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

by William Denison Lyman

A number of the pioneers of 1858-59 had been connected with those wars, either as members of the United States army or as volunteers. Others came from Oregon and California, full of the restless spirit of the country and time, eager for the possibilities of a new land. Those first locations were mainly in the near vicinity of the present City of Walla Walla, with a few on the Touchet. While it is hardly possible to avoid some omissions, we will endeavor to present a list of those who, most of them with families, settled in the years named, a few coming even prior to 1858. Some of them, it may be stated, came and "looked" and then returned for family or equipment and came back in a year for a permanence. A few here given left the country after a few years, and others were simply transients. But in general they with their families became essential factors in the upbuilding life of the region. Among them were business men and professional men, but the majority were stockmen. It was not realized that the general body of upland was adapted to grain production. The first settlers generally sought locations convenient to water, with bottom land where they thought grain and vegetables might flourish, but with the range of luxuriant bunch-grass as the essential consideration. Apparently the first to become actually established in permanent locations were Thomas Page, James Foster, Charles Russell, J. C. Smith, Christian Maier, John Singleton, and Joseph McEvoy, all in the near vicinity of Fort Walla Walla. That fort, it should be understood, was the one of the present location, laid out in 1857, following the first American fort of the name in the city limits of Walla Walla on Mill Creek near the American Theater of today. Among the pioneer business men of the same time were three worthy of special note whose coming inaugurated the business history of Walla Walla. These were Dorsey S. Baker, Almos H. Reynolds, and William Stephens. Worthy of special mention in this connection is Mrs. Almos H. Reynolds, the first white woman to reside in the Walla Walla Valley, after the period of the Whitman Mission. Mrs. Reynolds, nee Lettice Millican, was a member of the immigration of 1843, lived during childhood and youth in Oregon, was married to Ransom Clark and came with him in 1855 to a donation land claim on Yellowhawk Creek. Driven from their home by the Indian War of 1855, Mr. and Mrs. Clark returned to Oregon, and there Mr. Clark died in 1859. With remarkable fortitude and courage, Mrs. Clark returned at once to complete residence and make proof on the valuable claim, the Government having cancelled the lapse of time covered by the wars. In 1861 Mrs. Clark was married to Mr. Reynolds and the remainder of the lives of both was spent in the city which they did so much to advance.

In connection with the reference to the Ransom Clark donation land claim, it is of interest to record the fact that there were five such claims established in the Walla Walla Valley. To those not familiar with the early history of Oregon it may be well to explain that the Provisional Government in 1843 provided that each American citizen in Oregon might locate 320 acres of land, or each married couple might have double that amount. That offer was one of the great incentives to immigration, though it would, of course, have been nugatory if the United States had not got the country. When Oregon was acquired by the United States that law was confirmed by Congress. The law lasted but ten years after the acquisition of Oregon, and almost all the locations under it were in the Willamette and Umpqua valleys. There were a few, however, in the Cowlitz Valley and on the north side of the Columbia and on streams entering Puget Sound. Mr. and Mrs. Clark were the only locators who came here from the Willamette Valley purposely to locate a donation claim. There were, however, three former members of the Hudson's Bay Company who located donation claims in the vicinity of Frenchtown. These were Louis Dauney, Narcisse Remond (or Raymond it appears on the Land Office map), and William McBean. In addition to those four donation claims, the United States Government allowed the American Foreign Missionary Society a square mile of land at the Whitman Mission, and in 1859 Cushing Eells purchased their right and established himself upon the claim. The St. Rose Mission also had a filing at Frenchtown, but did not complete proof.

THE ORIGINAL RANSOM CLARK CABIN

Built in 1859, and occupied by Mrs. Clark, then a widow, and her three children, who are now living in Walla Walla and who appear in the picture; Charles W. Clark, Lizzie Clark (Mrs. B. L. Baker), and William S. Clark]

A number of names of the "advance guard" will be found in this chapter under the heads of county and city officials. In order, however, to present all in one view, we are giving here as complete a list as possible of the settlers of 1857-58-59. It is derived in part from the record in "Historic Sketches" by Col. F. F. Gilbert, and in part from the records of the Inland Empire Pioneer Association, supplemented by personal inquiry by the author. It is inevitable that a name here and there should be omitted and the author and publishers will appreciate any further information from pioneer sources.

