog
nized by his fellow townsmen, and in 1885 he was elected to the office of
city treasurer, in which capacity he served so capably that he was re-elected
for a second term. In the fall of 1886 he was chosen by popular suffrage
to the office of county treasurer, and was re-elected in 1888 and again in
1890, so that his incumbency as guardian of the finances of Winnebago
county covered six years. After his retirement from that office he was
elected sheriff of Winnebago county in 1892 and served for the succeeding
two years. In 1895 Mr. Kraby removed to Neenah, Wisconsin, where he pur
chased the Russell House, conducting it with success until 1897, when he
disposed of the hotel and again returned to his former calling, being in 1898
elected chief of police of Neenah. After his retirement from office in 1899
he engaged in the insurance business there until 1901, when, owing to finan
cial reverses he decided to come to the northwest and make a new start.
Arriving at Everett in March, 1901, Mr. Kraby entered the services
of the Pendleton Logging Company as a fireman in one of their logging
road engines, but when a few months had passed he returned to Everett,
where he was employed by the Everett Water Company as inspector of a
part of its construction work. He acted in that capacity until March, 1902,
when he was chosen to fill the unexpired term of chief of police. Mr. Kraby
entered upon the duties of this position well equipped by previous experi
ence and by unfaltering loyalty to the best interests of the community.
Since taking the duties of the office Mr. Kraby has demonstrated his ability
by his fearless administration and by his reorganization of the entire depart
ment. His work in this direction has placed the police department of Ever
ett among the foremost representatives of the constabulary of the Pacific
northwest. Mr. Kraby not only sepaks the English language, but is
thoroughly conversant 'with the language of the people of Sweden, Norway
and Denmark. During the past fifteen years he has become familiar with
the most noted criminal cases brought to trial in the middle west, owine to
the prosecution of his official duties.

398 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Socially Mr. Kraby is connected with the Masonic Club, with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with the Knights of Pythias and the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His home and surroundings be
token rare and exquisite taste in the matter of art and in the love of scenery.
For the past twenty years Mr. Kraby has made it his custom to keep a diary,
recording the daily experiences of his life. He is a man of magnificent
physique, being strong and sturdily built, and his name has already become
a terror to the evil-doers of the city of Everett. Law and order find in
him a stalwart supporter, and he makes no compromise with wrong in the
slightest degree. Although firm in his opinions which he considers right,
he is of a genial and kindly disposition, and has the admiration and re
spect not only of his subordinate officials, but of all law-abiding citizens in
Snohomish county. WALTER P. BELL.
Since 1886 Walter P. Bell has been a member of the bar of Snohomish
county and has gained a position of distinction through earnest labor,
thorough preparation and fidelity to the interests of his clients. Numbered
among the successful lawyers and representative men of Snohomish county,
he well deserves mention in this volume.
Mr. Bell was born in Washington county, Iowa, on the 5th of July,
1856. His father, George W. S. Bell, is a native of Illinois, and is of
Scotch descent, although through many generations the family has been
represented in the new world. In early manhood George W. S. Bell dedi
cated his life to the work of the ministry as a clergyman of the Baptist
church, and has labored untiringly for the moral improvement of the race.
He was also a loyal defender of the Union cause in the Civil war, serving
as captain of Company F, Twelfth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, from 1862
until the close of hostilities in 1865, when he was honorably discharged.
He is still living, at the age of seventy-three years, but his wife died in
1893, at the age of sixty-three years. She bore the maiden name of Matilda
M. Clayton, and was a native of Missouri, but represented an old and prom
inent Kentucky family. On her mother's side she was related to Henry
Clay, the distinguished Kentucky statesman. In the family were, four sons
and a daughter: Abram B., Walter P., William F., Mary S. and John T.
The daughter is the wife of N. F. McNaught, a resident of British Columbia.
Walter P. Bell obtained but a limited education, owing to a lack of
educational facilities in the locality in which he was reared. He attended
school through the winter months in Illinois, and throughout the remainder
of the year his time was largely employed at labor. At the age of seventeen
he left school, but, desirous of advancing along intellectual lines, he con
tinued to study under private instructors after he had left home. At the
age of eighteen years he went to Kansas, where he completed his studies,
and when twenty-one years of age he successfully passed an examination
whereby he won a teacher's certificate. He then taught in the country
schools for a short time, but afterward engaged in the stock and cattle
business for about a year.
In the summer of 1879 Mr. Bell came to the Puget Sound country,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 399
settling at Snohomish. He had charge of a farm for a year, after which
he went to Seattle to pursue the study of law, which he had begun while
on the farm. There he engaged with McNaught Brothers, attorneys, and
when he had sufficiently mastered the principles of jurisprudence he was
admitted to the bar in September, 1881, by Chief Justice Green, the ex
amining committee consisting of Judge J. R. Lewis and Judge Orange
Jacobs, who had been chief justices of the territory of Washington, and
Judge Thomas Burke, who was afterward chief justice. In 1881-82 Mr.
Bell was located at Port Townsend, where he practiced law, and in the
latter year he went to Tacoma, where he entered the employ of the North
Pacific Railroad Company, in the capacity of clerk, filling that position for
a year. In the fall of 1883 he removed to Seattle, where he became an
employe of the Oregon Improvement Company, with which he was asso
ciated until the spring of 1885. Then, after acting as purser on the steamer
Nellie for a short time, he went east of the mountains on a cattle ranch
with Guy Waring, son of Colonel George E. Waring, the celebrated sanitary
engineer of New York. Mr. Bell was connected with ranch life until June,
1886, when he returned to Snohomish and resumed the practice of law, in
which he has continued up to the present time. In 1892 he formed a part
nership with A. D. Austin, and in 1897, when the county seat was removed
to Everett, the main office was also removed to this city and has here been
continued up to the present time. The firm has gained a large and dis
tinctively representative clientage, its business connecting it with much of
the important litigation tried in the courts of the district in recent years.
In October, 1890, Mr. Bell was united in marriage to Miss Lillian
Blackman, a native of Maine and a daughter of Almon W. and Marcia
Blackmail, both of whom were natives of Maine and were representatives
of old American families. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Bell have been born a son
and three daughters: Harold C, Mary E., Doris L. and Winnifred.
Mr. Bell is one of the leading representatives of the Republican party
in this section of the state, and his influence has ever been strongly exerted
for its welfare and the adoption of its principles. He is at present chairman
of the Republican county central committee, and has taken a prominent part
in state politics, having attended the state conventions since 1892. His
opinions carry weight in the councils of his party, and his views are always
practical, beneficial and progressive. In 1887 and 1888 he was city attor
ney of Snohomish, this being the year following the incorporation of the
city, and in 1899 and 1900 he was prosecuting attorney of Snohomish county
and again city attorney of the city of Snohomish. His study of political
questions is comprehensive and exhaustive, and thus he is able to support
his position by intelligent argument, which also impresses his hearers with
the strength of his position. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights
of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Though his life
has been one rather of modest reserve than of ambitious self-seeking, he
has shown himself to be the peer of the brightest men of his adopted county,
wherein he has so directed his labors as to aid in the public progress and at
the same time promote his individual success.

400 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
JOSEPH A. SWALWELL.
Joseph A. Swalwell is a bright, enterprising young business man of
Everett, connected with the banking interests of the city. He is serving
at the present time as cashier of the First National Bank, and his thorough
understanding of the business, combined with his obliging manner and un
failing courtesy, has made him a popular official.
Mr. Swalwell is a native of Canada, his birth having occurred in the
city of Ottawa on the 5th of October, 1872. His father, George W. Swal
well, was likewise a native of that country and was of English descent. He
became a furniture manufacturer, following that business for many years,
or until his life's labors were ended in death in 1901, when he was sixty-
three years of age. He had married Isabelle Duff, a native of Scotland,
and she still survives her husband, living in Everett at the age of sixty-
one years. In the family were seven sons, the brothers of our subject being
William G., Wellington A., Alfred A., Robert E., Walter F. and Ernest J.
In the common schools of Ottawa, Canada, Joseph A. Swalwell began
his education, and subsequently he supplemented his preliminary studies in
an academy there. At the age of sixteen he left school and came to Wash
ington, arriving in Tacoma in 1888. Here he continued his studies by enter
ing the University of Tacoma, in which he was graduated with the class of
1890. In February of the following year he came to Everett and accepted
the position of bookkeeper in the First National bank, and from 1898 until
1900 he served as assistant cashier. In the latter year he was elected cash
ier, and in 1901, when the First National Bank consolidated with the Everett
National, he was elected assistant cashier of the new institution, and was
chosen to his present position in January, 1902. During his connection with
the banking business he has made it his purpose to master this line of work
in principle and detail, and has therefore made his services of value to the
institutions with which he has been connected. His enterprise has added
not a little to the success of the First National Bank, and he is a popular
and obliging official.
On the 15th of April, 1897, Mr. Swalwell was united in marriage to
Miss May Swartout, a native of Iowa and a daughter of Melvin and Maide
Swartout, who came to Tacoma in 1885. Mr. and Mrs. Swalwell now
have two children, Howard W. and Gladys. They have many friends in
Everett and the hospitality of the best homes is cordially extended them. In
his political affiliations Mr. Swalwell is a Republican, and socially he belongs
to the Masonic fraternity, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and
the Knights of Pythias.
HON. JOHN T. WELSH.
Hon. John T. Welsh, attorney-at-law and state senator of South Bend,
Washington, and one of the most popular professional men in the state, was
born near Franklin, Pennsylvania, in 1866, and is a son of James and Bridget
(Callahan) Welsh. James Welsh was born in Ireland, and not long after
his marriage to the mother of our subject, who was also born in Ireland, he
emigrated to the United States, locating on a farm in the oil regions of

juLsUMX

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 401
Pennsylvania. The parents were successful, and in 1880 they removed to
Antelope county, Nebraska, where they still live engaged in farming. The
success which has attended James Welsh has been continued, and he is now
one of the prominent men of his locality, although he has never taken an
active part in politics.
John T. Welsh was reared on a farm, but from the age of five years was
sent to school every season, and thus secured an excellent literary education,
which was begun in Pennsylvania and completed in Nebraska. After read
ing law with Judge Jackson in Neligh for one year he entered the law de
partment of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, from which he was grad
uated in the class of 189 1. In the spring of that year he came to Washing
ton, locating at South Bend, which has ever since remained his home and
been the scene of his many professional and political triumphs. The first
year of his residence here he was principal of the South Bend public schools,
hut after that he engaged in the practice of his profession, and has been an
attorney-at-law. ever since. Mr. Welsh was elected city attorney twice, and
in 1897 was elected prosecuting attorney of Pacific county, and was re-elected
to that office, his occupancy of the position continuing over a period of four
years. So able and efficient did he prove himself that in the fall of 1902
he was elected state senator to represent the nineteenth senatorial district,
which comprises the counties of Pacific and Wahkiakum. The term is for
a period of four years, and in the winter of 1902-3, during the eighth session
of the general assembly at Olympia, Mr. Welsh took a very prominent part
in the legislative proceedings and in the election of the United States senator,
acting in harmony with the recognized leaders of the Republican party. He
was chairman of the committee on claims and auditing and a member of the
judiciary committee ; of the banks and banking committee ; of the revenue and
taxation committee and others of minor importance. Mr. Welsh is univer
sally recognized as one of the most prominent attorneys of this part of the
state, and commands three-fourths of the practice of the entire county. It
is the boast of his friends that he never lost a case while he was city and prose
cuting attorney, and this fact alone is undisputable proof of his ability as a
lawyer and his eloquence as an orator. In April, 1899, Mr. Welsh was
united in marriage, at South Bend, Washington, to Isabelle Montgomery
Blake, and two children have been born to their union, namely : Burke
and Ruth.
WILLIAM W. BLACK.
Whatever else may be said of the legal fraternity it cannot be denied
that members of the bar have been more important actors in public affairs
than any other class of American people. This is but the natural result of
causes which are manifest and require no explanation. The ability and
training which qualify one to practice law also qualify him in many respects
for the duties which lie outside the strict path of his profession and which
touch the general interests of society. The subject of this review is a man
who has brought his keen discrimination and thorough wisdom to bear
not alone in professional paths, but also for the benefit of the city and state 26

402 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
in which he makes his home, and with whose interests he is thoroughly
identified. William Wilson Black was born in West Lebanon, Indiana county,
Pennsylvania, on the 19th day of January, 1855, and comes of Scotch,
Dutch and English ancestry. His father, Solomon Black, was a native of
Pennsylvania, and was of Dutch and Scotch extraction, although the Black
family was established in the new world at an early day. Mr. Black be
came a carriage manufacturer and followed that business for some time,
but later turned his attention to farming and stock-raising. He lives in
Pennsylvania, being seventy-three years of age at the time of this writing
in 1903. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary A. Russell, was
also born in the old Keystone state and was of Dutch descent oh her mother's
side and of English lineage in the paternal line. She too, is living, and is
now seventy-one years of age. The members of their family are Smith
Miller, Louis T., Harry W., Elizabeth, Mary, Nancy Jane and Margaret.
In the common schools William Wilson Black obtained his preliminary
education, which was supplemented by study in the Greenville Academy
and the State Normal School. He was also a student in Allegheny College,
and his literary education well fitted him for the practical duties of life.
After the completion of his collegiate course he made his way westward
to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he took up the study of law with William
Dill. He diligently pursued his reading and was admitted to the bar in
1883. While residing in Leavenworth he served for four years as deputy
county attorney, and in 1889-90 was assistant attorney general for the state
of Kansas. His rise at the bar has been uniform and rapid. No dreary
novitiate awaited him, for his careful preparation and earnest devotion to
the causes entrusted to him were soon manifest in the masterly way in which
he handled his cases, and his cilentele became distinctively representative.
In May, 1891, Mr. Black came to Washington. He made his way to
Tacoma, and at the advice of Chief Justice Field he came to Port Gardner
Bay, which is now the city of Everett, arriving in June of the same year.
In 1891 he removed his family from Leavenworth, Kansas, to Snohomish,
Washington, and in 1892 he brought them to Everett, where they have
continued to reside to the present time, covering a period of eleven con
secutive years. Here Mr. Black has practiced law with constantly increas
ing success, and his clientage is now extensive and important. He has
made a specialty of corporation law and is attorney for the Mitchell Land
& Improvement Company, the Swalwell Land, Loan & Trust Company,
the Land, River & Improvement Company, the South Everett Land Com
pany and also attorney for the First National Bank. These are some of
the old pioneer corporations of Everett.
In business affairs, aside from the practice of law, Mr. Black has also
been prominent, and his enterprise and activity have been important factors
in the successful conduct of a number of business concerns in which he
is financially interested. He is now the president of the Everett Trust Com
pany, the president of the Northwest Commercial Company, secretary of
the Northern Lumber Company, secretary of the Pacific Plardware Com
pany, secretary and manager of the Sunnyside Land Company, president of

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 403
the Sunnyside Investment Company, and is also attorney for these different
corporations. On the 2d of May, 1883, Mr. Black was united in marriage to Miss
Mollie Neil, a native of Kansas, and the wedding was celebrated in Leaven
worth. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Neil, were natives of Tennessee.
To Mr. and Mrs. Black have been born three children, a daughter and two
sons, Bertha, Lloyd and Wendel Wilson.
Socially Mr. Black is connected with the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World. In politics he is a Demo
crat and takes a prominent part in the local and state work of the party,
attending all of the state and many of the county conventions since coming
to Snohomish county. Companionable and at all times approachable, he
has a very wide circle of friends in his adopted city and enjoys the high
regard of many prominent men in this portion of the state. His patriotic
devotion to the political principles in which he believes has gained him
widespread respect and confidence, and he is best liked where best known,
a fact which speaks in unmistakable terms of an honorable career, which,
though eminently successful, is free from ostentation or display.
JACOB HUNSAKER.
If "biography is the home aspect of history," as Wilmot expresses it,
then it is certainly within the province of this volume to portray the life
work of such men as Jacob Hunsaker. His mind bears the impress of the
historical annals of the state from an early epoch in its development to the
present. He has lived in the northwest since 1846, and throughout the
intervening years has been an interested witness of what has been accom
plished, and feels a just pride in the great work that has been carried on,
transforming this state into one of the foremost in the galaxy of the Union.
He is to-day a representative of the real estate and insurance interests in
Everett, and is also very prominent in political and public affairs, having at
one time represented his district in the state senate.
Mr. Hunsaker" was born on the 22d of January, 1845, near the city
of Quincy, in Adams county, Illinois. His father, Jacob T. Hunsaker, was
likewise a native of Illinois and belonged to an old American family that
was established in the new world at a very early epoch in our colonial his
tory. He was of both Swiss and Welsh descent, and was a farmer by
occupation. Prior to the discovery of gold in California, which was the
beginning of the rapid settlement along the Pacific coast, he made his way
to Oregon. It required great courage to establish homes in this section of
the country at that time, for the settlers were cut off from all the comforts
of the east and from intercourse with their old friends by long stretches of
sand and high mountains. It required months to make the journey across
the country, and there were many hardships and trials to be borne during
the establishment of a home in this then wild region. Mr. Hunsaker, how
ever, belonged to that class of courageous, valorous spirits who pushed their
way into the northwest and aided in reclaiming it for civilization. He died
in 1891, at the age of seventy-three years, and his wife passed away in 1873

404 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
at the age of fifty-three years. She bore the maiden name of Emily Collins,
and was a native of Kentucky. To this worthy couple were born four sons
and eight daughters: Horten, now deceased; Josephine, who has also
passed away; Mary Ann, who is the wife of P. H. D'Arcey, of Portland,
Oregon; Araminta, deceased; Jacob, of this review; Sarah, who is the wife
of Josephus Tompkins, a resident of Columbia county, Oregon; Lycurgus,
who is living in Los Angeles, California; Catharine, the wife of H. B.
Nichols, of Portland; Carrie, the wife of Frank Arnold, also of Portland;
Alice, the wife of E. A. Osten, of Grant county, Oregon; John D., who is
living in Mexico ; and Winifred, the wife of Ernest P. Waite, of. Portland,
Oregon. Jacob Hunsaker began his education in Oregon City and later attended
the Pacific University at Forest Grove for one year. He left school at the
age of twenty years and afterwards engaged in teaching for three years.
In 1868 he accepted a position as clerk in a hotel in Portland and afterward
occupied a similar position at The Dalles. In 1872 he took a trip to Peru,
South America, returning the following year, at which time he located in
Thurston county, Washington, where he was engaged in general farming
for a few years. On the expiration of that period he returned to the hotel
at The Dalles, being employed as clerk in the Umadilla House. In the
fall of 1875, however, he turned his attention to the cultivation of fruit near
The Dalles and followed that occupation with creditable success until 1883.
He then purchased a farm at White Salmon, Washington, and in connec
tion with general agricultural pursuits he carried on merchandising, devoting
his time to the dual business until 1892. During that period he was elected
one of the county commissioners of Klickitat county for a period of four
years, and in 1889 he was chosen to represent the district comprising Klick
itat and Skamania counties in the state senate, where he served for two
terms. In 1891 he was elected to the house of representatives and his
service was of great value to his constituents, because he labored untiringly
and effectively for the welfare of the community and of the state at large.
In 1892 Mr. Hunsaker came to Everett and has since been engaged
in the real estate and insurance business, having a large clientage. He is
a representative of a number of the leading eastern and European insurance
companies, and also handles much valuable property, having negotiated a
number of important realty transfers. Since coming to Everett he has also
been chosen to positions of public trust. In 1895 he was elected mayor of
Everett and filled the position for one term. In 1897 he was chosen city
treasurer and was re-elected in 1898, 1899 and 1900, his incumbency in
the position being terminated in January, 1 901, when he retired from the
office as he had entered it — with the confidence and good will of all con
cerned. In 1902 he was re-elected mayor of the city and is now the in
cumbent in that office. Mr. Hunsaker had been asked to again accept this
office, but had declined it, and during his absence from the city the conven
tion was held which nominated him, and he did not arrive until after the
election was over. Because of the immense majority he polled, and out of
consideration for his friends, he consented to qualify. In 1877 he was
elected assessor of Skamania county, but never qualified.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 405
On the ist of May, 1873, Mr. Hunsaker was united in marriage to
Miss Elizabeth Chambers, a native of Thurston county, Washington, and
a daughter of A. J. and Margaret Chambers, who are both pioneer people
of Thurston county, having settled there in the year 1847. Mr. and Mrs.
Hunsaker now have four children : Lloyd, who is engaged in business with
his father in Everett; Plallie, Cassie and Margaret, who are still under the
parental roof.
Mr. Hunsaker is identified with the Masonic and Knights of Pythias
fraternities, and also with the Improved Order of Red Men, and he belongs
to the Chamber of Commerce at Everett. In politics he has ever been a stal
wart Republican, and is prominent in the local as well as the state councils
of the party. Honored and respected in every class of society, he well de
serves the high regard which is tendered him, because he has always been
true to public duty and straightforward in his business career. An enumera
tion of the men of the present generation who have won honor for them
selves and at the same time have honored the state to which they belong
would be incomplete were there failure to make prominent reference to him
whose name introduces this review. He holds distinctive precedence in Re
publican circles in Snohomish county, and, in fact, is influential in the party
in connection with its state management and affairs. In all of the positions
which he has held his course has been characterized by a masterful under
standing of the problems presented for solution and by a patriotic devotion
to those measures which he believed conducive to the public good.
HIRAM ALFRED MARCH.
One of the oldest residents in northwest Washington is in the person
ot Hiram Alfred March, who came to Skagit county (then Whatcom county)
in 1858, and has since been one of the most prominent citizens of the vicin
ity. He is a native of Vermont, was born on February 8, 1833, a son of
Thomas March, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, of Scotch and English
descent, who died in 1883 at the age of eighty, and of Mary Frances Kent,
also of Vermont, who died in 1849, aged forty. He had three brothers and
two sisters, of whom Norman Cable was the eldest, and then came Margaret
Lucy, Thomas Harvey, deceased, Frederick Dufay, and Frances Mary, de
ceased. Mr. March was educated in the Vermont public schools, but at the age
of sixteen went to New York and apprenticed himself to learn the trade
of marble-cutting. Five years of this work enabled him to go to Boston,
Massachusetts, and embark in business on his own account, where he re
mained five years, and then went to Camden, Maine, where he was a marble
carver and engaged in the monument business for a time. In 1854 he
went to California and mined in different localities for the next four years.
The first day of May, 1858, saw his arrival in Whatcom county, Washing
ton, which then comprised Skagit and San Juan counties. For three years
lie followed building and contracting; in 1861 he was deputy sheriff under
Enoch May, but in 1863 he resigned to go on his farm; in the same year
he was elected probate judge for Whatcom county, and served six years.

406 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Mr. March has made an enviable record in different branches of farm
ing. He has conducted an extensive dairy; in 1885, after experimenting
as to the growth and culture of the cauliflower seed, he began growing the
seed for market purposes. Up to this time the best seed had been imported
from Europe, but- Mr. March has produced seed of the very finest quality
and grade, and has received most flattering reports from the various state
agricultural stations, so that he has continued in the business; he has eighty
acres under cultivation, of which ten acres are planted to cauliflower, the
yearly product from which has been four hundred and eighty pounds of
clean seed, for which the market price has been fifteen dollars per pound.
Since engaging in the industry he has marketed over two thousand pounds
at that price. In addition he raises every year from four to five tons of
cabbage seed, which has a value of from fifty cents to one dollar and a half
a pound. These are his most important enterprises as a horticulturist, but
he also carries on a general market business, which is very profitable and
a most engrossing form of labor. In 1902 he was selected by the county
commissioners and appointed by the state horticulturist as horticultural com
missioner for Skagit county, and was reappointed in 1903.
Mr. March was married in Boston, in December, 1853, to Henrietta
Maria Taylor, a native of that city, and their one daughter, Cora Russ, is
the wife of Dr. John Crawford, of Lawrence, Massachusetts. In February,
1873, Mr. March took as his- second wife Miss Kate Hilton, a native of
.New York, and there are three sons by this marriage: Alfred Hiram, the
oldest, is captain of the steamer Harry at Anacortes; Harry Elmer is head
engineer on the same vessel, and Fred Hilton manages his father's farm.
In November, 1902, Mr. March married Mrs. Jane Wilson, a native of
Virginia. In 1890 Mr. March was elected commodore of the Anacortes
Yacht Club, and he has since been known as Commodore March. In 1896
he was elected admiral of the Northwest International Yachting Association,
and served up to 1902. He is a member of the Masonic order, and as a
Republican has taken a leading part in local and state affairs, and ' is one
of the best known men in this section of the state. His long and honored
residence in Washington has recognition in the fact that he is a member of
the State Pioneer Society. GEORGE BELDING SMITH, M. D.
Among those who have attained distinctive prestige in the practice
of medicine and surgery in this section of the Evergreen state, and whose
success has come as the logical sequel of thorough technical information
and skill, stands Dr. George B. Smith, who is now serving in the important
capacity of railway surgeon. He was born in Stockholm, St. Lawrence
county, New York, on the 30th of August, 1855, and is a son of George and
Mary Angeline (Drake) Smith. The father, who was also a native of the
Empire state, is a member of an old American family whose arrival in this
country antedates the period of the Revolutionary war. He is a miller by
trade, but is now living retired from the active cares of a business life, and
has reached the age of sixty-seven years. The mother of our subject was

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 407
a native of Vermont, and the Drake family trace their ancestry in this
country to the time of the landing of the Mayflower. Her death occurred
at the early age of twenty-one years.
George Belding Smith attended the public schools of his native place
during his early boyhood days, and later became a student in the Massena
Academy, while he further continued his studies in the State Normal Train
ing School at Potsdam. Completing his literary education at the age of
twenty-one years, he then began his preparation for the practice of medicine
and surgery, entering the medical department of the University of the City
of New York, in which he was graduated in 1881 with the degree of M. D.
From the time of his embarkation in the medical field until the 24th of
December, 1890, he was located at Winthrop, St. Lawrence county, New
York, and in the last mentioned year he came to Anacortes, Washington,
and resumed the practice of his chosen profession. The Doctor is a man
of scholarly attainments and one who has made , deep and careful research
into the science to which he is devoting his life work, and is now accorded
a foremost place among the medical practitioners of the Sound country. In
1892 he was appointed a railroad surgeon, first by the Oregon Improvement
then by the Pacific Coast Company, later by the Seattle & Northern Railroad
Company, and at the present time is serving in that capacity for the Great
Northern Railroad Company. For four years Dr. Smith served as a mem
ber of the board of 'education, while for the same length of time was a mem
ber of the city council, and in 1902 was elected a health officer, in which
position he had also served for three years prior to this time.
The marriage of Dr. Smith was celebrated in August, 1882, when
Emma Jane Killam became his wife. She, too, is a native of Stockholm,
New York, and a daughter of Silas and Mary (Parker) Killam, both natives
of the Empire state. Three children were born of this union, namely : Ruth
Genevieve, a young lady of fourteen years; Lawrence Kellam, who has
reached the age of six years; and Hazel Belle, who died when but two
years old. Dr. Smith's fraternal relations connect him with the Knights
of Pythias, the Independent Order of Foresters, the Ancient Order of United
Workmen and the Woodmen of the World, while in the line of his profes
sion he holds membership relations with the State Medical Society and the
Skagit County Medical Society. An earnest Republican in his political
views, he has ever taken an active interest in the welfare and advancement
of his party, and with one exception has attended every state convention since
coming to Washington.
MELVILLE CURTIS.
The branch of the Curtis family to which the above name belongs is of
old English stock, and settled in Massachusetts before the Revolutionary
war. It was in this state that Melville Curtis, Sr., was born; he was a paper
manufacturer, which seems to have been a favorite -business with the family,
as his father and grandfather had also been similarly engaged. The wife
of Melville Curtis, Sr., was Louise Allsopp, a native of Quebec, Canada,
and of an English family who had come to- the province soon after the
conquest by Great Britain. Mr. Curtis died in i860, aged sixty years, and

408 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
his wife passed away in 1873, at the age of sixty-two. Their children were :
Lucretia, the widow of O. F. Redfield, living in Berkeley, California; Allen
A. resides in San Raphael, California; Sarah M. is the wife of Dr. T. B.
Childs of Anacortes, Washington ; Annie B. is the widow of Amos Bowman,
one of the pioneers of Anacortes, and the town was named in honor of Mrs.
Bowman (Annie Curtis).
Melville Curtis was born June 30, 1849, at Belleville, New Jersey,
and was educated in the public schools there until he was twelve years old;
he then took a preparatory course at Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada, and in
1867 entered the Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York, and
took a course in mining and civil engineering, being graduated in June,
1871. In September following he came to Austin, Nevada, and entered
the employ of the Manhattan Silver Mining Company, as assayer and mining
engineer; he was retained in this capacity till 1876, was then assistant super
intendent and then general superintendent and manager until 1887. After
the depreciation of silver, the property was sold, and Mr. Curtis went to
Mendocino, California; he bought an interest in a lumber mill, but sold out
in a year and went to Irondale, Washington, where, in the fall of 1888, he
took charge of the Puget Sound Iron Company's furnace at that point. ' In the
spring of 1890 he left this position and came to Anacortes to look after the
interests which he had acquired in 1885, while still in Nevada, and this bustling
Washington town has been his place of residence since that date. He has
been busied in caring for his real estate, and in 1903 he engaged in the coal
business, building a wharf and coal dock on the water front for that purpose.
In October, 1883, Mr. Curtis was married to Fanny B. Wright, a native
of New York state, and a daughter of Junius A. and Susan (Backus) Wright,
of an old New York Dutch family. Morri, the eldest of the four daughters
of this marriage, is the wife of H. P. Schmidt, a druggist of Anacortes;
Louise is sixteen years old, and the other two are Alleen and Helen. Mr.
Curtis belongs to the Knights of Pythias, and in politics has always been Re
publican. He takes a live interest in local public affairs, in 1891 was elected
first councilman of the city, and has been re-elected each succeeding year to
the present time; in 1893 he was elected to fill the unexpired term of mayor,
and was re-elected in 1894 and 1895; in 1898 he was chosen county commis
sioner, and served four years. He has thus made an honorable record both in
public and private life, and is highly esteemed in all circles in the town and
vicinity.
WILLIAM G. BEARD.
William George Beard, who is now serving as mayor of Anacortes, has
been so active in political life and business interests here that no mention of
the city would be complete without reference to him. He was born June 24,
1847, in Exeter, Devonshire, England, the eldest son of George and Mary
(Palmer) Beard. The ^father was also born in Exeter and belonged to a
family whose history can be traced back through several hundred years. He
was an architect, contractor and builder, and in the year 1850, accompanied
by his family, he crossed the Atlantic to the new world, settling first in
Toronto, Canada. In 1867 he removed to Bay City, Michigan, and was

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 409
actively identified with its building interests for some years. He there died
in February, 1903, at the ripe old age of eighty-four years, and his wife, who
was also a native of Exeter, England, passed away in Bay City, Michigan,
in 1883, at the age of fifty-nine years. In their family were the following
named : William G. ; John, who died in Bay City, Michigan, in 1873 ; Eliza,
the wife of Captain Henry Bennett, of that place ; Edward ; Harry, who is an
alderman and contractor at Bay City; and Frederick, who is living in the
same place.
William G. Beard was only three years old when brought by his parents
to America, and at the age of five years he entered the public schools of
Toronto, Canada. He was graduated in the grammar school of Markham,
Canada, at the age of eighteen years, and when his school life was ended he
began assisting his father, who was engaged in contracting and building.
The son thus gained a broad, practical knowledge of the builder's art, laying
the foundation for successful work in that line in later life. For a time he
operated in the oil fields of Petrolia, Canada, and in 1871 he went to Bay
City, Michigan, where he organized the firm of George Beard & Son, con
tractors and builders. They erected the principal public and private build
ings of that city, having a very large patronage, and our subject continued
in the business until 1879, when he was nominated for the office of register
of deeds of Bay county. He was elected and served so acceptably that he
was renominated in 1881, but that year his party met uniform defeat. In
1883, however, he was again elected for a term of two years, and in 1885 he
was chosen by popular vote to the office of city treasurer of Bay City. The
following year he was placed in nomination by the Democratic party for the
position of state treasurer of Michigan, but, though he ran ahead of his
ticket, he was defeated. His elections were never because of an overwhelm
ing party strength,, but because of his personal popularity and the confidence
reposed in him by his fellow-townsmen.
In 1889, on account of failing health, Mr. Beard removed to Seattle,
where he was engaged in contracting and building until December of that
year, during which time he built at Shelton the office and banking building
for the Satsop Railroad & Logging Company, also the Korn Block in Seattle,
and the warehouse buildings of the Standard Oil Company. In December,
1889, Mr. Beard came to Fidalgo Island, which is now the site of Anacortes,
with a view to establishing an abstract office. After spending a year at
Mount Vernon in completing a set of abstract books, he returned to Ana
cortes in 1 89 1, and has since engaged in the abstract, real estate and insur
ance business, having a large clientage in these lines, and meeting with grati
fying prosperity in his undertakings. He also designed and superintended
the construction of the Odd Fellows' hall and opera house of Anacortes, and
has been an active factor in the improvement of the city.
Mr. Beard has held a number of official positions, and has ever been
found prompt and reliable in the discharge of the duties thus devolving upon
him. In 1890 he was appointed, by William Dale, deputy county assessor,
serving until 1892, and in 1891 he was elected the first city assessor for the
city of Anacortes. Two years later he was re-elected and served up to the
time the office was abolished by the legislature. During this time he was also

410 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
justice of the peace for six years -and police judge for three years, and in
1895 he was appointed by President Cleveland to the position of postmaster,
serving for four years. In 1901 and 1902 he was elected alderman at large,
and in the latter year was nominated as representative to the state legislature,
but was defeated. In November, 1902, however, he was elected by popular
vote to the office of mayor of Anacortes and is now serving. This shows
that where he is best known he has the confidence and support of the people
and no higher testimonial of his worth could be given than the fact of the
loyal adherence of his fellow-townsmen. He has always voted with the
Democracy, but even those upholding opposing political views entertain for
him the highest respect because of his fidelity and loyalty in office.
In Bay City, Michigan, in April, 1874, Mr. Beard wedded Miss Mary
Bennett, a native of Canada and a daughter of Edward G. and Mary Bennett,
both of whom were of English descent. Our subject and his wife now have
four sons and five daughters : William ; Clara, the wife of Peter Anderson,
of Michael, British Columbia; Leila, Mabel, Edwin, Mamie, Mattie, Sidney
and Graham, all yet at home. The parents hold membership in the Episco
pal church, and Mr. Beard belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
the Royal Arcanum and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is
also a member of the Anacortes Commercial Club and takes an active interest
in his city, being desirous of its welfare and growth along lines that will
prove of permanent benefit. Mr. Beard was one of the committee to escort
President Roosevelt on his Puget Sound trip. In public office he has been
most capable, and over the record of his official career and private life there
falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil. As mayor of the city his
administration is business-like, practical and beneficial, and Anacortes ac
counts him one of its most valued citizens.
JOHN MILES.
A great many of the English emigrants who have come to this country
have made their way to the extreme west, and the state of Washington has a
number of these enterprising settlers who are among the most successful busi
ness men and farmers in the state. In this number we may count John Miles,
who is one of the well known citizens of Lewis county and has spent an upright
and honorable life in the county for the past twenty-five years. His birthplace
was Kent, England, where he came into the world on the 24th of May,
1832. He is of good and substantial English parentage and enjoyed excellent
educational advantages in England and France. He became the Queen of
England's crown surveyor and for twenty-three years represented the Queen
in all matters of taxation in the district assigned to him. While in the per
formance of the duties connected with this position he was treacherously
attacked and his skull was broken; his life was endangered for some time
and he was incapacitated for duty, and although he was strongly urged to
hold his commission, he decided to quit the service and go to the territory
of Washington, of which he had already heard so much from his brother.
The latter, Henry Miles, was a Washington pioneer, having come to the
state in 1 851; he was a member of the first territorial legislature, in which

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 411
he served with marked efficiency for several terms; his death occurred in
1891. Accordingly, John Miles came direct to Washington and arrived at
Chehalis June 5, 1878. Soon after his arrival the Queen sent him twelve
hundred and fifty dollars as a remuneration for his injury and loss of time
and in appreciation of his many years of faithful service. He embarked in
merchandising and first had a store at Chehalis, later was a merchant and
the postmaster at Claquato for ten years, during which time he met with
gratifying success. For a number of years he has been engaged in money-
lending, and in this has displayed the qualities of the true financier, making
many good investments. At present five thousand acres of valuable land in
and about Lewis county belong to Mr. Miles, and he has a delightful home
in the town of Claquato.
In 1862 Mr. Miles was united in marriage to Miss Sophia Davis, a native
of Wales, the marriage occurring in England. The ten surviving children
of this union are as follows : Mary Ann Sarah is single and lives in Tacoma ;
Emily is now the wife of James Lockerbie; Bertha Louisa lives in Tacoma;
Edith Rosamond is a teacher of Tacoma; Frederick lives in Tacoma; Maud
is the wife of W. H. Miller; Eva is the wife of Charles H. Pole, a merchant
of Dryad; Mabel resides in Dryad; Eley is a teacher in Tacoma; and Harold
John is at Tullman College. On May 13, 1885, Mrs. Miles was called away
by death, and her loss was deeply mourned by the devoted family, for she
had been a most faithful wife and mother. Mr. Miles married his present
wife, Mrs. Rose (Tune) Miles, on November 3, 1891 ; she was born in London,
England. They have had the following children : Agnes, Charles, Winifred,
Charlotte, and William, who died July 19, 1899. Mr. and Mrs. Miles are mem
bers of the Episcopal church. In politics he is a Republican, and while he
never seeks office he attends all the conventions of the party and is much in
terested in the welfare of the state and county of his adoption.
OLIVER PERRY TAYLOR.
Centralia, Washington, is the seat of many manufacturing concerns, its
convenience as a shipping point and its proximity to the great timber supply
making it especially favored in this respect. The firm of Nudd & Taylor Com
pany, incorporated, are manufacturers of everything in the wood-working line,
such as wooden eaves, gutters, moulding, porch columns, stairs, rails, etc.
They have about twenty men in their employ, and most of the product of the
mill is shipped to eastern markets'. The large plant is situated on the five
acres of land at the corner of Tower avenue and Hanson street and only a
short distance from the depot. The main building is sixty by one hundred
feet in dimensions, two stories high ; it has a lean-to twenty-two by sixty, an
engine room thirty by forty, a dry kiln thirty-five by forty, and three hundred
feet of sheds twenty feet wide. This is one of the important business institu
tions of the city, and a short biography of the men who are at the head of
the firm would be appropriate and interesting in this history.
Oliver Perry Taylor, the junior member of the firm, is still a young
man, being born in Henry county, Indiana, February 27, i860. His parents
were members of that gentle and pious sect known as the Quakers, and he

±12 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
was reared in that faith, imbibing many principles which have remained
with him during life and have had much to do with the formation of his char
acter. In 1879, when nineteen years old, he went to Minneapolis and for
some years was employed in the mail service, having the distinction of being
one of the pioneer mail carriers of that city; he was also engaged in railroad
ing, and was for seven years the commercial agent of the Chicago, St. Paul
& Kansas City Railroad (now the Great Western). In 1895 he came to Cen
tralia, and in connection with Mr. Nudd bought the property, put in the plant,
and has since built up the factory which is now such an integral part of the city.
Mr. Taylor was married while living in Minneapolis to Miss Lottie N.
Nudd, the daughter of the senior partner of the firm, and they have two
children, Laura Ella and William Perry. He is prominent in fraternal circles ;
is a Knight Templar and has received all the degrees in the York rites; he
belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen
of America. His politics are Republican and he was chairman of the central
committee of his ward in Minneapolis, but he has been so absorbed in his
business that he has never found time or desired to take a more active part
in public affairs.
William H. Nudd, the senior member of this company, comes of
an old English ancestry who settled in New Hampshire as early as 1673.
Thomas Nudd was the originator of the American branch of the family, and
the name Thomas has descended to members of all the succeeding generations ;
all of Mr. Nudd's forefathers were natives of New Hampshire, and the old
family estate was handed down from father to son for many years, until
1835, when it passed out of the family. The religion of the Nudds was
Methodist and Baptist since the earliest record. William H. was the son of
Thomas and Annie (Trickey) Nudd, and was born on the 16th day of July,
183 1, in the town of Wakefield, New Hampshire. He grew up to manhood
in his native state, and was afterward engaged in merchandising in Maine
until 1857; in this year he removed to Minneapolis and engaged in the lumber
business. While here he formed his connection with Mr. Taylor, and in 1895
came to Centralia to assist in the organization of the proposed company.
While engaged in business in Maine Mr. Nudd met and married the
lady of his choice, Miss Laura E. Shepherd, a native of Bangor. They were
the parents of five children, four of whom are living : Lottie became the wife
of Mr. Taylor, Henry A. is employed in the factory, Benjamin F. is in
Alaska engaged in mining, and Fuller E. is now in business in Centralia, Wash
ington. Mr. Nudd has the honor of having voted for John C. Fremont in
1856, and he has ever since cast his ballot in the interests of the Republican
party. He is a Knight Templar Mason. He is now over seventy, but he is
still active, and his long life of useful endeavor deserves every commendation.
JOHN R. CHAPLIN.
With the upbuilding and improvement of Olympia, Washington, and
the northwest along lines of intellectual, material and moral progress, the
name of Professor John R. Chaplin is inseparably interwoven. He is the
president of the People's University of Olympia, which is a stock company,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY'. 413
having an authorized capital stock of one million dollars, divided into shares
of one dollar each.
The purpose and plans of this university are unique and deserve special
mention, because the character of the institution reflects somewhat the char
acter of its promoter. Its aim, according to its charter, is to create a higher,
more independent, unwavering and unbiased standard of social life, than can
be found in any political or denominational institution or policy. "Unfettered
by denominational boundaries, by fixed theological creeds, by the dangerous de
mands of either accumulated wealth or combined numbers, by the unrighteous
requirements of social 'castes,' by the unnecessary burden of foolish and ex
pensive styles and fashions, or by the disastrous influences of political domina
tion, its aim is to meet all the people on the broad and fraternal plane of co
partnership, seeking the best and highest in human character. Its faith is in
God, its strength in righteousness, its confidence in humanity, its labor for
mankind, and its reward in Christian character."
As before said, the institution is a stock company governed by a board
of sixty-three trustees, and among its interesting features is the fact that any
person may become a voting member by purchasing one or more shares at a
cost of one dollar each. The institution already numbers its stockholders in
every state in the Union.
In connection with this institution of learning, and as an aid to it finan
cially, Professor Chaplin has organized the Olympia Development Company,
with a permissible capital stock of three hundred thousand dollars, one hundred
and sixty thousand dollars of which has already been sold and the proceeds
invested in choice real estate in and about the city of Olympia. The prime
object of this company, according to its charter, is to build "Greater Olympia,"
employing such agencies as may be required for that purpose; "to buy, own,
plat, sell, lease, improve and otherwise deal in real estate; to build dwelling
houses, business blocks, to locate factories, to promote in every legitimate way
the highest interest and growth of the capital city, and especially 'to aid in
building, equipping and maintaining the People's University.' " The develop
ment company has purchased and is now the owner of four thousand acres
of choice land, a part of which is lying within the city limits and the remainder
is in cloxe proximity thereto. The company also owns thirty-five hundred
city lots and is now engaged in the improvement of this property. Professor
Chaplin especially appreciates the fact that one-sixth of the gross income de
rived from the sales of this real-estate is pledged to the university.
The stockholders of both corporations have the highest faith in the suc
cess of the undertaking, and in the splendid and brilliant future which awaits
Olympia. Professor Chaplin has made this matter a life study, devot
ing his time and efforts to understanding the question in all its phases,
and in utilizing his knowledge for the good of mankind. In the interest of his
university project, he has crossed the continent seventy times, having succeeded
in securing the aid of a number of wealthy eastern capitalists of the highest
reputation in his undertaking, thus giving the enterprise the financial support
which it requires.
Professor Chaplin is a native of the state of Michigan, his_ birth having
occurred in Fowlerville, Livingston county, on the 30th of April, 1852. He

414 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
acquired his education in Adrian College, spent six years in that institution
of learning, and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1883. Eight
years previous to that time Professor Chaplin was married, in 1875, to Miss
Emma Strobridge, of Lapeer, Michigan, and they attended college together.
After their marriage, being an ordained minister of the Methodist Protestant
church, he preached in that denomination for two years, but, liking the repub
lican form of government of the Congregational church, became identified with
that denomination in 1886, and accepted a Congregational pastorate. In 1889
he came to Washington, accepting the pastorate of the First Congregational
church of Olympia. But for years he had been revolving in his mind the
idea of establishing an independent university, not under political or denomina
tional control. He saw in that city an opening for the materialization of his
plans, and resigning his ministerial charge at once entered upon the work
involved in the founding of such an institution. He is meeting with the
highest realization of his plans, and his efforts have been and will doubtless
continue to be a resultant factor in the intellectual development of that portion
of the state. He has also become a prominent factor in the upbuilding and imJ
provement of the city, and has interested a number of men of high standing
and wealth in his project.
He has secured an excellent faculty for the university and has embodied
in his plans a department of travel by which the institution will give twenty-
eight thousand miles of travel practically free, furnishing guides, chaperons
and instructors. This travel will be a part of the four years' course and will
be of immense value to students, placing them in touch not only with
the text books, but with the entire country as well. The whole enterprise is
now on a good financial basis, and Professor Chaplin is deserving of the highest
praise for both the plan and its execution.
To the Professor and his wife have been born five children. The eldest
daughter, Grace R., a most interesting and intelligent young lady, died re
cently at the age of nineteen years. One son, Emery S., is both a student
in the University and the editor of a monthly magazine, called the College
Independent. The other children are Ethel T., Gurnsey K. and Winthrop L.
They are all Congregationalists in religious faith except Gurnsey, who is a
Methodist. Professor Chaplin still preaches occasionally and never loses an
opportunity to advocate broad, liberal, independent Christian thought and
character. As in religion, so in politics, he is liberal and independent, but on
account of moral convictions always votes the Prohibition ticket. While in
Michigan he joined the Masonic fraternity, becoming a member of Otsego
Lodge, No. 78, F. & A. M., in which he has filled the office of chaplain. He
is a man of original, practical and progressive ideas, and of marked natural
and acquired ability, possessing special business enterprise as well as strong
mentality. Such men are of value to any city and sure to be appreciated for
the work they do.
CAPTAIN THOMAS S. TEW.
Steamboat captains are a class of men to themselves, possessing some
characteristics which identify them in their line of work. Their genial, hearty,
sometimes rather blunt manner, coupled with their constant habit of command,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 415
makes them a superior class of men, and to them the country owes a great deal
of its material progress.
Among such men stands the subject of this sketch, Captain Thomas S.
Tew, owner of two well known steamboats — the Shelton and the Northern
Light. The former makes two trips daily between Olympia and Shelton,. and
the other does a jobbing business along the Sound. The grandfather of Cap
tain Tew was a gunsmith in Rhode Island and lived to a ripe old age. Plis son
George was born in that state, but when two years old removed with his father
and family to Madison county, New York, where he grew up to be an in
dustrious and respected farmer. His wife was Amy Burdick, a native of New
York. In 1867 they went west and settled on a farm near Ionia, Ionia county,
Michigan, where he spent the remainder of his life and died when eighty-two
years old. His wife passed away two years previously. They were the parents
of five children, three sons and two daughters, and three of them are still living.
Captain Tew was born in Brookfield, Madison county, New York, on
the 18th of July, 1831. The early days of his life were spent in the busy toil
of the farm and in the public schools of New York. He learned the trade of
machinist, and for several years had a machine shop and a door and sash
factory in Ionia. After that, for a number of years he manufactured lumber
and shingles in Montcalm county, Michigan. It was in 1883 that Captain
Tew came to the Sound country. For the first few years he constructed and
operated mills, among these being the Bellingham mill at New Whatcom,
Whatcom county, which he operated until 1886. In that year he went to
Gray's Harbor, where he constructed and operated the Weatherwax mill.
Here he embarked in his first steamboat venture, building and running the
old Aberdeen steamer on the Chehalis river, between Montesano and Aberdeen.
He organized and became president and manager of the Aberdeen Transport
Company, which built the City of Aberdeen. Captain Tew brought her around
to the Sound in 1892 and later sold her to the Wiley Navigation Company. He
then bought the old steamboat Wiley, built the City of Shelton, and organized
the Shelton Transportation Company, of which he has since been president
and manager. The Northern Light came into his possession by purchase, and
both of his boats are now doing a good business. Captain Tew has himself
captained his boats most of the time, and has been especially fortunate in es
caping serious accidents.
In 1850 Captain Tew was married to Adelia W. Fitch, a native of New
York, and a daughter of Madison Fitch, who is now living, at the age of
ninety-two years, in Easton township, Ionia county, Michigan. Their children,
three sons and a daughter, are all living. Orin L. is engineer on the Shelton ;
George M. has been a steamboat and locomotive engineer and is now superin
tendent of the Blakley Railroad; Fred A. is captain of the steamer Northern
Light; and the daughter, Kate Adelia, is the wife of Charles L. Lewis, and
lives in Aberdeen. Captain Tew became a member of the Masonic Lodge,
No. 36, in Ionia in 1867. He is also a member of the Aberdeen Chapter, R.
A. M., and of Aberdeen Commandery, a Sir Knight Templar and a Shriner,
his temple being' in Tacoma. In politics the Captain is a Democrat, and his
wife is a member of the Presbyterian church.

416 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
HON. FRANCIS DONAHOE.
Thirty years' residence in the state of Washington is sufficient to place
a man among the "old-timers," and the fact that the Hon. Francis Donahoe
has been in Lewis county for nearly this length of time adds much to the
interest of his life and makes him an authority in matters concerning the
early history of the county. And the prominent part he has played in the
public life of the county and state gives him additional prestige, and his
name will always be linked with the progress and development of the country
around Chehalis.
The Donahoe family have been resident in America for a century.
Grandfather James was a native of Ireland and there married Rachel Casi-
day, but soon after this union they emigrated to this country and settled in
Pennsylvania. He brought over with him the thrift and industry inherent
in the Irish race, and it was not long before he was a prosperous farmer.
Thomas Donahoe was born after his parents settled in Bedford county, Penn
sylvania, in 1 8 14. He was brought up in the occupation of his father and
remained in the county of his birth all his life, not only making himself in
fluential there by his ability as a tiller of the soil but becoming prominent in
public affairs; for a number of years he was associate judge of the county.
He married a native of Bedford, Elizabeth Hendrickson, and they lived to a
good old age, and were faithful members of the Catholic church. He be
lieved in the principles of the Democratic party. He lived to be eighty-six
years old, passing away in 1900, while his wife died about fifteen years pre
viously. They had a large family, and ten of the twelve children are still
living, but only two are in the state of Washington; two are in Ohio, while
the others have remained in their native state.
Francis Donahoe was born in Bedford, Pennsylvania, November 26,
1847. His younger years were passed here, and he worked alternately in
the schoolroom and on his father's farm, but he was still a boy when he
began to make his own living by getting employment as a farm hand. The
west exerted its charms on him, and we next find him in the state of Illinois
engaged in farm labor, where he remained until he was drawn further to the
Pacific coast, making his arrival in the territory of Washington in 1871.
The construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad was at that time attracting
many to this section of the country, and it was in this work that Mr. Donahoe
employed himself for the next two years. In 1874 he came to Chehalis and
bought from the railroad company one hundred and sixty acres of land,
which he at once set to work to clear and improve. He has been prosperous
in this direction, and now has four hundred and sixty acres, three hundred
of which is well improved. He devotes his land to the raising of grain, hay,
peas, cattle and live-stock, and he also has a fine hop yard of twenty-four
acres. He is the owner of the St. Helen's Hotel and other city property,
and has a nice residence of his own. He was one of the organizers and a
stockholder in the National Bank, and is now a stockholder and director
in the Coffman, Dobson and Company Bank.
Mr. Donahoe has always been firm in his adherence to the Democratic
party, and, as the candidate of this party, was elected to the state senate,

(Of'/l^L^LC^ (y^zri^t^^,

*JL~

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 417
serving in the sessions of 1891-2 and 1893-4. lie was not content to sit in
this position of authority and honor and let the country take care of itself,
but was the active promoter of much of the beneficent legislation which was
enacted during those sessions. One of the acts which bore his name was
the Donahoe road law, which provided that in the construction of a public
highway a portion of the expense should be borne by the town into which it
entered, a portion by the county, and the rest by the abutting property. He
was also foremost in securing the passage of that law which became known
as "the barefooted schoolboy bill" ; the provisions of this measure were that
all the school money of the state should be pooled, and instead of each county
bearing the expense of the education of the child, each person of school age
should receive his per capita share of the state money. Besides this place of
honor and trust Mr. Donahoe has served Chehalis as its mayor.
He was married in 1876 to Miss Mary, a daughter of Malcomb Mc
Donald, one of the highly esteemed pioneers of the county; she was born in
Lewis county. The seven children of this union were all born in Chehalis,
and their names are : Amabella ; Thomas Malcomb, now attending the State
University; Paul, Catharine, Olive Frances, Ruth and Louise. The family
are members of the Catholic church and are well thought of in all the circles
of the city.
HON. WILLIAM H. WHITE.
It is impossible in a brief biography of this kind to do justice to the long
and eventful life of one who has served his country as a public-spirited citizen,
as a soldier in the defense of the Union, as a leader in politics who has made the
duties of office the object of his best efforts, and as a jurist who now sits in
the highest court of his state and whose record has been above reproach ; and
therefore a mere outline of his history must preserve his name for posterity ;
for the present generation no herald of his deeds is needed.
The Scotch-Irish forefathers of Mr. White came from the north of Ireland
to Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and were all participants in the war of
the Revolution. Both grandfather White and grandfather Fulton were born
in Westmoreland county, and the Judge's parents were also natives of the
same place; Sarah (Fulton) White was a descendant of Robert Fulton, who
was the progenitor of the family in America; both the father, whose name
was Thompson, and the mother were devout Presbyterians, and the ancestors
on both sides had for many years been of that faith and officers in the church.
The father died at the age of seventy-five and the mother at the age of sixty.
The children were Elizabeth, Martha, Albert, Clara, Nancy, and the Judge,
all of whom have passed away except our subject and his sister Martha ; she
now resides in Seattle, the widow of William S. Fulton and the mother of
Prosecuting Attorney Fulton of King county, Washington. The son Albert
lost his life in the war of the Rebellion, fighting on the side of the Union.
The birth of William H. White occurred in Wellsburg, Brooke county,
Virginia, on the 28th day of May, 1842; he received his early education in
private schools in Virginia and was engaged in the continuance of his studies
in Vermillion Institute at Hayesville, Ohio, when the Civil war broke out. He
immediately laid aside his books and answered the call for volunteers, enlist- 27

418 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ing at Ashland in Company B, One Hundred-Second Regiment, Ohio Volun
teers, after three months' service being promoted to first sergeant. He served
in the Army of the Cumberland under Generals Buell, Rosecrans and Thomas,
and in a fight with General Forrest at Athens, Alabama, in September, 1864,
he received a shot that broke his leg. He was captured by the enemy, but in
ten days was recaptured by his friends. After recovering he took part in the
battle of Nashville and rejoined his regiment at Decatur, Alabama, in May,
1865. After the fall of Richmond his wounds broke out afresh and he was
mustered out under the last order signed by President Lincoln.
After receiving his discharge he returned to Wellsburg, Virginia (now
West Virginia), and devoted himself to the study of law in the office of Hon.
Joseph H. Pendleton; he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of
West Virginia in 1868, and after practicing a short time was elected judge of
probate of Brooke county on the Democratic ticket, was re-elected in 1870
and continued in the office until his resignation in 1871.
In this year Mr. White came to Washington, locating at Seattle, which
was then a town of about twelve hundred inhabitants, not one of whom he
knew. The leading lawyers there at the time were Hon. John H. McGilvera,
James McNaught and Colonel Charles H. Larrabee; with the latter our sub
ject entered into partnership. In 1876 he was elected prosecuting attorney of
the third judicial district on the Democratic ticket; this district then consisted
of all the territory in West Washington north of Thurston and Mason coun
ties, and he received a majority in every county except one, losing that by only
one vote. The only white person legally executed in the territory west of the
Cascade mountains before 1889 was convicted by Mr. White. In 1878 he
was chosen a member of the legislative assembly of the territory and served
as chairman of the judiciary committee; in 1885 he was appointed by President
Cleveland United States attorney for the territory and served in that capacity
until the state was admitted in 1889. He was also sent, in 1883, by the citizens
of Seattle, to Washington, D. C, to urge upon Congress the forfeiture of the
unearned land grant of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which commission he
executed so well before the committees on public lands of the senate and house
that the result was to hurry the completion of the Cascade branch of that road.
In the Democratic convention of 1884 he was strongly urged as the nominee
for congressional delegate and was defeated by only a few votes. Judge White
took an active part as United States attorney in the anti-Chinese riot of Feb
ruary, 1886, and in the prosecution of the instigators he secured the conviction
of several rioters, which had a wholesome effect in restoring law and order.
Mr. White was chairman of the Washington delegation to the Chicago
convention which nominated Bryan for president, and he cast his vote for him
in both campaigns. His political party history is an excellent evidence of his
independence of character : he was reared a Whig, at the time of the Civil
war joined the ranks of the Republicans; after the war he objected to the
measures taken by the latter party in the impeachment of President Johnson
and in giving suffrage to the negroes, believing it would be harmful to both
races, and came over to the Democratic party ; and only recently, not agreeing
with the policy of this party on the Philippine question, he has lent his support
to the Republicans. Such courage of one's convictions is to be highly com
mended, and the country needs many such men.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 419
On June i, 1900, Governor Rogers appointed Mr. White judge of the
state supreme court to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Gordon, who had
resigned, and on March 20, 1901, he was reappointed under an act which tem
porarily increased the number of the court, his term expiring in October, 1902.
During his residence in Seattle Mr. White gave much attention to educa
tional affairs, and advocated progressive methods which resulted in making the
school system of that city second to none in the state; he was attorney for
the board of education and during this time gave deep study to educational
matters. He has been attorney for a number of large corporations and has
enjoyed an extensive law practice.
In June, 1898, Judge White married Emma McRedmond, a native of
King county, and the daughter of Luke McRedmond, who was one of the
pioneers of the country. Two children bless this union. A short distance from
Seattle, near the town of Redmond, he owns a large ranch, and there he has
a delightful home and finds his pleasure and recreation in the cultivation of
his farm. He is past master of Masons of Washington territory and of St.
John's Lodge, No. 9, F. & A. M., at Seattle, and is past commander of
Stevens Post, G. A. R. In all affairs of life, whether social, business or
political, Mr. White has given conclusive proof of his ability, his sterling
integrity and upright character.
HON. OLIVER C. WHITE.
This biography must detail very briefly the eventful and Successful life
of one of Olympia's respected citizens, a stockholder and director in the Cap
ital National Bank, and also a pioneer of 1850. Oliver C. White dates his
birth on December 1, 1846, near Dubuque, Iowa, and was but seven years
of age when his father arrived in Olympia, the country then being a dense
forest. Mr. White is proud of an ancestry of mingled Welsh, Scotch and English
blood, which is the combination that has made the progressive and invincible
American nation. The first American ancestor of the White family came
over in 1745 in search of a lost brother, whom he never found. His sons were
participants in the Revolutionary war; some of the family resided at Wyom
ing at the time of the famous massacre by the Indians, and the great-grand
mother of our subject was carried off by the Indians, but was afterwards re
leased, and lived to the age of ninety-four. Mr. White's grandfather, John
White, was a native of New York, and his wife was also born in that state;
they became pioneers of the state of Ohio.
Their son, Charles White, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1823.
He married Mary J. Clements, who was born in 1828 at Springfield, Illinois,
where her father's family had settled in 1822. He had learned the trade of
cabinet-maker, carpenter and joiner, and had settled at Dubuque, Iowa. From
there, in 1849, he joined a company consisting of the family of his fatherland
with ox-teams they started across the plains to Oregon. They spent the winter
near Council Bluffs and in the early spring of 1850 set out upon their journey.
In September they reached the beautiful Willamette valley, and there Mr.
White's father took up a claim of six hundred and forty acres. Mr. White

420 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
had brought with him his wife and two children, one of whom became the
wife of Rev. A. J. Joslyn and now resides at Ballard, Washington. Mr. White
worked at his trade in Dayton, Oregon, and in 1853 came to Olympia. Five
more children were born on the coast : Carrie, who became the wife of Robert
Larimer, and resides in Los Gatos, California; Frank C, residing near Eugene,
Oregon; Nettie, who died when a child; lone, who became the wife of John
C. Story, and died in 1877, leaving a son, Mark Story; and Charles, who
lives at Eugene with his parents. Mr. White is now in his eightieth year
and his wife in her seventy-fifth. He was reared a Democrat, but at the
time of the Civil war he became a Republican. Among the various minor
offices which he has filled are those of city marshal, coroner, sheriff and
assessor, always taking an active interest in all the affairs of his community.
Oliver C, whose birth has been mentioned above, was educated at
Olympia and The Dalles ; he lived with his parents till his nineteenth year, but
had been self-supporting much before that time, acting as newsboy, clerk, guard
in the Oregon penitentiary, logger and mill-hand, farm-hand, and as general
roustabout. In 1871 he located at Dayton, Washington, where he lived for
eighteen years; for five years he taught school; for four years was county
auditor ; was clerk of the district court three and a half years ; for nearly two
years was president of the territorial board of penitentiary building commis
sioners. He resigned this position to take his seat as member of the last, terri
torial legislature in 1887-88. He was one of the six delegates to the Chicago
convention of 1888 and in March, 1889, was appointed territorial secretary by
President Harrison, serving in that place until statehood was granted. He
refused to accept the nomination for secretary of state, although there was
no opposition. Mr. White removed to Olympia in November, 1889, and became man
ager of the State Printing & Publishing Company. He was appointed the
first state printer on the establishment of that office, was elected to the same
office in 1892, and met his defeat in the landslide of 1896. In 1879 ne had
purchased the Columbia Chronicle at Dayton, and with the exception of three
and a half years, conducted it until 1890; during this time he had performed
every part of the labor of "getting out" a country paper, from the place of
"devil" to that of chief editor. During his residence at Dayton he was mem
ber of the fire company, mayor, town trustee, school director, president of the
board of trade, chairman of the Republican county committee, and a member-
at-large of the Republican territorial committee.
Mr. White was married at Dayton on February 19, 1875, to Susan J.
Rainwater, a native of Arkansas; her father was John K. Rainwater, who
came to the coast in 1861. There are three children: Walter A. is married
and lives in Olympia ; Will R. is in Seattle ; and Mary H. lives at home with
her parents. The family have their home at the Olympia Hotel, and he spends
his leisure time looking after his business interests and in overseeing a fruit
farm, which he has near the city. He has always been an active Republican
and recalls that when a boy he carried a torch in the campaign for Lincoln,
although his father was a Democrat.
Mr. White belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and to the
Masonic fraternity; is a Sir Knight and a past commander. He became an

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 421
Odd Fellow in 1870 and is past grand master and past grand representative,
having represented the jurisdiction of Washington in the Sovereign Grand
Lodge for eight years. This sketch is but a very brief record of the active
and useful life of this worthy and eminent citizen, who has done so much for
the advancement of the interests of his city, county and state.
WILLIAM H. BOOTHROYD.
The subject of this review has achieved a splendid success in his business
career, and through his indefatigable energy and self-reliance has worked his
way upward until he now occupies a prominent position among the leading
business men of this section of the Evergreen state. He is the secretary and
treasurer of the Pacific Engine, Pump & Machine Company, one of the largest
corporations of its kind in the west, and he is also a prominent real estate
broker of Tacoma. Mr. Boothroyd was born near Manchester, England, in
1849, and is a son of William and Mary (Stocks) Boothroyd. The father,
also a native of that country, followed merchandising, banking and cotton
manufacturing, and his death there occurred after his son had left the land
of his birth for the new world. The mother also passed away in England.
In 1872, one year after his marriage, William H. Boothroyd bade fare
well to home and native land and sailed for the United States, being at that
time twenty-three years of age. On his arrival in this country he first located
in Decatur, Illinois, but soon moved to Springfield, that state, where he
organized and became the manager of the Springfield Printing Company.
He printed the first six volumes of the American Berkshire Record, and
worked up a large business for his company in the way of printing and pub
lishing stock books, pedigree records, etc., for large individual stock breeders
as well as prominent stock associations in different states of the west. In
1880 Mr. Boothroyd took up his abode in Huron, Beadle county, South
Dakota, and engaged in the stock business, and also published The Dakota
Farmer, there becoming a large landowner and a noted raiser of grain of
the finest grades. He studied and successfully carried out the plan of "inten
sive" soil treatment and cultivation, with a view of producing a maximum
amount of grain from a minimum acreage, the result being that he raised
the premium oat ciop in Dakota, receiving one hundred and twenty bushels
to the acre, while his neighbors raised only from twenty-five to thirty-five
bushels to the acre. It may also be stated that Mr. Boothroyd' s oats were of
the finest quality, bringing a much higher price on the market than those
of other farmers in this vicinity. While a resident of Huron he also repre
sented the American Investment Company, an eastern company dealing very
extensively in farm loans in that vicinity, and was made the treasurer of
Hartman township, Beadle county. Leaving that commonwealth in 1888,
he then came to Tacoma, Washington, where he has since been extensively
engaged in the real estate brokerage business and in the promotion of all
legitimate industrial enterprises. For some time following his arrival in
Tacoma he was the publisher of The Northwest Horticulturist. In the sum
mer of 1902 he organized and became the secretary and treasurer of the
Pacific Engine, Pump & Machine Company, the objects of this corporation

422 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
being the manufacture of pumping and hydraulic machinery, making a
specialty of the newly patented Courtwright water motor for irrigating,
mining and numerous other purposes. This is the only device that has ever
been invented to successfully generate power from the flow and current mo
tion of water in streams without any expense to the owner further than
the original cost of the plant. This machine has been practically tested in
Washington, and has proved to be all that is claimed of it. One of the
greatest practical uses to which it will be put is the irrigation of arid land
in Washington and other states. It will no doubt revolutionize this industry,
and make it possible to reclaim millions of acres of valuable land that has
heretofore remained desert on account of the impossibility or expense of
irrigation. It is also in demand for bench and elevated placer lands, offers
having been made of 40 per cent of clean up for use of machines. Competent
engineers and mechanical experts have declared this device to be one of
the greatest inventions, and it is not only valuable for irrigating purposes,
but its principle may be applied to machinery for almost every purpose where
power is required, such as mining machinery, pumping sewerage, mills, fac
tories, electrical plants, printing presses, church organs, hoisting apparatus
of all kinds, marine engines, and in fact the field is almost unlimited, as this
invention will result in giving power on a much more economical basis than
any mechanical principle now in operation.
Mr. Boothroyd is also secretary of the International Consolidated De
velopment, Mining & Brokerage Company of Tacoma. This company owns
or has control of some remarkably valuable properties on Tolstoi Bay, Prince
of Wales Island, Alaska, and in the southwestern part of Chelan county,
Washington, consisting of a great deposit of copper ore, carrying gold and
silver values, having outcroppings for a width of over four hundred feet;
paralleling this is a marble deposit, free from shakes, of highest grade, per
fectly crystalized, and carrying $2.50 gold per ton (this is an unequaled
marble for structural purposes) ; an iron ore deposit of over ninety million
tons, running up to sixty-four per cent; a cinnabar ledge, which runs from
half to four per cent, having a width of ore matter of six hundred feet.
These properties are the selection of Mr. A. McCullough, B. A., M. E., who
has got them together as the result of sixteen years' expert investigation and
exploration throughout the northwest.
Mr. Boothroyd was married in England, the land of his birth, in 1871,
to Miss Eleanor Watterson, and they have four children, namely : George
W., Florence E., William Henry and Bertha M. Florence E. is the wife of
Carl M. Ruhlin, of Washington, D. C, a son of Major Ruhlen, who had
charge in the quartermaster's department of transports, etc., in the Philip
pine Islands during the war. The Boothroyd family reside in a pleasant
residence at 1405 Ainsworth avenue, Tacoma, where they dispense a gracious
hospitality to their many friends and acquaintances.
DOUGLASS ALLMOND.
For a period of thirteen years Douglass Allmond has been a resident
of Anacortes, and during the greater portion of that time was connected

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 423
with its journalistic interests as editor and proprietor of the Anacortes
American. Pie was born in Sacramento county, California, on the 15th of
November, 1863. His father, John G. Allmond, was a native of Germany,
but when a boy came to the United States and located in the state of New
York. In the early days of 1849 he made the then long and tedious journey
to California, where he was first engaged in mining and subsequently fol
lowed agricultural pursuits. His death occurred in 1868, at the age of forty-
five years. He was united in marriage to Lydia Dyer Douglass, a native
daughter of the Empire state and a descendant of the Douglass family who
came to America from Scotland early in the seventeenth century. In 1882
she located in Seattle, Washington, and now resides at Anacortes, having
reached the good old age of eighty-one years. By her marriage to Mr.
Allmond she became the mother of five children, three sons and two daugh
ters, namely: George D., who resides in California; Mary Helen, the de
ceased wife of A. C. Snyder; Charles H., who makes his home in Seattle;
and Katharine, the wife of Charles Hulbert, of Massachusetts, and she was
the first teacher of art in the University of Washington.
Douglass Allmond, the fifth child in order of birth in the above family,
received his early education in the public schools of Sacramento, California,
and at the early age of thirteen years began work in a printing office in that
city, remaining until March, 1882. In that year he located in Seattle, Wash
ington, and resumed the printing business, and from 1887 until 1889 was
in partnership with W. H. Hughes, but in the last mentioned year their
business was destroyed by fire. In March, 1890, Mr. Allmond came to Ana
cortes, and in company with F. H. Boynton began the publication of the
Anacortes American in May of that year, this relationship being continued
until 1892, when Mr. Boynton withdrew from the firm, but Mr. Allmond
continued in the publication of the American until May, 1902. Throughout
all these years the Anacortes American enjoyed a wide circulation, and his
power as a writer and editor was widely acknowledged among contemporary
journals. In 1887, in company with F. H. Whitworth and A. H. Shroufe,
of Seattle, Mr. Allmond was appointed government appraiser of the lands
comprising the present government navy yards at Port Orchard, Washing
ton. At present he is president of the Anacortes Water Company, which
owns the water and electric systems of Anacortes. He has in many ways
been an active factor in the upbuilding and improvement of Anacortes, has
served both as president and secretary of the Anacortes Commercial Club.
The only official position which he has occupied is that of deputy United
States collector of customs at Anacortes, to which he was first appointed by
Colonel F. D. Huestis, and subsequently reappointed by C. W. Ide. In his
fraternal relations he is a member of the Masonic order, and politically has
ever been an ardent Republican. JOHN H. DRISSLER.
John H. Drissler, member of the firm of Drissler & Albright, general
merchants of South Bend, Washington, was born in Abenheim, near Worms,
Germany, in 1854, and is a son of Valentine and Francesca (Lenz) Dnss-

