Section 9. The auditor of Asotin County shall have access to the records of Garfield County, without cost, for the purpose of transcribing and indexing such portions of the records of property as belongs to Asotin County, and his certificate of the correctness thereof shall have the same force and effect as if made by the auditor of Garfield County. It is hereby provided, however, that nothing in this act shall permit the record books of Garfield County to be removed from the office of its auditor.
Section 10. The salaries of the county officers of Asotin County shall be as follows, viz.: Auditor four hundred dollars ($400) per annum; treasurer, three hundred dollars ($300) per annum; probate judge, one hundred and fifty dollars ($150) per annum; school superintendent, forty dollars ($40) per annum; county commissioners, four dollars ($4) per day each, while at work on their official duties; and these salaries shall be their full compensation from the county treasury, and be in lieu of all other fees from the county.
Section 11. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.
Section 12. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval.
Approved October 27, 1883.
On November 12, 1882, the commissioners appointed by the Legislature, J. D. Swain, John Weisenfels, and William Critchfield, met at Mr. Schank's store in Asotin and effected a regular organization. Mr. Weisenfels was chosen chairman, and J. E. Bushel was appointed clerk. Rather curiously there seems to have been much rivalry among the citizens of the town to provide an official meeting place and it seems to have been rather the glory than the pecuniary emoluments which stirred their desires. Probably the motives behind the contention were connected with the two rival sites, that of Assotin City above and Asotin lower down the river. Alexander Sumpter was proprietor of the former site, and he offered his store, rent free for a year, together with necessary equipment and furniture. Mr. Schank offered his house on the Asotin site, rent free fora year. D. B. Pettyjohn offered his hall on the same terms. S. T. Jones offered to provide fuel gratis. As the rivals bid against each other they increased their offers. Mr. Schank added to the rent-free house the proposition of Mr. Pettyjohn to perform the duties of treasurer for the year for the nominal salary of $300, but to return the amount to the county. W. H. Wood strengthened this offer with a similar one to perform the duties of auditor at a salary of $400, but to refund the same. With these inducements Mr. Schank's offer gained the day. The rival locations were not far apart and the town has practically come to include the two.
The first assessment for the new county, made in 1884, was as follows: Real estate, $137,676; improvements, $40,211; personal, $227,021; total, $404,908. The acreage under cultivation was given at 5,532, and the total of deeded land as 42,918. The county census of 1885 showed a total population of 1,514. In the same year the report of production showed 300,000 bushels of wheat, 100,000 bushels of barley, and 50 tons of fruit.
In interesting comparison with those figures of 1885, we may take a jump ahead at this point to 1917, and give the summary of assessments as provided for us by the courtesy of E. W. Downen, county assessor: Value of live stock, $391,618; hay and grain in warehouses and in hands of producers, $412,095. The total of personal property, $1,245,540. That represents 50 per cent of the actual value. Real estate assessment, also 50 per cent of actual value, is this: Total number of acres assessed, 238,339.33; number of acres of orchard land, 4,649.36; other tillable farm land, 83,059; value of orchard land, $1,667,510; value of other farm land, $1,172,645; value of city property, $769,965; total real estate, $3,610,120.
Almost the first question that came before the voters of the county upon its creation was the determination of the county seat. Asotin and Theon were the chief contestants, with one vote for Anatone and two for Assotin City. The promoters of Assotin City announced before election day that they would not push the candidacy of their location, preferring to throw their strength to the twin place a mile down the river. The result of the election was: Asotin, 377; Theon, 106. Asotin has held the official headship to this day, though surpassed in population by Clarkston, and in more or less of chronic unrest lest the metropolis dispossess the older town. An election for a change occurred in 1916, but resulted in no change. The precincts participating in that first election, November, 1884, were: Asotin, Cottonwood, Grande Ronde, Lake and Pleasant.
The next political question of general interest was that of prohibition. That was a question that would not and could not down, for the reason that it involved ideas of right and wrong and economic efficiency on one side, and pecuniary gain or loss on the other. A local option law, allowing a decision by precincts had been passed by the Territorial Legislature in 1886, and, as a result, nearly every precinct in the state had a line-up, the general results being to show a powerful sentiment in favor of prohibition, but not enough to give a majority of precincts. The result in Asotin precinct was 69 to 70, lost by one vote. In Cottonwood precinct it was 77 to 27, very heavily affirmative. In Grande Ronde it was 12 to 21, lost. In Pleasant it was 15 to 6, more than two to one in favor.