King County, Washington - The whole text, 1916 (part 2 of 3)

Krist Knudsen is a living example of what a man may accomplish in this land of the New West. Coming to America as an unlettered, but not an ignorant foreigner, he has steadily climbed the ladder until he has attained a place in the community of which he may be justly proud. Great credit is due Knudsen for his tenacity and honesty of purpose.

The Legal Part Of The Golrt House Bond Issue

In November, 1912, the Board of County Commissioners submitted a bond issue of $950,000 for the erection of the new Court House on Block 33, C. D. Boren's Addition to the City of Seattle, at the intersection of .lames Street and Third Avenue.

This bond issue carried by a heavy vote over the necessary three-fifths. Subsequently the county commissioners offered the bonds for sale and they were readily luirchased. Prior to delivery, however, an injunction proceeding was brought restraining the commissioners from proceeding with the sale of the bonds or with the letting of any contracts in connection with the proposed construction.

On June 6, 1913, Judges Everett Smith and R. B. Albertson of the Superior Court of King County granted an injunction permanently enjoining the county commissioners from proceeding with the delivery of the bonds or the construction of the Court House on the theory that the people had been misled as to the character of the building which could be constructed with the funds available. This case was carried to the Supreme Court of the state by the prosecuting attorney's office, the case being argued and presented by Robert H. Evans tor the board. A decision was rendered December 6, 1913, reversing the opinion of the trial court holding that the proceedings leading to the bond sale were in strict compliance

Subsequently the bonds were resold and a contract was entered into with the Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Company for the construction of a court house to cost approximately the amount of the bond issue. The contract contained a clause securing to King County the option of requiring the contractor to erect two additional stories to the building in the event the commissioners saw fit to go ahead with the additional construction.

In 1913, the Legislature passed an act authorizing cities of the first class and counties to jointly construct and own public buildings. At the state election in 1914, the commissioners submitted a further bond issue of $350,000 for the liurpose of securing funds to construct two additional stories upon the building as originally planned. The bonds were sold and the construction was carried out under the contract with the Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Company.

The city then entered into a contract of lease for the joint use of the building, separate offices being assigned to the various departments of the city. This lease runs for twenty years from the completion of the building and is considered highly advantageous to both city and county and city affairs under one roof will save much in the way of rentals.

Norman M. W'Ardall

Norman M. Wardall was first appointed deputy county auditor and clerk of the Board of County Commissioners in January. 19uy, by County Auditor Otto A. Case, and has served continuously ever since, having been reappointed by County Auditor Byron Phelps in 1913.

All the details of the commissioners' office falls on his shoulders, one of the principal items being that of the large number of bonds voted by the people of King County during the past six years, amounting to over $G, 000,000. Every dollar of this vast sum must depend on the correctness of his records for its validity. The preparation and sale of the bonds themselves are details that require the most accurate and efficient service and knowledge, for no set of men in the world are so exacting, so critical and gun-shy as are bond buyers. Not only must the pedigree of the bond be perfect and without a flaw or blemish, but the appearance and neatness of execution in lithographing it, must meet their discriminating fancy.

When the validity of the bonds voted for the erection of the new Court House was questioned and taken into court by the advocates of a Civic Center, it was largely due to Mr. Wardall's records and testimony that they were finally declared legal by the Supreme Court, and made possible the construction of the new county building.

The drawing of all contracts for the construction of county buildings, roads and bridges running into many millions of dollars, are matters that come under his supervision and require his signature.

The compiling of the County Budget, calling for some $2,500,000 each year and the adjustment of the annual tax levy to raise that sum, are matters that demand painstaking work and intimate knowledge of county affairs.

The vouchers on which this money is expended all pass through his hands and are shown on his office records, many of which must have his approval before being allowed and l)aid.

It is he who meets the general public, and the calls for information on every conceivable subject relating to the county average over fifty per day, most of which he is able to answer on the spot without reference to files or records.

By reason of his long service in his present position, Mr. Wardall is considered by many as the best informed man in the city on county affairs.

he was born in Mitchell County. Iowa, in 1S70, and came to Seattle from South Dakota in 1900. He lives in West Seattle, is married and has one daughter, who is attending the University of Washington.

The building in design is commercial rather than monumental; classical forms and ornaments are introduced and a pleasing result is obtained, in a manner characterizing the best commercial work of the leading buildings of the country.

The utilitarian purposes of the building are given the major consideration, and therefore large window openings versus massive wall construction Is the keynote of the structure, and yet, the design is so well balanced as to possess dignity and good proportions.

While the structure is of the sky-scraper type, and strictly fireproof throughout, it cannot be called a stilted or unstable looking structure, but with its granite base, and columnar lower stories, it impresses the beholder as a public building.

The upper stories, the topmost one being typical of additional stories, are faced with glazed terra cotta in imitation of the granite, and though a reasonably good match is obtained, it is to be regretted that the design could not be carried out in granite for the full height, giving the added dignity and durability of that superior material. The building, as now constructed, is provided with foundations to carry seven more stories, anu with additional five stories, when completed, will make a handsome and pleasing structure.

The interior arrangement provides for the various departments of the city and county, along the practical lines of large business corporations. City and county treasurers are located on the ground floor, and fitted up after the manner of large counting houses to expedite the public business.

Throughout the plan is that of a first-class business structure with partitions so arranged as to be flexible, allowing of easy removal when larger areas are desired, or subdivisions can be made to accommodate most any demand.

The interior is simple and i)ractical throughout. The walls of court rooms require some mural decorations, which it is to be hoped will be applied in the future, such as would be in keeping with the marble wainscotted corridors, and the general dignity of the structure.

In this building, it can truly be said that the taxpayers receive more for their money than any other public building of equal cost, throughout the country. It was constructed at a time when building materials were at their lowest cost, and labor was plenty. This coupled with the design conceived on lines of economy and practicability, have made possible this achievement.

The writfi- lias little or no imagination: he I'jin write little else than an epitome of that which eomes within his actual range of vision. Of romance he knows nothing; of ancient history little, so he may not take up the excerpts copied from the musty County records and weave about them the romance that justly is their due.

Think of the possible thrillers; of the exciting periods; of the items of intense interest even to us of the present day, were one able to dream back into the recent Past.

Think of Port Orchard, tlien within the bounds of King County, sening men in a crude canoe to Seattle for rifles to defend its citizens against the ravages of the red man ! White men, who are indigents are sold into slavery for their upkeep to the one who would agree to feed them for the least money!

From the organization of the Board of County Commissioners down to 1H80, a jieriod of nearly 30 years, was probably the most interesting in King County's history.

"Be it remembered that on this 5th day of March, A. D. 1853, the County Commissioners' Court of King County was convened at the house of D. S. Maynard in the town of Seattle and duly organized in accordance with the act of the Legislature Assembly of Oregon Territory."

"The following business was transacted: Ordered that the following named persons be summoned to serve as grand jurors, to-wit : George Holt, Jacob Mapel, Samuel :\Iai)el. Henry Pierce. Henry Smith, David A. Clark and James Wilson. And as petit jurors, David Denny, Wm. Bell. John Sam])son, John Mass, Wm. Carr, David Maurer, John Strole and Henry Van Asselt."

Ordered that all of King County lying north of the Duwamish River be included in District No. 1 and all lying south of the same be included in District No. 2.

L. M. Collins was the first to secure a license for a ferry on the Duwamish River, i>aying the sum of 2.00 as the first year's tax and by giving a bond in the sum of $100.00.

January 15, 1855. Ordered that Joiin Henning, Wm. Gilliam and C. E. Brownell be appointed viewers of a road to be laid out running from claim of John M. Thomas to Joseph Foster, tiience down the Duwamish River on the south side to ci'oss near the east side of the claim of Ilenr.y Van Asselt.

June. 1855. David Maurer appointed Road Supervisor for District No. 1. John Henning appointed supervisor for Road District No. 2, Henry Fee for Road District No. 3, Moses Kirkland for Road District Xo. 4, Edward Carr for Road District No. 5, Wm. C. Webster for Road District No. 6.

Roads from Seattle to Ross and Strickless :\lill and also from Henry Van Asselt claim, east line to intersect the Territorial i-oad at the claim of John M. Thomas approved ami lawfully opened as county road.

June 3, 1856. Ordered that Edward Moore, the pauper now in Seattle, be sold at public auction to the lowest bidder for his maintenance to be paid out of the County Treasury, said bid to be left with the commissioners to E. A. Clark, Clerk.

January 8, 1857. Ordered that the following officers be elected at the July election, : One delegate to Congress, one joint councilman, with Slaughter County; two representatives, one Probate Judge, one assessor, one Coroner, one Wreckmaster, two Justices of the Peace, one Constable, one Superintendent of County Schools.

Ordered a tax of three mills on County, two school and one territorial tax be levied, also twenty-five dollars road tax on each one hundred dollarss, and nine dollars on each person liable to pay road tax, also one mill of county tax to be paid in cash for court funds.

Dec. 6, 1858. Petition of ('. C. Lewis and B. S. Johns asking for a license to run a ferry on the Duwamish River was granted for the term of one year for the sum of $1.30, and the rates shall be as follows:

November 2, 1863. Report of viewers on account of county road from PJaek Rivei- Bridge No. 1 to ]\Iilitaiy road leading to Seattle accepted and road established.

Ordered that A. G. Terry be and is hereby licensed to sell spirituous liquor for three months and keep one billiard table for the term of six months from Dee. 10, 1858, to March 10, 1860.

