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BRIDGEPORT.
Bridgeport is located near the northern part of the county near the junction of Foster Creek with the Columbia river. It is favorably situated to command the trade of the surrounding country. It lies fifty miles northeast of Waterville.
Business men of Bridgeport, Connecticut, were largely interested in building the town. It was proposed to make Bridgeport a commercial center for the northern part of Douglas county. The town was platted November 30, 1891, by Butler Liversay. Quite substantial improvements were made in the spring of 1892. Energy and enterprise, backed by unlimited capital were at work to make Bridgeport a city worthy of the name. The principal streets were graded and a steam ferry was put on the river. The peculiar configuration of the ground where the new town was located made it appear that the expected railroad to the Okanogan country would be compelled to build to the town and cross the Columbia near this point. It was expected at this time that the Northern Pacific railway was about to build to the Okanogan country. The forks of Foster Creek at this point converge as they reach the Columbia and afford a natural and feasible highway for a railway. At the mouth of the creek is a long and level plateau, and here it was that the new town was laid out.
The company responsible for the establishment of Bridgeport was the Western Land & Improvement Association. The store of Boyd Teter was opened for business in July, 1893. Shortly after the inauguration of the town of Bridgeport some trouble arose in connection with financial matters which came perilously near causing an abandonment of the project. August 2, 1892, a correspondent writing from Bridgeport said:
The new town of Bridgeport is again on
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the top wave of excitement. The townsite company dug up a few thousands and paid off the brick yard contractors and hands. The outside walls of the brick hotel are up, about four feet, and a raft of lumber is expected this week. Teams are busy hauling lumber, iron, etc, from Coulee City for the steam ferry boat that is to make daily runs from Bridgeport to Port Columbia, and all around is the busy hum of an embryo city.In January, 1894, Bridgeport consisted of the big, $15,000 hotel, one store, the postoffice and a newspaper. During the summer of 1894 F. J. Eitel put in operation a brick flouring mill with a capacity of from 75 to 100 barrels a day.
While Bridgeport did not succeed in becoming the city that its builders intended, it has, since its establishment, been an important trading point for the rich country in which it is fortunately situated. It is a thriving, prosperous town. The census of 1900 accredited it with a population of no, which has been materially increased. The religious denominations comprise Presbyterian and Methodist churches.
QUINCY
Is located on the Great Northern railway, thirty-two miles east of Wenatchee. Until the latter part of 1901 Quincy was simply a siding on the Great Northern. The Big Bend Chief of December 27, 1901, said of this place:
One of the towns to the west that is certain to be of some importance in the near future is the siding on the Great Northern known as Quincy. A. V. Swift, W. T. Nichols and Ray Crothers are interested in the development of the country thereabouts and report a large influx of population at that point in the last two months.The town was platted February 28. 1902, by Richard Coleman. The following additions have been made:
Richardson's First Addition, August 18, 1901, by David Richardson.March 28, 1902, the Big Bend Chief said:
Central Quincy, September 3, 1902, by Quincy Land & Improvement Company, by H. S. Kergsley, president, and Charles H. Ross, secretary.
A few weeks ago Quincy, Washington, was simply an unused sidetrack on the Great Northern, in the desert. Now, however, the plain is taking on the appearance of a village and people are coming in and breaking up the bunch grass, preparatory to growing crops. The town at present consists of a hotel under the management of R. Coleman, a general store in charge of J. Muellerleile, a hardware store conducted under canvas until lumber can be obtained, by John Stambaugh; a lumber yard and a livery stable in charge of R. Williams and D. C. Crosby represents the real estate end of the enterprise. A petition has been in for some time for the establishment of a postoffice and it is expected that Quincy mail will be delivered from the railway within a month.In June, 1903, according to the returns of the county assessor, the census was 140, which entitled it to rank in company with Hartline, as the third town in the county in point of size, Waterville and Wilsoncreek only having larger populations.
EPHRATA.
This town is situated on the Great Northern railway, 123 miles west of Spokane. It has a bank, several warehouses, hotel and several general stores. It was first settled in September, 1901. Ephrata is beautifully located on a high flat, with ample drainage in three directions. With an excellent spring one-fourth of a mile from the railway station the town is abundantly supplied with clear, cold water. For many years stockmen used the site where now stands Ephrata as a camping ground in time of roundups, on account of the water in that vicinity.