424 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ler. The parents were owners of a garden farm, but lived in town, as is the
custom in Germany, and there the father died in 1867 and the mother in
1892. Mr. John H. Drissler was educated at Abenheim, Germany, and there
learned the shoemaker's trade, which he pursued at Frankfort-on-the-Main,
and completed his education, making this city his home from 1874 to 1880.
At that time he decided to go to America and join his brother Jacob Driss
ler, who had emigrated in 1858 and settled in Pacific county, Washington, in
1872. Mr. Drissler made the journey via New York, whence he came by
railroad to San Francisco, then by water to Astoria, and from there to
Woodward's Landing (now the town of Willapa) on the Willapa river, in
Pacific county, where he arrived in the summer of 1880. Jacob Drissler
had been a prosperous farmer of this locality for a number of years, and
when John arrived they started a store at Woodward's Landing. For two
years this partnership continued, but at that time the junior member, having
learned something of the English language, bought out his brother's inter
est and continued the store for seventeen years, during a greater portion of
which time he acted as postmaster of the town. In the fall of 1887 Mr.
Drissler came to South Bend and associated himself with Freeman Albright,
an old merchant of this locality, in a general merchandise business under the
firm style of Drissler & Albright, which still continues. The firm has two
large adjoining rooms and are the largest general merchants in the county.
Jacob Drissler died in 1898, and another brother, Philip Drissler, lives on
a farm near Menlo, in which vicinity lies the greater portion of the Drissler
farming interests. Mr. Drissler has also made himself felt politically, and
for two years served as councilman of South Bend, and in December, 1902,
was elected mayor of the city, assuming that position January 1, 1903.
The maiden name of Mrs. Drissler was Ida V. Kling, and she has
borne her husband three children, namely : Valentine, Francisca and Walter.
Mr. Drissler is a good example of the German-American citizen of our
country who through thrift, industry and good management has worked
his way from poverty to affluence, and from obscurity to the highest position
in the gift of the people of his city.
WILLIAM M. URQUHART.
Few are the men who can boast of their birth and residence in the new
but great state of Washington nearly fifty years ago, when that vast country
had just been organized with a territorial form of government, and it is ac
cordingly eminently fitting that in the history of the Puget Sound country
the name of William M. Urquhart should have a prominent place. Of sturdy
Scotch ancestry, his grandparents were Andrew and Margaret (McKenzie)
Urquhart, devout members of the Scotch Presbyterian church and tillers
of the soil.
James Urquhart, the father of our subject, was native to Rosshire,
Scotland, his birth occurring March 15, 1822. In 1851 he sailed for the
new world, landing in New York city on September 15th of that year. In
prospecting for a place of permanent settlement he visited Arkansas, Louis-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 425
iana and Iowa, and in May, 1852, joined a band of emigrants bound for
Oregon. This company reached The Dalles in September and went down
the Columbia in small boats, as there were at that time no steamers plying on
that great river, and arrived at Portland, which was then a small village in
the woods. His first v.enture was in mining, but in this he met with only
moderate success. In February, 1853, he arrived at Cowlitz, on the Co
lumbia river, and for a time engaged in any work he could find. He soon
went to Young's bay, near Astoria, and helped in the erection of the Akin
and Flovel steam sawmill. That autumn, at the first election of territorial
officers for the newly organized territory, he was one to cast his ballot. He
soon after settled on land near Eden Prairie and then sent for his wife and
children across the water, whom he had left behind while he made a home
for them in the new world. They sailed by way of Cape Horn and after a
long and tedious voyage of six months arrived safely in San Francisco on
the first day of 1855; from there they came by boat to Oak Point, Washing
ton, and the family were once more united. After a time, however, Mr.
Urquhart became dissatisfied with his location and accordingly removed and
took up a half section of land near the present site of Napavine. He here
prospered and added to his possessions until he had a very large tract.
Thus was the industry of the sturdy pioneer rewarded. On a part of his
land, on December 17, 1883, he plotted the town of Napavine, the name
being derived from the Indian Napavoon, which means small prairie. In
this new town, with the aid of his sons, he set up a general store and engaged
in merchandising, his son John being his partner. In 1878 the latter had
opened the pioneer store in Chehalis, but in the flush of young manhood, at
the age of twenty-six, he was removed from life. He had served as county
treasurer and was one of the promising young business men of the vicinity.
Mr. Urquhart had been married in Scotland on the 18th of November, 1845,
to Miss Helen Muir, a native of his own town. His death occurred in
February, 1901, when in the seventy-ninth year of his life, and his wife died
five years before; they had enjoyed fifty-one years of wedded life. Thirteen
children were born to them, five in Scotland and eight in Lewis county,
eleven of whom are as follows : Ellen resides on the old home and has re
cently visited Scotland; Andrew lives at The Dalles; Margaret became Mrs.
Alexander and died, leaving two children; James is a farmer in Lewis
county; John died in 1880; William M. is the subject of this sketch; Alex
ander is at The Dalles; Robert and Noble are twins, the former a merchant
at Napavine and the latter a farmer; David is a prominent grocer at Che
halis ; Henry is postmaster and merchant at Napavine.
William M. Urquhart was born in Lewis county, December 22, 1855,
being the oldest of the children born in Washington. He was reared on
his father's old donation claim and did all kinds of farm labor, spending the
spare time in the schoolroom. He also learned the merchant's business as
clerk in his father's and brother's store. At the death of his brother John,
he became the owner of the store at Chehalis and entered upon the mercan
tile career which he has for over twenty years carried on so successfully.
When he began business, there were about thirty inhabitants in the town,
another store, two saloons and two hotels. His store was twenty-five by

426 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
forty feet and was located at the upper end of town; in 1896 he erected a fine
and commodious brick building, twenty-five by one hundred and twenty feet,
and in it carries a thirty thousand dollar stock of dry goods and clothing.
He has made an excellent reputation in the business circles of Lewis county,
and is one of the progressive and enterprising citizens who have made the
town what it is. He is a stockholder and one of the directors in the Coffman,
Dobson & Company Bank, and helped organize it as a national bank. He
is the owner of much real estate, and his splendid residence has been built
according to his own ideals of a model home.
Mr. Urquhai't belongs to the Republican party, was postmaster of Che
halis for seven years, has served his city as councilman and mayor, and for
eight years was treasurer of the county, filling every place of trust to the
eminent satisfaction of his fellow-citizens. His marriage occurred Decem
ber 27, 1881, when he became the husband of Miss Annie R. Manning, a
native of Washington and a daughter of J. P. Manning, a well known citizen
of Olympia. Four children have been born : James A., now a clerk in the
bank; Helen C, W. Muir and Anna Louise. Mr. and Mrs. Urquhart are
members of the Presbyterian church, of which he has served as trustee for
many years ; he also belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order
of United Workmen. But throughout his life he has closely devoted himself
to his business, and herein lies the secret of his eminent success, which is a
well deserved reward of his earnest efforts.
JOSIAH O. STEARNS.
This gentleman is connected as a stockholder and official with some of
the most prominent concerns of Hoquiam, Washington. The parents of this
Washington financier and business man were A. C. and Mary A. (Hart-
well) Stearns. The former was of an old New England family and a native
of Massachusetts; he was a prominent railroad man, and held the position
of general passenger agent of the Tioga Railroad. He died at Corning,
New York, in 1879, and his wife, who was a native of the same state as
himself, in 1863.
Josiah O. Stearns was born at Corning, New York, in i860. He ob
tained a high school education at Corning, and later attended the Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York, class of '82. He came to Hoquiam
in 1889, and two years after the North Shore Electric Company was organ
ized, in 1890. He was secretary and treasurer of the company. Mr. Stearns
is still on the directorate of that company, although he discontinued his work
as secretary and treasurer in 1899. At present he gives most of his attention
to the duties involved in his position as vice-president and secretary of
the Hoquiam Lumber & Shingle Company. He is also a director of the
Hoquiam Water Works Company, and has financial interests in other promi
nent enterprises. Mr. Stearns has fraternal relations with several orders,
the Knights Templar, thirty-second degree, Nobles Mystic Shrine, and the
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 427
.GEORGE PIARVEY EMERSON.
There appeared in a recent issue of the American Lumberman an article
on "Eastern Energy on the West Coast," the principal subject of which was
the vice-president and manager of the Northwestern Lumber Company at
Hoquiam, Washington, and from this excellent and authoritative sketch
much of the following paragraphs has been taken.
George Harvey Emerson is a descendant of that Michael Emerson who,
twenty years after the landing of the Mayflower, came from England and
settled in Chester, New Hampshire, being one of the original grantees.
Brave Hannah Dustin, of whom history tells, was an Emerson before her
marriage and a descendant of the original American settler, as were also
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Sage of Concord, and Nathaniel French Emer
son, who was extensively interested in the timber lands of New Hampshire
and resided at Chester. The latter's wife was a Goodhue, whose ancestors
came from England about the same time as Michael Emerson, and settled
at Newt'onville, Massachusetts.
George Harvey was a son of Nathaniel French Emerson, and was
born at Chester, New Hampshire, February 18, 1846. At the age of eight
years he moved to Chelsea, Massachusetts, where he attended the graded
and high school, being graduated from the latter. Then came the stirring
times of the Civil war, and, although but seventeen years old, George en
listed in the Forty-third Massachusetts in 1863 for nine months' service,
but remained with the regiment for eleven months; he then volunteered for
a further term, and would have been in the battle of Gettysburg but for
a change of orders to his regiment. It was his parents' desire that he should
attend college, so in 1864 he entered Harvard and spent one year in the
scientific department. At the close of the war he went to Washington with
his regiment and participated in the grand review.
Young Emerson believed himself fitted for a more strenuous life than
that to be found in college halls, and he accordingly went west, first to
Kansas City, then, by the slow and tiresome ox team and the stage, across
the plains of New Mexico, Arizona and over the Rockies to San Francisco.
Arriving in San Francisco in 1866, he entered the employ of Captain Simp
son, with whom he was to have important business connections in a few
years, and was sent up to one of the latter's mills on Coos Bay, Oregon,
where he gained his first experience at a sawmill, tallying lumber for several
months. The next year he went east and married and returned to Cali
fornia with his bride, where for the next two years he was engaged in
farming in the San Joaquin valley. The valley was too hot and dry, how
ever, for successful farming, and he was driven out by the drouth, and
went into the employ of Captain Simpson, by whom he was given charge
of a plant at Gardiner, Oregon, where he remained three years. At first
Mr. Emerson did not think, it seems, that the lumber business was the occu
pation for which he was fitted, and at the end of his engagement at Gardiner
he opened a book and stationery store at San Jose, California, but after sev
eral years he longed for the scent of the fir trees, and again began work for
Captain Simpson at Gardiner, where he remained till 1881.

428 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Captain Simpson recognized that there was the making of an able lurcw
berman in his employe, so in 1881 the latter was admitted to a partnership
in the business. In the same year he went to Gray's Harbor and bought
a large tract of timber and land for a mill site on the harbor where Hoquiam
now stands. He built a large sawmill at this place, and, as there was no
railroad connections to that point, the equipment for the plant had to be
shipped from California. Captain Simpson and Mr. Emerson were partners
in the Hoquiam mill, but in 1886 this mill and the manufacturing interests
of Captain Simpson at South Bend and Knappton, Washington, were merged
into a corporation called the Northwestern Lumber Company, which was
capitalized at one million dollars. Mr. Emerson remained the manager of
the company's plant at Hoquiam, and from time to time the plant for the
manufacture of fir and spruce lumber was increased. A few years ago the
Northern Pacific Railroad entered Hoquiam, and thus afforded an outlet to
eastern markets, prior to that time the output having gone by vessel to Cali
fornia and to foreign marts across the Pacific.
The Hoquiam plant was destroyed by fire in 1896, but was at once
rebuilt on a larger scale. In the spring of 1901 Mr. Emerson and Charles
H. Jones, of Menominee, Michigan, one of the founders and a large stock
holder in the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company, bought out Captain
Simpson's interest in the Hoquiam part of the Northwestern Lumber Com
pany, and at the same time the latter company sold its Knappton and South
Bend interests to the Simpson Lumber Company of San Francisco. This
left the Northwestern Lumber Company the owner of the entire business
of the Hoquiam mills, and Jones and Emerson and their associates the sole
proprietors. Mr. Jones is now the president of the company, while, as men
tioned before, Mr. Emerson is the vice-president and manager.
The business of the company has assumed large proportions; it owns
vast tracts of timber, the best in this region; its mill is equipped with three
bands and a gang, and the principal output is spruce lumber, although con
siderable fir is sawed. There is also a complete planing mill and a box
factory, and in the latter spruce-box shooks are made for the California
trade; the large shingle mill turns out a fine quality of red cedar shingles.
In 1867 Mr. Emerson was married to Miss Elizabeth Damon at her
home in Chelsea, Massachusetts ; her people came from an old New England
family, her father being associated with a Mr. Harding in the Harding
Express Company, the first company of the kind to do business between
Boston and New York. Mr. and Mrs. Emerson have two children living,
a married daughter, and a son, who has just graduated from Leland Stan
ford University. Mr. Emerson has taken a . prominent part in Republican
politics in Washington, although never a candidate for office. He has been
a member of every state convention for fifteen years, was a delegate to the
national Republican convention at St. Louis in 1895, being absent when the
Hoquiam mill was burned, and he has been considered as a candidate for
Congress, but his business interests require too much attention to perform
the duties of office. He is a lover of home life, and some of his pleasantest
hours are spent in his excellent library, where he sometimes indulges in
literature as a pastime, inheriting some of the talent of the Emersons in this

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 429
respect. He is an enthusiastic member of the Hoo Hoos, and he is an inter
esting and valuable friend to those whom he knows well, although he is
rather reserved and slow to form acquaintances.
Besides the extensive interests already mentioned in which Mr. Emer
son takes such a leading part, his prominence in Hoquiam and the entire
northwest will be further illustrated by the fact that he is president of the
First National Bank of Hoquiam, vice-president of the North Shore Electric
Light Company, vice-president of the Hoquiam Water Works Company,
president of the Harbor Land Company, which owns the Hoquiam town
site, president of the Chehalis Boom Company, president of the Wishkah
Boom Company, and president of the Frank PI. Lamb Timber Company;
this list itself would be an honor to any man, and certainly justifies that
determination which he formed at the outset of his career to leave the east
and cast in his lot with the great and growing west.
ROBERT F. LYTLE.
The president of the Lytle Logging and Mercantile Company at Ho
quiam, Washington, was born on a farm near Ogdensburg, New York, in
1856. His parents were J. H. and Elizabeth (Foster) Lytle, both natives
of New York; the former was a farmer, and in 1857 moved with his family
to Portage, Wisconsin, where he died, but his wife is still living and makes
her home in Hoquiam. Since Robert F. Lytle was but three years of age
when he came to Wisconsin, he grew up in that state and received his edu
cation in the schools of the vicinity. He early displayed a taste for mercan
tile pursuits, and began his career by learning the grocery business. After
he had worked for awhile in his home county he went to Minnesota, and
later secured a position as a traveling salesman with a wholesale grocery
firm at Lincoln, Nebraska, with the whole state as his territory. He after
ward took a similar position with a Chicago house, with about the same
territory, and altogether he sold groceries on the road for a period of fifteen
years. Mr. Lytle had made his home in Lincoln for twelve years when, in
1890, he came to the Puget Sound country with his brother Joseph, and the
two have since been associated in their business enterprises. After a few
months at Fairhaven they came to Hoquiam and opened a mercantile estab
lishment. From this they soon branched out into the lumber business and
organized the Lytle Logging and Mercantile Company. Prosperity attended
their efforts from the first, and the Lytle Company now does the largest
logging business in this region. They have five camps and employ a large
force of men in getting out logs for mills on the Harbor. They have recently
begun the manufacture of lumber and shingles, and the shingle mill which
was erected at Hoquiam in 1902 is pronounced by experts to be the finest
in the state. The enterprise and successful management of the Lytle broth
ers will certainly increase all these interests and add much to the industrial
activity and wealth of the northwest.
Mr. Robert F. Lytle has been a member of the city council of Hoquiam
and is accorded a position among the leading citizens. While a resident of
Lincoln he was married to Miss Ida McDonald; they have no children.

430 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
MAJOR OBADIAH B. HAYDEN.
A city of the size of Tacoma has men of all degrees in the social and
business life, but of course there are those who by their success in some
departments of endeavor have risen to a place of prominence among their
fellow men, and are known, by reputation at least, to everybody in the city.
Such a man is Major Hayden, who is a leading business man and has been
conspicuous for his enterprise and loyalty in advancing the best interests of
Tacoma, and is also one of those veterans of the Civil war who are too
soon passing away. The Hayden family is English in origin, and members
of it were among the early settlers of Indiana. Hosea, the father of the
Major, was born in that state in 182 1, and after passing a long and serene
life there engaged in the tilling of the soil, he died in 1897. His wife was
Lydia McComas, who was born in his native county, Union, and spent her
life within its borders.
Obadiah B. Hayden was born in the same county as his father and
mother, the date of his birth being January 20, 1843. The public schools
of this county were the fountain of knowledge for him in his early boyhood,
and he later attended Asbury College at Greencastle; this afterward became
the well known De Pauw University, from whose walls so many finely
trained men have issued. His educational training was barely completed
when the Civil war broke out, and in November, 1863, he enlisted at Rich
mond, Indiana, becoming a private in Company D, Ninth Indiana Cavalry,
under command of Colonel Jackson. His company was in the western
army in the departments of Ohio, Tennessee, and the Gulf, and his service
was mostly in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, the most im
portant engagement in which he participated being the battle of Nashville.
He was a brave soldier, and his conduct was rewarded by his being pro
moted to the rank of sergeant, then to that of captain, and he was finally
mustered out at Indianapolis in September, 1865.
For the three years following the war Major Hayden remained at
home, but he then went to Panora, Iowa, where for twenty years he was
engaged in the drug business, in banking and in manufacturing. His arrival
in Tacoma was dated in 1888, and he at once went into the real estate
business. With some other gentlemen he organized the Citizens' National
Bank, and he became its president. But in 1895 this institution was con
solidated with the Pacific National and he was chosen the first vice-president,
but later resigned to accept the position of postmaster of Tacoma, which
was conferred by President McKinley, and he entered into office on the
first day of November, 1897, and served till September 1, 1899. He gave
up this office to become the general manager of the Tacoma Land and Im
provement Company, the largest real estate company in the northwest, but
on December 1, 1900, he resigned. This move was made because he wished'
to engage in the handling of real estate on his own account. He formed
a partnership with George E. Cleveland, under the firm name of Hayden &
Cleveland, and with their offices at 203-204 Equitable building. This is
now one of the principal real estate firms in the city, and does a large and
increasing amount of business. Major Hayden is president of the Union

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 431
Investment Company of Tacoma and the Northwest Land Company, also
of Tacoma. Major Hayden was married after the war, on August 5, 1865, to
Louisa Maxwell, of Union county,' Indiana. A. V. Hayden, their first child,
is now the paying teller of the Pacific National Bank, in which his father
is one of the directors. E. M. Playden has chosen the law for a profession
and is a rising young attorney of the city. The only daughter of the family,
Isora, is now the wife of Dr. Graff, one of Tacoma's dentists. And the
fourth child is Walter B. Major Hayden is identified with many of the
affairs of the city; he is the past commander of the Military Order of the
Loyal Legion for the state of Washington, also a member of the Custer
Post, G. A. R., and is a member of Tacoma Lodge No. 22, A. F. & A. M.
GEORGE B. BURKE.
George B. Burke, cashier and manager of Henry, Andrews & Company,
bankers of Fairhaven, Washington, was born September 11, 1867, at Terra
Alta, West Virginia, and is a son of George W. and Margaret (Silbaugh)
Burke. George Burke was a native of Virginia, and was a mail contractor,
and died in June, 1897. The mother was born in Virginia, and is now
living in Terra Alta, aged sixty-three. The following family was born to
Mr. and Mrs. Burke, viz. : Kenneth, Walter, Charles, George B., Ellen,
Gillie and Annie.
George B. Burke was educated in the public schools of Terra Alta, and
later attended and graduated from the Shenandoah College at Harrisonburg,
Virginia, and when he was twenty-one years of age he left school and for
five years was a teacher at Elk Garden, West Virginia, and still pursued his
studies. In 1892 he, in company with L. P. White and others, organized
the Terra Alta Bank, and he was made assistant cashier of the institution.
His next venture was made when he located in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,
becoming connected with the Monongahela House, and continued therein
until 1897. He then resigned to accept the position of cashier of the Bank
of Whatcom, and there continued until November, 1899, when he again
resigned, this time to become cashier in the Citizens' National Bank of
Fairhaven, with which he remained until August, 1901, when the institution
was succeeded by the banking house of Henry, Andrews & Company, which
does a general banking business, Mr. Burke being cashier and general man
ager. In October, 1899, Mr. Burke married Cora Lee, a native of Oregon
and a daughter of Alfred and Nancy Lee, residents of Whatcom. Mr.
Burke is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Order of Elks,
the Knights of Pythias and the Mystic Shrine, and of the Commercial Club
of Fairhaven and the Cougar Club of Whatcom. In politics he is a stanch
Republican, and always takes an interest in local affairs. Mr. Burke is an
enterprising, conservative man, and one who has the entire confidence of
the community.

432 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
GEORGE A. MOTTMAN.
George A. Mottman is one of the successful business men that Germany
has furnished to the United States. He is now the proprietor of the large
Mottman mercantile department store of Olympia, and thus controls a busi
ness of magnitude and importance, bringing to him a good annual return.
He was born in the fatherland on the 21st of December, 1863, and his an
cestors had long lived in that country. His parents, Valentine and Anna E.
(Huefner) Mottman, were also natives of Germany. They adhered to the
faith of the Evangelical church and were people of sterling worth. The
father was a fresco painter and thus provided for his family.
In his native land George A. Mottman pursued his education, and in
1878, when fifteen years of age, sailed for New York, locating first in Brook
lyn in order to acquire knowledge of the English language before he pene
trated farther into the country. He was a poor young man in a strange city,
but he at once began the search for work, and secured a position in a store
at three dollars per week. Toward the end of the year his wages were in
creased to five dollars per week. He was next with a large mercantile house
for three years, at better wages, after which he made his way to San Fran
cisco, California, and then came on to Olympia, arriving here in the summer
of 1885. Here he accepted a clerkship in the general mercantile house of
Toklas and Kaufman, by whom he was employed for two and a half years,
when he accepted a position in the store of I. Harris, one of the most prom
inent business men of Olympia, remaining in his establishment for a year
and a half.
Mr. Mottman then engaged in the real estate business in Olympia on
his own account, and purchased and sold property, meeting with good suc
cess, and as his financial resources increased he began to plan to enter the
mercantile field, and in 1895 opened his store, which under his capable man
agement has become one of the finest stores in the city, while Mr. Mottman
is classed as one of Olympia's most progressive and prosperous merchants
and business men. His store contains four large departments, each twenty-
five by one hundred feet, filled with a well selected line of general merchan
dise of all kinds with the exception of groceries. From the beginning his
business has rapidly grown until a large patronage is now extended him by
the people of Olympia and the surrounding districts, covering a radius of
twenty miles. He devotes his entire attention to the supervision and control
of his mercantile interests, save that he is a stockholder and one of the di
rectors in the Olympia National Bank.
In 1 89 1 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Mottman and Miss Helena
Martenson, a native of Germany and a daughter of E. H. and Maria C. Mar-
tenson, but after four years of happy married life she was called to her final
rest, leaving two children : Emil, aged three years, and Elizabeth, aged two
years. In 1898 Mr. Mottman was again married, his second union being
with Miss June Galliher. They have two children, Valentine and Catherine.
Theirs is one of the beautiful homes of the city and noted for its generous
hospitality. Mr. Mottman is a member of the Ancient Order of United
Workmen, and he and his wife are most highly esteemed in the city where

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 433
they reside and where he has attained to a position of distinction in business
circles, his life record proving how the opportunities of the new world may
be utilized in the acquirement of an honorable competence.
E. R. ZIMMER.
E. R. Zimmer has been for some years one of the successful business
men of Centralia, and he has also taken considerable interest in the public
affairs of the city, his commendable zeal being recognized in his election
to the office of mayor three years in succession. He owns a large business
block in the center of the city, sixty by one hundred and twenty feet, con
sisting of two stores; he occupies the entire building with his large stock
of general hardware, stoves, shelf ware, machinery, all kinds of furniture
and house-furnishing goods.
This interesting gentleman is descended from good old German stock.
Grandfather Zimmer belonged to a family of aristocrats in the fatherland,
emigrated to America and settled in Ohio; he had brought a large amount
of money with him, but was unfortunate to be swindled out of the greater
portion of it, retaining, however, a good tract of land which he had taken
from the government. His religious faith was that of the Lutheran church,
and he was one of the much esteemed pioneers of the state of Ohio. His
son William Zimmer was born on the old Ohio homestead on August 26,
1837; for an occupation he learned the carriage-maker's trade and also
cabinet-making, and he was engaged in the active prosecution of his calling
when the Civil war cast its benumbing spell over the peaceful industries of
the country. He answered the call for troops, and was enrolled in the Sew
enteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Most of his service was spent in the
western army, and in the battle of Chickamauga he was shot through the
body and was forced to lie in the hospital four months, after which he
rejoined his command and served till the end of the war. After being hon
orably discharged he returned home and took up his former business again.
He later branched out into the undertaking and embalming business. Now
in his sixty-sixth year, he is in the enjoyment of excellent health and is
a highly respected citizen of his county and town. His wife was Miss Alice
Jerrills. a native of the city of Cincinnati, who is also still living. They had
three children, all sons: Emmet, Frank and Fred; Frank died July 13,
1895, and Fred still resides at the old home in Ohio.
Emmet R. Zimmer was born in Blanchester, Ohio, October 24, 1866,
came to the years of maturity and received his education in the town of
his birth, and learned the trade of a tinsmith. Going to California in 1887,
he worked at his trade there for two years, and in 1889 came to Centralia.
His enterprise and the' phenomenal growth of his business are shown in the
fact that when he came here he opened his hardware store with only three
hundred and fifty dollars capital; it was the pioneer establishment of the
kind in the city, and he worked hard and pushed his trade with such energy
that he soon became one of the leading merchants of the town and possessed
of his present flourishing and prosperous business. He is also very public-
spirited, and does all in- his power to advance the welfare of the city.
28

434 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Mr. Zimmer will always remember Christmas day of 1890 as the date
of his marriage to Miss Alice E. Houglan, who is a native of Sharon Center,
Medina county, Ohio, and the daughter of W. P. Houglan. A daughter
and a son were born to them, Zedell and Emmet, Jr.; the latter was killed
when four and a half years old by being kicked by a horse when riding with
his mother and another lady. The family belong to the Baptist church.
Mr. Zimmer is a Mason and is past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias
and colonel of the staff of the uniform rank. He is a Republican, but he
is concerned in politics only so far as they will benefit the city and county
which he claims as his own.
HANS O. PETERSON.
Hans O. Peterson is one of the more recent additions to the business
circles of Whatcom, but has already won for himself a desirable position in
trade circles here. He is engaged in the clothing business, having a well
appointed store, and has gained a good patronage. He was born June 23,
1849, in Norway, a son of Peter and Johanna (Tanke) Peterson. The
father died in Minneapolis at the age of eighty-two years, and the mother
is living there at the age of eighty-four. In their family were two sons
and two daughters, namely: Hans O, of this review; Edward, also a resi
dent of Minneapolis, where he is engaged in the grocery business; Christine,
the wife of George Christopherson, of Minneapolis; and Jesenea, the wife
of Christian Hermsteade, of the same city.
In the public schools of Alstahoug, Norway, Hans O. Peterson acquired
his education, continuing his studies until he reached the age of sixteen
years. But America attracted him, and in the spring of 1869 he came, alone
to the new world. Proceeding into the interior of the country he located
in Minneapolis, where he worked for a year in a sawmill. He afterward
was employed in a sash and door factory for five years, and in 1876 he
secured a position as salesman in a grocery store, where he remained for
two years. On the expiration of that period he engaged in business on his
own account, establishing a grocery which he conducted for three years.
He then sold out and established a dry-goods and clothing business, where
he remained until 1890. He was elected county treasurer of Hennepin
county, Minnesota, where Minneapolis is located, serving for a term of two
years, and during his term of office he disposed of his dry-goods business.
In 1882 he erected what was known as Peterson Hall, which was head
quarters for political battles in that region.
In 1893 Mr. Peterson engaged in the fire insurance business, repre
senting the leading companies of the United States and England. In that
he continued for about six years, and in 1898 he went to Seattle, attracted
by the Klondike excitement, which took many travelers to the seaboard
city. There he opened a store as a general outfitter for the Alaska trade,
and during the fall of 1898 he removed his stock to Skagway, where he
continued a general mercantile business for three and a half years. Seeing
that the business prospects there were on a decline, he closed out his interests
and came to Whatcom, after renting his building 'to the government. In

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 435
August, 1902, he arrived in this city, and opened a clothing and men's fur
nishing goods store, which consisted of an entirely new stock purchased in
the eastern markets. His store is well appointed, and already he has secured
a desirable patronage. One of the first things which he did after arriving
in this city -was to identify himself with the Commercial Club. He is a
progressive man, taking a thorough, earnest and helpful interest in the
advancement and welfare of the city, and Whatcom may be glad to number
him among its representative men.
In June, 1872, Mr. Peterson was united in marriage to Miss Christine
Blegen, a native of Norway and a daughter of Andrew and Aleyne Blegen.
To them have been born five children, namely : Alfred, who is now twenty-
nine years of age and is located in Minneapolis; Henry, twenty-five years
old and now in San Francisco ; Frank, who, at the age of twenty-three years,
is living in Whatcom; Pauline and Hazel, also of Whatcom. The parents
hold membership in the Lutheran church, and Mr. Peterson is a very promi
nent Mason, having attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish rite.
He is also connected with the Knights of Pythias fraternity and with the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He displayed wisdom in making
his choice of a place in which to trade. In the broader opportunities of the
new world he has steadily advanced, and his enterprise and energy have
enabled him to gain a creditable position in the business world.
HON. EDWIN F. BENSON,
Hon. Edwin F. Benson is well known as a capitalist and promoter of
agricultural interests. It is but just to say of him in a history that will
descend to future generations that his business record has been one that any
man might be proud to possess. He had good educational privileges in his
youth, and to some extent was fitted for the cares and responsibilities of
a business career, but his advancement has been largely through his own
efforts and he has gone forward steadily step by step until he is now occu
pying a position of prominence and trust reached by very few. Through his
entire business career he has been looked upon as a model of integrity and
honor, never making an engagement that he has not fulfilled, and standing
to-day an example of what determination and force, combined with the
highest degree of business integrity, can accomplish for a man of natural
ability and strength of character. He is respected by the community at
large and honored by his business associates.
Edwin F. Benson is a native of the Pine Tree state, his birth having
occurred at Swan's Island in Hancock county, in 1861. His parents, F. H.
and Elizabeth (Sadler) Benson, are also of Maine, and are now residents
of Seattle, Washington. The paternal grandfather, Jephtha Benson, 'was
of English ancestry and served through the Revolutionary war as a member
of the continental army, fighting for the independence of the colonies. The
grandmother of our subject on the maternal side was also of English an
cestry, and was a Cromwell, descended from the family of Oliver Cromwell.
On both sides Mr. Benson comes of ancestry noted for longevity, both
grandmothers lived beyond ninety, and one grandfather lacked only a few
days of reaching one hundred years. . ?

436 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Edwin F. Benson obtained a good common school education, and when
a young man took up the study of law in the law dqaartment of Boston
University, where he was graduated with the class of 1881. He then
opened an office in Boston, where he practiced for more than a year, and in
the fall of 1882 he came to the Pacific coast. After spending six months in
California he removed to Washington in the spring of 1883 and located in
Lincoln county, where he . began the prosecution of his chosen profession.
In the fall of 1884 he was elected probate judge and acceptably served upon
the bench for a term of two years. On his retirement from that office, how
ever, he determined to abandon the practice of law in order to give his
attention to the stock business, and since that time farming, irrigation and
other large enterprises of an agricultural nature have claimed his attention.
He has not been actively engaged in the work of the farm, but as owner
and operator is one of the most prominent representatives of this important
department of labor in the northwest, and his efforts have been most effec
tive and far-reaching in advancing agricultural interests here.- He con
tinued to reside in Lincoln county until 1890, when he removed to North
Yakima, where he maintained his residence until 1896. He then came with
his family to Tacoma, where he has since lived. While residing in North
Yakima he received the nomination for the state legislature on the Demo
cratic ticket in 1894, but was defeated by a small majority. When the
fusion forces swept this state in 1896 he, with many other " sound money "
Democrats, went into the Republican camp, where he has since remained.
Mr. Benson is very extensively interested in live-stock and in wheat
lands through this state, and through the careful control of his business
affairs and the constant growth of his investments he has become a wealthy
man. When he first took up his abode in Tacoma he was given change of
the Northern Pacific grazing lands of this state, amounting to three or four
million acres. During this period the company adopted the system of leasing
these lands, an experiment which proved to be a great success. He is now
in partnership with W. H. Babcock, who is known as the wheat king of
Washington, the firm of Babcock & Benson having the largest live-stock
enterprise in the state, embracing, in the three counties of Douglas, Kittitas
and Chelan, nearly one hundred thousand acres of land, upon which are
pastured large herds of cattle and sheep. The headquarters of this extensive
business are at Trinidad, in Douglas county. Mr. Benson also has another
stock ranch in Yakima county and other interests in that portion of the
state. In connection with Levi Ankeny, United States senator from Wash
ington, he owns the irrigation and water power enterprise at Prosser and
the lands in connection therewith. It will thus be seen that his business
interests are of much magnitude and have a direct bearing upon the develop
ment and prosperity of the state.
In 1884 Mr. Benson was united in marriage in Boston to Miss Effie
Kimball, of that city, a most estimable and cultured lady, who is now presi
dent of the Tacoma Bible Study Club, which is noted as being the largest
literary club in the state. By her marriage she has become the mother of
one daughter, Myra, who is now a student at Whitworth College in Tacoma.
The family reside at 4224 North Mason avenue, at one of the beautiful

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 437
homes of the city. What Mr. Benson has accomplished in the world of com
merce and agriculture cannot be adequately told in words. It is certainly
not asserting- too much to say of one who can direct and control business
interests of such magnitude that he must possess, aside from foresight and
sagacity, the happy faculty of reading and judging men, together with
unusual powers of organization and executive ability; and yet if one shall
seek in his career the causes that have led to his success, they will be found
along the lines of well tried and old-time maxims. Honesty and fair dealing,
promptness and fidelity, and an unflagging energy that makes things go,
all these are strictly enforced and adhered to in his business relations.
FRED L. GRIFFIN.
Fred L. Griffin, the president and manager of the Griffin Transfer Com
pany, has been the moving spirit in the growth and development of a busi
ness of magnitude, having various branches aside from that indicated by
the title. The history of the successful man is always of interest to the
world, and his record contains lessons which might be profitably followed
by many. Mr. Griffin was born in Sauk county, Wisconsin, near Ironton,
in 1868, a son of Abraham and Henrietta (LaGrange) Griffin. The father
was a native of England and when a boy came to the United States with
his parents. He made his way into the pioneer regions of northern Wis
consin and located on a farm near Ironton, driving through dense forests
to reach his destination. He still lives at Ironton, and is a man of con
siderable local prominence, who has been called upon to fill a number of
public offices and has exerted considerable influence in public affairs. His
wife was born in Lake county, Illinois, in the northeastern corner of the
state, not far from the Wisconsin border or from Lake Michigan, and she is
also living. On the home farm Fred L. Griffin was reared and in the schools of
Ironton obtained his education. In 1890 he decided to try his fortune in
the west, and located that year in Tacoma, where he has since made his
home. He purchased a wagon and horse and became an expressman, and
soon he found that his business justified the purchase of other teams and the
employment of men to do the heavier part of the work. He has gradually
increased his equipment proportionate to the growth of his patronage, which
is now very large. In 1897 he organized and incorporated the Griffin Trans
fer Company, and since then the business has expanded each year, until it
is now the largest enterprise of the kind in Tacoma. The company does a
general hauling and transfer business, owning a large number of horses,
wagons, trucks and other necessary equipments and facilities for the conduct
of the business. A new two-story building for office and headquarters has
recently been erected at the corner of Fifteenth and Dock streets, and in
this vicinity are built the stables, warehouses and other necessary buildings.
The company also owns a tract of land in this locality, covering a consider
able area and extending along the water front, and this is utilized for coal
and wood yards, for they do a large retail business in those commodities.
Ice for local consumption also forms the basis of another paying department

438 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
of their business, and they deal extensively in building materials such as
lime, cement, brick, plaster, lath, etc. This is now a very flourishing branch
of their enterprise, in fact, the business in all its varied departments is on a
paying basis, with- constantly growing patronage and consequently constantly
increasing financial returns.
In 1900 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Griffin and Miss Ada Parks,
of this city. He is prominent in local secret societies, being connected
through membership relations with the Masons, Odd Fellows, Elks and
others. Mr. Griffin is a typical western man, alert and enterprising, showing
keen discernment in business affairs and so manipulating the various depart
ments of his business and meeting the exigencies that arise that his labors
have resulted successfully, and he therefore stands to-day among the sub
stantial young business men of this growing city.
JOHN LATHAM.
John Latham, the popular proprietor of the Lion drug store at Tacoma,
has had a career of intense interest; he has seen both sides of the world,
has engaged in many lines of business, and has a many-sided and versatile
character. His parents were John and Anna (Midgley) Latham, who were
both born and died in England. John is also a native of England, being
born in the city of Manchester in 1837. This great manufacturing center
did not prove so attractive to his young mind as the ocean with all its
adventures and wanderings, so that when he was still a boy he left home to
become a sailor. He made two or three trips between Liverpool and St.
Johns, New Brunswick, and Montreal, and also to Boston. From this latter
place he ran away from the vessel to which he belonged and shipped on
another, which went around Cape Horn early in 1856. He went to Val
paraiso, then to the Sandwich Islands, and from there to Olympia, Wash
ington, where he landed in September, 1856.
He then decided that he had had enough of seafaring life, and he went to
work in a store for a while, was in the country for a year, and then in
Salem, Oregon, he learned the drug business with W. K. Smith, now a
prominent man of Portland. After he had been in Salem for two years he
came to Steilacoom, Washington, and in i860 started the first drug store in
Pierce county, for up to that time about the only drug that the early settlers
had found need of was the fiery aqua fortis. Mr. Latham was in business
there for fifteen years, and during this time he was county auditor for several
years, clerk of the court, agent for Wells-Fargo Express Company and the
telegraph operator. In those early times he knew and was known by every
man, woman and child 'in Pierce county, including even the Indians.
Mr. Latham then went into the lumber business on Hoods Canal in
connection with his brother-in-law, John McReavy. He found this to be a
profitable enterprise and continued it for thirteen years. In November, 1888,
he came to Tacoma and established the Lion drug store near the corner of
Pacific and Puyallop avenues. This is one of the leading drug houses in the
city, and has also gained an excellent patronage on account of the genial,
worldly-cultured proprietor.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 439
Mr. Latham has been twice married, and he married his present wife
in 1868. Her maiden name was Alice Gove, and she is the daughter of
Captain Gove, who was on old sea captain and Indian fighter, and also
quartermaster in the United States army. They have five children, whose
names are: Henry, Alfred, John F., Maud and Ralph. Mr. Latham is one
of the most beloved and respected of the old-time residents of Tacoma, and
his kindly qualities have endeared him to hosts of friends.
ANGUS WILLIAM YOUNG.
A remarkable history is that of Angus William Young. A man of
such business force and executive ability that he has successfully controlled
important interests and has now become the state agent for the Mutual
Benefit Life Insurance Company, he has yet found time, in the midst of the
multitudinous duties which devolve upon him, to aid humanity, to assist in
the progress and improvement of his adopted city, and in social relations to
scatter around him much of the sunshine of life that comes from faithful
friendship. Mr. Young was born May 19, 1851, at " The Ledge," on St. Croix
river, New Brunswick. His father, William F. Young, also born there, was
a logger and died in 1861. He was of German descent. The mother, who
bore the maiden name of Sarah T. Maloney, was born on Deer Island, in
the Bay of Fundy, off the coast of Maine, and was representative of an old
American family. She died in 1877. Two of the sons of the family, Horatio
N. and Archibald A., are both residents of Brooklyn, New York. There
are three daughters in the family: Sarah, the wife of James A. Murdock,
of St. Stephen, New Brunswick; Laura, a resident of Boston; and Hattie
H. Young, who resides in St. Stephen.
In the common schools of his native country and in Heald's Business
College of San Francisco, California, Angus W. Young acquired his educa
tion. His father died when Angus was but ten years of age, leaving the
mother with eight children. Three months later the eldest son was drowned
at sea. Being in limited financial circumstances, it was necessary that Angus
W. Young earn his own living, and until fifteen years of age he worked as a
farm boy. He then entered the employ of W. E. McAllister, of Milltown,
New Brunswick, and Calais, Maine, and while in his service learned the
lumber business. At the age of twenty years he took charge of the yards
and shipping, and upon Mr. McAllister's death in 1873 he became the man
ager of the entire estate with Mrs. McAllister as administratrix. Upon the
final settlement of the estate in 1876, he sought a home on the Pacific coast.
In August of that year he left New Brunswick, and after a short stay
in Chicago proceeded to San Francisco, where he arrived in the month of
October. Later he went to Tipton, Tulare county, California, and was
engaged in sheep-raising until 1879. He attended Heald's Business College
for one term, and in the fall of 1879 came to the Puget Sound country.
After a short stay at Port Gamble he came to Seattle in November of that
year, and here secured employment as driver of a team for F. M. Severe, a
dealer in wood. He was afterward in the employ of Walter Graham, one of

440 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
the pioneers of the country, and next entered the service of the Stetson Post
Mill Company, first as salesman in the yard and afterward as bookkeeper
and cashier, continuing thus until 1883. At the latter date he became agent
for the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Portland, Maine, and
continued with that company until December, 1885, at which time he removed
to Denver and took charge of their agency for that state. In January, 1887,
he went to Sacramento, California, to assume the management of the com
pany's business in northern California and the state of Nevada, occupying
that position until January 1, 1888, when he removed to San Francisco and
entered the employ of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company,
of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as associate general agent of the state of Cali
fornia. On the 1st of January, 1890, he resigned and removed to Seattle to
accept the state agency of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, of
Newark, New Jersey, in which employ he has continued to the present time.
The business involves a thorough understanding of the insurance business
and the control of a large amount of detail work, and calls for marked busi
ness ability and executive power, qualifications in which Mr. Young is not
lacking in the least degree.
In his political views Mr. Young is a Republican, active in the work
of the party, and has frequently been its representative in the county and
state conventions. In 1896 he was a prominent candidate before the con
vention for the nomination for mayor of the city, and after a very exciting
contest was beaten by Frank Black, by only one vote. He has served on the
city central committee, and was deputy county clerk under M. M. Holmes,
in 1890. He was also clerk of school district No. 1, in King county, in
1885. He was one of the leading organizers in the contest for the Cedar
river water system, now in operation in Seattle; was also one of the chief
movers in the organization of the charter commission, which reversed the
charter of Seattle in 1897. He organized the first improvement club formed
for general improvement in the city, known as the Queen Anne Hill Improve
ments Club, established in 1901. He was then made chairman of the com
mittee on streets, and proceeded to have graded and improved one of the
largest districts in the city on the top of Queen Anne Hill, including about
thirty-seven streets.
During his early residence in Seattle, from 1880 to 1883, Mr. Young
took an active interest in the local Young Men's Christian Association and
built it up to the point of calling a general secretary, at which time the posi
tion was tendered to and accepted by Clark Davis, who was then assistant
general secretary at Portland, Oregon. The institution has since been in a
flourishing condition, having constructed its own building. It now owns
valuable property in the city and is about to construct one of the finest build
ings owned by any association in the United States.
In August, 1882, in Chicago, Mr. Young was united in marriage to
Miss Alfaretta Allen, who was born in Frederickton, New Brunswick, a
daughter of Isaac Allen, a logger and farmer of that country, also operating
in Calais, Maine. Mrs. Young died October 28, 1902, and her loss was
deeply deplored by many friends. She left two sons and a daughter, Ralph
A., Fred A. and Maud .A., and the sons are now in school. Mr. Young

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 441
stands as a high type of the self-made man, and has made a record which
any man might be proud to possess. His reputation is unassailable, his
integrity above question and his success is the merited acknowledgment of
his superior business ability.
JUDGE JAMES A. WILLIAMSON.
Judge James A. Williamson is a distinguished lawyer of Tacoma, whose
name is found in the history of the jurisprudence of Washington. He was
born in Caswell county, North Carolina, in 1846, a son of Swift and Mary
(Lee) Williamson. The father, also a native of North Carolina, was a
direct descendant of Plugh Williamson, a member of the continental congress
from North Carolina and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The
family is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and its progenitor in America settled in
Virginia, whence representatives of the name went to Maryland, and Swift
Williamson was and old-time southern planter, owning extensive landed pos
sessions and many slaves, and previous to the destruction of his property in
the Civil war he was a very rich man and prominent in all the affairs of his
locality. He died in the year 1868, and his wife passed away in 1874. She,
too, was born in North Carolina, and was a member of the Virginia family
to which General Robert E. Lee belonged.
James A. Williamson obtained a good education prior to the Civil war,
and in 1863 he enlisted at Winston, North Carolina, for service in defense
of his loved southland. He became a member of Company B, First Bat
talion, North Carolina Sharpshooters, and served until the war closed. The
final engagement in which he participated was the last battle of Petersburg.
It was in this battle that his brother, Swift Williamson, Jr., who was first
lieutenant of Company B, and who had enlisted at the beginning of the
war, was seriously wounded and totally disabled for further service. He
was distinguished as a gallant soldier arid would have received further pro
motion if the war had not ended immediately thereafter.
Following the close of hostilities between the north and the south, in
which the family fortune was swept away, Judge Williamson began teaching
school in order to prepare himself for the bar. During the intervals between
school sessions he read law in Winston, and in that town was admitted to
practice in the year 1871. In 1876 he was elected judge of the criminal
court, but after a short time resigned the position. Later he was elected state
senator to represent the two counties of Davie and Rowan in the general
assembly of North Carolina. About 1884 he removed to Raleigh, where he
continued in active practice until 1888, when he came to Tacoma, where he
has since made his home.
In 1896 Judge Williamson was elected on the Democratic ticket to the
position of judge of the superior court of Washington, with jurisdiction
in Pierce county, and for four years served in that capacity. In 1900 he
was again the candidate of his party, but the Republicans scored a marked
victory in that year, but, although President McKinley carried the district
by a majority of twenty-five hundred, Judge Williamson was defeated by
only five hundred votes. The Judge's son, George G. Williamson, is also

442 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
a prominent and active lawyer of Washington, now practicing at the Seattle
bar.
The Judge is a fine type of the aristocratic southern gentleman, highly
honored and respected by the legal profession of Tacoma and of western
Washington. He resides at 913 South L street, and the circle of his friends
in this city is a wide one. His close application to his profession, his legal
learning and his thorough familiarity with the principles of jurisprudence,
combined with industry and determination, have made him one of the
strongest practitioners at the bar of his adopted state.
JOHN DOBSON.
It is a great honor to be the founder of any public institution which is a
benefit to mankind, and to be recognized as the founder and father of a
city which will increase and continue as long as the institutions of the country
endure is a lasting tribute to the sagacity and foresight of Mr. John Dobson,
to whom the city of Chehalis, Washington, owes its inception and much of
its subsequent growth.
The family is of English ancestry, James and Dorothy (Toward)
Dobson both being natives of Lancashire, and these became the parents of
the subject of this sketch. Their marriage occurred in England, and in 1852
they brought their family to America, where they settled upon a new farm in
Pike county, Illinois. Mr. Dobson improved this and made a financial suc
cess out of his farming operations. He died, in 1862, when in the sixtieth
year of his life, and in 1874 Mrs. Dobson and one of the younger daughters
joined John Dobson in Washington and lived there with him until the death
of Mrs. Dobson in 1890. Of the six children of these parents three are now
living: Thomas Dobson, in Portland, Oregon; Mrs. Ellen Devilin, residing
in Lewis county, Washington; and John Dobson.
England is also the birthplace of Mr. John Dobson, his birth having
occurred there on the 19th of September, 1841, and he was eleven years old
when his parents brought him across the Atlantic. He was reared on his
father's farm in Pike county, Illinois, and he worked early and late, during
the winter months enjoying a few weeks of schooling, which served as a
supplement to the school of actual life. In 1864, when in his twenty-third
year, he crossed the plains in company with his brother-in-law, William
West, who became the owner of the land on which the west side of Chehalis
was built and also plotted that part of the town. In speaking of his journey
across the western prairies Mr. Dobson says it was one of the most enjoyable
experiences of his life, not only because of the excitement and adventure
natural to such a trip, but because there was in the train a young lady for
whom the young Dobson had conceived all the ardor and glow of a youthful
love, and whose companionship was most delightful. On his arrival in
Lewis county he took up a homestead claim, land on which the east side of
Chehalis is now located, and he also worked for a Mr. Dexter on a farm
which he now owns and on which he has his residence. He soon sold his
homestead, but later, with others, bought it back and laid out and sold the
lots for the future town of Chehalis ; and he was one of the prominent factors
in promoting the growth and development of the town, showing the public
spirit and zeal which are always necessary to any enterprise of that kind.

<Av-&4on^

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 443
To his original homestead of one hundred and sixty acres he added eighty
acres, and with his own hands cleared and improved it. He has since sold
much of this real estate, but still owns a large amount of city property and
has a fine residence in the city. He also owns a flouring mill, and one mile
and a half west of the city he has four hundred acres of very rich land, which
can hardly be worn out by any succession of crops; it is well improved, and
fifty acres of it is devoted to the raising of hops. Mr. Dobson takes much
interest in his farm and has made it one of the finest in the county. Besides
these numerous matters he holds one-fourth of the stock in the Coffman and
Dobson Bank, the only bank in Chehalis; it does a large business, and its
history is given in another part of this work.
Until 1880 Mr. Dobson remained single and through much of the time
"batched," but in this year he became the husband of Miss Hannah Brown,
who was a native of England. There was born to them a beautiful little
daughter which they named Cathaline, and the home was a happy one until
a blighting sorrow came over it two years later and left him to again face the
world alone. While Mrs. Dobson and daughter, Miss Dorothea West, and
the driver, Thomas Phelps, were crossing the Chehalis river about ten miles
below the city, the carriage was overturned and all lost their lives in the
swift current of the river. It was a most severe bereavement, and he re
ceived the sympathy of the whole community. Ten years later he married
Miss Hattie Miller, who is a native of Michigan and a most estimable lady.
The principles of the Republican party have always met with Mr. Dob-
son's political judgment, but he has never sought or desired any office; but
the governor of the state apppointed him one of the trustees of the State
Reform School, and he served for several years and did much toward making
that institution the credit to the state and its officers that it now is. His
interest in public affairs has been centered chiefly in the prosperity of his own
city, and in order to use his influence for its progress he served for eight
years in the council and was mayor for one term. Because of his close at
tention to business Mr. Dobson has never become identified with any social
organization, but he has gained a high reputation among his fellow-citizens
for good judgment, and his advice has often been sought and freely given on
many matters of public and private concern.
DARIUS BRESEE.
Darius Bresee, a capitalist of Anacortes, was born June 20, 1830, at
Berkshire Mills, Vermont, a son of John and Asenath (Barber) Bresee, the
former a native of the Green Mountain state and the latter of Canada. His
father was a farmer by occupation, and in 1840, at the age of forty-five
years, he departed this life. His widow long survived him, passing away
in 1889, at the advanced age of eighty-five years. Mr. Bresee has four
brothers and three sisters, as follows: Benjamin; Oscar F., who died in
Baltimore, Maryland, in 1902, at the age of eighty-two years, after acting
for many years as general agent for the Mutual Life Insurance Company,
of New York; Nirum, deceased.; Christiana, the deceased wife of Daniel
Taylor; Silas, who was a farmer, but has now passed away; Mary, the de-

±44 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ceased wife of John E. Stillman; and Marcia F., the wife of Henry S win-
ford, Richmond, Virginia, on a twelve hundred acre plantation eight miles
out of the city.
Darius Bresee, the sixth in order of birth, pursued his education in the
public schools of Sutton, Canada, until seventeen years of age, and was
then apprenticed to the carpenter's trade at Berkshire, Vermont. He then
worked as a carpenter and millwright until twenty-eight years of age, and
was very successful because of his mechanical skill and excellent business
ability. In 1858 he entered the Lawrence University at Appleton, Wis
consin, remaining as a student in that institution until 1862, when he entered
the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, where he did not quite
graduate, and also pursued a course in the Garrett Biblical Institute, of the
same place. He was graduated from the Garrett Biblical Institute with the
highest honors, on the 20th of October, 1865, and once more entered the
business world, now splendidly equipped for positions of responsibility and
importance. He accepted a professorship in the Ladies' and Gentlemen's
Academy, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and under his administration that be
came a successful institution of high merit as an educational center. In
1867 Mr. Bresee became the pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church at
Augusta, Wisconsin, where he remained for a year and then spent a year as
pastor of a church of the same denomination at Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.
In 1869 he turned his attention to the real estate business at Eau Claire,
Wisconsin, where he remained until 1883, and during seven years of that
time he was the general manager of the Eau Claire Lumber Company. (His
unlimited power of attorney was recorded at Everett, Washington, 1885.)
He also filled the office of justice of the peace for five years, and was thus
active in public as well as industrial and commercial circles. Only three
cases were appealed from his court, and all these were approved.
In the fall of 1883 Mr. Bresee came to Seattle. Owing to ill health he
made his way to the Pacific coast and visited various points in California,
Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, during which time he invested
large sums of money in real estate at Seattle and at Fidalgo Island, including
two miles of deep water frontage, which he has held up to the present time.
Through twenty years, with firm faith in the development, progress and im
provement of this section of the country, he has labored for its welfare.
There is perhaps no one better informed concerning the country, its natural
resources, its facilities and its improvements than Mr. Bresee, and on the
4th of July, 1885, at the request of the people, he delivered at Rosario an
oration on the future outlook and commercial prospects of this portion of the
Puget Sound country — of Anacortes. He has always taken an active interest
in the Sound district, and of late years has devoted his entire time to his real
estate and mining interests. He is the president, acting treasurer and a
trustee of the Sauk River Mining Company, and has extensive investments
in mining property as well as general real estate. He was a promoter of the
old Northern Pacific Railroad from 1890 till it went into bankruptcy. This
road had intended to make Anacortes a large city, but the Great Northern
still keeps dark its plans concerning the city, but there is no doubt that sub
sequent developments will prove Mr. Bresee's wisdom in his selection of real
estate and water front holdings.

PIISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 445
On the 1 2th of October, 1865, at Evanston, Illinois, Mr. Bresee was
married to Miss Jennie S. Webley, a native of Wisconsin, and they have
one son, Oscar Ernest, who is now twenty-seven years of age and is operating
a shingle mill at Summit, Washington. The wife and mother died in Eau
Claire, Wisconsin, in 1877. Mr. Bresee is a member of the Temple of Plonor
and was its chaplain for the state of Wisconsin for a number of years. He
is also connected with the Good Templars Society and has ever been a stanch
advocate of temperance and of those measures and movements which tend
to uplift mankind and promote the highest character. His political support
is given the Republican party. His career has been one of progress since he
left school and entered upon a trade. To-day he stands among the capital
ists of the northwest, and his example should serve as a source of inspiration
and encouragement, showing what can be accomplished through earnest pur
pose and the careful consideration of business situations resulting in the
utilization of means to successful ends.
At the age of twenty, having read the Bible through, and coming to the
history of Job, he was so impressed that great distress might be brought
upon him, he took to prayer; and a vision showed him that he was to live a
long life. After this, upon the Mississippi river, many malarial diseases came
upon him, and three times during his lifetime, doctors have given him up to
die, but by faith in God he has recovered. But during these times, with all
the troubles of this life, he states that he has suffered all that humanity was
able to endure. But by the spirit and power of God, he is as vigorous and
strong as at the age of thirty or forty, causing the many to marvel at this
matter of fact, while many wicked traps have been set, during the last four
years to obtain (supposed) the two miles of deep-water frontage on the
harbor near this city. And once he was poisoned at a dinner, and lay as dead
for three and one-half hours. Again God was there.
RODERICK R. HARDING.
The parents of Major Harding were Jones and Mary A. (Rowley)
Harding. The former was a native of Pennsylvania, but when a very young
man went to Yates county, New York. He was a contractor and stone
mason, and during part of his residence in New York followed farming.
In 1837 he brought his family to Galesburg, Illinois, and passed the remainder
of his life there, dying at the age of ninety-eight. While in this latter place
he erected a part of Knox College, and was otherwise engaged as a con
tractor. His wife was a native of New York and died in Galesburg in 1849.
Roderick R. Harding was born to these parents in Yates county, New
York, in 1833, and as he was a child when the family came to Illinois, he
was reared and educated in that state. At the age of twenty he went to
Chicago and took a course in a business college, in which he also taught for
a time after graduation. The next year or so were spent in the lumber mills
of Michigan, and in 185.5 he returned to Galesburg and became timekeeper
in the shops of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. Six years
later the Civil war broke out, and on April 15, 1861, three days after Fort
Sumter was fired upon, Mr. Harding raised a company at Galesburg which
became Company E, Seventeenth Illinois Infantry, and of which he was

446 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
taking part in the battle of Belmont, from there went to Sulphur Springs,
thence to Ironton, where they captured the railroad, and then marched to
Fort Holt, Kentucky, by way of Fredericktown and Cape Girardeau. At
Fort Holt Captain Harding was severely injured and incapacitated for field
duty. He returned to Cape Girardeau and was made provost marshal of
the southeastern Missouri 'district, but he was soon in active service again,
taking part in the battles at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, and the subse
quent engagements at Savannah and Pittsburg Landing. After this last
battle the Captain's former injury made it necessary for him to return home,
but he had remained there but a short time when he felt himself ready for
further action, and accordingly raised Company A, One Hundred and Sec
ond Illinois Infantry, of which he became captain. After the company had
received its arms at Jeffersonville, Indiana, it was sent to Louisville, then
to Frankfort, where it assisted in driving out Morgan; thence to Bowling
Green, and while the company was encamped on Lost river Captain Harding
was promoted to major of the regiment. The Major was with the army
till about the beginning of Sherman's famous march, when his injury became
so acute that he had to retire from active service. He went to Peoria, Illi
nois, and becoming attached to the provost marshal's office there, recruited
between four and five hundred men for the army, and remained in that
branch of the service till he was mustered out.
After the war the Major made a prospecting trip to Kansas, where he
remained a year and a half, and then returned to Galesburg and from there
went to Chicago, where he organized and was president of an advertising
company. He was in this business until the Chicago fire, and after that
became connected with railroads and was in the business for twenty-five
years. He started with the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw as agent at Canton,
Illinois, then took charge of a station in Iowa for the Burlington, Cedar
Rapids & Northern, and was later traveling passenger agent for that road.
Upon the request of F. E. Hinckley, of the Chicago & Iowa, he became the
agent of that road at Rockford, Illinois, where he remained till 1882. For
the next seven years he was traveling salesman for a metal house, with
headquarters at New York city, but in the early part of 1889 he accepted the
offer of W. H. Holcomb, general manager of the Union Pacific Railroad,
and came out to Puget Sound as a passenger and freight representative of
that company.
Major Harding arrived in Tacoma on February 28, 1889, and going
to Whatcom opened up an office for the Union Pacific at that point. After
six weeks there he was transferred to Seattle and made the agent for the
rail and water lines, the Union Pacific at that time having extensive steam
boat interests on the Sound. About the middle of the following October he
was appointed traveling passenger and freight agent with jurisdiction in
the Puget Sound and Columbia river territory and in British Colombia; but
as he was tired of traveling, he made a request for a change, and in April,
1890, he was placed in charge of the newly established agency at Port
Angeles, where he remained for a year, when the Union Pacific withdrew
entirely from the Puget Sound business.
Since leaving the railroad business Major Harding has been identified
elected captain. The company went with Fremont to Birdpoint, Missouri,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 447
closely with Port Angeles. Pie embarked in the real estate business there,
and soon afterward went to Michigan and organized and brought west a
colony of old soldiers. In 1894, when a delegate to the Grand Army national
encampment, he took advantage of the occasion and with Colonel James S.
Coolican advertised Port Angeles extensively, the two remaining east fifteen
months for this purpose; by means of pamphlets scatterd broadcast and their
own personal efforts they made this new and thriving town of northwest
Washington known everywhere. Returning to Port Angeles, Major Hard
ing continued in the conduct of his real estate business till April, 1902, when
he was appointed deputy collector of customs for the sub-port of Port
Angeles, which position he held until the first of the following year, when
he became the postmaster of Port Angeles. He is also a notary public.
Major Harding was married at Knoxville, Illinois, to Ella F. Hanna-
man, and Mrs. John D. White, of Seattle, is their only living child. He is a
member of Pacific Post No. 48, G. A. R., of which he is past commander
and has several times been adjutant, and he has also been elected a delegate
to the national and state encampments.
CHARLES H. HYDE.
Not least among the many important business concerns of Tacoma is
the West Coast Grocery Company, and in its particular line it is the largest
of the entire northwest as well as the oldest in Tacoma. Its extensive busi
ness and its growth and development will be mentioned further on in this
sketch, but the chief purpose of this biography is to briefly describe the
career of its worthy president and one of its principal owners, Charles H.
Hyde. This gentleman is the son of Major Robert H. S. Hyde and Louisa
Dederer, the former a native of Tompkins county, New York, while the
latter was born at New Rochelle, Westchester county, New York, and died
in 1862. Major Hyde gained his title in the Civil war, having enlisted at
the beginning, and for meritorious and gallant service having been promoted
to captain and major on the field, a part of his campaigning having been
with Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley. He was a farmer by occupation,
but had also studied and for a part of his life practiced law. His death
occurred in 1884.
Charles H. Hyde was born at Caroline, Tompkins county, New York,
in 1847, on the same farm on which his father was born. He was reared
on the farm and attended the country schools, but when he was sixteen years
old went into a store at Tuckahoe, New York, where he worked for a year.
But he had an ambition to gain a better education before beginning life in
earnest, and although he had small means he entered Homer Academy in
Cortland county, New York, where he studied a year, and later spent two
years in Ithaca Academy in Tompkins county. He paid his way for the most
part by teaching school in the interims, and it was probably this first struggle
that gave him the strength for his later career. In 1866 he returned to the
mercantile pursuits and entered a store at Owego, Tioga county, and in 1873
he took a partner, and under the name of Hyde & Winters they conducted
a wholesale produce business and also a general merchandise establishment,
in which they were very successful and continued until 1891.

