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The Columbia, the greatest river of the west, is one of the most remarkable streams in the world. Situated, as it is, hundreds of feet below the level of the surrounding country, it can be reached only in places where deep canyons lead down to the river. The upper Columbia is broken by rapids and eddies and is very treacherous. It is fitting that that part of the Columbia which makes the boundaries of the Big Bend country should be considered at some length.
The Columbia river was first called the Oregon, from the mention of the name by Carver. In 1575 it was called Assumption Inlet, by Heceta. In the charts of his voyage, soon after published, it was called Ensenada de Heceta, and Rio de San Roque. In 1789 it was called Deception Bay, by Meares.
It was in 1792 that Gray called it the Columbia. Captain Clarke asserts that in 1805 the Indians called it the Shocatilcum, and another tribe called it Chockalilum, both being the same name differently pronounced, in all probability. This Indian name is, quite probably, Waterfriend, of Friendly Water. In the Chinook language. Chuck signifies water, and tillicum, friend. Hence the name Chuck-tilli-cum, or Shocatilcum.
During the months of September and October, 1881, Lieutenant Thomas Symons, corps of engineers, Chief Engineer Department of the Columbia, and Alfred Downing, Topographical Assistant United States Army, accompanied by five Indians, made a trip of exploration down the Columbia river from Fort Colville to the mouth of Snake river. Of the preparations for this perilous trip Lieutenant Symons, in his report to the chief engineer, says:
I was fortunate enough to procure from John Rickey, a settler and trader, who lives at the Grand Rapids, a strongly built bateau, and had his assistance in selecting a crew of Indians for the journey. The bateau was about thirty feet long, four feet wide at the gunwales, and two feet deep, and is as small a boat as the voyage should ever be attempted in, if it is contemplated to go through all the rapids. My first lookout had been to secure the services of "Old Pierre Agare" as steersman, and I had to carry on negotiations with him for several days before he finally consented to go. Old Pierre is the only one of the ancient Hudson's Bay Company's Iroquois voyageurs now left who knows the river thoroughly at all stages of water from Colville to its mouth. In the palmy days of the fur traders he came with them from Canada, and made many voyages down and up the Columbia, married and settled at Colville, and now has a large family of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren about him. The old man is seventy years' of age, and hale and hearty, although his eyesight is somewhat defective, which is almost a certain accompaniment of old age with an Indian.The party safely made the trip to the mouth of the Spokane river. The following extracts from Symons report of the trip from the latter point to the mouth of the Snake river, estimated a distance of 309 1/2 miles, describes that portion of the Columbia which bounds the Big Bend country.
The other Indians engaged were Pen-waw, Big Pierre, Little Pierre and Joseph. They had never made the trip all the way down the river, and their minds were full of the dangers and terrors of the great rapids below. It was a long time before we could prevail upon them to go, by promising them a high price and stipulating for their return by rail and stage. Old Pierre and John Rickey labored and talked with them long and faithfully to gain their consent, and I am sure that they started off with as many misgivings about getting safely through as we had who had to trust our lives to their skill, promptness and obedience. When all was ready we entered the boat and took our stations. Old Pierre in the stern at the steering oar; next our baggage, upon which I took my station ; then came the four Indian oarsmen and in the bow Mr. Downing, topographical assistant. Mr. Downing and myself worked independently in getting as thorough knowledge of the river as possible, he taking the courses with a prismatic compass, and estimating distances by the eye, and sketching in the topographical features of the adjoining country, while I, also, estimated the distance to marked points and paid particular attention to the bed of the river, sounding whenever there were indications of shallowness
Having finished work about Camp Spokane on October 3, at II 145 a. m., we pushed out from the Spokane river and took our course down the Columbia. At 12:15 we had run the five miles to the mouth of Hawk Creek, and the ranch and trading post of William Covington, generally known as "Virginia Bill." Hawk Creek heads at Cottonwood Springs, on the old
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White Bluffs road. It is about 25 miles long and flows for the greater part of the way through an extremely deep and precipitous canyon. "Virginia Bill" has constructed a wagon road from the great plain near Cottonwood Springs' to his ranch, which is an excellent road and the best way to reach the Columbia from the upper plain with which I am acquainted. There is an easy grade and a firm soil all the way, and I believe a practicable railroad route could be laid out to the river in the vicinity of this road. The river between the Spokane and Hawk Creek is very swift and strong, the current running from six to eight miles an hour.
