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Following is the text of the measure as it finally passed:
An Act to create and organize the County of Lincoln.
Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington: That all that portion of Spokane county, Washington Territory, described as follows: Beginning at the point in Township No. 27 north, where the Colville guide meridian between ranges 39 and 40 east, Willamette meridian, intersects the Spokane river, and running thence south along said meridian line to the township line between townships numbered 20 and 21 north ; thence west along said township line to its intersection with the Columbia guide meridian between ranges numbered 30 and 31, east Willamette meridian; thence south along said meridian line to the township line between townships numbered 16 and 17 north ; thence west on said township line to the range line between ranges 27 and 28 east. Willamette meridian ; thence south on said range line to the section line between sections numbered 24 and 25 in township No. 14, north of range No. 27 east, Willamette meridian ; thence west on said section line to the mid-channel of the Columbia river; thence up said river in the middle of the channel thereof to the mouth of the Spokane river, in the middle of the channel thereof, to the place of beginning, shall be known and designated as the county of Lincoln.
Sec. 2. That John Bartol, Edward D. Willis and John McGourin are hereby appointed county commissioners of said county of Lincoln.
Sec. 3. The county commissioners above named are hereby authorized within twenty days after the approval of this act, and upon ten days notice, to qualify and enter upon the discharge of their duties as such commissioners, and" are hereby empowered to appoint all necessary county officers necessary, to perfect the organization of said county; and the county commissioners aforesaid, sheriff, auditor and the other officers appointed shall hold their offices until the next general election and until their successors are elected and qualified according to law.
Sec. 4. That the justices of the peace, constables, road supervisors and other precinct and school officers heretofore elected and qualified, and now acting as such, residing in that portion of Spokane county which is by the provisions of this act included in the county of Lincoln, are hereby continued as such officers in said county of Lincoln until the next general election, and until their successors are elected and qualified.
Sec. 5. That all taxes levied and assessed for the year 1S83 upon the persons and property within the boundaries of Lincoln county, as herein described, shall be collected and paid to the treasurer of the county of Spokane, and shall thereafter be paid upon demand, according to assessment, to the treasurer of the county of Lincoln.
Sec. 6. The county auditor of Lincoln county is hereby authorized to take transcripts of all records, documents and other papers on file or of record, in the office of the county auditor of Spokane county, which may be necessary to perfect the records of said Lincoln county, and for this purpose he shall have access to the records of said Spokane county without cost.
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Sec. 7. The county seat of the county of Lincoln is hereby located at the town of Davenport temporarily, until the same shall be permanently located by a vote of the electors of said comity at the next general election. At the next general election the permanent location of the county seat of Lincoln shall be submitted to the qualified electors of said county, and the place receiving the majority of votes shall be the permanent county seat of Lincoln comity.By tracing the boundaries of Lincoln county as described in the preceding act of the legislature it will be found to embrace the present counties of Lincoln and Douglas. It will, doubtless, prove news to a large majority of Lincoln county citizens that Lincoln county, at one time, included Douglas county, but such is the case. The bill creating Lincoln county was approved by the governor November 24, 1883, and it was four days later, or on November 28, that the Douglas county bill was approved. Of course there had been no county government organized during this time, but the Douglas county bill reads "all that part of Lincoln county, etc."
Sec. 8. The county of Lincoln shall be attached to the county of Spokane for judicial and legislative purposes until otherwise provided.
Sec. 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its approval.
Approved November 24. 1883.
The creation of Douglas, took from territory of Lincoln county, described in the act, the following. All that portion of the county bounded as follows: Beginning at a 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. This left Lincoln county with boundaries as they are today. Nearly every year since that time some effort has been made to divide the county, but as yet success has not crowned these efforts.
The birth of Lincoln county dates from December 18, 1883. On that day John Bartol, E. D. Willis and John McGourin, who had been named as commissioners in the act authorizing the organization of Lincoln county, convened at Davenport, the temporary a unity seat. There was present with these gentlemen Attorney S. C. Hyde. Having taken the oath of office the board at once proceeded to business. Commissioner Bartol was elected chairman. Arrangements were made with Barney Fitzpatrick for the rent of a building, 24x36 feet in size, at $10 per month for the use of the o unity officers who were named by the commissioners.
The creation of this new county was the signal for the influx of hundreds of settlers. People living at a distance learned of these rich, broad acres awaiting the advent of the husbandman and commenced floating in. Farms were soon under cultivation, villages sprang into existence and the region soon became known as the great wheat belt of the state of Washington.