448 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
This latter year was the date of Mr. Hyde's coming to Tacoma, and
his first venture was the buying of stock in a wholesale grocery which had
been established in the early days here by William J. Thompson, in a location
on Railroad street. The well known business men, Thompson, Pratt, Brand
and Cosper, had been interested in this store at different times, and the
location had been changed from Railroad street to A street. After Mr.
Hyde purchased an interest, the firm was incorporated as the West Coast
Grocery Company, and upon Mr. Thompson's retirement in 1893 Mr. Hyde
was elected president in his stead. In 1894 the company absorbed the whole
sale grocery of Reese, Crandall and Redman, and moved into the building
occupied by the latter firm at 1928-1930 Pacific avenue; John T. Redman,
of this firm, remained with the West Coast Company and is now the vice-
president. In 1896 the company's interests were still further increased by
the purchase of the Tacoma Grocery Company, and the store was then
moved into the new five-story brick building at 1732- 1738 Pacific avenue,
which they had leased for five years. In 1901 the company bought this
building, and now owns the entire premises. The West Coast Grocery Com
pany is the oldest grocery establishment in Tacoma; it is capitalized at
seventy-five thousand dollars, and employs about sixty men, several of whom
are traveling salesmen, who cover all the northwest country and Alaska.
As can be judged from these facts, its business is very extensive, and its
standing in the commercial world is of the best.
Mr. Hyde was married at Owego, New York, in 1880, to Miss Carrie
A. Woodford, and they have one son, Robert H. Hyde. Mr. Hyde is a
prominent member and trustee of the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce.
HON. W. H. KNEELAND.
A busy life has been that of W. H. Kneeland, with its hardships in
youth, its wrestle in later life with the ups and downs of business, its large
operations in the Pennsylvania oil fields and still larger ventures in the
lumber regions of Washington, intermixed with a legislative career and
other varied experiences of an interesting nature. He belongs emphatically
to that class described as men of action, no grass having been allowed to
grow under his feet since, as a poor boy in Maine, he worked around lumber
camps to make a living up to the time he found himself the owner of a rail
road and important lumber interests in his new scene of operations on the
borders of Puget Sound. Types of this kind are especially worthy of bio
graphical attention, as they are the unique figures, the native power as it
were, the captain of industry, who give its characteristic flavor to American
civilization, and hence no apology is offered for giving at some length the
leading particulars in the career of this notable character of the coast.
The Kneelands are not only an old family but a hardy, long-lived race,
made up of men and women who seem especially adapted to meet and over
come the difficulties presented by pioneer life in new countries. The first ar
rivals, who came very long ago, found the American frontier but little west
of the Atlantic seaboard, and at every subsequent stage of progress, every
movement farther west, a Kneeland or some one with another name with that

***** #11:.

£Z^Y

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 449
blood in his veins was apt to be at the forefront assisting to carry "the white
man's burden." Asa and Abner Kneeland, two English brothers in search
of fortune in the new world, landed at Boston when the country round about
was still known as the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Abner, the last men
tioned of these brothers, who was a writer of distinction and a man of
celebrity, published one of the first papers ever circulated in New England.
Long after this period Asa Kneeland, a descendant of the foregoing, became
the owner of a large farm, which is now part of the site of modern Boston.
At a later period he located in Maine, and there reared a family, in which
Royal Kneeland was one of the elder sons. He was born in 1820, at the
family homestead in Lincoln, and later sacrificed his life for his country as
the result of wounds received in battle while serving as a member of Com
pany H, Seventeenth Maine Volunteer Infantry. He died in a hospital, and
his remains were deposited with thousands of others in that city of silence
which constitutes the national cemetery at Washington. Sarah Bredeen, who
became the wife of Royal Kneeland some years before the Civil war, was
a native of Milo, Maine, and of honorable ancestry. Her grandfather, John
Bredeen, was a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and on the maternal side
she was descended from a German family named Webber. All of the five
children of this union are still living, and all of them are residents of the
state of Washington. Elva married Darling Getchel, of Tacoma; Josephine
became the wife of Newell Day, of Mason county; Henrietta, now Mrs.
Elmer Gambell, lives in Tacoma ; and John M. Kneeland is a citizen of
Shelton. By a second marriage Mrs. Kneeland had two children, Ulysses
and Nellie, the latter now Mrs. Parks, of North Bend.
W. H. Kneeland, eldest of the children by his mother's first marriage,
was born at Lincoln, Maine, December 11, 1849, and was about thirteen
years of age when the death of his soldier father cast a gloom over the house
hold. He received a good education at the Lee Normal Academy and fin
ished his course in that institution by graduation in the class of 1868. Like
many other successful men he began life as a teacher, being employed a year
as assistant in the academy at Patten, Maine, and during the two subsequent
years as principal of the village schools. This ended his career as a peda
gogue, which peaceful pursuit gave way to work in much more exacting
fields. Going from his native state to Pennsylvania, he was engaged first
in the office of a logging company, then as superintendent of a camp, later
as a scaler, and eventually embarked in the mercantile business on his own
account. His trade consisted almost entirely in furnishing supplies to the
lumbermen, and when the camps were closed as the result of the panic of
1873 the young storekeeper found himself practically out of a job. A heavy
loser by these occurrences and somewhat depressed but not discouraged, Mr.
Kneeland went to Reynoldsville and endeavored to- recoup his fortunes out
of the profits of a little livery stable, which engaged his attention for two
years. The shutting down of the coal mines in 1877 made things so dull
around that section that his business did not pay, so, abandoning livery, Mr.
Kneeland concluded to "try his luck" in an entirely new field of operations.
Locating in the oil region, he branched out extensively as a dealer in land,
both buying and selling, and as an operator on a large scale. He drilled over
29

450 HJ STORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
a hundred wells, pushed things energetically, and met with such decided suc
cess in his ventures that he determined on a still more important enterprise.
In 1879 he began and two years later completed the first gas line that had
been constructed anywhere up to that time. It was one hundred miles in
length, cost a million dollars and was attended in its construction by dif
ficulties of such magnitude that only the greatest perseverance and skill could
overcome. Eventually Mr. Kneeland sold his holdings to the Standard Oil
Company, severed his relations finally with the east, and resolved to expend
all his future energies in the resourceful region beyond the Rocky mountains.
It was in 1882 that he arrived in the Puget Sound country, and after
looking the whole territory over he decided that Mason county offered the
best opportunities for his intended investments. The first of these consisted
of the purchase of two thousand acres of timber land, on which he erected
a sawmill three miles from Shelton. When Mr. Kneeland sold his property
in Pennsylvania he took in exchange a large amount of paper, which the sub
sequent failure of the debtors made almost worthless, and he realized only a
few thousand dollars. Meanwhile, after he had been operating in Mason
county a few years, business became so depressed that he was compelled to
sell for two dollars and fifty cents lumber which had cost him ten dollars per
thonsand to make. He succeeded, however, in selling his sawmill for enough
to pay his bills, and then abandoned lumbering temporarily for another un
dertaking. Having purchased two carloads of machinery, he began drilling
for oil near Tacoma, and expended twelve hundred dollars in sinking a shaft
to the depth of seven hundred feet without finding more than a trace of oil.
He let go of this undertaking in 1885 and retired to Shelton, where reviving
confidence had caused business to pick up a litle. In 1887 he repurchased
his old sawmill, had forty acres of his land platted in village lots and fur
nished lumber for the building of the town. In 1888 Mr. Kneeland began
what may be described as his most important undertaking for the develop
ment of the Sound section and the one with which his own name will be
linked the longest. This was the construction of a railroad running from
tide water twenty miles toward Gray's Harbor with a contemplated exten
sion to Olympia, for which the preliminary survey had already been made.
The Shelton & Southwestern Railroad, as this line is designated, is a local
enterprise of vast importance to Mason county. The track is standard
gauge, the rolling stock consisting of three engines and over fifty freight cars,
and the line is used in hauling logs to the bay. Mr. Kneeland owns and
superintends the road himself, but besides transporting the product of the
logging company of which he is a member, he also handles for other com
panies, and over thirty men are employed in this freight business. Much of
the company's land when cleared of timber is good for farming purposes,
and Mr. Kneeland has already been improving large, tracts, having three
hundred acres under cultivation, which it is proposed to increase from time
to time. By utilizing the six thousand acres of range land adjoining, Mr.
Kneeland has a valuable basis for the stock business, in which he is exten
sively engaged. He keeps the shorthorns for beef, the Jerseys for his dairy,
has recently erected a creamery to manufacture his raw material into butter,
and altogether is able to exhibit one of the most prosperous of the state's

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 451
agricultural enterprises. The farm is situated within two miles of Shelton,
is well equipped with barns, blacksmith shop, granaries and outbuildings of
every kind, and possesses all the conveniences essential to success in up-to-
date agriculture. Aside from all this and characteristic of Mr. Kneeland's
spirit of universal enterprise, he is extensively engaged in oyster-growing,
and has done much to develop and stimulate this important industry in this
section of the Sound.
While the business activities above described were in progress Mr.
Kneeland has neither been forgetful nor neglectful of his duties as a citizen.
He was elected a member of the first legislature of the new state, served
during three sessions and impressed himself in an enduring way upon some
of the more important legislation. One statute especially which owes its
origin and passage to him was the bill providing that sixty per cent of the
fund arising from the sale of tide lands should be used in opening public
waterways, the object being to prevent the latter from falling into the hands
of individual owners or private corporations. In fact, Mr. Kneeland's long
and varied business experience, his large acquaintance with public affairs and
his excellent judgment proved of great value in shaping the legislation that
accompanied the launching of the new state of Washington. As a Repub
lican, ranking high in his party's councils, he has been a constant attendant
at the state conventions as a delegate, and otherwise does all he can to pro
mote high aims in his party, but nevertheless has that spirit of manly inde
pendence that does not hesitate to criticise what he regards as wrong, regard
less of political considerations. Mr. Kneeland resides at Shelton, in a cosy
cottage which he had constructed in 1895, and which, surrounded by fruit
and shade trees makes a decidedly attractive home. The domestic circle,
which is an ideally happy and harmonious one, consists of father, mother
and Misses Delia and Elva, two of the five children, who remain at home.
Bertha became the wife of Ola Hansen, and resides in Shelton; Edith
married George W. Draham, secretary of the logging company of which Mr.
Kneeland is vice president; and Cressia is the wife of Edward Orth. Mrs.
Kneeland, formerly Delia Cornett, whom Mr. Kneeland married in 1872,
was a daughter of a Union soldier residing at Patten, Maine, who lost his
life while at the front for his country during the dark days of the Civil war.
Mr. Kneeland obtains rest from business cares and the pleasure and
benefit of fraternal fellowship by membership in various orders, including
the Masons, Elks, Red Men, Yeomen and Black Cats. Altogether the career
of W. H. Kneeland is such as may be offered to young men both as an ex
ample and stimulus, and looked at from whatever point of view he is cer
tainly entitled to high rank among those choice spirits who are pushing the
Sound country so rapidly along the pathway of progress.
FRED M. MEAD.
Fred M. Mead, who is engaged in contracting and building in Puyallup
and is also serving as one of the commissioners of Pierce county, is a native
of Dane county, Wisconsin, his birth having occurred in a little log cabin,
on a farm about four miles from the city of Marshall, in 1849. His parents

452 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
were W. P. and Julia (Morrill) Mead. The father was born in Vermont
and belonged to an old New England family whose history in America can
be traced back to early colonial days. He was a farmer by occupation, and
on leaving the Green Mountain state he made his way westward to Wis
consin, casting in his lot with the pioneer settlers of Dane county. When
the country became involved in Civil war, he offered his services to the
government as a defender of the Union and became a member of the Twenty-
ninth Wisconsin Volunteers, with which he remained throughout the period
of hostilities. The last twenty years of his life were passed in South Dakota,
his death occurring in Howard City. His wife passed away in Wisconsin
in 1863. Soon after his mother's death and while still a very young boy, Fred
M. Mead bound himself out to learn the carpenter's trade, making the trans
action himself. After completing his three years' apprenticeship he went to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he became an employe in the mechanical de
partment of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company, and
soon afterward went upon the road as a fireman. When he had spent two
and a half years in that way he was promoted to the position of engineer
and for eight years ran a locomotive. In 187 1 he became one of the first
locomotive engineers on the new line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Rail
road, running from Muskogee, Indian Territory, to Denison, Texas. After
a year he abandoned railroading and located in Nora Springs, Floyd county,
Iowa, where he engaged in contracting and building, making his home there
for five years.
There, on the 17th of March, 1878, Mr. Mead was united in marriage
to Miss Frances M. Hollenbeck, a native of Sauk county, Wisconsin, and of
Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. This marriage has been blessed with three
children, Claude, Clement and Ruth.
On leaving Nora Springs Mr. Mead went to Chadron, Nebraska, where
he was successfully engaged in business as a contractor and builder for a
number of years, and also became a leading and influential citizen there and
served as a member of the city council. The year 1888 witnessed his arrival
in the Puget Sound country. He located in Tacoma, where he did consider
able work as foreman for different contractors and architects. After two
years, however, he came to Puyallup, where he established his home, but
left it temporarily to go to Yakima, east of the Cascade mountains, to super
intend the establishment of a hop ranch and the construction of buildings
thereon, for Senator Hitchcock, of New York. Mr. Mead was engaged in
that work for three years and then returned to his home in Puyallup, where
he has since resided, devoting his energies to contracting and building. Some
important contracts have been awarded him, and his handiwork is seen in a
number of the finest structures of this place. He thoroughly understands
the builder's art, and thus superintends the labors of his men to the best
advantage. In the fall of 1902 Mr. Mead was elected county commissioner of Pierce
county, on the Republican ticket, a highly responsible and important position,
for Pierce county, with Tacoma as the county seat, is the second county in
population in the state. Mr. Mead has also been a member of the city council

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 453
of Puyallup and mayor of the city, and his administration in the latter office
was progressive and beneficial to the city. lie is also prominent and honored
in fraternal circles. He is now treasurer of the grand lodge of the Ancient
Order of United Workmen in Washington, and likewise belongs to the
Masonic lodge, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and numerous other
orders, which inculcate high principles, and to the tenets and teachings of
which Mr. Mead is most loyal.
CHARLES HOVE.
Perhaps no one business enterprise or industry indicates more clearly
the commercial and social status of a town than its hotels. The wide-awake,
enterprising town and cities must have pleasant accommodations for visitors
and traveling men, and the foreign public judges of a community by the
entertainment afforded to strangers. In this regard the Hotel Royal, of
which Mr. Hove is proprietor, is an indication of the character and ad
vantages of Everett, for this hostelry will rank favorably with those of many
a larger place, and its genial proprietor neglects nothing that will add to
the comfort of his guests.
Mr. Hove is a native of Germany, his birth having occurred near Ham
burg, on the 2 ist of March, 1852. He is a son of Henry Dietrich and Anna
Cathereine Elizabeth (Burmeister) Hove, who were also natives of the
fatherland. The father was a carpenter and followed that occupation through
out his entire business career. He died in 1900, at the age of seventy-eight
years, and his wife passed away in 1890, at the age of sixty-eight years.
Charles Hove has three brothers and three sisters : August, who is the
eldest and still resides in Hamburg; Johanna, the deceased wife of Frank
Hartkopf, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Henry, who is a contractor living in
Milwaukee; Dorothy and Mary, who are likewise residents of Milwaukee;
and John, who is living in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Reared under the parental roof, Charles Hove began his education in
the public schools of Oldesloe, Germany, continuing his education until six
teen years of age, when he entered upon his business career by being appren
ticed to the carpenter's trade. During the winter months, during the term
of his indenture, he attended the Hamburg Architectural School, continuing
his studies there through four years. Thus he gained broad theoretical
and practical knowledge of the business in its various departments. In the
spring of 1872 he was drafted into the military service of his country, and
not wishing to serve he shortly afterward came to America, arriving in
Chicago, Illinois, in the spring of 1872, just after the Chicago fire, which
had occurred in the previous October. After remaining in that city for
about a year and a half he went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he followed
the trade of carpentering in the capacity of foreman until 1876. At that
date he removed to Appleton, Wisconsin, where he engaged in business on
his own account as an architect, being thus identified with the building in
terests of that city for thirteen years or until 1889, when, attracted by the
growing business opportunities of the northwest, he came to the Pacific coast.
It was in the month of January of that year that Mr. Hove arrived in

454 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Tacoma, where he resided until the fall of 189 1, when he formed a business
arrangement with Henry Hewitt, whereby he was to take charge of the
architectural and construction work of the Everett Land Company. While
thus engaged he erected the Monte Cristo Hotel, together with other build
ings of prominence, and he continued his connection with the company until
the financial panic of 1894, at which time he began business on his own
account as an architect and builder. He carried on operations in this way
until 1898, when failing health caused him to retire from active work. Later
he became proprietor of the Hotel Royal, which he is now conducting. He
had built the hotel in 1893, and it is a commodious structure, well lighted
and with excellent sanitary arrangements. He does all in his power for the
comfort and welfare of his guests and now has a liberal patronage.
On the 13th of September, 1877, at Neenah, Wisconsin, Mr. Hove was
united in marriage to Miss Louise Michel, a native of New York, and they
have two sons and two daughters: Louise Anna, Carl Frederick, Ottillie
Catherine and Everett. Everett was the first white boy born at the bayside
and was named in honor of the city. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hove have many
warm friends in Everett, and their own home is a most hospitable one, a
cordial and gracious welcome being extended to their many visitors. In
his social relations Mr. Hove is an Elk and a Red Man, and in his political
views is a Republican. Coming to this country at the age of thirty years,
unfamiliar with the language and customs of the people, he readily adapted
himself to the altered conditions, and, possessing a comprehensive and prac
tical knowledge of a good business, he soon made for himself a creditable
place in industrial circles. He has steadily worked his way upward, and
Everett numbers him among its men of worth and prominence.
FRANK P BREWER.
Frank P. Brewer is now acceptably filling the office of county sheriff
of Snohomish county, and his public and his private careers are alike above
reproach. Pie is a recognized leader in the ranks of the Republican party,
and has put forth effective service in its behalf. He was born in Boston,
Massachusetts, on the 4th of December, 1855. His father, Otis Brewer, was
a native of Southboro, Massachusetts. At an early epoch in the settlement
of the new world his ancestors came from England to the United States,
establishing their home in Massachusetts, and Otis Brewer became editor of
the Boston Cultivator, which was the second agricultural paper established
in this country, and for a number of years he published it in the interests of
the farming class, it being a journal of much value to those who were en
gaged in agricultural pursuits. After a long, honorable and useful life
covering seventy-two years, Mr. Brewer passed away in 1890. His wife,
who bore the maiden name of Sarah A. Chase, was a native of New Hamp
shire and was descended from an old English family of that name that came
from Leeds, England, to the new world. The first of the name to cross the
briny deep settled in America in 1630, locating at Newburyport, Massachu
setts. Mr. Brewer was also a direct descendant of Samuel Bright Chase,
who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and others

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 455
of the name left their impress upon events which find record in the annals
of our country. Mrs. Brewer passed away in 1894 at the age of sixty-seven
years. Frank P. Brewer had two sisters and two brothers : Frances Chase,
who is now the wife of John M. Call, Jr., of Boston, Massachusetts; Flor
ence, who is the wife of William M. Ware, of Boston; Edward W., who is
a graduate of Harvard College and is one of the distinguished and eminent
lawyers of Boston; and Henry C, who is likewise living in the same city.
There was also a half-sister, Mrs. Frank PI. Goodall, who is identified with
the government service, being in the treasury department of the second audi
tor's office in Washington, D. C.
Frank P. Brewer was the third member of his father's family. He
pursued his education in the public schools of Boston and in the Chauncey
Hall School in that city, continuing his studies until nineteen years of age.
Desirous of seeking a home in the west and learning more of his country by
personal inspection, he left the Atlantic coast and made his way to Nebraska.
He was there engaged in the cattle business, also operating in Wyoming,
Idaho, South Dakota and Montana. He continued in that line until 1892,
at which time he left Wyoming. He was then in entire charge of one of
the largest herds in the state, but wishing to establish his home in the north
west he continued his journey toward the setting sun, and on the 30th of
April, 1892, he arrived in Everett. Here he engaged in the tub-boat service
until 1893, when he was appointed on the police force during the first year
after the city was incorporated. He served for two years in that capacity,
and in 1895 was elected city marshal for a term of one year. After making
a trip to Alaska he returned to Everett and was appointed deputy sheriff
under Peter Zimmerman in 1900. In the fall of 1902 he was elected to his
present position as sheriff of the county for the term of two years. In
1880-81 Mr. Brewer served as head criminal deputy sheriff of Lincoln
county, Nebraska.
On the 14th of March, 1894, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Brewer
and Miss Augusta Olsen, a native of Sweden. They now have two interest
ing children, a daughter and a son: Edith A., who is eight years of age;
and Edward W., a little lad of five years. Mr. Brewer belongs to the Masonic
fraternity, and in his life exemplifies the teachings of the craft, to which he
is very devoted, being in hearty sympathy with its humanitarian principles.
He is also connected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In
his political views he is a Republican, and has taken an active interest in
local and state politics, his opinions carrying weight in the councils of his
party. His has been a varied and interesting career, and his life work has
brought him into contact with the developing west and its many experiences.
During the fifteen years which he spent on the cattle ranch he was closely
identified with Colonel William F. Cody, so well known throughout the
country as " Buffalo Bill." In public office Mr. Brewer has ever been found
reliable and trustworthy, being an official whose first interest is the general
good, and this he places before partisanship or self-aggrandizement.

456 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ALBERT A. BRODECK.
The spirit of marked enterprise and industry characterize the business
career of Albert A. Brodeck, who for a long period has made his home in
Everett, where he is numbered among the pioneer merchants. During this
time he has won public confidence and respect by his honorable business
methods and his diligence, and now he is conducting a large clothing store,
having a liberal patronage, which is accorded him in recognition of his
honorable business methods.
On the 2 1 st of December, 1859, Mr. Brodeck was born in Chicago,
Illinois. He is a son of David Brodeck, a native of New York, who was
engaged in merchandising throughout his business career. He wedded Hen
rietta Hirsch, who was born in London, England, and was brought to New
York during her early girlhood by her parents. Mr. Brodeck died in 1865
at the age of forty-two years, and his wife long surviving him passed away
in 1897, at the advanced age of eighty years. They were the parents of three
sons and a daughter, all of whom are now deceased with the exception of
Albert A. Brodeck.
Albert A. Brodeck was brought to Washington by his parents when
only two years of age, the family home being established in Walla Walla.
He early became imbued with the enterprising spirit so characteristic of the
west and which has led to the wonderful development of the state. He
pursued his education in the schools of Walla Walla, but his privileges in
that direction were somewhat limited, for when only eight years of age
he left the schoolroom and began work as -an errand boy in the clothing
store of Goldman Brothers of that city. He continued in their employ until
1886, covering a period of almost twenty years. Certainly no higher testi
monial of his capability and fidelity could be given than the fact that he
was so long retained in their employ. His close application, his willingness
and his business capacity won him promotion from time to time until he
became the general manager of the house. Thus he gained a broad and
practical business experience.
In the winter of 1886 Mr. Brodeck removed to Seattle and became
manager of a leading clothing establishment in that city, continuing to
serve in that way until 1889. He spent the succeeding year in Tacoma,
and in the fall of 1891 came to Everett, where he was made manager of
the first general mercantile house opened in this city. That year he spent
in the capacity of manager, but on the expiration of that period he severed
his connection with the establishment and embarked in business on his own
account under the firm name of Stein & Brodeck. They opened a clothing
store in 1892 and conducted it until 1895, when the firm went into liquida
tion, paying their creditors orte hundred cents on the dollar. Mr. Brodeck's
assets when the business was closed up amounted to only seven dollars.
This condition of affairs would have utterly discouraged many a man of
less resolute spirit, but with renewed courage and determination he set to
work to retrieve his lost possessions. He first secured an eastern agency
for merchant tailoring, accepting the position in the fall of 1895. After
being employed in that way for about a year he rented a small store of ten
feet front by about thirty feet deep. He then opened a commission house,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 457
selling men's furnishing goods and hats from samples. In this he continued
until 1896, when he was instrumental in incorporating the Brodeck Com
pany with a capital stock of two thousand dollars. Pie then opened a men's
furnishing goods store, and the business rapidly increased in proportion as
the population of the city grew so that soon his store of eighteen feet front
in the Realty block became too small, and he removed to his present loca
tion at the northwest corner of Hewett and Wetmore avenues. Here he
occupies a commodious store building sixty-two by one hundred and twenty
feet and this is furnished with a complete line of clothing and men's fur
nishing goods. It is one of the best appointed stores on the entire Pacific
coast, being entirely modern and up-to-date. The company carries the
higher grades of goods manufactured in the United States, and the careful
selection of their stock, their honorable business methods and their courteous
treatment of their customers have secured the firm a very liberal and con
stantly growing patronage.
Mr. Brodeck was married at Walla Walla on the 21st of February,
188 1, the lady of his choice being Miss Sadie Kitchen, a native of Cali
fornia, and was taken to Walla Walla when only a few months old by her
parents, William and Pauline Kitchen. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs.
Brodeck was blessed with one son, Charles, but they lost their boy at the
age of thirteen years. In his political views Mr. Brodeck is a stalwart
Republican, taking an active interest in the success of the party. He was
a delegate to the first state convention of Washington, and has attended
most of the county and state conventions since that time, being for five
years secretary of the county central committee. His views concerning
political questions and the best methods of procedure in campaigns are
regarded by the leaders of his party as practical, and have been carried into
effect to the benefit of the community in more than one instance. Mr.
Brodeck is also- an active member of the Chamber of Commerce, and in
other ways puts forth every effort in his power to advance the business
activity of Everett. He has always been one of the leading spirits in the
upbuilding of the commercial activities of this city, and has never hesitated
to head the subscription list in affairs concerning the progress and develop
ment of Snohomish county. He has ever conducted his own mercantile
interests along progressive lines that command uniform confidence, and the
house of which he is the head sustains an enviable reputation for business
methods employed.
FREDERIC MOTTET.
Frederic Mottet is the president of the Hunt & Mottet Company, in
corporated, doing a wholesale business in hardware and mill supplies at
Tacoma. Mr. Mottet is of French Huguenot extraction, though born in
Germany during the temporary sojourn of his parents in that country. His
family came to this country when he was about one year of age, making
their home in New York city. There he graduated from the public schools,
and before he was fourteen years old entered the College of the City of New
York. Preferring not to finish his college course, he began his business
education in the dry goods commission business, and for four years prior

458 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
to his removal to the northwest he was in the grain business and a member
of the New York Produce Exchange. Mr. Mottet arrived in Tacoma in
1887, and, June 1 of that year, formed a copartnership with Edward M.
Hunt, under the style of Hunt & Mottet. The business had been founded
in 1883 by Samuel A. Wheelwright, under the firm name of S. A. Wheel
wright & Company, handling heavy hardware and mill supplies. In January,
1885, Mr. Wheelwright formed a copartnership with Edward M. Hunt, as
Wheelwright & Hunt. The business was continued by them until June 1,
1887, when Mr. Wheelwright was succeeded by Frederic Mottet. The firm,
under the style of Hunt & Mottet, continued the same line of business, ex
tending their lines and becoming well known to the trade.
Mr. Wheelwright, after his retirement from this business, engaged -in
the foundry and machine business for some years. Later he was secretary
of the Chamber of Commerce, and for a term the honored mayor of the city.
He died in Chicago in 1893. Mr. Hunt died in San Francisco October 17,
1895, and shortly afterward Mr. Mottet purchased from his estate his
entire interest in the business. December 6, 1895, the Hunt & Mottet Com
pany was 'incorporated with Frederic Mottet president, E. F Messenger
vice-president, and E. C. Richards secretary. This corporation is still con
tinuing its business under the same officers and is enjoying a steadily in
creasing trade and constantly extending its territories for sales. Its busi
ness covers the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and British
Columbia and Alaska. It is the oldest jobbing house of the city. As to
Mr. Mottet's business qualifications and methods, these have been recog
nized by the community, in that he was twice elected (1896, 1897) to the
presidency of its Chamber of Commerce, and three times was he offered the
nomination for the mayoralty, refusing the same each time. He has always
realized his duties as a citizen, yet the only active part taken by him in
politics was while a resident of the city of New York in 1884, when he
became a member of the National Independent Republican committee of
forty, associated with Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Carl Shurz and
George William Curtis. It will be remembered that through the leader
ship of this committee the state of New York, as well as the country, was
carried for Grover Cleveland as its president.
In Tacoma Mr. Mottet is identified with church and benevolent or
ganizations, also several of a social nature. He is a member of the Huguenot
Society of America, and in New York city of the Church Club and The
Players.
WILLIAM HENRY BURDON.
One of the early residents of this locality is William H. Burdon, and
throughout the period of his residence here he has been thoroughly interested
in everything which pertains to its progress and development. He was
born in Durham, England, on the 31st of March, 1844, and is a son of
Thomas Bales and Elizabeth Eleanor (Miller) Burdon, also natives of that
country. The father, who was a ship-chandler by occupation, passed away
in death in 1870, at the age of fifty-six years, and the mother was called to
her final rest in 1875, when she had reached the age of fifty-six years. In

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 459
their family were ten children, four sons and six daughters, as follows:
Thomas Austin, now deceased; Hannah, also deceased; Kate; Eleanor;
William H; John; Isabella; Fanny, deceased; Mary, who has also passed
away; and Edwin, deceased.
William Henry Burdon received his elementary education in the public
schools of Hartlepool, England, and later became a student in the Sedgley
Park College at Wolverhampton. Leaving school at the age of eighteen
years, he was then apprenticed to learn the butcher's trade, in which capacity
he served for three years, after which he engaged in that business in Hartle
pool, and thus continued until the year 1871. He then made the journey
to Canada, taking up his abode in St. Thomas, Elgin county, Ontario, where
for one year he was the proprietor of a hotel. Removing thence to Victoria,
Erie county, he there erected a hotel, but after conducting the hostelry for
one year he disposed of the same and came to Bellingham Bay, Washington,
where he secured employment with the B. B. Coal Company until 1876. In
that year he located on Fidalgo Island, purchasing a ranch at Fidalgo Bay,
and from that time until 1896 was engaged in general agricultural pursuits.
Since that time he has confined his operations to the cultivation of hops, and
since coming to this place has been very successful in his vocation. In 1890
Mr. Burdon was elected road supervisor for district No. 13 of Fidalgo, and
was given full power by the board of county commissioners to build and
construct the public roads in this district, which are to-day recognized as
the finest roads in the state of Washington.
At Stokesley, Yorkshire, England, on the 16th of October, 1867, Mr.
Burdon was united in marriage to Jane Barker, a daughter of Thomas
Lancelot and Elizabeth Barker, also natives of England. This union has
been blessed by the birth of five children, namely : Lancelot, a resident of
Anacortes; Effie, the wife of David Gillespie, of Vancouver, British Co
lumbia; Allie; Minnie; and Harry. In his fraternal relations Mr. Burdon is
a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in his political
affiliations is a Republican. He is numbered among the early pioneers of
Fidalgo Island, where he has taken an active part in local politics and public
affairs, and is well and favorably known throughout the county.
HON. JOSEPH A. GABEL.
Hon. Joseph A. Gabel, the present librarian of the Washington State
Library, is of German and Welsh ancestry. His great-grandfather, John
Gabel, was a soldier in the Revolution; his grandfather, Joseph Gabel, was
a pioneer settler of the state of Ohio; and the father was born in Preble
county, that state. The latter followed the occupation of contracting and
building, and among other important buildings which he erected was the
Fort Wayne court house. He was also a successful farmer. His wife was
Priscilla Eidson, a native of his own county. In 1889 the family removed
to Chehalis, Lewis county, Washington, and invested in considerable city
and farm property. Mr. Gabel continued to reside here until his death, in
1894, at the age of sixty-six years. His wife still survives him and is now
(1902) in her sixty-sixth year. They were the parents of seven children,

460 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
of whom Mrs. B. A. Yates resides at Pattonsburg, Missouri, while all of
the other members of the family reside in Washington. Mrs. E. Mead
lives in Springer, Washington; Henry Gabel carries on a coal and wood
business in Chehalis; Tipton E. is a student at the state univeritsy; James
resides at home with his mother in Chehalis; and Mrs. N. G. White is a
partner in the firm of White & Gabel at Chehalis.
The subject of this sketch, Mr. Joseph A. Gabel, was born in Eaton,
Preble county, Ohio, March 27, 1873. Plis education was received in the
public schools of Kansas and later in the Chehalis high school. He also
took a course at the Portland, Oregon, Business College, in which he grad
uated in 1892, and in his nineteenth year embarked in the book and sta
tionery business in his home town and also engaged in the manufacture of
lumber. In politics Mr. Gabel is a Republican, and took such an active in
terest in his party that he was chosen chairman- of the Lewis county central
committee and was very efficient in that capacity in building up the interests
of the organization. In acknowledgement of his services he received the
appointment of state librarian, the office to which he is now devoting his
closest attention and in which he is giving the highest satisfaction. In 1897
and 1898 Mr. Gabel, in company with eleven other gentlemen, was engaged
in a Klondike company, securing options on mines and doing a general
brokerage business. They made sales in Philadelphia and other eastern
cities, and in this enterprise he met with considerable success, but at the
last illness of his father he was obliged to return home. Mr. Gabel is still
carrying on his business in Chehalis, and is also a member of the Fir Door
Company, of which he is secretary. This company does an extensive busi
ness, turning out six hundred doors daily, and there is a large demand for
the output. On the 6th of August, 1902, he was happily married to Jennie Westen
dorf at Chehalis. She is a daughter of Thomas Westendorf, superintendent
of the State Reform School. Mrs. Gabel is a graduate of the Chicago
College of Music, and enjoys a very high reputation as a lady of refinement
and of great talent in musical and other lines. In business and politics Mr.
Gabel has ever been an indefatigable worker, and the success he has won
so early presages a more brilliant career in the future and one of lasting
service and influence for the state.
LOUIS J. STICKLIN.
About the beginning of the last century John Jacob Sticklin was born in
the little republic of Switzerland, and after he had grown to manhood there
he met and married a lady who had been born on the other side of the Alps,
in France. In 1852 they emigrated to America and took up their residence
in Tioga county, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in business. He lived to
the age of seventy-two years, and passed away at East Weymouth, Massa
chusetts, in 1899, while his wife died in 1882. She had been a Catholic in
religious belief, and he was a communicant of the Presbyterian church, so
they compromised on the question of faith and both became Episcopalians.
Of the eleven children born to them, three died in childhood, but the others
are still living.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 461
Louis J. Sticklin, who is a son of the above parents, is the only member
of the family in- Washington, and has the honor of being the pioneer under
taker of the city of Chehalis, Lewis county. He was born at Wellsboro,
Tioga county, Pennsylvania, on September 24, i860. He went to the schools
of the town until he was eighteen years old and then embarked in the business
which he has made his life work. The fact that his father was a furniture
dealer no doubt gave him the bent in that direction, for at an early age he
learned the trade of cabinet-maker; he made a great many caskets and was
in business on his own account in Morris, Tioga county. About 1890 he
made a prospecting tour of the Pacific coast, and, being attracted by the
location and progressive spirit of Chehalis, he sent east for his stock and
opened his store in this city. For a few years he also had a livery, but sold
this and is now devoting his entire time and attention to the undertaker's
business. He possesses all the qualities which make a man in that pursuit
successful, and he is well equipped, having an embalmer's diploma and a
state certificate. He has made two valuable inventions which facilitate the
noiseless lowering of the remains into the grave. The first is a slide which
raises or lowers the hinged cover of the box at will, and, when the top is
closed, becomes detached of itself. The other is a check which lets the straps
loose when the casket has been lowered into the box. Both these simple
contrivances are very useful, and he deserves much credit for them.
Mr. Sticklin was married in 1881 to Miss Clara A. English, who is a
native of his own state. Charles L., the first of their sons, is now assisting
in his father's business ; Plugh Nathan is still attending school. Mr. Sticklin
is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Rebekahs, the
Woodmen of the World, the Circle and the Red Men, while in politics he
votes independently for the man he thinks best fitted for the office. Mr.
Sticklin has bought and sold considerable property since coming here, and
is now the owner of some good real estate in the city, and he has gained the
reputation of being an enterprising and reliable business man.
C. J. LORD. CAPITAL NATIONAL BANK.
The Capital National Bank of Olympia, the fourth banking institution
in size in the state, was organized in 1890 by its present president, C. J.
Lord. It was started with one hundred thousand dollars capital stock, and
it has since grown and become one of the most popular institutions in the
state, now having one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in surplus and
undivided profits, and with about two millions of dollars in deposits. Its
prosperity may be estimated from the fact that in the twelve years of its
existence it has paid the stockholders dividends amounting to one hundred
and fifty per cent.
The present officers are: C. J. Lord, president; O. C. White, vice-presi
dent; and W. J. Foster, cashier. The directors are: C. J. Lord, 0. C.
White, L. F. Schmidt, F. R. Brown, M. Harris, and G. W. Ingham, all
men of wealth in Olympia; and also S. G. Simpson, the well-known capi
talist of Seattle. A general banking business is done, and the methods may
be said to be both liberal and conservative.

462 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Mr. Lord came to Washington from Chautauqua county, New York,
where he had been engaged in the live-stock business with his father, B. B.
Lord; they did a very extensive business in the purchase of horses and
Holstein cattle. Mr. Lord came to Olympia for the express purpose of
organizing the bank, and became its president when only twenty-seven years
old, one of the youngest national bank presidents in the United States.
Mr. Lord was reared to the Democratic principles, but in 1896 left
his party and has since been a Republican. He has now the honor of being
mayor of Olympia, and in that position is exerting his efforts for the up
building of the city of his choice. He is happily married and has one of
Olympia's beautiful homes. He is one of the men who seem to make a
success of everything they take hold of, and his career in the city has
reflected honor not only on himself but on the whole community.
GEORGE H. FUNK.
To be a successful member of the legal profession requires marked
ability in many lines, a keen and discriminating mind, accurate knowledge
of law, and above all, a quick grasp of details and intuitive reasoning power.
And the men who have failed in this great line of activity have lacked in
some of these particulars. One who has in a remarkable degree combined
all these characteristics and has won success above many of his fellows is
the prosecuting attorney of Thurston county, George H. Funk. His fore
fathers were German and English, and had been long residents of this
country. The great-grandfather, who was born in Germany, came to this
country and settled in Virginia, where he became the progenitor of the
family in America. Sidney B. Funk, the grandfather, was one of the early
settlers of Missouri, but later removed to Wisconsin, where he became a
pioneer stockman and supplied a number of military posts with their meat.
He took a valiant part in the Black Hawk war as commander of a volunteer
company. His death occurred in 1840 at the age of fifty years.
John E. Funk, the father of our subject, was born in Missouri, but
later removed with his father to Wisconsin, where he was reared and re
ceived his education. In 1849, when only eighteen years of age, in com
pany with his older brother Alonzo, and some neighbors, he set out to seek
his fortunes in the then newly opened gold fields of California, and, unlike
so many of those who risked their lives in search of the yellow metal, he
returned home with a number of thousands of dollars. With this he pur
chased lands in Wisconsin, and became a successful farmer. His wife was
Saphronia Dimmick, and they still reside on their old farm, enjoying the
fruits of their early toil. Of their seven children, six are yet surviving.
He and his wife are prominent members of the Presbyterian church, and
the church was built on a part of the farm, which Mr. Funk generously
donated. George H. Funk, whose biography is to be here recorded, was born in
Lafayette county, Wisconsin, November 21, 1865. He enjoyed the benefi
cent influences of his father's farm, attending the neighboring public school
at the same time. After exhausting the resources of the common school

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 463
George took a course in the State Normal at Platteville, and then studied
law in the Wisconsin State University, where he was graduated in 1890.
He came directly to Olympia, and, thinking the capital of the state to be
a suitable place to begin, he opened an office and from the first met with
satisfying success. Eight years after beginning his practice he was the
choice of the people for prosecuting attorney, and, following a prosperous
first term, he was elected a second time with an increased majority. He
has been very successful .in the prosecution of criminals in the county, and
many transgressors who are now paying their just deserts owe their con
viction to his masterly efforts.
In 1899 Mr. Funk became the husband of Miss A. Goldie Robertson,
born in the state of Iowa, and a daughter of J. W. Robertson. Mr. Funk
belongs to the order of the Woodmen of the World, is a member of the
Chamber of Commerce of his city, and is always eager to help forward any
enterprise calculated to assist the growth and development of Olympia and
Thurston county.
M. D. ABBOTT.
Washington has enlisted in its newspaper field many of the strongest
intellects of the state, and its press has been a most important factor in pro
moting the stable upbuilding and progress of the state and upholding the
cause of intellectual and moral advancement. As a representative of the
journalistic interests, M. D. Abbott is certainly deserving of prominent men
tion, as the owner, editor and publisher of the Olympia Chronicle, a weekly,
five-column, eight-page paper, twenty-six by forty inches. It is Republican
in politics and devoted to the interests of the capital city and surrounding
country. This journal was established by Mr. Abbott on the 10th of De
cember, 1899, and by him has been successfully published for the past three
years, exerting a strong and beneficial influence in molding the public policy
and promoting substantial advancement.
Mr. Abbott was born in Pittsfield, Pike county, Illinois, September 22,
i860, and traces his ancestry back to the Pilgrim Fathers who landed from
the Mayflower upon the New England coast. The progenitor of the family
in this country lived to be more than one hundred years of age. Milton H.
Abbott, the father of our subject, was born in Alton," Ohio, in 18 19, and
married Miss Mary Jane Newman. He became a newspaper editor and
publisher of wide acquaintance in Illinois, Ohio, Oregon, Idaho and Wash
ington, having been a successful journalist in all of those states. In 1865
he crossed the plains and was the founder of the Daily Oregon Herald, and
for some time was associated with Beriah Brown in its publication in the
interests of Democracy as opposed by the Oregonian. He lived in Minne
sota in pioneer times and was a warm friend of Senator McMillan. By
President Buchanan he was appointed receiver of the land office at Cam
bridge, Minnesota, and there built a log cabin which he used as an office.
All around him were the Sioux Indians, and he learned to speak the lan
guage of the Sioux and of another Indian tribe. He was located in Min
nesota when the Northern Pacific Railroad was projected, and he materially
assisted in opening up that portion of the state in which he made his home.

464 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
He possessed much ability, both natural and acquired, and his indomitable
energy and courage were salient features in his career. He died in the
Fannie Paddocks Hospital in the seventy-first year of his age, having sur
vived his wife, who died in 1868. Of their family of thirteen children only
three are now living: T. O., a prominent attorney of Tacoma, Washington;
Mrs. W. W. Parker, of Everett, this state; and M. D.
M. D. Abbott received his early training as a printer and newspaper
man in his father's office and received his business training under the tute
lage of Professor Arnold, of Pendleton, Oregon. In early life he did much
of the mechanical work of the printing office for his father, and became his
successor in the publication of the Baker City Reveille, a daily and weekly
journal, which he conducted profitably for sixteen years. He was asso
ciated with his father in a number of other papers and has had a broad and
varied experience in the newspaper field. On selling the Reveille he came
to Olympia in 1899 and established the Olympia Chronicle, issuing the first
edition of the paper on the 10th of December of that year.
On the 20th of August, 1882, Mr. Abbott was united in marriage to
Miss M. E. Sturgill, who is descended from one of the Hessian soldiers
that composed a part of the army which King George the Third sent to
subdue the American colonists in 1776. On the maternal side she traces
her ancestry back to the Richmonds, one of the prominent families of Vir
ginia. This union has been blessed with two daughters, Esther Velma and
Lorena E. Mr. Abbott is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel
lows, is past district deputy grand master of the order in the Oregon juris
diction, a member of the grand lodge of that state. He is also connected
with the Woodmen of the World. A stanch Republican in politics, he has
been the champion not only of the principles and policy of his party but
also of many progressive measures for the benefit of his city, and his
co-operation has been a resultant factor in the well-being and advancement
of Olympia.
FRED W. STOCKING.
Fred W. Stocking is now filling the position of registrar of the United
States land office, and is a prominent, active son of the state of Washing
ton. He was born at Chehalis Point on the 4th of October, 1863, and is of
Scotch ancestry. The first representative of the family in America was
George Stocking, who left the land of hills and heather in the year 1633,
braving the dangers incident to an ocean voyage at that remote period.
He became a resident of upper Middleton, Connecticut. Representatives
of the family were afterward prominent and active in events which shaped
the early history of this country and were also participants in the Revolu
tionary war. John Stocking, the great-grandfather of our subject, was a
sea captain, and his son, Francis Stocking, was also a captain of ships.
Francis was born in Connecticut and lost his life at sea in the thirty-first
year of his age. His twin sons were born after the news of his death at sea
was received. They were called Francis and Fred, and when they were
but a year old their grandfather lost his life in a steamboat accident on the
Connecticut river caused by the bursting of the boiler. Fred M. Stocking

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 465
now resides in San Francisco, where he is occupying a position as adver
tising agent for the Out West Magadnc. Francis Stocking obtained his
education in Brooklyn, New York, and became a carpenter, contractor and
builder. In the year 1849 he went to California, attracted by the discovery
of gold, journeying by way of the Isthmus route. He had the usual experi
ences of the California pioneer, enduring many hardships and difficulties,
meeting with some success, and in i860 he came to Washington, locating
at Gray's Harbor. The following year he was married there to Miss Eliza
James, a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a daughter of Samuel James,
whose birth occurred in England. They removed to Olympia in 1867 and
there the father continued in business until his death, which occurred in
1869. His religious faith was indicated by his membership in the Methodist
church, and he endorsed the men and measures of the Republican party by
his ballot, but he was never a politician in the sense of office-seeking. While
residing in Olympia he was one of the builders of the Masonic hall. His
life was honorable, because he was ever honest in all his dealings with his
fellow-men and reliable in matters of citizenship. In the family were three
children, two of whom are living, George C, a resident of Seattle, where
he is engaged in business as a civil engineer. For her second husband the
mother chose R. A. Brewer, of Thurston county.
Fred W. Stocking, named in honor of his father's twin brother, was
educated in the high schools and in the Olympia University, being a grad
uate with the class of 1888. He afterward turned his attention to mer
chandising in Centralia, Washington', where he remained for three years,
and then sold his business there in order to purchase a ranch at Grand
Mound. When twenty-one years of age he became deputy assessor of
Thurston county, which office he held for eight years, and was elected and
served for two terms in the state legislature, during which service he took
an active and effective part in securing the construction of the state capitol
in Olympia. He was on the committees of revenue taxation and roads,
and made a creditable record in the general essembly, leaving the impress
of his individuality upon much of the important legislation enacted during
his term of office. On the 8th of May, 1902, he was appointed by President
Roosevelt to the position of registrar in the United States land office in
Olympia and is now acceptably serving in that capacity.
In 1890 Mr. Stocking was united in marriage to Miss Alma Manning,
a native of St. Johns, New Brunswick, and a daughter of Alfred Manning.
Their union has been blessed with two children, Frank and Helen, both
of whom are in school. Mr. Stocking is a member of the Methodist church
and is identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the
World. His wife belongs to the Baptist church, and both are highly es
teemed in Olympia. Mr. Stocking does not depend entirely upon the rev
enues of his office for his financial resources, as he owns a valuable stock
ranch of six hundred acres, upon which he is raising both Jersey and Poll
Angus cattle. He also deals in stock and is successful in that business.
He possesses the requisites of a successful business career, including keen
foresight, capable management and perseverence. In his official life he is
to be commended because he has been prompt and faithful in the execution
of his duties, placing the good of the public before personal aggrandizement.

466 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
E. N. TUNIN. • ' '
On the Main street of Olympia and in the center of the busy life of
that city stands the Olympia Hotel, leased and conducted by Mr. Tunin,
one of the oldest and most successful hotel managers in the state of Wash
ington. This hotel is one of the largest and best equipped hostelries in the
state, a credit to its builders and one of the superior attractions of the capital
city, affording quarters such as one can hardly find in Seattle or Tacoma.
Standing on a slight rise of ground and overlooking the bay and the beautiful
surrounding country, the artistic lines of the structure are in themselves an
architectural ornament, while the interior, which is the part most regarded
by the critical traveler, is characterized by spacious elegance and the utmost
regard for the comfort of the guests. It is situated on Main street only a
short distance from the Capitol building, and not too far from the business
center. Its wide porches on the front and side and balconies above afford
a superb opportunity to view the wonderful scenery, to get a comprehensive
idea of the size and lay of the city, and to seize with one sweeping glance
the beauties of the panorama outspread, and hold them for one's own. Sea
and sky and mountains all unite to form a surpassing vista of loveliness. The
hotel is usually filled with the many who come to the capital city to transact
business; the street car line also passes directly in front.
On the first floor is a grand hallway, topped with a roof of stained
glass ; in this hall is the large office, with entrances to the elevator, the stair
way, the dining room and the parlors. The parlors are on the first floor,
and the large ballroom. In the basement are the bath rooms, barber shop,
trunk rooms, sample rooms, wine cellar and a billiard room. Also the engines
and dynamo for heating and lighting. The sleeping rooms on the upper
floors are all large and exceedingly well lighted, connected by wide corridors
and supplied with every convenience necessary to the comfort of the traveler.
The rooms are furnished with all conveniences for the business public and
those who desire luxury, and, in fact, the entire building seems to have been
designed by a master hand. Mr. Tunin has been in the business for twelve
years, and in his quiet and unostentatious way shows the guests every con
sideration, so that all the employes seem to strive to outstrip each other in
their efforts to afford the best entertainment. The hotel has a capacity of one
hundred and fifty guests, and undoubtedly stands in the front rank of the
many establishments catering to the wants of the American traveling public.
E. N. Tunin claims the state of Indiana as the place of his nativity,
having been born there on the 25th of November, 1867. He is the son of
Woodford and Mary Jane (Walton) Tunin, the latter deceased and the
former living in Indiana. There are five brothers and three sisters living,
but E. N. is the only one in Washington. - Mr. Tunin made his arrival in
Washington in 1888 and worked at various occupations. He leased the
Olympia Hotel in September, 1899. In 1897 he married Miss May Munn,
a daughter of John Munn, of Olympia, but now deceased. She is a native
of Olympia and is a most charming lady, well fitted to help her husband in
making the Olympia Hotel one of a most enviable reputation.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 467
> :• ARCHIE M. BANKS.
On the roster of Pierce county's officers appears the name of Archie M.
Banks in connection with the position of clerk. This is an indication of his
popularity and prominence, and all who know him willingly accord him
a leading place among the esteemed citizens of the community. He was
born at Clayton, New York, in 1856, and is a son of John and Margaret
(Spence) Banks. The father, who was a native of Massachusetts, there
learned the trade of a miller, which continued to be his occupation through
out his active business career. In 1861 he removed with his family from
Clayton, New York, to Brooklyn, where he enlisted for service in the Civil
war, but a year later, in 1862, he was called upon to lay down his life on
the altar of his country, having been killed in battle. His wife, who also
claimed Massachusetts as the state of her nativity, died in Brooklyn in 1887.
Archie M. Banks accompanied his parents on their removal to Brooklyn
when he was seven years old, but ten years later, when he had reached the
age of seventeen years, he left the parental home and made his way to
Chicago, Illinois, there remaining during the following fourteen years, and
much of that period was spent in the brokerage business with the firm of
Thompson & Company. About 1885 he became interested in the rising
northwest, and, removing to Moorhead, Minnesota, was there engaged in
contracting until 1889. In March of that year he came to Tacoma, Wash
ington, and during the first two years resided in the city, after which he
secured a homestead two miles from Lake View in Pierce county and nine
miles from Tacoma, where he made a specialty of dairying and the stock
business, becoming successful and prosperous in those lines of industry, and
he also did an extensive shipping business. In 1902 Mr. Banks was the
choice of the Republican party for the office of county clerk, to which posi
tion he was elected in the following November by a large majority, and
previous to this he had served two years as deputy county clerk under Robert
P. Rigney, so that when he assumed control of the office on January 12,
1903, he was fully equipped for the duties incumbent upon him. In the
fall of 1902 he disposed of his farm near Lake View and moved to Tacoma,
where he now resides at 1401 North Prospect avenue.
In 1887 Mr. Banks was united in marriage to Miss Cornelia Storla,
and they have four children, Thomas, Helen Cornelia, Alfred and Archie.
Mr. Banks has the reputation of being an excellent business man, and in
politics gives an unwavering support to the Republican party. He enjoys
the regard of his fellow-men, and is very widely and favorably known in
Tacoma and Pierce county.
SAMUEL DAVIS BREAR.
As will be seen in the course of this brief biography, a member of each
of three generations of the Brear family has had the genius of mechanics
implanted in him, and has been concerned in the working of iron and its
products in different departments of that vast and wide-spread industry. Abel
Brear, the father of Samuel Davis Brear, was a native of Wilmington, Dela-

468 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ware, and grew up to engage in the trade of machinist. He was a master
of his trade, and in 1848 went to Cuba to take charge of setting up, the
mechanical equipment of a railroad then building from Havana; while in
the prosecution of these duties, he was killed in an accident at Havana in
1849. His wife was Harriet Davis, of Welsh origin and of Pennsylvania
birth; she died several years ago.
The Davis family is one of the oldest in America, for the original pro
genitor, who was of German origin, came and made settlement at what is
now Albany, New York, in 1643. His descendants were induced to move
to Pennsylvania by the Indians, who, in return for bread, promised them a
large tract of land in Pennsylvania ; the Davises accordingly went to Dauphin,
about five miles from the present city of Harrisburg, but the family after
ward drifted into Berks county, to Reading, Delaware, and the country in
that vicinity. A brother of Mrs. Abel Brear,' Andrew G. Davis, was an old-
timer in Pennsylvania. He hauled the gold bullion for all the banks between
Philadelphia and Pottsville, before the railroads were built; at a later period
he was proprietor of the old Washington hotel, across the street from the
Reading depot in Reading, and here in the ante-bellum clays Lincoln and
Douglas were both entertained, and made speeches from the porch in the
front of the hotel.
Samuel Davis Brear Was born in 1843 at Reading, Pennsylvania. He
received a fair education in the schools of Glassboro, New Jersey, and in
1858 entered the shops of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad at Read
ing, as a boilermaker's apprentice. He had not yet completed this period of
initiation when the war broke out, and in the summer of 1861 he helped
organize the Second Ringgold Battery at Reading, but as its captain decided
not to go to the war, Mr. Brear went to Philadelphia in August and enlisted
in Company E, Thirtieth Pennsylvania Volunteers, under Colonel Chan-
trey and Captain J. N. Taylor, a veteran of the Mexican war. The regiment
received its arms at Washington, and were engaged in Maryland and Vir
ginia till late in the season; the regiment was divided at Fredericksburg,
and Mr. Brear was placed in the Seventy-third Pennsylvania under Colonel
Coulter. Mr. Brear participated in engagements at Fairfax Court House,
at Warrenton Junction, later at Snicker's Gap and Winchester, and at Stras-
burg the regiment surprised Stonewall Jackson in the night and on the fol
lowing day drove his forces sixty miles. He was in the battles at Cross
Keys, June 8, and Port Republic, June 9, 1862; from there went to Front
Royal, into the Luray Valley, across the mountains to Culpepper, where
the battle of Cedar Mountain occurred ; returning to White Sulphur Springs,
he was in the skirmish there, thence to Manassas, where the second battle
of Bull Run was fought on August 30, 1862. Here Mr. Brear received
several wounds, and was struck by a bullet in the foot and totally disabled.
He was picked up by the enemy and made prisoner, but after eight days
was paroled by General Jackson; he was sent to the federal hospital at Co
lumbian College, on Meridian Heights, Washington, where he was confined
till April 10, 1863. It was eighteen months before he could walk and twelve
years before the wound was entirely healed. Mr. Brear's company was so
nearly annihilated in the course of the war that after the battle of Gettys
burg only two of its members were left.

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 469
When Mr. Brear returned home he continued his work in the Reading
shops until he was twenty-one, and was then transferred to the Philadelphia
and Reading shops at Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, where he remained a year
and a half, and then went to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and worked as a
boilermaker in the shops of the Northern Central Railroad; he returned to
Tamaqua for awhile, but gradually worked his way to the west, being em
ployed in the shops of the Pittsburg Locomotive Works, then in the shops
of the Hannibal and St. Joe Railroad at Hannibal, Missouri; for five years
following this engagement he was employed as the "fitter-up" of the new
work in the shops of the Burlington road at Aurora, Illinois; he was next
at Rome, Georgia, and then was the foreman boilermaker in the shops of
the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad at Indianapolis;
he then returned to his position of fitter-up at Aurora, later went to Dubuque,
Iowa, and was foreman in the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul boiler shops
there, and afterward in the same capacity and for the same company at
Sanborn, Iowa. At Randalia he gave some variety to his life by farming
for awhile. He then went to Winona, Minnesota, where he was given
charge of the shops of the Winona and St. Peter Railroad, under W. A.
Scott, master mechanic. While here Mr. Brear became well acquainted and
took a prominent part in politics. It was through his efforts that James A.
Tawney was brought out for Congress in the first congressional district of
Minnesota, and the latter at once sprang into public favor and has served
continuously for twelve years in the lower house of Congress. Mr. Brear
was appointed by Governor Merriam to the office of state boiler inspector to
cover the first congressional district, and he subsequently went to St. Paul
and became assistant foreman of the Great Northern shops.
In 1893 Mr. Brear came to Tacoma and took the position of foreman
of the boiler shop of the Northern Pacific Railroad at South Tacoma, and
was so employed for two years. In December, 1895, together with his son,
Arthur S., he started the Tacoma Steam Boiler Works, on Dock street. At
the time, Mr. Brear's capital was only twenty dollars, and his son had noth
ing to contribute in the way of money, but the business has grown and pros
pered since its humble beginning; the shop has been enlarged, new and
improved machinery has been installed, and they now have complete facili
ties for manufacturing boilers, sheet-iron work, smoke stacks, pipes, etc.,
and several men are employed.
In March, 1871, Mr. Brear was married at Aurora, Illinois, to Maria
S. Birkhardt ; four of the children born of this union are living : Arthur E.,
Emanuel W., Mrs. Laura M. Turner and Miss Nellie N. Brear. The family
home is at 3006 A street. Mr. Brear is a Mason and belongs to Ivanhoe
Commandery, K. T., of Tacoma, and holds a certificate of life membership
in Jerusalem Temple Lodge No. 90, A. T. A. W., at Aurora, Illinois, and
therefore pays no dues. CHESTER H. BARTLETT.
Chester H. Bartlett, president of the Bartlett-Foote Company, whole
sale hay and grain merchants of Tacoma, Washington, was born at Tomp-

470 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
kins, near Jackson, in Jackson county, Michigan, in 1870, and is a son of
Mortimer E. and Ellen J. (Pomeroy) Bartlett, the former of whom was
born in New York, but was brought when a child to Jackson county by his
parents. These parents were farmers and settled on a farm at Tompkins.
When only fourteen years of age, Mortimer enlisted from Jackson county
in the Michigan Light Artillery and served until the close of the war, and
he enjoyed the distinction of being one of the youngest soldiers. Returning
from the war, he began farming on his own account, but in 1881 he removed
to the city of Jackson, where he is still living, engaged in the wholesale con
fectionery business. His wife was born in Michigan, and is now living
at Jackson. Chester H. Bartlett was reared on a farm until he was eleven years of
age, and was graduated from the high school of Jackson. He then became
a teacher and taught school in Jackson county. In 189 1 he decided to move
to Washington, and first located at Cle Elum, in Kittitas county, where he
taught school for a year. ' Then he went to Easton in the same county and
engaged in general merchandising for three years. At the expiration of that
time, in 1895, he removed to Yakima and inaugurated what is now his
present business, and continued to conduct it as a shipping business until
December, 1901, when he decided to operate an office in Tacoma so as to
have a larger and more central location from which to conduct the extensive
interests, although a large portion of the affairs is conducted east of the
mountains. On locating here Henry C. Foote was admitted into the busi
ness, which is now conducted under the title of Bartlett-Foote Company,
with main offices at 414 Fidelity building, Tacoma. The company do a
wholesale business exclusively, shipping in carload lots and also in cargoes,
to both foreign and domestic markets. There are branch offices at Seattle
and Yakima, and their lines include hay, grain, potatoes, flour, feed, seeds
and apples, 'they making a specialty of double-compressed hay.
In June, 1894, Mr. Bartlett was married in Chicago to Miss Ella M.
Boardman, formerly of Jackson, who moved with her parents to Chicago to
obtain better educational advantages. Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett were married
by Rev. Dr. Gunsaulus, who was Miss Boardman's pastor and friend. Two
little daughters, Lucile M. and Gladys M., have come to gladden the home
of Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett. Fraternally Mr. Bartlett is a Mason. In addi
tion to his other interests, he is one of the owners of a new condensed milk
factory which is being established in this section.
JUDGE CLARENCE E. GRIFFIN.
The history of the Griffin family touches at different points some of the
most interesting and eventful periods of English annals. The known an
cestry of the family is traced back to England about the year 1680, during
the turbulent times of Charles II. The branch of the house in which we
are interested was soon transferred to America, and the great-grandfather
was born in Connecticut before the days of the Revolution. He later moved
to Nova Scotia, and here the paternal grandfather, James, was born. Enoch,
the father of Judge Griffin, was born in 1825 in the township of Cornwallis,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 471
Nova Scotia, and is still one of the respected citizens of that place. He
married Irene Eaton, who was born in Cornwallis and died there. Pier
family came from southeastern Massachusetts to Nova Scotia about the
time of the expulsion of the Acadians, and were probably induced to settle
there by the British, who desired emigrants to fill the places of the exiled
French. Clarence E. Griffin was born in Cornwallis, December 22, 1852. His
education was obtained in the common schools of his native town and at
Acadia College, where he graduated in 1880. Before graduating, however,
he taugth school for two years, and after completing his college course he
taught one year in Yarmouth county, Nova Scotia. We next find this am
bitious young man in Harvard College, where he studied law for one year.
Like many youths of this country who have gained their goal through dif
ficulties, the next year he was again teaching school, but at the same time
zealously delving into the abstruse commentaries of Blackstone and Kent,
and in the fall of 1884 his efforts were rewarded by the coveted admission
to the bar at Dedham, Massachusetts. He then practiced at Franklin, Nor
folk county, Massachusetts, till the summer of 1891. And while here he was
successful and a popular attorney, being three times elected town clerk, and
serving three years as a member of the school board, the last year being
chairman of the board. In 1891 Mr. Griffin came west on a kind of tour of
inspection and at that time he became well satisfied with the Sound country
and forthwith located in Tacoma. In 1900 he sought the nomination for
the office of justice of the peace, received it, and in the following November
was elected on the Republican ticket by a majority of seventeen hundred.
Within a few days after the election he was appointed police judge by Mayor
L. D. Campbell, and in the summer of 1902 was renominated for the posi
tion and was elected without opposition. He has always played a prominent
part in the affairs of his party, and is an earnest advocate of Republican
principles. In October of 1886 Mr. Griffin was married to Miss Addie A. Crosby,
who is a native of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and is a descendant of an old
English family. Two children are now in their home, the eldest of whom,
Beatrice A., is twelve years old, while Ruth G. is a little miss of seven sum
mers. Judge Griffin is a Mason, belonging to the blue lodge and the chapter.
His office is located at 507 City Hall.
WILLIAM C. KEYES, M. D.
Dr. William Chauncey Keyes, of Ferndale, has attained prestige as a
member of the medical profession of Whatcom county, and, indeed, his
reputation is not limited by the confines of the county, for he is widely known
as an able practitioner and one whose skill in surgical work places him far
above the average. With a nature that could never be content with medioc
rity, he has studied broadly and labored earnestly with the result that he has
left 'the ranks of the many to stand among the successful few.
Dr. Keyes is a native of the Empire state, his birth having occurred in
Mayville, Chautauqua county, New York, on the 4th of July, 1871. His

472 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
father, Marion A. Keyes, was also born in that county, where he engaged in
business for many years as a druggist and pharmacist, but he is now living
a retired life. He is descended from English ancestry, the family having
been founded in Massachusetts during the earliest epoch in the development
of that state. Marion A. Keyes was united in marriage to Miss Katharine
Cornelia Burnett, a lady of Scotch descent, whose parents were among the
pioneer settlers of western NewYork, living in Chautauqua county. The
doctor has two brothers and two sisters : Marion A., Jr., who is practicing
law in Ferndale, Washington; Edward, a student; Minnie; and Katharine.
Dr. Keyes is the eldest son and acquired his literary education in the
public schools of his native county, there pursuing his studies until eighteen
years of age. He then determined to engage in the practice of medicine as
his life work and matriculated in the University of Buffalo, being graduated
in the medical department with the class of 1896, at which time the degree
of M. D. was conferred upon him. For a year thereafter he served in the
Fitch Accident Hospital of Buffalo, gaining broad practical experience in
surgical work, and later he spent a year and a half in the Erie County Hos
pital, at Buffalo, New York. The west with its broader opportunities, how
ever, attracted him, and in February, 1898, he located in Seattle and opened
an office, practicing there until the following November, when, seeing a more
advantageous opening at Ferndale, he came to this place, arriving on Thanks
giving day. He has since remained here, gaining favor, friendship and
patronage by reason of his sterling traits of character and his professional
skill. In addition to engaging in the general practice of medicine, he has
also conducted a private hospital in which he treats only surgical cases. He
has given considerable attention to this branch of his work since his gradua
tion, and his patrons have come to him from various sections of the state.
He has a broad knowledge of the component parts of the human body, and
his accurate knowledge of anatomy, combined with a steadiness of nerve
and a delicacy of touch, has made him a competent and successful surgeon.
In December, 1899, Dr. Keyes was married to Miss Margaret Filsinger,
a native of Buffalo and a daughter of Stephen and Margaret Filsinger, both
of whom were natives of Germany and were old pioneer settlers of Buffalo,
New York. They came to America in 1858, when children. To Dr. Keyes
and his wife have been born three sons : Roswell Park, Donald Chauncey
and Howard Craig. The Doctor is prominent and popular in a number of
fraternal organizations. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fel
lows, the Knights of the Maccabees, the Tribe of Ben Hur, the Independent
Order of Foresters and the Knights of the Golden Eagle. The favorable
opinion which his fellow-citizens passed upon him at the time he located
here has in no wise been set aside or modified, in fact, has been strengthened
as the years have gone by and he has demonstrated his ability to cope success
fully with the intricate problems continually confronting the physician in
his efforts to alleviate human suffering and prolong life.
MINOR McLAIN.
Minor McLain, who for six years has filled the position of postmaster

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 473
at Ferndale, is as loyal to his country in the discharge of the duties of civic
office as he was upon southern battlefields when he wore the blue uniform
of the nation and fought for the stars and stripes. He was born February
12, 1844, in Knox county, Ohio. His father, Abijah McLain, was a native
of Greene county, Pennsylvania, and by trade was a mason, but after his
removal to Knox county, Ohio, devoted his time and energies to agricultural
pursuits. He wedded Eliza Toppin, a native of West Virginia, and his
death occurred in 1854, when he was sixty years of age, while she passed
away in 1859, at the age of fifty-four years. They were the parents of
eight children, four sons and four daughters: George, who died in 1898;
Elizabeth, who became the wife of Michael Farley, and died in 1886; Minor,
of this review; Wesley, who is living in Columbus, Ohio; Johnson, who
diedin 1845; Harriet, who became the wife of Jehu Hall, and died in Knox
county, Ohio, in 1852; Phoebe, who married Jehu Hall, and died in Knox
county, Ohio, in 1896; and Loretta, the wife of Marion Stevenson, of Co
lumbus, Ohio.
In the county of his nativity Minor McLain began his education and
afterward continued his studies in the public schools of Columbus, Ohio, re
maining there as a student until fifteen years of age. He then entered the
business world and began learning- the trade of manufacturing woodenware,
a business which he followed for twenty-six years, with the exception of the
time which he spent in the army and a brief period in California. While
following his trade he was employed at different times in Columbus, Dayton
and Cleveland, Ohio, and in Detroit, Flint and Bay City, Michigan. At the
last named place he set up the first woodenware machinery there, installing
it in the plant of the Wooden Ware Works. He became a master of the
business during the years of his connection therewith and was therefore
qualified to fill important positions in that line.
Mr. McLain's work, however, was interrupted by his military service.
A loyal advocate of the Union cause, he enlisted in 1861, at Camp Nevin,
Kentucky, under Colonel Russeau. The company was known as Company
H, Louisville Legion, Fifth Kentucky Infantry, and with that command
Mr. McLain served for three years. He entered the army as a private, but
was promoted to the rank of first duty sergeant. After more than three
years of faithful service he received an honorable discharge and was mus
tered out in October, 1864, at Lexington, Kentucky. He participated in
many important engagements, including the battles of Shiloh, the siege of
Corinth, Chickamauga, Stone river, Missionary Ridge and the siege of
Knoxville, Tennessee. He was always loyal to the cause he espoused whether
it called him into the thickest of the -fight or stationed him upon the lonely
picket line. On returning to Cleveland, Tennessee, he was sent as an invalid
to the hospital at Chattanooga, and after his regiment returned from Atlanta
he was mustered out at Lexington, Kentucky.
Returning to the north, Mr. McLain resumed his work in wood-ware
¦manufacture. In 1873 he made a trip to California, but after a short time
returned to Bay City, Michigan, where he entered the grocery business in
partnership with E. Smith. For two years he conducted his store and then
disposed of his interest in the business, and resumed his work at the trade

±74 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
which he had mastered in his youth. In 1886 he went to Coleman, Michi
gan, and for five years was employed as superintendent of the stave works'
of George C. Weatherby & Company, of Detroit, there continuing until the
fall of 1889, when he removed to Pinconning. A year later he came to
the Pacific coast, settling first at Sehome, Washington, now Whatcom. He
was then engaged in the confectionery business until 1891, and through
the succeeding year he ran a small steamer on Lake Whatcom, between
Silver Beach and Park. In 1892 he returned to Whatcom, where once
more he engaged in the confectionery business until 1895. That year wit
nessed his arrival in Ferndale, where he also established a confectionery
store, entering upon a successful business career here. In 1897 he was
appointed postmaster of Ferndale and has since been continued in the office,
now serving for the second term to the satisfaction of all concerned, for in
the administration of the affairs of the office he is prompt and energetic.
On the 24th of December, 1871, Mr. McLain was married to Miss
Geraldine Smith, a native of Juniata, Michigan, and a daughter of Ephraim
and Mary A. F. Smith, the latter a native of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada,
while the former was born in the Empire state. He died in Pinconning,
Michigan, in March, 1891, at the age of seventy-nine years, and the mother
is U'.nv living in Bay City, Michigan, with her daughter, Mrs. T. E. Smith.
To Mr. and Mrs. McLain have been born three sons and two daughters :
Minor E., who is thirty years of age and resides in Everett, Washington;
Harriet E., the wife of W. W. Keyes, of Ferndale; Charles Wesley, who died
in Coleman, Michigan, in 1884; Antoinette, twelve years of age; and Smith,
a lad of eight years.
Mr. McLain belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in
his political affiliations is a stalwart Republican, who has firm faith in the
principles of the party and does all in his power to promote its growth and
extend its influence. His wife is an active member of the Congregational
church, and she is serving as one of its trustees. Both Mr. and Mrs. McLain
have many friends in Ferndale and Whatcom county because of the sterling
traits of their character, their genial, unaffected manner and cordial
hospitality
JOHN B. CROMWELL.
It has not been the lot of many residents of the great states of the north
west who have attained to years of maturity to have been born where they
have made the center of their life work, but with the homes of their birth
far distant they have come to these new regions attracted by the many causes
which always lead men into strange and unsettled sections, and this accounts
for the cosmopolitan character of the population and the energy and progres-
siveness of these early citizens. The present postmaster of Tacoma, Wash
ington, is a good example of a man who has figured in many of the scenes
of life and has found and filled an important niche in the new country of the
west. A good line of ancestry is an advantage to any one, and Mr. Cromwell
is peculiarly well blessed in this regard. His paternal forefathers were
English, and his great-great-grandfather, Joseph Cromwell, lived in the latter

c^z^

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 475
part of the eighteenth century and married Hannah Ely. This lady was
the daughter of Andrew Ely, who was one of the valiants who were sum
moned by the Lexington alarm on that eventful clay in April, 1775, and
who also served in different regiments throughout the Revolution, participat
ing, in the battle at White Plains. The next one in the line of descent was
also named Joseph, and his son, John Benjamin, the grandfather of our
subject, was born February 7, 1809, and died at the early age of forty, on
February 10, 1849.
Charles Walsh Cromwell, the son of the last named, was born at 63
Sullivan street, New York city, on August 4, 1830. It is of interest to note
that he was one of the old time telegraphers, being among the first who learned
that important means of communication, and he held many positions in the
service. In the early fifties he was elected superintendent of the Grand Trunk
telegraph lines, but later resigned that office in favor of James R. Boyd and
accepted the position of manager of the Montreal office, holding similar posi
tions at Buffalo, Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, also at Milan, Ohio, which
was at that time the chief grain shipping center of the state. In 1857 he
took his family to Minnesota, settling first at Plorseshoe Lake, then at Fari
bault. About this time the Civil war broke out, and he enlisted at Fort Snell-
ing in the First Minnesota Mounted Rangers, which were detailed for service
against the Indians. He was soon advanced to the rank of first lieutenant,
under the command of General Sibley, and he served in the army for a
year and eight months. After the war was over he chanced to be a party to
an incident which occurred at Mankato and caused no little excitement at
the time. Three hundred Indians had been convicted and were sentenced to
be hanged, and Lieutenant Cromwell, in the absence of the captain, was
in command of one of four companies which were detailed to carry out this
grewsome order, but all but thirty-eight of the Indians were pardoned. Soon
afterward he left the army and returned to Ohio, where for some time he
was employed as telegrapher. General Grant, on becoming president, ap
pointed him postmaster of McConnelsville, Ohio, and he was the efficient
public servant in that capacity for six years, but was compelled to retire
from business life on account of poor health, and moved to Nebraska and
thence to Tacoma, where he died on the 30th of June, 1890. He was a Re
publican in his political views, and occupied an honorable place in society
wherever his lot was cast. His wife was Caroline J. Butman, who was born
in Milan, Ohio, February 10, 1834, and is now making her home in Tacoma.
Her grandfather was Asa Butman, and her father John S., who was born
September 7, 1793, at Greenfield, New Hampshire, had the distinction of
serving in the war of 1812, and in his capacity as a stone contractor put
in the stone work in the Maumee river at Toledo Ohio. He died on the 27th
of March, 1842. Our subject has three brothers residing in Tacoma, namely:
Albert E., who is engaged in the music and piano business; Charles W., pro
prietor of the Cromwell Printing Company; and Waldo Elmore, financial
clerk in the postoffice.
With this understanding of the ancestry of John B. Cromwell we can
enter upon his own life and career. His birth occurred in Milan, Ohio, July
30, 1856, and he was six months old when his parents moved to Minnesota,

476 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
where he remained until he was seven years of age. In McConnelsville,
Ohio, he grew to manhood and received his education. Following in the
footsteps of his father he learned telegraphy, which proved of much value
to him, and before leaving McConnelsville he was a member of the post-
office staff. In 1875 he removed to Dawson county, Nebraska, and for one
year was in charge of the government telegraph wires between Fort Fetter-
man and Fort McKinney, Wyoming, conducting a test station on Powder
river, and during 'this time he had charge of the postoffice at old Fort McKin
ney. Mr. Cromwell's ability in this line" of work was recognized, and the
next position to which he was called, was in the service of the Chicago, St.
Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad. In the fall of 1883 he was attracted
to the far west and accepted a position at Bozeman, Montana, with the
Northern Pacific Company, as cashier, which he held for six months. He
then came to Tacoma and took charge of the Northern Pacific docks for two
years, and the first cargo of tea that ever went through Tacoma was billed
by him. His last work in the capacity of a telegraph operator was with the
Western Union, where he took press reports for the Tacoma Ledger and the
Tacoma News. It was at the conclusion of this service that he began his
independent business career, becoming a dealer in real estate. His appoint
ment as postmaster of Tacoma was given by President McKin
ley, and he entered upon his official duties, for which he was so well qualified
by past experience, on September 17, 1899. The office at Tacoma belongs
to the first class and is a good field for the progressive endeavors of Mr.
Cromwell. Mr. Cromwell was married on September 19, 1883, at Wilson, Wis
consin, to Mary Agnes Hicks, who comes of a Canadian family. They now
have four bright children in their home, Charles M., Helen, Juhn Butman
and Miriam. As would be inferred from what has preceded, Mr. Cromwell
is a good Republican, and he has taken an active part in the political affairs
of the county, having been a member of the county committee for several
years and a delegate to nearly all the county and state conventions since he
came to the state. He belongs to the order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen,
the National Union and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United
States, and from June, 1901, to June, 1902, he was commander of the Wash
ington and Alaska Sons of Veterans, being a member of this organization
by virtue of his father's record in the Civil war.
EDWARD B. JUDSON.
Edward B. Judson, president and manager of the Willamette Casket
Company, of Tacoma, Washington, was born in Winslow, Stephenson
county, Illinois, in 1859, his parents being Charles and Chloe (Rust) Judson,
the former a native of the state of New York, the latter of Canada. The
father emigrated westward in 1838, locating in Stephenson county, on a
farm not far from Winslow. In 1861, when the country became involved
in war over the attempt at secession in the south, he enlisted in the Union
army as a member of an Illinois regiment and served for three and a half
years, almost the entire period of the war. After the close of hostilities he

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 477
returned to his home with a creditable military record, and soon afterward
removed with his family from Winslow to Warren, in order to have the
advantages of living in a railroad town. Pie abandoned farming, which
had formerly been his occupation, and entered the employ of the Illinois
Central Railroad Company, continuing in its service in various responsible
capacities until 1894. He then left the road and is now enjoying a well
earned rest. In the meantime, in 1872, he had removed with his family to
Decatur, Illinois, where he still resides, but his wife died in that city in
1873. Mr. Judson is a well known and prominent citizen of Decatur, and
for three terms he served as its treasurer.
Edward B. Judson pursued his education in Warren and Decatur, but left
school at the age of fourteen years and began earning his own livelihood.
He obtained a position in the freight office of the Illinois Central Railroad
Company, at Decatur, and for four years continued with that road, during
which time he was several times promoted, his responsibilities and salary
being proportionately increased. He then turned his attention to the grain
trade in Decatur, in which he engaged until 1889, when, attracted by the
business possibilities of the west, he came to Tacoma.
Arriving in this city Mr. Judson established his present business, under
the firm name of the Washington Burial Casket Company. With keen fore
sight he saw the possibilities for wood-working manufacturing industries in
this country, the woods of this section furnishing the very finest materials
for coffins. In 1894 the company was reorganized and the name changed
to the Willamette Casket Company, and the plant enlarged. Mr. Judson
remained as president and manager. Mr. Judson has every reason to be
proud of the business which has been built up as a result of .his enterprising
and energetic management. The Willamette Casket Company employs con
stantly sixty men in its different departments, and it is an interesting thing
to see the work carried on from the time the wood is taken into the drying-
room, where the raw lumber is dried and seasoned, through the many suc
ceeding processes to the finishing room, where the completed product is
turned out. The main building is a large one, four stories in height. The
plant is located on East Twenty-fifth street, at the corner of G street. The
business now amounts to seventy-five thousand dollars a year, and is con
stantly growing, the trade, exclusively wholesale, extending all over the
northwest, British Columbia and Alaska. The enterprise furnishes a good
market for native woods, and by furnishing employment to a large force of
workmen increases the commercial activity and consequent prosperity of
the city. Mr. Judson is also one of the officers of the Washington Realt}
Company, which was recently organized.
In 1888, in Decatur, Illinois, Mr. Judson was united in marriage to
Miss Grace Lee Macoughtry, of that city, whose parents werd of Scotch-
English ancestry. Two children grace this union: Thomas Macoughtry
and Edward Dougald. The family home is at 511 North C street. In his
social relations Mr. Judson is an Elk and a Mason. For fourteen years he
has been a resident of Tacoma and has a wide acquaintance among business
men and in social circles. His worth as a factor in business life is widely
acknowledged, and a genial nature has also made him popular among those
whom he meets in the homes of the city.