October 3, 1863. Ordered that the election precinct known as Snoqualmie voting precinct be so enlarged as to include the Sanuimish or Squak Valley and that the election be held at the house of E. Walsh in the Squak Valley.

May 3, 1864. That an order be drawn on the County Treasurer for the sum of $300 in favor of S. V. Combs, to be expended as soon as can be negotiated for - in the purchase of a safe for the use of the county. Said S. V. Combs to pay all freights on the same from San Francisco or from any place where it may be brought, provided he has the use of the same.

Ordered that E. Richardson be and is hereby appointed to locate all school lands that have been taken by donations and prescriptions pi-ioi' to the survey thereof.

Taxes for the yeai' 1865: County, 4 mills on the dollar; school, 2 mills on the dollar; territorial, 4 mills on the dollar; road, 2 mills on the dollar.

Nov. 14, 1865. Mr. Hall was appointed attorney or legal advisor for the county. Appointed for one year at a quarterly sum of $50 to be j)aid at the end of each quarter by the County Auditor.

()i-drrt'<l that the amount of school funds in the hands of the ( 'ounty Treasurer in County Script be exehangefl for greenbacks and deposited as a school fund.

>May 7, 1867. Ordered that 30 per cent of all money paid into the County Treasury for county purposes be set aside as a road fund for luiilding bridges and roads in King County.

May 25, 1867. Contract awarded to Daniel Braekett for constructing the Snoqualmie wagon road. His was the lowest and best bid, being $120 per mile, making a good pa.s.sable road.

(lualinio road I'lms on the Siiopvuilinie Rivci' or Raiigi^r's Prairie, be autliorizcd to keep gates across said road for one year from date.

Ordered by the J^oard that tlie rate of taxation in King County, Washington Territory, for the year 1868 shall be as follows, to-wit : Poll tax for county purposes, $2.00 per poll: poll tax for road purposes,* $4.00 per poll; county tax, 8 mills on each $1.00 of valuation; territorial tax, 3Y2 mills on eacii $1.00 of valuation; school tax, 3 mills on each $1.00 of valuation ; road tax, 8 mills on each $1.00 of valuation.

In accordance with the provisions of the act of the Legislature of Washington Territory approved Jan. 28th, 1867, entitled, "An act authorizing the County Commissioners of King County, Washington Territory, to l)orroAv money for tlie purpose of building bridges and opening roads in King County."

In May, 1868, when the Board of County Commissioners adjourned at the close of a day's session it was to meet again the next morning at seven o'clock.

June, 1866. Henr,y Ye.sler authorized to keep and maintain a whai-f in the town of Seattle at tlie foot of Mill Street for tlie term of 10 years, said wharf to run into the water a sufficient distance for all practicable and navigable purposes. Rates for lauding and shipping freight, per ton, 50c ; plungers and small vessels, per month, 50c ; for the landing of all small vessels of 100 tons and over, $5.00; for the landing of all steamers, month, $5.00; for all cattle and liorses shipjied or landed, per head, 25c; for all hogs shipped or landed, per head, 12Vl>e ; for all sheep shipped or landed, per head, 6c; single packages to be charged at reasonable rates ; for a horse and wagon, 50c ; for other vehicles, including wheelbarrows, 12i/)C.

February, 1870. H. P. Lewis appointed to select and locate lands for school purposes, said land to be taken to make up any deficiency that may be in school sections by reason of lakes and other lands are at present worthless or taken by persons holding lands in school sections prior to the public survey.

May 2, 1870. Petition from Freeport asking to be declared a separate voting precinct, including Vashon Island, Alki Point and all the settlements on the west side of the mainland residing along the coast to Moore's place, inclusive.

Election pi'ecinct established on the east side of Lake Washington to be known as the Lake Washington branch, to embrace all the settlements from Black River along the lake north.

In 1871 Samuel D. L. Smith was Justice of the Peace for the Seattle Precinct. Wm. Goldmyer, supervisor of District No. 19, resigned and Wm. Kenny appointed.

A new road district commencing at the north line of tile city limits, running tlience north to the noi'th line of King County and extending east of the west line of District No. 19 and west to Puget Sound. Thomas Mercer, supervisor.

March 30, 1872. Special meeting called to fill the vacanc.v in the office of the County Siirveyor. Ceo. F. Whitworth elected to this office. He qualified accoi-ding to law.

Nov. 4, 1872. Ordered all bills under the amount of 50c be and the same is hereby repudiated by the Board of County Commissioners and will not be allowed, and the Auditor furnished a certified copy of the order to the Clerk of the District Court.

Feb. 4, 1873. Hon. W. M. York. Probate Judge, asked for a furnished office in the Dispatch building, rent to be for scrip equivalent to -l^o.OO per month.

Feb. 7, 1873. Ordered that the proposal of T. F Minor, M. D.. for the care and attendance upon the indigent sick of the county for one year at the rate of $1.00 per day currency for each patient accepted.

Nov. 3, 1873. The report of the County Surveyor, Geo. F. Whitworth, containing notes of the survey of the cemetery on the County Farm was accepted and ordered recorded in the record.s of deeds of King County.

('. D. Perkins appointed agent of county to secure quit-claim deed to the lot known as the Seattle Cemetery - about five acres - a place for burying the county poor.

Feb. 4, 1874. In the matter of the location of the site for a county jail and other buildings, it was ordered that A. Macintosh, Esq., be and is hereby appointed as a committee to receive pro])osals for the sale to the county of such lands, to repoi't the same with his views at next term of this Court.

S. P. Andrews appointed overseer of the poor with full power and authority to contract for board, medical attention and all other necessaries for the indigent sick of the county.

May 15. Board ordered the Auditor to purchase a good, substantial book to be used for a road book and that he index in said book all road matter in the old road records in such a manner that easy reference may be made to any matter of any road, of record in said book. The Board hereby agreeing to pay reasonable compensation for said indexing.

The Board of Countv Commissioners leased the County Farm to the "Sisters of the House of Providence," Washington Territory, for five years from the first day of February, 1878, to" the first of February, 1883.

Feb. 13, 1878. Henry Lohse was given exclusive privilege to mining stone from the stone mine situated on the County Farm on the bhiff land for the period of three years from tlie 13th day of February, 1878.

Feb. 15, 1879. "Be it resolved that the Superintendent be and is hereby instructed to proceed at once in placing the wagon road in the vicinity of the Ballard track along the beach to the head of Elliott Bay, where said wagon road has been encroached upon by the railroad, in as good condition as the same was in, prior to the grading of said railroad, and that the contract for building a fence along said railroad where necessary, to be completed before trains are begun to run over that part of the line."

The first mention of County Hospital was in August, 1879, when James Bracket was admitted as a charge, but afterwards supported by his brother, Geo. Bracket, by an order of the Board of County Commissioner!?.

The Hoard of County Commissioners i.ssued an order offering a bounty for the scalps with two ears as follows: Cougar or panthar, .$3 for each scalp ; black or gray wolf, ^'i for each scalp ; black bear, i^'3 for each scalp ; wildcat, for each scalp.

.May. 1S80. '-It is ordered by the lioard that the Weekly Intelligencer, a newspaper published in the city of Seattle, in King County. Washington Territory, be and file same is hereby d(^signated as the official newsjiaper of the County of King, for the ensuing year ending April. 1881.

February, 1881. M. V. :Mills appointed Constable of Seattle Precinct. Board ordered Commissioner Colman to take charge of the stone quarry on the County Farm, and dispose of the stone to the best possible advantage.

Industrial Association allowed the use of the land adjoining the jail yard outside of the inclosure for any use that it re(iuired in connection with the Association on eondition that they surrender the use of said ground wlienever requested so to do by the Board.

Feb. 22, 1882. Chas. F. Reitze appointed as overseer of the construction of the additional county buildings, buildings to be constructed by J. J. Shepherd.

Charity of the House of Providence in Washington Terri- attle .Mill Co." for the sum of $2,100. tory, " for the leasing of the County Fai-m and care and

August 9. County Surveyor ordered to give an estimate of cost of each road ,sui-veyed and the bridging of March 6, 1889. Salary of the Superintendent of .same to the Auditoi'. County Farm raised to $100 a month.

In the otfieial journal of Fort Nesqually, there appears this entry: "On Wednesday, October 3, 1849, Kussass and Quallawowt were hanged at Steilacooni. near the barracks. " The hanged men were Indians.

This incident clusters closely to the year 18 50. Practically the story of King County really begins "when Oregon was about to enter the last half of the nineteentn century." Then Newniarliet, or Tumwater, the first, had been the largest American settlement of white people north of the Columbia river; but Olympia, later in location and settlement, was the only American town on Puget Sound. Fort Nesqually was the only other white settlement on its shores. There was no Steilacoom, no Tacoma, no Seattle, no Port Townsend, no Laconner, no Bellingham, no Everett; not a settler dwelt on the shores of this great body of inland water from Fort Nesqually northward and westward to Cape Flattery. No log cabin with its humble inhabitant, existed on these shores north of Bolton's shipyard, a short distance this side of the present site of Steilacoom.