PIONEERS PRIOR TO 1860

John F. Abbott
H. C. Actor
Charles Albright
Milton Aldrich
Newton Aldrich
C. R. Allen
F. M. Archer
Wm. H. Babcock
Chester N. Babcock
D. S. Baker
S. D. Baldwin
W. A. Ball
Joseph Bauer
Charles Bellman
Wm. Bingham
A. A. Blanchard
Mrs. Elizabeth J. Blanchard
P. J. Boltrie
E. Bonner
D. D. Brannan
E. H. Brown
H. N. Bruning
James Buckley
John Bush
John Cain
J. M. Canaday
C. H. Case
J. Clark
Ransom Clark and sons
Charles and William
Mrs. Ransom Clark
George E. Cole
J. M. Craigie
Louis Dauney
George Delaney
W. S. Davis
N. B. Denny
J. M. Dewar
James Dobson
Jesse Drumheller
N. B. Dutro
N. Eastman
R. A. Eddy
Cushing Eells
W. L. Elroy
S. H. Erwin
Edward Evarts
J. H. Fairchild
Wm. Fink
J. Foresythe
James W. Foster
J. Freedman
James Fudge
James Galbreath
S. S. Gilbreath
Thomas Gilkerson
W. S. Gilliam
Braziel Grounds
Ralph Guichard
W. R. Hammond
Joseph W. Harbert
Solomon Hardman
Martin H. Hauber
Daniel Hayes
Samuel E. Hearn
Joseph Hellmuth
H. H. Hill
Henry Howard
Thomas Hughes
Lycurgus Jackson
Samuel Johnson
James Johnston
Wm. B. Kelly
Robert Kennedy
Michael Kenny
James Kibler
L. L. Kinney
Wm. Kohlhauff
J. M. Lamb
Samuel Legart
A. G. Lloyd
J. C. Lloyd
Francis F. Loehr
James McAuliffe
Wm. McBean
M. C. McBride
Robert McCool
Thomas McCoy
Joseph McEvoy
J. W. McGhee
Neil McGlinchy
Wm. McKinney
Lewis McMorris
Wm. McWhirk
Christian Maier
John Mahan
John Makin
John Manion
Pat Markey
S. R. Maxson
John May
Wm. Millican
R. G. Moffit
Louis A. Mullan
Lewis Neace
James O'Donnell
John O'Donnell
Robert Oldham
Frank Orselli
Thomas P. Page
A. D. Pambrun
Edward D. Pearce
Jonathan Pettyjohn
John Picard
Francis Pierrie
George T. Pollard
P. Powel
I. T. Reese
Mrs. C. Regan
R. H. Reighart
A. H. Reynolds
R. A. Rice
Thomas Riley
A. B. Roberts
A. H. Robie
J. J. Rohn
Charles Russell
Mrs. Louisa Saunders
Louis Scholl
Mrs. Elizabeth Fulton Scholl
Marshall Seeke
J. M. Sickler
John M. Silcott
J. A. Sims
Charles Silverman
John Singleton
J. C. Smith
S. D. Smith
H. H. Spalding
Wm. Stephens
B. F. Stone
Frank Stone
Christian Sturm
T. J. Sweazea
W. J. Terry
John Tempany
Augustus Von Hinkle
W. W. Walter
A. G. P. Wardle
R. Warmack
John Welch
E. B. Whitman
Jonas Whitney
Mrs. M. A. Wightman
W. W. Wiseman
Thomas Wolf
F. L. Worden

As it was becoming evident that Walla Walla possessed the resources and attractions for drawing and sustaining a large population of the best American citizenship, the Legislature of the territory passed an act on January 19, 1859, to provide a government for Walla Walla County. Meanwhile, however, the limits of the county had been greatly reduced, for in 1858 Spokane County had been laid out and this embraced the larger part of the vast area covered by the first Walla Walla County. In 1859, Klickitat County (spelled Clikatat in the Act), embracing the area between the Columbia River and the Cascades, was erected. By these two acts Walla Walla County was reduced to the area south of Snake River and east of the Columbia. Or it would have been so reduced, if the organization of Spokane County had been practically accomplished. But it was not, and in 1863, the new Territory of Idaho was established by act of Congress, and at about the same time Stevens County in Washington was laid out, covering Eastern Washington east of the Columbia and north of Snake River, and including the abortive County of Spokane. Not till 1879 did Spokane become a separate county. It is interesting to note also that with Stevens the County of Ferguson was created, including what now composes the counties of Kittitas, Yakima, and Benton. In the general shuffle of time and fate the name of Ferguson has disappeared, but Stevens still remains to perpetuate geographically (there is little need historically) the name of the doughty and invincible first Governor of Washington Territory, though the land area covered by the name has been greatly reduced by the successive subtractions of Whitman, Spokane, Adams, Franklin, Grant, Lincoln, Okanogan, Chelan, and Ferry counties.