478 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
EDWARD EVERETT BUTLER, M. D.
From no professional man do we expect or exact so many of the cardinal
virtues as from the physician. If the clergyman is austere we imagine that
his mind is absorbed with the contemplation of things beyond our ken ; if our
lawyer is brusque and crabbed it is the mark of genius; but in the physician
we expect not only superior mentality and comprehensive knowledge but
sympathy as wide as the universe. Dr. Butler in large measure meets all
of these requirements,' and is an ideal physician. He is, indeed, the loved
family doctor in many a household, and the value of his service to the com
munity cannot be overestimated.
Dr. Butler is a native son of the Evergreen state, his birth having
occurred in Rock Creek, this state, January 5, 1866, being a son of Norman
F. and Rebecca (Westfall) Butler, the former a native of Maine and the
latter of Virginia. The father, who is descended from an old New England
family, is a retired contractor and builder residing in Walla Walla, and has
now reached the seventy-fifth milestone on the journey of life. The mother,
who was a representative of a prominent southern family, died in 1886, at
the age of forty-eight years. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Butler were
two children, the daughter being Stella, the wife of J. J. Kauffman, city
marshal of Walla Walla.
Edward Everett Butler received his elementary education in the public
schools of Walla Walla, and later became a student in Whitman College of
that city. Completing his literary education at the age of eighteen years,
he then began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. J. F.
Cropp, at Walla Walla, and in September, 1886, entered the Jefferson Medi
cal College at Philadelphia, where he graduated on the 3d of April, 1889,
with the degree of M. D. Returning thence to Washington, he settled on
Fidalgo Island, and in 1893 came to Anacortes and entered upon the practice
of his chosen calling, in which he has continued with success to the present
time. ) i*,' j h<~*\
The marriage of Dr. Butler was celebrated in November, 1890, when
Miss Catherine M. Benn became his wife. She is a native of the state of
Kansas and a daughter of Frank and Mary Benn. Four children have blessed
this union : Edward Everett, a lad of eleven years ; Amy Marie, six years
of age; Marcus, four years of age; and Arthur, a babe of ten months. In
his political affiliations Dr. Butler is a Republican, and has always taken an
active interest in local and state politics. In 1894 he was the choice of his
fellow townsmen for the position of city councilman, in which position he
served for two years, and on the expiration of that period, in 1896, was
made the mayor of Anacortes, filling the latter office with efficiency for one
year. From 1897 until 1898 he again served as a councilman, and from
1895 until 1902, by successive re-elections, held the position of health officer.
Thus it will be seen that he has taken an active interest in the advancement
and promotion of the best interests of his locality, and in 1902 he was elected
to represent the fifty-first district in the state legislature, serving during the
past session. In his fraternal relations the Doctor is a member of the Knights
of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Woodmen of the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 479
World, the Independent Order of Foresters, the Knights of the Maccabees
and the Eagles. In all the varied relations of life he has been honorable,
sincere and trustworthy, and is winning the praise and admiration of all
who are associated with him in any manner.
SAMUEL BUCKNAM CHALONER.
Samuel Bucknam Chaloner, one of the representative men of Marys-
ville, Washington, was born January 25, 1850, at East Machias, Maine, and
is a son of Benjamin G. Chaloner, a native of Maine, of old pioneer stock,
his ancestors having settled in Maine about 1700, and their descendants
being prominently identified with the Revolutionary war. The father of our
subject was a lumberman and ship-builder, and died at the age of sixty-eight
years in 1877. The maiden name of the mother was Sarah Gardner, a native
of Hadley's Lake, Maine, and she came of an old New England family
dating back to the Revolutionary period. Her death occurred at eighty-four
years of age, in 1902. The following children were born to these worthy
people, namely : Lucy ; B. Thomas ; Augusta ; Hannah Antoinette, who mar
ried Frank Waswell of the J. M. W. Company, a ship-builder of Maine ; our
subject; Emma, who married Dr. Edwin Harding of Bath, Maine.
Samuel B. Chaloner was educated at the public schools of East Machias,
Maine, and at the Washington county academy, and left school at the age of
eighteen years and went to Boston, where he learned the sash and blind busi
ness and remained for six years. He then returned home and after a year
went west to the Sound, in 1876, locating first af Port Gamble, and in the
spring of 1877 went to Seattle, where he embarked in the hotel business with
John Collins, now deceased. This he continued until 1878, when he went to
California as agent for the Skagit river mines, during the early excitement.
After twenty-one months he returned to Seattle and engaged with Lin Diller
in conducting the Ermond House, thus remaining until 1881, when he re
turned to California and there conducted several hotels in and about San
Francisco for nineteen years. He once more went back to the Sound early
in 1900, and has been engaged in the hotel and restaurant business ever
since. He is now proprietor of the first-class Marysville restaurant, " The
Tavern." On June 20, 1880, he was married in Portland rto Hattie L. Carberry,
a native of Michigan and a daughter of Aaron and Julia Carberry, old pioneer
settlers of Yolo county, California. Mr. and Mrs. Chaloner were married at
the St. Charles Hotel by Judge Bibee. Fraternally Mr. Chaloner belongs to
the order of Eagles, and politically is a Republican. Few men have more
friends than Mr. Chaloner, and he is most justly regarded as one of the
representative men of Marysville.
JOHN CLARK MINTON, D.D.S.
John Clark Minton, D.D.S. , a well known dental practitioner of What
com, Washington, and one of the city's substantial and progressive citizens,
was born April 1, 1853, in Miami county, Ohio, and is a son of William and

480 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Mary A. E. (O'Neill) Minton, the former of whom was born in the state of
New York, of English ancestry, and the latter in the state of Kentucky, of
Irish progenitors.
William Minton was a well known resident of Miami county, Ohio, and
was engaged in building and contracting. His death took place in 1879.
The surviving members of his family, except Dr. Minton, are as follows :
W. II. H, a physician at Bradford Junction, Ohio; James O, a brickmason
at Pleasant Hill, Ohio; Thomas J., a contractor and builder at Eaton, Ohio;
Wilson A., a contractor and builder at Covington, Ohio; Charles A., a dairy
farmer at Colorado Springs; David L., a manufacturer of patent medicine
at Sidney, Ohio; Miss Jennie M., of Sidney, Ohio; and Bella,' wife of David
Wilmore, at Sidney, Ohio.
John Clark Minton obtained his education in the public schools at
Covington, Ohio, and at the age of twenty years graduated at the high school
of that city. In 1884 he became a student at Vanderbilt University, at
Nashville, Tennessee, where he remained two terms. In 1892 he returned
to the university, and in 1893 was graduated with the degree of D.D.S.
During the .interim he had practiced dentistry at Henrietta, Clay county,
Texas, and after taking his degree he returned to that place and practiced
till 1897, when he removed to Whatcom, where he has continued in practice
ever since. During his residence in Texas Dr. Minton was president of the
dental examining board of the thirtieth judicial district for six years, and
was chairman of the Republican central committee for a considerable period.
Aside from his profession Dr. Minton has become identified with the
people of this section, and has invested in a number of business enterprises.
He is one of the large stockholders and was one of the organizers of the
Bellingham Lumber and Shingle Company, one of the largest industries of this
section, with a paid up capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. He was ap
pointed a member of the board of the State Normal School at Whatcom to
fill the unexpired term of the late L. P. White, deceased.
On February 14, 1878, Dr. Minton was united in marriage with Hannah
E. Butterworth, a daughter of Joseph Butterworth, a farmer of Ridgeville,
Indiana, and a native of England. Dr. Minton and wife belong to the
Methodist church. Fraternally Dr. Minton belongs to both the Masons and
the Knights of Pythias. In the former organization he is past master of
the blue lodge, present high priest of the chapter, senior warden of the
Knights Templar, and a Shriner; in the latter he is past chancellor. Since
locating in this city he has made many friends both in the profession and
outside, by whom he is very highly esteemed.
HENRY" W. BURKHART.
Henry W. Burkhart, who is the superintendent of the electric lighting
system for the Everett Railroad and Electric Light Company, at Everett,
was born in Chicago, Illinois, on the 2d of January, 1870. Early in life he
became imbued with the progressive spirit which has wrought the wonderful
development of his native place and made its growth one of the marvels of
the age, and throughout his business career this same spirit of enterprise

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 481
and progress has been manifested. Mr. Burkhart comes of German lineage.
His father, William Burkhart, was a native of Germany, and during his
childhood was brought to America by his parents, who settled in Chicago
about 1820, when the present city of two- million inhabitants was but a mere
village, containing a population of only a few hundred. William Burkhart
was a musician, devoting his entire life to that art. He wedded Mary Land-
graf, also a native of the fatherland, and who came to the United States
during her early girlhood with her parents, who likewise settled in Chicago
in its pioneer days. Mr. Burkhart passed away at the age of sixty-nine years,
and his wife is living in Chicago, Illinois. They were the parents of five
sons and five daughters : George, Charlie, William, Edward, Louise, Au
gusta, Minnie, Gertrude, Emma and Henry W. Of this number Edward
is now living in Everett, being connected with the electric department here.
Henry W. Burkhart pursued his literary education in the public schools
of Chicago and afterward attended the mechanical and agricultural college
at Ames, Iowa, being graduated from that institution with the class of 1892.
Thus fitted by excellent scientific training for the work which he wished to
make his life occupation, he engaged with the Western Electric Company
of Chicago, with which he remained for about two years. During that
time he was connected with the installation of the company's exhibit at
the World's Columbian Exposition. In March, 1893, he went to Sacramento,
California, and was in charge of the construction of the electric light station
and also the Sacramento gas works in the capital city. On the completion
of his task there he went to Santa Barbara, California, in 1897, and was en
gaged in the operation of the gas plant in that place for a year. He next
turned his attention to the raising of cattle and other stock in the Santa Ynez
valley of California, and in the fall of 1900 he went to San Francisco, again
resuming work at his chosen calling. There he was in charge of the San
Francisco Coke & Gas Company's plant as its superintendent, occupying
that position until his removal to Everett in 1901. Here he installed the
gas works for the Northwestern Light & Power Company, building the sta
tion and laying the mains, in fact, having entire charge of the plant as
resident engineer. After the completion of the work he took charge of the
plant as general manager, and continued to act in that capacity until No
vember, 1902, when he entered the services of the Everett Railway & Elec
tric Company as superintendent of its electric lighting system at Everett. He
is now acting in that capacity. Mr. Burkhart has executed important work
in connection with the different companies who have engaged his services.
He is splendidly qualified for the line of activity which he has chosen, having
a thorough understanding of the great scientific principles which underlie
mechanical construction, and at the same time possessing broad practical
knowledge of the work in every department, so that he very capably super
intends the labors of those who work under him.
In November, 1897, at Santa Barbara, California, occurred the marriage
of Mr. Burkhart and Miss Sophia de la Cuesta, a native of California, her
parents being Mr. and Mrs. Roman de la Cuesta, of an old Spanish Cas-
tilian family that was established in California at an early epoch in its de
velopment. The father of Mrs. Burkhart was not only a prominent and
31

4S2 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
influential citizen there, but also a large landowner. To Mr. and Mrs. Burk
hart has been born one son, Edwin, now a little lad of four years.
Mr. Burkhart gives his political support to the Democracy, and socially
he is identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the
Masonic fraternity. He also belongs to the Pacific Coast Gas Association,
and he is interested in everything- pertaining to- his chosen pursuit and to
the broadening of knowledge concerning the best methods of work. He is
yet a young man, but has already achieved creditable success, and, possessing
laudable ambition and enterprise, will undoubtedly continue to work his way
upward. SUTCLIFFE MacQUINN.
The originators of any undertaking which promotes commercial activity
and furnishes employment to many workmen are the real upbuilders of the
district with which they are connected, and the men who receive public regard
are the promoters of enterprises which add not alone to their individual suc
cess but prove of value to the community as well. Sutcliffe MacQuinn is the
pioneer of an industry which is being rapidly developed on the Pacific coast,
the canning of crabs, and in trade circles he has become well known. He
was born in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, November 28, 1857, and his parents,
Edwin and Dorinda (Leslie) MacQuinn, were also natives of the same
country. The father was captain of a vessel, and was lost at sea in 187 1,
when forty-five years of age, but the mother is still a resident of Liverpool.
Our subject has two brothers, Ellsworth and Perry, deceased, and two sisters,
Deborah, the wife of Lorenzo Kincade, and Laura K., the widow of Watson
Coops. In the public schools of his native city Sutcliffe MacQuinn was educated,
and at the age of seventeen he put aside his textbooks to enter upon his busi
ness career. He began working for the Lockport Canning Company, of
Lockport, Nova Scotia, operating extensive lobster canneries along the At
lantic coast from Newfoundland to the gulf of St. Lawrence. After two
years Mr. MacQuinn, who had mastered the business and had been promoted
several times, was sent to Port Medway to take charge, as superintendent, of
the cannery at that point, and continued to conduct it for two years. He then
returned to Lockport and through the succeeding years was superintendent
of the cannery at that point. In the spring of 1887 he was sent by the same
company to the fishing grounds along the coast of Newfoundland, to build
and put in operation several canneries. He established three at different
points, remaining there through the fishing season as general superintendent
for ten years.
In the spring of 1897 Mr. MacQuinn was attracted to the Klondike
country, going by way of the Edmonton route, but after reaching a point
about six hundred miles south of Dawson was obliged to retrace his steps
because of the lack of provisions, and after sixteen months of traveling in
that country he arrived at Vancouver, British Columbia, on the 28th of July,
1899. Knowing that there was an extensive but as yet undeveloped industry
in the canning of crabs, the work having never been done as yet on the Pacific

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 483
coast, he interested certain capitalists and organized a company which was
known as the National Packing Company. He was made general superin
tendent of the plant, for which position his previous years of experience in
the canning business well qualified him. After demonstrating that crabs
could be as successfully packed for the market as lobsters, others became
interested in the enterprise, and the National Packing & Cold Storage Com
pany, of San Francisco, seeing the possibilities for a new industry, made
arrangements to secure his services. They built an extensive plant on the
tide waters of Semiahmoo bay with a capacity of one hundred and fifty cases
per day, and they now furnish employment to one hundred and fifty men.
Mr. MacQuinn has remained as general superintendent, instructing the men
in the work as well as superintending the financial interests of the company,
and the enterprise is now upon a paying basis. The crabs are caught in
traps at a depth of from twenty-five to fifty feet and are brought direct to
the cannery, where they are cooked in large, wire, basket-like receptacles,
after which the claws and shells are removed and the meat is then thoroughly
washed before it is canned and packed. The meat of the crab is considered
by epicures to be of a much finer grain and flavor than that of the lobster,
and is superior for salads and other dishes.
On the ioth of May, 1885, Mr. MacQuinn was united in marriage to
Miss Augusta Muir Reid, a native of Lockport, Nova Scotia, and a daughter
of Matthew and Sarah (Maclnness) Reid, both of whom were natives of
the same country. Mr. and Mrs. MacQuinn have a pleasant home in Blaine,
and have already won many friends here. He belongs to the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. He has formed quite an extensive acquaintance in
trade circles, and in the establishment of the enterprise of which he is the
superintendent has displayed excellent business ability and executive force.
FRANK J. BARNARD.
Among the prominent and influential citizens of Seattle, Washington,
few, if any, have a wider acquaintance or are held in higher esteem than
Frank J. Barnard. He was born in Medina, Ohio, March 26, 1852. The
ancestors of his family were among the early settlers of Connecticut. Later
generations emigrated to Ohio, and in Medina county, that state, Judge
Samuel G. Barnard, the father of our subject, was born. Frank J. is the
eldest of four children. His primary education was received in the public
schools of his native town. He then entered Kenyon grammar school at
Gambier, and from there he went to Oberlin and began the study of the
languages preparatory to a course in the classics. This course, however, was
not completed, but was changed to German, French and philosophy. He
entered Cornell University in 1870, remaining two years, when he left to
earn funds to continue the course. Offers came to him to teach, and he
began in the country, " boarding around," as was the custom. He was then
sent to Celina, Ohio, at the suggestion of Professor Andrew J. Pickoff, one
of the most distinguished educators of that state. He remained in Celina
two years, during which time he elevated the public schools of that place
from their primitive character to a graded condition. Prior to going to

484 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Celina, Mr. Barnard had taken a partial course at Cornell University, Ithaca,
New York, to which place he returned from Celina. He remained there
until his course was nearly completed, but his funds were used up and his
strength exhausted from double work. Then he accepted the superintendency
of the Middletown, Ohio, schools. Before leaving Ithaca, he was met on
the street by W. E. Russell, vice president of the university, who offered to
loan him money to complete his course, but Mr. Barnard's word was out to
go to Middletown, which he did, and remained there until 1890, thirteen
years, when he came to Seattle to accept the superintendency of the schools
of this city.
It was the wish of the citizens of Seattle to make the public school
system second to none in the United States. The schools had reached a
condition where there was need of reorganization upon a more liberal plan,
the school registration in September, 1890, numbering 3,398 pupils and
eighty-five teachers. The first necessity .was a head — a master mind — to
organize the system in all its parts and direct it harmoniously as a whole.
He must be a man of thorough education, a practical teacher, a trained and
experienced administrator and a man young enough to adapt himself to
local conditions and to bring strength and enthusiasm to his work. There
were many applicants for the place, and after long and careful consideration
Professor Barnard was engaged for the work. He met every emergency
with a steadiness of grasp and a tact that illustrated his perfect fitness for
educational work. At the close of his first year the board of education en
gaged him for a term of three years.
The progress of the schools was marked under Professor Barnard's
administration, as was well shown in the magnificent " Seattle School Ex
hibit " in the World's Fair. One prominent feature of the Seattle schools is
the plan of promotion and classification introduced by Mr. Barnard whereby
pupils are enabled to advance in their work strictly according to their indi
vidual abilities, the slow thinkers not being hurried nor the rapid ones
retarded. By this system large numbers of pupils complete the study in
from six months to two years' less time, thereby not only saving to the
parents and taxpayers thousands of dollars, but greatly increasing the
thoroughness of the work done by both pupils and teachers. The corps of
instructors number graduates from many colleges of the United States and
many different normal schools. In the eleven years that Mr. Barnard held
the position of city superintendent the growth of the schools was marvelous,
increasing from sixty teachers in the spring of 1890 to two hundred and
sixty in 1901 ; the pupils enrolled increasing in the same period from three
thousand to eleven thousand. Mr. Barnard resigned the position of superin
tendent of the Seattle schools about two years ago, and has since been the
western agent of the American Book Company of New York.
Mr. Barnard was married in Cleveland, Ohio, November 28, 1877, to
Miss Annah L. Fish, a former teacher of the public schools of that city and
a daughter of Bethuel and Lucy Fish of that place. Mrs. Branard was born
in Cleveland September 30, 1852. They have two children : Frank T. Bar
nard, a mining engineer, born July 10, 1880; and B. Louise Barnard, born
February 17, 1882.

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 485
GERPI. ERICKSEN.
Gerh. Ericksen, postmaster at Bothell, Washington, was born May 26,
i860, in Molde, Norway, a son of Carl J. Ericksen, who was born in Bergen,
Norway, and was a coppersmith and plumber. His death occurred in 1879.
' The mother bore the maiden name of Gertrude Gjerto, and she was born in
Molde and died in 1898. The family is traced back hundreds of years to the
Lunde family, and is connected with the earliest history of Norway.
Gerh. Ericksen was educated in the Molde high school, from which he
was graduated in 1879. At that time his was one of the richest families in
the place, but through unfortunate investment the father lost everything.
The young man came to America in 1881, going to Valley City, North
Dakota, and engaged in wheat farming, but this was a failure, and he had
to borrow thirty-five dollars to get to the coast in 1883. He worked a few
days at Pasco on the Northern Pacific under Nelson Bennett, contractor;
then went to Portland, Oregon, and after a short stay went to Seattle, Wash
ington, in 1883, looking for land. Finding one hundred and sixty acres
north of Lake Washington, close to Bothell, he secured it and made improve
ments upon it, and still owns the property.
In 1887 Mr. Ericksen opened a general store in Bothell and has been
conducting it ever since. In 1895 he started constructing a lumber flume
up north creek, a distance of six miles, bringing shingle bolts to the
mills at Bothell. Mr. Ericksen is really father of the town, as he was the
first man to locate there, and by building the flume he made possible the estab
lishment of the mills.
In politics he is a Republican, being active in county and state conven
tions, although he has never aspired to office. He was first appointed post
master under Cleveland, first administration, and reappointed by President
McKinley, and has held the position ever since, with the exception of Cleve
land's second term. Mr. Ericksen has been school director for nine years
and is a man very highly esteemed in the community.
On May 2, 1888, he was married in Tacoma to Dorothy K. Love, a
native of Norway, and a daughter of T. K. Love, who has been a school
teacher in Tvedestrand, Norway, for fifty years, and who comes of a very
prominent family. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ericksen,
namely : George, Carlton, Lloyd, Martha, Gertrude and Dorothy. They
are consistent members of the Lutheran church and take an active part in
its good work. Fraternally Mr. Ericksen is a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows and the Maccabees. He encountered all the hardships
of the pioneer in the wilderness when he first settled in this locality. His
only means of communication with Seattle was by canoe, and the distance
was twenty-two miles. During the hard times of 1892-3 he met with financial
loss, at one time lost from ten to fifteen thousand dollars, but now he is in a
very prosperous condition, and is one of Bothell's leading men.
HENRY M. WHITE.
Henry M. White, who is serving as city attorney of Whatcom, was

486 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
born in Lewis county, West Virginia, April 9, 1874. His father, Alexander
P. White, is also a native of that state and is descended from good old Revo
lutionary stock of English lineage. He is an own cousin of Stonewall Jack
son. His mother was a sister of the father of this noted general. John
White, father of Alexander P., furnished a part of the money to pay Gen
eral Jackson's tuition while he was a student at West Point. A. P. White
has spent his entire life in West Virginia, and is now living on a farm there.
He wedded Mary C. Fetty, who was born in the same state and was of
Scotch-English descent. Her death occurred in January, 1897. In the
family were' three sons and three daughters. The brothers of our subject
are Cummins E., a practicing physician of Buckhannon, West Virginia; and
Pitt F., a member of the corporation of Wilson-Noble-Barr Company, whole
sale and retail grocers and mill-owners of Whatcom. The sisters are Emma.
the wife of William S. O'Brien, a lawyer of Buckhannon, West Virginia;
Georgia, the wife of A. A. Rohrbough, a farmer of Lewis county, West
Virginia; and Delphia, the wife of William S. Gibson, a merchant of Canton,
Ohio. The district schools of his native county afforded Henry M. White his
early educational privileges, and at the age of nineteen he entered the Uni
versity of West Virginia, at Morgantown, and was there graduated on the
completion of the collegiate and law courses, in the spring of 1899, with the
degrees of LL.B. and B.L. While in college he took an active part in ath
letics, and was captain of the football team of the class of '97. After his
graduation he entered the office of his brother-in-law, William S. O Brien,
at Buckhannon, West Virginia, and on the 1st of May, 1900, left the east
for Whatcom, Washington, where he at once entered upon the practice of
law. On the 1st of July, 1901, he was appointed city attorney to fill out the
unexpired term of Colonel J. J. Weisenberger, made vacant by death. The
following December he was elected to the office for a year and filled it so
acceptably that he was re-elected for the year 1903, on the citizens' ticket.
In the discharge of his duties he is fearless and faithful, and his course has
won high commendation. In politics he is an active, earnest Democrat, and
does all in his power to promote the growth and insure the success of his
party, and in the fall of 1902 he was a delegate to the Democratic state con
vention at Tacoma. While in school he became one of the charter members
of Mu Mu chapter of Sigma Chi, fraternity and he belongs to the Knights
of Pythias and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He is an earnest and discrim
inating student of his profession.
THOMPSON D.' SAYRE, M. D.
Dr. Thompson D. Sayre, one of the leading physicians of the city of
Marysville, Washington, was born September 20, 1866, in Montreal, Canada,
and is a son of Captain William J. Sayre, a native of New Brunswick, who
was a sea captain and lost his life at sea in 1868 when only twenty-nine years
of age. The maiden name of the mother was Sarah Anne Copp, and she was
also born in New Brunswick, and both she and her husband came of good
old Canadian families. The mother passed away aged fifty-four years. The

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 487
great-grandfather of our subject on the paternal side was the first Church of
England clergyman of New Brunswick. Our subject had one sister, who
died at the age of seven years.
Thompson D. Sayre was educated in the public schools at Amhurst,
Nova Scotia, and McGill University, from which he was graduated in 1891
with the degrees of' M. D., C. M. He then went to the London College of
Physicians and Surgeons, from which he was graduated- with the degree of
M. R. C. S. Later he visited Paris and Berlin, and then took a trip to the
western coast of Africa to study tropical diseases. After remaining four
months he returned to Liverpool, and thence traveled to Montreal, and for
about a year was engaged in active practice in that city. He was attending
surgeon at the Women's Hospital in Montreal. In 1902 he came west to
Puget Sound, and after obtaining the necessary papers located in Marysville
and took up the practice of his profession.
August 17, 1899, he was married to Alice Beatrice Butterworth, a
native of Montreal and a daughter of William J. and Helen Butterworth,
both natives of Canada. Dr. Sayre is surgeon for the Elder-Dempster
Steamship Company of Liverpool, which is the largest shipping company in
the world; medical examiner for the leading life insurance companies of
Marysville, including the Mutual Life of New York and the Mutual Benefit
of Newark, New Jersey. Dr. Sayre is a man of unusual attainments and
scholarly inclinations, and Marysville may well be proud of his presence.
WILLIAM WHITFIELD.
William Whitfield, who is engaged in the grocery business in Sno
homish, was born September 1, 1846, in the world's metropolis, London,
England. He is the eldest child of Thomas and Susan (Middleton) Whit
field, in whose family were four sons and two daughters. The parents were
also natives of England, and in the year 1866 the father removed with his
family to New Zealand, where he spent his remaining days, dying in 1895
at the advanced age of eighty-four years. By trade he was a cooper. His
wife passed away in 1889 when seventy-two years of age. The brothers and
sisters of our subject are Thomas, Henry, George, Elizabeth and Annie, all of
whom are living in New Zealand.
When a lad of about six years William Whitfield became a student in
the public schools of London, where he continued his studies until eleven
years of age. He then started out in life for himself, and has since been
dependent upon his own resources. He was a young boy to face the stern
realities of a business career, but he has always shown marked self-reliance
and strength of purpose, and the success he has achieved has come to him
as the direct reward of his earnest labors. He followed the sea for some
time, sailing along the coast of England, and on the 22d of June, 1864, he
left Liverpool for America, making a voyage by way of Cape Horn to Vic
toria, British Columbia, where he arrived on the 24th of December of that
year. In January, 1865, Mr. Whitfield came to the Sound country, locating
first at Dungeness, and in that locality he worked for a short time as a farm
hand. In May, however, he removed to Mukilteo, in Snohomish county.

488 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Here and in the vicinity he worked in the logging camps until 1869, when he
made a trip to New Zealand to visit his people, who in the meantime had
located in that country.
In the summer of 1870 Mr. Whitfield returned to the United States,
and after two years spent in Indiana he again came to. the Sound country,
settling at Lowell, Snohomish county, where he was employed in different
lumber camps until 1874. In that year he was elected county commissionei
of Snohomish county and served for a term of two years. He proved such
a capable officer and so clearly demonstrated his fidelity to duty that in 1876
he was chosen by popular suffrage to the office of sheriff of Snohomish
county, and in that position he remained for four years, retiring from the
office at the close of 1880. During the years 188 1-2 Mr. Whitfield engaged
in steamboating on the Sound and then again came to Snohomish, purchasing
a farm about one mile east of the city. Turning his attention to agricultural
pursuits, he continued to engage in the cultivation of the soil and the im
provement of his property until 1902, when he sold it and took up his abode
in the city. Here he became actively interested in the management of the
grocery house of which he is now proprietor, his partner in the enterprise
being S. Vestal. Mr. Whitfield had acquired an interest in this business
about twelve years prior to his removal to the city, but had left its manage
ment to his partner.
In June, 1871, in Evansville, Indiana, was celebrated the marriage of
Mr. Whitfield and Miss Alvina Geue, a native of Indiana, and a daughter of
Fred W. and Wilhelmina Geue, both of whom are natives of Germany and
were early settlers of Evansville. Mr. and Mrs. Whitfield now have three
sons and two daughters : Susan, who is the wife of Samuel J. Nerdrum, of
Sedro Woolley, Washington; Minnie, who is the wife of F. J. Nickerman;
William, Guy and George, who are still under the parental roof.
Mr. Whitfield belongs to the Masonic fraternity and is one of its
exemplary representatives, being in hearty sympathy with its teachings con
cerning the brotherhood of man. He votes with the Republican party and
takes an active interest in local and state politics, frequently serving as a
delegate to the county and state conventions. In addition to the offices that
he has held, which have been mentioned already in this review, he has served
as one of the three tide-land appraisers for Snohomish county, having been
appointed to the office by Governor Ferry. His life has been a busy and
useful one, and Mr. Whitfield may well be called a self-made man, for,
starting out on his own account at the age of eleven years, he has worked
his way upward undeterred by obstacles or difficulties, using these simply as
an impetus for renewed effort. ELMER C. MILLION.
Elmer C. Million, president and a member of the board of directors of
the First National Bank of Mt. Vernon, Washington, was born February
28, 1864, at Belleville, Illinois, and is a son of John T. and Harriett P.
(Wilder) Million, the former of whom was born in 1812 at Belleville, where
his parents located in 1800. Our subject's grandfather was a contractor for
the continental army. The mother of Mr. Million was of Scotch ancestry,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 489
and was born in Conneaut, Ohio, in 1823, and died in Blackwell, Oklahoma,
in 1898.
Mr. Million is one of a family of eight sons and three daughters born
to his parents, namely: Orrin B., a farmer of Mt. Vernon; John A., a car
penter of Blackwell, Oklahoma; Oscar A., of Blackburn, Oklahoma, a farmer
and stock-raiser ; Stephen D., an attorney at Pond Creek, Oklahoma ; Richard
K., a stockman of Dexter, Kansas ; George W., a soliciting agent at Albu
querque, New Mexico; Marshall W., connected with the General Electric
Company at Seattle; Amanda M., wife of William W. Whiteside, miner and
ranchman at Cimarron, Colorado; Laura R., wife of Joseph L. Hall, hotel-
keeper at Gibbs, Missouri ; Letitia A., wife of William Van Ormer, a rancher
at Baker City, Oregon; and our subject.
Elmer C. Million attended the public schools in the vicinity of his home
in Kansas and then began teaching in Osage county, in the meantime reading
law with Judge William Thompson, of Burlingame, Kansas. He was ad
mitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one years, in Osage county, and started
into practice at Dexter, in Cowley county. In 1899 he came to Mt. Vernon,
and has been engaged in a successful practice ever since. He is identified
with many of the leading financial and business enterprises of this portion
of the state. In 1891 the First National Bank of Mt. Vernon was organized,
with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, the only national bank
in the city. Since 1902 Mr. Million has been its efficient president, with
E. W. Andrews, vice president, and R. G. Hannaford, cashier. Mr. Million
is the president and one of the organizers of the Lyman Lumber Company of
Mt. Vernon, operating a logging camp at Hamilton, Washington; president
and one of the organizers of the Million Investment & Trust Company of
Mt. Vernon, organized January 1, 1897; secretary and one of the organizers
in 1899 of the English Lumber Company, which operates a camp at Fir,
with headquarters at Seattle; secretary and one of the organizers in 1901
of the Tyree Logging Company, operating a camp at Sedro Woolley; vice
president and organizer in 1897 of the Skagit Abstracting Company of Mt.
Vernon; member of the executive board of the Skagit County Fair Asso
ciation, organized in 1901 ; one of the organizers of the Siwash shingle mill
in Mt. Vernon, in 1902, later sold to Roe & Horn; secretary and one of the
organizers of the Samish River Boom Company, organized in 1900; and
secretary and one of the organizers of the Skagit Shingle Company of Mt.
Vernon, in 1899.
In politics Mr. Million is an active and representative Democrat, and
for the past eight years has been on both the state and county committees
and a delegate to the conventions. In 1890-91 he was city attorney of Mt.
Vernon; was judge of the superior court of Skagit and Island counties in
1902-3, and was defeated for the position of judge of the supreme court of
the state in 1900 on the Democratic ticket.
On May 10, 1888, Mr. Million was married to Ella Barrow at Sedan,
Kansas, daughter of F. M. Barrow, of Ashley, Missouri, an old Kentucky
family of Irish descent. One son, Ten, was born October 14, 1889, a student
in the local schools. The second marriage of Mr. Million was to Beatrice
L. Wilson, on January 31, 1903, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mrs. Million
was born at Altoona, Pennsylvania.

490 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY'.
Mr. Million is a public-spirited man. He is fraternally connected with
the Masonic blue lodge and Royal Arch chapter, of Mt. Vernon, the com-
mandery at Whatcom; the Mystic Shrine at Tacoma. He also belongs to
the orders of the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Ancient Order of United
Workmen, the Elks and the Hoo Hoos.
GEORGE M. COCHRAN.
George M. Cochran was born on the 28th of June, 1863, in Houlton,
Maine, and is now a resident of Snohomish, Washington, so that the width
of the continent separates him from his birthplace. He is a son of Henry
Peter Cochran, who is likewise a native of the Pine Tree state and was of
Irish lineage, although the family was planted on American soil at a very
early date by ancestors who settled in New England. The father of our
subject became a merchant, and for many years has been identified with
commercial pursuits in that way. He is now living in Tacoma at the age of
sixty-nine years, and his wife has reached the age of sixty-four years. 'She
bore the maiden name of Addie H. Keaton, and was also born in Maine.
George M. Cochran has two brothers and two sisters : Henry M., who is
engaged in the practice of dentistry in Idaho; Wilbur A., who is proprietor
of a hardware store in that state; Mrs. Alice G. Bacon, of Olympia; and
Mrs. Addie May Swinson, of Tacoma, Washington.
To the public school system of his native city George M. Cochran is
indebted for the educational privileges which he enjoyed. He continued his
studies until he reached the age of fifteen years, when he began earning his
own livelihood, and whatever success he has since achieved is due entirely
to his own enterprise and unfaltering efforts. He first began work in a
drug store, and in 1882-3 he was a student in the College of Pharmacy at
Boston, Massachusetts. In the latter year he came to Washington. He had
become interested in the marvelous growth and improvement of the north
west and believed that it would prove an excellent field of labor. Accord
ingly he made his way to the Pacific coast and took up his abode in Monte
sano, Chehalis county, where he became connected with the hardware trade
as a partner of E. A. Lancaster. After the death of his partner the follow
ing year, his brother Wilbur purchased an interest in the business, and
together they conducted the trade with growing success until 1898. In the
spring of that year Mr. Cochran established at Snohomish a similar enter
prise under the name of the Snohomish Hardware Company. In the winter of
1901 his brother Wilbur sold his interest to C. N. Wilson, and in the spring
of 1901 George M. Cochran came to Snohomish to take charge of the busi
ness, and has here since made his home. He now has a well appointed store,
carrying a large and carefully selected stock of shelf and heavy hardware,
and the business methods of the firm have gained the confidence and liberal
support of the public.
Mr. Cochran was married the first time in April, 1887, to Miss Laura
Campbell, a native of Illinois, and they became the parents of a daughter and
son, Alta and Ralph. In 1893 the wife and mother died, and in April, 1897,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 491
Mr. Cochran was again married, his second union being with Miss Retta
Baker, who, was also born in Illinois and was a daughter of William D. and
Amanda (Young) Baker, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Mrs.
Cochran is a direct descendant of Colonel Baker, 'who won distinction and
fame in the Revolutionary war, and who at his death left an estate which is
now partly comprised within the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By
¦ the second marriage of our subject there is one son, Lyall, who is now five
years of age.
Mr. Cochran gives his political support to the Democracy, and was for
merly an active worker in its ranks, but the demands of his growing business
now leave him little time for political labor. While residing at Montesano
he served as chief deputy in the office of the county treasurer for four years,
from 1897 until 1901. He now belongs to the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, to the Woodmen of the World and to the Knights of the Maccabees.
He made no mistake when he decided to seek a home on the Pacific coast.
He found in the business advantages of the far west the opportunities he
sought, and a spirit of marked enterprise and industry has characterized his
mercantile career here. Although his residence in Snohomish covers but
two years, during this time he has won public confidence and respect by his
honorable methods and his diligence.
MICHAEL JOSEPH McGUINNESS.
Michael Joseph McGuinness, who is now practicing at the bar of Sno
homish county and makes his home in the city of Snohomish, is a native of
county Cavan, Ireland, where he was born on the 30th of March, 1858. He
belongs to a family of eight children, whose parents were Patrick and Ellen
(Dougherty) McGuinness. The father was a farmer by occupation, always
following that pursuit in order to provide for the wants of his wife and
children. He died at the extreme old age of ninety-five years, and his wife
passed away at the age of sixty years. The brothers and sisters of our sub
ject are as follows: James; Patrick; Andrew; Eugene; Owen, deceased;
Margaret; and Bridget, who is the wife of William Quinn, a resident of
Snohomish. Michael J. McGuinness began his education in a " hedge school " and
later attended a private school. Afterward he continued his studies in a
public school, and when thirteen years of age put aside his textbooks. Leav
ing home, he went to Toronto, Canada, where he arrived in the spring of
1872, and there began work in a private family. While thus engaged he
attended a private school conducted at night, taking up a regular course of
study which he pursued partly under the tutelage of the most Rev. Arch
bishop Welsh. He afterward pursued a finishing course in St. Michael's
College of Toronto and was graduated in the class of 1878. He also took up
the study of law while in that institution and although he did not at once
begin practice, in later years his knowledge there acquired became of much
value to him. In April succeeding his graduation Mr. McGuinness returned
to Ireland and while in the old world he visited England and Scotland. _ In
the fall of 1878, however, he once more came to the United States, this time

492 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY'.
taking up his abode in Chicago, Illinois, where he secured employment in an
architect's office. In the spring of 1879 he went to St. Joseph, Missouri,
where he was married, and his business connection in that city was with a
prominent packing company. He remained in St. Joseph until 1889 and
was very successful there, making judicious investments in real estate and
accumulating considerable property. In the spring of 1889 he arrived in the
Puget Sound country, settling at Snohomish, and here he engaged in con
tracting and building. He also followed the same pursuit in Seattle, Ana
cortes and Everett, being thus closely associated with the building interests
of this portion of the state until 1893. Desiring, however, to follow a pro
fessional career, he took an examination that year which admitted him to
the bar, and through the past decade he has been engaged in the practice of
law. In the preparation of his cases he is thorough and exhaustive, and his
broad knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence, combined with his ready
adaptability of law principles to the points at issue, has made him a practi
tioner of force, and he has won many notable cases in the courts of his
locality. In 1896 he was elected justice of the peace and filled that position
for two years. In 1897 he was minute-clerk during the sessions of the legis
lature when Governor Rogers was occupying the gubernatorial chair.
There is no field that is more inviting to a man of ability nor one in
which his activity can be 'more productive of results of far-reaching im
portance than that of politics, and the community is to be congratulated on
account of having one who gives his best energies and efforts to promoting
the success of the Populist party, with which he is affiliated. He has been a
delegate to its county and state conventions, and has labored untiringly for
its welfare, believing that its platform contains the best elements of good
government. On the 22d of September, 1881, Mr. McGuinness was united in mar
riage, at St. Joseph, Missouri, to Miss Mary A. O'Brien, a native of Elgin,
Illinois. They traveled life's journey happily together for about fifteen years,
and then Mrs. McGuinness was called to her final rest. They had become
the parents of nine children, but six of that number died in infancy. Those
still living are Andrew, who is now sixteen years of age; Joseph, a youth of
eleven years; and Margaret, a maiden of eight summers. On the 15th of
June, 1897, Mr. McGuinness was again married, his second union being with
Eleanor R. Donaldson, a native of Wisconsin, and a daughter of William
Edgar and Elizabeth Donaldson, who are residents of Seattle. Mr. and
Mrs. McGuinness had two children, but William E. died in infancy. Ellen
is the baby of the household. Fraternally Mr. McGuinness is connected with
the Knights of the Maccabees, with the Fraternal Aid Association, the Court
of Honor and the Knights of the Golden Eagle. Recently he has purchased
a part of the old Ferguson homestead overlooking the Snohomish river and
has erected thereon one of the most handsome residences in this city. He has
certainly made no mistake in choosing America as the place of his residence,
and there is no native son more loyal to the interests of the United States
than he.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 493
GEORGE HOLCOMB.
George Holcomb is one of the popular and enterprising- young men of
Everett, where he is now holding the position of city treasurer. He was
born on the 2d of July, 1866, in Ulster, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and
is a son of Charles W. and Fanny J. (Davidson) Plolcomb. Iiis father is
a native of Ulster, Pennsylvania, and was descended from English ancestry.
The family, however, is one of long connection with America, for prior tc
the Revolution representatives of the name came to the new world. During
his active business life Charles W. Holcomb followed farming, that being
for a long period his chief occupation. In 1891 he came to Everett, where
he is now living retired at the venerable age of seventy-seven years. His
wife, who was born in Pennsylvania, is now living at the age of seventy-two
years, and she is also a representative of an old American family. The chil
dren born to this worthy couple are as follows : Ancil, who is a resident
farmer of Snohomish county; Fred, who is living in Everett; Bert, who
makes his home in Duluth, Minnesota; John W., a resident of Buffalo, New
York; Fannie J., who is living in Everett; and George.
The last named pursued his education in the public schools of Ulster,
Pennsylvania, until 1886, and after putting aside his textbooks he spent a
year and a half in Kansas. On the 18th of December, 1889, he came to the
northwest, . locating in Seattle just after the great fire which practically de
stroyed the city. There he was engaged in the livery business for a time
and later was connected with the street railroad work until 1891. In that
year he came to Everett, where he was again connected with the street rail
road work for two years. In 1893 he became a factor in commercial circles
here, establishing a grocery store which he conducted with success until
1901. The following year he was elected city treasurer for the year 1903,
and is now the incumbent in that position. He has taken a very active in
terest in local politics and also in the success of his party in state and nation,
doing everything in his power to promote Republican sentiment and to secure
the success of Republican measures. Fraternally he is connected with the
Knights of Pythias, with the Improved Order of Red Men, the Woodmen of
the World, the Order of Pendo, and the Independent Order of Foresters.
In the upbuilding and progress of Everett he has ever manifested a deep
interest during the years of his residence here, and has given his support to
those measures calculated to prove of public good. His strict integrity and
honorable dealing in business commend him to the confidence of all; his
pleasant manner wins him friends; and he is one of the popular and honored
citizens of Snohomish county.
ROWLAND E. DAVIS.
Rowland Edwin Davis holds and merits a place among the representa
tive citizens of Anacortes and Skagit county, and the story of his life offers
a typical example of that alert American spirit which has enabled many an
individual to rise from obscurity to a position of influence solely through
native talent, indomitable perseverance and singleness of purpose. He was

494 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
born on the 21st of September, i860, at Port Burwell, Ontario, Canada, and
is a son of James L. and Amelia B. (Barnum) Davis. The former is also a
native of Ontario, Canada, and is a representative of an old Canadian family
of English and Welsh descent. For many years he was engaged in the timber
industry, but is now living retired from the active duties of a business life
and makes his home in Victoria, British Columbia, having reached the .age
of seventy-two years. The mother of our subject also claimed Ontario as
the place of her nativity, and on the maternal side she is descended from
English ancestry, while paternally she belongs to an old American family
from Connecticut. She, too, is still living, at the age of sixty-four years. In
the family of this worthy couple were ten children, six sons and four daughters,
namely : Rowland E. ; Ethelda, who was a teacher by profession, and is the
deceased wife of John H. Carr, of Unga Island, Alaska; Herbert H, who is
captain of a steamboat plying on the Puget Sound; Gertrude O, who died
when a child; James E., a retired farmer living on San Juan Island; Lois, the
wife of Adelbert Middleton, of Seattle; Arthur D., who is connected with the
North American fisheries; John C, deceased; Thadeus, who died in child
hood; Eunice, the wife of John Troxell, of Seattle; and Lindley U., a resi
dent of Victoria, British Columbia.
Rowland Edwin Davis enjoyed but limited school privileges during his
youth, but from his mother, who was a graduate of the normal school at
Toronto, Canada, he received excellent mental training, thus being fitted to
engage in the active battle of life for himself. In 1867 he accompanied
his parents on their removal to the Puget Sound, the journey being made
via the Isthmus of Panama, and two years later, in 1869, the family located
on Lopez Island, which was then disputed territory between Great Britain
and the United States. There the father secured a farm, and the son Row
land E. remained there until he was nineteen years of age, when he embarked
in steamboating on the Sound, first as a fireman, later as engineer and finally
as master, continuing in that occupation until 1895. In that year he engaged
in salmon fishing in company with William Schultz, of Roach Harbor, but
two years later the latter sold his interest to George T. Meyrs & Company,
of Seattle, Mr. Davis maintaining his connection with the firm until 1901,
when he purchased the entire business, but in the same year sold the con
trolling interest to the North American Fisheries. He, however, continued
to hold an interest in the corporation, and in 1902 was appointed general
superintendent of the traps, cannery and plant at Anacortes. This plant has
a capacity of four thousand cases a day, and about three hundred and fifty
workmen are given employment during the canning season, which extends
from the 1st of April until the 1st of November.
Mr. Davis was married at Laconner, Washington, in July, 1883, to
Amelia Haraldson, a native of Iowa and a daughter of Oscar and Nella
Haraldson, of Norwegian descent. Seven children have been born to this
union, namely: Rowland L., James V., Carlyle H, Naverign and Harold
(twins), Don S. and Ruth E. Mr. Davis is a member of the Masonic order
and also of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in political
matters he exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and meas
ures of the Republican party. He has ever taken an active interest in local
and state politics, and in 1901 was elected to represent the forty-seventh

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 495
district of Washington in the state legislature, serving as a member of the
seventh session. He is of a social disposition, courteous and genial manner,
and throughout the locality has a host of warm friends.
NELS K. TVETE.
Nels K. Tvete, one of the prominent business men of Arlington, Wash
ington, was born July 10, 1854, and is a native of Norway, a son of Knut
Tvete, and both his parents were born in Norway. He was one in a family
of three sons and two daughters, and one of his brothers, Knut K. Tvete, is
an extensive merchant of Seattle.
When only eighteen years of age Nels K. Tvete came to the United
States and settled in Minnesota, where, with his two brothers, he engaged in
farming and operated a general store. He was educated in his native land,
but after arriving in this country he attended school at Fergus Falls, Min
nesota, during the winter until he was twenty-two years of age. The years
succeeding his twenty-second birthday were spent in farming and clerking,
until the spring of 1887 he came west, and located at Norman, and in the
following spring started a general store about half a mile from Arlington,
this being two years prior to the building of the railroad and the beginning
of the town. All of his goods had to be transported by canoe and the Indians.
Mr. Tvete enjoys the distinction of being the pioneer merchant of Arlington,
and his business has increased in proportion to the growth of the city until
he is now one of its most substantial men and leading citizens.
In June, 1886, Mr. Tvete was married at Battle Lake, Minnesota, to
Miss Gurine Ellevson, also a native of Norway. Three children have been
born of this marriage, namely : Alfield, aged seventeen years, in high
school; Ella, aged thirteen years; and Nina, aged nine years. In politics
Mr. Tvete is a Republican, and has taken an active part in municipal matters.
He is also a prominent member of the Lutheran church, being trustee of that
denomination in Arlington. Mr. Tvete is upright in all his doings, a good
Christian and one who has the full confidence of the entire community.
CHARLES HOWARD TRACY.
Charles Howard Tracy, one of the prominent business men of Arlington,
Washington, was born January 9, 1878, in Carson City, Nevada, and is a
son of Richard Tracy. The latter was born in Canada, but came to the
United States, settling in Nevada, where he engaged in mining and died at
the age of thirty-six years. • His wife was Mary Jane Armstrong, also a
native of Canada, and she is now residing in Arlington, forty-four years of
age. Our subject has one half-sister, Garnet, who is the wife of Robert
Kernaghan. After the father's death Charles Howard Tracy was taken by his mother
into Canada and there made his home for a number of years, but later returned
to the land of his birth, locating at Stanwood in May, 1889, then a small
settlement at the mouth of the Stillaquamish river. After remaining there
for about a year, the family who had accompanied him moved to Jim Creek
and took up a pre-emption, and soon thereafter started the first hotel which

496 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
was located there. In 1893 they located in Arlington. The first education
Mr. Tracy received was in the schools of Arlington, but he later attended
Puget Sound University at Tacoma, and at the age of seventeen years he
left school and returned to Arlington in the fall of 1895. For a short time
he helped his mother with her hotel, and then started to work for C. C.
Brown as clerk in his general merchandise store. This occupation was con
tinued until the following summer, when he was employed in logging camps
for Brown & Irvine, from which he returned to Arlington in about a year.
In that place he found employment with Stuart & Emerson, general mer
chants, remaining with this firm until he engaged with the Lincoln Shingle
Company. In 1901 he remained with the last named, and then entered the
employ of the Sill Brothers' Land Company. In June, 1903, he accepted the
position of bookkeeper with the Arlington State Bank. In his political views
he is a Democrat, and was elected the first city clerk of Arlington, May 5,
1903, and was one of the incorporators of the city. Fraternally he is a
member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Knights and
Ladies of Security. Mr. Tracy is a young man of unusual promise, and has
already made himself felt in municipal affairs. Combined with sterling
worth of character, he possesses marked ability and the faculty of acquiring
and retaining friends, and the future before him is a very bright one.
HON. GEORGE BROWNE.
With the passing of the ages of wars and battles, of kings and armies,
and all the glare and glitter of military splendor, the world is compelled to
look for other heroes than those of the sword and military cloak. It is no
longer the soldier but the "man of affairs" who receives the homage which
mankind is always willing to bestow ; we honor not the leader of armies,
but the man who marshals great forces of labor, who carries out undertak
ings which may well be counted among the wonders of the world, and de
velops resources which have for centuries lain useless, and causes new lands
to blossom as the rose. The city of Tacoma owes much to one of this class
of men, in fact no city of its wealth, large enterprises and rapid growth
would be possible without the aid of such men of large thought and action.
This gentleman is the Plon. George Browne, familiarly known as Captain
Browne, a capitalist and an officer of seventeen of the important corporations
of Tacoma. The Brownes originated in Yorkshire, England, and about 165 1 crossed
the Atlantic and settled in that historic spot known to- the world as Salem,
Massachusetts. Of all the original settlers in that place the Browne family
is the only one that can claim a continual residence up to the present day,
some cousins of George Browne still making that their home. The parents
of George Browne were George and Joanna C. (Nichols) Browne, the
former being born in Salem. He was a soldier of the rebellion, and his
death resulted from the wounds which he received at the destruction of Vicks-
burg. His wife was a native of Boston and is now living in Richmond
county, New York, having reached the advanced age of ninety-three.

gftyH^ry-fe/b.

GEO BROWNE.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 497
Such were the ancestry and parents of George Browne, whose birth
occurred in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1840. At the age of ten his parents
removed to New York city, where he had the advantage of the best training
the schools of the metropolis could give. After leaving school he became a
clerk in a wholesale dry goods house, and was well on the way to a business
career when the Civil war caused all minds to waver between the sense of
duty to country and to private affairs. Young George soon made up his
mind, and on May 10, 1862, enlisted as a private in the Sixth Independent
New York "Horse Battery," an artillery troop, under Captain Walter Bram-
hall, who was afterward so- badly wounded at Ball's Bluff that he was com
pelled to resign. This battery was attached to the Army of the Potomac, and
Mr. Browne was in the service three years and four months, having par
ticipated in many engagements. He was mustered out just before the fall
of Petersburg, and held the rank of senior first lieutenant.
On his return from the army Mr. Browne went into the busy financial
center of Wall street, and for the next sixteen years was one of the success
ful business men where fortunes are made and lost in a day. In 1882 he
retired, being well satisfied with the results of his energy, and in that year
took his family for a tour of Europe, where they resided for the following
five years. Immediately on his return to the United States in 1887, he came
out to the Puget Sound country. With Colonel Griggs and Henry Hewitt
he assisted in the formation of the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company at
Tacoma, which is now the largest firm of its kind in the world. Since that
time Mr. Browne has been one of the most active business men in the city,
and is now an officer in seventeen companies, the principal ones being as
follows : Treasurer of the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company, secretary
of the Puget Sound Dry Dock and Machine Company, secretary of the Fi
delity Trust Company, secretary of the Settlement Company, secretary and
treasurer of the Chehalis & Pacific Land Company, president of the Fidelity
Abstract and Security Company, vice president of the Wilkeson Coal &
Coke Company. This bare record is sufficient to show how broad is the
scope of his enterprises, and what remarkable executive ability he possesses.
Mr. Browne has the honor of having been elected on the Republican
ticket to the first legislature of the state of Washington, for the session of
1889-90. He has shown his interest in the public improvement of Tacoma
by serving as the president of the first board of park commissioners, and
he may well be called the father of Tacoma's park system. This is, however,
only one of the numberless ways in which he has sought to advance the wel
fare of the city and country.
Captain Browne's marriage occurred in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in
1873, Miss Ella H. Haskell, of an old family of that place, becoming his
wife. George A. Browne, the oldest child of this union, is now the assistant
manager of the Puget Sound Dry Dock Company ; the next in order of birth,
John, had the military spirit of his father and was a soldier in the Philip
pines; Belmore is now in Alaska with the exploring expedition of the New
York Zoological Society. Mr. Browne is very fond of foreign travel, and
in 1902 he spent the summer on an extensive trip in Japan and other countries
of the orient.
32

498 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
JOHN MINARD SMITH.
John Minard Smith, one of the representative men of Arlington, Wash
ington, was born June 7, 1841, in Vermont, and is a son of John W. Smith,
also a native of Vermont. The father of John W. took an active part in the
war of the Revolution, was first a farmer and later a merchant, and died at
the advanced age of eighty-four years. His wife bore the maiden name of
Clainsy Clemmons, and was born in Vermont and died in 1850. The chil
dren born to this worthy couple were three boys and seven girls, all of whom
are deceased except our subject and Lucy, who married Freeman Whiting,
of McHenry, Illinois. Our subject also has five half-brothers and one half-
sister. When John Minard Smith was only a few months old his father re
moved to Illinois, and he was therefore educated in the schools of McHenry
county until he was nineteen years old, from which time he worked upon the
farm until 1870. He then engaged in a mercantile business at McHenry,
Illinois, for eight years, after which, with his brother Philo, he went to
Kansas and again operated a general mercantile house, and continued in that
line until 1884, when he purchased his brother's interest and conducted the
store alone until 1890, when he lost his property by fire. After this he clerked
in a general mercantile store up to 1900, when he received appointment as
superintendent of the clothing department in the state penitentiary at Leaven
worth, Kansas, and held that position until June, 1901, when he engaged
with his brother in Nebraska in a lumber business until September of that
year, when he was sent to Arlington, Washington, to look after their shingle
mill interests, the business having been operated in that place under the name
of the Lincoln Shingle Company, and was conducted by a brother who died
in August, 1901. Since locating in Arlington he has become prominently
identified with the best interests of the city, and on May 5, 1903, when the
city was incorporated, he was elected mayor. His shingle mill is one of the
largest in this locality, having a capacity of one hundred and forty thousand
daily, the dried product being shipped to eastern markets.
On January 1, 1862, Mr. Smith was married to Ellen M. Gage, a native
of Illinois, and a daughter of George and Martha Gage, old pioneer settlers
of McHenry, who located there from New York state. Mr. Gage was a
state senator in Illinois for a number of years. Two children have been
born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, namely : Mattie ; and Mabel, who married J.
B. Hatfield and lives at Osborne, Kansas; while the eldest child is deceased.
Mr. Smith belongs to the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and
the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Sons and Daughters of Jus
tice. In politics he is a stanch Republican and has been a delegate to the
city, county and state conventions.
CHARLES HERBERT JONES.
Charles Herbert Jones, postmaster of Arlington, Washington, and one
of the enterprising business men of the city, was born January 16, 1873, in
Chautauqua county, Kansas, and is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Wright)

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 499
Jones, the former of whom was a native of Lewis county, Kentucky. Our
subject was one in a family of five boys and one girl.
The education of Charles Herbert Jones was obtained in the public
schools of his native county, and he left school when he was eighteen years
of age and worked upon the farm until he was twenty, when, in the spring of
1893, he came west to the Puget Sound district with his father and located
at Arlington, and after a short time devoted to farming he obtained employ
ment in the shingle mill. There he remained a year, after which he engaged
in several lines and clerked in a general mercantile store until January 1,
1898, when he was appointed assistant postmaster, at which time he assumed
entire charge of the office, so that when he was appointed postmaster in
June, 1902, by President Roosevelt, his constituents as well as the residents
of Arlington felt that the right man had been chosen.
On October 20, 1900, he was married to Myrtle Redmond, a native of
Little Rock, Arkansas, and a daughter of Thomas and Josephine Redmond.
One child has been born of this union, Basil R. Mr. Jones is one of the
intelligent, prominent young Republicans of the city, and has lent his efforts
toward all improvements, he having a strong belief and faith in the future
of the beautiful city as well as of the Puget Sound district.
JASPER SILL.
Jasper Sill, one of the prosperous residents of Arlington, Washington,
was born in Monroe county, Ohio, January 23, 1848, and is a son of Michael
Sill, a native of Pennsylvania, who comes of English descent, and the family
dates back to Revolutionary days. Michael Sill was taken to Ohio when
a boy, and with his parents became a pioneer settler of that state, where he
lived until 1854, then moving to Iowa and in 1881 moved to Washington,
and died at the age of seventy-seven years, having engaged in farming.
The mother bore the maiden name of Susan Parker, and she, too, was a
native of Pennsylvania, and was brought to Ohio by her parents at a very
early day. She passed away aged seventy-seven years, having borne her
husband the following children: William, Jasper, Isaac N., Marian, Mary,
Frederick Nelson, Matilda, Susan, Eliza Jane, Rebecca and Charles Calvin.
Jasper Sill was educated in the public schools of Cedar county, Iowa,
where his parents had located in 1854, but he left school when only eighteen
years of age and worked upon the farm until 1878, at which time he went
west to Puget Sound, settling at Stanwood, and continued farming and em
barked in butchering, carrying the beef about to the various logging camps
and mills. This he continued until 1890, when he engaged in operating a
general store at Florence, Snohomish county, and was thus employed for a
year. Until 1896 he engaged in farming, and then located in Arlington, and
for three years continued farming and conducting a livery business, and is
still a farmer, although he has disposed of his livery establishment. In
1901 he embarked in a flour and feed store, and is one of the city's repre
sentative merchants and farmers.
February 8, 1876, he was married at Greenfield, Iowa, to Julia Devme,
a native of Wisconsin.' Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sill,

500 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
namely : Mason Adelbert, deceased ; Forest C. ; Jasper Floyd ; Leona Pearl ;
Marion Edwin Adrian. Fraternally Mr. Sill belongs to the order of Elks,
and politically is a Democrat and was a member of the first grand jury of
Snohomish county. WILLIAM FOREST OLIVER, B. L., M. D.
William Forest Oliver, M. D., one of the leading physicians of Arling
ton, Washington, was born August 8, 1857, at Bloomfield, Iowa, and is a.
son of William L. Oliver, a native of Henry county, Kentucky, who came
of an old Virginia family of English descent. About the year 1700, the
ancestors of our subject settled in Virginia, and grandfather Captain William
Oliver was with General George Washington when he crossed the Delaware.
By profession the father was a dentist, and served as sergeant in Company
H, First Indiana Regiment, during the Mexican war, and was captain of
Company E, Thirty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil war.
His death occurred at Tacoma in 1895, when he was seventy-three years
old. The mother bore the maiden name of Mary Ann Smith, and was a native
of Marion county, Indiana, but came of a family dating back to 1700. She
died when only thirty-five years old. Our subject has a sister, Mary L., wife
of B. F. Dixon, of Oso, Snohomish county.
Dr. Oliver was educated at Ladago Seminary at Ladago, Indiana, and
later went to the State University of Illinois, from which he was graduated
in the class of 1876, with the degree of Bachelor of Literature. He then
took a thorough medical course at the medical college of Indiana, and was
graduated from that institution in 1879 with the degree of M. D. He then
went to Longton, Elk county, Kansas, and for five years practiced his pro
fession, and acted as county superintendent of public schools for two terms,
from 1885 to 1889. In the fall of 1889 he came west to Puget Sound and
pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres on the north fork of the Stilla-
quamish river, eight miles northeast of Arlington, which land he still
holds. After this he resumed the practice of his profession, and is thus
actively engaged at the present time. Dr. Oliver was chairman of the con
vention entrusted with the question of incorporation, and also served on the
nominating convention. He was elected district clerk of the public schools
for the city of Arlington and has served most acceptably for five years.
Ever since coming to this locality Dr. Oliver has been closely identified with
the growth and development of Arlington, and the city owes much to his
energy, foresight and public-spirited efforts.
In September, 1899, he was married at Montreal, Canada, to Lillian
M. Best, of Litchfield, Illinois, and a daughter of Wesley and Mary J. Best,
who were old pioneers of Litchfield, where the father became mayor and
was one of the prominent men of the city. Dr. Oliver belongs to the Knights
of Pythias and is very prominent in that order. He is also captain of Com
pany E, Sixth Regiment Illinois National Guards Cadets, member of the
American Medical Association and in politics is a Republican, and has served
many times as delegate to the city, county and state conventions.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 501
HENRY AGUSTUS RATHVON.
Henry Agustus Rathvon, one of the enterprising residents of Marys
ville, Washington, was born April 5, 1854, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and
is a son of Simon S. Rathvon, a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania,
of Swiss descent, although his1 family dates back to Revolutionary times in
the United States. Simon Rathvon was a noted naturalist, although by trade
he was a merchant tailor, and was intimately associated with Professor
Reilly of the Smithsonian Institute. Plis death occurred in 1891, when he
was seventy-nine years of age. The maiden name of the mother was Cath
erine Freyberger, and she was also a native of Lancaster county, coming of
an old American family which also dated back to the Revolutionary period.
Six sons and three daughters were born in this family, namely : Emma,
now Mrs. David Maxwell, a widow; Annie, identified with educational mat
ters for thirty-five years at Lancaster; George Frederick, a merchant at
Danville, Virginia; William, a mechanic of Lancaster; Robert H, a foreman
of a department in the government department of printing and binding; and
Henry A., the youngest in the family.
Henry A. Rathvon was educated in the public schools at Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, until he was sixteen years of age, when he began to learn
the jeweler's trade, and worked at that for four years. In 1876 he went to
Texas, working as a government employe on the telegraph line, and after
two years went on the frontier, through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona,
thus continuing until 1881, when he was made railroad station agent at
Odessa, Texas, on the Gould system. There he remained until 1886, when
he engaged in sheep ranching for two years. From 1886 to 1888 he was
the first postmaster at Odessa. In the spring of 1888 he removed to San
Francisco, but after a few months went to Utah as a representative of the
Southern Pacific Railroad, and there remained until July, 1891, when he
came to the Puget Sound district, August 11, 1891, locating at Marysville,
Washington, as station agent for the Great Northern Railroad, and held
that position until he resigned to become postmaster of the city in February,
1900, being appointed by President McKinley, and he still holds the office.
During the time of his occupancy of the office he has also conducted a
jewelry and stationery business with remarkable success.
On June 11, 1887, he was married at Odessa, Texas, to Minnie Rath-
bun, a native of Wisconsin, and a daughter of Chauncey W. and Mary
Rathbun, who were early settlers of Buffalo county, Wisconsin. Two chil
dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rathvon: Lucile and Haldy. Mr.
Rathvon belongs to the Foresters of America, and in politics is an uncom
promising Republican and active in his party. He enjoys in the highest
degree the confidence and respect of all who know him, and the success
which is his has been gained by good management, energy and thrift.
JAMES ROBERTSON.
This prominent citizen of Anacortes, Washington, has been engaged in
the world's business activity since he was but a boy, and in this long career

502 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
has seen many sides of life, as a sea captain, as a pilot, as a boat-builder, and
as the operator of a canning industry on the Puget Sound. He is of Irish
descent, and his father, Samuel Robertson, who was a shipbuilder, went to
California in 1850 and died there in 1861, at the age of fifty years; Mary
McBride, the wife of Samuel Robertson, was a native of Scotland and came
to the United States when a child, and died in New York in 1887 at the age
of seventy-eight. These parents had six children : Ellen, the wife of James
Stewart, a resident of Wisconsin; Achsah; Elizabeth; Margaret, deceased;
William, the eldest, deceased; and James.
James Robertson was born at Calais, Maine, April 21, 1847. He had
to leave school when he was twelve years old, and as his father died in the
following year he was thus early forced into the workaday world in order
to help support his mother and sisters. In 1863 he shipped before the mast,
and became such a capable seaman that at the age of twenty-one he was mate,
and five years later was captain of a vessel, being engaged chiefly in the
European and West Indian trade. He sailed the high seas until* 1885, and
in that year came to Oregon, where for the next three years he was a pilot
on the coast harbors of Oregon. In 1888 he began the building of boats, and
also speculating in Oregon property; in the spring of 1897 he came to the
Puget Sound and undertook the building and repairing of scows; at the
same time he became interested in the process of salmon-canning. In 1899
he located in Anacortes, where he established a shipyard. In November,
1 90 1, he incorporated the Apex Canning Company, and in the following year
bought the Sunset Canning Company's interests, and he is still engaged in
the successful operation of this industry.
Mr. Robertson was married in July, 1877, to Emma Robinson, a native
of Calais, Maine; she died without issue in 1888, and in the following year
Mr. Robertson married Eda S. Robinson, a cousin of his first wife, and a
daughter of Joseph Robinson, a native of Ireland. There were four chil
dren born by this union : Louie Andrew Cummings, Victor Alden, James
Norman and Emma Grace. Mr. Robertson is a Mason, and supports the
Republican party. He takes much interest in public affairs, and in 1901
was elected to the city council, in 1902 was chosen mayor of Anacortes for
one year; in 1901 he was elected to the school board, and in 1903 to the board
of health. Mr. Robertson in his travels has seen much of the world, and,
as one who has made a success of his undertakings, is a man whose acquaint
ance is most profitable, and who fills an important niche in the world's activity.
WILLARD W. HOWARD.
Willard W. Howard, one of the prosperous business men of Marysville,
Washington, was born June 19, 1843, at Brewer, Penobscot county, Maine,
and is a son of Willard Howard, a native of Maine, of English descent, his
family dating back to the Revolutionary period. The father was a farmer
by occupation and died at the age of seventy-three years. The maiden name
of the mother was Sarah T. Johnson, and she was born in Maine and died
at the age of seventy-two years. Our subject had eight sisters, three of
whom are living, namely : Eliza married A. A. Beckman, of Everett ; Martha

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 503
married S. P. Chase, of Blackstone, Massachusetts; Elvira married C. E.
Churchill, of Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Willard W. Howard was educated in the public schools in the town of
Brewer, and at the age of twenty-one years left school, and in March, 1865,
enlisted in the Union army in Company C, First Maine Battalion, Volunteer
'Infantry, which was attached to the Fifteenth Maine Volunteer Infantry, and
after about six months' service he was mustered out at the close of the war in
September, 1865. He then returned to Brewer, and for a year was engaged
in a sawmill, then went to Minnesota and found employment in the logging
camps for seven years, or until 1875. In the spring of that year he came
west to Puget Sound and located in Snohomish county, March 14, 1875, and
engaged in the logging business until 1900. After having been actively en
gaged in logging for twenty-five years at different points in the county, he
retired from that line of business and operated a hotel at Marysville known
as the Marysville Hotel, of which he is still the genial host.
In August, 1899, he married, in San Bernardino county, California,
Alice Ida Ferguson, a native of Iowa, of which state her parents were pioneers.
Mr. Howard is a prominent Mason, and in political matters is a stanch Re
publican. He is one of the highly respected and eminently successful men
of Marysville, and has many warm friends throughout the state.
CLINTON EDWARD OLNEY.
Clinton Edward Olney, a very prominent figure in the commercial and
financial world of Marysville, Washington, was born July 11, 1842, in
Branch county, Michigan, and is a son of Clinton Olney, a native of New
York, who came of an old American family dating back to the Revolution.
By occupation he was a farmer, and he died, highly respected, at the age of
seventy-four years. His wife bore the maiden name of Olive Larrabee, and
was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and died at the age of seventy-six
years. The family born to the parents of our subject was as follows :
Alburtis D. died in the Civil war; Mary J. married Henry C. Foster, of
Toledo, Iowa; Thomas L., of Seattle; Ozias F. ; Eunice A. married E. H.
Kelsey; and Clinton Edward.
Clinton Edward Olney was educated in the public schools at Toledo,
Iowa, until he was eighteen years of age, after which he spent one year upon
his father's farm, and in August, 1861, enlisted in the federal army, in the
First Iowa Light Artillery, and served three years, being mustered out in
August, 1864. He then returned to Iowa and resumed farming and em
barked in stock-raising, thus continuing until 1873, when he entered the'
Toledo Savings Bank as clerk and remained there three years. The follow
ing two years he was a grain merchant, and then in 1878 he was deputy
auditor of Tama county, and filled that office for six years, and in 1884 was
elected auditor of the county and served in that position for six years more,
or until 1890. In January of that year he removed to Coleridge, Nebraska,
and was cashier of the Coleridge State Bank, holding that position until
August, 1 89 1, when he came west to the Puget Sound district and located
at Marysville, organizing the Marysville Bank, and in 1893 incorporated his

504 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
institution as the Marysville State Bank, with the following officials: J. A.
Gould, president; C. E. Olney, vice-president; S. T. Smith, cashier; E. E.
Collin, assistant cashier. The bank conducts a general banking business and
buys and sell foreign exchange. It is recognized as one of the most reliable
and sound banking institutions in that locality, and under the able manage
ment of its officials enjoys a large patronage from those who realize that if
is in the hands of conservative men of large means and wide experience.
Since locating in Marysville Mr. Olney has served in the city council
for a number of years, and during the year 1900 was mayor of the city,
On October 4, 1866, Mr. Olney was married at Toledo, Iowa, to Mary Eliza
beth Cary, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Dr. Louis H. and Martha
(Chamberlain) Cary, the former of whom was born in New Jersey and the
latter in Pennsylvania. The following children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. Olney: Willard C. died at the age of ten years; Alice M. died at the
age of seven years; Guy C. died in infancy; Mae is at home. Mr. Olney is
a member of the Masonic fraternity, and in his political affiliations is a stanch
Republican. In addition to his other interests, he is secretary and treasurer
of the Smith Manufacturing Company's shingle mills and secretary of the
Clear Lake Shingle Company.
GOVNOR TEATS.
Govnor Teats, a prominent lawyer of Tacoma, with his offices on the
fifth floor of the Bernice building, has one of the largest clienteles in the
city, and, having made a specialty of personal injury cases, is in demand for
his professional services. Like the majority of the citizens of the new cities
of the west, he is a native of the states farther east, and all his connections are
in the east. He is the son of Judge C. C. and Cloe (Warren) Teats. The
former was of Pennsylvania Dutch origin and moved to Illinois at an early
day and became prominent in the affairs of Whiteside county. He was a
fine lawyer, and was for many years probate judge. He died in 1873, but
his wife, who was of New England ancestry and a New Yorker by birth, is
still living in Kansas City and is eighty-three years of age.
Govnor was born to these parents at Erie, Whiteside county, Illinois,
in 1858, and remained there till he was sixteen years old, gaining a good
common school training. He had already decided upon the profession of
law, for his ambition took a definite form when he was still a boy, and he
then went out to Dickinson county, Kansas, and took up a farm in order to
make enough money to carry him through the law school and support him
during the subsequent starvation period of a lawyer's career. He carried out
this plan, graduated from the law department of the Kansas State University
at Lawrence, and in May, 1882, was admitted to the bar at Abilene, that
state. He remained there and practiced until 1890, when he became satisfied
that a good field lay open to the ambitious man in Tacoma, and accordingly
came here, where he has met with deserved success. He has a large practice
and one of the most extensive law libraries in the city.
Mr. Teats is an independent in politics, devoting thereto only a good
citizen's attention, and the only office he has held was as a member of the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 505
civil service board of examiners of Tacoma. In September, 1879, Mr. Teats
was married at Abilene to Miss Florence Robb, and their three sons are all
studiously inclined, Roscoe, the oldest, being at the State University; the
others are Leo and Ralph.
JOHN E. PHELPS, M. D.
Dr. John E. Phelps, one of the leading residents of Arlington, Wash
ington, was born March 12, 1839, in New York, but was taken by his parents
to northern Ohio when only five years of age. He is a son of John W.
Phelps, a native of Connecticut, who traces his family back to the May
flower. By occupation he was a farmer; he died in 1862. The mother bore
the maiden name of Maria Loomis, and she also was born in Connecticut and
came of English descent, her ancestors settling in Connecticut before the
Revolutionary period. Her death occurred when she was eighty-three years
of age. Her family was as follows : Seymour ; Harvey ; Hiram ; William ;
Reed; Helen, widow of Theodore Hopkins; and John E.
John E. Phelps attended the primary schools of Crawford county, Ohio,
until he was fifteen years of age, when he went with his parents to Galena,
Jo Daviess county, Illinois, where he attended the district schools and
then went to school at Galena, and at the age of eighteen years
began the study of medicine. In 1873 he entered the College of Physicians
and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, from which he was graduated in the spring
of .1879, after which time he was engaged in active practice in Adair county,
Iowa, and there continued until 1884, when he moved to Dakota, settling in
Hughes county, and was engaged in the practice of his profession until
1887, at which time he came west to Puget Sound and practiced for two
years, then in 1889 removed to Palo Alto county, Iowa, and was one of the
leading physicians at Whittemore until 1893. In that year he returned to
Puget Sound, and took up his residence at Arlington, being the first physi
cian to locate there, as well as along the Stillaquamish river, and he now
enjoys a large and steadily increasing practice. When he first arrived in
Arlington it was a wilderness, and his visits of healing were made either
on foot or by canoe. It required six days at that time to go from Arlington
to Seattle, and Dr. Phelps well remembers the hardships of such a journey.
On March 24, 1861, at Stockton, Illinois, he married Mary E. Wil
son, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Edward and Adelaide Wilson, who
were old pioneers of Ohio. Four children have been born of this marriage,
namely: I. Wilson; Florence, who married Edward Fisher; Lucy married
Walter Fowler; and Burt. Dr. Phelps is a member of the Masonic fra
ternity, and in his political affiliations is a stanch Republican, and voted for
Abraham Lincoln when he cast his maiden vote. Dr. Phelps enjoys the
distinction' of having received a first-grade certificate for pharmacy in Iowa.
In 1887 he attended the first case of typhoid fever in the Stillaquamish
valley, he being the nearest physician between Snohomish and Laconner.

