CHAPTER XXVIII.

POLITICAL SKETCH OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY.

As the early settlers of the Puget Sound country were chiefly men of high character and noble purposes, whose ideas had been broadened by the long journeys or voyages that were necessary to reach this part of the northwest coast, and whose patriotism had been deepened by practical knowledge of the extent of their country and the certainty of its future greatness, so the political history of this region is of more than ordinary interest. Even in those exceptional cases, where men of prominence were found whose devotion to correct moral principles did not correspond with their intellectual capacity or their personal endowments, they were yet men of unusual ability, who made their mark not only at home but elsewhere, and their influence was felt in many parts of the country. During the long period of thirty-six years which elapsed between the time in 1853, when the territory of Washington was organized, until in 1889 it was admitted as a state, of course all of its principal officers were appointed by the national government, but the great majority of those appointees were men of excellent character and were well fitted in a variety of ways for the several positions in which they were placed, and usually gave entire satisfaction to all concerned, in the territory as well as at the seat of the national government. As a matter of fact some of these appointees, as for example Governor Isaac I. Stevens, the first governor of the territory, was singularly well qualified by education, by temperament, by experience and natural ability to discharge the responsible and multifarious duties imposed upon him, in a most creditable, patriotic and honorable manner. He was not only made the first governor of the territory, but was charged with the work of superintending the surveys for a transcontinental railroad over what was then known as the Northern route, extending for two thousand miles through an unknown and uninhabited wilderness, full of savages who looked with suspicion upon every stranger not connected with the Hudson's Bay Company, and in addition thereto, he was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs for all the tribes in the territory of Washington and in northern Idaho. Yet such were his extraordinary skill and energy and such were his powers of endurance that he made the surveys required, organized and put in operation the territorial government, made treaties with nearly all of the numerous Indian tribes within his jurisdiction, representing more than thirty thousand Indians, conducted a wide-spread and general Indian war to a successful issue, extinguished the Indian title to more than one hundred and fifty million acres of land, was twice elected a delegate to Congress, where his labors were of inestimable value to the territory, the first time July 13, 1857, the second, July 11, 1859, offered his

services to President Lincoln in behalf of the Union in March, 1861, and gave up his life in its defense on the battlefield of Chantilly, August 30, 1862. Few men are permitted to make such a record of brilliant achievements in the short space of nine years and six months, but this is only a brief statement of the leading facts in Governor Stevens' busy life during the years from 1853 to 1862. Much of the work he accomplished in that time must of course be omitted, but a study of his life and character only deepens the impression that he was most admirably qualified as a soldier, a civilian and an engineer for the many positions he was called upon to fill. If at any time he erred in judgment or gave occasion for criticism, it was because his impulsive nature was impatient for the beneficial and patriotic results he desired to see brought about, and could brook no unnecessary delay in their accomplishment. If he erred at all it was an error of the head and not of the heart, for his motives were always of the best and purest character.

At the time of the organization of the territory of Washington and for eight years thereafter, the national government was in the hands of the Democratic party, and the territorial appointees were members of that political organization. The first appointees were Brevet Major Isaac I. Stevens, United States Engineers of Massachusetts, governor and ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs; Charles H. Mason, of Rhode Island, secretary; John S. Clendenin, of Mississippi, attorney; James Patton Anderson, of Tennessee, marshal; Edward Lander, of Indiana, chief justice; Victor Munroe, of Kentucky, and Obadiah B. McFadden, of Pennsylvania, associate justices of the supreme court of Washington territory; James Tilton, of Indiana, was appointed surveyor general, and Isaac N. Ebey, an old resident of the territory, who was afterwards brutally murdered by the Indians on Whidby Island, was appointed collector of customs for the district of Puget Sound. In the spring of 1854 Victor Munroe was superseded by Francis A. Chenoweth, an early pioneer of Oregon, residing in Clark county. Henry C. Mosely, of Steilacoom, was appointed registrar, and Elias Galee, of Indiana, receiver of a land office which had been located at Olympia. Charles H. Mason, the secretary of the territory, and at various times—some of them very critical-acting governor, owing to the absence, for the time being, of the governor, died on July 25, 1859, universally lamented by the people of the territory. He was a man faithful to every trust, and, without brilliancy, was nevertheless a man who inspired confidence by his native good sense and by the sterling integrity of his character. The county of Mason, elsewhere referred to, was subsequently named in his honor by the legislature of the territory.

Here, as elsewhere, in accordance with the custom of the country, which would be "more honored in its breach than its observance," territorial officers

were appointed more as a reward for personal or political services than because of their fitness for the places to which they were assigned, yet the governors of the territory were, in the main, honorable men who discharged. their responsible duties faithfully and efficiently. Fayette McMullen, R. D. Gholson, William Pickering, George E. Cole, Marshall F. Moore, Alvin Flanders and Edward S. Saloman occupied the gubernatorial chair from time to time down to the year 1872, when the beginning of railroad construction and increasing commerce on the Sound gave an impetus to development which has continued with some intervals down to the present time. These improved conditions gave to the position of governor more of importance and responsibility than had usually attached to it prior to that time, and, fortunately for the interests of the territory, Hon. Elisha P. Ferry, who had been its surveyor general in 1869-71, was appointed governor in 1872, and served in that capacity until 1880.

