Washington Territory

Washington Territory, established on March 2, 1853, by the United States Congress, was formed from part of the Oregon Territory, which encompassed the present-day states of Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming. This division was prompted by the increasing population of American settlers north of the Columbia River, who sought a separate territorial government due to the logistical challenges of governing a large and geographically diverse area from Oregon City, the capital of the Oregon Territory. Named after George Washington, the first President of the United States, the territory’s formation was integral to the westward expansion and settlement policies of the mid-19th century United States. The territorial capital was initially located at Olympia, a choice that reflected the significance of the Puget Sound area as a center for trade, politics, and settlement. During its existence, Washington Territory was a focal point for significant economic development, including the timber industry, mining, and the establishment of trade routes and settlements that laid the groundwork for the state’s future growth. Washington Territory became the 42nd state of the United States on November 11, 1889, marking the culmination of a 36-year period of territorial governance that shaped the region’s political, economic, and social landscape.

Our 1938 Mission in Alaska

We have undertaken to establish a mission school among the Arctic Eskimo Indians of Alaska. The location is to be at Point Prince of Wales at Behrings Strait, the westernmost point of the mainland of America and nearest to Asia. Its distance from the North Pole has not yet been ascertained. The inhabitants are described by Capt. Charles H. Stockton, of the United States Navy, as “the boldest and most aggressive people of all the Arctic coast. They are such a turbulent crowd that the whalers are afraid to visit them and consequently give them a wide berth. It is … Read more

Biography of George D. Shannon

GEORGE D. SHANNON. – This well-known contractor, banker and successful farmer is a man whom Nature fitted with qualities that inevitably guide their possessor to success. He was born in what is now Schuyler county, New York, December 20, 1832, and is the son of Thomas and Mehitable (Corwin) Shannon. At the age of sixteen he entered upon business for himself, and with an abundance of self-reliance began railroading, following that and other employments until 1854. Soon afterwards he came to St. Paul, Minnesota, accepting employment for a large lumber company. In 1858 he was appointed superintendent of construction of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Gilmore Hays

Gilmore Hays was a native of Kentucky, but resided in Missouri, where he was district judge, when the gold discovery drew him to California. Returning to Missouri, he led a train of immigrants to Oregon in 1852, and in 1833 settled on Des Chutes River near the head of Budd Inlet. The year 1852 was the time of the cholera on the plains, and Hays lost his wife and two children, who were buried near Salmon Falls of Snake River, together with the wife of B. F. Yantis. There remained to him three sons, James H., Charles, and Robert, and … Read more

Biography of Albert H. Tanner

ALBERT H. TANNER. – Albert H. Tanner was born in what was at one time a part of the Oregon Territory; but, when Congress cut the territory in two and made Oregon and Washington Territories, it left him in Washington Territory, with the mighty Columbia between him and his now much-loved Oregon. His birthplace was on what is commonly known as Cape Horn Mountain, some fifty or sixty miles below the Cascades. In a little log cabin, the favorite habitat of the early settler of this Western country, on the 9th of September, 1855, the subject of this sketch first … Read more

Biography of William H. Whittlesey

WM. H. WHITTLESEY.- This popular young gentleman, who has brought to our coast a business capacity and enthusiasm of progress which augers well for the city in which he has made his home, was born in Virginia August 8, 1858, and is a son of the gallant Major Joseph H. Whittlesey of the United States Army. The mother, Kate K. Fauntleroy, belonged to one of the first families of the Old Dominion. The son William, of whom we write, remained in the south while his father, the major, was transferred to the Department of the Columbia, having command of Fort … Read more

Tradition of Steptoe Butte

In the fall of 1878 the family of which the writer, then a boy of twelve years, was a member, arrived in the Palouse country, Washington Territory, and secured temporary quarters on the Palouse River where the town of Elberton has since been built. At that time it was the site of a sawmill owned and operated by the well-known and highly respected pioneer, G. D. Wilber. One night during the winter that followed, in company with an older brother, we were driving the horses in from the hills to be stabled and fed. It was a most beautiful night. … Read more

Biography of William Ranck

WILLIAM RANCK. – This representative citizen of Clarke county was born at East Waterford, Pennsylvania, in 1829. At the age of five years his parents moved to Huntington county in the same state, one and one-half miles from Shade Gap postoffice, where he received the common-school education of that early time which consisted chiefly of the “three R’s.” At the age of seventeen he went to Shirleysburg to learn the trade of a wagon and carriage maker. After some years of employment at Germantown, and at other points in Pennsylvania and Virginia, on the 1st day of April, 1852,he left … Read more

Biography of George Benson Kuykendall, M.D.

GEORGE BENSON KUYKENDALL, M.D. – This gentleman, one of the foremost physicians of Eastern Washington, was born near Terre Haute, Indiana, in the year 1843. When three years old he was taken by his father’s family to Wisconsin. In 1852 the family set out on the long, hard journey to the Pacific slope. That was the sad year of cholera and pestilence. Being somewhat late in starting, the Kuykendall family followed in the wake of sickness and death, the mournful evidences of which were most vividly impressed on the mind of the boy who afterwards became the man here described. … Read more

Biography of William H. Peterson

WILLIAM H. PETERSON. – Mr. Peterson, an excellent portrait of whom is placed in this history, was born in West Virginia, August 31, 1836, and removed to Missouri in 1868. He became a teacher of schools and a collector of taxes in the latter state, and was so efficient in the position last-named as to remain in office three terms. In 1876 he put behind him the vast plains of the Mississippi, and even the more expanded region of the Rocky Mountains, and made his home by the Western sea in California. Over the northern part of that state he … Read more