506 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
W. A. KING, M. D.
W. A. King, M. D., one of the successful citizens of Blaine, Washing
ton, was born in Oswegatchie, on the Black river in northern New York
state, St. Lawrence county, August 30, 1838, and is a son of Dana E. King,
born in New York, of Welsh and Irish descent. The father was a Meth
odist minister and newspaper man, who later in life removed to Minneapolis
and died in 1894. His wife bore the maiden name of Emily M. De Long,
a native of Vermont, whose family came from Gascony, France, to Minne
apolis. The following children were born to Rev. and Mrs. King: E. W.
King, wharfinger at city dock of Blaine; Dr. King; Hattie F. married S. A.
Sims, cashier of the Security Bank, Minneapolis.
Dr. William A. King was educated in the public schools of Minneapolis,
and his first work was done as "devil" on the Atlas, now the Pioneer Press,
of Minneapolis. There for eighteen months he worked and accustomed
himself to the cases, and at times was forced to help set up the paper, run
the engine and act as machinist. All this gave him a general information
which was very useful. After this he obtained employment for three years
in a grist mill in Greenleaf, Minnesota, and still later did mechanical work
in Minnesota until 1879, when he emigrated to Kohala, Hawaiian Islands,
to take charge of a sugar plantation. For two years he worked in the
Union Mill and for two years more in Olowalu Mills; on Maui one year;
for four years was in the Pioneer Mills of Lahaina, acting as locomotive
engineer at the latter place, and while there he began the study of medicine.
Returning to Minneapolis in 1886, he entered the Minneapolis Hospital
College, now the State University, from which he was graduated in 1888.
They allowed him advanced standing on account of previous study, and as
soon as he obtained his degree he started back to the Hawaiian Islands,
but his boy was taken sick and this changed his plans. He practiced six
months in Seattle and then went to Blaine, Washington, where he has since
been actively engaged. In politics Dr. King is a socialist, but was a Repub
lican until ten years ago, when he was convinced of the truth of his present
doctrines. From 1889 to 1893 Dr. King served as health official of Blaine,
and was elected in 1903 to serve another year. He is a member of the State
Medical Association and the Whatcom County Medical Society.
In June, 1875, he was married to Laura J. Thompson, born in Westbrook,
Maine, and a daughter of James A. Thompson, founder of the
American Brittania works in Connecticut. Mr. Thompson was a very prom
inent men and was identified with many industrial concerns throughout
the country. He canned the first lobster ever placed upon the market in
that shape, in Augusta, Maine, he making the test to see if it was possible
to can fish as well as vegetables. The forebears of the Thompson family
served in the Revolutionary war, but came of English descent. Two boys,
John S. and James D., have been born to Dr. and Mrs. King. The former
was born June 30, 1876, and is now in Tacoma Business College. The latter
was born December 24, 1886, in the Sandwich Islands. Dr. King is fra
ternally connected with the Foresters of America and the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 507
TPIOMAS PIAYTON.
In recalling the pioneer residents of Skagit county, Washington, no
more representative one can be found than Thomas Playton, a survivor of
the Civil war and a man who has been identified with the agricultural, edu
cational and political life of this section since 1876.
Thomas Hayton was born in Pike county, Kentucky, June 23, 1832,
and is a son of Jacob Hayton, who was born in Pennsylvania, of old Amer
ican stock- and English ancestry. The father of Thomas Hayton died on his
farm in 1864. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Rebecca
Wedington. She was born in Virginia, her ancestry being German. She
too, has passed away.
Thomas Hayton was taught by his mother, in childhood, and later was
sent to private schools in his locality, beginning to make his own way to
independence at the age of fourteen years. Plis assistance was given the
neighboring farmers during the busy seasons, and he found plenty of employ
ment until the age of twenty. By this time he was able to command a
man's wages, and spent four years on farms, sharing in the crop. In Sep
tember, 1862, he joined other loyal young men, enlisting in Company D,
Thirty-ninth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the
war, mainly in Kentucky and West Virginia, and he came out of the service
with the rank of corporal, being honorably discharged in October, 1865.
After the war he resumed farming in Pike county, but in the spring of
1868 moved to Cass county, Missouri, and engaged in farming there for
eight years. In 1876 he crossed the plains, with wagons and teams, and
proceeded to Washington. After a short stay at Walla Walla, he selected
a farm at what is now called Fir, Skagit county. Here he purchased two
hundred acres of well located land, although at that time it was marshy and
unimproved, still waiting for the intelligent activity of the sturdy pioneer.
Mr. Hayton soon had made many changes, and continued to dyke and clear, as
the years went by, and now this beautiful, fertile farm is all under cultivation
and its owner has retired from activity. Some years after coming to the
state, Mr. Hayton bought an additional quarter section, and this has also
been improved, his estate including three hundred and sixty acres in all.
At the time of his settlement the country was but sparsely inhabited. Game
was plentiful, but the early settlers were obliged to forego many of the
comforts of life and to endure privations which their descendants could
scarcely be prevailed upon to court.
Mr. Hayton has' been a life-long Republican and has always taken an
active and intelligent part in legislation. For fourteen years he has con
tinually attended county conventions, and has at various times been a dele
gate to the territorial and state conventions. At one time he served as a
member of the county central committee, and in 1889 he was elected a
member of the constitutional convention.
In August, 1852, Mr. Hayton was married to Sarah E. Sanders, who
was born in Monroe county, Virginia, and was a daughter of William and
Elizabeth Sanders, an old Virginia family of standing. She died in Novem
ber, 1896. Six sons and two daughters were the result of this union, who

508 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
have become most estimable members of society : Jacob, who is a farmer
near Milton, Oregon; Thomas R., who is engaged in a hardware business
in Mount Vernon; Henry, who is engaged in ranching in Snohomish county,
Washington; George W., who is associated with his brother in the hard
ware business at Mount Vernon; James B., who leases his father's ranch
near Fir; William, who is a rancher on Laconner flats, Washington; Louisa
is the wife of L. P. Hemingway, who, with James B. Hayton, leases the
farm near Fir ; and Cora, who is the wife of Alfred Poison, who is a rancher
in Skagit county, near Fir.
Mr. Hayton belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic. He has
lived to see wonderful changes in his adopted state, and has the satisfaction
of knowing that he has materially contributed to the development of the
resources of his section. He is a man who is held in the highest esteem and
is justly considered a representative citizen.
THOMAS R. HAYTON.
Thomas R. Hayton, one of the leading business citizens of Mt. Vernon,
Washington, was born January 7, 1863, at Coal Run, Pike county, Kentucky,
and is a son of Thomas and Sarah E. (Sanders) Hayton, the former of
whom is living retired, and the latter died in 1896.
Mr. Hayton's preliminary education was obtained in the public schools
of Missouri and supplemented by a course at the State University of Wash
ington, from- which he was graduated in 1887. He arrived in Washington
with his parents when thirteen years of age. During the summers, from
1885 to 1889, he taught school through Skagit county, and in the latter
year was elected superintendent of the schools of Skagit county, in which
position he served acceptably for two years.
In 1 89 1 Mr. Hayton gave up teaching in order to engage in a hard
ware business at Laconner. In November, 1901, he moved the store to Mt.
Vernon.' During the first year here, he formed a partnership with his brother,
George W. Hayton, and they are now jointly conducting one of the largest
and best appointed hardware stores in Skagit county.
In January, 1890, Thomas R. Hayton was united in marriage with
Miss Hattie E. Marshall, who was born in Visalia, Tulare county, California,
and is a daughter of Alexander Marshall. The Marshalls are of German
descent. One child, Gladys E., has been born ©f this union.
In politics Mr. Hayton, like his father, has always been identified with
the Republican party, and takes an active interest in local matters and county
conventions. His fellow citizens elected him to the office of county treasurer
in 1896, a position he held with the greatest efficiency until 1901. During
1892-3 he served as one of the city councilmen of Laconner. Fraternally
Mr. Hayton belongs to the Masons and Woodmen of the World. In
religious belief he is a Baptist.
HORACE PERCIVAL DECKER.
Horace Percival Decker, proprietor of the water system of Mt. Vernon,
Washington, and one of the city's leading men, was born April 19, 1858,
in Solano county, California, and is a son of George Washington Decker,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 509
who was born at Taunton, Massachusetts, of an old American family of
Revolutionary stock, originating in Germany. George W. was a soldier
in the Civil war, but by trade he was a cabinet-maker, which he followed,
and also farmed. His death occurred in 1869. His wife was Sarah Ann
(Daily) Decker, and she was born in London, England, and died in 1897.
The family born to these two was as follows : Danville Decker, a manu
facturer of illuminating gas at Chico, California; H. P.; Emma, widow of
James J. Carter, resides in San Francisco; Lilah married Louis Vogel, up
holsterer and furniture dealer in Sacramento, California; Richard, a plumber,
who died in Sacramento in 1899.
Mr. H. P. Decker was educated at night after he had finished his day's
work, from books he saved the money to buy, and what he has thus learned
is all the more prized because of the effort required to obtain it. During
these days he was living in Sacramento county, California, where he worked
on a farm as a boy. After he had well grounded himself in the rudiments
of learning, he fitted himself for the trade of machinist and followed that
calling in Sacramento. There he remained until 1879, when he went to
Victoria, British Columbia, and continued to work at his trade there, and at
Nanaimo, the same province. Returning to San Francisco in 1887, he was
employed upon the railroad for about three years, and in 1891 went to
Seattle, Washington, and continued working upon the railroad for one year.
His next change was made when he began to speculate, and he continued
to operate on his own account until October, 1901, when he located at Mt.
Vernon, Skagit county, Washington, and constructed the best and most
complete hotel in the county, at an expense of about eleven thousand dollars,
known as the Hotel Mt. Vernon. After conducting it for eight or nine
months he leased it. He constructed the water works system of the city,
which he now owns in partnership with R. M. Darrow, and this system
is the first and only one established to supply a city of seventeen hundred
people from natural springs, but it is fully equal to the demand of 242,000
gallons per day, as well as for a much larger amount. The company is in
corporated under the name of the Mt. Vernon Water and Power Company,
with H. P. Decker president ; R. M. Darrow secretary and treasurer ; Willis
B. Hurr vice-president. In politics Mr. Decker is a Republican, and is very
active and served a number of times as delegate to county conventions while
residing in Seattle.
On June 17, 1894, he was married to Margaret Sidney, and she was
born in Denmark but married in Seattle, Washington. One child, Roy
Leverne Decker, was born to this marriage, on January 29, 1896. Fra
ternally he is a Mason, and has passed all the degrees from blue lodge to
thirty-second degree. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of
America; Woodmen of the World; Royal Neighbors; Brotherhood of Rail
road Trainmen and National Association of Engineers. Mr. Decker is
one of the most popular men of Mt. Vernon, as well as successful, and the
future before him is a very promising one.

510 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
CHRISTOPHER C. McMILLAN.
Events which are to most of the citizens of Washington matters of
history are to Christopher C. McMillan matters of experience or memory.
He does not have to turn to the early annals of the state to learn of the
pioneer days, for he has resided here through more than half a century and
has watched the development of this country as it has emerged from frontier
conditions to take its place among the great states of the Union. The tale
of those 'early days now reads almost like a romance and yet Mr. McMillan
traveled through the dense forests, where now stands Tacoma, when there
was not a building on the site of the city and with the others of the family
he bore the hardships and trials incident to the subjugation of this once
wild region and the suppression of the red men who contested the advance
of the white race into the northwest.
Mr. McMillan was born in Sparta, Randolph county, Illinois, on the
14th of November, 1851, a son of Archibald and Jeannette (Alexander)
McMillan, both of whom were natives of South Carolina, but at a very
early day became residents of Randolph county, Illinois. It was reserved to
Mr. McMillan to become a pioneer in another state and to take an active
part in the development of the northwest. In 1852, when our subject was
less than a year old, Archibald McMillan, with his wife and seven chil
dren, started across the plains. It was a hazardous journey, fraught with
dangers as well as hardships, and two of the children — boys — died upon the
plains. At length, however, the eyes of the travelers were gladdened by
the sight of the fertile valleys of Washington. On arriving in the Sound
country, Mr. McMillan located in Olympia, where he made his home until
1857. He had always followed farming and, securing a tract of land, he
gave his attention to its cultivation. He served all through the Indian
wars of 1855 and 1856, having volunteered in the army for that service.
He had charge of the commissary department. Nearly all of the United
States Regulars were east of the mountains, in Idaho and eastern Oregon,
so that the few volunteers in the Puget Sound country had unusually hazard
ous service. In 1857 Mr. McMillan removed with his family to Pierce county, locat
ing at Steilacoom, where he remained until the fall of 1862, when he estab
lished his permanent residence in the Puyallup valley, near the present town
of Puyallup. During his early residence here he took a very active and
helpful part in opening up this country for civilization. He assisted in the
construction of all the military roads through this section of the country
and otherwise was a valuable citizen, aiding in laying broad and deep the
foundation for the present progress and prosperity of the state. He became
prosperous financially and owned one of the largest ranches in this section
of Washington. Thereon he successfully engaged in the raising of stock,
hay, grain and hops, and his large crops and stock sales brought to him
excellent returns for his labor. His wife died in Puyallup November 21,
1893, and his death occurred in the same place March 15, 1893, when he
had reached the ripe old age of eighty-four years. He was a highly respected
citizen and an honored pioneer whose life history is inseparably interwoven
with the annals of this region.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 511
Christopher C. McMillan was reared on the home farm and devoted
his energies to agricultural pursuits until thirty years of age. In this he was
very successful and with his father he accumulated much valuable farming
land in Pierce county, together with other real estate. In the early pioneer
times, when yet a boy, he carried the United States mail from Steilacoom
to Seattle, crossing the site of the present city of Tacoma, but the town
had not then been founded. Since 1890 Mr. McMillan has made his home
in Puyallup, where he is actively engaged in the real estate business, han
dling much valuable property and negotiating many important real estate
transfers. On the 17th of July, 1887, in Sumner, Mr. McMillan was united in
marriage to Miss Emma John, and their circle of friends in this community
is an extensive one. Mr. McMillan is also well known in political circles
and prominent in the local ranks of the party. In 1895 he was elected a mem
ber of the city council and served for five years, after which he was chosen
mayor and by re-election was continued in that office for three terms. In
1896 he was the Republican nominee for sheriff of Pierce county and made
the remarkable record of failing of election by only fifty-five votes, out of
a total of eight thousand cast. It was a Populist year, the whole Repub
lican party suffering defeat throughout the west, but Mr. McMillan ran far
ahead of his ticket, a fact which indicates his personal popularity and the
confidence reposed in him by his fellow citizens, among whom he has lived
for so long and who know him as a man worthy of their highest confidence
and regard. In the administration of his official duties he has ever been
notably prompt, energetic and reliable and his life record is one that contains
many elements of intrinsic worth.
LEE M. WHIDDEN.
Lee M. Whidden, who is filling the office of mayor of Puyallup and
is also engaged in merchandising, claims Michigan as the state of his nativity.
His birth occurred in Dryden township, Lapeer county, in 1855, his parents
being David and Jane (Cade) Whidden. The father was born in Halifax,
Nova Scotia, and when eighteen years of age came to the United States,
casting in his lot with the pioneer settlers of Michigan. There he turned
his attention to farming, which he followed continuously until after the out
break of the war of the Rebellion, when his patriotic spirit was aroused and
he offered his services to the government, becoming a member of Company
G, Seventh Michigan Infantry. He then went to the front, where he laid
down his life as a sacrifice on the altar of his country, being wounded and
killed in the battle of Nashville. His widow, who was born in Michigan,
is still living in that state.
In his boyhood days Lee M. Whidden became familiar with the work
of the farm, to -which he gave his attention when not occupied with the
duties of the schoolroom. He continued his studies until fifteen years of
age and then entered a store as a clerk. That was the beginning of his
mercantile experience, but the department of labor in which he embarked
in his youth has since been followed by him and the progress he has made

512 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
with the passing years now places him among the leading and successful
merchants of Puyallup. His- first employer was a Mr. Knox, of Matamora,
Michigan, and after a year spent in his service Mr. Whidden went to Vas-
sar, Tuscola county, Michigan, where he was employed for five years in
the store of L. C. Merritt. He afterward spent another five years in the
clothing store of C. A. Mapes, of Vassar, and on the expiration of that
period he embarked in business on his own account, conducting a store in
Vassar for two years.
Mr. Whidden arrived in the Puget Sound country in 1888, locating in
Orting, Pierce county, where he secured the position of manager of the
branch store of J. P. Stewart & Sons, whose headquarters are at Puyallup.
After two years in Orting he became connected with the main store at Puy
allup, where he also spent two years, when he was placed in charge of
another branch store of the firm, at Buckley. For six years he was in charge
of the business at that place, and his long connection with the house indi
cates the entire confidence reposed in him by the firm, who found him most
trustworthy as well as enterprising. Early in 1898 he resigned his position
and returned to Puyallup in order to engage in business on his own account
and here he opened the store which is conducted under the name of the
Puyallup Trading Company, his partner in this enterprise being J. B. Gibbs.
Their store and warehouses are located at the corner of Main and Meridian
streets, and they do a general retail business in groceries, coal and wood.
They also handle building materials, such as lime, hair, plaster, cement and
fire brick, and in addition they do both a wholesale and retail business in
flour, feed, hay and grain. Their sales have now reached large and profit
able proportions, and the house sustains an enviable reputation in the busi
ness circles of the city.
Wherever Mr. Whidden has lived his fellow townsmen have called
upon him to serve in positions of public trust and responsibility. At Orting
he was the town treasurer and at Buckley he filled the same position. . In
December, 1902, he was elected mayor of Puyallup, entering upon the duties
of the office on the 1st of January following, so that he is now serving in
this capacity, and his administration of the city's affairs is businesslike, pro
gressive and public-spirited. He always votes with the Republican party
and has firm faith in the ultimate triumphs of its principles. Socially he
is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
SAMUEL G. LISTER.
S. G. Lister, now deceased, was the pioneer foundry man in Olympia
and one of its worthy and reliable citizens, who carried on an industry which
has increased the wealth and prosperity of the city. He was the son of
David Lister, an old settler of Tacoma, and builder of the first foundry in
that city. Samuel was born in England in 1847, and two years later his father and
family crossed the waters. From New York they came to Pennsylvania,
where they went into business, and afterward to Wisconsin, and then to
Tacoma. Samuel became superintendent of his father's large foundry and

iura

"**%*

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 513
iron works, and remained in that capacity until 1894, when he reconstructed
the first iron works of Olympia, actively conducting business until his death,
September 21, 1901. Thus passed away a man yet in the vigor of life, who
was a loving husband and a kind father, and a citizen who endeavored to
give the highest satisfaction in all his business relations. A Republican in
politics, in religion an Episcopalian; he was an esteemed member of the
Masonic fraternity, and was buried in Tacoma under its auspices, followed
to his last resting place by a large concourse of friends who had known him
to be so upright and worthy in life.
In Pittston, Pennsylvania, in 1868, he married Miss S. H. Moss, a
native of England, born in 1845, and a daughter of W. A. and Mary T.
(Howarth) Moss, of highly respected English ancestry. She was but two
years old when her father brought his family to this country. Her mother's
death occurred in 1891, when seventy-six years of age; her father is now in
his eighty-fourth year. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lister :
Ida L., now the wife of J. H. Begg, of Seattle; Mary E., unmarried and
living at home; and Stanley G. The latter was born in 1875, in Bridgeboro,
New Jersey, was educated in Tacoma, learned the machinist's trade under
the eye of his father, and now, with his mother, who is the executor of the
estate, has entire management of the Pioneer iron works, with which he
was also connected during his father's lifetime. Miss Nellie Drake became
his wife in 1898, and their two children are Ralph D. and Samuel G.
Mrs. Lister, who furnished the material for this sketch of her beloved
husband, is a member of the Episcopal church, and shows wise management
in the conduct of her husband's estate, being an interesting and highly es
teemed woman.
EMERSON HAMMER.
Hon. Emerson Hammer, of Sedro Woolley, Washington, who has figured
prominently in local, business and political circles and also in state affairs
during the past few years, is a Hoosier by birth. He was born in Mont-
pelier, Indiana, August 12, 1856, and is descended from German and English
ancestors. His great-grandfather, when a small boy, came from Germany
to this country and was reared in New York. He was a Quaker. Peter V.
Hammer, the father of Emerson, was born in Pennsylvania, and died in
186 1. He was a farmer and merchant and a man of influence in the com
munity in which he lived. The mother of our subject was by maiden name
Miss Mary Chandler, was of English descent and was born in the state of
Ohio. She died in 1859. Of their family of two sons and three daughters,
we record that both the sons, Emerson and Hiram, are residents of Sedro
Woolley, Washington; two of the daughters are in Kansas — Ellen, wife of
Samuel Donnelly, a retired farmer of Lincoln, and Sarah A., widow of
Bentley Bell, of Sylvan Grove; and Emma, wife of Thomas J. Bonham, a
farmer of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Emerson Hammer was educated in Indiana in public and private schools.
Leaving school at the age of sixteen, he worked in a grocery store one year.
In 1873 he formed a partnership with a young friend named McCulloch,
33

514 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
and together they started a grocery store in Montpelier, Indiana, which
they conducted for two and a half years, Mr. Hammer selling out at the
end of that time, after which he worked one year for other parties and for
one year was engaged in the fire insurance business in the vicinity of Mont
pelier. In the spring of 1878 he went to Sedgwick City, Kansas, and worked
on a farm for one year, and the following year was on a farm in Lincoln
county. At this time his brother, who was county clerk at Lincoln, Kansas,
offered him the position of deputy, which he filled three years, and in the
fall of 1882 he was appointed postmaster of Lincoln by President Arthur.
In the fall of 1883 he engaged in the mercantile business in Lincoln, under
the firm name of Green & Hammer. This business they disposed of in 1889
and came to the far west, locating first in Clear Lake, Skagit county, Wash
ington. The next year he worked in a store for Mortimer Cook in Ster
ling, Washington, and in 1891 he ran a logging camp in partnership with a
Mr. Bradbury. Late in the fall of 1891 he went to Burlington and bought
a stock of goods, and continued there until the spring of 1897, when he
moved to Woolley and engaged in the mercantile and shingle business. On
January 1, 1903, the Union Mercantile Company was formed with Mr.
Hammer as its president. The firm name was Green & Hammer for some
time after he moved to Woolley, and was later incorporated under the
name of the Green Shingle Company. On the first of 1903 the Union Mer
cantile Company was organized and took charge of the mercantile part of
the business. The Green Shingle Company owns two mills near Woolley
and operates two logging and one bolt camp. Its officers are as follows :
Emerson Hammer, secretary; George Green, president; W. W. Caskey,
treasurer; and A. W. Dawson, vice-president.
Politically Mr. Hammer is a Republican and for years has been active
in politics. He served on the Sedro Woolley city council three years, and
has been a member of the school board four years. In 1898 he was elected
state senator for the thirty-second senatorial district and was re-elected in
1902 for the term ending January, 1906, from the same district, which had
meantime been changed to the fortieth district. During his first term in
the senate he was chairman of the appropriation committee and was a mem
ber of the same committee in 1903. In the legislature, as in all his other
public work, Mr. Hammer has performed faithful service in a manner that
has been creditable alike to himself and his constituents.
Mr. Hammer was married in the fall of 1888, in Lincoln, Kansas, to
Miss Isabel Green, a native of that place and a daughter of George Green,
his partner. They have one son and two daughters, George, Mary E. and
Joyce. Fraternally Mr. Hammer affiliates with the Masonic order and the
Ancient Order United Workmen.
FREDERICK A. WING.
Frederick A. Wing, of Seattle, Washington, is a gentleman whose ad
ministrative abilities have been shown by a varied and excellent record in
many financial efforts. Mr. Wing was born in Streetsboro, Portage county,
Ohio, January 8, 1853, and is descended on both the paternal and maternal

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 515
sides from English ancestors who fought for independence in the American
Revolution. His father, Benjamin A. Wing, was born in Champlain, New York,
May 25, 1824, and died April 14, 1901. Tyler Wing, the father of Benjamin
A.j was born in Burlington, Vermont, and his wife before marriage was
Miss Martha Rogers, of Champlain. The Wings were among the early
settlers of New England and were of Puritan stock. John and Deborah
Wing, the founders, settled at Sandwich, Massachusetts, in 1637. Mr.
Wing's mother is still living, and makes her home with him in Seattle. She
is a native of Indiana, was born December 26, 1827, and was by maiden
name Miss Louisa Mason.
During his infancy Frederick's parents settled in Galesburg, Michigan,
where he received his early education. He began his business life as a dry-
goods salesman for a firm in Battle Creek, Michigan, where he remained
thus engaged for a period of eighteen months, at the end of that time
resuming his studies and spending two years in Olivet College. He then
returned to his old place in Battle Creek and worked one year, after which
he went back to Galesburg and formed a partnership with his father, under
the name of B. A. Wing & Son, and conducted a milling business. This
partnership continued four years. His next business venture was at Hud
son, Michigan, where he was junior partner of the firm of J. K. Boies &
Company, general merchants and bankers. He remained in this business
until 1885, when he established a dry-goods house in Hastings, Nebraska.
He sold out two years later to open a mortgage and loan house in Fort
Scott, Kansas, and in the spring of 1889 he came to the far west, arriving
in Seattle, April 26. This was prior to the great fire which practically wiped
out the business section of Seattle. He identified himself with the Massa
chusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company as general manager for Washing
ton, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Utah. In 1899 he formed a partnership
with F. M. Guion and -others, under the name of the "Wing-Guion Company,
Incorporated," doing a general insurance, loan and investment business.
Mr. Wing was elected president of the company and still holds the position.
Politically Mr. Wing is a Republican. He has for years been active
in politics, attending county and state conventions, and in 1895-6 was a
member of the legislature. June 17, 1898, he was appointed, by President
McKinley, assayer in charge of the United States assay office in Seattle,
installing the office in this city and opening it for business July 15, 1898.
The office immediately took second rank in the United States assay offices,
which position ,it has maintained, being second only to the New York office.
Mr. Wing has always taken pains to make the office a popular place for Alas
kan miners. He has eliminated red tape from the office, and the reports
show the results. The report of November 15, 1902, shows that, from the
date of the opening of the office to that date, 24,084 depositors left 4,089,-
227.94 troy ounces of gold (141 1/5 avoirdupois tons), valued at $67,533,-
705.27. Mr. Wing was married October 28, 1875, to Miss Eva A. Boies, daugh
ter of Hon. J. K. Boies, of Hudson, Michigan, where she was born. The
Boies family is a prominent one in America and is of French descent, One

516 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
son and one daughter have blessed this union: John Boies Wing and. Clara
Louise Wing. CHARLES WALD.
This popular and efficient official in one of the Uncle Sam's most im
portant branches of the public service is of Norwegian ancestry and a son
of Olaf Wald and Marie Rogstad, who were both natives of the land of
fiords and the midnight sun. Seven children were born to these parents.
Of these Charles was born while his parents resided near Waco, Texas,
May 22, 1872, and he attended the public school of that city, and on the
removal of his parents to Seattle, Washington, completed his education in
the city high school in 1889. In December of the same year he entered
the Seattle postoffice as a substitute in the carriers' department, and on
April 1, 1890, was made a regular carrier. In April, 1894, he was trans
ferred to the office of box clerk, and in November, 1896, was placed in the
city distributing department.
While engaged in the performance of the duties of the last named
position the Spanish war broke out, and on May 3, 1898, he enlisted as a
private in Company K, Washington Volunteers. Immediately after the
organization of the company in the Vancouver barracks he was detailed from
the company to the band as a musician, and as such he went with the troops
to Manila. He was there from the breaking out of hostilities between the
Americans and the Filipinos and served twenty-three months, taking part in
all the engagements of his company, including Santa Ana Pasig and Morong-
He received an honorable discharge, and on his return to Seattle was ap
pointed, January 1, 1900, to the superintendency of the city delivery of the
postoffice, which is the position he is filling at the present time with so
much credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the public and his
superiors. Mr. Wald is one of the popular young men of the city, is a first-
class musician, and possesses many traits of character which make him suc
cessful in his business and respected by his associates.
WILLIAM BIRMINGHAM.
The Birmingham family is of English origin, but William Birmingham,
the father of the above named, was born in the north of Ireland, and his
wife, Eliza Neil, was also born there, the daughter of a Presbyterian minis
ter. They both emigrated to Canada at an early age and died there. Their
son William was born in Leeds county, Ontario, in 1848, and received a
common school education in that place. He then went to the high school in
Gananoque and after leaving there was engaged as teacher in a common
school near his old home. He did not like this business and decided to do
something else. He was still a young man when, for the purpose of learning
cheese-making, he entered the establishment of George Morton, one of the
first cheese manufacturers in Canada. That industry has now grown to
great proportions, but at that time it was in its infancy. Young Birming
ham became superintendent of the factories, but after a few years he resigned

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 517
and began a wholesale commission business in buying and shipping cheese
to Liverpool and London, which was a very successful undertaking, and
he continued it until 1878. In that year he made up his mind to locate in the
United States, and came west over the Union Pacific Railroad, first to San
Francisco, and thence by steamer to Portland, Oregon. He decided not to
make this latter place his final destination, but came on to Claquato, Lewis
county, Washington, where, in company with J. Henry Long, a well known
old-timer and now deceased, he established a cheese factory. In 1881 he
sold out and came to Puget Sound and established a factory at White River
in King county, but in a short time he moved to Tacoma. This was but a
struggling village in the wilderness at that time, and the only building of
any pretense was Blackwell's Hotel, so that Mr. Birmingham may claim the
distinction of being one of the old settlers.
Not long- after his location in Tacoma he went into the flour and feed
business, and he has engaged in this branch of mercantile enterprise ever
since, although he has invested largely in real estate and is still an owner of
considerable Tacoma property. The William Birmingham Company, of
which he is the president and owner, is an incorporated firm and deals in
hay, grain, flour and feed, both wholesale and retail, and it also operates one
of the largest feed mills in the state. Besides the large retail store at 1740-
42-44 Pacific avenue, he has large steamboat warehouses at Eighteenth and
Dock streets, at which a great amount of shipping is done. Mr. Birming
ham is a member of the Masonic order. He was married at Claquato in
1880 to Miss Arie Tullis, daughter of Amos F. Tullis, one of the pathfinders
who crossed the plains in the fifties. Their two children are William Tullis
and Arie Genevieve Birmingham.
LUMAN G. VAN VALKENBURG.
Luman G. Van Valkenburg, real estate and mining operator of Sumas,
Washington, was born in Durand, Winnebago county, Illinois, in 1862, and
is a son of George Van Valkenburg and Josephine (Billick) Van Valkenburg.
The father was born in Winnebago county and learned the trade of a shoe
maker, at which he worked in Durand until he went into the army. He
was of Holland Dutch ancestry, the ancestors of the family having come
to the Mohawk valley from Holland about 1750. The grandfather of our
subject, Henry Van Valkenburg, was born in Canaan county, New York,
and came to Illinois in 1834, being one of the early settlers of Winnebago
county. The father served, three years in the Civil war in the Seventy-fourth
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was wounded at the battle of Chattanooga,
from which injury he never recovered, finally dying from the wound in
1867. The mother was born in Michigan, and in 1881 she came west and
located at Klamath Falls, Oregon, where she now lives.
After his father's death Luman Van Valkenburg went to live with his
grandfather and was reared upon the latter's farm, making it his home until
he was twenty years of age, and attending the common schools. In 1882
he came west and located in the Puget Sound country, living at Fidalgo,

518 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Skagit county, from June to October of that year. He then came to the
property on which now stands the town of Sumas, nearly ten years before the
town was thought of, and as he has since then made this locality his home,
he is one of the oldest settlers of the county. He took up a pre-empted claim
one mile west of the townsite, and as logging seemed about the only busi
ness in which a man could obtain money, he soon engaged in it, although he
endeavored to clear off his property in the meanwhile. That he was success
ful in his undertakings, his present prosperity certainly indicates. A few
years ago he located in Sumas and established himself in a real estate and
mining business, and he was one of the promoters of the gold mining dis
coveries at Mt. Baker with R. S. Lambert and Jack Post. He was actively
engaged in the Post-Lambert properties for some time, and still has large
holdings in gold mining claims, not only at Mt. Baker but in the Republic
(Washington) district and in Alaska. He was also one of the original lo-
caters and later full owner of the Silver Tip mine. Mr. Van Valkenburg
also has large realty interests in Sumas and vicinity, and carries on a suc
cessful real estate business in this town. He was justice of the peace for
several years.
In February, 1888, he was married in Whatcom county to Miss Ma
tilda J. Post, and they have two children, namely : Lydia and Frank. He
belongs to the Odd Fellows and is justly regarded as one of the prosperous
and leading men of Sumas, in whose development he has played so important
a part.
SAMUEL F. COOMBS.
Samuel F. Coombs, of Seattle, Washington, for upward of forty-three
years a resident of Puget Sound, was born in South Thompson, Maine, April
16, 183 1, upon the homestead established by his grandfather, an old soldier
of the Revolutionary war. The progenitor of the Coombs family in America
was descended from the Huguenots of France, and emigrated to New Eng
land about 1760. In his native state Samuel F. grew to manhood and be
came a prominent and influential citizen and while yet a young man, in 1858,
was elected to and served in the state legislature of which James G. Blaine
was an honored member.
In 1859 Mr. Coombs started for California, by the Panama route,
arriving at San Francisco in October, and at Port Madison on the 20th of
December. At the latter place he began work in a mill, but shortly after
ward was engaged to teach the village school, numbering among his pupils
the sons of Edward Hanford — Thaddeus, Cornelius H, Frank, Jud and
Clarence; also sons of A. B. Young — who are now among the prominent
men of the state.
In the spring of 186 1 Mr. Coombs came to Seattle and found employ
ment in the store of Henry L. Yesler, where he remained for several years,
a part of the time acting as deputy under T. D. Hinkley, the second post
master and agent for the Wells-Fargo Express Company. In 1867 he opened
a hotel where now stands the Hotel Northern, and dubbed it the Western
Terminus. Seattle at that time was booming on account of Governor Stev-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 519
ens and George B. McClellan having recommended the Snoqualmie Pass as
being the only legitimate route for a railroad over the mountains from the
east, and Seattle on Elliot Bay the only proper terminus. In 1864 an elec
tion was held for the organization of a town or city government, act of the
territorial legislature, ancj C. C. Terry was the choice for president of the
board of three trustees. Under this board Mr. Coombs was made the first
committing magistrate of- the city of Seattle, and as such had many hard
cases brought before him by the marshal, for drunk and disorderly conduct.
Thomas S. Russell was made town marshal, and Charles Eagan town clerk.
At the election Mr. Coombs and Clarence Bagley were clerks, and John
Hornbeck, M. D. Wooden and John Ross were judges. Strange to relate,
the paper printed by Watson never noticed this election. Mr. Watson was
extremely partisan.
The year previous to the organization of the town of Seattle, in 1863,
Mr. Coombs was elected auditor of King county. Partisan politics then
ran high. He had been elected to the legislature in Maine by his party as
a Douglas Democrat; consequently he was in 1863 endorsed by many Re
publicans, including such men as A. A. and D. T. Denny and Daniel Bag-
ley. In 188 1 he was elected a justice of the peace, and by the city council
elected police judge for two years.
Socially Mr. Coombs affiliates with the Masonic order. He has always
taken a deep interest in the Indian dialect of the Sound, and has recently
revised a Chinook dictionary for general circulation. He was formerly
engaged as reporter on the old Intelligencer, and still writes for the press
on pioneer subjects, particularly those relating to experiences with the In
dian tribes.
Referring to his early life here, Mr. Coombs says that soon after his
arrival, having a desire to pre-empt a claim, he found a deserted log cabin
near where now stands the Minor school building, and, on enquiry of John
Carr and Mr. Nagle, the two lone settlers in that vicinity, found that it
had been built by George F. Fry, the pre-emptor, but had been abandoned
by him. They gave consent for Mr. Coombs to occupy it, which he did, and
so pre-empted, but one night's sleep in the cabin was sufficient for him. Mr.
Charles C. Terry gave Mr. Coombs one hundred dollars for his right to the
one hundred and sixty acres, then transferred the claim to T. S. Russell,
and he in turn had Mr. Bagley enter it as university lands, at $1.50 gold
coin per acre. The same one hundred and sixty acres cost Mr. Russell four
hundred dollars, and Mr. Russell, owing Captain Renton that sum for lum
ber, forced the Captain to take the land to cover the debt. This tract of
land is now called Renton Addition. Many of its lots, sixty by one hundred
and twenty feet, bring from two thousand to four thousand dollars. The
Captain, in taking the property, complained that but little good timber or
logs was on the claim, and the distance too far to haul to salt water. Eighty
acres of this tract, aside from buildings, have been recently estimated at
one hundred and sixty thousand dollars.

520 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
G. M. LAURIDSEN.
The father of this enterprising merchant and property owner of Port
Angeles is L. Lauridsen, a native of Denmark, where he still resides, at the
advanced age of eighty. He is now retired from active service, but for
forty years held the office of sheriff of Jutland, and in commemoration of
the fact that he had served the next to the longest term in that office, the
king of Denmark conferred upon him a badge of honor.
G. M. Lauridsen was born in that old and historic division of Denmark
known as Jutland, in i860. He received a good education, and when
twenty years of age came to seek his fortune in the United States. He soon
secured a position in the general office of the New England division of the
Adams Express Company at Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was in a shorj
time promoted to assistant cashier, which position he held for nearly eleven
years. In June, 1890, he started to carry out a plan which had been his dear
est ambition for many years, to make the circuit of the inhabited world. He
set out from New York, crossed the Atlantic to his old home in Denmark,
thence through Europe, Egypt, the Holy Land, India, China, Japan, and
across the Pacific to Puget Sound, which he reached in May, 1891, after
traveling thirty-six thousand miles. He has not yet completed the remaining
portion of the journey, for on arriving at Port Angeles he was so impressed
with the surroundings that he decided to make this the scene of his future
business career, and girdle the earth at a later period. His first mercantile
enterprise was a grocery and general merchandise store on Front street, but
he now conducts a grocery exclusively, which is the leading one of the city,
and the trade is large and profitable. Besides his grocery business, he han
dles the output of several shingle mills.
In 1893 Mr. Lauridsen was married at Port Angeles to Miss Faith
A. Bryant, with whom he had become acquainted while a resident of Bridge
port, Connecticut. He has served on the city council as councilman at large.
In January, 1903, he was elected president of the Port Angeles Commercial
Club, and he is also a member of the order of Free and Accepted Masons.
He is one of the largest property owners in the city, and is now building
some neat residences for renting purposes. In Indian Valley, twelve miles
southwest from Port Angeles, he owns about five hundred acres of the best
land in the state, which he has commenced to clear of its heavy growth of
timber. He is using a steam donkey engine for pulling stumps, and will
in time have one of the best and largest farms in the state. Port Angeles
is certainly fortunate in possessing such an enterprising and valuable citizen.
JOHN ALLEN PARKER.
One of the oldest and best informed attorneys of Tacoma is John Allen
Parker, whose clientage is of a distinctively representative character, his
ability winning him the support of many of the leading residents of his dis
trict. He was born in Clay county, Illinois, in 1859, and is a son of Perry
and Christina (Wright) Parker. The father claimed Ohio as the com
monwealth of his nativity, but in 1850 he moved from there to Clay county,
Illinois, and ten years later, in i860, took up his abode in Montgomery

/^La*—

PIISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 521
county, Indiana, where he is still living, having now reached the eighty-fourth
milestone on the journey of life. He followed the tilling of the soil as his
life occupation, and in that calling he met with a well merited degree of
success. His wife was also born in Ohio, but she is now deceased. One of
the sons of this worthy couple, David C. Parker, proved a brave defender
of his country's interests during the Civil war.
John A. Parker was early inured to the labors of the farm, and after
exhausting the educational resources of the local schools he began a course
in the Indiana State Normal College, at Ladoga, matriculating therein in
1876, and his graduation took place four years later, in 1880. In the mean
time, however, he had taught school, thus working his way through college.
After the completion of his literary studies he engaged in the study of law
at Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he was admitted to the bar in 1882. and
for about one year was numbered among the legal practitioners of that city.
In 1883 he decided to remove to the then new northwest, and accordingly
took up his abode in Tacoma, which has since been the scene of his opera
tions, and he is now numbered among its oldest practitioners. He is thor
oughly informed concerning all the departments of the legal science, and his
forceful argument, logical deductions and skilful pleadings never fail to im
press court or jury, and seldom fail to convince. Mr. Parker was one of the
organizers of the Commercial National Bank of Tacoma, which was ruined
in the panic of 1893, and in the same year was appointed by Comptroller
Eckles an attorney for the insolvent Tacoma National Bank, having charge
of the closing of its affairs. His own fortune was swept away in that panic,
but with undaunted courage he began the task of retrieving his lost posses
sions, and is now one of the busiest lawyers % in Tacoma, his office being
located at Nos. 507 and 509 Equitable Building.
In the city of St. Louis, on the 27th of October, 1893, was celebrated
the marriage of Mr. Parker and Miss Blanche Burnet. Her father, Judge
Burnet, now deceased, was for twenty-five years general attorney for the
Wabash Railroad Company, and was a prominent citizen of St. Louis. Three
children have blessed this union, George Burnet, John Allen and Helen.
The family reside in a pleasant residence at 1022 North I street. Mr. Parker
is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Tacoma Club, and is
prominent in the social affairs of the city. In his political affiliations he is
a Democrat. In the fall of 1892 he was the Democratic candidate for the
judgeship of the superior court, but was defeated by only fifteen votes, and
in 1894 was the same party's candidate for the office of county attorney, in
which his opponent received a majority of only eighty votes, but in each case
Mr. Parker ran far ahead of his ticket. He possesses a pleasant and genial
temperament, and his popularity is well deserved.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL P. CONNER.
Captain Samuel P. Conner, collector of customs at Sumas, Washington,
was born at Vernon, Jennings county, Indiana, in 1837, and is a son of
Willoughby and Rachel Johnson Conner. His father was born in England
and came to Virginia at the age of seventeen years. He was one of the

522 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
early settlers in Jennings county, locating there in 1818. In his younger
days he was a teacher, but upon coming to Indiana he took up farming,
and that continued to be his occupation for many years. He was well known
and quite a prominent man in his day and generation. His wife was born
in New Jersey and died several years ago at Indianapolis, to which city she
removed after the death of her husband.
Captain Conner resided upon the farm until he was fifteen years of age,
when he went with his father to Vernon, and the lad was placed in a news
paper office and served three years at the printing trade. Following this he
worked as a journeyman at Indianapolis and several other places in Indiana
and Illinois, thus continuing until April, 1861, when he enlisted in the famous
Eighteenth Illinois Infantry, Company F, at Mt. Vernon, Jefferson county,
Illinois, where he happened to be visiting a sister. This enlistment was in
response to the call for seventy-five thousand troops for three months' ser
vice. By the time he was mustered in by Captain Pitcher at Anna, Illinois,
the seventy-five thousand troops had already been raised, so he enlisted on
the call for three-year volunteers, and was among the first men from Illinois
to enlist for three years. His regiment was commanded by Colonel Lawler,
of Shawneetown, afterward Major General Lawler, while his company was
officered by Captain J. J. Anderson.
Captain Conner entered the army as a private, although he was placed
on the rolls as corporal. His regiment was first stationed at Cairo, from
which point it was sent to join Grant at Bird's Point, Missouri. Thence
through southeast Missouri to Columbus, Kentucky, and from there into the
battles of Forts Henry, Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, and all the Grant battles
to the siege and capture of Vicksburg, in which our subject was also engaged.
After the battle of Shiloh he was commissioned second lieutenant of Com
pany F, Eighteenth Illinois Infantry.
From Vicksburg he went to Helena, Arkansas, where he met his four
brothers, who were also soldiers, and they decided that one of them should
return to the Indiana home to look after business affairs, and by casting lots
our subject was the one selected. He resigned and returned home, but did
not remain long, for in the fall of 1863 he re-enlisted at Indianapolis in
Company C, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
He being then an experienced soldier was called upon to drill the greater
number of the volunteers in the company, and when it was organized he was
selected second lieutenant. His company and regiment were sent to Chatta
nooga, where he was attached to Sherman's army, and they all participated
in the Atlanta campaign and the siege and fall of Atlanta, our subject being
practically in command of his company. He was the first to cut the railroad
south of Atlanta, and with sixty soldiers armed with Henry rifles his com
pany cleared out two Confederate regiments and cut the railroad at "Rough
and Ready" station.
When Sherman started to the sea, Captain Conner's regiment was sent
back to Nashville to join the Twenty-third Corps under General Thomas.
In this way they met Hood's army and engaged in the battles of Columbia,
Franklin and Nashville. After pursuing Hood to the Tennessee river and
camping there for three or four weeks, the regiment was ordered to Wash-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 523
ington; from there they went to Fort Fisher and Newbern, North Carolina;
thence to Goldsboro, the same state, where they rejoined Sherman's army
coming north, in the meanwhile engaging in the battles of Wise's Forks and
Kingston. From Goldsboro they went to Raleigh, remaining in the army
until the surrender of the Confederate army. Our subject was mustered out
at Newbern, North Carolina. Before his army career closed he was made
captain of Company D, and in fact had really commanded his original com
pany, Company C, from its organization. He was never wounded, but had
his clothing shot full of holes and the sole of his shoe shot off.
Returning to Indianapolis, Captain Conner went into newspaper work,
conducting several journals in different Indiana towns until early in the
seventies, when he went on the road as a' salesman for a school and church
furniture firm of Richmond, Indiana, following that for six years, after
which he went to the Ozark fruit region of southern Missouri and settled
on a fruit farm in Howell county on the K. C. S. & M. railroad. After five
years he came, in 1889, to the Puget Sound country, and located in What
com county, where the town of Sumas now stands, and began operating
a small fruit ranch. The railroad had not been completed then and the
town was not established until 1891. Captain Conner established the post-
office at Sumas and was its postmaster for about a year, when he resigned.
Captain Conner continued in the fruit business until 1897, when he
was appointed deputy collector of customs for the sub-port of Sumas, Puget
Sound customs district; Sumas being on the line between the United States
and Canada. The railroad traffic through the town has been so increased
that Captain Conner, who at first could easily perform all the work himself,
now has three assistants and really is in need of more.
In December, 1865, in Olney, Illinois, Captain Conner was married to
Miss E. J. Hoffmann and they have a son, Harry E., who is train master of
the Frisco Railroad at Enid, Oklahoma.
HON. JOHN SHERMAN BAKER.
Visitors to the vigorous young cities on the border of Puget Sound
and indeed throughout the whole state of Washington are impressed with
the cosmopolitan character of the population. The exceptional opportunities
in this section for men of action and enterprise, all of which were widely
advertised throughout the east, brought out many young men of talent from
the older states who wefe eager for a chance to push their fortune or gratify
their ambition. Most of those who came were in the prime of life, and hav
ing been educated in various lines of business they gave the new state of
the northwest the benefit of their disciplined minds, backed by the dash and
daring natural to the dawn of manhood. They took hold of all the enter
prises which promised reward for energy, and were soon found all over the
commonwealth busy as bees in making lumber from the magnificent forests
of that section, delving into its ore beds, founding and building new towns
or otherwise developing the country. Some of the brightest found their
way into politics and rose to prominence as members of the state government
and legislature or in the halls of Congress. Others sought the professions

524 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
and became conspicuous as lawyers, physicians, dentists or educators. Still
others, pursuing a natural bent, turned to the higher grades of business,
such as banking, real estate dealing on a large scale, or merchandising. To
the latter class belonged the gentleman with whom this biography is con
cerned, and with a few preliminary remarks about his ancestry the reader
shall be told something of his own personality and achievements.
Edward Baker, the founder of the family in this country, came from
England to the eastern colonies as far back as 1630. At that time the
wicked and perfidious king who later lost his head to the irate Puritans
under Cromwell, was still sitting on the English throne, and his subjects
scattered through the American colonies were as a general thing quite loyal
to the crown. Timothy Baker, son of the Edward above mentioned, who
was born in 1647, participated actively in the frequent Indian wars and
rose to the rank of colonel as the result of his meritorious military service.
John Baker, son of the Colonel, and whose birth occurred in 1680, was also
an officer in the colonial militia and ranked as captain of a company. His
third son, born in 171 5, was the only member of the family who remained
loyal to the House of Hanover when the troubles arose between King George
and his colonies, which subsequently led to the war for independence. This
sturdy old royalist left a son named Abner, born in 1754, who developed into
the rankest kind of a rebel when the encroachments, outrages and oppressions
of George the Third reached a point entirely beyond the endurance of the
free-born American citizens who inhabited the English colonies. He re
moved from New England to New York in 1803, accompanied by his son
Theodore, who was then still an infant, as his birth occurred in 1801. When
Theodore Baker grew to manhood he emigrated to Ohio and settled at Nor-
walk, where he established himself in business and became one of the most
influential of the early pioneer residents of that locality. Among his chil
dren was a son named Asahel, born in 1828, who married Martha Sprague,
of Troy, New York, and subsequently became one of the prominent early
merchants of Chicago. During most of his business life in the Illinois
metropolis he dealt in flour and grain, and was a member of the Chicago
Board of Trade. As the result of advancing years Mr. Baker eventually
retired from business and removed to the northwest.
His son, John Sherman Baker, was born at Cleveland, Ohio, November
21, 1861, but he was educated in Chicago after his father's removal to that
city. Before reaching manhood he was employed three years on the Chicago
Board of Trade. In 1881 he became a citizen of Tacoma and opened the
pioneer wholesale grocery store in that place, when it was still but a small
town compared with its subsequent development. After eight years spent
in that line of business, Mr. Baker retired from mercantile life and devoted
his attention to banking and real estate. In this, as in his first venture, he
achieved success, and by repeated investments became one of the largest
holders of real estate in Tacoma. He was the builder of some of the first
as well as the best of the brick business houses, among which may be men
tioned the Exchange, the Union, the Bernice and the Baker blocks, all of
which are a credit to the city as well as lasting monuments to the enterprise
and public spirit of their owner. As an evidence of the extent of Mr. Baker's

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 525
interests and business operations it may be stated that he is vice president
of the Tacoma Grain & Flour Mills Company, operating the largest elevator
and plant on the Sound, besides fifty grain warehouses in eastern Washing
ton and Idaho. In 1888, in association with Messrs. T. B. Wallace, Henry
Hewitt, Colonel C. W. Griggs, L. B. Campbell, now mayor of Tacoma, and
others, Mr. Baker helped organize and incorporate the Fidelity Trust- Com
pany, which does a large banking business and has scored a marked success
along financial lines. The wise and conservative management of its official
staff, among whom Mr. Baker holds the position of vice president, has made
this one of the most important institutions of its kind in the northwest. Mr.
Baker has also figured prominently in politics, and served in the state senate
during the first and second sessions of the legislature of the state of Wash
ington. He has been prominent in Masonic circles since 1882, when he was
initiated into Tacoma Lodge No. 22, A. F. & A. M.
In 1887, a few years after taking up his residence at Tacoma, Mr.
Baker was married to Miss Laura, daughter of Captain John C. Ainsworth,
who was the founder of the Oregon Navigation Company and for many
years one of the representative men of the northwest. Mr. Baker lives in
one of the most commodious residences of Tacoma and spends his working
hours in the congenial, though absorbing task of looking after his business
interests and those of the enterprising city in whose growth and development
he has been so potent a factor. JOHN B. REED.
The above named gentleman, who is at present the treasurer of Pierce
county, has spent his whole life in the responsible employment connected
with accounting and similar positions of a confidential nature. He achieved
a high reputation in business circles while in the east as a man of reliability
and integrity, and this reputation has been maintained since his transfer of
residence to the northwest. The family is of New England origin, but the
immediate relatives were long domiciled in Pennsylvania. Rudolph Reed,
who was born at Fall River, Massachusetts, removed in early life to Ches
ter, Pennsylvania, where he was married to Catherine Kerlin, a native of •
that section.
John B. Reed, the only child of this union, was born at Chester, May
14, 1858, and in childhood was taken to Philadelphia, where he received his
education. After leaving school he qualified himself as an accountant and
was employed in that line of business a number of years. In 1890 he came
to Tacoma, where he held the position of vice president of the Western
Trust Company and was employed as, cashier and chief accountant of the
Tacoma Mill Company. Later he was one of the organizers of the whole
sale grocery firm of Love, Johnson & Reed, from which he withdrew to
accept the office to which the people has chosen him. In 1900 he was nom
inated by acclamation as candidate of the Republican party for treasurer of
Pierce county, which action was ratified at the ensuing election. He is
administering the duties of this latest trust with the same fidelity and con
scientious regard of his responsibilities that have ever characterized his
work, with the result that his constituents are fully satisfied.

526 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
In 1884 Mr. Reed was married in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, to Miss
Mary A., daughter of Dr. Hillbish, of Rebersburg, Pennsylvania, and is
pleasantly located in a commodious residence which he built on Prospect Hill.
Mr. and Mrs. Reed are church members, and the former also belongs to the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and National Union.
FREDERICK RUFUS BROWN.
At this time, when America is experiencing the greatest commercial
activity and has become the center of the world's trade, it is especially inter
esting to study the life of one who has made a success in many lines of
business, whose example may thus be profitable to the younger generation
just entering commercial careers. In Frederick Rufus Brown we have one
of Washington's most prominent financiers, a man who has made the most
of his opportunities in every affair he has undertaken.
On both sides of the house his ancestors were of good old Puritan
stock. His father, Cyrenius Brown, was a native of Maine, was educated
there, became a sea captain and . owner and builder of vessels, and sailed
his own ships on the coasting trade between Maine and New Orleans. Late
in life he retired from the sea and engaged in the mercantile business in
Bucksport, Maine, until the close of his life, at the ripe old age of seventy-
six. His wife was Abbie A. Stover, a highly cultured lady, who passed
away in the seventy-ninth year of her life. Mr. Brown had been a Demo
crat until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he gave his support to the
Republican party, and was always one of its most loyal members.
Fred Rufus, the only child of these parents, was born in Bucksport,
Maine, on May 10, 1849, was educated in the public schools and in the
East Maine Seminary, at an early age was clerk in a store and in 1866 •
went to Boston to accept a clerkship, which he held until 1869. In this
year he went to California to General Bidwell's town, Chico, where he re
mained a year and a half, engaged in harvesting and other farm work.
Before the railroad was built he made the journey to Portland with a horse
and wagon. At this time the Northern Pacific Railroad was being con
structed, and he cut ties, loaded vessels and did other work for the railroad
company, until he engaged with Ingalls, Sohns & Company, dealers in
general merchandise; a little later he was placed in charge of one of the
branch stores, which he moved along the line, and sold supplies to the rail
road laborers and others living near the right-of-way. The cost of a full
supply of such stock was about ten thousand dollars, and after he had saved
six hundred dollars, in the fall of 1872, the company sold him a complete
outfit, trusting him for the money. , He carried on the business very suc
cessfully, moving his store along until he reached Tenino, where he made
a permanent settlement. He became postmaster and notary public of this
town and performed these duties for several years; he then purchased and
for two years conducted the Winlock sawmill. While managing his store.
coal was discovered at Bucoda, only four miles away, and he became a
stockholder in a company to develop and operate the mine. In 1880 he
was one of a small syndicate to purchase the Olympia and Chehalis Rail-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 527
road, which had been built by the people of Olympia and Thurston county,
and he sold out his business at Tenino and removed to Olympia in order
to manage the road; the syndicate held the ownership of the road until
1889, when it was sold. In 1883 he organized the Scotco Manufacturing
Company at the place now called Bucoda and built two sawmills and a
large sash and door factory; the plant was then the largest on the coast,
and he operated it until 1888.
In 1890 Mr. Brown purchased the mill and machinery of the Olympia
Manufacturing Company, located on the west side of the city and bay,
and after putting the property in perfect repair he organized and incor
porated the West Side Mill Company; the property embraced the west side
sawmill and planing mill, sash and door factory and dock property on
Fourth street, two hundred and fifty by one hundred and fifty feet, with
office, storerooms and yards. They also carried a full line of builders'
supplies, and their business was very large throughout the county. Under
Mr. Brown's management the output of the mill increased from twelve
or fifteen thousand feet of lumber daily to seventy thousand, and employing
seventy or eighty men all the time. Such was the regard in which the
employes held Mr. Brown that on the latter's fiftieth birthday the men sur
prised him with a fine bicycle. Recently he has sold his mill, and his
greatest regret in doing so was in parting with the men with whom he
had always had such friendly relations. Mr. Brown has an interest in the
Mumby Lumber Company in the Black Hills, a plant employing thirty or
forty men and producing from two hundred and seventy-five to three
hundred thousand shingles a clay, which find purchasers in every part of the
country. He is one of the owners of the Olympia waterworks, and when
the Capital National Bank was organized he became one of its stockholders
and directors, which connection he still retains.
Mr. Brown was happily married in 1875 to Elizabeth Case, a daughter
of Tanton Case, a pioneer of 1850. Mr. and Mrs. Brown lived happily
together for seventeen years, and then she was taken away, leaving no
children. Mr. Brown is an adherent of the Republican party, but has al
ways kept out of politics and never accepted office. His busy career has
conferred great good on his city and fellow men, and he enjoys the respect
and esteem of all. JUDGE ELLIOTT M. WILSON.

Judge Elliott M. Wilson, president of the Western Iron & Steel Com
pany, Lakeview, Washington, was born on a farm in Portage county, Ohio,
in 1849, and is a son of Charles and Esther (Hancock) Wilson. The father
was born in Massachusetts, and came to Ohio in 1842, settling in Portage
county. He was originally a sawmill man and manufacturer of hand-rakes,
pitchforks and implements of that character, but about the time our subject
was born he had moved to a farm and thereafter was a farmer. The parents
both died in Ohio. The mother was born at North Wilbraham, Massa
chusetts, and her grandfather, Moses Hancock, was a prominent soldier in
the Revolutionary war.