Governor Ferry received his appointments for both positions from General U. S. Grant, then president of the United States. A lawyer by profession, having had large experience in public affairs, a man of unusual ability and unblemished integrity, he was admirably qualified to fill the place of governor not only as a man of rare capacity for business but as a statesman, who discharged every duty connected with this office for eight years, and subsequently those of first governor of the state of Washington for three years, and, indeed, various other places of honor and trust during his long and useful life, to the entire satisfaction of all good citizens. Gov. Ferry was a lifelong Republican in politics and was a member of the first Republican convention ever held in the United States, but in all his official and personal relations with his fellowmen he so conducted himself that he merited and received. the esteem and confidence of men of all parties and all sections of the territory and state. Upon the award by Emperor William I, of Germany, of the Archipelago de Haro to the United States, Governor Ferry made it a part of Whatcom county for the purposes of civil government, until the legislature could take appropriate action, and during his term or terms the Hudson's Bay Company ceased the occupation of its claims in the territory through its subsidiary agent, the Puget Sound Agricultural Company.

In 1880 William A. Newell, of New Jersey, was appointed by President Hayes to succeed Ferry as governor, and for four years he labored zealously to promote the interests of the territory in that office. He had been twice. elected to Congress from New Jersey, and once its governor, and was a man ripe in years, in experience in public affairs, and his activity on patriotic lines. was continual throughout his term. After its expiration he established his permanent residence in Washington, where for many years thereafter he lived an honored and useful life, as a physician, always taking, as well, a

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lively interest in public affairs. He was succeeded in 1884 by Watson C.
Squire, of Ohio and New York, who had large property interests in the
territory. Governor Squire had served with credit in the Civil war, was
a man of varied business experience which proved valuable in his admin-
istration of the affairs of the territory as governor from 1884 to 1887.

The elaborate reports made by Governor Squire to the secretary of the
interior, describing in detail the advantages, resources and opportunities to
be found in the state of Washington, did much to attract attention to this
region both at home and abroad. Many thousands of copies of these reports
were published and circulated, not only by the national government and the
territorial authorities, but also by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company,
then constructing its road across the territory. This company was then, as it is
now, interested in the settlement and cultivation of the country and the devel-
opment of its resources in order that the business of its various lines might
be increased and its immense land grants disposed of. During his terms as
governor the Chinese riots took place at Seattle, Tacoma and other towns
in the territory, when a concerted effort was made by certain labor organi-
zations to drive the Chinese out of the country. These riots occasioned the
loss of several lives and for a short time unusual disorder, but Governor
Squire's course throughout these troubles was prudent as well as energetic,
and was cordially approved by the great mass of intelligent and law-abiding
citizens, as well as the national government. The Chinese were driven out
of Tacoma and have not since been permitted to return to that city, although
the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, in order to secure laborers for
railway construction, had been the chief agent in bringing them into the ter-
ritory. Elsewhere they have since not been molested.

The Democratic party having secured control of the executive department of the general government at Washington, D. C., by the election of Grover Cleveland, the territorial officials were correspondingly changed, and after some delay Eugene Semple, of Oregon, was appointed, in 1887, to succeed Governor Squire. Governor Semple's administration of two years, although obliged to deal with a variety of complicated and difficult questions, such as that of woman suffrage, the removal of the capital from Olympia and others growing out of the rapidly changing conditions in the territory and the desire for statehood, was nevertheless eminently satisfactory, when the personal feeling growing out of these mooted questions had subsided. To the discharge of the duties of his high office he brought studious habits, pure and patriotic motives inherited from illustrious ancestors, and unimpeachable integrity of character. His efforts to promote the interests of the territory were indefatigable, and he left a record of which any man might be proud to his successor, Miles C. Moore, of Walla Walla, who was ap

pointed in 1889. Mr. Moore had been for many years a resident of the territory where he had been well and favorably known as a prominent banker and a leading and active Republican. His term of seven months expired upon the admission of the territory as one of the United States, on the 11th of November, 1889. It was too short for a display of statesmanship, but it was entirely creditable to himself and satisfactory to the people. His long residence in the territory had made him familiar with its needs, its conditions and its inhabitants. The limits of this history do not permit of anything more than a brief resumé of the legislative branch of the territorial govern

ment.

The first legislature met in accordance with the proclamation of Governor Stevens on the 27th day of February, 1854. Its members made their way as best they could, by trails through the forest or by canoes, from the various parts of western Washington that could be reached by water. This first legislative assembly was composed of a council of nine and a house of representatives of seventeen members. The members of the council were Daniel B. Bradford and William H. Tappen of Clarke county, William T. Sayward of Island and Jefferson, Seth Catlin and Henry Miles of Lewis and Pacific, Lafayette V. Balch and G. N. McConaha of Pierce and King, D. R. Bigelow and B. F. Yantes of Thurston, H. M. Frost of Pierce, chief clerk, and W. E. Hicks of Thurston, assistant clerk.

Elwood Evans, long and honorably identified with the history of the territory, came with Governor Stevens in his surveying party across the continent and served it in a great variety of positions, was elected chief clerk and served from March 8 to May 1, after the resignation of Frost had been accepted. From the time, in 1851, when Evans first arrived in the territory, until his death at Tacoma, January 28, 1898, he was indefatigable in his efforts to promote, in every honorable way, its manifold interests, and seemed to have at all times a prophetic vision of its future greatness. The people of the entire northwest coast as well as those of the territory are deeply indebted to him for his historical labors, which are a lasting monument of his zeal and industry in the work of collecting material and publishing a history of the discovery, growth and settlement of Oregon, Washington and the entire north Pacific coast. His services in that regard cannot be overestimated, and otherwise in all the relations of life he did well his part as a true patriot and good citizen. The members of the first house of representatives were as follows: Island county, S. D. Howe; Clarke, J. D. Biles, F. A. Chenoweth, A. J. Bolan, Henry R. Croslin, A. Lee Lewis and D. H. Huntington; Jefferson, D. F. Brownfield; King, A. A. Denny; Pierce, L. F. Thompson, John M. Chapman and H. C. Mosely; Thurston, Leonard D. Durgin, David Shelton, Ira Ward and C. H. Hale; Pacific, John Sauter, who died before taking