"Our first effort in anything like public road-making was a county road from Steilacoom City to Seattle. William N. Bell, L. M. Collins, and John M. Chapman were appointed by the county commissioners' court of Thurston county, Oregon territory, as viewers, and reported on March 23, 1853, from which I quote as follows: From Seattle to Collins', on Dewanpish river; thence on the dividing ridge most of the way, striking the Puyallup river one mile above Adam Benson's claim; thence to Steilacoom, the terminus. At the time this report was made Thurston county had no longer jurisdiction of the case, having been divided. The commissioners' court at the time of the division was composed of Sidney S. Ford, Sr., David Shelton and myself, and I retained and have since preserved this rather curious and now ancient document. We, however, did not abandon the effort to get the road, but proceeded to open it by volunteer work, and also a road from Alki to intersect it near Collins, but these roads were traveled but little, and after the first year were allowed to go out of use for want of work to keep them open.

66

By act of Congress, approved January 7, 1853, an appropriation of twenty thousand dollars was made for a military road from Steilacoom to Walla Walla. This money was expended under the superintendence of Captain George B. McClellan, of the regular army, afterward major general, in year 1853, by the way of Nachess Pass, and, as elsewhere stated, a number of emigrants came over in that season.

the

"Our people at once turned their attention to opening a road from Seattle to intersect this military road, and practically accomplished it, but by the next season it was found that the military road was not a success as a wagon road across the mountains, and we next turned in the direction of the Snoqualmie Pass, so called at the time, but it was what in later times has been called Cedar River Pass. It was in early times used by the Indians and Hudson's Bay men as a pack trail, and was sometimes called by them the Green River Pass. This trail came over from Nesqually and crossed Cedar river, well up that stream, and was intersected by another from Snoqualmie prairie, and thence over the mountains to the foot of Lake Kitchelos, and thence down the Yakima.

The party here again divided, some following the old trail over to Green river and others down the Cedar. As a result of this exploration we proceeded to cut a trail out by way of Meridian prairie, and thence crossing Cedar river at the old Green river trail and out by the Rattlesnake prairie; but this trail was never traveled to any extent.

"The Oregon legislature, session of 1853. divided. Thurston county, forming on the north Pierce, King, Island and Jefferson, and appointed as

a county board for King, J. N. Low, L. M. Collins and myself, county commissioners; H. L. Yesler, sheriff. We all qualified except J. N. Low, and held the first commissioner's court March 5, 1853.

"We obtained our mail from Olympia, the nearest postoffice, by a canoe express, for which service we hired Robert Moxlie to make weekly trips between Seattle and Olympia. All were required to pay twenty-five cents a letter, and nearly all subscribed something in addition to support the express. For this service I gave the lot formerly owned by M. R. Maddox upon which the City Drug Store now stands. Our last express was received August 15, 1853, and brought us twenty-two letters and fourteen newspapers. August 27th, having been appointed postmaster, I received the first United States mail ever delivered in Seattle, and opened the office in a log cabin, where Frye's Opera House now stands.

"In early times we occasionally saw the Hudson's Bay steamers Beaver and Otter, passing to and from the station at Nesqually, but as yet no American steamer had ever navigated these waters. The first American steamboat was brought to the Sound by her owners, A. B., David and Warren Gove, on the deck of the bark Sarah Warren, in October, 1853. She was a sidewheeler called the Fairy, and made several trips to Seattle, and occasionally lower down the Sound, taking the place of our canoe express in carrying the mail, but she proved to be insufficient as a sea boat on the lower Sound, and a small sloop called the Sarah Stone was for a time put on the line by Slater & Webber. In the fall of 1854 James M. Hunt and John N. Scranton brought up the Major Tompkins and contracted to carry the mail on the Sound, running through to Victoria, and in March, 1855, she was wrecked in entering Victoria harbor. The next steamer was the iron propeller Traveler, which came in the summer of 1855, and was commanded by Captain J. G. Parker. Next was the Water Lilly, a small sidewheel boat, brought up by Captain William Webster. The fifth and last one I shall mention was the Constitution, put on by Hunt and Scranton to fill the place of the Major Tompkins.