528 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
The primary instruction received by Judge Wilson was gained in the
public schools, after which he went to Hiram College, the same college at
which the future President Garfield pursued his studies, and of which he
was later president. From college young Wilson went to Cleveland, and
there entered the Ohio Law College, from which he was graduated and ad
mitted to the bar at Cleveland in 1874. He then returned to Portage county
and clerked in a store and taught school for two years to prepare himself to
wait for clients, and at the end of two years he went to Youngstown, Ohio,
and opened a law office, and, fortunately for him, was successful from the
very start. In 1887 he was elected probate judge of the county, taking
charge of the office February 9, 1888. The term was for a period of three
years, and in 1890 he was re-elected and served until his second term ex
pired, in February, 1894, at which time he resumed his practice, which he
continued with success until 1895. In politics he is a Democrat, and was
elected in a strongly Republican county, a certain test of his personal popu
larity. In 1895 Judge Wilson was asked by Richard Brown, of the old iron
manufacturing firm of Brown, Bonnell & Company, and pioneers of the
iron industry at Youngstown, to come out to Lakeview, Washington, and
take charge of and straighten out the affairs of the Western Iron & Steel
Company, which had been promoted and established by parties associated
with Mr. Brown, who came from Youngstown for that purpose. The site
chosen for the plant was at Lakeview, a small town on the Northern Pacific
Railroad, seven miles south of Tacoma, of which it is practically a suburb.
Here the works were erected and in 1896, after Judge Wilson had straight
ened the affairs of the company, and completed the equipping of the plant,
the promoters returned to their home in Youngstown, and the Judge, elected
president and manager of the company, was induced to remain. This is the
pioneer industry of its kind in the Puget Sound country, and has been suc
cessful from the beginning. The plant consists mainly of a rolling mill, and
manufactures merchant bar-iron in large quantities. For building up an
iron manufacturing industry in this country, great credit is due to Judge
Wilson and his associates in this enterprise, namely Mr. Alexander Bain,
vice president and superintendent, and Mr. W. S. Burt, secretary. Judge
Wilson is also interested in the big steel manufacturing corporation recently
organized for the purpose of erecting a large iron and steel plant at Seattle.
Since residing at Lakeview Judge Wilson was married to Josephine
McKeown, of Youngstown, Ohio.
DAVID S. JOHNSTON.
Every community has a few men who are recognized as leaders in
public affairs and to whom are due in a great measure the prosperity and
progress which have led to the substantial development of the locality. To
this class in Tacoma belongs David S. Johnston, the well known musical
instrument dealer in this city and the Puget Sound country. He is a native
of the Buckeye state, his birth occurring in Adams county on the 2d of No
vember, 1835, and he is of Scotch ancestry, his grandfather, Gavin Johnston,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 529
having emigrated to the new world from Scotland in 1805. After his arrival
here he located in Chillicothe, Ohio, being one of the early pioneers of that
portion of the Buckeye state. He was a farmer and a Scotch Covenanter,
and lived to the age of eighty years. He was accompanied on his removal
to Ohio by his wife, seven sons and a daughter, of whom David Johnston,
the father of our subject, was the youngest. Pie was born in Scotland in
1803, and was but two years of age when brought by his parents to Ohio.
In that commonwealth he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Platter,
a native of Adams county, Ohio, and a daughter of Peter Platter,
an agriculturist of that locality and a Revolutionary soldier- under General
Washington. The hardest fought battle during his term of service was the
battle of Brandywine. Near the evening of the day General Washington
rode along the lines and shouted to his army, "Stand up, boys, for one hour
longer and we will gain the day." They stood up, and the day was gained.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnston were farming people and also Scotch Covenanters,
and he attained to the good old age of eighty-two years, while his wife passed
away in her fifty-eighth year. They became the parents of six sons and two
daughters, but only two of the number, our subject and one daughter, are
now living.
David S. Johnston grew to years of maturity on his father's farm, and
to the early public school system of Adams county he is indebted for the
educational privileges which he received. When twenty years of age he
began teaching vocal music, following that profession for eleven years in
Ohio, and afterward becarne interested in the piano business with D. H.
Baldwin, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Remaining in his native state until July, 1888,
he then came to Tacoma, Washington, and resumed his former occupation.
He first handled the Chickering and Kimball pianos exclusively, but as his
business grev in volume and importance he added other makes, and now
also handles tue Hobart, Cable, Pease, Johnston, Hinze, and many other well
known pianos. For a period of over thirty-five years he has sold the Chicker
ing piano. During his first year here Mr. Johnston was in the midst of
the great "boom," and after its collapse his sales did not exceed fifty pianos
a year until in 1897, when business began to revive, and his average sale
is now over one hundred pianos a month. In addition to his extensive estab
lishment at Tacoma he also owns large houses in Seattle, Everett, Whatcom
and North Yakima, and is the leading piano dealer in the northwest.
Mr. Johnston was married in January, 1858, in Greene county, Ohio, to
Miss Eliza E. Bogle, who was born near Springfield, in Clark county, that
state, and on the maternal side is descended from the Stewarts. This union
has resulted in the birth of five children, the eldest of whom, Rev. Howard
A. Johnston, D. D., is pastor of a Presbyterian church in New York city.
The second son, E. Dwight Johnston, is president of the P. H. & F. M. Roots
Manufacturing Company, of Connersville, Indiana, engaged in the manufac
ture of blowers for blast smelters, etc., and also in the making of rotary
pumps. The eldest daughter, Mary Elizabeth, is the wife of James Simon,
of Victoria, British Columbia, assistant manager of the Canadian Bank of
Commerce, of that city. The second daughter, Mrs. Retta J. Shank, is a
widow, and prominent as a professional teacher of vocal music and also as

530 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY'.
a concert singer in Chicago, Illinois. David Walter, the youngest of the
family, is a resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he is engaged in
the manufacture of devices for handling grain by pneumatics.
Mr. Johnston cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont, and
has since been a stalwart advocate of Republican principles. Both he and his
wife are valued members of the Presbyterian church, in which he is an active
worker in the Sunday-school, having been identified with the state and county
Sunday-school associations for fourteen years. The family reside in one of
the attractive homes of Tacoma, and they well deserve the confidence and high
esteem which is universally accorded them by the citizens of Tacoma.
AUGUST VON BOECKLIN.
To the student of the history of southern Germany and particularly
of the Grand Duchy of Baden and portions of Alsace the name of von
Boecklin is of more than passing interest, and is found associated with men
prominent in the affairs of the regions inhabited by the family.
There is authentic record of the family's residence in Strassburg as
far back as the year 1200, and Mr. von Boecklin has a baronial crest which
has descended from feudal times. The city of Strassburg, in Alsace, was
for centuries the seat of the family, the disturbances of the latter part of
the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth centuries scattering the mem
bers. One of the ancestors was a general in Napoleon's army, another
attained the position of a prime minister and is interred in the Cathedral
at Freiburg, Baden, dying in 1577. The latter's will is among the ancient
archives of the cathedral mentioned, and is an interesting document.
Various landmarks about Strassburg and other cities of the region are
still in existence, giving evidence of their connection with the family in ages
past. Among them is the Ruprechts Auer Allee, in Strassburg, named after
an ancestor who resided on an island in the Rhine, located near Strassburg,
which bears the same name and from which the family hails. The military
field was followed principally, among the present heads being two retired
lieutenant generals of the German army.
Charles L. von Boecklin, the father of August von Boecklin, was a
native of Offenburg, Baden, Germany, and, while not a professional soldier,
served his prescribed military time as a volunteer, seeing active service in
the wars of 1866 with Austria and also in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-
71. In 1879 financial reverses overtook him and he removed with his
family to the United States, locating first in Iowa, where he remained for
a year, and thence came to Jamestown, North Dakota, where they remained
seven years. In 1887 they came to Tacoma, where Mr. von Boecklin re
sided until his death, in 1897. Mr. von Boecklin was a working man
from the time of his arrival in America, and with the assistance of his faith
ful wife and son, by dint of self-denial and close economy, was in the way
of slowly recouping his fortunes. His widow, before her marriage, was
Lisette Jehle, and is still residing with her son, August, at 1904 South G
street, Tacoma.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 531
August von Boecklin was born in the Grand Duchy of Baden, in Ger
many, in 1876, but may be considered a thorough American, since most of
his years have been spent in this country. He 'was educated in the public
school, a sisters' school in Tacoma and business college. At the age of four
teen he entered the employ of Charles Reichenbach, who conducted a cloth
ing establishment in Tacoma; from there he went to the Tacoma Daily
Ledger's business office, and thence entered the service of the Metropolitan
Savings Bank as stenographer. Mr. von Boecklin remained with this in
stitution until 1901, at which time he was receiving teller there, and then
bought out the business of George L. Frier, at 720 Pacific avenue, known
as the Washington Manufacturing Company. This business was incor
porated later on by James E. Hasbrouck, Michael J. Callahan and August
von Boecklin, president, vice president and manager, and secretary-treasurer,
respectively, with a capital of ten thousand dollars, and the plant removed
to East I and Twenty-fifth streets. Mr. von Boecklin recently bought out
his partners and controls the company, being at the present time engaged
in the manufacture of finished lumber, his product going principally into
the eastern markets, the business being carried on under the company's name.
The daily capacity of the mill is twenty thousand feet of lumber, employing
twenty-five men.
Mr. von Boecklin was treasurer of the Tacoma Savings and Loan Asso
ciation from its establishment until last year, when he resigned, owing to the
press of his personal business, but is still a director of the association. In
addition to his own business, he is in charge of his mother's interests in
Tacoma, consisting of nine houses and other valuables.
He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Ancient Order of
United Workmen and Catholic Order of Foresters in Tacoma, of which he
was for some years recording secretary. In April, 1902, he was elected
a member of the city council of Tacoma on the Republican ticket, from the
fifth ward, for a term of two years, and during the last year has been chair
man of the claims committee, also a member of the buildings and public
properties, franchises, streets and alleys and public library committees.
RUFUS J. DAVIS.
Rufus J. Davis is an old-time resident of. Tacoma and is the son of
John H. and Jane (Eagan) Davis, the former a native of Virginia and the
latter of Illinois. John H. Davis came out to Illinois in 1832 and became
one of the early settlers near the town of Salem. He was a prosperous
farmer of that vicinity for many years. He died while on a visit to a son
in Texas, in 1900; his wife is also deceased.
Rufus J. Davis was born near Salem, Illinois, in 186 1. He was edu
cated in the public schools of that town and was a schoolmate of William
J. Bryan. In those clays public speaking was in high favor in the schools,
and there were several debating societies, the members of the bar of the
town taking especial interest in the matter and helping in the support of
the clubs. In this atmosphere the "boy orator of the Platte" gained his first
stimulus to oratory, and young Davis himself was resolved to become a,

532 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
lawyer. He finished his education in the University of Illinois in 1882,
and then went to Hebron, Nebraska, and entered the office of Judge Savage
as a student. After a year of study, however, he longed for a more active
life, and accordingly came to Tacoma in 1883, so that he has lived in this
city during the twenty years of its most rapid growth. For the first eighteen
months of his stay here he was engaged in exploring the forests in connec
tion with lumber interests. When the old Merchants National Bank was
founded he was made assistant cashier and also a director. He was kept
busy in this position until 1893, when the banking interests were panic-
stricken, and Mr. Davis was appointed by the comptroller of the currency
as assistant to the receiver of the Merchants National, and later of the Ta
coma National Bank. For several years subsequent to 1893 he was engaged
in handling moneys and acting as receiver for financial institutions. In
1897 the affairs of the above mentioned banks were settled up, and Mr.
Davis was appointed assistant to the receiver of the Tacoma Gas and Elec
tric Company, and at the same time he was concerned in other business
enterprises. In 1899 the Pacific Cold Storage Company sent him to Alaska,
and he built the company's cold storage plant at Dawson, and attended to
their interests at Nome and other Alaska points, spending three years there
altogether. In the fall of 1902 Mr. Davis returned to Tacoma, and with E. J.
Felt and others organized the Washington Lumber Company, of which Mr.
Felt is president and Mr. Davis was secretary and manager. In June, 1903,
he sold his interest in the lumber company and returned to the Pacific Coast
Storage Company, and is at present looking after their interests in Dawson
and Alaska. Mr. Davis was married at Tacoma in 1887 to Lizzie S. Anderson, and
they have one son, Arthur A. Davis. Mr. Davis is a Mason, and, as this
short sketch of his life indicates, is one of the prominent citizens of Tacoma.
JOHN SNYDER.
John Snyder, the president of the Tacoma Fir Door Company, of
Tacoma, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1852, his parents being Edward
and Lena (Gardner) Snyder. His paternal grandfather was a Bavarian, and
was one of the revolutionists who came to this countrv in such great num
bers in the forties. He settled at Chillicothe, Ohio, with seven sons, and,
although a very young man at the time, he soon gained prosperity and be
came a leading and influential as well as successful citizen there. Edward,
his son, began as a clerk in a store and subsequently engaged in the hard
ware business on his own account, carrying on trade along that line up to
the time of his death, which occurred in Chillicothe in' 1858. Edward Sny
der had a complete record of his ancestry in Germany as far back as the
middle of the seventeenth century. The mother of our subject was only
twelve years old when she came to the United States with her parents, and
it was in Chillicothe that she gave her hand in marriage to Edward Snyder.
She still lives.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 533
Receiving a good common school education, John Snyder started out
upon his business career at the age of fourteen years in the wholesale notion
store of S. C. Swift, at Chillicothe. He remained in that establishment con
tinuously for ten years, during the latter part of which time he was a salesman
upon the road. At the age of twenty-four he embarked in the wholesale
hat business for himself at Chillicothe, continuing the conduct of the store
for three years, at the expiration of which time he went to Detroit, and
there opened a wholesale hat store. He spent four or five years as a travel
ing salesman, traveling out of that city, and altogether he was upon the
road for eleven years.
In January, 1885, in company with John B. Stevens, with whom he
had been associated as a traveling salesman in Michigan, Mr. Snyder came
to Tacoma. The two gentlemen entered into partnership and built a saw
mill, the first one to be built at the head of Commencement bay. Tacoma
was then a small town, at that time giving little promise of rapid develop
ment. Pacific avenue was the only street that was built up, and even on
that thoroughfare there were no houses beyond the site of the Northern
Pacific depot. Mr. Snyder and Mr. Stevens continued to operate the mill
with excellent success for five years, at the end of which time their plant
was destroyed by fire and they decided not to rebuild. Mr. Snyder then
became vice president of the Tacoma National Bank, and after about two
years was made cashier of that institution, which position he held until
1893. In that year he became interested in the gold discoveries in Alaska,
and with a party of four others made a trip to that country, remaining at
Stikine for about five months. This gave him such an interest in mining
that he returned to Washington and went into the mining business at
Peshastin, Washington, where he operated several placer claims for about
four years. In the early part of 1902 he located at Ellensburg, Washing
ton, where he engaged in commercial pursuits, dealing in wagons and farm
implements. Early in the spring of 1903, however, Mr. Snyder returned to Tacoma
and organized the Tacoma Fir Door Company, with a capital stock of fifty
thousand dollars, half of which he owns, and he is the president of the com
pany. This company is now building on the tide flats across the bay, under
the superintendence of Mr. Snyder, a first-class modern mill for the manu
facture of doors and other building requisites, made of Washington fir.
The 'plant will be completed in the summer of 1903 and will constitute one
of the leading new industries of the city.
Mr. Snyder served for one term as a member of the city council of
Tacoma during the early days of his residence here, and was a member
of the committee on water and lights which went to Philadelphia to purchase
the water and light plant for the city. Although he has been away from
Tacoma a great deal during his sojourn in the northwest he has always
made this city his home and taken a deep and abiding interest in its welfare,
co-operating many times in measures for the general good. For seventeen
years he has lived in his present residence, at 1017 A street, which, at the
time it was built, was in the most aristocratic section of the city.
In 1886 Mr. Snyder returned to Chillicothe for his bride and wedded

534 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Miss Ella M. Frost, a member of an old and honored family there. Her
father, Benjamin B. Frost, was born in Maine, but was one of the early
settlers of the historic Ross county, Ohio. He died in the summer of 1902,
while on a visit to his daughter in Tacoma, and his remains were taken
back to Chillicothe for burial. His ancestral record, as published in book
form, shows that the Frost family is of English origin and was established
in this country about 1640. Through many generations the Frost home has
been maintained at Denmark, Maine. The mother of Benjamin B. Frost
belonged to the Pingree family, and was a second cousin of the late Gov
ernor Pingree, of Michigan. Benjamin Frost wedded Miss Mary Ingalls,
also of an old and distinguished family of Maine, Bridgeton being the an
cestral home of the Ingalls. This family was established in America as
early as 1629, by two brothers, Edmund and Francis Ingalls, who came
from Lincolnshire, England. The former settled at Lynn, Massachusetts,
while Francis located at Swamscott and established the first tannery in the
new world. Subsequently Bridgeton, Maine, became the place of residence
of the Ingalls family, and it was at that place that Phineas Ingalls, the great
grandfather of Mrs. Snyder, enlisted, at the age of seventeen, as a minute-
man in the war of the Revolution. He served from the battle of Lexington,
in April, 1775, until December, 1776. The diary which he kept during
that period is still in possession of the family and is a most quaint, amusing
and interesting document. It is written in a simple, frank, concise style,
giving a good picture of those days and the customs then followed. M. E.
Ingalls, of Cincinnati, president of the Big Four Railroad Company, and
the late Senator John J. Ingalls, of Kansas, were born at Bridgeton, and
are members of the family to which Mrs. Snyder belongs. To Mr. Snyder
and his wife have been born two children, Mary and Frost Snyder. The
parents are widely and favorably known here, the circle of their friends
being almost co-extensive with the circle of their acquaintance.
WILLIAM L. ADAMS.
On account of the splendid success he has achieved in the banking
business, there is no man in this section of the state who occupies a more
enviable position in industrial circles than William L. Adams. He is de
scended from a Swiss ancestry, who were among the early settlers in Berks
county, Pennsylvania, where they located near Philadelphia. There, on
Christmas day of 1767, Anthony Adams, the great-grandfather of our sub
ject was born, and when twenty-one years of age he removed to the Wyom
ing valley. It was he who founded the Adams homestead on the Susque
hanna, near which now stands the thriving city of Berwick, and with the
assistance of his father, Anthony Adams, Sr., or who was familiarly known
as "Old Anthony," he acquired in course of time a tract of nine hundred
acres of land, a part of which he secured by patent direct from the common
wealth of Pennsylvania, the earliest titles dating back to 1792. The original
dwelling was a log structure, in which the grandfather of William L. Adams
was born in 1793, but in 18 12 Anthony Adams replaced this rude structure
with the large stone house which is still standing. In this house was born

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 535
Enos L. Adams, on the 28th of July, 1824, and it also proved the birth
place of William L. Adams, on May 27, i860. Elliott Adams, a brother of
the latter, and his son, Elliott, Jr., now reside in the old stone house, the last
named representing the sixth generation in direct descent on the old Briar-
creek homestead.
Among the old families in this section of Pennsylvania may also be
mentioned the Kisners and -Hills. On the paternal side the grandmother
of William L. Adams was Esther Hill, a daughter of Captain Frederick
Hill, who was commissioned by Governor Deane in 1806, and who was the
son of Frederick Hill, Sr., a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The great-
grandmother, the wife of Anthony Adams, Jr., was Catherine Gloss, who
reared ten children to years of maturity. She lived to be nearly eighty years
of age. The mother of William L. Adams bore the maiden name of Mar
garet Kisner. She was a woman of rare character and ability and was the
only child of "Squire John Kisner," who was a unique figure in ante-bellum
clays in Kansas. By her marriage to Enos L. Adams, Margaret Kisner be
came the mother of ten children, all of whom survived her, and seven of
the number, three sons and four daughters, are still living. The ancestry
in an unbroken line have followed the tilling of the soil as a means of liveli
hood. In their political affiliations they have been Democrats since the days
of Thomas Jefferson, while their religious views have been in harmony with
the Presbyterian faith. A strong characteristic of this family is its love for
one another, and they have ever been noted for their sterling worth.
In some particulars William L. Adams has diverged from the beaten
paths of his forefathers. Before he had reached his tenth year he had made
two decisions, one being that he would not become a farmer, and the other
that he would acquire a college education. In his childhood days he attended
the Martz school near his old home, and when ten years of age was placed
in the Orangeville Academy, where he remained for about four years, and it
was while attending this institution, in 1872, that his mother was summoned
to the home beyond. During the school year of 1875-6 he was a student
at the Missionary Institute, at Selins Grove, Pennsylvania, where he com
pleted his preparation for a college course, and in the following winter he
taught the Doak school, located about two miles from his home. With the
money thus earned he was enabled to enter Mount Union College, at Al
liance, Ohio, in the fall of 1877, from which institution he was graduated
in 1881 with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, he having been the
youngest member in a class of twelve. As a student his highest marks were
secured in mathematical studies, and at graduation he was one of the three
"first oration" men who were of equal rank and were given the first honors
of the class. During his senior year he was a member of the Delta Tau
fraternity. While attending college Mr. Adams also taught a country school
for three months, and served for a time as principal of the Enon Valley
Academy, thereby partially earning his own way through college, while his
vacations were spent in clerking in the store of Adams & Son, at Berwick,
the proprietors being his father and brother. In March, 1880, the brother
John died, and the business was thereafter discontinued, William having
been engaged during the spring and summer following in handling its affairs,
thus losing the remainder of the college year.

536 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
During his boyhood and youth his idea had been to follow the legal
profession, and he subsequently acquired a good knowledge of legal forms
and spent a few months in the law office of Samuel B. Wilson, at Beaver,
Pennsylvania, also doing considerable private reading. After leaving col
lege Mr. Adams accepted the first occupation for earning an honest living
that presented itself, and this was the selling of books. He canvassed a part
of Crawford and Wyandot counties in selling the life of the martyred Presi
dent Garfield, having sold as many as twenty-six copies in one day while
traveling on foot among the farmers.. One of the prospectus books, showing
some of the original signatures of the subscribers, is still in his possession.
His next occupation was as a teacher for three months in a school in the
Monnett district, twelve miles south of Bucyrus, and while thus engaged
the question uppermost in his mind was how to obtain the money necessary
to pursue a course of study in the Yale Law School. His father demurred
at any further investment in the line of education, but was willing to assist
him in any legitimate business venture, and about this time glowing accounts
reached him through the Chicago Inter Ocean of how money was being
made in the west in the sheep business. Accordingly the month of March,
1882, found him at Colorado City, Texas, that having been soon after the
completion of the Texas & Pacific Railroad to El Paso, and with the capital
his father advanced him he at once engaged in the sheep business. This
was in the days of open prairie and free range, when the cowboy played
such a prominent part in the west. He struck the business on a boom. Later
on, however, after the reduction of the tariff on wool, sheep for which he
had paid five dollars a head sold for two dollars, and in the following year
as low as fifty cents a head. Many men abandoned the business, but Mr.
Adams determined that he would not renounce it with the stigma and dis
credit of a failure in his first business venture, but it required six years of
persistent and hard work to come out victorious, so it was not until 1888
that he was able to leave Texas. During the years of 1883-4 he served as
commissioner of Mitchell county, and in 1885 moved his 'herd eighty miles
westward to Midland. He was residing there when Midland county was
organized from a part of Tom Green county, and he was made its first
county assessor, holding that office by re-election until his resignation in
1888. By this time the idea of a legal career had been abandoned by Mr.
Adams, and on the 16th of August, 1888, with his young bride, he left
Texas for Washington territory. After spending some time at Ellensburg
and Dayton, they finally located at Hoquiam, on the 12th of March, 1890,
and a few days afterward he accepted the principalship of the Hoquiam
public schools. He had intended to hold the position only temporarily, or
until the "boom" should subside and he could make a business start on level
ground, but the process of subsidence seemed an endless one, and Mr. Adams
remained at the head of the schools for a period of nearly three years, during
which he accomplished the organization and grading of the schools and the
establishing of the two years' high school course. In 1893 he received the
honorary degree of Master of Philosophy from his alma mater.
In the "boom" days two national banks were organized in Hoquiam,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 537
and both were still in the field on the ist day of February, 1893, the date
on which Mr. Adams began his banking career, becoming a stockholder,
director and cashier of the Hoquiam National Bank. His associate was
G. W. Hertges, the president, and a gentleman of excellent bank training.
The institution had at that time a deposit of only about fifteen thousand
dollars and business enough to little more than pay expenses, while the
First National Bank had a deposit of about fifty thousand dollars and a
proportionately larger business. Mr. Adams was ' from the beginning a
strong advocate of bank consolidation, and it is conceded that to him be
longs the credit of bringing this about. About five months later Messrs.
Hertges & Adams had acquired a controlling interest in the First National,
and on July 18, 1893, they placed the Hoquiam National into voluntary
liquidation, took charge of the First National as its president and cashier,
reorganized its board of directors and combined the business of the two
banks into one. By this move they assumed and became responsible for the
combined deposits of the two banks at a time when banking institutions in
Tacoma, Portland and throughout the country generally were going down.
The dark days of the panic followed, and the bank deposits in 1896 were
as low as thirty-four thousand dollars. In 1898 Mr. Hertges died, and
Mr. Adams purchased his interest in the bank, placing a part of it with
such men as George H. Emerson, C. F. White, O. M. Kellogg and others.
At this time Mr. Emerson, who had been the vice president of the bank,
was elected president and Mr. White vice president, our subject continuing
as cashier, with the management and responsibility of the business. During
the succeeding five years the deposits of the bank increased to a half a- mil
lion dollars, and it had doubled its capital beside paying its regular semi
annual dividends of ten, twelve and fourteen per cent, per annum. This
was accomplished strictly along the lines of conservative and legitimate
banking methods. In 1903 Mr. Adams was elected to the presidency of
the bank. As a private money lender for six or eight years and as
a banker for ten years, Mr. Adams has never made a loan that turned out
badly, eventuated in the necessity of a lawsuit, of employing a lawyer to
collect or of making a concession of a single dollar by way of compromise.
The First National Bank is now the only one left in the Grays Harbor
country of the eight that were engaged in business before the panic. Since
1896 Mr. Adams has been one of the three owners of the Mack Logging
Company, employing about one hundred men, and has meanwhile been an
investor in timber lands to some extent. The ambition of his life, however,
is to leave the name of a successful banker, and he regards any success in
the way of making money for himself as a secondary consideration.
On the 15th of August, 1888, the day preceding his removal from
Texas, Mr. Adams was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie Anderson Davis,
the wedding having been celebrated at Fort Worth. She is descended from
New England stock, but was born and reared in Michigan, her education
having been received at the Michigan Seminary, at Kalamazoo, in which
she graduated after a four years' course in 188 1. They have had two sons
and two daughters, but Ralph, the eldest son, died in infancy. The others
are: Gay lord, who was born in 1890; Gwenivere, born in 1893; and Eliza-

538 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
beth, in 1898. Mr. Adams' religious preferences are for the Episcopalian
faith, while his fraternal connections are with the Elks, the Masonic order,
being a past master of Hoquiam Lodge No. 64, and with the Woodmen of
the World, of which he was the first counsel commander of Fir Camp No.
190. In 1896, when the Democratic party became populistic, he abandoned
the political principles of his forefathers and united with the Republican
party, since which time he has remained true to its platform.
JAMES E. COCHRAN.
Judge James E. Cochran, the leading lawyer of Port Angeles, Wash
ington, was born on a farm in Lee county, Iowa, May 15, 1848, and was
the son of Hugh F. and Lucy (Hammond) Cochran. He lost his father
when he was but a child, and his mother, who was a native of Muskingum
county, Ohio, did not long survive her husband. James learned how to per
form the work of a farm while at home, and after the death of his parents
he worked for farmers in the vicinity, and in the meantime obtained a pretty
good education. He also taught school and finished his literary training
by a course in Denmark Academy in Lee county, fifteen miles from Burling
ton. In 1870, when twenty-two years old, he went to York, Nebraska,
which was then in the midst of a new country, and there he homesteaded
what he later made into one of the finest farms in the rich county of York.
He lived there for thirteen years, taught both in York and in the county,
and was county superintendent of schools for four years. From early man
hood he had had an ambition to become a lawyer, and on his coming to
York took up the study with Gerge B. France, and also with Judge George
W. Post. He was admitted to the bar in 1878.
In 1883 Mr. Cochran removed to McCook, Nebraska, where he was
three years afterward appointed judge of the district court in the fourteenth
judicial district, and was then elected to the same office. In 1893 he again
changed his residence and went to Salt Lake City, where he practiced for
awhile, and then going to St. Anthony, Idaho, was elected prosecuting
attorney of Fremont county, in November, 1898, which office he retained
for two years, and also conducted a successful law practice. He was by
acclamation renominated to this office, but failing health compelled him
to withdraw his name and to- change his residence to a place in lower altitude
and with milder climate. On January 1, 1900, Judge Cochran located in Port
Angeles, which he intends to make his permanent home. He has already built
up a large practice, and his standing as a member of the bench and bar is indi
cated by the universally favorable testimony of his associates. The members
of the highest judicial tribunals of Nebraska regard him "as a lawyer of
learning, ability and talent, as well as a gentleman of honor, good character
and high standing," "as an able and conscientious judge," and as prosecuting
attorney "his prosecutions have been tried ably and vigorously," and "he has
given excellent satisfaction to the people." Judge Cochran was married at
York, Nebraska, to Mary L. Beecher, and they have two children, Mrs. Alice
Allen and Hugh Edwin Cochran.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 539
DAVID BARTLETT EDWARDS.
David Bartlett Edwards, secretary of the Fairhaven Land Company,
of Fairhaven, Washington, and a very prominent resident of the city, was
born December 14, 1854, in the state of Maine. His father bore the name
of David W. Edwards, and was born in Maine, coming of an old American
family of English extraction. David W. Edwards served as United States
marshal, and was killed while taking deserters in his native state in 1864.
His wife bore the maiden name of Caroline A. Garland, and she was also
born in Maine of good substantial stock, descended from Scotch ancestry,
and she is still living, making her home at Fairhaven at the age of seventy-
eight years. Three children were born to David W. Edwards and wife,
namely: Our subject; Hattie G., widow of John W. Ayer, of Oakland,
California, a teacher in the Franklin school there; and Carrie A., wife of
J. H. Kemper, of Fairhaven.
David Bartlett Edwards was educated in the public schools in Maine
and then at Pittsfield Seminary, Maine, for two years. Leaving school at
the age of seventeen, Mr. Edwards emigrated to Calaveras county, Cali
fornia, and entered the employ of the stage company, with which he re
mained until he was twenty-four years of age. At that time he went to
San Francisco and took a course in the business college of that city. In
August, 1878, Mr. Edwards went to Amador county and engaged in mining
with his stepfather for about two years. Following this he acted as stage
driver on the Amador county route from lone to Mokelumne Hill, and this
he continued until 188 1. His next venture was the handling of freight on
commission at lone, California, until 1884, when, disposing of his interest,
he came to Fairhaven, March 6, 1884, and after arriving in this city he
ran the old Bellingham Bay Hotel for about a year and a half. His interests
calling him back to California, he left Fairhaven and engaged with the
Plymouth Consolidated Gold Mining Company in the mine and store until
1 89 1, when he returned to Fairhaven and resumed his charge of the Bel
lingham Bay Hotel for a short time. He was then appointed a member of
the police force, serving as patrolman in 1893, and in 1894, was elected
marshal, which position he held for four years. In the spring of 1900 he
became identified with the Fairhaven Land Company and the Bellingham
Bay Land Company, and in the same year was made secretary of both
companies. In addition to holding this office with the Fairhaven Land
Company, he is a large stockholder of the corporation.
February, 1881, Mr. Edwards was married to Louisa E. Leger. a
native of California and a daughter of George W. Leger, a native of France.
Two children were born of this union, namely: Lulu B., who died in in
fancy; and Clara N., now seventeen years of age. Mr. Edwards was mar
ried the second time, July 23, 1902, to Ida A. Buck, a native of New York
state and a daughter of E. W. Buck, from the same state. Fraternally Mr.
Edwards is a member of the Masonic order, Order of United Workmen,
and in politics he is a stanch Republican, taking an active interest in local
and state politics.

540 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
CHARLES A. CA VENDER.
The earliest members of the Cavender family of whom there is record
were inhabitants of the New England states, and the father of the above
named gentleman, A. H. Cavender, was born in New Hampshire. He be
came a carriage-maker by trade, and about 1840 came to Marysville, Ohio,
In 1848 he and his family moved from Ohio to St. Paul, Minnesota, the
latter place being then only a frontier Indian trading post. He was the first
carriage-builder in St. Paul, and in time he became one of the largest manu
facturers there and a very prominent and well-to-do citizen. He is still
living, at the age of eight-nine years, in the old Cavender home at the corner
of Eighth and Sibley streets, now in the heart of the business district, and
this has been his home for fifty-three years. His wife was Elvirah Hopkins,
who was born in Vermont and died in St. Paul in 1899, and her father,
James Hopkins, came to St. Paul at the same time she did and was a promi
nent Indian trader.
Charles A. Cavender was born on July 14, 1846, while his parents resid
ed in Marysville, Ohio, so that he was two years old when brought to St.
Paul. He was reared and educated in this latter place, and when he was
old enough to work for himself he followed his liking for railroading and
went to work as a trainman on the Northern Pacific, running out of St. Paul
to Clear Lake, Minnesota, which was the road's terminus at that time. He
became a conductor and was engaged in this occupation for the next twenty
years, twelve years on the Northern Pacific and eight years on the Great
Northern. In 1886 he gave up the railroad business and came to Tacoma,
which was then a town of less than five thousand inhabitants, and engaged
in a partnership real estate business, the firm being Hall and Cavender, but
three or four years later went into business for himself. At present L. N.
Hansen is his partner, and their office is at 305-306 National Bank of Com
merce building, where they carry on a general real estate, insurance, mort
gage, loan and investment business. When he first came here -Mr. Cavender
platted and placed on the market several additions to Tacoma, and he has
probably been as extensively interested in Tacoma property as any other one
man. In 1869 Mr. Cavender was married at St. Cloud, Minnesota, to Miss
Jennie Nixon, and their only daughter, Mrs. F. M. Gribble, now lives in
Seattle. He owns a nice suburban home at Park Lodge at Lake Steilacoom,
and is a very popular and influential citizen of Tacoma. In 1896 he was
elected a member of the city council.
CLARK DAVIS.
Clark Davis, one of Seattle's well known and influential citizens, dates
his birth in the year 1858, on a farm near St. Joseph, Missouri. He is of
English descent, and his paternal ancestors fought in the Revolutionary
war. Four generations of the Davis family lived in Virginia. Hiram
Addison Davis, his father, was born in Virginia, and, although a southern
man, was a soldier in the Union army during the Civil war, and fought until

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 541
the conflict was ended. He was for years an active minister in the Meth
odist Episcopal church, South. For the past thirteen years he has been a
resident of King county, Washington, at Vanasselt, owning a fine ranch,
where he lives, hale and hearty, at the age of seventy-four years. The
mother of Clark Davis was Hulcla Elizabeth (Glaze) Davis, a native of Mis
souri, her people having gone to that state from Kentucky at an early clay;
they were of English origin and had long resided in America. She died
in 1867, leaving three sons: Clark; I. Rush, a farmer and stock-raiser of
Missouri; and Charles W., a physician of Seattle. In December, 1868,
Hiram A. Davis married for his second wife Harriet C. Humber, and they
have had eight children, seven of whom are living.
Clark Davis was brought up on a farm, and has never lost his grip on
farm work, conducting, as he has for years, a good-sized ranch in South
Seattle. He was educated in the common and high schools of Missouri,
with three years at Stewartsville College, a private educational institution
of considerable note in northwestern Missouri. This education was ac
quired by dint of hard work as well as study. For two and a half years he
paid his way with money saved from farm, work, at twenty dollars per
month, and occasional terms of teaching in near-by country schools, all the
time keeping up his own studies. During the last eighteen months a posi
tion as college tutor for three hours per day earned the board and tuition
for himself and brother. After a year's work as a public school teacher, he
joined the Missouri conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, South,
and traveled for two years throughout the northwest portion of that state.
He was ordained a minister of that denomination at the end of the second
year, and placed on the supernumerary list, on account of ill health. De
ciding that a change of climate would be beneficial, he came to the north
west, via California, in 1882. Arriving at Portland, Oregon, he found him
self without means, with a condition of health demanding outdoor work
entirely aside from his line of education and training. Nothing daunted,
he served as a rodman on a railroad survey party which operated near
Kalama for several weeks. Returning to Portland, he found an opportunity
to work as a painter at three dollars per day and was thus occupied for
the greater part of six months, with final promotion to the position of car
riage finisher, at four dollars per day. His health improving under the
influence of manual labor, he again turned toward his chosen profession,
taking the position of assistant secretary of the Young Men's Christian As
sociation of Portland. After a few months of successful work in that
capacity, he was called to Seattle in 1884 to take the leadership in the work
for young men then being organized. Realizing that he had found the
field for his life work, he proceeded to make a home and took to himself
a wife. From the time he took charge of the Young Men's Christian Associa
tion of Seattle in 1884, Mr. Clark Davis became a power for good in the
community. Within a year after his arrival at Seattle, his health permitting
a return to pulpit duties, he took charge of the First Methodist Protestant
church, a pastorate which he maintained for eleven years. In the "Old
Brown Church" for five years before the great fire, then for several months

542 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
in a large tent built over its ashes, and finally for six years in the new and
spacious edifice, Mr. Davis preached, in season and out of season, the simple
gospel of the Master as applied to everyday life problems.
From the time he established himself in Seattle, Clark Davis has always
been "in politics," but in the truest sense of that much abused term. Wher
ever or whenever he found pirates of society protected by law, oppressors
of the poor hiding behind legislative enactments, or public service tainted
with corruption, his voice was always raised against it, and his influence
exerted on the paltform and at the ballot box as well as in the pulpit and
at the prayer meeting. There are many who have differed from Clark Davis
on questions of policy, but no man has ever questioned his sincerity, earnest
ness, energy and ability.
In March, 1896, Mr. Davis resigned from the pastorate of the First
Methodist Protestant church of Seattle, and after the national Democratic
convention nominated Bryan he identified himself with that party and took
part in that campaign. He canvassed the state in company with Governor
Rogers, at which time the fusionists elected all the state officers and a ma
jority of the legislature. In the spring of 1897, when the legislature met,
he was prominently mentioned for the United States senate, and on the
ballot prior to the withdrawal of his name from the contest he received
thirty-four votes.
In June, 1897, Mr. Davis was elected registrar of the University of
Washington and secretary of the board of regents. He resigned in Feb
ruary, 1 90 1, and for one year was associated with the Moore Investment
Company, dealers in real estate, since which time he has been in business
for himself. He is now vice president and general manager for the Alaska
Petroleum & Coal Company, of which Professor T. S. Lippy is president.
The company owns large properties at Kayak, Alaska. He also has other
large property interests.
Mr. Davis was married, June 5, 1884, in Seattle, to Cleo C. White, a
daughter of Dr. William White, formerly a physician of Salem, Illinois.
She comes of an old Maryland family which was represented in the Revolu
tionary war and which is of English origin. Her mother was Susan Jen
nings, a first cousin of William Jennings Bryan. They have two sons,
Charles Dale Davis, born June 2, 1885, and Addison Jennings Davis, born
September 23, 1890.
Mr. Davis was first secretary of the Young Men's Christian Associa
tion in Seattle in 1884, was also the first life member of that association.
In addition to his church work, he has been active in temperance work, and
has traveled all over the state at his own expense, lecturing on temperance
work and Sunday school work. In his church work he was supported by
some of the best men among the old settlers, namely, Dexter Horton, Hil-
lory Butler, Thomas Mercer, Henry Van Assalt, D. B. Ward and others.
Mr. Clark Davis' church was practically an independent church. One
peculiar feature was that it never owed a dollar during his pastorate and
always had money on hand for benevolent purposes. Of fraternal orders
Mr. Davis belongs to several, among them being the Independent Order of
Foresters, Woodmen of the World, and Woodmen of America,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 543
ALVER ROBINSON.
Alver Robinson, who for the past ten years has been president of the
Seattle Land Company and is now engaged on his own account in buying
and selling real estate and loaning money, has been a very active factor in
the improvement and upbuilding of the city in which he makes his home.
He has been interested in a number of additions which have been made in
Seattle, including Harrison Heights, north of Lake Union, and Latone,
which is now well improved. He has also been interested in the Brooklyn
addition, comprising one hundred and seven acres adjoining the State Uni
versity, and in the Coffman addition, between Jackson street and Yesler
Way, comprising twenty-three acres.
Mr. Robinson is a native of Tennessee, his birth having occurred near
Knoxville, on the 4th of August, 1857. The family is of Scotch lineage,
and was early founded in Virginia by ancestors who located there in pioneer
days. Walter Robinson, the grandfather pf our subject, was born in the
Old Dominion, and became a planter and slaveowner there, but did not
believe in the system of holding people in bondage and at the time of the
Civil war became a stanch Union man and a Republican. When a young
man he left Virginia, removing to Tennessee, where he was married, and
in that state, in 1832, his son, John C. Robinson, was born. After arriving
at years of maturity the latter was united in marriage to Elizabeth B. Chis-
holm, a lady of Scotch lineage, born in Tennessee. He inherited his father's
slaves, but he, too, was not in favor of the system of slavery as it existed
in the south. Removing to Arkansas and afterward to Kansas, he has
devoted the greater part of his attention throughout his business career to
agricultural pursuits, and is now living in the Sunflower state at the age of
sixty-nine years. He and his wife have long been acceptable and favorable
members of the Christian church, and. are worthy and esteemed citizens of
the community in which they make their home. Mr. Robinson served as
assessor of his county and was a candidate of his party for the state legisla
ture, but as his county has a Democratic majority, he was defeated by a
small vote, as he endorsed the Republican party and its principles. Mr. and
Mrs. Robinson became the parents of eleven children, of whom nine are
yet living and three of the sons are respected and worthy citizens of the
state of Washington, namely, A. J., of Seattle; C. D., of Snohomish;
and Alver. In taking up the personal history of Alver Robinson we present to our
readers the life record of one who is widely and favorably known in con
nection with business interests in Seattle. He pursued his education in
Missouri and Kansas, for during the period of the Civil war his family
resided in the former state. Early in his business career he was engaged in
farming, and later turned his attention to the manufacture of carriages as
a member of the firm of Cole & Robinson, in which industry he was inter
ested from 1883 until 1887, meeting with a high degree of success in his
undertakings. He was also to some extent engaged in real estate dealing,
and his experience in that direction proved a benefit to him when he began
his real estate operations on the Pacific coast. In the y«ar 1887 Mr. Robinson

544 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
made his way to California, and in the fall of that year arrived in Seattle,
where he became one of the organizers of the Seattle Land Company, of
which he was president for ten years. He has been very prominent and
influential in promoting the growth and improvement of the city, doing all
in his power to advance its interests. He is a business man of high integrity.
of marked enterprise and keen discernment, and his well directed efforts
have been the foundation of the success which has attended him. He is now
a member of the Chamber of Commerce, a body composed of the most prom
inent and enterprising business men of Seattle.
In 1889 Mr. Robinson was happily married to Miss May Randolph, a
native of Oregon and a daughter of S. P. Randolph, one of the honored
pioneer settlers of the Sunset state, who later came to Washington, taking
up his abode in Seattle in 1873. To our subject and his wife was born one
son, Walter Randolph Robinson, who is now in school. In 1893 Mr. Rob
inson was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 12th
of March. She was a lady of amiable disposition, of culture and refinement,
and a devoted Christian woman. In the church she was an active and
earnest worker, and her loss was deeply felt there as well as in her home
and in the social circles in which she moved. On October 7, 1902, Mr.
Robinson was married to Miss Anna Campbell.
In 1893 Mr. Robinson joined the First Presbyterian church, and later
became one of the organizers of Westminster Presbyterian church, with
which he has since been identified. He is now one of the most active and
influential representatives, is serving as one of its deacons and is a trustee,
and in his contributions for its support he is most liberal and generous.
His life has been honorable, and viewed in a personal light he is a strong
man, strong in his good name and in the high reputation which has come
to him through upright dealing in business and through fidelity to duty
in every relation in which he has been placed.
FRED C. MILLER, M. D.
Dr. Fred C. Miller, one of the successful physicians of Tacoma, whose
large patronage is the public's acknowledgement of his ability, was born in
Oswego, New York, March 31, 1857, a son of Thaddeus J. and Betsy Ann
(Rice) Miller. The father was born in the Empire state and came of an
old family of New York, his ancestry being closely related to that of Chaun
cey Depew. In 1867 he removed westward to the Mississippi valley, locating
in Sandwich, Illinois, where he remained for a short time, and then went
with his family to Aurora, Illinois, which was his place of abode until about
1877. In that year he removed to Maryville, Missouri, where his death
occurred in 1881, and his wife also passed away there. She was of English
descent. Dr. Miller spent the first ten years of his life in his native state, and
then accompanied his parents on their removal to the west. He acquired the
greater part of his literary education in the public schools of Aurora, Illinois,
and received his training for the medical profession in the St. Louis Medical
College and in the Bennett Medical College, of Chicago, being graduated

-^ry. c^S^^

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 545
from the latter in the spring of 1883. lie first practiced in .Council Bluffs,
Iowa, going from there to Maryville, Missouri, and afterward to Hot Springs,
Arkansas. On the 22d of September, 1884, he arrived in Tacoma, and,
opening an office, has since been classed among the prominent physicians.
He is especially noted as a surgeon, giving his principal attention to that
department of the professional work, and his marked ability is manifest in
the many successful and delicate operations he has performed. Pie is also
the president of the board of pension examiners, is head physician for the
Modern Woodmen of America, with jurisdiction over Washington; has
been on the staff of St. Joseph's hospital since the founding of the institution,
and is also connected with other hospitals, where he has rendered good service
in the alleviation of human suffering and the restoration of health. In 1888
he served as city health officer.
In Maryville, Missouri, in 1882, occurred the marriage of Dr. Miller
and Miss Jennie Gaunt, and they have three children : Thomas I., who at
the age of nineteen is a college student; Thaddeus W. and Fred C, aged
respectively fifteen and ten years. Socially the Doctor is connected with the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is a Royal Arch Mason. He
is now serving as a member of the board of park commissioners of the city,
and his aid and co-operation are withheld from no movement intended for
the improvement or material upbuilding of Tacoma. For eighteen years a
practitioner of this city, he has easily maintained a place in the foremost
ranks of the representatives of the profession, and as a citizen of worth he is
equally prominent.
CARMI DIBBLE.
Carmi Dibble is now a well known real estate dealer of Whatcom. At
the time of the Civil war he wore the blue uniform and loyally aided in the
preservation of the Union. He is also very prominent in Masonic circles,
and is held in the highest esteem by the members of the craft, who have
honored him with important official positions in Washington. Mr. Dibble's
life record began on the 24th of May, 1842, and his birthplace was North
umberland, Saratoga county, New York. His father, Gradus Dibble, was
born in Sandy Hill, New York, and was of French descent, but through
many generations the family have resided in America, the first representa
tives in this country having arrived here about 1641. Gradus Dibble en
gaged in tanning at Fort Miller and afterward at Bacon Hill, New York.
As a companion and helpmate on life's journey he chose Catherine Bitley,
who was born in Saratoga county, New York, and her father was a native
of Rocky Hill, Somerset county, New Jersey. He served in the Revolu
tionary war, loyally aiding the colonists in their struggle for independence.
He was of German descent, and his wife,- Miss Martha Ellis, was of English
lineage, belonging to a family of the "merrie isle." Both Mr. and Mrs.
Dibble 'passed away, the mother having died in July, 1886. The surviving
members of the family are Carmi; John H, who died April 5, 1903, was
living a retired life at Nunda, Illinois; LeRoy, a practicing physician of
Kansas City, Missouri; Sarah Frances, the wife of Benjamin F. Church,
35

546 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
who is a mail agent on the Northwestern Railroad with headquarters at
Woodstock, Illinois; and Charlotte Elisabeth, the wife of Alec Wylie, a
machinist of Tupelo, Mississippi.
Carmi Dibble pursued his education in the public schools of Illinois.
He was but eighteen years of age at the time of his enlistment for service
as a defender of the Union. Hardly had the smoke from Fort Sumter's
guns cleared away when he offered his aid to the government, enlisting on
the 2 ist of April, 1861, as a member of Company B, Twelfth Illinois In
fantry, in response to the call for men to serve for three months. In 1864
he again joined the army, this time becoming a member of Company A,
Sixty-fourth Illinois Infantry, with which he served until the close of the
war. This regiment was attached to the First Brigade of the First Division
of the Seventeenth Army Corps, under General Sherman, and Mr. Dibble
participated in all of the battles under that brilliant leader from Chatta
nooga until the cessation of hostilities. On the nth of July, 1865, he re
ceived an honorable discharge.
In 1866 Mr. Dibble went to Sioux City, Iowa, and there joined James
Sawyer, with whom he crossed the plains. Mr. Sawyer had a contract
with the government to lay out a wagon road from the mouth of the
Niobrara river, Nebraska, to Virginia City, Montana. They passed through
Virginia City to Helena, where the train was disbanded and men discharged.
Then, in company with R. P. Reynolds, of Walla Walla, he followed the
Mullin trail to Walla Walla, arriving on the 19th of September. 1866.
There he worked for two months, after which he went to Olympia in De
cember, 1866, and in February, 1867, he went to San Francisco on the
brig Beacon. From that city he made his way to Santa Barbara, California,
reaching his destination on the ist of April. He was then employed by the
Coast Line Stage Company at shoeing horses, and remained in that employ
for five and a half years, shoeing horses all the way from Los Angeles to
San Luis Obispo. In 1875 Mn Dibble went to New Mexico, where he re
mained for six years, and then, returning to Washington, took up his abode
in Seattle on the 10th of November, 1881. In that city he became owner
of a brickyard, which he conducted for some years, when, disposing of his
business, he came to Whatcom in 1888. Purchasing the Otter donation
claim he platted and sold this in town lots, and has since been engaged in
real estate operations. During this period he has negotiated a number of
important property transfers, and through his business affairs has ma
terially assisted in the upbuilding of the city.
Mr. Dibble exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and
measures of the Republican party, and has been honored with a number of
official positions of preferment. At one time he served as mayor of Sehome,
now part of Whatcom, occupying that position in 1889-90. In 1900-1 he
was councilman at large in Whatcom. In 1889 he served as a delegate to
the first state convention of Washington, in which was nominated E. P.
Ferry, who became the successful candidate for governor. Mr. Dibble was
also a delegate to the last state convention held in Tacoma, and has likewise
attended many county conventions. He is recognized as an active and
helpful worker in the party ranks, and believes it a part of the duty of citi-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 547
zenship to uphold the political principles in which one believes. In the
Masonic fraternity Mr. Dibble is an honored and representative member.
He belongs to the blue lodge, council and commandery, and has filled many
offices in its different branches. Pie is a past grand high priest of the grand
chapter, R. A. M., past illustrious grand master of the grand council, R. &
S. M., and is past right eminent grand commander of the grand command
ery, K. T., of the state of Washington. Pie belongs to Seattle Society of
the Washington Sons of the American Revolution and to J. F. Miller Post
No. 31, G. A. R., of Seattle. Thus he maintains pleasant relations with his
old army comrades, and he is as true and loyal to his country to-day as he
was when he followed the starry banner upon the battlefields of the south.
BELLINGHAM BAY BREWERY.
The Bellingham Bay Brewery was built by Leopold F. Schmidt and
some of his associates in 1900, and completed in December, 1902. The
process adopted by the company is entirely new, and is the third brewery in
North America of its kind. Heretofore the system used included the fer
menting in open vats. In that way the beer came into contact with the
impurities of the air. The system in use by the Bellingham Bay Brewery
is what is called the sterilized or pure air system, and means that from the
beginning when the beer is cooked in the kettle until it is placed on the
market in kegs not one drop comes in contact with the air or outside influ
ences, and all the fermentation is done under pressure in enclosed vats. By
this method the ambition of every brewer is realized. Heretofore the beer
was cooled by running over ammonia pipes and was left open in cold cellars
and allowed to absorb the fumes of ammonia in the event of a leak in any
one of the pipes. All this is done away with in the new system.
Since the Bellingham Bay Brewery began operations the other brewery
in Whatcom, known as the Whatcom Brewing & Malting Company and
owned by saloon men, has been combined with the Bellingham Bay Brew
ery. In connection with the latter are two fifty-ton ice machines, capable of
furnishing enough ice to supply all of northern Washington. The present
building of the company represents an outlay of one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, and a two-story brick bottling house, to cost fifty thousand
dollars, is now being constructed. The plant has a capacity of one hundred
thousand barrels per year, and finds its market in Washington, Alaska, San
Francisco, British Columbia, the Hawaiian Islands and in the orient.
The officers are L. F. Schmidt, president, who is also the president of
the Olympia Brewing Company; Henry Schupp, secretary and manager;
Peter G. Schmidt, treasurer; Albert Gamer, brewmaster; Peter Schmidt,
first vice president; and Dan Gamer, of Tacoma, second vice president.
ELLIS DeBRULER.
Ellis DeBruler, who is filling the office of city attorney of Seattle, has
long been an active member of the bar at this place, was born in DuBois
county, Indiana, on the 25th of August, 1863. He comes of an old Ameri-

548 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
can family of French ancestry. His grandfather, Wesley DeBruler, re
moved from North Carolina to Indiana in the year 1816, and became one of
the pioneer settlers of DuBois county, identified with agricultural work.
There he cleared and developed a farm and became a leading citizen in his
community. His son, John H. DeBruler, also carried on agricultural •pur
suits. He was a Republican in his political affiliations and had firm faith in
the party principles, but never sought office. He married Elizabeth Downey,
a daughter of the Rev. Alexander Downey, one of the first settlers of
DuBois county, and to this union six children were born, but the subject
of this review is the only one now living west of the Mississippi river. The
father died in the year 1891, at the age of sixty-eight years, but the mother,
Elizabeth DeBruler, is still living.
In the public schools of his native county Ellis DeBruler began his
education, which he afterward continued in the Cumberland University at
Lebanon, Tennessee, his mother's father being a minister of the Cumber
land Presbyterian church. He pursued his literary education with the idea
of entering the law, and won the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He began
practice in Rockport, Indiana, in 1889, remaining a member of the bar at
that place for four years, but the reports he had heard of the Puget Sound
country attracted him to the northwest, and making a trip here he was so
pleased with the country and its future outlook that he decided to remain,
and formed a partnership. He has been a resident of Seattle since 1893,
and for more than five years has served as city attorney. His practice is of
a general character. The zeal with which he has devoted his energies to
his profession, the careful regard evinced for the interest of his clients, and
an assiduous and unrelaxing attention to all the details of his cases, have
brought him a large business and made him very successful in its conduct.
His arguments have elicited warm commendation not only from his asso
ciates at the bar, but also from the bench. He is a very able writer; his
briefs always show wide research, careful thought and the best and strongest
reasons which can be urged for his contention, presented in cogent and
logical form, and illustrated by a style very lucid and clear.
To some extent Mr. DeBruler is interested in property in the. west, be
lieving it a good investment, owing to the growing condition of this section
of the country. He owns two residences in the city, one on Twentieth
avenue and one, his home, at 1122 East John street. He is a Republican
in politics, active and diligent in support of the party, and he has attended
many conventions. While in Indiana he served as deputy prosecuting at
torney. His long experience in connection with the city offices has made
him invaluable in the position during the wonderful growth of the past five
years. A large amount of legal business has been brought to the office, and
one not well informed concerning such duties could not capably attend to
the extensive legal interests of which Mr. DeBruler has oversight. His
ability and skill are widely acknowledged, and the public and the press
accord to him the leading place in the ranks of the legal fraternity in Seattle.
Socially he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and with the Benevo
lent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a man of genial and pleasing dis
position and wherever he goes he wins friends.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 549
Mr. DeBruler was happily married on June 24, 1903, to Miss Alice
Resor, formerly of Rockport, Indiana, but the past five years a teacher in
the Minneapolis schools. GEORGE B. LAMPING.
A new chapter has been written and added to the history of the United
States within the past few years, and it is one which reflects credit upon
the country and her annals. It shows her military and naval strength, and
has gained her a prominent place among the great powers of the world.
History is never the work of one or even a few men, but is the aggregate
endeavor of many who work in unison with a single purpose and aim.
George B. Lamping is among the number contributing to the new record,
for he was a loyal soldier during the Spanish-American war and in the
Philippines faithfully upheld the honor of the starry banner that had been
planted on foreign soil.
A native of Spencer county, Indiana, he was born on the 20th of
March, 1875, and is of German, English, Scotch and Irish lineage. At an
early date in the development of this land the Lamping family was estab
lished in Pennsylvania, our subject being of the fourth generation born in
this country. His father, Samuel W. Lamping, was a native of Kentucky,
whence he removed to southern Indiana, and was there married to Miss
Mary E. Butler, a native of Grandview, that state. For a number of years
he was engaged in business as a commission merchant, and in 1890 came
to Seattle as special agent for the United States land department. In politics
he was a stalwart Republican, and was a veteran of the Civil war, having
served the Union as a lieutenant colonel in the Fifty-second Indiana Regi
ment at the time the country was imperiled by the spirit of secession in the
south. He was with General Sherman on the celebrated march to the sea,
which showed that the military force of the Confederacy was almost ex
hausted. He escaped injury, returning in safety to his home after rendering
his country valuable service. In his religious views he was a Methodist, and
departed this life in that faith in 1893. His wife now resides in Seattle,
respected by all who know her. Seven children were horn to them, and all
are living upon the Pacific coast: Evart, who is cashier of the German In
surance Agency in San Francisco; L. F., a special insurance agent at
Portland, Oregon; Clifton, a teller in the Boston National Bank of Seattle;
Samuel, who is deputy auditor of King county under his brother George;
Frederick, who is attending school in Seattle; and Anna, also a student.
George B. Lamping pursued his early education in the schools of his
native state, and at the age of fifteen accompanied his parents to Washing
ton, where he completed his literary course in the university of the state.
For a time he occupied the position of bookkeeper in the Puget Sound
National Bank of Seattle, but when the war with Spain was declared he
put aside business and personal interests, offering his services to the govern
ment. He was appointed second lieutenant of Company D, First Washing
ton Volunteer Infantry, and served throughout the war with Spain and in
the Philippines. He was promoted to the rank of captain in the Eleventh

550 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
United States Cavalry, and because of meritorious conduct was commended
by General Otis and General Lawton. He also served on the staff of the
latter. Since returning from the war he has been appointed lieutenant
colonel of the First Regiment of the Washington National Guard, since
which time he has been promoted to colonel, with headquarters at Seattle.
In November, 1900, he was elected to his present office as county auditor
and recorder on the Republican ticket, receiving the largest majority ever
given to any candidate for an office in the county, running fifteen hundred
votes ahead of his ticket. He is the youngest man that has ever held a
county or state office in Washington, now having charge of the business con
nected with the position, in a county containing one hundred and eighty
thousand inhabitants. He has under his direction thirty clerks. In 1902
he was re-elected auditor of King county, again leading his ticket by several
hundred votes over his previous election. He was not long in demonstrat
ing that the trust reposed in him was well placed, for his ability, keen dis
crimination, sound judgment and executive force would do credit to the
administration of a man many years his senior. Colonel Lamping is con
nected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Ancient Order
of United Workmen and the Woodmen of the World, and as a citizen and
soldier he has made a most praiseworthy record, his life work well deserving
a place in the history of his adopted county.
SACHS & HALE.
The firm of Sachs & Hale is composed of two of the most popular,
capable and best read attorneys practicing at the bar of Seattle, and not only
have they won distinction in connection with their profession but have also
been connected with a number of business interests bearing directly upon
the business development and prosperity of the city.
Judge Morris Benedict Sachs was born in Louisville, Kentucky, De
cember 1, 1859. His father, Benedict Sachs, was a native of Germany and
became one of the early merchants of Cincinnati, Ohio, and later of Louis
ville, Kentucky. At a later date he returned to Cincinnati, where he en
gaged in the shoe manufacturing business under the name of The Sachs
Shoe Manufacturing Company, and the house, maintaining an uninter
rupted existence, is still one of the leading enterprises of the city, being
conducted by two sons of the founder. Benedict Sachs died in 1880. His
wife, who bore the name of Henrietta Lipstine, was born in Germany and
is still living in Cincinnati. The Judge has four brothers living: Samuel
B. and Henry B., of The Sachs Shoe Manufacturing Company, of Cincin
nati; and David B. and George B., merchants of the same city. The five
sisters of the family are: Carrie, the wife of Martin Lamfrom, who is living
retired in Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; Lena, the wife of S. Levy, a merchant of
Chicago; Julia, the wife of Louis Heilbron, a merchant of Sacramento, Cali
fornia; Tillie, the wife of Henry Jacobs, a merchant of Louisville; Fannie,
the wife of Hon. B. U. Steinman, a banker and manufacturer of Sacra
mento and San Francisco, California.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 551
Judge Sachs acquired his literary education in the public schools of
Cincinnati, completing a course in the Hughes high school of that city in
1878. He then entered the law department of the Cincinnati Law College
and was graduated in 1880 with the degree of Doctor of Law. The same
year he was admitted to practice before the supreme court of Ohio and
practiced law there until 1883, when he came to Washington, locating at
Port Townsend, where he practiced successfully until the territory was ad
mitted to the Union. Pie was elected a judge of the superior court in
1889 for Jefferson, Clallam, Island, San Juan and Kitsap counties. A man
of unimpeachable character, of unquestioned integrity, of patience, urbanity
and industry, with a profound knowledge of the law, he took to the bench
the very highest qualifications for that important office, and his course on
the bench jutsified the trust reposed in him by his selection to the position.
On his retirement from the bench he resumed the practice of law at Port
Townsend in January, 1893, and there remained until December, 1897,
when he came to Seattle, where he has since engaged in practice. In 1899
he formed a partnership with Julius F. Hale, which exists at present, the
clientage of the firm being of a very important and extensive character.
The Judge was also one of the original promoters and owners of the
Port Angeles Mill & Lumber Company, which was among the first of the
state to manufacture cedar shingles on Puget Sound and ship them to the
markets of the east. A sawmill was also operated in connection, which was
one of the first sawing clear cedar lumber for the manufacture of doors,
sashes and general finishing work. Thus the Judge was actively connected
with the development of an industry which has become very important in
the northwest, adding largely to the wealth of this section of the country.
On the 10th of March, 1893, Judge Sachs was married to Miss Annie
L. Storey, who was born in Victoria, British Columbia, a daughter of
Thomas Storey, a pioneer of that country and a representative of an old
English family, while his wife belonged to a prominent Irish family. To
Judge and Mrs. Sachs have been born a son and daughter, Benedict Ar-
maund and Bertha, both of whom are in school.
Politically Judge Sachs is a Republican, active and earnest in his ad
vocacy of the principles of the party, and has attended as a delegate the
count v, territorial and state conventions. He was city attorney and city
treasurer of Port Townsend, also a member of the city council, and was
assistant prosecuting attorney of Jefferson county under Hon. Charles M.
Bradshaw, his former partner in Port Townsend. He has cared little for
office outside the path of his profession, for he is devoted to his chosen
calling, and has therein attained honorable and enviable distinction.
Julius F. Hale was born in Whiteside county, Illinois, on the 18th of
May, 1858, a son of Robert and Lydia (Skinner) Hale. The father, born
in Vermont, belonged to an old American family of English lineage that
was represented in the Continental army in the war of the Revolution. The
mother of our subject is of Holland descent, and her ancestors also came
to the new world at an early day. She was born in Pennsylvania and is
still living, her home being in Nebraska. At the time of the Civil war Rob
ert Hale became a member of the Twelfth Illinois Infantry and afterward of

552 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
the Seventy-fifth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. He rose to the rank of
captain, and while thus serving was killed in a skirmish in Georgia, on the
4th of July, 1864. In Fulton, Illinois, Robert Hale Post, G. A. R., was
named in his honor. Julius F. Hale has one sister, Miranda B., who is the
wife of H. F. Stubbs, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Bradshaw,
Nebraska. In the grammar and high schools of Fulton, Illinois, Julius Hale ac
quired his preliminary education, and later completed a course in the North
ern Illinois College at Fulton, being graduated with the class of 1875. He
studied law with Judge James McCoy, of that place, and later removed to
York, Nebraska, where he was admitted to the bar, May 10, 1880. For
ten years he practiced law in that city, and in 1890 arrived in Seattle, where
he again opened an office and has since followed his profession. Soon after
ward he formed a partnership- with John Wiley and W. T. Scott, the latter
now prosecuting attorney for the county. In 1892 this association was dis
continued, and Mr. Hale practiced alone until 1899, when he formed a part
nership with Judge Morris B. Sachs, and the firm of Sachs & Hale is now
prominent at the bar of Washington, having a distinctively representative
clientage. Mr. Hale was one of the organizers and an attorney for the Seattle
Electric Railway & Power Company, and also the Fremont Mill Company.
He was the vice president and attorney of the electric company which was
the predecessor of the present Seattle Electric Company, L. H. Griffith being
its president at that time. He became one of the organizers and directors
and the attorney for the L. H. Griffith Realty & Banking Company, organ
ized in 1890, and was associated with ex-Governor Eugene Semple in the
organization of the Seattle & Lake Washington Waterway Company, in
1892, which contracted with the state for harbor improvements for Seattle.
The company has excavated and nearly completed the east waterway, one
thousand feet wide, extending through the tide flats, and thirty-five feet
deep, and has reclaimed two hundred acres of land. The company is also
actively at work constructing a canal from Elliott bay to Lake Washington,
a distance of nearly two miles. Mr. Hale was also attorney for the State
Harbor Line commission in 1890. and thus his work in connection with
the improvements of the state and along industrial lines has been of great
benefit to Washington, as well as a source of revenue to the stockholders.
Mr. Hale is a firm believer in Republican principles and untiring in
his work in behalf of the party. He has attended the county and state con
ventions in both Nebraska and Washington, and he was elected and served
as prosecuting attorney for York county, Nebraska, in 1888-9. He was also
a member of the city council of York for one term and was city attorney
there. His influence is a potent factor in the growth of the county here,
and he does everything in his power to secure the adoption of progres
sive ideas.
On the 8th of December, 1878, Mr. Hale wedded Miss Florence L.
Griffith, the marriage being celebrated in Fremont, Nebraska. She was
born in Michigan, a daughter of Lyman A. Griffith, a representative of an
old American family and now living retired in Seattle, and a sister of L. H.
Griffith, a prominent capitalist of Seattle. They now have one son, Robert

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 55J
E., an electrician in the employ of the Seattle Electric Company, and a
daughter, Laura M., an artist of this city. Of the Masonic fraternity Mr.
Hale is a worthy and exemplary member, and in social circles his cor
diality, genial disposition and deference for the opinions of others have
gained him many friends, who appreciate his worth and capability.
ALEXANDER I. DUNLAP.
Alexander I. Dunlap, one of the prosperous merchants of Laconner,
Washington, was born in Wyoming, while his parents were crossing the
plains to California, June 10, 1863. He was educated in the common
schools in California and Washington, and spent two years in the State
University at Seattle, concluding his school days in 1884. At that time
he removed to Laconner with his parents and assisted his father in farm
work until 1893, when he embarked in a hardware business, in partnership
with T. S. Hurd and T. R. Hayton, under the style of Laconner Plardware
Company. Two years later Hayton & Dunlap purchased the interest of Mr.
Hurd, and the business was continued under the style last given. The next
change was made when Mr. Dunlap purchased an interest in the business of
the Poison-Wilton Hardware Company, and January 1, 1900, changed the
name to the Poison Implement & Hardware Company, Mr. Dunlap being
secretary and manager of the Laconner branch. The company has stores at
Seattle and Wenatchee, the latter being known as the Wenatchee Hard
ware Company.
In politics Mr. Dunlap is a Republican, although his business fully
occupies his time and the only office he ever accepted was member of the
city council of Laconner during 1902-3. On December 24, 1894, he mar
ried Minnie L. Rice, who was born in Oregon and is a daughter of Mrs.
H. A. Rice, now of Clarkston, Washington, coming of an old American
family of German descent. On January 3, 1896, a son, Frank L., was born
to Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap, and March 20, 1903, a girl, Erma, was born.
Fraternally Mr. Dunlap is a member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, Woodmen of the World and. Ancient Order of United Workmen,
and he is very popular in all these organizations as well as throughout the
entire city.
EDWARD I. SALMSON.
Edward I. Salmson, the leading manufacturing jeweler of Tacoma, is
the son of A. J. and Sophia (Chilander) Salmson. The former was of a
Jewish family that had settled in Sweden, and was an artist and lithographer
by profession, and through his ability in that line was appointed lithographer
to the king of Sweden. In the early sixties he came to the United States
and spent the remainder of his days in St. Louis as a portrait artist, dying
there in 1870. His wife was a native of Sweden, and died in that coun
try in 1862.
Their son Edward was born in the capital city of Stockholm, Sweden,
in 1853. He remained in his native land several years after his mother's
death and his father's departure for the new world, and came to America

554 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
in 1869, when sixteen years old. He did not join his father in St. Louis,
but was bound out to a manufacturing jeweler in Troy, New York, where
he learned his present business. After completing his apprenticeship, he
established a jewelry store in Troy, and was in business there for eleven
years, and was also located for a time in New Jersey. He had also made a
trip to the western coast in the meantime, and in 1889 he came out to
Tacoma, which has since been his permanent home. His first store was on
St. Helens avenue in the Bostwick block; after six months he moved into
the Gross block on Railroad avenue, where he also remained six months,
and then moved to 920 Pacific avenue, and in 1895 came to his present
location at 930 Pacific avenue. He has a large first-class retail jewelry
establishment, with full stock in every line, and makes a specialty of manu
facturing fine goods to order; he is a graduate optician.
Mr. Salmson has always been a Republican, by conviction not by birth,
and has taken much interest in the local success of his party, serving as
committeeman and delegate a number of times. But it was not till the
spring of 1901 that he ran for office, and was then elected a councilman
from the second ward to succeed George Boardman, and in April, 1903,
was re-elected for another two-year term. Since entering the council he
has served as chairman of the finance committee, and is also a member of
the fire and water, officials' and employes' salaries, and judiciary commit
tees. He has taken a very prominent part in municipal affairs, and has
done much to adopt business methods in executing the city's busines. Mr.
Salmson was married in 1876 at Troy, New York, to Susan A. Delano, a
native of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and a member of an old New England
family. Their one daughter, Frances E., was born at Bordentown,
New Jersey. JOHN P. AMY.
The Fidelity Rent and Collection Company is one of the substantial
firms of Tacoma, and has done a very profitable business, mainly owing to
the enterprise and energy of its president, treasurer and manager, Mr. John
P. Amy. This gentleman is the son of John and Emma (Usborne) Amy,
the former born on the Isle of Jersey, England, and the latter of an English
family, but born in Quebec, Canada. John Amy came to Ottawa, Canada,
when he was a young man, and lived there until a few years ago, when he
returned to the place of his nativity. The Isle of Jersey has been the an
cestral home of the Amy family for many generations, and they naturally
have for it feelings of the greatest affection.
John P. Amy was born in Ottawa in 1868, and, like the majority of
sons of Englishmen, was privileged to receive a liberal education. For five
years he was a student in Trinity College, Port Hope, Ontario, and graduated
in 1887. It had been the intention of the family and of himself that he
should study medicine, and he actually passed the examination for entrance
to the famous McGill University at Montreal. But about this time he was
seized with the western fever, and the long course of study and waiting
necessary before he could establish himself in the profession, seemed in-

vWh.O- JiwtL^

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 555
tolerable to a young man of his restless energy. Pie accordingly came to
the United States and in January, 1888, located in Tacoma. For the first
year he was employed as a clerk in a wholesale commission house, but he
then organized his present firm. It does a general real estate business, and
Mr. Amy is the owner of a large amount of Tacoma property, and devotes
his money and time freely to all public enterprises.
In 1891 Mr. Amy returned to Ottawa to celebrate his marriage with
Miss Marion L. Allen. They now have three children, whose names in
order of birth are Seton, Lucile and Lorna. Mr. Amy is a member of the
Chamber of Commerce, and the fraternal bodies of the Elks and Masons.
WILLIAM J. PIENRY.
William J. Henry, county commissioner of Skagit county, residing at
Mt. Vernon, Washington, was born October n, 1856, in Guelph, Ontario,
and is a son of James Henry, born in Ireland and died in 1895. His wife
was Jane (Oak) Henry, born in the north of Ireland, of Scotch-Irish de
scent, and she is now living in Iiuron county, Ontario. The children born
to James Henry and wife were as follows : Robert, who lives on the old
homestead in Ontario; Thomas, in the paint and oil business in Everett;
our subject; Sarah married W. J. Wightman, a farmer of Huron, Ontario;
Dorcas married John Bell, a farmer of Manitoba; Rachel married Thomas
Turnbull, a farmer of Ontario; Ellis married George Ramsey, a farmer of
Ontario; Edith married Dan Henry, a farmer of Michigan; Martha mar
ried Robert Cowen, retired and living in Mt. Vernon; Eliza.
William J. Henry was educated in the common schools of Ontario
and completed his studies in 1874. After leaving school he learned the
trade of carpenter, and went to Dakota in 1879, where he was a carpenter
and contractor until 1888, when he removed to Spokane, and there carried
on his business for two years. His next change was to Fairhaven, where he
was one of the city's leading contractors for a year, and in 189 1 he settled
in Mt. Vernon, which has since been his home. Until 1895 he devoted his
attention to contracting^ but at that time he built a shingle mill in partner
ship with R. W. Williams, known as the Williams & Henry mill. This was
later moved to Milltown, Skagit county, where it is now being operated.
Among other buildings upon which he had contracts may be mentioned
the Citizen's Bank building in Fairhaven; the public school buildings in
Mt. Vernon and Wenatchee, as well as half of the private residences and
public buildings in Mt. Vernon. In politics he is a Republican and takes
an active part in local affairs. Pie has attended state and county conven
tions and was chairman of the county central committee in 1902. In
1893-4-5-6 he was a member of the city council of Mt. Vernon; in 1898 he
was elected county commissioner, and in 1900 he was re-elected for a term
of four years, and has been chairman of the board for four years.
On October 21, 1891, he married Anna Fredlund, born in Norway,
and a daughter of J. Fredlund. These children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. Henry, namely : Percy, Edwin, both at school, and a daughter, Anna.
Mr. and Mrs. Henry are consistent members of the Methodist church, in

