CHAPTER II
TIMES OF COWBOYS, MINERS, AND VIGILANTES
The two essentials of a city seem to be: first, a location in a region of such resources as to attract and provide industries for the maintenance of an incoming and ever increasing population; and, second, such a location as will be a natural point of exchange of commodities with more or less distant centers of production, and as a corollary of this, feasible facilities of transportation. Four towns were started in the "Upper Country" in the early sixties, which were to stand these tests of a city location. They were: Walla Walla, Umatilla, Wallula, and Lewiston. The obvious disadvantage of the first was that it was not on navigable water, and water carriage was then the cheap and convenient way of conveying any large amounts of freight or passengers. Its countervailing advantage, and the reason why by common consent settlers sought it in preference to the river towns was that it was right in the center of resources. While the first settlers had no conception of the future of agriculture and horticulture, it was clear that a region near enough the mountains to be easily accessible to timber, and abounding in streams of the purest water, with infinite grazing resources, was a paradise to the stockman. And while with the first influx of settlers in 1858, 1859, and 1860, there was not yet any knowledge of the event which within a few months was to transform the entire history of the Inland Empire, i. e., the discovery of gold in Idaho, yet the minds of the people of the time were quivering with the feverish anticipations of fortune engendered by the California mining history. Hence the settlers in Walla Walla in 1860 were right on the qui vive for "big things." Such reasons, together with the very important fact that the United States Fort Walla Walla was located there (for the same reasons of grass, water, and timber) were potent in determining the growth of the largest town. Umatilla and Wallula had the very marked advantage of water transportation to a limitless degree, but on the other hand, the arid climate and the barren soil (barren without irrigation, of which nothing was conceived at that time), and distance from the timber counter-balanced the advantage. If it had then been fully realized, what we now know, that Lewiston combined nearly all advantages, with no disadvantages, the site at the junction of the Snake and Clearwater would have seemed to possess unequalled attractions. But Lewiston was at that time so far up Snake River and so remote from general apprehension as a center of production that Walla Walla had an easy lead in attracting incoming settlers.
In 1859 and 1860 the chief lines of business, as already indicated, were cattle-raising and supplying the Fort. The suitability of this country to stock-raising was obvious to the fur-traders of the Hudson's Bay Company regime, and they had quite a number of cattle at Fort Walla Walla (Wallula), at "Hudson's Bay," near the present Umapine, and at the near vicinity of what is now Touchet. Doctor Whitman brought with him several head of cattle and even two calves across the plains in 1836 and afterwards secured more from Doctor McLoughlin at Vancouver. In the early '50s, Messrs. Brooke, Bumford, and Noble located at Waiilatpu for the same business, while H. M. Chase and W. C. McKay on the Umatilla in 1851 started in the same kind of enterprise. From these various sources the idea had become disseminated that Walla Walla was the place for the cowboy. That was inaugurated the first movement which, interrupted for a period by gold excitement, was resumed with even greater energy as the demands of the mines for provisions became known, and for a number of years was the dominating interest of Old Walla Walla County.
The stock business was, however, interwoven in a curious and interesting way with all the other lines of enterprise. Especially was this true of the mining and transportation interests. The three were dovetailed together by reason of the fact that food and pack trains were vital necessities of the mines.
