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CHAPTER VI
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND SOCIAL-CULTURAL
ASPECTS OF SETTLEMENT
Law and Order
In 1891, an effort was made to create a new county from Douglas and Lincoln. A number of people in western Lincoln County and eastern Douglas county started a movement to create this new county with Wilbur as a county seat. They failed to gain the necessary support of the people and the movement ended unsuccessfully. 1
Citizens of Coulee City had served their community in county and state government by 1907. Alfred Pierpoint was appointed the first sheriff of Douglas County by the Legislature in 1884. Francis McCann was a Douglas County deputy sheriff in 1889, and Albert DeBolt was elected sheriff of Douglas County in 1900. Dan Paul was elected state senator in 1896, and John Lewis and Dan Twinning were Douglas County commissioners in 1888-92 and 1906-1907, respectively. 2
Organized government started in the town in 1907 when incorporation was completed. The petition was filed with the Douglas County Commissioners on May 6, 1907. After their approval
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1 Steele, pp. 112-115.
2 Ibid., p. 637. See also Coulee City News, May 20, 1949, pp. 7-8.
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it was filed with the Secretary of State on May 10, 1907. The election for incorporation as a fourth class city was held July 4, 1907. The following were the first officials of the new city's government: Mayor, A. W. DeBolt; Treasurer, A. L. Tucker; Councilmen, George McDonald, H. H. Hutton, Dan Jolly, Thomas Parry, and E. L. Oliwell. 3 Thus, Coulee City was a town in Douglas County when it incorporated.
An act creating Grant County was passed by the State Legislature and signed by Lieutenant Governor M. E. Hay on February 24, 1909. The territory comprising the new county of Grant had formerly been the southern part of Douglas County. 4 The division was made along the natural barrier of the west wall of the Grand Coulee. This placed Coulee City about three miles from the Douglas County line and in the northern half of Grant County. For a short time in 1909, it looked like Coulee City would become the county seat, as it was the oldest and largest town in the county. Poor location and lack of organization were the prime factors that caused the loss of the county seat to Ephrata. By 1916, citizens of Coulee City were elected to important positions in Grant County government. In that year Tom Twining was elected County Commissioner, and Nat Washington was prosecuting attorney.
Municipal services received by the citizens of Coulee City in the early days were usually provided by private individuals or volunteer labor. Dan Paul owned the first domestic
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3 City Clerk's Records, City Hall, Coulee City, Wash.
4 Hawley, p. 45.
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water system in the town. The system consisted of a few wooden mainlines with stand pipes. A fee of $1.50 per month was charged for water. After 1916, the town bought out Dan Paul and with the addition of the McEntee spring, a better water system was developed. 5 The June 20, 1890 edition of the Coulee City News ran a story on the improvement made in town by grading the main street, but did not provide any information on who paid for or supervised the work. 6 Appendix D shows the town plat in 1916.
Fires were a menace to the safety and welfare of the citizens and fire protection was on a voluntary basis. On the early morning of July 14, 1895, the wood work of the brick railroad round house burned. 7 The most destructive fire burned an entire block of the business district of town in 1903. 8 In 1906, a chemical fire engine was acquired after taking up a collection from the people. Between 1906 and 1920, the files of the Coulee City Dispatch contain numerous complaints about the poor fire protection in town. Another fire engine was added in 1920, but the department was not adequate for a large fire. The main task was to prevent fire from spreading and let the building on fire burn.
In 1911, Charles Weller, a 1908 civil engineering graduate of Washington State College, started a gasoline-powered generating plant in Coulee City. This first electric power
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5 Interview with Alf and Tom Twining, June, 1968.
6 Coulee City News, June 20, 2968.
7 Steele, p. 561.
8 Interview with Alf and Tom Twining, June, 1968.
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system for the town had an initial capacity of 25 KW. Later another 50 KW were added. Mr. Weller had over two miles of distribution line and served some 100 customers and 20 street lights. The cost for power was from five to ten cents per kilowatt hour. 9 The Grant County power Company purchased the system from Weller on July 8, 1916. 10 Consult Appendix E for a list of the business establishments of Coulee City in 1916-1917.
Cement sidewalks were poured on Main Street in 1916, but the street itself was in dire need of repair. General obligation bonds were issued in 1921 to obtain funds for street construction. By 1916, the town also needed a sewer system. The Coulee City Dispatch reported that "the town is preparing for an epidemic of typhoid unless something is done about the pools of stagnant water and open cesspools." 11 The town issued bonds for a sewer system in 1919 and the system constructed served until 1939. 12
It is most difficult to put together a picture of law and order during the early days of Coulee City. There were few so-called bad men in Douglas County--only a few horse thieves and gunmen, but no organized bands of outlaws. The county was too poor to attract the robber barons that were common in the Southwest. Most of the early stockmen carried weapons, usually
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9 Back Through the Pages of History, p. 22.
10 Coulee City Dispatch, July 14, 1916, p. 5
11 Ibid., August 18, 1916, 0. 5
12 City Clerk's Records.
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a side arm or rifle. People were sometimes shot in disputes arising over livestock and water rights.