556 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
whose good work they take an active part. Fraternally he is a member of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and the
Ancient Order of United Workmen, and he is very popular in all these or
ganizations as well as throughout the entire community.
HON. WILLIAM T. CAVANAUGH.
It is a matter of great pride to be able to survey one's own career and
that of his ancestors for many generations back and find success and honor
ornamenting them all. With commendable pride the Hon. William T.
Cavanaugh, the postmaster of Olympia, who has himself attained distinc
tion, may point back to his worthy forefathers. His Irish ancestors came
to the colonies before the Revolution, and John Cavanaugh, who was the
great-grandfather of the present William T., was a soldier of the Contin
ental army, and in the battle of Trenton, in 1776, while bravely fighting,
fell for the cause of independence. His son, John Cavanaugh, Jr., was
engaged in the iron and hardware trade at Philadelphia. For a number of
years he had served as sheriff of Hunterdon county, New Jersey, and after
living a long life of useful activity he died in 1857.
Thomas H. Cavanaugh, the father of our subject, was born in Trenton,
New Jersey. He served in the Black Hawk and Mexican wars, and in the
Civil war was colonel of the Sixth Illinois Volunteer Cavalry. He had
removed to St. Louis, Missouri, and there and in Illinois he practiced his
profession as a physician and surgeon. His wife was Rebecca Speer, a
native of Philadelphia; she was reared in the Quaker belief, but later both
she and Mr. Cavanaugh became Methodists. His death occurred in 1882,
at the age of seventy-eight, his wife's in 1876, when seventy-two years old.
They were the parents of six children, five still living, and three reside in
Olympia; Thomas H, Mrs. F. H. Van Eaton, -and our subject.
Hon. William Cavanaugh was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on the
8th of October, 1850, received his education in that city and in Jackson
ville, Illinois, and in 1868 went to Kansas, where he settled on a farm.
From 1875 until 1889 he was assistant secretary of that state. He read
law and was admitted to the bar at Topeka, Kansas, in 1881. Mr. Cav
anaugh made his advent into the territory of Washington, May 1, 1889,
six months before that vast territory was admitted to statehood. He prac
ticed law in Olympia until in July, 1897, he was appointed postmaster by
President McKinley; and in July, 1902, President Roosevelt gave him a
reappointment. During his entire career he has been active in the interests
of the Republican party, has served as a delegate to all state conventions
and has ever been a zealous partisan in the campaigns.
Mr. Cavanaugh's marriage occurred on April 30, 1875, to Miss Dalia
L. Short, of Lima, New York; her paternal and maternal ancestors had
been participants in the war of the Revolution. This union resulted in the
birth of three children, Julia, Edith and Will T. Edith is now the wife of
Walter L. Bowen, residing in Colville, Stevens county. Mr. Cavanaugh
is a Knight of Pythias, belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen,
is past division commander of the Sons of Veterans. His has been a life

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 557
well spent, and after achieving so much success he may still look forward
to many years of activity in the community where he is so highly esteemed.
GULIAN VER PLANCK LANSING.
Gulian Ver Planck Lansing, of Seattle, Washington, was born in
Albany, New York, March 5, i860. His father, Cornelius Lansing, also a
native of New York state, passed the greater part of his life as a farmer
in that state, and died there in 1902. Pie was of Holland descent, but his
family had long been resident of this country and was represented in the
Revolutionary war. The mother of our subject was Katherine H. (Wands)
Lansing. She was of Scotch origin, and she, too, was born in the Empire
state, her death occurring at Seattle, Washington, in 1899. Two sons and
two daughters composed their family. One son, James B. W. Lansing, is a
practicing physician of Tenafly, New Jersey. Katharine is the wife of
Welton Stanford, a capitalist of Schenectady, New York, and a nephew of
the late Senator Stanford of California. The other daughter is Mrs. Emma
Lansing Keith, of Schenectady, New York.
Gulian Ver Planck Lansing was reared and educated in Schenectady,
New York, receiving his education in the public and high schools, the Classi
cal Institute and Union College. He graduated in the Classical Institute
in 1879, and from Union College received the degree of B. A. in 1883.
From Schenectady he went to Chicago and accepted a position on the staff
of the Chicago Herald, where he remained for two and a half years, having
charge of national politics. Plis health failing at this time, he came west
to California, where he remained one year, thence coming to Seattle. It
was in 1888 that he landed in Seattle. Here he engaged in the elevator
business as agent for the Crane Elevator Company of Chicago, which sub
sequently was merged in the Otis Elevator Company and is now known by
that name. To this business he has since given his attention, with the result
that since the great fire at Seattle he has placed about ninety per cent, of
all the elevators purchased in this city. -Also for one year he represented
Armour and several other large concerns as their sales agent in the
northwest. Since he became identified with Seattle Mr. Lansing has been active
in politics, affiliating with the Republican party. Frequently he has served
as a member of city and county conventions, and in 1890 was elected a
member of the city council of Seattle, for a term of two years, this being
the first administration under the new city charter. Mr. Lansing maintains
fraternal relations with the Maccabees, Modern Woodmen, and Ben Hur.
May 12, 1900, Mr. Lansing married Mrs. Anna L. Halleck, a native of
New York, who at the time of marriage was a resident of New York.
By her former marriage she has a son and daughter, Frost L. and Elaine
Halleck.
ARTHUR L. SWIM.
Arthur L. Swim, real estate, Lynden, Washington, was born at Loda,
Iroquois county, Illinois, in 1869. His parents are Professor Henry J. and

558 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Mary (Pangborn) Swim, the former of whom was born at Watseka, Il
linois, and was prepared for the profession of teaching, in which he engaged
in Illinois. He was graduated from the Wesleyan University, Blooming
ton, Illinois, in 1867, and then came west to Seattle, Washington, in 1882,
where he accepted a position as professor of mental and moral philosophy
in the State University, remaining there two years. In 1884 he came to
Whatcom county, and, after buying timber land near Lynden, located at
Whatcom. There he became superintendent of city schools and was also
elected to a term as county superintendent of schools. He later was prin
cipal of schools at Lynden, where he died. He was a distinguished scholar,
and in later life had several complimentary degrees conferred upon him by
colleges in Illinois and Washington. Professor Swim was a close student
and profound thinker and gave of his best to the world. His wife was a
native of Onarga, Illinois, and is now living in Lynden. . The Swim family
is of German origin, but was founded in the new world in Virginia several
generations ago.
Arthur L. Swim received the greater portion of his education in Seattle
and Whatcom, as well as in private normal schools, and after finishing his
studies he, too, became a teacher, first having charge of country schools in
the vicinity of Lynden, but later becoming principal of the Lynden schools
and still later principal of the schools at Woolley and Anacortes, being at
the latter place from 1896 to 1898.
In 1898 Mr. Swim returned to Lynden and incorporated the North-
wood Cedar Company, building a lumber and shingle mill three miles
northeast of Lynden, and became manager of the company for one year;
then in 1899 he went to Alaska as bookkeeper for a lumber company at
White Horse, and was later located at Atlin, British Columbia. The sum
mers of 1899, 1900 and 1901 he spent in that country, but in 1902 he re
turned and established his present enterprise, a real estate, loan, farm land
and investment business, in which he is making money and firmly gaining
the confidence of the community. He is an enterprising young man and is
one of the most active workers in the Lynden Commercial Club. As chair
man of the "Right-of-Way" committee he prepared and presented a very
extensive exhibit of the advantages and resources of Lynden and vicinity
to the directors of the Bellingham Bay & British Columbia Railroad, which
exhibit induced the company to begin building a branch line to Lynden.
He is an excellent type of the young blood that is going to make a rich
town of Lynden. Mr. Swim is treasurer of the company which operates a
shingle mill at Hampton, the plant having a capacity of one hundred thou
sand shingles daily.
In 1898 he was the nominee of the People's (Fusion) party for county
clerk, but was defeated, the county being strongly Republican. In 1899
Mr. Swim was married at Lynden to Miss Marie Galbraith.
FRED RICE ROWELL.
Fred Rice Rowell is actively connected with a profession which has
important bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of any section

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 559
or community, and one which has long been considered as promoting the
public welfare by furthering the ends of justice and maintaining individual
rights. Plis reputation as a lawyer has been won through earnest, honest
labor, and his standing at the bar is a merited tribute to his ability. He
now has a very large practice and is particularly well known in connection
with the department of mining law.
Although the extreme northwest portion of the country is now his
place of residence, the birth of Mr. Rowell occurred in the extreme north
eastern section of this fair land, for he first opened his eyes to the light of
day in South Thomaston, Knox county, Maine, on the 29th of December,
1856. He is descended from English ancestors who were early settlers of
Nottingham, New Hampshire. His great-grandfather, William Rowell,
was born in 1755, and removed to Thomaston, Maine, where he spent the
remainder of his life. He volunteered for service in the Revolutionary war
and became a private in the company which was commanded by Captain
Henry Dearborn, and was attached to the regiment under command of
Colonel John Stark. He participated in the battle of Bunker Hill, and in
other engagements rendered valued service to the cause of liberty. He
departed this life on the 30th of September, 181 1. His son, Rice Rowell,
the grandfather of our subject, became one of the early business men of
South Thomaston, Maine, where he owned a sawmill and engaged in the
manufacture of lumber.
His son, Luther Rowell, the father of Fred Rice, was born on the farm
at South Thomaston, and our subject was a representative in the fourth gen
eration of the family born in the same room. Such a fact is quite unusual
among the migratory people of this country, and shows that the Rowells
believed in letting well enough alone. The property is still in possession of
a member of the family, and thus for more than a century it has been
known as the Rowell homestead. Luther Rowell was united in marriage
to Sarah W. Mathews, and they continued to reside on the farm until the
time of her death, which occurred when she was forty-nine years of age.
She left five children, all of whom are yet living. The father is now retired
from active business and is living in Seattle, at the age of sixty-eight years,
respected and honored by all who know him. He has been a life-long Demo
crat, and in his early life served as selectman of his town, was also town
clerk and held other local offices, filling every position to which he was
called with ability and integrity and enjoying the fullest confidence of his
fellow-men. All of his family now reside on the Pacific coast.
Fred Rice Rowell, the eldest member of his father's family, obtained
his early education in the public schools, later went through the work of
the senior year in the Cobern Classical Institute, at WaterviUe, Maine, and
is a graduate of Colby College, in the class of 188 1. Wishing to engage
in the practice of law as a life work, he then began reading in the office of
the Hon. A. P Gould, in Thomaston, and was admitted to the bar. For
five years thereafter he practiced law with success in Rockland, Maine, and
while residing in South Thomaston was elected town clerk and school
superintendent. In May, 1888. Mr. Rowell arrived in Seattle and was first associated

560 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
with Judge I. M. Hall, in the practice of his profession. Later he was alone
in business, and then entered into partnership with Judge John O. Robin
son, the relationship being maintained for a number of years, while the
firm enjoyed a satisfactory and lucrative general practice. Mr. Rowell,
however, is now again alone in business, and for the past two years he has
delivered lectures to the class in mining at the State University. His client
age is large, and his ability as a prominent lawyer is widely acknowledged.
On the 1 6th of January, 1884, Mr. Rowell was united in marriage to
Mary Florence Stetson, a native of the town in which his birth occurred,
and a daughter of Emory L. Stetson. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rowell hold
membership in St. Mark's Episcopal church. He is also a member of the
¦ Brotherhood of St. Andrew and a member of its council in the United
States. He takes an active part in church work and does much for the
upbuilding of the cause. Like his father, he has adhered to the Demo
cratic party, and is a strong believer in its principles as advocated by the
Hon. W. J. Bryan. He has done much effective campaign work for the
party, and has taken a deep interest in the affairs of the city, doing all in
his power for its substantial improvement. He belongs to the Washington
State Historical Society and is a gentleman of broad general information
and scholarly attainments, whose courtesy is unfailing and whose integrity
is above question.
CHARLES E. HILL.
The Tacoma Mill Company, of which the above named gentleman is
the manager, is the oldest institution of Tacoma, and the following account
will be of interest in connection with the life of Mr. Hill. The Tacoma Mill
Company, or the "Old Town Mill," as it is generally known locally, is the
pioneer lumber mill of Tacoma. It was founded in 1868, several years be
fore the townsite of the present city was laid out. In that year Charles
Hanson and J. W. Ackerson, who had prior to that time operated the Red
wood mills in Redwood City, California, erected the mill at its present loca
tion ; its capacity was about forty thousand feet daily, and the first cargo of
its output was shipped on the brig Samoset to San Francisco, November 10,
1869. In 1878 Mr. Ackerson retired, and four years later a new mill was
built over and around the old one, the demands of the local and coastwise
trade having exceeded the capacity of the small plant. The concern was
incorporated in 1884. Mr. Hanson has been dead for some years, but his
estate is still the principal holder of the stock. The present capacity of the
mill is two hundred and seventy-five thousand feet in a day of ten hours,
and this is to be still further increased. The total output since the incorpora
tion in 1884 is approximately valued at fifteen million dollars. Over a
hundred deep-sea vessels are loaded at the company's docks every year, and
the bulk of these cargoes go to California and foreign ports. The company
owns several ships of its own, and has time charters on others. The com
pany employs nearly four hundred men, and the plant is running day and
night during the greater part of the year. In December, 1901, the mill suf
fered a small loss by fire, the first in the thirty-four years of its existence,
but very little delay was caused in operations. The present officers of the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 561 ¦
company are: Henry C. Chesebrough, president; Samuel G. Murphy, vice
president ;_ John W. Classen, secretary ; and Charles E. Hill, resident manager.
A brief sketch of the life of the manager of this historic and important
establishment of Tacoma would be of interest at this point. Charles E.
Hill was born in Redwood, California, in 1859, and received a good educa
tion there. Pie was hardly grown when he began to learn the lumber busi
ness in his native town, and, becoming associated with the officers of the
Tacoma Mill Company, then as now composed of Californians, he came to
Tacoma in 1883, and a short time later was made manager of the mill. This
has been his position ever since, and on June 8, 1903, he had resided twenty
years in this city, where he is rightly regarded as one of the best citizens.
In 1887 Mr. Hill was married at Tacoma to Miss Addie I. Steele, who
was born in Seattle, but came to Tacoma with her parents in 1868. Mr.
and Mrs. Hill have three sons, Russell, J., Floyd T. and Charles E., Jr.
LOUVILLE L. AUSTIN.
Louville L. Austin, postmaster of Edmonds, Washington, was born
October 30, 1859, at Maple Plain, Hennepin county, Minnesota, and he is
a son of Chandler Austin, born in Maine of an old American family, and
a soldier during the Civil war, in which he distinguished himself. At present
he is a farmer living on his own property at Maple Plain. His wife bore
the maiden name of Harriet A. Sutherland, and was born in Maine, of a
Revolutionary family, and her own death occurred in 1903. Two children
were born to these parents, namely : Emma, who married Frank Denning,
of Everett; and our subject.
Louville L. Austin was educated in the common schools of Minnesota,
and at the age of eighteen years began to teach school, so continuing until
1889, when he removed to Seattle and for one year clerked in a grocery
store, after which he changed to Edmonds, and engaged in the shingle mills
and other concerns until September, 1900, when he was made deputy post
master. On January 1, 1901, he was appointed postmaster, and still dis
charges the duties of that position to the entire satisfaction of all who
know him.
In politics he is an active Republican, and attends county conventions,
and has often served upon the county central committee. For two years
he was councilman for Edmonds; then was elected school clerk, and from
1887 to 1889 was mayor of the city.
On September 16, 1886, he married Mary L. Jennings, at Minneapolis;
she is a native of Illinois, and a daughter of Frederick A. and Ellen E.
Jennings. Her grandfather was second comptroller of the treasury and
served for eight years. Her father was a colonel during the Civil war and
all the members of her family are prominent. The family born to Mr. and
Mrs. Austin is as follows : Lyle, Hartley, Westley, Louella, Ina, Alma, and
Gloria. Fraternally Mr. Austin is a member of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows and has been for sixteen years. Both he and his wife stand
very high in popular opinion, and they occupy a prominent position socially
as well, and number among their warm personal friends the best people of
the entire county.
36

562 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
ALEXANDER R. CAMPBELL.
Alexander R. Campbell has made his home on the Pacific coast since
1876 and is now a valued citizen of Whatcom, where he engages in civil
engineering. He was born on the 30th of October, 185 1, in Pictou, Nova
Scotia. He received his education in the schools and colleges of his native
province. He has traveled all over this part of the country, and in 1883
located in Seattle, where he followed surveying and engineering. These
pursuits have since claimed his attention. He took up his abode in What
com in September, 1888, and has resided here continuously from that time
to the present. He is now largely engaged in fish-trap work for a large
fishing company that makes its headquarters in Whatcom.
Mr. Campbell has been called to public offices on various occasions, and
is now an active Republican, doing all in his power to advance the growth
and success of his party. In 1889 he served as a member of the council of
Sehome, prior to the consolidation of that city with Whatcom. In 1890
he was city engineer of Whatcom and again filled that position in 1897-8.
In 1899 he became county surveyor, having served for four years prior to
that time as deputy in the surveyor's office, and thus by experience he was
well qualified for the duties of the position.
On the 1 6th of September, 1886, Mr. Campbell was united in marriage
to Miss Catherine A. Sutherland, of Pictou, Nova Scotia. Mrs. Campbell
is a most estimable lady, and, like her husband, has gained many friends in
Whatcom. They hold membership in the Presbyterian church. In what
ever relation of life he is found, whether in public office or in the discharge
or business duties, Mr. Campbell is always prompt in the execution of the
obligations which devolve upon him and is widely known for his intrinsic
worth of character. JAMES ROE.
James Roe, one of the enterprising residents of Seattle, Washington,
was born October n, 1843, in Livingston county, Michigan, and is a son
of Patrick Roe, a native of Ireland, who came to New York when a young
man and settled in Green Oak, Livingston county, Michigan. By occupa
tion he was a farmer, and died in 1886, aged ninety-four years. The mother
bore the maiden name of Catherine McCabe, and was a native of Ireland;
she came to America with her parents, who settled first in New York and
later in Michigan. Both families were early pioneers of the state, and the
mother of our subject is still living, making her home in Kent county,
Michigan, aged eighty-five years. The children born to her and her hus
band were as follows : Mary A. ; Michael ; Catherine ; James ; Thomas ;
Margaret; Patrick.
When he was eight years of age James Roe was taken by his parents to
Kent county, Michigan, where he attended the public schools until he
was fifteen years of age, when he went to work in the lumber woods during
the winter, and was employed upon the farm in the summer. This con
tinued for about six years, but after 1872 he devoted his entire attention
to the logging business at Muskegon, Michigan, and was identified with

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 563
Thomas D. Stimson, with Whom he continued until 1888, when he removed
to the Puget Sound district, located in Seattle and for two years was em
ployed in timber cruising through Oregon, California and Washington in
the interests of T. D. Stimson. In 1890 the Stimson Mill Company of
Seattle was incorporated, and he was placed in charge of the company's
logging interests in Kitsap county, at Kingston, formerly known as "Apple
Tree Core," and after about two years at that point he came to Marysville
and has been in charge of their logging interests in this vicinity ever since.
He conducts one of the largest logging enterprises on Puget Sound, giving
employment to about two thousand men in the logging camps, and since
he has been located in Marysville he has taken timber from about ten
thousand acres of land, principally in Snohomish county. The annual pro
duction amounts to about sixty million feet of logs.
While residing in Kent county, Michigan, he married, in November,
1870, Anna Giles, who was a native of Michigan and a daughter of Richard
and Anna Giles, old pioneers of the county. One girl was born of this
union, Laura, who died at the age of nine years. Mrs. Roe passed away
in 1871, and he married, in September, 1882, in Kent county, Mary A.
Keenan, who was a native of New York state, and a daughter of Michael
Keenan and Mary Keenan, both of whom were old settlers of Michigan.
Mr. Roe belongs to the Knights of Columbus, and is very popular in that
order. He makes his family residence at 308 Eighth avenue, South Seattle,
and has lived there since 1888. The success which has accompanied the
efforts of Mr. Roe is certainly well merited, and he is justly regarded as
one of the most important factors in the lumber interests of Puget Sound.
GEORGE E. MONTANDON.
Few men have been more prominently or actively identified with the
substantial development of Everett and this section of Washington than
George Edgar Montandon, and the part which he has played in the general
improvement renders him one of the valued citizens as well as honored pio
neers of this locality. With keen foresight he has recognized the possibili
ties of this great and growing country, and looking beyond the exigencies
of the moment he has labored for the welfare of the future.
Mr. Montandon was born in a city whose marvelous development is
regarded as one of the wonders of the world, and he early became imbued
with the spirit of enterprise which has dominated the west. He is a native
of Chicago, his birth having occurred on the 29th of March, 1859. His
parents are James Edgar and Minerva Isable Montandon, the former a
native of the state of New York, the latter of Lenox, Massachusetts. She
came of old Puritan stock, and Mr. Montandon is of ancient Swiss lineage.
The grandfather of our subject, in the paternal line, took up his abode in
the Empire state in 18 14, and there James Edgar Montandon was born.
He came to the Sound country in 1892, and is now living in Tacoma. At
the time of the Civil war he joined the Union army, valiantly defended the
old flag and the cause it represented, and retired from the service with the
rank of major,

564 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
George E. Montandon, the only son of the family, was educated in the
public schools of Topeka, Kansas, to which place he accompanied his parents
on their removal in 1870. He had begun his education in Chicago and con
tinued his studies in Topeka until May, 1875, when he began learning the
more difficult lessons in the school of experience. He became connected
with the engineering department of the Santa Fe Railroad Company as
axman, and continued in that service, filling various positions in the engi
neering department until 1888, when he resigned. He was at that time
resident engineer at La Junta, Colorado.
1 The year 1888 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Montandon in the north
west. He made his way to Tacoma in the service of the St. Paul & Tacoma
Lumber Company, being employed as engineer, and during the three suc
ceeding years he built the necessary railways for the company in connection
with the development of their vast timber interests lying east of Tacoma.
In April, 1 891, he came to Everett, as chief engineer for the Snohomish,
Skykomish & Spokane Railroad Company and chief engineer for the Everett
Land Company. At that time the site of Everett was covered with a dense
forest, the first clearing contract being let in May, 189 1. The plats of the
different additions began to be filed in the following fall, and thus the work
of improvement was carried on. In the fall of 1891, after the townsite had
been cleared, Mr. Montandon began the work of grading and planking the
streets. The Snohomish, Skykomish & Spokane Railroad was completed
from Snohomish to Everett in February, 1892, Mr. Montandon having
charge of this as well as of other work in connection with the material im
provement and substantial upbuilding of the city. In June, 1891, he began
the construction of the water system to supply the city, the pipes being laid
in the spring and summer of 1892, but the first source of supply was only a
temporary one, and in January, 1903, the original source of supply was com
pleted. From 1892 until 1895 Mr. Montandon was the engineer for the
Everett Land Company in improving streets and platting additions, and
from 1893 to 1895 was the chief engineer for the Everett & Monte Cristo
Railroad Company. In 1895 he became identified with the Snohomish
River Boom Company and was its general superintendent up to the summer
of 1898. In that year he went to Alaska upon a prospecting expedition,
returning in September, 1900. He then engaged with the Everett Improve
ment Company, formerly the Everett Land Company, as chief engineer, this
connection being maintained for one year, after which Mr. Montandon went
to Seattle as consulting engineer for the Cassel Automatic Water Motor
Company, which position he now holds. During 1 900-1 he was engineer
for the reconstruction of the Everett Railway & Electric Company's street
railway system, covering twelve miles.
In his political views Mr. Montandon is a Republican, but has never
been an active worker in the party, preferring to give his time and energies
to his business affairs. He has broad, thorough and comprehensive under
standing of the great mechanical and scientific principles which underlie his
work of construction, and the work he has done in the northwest is of per
manent benefit to this section of the state, largely opening up this region
for the incoming of an enterprising population who shall found and have

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 565
already founded enterprises and industries of magnitude and importance,
covering a wide field of trade and bringing this region into close contact
with the outside world of business.
FRANK WALKER, SR.
The biography of this gentleman is interesting not only for its own
intrinsic details, but because of its intimate connection with some of the
earliest history of the Puget Sound country, and several of the characters
mentioned in the following narrative were prominent factors in the develop
ment of that wonderfully rich and productive region. The Walker family is
mainly English in origin. Grandfather Walker was an Englishman who
went to Ireland in the service of the government, and it was in this country
that James Walker, his son, was born and reared. He was also married in
that country to Miss Julia O'Driscoe, a native of Ireland, but they afterward
returned to the old home in Hastings, England, where he died in 1848, but
she lived to be ninety-six years old and died at Hastings.
Frank Walker was born at Hastings in the south of England, in 1844.
His' education was limited, for at the age of fourteen he went to London
and shipped as a seaman, having the desire of a boy whose life has been
spent near the sea to become a sailor. He sailed in nearly all the climes of
the world, especially in the South seas and oriental waters, and after several
years of this life landed in New York, where he decided to become an
American. The Civil war had just broken out, and he enlisted as a seaman
on the Vanderbilt, a ship which Commodore Vanderbilt had completely fitted
up as a warship and presented to the government. While on this vessel Mr.
Walker had some very exciting experiences for two years, the principal
service being in chasing blockade runners. He left the navy in 1863 and
came to San Francisco by way of Cape Horn, and worked in that city for
about a year as a blacksmith and then as a lumberman on Humboldt bay.
Eighteen hundred and sixty-five was the date of his coming to Puget Sound,
and he located in Jefferson county, the whole region being at that time a
wilderness. He was employed as a sawyer all through the Sound country,
as well as in other parts of the state and in British Columbia. In 1886 he
decided to settle down to a more quiet life, and accordingly purchased a farm
of one hundred and twenty acres in Jefferson county, six miles from Port
Ludlow, and has added an orchard and various improvements to the place
until it is now a very pleasant home, although for the last year or so he has
resided in Tacoma, leaving the active conduct of the farm to his children.
Mr. Walker held a number of the local offices of his county, and is a well
posted man as a consequence of his extensive travels.
Mr. Walker has been married twice, his wives being sisters, and their
history, which will be given in the following paragraph, has especial bearing
in the annals of Puget Sound. In 1874 he was married to Miss Jane Frasier,
who lived only a year after the marriage and became the mother of one
daughter, who is now Amanda J. Jessup, living at Port Blakely. In 1877
he was married to Miss Margaret Frasier, and their three children are
Frank Walker, Jr., Mrs. Jennie Laursen and Melbourne Walker.

566 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
James Frasier, the father of these sisters, was born in Kentucky of
Scotch ancestry, and died in Washington in 1872. He crossed the plains
to the Puget Sound in 1848, and became widely known as a trapper, with
his headquarters in Jefferson county, and also took part in the Indian wars.
He married Emily Dallas, the daughter of Mollie Dallas. The latter was
a full-blooded Clallam Indian, who never learned to speak English, but
talked interestingly in her own tongue of her early life and experiences.
Her birth occurred at the place called by Vancouver Port Discovery, in
1789, and she was one of the Indians who stood in amazement and fright
when that gallant English explorer and discoverer of Puget Sound dropped
anchor there, he being the first white man she had ever seen. In later times,
when her children became intermarried with the whites, she was known
throughout the country as a good-hearted old Indian woman and a historic
character; she lived to be one hundred and nine years old, her death occur
ring in February, 1899. Margaret Frasier is therefore the granddaughter
of this famous old Indian. She had the misfortune to lose her mother when
she was only three years old, and her father, fearing that, as a trapper and
backwoodsman, he could not give his daughter the education she deserved,
allowed her to be adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Thorndike. These ex
cellent people were from New England, who had come around the Horn
in 1852 from their home in Rockland, Maine; he located in what is now
Port Ludlow and in 1853 built the first lumber mill there, becoming very
prosperous. Little Margaret was adopted in 1858, and two years later
went with the family to California, where she was given a good common
school education, and about the time she became of age she returned to
Port Ludlow and became the wife of Mr. Walker. She is proud of the
fact that she was born in the first house ever built in Port Ludlow, a cabin
made of slabs and erected by her father, and it is still standing and is a
place of historic interest. She was also the first child born in Ludlow. Her
foster father, Mr. Thorndike, went into the mining business in later life
and died in Tombstone, Arizona, in 1896.
HON. MILES L. CLIFFORD.
Hon. Miles L. Clifford, United States commissioner, with offices in
Tacoma, has been a resident of this city since 1888, during all of which time
he has been actively engaged in the practice of law. He is a native of the
commonwealth of Indiana, born in Rush county, on the ist of October,
1 85 1, and is of English and Welsh descent, his ancestors having been
among the early settlers of Vermont. His father was born in the Green
Mountain state in 1796; he subsequently came west to Indiana, where he
was married to Miss Nancy Hall. They were among the early pioneers
of that state. The father rose to a position of influence among the early
settlers of that state, and in 1867 he removed to Indianapolis, where he lived
retired from the active cares of a business life. He died in Indianapolis in
1885 at the age of eighty-five years. Throughout the period of his active
business career he had followed the tilling of the soil, was a quiet but influ
ential citizen and was a valued member of the Christian church. His wife

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 567
was called to her final rest when she had reached the age of sixty-eight years,
about six months after the death of her husband. To this worthy couple
were born eight children, of whom five are now living.
Miles L. Clifford, the only representative of this family in Washington,
received his education in Indianapolis, being a graduate of the literary depart
ment of "Butler University," at Indianapolis, and is also a graduate of the
Central Law School of that city, both of which are now included in the Uni
versity of Indianapolis. The date of his graduation in the law school was
1882, and immediately afterward he was admitted to the bar and began the
practice of his chosen profession. While pursuing his legal studies he served
as night attendant at the public library, and in that way earned a part of the
means with which to defray the expenses of his education. Upon his arrival
in Tacoma, Washington, in 1888, he at once became connected with its legal
fraternity, and for two years was engaged in making abstracts of title in
Pierce county, was also superior court commissioner, and in 1889 received
the appointment of United States commissioner, of which office he is the
present incumbent, his duties therein being that of examining magistrate in
criminal cases and the taking of testimony in cases referred to him by the
court. In addition to the duties devolving upon him in this important position,
Mr. Clifford also conducts a general law practice, and is an indefatigable and
earnest worker. In his political views he is a Republican, and the cause of
education also finds in him a warm friend, he having served two terms as a
member of the city school board, and is now a member of that body, and he
has been active in bringing the school system of Tacoma to its present high
standing. Pie is also a member of the city park commission, appointed by
Mayor Campbell, and they have in Point Defiance Park seven hundred acres
which they intend to convert into the finest park in the country, the location
and surroundings being everything that could be desired for an ideal park.
Mr. Clifford was happily married in 1889, when Miss Iona N. Woolen
became his wife. She is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, and a daughter of
William M. Woolen, now of Tacoma. This union has been blessed with two
sons, both born in this city, Raymond W. and Vincent Earl. The family
reside in one of the pleasant homes of Tacoma, and both Mr. and Mrs. Clifford
are charter members of the Christian church. He is also a member of the
college society Beta Theta Pi, and is one of Tacoma's thoroughly reliable
citizens. WILLIAM HOWARTH.
William Howarth, the general manager of the Everett Pulp & Paper
Company, is justly accorded a place among the prominent and representative
citizens o'f the Sound country, for he belongs to that class of men whose en
terprising spirit is used not alone for their own benefit, for he also advances
the general good and promotes public prosperity by his ably managed indi
vidual interests, thus placing this section of the country on a par with the
older east. He has been a resident of Everett since January, 1892, and is a
native of England. He came to this place when the buidings were being
constructed, and has since been actively connected with an industry of im-

568 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
portance to Everett. From the position of bookkeeper he has steadily ad
vanced to that of general manager, having acted in the latter capacity since
January, 1896. At that time the capacity of the plant was twelve and three-
fourths tons of paper per day, and now it is twenty tons. The alkali process
is the one employed, using wood extensively, including fir, cottonwood and
spruce. The products are book, lithograph, oheap writing paper and bond
paper. When wood was also used for fuel purposes in the factory, one hun
dred and twenty cords were daily consumed, and since coal has been used for
fuel the daily consumption of wood in the factory, for pulp, is from forty-five
to fifty cords. Employment is furnished to one hundred and seventy-two
persons in the factory and from seventy-five to a hundred in the timber dis
tricts, and the payroll amounts to two hundred and twenty-two thousand dol
lars annually, while the sales of the product reach five hundred thousand.
The acreage of the company at Everett is seventeen, and the plant covers
seven acres. The Grinell automatic sprinklers are used; there is a well
equipped fire brigade ; and the company owns its own steam boilers and every
appliance for best conducting the business, including a steam-heating and
electric plant. The factory is operated night and day, two shifts of men being
employed in order to meet the demands of the trade, for the product is sent to
every country washed by the Pacific waters, including Alaska, the states of
Washington, Oregon and California, Mexico, Central America, South Amer
ica, the Hawaiian Islands, Japan, Siberia, China, Philippines, Siam, Singa
pore, Australia and New Zealand.
The success of the enterprise may be attributed in no small measure to
the efforts, ability and energy of Mr. Howarth. He has excellent ability as
an organizer, forms his plans readily and executes them with determination.
This enables him to conquer obstacles which deter many a man, and it has
been one of the salient features in his success. He is the vice president of the
First National Bank of Everett and is a director in the Chamber of Commerce.
He was interested in the building of the Young Men's Christian Association
building and also the hospital, and his efforts in behalf of the improvement,
progress and welfare of the city have been effective and far-reaching. In his
political views he is a Republican.
EDWARD WALKER FOSTER.
In dealing with the Foster family this work is concerned with one of
the distinguished households of the country, some of whose members were
among the hardy pioneers who came to the bleak and rock-bound coast of
Massachusetts and made that wilderness one of the most important of the
great Thirteen Colonies; and now in this present-day history some of the
descendants of those fathers have helped in the making of the state which
is- the most westerly in the great Union, and in developing its untold
resources. Colonel Everett Worthington Foster was born in the state which has
come to be almost the family home, Massachusetts, in Belchertown. He
came west and settled in Chicago before old Fort Dearborn had expanded
into anything like the populous city of to-day. He lived here for some years,

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 569
but a short time before the war moved to Minnesota, where he- enlsited. He
was a member of the Third Minnesota Volunteers, the same regiment in
which Colonel C. W. Griggs, well known to the state of Washington, served.
Mr. Foster went into the army as a private, and his fine record as a soldier
is shown by the fact that he came out with the rank of colonel. Soon after
the war he was appointed surveyor general of Louisiana and resided there
for three or four years. Coming north to Frankfort, Dakota, he spent about
ten years there engaged principally in dealing in farm implements. But he
also- became very prominent in Republican politics, and was a member of the
territorial legislature at Bismarck before Dakota was divided and admitted
to the Union. He was later appointed Indian agent for the Yankton reserva
tion, and during all this time was chairman of various committees, and in
other ways advanced the interests of his party in county and state. At the
present time Mr. Foster is a resident of Tacoma, and his brother, Hon. A. G.
Foster, is a United States senator from Washington. Laura Beall, who be
came the wife of Mr. Foster, was a native of Wabasha county, Minnesota,
and her death occurred in St. Paul in 1878.
In 1876 these estimable parents made their home at Bloomington, Il
linois, and at that time the son Edward Walker was born to them. His
boyhood was spent under the care of his father, as his mother had died when
he was only two years old, and his literary education was obtained for the
most part in Pillsbury Academy at Owatonna, Minnesota, where he gradu
ated in 1895. In the same year he came to Tacoma and took a position
with the St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company, which has been often men
tioned in this work, and is the second largest lumber mill in the world; the
above mentioned Senator Foster is the vice president of the company. In
the six years that Mr. Foster was connected with this firm he gained rapid
promotion on account of his ability, and he learned the details of the lumber
industry thoroughly. This encouraged him to> the formation of a company
in which he could take a more important part, and in November, 1901, he,
with his brother, Arthur Beall Foster, and his brother-in-law, F. L. Selleck,
organized on the basis of equal partnership the Foster Lumber Company.
In a city noted for its immense establishments of the kind this firm is rapidly
advancing to the front and is already one of the leading concerns of the
city. They have a sawmill plant at Kapousen lake in Pierce county, and
the business offices are at 519-520 Berlin building. Mr. Foster is one of the
very young men of Tacoma, and, judging from what he has accomplished
since taking up the duties of the man, there doubtless awaits him a bright
and brilliant future.
ALVAH H. B. JORDAN.
Alvah H. B. Jordan, the treasurer of the Everett Pulp & Paper Company,
has been a resident of Everett since 1896, having come to take charge of the
manufacturing part of the business, previous experience in this line well quali
fying him for the position. He is a native of Massachusetts, born in Boston
in 1865. He was educated in the public schools of that city, and after five
years spent in the service of an importing house of Boston he took up the

570 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
business of manufacturing paper, starting in the mill and working his way
upward through the various departments, so that he became thoroughly familiar
with the work in principle and detail. After mastering the trade he was ap
pointed superintendent of the Champlain Fibre Company of Willsboro, New
York, and served in that capacity for two years. He next took charge of the
Clarion Mills of the New York & Pennsylvania Company, at Johnsonville,
Pennsylvania, superintending their operation for five years.
Mr. Jordan came to Everett as a stockholder and assistant treasurer of
the Everett Pulp & Paper Company, and soon afterward was made treasurer.
He looks after the entire mechanical operation of the plant, and his thorough
understanding of the business in every department well qualifies him to super
intend the labors of the men who are employed in the factory. This is the
only mill on the Pacific coast or, in fact, west of the Mississippi river manu
facturing these grades of paper, and the business has grown to extensive and
profitable proportions and has become one of the leading industries of Everett,
contributing much to its business development.
A prominent and active member of the Republican party, Mr. Jordan
is now serving as a member of the state central committee from Snohomish
county. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce, to the Benevolent and Pro
tective Order of Elks and is a thirty-second degree Mason.
HARRISON CLOTHIER.
Harrison Clothier, deputy county assessor of Mr. Vernon, Washington,
was born July 9, 1840, at Corinth, Saratoga county, New York, and is a son
of E. K. Clothier, born in Saratoga county, New York, of an old American
family. The great-grandfather was in the Continental army, although the
family originated in England, near London. E. K. Clothier was a farmer by
occupation and died in 1866. He married Lucy Clothier, born in Saratoga
county, New York, and a daughter of Ambrose Clothier, a brother of the father
of her husband. The following children were born to E. K. Clothier and wife,
namely : Webster, a farmer of New York; Mahlon E., a farmer and merchant
of Platte Center, Nebraska; Heman, a farmer of New York; our subject;
and Lydia, who married Milo Clothier, a cousin and a farmer of Saratoga
county, New York.
Harrison Clothier was educated in the common schools of Saratoga
county and high school of Macedon Center, Wayne county, New York, from
which he was graduated in 1868, and for the following two years he taught
school in New York, after which he went to Minnesota and taught school
in that state one term, whence he went to Wisconsin and taught school for
seven terms, and then, removing to Oregon, taught school there one term.
In 1875 he located in Whatcom county, Washington, and in that part which
is now Skagit county he taught two terms. In the spring of 1877 he platted
the town of Mt. Vernon, and in 1880 was elected auditor of the county
of Whatcom (now Skagit county). Four years later the county was divided,
and he was elected one of the first county commissioners of Skagit county.
In the fall of 1886 he was elected probate judge of the county and in 1889
was elected a delegate to the constitutional convention. When the county

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 571
treasurer died in May, 1891, Mr. Clothier was appointed to fill the vacancy
by the county commissioners. From January, 1893, to 1895, Mr. Clothier's
attention was occupied with attending to his real estate interests, but in the
latter year he went to Anacortes and managed a sawmill, remaining there
until January, 1899, when he was appointed deputy assessor, and is thus
engaged. In March, 1877, with E. G. English, Mr. Clothier started a gen
eral merchandise store. At that time there was what was called a tree farm
(or jam) in the river for a mile or more, and the waters were not released
until 1878, when the first steamer went through. Those were the days
when there were not more than a dozen settlers between Mt. Vernon and
the Cascade mountains. There were no roads save the Indian trails, and
it took an entire day to go a few miles through the dense undergrowth.
Although not so very many years have intervened, a wonderful change has
been effected, and flourishing cities stand where once the Indian reigned
supreme. In politics Mr. Clothier is a Republican, but was formerly a Democrat,
and has always taken an active part in public matters. He has attended
several county and one state convention as a delegate, and was chairman of
the Skagit county Democratic central committee from 1884 to 1886. Pie
is a prominent Mason, joining that order in 1880. In addition to other
honors, he was the first postmaster of Mt. Vernon, being appointed in 1877,
and held the office until he was elected auditor, and he was the regular Dem
ocratic nominee for state treasurer in 1892.
JARED C. PARKER.
Jared C. Parker, one of the enterprising business men of Whatcom,
Washington, and a successful printer, was born at Davenport, Iowa, Decem
ber 11, 1854, and is a son of Jared C. and Susan M. (White) Parker. The
father was a successful physician of Davenport, Iowa, and died in 1863.
He was born in New York, as was also his wife, and both came of Revolu
tionary stock. Mrs. Parker lives at Watervliet, Michigan. She is a cousin
of Elmer White, the prominent naval official recently retired. Four children
were born to Dr. and Mrs. Parker, namely : Jared C. ; Merwin W., a book
keeper of Watervliet; Adelia, who married Dr. W. L. Garrett of Watervliet;
Ella G., who married Robert P. Moore, a baker of Watervliet, but is now
a widow. Jared C. Parker was educated in the public schools of Davenport, Iowa,
and Adrian, Michigan, and at the age of sixteen years began to learn a
trade, selecting that of bookbinding. Beginning his term of service at
Davenport, he continued it at Adrian, and after four years, in 1875, he
removed to Chicago and worked at it for six months. His next change was
his location in Boone, Iowa, where he established a bookbinding establish
ment of his own. For four years he carried it on successfully, but in 1879
he removed to Marshalltown, Iowa, and after a year pushed on to Salt Lake
City, where he soon established a bookbindery, remaining in that city for
seven years. In 1887 he made another change and located at Cheyenne,
and thence, after eighteen months, went to Denver, and for three years

572 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
operated a plant in that city. At the expiration of that time he went to
Ogden, Utah, spent a year, and in 1891 went to Olympia, and two years
later finally settled in Whatcom, where he now owns and operates the largest
printing establishment and bookbindery in the city, his plant being equipped
with the latest machinery and appliances, and he controls a very desirable
trade which is constantly increasing. In politics he is an active Republican,
and socially is connected" with the Commercial Club, while his fraternal
affiliations are with the order known as the Fraternal Aid.
On August 23, 1877, Mr. Parker married Ida M. Campbell, a daughter
of James Campbell, a capitalist, of Salt Lake City. Three children were
born of this marriage, namely : Merwin W., who is twenty-five years of
age and in business with his father; James C, who is twenty-two years of
age and is an architect in Tacoma, Washington; George H, who is nineteen
years of age, is a clerk in Tacoma. In 1891 Mr. Parker was married to
Frankie L. Lyon, a daughter of a music dealer at Topeka, Kansas. One
daughter has been born of this union, Laverne, who is nine years old.
MAYNARD P. HURD.
Hon. Maynard P. Hurd, one of the leading citizens of Skagit county,
Washington, a prominent and successful attorney at Mt. Vernon, was born
March 25, 1866, in Wentworth, Cumberland county, Nova Scotia, and is
a son of R. G. and Margaret (Malone) Hurd. R. G. Hurd was also born
in Nova Scotia. His ancestors were English born, and they settled in
Connecticut, his parents later removing to Nova Scotia. His wife was
born in Ireland, and died in November, 1892. A half-brother, James Nickle,
is a carpenter, residing in Mt. Vernon, and has four sisters, as follows:
Ella, who is the wife of L. J. Ford; Anna, who is the wife of C. Yule, in
a hardware business at Whatcom; Abbie, who is the wife of Fred Ray
mond, a shoe merchant at Whatcom, and Miss Irene, who lives with her
father at Whatcom.
Maynard P. Hurd obtained his education in the public schools of
Columbus, Nebraska, and in the Fremont Normal and Business College,
concluding in 1887. During the time he was taking his business course he
kept himself busied with various occupations, working on railroads, clerking
in stores, and teaching school. His spare hours during the latter period
were employed in the reading of law, under Colonel Whitmoyer, of the
firm of Whitmoyer, Girard & Post, of Columbus, and he was admitted to
the supreme court of Nebraska in 1889. In 1900 he went to Laconner,
Washington, and formed a law partnership with Harry McBride, now the
governor of Washington. In 1892 Mr. Hurd was elected to the Third
state legislature, and in 1898 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Skagit
county. His services in this position were so valuable that he was re-elected
in 1900 and served until January of the ensuing year. Many memorable
cases came within his jurisdiction during his term of office, and he secured
the conviction of several murderers, probably the most notable being Alfred
Hamilton, who was convicted of the murder of D. M. Woodbury, one of
the most prominent attorneys in the county. Hamilton took a change of

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 573
venue to Whatcom county, where he was again convicted and was hanged.
Since January, 1903, Mr. Hurd has been engaged in attending to his
large and lucrative private practice. He has always taken a very prominent
position in public affairs, and has actively participated in the various con
ventions of the Republican party. For five years he was city attorney at
Laconner, and has been prominent in all progressive movements throughout
this section. He is financially interested in mining property on Slate creek,
Whatcom county, which promises good returns.
On October 30, 1889, Mr. Hurd was united in marriage with Miss
Minnie Luth, at Columbus, Nebraska. She was born in Schuyler, Nebraska,
and is a daughter of Albert Luth, a retired farmer and hotel man at Colum
bus. During the Civil war Mr. Luth served in the Union army. Mr. and
Mrs. Hurd have two children : Charles Sumner, twelve years old, and
Laura A., ten years old, both students in the local schools. Mr. Hurd is
fraternally associated with the leading secret societies, the Masons, Knights
of Pythias, Modern Workmen, Woodmen of America, Hoo Hoos and
Eagles. He stands well with the business community, entertains the most
cordial relations with the legal fraternity and occupies a high position socially.
GEORGE MONROE MITCHELL.
George Monroe Mitchell, justice of the peace and a very prominent
man of Mt. Vernon, Washington, was born February 26, 1873, in Scott
county, Indiana, and is a son of Jasper N. Mitchell, born in Warren county,
Tennessee, and his father, also Jasper, was a soldier in the Revolutionary
war, serving under General Greene. The founder of the Mitchell family in
this country came from Ireland in the seventeenth century. Jasper, Jr.,
was a soldier in the Civil war, joining the Union army when it passed
through Tennessee, and his history is a very interesting one. His sympa
thies were with the north, but he was drafted by the Confederates, was con
scripted and sent to the Union army. During the war he was taken prisoner
and confined at Andersonville, but was fortunate enough to escape. He
served until the close of the war and died May 16, 1882. The mother was
Lydia (Ritchey) Mitchell, born in Scott county, Indiana. Her parents were
emigrants from Kentucky, and made the trip with some of Boone's
emigrants. The family participated in the Indian wars there. The grand
father of Mrs. Mitchell was one of the victims of the Indian massacre at
Summit; he bore the name of John Collins. Mrs. Mitchell married Theo
dore Christie, a farmer, and she is now living in Seymour, Indiana. The
following family was born to Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell : William J., a farmer
Of Manson, Iowa; James D., a farmer of Indiana; our subject; Mahala,
widow of John Morgan, a farmer of Washington county, Indiana; Laura;
and Amanda, wife of Edward Heacock, a farmer of Seymour, Indiana.
George Mitchell attended the common schools of Indiana until he was
seventeen years of age, when he went to San Juan county, Washington, and
worked upon a farm one year, taught school another year, and then for ten
years was a teacher in Skagit county. Desiring to extend his fund of in
formation, he attended Vashon College and completed his course in Ian-

574 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
guages, after which he returned to the Northern Indiana Law School in
Valparaiso, Indiana, from which he was graduated in 1901 with the degree
of LL. B. Immediately following his graduation, he located at Mt. Vernon, '
Washington, and commenced the practice of his profession. In politics he
is a stanch Democrat and has always taken an active part in affairs of his
party, serving on county central committees as well as representing the party
at state conventions and various county conventions. In February, 1903,
he was appointed justice of the peace for the Mt. Vernon district, county
of Skagit, by the county commissioners, for a period of one year. While
living in northern Indiana attending law school, he was unanimously elected
and served as president of the class, which was a great honor, and he dis
tinguished himself in that capacity because of his intimate knowledge of
parliamentary law. Fraternally he is a member of the order of Odd Fellows.
Judge Mitchell gave universal satisfaction as a teacher, and his pupils
could scarcely be induced to allow him to sever his connection with them.
While teaching he had patiently prepared himself, however, for his law
course, and was enabled to take the regular two years' course in one year.
Upon his return he soon demonstrated that, while he was an excellent
teacher, he was a still better lawyer, and in his present responsible position
he is gaining new laurels by his calm, judicious renderings and able exposi
tion of legal matters.
FRED L. BLUMBERG.
Fred L. Blumberg, auditor of Skagit county, Washington, and one of
the leading citizens of Mt. Vernon, has earned his way into popular favor
and responsible position by ability and perseverance. He was born July 8,
1864, in Ozaukee county, Wisconsin, and is a son of John and Dorothy
Blumberg, both of whom were born in Mecklenburg, Germany. John Blum
berg belonged to a prominent German family and was obliged to leave his
country on account of the revolutionary troubles of 1849. He took part in
the Civil war as a member of the Seventeenth Wisconsin Regiment, during
which time he was once wounded, but later re-enlisted and was a good and
faithful soldier of his adopted country. He engaged in lumbering in the
Wisconsin forests, and owned and operated a sawmill at Newburg in that
state. His death took place in 1897. His wife belonged also to a German
family of importance. Her grandfather served in the Napoleonic wars, as
did also our subject's paternal grandfather, accompanying Schill, the famous
German bushwhacker, who so effectively harassed Napoleon at the time of
the invasion of Russia. Mrs. Blumberg still resides at Newburg, Wisconsin.
Our subject has two brothers and one sister : Herman, who is a chandler in
Minnesota; Frank, who is a farmer at Newburg, Wisconsin; and Mrs.
Louise Garvin, who is the wife of a capitalist of Hyde Park, Chicago.
Fred L. Blumberg was educated in the public schools of Newburg,
which he left at the age of sixteen years to go to work on a farm at Rock
ford, Illinois. From there he went to Milwaukee and engaged as a shipping
clerk in a wholesale tobacco store for one year. He then spent one summer
on a farm in Bremer county, Iowa, and during the succeeding winter

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 575
attended school at Sumner. Mr. Blumberg then taught school for five years,
during the winter seasons, spending the summers in farm work. In the
spring of 1888 he went to Sheldon, Iowa, where he worked until January,
1889, as a hotel clerk, going then to Skagit county, Washington, again
spending the summer on the farm and the winter in the schoolroom. In
the fall of 1890 he opened a grocery store at Avon, Skagit county, but dis
posed of it in the following year and taught school for two years at Lacon
ner. He then went to Anacortes and worked for a year as a section hand on
the railroad, later was given charge of the warehouse at Anacortes for the
Seattle & Northern Railroad Company, until the fall of 1898.
At this time Mr. Blumberg came to Mt. Vernon, having been ap
pointed deputy county auditor. He remained in that capacity until February,
1902, when, upon the resignation of Auditor Grant Neal, now a member of
the state board of control, he was appointed auditor, and in the fall was
elected auditor by the heaviest vote in the county. Mr. Blumberg is still
filling the duties of this responsible position, with the greatest efficiency.
He is an active and influential member of the Republican party, and, with
one exception, has attended all of the county conventions of Skagit county
since 1890. He has served on the county central committee, and in 1894
was deputy superintendent of schools for this county.
On October 1, 1890, Mr. Blumberg was united in marriage with Allie
Bartholomew, at Seattle, who was born in Worthington, Indiana, and is a
daughter of Cynthia A. Bartholomew, who accompanied her to Washington
in 1872. Mrs. Blumberg's father was a soldier in the Civil war and resides
with a son at Peoria, Illinois. Mr. Blumberg and his estimable wife have
a family of five sons, namely: Irvin A., born in December, 1891 ; Frank E.,
born in January, 1894; Judson A., born in January, 1896; George, born in
September, 1898; and Edward F., born in July, 1901. The family belongs
to the Episcopal church. Mr. Blumberg is fraternally associated with the
order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United
Workmen, and in the Masonic fraternity is senior warden of the blue lodge
and is secretary of Mt. Vernon Chapter No. 17, R. A. M. He is a first-class
citizen in every way and is representative of the intelligence, responsibility
and progressiveness of the great state of Washington.
WILLIAM H. T. BARNES.
Among the best citizens of the locality, esteemed alike for his sterling
worth of character and his activity in the business world, is William H. T.
Barnes, a worthy representative of an honored old family. He was born in
Lodi, Columbia county, Wisconsin, on the 17th of March, 1853, and is a
son of James and Ann (Oates) Barnes, both natives of England, and both
descended from prominent families of that country. The father, who also
followed the profession of pharmacy, passed away in death on the 16th of
January, 1902, but the mother is still living, and now makes her home in
Seattle. In this family were two sons, the brother of our subject being
James, who is engaged in the real estate business in North Yakima, Wash
ington, while the daughters are: Hattie A., the wife of John H. Sarlington,

576 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
a contractor and builder of Seattle; Valinda, the wife of C. B. Parkinson, a
merchant of Cedar Lake, Ipwa; Estelle, who makes her home in Seattle;
and Rose E., the wife of E. L. Marsh, a license collector of that city.
William H. T. Barnes attended the public schools during his youth,
and later graduated in the Northwestern Business College of Madison, Wis
consin. He learned the drug business in his father's store at Black Earth,
Wisconsin, and for three years thereafter was in the employ of John H.
Clark, a druggist of Madison, that state, while later he had charge of the
store of B. A. Taft at Rico, Colorado. In 1879 he engaged in business for
himself in Brown county, Dakota, where he remained for three years, and
in August, 1885, removed to Seattle and opened a drug store at that point,
where for fourteen years he was a successful and popular druggist. In
December, 1899, he came to Blaine and resumed his drug business, and in
this city his efforts have met with a high and well merited degree of success,
the extensive business interests of this locality placing him among the
leaders in industrial circles. For eight years Mr. Barnes was a member of
the Washington state board of pharmacy, while for seven years of that'
period he served as its secretary, his first appointment to this position having
been received by Governor E. P. Ferry, the first governor of Washington,
under whom he served for three years, and his second appointment was made
by Governor John H. McGraw, in 1893, he serving for five years under
the last named. Mr. Barnes gives his political support to the Republican
party, and during the years of 1890-1-2 served as a member of the city
council of Seattle, while at the present time he is a member of the Blaine
city council, having been elected a member at large and led the ticket. He
is also president of the Blaine board of health.
The marriage of Mr. Barnes was celebrated on the ist of October,
1883, when Miss Martha B. Buchanan became his wife. She was born at
Fort Winnebago, near Portage, Wisconsin, and is a daughter of Daniel
Buchanan, who was ior many years a general merchant, but is now living
a retired life in Blaine. He was a member of the Washington constitutional
convention from Adams county, and was known as the sage of the conven
tion. He is of Scotch descent. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Barnes was
blessed with two children, a son and a daughter, but both are now deceased.
In his fraternal relations our subject is a member of the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United
Workmen and the Woodmen of the World. His duties in both public and
private life have ever been discharged with marked promptness and fidelity,
and throughout the period of his residence in the Sound country he has been
closely identified with its progress and development, supporting all measures
for the public good.
CHARLES S. BIHLER.
Charles S. Bihler, who has gained such an enviable reputation in the
west as a civil engineer, is himself a native of Germany, and his ancestors
for many generations have been prominent in various professions. His
parents were Charles and Theresa (Wuench) Bihler, and the former was a

* HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 577
jurist. Their son Charles S. was born in the beautiful old city of Munich,
August 29, 1859. This city has one of the finest technical schools in the
world, and after he had completed the excellent curriculum of the public
schools he attended this institution, graduating in 1881. He at once entered
the railroad engineering corps in the service of the Bavarian government, but
after a year spent in this work, in which he had added much practical experi
ence to his theoretical knowledge, he emigrated to America in 1882. Min
neapolis was his first destination, and he was fortunate in securing a position
with the St. Paul and Northern Pacific Railroad Company. Pie began as a
rodman, and was advanced successively to leveler, transit man, and chief
draughtsman in the chief engineer's office. He was soon recognized as a
man of much thoroughness and ability, and in 1885 was given the responsible
undertaking of building the shops of his company at Como, near St. Paul.
Upon the completion of this work he resumed his duties as chief draughts
man, which he continued until he was sent to Tacoma in 1890 to construct
the shops of the Northern Pacific Railroad in South Tacoma. These are
now among the largest shops in the country, covering eighty acres of ground,
and two years were spent in erecting them, the result being a monument to
Mr. Bihler's constructive genius. In 1892 he was made division engineer
of the Northern Pacific with his office in Tacoma; this division then ex
tended to Hope, Idaho, but was consolidated in 1893 with the middle
division, extending to Billings, Montana. Mr. Bihler has supervised the
construction of all the terminal facilities on the water front in Tacoma, which
include the immense warehouses twenty-four hundred feet in length, with
a capacity of two million bushels of wheat and with electrically controlled
bunkers for the loading of ships. He also had charge of the various exten
sions of the Northern Pacific road in western Washington, Montana
and Idaho. Mr. Bihler is one of the incorporators of the Spokane and
Kootenai Railway Company and of the Seattle and Canada Railway Company.
In 1901 Mr. Bihler left the service of the railroad company, and has
since done independent work, acting for a number of the leading corpora
tions and manufacturers on Puget Sound. He is recognized as a leader in
his profession, and, for a man just in the prime of his powess, his life has
been filled with work of a lasting character, and there is still a bright future
before him. His business office is at 619 Fidelity building. He is a mem
ber and director of the Pacific Northwest Society of Engineers and a member
of the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce. In 1884 Mr. Bihler, while residing
in Minneapolis, was married to Miss Eugenia Brochier Marimont, who was
likewise a native of Munich, Germany.
ROBERT W. WILLIAMS.
Robert W. Williams, a prominent real estate dealer and a man who
has been largely instrumental in the upbuilding of Mt. Vernon, Washington,
was born in Unadilla, New York, March 25, 1844, and is a son of Joseph
Williams, a native of Scotland, who came to America when a young man
and was a bridge-builder by trade. Among some of his most important
contracts was the building of the bridge at Unadilla, New York, one across
37

57S HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
the Susquehanna river at Nineveh, New York, also three others across the
Susquehanna, and he lost his life in Nineveh, New York, in 1852, by the
bursting of a dam ; he was the only one on the bridge at the time. His wife
was Alta A. (Carter) Williams, born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts,
and coming of an old American family of Revolutionary stock and English
descent. Her father was born in Massachusetts. The children born to Mr.
and Mrs. Joseph Williams were as follows : Charles K., of Sandersfield,
Massachusetts, is sheriff of Berkshire county; Benjamin F., of Wallingford,
Connecticut, in the Brittania works; David P., who was superintendent of
the Holyoke Massachusetts Paper Company, died in 1902; our subject;
Jeannette, widow of John Palmer, who was connected with the Panama road
across the Isthmus. The last named went to Panama in 1853 and returned
to Wallingford, Connecticut, and later to New York city in 1902, having
been there for forty-nine years; for thirty years of that time she resided on
the Isthmus without once returning to her old home, even on a visit. The
mother of this family died in 1862.
Robert W. Williams was educated in the county schools of Lee, Massa
chusetts, until 186 1, at which time he removed to Boston, Massachusetts,
and for two and one-half years went to school in that city and studied den
tistry. In January, 1864, he enlisted in Company I, Fifty-seventh Massa
chusetts, under General Bartlett, and on April 24, 1864, the regiment was
sent south and participated in the battle of the Wilderness, May 5 and 6,
Spottsylvania on May 12, in front of Petersburg on June 17, and after that
participated in the campaign of the Army of the Potomac until March 25,
1865. While in front of Petersburg- our subject lost his right leg, and was
also slightly wounded in the battle of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania.
When he was first wounded he was first sergeant, and was afterwards
brevetted captain, being mustered out in October, 1865. The first business
that he was able to transact after his return from the army was in the Boston
custom house in 1866, from which he was transferred to the business office
of the Boston postoffice in 1872 and remained there until his resignation in
May, 1888. During that time he was postmaster at Somerville, Massa
chusetts, two .years, was transferred from there to Roxbury, Massachusetts,
and there he tendered his resignation on account of ill health. Believing that
he might be benefited, Mr. Williams went to California, but shortly went
farther north to Puget Sound. His steamer unfortunately met with very
severe weather and barely escaped, but in December, 1888, he finally reached
Mt. Vernon. Two years later he built a hotel in Burlington, Skagit county,
and later organized the Boston Shingle Company, at Sedro Woolley, Wash
ington. He organized the Williams & Henry shingle mill located at Mill-
town, Skagit county, in 1897, and is still conducting it, the plant having a
capacity of eighty thousand shingles per day. In politics he is a stanch
Republican, and has represented his party in county conventions a number
of times. On December 25, 1867, he was married to Alma A. Parker at
Boston ; she is a native of Vermont and a daughter of A. H. Parker, a
farmer of Vermont. Three children have be"en born to Mr. and Mrs. Wil
liams, Walter W., Emma and Lena. Fraternally Mr. Williams is a thirty-
second degree Mason and Knight of Honor, Red Man, belongs to the

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 579
Knights and Ladies of Honor, Grand Army of the Republic post, of which
National Commander Stewart has appointed him aide-de-camp with the
rank of colonel. ISAAC DUNLAP.
Isaac Dunlap, one of the leading ranchmen of Laconner, Washington,
was born November 3, 1832, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is a son of
James Dunlap, born in Ireland and died in 1853, and his wife, Mary (Moore)
Dunlap, born in Ireland and died in 1870.
Isaac Dunlap was reared in the public schools of Philadelphia, and con
cluded his education in 1848, after which he learned the trade of a chande
lier-maker in his native city, there remaining until 1852. For the next
eleven years he lived in Linn county, Iowa, and worked upon a farm, but
in 1863 he crossed the plains with a single mule team to California. During
that hard trip a child was born to him and his wife. There were ninety-
three wagons in the train, and Indians did not dare attack it on account of
its strength. Upon arrival in California Mr. Dunlap went to San Joaquin
county and engaged in farming for thirteen years, and in 1877 he removed
to Laconner and purchased land on the flats, since which time he has been
acquiring land until he now owns five hundred and fifty acres of some of
the finest land in the world, capable of averaging one hundred bushels of
oats to the acre. A portion of this land has been producing oats every year
for thirty years, and no change is shown in the crops. He bored two wells,
ninety-three feet deep, and for a distance of ninety feet the Soil is the same
straight through. Three and one-half acres of the tract is devoted to fruit-
raising. In addition to his landed interests Mr. Dunlap is a stockholder of
the Poison Hardware Company, which has stores at Laconner, Seattle and
Wenatchee. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and has attended state
and county conventions; was elected county commissioner of Whatcom
county and twice for Skagit county, and was one of the first commissioners
of the newly created county of Skagit about 1883. Several times he has
been elected road supervisor of Skagit county. His ranch is two and one-
half miles from Laconner.
On December 24, 1859, he was married to Susan Maxwell, born in
Iowa, and a daughter of Thomas Maxwell, of Scotch descent. The follow
ing children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap, namely: James, a
farmer at Laconner, has been county treasurer three times; Alexander I.
is manager and stockholder of the Poison Hardware Company at Laconner;
William is a farmer on his father's ranch ; Samuel is a farmer at Ridgeway,
Skagit county. William also owns a fine farm, but rents it while he takes
care of that of his father. The family own about twelve hundred and eighty
acres in Skagit county. There are also three daughters in the family,
namely: Mary married Louis McFarland, a farmer near Laconner; Rosanna
married Arthur Flagg, a farmer near Laconner; Rowena married Martin
Best, a farmer near Laconner. Fraternally Mr. Dunlap is a member of
the Odd Fellows. The Dunlap family is a large one, for there are twenty
grandchildren, and among them all there has so far been but one death,
and that was of an infant scarcely a year old,

580 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY'.
CLAUS JOHN H. DAHL.
Among the men of enterprise that the fatherland has furnished to the
new world, men of energy and ambition, who have improved their oppor
tunities here and have gained prestige in the business world, is Claus John
H. Dahl, a capitalist residing in Blaine, where for some years he was identi
fied with mercantile interests, but now gives his attention to the supervision
of his investments. In public office he has manifested his loyalty to the
welfare of the city, and his efforts in its behalf have been of a bene
ficial nature.
Mr. Dahl was born in Germany on the. 30th of December, 1855, and
his parents, Claus F. and Wipke (Guhn) Dahl, were also natives of the
same country. They came to America about 1865, locating in Illinois, and
the mother did not long survive the emigration, her death occurring in that
year, when she was forty-two years of age. The father afterward married
again, and throughout his business career he carried on farming. He died
in Blaine in 1898, at the advanced age of seventy-five years. Mr. Dahl, of
this review, has one brother and one sister : Ernest, who follows farming
near Blaine; and Lena, the wife of T. J. Spohn, who is living in Seattle.
He also has three half-brothers and three half-sisters: Charles H, of Blaine;
Lendis F., a confectioner of Snohomish, Washington; William, of Blaine;
Ella, the wife of Joseph Wagner; Annie, the wife of Herman King; and
Emma, the wife of L. D. Stevenson, of Blaine.
To the public school system of Holstein, Germany, Mr. Dahl is in
debted for the early educational privileges he enjoyed. He there pursued
his studies until ten years of age, when he accompanied his parents on their
emigration to the new world. The family crossed the Atlantic to the United
States, and proceeding into the interior of the country settled in Stephenson
county, Illinois, where Mr. Dahl again entered school and continued his
studies until sixteen years of age. At that time he became a resident of
Dodge county, Nebraska, his father settling there upon a farm, and to the
cultivation and improvement of that property our subject devoted his ener
gies up to the time of his marriage, which occurred when he was twenty-
four years of age. He then purchased a farm in the same county and began
agricultural pursuits on his own account. For ten years he operated his
land in Nebraska and then sold out, preparatory to removing to the Pacific
coast. In the spring of 1890 he arrived in Blaine, and for a short time was
engaged in the butchering business, but soon turned his attention to general
merchandising in company with his brother Charles, this partnership con
tinuing until 1894. Through the succeeding two years he was not actively
engaged in business. In 1896, however, he began dealing in grain and feed,
and continued in that line until January, 1903, since which time he has de
voted his energies to the supervision of his investments. He has prospered
as the years have passed, and is now the possessor of a handsome capital.
On the 1 6th of June, 1879, Mr. Dahl was united in marriage to Miss.
Catharine H. Dierks, a native of Germany and a daughter of John and
Katrina Dierks, who were also born in that country, whence they came to
the new world, casting in their lot with the pioneer settlers of Nebraska.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 581
Socially, Mr. Dahl is connected with the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and
is also a member of the Blaine Commercial Club. In politics he is a Demo
crat, and takes an active interest in local and state politics. In 1896 he was
elected councilman at large and was re-elected each succeeding year up to
and including 1899, so that he served in the office for foun years. In 1900
he was elected mayor of Blaine and was re-elected in 1901. Local advance
ment is a cause very dear to his heart, and anything tending to prove of
benefit to his adopted city elicits his attention and support. Without much
assistance at the outset of his career, he has steadily worked his way upward,
and to-day stands among the capitalists of this part of the state.
DAVID C. JENKINS, Jr.
David C. Jenkins, Jr., city auditor of Whatcom, Washington, and one
of the leading young Democrats of that city, was born July 30, 1876, at
Smith Center, Kansas. He is a son of the late Hon. Will D. Jenkins, ex-
secretary of state, and his wife, Elvira (Axton) Jenkins.
David C. Jenkins, Jr., attended the public schools in Whatcom and
later had the advantage of a course at the Bishop Scott Academy in Port
land, Oregon, from which he was graduated in 1895. After his graduation
he went into the newspaper business with his father on the weekly Cham
pion in Whatcom, and there continued eighteen months. In 1896, his father
being elected secretary of state, the young man went to Olympia to fill the
position of assistant secretary of state. Three years later he went to the
north half of the Colville Indian reservation and started the Bolster Drill,
a weekly mining paper, and continued it one year, when he sold his interests
and returned to Whatcom in 1900. For three years he was connected with
several newspapers in different capacities, and January 6, 1903, he was ap
pointed, by the council of Whatcom, city auditor. In politics he is an ardent
Democrat and has taken an active part in local affairs.
On January 21, 1896, he was married to Mabel Rice, a daughter of
Aaron Rice, of Whatcom, a steam engineer. Two sons have been born to
Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins:- Sidney C. and Will D. Jenkins. Fraternally Mr.
Jenkins is connected with the Woodmen of the Werld and the Red Men,
and is very popular in these organizations and throughout the entire state,
and no young Democrat in the county has a more brilliant future than has
this most worthy son of a distinguished father.
The late Hon. Will D. Jenkins was born near Lincoln, Illinois, April
21, 1852, and died February 15, 1902. His wife was a native of Indiana,
coming of an old American family of Welsh descent, and she died in Febru
ary, 1890. In addition to our subject, these parents had two other children,
namely: Will D., in the sawmill business in Whatcom; Lulu, residing in
Whatcom. The early education of the Hon. Will D. Jenkins was received in the
common schools, but he gained much from contact with men and close ob
servation. His first vocation was that of compositor in a printing office.
From this he rose gradually to be an editor and publisher, and spent nearly
a quarter of a century in these relations. Being attracted to the west, he had

582 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
removed to Nebraska in his boyhood, and saw two years' service in the
Indian wars in that state, Colorado and the far west. After locating in
New Whatcom, his abilities were recognized, and he was honored with elec
tion as mayor three terms. In 1890 his services to the party were recognized
by President Harrison, who appointed him supervisor of census of the state
of Washington, and he filed the first completed report that year. Until 1892
he was a strong Republican, but his views upon the silver question forced
him to adopt the Omaha platform, and he was elected secretary of state on
the People's party ticket in 1896, for a term of four years. In his untimely
death the state lost an able and wise legislator; the city of Whatcom one of
its best and most loyal citizens, and his family a loving father, whose place
can never be filled.
EDWIN M. ALLEN.
Edwin M. Allen is now serving as assessor of Snohomish county. He
was born on the 21st of April, 1855, at Stetson, in Penobscot county, Maine,
and is a son of Thorndike Allen, who was born in the Pine Tree state and
came of good old Revolutionary stock. Further back than this, however,
his ancestry could be traced, for the family was founded in America by
Scot emigrants. The father was a farmer by occupation, and after arriving
at years of maturity he followed that pursuit in order to provide for his
family. He wedded Rose A. Damon, who was born in Maine and was of
Irish lineage. She, too, came of a family that was represented in the Ameri
can army during the war of the Revolution. To Mr. and Mrs. Allen were
born nine sons and four daughters, namely : Frank R., Fred H, Ella J.,
Edwin M., Nelia, Joseph T., George E., Annie R., Arthur, John, Pearley D.,
Benjamin I. and Susie R. The father of this family passed away in 1893
at the age of sixty-nine years. The mother is still living, at the age of
seventy-five years, and makes her home in Stetson, Maine.
At the usual age Edwin M. Allen entered the public schools of his
native town, where he continued his studies until he reached the age of
sixteen. He then pursued a two years' preparatory course, and completed
his intellectual training by a commercial course in Pittsfield, Maine. After
leaving school at the age* of eighteen years he entered the employ of F. Shaw
& Brothers, tanners, of Jacksonbrook, Maine, continuing in their service
until 1878. In March of that year he sought a home in the west in order
that he might take advantage of its growing opportunities and advantages.
He went to Colorado and after being employed at different places in that
state for a time removed to Nevada county, California, where he followed
hydraulic mining until August, 1882. He then removed to Seattle, Wash
ington, where he remained until October of the same year, when he came
to Snohomish county, locating at Lowell. There he entered the employ of
E. D. Smith, whom he served as bookkeeper for four years. He next went
to Port Townsend and afterward to Seattle, but in the spring of 1888 he
returned to Snohomish, where he was employed at different occupations for
the seven succeeding years. In 1895 he again went to California, where he
was engaged in hydraulic mining for two years, and in the summer of 1897
he once more returned to Washington, this time locating in the town of

