Lyman's History of old Walla Walla County, Vol. 1 / Embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties

by William Denison Lyman

Fourth. That provision shall be made for the establishment and maintenance of systems of public schools, which shall be open to all the children of said states and free from sectarian control."

In accordance with the Enabling Act, the Constitutional Convention of Washington Territory met at Olympia, July 4, 1889. The constitution prepared during the fifty-day session was ratified at the polls on October 1, 1889. Of the seventy-five members of the convention three represented Walla Walla, two were from Dayton, and one from Pomeroy. It may be safely said that every one was a man in whose knowledge and judgment his fellow citizens could repose confidence, while the personal character of each was such as to secure the hearty affection of his community. The entire convention, in fact, was a body of whom the state has always been proud, and being to a peculiar degree the result of popular choice the election of such men is a convincing evidence of the worth and capacity of democratic institutions. Not the least of the counties to be congratulated on their choices were those composing Old Walla Walla.

The members of the convention from Walla Walla included two of the foremost lawyers of the territory, Judge B. L. Sharpstein, whose long life left a legacy of good deeds to his city and state and whose foremost position at the bar has been maintained by his sons, and D. J. Crowley, one of the most brilliant lawyers ever known in the state, whose residence in Walla Walla was short, though his influence was great. His early death was a great loss to the state. Dr. N. G. Blalock, the "Good Doctor," honored and loved perhaps beyond any other man in the history of Walla Walla, was the other representative of his county. It was a source of just pride to Doctor Blalock that he was the author of the provision forbidding the sale of school land at less than ten dollars per acre. By this and other allied provisions the school lands have been handled in such a way as to provide a great sum for the actual use of the children of the commonwealth, instead of being shamefully squandered by culpable officials, as has been the experience in some states, notably our sister state of Oregon. Judge Sharpstein and Doctor Blalock were democrats in political faith, but neither was a partisan. Mr. Crowley was a republican.

S. G. Cosgrove of Pomeroy was the representative of Garfield and Asotin counties, one of the best of men and one of the ablest lawyers of his section, later elected governor of the state, but dying almost immediately after his inauguration, to the profound regret of men of all parties. He was an independent republican in politics. He had been a college classmate and intimate friend of Vice President Fairbanks. The delegates from Columbia County were M. M. Godman, a democrat, one of the leading lawyers and foremost politicians of the state, subsequently a member of the Public Service Commission of the State, and R. F. Sturdevant, a republican, also a lawyer of high ability and well proven integrity, afterwards the superior judge of this district.

By the twenty-second article of the Constitution the legislature was so apportioned that Asotin and Garfield counties constituted the Sixth Senatorial District entitled to one senator and each was entitled to one representative in the House; Columbia became the Seventh District, having one senator and two representatives; and Walla Walla composed the Eighth District with two senators, and in the House three representatives.

The first legislature of 1889-90 had in its senate, from our four counties, C. G. Austin of Pomeroy for Garfield and Asotin; H. H. Wolfe of Dayton for Columbia; Platt Preston of Waitsburg and George T. Thompson of Walla Walla for Walla Walla. The representatives were: William Farrish of Asotin City for Asotin and Garfield; H. B. Day of Dayton and A. H. Weatherford of Dayton for Columbia; and J. M. Cornwell of Dixie, J. C. Painter of Estes, and Z. K. Straight of Walla Walla for Walla Walla County.

That first legislature enacted that the senate should henceforth consist of thirty-four members, and the house of seventy-eight; that the counties of Garfield, Asotin, and Columbia should constitute the Eighth Senatorial District, entitled to one senator; that the counties of Franklin and Adams, and the Third and Fourth wards of the City of Walla Walla, and the precincts of Wallula, Frenchtown, Lower Touchet, Prescott, Hadley, Eureka, Hill and Baker, of Walla Walla County, should constitute the Ninth Senatorial District, entitled to one senator; that the First and Second wards of the City of Walla Walla, and the precincts of Waitsburg, Coppei, Dry Creek, Russell Creek, Mill Creek, Washington, and Small, should compose the Tenth Senatorial District, entitled to one senator; that Asotin should constitute the Eighth Representative District with one representative; Garfield, the Ninth with one representative; Columbia, the Tenth with one; the First and Second wards of Walla Walla City, with the precincts of Waitsburg, Coppei, Dry Creek, Russell Creek, Mill Creek, Washington, and Small, the Eleventh District with one representative; and the Third and Fourth wards of Walla Walla City, with the precincts of Wallula, Frenchtown, Lower Touchet, Prescott, Hadley, Eureka, Hill, and Baker, the Twelfth District with one representative.

Such was the induction of the State of Washington into the Union, and the representation of our four counties in the first Legislature. We shall give later the delegations to subsequent legislatures, with the lists of county officers.

Politics in the new state bubbled vigorously at once and during the twenty-seven years of statehood Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield, and Asotin have played their full parts in state affairs. To enter into an extended account of state politics is beyond the scope of this work. We can speak of it only at its points of contact with our county history.