No history of Walla Walla and of this section of the northwest would be complete without extended reference to Dr. N. G. Blalock, who not only figured as a most successful and progressive physician but, also recognizing the possibilities for the material development of the northwest through its natural resources, contributed in marked measure to the upbuilding of this section of the country and the promotion of its business activities. His labors were of a character that contributed to public progress as well as to individual success and in fact they were of the most farreaching extent and importance.
Dr. Blalock was a native of North Carolina, his birth having occurred in Mitchell county, that state, in 1836. He spent his youth amid rural surroundings in his native state, his time largely being devoted to agricultural pursuits, while later he took up the profession of teaching but regarded this merely as an initial step to other professional labor. It became his earnest desire to enter the medical profession and with that end in view he matriculated in the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in 1861. He first located for practice in Mount Zion, Illinois, and when the Civil war was in progress he put aside all business, professional and personal considerations and joined the army as surgeon of an Illinois regiment, doing active duty at the front in this connection. When hostilities had ceased he resumed the practice of medicine in Illinois, where he remained until 1872. He then heard and heeded the call of the west. He first came in 1872 to spy out the land. Crossing the continent part of the way with a team, actuated by the purpose of selecting a new home in the Pacific northwest, he decided upon Walla Walla and then returned to Illinois for his family. In May, 1873, they left their home in Macon county, that state, and on the 11th of October reached Walla Walla, having spent about six months upon the road, as they traveled by team. There were twenty-seven members in the little immigrant party and their total financial resources on reaching their destination did not exceed twenty dollars. Dr. Blalock at once sought employment in order to replenish his depleted exchequer. He began hauling wheat from Walla Walla to Wallula and upon the return trip brought groceries and other merchandise, which had to be laid in before navigation on the Columbia river closed for the winter. He was thus engaged for a little over a month, after which he opened his office and began practicing medicine. His career in that professional field was a most notable one. His ability was pronounced. He most carefully diagnosed his cases and his judgment was seldom, if ever, at fault. He did most important work in the frontier community, his professional career covering a period of fifty-three years, during which he kept a complete record of his obstetrical cases, including the names, ages and birthplaces of parents and the names and sexes of children. He officiated at almost six thousand obstetrical cases. He was the loved family physician in many a household. He was most sympathetic by nature, kindly in spirit and these qualities, added to his professional skill and ability, made him most efficient in medical practice.
Dr. Blalock also deserves special mention for his contribution to the development of Walla Walla and the northwest. He organized the firm of Blalock, Son & Company for the purpose of building a mill and flume to engage in the manufacture and shipment of lumber, wood, etc., from what is known as the Blalock Mountain. This undertaking did not prove profitable, however, and the company failed for two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, with assets of only fifty thousand dollars. The nature of Dr. Blalock at once was manifest, for he immediately assumed the liabilities of the company and in less than eight years paid off every cent, with interest at from fifteen to twenty-four per cent per annum, acting in this matter contrary to the advice of his attorneys. No other course was possible to a man of his straightforward and honorable nature, however. He felt that every cent of his indebtedness should be met and he resolutely set to work to achieve this end, which in an incredibly short space of time he accomplished.