The month of November, 1884, was accentuated by the most exciting event in the history of Lincoln county; the struggle between the towns of Sprague and Davenport for. possession of the county records and the county seat. October 10, 1890, six years subsequently, the Lincoln County Times explained the conditions of 1884 as follows:
At the time Lincoln county was formed and Davenport was made the temporary county seat, the upper portion of the county was sparsely populated. A considerable number of people were collected around Davenport, better known as 'Cottonwood Springs,' Harrington, Mondovi and other points, while Sprague was a growing town of 600 or 700 population. At the general election of 1884 the people were called upon to vote upon the location of the county seat. There were three candidates for
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the honor, Davenport, Harrington and Sprague. The campaign preceding the election was hot and furious. At that time women were entitled to the ballot. As a matter of course few voters entitled to a vote failed to exercise that privilege, while considering the extent of the population, the figures would indicate that the purity of the ballot was not a feature of the election. The total vote polled was 2,277. Of this number Sprague received 1,256; Davenport, 819; and Harrington, 202. Sprague cast 1,023 votes.This contest was, indeed, spirited. Preceding election day Davenport was hopeful; even jubilant. But the majority vote declared that Sprague was to be the permanent county seat of Lincoln county. Charges of fraud were at once preferred. Sprague on that day cast over one thousand votes. This, it was alleged, were as many, if not more, than the entire roster of the inhabitants of the town. It is a matter of record that this number is nearly twice as many as the town polled before or since that eventful day. Many stories are told of how Sprague "got out'' its vote in this election. In the heat of another county seat fight six years later, the editor of the Lincoln County Times tells his version of how the town of Sprague won the contest of 1884:
By invading the holy sanctity of God's acre, where hallowed ground is bedewed with the tears of broken-hearted mourners and voting the names inscribed upon the marble shafts sacred to the memory of some beloved one. By forcing little innocent children to vote, whose very natures, guided in the paths of probity through the influence of the orisons whispered at the mother's knee, rebelled against the crime. By voting passengers on through trains who had no more interest in Lincoln county than the natives of Alaska, and who, without considering the responsibility of defrauding a people, looked upon the transaction as a joke.Concerning the fraudulent voting at the contest of 1884 the Wilbur Register presents as dispassionate a view as can be secured. November 20, 1896, it said:
Had the election laws at that time been as strict as they are now in the state, which was then the Territory of Washington, the permanent location would have been made to the satisfaction of all concerned. Then a simple majority was all that was required to locate or relocate a county seat. Besides all persons of either sex who had arrived at the age of twenty-one years could vote for Territorial officers anywhere in the Territory, and for county officers or county issues anywhere in the county. There was no secret ballot and interested parties could prepare the ballot and conduct the elector to the polling place — never leaving him until his ticket was deposited. There was much talk of fraudulent voting, both by residents and non-residents of. the county; and the charge that men who then resided in Sprague inveigled boys and girls scarcely in their 'teens to vote at that election has never been disproven.The people of Sprague replied to the residents of Davenport with counter charges. The Sprague Herald thus speaks of the 1884 election:
Many indictments were brought for illegal voting, but by some hocus-pocus none of them ever reached trial. The recollection is that they were quashed on the ground that the grand jury was itself illegally convened.
In that election Davenport polled 192 votes on the county seat question, while in 1886, two years later, her entire vote was 79. And yet in the face of these figures she has the audacity to charge fraud upon the people of Sprague.Mr. David Vinyard states:
A number of Sprague people were arrested on charges of illegal voting at the 1884 election, and were tried at Cheney, then the county seat of Spokane county, but no convictions resulted. Feeling between the citizens of the two towns was strong during these trials and the shedding of blood was narrowly averted in one or two instances.
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Following the election the board of canvassers reported their findings to the board of county commissioners, and at 2:30 o'clock, on the morning of November 13th, the heard having been in continuous session since two o'clock of the day before, the commissioners passed the following order:
Whereas it appearing to the satisfaction of the board that the city of Sprague has received a majority of the votes cast for county seat, it was moved, seconded and carried that this board adjourn to meet at Sprague November 13th, at 2 o'clock p. m., and advise the county auditor to notify the other county officers to remove their offices to that place as soon as convenient.In accordance with this order the commissioners met at Sprague at 2 o'clock on the afternoon of the 14th. There were present in addition to all the commissioners the sheriff, probate judge and treasurer. Attorneys were called in to consult the board relative to procuring the records from Davenport. In the meantime the auditor was instructed to purchase the necessary books and papers to transact the business of his office and the other county offices. A few clays later a building was leased from H. W. Fairweather for court house purposes, at a rental of $35 per month. At this meeting of the 14th the board passed the following order:
Whereas, It appears from the official count of the votes cast at the late general election made by the board of canvassers, that the city of Sprague has received a majority of all the votes cast at said election for county seat, and therefore, by virtue of section 9, page 20, laws of Washington, 1883, is the lawful county seat of Lincoln county; therefore the county auditor, the county treasurer, sheriff and judge of probate court are hereby ordered to remove their records and offices to the city of Sprague in Lincoln county.It was not within the power of the commissioners to legislate the records to Sprague, however. On the 15th the board took official notice that the records were forcibly detained in Davenport by passing the following order.