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At that period the place was known as Beasley Springs. The townsite was platted July l0, 1901, by Jesse Cyrus. The following additions have been made:
Cyrus' First Addition, September 9, 1901, by Jesse Cyrus.Although Ephrata did not gain much of a standing as a town until 1902, for several years before that period it had been quite a grain shipping point. Then the rush of settlers to the "south country" changed the condition of affairs in this neighborhood, and a town of considerable importance made its appearance as if by magic. The following relating to the early history of the place is taken from the Big Bend Chief of July 18, 1902:
Cyrus' Second Addition, September 9, 1901, by Jesse Cyrus.
Third Addition, May 31, 1902, by Jesse Cyrus.
Ephrata is one of the new towns to the west which betoken marked improvement. Eighteen month ago Uncle Jesse Cyrus, the 'Farther of Ephrata,' was sleeping securely in his cabin, free from cares and worriments more common to neighbors in a village. But immigration came thick and fast to this neck of the Big Bend and last summer he found it was necessary to plat a town. Even then Mr. Cyrus was doubtful whether his tranquility was greatly to be disturbed, with his stock, and located as he is, with a beautiful spring of water at his door, he had arranged to irrigate sufficient land to provide feed for his stock through the winter; had planted an orchard for his own use, and contracted to supply the railroad company with water. But the little plat of ground soon passed into the hands of tradesmen, and as if by magic a town sprung up with all its tributary evils and advantages. Uncle Jesse, although he had come to believe he would pass his days in comparative solitude at the foot of the bunch grass hill, was not slow to get himself in line with the march of progress and some months ago he installed a system of water works by means of which he could serve the purest water in the second stories of the buildings in the village, and now in addition to his other duties he makes his monthly round and collects the rent.In June, 1903, the population of Ephrata, according to the returns of the assessor, was 87. Since then these figures have been materially increased.
KRUP.
About six miles east of Wilsoncreek, on the Great Northern railway, and just within the boundaries of Douglas county, is located the pleasant little town of Krupp. Situated as it is in the valley of the beautiful stream known as Crab Creek, surrounded by most picturesque scenery, it presents a pleasing sight to one who has ascended the westerly divide and pauses to take a survey of the little town nestling in the valley below. Krupp is in the center of a grain and cattle country which guarantees for the future a good and increasing business. Here the first settler who ever came into Douglas county located away back in 1871.
Impressed with the idea that as the country filled up there must be a place where the surrounding settlers might market their products and purchase their supplies, George Urquhart, who for many years had made his home on this spot, platted the town of Krupp July 14, 1902. He gave it his earnest support in its development. The first business house in the new town was a general store erected in the summer of 1901 by F. A. Windgate. It was platted July 14, 1902, by George Urquhart. The population in June, 1903, as reported by the assessor was only 45, but the past year has witnessed a wonderful improvement.
DOUGLAS.
Five miles southeast of Waterville, on the Waterville-Coulee City stage road, is the little town of Douglas, a village of about 75 population. The business houses of this town
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comprise a general store, a hardware and implement store, a feedmill and two blacksmith shops. One church graces the place, of the German Lutheran faith.
Douglas is one of the oldest towns in the county, and at one time occupied a position of importance in a political and commercial way. It was in 1884 that the site of Douglas was taken up as a place of residence by Ole Dale. In 1886 the townsite of Douglas was platted and the town entered the race for the county seat honors, and polled a number of votes. It is claimed that Douglas would have become the commercial center of the western Big Bend country and occupied the position now enjoyed by Waterville, had it not been for the over-confidence and nearsighted policy of the townsite proprietors. The first business enterprise in Douglas was a blacksmith shop instituted by Henry Thompson in the fall of 1885. In 1887 a general store was opened by S. Barnhart and the same year O. O. Wright put in a drug store, afterward for many years engaging in the general merchandise business. Following the county seat removal from Okanogan, and when that town had become but a memory, its place was taken by Douglas, and in 1887 it fell heir to the Okanogan postoffice.
Douglas is situated at the intersection of the Ritzville and Spokane Falls road, and was the nearest route from Ellensburg to the Salmon River mines of the Okanogan country. The rush to those mines in 1887-88 made the little town of Douglas an important one as a stopping point. Sunday morning, October 11, 1891, fire destroyed the general merchandise store of O. O. Wright. It was with great difficulty that the entire town was saved from destruction, owing to the prevailing heavy gale. The loss was about $4,000, insurance being carried for about one-half the loss.
STRATFORD.
