RICHARD J. TOMPKINS
In the spring of 1889 Mr. Tompkins bought a quit claim deed to a preemption of eighty acres, on which he filed as a preemption. He rigged up a five horse gang plow, plowed his own place and then hired out to plow for others, utilizing all his time that summer and fall in that manner. In 1890 he bought eighty acres adjoining, proved up on the preemption and mortgaged the one hundred and sixty acres. He cultivated his farm and continued to work out for others during those hard times. In the summer of 1892 he kept account of the days which he devoted to his own crop, and figuring his labor at the same price which he received when working for others, his wheat crop, which was a bounteous one, cost him in labor twenty-five cents per bushel and he hauled to market a mile and a half, where he received twenty-five and a half cents per bushel. The price of wheat continued low until 1896, selling from twenty-five to fifty cents per bushel, and the four years from 1893 until 1896 inclusive were years of crop failure on the Flats. Mr. Thompkins was keeping bachelor's hall and trying to hold his farm, but he determined that if he was not successful with his 1896 crop he would make no further effort to retain his land. Therefore, in January, 1897, he deeded his land to the mortgage company, they releasing him free from debt, and all he had left for his eight years of work was twelve head of horses at a value of about twenty-five dollars per head. During this time he received eight hundred dollars from his father's estate, which also went into the maelstrom. In the spring of 1897 he had six hundred acres of wheat in fallow and three hundred acres of stubble, with his lease expiring in November. The Oregon Mortgage Company wanted him to surrender his lease of three hundred acres without any compensation but Mr. Tompkins demanded fifty cents an acre. The company refusing to pay it, he turned in and sowed it to wheat in March and harvested forty-five bushels to the acre in the fall. This sold at a better price which gave him his start. He then bought back his one hundred and sixty acre claim for three hundred dollars less than he had deeded it over to the mortgage company and he also bought one hundred and sixty acres adjoining. In the fall of 1897 he planted his three hundred and twenty acres to wheat and in the spring of 1898 returned to Missouri.
While in the middle west Mr. Tompkins was united in marriage to a Missouri girl, Miss Mattie L. Hayden, the wedding being celebrated on the 8th of June, 1898. In the latter part of June he returned with his bride to Washington and located on his old homestead, where he lived through the summer, harvesting his crop, and in November following took up his abode in Walla Walla. In December of the same year he bought eight hundred acres adjoining his homestead, for which he paid at an average of eighteen dollars per acre.
In February, 1899, he returned to the farm and resided thereon until the fall of 1905, when he again moved into Walla Walla, having in the meantime erected his present commodious residence, which is one of the attractive homes of the city. In the intervening years he had added to his holdings from time to time until his landed possessions now aggregate twenty-eight hundred acres and he is one of the substantial farmers of Walla Walla county. Success at length crowned his labors and was well deserved as a fitting reward for his indefatigable industry, his perseverance, his courage and his persistency. Mr. Tompkins was the first farmer of his county to branch out into the "bulk wheat system" and built the first concrete elevator in the country in Walla Walla county. He found the change profitable and the system will probably be generally adopted by the farmers in this region.
In 1908 Mr. Tompkins was called upon to mourn the loss of his first wife, who passed away on the 13th of October of that year, leaving two children, Veryl and Richard. On the 1st of June, 1911, he wedded Daisy W. Wilson, a teacher in the Green Park school of Walla Walla and a daughter of James Wilson, one of the early pioneer settlers of Walla Walla county. There are three children of this marriage: Morton, Paul and Mary Anna.
The parents are members of the Nazarene church and are loyal to its teachings and purposes. In politics Mr. Tompkins largely maintains an independent course but leans toward the democratic party. He has become one of the substantial citizens of the Walla Walla valley and certainly deserves much credit and honor for what he has accomplished. With stout heart and willing hands he has pushed forward and in the course of years his life record has proven the eternal principle that industry wins.