It is hereby ordered by the board that; Whereas, It has come to the knowledge of the hoard that the public records of the county have been forcibly taken from the possession of the different officers, who are the legal custodians thereof, and are in danger of being injured or destroyed, and the public business is greatly retarded; Therefore the prosecuting attorney is hereby ordered to take such legal measures as may he necessary to recover to the proper officers the possession of the records of Lincoln county.Meetings were held every day by the board, at which the best methods of securing the records were discussed. On the 18th the hoard decided to call on the Territorial government for aid in securing the records. Accordingly the following telegram was dispatched to the governor:
W. C. Squires, Governor Washington Territory, Olympia, Washington Territory:
An armed mob has forcibly taken possession of our county records and refuse to deliver them to the proper county officers. The sheriff is unable to disperse the mob or recover the records. Can you assist our sheriff? Please answer.
John Bartol,W. A. Busey,John McGourin,
Sheriff John Cody also telegraphed as follows to the governor:County Commissioners Lincoln county, Washington Territory.
W. C. Squires, Governor Washington Territory, Olympia, W. T.
An armed force has seized the records of the county and refuse to deliver the same to the proper county officers. I am unable to get sufficient aid to recover the records or disperse the mob. Can you assist me? Please answer.
John Cody, Sheriff Lincoln county.W. T. Sprague, November 18, 1884.
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On the other hand the people of Davenport and the settlers in the upper portion of the county, believing that the election had been carried by fraudulent means, dispatched a messenger post haste to procure an injunction restraining the county officials from removing the records from Davenport until an investigation could be made. Meantime the roads leading into Davenport from all directions were lined with men carrying muskets, revolvers, Winchesters and other weapons of warfare, all determined to hold the fort at Davenport. For three long weeks night and day did they guard and garrison the city. A ditch on the hillside in the town, and a ridge marks the place where breastworks were thrown up. They are pointed out to the visitor to this day — memorials of that perilous period. During these weeks of "military law" the men at their posts were anxiously looking for the promised injunction which, for the time being, would make the records secure. But in vain. The injunction was not secured. Becoming weary of waiting one by one the members of the "army" returned to their homes. Meanwhile Sprague was awaiting her opportunity. Suddenly a force swept down upon Davenport from sixty to one hundred strong and armed to the teeth. No resistance was made. Davenport surrendered the county records. Yet it was not a complete surrender as is shown in a later event in the history of this county. Martin J. Maloney was at the head of the army of deputies who came up from Sprague and removed the county records from Davenport. In describing this memorable event in the history of the county the Lincoln County Times in after years said:
It was a serious matter at the time, but many is the laugh the old timers have had over it since. Mr. Maloney marshaled his hosts on the brow of the ridge at the head of Harker street. The defenders of the court house had rifle pits along the slope of the opposite ridge where the court house now stands. The creek was a dead-line, and the blood-curdling announcement was made that the man with the hardihood to attempt to cross this stream would have his anatomy full of button-holes. Everybody was in deadly earnest. But the Sprague contingent was after the records and they got them without the burning of powder or the spilling of gore. It is only due to the defenders to say that the force came down at an unexpected moment when none of them were on duty. It is fortunate that the affair ended as it did. Still there was some excitement attendant on this raid. When Maloney drove across the creek and his errand became known the inflammable Dick Hutchinson stepped forward with a pistol as long as his arm and dared Maloney to shoot it out with him at twenty paces. But Maloney had business to attend to and refused to accommodate the warlike Dick with an exchange of shots. Those were great old days, and while a tinge of feeling may yet linger among a few of the participants, it is too slight to affect the friendships of longer standing.Among the members of the sheriff's posse which went to Davenport and returned in triumph to the county seat were H. A. Langley, C. W. Seabron, Joseph Wormald, J. M. Henderson, George Monk, George Rhein, A. Rickert, William Calaran, W. O. Montgomery, A. J. Jessup, C. E. Jones, A. Riggs, P. Dencer, C. F. Martin, J. Dunlap, E. D. Coffee, John Kelly, Rosengren, A. Turnbull, L. Patterson, T. Murphy. S. W. George, L. Matthews, Thomas O'Brien, W Murry, Charles Shields, J. F. Murray, O. Lavin, H. E. Bedford, John O. Griffin, H. S. Hughes, Frank Wall, E. G. Pendleton. Others who took part in this history-making period of the county as deputy sheriffs and guards of county property were Martin J. Maloney, J. C. Burns. J. H. Friedlander, Lee A. Wilson, James Nelson and C. E. Carrington.
