Garfield and Asotin counties repeated the experience of Walla Walla and Columbia; first stock ranges, then a few acres along the creeks as an experiment, soon the breaking up of the rich sod on the high plains and flats; and within a few years, a perfect ocean of waving grain over the greater part of the area. The first settlers already named in the section of this chapter on stock raising were the pioneers also in the wheat business, as the Rigsby brothers, J. M. Pomeroy, James Bowers, Parson Quinn, and others. Garfield and Asotin counties are in general more elevated than Walla Walla and Columbia, and their frontage on Snake River is more abrupt. This has given rise, first to a margin of ideal fruit and garden land between the river and the bluffs, which in case of Asotin is of considerable breadth, and in case of both of them has raised the question of conveying grain from the high plateaus to the river. In some places this has given rise to contrivances which are a great curiosity to strangers, the "grain-chutes" and "bucket lines," as devices to lower the grain from warehouses on the precipitous bank, sometimes eighteen hundred feet above the steamer landing. There is not yet a railroad on the south bank of Snake River, and water transportation is the only available means of getting the vast quantities of grain from those high prairies near the river to market.
Items appear in the various issues of the Statesman during the first years of its existence in regard to grain raising which possess great historical interest. An editorial appears in the issue of February 1, 1862, urging farmers to go into grain raising extensively and declaring that all the indications point to a demand from the mines for all kinds of farm products.
An advertisement for supplies at the Fort on July 19 calls for 375 tons of oats, 100 tons of oat straw, and 1,200 cords of wood. Mention is also made in the paper of the farm of J. W. Shoemaker a short distance below the garrison, where grain to the value of $3,000, and garden produce to the value of $1,500, was raised.
FLOUR MILLING
One of the most important features of industry allied to grain production was flour milling. The first flour mill was erected in 1859 by A. H. Reynolds in partnership with J. A. Sims and Capt. F. T. Dent, the latter being a brother of Mrs. U. S. Grant. It was located on the land then owned by Jesse Drumheller, now part of the Whitney place. In the issue of March 29, 1862, is an advertisement of the Pasca Mills by Sims and Mix, which must have been the same mill built by Mr. Reynolds. In 1862 Mr. Reynolds built another mill, known as the Star Mill, on the Yellowhawk, near the present residence of his son, H. A. Reynolds. This was subsequently acquired by W. H. Gilbert. Mention is made in the Statesman of August 2, 1862, of the flour mill of J. C. Isaacs. Apparently this is a confusion in name of the brothers, as the author is credibly informed that the mill opened at that time was the Excelsior mill built by H. P. Isaacs, subsequently the leading mill man of the Walla Walla country and one of the leaders in all forms of enterprise. The name Excelsior was later replaced by North Pacific. It was located on the mill race, whose remains still cross Division Street and was actively employed until about 1895. There is an advertisement in the Statesman of March 21, 1863, to the effect that Graham flour and corn meal were being turned out at Mr. Reynolds' mill. In the number of March 31, 1865, is the announcement that Kyger and Reese, who were among the most extensive general merchants in Walla Walla, had leased the water power and site of E. H. Barron just below town on Mill Creek and were making ready to install a first-class mill, having three run of four-foot burrs and a capacity of 150 barrels a day. The firm were also establishing a distillery. It would seem that the latter manufactory was in larger demand than the former, for it was completed sooner. The mill, however, began grinding in October of that year. That mill became the property of Andrew McCalley in 1873, and after his death in 1891 was maintained by his sons until the property was lost by fire in 1897. One of the most important mills of the valley was that built by Messrs. Ritz and Schnebly about a quarter of a mile below the McCalley mill, known first as the Agate and then as the Eureka, conducted for some time by W. C. Painter, then sold to Welch and Schwabacher, and in turn disposed of by them in 1880 to Dement Brothers, and managed up to the present time by F. S. Dement. The mill is now known as Dement Brothers' mill and is one of the most extensive in the Inland Empire, making a specialty of choice breakfast cereals and through them as well as its high-grade flour carrying the name of Walla Walla, Wash., around the globe.
The mills on the Touchet speedily followed those on Mill Creek. S. M. Wait, from whom the beautiful little city at the junction of the Touchet and the Coppei took its name, was the pioneer mill man as well as the founder of the town. The Statesman of June 2, 1865, mentions the fact that Mr. Wait's mill was just open and that it was one of the best equipped in the country and produced a grade of flour equal to the best from Oregon. A town soon began to grow at the location of the mill. Mr. Wait sold the mill to Preston Brothers and the stock to Paine Brothers and Moore of Walla Walla. The latter firm acquired an interest in the mill, but subsequently disposed of all their holdings to Preston Brothers, under whom the mill became one of the largest mill properties in the Northwest, being connected with large mills at Athena, Ore., and elsewhere, and under the more recent management of Messrs. Shaffer, Harper, and Leonard, conducting one of the most extensive milling lines in the country.
NORTH PACIFIC MILLS (ISAAC'S MILL) WALLA WALLA
First rolling mill on the Pacific coast. Erected in 1862. Capacity two hundred and fifty barrels. Many mills were erected before this, but this was the first to introduce rollers instead of the old mill stone.