The mining history of the "Upper Country" began in the spectacular way usual with discoveries of the precious metals. Colonel Gilbert tells a fantastic tale of the train of circumstances which led to the first prospecting tour into what became the great gold field of Central Idaho. This tale involves E. D. Pearce, who, as we have seen, was one of the early office-holders of Walla Walla County. He is described as a man of somewhat imaginative and enthusiastic character, quick to respond to the calls of opportunity. He had been in the gold mines of California before coming to Walla Walla, and while there had become acquainted with a Nez Percé Indian who in some way had drifted into that region. This Indian impressed Mr. Pearce with his dignity and intelligence and excited his interest in a romantic story of his home in the mountain fastnesses of Idaho. He declared that he, with two companions, while encamped in the mountains had seen in the night a light of surpassing brilliance, like a refulgent star. The Indians regarded the distant glow with awe, deeming it the eye of the Great Spirit. In the morning, however, plucking up sufficient courage to investigate, they discovered a glittering ball like glass embedded in the rock. They could not dislodge it from its setting and left it, thinking it a "great tomanowas." Pearce became impressed with the thought that the Indians had found an enormous diamond of incalculable value, and he determined that, if ever the opportunity was afforded, he would seek its hiding place. Accordingly, having reached Walla Walla after many wanderings, he bethought himself of the diamond and organized a company of seven men, whose names with the exception of that of W. F. Bassett, do not seem to be recorded in the account. They made their way in 1860 into the wild tangle of mountains on the sources of the Clearwater. The party were looking for gold, but Pearce had the diamond in mind. Indians coming in contact with the party became suspicious and ordered them out. Pearce, however, pretending to obey orders, induced a Nez Percé squaw to guide the party into the heart of the mountains of the north fork of the Clearwater. There, Bassett, while prodding around in the soil of a small creek, discovered shining particles. Gold! It was only a few cents worth, but it was enough. That was the first discovery of gold in Idaho. The place was the site of the Oro Fino mines. Extracts from a former account written by the author, in which are incorporated items from the Washington Statesman will indicate the progress of the discovery and the effects on the newly-started town of Walla Walla.
"After washing out about eighty dollars in gold, the party returned to Walla Walla, making their headquarters at the home of J. C. Smith on Dry Creek, and finally so thoroughly enlisting his interest and co-operation that he fitted out a party of about fifteen men, largely at his own expense, to return to the new gold fields for the winter. Sergeant Smith's party reached the mines in November, 1860, arousing the antipathy and distrust of the Indians, who appealed to the Government officers for the protection of their reserve from such encroachments. A body of soldiers from Fort Walla Walla started out for the mines, with the intention of removing the interlopers, but the heavy snowfall in the mountains rendered the little party of miners inaccessible, so they were not molested. During the winter the isolated miners devoted their time to building five log cabins, the first habitations erected in Oro Fino, sawing the lumber by hand. They also continued to work for gold under the snow, and about the first of January, 1861, two of the men made a successful trip to the settlements, by the utilizing of snow-shoes, while in March Sergeant Smith made a similar trip, taking with him $800 in gold dust. From this reserve he was able to pay Kyger & Reese of Walla Walla the balance due them on the prospecting outfit which had been supplied to the adventurous little party in the snowy mountains. The gold dust was sent to Portland, Ore., and soon the new mines were the subject of maximum interest, the ultimate result being a "gold excitement" quite equal to that of California in 1849, and within a few months the rush to the new diggings was on in earnest, thousands starting forth for the favored region."
The budding City of Walla Walla profited materially by the influx of gold-seekers, who made their way up the Columbia River and thence moved forward to Walla Walla, which became the great outfitting headquarters for those en route to the gold country. At this point were purchased provisions, tools, camp accoutrements and the horses or mules required to pack the outfits to the mines. Through this unforeseen circumstance there was now a distinctive local market afforded for the products of the Walla Walla country, and the farmer who had produce of any sort to sell might esteem himself fortunate, for good prices were freely offered. Nearly all the grain that had been produced in the country was held, in the spring of 1861, in the mill owned and operated by Simms, Reynolds & Dent, the total amount being less than twenty thousand bushels. This surplus commanded a high price, the farmers receiving $2.50 per bushel for their wheat, while at the mines the operators were compelled to pay $1 a pound for flour manufactured therefrom. The inadequacy of the local supply of food products was such that, had not additional provender been transported from Oregon, starvation would have stared the miners in the face. This fact gave rise to the almost unprecedented prices demanded for the products essential to the maintenance of life. New mining districts were discovered by the eager prospectors and all was hustle and activity in the mining region until the fall of 1861. In November of that year many of the miners came to Walla Walla for the winter, bringing their hard-earned treasure with them and often spending it with the prodigality so typical of the mining fraternity in the early days.