The dramatic story of Sprague s capture of the county records from Davenport is one
which the few now living who participated
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in the historical event never tire of relating. It must he admitted that feeling ran high at this crucial period, and one of the most remarkable features connected with the affair is that it was unaccompanied by bloodshed. To David Vinyard, who since 1880 has been a resident of Sprague, and who was an active participant in the removal of the Lincoln county records, we are indebted for the following account of the complication:
We left Sprague about 180 strong armed to the teeth with rifles, and revolvers and each one with a commission as deputy sheriff. John Cody was sheriff of the county and, naturally, the leader of the party. The majority of us were horseback, although a number made the trip in carriages. I was, at the time, in the draying business, and drove over my dray wagon for the purpose of carrying back the county records — and you may believe that we were determined to bring them back. It was no summer picnic that we were on. Of course we knew that the people of Davenport and the country in that vicinity had for some time been under arms and were not likely to surrender the records without a fight, but we were out to get them and were prepared for any emergency. On our way over we threw up entrenchments at different places where we could stop and defend ourselves if attacked on our way back. The trip to Davenport was without particular incident. Arriving there we discovered that entrenchments had been thrown up in various places, but the majority of the defenders we found had retired to their ranches. They had been on guard for three weeks, and many had returned home to look after their places.According to Territorial Governor Sample's report for 1887 the value of taxable property in Lincoln county in 1885 was $1,623,405; in 1887, $2,069,085, an increase in two years of $445,590. November 29, 1886, the county commissioners accepted the court house erected at Sprague by Chris P. Nygard, the builder. The cost of this structure was in the neighborhood of $10,000. The Lincoln CountyTimes, in a reminiscent mood, wrote as follows concerning conditions from 1SS5 to 1890:
Our party advanced upon the trenches and finding them unoccupied we stationed ourselves behind the breastworks which the Davenport defenders had erected, and coming to the building which held the county records and which had served as a temporary court house we found two men on guard on the outside. These we quickly captured. Then we approached the court house. Sheriff Cody rapped on the door and a man of powerful build, with a rifle in his hand, opened the door just wide enough to look out. The next instant the door went down with a crash and the defender was looking into the muzzle of Sheriff Cody's six-shooter. He was quickly disarmed as were, also, three other men, who were on guard inside the building. While the rest of the posse were on guard in the entrenchments around the court house, about twenty of our men set to work loading the records on to the wagon and in a very short time we were on the back trail for Sprague with the precious records in our charge. On our way back and before we had left Davenport very far behind we met two parties of armed men on their way to Davenport. They had received word that we were after the records and were coming to the rescue. The parties were too small to show resistance, but with threats that we would never cross Crab creek with the books they hurried on to Davenport for the purpose of raising a force to intercept us before we could reach In .me. However, we were not molested and landed the documents safely in the new county scat.
The pioneer settlers enjoyed a few privileges, and no luxuries, but they were not harassed with debts. Government lands could not be mortgaged and settlers were compelled to pay as they went. They did not have money to pay with, but they traded around so as to balance accounts. So long as this time honored
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practice prevailed the people were comparatively happy and contented, and did not much concern themselves about a gold standard or a silver standard, a high or low tariff. There were enthusiastic partisans then as later, but the notion had not yet taken possession of them that their individual prosperity depended upon directing the affairs of the national government upon any new plan. This became the dream of later years. How well are the prosperous years between 1885 and 1890 remembered! This was the era of money borrowing, when mortgaging farms became a mania. Fictitious values were placed on property; the speculative spirit was at its height, and there was no limit to credit. This was believed to be a time of prosperity, and no one stopped to think that a day of reckoning must come. But it finally did come and without much warning. Many who had considered themselves well off —who had made partial payments on a lot of property, suddenly found their resources for raising money cut off. and their property gradually slipping away from them.December 29, 1899, the Times continued:
From 1889 to 1893 the state of Washington passed through a feverish and unnatural boom. There was not a city, town or hamlet in the state that did not expect to become a second Chicago, and in Lincoln county there were several places that had aspirations. People were afflicted with a town lot mania. Inflation was the order of the day and the most unheard of values were placed on town property, with nothing in sight, or even prospective, to justify such figures. Several towns of the county were touched with the spell of this madness, and people talked of $500 a front foot for lots, when butting up against the back doors of the few houses of the prospective city was a limitless expanse of almost unoccupied territory, much of which was open to homestead or preemption, with a government price affixed thereto of $2.50 per acre. But those were great days and the man who talked a few hundred a foot front made himself imagine that in a short time the same lots would reach the thousands.According to the United States census of 1890 the population of Lincoln county was 9,312. In 1900 it had jumped to 11.969, and in 1903 to 18,571. This is an increase of 55.1 per cent, in three years, the eighth largest increase of any county in the state in point of numbers. The 1903 census is estimated from school statistics taken from the school reports of the several county superintendents.
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