Since that first year of the last half century Puget Sound settlements have increased over a thousand fold. Each favored locality has its history; each would furnish a chapter of reminiscences of the early settlement; each has its pioneers, men and hardy women, its just reason for local pride. In 1852, so evident has been the progress of settlement on Puget Sound, so promising was an early future, that it was conceded that Oregon, north of the Columbia river, possessed all of the elements that would go to constitute a prosperous state. Congress, therefore, on March 3, 1853, set off that part of Oregon north of the Columbia river, established a Territorial government, and nominated it "Washington." This was a fitting name to perpetuate the record of the geographic discoveries and commercial ventures of the little sloop, consort of the ship Columbia, on the memorable voyage to the Pacific Ocean and Northwest America, when for the first time, was carried at the masthead of the gallant little fleet the stars and stripes, national emblem of the United States of America, as the credentials of their seamen.

The ship Columbia, on that pioneer voyage, was commanded by Robert Gray, the immortal discoverer of the Columbia river, to which he gave the name of his ship.

Washington should properly be retained as the name of this forest region, if for no other reason that to commemorate the little sloop Washington and those discoveries made in the adjacent seas by Captain John KendricU, that daring American sailor who commanded her on her voyage of discovery, which, from a scientific standpoint were of greater importance than Gray's discovery of the greatest river of the West.

The establishment of the Territory of Washington was hailed as the harbinger of an early brilliant future. Efforts to invite immigration immediately followed. Parties were sent out to open a road across the Cascade Mountains by the Natchess Pass. Handbills were distributed along the great emigrant route east of Umatilla and Walla Walla to notify the migration of 1853 of the existence of a direct road into the Puget Sound basin. A ferry crossing the Columbia at old Fort Walla Walla, a boat was built and men stationed there tO' induce immigrants to cross the Columbia River and Cascade Mountains and come directly to Puget Sound, without first going to the Willamette 'Valley. A trail across the mountains, nothing more, had been blazed. Over the huge logs bridges of small poles had been constructed, passable for horses, but obstacles for wagons. Logs of trees, the growth of centuries laid across the path made dangerous and steep the river cross, ings, as the floods had washed them out. To call it a road was an abuse of language, yet over it, through that pass, a part of the immigration of 1853 found its way to the shores of Puget Sound. With axe in hand the hardy immigrants after the wearisome journey across the continent, hewed out their way through that pass of the Cascade Mountains. Their labor had begun before reaching the summit. From the last crossing of the Natchess to their descent, consummated by crossing the Greenwater, it was work. Some days they accomplished three miles. With their wagons they triumphantly crossed the Cascade range by a road built by themselves as they marched, in one-short season of six weeks.

Seattle was incorporated as a town in the winter of 1864-5 by act of the Legislature and Charles Terry was chosen president of the board of trustees. It was disincorporated a year later. In 1869 it was incorporated as a city by act of the Legislature, and so continued until the adoption of the freeholders' charter in 1890. Henry A. Atkins was the first mayor and Harry White the first under the new charter.

vate sale years afterwards, for $1.25 jier acre. The records of the land office will show this to be true. A large share of the West Seattle lands were so bought in 1870, for currency at 70 cents on the dollar, making the actual cost to purchasers less than 9 0 cents an acre. In 1890 lands could be bought for $2.."i0 per acre from the government within the city limits.

An early historian says: "The settlement of King County was substantially the same as of Seattle. The Snoqualmie river, falling into the Snohomish on the north; Cedar river into Lake Washington and Black River into the Duwamish, and this into Elliott Bay, are the principal water courses. All the Eastern shore of the Sound is drained by streams whose meadow lands possess a soil of wonderful productivenes.

Snowden in his History of Washington, says: "The first e.xploring party was composed of A. A. Denny, Boren and Bell. They set out in a small boat, for which Bell and Boren furnished the motive power. As the whole shore of the bay and of the Sound everywhere, seemed to be about equally well covered with timber, their first care was to investigate the depth of the water, particularly near the shore, and the character of the shore itself. They did not yet know that the most striking characteristic of the Sound is its extreme depth, and that the next is that its shores are very abrupt. Mr. Denny made the soundings as they went along, using for the purpose an old horseshoe, or perhaps two or three of them, fastened to a strong clothes line of considerable length, and not long enough, as they soon found to their surprise, to reach bottom in many places. Even close to the shore the water was very deep, and for the most part of the bay seemed to be bottomless. They soon determined that it would be possible to lay a ship close alon gshore almost anywhere.

"They appear to have begun their investigations on the north shore near Smith's Cove. By noon they had coasted along toward the east as far as University Street, and here they went ashore, climbed the steep bank, opened their dinner pails, and made ready their noonday meal. Mr. Denny was pleased with the situation and then or soon after, determined to make his home on the spot where that first meal was eaten, which he subsequently did.

"After lunch the party continued their journey eastward, or southeastward, finding the shore gradually diminishing in height, until at last for a considerable space it broke down to the level of the tide flats. But before reaching the flats they found a small stream with soft, muddy banks, covered with salt, marsh grass, and near it a curious mound thirty or forty feet high. Beyond it and along the shore southward was a rather inviting meadow, the first they had seen, and as it promised to afford pasture for their cattle, they determined to include it or part of it in one of their claims.

"As yet no survey had been made north of the Columbia River and each settler was therefore entitled to take a claim in any shape he wished. If any part of the shore line pleased him, he might make it the boundary on that side, and then by running lines at any angle he pleased, from either extremity of it, include so much land as he was entitled to take, whether married or single. He was not even required to make his boundaries by regular lines but might vary them so as to include some particularly choice piece of land, or to exclude a swampy hollow or gravelly hilltop. The members of this party therefore had little difficulty in selecting the land they would include in their three claims. As they would need the little bit of meadow near the head of the bay as a pasture, they resolved to make it their southern boundary; they would claim a shore line about a mile and a half in length, along the northeast side of the bay, and enough of the hill land back of it in a regular body to make up their three claims. This was a very reasonable selection, for each of them, being married, was entitled to take a whole section, which is a square mile, and each might have claimed a mile of the waterfront had he so desired. Indeed he might have claimeu two or three times that amount had he seen fit to do so, since by making his claim narrow he could have lengthened it in proportion. But these claimants evidently preferred to leave something that would attract other settlers, as neighbors were at that day more desirable than waterfront.

"It was then arranged that Boren should take the southernmost of the three claims, Denny the middle, which would Include the spot where they had eaten their first meal, and on which he desired to build his first home, and Bell should take the northernmost. D. T. Denny was invited to join with them in this selection, the others offering to rearrange their claims so as to accommodate him, but as he was still unmarried he was in no hurry to make his choice, and did not avail himself of their generosity. Later he took a claim north of Bell's.

On the last day of March the little colony at the point received Its first reinforcement. They had been visited in the preceding November by Hastings and Pettygrove, who were on their way down Sound, but now they had a visitor who was to remain and help them to found a city. This was Dr. J). S. Maynard, a Vermonter by birth, who had come to Oregon in 1 8.^)0, and had just spent a winter in Olympia, where he had acquired such information as he could in regard to the possibilities of the salmon industry, and was now seeking a location where he might make an attempt to get it successfully started. He was a man of education and some business experience, and also possessed of a temper of his own, as we shall see later, for the plat of Seattle bears permanent evidence of it. In his search for information about the salmon, the doctor had fallen in with an Indian chief of one of the Nisqually tribes, named Seattle, or Sealth, as the Indians seemed to pronounce it, who had been very helpful to him, and who now accompanid him to this bay, on the shores of which his own band, known as the Duwamish, made their abiding place during a considerable part of each year. He had assured the doctor that salmon were generally abundant here, and had also promised that he and his people would catch as many for him as he might wish. How much he knew of Wyeth's failure to start this business, or the success with which the Hudson Bay people had long carried it on at Fort Langley, on the Fraser, is not now known.

"He found no place on the shore of the bay so well suited to his wishes as that on the southern side of the tract which Denny, Boren and Bell selected and which had been already assigned to Boren, but it was so desirable to get this, the first industry offering, located in the neighborhood, that the three readily agreed to rearrange their claims so as to give Maynard what he wanted, and this was accordingly done, although the doctor at first thought unnecessary, as he only wanted ground enough for his fishing station.

"Dr. D. S. Maynard, whose donation claim included the island, was in 1852, when he settled, an active, experienced man of business, past fifty years of age. He determined that upon his claim should be the town of Seattle. It was chiefly by his efforts that King County was created by the Oregon

Legislature, the County seat being located upon his claim and the polling place in his dwelling house. He started the first store, the first fishery, sold the first town lots, was the first employer, was one of the first officials, and generally was the leader among the men of his time and town. In consequence of his activity and prodigality, he had in twenty years disposed of all his three hundred and twenty acres, and had upon them the business quarter and a fair proportion of the residence section as it now stands.

"On April 3d, most of the party removed from the first temporary houses they had built for themselves at AlKi Point, to their own claims, now covered by the city of Seattle. They had built no houses or even cabins as yet, and so far a considerable time lived in camp, as they had done while crossing the plains. Boren fixed his camp on the southerly part of the townsite and Bell on the northern part. Mr. Denny did not remove to his claim until some days later, being still troubled with his old-time enemy, the ague, which indeed still afflicted several other members of the party. Befor he was ready to move over, the other members of the party had built a hut for him on the site he had selected. But here he found difficulty in getting water. He dug a well in a neighborhood gulch, to a depth of more than forty feet, but found a quicltsand bottom which discouraged him, and finally he chose another site near what is now First Avenue and Marion Street, and here he built his first home. A satisfactory supply of fresh water was secured here and access to the Sound was also more convenient. This, at that time, was a very desirable consioeration.