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 583
Getchell. There he accepted the position of bookkeeper for the firm of
Eggert & Johnson, lumbermen, but in January, 1899, he came to Everett.
Here he was appointed deputy assessor, in which capacity he served until
elected assessor in 1902.
In May, 1883, Mr. Allen was united in marriage to Miss Albertine G.
Turner, a native of California and a daughter of A. G. and Carrie Turner,
who were pioneer settlers of the Golden state, and were natives of Maine.
Mr. and Mrs. Allen now have three interesting children: Edwin D., Edith
L. and Ethel A., aged respectively eighteen, sixteen and fifteen years. In
his social relations he is a Mason and also holds membership relations with
the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Forest
ers of America, the Red Men and the Knights of the Maccabees. His politi
cal support has ever been given to the Republican party, in which he take an
active interest. During his residence in the west he has been a witness of
its marvelous growth and development, and he has never regretted his
decision to cast in his lot with the settlers of this portion of the country.
FRANCIS W. MANSFIELD.
Francis Walter Mansfield, although a young man, has attained con
siderable distinction as a representative of the bar of Snohomish county,
and is now serving as police judge of Everett, in which city he resides. He
was born December 17, 1879, at Cassopolis, Michigan, and is a son of
George Walter and Josephine W. (Sturr) Mansfield. The father was also
a native of Michigan, representing one of the early pioneer families of that
state. His ancestral history is one of close connection with America from a
very early epoch in its development. George W. Mansfield became a farmer
and dairyman in Michigan and carried on business along this line for many
years. He died in 1891 at the age of fifty years, while his wife still survives
him and now makes her home in Everett at the age of fifty-seven years.
She is a native of New York city, and during her girlhood days accom
panied her parents on their removal to Cass county,. Michigan. Francis W.
Mansfield has one living brother, William E., who is engaged in the drug
business in Everett. The two sisters of the family died in infancy.
At the usual age Francis Walter Mansfield began his education in the
public schools and continued his studies until he had completed a course in
the Cassopolis high school, being graduated with the class of 1898. He
afterward entered the Michigan Agricultural College at Lansing, Michigan,
where he was a student in 1897-8. In the fall of 1899 he entered the law
department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and completed his
preparation for the bar in June, 1901.
Mr. Mansfield was then married and came to Everett, Washington, in
the fall of 1901. He passed the state board examination here, was admitted
to practice and immediately afterward entered upon the prosecution of his
chosen profession. In January, 1902, he formed a partnership with Benja
min W. Sherwood, who was also a graduate of the law department of the
State University of Michigan. In January, 1903, Mr. Mansfield was ap
pointed police judge and is acting in that position at the present time. He

5S4 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
is well informed concerning the principles of jurisprudence, and in the dis
charge of his judicial duties is fair and impartial.
On the 13th of June, 1901, in Williamsville, Michigan, was celebrated
the marriage of Mr. Mansfield and Miss Grace Stearns, a native of that state
and a daughter of Henry and Sarah J. Stearns, who belong to old pioneer
families of Michigan. Mr. Mansfield is connected with the Red Men and
also with the Modern Woodmen of America, and his political support is
given to the Republican party, the principles of which he has always
endorsed. JAMES M. ASHTON.
One of the rugged, whole-souled characters of Tacoma is the dis
tinguished lawyer, General James M. Ashton, and there is hardly a man in
the city who would not know "Jim" Ashton at sight and have a good word
for him as one who has done much to better conditions here since he came.
His history has more of the romantic than that of the majority of men, and
although he is only now in the prime of his years, a perusal of his biography
will show that he has lived with an intensity surpassed by few. He is the
son of Joseph and Nancy Wynne (Stevenson) Ashton, the former being a
naitve of Devonshire, England, and dying at Belleville, Ontario, while the
latter, who is also deceased, was a native of New York state.
James M. Ashton was born in Belleville, Ontario, August 28, 1859, and
passed his childhood years in the school and home. But there were restless
stirrings in this boy from earliest youth, and these prompted him at the age
of eleven to strike out for himself. He left home rather unceremoniously
and came to the United States. He made his way to Nebraska, where his
day-dreams were realized, as far as they ever are, by his obtaining employ
ment on a cattle ranch and learning the rough life of the cowboy. For about
a year he drove cattle, going as far south as Texas. Then an older sister
became his good angel, and at her advice he went back home, determined to
get an education and become a lawyer. He was an unusually bright student
and studied hard in Albert College in Belleville; a little later he took up the
study of law in both the law and the arts course at University College,
Toronto, where he matriculated at the early age of fourteen. In his sopho
more year, however, his health failed, and he again sought the western
prairies, driving cattle for three years on the "western trail," covering, as it
did then all the way from Laredo on the Rio Grande to Ogallalla, Nebraska,
then a new town on the Union Pacific Railroad. In this way he obtained
enough means to complete his education, besides restoring his health, and in
1877 he returned and entered Osgood Hall at Toronto, which is noted as
one of the finest law schools in the world. He received his diploma at the
age of twenty-one, and, as he had determined to practice in the United
States, he came to Chicago- to study American statutory law. In 1882 he
went to Denver, but, not finding this a good field, he left after a few months,
during the mining excitement in New Mexico and Arizona. He left Denver
in company with a young man as ambitious as himself and with whom he
had formed a close friendship — he has since become a distinguished member

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 585
of Congress, chairman of the river and harbors committee, and is now on the
bench in the appellate division of the state of New York — Hon. Warren B.
Hooker. The young men roughed it through most of that region, looking
for a suitable location, and arrived in San Francisco in the fall of 1882.
Here they were attracted by the reports of the wonderful possibilities of the
country around the Puget Sound, and they came here in October, 1882.
They first stopped in Seattle, and while here they learned that Judge Roger
S. Green was examining applicants for the bar at Tacoma, whither they went
at once. They were admitted to practice, were immediately employed in
cases, and as the outlook was so bright they decided to remain. At that
time Tacoma was in her infancy, and the only buildings of importance were
BlackwelFs Hotel and the old Tacoma mill.
For four years the young attorneys Ashton and Hooker practiced to
gether, but in 1886 Mr. Hooker went back on a visit to his old home in New
York, where he married and concluded to stay, afterward being advanced
to the eminent positions we have mentioned. Mr. Ashton was retained as
counsel by many of the corporate concerns then taking an active part in the
development of the Puget Sound country, and in 1887 became one of the
general attorneys of the Northern Pacific Railroad, in company with Mr.
Mitchell and Judge Chapman. He held this place and at the same time en
joyed a good private practice until 1896, when he was selected by the United
States court as general attorney for the western receivership of the Northern
Pacific, with jurisdiction over all the states penetrated by that line west of
Dakota. In 1898, under his supervision, the receivership was closed up, and
since that time he has given his attention to his own large practice, making
a specialty of corporation and maritime or admiralty law. His offices are
on the fourth floor of the Fidelity building. Mr. Ashton has always been a
zealous Republican partisan, but has never sought any personal honors, except
as delegate to the conventions. His most notable achievement in politics
was as a delegate from Washington to the national convention in 1900 at
Philadelphia, being on the national committee from Washington. On this
occasion he was selected by the delegates representing all the western states
to second the nomination to- the vice presidency of Governor Roosevelt, Mr.
Murray of Massachusetts having been chosen by the eastern states. The
speech which Mr. Ashton made at the time was published in full in most of
the metropolitan dailies, it being notable from the fact that it was the first
time in the history of national conventions that the great west had been recog
nized as bearing a considerable part in the country's politics. One of the
particular features of the speech was an extended mention of the resources
and possibilities of Washington, thus being of distinct advantage to the state
in advertising its latent wealth and inducing men of capital to settle there.
Mr. Ashton gets his title of "General" from his connection with the state
militia. When he came here in 1882 he entered the old Tacoma Guards and
did service in the Chinese riots both at Seattle and Tacoma. Later he organ
ized the cavalry of the state, was elected captain of Troop B, held that posi
tion for five years, was then elected major in charge of the entire cavalry
squadron of the state, and in 1892 was chosen brigadier general of the state
by a convention of field and line officers of the National Guard, resigning

5S6 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
this post in 1894. At the beginning of the Spanish war he, with the help of
friends throughout the state, enrolled a full regiment of cavalry, receiving
every assurance from the war department that they would be needed; they
were not called out, but even after the fall of Santiago they kept themselves
in readiness. General Ashton was married in Tacoma on June 1, 1892, to M. Frances
Davies; she was the daughter of a California business man, D. T. Davies,
who was manager of the Southern Pacific coal mines for several years prior
to his death, which occurred in December, 1901. Mr. Ashton has recently
built a beautiful home in Tacoma, where he can enjoy the well earned com
forts of life.
THOMAS RICE.
Thomas Rice was born on the 24th of October, 1852, and is a native
son of the Emerald Isle. His parents, Owen and Margaret (O'Hare) Rice,
were also natives of the Emerald Isle, and the father was a stock and cattle
dealer, carrying on business along that line throughout his entire life. He
passed away at the age of sixty-eight years, and his wife, surviving him for
a number of years, departed this life at the age of seventy-two.
Thomas Rice is the youngest of a family of seven brothers and three
sisters. He is indebted to the public school system of northern Ireland for
the educational privileges he enjoyed in early life. His home was in county
Armagh, and he afterward continued his studies in Newry and in Dublin
colleges. When seventeen years of age he put aside his text-books in order
to become a factor in business life. He entered upon his business career in
the capacity of a clerk in a dry-goods store, but thinking that he might have
better opportunities in the new world, of whose advantages he had heard
much, he came to the United States, crossing the Atlantic in the spring of
1869. During the following four years he was engaged in railroading in
Illinois and in the southern states, but the far west attracted him, and in
December, 1874, he made his way across the country to California. He
was then employed by -the Central and Southern Pacific Railroad Companies
until October, 1878, which year witnessed his arrival in Washington. Here
he entered the service of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, with which
he was connected until 1881, when he became an employe of the Oregon
Short Line road, a part of the Union Pacific system, his work with that cor
poration continuing until 1885. Mr. Rice next turned his attention to con
tracting, which he followed until 1888, and during the succeeding ten years
he was in the service of the Great Northern Railroad Company. When
that decade had passed he became a resident of Everett, arriving in this city
in the fall of 1892. Here he established a furniture store and has since been
engaged in merchandising. Only the year previous had the townsite been
cleared and the city of Everett established, so that Mr. Rice is the pioneer
merchant in the furniture business. With the rapid growth of the city his
trade has steadily increased until he is to-day one of the prosperous mer
chants of Everett, doing a large and profitable business. In 1899 he incor
porated the Rice Furniture Company, of which he is the president and
manager.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 587
In July, 1883, was celebrated the marriage of Thomas Rice and Miss
Johanna Danohey Rice, a native of Ireland, but the wedding was celebrated
in Butte, Montana. They now have one living daughter, Margaret. . They
also lost two daughters, Mary Anne and Honora H, who died in childhood.
Mr. and Mrs. Rice are well known in Everett and their circle of friends is
almost co-extensive with the circle of their acquaintances.
Socially Mr. Rice is connected with the Ancient Order of United Work
men, and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. He has always mani
fested a deep and helpful interest in business and industrial affairs and in
all matters pertaining to the growth and development of the city. He is
numbered among its earliest residents and was one of the incorporators of
Everett. He helped to elect the first city council and the first mayor, and
has been a witness of the entire growth of this now thriving municipality.
His political support is given to the Democracy, and with firm faith in the
principles of the party he has ever put forth his best efforts in its behalf.
He belongs to the little group of distinctively representative business men
who have been the pioneers in inaugurating and building up the chief indus
tries of this section of the country. He early had the sagacity and prescience
to discern the eminence which the future had in store for this great and
growing country, and, acting in accordance with the dictates of his faith
and judgment, he has garnered, in the fullness of time, the generous harvest
which is the just recompense of indomitable industry, spotless integrity and
marvelous enterprise.
THOMAS BROMLEY CHILDS.
Dr. Thomas Bromley Childs, whose life has been one of varied activity,
and who has been a useful and influential citizen of Anacortes, Washington,
for some years, in fact, since pioneer times in this town, is descended from
a family who played a part in the early history of this country, and is the
son of Israel Childs and Ann Ambler; the former was a native of Pennsyl
vania, and was a farmer, and died at the age of eighty, in 1885 ; the latter
was also a native of Pennsylvania, and died at the age of fifty, in 1853. They
had four children: Edward Henry, Thomas, John M., deceased, and Mari
etta H, deceased.
Thomas Bromley Childs was born July 31, 1834, in Bucks county,
Pennsylvania. He was educated in the public schools and later in the normal
school at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. On leaving school at the age of twenty-
two, he worked four years at carriage-building, but in the spring of i860
he went to Texas, and thence came across the plains to San Francisco, where
he arrived in December, 1861. His brother John had preceded him about
a year, and with him Thomas took up the study of dentistry ; after preparing
himself by several years' work, he went to Downieville, Sierra county, Cali
fornia, and practiced his profession for a time. In 1873 he went to Austin,
Nevada, where he practiced for ten years, and in May; 1883, came to Puget
Sound and settled at Anacortes, which was then but an incipient hamlet.
He opened a general merchandise store, and also held the position of post
master conducting the store for five years and being the incumbent of the

5S8 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
office till 1894. In 1896 he was elected city treasurer, and served three
terms, till 1899. He has much real estate in the city, and his varied interests
give him sufficient employment for his leisure years.
On October 31, 1878, Mr. Childs was married to Sarah Morris Curtis,
a daughter of Melville and Louise (Allsopp) Curtis. Mr. Childs was on a
visit to his wife's sister at the time, and he and his bride have the distinction
of being the first white couple to be married on the island of Fidalgo, in
Anacortes. They have two children, Harold Melville and Marion Louise.
Mr. Childs is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and has always
been interested in the political fortunes of the Republican party, during the
last two years of his residence at Austin, Nevada, having held the office of
county assessor.
ANTONE BEHME.
Antone Behme, who was born November 27, 1845, in Centerville,
Orange county, New York, and now resides in Custer, Washington, was the
third in order of birth in the family of Henry J. and Mary A. (Ketchum)
Behme. The father was a native of Germany and in 1836 came to the
United States. He was a tailor by trade and followed that pursuit for many
years in order to provide for his family. He wedded Mary A. Ketchum, a
native of the Empire state and a representative of an old American family
that was founded in this country in colonial days and sent its sons forth to
service in the Revolutionary war and in the war of 1812. In the year 1847
Henry J. Behme removed with his family to Ohio, settling in the north
western part of that state. His wife died in 1881, at the age of fifty-six
years, and he passed away in 1888, at the age of seventy-six. They were
the parents of four sons and three daughters : Margaret A., who died in
girlhood; Frederick, who died while serving in the Union army, , in 1862;
Antone, of this review; Mary M., the widow of J. J. Jefers, of Ohio; Na
thaniel, who is living in Custer, Washington; Julius C, a farmer of Iowa;
and Eva, who died in Ohio, at the age of two years.
Antone Behme was only two years old when taken by his parents to
Ohio, and there he was reared, attending the common schools of Wood
county until thirteen years of age, after which he worked as a farm hand
for two years. He was but a boy of sixteen years when, in October, 1861,
he enlisted as a defender of the Union cause, joining the Sixty-seventh Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for three years, the regiment
being attached to the command of General Shields. He participated in the
battle of Winchester, Virginia, in 1862, was in the engagement at Port
Republic under Major McGlellan and was under General Foster at the cap
ture of Fort Wagner, South Carolina. He was then transferred to Wash
ington on extra duty and was honorably discharged in 1865, after more than
three years of faithful military service, which often called him into the
thickest of the fight.
Mr. Behme had not yet attained his majority when the war was ended.
Returning home he resumed the pursuits of peace, being engaged in farming
in Ohio for three years. In 1868 he went to Michigan, where he was en
gaged in lumbering until 1873. He then went to Wisconsin, where he con-

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 589
tinued in the same business for about eleven years. Then determining to
seek a home in the northwest, having heard very favorable reports of its
business opportunities, he came to Washington in April, 1884, accompanied
by his family. He settled first in Seattle, where he engaged in the operation
of a sawmill and the manufacture of lumber, continuing in that business
until 1892. During that time he operated one of the first sawmills built at
Snohomish, after which he went to Grant's Pass, Oregon, and conducted a
sash and door factory until 1888. He next went to Blaine, where he estab
lished a sawmill, here continuing the manufacture of lumber until 189 1.
In the fall of that year he purchased a mill in Custer which he operated until
1894, when he once more sold out and bought a half interest in a general
store. He was thus connected with merchandising interests for two years,
but disposed of the store in 1896 and since that time has engaged in the
cultivation of farming lands. He also opened a hotel in Custer in 1892, and
has since been its proprietor, conducting a first-class establishment, which
has found favor with the traveling public by reason of the able manner in
which it is managed.
In 1900 Mr. Behme was elected county commissioner of Whatcom
county for a term of two years. While living in Wisconsin he served as
justice of the peace from 1879 until 1884, covering three terms, was also
school director for three terms, road supervisor for two terms, and foreman
of the Lake Shore Traffic Company, operating its sawmill for five years. In
every position of trust and responsibility to which he has been called he has
shown himself worthy of the confidence reposed in him, by his prompt and
faithful discharge of duty.
In 1873 occurred the marriage of Mr. Behme and Miss Clara I. Spencer,
a native of Maine and a daughter of Isaac R. and Martha R. Spencer, both
of whom were natives of Maine and members of old American families, the
ancestry on the mother's side being traced back to the time of the landing
of the Pilgrims. To Mr. and Mrs. Behme have been born eight children,
as follows: Amy E., Percival M., Grace L., Claude E., Bessie M., Hugh L.,
Edna N., and Elmer E. Grace is now the wife of Edward Jones, of Custer,
and the others are still at home. Mr. Behme belongs to the Masonic fra
ternity, and gives his political support to the Republican party. He has a
wide acquaintance in this part of the state, and his many excellent traits
of character, combined with a -genial manner, have made him popular with
his friends.
THE BELLINGHAM BAY IMPROVEMENT COMPANY.
In the year 1868 the Bellingham Bay Coal Company was formed, and
from this has developed the Bellingham Bay Improvement Company. The
coal mine of the original company was operated by the owners of the cor
poration, the leading men being P. B. Cornwall, who is president and man
aging director of the existing company; Alonzo Hayward; D. O. Mills;
J. B. Hagin; and Lloyd Tevis. The company operated the coal mine for
some time, supplying the San Francisco markets until the opening of the
Black Diamond mine in King county. In 1883 this company conceived the

590 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
idea of laying off a townsite on Bellingham Bay and constructing a line of
railway from tidewater to the national boundary line, there to connect with
the Canadian Pacific Railroad, then building. This project was carried out
and was attended with success, as were the various other interests of the
company. In 1890 the growth and development of these industries made it
desirable to segregate the land, lumbering and other enterprises from those
of the railroad company, and at that time the Bellingham Bay Improvement
Company was formed, and is at present operating a milling plant which is
the second largest on the Sound. Of the mill W. P. Fowle is the superin
tendent, and in it employment is furnished to two hundred men. The plant
has a capacity of two hundred thousand feet of lumber every ten hours and
largely sells to the export trade. The company also operates an electric light
plant, supplying the city of Whatcom and Fairhaven, George R. Longden
acting as electrical engineer and superintendent. In connection with the
mill the company also operates extensive logging interests, supplying the
mill. They also platted that portion of the townsite of Whatcom which is
now the principal business and manufacturing section of the city. In 1890
the company was incorporated as the Bellingham Bay Improvement Com
pany with a capital stock of five million dollars, its officers being P. B. Corn
wall, president; W. P. Fowle, vice president; J. J. Donovan, superintendent;
Glen C. Hyatt, secretary and land agent; and D. Daun Eagan, auditor. The
general offices of the company are in the depot of the Bellingham Bay &
British Columbia Railroad Company. Perhaps no other one company has
done as much for the improvement and progress of Whatcom, for it has
largely promoted industrial and commercial interests with the result that
the city's growth has been augmented and its prosperity largely increased.
THOMAS S. CONMEY.
Thomas S. Conmey, a farmer of Sedro Woolley, Washington, has an
identity with this place that reaches back to its early settlement. A brief
record of his life is as follows :
Thomas S. Conmey was born December 11, 1846, in Bradford county,
Pennsylvania, and is descended from Irish ancestry. His father, John
Conmey, was born in Lockport, New York, of Irish parentage, and lived
to a ripe old age, his death occurring in 1893. By trade a blacksmith, he
sharpened the drills for the first railroad in the United States, now the New
York Central. Mr. Conmey's mother, Mary (Sweeney) Conmey, was born
on the Emerald Isle. She died in 1848. By a later marriage John Conmey
had two other sons, Richard, now a resident of Breckenridge, Colorado, and
John, of Florida.
Thomas S. attended public school in Pennsylvania until he reached the
age of seventeen, when he started west to make his way in the world. He
went first to Omaha, Nebraska. For five years he hauled freight and made
ties for the Union Pacific Railroad Company, and he also hauled freight
for the Mormons. He went to White Pine, Nevada, in 1869, during the
silver excitement, and during the following year was at various points be
tween White Pine and Salt Lake City. In the summer of 1871 he came up

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 591
to Puget Sound, via San Francisco, and assisted in the construction of
the Northern Pacific Railroad at Tacoma and got out piles for the first ter
minal wharf at Tacoma. The next two years he was at various places and
variously employed, prospecting for gold, working in a mill, etc. In 1876
he rode on horseback from Los Angeles, California, to Pueblo, Colorado,
for the purpose of seeing the country and with an idea of locating. How
ever, he did not find a location then, and, after a visit to the Centennial Ex
position at Philadelphia he returned to Puget Sound. He came up the
Skagit river and was the first settler within the township east of what is
now Sedro Woolley, and built the first cabin. Being ahead of the survey, he
squatted, but pre-empted when the survey was made, on land located five
miles east of Sedro Woolley, and here he lived, labored and prospered for a
quarter of a century. He sold his farm in 1902, having moved into Sedro
Woolley, where he has a pleasant home.
Mr. Conmey knows all the hardships and privations of the early pio
neer. A year after his settlement here other settlers came, and soon the
work of clearing away the timber and making roads and farms was carried
forward. Mr. Conmey cut logs on Skagit river and sold them to the mills,
he helped to build the roads, and he was what was known as a "swift water
man," running a canoe on the river to carry the mail and also his neighbors.
In politics he early took a prominent and active part, affiliating with the
Republican party, and has attended many of the county conventions of his
party. Mr. Conmey was married in December, 1885, at Birds View, Skagit
valley, to Miss Meta Behrens, a native of Germany, and they have five
daughters, Anna, Mamie, Katie, Eleanor and Matie.
FRED F. WILLARD.
Fred F. Willard, assessor of Skagit county, Washington, and residing
at Mt. Vernon, that state, was born March 7, i860, in Essex county, New
York, and is a son of Sidney S. Willard, born in Troy, New York. He
came of a good old American family of English descent, and died in 1900.
His wife bore the maiden name of Roxy E. Westcott, and she also was
born in Essex county, New York. Her grandfather was a soldier in the
Continental army, and her father served in the war of 1812. The family
descended from English and Scotch ancestry. The children born to Mr. and
Mrs. Sidney Willard were as follows: Augustus, a hotel man and wheat
speculator of Necedah, Wisconsin; Elizabeth resides at New Lisbon, Wis
consin; and Fred F.
Fred F. Willard was educated in the public schools of Wisconsin, after
which he attended high school, from which he was graduated in 1879, and
in the following spring he went into northern Nebraska and engaged in the
cattle business for two years. From there he went to Minnesota, and em
barked in the lumber business, remaining from eighteen months to two
years. His next location was in South Dakota, where he was interested in
lumber for two years, and for three years operated a general mercantile
business. In the spring of 1890 he went to Stanwood, Snohomish county,
Washington, and took up a timber claim. Remaining there for two years,

592 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
he then went to Skagit county, and worked in lumber and shingle mills at
Sedro until the fall of 1898, when he was elected both town clerk and school
clerk of the district, and he held those offices until he was elected assessor
of Skagit county, in the fall of 1902, on the Republican ticket. While in
Sedro, now Sedro Woolley, he was police magistrate during the years 1901
and 1902, in connection with his clerkships. He was also field assessor for
the Sedro Woolley district during 1899, and was census enumerator for that
district in 1900.
On August 3, 1895, he was married to Rose Lederle at Sedro Woolley.
She is a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of Joseph Lederle, who was
born in Germany. One son, Jesse, was born November 17, 1896, and a
daughter, Rose, was born July 25, 1898. Mr. Willard is a member of the
order of Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen, and Eagles. Politically he is a
Republican, and has always taken an active part in public affairs. He has
represented the party in nearly all county conventions since he has been in
Skagit county.
IRA H. CASE.
The Case Investment Company of Tacoma, which has its offices at
501-502 Bernice building, is one of the solid financial concerns of this bustling
western city. The capital stock of the company is twenty thousand dollars,
and its general purposes are to buy, sell and develop first-class mining proposi
tions, to deal in stocks and bonds, to secure franchises, to organize and finance
corporations, and in a general way to promote the moneyed interests of the
Puget Sound country. The enviable success and the confidence and patron
age won to this company from the solid business men of Tacoma, are due in
no small degree to the excellent gentleman who is its president and man
ager, Ira H. Case.
The last two generations of this family were natives of Illinois, and
Charles Case was born in the industrial city of Kewanee, Henry county.
He was a farmer by occupation, and about 1870 went to Kansas to live,
afterward spent some years in California, and in 1880 returned to the old
home at Kewanee to spend the remainder of his days. His death occurred
in 1899. His wife was Lucinda Hill, a native of New York state.
Kewanee, Illinois, is the birthplace of Ira H. Case, the son of these
parents, and the date of his birth was in 1861. His mother died when he
was scarcely one year old, and he was reared under the care of his grand
parents in the vicinity of Lansing, Michigan. As he was able to attend
school only until he was thirteen years old, most of his education has been
acquired in the more rugged school of life, and the fact that he is a well
rounded and intelligent man is evidence that he improved all the opportunities
which came to him. In 1878 the family, moved to Neillsville, Wisconsin,
and here Ira spent the day in clerking in a store and the evening in the study
of law, which was the profession toward which his ambitious mind had
turned. Later he entered a law office, and with the practical and theoretical
knowledge of the subject here gained he was admitted to the bar at the age
of twenty-two. Then, in 1883, he went to South Dakota and practiced law

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HISTORY. OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 593
in Deuel county. It was only a short time until his ability was recognized
in his election to the office of county judge. Pie removed to Gary, the county
seat, to perform his judicial functions, but the duties of the position were so
onerous and exacting that his health threatened to give way, and he decided
to discontinue the law for awhile. After four years' residence in Deuel
county, Mr. Case went to Chicago, where he engaged in business for nearly
two years, and in 1889 came to Seattle, Washington. His first venture here
was the organizing of the Washington National Building, Loan and Invest
ment Company, which he conducted through the panicky times of 1893,
resigning his connection with it in 1894; the fact that this concern survived
the hard times and is still in a flourishing condition shows how well it was
organized, and is a credit to Mr. Case. His residence continued in this part
of the country, and in October, 1897, he decided to make his permanent
home in Tacoma, and at once set about the formation of the Case Invest
ment Company.
Mr. Case was married in August, 1899, to Miss Jessie McClelland, of
Tacoma, and they reside in a pleasant home at 701 Carr street. While he is
a firm believer in the principles of the Republican party, he has not taken an
important part in politics since coming to Tacoma, although he was prom
inently mentioned before the convention of 1902 for nomination as a member
of the state legislature. He is a popular member of the Chamber of Com
merce.
WILLIAM DALE.
William Dale, one of the pioneer settlers of Mt. Vernon, Washington,
was born May 20, 1852, in Elk county, Pennsylvania, and is a son of John
L. Dale, a native of Pennsylvania. The father of John L. Dale was born
in Wales, and his mother in Ireland. John L. Dale was an attorney of
Pierce county, Wisconsin, became a very prominent politician and a marshal-
at-large during the Civil war. His death occurred in Washington territory
in 1878. His wife bore the maiden name of Massie Jordan, and she was
born in Pennsylvania and came of German descent. Her death took place
in Skagit county, Washington, in 1889. The children born to Mr. and Mrs.
John L. Dale were as follows: John L., postmaster and merchant at Edison;
James, hotel-keeper at Port Hammond, British Columbia; William; Annie
L. married F. A. Hall, a farmer and carpenter of Edison, Washington.
William Dale was educated in the public schools of Pierce county, Wis
consin, and he concluded his education in 1872, during that period,_ however,
having also worked upon the farm. In 1872-3 he worked in the pine woods
of northern Wisconsin, and then went to Washington in 1874, making his
home for a time in Island county. There he worked in the woods two
years, and then changed to Fidalgo Island, Skagit county, and was engaged
in logging for two years. His next change was made to Edison, Skagit
county, where he took up tide land, and farmed for five years, but since
then he has rented his property. In 1888 he was elected assessor of Skagit
countv and served four years.
From 1892 to 1897 Mr. Dale was employed looking after his real estate
and operating two steam threshers, and during this same period he built,
38

594 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
with two other parties, a shingle mill at Burlington, Washington. In 1893
he erected a second shingle mill at a cost of twenty-two thousand dollars,
which was operated by the Mt. Vernon Shingle Lumber Company, with
Mr. Dale as secretary and manager, but the mill was destroyed by fire that
same year. In 1898 Mr. Dale was honored by election as county assessor,
and re-elected in 1900, serving until January, 1903. When he first arrived
the country was very sparsely settled, and communication with commercial
centers was difficult. During all these years Mr. Dale has watched and
participated in the wonderful progress and development of the country, and
has always contributed his part to assist. During the seventies lumbering
was the only industry in the Puget Sound district. What is now the best
portion of the country was then wild land, and all of the tide lands have
been reclaimed since 1876.
In politics Mr. Dale is a Republican and has participated in nearly every
convention since the formation of Skagit county. He has also represented
the county in state conventions. On December 16, 1877, he married Mary
A. Stevens, at Edison, Washington. She was born in Houston county, Min
nesota, a daughter pi Edwin Stevens, a farmer of Minnesota and Iowa.
Two boys have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Dale, namely : William Edwin,
a stationary engineer of Mt. Vernon; James Arthur. Both have had the
advantage of a two years' course in the Acme Business College of Seattle.
The two daughters of the family are Miss Adelaide and Miss Ella. Mr.
Dale is a Mason and belongs to the Hesperus Commandery, and is also a
Knight of Pythias, uniform rank. He is now in the real estate and abstract
business in Mt. Vernon, Washington, and is one of the successful men of
the city.
THOMAS L. RICPIARDSON.
Thomas L. Richardson, senior member of the great lumber firm of
Richardson & Todd, Tacoma, Washington, is one of the progressive and
enterprising citizens and, in contributing to the success of the city's interests,
has gained fortune and prominence for himself.
Mr. Richardson was born in 1848, at Wintersville, Sullivan county,
Missouri, and is a son of Hiram and Nancy (Harris) Richardson. The
father was born in Kentucky and came to Indiana when a youth. He mar
ried there and removed to Sullivan county, Missouri, and was one of its
earliest settlers. He lived on the same farm, where all his children were
born, all his life, and our subject's eldest brother still lives there, the old
place never having been out of the family. Hiram Richardson died some
years since, and his wife, a native of Kentucky, died in 1876.
Thomas L. Richardson was reared on the farm and attended one of the
old log-house schools. It was of the kind supplied with a fireplace which
required the services of a half dozen lads to -bring in the huge back log.
The children sat on puncheon seats, and during cold weather warmed up at
the fire in regular succession. Nevertheless the necessary rudiments were
well drilled into the pupils, although sometimes the birch was brought into
use. Our subject, however, left his books when but a lad of fifteen years,
and in the early part of 1864 enlisted in Company I, Forty- fourth Missouri

HISTORY OF TPIE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 595
Regiment, Union army, at Wintersville. His regiment went to St. Joseph
and was attached to General Schofield's army corps, General A. J. Smith's
division. They went first to Paducah, Kentucky, and from there to the
battlefield of Franklin, Tennessee, going directly to the front. As is well
known, this was one of the hard-fought and decisive battles of the war,
occurring on November 30, 1864. Here Mr. Richardson was seriously
wounded by a bullet, and, in addition, was taken prisoner. He received
medical treatment on the field from a Confederate surgeon. He remained
a prisoner for thirty clays, or until the battle of Nashville, when General
Flood fell back, and our subject, with other prisoners, were recaptured and
sent to the Union lines and a Union hospital. After this Mr. Richardson
was confined to the hospital until his discharge, June 10, 1865. From the
Brown hospital at Louisville he returned to his home. His youth was in
his favor and he rapidly convalesced and was able to engage in farm work.
He was only eighteen when he again left home. This time he went to
Indiana and settled down to farm work in Johnson county, but later he
obtained a position in a country general store at Edinburg and finallv was
placed in charge of the plow and farm machinery department of the 'store,
for which branch he had shown a special aptitude. For two years he worked
here and then secured a position with the Oliver Chilled Plow Company, of
South Bend, Indiana, and traveled for them for several years. He then
obtained a similar position with the B. F. Avery & Son house, of Louisville,
plow manufacturers, and he remained associated with them for three years.
Mr. Richardson then returned to- Edinburg and embarked in the hard
ware business, first with his father-in-law, C. C. Forrer, as C. C. Forrer &
Company, and later, with D. R. Webb & Company, our subject being the
"company" in each instance. In 1888 he sold out and removed to Tacoma,
and soon became associated with the G. W. Thompson Saw Mill Company,
and was placed in charge of that company's lumber mill in West Tacoma,
now the addition of Ridgedale, but then a perfect wilderness. After cutting
all the forest in that region, a work that required two and a half years, the
company secured the contract for cutting the timber along the right of way of
the South Bend branch of the Northern Pacific Railway, then projected
to Shoalwater Bay. Mr. Richardson was given charge of this work, which
required his attention for several years. Then, coming back to Tacoma,
the company built a shingle mill in Tacoma, at the foot of Chambers street,
and operated it until hard times caused its suspension, like many other
industries of the section. During the remaining years Mr. Richardson filled
salaried positions with some of the large lumber corporations of Tacoma.
In 1899 he organized the firm of Richardson & Todd, in association with
J. L. Todd. This is the firm style now, although for one year Mr. Todd
was out of the business, his place being filled by Sumner S. Tabor, the firm
being Richardson & Tabor during that time. Recently our subject became
again interested with Mr. Tabor, in connection with the Geneva Lumber
Company of Whatcom. With Mr. Tabor he has bought a controlling interest
in this company and is now its president, Mr. Tabor being secretary and
treasurer and Dr. J. H. Spence vice president. The plant at Whatcom is a
fine property, with a capacity of 110,000 shingles and 40,000 feet of lumber

596 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
per day. The firm of Richardson & Todd does a large business in lumber,
lath, pickets, doors, shingles, sash, blinds, mouldings, cedar and fir finish,
brick, lime and cement, and building materials generally. Their office and
headquarters are at 914 Commerce street.
In 1874 Mr. Richardson was married at Edinburg, Indiana, to Maria
Forrer, and they have four children, namely : Etna May, Ernest F., Oliver
D. and Avery A. The pleasant family residence is at 1406 South G street,
Tacoma.
PAUL WORTH DAKIN.
There is in the Dakin archives a large volume which is devoted to the
long and distinguished history of the family and gives the ancestry back
to the ninth and tenth centuries. This traces the line back as far as the
times of Clovis and Charlemagne, but in the direct line the first ancestor
of whom there is record was one Thomas d'Acquinguay, who was named
from the province in Normandy from which he came. At the time of the
Norman invasion of England Sir Baldwin d'Aquenay came over with William
the Conqueror, and his name is enrolled as a Captain in the Battle Abbey.
Passing over several centuries of intermediate history, we find that the first
American Dakin was Thomas, who came from England in 1650. From
this long line came grandfather Samuel Dana Dakin, who was in his day
one of the prominent men of New York. He was a graduate of Hamilton
College with the class of 1821, and besides his business affairs he achieved
a considerable reputation as a litterateur, being associated with Washington
Irving in the publication known as the Knickerbocker Magazine. One of
his chief titles to fame was his invention of the dry-dock system, now a
universal necessity in marine equipment. His wife was a Saltonstall, a
direct descendant of General Saltonstall, the Revolutionary soldier, and it
is through this connection that the subject of this sketch is a member of the
Revolutionary Society.
The son of Samuel Dana Dakin was George W. B. Dakin, who was
born in Utica, New York, and was also a graduate of Hamilton College, in
the class of 1853. As a business man he maintained his home in New York
city, but for many years also had a summer home at Cherry Valley. He
was a banker and financier, a member of the New York stock exchange, and
in later life president of the National Central Bank of Cherry Valley. He
was a wealthy and influential man, and his death occurred in 1891. His wife
was Anna Olcott, and she, too, was of old and distinguished ancestry; she
was born at Cherry Valley, New York, and her father was the president of
the National Central Bank of that place; she is still living and makes her
home with her son in Tacoma. She is a descendant of that Thomas Olcott,
who was the first settler of Hartford, Connecticut, and also of John Alden,
and, collaterally, of John Howland and Edward Tillie, who were likewise
on the Mayflower voyage. The Bradfords .and Winthrops are connected
with the Olcott family, as is made clear in the above mentioned book.
It was of such ancestry that Paul Worth Dakin was born to the last
named parents 'at Cherry Valley, New York, in 1862. He had the advantage

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 597
of a fine education, attended the Polytechnic school in Brooklyn, prepared
for college at Glens Falls, New York, and then attended the alma mater of
his father and grandfather, Hamilton College at Clinton, where he was
graduated in 1884. After his graduation he spent a year in Florida, and
then began his financial career by gaining an interest in the bank at Cherry
Valley. Plis liking for finance and banking was natural, for his family
on both sides have been prominent in that line of business. After a year
and a half he became associated with his uncle, PI. L. Olcott, a Wall street
broker. Mr. Dakin came to Tacoma in November, 1888, and first took a
position in the Tacoma National Bank, but after a year decided to go into
the real estate, loan and investment business. He became a member of the
firm of Dakin & Walker, but he later bought out his partner, and the busi
ness was known as Dakin & Company, which is its present form. He has a
first-class clientage and does a good business. Pie is a member of the Union
Club, and a prominent, though very quiet and modest man. He is un
married.
JOHN BENJAMIN TERNES.
In a biographical work of the nature of this one, there are recorded
the careers of representatives of every trade, profession, and form of business
and industrial activity in the Puget Sound district, and this sketch has to
deal with the head of one of the most active and essential concerns of the
city of Tacoma, the Tacoma Carriage and Baggage Transfer Company,
whose main office is at 102 South Tenth street, while the stables are on
A street. The company has a complete equipment of carriages, hacks, tally-
hos, etc., so that it can supply every demand. It owns the omnibus lines to
all the hotels, and handles the mails to the railroads and boats.
The president of this company is John Benjamin Ternes, the son of
Michael and Mary (Bichler) Ternes, both natives of Luxemburg, where
the family forefathers had lived for many generations. The home of the
family was on the Moselle river, in the famous Moselle wine district, and
Michael Ternes was a wine merchant. In 1880 he brought his family to
America and located at Mineral Point, Wisconsin; after about five years'
residence there he moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and five or six years later
to California, where he is passing the remaining days of his long life, being
now eighty-four years old. He has been practically retired since coming to
America. His wife died in Luxemburg in 1865.
John Benjamin Ternes was born in the old home in the grand duchy of
Luxemburg, in i860. As he was twenty years old before he left his native
country, most of his education was obtained there, although he attended
school about nine months in this country. His first real work upon leaving
school was as a baggage man in the railroad service; from this he was soon
transferred to the express service as a messenger, being employed on the
Union Pacific in this capacity for three or four years, with headquarters at
Cheyenne, Wyoming; he was then with the Northern Pacific Express Com
pany between Helena and Portland. In 1888 he located in Portland, having
bought an interest in the United Carriage and Baggage Transfer Company
of that city. He was manager of this company until 1892, when he came to
Tacoma and became the manager of the Tacoma Passenger and Baggage

598 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Transfer Company. For the last eight years he has had entire charge of
the business, and since 1896 has been owner of most of the stock of the com
pany; in that year he became president and manager, and the name was
changed to the Tacoma Carriage and Baggage Transfer Company.
Mr. Ternes is prominent in the Elks fraternity, and is chairman of the
board of trustees of the large and flourishing local lodge of that order. In
1888 he was married at Portland, Oregon, to Miss Mary Driscoll.
JOHN McRAE.
John McRae is the senior member of the firm of McRae & Ballard, real
estate and insurance agents of Everett. He is one of the pioneers in the
business here, and has labored untiringly to promote the growth and develop
ment of this part of the state as well as to advance his individual success.
He came to Washington in October, 1889, and located in Snohomish, which
was then the county seat of Snohomish county. With the exception of the
homesteads of W. J. Rucker and W. G. Swalwell, he built what was the first
town house of Everett, it being located on Hoyt avenue between Twenty-
fourth and Twenty-fifth streets, in Rucker's first plat of Everett. In 1890,
when there was talk of building a town here on the peninsula, he invested
in property, and in fact built his residence before the property was on the
market. He was appointed the first clerk of the school district by Superin
tendent Dixon, the county superintendent, and since that time has labored
actively for the progress and development of this section of the state.
Mr. McRae is a native of Prince Edward Island, born there in the year
1849. His parents were from Scotland, but at an early date they had located
in the Dominion. In that country the subject of this review obtained his
education and engaged in teaching school. At length, however, he left
Canada in 1889 and came to Washington, after his health had failed, he
believing that it might be benefited by a sojourn in the northwestern part
of the United States. Recognizing the business opportunities of this country,
he decided to establish a real estate office at Snohomish. Afterward he came
down the peninsula, following the trail from the river side to the bay. He
recognized that this was an ideal spot for a city, and so he made his invest
ments here. Pie has never had cause to regret his decision. He has been
engaged in the real estate business ever since coming here, and success and
prosperity have attended his efforts. The firm has several acreage additions
and plats, and Mr. McRea has built several houses in Everett, while in 1892
he erected his present residence. The acreage plats are located on Silver
Lake south of the city and are intended for gardening purposes. Mr. McRea
is also engaged in fire insurance business, representing some of the leading
companies. The firm is engaged in the land business, having negotiated a
number of important land sales, and have made a large .number of real estate
transfers. Mr. McRae was united in marriage in Canada to Miss Elizabeth Morri
son, and to them have been born five children : Ethel ; Isabel, who is attend
ing the state normal school at Whatcom; Louis H, Everett and Gladys. In
his political views Mr. McRae is a stalwart Republican and has frequently

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 599
served as a delegate to county conventions of his party, and his opinions
carried weight in its councils. In 1895 and 1896 he represented his party in
the city council, serving in that capacity at the time of the contest over the
location of the county seat. He was one of the first committeemen appointed
for the purpose of removing the county seat to this place, and he has become
conspicuous in the upbuilding of Everett. He is a member of the Chamber
of Commerce, has served as one of its directors, and through this means has
done much for the locality. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and to
the Knights of the Maccabees. He is a devoted and faithful member of the
Presbyterian church and has served as one of its elders, and was one of the
organizers of the church of his denomination here. He has always been
one of the teachers of the Sunday-school, and thus along material, intellectual
and moral lines he has largely aided in the promotion of Everett's best
interests.
GILBERT LAFAYETTE TURNER.
The great forests of Washington have made this state the leading one
in the extent of its lumber industries in the entire country. Of this business
Gilbert Lafayette Turner is a representative, being now the president of the
Cascade Cedar Company of Snohomish. The enterprise of which he is at the
head is an important one, not only to the individual stockholders, but to the
community because it furnishes employment to a large number of workmen,
and thus promotes the general prosperity.
Mr. Turner was born on the 12th of May, 1839, in St. Albans, Maine,
and is a son of William Turner, who was also a native of that state. On
the paternal side our subject comes of English and German lineage, and the
Turner family was founded in America in early colonial days. Representa
tives of the name participated in the war of 1812. The father of our subject
was a farmer by occupation, carrying on agricultural pursuits throughout
his entire business career. He wedded Anne Bullen, also a native of Maine
and a representative of an old American family of English origin, dating
back in this country to a period prior to the Revolutionary war. Mr. and
Mrs. Turner became the parents of five sons and eight daughters. The
brothers and sisters of our subject are Israel Putnam, who is now deceased;
Sarah and Napoleon Bonaparte, who have also passed away; Augusta, the
wife of Moses Keen; John O. and Louisa, who have also departed this life;
Elizabeth, the wife of William Lincoln; Hannah, who is the wife of John
Bricket; Susan, deceased; Harriet; Mary, the wife of Sewell Whittier; and
William Wallace, who has also passed away.
When a little lad of but six years Gilbert Lafayette Turner began his
education in the public schools of St. Albans, and later continued his studies
in the high school there until eighteen years of age, when he put aside his
textbooks and entered upon his business career. He has since been dependent
upon his own resources for a living. He first worked in the lumber mills of
Maine and at the age of twenty years made his way to California, attracted
by the discovery of gold in that state There he followed mining for a time
and afterward again engaged in the lumber business. He remained in the

600 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Golden state for three years, or until 1862. In the following year he went to
Nevada, where he was again connected with the lumber trade, spending a
year in that state. On the expiration of that period he removed to Montana
in the spring of 1864, and in company with his brother Wallace engaged in
freighting between Helena, Montana, and Los Angeles, California. Subse
quently he became connected with mercantile interests at what was known as
Uncle Ben's Gulch, and there he also engaged in mining for two years. In
the fall of 1866, however, he returned to the state of his nativity, where he
remained for two years, going thence to Wisconsin, which continued to be
his place of residence for about seventeen years, or until 1885. While
residing in the Badger state he was identified with lumber interests and with
the banking business, establishing the first bank at Phillips, Price county,
Wisconsin, of which institution he became the president.
In the fall of 1885 Mr. Turner made his way to Las Vegas, New
Mexico, where he remained until 1888 in the hope of benefiting his wife's
health. He spent the succeeding winter at Salida, Colorado, and then went
to Los Gatos, California, where he remained from 1889 until 1898, during
which time he was engaged in the banking business as president of the
Bank of Los Gatos. In the latter year Mr. Turner arrived in Snohomish,
and here he became identified with business interests as proprietor of a ranch.
He is now the president of the Cascade Cedar Company, manufacturers of
all classes of fir and cedar lumber and shingles. The capacity of the mill
is fifty thousand feet of lumber per day and one hundred and seventy-five
thousand shingles daily. Employment is furnished to fifty men, and the
industry is one of importance to the community. The plant is well equipped
with the latest improved machinery, and pleasant business relations are
maintained between employers and employes.
On the 6th of April, 1893, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Turner
and Mrs. Rose M. McMillan, a native of London, England, who came to
America during her girlhood days with her parents, Edward F and Sarah
Norris, who settled in Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. Turner have been born two
children: Dorothy R., now nine years of age; and Gilbert N., a little lad of
seven summers. Both Mr. and Mrs. Turner have a wide acquaintance and
are held in the highest regard by their large circle of friends. He is a very
prominent Mason, having attained to the thirty-second degree of the Scottish
Rite, and he also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His
political support is given to the Republican party, and his position in public
regard is indicated by the fact that in 1899, 1900 and 1901 he served as
mayor of Snohomish. His administration was business-like and progressive,
his labors in behalf of the city being along lines of reform and improvement.
Everything- pertaining to the general welfare receives his endorsement, and
to many movements for the good of the city he has given his active co-oper
ation and substantial assistance. Throughout much of his life he has been-
identified with the lumber trade, which he thoroughly understands, and to-day
he is in control of a business which is constantly growing in volume and
importance. The company enjoys an enviable reputation in trade circles
because of the honorable business policies it has ever pursued, and the suc
cess of the undertaking is attributable in very large measure to the enterprise
and careful direction of Mr. Turner.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 601
WILLIAM M. ROSS.
Snohomish county figures as one of the most attractive, progressive and
prosperous divisions of the state of Washington, justly claiming a high order
of citizenship and a spirit of enterprise which is certain to cause development
and marked advancement in the upbuilding of this section. The county has
been and is signally favored in the class of men who have controlled its
affairs in official capacity, and in this connection the subject of this review
demands representation as one who has served the county faithfully and
well in positions of distinct trust and responsibility. He has recently received
public indorsement of his service as county auditor, having been elected to
the office for a second term by an increased majority.
Mr. Ross has been a resident of this county for twelve years, having
located on the site of the present town of Everett when it was covered with
a dense timber growth. He was born in the highlands of Scotland, in 1854,
but was left an orphan when quite young and was only in his 'teens when he
came to America. He had heard of the advantages of this country from
friends who had previously crossed the Atlantic, and decided to cast in his
lot here, a decision which he has never yet had occasion to regret. He is one
of that desirable class of citizens who appreciate the opportunities of the
United States and labor earnestly and effectively for the welfare of their
adopted country. It was soon after the close of the Civil war that he made
his way to America, taking up his abode in Waseca county, Minnesota,
whence he removed to northern Iowa, but after a year he located in Duluth,
Minnesota. There he was employed as a clerk for a number of years, and
when the Northern Pacific Railroad was being constructed through the Red
River valley he engaged in mercantile pursuits on his own account, conducting
the business successfully for ten years. Again going to Duluth, he joined
his brother-in-law, and was with him in his yards in the building of steel
barges for several years.
When the plant to build steel barges was constructed in Everett, Wash
ington, Mr. Ross came to Snohomish county and was connected with that
work. After building the first boat he was given charge of the plant and
remained as its manager until it was sold in 1900. He then engaged in the
real. estate and insurance business for about eight years. He has also pur
chased and sold property on his own account, and still owns some valuable
realty near Everett. He built his residence on Rockefeller avenue, a tasteful
home, and through his real estate operation contributed largely to the develop
ment of the city.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Ross was nominated by the party for
the office of county auditor in 1900 and was elected, serving with such capa
bility that in 1902 he was again the nominee and was re-elected by a largely
increased majority, receiving the highest vote given any candidate in the
county. This was certainly a tribute to faithful service and his personal
popularity. In the Masonic fraternity he is very prominent. He belongs to
the lodge and chapter and to Everett Council No. 8, R. & S. M., in which
he was elected thrice illustrious master in June, 1902. He also belongs to
the commandery in Minnesota ; to Washington Lodge of Perfection No. 1 ;

602 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Washington Chapter, Rose Croix, No. i ; Washington Chapter, Knights of
Kadosk, No. i ; and Lawson Consistory No. i, S. P. R. S., of which he is the
commander in chief.
In March, 1879, Mr. Ross was united in marriage to Miss Ella Mac-
Dougall, whose brother, Captain Alexander MacDougall, was the inventor
of the whaleback boat. Four children have been born to them : Bertha E-,
who is a student in the Whatcom Normal School; Ella C, who assists her
father in the auditor's office; Donald W. ; and Catherine I. The family
attend the services of the Presbyterian church, of which Mrs. Ross and the
children are members. Mr. Ross has been connected with the Chamber of
Commerce since its inception, and through this means and in other lines does
all in his power to advance the interests of his locality and of the state. A
resident of Everett from its establishment, in the healthful growth and ad
vancement of the city Mr. Ross has taken an active part.
HERBERT H. GOVE.
Herbert H. Gove is a native of Wisconsin, having been born near Kil-
bourn City on March 26, 1859. He is the fourth son of the late Royal H.
Gove, of Rochester, Minnesota, for many years prominently identified with
enterprises promoting the growth and development of the state. Royal H.
Gove was born in Strafford, Vermont, coming from one of the oldest of the
New England families. He took up the law as a profession, and when a
young man removed to Illinois, later to Wisconsin, and in 1865 he went to
Rochester, where he resided till his death on February 28, 1903, becoming-
one of the leading practitioners at the bar in Minnesota. He was active in
Masonry, having been grand master of that order, and had risen to the
thirty-third degree of Masonry. He married Nancy A. Farnham, who sur
vives him. She was also a native of Vermont, and comes from distinguished
ancestry, being lineally descended from General Israel Putnam.
Herbert H. Gove spent most of his early life in the thriving little city
of Rochester, where he attended the public schools. After leaving school he
studied for a time under a private instructor, but, being of a restless disposi
tion, he soon decided to engage in the newspaper business, and after working
as printer, reporter and editor in his own city, he went to St. Paul, Milwau
kee, Minneapolis, and other western towns, working for a time in each upon
different newspapers. In 1881, attracted by the growth of the then territory
of Dakota, he moved to Mandan, where he and F. H. Ertel, now of Chicago,
established the Mandan Pioneer. He disposed of his interest in the paper
shortly and began operating in real estate in many of the rapidly growing
towns in that section. In 1886 he went to St. Louis, and was there con
nected with the publication of a journal called The Whip. This did not
prove a successful venture, and he became associated with the Aug. Gast
Bank Note Company, then the leading house of the kind in this country.
He was rapidly promoted to be superintendent of this establishment, and
would, perhaps, have been in that position still, had not failing health com
pelled him to relinquish it.
Mr. Gove removed to Tacoma in 1889, and within a week or two after

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 603
his arrival he was instrumental, with others, in forming the Tacoma Abstract
and Title Insurance Company, which has since been succeeded by the Com
monwealth Title Trust Company, which is the owner of the best equipped
title plant in the northwest. Mr. Gove is president and manager of the
company, Frank Fogg, vice president, and Horace Fogg, secretary. The
Commonwealth company has a paid up capital of fifty thousand dollars, and
in addition to the abstract and trust features of the business, it attends to
all matters relating to the care and management of real estate.
One of the residence streets in the northern part of the city, Gove street,
was named in compliment to Mr. Gove, who was one of the first to settle in
that part of town. Mr. Gove is a member of the Chamber of Commerce,
and is prominent in all matters tending to develop the city of Tacoma. He
was married in 1888 in St. Louis, to Miss Katherine Lenehan. His wife is
active in club work and in the social life of Tacoma, and they reside in a
handsome home at 4209 Mason avenue.
JOHN A. BLOMQUIST.
John A. Blomquist, well known in business circles of Whatcom, where
he is engaged in sign-painting, is a native of Utah, his birth having occurred
in Salt Lake City, September 30, 1869. His parents, Nils F. and Henrietta
Maria (Borton) Blomquist, were natives of Norway, both born in Tromso.
The father comes from an old Swedish family, and the mother is of English
descent. The father was a shoe-cutter by trade. In the year 1878 he
brought his family to the Puget Sound country, settling at Seattle, and
since that time the Blomquists have watched with interest the development
of the northwest and have aided in its upbuilding. Seattle was then a very
small place, giving little promise of its present greatness. Nils F. Blom
quist built one of the first modern frame houses in Whatcom. It stood on
Division street and was occupied as a business block with the residence in
the upper story, and when a disastrous fire swept over the town in 1885
this building was destroyed, as were all the business houses on the street.
When the town was rebuilt Division street became an alley, although it was
once one of the best residence and business portions of Whatcom. Mr.
Blomquist was active in the improvement of the city of his adoption, and
his labors were effective in advancing the general good. He carried on
business as a shoe merchant from the time of his arrival in 1883 until his
death in 1895. He figured prominently in politics and was one of the pioneer
councilmen of the city. His widow still survives him and is living in What
com. The children of the household were five in number: Frederick M.
is a sign-painter now engaged in business with our subject; Albert J. is a
mine operator, with interests in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona; Jennie
T. is the wife of L. O. Browne, a plumber and gas-fitter of Whatcom; and
Willardie is living with her mother in Whatcom.
John Blomquist was educated in the public schools of Seattle and What
com, putting aside his text books in 1887, when he accepted a clerkship in
the grocery store of L. W. Marcy, with whom he remained for eight months.
For three years, while attending school, he spent his leisure time with D. L.

604 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Slattery & Company, stationers of Whatcom. He also conducted the Pio
neer livery stable for eight months for P. M. Isensec. In 1888 he went to
Vancouver, British Columbia, where he began the business of sign-painting
with his brother, Fred M. He remained there for fifteen months and then
went to Seattle, where he was employed by the New York Sign Company.
Several months later he arrived in Whatcom and established business here
on his own account in the same line, but in June, 1892, went to Colorado,
working in various places in that state until 1893. At that date Mr. Blom
quist removed to Chicago, where he followed the trade of sign-painting until
August, 1898, after which he spent three months in the same business in
Philadelphia and fifteen months in New York city. But the west attracted
him and in January, 1901, Mr. Blomquist returned to the Pacific coast. He
located in Whatcom in May, and here again began business. In January,
1902, he was joined by his brother, and the partnership has since continued,
their labors being crowned with a fair degree of success.
Mr. Blomquist has always been interested in politics, and in December,
1902, he was elected on the citizens' ticket to the office of city councilman
at large for the year 1903. In matters pertaining to the development and
improvement of the city he is found active and energetic and is now proving
a capable official. Socially he is connected with the Knights of Pythias,
Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Commercial Club. He has traveled
quite extensively, visiting many sections of this country, and has that broad
spirit which only travel can bring.
LEWIS NEWTON JONES.
Lewis Newton Jones, one of the prominent and representative men of
Arlington, Washington, was born in Kansas, March 25, 1863, and is a son
of Joseph W. Jones, a native of Kentucky, of Welsh descent. By occupation
he was a farmer, and his family is an old and aristocratic one of the Blue
Grass state. The mother was Elizabeth (Wright) Jones, and she was born
in Indiana, coming of English ancestry, her parents being pioneer settlers of
Indiana. There were four sons and one daughter in the family born to
Joseph W. Jones and- his wife, namely: Henry, a steamboat captain; Charles,
postmaster of Arlington; John, a pioneer merchant of Arlington; Stella mar
ried Herbert E. Tracy and they reside at Arlington; and our subject.
Lewis Newton Jones was educated in the public schools of Sedan, Chau
tauqua county, Kansas, and left school at the age of nineteen years. After a
short period spent as a cattle ranger, he was appointed United States deputy
marshal of the district of Kansas for seven years, during four years of the
time serving as under sheriff of Chautauqua county, Kansas. In 1890 Mr.
Jones was admitted to the bar, and he has become one of the leading repre
sentatives of the legal profession in the entire county.
On October 7, 1885, at Peru, Kansas, he was united in marriage with
Carrie L. Stearns, a native of Iowa, and who went to Kansas when quite
young. She is a daughter of Sheldon U. and Mary J. Stearns, old settlers
of Kansas. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jones, namely :
Ethel, attending normal school at Whatcom; Harry and Ronald McKinley.

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 605
In politics Mr. Jones is a stanch Republican and has been a delegate to the
county and state conventions since coming to the Puget Sound district, and
in May, 1903, was honored by election to the office of city attorney. Among
many men of prominence in this locality, Mr. Jones stands out pre-eminent as
one born to be a leader of men, and his past is a guarantee of a brilliant and
honorable future, both politically and in his profession.
FRANK ALLING.
The visitor to the Allington Fruit Farm within the limits of the city of
Tacoma would find in its proprietor one of the most interesting men in the
west, indeed, a character who has been identified with so much western
growth and development, as an explorer, miner and business man, that a
large part of the history of the coast country might be written from his
experiences. Mr. Ailing is a descendant of old Puritan stock, the first
American ancestor being Roger Allen, who was one of the Pilgrims. The
name has since gone through several mutations, first to Allin, and finally
to Ailing. David D. Ailing was a native of New Haven, Connecticut, and later
became one of the founders and builders of the city of Rockford, Illinois,
where he and his wife came in 1837, and where he remained till his death
in 1898. He was an architect and builder in iron, and there are still many
buildings in Rockford standing as monuments to his art. He married Re
becca Botsford, also a native of New Haven, and who died in Rockford, in
1902, at the age of eighty-eight.
Frank Ailing was the son of these parents and was born at Rockford,
Illinois, in March, 1838. Blessed with a good heritage of Puritan princi
ples, he grew up and was educated in the schools of Rockford. While he
was still a schoolboy he traced on his map the route for a trip to the Pacific
coast, and thus early determined to emigrate to that far country. When
he was twenty-one years old, therefore, in March, 1859, he left home, and,
going by way of Alton, made his first goal St. Louis, where he met Dr.
Ehler, an old friend of the family who had located in St. Louis. This was
in the stirring ante-bellum days, and while in the city the Doctor took young
Ailing to witness a production of the then new play of Uncle Tom's Cabin,
which was the excitant of bitter feeling. Mr. Ailing soon afterward em
barked on the Missouri river packet, the Dan S. Carter, bound for Leaven
worth. This boat and the Northern Belle and the Eclipse, all loaded with
gold-seekers for Pike's Peak, California and Nevada, engaged in a race up
the river ; they passed Kansas City, which was then but a wharf in the river,
while at Leavenworth the only respectable building was a brick hotel. In
order to study the country and get a more favorable starting place for his
journey, Mr. Ailing went on up the river. He stopped in St. Joseph for
several clays, and while there witnessed an auction sale of slaves from all
parts of the south, and the vivid scenes depicted to his eyes but a short time
before in a play were here represented in the horrors of the reality. At
St. Joseph he also met General Lander, who was engaged in opening a gov
ernment trail through the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas.

606 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
Nebraska City was then the principal outfitting point for emigrant trains
to the west, and especially for all government expeditions. While in this
city Mr. Ailing stayed at the home of Mr. Bennett, a prominent lawyer and
afterward governor of the state, and who took much interest in our young
friend. Plere Mr. Ailing purchased an outfit, and, with three others, set
out for California; their equipage consisted of a wagon, two mules and three
or four steers. After they had gone about fifty miles they caught up with
an emigrant train, under the captaincy of Dr. Witter, and containing about
seventy people, among them a few women and children, and twenty-one
wagons. Mr. Ailing and his companions joined this larger band, and ac
companied them to their destination. Fixed rules and laws, as in a settled
community, were formulated for this caravan, and all disputes were settled
equitably; at night the wagons were formed into a corral for protection
against the Indians. Near Fort Laramie one of the interesting incidents
of the journey occurred when a band of buffalo estimated at fifty thousand
stampeded across the plains in view of the company. At Camp Floyd, Utah,
the train stopped to recuperate, and Mr. Ailing took advantage of the halt
to visit Salt Lake City; at that time the "Danites" organization was creating
much fear among the gentiles in the vicinity. While in the neighborhood
of Camp Floyd he once lost his way and had a narrow escape from wolves
and starvation. It was here, also, that he met the famous General Albert
Sidney Johnston, who was then an Indian fighter for the government and
stationed at Fort Bridge.
After many hardships, in October, 1859, Mr. Ailing arrived in the
North San Juan mining country, Nevada county, California, where he spent
the winter and bought an interest in a mine. But in the following spring
he returned to where he had left the expedition, near Virginia City, Nevada,
and went to prospecting for silver in the Washoe mining region. In a trip
through Six Mile canyon he discovered a silver ledge of great thickness, and
he staked out a claim and named it the "Lady Bryan." Going further into
a wild part of the mountains, he came across the charred bodies of eleven
white men, the victims of Indians, and Mr. Ailing himself only escaped a
similar fate through the interposition of Chief Winnemucca, whose friend
ship he had gained. This adventure with the Piutes detained him for some
time, and when he returned to his silver claim he found it had been "jumped,"
so that he never realized a cent from his discovery ; the "Lady Bryan" proved
to be of great richness and made fortunes for its operators, for years being
quoted high on the San Francisco stock exchange.
In the fall of i860 Mr. Ailing set out for San Francisco, and on the
way met and became pleasantly acquainted with Horace Greeley, who was
then on a lecture tour through the west. On his arrival in San Francisco
he became interested in the presidential campaign; he marched in a proces
sion of ten thousand actual voters, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lin
coln in that city. In San Francisco he became further interested in mining,
and in the early part of 186 1 the Hidalgo Mining Company made him
superintendent of their mines at Eldorado Canyon on the Colorado river;
he remained in that position for three years, and made the first shipment by
water on the Colorado river to Eldorado. During the administration of

HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY. 607
Abraham Lincoln he was appointed, through the late ex-Governor John M.
Goodwin, the first postmaster in the territory acquired by the United States
under the title of the "Gadsden Purchase." He afterward did some pros
pecting and mining on his own account in Nevada, Utah and Arizona. In
1869 he and H. C. Bickers engaged in a grocery and general supply business
in Tucson, Arizona, and one of their old advertisements from the Arizona
Miner shows that they had a large store and a thriving trade. Mr. Ailing
did not relinquish his residence in San Francisco during this time, and made
frequent trips to that city, and wrote interesting descriptive articles of his
explorations for the Alta California and other papers of that city. In 1871
he sold his interests in Tucson in order to take a government position as
assistant commissioner under Professor Horace P. Capron, of the Smith
sonian Institution, for the purpose of collecting relics, curios and minerals
in China and Japan, especially in the latter country. He spent three months
in the orient engaged in this work, and he sent to his old home paper, the
Rockford Journal, many interesting descriptions of the expedition.
After Mr. Ailing returned from Japan he decided to come to the Puget
Sound country, which he did in the early part of ,1872, making the trip into
the Sound by boat. He spent a few days at the small town of Seattle, thence
came to Olympia, and from there to the upper forks of the Puyallup. In
the fall of 1873 he bought a "trapper's right" of one hundred and sixty acres
six miles south of the village of Old Tacoma, the present city being still a
wilderness, and on this place he has made his home ever since; it was then
a forest, but has been cleared and is now within the city limits, fifth ward,
and constitutes property of great value. Most of this land has been disposed
of for residence purposes, but Mr. Ailing retains about ten acres for his
home, and this is the situation of what is widely known as the Allington
Fruit Farm, where he raises the very finest of apples, cherries, and other
fruits, largely for exportation to foreign countries. While in Japan he
became interested in oriental birds, imported some fine specimens, and makes
this a department of his business. He is also interested in the fish industry,
and was recently selected by the government to superintend the distribution
of ten thousand carp, trout and white fish in the lakes of Pierce county.
For several years Mr. Ailing has maintained a very attractive summer
camp and home on Fox Island, and many of the leading families of Tacoma
were guests there during the season; he has also piloted several parties in
exploring Mount Tacoma and that vicinity. Because of the many inter
esting relics and memorials of his life in the west to be found there, as well
as on account of the entertaining- character of the owner himself, Mr. Alling's
home is a most delightful place for his friends to visit, and the visitor on
leaving his gates always feels the richer both for the information he has
gained, and for the personal contact with such a versatile and charming in
dividual as the host himself. Mr. Ailing was married in San Francisco in
1866 to Miss Nellie Adelaide Kimball; they have no children.
Mr. Alling's enterprises are of such extent that they have more than
once attracted attention from the press, and we can close this brief sketch
no more appropriately than by giving a few quotations from an article on
"Fox Island" which appeared in Field and Stream for April, 1897:
"Always on the alert for results in the way of increasing legitimate

608 HISTORY OF THE PUGET SOUND COUNTRY.
sports, Frank Ailing, the born pioneer and traveler, a son of D. D. Ailing,
who was a charter member of the famous Waltonian Club of Rockford,
Illinois, has begun the work of establishing an oriental pheasant preserve on
Fox Island. He is securing the hearty co-operation of other land owners,
and the active assistance of those princes of good fellowship, the officers of
the good ships of the Northern Pacific Steamship Company; this with the
aid of merchants in the orient, is a guarantee of final success. * * *
Mr. Ailing shipped the first fresh fruits to the orient from San Francisco,
and has recently begun shipping fruit to Siberia from Tacoma. He has
camped and hunted in the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico, and has had
many adventures with large game that, told or written, would stir the blood
of any true sportsman.
"In 1873 he came to Tacoma, the now beautiful city of fifty thousand
population at the head of navigation on Puget Sound, and took charge of
the American House, where he served his guests to bountiful fare, consider
ing the surroundings, at one time paying ten dollars for two very ordinary
turkeys, so small was the supply and so high were the shipping rates. In
fruit culture near Tacoma he was a pioneer, as a view of his first orchard
will show, and in the matter of camping out on the shores of the Sound he
took the initiative. * * *
"The first birds imported were a pair each of Corean and Japanese
pheasants. The Corean hen escaped when twenty miles from our shores and
was drowned; a tender-hearted sailor offered to go in and get her, but was
not permitted to venture because the great ocean steamer was going twelve
miles an hour and could not be checked in time to save them, even if he could
get to the wild bird in those strong tide currents so common off the coast.
"Since this first consignment, about three years ago, Mr. Ailing has
imported many birds, but dogs and accidents have so reduced their numbers
that twenty-nine only have finally reached their island home. From reliable
reports he now estimates their number with natural increase to be from
seventy-five to one hundred and fifty, and the varieties include the Superb
Golden pheasant, the Silver, the Copper, the Green, the Bronze, and the
Asiatic Ring Necks, with a curiosity in the shape of a mule produced by
crossing and re-crossing the Copper and Asiatic Ring Necks. The mule hens
are very beautiful, but their eggs will not hatch; there are but three of these
birds on the island. * * *
"Among the many importations of this sturdy pioneer are small ban
tams from Woo Sung, China, for hatching pheasant eggs and rearing the
young birds; six beautiful Mandarin ducks from Japan, a pair of which
were liberated at the island and two pairs at Allington. Some wild pea
cocks and Bleeding Heart pigeons, from Calcutta, India, and Manila, re
spectively, intended for the island, were killed by dogs. The good work is
still going on and almost any 'liner' may bring a new consignment of birds
for the island.
"In consideration of his labors in this line and in stocking Wapato
lake with mountain trout and Balch and Turtle lakes with carp, the Tacoma
Rifle, Rod and Gun Club has made Mr. Ailing an honorary member. An
effort will be made to have the present state legislature pass a law protecting
oriental pheasants for a period of three to five years."

YALE UNIVERSITY
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