A couple of miles further on we passed the mouth of Welch creek, so named from a settler on its banks in the valley about four or five miles from the river. Some of the prettiest country in the world is situated upon Welch Creek and its branches. There are beautiful little valleys nestled in among the rolling timbered hills, and beyond, up on the Great Plain, mile after mile of bunch grass covered gently sloping prairie. The river now becomes very deeply encanyoned with steep, rocky, and in some cases, perpendicular, bluffs, on one or both sides. The canyon is in many places very beautiful; the rocks composing the bluffs are many colored, black, brown, pink and white, and have many patches of bright red and yellow moss. To this must be added the green of the trees of which all shades, from the darkest to the brightest appear, the bright autumnal tints of the brushes and beyond, above, and about all, the old gold, of the withered bunch grass shining in the sunlight. The rocks take all imaginable forms, showing up as pinnacles, terraces, perpendicular bluffs, devils' slides, and giants' causeways, the whole forming one of the grandest, most beautiful sights in the universe. The material of which the rock is composed is all, apparently, of igneous origin, trachyte and basalt. With this, especially on the north side of the river, there is a great deal of volcanic tufa in a more or less friable
condition.
About eight miles further on we come to the Whitestone, a noted landmark, consisting of a gigantic grayish white rock, 500 feet high, standing perpendicularly up from the water, on the left bank of the river, and being partially detached from the rocks to the rear. It is split down the middle by some great convulsion. The Indians have a legend concerning this rock of which the skunk is the hero. It would seem that in the long ago a skunk, a coyote, and a rattlesnake each had a farm on the top of the Whitestone. These were the days before the skunk was as odorous as he is now, but was esteemed a good fellow and pleasant companion by other animals. As in some other small communities jealousies, dissensions and intrigues arose in this one. The result was that the coyote and rattlesnake took a mean advantage of the skunk one night when he was asleep, and threw him off the rock away down into the river. He was not drowned, however, but floated on and on, far away to the south and west, until he came to the mouth of the river where lived a great medicine man and magician. To him the skunk applied and was fitted out with an apparatus warranted to give immunity from, and conquest over, all enemies. Back he journeyed along the river to his old home, where he arrived, much to the surprise of the rattlesnake and coyote, and commenced to make it so unpleasant for them with his pungent perfumery apparatus, the gift of the magician, that they soon left him in undisputed possession of his rocky home, which he has maintained ever since.
Opposite the Whitestone comes in Whitestone creek from the north. Near here we came to a trading post on the left bank of the stream, occupied by a man named Friedlander, who carries on quite a trade with the Indians and Chinamen along the river. He reaches his place by a wagon road from the Great Plain above. He informed me that it was an excellent road and one of the best ways of getting to the river that there is. We remained with him until 3:10, inquiring about the country, the Indians, etc., and at a distance of two miles from his place we reached Hell Gate. At the head of the rapids a great jutting point sticks out from the left bank narrowing the channel; below this, in the middle of the river, is a great rock island, with the channel to the left; below and nearer the right bank are two other rock islands. These islands form a partial dam to the water and cause rapids which commence between the jutting point and the first great island and continue for a considerable distance below the last rock island. The channel is very crooked. .Although a bad place it seems to me that a good steamer would easily ascend the rapids and go through if the proper course was taken. This course, I should say, would be to hug the north bank until nearly to the islands, then cross over the south bank and steam well up to the jutting point of rocks, and then cross over between this jutting point and the first islands, and then around the jutting point. The only danger that a steamer would encounter coming down would be that something might happen to the steering gear. During a high stage of water the jutting point mentioned above becomes an island, and the currents are changed, and it probably would be a much worse place to go through than during low and medium stages.
