Would we return to the old conditions and times were we given our choice? We love to dwell upon the early times, the struggles, the happy hours, to think of those who were friends during those trying years, but we wish our county to keep pace with the progress of the whole Northwest. So we, in the future, as we have done in the past, as loyal united citizens, will boost for the educational, spiritual and civic growth of Asotin County.
We have given the personal reminiscences of pioneers of Walla Walla and Asotin counties. We are now giving something of the recollections of the first woman in what is now Columbia County, one of the pioneers of 1859, Mrs. Margaret Gilbreath:
S. L. Gilbreath and I were married at Albany, Ore., in March, 1859, and started at once for Washington Territory with a band of cattle, one wagon and team, and three herders.
At the Cascade Mountains two other men, John Wells and Tom Davis, with a wagon and cattle, joined us. We soon found it impossible to hurry on with the wagons, so they were left behind until the road was opened, the rest coming on with the stock. Pack horses carried the camp equipment. It was hard work opening up the trail on account of fallen trees and deep snow. We camped on Butter Creek and sent two men on to find suitable grazing land for our cattle. They returned in a few days reporting that good land with plenty of bunch grass could be homesteaded on the Touchet River. Having succeeded in bringing up our wagons under much difficulty, we continued on our way to Walla Walla.
Captain Dent, commander of Fort Walla Walla, stopped us and insisted that we settle near Walla Walla. We could not do this as the horses of the garrison had eaten all the grass from the range and we were looking for good pasture.
We inquired of the captain if we would be safe from the Indians if we went to the Touchet Valley. He assured us that the Indians were peaceable, which Mr. Gilbreath believed as he had served as volunteer through the Indian wars of 1855 and 1856, and knew of the Nez Percés fighting and scouting for the whites through the war. We found them always friendly, unless they had been drinking.
Leaving Walla Walla we proceeded on our way to The Crossing, which is now Dayton, reaching there August 27, 1859.
Mr. Stubbs, whose real name was Theodore Schnebley, lived here in a log house with his squaw wife. He sold whiskey to the Indians, thereby causing the whites much trouble. In coming into the Valley of the Touchet we left the Indian trail and came down a ravine, in some places having to shovel out places in the ravine to keep the wagons from turning over. These wagons were the first brought into the Touchet Valley.
The next day, after our arrival at The Crossing, we started to build a corral for the cattle, but discovered a den of rattlesnakes. After killing ten we decided to move down the valley to a fine location near a big spring of pure water. This land we homesteaded.