The settlers spent their first summer in Seattle in building their homes, and making such improvements on their claims as were most necessary. They were visited meantime by two vessels, the brigs Franklin Adams and John Davis, both of which had come to the Sound for piles. From these ships they procured some of the supplies they were in need of, and it was a great convenience to be thus provided for. In the succeeding winter so few ships came that there was almost a famine in the land, and for a time all were very much concerned about their food supply. Pork and butter came around Cape Horn, flour from Chile and sugar from China, and the supply in the country was not large. "That fall," says Mr. Denny, "I paid $9 0 for two barrels of pork and |20 for a barrel of flour. I left one barrel of the pork on the beach, in front of my claim, as I supposed above high tide, until it was needed. Just about the time to roll it up and open it, there came a high tide and heavy wind at night, and like the house that was built upon he sand, it fell, or anyway it disappeared. It was the last barrel of pork in King County, and the loss of it was felt by the whole community to be a very serious matter."

Just as this hard winter was beginning - in October, IS Si 2 - Henry Yesler arrived. He was a native of Maryland, though after becoming of age he went to Ohio, where he remained for several years, and in 18 51, accompanied by his family, crossed the plains to Oregon. After working for a time at his trade as a carpenter and millwright he went to California, where for a short time he engaged in raining. There he learned something of the attractions of the Puget Sound country, and perceiving that California would for a long time to come furnish an excellent market for the timber that the Sound could so abundantly supply, he returned north to build a mill and engage in the lumber trade. The little colony on Elliott Bay quickly saw the value to them of what he was proposing to do, if he should locate his mill in their neighborhood. It would make a market for the timber of which they had an abundance, and also furnish them constant employment in cutting it.

On the ground thus assigned the first steam sawmill in Washington was soon after built. Either at the beginning, or soon afterwards, its capacity was 15,000 feet per day. Indian laborers were employed for the most part during the earlier years, in and about it, and Mr. Yesler managed these people so successfully as to be able to keep about him all the laborers lie required, and to so far win the confidence and esteem of their tribesmen that he was able to go among them without much risk to himself during the troublous times that soon after followed, and he was very useful to Governor Stevens, for this reason, in the negotiations at the close of the Indian war.

Near the mill was a cookhouse that became famous in the early days, and is still remembered by many old settlers who took their meals there in early days. Every wayfaring man got a meal there as he passed, if he required it, and sometimes he lodged in or near it. Officers and men from such ships as visited the harbor were often seen there. Occasionally the officers from some war ship, or from the fort at Steilacoom visited it. Around its broad fireplace many stories of adventure by land anu sea were told. For several years it was the one place on the Sound where news from the world was surest to be obtained. At the outbreak of the Indian war the volunteers made it their rendezvous. Judge Lander had his office in one corner of it, and the county auditor also had his office there. It served, as Mr. Yesler has said, "for town hall, court house, jail, military headquarters, storehouse, hotel and church. Elections, social parties and religious services were held under its roof. The first sermon preached in King County was delivered there by Clark, and the first suit at law, which was the case of the mate of the Franklin Adams for selling the ship's stores on his own account, was tried there before Justice Maynard." Many people, not only in Seattle, but in other parts of the territory, were sorry when it was torn down, in 18 65, to make room for a larger building.

There being nothing in the trade there was almost nothing in the shipping. Small steamers began coming to Seattle from Portland about 1869, and from San Francisco in 1875. The few who traveled during the first ten or fifteen years of Seattle's existence paid from five to ten dollars for going to Olympia, ten dollars or more for going to Victoria, twenty-five dollars or more for a hard trip to Portland, and about seventyfive to San Francisco. Canoes and sloops were of necessity frequently resorted to. The sail vessels coming to Puget Sound in the early 50s were veritable traders. They were stocked with provisions, liquors, clothing, hardware and knicknacks to sell to the Indians and whites, and their masters were commissioned to buy timber, oil, fish and vegetables in exchange for the San Francisco markets. From the goods on these vessels principally brigs, the first stores and people of Seattle were supplied. Almost the only meats consumed were fish, salt pork and the like. Seattle's fir^ butcher shop was not opened until 1859, and like the first and only shop in the small towns generally, was not noted much for variety and quality of its stock. Eggs were scarce and sold usually at from 50 cents to $1 a dozen, and sometimes higher. Butter was worth as much as eggs or more. Wages were not high, as now, while eleven hours was a day's work.

Boren, Denny and Maynard agreed together early in 1853 to lay out a townsite on their claims, but they apparently did not agree in all respects as to the details of the plant. They did agree, however, to file their plats for record at the same time. Mr. Denny, who was a surveyor, thought the principal streets should run, as nearly as possible, parallel with the shore of the Sound, and the cross streets straight up the hill; Maynard made his plat with the streets running due north and south and east and west. Both used the boundary between

Boren and Maynard's claim as a base line, and along it laid out a street which was known for many years as Mill Street, but is now Yesler Way. North of this line Mr. Denny laid out twelve blocks, of eight lots each 60x120 feet with an alley sixteen feet wide between them. There were three streets. Front, Second and Third, running parallel with the shore line, and five cross streeets, James, Cherry, Columbia. Marion and Madison. The first block north of Yesler Way was triangular and was bounded by Yesler Way, James and Second streets. This plat was filed some time in the afternoon of May 23, 1853.

This is a tradition that Maynard was displeased, for some reason, with Denny's action, and that he changed his plat, which covered only a few squares south of Yesler Way, so that tne streets would not be continuous. At any rate they do not meet with those on the north side of Yesler Way, as everybody familiar with the city knows. His plat was filed on the same day as Mr. Denny's, but later in the afternoon.

After the fire the name of Front Street was changed to First Avenue, and a right-of-way was purchased, or condemned, through enough of the Denny Way plat to unite it with the principal street in Maynard's plat to make a continuous thoroughfare. The remainder of the block was dedicated to the public as Pioneer Square. It is a curious fact that the land on the west side of First Avenue opposite this little park, and for some distance northward, has never been platted. It is now very valuable and is owned by many different people, being rescribed in their several detds by meets and bounds.

Early in 18 53 Thomas Mercer and Dexter Horton arrived, and later John C. Holgate returned to find that the claims he had selected three years earlier, for himself and his sister's family had been taken by others. He accordingly made a new choice, taking the claim next south of Maynard's while Edward Hanford, his brother-in-law, and Lemuel J. Holgate, his brother, and Samuel Hanford selected claims adjoining this, getting hill land which became a part of Seattle much earlier than the farms he had hoped to get in the Duwamish Valley.

Mercer brought the first wagon to Elliott Bay. When it arrived there was not a piece of road in King County long enough to receive it, but road-making began soon after its arrival, and for a considerable time it was used to do all the hauling done on the bay.

Dexter Horton was a native of New York, from which State his family early removed to Illinois. He came to Oregon in 1S52 with his wife and one daughter, and thence over the Cowlitz trail with Mercer and others to Seattle, where he arrived without a dollar in his pocket, and fifty dollars in debt. He soon found work at the new sawmills then building on the Sound, and in clearing land at Port Townsend. He quickly paid what he owned and accumulated a little capital with which he, for a time, engaged in trade, and then started a bank, the first in the territory, and which still exists as Dexter Horton & Co., the name he gave it. He seems never to have taken a donation claim.

The Moran Brothers' machine and repairing shop was established in 1882 in a small building on Yesler's wharf. Robert and Peter Moran were the owners, and their enterprise and skill so advanced their business as to necessitate a new building, which they proceeded to erect on leased ground on Yesler Avenue.

Seattle in 1822 boasted of but little in the manufacturing line. During that year a company was formed by Moran Brothers with the small capital of $1,500. In 1889 the works were destroyed by the great fire and $40,000 went up in smoke. The enterprising proprietors were not daunted but immediately set to work on their tideflat property, and one week later had a furnace at work. Over that furnace now stands a magnificent plant, an honor to the city and state. The plant consists of machine shops, boiler works, foundry and blacksmith shop. The Moran Brothers Company, aside from these, owned and operated an extensive machinery depot on West Yesler Avenue, and controlled and managed the Seattle Dry Dock & Ship Building Company. The Morans sold for a great fortune to an Eastern concern and this plant is now the Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Company.

The battleship "Nebraska" was launched October 7, 1904, at Moran's. The business men of Seattle subscribed $100,000 to make possible the construction of the "Nebraska" in a Seattle shipbuilding plant.

The rolling stock for the trolley system of the Seattle, Renton & Southern Railway Company were the first to be manufactured on this coast, and were designed and built at the yards of the Moran Company in 1909.

The Seattle Soap Works were established in 1886 by Messrs. R. M. Hopkins and C. B. Bussell. They fitted up an old grist mill at the foot of Seneca Street.

A small tank was located on the tide flats and from it gas was distributed in 1874 to the business houses and residences. The franchise was granted on June 6, 1873, to lay mains in the city streets for a period of twenty-five years.

A new company entered the field in 1901, securing a fifty-year franchise by offering cheaper gas and holding out the prospect of competition in business. As should have been expected, however, competition was short-lived, the old company soon being absorbed by the new. At the expiration of its franchise the city has the right to purchase the works at an appraised value.