Biography of Hon. Robert F. Sturdevant

HON. ROBERT F. STURDEVANT. – Mr. Sturdevant is known as the pioneer lawyer of Dayton, Washington, and is one of its most enterprising citizens. His birthplace was Warren county, Pennsylvania; and the date was November 18, 1841. About eighteen months after that important event in his history, his parents moved to Iowa, and settled in Lee county. There they remained until 1854, when they removed to Clark county, Wisconsin. There Robert attended school, and in 1860 began the study of law. He was engaged in professional study and practice till 1873, when, in company with his father and mother and … Read more

Biography of Hon. William Strong

HON. WILLIAM STRONG. – There is no name more thoroughly associated with Oregon and Washington judicature than that of William Strong. His marked characteristics are indelibly impressed upon the system of law of both states, especially that of the latter. To long and distinguished service as associate justice of the supreme court, and in the ex-officio character of judge of the district courts in both states while they were territorial governments, must be added his connection with their legislation, and also his brilliant career as a law practitioner, for over a generation, in all the courts of both states. He … Read more

Biography of Charles Biles

Charles Biles was born in Warren County, Tennessee, in Aug. 1809, and reared on a farm in North Carolina, removing when 19 years old to Christian County, Kentucky. In 1832 he married, and in 1835 removed to Illinois, soon returning to Hopkins County, Kentucky, where he resided until 1853, when he emigrated to Washington Territory in company with his brother James, their families, and C. B. Baker, Elijah Baker, and William Downing, and their families, being a part of the first direct immigration to the territory, via the wagon road through the Nachess pass. Mr Biles settled upon Grand Mound … Read more

History of Steptoe Butte

The line of longitude 117 degrees and 8 minutes W. crosses the line of latitude 47 degrees and 2 minutes N. very near the summit of Steptoe butte. It is beautifully and symmetrically proportioned, being cone-like in shape; its north and east faces, however, fall away with greater abruptness than either the south or west elevations, the west being elongated by a ridge sloping from near its mid-side to the general level of its base. The steepness of the north and east sides is such as to render ascent from those directions laborious and difficult, even to the footman. The … Read more

Biography of Capt. William Benjamin Wells

CAPT. WILLIAM BENJAMIN WELLS. – This skillful early navigator of the Willamette and the Columbia, and one of the first projectors of the great steamboat and transportation companies of the later time, was born in Ogdensburg, New York, July 18, 1822, and at that port imbibed his love of the water which followed him his whole after life. At the age of twelve he moved with his father to the western district of Upper Canada, remaining in that province until his marriage in 1844 to Miss Mary J. Richardson. The young pair, who were very much devoted to each other, … Read more

Biography of Edward Thomas Young

EDWARD THOMAS YOUNG. – Young’s Hotel, at the capital of Washington Territory, is a conspicuous building, well known to the traveling public and to the members of the legislature, and is the pride of the city. Its proprietor, whose name it bears, is a native of London, England. He was born in 1846. At an early age he crossed the water and lived with his parents at Newcastle, Canada. Subsequently he went to Bruce county, near Lake Huron, where he worked at the carpenter’s trade and general building, and acquired the means to cross the continent. He came with a … Read more

Biography of Hon. Amos F. Tullis

HON. AMOS F. TULLIS. – Amos F. Tullis was born January 6, 1830, at Carthage, Rush county, Indiana. Both of his parents were natives of Ohio, and, having migrated to Indiana, followed farming. At the age of five years his mother died; and five years later his father followed her to the great silent majority, leaving a family of four sons and two daughters, of whom Amos was the fourth child. He lived on the farm of his parents until 1846, when he accompanied an older sister with her husband to Iowa. He resided at Mount Pleasant, Burlington and Ottumwa … Read more

Indian Grievances and Camp Stevens Treaty

Long before the Indian buried his tomahawk and ceased to make war upon the white man, the government adopted the policy of inquiring into the causes of his grievances and in cases where such grievances could be conciliated without jeopardizing the interests of the government or of bonafide citizens, that step was usually attempted. In the investigation of these matters it was found that in some instances the difficulty grew out of some act of the government itself, interpreted by the Indians to be detrimental to their interests; in some, from the wanton encroachment of irresponsible citizens; and yet in … Read more

Biography of Edgar J. Webster

EDGAR J. WEBSTER. – Mr. Webster not only has a claim upon our interests as a citizen of Washington Territory, but also as a veteran of the war. Born in Michigan in 1847, he was of an age, at the commencement of hostilities, to enter the army, whither his father and three brothers had already gone. At the battle of Cold Harbor, he was shot through both legs, and after a year’s confinement in the hospital returned home and pursued the legal and special literary course at the State University. During the last year of his course, he was appointed … Read more

Biographical Sketch of I. L. Scammon

Another Chehalis County pioneer is I. L. Scammon, who was born in Maine in 1822, came to California in 1849-50, making the voyage on the 63-ton schooner Little Traveler. In the autumn of 1850 he took passage for the Columbia River, which was passed by mistake, the vessel making Shoalwater bay. Making his way overland to the Columbia, he went to Salem, Oregon, and to the southern mines, but returning to Washington Territory took a donation claim on the Chehalis River, where the old town of Montesano, now known as Wynoochee, grew up about him. He married Miss Lorinda Hopkins … Read more

Cropp, James – Obituary

James Silas Cropp, 76, died in Richland, Oreg, Thursday morning a the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Oran [Orin] Clemons. He was born Nov. 1, 1876 in Whitman County, Washington Territory, the son of W. F. And Margaret Cropp. He moved to Eagle Valley as a young man with his parents in 1894 and settled. He was married to Anna Jane Simonis Feb. 21, 1900. They moved to 2425 Balm street where they resided t the time of his death. They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary here in 1950, with all seven of their children attending. … Read more