Three miles below we passed the mouth of the Sans Poil river. This comes in from the north, rising in the mountains nearly due west of Kettle Falls, and flows through a region in which there is much good farming land. This word has been variously spelled but the above I believe is correct, as it seems to be a French name applied to the Indians living along its banks on account, either of the scarcity or shortness of their hair, and beard, or from the fact that they were very poor and had no furs to sell to the traders. Old Pierre told me that the latter was the origin of the word.
After passing through two ripples we went into camp at 4:30 p. m., on the left bank near an immense
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spring which came pouring out from the rocks about fifty feet above the river. This day we made about twenty-three and one-half miles.Without going more fully into the details of this rather uneventful trip down the Columbia made by Lieutenant Symons, it is sufficient to say that the journey was successfully accomplished and the mouth of Snake river reached Sunday morning, October 9th. While this portion of our history might, naturally come under the head of "descriptive," it is historical, in fact, because it describes the existing conditions of Douglas county and the Columbia river in 1881.
For a few years Philip McEntee and the Urquharts were the only white men who lived in eastern Douglas county. In 1880 a man named Bibi had a bunch of cattle in the Wilson Creek country, but in 1883 he sold his stock to George Popple. In 1882 Dan Paul came to the country and raised stock. He recognized the possibilities of the coulee and settled down to await for the incoming of settlers. When they came his honesty and personality won their warmest respect and in 1896 he was elected senator in which position he served until 1900. Others who dated their settlement in this part of the county in 1883 were John O'Flaherty, Charles Yungck, P. J. Young, Anthony Rusho, Frank Rusho, F. H. Bosworth and Frank Day. In the extreme eastern portion of Douglas county among the very first settlers were Kerby and Sherlock, who in the fall of 1882 did their first work toward establishing their residences a few miles southwest of what is known as the California settlement, which is just over the line in Lincoln county, both Douglas and Lincoln counties then being part of Spokane county. These were immediately followed by James Fulton, James Heathman, John O'Niel, William Scully, Edward Schrock, James Schrock, James Jump and eight or ten others.
In 1883 a few more settlers came to the coulee portion of the country, among them John R. Lewis, who arrived in the spring of that year. From Mr. Lewis we learn that when he came there were in the whole of eastern Douglas county the following people: Jack Harding, near Steamboat Rock, Philip McEntee, where Coulee City now stands, Dan Paul, Tony Richardson, George and Donald Urquhart, George Popple and "Bub" Duffield, in the Wilson Creek country. These men were all stock men and the thought that crops could be raised in this soil never entered their heads.
An interesting item in the history of Douglas county during the year 1883 was the prairie fire which took place the latter part of June. Stockmen who lived in the country at that time tell us that the prairie country east of Grand Coulee was covered with a rich growth of grass, such as was never seen after that time. The fire was originated by Indians in the coulee. It got beyond their control and before the flames could be checked the entire territory east of the coulee as far as where Almira now stands was burned over. The few stock raisers in the country turned out, fought the fierce flames, and finally succeeded in stopping their ravages. No damage was done except to the grass. A prairie fire in June may appear peculiar in the east, but those who took an active part in subjugating these flames say that the grass burned like dry hay.
It was also in 1883 that the pioneers of Douglas county passed through the incipient stages of an Indian scare. The population of the entire territory now embraced in Douglas county would not much exceed one hundred. The Indians did not take kindly to the arrival of the few stockmen who came in 1883 and for a time it looked as though there would be serious trouble. A few became alarmed and burying what treasure they had moved to Sprague until the trouble should have blown over. Five hundred soldiers were sent to the threatened district and during the summer of 1883 they were stationed on Foster Creek, near the present site of Bridgeport. These troops held the hostile Indians in check and no outrages were
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committed. The suppression of the contemplated outbreak was assisted by the report of Chief Moses who returned from his trip to Washington, D. C. about this time. The Indians of this vicinity did not realize the strength of the whites in numbers, and believed that the white race consisted of the people with whom they came in contact, or of whom they had heard from the tribes in the vicinity. Chief Moses on his trip was compelled to realize the overwhelming numbers of the whites, and his report to his followers is said to have been sensational. His people were mobilized on the banks of the Columbia river. Seizing a handful of sand he exhibited it to the braves and said:
"Siwashes." Then waving his arm in the direction of the mountains, he continued : "Boston men!"