The history of the King County Hospital begins with the year 1S77. Prior to this time the poor of King County were taken care of through an arrangement with the Sisters of Charity, by which they received a certain sum each day for the care of each patient. In 1877, however, the county having secured possession of the farm, which is now occupied by the Almshouse and Hospital, they placed Mr. Merrick and his wife in charge of them through an arrangement whereby they were enabled to utilize the services of such patients as were able to work for the sum of twenty-five cents per day with board and lodging included. The care of the sicK and the poor was rather prefunctory during the time of Mr. Merrick, as there was no regular medical attention provided and it was not until 1892 when Dr. F. B. Whiting was placed in charge of the Almshouse and Hospital, that any systematic care of a medical or surgical nature was given to the patients.

The next year, 1S93, through the influence of Dr. Whiting, the commissioners began the erection of the main portion and one wing of the present hospital building. In 1894 it was first occupied and at that time had a capacity of 12.t beds. Singularly enough. Dr. Whiting, the first superintendent of tne hospital, is now one of the leading surgeons on the staff of the hospital. Some ten years ago another wing was built, which increased the capacity of the hospital to 225 beds, while the Almshouse has a capacity of approximately 140 beds. The growth of the hospital in efficiency has been gradual but continuous, each superintendent in charge having added to its betterment, until at the present time the patients receive as

A few facts concerning the amount of work done at the hospital, together with the amount of money expended by the county through its commissioners for the support of the poor and sick, may be of interest:

Last year the number of patients admitted to the hospital was 1,676; the number of surgical operations performed was .542, with only twelve deaths following. The total number of deaths, however, from all causes was 165. The surgical operations, as well as the services of the entire staff, are performed by the leading physicians, surgeons and specialists of Seattle, who cheerfully give their services without money and without price. The staff is appointed by the medical director and rotates each three months.

The pay roll for the Almshouse and Hospital for the past year was $28,000. There are fourteen trained nurses to care for the patients, five stewards and three house physicians. The entire cost for maintenance for both Almshouse and Hosliital the past year was $86,000.

The amount of supplies for the same period will be interesting in the way of totals. During the year these institutions consumed 53,000 pounds of meat, 5,100 pounds of fish, 46 tons of potatoes, 10,000 pounds of butter, 6,200 dozen of eggs, 200 sacks of sugar and 19,000 gallons of milk, besides various other minor supplies needed. This will give the tax-

Under the present management, and conducted ection with the Almshouse and Hospital, is also the Crematory, which takes care of the unclaimed dead fro institutions. In addition to this it also cares for priva at a nominal charge. The expense of conducting the tory for the past year was $2,000, which was nearly by the revenues from private cases.

It may be said in closing that the hospital has h is having, a continuo\is growth in efficiency and that t and sick of King County are being as well cared for y is be- the same class of unfortunates in any part of the country. At county. the present time the hospital is \inder the following managein con- ment:

FRONT VIEW OF COUNTY LAZY HUSBAND STOCKADE. "UNDER THE LAW HUSBANDS WHO WILL NOT SUPPORT THEIR FAMILIES MAY BE IMPRISONED AND FORCED TO WORK, THEIR EARNINGS GOING TO THE WIFE'

In their wisdom the Coiuity ('oiiiniissioiiers have seen fit to i)t]i-('iiiise for County purposes "'The Willows,"' a beautiful farm in a fertile valley east of the further shore of Lake Washington.

This was purchased from C. D. Stimson and contains 420 acres, mostly in a high state of cultivation. This jiurehase was made in the face of strong protest largely from people who did not or would not understand the situation, i. e., that the county should raise for its wards all the meat, fruit and vegetables now bought at high jirices in the public markets.

had for its own uses and for wliicli they had leased "The Willows." These herds, and all the tools and imiileinents used on the farm were taken over by the comity, so that the County farm starts oft' as a going concern. The "lazy husband" buildings which were recently erected near Uothell have been moved to the new farm, and tlie lazy men will help the county's indigent and its pi-isoners in the farm work.

King County, as well as other counties in Washington, now legally takes the man who will not support his family, introduces him to a farm or a road rejiair job, and gives the family the benefit of iiis earnings, a miniiiunu of one dollar per day.

King County, at the of the Wliitc River massacre, October 2S, 185.'), was in a fairly prosperous condition but now all was in ruins. The entire population was compelled to seek shelter and safety in Seattle or elsewhere, and a great nuiny wei-e so discouraged that they left the country.

The first volley firetl by the hulians showed that theii' line completely encircled the town, on the land side, and that while not one of them could be seen, they were present in large numbers. Iliuloubtedly they might have captureil thi' town, in spite of tile Decatur, if they had attacked it moi'e boldly. Its defeiulers were not more than 175 in all, 120 of whom wei'e from tiie ship, the remainder being citizens. Hut for the presence of the vessel the town would liave been easily taken, even if its inhabitants had been on their guard, as they were not, and all would have been massacred.

But it was not possible for savage warrioi-s to overcome the opjiosition they met. Concealed and pi'otected by the timber, they made a vigorous but inetfectual fight during most of the day. Volley after volley from theii' rifles was poured into the town, but their bullets did little injury, most of its defenders being either beyond range or effectually concealed in the houses, or behind stumps and other objects, which saved them from injury.

Meantime the guns on board the Decatui', and the howitzer at the soutiici-n end of the jjeninsula, continued to drop shells and solid shot, or to scatter charges of grape and shrapnel, at points along the Indian line where the smoke from their rifles indicated that such messengers would be most useful. All the forenoon the roar of the cannon and tiie shai'p crack of the rifles continued. The ground along the hills beyond Second Street was torn up by exploding shells, and many of the trees along the edge of the forest were splintered by the grapeshot and shrapnel. Still the Indians held to their work and, above the crack of their rifles, theii' yells and whoops were fre- (|uently heard, mingled with the screams of their women, who were everywhere urging them on to greater eft'orts.

There was a lull in the battle about noon, the Indians apparently having withdrawn to refresh tiiemselves with a feast which their women had prepared by slaughtering the cattle belonging to the settlers, which they had captured early in tiie tight. During this short respite the women and children were removed from the blockhouse, and other jilaces in which they had taken refuge, and taken on board the Decatur, and the ship Brontes, which was then lying in the harbor, where they were eared for until all possibility of danger was past. Among these children was C. H. Hanford, a former judge of the federal court, who was then about seven years old.

Tile old bl(K-k liDUSf, used as a refuge froui Indians, stood on the west side of First Avenue opposite Cliercy Street. It stood thei'e as late as 1S58.

The fighting continued, with more oi' less vigor, during the afternoon, but without an>' noteworthy result on either side. Occasionall.v when a shell would be droppetl at some point on the attacking line where the Indians were thickest, its explosion would be followed by ilemonstrations indicating that some unusual danuige had been done by it, and the marines and citizen-soldiei's would take new courage. These shells were something entirely new to the Indians, and they were ([uite unprepared for them. They had never before seen guns which tired bullets that would shoot a second time aftei' they had landed in their own innnediate neighl)orhood. To their savage minds this was a very great medieiiie, for wliich no Intlian necronuineer could ])rovide a counteracting influence.

As the afternoon advanced, and the shadows of evening began to gather, it was discovei'ed that the Indians were making preparations to burn the buildings wliidi were nearest their line, as it was expected the,\' would, aiul it was feared that as darkness gathered they might buin the town. To prevent this Captain Gansevoort's gunners continued to shell the woods, and dispei'sed the incendiaries before their work was fairly begun. Firing along the Indian line gradually ceased until about ten or eleven o'clock in the evening, when it was discontinued altogether, and when the nioi'uing of 1 )eceiid>i'i' l!7th dawned the Indians had all disappeared after having burned a few of the houses which were nearest tlie timber, and taking with them most of the cattle belnnging to the citizens.

During the battle ordy two persons weri' killed on the side of the defenders of the town. ()iu' of these was a young man named Robert Wilson, who had been fighting behiiul the safe shelter of a stump; he was hit by an Indian bullet while changing his position for one further from the Indian line. The otliei- was ^Milton G. Holgate, a brother of Lenuiel J. Ilolgate and Mrs. E Hanford, who was shot and instantl.v killed, near the dooi- of the blockhouse, early in the battle. None were wounded, although several had narrow escapes. How many of the enemy were killed or wounded was never known. Lieutenant Phelps says the Indians afterwards admitted twenty-eight of the former and eight of the latter. That some were killed and more wounded i.s certain, but as is usual with Iiulians in battle, they were carried away and their number carefidlv coiu-ealed.

The nuudjcr of the Indians engaged in this attack has been variousl.v estimated, but of course has never been acciirately known. The Indians themselves probably did not know how many warriors were present, and if they did they did not then or afterwards give an.v information about it. Lieutenant Phelps, who was an officer of the Decatur, and took an active part in the fighting, thinks there were at least a thousand ju'esenf. But he is inclined to magnifv the service rendered by the Decatur, and the dangers her officers and men encountered. Others have jilaced the nuudjer nuich lowei'. It is certainly known only that the attacking party was largely composed of Klikitats, and other Indians from east of the mountains, and that there were a h-i-u lot of I hem.

During the night of the '26th they disajipeared as quietly as they had conu'. Many of them possibly retired across Lake Washington, and reerossed the mountains to their own counfi-y. Some followed Leschi and his warriors U]) the White River Valley, plurulering and Inirning the deserted homes of the settlers as they retreated. Two da.vs later there was not a hoiise standing in King County, outside of Seattle, excejif at Alki Point.