One of the most famous of these quarrels took place north of Coulee City on Northrup Creek about 1900. Sam Dillman and Joe Stubblefield got in a dispute over livestock. Dillman was afraid of getting beaten so he shot Stubblefield in the stomach and fled. Old Joe managed to get help from a neighbor who sent to Wilbur for Dr. Yount. The doctor arrived many hours later and used a kitchen table in a homestead shack as his operating table. Dr. Yount opened the stomach cavity of the patient, removed the bullet and washed the area with salt water. After the operation was finished, he had little hope for recovery, but Stubblefield was a tough old character and lived for many years afterward. *
In 1902, Harry Tracy, one of the most notorious killers in the Pacific Northwest, passed through town on his way east. He stopped, ate a meal, and cared for his horses in Coulee City. He did not bother anyone, nor did they disturb him except to gather in a crowd and watch him. They collected souvenir hairs from the tail of his horse. 13 Tracy met his death at the hands of a Lincoln County posse near Creston, Washington, in 1902. **
During the railroad construction era, the Coulee City News reported bad cases of drunkenness and fist fights taking place in town. The first marshal hired by the city was Ben Dyer in 1907. 14 Up to this time, law and order was maintained
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* Another account of the Stubblefield shooting has been published in this blog in post 24 of From Pioneers to Power, p. 131. - C. S.
13 Interview with Alf and Tom Twining, June, 1968.
** An account of the Harry Tracy episode is found in An Illustrated History of the Big Bend Country, (1906), pp. 118-124, which has also been published in this blog. -- C. S.
14 Interview with Alf and Tom Twining, June, 1968.
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through the Douglas County sheriff's office. The early law enforcement officers usually allowed irate citizens to settle their disputes by fists but stopped gun and knife play.
In 1908, the citizens voted the town dry; this status remained until the abolishment of national prohibition in 1932. Poor enforcement of prohibition laws was common. Moonshine and bootlegging activities increased after the passage of the National Prohibition Law in 1918. The people in the area were in a state of financial depression due to the drought. The many isolated coulees and springs provided a good location for stills. A lucrative business developed for a few people in the manufacture of illegal whiskey. The sheriff's office conducted some feeble raids, but few arrests were made because the law breakers were hard to catch in the scabland maze.
In February, 1924, the most famous manhunt in the history of the town took place. Owen Hudson, who lived south of Coulee City in Dry Coulee, became mentally deranged and killed his brother. Next he shot a neighbor, Ira Slaten, slaten's wife, and Glen Pugh. Slaten and Pugh died and a large posse of local citizens organized to hunt Hudson down. After a chase through the scablands Hudson killed himself and later was found by the posse. 15
Some of the early settlers had a fear of the Indians that was a result of unpleasant experiences in the East or of the publicity given to the Custer Massacre or Nez Perce War.
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15 Coulee City Dispatch, February 8, 1924, p. 5.
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Homesteaders' wives and children were frightened by the appearance of Indians as they moved through the region. There is no evidence of the Indians molesting people or proving to be a menace, even though the area experienced a number of so-called Indian scares, most of which resulted from incidents happening outside the region. the first occurred in 1883 over the unsettled reservation status of the Columbias. Another took place in January, 1891, when an innocent Indian boy was hanged for a murder by a lynch mob at Ruby. A supply of arms was sent to Coulee City by rail, but they were never used and peace was restored. 16
It was a common sight to see Indians at Coulee City during the annual Fourth of July celebration. Chief Moses attended numerous times, and his tribesmen put on a good horse race show. 17 After the southern half of the Colville Reservation was opened for mineral entry in 1898, the liquor traffic to the Indians from Wilbur and Coulee City increased. This contributed to minor conflicts between the Red Man and the Whites. 18
Postal service began in 1888 when George Roberts was appointed the first postmaster of McEntee. He later turned the job over to Tom Parry, his brother-in-law. Healy Brimble was the next postmaster and Eugene Edison served past 1925. About 1924, the name of the town was shortened to Coulee. Little
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16 Ruby and Brown, pp. 280-281.
17 Ibid., pp. 270-290.
18 Ibid., p. 286.
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information is available regarding this change, but mail was postmarked Coulee until April 30, 1937, when the original name Coulee City is restored. 19
Churches
The first recorded religious service was held in eastern Douglas County in 1883, when Reverend Charles Yungck conducted a service in German at his home. 20 In the western part of the Big Bend, the Reverend Richard Corbabey preached his first sermon at the funeral of C. Harvey Day on June 26, 1884. Reverend Corbabey performed the first marriage ceremony in the county during the same year, uniting Jesse Wallace and Jessie Soper. 21
Of course, there was unorganized group worship in the area before a church was formed. An informal church began at St. Andrews in 1891 and resulted in the official organization of a church there on September 28, 1894. 22 This church was served by Reverend McArthur, Presbyterian minister from Entiat. It is not known whether the minister held regular Sunday services. The St. Andrews Presbyterian Church had 14 charter members and continued services until it was disbanded October 3, 1911.