The hint was taken, and upon the advice of Moses the threatened outbreak was quelled before the Indians were made to feel the power of the whites, which were as mountains to a handful of sand in comparison with the red men.
So far we have spoken only of the settlers of eastern Douglas county, or that portion lying east of the Grand Coulee. We have found that while, practically, the first settlers came in 1883, there were a few stockmen in the county prior to that time.
In that portion of the county west of the Grand Coulee we find that before 1883 there had never been a white settler. To Mr. Platt Corbaley belongs the distinguished honor of being the first to locate west of the coulees. He came in April. 1883, and took up his residence just north of Badger Mountain, and only a couple of miles southwest of the present town of Waterville. With Mr. Corbaley were his wife and wife's mother. Mrs. Mary Jefferson. An interesting bit of historical data is a list of names written by F. M. Alexander in December, 1883, the list being a census of those who passed the winter of 1883-4 in the Badger Mountain country. Being taken at the time, it is, undoubtedly, correct, and in any case more reliable than if the list were prepared from memory at this late day. The names are:
Platt Corbaley, Helen Corbaley, Ida Corbaley, (one year old), Mrs. Jefferson, Al Pierpont, O. H. Kimball, Peter Bracken, John Banneck, Hector Patterson. Ferring, Charles Ferring, Benjamin Ackers, F. M. Alexander, Hebert Corson, William Gould, Henry Calkins, Captain H. A. Miles, J. W. Stephens, Robert Halfhill, W. R. Wilson, Ed Hall, 'Major E. D. Nash, Arch Borrowman, George Kneever, wife and two children, Mr. Cooper, David Ford, Smith Hardin, John Buzzard, Morris Buzzard, Thomas Paine, wife (now Mrs. Akers), John Paine, James Melvin, A. E. Cornell, Sam McCoy, Peter Scott, James Cunningham, McArthur, wife and two children, Burton, wife and three children, (D. J. Titchenal, Louis Titchenal, Frank Greene, Frank Kaufman, J. Crawford, Howard Honor, Walter Mann, Wright and family of nine, Taylor and wife.
In addition to these Mr. Alexander appended a list of those who were in the country during the summer and fall, but who went out to spend the winter. These were : H. N. Wilcox, William Walters, Isaiah Brown, William Mitchell, J. W. Adams, Hadley Barnhart, and Dickey. This census which, practically, represented the whole of the western portion of what is now Douglas county, shows a population at that time of less than eighty people.
That year will be remembered by all those pioneers as one of privation and hardship. It was these people who demonstrated that the country beyond the coulees was susceptible of supporting a population. It was this handful of early settlers that laid the foundations of society, morality and commercialism upon which others builded.
It was the timber on Badger Mountain that encouraged the brave pioneers to attempt the experiment of trying to build homes in western Douglas county. But it was a tedious task to
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hew out timber and haul it miles for houses. Consequently Nash & Stephens undertook the bold enterprise of hauling in a saw mill and locating it on Badger Mountain in 1883. As a business investment the enterprise was a failure. The cost of keeping up repairs, freighting in provisions and horse feed exceeded the receipts for lumber. Settlers were glad of an opportunity to work, and many secured the lumber for their buildings by exchanging work at the mill.
J. H. Christianson was one of the 1883 settlers in Douglas county, taking up his residence in Moses Coulee. In a recent interview Mr. Christianson said:
"Great changes have taken place in the county since I located here in 1883. At that time Waterville was not on the map, but we came to Okanogan City instead. In driving from my place in the coulee to that town there was not a single fence or road to guide travelers. The only landmarks were distant buttes. I was a bachelor the first few years of my residence in Moses Coulee and it is unnecessary to say that I found it a lonely life. Many is the time that if I could have conveniently arranged it I would have deserted the country. But now I am not sorry that I remained."The first white child born in Douglas county was Nellie Rusho, born November 24, 1883, the daughter of Frank and Magdalene Rusho.