A few days aftei- this battle Leschi sent word to Captain Gansevoort that he would return in another month and destroy the town, but this thi'eat was hardly uecessaiy to adiuonisli the citizens that it was now time to make lu'eparafions for their defense. The woi'k was begun inuiiediately.

Mr. Yeslei' furnished a ship's cargo of hunber which he had recently sawed for shiiiment, to be used for fortifications, and with this and other material a bai'ricade five feet high and sui'i'ounding the town, was constructed. It consisted of two Vioard walls about eighteen inches apai't, with the space between packed with dirt aiul saw dust. This made a faiidy reliable wall of defensi'. Another blockhouse, near the first was built, and the two were connected by a passage with a strong stockade on either side. These blockhouses were provided with two small cannon, one of which was obtained from the Active. Many of the stumps that still cumbered the .streets were dug u]i, or burned out, to clear the ground in ease of second attack, and so the first public improvements in Seattle were begun. A company of volunteers numbering fifty-one, of which Chief Justice Lander was made captain, was organized and the defense of the city committed to its care. From that time forth the settlers felt that they were secure against an.v attack, and so they continued until fhi' end of the wai'.

County. Born in a log cabin on the shores of Elliott Bay site of the Hotel Stevens at Fii'st and Mai'ion. On Novemless than two years after the first families had settled ber 13, 1851, his father A. A. Denny had settled at Alki here. His boyhood days wei'c spent along the trails that Point, are now First and Second Avenues; his schooling was obtained in such institutions as the city boasted and later in the Territorial liniversity ; his early manhood was spent on Puget Sound as engineei- of one of the first steamboats that plowed its waters. Mr. Denny died February 26, 1916.

Modern In Every Respect

King' ('oiiiity alwiiys fcady to rrvcmicr tlir iiiciiiorics of Wasliiufjtoii ]iioiiccrs, will not ovrrlnok tlu' t'listoiii when tlie new t!oiirt House is eoiui)lete(l. The iiiiiiieiise pile of granite and terra cotta stands over the spot where was situated the residence of the late Henry L. Yeslei', who built Seattle's tirst saw mill, back in 1S52. And when the building is completed and houses its family of hundreds of county and city employees, its main corridor will contain a bronze tablet to the memory of the pioneer.

This was deeidiMl liy the King County Commissioners, when they adopted a I'esolution authorizing M. P. Xielson, a Seattle sculptor, to make a tablet on wliich will lie a medallion poi'trait of Mr. Yesler.

The tablet \vill cost .'|;.'")00, and its dimensions will be '24 inches by 26 inches. The medallion which will be full face, will occu|)y the upper pai't of the plate, and above the heail will be entwined a border of (Oregon gi'ajie leaves. At the bottom of the plate will be anolher border of either Oi'egon graj)e or salal.

Iikxry L. Yesler

ISelow the uH'dallion will be the following inscription : "In Memoi-y of the honored pioneei' IIKXRY L. YESLER, whose houH' Avas on the site of this l)uilding, this tablet is erected by the people of King County in recognition of his public spirit and helpful generosity."

The Seattle Gazette of May 28, 1864. piiltlislied tlic following; "We neglected last week to notice the return home of our highly esteemed fellow citizen, ilr. Asa L. ]\liTecr. from the East, where he has heen on a visit for the greater part of the past year. It is to the efforts of Mr. ]\Iercer, joined with the wishes of the darlings themselves, that the eleven acconaplished and beautiful young ladies whose ari'ival was lately announced, have been added to our population. We understand tliat the inimber, as at first reported, would have been fifty, l)ut many were not able to pi-epare for the journey this season. The thanks of tlie whole community and of bachelors in particulai', are diie to Mr. Mercer, for 'his efforts in encouraging this nuieh needed kind of immigration.''

Judge Asa S. Mercer about 1863 collected private contributions towards a iwnd which enabled him to go to Boston and there place a proposition before the public for a lot of girls and young women who liad been made orphans by the Civil War to accompany liim to the State of Washington. Quite a number evineeil a desire to go. but when tile time came to start only eleven had found courage to leave their friends and make a journey of seven

A few of these had to avail themselves of the means pioviiled by ^Ir. fiercer but most of them paid theii' own way. Thi'V left New York in .March, 1864, came by tinway of the Isthmus of Panama and San Francisco. At the latter place quarters were secured for the party on the bark "Torrent" which brought them to Port Gamble, then called Leekalet, and from there the sloop "Kiddei'" brought them to Seattle, May 16, 1864. Judge Merceisailed again from New Yoi'k January 6, 1866 witii upwards of two hundred war orphans, vouching for the intelligence and moral character of all the persons accompanying him.

The undertaking was approved by the President and Cabinet but not officially. Ninety-six days on the propeller "Continental."" a 1600 ton ship, brought them to San Francisco via the Straits of ^lagellan. Tiie i)eoi)le were then sent North in bunches of ten to forty, on the lumber ships trading between Sound ports and the California metropolis.

County'S Indigent

Major Isaac I. Stevens was the first goveriior of thf territory. l>,v iiroelamation made from the summit of tlie Rocky Mountains. September 29th. 1853. he announced his assumption of the duties of the governorship. Stevens County, in this state, was named in his honor, and when, in 1889, the state governuuMit was organized, this large county was divided and the new ])art named "Ferry County,"" in honor of Elislia P. Feri'v, the first Governoiof tlie State of Washington.

The State is divided into f-wo parts \>y the Cascade Mountains. Eastern Washington contains an area of over 40,000 square miles and Western Washington about 25,000 square miles. Tlu' climate east of the mountains is a little colder in winter and slightly waruu^r in summer than it is in the western part of the state; there is also less rainfall in the eastern part.

The genesis of names in Westei'u Washington is a iimtter of interest. In 1592 a Greek navigator claimed to have discovered tlic straights that bear liis name - "Juan de Fuca." In 1790 a Spanish exjiloring exjiedition entered tlie sti'aits. 'I'hcy added something to the information previously obtained and left the impress of their woi'k liehind tlu'iii in the namrs tliey gave to tlie waters they visited. Thus we have Canal de Haro, Se(|uim Kay, Rosario Strait and the names Camano, Texada, Port Angeles, San Juan, Lopez, Guemes and Fidalgo, and other names of a kindred sort. In 1792 Capt. George Vancouver, commander of the British sloop "Discovery," entered these waters. He had a crew of 100 men, many of whom were officers and experts ai)pointed by the P>ritish Government for special service in the exjiedition. He named the waters now known as Puget Soiiiul after one of his officers, Peter Puget. He named Hood Canal after Lord Hood. Mt. Baker was named in honor of Lieut. Baker, one of his officers. I\It. Rainier, whose snow-crowned lieights rise to an altitude of 14,444 feet - the mountain that has stood as a sentinel along the pathway of the years and silently witnessed the incoming and outgoing of the centuries, he named in honor of Admiral Rainier, of the British navy. He gave us the names Protection Island, Marrowstone Point, Foulweather lUuft', l)ece|)tion Pa.ss, Port Orcliard, Cypress Ishiiid and \'aneouver Island. King County leans righ1 up against the foothills of ^\t. Rainier.

Kiiio' County owes no apology for its public buildings and parks. They are second to none others in the United States. They are modern in every re.s])ect and a credit to the people who ])aid for them.

Those buildings belonging to the (.'ity of Seattle, the Federal (xovernment, and Public Service Corporations are uniformly of thi' best and most sei-vicealile ty]ie.

The First Postoffice

Until Augu.st 27th, 1<S.")8, the settlers in King County had to deiiend upon uncertain chances for either letters or papers. At that date national recognition of Seattle was given by the establishment of a postotfice and the appointment of Mr. Arthur A. Denny the first postmaster, who opened the office in liis dwelling hoiise, which was a log building, situated at the corner of wliat is now known as .Mai-ion Street and First Avenue. A man had been previously employed to go to Olymina to jirocure whatever mail matter was thei-e foi- parties i-esiding hei'e. He returned on August 16, and brought twenty-two letters and foui'teeii newspapers, but what was brought on the 27th he does not remembei- oidy that it was a very small aiiKHint.

ilail was delivered in Seattle by boat until the year 1M67, when a contract for the "overland" delivery of mail by waj' of Puyallup was let. From Puyallup it was broTight on pony by trail, a distance of forty miles. The contract was taken by C. H. llanfoi'd then a young man, later a federal judge, who "rode the mail" for one year at a consideration of $500 per annum, after which he was iinderbid on the job. Postmaster Pumphrey, in 1875, moved the oifice to the corner of Mill Street, now Yesler way. and Post Street. He was succeeded by Thomas W. Pi'osch on July 18, 1875. After serving tM'o years, Prosch was succeeded, on June 25, 1877, by Ossian J. Carr. Mr. ('air held the office nine years, the longest continous service of an a<lministration since the beginning of Seattle's postal sei'vice.

John ]\I. Lyon was appointed on January 5, 1887, seived little over a year, and was succeeded on April 5, 1.S8!), by Albei't M. Brookes. Mr. Lyon (uoved the office to the lioston Xational Bank Block, on Second Avenue ni'ar Columbia Street. It was located hei'e when the fire occui'red. Because it was rt'garded as being too far out of the luisiness district at this point, Postmaster Brookes moved the office to the north side of Columbia Street between Second and Third Avenues, and on this site it remained until the rapid growth of llie thriving cit.y made it necessary in 18iS;t to seek largei' ipiarters.