The first organized religious services to be held in the town of Coulee City were conducted by Reverend James Howell in 1899. Howell rode horseback from his homestead north of Almira
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19 City Clerk's Records
20 Steele, p. 531.
21 Ibid., p. 534.
22 Interview with Mr. and Mrs. Everett Rice, June, 1968.
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| 2008 google street view |
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to conduct these services in the schoolhouse. He moved his family to Coulee City in 1900, and being a man of letters, he served as the U. S. Land Commissioner for the area. Reverend Howell helped organize the Presbyterian Church of Coulee City on July 31, 1904, 21 charter members, and continued as minister for a few years. 23 A church was built three years later.
Other religious services were conducted in the community by either itinerant preachers or ministers from neighboring towns. These services were of an interdenominational nature. The trend was towards a community church as there was a great variety of faiths and a shortage of ministers. A group of Methodists held worship services here around 1906 in a building where the old Weller apartment building now stands. Mr. Harris, who had a homestead up the Coulee near Steamboat Rock, was the preacher and directed the choir. He also conducted church and Sunday school services in the Lakeview Schoolhouse, near his homestead. 24
The Danish people organized a Lutheran Church at St. Andrews shortly after 1906. The church continued in operation until it burned in 1923. The later years a minister came every other Sunday from Wilbur. 25
The Immanuel Presbyterian Church, the second Presbyterian Church in Coulee City, was organized on February 22, 1912. Reverend John Thomson served this congregation of 45 members. This
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23 Coulee City News, may 13, 1949, p. 4.
24 Interview with Helen Schiebner, June, 1968.
25 Interview with Mr. and Mrs. Chris Jorgensen, July, 1968.
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congregation grew to 50 members in 1914 and 60 members by 1917. Apparently this was about the peak of growth for this church and it was served by Reverend Foscett at the time. Membership had declined to 30 members by 1919.
The two Presbyterian Churches became one on March 5, 1923, with Reverend Mitchelmore as minister. The combined membership was 80 souls. This church has a stable membership and is one of the largest churches in the community today. 26
One of the most interesting personalities in the Big Bend country in the early days was the Presbyterian minister Reverend H. M. Course, sometimes referred to as the Jackrabbit Minister. With two sound feet and sometimes a bicycle, Reverend Course traveled the region holding religious services. The place of meeting might be a home, schoolhouse, or church building, but people would gather to hear this missionary speak. He came to Wilson Creek in 1905, and later served the Coulee City Presbyterian Church from 1945 until his retirement. 28
Sundays were family days for many of the early settlers. After the morning chores were completed, the family would dress
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26 Coulee City News, May 13, 1949, p. 4.
27 Coulee City Dispatch, July 28, 1916, p. 5
28 Coulee City News, May 13, 1949, p. 4.
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in their Sunday best, take along the makings of a lunch, and go to church. After a morning church and Sunday school service, a potluck dinner was prepared. The afternoon was spent in games and conversation with neighbors. Then a short evening service was conducted, and the people went home to do their chores. Church was a social gathering, as well as a religious service.
In addition to the religious services for the people in the community, there are some other records that should be mentioned. Nellie Rusho was the first white child born in eastern Douglas County. She was born November 24, 1883, to Frank and Magdaline Rusho, who lived northeast of Coulee City. 29 On May 9, 1888, Walter Gilbert was born to Mr. and Mrs. Riley Gilbert. This family lived about six miles west of Coulee City, and Walter was the first white child born between the coulees. 30
The first white baby to be born at Coulee City was Thomas Twining. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Dan Twining and was born June 19, 1889. The first baby girl to be born here was a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Roberts on October 1, 1891. She was named Evelyn. 31
The first recorded death after Coulee City became a town was listed in the Coulee City News: "Lena Williams 6 month old daughter of James Williams was killed June 1, 1890 by a runaway team." 32 A cemetery was established about one mile north out of
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29 Steele, p. 531.
30 Coulee City News, May 13, 1949, p. 6.
31 Ibid., May 20, 1949, p. 7.
32 Coulee City News, June 20, 1890, p. 3.
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town on the floor of the Coulee. This cemetery was used extensively until 1920. It was then abandoned and left to the sagebrush and bunch grass until the Coulee City Women's Club did considerable restorative work in 1967. Philip McEntee, the founder of Coulee City, suffered a fall from a horse in 1898 and died as a result of these injuries on July 8, 1901. He is buried in this pioneer cemetery.
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Considerable information about Douglas County and Coulee City, and Biographical Sketches of a number of the people mentioned in Les' book, are contained in the 1906 book, An Illustrated History of the Big Bend Country, much of which has been published in this blog. I have also posted a list of the people buried in the Pioneer Cemetery. My mother was president of the women's club at the time of the above mentioned restorative work. -- C. S.
Douglas County (two chapters in six parts):
ch. 1, pt. 1, p. 521 ch. 1, pt. 2, p. 527 ch. 1, pt. 3, p. 534
ch. 1, pt. 4, p. 539 ch. 2, pt. 1, p. 545 ch. 2, pt. 2, p. 551
Coulee City
John R. Lewis
Philip McEntee
Daniel Paul
George R. Roberts
Perry T. Sargeant
Daniel Twining
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