"The first religious service in Seattle was by Bishop Demers, a Catholic, in 1852. The next was by Rev. Benjamin F. Close, a Methodist, who came to Olympia in the spring or early summer of 1853, and made several visits to Seattle during the summer and fall, and the same season Rev. J. F. DeVore located at Steilacoom. C. D. Boren donated two lots for a Methodist Episcopal Church, and in November, 1853, Rev. D. R. Blaine and wife arrived, and Mr. Blaine at once engaged in the work of building a church on the lots donated by Boren. This was the first and only church in the place until 1864, when Rev. Daniel Bagley built the Methodist Protestant church, which he painted brown, and the other being white, they were ever afterward designated as the 'White' church and 'Brown' church.

"Mrs. Blaine taught the first school, Miss Dorcas Phillips the second, and E. A. Clark the third. These were not free schools, in fine and wellfurnished houses, such as the youth of the place is now favored with. We were then glad to get schools at any cost, and paid the expense without a murmur; but there is a vast difference now. I am proud of the schools of Seattle to-day, where a high school education is furnished free to every child who chooses to take it, and I regret that it is in many cases so little appreciated by both parents and children, that it almost justifies the expectation that the next step will be to pay the children for going to school, and allow them to strike for higher wages and shorter days, with the privilege of arbitrating the matter in the end.

“The first Fourth of July celebration north of the Columbia river, of which I have any knowledge, was held at Olympia, July 4, 1852, on the hill where the old schoolhouse stood, but I do not now think it was finished at that time. D. R. Bigelow was orator and B. F. Shaw marshal, but I do not now remember who read the Declaration.

"It was quite a respectable celebration, and was attended by most of the population within a day's travel, and quite a number, like myself, from a greater distance. Those times we traveled almost entirely by canoe, and expected to make the trip from Sattle to Olympia in less than two In the winter I have frequently been three days, and camped on the at night, and one trip-I well remember-in December, 1852, the weather was so stormy I had to camp two nights before reaching Steilacoom.

never

days.

beach

In after years I have paid as high as ten dollars' steamer fare to

Olympia, and when it got down to six dollars we thought it very reasonable. It always cost me more than that amount by canoe, when traveling alone with an Indian crew, to say nothing of the comfort and time saved by steamer, and time was quite as much of an object with us capitalists then as

now."

CHAPTER XXI.

EARLY TERRITORIAL ADMINISTRATION-BEGINNING OF INDIAN WAR.

The territory of Washington was created by an act of Congress approved March 2, 1853. It included all that part of Oregon which lay north of the Columbia river, the forty-sixth parallel of north latitude, and west of the Rocky Mountains. The Puget Sound Country consisted of the principal part of the territory west of the Cascade Mountains.

Brevet Major Isaac I. Stevens, United States engineers, of Massachusetts, was appointed governor and ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs; Charles H. Mason, of Rhode Island, secretary; John Clendennin, of

Mississippi, attorney; James Patton Anderson, of Tennessee, marshal; Edward Lander, of Indiana, chief justice; Victor Monroe, of Kentucky, and Obadiah McFadden, of Pennsylvania, associate justices of the supreme court of Washington territory. Isaac N. Ebey, an old and respected citizen of the territory, was appointed collector of the Puget Sound district, and, shortly after, the port of entry for the district was removed from Olympia to Port Townsend. On the 3d day of March, 1853, an appropriation of $150,000 was made by Congress for surveys between the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean, for a trans-continental railroad, and Governor Stevens was charged with the duty of conducting the survey over what was known as the northern route, beginning near the headwaters of the Mississippi and ending on Puget Sound. Governor Stevens was singularly well qualified for the arduous, responsible and complicated duties entrusted to his charge. He was a man of extraordinary courage, firmness and ability, and untiring in his efforts to discharge promptly and faithfully every task that was imposed upon him, He successfully conducted a survey through a new and unexplored region, and examined the passes through the Rocky, the Bitter Root and the Coeur d'Alene mountains, leaving Fort Snelling on the 6th day of June, 1853, and arriving at Fort Colville on the 18th day of October, where he met Captain George B. McClellan, who had been detailed to conduct a survey eastward from Puget Sound to connect with that made by Major Stevens. Captain McClellan arrived at Fort Colville on the 17th of October.