(Ji-itfith Davis became ])ostmaster on February 14, 1,S!)1; (iilbcrt S. .Aleem on April S, 1895, and George M. Stewart on .March 3, 18;)!l. At the time of Mr. Stewart's appoiiitmiiit the quarters of the postoffiee were being moved to the Aldington P>lock, at the corner of First Avenue and University Street. At that time there was almost constant com|)]aint that the office was situated too far aw;iy from the business center.

Several yeai-s latei'. or aliout 1!)02, the sur|ii-ising growth of the district north of Madison brought the postoffice in the center of the luisiness district and there it remainetl until the occupation of tlie present Federal Building, at Third Avenue and Union Street, on November 1, 1901. Postmaster Stewart was succeeded in November, 1908, by George F. Russell, who prior to that time had served as city treasurer of Seattle. Edgar Battle, the present postmaster, was apjiointed by President Wilson on September 10, 1913.

The carrier service of the Seattle postoft'ice was put into effect on September 1, 1887, with F. C. Henry, John P. Jones, Andrew J. Snyder and R. H. Brooks as the first carriers.

The Seattle post off'ice is now twenty-first in size among all the oft"ices in the United States. It is one of the five exchange off'ices in the country for handling foreign mail. The present building is already so crowded that the government will secure a site for a branch off'ice near the depots, in the south end of the city, and it is here that the foreign mail will be handled. Of this sort of mail 20,012 sacks were dis])atched from Seattle during 1913.

postoifice stalioas and t'orty-sevcii (-oiitract offit^es i'or tluconvenience of the piiblie. With one exception, all the postoffices of tlie State of Washington and of Alaska remit surplus postal and money order funds to the Seattle institution. This amounts to ^5,000,000 annually. Its payroll covers 300 rui-al carriers in the state. ^'2^) railway mail clerks and the :520 employes of the office, the 745 persons receiving $1,400,000 eacli year.

An act of appropriation March 2, 1899 gave $300,000 for the erection of a Federal building at Seattle. Two years later it was increased to .$750,000. By June 2, 1902,

James linox Taylor was supervising ai-chitect for the Government department. Fi-anees W. (iiant supervising architect in charge. It has a frontage of 196 feet on Third Avenue and 153 feet on Union Street. Area of site, one acre. The site was purchased from Jules RedelsheiiTier February 24, 1902, for the sum of $174,750.

Mr. Gould received a public school education and studied architecture under professors of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His first employment was in connection with the enterprises of his elder brothers in the contracting and building business in Boston. At the age of twenty-two he embarked in that city independently in professional work. He continued there twelve years, achieving success and an enviable reputation. During that iieriod he executed the designs for many public and private buildings, including the Women's Prison on Deer Island, Boston Harbor, the Phillips Brooks School, the Benjamin Gushing School, and the City Stables for the city of Boston; the Dudley Club at Roxbury, and the Women's Club at Dorchester, Boston, Mass.

Removing to Seattle, in 1904, Mr. Gould continued his individual practice there until 1909, designing among other structures, the American Bank and Empire Buildings, the Standard Furniture Company's Store Building, the Georgian Hotel, etc. From June 1, 1909, a partnership with E. Frere Champney under the firm style of Gould & Champney existed for two years during which period the Young Women's Christian Association Building, New Richmond Hotel and the Seattle Electric Company's Building were designed. Since dissolving this partnership, Mr. Gould has received many additional commissions, chief among which is the New King County Court House.

Mr. Gould is married and resides at the Washington Hotel Annex, and is a member of the Rainier Club, Seattle Golf and Country Club, Seattle Automobile Club and Seattle Commercial Club.

Pioneer Square was donated to Seattle, Pioneer Building now occupies the site of the old Yesler Mill. The Totem pole was brought from Tongas Island in 1897. The Indian chief for whom it had been carved had paid $2 5 0 for it, and its history dates back 110 years. The party of tourists bringing it to Seattle did so at an expense of $1,750. *****

In 18 90 Judge Austin came to Seattle and built the elevator in West Seattle of which he was the manager. He shipped the first cargo of grain from Seattle, sending it on the "Mary L. Burrell."

The Seattle Feed Mills was an enterprise established in 1886 by Mr. J. H. Walker, an experienced miller from Oregon. The various meals and graham flours were turned out and the great excellence of Puget Sound oats was fully developed.

The first pipes laid to carry water were to the old University grounds, now occupied by the White, Henry, Stuart, Cobb and P. -I. Buildings and the Arena, from a spring about -')00 feet to the eastward.

The first water system was begun by the installation of very crude contrivances by Henry L. Yesler. It consisted in the building of a very small tank just north of Yesler Way between Third and Fourth Avenues. The water was conducted to the Yesler Mill at the foot of the street in an open trough which was later replaced by a wooden pipe made from boring twelve-inch logs in six-foot lengths. This system was also used to furnish water power to Wooden's Tannery, which then stood on the present site of the Prefontaine Building. The water was obtained from a stream of some size that originated in a depression at a point near Eighth Avenue and Madison Street. Another source of supply was at Seventh and Columbia called the Lowman Spring. The spring at the corner of Seventh and Cherry is still flowing through a three-fourths inch pipe and is used in emergencies.

Snoqualmie Falls is 270 feet in height. From it, both in Seattle and Tacoma, has been generated a 17,500 horsepower force that has materially assisted in making Seattle attain some of its well deserved reputation as a splendidly lighted city.

At Latona a tunnel has been dug beneath the bottom of Lake Union to carry the water pipes and electric wires under the lake out of the way of the ships using the Lake Washington Canal. The tunnel lies between 30 and 4 0 feet below the bottom of the lake. It is a tube 12 feet from floor to ceiling walled in two feet of solid concrete and 900 feet long. The contract was let for $183,000. Completed, it cost the city over a quarter of a million dollars. George H. Worley was the contractor on the job.

The first central station incandescent electric lighting plant west of the Missouri River was delivering current in Seattle on March 23, 1886.

The fifty-year franchise under which the Seattle Electric Company supplies power and light to private consumers was granted in 1902. The plant which the company owns though erected primarily to furnish the power to generate its street car system, supplies the greater part of the light and power consumed by private users.

The Everett & Interurban Railway Company was incorporated by Fred E. Sander, Mary 29, 1902. In 1905 the line had been built to fifteen miles north of Hall's Lake. The property was re-incorporated under the name of the Seattle- Everett & Interurban Railway and in 1907 sold to the interests represented by Stone & Webster and changed by them to the Pacific-Northwest Traction Company.

The only street railway companies which had not been in the hands of the receivers, before the consolidation of 190 3 were the Madison Street and the Union Trunk Line in the original consolidation in March, 1900, were 66% miles of mileage, increased to 78 in March, 1902, and 95 miles at the end of 1903. In 1915 the street railway company had 197 miles of single track on 111 miles of street; over 500 cars for passengers were in use.

The current for the electric company comes from three plants, on the Snohomish River, White River and at Electron. The Puget Sound Traction, Light & Power Company's vast interests in this section of the state are also shown by the following data: In 1913, in the whole system - which includes the street railways in Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham and Everett, and the various interurbans - 492 miles of single tracks were operated over 33 7 miles of streets and other rightsof-way. The total number of cars was 1,073, of which 623 were passenger cars. The total number of employes in 1913 was 3,799, 2,538 of them being on the Seattle division. The total number of passenger car miles operated during the year in Seattle was 12,701,151, and for the entire system 20,231,- 067. Including the freight and work cars the total number of car miles for Seattle was 13,087,936, and the entire system 21,534,221. In Seattle, passengers were carried during 1913 as follows: Revenue passengers, 76,726,857; transfer passengers, 23,431,345; free, 4,885,508, making a grand total of 105,043,508. The Seattle division, therefore, carried the equivalent of the entire population of the United States and without a single fatality among its passengers.

In course of its civic expansion the municipal ownership idea became popular. So Seattle decided to go into the electric business as a public undertaking. The municipal system owes its existence largely to the efforts of George F. Cotterill and R. H. Thomson, the latter city engineer from 1892 to 1911. They brought the need of such a plant, in order to secure the best and most economical street and municipal light, to the attention of Seattle's citizens and were instrumental in securing the necessary state legislation and the incorporation in the city charter of the provisions which made it possible for the city to undertake this enterprise. As the outcome of this work in behalf of a municipal lighting and power system, the city council submitted a bond issue to the voters of the city, who, on March 4, 1902, decided in favor of the first issue of $590,000. The source of power was to be Cedar River, in King County, and little time was lost in starting work. The work on the first plant was finished in 1904 and in January, iyu5, the city took over the street lighting system, which had been operated prior to this time by the Seattle Electric Company.

In 1904, with the voting of another bond issue, this time of 1250,000, the city undertook to enter the field of commercial lighting in competition with the private electric company. The first municipal light was furnished to home and business houses in September, 1905.

In January, 1905, the city took over the street lighting system, which had been operated prior to this time by the Seattle Electric Company.

In 1904, with the voting of a bond issue of $250,000, the city undertook to enter the field of commercial lighting in competition with the private electric company. The first municipal light was furnished to homes and business houses in September, 1905. Bonds for an extension were authorized by the voters on March 6, 1906, for $600,000. Further necessity of extending the distribution system to all parts of the city resulted in the voting of $800,000 more bonds on December 29, 1908. In April, the lighting department was made separate from the water department by charter amendment.

In 1910 there appeared a demand for more power and it was planned to develop the Cedar River site to its full capacity, by the use of a large concrete dam. Work begun 1912.