It was in 1883 that the first religious services were held in Douglas county. Rev. Charles Yungck, who settled in eastern Douglas county that year, began holding services in German at his house upon his arrival and for many years thereafter held services regularly every week. West of the Grand Coulee the first religious service was held at Mr. Shannon's house and conducted by Elder Richard Corbaley on May 8, 1884. There were present about twenty-five people.
Pioneers of the Badger Mountain country tell us that at quite on early date, presumably in the fall of 1883 or spring of 1884, a small store was located about one and one-half miles south of the present site of Waterville on what is now known as the William Fitch place. It was continued until 1887, when the enterprise was abandoned. This store was conducted by W. S. Crouch. Only a small stock of goods was carried.
The bill creating the county of Douglas was approved by the governor November 28, 1883. We shall now discuss the conditions of the county on this date and the causes that led to the formation of the county.
At the time of the organization of the county the population was small, different authorities placing the number at figures ranging from 50 to 150. R. S. Steiner, who arrived in the county in the spring of 1884 places the number at about 50, while ex-Sheriff S. C. Robins, who arrived at the same time says, possibly 60. Others estimated the number from 100 to 150. From the list of names of persons who passed the winter of 1883-4 in western Douglas county, prepared by F. M. Alexander, we find that he has nearly eighty names of men, women and children in that portion of the county. There certainly were not that many in the eastern part of the county, but we believe there were enough to bring the total to something over 100.
On the date the governor signed the bill authorizing the creation of the county it contained but one town. This was Okanogan, which had been platted for the express purpose of having a place to designate as the county seat. This town consisted of one tent, and the sole inhabitant was Walter Mann, who had undertaken to "hold down" the site. There was not a store, postoffice, saloon, or blacksmith shop, a railway train or a stage line in the whole territory to be subsequently known as Douglas county, a territory as large as the state of Connecticut.
In a previous chapter the different county formations and divisions of eastern Washington have been traced from the act of 1846,
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authorizing the creation of Walla Walla county, to 1883, when Spokane county was divided, the western portion becoming Lincoln and Douglas counties. We find at the 1883 session of the Washington Territorial Legislature that the territory which now embraces Lincoln and Douglas counties was cut off from Spokane county and given the name of Lincoln county. But before the session adjourned the western portion of Lincoln was cut off and authority given for the organization of a new county to be known as Douglas. The question naturally arose, "Why?" Under what kind of a spell were the Washington legislators brought that they should authorize the creation of a county containing, say, only 100 inhabitants,
counting men, women and children?
The answer in three words is. "J. W. Adams." It was through the influence of J. W. Adams that the county of Douglas was formed ; that Okanogan was named as the county seat, and that several other things connected with the early history of the county occurred. Mr. Adams was a professional townsite boomer from Kansas. He was a man with a knack of doing things, and having affairs go his way politically whenever they jumped with his plans. Mr. Adams came to the Territory of Washington and was pleased with the country. The legislature which was in session at the time appeared to him to have gone mad on county division schemes. He conceived the idea of having a county all his own formed. He associated with him Walter Mann, and H. A. Meyers under the firm name of Adams, Mann & Company, and having placed script on land in the western part of the proposed county, six miles east of the present town of Waterville, the company platted the townsite of Okanogan. Of this firm Mr. Adams was the prime mover — the mainspring of the combination. He remained in the county until the autumn of 1886. when, his plans having failed, he left the country. Walter Mann remained in the county and became a respected and influential citizen, leaving only a few years ago to take up his residence on the Sound. Mr. Meyers was a resident of Illinois and although he was named as one of the commissioners of the new county and was present at the first meeting, he was never a resident of the Territory.
Following is the organic act which Mr. Adams and his associates succeeded in having passed by the legislature:
"An Act to organize the county of Douglas.