This Shakesperian hamlet is located on the Great Northern railway, eight miles west of Wilsoncreek. Of this village the Big Bend Empire of date of September 16, 1897, said:
J. C. Atwood, Leonard F. Spear and many other settlers upon the public lands in township 22, north ranges 27, and 28 east, on the line of the Great Northern railway in Douglas county, Washington, have petitioned the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General for the establishment of a postoffice at Stratford station, to be known as Stratford, and for the appointment of Swen Kerr, of that place as postmaster. The nearest office at the present time is on the Great Northern railway at Wilsoncreek, eight miles east of Stratford station. The only other postoffice in that section of the county is at Coulee City, twenty miles north, and there is no wagon road between Coulee City and Stratford station.William Stevens was the pioneer merchant of Stratford and he was alone until the summer of 1902, when Young Brothers put in a store and lumber yard. J. T. Gollehon also established a lumber yard a few months before the Young Brothers. In 1903 Mr. Gollehon also built a hotel. Moore & Company are proprietors of a livery stable, blacksmith shop, flour and feed store and implement warehouse, all of which might be termed "diversified
The petition states that owing to the rapid construction of the Co-operative Company's irrigating ditch, and the consequent irrigation of the land there is certain to be a large community at Startford in the near future. Some of the signers of the petition live at a place known as Adrian, and these are compelled to travel sixteen miles for their mail. There is no wagon road, and they are obliged to follow the most convenient route along the railroad. For two months, this year, it is stated, these settlers could secure their mail at the Wilsoncreek postoffice only by crossing the flooded streams on railroad bridges. For these reasons immediate action has been urged on the part of the postoffice department.
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commercialism." A fine church has been erected and a number of dwellings completed.
The town of Stratford was platted January 17, 1903, by J. T. Young.
ORONDO.
Riverview Postoffice, or as it is more generally called, Orondo, is a little town on the Columbia river, ten miles southwest of Waterville. This is a landing for the steamers which ply the Columbia river and is Waterville's port of entry. Stages meet all boats and several trips a day are made between the river town and Waterville. At Orondo are a general store, a hotel and three grain warehouses. But the Orondo which enters more particularly into this history was the one a mile and a half above the present place, and which, at one period, was heavily boomed.
The townsite of Orondo, "the town which held the key," was platted by J. B. Smith, June 10, 1887. It was laid out along the river front. The streets were First, Second, Third and Fourth, and the avenues were Riverside, Orondo and Columbia. The first addition to Orondo was platted May 19, 1888, by Mr. Smith. The second addition, May 29, 1889, by the same party. The following is the copy of an advertisement which appeared in the Big Bend Empire February 16, 1888, showing that this Orondo was to be no common town:
Orondo has a boom in town lots and the era of building and industrial development has commenced to call that attention to her natural position and advantages that she is entitled to as the coming commercial and industrial emporium of the Big Bend. A glance at the map of Washington Territory will convince the eagle eye of the business man that Orondo holds the key to the future of great magnitude. A history of the Big Bend cannot be written without Orondo unlocking her stores of wealth contained in the rolling water of the mighty Columbia river in her long journey from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. A line drawn eastward from Puget Sound, near the Sixth Standard Parallel, will pass almost directly through Seattle, Orondo, Davenport and Spokane Falls, the four depots of industry that stand at the gateways of Puget Sound, the Columbia river and the Rocky Mountains that by virtue of their natural positions will control the commerce and manufactures of Central Washington.
Orondo is located on the east bank of the Columbia river, about one and one-half miles below the confluence of the Entiat river with the same, and is within five miles of the great wheat fields of the Big Bend. Her gardens will produce peaches, grapes, tomatoes, apples, pears, sweet potatoes and peanuts in semitropical luxuriance. Her splendid water power is now being improved so that power will be furnished for a roller mill to grind the flour of the Big Bend and the new steamer can transport it to the Salmon River mines and the upper country. The majestic cedars of the upper Columbia and the aspiring pines and firs of the Columbia and its tributaries can be sawn into lumber and manufactured into windows, doors, tubs, pails, furniture, pen holders, matches, etc., etc., while the wool of the thousands of sheep that graze on the hills can be manufactured into fabrics to keep the people warm.
The ore of the miner can be crushed and smelted and manufactured into implements of industry and the uses of man. It is contemplated to furnish water from the Columbia river to the citizens of Orondo to drink and irrigate their gardens. These are a few of the industrial fields open to practical men. Orondo was laid out in July, 1887, and already the proprietor has disposed of a half interest in the water power, and 150 town lots. A store has been running full blast for a few months, a hotel is to be built in the early spring and the water power is now being improved. A new steamer is to run from Rock Island to near the
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Salmon mines in the spring. Power and lots will be rented or sold for industrial and other purposes. For further information call on or write to J. B. Smith, Orondo, Badger Postoffice, Douglas county, Washington Territory.A later advertisement in the Empire stated that "a warehouse, newspaper, flouring mill, tannery and blacksmith shop were to be added to her store."