Major Stevens left his wagon train to follow, and proceeded by pack train as speedily as circumstances would permit, to Olympia, the designated capital of the territory, where he arrived on the 25th of November, 1853. Three days after, or on the 28th, he issued a proclamation establishing the territorial government at Washington, as required by the act of Congress relating thereto. The day appointed for the election of the members of the first legislature of the territory, and for the first delegate to Congress, was the 30th day of January, 1854. The three judicial districts were organized, Clark and Pacific counties forming the first, Lewis and Thurston the second, and Pierce, King, Island and Jefferson the third. All these, except the first mentioned, were west of the Cascade Mountains.

The 27th day of February, 1854, was appointed as the time and Olympia as the place for the meeting of the first territorial legislature. In the meantime Marshal Anderson had arrived, during the summer of 1853, and had taken a census of the inhabitants of the territory, as required by law, and found the number to be 3,965 white persons, of whom 1,682 were voters. In the month of April, 1857, Governor Stevens reported the number of Indians west of the Cascade Mountains, chiefly in the Puget Sound region, as 9,712, the names of the tribes with their respective numbers being given.

This was after treaties had been made by him with all or nearly all of these several tribes. On his arrival in the territory, recognizing the importance of obtaining from these Indians such title to the lands they occupied as might enable the government to transfer to the settlers a perfect title to the lands which they required for use, improvements or cultivation, he had hastened. to make treaties with them, by which they agreed to cede to the United States government, for a stated price, such lands as they claimed, except the reservations which were confirmed to them for their exclusive use and benefit. was fortunate for the little settlement at New Market, made by Simmons, Bush and others, that it recognized a code of rules governing its intercourse with the Indians, and that the latter should be protected in their rights. A complaint of injustice at the hands of a white man was investigated. A uniform price was established for everything in trade and labor, and it was generally understood among the citizens that a white man was to respect his contract with an Indian in the same manner that he did a contract with one of his white neighbors.

It

As an illustration of the vigilance with which the settlers insisted upon justice to the Indians, there is mentioned the case of an immigrant of 1847. Accompanied by his family he arrived at the mouth of the Cowlitz river destitute of funds. An Indian named Tenas Tyee, who was then engaged in forwarding emigrants up that stream, brought the family up to the landing, agreeing to take the man's paper for the passage money and wait twelve moons for payment. Tenas Tyee held the note until it fell due, when he waited upon the white man for payment. The man did not have the money, and the Indian agreed to take a heifer in discharge of the debt, which offer was declined. The disappointed Indian went over to the Sound and complained to the settlers. A meeting was called and a committee appointed to return with him to the delinquent debtor, and they compelled the white man to liquidate the debt by turning over the stock.

In the latter part of April, or during the first days of May, 1849, an event occurred that hastened the advent of United States troops, owing to an attack on the Hudson's Bay Company's post at Fort Nesqually by a party of Snoqualmie Indians.

The tribe was in the habit of visiting the fort in small numbers for the purpose of trade, but upon this occasion they were there in force with the avowed intention of settling a dispute with the Indians of the Nesqually tribe. Their number was variously estimated as being between one hundred and one hundred and fifty.

At the time of the outbreak, Patkanim, head chief of the Snoqualmies, was within the fort engaged with Dr. Tolmie, the agent in charge. The gates had been closed and all of the other Indians had been excluded. Out