"Sec. I. Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington: That all that portion of the county of Lincoln described as follows, towit : Beginning at the point where the Columbia guide meridian intersects the Columbia river on the northern boundary of Lincoln county; and thence running south on said Columbia guide meridian to the township line between townships Nos. 16 and 17; thence running west on said township line to the range line between ranges 27 and 28; thence south on said range line to the section
line between sections 24 and 25 in township 14, north; range 27 east; thence west on said section line to the mid-channel of the Columbia river, thence up said channel of said river to the place of beginning, shall be known and designated as the county of Douglas.
"Sec. 2. That J. W. Adams, H. A. Meyers and P. M. Corbaley are hereby appointed commissioners of said county of Douglas.
"Sec. 3. The county commissioners above named are hereby authorized within ninety days after the approval of this act, and upon ten days notice by said commissioners, to meet at the county seat of said county, to qualify and enter upon the duties of their office; and the said commissioners are hereby authorized and empowered to appoint all county officers, including a county attorney and justices of the peace and constables and all precinct officers. And said county commissioners, and the county and precinct officers, so appointed by them, shall hold their offices and discharge their
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duties therefore until the next general election, and until their successors are elected and qualified. And the said county and precinct officers shall receive for their services the same fees as are provided by the statutes of Washington Territory for other counties.February 28, 1884, Colonel H. A. Meyers, and Captain J. W. Adams, two of the commissioners named in the act creating the county, met at Okanogan, which had been named as the temporary county seat. It is doubtful if the initial meeting of any law-making body was ever held under more, inauspicious circumstances. Okanogan, the county seat was a platted town. Here, in a tent, since the preceding fall, had lived Walter Mann who was ''holding down" the location. This tent was the only "building" in the town, and in it the first session of the board of commissioners of Douglas county was held. P. M. Corbaley, the other commissioner, was not present at the meeting which was adjourned without trans- acting any business, the two commissioners awaiting the arrival of their colleague. On the 29th all three of the members were present and the organization of Douglas county was perfected. The board appointed the county officials, a list of whom will be found in the political chapter devoted to Douglas county. The commissioners" journal in reporting this initial meeting of the Douglas county board states that Colonel Meyers was elected chairman, but his removal from the county created a vacancy. His place was filled by the appointment of David Soper at the succeeding meeting of the board, which was not held until September 6th. At that time J. W. Adams was elected chairman which position he continued to hold until the beginning of 1885.
"Sec. 4. The county seat of the county of Douglas is hereby located at the town of Okanogan, until the next general election, at which time the permanent location of the county seat shall be submitted to the qualified electors of said county, and the place receiving a majority of all votes cast at said election shall be the county seat of said county.
"Sec. 5. The county of Douglas shall be attached to the county of Lincoln for legislative and judicial purposes until otherwise provided by law.
"Sec. 6. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.
"Sec. 7. This act shall take effect from and after its passage and approval.
"Approved November 28, 1883."
The formation of the county government created a "boom" in the vicinity of the place named as the county seat, and it was a wild one. The entire country contiguous to the scanty settlement was staked solid. Okanogan City was to be a metropolis. Literature describing the resources of the country was scattered broadcast. One circular contained the statement that every quarter-section of land had at least one good spring and that there was living water all over the country. But this water was a myth. When it was discovered, with dismay, that water could not be procured in this vicinity the locators drifted to other sections of the county where it could be found and not one claim in ten was proved up by the original locators.
As the town of Okanogan was the only one in the county at this time, and as the history of the county was centered here for the next few years, we shall give a short sketch of the place which Adams, Mann & Company tried so hard to convert into a city. The townsite was platted in the autumn of 1883. Then Mr. Mann erected his tent and there passed the winter. But in the spring of 1884 more permanent improvements were made at the county seat. It was in April that Mr. B. L. Martin was induced to cast his lot in the new city. At that period he completed a store building 24x36 feet, the first edifice in town, and this he stocked with goods. While Okanogan remained the county seat this building was used as a court house and Mr. Martin was made auditor.
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