The altitude of Orondo, being only 665 feet above the ocean, the climate is grand and the productions almost semi-tropical — the growing of tobacco, sweet potatoes and peanuts has been fully tested with success, and the plum, prune, apricot, pear, cherry, grape, peach and apple mature to perfection without irrigation.
In 1899 a rival town was started at what was known as McMillan's Landing, and called Riverview. A correspondent in the Empire of January 25, 1900, facetiously wrote that "the booming new town of Riverview has caught up with Orondo — has three inhabitants and two vacant buildings."
RIVERVIEW.
About all that can be said of this place is embraced in the following: The postofiice was established in 1901. By order of the department it was removed from Orondo and the name changed. J. H. Mason is postmaster.
PORT COLUMBIA.
All towns which come into existence do not succeed in becoming the metropolis which their sanguine promoters plan. Some, in fact, are very short lived, but their brief careers often contain a modicum of history. Such a place was Port Columbia. July 23, 1891, the Big Bend Empire said:
A company styling itself the Port Columbia Townsite & Land Company has recently been organized. Its capital stock is $25,000, all of which is taken. It officers are H. W. Bonne, president; Walter Gerson, secretary ; J. P. Carvette, treasurer. These gentlemen are from Spokane. Frank R. Loucks, of Waterville, is general manager. The directors are H. W. Bonne, Walton Gerson, and I. W. Matthews, the latter also of Waterville. This company has purchased 400 acres of land on the banks of the Columbia river, about 40 miles from Waterville, and propose to there start a town to be called Port Columbia. The site chosen is opposite the mouth of the Okanogan river, on a long stretch of the south side of the Columbia river basin. They have put over $8,000 in cash into the enterprise and evidently mean businenss. Eighty acres is to be platted and cut up into business lots, the plat to be filed this week and the property put on the market at once. The company claims they have reserved eight blocks for a railroad at the request of the railroad officials; that they will build a $3,000 hotel in about a month; that Port Columbia will be the Columbia river terminus for the steamboat now being built by Birch Brothers, for Okanogan river service; that they will build a road to Central Ferry and also put in a propeller ferry at the town landing, and lastly that they have building stone directly south of the proposed townsite. They say further that that portion of their land which abutts the river is subirrigated, and as fine land as there is in the world.Port Columbia was platted July 24, 1891, by H. W. Bonne, Walter Gerson and I. W. Matthews, trustees Port Columbia Townsite & Land Company. Columbia Park Addition was platted December 28, 1891, by Ella Manntell, and Mantell's Riverside Addition, by Ella Mantell, the same date.
OTHER TOWNS.
Adrian is fifteen miles west of Wilsoncreek, on the line of the Great Northern railway, the junction of the Great Northern and the Adrian-Coulee City cut-off. It is simply a station containing a few railroad buildings.
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Bonita is a new postoffice in the northern part of the county.
Hammond is another new office and flag station across the Cohimbia river from Rock Island.
Pittsburg postoffice has recently been established in the southern part of the county, across the line from Lind, Adams county. Mr. Peters is postmaster.
Barry Postoffice is on the Columbia river in the northwestern portion of the county, 65 miles northeast of Waterville, and 35 miles northwest of Wilbur, which is its shipping point. It has one general store.
Brays is a postoffice at a landing on the Columbia river, 12 miles northwest of Waterville. It is a grain shipping point.
Bright is a country postoffice between Grand and Moses Coulees, 25 miles southeast of Waterville, and 17 miles north of Ephrata.
Dye Postoffice is 38 miles northeast of Waterville, and 8 miles west of Bridgeport. There are many other postoffices scattered throughout the county, in fact, Douglas county is very conveniently supplied with postal facilities.
Rock Island is a flag station on the Great Northern railway, where it crosses the Columbia river eleven miles southeast of Wenatchee. In 1892-3 Rock Island was a town of considerable importance and for a time supported several stores and other enterprises. For a few weeks a newspaper was published at this point. These lively times in Rock Island's history were due to the building of the railroad and the bridge across the Columbia river. Prior to the construction of the bridge the trains were ferried across the river by a steamer, the Nixon. In the spring of 1893 the mammoth bridge was completed and the first train crossed on Thursday, May 2, of that year. This event marked the downfall of the town of Rock Island. The laborers who had been employed at this point moved away and the business houses were discontinued. J. E. Keane was the founder and proprietor of the once flourishing town.
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