It was Dr. Blalock who installed the first telephone used in the state. He rented six instruments at twelve dollars per month each and built and kept up his own line from the mill to the end of the flume. He was the promoter of what is known as the Blalock Orchards, two miles west of Walla Walla. In 1876 he purchased for two dollars and a half per acre four hundred acres of desert land, which he leveled, irrigated and then planted with fruit trees, including apples, pears and cherries, and also set out many small fruits. He shipped the first two car loads of pears from the state of Washington east of the Rocky Mountains and made large exhibit of his fruit at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Since that time the Blalock Orchards have been enlarged to sixteen hundred acres and have constituted a most important feature of the horticultural development of the northwest. Upon the land are now eight artesian wells, all strong and affording a supply of water ample to irrigate the entire area with a system of pipe lines over twenty miles in length, touching every acre of this vast tract. The lands are being sold in five-acre tracts at from one thousand to fifteen hundred dollars per acre. Dr. Blalock also made arrangements for the purchase of three thousand six hundred acres of dry land six miles south of Walla Walla, for which he was to pay ten bushels of wheat per acre, an amount equal to five dollars per acre. The first crop paid for the land and all expenses of raising and harvesting and left him about three thousand dollars. This was followed by the purchase of seven thousand acres of wheat land in Gilliam county, Oregon, and he planted and promoted an orchard at the town of Blalock. He was the promoter of the Blalock Islands enterprise, covering four thousand acres in the Columbia river in Benton county, Washington. He was associated with others in the development of three thousand acres of desert land under the Carey act in Morrow county, Oregon. No one labored more untiringly for the opening of the Columbia river for navigation than Dr. Blalock, who for years devoted many hours to the work. In appreciation of his efforts in that behalf the Columbia and Snake River Waterways Association, meeting in Lewiston in its third annual convention, passed the following resolution: "In these days of the passing of the pioneer the people of the great northwest are called upon from time to time to recognize the lifelong service of noble men and women and to honor their names. Occasionally we take unto ourselves the rare privilege of brightening the closing years of one of these servants of mankind by a slight expression of our affection and appreciation of their efforts in things worth while. Such an occasion greets us today as we meet to honor one of God's emblems. In recognition of the large part Dr. N. G. Blalock has had in effecting an organized movement to secure an open river; in grateful acknowledgment that through his indefatigable and successful labor, associated with Joseph N. Teal, W. J. Mariner and J. F. Smith, almost insuperable obstacles were overcome and the Oregon Portage Railroad was built at The Dalles; and with hearty thanks to him for the lavish expenditure of time and money in representing his state at meetings of the Natural Rivers and Harbor Congress and attending innumerable other gatherings in the interest of our rivers, where he has materially helped in securing definite results. Therefore, be it resolved, that we, the delegates to the Columbia and Snake River Waterways Association here assembled, express to Dr. N. G. Blalock our deep affection and our grateful appreciation for his long life of loving service."
A splendid characterization of Dr. Blalock is found in the memorial address which was delivered by the Hon. Ben F. Hill before a joint session of the state senate and the house of representatives, on which occasion Mr. Hill said:
"Mr. President, Gentlemen of the senate and house:
"It is with a sense of profound sorrow that we pay a tribute to the memory of Dr. Nelson G. Blalock, the distinguished member from Walla Walla, of the constitutional convention. Dr. Blalock was born in Mitchell county, North Carolina, in 1836. He was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, served as a surgeon in the One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois Regiment in the Civil war and came in 1873 to Walla Walla, the then metropolis of the northwest. The brilliant young surgeon was in demand throughout the whole of the Inland Empire. He became acquainted in his travels with the religious and geographical work of the great Marcus Whitman and his chief ambition appeared to be to develop the economic resources of that part of Washington territory. For this reason the names of Marcus Whitman and Nelson G. Blalock will be indelibly linked together in the building and construction of our great state. One of Nelson G. Blalock's earliest exploits was, when roads were impossible, the building of a large flume from the Blue mountains to Walla Walla, for the purpose of transporting logs, fuel and lumber to that growing community. He made a success of and was the pioneer of arid land wheat farming. As early as 1881 he produced the unprecedented yield of fifty thousand bushels of wheat on one thousand acres of arid land. After proving that wheat could be successfully produced he turned to irrigation projects, some of which now are honored in retaining the Blalock name. He drilled for and found artesian water, utilized the water of the various streams, and every one of the districts he founded is now a prosperous and conservative community. I could go on and tell you of his work to complete the Celilo locks and canal and of his intense desire to see an open Columbia river, but those and local problems are developing as he anticipated they would. In fact before Dr. Blalock passed away he had the final pleasure of knowing that all these great economic benefits to the Inland Empire would be finished. In the 1913 session we were honored by having Dr. Nelson G. Blalock, during one of our sessions, invited to take his place with our speaker and then a few days later during the session we were shocked to hear of his death. You do not wonder then that Dr. Blalock was elected to represent the Walla Walla district at the constitutional convention and we revere and honor that man, soldier, physician, statesman who in the economic development of the Inland Empire was the greatest man the northwest has yet produced, Dr. Nelson G. Blalock."
On the 13th of March, 1914, Dr. Blalock was stricken with apoplexy while at work in his office and was taken to a hospital, where he died the following day.
DORSEY S. BAKER, M. D.