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.
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 […]
ARTHUR J. TAYLOR. – The subject of this sketch, whose portrait appears herein, was born in Staffordshire, England, on the 18th of August, 1857 When but two years of age his parents brought him to America, locating at Richmond, Virginia. Their residence there was but brief, as they soon removed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, perhaps
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
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
JOHN W. WAUGHOP, M.D. – The subject of this sketch was born in Tazewell county, Illinois, October 22, 1839, and is now in his fiftieth year. His early life was that common to boys on a Western farm, working in the summer and going to school in the winter. By the aid of private instruction,
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
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
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
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
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