In 188 6 a small electric light plant was started in a board shack on Jackson Street between Occidentl and Second South. In 1888 the installation was completed. The Seattle Electric Light Company was organized and J. M. Frink became president. The gave Seattle its first electric light on March 16, 1888. In 1889, early, an extension was made in the basement at the corner of Post and Seneca Streets. The plants were wiped out in the fire of 1889. Another plant was started five weeks after on Eighth Avenue and Charles Street.

On Monday, March 4, 1890, Dr. E. C. Kilbourne was given a franchise, that day he leased the old power house of the Seattle Consolidated Electric Railway Company at the foot of Pike Street. A contract for tse pole line was let to Baker & Balch. Within sixty days Dr. Kilbourne was delivering light in Seattle. There were no meters in those days, so a flat rate was charged, being $1.50 per month for a 16-candlepower lamp burning from starting time untid 10:30 p. m.

On October 1, 1892, the Seattle General Electric and the Home consolidated as the Union Electric Co!iipany. In 1899, the Stone & Webster interests acquired a controlling interest and the big Boston corporation got its first foothold in Seattle by so doing.

The city nas a 1,500-kilowatt water power generating plant on the shore of Lake Union which is fed by the overflow of the high service reservoir of the water department. It was finished in 1912. It serves the purpose of an auxiliary in

Develoi)iiieut of Siio((ualinit' Falls. In 1898 Charles H. Baker, a civil engineer whose father was a prominent Chicago broker, designed and built a plant at Snoqualmie Falls with a capacity of 6,000 kilowatts and supplied power from this plant for lighting and power purposes in Tacoma, Seattle and, later, in Everett. They also served a number of small towns adjacent to those cities. This plant was acquired in 1911 by the Puget Sound Traction, Light & Power Company, which also acquired at the same time all of the properties under the management of the firm of Stone & Webster.

The Puget Sound Traction, Light & Power Company, of which Jacob Furth was president at the time of his death, controls and operates all of the light, power and railway properties in Seattle, the interurban between Everett and Seattle and the interurban between Seattle and Tacoma, the only exception being the municipal lighting plants of Tacoma and Seattle, the lately constructed municipal railway in Seattle, completed in 1914, consisting of about three miles of track running from Ihird and Pine to the south shore of Lake Washington canal, near Ballard; the Lake Burien line, seven miles long, running from Spokane Avenue in a southerly direction to Lake Burien, and the Loyal Heights Railway, incorporated March 24, 1906, by Harry W. Treat, and running cars over about two miles of tracks between Twenty-fourth Avenue Northeast and Sixty-seventh Street.

First Avenue was the first street to be graded and sidewalked in the city of Seattle or King County. The contract for it was let July 10, 1876. It was also the first street to be paved with brick.

The relative magnitude of the first improvement of Front Street was great. From near the foot of Cherry Street to Pike Street a high strong bulkhead of logs was put in on the southwest side of tne street twenty-five feet high in places. At several parts of the street at high tide the waters of the bay reached into the east or inland side of the street before this improvement was made. Nearly every bit of the Colman Block stands where the tide flowed fifty-flve years ago.

The trees from which the logs for the cribbing were cut grew on the hillside between where the Washington Hotel now stands and the bay south of Virginia Street. The city engineers at that time were Eastwick, Morris & Co. *****

The Front Street Cable Railway Company was incorporated October 24, 1880, with capital of $600,000, and the officers in 1890 were Jacob Furth, president; H. G. Struve, vicepresident.

The first street railroad was built by F. H. Osgood about 1883 and horses were used to haul the cars. The south end of the track was at the intersection of Yesler Way and James, and it went up James to Second, thence to Pike, thence to First Avenue and down that to Battery Street. Service hourly.

There was much complaint even in those days over the service. Something had to be done. It seemed to Mr. Osgood that this something was electricity. In the face of the ridicule of the Boston men, despite the fact that its possibilities were practically unknown, Mr. Osgood took what is now known as a gambler's chance and gave orders to equip his line with electricity. In place of the four "bob-tail" cars he ordered five new electric cars. In place of the car barns he installed a power plant. In place of the "mule skinners" who drove his horses he engaged motormen. The line was ready in 1888 and began operation during the winter of that year.

The first electric street car line in Seattle started on Second Avenue March 30, 1889, being the date service was begun. It was the fifth elec-tric carline in the United States to begin operation.

The Green Lake Electric Railway was incorporated in November, 1889. W. D. Wood, president. ***** The West Seattle & North End Electric Railway Company was incorporated November 2 6, 18 89. D. H. Oilman, president. ***** The Yesler and Jackson cable line was first built in 1887, the cars running out Yesler Way to Lake Washington around a loop and back on Jackson, with a loop on Occidental Avenue. Before this only horse cars were used. ***** The Seattle City Railway Company was incorporated in August, 1890, with a capital of $600,000. F. J. Grant, president.

***** The Madison Street Cable Railway Company. H. G. Struve, president; A. B. Stewart, vice-president. ***** The James Street Construction Company was incorporated June, 1890, with $200,000 capital. E. G. Witter, president; J. F. Eshelman, vice-president.

When it became apparent that 20,000 people living on the north side of Lake Union could no longer be accommodater with respect to either street car or teaming facilities by the existing zig-zag of streets between Pike and Denny Way, an active agitation began which in 1900 resulted in the creation of the Westlake Avenue extension, and it has become one of the busiest thoroughfares in the West.

In 1856 the Western Union Telegraph Company was formed by the union of two Eastern companies. Its lines were not extended to the Pacific Coast until 1861. In October it was completed and in operation to San Francisco. In 18 6 4 it reached Puget Sound.

In 1873, as an evidence of civic spirit, the following is interesting. The whole country was suffering from financial depression at that time. The company owning the telegraph line which served the coast from San Francisco decided to discontinue the service north of Portland. Headed by Arthur A. Denny, always in the lead in matters of public interest, eighteen men contributed |100 each as advance payment on tolls. The telegraph was important to the mills in the vicinity and the town did not wish to be cut off from communication with the outside world.

The telephone had not been proven successful in the East long before Seattle wanted it. When an opportunity to secure a system was offered the town eagerly seized it. The Sunset Telephone Company was organized in 1883 and immediately secured a franchise to install a system in Seattle. The telephone was first exhibited to the people of Seattle in the same year. The exhibition took place in a hall, where the townfollf had gathered. E. H. Larabee sang into the line at some point outside the building and was heard by those within. The service was Inaugurated in 1884, with the main office in the telegraph headquarters in the Yesler Building at Second Avenue and Cherry Street. For many years the Sunset Company had the Seattle field to itself. Then a general feeling of dissatisfaction with its service culminated in the establishment of a second system in 1901. The competitor was called the Independent Telephone Company. In the eleven years of its existence the new company developed a system of 16,000 telephones. In the meantime the original company had become reorganized and made a part of the Bell system. Its service had so improved that when in 1912, it took over the entire plant of the Independent Company there was a general feeling of relief throughout the city.

Today, with a population of probably 3.50,000 people, King County has more than 60,000 telephones, which means one instrument to every six persons within its boundaries. That Seattle is better equipped with telephones than the majority of cities in the United States is shown by telepnone statistics. The average number of telephones in use in American cities of more than 100,000 population is 11.4 to each hundred people; in Seattle there are seventeen phone in use to each hundred people. The system here is one of the most highly developed in the entire country, and its management is infused with that i)redominate note that is now being struck by all enlightened public service corporations - a desire to please the public. From his home or his office a Seattle citizen can get in touch with 674,000 phones on the Pacific Coast, and in 1916 to be able to speak across the continent was an accomplished fact. There are 150,000 telephones in the state of Washington, and of this number Seattle has considerably more than one-third. The city is a district center of the great Bell interests - on this coast organized under the name of the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company - and approximately 2,000 employes are attached to the Seattle division. C. O. Myers is manager. The district commercial superintendent is F. L. McNally. It will be noted that since Mr. McNally was installed in the Seattle district there has been very little complaint as to the service.

The work of connecting Seattle with Alaska by cable commenced in 1901 and now the matter of cable communication with Alaska is not as momentous as was telephoning with Ta coma a few years ago.

We have at least six from the Atlantic to the Pacific in operation, and others projected. It was not until the Northern Pacific was completed to the Sound that King County began to grow. This was accomplished by 1885, and in 1887 it reached Seattle; since which time the growth of the state has been rapid. The entire length of the main line of the Northern Pacific from St. Paul to Seattle is 1,911 miles.

First railway connection was made in 188 3 when the Northern Pacific Railway was completed to Wallula where it joined the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company's lines thus making a through line to Portland. In 1884 the Union Pacific completed the second direct line to Portland. In 1885 the Northern Pacific reached Puget Sound at Tacoma afterward extending the line to Seattle. Then the Seattle & International Railway Company built a line from Seattle to the Canadian boundary line at Sumas to connect with the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Southern Pacific Railway was completed from San Francisco to Portland in 1887. The Great Northern Railway reached Seattle in 189 2 and its lines have been extended north along the east shore of Puget Sound to Vancouver, B. C.

It soon became apparent that for sidetracks and storage room not nearly enough ground was available. At this juncture Judge rianford and Judge Burke appeared before the City Council and secured the passage of an ordinance creating Railroad Avenue which was 120 feet wide designed to afford an entrance to all transcontinental railroads coming to Seattle. Railroad Avenue is now built over what was then high water mark.